Three on a Theme: Mermaids

With the live-action Little Mermaid in theatres, mermaids are on my mind! Are they on yours too? While they are often depicted as beautiful and sweet in pop culture and children’s fiction, these mythic creatures may haunt your nightmares after reading these three speculative fiction titles. Bonus: included are some relevant categories to help you with this year’s Book Bingo!

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (2023)
A mermaid incapable of speech and a plague doctor are the lone survivors of a vicious hunger that devoured the kingdom. Together they set off to find a new community and stumble upon a cult of monstrous children who are being (mis)guided by surgeons seeking immortality. A feast of body horror and gore, this novella is a poetic and visceral meditation on bodies, violence, and love. As the Tor review quotes, “there is nothing wrong with being a monster.”

Book Bingo Category Suggestions
Sea creatures
Trans or nonbinary author
BIPOC or LGBTQIA+ horror
Same author, different genre (they also write urban fantasy and science fiction)

The Deep by Rivers Solomon (2019)
The mermaids (wajinru) on these pages descend from enslaved, pregnant Africans who were thrown overboard. In order to survive without the burden of this trauma, the wajinru elected to store all their memories in an historian. Yetu is the current historian and is struggling. During the annual ceremony of memory sharing, Yetu discards the history and escapes to the surface. When Yetu meets two-legger Oori, she learns the context of her history – but at what cost? Evocative and lyrical prose guide the reader through this atmospheric and devastating novella.

Book Bingo Category Suggestions:
Sea creatures
Trans or nonbinary author

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (2017)
Reader beware! You may find yourself more cautious on ferries and other ships after reading this fast-paced, suspenseful horror novel. Found footage from a documentary chasing mermaids in the Mariana Trench surfaced a brutal attack on a crew, none of whom survived. Seven years later, a scientific dream-team will attempt the voyage again. Will any of them survive? Who is the ultimate predator – human or mermaid?

 

Book Bingo Category Suggestions:
Local author
Sea creatures
BIPOC or LGBTQIA+ horror
Same author, different genre (Mira Grant is the science fiction pen name of Seanan McGuire, a fantasy author)

~Posted by Genesee R.

What’s new in Pacific Northwest Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Pacific Northwest has always been a little different, as these wildly imaginative recent Fantasy and Science Fiction titles by NW authors attest.

Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton.
Facing a battle in Seattle against a mutant horde, Cheeto loving crow S.T. takes Dee, the sole surviving human, under his wing, in the hilarious sequel to Hollow Kingdom.

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21^st Century: stories by Kim Fu
Startling and surreal, delightful and disturbing, these edgy short fictions brilliantly capture 21st Century life through an dazzling range of original SF and Fantasy scenarios.

Revelator by Daryl Gregory
Tennessee bootlegger Stella wants to leave her kinfolk’s strange folk beliefs in the past, but the dark force they call Ghostdaddy – the God in the Mountain – may have different ideas. A Southern Gothic thrill ride.

Spear by Nicola Griffith
In this queer retelling of Arthurian legend, Peretur, a girl raised in a cave by a protective mother, is drawn to battle and adventure—while love and fate offer their own irresistible pull.

Night Shift by Eileen Gunn
An escaped tapir on the run; a flight delay that lasts for decades; a dreary late shift saving the world: even the Twilight Zone was never quite this strange. Visionary tales and essays from Nebula winner Gunn.

A Little Too Familiar by Lish McBride
Sure, rent is high in Seattle, but is that reason enough for a witch and a werewolf to become roommates? Louise and Declan are about to find out in this fun, swoony paranormal romance.

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire
Part of the beguiling Wayward Children series, this portal fantasy sends Antsy through into a dusty shop in another world to escape the malign intentions of her menacing stepfather, but at what cost?

Ordinary Monsters by J. M. Miro
Hunted by a man made of smoke, orphans with uncanny powers find refuge in Cairndale Institute among those even stranger than themselves, in this enthralling Victorian fantasy adventure.

The Heavenly Sword by Alice Poon
Only one thing could prevent a goddess in the earthly form of the young warrior Sai’er from vanquishing the usurping tyrant Zhu Di and his henchmen: love. A lyrical martial arts saga.

Talking Romance (and Sci-Fi and Speculative Fiction) with Librarian Misha Stone

Misha Stone, Adult Services Librarian with The Seattle Public Library

At the Emerald City Writers’ Conference in October, the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America (GSRWA) named our very own Adult Services Librarian Misha Stone their Librarian of the Year, citing Misha’s commitment to promoting the romance genre and uplifting traditionally marginalized voices.

Misha has been a librarian in the Seattle area since graduating from the UW’s Information School almost 20 years ago. She regularly appears on local television programs promoting books and library programs, and has hosted everything from Karaoke and pop culture conventions to literary readings and writers workshops. One constant is the passion she brings to fostering the love of reading and learning and to helping people find their next favorite book.

We had the opportunity to speak with Misha recently about her introduction to the romance genre and support for local authors, developments in speculative fiction, the importance of representation and diversity in literature, and so much more. Our conversation is below.

How were you introduced to the Romance genre and what were some of the first books in that genre that you read?

I grew up reading lots of Horror and Gothic fiction and thought that my vampire novel obsession meant I had read romance! I fell for the tortured love affair trope at the time. But it’s not a romance unless it’s got a Happily-Ever-After (HEA) or Happy-For-Now (HFN). I credit learning more about romance from Nancy Pearl’s Genre class at the University of Washington where King County Library System’s Alene Moroni presented on her love of romance with memorable enthusiasm. Jayne Ann Krentz’s Bowling Green Keynote speech also stayed with me from that class as she defends beautifully the reasons that romance is looked down upon and why it is so beloved — because it offers us a deep, affirming belief in the power of love.

I also credit librarian Claire Scott, who worked here at The Seattle Public Library, for introducing me to Courtney Milan — she was my gateway drug to romance! Milan’s character-driven romances, both historical and contemporary, are diverse, witty and utterly delightful!

Congratulations again on your Librarian of the Year Award from the GSRWA! Can you tell us about some of the ways you and the Library have helped support local Romance authors?

Recent Science Fiction: Journey to the Stars

Science fiction, as a genre, covers many different subgenres and subjects, but one steadfast storyline is a trip to the stars. If you’re in the mood for fictional space exploration, check out one of these recent novels.

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
Dr. Grace Park has always gotten along better with androids than with her fellow humans. Now the psychologist for an expedition exploring planet Eos for colonization potential, she and the crew are trapped on the ship by a radiation storm ravaging the surface. As the crew – both human and android alike – begin to behave strangely, Grace must unravel the hidden purpose behind their mission to discover the root of their affliction.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The sun is rapidly and inexplicably dying, leading scientists to predict an instant and catastrophic ice age within the next few decades. Ryland Grace, molecular biologist-turned-middle school science teacher, is reluctantly one of a three person crew headed to Tau Ceti in hopes of saving humankind. When he wakes up mid-flight to find his fellow crewmates dead, he also discovers that he’s not alone in searching for a solution.

A guide to exploring new genres

Each year, groups of librarians from across the country hole up in a room (this year, a virtual room) to discuss and select the best books from the year before. The Notable Books List features literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; the Listen List is all about outstanding audiobooks; and The Reading List, which I want to tell you about today, highlights outstanding genre fiction in eight genres: Adrenaline (aka thrillers, adventure stories), Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Relationship Fiction, Romance, and Science Fiction.

While each genre has a winner, it also has a four-title shortlist of runners up. Taken together, the five books in each genre represent a range of the types of stories a reader can find in that genre, with the idea that both longtime fans and folks new to the genre can find a title of interest. If you are looking to branch out into new areas of fiction reading, it is a great place to start. Check out the 2021 winners (for books published in 2020) below, with annotations from the ALA Reading List Council, or in our catalog.

Adrenaline

The Holdout by Graham Moore
Ten years after Maya Seale convinced her fellow jurors to acquit a man of murder, a true crime documentary reunites the jury amid claims of new