I appreciate beauty, prose and darkness in my fiction. The authors I have highlighted prove this, but I have another love – humor. Humor, sarcasm and witty banter have been integral in my life as I consider myself a pretty funny guy with some chops for improvisation. I have a drag queen’s tongue, so I …

I’ve already mentioned Karin Tidbeck a few times in my posts so far, but I haven’t talked of her work at length. Tidbeck may be a newcomer to mainstream genre (if anyone is unaware, Tidbeck has been publishing short stories for years, but it was her collection “Jagannath” to launch her in the eye of the public), …

The stories I have shared so far touch upon lessons learned thanks to the women in genre or the strength I have gained through the friendship and talent of these women. You can say continuity has an established role in my life, though not every encounter with a brilliant talent grows into a relationship. Its …

For the longest of times, I have considered myself a reviewer rather than a writer. As I’ve spoken about it, it’s reviewing that introduced me to genre and its authors. I have roots in reviewing and the people I have interacted with still remain dear friends. I will perhaps remember my days as a reviewer …

I can’t discuss my influences without mentioning Diana Pho (or Ay-leen the Peacemaker), who runs the excellent blog project Beyond Victoriana – a wonderful blog dedicated to steampunk in its non-Western incarnations. Multiculturalism in genre has picked up the pace in the last couple of years, but Diana has been leading a similar discussion within the boundaries …

When you think of genre, you often associate it with books and rarely think about comic books, because comic books are peculiar and have often been separated from general SFF-dom. It’s true superhero-centric stories are in themselves a peculiar sub-genre as they rely on a narrative based on a sense of grandeur and over-the-top stakes. …

The Internet has its ways to connect people and I’m not sure whether I first met Juliette Wade as a person on Twitter and then discovered her wonderful blog or discovered the blog and thought it would be neat to meet the owner. Either way, I’m very glad I crossed paths with Juliette as she …

I don’t remember much after Ursula K. Le Guin. My literary ventures blur together, but I clearly remember the day I read Rachel Vincent’s series opener “Stray”. The year was 2008 and it was a cold morning, when I picked the book. I actually remember that it was January – the New Year’s festive spirit still hung …

Day one, everyone. Here is my first story about women in genre. J.K. Rowling’s name has been thrown in more than one conversation, because she has effectively shaped a whole generation and coincidentally, it was Rowling who got me into reading books for pleasure and taught me how to appreciate the written word. Rewind the …