lirazel: A quote from the Queen's Thief series: "And I love every single one of your ridiculous lies." ([lit] earrings)
lirazel ([personal profile] lirazel) wrote2023-05-05 11:46 am

Fannish Friday: Sure Things

As we all know, Robin McKinley is one of my favorite writers, though she hasn't published anything in ten years. She lost her beloved husband in 2015 and then was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, so I had kind of trained myself to not expect another book from her. But I still check her blog now and then in hopes of receiving some good news. She mostly posts about her struggles with technology, what her dogs are up to, and other such domestic issues (which is fitting for a writer who has always cared more than is typical about the domestic).

But today, buried in the depths of a typical ramble post (no wonder she's one of my favorite writers--the inside of her head looks very much like the inside of mine!), she revealed that she has sent a draft of her latest book to her agent! Of course, that's a very early step in the process--if this book does get published, it'll probably not be for another year or two. But still, it's decided progress, and I am so excited! And intrigued--it's not a fantasy novel! It's set in 1969! I have no idea what it's actually about!

But as soon as it is available for pre-order, I will pre-order it. In all her years of writing, she's let me down only two times (Pegasus, which was...fine, I guess, and Dragonhaven, which I am determined to actually get into at some point but have never managed to do so).

She's one of very, very few writers who are an automatic buy for me. As I've mentioned before, I don't tend to buy books until after I read them and know that I love them and want to make them part of my collection. But I buy hers sight-unseen.

I will also buy anything Megan Whalen Turner puts out, and even though she's only published three books, Susanna Clarke has become another automatic-buy for me.

I think they're the only three, though there are a lot of writers who are automatic-put-it-on-hold-at-the-library-regardless-of-what-it's-about for me (Frances Hardinge, Barbara Hambly, Tana French, Joanna Bourne, etc.).

I would love to hear about which creators are an automatic-buy for you. Writers, of course, but if there's, say, a musical artist you feel that way about or whatever, please share that too!
elperian: un: nicolesgrace [lj] (stock girl reading)

[personal profile] elperian 2023-05-06 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
Catherynne M. Valente *was* an auto-buy from me, until Space Opera (I just got burnt out on her last two books and that one was really hard to get past because it just felt like a long novel of nothing). I'll listen to anything that Brian Fallon puts out musically (being on brand), and I've found that I really enjoy everything that Andy Weir has written, which is great to find in scifi where so much writing is hit-or-miss. I've had the same experience with Peter S. Beagle (and I'll never understand how he was able to write both Molly Grue in The Last Unicorn and teenager Jenny from Tamsin; he has the range). If you haven't read Tamsin I whole-heartedly rec it (and it fits your YA request right now too). I feel like Leigh Bardugo is getting to this point for me, although I still am not interested in the Grisha Trilogy or their tie-in novels.