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October Daye / Inheritance - Essay Series Part Five: Long Series and How to Read Them

Hello Patrons and general audience members! Welcome to another Books That Burn essay by Robin. Thank you to Case Aiken, who receives a monthly Patron shoutout. [Full Audio Available Here] This is the fifth and final entry in a five-part essay series discussing two long-running book series by queer authors: October Daye by Seanan McGuire, and Inheritance by A.K. Faulkner. I chose these series because I love them both, they were intended from the start to be long series, neither of them are finished yet, and the authors have different structural approaches to developing each series across so many volumes. Purely coincidentally, they are both long-running contemporary fantasy series mainly set in California in or near the 2010's, with major characters named Quentin, and whose fast-healing protagonists have a tendency to quasi-adopt a gaggle of magical teenagers. After a brief moment in the 1990's, October Daye begins in earnest in 2009 and has reached 2015 as of the eighteenth boo...

Clear Your Shit: The Journey Begins (Shortest Book)

Okay so I've barely begun this quest thing (thanks, wizard) and I get ransacked on my first night. Luckily my Magical Belt Pouch of Hiding Books for Later That I'll Definitely Get To Sometime had a copy of Strawberry Milkshake by Cate Wurtz in it. I sat down on a rock (definitely not named Carl) to read it and was very impressed and shaken by its portrayal of gaslighting and distorted reality. I was about to stand up when I realized that my Magical Belt Pouch had two more books in it, one of which I'd been "getting to later" for about eight months, and another which I keep reading one story at a time when I ought to be able to just breeze through it. I sighed and picked up No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll, feeling guilty that it's taking me so long to read this really cool book of awesome stories where prophecies are fulfilled through subverting gender-related expectations. Wondering how I took so long, I finished the last three stories, stretched my back after sitting, then paused as I felt two more volumes tucked into the back of my belt. Slightly puzzled, I discovered I was practically sitting on my copies of Strangers in Court by Seanan McGuire and The Awakened Kingdom by N. K. Jemisin, both of which are novellas providing one more story in a longer series (October Daye and The Inheritance Trilogy, respectively). 

After reading all four books (why, who knows, I just couldn't leave until I read them all) I started walking into town. I'm still walking, so it might be a while before I know what happens next. I just know I'll probably need supplies since when I was ransacked I lost the little I was carrying (other than the books).

Go here to read the whole story.

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