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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...

The Measure of a Monster by Seanan McGuire (Incryptid, #8.5)

This novella is included with most editions of THAT AIN'T WITCHCRAFT.

TITLE: The Measure of a Monster
AUTHOR: Seanan McGuire
PUBLISHER: Daw Books
YEAR: 2019
LENGTH: 76 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: No canon queer rep.

THE MEASURE OF A MONSTER brings us briefly back to Alex’s perspective as he searches for some kidnapped gorgon children with Sarah and Shelby’s help. 

It's making a statement about personhood, humanity, and monstrosity which is working on several different levels, impressively so for such a short story. It's perfectly placed to be read after THAT AIN'T WITCHCRAFT, and I like this one. One line towards the end will haunt me, I think, spoken softly and heralding death. 

CW for kidnapping, child abuse (not depicted), gun violence, violence, death.

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A woman with long brown hair stands in a golden field, a knife held at the ready in each hand.


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