Huge thanks to author Julie E. Czerneda for today's fab guest post, about reading when you're writing! Julie's standalone science fiction novel 'To Each This World' is out this November and can be preordered here.
I love reading. It led me to writing, after all, and keeps me engaged and informed. There’s nothing I find as satisfying as the dive into a wonderful book—especially if there’s ample time, a comfy spot, and maybe a cup of tea or dram of Scotch at hand. Bliss!
Right now, beside my downstairs comfy chair, I’ve a copy of Ed Yong’s magnificent new book, An Immense World. It’s a treatise on senses—ours, other living things’—and every page is an invitation, nay a challenge, to “see” beyond our own Umwelten, our uniquely Human sensory world. If you know me at all, you can see why I love this. Even the footnotes make me tingle.
By my upstairs comfy chair is an ARC of S.M. Beiko’s new fantasy, The Stars of Mount Quixx. It’s pure enchantment, full of whimsy and unabashedly brilliant surprises, and I sink into it with a giddy grin on my face.
This is how I read when I write. Non-fiction to stoke my curiosity and fill me with ideas, or answer questions. Fiction to reward the reader in me—ever my goal in writing.
Though I’ve confessions about these two books. Technically, my non-fiction read should come from the stack of books I borrowed on trains, research for my next novel, but Ed’s is so delicious, I’ll gladly live with the guilt.
And I usually don’t read in the genre I’m writing, currently fantasy. I’m giving myself a pass for Samantha’s because, having written so much science fiction over the past few years, it seems I can’t get enough fantasy. Mine or someone else’s. (And her book is very tasty as well.)
Happy reading!
Having written twenty-three novels (and counting) published by her beloved DAW Books and Hugo-winning editor Sheila E. Gilbert, as well as numerous short stories, and editing several anthologies over the past 25 years, Julie E. Czerneda was inducted in the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2022. Julie’s works combine her training and love of biology with a boundless curiosity and optimism. Imaginings, out this September, is Julie’s first short story collection, and November sees the release of her standalone science fiction novel To Each This World. Julie is represented by Sara Megibow of KT Literary. www.czerneda.com.