L.J. Stanton's Blog

If you’re looking for books to read to help support Palestine and Palestinians through this current aggression and genocidal actions, I’ve created a list for you to look through. These books are all available through Bookshop.org, and may be available through your local libraries.

My Father Was A Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story, by Ramzy Baroud

Palestinian Walks: Forays Into a Vanishing Landscape, by Raja Shehadeh

In the Presence of Absence, by Richard Widerkehr

On Zionist Literature, by Ghassan Kanafani

Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, by Sonia Nimir

Power Born of Dreams: My Story Is Palestine, by Mohammad Sabaaneh

Stories Under Occupation: And Other Plays from Palestine, by Samer Al-Saber

Palestine Is Throwing a Party and the Whole World Is Invited: Capital and State Building in the West Bank, by Kareem Rabie

Rifqa, by Mohammed El-Kurd

Of Noble Origins: A Palestinian Novel, by Sahar Khalifeh

My First and Only Love, by Sahar Khalifeh

Salt Houses, by Hala Alyan

L.J. Stanton

Advance Review Copy Readers Wanted

If you’ve found your way here, you’re a reader. If you read, and you’re willing to review too, then we want you.

what is an arc reader?

Advance Review (or sometimes called Reader) Copies are books released to reviewers ahead of publication. These reviewers then post their honest opinions about the book on release day across multiple platforms (like Amazon and GoodReads). Whether it’s a 5 or a 1 star, an honest review is worth it’s weight in gold—which is one of the reasons ARC editions are free to the reviewer.

i’m interested, but this is a sequel right?

It is! THE PANTHEON PROPHET is the second book in THE GODS CHRONICLE series. But if you haven’t read THE DYING SUN, that’s okay! Reach out today and I’ll have an ebook edition of THE DYING SUN in your inbox ASAP.

when do you need the review by?

Currently, THE PANTHEON PROPHET is at the editor. That means you won’t receive your copy until those edits are input (likely, the end of the year). We’re hoping to release THE PANTHEON PROPHET in March 2024, so you’ll have two full months to read and review it. If you’re not completely through it by the release day, review what you can and update once you’re done!

JOIN US ON PATREON FOR MORE BOOKISH CONTENT

Hello Readers, 

You may have received a number of emails from Patreon this morning, as we've been working hard behind the scenes! First off, we've launched our Spooky Season Special Offer! Both new and current patrons will receive 3 stickers and 1 pin:

The sticker designs are a surprise, but here is your pin! It's a dangerous question, WWMD, but there's a certain entertaining mix of lawful and chaotic to the answer. Current patrons should see their pin and stickers arriving before October 1st. Please update your address to make sure we're shipping to the right place!

There's New Merch

Launching alongside our special offer is a new fulfillment system through Patreon itself! That means Patreon is now handling our stickers, postcards, and t-shirt fulfillment.

In three months, current and new patrons will receive the newest designs for these items. Again, make sure your address is updated and Patreon's emails aren't going to your spam folder.The designs are: the Akhenic Sun Dying Sun sticker, the Holy City of Madiar postcard, and a quote from THE DYING SUN designed by our own Rob Stanton.

So if you have any friends you haven't recommended our Patreon to, now is the time!

L.J.

Hello Readers,

Our first read is FOURTH WING, by Rebecca Yarros! Book club starts today, but if you're seeing this after Sept. 1 2023 don't worry: you have until the end of October to join and finish the book!

JOIN US ON FABLE

A low-pressure interactive book club!

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders. But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them. With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant. She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise. Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise.  Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret. Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Join us through Fable by clicking here. You don't need to be a patron, but you'll want to be part of our Fable club (it's free)! Fable is an interactive book club app that allows dynamic discussions with your fellow club members in a low pressure environment!

You can hang out with us on Discord too!

L.J.

Hello Readers, 

Life has been a little all over the place for the past couple months. I had surgery, my sister had surgery, my husband was let go from Twitch, and now we're in the middle of moving! So with all that excitement, the newsletter and Book of the Month went to the wayside. 

I want a way to continue Book of the Month, but in a way that lets me get to know you all better, and lets you see what an author looks for when analyzing and learning from a novel. That means, Book Club Time!

HOW TO JOIN

1. Sign up for a Fable.co Account
2. Join the Sword & Board Discord  
3. Click on the Fable Link pinned in #Book-Club
4. Follow the Fable instructions on how to pick up the book. 

It's fairly straight forward and I'm extremely excited to get started with all of you in September. If you follow those instructions presently, you'll see there isn't a link yet for the book club in the discord channel. That's because I want your help choosing our discussion book!

Vote here on Patreon

Let me know which book you're excited to read with me. Multiple choice is allowed, so feel free to vote for your top two.

Your options are: 

 A Poison Steeped in Magic: I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother."
For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.
When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.
But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

The Sun and the Void: Two women embark on a unforgettable quest into a world of dark gods and ancient magic in this sweeping fantasy debut inspired by the history and folklore of colonial South America. 
Reina is desperate.
Stuck on the edges of society, Reina’s only hope lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never met. But the journey to her is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster.
Attacked by creatures that stalk the mountains, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.
Eva Kesaré is unwanted.
Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries to be the perfect daughter, but Eva is hiding a secret: Magic calls to her. 
Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet it’s hard to ignore power when it has always been denied you. Eva is walking a dangerous path. And in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined. 

Silver Nitrate: Montserrat has always been overlooked. She’s a talented sound editor, but she’s left out of the boys’ club running the film industry in ’90s Mexico City. And she’s all but invisible to her best friend, Tristán, a charming if faded soap opera star, though she’s been in love with him since childhood.
Then Tristán discovers his new neighbor is the cult horror director Abel Urueta, and the legendary auteur claims he can change their lives—even if his tale of a Nazi occultist imbuing magic into highly volatile silver nitrate stock sounds like sheer fantasy. The magic film was never finished, which is why, Urueta swears, his career vanished overnight. He is cursed.
Now the director wants Montserrat and Tristán to help him shoot the missing scene and lift the curse . . . but Montserrat soon notices a dark presence following her, and Tristán begins seeing the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.
As they work together to unravel the mystery of the film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city, Montserrat and Tristán may find that sorcerers and magic are not only the stuff of movies.

Fourth Wing: Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.
Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise.  Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.
Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die. 

Where were you when dragons entered our world? You might remember, you probably thought it was a hoax. But in the time since then, the world has gotten stranger and decidedly more interesting. Especially for those involved with the City of Lakes Dragon Shelter.

Sign up for your own copy of A DAY AT THE DRAGON SHELTER at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wolfinmybeard/a-day-at-the-dragon-shelter

I was thrilled when Steven Brust approached me to be part of this anthology. While normally modern, first-person fantasy isn't my forte, I thoroughly enjoyed stretching my wings out of my comfort zone. I've read several of the shorts involved and know a handful of the authors, and can confirm they're wonderful stories. 

Our goal is already met, so help us hit $10k! Stretch goals are in discussion, so keep an eye out as things update! 

L.J. 

Speculative fiction struggles with how to handle disabilities, which is reflective of our society at large. Whether due to age, health, accidents, or other life happenstance, almost everyone will end up struggling with disability at some point in their life (or see it happen in someone they care about). The absence of this within our media only creates stigma around disabilities and chronic illness. Removing disabilities and chronic illness through handwaving, “superior technology” or magic, creates an unrealistic emphasis on wholeness as a moral or correct way of living/existing. Disabilities change as societies evolve, which means they’ll never be gotten rid of. Same with chronic illnesses. DNA will never replicate perfectly. Genetic disorders will always exist without eugenic interference.

Within the universe of the Expeditionary Force series, written by Craig Alanson, genetic superiority is discussed a great deal. Each of the alien races have been genetically modified for war by their patron species, all the way up to the top level races. It’s heavily implied that consent was not a factor in whether or not these races were modified. While these modifications are shown as improvements (better hearing, better vision, faster healing, etc), it’s also shown that these adaptations aren’t inherently morally superior or better. The humans can still keep up with their genetically modified alien counterparts, even if they have to be a little smarter about how they do things. That in and of itself is an important aspect to note: adversity pushes our collective boundaries. When we see problems, we as humans find incredible ways to overcome them.

One of the main characters in ExForce loses his legs. It’s a traumatic experience, as he’s a SpecOps soldier. And this is where Craig Alanson subverted my expectations. The medical technology they have on board their ship allows for limb regrowth/regeneration, and I wholeheartedly expected for this character to simply have his legs regrown. Then undergo physical therapy for a few months, then be back to normal/good as new (more or less). I was absolutely pleasantly surprised when the character pushed back on limb regrowth. He wanted prosthetic legs. He demanded them.

Click the imagine above, or click here to read the rest of this post.

“...seeing myself in a character, whether it’s this person...in ExForce, or the lawyer in My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, proper representation matters.”

— L.J. Stanton

While details of sexual violence are not discussed, this blog post may not be for everyone.

As an author, my mantra is to tell challenging stories and minimize harm. The major failing I see with sexual violence in many media forms is where the point of view and gaze fall. Particularly in western media, that gaze is often heterosexual masculine. That means sexual violence comes from that same perspective, and makes grotesque GoT Sansa scenes where her rape is all about the men (either perpetrator or witness). The violence is there to horrify and titillate the viewer. We should be horrified. We should never be titillated. Respect for the survivor is missing in these situations. I could break down where this failing is in a lot of media, but I don’t think that is the most important conversation to have. I think the more important questions are: 1) should sexual violence be included in stories for shock value, and 2) how can sexual violence be written.

To point 1, let’s define what shock value is. Shock value is the inclusion of something to surprise and upset people. When it comes to story crafting, that means the primary purpose of the shock value event is to be shocking in and of itself (I’m sure you’re all shocked by this revelation). It’s not something where the primary purpose is to serve the story. So shocking events and events that are included for shock value are two different things. With that defined, my answer to “Should sexual violence be included in stories for shock value?” is an unequivocal no.

Violence that causes long term harm, physical and psychological, shouldn’t be placed within a story for shock value. Shock value is an intrinsically short-term effect (ex: a jump scare), and when we see violence added just for shock value it becomes something shrugged off with little character change or long-term story impact. That is extraordinarily unrealistic, and undermines the argument that sexual violence needs to be included for realism…

Click the imagine above, or click here to read the rest of this post.

“Write with intention. Write moments and scenes that serve your characters and your stories. Shock value is the realm of the self-indulgent ego. You can write better than that.”

— L.J. Stanton

Shepherd.com is the up and coming new book site for excellent book recommendations. I was approached by them at the end of last year with a request: what book list would I like to make? And naturally, the first list that came to mind was The Best Non-Western Fantasy Books. How could I not write it?

“
How you find a book is important. That search is the start of a journey, and the process of exploring books should be fun. The online world needs more serendipity so your curiosity can roam free. ”

— Ben Fox, Shepherd.com Founder

It’s my pleasure to share the above list with each of you, and hope that you will share the list too. While you’re there, consider looking up other shelves like magical realism.

Happy Reading!

L.J.

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I don’t write what I know. 

At least, I don’t exclusively write what I was taught in school or by my community. My parents did their very best to broaden my horizons, but there is only so much a parent can teach. While it is hard to know what you don’t know, probing at the boundaries of your ignorance is of the utmost importance to the writer’s soul and candid introspection. 

It is sorely limiting to write only what you know. If we all did that, autobiography would be the only category at the bookshop. All speculative fiction demands both authors and readers step outside what is real, and what is known, into the unknown. As Ursula K. LeGuin said, ‘Write what you know, but you may know dragons.” The advice of ‘write what you know’ is imagination limiting self censorship if taken too literally. It can kill creativity, stifle stories, and leave an author a bumbling mess trying not to step on too many toes. 

Better advice is to write what you take the time to know. Curiosity should drive creativity, and pursuit of artistic excellence should drive us to create stories that ring true. If you’re willing to go down the wikipedia rabbit hole for a day to find out the origins of an obscure flower for one scene, then you have no excuse not to use the same sort of dedication when including BIPOC, LGBTQA, and/or disabled characters. While I know many writers are solitary creatures, the beauty of the internet means it’s easier than ever to email someone with the expertise on the topic you want to write about. No phone calls required! While social media can often be a hazardous, if not outright toxic place to be, there are also opportunities to speak to, interact with, and learn from those outside of your religion, culture, race, or county. When used correctly, it is an excellent social research tool.

Your story impacts the reader, and it impacts other authors. If you are writing a story of a minority, consider the impact your story has on the minority you’re inspired by. Importantly, consider whether or not your story gives back to that community. Does it help showcase the humanity of those groups? Does it fairly represent their struggles, even if doing so clashes with your preconceived notions? Are you as the author helping support these groups in some way? While it might be difficult to offer monetary support (given that author royalties are fairly paltry on average), showcasing and promoting minorities within the industry is an excellent way to show support. If you owe some of your success to a minority group, you should be doing what you can to uplift them. 

I wholeheartedly believe that authors should write with intention. The words you place on paper matter, and can change the world. Make sure that change doesn’t cause real world harm. Be an Ursula K. LeGuin, not a J. K. Rowling. Don’t write only what you know now. Become more, learn more, and write that. 

Happy Writing, 

L.J. 

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