Theron Arnold asked Gail Carriger:

Other than your own works, what are some of your favorite steampunk novels? Also, what other genres do you prefer reading? I love China Mieville's works.

Gail Carriger Well, they are both gaslight fantasy rather than steampunk but I love Sorcery & Cecelia and Brother's Ruin. I actually don't read as much within steampunk as I could, because I'm frightened of having my voice colored by someone else's prose, or of being accused of becoming derivative.

So far as other genres go, I'm a voracious reader and tend to read a wide range of commercial genres (mostly sci-fi, fantasy, & romance). I have a propensity to binge for months on one sub-genre and then move on to something else. I have a book group via my fan group here in Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...) where I pick one book a month and we all read and talk about it together. Also I tend to recommend books that I've loved when they go on sale via my newsletter, The Chirrup: http://gailcarriger.com/chirrup

Recently, I've been reading a lot of m/m urban fantasy (UF), paranormal romance (PNR), or fantasy (not just gay but LBTQ too, but that's harder to find). I love gay romantic sci-fi but it's practically non-existent. (I may have to write my own some day.)

I also love space opera, alt-history non-european based fantasy, military sci-fi, even some atmospheric fantasy. But only if it has a female, gay, or non-binary main character. I prefer character driven over concept driven, shorter over longer, and I'm not wild about multiple POVs. Which rules out a lot of hard sci-fi and epic fantasy.

I read a lot of YA, I enjoy the pacing, although I'm not really into YA urban fantasy/PNR or dystopian. I like a good YA sci-fi, although they are difficult to find. I'll read darn near anything if it's a woman disguising herself as a man to subvert the patriarchy, but if it's too much hero's journey or too predictable (often the same thing) I scream and throw the book across the room. I demand a happy ending, or at least that the author "sticks the landing." http://gailcarriger.com/2015/08/28/3-...

I prefer light-hearted and comedic over dark. Partly because it's harder to write, and I think resorting to angst is all too often the author being lazy. Of course I stumble upon exceptions, but usually my weird set of codified no-goes leaves me with a health stack of too reads and not enough time to read them.Because I travel so much I tend to read digitally.

I'm also a non-completest. Which is to say, if the book doesn't grab me within the first couple of chapters then I'll drop it without further thought. This is one of the reasons I rarely judge contests etc... I don't feel capable of committing to reading something from start to finish. If I don't like it, I stop. Life's too short to read a book that doesn't entertain me.

Woosh, long answer! Thanks for the question, now I think I have a blog post...

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