Like I said, it’s a lot. BUT. I’m not a defeatist. Things get hard. We’ve seen this throughout history. Hard times happen. Seemingly hopeless times occur, darkness falls. But there are always good people. There is always hope. There is always resistance. This, I believe. No, I don’t just believe it, I know it. I know it from the stories I heard growing up from teachers and friends’ grandparents who survived the Holocaust. I know it from my own grandparents, who went through various kinds of hard times, and persevered. And I hear it from the elderly people who live in my building, who will share stories and snippets of wisdom if they know you want to listen. (They’re not called the Greatest Generation for nothing). I never used to consider myself an SFF reader. Sometimes I still forget that I am. But then when I look at my bedside table and see books like Thrust by Lidia Yuknavitch, Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki, Beneath the Burning Wave by Jennifer Hayashi Danns (out in November), or The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner, I realize that SFF has been a mainstay of my reading for a good long time now. I think it’s because of the possibility that these stories hold; the real-life elements mingling with the magic, and also the sheer escapism. Even in the darkest of SFF, there is hope…and a damn good story, too. Right now, we could all use a little bit of hope, and here are some of the books that have given me a little escape. If you’re looking for even more SFF, check out this post about books with magical baking, and this post about SFF about space travel. So which book will you immerse yourself in first?
