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A girl, a horse, and a magical sword save a kingdom in Robin McKinley s young adult classic, The Blue Sword a book beloved by women of all ages. Hild author Nikola Griffith explains why.
My name s Nicola Griffith. I am the author most recently of a novel called “Hild.” I d like to recommend a book. If you haven t read it, then please pick up “The Blue Sword” by Robin McKinley. It is ostensibly for teenagers, but I think I was probably about 25 or so when I read it. And I have re-read it many times since, and it holds up. It s a wonderful first-person story about a woman called Angharad, but she calls herself Harry, and by the end of the book is known as Harry, Harimad-sol. She moves from a place called Home. Sometimes I think of it as an English place, and sometimes I think of it as American Northeast, but it s very stuffy. It has lots of etiquette rules. Basically, the Wild West or the Indian frontier.
Last year, I was so inspired by the various Best Of, Must Read, Smashing Science Fiction and Fantasy lists I encountered around the net that I decided to make my own book list, books chosen entirely on the basis of merit and significance to the field . People enjoyed the first list so much that I perpetrated sequels. I posted a number of lists, each twenty books long, each selected entirely on the basis of merit and significance to the field (ahem). Here, at last, the quintessence of Nicoll lists, comprising the books I would most heartily recommend. Each entry is annotated with a short description that I hope will explain why I picked it.
10 Books You Pretend To Have Read (And Why You Should Really Read Them)
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Science fiction and fantasy offer a rich legacy of great books – but that abundant pile of reading material can also be daunting. So sometimes, it’s easier to fake it. We asked some of our favourite writers, and they told us the 10 books that everyone pretends to have read. And why you should actually read them.
Photo: Jennifer Durham
Tordotcom Publishing is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Nicola Griffith’s novella
Spear, a glorious queer retelling of Arthurian legend, full of intoxicating adventure, dazzling magic, and true love.
Spear will be published by Tordotcom Publishing in collaboration with MCD/FSG. Griffith is represented by Stephanie Cabot at Susanna Lea Associates.
The girl knows she has a destiny before she even knows her name. She grows up in the wild, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake come to her on the spring breeze, and when she hears a traveler speak of King Artos of Caer Leon, she knows that her future lies at his court.