What a year for science fiction and fantasy books. The Quill to Live has been around for almost 8 years and I have been making these lists like clockwork for that entire span. Since I started doing this, I think 2022 is the strongest year for SFF I have ever seen. We struggled to cut…
Sometimes, our favorite fantasy characters need a break—an escape from the woes of brutal, unforgiving worlds and a safe space to ruminate on life, or simply exist in peaceful solitude. Or perhaps characters just need a warm and welcoming atmosphere to encourage a few hours of friendship and laughter, insulated against the stress and harsh…
Picking up any epic fantasy series can be an intensely intimidating experience. With their huge page counts, multiple volumes, expansive worldbuilding, and intricate magic systems, fantasy epics can easily overwhelm readers. These enormous series are often recommended by fantasy fans as “must-reads,” but how can you tell if you will like something that big before…
Continue reading ➞ Seven Epic Fantasy Series Worth The Time Investment
There is no wrong way to read (mostly), and any reading is good reading. People should feel free to spend their time the way they please, but sometimes talking to nonreaders can be frustrating. That’s where we come in. Welcome, agent, to non-reader interaction training. As a field agent in the Quill To Live SFF…
Continue reading ➞ Field Agent Training: Interacting With Non-SFF Readers
This post originally appeared on Tor.com. The SFF genre has no shortage of stock friendships and familiar pairings. They can be magical and memorable: Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Frodo and Sam. Locke and Jean. There’s a certain wonder that comes with fantastic friendships in fiction, where like-minded companions support each other through good times and…
Continue reading ➞ Five Unlikely SFF Friendships That Bring Me Joy
Every year the members of The Quill to Live gather together to plan out our reads for the next year and flag the books we are most looking forward to in order to ‘claim’ reviewer status among ourselves. We figured it might be fun to share our list of choices in case you were curious…
This post originally appeared on Tor.com During the holidays, the “spending quality time with your loved ones” refrain resounds in greeting cards, corporate emails, ads, and commercials. The winter season bursts at the seams with family-focused language and occasional jokes about how long, exactly, you can keep up with Uncle Gary’s questionable-at-best post-dinner ravings. Within…
Continue reading ➞ Five Stories About Found Family For Your Holiday TBR
Much like last year, we read a number of fantastic novellas that deserve a lot more attention. We didn’t want to put these great picks in our best books of 2021 and have them get lost. So instead, here is a shortlist of some of our favorite novellas of the year that we think you…
Last year I started my best-of list hoping that 2021 would be a better year for all of us in many regards. That, unfortunately, did not materialize; and we hope you are all doing well despite the circumstances. But, we did get some good books. As usual, we managed to collectively read over 100 books…
Visualization comes easy to me as I read. When epic fantasy and sci-fi are your chosen genres, it comes with the territory. Authors excel at doling out impressive wordscapes that translate in my head as vivid images and stunning scenes. Books become movies in the theater of my mind, and all that’s missing is the…
