Opinions of a Wolf

Boston’s space savers got repurposed into ice falling warning signs.

Hello my lovely readers!

I mentioned at the beginning of March that I was hoping to start doing a monthly post reflecting on my reading and writing, blog happenings, and mentioning any updates that need to be mentioned.  Here’s the first one!

I did quite a bit of work on the blog this month.  You already know that I upgraded to my own domain name.  I also totally revamped my astore.  For those who don’t know, an astore is a listing of items hosted by Amazon.  I use mine to conveniently list out books I have read and reviewed on this blog that I recommend.  Every book listed in my astore has received 4 or 5 star reviews on this blog.  Previously the lists were mostly just divided into fiction or nonfiction.  That was getting unwieldy.  They are now divided into much more convenient genres, such as historic fiction or urban fantasy.  As always, my astore is linked to in the sidebar of the blog under “Shop 4 and 5 Star Reads,” or you can click through to it right here.  I hope my readers find it useful when looking for something to read for themselves or to pick up as a gift for another.

I’ve been book blogging since March 2009.  I was thinking that it would be nice to highlight some of the older books I reviewed and really enjoyed.  So every month there is now going to be a book of the month.  The book highlighted will be one I read and gave 4 or 5 stars to in the same month of a previous year.  The book will be featured in the blog sidebar and also in the landing page of my astore.  For the month of April, the book of the month will be:

Glasshouse by Charles Stross
First reviewed in April 2011.
“I recommend this to scifi fans, and highly recommend it to GLBTQ readers and advocates.”

My monthly updates will briefly mention the book of the month.  I hope you all enjoy the monthly throwback!

The final change to the sidebar is I have added links to my publications.  So be sure to check that out!

One final addition to the blog is a new page (pages are linked to on the header).  The new page is called “TW Lists,” and you can view it by clicking here.  Basically, I realized that I frequently find myself noting the content of rape or attempted rape in books that I am reviewing whose blurbs gave no hint as to having that content.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with a book having a plot point of rape or attempted rape, but some readers seek to avoid them for personal reasons.  Some readers just don’t like reading about rape or attempted rape, while others find reading about rape or attempted rape to be triggering for a mental illness they may have, such as PTSD or OCD.  It is for the latter reason that a content note like the one I am providing is often called a “trigger warning,” often shortened to an acronym of “tw” followed by the content note.  For instance, “tw: rape.”

The content I by far find myself needing to note in my reviews more than any other is rape or attempted rape.  I thus decided to curate this list of books I have reviewed on my blog that contain rape or attempted rape.  A book being included on this list does not necessarily mean I consider it a bad book or a badly written book.  It is purely a content note.  To see the list, click on out to the TW Lists page.  I hope my readers who need to a content note on rape or attempted rape will find this listing helpful.

That’s it for the blog updates!  How was my reading, reviewing, and writing this month?

March books read: 3 (1 urban fantasy, 1 scifi YA, 1 paranormal romance)

March reviews: 6

Other March posts: 1 update, 1 short story, 1 giveaway, 1 reading challenge sign-up

March writing: My current project is progressing, and I am excited at a new direction I came up with thanks to a helpful chat with my fiancé.  I also posted an older short story to this blog.  You can read it here.

Coming up in April: Get ready for an influx of fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, and mythology, thanks to my participation in Once Upon a Time IX (sign-up post).  I have also finished reading the first of my accepted ARCs for 2015.  That review will be posted, along with a giveaway!

Happy April and happy reading!