I’m trying out a new way to recommend book titles, over on Pinterest. It’s much easier there to keep book lists up to date. I have several lists you can choose from. For example, links to all of Tu’s books will be added as they publish, so you can easily find them (or you can just go straight to the Tu Books site, which is even easier).
Books that we discuss on my booklists tag can also be found in image form here.
And then also a full list of all the books I’ve ever edited can be found on Pinterest as well:
Notice that I also have a huge list of Korean dramas that I recommend!
So, there you have it. I won’t be updating the content on this page anymore, but those lists will be kept up to date.
Tu Books has launched! Go read these books!
I haven’t updated this page in a long time, so perhaps it might be good to also point you to my booklists tag, which has a variety of recommendations for mostly middle grade and YA fantasy and science fiction. There are also recommendations for “clean reads,” multicultural books, and some other interests. As the books I’m working on for Tu Books become available to review or purchase, I’ll post links to them.
It’s been a few years now, but when I was at Mirrorstone, an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, I worked with a number of talented authors on several series. Here are a few of the books I worked on. I link them to Indiebound; consider supporting your local independent bookstore or ordering them online through Indiebound to support a diverse economy.
Monsters!
A New York Times bestseller
The Dragon Codex books (Dragonlance)
The Hallowmere series
Books I’ve read and loved
I have no professional association with most of these books, though I did work for Mirrorstone, which published Sucks to Be Me, and I had the chance to read and comment on a few of these books before they were published by other publishers. I’m also simply a reader, and these are some books that I’ve read and loved.
Stacy, this is Derek, a regular on Feminist Mormon Housewives. I noticed your comment today on the subject of race, particularly your statement about trying to cultivate more diversity in fantasy fiction. I’ve been a lifelong devotee of fantasy fiction, but over the past several years have gotten a bit tired of the same old tropes and conventions. I think the western mythology and culture to which most conventional fantasy owes its flavor is fine, but I there is such a rich and yet neglected diversity of myths and cultures out there to explore through fantasy. I’ve found some wonderful China/Japan inspired fantasy (Lian Hearn’s Otori series, Barry Hughart’s _Bridge of Birds_, and Kij Johnson), but I think it’s a shame there is so little exploration of themes and mythical concepts from India, and Indonesia, and I’ve found next to nothing from African or native American milieus.
I applaud your determination to try to promote and cultivate multicultural fantasy. I look forward to seeing what books you recommend, and to watching your company’s success.
Hi Derek, and thanks for stopping by. I remember you–we met a couple months ago at the feminist Mormon conference up in SLC. I had a copy of the first of the Tales of the Otori but it seems to have disappeared–that’s been on my list of books to read for a while now. There are some great Asian-inspired fantasies out there (though not many), but most of them are not YA, so I think there’s still room to grow there as well. Definitely check out Cindy Pon’s Silver Phoenix, as well. I agree that India, Indonesia, African countries, and Native American milieus are underrepresented (Nancy Farmer’s The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm is a notable exception), as well as the native peoples of a number of other places (Ainu of Japan, Australian aboriginal culture). Pacific Islanders, Latino cultures—the list goes on and on, of course.
If you’re looking for book lists, check out the “book lists” tag here and also our short list of multicultural fantasy and science fiction recommendations over at Tu Publishing here: http://www.tupublishing.com/2009/09/23/multicultural-fantasy-and-sf-that-we-recommend/.
Oh, sorry for not making that connection sooner! Too bad the subject didn’t come up at the conference. I’ll look into some of those recommendations.