Margaret Fortune wrote her first story at the age of six and has been writing ever since.Her new novel is Nova.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Fortune's reply:
My tastes in reading are quite eclectic and can probably be best described as “whatever happens to catch my fancy.” Fiction, non-fiction, children’s—I’ll read anything that looks interesting. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of genre fiction. When I signed a deal with DAW Books in 2014 for my science fiction series, I decided I wanted to get to know my publishing house better byVisit Margaret Fortune's website.reading some DAW books. As such, I usually have at least one DAW book on hand these days, among other things.
Right now, I’m in the middle of Seanan McGuire’s Sparrow Hill Road. While I’m only partway through this ghost story, already I’m drawn in by the writing and atmosphere. The prose is truly lovely and used with great effect to build this fascinating twilight world where the living and dead collide. I’m a writer who cares deeply about not simply putting words on the page, but putting words on the page that are beautiful, so when I see another writer who does the same, I always get really excited.
Before that, I recently finished all four books of the Otherland series by Tad Williams. As a reader, I’ve never been a fan of long books or series. So the fact that I read this series consisting of 700-page tomes from start to finish says a lot. The scope and breadth of this virtual world Williams creates is, quite frankly amazing, but more than that, I really grew to care about the characters over the course of the series. Nothing endears me to a book the way characters I love can.
In between DAW books, I’ve read a variety of other things, including The Battle for Wondla, the third book in Tony DiTerlizzi’s awesome middle grade sci-fi trilogy. I am a sucker for non-picture books that have illustrations in them, but it’s not often I find them. Between the beautiful illustrations running throughout the book, the made-up alphabet, the incredible worldbuilding, and powerful story, this series exemplifies creativity at its best and shows just how great children’s fiction can be.
The Page 69 Test: Nova.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
