Or What You Will is a 2020 metafictional fantasy novel by Jo Walton, about immortality and creativity. It was first published by Tor Books.
Or What You Will is a 2020 metafictional fantasy novel by Jo Walton, about immortality and creativity. It was first published by Tor Books.
As fantasy author Sylvia Harrison nears the end of her life, her imaginary friend — a separate consciousness who has lived inside her head since childhood, whom she has used as the basis for all her favorite characters, and who will die when she does — devises a plan to make them both immortal... a plan which involves the book Sylvia is currently writing.
Or What You Will won the 2022 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. [1]
Vox called Or What you Will "a playful book about breaking through constraints and expanding past your limits", which despite being "narrated by an incorporeal spirit" is infused with "a deep and palpable and sensual joy: of food, of art, of history, of books and learning". [2]
Publishers Weekly considered it a "gorgeous, deeply philosophical work" and a "nuanced meditation on reality and fiction", lauding Walton for "shift(ing) effortlessly between Sylvia's life, Florentine history, and the plot unfolding in [Sylvia's novel-in-progress]". [3]
Kirkus Reviews observed the presence of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, historical figures who play major roles in several of Walton's other novels, but noted that the novel "doesn't have quite the philosophical heft of those prior works" and is instead "a deeply personal work and a charming love letter to Florence." [4]
In Locus , Gary K. Wolfe lauded it as "undeniably touching", with "sharp critical insights about fantasy" that help to make the novel "a critical fiction, carrying on its own negotiations between differing ideas of history, biography, and imagination". [5]
Walton has described the novel's origins as including a visit to Florence at the invitation of Ada Palmer, a panel at a science fiction convention in which James D. Macdonald described having a repertory theatre of characters in his head, and an overall dissatisfaction with the endings of The Tempest and Twelfth Night . [6]
Tehanu, initially subtitled The Last Book of Earthsea, is a fantasy novel by the American author Ursula K. Le Guin, published by Atheneum in 1990. It is the fourth novel set in the fictional archipelago Earthsea, published almost twenty years after the first three Earthsea novels (1968–1972), and not the last, despite its subtitle. It won the annual Nebula Award for Best Novel and the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel Among Others, which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and Tooth and Claw, a Victorian-era novel with dragons which won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. Other works by Walton include the Small Change series, in which she blends alternate history with the cozy mystery genre, comprising Farthing, Ha'penny and Half a Crown. Her fantasy novel Lifelode won the 2010 Mythopoeic Award, and her alternate history My Real Children received the 2015 Tiptree Award.
Patricia Anne McKillip was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre". Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.
Ursula Vernon is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She has won numerous awards for her work in various mediums, including Hugo Awards for her graphic novel Digger, fantasy novel Nettle & Bone, and fantasy novella Thornhedge, the Nebula Award for her short story "Jackalope Wives", and Mythopoeic Awards for adult and children's literature. Vernon's books for children include Hamster Princess and Dragonbreath. Under the name T. Kingfisher, she is also the author of books for older audiences. She writes short fiction under both names.
Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards.
Tea with the Black Dragon is a 1983 fantasy novel by American writer R. A. MacAvoy. It led to a sequel, Twisting the Rope.
Theodora Goss is a Hungarian American fiction writer and poet. Her writing has been nominated for major awards, including the Nebula, Locus, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, and Seiun Awards. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Year's Best volumes.
The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer John M. Ford. It won the 1984 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. This book, set in an alternate history, contains such plot elements as vampirism, the House of Medici, and the convoluted English politics surrounding Edward IV and Richard III. It also deals with the fate of the Princes in the Tower.
Among Others is a 2011 fantasy novel written by Welsh-Canadian writer Jo Walton, published originally by Tor Books. It is published in the UK by Corsair. It won the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the British Fantasy Award, and was a nominee for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a Mexican and Canadian novelist, short story writer, editor, and publisher.
All the Birds in the Sky is a 2016 science fantasy novel by American writer and editor Charlie Jane Anders. It is her debut speculative fiction novel and was first published in January 2016 in the United States by Tor Books. The book is about a witch and a techno-geek, their troubled relationship, and their attempts to save the world from disaster. The publisher described the work as "blending literary fantasy and science fiction".
Fonda Lee is a Canadian-American author of speculative fiction. She is best known for writing The Green Bone Saga, the first of which, Jade City, won the 2018 World Fantasy Award and was named one of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Time magazine. The Green Bone Saga was also included on NPR's list, "50 Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade".
Kingfisher is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It was first published in hardcover and ebook by Ace Books in February 2016. The first British edition was published in ebook by Gateway/Orion in June 2017.
The Cygnet and the Firebird is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip, a sequel to her earlier novel The Sorceress and the Cygnet. Despite a mixed reception, it was nominated for the 1994 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. It was first published in hardcover by Ace Books in September 1993, with a paperback following from the same publisher in September 1995. The first British edition was published in paperback by Pan Books in July 1994. It was subsequently combined with The Sorceress and the Cygnet into the omnibus collection Cygnet, issued in trade paperback by Ace Books in March 2007. It has also been translated into French.
Ruthanna Emrys is an American science fiction and fantasy writer best known for The Innsmouth Legacy series: The Litany of Earth, Winter Tide, and Deep Roots.
Lent is a 2019 fantasy novel by Jo Walton, about Girolamo Savonarola. It was first published by Tor Books, and was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.
Travis John Klune is an American author of fantasy and romantic fiction featuring gay and LGBTQ+ characters. His fantasy novel The House in the Cerulean Sea is a New York Times best seller and winner of the 2021 Alex and Mythopoeic Awards. Klune has spoken about how his asexuality influences his writing. His novel Into This River I Drown won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance in 2014.
An Informal History of the Hugos is a 2018 reference work on science fiction and fantasy written by Jo Walton. In it, she asks if the nominees for the Hugo Award for Best Novel were indeed the best five books of the year, using as reference shortlists from other awards in the genre. After looking at the first 48 years of the award and presenting essays on select nominees, Walton concludes that the Hugo has a 69% success rate. The book was well-received and was itself nominated for a Hugo Award in 2019.
A Master of Djinn is a 2021 fantasy steampunk novel by American writer P. Djèlí Clark, published by Tor.com. The book is part of Clark's the Dead Djinn Universe and follows the events of the novelette "A Dead Djinn in Cairo", and the novella The Haunting of Tram Car 015.
Light from Uncommon Stars is a science fiction and fantasy novel by American author and poet Ryka Aoki. The novel won the 2021 Otherwise Award, 2022 Alex Award, and 2022 Stonewall Book Award, and was nominated for multiple other awards.