Self-determination means choosing the manner in which I shall succumb

Last night I finished reading Charles Yu's How To Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, which I bought a few weeks ago whilst fully under the influence of SF Squeecast.

It's a fine book, though admittedly not quite the book I expected at the outset. Mainly, I think I'd anticipated all of my SF/F buttons to be pushed, but instead got most of my pomo¹ ones pushed in a not-unpleasantly Douglas Coupland kind of way. Some part of me wishes to confess I was mostly in it for the non-existent but ontologically feasible dog. This should not surprise anyone.

Of course, now I'll need to choose a new book out of my (perilously tall, woefully incomplete) to-read stack.

Normally this isn't particularly difficult. This week, though, I'm nursing some serious malaise. I'm usually a great lover of things dark -- Doctor Who fans will know to apply the Sally Sparrow doctrine that "sad is happy for deep people" -- but I think I've kind of hit a wall after Torchwood: Miracle Day and need something a little scrappier and more adventurous.

So here is where you come into it:

I've pulled three books -- Ellen Kushner's Swordspoint, Mira Grant's Feed, and Seanan McGuire's Rosemary & Rue -- from my to-read stack². Folks who want to advocate for which one I should read first (or, equally, which ones I should run away from) have until 8 PM Central Time tonight to convince me one way or another.

I mean, it's this or I give in to peer pressure and start reading the Sookie Stackhouse books. Nobody wants that.

(And yes, astute viewers will notice that all three of these books have bookmarks in them from Village Books, my favorite local indie new-and-used book shop. If you're ever in town, check them out. They're excellent people and their selection is always browse-worthy.)

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¹ Self-aware link is self-aware, and constantly thinking about its place in history.
² Yes, I'm aware that Seanan McGuire and Mira Grant are the same person. I could blame SF Squeecast again for this, but really I should be blaming J.C. Hay.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com