Kay Taylor Rea

Heyyyyy, long time no see. ::taps mic:: This thing still on? So. 2017 is certainly a thing that is happening. Sorry I've been so MIA here, though I have been fairly busy elsewhere.

The new year saw me: spending vast quantities of time on the phone to my congressmen; starting Sisterhood of the Traveling Paperbacks, a book club podcast I co-host with my dear friends/talented booktubers Chelsea and Claire; continued posts over at Book Riot; freaking out about the various award nods to works published in Uncanny Magazine, the SFF mag I'm a submissions editor for; and, most relevant to this post, I've continued on my saga of tweeting a Star Trek fanfiction rec every day until the new series airs aka The Trek Rec a Day Project.

For those of you who don't follow me on twitter (you totally should, I basically live there: kaytaylorrea) , my The Trek Rec a Day Project started wayyyy back in August of 2016 as a way to combat some negativity surrounding the upcoming addition to the franchise, Star Trek: Discovery. One fic rec a day didn't seem like too much to ask, especially considering I've been regularly reading Trek fic for a few years, now. Except then the premiere date was pushed. And then pushed again. And now we're expecting the show to air sometime either in the late summer or fall of this year. So. I'm planning to cap this project at 365 recs if we still don't have an air date, or try to make it to the premiere if it's within a few weeks of the 365 day (which I think is August 11? Don't quote me on that, though).

In the meantime! I wanted to point y'all in the direction of my recs, which are currently living on Twitter in three Moments, because apparently Moments go bananas if you put more than 100 tweets in one. Part I, Part II, and Part III. I'm slowing working on a ridiculously long masterpost in the format I use here on the blog, which I intend to post on premiere day (or day 365, depending).

I'm going to try to get back to more regular posts here, or at least giving you a heads up when I have stuff going on elsewhere. Happy super belated New Year, everyone!

It all went wrong on a Thursday afternoon when my girl Chelsea asked, 'author recs? People you read, regardless of fandom? PS: Thanks for being my human fic database.'

Admittedly, I am a good person to ask. I have a habit of picking up new fandoms by following authors, but I'm also a dangerous person to ask. For the same reason, obviously. Here's a rundown of excellent fic writers I've followed between fandoms. Note that I'm listing the fandoms I've read; most of them have written in others. (PS If any of you are reading this THANKS FOR ALL THE GREAT READS.)

( hahaha this list is RIDICULOUSLY LONG )

It's my third Fic Rec Monday installment of the Favorite Authors Project, where I put together a rec list with works by specific fic writers instead of by theme or fandom. This week we're talking about astolat, who has been writing in most of my favorite fandoms for years (and also helped found the AO3, so whoo!) and still manages to do that while vidding as well as writing and publishing original work. Some people just don't sleep, I guess?

I'm sharing twenty-five of my favorite fics by astolat. (Keep in mind these are just my favorites. They also fic for fandoms I don't read often, like: Bandom, Supernatural, Person of Interest, etc.) Enjoy!
( Read more... )

Okay, friends. I am a huge Harry Potter fan. This is maybe an understatement and also probably news to no one. You are also probably a huge Harry Potter fan. I was really excited about Cursed Child. And I just finished rereading the entire series (for the first time since Deathly Hallows came out because THAT EPILOGUE WAS A GREAT BIG PILE OF NO) so the bar was pretty low considering Deathly Hallows is my least favorite and I was just excited for new Harry Potter.

Friends. Friends this is not good. Below the cut are the reactions I had while reading, uncensored and unedited.
( abandon all hope, ye who enter here )

2016 is a massively ridiculous year. My older sister had her baby just after Christmas, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with my adorable nephew and helped them move house. My little sister’s getting married in the fall (this is surely impossible, as they are so young OHMYGOD). I've flown up to Idaho twice, once for a wedding and once for a funeral. I’m still chugging my way through school and I’ll be graduating roughly around the heat death of the universe. Day job is closing for renovation next week, so I’m being shifted to another location (and also looking for something better and closer to home, because no thank you). I’ve joined the teams over at Panels and Book Riot and I’m continuing to tame the slush as a submissions editor for Uncanny Magazine.

Somewhere in there I found a little bit of time to read. A few of my favorite 2016 books aren’t actually out yet, so know that there are definitely going to be some fall/winter releases on my end of year list.

Top Five Books Published in 2016

1. Poison or Protect by Gail Carriger
2. Bloodline by Claudia Gray
3. Lois Lane: Double Down by Gwenda Bond
4. Moonlight Over Paris by Jennifer Robson
5. All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Top 15 Books Not Published in 2016 (includes rereads, obviously)

1. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
3. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen
6. Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
7. Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
8. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
9. The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig
10. Feed by Mira Grant
11. The Storied Life of AJ Fickry by Gabrielle Zevin
12. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
13. A Trifle Dead by Livia Day
14. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
15. Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond