My project for National Novel Writing Month is finally complete! Capping out at over 57,000 words, Hogwarts Department of Human Resources is a Harry Potter fanfiction novel that images what would happen if, after the conclusion of the Harry Potter novels, Hogwarts finally established an HR department. Read all 30 chapters for free on Archive of our Own using the following link. Enjoy!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/35453086/chapters/88371739
This is a post I should have made at the beginning of November, but am finally getting around to now! This year, I decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month, and I am happy to announce that I did hit my 50,000 word count and finished the project I set out to write. Unfortunately, this meant that I have not yet finished a single book this month, which is why there have not been any book reviews all November. I am very close to finishing the book I’ve been reading, Cast in Secrets and Shadow, by Andrea Robertson, and will have that review up in early December.
This past summer, I went to go see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the Hollywood Bowl with some friends, and the events of that movie made us realize that so many conflicts in the Harry Potter universe could have been avoided simply with background checks, verifying references, and other basic hiring practices. With that conversation fresh in my mind, I decided to write a Harry Potter fanctiction novel for nanowrimo this year, resulted in Hogwarts Department of Human Resources.
I will be posting Hogwarts Department of Human Resources on Archive of Our Own (also known as Ao3), by the end of the week for all to read. Expect another post with the link when that happens!
For now, please enjoy this excerpt–Chapter 3: The Muggle Life of Jasmine Sunder.
Lamps Lamps Lamps was not a large company. Nor was it a small company by any means. Rather, Lamps Lamps Lamps was perfectly situated right in the middle. Just small enough to fall under the radar when people decided to protest sexual harassment of low pay, but just large enough to have general brand awareness. Everyone had heard of Lamps Lamps Lamps, even if it took them several minutes to remember which exact company it was, and, even then, they only knew of it as a series of retail stores, completely ignoring the big new website that had been set up. So, Lamps Lamps Lamps was neither a small nor a large company, which was exactly how Jasmine Sunder liked it.
Continue reading “National Novel Writing Month Announcement and Excerpt”As it says in the title, my review for Alina Boyden’s wonderful fantasy novel, “Stealing Thunder,” will be up tomorrow. It took me all month to get through this book, not because of the book itself or its length, but because of my own fatigue.
There is a lot of awfulness happening in the world, from an atrocious pandemic response to the constant police violence against Americans to J.K. Rowling revealing herself to be a raging transphobe. It’s a lot to take in, and it makes it difficult to enjoy the things I would normally enjoy, such as reading. Every time I picked up the book, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why am I reading when I should be doing something more?”
But it was important to me to finish “Stealing Thunder” and get the post up as soon as possible. This is a novel written by a trans woman author, about a trans woman heroine. Plus, it has some pretty cool fantasy aerial dogfights.
We need more books like this to go mainstream.
I already have the next two books on my list picked out, and I will try to get back on my schedule of reading/reviewing two to three books a month.
This blog believes that black lives matters and trans rights are human rights.
Tomorrow morning I will be posting a review of James S. A. Corey’s Tiamat’s Wrath, book 8 in one of my favorite works of modern science-fiction, The Expanse. This eventual 9 book series has been released almost every year since 2011, and even spawned The Expanse tv series, recently purchased by Amazon. As this review is concerning a sequel, much of what I discuss may not make sense to someone who is not familiar with the story. Unfortunately, this is not a series I would recommend jumping into partway through.
If you have not read The Expanse series yet, I highly suggest catching up on this excellent work of science-fiction. I consider this series to be one of the defining works of modern science-fiction. To see my thoughts on the series until now, check out my previous posts “2017 Reading List Part 5” which talks about the first 6 books in the series, and “The Art of Empire Building,” my review of book 7.
https://cityonthemoonblog.com/2017/12/15/2017-reading-list-part-5/
I am very excited to say that the next book I am reviewing is The Dreaming Stars, by Time Pratt Time Pratt. This is the sequel to his wonderful science-fiction adventure, The Wrong Stars, which is the second book I ever reviewed on this blog. The second book in a burgeoning space opera, I am excited to see what happens to Captain Callie Machedo and Dr. Elena Oh after their discovery of the Axiom, the demi-god aliens sleeping in the dark corners of the universe.
While you’re waiting for my review of The Dreaming Stars, go catch up on The Wrong Stars and my review, Instructions Not Included. If you love science-fiction, this is a can’t-miss series!
Last week was a busy week here on City on the Moon. I reviewed the entire Wayward Pines trilogy, a series of novels by Blake Crouch written several years ago. After reading three books in around a week and half, I needed a break. As much as I love reading and writing these reviews, it can be difficult to balance that with a full-time job and other hobbies. But I try my best to find and read and recommend books to you all.
All that aside, it seems my break lasted less than a week. I picked up John Grisham’s The Rooster Bar today. Couldn’t help myself. I have not even started reading yet, but I can say that this will be the subject of my next review. It is a return to the legal thriller after publishing Camino Island, which I read last year and mentioned in one of my reading lists. This time around, Grisham dives into the scams that are for-profit law schools, and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.
Check back in next week for my full review. Happy reading!
As you may have noticed, I tend to post one book review roughly every two weeks; more frequently if I burst through a novel. The Wayward Pines trilogy is one series that just seems to speed by. I finished Pines, the first novel, in four days. I finished reading Wayward, the second novel, today. It took another four days. At this rate, I’ll have finished The Last Town, the final novel in the trilogy by the end of the week.
This is going to be a busy week here on City on the Moon. Where Paradise is Home, my review of Pines, went up this morning. Expect a review of Wayward to go up tomorrow morning, and a review of The Last Town Friday morning.
Happy reading!
The Witcher world, created by Andrzej Sapkowski, spans two collections of short stories, a five novel series, and a trilogy of video games. To even the most avid reader and gamer, this is a lot of story to consume. The series follows Geralt of Rivia. Geralt is a witcher, a type of human mutant, enhanced through magic and medicine to fight the monsters that plague the continent on which the tales take place. He is friends with a world-renowned poet and bar, the lover of a powerful sorceress, and adopted father of a princess without a kingdom.
As it turns out, The Wise Man’s Fear, sequel to Patrick Rothfuss’ excellent debut novel The Name of the Wind, is roughly 1,000 pages long. Unfortunately, that means there will likely be no review this week. I try to post a review every two weeks as I finish each book, but The Wise Man’s Fear requires more of my time. Expect my post closer to memorial day, and enjoy the long weekend!
As a bonus to make up for the delay, I will also read and post a mini-review of Rothfuss’ The Slow Regard of Silent Things, a novella following the daily life of one of Kvothe’s friends when she’s not around him, before the end of May.
In the meantime, go ahead and catch up with my review of The Name of the Wind. I cannot recommend it enough.
For anyone who read my last review, “Solve for Fate,” I originally announced the next review will be about The Body Library, by Jeff Noon. That was before I randomly came across The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. A 700-page fantasy tome, this novel drew me in immediately and has not let me go since. I am setting aside The Body Library for now, but I will come back to it after tomorrow’s review!
City on the Moon 