Oh no, where did July go? The summer is flying by and I am Not Ready for autumn. Must eat more ice cream before September. Must take more walks. Must see Shakespeare in High Park. Must write more words…okay, scratch that last one. Summer is not great for productivity. Too many competing desires, mostly revolving around the weather.

I popped in here to say that I am going to be teaching a class on Worldbuilding in Science Fiction and Fantasy this Saturday at the 2019 Toronto Writing Workshop. Worldbuilding is my favorite part of any project – possibly the reason I was drawn to the SFF genre in the first place – so I’m looking forward to this. If you’re going to be there, I look forward to seeing you! If not, I may at some point post my lesson plan and exercises.  Meanwhile, here is my recommended reading list along with genre.

Recently published books with awesome worldbuilding

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin (science fantasy)

The Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee (space opera)

Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers (space opera)

Monstress written by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Sana Takeda (fantasy comic series)

A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar (fantasy)

The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman (portal fantasy, magic)

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo (YA, fantasy)

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (fantasy)

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (literary science fiction, post-apocalyptic)

The City & the City by China Miéville (weird fiction)