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[seekingferret.livejournal.com]

5)A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez

Martinez's fiction has thus far proved reliably entertaining. This is an inverted fantasy quest novel, with the titular witch serving as the protagonist and leader of a motley band of adventurers including a demonic duck, a troll, an animated broom, and... a white knight. This is the inversion I spoke of. Instead of having the manly-man, angsty white knight lead the quest, he serves as the love interest and sidekick to the witch, who is in fact nameless for most of the novel.

It's at times a funny novel, at times a scary novel, and at times it even gets fantasy- imagining new worlds- right. It is always a fun novel. And as with Gil's All-Fright Diner, it is particularly good at making sex funny.

Thumbs up, all around. I commented to someone recently that I've been enjoying 50Books_POC a lot, and reading a lot of great books, but it's almost all been 'good books'. When I want to shut off my brain, stop wrestling with Rushdie, and read something comfortable, silly, and plotted straightforwardly I keep defaulting to old pulp fiction by white writers. But Martinez works well in that vein. And when I returned to Midnight's Children today it rippled with a new freshness because of my time away.

tags: a:martinez a lee, latino/a, mexican-american, fantasy

Comments

[lynnet.livejournal.com]

You've described exactly my problem. I'd love to hear more suggestions of writers of color who write books that are just fun and comfortable. Most of my serious reading is writers of color, but serious reading is only about 25% of my total reading. I want to work more writers of color into my fluff reading.