Dr. Phil's Dreamwidth Journal

Tangle Girls Continues To Be Reviewed

Just found a November 11th review of "Under Suspicion" and the Tangle Girls anthology by the website Dear Author.

Janine wrote:

Set on the spaceship Mastodon, “Under Suspicion” begins when a shipwide alarm sounds, alerting United Star Fleet Ensign Lily Branoch and her fellow crewmembers to an accident in the main hanger. In the process of helping to rescue people trapped under “cargotainers,” Lily encounters a beautiful marine whose name she doesn’t catch. She glimpses the woman again before she learns that she is Lt. Cruz-Ortega.

Lily is powerfully attracted to the woman, so much so that she can’t get the lieutenant out of her mind. But this distraction becomes a problem when Lily begins to suspect that the beautiful Daniella may be involved in a plot to smuggle weapons off the Mastodon. Could Daniella Cruz-Ortega’s lovely face be hiding treachery? And even if not, will Lily ever get up the gumption to ask her out?

“Under Suspicion” was an enjoyable story and it probably had the most relationship focus of any of the stories in this collection. Lily was likable and the enigmatic Daniella was compelling. The worldbuilding was solid and I liked the military atmosphere. My main complaint is that due to the nature of the plot, the relationship between the two women did not develop that much. Nonetheless it was fun, though I would have liked it to be a bit more substantial.

Overall grade for the anthology is a B-, with "Under Suspicion" getting a C+/B-.

Given that the reviewer was looking at this from a Romance point of view, I can appreciate that my story held back and ended before Lily and Daniella's relationship gets very far. So you won't see me complaining about my grade. (grin) Especially since I thought the reviewer did a superb job of describing and analyzing my story. (double-grin) And I cannot find fault with someone who puts my ship names in italics. (triple-word-score-grin)

Another reason to appreciate this review of Blind Eye Book's anthology Tangle Girls, is the lament in the comments section that they don't see enough f/f Romance fiction to review. So I call this a win all the way around.

Tangle Girls is available from Blind Eye Books and Amazon.com.

Dr. Phil

Tangle Girls Reviewed By Obsidianbooks.com

I always feel I have to apologize for Googling myself periodically, looking for reviews of my published works. But in 2009 it needs to be done.

Tonight I found Val Kovalin's review of the Tangle Girls anthology at Obsidianbookshelf.com. You can read the whole review of all the stories at that link. But I was touched by the comments about my story "Under Suspicion":

There is a lot to like about this straight-forward, unpretentious military space-opera...

Here at Obsidianbookshelf.com I also love how Lily and Daniella are just tiny cogs in this vast military bureaucracy. This is more realistic and more interesting than us readers sitting inside the head of an admiral. The sharp, perfectly placed details build an outstanding overall realism in this story. The lesbian relationship felt intrinsic to the solidly plotted story.

I like it when people get what I am trying to do with my stories. With comments like that and more, I can even forgive that "Under Suspicion" was second favorite behind Erin MacKay's "Cupcake". (grin)

Tangle Girls is available from Blind Eye Books and Amazon.com.

Dr. Phil

Tangle Girls Off To The Presses


A pleasant surprise tonight as I bopped over to Blind Eye Books and found that not only are they now taking pre-orders for Tangle Girls, but:

November 25, 2008: Tangle Girls is off to the printer's today!

We're happy to announce the imminent publication of Tangle Girls, our anthology of lesbian short speculative fiction. We've got a great line-up of authors and a beautiful cover by the inestimable Sam Dawson.

I am very proud of my story "Under Suspicion". For years I have been pondering a story about the difficulties about asking for a first date on a starship. When editor and 2004 Clarion classmate Nikki Kimberling first put out the call for stories for an anthology of gay and lesbian SF, I threatened to submit a lesbian first date Fleet story -- since Nikki gave me a hard time about my military SF at Clarion. She said "bring it on", with "Marine armor".

The other authors in the anthology? Well, I know two personally. J.D. Everyhope is a First Prize winner in the Writers of the Future Volume XXIV anthology and Tenea Johnson is also a 2004 Clarion workshop classmate. Both are extraordinary writers. And both helped edit "Under Suspicion". (grin)

Anyway, Tangle Girls -- coming out in December 2008 just in time for Christmas. For those who want to read something a little different.

Dr. Phil