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walkitoutBack in September, I started reading Jenny Schwartz novels via kindleunlimited.
https://walkitout.dreamwidth.org/2277975.html
I started sort of in the middle of a series. I refer to a certain segment of my reading as “trashy” and I mean that with love and respect. I co-opt the heck out of that term. It is reading purely for pleasure. For me, it isn’t fun if it aligns poorly with my values, so it can’t have people doing things I regard as evil. And it isn’t fun if the characters are tormented excessively, or if the end of the book is unsatisfactory, altho that’s a flexible term if I trust the author and it is a series entry and I expect satisfaction in a future book. Don’t abuse my trust!
Jenny Schwartz writes contemporary-ish paranormal romance, fantasy and science fiction in a range that includes near-ish term and far future. While the romance is much more front-and-center in some books than in others, dyadic relationships seem to always be present, generally in the context of a larger chosen family. Schwartz’ characters talk explicitly about the importance of empathy. The main characters often have cut ties with their family of origin. Generally, one or more members of the family of origin (a parent and/or a sibling) are also dead, even tho the character is of an age where that is not expected. In several books, a character has made a really major life change in the immediate wake of a failed romantic relationship, and is isolated in a context in which she doesn’t know anyone well.
I have now read all three Pax Galactica books, all 5 of the Xeno-Archaeologist books, the first of the Delphic Dame books, the first two “Old School”, the three “Uncertain Sanctuary books” and the two “Hidden Sanctuary” books.
Schwartz has an author website: https://authorjennyschwartz.com/
It is up-to-date, but somewhat minimalist by choice. She is a self-published author who writes prolifically. As with many genre authors, if you find them many books into their career, reading “forward” on the author timeline is a different experience than reading “backward”. As an example, I read “Snow Crash” by Stephenson and it was okay. I read “Zodiac” and loved it. After finally getting a copy of “The Big U”, I could see why the author was reluctant to allow it to be republished (altho I still enjoyed it). But reading his post-“Snow Crash” work left me largely bored and disengaged. (Altho maybe I should revisit that. Some Day.) More typically, when I encounter a prolific romance author mid-career and read forward until I run out, enjoying it immensely, when I read backwards, I hit older attitudes and tropes that horrify me. (This even happens with JAK, altho at this point, I’m so fascinated by the process of absorbing the total body of JAK’s work, that I find even the obnoxious books fascinating.) While I am not yet halfway through this author’s work, it seems clear that reading backwards is going to be in a direction of MF dyadic relationships in which I kinda dislike the man, edging into out and out rooting for her to ditch him and find a new partner.
In the Nora series, and in the most recent Pax Galactica series, Schwartz’s depiction of alien AI in the context of her front-and-center emphasis on empathy produces characters who are strongly connected to the woman protagonist, but not romantically. While I am only one book into the Delphic Dame series, a similar dynamic is developing there as well. The AI characters provide a lot of information to advance the plot, substantial resources and power, emotional connection and unyielding support. When the man in the dyad is lacking, his lack is more than made up for by the AI and/or in the relationship with the AI. Fortunately, the men in general do not seem to feel emotionally threatened by the AI (altho they are often extremely suspicious / skeptical), and over time they also connect emotionally producing a somewhat oddball, but endearing (and not kinky) triad.
Schwartz develops more characters than that humanoid dyad and ambulatory AI. These characters often appear in books of their own later / earlier in the series.
Characters in Schwartz books have gardens (the ones in space especially so!) and they eat fresh, home cooked food with enjoyment. The women protagonists enjoy preparing food to eat later, and they enjoy figuring out what they and the people they care about need to eat and drink to thrive and that process is an important component of the storytelling. I cannot emphasize how much I love this.
Characters in Schwartz books need nurturing, and they want to nurture others. Orphan characters appear in at least two series. The protagonists bond over their efforts to effectively parent children whose biological parents have died traumatically. While dealing with major problems of their own, they prioritize ensuring the safety and support of these children, and that extends to ensuring they have a larger network of caring adults involved in the child’s life that are also prioritizing the care and support of the children.
Characters in Schwartz books talk explicitly about difficult periods in their lives before the story begins, and have difficult, emotional conversations about earlier choices that led them to the Now of the book. They mostly make an effort to be validating and emotionally supportive through expressions of love and support, through non-sexual comforting touch and through acknowledging the difficulty of those earlier periods. But they also push each other to consider the “bad guy’s” point of view in those earlier conflicts and to consider what the protagonist did to contribute to that earlier conflict, as well as alternate roads not taken, and how lessons from those earlier painful episodes might contribute to better solutions in the present and future within the storyline. If you are thinking, hey, walkitout is describing bildungsroman, you are not wrong.
As my friend K noted, there’s a lot about this author’s work that is 100% what I love in pleasure reading. (I mean, if you go look at that list up there, it’s 15 books in a little over a month so, yes, obviously, either I love reading this stuff or I truly hate myself and I don’t hate myself.) If you think that this is a thing you might like, I highly recommend. If you read this and go, why on earth would anyone read anything like that, well, find something else I guess.
https://walkitout.dreamwidth.org/2277975.html
I started sort of in the middle of a series. I refer to a certain segment of my reading as “trashy” and I mean that with love and respect. I co-opt the heck out of that term. It is reading purely for pleasure. For me, it isn’t fun if it aligns poorly with my values, so it can’t have people doing things I regard as evil. And it isn’t fun if the characters are tormented excessively, or if the end of the book is unsatisfactory, altho that’s a flexible term if I trust the author and it is a series entry and I expect satisfaction in a future book. Don’t abuse my trust!
Jenny Schwartz writes contemporary-ish paranormal romance, fantasy and science fiction in a range that includes near-ish term and far future. While the romance is much more front-and-center in some books than in others, dyadic relationships seem to always be present, generally in the context of a larger chosen family. Schwartz’ characters talk explicitly about the importance of empathy. The main characters often have cut ties with their family of origin. Generally, one or more members of the family of origin (a parent and/or a sibling) are also dead, even tho the character is of an age where that is not expected. In several books, a character has made a really major life change in the immediate wake of a failed romantic relationship, and is isolated in a context in which she doesn’t know anyone well.
I have now read all three Pax Galactica books, all 5 of the Xeno-Archaeologist books, the first of the Delphic Dame books, the first two “Old School”, the three “Uncertain Sanctuary books” and the two “Hidden Sanctuary” books.
Schwartz has an author website: https://authorjennyschwartz.com/
It is up-to-date, but somewhat minimalist by choice. She is a self-published author who writes prolifically. As with many genre authors, if you find them many books into their career, reading “forward” on the author timeline is a different experience than reading “backward”. As an example, I read “Snow Crash” by Stephenson and it was okay. I read “Zodiac” and loved it. After finally getting a copy of “The Big U”, I could see why the author was reluctant to allow it to be republished (altho I still enjoyed it). But reading his post-“Snow Crash” work left me largely bored and disengaged. (Altho maybe I should revisit that. Some Day.) More typically, when I encounter a prolific romance author mid-career and read forward until I run out, enjoying it immensely, when I read backwards, I hit older attitudes and tropes that horrify me. (This even happens with JAK, altho at this point, I’m so fascinated by the process of absorbing the total body of JAK’s work, that I find even the obnoxious books fascinating.) While I am not yet halfway through this author’s work, it seems clear that reading backwards is going to be in a direction of MF dyadic relationships in which I kinda dislike the man, edging into out and out rooting for her to ditch him and find a new partner.
In the Nora series, and in the most recent Pax Galactica series, Schwartz’s depiction of alien AI in the context of her front-and-center emphasis on empathy produces characters who are strongly connected to the woman protagonist, but not romantically. While I am only one book into the Delphic Dame series, a similar dynamic is developing there as well. The AI characters provide a lot of information to advance the plot, substantial resources and power, emotional connection and unyielding support. When the man in the dyad is lacking, his lack is more than made up for by the AI and/or in the relationship with the AI. Fortunately, the men in general do not seem to feel emotionally threatened by the AI (altho they are often extremely suspicious / skeptical), and over time they also connect emotionally producing a somewhat oddball, but endearing (and not kinky) triad.
Schwartz develops more characters than that humanoid dyad and ambulatory AI. These characters often appear in books of their own later / earlier in the series.
Characters in Schwartz books have gardens (the ones in space especially so!) and they eat fresh, home cooked food with enjoyment. The women protagonists enjoy preparing food to eat later, and they enjoy figuring out what they and the people they care about need to eat and drink to thrive and that process is an important component of the storytelling. I cannot emphasize how much I love this.
Characters in Schwartz books need nurturing, and they want to nurture others. Orphan characters appear in at least two series. The protagonists bond over their efforts to effectively parent children whose biological parents have died traumatically. While dealing with major problems of their own, they prioritize ensuring the safety and support of these children, and that extends to ensuring they have a larger network of caring adults involved in the child’s life that are also prioritizing the care and support of the children.
Characters in Schwartz books talk explicitly about difficult periods in their lives before the story begins, and have difficult, emotional conversations about earlier choices that led them to the Now of the book. They mostly make an effort to be validating and emotionally supportive through expressions of love and support, through non-sexual comforting touch and through acknowledging the difficulty of those earlier periods. But they also push each other to consider the “bad guy’s” point of view in those earlier conflicts and to consider what the protagonist did to contribute to that earlier conflict, as well as alternate roads not taken, and how lessons from those earlier painful episodes might contribute to better solutions in the present and future within the storyline. If you are thinking, hey, walkitout is describing bildungsroman, you are not wrong.
As my friend K noted, there’s a lot about this author’s work that is 100% what I love in pleasure reading. (I mean, if you go look at that list up there, it’s 15 books in a little over a month so, yes, obviously, either I love reading this stuff or I truly hate myself and I don’t hate myself.) If you think that this is a thing you might like, I highly recommend. If you read this and go, why on earth would anyone read anything like that, well, find something else I guess.