Author: Christine Sandquist

Christine Sandquist is an NYC-based sensitivity/developmental editor and author assistant to writers such as Hugo Award Winner Mary Robinette Kowal, World Fantasy Award Winner Tobias S. Buckell, and SOVAS Award Finalist Cadwell Turnbull. They specialize in analyzing and providing feedback on works that include diverse, queer casts, representations of sexual trauma, and broader gender-based violence. They are part of the team behind Reddit r/fantasy, the internet’s largest discussion forum for the greater speculative fiction genre.

Black Flowers Blossom by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

January 17, 2020

If you ever wanted a love story across multiple reincarnations between an occult detective and a demon, well, here you have it folks. This is a beautifully realized, off-beat love story between two people with quite unusual tastes. As they connect and reconnect across their lives, their love grows ever deeper and ever stronger – two halves of the same rather unusual whole.  … More Black Flowers Blossom by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

The Dragon’s Banker by Scott Warren

January 14, 2020

The world presented in The Dragon’s Banker is one that fascinates, containing just enough information to set it apart, to spark curiosity, and make a reader desperate to learn more. Intricate, engaging world-building has always been a dear love of mine, and Warren more than satisfied on this front. He writes with a deft hand, with subtle mentions of wizard academies, alchemy, and dwarven vaults. However, what truly makes this book shine is the narrator and protagonist: a humble banker.  … More The Dragon’s Banker by Scott Warren

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

January 13, 2020

When I began reading The Vanished Birds, I was unsure what to expect. The blurb didn’t prepare me for the book’s content, and hardly brushed the primary themes. Jimenez explores not just the idea of a found family, but, more importantly, discusses the ways we can be driven to hurt those we love. He has written a severe, yet tasteful, critique of the idea that the ends can ever justify the means.  … More The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

A Personal Exploration of Sexual Assault and Trauma through Speculative Fiction – Pt. 2

January 9, 2020

I’ve started this second post so many times. I tried to decide: should I start with the man who raped me, who placed drink after drink into my hand and grabbed my arm and pulled me back when I tried to go home to get away from him? Should I start with the one who pressured me into sex acts when I was vulnerable, my self esteem at an all-time low? How about the serial abuser who “only” touched me once, when he did so much worse to other women? Or maybe the man who began to stalk me as soon as I told him I didn’t want to see him any more, who told me how attractive he found it when I was angry at him when he wouldn’t leave me alone? How about the coworker who put his hands on me, who told me how sexy he found me, told me he wanted to know “what made me tick”?  … More A Personal Exploration of Sexual Assault and Trauma through Speculative Fiction – Pt. 2

Exploring Sexual Trauma Through Speculative Fiction

January 8, 2020

This is Part 1 of series of deeply personal reflections on my own sexual assault, rape, and how they relate to the portrayal of rape and sexual assault in speculative fiction. This particular article will discuss a prolonged instance of childhood sexual assault. Future articles in this series will cover other trauma I experienced as an adult in college and beyond.  … More Exploring Sexual Trauma Through Speculative Fiction

The Shadow Saint by Gareth Hanrahan

January 2, 2020

The Shadow Saint is a devastatingly brilliant new installment in the Black Iron Legacy series by Gareth Hanrahan. Although the initial book, The Gutter Prayer, had a few weaknesses in the character development department, these were beautifully resolved and a complete nonissue in this sequel. Eladora is the primary focus of this novel, with Cari as a side character. Several new characters are also introduced: Alic, the spy, and Terevant, a man of Haith. As the Godswar closes in on Guerdon, the goals and aims of these three will align in unexpected ways. Fans of the worldbuilding from the previous novel won’t be disappointed; the expanded scope brings in a great deal of new information and helps fill in the cracks from the previous book.  … More The Shadow Saint by Gareth Hanrahan

Witchmark by C. L. Polk

January 1, 2020

Miles is the son of a politically connected mage who sits atop the secret magical hierarchy that keeps Aeland stable and functioning, but he is reluctant to “do his duty” to the family and take his place as a Secondary to his sister. In Aeland, Secondaries are mages who have less obvious talent despite having a large pool of innate magic; thus, they are magically bound as glorified thralls to their Primary mage. Witches, low-class mages, are “known” to go mad and are sent to insane asylums in the countryside. Given that Miles has shucked off his connections to his family name, he risks just that fate if anyone at his psychiatry practice discovers his magical aptitude. Although his family would protect him if he were found out, it would mean becoming his sister’s magical slave. … More Witchmark by C. L. Polk

Best of 2019

December 30, 2019

Well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it? Time for all the Best Of and Top Ten lists to begin poking their heads out to herald in not just a new year, but a new decade. 2019 was one hell of a busy one for me, having started it with a move across the country and some quite major changes in my personal life as well. It’s been one for the books, if you will. … More Best of 2019

Triton by Samuel R. Delany

December 23, 2019

Triton, also published under Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia, by Samuel R. Delany is one hell of a trip and surprisingly relevant to modern day discourse on gender and sex. Originally written as a response to Le Guin’s The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, Delany explores what it might be like to experience a progressive, open society as a very traditional, masculine male with conservative ideas about the roles and capabilities of men and women. Where Le Guin explored life as someone who is LGBT+ in a predominantly straight “utopia,” Delany explores the inverse. … More Triton by Samuel R. Delany

A Love Letter to Imaginary Worlds: The Prose of Science Fiction and Fantasy

December 19, 2019

SF&F has been filled with gorgeous, prosaic writing ever since its inception. To say otherwise is both myopic and factually incorrect. In the 1920s, we had Hope Mirlees. In the 40 and 50s, Mervyn Peake. In the 70s, we had Samuel R. Delany and Patricia McKillip. Janny Wurts entered the genre in the 80s. In more recent decades, voices such as Amal El-Mohtar and Sofia Samatar have made their debut. Today and throughout history, we have had multitudes of authors writing delightfully lyrical prose, every word, every phrase, every sentence forming a love letter to writing and the worlds we’ve created. … More A Love Letter to Imaginary Worlds: The Prose of Science Fiction and Fantasy