Reading In a Post-Pandemic World

Posted by Augur Blog
On August 19, 2020

Hello, Augurians! We’re back with an exciting guest post from our friends at the Hugo Award–winning Uncanny Magazine. Read on for Managing Editor Chimedum Ohaegbu’s thoughts on reading about and during a pandemic. And when you’re done, check out Uncanny’s Year 7 Kickstarter. They have a great lineup of solicited contributors, such as Aliette de […]

Evoking Colour: The Importance of Writing for Racialized Women

Posted by Augur Blog
On January 29, 2020

By Maryam Gowralli As a writer motivated by how the creative process fuels poetry, and as I complete my creative-thesis application for graduate school, I recognize that once again I am that ethnic woman pursuing higher education in creative writing. Is it weird to feel displaced in one’s own body? Despite its problematic premise in […]

Rereading The Summer Tree: Looking Back and Looking Forward

Posted by Augur Blog
On January 20, 2020

By Marcie McCauley It was the year we would see how right George Orwell had been: 1984. Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” were playing on cassette. Swing Shift and Supergirl played in single-screen movie theatres. And Guy Gavriel Kay’s debut novel, The Summer Tree, beckoned readers to Fionavar. Feminists on the […]

Why Speculative Fiction is an Important Genre to Me

Posted by Augur Blog
On December 4, 2019

By Jorie Rao In college when my Literature professors asked which books were most significant to me, I’d known they were looking for an answer like Pride and Prejudice or Anna Karenina because, of course they were. They wanted something with literary merit to prove that I was deep and scholarly. They expected something literary […]

Rereading the Farseer Trilogy: Book II, Royal Assassin

Posted by Augur Blog
On October 9, 2019

By Mado Christie Before we get into the substance of this book I need to just point out the cover of this edition of Royal Assassin, because it is such a classic, over-the-top fantasy cover. That’s not to say it’s bad, it was just such a hilariously jarring moment to come across it again and […]

Re-reading The Farseer Trilogy: Book I, Assassin’s Apprentice

Posted by Augur Blog
On August 21, 2019

By Mado Christie When I set out to re-read Robin Hobb’s Elderlings saga, which is undeniably one of my favourite fantasy series of all time, it wasn’t from a purely positive place. First of all, the catalyst for my urge to revisit the series was the ending of the whole series, which left me with […]

A Bildungsroman for Othered Bodies

Posted by Augur Blog
On August 14, 2019

By Maryam Gowralli I would hazard to say that to most readers, the coming-of-age genre, also known to literary critics as the Bildungsroman, is familiar. By definition, the genre revolves around a protagonist who undergoes a journey from youth to adulthood. Such journeys lead to an individual’s moral and spiritual education, and ultimately, symbolizes the […]

The Pitfalls of the Strong Female Character

Posted by Augur Blog
On July 31, 2019

By Jorie Rao I’m not like other girls. I wear a leather jacket. I look perfect when I’m kicking butt. I like cars and weapons. I’m independent, yet soft enough that I don’t outshine men. I am the Strong Female Character. Or at least this is the way some writers represent strength in a female […]

Magic vs. Reality: The Totally Logical Guide to Magic Systems

Posted by Augur Blog
On June 7, 2019

By Jorie Rao I love the idea of magic so much that every time I pass by an odd looking tree or old piece of furniture, I touch it just in case it is a portal to another realm or a magical artifact that will endow me with powers. Hey, you never know, right? Growing […]

Gods and Disorders in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater

Posted by Augur Blog
On June 5, 2019

By Anna Bendiy Ada, the protagonist in Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel, Freshwater, is born “with one foot on the other side.” And as the hypnotic chorus of “We” comes to tell us, this means she will go mad. What follows is an intense and brutal journey of a woman who struggles to find her footing […]

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