Reading Pathways: Ursula Vernon, AKA T. Kingfisher

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Steph Auteri is a journalist who has written for the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Pacific Standard, VICE, and elsewhere. Her extra inventive work has appeared in Creative Nonfiction, beneath the gum tree, Poets & Writers, and different publications, and she or he is the Essays Editor for Hippocampus Magazine. Her essay, “The Fear That Lives Next to My Heart,” printed in Southwest Review, was listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2021. She additionally writes bookish stuff right here and on the Feminist Book Club, is the creator of A Dirty Word, and is the founding father of Guerrilla Sex Ed. When not working, she enjoys yoga, embroidery, singing, cat snuggling, and staring on the birds in her yard feeder. You can study extra at stephauteri.com and observe her on Insta/Threads at @stephauteri.

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I really feel as if everybody however me has identified about creator and illustrator Ursula Vernon since ceaselessly. As the girl behind a number of widespread youngsters’s guide collection, she has fairly the next.

But I solely stumbled upon her in 2020 once I learn a horror novel by T. Kingfisher. It turned out that T. Kingfisher and Ursula Vernon have been one and the identical and that everybody else already knew this. After another person made the connection for me, I realized that Vernon wrote youngsters’s books beneath her authorized identify and used T. Kingfisher for her grownup titles. What I’d quickly come to understand was that — grownup or youngsters’s guide — all the things she did was superior.

When I consider Vernon’s oeuvre, I consider Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice, saying, “I myself am strange and unusual.”

That’s how her books really feel to me. Odd little nuggets of darkish surrealism.

But on high of all that pleasant darkness, the Vernon/Kingfisher books even have such a unbelievable humorousness, largely of their character improvement. I’m going wild over how well-crafted her characters are and the way humorous they are often within the midst of literal horrors. Even when confronted with the kinds of issues that ought to make their minds snap, they proceed to crack sensible. It is that this sensibility that retains them collectively and in addition helps minimize the stress for readers. In reality, I’m all the time so gosh darn impressed with how good she is at utilizing her characters to create her personal pitch-perfect comedic horror vibe that she can also be the one creator to whom I’ve ever despatched a fan letter. I simply couldn’t assist myself.

Vernon/Kingfisher writes all the things from horror to fantasy to romance, however I’m scripting this as somebody who digs horror above all different issues, so my pathway displays that.

Okay, then. Let’s dig in.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

In this fun-as-heck horror novel, a younger girl discovers an odd portal in her uncle’s home, and it’s one which results in insanity and terror. I really feel that if I say far more than that, I’ll be giving all of it away. Anyway. This was the primary guide of Kingfisher’s I learn, and I used to be instantly dazzled by the combo of creepiness and humor. I declared her my new favourite creator and proceeded to learn all the things else of hers I may get my fingers on. This stays one in every of my favorites from her, and I discover it to be an ideal precursor to a few of her more moderen horror novels, like this 12 months’s A House with Good Bones. It simply establishes her specific tone as an creator, and if you happen to learn it and find it irresistible as I did, you’ll know you’re more likely to get pleasure from the rest she writes.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Once I used to be hooked on Kingfisher’s horror, I felt extra inclined to learn her fantasy, as talked about in my put up about fantasy books for individuals who don’t like fantasy books. (Hello. It’s me.) Luckily, Kingfisher does darkish fantasy, which seems to sufficiently fulfill my darkish, murky coronary heart. I used to be delightfully stunned to search out I truly loved this story of a princess decided to save lots of her older sister from an abusive prince. It helped that Kingfisher’s talent with character improvement and her humorousness remained absolutely intact. But what I beloved most about this guide is that it’s (as I stated earlier than) feminist AF, displaying that, with willpower, a lady can break the shackles that search to maintain her powerless within the face of highly effective males. Once I learn this darkish fantasy, I discovered myself extra inclined to delve into her again catalog of different fantasy titles.

Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible by Ursula Vernon

Once you’ve accepted Vernon/Kingfisher as your lord and savior, you’ll wish to share her work with everybody, together with your 8-year-old. There’s tons to select from, however I’m going to advocate the Hamster Princess collection, which consists of six titles that pubbed over the course of 4 years. What’s nice about these is that they take already acquainted fairy tales (like Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel) and switch them on their heads, pushing again towards conventional tropes just like the damsel in misery who waits to be saved by her dashing prince. In the primary guide, Harriet the Invincible, Vernon writes her personal tackle Sleeping Beauty, introducing us to Harriet, a hamster princess who desires nothing greater than to stay a lifetime of journey. And overlook about ready for another person to save lots of her. Harriet leads younger readers via the whole collection, offering what I believe is a unbelievable affect on youngsters who may in any other case be steeped in our tradition’s classes in gender norms.

Looking for extra really helpful titles from a few of our favourite authors? Check out Book Riot’s entire Reading Pathways collection. Or, for extra books that mess around with darkish fantasy (now that you simply’re clearly bought on the style), we have now this nice checklist of darkish fantasy titles that may enchant your life.

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