We now – unbelievably – have nine authors signed to Strange Chemistry, and we thought that you’d like to get to know them a little more through the books that they read. So we have taken an All About the Books meme that did the rounds a couple of years back through book blogs. We can’t seem to find who came up with this one and we’d like to credit them, so, if anyone knows who it was, please let us know!

First up is the lovely Martha Wells, the most recent addition to our family.

1) One Book That Changed My Life

Zelde M’Tana by F.M. Busby — I vividly remember the moment when I saw the cover faced out in our small local bookstore. It came out in 1980, when I was sixteen, and while I’m sure I had seen other covers by that point with female heroes, there was just something about this one. Zelde’s torn clothes say she has clearly been in a fight but she is looking directly into the viewer’s eyes, she has a gun in her hand, and she isn’t afraid or even angry, she is just grimly ready to take care of business. The book itself more than fulfills the promise of the cover. Zelde doesn’t have superpowers or magic to help her; she’s just an ordinary woman who starts out as a hunted runaway orphan on the streets, and ends up captain of a pirate spaceship.

2) One Book I’ve Had to Read More Than Once

I’ve read a lot of books more than once. I was one of those kids who read paperbacks until they fell apart, and checked out library books over and over again. One of my longtime favorites is Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. I love the mix of personalities that Harriet encounters, the poison pen attacks, Harriet’s reflections on her writing, on relationships.

3) One Book I’d Want on a Desert Island

I know it’s cheating but that would be the US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76.

4) One Book That Made me Laugh

Rivers of London (Midnight Riot) by Ben Aaronovitch — This is a great fantasy/mystery, and it’s also very funny. I also loved the second book, Moon Over Soho, and can’t wait for the third.

5) One Book That Made me Cry

A Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson — I didn’t read it until college, when it was assigned in a children’s literature class. I sobbed through the ending. I still can’t describe the plot to anyone without crying.

6) One Book I Wish I’d Written

Books that I really love aren’t generally books that I wish I’d written. I’m usually the most drawn to books that are written very differently from how I would have written them, that are unexpected and surprising and where I can’t guess which direction the plot is going to go. I guess I don’t read so much for the premise as for the author’s take on the premise.

I do wish I’d written The Da Vinci Code, because then I’d be rich.

7) One Book I Am Currently Reading

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin — I loved her first three books and I’ve been looking forward to this one.

8) One Book I Am Looking Forward To

Cold Steel by Kate Elliott — I loved the first two books in the trilogy, Cold Magic and Cold Fire, and can’t wait to find out what happens next.

We hope you enjoyed that!

Do leave some comments for Martha below – and please feel free to link us to you “All About the Books” if you want to continue the meme.