About

Nicole Lisa writes fantasy and occasionally blogs. She tries hard to write every day, but doesn’t believe that’s the right way for every writer.

In 2015, Nicole re-located from NYC to Bangkok, Thailand, for her job. She still spends her days as a technical editor, attempting to parse the meaning of texts written by committee in what non-native English speakers imagine is English. At night, she happily plays fast and loose with the grammar rules she imposes on others.

She is a graduate of Viable Paradise 16.

Favorite reads in 2018.

Rogue Protocol and Exit Strategy by Martha Wells, Circe by Madeline Miller, The Inconvenient God by Francesca Forrest and The Lilies of Dawn by Vanessa Fogg. Non-fiction: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns (but not the sections on anger and criticism, which were affluent white man creepy).

Favorite reads in 2017.

Fiction: My Life with the Liars by Caela Carter (a middle grade novel about growing up in a cult–absolutely amazing), Islamicates Volume I: Anthology of Science Fiction short stories inspired by Muslim cultures edited by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad, What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold (totally brutal and real), All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta, and The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales (Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar still slays me, whenever I think about it. This fairy tale was made for me.)

Non-fiction: Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang, The Delicacy and Strength of Lace: Letters Between Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright by Leslie Marmon Silko (I still haven’t been able to finish this because James Wright dies of cancer while they’re corresponding and I couldn’t stop sobbing), The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward, and White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson (this made me shake with rage at my fellow white people).

Favorite reads in 2016. Another fantastic year for books.

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows was hands down my most favorite–portal fantasy grows up and grapples with the issues inherent to many earlier iterations, like racism, Eurocentrism, colonialism, etc., A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson, A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P.D. Clark, Dawn by Octavia Butler (superb but oh the body horror), Black Wolves by Kate Elliott, and Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley (more portal fantasy, all grown up). Non-fiction: The Silent Language by Edward T. Hall (published in 1965, a breakdown of the constituent parts of culture),.

Favorite reads in 2015. This was a great year for reading.

In YA: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan (for a value of favorite that involves an ever-increasing feeling of horror), Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, The Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, Inside Out and Back Again by Thannha Lai, I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Fire in the Streets by Kekla Magoon, Court of Fives by Kate Elliott, Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older, Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee, and The Classy Crooks Club by Alison Cherry (this last is cheating since I read it in manuscript but it’s out now and you can read it too).

In adult: Ammonite by Nicola Griffin, Hellspark by Janet Kagan (possibly one of my favorite books of all time now), Drinking Sapphire Wine by Tanith Lee (this book is bizarre in every way), The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, The Fifth Season and the Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin, Planetfall by Emma Newman, The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett (this historical took a lot of perseverance) and Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.

Favorite reads in 2014: Wildlife by Fiona Wood, Earthgirl by Janet Edwards, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison and The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein

Favorite reads in 2013: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (for a value of favorite that involves waking up in the night sobbing)

Favorite reads in 2012: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman

Recent favorites: Ash and Adaptation by Malinda Lo, Unspoken and Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, The Cold Magic books by Kate Elliott, Silence by Michelle Sagara, Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones

Classic favorites: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, The Riddle-Master of Hed trilogy by Patricia McKillip, The Homeward Bounders by Diana Wynne Jones, The Wizard of Earthsea trilogy (especially The Tombs of Atuan) by Ursula LeGuin, The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett, Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

Some current favorite authors: Kate Elliott, Malinda Lo, Martha Wells, Carol Berg, Lois McMaster Bujold

Childhood influences: Patricia McKillip, Robin McKinley, Ursula LeGuin

The one book I wish I had never been forced to read: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Books I am glad I was forced to read but will probably never read again: Moby Dick and Wuthering Heights

Gems of assigned reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, Sula by Toni Morrison and Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko