Victoria M. Adams

@victoriamadams

Those em-dashes are all mine, my precious. We do not use the nasssssty AI because it stinks. Silly hobbitses

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Bluesky

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Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· 2d

In which I chatter about Jane Yolen's 'Touch Magic', why we tell the tales we tell, and family stories... www.instagram.com/p/DcExtVBjjVZ/

The cover of the book 'Touch Magic' by Jane Yolen, showing a painting of a child's hand and arm reaching up to touch an adult's hand, on a blue background. The subtitle is: 'Fantasy, Faerie and Folklore in the Literature of Childhood' and the description at the bottom reads: 'A righly expanded edition of the classic call-to-arms advocating the protection and preservation of traditional folk and fairy tales'

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jun 12

For the love of Jane Yolen... The people we admire most, those whose work inspires us, always seem to leave too soon. And so I light a candle in a metaphorical icon: this time for Jane Yolen, because her memory is really and truly a blessing. www.instagram.com/p/DZe9Xy2iKZA/

A photograph of several Jane Yolen picture books, including standing stones on the cover of 'Sacred Places', an illustration of a baby in a tree from 'The Girl Who Cried Flowers', and a picture from 'The Girl who Loved the Wind' showing a girl flying away on a scarf over a black sea.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jun 11

Ah, this one is hard. I owe a part of my writer soul to this great lady, who was always there, in the shelf, when I needed her. Vale Jane Yolen, go well. The world is a smaller place without you.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jun 6

With love and appreciation for someone whose story resonated with so many of us. www.instagram.com/p/DZP_rr3CGhu/

Cover of the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, showing a pink icon with a black and white image of a young girl, on a green background.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· May 30

I'm back with another book report on a new discovery (for me): Alex Peby's 'Mordew'. In brief: God is dead, and his rotting corpse animates the mud of the city of Mordew with flukes or half-living creatures. I enjoyed this but was a bit stumped by the ending: www.instagram.com/p/DY94bxqCHSN/

Cover of the book Mordew by Alex Pheby, showing a black and white pen and ink drawing of a city on several tiers, and a small boy looking up at a giant bird sitting on a wall

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Apr 1

Full moon hares by Sue Wookey

A painting by Sue Wookey of three hares running in a circular formation in the sky, in front of a full moon, ears touching. One hare is white, one camel-coloured and one brown. Outside the circle of sky are four trees depicted to reflect four seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jan 30

In a quest to understand the current political moment, I have returned to Peake. He doesn't disappoint: 'Saving this exception of the day of carvings, and the latitude permitted to the most peerless, there was no other opportunity for those who lived within the walls to know of these 'outer' folk'.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 31

Picture of the staff who operate my bluesky account...

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 23

A holiday greetings showing a fantasy painting of a woman with long plaits carrying a lantern and leading a raindeer

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 14

Just finished arranges Hardinge's glorious 'Fly By Night', about to start 'Twilight Robbery'!

The cover of Fly By Night By Frances Hardinge showing a goose in flight and feathers on a dark background

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 6

I had so much fun reading Frances Hardinge's 'Fly By Night'. More enthusiasm here: www.instagram.com/p/DR7RTaWCIAU/

Cover of Frances Hardinge's children's classic, 'Fly By Night', showing the title in white on a dark background with a picture of a goose in flight and floating feathers.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jun 21

Mood: cat refuses to cross the hot stone terrace.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jun 17

Some thoughts about recent reading ('Enlightenment', 'Orbital' - in passing) www.instagram.com/p/DK9p9Kko2ba/

Cover of 'Enlightenment' by Sarah Perry, showing a stylized picture of a comet with a white tail on a blue background with stars, orbital paths and an indistinct silhouette of a figure

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· May 30

An encounter with a marvellous book I should have read years ago... www.instagram.com/p/DKSKj5lokHy/

The cover for Louis Sachar's 'Holes', showing a silhouetted black lizard on a yellow background

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· May 12

Yup

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Apr 1

Rabbit, rabbit! It's April 1st, a great day to celebrate a great children's book: 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams. As a child, I wondered why anyone would write a story about rabbits. That was before I read it, obviously. It's about people. This book has never stopped teaching me about people.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Mar 19

Happy Nowruz! It's the Zoroastrian, Persian and Baha'i new year. Wherever you find Persians, you'll find Nowruz - the best spring festival. May blessings find you all this coming year. (This time, we didn't have a traditional feast but my husband made excellent fish cakes.)

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Feb 28

Reading Donne (thank you Katherine Rundell) and struck by this verse, which might be a send up of gen AI users, a few centuries in advance: But he is worst who, beggarly, doth chaw Others’ wits’ fruits, and in his ravenous maw Rawly digested doth those things outspew As his own things...

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Feb 4

In the midst of the dumpster fire that is currently the world, I deleted 2000 words of the wip and am pleased with the result. Half-pint miracles. Here. Have a picture of a beach in New Zealand to celebrate. No, I don't remember where it was. Seatoun? Red rocks? There may have been seals involved

Two children running on a beach in New Zealand with big sharp rocks in the background

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Jan 9

In a world on fire, the fate of one innocent might not register. But here she is. Mahvash Sabet has endured years of unjust imprisonment on trumped up charges. Now, after open heart surgery, she faces return to Evin. Please raise your voices today, 9th January to call for her release. #freemahvash

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 15

Book advent: The Tombs of Atuan. It's hard to choose just one of Le Guin's books. She was able to accompany me from childhood to adulthood, giving me exactly the right book at exactly the right time. I discovered A Wizard Of Earthsea aged 9. Then, I found Tenar... Together, we looked into the dark.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 14

Book advent: Finn Family Moomintroll. I think this was the first of Jansson's books I read though it isn't the first she wrote. It's the characters that stay with me, rather than the story. These are the first books that said: 'It's ok to be you, look: people are all different and worthy of love'.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 13

Book advent: Watership Down. Forget Oxford PPE - make your budding politicians read this book! It explores how badly traditional aristocracies, quasi-religious dystopias and totalitarian dictatorships do when faced with real existential threats. All through the eyes of... a bunch of rabbits. Genius.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 12

Book advent: The Borrowers. A fantasy that presents as a natural history! The concept of tiny people living under the floorboards, making a home out of old buttons, thimbles and other domestic minutiae, is so intoxicating to a child... again, the thought that you just. Might. Happen to see one...

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 11

Book advent: The Silver Chair. The Narnia series was hit and miss for me. I adored The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Magician's Nephew, while The Last Battle made me want to throw the book in the bin. The Silver Chair was the best - magical settings, jeopardy, a quest and of course Puddleglum!

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 10

Book advent: The Hobbit. The world-building that launched a thousand fandoms. Of course, what appealed to me, growing up with an Iranian family on an island in the Mediterranean, was the sheer exoticism. Bacon and eggs! Pork pies! Seed cakes! What was this extraordinary fare? Where could I find it?

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 9

Book advent: The Phantom Tollbooth. Legend holds that this book appears when you most need it, then disappears. Verified: I had a copy in childhood, which I loved. It disappeared. Later, I bought it for my daughter, who adored it. Then her copy disappeared. We bought another. THAT DISAPPEARED TOO...

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 8

Day 4 or 5-ish (yes, I've lost track): Tom's Midnight Garden. This book, people! As magical as Narnia and somehow more warm and vital, with a proper inter-generational friendship, an excellent approach to time travel, and the most grounded fantasy I have ever read. IT COULD BE REAL. Maybe it is!

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 7

Day 3: The Dark Is Rising. Myth, magic, arriving on one snowy winter's morning to change a young boy's life. There was something in this book that made me shiver and thrill... The old ones! Wild magic! Cooper along with Garner was the first writer who truly tapped into the fear and wonder for me.

Victoria M. Adams@victoriamadams· Dec 6

How did she do it? Sutcliff took me by the proverbial collar as a child reader, dumping me bodily into ancient Rome, or fifth century Britain, amid cold iron and muddy boots and straw that smelled of piss. And I loved it. Her Arthurian saga still grips me in a way no other retelling does.