2006 Author Reviews for
juno_magic

Juno is not an author that I have read much of simply because her work is usually longer than I like to read. Imagine my joy at finding that a friend had written some shorter pieces on topics I enjoyed. And these are very *deep* pieces. I think that\'s what gets me so much. \"I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes\" not only develops a religion of Gondor and regional differences, but it gives us a hero who dares to go against the norm. That evoked a *squee* from me, but of a somber and academic sort (so much as a *squee* can be) -- she has taken many of my favourite ideas and built them into a fascinating story that hints at a whole world in a piece that didn\'t take a great effort to read. But thinking effort was another question. I found I couldn\'t get it out of my head for days. \"About Legends or Whisperings of Ghosts\" stands out similarly, but this time the question isn\'t rebelling against the religious norm, but about the trustworthiness of history. Both of these take a situation or premise that is far from common and turn it on its head, but never do so unconvincingly. That\'s not an easy feat, and I admire Juno for her success.

Juno Magic has an excellent narrator\'s voice, which she can use either in the form of a first-person perspective or as an \'extra-textual\' speaker who presents the story. Some writers who attempt this latter form of narration end up breaching the fourth wall in ways that hinder the story\'s unfolding and throw the reader out of step in a bad way. Juno Magic, however, avoids jarring her readers while still using this distancing, disembodied perspective to take the story to the reader. She thereby provides a unique perspectival slant, but does not limit herself to just that view, either, as she moves in and out, opening up space between the reader and the story or character and then closing with it or him or her again. It\'s an effective framing device. Strong characterizations throughout, Juno Magic picks up on the underwritten characters, or the characters whom we know must exist, but have no names or places within the story. This tendency, combined with the above narrative voice, allows her to draw what\'s outside of the main stories into them neatly and believably.

Juno is not an author that I have read much of simply because her work is usually longer than I like to read. Imagine my joy at finding that a friend had written some shorter pieces on topics I enjoyed. And these are very *deep* pieces. I think that\'s what gets me so much. \"I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes\" not only develops a religion of Gondor and regional differences, but it gives us a hero who dares to go against the norm. That evoked a *squee* from me, but of a somber and academic sort (so much as a *squee* can be) -- she has taken many of my favourite ideas and built them into a fascinating story that hints at a whole world in a piece that didn\'t take a great effort to read. But thinking effort was another question. I found I couldn\'t get it out of my head for days. \"About Legends or Whisperings of Ghosts\" stands out similarly, but this time the question isn\'t rebelling against the religious norm, but about the trustworthiness of history. Both of these take a situation or premise that is far from common and turn it on its head, but never do so unconvincingly. That\'s not an easy feat, and I admire Juno for her success.