Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club

SUNSHINE
by
ROBIN McKINLEY
Sunshine USA cover Sunshine (2003)

Jove USA paperback
cover art by Erika Fusari
405 pages (left)

Bantam Press UK paperback
329 pages (right)		 Sunshine UK cover
From the back cover of the US paperback:
        There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it's unwise to walk.  But there hadn't been any trouble out at the lake for years, and Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts.  Vampires never entered her mind.
       Until they found her...

From the front flap of the hardcover edition:
        There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it's unwise to walk.  Sunshine knew that.  But there hadn't been any trouble out at the lake for years, and she needed a place to be alone for a while.
       Unfortunately, she wasn't alone.  She never heard them coming.  Of course you don't, when they're vampires.
       They took her clothes and sneakers.  They dressed her in a long red gown.  And they shackled her to the wall of an abandoned mansion - within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight.
       She knows that he is a vampire.  She knows that she's to be his dinner, and that when he is finished with her, she will be dead.  Yet, as dawn breaks, she finds that he has not attempted to harm her.  And now it is he who needs her to help him survive the day...

Read for group discussion on August 22, 2007
RATINGS:
How we each rated this book
Dan - Amy - stack of books 10   Wow! Don't miss it
8-9  Highly recommended
7    Recommended
5-6  Mild recommendation
3-4  Take your chances
1-2  Below average; skip it
0    Get out the flamethrower!
U    Unfinishable or unreadable
-    Skipped or no rating given
Cheri 8 Barb -
Aaron - Cynthia -
Jackie 8 Ron 7
Christine - Stephanie -
Patty 8.5
Our book group has read the following books by Robin McKinley
-- Blue Sword  in January 1996
-- The Hero and the Crown  in October 2006
Bibliography:
Robin McKinley (1952-    ) is a US writer residing in the UK.  She is married to writer Peter Dickinson.

Awards:
1985 Newbery Award for The Hero and the Crown
2004 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for Sunshine

Damar fantasy books:
-- The Blue Sword (1982), 1983 Newbery Honor Book
-- The Hero and the Crown (1984), 1985 Newbery Award Book

Other young adult books:
-- Dragonhaven (forthcoming, 2007)
-- Beauty : A Retelling of the Story of the Beauty and the Beast (1978)
-- Rowan (illustrated by Donna Ruff, 1992), children's book
-- The Stone Fey (illustrated by John Clapp, 1998), children's book

More books:
-- The Outlaws of Sherwood (1988)
-- Deerskin (1993), dark fantasy, based on Charles Perrault's "Donkeyskin"
-- Rose Daughter (1997), another telling of Beauty and The Beast
-- Spindle's End (2000), a retelling of Sleeping Beauty
-- Sunshine (2003), dark fantasy featuring vampires
-- Chalice (2008), a fantasy

Story collections:
-- The Door in the Hedge (1981)
-- A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories (1994)

Anthologies:
-- Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits (stories by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, 2002)
-- Imaginary Lands (edited by McKinley, 1985), which won a 1986 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology

Links:
Robin McKinley website
Robin McKinley - Wikipedia
Sunshine (book) - Wikipedia
The SF Site Featured Review: Sunshine
NESFA review: Sunshine -- Robin McKinley
Green Man Review: Robin McKinley, Sunshine

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 This page was last updated October 30, 2008