The Irresponsible Reader

I was really happy that I’d finally completed the TBR for March–the first of the year. And then on the first, I realized that I only read 1 of the 3 Picture Books that I’d picked. Ugh. So, sure…let’s follow it up with the most ambitious TBR of the year (to date). Seems like a great plan, right?

Anyhow…here’s the goal for the month.

Book of Spores

edited by Frasier Armitage, Eleni Argyró, Adrian M. Gibson & Ed Crocker

ACROSS DIMENSIONS, IT CREEPS AND CONSUMES.

Hidden in the vaults of a world-spanning library lie the records of a mysterious book, one made of mold and magic. Varied accounts of its existence remain scattered throughout the multiverse, but when an archivist attempts to bring its pages together, she will learn how dangerous a book—and her own ambitions—can be . . .

A mind-altering fantasy, science fiction, and horror anthology, The Book of Spores collects seventeen strange stories by authors from the FanFiAddict book blog and SFF Addicts Podcast, including M. J. Kuhn, Greta Kelly, Adrian M. Gibson, Krystle Matar, C.M. Caplan, Emma L. Adams, Ryan Kirk, Kaden Love, Adam Bassett, Tom Bookbeard, A.J. Calvin, Harry Chilcott, C.J. Daley, Tori Gross, D.B. Rook, Eleni Argyró, Frasier Armitage, and Will Swardstrom. Prepare for your imagination to be colonized by The Book of Spores.


Also features an introduction by the father of fungalpunk, Adrian M. Gibson.

The list of authors grabbed my attention–and while I find the fungalpunk settings inexplicably unnerving. But I’m so eager to start this.

Extra Yarn

by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen

A young girl and her box of magical yarn transform a community in this stunning picture book. With spare, gently humorous illustrations and a palette that moves from black-and-white to a range of color, this modern fairy tale has the feel of a new classic.

This sounds like fun. Hope it lives up to the premise.

Guns of Brixton

by Paul D. Brazill

"A darkly comic crime story where everything that can go wrong does."

New Year in London, and everything’s gone straight to hell.

Bernie Lugg’s just blown Half-Pint Harry’s brains all over a lock-up floor. Sid Carter, his partner in crime, is helping him clean up the mess. And Charles Goode, middle-aged, middle-class, and mid-hangover, has just taken a wrong turn into their world of gangsters, guns, and chaos.

Before long, a suitcase everyone wants goes missing, a corpse no one wants keeps turning up, and the streets of South London turn into a darkly comic carnival of bad timing and worse decisions.

Guns of Brixton is a hard-boiled black comedy packed with crooked cops, washed-up crooks, and the kind of dialogue that snaps like a switchblade.

There’s nothing in this premise that makes me think I’m not going to have a blast with this one. Brazill’s been on my “to read” list for too long. Time to cross him off of that.

Paranormal Payback

edited by Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes

In this short story collection, our heroes get what’s due to them—with a supernatural flair.

But the injustices that have been holding them back might cost them more than they realized. . . . 

In “Mister Petty,” a brand-new Dresden Files story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher, a woman hires Goodman Grey to get back at her cheating husband. She’s about to find out that Grey isn’t your ordinary detective—he’s a professional monster. And he’s going to balance the scales.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, “Dying Isn’t Just for the Young” follows an elderly widow reckoning with family scheming to take away her independence in a world infected by a disease of vampirism.

New York Times bestselling author Faith Hunter’s “Razors and Revenge” finds the vampire bounty hunter Shiloh awaiting her judgement at the hands of the Dark Queen, fresh off a brutal werewolf attack and the loss of a dear friend. But Shiloh’s not just a vampire anymore—and the wolfish instincts growing inside her are howling for blood.

And Kim Harrison takes us to the #1 New York Times bestselling series of the Hollows in her story “Dog-eared.” The demon Algaliarept makes a bargain with the dangerously insane Newt, the last female demon, to punish an arrogant wizard for abusing his precious magical texts—but how ruthless is Al willing to be to get his petty vengeance?

ALSO INCLUDES STORIES BY Jennifer Blackstream * Maurice Broaddus * Delilah S. Dawson * Kevin Hearne * Tanya Huff * Kerrie L. Hughes * R. L. King * R.R. Virdi

I’m about 1/3 of the way through this collection of revenge tales–and it’s entirely satisfying so far (and not all the stories are going how I expected). I’ve already got one author listed as someone I should look into more–I wonder if my TBR is going to survive the whole book.

This Story Might Save Your Life

by Tiffany Crum

Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire.

The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny is desperate to find them, even when the police soon zero in on him as their prime suspect.

Millions of devoted listeners think they know the “real” Benny and Joy. But as the hours tick by, and the odds seem increasingly stacked against Joy and Xander being found alive, not even the most devoted fans could guess the terrible secrets their favorite famous BFFs have hidden from the world—and from each other.

This is either going to be a blast, or something that leaves me cold. I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be just one or the other. Looking forward to finding out which (or if I’m wrong).

Worse than a Lie

by Ben Crump

It’s the night of November 4, 2008. America’s first Black president has just been elected. And fifty-three-year-old Hollis Montrose—a Black ex–police officer from the suburbs of Chicago—has become the latest victim of a brutal attack. As the result of a traffic stop gone wrong, Hollis is shot ten times in cold blood, by four white men who could have been his colleagues back in his police days.

Beau Lee Cooper was born serious, as if on an urgent mission with little time to waste. Raised in the tumultuous world of 1970s Texas, he always dreamed of becoming a lawyer and fighting for what’s right, ever since he was a little boy reading To Kill a Mockingbird. And now, ten years into running his own law firm with his best friend and partner in crime, Nelson “Nellie” Rivers, and his suave right-hand-man, Brent “Cape” Capers, he feels he’s finally making a difference. When Beau Lee learns about Hollis’s situation, he’s determined to help.

Miraculously, Hollis survives the encounter, but the Chicago police department has already spun the narrative in its favor, and Hollis is given a wrongful prison sentence with an unreasonable bail. What really happened that night the car was pulled over? Was it random or was Hollis targeted? Beau Lee knows he’s treading in dangerous waters, and finding evidence of the truth will be his biggest challenge yet, but with troubling powers at play, one innocent man’s life hangs in the balance. 

Crime Fiction that wears its social commentary on its sleeve (I’d contend that 98% of all Crime Fiction contains some social commentary–not all of it comes right out about it like this one). Even if I find the approach problematic (I should stress that I don’t expect Crump to take that approach), or disagree with the commentary, I relish going through it.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

by Seth Dickinson

Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up and see red sails on the horizon.

The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and lies. They will conquer Baru’s island, rewrite her culture, criminalize her customs, and dispose of one of her fathers. But Baru is patient. She'll swallow her hate, join the Masquerade, and claw her way high enough up the rungs of power to set her people free.

To test her loyalty, the Masquerade will send Baru to bring order to distant Aurdwynn, a snakepit of rebels, informants, and seditious dukes. But Baru is a savant in games of power, as ruthless in her tactics as she is fixated on her goals. In the calculus of her schemes, all ledgers must be balanced, and the price of liberation paid in full.

I’m just trusting in the taste of the Shared Stories‘ manager for picking this for the Book Club. It sounds interesting, but probably not something I’d have picked for myself.

Winterset Hollow

by Jonathan Edward Durham

Everyone has wanted their favorite book to be real, if only for a moment. Everyone has wished to meet their favorite characters, if only for a day. But be careful in that wish, for even a history laid in ink can be repaid in flesh and blood, and reality is far deadlier than fiction . . . especially on Addington Isle.

Eamon and his two closest friends, Caroline and Mark, journey to the place that inspired their favorite book, Winterset Hollow--a timeless tale about a tribe of animals preparing for their yearly end-of-summer festival. But after a series of shocking discoveries, they find that much of what the world believes to be fiction is actually fact, and that the truth behind their beloved story is darker and more dangerous than they ever imagined.

​It's Barley Day . . . and you're invited to the hunt. 

I’m really not sure that this is my thing at all. But after appreciating Durham’s social media posts for a couple of years, I figured it was about time to read his fiction.

A Violent Masterpiece

by Jordan Harper

 Los Angeles, right now. America with its back up against the wall. This Frankenstein's monster of crimes and lurid dreams sewn together into something like a city.

A city ready to explode: A Hollywood pedophile is arrested, and is ready to tear down the city to get his freedom. A young woman goes missing--and men in black rubber gloves who look like cops clean out her apartment in the middle of the night. And the serial killer known as the LA Ripper is on the loose, leaving tragic/graphic/brutal crime scenes in his wake. Three people trying to keep their heads above the dirty water will find themselves coming together to unite these strands into one enormous, unspeakable crime ...

Jake Deal is a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, beaming the city's chaos straight to his audience of blood-hungry subscribers, giving them the view from the top of the mushroom cloud--until a job he can't refuse drags him back into his old life of Hollywood glamour, drugs, sex and sleaze. Armed with cameras and hidden mics, he'll infiltrate private clubs, gather high-class dirt--and stumble onto a conspiracy woven into the center of LA's most powerful men, who call themselves "The Kids in the Candy Store."

Doug Gibson is a street lawyer, who fights for his clients against the army of cops, prosecutors and judges--he is the knife they bring to the gunfight. But when he's hired by a Hollywood pedophile ready to sell out his friends for a chance for freedom, he'll take on a fight bigger than he could have imagined. And when his client "commits suicide" in prison, Gibson will have to stop being a weapon--and become a warrior.

Kara Delgado works for an underground private concierge company--a make-a-wish foundation for the terminally rich. She scores drugs, makes connections, and plans multi-million dollar sex parties.She has learned the secret truth of this world: there are no rules, only prices. Her best friend Phoebe has gone missing, and Kara's the only person who knows that Phoebe's place was wiped clean of evidence by men in black rubber gloves. But when she begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to Phoebe, and its connection to the killer known as the LA Ripper, it will drag her into the dark heart of the city.

As Jake, Doug and Kara all investigate these crimes, they'll encounter ketamine-addled sitcom stars, bloody riots, homeless gangsters, a killer cop on death row, secret vaults in Beverly Hills, tech-bro orgies, medical cannibals, true crime junkies, private security wet-work teams, reality shows, street takeovers, car chases, coyotes, a sadistic Tarzan, and a three day, fifty million dollar wedding, before everything is revealed and they must each make their choice about how to fight back in this violent world before the bloody, blazing conclusion.

I’m going to take the next two weeks steeling myself for how much this book is almost certainly going to leave me reeling.

A Memory Called Empire

by Arkady Martine

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

Arkady Martine's debut novel A Memory Called Empire is a fascinating space opera and an interstellar mystery adventure.

Oh, this just sounds great. The world is going to take some getting used to, I suspect, but I bet it’ll be worth the work.

Electric City Switches

by M.D. Presley

“Sheena’s running home, and January’s after her.”

Not a day after that cryptic message upended his life, and despite not having successfully cast his first spell, Corbin James must disable a deadly enchantment with nothing more than a Sharpie. Sheena’s impossibly sophisticated design has already befuddled the two greatest enchanters, yet his mentor Isaac insists he can crack it over the phone with Corbin doing the dirty work.

But as Corbin’s hand trembles, knowing one wrong mark could obliterate him, he’s not so sure. Fortunately for Corbin, Isaac taught Sheena everything she knows.

Unfortunately for him, Isaac’s also her ex.

With time ticking down, Corbin must diffuse their destructive relationship, dodge the bevy of bounty hunters on her tail, all while uncovering what Sheena stole and why she ran home to the Electric City.

A little more time in this world? Yahoo!

Cat on a Hot Tin Woof

by Spencer Quinn

Chet the dog is less than enthusiastic about the Little Detective Agency’s next case. Chet and his human partner, PI Bernie Little, have been hired to find a missing person—only the missing person is a cat. Miss Kitty, an internet sensation, has disappeared, and Chet and Bernie have been hired to find her before her many followers realize something is wrong.

Miss Kitty belongs to Bitty, a sweet teenage girl who lives with her mom. Bitty and her mother are struggling financially, but the arrival of Miss Kitty and the chance discovery of her social media appeal has changed everything. Bitty now has sponsors, a high-powered agent, and all the tools needed to thrive online, and real money is flowing in. At least, it was. With Miss Kitty gone, the family's income is on the line.

The case presents a slew of challenges for Chet and Bernie. For one thing, a potential witness is a pig named Senor Piggy who may be in possession of an important piece of evidence. For another, it seems like a possible perp has been killed twice—and there's evidence implicating Bernie in the crime.

I will hopefully have finished this book by the time this posts. I’m having a blast with it (as expected).

51%

by Matt Witten

Twenty years from now, the United States is completely privatized. The Big Six syndicates own schools, roads, police departments…even human beings.

When a young immigrant woman—51% owned by the syndicates—is brutally murdered, NYPD, Inc. Detective Juke O'Keefe and his partner, Crime Marketing Consultant Haylee Navarro, catch the case. Pregnant and broke, Haylee knows they can’t crowdfund enough from a dead immigrant to pay for basic forensics, let alone their paychecks. But Juke, with his old-school sense of justice, is determined to find the killer.

Their search for the truth leads them to Juke’s ex, Safiya Jones, a Resistance leader on the syndicates’ most wanted list. As the three join forces, they stumble onto a conspiracy designed to destroy the last shreds of American freedom. To rescue fifty-one percenters—and everyone else—from syndicate control, they’ll have to defeat the most ruthless, powerful AI in the world.

51% is a gritty, fast-paced thriller about power, justice, and what happens when everything—even people—can be owned.

Like I told Witten when he emailed me about this, I feel like I could write a post on the premise. Based on what I’ve read by Witten, this is going to be dynamite.

Each Kindness

by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis

Each kindness makes the world a little better

This unforgettable book is written and illustrated by the award-winning team that created The Other Side and the Caldecott Honor winner Coming On Home Soon. With its powerful anti-bullying message and striking art, it will resonate with readers long after they've put it down.

Chloe and her friends won't play with the new girl, Maya. Every time Maya tries to join Chloe and her friends, they reject her. Eventually Maya stops coming to school. When Chloe's teacher gives a lesson about how even small acts of kindness can change the world, Chloe is stung by the lost opportunity for friendship, and thinks about how much better it could have been if she'd shown a little kindness toward Maya.

This seems heavy for a 30 page picture book. Looking forward to seeing how/if they pull this off.

(Image by DaModernDaVinci from Pixabay)