Saturday Miscellany – 2/6/16

Because of a friend’s question, I did some checking — in addition to those who follow via RSS feed and Twitter, there are 282 of you subscribed to this thing in one form or another — that’s just mind-boggling. Obviously, all of you don’t read everything, but you’ve at least taken a moment at some point to read something here, and liked it enough to get more delivered to you. Thanks, thank you very much. Now — make some noise! What do you like, what am I doing right? I suppose, if you must, tell me what I’m doing wrong! What could I do more of — comments are open. There’s email, FB, Twitter options over to your right. But seriously, thanks for the views, the reads, for following, etc.

Anyway…the Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

• What Makes Great Detective Fiction, According to T. S. Eliot — Because who hasn’t wondered what Eliot thought about Detective Fiction? Believe it or not, he has some really good thoughts about the genre as Paul Grimstad shows.
• 92 Percent of Students Prefer Paper Books Over E-Books: Survey — 92% seems high, but I’ll buy it.
• No You or Me: On Love, Death, and the Kindle — Jacob Lambert explores why some — at least he (but many will sympathize) — prefers paper.
• How to Tackle Your TBR Pile — some good advice from Bookish — not good enough to conquer my mountain, but it could start.
• Off the Grid … a new series — “reviews or recommendations of works that are getting very little online attention,” keeping an eye on this, should find some good stuff.
• Cover Reveal – There Will Always Be a Max — Michael Underwood announces a new Genrenauts short story, shows us the cover and gives me some movie homework in the process.
• Cover Reveal for Fran Wilde’s Cloudbound and Updraft — Not that there was anything wrong with the cover for Updraft in hardcover, but the TPB cover Gorgeous. Ditto for the sequel’s hardcover.
• The Bullet Catcher’s Author: An Interview with Rod Duncan — an interview with Rod Duncan on the eve of the release of the new Gas-Lit Empire book (see below). #11 is my favorite answer.
• Bringing Back Nero and Archie — as much as I enjoyed that last interview, this one ruined my digestion. Publisher’s Weekly talked to Robert Goldsborough, the man I can’t help but dislike, yet I keep reading.
• 13 Of The Most Glorious Made-Up Words From Literature
• The Book Marketing Landscape Infographic — A nice visual depicting the village it takes to make a best-seller.
• Bustle brings us: 14 Secret Habits Every Book-Lover Is Guilty Of Having

A Long List of New Releases for the Week that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Keep Calm by Mark Binder — a thriller recommended by Jonathan Tropper and Lee Child? How can I not? (yeah, Tropper recommending a thriller seems strange, but if you’ve watched Banshee you realize he knows whereof he speaks)
• The Custodian of Marvels by Rod Duncan — the conclusion of the Gas-Lit Empire series — can’t wait to see how he pulls this off.
• Blood in her Veins by Faith Hunter — shorter works about Jane Yellowrock and friends, from various points in the series. Read the Big Idea she wrote about this book and the dual voices in her protagonist.
• Graft by Matt Hill — this looks like a crime novel I’ve read before (or something very like it), but this one is set in 2025 and involves crimes we can’t even imagine yet. Creepy cover, too.
• The Alchemy of Chaos by Marshall Ryan Maresca — super-heroes in a traditional fantasy setting? I’m in — and apparently I have to read the first one from last year, too. He did a Big Idea this week, too.
• A Criminal Magic by Lee Kelly — In 1926 and the 18th Amendment bans sorcery? Okay, sure — and just like you’d expect, it creates an underground of magic. Goofy enough to work.
• Harmony Black by Craig Schaefer — a FBI agent and witch working off-the-books occult case. Perfect.
• The Deavys by Alan Dean Foster — a strange YA fantasy with a premise too long for me to try to summarize, but looks like fun.

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to Haidji and Marve Gandah for following the blog this week. Thanks to S. C. Flynn for the interaction.

(via Read it Forward)