Saturday Miscellany – 2/10/18

Forgive me a minor rerun from Twitter/FB a couple of days ago (in case you follow me there, if not, check out those handy buttons to the right!) — on Tuesday, I made a joke about wanting to come down with the flu do I could catch up on reading (namely, finishing Iron Gold by Pierce Brown and reading Blood Binds the Pack by Alex Wells — literally no idea when I can fit that one into my schedule). Then Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I got sick. So sick I couldn’t focus on print — I dabbled on social media off and on, but that was about all the concentration I had. Blargh. I’m on the upswing, I think, but just know that this post has taken me three sessions to complete. Just that kind of week. Hope you all stay healthy this flu season.

Somehow, I managed to get a good sample of 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:

• Audio Publishers Association announces 2018 Audie Award® finalists — None of the narrators/audiobooks I’ve been indulging in lately made the list, so I’m not rooting for anyone, but there’s some good TBR (TBLT=To Be Listened To?) fodder.
• New Firefly Fiction Announced — You can be certain that I’ll be talking about these books…
• Fahrenheit Press is making some changes — I love this company’s approach to fiction, their moxie, their panache, and almost every one of their books that I’ve read. These changes should only serve to establish, expand and cement the brand.
• Reading Fiction When the World is Burning — I don’t think the world’s in nearly as rough of shape as this author does — at least not moreso than usual — but I could be wrong. Ignoring that, on the whole, I appreciated this piece and agree with just about everything in it.
• On Themes and the Tufa, Part 2 — Bledsoe continues to prep us for bidding farewell to the Tufa.
• Why Adults and Kids Should Read the Flavia de Luce Series by Alan Bradley — well, yes. And a good reminder that I want to resume reading them.
• PBS Reveals Authors, Stars On ‘The Great American Read’ — some new details on the 8-episode documentary series focused on the role of reading in American Culture

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Blood Binds the Pack by Alex Wells — Witches (of a sort), a biker gang (of a sort), interstellar corporate greed and corruption (of the typical dystopian sort), and some of the more intriguing characters I met in 2017. Can’t wait to get into this one.
• Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberg — The subtitle sold me on reading this: “How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics is Destroying American Democracy”

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to awritersramblings446569187, Somya Gujjar, LFBooks, andrea bindi and rimpytoor for following the blog this week.