Saturday Miscellany—1/11/20

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:

• Living in the future.—The good people over at Fahrenheit Press (actually, they’d probably prefer being referred to as rabble-rousers and ne’er-do-wells) outline their plans for 2020.
• ‘People are so happy we exist’: indie bookshops grow despite retail slump
• Q&A with Mike Craven—A nice Q&A with one of the best in the biz
• Too Many Thoughts About Genre—Over on Charles Stross’s blog, Harry Connolly drops by to talk about genre and the set up for his new novel.
• The Collective Culture of Fiction—an interesting post by author Kit Falbo.
• 2020 books to movie—upcoming adaptations
• The Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020: Part I—the editors at Crime Reads talk about the books they’re looking forward to in the first half of 2020. Daunting (but appetizing)
• New Year’s Resolutions—I liked this approach to the looking back/looking forward post.
• Book Series I will be reading before 2020 ends—someone’s gonna be busy (I could never be this well-organized, but I’d like to be)
• Blogging: Quality, Quantity or Something Else?—Lashaan gives some good reminders/lessons for we bloggers.
• 10 Bookish Hashtags To Follow on Instagram—thinking you don’t spend enough hours a day on Social Media? Or, maybe you just want to be more efficient in those hours? Ramona Mead has the post for you.
• 2020 in books: a literary calendar

This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire—It took less than a paragraph (maybe less than a sentence) for me to fall in love with the latest Wayward Children book. Jack and Jill are back and worse than ever? More to come on this one!
• Deep Dark Dead by Steph Broadribb—Bounty Hunter Lori Anderson is going to get beat up (I’m betting) in a whole new city! The ebook came out in the UK this week, but for some reason, it won’t release until next week in the U.S. (it takes awhile for the electrons to cross the Atlantic, I guess). It’s the next novel I tackle (assuming it doesn’t get held up in e-customs?).
• Born in a Burial Gown / Body Breaker by M. W. Craven—the first two books in his Avison Fluke series have been updated, revised, and re-released in the world. Not a new Washington Poe/Tilly Bradshaw, but probably the next best thing. Don’t take my word for it, see what Noelle Holten, the Crime Book Junkie, has to say.
• QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling—a satire about life run by algorithms—I’ll do a better job describing it after I’ve read it. I hope. Go click the link in the meantime. (I’ll confess to a moment of panic about this release this morning, until I found the email saying the blog tour has been rescheduled for next month, and I wasn’t actually four days late with my posts (and even further behind in reading it)).
• The Heap by Sean Adams—”Blending the piercing humor of Alexandra Kleeman and the jagged satire of Black Mirror, an audacious, eerily prescient debut novel that chronicles the rise and fall of a massive high-rise housing complex, and the lives it affected before – and after – its demise.”

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to penelopeburns, TL Wright, and Mugilan Raju for following the blog this week. Don’t be a stranger, and use that comment box, would you?