Saturday Miscellany—6/24/23

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
23 Wonderful Benefits of Reading to Empower You—I’ve linked to posts in the past that mention most of them, but not as many of these benefits in one place before. (you can also use these benefits as justifications for your habit when you don’t want to just say “I like it”)
The Western Gothic in Film, Music, and Literature: A Primer
The Challenges of Blending History and Steampunk—this is a good post from Jonathan Fesmire—can probably apply to other genres as well.
LordTBR’s How-To Guide: Using NetGalley as a Reviewer—a handy-dandy guide I could’ve really used when I started with NetGalley (and can still profit from).
Don’t Save Books!—hear, hear
When Writers Seemingly Don’t Trust Their Audience—Krysta raises a lot of good points here.
Can We Read Books With ‘Bad’ Themes?—Eustacia follows up that post with this one.
A Legacy of Reviewing? Random things my dad taught me about books
Fantastic Fae: Books with Faeries, Changelings and Pesky Pixies—Witty & Sarcastic Book Club looks at the spectrum of Fae portrayals in Fiction.
I can’t remember how I came across Mark Lawrence’s Goodreads review of Green Eggs and Ham, but I’m so glad I did. It was so good I almost bought all of his books in response (I do really need to get around to trying his fiction one day…)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Evidence Pool by Ian Robinson—the long-awaited (by me, anyway) fourth book in the Nash & Moretti series. Our Met detectives have to solve a locked-house mystery in the London home of a Russian oligarch.
Junkyard War by Faith Hunter—the third novella in the Shining Smith trilogy (?) is out in print for those who weren’t into the Audible Original format.
Because the Night by James D.F. Hannah—”Backed with campaign funds from the owner of the local strip club, ex-state trooper and recovering alcoholic Henry Malone’s running for sheriff. But because he can’t say no to a bad idea, he also agrees to look for a pregnant woman’s missing ex-con boyfriend. With his well-armed AA sponsor Woody in tow, Henry’s search for the boyfriend soon connects with a homicide investigation run by Lt. Jackie Hall—probably the last cop in West Virginia who still likes Henry.” This sounds great—and it’s the sixth in a series, so I’ve got a whole new series to dive into. (thanks to Nick Kolakowski for this tip—incidentally, Kolawkowski’s got a store set up on his website now, so you can easily dive into all the goodness he has there)

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to holley4734 of chasing destino, who followed the blog this week. I hope you enjoy the content and keep coming back.