Saturday Miscellany—7/8/23

I didn’t find as much fodder for this post as I expect this week—I’m guessing the holiday mid-week in the US didn’t help. Or maybe it’s the excessive heat frying everyone’s brains. Or maybe everyone spent too much time trying out Threads. Or maybe I was looking in the wrong places.

That last one is likely the case.

Anyway…quality over quantity this week.

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:
How Novellas Became Novels
Books about books are catnip for avid readers. This week there’s a bumper crop—The L.A. Times helps us all spend money/add to our TBR with this one
How To Balance Between Imagination and Facts: Or, a look at the difference between “based on” and “inspired by”
We Need to Tell a Different Kind of Love Story—An argument for friendship stories. Yes, a hundred times, yes.
Why Cozy Mystery’s Amateur Sleuths Are Not Just Busy-Bodies—the key to a cozy is this point, I think.
Key/Egg Reviewed in the Current Issue of F&SF, Eight Years After Publication—Harry Connelly talks about an unexpected and late review of one of his novels (my personal favorite)
Why Harry Potter’s Hedwig Would Make a Terrible Pet—another bubble is burst.
Witty & Sarcastic Book Club continued this great series: Poetry and Song in SFF
…Featuring Ricardo Victoria
…Featuring Rowena Andrews
…Featuring Carol Carman
…Featuring A.R. Witham
…Featuring Steven McKay
Meet The Blogger: Nick Borelli from Out of this World—a nice interview with Borelli
Book Things I’m Bored Of—Monstrumology sounds off

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Time FM MW ‘MIKE’ CRAVEN In Person With Paul—a great chat with Craven. I loved hearing the two talking about Bazell’s Beat the Reaper, a personal favorite.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt—Andy Carpenter defends an old and now famous friend. I had a lot of fun with this one (as per usual).
The Last Dance by Mark Billingham—I’ve enjoyed Billingham for years as a podcast host and guest, but I’ve never read him. The launch of this new series puts an end to that.