We’ve got a bumper-crop of new books this week, and a few other things that show me more than my memory does how little time I spent online 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:
bullet Book bans backfiring? Study reveals increased readership for prohibited books
bullet Is Traditional Fiction Publishing Broken?
bullet What’s the Future of Books? Amid historic disruption in the publishing industry, big questions are—rightfully—being asked. Here, experts weigh in on how books (and the ways we discover them) are going to change.
bullet No, I Don’t Want to Join Your Book Club—some non-traditional book clubs
bullet Has It Ever Been Harder to Make a Living As An Author?
bullet Book Thieves Take the Story and Run with It
bullet #R3COMM3ND3D2023 continues to look at favorites from 2023:
bullet …with Nicki Mags of Secret Library Book Blog
bullet …with Karen Kingston of KarenKisreading
bullet …with Author Rachel Sargeant
bullet …Gill of A Good Book ‘n a Brew
bullet …with Joanne of Portobello Book Blog
bullet …with Carol of Reading Ladies
bullet …with Davida Chazan of The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog
bullet Witty and Sarcastic Book Club’s Dragon Week wrapped up this week, so you can read all of the goodness there now.
bullet To celebrate the publication of Femme Fae-Tales anthology, Peat Long conducted Femme Fae-Tales Interviews with all of the authors, like this one.
bullet An Important Reminder from Chuck Wendig

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Partial Function by JCM Berne—”If Taken starred Michelle Yeoh and was set on a Jurassic Park-inspired Cradle.” As I said recently, I had a lot of fun with this concept and its execution
bullet Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly—Mickey Haller + Bosch. I’m sure there’s more to say, but who cares beyond that?
bullet The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher—Yes, it took Butcher an eon to give us the second Cinder Spires book, but something tells me most readers will forgive him for that once we get to dive in.
bullet Noodle Conquers Comfy Mountain by Jonathan Graziano, illustrated by Dan Tavis—this follow-up to Noodle and the No Bones Day is aDORable. I’ll have more to say about it soon (mostly consisting of rephrasing of that sentence).
bullet Calico by Lee Goldberg—a murder mystery and a Western in modern California. That’s really all I know so far, but I can’t wait to learn more.
bullet Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty—a murder among a new batch of human visitors to the sentient space station, a conflict between alien races, and an attack from without? Things don’t get boring in this Midsolar Murder sequel.
bullet Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree—this prequel to Legends & Lattes contains all the warm fuzzies of its predecessor, a dash of action, and a more overt romantic arc.
bullet A Curse of Krakens by Kevin Hearne—the much-anticipated conclusion to the Seven Kennings trilogy is out, which means it’s time for me to read the second volume any day now.
bullet Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan—Detective Inaya Rahman investigates a pair of officer-involved killings. I’m guessing neither of these will turn out to be what they seem at first glance.

I love to read. That doesn't mean I don't have a life. It doesn't mean I'm a nerd. I only love the feeling that...even when you're back in reality you still feel like you're in a different world. - S.A.