Saturday Miscellany—9/28/24

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:
Kevin Hearne: A Niche that Needed Filling—Hearne talks about launching his own imprint
When Did SFF Get Too Big?—Good question. (fun intro, especially if you look at the foonotes)
Morning Brew gives a fun reaction to the NaNoWriMo AI kerfuffle
In Praise of Things Being Just Plain Good—Yes. Just yes.
Philosophical Picture Books- Stories for Younger Readers with Hidden Depths!—Oraguntan Librarian has given Grandpappy’s Corner a shopping list
Beowulf and Science Fiction: Shannon Knight Talks About Her Book and the Old English Poetic Tradition—a nice little guest post on Witty and Sarcastic Book Club

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Thriller Zone Episode 198 Lee Goldberg and the Power of Humor in the Thriller Genre—I can see where Goldberg is coming from, but I think his self-publication rant is wrong. The rest of this episode? Golden. It could’ve gone on for another 2 hours and I’d have enjoyed it all.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week? (this was a good week)
Premonitions by Jamie Schultz—a criminally underselling Urban Fantasy Crime Novel that I’d recommend to anyone
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey—that rare Zombie Novel that I loved (and re-read)
Indigo Slam by Robert Crais

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Sky Full of Dragons by Tiffany McDaniel, Ayesha L. Rubio (Illustrator)—I talked about this a couple of weeks ago when I first read about it. I’m still weirded out about by the idea of McDaniel writing this, “ight-hearted and whimsical middle grade fantasy about a young girl who must save her witch aunt from an uncommonly voracious hat.” But I can’t wait to read it.
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C. M. Waggoner—”Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies–and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.” This description had me at this paragraph.
Monster Movie! by Chuck Wendig—”Ethan Pitowski is afraid of everything. Luckily, his best friends don’t mind, and when their entire class gets invited to watch a long-buried horror movie at the most popular boy in school’s house, Ethan’s friends encourage him to join in the fun. But when the “scariest movie ever made” reveals itself to be not just a movie about a monster, but a movie that is a monster, only a terrified Ethan escapes its clutches. Now he must find a way to stop the monster and save his friends (and also, um, get their heads back).”
The Most Boring Book Ever by Brandon Sanderson, Kazu Kibuishi (Illustrator)—”In this humorous epic adventure, a boy is, on the one hand, having a very ordinary day. He does his math homework, his chores, and takes a nap….all while a surprising adventure unfolds around him involving pirates, dragons, and other unexpected perils.” A Sanderson picture book? Hmm.