Saturday Miscellany—1/31/26

Another late one, but I got to go spend some time with Grandcritter #2 to celebrate a birthday, so…yeah, this gets pushed off.

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:
Words of Wisdom from Fantasy Books—I typically put posts from fellow bloggers at the end of these lists, but this seems like the right one to lead with this week.
Don Winslow has a new book this week, so he’s doing the rounds. These two interviews are worth your time: ‘We Have to Speak Out’: Don Winslow on Fighting Trump and Coming Out of Retirement and Crime writer Don Winslow is fresh out of retirement with renewed conviction
Tolkien: Immortality Is the Trap in Middle-earth—”Most fantasy treats immortality as the prize. Tolkien treats it as a sentence.”
Pros and Cons of Self Publishing—the next installment in this great series from Willow Wraith Press
Do You Like to Read Your Age/Eras?—I don’t know that I considered things from this point of view before. Been churning in my mind since, though.
Book Blogging Slumps—smart advice I’d do well to follow. I mean my forcing myself to do something (or fall asleep while trying) and then beating myself up for it before and after strategy has its charms (and I have years of experience with it). But maybe I could try this once or twice.
Eight Years of Reading, Writing, and Finding My Voice—I don’t remember not seeing Gina’s posts floating around. So 8 doesn’t seem long enough for her blog to have been around. Congrats on this landmark!
Captivating Character of January—Feels like kind of a cheat here where Carol picks two characters… 🙂 Check out Carol’s picks and the others in the linkparty.
Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Go! Go! Loser Ranger! by Negi Haruba—It’s time for Firsty Duelist’s Manga Post–and this one looks fun. (what is this kid doing to me?)

My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week :
“Prisons are the saddest places in the world.

Prisons and children’s cancer wards.

The difference is that in the children’s wards there’s hope.”
—”Collision” from The Final Score by Don Winslow

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
The Storms of Deliverance by Larry Higdon
Lessons from Tara by David Rosenfelt
Three Slices by Kevin Hearne, Delilah S. Dawson, Chuck Wendig
Winter by Marissa Meyer
Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman
And I mentioned the releases of: Staked by Kevin Hearne, Broken Hero by Jonathan Wood, All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, Where it Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman, and The Murder Quadrille by Fidelis Morgan

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Final Score by Don Winslow—Six “short novels” by the master. I might quibble with the label he attaches to the stories, but that’s probably the only complaint I have about this collection. More to come from me on this—possibly a lot.
Monster in the Moonlight by Annelise Ryan—Morgan Carter is on the hunt for a werewolf-ish creature. Or a human that might be worse.