Saturday Miscellany—4/25/26

Happy Indie Bookstore Day 2026! I hope you can get out and show your local some support.

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:
No, Books Are Not Remotely Too Expensive: Let’s Explore a Little Math—Joel J. Miller pokes at the “book affordability crisis” idea going around social media. Turns out we’re getting bargains (even if it doesn’t feel like it). I, for one, am embracing this idea today when I go celebrate Indie Bookstore Day–look how much money I’m actually saving, dear!!
Bookshop.org’s Sales Grew 55% in 2025, Sparked by Romance and E-books—Publishers Weekly reports: “Six years on, the online bookseller continues to grow at a remarkable pace”
Dragonlance: Selling the Dream—Tracy Hickman talks a little about the origins of the series. (Hat Tip: Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub
Star Wars Day 2026 Gift Giving Guide—This Dad Reads’ annual guide (I’ve yet to part with actual money after reading these posts, but I’ve mentally spent hundreds each time)
Imagining Future Book Titles by AI… The Future is Bright!!—The Organgutan Librarian gets speculative…
Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Seven Deadly Sins by Nakaba Suzuki —The Firsty Duelist gets mildly critical…
Ten Recommended Indie Fantasy/Scifi Novels—C.T. Phipps gives a list of knock-out titles (I’ve read 2 of these, and can see why they make the list for sure)

My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week:
“There is always more after the ending. Always the next morning, and the next. Always changes, losses and gains. Always one step after the other. Until the one true ending that none of us can escape. But even that ending is only a small one, larges as it looms for us. There is still the next morning for everyone else. For the vast majority of the rest of the universe that ending might as well not ever have happened. Every ending is an arbitrary one. Everything ending is from another angle, not really an ending.”—Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire—I’m still talking about this book…
Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
Fate Ball by Adam W. Jones—the title brings back near-visceral memories. This one did a number on me.
And I mentioned the releases of: The Drafter by Kim Harrison (in paperback); Dead is Best by Jo Perry; Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here by Anna Brewslaw; and Almost Infamous by Matt Carter

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen—”A starship captain and her crew face conspiracies and betrayals as they clash with various factions of a galactic civil war in a thrilling space adventure.” It’s been too long since I’ve read Mike Chen, this looks like a great way to end the drought.
Don’t Die Dave by A.R. Witham—JCM Berne vouches for this, that’s good enough for me. “A death game where the prize isn’t power or money — it’s health insurance.”
Gods & Comics by Kat Cho—about “a teen whose life is upended when the gods in her anonymous viral web comic inspired by a forgotten Korean myth come to life and the hero falls in love with her.”