Okay, it’s not Saturday anymore for most of you. Sorry about that. Was a day in the hospital for a member of my family–all is good. Just needed a little TLC for a few hours. But it did put me several hours behind schedule.
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:
Abolish the Top Ten Books List—I don’t see myself stopping the practice, but I get the point and agree with is.
Jules Verne’s Empty Dream of Spaceflight: In “From the Earth to the Moon,” scientific advancement is treated as destiny — but no one quite asks why.
Book 4 Delayed to March 2027—Benedict Jacka has some sad news for his fans, but some good news for a croweded Fall TBR for me. (mostly sad for me, but…3 days of breathing room)
A.J. Calvin’s The Indie Author Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror New Release List: August 2026
Behind the Book: The Forest Exiles Saga by Mark J. Engels
A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
TBRCon 2026/SFF Addicts PodcastInterview with Sarah Beth Durst—this was just a lot of fun–really appreciated her descriptions of Cozy Fantasy
My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week:
“Genevieve Durand was one of those put-together people who looked as if she’d never, ever dripped marinara sauce on her shirt.”—The Wednesday Witches Book Club by Sarah Beth Durst
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Dicing with the Gods by Sean McKenzie
The Innocents by Ace Atkins</a
Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire
Meeting of the Mustangs by Cathy Kennedy
Deep Down (Audiobook) by Lee Child, Dick Hill</a
Forever We Play by David Belisle
And I mentioned the releases of: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production Special Rehearsal Edition by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany; Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter; Repo Madness by W. Bruce Cameron; Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia; Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky; Amaryllis and Other Stories by Carrie Vaughn; The Hike by Drew Magary; The Bad Decisions Playlist by Michael Rubens; and The Coaster by Erich Wurster
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett—The best in this fantastic series (so far), as I tried to articulate the other day.
Teen Titans Together by Kami Garcia, Gabriel Picolo—The Wolfman/Perez purist in me is bothered by a lot of this series, but the rest of me has been having a blast with them–I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
Marvel: What If…The Multiverse Was Doomed? by DaVaun Sanders—this has been an up-and-down series for me, but I’m very curious about this installment regardless.
Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst—”a cozy fantasy romance about finding your crew, your family, and moreover, finding yourself.”
One-Fifth Dragon by Shami Stovall—The tag-line on the cover is “John Wick Meets High Fantasy.” Which sounds good. The blurg on bookshop.org starts: “Dragons, Assassins, and Ninjas!” That pretty much seals it.
(Mostly) Human Resources by Grace Viall—”A debut slow-burn work-nemesis romance set in a world where cryptids and monsters are a part of life . . . and someone has to do the paperwork.” Okay, I’m not intersted in the “slow-burn work-nemesis romance,” but the rest of the premise looks pretty cool.
Dragonlance: War Wizard by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman—”the story of an unlikely friendship that would one day change the world.” This features a young Huma. Which might be enough to reactivate my Dragonlance-fandom.
Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty—”Anna, Teddy, and Jade leap headlong into time, hurtling on a crash course toward one another. At turns entertaining and illuminating, Time Travel for Beginners explores the moments, big and small, that shape our destiny.”
image source: @saras.booked on Threads
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