Category: Blog Series Page 1 of 221

Saturday Miscellany—5/23/26

On May 23, 2026

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 Why the Canon Is Worth Conserving—R.V. Young makes a good case here. Maybe not convincing, but good to chew on.
bullet The Written Word Is Having A Rough Week—”Rough” is putting it mildly.
bullet Common Readers: BookTok’s critical values
bullet The most famous crime writer you’ve never heard of – prepare to be hooked—a heckuva piece on Peter Grainger. About time he got some attention.
bullet Waterstones livestreamed Brandon Sanderson in conversation with Joe Abercrombie—I haven’t watched yet, but I imagine it’s more than worth the time.
bullet Scalzi’s recent BlueSky post about AI sums up what a lot of us SF fans have been thinking. Just phrased better.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet Authors on the Air Global Radio Network Jordan Harper discusses A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE—a great conversation about the book and more. Every exposure I have to this writer makes me like him more.

My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week:
Having a teenage daughter is like Choose Your Own Adventure, a constant set of junctures in the road. She’s in a mood? How do you respond? Do you snap? Do you sympathize? I chose my go-to: ignore.—Go Gentle by Maria Semple

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
bullet Burned by Benedict Jacka
bullet Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs
bullet And I mentioned the releases of: The Highwayman. by Craig Johnson; Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? by Paul Cornell; This Damned Band also by Paul Cornell and Tony Parker; Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me: What Pop Music Rivalries Reveal About the Meaning of Life by Steven Hyden; The Second Life of Nick Mason by Steve Hamilton; and My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Hawai’i Rage by Tori Eldridge—”A suspicious death on a Kohala Mountain ranch draws ranger Makalani Pahukula into a tangled family tree.” It’ll be a minute before I can dive into this, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this builds on Kaua’i Storm
bullet True Romance: A Noir Anthology editby by Troy Lambert & Vincent Zandri—the author list alone is enough to get me to shell out a couple of bucks. In this anthology, “passion isn’t red roses and candlelight. Instead, it’s obsession, betrayal, revenge, and the kind of desire that leaves bodies in its wake…From quiet suburban rot to organized crime empires, from calculated seduction to explosive violence, these stories explore the dangerous intersection where love and darkness meet. Because in noir, love isn’t salvation. It’s motiv”
bullet It’s Hard to Be an Animal by Robert Isaacs—”a funny, magical, and tender novel following a lonely, conflict-averse man whose sudden ability to understand animals sends him on a wild romp around NYC, and ultimately helps him discover his own voice. “
bullet Ironwood by Michael Connelly—the sequel to Nightshade (which I need to read soon) brings Detective Sergent Stilwell into contact with Renée Ballard and a violent drug deal.

Opening Lines: Go Gentle by Maria Semple

By HCNewton

On May 21, 2026

In Blog Series, Currently Reading, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author—but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit.

I slid the fried egg—extra crispy, embedded with cracked pink I peppercorns—onto a nest of baby arugula centered atop a slice of toasted sourdough. I sharpened my paring knife with a few satisfying slashes and sliced four cornichons thin enough for light to pass through. Those I placed across the warm egg, chevron-style. I capped it all off with a second piece of toast, this one thick with lemon aioli.

Or: I made a fried egg sandwich.

But how you do anything is how you do everything, and one might say my life’s work has been chasing the Platonic ideal.

from Go Gentle by Maria Semple

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WWW Wednesday—May 20, 2026

By HCNewton

On May 20, 2026

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

After an annoying run of having to return library books before I can read them, I’m 3 for 3 this month (well, 2.2 at the moment, but it’ll be 3 in a day or two). That’s a relief–also, they’ve all been worth prioritizing. My wallet also appreciates that.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen	The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love edited by Alice Hoffman	The Final Vow by M.W. Craven, John Banks

The Photonic Effect starts out as Chen’s SF-iest book yet.

It’d be really nice if more of the essays about the love of/from a dog weren’t eulogies. Surely these people can talk about fantastic living dogs, right? (still, it’s such a good one)

Still early into revisting The Final Vow, but we’re just at the point where things are starting to pick up.

What did you recently finish reading?


Go Gentle by Maria Semple	The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander, read by Words Take Wing Repertory Co

Go Gentle wasn’t as good as Where’d You Go, Bernadette (few things are), but it was much better than Today Will Be Different. So I’m calling that a win. I truly spent most of the novel trying to figure out where Semple was going next–and I was always, always wrong. Her choices were far better than I could’ve guessed.

The Arkadians wasn’t Alexander at his best, but it was plenty of fun.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Robert B. Parker’s Booked by Alison Gaylin	Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell, read by Ann Marie Gideon

It’s time to check-in on Sunny Randall.

I’m not really sure what Cultish is beyond the subtitle, but Mrs. Irresponsible Reader just finished it and told me I’d probably really appreciate it.

Okay, that’s my list–what do you have?

Fantasy with Friends: What Makes a Good Fairy Tale Retelling?

By HCNewton

On May 18, 2026

In Books, Fantasy with Friends, News/Misc.

Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.

This week’s prompt is:

Do you like reading fairy tale retellings? What, in your opinion, makes a good retelling?

I don’t know that I have a real passion for fairy tale retellings, but more often than not, I enjoy them when I run into them.

I break them into two varieties–straight retellings. I’ve only got one example that comes to mind–Hansel and Gretel by Stephen King and Maurice Sendak (which I didn’t write about, which bothers me, I liked what I thought I wrote). There’s an emphasis here or there that the author brings to mind, or a certain amount of their own style, while retaining a Straight Outta Grim feel. I’ve read others like it, but they’re not coming to mind.

The other type is a reinvention–tweaking the setting, updating, gender-flipping, setting them in the future or whatever. With those…the necessities are that you retain enough of the original that it’s recognizable, but the author throws more than their emphasis or style. But then, you throw it into the future with cyborgs, like Marissa Meyer. Or make Cinderella a secret agent along with some of the other princesses after their “happily ever after”s, like Jim C. Hines did. Or, you take all the Prince Charmings (who really aren’t that impressive when it comes down to it) and throw them into an effort to save all their kingdoms from a common foe. Or–last example–you play with the Fairy Tale tropes and the power of narrative, throw in some guns and crime, like Seanan McGuire did in her Indexing series. I’m waiting to see how M.K. Felix goes beyond her Robin Hood/Snow White mashup before I try to summarize–but I’m eager to see what she does. But the basic elements need to be there–Red Riding Hood should wear red–it’d be great if there was a hood–some sort of wolf-figure and a grandmother; from there, the author can do what they want, as long as it’s interesting.

Or you take a couple of elements/characters and throw them into some larger work–like when the Gruffs show up in the Dresden Files (and Harry can only wish they were billy goats), or Snow White shows up as one of Toby Daye’s most dangerous foes. That works pretty well, too.

I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, I ended up not having as much time as I intended to write this and am looking forward to some thoughtful posts.

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Saturday Miscellany—5/16/26

By HCNewton

On May 16, 2026

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

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 New Adult: A New Category for a New Generation of Readers—I thought NA was already a thing (that really didn’t work out), but other than the use of “New” in the headline, I appreciate this call to use the category more. I think it’d help.
bullet A Beloved Children’s Book Author Said Most Children’s Literature Is “Crud.” It Has Not Gone Well.—I’d seen some people cursing Barnett’s name on Threads (and maybe other places), but didn’t see a lot of context, just mid-conversation screeds. The man’s got himself a point, I have to say. (and now I have to read the book…)
bullet Can Men Write Romance? The Problem With Assuming Men Can’t Write Women—Matthew Norman (who is a man who can) kicks off his substack with this lil’ essay. I wondered if I just spoiled the essay, but I’ve been saying it for years, so I don’t feel too bad.
bullet Tough Questions with Firsty Duelist—As a former subject/victim(?) of this, and appreciator of the series in general, I’m glad to see Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub dust it off. Particularly to focus on this particular blogger.
bullet My Top 40 Fantasy Series/Books—Peat Long revises and expands his list–which is a great big ball of inspiration and intimidation.
bullet Witty and Sarcastic Book Club wrapped up another great mini-series of posts this week, “Looking for the Helpers: Small Roles, Big Influence in SFF.” Its focus is “smaller roles in SFF books and how they can nonetheless play big parts.” You can go see last week’s Miscellany for more (or just go to the blog and find them yourself)
bullet …Featuring Ashley Cape
bullet …Featuring Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann
bullet Announcing 20 Books of Summer – #20BOS26—AnnaBookBel is bringing it back again. For those who haven’t participated before, it’s a fun way to give your goals a little mid-year boost. I’ve almost got my list finalized (I need to trim two books from it, we’ll see if my May can help me with that)
bullet Are books really that expensive?—Nadezh Frank has a pretty convincing answer.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
bullet Perfect Family by H. Lovelyn Bettison—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet Giovanni Goes To Med School by Kathy Bryson
bullet Slow Burn by Ace Atkins
bullet The Old World by Roy M. Griffis
bullet Shadow Rites by Faith Hunter
bullet And I mentioned the release of The Vagrant by Peter Newman

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Robert B. Parker’s Booked by Alison Gaylin—”Boston PI Sunny Randall investigates a popular book critic on a mean streak . . . only for her to wind up dead.” It should be noted that I’ve only said good things about Gaylin’s work.

WWW Wednesday—May 13, 2026

By HCNewton

On May 13, 2026

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

I’m having another one of those weeks where everything is taking approximately 50% more time to do than it should, and I’m distracted from doing everything 70% more than usual. Put the two of those things together, and you get…silence on this here blog. So, here I am trying to make a little noise.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


Nice Places by Vicent Chu	The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love edited by Alice Hoffman	Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames, Katherine Fenton

I haven’t made much progress in Nice Places, and I’m really not sure where Chu’s going with this. But I’m really enjoying the journey.

I’m tackling an essay each evening for the next couple of weeks from The Best Dog in the World. Bonnie Garmus has convinced me to give Lessons in Chemistry a try because of hers. I’m assuming she won’t be the last one to do so.

Following on the heels of Kings of the Wyld, I decided to tackle Bloody Rose on audiobook (if only to reduce Mt. TBR by a hair). Putting the two so close together, I’m doing a better job of understanding and appreciating the differences in tone and focus between the two.

What did you recently finish reading?


Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames	The Terminal List by Jack Carr, read by Ray Porter

Kings of the Wyld had everything I remembered–humor, heart, action, and fantastic fantasy creatures. It’s one that I’m glad to see holds up to multiple re-reads.

Well, The Terminal List proved that I will listen to Ray Porter read anything. That’s all I can say about it.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Go Gentle by Maria Semple	The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander, read by Words Take Wing Repertory Co

The library due date for Semple’s new book is looming, time to jump on it.

I forgot I had The Arkadians waiting for me. Ooops. So, it’s again the next one on my list 🙂

Tell me something good about a book you just finished and/or are working through.

Fantasy with Friends: What Fantasy Books Got You Interested in the Genre?

By HCNewton

On May 11, 2026

In Books, Fantasy with Friends, News/Misc.

Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.

This week’s prompt is:

Is there a particular fantasy that got you interested in the genre? Do you remember any of the earliest fantasy books you read?

I think one of the earliest–maybe the earliest–fantasy novels I read was Jane Yolen’s The Wizard of Washington Square. I’m not positive it’s the right one, I spend a good amount of time looking for it this weekend, and it feels right. And I have a strong memory for where it was on the library shelves–and Yolen fits for alphabetical by author placement.

Several others followed–those that stand out the most are Julie Edwards’ The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (an all-time favorite), Robert C. O’Brien’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH was something I read a dozen or more times. A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet were in heavy rotation (the fourth book in the series wasn’t released until I’d moved on from “Juvenile” fiction). The Phantom Tollbooth…what can be said about it that hasn’t been several times before? I’m not going to say anything about Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, because the emotional scars are still raw. I have strong memories of reading Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (not just because it didn’t help me at all with the Commodore 64 game), although I couldn’t find the rest of the trilogy in bookstores or the library.

Also, how cool is the name Zilpha?

There are two big series in my mind, though. John Christopher’s The Sword of the Spirits. I sadly remember very little of it–but I remember reading it often, and that it was one of the earlier books I remember that had a lot of morally gray moments and protagonists who weren’t to be admired all that much.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again (and again, and again, knowing me)–the big one for me is The Chronicles of Prydain. The Chronicles of Narnia and/or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader turned me into a C.S. Lewis reader, but the saga of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper, Princess Eilonwy, the ex-king/would-be bard, Fflewddur Fflam, and the oracular pig, Hen Wen…that’s what turned me into a Fantasy reader. The stories based on Welsh-mythology, tapped into my imagination–shaped it, too, actually. Life, love, laughter, and loss–it’s all there. I’ve read the series twice in the last decade, and it still works. It’s my favorite from my childhood, and it’s one of my favorites still.

A few years after that, I came across the DragonLance Chronicles, DragonLance: Chronicles, the original Shannara trilogy and Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold, and…well, we’ve left “earliest.”

I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, iT’s fun looking back on what early books shaped the readers we become.

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Saturday Miscellany—5/9/26

By HCNewton

On May 9, 2026

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Yes, this is late–but you should blame (in part) Fall into Fiction for putting on another great event today.

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 We’re going to start on a highbrow note: Seven of the Greatest Farts in Western Literature
bullet Celebrating 20 Years of First Law—Z.B. Steele commemorates The Blade Itself‘s 20th Anniversary. “Commonly heralded as a master of the craft and one of fantasy’s greatest character writers, it’s time to celebrate Joe Abercrombie, First Law, and the impact Abercrombie’s work has had on the genre.”
bullet How Substack became the new book tour—huh
bullet Celebrating 15 Years at Pages Unbound!
bullet Witty and Sarcastic Book Club hosted another great mini-series of posts this week, “Looking for the Helpers: Small Roles, Big Influence in SFF.” Its focus is “smaller roles in SFF books and how they can nonetheless play big parts”
bullet …Featuring Jonathan Nevair
bullet …Featuring Dorian Hart
bullet …Featuring Ben Schenkman
bullet …Featuring Shannon Knight
bullet …Featuring Ricardo Victoria

My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week:
“What was it about fathers, Clay wondered, that compelled so many of them to test their children? To insist that a daughter, or a son, prove themselves worthy of a love their mother offered without condition?”—Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
bullet Madam Tulip by David Ahern
bullet Indexing (Audiobook) by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal
bullet Dead is Best by Jo Perry
bullet Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
bullet And I mentioned the releases of: Zero K by Don DeLillo; Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo; Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn by Ace Atkins ; The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan; Blood Defense by Marcia Clark; Double Down by Gwenda Bond; The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde; and Outriders by Jay Posey

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet Out Law by Jim Butcher—A nice little novella that follows up The Law, Twelve Months, and Changes. Butcher’s spoiling us in 2026.
bullet The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee—”A battle-worn corporate samurai undertakes one last mission on a merciless planet where death is always a mere breath away, in this standalone dystopian epic.”
bullet On Faith and Freedom of Thought by Marilynne Robinson—”Marilynne Robinson’s speech for the 2026 Jon Fosse Lecture, delivered at the Norwegian Royal Palace…our creativity, along with the free space offered by literature, gives us reason for hope. This essay is a powerful exhortation to rediscover our spiritual and human obligations.”

WWW Wednesday—May 6, 2026

By HCNewton

On May 6, 2026

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

I am on a roll of reads better than I expected–and I expected to enjoy all the things I’ve picked up this year. I know it won’t last–but I’m enjoying it while it does. Here’s a quick glance at the books I’m talking about:

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


The Book of Spores edited by Frasier Armitage, Eleni Argyró, Adrian M. Gibson & Ed Crocker	Out Law by Jim Butcher	The Terminal List by Jack Carr, read by Ray Porter

I will be finishing The Book of Spores in the next 24 hours. Readers, this is something else.

Butcher’s latest is sure to make me happy–as I said recently, you can never go wrong with more Marcone.

I barely scratched (got to 7%) The Terminal List last November before I had to give it back to the Library. It took this long to get to the top of the waitlist again. If it’s half as good as the demand seems to suggest, this’ll be a good time. And if it’s not? Eh, 12 hours of Ray Porter narration should make it pleasant.

What did you recently finish reading?


51% by Matt Witten	The Frame-Up by Gwenda Bond, read by Shannon McManus

The 51% left me shocked. Stunned. Stupefied. I’ll try to expand on that soon.

The Frame-up wasn’t as silly as I thought it would be. Plenty of fun, but a little more Patricia Briggs than Elle Cosimano.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Kings of the Wyld by AUTHOR	The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander, read by Words Take Wing Repertory Co

Eames is going to leave me in a very good mood for the next few days.

My local library just added this Lloyd Alexander audiobook–and it’s one of those novels I didn’t know he’d written. Seemed like a good idea.

Do you have something good on your nightstand?

Fantasy with Friends: Has a Fantasy Book Inspired You to Learn More about a New Topic?

By HCNewton

On May 4, 2026

In Books, Fantasy with Friends, News/Misc.

Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.

This week’s prompt is:

Has reading a fantasy book ever inspired you to do further research into something else?

Not really–I mean, Fantasy is pretty much about beyond reality, right? I mean, occasionally, I’d do a quick web search to check for a detail or two on a notable fae or mythological figure–just to make sure I remembered them correctly. I did that with Grossman’s The Bright Sword when it came to a knight or two, and some of the characters in Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. That’s as close as I can think of when it comes to research.

Well, I mean–there’s looking into the backlist of a new-to-me author.

This prompt did made me think of How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson.

What should you ask a magic mirror? How do you outwit a genie? Where should you dig for buried treasure? Fantasy media’s favorite clichés get new life from How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages, a historically accurate romp through the medieval world. Each entry presents a trope from video games, books, movies, or TV—such as saving the princess or training a wizard—as a problem for you to solve, as if you were the hero of your own fantasy quest. Through facts sourced from a rich foundation of medieval sources, you will learn how your magical problems were solved by people in the actual Middle Ages.

Divided into thematic subsections based on typical stages in a fantastical epic, and inclusive of race, gender, and continent, How to Slay a Dragon is perfect if you’re curious to learn more about the time period that inspired some of your favorite magical worlds or longing to know what it would be like to be the hero of your own mythical adventure.

Were I the sort to be inspired, I think that many of the questions I’d want to research were touched on by this book. Honestly, I was disappointed in the book–I really didn’t think it lived up to the premise. But still, there were some entertaining bits. Obviously, your results may vary. It wasn’t research per se–but it’s me looking into various and sundry fantasy tropes.

I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, if only because I expect a good recommendation or six.

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