Category: Saturday Miscellany Page 3 of 32

I really thought I had a long list for today, but…not so much. I do have an eclectic one, however. And that makes me just as happy. Hopefully there’s something here that strikes your fancy. (and if not, come back in 7 days)

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:
Steve Hofstetter recently gave a speech to the American Association of School Librarians that’s worth your time (in my non-humble opinion). He was nice enough to provide both the full video and the text version.
Bones & Betrayals: A Chat with Andi Ewington, Erica Marks and Calum Alexander Watt—loved this.
Caffinated Reader’s 13th Annual Ho-Ho-Ho Readathon Sign-up—may intrigue some of you
Eileen Mueller and several other fantasy authors have a dynamite-looking giveaway up: November 2025 Win Deluxe Edition Epic Fantasy Books Giveaway—(and yes, you entering via that link gets me more entries, so, you know…help a guy out)
EVEN MORE Unusual and Riveting Retellings!—The Orangutan Librarian has tempted me to take the rest of the month off to work through this list
I Have An Agent—I know there’s a long gap from this to us getting to hold a Peat Long tome in our hands, but this is a great step.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Writers of Canada Joel Nedecky, The Broken Detective—I enjoyed it, you might to. Also, let me remind you to read The Broken Detective

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Indexing: Reflections, Episode Seven: False Love’s Kiss by Seanan McGuire
X by Sue Grafton
The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan
Never Tell by Alafair Burke
And I mentioned the releases of: The Promise by Robert Crais; Winter by Marissa Meyer; Rules for a Knight by Ethan Hawke; Dear Mr. You by Mary-Louise Parker; Home by Matt Dunn; Mad Men Carousel: The Complete Critical Companion by Matt Zoller Seitz

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree—by far the least cozy of the series, but fans won’t mind. Greatest breadknife in literary history. I finished this yesterday and relished every second of it.
Guns Of Brixton by Paul D. Brazill—Fahrenheit Press has this great looking book out in it’s Pocket Noir series (I need to do a separate post just about that series one day). How do you turn down “a hard-boiled black comedy packed with crooked cops, washed-up crooks, and the kind of dialogue that snaps like a switchblade.” in an attractive package? (I sure don’t)
There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm—”Humanity is under assault by malevolent ‘antimemes’—ideas that attack memory, identity, and the fabric of reality itself—in this whip-smart tale of science-fiction horror, an entirely reimagined and expanded version of the beloved online novel.”

That lack of an “s” on “BOOK” is really going to drive me nuts

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:
Two Ways of Disliking Poetry—I would’ve guessed there were more…
Fisher the Bookseller Explains How Bookstores Decide Which Books to Sell: The ins and outs of how books are bought and sold in bookstores
In Conversation with Susan Grossey, Author of Historical Crime Fiction
Manual Labor: A new generation of deaf writers reimagines language, text, and sound
The Accidental Completionist—that last paragraph…
7 fantasy book villains more terrifying than Sauron from The Lord of the Rings—I haven’t run into any of these villains, I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
Eight Ways to Celebrate Bram Stoker on his November 8th Birthday by LindaAnn LoSchiavo—a Guest Post over at Witty & Sarcastic Book Club for those who are still making plans for Bram’s Big Day (or want to get an early start for next year)

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Bookish Diaries Podcast Season 2, Episode 6: Cozy fantasy or Dark Fantasy: Pick your Poison!

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day
The Lobster Boy And The Fat Lady’s Daughter by Charles Kriel—the beginning of my beautiful friendship with Farenheit Press
And I mentioned the releases of: The Crossing by Michael Connelly; Made to Kill by Adam Christopher; The Builders by Daniel Polansky; The Ark: Children of a Dead Earth Book One by Patrick S. Tomlinson; Black Wolves by Kate Elliott; and Mystic by Jason Denzel

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Judgement of Powers by Benedict Jacka—Not that this series has been filled with brightness and breeze, but it looks like things are getting a little more serious for our friend, Stephen.
Love the Stranger by Michael Sears—Boy howdy, this sequel delivers on all the promise of its predecessor–and then some. Out in paperback this week, I just finished and need to talk about it soon. Don’t wait for me, though, just go get it.
The Christmas Tree Killer by Chris Frost—DI Tom Stonem is sure to be very unwelcome around the holiday season (for people he works with/serves anyway) if he keeps finding himself entwined in murder cases like this one. Creepy Christmas Crime, if you’re in the mood.
Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite—”A young woman must shake off a family curse and the widely held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin in this wickedly funny, brilliantly perceptive novel about love, female rivalry, and superstition from the author of the smash hit My Sister, the Serial Killer“
Bruised Not Broken: The Autobiography of Katie Hodges by Katie Hodges—This Literary Local has been through a lot and is here with a story of perseverence and hope.
I Am a Highly Dangerous Warrior! by Raquel D’Apice, illustrated by Heather Fox—”a hilarious take on developmental leaps exploring the bravery it takes to tackle the next big thing–with some help from the things in life that make us feel safe.”

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:
The Case for Whole Books: You can’t get better at reading until you care about a text.—Part advertisement for a new book, part critique of what Common Core has done to English classes, part argument for how things should be. All the kind of thing I could read about for hours.
SoA calls for transparency around ‘unsung’ ghostwriters behind celebrity-authored children’s books—an overdue idea.
Sounds like George R.R. Martin’s OpenAI suit is going pretty well for him—(and for other authors, too, but Martin’s name will bring more readers, I guess)
The Infection is Coming…—AJ Calvin talks about the upcoming Kickstarter for The Book of Spores and the book in general.
How to build a reading routine for fall that actually sticks—some good advice here
Yeah, it’s November, but we can still talk about creepy/spooky reads, right? Like Sara Reads did in a few posts: Halloween.1, Halloween part 2., and Halloween part 3.
The Womble has some, too, in: Tis the season of Terror!
Captivating Characters of October—Once again, I’ve forgotten to get anything written for this particular blog party/linkup thing. So I’ll just point to the mothership.
My Blogging Anniversary: The Seven Year Itch—The Witty & Sarcastic Book Club is 7?? (also, how is it only 7?). Regardless, congrats on the milestone!!

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Chronicles of Prydain – Fantasy’s Forgotten Epic —I haven’t watched this yet, but I really enjoyed Ezekat’s short video on Prydain, so I can’t wait to dive in. And you know me, this is one of those topics I have to share any think I stumble across that covers it.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
Indexing: Reflections, Episode Six: Frostbite by Seanan McGuire
Reflecting the Sky by S. J. Rozan
The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone
And I mentioned the paperback release of The Burning Room by Michael Connelly

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Locks & Keys: A Fantasy Anthology by Bill Adams, Tom Bookbeard, L.M. Douglas, Bella Dunn, Dave Lawson, Sean O’Boyle, R.E. Sanders, R.A. Sandpiper, Alex Scheuermann, G.J. Terral—(at least) 8 banger short stories and 2 that are worth your time. Overall, a strong anthology (as I wrote recently)
Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD by Keith R.A. DeCandido—I always enjoy time in DeCandido’s worlds, this “When a drug-dealing wizard dominates the city, only one squad can stop them”

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:
Identity Stamps: Two new startups, Books by People and Amlet, aim to certify a book’s authenticity in the AI era—It is so sad that this needs to be a thing. It’s also enheartening that it finally is.
Federal judge says Texas law requiring book ratings is unconstitutional
How the Hardy Boys Book Series Cracked the Case of Getting Kids Hooked on Reading
Barnes & Noble’s 2025 Book of the Year Finalists—Ugh. Is it this time of year already? Still, some good-looking books. I’ve read 2 of these finalists, and yeah, they belong on the list.
ABC Radio National named their Top 100 Books of the 21st Century.—as well as the books that didn’t quite make the Top 100
My Conversation with Fake Dan Brown—Lee Goldberg talks about the chat he had with “Dan Brown” last week.
Acquiring My Work: A Primer—Scalzi’s primer might not apply to the author of your choice, but it does give some grounds to consider
Influences – Joe Abercrombie
Exclusive Interview: “Against All Odds” Author Jeffery H. Haskell
Z.B. Steele put together a great (and visually appealing) thread of SFF Book Recs Based on Your Favorite D&D Class—two indie and one trad book per subclass.
A two-fer from The Orangutan Librarian this week: If you like this, try that… Halloween Edition and If you didn’t like this, try that… Halloween Edition
Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: Ultraman by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi—I have memories of watching (not understanding, because I was like 5 or 6) Ultraman decades ago. It was just undeniably cool–a manga about him is definitely appealing from the outset. Firsty Duelist made it moreso.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Updraft by Fran Wilde
A Serpent’s Tooth by Craig Johnson
And I mentioned the releases of two very different kinds of PI books: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith and The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Death at the Door by Olivia Blacke—A nice sequel for the ghost and roommate amateur sleuth pair. I made a case for reading it last week.
Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow—The book is best summed up by this “it’s not just you—the internet sucks now. Here’s why, and here’s how we can disenshittify it.” I read it, and am glad I did. Even if I despair of any of his suggested solutions happening.
The Land of Sweet Forever: Stories and Essays by Harper Lee—”a posthumous collection of newly discovered short stories and previously published essays and magazine pieces, offering a fresh perspective on the remarkable literary mind of Harper Lee.”
The Broken Detective by Joel Nedecky—”Private investigator Jake Joelsen is going to prison for assaulting his sick mom’s abusive boyfriend, but thanks to a suspended sentence, he has two weeks to earn as much money as possible so he can financially support his mom when he’s inside.” All he has to do is find one missing woman, fight some powerful people, and stay sober.
Blind Date with a Werewolf by Patricia Briggs—”When the deadly werewolf Asil is gifted five blind dates by some anonymous ‘friends,’ his reclusive life will never be the same, in this enthralling novel in stories.” I’ve read one or two of these stories before, and figure I’ll enjoy the others.
The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly—I’m not sure how I didn’t know about a new Lincoln Lawyer book until 2 days after it came out, but this should be as compelling as usual.
Batman: Revolution by John Jackson Miller—I love the idea of a series following up on Burton’s Batman, in this second novel (third if you count the novelization of the movie), we get to meet The Riddler.
Slayers of Old by Jim C. Hines—”Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last time… it’s a novel about community, second chances, and the healing power of scones.”
Futility by Nuzo Onoh—Okay, this “monstrous, gleeful, bitingly funny tale of murder, body-swapping and bloody vengeance” doesn’t actually sound like my cup of tea (but will appeal to some of you). But that cover is one that I both really want on my shelf and never want to see again. Click to see what I mean.

For the second time this year, I’m doing this late. Humbug. I was out of town last week spending time with my favorite person. So, I didn’t have a lot of time to be looking around for things to put here (and I got really behind with everything, leading to the belatedness of this). But I hate to break a streak (and there’s a bunch of new releases to mention)

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye last week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
58 Books You Need to Read (Recommended by People Who Know) Or: 42 Writers, Editors, and Booksellers on the Best Books They’ve Read in the Last 25 Years—this is a great list
Enchanting Imposters: Johns Hopkins University’s Bibliotheca Fictiva Collection of Literary and Historical Forgery shows that humans have been creating fan fiction and fake news for millennia—”more than 2,000 items—rare books, manuscripts, and ephemera.” It sounds fascinating.
Killer Reads: Books About Serial Killers You Need to Read—another great list
Spooktacular Books for All Ages: 2025—and a third list of books that you should peruse, this time from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Last Week?
Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns
Walking the Perfect Square by Reed Farrel Coleman
A Bitter Feast by S.J. Rozan
The Drop by Dennis Lehane
Whirligig by Magnus Macintyre
And I talked about the release of Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl

Last Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Bounty Inc. by Adam Holcombe—Bounty hunters in space. Epic battle scenes. Found family. Oodles of Fun. I enthused about this recently, and I’d gladly do so again.
Fallen Star by Lee Goldberg—Eve Ronin’s latest finds her in the middle of a new (and yet old) tangle of corruption
And to All a Good Bite by David Rosenfelt—The new Andy Carpenter holiday mystery. A bit of cleverness and a warm-fuzzy are both sure to ensue.
Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman—”A sentimental advertising creative and a blunt, no-nonsense bar owner find a second chance at love while binge-watching iconic holiday movies in this poignant and heartwarming romance.”
Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum by Michael J. Fox and Nelle Fortenberry—”A poignant, heartfelt, and funny memoir about how, in 1985, Michael J. Fox brought to life two iconic roles simultaneously—Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties and Marty McFly in Back to the Future. An amazing true story as only Michael J. Fox can tell it.” Draws upon interviews with cast and crew of both projects.

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:
Down & Out Books Announces their Closure—They were one of my favoite indie presses, it’s a real shame.
I appreciated Nick Kolakowski‘s thread about it, both good and the bad
How I Managed to Write a Book without Going (Too) Broke—”A grant, a small advance, a supportive spouse, and the $100 I found outside the library”
What Fictional Violence Teaches Us About the Real Thing (and Vice Versa)
My Latest BookBub Featured Deal—AJ Calvin gives a quick peak behind the curtain
There Comes a Time in Every Reader’s Life When You Have to Move the Books—Molly Templeton manages to have a thoughtful take on even the most dreaded part of moving—packing books!
Read Dangerously: Banned Books Week 2025—Jodie gets to the heart of this week
Self Published Fantasy Releases – October 2025—Rob J. Hayes has a ready-made shopping list for the month
Why do I love Horror?—I don’t know that I’d have tagged Cathy as a Horror-lover, but I’d clearly have been wrong. Glad there are people like her out there (to make up for horror-averse readers like me)
Spooktober Recommendations From the Blogger Community—Mehsi gathered some recommendations from bloggers for those who want to dabble (at least) in the spooky season
YA books with a male lead… That Boys Will Actually Enjoy!—so strange that this is a post that’s needed.
Rachel Skye makes a great case against reading challenges

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman
How to Write a Novel by Melanie Sumner—I should stress that this is a novel in case you’re looking for a how-to
Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells
Indexing: Reflections, Episode 5: Sleeping Beauty by Seanan McGuire
And I talked about the releases of: The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan; The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson; A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin; and Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong —only took me 9 years and 10 months to read it.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon (next week’s list will be much longer, start saving your pennies):
Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory Doctorow—”The once-glorious internet was colonized by platforms that made all-but-magical promises to their users—and, at least initially, seemed to deliver on them. But once users were locked in, the platforms turned on them to make their business customers happy. Then the platforms turned to abusing their business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. In the end, the platforms die…[Doctorow] shows us the specific decisions that led us here, who made them, and—most important—how they can be undone.”

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:
This has been covered by everyone and their brother, but it’s so fun: Reading Rainbow is Coming Back, with the best host (short of bringing back Burton)
Merriam-Webster’s NEW Large Language Model is coming next month. I’m more interested in this than I would’ve thought.
How to Build a Dictionary: On the Hard Art of Popular Lexicography
‘Buffalo Fluffalo’ Adds to the Herd—another story I’m suprisingly excited for.
As per usual, Jo Linsdell’s September 2025 Book Blogger Posts Round Up—has some good reads
Book Recommendations for Each US State—Book Girls’ Guide has completed their list of books per state. Looks like some good choices, too.
I appreciated @Linfootwrites’ Self-Pub Appreciation post

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood
As the Crow Flies by Craig Johnson
Make Me by Lee Child
And I talked about the release of The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher—which was really the only thing I remember caring about that week

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Silver and Lead by Seanan McGuire—Toby et al. adjust to the new normal following the events of the last three books. This is (unsprisingly) good–and I was supposed to have my post finished last week. tldr; version: Go get it.
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman—I have no idea what it’s about (some sort of fortune, I guess), all I know is that The Thursday Murder Club are back.
Death Dance by Michael Michel—the sequel to the prequel novella, War Song. But still a prequel to the Dreams of Dust and Steel series.
The Librarians by Sherry Thomas—four Texan librarians have to band together to solve some murders.
Dinner at the Night Library by Hika Harada, translated by Philip Gabriel—a group works to save a very particular kind of library: “The hours are from seven o’clock to midnight. The library exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out – instead, they’re put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library’s visitors, making it akin to a book museum.”
Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa—”a revelatory novel about loneliness, love, labor, and class, an intimate and sharply written book following a nail salon owner [a retired boxer, no less] as she toils away for the privileged clients who don’t even know her true name.”

Well, I’ve been silent this week…it’s been one of those. All is good (now), but I haven’t had the energy to produce anything. Hopefully next week will allow me to play catchup (or at least to do stuff). But I did get to do some halfhearted scrolling on the socials, so at least I can do this.

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:
Let’s start with some good news: Judge approves $1.5 billion copyright settlement between AI company Anthropic and authors
The audiobook business is booming. But the bounty isn’t being shared by all
How Translations Sell: Three U.S. Eras of International Bestsellers—huh
Raymond Chandler’s Unseen Story Has Been Published At Last—ooooh!
The 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years—I’ve only read one of these from Slate’s list, but I’m willing to sign on to it being part of the list. This feels like a project for Grandpappy’s Corner!
Form, Function, and the Sentences We Collect—the latest from Molly Templeton
15th blogiversary: along the years, stats—Congrats to Words and Peace for hitting that landmark!
Monthly Manga Mania Featuring Firsty Duelist: One Piece (ARC 1)—it’s been a month since the last one??
Something is Rotten in the State of Publishing, according to the Orangutan Librarian, anyway. Thoughts?
Captivating Characters of September —This is an interesting pick.
People Just Want Dragons—A.J. Calvin has thoughts
Not The Friday Five: Happy Birthday To The Hobbit—Peat’s got some great links to check out!

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Author Adjacent Episode 47: Interview with JCM Berne: No Books Were Harmed—is on my to-be-watched list, but sure to be good
GSMC Book Review Podcast Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski—is another one on it.
The Bookish Diaries Podcast Our Favorite Reads This Year—I stumbled onto this locally produced podcast this week. Our tastes really don’t overlap too much, but it was fun to listen to this episode.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
The Scam by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
Indexing: Reflections, Episode 4: Split Ends by Seanan McGuire
Yes, My Accent Is Real by Kunal Nayyar
Changeless by Gail Carriger
The Drafter by Kim Harrison—my favorite of all of Harrison’s works
And I noted the release of Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Anna Waterhouse

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama, Takami Nieda (Translator)—I enjoyed, but was underwhelmed by, Aoyama’s What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, but how do you not at least try something with a title like this?
Humanish: What Talking to Your Cat or Naming Your Car Reveals About the Uniquely Human Need to Humanize by Justin Gregg—I didn’t realize I needed to read about about anthropomorphism until I saw this book. Sign me up for this: “Delivered with a delightful mix of scientific insight and humor, Humanish is a groundbreaking exploration of one of the most powerful–but rarely talked about–cognitive biases influencing our behavior. “

Just for funzies, I included one blatant lie in my comments below. Let me know if you can spot it!

Meanwhile, John Scalzi will be giving a talk at a local library. In case anyone wondered what I was going to be up to tonight.

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:
We start this week with the sad news that Thomas Perry died.
Publishers Weekly’s The 2025 Freedom to Read Issue is out, highlighting the local work being done on the book banning/library defunding/etc. front.
Banned Books Week Read-In—Libro.fm and Silent Book Club have paired up with nearly 450 independent bookshops and libraries to protest
Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books—Sigh. Of course they are.
But what about works that actually do exist? The Great Stories Are Out There—But We Need To Connect Creators To Audiences —”Reinforcing why indie storytellers and audiences must forge a new creative ecosystem together.”
HarperCollins to Reissue 35 ‘American Classics’—”HarperCollins has announced plans to “commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence” with its new American Classics series, to be published next spring…the series will feature 35 special-edition trade paperbacks of some of the most influential titles HC has put out since its 1817 founding.” You can see the list here. And, no, I will not be buying new copies of anything just because of the covers.
Horror Books to Read This Halloween Season—I won’t be reading any of these (no offense, Books of Brilliance), but I know some of you get into this kind of thing.
Thriller tropes: What are my favorites—a good overview of some big tropes

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
SFF Addicts The Shifting Landscape of Epic Fantasy—Recorded live at WorldCon, this panel features George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, Rebecca Roanhorse and Ryan Cahill. I haven’t made it all the way through yet, but I’m really loving this discussion.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Covenant’s End by Ari Marmell
Last Words by Michael Koryta
Time Salvager by Wesley Chu
And I mentioned the release of three books I remember having fun with: Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood, The Scam by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, and Yes, My Accent Is Real And Some Other Things I Haven’t Told You by Kunal Nayyar

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Particularly Nasty Case by Adam Kay—a debut mystery from the doctor turned author. Looks promising.
Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Book of Anansi by Angie Thomas—Been wondering when we get this sequel. Looking forward to dipping back into this MG world.
Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach—”explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings”
The Summer War by Naomi Novik—”a young witch who has inadvertently cursed her brother to live a life without love must find a way to undo her spell.”
I Killed the King by Rebecca Mix, Andrea Hannah—YA Knives Out in a fantasy setting. Should be fun.

This lil’ feature is getting harder to find material for—hard to take a quick spin through my social media feeds for things without being distracted by/inundated with/overwhelmed by politics, events, news, etc. and really awful takes on politics, events, news, etc. You’ve probably all encountered similar things in your day-to-day websurfing/social media scrolling. As the philosopher asked, “My world’s on fire, how bout yours?” (or at least it seems to be).

I’m not sure I have a point there…just had to ramble a bit this morning, I guess. How about we get down to biz-ness?

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:
What To Do When You’re in a Reading Slump—some tips from a local bookseller
Retiring from Novels—I get his thinking, but hope this retirement is short-lived. If not, I hope his next endeavors succeed.
Fiscal Funny Business: Susan Grossey talks to Crime Time—a nice little piece from one of the niche-est writers I follow.
(It’s Not) The Death of Criticism (Again)—Molly Templeton explores the nature of, reasoning behind, and the current conversation(s) around criticism
8 Times Authors Took Revenge in Their Fiction—a fun listicle
Misconceptions, Mishaps and CrAzY Stories From Working in Libraries! What is it REALLY like?—I do wonder what the non-PG version would contain…but I think I’m better off not knowing
Mental Health and Fantasy—an updated version of a great post

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Dear Dr. Fantasy: episode 80, with Joe (JCM Berne)—Haven’t found/made the time for this yet, but it looks really good.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
The Fraud by Brad Parks
Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell—interesting timing for this to come up if you look down below
Indexing: Reflections, Episode 3: Brotherly Love by Seanan McGuire
A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
Who Let The Dog Out? by David Rosenfelt
It was a good release week, I mentioned the following: Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins by Reed Farrel Coleman; Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell; Make Me by Lee Child; All In by Joel Goldman and Lisa Klink; and A Guide To Being A Dog, by Seamus Wheaton by Wil Wheaton

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Gnomes of Lychford by Paul Cornell—”Gnomes, witches, and podcasters clash for the future of the village of Lychford in this delightful conclusion to the Witches of Lychford series.” (I thought the series had already ended…oops. Glad to be proven wrong, if only for 160 pages)
Reacher: The Stories Behind the Stories by Lee Child—”These are the origin tales of all of the Reacher novels written solely by Lee Child, chock full of colorful anecdotes and intriguing inspirations. One by one, they expand upon each novel and place it in the context not only of the author’s life, but of the world outside the books.”
Crooks: A Novel About Crime and Family by Lou Berney—A fascinating-looking book that “follows a uniquely American crime family on an unforgettable journey across four decades.” This review over at The Hard Word sold me.