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HC Chats with Witty & Sarcastic Book Club about 2024/2025

On January 15, 2025

In Blog Series, Books, HC Chats, Miscellany, News/Misc.

I’m very pleased to welcome Jodie from Witty & Sarcastic Book Club to talk about what happened on our blogs last year, the books that stood out to us, as well as some hopes and goals for 2025–and very vague reading plans. We ramble a bit about some other things, too.

I hope you enjoy this.

The audio on my end is a wonky (and maybe hard to listen to) at the beginning, but it settles down after a little bit (but is still too loud compared to Jodie’s). Will go back to my old microphone next time.

Show Notes

Blogs/Websites we mentioned:
Peat Long’s Blog: https://peatlong.wordpress.com/
The Orangutan Librarian: https://theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com/
Pages Unbound: https://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/
Read Christie 2025: https://www.agathachristie.com/news/2025/read-christie-2025

Bookshop Pages, we’d appreciate you using one or all of these:
Behind the Pages Bookshop Page: https://bookshop.org/shop/BehindthePages
Witty and Sarcastic Book Picks: https://bookshop.org/shop/WittyandSarcasticBookPicks
HC’s Bookshop Page: https://bookshop.org/shop/irresponsiblereader

Particular Books We Mentioned:

The Root of Hope by Ricardo Victoria
God Ascended: An Archives of Evelium Tale by Jeffrey Speight
Dragons of Fate by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
Buddy the Knight and The Queen of Sorrow by Peter David
The Half Killed by Quenby Olson
Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson
The Part about the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson
The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

The Star and the Strange Moon by Constance Sayers

Tales of Mystery: Dead for a Spell
Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
The Last Shield by Cameron Johnston
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Martian by Andy Weir
No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
The Mercy Chair by M.W. Craven
Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis by Michael Ward
Whisper in the Wind by Luke Arnold
The Last Soul Among Wolves by Melissa Caruso
The Final Vow by M.W. Craven
The Legendary Mo Seto by A. Y. Chan
The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs
Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

2024 Plans and Challenges: Year-End Look

By HCNewton

On January 2, 2025

In Books, Calendar Items, Miscellany, News/Misc.

I’d hoped to keep charging ahead with Grandpappy’s Corner and Literary Locals, and while those haven’t completely died off, I haven’t done that much with them as I expected.

How’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own” goal going? Well, I bought very few books in February, so that helped, but overall…?

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read
End of 2023	6	46	68	153
End of 1st Quarter	4	50	64	154
End of 2nd Quarter	3	54	79	162
End of 3rd Quarter	5	58	75	166
End of 4th Quarter	3	68	78	167

Goodreads Challenge
I topped it by 1, but Goodreads won’t give me the silly graphic for 2024 for some reason. So you’re going to have to take my word for it.

12 Books

I didn’t touch any of these, and I’m really annoyed with myself.

Reading with Wrigs

Like I mentioned the other day, I didn’t finish this one, either.

A Book with a Dragon: Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire
A Book with the word “leap” in the title: Couldn’t think of one.
A Book with the Olympics: Running and Jumping by Steven Kedie
A Book with an Election or Politician: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher
A Work of Fiction with an Eclipse: Missed it
A Book by an Author Who Has Written Over 24 Books: Dream Town by Lee Goldberg
A Book Set in a Different Culture Than Your Own: I have an idea or two.
A Book of Poetry: Enough Rope by Dorothy Parker
A Book with Time Travel: A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
A Book with Antonyms in the Title: I really thought I’d get this one, but, alas
A Book Told from the Villian’s Point of View: Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart kind of applies.
A Book With a Purple Cover: Abnormal Ends by Bryan McBee

The 2024 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge

All 12, plus two stretch goals. Fourteen off the TBR. Sure, it’s just a drop in the bucket. But a step is a step.
January – Lucky Dip: Randomly choose a book by someone you’ve never read before: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Stretch Goal – In the same spirit I give you permission to read the last book to enter your TBR pile. Actually read something you’ve got yourself to recently read: Hacked by Duncan MacMaster
February – Lovers Meeting: No not romantasy focused – this challenge is somewhere in TBR is a delayed treat. Read an author you’ve loved and held back from reading because the time was not right. Its time for you two to get re-acquainted. Enjoy yourself! Return of the Griffin by JCM Berne
March – Spring :You know that first book of a series you bought and have now realised is now finished? You have my permission to read this at last. And you know what? Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn
April – Diamond Anniversary: Diamond is the birthstone of April so your challenge is to read something over 60 years old: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
May – The Fourth…May the force be with you and I permit you to read a SF themed tale: Grave Cold by Shannon Knight
June – The Longest Days: You may choose the longest book in your TBR pile the days are long so go for it: The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
July – The Ides have it In an ongoing tribute to Julius pick a tale of intrigue and scheming: The Last King of California by Jordan Harper
August – Travel Broadens the Mind: Choose a Book that is from an author from a different country to yourself: The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong. I’ve read all from other places that aren’t from this year, so…Canada (which doesn’t seem to count, but does)
September – Back To School: Choose a Book about a character learning something – be it in school, a new power or something about themselves: Project Hail Mary by Andy Wier
October – Yep Its Halloween Time: Find a spooky themed read!: My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby (a murder mystery focusing on a mortuary worker, as creepy as I could come up with)
November – Short but Sweet: Four Novellas – and you cna do this in a month: 1-800-CallLoki by Dawn Blair
Stretch Goal – I test you – I want eleven short stories read – magazine, collection or anthology!: Instinct: An Animal Rescuers Anthology by L. J. Hachmeister
December – Parting Gifts: Read a Book gifted to you – before Christmas comes and you realise you’ve still not read it!: Shadow of Hyperion by JCM Berne

Backlist Bingo 2024

I did get a bingo, but not the blackout that I hoped for.

✔ 1. This is Who We Are Now by James Bailey (my post about it)
✔ 2. Blood Reunion by JCM Berne
✔ 3. Ways And Truths And Lives by Matt Edwards
✔ 4. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
✔ 5. Grammar Sex and Other Stuff: A Collection of (mostly humorous) Essays by Robert Germaux (my post about it)
✔ 6. The Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson
✔ 7. Last King of California by Jordan Harper
✔ 8. Steam Opera by James T. Lambert (my post about it)
✔ 9. The Glass Frog by J. Brandon Lowry (my post about it)
✔ 10. The Legendary Mo Seto by A. Y. Chan (substitution) (my post about it)

✔ 11. Curse of the Fallen by H.C. Newell
✔ 12. Heart of Fire by Raina Nightengale (my post about it)
✔ 13. Detours and Do-overs by Wesley Parker (my post about it)
✔ 14. Bizarre Frontier Omnibus #1 by Brock Poulson (my post about it)
✔ 15. Howl by e rathke (my post about it)
✔ 16. Bard Tidings by Paul J. Regnier
✔ 17. Panacea by Alex Robins
✔ 18. Cursed Cocktails by S.L. Rowland (my post about it)
✔ 19. Big Trouble in Little Italy by Nicole Sharp (my post about it)
✔ 20. The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong (my post about it)

In sum…while I read a lot of great stuff this year (and even more good stuff), I didn’t do so good with my goals. Oh well.

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

The Irresponsible Reader in 2024: Thoughts, Thanks, and Stats

By HCNewton

On January 1, 2025

In Miscellany, News/Misc.

Programming Note: As is my custom, over the next week I’ll be looking back over the year that was—but I’ll try to come up with some new material, too. Many/most others have already done their best-of/year-end wrap-up posts, but I’m a stickler—I can’t start doing this kind of thing ’til the year is over. My brain doesn’t allow me to work that way (I just hate projecting things in general—and some years ago when I just read irresponsibly but hadn’t adopted the name, the last novel of the year was so far beyond the rest that I can’t start looking back until 12/31 at the earliest).

As we kick off 2025, I wanted to take a glance back at 2024—276 books finished—a little less than some years, but given all the Life Stuff™ in my life this year, I expected that number to be far lower. That’s over 82,000 pages (too many audio-only things and beta reads to get an accurate count); with an average rating of 3.7 Stars. The page count is likely a little higher than last year, as is the stars. So, yay for consistency.

On the blog front, I put up 573 posts—a drop from last year, but not huge. Thanks have to be given for all the contributors I hada couple of series of posts this year that made that possible (I’ll get to this below). I had another year of solid gains in traffic—views and visitors—I’m not big-time (never going to be), but those numbers consistently weird me out (which is why I only look every 6-12 months). My follower count (here and on social media sites) is encouraging and humbling, I really feel like I ought to do more to earn them. Maybe there’s a book on how to be more interesting as a person that I should grab.

The blog series continue to go–mostly. I (yet again) didn’t get back to my Classic Spenser series (which is grating), and I got too caught up in other stuff and abandoned my monthly Highlights: Lines Worth Repeating series (it’ll be back soon). But on the positive side, my Literary Locals series slowed a bit, but it’s still chugging along. Grandpappy’s Corner, slowed a bit. My contribution to Self-Published Author Appreciation Week, Spreading the Self-Pub Love, ended up taking more effort than I thought, but the results were worth it. Lastly, there was the return of Top 5 All-Time Desert Island Books series of guest posts, which I particularly enjoyed. The YouTube channel hasn’t quite taken off as I hoped, but I had fun doing what I’ve done, and have some ideas to keep at it (and those who’ve given me feedback has been positive, so, that’s all good for me)

As is my habit, here’s my breakdown of books by genre—I tweaked the table a bit, so it actually fits on the screen (or should). Genre labeling continues to be more difficult as I’m reading a lot of hybrids (most of us are, they’re being produced more), but I tend to go with the overarching genre. Once again, for someone who doesn’t plan too thoroughly, the percentages stay remarkably consistent from year to year—my tastes (and the series I follow) stay the same as is to be expected. The growth in Fantasy and SF makes sense, but I didn’t expect it to be that noticeable. The decrease in Children’s books is odd–but, I do tend to only count the ones I read by my choice (not the Grandcritter’s) and that I’m going to write up–and I did less of that than I expected to in 2024.

Genre	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2012-17
Children’s	9 (3%)	25 (8%)	5 (2%)	2 (1%)	5 (2%)	7 (3%)	11 (4%)	12 (.95%)
Fantasy	41 (17%)	34 (11%)	32 (10%)	20 (7%)	35 (13%)	28 (10%)	30 (11%)	93 (7%)
General Fiction/ Literature	27 (11%)	26 (9%)	24 (8%)	22 (7%)	16 (7%)	21 (8%)	22 (8%)	140 (11%)
Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller	80 (33%)	90 (30%)	114 (37%)	117 (38%)	90 (34%)	105 (38%)	107 (38%)	425 (33%)
Non-Fiction	22 (9%)	22 (7%)	29 (9%)	22 (7%)	28 (10%)	25 (9%)	22 (8%)	46 (4%)
Science Fiction	10 (23%)	34 (11%)	28 (9%)	20 (7%)	20 (8%)	30 (11%)	25 (9%)	122 (10)
Theology/ Christian Living	31 (13%)	30 (10%)	45 (15%)	38 (13%)	23 (8%)	34 (12%)	25 (9%)	194 (16%)
Urban Fantasy	32 (13%)	33 (11%)	34 (11%)	49 (16%)	42 (16%)	25 (9%)	29 (10%)	194 (16%)
“Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western)	8 (3%)	9 (3%)	2 (1%)	12 (4%)	4 (2%)	6 (2%)	7 (3%)	34 (3%)

Here’s a few more stats I typically share. I find them interesting, and maybe you will, too.
Re-Read Chart That’s a 3% uptick in re-reads. Which is nice (I expect that next year will see a big jump, but we’ll see how that works out. I’m neither a prophet or a son of a prophet and my predictions tend to demonstrate that. Source of my Books
“Bought” went down (phew) and everything else went up–which is nice to see.
Format of the Book The percentage of Hardcovers and Audiobooks went up, and everything else went down. I felt like I read more eBooks than the numbers say, which is interesting.

Enough about me. Now we get to my favorite part—I want to talk about you, who keep me going and show an interest in what I’m doing here, and give some thanks to people for their impact on The Irresponsible Reader (the blog and the person) in 2024:

Thanks to everyone for your comments/feedback—texts, emails, comments here/Goodreads, tweets/Twitter-replacement posts, FB comments, even the occasional Face-to-Face conversation. Keep it up! I really appreciate the time you took to leave feedback. Hopefully, you can tell that you’ve shaped the conversation here—it has, I assure you. Many of you are pushing me to be a better writer—some of you push me to read better books. I’m going to give a particular thanks to Robert Germaux, The Write Reads, Allyson Johnson (you really push me to think about what I’m reading!), W&S Bookclub, Lashaan, Emma, and Noelle for their encouragement, retweets, and interaction.
A hearty thanks to all the authors, editors, illustrators, translators, and other people behind the production of the books I spent time with this year—this blog would be nothing without your efforts, your blood, sweat, tears, fears, work, love, dreams, hopes, art, and words. Your books were my companions throughout this year, and I can’t thank you enough for them (and I hope I get to spend time with many of you again soon!).
More thanks to all those who requested that I read and talk about your (or your clients’) books. I know how much work, effort, heart, and everything else that went into your books. It’s super humbling, I know you all didn’t like what I said, but, I am grateful for the opportunity.
I cannot thank every participant in the Q&As from this year enough. I got to ask “A Few Quick Questions” to: Steven Max Russo, Armanis Ar-feinial, Marilyn Peake, T. Olsen, Savanna Mayer, Shannon Knight, Jocele Skinner of Shared Stories, M.D. Presley, and J.M. Gulmire.
Beyond those, I really want to thank R.M. Scott, Norelle Smith, Jerome Goettsch, Carla Crane Osborne, Arnold Ytreeide, Sarah Hill, Christi Nogle, Melaney Taylor Auxier, and Steve McGill for answering my questions about writing in Idaho.
And I do have to thank Adrian M. Gibson, John Simons, JCM Berne, and Jodie from Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub for sitting down with me on camera.
I also hosted a record number of Guest Posts this year. Many thanks to Shannon Knight (and again), Robert Germaux, Mary Kendall, Carol from Reading Ladies Book Club, and Mary Camarillo.
My son Owen provided a lot of the technical support I needed this year. Owen’s my best editor (sadly, it’s largely after I post something…), too, and he’s saved me from looking stupid on more than one occasion.
All my kids have acted as sounding boards this year—helping with some graphics, jokes, themes, etc. They (and Owen) do a solid job of pretending to care about what I’m saying about books, reading, and whatnot. A hat tip to Calvin, Katrina, Carleigh, Taylor, and Machen, too.
A lot of thanks need to go to the Grandcritter, and my pack—Tanny and Athena. Not only have you brought me joy and inspired some reading, you’re also great at reminding me to stop all this nonsense and pay attention to life around me.
A special thanks to my wife. Without your support, indulgence, and patience this thing wouldn’t exist—and I’d read a lot less (the horror!). Thank you. I love you.
And thank you all for reading. This may feel obligatory and insincere. It is not. Honestly, each time I get a notification of a comment, or a like, or a share, or a follow, etc. it makes my day. To know that someone took a couple of seconds or more out of their day to glance at this? It means the world to me. Thanks.

Have a great 2025, and I hope you find plenty of good things to read!

Craig Johnson, The Osher Institute, and Tooth and Claw

By HCNewton

On November 22, 2024

In Andy Carpenter, Charlie & Rose Investigate, Craig Johnson, Fiona Griffiths, Harry Bingham, Iron Druid Chronicles, Jo Perry, Kevin Hearne, M. T. Miller, Miscellany, News/Misc., Walt Longmire

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of seeing Craig Johnson for the third time 7 years. I’m starting to feel like a stalker, or a groupie, or…I dunno, I can’t come up with the third things for that list. Anyway, I’m not either of those–or the other one, either. I only see him when he comes to the Treasure Valley and I see an advtisement. Really.

This time, he came to Boise to do a presentation for students of The Osher Institute–a lifelong learning program that seems like a great idea (I’ve heard a few people talk about it before). Thankfully, they opened it for non-students, too–for a small fee that included the price of his new novella, Tooth and Claw (which he signed afterward, too).

He talked a little about the oddly extended process in getting the novella written (by his standards, anyway), the style/influence that was behind this one, and a little bit about the story (maybe too much, almost certainly more than I’ll put in my eventual post about it). He also told a nice little story about the history of the SS Baychimo, a ghost ship that would appear every 10 years or so up in Alaska. I assume that I’m not the only one who had to go home and read more about it later after hearing his recounting.

Then he went into an extended Q&A time for the rest of the hour–I’ve heard a couple of the anecdotes he used before, but he used them to answer different questions, so that was a nice touch. But this wasn’t like the other Q&As I’ve seen him do before–this was a fairly mixed audience. There were plenty of Johnson fans, and plenty of people who’d watched the Longmire show, too. But there were a decent number of people who hadn’t read him at all before (1 person read The Cold Dish in the last couple of weeks). This led to some great questions from people who just wanted to talk about writing, the process of publishing, and then the recommended way to read the books (his wife insists they be read in chronological order, he maintains you can grab them in any order*).

Whether he was just talking about his upcoming book, answering a question about his process, talking about the ages of his characters, what he wrote before Walt Longmire got him a publication deal, a storyline that didn’t turn out the way he planned, or even a problem someone had with the Netflix adaptation, Johnson knows how to engage with an audience. I hope he doesn’t do this anytime soon, but if he quit writing and just toured the country telling stories about the books, his life, or just fun things he learned about history–I’d see him as often as possible and I think he be able to stay as active as he wanted. I don’t know if he’s always been able to work an audience the way he does, or if he grew into it (I think the former based on what he says about his family’s knack for storytelling), but there’s no denying that you walk away from a Craig Johnson appearance fully entertained. If you get the opportunity, take it.

And, of course, he brought that same charm and ability to connect to the autograph line–his lines don’t move that quickly. Once you get to the front, you understand why. He takes enough time so that fans new and old get a little of his attention, which no one is going to complain about.

I was also treated by a friend to a great meal at a nearby Mexican restaurant after we got our books signed. That’s not the point of this piece. I just can’t help thinking of it a day later.

*It’s good to see that even your writing heroes can be wrong.

Irresponsible Reader Pilcrow Icon

October Book Haul (and some other stuff)

By HCNewton

On October 31, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

The ones of you demanded a new video and I have acquiesced, with a Book Haul–because, why not?

Also featured–my lingering cough, and more “um”s than I care to admit (even if Valerie Fridland’s defense of the use of it in Like, Literally, Dude was convincing), and me likely butchering the pronunciation of some author names. Sounds like fun, right?

2024 Plans and Challenges: Third Quarter Check-In

By HCNewton

On October 15, 2024

In Books, Calendar Items, Miscellany, News/Misc.

I was feeling bad about it being this far into October before I had a chance to put together my Third Quarter Check-in until I realized that I skipped the 2nd Quarter. I’m really not on top of things this year. This is a recurring theme for this post.

I’d hoped to keep charging ahead with Grandpappy’s Corner and Literary Locals, and while those haven’t completely died off, I haven’t done that much with them. I think the next couple of months should bear fruit along those lines, though. We’ll see.

How’s the perennial, “Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own” goal going? Well, I bought very few books in February, so that helped, but overall…?

	Audio	E-book	Physical	Goodreads Want-to-Read
End of 2023	6	46	68	153
End of 1st Quarter	4	50	64	154
End of 2nd Quarter	3	54	79	162
End of 3rd Quarter	5	58	75	166

Goodreads Challenge

Keep sighing, Downey

12 Books

I haven’t made any dent this at all yet (I still haven’t written posts on 2 of the books that I read last year!!) It’s really getting under my skin. Which is exactly what I said in April. Still true. Still under my skin.

Reading with Wrigs

- A Book with a Dragon: Aftermarket Afterlife by Seanan McGuire
- A Book with the word “leap” in the title: I’m having trouble finding one that I’m interested in. Any suggestions?
- A Book with the Olympics: I’ve got one picked out, if that counts.
- A Book with an Election or Politician: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher has a few politicians
- A Work of Fiction with an Eclipse: I’m utterly clueless. Any suggestions?
- A Book by an Author Who Has Written Over 24 Books: Dream Town by Lee Goldberg
- A Book Set in a Different Culture Than Your Own: I have an idea or two.
- A Book of Poetry: Poetry Comics by Grant Snider (I feel bad picking this, but until something else comes along…)
- A Book with Time Travel: A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
- A Book with Antonyms in the Title: Still drawing a blank (you’d think this’d be easy)
- A Book Told from the Villian’s Point of View: Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart kind of applies.
- A Book With a Purple Cover: Abnormal Ends by Bryan McBee

The 2024 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge

I’m on-target for this one (as much as I can be), and have even accomplished a Stretch Goal.
January – Lucky Dip: Randomly choose a book by someone you’ve never read before: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
Stretch Goal – In the same spirit I give you permission to read the last book to enter your TBR pile. Actually read something you’ve got yourself to recently read: Hacked by Duncan MacMaster
February – Lovers Meeting: No not romantasy focused – this challenge is somewhere in TBR is a delayed treat. Read an author you’ve loved and held back from reading because the time was not right. Its time for you two to get re-acquainted. Enjoy yourself! Return of the Griffin by JCM Berne
March – Spring :You know that first book of a series you bought and have now realised is now finished? You have my permission to read this at last. And you know what? Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn
April – Diamond Anniversary: Diamond is the birthstone of April so your challenge is to read something over 60 years old: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
May – The Fourth…May the force be with you and I permit you to read a SF themed tale: Grave Cold by Shannon Knight
June – The Longest Days: You may choose the longest book in your TBR pile the days are long so go for it: The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
July – The Ides have it In an ongoing tribute to Julius pick a tale of intrigue and scheming: The Last King of California by Jordan Harper
August – Travel Broadens the Mind: Choose a Book that is from an author from a different country to yourself: The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong. I’ve read all from other places that aren’t from this year, so…Canada (which doesn’t seem to count, but does)
September – Back To School: Choose a Book about a character learning something – be it in school, a new power or something about themselves: Project Hail Mary by Andy Wier

Backlist Bingo 2024

I really need to get moving.

In sum…a lot of stuff to read. A lot more to write. Probably impossible numbers, but fun to try (mostly). Overall, however, when it comes to my goals and challenges, Mike Ehrmantraut speaks for me.

(Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay)

GUEST POST: Death Mythology IN SPACE! by Shannon Knight

By HCNewton

On September 26, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

I love it when I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with things and someone stops by without prompting to say “hey, you want a Guest Post?” The answer, by the way, is almost always yes. That’s exactly what happened last week when Shannon Knight asked if I was interested in this. It helps when the person is someone like Shannon so I know the post will be a good one.

Death Mythology IN SPACE!

Insiders is a big space opera adventure with plants, but I couldn’t resist pulling death mythology into it. I’ve got excuses! I’d completed all this research for Grave Cold, which I wrote prior to Insiders, including developing some completely unrelated story lines and then discarding them. I’d especially dug deep into the oracles, or sybils, of Greece, so I had this story thread I wanted to build on. Meanwhile, my agent was pitching Wish Givers to editors, and the editors kept asking for more, particularly more religion and more politics. Repeatedly, I rewrote Wish Givers to align with different editors’ visions (adding another POV character, redoing everything as YA, etc.). As I started Insiders, I was full of confidence. I had two books in my agent’s hands, so I could try some new things, and if editors wanted more, more, more, I could write that!

Insiders begins on Kerberos Station, where a highly contagious, world-killing virus is actively spreading. (Another note, I wrote this prior to SARS-CoV-2. I considered not publishing Insiders at all simply because the plot contained a virus, even though the symptoms do not align with COVID-19.) Kerberos is the Greek three-headed dog who guards the Underworld, keeping the dead inside and the living out. I liked the idea of referencing Kerberos for many reasons. On one level, Insiders deals thematically with the notion of being inside, and on Kerberos Station, we start with an insular group of pipe crawlers, who live within the pipes of the station. Leaving these pipes is difficult on many levels for young Sachi, and linking her life-and-death choice with evading Hades’ Underworld guardian appealed to me.

Imperatrix Persephone, an antagonist in the story, leads the intergalactic, powerful Elysium Empire. I chose Greek Persephone, in part, due to an entire back story that I may yet write into a novel related to the ancient Greek oracles. More simply and directly, Persephone is a death goddess who I thought most readers would recognize. The Elysium Empire links with the Eleusinian Mysteries, secret rites connected with the cult of Persephone and her mother, Demeter. The mysteries are fascinating in part because of the strict secrecy held regarding what they involved. To this day, we do not know what the mysteries shared. Nevertheless, scholars believe that the mysteries revealed what happens after death. I realize references to the Eleusinian Mysteries would likely only be noticed by readers with an interest in history, myth, or both. Personally, I quite enjoy making connections between the distant past and the far future. Again, Insiders is a space opera with, for example, a carefully crafted scene allowing for the realistic fiery explosion of a spaceship in space. (Yes! Fire in the void!) Readers do not need to understand and sift through various mythological references to enjoy the story. Pew, pew, pew!

In Insiders, Imperatrix Persephone enjoys special powers due to the Eleusinian Mysteries, which involve a certain “beetle” entering her body and living symbiotically with her. The imperatrix conducts others into the mysteries by bestowing beetles upon them. These beetles crawl in through the nasal cavity. Then their hosts’ human bodies become capable of surviving extreme environments that cause death in other creatures. In other words, the Mysteries and the beetles offer a sort of immortality to those who obtain them. I thought it was fun to suggest an alien connection between the Eleusinian Mysteries of the ancient past that would allow them to continue into the far distant future.

On account of humans inducted into the Eleusinian Mysteries being able to survive deadly environments, the Elysium Empire presides over a series of death worlds. I casually termed them as death worlds due to their environments being antithetical to life. Each world is named after an Underworld from Earth culture with a designated ruler entitled with the name of the coordinating death god. Therefore, we meet Sammael ruling over the planet Sheol and Izanami reigning in Yomi. Izanami’s ship is the Jeweled Spear, in reference to the Japanese creation myth in which Izanami uses the spear to create land. In Insiders, the Elysium Empire is full of mythological I-spy moments for readers who enjoy myth. Links connecting the past with the future ground stories in a world we recognize. These connections also help reveal how our cultural understanding of the world partially shapes how we see the universe and beyond.

At its heart, Insiders is a book about coming together. Humanity faces obstacles of all kinds. Many are of our own creation. Some we could have never predicted. As individuals, it’s easy to focus on our very personal difficulties. The human mind isn’t capable of stepping back and encompassing all the injuries or injustices of the entire planet. However, we don’t need to do that. We do, however, need to step away from an us-and-them dichotomy that divides everyone into insiders and outsiders. With grit and creativity, we can acknowledge that we’re all in this together and aim our hearts and minds towards solutions.

Find a copy of Insiders.

Shannon Knight is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror author living in the Pacific Northwest. Mythology ties into most of her stories. Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.shannonknight.net/. Her page about Insiders is here.

That good-lookin’ cover image is the work of Isabeau Backhaus, incidentally. Go check out her portfolio, you’ll be glad you did.

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HC Chats with Adrian M. Gibson about Jeff VanderMeer

By HCNewton

On September 25, 2024

In HC Chats, JCM Berne, Miscellany, News/Misc., The Hybrid Helix

If you’ve been on Bookish Social Medial at all in the 6+ months, I’m willing to bet you’ve seen the name Adrian Gibson or at least the cover of Mushroom Blues. You may also know him from the podcast he hosts with M.J. Kuhn, SFF Addicts. Last week, Adrian was gracious enough to struggle with StreamYard (and it was in a mood) in order that we could sit down and talk about Jeff VanderMeer–an author that I’ve been intimidated to pick up and try, but who has been instrumental in Gibson’s career. I walked away excited to try VanderMeer, and I had a good time in general. I hope you watch this and walk away thinking the same.

As I said, StreamYard wasn’t happy, so the video freezes a couple of times on both of us, but the audio is fine.

Adrian M. Gibson Links:

Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Website ~ Newsletter ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads

Are you a Reader of Things and want to chat with me about an author/series/something other than promoting your own work (which we will do, just not primarily)? I’d love to keep trying this, but I’m not ready to start pestering people about it. So please let me know.

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Rambling about the Hazards of Checking Out Library Books from the Library

By HCNewton

On September 12, 2024

In Miscellany, News/Misc.

(or, I give You a Glimpse Into My Overthinking About Books)

Do I have a point to this? No. But I also don’t have a post ready for today, and didn’t have time to finish one. So, I’m going to ramble a bit.

I took a couple of days off work this week, which I knew was going to mess with my audiobook listening–but whatever. So of the two audiobooks I had checked out from the Library on Friday, I picked the one that was shorter and due a bit sooner. I didn’t have a lot of time for either one, honestly–but I figured I could finish one of them off. That was my first mistake.

I typically don’t check out multiple audiobooks at once so I don’t run into a problem like this, but when multiple books come off the hold list at the same time, you don’t have much choice.

I got a good amount of listening in on Monday, and a few minutes on Tuesday. But I still had 3 hours and 20 minutes or so to go. But the app said it’d be due Thursday, so I figured I’d be okay–especially since I spent the last hour of listening time at 2.3 speed (I never do that) to help me make it. But when I was getting into my car today, it read “Due in 1 hour.” Technically Thursday, but…not what I wanted it to say.

Now, I hate to admit this, but especially since most of the libraries in the area eliminated late fines, if this was a hardcopy book, I’d just return it a day late and not even think about it (and even if there were fines, I’d pay the few cents just to wrap it up). That makes me a bad patron, I know, but I’d do it. But you don’t get that option when it comes to digital books.

Where I last listened was a decent stopping place, and I couldn’t be sure I’d get to another one in the next hour, so I returned the book and got myself back on the list. I have approximately 9 weeks to wait for the copy to be made available again. I should still remember enough to pick it back up…but do I want to? The book is just good enough to keep listening–and not one iota more. There’s still enough time for the author to land the ending and make me re-evaluate things, but at the moment, it’s a 2 1/2-3 Star read. And yes, I’m curious about how the plot wraps up…but am I curious enough to return to it? Should I just chalk this one up to a DNF by Circumstance?

And even as I ask these questions, I know I will finish it up. But I’m not sure I want to–it’s basically compulsion vs. desire at this point.

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Hold On To Your Wallets, Folks…

By HCNewton

On August 23, 2024

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Or, I guess, prepare to empty them. That’s kind of up to you.

This weekend brings several opportunities for some great buys: I strongly suggest you sample them all.

bullet First, this one is safe for your accounts: Ian Robinson’s Shots Fired (Nash & Moretti Book 3…but it’s totally fine to read as a stand-alone) is free for the weekend. Amazon US: https://amazon.com/dp/B0977F98JD Amazon UK: https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B0977F98JD
bullet Fahrenheit Press has their Summer Sale going on. You can get 20% off everything by using promo-code AUG2024 at the checkout. You can easily find some great books (several of which I’ve talked about here), and some great merch (I get about 1/2 of my T-Shirts from them). You’d be foolish to not browse and/or spend money there.
bullet Epic Sale of Beloved SFF Books from August 23-27. There are soooo many good things there (and good-looking things, too). (Hat-tip to Daniel Meyer for telling me about this)
bullet The August version of Narratess Indie Sale is this weekend, too. There’s some overlap between these two, but they aren’t identical.

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