Tag: Saturday Miscellany Page 9 of 62

This week’s Saturday Miscellany would have no problem in a 10-Items-Or-Less lane.

Tiny entry this week. But I think you’ll find it worth your time.

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:
Why History & Social Science Cannot Substitute for Classic Fiction—there’s a little snobbery there with the “Classic” bit, but once you account for that…
Judy-Lynn del Rey: The woman who revolutionized the fantasy genre is finally getting her due—a cool profile of an unsung SF/F hero
A Modest Request for a Little More Genre Chaos—Molly Templeton advocates for “gleefully mixing genres”
The Magic-Wielding Characters Bracket Challenge—I fell behind reading these this week, looking forward to catching up—you should, too.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
The Last Detective by Robert Crais
(and that’s it…very quiet week)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Good-Looking Ugly by Rob D. Smith—an ugly rageaholic is conned by a long-lost cousin to help her rip off a cockfighting championship inbetween court-ordered therapy sessions.
Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins—I’m not even going to pretend to summarize this book in a line or two…click the link. Love the idea behind this, hope the execution lives up to it.

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:
Bookselling Out: How the market transformed American bookstores—a fascinating article/review about what looks like an equally (or more) fascinating book on the history of American bookstores
Quiz: Can You Identify These Last Lines of Classic Mystery and Crime Novels?—I did not do well with this one…
“I Enjoy capturing the time we live in in my writing.” :Buzzkill’s Alison Gaylin—a good Q&A with Gaylin about her latest book.
Why Do Bad Adaptations Scare Us? Cashgrabs, Fandoms and the Terrifying Prospect of When He Was Wicked—I have no opinion on about When He Was Wicked/the prospects thereof, but I enjoyed the rest of it.
Sharpen Your Fangs: A Guide to Vampire Fall—”Vampire Fall”??? This list of books about vampires could make for a year’s TBR (well, if you augmented it a little)
The Magic-Wielding Characters Bracket Challenge—I typically list every entry when Witty & Sarcastic Book Club does a series, but I’m going to lose track if I try. So I’ll just put this link here and tell you to go read these.
Incoming: The ScifiMonth 2024 Challenge, Read-along and Buddy Reads—Bookforager provides a list of prompts for ScifiMonth 2024, it’s going to be a god one, folks. (I might even stick my foot in a little bit this year instead of just reading the posts)

This is just cool
Jeffrey Speight announced this week that this month’s profits from his books Paladin Unbound and Mystic Reborn will go to the Hurricane Helene Relief Fund. I’ve only heard good things about them (particularly Paladin Unbound). Get some good reading and do a little good, too.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Incarnate by Anton Strout
One Kick by Chelsea Cain—I’m still irked we never got a follow-up
L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais—sharing these posts lately about this re-read really makes me want to do another. Particularly when I think about this book.
I noted the release of The Younger Gods by Michael R. Underwood, too.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt—I’m glad Rosenfelt puts out multiple books a year, or the fact that this is the 30th Andy Carpenter book would make me feel older than I already do. Still, as I recently wrote, this holiday installment is every bit as entertaining as the first books were.
An Instruction in Shadow by Benedict Jacka—the second book in the Stephen Oakwood series. I’m so excited to jump back into this world and learn a bit more about it—I’m seriously tempted to go without sleep for a couple of days so I can finish my current read so I can get to it.
Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin—Rebus, Rankin. ’nuff said.
The Waiting by Michael Connelly—Bosch. Ballard. Connelly. ’nuff said again.
Billy the Kid: The War for Lincoln County by Ryan C. Coleman—Billy the Kid is one of those characters that I’ve always been drawn to. Everything I’ve seen/heard about this book makes me certain that I’m going to relish this telling.
Dogs and Monsters: Stories by Mark Haddon—”eight mesmerizingly imaginative, deeply-humane stories that use Greek myths and contemporary dystopian narratives to examine mortality, moral choices and the many variants of love.”
Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris—the daughters of Jonathan Harker and Professor Moriarty investigate gruesome deaths in turn-of-the-century Paris

Is it Saturday already? I’d have believed it was October 8–or December 8*, actually—if you’d told me. Been one of those weeks.

* All the political advertisements on my social media feeds make that unbelievable, actually.

Three things make a list, we’re told. So my streak continues.
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’s the Point of Epigraphs Anyway?—good question. I learned more about epigraphs than I expected to know about them ever here.
Pitting Literary Fiction Against Genre Fiction Is Intrinsically Silly: Stop allowing the quest for literary bonafides to get in the way of creativity and enjoyment—hear, hear.
Why you shouldn’t judge others for their reading tastes—Bookworm girl makes the same point, but from the reader’s POV.

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Crime Time FM’s CHRISTINE BOYER In Person With Paul—answered pretty much every question I had about the book after reading, and was interesting beyond that. (it also reminded me to revisit her entry in Jacked.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
I didn’t post anything but my Saturday Miscellany that week. I don’t know what was going on, but it was keeping me busy. I did mention the release of a few books:

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
(not even a list this week, but I know next week there will be a good sized one.)
The Wishing Stone by Adam Holcombe—I’m chomping at the bit to tear into the second book in the Chronicles of Gam Gam. Judging by what I’m seeing on “the socials,” including this post from Witty and Sarcastic Book Club, there’s something to that buzz.

(also applies to my living room)

I’m going to be AFK for the day, so Tony, Owen, or anyone else: if there’s a mistake in this post, please do point it out, but it’ll be here for a while 🙂

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:
From No. 1 to No. 60, Readers’ Top Books Published in the Past Five Years—according to Goodreads, anyway
The Tyranny of the Best-Of List: On Navigating Book Lists with OCD
The Doomed Mouse Utopia That Inspired the ‘Rats of NIMH’—as someone who read Robert C. O’Brien’s book an estimated 100 times, I had to read this
Tom Wolfe at the Strand—a “brisk survey of [Wolfe’s] career” recently present at the Strand bookstore.
Lee Child with Michael Connelly – Safe Enough—Connelly and Child talk about his new short story collection
Five SFF Strategies for Plotting Around Pesky Parents: Are you the responsible, caring parent of a juvenile adventurer? You may want to upgrade your insurance…
Historical Fantasy – Where does the history end and the fantasy begin?—Shauna Lawless opines
How to Avoid Book Blogger Burnout

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Not a lot actually (October 2014 was a pretty quiet month for some reason), but I did note the release of: Incarnate by Anton Strout and Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith DeCandido.

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Candle & Crow by Kevin Hearne—The last Ink & Sigil novel, the last novel in the Iron Druid universe, and one of Hearne’s best yet. I raved about it recently

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:
Kevin Hearne: A Niche that Needed Filling—Hearne talks about launching his own imprint
When Did SFF Get Too Big?—Good question. (fun intro, especially if you look at the foonotes)
Morning Brew gives a fun reaction to the NaNoWriMo AI kerfuffle
In Praise of Things Being Just Plain Good—Yes. Just yes.
Philosophical Picture Books- Stories for Younger Readers with Hidden Depths!—Oraguntan Librarian has given Grandpappy’s Corner a shopping list
Beowulf and Science Fiction: Shannon Knight Talks About Her Book and the Old English Poetic Tradition—a nice little guest post on Witty and Sarcastic Book Club

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
The Thriller Zone Episode 198 Lee Goldberg and the Power of Humor in the Thriller Genre—I can see where Goldberg is coming from, but I think his self-publication rant is wrong. The rest of this episode? Golden. It could’ve gone on for another 2 hours and I’d have enjoyed it all.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week? (this was a good week)
Premonitions by Jamie Schultz—a criminally underselling Urban Fantasy Crime Novel that I’d recommend to anyone
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey—that rare Zombie Novel that I loved (and re-read)
Indigo Slam by Robert Crais

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
A Sky Full of Dragons by Tiffany McDaniel, Ayesha L. Rubio (Illustrator)—I talked about this a couple of weeks ago when I first read about it. I’m still weirded out about by the idea of McDaniel writing this, “ight-hearted and whimsical middle grade fantasy about a young girl who must save her witch aunt from an uncommonly voracious hat.” But I can’t wait to read it.
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C. M. Waggoner—”Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies–and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.” This description had me at this paragraph.
Monster Movie! by Chuck Wendig—”Ethan Pitowski is afraid of everything. Luckily, his best friends don’t mind, and when their entire class gets invited to watch a long-buried horror movie at the most popular boy in school’s house, Ethan’s friends encourage him to join in the fun. But when the “scariest movie ever made” reveals itself to be not just a movie about a monster, but a movie that is a monster, only a terrified Ethan escapes its clutches. Now he must find a way to stop the monster and save his friends (and also, um, get their heads back).”
The Most Boring Book Ever by Brandon Sanderson, Kazu Kibuishi (Illustrator)—”In this humorous epic adventure, a boy is, on the one hand, having a very ordinary day. He does his math homework, his chores, and takes a nap….all while a surprising adventure unfolds around him involving pirates, dragons, and other unexpected perils.” A Sanderson picture book? Hmm.

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:
Banned Books Week is next week. Commemorate this as you are wont. The theme is Freed Between the Lines
College Students Not Reading Is an Issue, So Teachers Are Adjusting How Classes Look—A little more on the distressing development (also, I want shelves like the one on the right of the photo at the top of the page)
Smaller, shorter books aren’t the only way to make publishing more climate friendly.—I’m not so sure about the “smaller, shorter” part, but the rest makes sense.
The Women Are There: Re-imagining Classic Adventure Novels—I had a very similar experience with the Illustrated Classics, so I started off hooked by the article. I like where Post took it, too.
‘I wanted to write a suburban Reacher’: Richard Osman talks to Lee Child about class, success and the secret to great crime writing—a fun piece. Also, I feel bad that I didn’t realize that’s what Bogdan was
Good-Looking Ugly: Cover reveal and a conversation with Rob D. Smith—Mt. TBR grew a bit after reading this
The A to Z of British (and Irish) Mythological Creatures
A Fun Thread started by Witty and Sarcastic Book Club about first lines and what they can accomplish

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Barbican Station Gary Oldman on SLOW HORSES Season 4—I haven’t listened yet, but that has to be good. Also, congrats Jeff on a major upgrade in guests!! (nothing against most of your typical guests, but c’mon…)

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Not much, actually, I spent a lot of time reading and not a lot of time writing. But I managed to post about:
Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards
Sunset Express by Robert Crais
And the releases of: Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato; The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancey; Black Water by Faith Hunter; and Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon by David Barnett

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Ashes Never Lie by Lee Goldberg—the second novel in the Sharpe & Walker series looks great. Eve Ronin and Duncan Pavone showing up is a fun bonus
We Solve Murders by Richard Osman—Osman steps away from our friends in Coopers Chase to introduce us to a mostly-retired PI and his daughter-in-law who has taken over the business.
Hampton Heights: One Harrowing Night in the Most Haunted Neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Dan Kois—”On a cold winter’s evening in 1987, six middle-school paperboys wander an unfamiliar Milwaukee neighborhood, selling newspaper subscriptions, fueled by their manager Kevin’s promises of cash bonuses and dinner at Burger King. But the freaks come out at night in Hampton Heights. Sent out into the neighborhood in pairs, the boys will encounter a host of primordial monsters–and triumph over them.”
Lines Crossed by Ian Robinson—The exciting third novel in the Sam Batford series is re-released by the good people at The Book Folks. You can read what I had to say about its previous incarnation here.

My friend Tony has been really good about finding errors in these posts the last few weeks—as much as I appreciate someone editing me, I think I’ve checked this well enough that he won’t have to send me any notes. But I look forward to the texts showing me that I’m rwong.

(I made that typo and decided to keep it in so that he’d have an excuse to text)

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:
How Historical Fiction Redefined the Literary Canon
Doom scrolling: We may be close to rediscovering thousands of texts that had been lost for millennia. Their contents may reshape how we understand the Ancient World.—this brings out a geeky side in me. It also makes me very glad that I didn’t pursue this field, I cannot imagine the patience it takes.
Language and Leonard Michaels: On the current state of literature and literary culture—a provocative bit of writing
The Not-So-Nice Origins of ‘Bookworm’
Empathy and Crime Fiction: How Do You Make Readers Root for the “Unrootable”?
A Literary Map of South Asian America—because my TBR wasn’t long enough…
“…I Grew As A Writer To Make It Work.”: Blind to Midnight’s Reed Farrel Coleman—a good interview with Coleman (not that I’ve come across a bad one with him…)
Writing Action with Nick Kolakowski—were I a writer looking to hone my action scenes, I know I’d want advice from Kolakowski. (I’m tempted to sign up as a non-writer)
A Goodbye to 20 Books of Summer (in more ways than one!)—awww, man…..I’ve come to depend on this challenge as a way to get me back on track on some reading goals (sure, I could just, you know, exercise discipline without an outside force…). But more 10 years sounds like a good time to take a break and relax.
Tips for Requesting Book Reviews From Book Bloggers
A Fantasy Fan’s Guide: Understanding the Subgenres
Your Literary Analysis Can Be Wrong (With a Defence of Paddington Bear)

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Tea, Tonic & Toxin Longmire Novels: First Frost by Craig Johnson

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Voodoo River by Robert Crais
The Scriptlings by Sorin Suciu
The Forsaken by Ace Atkins (nice to see that even a decade a go I could get ridiculously behind)
And I mentioned the release of five books that I really wanted to read, but only have made time for two of them: Robert B. Parker’s Blind Spot by Reed Farrel Coleman (speaking of Coleman); The Witch with No Name by Kim Harrison; City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett; Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg; and Yesterday’s Hero by Jonathan Wood (the three I didn’t get to are still calling my name!)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Robert B. Parker’s Buzz Kill by Alison Gaylin—I enjoyed Gaylin’s first Randall novel (as you can tell from all the nothing I’ve said about it), and am looking forward to see her stretch her legs with it
Nightmare of a Trip by Maureen Kilmer—a horror-comedy about a family’s road trip. Kilmer doesn’t even need to bring in anything supernatural to make the horror bit stick.
Thinking Through Writing: A Guide to Becoming a Better Writer and Thinker by John Kaag & Jonathan Van Belle—I can’t see myself reading/working through a textbook at this stage of my life. But I should. Regardless, this looks like a good one.

On Tuesday, i say to myself, “No need to jot down a note about the release of my buddy Joe’s new book, I’ll remember that on Saturday.”

Saturday, almost 4 hours after posting my Saturday Miscellany, a friend (after pointing out an embarrassing typo, sadly not both of them), says: “What? No mention of Eyes of Empire being released? (which is even more mortifying). Sorry, JCM!!

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:
Can fairytales and fantasy compete with Fortnite? How to get kids reading at any age—Spoiler: Yes.
Can a Book Save Your Life?: The mega-bestselling author Matt Haig and the limits of the therapy novel.
NaNoWriMo gets AI sponsor, says not writing your novel with AI is ‘classist and ableist’—there just aren’t enough SMH emojis, Picard holding his head in his hands/Fillion grasping for words gifs in the world…
The seven kinds of friendships you find in literature: a taxonomy.
In Praise of Reference Books: Reference volumes should be valued as least as much as fiction and other nonfiction books—Yes!
Why Thrillers Matter
Three Helpful SF-Related Rules of Thumb, According to Me
Quiz: Can You Identify These Crime Novels From Their Library of Congress Subject Categories?—I could’ve done better
Top Ten Tuesday: serve and enjoy—I rather enjoyed this TTT
Fantasy and Feminism #1: Elden Ring—Before We Go Blog brings the first in a series “that provides analysis of strong female characters and their role in stories that tend toward the grim as well as dark.”
Blind Listening: When Aphantasia Meets Audiobooks—I was sure I shared this before…oops. Thanks for the reminder, Celeste!
Tough Questions with Marie Sinadjan—how does our favorite UK-Based Filipino speculative fiction author and book reviewer handle Witty & Sarcastic’s gauntlet?

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
Bad Little Girls Die Horrible Deaths by Harry Connolly—I should revisit this collection sometime
Free Fall by Robert Crais
And my TBR was overburdened by the releases of: Hidden by Benedict Jacka; The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire; Shifting Shadows by Patricia Briggs; Maplecroft by Cherie Priest; Personal by Lee Child; The Drop by Dennis Lehane; and What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Eyes of Empire by JCM Berne—Rohan has his hands more than full it seems in the Fifth Turn in the Hybrid Helix. Going to be fun watching him try to deal with it all.m
Safe Enough and Other Stories by Lee Child—non-Reacher short fiction. Color me curious.
Roverpowered by Drew Hayes—a new wizard and her familiar launch a new series.
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness—I’ve read one fantastic and one pretty good book by Ness, this MG read looks fun enough to try.

Credit @thejenkinscomic (Hat Tip: @Cool_Comic)

While prepping this post, I took a glance at what books are coming out next month, so I can get on library waitlists and whatnot. Reader, I tell ya, my brain is melting. Tiffany McDaniel (one of my absolute favorite authors) is releasing a middle grade series. That’s strange enough, but the first book is described as, “a light-hearted and whimsical middle grade fantasy about a young girl who must save her witch aunt from an uncommonly voracious hat.” if you’ve read just one book by her, you’ll get what I’m saying.

Anyhow, we’ll save more thoughts about that until later next month. In the meantime:

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:
Suspected burglar caught after sitting down with book—I’d pick up a copy of the clearly engrossing book if it was available in English (or if I read Italian), this is such a great advertisement for it. (the headline is good enough, but it’s worth reading the rest of the story)
The New Trend In Book Covers Is Old-Timey Animals—good-bye to the era of color blobs
Labors of Love: Eli Cranor on Education, Empathy and Experience —Great interview with Cranor (practically a tautology, I know), about one of those “why haven’t I read this book yet?” novels
What Lasts and (Mostly) Doesn’t Last: On the books that are remembered, rejected, repudiated, and rediscovered
20 Old Words for Ignorant People: From ‘wantwit’ to ‘dorkmunder’ to ‘ninnyhammer.’—I’m such a sucker for lists like this. I’m going to work on getting #17 into my working vocabulary first (probably directed toward my dogs), but the rest sound almost as good.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Hounded by David Rosenfelt
Robert B. Parker’s Blind Spot by Reed Farrel Coleman—Coleman’s start to my favorite run on the series (yes, that includes the original).
Lullaby Town by Robert Crais
I noted the release of: Lock In by John Scalzi, The Revenge of Seven by Pittacus Lore The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, Book 1 by Rod Duncan, and Once Upon a Rhyme: Volume I of the Charming Tales by Jack Heckel (I only got around to half of these, probably the right half for me)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
An Honorable Assassin by Steve Hamilton—I was truly worried that we’d seen the last of Nick Mason. Phew.
Amari and the Despicable Wonders by B. B. Alston—Amari’s third book promises to be action-packed. It wouldn’t suprise me if Alston get at least one of Amari’s opponents to see the light and abandon the path they’re walking. But I hope they get smacked around a little first (I’m not proud of that). Still, I’m looking forward to seeing Amari and her friends step up here.
Marvel: What If . . . Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings? by Seanan McGuire—I’m not What If . . .‘s biggest fan, but “Peter Parker” and “Seanan McGuire” together override any disinclination I have.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman—this looks like a ridiculous amount of fun that I probably should’ve read before now
Kayfabe by Chris Koslowski—a humorous novel of about a brother and sister in professional wrestling.
The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard—great premise. Probably too feline-y for me, but I might get to it

There’s a good reason this is up late today*, my daughter and I started the day at The Boise Comic Arts Festival, where we met/renewed acquaintances with some local artists and writers (including, but not limited to, Jeremy Billups, Elliott P. Linker and Mrs. Courtney Linker, Gabriela Briceno, Sarah from Oroboro Lit Journal/Death Rattle, and J.C. Jackson), and spent less money than usual (yay, restraint!). We got to sit in on a fun panel about the The History of Comics in Idaho. The most important thing we learned was there that there is a history.

Anyway, if you’re a local—stop by today/tomorrow.

* Usually it’s because I can’t get out of bed at a decent time on Saturday.
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:
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest —In case you don’t know the BLFC “challenges entrants to compose opening sentences to the worst of all possible novels.” Boy howdy, they got some doozies this year. Make the time to read down to the bottom.
Steve Hamilton gets back to his ‘old stuff,’ starting with Nick Mason—Color me happy.
Popular romance novels voted most distracting audiobooks in nation, could cause distracted driving—I’d never thought of rating a book in this way (or comparing genres by words per minute)
RinthCon, the all-online con set in 2324 filled with fictional characters from today, is going on this weekend—and is just as strange (and fun) as the premise is

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
Fiction Fans Episode 153: Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Landline by Rainbow Rowell
Stalking the Angel by Robert Crais
And I mentioned the release of One Kick by Chelsea Cain, Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods by Rick Riordan, What Might Have Been by Matt Dunn (2 of those I actually got around to reading and enjoying)

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows—this trio is back with a funky mashup of Mary Read and the Little Mermaid. Because, why not?
You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto—Part of me isn’t sure that I want to read Sutanto when she isn’t being fun and cozy. But most of me figures she can do black comedy really well, too, and this just looks good.
City of Secrets by P. J. Tracy—this looks like a series I could sink my teeth into (oh, good, I need another of those)