@bookstodon I just reviewed SO LATE IN THE DAY: STORIES OF MEN AND WOMEN, by Claire Keegan. This is a trio of stories which explores the relationships of men and women, and what they want from each other, in very engaging prose. Keegan has a lot to say, and her message is sharp-edged. The writing is top-notch.
Cover image is almost a psychological test: a blood red sky, an uninterrupted line of buildings to the edge of the island, and a slice image of a ferry on the water. Is the ferry approaching the island, or moving away from it? I say it's moving away, because of the effect of the stories. You may glean something else.
@bookstodon I don't know how you all cure a reading slump, but I just loaded up on as many graphic novels as I can get for free. It usually works. Bonus: getting to read some new graphic novels!
@kimlockhartga@olliethewobbly@bookstodon I'm crashing this party to say Gemma Files, Christi Nogle, Kelly Link, Laird Barron, and John Langan all have absolutely spectacular short story collections.
And you may want to check out Morbidologies edited by Shane Douglas Keane & John F.D. Taff, & The Book of Queer Saints Vol 2 which both just came out and appear to be very promising anthologies.
@bookstodon New and notable book releases in the U.S. for November 7, 2023:
We Are The Crisis, Cadwell Turnbull (Convergence Saga Book II). [Def read or re-read the first book in the trilogy. A fantastical thrilling story where actual monsters aren't the real monsters, and a battle for power behind the scenes has broken through the veil between worlds. Deftly written socio-political allegory.] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Future, Naomi Alderman. [The author who gave us The Power has tackled the Climate Crisis, Cults, and the Culpable.] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Same Bed, Different Dreams, Ed Park. [With Korea at the center, this is a complex story written in circles from the outside in. It's like trying to unlock a puzzle box from the inside. Fascinating, intelligent, and it drove me crazy at times.] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Vulnerable, Sigrid Nunez. [A Pandemic novel with tenderness, humor, and a nudge towards caring for each other.]
Girl Among Crows, Brendon Vayo. [A slow-burn dual timeline horror/mystery where the search for answers takes us to a very dark place. This is one of those stories where you don't know where it's going, and you may be frustrated at first, but you're glad you read through to the end.]
Hot Springs Drive, Lindsay Hunter. [What happens when a woman allows her long unfulfilled desires to lead the direction of her life.]
Above The Salt, Katherine Vaz. [Story of the European persecution of Protestants, the escape to America, the trading of a religious conflict for the Civil War, and the theme of always choosing between staying or going, including in relationships.]
Calico, Lee Goldberg. [It's all about second chances in this desert detective thriller.]
A Grandmother Begins The Story, Michelle Porter. [Generations of Métis women with a sacred connection to the bison, tell stories which infuse hope into their lives.]
My Pancreas Broke, But my Life Got Better (Manga Diary Nonfiction), Nagata Kabi. [Fascinating autobiographical experience of trying to get healthier during the pandemic. Author of My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness and My Wandering Warrior Existence.]
A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith. [Humorous examination of popular science.]
To Free The Captives: A Plea for the American Soul, Tracy K. Smith (Nonfiction). [We cannot move into the future together, until we have a reckoning with our shared past.]
Upcountry, Chin-Sun Lee. [Three very different women in the Catskills have to navigate the fractures in their lives. Literary fiction.]
@bookstodon I just reviewed Cadwell Turnbull's sequel to NO GODS, NO MONSTERS, which is titled WE ARE THE CRISIS. It's not a standalone, so you will need to read NGNM first. For those of you who have read the first book, since it's been a while, I recommend re-reading it. It turns out to be a very smooth transition. Now that you know all the characters, the second book is much easier to follow. This is fantasy horror at its best.
@kimlockhartga@Cheery@bookstodon It was impressive but I preferred The Manningtree Witches. Her writing is so stunningly precise but I admired The Glutton rather than loved it.
@bookstodon Notable book releases in the U.S. for October 31, 2023. 🎃👻📚
Nestlings, Nat Cassidy. [So many horror tropes rolled into one. Multiple evils, including maybe the baby? Amazing how many signs of creeping horror one overlooks just to accept a great apartment in Manhattan.]
The Reformatory, Tananarive Due [Reminiscent of The Nickel Boys. This protagonist can see dead people from the past, but the greater horror might be the race-driven violence of the present.]
Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust, Neal Shusterman. [Graphic novel illustrated by Andrés Vera Martínez, depicting Jewish folklore, cultural traditions, and spirit of resilience under unspeakable horrors.]
A Season of Monstrous Conceptions, Lina Rather. [What if you took Eldritch horror, threw in historical mistrust of midwives along with the usual quest for magic, power, and cosmological destruction?]
The Paleontologist. Luke Dumas. [A Gothic Mystery set in a Museum of Natural History? Yes, please!]
The Totally True Story of Gracie Byrne, Shannon Takaoka. [A heartwarming story with a sensitive take on the "What if you could write a new reality for yourself?" question. Examination of memory, experience, and the responsibility we have for each other's stories.]
Blood Sisters, Vanessa Lillie. [Haunting story about the horrors of both past and present missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The investigation led by a Cherokee archaeologist.]
What The River Knows, Isabel Ibanez. [This novel contains several genres: historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, romance, seasoned with Egyptology and ancient magic.]
The Berry Pickers, Amanda Peters. [An emotional exploration of family, secrets, loss, and grief.]
Good Comics for Bad People: An Extra Fabulous Collection, Vol 1, Zach M. Stafford. [Nathan Pyle, of Strange Planet fame, says that this is very funny, weird, and expressive.]
The Glutton, A.K. Blakemore. [Lightly based on the historical figure "The Great Tarare," this is a wild card on the list: a disturbing tale of appetites of all kinds, circa the French Revolution. I'm told that the writing, particularly in the setting of scenes, is exceptional.]
White Holes, Carlo Rovelli (Nonfiction). [Theoretical physics is my jam. You can't get out of a Black Hole, and you can't get into a White Hole (though matter can escape), but both might have played a role in providing everything that eventually became you.]
There was one book out today about which I could find no reviews or ratings, so who knows? I Call Myself Iris, Frank Paolino, Jr. [YA Sci-fi Fantasy about an AI helper bot who goes a little too far in trying to be of assistance.]
Also, I couldn't find much on The Buffalo Butcher by Robert Brighton (modern-day Jack the Ripper story), or The Oracle Chronicles Midlife Olympians Boxset: Books 1-3 (modern day dude gets summoned by the Greek gods) , by T.J. Deschamps. I'm leaning toward the second one, but that's just a guess.
There are an unusual number of books which almost made the list this week.
@bookstodon 👻👺💀📚🎃
Horror novels and short stories published in 2023 that I highly recommend:
Red Rabbit, Alex Grecian
Every Drop is a Man's Nightmare, Megan Kamalei Kakimoto
Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig
Your Body is not Your Body, Alex Woodroe, ed.
Nineteen Claws and a Blackbird, Augustina Bazterrica
The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw
Twice Cursed, Marie O'Regan, ed.
@bookstodon Do you feel like your reading luck follows a wave pattern, or is that just our innate need to seek order out of chance? I'm afraid to start reading something new, after reading three good books in a row, which is silly, I know.
This happened to me this week. Two novels both having a character with the name Robert Thomas. Quite a coincidence.
And I do have these waves of good and lesser books as well. I tend to think that this depends on how favorable the reading gods are treating me :) But it's probably more about my mood.
@kimlockhartga@bookstodon Yes, I think that’s why I will so often re-read something after reading a few books I really liked. I’m not ready to commit to something new yet
@bookstodon Notable new book releases in the US for October 24, 2023, (including an unusual number of anthologies).
Organ Meats, K-Ming Chang. [Incredibly imaginative and intense mythological allegory. Like Bestiary, it's very visceral.]
Julia, Sandra Newman. [Amazing feminist retelling of 1984, told from the perspective of Julia, with the full support of the Orwell estate.]
America Fantastica, Tim O'Brien. [Completely bonkers satirical look at America's obsession with lies and liars.]
Let Us Descend, Jesmyn Ward. [The inner spiritual strength that sustains souls trapped in a descent into the horrors of slavery, and their refusal to lose their inner worth.]
I Died, Too, But They Haven't Buried me Yet, Ross Jeffrey. [This is Grief Horror, described as beautifully and utterly heartbreaking.]
What Wild Women Do, Karma Brown. [Intriguing dual timeline mystery connecting a 1970s feminist activist and a modern day screenwriter.]
The Privilege of the Happy Ending: S/M/L Stories, Kij Johnson. [How 'bout a little experimental speculative fic along with an examination of the nature of stories themselves?]
Jewel Box, E. Lily Yu. [Short stories mostly about how we navigate and think about this one weird, crazy, confounding life, and where our imagination can take us.]
When We Become Ours: a YA Adoptee Anthology. [Powerful adoptee short stories written by actual adoptees.]
Christmas and Other Horrors: an Anthology of Solstice Horror, Ellen Datlow, ed. [Winter Solstice horror shorts from around the world, with contributions from Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Tananarive Due, and more.]
Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance, Kaveh Akbar, ed. [Contributions from Jo Harjo, Bernard Wade, et al.]
Aster of Ceremonies: Poems, JJJJJerome Ellis. [Neurodivergent poet Ellis advocates for the marginalized, and also imagines what reclamation of our past, and healing for our future, might look like.]
Homeland of my Body: New and Selected Poems, Richard Blanco. [National Humanities medal winner Blanco explores home, identity, and Cuban-American culture in this collection.]
@bookstodon Organ Meats, by K-Ming Chang is a stupendous creation of indescribable proportions. You don't read it, as much as you experience it. It will make your head spin and spark your imagination, while it hones your ability for reflection and interpretation. If any other author writes this well, I want to know about it.
@bookstodon I've got three book reviews to bombard you with today, because I thought all three of them were great and they all come out today. First up: America Fantastica, by Tim O'Brien. This little farcical gem made me laugh out loud than any other book I've read all year.
@undefined_seljo@bookstodon It's excellent, yet very very visceral. The author melds poetry and prose and then feeds them into a kind of mythological allegory which completely supersedes reality. The whole novel is filled with metaphors and it gets a little head-spinny at times, but the writing is extraordinary. If you liked Bestiary, you'll definitely like this one. No one writes like this.