Fall! Finally, an excuse to pretend we’re inside by choice. Cozy blankets, hot cider, and the kind of scares that stay safely within the frame of a TV set or the pages of a book. If you’re looking to feel a chill down your spine that pairs well with the spooky season and maybe some …
In a reading rut? Wondering what to do with yourself as the heat fluctuates wildly and the pandemic presses on (in America, at least)? Here are eight very different books for this eighth month of this endless year. I enjoyed all of them, and I hope you’ll enjoy at least one, too. 1. The Wizard’s …
Our friends over at Dungeons Co. have some very exciting news…they have a Kickstarter going currently! From now until June 11th their Kickstarter for the companion to their popular Dungeons Box is live. You can now get the same amazing quality and design as the full size edition in a pocket version! The Dungeons Box …
If you’re struggling to find ways to contribute during the pandemic, a small way you can help several communities at once is to buy books by Asian or Asian American authors from your local independent bookstore. Debut authors especially, but really anyone with a book out recently is hurting. Small retailers are hurting. And the …
Note: I don’t think it’s possible to give this book a proper review without at least some spoilers, but since there are several dramatic reveals and—I hesitate to call them “twists” since they’re not at all gimmicky like so many twists are these days—please be forewarned. For people who prefer no spoilers at all, know …
Dragon Hoops, though it features no actual dragons, accomplished something more magical an inexplicable than most of the fantasy I’ve been reading. Something so inexplicable, so unbelievable, that I previously didn’t think it was possible. It made me care about basketball. Like Gene Luen Yang himself in the beginning of the book, I too was …
When it comes to fantasy, it has inevitable hangers-on, specific ideas, certain character archetypes that spring to mind. Our imagination fills up with magic, swords, dragons, and, of course, heroes. The monomyth that won’t quit that plucks the one person from humble beginnings, calls them the chosen one, and sends them on their way. The …
Lillian is wasting away in a dead-end job and marinating in her directionless rage when she receives a letter: will she, a person who has no experience with kids or teaching, come be a governess to her former BFF’s new stepchildren? It’s intriguing, and more importantly, it pays well. Lillian can’t refuse, even though she …
A story can move you to anger, to cry, to empathize with people you do not know or who are imaginary. A story can inspire you to write your own story. But what happens to those stories that never get told, that never make it to the file on your computer, the page of a …
You know why you should read Sisters of the Vast Black, the space opera Lina Rather condensed into a novella? Because it’s Firefly with nuns. Well, more specifically it’s Serenity with nuns, not least because it’s a self-contained narrative. And okay, there’s less humor and hijinks. But they have equal amounts of heart, daring, and …