I WENT ON VACATION!! An actual vacation, with no commitment or plans at all. It was great. Zion National Park, since you asked. Cable Mountain Lodge, if you need a recommendation.
I whacked through a few books, all of which were great. Click for my reviews.
- The Salt Grows Heavy, by Cassandra Khaw
- A House with Good Bones, by T. Kingfisher
- Weyward, by Emilia Hart
I made a small dent in my NetGalley queue, only to get some more ARCs and build it back up again. No, I will never learn.
I’m finally reading Mothered, by Zoje Stage. I love her disarmingly mad books. And I’m so happy that Stage has confirmed she is planning a follow-up to Baby Teeth; I think about the ending of that book often, and cackle to myself. If you haven’t read it, please treat yourself, it’s brilliant.
I’m also wrapping up Premee Mohamed’s collection, No One Will Come Back For Us, which is full of old-god terror. And I’m thrilled to have an ARC of another Undertow release, Tobi Ogundiran’s Jackal, Jackal. Undertow are doing such great work; please support them if you are able.
Speaking of indie publishers, Valancourt Books have a couple of exciting new releases up for pre-order; The Secret Life of Insects and Other Stories, by Bernardo Esquinca (with an introduction by Mariana Enriquez!!!), and a new edition of Element of Doubt, a collection of ghost stories by A.L. Barker.
And who can forget about Titan Books? I’m currently reading their upcoming release, Unquiet, by E. Saxey. A man comes back from the dead, but doesn’t want his widow to know just yet. I’m so intrigued to see where this one goes. And my copy of The Other Lives of Miss White by A.J. Elwood arrived yesterday. This doesn’t seem to be released in the US yet, so thanks to good old Blackwell’s Books for that one.
However, all things may have to be dropped next week, as Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s novel is coming out! I have loved Nyman and Dyson forever, and their play Ghost Stories is just phenomenally scary (the movie is great too).
“The Warlock Effect is set in 1950s Soho, where top illusionist Louis Warlock and his secret posse of eccentric assistants create extraordinary and baffling magic.”
Again, no apparent US release for this one, so back to Blackwell’s I go!
On a personal note, my vacation was incredibly beneficial to my mental health. I hadn’t realized I had been running on “half battery”. I feel completely reinvigorated, and ready to take over the world again. Now to start planning the next one.
California Reading 