Oct 30 2026

Tantalizing Tales — October 2026 — Part Five

I always get a little excited whenever I have a fifth Tantalizing Tales column in a month: it feels a little special! And we certainly have some exciting titles coming for you this November, beginning with a brand new South Asian-inspired Young Adult romantasy decked out in delightfully seasonal colors.

The titular land of Radiya Hafiza’s The Silver Kingdom is otherwise known as Dakaria, where Prince Zayd spends his days fighting off pirate raids. In neighboring Sawan, Princess Layla dreams of running far away from her cruel and power-hungry mother. Their two countries exist in a fragile peace. But tensions are running high. When the two young royals meet, sparks fly despite them both being betrothed to others.

As dark forces begin to threaten Dakaria, a centuries-old prophecy is set in motion, driving Zayd to ever more desperate measures. Meanwhile, Layla discovers a latent ability that she doesn’t understand and barely knows how to handle, in no small part due to magic having been outlawed for over a century. Will she be able to overcome her fear of her newfound powers and find a way to use them to unite the kingdoms, even as her forbidden romance with Zayd threatens to tear everything apart?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/30/tantalizing-tales-october-2026-part-five/

Oct 29 2026

I Need Space by Molly Harris & Jon Corby

Incredibly relatable title to me rn.

This charming children’s picture book tells the story of Rocco the Rocket Ship, who enjoys playing in outer space with his friends. There are so many awesome things to do and see on the interplanetary playground but, unfortunately, not everyone plays as nice as he and his best friend do. Some people hog the equipment, some ignore the posted directions, and some just play too rough. What’s an overwhelmed rocket ship to do in the face of all this turmoil?

I’m ngl, sometimes I wish I could float off into the deep, dark reaches of outer space just to have some responsibility-free peace and quiet, too. Hiding in bed helps, as do the more general tips included in the back of this sweet, smart and accessible book about reclaiming your time and just taking a break when things get to be too much. In the immortal words of Mountain Bike Steve, “Rest is the quiet strength of all routines.” Like MBS, Rocco knows that the best way to keep going is to take a little break and reset. He’ll be ready for more fun times with his friends once he’s sufficiently recovered.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/29/i-need-space-by-molly-harris-jon-corby/

Oct 28 2026

Queens Of The Crypt, Vol 1 by Dom&Ink

Several points to clarify before I dive into the book: firstly, yes, “Dom&Ink” is the pen name of a single, fabulous person. Secondly, the next time a publicist sends me a graphic novel that relies so heavily on white text on a dark background, I really hope they send me a physical copy. This book was lovely but the digital version made my astigmatism hurt.

That aside, I had a tremendous amount of fun with this YA horror comic! It starts out pretty glumly as Barnaby Jones is, unfortunately, living their nightmare. They’ve just come out as nonbinary to their parents, who don’t understand them at all. School is rough, but at least they have their equally queer and non-binary best friend Fiona. But Fiona is going through a bad breakup, plus their parents are also separating. Barnaby agrees to cover their shift at the museum where they both work, little expecting the strange journey they’re all about to embark upon.

For something has been taking the town’s teenagers, snatching sad, anxious kids for some nefarious purpose. Could these abductions be the doing of the Faceless Frightener, the spectre that’s haunted the town of Widow’s Creek for nigh on a century now? When Fiona goes missing, Barnaby has a terrifying encounter with the Faceless Frightener herself, and accidentally summons a host of unlikely allies who turn out to be the Queens of the Crypt, a group of immortal genderbent former villains determined now to keep the world safe for kids like Barnaby. Soon, Barnaby, the Queens and a helpful librarian are on the hunt to track down a ghostly abductor and save the town’s missing kids. But what will the revelations they uncover mean for Widow’s Creek and for the Queens moving forward?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/28/queens-of-the-crypt-vol-1-by-domink/

Oct 27 2026

Fitcher’s Bird by A. G. Slatter

Y’know, despite my lifelong love of fairy tales, I don’t recall ever reading the original story this novella is based on. Having taken a look at the classic upon finishing this book, however, I can certainly agree that it lends itself satisfyingly to this modern-day reinterpretation that leans hard in to the more horrific elements of its source material.

Dido, Zoe and Chloe are adult sisters who have grown apart. Dido is an anatomist, and is as clinical with her sexual relationships as she is with her work. Zoe is a recovering addict who has gone a long way towards getting clean and maintaining a normal life, one in which she rarely talks with the older sister she bears an almost unreasonable rage towards. Youngest sister Chloe is the peacemaker, a school librarian who likes the softer, sweeter things in life.

When Chloe goes missing one day and Zoe disappears soon after, Dido will have to figure out who took them and how to get them back. The answers, she believes, lie in the past that the sisters have tried so hard to outrun. After their father died when they were very little, their mother gave them up to a family that could actually take care of them. Things went wrong. Eventually, there was a fire. The girls managed to escape but the past casts a long shadow, as Dido will soon discover in her desperate quest to find and save her little sisters.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/27/fitchers-bird-by-a-g-slatter/

Oct 26 2026

Bitsy Bat, Snow Star by Kaz Windness

Bitsy Bat is back for another charming adventure in a picture book that centers the autistic experience!

Bitsy wakes up one day to a new and exciting sight outside her family’s window. Snow has arrived in their forest! Her parents think this means that they should go into hibernation a little earlier than expected, but Bitsy begs to be allowed to attend the last day of school before winter break. After some of her classmates arrive with winter gear for her to head to school in, her parents allow her to go with them so long as she’s wrapped up warmly. Bitsy loves the snuggly clothes that her friends have brought her, and is excited to participate in all the other fun wintry activities that her friends are raring to get into.

And at first, everything seems awesome. Their teacher Mr Nibbles tells them to go ahead and spend the day having fun instead of doing lessons. Bitsy races outside… only to discover that she doesn’t actually like playing in the snow. It’s cold and wet, and the more outdoor activities she and her friends attempt together, the more overwhelmed and upset she becomes. She wants to take a break, but how does she let her friends know that she doesn’t like doing these things that they so obviously love? Worse, will they think less of her because she doesn’t love playing in the snow as much as they do?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/26/bitsy-bat-snow-star-by-kaz-windness/

Oct 25 2026

Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

Selena gets out of a bad relationship by gathering up her dog, a black lab named Copper, spending almost the last of her money, and taking a train two and a half days from the unspecified city where she had lived out into the desert Southwest to a settlement called Quartz Creek, to find her Aunt Amelia. Snake-Eater is set in a nearish future America, though Kingfisher clues readers in on that slowly, gradually doling out the details that show the differences. “Selena knew that the area was a historic zone, which meant that you couldn’t put developments up all over the place and drones were banned, but she hadn’t expected a lack of taxis. Or maybe there just weren’t enough people around for taxis to make any money, which was a somewhat alarming thought.” (p. 8) Selena is a city woman, and Quartz Creek is about as far as you can get from being a city while still being a settlement and not just a homestead.

Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

Selena has been traumatized by the relationship she is getting out of, and she was likely neurodiverse to begin with. One of the ways that Kingfisher shows both is how Selena practices what to say to people, and the bits of her interior monologue that Kingfisher writes out as she works out what to do next. When an older Latino man offers her a ride into Quartz Creek from the station — she has been dragging her suitcase down the dusty and taxi-less road for about a quarter of a mile, and he says “It’s a short drive but a long walk” — her first reaction is to refuse as she thinks of how many things could go wrong. She decides to accept, reasoning that “If they were planning on kidnapping her, it didn’t matter whether she climbed into the truck or not.” (p. 11) Then she reasons through the next step in the interaction:

“Thank you,” she said. Was that enough? Probably not. “I’d appreciate that a lot.” There, that should be good. Just enough, not too much. (p. 11)

She gets into the back of the pickup, where it is too loud for conversation. That gives her time to prepare the next step, too.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/25/snake-eater-by-t-kingfisher/

Oct 24 2026

The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher

I’m glad that T. Kingfisher, a.k.a. Ursula Vernon, is having a publishing moment because I missed The Raven and the Reindeer entirely when it first came out in 2016. It’s a re-telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” that is irreverent, tension-filled, funny, scary, and more than a little weird. That’s fitting, though, because as Kingfisher says in her afterword, Andersen “was a weird dude. … His idea of a happy ending is that everybody dies attended by angels.” She’s no fangirl, finding his work “mawkish, sentimental, and frequently utterly unreadable, and yet there’s … something. I can’t put my finger on it. … He has a line directly to the lizard brain parts that react to fairy tales. Some people do.” (p. 267)

The Raven and the Reindeer by T. Kingfisher

Kingfisher takes the bones of “The Snow Queen” and does her own thing with it. She begins in a small town in the north, though not in the far north north. A baby boy is born “with frost in his eyes and frost in his heart.” (p. 7) His name is Kay. A few days later, a baby girl is born across the street. “They named her Gerta. She was chubby and good-natured and slept easily through the night.” (p. 8) Their grandmothers were friends. Kay and Gerta grew up together, playmates when they were small children. When the snow piled high, there was a link between their upstairs rooms so that even in the deepest winter they could visit each other.

Gerta would have said that Kay was her best and truest friend, that they could tell each other anything and they would take on the world together.
Kay would have said Gerta was the neighbor girl. “She’s all right. I guess.”
In fact, he did say this, on a number of occasions.
There are not many stories about this sort of thing. There ought to be more. Perhaps if there were, the Gertas of the world would learn to recognize it.
Perhaps not. It is hard to see a story when you are standing in the middle of it. (p. 8)

As they grow into young adulthood, Kay continues to love the cold, and Gerta continues to love Kay. Sometimes he seems to love her too — Gerta wonders again and again what it meant that he kissed her one time — but mostly he loves the cold, its sharpness, the quiet it brings, the feeling that you might be the only person in the world. Soon enough, a blizzard blows up, a hundred-year storm according to Gerta’s grandmother, who adds that the Snow Queen rides that night.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/24/the-raven-and-the-reindeer-by-t-kingfisher/

Oct 23 2026

Tantalizing Tales — October 2026 — Part Four

Hello, dear readers! Up here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re turning from Harvest Moon to Hunter’s Moon, and settling in with some very awesome reads.

First up is Amber Chen’s recently published An Auction Of Souls, the first half of a brand new fantasy duology! Meng Wu, the House Of Dreams, is a legendary auction house run by Meng Lingxi and her grandmother. But when a mysterious traveler arrives, bearing an even more mysterious fragment of soul, Lingxi’s world turns upside down. Her grandmother abruptly disappears and Meng Wu itself is assailed by restless spirits.

Lingxi has no idea what to do, even before two Guardians of Hell unexpectedly appear. Fortunately, they’ve come to help. But Yan Jun and Yan Shan have yet another surprise in store for her: Meng Wu itself sits upon the gateway to hell, and her grandmother has been serving the god of the underworld all along. Now tho, the three of them will have to find and bring her grandmother home, while solving the mystery of that dangerous fragment of soul. Not everyone will want to help them, as they find themselves confronting humans, gods and demons alike on their quest. They just know that if they don’t succeed, all hell will literally break loose.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/23/tantalizing-tales-october-2026-part-four/

Oct 22 2026

Spookie Cookies by Karen Thi

Readers, I have written a weekly cooking column for over ten years now, but I fear that I will never be able to come anywhere close to the mastery Karen Thi displays in this spectacular tome on making the perfect scary treats for Halloween (or your other favorite spooky occasion.)

This cookbook has actually been in my kitchen for weeks, looming at me from the top of my microwave as I went about my daily cooking and chores, taunting me with my lack of precision baking skills. And while Ms Thi assures readers that you don’t have to be as skillful as she is in order to bake the impressive confections on display here, it probably helps if you’re at least more into baking than cooking, which latter is my preferred area of kitchen expertise. I also need to send a special shout-out to the wonderful publicists who endeavored to give me every tool I needed to make these cookies; you can see a pic of these awesome goodies — including a bench scraper, food coloring, icing bags and cookie scribe — below! I am deeply embarrassed to admit, after weeks of contemplation and a hard reckoning with my energy levels, that I simply Cannot.

What I CAN do is tell you about this terrific cookbook and its provenance tho! Ms Thi went from baking elaborate cookies in her spare time, selling them on Etsy and to friends, to making cookies for corporate brands and winning competitions on the Food Network. Her cookies are inventive and meticulously decorated, adopting 3D shapes and ingenious effects that I’d never even imagined cookies could be or showcase. In the lead-up to Halloween, she’s published her very first cookbook so that fans and baking enthusiasts can try making some of her amazing creations at home, too!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/22/spookie-cookies-by-karen-thi/

Oct 21 2026

Mind Vs Machine by Steve Sheinkin, Maurice Ashley & Thien Pham

subtitled The Chess Match That Changed the World.

I am really glad that Grandmaster Maurice Ashley was involved in the making of this book and wrote a really thoughtful Author’s Note at the end, because otherwise I would have probably Gone Off in this review. Which isn’t to say that this book is bad at all! It’s just aimed in a weird direction that felt entirely exasperating narratively, at least until Mr Ashley added his closing words.

Let’s talk about what I unreservedly loved first tho: Thien Pham’s extraordinarily expressive art! Tho his work occasionally veers towards the polygonal (the noses, lol!), his ability to evoke emotion while discussing, essentially, a series of chess matches is truly outstanding. The panels going over Garry Kasparov’s facial expressions while he was playing against Deep Blue actually increased my heart rate in sympathy.

This non-fiction graphic novel is about that much ballyhooed series of matches in 1997 between the reigning World Champion and the chess-playing computer built by the team at IBM. Narrative structure is provided by Mr Ashley himself, who tells the story to kids at a park while they all play chess together. Mr Ashley was one of the commentators for the six-match tournament, broadcasting live from the ground floor of the building where Garry and the computer team were going head-to-head. He provides a ton of eyewitness insight into what happened, grounding the story in a very human perspective.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/21/mind-vs-machine-by-steve-sheinkin-maurice-ashley-thien-pham/