Oct 12 2026

What Work Is by Philip Levine

What Work Is was my introduction to Philip Levine, back in 1991 when it was new and I was working at the late and lamented Oxford Books of Atlanta, Georgia. Oxford was the largest independent bookstore in the Southeast, and something of a pioneer of the superstore model, bookstores that kept 100,000 or more titles on hand. It was also about 50 yards from my first apartment in Atlanta, and as soon as I moved in I knew that I could either work there or be resigned to spending most of my paycheck there. (Or possibly both.) So I was a graphic designer by day and a sales clerk by night, because Oxford stayed up until quite late. There was also a distinct wave of customers who came in after 10pm and made the night hours interesting.

What Work Is by Philip Levine

My work was different from a lot of the work that Levine writes about in this volume. He was a good forty years older than me, and his milieu is mid-century Detroit, a world of assembly lines, tight budgets, bad housing, cold winds, and maybe camaraderie if you are lucky. Those jobs are valorized now but Levine lived some of that life himself — he was working in auto factories when he was just 14 — and people all around him worked those jobs much longer. Levine writes about how the work sites were loud, dirty and dangers; how the work would physically break you if you did it long enough, even if you avoided accidents on the job. He writes about how mind-numbingly boring it was doing the same limited set of physical motions hour after hour, shift after shift, year after year. The bosses would try to take what little autonomy you had. They would try to speed up the work. They tried to make sure you knew your place, and that place was under their thumb.

Yet Levine does not write litanies of misery, and neither does he write Socialist Realist paeans to Stakhanovite labor achievements. Instead he captures the inescapable human moments, the times that show that even on the assembly line these are people not machines. He writes about the communities outside of the workplaces, and little moments in life that mean the world. Here’s a bit from “Soloing,” in which his mother has dreamt of John Coltrane playing, and Levine has driven hours through the night to see her:

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Oct 11 2026

Hänschen klein, ging allein by Hans J. Massaquoi

Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi was born in Hamburg in 1926, son of a working-class German woman and a son of the Liberian consul general in the city. The liaison that produced him did not last — both mother and father were young to be parents, and his father returned to Ireland to continue his studies in law — though the connection to Liberia did. Hans’ grandfather, the consul, took them in to live at the consulate. Eventually he was recalled to Liberia; Hans and his mother remained in Hamburg. They lived in Barmbek, a working-class district of close quarters, small shops and businesses, and tight community. Hans always stood out because he was Black, the only Black child he knew of in Hamburg. That also meant that he grew up as a German kid among other German kids; there could be no question of a separate community for him because there simply wasn’t anyone else.

Hänschen klein ging allein by Hans J. Massaquoi

When he was seven, the Nazis came to national power. He remembers being disappointed about not being allowed to join the Hitler Youth, which from his perspective looked like a fun organization with cool uniforms. He also remembers a PE teacher from elementary school who kept moving the goals to ensure that he would never be able to meet them. Decades later when he wrote his memoirs the shame and the unfairness still hurt. Nazi regulations also meant that he was forbidden higher education and was tracked into vocational schooling followed by an apprenticeship. The close-knit nature of Barmbek sometimes worked in his favor. One night when he was stopped by an SS member and taken to the local police station as a loiterer and a hoodlum, the officer on duty recognized him as an apprentice at the same firm as another policeman’s son and closed the case with no further actions taken. It was of course just one of many reminders of his unequal status in the society of his birth, and the ways that arbitrary state power could change his life instantly, or even end it.

Ironically, Nazi racial laws may have kept him alive by barring his entry into the army. Many, many years later he learned more about what became of his school classmates, and the share of male classmates who died in the war was not small. Eventually, it was not just Germans who went to war; in due course the war came to Germany. Nearly all of Hans’ neighborhood was destroyed by Allied bombing. He and his mother relocated to a basement dwelling they found with help from Hans’ friend Ralph Giordano, who was half-Jewish and whose family survived the war in hiding.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/11/hanschen-klein-ging-allein-by-hans-j-massaquoi/

Oct 10 2026

The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin

I found it a little hard to believe that The Hedge Knight is closing in on 30 years since its first publication in Legends, an anthology edited by Robert Silverberg. (I haven’t read it, but the table of contents looks great.) I think the conversation around the television series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” the first season of which is an adaptation of The Hedge Knight made the novella feel like a more recent publication. On the other hand, it feels almost timeless. Martin has written that the 1952 film version of Ivanhoe was a major inspiration for The Hedge Knight, and Ivanhoe the novel was published in 1820. Martin’s language is modern, but his story, well, it could probably have come along almost any time since the thousand and one nights.

The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin

He begins with a knight, an itinerant fighter, but one with ideals. He is in his late teens and has grown up fast as squire to Ser Arlan of Pennytree, a landless knight who takes up service with a wealthier lord when he can. In Martin’s Westeros, a fighter like Ser Arlan is known as a hedge knight. Unfortunately for young Dunk, the squire, Ser Arlan caught his death in the rain as the two of them were on their way to a tournament at Ashford. With no master, little money and scant prospects, Dunk decides to enter the tourney himself and hope for some winnings. He gathers up the late Ser Arlan’s sword, shield and armor, and leads their three horses onward toward Ashford. He will tell people that Ser Arlan knighted him before dying, but Martin begins his story after that has supposedly happened, so readers are left to draw their own conclusions. He will call himself Ser Duncan the Tall, for he is noticeably taller than anyone else in the tale.

On the way to Ashford, Dunk stops at an inn, nearly deserted as everyone in the area has already headed to the tournament. In the stables, he finds a boy of about eight, whom he tells to take care of his horse. The boy is precocious and headstrong. He is also bald and goes by the name of Egg.

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Oct 09 2026

Tantalizing Tales — October 2026 — Part Two

As the days grow ever shorter in the countdown to Halloween and beyond, we have more awesome upcoming books for your consideration!

First up is a rarity: a full-length prose novel inspired by a comic book series instead of the other way around. James Tynion IV and Kiersten White — two creators I greatly admire! — have collaborated on the thrilling prose prequel to the former’s bestselling horror comic series Something Is Killing The Children.

In Hope Is A Knife, our heroine Erica Slaughter has arrived in the small Idaho town of Badwater. A child has been torn apart: by a bear, a person or something even more sinister. As a Black Mask — a monster hunter in the Order of St George — Erica’s entire purpose in life is to investigate cases like this to determine whether there’s really a monster afoot, then to track it down and slay it if so.

Her task this time around is complicated by the town’s charismatic doomsday preacher, who’s been whipping the townsfolk into a frenzy. When she discovers that the fear of one of the town’s children may have been responsible for summoning her latest quarry, she’s going to have to act fast to figure out which kid it actually is and to somehow sever the connection between child and creature. For the rest of the Order and the town are both ready to do anything to stop the monster, even if it means killing the kid who unwittingly summoned it.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/09/tantalizing-tales-october-2026-part-two/

Oct 08 2026

Before We Sail by Carlos Yacolca & Michelle Lino

with letters by Diego Revelo and design by David Escobedo.

This seven-part graphic novella that first appeared in David Lloyd’s Aces Weekly online comics art magazine has recently been nominated for a Ringo Award for Best Webcomic, no small feat for a first time author! As I type, the comic is only available at the link above, but do check it out for a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse, with a distinctly Peruvian point of view.

Kath and Jonathan are a mismatched pair on the run. After a mysterious plague took out most of humanity, society collapsed. Depressive Jonathan and angry Kath are gathering supplies and killing zombies as they make their way through Lima, hoping to find a boat that will take them to the safety of open waters. But zombies aren’t the only threat lurking in the city. Jonathan clings to the idea of a shared humanity with those still living, while Kath wants only revenge. Will their disparate viewpoints on survival help or hinder their journey to the sea?

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Oct 07 2026

Our Favorite Day Of The Week by Ashley Franklin & Rahele Jomepour Bell

This is a terrific multicultural children’s book that brilliantly underlines how differences can serve to bring people together, because everyone is allowed to make their own choices about what they do and don’t like for themselves.

The picture book starts off with Musa, who’s excited to finally be able to tie his shoes by himself as the school week starts. He hurries to show his newfound ability off to his neighbor Zohra as they walk to school together. She’s in a foul mood tho, as an overnight trip means she’s going to miss Trash Day Tuesday, her favorite day of the week. As they collect several other walkers, the kids all talk about their favorite days and why, all eventually agreeing that everyone has a good reason to have chosen their day.

When they finally get to class and chat with their teacher, they’re surprised by Ms Gupta’s choice, as it’s one they’ve never heard before. They soon learn the secret to making any day your favorite day.

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Oct 06 2026

Can You Solve The Murder? by Antony Johnston

In a word: no. Lol.

I’m usually quite good at solving mysteries because I’m good at two other things: understanding human behavior and understanding storytelling. Foreshadowing might as well be my hairdresser, as it generally tells me everything I need to know before it becomes common knowledge. That, I think, was a large part of why I had such a hard time trying to solve the murder in this book. The chopped up nature of the narrative — one that absolutely invests in obscurantism in order to amp up the challenge level and thus replayability of this volume — made it really easy for me to go haring down the wrong paths in pursuit of the answer.

That, however, was not the primary reason for my failure. And I had A LOT of failure. After spending about six hours on this book and getting seven bad endings, I had to admit defeat and look for the correct ending. The other books on my TBR pile won’t read themselves, after all! I wound up being genuinely surprised by the resolution, as all the signaling up till then had pointed in what I thought were very different directions.

Perhaps this was where my game construction knowledge hampered instead of helped me, as I kept playing under the assumption that I just hadn’t collected the right number of clues in the allotted time. Because this gamebook, unlike real life investigations, insists that you collect the right evidence before you encounter fixed waypoints. If you didn’t get the clues you needed in time, too bad: you lose and have to start all over again. As a completist who prefers to methodically gather all the information available before making a choice, I found this very exasperating.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/06/can-you-solve-the-murder-by-antony-johnston/

Oct 05 2026

The Secret World Of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham

This would have been way more successful for me were it the overly wordy storyboard for an anime — most likely a repetitively depressing one like Berserk — than an actual book.

And look, I get it. Depression sucks. It’s a legit mental illness that you can’t just will yourself out of. But that doesn’t mean that it automatically makes for interesting fiction. Reading this book was like listening to a depressed person drone on and on about their dreams. You have to really care about the speaker to do more than smile and nod and wait with increasing desperation for the monologue to be over. And I say this as someone who usually loves dissecting dreams, my own and others! But the experience of reading this book felt unfortunately like unpaid labor, which is not at all what I seek out or enjoy, especially from the YA fantasy genre.

The plot itself isn’t terrible. It’s sort of a dual timeline story of an eighteen year-old girl trying to survive in a war-torn landscape, and the mythical princess who lived there a century earlier. Corin is a petty thief whose focus on survival drives away everyone around her, including Elly, the younger sister she both adores and wishes she wasn’t saddled with. Elly is a twelve year-old who believes in the fairy tale that says that their kingdom will be restored once they find the hidden Princess Amelia and wake her. The princess’ royal blood is promised to bring Gyldan back to peace and prosperity. Corin doesn’t have time to believe in any of that, but chases after Elly when the younger girl goes off in search of the princess, eventually finding a portal into a completely unexpected place.

Meanwhile, the sleeping Amelia has retreated to the dream world she was cursed to fall into on her eighteenth birthday. As Amelia and Corin’s paths collide, will they be able to find the strength to overcome their own refusal to deal with the harsh truths of reality, and somehow find purpose?

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Oct 02 2026

Tantalizing Tales — October 2026 — Part One

The first weekly roundup of October has three awesome titles to choose from, beginning with a globe-trotting historical mystery reminiscent of both classic Sherlock Holmes and James Bond.

A E Goldin’s Death On The Pearl River is the sophomore novel of the Ben Canaan mystery series. It’s 1856 and young Ben has established himself as a star detective on the payroll of Her Majesty’s Executive, after successfully solving a string of challenging cases. The murder of a notorious crime boss in London’s East End draws him in to his latest assignment. Someone is targeting some of the most powerful men in the opium trade, and Ben’s investigations will send him all the way around the world to the newly founded British colony of Hong Kong.

This lawless frontier town on the southern edge of the Qing Dynasty would be challenging enough for a newcomer to navigate, even without the turmoil inherent in an empire on the brink of collapse and a nation on the verge of civil war. The prominent trading firms that run the town all have links to the murder victims and little interest in assisting a British interloper. The most ruthless corporate interests would rather just see him dead. As Ben confronts a labyrinthine conspiracy in pursuit of the truth — and to prevent more blood from being spilled — he’ll have to make hard choices between doing what’s necessary and what’s actually just.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/10/02/tantalizing-tales-october-2026-part-one/

Oct 01 2026

Fantome Oracle Deck by La Muci Design

Happy October, dear readers! I had a torrid time figuring out what to review to kick off the month, but what better choice than another amazing deck from La Muci Design! I’ve actually had this in my possession for quite a while, but only got around to opening the package I’d backed via Kickstarter last week, because the harvest moon and, sigh, football, reminded me that it was time to reset my energies and intentions after a summer of, perhaps counterintuitively, metaphysical rest and dormancy.

Some delulu background first: this past January, I semi-jokingly did a spell to help improve the scoring prowess of Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres. There were a lot of components, ofc, involving flame, crystal, metal, winter ice and moonlight, among others, but at the end, I kept the ice melt in a small container on my windowsill, to be deployed at some later determined time. Anyway, he turned into our most prolific scorer and was a significant part of Arsenal winning the English Premier League last season.

Perhaps coincidentally, I started getting a lot more tired than usual. By the end of the season, I was so exhausted that I told my Arsenal friends that I was done with spellwork for him. I’d been directing energy into our connection since that initial spell in January, and while I couldn’t say for sure that that had been draining me, it did seem like one thing I could finally cross off my to-do list. We’d won the league and he’d acquitted himself well for both club and country. “He’s a big boy,” I told my friends, “He doesn’t need me any more!”

Then the ’26-27 season started. Viktor was on the bench a lot and did not score for us when he did eventually come on the pitch. My friends were starting to look at me askance, but I was adamant about not channeling more energy into him… until he showed up in my dreams three nights in a row. And look, that never happens to me, even when I want it to. In an attempt to get him out of my subconscious and to hopefully sever the quantum bond between us (why, yes, I use a lot of crystals in my “magic”, which is energy-based and will likely be fully explained by science some hundred years in the future, lol,) I decided to do a cleansing ritual between the Autumn equinox and the harvest moon, using the ice melt I’d saved, an amethyst I hadn’t yet cleansed and various other witchy accoutrements.

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