Aug 01 2026

The Summer War by Naomi Novik

In contrast to Cinder House, The Summer War is not a classic fairy tale re-told in a more modern idiom but a re-working of fairytale elements, a new story told entirely in the register of a fairy tale. Thus the kingdom that is the setting for a bit more than half of the story is called Prosper. The adored older brother is named Argent, and he shines like the silver that is his namesake, particularly when seen through the eyes of his younger sister Celia. “… Argent, whose mother had been the daughter of an earl, mattered in every way there was. He was Father’s heir and the best knight in the world, so everyone said. Argent was very handsome, too, with black hair that curled and blue-grey eyes, and he’d played with Celia ever since she’d been born. He’d been trained at home, instead of being sent to the king’s circle, and she’d run after him as soon as she could run.” (p. 3) Argent had been well disposed toward Celia, but fundamentally she had not registered, in that way that’s common among older siblings busy clearing a path into the world. Argent also has a burden that he has kept to himself since he was twelve, and his father, Grand Duke Veris, savior of the kingdom and cleverest of warriors, had shown him what happened to men who loved other men.

The Summer War by Naomi Novik

“I remember them begging you for mercy. You didn’t give it. You ordered them caned on the spot, right there in the court. I remember every blow, the screaming. And afterwards, you stripped them of their names, to spare their families the shame of them. And you ordered them taken to the border of your lands and thrown out, never to return, on pain of death.” …
“I was only twelve,” Argent went in. “I barely even knew, yet. I didn’t understand what you were trying to do. All I understood was that there was something wrong with me, the same thing that was wrong with them, and you were showing me what it meant. What you had to do about it. And I didn’t see anything I could to stop being wrong, because I hadn’t done anything to start. So afterwards, I was only waiting for you to come and take me, to do the same.” …
“I was so terrified,” Argent was saying, with an odd sound of wonder in his voice, as if he couldn’t believe the scale of his own fear even now. “Nothing has ever frightened me since. Everyone calls me brave, but it’s only that nothing else comes close enough to that fear. I lived with it for three days and three nights, waiting, until I couldn’t bear it any longer.” (pp. 8–9)

Argent tried to kill himself by taking nightshade. Celia has been eavesdropping on what Argent has returned from the Summer Wars to tell their father. “Yes, Celia wanted to whisper. Yes, I remember. It was a vague, half-forgotten terror in her mind: the time when Argent had almost died. She’d been five years old, and she’d already loved him more than anyone else in the world.” (p. 9) He was uppermost in her mind, but not vice versa. And so it is in the encounter between Argent and their father; Argent has planned the confrontation for a large part of his young life, and probably never once thought about how it would affect Celia. Having reminded his father of the past, Argent renounces his name and returns the sword that his father gave him. “And I will go now, away beyond the border of your lands, and never return again.” (p. 11)

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/08/01/the-summer-war-by-naomi-novik-2/

Jul 30 2026

Murder On Vacation by Rosie A Point & Charles Timmerman

The latest installment of the Cranberry Creek Word Search mystery series is another winning combination of cozy mystery and related word search puzzles!

Abby Jones is thrilled to be going on a romantic vacation with her boyfriend Nathan and her pampered cat Reggie (short for Sir Reginald.) Sure they aren’t going very far from the center of their small town, but a long weekend at the Lakeside Gardens bed and breakfast located on the outskirts of Cranberry Creek is a charming escape from their everyday lives. While Abby loves her job running the town’s only bookstore, sheriff’s deputy Nathan could definitely use a break from his overbearing boss, Sheriff Swift.

There are only two other guests at the B&B which, despite its designation, has a full service if limited menu dining room. Tim Kowalski is a shy artist, while Hunter Ashford is a debonair traveler. The B&B owner Jenny Krueger seems to often be at odds with her chef Brenda Schulz, but that’s really the only wrinkle in the otherwise idyllic landscape of this lakeside inn.

That all changes when a mystifyingly locked dining room one morning is opened to reveal a very dead Jenny inside. She’s sitting at a table with a cup of tea and a suicide note. Nathan immediately calls the police, who put the inn on lockdown. Soon enough, it’s revealed that while Jenny did indeed die of poisoning, her suicide note is highly suspect. Worse, all signs point to Nathan as her killer, despite his seeming lack of motive.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/30/murder-on-vacation-by-rosie-a-point-charles-timmerman/

Jul 29 2026

Black Arsenal edited by Clive Chijioke Nwonka & Matthew Harle

Contrary to the “editors” stated intentions, I very much enjoyed this book as a celebration of Arsenal and how it intersects with global ideas of Blackness. I think it’s weird to assume that a celebration of the subject would necessarily negate a close examination of it: a concept isn’t a person, and it’s feelings won’t get hurt if you rightfully critique the parts it could improve upon. In fact, to celebrate Arsenal’s ties to the Black community without looking at the dark side of the relationship — which in this book is presented almost entirely as a handwringing over capitalism, on which more later — would be infantilizing, and not something the thoughtful reader would want.

Tho speaking of infantilizing, I spent a lot of time wondering exactly who this book is for. On the one hand, it caters to an audience so far removed from sport and popular culture that it feels the need to explain the concept of, for example, hype in boxing in the most pompous way I’ve ever encountered. These academic chapters are so tedious, and bookend the volume so comprehensively, that it almost feels like it’s trying to turn the average reader, whether Arsenal fan or otherwise, off of its very own contents.

Fortunately and on the other hand, you have an engaging oral history that not even the academics can wholly suck the joy out of. While Paul Gilroy’s opening essay has its moments, the book only really feels like it comes alive with Amy Lawrence’s reporting on Kevin Campbell’s reaction to the North Bank mural containing only white faces. The subsequent firsthand accounts of what it means to be Black and an Arsenal player, staff and/or supporter are almost uniformly compelling, as are the fascinating insights into the ways that the relationships between Blackness as a cultural entity and Arsenal as a brand continue to evolve. This is a book that both lives Arsenal and explores the lived experiences of Black people engaging with what Arsenal stands for. I do wish that Gail Lewis’ closing chapter on the intersectionality of being female, Black, gay and an Arsenal fan was more about that and less about her ability to self-regulate and prescribe the same to others based on inflated credentials, but the many references to Clive Chijioke Nwonka’s work in the piece are a likely reason for why it was chosen to cap the volume instead of, say, Baroness Lola Young’s less pedantic but equally lived-in entry.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/29/black-arsenal-edited-by-clive-chijioke-nwonka-matthew-harle/

Jul 28 2026

Absolute Wonder Woman, Vol. 1: The Last Amazon by Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Mattia de Iulis & Jordie Bellaire

Comic books, y’all. Ngl, I bailed from being a regular comics reader — I even had a box with a weekly pull list at my local comics store up till that point — around the time of Marvel’s House Of M fiasco in 2005, because I was so tired of reboots (and crossovers, but that’s another story altogether.)

So I kinda wish I’d known that Absolute Wonder Woman is a title that also comes from a rebooted line, DC Comics’ Absolute Universe. Aside: I can’t be the only person wanting to drop the silent e from the end of the adjective and chortle in a Russian accent, can I? Anyway, this Absolute Universe is a grimmer, darker world (yes, that sound you’re hearing is the audible rolling of my eyeballs) where superheroes are raised in hell instead of paradise. In Diana of Themyscira’s case, this is quite literal: instead of growing up as the beloved only child of a tribe of Amazons, she is given to the exiled witch Circe to be raised in the Underworld.

When a monstrous threat emerges to jeopardize the safety of Gateway City, a helmeted Diana emerges to save the city, first from Harbinger Prime and its minions, then from the greater threat of the Tetracide. Along the way, we learn more about Diana’s upbringing, her powers and how she escaped from Hell (tho not how she happened to show up in Gateway City just in time to save its residents. Maybe that’ll be explained in a future volume.) We’re also introduced to her supporting cast, including some well-loved names such as Steve Rogers, Etta Candy and Barbara Minerva.

As far as reboots go, I didn’t hate it, tho I did spend a lot of time thinking this would have been awesome as a story that was about another kickass Warrior Witch who had nothing to do with the Amazons. Wonder Woman has no monopoly on the cross-section of being female and powerful and kind, after all. This story would have been cool as hell were it about an original property, with kudos to Kelly Thompson for writing it so well.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/28/absolute-wonder-woman-vol-1-the-last-amazon-by-kelly-thompson-hayden-sherman-mattia-de-iulis-jordie-bellaire/

Jul 27 2026

The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo & John Picacio

When I opened the part of the Hugo 2026 voter’s packet for Best Professional Artist, I did not expect to find an entire kid’s book in there! I’m so glad I did tho, as this is a gorgeously illustrated, heartfelt book about grief, culture, and learning to mourn in a healthy way.

It’s Dia de los Muertos, and Cala’s family is busy preparing for their annual festivities, culminating in a visit to the graves of their dearly departed. Cala isn’t feeling it this year tho, as her beloved grandfather has recently died and she just can’t stop being sad about it. But she goes along with everyone else, who give her space in her sorrow even as they expect her to fulfil her familial responsibilities in helping to get things ready.

But by the time they get to the graveyard that night, Cala is feeling entirely dissociated from everything, so much so that she barely pays attention to her surroundings… until she realizes that she’s lost. The graveyard is dark and confusing, and she has no idea where her family is. And then a rider comes out of the shadows…

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/27/the-invisible-parade-by-leigh-bardugo-john-picacio/

Jul 25 2026

In the Time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith

At the beginning of In the Time of Five Pumpkins, Botswana is waiting for the rainy season to begin. The days are hot, the nights do not offer enough relief. People are on edge and prone to be short with each other. That tendency shows up in the novel’s first case, a husband who is worried that his wife is having an affair. That type of case is bread and butter for a private detective agency, but the man, Mr Excellence Modise, gets off on the wrong foot by presuming that Mma Makutsi is a secretary. She did train at the Botswana Secretarial College — and earned ninety-seven percent on her final exam — but she has long since having a role in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency with anything like a modest title. In fact, the first chapter contains another round of the long-running comedy in which Mma Makutsi gives herself another promotion in title, and Mma Ramotswe must take the change in stride. She also takes a moment to reflect on one of the most important reasons for her success.

In the Time of Five Pumpkins by Alexander McCall Smith

Mma Ramotswe reminded herself of what she had learned from her father and of what she had picked up simply by being an engaged citizen. You could learn most things, she thought, by simply keeping your eyes open and listening. That’s where most people fell down — they would not listen. We spend a lot of time shouting at one another, Mma Ramotswe once observed. If we spent a fraction of that shouting time on listening, we would do far better. (p. 4)

The two detectives do not shout at Mr Modise, but they come closer to it than probably either of them would like to admit. They do listen to him, but he is very full of himself, and he compounds that by making sweeping statements, often wrong. But Mma Makutsi and Mma Ramotswe are professionals, and they agree to take his case, even if they decide afterward that they both have uneasy feelings about that man. Another brash man shows up soon in the story, this time in the company of Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe’s husband. This is Mr Freddie Mogorosi, a colleague in the motor trade. He owns a Mercedes dealership, but he has brought his own car in to Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors for a repair. He trusts Mr J.L.B. Matekoni’s old-school skills. In the course of several conversations, he also seems to be cultivating Mr J.L.B. Matekoni as a friend, and furthermore wants to put his name forward for a position on a new board that will liaise between the government and the motor trade.

It is all a bit sudden for Mma Ramotswe, and more than a little suspect. She reminds herself that it is not easy for men to make new friends, especially established men with steady jobs and a family life that does not generally bring them into contact with new people. She further reminds herself that a spouse’s choice of friends is something that should be left entirely up to them, outside of extremely unusual circumstances. But when a fishing expedition unexpectedly involves a crocodile, Mma Ramotswe begins to wonder whether this might be one of those extremely unusual times.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/25/in-the-time-of-five-pumpkins-by-alexander-mccall-smith/

Jul 24 2026

Tantalizing Tales — July 2026 — Part Four

Hello, dear readers! This week we have a whole slew of exciting books to look forward to before and as August begins, and then a title I want to highlight from 2025.

First is a book I’m so eager to dive into. The late Victoria Thompson’s legacy lives on through her daughter Ellen, in the form of the latest Counterfeit Lady adventure City Of Promises. Excitingly, this title is also a crossover with her beloved Gaslight Mysteries series, bringing the main characters of both together for the very first time!

A pregnant Elizabeth Bates must pull out all the stops when detecting duo Frank and Sarah Malloy come to her husband Gideon looking for legal advice. The Malloys’ adopted daughter Catherine is a rising star of the stage. She also happens to be coming into her inheritance: a substantial trust fund that should set her up for life. But a man named Sebastian Talbot has recently turned her head, and seems extraordinarily eager to marry her as quickly as possible.

As a reformed con artist herself, Elizabeth smells a rat. She, Gideon and the Malloys are soon teaming up to get to the bottom of Sebastian’s plans and, more importantly, to ensure Catherine’s ongoing safety and well-being.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/24/tantalizing-tales-july-2026-part-four/

Jul 23 2026

What Stalks The Deep by T Kingfisher

the title of what stalks the deep appears in white against an animal head on the coverAnd with this, I finish reading a very strong novella slate for this year’s Hugo Awards!

I actually haven’t read any of the other books in the Sworn Soldier series, a deficit I should rectify but definitely don’t have the time to at present. The Sworn Soldier of the series’ name is Alex Easton, a non-binary retired soldier from the fictional European country of Gallicia. In this novella, they and their aide de camp/best friend Angus have been asked to come to America to help a friend — and fellow survivor of the uncanny — figure out what’s happening in a West Virginia mine.

Since his misadventures with Easton in Ruravia, Dr James Denton has inherited a coal mine that his favorite cousin Oscar has undertaken the exploration of. Oscar has since gone missing, but not before sending a telegram asking for Denton not to come looking for him. Denton, ofc, has no intention of obeying, and rounds up some of the stoutest hearts he knows to come with him to investigate.

Easton swears that they’re not claustrophobic, but exploring the mine is the sort of thing that they have to keep challenging themself to do. As the party uncovers the place’s secrets, they’ll have to contend with cave-dwelling biological phenomena as well as threats from without… and within.

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Jul 22 2026

The Outermost Mouse by Lauren Wolk & Kristen Adam

I am having a lot of THOUGHTS about this book that have me trying to second guess my younger self, and it is a WEIRD experience.

This children’s picture book is about a little mouse who inhabits the Outermost House, a cottage on a section of beach that juts out into the sea, alongside the old man who lives there too. The place is beautiful, providing the little mouse with everything she needs, but it’s also in danger. Every day, the sea eats away at the shore, getting closer and closer. The little mouse decides that she has to do something to stop this encroachment and save her house from destruction.

My dilemma after reading this is that I can’t decide whether my younger self would have bought into the ending that Lauren Wolk gives us here. It is heroic and adventurous but also, I fear, deeply untrue in a way that I believe even my younger self would have recognized. Frankly, I am a little scarred as an adult from having read this, and console myself with the thought that in real life the little mouse would absolutely have just dug out a hole for herself in a less endangered inland area and lived the rest of her short and happy natural life out by the beach she so loved.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/22/the-outermost-mouse-by-lauren-wolk-kristen-adam/

Jul 21 2026

If We Cannot Go At The Speed Of Light by Kim Cho-yeop

translated from the original Korean by Anton Hur.

The only odd thing about this otherwise terrific collection of short stories, to me, is the fact that they led with the two weakest stories in the bunch instead of any of the strongest. Sure there are only seven stories in this collection, and perhaps other folks will have different opinions, but the leap in quality once you get past the first two is extraordinary.

Maybe I’m just jaded, but I spent the entirety of the opener, Symbiosis Theory, half-convinced that it was thinly-veiled Scientology propaganda. My brain kept popping up that one History Channel guy meme, only he was saying “Thetans!” instead of “Aliens!” (which I always hear in the same delivery as “The Aristocrats!”, lol.) The second story, Spectrum, is somewhat better but also feels like it relies too much on the idea of extraterrestrials being unknowable but super cool, so don’t ask too many questions about the story, just trust me, bro. And by me, ofc, I mean the author. Which, sure, why else would I be reading your book, but that trust comes with the trade-off that you’re about to tell me something interesting, which the first story wasn’t and the second one… well, at least it had promise.

Fortunately, things improve vastly once we get to the title story. If We Cannot Go At The Speed Of Light talks about the ways in which technology leaves people behind, and the choices we have to make in hopes of giving people a chance, however quixotic they may be. The Materiality Of Emotions is a weird but thoughtful little piece on the human propensity for literal objectification. Archival Loss has a woman attempting to access the uploaded personality of her mother, while Pilgrims talks about a young person who burns to understand why some people never return to their idyllic village. Finally, you have My Space Hero, where an astronaut-in-training learns the truth about the aunt she idolizes.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/21/if-we-cannot-go-at-the-speed-of-light-by-kim-cho-yeop/