July 2022 archive

A Spindle Splintered (Fractured Fables #1) by Alix E. Harrow

Alix E Harrow can definitely be hit or miss for me. This, fortunately, was such a hit that I actually exclaimed “yes!” when I realized it was the first of a series. Zinnia Gray is no traditional princess. But she has been cursed, more or less, with a genetic disease known as Generalized Roseville Malady, …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/18/a-spindle-splintered-fractured-fables-1-by-alix-e-harrow/

No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor

No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor

After tangling things forwards and backwards in A Trail Through Time, Jodi Taylor offers more straightforward adventures for the historians of St Mary’s in No Time Like the Past. Which is to say, there are calamities, dangers expected and otherwise, narrow escapes, and scuffles with university bureaucracy. I would say that Dr Madeleine Maxwell, first-person …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/16/no-time-like-the-past-by-jodi-taylor/

Count Zero by William Gibson

Count Zero by William Gibson, Ace paperback from 1987

How does Count Zero, William Gibson‘s second novel, hold up more than 35 years after its publication? That’s what I was thinking about, re-reading the book for the first time in at least a decade. At the end of Neuromancer, Gibson’s first, genre-defining novel, something happened to the AIs and the entirety of cyberspace, something …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/15/count-zero-by-william-gibson/

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

I’m at the point in my reading life with Aliette de Bodard where I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not her, it’s me. Ms de Bodard is widely acclaimed, and I just don’t get it. Yes, I have loved every single one of the premises of the stories I’ve read of hers, with possibly …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/14/fireheart-tiger-by-aliette-de-bodard-2/

It’s A Sign by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey

Mo Willems is a staple in our household, so when I (belatedly) discovered that he had an imprint called Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! I knew I had to check it out. More importantly, I had to check it out with my kids. Jms grew up on Knuffle Bunny, while Joseph had always seemed more …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/13/its-a-sign-by-jarrett-pumphrey-and-jerome-pumphrey/

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

So I requested this novel ahead of reviewing Sarah Pearse’s upcoming follow up to it, The Retreat. Interestingly, the publicist seemed a little reluctant to send it over — not a problem I’ve usually had with books from larger publishing houses, who don’t have to watch their margins as closely as smaller presses do. I …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/12/the-sanatorium-by-sarah-pearse/

Discovering The Underground With Snow White by Tom Velcovsky & Jakub Cenkl

I had a blast spending time at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference 2022 recently, and one of the highlights was definitely coming across the Albatros Media booth. They’re a small Czech press and this was their first time exhibiting at ALAAC, and I was so pleased to be able to chat with the publisher …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/11/discovering-the-underground-with-snow-white-by-tom-velcovsky-jakub-cenkl/

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

A Spindle Splintered by Alix M. Harrow

“Sleeping Beauty is pretty much the worst fairy tale, an way you slice it” says Zinnia Gray, first-person narrator of A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow. She adds, “Only dying girls like Sleeping Beauty.” (p. 2) And there’s the first catch, because Zinnia Gray is dying, victim of a rare genetic defect, most of …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/10/a-spindle-splintered-by-alix-e-harrow/

A Scandal in Brooklyn by Lauren Wilkinson

This fun new short story puts a modern-day Irene Adler center stage where she belongs! Told through the eyes of her old friend Tommy Diaz, A Scandal In Brooklyn follows Irene as she answers another friend’s request for aid. Priya Stein hasn’t seen or heard from her husband Victor in days. Turns out that he’s …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/09/a-scandal-in-brooklyn-by-lauren-wilkinson/

Die, Vol. 4: Bleed by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans & Clayton Cowles

I’ve had time to think about it, and tho this final installment of the RPG-nerd series made me cry, it also made me kind of mad, and this is why: there’s a bizarrely “time to put away childish things” overtone to the ending that really irritated me. Kieron Gillen was trying to tread a fine …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/08/die-vol-4-bleed-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/