Happy November, friends! I’ve been so overwhelmed with work that I had to take yesterday off from posting, though Halloween always feels like a good reason to work less and celebrate more. While I originally thought that I’d just be reading last night between bouts of handing out candy to trick-or-treaters, I ended up sharing …
Category: Doreen
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/11/01/tantalizing-tales-november-2024-part-one/
Oct 30 2024
Sitting On A Rock by Gary L Brinderson
Oh poetry, thou fickle siren, luring thousands of writers into your gentle-seeming embrace only to let them flounder on the sharp rocks of skill that underpin you. So here’s the deal, dear readers. Poetry is about image and emotion. Back in the day, it also used to be about form and rhyme. For better or …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/30/sitting-on-a-rock-by-gary-l-brinderson/
Oct 29 2024
Clay Footed Giants by Alain Chevarier & Mark McGuire
Extremely well-meaning but — and I hate to use this word because of the way it’s morphed so far from its more neutral original meaning — problematic. Pat is a 40-something American academic living in Montreal. His wife Ester has an important job, so he does his fair share of housework while they raise their …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/29/clay-footed-giants-by-alain-chevarier-mark-mcguire/
Oct 28 2024
Twinkle, Twinkle, Nighttime Sky by Elizabeth Everett & Beatriz Castro
This is 100% the book you should buy for any astronomy-minded young readers you have! Throughout the pages of this picture book, a diverse set of children look at and learn about the nighttime sky, with accompanying text set roughly to the cadence of the Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star nursery rhyme. Whether they’re outdoor campers …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/28/twinkle-twinkle-nighttime-sky-by-elizabeth-everett-beatriz-castro/
Oct 25 2024
Monster Locker Vol 1 by Jorge Aguirre & Andrés Vera Martínez
Coatlicue help me, I’m pretty sure my kids have infected me with their brainrot, because as soon as I realized that this story was set in Ohio, I began chortling to the tune of Swag In Ohio. But that Midwestern state (and Gen Alpha shorthand for weirdness) is honestly the perfect setting for this tale …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/25/monster-locker-vol-1-by-jorge-aguirre-andres-vera-martinez/
Oct 24 2024
Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson
Oh my God, this was incredible and terrifying all at once. Spicy, sweet and hardcore revolting, this sapphic horror novella breathes new life into the trope of obsessive love as a lonely young woman falls hard for a mysterious figure she meets at the fair. Ro’s recovery from being betrayed by her ex-boyfriend, and the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/24/bloom-by-delilah-s-dawson/
Oct 23 2024
The Knitting Witch by Norma Kassirer & Mark Richardson
Very shortly after beginning to read this book on my Kindle Paperwhite, it struck me that I was definitely missing out by not being able to see all the illustrations in full color. After some frantic searching across various websites and devices, I was finally able to access a non-grayscale copy, and oh readers, what …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/23/the-knitting-witch-by-norma-kassirer-mark-richardson/
Oct 22 2024
MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious — The Graphic Stories by MrBallen, Robert Venditti & Andrea Mutti
I am genuinely loving the resurgence of horror comics, as well as the myriad channels by which they’re coming onto the market. Some cynics may say that books like these are just a cash grab, but I’d honestly never even heard of MrBallen before this engaging volume landed on my desk. Call me an old …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/22/mrballen-presents-strange-dark-mysterious-the-graphic-stories-by-mrballen-robert-venditti-andrea-mutti/
Oct 21 2024
Patsy Cline’s Walkin’ After Midnight by Judith A Proffer, Julie Dick Fudge & Yoko Matsuoka
It almost always surprises people to hear that I enjoy country music. I’m not sure why: so much of it is fantastic, and I love good music of every genre. Perhaps it helps that I lack the class prejudices of most Americans when it comes to music. Admittedly, I don’t care for stoner jams, but …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/21/patsy-clines-walkin-after-midnight-by-judith-a-proffer-julie-dick-fudge-yoko-matsuoka/
Oct 18 2024
Tantalizing Tales — October 2024 — Part Two
Time flies, dear friends! Halloween will soon be upon us, so let’s check out some of the best spooky season reading, as well as some excellent counterprogramming should you be in the mood for a break from the cold, dark and scary. Into that first category goes Joelle Wellington’s sophomore effort, The Blonde Dies First, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/18/tantalizing-tales-october-2024-part-two/