Nov 21 2022
I didn’t understand what “creative non-fiction” was supposed to be until I read the first two magnificent essays in this collection, ironically even before Joshua Whitehead begins his somewhat disparaging essay on the subject. As with any art, there’s a strong sense of “I know it when I see it”, and I definitely knew I …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/11/21/making-love-with-the-land-essays-by-joshua-whitehead/
Aug 19 2022
A few chapters into Light From Uncommon Stars, after it was clear that the violin teacher had made a pact with a demon and was under tight deadline to collect one more soul or else the usual penalties would apply and also that the local landmark donut shop was run by space aliens pretending to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/08/19/light-from-uncommon-stars-by-ryka-aoki-2/
Aug 09 2022
As we sprint towards the deadline for Hugo voting and I, for the second year in a row, concede defeat over being able to read all the books in time, I wanted to make sure that I at least got to cover a book Doug was raving to me about (tho I see he hasn’t …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/08/09/light-from-uncommon-stars-by-ryka-aoki/
Jul 21 2022
with Rovina Cai’s amazing illustrations. One thing I love about the books in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series is how they’re all so readable. Even if I don’t like her protagonists or think characters are being daft or soapboxy, her pacing is usually so well done that I’m never bored with what’s happening, and keep …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/21/across-the-green-grass-fields-wayward-children-6-by-seanan-mcguire/
Jul 18 2022
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, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/07/18/a-spindle-splintered-fractured-fables-1-by-alix-e-harrow/
May 16 2022
As the 20th century draws to a close, Sienna is intent on having one last perfect summer with her friends, who are all her co-workers at the Game Champ video game store. Sienna is a bit of a control freak, but she gets along fine most of the time with Art, the aspiring comic book …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/16/good-game-well-played-by-rachael-smith-katherine-lobo-justin-birch/
Mar 17 2022
Oh my heart. I don’t know how a book as bawdy and savage as Pennyblade managed to make me cry at the beautiful heartbreak of the final chapters but oh, how it did and how I did. This is not a book that everyone will like (see: bawdy and savage) but if the idea of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/03/17/pennyblade-by-j-l-worrad/
Feb 28 2022
Well, that was certainly… something. In all frankness, it felt very much like reading the screed of a 1980s British academic, who is quite erudite but also monomaniacal about a particular subject, in this case popular culture of primarily English extraction. Whether we’re reinterpreting Dickens through the (honestly valid) lens of pornography or skewering various …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/28/please-miss-a-heartbreaking-work-of-staggering-penis-by-grace-e-lavery/
Jan 10 2022
Oh, man, the punctuation in that title sets my teeth on edge. It also bothers me that it’s part of a series but there’s no numbering for said series which, as of writing, consists of a novel and two short story collections. I suppose it doesn’t matter if the books are read out of order, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/10/cinder-the-fireplace-boy-and-other-gayly-grimm-tales-rewoven-tales-by-ana-mardoll/
Dec 02 2021
I honestly think it does a great disservice to this book to consider/market it as YA. For starters, I very nearly bounced off it in the first few pages when a main character, who we’re clearly meant to feel sympathy for, brutally kills an unarmed man. Had I gone in thinking this was a regular …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/02/the-mermaid-the-witch-and-the-sea-by-maggie-tokuda-hall/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire