Time for some short takes to clear the desk for the coming year. In Urs Widmer’s Der Geliebte der Mutter (My Mother’s Lover) the first-person narrator tells the story of his mother’s life, beginning with the death of her lover, many years after her own death. Erwin died as he lived best, leaning over a …
Tag: Urban Fantasy
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/12/27/wrapping-up-4/
Dec 06 2024
My UnderSlumberBumbleBeast by Zoje Stage & J E Larson
I missed the initial surge of excitement around Zoje Stage’s bestselling debut novel Baby Teeth, but was more than happy to take on the sequel, Dear Hanna, for the day job. In the latter novel, Hanna has grown up and gotten married to an older man with a teenage daughter. This pleases her: she doesn’t …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/12/06/my-underslumberbumblebeast-by-zoje-stage-j-e-larson/
Nov 18 2024
The Weirn Books, Vol 1 and 2 by Svetlana Chmakova
I was so chuffed to receive a delightful box with the first two books in Svetlana Chmakova’s Weirn series just before Halloween! Deeply grateful to JY, an imprint of Yen Press, for sending not only the two volumes but also a cute selection of pens, bookmarks and posters, some of which found their ways into …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/11/18/the-weirn-books-vol-1-and-2-by-svetlana-chmakova/
Nov 07 2024
The Department of Truth: Wild Fictions by James Tynion IV & Martin Simmonds
with a host of incredibly talented guest artists! So I went into this book assuming it was a graphic novel, like the rest of the series. Readers, it is not! While it is 100% based on The Department Of Truth comic book series — and there are two issues from the main series at the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/11/07/the-department-of-truth-wild-fictions-by-james-tynion-iv-martin-simmonds/
Nov 04 2024
Afterlife: The Boy Next Realm by Gina Chew & Nadhir Nor
If you enjoyed Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, then you will probably also be swept away by the romance of this sepia-toned graphic novel, as a teenage girl fights Death itself to bring her little brother back to life. If, however, you found TNC as wildly mid as I did, then you’ll probably feel the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/11/04/afterlife-the-boy-next-realm-by-gina-chew-nadhir-nor/
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 05 2024
False Value by Ben Aaronovitch
Because of the way that Lies Sleeping ended, Peter Grant finds himself suspended, temporarily he hopes, from the London’s Metropolitan Police. Because expenses don’t stop just because a job does, he signs up to work in the security department of one of London’s biggest and flashiest IT start-ups, the Serious Cybernetics Corporation. The founder, an …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/10/05/false-value-by-ben-aaronovitch/
Sep 16 2024
Camp Twisted Pine by Ciera Burch
Oh wow, getting into this hit hard. Like Ciera Burch, I never went to sleepaway camp, and wound up writing a book/game on the subject. I designed that roleplaying game on my former best friend, the same way choreographers create dances on certain performers. Unfortunately for me, that person I relied on and trusted more …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/09/16/camp-twisted-pine-by-ciera-burch/
Sep 11 2024
Haunt Sweet Home by Sarah Pinsker
I wonder why this was published by sff stalwart tordotcom instead of by its horror imprint, Nightfire, as the also creepy (and just as speculative, if not more so) Crypt Of The Moon Spider was. Regardless, I’m so glad that this novella has been released as a standalone book, perfect as a quick-ish read as …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/09/11/haunt-sweet-home-by-sarah-pinsker/
Aug 27 2024
Red Tundra by Mike Pohjola
a story for Werewolf: The Apocalypse. With illustrations by Krzysztof Bieniawski, Gabriel de Goes Figueiredo and Maichol Quinto. Not only did I manage to snag a copy of this adventure on Free RPG Day 2024, I also had the good luck to have someone run it for me so I could get a better feel …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/08/27/red-tundra-by-mike-pohjola/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire