Yes that was six months of your reading year! Holiday Temptations Time!
Helllooo!
Halfway through the year! Yep, I don’t know how its happened either and its always a bit worthwhile to have a look back and what is jumping out at me is a slight recalibration. Its 23 degrees and muggy as hell as I type this so reading speed is feeling distinctly off.
In some ways I’ve kept very busy there are over 80 reviews on the blog this year so far and yet I don’t feel quite on top of things as I’d like to be. Very few interviews or womblings have taken place and all projects from Le Guin, Discworld and the quarter century are paused. Nice and easy to see where this feeling crept in when our beloved done Maisie suddenly died and my dad ended up in hospital. These things do happen, and we got through them but add in some work moves afoot and I’m feeling a bit scattered and to stretched a few too many times this year. The blog helps me have a little way to relax but sometimes its been tricky to get the momentum going
A much-needed holiday awaits us early August and I can’t wait! The good news is my diabetes is definitely heading the right direction and sacrificing some time for exercise and being careful what I’m eating is slowly working. My rough idea is to use the next three months for some well needed rest and catch ups so expect a few older books to appear while I get my pace back up. I hope you all have a great summer.
Now what kind of book tempter would I be though not having a few recommendations for you if you’re looking for a great holiday read?
Horror
A touch of time travel, cosmic horror and general weirdness awaits in the very enjoyable The Stones of Landane by Catherine Cavendish
More recent social history with the non-supernatural elements just as creepy (perhaps even more so) is the very timely Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
I love horror when mixed with wonderful storytelling and The Wilding by Ian McDonald starts with humour and knows just when to release its claws (and teeth) surprising and captivating readers once we get lost in the wilds.
At the non-supernatural end I definitely recommend the strange and menacing Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito where a household really have made a huge hiring error.
Coastal horror and the gothic combine to create something very interesting in The Crows by CM Rosens
Stunning horror with timely look at how trans people are treated mixed with a gorgeous story awaits you in All The Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper
Short fiction fans the usual ABC of horror treats reach E with Elemental Forces edited by Mark Morris offering high quality creepy tales. The strange and the weird also awaits in the very good Tales Nocturnal by Tim Foley
A tale of sisters at odds mixes with Cornish myths and creates something nasty but hugely compelling in The Corpse Road by Sean Hogan
A gorgeously haunting tale of friendship and revenge awaits you in the fantastic House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias which is so so worth getting hold of.
Fantasy
Always nice to close a series and Titanchild by Jen Williams wraps up many plots and character arcs with added magic and folklore. Also in Cold Steel by Joyce Chng another series ended very well. I also like the end of this cycle of tales with The Land of the Living and the Dead by Shauna Lawless breaking hearts and offering hope for the future in equal measure. Then revolutions and vampires mix one last time in the hugely enjoyable Damned by Genevieve Cogman
Adding in a prequel the delightful Vianne by Joanne Harris gives us the tale before Chocolat and well worth a taste.
At the darker end of the spectrum is a tale of family mysteries and being trapped in the past thanks to the very eerie The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
At the cosier end of the spectrum I had a lot of relaxing enjoyment with The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
Taking the older fantasy pulp stories and creating something new and exciting is definitely delivered in the inventive The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P Djeli Clark (no cats are harmed)
Benedict Jacka continues a very interesting mix of fantasy mixed with a look at the gig economy and capitalism in the refreshing An Instruction in Shadow by Benedict Jacka
A debut I highly enjoyed and had a few surprises in the relationships it set up is The Outcast Mage by Annabel Campbell and author to watch out for.
The wild west and maths return for one last dance together in the excellent Triggernometry Finals by Stark Holborn finishing off a great unusual series
One of my favourite authors released a hugely intelligent and unusual collection all set around one menacing authoritarian society that may have lessons for us too and so go and run to get One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed
The mix of horror and fantasy reaches an interesting meeting of characters in the wonderful The Crimson Road by AG Slatter which fans of the Sourdough tales should hoover up.
A refreshing new voice and use of folklore really beguiled me with Greenteeth by Molly O'Neill re-introducing old myths in lots of new ways.
I look a good unusual first person voice and Once Was Willem by MR Carey was a fantastic piece of medieval fantasy that constantly surprised me where the story went to. A book to fall into hard
More fun and a lovely gang of strange characters to meet and like (including a paladin) will be had in Clockwork Boys by T Kingfisher
Epic fantasy doing things a bit risky and pays off beautifully are always books to hunt down and I really loved A Song of Legends Lost by M H Ayinde another author to watch out for because this debut really is interesting.
The great A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang also does this by making you think you know what story you’re in and then pulling a brilliant set of reveals on you. Run and get it!
The darker side of diplomacy in fantasy is a topic underexplored and yet showing the Tyrant Philosophers series is brilliant I freaking adored and was broken by Days of Shattered Faith by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Language in storytelling is an artform and a tale to savour is The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Scottish folklore ad myth get new tales in the very interesting and perfect for the darkening evenings Dark Crescent by Lyndsey Croal
An absolute chiller of a dark tale awaits you in Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou which uses Bluebeard in a very captivating, heart-destroying and impressive way.
A refreshing take on werewolves await you in historical horror Maryneal 1962 by Abigail F Taylor which avoids repeating the past too much.
For a tale of gods, magic, family trauma and circuses plus gorgeous storytelling then I have to recommend The Lady, The Tiger And the Girl Who Loved Death by Helen Marshall
Science Fiction
An absolute pleasure of a read is this SF heist with a host of interesting characters taking on the forces of capitalism and Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto is a book I think more people should look out for.
For some epic strange and intelligent SF with a focus on ship minds going further than ever then I think Pilgrim Machines by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne would be well worth picking up.
Absolutely gorgeous mix of SF and the history of science are combined in the sublime Schrodinger's Wife (and Other Possibilities) by Pippa Goldschmidt which was a pleasure to find.
A dark moral dilemma awaits you in the novella Orphan Planet by Madeehah Reza and I wonder how you would resolve this situation?
A tale of SF, writing SF and possibly more awaits you in the fascinating Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor stay for cute robots but also a sharp look at 21st century life.
Robot fans will enjoy all the nice angles explored on this theme in the very interesting Great Robots of History by Tim Major
A really interesting look at alien life and first contact awaits in this tale of survival and more in Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Throw yourself into the world of tech meets social change once more in the great and absorbing The Big Book of Cyberpunk Volume 1 edited by Jared Shurin for a trip through recent SF evolution. I’ll tackle volume 2 next month!
Then taking cyberpunk into the 202s you can devour Extremophile by Ian Green with a m ore biological take but a huge amount of fun.
I take my first trip into the world of mythagos with very fine authors and hugely enjoyed Heartwood - A Mythago Wood Anthology edited by Dan Coxon
And identify in the 21st century gets a surreal and joyful look in Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle by Maud Woolf Rock
Crossing all the stream you will find a lot of authors to enjoy in Of Shadows, Stars and Sabers: An Anthology edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L Powell. I also liked this set of novellas in one Wiz Duos 1 - The God Road by David Gullen & To Sail The Interstice by Ben Wright followed swiftly by Wiz Duos 2 - Song, Stone, Sail, Bone by Juliet Kemp and Bring Me Home by EM Faulds for compelling tales to dive into.
And if you fancy something very different an unexpected delight was The Loft by Marien Haushofer translated by Amanda Prantera atale of secrets, breakdowns, paranoia and guilt in a Germany coming to terms with itself.
