Liz Gilbert Announces Next Book, Silo Season 3 Comes to TV, Jupiter's Eye Opens in Spokane, Miss Austin Comes to TV, Obit Note for Jules Feiffer, The Phoenix Keeper by SA MacLean, The Irish Girl by Santa Montefiore, The Empress by Kristin Cast, and The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold

It's the end of the long month of January already, book lovers, and I'm looking forward to warmer temps and some sunshine, though we don't get a lot of that here in the Pacific Northwest. Not being a fan of heat, this is unusual for me, but somehow this year has need of the optimism of sunshine and warm breezes, at least from my perspective. I'm looking forward to some new spring book titles, as well. So keep your eyes peeled for the latest news of what I'm reading.

 

I've enjoyed Liz Gilbert's rise to fame and her latest wacky escapade in book news, but here we are after she's suffered a backlash for the near publication of a novel that would offend warring Ukrainians.  This is a story that can only get more interesting as time goes on.

 

Elizabeth Gilbert Announces Next Book

I have been waiting to see what Gilbert’s next move was going to be. Last year, she cancelled the publication her novel, The Snow Forest, because of…well it’s hard now to explain exactly why she pulled it. It was supposedly set in Siberia in the mid-20th Century, featuring a group of characters who “remove themselves from society in order to resist the Soviet Union.” The announcement of that book sparked backlash from Ukrainians , who of course were not in the mood to stomach anything that might even vaguely seem like support of Russia. At any rate, Gilbert either a) agreed with them or b) didn’t want the heat. At any rate, that books seems to be lost to the wilderness, and the book she announced last week is nothing related to it. It’s a memoir, and her description of it makes it sound like quite the ride:

“In 2000, a friend sent me to see a new hairdresser named Rayya Elias. You all know my Rayya. Oh my goodness, it’s so easy for some of us to get lost in each other, isn’t it? Over the years, we became friends, then best friends, then inseparable. Then tragedy entered our lives, and we were forced to admit a deeper truth: we were in love. What we didn’t admit was that we were also a pair of addicts, on a collision course toward catastrophe.”

 

I read the original trilogy written by Hugh Howey, and though I was somewhat disappointed in the ending, I found it fascinating as a study in dystopian science fiction. The streaming series is well enacted, though very gritty, and has an admirable cast. I can't wait to see what they have going in Season 3.

 

TV: Silo Season 3 

Ashley Zukerman (Succession, Fear Street trilogy) and Jessica Henwick

(Huntington, The Royal Hotel, Glass Onion) have been added to the cast

for the third season of the Apple TV+ series Silo, based on the novels of Hugh Howey. TheWrap reported that in Season 3, "Zukerman will star as Daniel, a young and hungry congressman, while Henwick joins the cast as Helen, a whip-smart reporter, per the official

character descriptions."

Silo creator Graham Yost told TheWrap that Daniel and Helen are

characters in the second book in Hugh Howey's trilogy, but some changes

have been made: "We've monkeyed with the origin story dramatically,

renaming him from Donald to Daniel. Whichever way you are in the

political spectrum, we just didn't want anyone named Donald in that

role. It's just too confusing for people and are we making a point? Are

we not making a point? We're just not going to address the point. And we

wanted to make more out of their relationship than was really in the

book, so we've also gender-swapped Thurman."

Spokane is one of those places that inspires strong feelings, usually either love or hate, in those who have lived there or live there currently. My son has young friends who currently live there who find it loathsome, but I liked the place due to its small town vibes when I visited about 30 years ago. It's great that another bookstore is opening there.

 

Jupiter's Eye Book Cafe Opens in Spokane, Wash.

Jupiter's Eye Book Cafe opened in

downtown Spokane, Wash., on Friday, KXLY reported

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgCMn-QI6a1jKxlxHg~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HXp6spoMLg-gVdw.

Located in a historic building at 411 W. 1st Ave., Jupiter's Eye focuses

on mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror books. The cafe serves

beer and wine along with tea and coffee.

Owner Morgan Lynch, a Spokane native, told KXLY: "I love this this town,

and I'm just really excited to be part of it and leave my mark in it and

kind of find kindred spirits who also are looking for this little cozy

spot."

Lynch noted that the bookstore's building, which was built in 1901, was

originally the Spokane Paper Company. There was "something really lovely

about 100 years later selling books, paper goods in this place. It's

full circle for that."

I can hardly wait for this show, which looks to be humorous and insightful. PBS always goes all in on historical figures, especially women authors of renown.

TV: Miss Austen

Masterpiece on PBS has released the first trailer for Miss Austen

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgCMn-QI6a1jKxl_SQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HXp6spoMLg-gVdw, based on Gill Hornby's bestselling 2020 novel. Starring Keeley Hawes(Bodyguard, The Durrells in Corfu), the project's cast includes Rose

Leslie (Game of Thrones), Synnve Karlsen (Last Night in Soho),

Patsy Ferran (Living), Max Irons (The Wife), Alfred Enoch (How to Get

Away with Murder), Calam Lynch (Bridgerton), and Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey).

Aisling Walsh directs from a script by Andrea Gibb (Elizabeth Is

Missing), Miss Austen premieres May 4. It is a co-production of Bonnie

Productions and Masterpiece, in association with the BBC and Federation

Stories.

I loved Feiffer's works, once I had the advantage of viewing them in college, and later, the graphic designer for the magazine I edited, who was from New York, told me tales of her childhood "counting Ninas" in Feiffer's works.  RIP gentleman.

 

Obituary Note: Jules Feiffer

Jules Feiffer https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgCMwbkI6a1jKxB2Tw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HXsDxpoMLg-gVdw, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer "whose prolific output ranged from a long-running comic strip to plays, screenplays and children's books," died January 17, the Associated Press reported. He was 95. His latest book, a graphic novel for young readers titled Amazing Grapes, was published by Michael di Capua Books last September.

A versatile creator, Feiffer won a 1986 Pulitzer Prize for his cartoons,

and his animated short film, Munro, won a 1961 Academy Award. The

Library of Congress held a retrospective of his work in 1996. The AP

noted that he "hopscotched among numerous forms of expression,

chronicling the curiosity of childhood, urban angst and other societal

currents. To each he brought a sharp wit and acute observations of the

personal and political relations that defined his readers' lives."

In 1956, Feiffer made his debut in the Village Voice, where his strip,

called "Feiffer," ran for more than 40 years. He quit the Voice in 1997

after a salary dispute, but his strip continued to be syndicated until

he ended it in 2000.

Feiffer's work included novels, beginning with Harry the Rat with Women

(1963), and he wrote plays, including 1967's Little Murders," which won

an Obie Award. His screenplays ranged from the 1980 film version of the

classic comic Popeye to Carnal Knowledge (1971).

After disappointing reviews of his 1990 play Elliot Loves, Feiffer

focused on children's literature. Having illustrated Norton Juster's

book The Phantom Tollbooth (1961), he "brought a wry wonder to bear on

his own books for young readers, starting with 1993's The Man in the

Ceiling," the AP noted.

His other books include The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler (1964), Feiffer's Marriage Manual (1967), Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan (1982), A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears (1995), I Lost My Bear (1998), Bark, George (1999), Backing into Forward: A Memoir (2010), and Smart George (2020).

Feiffer had spoken recently about his macular degeneration and how it

was affecting his work, the Guardian wrote. "The illusion is that I see as good as I've ever seen, which is not true, but it's the illusion," he said. "And I proceed with each drawing from page to page with complete confidence that it will turn out exactly as I want, which is not always the case. Failure is a big part of my process." He also spoke about his next book which would be titled My License to Fail.

The Phoenix Keeper by SA MacLean is a fascinating LGBTQ YA tale of an autistic female zookeeper who works in a zoo that has a number of "magical" (read: dangerous) animals, who are quite a bit like regular earth zoo animals, in that they've got personality and quirks to spare, and are always keeping their zookeepers on their toes. Here's the blurb:

Set in a magical zoo teeming with mythical beasts from dragons and unicorns to kelpies and krakens, The Phoenix Keeper is a fierce joy of a cozy fantasy novel with a soul-restoring queer romance at its heart, for fans of The House in the Cerulean Sea and Legends and Lattes.

Aila has spent her entire life dreaming of saving phoenixes.
She pulled countless all-nighters at uni just to sneak a toe in the door of the breathtakingly competitive field of conservation, stumbling through failed romance and disastrous class presentations thanks to social anxiety, while also surviving a ferocious class rivalry with the (unbearably beautiful) insufferably hotshot Luciana.

Somehow, she actually did it: landed her dream job as head phoenix keeper at the world-renowned zoo that inspired her as a child, tasked with rescuing the critically endangered Silimalo phoenix from the brink of extinction.

There are just two or three (thousand) impossible problems.
1. She can't act sensibly around the charming dragon keeper, Connor.
2. Her plans to revive the phoenix program are more precarious than ever, after a poacher attack at a neighboring zoo.
3. Her best chance at success means teaming up with the star of the zoo, the universally adored griffin keeper, the hotshot showmaster of the most popular exhibit . . .Yes, of course it's Luciana.

Though it's written in a much "younger" easy to understand prose, with a very straightforward plot that ends in such a way that you can see it coming a mile away, I still enjoyed all the "backstage" information about the magical animals at this zoo, and how there are good people who only want to help, and bad people who want to profit from the black market sale of these creatures in this world, just as there are in our world.  Aila, though innocent and very much the manic pixie dream girl of the story, is annoying and falls in "love" the way that 13 year old girls do, that is to say in the "out of her mind" and daydreaming about the other person constantly way that's embarrassing, but I gather we're supposed to find adorable. I wanted her to mature by the end and quit relying on all her friends to help her navigate the world in a realistic way. Still, I'd give the book a B-, and recommend it to YA readers on the younger end of the spectrum, particularly those who are into animals and magical critters.

 

The Irish Girl by Santa Montefiore is a romantic historical fiction novel set at the turn of the 20th Century and the 20 years that followed, with the Great War and the "troubles" that divided Ireland forever. Here's the blurb:

Ireland. The early twentieth century.

Two girls on the cusp of womanhood. A nation on the brink of war.

Born on the ninth day of the ninth month in the year 1900, Kitty Deverill grows up in Castle Deverill, on the sunning green ghills of West Cork, Ireland — the same place her ancestors have always dwelled. She isn't fully Irish, as the son of the local veterinarian likes to tease her; but this doesn't stop Kitty and Jack O'Leary from falling in love...

Bridie Doyle, daughter to Castle Deverill's cook, cherishes her friendship with Kitty. Yet she can’t help dreaming of someday having wealth, having glamour, having... more. And when she discovers Kitty's darkest secret, Bridie finds herself growing to resent the girl in the castle who seems to have it all.

As Irish and British forces collide in Southern Ireland, Jack enlists to fight — and Kitty throws herself into the cause for Irish liberty, running messages and ammunition between the rebels. But , her allegiance to her family and her friends will soon be tested... and when Castle Deverill comes under attack, the only home and life she’s ever known are threatened.

A powerful story of love, loyalty, and friendship, The Irish Girl is an exquisitely written novel set against the magical, captivating landscape of Ireland 

 

This book was mostly a love letter to the land of Ireland, with it's beautiful green hills and exquisite coastline and quaint towns. It's over-written with lush descriptions of same in every chapter. The actual people get a bit lost in the authors sweeping landscape descriptions, but if you keep focused, you can pick it up here and there. While I liked Kitty and Bridie and their stories, I found myself wishing that rapists and murderers didn't get off so easily, and were instead made to pay for their crimes fully. I was also angry that in the end, we're left not knowing if Bridie manages to wrest her son away from Kitty, who is the only mother the poor lad has ever known, though he is too young to know that Kitty is actually his sister, not his mother (because her father is a scumbag). Having visited Ireland, I can honestly say that it is a beautiful place, and the people were lovely to visit with, but this books look back at how things used to be had me thinking and reevaluating how difficult things have been for women in Ireland for centuries. I'd give this book a B, and recommend it to anyone with Irish roots who wants to know more about this fascinating country at the turn of the 20th century.

 

The Empress by Kristin Cast is a YA romantasy that revolves around time-travel to another world via Tarot cards. I found this book to be a real page-turner, and though I also found the whole "fake marriage to a big brute" overdone and trope-ish, I liked the fact that the main character didn't give up and moved forward with her mission regardless of how high the stakes. Here's the blurb: 

He's a ruthless, battle-scarred warrior with a dark past, and she's stuck pretending to be his wife to save a fantasy kingdom.

From New York Times bestselling author Kristin Cast comes a new tarot-inspired fantasy series. The Arcana aren't just figures in a tarot deck―they're real. Terrifyingly real. That's what I learned when I found a tarot card in the snow and was yanked from my world and into Towerfall. The first thing the people of this harsh, cruel realm did was try to kill me, and they probably would have succeeded if Kane hadn't taken me to his hideout in the woods and nursed me back to health.

I don't know if I can trust him. He's too hot to be good news, he's definitely hiding secrets, and I've already seen him kill two people to protect me. If I hadn't just been helplessly dumped into his world, the blood on his sword and his dark, brooding mood would have me running in the opposite direction.

But right now, convincing the Kingdom of Pentacles that Kane and I are married is my best chance of getting into the palace, and back to my own world.

Because there's something wrong with Towerfall. Something deeply, deadly wrong. And if anyone finds out Kane and I aren't really husband and wife?

Well, then both of us are dead.

One thing I don't like about "dark" romances is that it's always the woman who suffers the consequences of the male protagonist's sexual kinks. I think the author must have been a bit too enamored of the 50 Shades of Grey series, and therefore felt it necessary to add light BDSM to the book in the sex scenes because women all really get off on being tied up and spanked, right?! WRONG. There are plenty of women who don't feel excited by pain or dominance by a guy twice their size who is sweaty and mean. Blech. I believe that this kind of trope is mired in misogyny, but it has sold too many books for it to die out anytime soon (damned greedy publishers). Also, though the book is based on the major arcana of the Tarot, no one ever explains the significance of the cards in the Tarot deck...they're just a pretty cover for the rather paint by numbers enemies to lovers trope of romantic fantasy fiction. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those looking for 50 Shades "Light" within a tarot fantasy world.

 

The Last Bookstore on Earth by Lily Braun-Arnold is a YA dystopian LGBTQ romance about a woman who is trying to survive the end of the world and grieve the loss of her friends and family at the same time. It's got precise and clear prose that propels along a tightly woven plot that moves like lightening. Here's the blurb:  

Two teen girls fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world in this unforgettable YA debut.
The world is about to end. Again.

Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.

Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming . . . and everything changes.

Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs—the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes—and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.

As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.
 

I was saddened that Maeve turned out to be a mole who was only looking for a way to help some nasty people destroy the bookstore and take whatever food and survival equipment that Liz has and leave her to die in the second storm, because I felt that the two of them had a real connection. The results of latter day climate change ring horribly true here, and it's terrifying to think what kind of world our grandchildren and great grandchildren will inherit. One of want and feral people who will kill anyone to enable their own survival. People at their worst, in other words, and it's not surprising how believable their actions are. Fortunately, the author was able to cobble together an HFN ending, so its not such a dark novel to read after all. I appreciated the fact that in a world where books are often 400-800 pages long, this trim volume weighs in at a trim 309 pages. What a relief to read something that's not full of egotistical overblown prose! Brevity is the soul of a good story, if Oscar Wilde doesn't mind me mangling his quote. I'd give this book an A-, and recommend it to anyone who likes LGBTQ dystopian fiction.

 

Neil Gaiman's History of Assault, Gaiman's Publishers Belatedly Respond, Leave, A Postpartum Account Review, USPS Issues Goodnight Moon Stamps, Island Books Supports California Wildfire Relief, Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven, Chained Knight by Lilith Saintcrow, Dream a Little Dream by Kerstein Gier, and The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton

Hiya book amigos and amigas! We're more than halfway through the frosty month of January, and heading into Valentine's Day in February. Unfortunately, the news is abuzz with Neil Gaiman's sexual assault accusations and the cult of secrecy surrounding him and his predatory nature. I guess as long as the publishers and TV moguls were making money off of his plagiarized works, everyone felt it was fine to keep his horrible abusive actions under wraps. Now that he's fallen from grace with publishers and others, who will no longer publish or produce his works, suddenly the media and book media outlets are feeling free to condemn Gaiman for his sexual abuse. The silence surrounding these allegations has been noted in a couple of high profile articles, which apparently shamed several media outlets into reporting on the story recently. Its important to note that, like most old white guys who abuse women, Gaiman has denied ever engaging in non-consensual sex with women. I'm so disappointed in him, and his years of claiming to be a feminist, that I want to barf. The fact that he plagiarized Tanith Lee's works for his Sandman series is yet another punch to the gut of NG fans everywhere. So while he's been styling himself as Morpheus of the dream realm, he's actually acting more like Lucifer of Hades. 

 

Neil Gaiman Accused of Long History of Sexual Assault

As detailed in a shocking expose; published by New York magazine

this week, eight women have accused bestselling author Neil Gaiman of sexual assault.

The article describes a pattern of predatory behavior going back

decades, typically involving young women in their 20s who were fans of

the author, and expands on allegations first made last summer in Master,

a podcast series produced by Tortoise Media.

In a statement posted to his website Tuesday, Gaiman denied the

allegations, saying that he thought these relationships were consensual

and that he has "never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with

anyone."

The New York Times noted that although a number of upcoming TV and film projects related to Gaiman were canceled after the original allegations were made, "the responses from his publishers, agents, and professional collaborators

have been far more subdued." (Note: SHAME on these people!)

Katherine Kendall, one of the women who went on the record with New

York, told the Times there was a "culture of secrecy" around Gaiman's

behavior, and that "Neil's works were his bait, and promotional events

were his hunting ground. As long as his publishers and professional

collaborators remain silent, Neil will continue to have unrestricted

access to vulnerable women."

Kendra Stout, whose account is also featured in the New York article, is

quoted in the Times as saying: "The silence of the community around

him--his fandom, his publishers--is loud and disturbing. I've heard that

it was an open secret that he was a predator, but that whisper network

did not reach me."

Following Gaiman's post on Tuesday, Stout shared a statement on behalf

of several of the women who have come forward that said, per the Times:

"we are disappointed to see the same non-apology that women in this

situation have seen so many times before."

 

I guess it's better late than never, but still, really? They've had 6 months, if not 20 years to deal with this problem, and no one thought to get ahead of it, or, I don't know, turn the man in for being a predator?? Why didn't the obnoxiously outspoken Amanda Palmer, his most recent ex-wife, who was literally half his age, say anything about her husband the creeper? Palmer's a woman who has been known to strip naked for her performances and do just about anything for attention, and yet when it comes to outing her sleazebag ex, she's suddenly shy and retiring? WHY? The two have a young son together, did it never occur to her that predators can turn their gaze and attentions onto young children? At any rate, I hope that all of his publishers and producers and everyone else blacklists the man so that he can't get a job sweeping floors. He should be in jail.

 

How Gaiman’s Publishers Are Responding to Sexual Assault Allegations

In yesterday’s installment, I wondered why publishing media has been relatively silent on the sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman while many mainstream publications have had it as the top story in their books coverage all week. At Publishers Weekly, per an editor who reached out to me by email, the delay was caused by waiting on responses to their requests for comment from Gaiman’s publishers. In a piece published yesterday afternoon, PW reports confirmation that, as was reported in the New York Times on Tuesday, HarperCollins, Marvel, and W.W. Norton do not have future books planned with Gaiman.

As for who has yet to comment: Dark Horse Comics is reportedly working on a statement, per PW. Neither Gaiman’s literary agent, Merrilee Heifetz, nor his speaking agent, Steven Barclay, has commented. This is a sensitive issue that no doubt involves complex legal considerations, and yet, I can’t help but wonder why these folks apparently were not running scenarios, planning contingencies, and drafting statements in the six months since the allegations first broke.

This is something I've been saying for years, that women's lives are upended (and often completely ended) by childbirth, but whenever women seek help post partum, they're seen as weak and hysterical and unfit to be mothers. Because motherhood is somehow seen as a proving ground for women, and they're expected to give birth and tend to a new baby without pain or complaint, which is total BS. I know that, though the incidence of older women giving birth has risen substantially in the last 25-30 years, that other than a genetic counselor attempting to frighten myself and my husband with stories of genetic mutations that can occur with late in life babies, we got little to no preparation for dealing with the physical after-effects of childbirth and the birth of a premature infant who would spend two months in the NICU. I was expected to just sail through the pain of basically being vivisected and having a baby ripped out of me without comment or complaint, just being thankful that my baby and I survived the emergency c-section. I will have to look up a copy of this book, it looks to be right up my alley.

Review: Leave: A Postpartum Account

Shayne Terry explores the nuance and complexity of pain and birth in

Leave: A Postpartum Account, offering a raw and candid look at her

difficult, years-long postpartum recovery. "I have long believed in the

power of language to shape our experience," she writes. "What we call

things matters." What she calls her birth experience is not to be taken

lightly: "traumatic," "hard, with bright, soft spots," "a physical

fracture in my life." Moving back and forth across time, Terry speaks

around and then directly to the details of her fourth-degree tear when

her son "ripped his way into the world," leaving her physically broken

in ways she was wildly unprepared for in the weeks and months following

the birth of her son.

The CDC estimates that more than 50,000 women per year--or some 135 per

day--suffer dangerous or life-threating complications from "consequences

of pregnancy or childbirth," and yet Terry notes how rarely these

complications are discussed. There are occasional whispers of tears,

stitches, a wound the size of a dinner plate, but these are couched

within the love and joy and health of the baby delivered. "The baby is

healthy. The baby is beautiful. We love the baby. Words that are true

but hide other truths." Terry pours her own truths out onto the page,

truths that go beyond a healthy baby, truths that lead her to examine

the generational trauma she inherited from her mother and her mother's

mother; to understand the deep connection between physical and mental

anguish; to place her situation within the context of efforts by some to

limit access to reproductive healthcare and maternal supports, like paid

leave, all at once. Terry reveals the transformative power of

transparency, what it looks and feels like to be honest with oneself and

with others about birth and pain and trauma--and the messy, complicated

feelings that arise when the three occur at once.

"Birth is a portal that can take us to other births," Terry reflects,

and Leave honors this observation, revealing with a boldness and rawness

that her one birth is both deeply personal and entirely universal. It is

not hard to imagine that Leave must have been cathartic for Terry to

write. What is harder to embrace is the realization that it is also

cathartic to read, acknowledging what often goes unsaid and

unrecognized, for any reader who has given birth, endured pain, or known

someone who has (in other words: nearly everyone). --Kerry McHugh,

freelance writer

Goodnight Moon was one of the first books that my mother read to me, and it was the first book that I read to my son when he was a baby. It's a classic for a reason.

US Postal Service to Issue Goodnight Moon Stamps

The United States Postal Service announced this week that it will issue Goodnight Moon stamps later this year. The beloved bedtime story, originally published in 1947, will join a pantheon of book-related stamps that includes everyone and everything from Walt Whitman to The Very Hungry Caterpillar . In its announcement, the USPS noted that “By celebrating everyday rituals rather than fantasy, this iconic picture book revolutionized children’s publishing.” If fantasy is more your thing, you’re also in luck: SpongeBob SquarePants is getting a stamp this year, too. Learn more about how the USPS picks its literary stamps here. 

Island Books was my favorite Independent Bookstore for years when I worked for the newspaper on Mercer Island, and once again, they're proving what a great place that they are by providing support to a group that provides meals to those affected by the California Wildfires. Bravo, Island Books!

Indie Bookstores Support California Wildfire Relief

On Wednesday, January 15, Island Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgCKl-8I6a1jIhx0Tw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HWJanpoMLg-gVdw, Mercer Island, Wash., offered "a day of shopping to benefit World Central Kitchen, providing meals to those affected by the CA wildfires. We hope you'll come in to buy a card, a book, some chocolate, toys/games or a gift card."

Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven is a traumatic tale of healing and romance between two survivors of horrific abuse. There's very little about a phoenix in it at all, though I suppose that is a romantic way of looking at the female protagonist's fire wielding powers. Here's the blurb: 

In this  novel, a woman with power over fire and illusion and the enslaved son of a chieftain battle a corrupt empire in this powerful and deeply emotional romantic fantasy.

Every year, each village is required to send a young woman to the Empire's capital--her fate to be burned alive for the entertainment of the masses. For the last five years, one small village's tithe has been the same woman. Gilene's sacrifice protects all the other young women of her village, and her secret to staying alive lies with the magic only she possesses.

But this year is different.

Azarion, the Empire's most famous gladiator, has somehow seen through her illusion--and is set on blackmailing Gilene into using her abilities to help him escape his life of slavery. Unknown to Gilene, he also wants to reclaim the birthright of his clan.

To protect her family and village, she will abandon everything to return to the Empire--and burn once more.

This was less a romantic fantasy (romantasy) than it was horror/political fantasy with a misogynistic twist. We're supposed to believe, as readers, (especially female readers) that a young woman who is kidnapped and forced to use her magical talents to help this gladiator escape and then reclaim the throne of his clan (by showing that he "owns" a valuable mage) will eventually fall in love with said gladiator because he's buff and handsome, even though he's a user and a jerk. This story has little "spice" in it, and more description of sexual abuse that is nauseating while readers are supposed to feel sorry for every horrific flashback of the male protagonist and the female protagonist being used for the satisfaction of the nobility. Both main characters are covered in scars, inside and outside, and their PTSD moments are raw and poignant. The ending is a simplistic HFN, which works for this painful tale, and I felt it deserved a B-, for its unflinching recounting of rape and sexual assault. Though I can't recommend it to anyone who might be triggered by all the pain and suffering between the covers.

 

Chained Knight by Lilith Saintcrow is not a stock "romantasy" as the kind that is so popular these days. This is, like the above, more of a story of a woman's journey and survival of horrific domestic abuse who finds herself falling through a doorway into another world after she shoots her shithead husband and has an accident via a rock and mudslide in her car. Here's the blurb: 

A woman on the run. A summer storm. Lightning…and landslide.

Fleeing a hellish marriage, Ariadne Millar stumbles from her wrecked car into the storm-torn woods—and finds herself stranded in a strange land, its language alien, its eerie beauty surpassed only by its sudden, breathtaking violence.

A dark castle looms in the distance. A chained man begs for aid. Underdark has been waiting for a queen's return, and the only thing more frightening than the hallucinatory vividness of Ari's surroundings is the persistent sense that she has been here before.

Nightmare, hell, or bizarre reality? Each choice is more dangerous than the last, and time is running out as the Conjunction nears. Ari must thread her way through the maze, no matter the cost or consequences, for she has dreamed of a knight trapped in iron, and he, of course, has plans of his own.

In this new fantasy world, Ari is hailed as the source of purity and healing after she helps a knight escape being imprisoned in chains. Her journey only gets weirder from there. Saintcrow's prose is beautifully evocative and her plot fast and gripping. Nicely done, Ms Saintcrow! I'd give this fascinating ebook a B, and recommend it to those interested in Arthurian fantasy and adventure.

Dream a Little Dream by Kerstein Gier is a YA romantasy that has the now-classic trope of enemies to lovers with the female protagonist being the smarter partner who swears she will never fall in love again, but who tosses it all aside for the handsome guy who needs her. Here's the blurb:

Mysterious doors with lizard-head knobs. Talking stone statues. A crazy girl with a hatchet. Yes, Liv's dreams have been pretty weird lately. Especially the one where she's in a graveyard at night, watching four boys conduct dark magic rituals.
The strangest part is that Liv recognizes the boys in her dream. They're classmates from her new school in London, the school where she's starting over because her mom has moved them to a new country (again). But what's really scaring Liv is that the dream boys seem to know things about her in real life, things they couldn't possibly know―unless they actually are in her dreams? Luckily, Liv never could resist a good mystery, and all four of those boys are pretty cute....

Kerstin Gier has a flair for blending fresh, irresistible combinations of comedy, romance and humor, even twisting a little horror into Dream a Little Dream, book one in her latest series, the Silver trilogy.

It always bothers me when the heroine, in this case Liv, claims that she's a very solemn and reasonable person who doesn't get boy crazy, but who then becomes hysterical and unreasonable the minute she meets a boy who makes her heart flutter. I also wasn't surprised that the villain ended up being the "mean girl" for Liv's class. Teenage girls are always considered hysterical or insane because they're intractable idealists and romantics. Misogyny is so steeped in our society that no one is surprised when one gets all murder-y over a boy. I found the prose here to be somewhat simplistic and the plot to be cookie-cutter. I'd only recommend this to younger YA readers who like lots of tropes and cliches in their romantasy novels.

 

The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton is an LGBTQ rom-com science fiction novel that includes two of my favorite things, found family and smart women who triumph over the odds. The prose was snappy and crisp and the plot unflagging and swift. Here's the blurb: 

In her breathtaking debut—part space odyssey, part sapphic rom-com—Emily Hamilton weaves a suspenseful, charming, and irresistibly joyous tale of fierce friendship, improbable love, and wonder as vast as the universe itself.

So, here’s the thing: Cleo and her friends really, truly didn’t mean to steal this spaceship.

They just wanted to know why, twenty years ago, the entire Providence crew vanished without a trace. But then the stupid dark matter engine started all on its own, and now these four twenty-somethings are en route to Proxima Centauri, unable to turn around, and being harangued by a snarky hologram that has the face and attitude of the ship’s missing captain, Billie.

Cleo has dreamt of being an astronaut all her life, and Earth is kind of a lost cause at this point, so this should be one of those blessings in disguise that people talk about. But as the ship gets deeper into space, the laws of physics start twisting, old mysteries come crawling back to life, and Cleo’s initially combative relationship with Billie turns into something deeper and more desperate than either woman was prepared for.

Lying somewhere in the subspace between science fantasy and sapphic rom-com, The Stars Too Fondly is a soaring near-future adventure about dark matter and alternate dimensions, leaving home and finding family, and the galaxy-saving power of letting yourself love and be loved.

Cleo and Billie's love story is one of the best I've read in a long time, and the secondary characters were all given a moment to shine during the rescue attempt to grab some ill fated astronauts from another dimension. I also loved that the title comes from Sarah William's poem, "The Old Astronomer". "Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light. I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." This was a line I used to recite to myself in my late teens and early 20s, when I'd go stargazing to take my mind off of things going wrong in my life. This was the kind of story to savor, and though I bought it on sale for my Kindle, I plan on trying to find a physical copy to add to my library. For those who find starlight and the night romantic, and who enjoy space adventure stories, I'd recommend this A grade book to you, in whatever form you like best.

 

 

Talking About Murderbot, Nook and Cranny Books Seeks New Home in Seattle, SoCal Fires Bookstore Response, In the Lost Lands Movie, The Performance Movie, Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich, Throne of Secrets by Kerri Maniscalco, and The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson

Welcome to the second week and second post of 2025, book lovers! I'm trying to get as much read as possible between caregiving and household duties, and while that might not be as many books per week as in previous years, it will have to do for now. Anyway, there's a lot going on in the book world, so here's some tidbits and a few reviews for your reading pleasure.

 

I love Martha Well's groundbreaking Murderbot series, not the least because Murderbot has such a dry wit and is still unfailingly kind, even after all it has been through, that it is hard not to love them. I also agree with the person who wrote this that Wells has written a lot of novels and short stories that have yet to be discovered by the general public...lets get right on that, shall we?

 

And It’s Never a Bad Time to Talk About Murderbot

Ending today with an interview I just recently came across with Martha Wells, author of one of the greatest science fiction series, The Murderbot Diaries . (I would definitely want Murderbot at my dinner with fictional characters, even though I know they wouldn’t want to be there.) Wired talked to Wells about everyone’s favorite self-aware security bot, writing a bazillion books, her newfound fame, cats, and her existential crisis:

“What’s also annoying is when people who’ve just discovered Murderbot wonder if she can write anything else. Wells, who is 60 years old, has averaged almost a book a year for more than three decades, ranging from palace intrigues to excursions into distant worlds populated by shapeshifters. But until Murderbot , Wells tended to fly just under the radar. One reason for that, I suspect, is location. Far from the usual literary enclaves of New York or Los Angeles, Wells has lived for all this time in College Station—which is where the nearly 100-year-old library we’re at today resides. Housed on the campus of Texas A&M, her alma mater, the library contains one of the largest collections of science fiction and fantasy in the world.

It’s from this cradle that Wells’ career sprang forth. But post-Murderbot, things have changed. Wells now counts among her friends literary superstars like N. K. Jemisin and Kate Elliott, to say nothing of her fiercely loyal fandom. And it turns out that she’d need all of it—the support, the community, even Murderbot—when, at the pinnacle of her newfound, later-in-life fame, everything threatened to come to an end.”

I didn't even know this place existed, in the shadow of the famous Elliott Bay Book Company on Cap Hill in Seattle...now I wonder where they'll land? Good luck to them in their campaign to gather moving expenses.

 

Nook & Cranny Books, Seattle, Wash., Looking for New Home

Nook & Cranny Books https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgHdkr4I6a1kK090HQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67GD5P2poMLg-gVdw in Seattle, Wash., has launched an Indiegogo campaign to help support a move to a new space.

According to store owner Maren Comendant, she was informed last November

that her lease at 324 15th Ave. E., in the Capitol Hill neighborhood,

would not be renewed, and she has until March 31 to vacate the space.

Funds raised through the Indiegogo campaign, which has a goal of

$12,000, will go toward expenses such as deposits, additional shelving

and furniture, and more inventory.

Comendant noted that although the move's timing is a challenge, it does

present an "amazing opportunity for growth." The current location is

only about 320 square feet, and a larger storefront would allow for

greater capacity for events, more space for customers to sit and relax

during the day, more inventory and display space, and room for pop-ups

with local artisans and other businesses.

In 2022, Comendant purchased the bookstore Oh Hello Again, which

resided in the same space. She took over the lease, changed the name to

Nook & Cranny Books, and put her own spin on the bookstore.

It carries a curated collection of fiction and nonfiction, with an

emphasis on elevating underrepresented voices. Books are organized by

"theme or vibe," rather than by genre. Comendant and her team host open

mics, book clubs, discussion panels, and author events, and there is a

monthly artist-in-residence.

Watching the wildfires consume acres of businesses and homes in California has been horrible, but I'm glad to read that bookstores are responding with help for body and soul to displaced persons who have lost it all to the fires.

Southern California Wildfires: Bookstores Respond

Bookstores near the wildfires in Los Angeles have responded in a variety

of ways to the devastation, becoming centers for the community to

gather, help, and comfort one another, and to begin to try to deal with

the terrible events of the past week.

Octavia's Bookshelf in Pasadena has done amazing work in the days since the Eaton fire destroyed much of nearby Altadena. The store has become an impromptu center for distribution of all kinds of items needed by people affected by the wildfires, especially those who lost their homes. Donated and frequently requested items have included toiletries, first aid kits, towels, water, blankets, pillow cases, non-perishable food, and more. The store, which opened two years ago and emphasizes books by BIPOC authors, is also delivering items to the elderly, disabled, and vulnerable.

Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena reopened

on Friday, saying in part, "Our hearts go out to the entire community of

Pasadena, Altadena, and everyone impacted by the fires. Just like you,

we are trying to make sense of the tremendous loss and uncertainty of

the last few days and the near future.

At Vroman's, Steve Ross (aka storyteller Mr. Steve) bringing children's

books to the evacuation center at the Pasadena Convention Center.

"We continue to take this situation one day at a time with an awareness

of the role books and bookstores play in the community we serve. Both

can offer a place of refuge and engagement that people may need or want

in a time of difficulty... Come visit if you need a change of scenery, a

place to meet friends, to browse or see a friendly face."

Vroman's added that customers, who have been able to donate to their

favorite local nonprofits through Vroman's Gives Back, now have the

option also to support the Pasadena Community Foundation's Eaton Canyon

Fire Relief and Recovery Fund

This movie looks awesome. I sincerely hope that I get the chance to see it, as I'm a fan of GRRM's early works.

 

Movies: In the Lost Lands

A trailer has been released for In the Lost Lands https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgCIkr8I6a1kdR11Hw~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HWpP3poMLg-gVdw, based on the George R.R. Martin short story. Entertainment Weekly reported that the project, starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista, is directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and will premiere March 7. "In the Lost Lands" is one of Martin's earliest fantasy stories, first published in 1982 as part of the Amazons II anthology. In a November

blog entry, Martin described the movie as "dark and twisted and atmospheric, and a lot of fun.... A long time ago, I had hoped to write a series of stories about Gray Alys and those bold enough to buy from her... but life and other stories intervened, and somehow I never got around to writing that second tale. But who knows? If the film does well enough, maybe I will finally write that sequel. In my copious spare time."

LOL.

Wow, this movie based on an Arthur Miller short story sounds fascinating! I can hardly wait to see it.

Movies: The Performance

A trailer has been released for The Performance

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/x/pjJsdgCIxOkI6a1kdUp-SQ~k1yJoKXv-hs8x67HWsWhpoMLg-gVdw,

based on a short story by Arthur Miller. IndieWire reported that the

film, starring Jeremy Piven, "centers on a dance troupe that is asked to

travel from New York City to Berlin in 1937 to perform for the Nazis.

However, Piven's character Harold May is Jewish, and amid the rise of

Hitler in Germany, his ability to pass as a gentile could be a matter of

life and death."

Directed by Shira Piven (Fully Loaded, Welcome to Me), who co-wrote the

script with Josh Salzberg, the project's cast also includes Maimie

McCoy, Adam Garcia, Isaac Gryn, and Lara Wolf. The Performance premieres February 28 in theaters. "Shira shared the story with me, and it captivated me from the pitch," Salzberg said. "We talked about turning it into a kind of folktale,

like, did you hear the one about the Jewish guy who went and tap danced

for Hitler? It's a larger-than-life concept, it's not some stodgy period

piece."

Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich, published in 2017, is a speculative fiction or what we used to call social science fiction account of a dystopian world and a young Native American woman's desperate struggle to find her freedom within it. This is a poignant story that is at times hard to read, but well worth it. Here's the blurb:

Louise Erdrich, the National Book Award-winning author, paints a startling portrait of a young woman fighting for her life and her unborn child against oppressive forces that manifest in the wake of a cataclysmic event.

The world as we know it is ending. Evolution has reversed itself, affecting every living creature on earth. Science cannot stop the world from running backwards, as woman after woman gives birth to infants that appear to be primitive species of humans. Twenty-six-year-old Cedar Hawk Songmaker, adopted daughter of a pair of big-hearted, open-minded Minneapolis liberals, is as disturbed and uncertain as the rest of America around her. But for Cedar, this change is profound and deeply personal. She is four months pregnant.

Though she wants to tell the adoptive parents who raised her from infancy, Cedar first feels compelled to find her birth mother, Mary Potts, an Ojibwe living on the reservation, to understand both her and her baby’s origins. As Cedar goes back to her own biological beginnings, society around her begins to disintegrate, fueled by a swelling panic about the end of humanity.

There are rumors of martial law, of Congress confining pregnant women. Of a registry, and rewards for those who turn these wanted women in. Flickering through the chaos are signs of increasing repression: a shaken Cedar witnesses a family wrenched apart when police violently drag a mother from her husband and child in a parking lot. The streets of her neighborhood have been renamed with Bible verses. A stranger answers the phone when she calls her adoptive parents, who have vanished without a trace. It will take all Cedar has to avoid the prying eyes of potential informants and keep her baby safe.

A chilling dystopian novel both provocative and prescient, Future Home of the Living God is a startlingly original work from one of our most acclaimed writers: a moving meditation on female agency, self-determination, biology, and natural rights that speaks to the troubling changes of our time.

 

This short book of startling clear and crisp prose and a fast-paced plot, is similar to Atwood's "The Handmaids Tale" but stripped of the family ritual and infused with fearful flight and the chilling perspective of Native/Indigenous women who have been seen and used as disposable for generations. Though we're rooting for Cedar, she ends up exactly where she didn't want to be, in despair and in detention, being used for her womb and separated from her baby. So those looking for an uplifting read need to look elsewhere. Still, I feel strongly that this book should be read in every high school across America, so that young women can see what happens when White Christian males take over the country and see women as slaves and a means to an end, and not people with rights and freedoms. I'd give this hard look at the difficulty in obtaining female agency in these trying times an A, and again, I'd recommend it to anyone with a brain.

 

Throne of Secrets by Kerri Maniscalco is a striking romantic fantasy that utilizes the seven deadly sins as its guide, and the various demons and witches as players in a bold game of cat and mouse, or demon and dragon, as the case may be. There's more than a few steamy/spicy scenes herein, so be warned, if you're not into "hate" sex, then this book isn't for you. Here's the blurb: Two rivals torn apart by a dark memory reunite on a deadly hunt—and in an irresistibly twisted fairy tale—in the next steamy standalone fantasy romance from Kerri Maniscalco.

A wicked prince determined to save his kingdom.

Gabriel Axton—infamous as the Prince of Gluttony, the self-proclaimed rake of rakes—has always lived for indulgence: in delicious food, in tantalizing women, and most of all, in the thrill of the hunt, where his love of danger can take over. But when his favorite adventure takes a deadly turn, he realizes something is very wrong in his demon court. With the clock ticking, he must turn to the only one who might uncover the truth: a journalist he has spent a decade avoiding.

A reporter hell-bent on finding the truth.

Adriana Saint Lucent has been on the hunt for years—if she could just report something damning enough about that no-good scoundrel Gabriel Axton, she knows others would finally see the demon as she does. But she never expected to turn up a rumor too terrifying to be believed: could the ice dragons to the north be growing restless? Drawn into the secrets of the Underworld, Adriana’s investigation leads her into the place she dreads most…Axton’s infamous court. 

A dangerous rivalry—and deliciously twisted fairy tale.

To stop darkness from falling over their kingdom, Axton and Adriana will have to unite against an escalating danger. But with each holding tight to their own secrets, can they find the truth before it’s too late? And what will they do with an equally troubling rumor: that they might not actually hate one another, after all?  

 

While the steamy sex scenes are interesting, there's still a few times that the plot gets confusing or lags behind on a redundancy. Still, the prose is vigorous and bright, and the characters banter riveting. I also felt the influence of "50 Shades of Grey" in the sexual games and light BDSM that is portrayed between the two main characters. I've never been a fan of Twilight, and the 50 Shades series got its start as Twilight fan fiction, which makes me queasy. So the idea of women actually wanting to be hurt or receive pain as pleasure seems to be just another misogynistic male invention to justify and codify abuse of women to me. Pain, at least from my perspective, has never been exciting or titillating. It's enervating and awful and shortens the lifespan of those who live with chronic pain day in and day out. It also takes a toll on women's mental health. At any rate, I would give this page-turner a B, and recommend it to those who like Sarah J Maas's books or those who like the 50 Shades series.

 

The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson is a historical romance that takes place soon after the end of WW1, when both women and men were trying to find their place in a world that was without so many loved ones lost to wartime violence or new inventions like the airplane. Though the first 100 pages were a bit slow in warming up, soon after it gets cooking, this book turns out to be a corker. Here's the blurb: A timeless comedy of manners—refreshing as a summer breeze and bracing as the British seaside—about a generation of young women facing the seismic changes brought on by war and dreaming of the boundless possibilities of their future, from the author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand

It is the summer of 1919 and Constance Haverhill is without prospects. Now that all the men have returned from the front, she has been asked to give up her cottage and her job at the estate she helped run during the war. While she looks for a position as a bookkeeper or—horror—a governess, she’s sent as a lady’s companion to an old family friend who is convalescing at a seaside hotel. Despite having only weeks to find a permanent home, Constance is swept up in the social whirl of Hazelbourne-on-Sea after she rescues the local baronet’s daughter, Poppy Wirrall, from a social faux pas.

Poppy wears trousers, operates a taxi and delivery service to employ local women, and runs a ladies’ motorcycle club (to which she plans to add flying lessons). She and her friends enthusiastically welcome Constance into their circle. And then there is Harris, Poppy’s recalcitrant but handsome brother—a fighter pilot recently wounded in battle—who warms in Constance’s presence. But things are more complicated than they seem in this sunny pocket of English high society. As the country prepares to celebrate its hard-won peace, Constance and the women of the club are forced to confront the fact that the freedoms they gained during the war are being revoked.

Whip-smart and utterly transportive, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club is historical fiction of the highest order: an unforgettable coming-of-age story, a tender romance, and a portrait of a nation on the brink of change. 

 

I was fascinated by how, after both world wars in which women kept the country running and did hard work for little pay, that their rights and responsibilities were immediately revoked once the few men returned, often broken in body and spirit, to their home country. Women were expected to marry these often violent and alcoholic, mentally ill men and settle down and have families, even if they weren't interested in leading that kind of life. When women tried to have their own life and support themselves they were looked down on or treated like there was something wrong with them. I have to say that I liked several of the side characters, like Tilly and Poppy and Mrs Fogg, who has waited her whole life to marry a man of mixed heritage. Fortunately, Constance does get her HEA, only its at the final hour, just a few sentences from the end of the book. I'd give this rambling novel a B-, and recommend it to anyone interested in the plight of women, post Great War.