The Kindle edition of this AMAZING collection of speculative fiction short stories is on sale for $3.99 right now!!!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FSLQXY8/ref=as_li_tf_il?imprToken=ega-KxLSG...

A bizarre yet entrancing book that wasn't at all what I expected. Humorous, strange, and fun. Full of characters that are equally annoying and relatable. More of a dark comedy than a thriller. Excellent performance by narrator Caroline Lee.

Loads and loads of WTF moments.

Meh. The art is incredibly cute, but the story isn't even interesting enough to be saccharine.

This wasn't particularly suspenseful, mysterious, or surprising. It was, in fact, quite predictable. Yet it was also fun and adventurous. I liked the complexity of the characters, their nuanced morality. I enjoyed rooting for them. In particular, I enjoyed rooting for two people on opposite sides of one another.

All in all, it was a fun, light read. Nothing taxing, but rather a rollicking adventure. I hated “The Quantum Thief“ but this I liked.

What happens when an invasive species strikes the whole planet at the same time? This short story follows a child into adulthood and through to his final days as a slow alien invasion comes in a form we weren't expecting.

You can read this for free at https://www.tor.com/2018/09/19/nine-last-days-on-planet-earth-daryl-gregory/

You don‘t want to miss The Litsy Awards, organized by the lovely @LibrarianRyan 🎉!

It is time to submit your nominations for the #LitsyAwards. The books have to be published in the US between Jan 1, 2019 and Dec 31, 2019. YOU MUST HAVE READ THE BOOK TO NOMINATE IT.

The full rules are in the form. The nomination form will be live for the MONTH. Happy nominating.

https://forms.gle/FhV62SipsUwd5kzp6

Please feel free to share link and graphic

Current Status: Comfy AF

The Kindle edition is on sale for $1.99 on US Amazon right now.

What is it like to spend your childhood as the last human on Earth? To be loved and fostered by beings who pity, yet do not regret, the fate of your species? To be raised on a dying world? A hauntingly beautiful apocalyptic tale.

Read for free at https://www.tor.com/2018/08/15/no-flight-without-the-shatter-brooke-bolander/ or support the author for just 99 cents on Amazon.

“All the world‘s a graveyard.”

Leave it to Poe to make bells creepy AF.

This charming fairytale is sure to put a smile on the faces of children and adults alike. The art is lovely, as one should expect from a Caldecott winner, but, unlike many winners, the story is excellent as well.

1. A great book for lovers of language and feminism

2. Invisibility

3. Leo

4. Read, Eat, Chill

5. @SabrinaS & @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego & @SamHeartCoffee & @swishandflick & @StayCurious

@HowJessReads #FriYayIntro

Much like computer science, speculative fiction and horror are arenas where women have always been present yet are treated as interlopers. This wonderful collection of microbiographies, 41 in all, examines the women who helped build and shape these genres. In the final section, we are given brief overviews of the women currently driving five different styles of work in these categories. The little illustrations are delightful as well.

🎂Chocolate Spliff Cake from Nine Mile - chocolate cake with just the perfect amount of cayenne pepper and a sprig of fresh mint

📖Tagged: The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore

🙏 That I don't have to worry about where my next meal is coming from or where I'm sleeping at night. That I'm safe in my home and no one hits or hurts me there.

@Eggs #wondrouswednesday

“In July 2018, Hulu announced that a television adaptation of The Vampire Chronicles is in the works, for which Rice will collaborate with her son Christopher, who will serve as writer and producer.”

Wait, what?!

Damn.

“In 1948, the New Yorker published a short story by a then-unknown writer. The tale, about an ordinary town with a sinister secret, so outraged readers that the magazine reported receiving more negative mail than ever before, including many subscription cancellations.

That story was “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, which went on to become one of the most famous short stories in American literature.”

1. Nope.

2. At 50 pages, if I'm not enjoying it, I ask myself if I'm learning anything from it. If the answer to that is no, I move on. If it's racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, or exhibits any other sort of annoying trait, I'll quit sooner.

@TheSpineView #Two4Tuesday

I adore this illustration 🥰

“It‘s a loss. You‘re allowed to grieve your loss even if it‘s embarrassing.”

From The Comedy of Errors, Adriana in response to being told “A man is master of his liberty”:

“Why should their liberty than ours be more?”

That‘s what I‘m saying, girl!

“How infamous was she? Cavendish scandalized polite society more than once; on one occasion, she showed up to a theater event wearing a dress that exposed her breasts, including her nipples, which she had thoughtfully painted red.”

Reminds me of a friend. 😊

1. Tagged plus Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels, Nine Perfect Strangers, ¡Vamos a leer!, The Scar, Favorite Poems, & The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

2. Um, yes.

3. Well, I'm friends with two authors, but they were my friends well before they published so I don't know if that counts.

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

This is an excellent book to get the juvenile in your life who is an existing or new cat person. Co-written by a veterinarian, it is full of science-based information to help them understand and care for their animal. It's also full of interesting cat-trivia and cat pictures. Suitable for ages 8 - 12. I would, however, as with any nonfiction, recommend seeking out the newest edition.

This examines what it means to be a woman, the struggle to control your life as one, & the accusations we face when we dare to defy the restrictions placed on us. This softly disturbing, near-future dystopia is so utterly contemporary in its feel and the single, devastating change to law so realistic that it leaves you unsettled as does the quiet sound in the night that you aren't quite sure you really heard but can't stop listening for.

Saw the movie today. I'm pretty sure this is my favorite King adaptation of all time!

1. Petrichor

2. As many as it takes. N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy.

3. Nope.

4. @maytas @samheartcoffee @ljuliel

@eggs #wondrouswednesday

“Have you ever considered ... how much time has been stolen from the lives of girls and women due to agonizing over their appearance? ... How many minutes, hours, months, even actual years, of their lives do girls and women waste in agonizing? And how many billions of dollars of corporate profit are made as a result?”

📖 The Color of Magic

🎬Some Like It Hot (specifically the bit where everyone is arriving at the train station)

🎶“The End of the Line“ by The Traveling Wilburys

#manicmonday @joscho

1. Tagged plus Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels, Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, ¡Vamos a leer!, The Scar by China Miéville, Favorite Poems, and The Complete Works by William Shakespeare

2. “It is clammy and springy, like a hard-cooked egg.“ (from tagged book)

3. Homemade hot chocolate with cayenne

@rachelsbrittain #weekendreads

The Kindle edition is on sale for $1.99 on US Amazon right now!

1. Munchkin Cthulhu

2. Thailand

3. I'm at 215 read of my goal of 180.

4. None really. I enter each book with absolute hope.

5. What's the first book you remember blowing you away completely? Doing that thing where you sit back in your reading chair eyes wide and a bit breathless after you finish it.

@howjessreads #friyayintro

In 2017, the ICPBS collaborated with BIBIANA to produce an exhibition drawing attention to the children and families around the world who were fleeing violence, poverty, and oppression in search of safety. Half of the exhibition consisted of postcards featuring birds created by illustrators from around the world. This book contains some of those works of art.

The art lovely as was some of the poetry. Some of the pieces were quite breathtaking.

“Unlike many of today‘s novels, all too many of which strike me as novellas grossly padded out to be 500 pages long, there are rarely any wasted words in a good novella, the quality that they share with good short stories.”

So true. I love a good fat tome of a novel, but the need should be there for all those words.

It's prolix yet goes nowhere slowly and in painful detail. In 50 pages, only about three things have happened, unless you want to count multiple cookings of grits. I fucking love grits, but there is simply no excuse for grits to be cooked more than once in the first 50 pages of a book unless I am actually reading a grits cookbook. I'm just gonna wiki why that dude died, because I will cry if I try to read more of this.

“Women and their bodies! The most abusive and toxic of relationships. Masha had seen women pinch at the flesh of their stomachs with such brutal self-loathing they left bruises. Meanwhile their husbands fondly patted their own much larger stomachs with rueful pride.”

Time to find out what all the fuss is about.

This adorable picture book has gorgeous art and a charming story. The art is old-fashioned and beautiful in sepia tones. The story is amusing and subtle in its approach to themes of leadership, specialness, and kindness. Appropriate for ages 3 to 7.

Not the best of the Tor.com short story collections. “For He Can Creep“ is the real standout of this collection with “Seonag and the Seawolves“ and “Any Way the Wind Blows“ tying for a distant but solid second. Everything else ranges from okay to meh.

YES! It's time for my equivalent to the Super Bowl! This was my first year voting in the Romance category as well.

📖 Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (which I've never actually read but look at the cover)

🎬 Clueless

🎶 Barbie Girl by Aqua

#manicmonday @joscho

“Like so many things in life, it had seemed like an excellent idea at the time.”

This is one of those fascinating bits of history that blows the doors off of our iconic cultural images of how things happened. My vision of NASA was of white men sitting at banks of computers smoking nervously as they sent more white men into space. I never saw images of other types of people there, so I assumed that they weren't. And oh boy were they there. A fascinating read. I look forward to watching the movie next.

“... if disaster did befall John Glenn, one secret military document proposed blaming it on the Cubans, using it as an excuse to overthrow Fidel Castro.”

Of course it did.

Reread. Light yet intelligent. Laugh out loud funny. Feel good without being insipid. The Hitchhiker's Guide of Armageddon. Pratchett & Gaiman match up perfectly - like roasted red bell peppers and goat cheese. One of my all time favorites. First time with the audio version and enjoyed the narration.

Roasted sweet potatoes with Brussels sprouts and dirty rice paired with a good book for lunch 😋

1. TACOS!!! 🌮 🌮 🌮

2. Absolutely, I've never met a book in any form that I didn't love.

3. Cool weather and windy days with bright blue skies.

4. None. Though my husband did bake cinnamon rolls and I ate more than none of those, much more than none.

5. Blue mostly, but also sometimes grey and green and brown and orange.

#friYAYintro @howjessreads