How did you like Roadside Picnic?

I’m 3/4 of the way through A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher, and then I’ll technically have a whole bingo card filled, though I have plans to maybe read a couple more books to check off more hard modes.

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Finished Thirteenth by C.M. Rosens (eldritchy horror family drama) | bingo: number HM, different continent, jerk HM

The eldritch horror family from the first book anticipates the coming of age of a teenage relative, whose status as a thirteenth child means she’s destined to gorily prune the family tree.

I didn’t tear through this one nearly as quickly as I did the first book (although it was better edited). One of the new PoVs was kind of unlikable (perhaps intentionally? I feel like I ought to have cared, but didn’t), and the MC from the first book was heavily sidelined, which was disappointing. It was still enjoyable, and I do still plan to read the next book eventually, I’m just less excited about it now.

Didn’t read as much this week. Still working on Thirteenth by C.M. Rosens.

Finished Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm (technology-centered scifi short stories) | bingo: indie HM, short HM, cool cover)

No aliens or space opera in this, just a lot of speculative stories focused on computers or other technology. Some are structured as wiki entries, chat logs, or social media threads.

I liked this more than the other short story collection I read recently. I think it helped that it was very concept-focused, not character-, world-, or plot-focused.

The Expanse novellas (if that’s the kind of thing you mean) are all quite good, and expand on stuff that wouldn’t have fit neatly into the main series’ pacing/structure. The show even manages to weave them in directly.

The same thought crosses my mind that these books are probably not as good as the series of books and are more world building or cashing in on the success of the others.

If quality is your concern, there are plenty of series that have less-good main entries, or are bloated with stuff not everyone will care about, or are like 40+ books long but the same plot every time. Personally, I’d rather have a solid, streamlined series with side content available for those who really love it and want more.

That’s the one with Studio Ghibli movie, right? Yep.

I thought you didn’t like the hor aren’tror chick-lit book enough to read the sequels? Nah, I did, I just wasn’t planning to read the rest of the series right away. But then the sequel worked for a bingo hard mode I was having trouble with, so…

Murder by Memory sounds interesting. It’s a series? It only came out this year, but it is listed as the first in a series.

I was gonna nominate the Hellraiser series, but the reboot movie that came out a few years ago was at least watchable.

Currently reading Thirteenth by C.M Rosens (sequel to that eldritch horror chick lit book I read last month), and Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm.

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Finished:

Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko (fantasy dark academia) | bingo: award HM, steppin’ up HM

A teenager is coerced into attending a mysterious institute for college, where the students are all required to take a strange series of courses, which nobody will explain to them.

I gotta stop putting books that Storygraph considers slow-paced on my TBR. However, this was really unique, kind of a cosmic horror magic system, where the students are drip-fed the incomprehensible in a controlled way that allows them to stay sane. Also, the cover is fantastic.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz (middle grade horror short stories) | bingo: adaptation, short HM, banned HM, folklore HM, alliterative, award

A collection of very short horror stories for kids, adapted from folklore and American urban legend.

I can see some of these being kinda scary for younger kids with active imaginations, but not enough to warrant any kind of ban. Fun, bite-sized collection with cool illustrations.

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite (cozy scifi mystery) | bingo: short, LGBTQIA+ lead, new HM, alliterative, cozy

On a colony ship, a detective wakes up in someone else’s body to investigate a death.

This was a short, light debut. On my “fine” list.

Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono (middle grade cozy fantasy) | bingo: another continent HM, minority author, adaptation, saddle up, cozy

A young witch settles in a new town by herself when she turns 13, as is witch tradition.

Very cute, very gentle. I’d only seen the Ghibli movie once (and remembered zero of it), so I rewatched it; I actually think I like the book better, although the movie does smooth out some bits.

Link to the game is kinda hidden in the article: https://dreadxp.com/vile-is-banned/.

Oh no, that’s the worst. Sometimes I can snap out of it with something that’s fast-paced or complete fluff, but other times it’s nails on a chalkboard for like a week. I hope you find something compelling soon!

I just DNFed Assassin of Reality as the second in the Vita Nostra series (I really liked the first book, but…)

Yeah, Vita Nostra’s really cool so far (I’m at ~80% atm), but having read blurbs/reviews for the sequels, I think I’m done after the first one.

Reading Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko, along with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz when I need a break from Vita Nostra’s slow pacing.

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Finished:

No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed (fantasy and cosmic-y horror short stories) | bingo: minority author, alliterative, short HM

I don’t really have a description for this one. A few of the stories have a shared setting; a few others have a war/revolution theme.

None of the stories in this were bad, they just didn’t all appeal to me; the shared-setting ones were coincidentally my favorite. I’ve realized that part of my issue with collections/anthologies is that I’m stuck diving in blind for every single story, hoping that the author/theme is enough to carry my interest.

I would like some Necromancers in space. Or just some well written book from Necromancers point of view. Something not in litRPG.

The second book in the series, Harrow the Ninth, is from the PoV of a necromancer, although from my understanding it’s also written half in 2nd person and non-linearly for a large portion. (Very much a “don’t start here” situation. The first book has a decent amount of skeletons, bone constructs, stealing life essence, death, etc, though, just from an external PoV.)

There’s also the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard, which has been sitting on my list for a while. I haven’t read it yet, but I did enjoy the other book I read by that author, so it might be worth a look?

Oof, shame. Guess I’ll just cross that off then. Thanks for the update!

Ooh, Honeycomb sounds interesting. Gonna put that on my maybe list.

Working on No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed, since I started it in May.

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Finished:

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (science fantasy mystery) | bingo: number, different continent, LGBTQIA+, award HM, game, steppin’ up HM, late to the party HM, jerk HM

Necromancer heirs (and their cavaliers) from each of nine houses are invited to take part in a challenge: those that succeed will become the Emperor’s new elite.

I liked this more than I thought I would when I started, and I’ll probably read the sequels at some point. With that said, although I found the plot reasonably solid, the setup is kinda YA, and what little is mentioned about the wider situation/world building goes almost entirely unexplained. (Also: if you ever see it described as “lesbian necromancers in space”, there’s only, like, 5 seconds of space.)

Liar Game, Volume 1 by Shinobu Kaitani (thriller-ish seinen manga) | bingo: different continent HM, minority author, adaptation, orange, game

An unrealistically naive college student is forced to participate a mysterious game, which threatens to leave her in massive debt if she loses. To avoid this, she decides to enlist the help of a conman.

I enjoyed the drama adaptation of this back in the day, and this was pretty much 1-to-1 with my memory of the first episode, just more manga-y.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (non-scary horror) | bingo: creature HM. game

Jack the Ripper’s dog companion describes each day of October, as they–along with a variety of other Victorian horror characters and their familiars–prepare for a Halloween ritual.

This was fine, but it never super grabbed me. Might be fun to read a chapter a day leading up to Halloween.

Oh, sorry, HM = hard mode.

Storygraph for me. I agree with you about their recommendations.

One I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Hardcover. My (very limited) impression is their database needs some filling in, but they do have lists and such, and they’re working toward becoming open source.

Currently reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.

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Read:

The Crows by C.M. Rosens (eldritch horror chick lit… yes, for real) | bingo squares: different continent, creature, LGBTQIA+ (arguably HM), jerk HM

A woman moves into an old house on the outskirts of an unfriendly coastal town, where everyone seems to want her gone. Turns out, the house is sentient, and many of the townsfolk aren’t entirely human, including her nearest neighbor, a human/eldritch horror-hybrid.

This literally reads like Bridget Jones’ Diary-era chick lit, just with liberal amounts of horror (Lovecraftian and otherwise) thrown in. It’s actually a solid mashup, though, and doesn’t dwell on awfulness the way the yard-long content warning list makes you think it would. It could use an edit for continuity (and don’t think too hard about the world building), but it got me out of out of my post-Fisherman reading slump, so I recommend it as a fluff read if it sounds like your jam. Sidenote: this is marketed on one of the covers as “cosmic horror romance”, but while there is a something in the story, it doesn’t drive the plot, and isn’t what you’d expect from the “romance” label (but nice to see!).

Consistently much more humid where I am, yeah. Also milder so far, which is nice after last year’s multi-100+ heatwaves. (I’ve probably just jinxed my weather, great.)

Awesome, I’ll give it another go at some point, then; thanks! I haven’t read A Murder of Quality, but I did add it to my list after your first post, since I like mysteries, too.

The only other Smiley-connected novel I’ve gotten through is The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, which I liked more than you did. It’s a let-down from a Smiley perspective, true, but as a standalone spy story, I thought it was pretty solid.

Between books atm. However, I did finish:

The Fisherman by John Langan (literary cosmic horror) | bingo squares: award, late to the party (HM)

Two friends go fishing at a creek with an unbelievable history.

Given how much buzz this got when it came out, I was expecting something more than the sort of classical Lovecraft et al.-inspired horror that it is, but maybe that’s exactly what its fans were excited for. Would probably rate this as “fine”, albeit far too slow for my taste. I found the middle section more interesting than the rest, largely because it’s more plot-driven and there’s no fishing in it. Be prepared for a lot of fishing.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (cozy solarpunk) | bingo squares: minority author, orange, short, LGBTQIA+, award, cozy

2nd novella in the Monk & Robot series. The monk introduces the robot to human civilization.

This was also fine, but I liked the first one better.

(Edited b/c I forgot summaries.)