Author: Tim Scheidler

Jana: This week I finished Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education, and I’m so excited to see what happens in the next book! I’m about halfway through V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, which is a thoroughly enjoyable and engrossing story. And next up is Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches, because it’s October, and I need to keep the spooky train chugging along!

Jana: This week I began reading Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education, and to no one’s surprise (including my own) I love it, love everything she’s doing with her extraordinarily deadly magical school and our anti-heroine El Higgins. I also started reading V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and am delighted by how the narrative is unfolding. For my “read one story a day” exercise, I opened up the Ellen Datlow-edited Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories,

Jana: This week I read Juliet Marillier’s The Harp of Kings, a mostly-engaging fantasy set at some vague distant point in Ireland’s druid-filled past. I also finished Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe’s anthology The Mythic Dream, and I would say 95% of the stories were absolutely amazing, while the other 5% were extremely good. Not a bad ratio, all things considered! This week I’ll be reading Naomi Novik’s latest novel, A Deadly Education, and Daniel Pinkwater’s novella Adventures of a Dwergish Girl,

Jana: This week I started The Mythic Dream, an anthology of classic myths retold by contemporary authors, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe. Thus far, each of the stories is wonderful, and I’ve only read about a third of them! I also read R.B. Lemberg’s first BIRDVERSE novella, The Four Profound Weaves, which is beautifully written, and I’m very much looking forward to reading more stories set in this universe. Next up is Juliet Marillier’s The Harp of Kings,

Jana: This week I read Kit Rocha’s Deal With the Devil, a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy about mercenary librarians and super-soldiers that has some well-written fight scenes. I’m nearly finished with Jonathan Strahan’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020, and I started reading Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea, which is lovely and dream-like.

Bill: I’ve been more hit than miss on status reports lately due to school opening.

Jana: This week, while still working my way through Jonathan Strahan’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020, I also read Marie Brennan’s Driftwood and Kit Rocha’s Deal With the Devil; I enjoyed Brennan’s novella (no surprise there) and thought Rocha’s post-apocalyptic bands of mercenaries traveling around the wilds of northern Georgia and southern Tennessee had some interesting spins on both urban fantasy and romance tropes.

Kat: Just like last week,

Jana: This week I’m still reading Jonathan Strathan’s upcoming The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020. My speed is one story per day, so that they stay distinct in my memory. I’m also reading Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country and really enjoying it; Ruff has a deft hand with the blend of meta-fiction, horror, humor, and social commentary at play.

Kat: You haven’t heard from me in a month because I’ve been so busy working on my remote classes and trying to get research going again.

Jana: This week I’m reading Kate Elliott’s latest novel, Unconquerable Sun, the first book in THE SUN CHRONICLES, a trilogy most frequently described as “gender-flipped Alexander the Great in space.” I’m also reading Jonathan Strathan’s upcoming The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2020; since most of the stories in this collection are new to me, I’m discovering some interesting gems.

Kelly: I read The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi this week.

Jana: This week I’m reading Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians; it’s well-written and fast-paced, which I appreciate in a horror novel, and it’s set in Montana’s elk country, so for once (huzzah?) I’m on somewhat-familiar ground for the terrible things that are happening. Not that my imagination-software is buggy, but it’s really neat to read a horror story that involves people, activities, and locations I actually have some experience with.

Kelly: I’m in the home stretch of Andrea Hairston’s Master of Poisons,