Author: Tim Scheidler

Marion: The Select Committee on the January 6 events took up a lot of my time this week, but I managed to finish Nicola Griffiths’s luminous novella Spear, and The Extraordinaries, a fun YA superhero-rom-com by T.J. Klune. Now I’m at the nail-biter ending of Leigh Bardugo’s Crooked Kingdom, the sequel to Six of Crows.

Sandy: Moi? I am currently reading a classic sci-fi novel that I have long wanted to experience,

Kat: You haven’t heard from me in over a month — I’ve been so busy. But I did manage to get these novels read: The End of Eternity, The Stars, Like Dust, The Currents of Space, and Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov, Ben H. Winter’s THE LAST POLICEMAN series (The Last Policeman,

Justin: I’m really between books at the moment. About to start Rise of the Vicious Princess by C.J. Redwine. Weather permitting, I plan to tuck into a few chapters from my backyard hammock. With all the chaos happening in real life at the moment, I am looking forward to the escape of a good book.

Marion: Mudlark by Laura Maiklem is a nonfiction journey, following the author as she explores the flats of a low-tide Thames River, and gathers up historical treasures. (The British edition is called Mudlarking.) I’m meandering through this fascinating read.

Marion: T. Kingfisher’s  Nettle and Bone, a dark, sweet, wry, innovative fairy tale quest, was a sheer joy to read. I was torn between surrendering to the delight and frothing with envy at her storytelling skills. As a complete change of pace, I read Christopher Moore’s Razzmatazz, another virtually indescribable Moore action-fantasy-comedy set in 1947 San Francisco and points north.  Now I’m nearly to the end of R.F. Kuang’s second book in the Poppy War series, The Dragon Republic.

Justin: I’ve had an absolutely crazy last week or so. We’ve battled the flu, spent some time in New York City, and lost a beloved family dog (Norman) at 17 years old. He’s been a part of my Bio here at Fanlit since I started. Going to miss him terribly. On a positive note I have been reading some very light hearted stuff by Scott Meyer. His MAGIC 2.0 series has been really fun and cathartic during these crazy weeks. The series starts off with Off to be the Wizard (review incoming) and has 6 titles released so far.

Kat: I’ve been sick with COVID, so I’ve spent the last few days doing almost nothing but listening to audiobooks. Since you heard from me last a few weeks ago, I’ve read all of these relatively short novels:  Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, Patternmaster by Octavia Butler, Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham,

Marion: After A Novel Way to Die by Ali Brandon, a light “bookstore murder mystery” with a cat that solves crimes and leaves its human clues by pulling books off the bookstore shelves (the titles contain clues); I DNF’d a domestic thriller I won’t name. I’m only half-joking when I say that I couldn’t relate to the “woman in danger” MC, who goes into basically a fugue state when she’s writing (she’s on her 5th best-seller when the book opens), and so has turned all her finances over to her attentive, failed-writer husband.

Happy Easter!

Kat: Even though my phone is full of new audiobooks to review, this week I instead read a couple of short older books that have been sitting in my Audible library for years: The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells and The Patternmaster by Octavia Butler.

Bill:

This week I read:

• Phasers on Stun  by Ryan Britt, a good general look at Star Trek over the years,

Marion: David Walton’s global adventure Living Memory doesn’t come out until October, but I really enjoyed the ARC I finished up. Now I’m about halfway through Max Gladstone’s Last Exit. The book is frustrating in a wonderful way–I keep having to stop and re-read, or at least think about, paragraphs because they are so perfect. I keep pausing in awe and going, “Oh, wow. Look what he did.”

Bill: Recent reading includes our own Marion Deeds’ highly enjoyable Comeuppance Served Cold (no review since obvious conflict,

This week, Batman, because of the new movie. I liked it! Maybe not as polished a plot as we’ve seen before, but deliciously vibey.

Batman: Field report for March: Crime appreciably down during St. Patrick’s Day. Lacking any Irish-themed villain, I feel that the rest of my rogues’ gallery assumes that the day must be someone else’s turf and does not turn up. Very gratifying. I suppose there’s always Calendar Man, but no one really seems to care about Calendar Man. Spent most of the night trying to find crime amidst shrieks of drunk college students and blaring Dropkick Murphys songs.