Sunday Status Update: June 5, 2022

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. I’m about halfway through Octavia Butler’s Imago, which I’ve never read, and I’m even in awe of her disciplined imagination and power of description, as I am whenever I read one of her books.

Sandy: Moi? I am currently reading a classic sci-fi novel that I have long wanted to experience, Ray Cummings’ The Girl in the Golden Atom (1922). The edition that I am reading is the 2005 release from Bison Books, featuring a wonderful introduction by one of my favorite sci-fi authors, Jack Williamson. This book has really sucked me right in, and I hope to be able to share some thoughts on it with you all very shortly….

Terry: I read and greatly enjoyed Ben Aaronovitch’s latest RIVERS OF LONDON novel, Amongst Our Weapons (and that title has marvelous resonance for any Monty Python fan). I also buzzed through Peter S. Beagle’s In Calabria in an evening; it’s a small taste of genius. Finally, I finished Thomas Perry’s The Butcher’s Boy, which didn’t quite live up to the introduction by Michael Connelly; it’s a competent enough mystery, but I’m surprised to know that it was an award winner.

Tim: This week I had a very good time with Tamsyn Muir‘s Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower. It had a very engaging conceit and was also quite a good pastiche. I’m a sucker for pastiches (particularly of this kind of British Children’s lit), so perhaps it’s no surprise that it’s my favorite Muir work so far.