Welcome to Wednesday Reads/Listens! It’s been a hot moment since I did one of these. So here you go!
What I’ve Been Reading:
The Only Harmless Great Thing – Brooke Bolander
Everyone read this book. Everyone read this book and then come talk to me about it. Because this is a slim but majestic book that will leave you breathless with the delight of the prose.
The Sumage Solution – by Gail Carriger
Oh this was a delight and I cannot wait for the next one. The worldbuilding is great and the characterization is delightful and I super love the way that she builds her stories
The first novel length story from this author and I looove this one. I love her worldbuilding and her shifters and just the amount of sleep I lost over this book cause I couldn’t stop reading it. I really hope there are like 20 sequels to this.
The City Born Great – N.K. Jemisin
A short story but an AMAZING one. Definitely pick this one up. It’s hard to describe, but definitely worth the time.
Oh. OH. This translation is everything I wanted and never knew I needed.
A Queen From The North – Erin McRae and Racheline Maltese
This was absolutely delightful – an alternate universe of England where everything is just a little to the left and it’s positively awesome.
The Brightest Fell – Seanan McGuire
It’s okay. I didn’t need my heart. Totally fine.
A whole lot of Ursula K. LeGuin essays and books and stories- but that’s going to have to be a separate post.
And a whole bunch of fanfic and news articles. Poke me if you want some of those links!
What I’ve Been Listening To (podcasts that make me scream in delight, send shivers down my spine, tickle me because of the sheer meta levels of NERD, and generally give me A Strong Emotion):
Steal The Stars – a wholly interesting audio drama full of twists and turns and some excellent character moments. Protagonist is female and completely kick ass. This is the inaugural podcast of Tor Labs and it’s weird and quirky and I sort of want to know more and I sort of am happy with where they left it.
Ars Paradoxica – This continues to delight and thrill me and I’m going to be sad when it ends. Featuring an ace female protagonist!!! Also time travel, so much weird, small government towns, and a Partridge in a pair tree.
The Bright Sessions – OH this one is so good. SO GOOD and I am sad to see it ending too even if there are more spinoffs planned. Just SO much emotional connection to these characters and their stories and just OMG. I remain forever emotionally compromised by this show and I welcome it because it’s brilliant and just so amazing.
Tanis/The Last Movie/The Black Tapes/Rabbits – how much do I love these? Let me count the ways. I love the plotting and the craft and the everything. I love that I am incredibly terrified that one of these days I will actually have to listen to Nic Silver die over the radio because his reporter dumb can’t stop touching the thing. MK is amazing. I have serious qualms about Alex’s ethical boundaries and I super love the messiness of it all. I feel for Strand. I adore Carly Parker so hardcore. I love how they captured the weird spooky feeling you get when you visit some places in the Pacific Northwest.
I’m pretty sure all four are connected and it’s gonna end with them accidentally raising an Elder God ( I could go on, but then we verge into spoiler territory).
Casefile True Crime – this is sincerely the best true crime podcast out there. I love the host, the music, the research they put into everything. It’s amazing. ESPECIALLY the series about the Night Stalker/East Area Rapist/Golden State Killer.
The FBI Basement – recaps of the X-Files from the beginning with a whole host of hysterical characters. I love the nerdery involved and all the details they mention and just everything.
Why Is This Happening – Chris Hayes’ new podcast and it’s awesome. It’s SO worth it. He covers some amazing topics and it’s great to hear him and the experts he talks to break down the subject matter into easily understandable chunks.
I will stop there for the evening. But hey, if you’ve read any of these books or listened to any of these podcasts, come chat with me! I’d love to hear what other people think of any of the above.
