Jul 19 2026

A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo

A Long and Speaking Silence, the seventh in Nghi Vo‘s Singing Hills cycle, takes Cleric Chih back to one of their first assignments as a chronicler, a gatherer of stories. On their way to the riverside city of Luntien a moment of inattention led to their being relieved of their purse and stipend, so as the story begins they are spending most of their time waiting tables in a restaurant. Dropped dishes, forgotten orders and a feeling of being underfoot both in the kitchen and among the other servers have them not feeling great about themselves or their job. The spring festival is coming soon, and more people are arriving in Lutien each day, so pressure at the restaurant is rising. All of that keeps Chih away from what they think of as their real task, collecting stories from people in the city that they can take back to the archives at the abbey in the Singing Hills.

A Long and Speaking Silence by Nghi Vo

Vo’s story has a tight focus, in both time and space. She keeps Chih in the center of everything, and the whole novella takes place in the week leading up to the spring festival. It’s not quite Aristotelian unity, but it’s close enough to move the novella along quickly and for the locations to become familiar. There is the restaurant, the family that runs it, and a couple of other fellow staff members. Then while collecting some data about river heights, Chih becomes involved in an incident where refugees on boats headed upriver overcome the harbormaster’s guards and head for a temple that is obligated to take in refugees. They are grateful for Chih’s assistance, though representatives of the city are less keen. Chih learns that there is war among the islands to the south of Lutien, and although the city is the tenth harbor up the river from the sea, still people come. Officially, Lutien welcomes the unfortunate, but in practice many would prefer to send the island people further inland, especially with festival visitors temporarily swelling the local population.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/19/a-long-and-speaking-silence-by-nghi-vo/

Jul 18 2026

They Were Divided by Miklos Banffy

Having taken the first two volumes of his Transylvanian Trilogy to immerse readers in the sometimes glittering, sometimes earthy world of Hungarian aristocracy prior to the First World War, Milos Banffy brings his stories to their immutable end in They Were Divided. The concluding book was published in Hungarian in 1940, and there could hardly be a better way to ensure that this great work sank into obscurity for decades. The Hungarian language is not quite an isolate, but neither is it one of the major European languages that would give the trilogy a naturally larger audience. In 1940, Hungary was on far friendlier terms with the Axis powers than with the Western Allies. (The same was true about the USSR until the middle of the next year, of course.) After the war, a Communist government soon ruled in Budapest. Needless to say, a series of novels about the nobility written by a former foreign minister who had organized a royal coronation was not part of their cultural program. And so it was that that these novels languished for decades; they were first re-printed in Hungary in 1952, two years after Banffy’s death, and they were first translated into English in 1999. Translations into Spanish, French and German followed around 2010.

They Were Divided by Miklos Banffy

Banffy was writing about his people and the society of his early years. He writes with great sympathy for the individuals and a cold rage about their collective decisions. The two main figures of the trilogy are noble cousins Balint and Laszlo, both roughly of an age with Banffy. Like the author, Balint is heir to an ancient and distinguished Transylvanian family, landowners on a great scale, practitioners of noblesse oblige, occasional servants of the public good and observers of all the proper social forms. Balint’s father died when he was young, and his mother, Countess Roza, has run the estates for years with a steady hand. Balint himself spent some years in the diplomatic service of Austria-Hungary, and as the trilogy opens he is returning to his homeland to take a more active role in the family’s businesses and, in due course, to take up a seat in parliament to look after local and regional interests. His cousin Laszlo comes from an equally distinguished lineage but is orphaned at an early age. He is adopted by relatives who attend to his rearing and education, but they also do not ever let him forget their generosity in taking him in. Laszlo’s true passion is music, and he is both an excellent musician and a potentially groundbreaking composer. There are some parallels between Laszlo and Bela Bartok, whose ideas and compositions Banffy championed.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/18/they-were-divided-by-miklos-banffy/

Jul 17 2026

Tantalizing Tales — July 2026 — Part Three

Hello, dear readers! For this week’s column, we get to look both into the recent and slightly more distant pasts to come up with some terrific summer reads for you.

If you, too, are in the throes of Summerween (I mean, anything to distract from the real-life horrors on our doorsteps, especially if you’re living in an area affected by wildfire smoke as I am, even down here in Maryland) then you have to check out Kelly McWilliams’ new Young Adult thriller No One Leaves The Manor. It’s 1921 and four debutantes have been invited to Graystone Manor, the home of oil heiress Caroline Reginald Kane. She’s the last of her line and has given the girls a tempting offer: to compete for the prize of becoming her sole heir.

The four girls are vastly different. Vaughn was born for this life, and won’t let anyone or anything stop her, much less call her crazy when she’s just doing whatever needs to be done in order to fulfil her destiny. Birdie thinks she has a destiny of a different kind, and while she doesn’t even know exactly why she’s been invited, she does believe in divine providence. Dorothea is an accomplished thief and liar who’s come in search of any signs of the mother who disappeared at Graystone years earlier. And finally there’s pretty, underestimated Elspeth who can see things that others can’t, including hints of the malevolent force that doesn’t want them to leave the manor alive.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/17/tantalizing-tales-july-2026-part-three/

Jul 16 2026

A4 2B D6, Vol 1, Issue 1: People edited by Aaron Lim

I am high key obsessed with this inaugural magazine issue about roleplaying games in Malaysia. Aside from its decidedly and unapologetically local flavor, it provides a pretty terrific sampling of all the different kinds of RPGs currently being played in the country, from traditional tabletop games to story games, solo journaling games and more. Perhaps more crucially, this magazine shows how these games are being experienced by people whom you wouldn’t necessarily think of when you imagine the average gamer. It’s excellent representation that underscores the universality of the desire to play games of the imagination.

It’s also a terrific statement of community. I would’ve killed for this back when I was living in Kuala Lumpur, but the closest I got to RPGs back then was sitting in on a sole Dungeons & Dragons session and reading some books out of context (and attempting to clandestinely run Top Secret without the books for my seatmate when we were both bored in class.) I read a lot of comics and flopped a lot of cards — mostly Magic the Gathering, but a little Legend Of The Five Rings — but could never find an actual RPG group. This was also well before solo games became A Thing, because I would definitely have been all over those. The fact that this magazine exists now feels very vindicating to my past self, who is thrilled that there is finally a Malaysian community large enough to support a publication dedicated to RPGs.

Munkao’s cover perfectly encapsulates my teenage dreams, as a Malaysian schoolgirl leads a trio of fantasy characters in a determined march forward. There’s your typical high elf with a sword behind her, but the other two figures are distinctly more Southeast Asian-inspired, giving the viewer a pretty good idea of the content you’ll find inside.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/16/a4-2b-d6-vol-1-issue-1-people-edited-by-aaron-lim/

Jul 15 2026

The Summer War by Naomi Novik

The Summer War by Naomi NovikOoh, Naomi Novik, you crafty little devil of a writer, you!

I’m always so impressed when an author sets the reader up to intensely dislike a character, only for that same character to eventually and successfully capture our hearts later on. And I get it, there were a ton of mitigating factors for why our heroine Celia would curse her older brother Argent in such a breathtakingly awful way. She’s a kid, she doesn’t get what she’s saying, she doesn’t know it’s not just words… but still, the underlying cruelty made it really hard for me to want the best for her as this novella progresses.

So it’s nice that as she gets older, she also grows up. I loved how she forged a bond with her other brother Roric and how that would eventually come into play as their family was forced to reckon with the Summer War that their land had been engaging in for years. Essentially, Celia is the daughter of a hedge knight who fought his way to become a powerful landowner by beating back the fae Summerlings on their border. She and her brothers each have different mothers, all dead now, and as a child she adores Argent for being the handsome, chivalrous knight who’s always shown her nothing but affection.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/15/the-summer-war-by-naomi-novik/

Jul 14 2026

The Underwearwolf by Gideon Sterer & Charles Santoso

I have recently been informed that Summerween — the practice of celebrating Halloween in the summer — is an actual thing, so reading and reviewing this book in July is totally legit, lol.

Regardless of what time of year you encounter The Underwearwolf, I’m reasonably sure that you’ll be as charmed as I was by the premise. Our kid protagonist’s uncle, knowing his penchant for novelty underwear, sends him an unusual pair of briefs one birthday. As the day winds down, the kid decides to put on his brand new set of underpants, but notices that there’s a label attached, warning people against wearing them when the moon is full. The kid figures that the moon isn’t THAT full (lol,) so slips them on. Hilarious G-rated hijinks ensue.

If you have or have ever had young kids who love novelty underwear, you will absolutely understand this book. Heck, if you’ve ever had the satisfaction of slipping into underwear that you feel matches your personality, you will one hundred percent get this book. Clothing matters, not just in projecting a visual language but in building interior belief. Clothes can help you feel bolstered and prepared to take on the everyday battles of life, whether as a werewolf or some other kind of being, mythical or mundane.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/14/the-underwearwolf-by-gideon-sterer-charles-santoso/

Jul 13 2026

The Light In The Mist by PostCurious & Jack Fallows

For those unfamiliar with the phrase, a Tarot puzzle tale (as this game is subtitled) is a puzzle game hidden in a deck of Tarot cards. The Light In The Mist might actually be the first of its kind: I’ve never heard of any others, tho would be immensely pleased to learn that more exist!

In this particular iteration, you use each card in the Tarot deck’s major arcana to gather up a number of minor arcana cards that form a puzzle when put together. Once you solve that puzzle to a single word solution, you look it up in the accompanying booklet to uncover the tale of Sam, your friend who recently disappeared.

The premise is that Sam moved to your town just a few months ago but has already struck up a fast friendship with you. She’s been moodier than usual lately tho, so when she disappears into the woods, leaving her backpack behind, you decide to go after her. Players are encouraged to start with The Fool card (and ought to end with The World card,) but are otherwise allowed to pick whichever card from the major arcana you’d like to solve next. My best friend Karin and I decided that we’d just go in order, to help us keep easier track of what we’d already solved.

The puzzles here are definitely medium-hard, with some being much easier to figure out than others. The elegance levels also varied, with some puzzles making us go “oh that was nice!” when we’d come up with a solution after a tricky passage of play, while others felt difficult just for the sake of it. This variety will likely appeal to the puzzle nerd, tho even enthusiasts like myself and Karin definitely made use of the online hint system when we got stuck. Thankfully, that wasn’t too often, and it was nice to be rewarded with new insight into Sam’s life as reward for each completed puzzle.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/13/the-light-in-the-mist-by-postcurious-jack-fallows/

Jul 12 2026

Hugo Awards 2026: Best Novelette

Rapport by Martha Wells

Among this year’s Hugo finalists in the four headline fiction categories — short story, novelette, novella and novel — no author has more than one nomination. I don’t think I have a particular view about this distribution. On the one hand, it’s neat when a writer has a banner year and gathers up two or even three nominations across categories. On the other, a wide range of authors who are finalists is a sign that there is a lot of talent within the genre, and that people are getting recognized for good work. This year is also a mix of people who have been Hugo finalists before, and people enjoying the thrill of their first nomination. If my brief research is correct, this is the first Hugo nomination for Scott Lynch, H.H. Pak and Cameron Reed, though they are enjoying very different publication careers. Pak’s first published story came in 2024, while Reed’s first novel was published under a different name in 1996. Lynch’s first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamorra, was published in 2006, won several awards (though not the Hugo) and is still in print and selling twenty years later. Martha Wells, Sarah Pinsker and Catherynne M. Valente each have numerous Hugo nominations and wins in their illustrious careers. Novelette has been a special friend to Pinsker, with nominations in the category in 2018, 2020, 2024, 2025 and a win in 2021. The variety of authors and the mix of new and experienced strikes me as a sign of the field’s health.

Here are brief notes on this year’s finalists in the category of Best Novelette, in ascending order of my preference.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/12/hugo-awards-2026-best-novelette-2/

Jul 10 2026

Tantalizing Tales — July 2026 — Part Two

Hello, dear readers! This week, we have several exciting books that have only recently published, as well as some terrific books to look forward to!

First up is Bridget Walsh’s absorbing historical mystery novel The Spirit Guide. Spiritualism is all the rage in late 19th century Victorian London. When detecting duo Minnie Ward and Albert Easterbrook are hired to look into several deaths connected to a secretive all-female group called the Spirit Sisterhood, they’ll have to reluctantly (tho admittedly to varying degrees) split up, with Minnie going undercover in the sisterhood’s countryside home.

The longer she stays tho, the more entangled she finds herself in what’s starting to look increasingly like a cult. Minnie doesn’t actually believe in ghosts, but there are definitely things that even she, with her performer’s background and healthy skepticism, can’t quite explain. Can the members of the sisterhood actually commune with the dead? And when Minnie finds herself in mortal danger, will she be able to extricate herself without Albert’s strong physical presence to help her? This third installment of the Variety Palace Mystery series finds Minnie doing hard but necessary emotional work as she figures out who she is and who she ultimately wants to be.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/10/tantalizing-tales-july-2026-part-two/

Jul 09 2026

The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds

based on the epic tale attributed to Homer, ofc.

I first read The Odyssey in a beautifully written and designed Hamlyn edition meant for young readers when I was 11. The hardcover volume was a gift from my best friend’s parents, and I devoured it repeatedly before I left for boarding school at 14. I even brought the book back to the US with me from Malaysia the last time I visited, so it’s in my home library where it belongs, somewhat the worse for wear but still very much loved.

I’ve never felt a strong urge to reread it as an adult, however, especially given the way that more recent retellings have offered interesting new perspectives on the original (see: Madeline Miller’s Circe. Hunh, I thought I had other examples that I’ve personally read but they’re of different chapters of Greek myth, lol. Also, I think I have a copy of the Emily Wilson translation somewhere: I just continue to not have the time!) The publicity surrounding the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie has rekindled my interest in at least refamiliarizing myself with the source material tho, so this graphic novel landed on my desk at the exact right time for evaluation.

Essentially, this is the story of the wily King of Ithaca, the last king to agree to join the Achaeans (i.e. Greeks) in the battle to retake Helen from Troy. The war has ended and everyone has eventually dispersed. Odysseus and his crew, however, keep being blown off-course on their voyage home, usually due to being venal or just plain dumb. Eventually, only Odysseus is left of his original crew, languishing on an island for years as the prisoner of the beautiful nymph Calypso.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/07/09/the-odyssey-a-graphic-novel-by-gareth-hinds/