March 2026 archive

Tantalizing Tales — March 2026 — Part Two

Welcome to the second week of March, where my part of the world experienced all the temperate seasons over the course of two entire days. I’m used to being tired all the time (I do, as my friends constantly remind me, A Lot) but being sick on top of everything has really poleaxed me these …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/13/tantalizing-tales-march-2026-part-two/

Hail Mariam by Huda Al-Marashi

Every time I think parts of my Malaysian Muslim upbringing were strict, I run up against really weird shit from other Muslim cultural denominations and I’m all “wow.” Which isn’t to run them down at all! And perhaps nowhere is this sort of reflection more appropriate than in a book about a twelve year-old Muslim …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/12/hail-mariam-by-huda-al-marashi/

Forty The Fortune Teller by Drew Daywalt & Kevin Cornell

Oh, man, now I want to make a fortune teller (or a cootie catcher as some places rather bizarrely term them.) Forty isn’t your usual paper fortune teller. Abandoned on the playground, she decides to get up and look around and see what’s up. That’s how she meets Chip, another recess cast-off who was dropped …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/11/forty-the-fortune-teller-by-drew-daywalt-kevin-cornell/

Just Between Us by Adeline Kon

If you’re not ready for the magic of Milan-Cortina’s Olympics figure skating to be over yet a/o you’re looking for something to tide you over till your next Heated Rivalry fix, then do I have the wlw graphic novel for you! Set in the world of competitive figure skating, this book revolves around Lydia Chen, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/10/just-between-us-by-adeline-kon/

Head Of Household by Oliver Munday

God bless short stories for how easily digestible they are, having stripped away so much extraneous matter to properly capture a mood and make a point, at least, tho not exclusively, in the literary genre. Oliver Munday’s new collection of ten short stories exemplify this, almost to the point where I wanted more from several …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/09/head-of-household-by-oliver-munday/

Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser

Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser

Well I suppose that Jakob von Gunten is a bildungsroman because it follows its young and eponymous first-person narrator through his later school years and ends with his departure from the Institut Benjamenta. On the other hand, its 144 pages raise some doubts about whether it qualifies as a Roman, although the Süddeutsche Zeitung published …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/08/jakob-von-gunten-by-robert-walser/

Soviet Metro Stations by Christopher Herwig

Soviet Metro Stations by Christopher Herwig

with an introductory essay by Owen Hatherley After two books on Soviet bus stops, an eccentric topic from a world that’s receding into history, photographer Christopher Herwig turned his attention to a slightly more expected topic: stations of various metro systems across the former Soviet Union. This book echoes its predecessors in size and style. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/07/soviet-metro-stations-by-christopher-herwig/

Tantalizing Tales — March 2026 — Part One

Happy March, dear reader! Today we’ve got a terrific slate of upcoming books for you, as well as two novels I missed out on in 2025 that you should still definitely keep on your radar. First up, we have Jessi Cole Jackson’s Ruinous Creatures, a standalone romantasy perfect for anyone wanting to dip their toes …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/06/tantalizing-tales-march-2026-part-one/

The Great Escape by Deborah Marcero

This picture book is extreeeeemely relatable to all older siblings. Idk what it is about younger sibs always wanting to get up in our business, but this book very accurately portrays that situation, then delightfully shows readers one way to resolve it. Evie is your average kid. She believes very much in magic, and wishes …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/05/the-great-escape-by-deborah-marcero/

Night Of The Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

It feels weird to pretend that this horror novella is about the supernatural more than it is ultimately about the unraveling of an adolescent mind. I actually forgot in the lead up to writing this review that the title has mannequins in the plural as, if you go into this book without reading anything about …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/03/04/night-of-the-mannequins-by-stephen-graham-jones/