Doreen Sheridan

Professional book critic, amateur cellist, full-time polymath. Occasional game designer, perpetual game enthusiast. Mom of 3. Arsenal till I die. I like a good story. My other mystery reviews can be found here: https://www.criminalelement.com/author/dvaleris/

Most commented posts

  1. Deathless (Leningrad Diptych #1) by Catherynne M. Valente — 12 comments
  2. A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine — 10 comments
  3. Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley — 7 comments
  4. The Love Report by BeKa & Maya — 7 comments
  5. I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley — 6 comments

Author's posts

Hugo Awards 2026: Best Poem

Honestly grateful to the Hugo Awards for continuing this category after last year’s trial balloon, and thereby forcing me to think more about and read more poetry. I’ve discovered that, generally speaking, there are two kinds of poetry I enjoy. One is the story in verse, structured much like a short story but with far …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/28/hugo-awards-2026-best-poem/

To The Last Gram by Shreya Davies & Vanessa Wong

I am a naturally vindictive person, but disordered eating is a hell I wouldn’t wish on even my worst enemy. To The Last Gram tells the story of Divya, who realizes from an early age that she isn’t as petite as most of the other girls around her. Perhaps shockingly for an Asian kid growing …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/27/to-the-last-gram-by-shreya-davies-vanessa-wong/

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

I was feeling very intellectually chipper last week and decided to get a head start on some of my Hugo 2026 Awards reading, beginning with a nominated novella from a podcaster I adore. Automatic Noodle is the story of a restaurant’s robot employees in a California that has successfully seceded, at some cost, from the …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/26/automatic-noodle-by-annalee-newitz/

Tantalizing Tales — May 2026 — Part Four

Woof, living with autoimmune disease is tough. At least I’m starting to recognize when I’m having a bad day early on, so I don’t collapse halfway through my scheduled activities and take even longer to recover. It’s been particularly brutal to me in that it’s also affecting my reading and writing — I sleep A …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/22/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-four/

Hold by Randy Ribay & Zeke Peña

What a charming throwback this is to the days when my young children would fixate on a seemingly simple thing and take it to often hilarious extremes! A child and their dad are getting ready to leave the house when Dad makes a seemingly innocuous request, extending a water bottle to Child and saying, “Hold, …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/21/hold-by-randy-ribay-zeke-pena/

Shadows Over Innsmouth edited by Stephen Jones

I’m gonna be so for real with y’all, idk if I would have picked this up had I known it was a reprint from 1994. Which I also only realized after riffling through the Contributor’s Notes at the back of the book and finding that the authors here are, as far as I could tell, …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/20/shadows-over-innsmouth-edited-by-stephen-jones/

ARSENAL HAVE WON THE PREMIER LEAGUE!!!

I had something else scheduled for today but nothing else matters, really, because the team I’ve supported since first learning about and watching and falling in love with them in 1997 (after having loathed football since experiencing nothing but boredom in my first full game, the ’94 World Cup final,) my team THE MIGHTY ARSENAL, …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/19/arsenal-have-won-the-premier-league/

Tantalizing Tales — May 2026 — Part Three

Hello, dear readers! This week, we open with two fairly recent releases that I’ve only actually received in the past week, before swinging even further backward, then looking forward to some exciting books that are just on the horizon. First up is Irina McGrath’s Murder At Haddonford Manor, the first in the Charlotte Reinford Mystery …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/15/tantalizing-tales-may-2026-part-three/

Destiny Ink: Sleepover Surprise by Adeola Sokunbi

This charming chapter book for advancing readers will delight and reassure any kid looking forward to the exciting experience of their very first sleepover! Alas, my own first sleepover was not a great time. I was seven years old and my best friend was my next door neighbor, who was a grade or two ahead …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/14/destiny-ink-sleepover-surprise-by-adeola-sokunbi/

The Dogs Of Venice by Steven Rowley

Choosing this to read rn was 100% due to my recent coverage of it in the latest Tantalizing Tales column reminding me that it’s a manageably quick, grown-up read. Which is just what I need while my doctors puzzle out what’s been keeping me sick since mid-January, with only occasional bursts of energy that would …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/05/13/the-dogs-of-venice-by-steven-rowley/