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. Sweet Tea by Piper Huguley — 7 comments
  3. I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley — 6 comments
  4. A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine — 6 comments
  5. Busting Vegas by Ben Mezrich — 5 comments

Author's posts

Hugo Awards 2022: Best Novelette Nominee

I’m a big fan of ordering my group reviews for the Hugos alphabetically, but what to do when my favorite is the very first of them? I haven’t had a chance to read much Suzanne Palmer, but I adored Bots Of The Lost Ark, which managed to pack a whole bunch of interesting and delightful …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/14/hugo-awards-2022-best-novelette-nominee/

Once & Future, Vol. 2: Old English by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain & Ed Dukeshire

Old English indeed! I decided I needed to pick this up to quickly read before getting into the Hugo-nominated Volume 3 of the series and oh, gosh, I’m glad I did! Besides using up some soon-to-be-expiring Kindle credits, this really filled in an important part that I knew I would have wondered about if I’d …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/10/once-future-vol-2-old-english-by-kieron-gillen-dan-mora-tamra-bonvillain-ed-dukeshire/

Magical History Tour Vol 9: The Titanic by Fabrice Erre & Sylvain Savoia

I, like millions of otherwise worldwide, thoroughly enjoyed James Cameron’s film Titanic (tho am in the probably far smaller subcategory of viewers who certainly didn’t expect to!) I cried my way through much of the last twenty or so minutes of the movie, as the scale of the tragedy unfolded on-screen. Of course, the romance …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/07/magical-history-tour-vol-9-the-titanic-by-fabrice-erre-sylvain-savoia/

Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe

When this won a Goodreads Award a while back, I tried to give it a go on Webtoons where it was originally published, but found myself bouncing off of the format — or lack thereof, tbh. I like my visuals to fit a single consistent page so I’m not scrolling back and forth to try …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/03/lore-olympus-volume-one-by-rachel-smythe/

Hugo Awards 2022: Best Short Story Nominee

Hugo packets are out, hurray, and I have till August to read everything! Having already consumed and voted for the nominees in the Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form category and reviewed the first in the Graphic Story category, it’s time to look at the Short Stories, which I’ll discuss here alphabetically by title. Links are …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/02/hugo-awards-2022-best-short-story-nominee/

The Peacekeeper (The Good Lands #1) by B.L. Blanchard

This may easily be the most fascinating invented setting I’ve read for a murder mystery in ages, and that definitely includes the Anglo-Nordic nation Peter Spiegelman created for his excellent A Secret About A Secret. Imagine, if you will, a near-future world in which North America was never colonized by Europeans. Instead, the indigenous tribes …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/01/the-peacekeeper-the-good-lands-1-by-b-l-blanchard/

Monstress Vol. 6: The Vow by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda

Wow, has this series grown on me! As with last year, I selected this title first of the Hugo nominees for Graphic Novel in hopes of getting it out of the way, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it actually does keep getting better from volume to volume. As always, an overwhelming amount happens …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/31/monstress-vol-6-the-vow-by-marjorie-m-liu-sana-takeda/

Playing the Cards You’re Dealt by Varian Johnson

Oh my heart. This was one of the sweetest, most tender, yet still emotionally honest and unflinching middle grade novels I’ve yet had the privilege of reading. Little wonder that Varian Johnson has won so many awards with prose and plotting like this! Our hero is ten year-old Anthony “Ant” Joplin, who plans to team …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/26/playing-the-cards-youre-dealt-by-varian-johnson/

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

Hurray, only one more book to read and I’ll finally be done with the 2020 Hugos, glargh! So this was an interesting novel. Good, but I can see why I never hear of it outside of this nomination, even as plugged in as I generally am to publishing and particularly genre circles. The Vanished Birds …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/17/the-vanished-birds-by-simon-jimenez/

Good Game, Well Played by Rachael Smith, Katherine Lobo & Justin Birch

As the 20th century draws to a close, Sienna is intent on having one last perfect summer with her friends, who are all her co-workers at the Game Champ video game store. Sienna is a bit of a control freak, but she gets along fine most of the time with Art, the aspiring comic book …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/16/good-game-well-played-by-rachael-smith-katherine-lobo-justin-birch/