Category: Doreen

Tantalizing Tales — December 2025 — Part One

Very excited to have gotten away with not publishing my first round-up post of the month till today, the twelfth of December! We have three books that have only recently published for you this week, as well as three books from earlier in the year that I’ve been meaning very much to get to but …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/12/tantalizing-tales-december-2025-part-one/

Rabbit’s Feat by Barney Saltzberg

It’s so unusual, and yet so sweet, to find a book where the title character may or may not actually be the main character, despite absolutely being the hero of the piece. I suppose one could argue semantics — Rabbit is the main active participant in the story, after all — but I’m really not …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/11/rabbits-feat-by-barney-saltzberg/

Sunset At Zero Point by Simon Stålenhag

Being a dyed-in-the-wool nerd, I first learned of Simon Stålenhag from the role-playing game adaptation of his first book, Tales From The Loop (still haven’t played it tho, as is tradition.) I also haven’t had a chance to watch the TV version despite having a crush on Rebecca Ferguson, and will likely never choose to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/10/sunset-at-zero-point-by-simon-stalenhag/

A Spy Inside The Castle by M. B. Courtenay (EXCERPT)

We have a terrific excerpt for you today, dear readers, from a debut novelist who isn’t afraid to explore the bleeding edge of espionage! Long-time readers will know that I’m a sucker for a mythological retelling, especially in a new and unexpected genre. M B Courtenay’s A Spy Inside The Castle riffs off the myth …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/09/a-spy-inside-the-castle-by-m-b-courtenay-excerpt/

Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes & Setor Fiadzigbey

adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name. I love that this powerful middle grade story was adapted to the graphic novel format because that feels so much more accessible to a wider variety of readers, not only to kids with short attention spans but also to adults with less time on our hands …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/08/ghost-boys-the-graphic-novel-by-jewell-parker-rhodes-setor-fiadzigbey/

How To Free A Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil (Guest Post)

Hello, readers! Today, I’m super thrilled to be able to bring you a guest post from debut author Raidah Shah Idil, whose middle grade novel How To Free A Jinn was only recently published this past November. Like myself, Pn Raidah is a member of the Malay diaspora. In her guest post, she talks about …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/05/how-to-free-a-jinn-by-raidah-shah-idil-guest-post/

Murder Runs In The Family by Tamara Berry

Honestly, every new Tamara Berry book is a treat, and I’m so glad I could finally get to this one! I’ve read all of her other mystery novels save one, and it was so disappointing to learn that her publishers aren’t picking up more of either of her prior series, both of which are excellently …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/04/murder-runs-in-the-family-by-tamara-berry/

The Glass Pyramid by Jeanne Walker Harvey & Khoa Le

subtitled A Story of the Louvre Museum and Architect I.M. Pei. I had no idea that the glass pyramid of the Louvre was only built in 1989! For some reason, I thought it was far more modern, tho perhaps I just wasn’t paying much attention at the time. After all, I’d visited the Louvre a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/03/the-glass-pyramid-by-jeanne-walker-harvey-khoa-le/

Heartcore by Štěpánka Jislová

translated from the original Czech by Martha Kuhlman. Part of the problem with preferring to go in blind to books after I initially say yes to them (usually months and months ago) as a professional book critic is that I’m sometimes blindsided by topics that I didn’t think a book would cover to the extent …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/01/heartcore-by-stepanka-jislova/

Black Friday: Short Stories From Africa by Cheryl S Ntumy

And now for a little counter-programming… (she says, having already bought a huge stack of gifts online.) Subtitled Fantasy and Science Fiction from a Powerful African Voice (and with a foreword by Eugen Bacon,) this collection definitely functions as both a critique of capitalism and other exploitative systems, as well as a celebration of Ghana …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/28/black-friday-short-stories-from-africa-by-cheryl-s-ntumy/