Jan 23 2026
The last* roundup column of January features some terrific upcoming thrillers, as well as a few books I wish I’d been able to get to back in 2025. First up, we have a non-fiction examination of two of my favorite pastimes and one of the places where they intersect. John Curran’s The Murder Game examines …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/23/tantalizing-tales-january-2026-part-four/
Jan 22 2026
I tend to read a lot more female authors than male, which apparently puts me in the minority of readers worldwide. It’s especially unusual for me to read “serious” fiction by men, and while there’s a touch of the supernatural in each story collected here, this is still very much the kind of literary writing …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/22/wandering-souls-and-other-stories-by-philip-caputo/
Jan 21 2026
w an art assist by Ruka Bravo. This was my first 5-star read of books published in 2026, and you’d best believe that I didn’t think it would be when I first went into it. Abbey Luck has done something exceptional here, writing of horrors both everyday and extraordinary with humor and hope, and without …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/21/pig-wife-by-abbey-luck/
Jan 16 2026
Hello, dear readers! This week, we have three books to look forward to and three other books I want to make sure you didn’t miss out on from the Big 25 (that’s 2025 for this of you still not up to date with the lingo.) Publishing this Tuesday is the latest from Ashley Elston, whose …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/16/tantalizing-tales-january-2026-part-three/
Jan 15 2026
This is a positive review, I promise, I just need to get something (not necessarily negative) about the publishing industry off my chest first. The titling of kids’ series books, and especially kids’ graphic novels, continues to confuse me. Should we call it first by the series’ name and number as we do with most …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/15/the-bizarre-bazaar-down-a-dark-path-by-daniel-nayeri-lesley-vamos/
Jan 14 2026
translated from the original German by Imogen Taylor. Iris runs the only hotel left open in Bad Heim, a once-thriving (and fictional) spa town that now lives under constant threat of the forest fires that burn just beyond the river. Every summer seems to stretch for longer and longer, as the heat waves allow the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/14/eternal-summer-by-franziska-gansler/
Jan 13 2026
Hello, readers! Today we have a charming excerpt for you from a historical novel. While James R Gregory’s Ghost Town is billed as a psychological thriller, at its heart, it’s a story about leadership, love and connection, as ambition clashes with isolation to potentially devastating result. In the late 1800s, the small town of Sulphur …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/13/ghost-town-by-james-r-gregory-excerpt/
Jan 12 2026
subtitled From Ancient Times To The Present Day. Because no, being trans is not a new thing, and it’s important that we not pretend that it is. Y’all, I’m tired. Twelve days into the new year and I’m at the point where I can never know what new horrors to expect from this administration and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/12/trans-history-by-alex-l-combs-andrew-eakett/
Jan 09 2026
Hello, dear reader! This week, we’re featuring one upcoming book and five backlist titles, beginning with a collaboration involving one of my favorite authors of contemporary speculative fiction. Rob Hart teams up with Jeff Rake for Detour, a high stakes sci-fi thriller with a Planet Of The Apes-like twist. It’s all in a day’s work …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/09/tantalizing-tales-january-2026-part-two/
Jan 08 2026
Jamie lives in a city of perpetual winter. Snow and ice blanket the island of Fairharbour, where he survives by scavenging for materials that he can use to make pretty trinkets he can subsequently trade for food and fuel. But when he puts together a kaleidoscope and tests it out, he catches an impossible glimpse …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/01/08/city-of-all-seasons-by-oliver-k-langmead-aliya-whiteley/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire