Category: Doreen

Tantalizing Tales — August 2025 — Part Five

A Tantalizing Tales Part Five, dear readers! That’s a first for us over here at The Frumious Consortium, but oh what delicious books we have in store for you this week, covering tomes just published and those about to come! First is my personal favorite of the bunch — and the one I’m hoping to …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/29/tantalizing-tales-august-2025-part-five/

By Invitation Only by Alexandra Brown Chang

God, given the week I’ve been having, it’s so nice to be able to slip into a book about young people whose deeply felt and very real problems are solved by the end of its 300+ highly readable pages. So look, when I compare Alexandra Brown Chang’s debut novel By Invitation Only to Cecily Von …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/28/by-invitation-only-by-alexandra-brown-chang/

Lovers Of Franz K by Burhan Sonmez

translated from the original Kurdish by Sami Hezil. It feels a little strange to be talking about a(nother) book on the subject of the legacies of the departed, especially since this definitely takes the opposite tack of yesterday’s What Happens After? That book talked about grief and acceptance, whereas this speaks of guilt and vengeance. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/27/lovers-of-franz-k-by-burhan-sonmez/

What Happens After? by Diane Namm & Laura Jager

I really needed to read this terrific book, on the heels of Lauren Munoz’ absolutely devastating (to me) YA mystery Very Dangerous Things, which triggered yet another round of grief over a long-ago loss that I’m still trying to grapple with. The nice thing about What Happens After? is that it doesn’t try to dive …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/26/what-happens-after-by-diane-namm-laura-jager/

Tantalizing Tales — August 2025 — Part Four

Hello, dear readers! We’re well on our way to a five-parter of Tantalizing Titles this August (with a bonus reissue recap earlier this week!) but let’s not get too, too far ahead of ourselves. Today we’re featuring seven brilliant books that have either just published or will be coming to bookshelves this coming Tuesday! We …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/22/tantalizing-tales-august-2025-part-four/

Creepshow Vol 3 edited by Ben Abernathy

Given my literary consumption of recent years, I’m genuinely wondering whether I ought to pivot away from my usual mental palate cleansers of classic/cozy crime in favor of horror anthologies like this one! This volume certainly acted like a much needed reset on my brain, serving up short, sharp and entirely self-sufficient diversions to give …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/20/creepshow-vol-3-edited-by-ben-abernathy/

Reissue Recap!

I received four books recently that are all coming out in a new format today, with a fifth publishing next week. What better way to celebrate all five than with an exclusive round-up column! The first is the sequel to a crime debut I super loved for its investigator protagonist. Charlotte Vassell’s The In Crowd …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/19/reissue-recap/

Tantalizing Tales — August 2025 — Part Three

Hello, dear readers! It is midway through August and publishers are already pivoting hard to horror, as is tradition. Tho I gotta tell you, the pivot does feel a little more comforting than usual this year, given the state of the world and the ways in which horror stories are oftentimes just how the mind …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/15/tantalizing-tales-august-2025-part-three/

How To Spot A Magical Woodland Creature by Sarah Glenn Marsh & Lilla Bolecz

Wahey, I’m back to my regularly scheduled review programming! And what lovelier way to return than with a gorgeously illustrated children’s book that artfully blends science with fantasy, for a delightfully whimsical read. This field guide to enchanted creatures starts with several very important caveats to young readers, in a way that absolutely aligns with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/13/how-to-spot-a-magical-woodland-creature-by-sarah-glenn-marsh-lilla-bolecz/

Salvagia by Tim Chawaga (EXCERPT)

Hello, readers! Today we have an excerpt from a thrilling work of speculative fiction that falls under the cli(mate change)-fi heading, as a near-future scavenger finds herself embroiled in the murder of a powerful corporate figure. Triss Mackey is flying just under the radar, exploiting a government loophole that lets her live quietly aboard her …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/08/12/salvagia-by-tim-chawaga-excerpt/