Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead …
Category: Doug
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Dec 21 2025
Two Short Reviews for December
I like seeing authors trying new things, and seeing Travis Baldree, who writes in a corner of fantasy that sometimes strikes me as authors and readers trying to connect over a menu of tags — “I’ll have a found-family, sapphic, friends-to-lovers tale with a side order of hidden magic, hold the prophecies and the Chosen One, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/21/two-short-reviews-for-december/
Dec 14 2025
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
Hemlock & Silver is T. Kingfisher’s latest novel, and the sixth of her works that I have read this year. I’ve already bought six more, and I have a list of which of works are being published or re-published in 2026, so I have a lot of Kingfisher to look forward to. I’m looking forward …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/12/14/hemlock-silver-by-t-kingfisher/
Dec 13 2025
An Unrelated Pair of Books by Emily Tesh and Lois McMaster Bujold
The thing about The Incandescent by Emily Tesh as a novel about a magic boarding school in England is that it’s told from the adults’ point of view, adults who take their responsibilities seriously, and who have real lives that are separate from what is happening to the students. Boarding-school stories often assign the teachers …
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Nov 30 2025
The Great Hippopotamus Hotel by Alexander McCall Smith
Three cases present themselves to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in The Great Hippopotamus Hotel, the twenty-fifth book in Alexander McCall Smith’s long-running series. Well, if not necessarily cases then situations that Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi feel obliged to untangle. Maybe not three, either, more accurately two and a half, given that one …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/30/the-great-hippopotamus-hotel-by-alexander-mccall-smith/
Nov 22 2025
A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East by László Krasznahorkai belongs to the branch of literature that’s more “do unusual things with words” than “tell a story.” I picked it up on a recent trip to Frankfurt because Krasznahorkai won the 2025 Nobel …
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Nov 16 2025
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
The problem with telling a story, of course, is that you already know that I’m telling you about something significant that happened. It’s not as if we sat down together and you said, “Alex, tell me a tale where you had a pleasant trip to your homeland and the worst menace you faced was the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/16/what-feasts-at-night-by-t-kingfisher/
Nov 09 2025
Hugo 2025 Chat
Doug Merrill: Hi everyone! Emily Lauer: Hello! Doug: Hi Emily! Doreen Sheridan: Hello, all! I can confidently say that I’m happy they started a poetry category (and that my favorite won, lol) Doug: I’m glad that there’s a poetry category, too, and glad that it seems to have gone over well this year. Now to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/09/hugo-2025-chat/
Nov 08 2025
Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Interstellar Megachef was another 450-page book that I thought held a 250-page story. Often when I have that feeling about a book, I consider what I think should be cut but I usually draw a blank and offer the slightly lame explanation that if I knew where and how to trim novels, I would be …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/08/interstellar-megachef-by-lavanya-lakshminarayan/
Oct 26 2025
Rituale by Cees Nooteboom
In Rituale — Rituals to give the book its English title — Cees Nooteboom begins in the middle, goes back to the beginning, and then skips a bit to get to something of an ending. As middle beginnings that might well be endings go, the first sentence in Rituals is arresting: “On the day that Inni …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/26/rituale-by-cees-nooteboom/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire