Nov 04 2025

A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff

I can understand why all this was crammed into one volume but I’m also kinda wishing that the copious amounts of personal growth A had to undergo here had been stretched out to at least two. Which, I know, is one of my most complimentary criticisms, that I liked something so much that I wish there had been more of it!

A is a transgender 14 year-old Jewish boy, whose parents are pretty liberal in everything except dealing with his identity. In an effort to get A to conform to the female gender assigned to him at birth, his parents drag him to a group called Save Our Sons And Daughters. There, the parents talk about how sorry they feel for themselves while silencing their own children, which is exactly as dismal as it sounds.

A, who came out during the COVID lockdowns, only looks forward to the meetings because it’s one of the few times he has to socialize with other trans kids. Not that they’re allowed much time to talk to one another. Transness is considered a trend, one so virulent that A isn’t even allowed to go back to school despite the lockdowns having been long lifted.

When Joanna, the lady in charge of SOSAD, enlists the group in helping the election campaign of a politician who wants to legislate against the rights and very existence of trans people, one of A’s friends has had enough. Yarrow is non-binary, and when Yarrow protests too much at the envelope-stuffing event, Joanna whisks Yarrow away to receive “treatment”. In A’s quest to figure out where Yarrow has been taken to, he stumbles across what seems like a golem, who encourages him to fight back and free his friend from a malevolent force that isn’t entirely of this earth. But if demons truly have taken over SOSAD, what can one 14 year-old do to make things better?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/04/a-world-worth-saving-by-kyle-lukoff/

Nov 03 2025

Plant Magic by Anastasia Mostacci (EXCERPT)

with gorgeous illustrations by Quorr, and subtitled The Magic Connections Of Plants With The Universe.

Readers, we have a treat for you today! This beautiful book encourages readers to recognize the magic contained within the plants around us, and how we can use their earthly histories to connect to the cosmic guidance they have for us all.

Anastasi Mostacci is a plant devotee who is dedicated to promoting and improving human relationships with nature. In this book, she seeks to connect the plants described here to their cosmological signifiers, before tying those both back to their influences on humanity. It’s a botanical-based perspective on green magic that is both fun and fascinating to explore.

Quorr’s beautiful illustrations hearken back to the 20th century, particularly the floral art of the 1970s. The cover they designed for this book is a particularly stunning example, but don’t take my word for it! We’ve been given the opportunity to share some of the beautiful interior spreads ahead of the book’s publication tomorrow, so come take a look!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/03/plant-magic-by-anastasia-mostacci-excerpt/

Oct 31 2025

Tantalizing Tales — October 2025 — Part Five

Happy Halloween, dear readers! If you’re looking forward to getting some good reads in as we bid adieu to October and hello to November, check out this awesome list!

First, we have a book that just came out this past Tuesday, Kristen Pipp’s debut novel The Library Of Lost Girls. This horror fantasy — with a slow-burn Sapphic romance — is perfect for spooky season, especially for readers who appreciate the power of friendship, love and truth to beat back the darkness.

Set in the 1890s, TLoLG follows Gwen Donavan as she tries to figure out what happened to her adored older sister, the beautiful, rebellious Izzy. Izzy was shipped off to the Delphi School for Girls and came back a totally different person. Now she’s obedient, demure and, worst of all, off-puttingly eager to marry.

Determined to find answers, Gwen cheats her way into Delphi. The finishing school is nothing like she expected, with sinister shadows lurking in the halls and a curfew that restricts her to her room after dark. Most curious of all is the forbidden library, which is filled with thousands of books, each with a girl’s name on the spine.

After finding a note at the school left to her by Izzy, Gwen is plunged deeper into a search for the truth. Something terrible is lurking at the heart of Delphi. If Gwen doesn’t figure it out, Izzy might not be the only girl whose irrepressible spirit is lost forever.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/31/tantalizing-tales-october-2025-part-five/

Oct 30 2025

Maybe Just Ask Me! by Katie Mazeika

A good friend of mine has a slight but noticeable disability, and one of the first things he ever said to me was “Ask me about it.” That, in no small part, fueled my desire to read and review this title.

Mazie is ready for her first day at a new school. She and her parents have talked about what might happen and what she can do if presented with a challenge, so she feels pretty prepared, knowing that she’s going in looking very different from everyone else. But she’s put on her favorite scarf and her prettiest eye patch, and is ready to go out and make friends.

The other kids aren’t mean. But they’re also, to her dismay, more interested in speculating about why she looks the way she does rather than just asking her directly. She hears some wild theories about her baldness and her eye patch but, frustratingly, no one approaches her to have a conversation and potentially make friends. And because she understands that being proactive is important, she tries to approach people herself… but no one ever seems to notice or hear her.

Mazie is understandably discouraged, but she didn’t beat back cancer just to give up on accomplishing easier things now! She hatches a plan to make sure that people start talking to her instead of talking about her. Will it work? More importantly, will it help her make new friends?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/30/maybe-just-ask-me-by-katie-mazeika/

Oct 29 2025

The Lafufu Coloring Book & The Very Merry Lafufu Coloring Book by Adams Media

I am a pop culture maximalist who also happens to be a big fan of Blackpink and especially Lisa, but not even I understand the chokehold that Labubus have had on the global imagination ever since she was snapped with the doll attached to her purse.

But, y’know, since I’ve never been immune to FOMO, I’ve absolutely researched the subject. It helps that I have Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids, and that my millennial sister is 100% the kind of person who’s susceptible to this kind of craze. She even does blind bag unboxings on social media, which is wild. At USD30+ a pop for a chance at a toy that, quite frankly, looks like a dirt magnet, I have not found purchasing these to be a sensible use of my budget (tho I definitely asked my co-parent to look into getting me a knock-off while he was in Taiwan recently, lol.)

So, obviously, these Lafufu coloring books are right up my alley! It gives me a chance to participate in a weird pop culture phenomenon without spending ridiculous money (and while indulging my crafty side, too.) A Lafufu, btw, is the term for faux Labubus: real ones can be easily differentiated by the fact that they have 9 teeth, as trademarked.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/29/the-lafufu-coloring-book-the-very-merry-lafufu-coloring-book-by-adams-media/

Oct 28 2025

Poison Wood by Jennifer Moorhead (EXCERPT)

Hello, dear reader! We have a terrific spooky season excerpt for you today, with an atmospheric new thriller set in one of my own nightmare locations: boarding school.

Jennifer Moorhead’s Poison Wood follows an ambitious journalist as she discovers that the secrets she thought long buried are cropping up in unexpectedly chilling ways. Crime reporter Rita Meade has just scored a coup with her docuseries on the Broken Bayou serial killer. But instead of celebrating or enjoying a well-deserved rest in her Dallas home, she’s off chasing another story, one with deep roots to a chapter of her past that she doesn’t necessarily want to revisit.

As a teenager, she’d been shipped off to Poison Wood Therapeutic Academy For Girls, a boarding school deep in the Louisiana woods. Filled with society teens who didn’t conform to their parents’ standards, the academy provided her with an unexpected education in the darker side of life. A series of disturbing incidents would eventually close the school down, including the disappearance of Heather, one of Rita’s fellow students. A man was sent to jail for Heather’s murder, sentenced by Rita’s dad, a strict and powerful judge. But now Heather’s skull has been found on school grounds, and Rita’s received a disturbing text message that has her flying to Miami for answers. Will her relentless pursuit of the truth prove worthwhile, or will she come to regret what she eventually discovers?

Our excerpt today gives us insight into the person Rita is, as she patiently waits for contact from her source, while gingerly asking questions of the person who casts an outsized shadow over her life:

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/28/poison-wood-by-jennifer-moorhead-excerpt/

Oct 27 2025

Black History Is Your History by Taylor Cassidy

What I would give to have been as confident a teenager as Taylor Cassidy! As this book progresses, it becomes clear that good parenting played a huge role in raising such a well-adjusted, intellectually curious, boundlessly creative person who, in turn, wants to shine a bright, warm light for others to follow and be inspired by.

But this isn’t about her parents, tho the book is definitely about her antecedents (and she does open the volume with a lovely dedication to her family and friends.) Not being on TikTok, I didn’t know of Ms Cassidy before this book, but what an excellent book! Given everything happening in US politics right now, I definitely felt the need to read something that would help me push back against the truly diabolical whitewashing being put out by large sectors of government and media. Black History Is Your History is the perfect, accessible antidote to the bizarre idea that we’re a country that doesn’t benefit from diversity, equity and inclusion.

For her book, Ms Cassidy carefully selects twelve famous Black people who’ve represented the struggle for equal rights, representation and opportunity throughout US history. These aren’t necessarily the most famous — tho everyone has likely at least heard of Maya Angelou, or so I’d hope — but do cover a broad spectrum, from Benjamin Banneker to Tommie Smith to Marsha P Johnson to Mae Jemison. Each person gets a biographical chapter that’s presented in straightforward, lively language that highlights their accomplishments and important role in Black and American history.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/27/black-history-is-your-history-by-taylor-cassidy/

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 Wintrop committed suicide, the stock for Philips was at 149.60.” (p. 9) The rest of the first paragraph goes on to muse that “memory is like a dog that lays down wherever it wants,” that if Inni was going to remember anything at all, it was that “the moon shone on the nearby canal, and that he had hanged himself in his bathroom” because of what he had written in the horoscope for Leos in the newspaper Het Parool, that their wife would run off with someone and that they would then kill themselves.

Rituale by Cees Nooteboom

Nooteboom then moves back from that fateful day in 1963 to show some of how Inni and Zita came to know each other, came to be married. Inni has enough money that he makes his living partly by investing in the financial markets and partly as an art middleman, selling works onward to the people who actually sell to collectors. He and Zita had built a bit of a life together, she pursuing her interests and he keeping life interesting enough while also pursuing plenty of casual affairs. Inni had cried the first time they made love, but their life together was not enough to change his fundamental distance from nearly everything.

Years had passed since the night that Inni had cried on the steps of the Palace of Justice. Zita and Inni had eaten and drunk and had traveled. Inni had lost money in nickel and made money form watercolors of The Hague school. He had written horoscopes and recipes for Elegance. Zita had almost had a child, but this time Inni could not repress his fear of change and ordered the entrance to the world, which in the end did not interest him either, to be closed. With that action he had sealed the greatest change of all; namely, that Zita would leave him. Inni only noticed the first shadows: her skin dried out, sometimes her eyes looked past him, and she said his name less often. But he only associated these signs with her fate, not with his. (p. 11)

This introduction makes Rituals seem a sadder book than it is. It’s both funnier and stranger, as the next two sections reveal. The first, “Intermezzo,” ends with Inni realizing his suicide attempt has failed, and the reader realizing that the day in question was the day of Kennedy’s assassination.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/26/rituale-by-cees-nooteboom/

Oct 25 2025

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

When T. Kingfisher, whose real name is Ursula Vernon, was re-reading “The Fall of the House of Usher” two things struck her. The first, as she writes in her author’s note at the end of the book “was that Poe is really into fungi. He devotes more words to the fungal emanations than he does to Madeline.” (p. 171) The second was that, for all the story’s staying power and cultural footprint, it’s short. The length left her wanting explanations. “I wanted to know about Madeline’s illness and why Roderick didn’t just move … it was blindingly obvious to me that Madeline’s illness must have something to do with all that fungus everywhere.” (pp. 171–72) Poe’s first-person narrator remains unnamed, but Kingfisher quickly came up with a name, and a backstory, and quite a lot of cultural background, including locating the Ushers’ house in Ruravia and bits of the narrator’s native Gallacian language.

What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

The setup echoes “Usher”: the narrator travels to the isolated country manor house of an old friend, answering a summons that alludes to a mysterious illness, only to find the patient in dire straits and the surrounding circumstances far stranger and more disturbing than could have been expected from the letter. Alex Easton and Roderick Usher had been soldiers together in the recent war; before that, they were acquainted in their younger years with Roderick’s sister Madeline in the same circle. In expanding the story to novella length, Kingfisher adds characters and background. For example, the Gallacian language has an improbable number of sets of personal pronouns, including ka/kan, which is used exclusively for soldiers.

The Gallacian army fared poorly in many of its wars, leading to a shortage of men available for service. Some years before What Moves the Dead, a woman had presented herself to a recruiter and noted that nothing in the statutes said that she could not serve, as all references to soldiers referred to ka or kan, not once to he or him, nor she or her. She became the first sworn soldier of Gallacia and was ka/kan thereafter. Easton is similarly sworn.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/25/what-moves-the-dead-by-t-kingfisher/

Oct 24 2025

Tantalizing Tales — October 2025 — Part Four

Halloween is only a week away, dear readers! Let’s check out some of the books coming out mere days before the holiday, with plenty for readers who love spooky season, as well as for those whose interests veer off in other directions.

Since I love witchy stuff year-round, I’m thrilled to start this column with the latest in Angela M Sanders’ Witch Way Librarian series, Witch And Tell. The seventh book finds small town librarian Josie Way feeling pretty down in the dumps. Her relationship with sexy sheriff Sam has cooled since she revealed to him that she’s a witch. To make matters worse, her magical abilities are on the fritz, with her connection to the library books that she draws her power from seemingly stymied by forces unseen.

When she’s awakened one night by a pounding from the atrium of the library that she lives over, she hurries to investigate… only to discover a dead body. She calls Sam, who lives conveniently next door. But when he arrives, there’s no body, and all the doors and windows are still locked tight. Does the disappearing body have anything to do with the town’s on-going renovation of an old movie palace into a brew pub? Josie will have to figure out why her life is starting to resemble a classic movie while sorting out her paranormal powers and personal affairs.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/10/24/tantalizing-tales-october-2025-part-four/