Jul 11 2025

Tantalizing Tales — July 2025 — Part Two

Hey, I’m on Jeopardy! today. I had a really great time (as you can probably tell if you watch what is, in my entirely biased opinion, one of the best regular season episodes you’ll ever see) but it’s super cut into my reading time, unsurprisingly.

So I wanted to make sure in this round-up column to highlight the latest queer historical mystery from an author who wrote one of my favorite books of 2023, Last Night At The Hollywood Canteen. I won’t be able to get to it in the timely manner it deserves, but I’m so excited that Sarah James has returned with Last Stop Union Station.

The 1942 Hollywood Victory Caravan was a real train full of stars like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Joan Bennett, who volunteered to sell war bonds for the troops overseas. Ms James uncorks a bubbly cast of has-beens and up-and-coming stars aboard her version of this celebrity tour, where a finely timed publicity stunt becomes the scene of an affair, a blackmail scheme, a murder cover-up and a Nazi conspirator playground — just another day in the dog-eat-dog world of Old Hollywood!

The iconic and “difficult to work with” actress Jacqueline Love is shoved onto the Hollywood Victory Caravan in order to perform a facelift on her sagging career. While Jackie is schmoozing the press and glowering at the younger, more successful version of herself, one of her fellow stars dies mysteriously, forcing the crew to lock down in Chicago. Unable to storm off this set, Jackie suspects foul play, so recruits a desk-duty female police officer hungry for her big break to help her solve this murder mystery. In the spirit of old Hollywood drama, their investigation reveals dark secrets and hidden agendas, including a homegrown Nazi scheme that forces Jackie to decide between country and career.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/11/tantalizing-tales-july-2025-part-two/

Jul 10 2025

The Agonies by Ben Faulkner

In all earnestness, the teenaged narrator of this affecting novel desperately needs sports. A sport, any sport: even a sedentary bookworm like myself can recognize that the kid has too much energy and too few healthy outlets.

The kid in question is Armie Bernal, the son of two semi-famous writers who divorced when he was in the single digits. Mom stayed in New York City while he followed his dad to Baltimore. Dad is, frankly, too self-absorbed to be a good parent. Armie decides that he doesn’t want to talk to his mom any more and sinks into a cesspool of online reactionaries and contrarians. At some point, he uses his dad’s credit card to source a whole bunch of different drugs from shady sources on the Internet (see, again: bad parenting.) Unsurprisingly, a psychotic break ensues. In the aftermath, Armie tries to make sense of his life by writing this book.

There is, oddly, “an act of terrifying violence” promised as the climax of this story. It never manifests, unless the last page is meant to be a veiled metaphor told from Dill’s point of view. If so, it’s so vague as to lack any impact. I actually hope it isn’t, as the novel functions quite well without it.

And what is that function? To showcase the rambling, often incoherent but deeply believed thought processes of a disaffected young man in the 2010-20s. The Agonies well deserves its comparisons to Camus’ The Stranger (which I loved) and Salinger’s Catcher In The Rye (which I despised,) updating the disconnect felt by the protagonists of those classics to better gel with the challenges kids face today. And there are so many challenges facing our kids right now. From gun violence to online radicalization to the excesses of late-stage capitalism, our current era is a hard time for smart, sensitive kids to make sense of. I felt tremendous sympathy for Armie, even as I was appalled at the utter lack of guidance he was given.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/10/the-agonies-by-ben-faulkner/

Jul 09 2025

Student Government by Dave Justus, Lilah Sturges & Joe Eisma

with colors by Michael E Wiggam, and letters by Simon Bowland and Charles Pritchett.

When was the last time I sat down and enjoyed a teen comedy that wasn’t primarily another genre, be it mystery or romance or fantasy? Student Government has a bit of all of those, but is primarily just a warm-hearted coming-of-age comedy set in the (fictional) second-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, Halcyon Burke University.

The four young college students who make up the interim student government while almost everyone else heads home for the Christmas break are a motley crew, who primarily have their positions because no one else wanted them. Parker Myles is the earnest interim student president. Her mother was part of the first class that allowed women into HBU, so Parker feels like she has a lot to live up to.

Roommates Harold “Hutch” Hamlin and Malakai Lux are a case of complementary opposites. Hutch, the interim vice president, is an affable animal lover who works in campus security. He joined the interim team because he figured Malakai wouldn’t join if he didn’t, despite student government clearly playing to Malakai’s strengths. Malakai, the interim secretary, is a shy, word-loving nerd who joined the interim team because he figured Hutch wouldn’t join if he didn’t, despite student government clearly playing to Hutch’s strengths. The final member of their quartet is Jean Genie, the mysterious but effortlessly cool interim treasurer.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/09/student-government-by-dave-justus-lilah-sturges-joe-eisma/

Jul 08 2025

Only Between Us by Ellie K Wilde (EXCERPT)

Hello, readers! I have a treat for you today especially if you, like me, could use a little more romance in your lives. I’m so pleased to be able to offer you an excerpt from Ellie K Wilde’s latest novel Only Between Us, a highly-anticipated, steamy and whip-smart romance set in the world of Oakwood Bay!

When a selfie of former pro footballer Brooks Attwood and fan-favorite ex-WAG Siena Pippen goes viral, the tabloids mistakenly crown them football’s newest “It” couple. After the nightmare of being with her ex tho, Siena has no interest in returning to that world. Her struggling family business, on the other hand, sure could use the publicity.

Brooks, meanwhile, is trying to get back on the Rebels, the only team he’s ever wanted, after finally recovering from an injury that nearly ended his career. His professional reputation has taken a huge hit tho, after photos from his last break-up bender were leaked. But when the NFL starts believing that he and Siena are together, with the implication that she’s essentially housebroken him, teams start clamoring for his attention.

And so Siena and Brooks agree to put aside their differences and cook up a mutually beneficial scheme. They’ll pretend to be madly in love for as long as the media circus around them helps Siena’s business and Brooks’ impending comeback with his dream NFL team. Trouble is, the longer they pretend, the less fake their fauxmance begins to feel, and the more difficult it becomes to fight their growing feelings for each other…

Read on for a saucy excerpt from Siena and Brooks’ meet cute!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/08/only-between-us-by-ellie-k-wilde-excerpt/

Jul 07 2025

Tantalizing Tales — July 2025 — Part One

The midpoint of the year has come and gone, and here we are, looking forward and back on a specially scheduled day to showcase what’s just come out and what we’re looking forward to next!

Top of the pile is Martha Grimes’ latest Richard Jury novel, The Red Queen. This twenty-sixth novel in a series I first read when my dad brought a (much earlier) book home from his travels finds Superintendent Richard Jury investigating yet another murder linked to an English village pub.

One quiet night in Twickenham, a businessman named Tom Treadnor is shot off his barstool at The Queen pub. Jury is called in to investigate and quickly realizes that everyone in Treadnor’s life — from his widow Alice to the staff at his manor to his business partner — had wildly differing opinions of the dead man. To complicate things further, Jury has just happened upon a photo in the newspaper, of a man in the United States who is a dead ringer for the deceased.

Meanwhile Wiggins, Jury’s partner at New Scotland Yard, becomes sidetracked by an investigation of his own. His sister, missing for years and presumed dead, has just sent a postcard to their mother. When Wiggins takes off in search of his sister, the two investigations begin to converge in unexpected ways.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/07/tantalizing-tales-july-2025-part-one/

Jul 03 2025

A Year of Diana Wynne Jones: The late 2000s!

This month I reached the end of Diana Wynne Jones’s life in my year of reading all the books by Diana Wynne Jones! I read The Game, House of Many Ways, and Enchanted Glass. That’s one final book in Howl’s universe and two stand alones – three extremely strong books.

The cover of The Game by Diana Wynne Jones shows a long-haired figure holding a golden apple and facing forward against a cosmic backgroundThe Game (2007)

In The Game, we meet Hayley, who lives with her repressive grandmother and uninvolved grandfather. Odd things happen around Hayley, so she gets sent to live with her sprawling extended family in a big country house where the teenagers and kids play “the game:” they explore the spirals of the mythosphere and bring back trophies. As Hayley starts realizing that she and her family have unusual abilities, she learns a lot about herself and the world of stories.

The mythosphere kind of posits that a taxonomy of folklore is traversable: you can walk along the spirals and encounter all the dragon stories or the wild women stories, for instance.  Hayley’s family harkens back to some of the worldbuilding in Dogsbody, and the way you walk along these spirals seems reminiscent of some of the multiverse travel techniques in the Magids and The Lives of Christopher Chant. I wish, though, that we had more mythosphere books! The interaction between different figures is delightful and I feel it could have sustained a whole series.

As it is, The Game is pretty short, but feels nuanced and realized. 

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/03/a-year-of-diana-wynne-jones-the-late-2000s/

Jul 02 2025

Arthur by Giles Kristian (EXCERPT)

Hello, dear readers! We have an excerpt from a retelling of a tale out of legend for you today, a surefire treat for fans of Ancient Briton.

As the third book of Giles Kristian’s Arthurian Tales begins, the Saxons are now the lords of Britain. Yet the bards still sing of Arthur: In our darkest time, when we need him most, shall he come again.

The ageing mercenary Beran has no love of bards’ songs nor of people, unless they’re paying him to steal or to kill. His latest paying job: to murder a boy. But this is no ordinary child. The son of King Constantine and the grandson of High King Ambrosius, this boy could be the savior of Britain… if he lives.

Betraying his companions and returning to a world he believed he’d forsaken, Beran vows to take the boy to the one place that still holds out against the invader: Camelot.

Hunted by Saxons, Queen Morgana and those he deceived, Beran will seek the help of Guivret, called the Little King, and the Saracen Palamedes who once rode beneath Arthur’s banner. They will meet the doomed lovers, Tristan and Isolde. And they will fight for their lives and for each other.

For if there’s to be any hope for Britain, Beran must deliver the boy to Camelot. And to do that, he must come to terms with his own past…

Read on for an atmospheric excerpt from the book!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/02/arthur-by-giles-kristian-excerpt/

Jul 01 2025

Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s Hell Screen by Mihiro

This manga adaptation of a classic Japanese horror story is shockingly nuanced, as writer and illustrator Mihiro reworks the tale for a modern audience, translated then into English by Itoh Makiko.

A bit about the original author himself before we continue. Akutagawa Ryunosuke is widely considered the father of the Japanese short story, with Japan’s foremost literary prize named after him. In 1927, at the age of thirty-five, he committed suicide. While living, one of his greatest concerns was madness, and how it could manifest in artistic obsession: the underlying theme of this adaptation of Hell Screen, which is itself an adaptation of an earlier folk tale.

The Grand Lord of Horikawa is said to be so powerful and divinely endowed that, at his birth, his mother was visited by the god Daiitoku-Myoo, who revealed to her that her child would be his reincarnation as the Destroyer of the King of Hell. Anecdotes from the Grand Lord’s life would seem to support this, as he takes credit for chasing off evil spirits and for a rather twisted sort of generosity.

While Horikawa itself is besieged by disease and disaster, the inhabitants of the Grand Lord of Horikawa’s estate live in safety and ease. This includes sweet Yuzuki, who is a lady’s maid there. Yuzuki is the daughter of the famed artist Yoshihide, whose talent is channeled into creating works of realistic depravity. While he paints predominantly religious scenes, he chooses to focus on the baser emotions of fear, cruelty and anger, especially in the commissions he makes for the Grand Lord and the local temple. He is, himself, an arrogant man who values his own artistry above everything else… except, that is, for his daughter Yuzuki.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/07/01/ryunosuke-akutagawas-hell-screen-by-mihiro/

Jun 30 2025

Lila Said No by Kiki Frayard & Aileen Bennett

Which parent hasn’t had the frustrating experience of being manipulated and possibly even outsmarted by their young children? It is, after all, to be expected as your kids get older and smarter, but being outwitted by an actual child, especially when you’re trying to get them to do things for their own good, is a special kind of bafflement.

Lila is one of these smart four year-olds. A born negotiator, she’s learned that if she just digs in her heels on doing things as basic as eating her meals, getting dressed and taking baths, her parents will bribe her with treats. This is, obviously, the parents’ fault, but you can’t really blame them as (seeming) first-time parents who have yet to learn better.

However, Lila, in the manner of all spoiled children — and again and again, I’ll say that Oompa Loompa refrain: a child can’t spoil herself, you know — keeps stubbornly resisting the smallest things in order to hold out for treats. When her parents have finally had enough, what will they do to help restore sanity to their household?

Spoiler: they do the smart thing instead of the easiest thing and, by the end, everyone is the better for it. And here’s the thing, this book is as much for parents as it is for kids. There really isn’t an all-encompassing manual for raising children, and we have to take our lessons where we get them. Lila Said No is a very helpful primer for parents dealing with obstinate offspring, as well as a useful fable for kids going through that mulish stage themselves.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/06/30/lila-said-no-by-kiki-frayard-aileen-bennett/

Jun 27 2025

Tantalizing Tales — June 2025 — Part Four

Wow, this has been my first month with four Tantalizing Tales columns, which should give you a good idea of all the very cool books that get pitched to me, dear readers!

Leading the pack is Mike Bockoven’s Come Knocking, a book that I desperately want to find time to fit into my bursting-at-the-seams schedule. The title play is more than just a play: it’s an entire theatrical production that’s taken over six floors of a once-abandoned building in Los Angeles. The reception for it has been overwhelmingly positive, with both critical acclaim and lines out the door for tickets.

But then the unthinkable happens, as a night of bloody chaos kills dozens and injures hundreds attending the show. A shocked nation demands answers. Investigative reporter Adam Jakes is assigned to uncover the truth behind the massacre. Through a series of gripping interviews with survivors, cast members and witnesses, Jakes pieces together the chilling reality behind what was supposed to be the ultimate theatrical experience.

As a former theater professional and perpetual fan of experimental media myself, this is absolutely something I’m panting to read, especially since the book promises to take a good hard look at the “grotesque underbelly of immersive experiences”. I’m also weirdly obsessed with that eerie cover, which gives me a delicious chill in this otherwise near-unbearable summer heat.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/06/27/tantalizing-tales-june-2025-part-four/