Nov 17 2025

Love Languages by James Albon

This tender depiction of love and how it can help transcend the barriers of language is a wonderful slow-burn romance that feels almost autobiographical — even if some of the slow burn means that the romance itself doesn’t feel so much felt as described.

But that’s almost to be expected in a book centered on words and language barriers. James Albon does a phenomenal job of describing, as perhaps only a graphic novelist can, the rivers of words that swirl around lonely, awkward expatriates trying to make connections in foreign countries. His main characters, Sarah and Ping, feel somewhat like islands isolated in the stream of camaraderie forged by those who do share fluency. The way they come together is heartwarming, and a lovely ode to the power of love to bridge all obstacles.

Sarah has a vaguely described but well-remunerated job in Paris, where she’s moved to from London. She’s always been a bit of a loner, but the college bro vibe of her department doesn’t help her make friends, especially as they’re assigned increasingly ridiculous and futile tasks to salvage the company’s reputation. She spends her time when not at work trying to learn French and roaming the streets of Paris, battling her feelings of isolation by desperately reminding herself that she probably just needs to try harder.

After an unpleasant encounter with a duo of street mimes, she’s approached by Ping, another young woman pushing a stroller with a baby in it. Ping is sympathetic, despite not having much French or English. She is, however, fluent in Cantonese, being from Hong Kong. The two women slowly build up a friendship as they work at understanding each other’s languages, and eventually build up to something more.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/17/love-languages-by-james-albon/

Nov 16 2025

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

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 amount of paprika the Widow put in the sausages.” No, you wanted a proper hair-raiser and here I am, trying to tell you one, whoever you are. (p. 69)

Alex Easton, sworn soldier of Gallacia and first-person narrator of What Feasts as Night as well as What Moves the Dead, delivers that meditation about halfway through the novella, when they are well past the unpleasant trip part and my hairs, at least, were rising in alarm.

Easton and their* batsman Angus have left the delights of Paris for the dank, dark days of a rural Gallacian autumn. Miss Eugenia Potter, an Englishwoman and noted mycologist who attracts adjectives like “redoubtable,” provided crucial advice and support during the events chronicled in What Moves the Dead. The climate of Gallacia being particularly suitable for many types of fungus, Easton has offered Miss Potter the use of a family hunting lodge as a base for a period of research. Angus and Easton have come back from Paris to serve as translators and cultural interpreters. One problem has already arisen even before any of them arrive.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/16/what-feasts-at-night-by-t-kingfisher/

Nov 14 2025

Tantalizing Tales — Holiday Gift Guide Edition

Is it too early to start making lists for holiday gift-giving? Not if you’re a planner like I am! And let’s be honest, I just keep a perpetual year-round list that I add and subtract from as occasions come and go. I do strongly believe that good gift-giving is an art, and that one should Be Prepared. Why yes, I was a Girl Scout, why do you ask?

Anyway, in the spirit of giving, here are some really great collections and books to keep in mind with the holiday season and massive sales just on the horizon!

First up is Mindworks, a fascinating compendium of speculative short fiction from celebrated author Neal Shusterman. Perfect for any fan of both the author himself and of quality science fiction and fantasy writing, this volume contains nearly all of his published shorter work to date. Whether dealing with a pizza delivery from the underworld or a time-warping attic, a dolphin with lofty ambitions or a hot tub with something monstrous lurking just beneath the bubbles, there are plenty of inventive, thought-provoking stories perfect for fans of Black Mirror or The Twilight Zone. There are also four brand new stories included, two of which are set in his bestselling Arc Of A Scythe universe.

To add to your gift-giving options, Mindworks will be publishing on November 18th in three simultaneous first editions. There’s a standard hardback edition and a deluxe paperback which, in this printing, will come with stained and stenciled edges, as well as French flaps. There’s also a limited edition deluxe hardback that comes with slipcase, ribbon marker and stenciled, sprayed edges. Each volume of this collector’s edition is also signed and numbered by the author himself!

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/14/tantalizing-tales-holiday-gift-guide-edition/

Nov 13 2025

The Paper Bridge by Joelle Veyranc & Seng Soun Ratanavanh

translated into English from the original French by Katy Lockwood-Holmes.

What a gorgeous, glorious book! I’ve been so bowled over by the art in children’s books of recent years, but this may be by far the best illustrated picture book I’ve ever had the privilege of reading.

Most of the credit goes, ofc, to Seng Soun Ratanavanh. She uses watercolors on paper and cardboard before applying the traditions of kirigami and photography to build her images, to absolutely stunning effect. The story helps tremendously, as both it and the illustrations fuse to create the perfect piece of art.

That story is the tale of two communities in opposition, who learn how to get along due to the pluck and ingenuity of young Anya. The inhabitants of Paperlee Village live a simple life despite everything in their town, including themselves, being made of paper. When strong winds begin arriving out of season, the villagers begin to worry. They’re used to accommodating for inclement weather, but winds year-round would devastate their livelihoods and very lives.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/13/the-paper-bridge-by-joelle-veyranc-seng-soun-ratanavanh/

Nov 12 2025

Mapping The Interior by Stephen Graham Jones

Extremely happy I could finally fit in some thematic reading for National Native American Heritage Month, especially with Emily beating me to it with her terrific review of the Turtle Island cookbook!

And in a not insignificant way, Mapping The Interior reminded me very much of a shorter, scarier and way darker version of one of my favorite books by a Native American writer, Tommy Orange’s There There (tho MtI was published in its original form the year before TT. This review is of the latest edition of MtI, published earlier this year.) Both books share in common a wonderfully sprawling presentation of time and the experience of life as a series of connections, tho MtI injects the element of supernatural horror for an even more heart-wrenching take on family ties and generational trauma.

Junior lives with his mom and younger brother Dino in a modular home on the flatlands. Mom moved them there because she said she wanted a better life for them than they could find on the reservation, where Junior’s father tragically died not long before Mom packed them up and left. Despite her best intentions and efforts tho, life is still hard for their small family of three. Dino has a learning disability and is failing to thrive, tho Junior does everything he can to protect his little brother from bullies on the bus and at school.

When Junior spies a shadowy figure moving through their home at night, he’s convinced that it’s their dead father. But how did their dad get here, all these miles away from the rez, in a place he’s never seen before? Perhaps more importantly, what does he want with them now?

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/12/mapping-the-interior-by-stephen-graham-jones/

Nov 11 2025

The Tutor by Courtney Psak (EXCERPT)

Hello, dear readers! Today we have a taste of a domestic thriller set in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Florida. Told from the points of view of three generations of women, The Tutor is a novel about the dark side of privilege, the long shadow of family, and how far some women will go to protect who and what they love. It unpacks legacy, motherhood and identity in one gripping read.

Rose is a dedicated wife to her husband Grant, and devoted mother to her son James. Having recently moved to a grand mansion in glamorous Palm Beach, Rose is keen to do whatever she can to help James fit in to his new life.

As part of these efforts, she hires a tutor to help James with his academics. Isabel is young, smart and beautiful. Not only does she get along with James, she gets results. But when Isabel starts getting a little too close for comfort, Rose can’t help but think that Isabel is looking for more than just tutoring. Can Rose uncover exactly whom she’s let into her house, or will this turn out to be an irrevocably deadly lesson?

Read on for a tantalizing preview from the point of view of our main protagonist Rose, as she tries to settle into her new life, with all its attendant guilt:

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/11/the-tutor-by-courtney-psak-excerpt/

Nov 10 2025

Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America

The cover of Turtle Island by Sean Sherman and others has a colorful graphic pattern with pictures of foods native to north america seemingly stamped on top The beautiful Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America by Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly comes out November 11 from Clarkson Potter. This is a cookbook in that it has functional recipes, but even beyond that it is a gorgeous and informative record of the lifeways and foodways of native groups all over the continent. Chef Sean Sherman (Oglala Lakota) presents history, geography, and his own personal experience with each region’s cuisine and current efforts to revive and preserve food traditions.

The book is organized by geographical region, and each region chapter begins with several pages of engaging information about the area and its history before the recipes. First there’s an overview of Sherman’s connection to that region, then a section about the land, one about the Native American history, and finally, one about the food. By the time the recipes start, a reader has a good sense of the historical, geographical and cultural context for them.

In many ways I feel like I was the target audience for this book. I love food and am interested in different food traditions, and I appreciate movements to eat locally and sustainably. I already knew some of the geographical and historical information in this book, especially for the northwest coast region where I grew up and the northeast coast region where I live now. Most of the information about the other regions, especially those in Mexico and near the Arctic, was new to me and all of Sean Sherman’s personal connections to the regions made for appealing framing.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/10/turtle-island-foods-and-traditions-of-the-indiginous-peoples-of-north-america/

Nov 09 2025

Hugo 2025 Chat

Hugo Award Logo

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 read them and see if I have more to say than that!
I wonder of Maria Dahvana Headley’s Beowulf would have gone into that category a few years back, rather than Best Related Work.

Emily: It is always interesting,to look back and see what would have gone in the new category when a new one is created. I feel like a translation is still a separate thing, though.

Doreen: I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had gone into a poetry category and won (says someone who’s only had time to read the first page of it so far). Heard great things tho, especially from Doug!

Doug: I’ll stan her Beowulf all over again! Translating is a thing, and poetry is a thing, and translating poetry is still another thing. I think I bounced off of four or five Iliads before Emily Wilson’s finally did the trick and I zipped through it in like three weeks. Kinda doubt there is enough translated poetry for it to become a separate category. I’m of many minds about a translation Hugo.

Emily: It’s SO GOOD. I read it aloud with my Reading Epics Aloud Group over zoom, when we were all isolated for the pandemic, and it was such a lovely time.
Gosh, a translation Hugo is quite a thing to contemplate. I mean, Emily Wilson would certainly be eligible, too, in that case.

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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 a book editor. In this case, though, I have a very specific idea: start the novel about a third of the way down page 193.

Interstellar Megachef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

It’s not that what has gone before is unnecessary, exactly, it’s just that the awkward meeting between Serenity Ko and Saras Kaveri in a gloomy side-street archway, with Saras on the verge of a breakdown, is where the story really starts. I don’t know if Lakshminarayan’s publisher would have accepted a book that was forty percent shorter; I don’t know if Lakshminarayan’s intended audience enjoyed the backstory more than I did; I don’t know if either author or prospective audience just liked the characters well enough to enjoy simply spending time with them. I do think that attentive readers could have picked up all of the relevant bits of what had gone before, and that figuring it out, rather than having it served up on a platter, would have been part of the fun. I don’t even think that Lakshminarayan would have needed to add much, if any, exposition to add in the details that led up to the fateful meeting.

At any rate, Serenity Ko is brilliant, as Lakshminarayan tells readers numerous times. She’s a sim designer for one of the best organizations on Primus; she’s hard-charging, capable, full of insight and destined for great things. She’s also young, emotionally fragile, very full of herself, and prone to misjudging how her actions will affect people. She’s from a family of exceptional achievers and feels the need to prove herself as one of them, which she does by throwing herself into her work — in an environment that resembles a 2020s video game company — and ignoring her family almost entirely. Her family mostly forgives her, because families often do, and because it serves the plot of the novel. The family is highly placed in Primian society, which is theoretically egalitarian but very much is not in practice.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/11/08/interstellar-megachef-by-lavanya-lakshminarayan/

Nov 07 2025

Tantalizing Tales — November 2025 — Part One

Hello, readers! Now that Halloween is over, we have a bumper crop of reads for you, starting with the latest thriller from a writer I greatly enjoy. Cate Holahan draws on her background in tech journalism for The Kidnapping Of Alice Ingold, as the abduction of a wealthy teenager turns into a scavenger hunt that the entire country is invited to play.

Alice Ingold is blonde, beautiful… and missing. She’s exactly the kind of victim whose story captures the attention of millions, especially in a culture where so many are obsessed with true crime. The secretive duo who’ve kidnapped her don’t even want a ransom for her return. Instead they have a riddle, and have invited everyone to help solve it.

Her wealthy parents are beside themselves. Brian, a visionary tech guru, turns to machines to unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, heiress Catherine is crowdsourcing the solution, leaning on every personal connection she has to find her daughter. But will each new clue they uncover get them closer to saving Alice, or only put them both in greater danger?

Inspired by the kidnapping of Patty Hearst and driven by the need to challenge the public’s rapid and often unquestioning adaptation of Artificial Intelligence, this novel melds your standard abduction thriller with critiques of the tech broligarchy that currently leads Silicon Valley and beyond.

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