May 14 2025

The Crimson Road by A G Slatter

Despite having one of my least favorite shared universe names, A G Slatter’s dark fantasy novels are one of my few can’t-miss series! And nowhere was I happier to have read almost all of the books in it than here in this latest installment, The Crimson Road.

As the novel opens, heiress Violet Zennor is waiting for her father to die. She has spent most of her life being trained by him to be the perfect weapon, to go on a hazardous quest — in about three months’ time — to atone for his grave mistakes. Then Hendrek dies, and she finds herself finally in charge of her own destiny.

Or so she tries to be. Despite the urging and threats of both the town bishop and her father’s solicitor, Violet mulishly refuses to start on a journey that even she can see is suicidal. She just wants to stay home and hang out with her loved ones, maybe take a nice vacation somewhere (honestly, relatable.)

This is in stark contrast to Hendrek’s carefully laid-out plans. His intentions were for her to travel to the far north, beyond the border that the Briarwitches established to keep the Leech Lords confined to the Darklands where they reign in blood (and a mostly contained madness.) A child of prophecy is growing in the north, who must be destroyed before he can reach his ascendancy. That child, Violet’s brother, was sold as a stillborn baby to a mysterious man in exchange for a fortune. Realizing too late that the corpse was likely a vessel, Hendrek tried to atone by raising Violet to infiltrate the Darklands… and kill her own brother.

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May 13 2025

How Do I Wonder? by Gianna Davy & Brenda Rodriguez

This was a delightfully whimsical picture book about encouraging children to wonder about the world around them. Whether discussing science, art or feelings, it exhorts kids to stay curious and questioning about both realities and possibilities.

Brenda Rodriguez’ illustrations are terrific: colorful, diverse and really bringing Gianna Davy’s questions to life. I also really admired Ms Davy’s ability to use such nimble verse: some of the vocabulary is tricky to fit into meter but she does it with aplomb!

And now I’m going to be a downer by saying that this book also made me uncomfortable because it doesn’t actually answer the question it posits on the cover. “What Should I Wonder About?” is definitely less catchy a title than How, but that’s essentially what this book offers: a myriad of ideas for kids to use to get off their screens and start thinking about the world around them. It says that you don’t need much beyond a comfy place and quiet time to be curious, which is true. But, and crucially, it also doesn’t affirm the need for research, or for being able to tell truth from fiction.

In the current climate of chaos this feels almost like an unforgivable omission — and yes, I know I’m being really hard on a kids’ book. But I also believe that writing for children isn’t just about encouraging them to read. Like this book’s creators, I want to encourage them to think, but I want them to think responsibly. Even LM Montgomery, creator of some of the most beloved and imaginative heroines in the English language, wrote that too much imagination can be harmful, in more than one of her series. Obviously, we’re not talking about using imagination to write fiction or engage in ethical scientific experiments, but about blurring the line between reality and imagination. When you have fabulists who don’t understand science in positions of being capable of killing millions of people through a surplus of self-confidence coupled with a surfeit of ignorance, it’s not enough to say “ask questions”, which all too often leads to the fatuous “I’m just asking questions” stance. It’s important to also say “do the research, learn as you go, and have empathy.”

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/13/how-do-i-wonder-by-gianna-davy-brenda-rodriguez/

May 12 2025

Good Luck To Us All by Karen Vermeulen

subtitled A Graphic Memoir of Sorts.

First, big thanks to Doug and Emily for holding down the fort while I went on what I thought was going to be a working holiday… that turned into a mostly devices-free holiday. It was thus a delight to come back to work, and read and laugh and cry my way through what has turned out to be the next 5-star book on my 2025 list, Karen Vermeulen’s astonishing and gracious Good Luck To Us All.

This graphic memoir skips lightly over the first thirty-something years of the author’s life, telling us briefly about her work and world travels and disinterest in “settling down” before finding herself firmly in her 30s, single and living alone in Cape Town, South Africa. Figuring she might as well add a middle sobriquet to her chosen descriptor, she decides to adopt a cat which, unsurprisingly to this animal lover, turns out to be the best decision of her life (even if she is horribly allergic to cats.)

The chapters that follow delve with both humor and brutal honesty into the issues that plague single middle-aged women worldwide. Pets and (other people’s) children get several chapters, as do physical and spiritual health, in hilarious essays on yoga and meditation retreats. More poignant are the passages on aging and beauty. It’s probably the mom in me, but I wanted to reach through the pages and tell her “baby, no” every time she put herself down. Perhaps it’s also the fact that I’m a person who’s worked (and is still working!) hard to earn my self-esteem, and hate it when people (myself included!) have a hard time embracing their own joy and loveliness.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/12/good-luck-to-us-all-by-karen-vermeulen/

May 09 2025

A Year of Diana Wynne Jones: The New Millennium!

In my quest to read all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books in one year, this month I read Believing is Seeing, Year of the Griffin, Mixed Magics, and Unexpected Magic! That’s three collections of short stories and the sequel  to my deeply beloved Dark Lord of Derkholm.

This custom image by Marnanel Thurman shows the dates we read this book, the book’s title and the series title, "A Year of Diana Wynne Jones," with the cover of one edition of the book. Believing is Seeing (1999)

This is a story collection, and Marn very helpfully put the list of stories included into the custom image. For me personally, the standout story in this collection is “Dragon Reserve, Home Eight” which constructs a whole system of worlds and their imperfect governance, including telepathy, dragons, and spaceships, just the kind of exciting genre combo I gravitate towards.

This collection has a range of genres, with everything from legendary origin story to straight up magician fantasy, to science fiction, and blends thereof.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/09/a-year-of-diana-wynne-jones-the-new-millennium/

May 07 2025

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Lois McMaster Bujold originally conceived of Shards of Honor and Barrayar as one novel. She was writing her first novel and did not have a firm grasp on how much should fit between the covers of one book. As she writes, “My writing career has been on-the-job training throughout, and this was no exception.” (p. 592 of the combined edition of Shards of Honor and Barrayar, titled Cordelia’s Honor) After Shards of Honor found a publisher, Bujold went on to write and publish six more Vorkosigan novels — The Warrior’s Apprentice, Ethan of Athos, Falling Free, Brothers in Arms, Borders of Infinity and The Vor Game — before returning to the story of Aral Vorkosigan and Cordelia Naismith, and their early years together.

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

In the first book, they met under inauspicious circumstances but overcame them, along with mutual suspicions and hostility between their homeworlds to marry and live adventurously ever after. Barrayar opens with Cordelia regretting that she agreed to live on her husband’s home planet, the titular Barrayar. It remains a feudal monarchy with violent internal politics, even as it has the technology for interstellar spaceships. Aral is high up in the hierarchy, both commanding armies and vulnerable to assassination. The values that Cordelia brings from her background where she had risen to command a starship in Beta Colony’s Scouting service clash badly with her expected role on Barrayar. She is used to flat hierarchies, equality of men and women, rationality in many things and plurality in almost everything. Barrayar is a vertically-oriented society, with men and women segregated and men privileged. Tradition weighs heavily, especially in the upper nobility that she has married into. Some of the traditions that made some semblance of sense when Barrayar was isolated from other planets and its population struggling to survive look positively barbaric in a less straitened present. Yet those traditions linger and shape the environment that Aral and Cordelia must live in and with.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/07/barrayar-by-lois-mcmaster-bujold/

May 06 2025

The Karma Sequence by A. O. Wagner (EXCERPT)

The Karma Sequence is a fascinating novel that blends mystery with philosophical and speculative fiction, asking: what if your genes know more about your future than you could ever imagine?

Dan, an introverted computer genius, has fought his way back from a life-shattering crisis that left him isolated, powerless, battling addiction, and close to death. Now, he is asked to investigate a computer system for gene analysis, the very same one he developed. On its own, the system has begun predicting the exact date on which analyzed people will die.

Several deaths confirm the system’s predictions.

As Dan searches for answers, he embarks on a personal journey of finding new purpose and helping others face and recover from the addiction that once consumed him, too.

The pulse-pounding first book in The Karma Kantanta series blends high-stakes suspense with deep philosophical exploration. As Dan contends with technology, addiction, and the search for life’s true purpose, readers are taken on a thrilling and emotionally charged journey. A. O. Wagner’s own experience with addiction brings authenticity and depth to this unforgettable story.

Read on for an intriguing excerpt that lays the groundwork for Dan’s spiritual mission!

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May 05 2025

Where Are You, Brontë? by Tomie dePaola & Barbara McClintock

As soon as I opened this children’s picture book and read the front flap, I knew that I, like Ralph Wiggum on the bus that one time, was in danger. It had been a long, stressful weekend already. Did I want to cry, which I knew I would most likely do reading this book?

The verdict is still out, even as the tears are drying on my face as I type this. There’s a catharsis in crying, and a sweet, relieved ache from connecting so deeply with the emotions of another. In Tomie dePaola’s final manuscript, he describes his twelve-year relationship with his dog Brontë, from picking the puppy up at the airport, through their life and adventures together, to Brontë’s failing eyesight and health, and finally to the author’s life without his faithful companion. I was sobbing well before I turned the final page on this heartfelt memorial to one so deeply loved and missed.

But these are very grown-up reactions to a book aimed at children, with easy to read language and Barbara McClintock’s charming illustrations to propel the story along. Kids will love reading about sweet Brontë, and those who’ve recently lost a pet (or perhaps even another loved one) will take comfort in knowing that love endures after death, and that happiness can still come from the memories that we carry in our hearts.

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May 03 2025

Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente

Eurovision 2025 is coming up in not quite three weeks, and I’ll be watching it, though I hadn’t given it much (if any) thought until I looked up the date just now. I watched in 2024 and amused myself on social media, cackling along with fellow commenters, but the truth is that I was still salty about how Finland had been point-blank robbed by jury voters the year before. See, 2024 was the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s winning the contest, which is probably the biggest thing that has ever happened to Eurovision, certainly the biggest career ever to get a boost from a win. The fix was in for Sweden to win in 2023 so that they could host for the big anniversary the following year. The national juries, who provide half the votes of the contest, duly obliged, giving a forgettable if competent song an insurmountable lead. The other half of the votes come from the viewing public, and they clearly favored the delightful, infectious and more than a little nutty song from Finland, “Cha Cha Cha.” They favored it so much that when the jury points were being awarded, the audience in the performance hall often drowned out the presenters with chants of “Cha Cha-Cha Cha-Cha Cha Cha” to the point that the television moderators were scolding them. The enthusiasm for the fun from Finland was not to be dampened. For the official contest, though, the machinations mattered more than the public preference. As in Space Opera, this volume’s predecessor.

Space Oddity by Catherynne M. Valente

I’ve wandered a bit from the main topic because Space Oddity does, too. Space Opera was easy to explain: Eurovision in space. Well, Eurovision in spaaaaaaaace, because a book about such an over-the-top event has something to live up to. Why is there something like Eurovision in space? The universe is full of life and teeming with intelligences, many of which developed the means to travel between the stars and then duly set out trying to make vast swathes their exclusive property. If that conflicted with the plans of other species, too bad, so sad. Relentless war had a lot of drawbacks, and eventually the remaining species decided to settle their differences with song. When a sentient species is deemed advanced enough to potentially join the interstellar community, said community announces itself and invites the newcomers to participate in the Metagalactic Grand Prix. The catch, though, is that if the new species places last in the competition, the rest of the galaxy will wipe it out and invite that planet’s evolutionary processes to try again in however many orbital periods. Earth’s turn comes in Space Opera, and humanity is represented by a has-been British glam band called Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes. They are past their prime not least because one of the three members is dead and the other two have not been on speaking terms for years. The galactic community does not care in the slightest. Sing or get squashed.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/03/space-oddity-by-catherynne-m-valente/

May 02 2025

Tantalizing Tales — May 2025 — Part One

Happy May, dear readers! I’m in the hard middle of Performance Season, but at least I have a whole bunch of terrific upcoming reads to keep me company as I gallivant around the country.

First on my list is the latest book from local-to-me author Nick Brooks, which I’m super looking forward to bingeing with another of his novels, Promise Boys. His latest YA mystery Up In Smoke has two protagonists: one desperate to clear her brother’s name, and the other just as intent on keeping his own out of the spotlight.

After Cooper King is pressured by his big brother figure Jason to go on a looting spree during a local march, the unthinkable happens. Gunshots ring out and someone ends up dead. Cooper flees, but the news shows four teens in ski masks — Cooper and his friends — near the scene of the crime. Cooper fears that the cops will soon come knocking at his door. The pressure only mounts when Jason is taken into custody as a murder suspect.

Monique, Jason’s sister and Cooper’s longtime crush, will do whatever it takes to clear her brother’s name. If it means going into the belly of the beast and confronting the real killer herself, then so be it. When she teams up with Cooper, they begin to fall down an investigative rabbit hole… and to fall for each other.

But little does Monique know that Cooper is hiding the truth about his own whereabouts when the gun went off. If the pair fail to unmask the real murderer, Jason will get locked up for a crime he didn’t commit — and Cooper will most likely go down with him.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2025/05/02/tantalizing-tales-may-2025-part-one/

May 01 2025

Bring Me The Head Of Susan Lomond by Connor B

subtitled A High School Story.

Ever since Susan Lomond beat Monroe Poole to the top of the Highwater High School Proficiency Listings, Monroe has been obsessed with taking her new rival down. It’s bad enough that Susan is the school’s star quarterback, someone so popular with her classmates that she’s just been elected prom queen too. How dare she take Monroe’s academic place, as well?

And so the evil genius from a long line of evil geniuses hatches a plan to take out this upstart and reclaim her rightful spot atop the academic standings. Trouble is, all of Monroe’s plans keep failing, due to one weird glitch after another. Monroe fumes over her continued failure on her blog, even as she resurrects her recently deceased cousin Nemo and hatches a brand new plan to finally, publicly and triumphantly defeat her nemesis.

But Nemo’s trip back from the afterlife seems to have mellowed him out considerably, or at least has allowed him greater perspective on the human condition. He sees that there may be something more than vengeance motivating Monroe’s obsession, a motivation Monroe herself may not realize or understand until it’s too late…

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