The Sunday Prescription

One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.

Symptoms: Fall Fever

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you are all doing well, and getting some time to read a good book this week! As you can see, where I live we are in probably my favorite time of year, as fall is in full swing. Our leaves have already peaked and are starting to drop. My house backs right up to the woods, so my views coming down the driveway or sitting on the back porch are immaculate, and it puts me in a certain kind of reading mood. As it gets dark earlier, and the world prepares for hibernation, I get in the mood for big rich fantasy books where I can just get lost.

What I think is really interesting about this is how we associate the world around us with certain things. In this case, my reading tastes and preferences change along with the seasons. Obviously, not everyone is like this, but I find myself switching things up as the year goes on.

At the end of the summer and the start of the fall, especially as we transition into September and October, I go into horror mode. I want to read everything horror, listen to horror audio books, and watch horror movies. I read and watch horror year round, but it really goes into high gear as we leave those long summer months.

Once we pass Halloween, I find myself drifting towards fantasy, and in particular epic high fantasy. Think big books, huge plots, intricate worlds, and a large cast of characters. People on the road, traveling to fight a dark lord, sitting by a campfire eating hard cheese and crusty bread. For some reason, these sorts of books seem to beg me to read them this time of year.

As we get into the winter, and especially across the new year, I still enjoy those sorts of fantasy books, but also find myself looking for mysteries, cozy fantasy, and almost YA stories. Easy to digest stuff that makes me happy when that full winter darkness kicks in. The kind of stuff that I can read next to the fire and feel safe and nostalgic.

Then comes spring and summer. In the spring, I seem to always want to integrate more sci fi into my life. I have less desire to pick up a big giant fantasy book, and start looking for more quick hit stuff. As we get into the summer, I start looking for shorter books - lit fiction, graphic novels, small standalone fantasy, magical realism. Anything that is shorter, standalone, and can be transported around easily.

So what am I most looking forward to this fall. Well, I just finished The Castle and the Cloister by Laura Weymouth, and it may be my favorite fantasy I've read this year. That one felt like fall to me. I'm also planning on reading a Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon, and the last two books in The Faithful and the Fallen. A good dose of viking inspired fantasy also hits that spot for colder weather. And of course, speaking of viking inspired, I'm really interested to get to the next books in the Moonfall series by James Rollins, as well as Demi Winters' Ashen series.

How about you - do you find your reading is seasonal, are you more consistent, or are you just all over the place?

The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing

As always, life is busy! On the social media front, I just recorded an episode of Dear Doctor Fantasy, Philip Chase's YouTube series, and had such a great time chatting with him (hence no YouTube video this week!). Phillip is not only a YouTuber, but a PhD in medieval literature, and the author of The Edan Trilogy. He is such an interesting guy, and we had a great chat. That will be posted to his channel this week sometime!abaddon'sgate

Thank you to everyone who has joined on as a new member, or upgraded to our new Apothecary tier! It has been so cool to see our member community grow, and I appreciate the support so much! If you did not see last week's newsletter, The Apothecary Tier is going to be a quarterly book box that will start shipping in January 2027. Each quarter will feature a book and some extra goodies, with the following themes:

• January: Fantasy

• April: Sci Fi

• July: A surprise book/genre!

• October: Horror

Here are the details/rules for the new option:

• Obviously, you need to be comfortable sharing your shipping address with me!

• Cost is $12/month

• You must be a member for 2 months before you get your first shipment

• At the outset, I am going to offer this international as well (I ship from the US), and I will pay for the up front shipping costs. However, there may be extra import duties or costs on your end that would be your responsibility to cover.

• There will be no skips - I'm a one man show here, so skips would not be feasible. If it is a book you already have or don't want to read, you are welcome to sell or give away!

Book clubs continue on! For our main book club today marks the first day for The Demon Star, and our EWrap Up chat for Japanese Gothic will be next Sunday November 8 at 3 PM EST on our Discord. For our Fable book club, today is the first day for Boudicca's Daughter by Elodie Harper. This is a standalone historical fiction that follows the meteoric rise and devastating fall of the Iceni warrior queen Boudicca through the eyes of her youngest daughter. Excited to read it, and hope to see some of you there!

Our Monthly Reading Challenges are wrapping up for the year here soon. Remember, to be eligible for the $25 Bookshop.org gift card, you need to either be in the StoryGraph Challenge. November's reading challenge will be to finish a series. For this, you get a bonus entry for each book in a series you read. So if you read and finish a trilogy, that's three entries for the gift card!

I just finished up The Castle and the Cloister and Absolutely loved it. I'll be starting on our two book club reads, and then after that, probably the second week of the month, I'll likely jump into our Dark Traveler's pick a book, which is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I'm also listening to Abaddon's Gate on audio, book three in The Expanse, and will likely do Return to Edan by Philip Chase after that (book 3 in The Edan Trilogy).

If you are not on our Discord server, you should consider hanging out! I do exclusive giveaways there, and I have some really exciting ones planned for the next few months Right now, as pictured above, I have a giveaway of the Villians trilogy that is exclusive for Dark travelers and Apothecaries, and then I have another one prepped for everyone on the server after that! ! I don't really do giveaways on IG/TT because I like to reward you all in our community, so be on the look out for those.

Hope you all have a great week of reading and life, and I'll see you next week!

Want More In-Depth Access?

If you enjoy getting into the details with me about reading, then consider upgrading to The Dark Travelers or Apothecary tiers! My Dark Travelers get an exclusive Discord role and channels, a weekly deep dive reading update video, early access to YouTube videos, and each month they get to pick a book for me to read. This can be a book they want to read with me, or something they want me to try for them. I then do a member's only review when I'm done. It's super fun and a great tight knit group that I really enjoy talking books with, and I'd love to have you part of it!

The Apothecary is a quarterly book box I'm starting in January 2027! You get all the benefits of the Dark Travelers above, as well as a quarterly themed book box. Thank you to everyone who has joined already!

Happy Halloween, friends!

I'm thrilled to share my interview with Kristen Dickson, author of A Witch Lives Here. A Witch Lives Here is a "a whimsical picture book about a mysterious house in the woods full of black cats and flying brooms, and a child and dog who follow the clues to determine if a witch indeed lives there. For fans of Kiki's Delivery Service and How to Catch a Witch." It's the perfect spooky season story! 🎃

Q: A Witch Lives Here follows Felix and Spike as they investigate a mysterious house to decide if a witch truly lives there. To do so, they search for clues contained in the aptly named book, “23 Witchy Clues to Spot.” What inspired the twenty-three witchy clues?

A: Oh, the clues! I believe there was a small army of copyeditors dedicated to counting and double counting the number of clues. We didn’t want to miss one! Or count one twice! It was a big effort to keep them all straight (big shout out to the editorial team at Roaring Brook!). To answer your question, we all loved the idea of Felix treasuring witches so much that he carried his own witchy almanac – and then happened to find the perfect way to put his knowledge to the test (a tall black house in the middle of the forest)!

Q: Your words are welcoming, playful, and vibrant, delivering a heartwarming story of witchy wonder, spooky shenanigans, and friendship. Would you share your process for honing your voice and crafting joyful tales that are treats for the whole family?

A: Thank you so much for your kind words, first of all! This book was SO fun to write. I have always loved Halloween, so I’m very grateful for the opportunity to write the Halloween book of my dreams! Fun fact – this manuscript has gone through at least 20 revisions. Spike’s original name was Claude! But Felix has always been Felix, and he has always wanted to be a witch, and the house in the woods was always instrumental to his journey to become one. In fact, the ending lines (“’I wonder,’ Felix said, ‘if any witches live here.’ And they did.”) were in the manuscript from the very first draft. Like Felix, once we find our own magic, we carry it with us across every threshold.

Q: A Witch Lives Here features stunning pictures that complement the story perfectly, delivering an immersive and spellbinding reading experience. Would you walk us through the collaboration process with A Witch Lives Here’s incredible illustrator, Justine Gilbuena?

A: Isn’t Justine wonderful? This is her debut picture book! I am so honored to be a part of her first publication process, especially having seen her extraordinary talent first hand. I still get goosebumps every time I open the book, because every detail is so darn perfect and adorable. Throughout the collaboration process, it felt like Justine was constantly reaching inside my brain to bring every detail of Felix and Spike’s adventure to life. Fun fact: Felix was partly inspired by one of Justine’s illustrations from a few Halloweens back! Safe to say that Justine’s been baked into Felix and Spike’s story since the very beginning.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from A Witch Lives Here, and what did you learn by writing it?

A: It’s always wonderful to hear of little ones reading the book for the first time, or seeing pictures and videos, or experiencing it while reading it aloud to a group at storytime (nothing like real-time feedback from toddlers, ha!) But nothing beats hearing about families reading it again and again, because that’s a kid’s true stamp of approval. Fills me with joy! This book has several layers to it and can be appreciated in different ways, so my hope is readers can find something new in Felix and Spike’s story every time they open it.

Q: What is your favorite part of writing for little ones?

A: When my kids were in preschool, I hosted a weekly storytime for our neighborhood playgroup in my backyard. Each week we chose books according to different themes (Cars, Dinos, Mermaids, etc), and I quickly learned the importance of humor in capturing the attention of rambunctious four year olds! The more absurd the humor, the better – which is a very fun place to write from. I try to shape my work around the number of belly laughs it might one day receive.

Author Bio:

Kristen Dickson is the author of A Witch Lives Here and Fiona Builds A Fairy House, two picture books about marvelous houses and fantastic friends. Kristen dresses as a black cat each year for Halloween and loves finding magic in everyday things. She lives in Dallas with her family.

Thank you so much to Kristen for joining me in discussing her spook-tacular picture book! 🫶

Happy Halloween friends!

We've got a combo disability release wrap up for September and October this month! Apologies on getting a little behind on these--with the combination of traveling internationally and the start of the school year... the fall has gotten away from me. Really, I should be studying for midterms right now but one thing about me is I'll take any excuse to procrastinate.

September Releases

A Hart to Call Home by S. Sidney

romance

chronic migraine

Espíritu by Aiden Thomas

YA fantasy
ADHD

Tastes Like Summer by Caroline Frank

romance

type 1 diabetes

Feeling Like an ADHD Alien by Pina Varnel

YA graphic novel

ADHD

Keldori by Daybreak by M.T. Zimny

YA fantasy

trichotillomania

Kill Your Darlings by Yuvashri Harish

YA Horror

neurodivergence

Conflict Conclusion by D.C. Emerson

romance

PTSD

The Vanished Sister by Sherry Thomas

historical mystery

neurodivergence

Set the Record Straight by Hannah Bonam-Young (trad pub release)

holiday romance

autism, ADHD

The Curse of Thornhollow by Valtinen Erik Karille

paranormal thriller

cane and ambulatory wheelchair user

Doomsdate by Laura Piper Lee

paranormal romance

anxiety

Kiss of the Black Flame by Helen Scheurer

fantasy romance

chronic illness, chronic pain

Made Better Together by Kylie Skye

romance

PTSD

Between Heaven and Unholy by Joanna Carney

romance

anxiety

From Beijing With Love by Bei Lin

romance

OCD, anxiety

The Bone Brides by Marley Rose-Teter

horror

mental illness

October Releases

You're No Better by Andrew Joseph White

YA horror

autism

The Forest Bleeds by Rachel Kitch

horror

OCD, neurodivergence

Ideal Lost, Part One: The Shrikes by JT Wong

contemporary

depression, anxiety

Forrest and Fable by Evita Wren

romance

POTS

Boundless edited by Marieke Nijkamp

middle grade anthology

every story ft. different disabilities

How to Troll a Guy in 10 Days by Pippa Grant

romance

migraines

Bad Words by Ríoghnach Robinson

romance

depression

Big Nick Energy by Morgan Elizabeth (trad pub release)

holiday romance

migraines

Undone by Peyton Corinne

romance

mental illness

Sunflower Season by Danica Nava

romance

anxiety, panic attacks

Scorpion Deep by C.G. Drews

YA horror

autism

Victorious by V.E. Schwab

fantasy

chronic pain

Love Wants Us to Win by Jacqueline Middleton

romance

migraines

Crack the Ice by Lindsey Saenz

romance

autism, ADHD, cancer