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Sickos! I'll be filming a Q&A on YouTube this week and y'all are, hopefully, going to be the ones providing me with questions, which I will then, in turn, answer (I think that's how Q&A's go). So. Yeah. Hit me with any questions you have in the comments here, I'll pull the best ones (or ones I can answer best), and include them in the video. It can be about anything (within reason, obv). Fire away!
MONTHLY WRAP YAP...
Also for those that aren't in the Discord, we're having our Monthly Wrap live video/voice call tonight around 8pm EST. These usually go for an hour or more and we'd love to have you hang out! Be subscribed at the Sicko tier or above to unlock that Discord channel.
OTHER STUFF...
I'll see y'all tomorrow for a Monday Reading Update on here
Have you pre-ordered A Complement of Scoundrels by S.V. Lockwood yet? The kindle version is on sale for $3.99!
We've locked down our audiobook narrator for ACoS, more on that soon but I loved their sample
Audible is currently having their summer sale where Prime Members can get the Audible Standard Plan for 3 Months Free (#amazonaffiliate), it's a great excuse to try audiobooks if you haven't yet as you can cancel anytime
My boss (me) approved my birthday vacation request so I'll be mostly MIA the week of 6/15. I'll have some content pre-filmed and I'll still be in the Discord hangin' out so not much will change for y'all tbh
Happy Sunday and Day 7 of Pride, friends!!
Yesterday I attended my first Pride as a vendor, and while it was a long day, I had the absolute BEST time! Thank you again to everyone who stopped by my table to say hello, grab a business card, or made a purchase. You brought a smile to my face, and I'm thankful for you. In a time where the administration is telling us not to live authentically, you showed up and showed up as YOU. and I truly loved all the smiling faces and families there.
While yesterday was such an amazing event, Wisconsin also lost a powerful voice for not only the Oneida Nation and Two Spirit community, but also the LBGTQIA2+ community for the entire state of Wisconsin - Joseph "Joe" Torres. I had the honor and privilege of serving on a panel with him at the Neville Museum a few years ago, and while it was my first speaking engagement, he helped ease my nerves with his genuineness, his laughter and his wisdom. Our interactions were always brief, but his lasting impression on every life he touched will leave such a legacy.
In honor of Joe, I have decided that for the remainder of June, including the last 2 events I will be vending at and any sales I make for this month, I will donate all proceeds to the UW-GB Pride Center to help them create a scholarship/award in honor of Joe. If you would like to donate directly, please see the attached flyer for the QR Code. From the drop down menu, please select Pride Center General Operations Fund. Or Click Here.
With this being said, I'm opening up my Merch Link again for the rest of the month for you all to shop Pride exclusives. You can find the Merch Link Here. Again, all proceeds will go to UW-GB for every sale I make this month. If you'd like to Venmo me, please reach out to me directly to contribute. I will add it to the proceeds at the end of the month.
Speaking of events, my next event will be at The Attic, June 13th, from 9a-2p, in Green Bay, with other authors and a bookish vendor! They will have an exclusive drink menu in addition to a giveaway! Here are the details:
I hope every single one of you have such an amazing, peaceful and restful Sunday. Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope to see all you locals next Saturday!
With all my trans joy,
Sawyer Cole
Welcome back to After the Walk, where Link and I return from our weekly stroll, and I attempt to organize my thoughts about everything I've been reading.
This week felt like one of those wonderfully reading weeks where the genres couldn't have been more different. I bounced from dark-humored fantasy to historical fantasy, from psychological thriller to speculative fiction, and somehow every book ended up circling the same idea: What do we do when life refuses to go according to plan?
Some books answered that question better than others.
DNF: Sublimation
Let's start with the only book I didn't finish.
Sublimation had one of the most intriguing premises I've encountered in a while. I was genuinely invested in the concept and wanted to know where the story was going.
Unfortunately, I ended up setting it aside at 48%.
The entire novel is written in second person and rotates between multiple points of view. Every character is essentially narrating events as "you." You woke up. You drank coffee. You entered the room.
Second person is already a difficult narrative choice for me, but when multiple characters are all speaking in that same perspective, I found it increasingly difficult to stay grounded in the story.
This was very much a case of "it's not you, it's me." The premise remained compelling right up until the point I stopped reading.
Hopelessly Necromantic
The elevator pitch alone sold me on this one: A burned-out royal necromancer grieving his wife gets dragged into another kingdom-saving adventure alongside a demon recruit and an unexpectedly charming skeleton brother-in-law.
This book knows exactly what it wants to be.
The humor is relentless in the best way. Bone puns. Self-aware fantasy jokes. Characters who seem vaguely annoyed that they're trapped inside an epic fantasy quest.
Beneath all of that humor, though, sits a story about grief.
Sikras is carrying enormous emotional weight, and the novel explores what it looks like to continue living after loss. Friendship, found family, and healing all become central themes as the story unfolds.
My only criticism is that the emotional depth never quite matched the emotional potential. The ingredients were all there, but the story often skimmed the surface of ideas I wanted it to explore further.
Still, this is a charming fantasy that succeeds because of its heart as much as its humor.
Man of My Dreams
Every reader has books where they can pinpoint the exact moment things stop working.
For me, that happened about a third of the way through this novel.
The synopsis promises one mystery. The novel gradually reveals that the mystery you've been following isn't actually the mystery the book cares about.
Now, I normally love a good twist. I enjoy being surprised.
The problem wasn't that the story changed directions.
The problem was that I spent so much time investing in the first storyline that, once the switch happened, I couldn't stop wondering why I'd invested so much energy into something that ultimately felt secondary.
By the end, the novel felt like two separate books competing for space.
I suspect readers who love layered mysteries and constantly shifting narratives may enjoy this much more than I did. Unfortunately, I spent more time irritated than intrigued.
The Unicorn Hunters
At this point, I should probably stop being surprised when Katherine Arden writes something I love.
The Unicorn Hunters takes the historical figure Anne of Brittany and asks a delightful question: What if folklore, prophecy, unicorns, and magic had been woven into her story all along?
The result is exactly the sort of historical fantasy I can't resist and included magical forests, court politics, ancient legends, and clever women navigating impossible situations. Basically, real history viewed through the lens of myth.
What impressed me most was Anne herself. Arden allows her to be ambitious, stubborn, strategic, intelligent, and flawed. She feels like a real person rather than a historical symbol.
Historical fantasy can sometimes lean too heavily toward either the history or the fantasy. This book strikes an ideal balance between the two.
Also, Louis repeatedly launching himself into danger for love deserves special recognition.
Historical fantasy continues to dominate my reading year, and this may end up being one of my favorite examples of the genre.
The Break-Up Retreat
This is everything I wanted Nine Perfect Strangers to be. The plot centers around an isolated wellness retreat, a charismatic founder who feels increasingly suspicious, and an undercover journalist.
The best part was the whole cast of flawed, messy people who were trapped together in an environment that grows more unsettling with every chapter.
Camilla Sten excels at atmosphere.
Long before the bodies start dropping, there's an overwhelming sense that something is wrong. The tension builds steadily through paranoia, suspicion, and psychological unease.
I also appreciated the queer representation, which felt nuanced and naturally integrated into the story. The beginning is slower than the ending, leaning heavily into psychological suspense before transitioning into something much more explosive. Once the final act begins, the pace accelerates dramatically.
Bonus: the epilogue was fantastic.
If you enjoy Ruth Ware, Sarah Pearse, isolated settings, suspicious characters, and stories that make you question everyone's motives, this should absolutely be on your radar.
The Traveler
This is speculative fiction doing what speculative fiction does best: using impossible ideas to explore deeply human questions.
On the surface, The Traveler is a story involving time travel and futures beyond imagination.
At its core, however, it's about a father and a son. It's about the impossible balancing act of wanting what's best for your child while recognizing that their life ultimately belongs to them.
The relationship between Scott and Lyle carried the entire novel for me. Even during moments when I wasn't entirely certain I understood the mechanics of what was happening, I remained invested because I cared so deeply about the people at the center of the story.
By the end, I had tears in my eyes.
The novel occasionally becomes so ambitious that it risks overwhelming the reader, and I did find parts of the ending difficult to fully grasp. But even when I felt slightly lost, the emotional core never let me go. That's a rare accomplishment.
Final Thoughts
If I had to summarize this reading week in one sentence, it would be this: Every book was asking what happens when our plans collide with reality.
A grieving necromancer trying to move forward.
A queen trying to avoid a future she doesn't want.
Characters trapped in a retreat they no longer trust.
A father trying to protect a son across impossible stretches of time.
Even the books that didn't fully work for me were grappling with questions that lingered long after I closed them.
Hey gang!
Tonights discussion is via ZOOM instead of Discord so we can record it for those members who miss it! 8pm GMT!
The link is - https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8500627513?pwd=w5liWaBwjRbMCb31FEElh58pm9bW9a.1&omn=88086601870
ALSO
Tonight we will be joined by ELODIE HARPER herself! So prepare a question if you desire...
Truth and Courage,
Ed and Will
The Sunday Prescription
One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.
Happy Sunday everyone, and welcome to the first installment of The Sunday Prescription, where each week I plan on discussing a bookish topic, my reading plans for the week, and call out some books you all should be checking out! And as always, none of my stuff is written with any kind of generative AI - it's just me rambling!
My Symptoms: DNFing
I've talked a bunch before both here and other platforms about DNFing books, and my general thoughts around that. And, truth be told, I think I have a pretty solid feel for how I handle individual books. But I've had a few experiences this week that have really got me thinking about my approach to a series and whether I DNF that or not.
First, I saw some really interesting reels from C.J.Dennyreads and Sarahdoesbookishstuff
where they discussed the price of admission for reading a series, or the idea that for some series, you need to make it through a book or two before the series "gets good." This is pretty common (Suneater, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Throne of Glass all come to mind). Now generally speaking, I usually give a series one book. One. That's it. My thought is that, if I get to the end of book one, and I absolutely hate the characters, the story, and am severely bored or angry, I should just DNF the series. Stop. Do not pass go. Do not collect any money because I don't get paid to read things I hate. And as I thought about my favorite series, I realized I loved all the book 1's.
Now of course, if I can find some redeeming qualities, or see some light at the end of the tunnel, I'll keep going. However, Both Sarah and CJ made some great points and really got me thinking about this. Then I started listening to The Dragon Republlic, book 2 in The Poppy War Trilogy, and that got me thinking even more. Mild spoilers ahead for The Poppy War in the next paragraph.
I've posted my review of The Poppy War on socials before, and I really struggled with Rin. I think throughout the book, she wreaked havoc on everyone around her, made frustrating decisions (even for someone her age), and showed a tendency to be a sociopath (remember in tactics when she suggested to ruin the ecology of an area of the country for decades and lose tons of civilians in the process just to win one battle? THAT'S A SOCIOPATH!). And by the end, I was like wow, this book is really just about a sociopath who gets too much power and how bad war is - I know how that works as an avid reader of history.
Over the last few months I have been strongly considering DNFing the whole series, because I just thought this was a one note, one theme series, and I didn't find any of the characters interesting or compelling. Just kind of different shades of miserable. However, CJ and Sarah got me thinking about if I'm being too harsh. So I got my Libro audiobook credits, and promptly picked up the Dragon Republic. And wishing the first few chapters, this book is already showing more humanity and nuance for our characters than the entire first book, and has even made Rin redeemable for me. I was floored by how good the first six or so chapters have been. And it's made me think: should I revisit a few series I put down after book one, or start a series I have said I never would?
Now this is not to say I expect every single reading experience going forward to be game changing, and I will still probably DNF some series and avoid others. But it got me thinking about how I might tweak this approach this year. It's even got me thinking about whether or not I should read book 2 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Let me know what you think in the poll below!
The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing
Now as you all know, I am a feral mood reader, so my plans always reserve the right to change. However, this is what I'm reading this week:
Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes - this is a Bindery book, and I got an ARC on NetGalley. I'm going to finish the sone up as soon as I hit send on this newsletter. I have LOVED this so far. It is a souther gothic horror that focuses on a black town in Mississippi in the 1920's where the women are forced to bear the men's burdens through a mystical act, leaving the town eerily patriarchal and off.
You Weren't Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White - Buddy reading this with a few of you all (Aiko in particular!), and have loved it so far. Body horror about a trans man in a dystopian world where cults, body horror, and the horror of existence for marginalized communities are explored.
The Dragon Republic by RF Kuang - Will it turn out I love The Poppy War Trilogy?
Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Ourllian - I was offered this as an ARC last week, and thought it would be cool to check out!
I am also excited because I'm approaching 25k on Instagram, 10k on TikTok, 1500 on YouTube, and 250+ here on bindery. The support everyone has shown me in the last year has been tremendous, and I'm working on a cool giveaway to celebrate all of these milestones. So stay Tuned!
Like More In-Depth Access?
If you enjoy getting into the details with me about reading, then consider upgrading to The Dark Travelers tier. 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'm running over to my bookstore today to grab this month's pick, Stoner by John Williams, and we're doing Headlights by CJ Leede in July! 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!
Thank you as always for being here, and I hope you all have a great week of reading!
Friends,
So happy to share that Kristy Park Kulski is now a STOKER AWARD WINNER for Best Anthology: Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Tales from the Asian Diaspora.
Kristy’s next novel CRACKS is a haunting historical horror and the second book being published by our imprint! Coming April 27!
Cover reveal coming soon!
Congrats, Kristy!!!
I finished up the cover wrap and formatting for Small Town Slasher. I know some people read it and may never give this one a chance if they didn't like the first one but I'm glad it's now a novella AND part of a new series, Woods Bay. I didn't plan on the title being similar to a new show I hadn't heard about but oh well that might help! I'll be sending away for one copy to line edit the whole book one more time. I just announced the next anthology theme SLASHERS and it's great to see so many people excited about it!
I've been attending StokerCon virtually since Thursday and have learned a lot and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to attend online. It still has a long way to go to be better for the virtual attendees but I'm grateful I can attend. It's my third year and I put time aside to attend virtually. I'm exhausted and will definitely have a whole separate post sharing what I've learned, a review and reflection of it if you will.
BOOKS
Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne
Platform Decay by Martha Wells
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
Currently reading: The Secret Lives of Zombie Wives by Barbara Truelove (It's a novella and I'm super slow reading print but I do love it so far) and I'm almost done with the audiobook for Dead and Breakfast by Kat Hillis & Rosiee Thor.
SHOWS
NEW
24 in 24
Next Level Chef
Pop Culture Jeopardy
Euphoria
FILMS - I'm on LetterBoxd - horrormaven13
Erupja
Hokum
16 Wishes
Rewatches that I'm enjoying as I pretend to live in the late 90s/early 00s.
TV
Buffy the Vampire Slayer RIP Giles :(
The X-Files
Law and Order: SVU
Owl House
FILMS
The Parent Trap
That's all for this week! I hope you get some time to read and watch and relax.
xoxo
Spooky Girl
"You can space a revolutionary, but you can never space the revolution."
GENRE: Arabfuturism (Sci-Fi)
RATING: 4.25/5
FORMAT: eBook & physical ARC
Review:
The Republic of Memory is an Arab-futurism Sci-fi inspired by Arab Spring and is Mahmud El Sayed's debut novel and what a novel. This book took me some time to read as I had to digest the information and it's definitely a heavy read (in the best of ways), making you think about all the impact of colonisation and the way language plays a role in it all.
As an Arab and someone who lived through Arab Spring in another country, I could recognise the influence of Egypt's Arab Spring on Mahmud's work and how we see the way it impacted the crew in the Safina. The Author takes the time to build the world, giving this book a very epic Sci-Fi vibe. We are introduced to different areas in the Safina, it's people and languages plus the way they work and function.
We are also introduced to the different factions that are demanding changes in the Safina. We see people with different beliefs, morals and values, reading their POV and understanding how each of them have been shaped by the Safina and the way the world has been built.
Oh and a whole new language that is a mixture of different languages? Reading and trying to understand/decode Nupol was so fun throughout the book. I ended up with a bit of a glossary that was ever-changing as words seem to carry multiple meanings. Eventually, my glossary was ditched as I came to understand most of what was said between the crew.
I would love to attend a talk with Mahmud one day and hear what inspired every part of this book, understand how he pieced it all together. This is something you have to experience and get ready to read. It's both slow and fast paced in the way that books with a lot of world building and political aspects to them are and what an adventure it takes you on.
I can't wait for book two and I am planning on rereading book one as The Republic of Memory needs a second read to be fully appreciated. OH and I can't not mention all the amazing Egyptian food we got in the book! I really want some Macarona Bechamel now
I was provided a free advance reader copy and I’m sharing my honest thoughts.
Hey y'all,
We'll be having a reading sprint in the Discord this Monday, June 8th at 7 PM EST on the Discord. This month's book club reads are Devil of the Deep by Falencia Jean Francois and A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid.
Feel free to bring anything else you'd like to read for the sprint, can't wait to chat with y'all on Monday!
XoXo,
Rae
Friends,
We finally got in numbers from Kobo and our partner bookstores (did you know that if you order a paperback copy from certain bookstores, you get a cool poster?!)
Drum roll, please. We are at 472. 472/1000!
Do you know what this means? We are only 178 preorders away from
THE PEN!
I think the ebook will stay at the $3.99 range for awhile! We’ve got 4 months to hit 1000! I think we can hit 650 in 1!
I’ve also got a big What Feeds Below secret, but I have to wait to tell you! Stay tuned!
Happy Friday, friends! One of my most anticipated reads of the year, These Kindred Hearts, releases on June 30, and I wanted to put it on your radar, too.
These Kindred Hearts: 17 Tales of Love and Magic features stories by Alexene Farol Follmuth (Olivie Blake), Angela Montoya, Brent Lambert, Chelsea Padilla, Cheryl Isaacs, Jamar J. Perry, Jennifer Helen, Jill Tew, Kalynn Bayron, Kwame Mbalia, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Nia Davenport, Nikki T. Grant, Shari B. Pennant, Sophie Li, Vanessa Montalban, and Zoraida Córdova.
I'm truly obsessed with the incredible lineup! I'm already a huge fan of some of the amazing authors' work, but I haven't read quite a few, so I'm very excited to discover new favorites. Anthologies are one of the best ways to find your new favorite author (and escape a reading slump!).
I cannot wait to dive into these swoony and spellbinding stories! 🫶
Thank you to Sweet July and Zando Books for the free review copy!
“For the girl who needed this book ages ago, and couldn't find it."
Hello my dears, and welcome back to Fantasy Friday (FF). Summer is on the horizon, it is Pride month and today, I want to talk about superheroes.
Now, whenever we think about superheroes, most tend to gravitate towards the MCU and its expansive universe, focusing on the stories that might, strength, and perseverance to do what is right. Other narratives detail that downfalls of absolute power, and how they can be seen as a cautionary tale for those that don't follow the popular mantra of "with great power , comes great responsibility". But one thing that can get lost within focusing on the pinnacle of power and prestige that superheroes present, is that they also represent not belonging or being "othered" in a society.
We meet Taylor, a young boy who, on paper, has an amazing life. Good grades, plays basketball, and everything is perfect.
Everything is perfect.
Except, it isn't. Taylor is not just a normal teenage boy, but is actually the Galaxy Crowned. An princess from the planet Cyandil who was sent to Earth for her protection and hidden in a body that feels foreign to her but acceptable to others. A normal teenage boy and this is when the allegory takes it's true shape, weaving queerness and transness into the narrative and deeping it, in my opinion.
If we peel back the layers of every superhero, we meet a character that is seen as an alien or on the outskirts of "normal" society. This takes the everyday pressures that come with adolescence/growing up, and pairing that with a body that does not perform in the ways that most would deem acceptable. Countless times, Superman is an example of the greatest superhero, a symbol of hope and justice and the all American ideals that we like to believe this nation uphold. But before all of the grandeur, Superman was and still is seen as an alien. He was an awkward teen who had to stumble his way through life, having to prove himself as both Clark and Superman, and also battling the biases.
Now, I compare the two because Taylor (or Taelyr in her home planet) makes the comparison, using Superman and his alieness as a soft launch of her own, position the question to her friend while she is still wearing the a "mask" of a teenage boy. Then only thing that makes this difficult is that Taylor, who does not see herself as a boy, used the poster-boy for masculine energy and wondered why it did not work for her. While their beginnings may be similar, escaping turmoil and making their way on Earth, they couldn't be more different in how the world perceives them. Superman is palatable because he is cisgendered, white, and aligns with what society deems appropriate behaviors for men. This similar to the experience that some trans and nonbinary youth go through, lacking in representations and sometimes allowing the world to dictate who they can be because they are afraid to push the mold.
This is what Taylor represents and goes through. The same praise and accolades that Superman gets only created a further divide into who Taylor wants to be and what is expected of her, causing isolation even if the world see her as this accomplished and model "boy". It is only by happenstance, shifting accidentally into her true form while in the presence of her new friend Kathrine, where she gets to find the strength to be more like herself and allow the world to see Taylor as she truly is and carve out a space just for her.
I think that fact that Taylor is a girl and Clark Kent/Superman is a boy also plays in the factor as to how society treats them. Often what happens whenever the cisgendered individuals come commune with trans individuals, transmen/masc often face less discrimination than transwomen/femme do. Now intersectionality does play a factor as to how further the divide gets, but the inherent message that is ingrained systematically is that being a woman is seen as lesser and, by proxy, "choosing" to be a woman is crazy. Who would want to chose this life, represent themselves in their truth by becoming a woman? A creature that is often seen as weaker, more emotional, strange, and considerably dangerous. This is portrayed as to how Taylor's community rejects her as an alien and embraces Superman, because at the end of the day, he is still a white cisgendered man and that is palatable to the masses.
In today’s climate, it’s integral to have representation in media so that queer and trans people can feel seen, heard, accepted and celebrated. This story brings together beautiful artwork and a compelling narrative that mirrors the journey that some may face in finding where they belong and accepting who they truly are even if society deems them an “alien”.
Bee's Books
Bailee Russo
Speculative fiction reader, writer, and reviewer | Anthropology & history scholar | Lover of delightfully weird books
House of Randall
Breanne Randall
Welcome to House of Randall - a realm of whimsy, chaos, and magic
Diva Down Books
Joe
Welcome to Diva Down Books! Here, you’ll get the inside scoop on what I’m reading and how I feel about it. One thing about me is that you’re going to get a brutally honest review. I’m happy to have you here!
Rebel Ever After
Ella Dawson
A celebration of swoony, progressive romance novels, hosted by author and podcaster Ella Dawson. Listen to new episodes in the Rebel Ever After feed wherever you get your podcasts!
Not A Phase Books
Sawyer Cole Hobson
Welcome to Not A Phase Books! A book loving community where we’re inclusive and dare to be our authentic selves in the face of the societal norms. Come for the book talk, stay for the community, grow together.
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