Happy Monday!

In case you missed it, I got to talk to the CBC about Summerween! Check out the article and my recs here: https://www.cbc.ca/books/summerween-explained-why-readers-are-picking-up-horror-in-the-summer-9.7315529

I am back with another YouTube video! A new series where I talk about by favorite Women in Horror and their books! I have doubled my video time from my first video. I might be getting the hang of this… and I hit 1,000 subscribers (in fact, I’m at 1200 now!)

https://youtu.be/y4Z2koBSQrg?is=6oL_6RyyW1QvyT7p

What Feeds Below hit 1000 preorders! I am so grateful to all of you for your support of this book!

Cracks is one of the MOST REQUESTED HORROR books on Netgalley and it needs reviews, please request! (And preorder! Let’s make sure every book from our imprint is a force to be reckoned with!

https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/880103

Snail mail is going out next week !

Let me know what you’re reading this week below!

I finally put a bow on three books I've been working on for the bulk of the month and I got some new ones to crack open, so I'll update y'all on those and as always I wanna know what you're reading in the comments. Let's pitter patter get at 'er!

READING

REVIEW

FIRE & BLOOD by GEORGE RR MARTIN (fantasy)

Progress: Finished

Finished House of the Dragon S3 just as I was getting through that section of the book, and now I know how it all plays out even though I'm sure the show will take some liberties as it has done with so many storylines and characters (looking at you, Alicent).

This is likely one that either really works for you front-to-back or is eminently skimmable depending on your ability to vibe with the fake-history format. Recency bias may be in play but in all of the ASOIAF books I'd rank it above A Dance with Dragons and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which would put it right around A Feast for Crows.

THE ODYSSEY by HOMER [Emily Wilson translation] (epic poetry)

Progress: Finished

I continue to think Emily Wilson's translation is a godsend for anyone who wants to read this without it feeling like homework and I even had a few teachers reach out to express this sentiment. There are portions of the journey that I enjoy considerably more than others, but once Odysseus gets back to Ithaca and the revenge story gets momentum it really does the thing. Impossible to rate this so I'm not even gonna try but I really did love this translation.

BLACK FLAGS, BLUE WATERS by ERIC JAY DOLIN (narrative history)

Progress: Finished

The History Sickos Book Club pick for August landed a little more mixed than I expected. The opening chapter info-dump (I know, odd phrase for a history book) did a lot to establish what piracy was during this time, which I figured was doing the groundwork so the individual pirate stories could cook later at a brisk pace. Instead, it felt increasingly repetitive. There's still plenty to like here, especially when it comes to myth-busting (it's a shame we don't have more concrete evidence re: Blackbeard), but the marketing/promise of the book fell short with its contents. Roughly 3*.

THIS IS CHINA: THE FIRST 5,000 YEARS [edited by Haiwang Yuan] (academic history)

Progress: 40/134

This condenses the much more exhaustive Berkshire Encyclopedia of China into a primer/study guide meant for classroom use, which I appreciate because I was never going to read all 5 volumes (2,800 pages!) of that tome. I dig overviews like these and also like the "Thought Experiment" inserts and mini-biographies on important figures like Confucius.

PREVIEW

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett came in right after I posted last week's update so I'm gonna give 'er a go. I'll probably get an early start on the History Sickos Book Club pick for September (vote ongoing for that in the Discord).

A SICKO DEADLINE APPROACHES (a C+P reminder)

The next Sicko Society quarterly book box is set to be shipped in December, but the deadline to make sure you qualify for it is fast approaching. Upgrade your tier to be a Sicko Society member by 9/1 and update your mailing address to make sure you get in on the action! The next book box to ship is A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab!

That there is over 40 of you who have upgraded since we started this mere months ago is mind-blowing to me and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support and how much it benefits our publishing imprint, thank you!

EVERYTHING ELSE

• Publishing News: Ofelia and I had our first meeting for Grave of Petals last week, which is exciting as hell. Work on the edits start soon and I think we're both super hyped to get to work on the cover because we see so much potential to do something that pops.

• Game of the Week: The only missions I have left in Assassin's Creed Odyssey are a few episodes from the DLC, so maybe I'll swap the late night gaming for something more productive (lol). I still can't help myself from opening Civilization VI whenever the chance comes. Lately I've been trying to get wins with civilizations that I haven't won with before and have about a half dozen left. I just hit over 700 hours on it (imagine all the reading I could've done!).

• Show of the Week: I finished Euphoria S3S6 last night and it's crazy how much of a goofy fall off this season has been. Anything remotely thoughtful has been booted for shock-value. It sucks, but I'm pot committed and thankfully only have two episodes left.

• Movie of the Week: We only had time to finish Face/Off last week in a our watch-along so maybe we need to fit in Con-Air this week?!