(looked this up. NOT a decade. six years. it came out in 2020. however I did have two children since I read it last which might explain the subjective time distortion. anyway the next book with the tiger demons is also extremely good.)

Books are so good when they’re good. I hadn’t reread Nghi Vo’s Empress of Salt and Fortune in about a decade. It’s even better than I remember, AND there’s a whole series now.

I said it and I meant it.

must issue a tragic correction: out this month if you're in the US. not out till February in the UK. heartbreaking news for my people.

I have absolutely no idea if localisation works and if so for whom. I suspect the goal is to line up with patronising adult assumptions about child readers, rather than actually giving children what they want to read. it isn't the children who buy the books.

Witch Week localised 'sixth form' to 'sixth grade' which is INSANE. one of these is 11-12, the other is 16-18. I was appalled when I realised how nonsensical Becca's copy was!

Wow! Texts are super rare for the Hittites, basically there’s just one archive and it’s 95% lists of prayer sacrifices to mountain gods, so this is really, really exciting!

our protag is the oathsworn sibling-lover-champion of the empress who gets his/her gender forcibly changed according to what empress thinks is convenient or fun. a cute cat with wings is here. Have You Got All That. okay good. language is the first and purest weapon of imperial domination.

Lee like: listen. evil space wizard empress and her core gang of minions. all of them are outrageously hot. all of them are in Some kind of current or former sexy situation. at least one is a traitor, at least one has been in prison for a thousand years, at least one is possibly a spaceship.

just finished reading Code and Codex by Yoon Ha Lee (new! Yoon Ha Lee! space opera! out this month!) and man. no one else does the combination of indulgent (complimentary) and very, very clever quite so well.

'Upon learning of the prize, according to her agent, Nicole Aragi, Carson said, “Yikes.”'

Book review: The Incandescent by Emily Tesh This vaguely dark academia novel set in a school for sorcerers/magicians is just spectacular. Dr. Sapphire "Saffy" Walden is our protagonist. Nearly 40, a workaholic, and with good reason since she's more or less trying to personally keep a 19c magical…

Had a really great time chatting (and chatting, and chatting some more) with Casella about the Le Guin Prize shortlist. Honestly I could easily have gone on longer; it’s a list with a lot to discuss, in a great way.

this book is SO good

Read it! One of no less than three 2026 Tchaikovskys featuring a plot central female character who is, in some more or less literal way, a mustelid. (See also Pretenders to the Throne of God & Children of Strife.)

I think novellas are a good way back into reading when your attention span is suffering! There's also Nghi Vo's Singing Hills series, and I really enjoyed Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry.

I started by rereading the Murderbot series, which starts with four fun and quick novellas to get you hooked before it hits you with the first novel.