Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall

 

I will totally pick up a book because it has a cool cover. I may not read it right away, but I will pick it up. That’s what I did with Hell’s Heart. There is a cute independent bookstore in my town that has a little free library outside of it in which the bookstore owners often put out advanced reader copies they are done with. I found Hell’s Heart there a few months ago and liked the octopus/tentacle monster/eldritch horror vibe of the cover so I picked it up. When I saw the audiobook on NetGalley a few months later I requested it because that cover still slapped and I hadn’t had time to read it yet. And I’m so glad that I did!

I will NOT tell you how deep I was into the book before I realized it was a version of Moby Dick (but in space with Jovian leviathans and sapphic romances). I probably should have realized it sooner. But that doesn’t matter because this book was amazing! I couldn’t stop listening to it, I was so into the characters, and I really enjoyed the writing style with faux authorial asides to the reader. Highly recommended!

This Will Be Interesting, by E. B. Asher

 

I hate deckled edges and I love sprayed and painted edges. Deckled edges are when the pages of a paper book don’t all evenly line up. it’s how books used to look a long time ago but nowadays it’s just an obnoxious affectation, in my opinion. I have repeatedly refused to buy a physical book in a bookstore because of deckled edges - the tactile experience is so incredibly unpleasant that I’d rather not read the book. 

Sprayed edges, however, are a trend I wholeheartedly endorse. I love going into a bookstore and seeing a book pop with color on the top and side! I don’t know what it is that makes it seem so fun and enticing! I first found E.B. Asher’s first book, This Will Be Fun, at a local bookstore because of the sprayed edges. Something about the title and cover and design called to me so I bought it on impulse, and I enjoyed it! I didn’t love how much of the high-magic world replicated 21st century technology but I really enjoyed the characters and the quest. So I was quite pleased when I got an eARC of the sequel, This Will Be Interesting, from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This sequel was much better than the first novel! Like the first book, this novel traded chapters between its 3 POV characters (which I think map onto the 3 different coauthors who make up the pen name of E.B. Asher, but I’m not 100% sure of that).  But these characters felt much more interesting and well rounded than the ones in the first book. The plot was fun and the romances felt believable (in a fantasy romance novel kind of way). I would totally read another book by this trio again!

Your Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin Feinstein

As I’ve said recently, Tachyon has become one of the publishers I seek out work by - they have a really good track record of publishing books I enjoy. When I was requesting ARCs of their recent stuff, they also sent me a copy of this book - and I’m really glad they did! This is a first novel by an author I’m going to be looking out for in the future. It is not quite an epistolary novel but it is similar- it is comprised of messages and chat logs and similar things. It is a near future novel set at an AI tech company that is working on creating an AI that makes targeted personal commercials. It was a breezy quick read that always made me want to read just a few pages more, and the ending was pleasantly surprising. Very enjoyable!

Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher

 

In the past 4 years, or so, I have become a HUGE fan of T. Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon. 

Ms. Vernon is the author of the Hamster Princess books, which both of my daughters have enjoyed (as have I!). Those books were my introduction to her, along with her social media presence, which I found through Seanan McGuire. 

Ordinarily, I don’t like horror. I never wanted to watch scary movies as a kid. I got nightmares from E.T.  But based on recommendations I read the Twisted Ones and The Holllow Places and I realized that I loved Ms. Vernon’s writing and I could make it through the scary parts unscathed with her as my guide. 

I started devouring her back catalog and putting all new releases on hold at the library.  I have subscribed to her Patreon and I convinced my wife to read Nettle and Bone, which she loved (as did I). I even backed the kickstarter for the rerelease of Digger, which was wonderful. 

I was very excited when I heard she had a new book out in 2026 called Wolf Worm and I was even more excited when I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was super creepy in the best ways! I will not be recommending it to my wife for that reason but to anyone that liked her other more horror-y books this is a slam dunk. The protagonist, like many in her recent novels, is a not young woman who reads as slightly neurodivergent who ends up in a creepy situation. She is a scientific illustrator in the post Civil War south who gets a job in a creepy house painting bugs for a creepy naturalist. I won’t spoil the big reveal but suffice it to say I was surprised and pleased by how the plot resolved. Very satisfying!

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu

 

Ever since I started voting for the Hugo awards, I have tried to be more mindful of the names of authors that I enjoy so I can seek them out again. Hugo reading is where I first discovered John Chu. I rarely read short stories except when I am reading for the Hugos so I hadn’t encountered him before, but I enjoyed his stories and looked forward to seeing what else he wrote. I was very happy when NetGalley and the publisher gave me an advanced copy of his debut novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space. This is a family drama in an sff setting. The protagonist is coping with the impending death of her mother and the disdain of her much older sister while studying for her PhD. She and her family are also part of a secret organization that helps maintain the universe. I really enjoyed this book, but much more for the family and character work than for the sff aspects. They weren’t bad, mind you, but what the author does with character is so much more powerful. It reminded me of how I felt reading 11/22/63 by Steven King - I enjoyed it but I wondered how great a non-sff book by the author would be. I look forward to his next book!

Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman

 

Tachyon has become one of the publishers I seek out work by - they have a really good track record of publishing books I enjoy. Now, I hadn’t heard of the author ADA Hoffman before, but I was perusing Tachyon’s offerings on NetGalley and I was intrigued by this book. I’m a sucker for a story set on a Jovian moon so I requested a copy in exchange for an honest review. Boy was I glad I did! This book was wonderful and powerful and sad and kind in so many ways! The protagonist is a neurodivergent woman who works as a script supervisor for an AI generated tv show and she gets caught up in her ex’s heist hijinks when he comes back into her life.  There is humor and love and pathos and sadness and I just could not put this book down. I am so glad I read it and I know you will be too. 

We Burned So Bright by T J Klune

 

I really love TJ Klune’s vibe even when I don’t love his work. When I saw Mr. Klune at NY Comic-Con a few years back, I remembered how cool I thought he was and how much I liked his style and sensibilities. I really enjoyed his Extraordinaries trilogy (although his strong pro- and anti- police stands in different volumes gave me whiplash), but I didn’t really vibe with Under the Whispering Door. I enjoyed the sentiments of House on a Cerulean Sea but felt the world building was weak in a way that took me out of the book, and I felt the sequel had a deus ex machina that felt cheap. Ultimately, I enjoy his takes on love and joy even when I don’t enjoy the stories they are in. 

So I decided to request from NetGalley and the publisher an eARC of We Burned So Bright, his newest book. The world is about to end due to a black whole moving through our solar system and an elderly gay couple tries to make a cross country trip before the end. Like many of his books, the meditations on love and the hearts of the characters is what shines in this piece. The world building, however, totally take me out of the story. The idea that society would be functioning enough in the weeks leading up to total annihilation to support a cross country road trip is ludicrous, and the physics does not seem plausible. It reminded me of The Last Policeman series, which was much better in just about every way. That being said, the character and relationship stuff was very moving. I sometimes wish Mr. Klune would write a nonfantastical story - I would read and enjoy it. I enjoyed this too, but with these quibbles I often have with his work.