Matthew

[Image desc: RED STAR HUSTLE by Sam J Miller alongside a highball glass, both awash with rainbow light.]

NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about RED STAR HUSTLE by Sam J. Miller. A bold space opera noir exploring queer intimacy, sex work, conspiracy, & addiction. Powerful, thoughtful, & propulsive science fiction. Our drink, the Exilarch, is a mocktail for the depths of space!

I love it when I have all the ingredients at home already. :D

Your Library's Hoopla Digital Collections Are Breaking Their Budget If you've noticed changes to the digital materials you can borrow from your library, that's because that access is costing libraries way more than ever before.

Since you limit your comments/replies, I'm threading here because mis-information *needs* to be corrected.

You're going to utterly bankrupt your public library doing what you suggested in your message.

If your library is limiting hoopla, respect it.

bookriot.com/library-hoop...

This one almost made my list too! SO good.

I wouldn't have guessed that. 😅

Oh very nice! I've always meant to explore the city someday -- I hear good things about it and have had to drive through several times...

I loved this one too! It was such a great book year.

I'm often leery of books that win literary awards (I know...) but this one sounds intriguing!

Cover of Jinwoo Chong's I Leave It Up to You

For Day 2 of #LibFaves25 (still not in any order) I LEAVE IT UP TO YOU by Jinwoo Chong. What -- from me and it has no speculative or mystery elements? I know! But it's a funny, heartfelt story of a gay Korean American man learning he can rebuild his life after being in a two year coma. #booksky

I still need to get to this one! I loved his prior novel so much!

2025 Horror Fiction Picks Explore the world of horror fiction with some of our librarians’ favorites! These titles were chosen as Peak Picks earlier this year and can now be found in our regular collections. They capture a …

The Seattle Public Library serves up their 2025 Horror Fiction Picks, including work by friends Dan Chaon, Daniel H. Wilson, Silvia Moreno Garcia, and ME!!!
blog.spl.org/2025/12/08/2...

Request a 2026 ARC from Titan Books! ✨ If you would like to request an ARC for a 2025 title, please use this form. You must be 18 or over and based in the UK, Republic of Ireland, United States of America or Canada. Please note that subm...

Calling all reviewers! 📣

You can now request 2026 titles from Titan Books by filling out this form: bit.ly/2026TitanARCs

We update this form regularly, so make sure you check back if you don't want to miss any books! 💙

A photo of me holding a copy of the book over half my face. It shows a skeleton staring through binoculars on the cover!

THE WRITHING, VERDANT END IS OUT TODAY!!!!!!

Need some weird weird eco-horror in your life?

Then look no further than this little split collection from @ericraglin1992.bsky.social, @tiffmorris.bsky.social, and me!!!

Library folks! It's day 2 for counting down (or up, or in no particular order 😉) your 10 favorite books published in 2025, 1 per day, through 12/17. TITLE in caps, tag #LibFaves25! I’ll be the tally taker today and I so look forward to seeing what you loved!

#Libfaves25 Day 1:

INSECTOPOLIS by Peter Kuper

An absolutely stunning visual tour

Book cover for The Farm by Richard Haigh

Paperbacks from Hell are BACK! The next title, Richard Haigh's super-rare THE FARM (1984), is now up for preorder on our site: www.valancourtbooks.com/the-farm-198... Website preorders should ship in the spring!

The second is that I help with RUSQ: A Journal of Reference and User Experience by soliciting articles about collection development. If you or your colleagues have a topic you'd like to write about, please let me know! We publish quarterly and are peer reviewed. #librarysky #collectiondevelopment

Hello fellow librarians!

I have two library things I'd love some help with.

First, I'm going to be co-chair of the Essential Cookbooks committee next year and we'd love some new members! You'd fill out the RUSA volunteer form. #librarysky

2024's list for an example: rusaupdate.org/2025/01/esse...

Cover of Luminous by Silvia Park

Day one of #LibFaves25 and my first pick (these will be in no order) is LUMINOUS by Silvia Park. Robot crimes in a future Korea as a way to explore family, humanity, and identity. Prose that constantly made me stop and reflect on how perfect it is. #booksky

SUCH a good choice! I loved that it was secretly one of my favorite kinds of horror.

I was not paying attention last night and bumped into its tail... That did not go well. 😅

It’s like sb was listening to me harping on missing the mix tapes (not so much LPs)! Mix tapes gave us the most wonderful form of practicing/experiencing copy*left* (not in the legal sense) but in the sense of curating and sharing in our most ordinary life, imho. 🙌@jasonclark.bsky.social #copyleft

I’m currently seeing what trouble I can get to going up to weird floating islands. 😁

Movie you’ve watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Stars (Wars nor Trek), LOTR, or Marvel, Disney Animated or Pixar.

Still not sure about eating bread someone kneaded with their feet, though. 😉 Even if the cut scene is adorable.

That opera house scene was epic!

wrote a dystopian novel on this subject and it wasn’t meant to be a how to guide

It begins today! #LibFaves25. When library workers from all over share their top 10 reads of the year; 1 a day for 10 days. Titles in all caps so volunteers can count them. I will be using the opportunity to highlight only horror titles so that they get included in the final tally.

Thank you! 😁

You have such fantastic taste. 😁