Elias Eells- Bar Cart Bookshelf

THE UNIVERSE BOX by Michael Swanwick on a wooden table cast in chiaroscuro amber wood and deep shadows.

A masterful collection!! If you have any love of short fiction at all, you MUST read THE UNIVERSE BOX by Michael Swanwick. It is expansive, thoughtful, thrilling, and utterly fantastic. An absolute treat for longtime fans and new readers alike, this is going to be one of my very favorite 2026 books!

Sometimes I find a full sized magazine intimidating, but there’s something about a digest I just *covet*

Madam Butterfly
2 oz baijiu
.5 oz yuzu curaçao
.5 oz ginger syrup
2 droppersful "Pooter" smoke and salt bitters
Add all ingredients to your mixing glass, then ice. Stir for 20 seconds and strain into a stemmed cocktail glass.

YouTube video by Bar Cart Bookshelf Cocktail Recipe & Book Review: Madam Butterfly (WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY by Wen-yi Lee)

Hear my full review of WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY by @wenyilee.bsky.social (available now from @torbooks.bsky.social) and see how the drink is made at Bar Cart Bookshelf on YouTube.

youtu.be/sZ6H51iyX48

An advance copy of WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY by Wen-yi Lee alongside a pale yellow cocktail atop a rainbow silk scarf.

NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY by Wen-yi Lee. A fantasy set in 70s Singapore, skillfully explores the solidarity of crime, the intersections of queer femininities, & a nation in transition. Plus fire! Our drink is the Madam Butterfly.

Digest sized magazines are so sexy and cool

What if we got our controlled burn certification and we were both boys? 👉👈

THE WORKS OF VERMIN alongside a pale gold drink in a large coupe surrounded by greenery.

NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about THE WORKS OF VERMIN by Hiron Ennes. A entomological epic in a Weird city where art & revolution are intimately entwined, this queer puzzle box is TRANSCENDENT. Our drink is the Extemporist, for a perfume-soaked night at the opera.

And you can do really interesting things with substitutions, IF you know what you're doing. For example, in COCKTAILS AND CONSOLES, we have a drink inspired by Death Stranding, the Timefall Fizz, which uses whole milk powder in place of an egg white. And this is intentional

cont.

[Image desc: a copy of A BLOOD AS BRIGHT AS THE MOON by Andrea Morstabilini before a rich red-purple drape. Beside the book is a stemmed glass with a pale pink drink. The scene is awash with prismatic rainbows.]

NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about A BLOOD AS BRIGHT AS THE MOON by Andrea Morstabilini. A dreamlike vampire novel with a resonant emotional maturity, the queer fantasia was a fresh & exciting entry to one of my fave subgenres. Our drink is the perfectly pink Moonkin!

A paperback edition of THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones nestled in bracken and brush alongside a rust red slushy drink in a low slung glass.

NEW VIDEO ALERT! Today on Bar Cart Bookshelf we're talking about THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS by Stephen Graham Jones. A modern horror classic where guilt, regret, and the natural world converge, I was enraptured. Powerful and propulsive. Our drink is Elk Blood, it's the aftertaste that gets ya!

Peaky Blinders "No hate reading. No fucking hate reading."

Just say 'no'.

Read The Works of Vermin, people

If you need MOAR queer SFF short fiction while we finish WRATH MONTH you should definitely check this project out!

💙🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💅✨️

Its live now on Kickstarter!

[Image desc: a stack of books on a fence post (bottom to top): THE SEA IS NOT MADE OF WATER by Adam Nicolson, THE WITCHSTONE by Henry H. Neff, THE CITADEL OF FORGOTTEN MYTHS by Michael Moorcock, OLD MOON QUARTERLY VOL. 6, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert A. Heinlein, NO ONE TO HOLD THE DISTANT DEAD by K.L. Schroeder, FIRST MAGE ON THE MOON by Cameron Johnston]

It's Mailbag Monday! Here's a look at what's crossed my threshold lately (with a book or two I'll be talking about very soon). We're going beyond the atmosphere to the Moon & Mars, the depths of space, the fires of hell, the caves of the Phoorn, with dark swords & strange sorceries. What looks good?

Editors, please buy my story that is about evangelical testimony (witness the power, amen amen), the weight of power, and an ancient haemophage that is drugs.

I was so charmed by the cover, I could not resist!

If *I* were eight kilometers narrower at my waist, would there be stories about me? I mean... probably, but you see the point.

Treats for friends!

Editors, please buy my story that is about evangelical testimony (witness the power, amen amen), the weight of power, and an ancient haemophage that is drugs.

Do you want to read about a gay guy getting swallowed by a giant leech? I can do that for you. I can make that happen.

You gotta have that little bit, just for seasoning. What's a pearl without an oyster's disgust at grit?

✨ WHAT ELEGANT STARS is now funding ✨

satellites and sewists, terminals and tailors, dandies and dying stars

www.kickstarter.com/projects/dav...

One day, maybe, lube will come from a terrible leaking goo creature with a cult and won't we all be intrigued and a little squicked out and a little turned on by that?

I did just make a note in the Peacock Wizard notebook...

Yes!! And it's gonna be either a gym read on Wednesday or a plane read on Thursday!!

Yeah, I am a hard sell on fantasy comedy premises, a really hard sell. But I had a lot of fun with his Maleficent Seven, so I'm really hyped to get into this one!

[Image desc: a stack of books on a fence post (bottom to top): THE SEA IS NOT MADE OF WATER by Adam Nicolson, THE WITCHSTONE by Henry H. Neff, THE CITADEL OF FORGOTTEN MYTHS by Michael Moorcock, OLD MOON QUARTERLY VOL. 6, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Robert A. Heinlein, NO ONE TO HOLD THE DISTANT DEAD by K.L. Schroeder, FIRST MAGE ON THE MOON by Cameron Johnston]

It's Mailbag Monday! Here's a look at what's crossed my threshold lately (with a book or two I'll be talking about very soon). We're going beyond the atmosphere to the Moon & Mars, the depths of space, the fires of hell, the caves of the Phoorn, with dark swords & strange sorceries. What looks good?

When will someone buy “The Peacock Wizard and the Blood of the Groundhog”? When?

I was meant for promo on such a day as this.