allison

as the world ever-increasingly (same as it ever was) goes to shit, i find it impossible to read anything cozy or easy

also read the Sixth Nik but maybe I should have included that in horror - crazy fuckass (complimentary) novel

absolutely unable to recommend it casually to any customer though lmfao

also very much enjoyed the new 'Pemi Aguda, which isn't horror but it IS deeply unsettling

Tinder Box the one new fantasy novel I've read this year lmfao and I did REALLY enjoy it (what is w everyone's obsessiom w the 30 years war or fantasy riffs on the time period - NOT a complaint)

have not been reading much new fantasy but i've started the year STUPIDLY strong on my horror reading

the standouts: House of Margins, The Flayed Man, Carrion Crown, A Plagued Sea, Tillinghast, The Hill in the Dark Grove, and now Red Sacrament

akotsk whipping this much is crazy but i'm so happy it DOES whip

Forgot the eragon thing was happening too truly the double whammy of that and the sanderson news - no

Sorry but we do need to bully Sanderson fans more

Two sanderson series getting adapted by apple.... I can no longer win... I have already lost 😔

i get diversifying your publisher via imprints but also kinda feel like the publishing/reader version of that one viral video about how you can't tell if someone is part of a subculture anymore bc so many people dress goth/emo/alt/butch etc

when 70% of my markup notes read "very commercial" "broad appeal" "move rights being shopped"

"you know what we really need rn?? more dedicated commercial fiction publishers!"

That said, when you di a whole press release about how your books will be wild and genre-bending and unusual but the key launching author is a white guy who writes popular, easy to read, uncomplicated, standard fantasy, I feel like you've already missed your own point.

On the other hand just saw Isaac fellman has some books coming out w them and was like well.. ok. Idk. I guess I'll see!

Yeah literally was abt to come back over and type something to that effect too dkrkkr like boring ok let's move on lmfao

Tbf my initial gut reaction was oh is this a cozy imprint lmfao

Instagram

Really ANOTHER tor imprint?

(i didn't give it a fair shake the first time) and i'm like well...i was stupid this is giving me brain disease

i re-read wizard of earthsea (and am doing the rest of earthsea later) and im so glad I barely remember it from when I read it as a kid (i remember tehanu much better) bc it felt like reading it for the first time

also reading shadow of the torturer for the first-and-a-half time

though i saw the early tor lists populate for fall 26 on ipage and was like.........well............................ shove it all into one season-

oh even better this year lmao

OUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

i look at what genres i'm reading and kind of insane how little genuine fantasy i'm reading but then it's like well....the publishers are still prioritizing romant*sy on their lists so i turn to weird and depressing other fiction and horror and historical jdkf;ksj

I'll post my rereads and older reads later because that has been SOOOOOOOOOOO fruitful

WAIT what's the other one-

Johanna van Veen's BONE OF MY BONE

my first van veen

Some uneven pacing and dialogue but I will always be happy when a newer writer doesn't follow a formula and swings for the fences, especially w historical fantasy

a lesbian, another lesbian, and a saint's head walk into a bar...

dickinson and chandrasekera blurbs i was like oh ok

Oksana Vasyakina's STEPPE

2nd in her loose auto-fiction trilogy

the first one was centered around her mother's death - this one is about her father who is a long-haul truck driver in Siberia

about as uncomfortable and thinky as WOUND

Isabel J. Kim's SUBLIMATION

Absolutely not my usual thing but the author blurbs sold me on it and I loved it.

for the severance crowd - when you immigrate another instance of you is created and stays behind

lit scifi tech thriller??? idk...just read it

T. Kingfisher's WOLF WORM

YAY! Kingfisher finally back to horror form (to me)

Absolutely insane vampire lore going on here like jesus christ (the cover copy/blurbs mention them but I forgot it wasn't just bug horror so the vampires took me by surprise)

Aliya Whiteley's THE MISHEARD WORLD

yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I don't want to say too much and ruin it but a great genre-bender

early frontrunner for my top ten 2026 list