JULY WRAP-UP! | Some fabulous spidery sci-fi and a ton of gaming-related reads!

[@tyghe_bright]

Really fun book I read last week: The Shriek-A-Rama Spook Show Experience: A Retro Horror Novella by Judith Sonnet. It's just a bit gore, a bit scary, and a lot of nostalgic, campy fun.

[@alex_unabridged]

Excellent - just looked it up online and it sounds great! Campy horror fun is right up my street. Fantastic title too!

[@anthonyprice4862]

I’ve put Children of Time on my must read list. However as a lover of all things arachnid my loyalties to the human race may be tested😂

[@alex_unabridged]

As a fellow arachnophile I can tell you, yes - your loyalties may be tested! Lol. 🕷 It's an absolute must-read in my opinion - Troy had told me how great it was, and he usually nails recommendations for me, but I was not prepared for how excellent an experience this one was! I'd definitely recommend the audiobook, Mel Hudson does a fantastic job on the narration.

[@arockinsamsara]

I saw your review of Adam Cesare's book earlier in the month, and then right after that I saw another BookTuber comment on how the final book in Cesare's "Clown in a Cornfield" trilogy is coming out this month, and then Cesare's own KZbin channel popped up in my feed and he was reviewing Stephen Graham Jones's "Indian Lake" trilogy, which I loved. All this conspired to put him on my TBR, and his books definitely look like they might fit into my August trash pile... It has been fun watching you enjoy the WarHammer books... It is always fun to find excitement and joy in an unexpected reading journey... I remember last year I had been approved to read an ARC of Heather Fawcett's "Emily Wilde" series, and part of me wasn't really looking forward to it, it seemed to twee to me... Then I absolutely loved it and the sequel, and now I am eagerly anticipating the next book which won't be out until next year... You never know where you might end up stepping outside of your comfort zone (of course, sometimes you end up reading a "Planet of the Apes," so I suppose the unexpected joys are balanced out!)

[@troytradup]

I read the first Clown in a Cornfield and liked it a lot. Seemed an excellent example of a book achieving exactly what it set out to achieve. Or an author doing so, I guess.

[@alex_unabridged]

Oh, great - I hope you enjoy what you pick of Cesare's work! I've had Clown in a Cornfield on my wish list for ages but haven't got to it yet. I gave it as a birthday gift to my niece a couple of months ago and she loved it (she's 13, but reading a bit beyond her age). I think I'll perhaps add it into my spooky October reading. But I reckon his books could fit well for a GarbAugust read! Glad you've enjoyed witnessing my first foray into the work of Warhammer literature - it's been really fun for me to do and am still shocked at how much enjoyment I got out of this first one! It's been a wonderful surprise to finally find some fantasy that I really like - as I said in the video, I'm not much of a fantasy fan at all. I think what I'm learning is that I like my fantasy heavily tinged with horror/darkness - grim dark is the way to go for me. Either that or stuff at the other extreme, i.e. cosy fantasy. I LOVED Legends and Lattes - that was a similar situation for me as the 'Emily Wilde' was for you, I'd put it on my TBR for a month of dipping my toe into some more fantasy and I wasn't really expecting to like it at all, but it became on of my favourite books of last year, and I couldn't wait to read the follow-up! The LitRPG I read this month, 'How to Defeat A Demon King' was very sweet and kind of cosy too, definitely my jam. I figured I just had to find my niche within fantasy reading, and I think I'm finally getting a handle on what I like in the genre. That excitement and joy you mention is one of my favourite things about reading so much different stuff - and that's BookTube's doing really. I never stepped outside my comfort zone with regards to reading before I got involved with this fabulous community. Sure, I get the odd 'Planet of the Apes' but for every one of those I get at least ten books that surprise me with how much I enjoy them! That's a pretty decent ratio I think ;-)

[@arockinsamsara]

Hmmm, if your fantasy swings toward the dark, maybe throw Richard K. Morgans's "A Land Fit for Heroes" trilogy on your TBR ("The Steel Remains," "The Cold Commands," and "The Dark Defiles"). The jacket copy for the first book: *** A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath-Gil, for short-a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons. Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease. *** Plus, the main character, Gil, is queer. Which is pretty wild considering it was written 15+ years ago by a straight guy...

[@alex_unabridged]

@@arockinsamsara that definitely sounds like a good bet for me! And a queer main character - sold! My library has it in stock too, excellent. Will give it a go! 👍

[@troytradup]

Ugh, now I'm having a brain melt. I've read another book in the past where the creature characters communicate partially by color but can't come up with the actual title. I'm gravitating toward the evolved dinosaurs in Harry Harrison's Eden series but that doesn't feel quite right. Aargh! Mostly fun month for you, though. ADDENDUM: I AM thinking of Harrison's Eden series. Yay! I'm not crazy after all! Well, in that regard.

[@alex_unabridged]

Lol, glad you halted the brain melt! I've just had a look at the synopsis for the Eden series - that sounds bonkers, and am certainly intrigued! Worth a read?

[@troytradup]

@@alex_unabridged Most whole-heartedly yes, absolutely, definitely, for sure! And I think there are even pretty good audiobooks out there. 🦖

[@alex_unabridged]

@@troytradup Excellent - will stick it in the ever-increasing stack of SF to be read! 😀

[@troytradup]

@@alex_unabridged Surprised I didn't have it on my original list of recommendations!

[@alex_unabridged]

@@troytradup I've just checked - you did have it on there! Under 'Troy's personal favourites'! I hadn't added those into my schedule yet and forgot they were there - will pop them in the spreadsheet 😉