So, one of the main reasons I have kept subscribing to the three magazines I have been getting for practically forever is that sometimes when I really like a short story I can track down everything else by the author and have a new oeuvre to be obsessed with. I feel like it happens more often with Ellery Queen than with Asimov's or F&SF but (a) that might not be true and (b) it's probably offset by F&SF having excellent book review columns that also send me to new-to-me authors and, of course, the other reasons I have for subscribing which do apply to all three. Anyway, EQMM has changed their podcasting from a monthly-ish introduced by the editor story usually read by the author to a biweekly more professional sounding production (that combines with the same thing from AHMM so there is essentially a mystery story every week). I have been catching up with that because that's how I am with podcasts, I ignore them for a long time and then catch up on everything I missed. One of the stories I heard recently was part of a series of short stories that I really like - I think they are being called Wade-Jack mysteries by Libby Cudmore and it turns out there is a novel! So I am all immersed in that and enjoying it soooo much. It's contemporary noir with a detective who used to be a rockstar which I thought would be too gimmicky when I first read the first story but it quickly won me over with the sheer humanity and plausibility of all the characters.
So, recommended, the novel (Negative_Girl) or, if you can get them easily, the stories. I would love if they would be collected in one convenient package but as far as I can tell they have not yet. Cudmore has another novel that is not connected to this series but is also very good The_Big_Rewind
And what drove me to think I had to come here to talk about it - in my trawling through everything I could find that is related to the series I cam across an essay by Cudmore (Unsung Detectives From a Millennial Youth) in which she connects her fondness for Blue's Clues with Humphrey Bogart and Bayliss from Homicide and I had to mention that to erikaj!
Relatedly but not of great importance - did you know there are two anthologies collecting crime stories inspired by the music of Steely Dan? That is more than I would have guessed.
I was a teenager when Blue’s Clues debuted on Nick Jr., but if my little sister was watching when I passed through the living room, I stopped to watch. Or stare, really. Steve wasn’t so much about solving mysteries as me getting all warm and gooey when a lanky, soft-spoken sleuth came on the page (or on the screen). This was later applied to Humphrey Bogart in both The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon, Det. Tim Bayliss on Homicide: Life on the Streets and Det. Dutch Wagenbach on The Shield. And when Steve returned for the Blue’s Big City Adventure in a Bogart-style trench coat and fedora? I had to leave the room. I’m only human, after all.
Wow...no, I didn't know about that...feels like spotting a family resemblance or something.
I am reading such a gorgeous book right now. It's In Ascension by Martin MacInnes. Has anyone read it? It covers a lot of bases in one and is beautifully written. Not overwrought while touching on some truths in a way that's... it's like, snippets of how we really think and connect things as we go through life, or something. I mean, not the specific connections, but the weaving of past experience, and expertise, and observation in such a relatable way. First person narrative.
Well, I say not specifically relatable, but some of the parts about the aging parent are 100% relatable.
And it's also suspenseful sometimes and gripping most times -- even the more mundane parts. A good read with a bunch of extra body to it. Really a beautiful work. Highly recommend!
I've been reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl series it's LitRPG which I've never read and the cover looked fun and it's got Princess Donut a tabby Persian as a main character.
It's funny and kinda gross at times and by the 5th book (there are 7) my heart was being torn to shreds and definitely in book 6. It packs an emotional punch on multiple levels. The audio books are supposed to be superb.
This is the most books I've read in 3 years I think ..(my reading really dropped off ) so I'm hoping this will inspire me to read more and try different types of books
For those who (like me) still buy ebooks from Amazon: Amazon is cutting off the ability to download ebooks to a computer/laptop (and then convert them).
[link]
Saw that last night. Fuck them.
Well, two pages out of twenty now downloaded. Sigh.
If anyone else is still in the Barnes and Noble ecosystem and needs to fill in some of their Discworld collection, most of the Nook editions are on sale for $2 each today; Amazon is matching the price and does have The Wee Free Men on sale as well, but the other Tiffany Aching books are conspicuous by their absence.
Also spending time pulling down my Kindle books, bleh.
If you haven't already tried it, may I recommend Calibre (https://calibre-ebook.com/) for managing your downloaded ebooks.
