Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Seven of Infinities (Universe of Xuya), by Aliette de Bodard
Monday, April 12, 2021
Four Lost Cities A Secret History of the Urban Age, by Annalee Newitz (author), Chloe Cannon (narrator)
Thursday, April 8, 2021
The Lost Apothecary, by Sarah Penner (author), Lorna Bennett (narrator), Lauren Anthony (narrator), & Lauren Irwin (narrator)
Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Pride and Premeditation, by Tirzah Price
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens – and Ourselves, by Arik Kershenbaum (author), Samuel West (narrator)
Saturday, April 3, 2021
A Spell of Murder (Witch Cats of Cambridge #1), by Clea Simon (author), Hillary Huber (narrator)
Friday, April 2, 2021
Dog-Free Dinner (Auntie Clem’s Bakery, Christmas Short), by P.D. Workman
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Love at First Bark (Love Unleashed #0.5), by Dana Mentink
Marcy Deveraux, having frustrated her family by refusing to commit to a career cooking and managing their family restaurant, has found a success that impresses even her parents. She's written three bestselling romantic adventure novels about the adventures of Prince Rafe. But now Rafe's story is told, and if she wants to continue her success, she has to find her next story to write.
To do this, Marcy has rented a cabin in the mountains near a campground and ranch. She's barely settled in when her attempt at developing a work routine is disrupted by a lively little dog, a scruffy little terrier. Not far behind is the man who manages the stables and the horses for the ranch, Jackson Parker. Except for being drop-dead handsome, he's very different from a stereotypical romance novel hero--quiet, thoughtful, a reader, deeply involved in the ranch/campground's summer session for special needs kids.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Death at the Cafe (Reverend Annabelle Dixon #1), by Alison Golden
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
On Ordeal: Ronan Nolan Jnr. (Young Wizards #10.7), by Diane Duane
Friday, March 26, 2021
Murder Off the Page (42nd Street Library Mystery #3), by Con Lehane (author), Wayne Mitchell (narrator)
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Nothing Man, by R. J. Gould
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
The Element of Fire (Ile-Rien #1), by Martha Wells (author), Derek Perkins (narrator)
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, by Lulu Miller (author, narrator)
Monday, March 22, 2021
The Cold Crowdfunding Campaign, by Cora Buhlert
This story is a response to a science fiction story that's rather famous, in part because of the controversy it provokes. "The Cold Equations" is about an emergency dispatch spacecraft that is, in its current mission, delivering medication to a colony world, in response to the outbreak of an outbreak of serious illness. Unfortunately, after the ship is well on its way, the pilot, Barton, discovers he has a stowaway. Because the EDS has no margin for error in its fuel and weight capacity. The stowaway, Marilyn, saw the sign banning entry when she snuck onto the EDS, but assumed the penalty would only be a fine. She just wanted to visit her brother, who is on that colony world.
In fact, because the EDS's limitations are so extreme, the penalty is death--being ejected from the ship into space.
There is some touching angst, pathos, and moralizing. In the end, Marilyn willingly stepping into the airlock to be spaced and die.
There are some really obvious problems with this setup.
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Odder Than Ever, by Bruce Coville (author), The Full Cast Family (narrators)
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Fireworks in France (Reverend Annabelle Dixon #7), by Alison Golden
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Change State (Adventures in the Liaden Universe #32), by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Monday, March 8, 2021
Snowspelled (The Harwood Spellbook #1), by Stephanie Burgis
Sunday, March 7, 2021
City, by Clifford D. Simak (author), Peter Ganim (narrator), Mike Resnick (narrator)
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Swearing is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language, by Emma Byrne (author), Henrietta Meire (narrator)
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell #6), by Deanna Raybourn
Monday, March 1, 2021
The Other Daughter, by Lisa Gardner (author), Brittany Pressley (narrator)
At nine years old, a little girl with no memory of her past was abandoned in a hospital, and after several months was adopted by the wealthy Stokes family--a cardiac surgeon, his wife, and their son Brian, a family grieving the kidnapping and murder of the Stokes' four-year-old daughter, Meghan, five years earlier.
Twenty years later, Melanie Stokes is happy, confident, loving and loved by her adoptive family. She volunteers for various charities, especially the American Red Cross. On the night of one her major events, a party plus blood donation event plus "donate a rare book" to raise funds, a voice out of the past intrudes.
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Chaos in Cambridge, by Alison Golden
This novella is an "Insiders Exclusive," for subscribers to Alison Golden's Insiders newsletter.
It's a prequel to her Reverend Annabelle Dixon mysteries, and in this one, Annabelle is just eighteen, and starting as a student at the Divinity school at Cambridge University. She has barely settled into her room when she meets the previous occupant of that room, a departing student who cheerfully announces that she's known as Clumsy Clara. Clara still has a few last things to get out of the room, and Annabelle offers to help her. They get Clara's things to her van, and then Clara gives her a tour of the campus, and an introduction to Professor Baskerville, one of the Divinity professors. Clara departs, and Annabelle gets acquainted with Professor Baskerville.
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Witches of Bourbon Street (Jade Calhoun #2), by Deanna Chase (author), Gabra Zackman (narrator)
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Tea and Murder: Stories of the Xuya Universe, by Aliette de Bodard (author), Stefan Rudnicki (narrator), Kate Orsini (narrator)
Friday, February 19, 2021
On a Red Station, Drifting (Universe of Xuya), by Aliette de Bodard (author), Emily Woo Zeller (narrator)
Lȇ Thi Linh is a scholar, a lady of some rank, and the magistrate of a district on the Twenty-third planet. Or rather, she was. She sent a blunt letter to the Emperor concerning his purely defensive conduct of the war, protecting mainly the more central planets of the empire, leaving more remote planets, like her own, at risk. This led to her need to depart her district and the planet, and take refuge among rather distant relatives on the space station of Prosper.
Lȇ Thi Quyen is the administrator of Prost per Station. She's less educated than Linh, and feels her lower rank, but the station is her responsibility. Many of the higher-ranked husbands and wives on the station are away, fighting the war, and Quyen is struggling to control the deteriorating situation on Prosper, both within her family and in the station generally.
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Owl Be Home for Christmas (Young Wizards Universe), by Diane Duane
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey
Monday, February 15, 2021
The Bookshop of Yesterdays, by Amy Meyerson (author), Ann Marie Gideon (narrator)
Miranda Brooks spent her childhood in frequent visits to her Uncle Billy's bookshop, Prospero Books, learning a love of reading and literature, and solving the scavenger hunts he set for her. She also spent time wondering if he would show up for expected visits, or be suddenly called away by his real job, as a seismologist responding to major earthquakes all over the world.
Then, when she was twelve, her mother and Billy had a major falling-out, and Billy disappeared from her life. Miranda didn't hear from him again for sixteen years. She was by then living on the east coast, in Philadelphia, teaching eighth grade history, and living with her boyfriend, Jay.
Billy has died, and had arranged for a book to be mailed to her. It contains the first clue in the last scavenger hunt he set up for her.