#books

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The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Excellently done. Very different from her Desperate Glory, but that doesn't detract from it at all. The story has a slow reveal for the real conflict, but you aren't left bored waiting for it. The build up is masterful.

The idea of a school of magic for kids has been done, yes. But this world feels so much more realistic and complete. I felt like this book was an intentional counterpoint to HP.

1/2

Time for the annual list of books in map history published over the last year. This year, you have time to perhaps buy some for xmas gifts!

https://www.mappingasprocess.net/blog/2025/11/22/2025-books-in-map-history-plus-some-missed-from-20234

Here's a cartoon by Tom Gauld!!!!!!

Another free book promo. I'm just pathetic. Giving myself away with no standards. Just read about my monsters. Read about them. Horror. Monsters. Free book.

https://patrickwmarshauthor.wordpress.com/2025/11/22/free-book-weekend-20/

This week's at the library: I bought second-hand copies of Fevered Planet: How Emerge When We Harm Nature by the late John Vidal and : The Modern World in a Trillion Particles by Jay Owens, and picked up a review copy of Uncommon Ground: Rethinking Our Relationship With the by Patrick Galbraith.

@bookstodon

A photo of three books standing upright on a small, brown, wooden table. The out-of-focus background shows black shelves full of books. On the left, Fevered Planet, showing a black-and-white photo of the rocky landscape of a hand-dug open-pit mine. In the foreground is a small, lone human figure resting one leg on a pile of shattered rocks. The title is written across the photo in neon-orange, with the last letters of each word rendered as if they are powdering into fine dust at their edges. In the middle, Uncommon Ground, showing part of the oil painting "Wivenhoe Park, Essex" by John Constable, showing a bucolic landscape with a grazing cow behind a wooden fence. The fence runs across the picture in the foreground, while there is a large pond in the background. Behind the pond can be seen a small planted grove of large trees, and on the right, part of what looks like a mansion. The centre of the image has been rendered as if part of the drawing has been ripped out, showing the rough edge of torn paper and at the bottom, a curled-up piece of torn paper. On the right, Dust, showing a NASA satellite photograph of planet Earth at night. Next to artificial lighting, several colourful swirls are visible in blue, red, and purple. This is a composite image that was taken on the 23rd of August 2018 that shows the various aerosols in our atmosphere. You can read more about this particular image here: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/92654/just-another-day-on-aerosol-earth

Rari reviews "Soul of Ash" by H. L Moore, Death's Embrace book 2:

"The Archon is dead, and Grace, as his widow, has taken charge of Iole City... Incredible character work, a compelling plot, and evocative writing all combine to form yet another unforgettable book. I’m off to read book three!"

https://www.queerscifi.com/review-soul-of-ash-h-l-moore-3/

@MMbookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon @diversebooks @bookstodon

Are you a writer considering paying someone to publish your first book?

Stop. That's not how it works.

Money goes the other way. Writers earn from their works.

If you don't know where to begin, try Draft2Digital. You can sign up for free, publish for free, and get paid when your book sells.

(Disclosure: This is an affiliate link. Using it will not affect you financially, but I could earn something for referring you.)

https://www.draft2digital.com/r/e59PlY

QSFer Ellen L. Saunders has a new queer space opera out (gay, gender fluid, lesbian, non-binary, multi-gendered): A Dubious Hope.

Opal and Danielle: unlikely would-be friends separated by suspicion, then a mutually incompatible sense of duty, and finally by abduction.

Spacers: a tight-knit generation-ship community...

https://www.queerscifi.com/new-release-a-dubious-hope-ellen-l-saunders/

@LGBTQBookstodon @diversebooks @bookstodon

The kid's strategy for winning Where is Waldo is pointing out a random person in the crowd and then putting forth her best and most passionate argument for why that person is actually Waldo.