Not all who serve are at the point of the spear, contrary to what the current Defense Secretary is trying to do. In fact, modern warfare simply is not possible without the nurse and the truck drivers and medics and other support soldiers. So far this year, some stories from the shaft of the spear this year. From an interview…

Welcome To The $100 Amazon eGift Card or PayPal Cash Giveaway! Giveaway: 1 lucky winner a $100 Amazon eGift Card or PayPal Cash. The event is running from November 8th to December 31st. Giveaway open Worldwide everywhere PayPal is negotiable & age 18+. GIVEAWAY DETAILS Prize: $100 Amazon eGift Card or PayPal Cash One Lucky Winner Will Receive choice of: …

Clearly, this was a week where I was spoiled for choice when it came to selecting the Book of the Week! All of this week's books turned out to be fan-damn-tastic. I just LOVE it when a plan comes together! Speaking of plans, the Thanksgiving, Black Friday & Holiday Giveaway Event! officially started YESTERDAY at Versatileer. I'll be posting Reading Reality's participation TOMORROW.

There are certainly some pretty covers in this stack, but that's not the important bit this time around. Instead, this is a stack of books that I'm just plain looking forward to reading, to the point where a whole bunch of these are going straight into my "Most Anticipated" post for 2026. There are lots of books that are next in series in series that I just can't wait to read.

My Review: As much as I've loved this author’s fantasy series, the sprawling and awesome Deverry Cycle, I couldn’t have stopped myself from diving into Haze if I tried. Her fantasies are so good that I couldn’t resist the impulse to see if her science fiction would be just as addictive. Which is an appropriate turn of phrase with which to open a review of…

My Review: “The humans fear what they do not understand,” a truism from a book I read a very long time ago. Which does not make the statement any less true, or any less applicable to the Isle of Wyrd or this story. The title of this first entry in the Isle of Wyrd series is the point where the above comment connects with this particular story, because the Isle is all about fate and change and human attempts to fight or flee one or the other.

My Review: This book begins in the exact same place where the previous book, The Grey Wolf, ends. With the same characters, even with the same sentence, at the moment in time where the situation changes irrevocably. The moment, as artist Clara Morrow's current series of paintings is currently stuck on, the moment just before something happened. It begins in the village of Three Pines, in the Gamache living room, where the Sûreté du Québec’s Homicide Chief, Armand Gamache, is recovering from his barely averted execution at what should have been the successful conclusion of his latest investigation.

The U.S. arguably has too many elections for the electorate as a whole to handle — see this The Atlantic article by Jerusalem Demsas — but any proposal to change that would of course take time to implement. Actions like having House members serve for four years rather than two would require a constitutional amendment, while others like getting rid of judicial retention elections or not making the county coroner be an elected position would take time and could have unexpected consequences.

My Review: I didn’t know what I was getting into with this book. I’ll confess that I picked it up because it was short and fantastical and that was exactly what I was in the mood for. It turned out to be fantastic and beautiful in ways that I was not expecting it all. But was so very happy to read.

Did you remember to set your clocks back last night? Or this morning? AND, did you curse the ancestry of everyone involved with the manufacture of any clocks that you still have to remember to change? We don't have a lot left, just the microwave, one last actual windup clock, and the cars. I hate changing the clock in the car, because I never think of it before I get on the road, then I check the time but can't fix it until I reach my destination.

I'm a little bit nervous about talking about 'pretty' covers because we've got eyeballs in here! OTOH, that might be the perfect garnish for this post-Halloween Stacking the Shelves! Although, one of this week's pretty covers is Her Wicked Roots, and that's also creepy as hell. But rounding out the pretty list are It's Different This Time and…

My Review: Today is Halloween, so I was looking for something creepy and horrifying to review today. Considering that I was both enthralled and totally creeped out by the first book in the Lunar Gothic Trilogy, Crypt of the Moon Spider I was completely unable to resist the tendrils of this second book in the trilogy so here we are.

My Review: I’m going to get at this oddly, but then it’s been an odd week, and this is an odd book. So all the oddness is VERY apropos. It’s just turned out to be an “I can’t even” week, for reasons that have nothing to do with this book. But I was grasping at straws for something to read to get out of my slump, and this, well, I’ve bounced off the description (

My Review: Librarian Zoe Ziakas’ origin is even more dubious than she believed it was, as the tip of that iceberg is delivered to her one afternoon. Not that the appearance of a book, any book, at the Wessex Public Library is dubious or even uncommon, but this one arrives in a hand addressed envelope with no evidence that it EVER went through ANY of the normal methods of delivery.

My Review: As much as I enjoyed these stories - and I generally did - there was so much dark fantasy and outright horror in this collection that after I finished I needed a cocoa, a lie down, and a comfort read to get over it. Together, these stories do not exactly paint a pretty picture of the world these authors were thinking of as they wrote, but then again, the world we’re living in right now often feels as dark as they painted.

My Review: Everyone believes that they are the heroes of their own stories. Even the monsters. Perhaps, especially the monsters, so that they have justification for the villainies they permit. And commit. If the end truly justifies the means, then ANY means, no matter how terrible, are permissible in order to serve a righteous cause. It’s all about ‘the greater good’ and is precisely what makes that phrase so monstrous.

This time LAST week, I thought I might have a bit of a 'bail and flail' at the end of THIS week. I also predicted that the cats and I would all be a bit off-kilter because Galen was away for part of the week. I was a bit too right on both counts. Luna was especially 'off', so much so that she got taken to the vet after Galen came home.

A whole lot of these covers are more interesting than they are pretty. Some stacks are just like that. If I had to pick, and I sorta/kinda set this thing up so that I do, it would be Moonrising, Murder at Donwell Abbey, and The White Octopus Hotel - which also looks pretty darn interesting. Dead & Breakfast…

My Review: Murder mysteries usually begin with a dead body - even if the body hasn’t been found in the first chapter. That’s the usual. The victim of this particular murder is a homeless man, and it’s unfortunately also usual that the undermanned and underfunded police generally do not put much investigative effort into such cases - even though it’s obvious that this man has been murdered.

My Review: Nearly 50 years ago, humanity - or at least NASA - sent not just one but two ‘hellos’ out into the universe in the form of unmanned spacecraft, specifically Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They are both still out there, and still sending back data. So far, they are the only man-made objects to pass through the heliosphere, the boundary between our own Solar System and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy.

My Review: There are no actual funerals in this book, only metaphorical ones. Considering the state of most of the clients of the Ex-Boyfriend’s Favorite Recipe Funeral Committee, if there actually WERE funerals, there would be a LOT of them, the recently deceased would probably have died in some gruesome way, and this would be an entirely different kind of book.

My Review: An ex-slayer, a half-succubus, and a has-been wizard share a magical house and a barely scraping by bookstore in Salem Massachusetts. You’d think they’d fit right in. You also might think that it’s the start of a joke - or at least the start of a cozy fantasy. They do fit right in, or at least they fit in a bit better than they might anyplace else.

My Review: I picked this up because I LOVED the author’s first book, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library and was hoping for more just like it. That particular book is one of my favorites among the current trend of mostly light, slightly bittersweet, loosely linked stories that are more about healing and interconnected relationships than they are anything else.

George is on overwatch in this picture, as he often is. He likes to have a view of the front door, OR, he likes to be in a position where he can keep an eye on both of us. Or both. This is both, as Galen will have to go around him if he wants to come downstairs, and he has a view of my office door so he can see if I leave my office.

The pretty covers in this week's stack are also pretty interesting, and in a couple of cases downright creepy. OTOH next week is Halloween so THAT'S not exactly out-of-season. Speaking of seasons it is starting to feel like fall around here, at least on alternate days. The nights are down in the high 50s and low 60s, but the afternoons can get plenty hot in the sun.