Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.
This week’s prompt is:
Do you like reading fairy tale retellings? What, in your opinion, makes a good retelling?
I don’t know that I have a real passion for fairy tale retellings, but more often than not, I enjoy them when I run into them.
I break them into two varieties–straight retellings. I’ve only got one example that comes to mind–Hansel and Gretel by Stephen King and Maurice Sendak (which I didn’t write about, which bothers me, I liked what I thought I wrote). There’s an emphasis here or there that the author brings to mind, or a certain amount of their own style, while retaining a Straight Outta Grim feel. I’ve read others like it, but they’re not coming to mind.
The other type is a reinvention–tweaking the setting, updating, gender-flipping, setting them in the future or whatever. With those…the necessities are that you retain enough of the original that it’s recognizable, but the author throws more than their emphasis or style. But then, you throw it into the future with cyborgs, like Marissa Meyer. Or make Cinderella a secret agent along with some of the other princesses after their “happily ever after”s, like Jim C. Hines did. Or, you take all the Prince Charmings (who really aren’t that impressive when it comes down to it) and throw them into an effort to save all their kingdoms from a common foe. Or–last example–you play with the Fairy Tale tropes and the power of narrative, throw in some guns and crime, like Seanan McGuire did in her Indexing series. I’m waiting to see how M.K. Felix goes beyond her Robin Hood/Snow White mashup before I try to summarize–but I’m eager to see what she does. But the basic elements need to be there–Red Riding Hood should wear red–it’d be great if there was a hood–some sort of wolf-figure and a grandmother; from there, the author can do what they want, as long as it’s interesting.
Or you take a couple of elements/characters and throw them into some larger work–like when the Gruffs show up in the Dresden Files (and Harry can only wish they were billy goats), or Snow White shows up as one of Toby Daye’s most dangerous foes. That works pretty well, too.
I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, I ended up not having as much time as I intended to write this and am looking forward to some thoughtful posts.
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
New Adult: A New Category for a New Generation of Readers—I thought NA was already a thing (that really didn’t work out), but other than the use of “New” in the headline, I appreciate this call to use the category more. I think it’d help.
A Beloved Children’s Book Author Said Most Children’s Literature Is “Crud.” It Has Not Gone Well.—I’d seen some people cursing Barnett’s name on Threads (and maybe other places), but didn’t see a lot of context, just mid-conversation screeds. The man’s got himself a point, I have to say. (and now I have to read the book…)
Can Men Write Romance? The Problem With Assuming Men Can’t Write Women—Matthew Norman (who is a man who can) kicks off his substack with this lil’ essay. I wondered if I just spoiled the essay, but I’ve been saying it for years, so I don’t feel too bad.
Tough Questions with Firsty Duelist—As a former subject/victim(?) of this, and appreciator of the series in general, I’m glad to see Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub dust it off. Particularly to focus on this particular blogger.
My Top 40 Fantasy Series/Books—Peat Long revises and expands his list–which is a great big ball of inspiration and intimidation.
Witty and Sarcastic Book Club wrapped up another great mini-series of posts this week, “Looking for the Helpers: Small Roles, Big Influence in SFF.” Its focus is “smaller roles in SFF books and how they can nonetheless play big parts.” You can go see last week’s Miscellany for more (or just go to the blog and find them yourself)
…Featuring Ashley Cape
…Featuring Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann
Announcing 20 Books of Summer – #20BOS26—AnnaBookBel is bringing it back again. For those who haven’t participated before, it’s a fun way to give your goals a little mid-year boost. I’ve almost got my list finalized (I need to trim two books from it, we’ll see if my May can help me with that)
Are books really that expensive?—Nadezh Frank has a pretty convincing answer.
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Perfect Family by H. Lovelyn Bettison—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
Giovanni Goes To Med School by Kathy Bryson
Slow Burn by Ace Atkins
The Old World by Roy M. Griffis
Shadow Rites by Faith Hunter
And I mentioned the release of The Vagrant by Peter Newman
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Robert B. Parker’s Booked by Alison Gaylin—”Boston PI Sunny Randall investigates a popular book critic on a mean streak . . . only for her to wind up dead.” It should be noted that I’ve only said good things about Gaylin’s work.
51%
by Matt Witten
DETAILS:
Publisher: Level Best Books
Publication Date: April 28, 2026
Format: eARC
Length: 370 pg.
Read Date: May 4-5, 2026
What’s 51% About?
NYPD, Inc. detective Juke O’Keefe is assigned the case of a woman who was the victim of a murder and left in the street. He wants to find the killer. His partner, a crime marketing consultant, Haylee Navarro, isn’t so sure it’s the right case to take. If for no other reason, she doesn’t think they’ll be able to get much money for the investigation, and given the state of the victim, there are probably not many people who will care that much about finding the killer. Particularly when they find a chip embedded in her, signifying that she’s 51% owned by the syndicates.
If almost every word in that paragraph seems wrong, that just means you’re paying attention. Also, welcome to the dystopia depicted in this book.
Juke’s investigation (because Haylee’s just not that convincing compared to the uncompromising standards he holds himself to) brings the pair into contact with the upper echelons of NYC’s economy, to the poorest corners, working against an AI, and even across the path of a resistance movement on the verge of a significant move.
HEADING
The Worldbuilding
It’s just exquisite. You could easily just read this for the worldbuilding alone, paying no attention to the plot or characters (outside of how both reveal the world). I remember early cyberpunk being defined as being fifteen minutes in the future—assuming I remember that correctly, Witten has set this novel 7 minutes into the future.
Gen Delta’s sensibilities rule (informally) societal mores, almost(?) everything that is government-provided for us has been privatized, and corporate syndicates “own” percentages of people indebted to them. If you need medical care, go to college, etc. you need to take out a loan which represents a certain percentage of you. If you’re a police officer wanting to investigate a crime, you essentially need to crowd-fund the money necessary for forensics and the investigation. So each detective is partnered not with another detective, but a PR agent who will shoot and promote videos about your case to capture the attention and emotions of viewers to raise that money.
Witten does a great job of explaining this process better than I just did in a non-infodump way.
From the slang to the tech to the finances and beyond—this world feels real, lived in, like a nigh-inevitiable future we’re heading toward.
Why did I pick this up? Why did I keep reading?
When Witten sent me the description, I was hooked. Particularly in his hands—I just didn’t see how it couldn’t be good.
I kept reading because the execution lived up to the premise—the worldbuilding was great, and the story was just as good. You read just a little bit of this, and you’re going to need to keep going.
What does this book tell us about humanity?
I’m not sure that I have a good answer to this. There’s a lot of ugliness in the book—both corporately and individually. But the one thing that came up time and time again is people realizing how they’ve messed up (in big and small ways), and resolving to try to make a difference to make things better for others. Some do this in little ways—just feeding neighborhood cats. Others put their future at risk to protect an innocent person from wrongful arrest. Things like that. There’s just enough of that to keep you from utter despair as you walk through this world.
Or maybe the message is that Canada is the place to go in North America—as it has been for decades.
So, what did I think about 51%?
At its core, 51% is a murder mystery—yes, there’s a lot of futurism noise, political and social commentary, and the rest. But Juke’s hunt for a killer, the red herrings, the leads that don’t work out, and the race against other factors to make sure the right person is arrested—that’s the focus. And, as Jacked and Killer Story have capably demonstrated that Witten knows his way around a crime thriller.
I think the characters—even those on the side of the syndicates that own people—are well-written and complex (although there are some that are little more than stereotypes, but they’re well executed representatives of the type, so it’s hard to complain about them). There are no wholly straightforward motives; everyone has some shading about them.
The reveal of the murderer was well done, and the way the storylines are resolved is very satisfying.
I had a real blast with this one. I really relished the experience of being in the world and watching Juke’s crusade and Haylee getting pulled along in his wake (but also really not doing that). 51% is the kind of book that makes me wish I had a bigger audience so I could tell more people about it. Go read this thing, you’ll be glad you did.
Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post, which contains my honest opinion—which worked out well for both of us, I think.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
I’m having another one of those weeks where everything is taking approximately 50% more time to do than it should, and I’m distracted from doing everything 70% more than usual. Put the two of those things together, and you get…silence on this here blog. So, here I am trying to make a little noise.
This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:
What are you currently reading?
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| Nice Places by Vicent Chu |
The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love edited by Alice Hoffman |
Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames, Katherine Fenton |
I haven’t made much progress in Nice Places, and I’m really not sure where Chu’s going with this. But I’m really enjoying the journey.
I’m tackling an essay each evening for the next couple of weeks from The Best Dog in the World. Bonnie Garmus has convinced me to give Lessons in Chemistry a try because of hers. I’m assuming she won’t be the last one to do so.
Following on the heels of Kings of the Wyld, I decided to tackle Bloody Rose on audiobook (if only to reduce Mt. TBR by a hair). Putting the two so close together, I’m doing a better job of understanding and appreciating the differences in tone and focus between the two.
What did you recently finish reading?
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| Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames |
The Terminal List by Jack Carr, read by Ray Porter |
Kings of the Wyld had everything I remembered–humor, heart, action, and fantastic fantasy creatures. It’s one that I’m glad to see holds up to multiple re-reads.
Well, The Terminal List proved that I will listen to Ray Porter read anything. That’s all I can say about it.
What do you think you’ll read next?
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| Go Gentle by Maria Semple |
The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander, read by Words Take Wing Repertory Co |
The library due date for Semple’s new book is looming, time to jump on it.
I forgot I had The Arkadians waiting for me. Ooops. So, it’s again the next one on my list 🙂
Tell me something good about a book you just finished and/or are working through.
Out Law
by Jim Butcher
DETAILS: Series: The Dresden Files, #18.75 Publisher: Podium Publishing Publication Date: May 05, 2026 Format: Paperback Length: 194 pg. Read Date: May 5, 2026
Marcone is an asshole.
And I was furious.
But some part of me realized that I would not have been so angry if he didn’t have a point in there somewhere. And I was past the point in my life where I would let my anger direct my reactions.
You know. Mostly.
What’s Out Law About?
Shortly after Twelve Months (or parallel to the last chapter or so), Johnny Marcone shows up at Dresden’s castle to call in a favor. He wants Dresden to help one of his “employees” to go straight.
Dresden knows it can’t be that easy—Marcone isn’t going to square their debts for honorable reasons (he wouldn’t believe that before the revelation in Battle Ground, and there’s no way he will believe that now). But it seems that this man is sincere in his desire to live a “straight” life, and Harry’s not going to walk away from someone trying to turn over a new leaf.
So…Harry’s in, and finds ways to help extricate this man on legal, criminal, and magical fronts. While keeping an eye open for clue’s into Marcone’s real motivation.
So, what did I think about Out Law?
“Kid, there’s plenty of evil out there. No-kidding, black-hat, malicious-as-Maleficent evil. You don’t run into it every day. Most people can’t get there. Most people don’t run into it in a lifetime. But it’s real, and there’s no mistaking it when you find it. Whatever this Creature was, it was the genuine article. I mean, it hit a dog and everything.”
At this point, it’d take a real dud for me to complain about a Butcher novella—I think that’s clear. But I’m not seeing a lot to quibble with here regardless.
This is a direct sequel to The Law, featuring many characters from it. It also feeds into the overall arc of the series—particularly to Changes. For that alone, it’s worth the read. Seeing Felix and Bear in action again helps solidify them in the series post-Twelve Months (we even get a glimpse of the Spice Goyles).
It was satisfying—some good lines, some great actions, and a solid conclusion. Not much more to ask for from a novella. Fans will not want to pass this up.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.
This week’s prompt is:
Is there a particular fantasy that got you interested in the genre? Do you remember any of the earliest fantasy books you read?
I think one of the earliest–maybe the earliest–fantasy novels I read was Jane Yolen’s The Wizard of Washington Square. I’m not positive it’s the right one, I spend a good amount of time looking for it this weekend, and it feels right. And I have a strong memory for where it was on the library shelves–and Yolen fits for alphabetical by author placement.
Several others followed–those that stand out the most are Julie Edwards’ The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (an all-time favorite), Robert C. O’Brien’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH was something I read a dozen or more times. A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet were in heavy rotation (the fourth book in the series wasn’t released until I’d moved on from “Juvenile” fiction). The Phantom Tollbooth…what can be said about it that hasn’t been several times before? I’m not going to say anything about Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, because the emotional scars are still raw. I have strong memories of reading Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (not just because it didn’t help me at all with the Commodore 64 game), although I couldn’t find the rest of the trilogy in bookstores or the library.
Also, how cool is the name Zilpha?
There are two big series in my mind, though. John Christopher’s The Sword of the Spirits. I sadly remember very little of it–but I remember reading it often, and that it was one of the earlier books I remember that had a lot of morally gray moments and protagonists who weren’t to be admired all that much.
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again (and again, and again, knowing me)–the big one for me is The Chronicles of Prydain. The Chronicles of Narnia and/or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader turned me into a C.S. Lewis reader, but the saga of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper, Princess Eilonwy, the ex-king/would-be bard, Fflewddur Fflam, and the oracular pig, Hen Wen…that’s what turned me into a Fantasy reader. The stories based on Welsh-mythology, tapped into my imagination–shaped it, too, actually. Life, love, laughter, and loss–it’s all there. I’ve read the series twice in the last decade, and it still works. It’s my favorite from my childhood, and it’s one of my favorites still.
A few years after that, I came across the DragonLance Chronicles, DragonLance: Chronicles, the original Shannara trilogy and Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold, and…well, we’ve left “earliest.”
I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, iT’s fun looking back on what early books shaped the readers we become.
Yes, this is late–but you should blame (in part) Fall into Fiction for putting on another great event today.
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
We’re going to start on a highbrow note: Seven of the Greatest Farts in Western Literature
Celebrating 20 Years of First Law—Z.B. Steele commemorates The Blade Itself‘s 20th Anniversary. “Commonly heralded as a master of the craft and one of fantasy’s greatest character writers, it’s time to celebrate Joe Abercrombie, First Law, and the impact Abercrombie’s work has had on the genre.”
How Substack became the new book tour—huh
Celebrating 15 Years at Pages Unbound!
Witty and Sarcastic Book Club hosted another great mini-series of posts this week, “Looking for the Helpers: Small Roles, Big Influence in SFF.” Its focus is “smaller roles in SFF books and how they can nonetheless play big parts”
…Featuring Jonathan Nevair
…Featuring Dorian Hart
…Featuring Ben Schenkman
…Featuring Shannon Knight
…Featuring Ricardo Victoria
My favorite sentence/passage/phrase (or two) that I read this week:
“What was it about fathers, Clay wondered, that compelled so many of them to test their children? To insist that a daughter, or a son, prove themselves worthy of a love their mother offered without condition?”—Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago This Week?
Madam Tulip by David Ahern
Indexing (Audiobook) by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal
Dead is Best by Jo Perry
Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky—Nunc hoc in marmore non est incisum
And I mentioned the releases of: Zero K by Don DeLillo; Everybody’s Fool by Richard Russo; Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn by Ace Atkins ; The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan; Blood Defense by Marcia Clark; Double Down by Gwenda Bond; The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde; and Outriders by Jay Posey
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Out Law by Jim Butcher—A nice little novella that follows up The Law, Twelve Months, and Changes. Butcher’s spoiling us in 2026.
The Last Contract of Isako by Fonda Lee—”A battle-worn corporate samurai undertakes one last mission on a merciless planet where death is always a mere breath away, in this standalone dystopian epic.”
On Faith and Freedom of Thought by Marilynne Robinson—”Marilynne Robinson’s speech for the 2026 Jon Fosse Lecture, delivered at the Norwegian Royal Palace…our creativity, along with the free space offered by literature, gives us reason for hope. This essay is a powerful exhortation to rediscover our spiritual and human obligations.”
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Pug Actuallyby Matt Dunn Paperback, 313 pg. Read: October 5-6, 2021 |
What’s Pug Actually About?
Julie is in a bad relationship, for the last few years she’s been seeing a married man. You know the type—after a few months, he reveals that fact and keeps promising to leave his wife, but… Oh, he’s also her boss. Even if he wasn’t married, he doesn’t treat her well (and is definitely not a dog person). There’s just nothing good to say about Luke.
But Julie really doesn’t see that. Her dad. Jim, and her best friend, Pryia, do—but they can only say so much. But her other best friend, Doug, decides he’s going to do something about it. He starts looking for suitable matches—he doesn’t understand human attractiveness, so he knows he’s at a disadvantage. Early on, he tries to arrange a “meet cute” by knocking over someone’s coffee in the park, but has to abandon that method.
Then Julie is introduced to a recent divorce, Tom. Doug likes him right away (as does Julie’s dad)—even if he is a (gasp) veterinarian. Doug fakes a limp to get taken to Tom’s office, puts up with dog exercise classes in the part, and generally does everything he can to keep the two meeting up. He also steps up his antagonism toward Luke, to try to make it clear to Julie who he prefers.
Doug is a pug who was rescued by Julie and her dad after the death of Julie’s mom. He decides that rescuing can work both ways—and determines that he’s going to find Julie a better guy than Luke.
Without realizing that’s what they’re doing, Jim and Priya help out—discouraging time with Luke and playing up Tom (or anyone else), Jim even is partially responsible for introducing Tom to her.
Slowly something maybe starts between Julie and Tom, and things definitely (and largely independently from the Tom story) get worse between Julie and Luke. And Doug’s along all the while doing his best to help.
The Very Sweet Subplot
When Jim and Doug take their walks, Jim has a habit of stopping by a coffee shop run by a woman named Dot. Dot’s interest in Jim is about as obvious as Doug being a dog. But Jim’s not ready to see anyone after his wife, so is either oblivious or chooses to be. Tom is actually Dot’s son.
About the time that Tom meets Julie, Jim finally opens himself up to the idea of seeing someone. Watching Dot and Jim’s relationship start is possibly the best part of the book (it certainly comes with less drama and more fun).
Doug as Narrator
Going back to Debora and James Howe’s Harold and up through Spencer Quinn’s Chet, I’ve been a sucker for dog narrators. It’s a weakness, and not one I’m in any rush to lose. Doug is one more in a line of dog narrators that has charmed his way into my heart.
Doug’s rather erudite and educated for a canine writer. Sure, there are human things he doesn’t understand, and a few things that a small pug can’t see. But he’s not as easily distracted as Chet, for example. He’s capable of rattling off a Chinese proverb in Chinese—perhaps because he is a pug, because he doesn’t show an affinity for other languages.
He’s also like every dog I’ve ever met, but especially like the pug sitting next to me, and is always hungry—and a little pudgy (hence the need for the exercise class). And while everyone will talk about his need to lose weight, he’s really good at getting them to give him a treat (or finding some on his own).
I really enjoy everyone spelling V-E-T every time they mention Tom’s profession, although as Doug notes, he can spell. The reliable “Big Stretch!” said by everyone who isn’t Luke when Doug stretches brought a grin to my face (and has made me a bit self-conscious when I do the same to my canine companions).
So, what did I think about Pug Actually?
This is a sweet, cute book. Pug Actually is a pretty standard rom-com, you can see most of the story beats coming, but Dunn writes them in an effective way, so who cares? Adding Doug to the mix adds a layer of charm and humor that help make this more than standard.
There’s a moment near the end that really doesn’t seem necessary to add one last hurdle to the Tom and Julie romance. It soured my wife a bit on the book, but me less so. I see where it was necessary—or at least helpful—to give Doug a couple of more shining moments. But the ending was nice enough to make up for whatever stumble that plot point made.
When he was on the Author Stories podcast, Dunn suggested that there might be a sequel in the works. If one appears, I’ll jump on it.
If you’re in the mood for a pleasant, light read, I recommend this. Even better if you’re in the mood for a rom-com. If you’re a dog lover, it’ll help, but even cat people should find plenty to love here.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.