Hello, friends! With the darkness increasing dramatically where I live, it’s been quite the struggle to feel like I have enough hours to do everything I want to, especially with my erratic sleep schedule. Luckily, I did get to attend another fun session of my Wild Beyond The Witchlight campaign this week, after which our Dungeon Master informed us that we’re finally approaching endgame! We might actually finish out this campaign by the end of the year, which is both a victory and an “oh no, what do we do/play next?”
My local Dungeons & Dragons group has also scheduled our next session, which means that I have to figure out the next chapter of our Ghosts Of Saltmarsh campaign. I think I’ll do okay just prepping as much of the next module in the book as possible, tho I’m also planning on giving my players as much time as they want to pursue their personal in-game objectives before we continue with the adventure proper.
My beloved sports team won both our matches this week, and quite emphatically, too. I got to celebrate Arsenal’s 0-1 victory over Fulham in the English Premier League with my friends in person at the bar, then over chat during our midweek demolition (4-0!!!) of Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. I’m so glad Viktor Gyokeres came good in that last match with a fully deserved brace. I’ve been defending him for weeks, even to people I don’t normally disagree with, over the quality of what he brings to the team, especially in soaking up defender attention. I know that the ultimate measure of a striker is in how many goals he delivers, but I really do rate his off-the-ball qualities. And (yes, Karin,) I know that I don’t usually go for blonds, but who wouldn’t go a little weak in the knees for a guy who looks like this:
It’s admittedly not the most representative photo of him but it is the one where he looks most likely to give me a book recommendation and a foot rub. Oh, and yeah, he’s a great football player, our current leading goal scorer (even before the brace) and the winner of the most recent Gerd Muller trophy. So I’m a fan.
I’m also a fan of this terrific guest post that The Frumious Consortium received from Christa Carmen, whose latest book How To Fake A Haunting, is in stores now. The horror novel starts with the frustrated wife of an alcoholic deciding that if he won’t give her a divorce, she’ll have to just drive him away by faking the titular haunting. But when her efforts stir up something real and evil, she’ll have to join forces with the very man she loathes in order to protect herself and their daughter. Ms Carmen’s essay discusses the legends of her Rhode Island home and the influences behind her writing, and is a super great read.
I also have an excerpt from the first traditionally published book of writer and activist T C Kraven! Of Prophecies & Pomegranates is a spicy retelling of Greek mythology through the lens of both kink and consent. The excerpt we’re so pleased to feature over at TFC features Persephone’s confrontational reunion with her mother Demeter after her initial sojourn in the underworld.
As for books I’ve actually had the time to read this week, I have to recommend Susie Dent’s Guilty By Definition to both mystery lovers and my fellow word nerds. This is the celebrity lexicographer’s first mystery novel, and hopefully the first of many more. It’s not billed as an intellectual/literary mystery but it very much is, and is far more successful at integrating historical/philosophical mysteries with murder than most.
I also think that Leslie Meier’s title novella in the spooky season collection of cozy mysteries, Halloween Night Murder, may be her best work yet! Small-town reporter Lucy Stone is investigating the tragic hit-and-run death of a teenager who, she’s surprised to discover, lived in a derelict farmhouse close to her own home. As she gets more involved with his surviving family, she discovers an awful conspiracy that she isn’t quite sure how to expose. Lee Hollis and Liz Ireland round out the collection with their own entertaining stories, but it’s Ms Meier’s novella that really knocks it out of the park there.
Alright, I need to finish some reviews, draft a post for tomorrow then get a practice session in tonight ahead of rehearsal and a birthday lunch tomorrow, so see you in seven, friends!
Currently Playing (Music): Beethoven’s Symphony #2 in D Major; my Declan Rice and 2025 Energy playlists; Stela Cole’s I Die Where You Begin; Jessie Murph’s Sex Hysteria; Megan Moroney’s Am I Okay? (I’ll Be Fine); Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend; Lykke Li’s Wounded Rhymes.
Currently Playing (Games): The Light In The Mist puzzletale, The Wild Beyond The Witchlight, Metazooa by Trainwreck Labs, Learned League trivia, NYT Connections, Your Friend In Witchcraft by Kay Marlow Allen; The Wolves Of Langston by Obvious Mimic; My Late Father’s Correspondence by Storybrewers Roleplaying; League Of The Lexicon by Two Brothers Games.
Currently Reading/Writing (Games): Ghosts Of Saltmarsh.
Currently Reading or Just Read (Books): Slashed Beauties by A Rushby; Halloween Night Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis & Liz Ireland; Guilty By Definition by Susie Dent; At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley.