Danielle Thamasa's Blog, page 10

Weekend Writer: August Writing Prompts

Hey all, Sam here.

Today is Day Two of Gen Con, and it is a busy day of panels at the Writer’s Symposium for me. Though I’m writing this up a few days early, I’m pretty sure I’m taking lots of notes at my panels, and so I might share some of my notes in either a Gen Con Wrap Up post, or in a few future Weekend Writer posts. I have not quite decided, and I guess it will depend on what knowledge I scribble down from all of the panels and workshops.

Anyway, welcome back to Weekend Writer, as well as the first weekend of the month. I try to have a prompt post like this up at the beginning of the month, and then when we reach the final weekend of the month, I share some of my writing: sometimes based on these prompts, sometimes based on whatever novel I’m writing, and sometimes both. And I’d love to have you share some of your writing with me, especially if you use one of my monthly prompts.

Then, for the other weekends of the month, I will be talking about the writing craft, whether that is sharing writing craft books I’ve read and giving a general review for them, or having a writing related topic to discuss. I’m not strictly planning any of these other weekends. Some of them might even end up being extra prompt shares. So who knows what will happen…I’m just trying to figure out my new process and enjoy myself as I do it.

All right…I currently have seven different creativity generator tools in my collection/arsenal. Some of them are technically aimed at TTRPGs, BUT I’ve found that for the most part they work for creative writing just fine as well, which is why I include them all. With each prompt, I take a photo of the prompt randomization (whether that is dice rolls, card draws, or whatever), type up the prompt below the photo, and then I include a paragraph where I give you information about the generator tool I used.

If you know of any other useful tools like these, please let me know. I’d love to keep expanding my collection. It’s cool to see what sorts of ideas can be generated when you use a randomization method for creation.

Story Engine Deck

Prompt: An Enchanted Automaton Wants to Deliver Justice With A Recording But They Will Have to Break a Societal Rule

This prompt comes from this storytelling deck from The Story Engine, which is a prompt and idea generating tool that I adore for both creative writing and for TTRPG plotting.

Tarot/Oracle Decks

Prompt: Memory, Insight, Gifts

Once again, I used my Urban Crow Oracle Deck by MJ Cullinane for this prompt. I really like using this oracle deck, because the card names are different from a tarot deck. I do have a few different tarot decks as well, and I might use those at some point for future draws, but for now I’m really enjoying my crow deck. What can I say? I just like crows.

Roll & Play

Prompt: There is a festival celebrating a new season arriving. The celebration includes dancing and partying, and takes place all across the village, beginning at midday.

This month I decided to roll the dice on the Wonderful Festivals page in the Roll & Play book. You can use the dice I rolled, or if you have your own dice, you can roll on the chart yourself. Or heck, if you want to then you can just choose whichever option sparks your interest. 

Basically, I am playing around with more worldbuilding and fleshing out towns and regions in my current WIP, so I figured I would continue that by giving myself (and all of you) some prompts to help with designing areas to write adventures in, and what worldbuilding doesn’t include the arts with artists and musicians and performers of all varieties?

Sidequest Decks

Prompt 1: An Unearthly Frost – An unnatural winter has descended on the region in the middle of summer, and everything is dying.

Prompt 2: Needed Rest – A small church appears just when needed, but it isn’t what it seems.

The Sidequest Decks from Inkwell Ideas are another wonderful accessory designed for TTRPGs, but can easily be used for writers as well. This time around decided to use the new-to-me Horror Fantasy deck, and again, I went with two options as prompt inspiration. You can use either option, and you can either use the basic concept at the top of the card, or you can use the various encounters at the bottom of the card to expand upon the adventure/story further.

The Oracle Story Generator

Prompt: A Warlord Will Betray A Peer To Overthrow a God But They Are Unexpectedly Interrupted

Next, we have The Oracle Story Generator by Nord Games. I’ve enjoyed playing around with these cards the past couple months, and look forward to doing even more with them in future. With this prompt, you can make it even more specific by either rolling a four-sided die for each card, or by simply choosing which option you like best.

Deck of Worlds

Prompt: Write an Account of a Historic Event With Excessive Detail in Less Than 30 Minutes OR Describe or Sketch a Shop in Less Than Five Minutes

A newer addition to the prompt generation is the Deck of Worlds by The Story Engine, and it works in a very similar way to the story deck, but it helps you think about and build either micro settings or small words or huge words with numerous countries throughout. It’s pretty cool.

Since I’m still new to using the Deck of Worlds for prompt generation I chose not to use the full deck. Instead I only used the Fresh Ink & Ancient Song lore fragments expansion deck. These decks are designed so you can use an expansion deck alone or build it into the main Deck of Worlds. This particular expansion deck makes you think about little things like holidays or rituals or ceremonies or local legends and tall tales, all to help develop and expand your world so it feels more three dimensional and real and complex.

One upcoming month (maybe next month? Do we want to do a big world creation to play around in for the rest of 2024?) I will do a full setting instead of a micro setting, and give us a larger world that we can explore for a few months of writing.

The Oracle Character Generator

Prompt: Wizard, Personality: Manipulative, Motivation: Domination, Flaw: Hedonistic, Intrigue: Hidden Bond

The newest addition to this is Nord Game’s The Oracle Character Generator, which finally arrived just a couple months ago. They don’t have The Oracle Character Generator up on their page yet, but you can follow the link up in The Oracle Story Generator to find all of the cool TTRPG accessories that Nord Games and friends have created.

All right, well that is all from me for today. As a reminder, I share what I wrote based on one of these prompts the last Friday of the month, and I encourage you to join in with me. I honestly don’t know which one of these will be the one I choose for my writing this month, because there’s a few that I’m decently interested in, so I guess we’ll find out at the end of the month which one won out.

I’ll likely play around with the lore fragments expansion for the Deck of Worlds, although I’m planning on picking up a couple Story Engine expansions while at Gen Con, so who knows, there might be a few surprises at the prompt share later this month. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: Taking Initiative by Elle M. Stewart

Hey all, Sam here.

Were you expecting a tabletop game related post today because it’s the first day of Gen Con? Because that is absolutely what you are getting…because I absolutely love books that incorporate tabletop games (whether that’s TTRPGs or any sort of board game/card game/dice game/etc), and there are more and more coming out, which I love.

I’m also writing a TTRPG centered contemporary romance/fantasy hybrid novel right now. It is a slightly fictionalized version of my real life romance with my husband, and the book bounces back and forth between the out of game relationship (hence the contemporary romance genre) and the in-game adventure (epic fantasy genre). I’m honestly having a blast writing the book, and hopefully in the next year or so I can have actual news to share about releasing this book to the world.

In the meantime, I have other authors’ books to hype up. This is a relatively new release (came out at the end of June), and I had originally planned for this book review post to come out back in June, and then I completely dropped the ball and forgot to actually write down my thoughts and feelings.

I’m fixing that now….so happy birthday to me, and enjoy this geeky book review. Let’s get started.

After having her heart broken, Jo Rainier is eager to start fresh in a new town in Kansas. When she walks into her local library’s first-ever game night, she expects to roll some dice and maybe even make some Monsters & Mythology friends. But instead of finding a friendly group of gamers, she stumbles upon a gorgeous librarian seriously in over his head.

Felix Navarro is desperate to save his job so he can take care of his aging grandfather. He hopes a game night will boost the library’s patron numbers-and its budget too. The only problem? He’s a buttoned-up pragmatist who’s never roleplayed a day in his life. Luckily for Felix, Jo is an experienced MnM Game Master, and she’s willing to teach him… especially if that means time alone together.

As they gather at the gaming table, Jo uncovers Felix’s soft heart (not to mention his killer forearms), and Felix finds himself falling hard and fast for Jo’s charm, wit, and creative mind. The spark between them grows into a flame when they wind up sharing the only available hotel room at an MnM convention. But back home, not everything is fun and games. As their connection deepens, old wounds left by Jo’s toxic ex begin to surface, and Felix’s earnest affection suddenly feels too good to be true. If they want to create a real romance amidst a world of fantasy, Jo and Felix will have to roll the dice and take a chance on love.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

I’m going to start with my tiny criticism of this story, which did not alter my overall rating of the story, but I feel like I have to at least mention in this review….the hotels and restaurants during the trip to the MnM convention are all made up. So, the convention takes place in Indianapolis…coincidentally where I will be for Gen Con at the time this post goes live (which is a very similar convention experience, although Gen Con is a real convention that runs the whole spectrum of tabletop games, while the MnM convention is more focused on Monsters & Mythology. Obviously my geeky little self has to compare the two con experiences, and I know the hotels and restaurants in the area around the convention center….and it would have been so simple for author Elle M. Stewart to do just a few minutes of research and find actual hotels and restaurants in the area rather than having to create them. Overall, yes, it’s not that big of a deal…and yet, it bothered me.

Other than that….I really enjoyed this book. It was cute and geeky and fun and yes, emotional. And it did not take long at all to get attached to both Jo and Felix (and their friends and family that also make appearances in the book).

I understood both of our main characters because of my own lived experience. I am a TTRPG lover and a game master myself, much like Jo, and I throw so much of my heart and my time into my games, because I love the worlds and the stories and crafting these collaborative adventures with the others at the table.

But, like Felix, I am also a librarian (by education if not in practice). I have a MLIS, and if I were working in a library, I would definitely be setting up tabletop nights, whether hosting a TTRPG or just a variety of other tabletop games. Felix needing to learn the game rules and mechanics and everything was a fun time, and was a great way to bring our two protagonists together. Got to love that forced proximity connection time.

This story was a wonderful roller coaster, with my feelings all over the place. I felt the growing feelings and tension between Jo and Felix, and I also definitely felt the lingering effects of leaving behind a toxic relationship (mine was friendship, not romantic, but still) and the echoes of that that surface when venturing out into new relationships. There were beautiful and tender moments and heightened emotionally charged moments.

I loved the side characters too (even though now, almost two months after reading the book, I can’t tell you any of their names), and I definitely loved seeing the wonderful geeky folks come together in support of MnM, the library, and a place of community and acceptance and belonging.

This is definitely a book that I am happy to have in my personal collection, and one that I will probably recommend a great deal over the years. Plus I now am keeping an eye on future books from Elle M. Stewart, and honestly kind of hoping for other stories with these characters (like interconnected stories that follow different friends and their own adventures).

All right, well that is all from me for today. I obviously can’t say anything about my time at Gen Con because I wrote this post before leaving my house for the convention, but I will have a convention wrap-up post probably some time next week. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

July Wrap Up

Hey all, Sam here.

Yes, I know that today is the last day of July, and I normally would do my wrap-up posts on the 2nd or 3rd of the month. However, I already had planned posts for August 1st-4th due to being at Gen Con….so I didn’t want to rearrange those just to fit in my reading wrap-up post….and since today is about driving to Indianapolis for Gen Con, waiting in the Will Call line to pick up our badges and tickets, and then settling into our hotel room, I already know I’m not really going to be reading, and if I do then it’s unlikely to be something that I’m going to complete.

So, I might as well get my monthly reading wrap-up completed now. July was an okay reading month. For an “average” (whatever that means) reader, I’m sure this would still qualify as a pretty good reading month…but by my own personal standards, it was a weak reading month (but not in book quality, just quantity).

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Caduceus Clay by Taliesin Jaffe, Matthew Mercer, Kendra Wells, Selina Espiritu, Eren Angiolini, and Ariana Maher — 5 stars

Critical Role: Tales of Exandria – Artagan #4 by Matthew Mercer, Sam Maggs, Aviv Or, Cris Peter, and Ariana Maher — 5 stars

Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins IV #2 by Matthew Mercer, Jody Houser, Noah Hayes, Diana Sousa, and Ariana Maher — 5 stars

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston — 5 stars

Finding Mr Write by Kelley Armstrong — 5 stars

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen — 4.5 stars

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst — 5 stars

So I have reviews written up for none of these reads….yet. I definitely plan to get reviews up, and hopefully that will happen soon. I guess we’ll just see what happens. Because I have these and a bunch of other reviews to post up (because my NetGalley to-read/review list has gotten rather wild, and I really should stop requesting them until I can get a little more caught up, but I just find myself compelled to hit that request button).

Anyway, I’ll throw out a couple honorable mentions in this post for the books I’m in the middle of reading (and who knows, if I actually do find time to read today, then maybe these will technically be July completed reads too).

Sistah Samurai by Tatiana Obey

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

Dungeons & Dragons: Spelljammer – Memory’s Wake by Django Wexler

All right, well that is all from me for today. Tomorrow is my birthday AND the first day of Gen Con AND I’ll have a book review up for one of my favorite reads so far this year. So, hopefully you’ll come back around here again tomorrow. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Tabletop Tuesday: Gen Con 2024 Plans

Hey all, Sam here.

Well, I guess it’s time to talk about what I’m getting up to at Gen Con this year…and the answer is a whole bunch of panels (mostly at the Gen Con Writers Symposium).

For those who don’t know, Gen Con is a tabletop game convention. This year it is taking place August 1-4 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and this is a convention that David and I have been attending together since 2017. It’s usually a pretty great time.

Outside of attending the convention, we also look forward to going to one of the local comic book stores, as well as a few restaurants and novelty shops. It’s usually a pretty great time, and it’s honestly my “birthday present” to myself each year.

Most of my time is spent at the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium, and I have a whole bunch of panels planned for this year. Whenever I get a break in my panel schedule, I am usually either grabbing a quick bite to eat, or I’m wandering the exhibitor’s hall looking for more tabletop games and accessories to add to the collection.

I love attending the Writer’s Symposium. It’s a great place to meet and converse with authors (both published and aspiring), editors, agents, and other folks connected with the writing and publishing industries…and this applies to both standard fantasy/sci-fi and to video game tie-in and TTRPG industries as well. I just love being around so many other awesome and creative individuals, and I always feel like I learn a lot while I’m attending all of the panels. Usually I take around 30 pages or so of notes; it’s pretty great.

Anyway, here’s what my schedule is looking like…

Thursday

10 am – Signing with Michael R Underwood

Noon – Query Questions & Answers

1 pm – Signing with Erin M Evans

2 pm – Rediscovering the Magic in Magic

And then depending on how we’re feeling from day 1 of the convention, we might go to the Meet the Writers event, which starts at 6 pm.

But Thursday is also the airing of the next episode of Critical Role, and considering how many attendees are Critters, we don’t want to be behind and get accidentally spoiled while at the convention.

Honestly, this seems like a perfect way to spend my birthday. I love it.

Friday

10 am – Ageism in SFF: Broadening the Ages of Protagonists

Noon – Embracing Your Weirdness

1 pm – Worldbuilding for TTRPG Systems

2 pm – Breaking the Rules! Breaking the Rules!

3 pm – Story Arcs & Character Development with Your Sweet Murderhobos

4 pm – Write What You DON’T Know: Working Across Cultural Lines

Friday is also the day we meet up with our “Nerdparents” for a dinner of appetizers at a nearby eatery, so that’s going to be a fun day.

Saturday

10 am – Beat Writer’s Block

11 am – Fall in Love With Your Writing

3 pm – POV Pandemonium

4 pm – Sharpen Your Story

5 pm – Strategies to Avoid Infodumps

6 pm – Emotional Self-Care for Writers

A bit of a longer day on Satuday, but a few of these Symposium panels are paid ones, so I have a feeling I’m really going to get a wealth of information from them. The paid panels are: Beat Writer’s Block, Sharpen Your Story, and Emotional Self-Care for Writers.

Sunday

9 am – Hacking Your Habitat (So You Can Write)

10 am – Reading & Writing in a Neurodiverse Universe

11 am – Writing with Kindness

Noon – Carving Your Own Niche in TTRPG Content

My final panel of the convention is my only non-Writer’s Symposium event, and I’m attending it with David. We’ve thought about possibly starting up a YouTube channel or something focused on all of our geeky hobbies as a couple, so we’ll see if this panel helps give us that motivation to finally get started.

Aside from this, there’s obviously a number of exhibitors I’m excited to visit during my downtime. These include: 1985 Games, Chessex, Die Hard Dice, Dryad Tea, Elderwood Academy, FanRoll by Metallic Dice Games, Foam Brain Games, Gale Force Nine, Gaming Paper LLC, Ginny Di, Green Ronin Publishing, Japanime Games, Kobold Press, Margaret Weis, Misty Mountain Gaiming, Paizo, R. Talsorian Games Inc, Syrinscape, TeeTurtle

And, of course, I’ll be wandering through Artists Alley and Author Avenue to see what goodies I can find there.

Because I’m working on a novel where D&D is a central aspect of the story, my goal is to grab a couple dice sets related to each player/character at the table in my story, so that’s going to be a fun little goal for my convention time. I’d like to get back to really working on this story, and maybe even have it ready for pitching/publishing this time next year, so hopefully Gen Con will be the inspirational kick in the pants I need to truly get back to writing.

Oh, and don’t worry….there will be a Gen Con Wrap Up post, where I show off our haul and talk about the whole experience, so expect that…maybe next Tuesday? If not then the one after that. It depends on how tired I am after the convention and adjusting back to the work schedule again.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

August TBR

Hey all, Sam here.

I can’t believe I’m working on my August (August?!) TBR already. Where has this year gone? I always look forward to August, because my birthday kicks off the month, and the beginning of the month also marks our annual trip to Gen Con in Indianapolis. I love going to the convention and trying out some tabletop games, buying lots of gaming products and accessories, and checking out a number of awesome panels at the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium.

But I also usually look forward to a number of fantasy reads for the month. I don’t know what it is about the height of summer that makes me want to tackle more epic fantasy type reads. It’s usually the height of summer or the height of winter that gets me in a chonky fantasy mood. That late spring/cusp of summer time is definitely more of a contemporary fantasy or beach read rom com time.

Anyway, as always, I have a nice selection of NetGalley reads for the month, and then a few other potential reads that I’m excited about, so let’s just get right into talking about them all.

The Doors of Midnight by R.R. Virdi (Aug 13), The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean (Aug 13), Asunder by Kerstin Hall (Aug 20), The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki (Aug 27)

The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter (Aug 27), The Enchanted Lies of Celeste Artois by Ryan Graudin (Aug 27), Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson (Aug 27), The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers (Sept 4)

And…I’ll be completely honest here…normally I’d have at least four more books for this list, but you can go back and look at my July TBR and possibly even my June TBR…and you’ll find a number of books that I still need to read. July has been pretty much a reading slump month, and I’m fairly certain that my wrap-up is going to be rather brief.

I keep hoping that I’ll sort out more time to read…and it just keeps not happening. Normally I get at least a few hours of reading time at work each week, but the past few weeks it has been busy enough to where I don’t even get to open a book.

Obviously, I’ve also been absolutely terrible at keeping up with blog posts too. I owe you guys a bunch of book reviews, so I’m going to try and get back on the horse (so to speak) and get some reviews prepped up and get back to posting.

All right, that’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I will hopefully be back very soon with more geeky content.

Mid Year Book Freakout Tag (2024 Edition)

Hey all, Sam here.

You know, I haven’t done a book tag in a while, and I do enjoy doing this one nearly every year. I have a post for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023, so you can check all of those out, and I’m back to it for this year. Since we are at the halfway point of the year, it makes complete sense for me to do this now.

The rules for this tag are very simple…answer the questions, keeping in mind what you’ve read and blogged about this year. However, I like to give myself a little more of a challenge, so I can only use a book once. But since I’ve read like 85 books so far this year, that shouldn’t present too much of a challenge.

Let’s get started.

Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2024

Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth, The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2024

The Study of Magic by Maria V Snyder, Lady of Starfire by Melissa K Roehrich, Brewed in Magic by Jenna Wolfhart, Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire

Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (July 9), Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca (Aug 13), The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter (Aug 27), This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher (Sep 10), Candle & Crow by Kevin Hearne (Oct 1), A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne (Oct 1), Critical Role: Bells Hells – What Doesn’t Break by Cassandra Khaw (Oct 8), Swordcrossed by Freya Marske (Oct 8),

Biggest Disappointment

Who We Are in Real Life by Victoria Koops, The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton, Happy Place by Emily Henry

Biggest Surprise

Empire of Shadows by Jacquelyn Benson

Favorite New Author (or New to You Author)

Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa

Newest Fictional Crush

As I stated last year, this category has always been a difficult one for me, because I am Asexual, so I don’t have the same “crush” feelings as an allonormative person. So I basically pick a character I like and would enjoy the company of, usually platonically or as like a “friend crush”.

I say this because my choice for this category this year is First Test Graphic Novel by Tamora Pierce, because I absolutely adored Keladry. Obviously, this is a Middle Grade graphic novel adaptation of a beloved MG series that I never read, but now really need to.

Newest Favorite Character

The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin by Jaleigh Johnson

Uggie is the best. That is all.

I mean, okay, fine, I really enjoyed the whole cast of characters, but Uggie the Otyugh was the most precious little companion creature and I loved her.

Book That Made You Cry

Poyums by Len Pennie

Book That Made You Happy

Taking Initiative by Elle M. Stewart

I have a review of this partially drafted. I need to finish it and get it posted.

Favorite Book to Film Adaptation

When it comes to book to film adaptations, I usually try to go with something I’ve both read and watched so far this year. If I did that then my options would be Bridgerton…and that’s it. But I did recently watch My Lady Jane, and I do want to pick up the book and give it a re-read, to see if I enjoy and appreciate it more now.

Favorite Post You’ve Done This Year

Weekend Writer: Trying out The 5 Sentence Method by Rebecca Thorne

And I guess I’ll also include a couple of my most viewed reviews for the year so far…

Book Review: A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner

Book Review: Lady of Darkness by Melissa K. Roehrich

Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

I don’t have this one in my hands yet, because it is a Kickstarter reward, but the Shadows of Camelot omnibus by Bree Moore should be arriving to me in the next month or two, and I’m very excited to have it in my collection.

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope, Le Fay by Sophie Keetch, The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman, Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

Book You Need to Read by the End of the Year

How to Become a Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler, Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White, The Sins on Their Bones by Laura R. Samotin

If you want to do this tag yourself, then you have been TAGGED!

And that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Let’s Talk About Book Releases

Hey all, Sam here.

I totally meant to have this post up at the beginning of the month, as in, it was originally drafted with a scheduled release of July 2nd…and that obviously did not happen. That’s fine. I guess I’ll just post it now, because it still covers a lot of upcoming releases. Anyway…

Let’s talk about book releases, specifically books coming out in the second half of the year that I’m excited about. Some of these I already have pre-orders for, some I have early copies from NetGalley, and some I’m just really excited for (and because I’m posting this late, some of these I already have purchased and brought them home and added them to my collection).

July

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen (July 2), These Deathless Shores by P.H. Low (July 9), Black Tide Son by H.M. Long (July 9), The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (July 9)

Le Fay by Sophie Keetch (July 16), A Rose by Any Other Name by Mary McMyne (July 16), The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (July 16), Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan (July 30)

August

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey (Aug 6), The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow (Aug 6), A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Aug 6), Writing an Identity Not Your Own by Alex Temblador (Aug 13)

Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca (Aug 13), The Doors of Midnight by R.R. Virdi (Aug 13), The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean (Aug 13), Gentlest of Wild Things by Sarah Underwood (Aug 15)

Asunder by Kerstin Hall (Aug 20), The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter (Aug 27), Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson (Aug 27), Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Aug 27)

September

The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen (Sep 3), The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers (Sep 4), The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart (Sep 3), This Will Be Fun by E.B. Asher (Sep 10)

This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska (Sep 10), Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik (Sep 17), A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft (Sep 17), Night Owls by A.R. Vishny (Sep 17)

October

Candle & Crow by Kevin Hearne (Oct 1), The Crescent Moon Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski (Oct 1), Emberclaw by L.R. Lam (Oct 1), The City in Glass by Nghi Vo (Oct 1)

A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne (Oct 1), Critical Role: Bells Hells – What Doesn’t Break by Cassandra Khaw (Oct 8), Swordcrossed by Freya Marske (Oct 8), Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim (Oct 8)

The Stars Are Dying by Chloe C. Penaranda (Oct 8), Dating and Dismemberment by A.L. Brody (Oct 8), The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen (Oct 15), Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (Oct 15)

The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide by Cody Daigle-Orians (Oct 21), Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang (Oct 29)

November

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong (Nov 5), The Traitor Queen (waiting on cover reveal) by Danielle L. Jensen (Nov 12), The Songbird & The Heart of Stone by Carissa Broadbent (Nov 19), The Poppy War Collector’s Edition by R.F. Kuang (Nov 26)

December

Wind and Truth (waiting on cover reveal) by Brandon Sanderson (Dec 6), The Inadequate Heir (waiting on cover reveal) by Danielle L Jensen (Dec 10), A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon (Dec 10), North is the Night by Emily Rath (Dec 24)

And I’ll be completely honest…there’s probably some books I’m missing on this list. There are so many interesting sounding titles coming out, and I’m also really trying to pay attention to more indie authors and indie releases as well, and I’m not really covering many of them in this post.

If anyone’s interested, let me know and I’ll to an Indie focused anticipated reads post.

All right, well that’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

June Wrap-Up

Hey all, Sam here.

Well….it feels like June was a bit of a failure when it comes to reading. During the first half of the month it seemed like things were looking great, like I was going to match my reading for May (or possibly even exceed it), but then the second half of the month I struggled so much to find the time to just sit back and read.

So instead of finishing 16 books, I only completed 8 (well, 9, but that one doesn’t fully count, because it was an alpha read of a fall release by an author friend)…and the other 8 are still in varying degrees of progress/completion.

Don’t get me wrong, eight books is still a good number to finish in a month. I’ve just been struggling the past couple of years with not reading as much as I want to, or as much as I used to, and that struggle is weighing quite heavily on me. Yes, I know I’m beating myself up a bit much when it comes to something that isn’t all that serious.

Anyway, I’ll just run down the eight books I managed to complete really quickly for you. I have reviews up for three of them already, and the other four have reviews planned; I just need to finish writing them and get them posted…so hopefully I can do that relatively soon.

Let’s get started.

The Last Available by Sean R. Frazier — 4 stars

Manga Classics: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Crystal S. Chan, Julien Choy, Akanovas, and Jeannie Lee — 4 stars

First Test Graphic Novel by Tamora Pierce, Devin Grayson, and Becca Farrow — 5 stars

An Outbreak of Witchcraft: A Graphic Novel of the Salem Witch Trials by Deborah Noyes and M. Duffy — 4 stars

Taking Initiative by Elle M Stewart — 5 stars

Ace Notes Tips and Tricks on Existing in an Allo World by Michele Kirichanskaya — 4.5 stars

Novel Problem by Elizabeth Luly — 4 stars

Love Across the Tabletop by Kait Disney-Leugers — 4.5 stars

See? Not a bad reading month. Everything was 4-5 stars, which is great. And the books that I have started reading but not finished have also been good so far. I just kept getting distracted and ran out of time. I guess it just means that I have the potential to finish up a bunch of reads pretty quickly in July. We’ll just see what happens.

What did your reading month look like in June? Read anything you would recommend? Let me know in the comments, because you know I’m always looking to add more books to my never-ending TBR.

All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

July TBR

Hey all, Sam here.

At the current moment I am feeling rather productive. So, just as a random little spoiler alert….I wrote this post in the middle of May…which feels very far in advance to plan a TBR, but considering I am still really trying to focus on keeping up with my NetGalley reading list, it also is fairly easy to plan at least a few months in advance.

I keep thinking that I should put a pause on requesting books from NetGalley and just spend a few months focusing on trying to reduce my backlog, but then I keep ignoring that thought and requesting any book that looks/sounds interesting. So, it seems like my backlog is not going to get smaller quickly any time soon. Oh well.

This month I have 8 NetGalley books that are July or early August releases on my TBR, as well as a couple other anticipated June/July releases, and actually a couple books that are sitting on my bookshelves waiting to be read…so all in all it is a pretty good reading list.

Let’s get started.

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer (July 16), A Rose By Any Other Name by Mary McMyne (July 16), The Haunting of Hecate Cavendish by Paula Brackston (July 23), In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran (July 23)

What can I say about these books aside from the fact that I’m excited about reading them? A Narnia-esque book, a Shakespearean sonnet inspired tale, a witchy historical story, and a fascinating novella with gods and magic….basically I can’t stop requesting books on NetGalley because there are so many books coming out that just sound so interesting.

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan (July 30), A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Aug 6), The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow (Aug 6), Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca (Aug 13)

I haven’t read a Sarah Rees Brennan book in a while, but I remembered liking them like 10-15 years ago, so I’m curious about this upcoming release. And I know I love T. Kingfisher’s writing and stories, so I’m very excited about reading this one. Then there’s Jen DeLuca’s upcoming release (it’s not a Ren Faire Romance–which I dearly love and hope that she’s going to write more books focused around the ren faire setting), but I’m still very excited about this one.

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston, Le Fay by Sophie Keetch, The Timeless Trials by A.C. Guess, The Maleficent Seven by Cameron Johnston

I pre-ordered Ashley Poston and Sophie Keetch’s books months ago, and I’m so excited to read them. I feel pretty confident in being able to read Le Fay, even after waiting for shipping (It’s coming out July 16), and I read the first book rather quickly as well. Obviously this physical TBR section could change if my mood does, or if I’ve already read them (that’s the hazard of writing and scheduling this so soon, but I have so many books to read that I feel pretty good about these being July reads).

All right, that is all from me for today. I’d love to hear about your July reading plans in the comments. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

NetGalley Review: First Test Graphic Novel by Tamora Pierce, Devin Grayson, and Becca Farrow

Hey all, Sam here.

Back in the early days of my blog, long before it became Free State of Geek and long before Mondays became Manga Mondays here…it used to be Middle Grade Monday. Even now, as an almost 36 year old woman, I still hold a great affection for Middle Grade books. They are so fun and adventurous and filled with friendship and beginning to figure out who you are and maybe who you want to be (although there’s no time limit on figuring all of that out).

So, in lieu of a manga review post today, let’s have a nice little throwback to talking about MG books, specifically by talking about a very cool upcoming release, for this Middle Grade Monday. Today’s book review is for a book that will be out in the US on July 2nd, so there’s not much longer to wait…although, since this is a graphic novel adaptation, you can already get the novel that inspired it.

Let’s get started.

This eagerly awaited graphic novel adaptation of the iconic fantasy novel, First Test, reimagines the classic knight’s tale, but with a twist. In a world not quite ready for her ambition, a determined girl seeks knighthood and finds herself on a mission to prove it.

Keladry is the first girl who dares to take advantage of a new rule in her homeland, Tortall–one that allows women to train for knighthood. She knows she’s ready for the traditional hazing and grueling schedule of a page, but standing in her way is the Knight’s training master, Lord Wyldon.

The training master is dead set against girls becoming knights, and in an attempt to further hold Kel back Lord Wyldon decides that she must pass a one-year trial that no male page has ever had to endure. But she is not to be underestimated. She will fight to succeed, even if the test is purposely unfair.

The Protector of the Small series gets its first graphic novel adaptation, bringing to life Tamora Pierce’s best-selling First Test in an exciting new format. This graphic novel story about believing in yourself and overcoming all odds, combines action and adventure in a way that new and old fans of the series will love.

My Thoughts

Rating: 5 stars

I read quite a bit of Tamora Pierce when I was younger. I know I read the Immortals and The Circle Opens, and I think I read the Song of the Lioness books, but I don’t have any recollection of The Protector of the Small series…which is a shame, because this was GREAT. Rest assured, I do plan to start picking up Tamora Pierce and reading/re-reading them.

This was a lovely and quick read, with very nice art throughout. The characters and the story were quite compelling, and I just had such a good time reading it…even if I was annoyed by how some of Kel’s fellow pages and some of the training masters treated her. Honestly, I love a main character who knows what their goal is and is determined to find a way to make it happen.

Kel wants to be a knight, and darn it, she’s going to work as hard as she needs to in order to make it happen. No matter what challenges they put in front of her, no matter what anyone else thinks or says or does to try and hamper her progress, Kel refuses to give up.

Honestly I wanted more. This story was great and easy to follow, but I wanted more details and descriptions (which obviously means I need to go read the novel–it’s not a criticism of the graphic novel at all).

I don’t know how quickly I’m going to get around to reading/re-reading Tamora Pierce, but I know it is something on my to-do list, so perhaps I’ll be bringing back Middle Grade Monday and alternating between Manga and Middle Grade on Mondays. We’ll just have to see what happens.

All righty…well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.