Wendy PalmerBooks: Favourite reads, March’26
Hit a major reading slump1 early in the month, but thoroughly enjoyed the books where I did manage to get past the first chapter, or first few pages, or first line, it really was that kind of month for kneejerk DNFs… Non-fiction also suffered, because everything I tried was just plain depressing in light of the handbasket’s current trajectory. So it ended up being a fiction month, and pretty much 100% queer in one way or another.
Fiction
The Paper Boys by DP Clarence
Extremely charming contemporary gay romance: it’s journalists divided by rivalry and class, it’s funny and sweet, it’s British humour, it’s completely my jam. I read all three currently available Brent Boys books (standalone but loosely following a group of friends/roommates; I don’t have to tell you how contemporary series work), and eagerly look forward to more by this ex-journalist author.
Out of the Loop by Katie Siegel
This is a Groundhog Day story with a difference: it starts when Amie wakes up the next morning, for the first time in two years. It then deals with the aftermath: how do you, a homebody with anxiety about trying new things, cope with unpredictability when you’ve grown comfortable knowing exactly how your day goes…while also solving a murder and pursuing a second-chance romance with your ex-girlfriend? Does a great job with a new angle to an well-known plot device.
The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
Holy shit, this was amazing, and I say that as someone with aphantasia aka I cannot picture what the hell this “tree stump” city looks like, but I’m still here for it. There’s two storylines: the first follows Guy and Dawn, exterminators who hunt the myriad of pests that attack the city, as they encounter a new and deadly vermin. The second follows the arrival of a mysterious stranger into the political minefield of the upper city. Of course the two storylines intersect eventually – the more attention you pay, the faster you’ll see it. I really liked Leech by this author; I loved this one for the rare trifecta of great writing, characters, and plot. (Darker than my usual recommendations, however.)
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh
As with Naomi Novik’s Scholomance series, this uses the notion that magic makes children vulnerable to otherworldly predators/demons and that a magical boarding school is the best way to solve that problem (while causing secondary problems: a buffet of magic kids sure attracts the demons…). Instead of following students, however, it follows a career teacher, Walden, whose job, among many others, is to protect the school from demonic invasion. When a major outbreak almost destroys the school, it raises personal demons from the past, literally and metaphorically. I’ve loved all of Tesh’s previous books and this is no exception; I especially liked the way the rhythms of a busy school year flowed through the text (without being dull about it); her past as a teacher makes it very genuine and it matters as part of the plot too. I’m also glad to see the magical boarding school genre reclaimed, modernised and deepened.
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
I didn’t read this when it first came out due to a deep aversion to contemporaries that is only just lifting (I guess I’ve swung from “need anything but the real world” to “need an alt-real world that is better than this cursed timeline”). I’m glad I came across it again – I loved it. The second-chance queer romance is good (very sexy, very pining; you might have trouble if you don’t like to see your romantic pairs hook up with others) but the love letter to the hedonism and sheer intensity of a fantastically idealised European food and art tour when you’re young and desirable and full of appetites is unsurpassed. It made me want to bake a focaccia and open an artisanal bookstore on the cobbled backstreet of a tiny mountain village.
Apparently, Sir Cameron Needs to Die by Greer Stothers
Sir Cameron finds out he’s the star of a prophecy which predicts his death will bring about the fall of the dark lord. Sir Cameron doesn’t love this turn of events, but he figures there’s one other person featured in that prophecy who also won’t like it… Just plain fun, and I am enjoying the modern crop of dark-lord books that play with the concept.
Into the Midnight Wood by Alexandra McCollum
There’s few plot threads, but mostly it’s a mismatched roommates m/m romance between David and Meredith, set in a fantasy-normative world (ie the presence of magic and magical creatures is never questioned nor explained, which I really liked) – but not an entirely queer-normative world (Meri cops some schtick from his family). This is the type of story that I often find a bit too cosy, but it has good writing and extra depth, particularly with Meri. I also got a little stomach swoop every time someone was accidentally or purposefully mean to him, and I hardly ever have physical reactions when reading, so that’s an ringing endorsement of the extent of my engagement with this couple 🙂
Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall
As it says on the cover, sapphic Moby Dick in space. The first-person narrator (“call me whatever the fuck you like”, but really just “I”) and Q join a crew hunting an atmosphere-dwelling Leviathan under the captaincy of, you guessed it, A. I’ve only come across negative-leaning mentions of this one so it’s likely a YMMV one; as much as I have liked or loved all of Hall’s books, my very favourite is the “gender-swapped Sherlock Holmes in a SF world” one, so Hell’s Heart is right up my alley and I loved spending time with it. It’s extra fun if you’re passing familiar with Moby Dick but it’s not necessary.
Writing News
I finally have a (very ugly) first draft complete, hallelujah, it was like pulling teeth. I tend to switch to a procrastination novel when I get this stuck, but my brain(/Mr Bolshie MC) wasn’t having with that either. Fortunately, the only thing worse than writing when in this mood is not writing, so I cudgelled this monster out of my head at about 100 words a day.
I’m usually editing a final-draft-shaped MS during the annual Easter family holiday Up North, but this year, I’ll put this eldritch horror of a first draft aside for valuable fallow time and amuse myself collecting cover ideas.
All that to say there will be no May release, but there will be a release at some point this year!
