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2023 Favorites in Books, Writing, and Music

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I don’t do a lot of “wrapping up the year” rituals. I used to, and while they had value for me then, I find it much more useful to do just a couple of things to put a bow on the current year and look forward to the next. One of those things is talking about the works which made an impact on me in some capacity.

Proclaiming anything the “best” feels like it puts a lot of pressure on whatever the thing in question is. My best is not your best, and what does “best” mean, anyway? Especially if you have not consumed every possible contender within a group, you can’t really measure best. Instead, I prefer to label these things favorites. They’re the things which stuck with me or that resonated in some way that, when I reach this time of year, I recall something from it, be it a message or story or feeling.

I’m offering up three categories of favorites this year. One is the roundup of my favorite personal works of writing, one is my roundup of favorite reads this year, and the last is my list of some favorite music I listened to this year.

My Favorite Writing in 2023

I took a break from doing as much freelance writing this year as I have in the past. School and parenting took some priority in my free time, as did doing a lot more presenting for groups.

My Favorite Books in 2023

Despite feeling like I didn’t read much this year, I sure did. Even with several months of reading only a book or two, I managed to finish 90, or about two per week. Not bad, given how much reading I did for school, too.

There is an interesting and odd trend to my favorites this year: water. There are a lot of books set in or near water.

I am not limiting my favorites list to just books published in 2023. Some of these will be backlist because I read a little bit of everything. These aren’t in any order. A * before a title means I listened on audio and recommend that format if you like to listen.

Chlorine by Jade Song follows a teen girl who is convinced she is a mermaid. This is a story of transformation and queerness and just how terrible high school can be–especially if you’re different in any capacity.

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus asks and answers one question: what would really happen if you got swallowed by a sperm whale (it is also very much a story of grief). This hard scifi read is fast paced and kept me wanting to talk about it.

A Death in Door County by Annelise Ryan is a cozy adventure mystery following Morgan, a 30-something who inherited her parents’ bookshop/metaphysical/magic store in Door County, Wisconsin. She’s a cryptozoologist and the story is about her recruitment to solve several mysterious deaths possibly tied to a lake monster. This is just fun–admittedly, the most boomer-esque 30-something you’ll read, but the premise is good enough to overlook that.

She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran is your read if you want a haunted house story that is also about colonialism. It’s genuinely creepy.

*How Far The Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler is an immersive memoir-cum-science nonfiction book that tells the story of growing up queer and biracial. You’ll learn about Imbler’s life, as well as ten fascinating sea creatures like the goldfish, the octopus who would kill herself to save her spawn, and more.

*What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo is a mental health memoir about life with complex post traumatic stress disorder. Foo’s story is so generous, and I appreciated how much was shared about what did–and did not–help in managing it.

*Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond should be required reading for understanding inequity in America. I cannot stop thinking about one of his points about how the left, even when their policies are passed, fail to keep up the momentum to ensure those policies remain and why that’s connected to so many quick actions to reverse course by the right.

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang is one of the buzziest books on this list and it earned that buzz. What happens when a rising Asian author dies and her white friend pretends to have written her manuscript? I am not usually one who cares for books about the book world, but this had me start to finish.

One’s Company by Ashley Hutson is a novel about obsession and specifically, Bonnie’s obsession with Three’s Company. We’re not talking just collecting memorabilia. We’re talking she’s constructed a house to live out the show in her real life. A wild and potent story of grief and loss.

*The Art Thief by Michael Finkel is one I’ve written about quite a bit, but this true crime story is about an art thief and the lengths gone to feed his obsession.

Just Do This One Thing For Me by Laura Zimmerman is the sophomore effort by a YA author who is easily on the top of my favorites list. This story follows a teen girl whose con-artist mother claims she’s traveling to a concert in Mexico but instead, accidentally dies. Now the girl needs to not only take care of her siblings alone, but she must cover for all of the lies her mother has live on. It’s set in Wisconsin, and even though it tackles some heavy stuff, it is also at times laught out loud funny. It’s midwest YA to a T.

Finally, *Conspirituality by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker is a must-read if you’re at all engaged in the wellness world. This is a book exposing the grifts within it, including some of the biggest players in the field. One of my major takeaways was how messed up International Yoga Day is, including its ties to far-right Indian Nationalism.

My Favorite Music in 2023

I made a goal this year to listen to one new-to-me and newer album per week. This was to grow my music catalog and knowledge. It was a very hard challenge, and I lost steam over the summer. I did end up listening to dozens of new things, though, and even if the exact challenge is going to look different, I’ll be doing something similar in 2024.

Like with books, some of these are 2023 albums, but some are older. I kept to listening to things released in the last 3 years. You can dig into the entire roundup of what I listened to on Spotify here. Some of the highlights include:

Love Your Face by Savoy Motel is for fans of 70s-ish groove pop.

Looking for pop punk that is a LOT OF FUN? Then you’ll dig past // present // future by meet me @ the altar.

A lot of folks may be familiar with hard rock band Maneskin from Eurovision but they were new to me. I really enjoy Rush!

If you like upbeat folk music, Dustbowl Revival’s Is It You, Is It Me is worth a listen.

Indie female solo with pop feels but a wide range of style? Dig into Blondshell’s self-title album. “Veronica Mars” is a killer lead song.

A friend recommend the band High Waisted to me after asking for music like that of The Hippos (ugh, so good). I was NOT disappointed with this surf rock album, Sick of Saying Sorry. It looks like there is a brand new album out this month I’m going to be listening to, too!

Of course, I’m going to tell you how great Matchbox 20’s Where The Light Goes is. It’s new, though the band is far from new to me. But a pop rock band still being this great so deep into their career is worth continuing to shout about. (A side note: several male-led bands or soloists I like have been in my years for decades, and it is so neat to see them go from angry young men to more mature, been-to-theapy-to-work-through-stuff in their later work).

True Crime, Low Body Count: “Bloodless” True Crime Stories

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I don’t care for true crime. I question some of the drive behind its popularity–it’s got a lot of dead girls and it positions human pain as entertainment–but I also understand why people are drawn to it. The genre has been around for a long time, and it ebbs and wanes in its connection with popular culture. Some works of true crime endure, like In Cold Blood by Truman Capote or Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry’s Helter Skelter, and others are but a flash in the pan. Entire careers have been built in the world of true crime, including staples like Ann Rule.

When I say I don’t care for true crime, I tell a bit of a lie. I have actually read quite a bit of it, and I have enjoyed the books I’ve read. John Krakauer’s Missoula kept me hooked, as did both Columbine and Parkland by David Cullen. Michelle McNamera’s I’ll Be Gone In The Dark was impossible for me to put down, as was Dashka Slater’s incredible YA true crime book The 57 Bus. Here’s where I won’t lie: In Cold Blood is also one of my favorite stories and one I can read stories about and stories derived from again and again. What captures me with true crime isn’t the crime. It’s the way the crime story is told. I want to feel like I’m reading a work of hard journalism, and that tends to lean toward the types of true crime books where there is not a dead body or series of dead bodies. Sometimes there are, of course. But for the most part, I prefer my true crime to have a low body count.

For years, I’ve called this subset of the genre “bloodless” true crime, but that feels a bit disingenuous,. There is always going to be some kind of blood with true crime, whether it’s literal or metaphorical. Calling this micro genre non-violent true crime also feels a little inaccurate: there is hurt along the way and in some cases, it can be violent. I think the better description for the kind of true crime books I like are those of unique obsession. These are stories where the criminal is not hungry for another person but driven to crime related to more material objects. Books in this niche can easily blend in with narrative nonfiction that explores science or art; you might see them recommended with books about, say, bats or owls. But these books do more than offer stories of creatures or objects. There is a crime of some sort at the center of the story, often focused on one or two individuals and exploration of a subculture where said individual is active and engaged. A book like The Language of Butterflies, while good, does not quite fit because it does not focus on the a specific crime related to lepidopteristry.

These books tend to be very white, and they also tend to be very male. This makes perfect sense: white collar crime is more digestible to us as humans, and we find white men to be most digestible in Western cultures (whether or not you believe that or I believe that is another story). Men are authorities and experts, and the crimes of obsession which center them can avoid diving into politics of the other, be it in race, gender, sexuality.

If you, like me, love a good true crime book that focuses less on human destruction and more on obsession, then you’ll want to try some of these books. It is not lost on me that most of these books have the word “thief” in the title.

the art thief book coverThe Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

I think part of why I am drawn to bloodless crime stories is because of my own (minor) connection to one. During my time at the University of Texas in the graduate Information Studies program, I had an opportunity to help with a research project. The project would result in a manual to help special libraries and archives across the country develop securities policies to protect their collections. This manual was long overdue and it was necessary, thanks to the nationwide crime spree of Stephen Blumburg. Blumberg was an obsessive about books–a literal, not figurative, bibliomaniac–and he stole books, manuscripts, and other significant materials from institutions across the US. You can read the Blumberg story here, and my (tiny) role in the project was helping tabulate the results of an institutional survey about the materials stolen by the book thief.*

When I read the flap copy for The Art Thief, I knew immediately it was a book I needed to read. I grabbed it on audio, and I was not disappointed. The story follows Stéphane Breitwieser, one of the most successful art thieves in modern history. Breitwieser stole hundreds of priceless works of art and artifacts from museums and cathedrals in Switzerland, France, and more over the course of eight years. He lived with his long-time girlfriend in the attic of an apartment building owned by his mother, about the most unassuming setup for such an art connoisseur. And connoisseur he was: Breitwieser was obsessive about the works he took, both in understanding their stories and in figuring out how to carefully remove them from where they belong.

The book is a fascinating look at obsession, as much as it is a book that questions motives. Breitwieser, like Blumberg, did not steal in order to make a profit. He did it because he was obsessive about art and those works in particular. Did he have stendhal syndrome? Did he struggle with kleptomania? Was it some other third thing? There’s ample time in the book dedicated to what the purpose of museums is and the struggles to develop security systems that allow public access while protecting culturally-significant valuables (not to mention the costs associated with security).

It’s hard to know or say. What we do know, though, comes through this book. Finkel’s storytelling is captivating, and his author’s note is a must-read at the end. The work is pieced together from actual interviews with Breitwieser and Breitwieser’s own writings about the crimes. The author’s note also references Blumberg and several other art criminals through history, perfect for readers who want to dedicate days of their life to internet rabbit holes. This is a short read, and the audiobook, performed by Eduardo Ballerini, an excellent option.

This story, like Blumberg’s, is not ancient history. Both men are still alive, their crimes done in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Would these stories be possible today or, thanks to technology and the speed by which institutions can communicate have hampered their efforts much sooner?

the dinosaur artist book coverThe Dinosaur Artist: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth’s Ultimate Trophy by Paige Williams

Eric Prokopi because obsessed with the T. bataar bones the moment he saw them. What unfolds in this story is how Prokopi’s encounter with the fossils lead to his need to sell those fossils in the black market. It is a story of natural life trafficking that crosses the planet and delves into the world of underground fossil trade. The book, I should note, looks much lengthier than it truly is–about half of the pages are William’s research notes and references, which should indicate just how deeply researched this one is.

I admit to being a little confused at the conclusion of the book about what Prokopi ended up going to prison for, and that’s probably a result of the laws relating to his arrest being confusion. This is what happens when you commit international crime. Go into this one to learn about dinosaur fossils, the folks whose obsession moves from awe to theft, and where and how countries like Mongolia have become hotbeds for such crimes.

Who do dinosaur bones belong to, anyway? If that’s the one takeaway from the book, well, it’s a pretty good one.

 

the falcon thief book coverThe Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and The Hunt For The Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer

In May 2010, Jeffrey Lendrum was arrested in the UK at an airport after a security guard in one of the lounges thought something suspicious was going on. Lendrum had left his partner in the lounge while he went into the bathroom for twenty minutes. The guard went in after and noticed nothing had been touched while he was in there — no shower, no running water. But there was a suspicious looking egg in the garbage can. Before long, it was discovered Lendrum had numerous eggs secured to his body, along with numerous eggs in his luggage. These were the eggs of falcons, each of which — were they to make it alive to his destination in Dubai — would net him a lot of money from political leaders in the region who practiced the art and sport of falconry. 

From here, the book follows the rise of falconry in the middle east and how it ties into their history, as well as how it is Lendrum got caught up in the theft of some of the world’s most rare raptor eggs and how he traversed some of the most dangerous places in order to steal the eggs and make a profit. It’s a fascinating and infuriating story, not only because of how it plays into disturbing nature and causing further harm to hurting species, but also because of how Lendrum’s passion for nature went so off-course from his boyhood days in South Africa. 

The Falcon Thief, besides its obvious exploration of theft of eggs, has some moments of animal harm, but it’s one I think those who are sensitive to that might be able to stomach without too much problem. Hammer offers a fair assessment of why Lendrum would partake in such illegal acts, while balancing the history and legacy of falconry in the middle east. It’s not an apology nor excuse for his behavior; rather, it’s context and conjecture for the whys, particularly where Hammer was unable to get the information first-hand. 

It is bizarre to think about the books you read in The Before of COVID and those you read in The After as things. But I read this one in a hotel in San Mateo, California, in late January 2020. I remember it vividly…and I remember that memory being forever sealed into my head, in part because I was able to read it outside in the sun in January and because the flight back–out of San Francisco–was the first time I saw individuals taking COVID measures. Little did I know.

the feather thief book coverThe Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson

Do not be put off by the premise of this one if you think nothing sounds more boring than a guy ho steals feathers for fly-tying. I promise–it is unbelievably interesting. This true crime book follows a man who becomes so obsessed with fly-tying that he breaks into a museum to steal their rare birds to sell the feathers for profit. Johnson’s attention to details and passion for cracking the mystery of the still-missing birds is propulsive, and the way this looks at a very specific community’s passion — in this case, the fly-tying community’s passion for very specific bird feathers — was fascinating. There’s a lot here, too, about ethics and about the ways people throughout history have sought what’s not theirs, starting with how those birds and feathers ended up in the British Museum of Natural History in the first place.

The images in this one, tucked near the back of the narrative, added a ton. I was surprised to see images of Edwin himself, who wasn’t at all what I expected (like Johnson himself had said just pages earlier), and seeing what these fly-ties looked like and the birds that drew such lust from those hobbyists made the crime all that more fascinating.

The Feather Thief may have been the first book to crack open this subgenre interest for me in a way that I could best put into words. I want to know about the crimes, yes, but more than that, I want to know about the psyche of the person behind it. What makes someone fall so deeply into a community like that of fly-tying? And how does a person move from the position of being engaged to becoming obsessive and acting on that obsession? That marriage of journalism with crime gives the right strokes of psychology and sociology, married with philosophy and history.

I know a lot of folks found Susan Orlean’s The Library Book another solid example in this micro genre, but I was not as smitten with it. I found the vocational awe to overwhelm the story, with the actual crime at hand–the 1986 fire at the Los Angeles Public Library’s Central Library–kind of being secondary to talking about how cool libraries and library workers are. The photos in it were also just bad and added nothing. Others disagree with me, given the high ratings of the book across the internet. It’s unfortunate for me, though, since it did not make me want to hurry and pick up the other white collar true crime book in Orlean’s arsenal: The Orchid Thief.

obsessive true crime cover collage

 

There are several other books within this niche, and though I haven’t read them, it’s worth including them for readers eager for more. As I mentioned, this is a very white and very male category of books which is in and of itself worth unpacking. Who gets their criminal mischief repackaged as entertainment as opposed to a dire warning? Who gets to live their life after being caught and who ends up finding themselves harmed in the process?

If a story about the wild Asian arowana, one of the world’s rarest fish, sounds up your alley, then the book you’ll want to pick up is Emily Voigt’s The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish.

How about America’s flower selling culture and the quest to replicate a rare ghost orchid? That’ll be for you in Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief.

I did read The Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World’s Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs, and it, too, fits nicely into this subgenre, with a bit of caveat. The story is not quite as narratively-driven as the others here, but that exchange in writing style does not shortchange the story of folks who become obsessed with truffles and “hunting” them. I had no idea what a mess the truffle industry is top to bottom (I like truffle oil, though admit the aftertaste is what ultimately makes me decide to go for it or not–if I am not in the mood to enjoy that truffle flavor for the rest of the day, I’m going to skip it).

The Less People Know About Us: A Mystery of Betrayal, Family Secrets, and Stolen Identity by Axton Betz-Hamilton does not exactly fit this list but deserves a place here anyway. This is a memoir, but it’s bloodless true crime memoir about identity theft and the ways and hows Axton’s parents dealt with having their identities stolen over and over…and how her own identity was stolen from her by those she thought she could trust. This book gets billed as a mystery, which I think is unfair. There’s not really a mystery here in the sense of a “whodunit?” It’s much more a “whydunit?” Readers who, like me, dig the crime books above will find this one captivating, too.

 

*Someday maybe I’ll see about putting this story into a book format–I wonder if Blumberg, like his art thief counterpart Breitwieser, would ever grant personal interviews. He’s 75, so perhaps this is a question to find an answer to sooner, rather than later.

When Did Common Sense Media Become The Good Guys?

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BookLooks is a Moms for Liberty invention. I broke that story in May 2022, and since then, the group has continued to deny that it is theirs. Too bad the proof is in the screen shots. The “database” of volunteer-generated book reviews aims to become a one stop shop for parents who either want to monitor their children’s reading (because parenting is hard and exhausting and who has the time to read all of the books available in a library) or who would like to be part of a Hate Group’s mission to ban every book that does not align with their right-wing christofascist beliefs.

BookLooks is not the only site doing this, and neither is the Hate Group, but they are the biggest, being given legitimacy again and again and again and again through the media. Every week I find journalists using it to talk about books being challenged within their community without any context as to what the site truly is. Moms has distanced themselves enough that a cursory glance by reporters on a quick digital deadline suggests nothing, so the group gets to own the entire cycle of the news: challenge the book, have the book’s review from their website be cited in the news, then get the book removed because it has reviews that agree with the initial challenge complaint.

Content warnings and ratings for BookLooks are sourced through folks with no interest in or professional background in education, literacy, librarianship, or child development. They are happier seeing their child pick up and read Lolita–an actual book about grooming–than The Kite Runner.

Side by side images of screenshots for lolita and the kite runner from booklooks.org

But this isn’t about BookLooks. As interesting as it is to see the media discover it more than a year after the fact its lineage was unearthed, and as annoying as it is to see school boards think it has real value, it’s not the first of its type and it won’t be the last.

Before BookLooks, there was Common Sense Media.

In 2010, Barnes & Noble announced it would be adding Common Sense Media (CSM) ratings to its website, which launched 100s of blog posts. This was the era of book blogs, and conversation about CSM raged. Authors weighed in on this as much as librarians and parents and book lovers and for good reason: CSM’s entire rating system is built on pulling pieces of a book out of context, conveying a count of whatever those pieces were, and using that information to help parents determine whether or not to pick up a book. There were age ratings, too, ensuring that books with too many swear words were not going to land in the hands of eyes deemed too young. Those books were better for readers 14 and older or 16 and older.

In a blog post bringing up the issue of CSM being integrated into Barnes and Noble, mega-bestselling YA author Sarah Dessen wrote the following:

I really, really appreciate all the comments you guys left on the Common Sense ratings that are now on the BN.com site, and I can see your points, both for and against. I totally understand the need for some guidelines for parents who might not have the time to read every book their teen reads but still want to know what the story contains in terms of offensive or mature material. But as I said, I do really worry that the ratings take so much out of context that the story itself is lost. (And I also LOVED the comment about how the graphic Common Sense uses is sort of similar to that which displays the terrorist threat level. It’s true!) But as an author, I have to say I was kind of surprised by the stuff they chose in Along for The Ride as offensive. I didn’t realize that “sucked” is a bad word these days, and, actually, I can’t remember a point in the book where Auden lost her virginity to Eli, and since I wrote it, I think I’d, you know, recall that. So the accuracy concerns me as well.

Dessen’s posts led to many more, including one from bestselling author Meg Cabot. Cabot looked at the CSM review for Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, a tween classic. What did she find?

Because Common Sense Media has attached a yellow caution light warning to their review of Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret that lets parents know they need to “watch out for” mentions of “Playboy, kissing, menstruation, bras, and emerging sexuality” in the book.

Weirdly, while on BN.com’s main page for Margaret, it’s suggested that the “appropriate reading age” for the book is 9-12, Common Sense Media rates it for kids age 11, but if parents “Click to learn more,” they’ll find out that Margaret doesn’t actually get a “green light” unless readers are above 14 years of age.

A tween classic deemed inappropriate for actual tweens.

The discussion of CSM’s integration with B&N did not turn to the belief that such ratings would deter kids from reading the books that they want to read. Discussions did not suggest parents would not find this information useful in some capacity. Indeed, it is impossible to read everything your kid might want to read. Having an idea of whether or not something is appropriate for them is helpful. Moreover, First Amendment Rights extend to everyone, with few limitations, especially when it comes to speech.

But CSM took its system beyond what is already done by professionals in the book, education, library, and child development industries.

Publishers give books age ratings. This is not something done quickly or thoughtlessly. I can tell you first hand as an author, spending phone calls discussing what the difference between a book being leveled for 12 and up vs. 14 and up would mean (mine are all 12+). Professional review journals like School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Book List, and others include audience assessments, some by age and some by grade. The difference with CSM? Cherry picking passages, subjectively rating language on whether or not it is “appropriate,” and creating worries for adults where it was unnecessary.

Contextless information is just that: a way to wield power and through that power, ignite worry. That worry and anxiety–things busy parents do not have time for–is a perfect conduit for compliance. The Shiny Happy People docuseries lays this parternalism all out so neatly, and does so in such a way to showcase how looking at art or information or facts plucked from context is a tool of submission to christofascism.

Even if there is context rendered in those reviews, it’s silly. It undermines the purpose of literature and ascribes morality to the behavior of every character, main or not. Whose morality? That remains the question.

As Liz Burns wrote:

 Read some book reviews of books you have read, and you’ll see this is not objective or factual. Which is fine, because some people want this. For example, in writing about The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, drinking and parental obedience is highlighted: “Parents need to know that there is little in the way of bad language or mature situations in this Newbery Honor book, but Calpurnia’s grandfather not only drinks regularly and tries to distill his own whiskey, he seems to have no concept that children ‘as young as 11’ should not be drinking.

Grandfather’s interests and hobbies should never have been seen in the story unless they could be a moral lesson for Calpurnia. I suppose that reviewer, looking today at how parents are behaving at school board meetings, would not blink an eye at how their language, their actions, and their histrionics are impacting the kids sitting in those same rooms or hearing about those meetings later on. To them, the fact the underlying purpose is to shield those kids from what they deem as inappropriate is what matters. It’s not the behaviors or the broader implications of such challenges.

Common Sense Media is not without value. This was true in 2010 and it is true now.  That value does not align with my values or beliefs in how literature works, but it serves a purpose. The problem in 2010 came from how Barnes & Noble gave it legitimacy by integrating those reviews on their website. That contextless information about a book was pulled even further out of context. We’re now two steps removed from the book itself, but right there on site, you could see that Along The Way had some kind of sex scene so parents should be cautioned.

That’s the sex scene author Dessen does not recall writing.

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In the months after the blogosphere dug into the issue, so, too, did other book media and the professional associations. Why? Because creating a system which rates content on subjective terms is a perfect tool for mass censorship.

Nine major organizations banded together in May 2010 to issue a statement and letter against CSM and its content ratings, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America, the Authors Guild, and more. They give CSM benefit of the doubt with its intentions–and it’s a benefit with merit:

While we think that Common Sense Media provides a great deal of useful information, we have serious concerns about the ways CSM rates books. Our concerns fall into three general areas: 1) the implication that certain kinds of content are inherently problematic, 2) the negative attitude towards books, and 3) the potential that the ratings will be used to remove valuable literature from schools and libraries.

To no one’s surprise, CSM found its way into schools and libraries. The 2009, 2010, 2011 era was one rife with book challenges, though at a lesser degree than today. The aim of those challenges was what it is today, but the bulk of the focus was on graphic novels as comics became a more widely available and championed form of literature. CSM, founded in 2003, truly got its footing thanks to the lift from Barnes & Noble (+ money from other partnerships). The language in NCAC’s letter to one school district said it best: CSM and similar ratings websites are perfect for allowing books to earn the “scarlet letter” through scare tactics and pressure to be the best kind of parent.

If you’re wondering who is behind CSM, here’s your answer: “professionals.” The answer given in 2010 during this conversion is the same one posted on their website today:

Our reviewers come from every corner of the media, academic, and parenting worlds. Many are known as trusted voices in their areas of expertise — from video games to apps. They have worked as reviewers for publications such as USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, AOL, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and more. Some are teachers, librarians, and experienced academics who’ve studied the impact of media at length. All are passionate about both media and Common Sense’s “sanity, not censorship” approach to providing information.

When integrated with Barnes & Noble, the reviewers for CSM were not named. They are now, and, with the cursory look I was able to make–much of CSM now lies behind a paywall of $4/month if you want more than your three free reviews per month–it appears they attempt to match the background of the reviewer with the content of the books being reviewed.

That is promising, at least.

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The years after initial integration, the discussion around CSM died down. But in the background, the organization was hard at work. In 2015, the New York Times wrote a lengthy piece about Common Sense Media and the empire it had been building. Founder James P. Steyer is a master networker who grew up in New York City, attended Stanford, and built connections through his work as a clerk to one of the judges on California’s Supreme Court. Steyer and his company, despite the flaws in their system, have done a lot of great things over the last two decades when it comes to ensuring child safety in the digital world. It’s an arena that needs advocates and, given that Steyer is a well-connected, cishet white man, his voice has gone a lot further than those without his privilege who’ve been doing this kind of work. Yet–it’s not all good, and this is where we should pause.

Steyer is one of the biggest advocates today of banning social media use for those under the age of 16.

Joyce Johnston, in her post at the Office of Intellectual Freedom’s blog, responded to the New York Times article. She offers the biggest takeaway to the story and to CSM more broadly, especially as the company gets praise from the “paper of record”: while they put a lot of money into efforts to help protect children on the national level and helped push forward some beneficial legislation, at what cost?:

These days, Common Sense Media’s initiatives contain a less than subtle paternalism based on the conviction that its values should control children’s learning experiences.  Early pronouncements like Core Belief 6  (“We believe that through informed decision making, we can improve the media landscape one decision at a time”) suddenly come across as a determination to reform that landscape in its own image. Starting this month (March 3), the Kids Action group has even started rating legislation based on how any potential law would—in CSM’s opinion, of course–help or harm kids. It even intends to “expose” sponsors of harmful bills—again according to CSM’s value system.

In 2017, Common Sense Media got another shout out in the New York Times. This time, the story was about how they hoped to combat gender stereotyping by rating the portrayal of gender in the media. Based on what metric? That is in and of itself a problem, isn’t it? Who’s to say a character is too feminine or too masculine? Who gets to decide if a female character is “too stereotypical?” Certainly, that should not be put on a single reviewer.

It should come as little surprise there is nothing here in terms of non-binary gender identities. At the time of the article the company was “considering” whether to explore trans identity representation.

Public discourse around CSM seems to have disappeared after that article. At some point–when is unclear, as there seems to be no information about it online–the partnership with B&N ended. The end of that partnership did not, however, slow down CSM or cause them to disappear (reviews are just behind a paywall now). But our discussions about why the reviews are a problematic approach to literature seem to have left the building.

And yet, it needs a revival.

It needs to remain alive.

**

BookLooks and similar review systems are attempting to replicate CSM and hoping to find the same level of success. It’s pretty impressive to go from the center of public discourse to so ubiquitous that no one questions the premise anymore. Few are asking why and how CSM has the kind of money and political connections to play a leading role in children’s education and entertainment on one hand while setting up a system so perfectly tailored toward censorship and bias on the other (even if they believe in “celebrating” banned books).

It’s even more impressive to do that in the same amount of time so many of us have been following book censorship.

Common Sense Media’s core beliefs are no longer easy to find on their website (though they are still there, including number 6). They’ve become a lot more neutral looking. As such, they’ve become easier to refer people to, and I hear and see educators and librarians do it all the time. I’ve done it, too–if a parent asks you whether or not a book is “appropriate” for their kid and you give them the description and they’re not happy with your answer, what do you do? I am not going to make the decision whether or not a book that uses the word “bullshit” two times is okay for your 13-year-old because I’m not reading a book and counting up swear words. That’s not my job. It’s also not the purpose of reading. You don’t coparent with the government, but you want the government and its ancillaries to do the parenting for you.

This is exactly the problem and exactly the solution Moms are eager for.

Common Sense Media is now seen as an authority in the media: they’re cited when the news talks about book bans–this is an excellent example–and they’ve become a place for outlets to turn to for quotes during the surge of book bans now. See this piece at Chalkbeat. Common Sense Media even helped a librarian win their book challenge of Melissa.

Huh? Huh.

The American Library Association (ALA) is clear on their stance when it comes to book rating systems: they rife with potential to become tools that restrict First Amendment Rights. Ratings systems developed by private entities are not to be used in decisions in the library:

Any private group’s rating system, regardless of political, doctrinal, or social viewpoint, is subjective and meant to predispose the public’s attitude. The use by libraries, therefore, would violate the Library Bill of Rights. Libraries should remain viewpoint-neutral, providing information that patrons seek about any rating system equitably, regardless of the group’s viewpoint.

It is worth pausing here for a moment with the phrase “viewpoint-neutral.” The idea libraries are neutral has been disputed now for well over a decade, with increasing force as censorship has roared forth since 2021. This is where it comes from. Pro-neutrality advocates believe that utilizing review sources that aren’t partisan extends to the library, as a whole, remains neutral. That is willful misinterpretation. Libraries are not and cannot be neutral.

Libraries are non-partisan. The ALA may have fumbled that one with their language, as much as it might be purposeful misinterpretation on the part of those too lazy to do their job in offering materials, programs, and services to all members of their community. Providing information about ratings systems equitably to patrons means giving all of the information: a patron wants to know about BookLooks? The patron learns where to find the system and who created it. That’s doing the job, even if it means using the phrase “Hate Group” to describe Moms for Liberty.

Viewpoint-neutrality does not mean free from fact.

**

Book banners play the long game. While I don’t believe that Common Sense Media’s goal has been book banning, and I support the right of those involved with the site to share their ratings, intent doesn’t change impact. Parents given this information without context become subject to this tool. Without the expertise or experience or time or energy, they keep going back for more and using it to make decisions…until they are no longer the ones making the decisions but instead are having the decisions to be made for them.

Then educators turn to these tools for answers, letting their role as leaders and authority succumb to a website whose ultimate goal is make enough money to turn a profit (yes, even a “nonprofit” like CSM).

BookLooks and Moms for Liberty are trying to do just this but on an overtly censorious level. The more distractions they can make, the less focus paid to how bad their tool is. The more they deny the system is theirs, the more they hope people don’t connect them. If they can win influence in one arena, they might sway it in others. Labeling them a Hate Group might turn some folks off, but it’ll sure as hell be a perfect marketing tool to get plenty of other folks on board.

Rinse, Repeat.

The speed of social media means that there’s less time being spent asking questions about sources and looking at paper trails. Social media also ensures that criticism speeds by and isn’t as easy to keep track or record of. You can’t Wayback Machine Twitter or Facebook posts that get deleted quite as easily as you can a blog post. Thanks to a media that continues to cite and use BookLooks without naming the source, without looking at what BookLooks is doing, period, the faster they believe they’ll be able to have the same kind of change in public opinion as Common Sense Media.

None of this even touches upon the dangerous lack of media literacy–social or not–plaguing us all.

It is the kids who have everything to lose when parents want a tool that does the work for them. It’s the kids who become subjects of organizations who have their hands in reshaping the meaning and use of information, truth, and history.

The more we allow systems like these to go unchecked and the more we do so without looking back at the fights like these we’ve already been part of, the easier it is to give up. The easier we make it to have our rights stolen from us by high-powered, well-connected individuals who believe they know what’s right for us as parents, as non-parents, and what’s right and just for our kids.

They may not coparent with the government, but I sure as hell do not coparent with them, nor do I consent to being part of their dirty scheme.

Do not get distracted, but do keep sounding the alarm.

 

 

Further Reading:

Keynote: Why Your Voice Matters, Even–and Especially–As Censorship Increases

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I had the honor of speaking to teens from a host of schools recently about the nationwide explosion of book bans and why, despite this, their work as young writers matters more than ever. I’m deeply grateful to my high school friend Lauren for inviting me, and I’m equally grateful to the engaged, thoughtful, passionate teen writers who know what’s happening and know they’re being supported by people who care deeply about their First Amendment Rights.

This video was recorded at Joliet Central High School (IL) April 15, 2023. I share it here for anyone to share as appropriate, especially with young writers who may be feeling defeated, silenced, and stuck right now.

Note: at one point in the presentation I talk about there being 4,000 unique titles banned. This is misspeaking–it’s 4,000 books, not unique titles–but I would not be shocked if it is 4,000, given quiet/soft/self censorship.

 

A Little Fungi Hurt No One: Mushroom Book Covers

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There’s been a really fun book cover trend over the last few years, and it corresponds with a rise in both the cottagecore aesthetic and the rise of this as a horror theme: mushrooms. I’m a big fan of fungi, and I love when mushrooms pepper my native garden after the rain. They’re fascinating and creepy, by turns safe and poisonous, depending on what kind of ‘shroom you’re dealing with.

Mushrooms make perfect sense as a cover element, whether it’s front and center or part of the background of a bigger design. Mushrooms come in so many shapes and sizes, and they’re alien; they’re a reminder of the weird and magical right here on Earth. As you’ll see, many of the books below play with genre, whether toeing the line between memoir and something else or dancing between the world as we know it and a world with a little more magic, mystery, and intrigue.

In honor of (almost) spring and the (almost) return of mushroom season, let’s take a look at several mushroom book covers from the last few years. This won’t have every one, so of course, leave your favorite recent mushroom book covers in the comments. I’ve only included books where the mushrooms are easily identifiable on the book cover; there are some well-known and solid reads where mushrooms play a major role but do not necessarily make an appearance on the cover.

Book descriptions come from Amazon. Books span both YA and adult titles, fiction and nonfiction (minus obvious books about mushrooms, since that feels too obvious), so there’s going to likely be something intriguing here for every kind of fun guy. Note that I’ve done my best to identify the book cover designers and artists. It is still very difficult to do this without the book in hand, as few publishers give credit to their artists or designers either on their website or even when they do cover reveals.

 

Collage of recent mushroom book covers

 

Recent Mushroom Book Covers

fieldwork book coverFieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir by Iliana Regan, design by Morgan Krehbiel

Not long after Iliana Regan’s celebrated debut, Burn the Place, became the first food-related title in four decades to become a National Book Award nominee in 2019, her career as a Michelin star–winning chef took a sharp turn north. Long based in Chicago, she and her new wife, Anna, decided to create a culinary destination, the Milkweed Inn, located in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula, where much of the food served to their guests would be foraged by Regan herself in the surrounding forest and nearby river. Part fresh challenge, part escape, Regan’s move to the forest was also a return to her rural roots, in an effort to deepen the intimate connection to nature and the land that she’d long expressed as a chef, but experienced most intensely growing up.

On her family’s farm in rural Indiana, Regan was the beloved youngest in a family with three much older sisters. From a very early age, her relationship with her mother and father was shaped by her childhood identification as a boy. Her father treated her like the son he never had, and together they foraged for mushrooms, berries, herbs, and other wild food in the surrounding countryside—especially her grandfather’s nearby farm, where they also fished in its pond and young Iliana explored the accumulated family treasures stored in its dusty barn. Her father would share stories of his own grandmother, Busia, who’d helped run a family inn while growing up in eastern Europe, from which she imported her own wild legends of her native forests, before settling in Gary, Indiana, and opening Jennie’s Café, a restaurant that fed generations of local steelworkers. He also shared with Iliana a steady supply of sharp knives and—as she got older—guns.

Iliana’s mother had family stories as well—not only of her own years marrying young, raising headstrong girls, and cooking at Jennie’s, but also of her father, Wayne, who spent much of his boyhood hunting with the men of his family in the frozen reaches of rural Canada. The stories from this side of Regan’s family are darker, riven with alcoholism and domestic strife too often expressed in the harm, physical and otherwise, perpetrated by men—harm men do to women and families, and harm men do to the entire landscapes they occupy.

As Regan explores the ancient landscape of Michigan’s boreal forest, her stories of the land, its creatures, and its dazzling profusion of plant and vegetable life are interspersed with her and Anna’s efforts to make a home and a business of an inn that’s suddenly, as of their first full season there in 2020, empty of guests due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She discovers where the wild blueberry bushes bear tiny fruit, where to gather wood sorrel, and where and when the land’s different mushroom species appear—even as surrounding parcels of land are suddenly and violently decimated by logging crews that obliterate plant life and drive away the area’s birds. Along the way she struggles not only with the threat of COVID, but also with her personal and familial legacies of addiction, violence, fear, and obsession—all while she tries to conceive a child that she and her immune-compromised wife hope to raise in their new home.

With Burn the Place, Regan announced herself as a writer whose extravagant, unconventional talents matched her abilities as a lauded chef. In Fieldwork, she digs even deeper to express the meaning and beauty we seek in the landscapes, and stories, that reveal the forces which inform, shape, and nurture our lives.

birds of maine book coverBirds of Maine by Michael DeForge, cover by the author

Take flight to this post-apocalyptic utopia filled with birds.

Birds roam freely around the Moon complete with fruitful trees, sophisticated fungal networks, and an enviable socialist order. The universal worm feeds all, there are no weekends, and economics is as fantastical a study as unicorn psychology. No concept of money or wealth plagues the thoughts of these free-minded birds. Instead, there are angsty teens who form bands to show off their best bird song and other youngsters who yearn to become clothing designers even though clothes are only necessary during war. (The truly honourable professions for most birds are historian and/or librarian.) These birds are free to crush on hot pelicans and live their best lives until a crash-landed human from Earth threatens to change everything.

Michael DeForge’s post-apocalyptic reality brings together the author’s quintessential deadpan humour, surrealist imagination, and undeniable socio-political insight. Appearing originally as a webcomic, Birds of Maine follows DeForge’s prolific trajectory of astounding graphic novels that reimagine and question the world as we know it. His latest comic captures the optimistic glow of utopian imagination with a late-capitalism sting of irony.

 

city of saints and madmen book coverCity of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

City of elegance and squalor. Of religious fervor and wanton lusts. And everywhere, on the walls of courtyards and churches, an incandescent fungus of mysterious and ominous origin. In Ambergris, a would-be suitor discovers that a sunlit street can become a killing ground in the blink of an eye. An artist receives an invitation to a beheading—and finds himself enchanted. And a patient in a mental institution is convinced that he’s made up a city called Ambergris, imagined its every last detail, and that he’s really from a place called Chicago . . .

By turns sensuous and terrifying, filled with exotica and eroticism, this interwoven collection of stories, histories, and “eyewitness” reports invokes a universe within a puzzle box where you can lose—and find—yourself again.

 

 

 

fruiting bodies book coverFruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan

This genre-bending debut collection of stories constructs eight eerie worlds full of desire, wisdom, and magic blooming amidst decay.

In stories that beckon and haunt, Fruiting Bodies ranges confidently from the fantastical to the gothic to the uncanny as it follows characters—mostly queer, mostly women—on the precipice of change. Echoes of timeless myth and folklore reverberate through urgent narratives of discovery, appetite, and coming-of-age in a time of crisis.

In “The Changeling,” two young cousins wait in dread for a new family member to arrive, convinced that he may be a dangerous supernatural creature. In “Endangered Animals,” Jane prepares to say goodbye to her almost-love while they road-trip across a country irrevocably altered by climate change. In “Take Only What Belongs to You,” a queer woman struggles with the personal history of an author she idolized, while in “Fiddler, Fool, Pair,” an anthropologist is drawn into a magical—and dangerous—gamble. In the title story, partners Agnes and Geb feast peacefully on the mushrooms that sprout from Agnes’s body—until an unwanted male guest disturbs their cloistered home.

Audacious, striking, and wholly original, Fruiting Bodies offers stories about knowledge in a world on the verge of collapse, knowledge that alternately empowers or devastates. Pulling beautifully, brazenly, from a variety of literary traditions, Kathryn Harlan firmly establishes herself as a thrilling new voice in fiction.

 

ghost music book coverGhost Music by An Yu, design Suzanne Dean

For three years, Song Yan has filled the emptiness of her Beijing apartment with the tentative notes of her young piano students. She gave up on her own career as a concert pianist many years ago, but her husband Bowen, an executive at a car company, has long rebuffed her pleas to have a child. He resists even when his mother arrives from the southwestern Chinese region of Yunnan and begins her own campaign for a grandchild. As tension in the household rises, it becomes harder for Song Yan to keep her usual placid demeanor, especially since she is troubled by dreams of a doorless room she can’t escape, populated only by a strange orange mushroom.

When a parcel of mushrooms native to her mother-in-law’s province is delivered seemingly by mistake, Song Yan sees an opportunity to bond with her, and as the packages continue to arrive every week, the women stir-fry and grill the mushrooms, adding them to soups and noodles. When a letter arrives in the mail from the sender of the mushrooms, Song Yan’s world begins to tilt further into the surreal. Summoned to an uncanny, seemingly ageless house hidden in a hutong that sits in the middle of the congested city, she finds Bai Yu, a once world-famous pianist who disappeared ten years ago.

A gorgeous and atmospheric novel of art and expression, grief and survival, memory and self-discovery, Ghost Music animates contemporary Beijing through the eyes of a lonely yet hopeful young woman and gives vivid color and texture to the promise of new beginnings.

 

the hedge witch book coverThe Hedge Witch (Novella) by Cari Thomas, Cover by Andrew Davis

Rowan is visiting her aunt – Winne the hedge witch – in the Welsh countryside, to get back to nature and hone her skills, as well as taking a break from her annoying sisters and enjoying some peace and quiet. However, Rowan soon comes to realise that hedges are a serious business and this isn’t quite the opportunity to rest and escape she thought it might be.

Not only that, but mysterious events around the town are causing panic in the secret magical community and cowans – non-magical folk – are starting to take notice.

Can Rowan hone her hedge craft, try to make some friends and solve the riddle of the mysterious goings-on, or is magic about to be revealed to the world … or at least Wales?

 

 

 

high times in the low parliament book coverHigh Times in the Low Parliament by Kelly Robson, Cover art and design by Kate Forrester

Award-winning author Kelly Robson returns with High Times in the Low Parliament, a lighthearted romp through an 18th-century London featuring flirtatious scribes, irritable fairies, and the dangers of Parliament.

Lana Baker is Aldgate’s finest scribe, with a sharp pen and an even sharper wit. Gregarious, charming, and ever so eager to please, she agrees to deliver a message for another lovely scribe in exchange for kisses and ends up getting sent to Low Parliament by a temperamental fairy as a result.

As Lana transcribes the endless circular arguments of Parliament, the debates grow tenser and more desperate. Due to long-standing tradition, a hung vote will cause Parliament to flood and a return to endless war. Lana must rely on an unlikely pair of comrades—Bugbite, the curmudgeonly fairy, and Eloquentia, the bewitching human deputy—to save humanity (and maybe even woo one or two lucky ladies), come hell or high water.

 

into the light book coverInto The Light by Mark Oshiro (3/28/23), Cover art by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor, Cover design by Lesley Worrell

KEEP YOUR SECRETS CLOSE TO HOME

It’s been one year since Manny was cast out of his family and driven into the wilderness of the American Southwest. Since then, Manny lives by self-taught rules that keep him moving—and keep him alive. Now, he’s taking a chance on a traveling situation with the Varela family, whose attractive but surly son, Carlos, seems to promise a new future.

Eli abides by the rules of his family, living in a secluded community that raised him to believe his obedience will be rewarded. But an unsettling question slowly eats away at Eli’s once unwavering faith in Reconciliation: Why can’t he remember his past?

But the reported discovery of an unidentified body in the hills of Idyllwild, California, will draw both of these young men into facing their biggest fears and confronting their own identity—and who they are allowed to be.

For fans of Courtney Summers and Tiffany D. Jackson, Into the Light is a ripped-from-the-headlines story with Oshiro’s signature mix of raw emotions and visceral prose—but with a startling twist you’ll have to read to believe.

 

sorrowland book coverSorrowland by Rivers Solomon, Cover art by Abby Kagan

A triumphant, genre-bending breakout novel from one of the boldest new voices in contemporary fiction.

Vern―seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised―flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world.

But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes.

To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future―outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it.

Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction.

 

tastes like war book coverTastes Like War by Grace M. Cho

Grace M. Cho grew up as the daughter of a white American merchant marine and the Korean bar hostess he met abroad. They were one of few immigrants in a xenophobic small town during the Cold War, where identity was politicized by everyday details—language, cultural references, memories, and food. When Grace was fifteen, her dynamic mother experienced the onset of schizophrenia, a condition that would continue and evolve for the rest of her life.

Part food memoir, part sociological investigation, Tastes Like War is a hybrid text about a daughter’s search through intimate and global history for the roots of her mother’s schizophrenia. In her mother’s final years, Grace learned to cook dishes from her parent’s childhood in order to invite the past into the present, and to hold space for her mother’s multiple voices at the table. And through careful listening over these shared meals, Grace discovered not only the things that broke the brilliant, complicated woman who raised her—but also the things that kept her alive.

 

 

weyward book coverWeyward by Emilia Hart

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.

2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.

1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.

1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family’s grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.

Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart’s Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

 

what goes up book coverWhat Goes Up by Christine Heppermann

(Those are mushroom prints!)

When Jorie wakes up in the loft bed of a college boy she doesn’t recognize, she’s instantly filled with regret. What happened the night before? What led her to this place? Was it her father’s infidelity? Her mother’s seemingly weak acceptance? Her recent breakup with Ian, the boy who loved her art and supported her through the hardest time of her life?

As Jorie tries to reconstruct the events that led her to this point, free verse poems lead the reader through the current morning, as well as flashbacks to her relationships with her parents, her friends, her boyfriend, and the previous night.

With Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty and Ask Me How I Got Here, Christine Heppermann established herself as a vital voice in thought-provoking and powerful feminist writing for teens. Her poetry is surprising, wry, emotional, and searing. What Goes Up is by turns a scorchingly funny and a deeply emotional story that asks whether it’s possible to support and love someone despite the risk of being hurt. Readers of Laura Ruby, E. K. Johnston, Elana K. Arnold, and Laurie Halse Anderson will find a complicated heroine they won’t soon forget.

 

what moves the dead book coverWhat Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania.

What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.