This was absolutely fantastic. I jotted down the names of so many of these authors, because I definitely want to read more from them. While short stories aren't necessarily my favorite, anthologies like these that are organized around a loose horror subgenre have hit the nail on the head a few times now, and I'm digging it! 

A couple of favorites here were: Harvesters by LL McKinney, Welcome Back to the Cosmos by Kortney Nash, The Skittering Thing by Monica Brashears, Cemetery Dance Party by Saraciea J Fennell. That said... I don't think there was a single contribution to this anthology I didn't enjoy, just some that hit the spot for my particular tastes particularly well! 

What a fabulous group of writers and stories! 

This is my first read of any of Hirano's work. I really enjoyed this first Deluxe Edition volume, snagged to contribute to team points during 2025 Wonderthon, and have already reserved Vols 2-3 from the library. 

Manga about a secret society of British aristocracy, policy makers, etc. who are in charge of an elite team who hunt down and kill vampires (and other creatures, though likely to get into that more in Vol 2). I enjoyed the entirety of these nearly 700 pages, it moves at a fast clip. I was not expecting the Nazis, but am fully with the intent to rid the world of them (again). 

I feel like Alucard is a vampire who shows up in a lot of manga/anime, so was interested to see him feature primarily here! 

This was a dark one. And a lot! But solid for sure. Pacing was a little slower than I'd have liked, and there was more focus on the potential esoteric nature of the murders, but this brought an interesting addition to my understanding of the Ripper murders of the late 1880s in Whitechapel, London. 

An epic of a GN by two big names in the industry, From Hell is a possible explanation of the Whitechapel murders that happened in the 1880s, which became known as the Jack the Ripper murders, and have captured the curiosity and imaginations of thousands of folks across the century and a half or so since they took place. 

It's dark and grungy, and definitely won't be for all readers, but I can see why this is heralded as being ranked among the best GNs of all time. 

There is less character development (due to the nature of the content) for most secondary characters, and I was a bit confused as to who was who, and how they were related to the murders due to the way the story is set up, but it wraps up quite nicely. 

Definitely felt like it made more sense with the second book! World building makes a bit more sense/is a bit more complete. 

I really enjoyed starting to understand the world that is built in this long-heralded SF series, and hope to read the third installment of this GN series - looks like the third one came out in 2024. 

I've tried to start reading the Dune series a couple of times, and the slow pacing is just incredibly hard for me. Was excited to see these GN adaptations (1 & 2) at the library when I was looking for some adult graphic novels for readathon points for our graphic works category. 

Probably the only way I'll consume this series aside from in film, just because the style/pacing isn't quite what I enjoy. 

A story ultimately about friendship, but also about the drudgery of life (until it gets flipped on its head). Sloane is turning 36. She lives in the suburbs, is married to Joel, who has cheated on her at least twice, and is sending her away for her birthday weekend with her best friend, Naomi. Naomi is joining Sloane for a birthday weekend up in the Finger Lakes region of New York, an idyllic getaway at some fancy spot in January with lots of crisp fresh snow. 

Naomi has always been the "reckless" one, and Sloane has always been the careful one, the planner. Naomi makes plans for the evening before Sloane's birthday, which quickly turn into something else. What ensues is a series of mistakes, and messes that might get them caught. Their friendship's twists and turns are a lot of what carries this novel, as well as Sloane figuring out how to forgive herself, and let herself be human, mistakes included. 

This is a solid novel, and I'll undoubtedly be reading more from Harrison, now that I've started! 

I don't think anything by RJB is going to disappoint me, and this novel certainly didn't change that trend. I absolutely devoured this novel in two sittings. 

With The Tainted Cup, Jackson Bennett has envisioned another breathtakingly complex fantasy world for readers (although there are whiffs of the world-building from Founders - gates with specially devised keys anyone? they're different here, but nonetheless, fun little easter egg). Dinios Kol, our MC, is the dyslexic (or something akin to it) investigator who is assigned to the very odd, and seemingly banished, Ana Dolabra. 

A very strange murder (one where plants grow out of someone fairly important in the empire within a five minute span, killing them in the process) is what sets off the chain of events that take Din and Ana to another part of the empire to pursue to murderers, and investigate some identical ones, putting the outer ring of the empire at risk. What ensues is a fantastic adventure through the city, into the homes of the gentry, who wield terrifying amounts of wealth and power of course, and through dark streets. 

Absolutely loved this one, and can't wait to continue this series. 

Ugh. Almost perfect but a cliff hanger ending! Love Boone and crew in this adventure! Heart wrenching and deep and scientific and sci-fi and all sorts of fantasy. 

Time traveling paper girls from the late 80s go on a time bending adventure through the ages. 

Read this novel as part of SPSFC4 finals. Please note that the my ranking/scoring here is my personal scoring for the novel, and does not necessarily reflect how I rated the novel for finals scoring for SPSFC4.

This novel was a lot of fun. Medium-paced but on the quicker side, well-developed characters with believable motivations and emotions, including the AI characters.

The plot build was solid, and the ultimate reveal? Fascinating (although it did make it feel like a way of wrapping the novel quickly without it being as thorough as I'd have liked, but that's really about personal preference/the way I like to see ends tied up with novels).

This novel kept me engaged, and interested to see what would happen next. Also I love that the title is cheeky as hell, and is part of the final reveal.

Accidental Intelligence is a not-too-distant-future SF novel where AI's run every day processes (they cook for us - although coffee is made from algae, not coffee beans, as capitalism has run amok in this future so most folks can't afford/access food as we know it today - they complete processes/analysis in the background for us, minor versions of them are implanted in our brains, they advise our military, etc.). It turns out that these same AIs (or some of them, anyhow) have something up their proverbial sleeves, and the result won't look good for humanity. 

Our main character, Mason, is a semi-washed-up PI, former teacher, and he is asked to find a programmer who seems to have disappeared by his sister. This sets of a chain of events that sees us through the end of the novel, which mostly ties up nicely. As a result of this job, Mason ends up on adventures through the "Omninet" the future of the Internet, where everyone basically uses avatars in simulations (sims) to engage with other folks in the real world. It turns out that our disappeared programmer was part of a potential rebellious act against the AI's. Chaffin's writing style keeps things moving along, and interesting to the reader. 

A number of secondary characters really make this novel what it is in a number of ways: Sam, Mason's factotum/neural implant; Peanut, Mason's childhood friend, and programmer extraordinaire; and others that helped the story progress, but weren't as important/central to plot lines, etc. 

A couple of areas that could have been closed up a bit more tightly include: Mason reconnecting with the sister of our disappeared programmer in literally any way, shape, or form, to update her on her brother's disappearance, and resulting events. Further, Mason didn't seem particularly shaken up after the (I think?)

death of his cousin

near the end of the novel. The last little bit of the novel definitely picks up in pace, but it makes the start of the novel feel clunkier upon reflection/slow. I would also warn readers that there's a bit of a cliff-hanger/open ending to this novel, so that may not be appreciated by all readers. I would also add that I believe this novel is a debut, which makes the solidity of this novel even more appreciable, from my perspective.