When I saw A Woman’s Place Is In The Brewhouse on the library shelf, I grabbed it immediately. My wife and mother-in-law are brewers, and I was excited to learn the history of both their hobby and a cornerstone of human culture. Since I turned the first page, I wanted to like this book. Ultimately, however, the confusing structure left me disappointed.

Focusing almost exclusively on the Pacific Northwest and California after Prohibition, Nurin organized by eras and then topics or trends within those eras. I had no trouble following the chronology–partners and friends brewing together in an industrial shed slowly morphed into corporate industry. Topics were the trouble. Instead of following people, Nurin wrote various permutations on a trend. A whole chapter would be dedicated to, say, marketing beer. Different marketing methods, reactions to those methods, and resulting problems with those methods would be listed out, with names occasionally popped in as an example. This stylistic choice made it incredibly difficult to follow any individual brewer. For a book supposedly putting women in the forefront of brewing history for the first time, it’s crushing that I couldn’t name a single lady brewer after the last page.

Speaking of the book’s feminism, it’s heavily second wave and separatist. Women are framed as better than men, women would be better off without men sucking up all their time and energy, and heterosexual relationships lead to heartbreak. Brewers of color were discussed, but not at length. Queer and/or disabled brewers are ??? Presumably somewhere. Patriarchy harms everyone, regardless of gender, and it’s only going to be defeated if we all work together.

All that being said, Nurin convinced me of the patriarchal poison in the beer industry and the revisionism of history, often out of negligence. A women brewer-focused history book needs to exist. I’m hoping there’s a second edition of this one, or another writer takes up the cause. 

Every friend and family member who encountered this book texted me about it, haha. As a creator of a sapphic werewolf romance game (Moonrise: https://www.choiceofgames.com/user-contributed/moonrise/), it was too up my alley to pass by. Though I’ve not read MJ Lyons’ work before, I grabbed a copy during a Pride Month Book Fair as soon as I spotted it.

Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism is a collection of smoking hot, gay, and erotic short stories. As my family and friends knew I would, I did indeed enjoy the bookending queer werewolf stories. My partner is going to enjoy the sci-fi ones. Dupin’s mystery made me smile, clap, and laugh in delight. One of my minor character flaws is I don’t really enjoy short story collections, but Lyons knocked this one out of the park. Part of it may be the length–at 128 pages, this volume is tiny–but each narrative felt complete, with nothing unanswered and without lore so unwieldy it exhausted me.

All in all, I heartily recommend Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism to anyone who likes gay m/m erotica, especially with trans lovers. With Lyons’ top shelf smut and thoughtful phantasm, there’s something in here for you. 

A lot of my romance novel and romance game colleagues have read this and recommend it. Hayes' prose is accessible and humorous, in addition to being informative as all get out. I really really want to write a romance novel strictly following her plot format, as a treat. 

The Little Old Lady Strikes Again was an impulse buy from the bookstore. The premise was just too charming to pass up!

Though The Little Old Lady Strikes Again is a sequel, I had little trouble following the plot. After a successful heist in their home country of Sweden, the Outlaw Oldies are cooling their heels in Las Vegas, USA. Never one to rest on her laurels, Martha keeps everyone on their toes with her continuous fount of ideas for new money-making and money laundering schemes. The happy holidaying and merry-making abruptly ends when they return to Sweden and their new home. Their neighbors are members of a motorcycle gang, the Vegas winnings earmarked to help other pensioners aren’t finding their recipients, and the law is sniffing around way more than is comfortable. What’s a thieving friend group to do!

Pensionärsligan absolutely delivered on the charm. The Outlaw Oldies do indeed strike, repeatedly and successfully. The fumble on the follow-through did frustrate me at times, but nothing to make me stop reading. The translation is marvelous–the cadence is spot on for how my grandparents talk. Ingelman-Sundberg’s book is a work of buoyant joy, a reminder that life doesn’t stop in one’s 70s and 80s. Elders need stimulation, entertainment, and companionship just like us in middle age and youth. And they’re not to be underestimated!

Overall, The Little Old Lady Strikes Again is a delightful romp and made even more delightful with its older protagonists. I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants a cozy heist novel.