I figured I’d better update you on things I’ve been reading lately. If the emojis are throwing you, they are addressed to authors who’ve commented here in the past. 

–Tomato Wyrm by Cedar Sanderson: This is a very sweet cozy fantasy with a gardening angle, as the title implies. The heroine inherits a Stately home of England, and its guardian critter, and find love along the way, liberating her future husband from a dreary life in the city along the way. I read this when she serialized it on her substack, and bought the expanded version when that released. This is a great comfort read, Cedar! ❤

–Vanished Pearls of Orlov by Odessa Moon: Coming of age sci-fi set on a terraformed Mars with a culture that’s a little bit Napoleonic era Russia and a little bit Wild West. The lead characters are pretty nuanced but the setting steals the show. It’s a fascinating place, Odessa/Teresa. 🙂 

–Theophany by Caroline Furlong: I would say the giant combat medic robot steals the show, except that’s his name in the title and his imposing form on the cover. I loved Theo, Caroline. 😉 

–Advance Guards by Frank Hood: I hesitate to call this one post-apocalyptic, but it’s definitely post-civilization as we know it. A warm family saga built of interconnected stories about picking up the pieces. Well-done, Frank. 🙂 

–Pearl of Fire by C. Chancy: This reminded me a bit of the Chronicles of Elantra by Michelle Sagara, in the sense that it starts as kind of a police/peacekeeper procedural in a fantasy city and escalates from there. I liked these characters better than the cast of Elantra though!