Tuesday Tomorrow
The Haunting Season by Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Elizabeth Macneal, Natasha Pulley, and Laura Purcell
Published by: Pegasus Crime
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Eight bestselling, award-winning writers return to the time-honored tradition of the seasonal ghost story in this spellbinding collection of new and original haunted tales.
Long before Charles Dickens and Henry James popularized the tradition of supernatural horror, the shadowy nights of winter have been a time for people to gather together by the flicker of candlelight and experience the intoxicating thrill of a spooky tale.
Now eight bestselling, award-winning authors - all of them master storytellers of the sinister and the macabre - bring the tradition to vivid life in a spellbinding new collection of original spine-tingling tales.
Taking you from the frosty fens of the English countryside, to the snow-covered grounds of a haunted estate, to a bustling London Christmas market, these mesmerizing stories will capture your imagination and serve as your indispensable companion to cold, dark nights. So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the ghostly spell of winters past..."
I mean, the description along makes this a must read, Laura Purcell and Natasha Pulley make this a MUST BUY!
I Would Prefer Not To by Herman Melville
Published by: Pushkin Collection
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 256 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A new selection of Melville's darkest and most enthralling stories in a beautiful Pushkin Collection edition.
Includes "Bartleby, the Scrivener", "Benito Cereno" and "The Lightning-Rod Man."
A lawyer hires a new copyist, only to be met with stubborn, confounding resistance. A nameless guide discovers hidden worlds of luxury and bleak exploitation. After boarding a beleaguered Spanish slave ship, an American trader's cheerful outlook is repeatedly shadowed by paralyzing unease.
In these stories of the surreal mundanity of office life and obscure tensions at sea, Melville's darkly modern sensibility plunges us into a world of irony and mystery, where nothing is as it first appears."
If a title of a book could sell me on it, this would be that title.
A Surprise for Christmas edited by Martin Edwards
Published by: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A Postman murdered while delivering cards on Christmas morning. A Christmas pine growing over a forgotten homicide. A Yuletide heist gone horribly wrong. When there's as much murder as magic in the air and the facts seem to point to the impossible, it's up to the detective's trained eye to unwrap the clues and neatly tie together an explanation (preferably with a bow on top).
Martin Edwards has once again gathered the best of these seasonal stories into a stellar anthology brimming with rare tales, fresh as fallen snow, and classics from the likes of Julian Symons, Margery Allingham, Anthony Gilbert and Cyril Hare. A most welcome surprise indeed, and perfect to be shared between super-sleuths by the fire on a cold winter's night."
Ah, Christmas and crime! Two things that compliment each other so well.
Murder Most Festive by Ada Moncrieff
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The perfect cozy Christmas murder mystery.
Imagine being stuck indoors with your family, waiting for something to happen... and then disaster strikes.
Christmas 1938. The Westbury family and assorted friends have gathered together for another legendary Christmas at their Sussex mansion. As family tensions simmer on Christmas Eve, the champagne flows, the silver sparkles and upstairs the bedrooms are made up ready for their occupants. But one bed will lie empty that night...
Come Christmas morning, guest David Campbell-Scott is found lying dead in the snow, with only a hunting rifle lying beside him and one set of footprints leading to the body. But something doesn't seem right to amateur sleuth Hugh Gaveston. Campbell-Scott had just returned from the East with untold wealth - why would he kill himself? Hugh sets out to investigate... and what he finds is more shocking than he ever could have expected."
Sigh, I love me some murder for the holiday season...
Tomes Scones and Crones by Colleen Gleason
Published by: Oliver-Heber Books
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 298 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"At forty-eight, Jacqueline Finch has a nice, easy life with few responsibilities: she's been a librarian in Chicago for twenty-five years, she doesn't have a husband, children, or pets, and she's just coasting along, enjoying her books and a small flower garden now that she's over the hill.
That is, until the Universe (helped by three old crones) has other ideas.
All at once, Jacqueline's staid (and boring) life is upended, and the next thing she knows, she's heading off to Button Cove to start a new life as the owner of Three Tomes Bookshop.
The bookstore is a darling place, and Jacqueline is almost ready to be excited about this new opportunity... until Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Danvers show up. Somehow, the literary characters of Sherlock Holmes's landlady and Rebecca deWinter's creepy and sardonic housekeeper are living persons who work at the bookshop (when they aren't bickering with each other). Not only does Jacqueline have to contend with them-and the idea that people regularly eat pastries while reading books in her store -but the morning after she arrives, the body of a dead man is found on her property.
Things start to get even more strange after that: Jacqueline is befriended by three old women who bear a startling resemblance to the Witches Three from Macbeth, an actual witch shows up at her bookshop and accuses Jacqueline of killing her brother, and the two women who own businesses across the street seem determined to befriend Jacqueline.
And then there's the police detective with the very definite hot-Viking vibe who shows up to investigate the dead body...
The next thing Jacqueline knows, her staid and simple life is no longer quiet and unassuming, and she's got crones, curses, and crocodiles to deal with.
And when a new literary character appears on the scene...things start to get even more hairy and Jacqueline is suddenly faced with a horrible life and death situation that will totally push her out of her comfort zone...if she's brave enough to let it.
After all, isn't forty-eight too late for an old dog to learn new tricks?
From the bestselling author of the Wicks Hollow series, Tomes, Scones and Crones is the first book in a new paranormal women's fiction series about coming into one's own when you're over the hill, and owning one's "croneness.""
Even if I weren't already a fan of Colleen Gleason, I mean come on, this book sounds like it was written just for me! Especially with Mrs. Hudson and Mrs. Danvers showing up!
Along the Saltwise Sea by A. Deborah Baker
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"For readers of Kelly Barnhill and Cat Valente's Fairyland books, adventure and danger lurk Along the Saltwise Sea in this new book by Seanan McGuire's latest open pseudonym, A. Deborah Baker.
Be sure to explore the myriad wonders that can be found Along the Saltwise Sea.
After climbing Over the Woodward Wall and making their way across the forest, Avery and Zib found themselves acquiring some extraordinary friends in their journey through the Up-and-Under.
After staying the night, uninvited, at a pirate queen’s cottage in the woods, the companions find themselves accountable to its owner, and reluctantly agree to work off their debt as her ship sets sail, bound for lands unknown. But the queen and her crew are not the only ones on board, and the monsters at sea aren’t all underwater.
The friends will need to navigate the stormy seas of obligation and honor on their continuing journey along the improbable road.
Writing as A. Deborah Baker, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Seanan McGuire takes our heroes Avery and Zib (and their friends Niamh and the Crow Girl) on a high seas adventure, with pirates and queens and all the dangers of the deep as they continue their journey through the Up-and-Under on their quest for the road that will lead them home....
Welcome to a world of talking trees and sarcastic owls, of dangerous mermaids and captivating queens in this exceptional tale for readers who are young at heart in this companion book to McGuire's critically-acclaimed Middlegame and the sequel to Over the Woodward Wall."
I would give almost anything to have Seanan McGuire's work ethic!
The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Multimillion-copy bestselling author Gregory Maguire unveils the first in a three-book series spun off the iconic Wicked Years, featuring Elphaba’s granddaughter, the green-skinned Rain.
Ten years ago this season, Gregory Maguire wrapped up the series he began with Wicked by giving us the fourth and final volume of the Wicked Years, his elegiac Out of Oz.
But “out of Oz” isn’t “gone for good.” Maguire’s new series, Another Day, is here, twenty-five years after Wicked first flew into our lives.
Volume one, The Brides of Maracoor, finds Elphaba’s granddaughter, Rain, washing ashore on a foreign island. Comatose from crashing into the sea, Rain is taken in by a community of single women committed to obscure devotional practices.
As the mainland of Maracoor sustains an assault by a foreign navy, the island’s civil-servant overseer struggles to understand how an alien arriving on the shores of Maracoor could threaten the stability and wellbeing of an entire nation. Is it myth or magic at work, for good or for ill?
The trilogy Another Day will follow this green-skinned girl from the island outpost into the unmapped badlands of Maracoor before she learns how, and becomes ready, to turn her broom homeward, back to her family and her lover, back to Oz, which - in its beauty, suffering, mystery, injustice, and possibility - reminds us all too clearly of the troubled yet sacred terrain of our own lives."
I don't think I can adequately explain my excitement about returning to Oz. Needless to say I preordered my signed copy ages ago.
Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life by Sutton Foster
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From the 2-time Tony Award-winner and the star of TV’s Younger, funny and intimate stories and reflections about how crafting has kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love, and show business (and how it can help you, too).
Whether she’s playing an “age-defying” book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the Broadway stage, Sutton Foster manages to make it all look easy. How? Crafting. From the moment she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape the bullying chorus girls in her early performing days, she was hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, crocheting led to collages, which led to drawing, and so much more. Channeling her emotions into her creations centered Sutton as she navigated the significant moments in her life and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now, in this charming and poignant collection, Sutton shares those moments, including her fraught relationship with her agoraphobic mother; a painful divorce splashed on the pages of the tabloids; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on the stage during hit plays like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, and Violet; her breakout TV role in Younger; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!
Witty and poignant, Hooked will leave readers entertained as well as inspire them to pick up their own cross stitch needles and paintbrushes."
I have been a fan of Sutton Foster's for ages. The fact that she's a crafter makes me so happy.
The Panda, the Cat and the Dreadful Teddy by Paul Magrs
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 144 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The surely soon-to-be million-copy bestselling sort-of inspirational parody...
Enter the world of me, Panda, plus my sometime-friends Cat and Teddy. You will find us living our best lives, trying (and occasionally succeeding) to be kind to each other. The cat is quite nice but can be a little bit selfish. Teddy can come across as very nice, with his squeaky voice and looking so tiny and helpless. But I must warn you, Teddy can be a vicious little backstabber, actually.
This is a book of nice illustrations and some words from which you will likely gain some sort of inspiration. Like:
'Just because you're struggling, it doesn't mean you're failing... But it might do.'
'Nothing beats kindness, ' said the cat. 'Gin does', said Panda.
'If you don't stop saying inspirational things to me, I'm going to punch you up the hooter.'
'You OK, hun?' asked Panda, but he was just taking the piss.
'We're just so, so lucky to have each other as friends, and it's going to make a marvellous book.'"
I really hope that this book by the delightful Paul, he's not at all dreadful like Teddy, does become a bestseller with millions of copies sold. I've had mine preordered for ages!
Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost
Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire
Mr. Higgins Comes Homes by Mike Mignola and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell
Total Cat Mojo by Jackson Galaxy
Emerald City is, in my mind, the most successful adaptation of the Oz mythos in years, yeah, suck it Wicked and that movie with Zach Braff! Yet NBC never really knew what to do with this new Oz that was Steampunk and political and self-referential, heck, in one episode Vincent D'Onofrio played some Pink Floyd! So they just exiled it to a lingering death on Friday nights except for those few viewers, like me, who waited every week to see what new twist would happen. This had the grandeur of the old Merlin adaptation NBC did back in the day with Cersei Lannister as Quinevere or The 10th Kingdom, both epic fantasy but with classic appeal. In fact, there's no doubt in my mind that once people find this show on DVD or streaming it will become a favorite like these other two standards. But what's more by actually exploring the plotlines from the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, wherein the Princess Ozma is hidden within the body of a boy, Tip, the show was able to cover far more currently relevant issues of gender identity than when the book was first published in 1904. Seriously, nothing was wrong with this series other than it probably cost NBC too much to make with the luscious sets and amazing locations. This show made me feel for the first time in years a desire to go back and immerse myself in the lore of Oz but also to figure out this new mythology. Emerald City inspired the reader and the watcher in me, but more importantly the storyteller, and I just wish I was getting one more chapter. 
Master of Ceremonies by Joel Grey
