Welcome. October! I love fall for its cooler temps, and Halloween everything! I have the usual mix of science fiction and crafty things this week. There’s another set of fine fall things, it’s time to get crafty and watch lots of TV, and bake!
Friday, October 2, 2026
Thursday, October 1, 2026
Book Notes October 1, 2026
Memes
We’ve established that I don’t like math. How about book math, though? Sometimes I actually do go and buy all the books in a series so I can read straight through uninterrupted. All one story, really, so yes, it all just one big wonderful book. Right?
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Adaptations
Liz Moore's award winning novel God of the Woods will be presented by Netflix, and is currently filming. It stars Maya Hawke as an investigator in the disappearance of a teen. I had mixed feelings about the novel myself, but I'll watch the adaptation for certain.
https://deadline.com/feature/the-god-of-the-woods-adaptation-tv-show-news-updates-1236939104/
Matt Haig's novel The Midnight Library will be a theatrical film release starring Florence Pugh. I've got the book, I think, and should have read it by the time it comes to a streaming service :)
Book Reviews
Death’s Daughter by S A Barnes (Children of the Old Ones #1)
Jocasta is technically Death’s Daughter because Death intervened to save her as a baby, taking her father’s life instead. He’s visited over the years, mostly when she was small, and he has tried to teach her how to use the powers she has. How to feed on humans. How to kill whenever it would accomplish some goal or whim.
Now in college, Jocasta tries to live as a regular human. She only feeds from bits of worry, or emotional upheaval so common in a college town. Not enough to ever harm anyone. Her world is interrupted by the arrival in town of Devon, whom Jo immediately knows is a child of the Old Ones. Likely Lust, as every single person in the bar she frequents is drawn to this man.
He challenges her, and proposes they become allies. There’s been an “announcement” in the world of the Old Ones. Death has named Jocasta as his “successor”. She had no clue, and certainly hasn’t heard from Death himself. Now the challengers will be appearing to try to unseat her from a role she doesn’t want. How can she defend herself and the town she loves, the people she loves from such an onslaught?
I wasn't sure when I read it if there would be more, but writing this, I see its "Children of the Old Ones #1). This is great. Love the world and characters.
Nobody’s Quest by Alyssa Day
Soli is an indentured servant for life who cleans the King’s Library. She has a “Greymind” and a tattoo that marks her as one who can lose their self for days or weeks, trapped in her mind. She’s useless to anyone but the sisters who keep the Library. She owns nothing. She’s beaten for the smallest infractions. She has no life at all outside of the books she secretly reads. Fiction, non-fiction, she loves everything and knows many obscure things that have kept her going. She wishes she could have the adventures of her heroine Captain Wavedancer, but that will never happen.
Until one day the King’s guards come and tear her from her work and her less than a life to meet the king. Her lack of personhood, her being an utter Nobody, make her perfect, the king and his advisors hope, to take on a quest to free the goddess Artemisan. It’s a task nobody can complete. And Soli is less than nobody, if her life is any indicator.
Keepjng Captain Wavedancers words in her heart, Soli bravely takes on the quest to find the keys to release the goddess.
First in a new trilogy, Soli is a fine, humble, brave adventurer after all.
The Unknown by Riley Sager
Actress Marin Keane, with no resume whatsoever, is chosen for the starring role in a new film by director Ronan Peters. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime. Marin is grateful, but also finds it odd that the cast and crew will be spending a week on an island in Vermont.
The movie is about a group of spiritualists who disappeared from the island in 1926. Living in the manner of those women for a week, taking on their roles, trying to become them as research for the film turns out to be more intense than anyone expected. Is there some presence here that also seemed to be on the island in 1926? They’ve got the diary of one of the women, but it doesn’t reveal what happened, nor can the current day group be assured that they won’t meet the same fate as the women in the past.
A Box Full of Murders: Death At The Museum by Janice Hallett
This the second middle grade novel by Hallett featuring Luke and Ava, siblings who try to solve mysteries from an old box in the dad’s attic. Since their parents divorce, Luke lives with his dad and Ava with her mom.
Luke shares notes, photos, letters, news articles and diary entries with Ava little by little as he is able.
This time around, it’s 1983 and a class from Brewford Middle School will be visiting the Natural History Museum in London. Some of the students are recognized by Luke and Ava from their previous case. They can’t help wondering how their parents, especially their father, have these boxes of murder mysteries in the attic.
They’re ready to dive in, though! There are mini-dinosaurs, people who seem to be explorers from the past lost in the museum, displays that are getting rearranged by no one, and there’s a dead body. A student and teacher stuck on top of a whale exhibit. People trapped in abandoned rooms. Can Luke and Ava figure this one out?
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