Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m crunching through the fallen leaves to bring you more new releases and more books about black cats! Holy heck, we’re less than a week from Halloween. Sound the candy corn siren! My dream is that someday, I will have the money to give trick-or-treaters both candy and a random paperback. Some day. Have a great weekend, space pirates, and I will see you on Tuesday for the best night of the year!
Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders; and Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers who are striking for living wages and a future where humans can continue to create art for each other.
Bookish Goods
Black Cat Book Sleeve by BooksAndStitchesCo
I’ve begun to really like book sleeves, which are essential when carrying books in full laptop bags, say. (Also, they sometimes fit a tablet quite nicely.) This one is very cute, and has black cats on it! My favorite. $22
New Releases
Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu
Twenty-two short stories comprise this collection from the winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. E. Lily Yu brings compassion and beautiful prose to stories about strange occurrences and monsters.
Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow
Finally, a marriage of winter holidays and Halloween in the form of horror. The stories — written by Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Garth Nix, and many more — bring in a wealth of place and tradition to what horrors lurk without and within when families gather together and huddle against the cold.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
More black cats!!
Sailor Moon Short Stories 2 by Naoko Takeuchi
I think my love of Naoko Takeuchi and her creation of Sailor Moon is well known at this point, but Luna is one of the best black cats out there…and this short story collection has one all about her! It’s based on an old Japanese folktale, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” and it’s ADORABLE.
The Ninth Life by Clea Simon
This book sits at the junction of cozy mystery and animal fantasy, with the hero and chief investigator a black cat named…well, Blackie. He has no memories of the time before he was rescued by a street kid named Care in a ruined city; he’s on a quest to protect his savior, help her solve the mystery of her mentor’s murder, and recover his own past.
See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.