Wednesday, May 1st, 2024

May 2024 Early Reviewers Batch Is Live!

Win free books from the May 2024 batch of Early Reviewer titles! We’ve got 174 books this month, and a grand total of 3,527 copies to give out. Which books are you hoping to snag this month? Come tell us on Talk.

If you haven’t already, sign up for Early Reviewers. If you’ve already signed up, please check your mailing/email address and make sure they’re correct.

» Request books here!

The deadline to request a copy is Tuesday, May 28th at 6PM EDT.

Eligibility: Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the US, the UK, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany and more. Make sure to check the message on each book to see if it can be sent to your country.

Between the Sound and SeaCounting Bones: Anatomy of Love Lost and FoundBuns Gone BadFuneral Songs for Dying GirlsJuris Ex MachinaThe Big StingThe Space Between You and MeHard LineDocile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian GirlThe Green Baby SwingI'm Afraid, Said the LeafMegabat MegastarOnce upon a SariYour Story Matters: A Surprisingly Practical Guide to WritingThe After Life Meddlers ClubToo Much Too Young, The 2 Tone Records Story: Rude Boys, Racism, and the Soundtrack of a GenerationCocoa the Tour DogA Choice ConsideredMeet Me at the StarlightMeeting Her MatchCold VengeanceWorld War II and Nevada: The Silver State's Contribution to VictoryEchoes of the Divine and Other Steampunk StoriesCamouflage Mom: A Military Story about Staying ConnectedMexicanos HustleThe Shield of the VanirHerman NatureDwarf DaysA Lie for a LieHow to Build a Thriving Marriage As You Care for Children with DisabilitiesRe: Apotheosis - GenesisThe Caterpillar HotelBeyond Words: A Symphony of Passion and ActionReignite The EmbersThe Golden One: A ComedySkull Kingdoms: An Imaginary OmnibusLinesYou Can't Go Home AgainHiding PlacesOf Blood and LightningThe Navigator: PoemsBig Guy: A School Horse StorySolsticeThe Devil's BerriesAnastasia And The Nuclear IncidentHow to Be in BusinessPre-Pulitzer PoetryLet's Run Our Schools TogetherTo Make the SkySwinging Away: A CelebrationBlack Like ElvisFor the Downfall of My Beloved: Volume 1An Introduction to PhilosophyThis Kind of Man: StoriesSavagesA Husband's Take on the Menopause!Laura: Finding Independence in the Highlands of KenyaThe Hedge WitchElephant and CastleHow Children Grieve: What Adults Miss, and What They Can Do to HelpThe Rogue Scholar: The Rogue To VictoryThe Arctic Corsair, Through Hull's Sacred Gates40 Years of MiraclesAlyssa's WishesWildcat: An Appalachian RomanceInto the UnknownA Horse Called NowSky Explorer: A Young Adventurer's Guide to the Sky by Day and NightAfter Dinner Conversation - Nature of RealityAfter Dinner Conversation - Equality EthicsTrue Crime Storytime: 84 Unforgettable & Twisted True Crime Cases Throughout History That Haunted People For DecadesIndia's Road to Transformation: Why Leadership MattersThe KlangarooReady for True Love: The Modern Guide for Ladies, Gents, Daters and CouplesA Thousand Faces: Volume 1Who is Amy Carpenter?HestherSong of Myself: A Gay Man's Odyssey of Self-DiscoveryTrailer Park PrinceNot Without MeThe Black Bird of ChernobylMirror ImageBecoming Brave Together: Heroic, Extraordinary Caregiving Stories from Mothers Hidden in Plain SightPresenters Aren’t Robots: A Practical Guide to Becoming a Fearless and Engaging Public SpeakerThe Corpse in the Trash RoomAlone | All In One: A Solitary JourneyThe Pearl that Lies in the Sea: A Story & A CovenantFinding HomeThe Sigils of the MoorAfter the Game: Bridging the Gap from Winning Athlete to Thriving EntrepreneurFinding Footprints: A Sasquatch SagaThe StatesDraw A Hard LineLearning to Shine: A Guide to Unlocking Your PurposeSonya: Far FutureThe Fink Needed KillingThe Shadow of the Langham HotelSonya: Music of the SpheresFrom Young To Wise: The Philosopher's Fallacy and How to Avoid ItThe Lost Women of Mill StreetLast Day in DyatloveCompanion Planting for Beginners: The Ultimate Guide to Growing a Thriving and Sustainable Garden.Soul Masters: The Hunting GroundsSteady in LoveThere Are No Bibles in Heaven: Walk and Talk with God All the Time, Just like You Will in HeavenThe ReentrantThe Magic Sea TurtleShorter Than The DayJasmineHandcrafted Lunch Meats: A DIY Guide to Delicious, Healthy, and Affordable Creations In Your KitchenChoo! Choo! Choo!: The Train at the ZooThe Fae CrisisSpace Cats: Making EnemiesHeartfeltCo-Parenting With a NarcissistThe Tale of the Little Lonely HedgehogScream of SilenceDebriefing DarlyFarewell PerformanceHunting a Cat in DogtownJourney of SoulsThe AI That Feared DeathShattered by FaithPinch HittingDating Tips for Women: Finding Love the Feline Way with Advice From CatsThe Palestine MuseumTito's Coconut TreeThe Year I Lived TwiceGod Unlimited: Why We Believe in GodThe Magic of DelusionLectures on Weird Fiction: Volume 1Nothing Short of OddThe WastelanderScorched: Burn Me Once...The Black Heart Of BudapestSonya: Fast HorsesUnfix MeThe Pelican TideArtificial WisdomPilots Dawn 2024Under WaterThe Respian ManThe Heir of the DynastyTrue Crime Trivia 3: Test Your Knowledge of Serial Killers, Unsolved Mysteries, Infamous Crimes, Hoaxes & More with 250 Chilling & Fascinating Quiz QuestionsTrue Crime Trivia 3: Test Your Knowledge of Serial Killers, Unsolved Mysteries, Infamous Crimes, Hoaxes & More with 250 Chilling & Fascinating Quiz QuestionsThe Powell ExpeditionsTricked by LoveStolen Introductions!Escaping CircumstancesThe Mad King and the False QueenSpindleheart: Trail of Shadow and SpoolMy Enemy, My PrinceJundiHow To Talk To Your Spirit Guides In Ten Simple Steps: Connect With Your Spiritual Guidance to Receive Unconditional Love, Protection and Support in All Areas of Your LifeThe Refrigerator GhostBio Marty Vita: Life Life LifeThe Dawn of DarknessPhelan's GoldShadow Work Journal & Adult Coloring Book: Unveil Your Inner Strength, Find Peace Through Animal Wisdom And Experience True Transformation Through Art Therapy, Reflection, And AffirmationsThe Phantom EnforcerSilver HeartsThe Legendary Mo SetoMIND GAME ChallengeJeza's Jesus Juice: A Drag Queen's Christian DevotionalSong for Susie EppHide and BeMy Brother, MyselfThese Cruel WatchersPride and PerjuryMoose and the Math FairyWanted Millionaire Spiritual, But Not Religious: 101 Dating Red Flags For The Wise WomanHaimaTruth HurtsEver The Same

Thanks to all the publishers participating this month!

After Dinner Conversation Inc Akashic Books Alcove Press
Baker Books BDA Publishing Beit Eshel Publications
Bell Jar Books Bethany House Big Ideas Library
Bywater Books Cardinal Rule Press City Owl Press
Fawkes Press Gilded Orange Books Grass Valley Publishers, LLC
Greenleaf Book Group Harbor Lane Books, LLC. HB Publishing House
Highlander Press Hot Tree Publishing IngramSpark
Islandport Press Legacy Books Press Love Moderne
Magpie Publishers NeWest Press Nosy Crow US
Paper Phoenix Press Personville Press Pixie Ink Press
PublishNation Purple Diamond Press, Inc Revell
Rootstock Publishing Sattva Publishing Inc Simon & Schuster
Three Rooms Press Tiny Ghost Press Toodat Fiction
True Crime Seven Tundra Books Tuxtails Publishing, LLC
University of Nevada Press Unsolicited Press Vibrant Publishers
Wise Media Group

Labels: early reviewers, LTER

Friday, April 26th, 2024

TinyCat’s April Library of the Month: The Annisquam Village Library

TinyCat’s Library of the Month is just a short drive down I-95 from LibraryThing’s Portland, ME headquarters: the Annisquam Village Library in Gloucester, MA has been serving their community since 1904! Janet Langer, a retired librarian and member of the Library Committee, is in charge of collection development and was kind enough to answer my questions this month. Here’s what Janet had to say:

Who are you, and what is your mission—your “raison d’être”? 

The Annisquam Village Library (AVL) is located in the northern part of Gloucester, MA, a city known for its early ties to the fishing industry. The library has been a fixture in the village for generations and many of our patrons have visited the library since they were children, as did their family before them. We have both year-round and seasonal (summer) residents of all ages who use our library, but most of our patrons are adult recreational readers who are retired. Our goal is to provide them with engaging reading material and meaningful community events.

Tell us some interesting things about how your library supports the community.

The AVL is a central part of village life, particularly in the off-season when many local businesses are closed and activities are curtailed due to winter weather. We are open on Monday from 3:00 – 5:00 and Saturday from 9:00 – 11:00. On Monday we serve tea and refreshments, with a “high tea” once a month, a tradition that began many generations ago. On Saturday we serve coffee and pastries. Residents love to stop by and enjoy a warm fire, conversation with neighbors, and access to our collection of reading material. Refreshments are provided by volunteers who bake and help with set up and clean up each day we are open. Many of our patrons make generous donations of current books to our collection as well. We host an evening of poetry, author talks, and an annual summer party to raise funds for the library. As with many libraries, ours is a gathering place for the community and is used by other groups.

What are some of your favorite items in your collection?

 

Our collection consists primarily of current fiction, with a healthy offering of mystery titles for those who love this genre. We have a children’s corner for readers under twelve years old which includes picture books, early readers, juvenile fiction series, and some non-fiction titles. We feature our local authors in a special collection since many of our residents have written novels, non-fiction books about their careers, or family histories related to their time in Annisquam. And finally, we have a small collection of books about Gloucester’s history for use in the library. We work with our local historical society to make material available to those who are interested in our heritage, including the fishing and boat-building industry, early tourism, the granite industry, and artists who resided in the area.

What’s a particular challenge your library experiences?

I’d have to tell you about the challenge that we overcame in the last five years or so: The library collection at that point consisted almost entirely of books donated by residents once they had read a particular work. There was no systematic collection maintenance, so over many years the shelves filled and the books grew old and musty. We were fortunate to have a library committee with a new chairwoman, all of whom supported or pitched in on an extensive weeding of the collection and cleaning of the library, hiring a new librarian, and developing a robust collection for our community. TinyCat was a fundamental part of this library relaunch. Every book has been entered into the catalog and the catalog is now online for people to search when we aren’t open. We’ve also built an accurate database of our patrons which has made communication with them more effective. It was a big change for our long-time residents and there were some raised eyebrows, but most have embraced the new collection and accepted the digital catalog.

That sounds like a wonderful success story for your library, I’m so glad to hear it! Speaking of LibraryThing and TinyCat, what’s your favorite thing about the system and is there anything you’d love to see implemented or developed?

First of all, I appreciate the support from the TinyCat staff, from setting up our catalog to addressing questions and technical issues over the years. As I mentioned, TinyCat has been central to our collection management strategy. It has allowed online access to our catalog and simplified our circulation procedures. As a retired librarian, I’m responsible for collection development, and I value the statistics, reports, and charts available through TinyCat. This data helps me in meetings with the library committee and with weeding projects. I wish the reports could be customized a bit more: it would be helpful to run a transaction report that was sorted by the tags I’ve assigned to titles, or a report where the entries could be listed alphabetically by author. (Forgive me if this is already an option and I just don’t know how to do so!)

Great feedback, thanks! I’ll add your suggestions to our list and we’ll be sure to announce any improvements to TinyCat’s Reports.

Want to learn more about AVL? 

Visit their website at https://annisquamvillage.org/village-library, and check out their full TinyCat collection here.


To read up on TinyCat’s previous Libraries of the Month, visit the TinyCat Post archive here.

Want to be considered for TinyCat’s Library of the Month? Send us a Tweet @TinyCat_lib or email Kristi at kristi@librarything.com.

Labels: libraries, Library of the Month, TinyCat

Friday, April 19th, 2024

Come Join the TinyCat Birthday Hunt!

April 8th was TinyCat’s eighth birthday, and we’re celebrating with a special catcentric TinyCat Birthday Treasure Hunt!

We’ve scattered a clowder of TinyCats around the site, and it’s up to you to try and find them all.

  • Decipher the clues and visit the corresponding LibraryThing pages to find a TinyCat. Each clue points to a specific page right here on LibraryThing. Remember, they are not necessarily work pages!
  • If there’s a TinyCat on a page, you’ll see a banner at the top of the page.
  • You have a little less than two weeks to find all the TinyCats (until 11:59pm EST, Tuesday April 30th).
  • Come brag about your clowder of TinyCats (and get hints) on Talk.

Win prizes:

  • Any member who finds at least two TinyCats will be
    awarded a heart badge Badge ().
  • Members who find all 15 TinyCats will be entered into a drawing for some LibraryThing or TinyCat swag. We’ll announce winners at the end of the hunt.

P.S. Thanks to conceptDawg for the catbird illustration!

Labels: treasure hunt

Monday, April 8th, 2024

Happy 8th Birthday to TinyCat!

TinyCat celebrates its 8th birthday this month, and we want to give a special thank-you to all our members, including the more than 37,000 TinyCat signups since our launch in 2016. Because we’re turning 8 years old and it’s April 8, we’re keeping the theme of eights and running a special LibraryThing Store sale now through Wednesday, May 8!

TinyCat’s Birthday Sale puts all TinyCat merch, library supplies, and holiday bundles (while supplies last) on major discount for the next month. Come and stock up on gorgeous enamel pins, laptop stickers, printed barcode labels, and more.

As always, we want to thank everyone who’s joined TinyCat to share and manage their library online over the last 8 years, and we can’t wait to see where the next year takes us. Come and share your own birthday messages on Talk, and let us know what other new features you hope for next!

Don’t forget to visit the LibraryThing Store by Wednesday, May 8, to take advantage of the deals while you can: https://www.librarything.com/more/store

Labels: birthday, sale, TinyCat

Friday, April 5th, 2024

Author Interview: Chad Corrie

Chad Corrie

LibraryThing is pleased to sit down this month with author Chad Corrie, whose published work ranges across a variety of genres and forms, from comic books and graphic novels to fantasy fiction. His epic fantasy series for adults, The Wizard King Trilogy, was published in 2020 and 2021 by Dark Horse Comics, which also published The Shadow Regent in 2023, as well as his recent graphic novel, Sons of Ashgard: Ill Met in Elmgard, a 2023 Foreword Indie Award finalist in the Graphic Novel & Comics category. As the Sparrow Flies, the first in Corrie’s new young adult dystopian series, Sojourners’ Saga, is due out from Dark Horse in May.

Set in a dying world, As the Sparrow Flies is a dystopian fantasy with a twist, featuring two young protagonists who must find a way to survive or escape their world, rather than save it. Is this important? Were you simply interested in writing a survival story, or was there a deeper message there, about how the individual might respond to harsh circumstances and apocalyptic events?

A major impetus for Sojourners’ Saga was the desire to do something new. At the time I started writing the series I was working on finishing up more epic fantasy tales with these massive story universes and there was an appeal to actually having a series where the world was dying and things were bleak—a near complete opposite of what I was doing with this other work at the time. Person vs. nature also wasn’t a story type I’d yet explored, further sweetening the pot.

And it would be fair to say I was intrigued with the idea of seeing how I’d be able to write something more survival-based in general. It wasn’t so much an initial theme or concept that drove me to it, just the idea of exploring something different. The idea of fleeing the danger rather than trying to correct it was also something different and a bit of a challenge to myself, I guess, to see what was possible.

Dystopian fiction has become very popular over the last few decades. Why do you think that is? Does it offer something to readers that other kinds of fiction do not?

Dystopian fiction has indeed had a long history from 1984 and Brave New World—and even before that with some of the pulp speculative fiction from the early 20th century, etc. Recent years have seen something different in terms of the intended audience for many of these tales—that is many of the dystopian tales from the last couple decades having a definite YA bent or focus.

This allows for the theme of the younger generation rising up to combat/correct the corruption/failure of the previous generation(s) as well as the classic coming of age tale in a world/place that is far from ideal. The fact that these newer tales were written initially by Gen X authors who already had some skepticism to things and didn’t trust authority or authority figures in general, probably only aided their creation. Add in various challenges from concerns over climate, fear of having less/being worse off than the previous generation, etc. and it only adds more fuel to the fire.

And while I’m Gen X myself, this wasn’t the sort of path I ended up going for Sojourners’ Saga. As you said, the protagonists know they can’t save their world and so have to find alternatives to survival, which end up taking them down very different paths, which soon enough will cause problems and internal crises of belief in said ideas and ideals, not to mention issues and challenges with remaining population groups.

As to what dystopian fiction offers the reader, oddly enough it’s hope. As no matter how bad something is portrayed in a story we can usually step back and say, “maybe we don’t have things as bad as some think, as it could be much worse than this…” And, in most cases (but not all) there’s a silver lining to those dark dystopian clouds. The heroes triumph, the world is improved, etc. And in that, I suppose, it can inspire the reader to not give up hope and look for ways to make the world a brighter place—at least in their own sphere of influence.

What was the inspiration for your book? Did it start with a story idea, a character, or something else altogether?

I usually get “scenes” or “flavors” that inspire me to write a story. Often I’ll view something in my mind’s eye that’s really just like watching a movie. The whole scene will play out and serve as either the foundation or inspiration for some tale. Other times I’ll get ideas for different flavors of a story that would make an interesting mix. Perhaps something like Vikings mixed with anthropomorphic squirrels, which led to the the creation of the Sons of Ashgard graphic novel, for example.

With the Sojourners’ Saga series the desire mainly was to do something different than what I had been doing before, which as I previously mentioned, was more epic fantasy fare. Going from a massively epic setting to something more apocalyptic and human-centric was also a first for me. I was curious to explore a story and world that only had humans as the main population, rather than a roster of varied beings and beasts.

It was only later as I was in the midst of the process that I finally understood the story was supposed to be YA, which was also a few steps removed from what I had been doing before. This would later inform more of how things would be organized by chapter and POV, and actually was an interesting learning experience that forced me to think and re-think things through in ways I might not have if I was writing a more strictly adult story.

This book is a departure for you, in terms of the intended audience and the story type. Were there challenges, or things you particularly enjoyed about writing for a young adult audience? Was there anything different about your writing and storytelling process, in light of the fact that this world was less magical, less fantastic, than some of the others of which you have written?

Obviously, I can’t speak to everyone who writes YA, but for myself I had to consider just what was the best way to convey something that made sense to a younger character’s mind who may or may not have all the additional reference and context that older people would from years of lived experience.

As I said previously, it really had me stopping and considering things in some new ways, and ultimately had me going through and re-writing whole chapters and scenes as I came to better understand Elliott and Sarah, our two main protagonists. Additionally it allowed me to have some fun with the older characters and scenes with more nuance and other elements that older readers will notice: subtle ways things are said, how they come across to the younger character(s), etc.

As far as challenges to the world building, the biggest challenge was in realizing that I’d still have to craft a pretty detailed history and culture for various people even if the world—and the populous by extension—is crumbling around them. I had foolishly thought in the beginning that because things are going to be on their last legs, as it were, it wasn’t really important to get too much into the history and background of things. But I didn’t get too far into the process before realizing I’d been mistaken.

I had to take some time off writing to build the world—crafting things that most folks won’t ever see or know—so I’d have a solid foundation upon which to rest the story. So no matter how much I had tried to get around it the present, it turns out, is very much predicated on the past. That said, I did manage to get in some of that history and background in each of the books in the way of appendices readers can explore if they’re seeking more context and background to certain aspects of the world and/or story.

It was refreshing to get something more “low fantasy” in the mix too. In some ways it made for some more interesting stories as you can’t just have them zap something with a spell or laser to save the day. There’s a level of grit and reality that permeates the narrative space I found intriguing and added some interesting parameters and feeling to the tale.

As the Sparrow Flies is the first in a trilogy. Can you give us any hints about what’s coming next, in the Sojourners’ Saga?

First off, the entire series has been written. I tend to write the whole series of a work before I submit it to publishers. That way we all know what we’re getting into and it allows me a chance to go back and better align the tale so it flows smoothly from beginning to end. Having it finished also helps with readers, many of whom can be leery about approaching a new series. If they know it’s finished from the get go it’s less of a risk in giving it their consideration.

In the two remaining novels (each to be released in May over the next two years) Sarah and Elliott will come to face their beliefs about themselves and what they previously held so dear while also trying to stay alive long enough to reach some perceived better place for them as both their personal worlds along with the planet unravel around them.

There will be action, exploration of more of the world and its history, as well as a bonding between these two unlikely persons who come to see more of the truth that has so long eluded them and others of the world all these years. And, ultimately, there will be some interesting answers and developments that unfold—for both reader and characters alike.

Tell us about your library. What’s on your own shelves?

Not as much as there used to be. Since I’m always working on something—world building, writing, etc.—I haven’t read as much for pleasure as I used to, usually focusing on more non-fiction topics tied to business or writing or other areas I’m seeking to explore for creating worlds, making websites, or something else I’m engaged in at the present.

That said, some recent titles I’ve been able to squeeze in are the new Calvin and Hobbes collection that came out last year, picking up some of the latest Conan comics—Conan the Barbarian Vol. 1, Conan the Barbarian Vol. 2, Conan the Barbarian by Jim Zub Vol. 1—from Marvel before they went to Titan Comics for their new editions, Blood of the Serpent by S.M. Stirling, and the two latest Dragonlance novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Dragons of Deceit, Dragons of Fate). Next on my TBR pile is Winter’s Song: A Hymn to the North by T.D. Mishchke, which talks about winters in the Midwest.

What have you been reading lately, and what would you recommend to other readers?

While I think those with a fantasy-bent to their reading preferences might enjoy the above-mentioned titles, over the years I’ve found myself revisiting some of Robert E. Howard’s writing on occasion. In particular, I’ve rather enjoyed exploring his other characters outside of Conan such as El Borak, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane, and Kull.

Now granted, these stories might not be everyone’s cup of tea and some are better than others, but two tales really have stood out to me over the years for different reasons: The Screaming Skull of Silence and The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune.

Both are Kull stories and are rather short, but just have something that inspired me in various ways with my own writing and world building, I guess. But they also, I now realize, are rather part of a dystopian flavor that permeate a good deal of Howard’s work—especially with his Kull stories, which feature a character who was literally ruling over an empire and people in decline. So, in a way, I guess you could argue that these stories (with many others over the years) helped provide some of the initial ideas and atmosphere for Sojourners’ Saga, bringing us neatly full circle to where we started with this interview…

Labels: author interview, interview