The Trajectory of Today’s Topics

• Libraries search for new book suppliers

• Reviewing a girl-powered duology

• Jocelyn is ready for her closeup

Hot Off The Press

Over 5,000 US Libraries Are Searching For Alternate Suppliers. 

After almost 200 years in business, Baker & Taylor has shut their doors. If you’re like me and you’re scratching your head right now, let me explain. B&T supplied thousands of libraries with books, along with giving them labels and lamination. You know that glossy cover and the traditional crackle you hear when opening a library book? That. 

It was only a matter of time. B&T was purchased by a private investment group in 2021, suffered a data breach a year later, and then failed to complete a merger with another book distributor a short time later. It was like a perfect storm of disasters. 

How are libraries going to get books now? Right now, some libraries affected are working with B&T’s competition, Ingram Content Group, to get the latest releases. The company put out a statement saying they can service these libraries, but it will take some time to get to them all. They have to hire new employees, monitor and increase supply, and then get shipping chains to the new libraries. So, if you don’t see the latest releases from Patterson, King, or Steele, that’s probably the reason.

In the meantime, continue to support your library and browse some of their older releases. There are still plenty of older books looking for some love. You can also support your local indie author. 😁 Read their books, leave reviews, and tell all your friends, family, and coworkers about these books (yes, a little shameless promotion here). 😆 

The TBR Files

Trickster Gods, Crows, And Girl-Power

I was looking for a change of pace and something lighter. Speaking of libraries, I found these books in a small NC library several years ago. I was trying to branch out and read something more than horror and epic fantasy. I had come down from reading massive chonkers such as the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and a slew of King books such as It and Insomnia. I was looking for something that wouldn’t take a month to read… These were a fun palate cleanser. 

A new-to-me author I could have known since I was a kid. Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen is a quick duology story following Alianne, the teen daughter of the famed first lady knight of Tortall, Alanna. Many readers started with Alanna, which came out in the 80s, which I obviously missed, so I was coming into Pierce’s writing blind. She didn’t disappoint, and I flew through them. 

Aly has big shoes to fill, but wants to live her own life. One day, she sets sail on her own, but gets captured by pirates and sold to another royal family. There she meets the Trickster god who strikes a deal with her. With lots of political subterfuge, warring gods, and murderous conspiracies, Aly has to not only survive but help win a revolution. 

The gods be godding. The books were quick, fun reads with a lot of female empowerment and exciting, sneaky gods causing all the chaos. I thoroughly enjoyed them, and this series made me an instant fan of Tamora Pierce. That being said, there are a lot of negative comments in the forums, mainly highlighting weak, uninspired prose. This didn’t bother me; I wasn’t going in looking for a masterclass in phenomenal language as you’d get from Austen, Wilde, or Tolkien. I enjoyed the story. I mean, if we want to bash technical writing, can we agree that 50 Shades needed about 50 more levels of writing classes? I know it sold billions… but that wasn’t because of its Shakespere worthy prose. 

Anyway, for a fun, YA fantasy, quick read, the Trickster’s duology hit the spot. ☕☕☕1/2 

…And Then This Happened

More Character Artwork From The Series

Why do I do this to myself? I must be some kind of masochist because I can’t seem to not get myself into some project or another. Maybe it’s just ADD (SQUIRREL!), and I’m always fascinated by the next shiny thing. This latest project will be hand-drawn depictions of the characters in the Plight of the Familiar series. This came about because I was looking for a bundle I could do with the second book in the series, and because I love character art, and comparing what I think characters look like compared to the author and other fans. The old Dragon Lance fantasy books started that fire. Artists such as Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, and Clyde Caldwell painted hundreds of pictures of the Heroes of the Lance, dragons, and other fantasy creatures. I’d spend hours looking at their works and trying to draw my own when I was a teen. 

Personal history lesson over… At first, I thought this would be a pretty simple project, and I’d be able to get them done in a week or two. I wouldn’t do every character in the book. That would be too many. Brayden, Hannah, Henrik, Miles, and his mother, sorry, you all are not getting the spotlight. (Unless some rabid fans want to take on that challenge 😋)

Initially, I thought I’d only do portraits of the twins. And then I knew that Patrick and Doofus couldn’t be left out; they might as well be main characters. But then what about Pyrite? Rhiannon? Logan? And then there are two new characters in Night of the Familiar that I definitely want to draw… Before I knew it, the roster was sitting at nine, possibly ten, eleven, twelve… In that case, I might as well do the other characters too, lol. 

One of these days, they’ll be done. So, yeah. Once I have the main lot drawn, I’m thinking of doing character cards, or maybe one big collage-type picture that I’ll add into a bundle package. Who knows what my ADD brain will come up with? Stay tuned, because things “are a happening!”