#Travis Baldree

[torpublishinggroup]

Tor Publishing Group is BACK (again) with a guide of books to gift the people in your life…and yourself!

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

Cozy books to curl up with in the winter...

Legends & Lattes / Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

Dazzling new worlds to explore...

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark

Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim; translated by Anton Hur

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

High stakes, high thrills...

Extinction by Douglas Preston

The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

Exordia by Seth Dickinson

━ ˖°˖ ☾☆☽ ˖°˖ ━

Story collections that pack a punch...

Januaries by Olivie Blake

The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker

Not enough books? Don’t worry, we have another GET BOOKT: THE BOOKENING guide to help you out!

[rosiethorns88]

Dropping the latest Sketch-a-Wish voted on by my lovely Patreons for June! A cozy scene from Legends & Lattes (by @travis_baldree), featuring Viv and Tandri trying out Thimble's scrumptious Cinnamon Roll! If you missed it, reading this book for this SAW prompted me to make my own Cinnamon Rolls from scratch (for research, of course!) I have a highlight of these shenanigans on my Instagram. 😂 Are we excited for the Bookshops & Bonedust prequel? 🔥

[bdazzlebooklover]

I love this series by Travis Baldree. Cozy fantasy at it's best.

[cariguevara]

Viv & Tandri

[skygemspeaks]

Hello happy pride month, here are some sweet and relatively low-stakes queer reads for you:

Cursed Cocktails by SL Rowland - a blood mage retires after decades of fighting to protect his people, and moves to a small coastal town where the heat will be good for his chronic pain. He opens a cocktail bar and maybe falls in love with his business partner.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune - case worker has to investigate a group home of very powerful magical orphans. One of them is the antichrist. He tries not to lose his mind. Finds love (platonic and romantic) along the way

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree - badass orc barbarian decides to retire from her life of fighting and opens a cafe in a town where no one has heard of coffee before. Finds a family along the way.

A Rival Most Vial by RK Ashwick - two rival potion shop owners who hate everything about each other find out they have to work together on a potion for the mayor. Find out that maybe they don't hate each other that much after all. Oh and there's a found family in there somewhere.

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Adult SFF Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries below:

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Fantasy, cozy fantasy, romance, secondary world, adult

The Machineries of Empire series (Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, Revenant Gun, and other stories) by Yoon Ha Lee

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris’s best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao–because she might be his next victim.

Science fiction, fantasy, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, series, adult

[appleinducedsleep]

Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as.

Travis Baldree, Legends & Lattes

[virgilean]

Books Read in 2024: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

"Things don’t have to stay as what they started out as."

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Gorgeous late fall vibes to start off December 🍂

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Characters, book, and author names under the cut

Viv/Tandri - Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Jean Moreau/Jeremy Knox - The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic 

Sally-Anne/Sez - Beanstalk by E Jade Lomax

Christine Braxton/Stephanie - Fire Season by KD Casey

[torpublishinggroup]

This advertisement is for Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree, a high fantasy adventure of first love and secondhand books set prior to the events of New York Times bestseller Legends & Lattes.

The art featured in this image is by Samantha Petrie. 

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going super great. When she suffers a dread injury during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, the Ravens pack her off for some obligatory and undesired R&R. 

The sleepy beach town of Murk is relaxing, but so far from anything resembling excitement or action that she worries she’ll never get back in the game. But then this down-on-her-luck soldier of fortune starts whiling away her many free hours at a beleaguered bookshop and in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor. 

We don’t always know what we need, or which small choices change the paths of our lives. 

And adventure isn’t so far from Murk as Viv thinks! A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons would like a word.

[the-book-ferret]

“The combined aromas of hot cinnamon, ground coffee, and sweet cardamom intoxicated her, and as she brewed and smiled and served and chatted, a deep contentment welled up. It was a glowing warmth she’d never experienced before, and she liked it. She liked it a great deal.” ― Travis Baldree, Legends & Lattes

[lakecountylibrary]

HAPPY PRIDE and may I say, I am so happy you're here reading this 💖

Welcome to my yearly 5 Fav LGBTQ+ Reads post, where I tell you about the top 5 books with queer characters that I've read in the past 12 months. These aren't necessarily recently published, they're just what I personally liked and happened to read - and maybe you'll like them too.

It's been such a delight to see the number of books I have to choose from grow and grow since I first started writing these posts in 2017. It's now difficult to pick just 5! But I did it. For you. Here we go:

Legends & Lattes/Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree (lesbian rep)

Cozy fantasy that lives up to the hype. Curl up under a blanket with a comforting beverage and read about the retired orc adventurer who finds her people through the power of coffee and baked goods.

Swordheart by @tkingfisher (nonbinary rep)

One woman (in her 30s!!! Not A Teen!) fights for her inheritance and her life with the help of a possessed sword and a nonbinary lawyer. Takes place in the same world as Kingfisher's Clocktaur War, but you don't have to read that first. Swordheart leans more toward the cozy side of fantasy. (There's, you know, some murders. But the stakes are lower than the fate-of-nations plot of Clocktaur.)

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White (gay, trans rep)

Hard left out of cozy fantasy and straight (lol jk) into horror! Hell Followed With Us pulls no punches. It takes place in the aftermath of a viral apocalypse caused by a fanatical religious group. It follows trans boy Benji, the cult's escaped chosen one who has found shelter with a group of queer teens. Content warnings for body horror, religious trauma, transphobia, gore, and misogyny.

Camp Damascus by @drchucktingle (gay, lesbian rep)

Another horror entry, this one about a conversion camp survivor in Montana. Rose grew up in the shadow of Camp Damascus and knows that their success rate is considered near-miraculous. However, when Rose starts asking questions about a few things in her life that don't add up, she discovers "miraculous" isn't quite the right word. Content warnings for gaslighting, indoctrination, emotional manipulation, child abuse, brainwashing, and body horror.

A Memory Called Empire/A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine (bi, lesbian rep)

Sci-fi with excellent worldbuilding. Mahit Dzmare is an ambassador from a tiny mining station, tasked with keeping her station independent from the massive Teixcalaanli Empire. She must fully immerse herself in Teixcalaanli culture while still keeping her own culture's secrets - the discovery of which could mean immediate annihilation. Read this one if you prefer character-driven narratives over plot-driven.

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And that's this year's list! Check out my posts from previous years if you're looking for even more: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

Happy Pride, and happy reading!

See more of Robin's recs

[d1gitalrabbit]

🐇🌱 D1GITALRABBIT WEEKLY RECAP

ok so I'm gonna try to do this weekly. essentially this is a RECAP of my weekly media consumption! what music, shoes, games, and books I'm rotating + my favorite outfit of the week !

📚: I finished the audiobook of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, while I was skeptical of the series at first, both books were a superb read while I was at work. I've also made it to the halfway point in the book Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. A bit blander than Leigh's colorful yet grim worlds. However still nice and light of for reading on commutes and on breaks

💿: Rediscovered Sara Kinsley's Magical pop music, Oh No Darling being added to my playlist automatically and contrasting it with Ethel Cain's haunting yet beautiful song, Strangers.

🎮: Webfishing has me HOOKED (no pun intended) it's witty, simple, yet so fun and even gifted it to a friend for us to play together. I've been playing more Baldurs Gate 3 since I've gotten the steam deck, having it hand held helps me a lot remembering where I left off, and I like to play it on my commutes to and from work.

📺: If you guys haven't picked up on it, I've been obsessed with Sex and The City, and automatically watch it while I'm doing more menial tasks or just chilling at home. However, Arcane season 2? ate it up and rewacthed season 1 to compare.

[lastseenleaving]

US vs UK covers

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 2

Book summaries below:

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time. The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is. If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone. But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed. Fantasy, cozy fantasy, romance, secondary world

Monstrous Regiment (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett

Polly Perks joins the Discworld army to find her brother Paul. "Ozzer" cuts off her blonde braids, dons male garb, belches, scratches, and masters macho habits - aided by well-placed pair of socks. The legendary and seemingly ageless Sergeant Jackrum accepts her plus a vampire, troll, zombie, religious fanatic, and two close "friends". The best man for the job may be a woman. Fantasy, humor, war, secondary (disc)world