#raincoast books

[flaviathebibliophile]

You Grow, Girl! by Rose Rossner and Natalie Briscoe (Review)

Title: You Grow, Girl! Author: Rose Rossner Illustrator: Natalie Briscoe Type: Nonfiction Genre: Children’s Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland Published: March 1, 2023 A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review. Bloom where you’re planted This unbeleafable book of encouragement is the perfect gift for new beginnings or to…

[junkgatorswritings]

The Goblet of Fire

I started reading Harry Potter with the very simple goal to prove that the reason it has so many plot holes is because JKR planned out the Marauder's era A: too late and B: not nearly enough.

This book has a lot and most of it's to do with more general characters which makes sense. Because of this I'm probably going to separate the info into more characters than just the Marauders and Lily.

But let's get into it. I'm getting my page numbers from the Raincoast Books publisher with the cover made by Micheal Wildsmith.

Lily Evans:

She refused to stop shielding Harry when Voldemort told her to move (ch. 14 pg. 238).

A trace of her sacrifice stayed on Harry (ch. 33 pg. 707).

James Potter

James died first while trying to hold Voldemort off and telling Lily to take harry and go (ch. 14 pg. 238).

Snape loathed James while they were in school (ch. 26 pg. 523).

He died straight backed and proud (Voldemort ch. 34 pg. 715).

Sirius Black:

He was sent to Azkaban without a trial because of Crouch (ch. 27 pg. 572).

Peter Pettigrew:

He gave up James and Lily's location to Voldemort (ch. 14 pg. 238).

Bertha Jorkins:

Bertha Jorkins was very nosey and didn't have any brains. She was a few years older than Sirius and James (ch. 19 pg. 366).

Bertha Jorkins had an excellent memory for gossip and never knew when to keep her mouth shut, it got her in a lot of trouble (ch. 27 pg. 580).

Bertha followed someone behind the greenhouses or at least said she saw someone (referred to as he) kissing Florence behind the green house and that he hexed her (ch. 30 pg. 650).

Voldemort / Tom Marvolo Riddle:

He killed his foolish muggle father (ch. 33 pg. 700).

His mother was a witch who lived in the village, she fell in love with his father but he left her when he found out she was a witch (ch.n33 pg. 700).

His mother died in childbirth, leaving him in a muggle orphanage (ch.33 pg. 700).

Voldemort vowed that he would take revenge on the fool who gave him his name (ch. 33 pg. 700).

He says that it appeared that one or more of his experiments for immortality worked because he didn't die (ch. 33 pg. 708).

Death Eaters:

Barty Jr. was caught with a group of death eaters who'd talked their way out of Azkaban, apparently they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power (according to Sirius ch. 27 pg. 573).

Barty Jr. could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time (according to Sirius ch. 27 pg. 574).

Barty Jr. was no older than 19 and a few cells away from Sirius, he died a year later, no one came to collect the body and it was buried by dementors (ch. 27 pg. 575).

Snape was famous for his fascination with the dark arts at school, he knew more curses when he arrived at the school than half of the seventh years. He was part of a group of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be death eaters (according to Sirius ch. 27 pg. 577).

Part of Snape's group were Wilkes and Rosier who were both killed by Aurors before Voldemort fell (ch. 17 pg. 577).

The Lestranges are a married couple who are in Azkaban (ch. 27 pg. 578).

Avery said he was imperiused and isn't in Azkaban (ch. 27 pg. 577).

Snape was never accused of being a Death Eater, but he's clever enough to get out of it and a lot of them were never caught (ch. 27 pg. 577).

Crouch's Son (Barty Jr.) got twelve owls (Debatable, crouch said this after escaping Voldemort, so his mind isn't really intact ch. 28 pg. 604)

Igor Karkaroff was in Azkaban, and tried to sell out other Death Eater's to get out (ch. 30 pg. 637).

Moody spent 6 months tracking Karkaroff down (ch. 30 pg. 638)

Voldemort had the Death Eaters organized so that no one never knew who all of his supports were except for him (ch. 30 pg. 639).

Karkaroff gave the names of important supporters, people he saw doing Voldemort's bidding with his own eyes (ch. 30 pg. 639).

Antonin Dolohov tortured countless muggles and non-supporters of the dark lord, he was caught shortly after Karkaroff (ch. 30 pg. 639).

Evan Rosier was killed in a struggle with aurors, he took a large chunk out of Mad-Eye's nose in the process (ch. 30 pg. 640).

Travers helped murder the McKinnons (ch. 30 pg. 640).

Mulciber specialized in the imperius curse and forced countless people to do horrible things (ch. 30 pg. 640).

Rookwood was a spy and passed information to Voldemort from inside the ministry (ch. 30 pg. 640).

Augustus Rookwood had a network of spies inside and outside the Ministry to collect information. But the Ministry had already caught Mulciber and Travers (ch. 30 pg. 641).

Snape was a death eater but he was cleared by the council after being vouched for by Dumbledore. He rejoined the ministry's side before Voldemort fell at great personal risk (ch. 30 pg. 641).

Barty Jr. was put on trial with three other Death Eaters who were caught with him, he was shaking and milk white when he was brought in (ch. 30 pg. 645).

Barty begged his father not to send him back to the dementors, and when that didn't work begged his mother claiming his innocence (ch. 30 pg. 647).

The heavy lidded woman (Bellatrix, probably?) declared that Voldemort would be back, and that he would let them out of Azkaban (ch. 30 pg. 647).

In response to 15 in general information Harry then asks if Barty Jr. might have been innocent (ch. 30 pg. 655).

Barty Jr.'s mother saved him from Azkaban, she came and took his place using polyjuice potion and then kept taking it until she died there (ch. 35 pg. 740-741).

The house elf nursed Barty Jr. Back to health and once he regained it his father put him under a number of spells including the imperius curse, once he broke that control all Barty Jr. could think of was returning to service of his lord (ch. 35 pg. 741).

Barty Jr. loved quidditch (ch. 35 pg. 742).

General information:

Aberforth was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat and went about his business as per usual (according to Dumbledore ch. 24 pg. 495).

When Voldemort was first in power it was a very stressful time. people didn't know who was or wasn't working for him. You knew that he could make people do horrible things against their will. People were scared for themselves and their family. Every week there were more reported deaths, disappearances, and torturing. The ministry was a mess and didn't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from muggles. Muggles were dying too (ch. 27 pg. 572-573).

Crouch rose quickly in the ministry, he started ordering harsher measures against Voldemort's supporters. Giving Aurors permission/power to kill rather than capture. Sent multiple people to Azkaban without a trial. authorized the use of Unforgivable curses against suspects (ch. 27 pg. 573).

Crouch became as ruthless and cruel as anyone on the Dark side (according to Sirius ch. 27 pg. 573).

Crouch had plenty of supporters, they wanted to make him the minister of Magic, but once his son was found to be a death eater he lost most of his support (ch. 27 pg. 573).

Sirius says that Crouch should have spent more time out of the office and got to know his son (ch. 27 pg. 574).

Crouch cared about his son just enough to give him a trial, and even then it was a public display of how much Crouch hated him (according to Sirius ch. 27 pg. 574).

Being high ranking in the Ministry allowed Crouch and his wife a deathbed visit, his wife died shortly after their son (according to Sirius ch. 27 pg. 575).

Crouch attended a concert with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge with his wife and son, he was very proud of Barty for getting 12 O.W.L.S. (debatable we only find this out after Crouch escapes Voldemort ch. 28 pg. 604).

Ludo Bagman passed information to one of Voldemort's supporters, but he didn't know what he was doing. Rookwood was one of his father's friends and had promised to help get him a job at the Ministry (ch. 30 pg. 643-644).

Crouch looked upon his son with pure hatred (ch. 30 pg. 645).

Barty jr. and the three other Death Eaters captured Auror Frank Longbottom and subjected him to the cruciatus curse because they thought he had information on where Voldemort was. They then tortured his wife Alice the same way when he wouldn't give up the information (ch. 30 pg. 646).

Crouch disowned his son when he was sent to Azkaban, he didn't notice his wife faint when he made the declaration (ch. 30 pg. 647).

The years of Voldemort's rise to power were marked with disappearances (ch. 30 pg. 653).

The Longbottoms were very popular and the attack on them happened after Voldemort's disappearance which caused a wave of fury and demands for the perpetrators to be caught (ch. 30 pg. 655).

Mrs. Weasly once got told off by the Fat Lady for coming back to the common room at 4 in the morning, she was out for a stroll with her now husband. He however got caught by Apollyon Pringle the then caretaker. Mr. Weasly still has the marks (ch. 35 pg. 669).

Crouch loved his wife like he had never loved his son (according to Barty Jr. though he was under Veritaserum so it's likely he truly believed this ch. 35 pg. 740).

The old crowd included Remus Lupin, Mndungus Fletcher, and Arabella Fig (ch. 36 pg. 773).

Questions:

Did Regulus exist when this book was being written? I think not because I feel like Sirius would have mentioned him when he was talking about Snape's friends.

Were other innocent people sent to Azkaban when Crouch wasn't giving out trials?

Where are the theoretical repercussions from sending more innocent people to prison?

Edited on November 28, 2024, to add chapter numbers.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

That's a LOT of books (Raincoast books warehouse, Richmond, BC)

[theflikchic]

How the entire HP fandom hasn't collectively discovered that buying the books secondhand is the best option is beyond me. I just got the hardcover illustrated Philosopher's Stone book for three bucks AND all of the classic Raincoast hardcovers from second-hand hunting ALONE. You can get so so so many versions (so many out of print AND new versions) of the books without having to pay, like, ridiculous sums of money that'll all go to JK TERFling and her bigoted causes. Secondhand is the way to go, y'all.

[gekkoukanstrega]

Jin: Look I already told you— Fuuka and I are just friends! That's it!

Takaya: Ok then- what's her favorite color?

Jin: Funny enough it's periwinkle. But last week it was veridian.

Takaya: Birthstone?

Jin: Turquoise, tanzanite, and zircon.

Chidori: *whispers* That's one of too many...

Takaya: Favorite book?

Jin: The Artisan of the Raincoast. By Mavrik Takuro.

Takaya: And her lip balm flavor?

Jin: Green apple.

Takaya: ...

Chidori: ...

Jin: ... What?

[tomionesmutfest2024]

Former Fest Highlight Week: Free For All

I've run out of former fests to highlight, so now I'm just grabbing ones that were written for fests that made it over to ao3.

Occult by TwistedTale

Notes:

For Tomione_Forum, ZombieReine.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Trigger Warnings: child abuse, mentions of rape, emotional manipulation A/N: Story written for the Tomione Forum's 2014 Secret Santa as a gift to ZombieReine.

[smallprotagonistbooks]

It’s #FamilyLiteracyDay so I’ve snuck out of Mat Leave to do a little appreciation post for our favourite books!  We were inspired by my Small Protagonist’s school inviting kids to dress up as their favourite book character today. First Up:  Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems via Hachette Books. We love the pigeon so much at our house that on this special day we though he should be allowed to ride the bus.

Second Up:  Hubert’s Hair-raising Adventure by Bill Peet.  A classic from Mama Protagonist’s childhood.  Please join us in splitting a seam to this rhyming classic.  (via @raincoastbooks & HMH Kids) And finally, drumroll, Dragon’s Love Taco’s 1 & 2 by Adam Rubin and Daniel Salmieri via Penguin Random House (hardcover) and Scholastic Canada (softcover bookclub version). Happy Family Literacy Day from the Protagonist Clan & we hope you enjoy some quality reading with your smalls!  See you back on the regular soon!

[turningpagebooks]

BLOG TOUR | Review: “The Storm Crow” by Kalyn Josephson

Title: The Storm Crow Author: Kalyn Josephson Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Source: Raincoast Books Publication Date: July 9th, 2019 Format: ARC Page count: 352 (hardcover edition) Plot summary: In the tropical kingdom of Rhodaire, magical, elemental Crows are part of every aspect of life...until the Illucian empire invades, destroying everything.

That terrible night has thrown Princess Anthia into a deep depression. Her sister Caliza is busy running the kingdom after their mother's death, but all Thia can do is think of all she has lost.

But when Caliza is forced to agree to a marriage between Thia and the crown prince of Illucia, Thia is finally spurred into action. And after stumbling upon a hidden Crow egg in the rubble of a rookery, she and her sister devise a dangerous plan to hatch the egg in secret and get back what was taken from them.

The Storm Crow on Goodreads | Chapters Indigo | Amazon CA

The Storm Crow is a captivating book about magic, family, and fighting for your people.

I received an ARC from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger Warning: this book contains self-mutilation

If you're looking for a book filled with magic, family, and political intrige, you might want to check this book out! It's a short, quick read that I didn't want to put down. Lately I've been feeling burnt out on YA fantasy, so that's a good sign.

The magic in this book is so awesome! Crows that have different abilities, and certain people who ride them (sometimes into battle). I wish this had been fleshed out a bit more, but nevertheless I enjoyed this aspect quite a lot. The crows themselves have fun personalities, which I love seeing in bookish creatures. The writing style is easy to read, and the descriptions of food made me hungry if I'm honest lol.

I found that sometimes the plot kind of meandered away from the goal of the characters in order to focus on the romances. This means that the progress was a little slower sometimes, and the ending was fast paced to pack a lot into the short length of the book.

The romance isn't a clear cut as you'd expect, but I didn't mind it. I think it's nice that we're a surprised with the way the romance goes, because it definitely plays with and goes against some common cliches. There's also some good lgbtq+ rep, which is nice. None of the main characters seem to be lgbtq+, but it's definitely widely accepted within the kingdoms in The Storm Crow.

The relationship between Anthia and Caliza is lovely to read. They struggle, as is natural when a family experiences loss. I would've liked to see the book mention grief and PTSD specifically, rather than placing it under the blanket term of depression. As someone who has experienced grief multiple times in my life, I'm also wary of how it's portrayed. I'm glad, however, that the book mentions depression anyway because mental health is important and shouldn't be a taboo topic.

The Storm Crow is a good book, and I enjoyed reading it. It has its weaknesses, but mostly I feel excited about where the series could go next.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kalyn Josephson currently works as a Technical Writer in the tech industry, which leaves room for too many bad puns about technically being a writer. Though she grew up in San Luis Obispo, California, she graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Biology and a degree in English (Creative Writing). Currently, she lives in the Bay Area with four awesome friends (because it’s the Bay Area and she’d like to be able to retire one day) and two black cats (who are more like a tiny dragon and an ever tinier owl). THE STORM CROW is her debut novel.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

[candidcover]

(via Review: YOU OWE ME A MURDER by Eileen Cook)

You Owe Me a Murder by Eileen Cook is a high-stakes thriller that is stressful to read, but in a good way. The plot is full of twists and the characters are enjoyable. The  writing style is suspenseful and has edge-of-your-seat action that is present throughout the whole story. This is one incredible thriller for those looking to read a unique murder novel.

[bluestockingbookworm]

BLOG TOUR STOP: Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd

BLOG TOUR STOP: Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd

[book-info]

How do you even begin to describe a book like Grim Lovelies? This book is a masterfully woven tale of magic, dysfunctional family dynamics, and redemption. It is set in a bit of a mix of modern and vintage Paris, where couture reigns supreme, but cars like Rolls Royce and Astin Martins are still on the road.

The magic system was one I really appreciated. The idea that magic…

[flaviathebibliophile]

Outdoor School: Tree, Wildflower, and Mushroom Spotting by Mary Kay Carson and John D. Dawson (Review)

Title: Outdoor School: Tree, Wildflower, and Mushroom Spotting Author: Mary Kay Carson Illustrator: John D. Dawson Type: Nonfiction Genre: Children’s, Nature Publisher: Odd Dot Date published: February 28, 2023 A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review. With 448 full-color, highly-illustrated pages, Outdoor School is your…

[tryintolivelifetothefullest]

Book Review: Little Universes by Heather Demetrios

Book Review: Little Universes by Heather Demetrios

(From Goodreads)

I received a free copy from Raincoast Books in exchange for an honest review

Summary

(From Goodreads) One wave: that’s all it takes for the rest of Mae and Hannah Winters’ lives to change. When a tsunami strikes the island where their parents are vacationing, it soon becomes clear that their mom and dad are never coming home. Forced to move to Boston from sunny…

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Red Team Blues Chapter One, part two

My next novel, Red Team Blues, comes out on April 25. It’s an “anti-finance finance thriller,” a read-it-in-one-sitting thriller about a 67-year-old forensic accountant who gets embroiled in a deadly and violent cryptocurrency heist:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/18/cursed-are-the-sausagemakers/#henched

To whet your appetite for it, I’m serializing chapter one, where we meet Marty Hench, and get introduced to the one last job that he needs to do to finish his 40 year career as Silicon Valley’s best high-tech forensic accountant.

Today, I’m publishing part two. Here’s the previous installment:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/17/have-you-tried-not-spying/#unsalted-hash

Here’s where US readers can pre-order the book:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865847/red-team-blues

Here’s pre-orders for Canadians:

https://services.raincoast.com/scripts/b2b.wsc/featured?hh_isbn=9781250865847&ht_orig_from=raincoast

And for readers in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/red-team-blues-cory-doctorow/7225998?ean=9781804547755

And now, here’s today’s serial installment:

The Camino Real had excellent security, as well as all the amenities: a pool, a gym, and a set of spring-­loaded seismic dampers set deep into the bedrock that turned the whole place into a bouncy castle whenever the San Andreas Fault got a touch of indigestion.

It was steps to California Avenue and five Michelin-star restaurants — ­one with three stars, two with two — ­and it cost him eight million, plus furnishings, which Sethu oversaw, going all in on Danish woods for a midcentury modern feel that went great with the rooftop garden that came with the penthouse unit. Sethu got him interested in trying all that Michelin star food, a far cry from ramen and slightly irregular breakfast cereals, and from there, it was the chefs’ tables, and then the private cooking classes, and then a major reno to the penthouse to fit it out with a kitchen that would have made Heston Blumenthal gasp and twirl.

They spent the month that the renos took in an exclusive lodge near a slightly active Costa Rican volcano, checking out the bromeliads and howler monkeys. He came back bronzed and fit from all that volcano hiking and became one of the great chefs of the new aristocracy, even pulling out the old alt.gourmand posts from the prehistory of Usenet. I don’t know when they became a couple, but I imagine it was a natural thing. Danny had a big heart, and he’d loved Galit with all of it, and with Galit gone and Danny still around, his heart wasn’t going to sit idly. Sethu is beautiful and brilliant and good at what she does, and those were all the traits that attracted Danny to Galit in the first place. The Camino Real’s security gave me the twice-­over and then emitted me. The elevator doors gave a sophisticated sigh and welcomed me in, and the buttonless panel lit up PH, and my blood pooled a little in my feet as I attained liftoff.

Danny looked at least ten years younger than the last time I’d seen him, craggy but handsome, and the pounds he’d put on had only filled him out so he wasn’t such an ectomorphic scarecrow. He’d definitely been hitting the kettlebells, too, and his tight Japanese tee clung just enough that I could see he’d gotten some definition in his pecs and biceps. That’s hard muscle to acquire once you hit your fifties. Someone had been making Danny put in his reps.

Danny’s an intense guy who believed so fiercely in the significance and beauty and urgency of cryptography that he could easily captivate a roomful of people with an impromptu lecture on the subject, and he would not relinquish that hold until they all had to leave. He wasn’t a bore, but he wasn’t exactly normal, and yet as far as I knew, everyone who���d ever become personally acquainted with him liked him. A lot.

“Well, you don’t look like a man who got through a prix fixe at the Palmier. Even with the flights, you shouldn’t be that bilious, Mart. What’d you do, stop for Oreos on the way back to your double-­wide?”

I let this pour over me as he showed me into the foyer and I shucked my scuffed old loafers, the ones I saved for personal days when I didn’t have to impress a client. “First of all, Lazer, the Unsalted Hash is a forty-­foot, state-­of-­the-­art touring bus with seven feet of internal clearance, an induction range, a deep freeze, and a sound system that can set off car alarms for a block. It is not a double-­wide.

“Secondly, the Palmier was great, and I didn’t get the prix fixe — ­I got a taster at the chef’s table with a friend, and we stayed up later than we should have, and I still managed to drag myself here for a business conference at this unholy hour. I’m running on three hours’ sleep and digesting a good three-­ thousand-­calorie dinner, is all.

“Finally, I don’t stop for Oreos, ever. I have a supply of 1995-­vintage Hydroxes in one of the deep freezes. The original recipe contains all those great trans fats that make for excellent long-­term frozen flavor and texture retention. I would offer you a package, but I won’t, because they are mine, and I treasure them beyond all reason and plan to make my stash last until I can no longer consume solid food, whereupon I plan to consume the balance in smoothie form.”

He took my shoes and tossed them into a closet and slammed the door, making a face, then burst out laughing and grabbed me in a bear hug that reminded me of those new biceps of his. “Man, it’s good to see you, Marty. Come in, come in. We’ll go out onto the roof.”

I got a quick tour of a lot of teak and curves and angles, like a set dresser had been given an unlimited budget to decorate the boss’s office on a midcentury period drama. Then he opened a sliding door out onto the roof-­deck, which had some very nice landscaping and potted shrubs, a meandering stream patrolled by fat koi and fed by a two-­foot waterfall, some comfortable-­ looking and elegant teak loungers, and Sethu.

She had an easel set up and was painting in oils, an impressionistic landscape of Palo Alto’s nimbified one-­family houses and dinky main street. It was a couple of billion dollars’ worth of real estate dressed up as middle-­class houses from the same midcentury dreamland as the furnishings in the living room. She turned and saw us and narrowed her eyes, just a tiny amount, before cleaning her brushes and hanging up her smock on the easel’s corner.

“Hi, hon,” she said. “This must be your friend Mr. Hench.” Danny beamed at her, an expression I remembered from his most successful demos, that prideful look he got when his code performed some miracle. “Marty, I don’t know if you ever met Sethu, back in the old days.”

“I don’t know that we were ever introduced properly,” I said. She’d let me in, once or twice, when I’d come by to see if I could pull Danny out of his tailspin. But she’d been his PA then.

“Well, in that case, Sethuramani Lazer, meet Martin Hench. Marty, meet Sethu.”

I’m pretty sure my facial expression didn’t change when he dropped that last name on me. I’d already noticed the rock on her finger, of course — ­a bachelor of my age and experience takes note of these things automatically, without conscious intervention. I’m pretty sure what Danny said next was that same pride speaking, not a failure of my poker face.

“Married her last year. Or rather, she married me, despite being significantly out of my league.”

“Lucky fella,” I said. “Congrats to both of you.”

He got us settled into loungers, and Sethu mentioned that she was going in for lemonade and offered us some. She brought it out in sweating tall glasses with silicone straws and then went back to her easel, far enough away that it wouldn’t seem odd not to include her in our conversation.

I sipped as Danny scrolled his phone for a moment, double-­checked his notes, and took Sethu in. She was beautiful, of course, but I’d known that since I’d first met her at the door of that teardown that Danny had settled into as his final resting place. Now, though, she had the kind of haircut that some very bright topiarist had charged her at least a thousand bucks for, and with it, the kind of poise I associate with very beautiful, very accomplished women who are also very, very rich. Something in the posture, a kind of deep relaxation that you rarely see. Having a very deep cash buffer can give a woman the same tranquility as any middling specimen of manhood gets for free, the liberation from casual predation that men don’t even notice.

Danny put his phone down at last. “So I hear you did some work recently? Bonwick. Rearden Factoring?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Brian and I did some business, but it’s not the kind of thing I can discuss. You know that. He lost something, I found it, and I made him whole.” He snorted. “Marty, you don’t make people whole. Your commission still twenty-­five percent?”

“It is,” I said. “And I still don’t charge anything to take a job, not even expenses or a retainer. I take the risk, I get the reward. That’s a proposition I think you probably relate to.”

“I’m familiar with the general idea.” He looked around at his penthouse garden, his beautiful young wife, his view of the strivers of Palo Alto and their Leave It to Beaver houses, all a testament to his willingness to take all the risk and his unwillingness to share his rewards. “You ever take payment in crypto?”

“I prefer fiat” — ­this being the cutesy word that crypto weirdos use for real money — ­“I have smart accountants who keep my tax bite down to a manageable slice, and I’ve got no other reason to accept distributed sudoku puzzles in lieu of greenbacks.”

“Very funny,” he said. Cryptocurrency hustlers hate it when you point out that the whole blockchain emits billions of tons of CO2 to help repeatedly compute pointless mathematical puzzles. “You’re familiar with how crypto works, though, right?”

“Danny, I love you like a brother, but I hope I’m not about to get a sales pitch for Trustlesscoin.” The only sour note in the previous night’s dinner had been a couple of bros at the chef’s table who spent the first hour talking about smart contracts. It was a hazard of any public space in SV, and I accepted it with good grace, but I wouldn’t tolerate it in private places. Life is too short.

“No pitch, but I just want to make sure you’re up to speed for what I’m going to tell you next. Forensic accounting is one thing, but when you throw in crypto, it’s a whole different world.”

Later this week (Apr 20/21), I’m speaking in Chicago at the Stigler Center’s Antitrust and Competition Conference.

This weekend (Apr 22/23), I’m at the LA Times Festival of Books.

[Image ID: A squared-off version of Will Staehle's cover for the Macmillan edition of 'Red Team Blues.']

[neednewspace]

The Deceivers by Kristen Simmons

Vale Hall, an elite school;

Dr. O, a mysterious benefactor; and

Brynn, a teenage con-artist with a mission to break free.

Brynn Hilder is from the wrong side of the city and she’s desperate to escape her Mom’s fate; stuck with a drug-dealing, loser boyfriend and a job slinging food at a diner. That’s why she cons rich kids out of their allowances and has a stash of cash ready to get herself out.

[thebookwars]

Pandora by Victoria Turnbull Hardcover, 32 pages Published April 4th 2017 by Clarion Books Source: Raincoast Books Oh the art in this one is so glorious.