#the tindalos asset

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

July Haul, or: Wow, I'm So Good At Acquiring Books In Moderation, Huh.

[small-ashes]

i read... 32 books in 2021 so here's a quick round up

Favourite books:

A MEMORY CALLED EMPIRE and A DESOLATION CALLED PEACE by Arkady Martine

VITA NOSTRA by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

PIRANESI by Susanna Clarke

AGENTS OF DREAMLAND, BLACK HELICOPTERS, and THE TINDALOS ASSET by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Books I enjoyed:

EMPRESS OF FOREVER by Max Gladstone

HORRORSTÖR by Grady Hendrix

THE WITNESS FOR THE DEAD by Katherine Addison

THE ATROCITIES by Jeremy C. Shipp

CHILLING EFFECT and PRIME DECEPTIONS by Valerie Valdes

THE HAUNTING OF TRAM CAR 015 by P. Djèlí Clark

ANNIHILATION by Jeff VanderMeer

was pretty much indifferent to everything else other than two books which were the only ones i actively disliked)

i've got 7-ish more standalones to read before i tackle the rest of my TBR pile which are like, mostly firsts of series/trilogies and i had like 0 energy for those

maybe in 2022

anyway you can see my shit here but i don't do ratings or reviews because fuck that tbh

[graywyvern]

@CrookedCosmos

The Tindalos Asset.

blue new to the world except maybe to Yves Klein blue used sparingly even by the extravagant & what subject never seen?

"Many of these things that I assumed I had just invented were already e[i]ther real or someone had written them on a page or two here and there."

"A FLUNTER is a piece of rubbish. A FLUNTER-DRAWER is a messy drawer, or a drawer full of odds and ends." --@HaggardHawks

[littlefurpants]

Fuck it here's a list of all the books I read in 2020.

1. 'Carry on' rainbow rowell

2. 'Wayward son' rainbow rowell

3. 'Widdershins' jordan l. hawk

4. 'Threshold' jordan l. hawk

5. 'Stormhaven' jordan l. hawk

6. 'Hexbreaker' jordan l. hawk

7. 'Siege and storm' leigh bardugo

8. 'Ruin and rising' leigh bardugo

9. 'Trail of lightning' rebecca roanhorse

10. 'Necropolis' jordan l. hawk

11. 'Beneath the citadel' destiny soria

12. 'Red, white and royal blue' casey mcquiston

13. 'The last sun' kd edwards

14. 'King of scars' leigh bardugo

15. 'Storm of locusts' rebecca roanhorse

16. 'Magic for liars' sarah gailey

17. 'The root' na'amen gobert tilahun

18. 'Witchmark' cl polk

19. 'The hanged man' kd edwards

20. 'The tree' na'amen gobert tilahun

21. 'The lamb will slaughter the lion' margaret killjoy

22. 'Darkling' brooklyn ray

23. 'Ariah' br sanders

24. 'Chameleon moon' roanna sylver

25. 'Out of Salem' hal schrieve

26. 'A darker shade of magic' ve schwab

27. 'The watchmaker of filigree street' natasha pulley

28. 'The fever king' victoria lee

29. 'The gentleman's guide to vice and virtue' mackenzi lee

30. 'Vicious' ve schwab

31. 'The lost future of pepperharrow' natasha pulley

32. 'Ninth house' leigh bardugo

33. 'A gathering of shadows' ve schwab

34. 'A conjuring of light' ve schwab

35. 'The gentleman's guide to getting lucky' mackenzi lee

36. 'Vengeful' ve schwab

37. 'The electric heir' victoria lee

38. 'Reverie' ryan la sala

39. 'Full fathom five' max gladstone

40. 'Timekeeper' tara sim

41. 'Drawing blood' poppy z. brite

42. 'Bloodline' jordan l. hawk

43. 'Hoarfrost' jordan l. hawk

44. 'Wolf in white van' john darnielle

45. 'Universal harvester' john darnielle

46. 'Rosemary and rue' seanan mcguire

47. 'Norse mythology' neil gaiman

48. 'The prey of gods' nicky drayden

49. 'Howl's moving castle' diana wynne jones

50. 'A local habitation' seanan mcguire

51. 'Jamis bachman, ghost hunter' jen jensen

52. 'Chainbreaker' tara sim

53. 'Blackfish city' sam j. miller

54. 'An artificial night' seanan mcguire

55. 'The art of starving' sam j. miller

56. 'Love in the time of global warming' francesca lia block

57. 'Witches of ash and ruin' e latimer

58. 'Late eclipses' seanan mcguire

59. 'The island of excess love' francesca lia block

60. 'Bonds of brass' emily skrutskie

61. 'The tindalos asset' caitlin r. kiernan

62. 'Aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe' benjamin alire saenz (I have about 50 pages left but I'll finish it tonight)

[thewerewolfandthedetective]

I'm reading the tindalos asset and it's so good and weird and creepy I want to read it faster but I dont want it to end. I cannot stop thinking about that woman sewn inside the shark. Caitlin you've done it again. I didnt like black helicopters so much but tindalos is as good as agents of dreamland, which is stiff fucking competition because the cordyceps aspect of dreamland blew my fucking mind.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023. BLACK HELICOPTERS and THE TINDALOS ASSET by Caitlin R. Kiernan.

Books two and three of the Tinfoil Dossier, reporting for duty! I finished HELICOPTERS last night (crushing my second half of year reading goals already), and I'm excited to start ASSET tonight! What deeply weird and fucked up little books!!

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

9 >:D (and 8 too)

eh heh heh thank u friend >:D referencing this post!

9. What series has most disappointed you?

This year, the winner is absofuckenlutely THE SKYBOUND SAGA by Alex London--I really super wanted to love it, because it's birds (specifically RAPTORS like come ON) and that's 100% my jam, but, unfortunately, I Know Too Much About Raptors To Buy A Lot Of This Shit, and I suspect I've largely outgrown YA :( But gosh I had such high hopes for those books (and their beautiful covers)...

8. What series has most pleased you?

(I've been scrolling backwards through my Goodreads to answer these, by the way, and I already used SINGING HILLS for the previous answer, so:)

I really enjoyed AGENTS OF DREAMLAND by Caitlin R. Kiernan more than I was anticipating? Weird, funny, fucked up little book, and I immediately had to track down books 2 and 3 in the trilogy (BLACK HELICOPTERS and THE TINDALOS ASSET--the whole trilogy is called "Tinfoil Dossier" which. mood lmao).

BLACK HELICOPTERS has been out of print for a while, and I did NOT want to source it from The Evil River, so I got to have a lot of fun tracking down a pristine used copy! So so far I've enjoyed both the series itself AND the process of tracking down additional volumes--double win!

[littlefurpants]

Long ass book post:

1. How many books did you read this year? 61 and I can probably finish one more tonight.

2. Did you reread anything? What?

I really tried not to reread, but I know I reread the six of crows duology and I read 'red white and royal blue' at least three times. I also reread 'drawing blood' by poppy z. brite for the first time in seven years--definitely problematic, not for the faint of heart, but i still really love trevor/zach, something about that couple just gets me.

3. Your top 5 books

1. 'Wolf in white van' by john darnielle (omfg... possibly the best book I've ever read)

2. 'The art of starving' by sam j. miller (never has my heart so broken for a character)

3. 'Carry on/'wayward son' by rainbow rowell (they have their issues and are not perfect, and are honestly not super well written, but I would die for baz)

4. 'Red white and royal blue' by Casey mcquiston (I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK ENOUGH. THIS IS THE MOST ROMANTIC BOOK IVE EVER READ)

5. 'The gentleman's guide to vice and virtue' by mackenzi lee (all the debauchery and yearning you could desire)

4. Are there any new authors you discovered?

Almost everyone I read this year is new to me: john darnielle, ve schwab, victoria lee, natasha pulley, seanan mcguire, kd edwards, sam j. miller

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but didnt get to?

I have a whole stack. One that really stands out is 'the library of the unwritten' by aj hackwith. I also really anticipated the release of 'black sun' by rebecca roanhorse but I havent gotten to it yet.

10. Do you have a favorite new release of the year?

I just read 'the tindalos asset' by caitlin r. kiernan and it was AMAZING. Highly recommended if you want something masterfully creepy and weird.

11. Was there a book that's been out for awhile that you discovered?

I just read 'howl's moving castle' by diana wynne jones which was written in the 80s, and is GREAT. Much better than the movie. Howl is a queer icon.

12. Was there a book that disappointed you?

I really loved 'love in the time of global warming' by francesca lia block, which features a great queer romance with a trans character, but I was so disappointed by its sequel, 'the island of excess love.' Theres virtually no character development with any of the characters we grew to love in the first book. A bummer in what couldve been a great queer series.

17. What was the book that surprised you with how good it was?

Definitely 'red white and royal blue!' I mustve read the description ten times and thought "this sounds stupid." I've never been so proven wrong! This book had me SOBBING with gay pride tears. It took me through the depths of emotion and left me with hope not just for myself but for the entire goddamned world! Its incredible!

18. How many books did you buy?

This... is probably a sign of a true problem, but I think its 90. Not counting the books I've been gifted. Its... a lot. I had to get a new bookshelf and box up all my college era books.

23. What's your fastest time reading a book?

I read 'love in the time of global warming,' 'the island of excess love' and 'the art of starving' all in two nights. 'The art of starving' I literally could not put down.

24. Any DNFs?

I got about 1/4 through 'the bedlam stacks' by natasha pulley before I decided it was boring, but I want to go back to it. I started 'gods behaving badly' by marie philips but I really didnt like it.

25. What are your reading goals for next year?

I havent 100% decided yet, but I think I want to just continue doing what I did this year: trying to read as much queer lit as possible. I'm really proud of what I read this year (85% queer) and maybe I can do better next year... although I do want to take the time to reread all the books I've really liked.