What are you reading in 2026?

[billd91]

I just finished Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions. Its influence on elements of early D&D is pretty clear.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Recently zipped through Marjane Satrapi's Chicken with Plums. Excellent storytelling. The final image is a repeat of an earlier image, but also not - and the differences are so clear once you get to the end. Also a nice low key view of the Iranian diaspora perspective re: US. Not preachy, just real.

Highly recommended.
Got it at a Goodwill outlet for maybe $.50.

Chicken with Plums - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Parmandur]

I just finished Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions. Its influence on elements of early D&D is pretty clear.

Specifically, very much so, but also generally other Anderson work is also pretty clearly something everyone in the early RPG scene was reading in the 70s/80s. Underrated influence.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I just finished Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions. Its influence on elements of early D&D is pretty clear.

There are better Appendix N novels, better Poul Anderson novels (The Broken Sword, in my opinion), but pound-for-pound in its direct influences on D&D, there are few greater than Three Hearts and Three Lions.

 

[jian]

Read Wolf Worm by T Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) which is in her usual recent line of macabre Gothic horror, and it's as good as you'd expect. The main character is a scientific illustrator who's employed to draw insects by an unpleasant entomologist in North Carolina in the 19th century; the title refers to a local botfly which lays its eggs in mammals and forms parasitic growths. If you find insects and parasites particularly repellent, you might want to approach this book with caution or steer clear.

 

[prabe]

Read Wolf Worm by T Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) which is in her usual recent line of macabre Gothic horror, and it's as good as you'd expect. The main character is a scientific illustrator who's employed to draw insects by an unpleasant entomologist in North Carolina in the 19th century; the title refers to a local botfly which lays its eggs in mammals and forms parasitic growths. If you find insects and parasites particularly repellent, you might want to approach this book with caution or steer clear.

I see T Kingfisher mentioned enough--and on library and bookstore shelves enough--that I remember which book of hers I read and found laughably bad, so I could ask if it was some nadir in her writing. Alas, I do not remember the title.

 

[jian]

I see T Kingfisher mentioned enough--and on library and bookstore shelves enough--that I remember which book of hers I read and found laughably bad, so I could ask if it was some nadir in her writing. Alas, I do not remember the title.

I guess it depends what you don't like? I think her worst book is Black Dogs, which is also one of her earliest - it's just generic fantasy, honestly.

Her books can be split into ones for kids (Harriet the Hamster Princess, Dragonbreath etc, but also some fine one-offs such as Summer in Orcus and A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking) and those not for children (fairytale books, fantasy books, romances, and Gothic horror). The first lot are under Ursula Vernon, the latter under T Kingfisher, generally. I like them all, more or less, but some more than others.

 

[prabe]

I guess it depends what you don't like? I think her worst book is Black Dogs, which is also one of her earliest - it's just generic fantasy, honestly.

Her books can be split into ones for kids (Harriet the Hamster Princess, Dragonbreath etc, but also some fine one-offs such as Summer in Orcus and A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking) and those not for children (fairytale books, fantasy books, romances, and Gothic horror). The first lot are under Ursula Vernon, the latter under T Kingfisher, generally. I like them all, more or less, but some more than others.

It was something set in the present-day Appalachians, and I just could not get past the way the main character's mobile phone just conveniently kept implausibly not working, though I don't remember the rest of it being particularly good. It was definitely under the T Kingfisher name.

Then again, I had a really hard time getting through Mister Magic by Kiersen White (author of Lucy Undying), though the payoff at the ending was at least almost worth the really pretty bad middle; and I found House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias to be borderline unreadable (though that was leaning on a couple of things I'm just tired of at the moment). I loved King Sorrow just about everything I've read by Christina Henry, and the recent things I've read by Stephen Graham Jones, so I don't think it's not liking new horror.

 

[jian]

It was something set in the present-day Appalachians, and I just could not get past the way the main character's mobile phone just conveniently kept implausibly not working, though I don't remember the rest of it being particularly good. It was definitely under the T Kingfisher name.

Then again, I had a really hard time getting through Mister Magic by Kiersen White (author of Lucy Undying), though the payoff at the ending was at least almost worth the really pretty bad middle; and I found House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias to be borderline unreadable (though that was leaning on a couple of things I'm just tired of at the moment). I loved King Sorrow just about everything I've read by Christina Henry, and the recent things I've read by Stephen Graham Jones, so I don't think it's not liking new horror.

Ah, she hasn’t written many in a modern setting and she’s probably weakest there, honestly: 19th century works well for her. Was it The Twisted Ones? That was her first foray into horror, I think, and it’s a bit uneven but I liked it well enough.

 

[prabe]

Ah, she hasn’t written many in a modern setting and she’s probably weakest there, honestly: 19th century works well for her. Was it The Twisted Ones? That was her first foray into horror, I think, and it’s a bit uneven but I liked it well enough.

I'm getting a vaguely bell-like ringing sound in response to the character named "Mouse," but the thumbnail summaries I'm seeing don't seem quite right. Knowing that she's weakest in modern settings tells me whatever I read probably wasn't near her best--on the other hand, it's the horror setting I pretty-strongly prefer (which probably says something about The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which I fricking adored) so I can maybe continue to leave her to those who greatly enjoy her.

EDIT: Thanks for trying to help me figure that out.