Macro Monday Does The Technicolor Yawn

OH BOY WHAT FUN I HAD THIS WEEKEND where I was like, “Hey, what should I do first? Should I vomit profusely, or should I defecate uncontrollably? Ha ha, I’m greedy, why not both at the same time.” Some sort of stomach bug food poisoning thing hit our house — me and my son, my wife thankfully escaping the madness, at least directly — and left us all gutted husks of ourselves sitting around, trying not to move, and mainlining every comfort food episode of We Bare Bears that television could offer.

It was decidedly not awesome.

It also explains why I was not in Seattle at ALA Midwinter this week, and apologies for that — I have nothing but great love for libraries and librarians, Ye Mighty Public Service Bibliomancers, and I was legit bummed not to get to hang with some proper librarians to pitch Wanderers. But also be glad I wasn’t there to spread whatever it was I had! THAT’S HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU.

I’m back now, err, at least operating at around 60%, so here we are, with the Monday news.

Black birds, circling. That’s right, the sixth and final Miriam Black book, Vultures, has landed. With it have come some very nice reviews!

Barnes & Noble SFF blog calls it “one last, wild ride” and says of the book:

“Miriam’s final ride is as blisteringly paced as anything Wendig has written, managing to expand our understanding of Miriam and her unwanted abilities even as it yanks the narrative over the finish line, dragging sparks.”

And Tor.com calls it a “perfect end” to Miriam’s story, saying:

“It’s sprawling, wandering, violent, endearing, cruel, determined, romantic, and terrifying. It is all of Miriam’s contradictions and conflicts and controversies all bundled up into 400 pages of frantic action, knife-sharp plotting, and killer dialogue. I’m sad to see this series end, but what a way to go out. It’s going to be a long time before I stop thinking about Miriam Black. A long fucking time.”

You can of course nab the book now in print, eBook [Amazon | Kobo | B&N | iBooks], or audio. And you can sashay your booty over to a place like Amazon or Goodreads to leave a review, if so inclined. For those folks waiting for a series to be complete before beginning? The series is complete, and the order of novels is as follows:

1. Blackbirds

2. Mockingbird

3. The Cormorant

4. Thunderbird

5. The Raptor & The Wren

6. Vultures.

There exist two novellas, as well — Interlude: Swallow takes place between book 3 and 4 and shows up in the Three Slices collection, and Interlude: The Tanager takes place between 5 and 6. Speaking of Interlude: Tanager…

“Sweet Bee Vomit!” is the exclamation all the cool kids are using. The second Miriam novella isn’t actually a Miriam novella, but rather, is about the character Wren from the series — in particular, it’s about her going up against some psychic-powered slasher-killers in the Midwest, and it takes place between TR&TW and Vultures. Subterranean Press has a limited print edition, and I’m told it’s close to sold out — so check it out, willya?

Who run Blurbertown? I noted that I am sitting on a very fortunate pile of kind words regarding Wanderers, and though we haven’t formally begun to share most of those, I’ll note that one sentence from Rin Chupeco stood out, and I’m really quite in love with this. Of the book, she said: “If you ever wanted to know what America’s soul might look like, here’s is its biography.” And I thought, oh no, and I also thought, oh yes, and I’m really excited by that. My favorite of her work is The Girl From The Well, so get on that if you haven’t read it.

Chuck Wendig, Apple Reviewer. Apparently my review of grocery store apples has made some newsy rounds, so… y… yay? Yay. Maybe I’ll need to find something else to review. Like more apples. Different apples. Or bees. I could fancy myself a professional bee reviewer. You don’t know.

The Ragnarok of Ragnatalk. It’s true. It’s over! It’s finally, finally done. Anthony and I did it — we completed the circuit and finished our prestige-format 10-minute-increment review of the movie Thor: Ragnarok which effectively ends our podcast. Except, will we truly be gone? Or will there be… something else to rise in its ashes? You must listen to learn.

And sweet bee vomit, I think that’s it.

Here, have a picture of a well-read apple.