I recently moved homes in the suburbs of Vancouver, which left me wishing I could trade my body in for something better. This somehow got reflected in my reading choices this month, which were all lovable monsters and suburban nightmares. Or maybe it’s just the times….

Fiction

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

How to describe Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell? Weird horror meets romantasy meets queer love coming of age story meets… well, you get the idea.

There’s a lot going on in the tale of Shesheshen, a shapeshifting monster (think gelatinous cube with bodily agency) who’s being hunted by a family of monster hunters and their minions. There’s a romantasy plot where Shesheshen falls in love with one of the humans but doesn’t quite know how to get around the part where she’s a monster that just wants to lay her eggs in someone. There’s a queer love story, complicated by the whole eggs business and a dash of asexuality. There’s a neurodivergence angle where Shesheshen desperately tries to make sense of the quirks of human society (think Murderbot or even Frankenstein’s creature). There’s enough trauma and abuse from parents to fill an entire YA series. Mix them all up and you have a fun and genuinely unique tale that will have you yearning for a sequel.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/182506390-someone-you-can-build-a-nest-in

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik promises to be a reimagining of the Rumplestilskin myth, but it is so much more than that. Set in a vaguely eastern European land at the edge of woods where the mythical and murderous Staryk race dwell, the tale mainly follows three women: Miryem, the daughter of an inept moneylender; Wanda, a peasant girl from a sundered and violent family; and Irina, a noblewoman’s daughter who may hold the key to uniting several realms. It’s a cold, bitter world where treachery and death wait behind every tree and in every home, but these women are determined to rewrite the narratives that have already been foretold for their lives.

Spinning Silver has all the classic elements of a fairy tale — a love story with a brooding king, shapeshifting monsters, a land that is harsh and without mercy — retold for modern audiences. It’s a tale not just of fantastic creatures but also of unyielding defiance in the face of mundane oppression. It’s also a masterclass in storytelling, with its multiple POVs, interweaving narrative threads and deep knowledge of fairy tales and myth.

A word of caution, though: Spinning Silver is a dense and very layered book, so read it when you have the time to give it the attention it deserves.

Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36896898-spinning-silver

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Lost You Again by Ian Rogers

A creepy ghost story with a twist, and then another twist, and another. A truly haunting tale from one of Canada’s finest horror writers.

Link: https://www.thedarkmagazine.com/lost-you-again/

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Employee of the Month by Alex Irvine

Government employees in a Michigan industrial park try to reconcile their suburban lives with their professional careers as interrogators and torturers. But the lines between the two become increasingly blurred and soon bodies start showing up in the wrong places.

Link: https://www.bourbonpenn.com/issue/36/employee-of-the-month-by-alex-irvine

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Foreign Tongues by John Wiswell

An alien believes ice cream is the highest form of life on Earth and is determined to free it from its human wardens. Butterscotch mayhem ensues.

Link: https://www.flashfictiononline.com/article/foreign-tongues/

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Non-fiction

What if Tom Bombadil had written The Lord of the Rings? by Thomas Wharton

“This was Middle-earth with nobody in it! No Men, no Ringwraiths, no Elves or Dwarves or Orcs, no conflicts or battles or rousing speeches or hobbity wisecracking or escapes in the nick of time. This was just nature. Growth, decay, wind and rain. The Sun rising and going down. The moon coming out. An eagle soaring in the sky. The rivers flowing and the trees swaying in the night. An eerie, wild strain of Illuvatar’s great music of creation.”

Thomas Wharton revisits Lord of the Rings with an eye toward the nature rather than the quest.

Link: https://thomaswharton.substack.com/p/what-if-tom-bombadil-had-written

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Why You Can’t Finish Writing That Novel by Thomas Wharton

Are you a writer who needs an outline to figure out the tale before you’ve started? Or do you write to actually figure out the tale? I’m a little of both myself.

Link: https://thomaswharton.substack.com/p/why-you-cant-finish-writing-that

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What good is making art at all when the world is on fire? by Paul Vermeersch

“Art makes nothing unthinkable.”

Link: https://theampersandreview.ca/new-page-82

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It’s the Natural Thing to Do: A Conversation with Stuart Ross

A great interview with Canadian icon Stuart Ross (also one of my favourite writers!).

Link: https://theampersandreview.ca/new-page-26

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Poetry

Turn of the Page by George Murray

If you want to feel old and wise (or maybe just old or wise), here’s a poem for you.

Link: https://www.badlilies.uk/george-murray