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The cacophony seemed like it would be overwhelming to me at first, but when you actually played it all at once I was genuinely reminded of some music I put on to focus (Fantomas and Frank Zappa in particular). While I don't get my noise from multiple sources at once, I totally relate to how the amount and complexity of sound helps you feel calm and focused--- for me, I describe it as complex enough to keep the bored half of my brain busy so my focused half wouldn't be pestered while doing its job lol. I remember feeling baffled by my own brain once because I realized I had unironically been *gleefully* getting work done and being so productive, and it was because I had construction noises on! It can feel goofy but it works and that's what's important; I'm glad you've found what works for you

Amazing list! If you’re into hidden gems, CronoRevolution is another one to add. The world-building is insane! 🚀📖

"Let's call her Violet" if this was intentional - the SHADE 😂

I completed reading both the published volumes of Tales of Tremaine in August. Such a wonderful interview. The questions asked, the way you let the author speak and expand upon their thoughts - it was so good. Thank you. 🙏🏽

SJM blurbed The Bone Shard Daughter. This is just a carry over. It's the same blurb, but shortened. It's not necessarily about The Gods Below. It's just about Andrea Stewart's writing in general.

Another one that surprised me (I didn't even realize the Arthurian connection until I was 75% done with the book) was A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal. It fits into the gender bent, Arthurian-inspired category. Ooh, and another good kids series is the Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, which was one of my favs growing up.

hi juli caro

I'm OBSESSED with that D20 necklace! Happy end of birthday month!

I'm OBSESSED with that D20 necklace! Happy end of birthday month!

I'm OBSESSED with that D20 necklace! Happy end of birthday month!

Did the kitty open the drawer I must know

I probably will have just finished Between Dragons & Their Wrath by September, just came today and I'm on chapter 3. Dungeon Crawler Carl will probably be my first book in September though I'm kinda reading Leviathan Wakes too. Warlords of the Wyrdwood is out soon too and A Tide of Black Steel. I liked Daughter's War but I did kinda miss Kinch's POV and Buehlman's Irish narration.

This is a great video. As someone who has been into ‘The New Weird’ for around 20 years, and who was a huge Lovecraft fan before that (and a proud collector of Cthulhu figurines) I enjoyed hearing your take on all this weirdness. Always good to see the big names mentioned, but also some new ones to me, so thank you for that. I have a few thoughts to share on two of the big names, and then some ‘book recs’ for you in case you’ve missed them. (You quoted from the Vandermeers’ collection ‘The New Weird’ so it’s likely you’ve followed many of the same rabbit holes I did, but you never know.) China Mieville. You mention ‘Perdido Street Station’ but also say you don’t own any Mieville, although that doesn’t necessarily mean you haven’t read any. But if you haven’t… Yikes! I hate when people say “Oh, you have GOT to read x”, so I won’t do that, but I will say that ‘Perdido’ remains my favourite book of all time, in any genre. That and the other two ‘Bas-Lag’ books - ‘The Scar’ and ‘Iron Council’ - are phenomenal. Mieville is a powerhouse of intellect and imagination. He became my favourite author and I loved everything he wrote over the next few years, but then he kinda got swept into a literary snobhole (yes, I just made that word up) which was very disappointing, and I could not click with ‘This Census-Taker’ or ‘The Last Days of New Paris’. I’m about to start reading his latest book, a collaboration with Keanu Reeves, if you can believe that. I’m going in with low expectations, but… fingers crossed. Jeff Vandermeer. You clearly have a lot of love for ol’ Vandy, as do I, but there’s no mention in the video of his early work, particularly the ‘Ambergris’ books, so you may not have got round to them. ‘City of Saints and Madmen’ is an experience, and ‘Shriek’ and ‘Finch’ are great. These books do for fungi what Lovecraft did for tentacles. I also loved ‘Veniss Underground’. And I don’t know if you’ve spotted this, but there’s a fourth ‘Southern Reach’ book on the way in October. Some book/author recommendations, starting with more Jeffs (what is it with that name and weirdness?), all either weird or ‘weird-adjacent’, whatever those terms mean… Jeffrey Ford: ‘The Physiognomy’, ‘Memoranda’ and ‘The Beyond’ (a series) to start with, but there’s plenty more if you enjoy those. Jeff Noon: ‘Vurt’ and ‘Pollen’ (And, quite frankly, any of his earlier work. He lost me a bit with his ‘Nyquist’ books, but he remains a great writer with a very playful approach to language, and his latest book ‘Gogmagog’ was a return to form for my tastes.) Jeffrey Thomas: Any and all of his ‘Punktown’ stuff, from the novels ‘Deadstock’ and ‘Blue War’ to all the story collections. He’s built a great weird world of his own here, although with very explicit nods to Lovecraft and my boy Cthulhu. K.J. Bishop: ‘The Etched City’. Michael Cisco: ‘The San Venificio Canon’. Karin Tidbeck: ‘Jagannath’. Nick Harkaway: ‘The Gone-Away World’. Paolo Bacigalupi: ‘The Windup Girl’. Lucius Shepard: Anything he’s written, really, but his ‘Dragon Griaule’ stuff is fascinating. I shall stfu now. 😊

So how does weird fiction compare to bizzaro fiction?

Mine calls herself “Sassy Jar”

I liked all 3 of the povs in first Sister equally 😊

That's a pretty good painting.

Tbr Tbr tbr 🎉🎉

I'm reading Wil McCarthy's The Collapsium. It's technical and nuts.

Romantasci.

A book you compare to Over The Garden Wall? One of my favorite animated shows of all time? Say no more. Where can I throw my money?!

Awesome video! Would you like a female-authored ARC sent to you? It comes out in September and is currently a “Reader Recommended” title on NetGalley. I’d be delighted to send you a paperback if you let me know how. 🙂💖

INDIES🎉🎉🎉

Fire! lol Hope you like it.

Thank you so much, Julia you're amazing lol 🎉

🎉🎉🎉

Happy Belated Birthday, Julia!

Why do people not like Untethered Sky?!?! I absolutely adored it, it was so brilliant. I sobbed too.

Make more videos about cozy sci-fi!!!!

The Five Queendom series sounds similar to The Women's War series by Jenna Glass, which i absolutely loved, and i think it fits the sweeping epic theme (but also includes badass women). Definitely gonna pick up Scorpica!

Great vid as always, and cheers for the shout! I CANNOT wait for Fury of the Gods!

Windows in books are called "stepback"

One of your Insta reels showing off Heaven Breaker convinced me to buy and read it and I ended up LOVING IT. The romance plot wasn't overpowering (which I appreciated) and the book has big Evangelion vibes.

wow my quality really is unbelievably bad. do i need to buy a camera???

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes some pretty good sci-fi (and fantasy). Dogs of War is a solid cyberpunk story. Cage of Souls and Alien Clay are very good. Recently read Service Model which I think of as if Douglas Adams wrote I, Robot. Jeremy Szal's The Common series deserves more recognition. Just two books out so far, Stormblood and Blindspace, Wolfskin (book 3) out next year (??). Investigative/military sci-fi. Kinda Mass Effect meets Babylon 5 meets The Expanse

I’ve read every single one of these and you’re stupid.

I have an extremely long text rant to a friend (who doesn't even read) about my frustration with how "fae" are currently written (they're just elves. they're just stripped down, mean elves). So glad to finally see someone else be frustrated about this!

Hi how's it all going ? ☺️

Anyone who hates His Dark Materials is drunk. 😂 I think most people saw the bad movie and wrote it off.

Great video. I appreciate you both for not saying any spoilers. I still need to read The Stormlight Archives. 😅 Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee should absolutely be rated higher. That's a great novella.

A lil baby reader! I love how Jones was just done with you two filming.

You've got this! I believe in you! Smash those books

thank you :)

I was a bit underwhelmed by The Blacktongue Thief myself. But I'm glad you liked it. The Laird Hunt book sounds like it'll really tickle my pickle, so I'll adding that to the list. I am starting out August with Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke and Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James. Looking forward to them both. I'm also hoping to catch up on some comics I've been wanting to read this year. Sounds like you're going to be busy though, I wish you luck.

About the armored Saint in particular abd Myke Cole. I read the first two and then all of the allegations of his degenerate behavior towards women came out and I couldn't support him anymore. It's amazing to me he survived that scandal

Hi there! I would love it if you checked out my book. Called Forever & Always by Cristian Carrington. Not sure how to share links on youtube lol. I Send a follow on your goodreads page.

You were all nervous about interviewing, but look at you! You're a natural!

Check out Ryan Cahill's The Bound and the Broken series. Big chunky dragon rider epic books and they keep getting bigger. He's one of the biggest indie authors and I've a feeling a publisher would snap him up if he wanted.

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