shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Book covers of favorite books

    My Favorite Books of 2024

    Season’s Readings, everyone! As is generally true, there have been some marvelous books published in 2024, and I’m thrilled to share my favorites with you. I’ve listed these books in alphabetical…

  • Genoveva Dimova and her 2 book covers

    Interview With an Author: Genoveva Dimova

    Genoveva Dimova is a fantasy author and archaeologist. Originally from Bulgaria, she now lives in Scotland with her partner and a small army of houseplants. She believes in writing what you know, so…

  • Michelle Chouinard and her book

    Interview With an Author: Michelle Chouinard

    Michelle Chouinard has written eight previous USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling mysteries under a different name. She has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Stanford University and was…

  • Author Alex Segura and his book Alter Ego

    Interview With an Author: Alex Segura

    Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller and a New York Times Editor’s Choice and an NPR Best Mystery…

  • Author Marjorie McCown and her latest novel, Star Struck

    Interview With an Author: Marjorie McCown

    Marjorie McCown has spent her entire professional life in the story-telling business, though she started out on the visual side of the craft. She spent more than twenty-five years in Hollywood working…

  • Author Emily C. Hughes and her first book, Horror For Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch

    Interview With an Author: Emily C. Hughes

    Emily C. Hughes (she/her) wants to scare you. Formerly the editor of Unbound Worlds and TorNightfire.com, she writes about horror and curates a list of the year's new scary books. You can find her…

  • Author Tim Major and his latest novel, Jekyll & Hyde: Consulting Detectives

    Interview With an Author: Tim Major

    Tim Major is a writer and freelance editor from York, UK. His books include Snakeskins, Hope Island, three Sherlock Holmes novels, short story collection And the House Lights Dim and a monograph about…

  • Author Joe R. Lansdale and his latest short story collection, In the Mad Mountains

    Interview With an Author: Joe R. Lansdale

    Internationally bestselling author Joe R. Lansdale has received the Edgar, Raymond Chandler, Bram Stoker, British Fantasy, and Inkpot Awards. His work includes mysteries, Westerns, horror, thrillers…

  • Author Tod Goldberg and his latest anthology, Eight Very Bad Nights

    Interview With an Author: Tod Goldberg

    Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the award-winning Gangsterland trilogy and Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His…

  • Author M. L. Rio and her first novella, Graveyard Shift

    Interview With an Author: M. L. Rio

    M. L. Rio holds an MA in Shakespeare studies from King’s College London and Shakespeare’s Globe and a PhD in English from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her bestselling first novel If We…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for A Season of Monstrous Conceptions

    A Season of Monstrous Conceptions

    • By: Rather, Lina
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Sarah has always known she is different. Her parents never missed an opportunity to remind her. They never faltered in telling her how she was one of the children being born in England who were monstrous, with claws, too many eyes, or mouths, or with fur, tales, or scales, or...
  • Cover image for Mister Magic : a novel

    Mister Magic : a novel

    • By: White, Kiersten
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Val has lived on the ranch for as long as she can remember. In fact, she has no memories of when she wasn’t living here, in rural Idaho, with her father. She teaches riding to the locals, but rarely leaves beyond supply runs to a local town. Her entire life...
  • Cover image for The circumference of the world

    The circumference of the world

    • By: Tidhar, Lavie
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    A mathematician, a rare book dealer, and a gangster search for a rare science fiction paperback named Lode Stars. They each have their reasons (some bordering on obsession) and their searches will cause their paths to cross, alter their destinies, and, quite possibly, transform our understanding of reality.  In his latest...
  • Cover image for I'll stop the world : a novel

    I'll stop the world : a novel

    • By: Thoman, Lauren
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Time travel is a staple of fiction. For well over a century writers have imagined different ways to propel their protagonists backwards and forwards through time. Sometimes they are merely observers, allowing the author to speculate on past motivations or future developments. But just as often, the protagonist is sent...
  • Cover image for Camp Damascus

    Camp Damascus

    • By: Tingle, Chuck
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Rose Darling is a high school senior who has lived her entire life in the small town of Neverton, Montana. She’s also grown up attending Kingdom of the Pine church with her parents. Kingdom of the Pine is a smaller church, compared to some others, but it has an international...
  • Cover image for The Legend of Charlie Fish

    The Legend of Charlie Fish

    • By: Rountree, Josh
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Floyd Betts is a bit of a loner. He lives a solitary existence in Galveston, Texas. He works construction on local building projects and rents a room at Abigail Elder’s boarding house. It’s a quiet life, and Floyd likes it. But all of that is about to change.When Floyd returns...
  • Cover image for The London Séance Society

    The London Séance Society

    • By: Penner, Sarah
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Lenna Wickes, and her younger sister Evie, are very different people. Lenna is interested in the world and how it works. She has an interest in science, even though she knows that a young lady in Victorian London is not supposed to be interested in such things. Evie, on the...
  • Cover image for The celebrants : a novel

    The celebrants : a novel

    • By: Rowley, Steven, 1971-
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Two weeks before their college graduation, a group of friends, who have become family during their college experience, must attend the funeral of one of their own. Alec has died of an apparent drug overdose and it shakes them all, Craig, Jordan, Jordy, Marielle, and Naomi, to their cores. Alec’s...
  • Cover image for Final Cut

    Final Cut

    • By: McCown, Marjorie
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Joey Jessup is very good at her job. And it is a job that she really enjoys. Joey is a key costumer and over her career she has worked on almost every type of film, with a number of A-list actors and directors, along with some of the most talented...
  • Cover image for The Wishing Game

    The Wishing Game

    • By: Shaffer, Meg
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    How many of us have books, or series of books, that provided an escape for us as children and, because of that, we continue to love them as adults? How many of us longed to receive an owl-delivered letter from Hogwarts; find a secret entrance at the back of the...