shrouded skeleton statue

Daryl M.

Librarian


Posts by Daryl M.

  • Collage of favorite books

    My Favorite Books of 2023

    Season’s Readings everyone! As is generally true, there have been some marvelous books published in 2023, and I’m thrilled to share my favorites with you. As I’ve done the last few years, I’ve listed…

  • Author Delilah S. Dawson and her latest novel, Midnight at the Houdini

    Interview With an Author: Delilah S. Dawson

    Delilah S. Dawson is the New York Times bestselling writer of Star Wars: Phasma, Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, The Disney Mirrorverse: Pure of Heart, Bloom, The…

  • Author Daniel Sweren-Becker and his latest novel, Kill Show: A True Crime Novel

    Interview With an Author: Daniel Sweren-Becker

    Daniel Sweren-Becker is an author, television writer, and playwright living in Los Angeles. His play Stress Positions premiered in New York City at the SoHo Playhouse. He grew up in Manhattan. He is…

  • Author Connie Willis and her latest novel, The Road to Roswell

    Interview With an Author: Connie Willis

    Connie Willis is a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and a Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She has received seven Nebula awards and eleven Hugo awards for…

  • Author Lina Rather and her newest book, A Season of Monstrous Conceptions

    Interview With an Author: Lina Rather

    Lina Rather is a speculative fiction author and graduate student living in Central New York. Her short fiction has appeared in venues including Lightspeed, Podcastle, and Shimmer. Her Tordotcom…

  • Author Hajar Yazdiha and her book, The Struggle for the People’s King

    Interview With an Author: Hajar Yazdiha

    Hajar Yazdiha's an Assistant Professor of Sociology, a faculty affiliate of the Equity Research Institute, and a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2023-2025). Dr. Yazdiha received her Ph.D. in Sociology…

  • Author Dr. Kathryn Harkup and her latest book, The Secret Lives of Molecules

    Interview With an Author: Dr. Kathryn Harkup

    Dr. Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist and author. She completed a doctorate on her favourite chemicals, phosphines, and went on to further postdoctoral research before realising that talking, writing…

  • Author S.L. Coney and her debut novel Wild Spaces

    Interview With an Author: S.L. Coney

    S. L. Coney obtained a master's degree in clinical psychology before abandoning academia to pursue a writing career. The author has ties to South Carolina and roots in St. Louis. Coney’s work has…

  • Author Fulton Ross and his debut novel, The Unforgiven Dead

    Interview With an Author: Fulton Ross

    Fulton Ross is a writer and journalist from the Scottish Highlands. A graduate of Scottish literature and history from Glasgow University, he has worked on national newspapers for more than a decade…

  • Author Timothy Janovsky and his latest novel, New Adult

    Interview With an Author: Timothy Janovsky

    Timothy Janovsky is a queer, multidisciplinary storyteller from New Jersey. He holds a degree in theatre and dance from Muhlenberg College. His work as a humor writer has been featured on Points in…


Reviews by Daryl M.

  • Cover image for Another Fine Mess

    Another Fine Mess

    The Evans Funeral Parlor has existed for almost as long as the Southeastern Texas town in which it's located. It is a generational business, overseen and passed down through the Evans women. There's Ducy, the family's current matriarch, who is the daughter of Pie, who mysteriously disappeared eighteen years ago...
  • Cover image for Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

    Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

    • By: Schwab, Victoria
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In 2020, V.E. Schwab introduced readers to Addie LaRue, a young woman who makes a Faustian bargain to avoid an unwanted marriage in early 18th-century France. In The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Schwab follows Addie through the centuries as Addie, through her own cunning and strength of will, molds...
  • Cover image for Good Dirt

    Good Dirt

    • By: Wilkerson, Charmaine
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    When Ebony "Ebby" Freeman was ten years old, she was the sole witness of a botched home invasion robbery that resulted in the shooting death of her fifteen-year-old brother, Baz, and the destruction of a priceless family heirloom. The fact that Ebby is the daughter of a prominent Black family...
  • Cover image for But Not Too Bold

    But Not Too Bold

    Dália's life changed the morning the maid found the typewritten note that said: "HIRE A NEW KEEPER OF THE KEYS; URGENT; BEFORE DAWN" Everyone in Capricious House knew what the note meant and who had written it. Its author was the Lady of Capricious House, Lady Anatema, a gargantuan spider/human...
  • Cover image for The Murder of Mr. Ma

    The Murder of Mr. Ma

    • By: Nee, John Shen Yen, Rozan, SJ
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    In 1924 London, Lao She, a shy young academic, is summoned to the home of mathematician Bertrand Russell. When he arrives, Russell explains that a friend and colleague, Judge Dee Ren Jie, has been mistakenly arrested with a group of Chinese agitators. Russell is afraid that if Dee’s identity is...
  • Cover image for The Lost Story

    The Lost Story

    • By: Shaffer, Meg
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    Fifteen years ago, Jeremy and Ralph disappeared while on an end of the school year field trip to Red Crow State Forest in West Virginia. One moment, they were there, and then they were gone. The forest was repeatedly searched, but no signs of the boys were ever found. And...
  • Cover image for Arthur and Teddy are Coming Out

    Arthur and Teddy are Coming Out

    Arthur Edwards has lived his entire life in the small town of Northbridge in northern England. He grew up there. And he met and married his wife, Madeleine, in Northbridge. Northbridge is where Madeleine and he raised their two children, Elizabeth and Patrick. As with most small towns, regardless of...
  • Cover image for Star Struck

    Star Struck

    • By: McCown, Marjorie
    • Reviewed By: Daryl M.
    When readers left Joey Jessup at the end of Marjorie McCown’s Final Cut, she had discovered the identity of the murderer who had killed Assistant Director Courtney Lisle on the set of a big-budget superhero movie. She had survived an attempt on her own life when the murderer had set...