Publisher: Bindery Books

A love child between the Disney Channel’s Descendants franchise and Universal’s Dark Universe, Susan J. Morris’s paranormal urban fantasy novel revolving around a serial murder mystery. Featuring great atmosphere, a twisty investigation and all the aesthetics of the Gaslamp fantasy sub-genre, this book has a lot of compelling concepts matched with feminist themes given women’s restricted roles of the period. Though I found the book’s story to notably lag from its middle section onward and its ending leaving much to be desired, Strange Beasts is still a fun read, popcorn entertainment read. Whether it be a coincidence of the books I’ve been finding or a burgeoning trend, fantasy and science fiction flavored murder mystery investigations have become one of my favorite sub-genres lately and Strange Beasts more than fits the bill. The book serves as the start of Morris’s Harker & Moriarty series with long-running plotlines in addition to having its own self-contained murder mystery case set in early 20th century Paris. The book juggles two different storylines, one being the mysterious beastly murders of wealthy and powerful Parisian men and the other being Sam’s volatile channeling powers adjacent to Hel’s dysfunctional relationship with her father James Moriarty. The second…

A futuristic scifi, techno hacker speculative fiction, and queer retelling of the Great Gatsby is a concept I never would’ve considered and one that made me do a double take, but in Jay Gatsby’s own words per K.M. Fajardo’s author’s note, “why not”? Fajardo’s debut novel Local Heavens is a brilliantly crafted book that not only is wildly creative but is also a faithfully adapted love letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original story. Modernized for the 21st century with a crazy genre-shift, this interpretation smartly capitalizes on all the best aspects of a retelling without being hindered by the typical drawbacks through careful artistic choices. Featuring beautifully poignant writing, excellent characterizations, and original storylines that work seamlessly with the original framework of events, Local Heavens is an amazing and unique read for both fans of the original book and new ones alike. “Though in this disquiet summer, a summer that pushed us forward into hedonistic apathy, Gatsby was the singular exception, flying over the dust and toils of our world on fire. Beyond that famous, corrupted name, he clung to a vestige of that old cosmic hope I’d readily believed did not exist anymore, his indestructible sincerity blossoming like an…