C0smic Occurence

Novella Readathon #8: Party of Fools

When I saw that one of the bingo squares for this year’s bingo focused on food, I knew that I would be reading Party of Fools for this readathon. What a better choice for the Feast Your Eyes on This than a series called Empire of Eats? This book is marketed as a comedy, but come expecting silly rather than a full-on comedy. It had a surprising amount of anti-imperialist content than I was expecting. This is not a farce with food; it’s something more akin to how Discworld uses comedy to explore real issues – though stylistically the two are different styles of comedic fantasy. The blurb says ‘Make sure you have some good food on hand, because you’re bound to get hungry along the way‘ and truer words have never been written.

I came looking for a light read after Autobiography of Red, and I left with some of the most fun I’ve had in ages.

The Premise:
Reed and Gladys are retired from their day jobs. Now the Bard and Barbarian moonlight as members of the Resistance, which makes it quite the coincidence when the Immortal Emperor walks into the bar that Gladys’ son runs. Vallora is looking for a break from the life of nobility and to try good food, her chief guard Andromeda is frantically searching the city for her, and the two rebels see an opportunity to strike a blow against the empire. But first, we must eat!

Read If Looking For: charcuterie boards, autistic viewpoint characters, breezy prose, D&D misadventure vibes

Avoid If Looking For: books that demand attention to understand, trope-free stories, realistic dialogue

Novella Readathon #7: Autobiography of Red

Two weeks ago, if you asked me the novella I was most excited to read, I’d have responded Autobiography of Red. It’s got several ardent supporters whose taste I trust, it tackles an obscure figure from Greek mythology, a creature whom exists only for Herakles to kill, and it deals in thorny and tragic gay relationships. Unfortunately, what should have been catnip for me ended up as a frustrating reminder of why I tend to avoid Literature. While I’ve enjoyed several novellas with a more Literary bent (most recently On the Calculation of Volume), this one ended up feeling more like work than enjoyment. I do plan to eventually reread it, and I’m hopeful that I’ll get more out of it on a second look, because the bits I liked were really quite phenomenal.

The Premise:
While there are some introductory materials and extra bits, most of this story is the autobiography of Geryon: a boy and man in the mid-1900s who is red and has wings. This goes largely unremarked in the story. It traces his troubled childhood and teenage affair with Herakles, his listlessness in adult life, and a chance reunion with Herakles that is perhaps not everything Geryon wanted it to be. This is … a poor description, I will admit. I’m not sure how to give a better one though. Mostly it asks you to crawl inside Geyron’s head as he floats through different portions of his childhood and young adult life.

Read If Looking For: Literature with a capital L, tortured souls, photography motifs, blank verse, books that feel like Indie Films

Avoid If Looking For: straightforward narratives, clear happy endings, adventure and thrills, Romance beats

Novella Readathon #6: Making History

I’m not sure why I haven’t read any KJ Parker yet, despite feeling like I would absolutely adore his books. Certainly, the premises for his stories always seem riveting. There were three strong options for which Parker novella I’d read for this project. I’m very interested in both Pulling the Wings off Angels and Prosper’s Demon, both of which promised something dark and thorny to grapple with. I went with Making History for two reasons: I spent my childhood romping through the backrooms of museums, leaving me with a strong interest in historiography, and I heard the main character of this book was a linguist – another casual interest of mine. I don’t think Making History quite satisfied either of those briefs, at least not in any rigorous way. It was, however, great fun. For those who have read both this and some of Parker’s other work, I’d be interested in how it compares to his other stories.

The Premise:
Our (unnamed) main character is a linguist, one of the best in the world. This is unfortunate; it means that he gets drafted into the new king’s hairbrained scheme to create a fake ruin to justify the invasion of a neighboring territory. He doesn’t see many options once it becomes clear that running away isn’t an option, so he hunkers down and proceeds to try and backwards design a precursor to his country’s modern tongue. Should his work not be satisfactory, his head will roll, and he rather likes his head … and the sound of his own voice.

Read If Looking For: unreliable narrators, competence porn, readable prose, explicit musings on theme from the protagonist

Avoid If Looking For: airtight plots, conventional endings, developed side-characters

Comparable Media: A Conspiracy of Truths, The Bone Swans of Amandale

Novella Readathon #5: If Found Return to Hell

I didn’t know a ton about If Found Return to Hell coming into the first page, but I had assumed it would be a fairly standard horror story featuring a possession. Look at the cover! It’s actually a lot more like Penric’s Demon, though a bit goofier: this book is a big marshmallow with a gooey center. It finds a better balance in tone than a lot of cozy fantasy does, however, which made me like it a lot more than one of the many Legends and Lattes clones. However, I was kind of hoping this would be a nice accompaniment to The Haunting of Hill House, which my partner forced me to watch (though I’m now largely a fan). The second book of this readathon to underdeliver horror yet provide great cozy vibes, which is odd considering this is only the fifth book I’ve read for the challenge.

The Premise:
Wen works for One Wizard, a megacorporation to solve all of your wizarding needs! Unfortunately, they mostly answer phones, listen to complaints, and transfer customers to other departments. When a young man calls in with a massive sigil on his wall and no memories of what happens, Wen gets clearance to investigate. Soon, they end up playing host to a man possessed by a Prince of Hell, and Wen doesn’t know what to do about that.

Read If You Like: found family, late stage capitalism + magic, cozy fantasy that doesn’t overplay itself, developed platonic relationships

Avoid If You Dislike: second person narration, asshole parents, stories with relatively low stake

Comparable Media: House on the Cerulean Sea, Penric’s Demon

Novella Readathon #4: A Taste of Honey

There’s a special kind of magic when stories commit to telling the story of a person, following them throughout their lives. It was one of the reasons I enjoyed Sign of the Dragon so much last year! A Taste of Honey is a story that asks you to step back from your own life and settle into the skin of another. It asks you to reflect on your life, on your choices, and whether you can stand by the paths you chose not to take. It is a piece of unvarnished reality, even though it occurs in a setting somewhere between the Sparticus and The Expanse. It eschews grand epics in favor of the life of a man, and not a man who had a particularly large impact on his world. It also has cheetahs, and who doesn’t love a big cat?

Note: this is technically part 2 of a duology. My understanding is that both books share a world, but otherwise do not overlap terribly much. I’ve read the first book (several years ago), and didn’t see any connections; certainly my fuzzy memory about Sorcerer of the Wilddeeps was not a hindrance to enjoying this novella.

The Premise
Aqib is the son of The Master of Beasts, and has an affinity for working with animals. He has a chance encounter with a visiting soldier, whose nation’s gods are negotiating with Aqib’s nation’s gods. The two have an immediate spark, despite Aqib’s culture forbidding men from laying with other men. This story interweaves their ten day affair with the days, years, and decades that follow Aqib’s separation from Lucrio. Is the life Aqib gained, a wife and child and comfortable life amongst the high nobility, worth the loss of the love of his life?

Read If Looking For: the joy of young (and forbidden) love, the pride a parent feels in their child, second guessing the choices which form the fulcrum of your life

Avoid If Looking For: clear and conventional worldbuilding, invisible prose, Genre Romance

Comparable Media: Sign of the Dragon, Call me By Your Name, The Empress of Salt and Fortune

Novella Readathon #3: The Flesh of the Sea

The best book I read last year was How to Survive this Fairytale by SM Hallow. It was by a new indie publishing house, so I decided to pick up a few other of their titles. Unfortunately, Hedone Books has gone under, because I very much would have been interested in more of books they put out. Currently, you can only read The Flesh of the Sea via Audible; I was lucky enough to have purchased my physical copy before the publisher went under. This won’t be my favorite read of the year (or even this project), but it was very enjoyable. It’s a quick read – even in the context of novellas – and I think it would be a fairly good palette cleanser, especially when paired with other weird-nautical series like Tide child.

The Premise:
Wilford is a natural scientist who, after getting rejected by the Royal Society in London, ends up on a really weird pirate ship. He sends letters of his misadventures to a fellow naturalist, Jean Baptiste, whom he had been avoiding after a drunken kiss. On his travels, Wilford encounters all sorts of disturbing and disgusting creatures, befriends his crewmates, and generally tries to prove his worth to himself, Jean Baptiste, and the Society. Meanwhile, Jean Baptiste’s journal shows his life feels empty without Wilford in it, and he gets very upset about an overprotective pirate who has been making moves on Wilford.

Read If Looking For: weird travelogues, disaster academics, yearning and pining, epistolary novels, quirky pirate crews

Avoid If Looking For: intense horror and gore, bespoke prose, Romantasy

Comparable Media: Tide Child, Memoirs of Lady Trent, Someone to Build a Nest In

Novella Readathon #2: On the Calculation of Volume

I’m not a connoisseur of time travel stories, but On the Calculation of Volume is certainly unlike any other I’ve read, and I was impressed with how this story managed to be intense and restrained at the same time. The book isn’t going to be for everyone – a lot of genre fiction fans will bounce off this, I think – but for people who are interested in something more reflective, this is excellent.

The Premise:
Tara does not know why she has repeated the 18th of November a hundred times. There seems to be nothing remarkable about that day – the first one of course – or even the 17th of November. However, she finds herself in an endlessly looping day, with a husband who thinks she is on a trip to France for work. This is her journal, and Tara is not okay.

Read If You Like: psychologically intense stories, existential slice of life, clear and simple prose, literary science fiction

Avoid If You Dislike: books where ‘nothing happens’, inconsistent time travel mechanics, repetitive plot beats

Comparable Media: The Other Valley, Virginia Woolf’s writing, The Bone Harp

Novella Readathon #1: Penric’s Demon

I knew that I wanted to start my 31 Novellas in 31 Days Readathon with something that I was almost certain I’d love. Penric’s Demon was a great choice for that. I’ve liked Bujold’s work in the past, the novella has a sterling reputation, and possession is shaping up to be a running theme for some of my 2026 reads (I highly recommend Asunder and Striker V, was less enamored with Ninefox Gambit, and am probably going to read If Found, Return to Hell for this project). This novella is going to be a good fit for anyone interested in something relatively low key and character-focused. My only regret of reviewing this first is that I need to wait until the end of the month to read any more in the series, because I am chomping at the bit to follow these characters.

The Premise:
Penric is a minor lordling on the way to his own betrothal when he stumbles upon a dying woman. It turns out she was host to one of The Bastard’s demons, who jumped ship to Penric as her new host. Now he’s got the voices of the previous 10 hosts (12 if you count the lion and the sheep) in his head, magic powers he didn’t ask for, and a host of people jealous and scared of him. He really just wanted a quiet life, but at least the Demon (whom he names Desdemona) is nice. For her part, she’s just surprised that Penric is treating her with kindness and humanity, and quickly decides that she rather likes this poor oblivious young man.

Read If Looking for: friendly and oblivious doofuses stumbling into trouble, negotiating with ancient entities who are surprised at how chill you are, the goodness of humanity

Avoid If Looking for: satisfying plot arcs, malevolent spirits, energetic combat sequences

Comparable Media: The Goblin Emperor/Cemeteries of Amalo, Murderbot Diaries, The Dragon’s Banker

Japanese Gothic – Time Travel Behind the Sword Ferns

I knew very quickly that this was a new release I wanted to carve out time for. As much as I don’t love derivative naming conventions, I loved Mexican Gothic and had high hopes for Japanese Gothic. Ironically, they are very different types of Gothic fiction, and I don’t think this book references the style of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s at all. Considering this one is getting a good amount of buzz, I think you can expect to see more [Country] Gothic titles in the future. It’s a shame, because I think Japanese Gothic stands on its own two feet as a really delightful horror story, even if not every element worked for me.

The Premise:
Lee is a college student who fled to Japan after murdering his roommate. His father lives in an old Samurai house with a rotating cast of short-term Japanese girlfriends. Meanwhile, Sen is the son of a disgraced Samurai in the late 1800s, and she desperately wants to live the path of the warrior and live up to her father’s hopes. The world has moved past Samurai, however, and she knows her father’s living breath is a testament to his cowardice, which he takes out on Sen. These two protagonists discover that they can communicate through time. Lee hopes that Sen – obviously a ghost – can give him insight into how he can find the mother who was kidnapped when he was a child. Sen hopes to find details of her family’s fate, for she would do anything to protect them.

Read If You Like: paranormal time travel, historical settings, turtle myths, a creeping sense of unmooring from reality, psychological horror

Avoid If You Dislike: abusive families, unreliable narrators, dead animals, descriptions that feel claustrophobic

June Reading Wrap Up

We are at the halfway point through the year, which means I should have all sorts of fun statistics and lists for how things have been going so far. Unfortunately, scraping lead paint, a hail damaged roof, and helping run pride month festivities on r/fantasy has kept me very busy, to say nothing of the chaos of the last few weeks of school (we get out late in Minnesota!). I’m a little surprised at how much reading I got done this month, and a few books had me in a chokehold.

I don’t plan on slowing down at all in July. I actually plan on reading 31 novellas in 31 days! I’ve had a growing stack of novellas, and figured this would be a fun reading challenge to set for myself. Check in to see if I’m still kicking at the end of the month, because it’s going to be all gas no breaks for a while. I’ve got a pile of novellas stacked on my bookshelf, and they’ve been waiting patiently for me to sink my teeth into them.