Not to Miss FREE Readers' Advisory Training from Booklist

Please see below for a NOT TO MISS, completely FREE, 3 hour RA training event-- Readers' Advisory Ideas & Practice 2025. Robin and I were a part of the 2024 event, and I cannot say enough good things about how it went.

What I love about this day is that you can do it all live, do parts live and parts recorded, or do all recorded. It is up to you. I signed up the second I got the email so I can figure out out when we get to March 12th.

Also you can still watch last year's Readers' Advisory Ideas and Practice for free in the Booklist Webinar archives. And again, it is still FREE. Scroll back to March of 2024 and while you are scrolling, checkout all of the other great webinars you can watch. You will just need to enter some information and they will email you the link.

Back to this upcoming event, all the details are below. Click here to sign-up now or use the button at the end of the post.

Join us for this exciting workshop, Readers’ Advisory: Ideas & Practice 2025 Booklist is back with a new series of free readers' advisory workshops on Wednesday, March 12 starting at 11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. CT / 2 p.m. ET designed to keep you up to speed on both the ideas and practice that will enhance your RA game. Learn from experts in the field about how genres relate to each other, how to talk to patrons about their leisure reading, and how to write an effective book annotation. Participants should have an understanding of the basic readers’ advisory concepts of appeal elements (character, pace, storyline, tone, and writing style). Workshop Topics: The State of Genreblending in Adult & YA (11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET): Adult readers' advisory librarian Misha Stone (she/her) and Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic and High School librarian Alex Brown (they/them) will talk about trends in genreblends in adult and YA fiction and how to help readers find the perfect blend for their reading interests. Session Time: 55 minutes. Nonfiction Readers’ Advisory (12 p.m. PT / 3 p.m. ET): Programming and Outreach Specialist Stephanie Sendaula (she/her) and rural library director Allie Stevens Gosselink (she/her) will explore how accessibility, format variability, and high-interest subject matter create many opportunities to use nonfiction titles in leisure reading recommendations for adults and teens alike. Session Time: 50 minutes. Hot Tips for Hand-Selling (1 p.m. PT / 4 p.m. ET): Librarians and Booklist editors Heather Booth (she/her) and Susan Maguire (she/her) will show you how to build a book talk using clues from reviews. Session Time: 50 minutes. Register now! (One registration form required for all three sessions.) All sessions will be recorded and distributed to registrants after the live event. Sponsored by Penguin Random House and Crabtree Publishing. Can't make the date? Register for Booklist's upcoming webinars and we'll send you the archive after the event!

 

Wednesday March 12 11:00 AM Pacific 12:00 PM Mountain 1:00 PM Central 2:00 PM Eastern

Library Staff Are Not Superheroes: a Guest Post by Robin Bradford

Just before the new year, Robin and I were chatting and she sent me this text: "Can I come to a guest post on our blog that libraries are NOT heroes?!?." I immediately wrote back "YES," with the full knowledge that she was only half joking and the understanding that if I told her I wanted it, she would actually do it. 

And as you can see, I was correct. So I present, "Library Staff Are Not Superheroes" by Robin Bradford with a meme created by her as well. This post is important. Please read, but also pass on. It needs to spread further than RA and Collection Development circles. Thanks in advance from Robin and me.

Meme by Robin Bradford

Library staff are not superheroes. They’re not magical, or extraordinary, or phenomenal. It’s flattering to be thought of this way, to be sure. Who doesn’t want to be seen as fighting for truth, justice, and the American way? A book for every reader, and every reader its book! There are 2 problems with hanging this burden on library staff

First problem, library staff are not superhuman. They are people who work for money. Money that pays the rent or mortgage. It pays for the utilities, and food, and transportation. If they’re lucky it pays for holiday gifts, and childcare, and evenings out, and conferences, and (ironically) books, and other things that bring joy to everyday life. No one is getting rich off of library work, but, like any other full-time job, it should pay a living wage at every level. Library work is underpaid across the country, and probably beyond, and that isn’t helped by insinuating that library staff are working for things like “the love of the work” or that they are “superheroes.” It is possible that library staff DO love their work. Many do, but not all. But what they all want is to be paid a wage that supports their life. And that’s before we get into the security issues, or the mission expansion without the accompanying staff expansion. “Do more with less” has been a library motto for years, and eventually people burn out. Do you know why? Because they are not superheroes. Library staff often perform superhuman *feats* that don’t quite equate to the mother getting a surge of adrenaline to lift a car off her child, but even in urban legends, that mother lifts the car off her kid just the one time. It isn’t something she has to do every single day! And it’s only her own kid that gives her that boost of adrenaline, not every kid in the neighborhood. Library staff certainly aren’t the only group of workers who do work that is socially, but not monetarily, applauded. So let’s applaud by recognizing that the work they do is damn hard, as well as damn important, and they don’t have the benefit of superpowers to get them through the workweek. 

Second problem: not all library staff are created equal. Not all library staff believe in the intellectual freedom espoused by the profession. Not all library staff believe people should be able to see themselves on the shelves. Not all library staff believe in promoting books by authors, or featuring characters, that look, act, think, worship, or love differently than what the library staff member is familiar and/or comfortable with. You think this is inherent in the profession and it comes with the job, but it does not. There are plenty of library staff who would prefer to limit availability to some books. There may even be some joining or advising those groups you hear about so they know just how to go about making inroads in the community. There are library staff members who are removing books from certain sections of the library, or from the library altogether, because they are afraid of objections from community members. There are library staff members who are refusing to buy books uplifting marginalized communities at all. Library staff are not all the same. 

So painting us all with the broad superhero brush is flattering, but unhelpful because we need to be held to account. When libraries have books and/or programs that promote a diverse and progressive world, it can’t be written off as expected. It is, often, extraordinary. Send off a quick email to the library about how glad you are to see such books on the shelves and how you want more of it. Make a big deal out of it because it might, in fact, be a big deal! You never know the fight that had to happen for that book to be purchased or displayed. And if you are not seeing those things, send an email asking where they are. Let it be known that you expect the library to reflect the world and you notice how narrow the worldview is on the shelves. 

Libraries are a wonderful community resource, but they are not mythical entities. They are real, they require real money to provide the services people enjoy, and the people who work in them both deserve to be fairly compensated for the jobs they do. And when they fall behind in providing services that represent a diversity of voices, the community must insist they change course and hold them to it.  

After all, we’re only human.  

What I'm Reading: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

The current issue of Booklist has my STAR review of the upcoming Stephen Graham Jones and I cannot stress enough what a masterpiece this book is.  

You can access the review for free because it is a STAR, but below I will have my draft review as well as bonus info below.

STAR
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
By Stephen Graham Jones
Mar. 2025. 448p. Saga, $29.99 (9781668075081). 
First published January 1, 2025 (Booklist).

What I am is the Indian who can't die. I'm the worst dream America ever had,” says Good Stab, a Blackfeet, vampire who roams the Montana prairie in 1912 looking for vengeance, to Lutheran minister Arthur Beaucarne, as he visits each Sunday to give his confession. Told through the journals of Beaucarne both his own and his record of Good Stab’s story, as being read by the pastor’s great great granddaughter, Etsy, in 2012, readers are quickly immersed in their world. From the Marias Massacre of 1870 to 1912, following the atrocities done to the Buffalo and the Native peoples, each time Good Stab visits his confidence grows, the confessions get more tense, violent, and accusatory while Beaucarne begins to unravel and reveal his own horrific secrets, secrets that reach across time to Etsy. A riveting story of heartbreak, death, and revenge, a thought-provoking tale filled with existential terror, unease, and a high body count, this remarkable work of American fiction transforms, in Jones’ deft hands, from the unapologetic horror novel it most certainly is to a critique on the entire idea of America. A critique that despite the horrors, both real and supernatural, is infused with heart and projects hope. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: historical, revenge, riveting

Further Appeal: There are so many more words I could use to describe this book: unsettling, disturbing, unflinching multiple narrative, epistolatory, vampire, unique, great American novel told from the native point of view, thought provoking, authentic voices, and finally...MASTERPIECE.

I don't think you will read a better book in any genre in 2025. 

This is national book award worthy. I would compare it to James by Everett which just won the National Book Award. In this case, instead of retelling Huck Finn, we are watching a retelling of manifest destiny-- of the "settling of the west." A retelling that looks a whole lot worse than what we were taught in school. It is a new version of the great American novel. One that wrestles with the history we have been told; history we have been taught to be proud of; history that is not 100% representative of what actually happened.

It pairs perfectly with The Only Good Indians by Jones as the historical counterpart to that 21st century story. This is the Blackfeet of Montana from 1870-1912 (mostly) and beyond as Etsy's story takes place in 2012-13.

We have 3 narrators here. It begins in 2012 with Etsy (short for Betsy) a struggling assistant professor of communications who is trying (and failing to get tenure). When a construction worker finds a hidden journal from an unknown relative of hers in Montana, the University there contacts her since she is the next of kin. That journal is by her great-great grandfather, a Lutheran pastor in Miles City Montana. His journal also contains the "confession" of Good Stab, a Blackfeet who claims to be a vampire (although he he never uses the word) whose reasons for confessing his story become clearer and clearer as the story goes on.

A lot of the narrative centered around the 1870 Marias Massacre as well which I bet like me you knew nothing about. Yeah, see what I mean about the history we aren't told. And I was an American History major who took a class on "The West" that was willing to deconstruct standard narratives. 

Jones works to nail the narrative voices as well. Beaucarne (the minister) and Good Stab are meticulously developed. They are period specific. It will take readers 20 pages or so to fall in, but once you do, you are there, in 1912 Montana, in the chapel every Sunday with the two men. I read the second half of the book in one 4 hour sitting. I think it is written to get you to do that as well, as the chapters/sections of Good Stab telling his story get longer as the book goes on. Longer and more nefarious and more accusatory. The tension and unease ratchet up and you are unsettled and yet cannot look away.

The less you know about this book the better. It is a story you need to let happen to you. It is devastating yes, but also surprising, unique, and enlightening. And the way he brings it all back to the present is moving.

Like all SGJ novels, every detail matters-- which is what I love about his writing, if something is there it is there for a reason and it will come back Although he does not ever make you feel dumb for not keeping track. He reminds you of the detail and keeps the story flowing. This is very important with the original vampire mythology he develops. 

And also like every SGJ novel, even though bad things happen and there is a high body count (of the good and bad people) the story is infused with heart. There is hope at the end that this generation will do better than the ones before it, that while revenge is very real here, we may be able to acknowledge our wrongs as Americans (against the Native population yes, but the way SGJ writes it is about all of the American racist wrongs). This is a terrifying story or horrors real and supernatural but there is heart and hope. What more can you ask for. 

Readalikes: I had to drop the readalikes from the review in print, but online there are in the aside bar. Here is the quick sentence I cut: For fans of Louise Erdrich and James by Percival Everett as well as The Keep by F. Paul Wilson. If you take those 3 and smoosh them together, you get a sense of what to expect. For Erdrich any of her historical are a good choice such as The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, but also the style and themes Round House is a great match here too.

Also The Reformatory by Due and In the Valley of the Sun by Davidson are great readalikes as well.

What I'm Reading: January 2025 Horror Review Column in Library Journal

    

My January 2025 Horror Review Column is now live! In this post I have gathered the titles with my three words and links to my full draft reviews on Goodreads. Click through for readalikes and more appeal information.

First this month's STARS:

• When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy (the power of fear, immersive terror, pulp homage)
• Interview with the author in this issue. Link coming soon
• The Unworthy by Augustina Bazticcera (disquieting, religious cult at the end of the world, engaging and unique narrative style)
• The Poorly Made And Other Things: A Story Collection by Sam Rebelein (cursed land, madness, unnerving)

And the other 5 excellent titles:

• Dead Writers: Stories by Jean Marc Ah-Sen, MIchael LaPointe, Cassidy McFadzean & Naben Ruthnum (themed novellas, deeply unsettling, psychological horror)
• Their Monstrous Hearts by Yiğit Turhan (2 narratives, family secrets, slow burn leading to existential terror)
• Skin by Kathe Koja (disturbing, obsession, unique narrative cadence)
• Old Soul by Susan Barker (ancient evil, multiple points of view, mystery elements)
• Listen to Your Sister by Neena Viel (family trauma, steadily building dread that burst open to all out terror, original)

Bonus post for today-- head on over to the Horror blog today to enter to win a copy of When the Wolf Comes Home.

First Half of 2025 Horror Preview-- ARC Party Podcast Featuring Me

As the final days 2024 wound down, I recorded with Robb Olson and Emily Hughes for what is now a 2x a year occurrence on Robb's podcast-- ARC Party. This time we previewed the first 6 months of 2025 Horror novels. We had a blast as usual. Here's Robb to set it all up.

2025 Horror Preview

With horror experts Emily Hughes and Becky Spratford

Welcome to 2025!

This is the semi-annual Horror Preview episode, with my treasured guests Becky Spratford and Emily Hughes. Every six months, we gather to share with you all the extensive list of books we’re looking forward to in 2025. As is tradition, we talk about six months at a time, so I’m so excited to share with you all 36 books that we talked about in this episode, covering January to June of 2025.

Emily and Becky are the guests for these episodes because they are unrivaled in knowledge of horror literature. Emily as the legendary curator of her annual list of horror publications (CLICK HERE), and Becky because she’s the Horror Maven of the library world. She often hears about it first, reads about it first, and talks about it first. She’s no oracle, she works so hard to anticipate, read, and shout praise for all of the books that are changing the world of horror (CLICK HERE).

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Buy These Books

Preorder all of the 2025 Horror Preview books on Bookshop.org.

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The List

January

Witchcraft For Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
At Dark I become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
Our Winter Monster by Dennis Mahoney
The Contortionist’s Handbook by Craig Clevenger
Metamorphosis by Ross Jeffrey

February

Listen To Your Sister by Neena Viel
The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rebelein
Beauty in the Blood by Charlotte Carter
Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstein
The Pink Agave Motel by V Castro
Little Mysteries by Sara Gran

March

Vanishing Daughters by Cynthia Pelayo
The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T Wurth
rekt by Alex Gonzalez
The Unworthy by Augustina Bazterrica
The Memory Ward by Jon Bassoff
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter boy Stephen Graham Jones

April

When The Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
Freakslaw by Jane Flett
The Cut by CJ Dotson
The Sundowner’s Dance by Todd Keisling
Senseless by Ronald Malfi

May

The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
The Butcher’s Daughter: There Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs Lovett by David Demchuk and Corrine Leigh Clark
Below the Grand Hotel by Cat Scully
Overgrowth by Mira Grant
The Night Birds by Christopher Golden
MaXXXine by Tim Waggoner

June

The Nut House by Patrick Barb
I Gave You Eyes and You Looked Toward Darkness by Irene Sola
Ecstasy by Ivy Pochoda
Girl In The Creek by Wendy N Wagner
The Small Hours by Bob Pastorella
King of Ashes by SA Cosby

Buy These Books

Preorder all of the 2025 Horror Preview books on Bookshop.org.

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I hope you enjoy this episode! 2025 is going to be packed with exciting new books, so get out there and start reading. If you have a book you’re excited about, let me know! Comment here, or on social media. I love to share things, so I love to hear about new things.

Finally, if you’re more of a YouTube type of listener/viewer, this link is for you.