Summer Scares 2024 Title Announcement

 

In celebration of National Library Lover’s Day, the Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with United for Libraries, Book Riot, Booklist, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is delighted to announce the sixth annual Summer Scares reading list, which includes titles selected by a panel of authors and library workers and is designed to promote Horror as a great reading option for all ages, during any time of the year.

This year, Summer Scares welcomes author Clay McLeod Chapman as the 2024 spokesperson. “Our bookshelves are getting haunted this summer!” exclaims Chapman. “Every last one of the books selected for this year's Summer Scares is a beautiful little nightmare just waiting for the right reader to come along and crack it open. The outright honor of amassing this awesome roster of authors cannot be overstated. I love each and every last one of these books and I can't wait to shout about how terrifying they are all summer long.”

Each year, three titles are selected in each of three categories: Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade. For 2024 those selected titles are:

Adult Selections:

Jackal by Erin E. Adams (Bantam, 2022)

Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison (Berkley, 2022)

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno (MCD x FSG Originals, 2021)

Young Adult Selections:

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All These Bodies by Kendare Blake (Quill Tree Books 2011)

Dead Flip by Sara Farizan (Algonquin Young Readers, 2022)

#MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil (Hyperion, 2018)

Middle Grade Selections: 

Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray, 2021)

The Nest by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015)

My Aunt Is A Monster by Reimena Yee (Random House Graphic, 2022) 

The goal of Summer Scares is to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that will extend beyond the books from each list and promote reading for years to come. In addition to the annual list of recommended titles, the Summer Scares Programming Guide, created each year by the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library–and free for libraries anywhere to access, is back with the tools libraries need to connect with their patrons. 

“The 2024 guide is packed with ideas that library workers can use to engage their communities with these great titles, whether they're putting up book displays, hosting author events, or planning an entire Summer Scares program series,” states Konrad Stump, co-creator of the programming guide. The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2024 on the Summer Scares Resource page at http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html

Along with the guide, the Summer Scares committee will work with both the recommended list authors and Horror authors from all over the country to provide free programming to libraries. Any library looking to host horror-themed events anytime of year is encouraged to email libraries@horror.org to get started.

Once again, Summer Scares will be included as part of iRead, a summer reading program that is used by libraries in the United States and across the globe by the Department of Defense for libraries on military bases. “While there is nothing scary about Summer Reading, there is no better time than summer to scare up some great books. iREAD is thrilled (and chilled!) to partner once again with Summer Scares to introduce Horror titles to school and public library workers in order to help them start conversations with readers that perfectly align with our mission to bridge the summer gap while inspiring literacy and life-long learning,” shares iREAD Content and Development Manager Becca Boland.

Booklist is helping to kick off Summer Scares 2024 in March with a series of three, free webinars with this year’s featured authors in conversation with the committee members: 

• Monday, March 11, 2024, at 4pm Eastern, featuring our Middle Grade authors and moderated by Sarah Hunter (register here)
• Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Young Adult authors and moderated by Yaika Sabat (register here)
• Monday March 25, 2024, at 2pm Eastern, featuring our Adult authors and moderated by Clay McLeod Chapman (register here)

Each webinar lasts one hour. Anyone may register to participate for free at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars. Recordings will be available for on-demand viewing after the live events at https://www.booklistonline.com/webinars-archive.

All are welcome to join the Summer Scares committee and featured authors at the HWA’s Librarians’ Day, taking place in person on May 31, 2024, in San Diego as part of StokerConⓇ. Details at: https://www.stokercon2024.com. 

The HWA is a non-profit organization of writers and publishing professionals and the oldest organization dedicated to the Horror/Dark Fiction genre. One of the HWA’s missions is to foster an appreciation of reading through extensive programming and partnerships with libraries, schools, and literacy-based organizations.

The 2024 Summer Scares program committee consists of author Clay McLeod Chapman, HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump, as well as Academic Librarian Carolyn Ciesla, Book Riot Editor and YA specialist Kelly Jensen, Booklist Editor and Middle Grade specialist Julia Smith,  and Manager of Readers Services at NoveList Yaika Sabat

For more information about the Summer Scares reading program, including committee member bios and how to obtain promotional materials and schedule events with the authors/committee members, please visit The Summer Scares Resource Page (http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html)(http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html) or email HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump at libraries@horror.org.

RA for All Roadshow: What's New in Readers' Advisory

Today and tomorrow I am presenting a brand new program for PCI Webinars (today for FL and tomorrow for the rest of the country). It is brand new on two fronts.

1. This is the first time I have created a webinar that is forward looking. The entire presentations  consists of 5 predictions paired with applications for your library. You can see the slides here or at the link below.
2. Because it is all about what is to come in the next year, everything here is new by default.

I have stopped posting every time I present here on the blog, but I thought since today's presentation was unique that it was worth putting it out there, front and center. 

I do have my full schedule with slides for all presentations (where available) on my Recent and Upcoming Programs page as well.

But today, let's look into the future and talk about what it coming just over the horizon. Maybe I will see some of you there as well.

Click here to access the slides

Conversation Based Romance Recommendations via Goodreads and More

One of my favorite things about helping Romance readers is that they not only know what they like to read but they also know how to share that information with all of us discussing what tropes and appeal factors they most want to see in their favorite reads.

And now, just in time for Valentine's day, Goodreads is embracing this by release Romance recommendation based on conversation starter questions such as:

• I love a romance where the complication is TIME ITSELF
• Give me some great marriage-of-convenience plots
• Show me some protagonists in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond, please!
• I'm ready to dip a toe into romantasy and spicy paranormal…

The answer to these, and many other questions, with a total of 108 titles are all here, "108 New Romance Recommendations for (Nearly) Every Kind of Reader."

Take a look at the prompts because this article is a great example of how to market your collection to its best readers. By putting up these conversation starter type prompts, the lists that come after feel as if the list creator is talking to the readers. The themes are broad, but the titles provided feel more personal and curated.

Reality-TV romances really get to me (a real topic on the page), what should I read next? Putting it that way, online or with a sign and some books, is so much more inviting to readers than just a display filled with Romance books of all types. This tactic shows your patrons that you want to have conversations with them, working together to find books they will love. 

You can start by using the Goodreads list to get some ideas on how to spice up your Romance displays. Make smaller, but more conversation based displays and lists and then watch the books fly off the shelves.

Don't have many smaller spaces and need to fill one of those more traditional, large display furniture pieces. No worries. Put up multiple conversation starters and scatter the books throughout your display space. Use post it notes to identify which books go with which themes. Embrace the interactive nature of this type of display and let the books talk to your readers.

If you need more ideas on other tropes or themes to use to make more interactive and appeal based displays, go to NoveList (if you subscribe) or Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, where you can use their Bookfinder (for free) to search by genre, theme, and archetype. 

Too often we think we have to do all the work. You don't. We are information professionals. We use resources to do our job. Helping readers is no different in that sense than answering a fact based question. We use resources to help our patrons. Today's post is an example of just that.

I promise, if you use these resources you will have enough ideas with titles already compiled for you to create displays that show your readers that you get them and are there to help them find the best books. Giving them is a jumble of books in the same genre is less than the bare minimum. But by using a resource or two, you can provide a serve that sparks conversations and makes it clear to your patrons that they could not find the books without you.

One last note, the next NoveList and LibraryReads Crash Course is on Romance. Click here to register for the Free March 19th event and get ready to learn about more Romance titles for your patrons.

Black History Month Displays and Genre: An Example For You To Use for All Identity Months

I do not spend a lot of time on heritage months here on the blog mostly because I know most of you have them covered. My biggest problem though is that many libraries only highlight books by marginalized authors during their "month" and then not at all. 

Last year during Pride, I did an entire post about this issue here. Please read it because it has a lot of excellent information and I am not going to repeat any of it, but know all of it is implied in today's post.

Today I have what you could consider, "Part 2" of that post.

I want you to look at your Black History Month displays because from what I see they mostly contain literary fiction with some historical and maybe like 1 romance. Where is the genre? 

I know where it is. It is left languishing on the shelf because of systemic oppression and well meaning white librarians who think they are helping by "elevating" Black voices during "their" month 

It is a version of what I wrote back in 2019 about the unintended racism in our resources, especially when we are talking about genre.

Let me back up a little because I know some of you are thinking I just called you racist. Let me be clear-- I did not. What I am referring to the fact that our mostly white work force in librarianship tends to uplift only the people of color who fit the standard of the very best of publishing. They think that by highlighting those who fit the standard of "literary" that they are showing Black writers at their best.

When I put it this way, I hope you start to see the problem.

Black people read and write books about everything. Just like white people. In fact, for those who forget this, when Robin does her portion of our Actively Anti-Racist Service to Readers program, she ends  her presentation with examples of Black writers producing works on every topic.

When it is Black History Month, we should be highlighting as wide a range of Black authors as possible. That includes those who hold other identities beyond being Black (again, see Pride post)

[FYI: you can insert any identity into this argument because all people write all kinds of books, but we are using this, one of the most commonly celebrated identity months in libraries, to make you think about this problem.]

Specifically, I would like to discuss the exclusion of genre. Genres are already looked down upon by the world. Publishers and library workers try to lift them up by saying something is a "literary" Thriller or Fantasy or Horror, especially when it is written by someone from a marginalized perspective(again see that post from 2019).

All Black History Month displays must include genre titles. Not including genre is a disservice to what you are trying to do which is showcase the breadth of titles you own by Black people. It is also unfair to your readers of any identity. You are not allowing them to find a book for them. What about the straight, Asian woman who loves speculative? Guess what, she would love to learn about a Rivers Solomon book because their books are awesome. You aren't only suggesting Fonda Lee. Of course not. But I use this obvious example to make you take a hard look at your well meaning self.

Think about it this way, what percentage of your checkouts are literary fiction vs genres? I am not going to wait for you to check because you know the answer-- literary fiction is way below almost every genre in circulation. [I have stats from multiple libraries. LJ reports, and NoveList's data on searches within hundreds of library catalogs to prove it, but you know I am right so let's move on.]

Now the question you knew was coming: Why aren't your Black History Month Displays more genre than lit fic? Again, see above, but the summary is the long tail of white supremacy and systemic oppression

All genres have titles by Black authors, titles you already own. Put them on display. It is not too late to fix your displays. We just finished the first full week of February. Get on it now and remember to do it for every identity month display going forward.

One final note, my friend Alex Brown made this comment on Twitter the other day, one that I cannot leave this post without pointing it out because it is a related problem:

Do not do this! As they go on to say in the thread (paraphrase):

Black History Month is about celebrating Blackness and its history. Do not clog it up with white people providing context. 

And now my comment as a White lady:

This is not about you! It is about making space for others to speak for themselves. Do not insert yourself and your perspective. Get out of the way. Your job here is to find titles to let Black people speak for themselves.

Please take this post and the Pride month post from last June and use them to both celebrate every identity month and make sure your displays are diverse all year long.

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: PEN/Faulkner Foundation Award for Fiction Longlist

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

This week, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the longlist for their prestigious fiction award. From the about page for the award:

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year. Three writers are chosen annually by the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to serve as judges, ensuring that our awards selection process is free of commercial influence. These judges select an initial longlist of ten books, followed by five finalists, and finally one winner as the “first among equals.” The author of the winning book receives a $15,000 prize. The authors of each of the other finalists receive $5,000. The Award is presented at an annual celebration of the year’s distinguished books and authors. This exquisite literary evening features introductions by the PEN/Faulkner Award judges, original presentations by the year’s PEN/Faulkner Award winner and four finalists, and a star-studded list of notable guests, including our PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion.

This year's longlist includes the following titles:

• Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Guest by Emma Cline (Random House)
• Monica by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
• Open Throat by Henry Hoke (MCD)
• The Best Possible Experience by Nishanth Injam (Pantheon)
• What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez (Grand Central)
• Biography of X by Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead)
• Absolution by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Users by Colin Winnette (Soft Skull)

To see the full announcement including information on this year's judges, click here. 

The breadth of titles being considered is among the best in literary fiction on this list is refreshing. There are some of the books we have seen on many best lists as well as some library mainstay authors, but the inclusion of a few books I have not even heard of and the Clowes graphic novel is awesome. 

This inclusion of lesser known authors is important because this is not an award that exists in an isolated ivory tower. Go to the landing page for the awards and scroll below the information about the current 2024  award and take a look at the books and authors that have been long listed and honored in the past. Almost all are books and authors you know about.

At the very least, take make sure these titles are in your collections. And find ways to get them into the hands of readers, especially the lesser known titles, and especially give them to your literary fiction fans. All of these titles on the current list or past lists are also excellent book discussion choices.

Finally, you can click here to learn more about the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's education programs. They will work with you to bring authors to your school or library. Yet another reason to know about this resource.

Display Idea: Five Books About via Reactor Magazine

The excellent Tor.Com website has rebranded as Rector. The new site has all of the old content, but moving forward they are broadening their scope. Click here for more on that.

Today I want to point out one of my favorite columns on this site (new and old)-- Five Books About. From the column's landing page:

Guest authors curate lists of five books centered on a theme — a common subgenre, a shared trope, an unusual character trait, a specific plot point, or whatever else sparks their imagination!

There are a lot of "Five Books About" columns to choose from on topics from across the book landscape, and most are evergreen. Obviously you can use any of them to make a quick small display, but I am here to encourage you to use this idea to start a library wide conversation that will lead to interactive displays.

Why not have an ongoing "Five Books About" display up in your libraries. You can begin with the topics on the Reactor site but then pool the staff for ideas and lists. Send out an email to all staff with a link to the series, explain that you want to start a local version of this fun conversation, and encourage anyone who wants (no matter where they fall on the organizational chart) to propose their own topic and 5 books. 

When you ask all staff to help build displays, not only do you get a fresh and diverse look at the titles to include in your displays (rather than relying on yourself and your staff over and over again) but you also are actively team building as all staff become involved with our brand-- books. Do not underestimate how much someone in a behind the scenes job has to offer our readers, or even how someone in children's might be bursting to share adult titles. I know I was always sharing my favorite Middle Grade titles with the youth staff from my time volunteering at the elementary school library. Reminder, I worked in ADULT fiction. No one ever asked me to share my kid lit recommendations. I did without invite and they appreciated it. In return I asked for their adult recommendations for our displays.  All of our displays improved because of it.

All you need to do to make this display an ongoing thing is to put up a sign that says "Five Books About" and then slap on the title for each new one. You can even make the added part handwritten. While it is up, have a box with slips of paper where patrons (or staff) can add their own titles to the current display. As the first 5 books get checked out (and they will fairly quickly), you can add the new titles. Before you know it, you have an interactive display.

And, you knew this was coming too, turn this into a regular online feature. You can do it once a week, on a specific day once a month (like the 5th of each month, that would be fun), or every 2 weeks, whatever you want. But post a "Five Books About" topic with 5 books and then ask people to add more. If you want, add them to the in-library display, but if you do that, encourage your online participants to come and see the display and check the books suggest day others out. Or add links to where they can download said titles. 

Eventually, you can extend the conversation from asking patrons to add to the topics you propose to asking them for topics and five books they suggest. 

My favorite way to solicit answers to conversation starters from patrons is to put questions in every book on the hold shelf and see what kind of responses you get. For more on how to make that happen, please see my Conversation Starters to Display post.

At the every least however, you can mine Reactor's site for many good "Five Books About" columns for interesting lists and displays you can use online or in the building to help your patrons find their next good read.

Reminder: Judge a Book By Its Cover

I have posted many times in the past about the importance of using covers as part of our work with readers. From my "Judge a Book By Its Cover" post:

Please, please, please judge a book by its cover. The publishers pay a lot of money to make a cover that sells to book to people as they pass by. They articulate the appeal of the book-- who would most enjoy it-- with images. If they put so much time and effort into the covers, why aren't we using them to make our job easier?

Click here to keep reading that post. Or click here for every post I have tagged "covers" including this article I wrote on Horror cover artists for The Lineup this past Fall.

While I advocate for using covers as a tool when hand selling titles to readers, late last month, I saved this article from Book Riot which opened up a whole new avenue of conversation starter opportunities around covers. 

From the intro to that article entitled, "What Genres and Subgenres Should be Called, Based on Their Covers":

 If you spend time in libraries or bookstores, you’ve probably noticed book cover trends. Maybe you’ve picked up a book because its cover was unique or resembled another book. Maybe you like embossed gold covers or deckle edges.

Or you may think a lot of recent book covers look similar. Many 2020s literary fiction covers have titles in thick, all caps on a bright background. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt are two prominent examples of this style. Some readers love this style; some find it overdone or generic.

This 2022 article explains that book designers have difficult and seemingly contradictory tasks: making covers unique but simultaneously attractive to algorithms. Covers often contain hidden details but must also be attention-grabbing, even in thumbnails online. Fitting into an existing trend isn’t necessarily cliché. It’s creative marketing that helps readers find books. 

Publishing trends can become memes. Social media users have compared food packaging to the fonts on Colleen Hoover covers. Many online book lists collect or parody the fantasy title format “A Blank of Blank and Blank.” Some covers of classic books contain blatant spoilers because designers think most readers already know the endings. So, here are some silly genre and subgenre names I made up to fit these cover trends.

Click through to see what the author did. While they claim it is "silly," I think there is not only a lot of truth here, but also much we can use (after the chuckle) to engaging our patrons in conversation about popular books and genre trends. 

At the very least you can use the funny genre titles and put some books that fit the description on display (or in an online list). These cover based displays work extremely well because they subvert what our library users think we are going to say. As I began my column in The Lineup (also referenced above):

Psst…. I have a dark, dirty library secret for all of you. I think we have been doing this column long enough that I can trust you enough to share it with you. Here it is…

I judge books by their covers.

I will give you all a moment to recover from shock, but it is 100% true. And not only do I judge books by their covers, but I train library workers all over the world to do the very same thing.

Now I know all of you probably heard from a librarian or teacher at some point in your childhood, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and I am sure some of you have taken this as fact and carried it into your own adult reading life, even passing it on to new generations of readers. Well, I am here to tell you to forget it.

Why?

Well let’s start with this actual fact: Publishers want their books to have a cover that sells the book to its best reader. They need the cover to do the heavy lifting of attracting readers as they walk by...

But they also want them to be the right readers, ones who if they are attracted by the cover, stop and read the back and then decide to buy the book.

If publishers are putting that much effort, money, and thought into the covers of their books, why aren’t we using the covers to help readers find the best book for them as well? It actually seems irresponsible for me, someone whose job it is to match books with their best readers, to NOT consider the covers. A cover can never tell you exactly what will happen in the book, but those covers created by the very best artists can absolutely tell you quite a bit about the feel of the book to follow, setting the tone for the story that follows.

So get out there and shock your patrons by showing them that you too judge books by their covers. They will be excited to see that you are no different than them, yes, but you will also teach them how to make the covers work for them as they choose books to read going forward.

And you can all have a chuckle together. 

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: Audie Awards Finalists (w/ bonus access to LJ's best audio books)

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

As a huge audiobook fan I am excited to start the week celebrating the format.

Last week, the Audio Publishers Association announced the finalists for the 2024 Audie Awards. From the official press release: 

AUDIO PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR THE 2024 AUDIE AWARDS® 

MERYL STREEP, BONO, MICHELLE WILLIAMS, DOLLY PARTON, MICHELLE OBAMA, SHERYL LEE RALPH, JANUARY LAVOY, “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC, AND DION GRAHAM AMONG THE ILLUSTRIOUS LIST OF FINALISTS 

“All the Sinners Bleed,” “King: A Life,” “Making It So,” “None of This is True,” “The Light We Carry,” “The Wager,” and “Tom Lake” Each Earned Multiple Nominations

“Fourth Wing,” “Never Finished,” “Spare,” “The Covenant of Water,” and “The Woman in Me” to Receive Inaugural APA Choice Recognition

Winners Will Be Unveiled at the March 4 Gala in Los Angeles

JANUARY 30, 2024, NEW YORK, NY – Today, the Audio Publishers Association (APA) announced finalists for the 2024 Audie Awards®, the premier awards program recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Full list of finalists below. Winners across 27 competitive categories will be revealed at the Audie Awards Gala on March 4 in Los Angeles. 

“On behalf of the Audio Publishers Association, we congratulate all of our Audie Awards finalists,” exclaimed Sean McManus, president of the APA. “As we gather on March 4 to honor the art of human narration, the remarkable display of talent and creativity that breathes life into these audiobooks is truly inspiring. We’re also proud to announce category reforms and recognitions that reflect the rich tapestry of the world of audio and literary entertainment.”

In a change that reflects the APA’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity, the Best Male Narrator and Best Female Narrator categories – two of the top awards that recognize the importance of performance in audio storytelling – have been transformed to Best Fiction Narrator and Best Non-Fiction Narrator. 

At this year’s ceremony the APA will also recognize audiobooks that not only captivated listeners but also became cultural phenomenons. This year’s inaugural APA Choice honorees include “Fourth Wing,” “Never Finished,” “Spare,” “The Covenant of Water,” and “The Woman in Me.” 

Celebrate the finalists with our Social Media Graphics!

I want to point out a few things about this awards list, some are things every award list provides us and a few things that are unique to the Audies specifically.

First, this is the top award for audio books. There is no higher recognition an audiobook can receive. For that reason alone, this should be a top collection development tool and suggestion engine. You need a sure bet audio, well here are many, with enough diversity in how the stories are told that you are sure to find a proven winner for any reader.

Second, there are so many categories, yes, but they are also useful to use as your guide as you have the RA conversation with a potential audiobook reader. There are 27 [!] categories. These categories are in common genres, which helps us find the best audio for genre readers. They are also in larger categories such as faith based or business.  But wait, there's more. There are also categories specific to how a book is narrated-- multiple narrators, single narrator, or cast performance. Plus an audio original category and a "cultural phenomenon" category to make sure the most popular titles are recognized somewhere.  Not only do the categories themselves read as the script you can use to conduct a conversation with a reader as you help them find the right audiobook for them, but they also speak to the fact that audiobooks are a format, not a genre, and all readers of this format need to see their preferences in the choices of "best." Even if ou are not an audiobook reader, the 27 categories can help you see the major appeal factors that these readers are looking for.

Third, and you knew this was coming, the backlist is easy to access. If you go to the Audie Awards homepage here and scroll to the bottom, you can access every winner and finalist, ever, in one downloadable document. There is also this awesome page for Audiobook fans that provides free access to  watch the awards shows going back to 2020. Right on the page.

Fourth, did you catch that last line of the press release above? "Celebrate the finalists with our Social Media Graphics!" That link takes you to a HUGE Google drive of graphics that can be used on your websites or in your libraries. There are multiple graphics for every category that you can download and use. For example, here is the Audiobook of the year finalists graphic from that link:

Finally, the APA is using their influence in the larger world to act on issues of inclusion and diversity and become a role model for change for others. From above and the press release: 

"In a change that reflects the APA’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity, the Best Male Narrator and Best Female Narrator categories – two of the top awards that recognize the importance of performance in audio storytelling – have been transformed to Best Fiction Narrator and Best Non-Fiction Narrator. "

When awards offer only best female or male narrators as a top award, it leaves out non-binary performers from consideration, at best, or forces performers to be misgendered at worst. If you have to misgender someone whose work is exception in order to allow them to win an award, maybe it is time you change the award. People have been on the Motional Picture Academy to do this as well-- to remove the gendering in the best performance categories. I don't see it happening for the Oscars anytime soon, but I do applaud the Audies for leading by example here.

Before we leave the Audie Awards behind, I also wanted to point you to Library Journal who also recently released their Best Audiobooks of 2023 list here. Add these titles into your sure best basket as well.

For more from me on audiobooks, you can click here.

Resource Alert: 2023 Locus Recommended Reading List

Every February, Locus Magazine comes out with their Recommended Reading List. It is an exhaustive list of all the best Speculative Fiction of the last year. Literally it is one stop shopping for your Speculative Fiction readers...all of them.

This is an excellent resource to help readers and develop your collections for a variety of reasons. 

First, take the list itself, and check your collections. Do you own these books? You should. These are some of the best titles in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror from 2023-- I personally review quite a few of them.

Second, use it to help readers who want books in these genres, but also, to help readers who want to give these genres a try-- especially the stories and novellas. These are proven winners, titles you  can suggest with ease as they were vetted by a group of experts. [see below for a list of those experts]

Third, especially in the collections, anthology, and all of the shorter fiction categories, pay attention to the authors producing these stories. Many will become the novelists whose books you will be clamoring to get soon. I know this because...

Fourth, they make this list every single year, so there is a great BACKLIST! You know I love the backlist. Seriously though, you need to assess your collection, you want a suggestion that is on the shelf, you want to discover a newer voices in the genres, you want to make a display? For all of these things and more, you need to look back more than just one year. Don't worry. I made it easy on you.

Click here to pull up a list of each year's list beginning with 2023 and going backward. It's a link that is RA and Collection Development gold. 

There are many books on this year's list that I have read and reviewed too. In particular, I want to point you to the anthology section, which is particularly good and will allow you to add more authors to your collection, many of them newer voices. Also, in the nonfiction section, a book I have already told you to purchase multiple times, 101 Books to Read Before You're Murdered by Sadie Hartmann. Hartmann recently signed a contract to produce a second edition. This is a must add to every public library. 

The Locus Recommended Reading List is one of my favorite resources every year. It is a treasure trove of CD and RA gold. Bookmark it and use it for guaranteed crowd pleasing suggestions for all of your speculative fiction fans.

Below is the intro to the 2023 list by the editors of Locus Magazine. 

Welcome to the annual Locus Recommended Reading List!

Another spin around the ole ball of fire and we’re back to our annual Recommended Reading List for 2023! Published in Locus magazine’s February 2024 issue, the list is put together by Locus editors, columnists, outside reviewers, and other professionals and well-known critics of genre fiction and non-fiction. We looked at 1,012 titles from 2023 in short fiction and long fiction. The final recommendations are combined and trimmed to as reasonable of a list as we can manage, but it is still long. We know there will be titles you loved that do not appear here; it happens every year. As we always say, any one member of our recommending group would suggest a different exact list, but this is our combined sum of opinions, assessed with much affection and care for the field. We did not see everything out there (though we tried!) and there will be books that didn’t make it. 

The Locus recommending group this year included editor in chief Liza Groen Trombi; reviews editor Jonathan Strahan; reviewers Eugen Bacon, Liz Bourke, Jake Casella Brookins, Alex Brown, Paul Di Filippo, Sean Dowie, Paula Guran, Niall Harrison, Rich Horton, Paul Kincaid, Russell Letson, Adrienne Martini, Archita Mittra, Ian Mond, Colleen Mondor, Charles Payseur, Alexandra Pierce, Tim Pratt, Adam Roberts, Wole Talabi, Gary K. Wolfe, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro; staffers Laurel Amberdine, Bob Blough, and Mark Kelly; and outside critics James Bradley, Amy Goldschlager, Cheryl Morgan, Graham Sleight, and Tom Whitmore. Input for the non-fiction section also came in from Farah Mendlesohn. The art books section had help from Arnie Fenner, Karen Haber, and senior editor Francesca Myman. Short fiction recommendations added in anthologists and reviewers John Joseph Adams, Vanessa Fogg, Maria Haskins, Allan Kaster, Nisi Shawl, Bogi Takács, and A.C. Wise. Some of the reviewers also wrote year-end wrap-ups, which will include their thoughts, plus some favorite books that didn’t make the final list — look for those in the coming weeks or in the February issue of the magazine, available in print and digital editions. Locus thanks all involved for their time and their expertise. 

You can let us know what your favorites were by voting in the 2023 Poll & Survey. The Poll decides the winners of the Locus Awards, presented in June 2024, and is open to all to vote on. The Survey helps us be a better magazine. Thank you for participating!

Click here to access this year's list and all of the backlist Recommended Reading Lists.

Year in Review: Understanding 2023 Through Books via Book Riot and Becky's Advice on Creating an Ongoing "Current Events" Display

As I have mentioned a few times, I am going to be giving my Year in Review webinar where I look back at the year that just completed and help you to put it all into context. This year it is free for anyone out there in the world (live or as a recording for 2 weeks) via NoveList (details here). 

That event isn't until Feb 13. Some may ask, why so late into 2024 Becky? The answer is that it takes a while until all of the data, like sales and checkouts, is counted and processed, especially because it is being gathered up to 12/31.

And then once the data is available, we all need time to use it to think about the larger issues and what it all means when looked at in a larger clump.

In fact, 2023 year in review articles and essays are still coming out. Case in point this one I saw on Book Riot, "Making Sense of 2023 Through Books."

This one is definitely worth a look. It takes many of the top news stories of 2023 and suggests a book, with an annotation, to pair with said issue. The books are mostly backlist as well.

This list is a great example of one of my 10 Rules of RA Service-- "Use the Words of Others." Click here to read how to take a list that you find in one of your resources and turn it into a suggestion engine, display, or simply repost, it credit, to your own virtual spaces.

Besides using this list specifically, I also want to advocate for you to use it as inspiration for similar lists. Take any current event, be it serious or more entertainment based, and pair it with books.

You could make this a regular in-library display and social media post. Here's how. Create an ongoing display title that says something like, "Current Events, Current Reads." Obviously, the books don't have to be current, but from the last 2-5 years ideally, but the idea of this title is to connect current events to your collection.

Now, pick a day of the week. For arguments sake, let's say Monday. This can become an every Monday social media post where you offer a topic and a few books. It is best to have titles that they can download immediately but that is not required. You can ask people to suggest titles in the comments as well.

In the building, this can be a permanent small display. On a table top, on the circulation desk, really anywhere high traffic where you can put out 3-6 items at all times. You can have a permanent sign that says something like "Current Events, Current Reads," or whatever you want to call it. Just not anything more than a title. Don't take up room with the sing. Also, don't over explain it. Don't limit yourself. The items you display will make it clear what you are doing. 

This display in the building will be there all of the time. Each day, someone needs to make sure there are 3-6 books up and 3-6 in reserve. And this can become an all staff thing. Anyone can bring a book to the display area and get it in the pile to go up next.

I would also highly encourage you to offer this near the front of the library or even at the circulation desk if you have room, and then encourage all staff to participate, from every department, not just the ones with books or movies for all ages, but anyone on staff.

This will become a go-to stop of books that are tied to the real world experiences of your patrons. By showcasing a few of the titles on social media on Mondays, you can remind people that the items and the display are in the building as well. 

This is a great example of anticipating the reading needs of your community. You are showing them that you want to connect our items to their real world experiences. You are showing people how relevant and vital you are.

Also, this is a great opportunity for team building. Your staff will have fun with this display. They can participate when something they care about is in the news. And when you allow all staff to have a say, the diversity of the titles you offer will be broader. Obviously a few staff members need to be in charge of overseeing it all to make sure the titles you are highlighting is okay, up to a pre-established standard, and that there are always books in reserve. But otherwise, have fun with this.

Ideas on where to find news stories? First and foremost I suggest you always have books about something serious/newsy AND something lighter in display at the same time. Using Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR news quiz and things like the NYT weekly news quiz both provide a nice mix. Most libraries have NYT access as well. But specifically on the horizon right now, at the time this post first ran, you can have books about elections, music (for the Grammys), football, Oscars, and conflicts around the world. Just yesterday, the news was filled with talk of the social media companies testifying at a Senate hearing. Nonfiction books about social media and fiction that is social media framed would have been great to add to this permanent display this morning.

As you can see, this is an easy display to keep filled, and having it available in a high traffic area is an excellent way to showcase the breadth of your collection. Think about it. We know that we have a book for every topic, but this shows the community what we know and they may not realize.