BREAKING NEWS: Books (2)

“Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist”, edited by Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 08:31:06 +0000

Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist is a new publication and exhibition organised by the Katonah Museum of Art and the first major museum survey of Iranian-born artist Ali Banisadr. Covering twenty years of the artist’s practice, the exhibition and catalogue offer a fresh perspective on the artist’s career across the mediums of painting, drawing and printmaking.

Featured in this luxurious publication are a rich selection of works that shed light on the artist’s journey. The book features well researched essays that offer various perspectives on Banisadr’s creative process and high quality images as well as excerpts from his notebooks that chronicle the evolution of his working process.

Ali Banisadr: The Alchemist,
Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe (ed) (Yale University Press, May 2025)

Born in Tehran, Banisadr was a young child during the Islamic revolution in 1979. Thereafter he was thrust into the chaos of the Iran-Iraq war that eventually took the lives of millions. Whilst living in his family’s basement shelter, he endured daily bombardments:

The bombings, the air raids; I witnessed so many ruins and chaos everywhere. When the vibrations and explosions of the air raids occurred, my mother recalls I would make drawings to try to make sense of what was happening. And I think that stays with me even now, where I still see the world as this chaotic, potentially dangerous place. Trying to make sense out of it in a visual way is the only way I can try to understand it.

Banisadr and his family migrated to Turkey and then eventually to the United States in 1988. Taking on the role of émigré at the tender age of twelve, he had to master a new language and adapt to a foreign country. Eventually, through a love of literature and artistic experimentation, he embraced Eastern and Western perspectives in his work.

These extend across geographies and chronologies and relate to disparate subjects, including magic, the ancient world, medieval and Renaissance master painters, Abstract Expressionism, Jungian psychology, Sufi poetry, and the writings of Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, and Athanasius Kircher, among many others.

In terms of working practices, his early interaction with Bay Area graffiti artists in San Francisco heavily influenced his work. He later moved to New York to attend art school which is where he further developed his practice and now works out of Brooklyn.

The publication features meticulously-researched essays, illustrated source materials, and excerpts from the artists notebooks that chronicle the fascinating evolution of Banisadr’s working methods. His works echo a multitude of references across the history of art—including Mesopotamian antiquities, alchemical imagery, Persian miniatures, Medieval and Renaissance art, Surrealism, German Expressionism, and Abstract Expressionism—as a bellwether of our own tempestuous times.

This luxury publication will interest all lovers of the syncretic nature of art and mythology.

Farida R Khan @farida_art is an art historian and writer. Her work has appeared in Scroll and elsewhere.

The Lost Sunday

Sat, 12 Jul 2025 06:40:39 +0000

Filled with charm and bright colors, The Lost Sunday is a clever fable that demonstrates the value of a balance between work and leisure.

CBC Graphic Novel Committee Free Programming at San Diego Comic-Con 2025

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 18:20:55 +0000

The CBC Graphic Novel Committee is proud to present 3 great panels this year at SDCCI 2025 as a part of Comic-Con Conference for Educators & Librarians (CCEL)! All panels will be free and held at the San Diego Public Library Shiley Special Events Suite and book signings will be directly after each panel right next door on the Jim Dawe Terrace.

RSVP here

From Cartoons to Characters (Friday, July 25 at 10 AM)

What do cartoons and graphic novels have in common—besides being awesome? Join these creators as they explore how both formats boost visual literacy and keep young minds sharp, creative, and totally hooked.

MODERATOR

Brenda Maier (The Adventures of Penguin & Panda) — Marble Press

PANELISTS

Dean Hale (Iron Man: Something Strange (A Might Marvel Team-Up)) — Abrams Books

Kennedy Tarrell (Evil-ish) — Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Feiwel & Friends

Mary Shyne (You and Me on Repeat) — Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group / Henry Holt and Co. BYR

Jeffrey Brown (Marvel The Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Fun) — Chronicle Books

Steve Breen (Sky & Ty 2: Dinomite!) — Pixel+Ink

Post-Panel Book Signing — 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Graphic Novel vs Manga (Friday, July 25 at 11 AM)

It’s a showdown here with YA and MG graphic novels and manga as both are dominating the shelves. Join these creators for a fun look at what’s best, their educational value, and why both formats get readers hooked!

MODERATOR

Matthew Noe — Lead Collection & Knowledge Management Librarian, Harvard Medical School

PANELISTS

Dora Wang (Pocket Peaches) — Andrews McMeel Kids

Samuel Sattin (Unico) — Scholastic

Kayden Phoenix (Latina Superheroes (Volume 1): Jalisco & Santa) — Andrews McMeel Publishing

Ursula Murray Husted (Botticelli’s Apprentice) — HarperCollins Children’s Books

Whyt Manga (Apple Black) — The Quarto Group / Rockport Publishers

Post-Panel Book Signing — 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

Make ‘Em Laugh: Using Jokes, Puns and Goofy Ideas to Hook Reluctant Readers (Friday, July 25 at 12 PM)

Think all books feel like homework? Think again! This panel makes the case for comedy as a secret weapon as a reading and teaching tool. Join these creators for a lively look at how humor keeps young readers engaged, learning, and laughing all the way to the last page.

MODERATOR

Joshua Pruett (Gyro and the Argonauts) — Andrews McMeel Kids

PANELISTS

Emmanuel Guerrero (Cactus Kid) — Flying Eye Books

Amy Chase (Abuzz and Miraculous Chibi) — Mad Cave Studios / Papercutz

Max Lang (Grumpy Monkey School Stinks!) — Random House Children’s Books

Suzanne Lang (Grumpy Monkey School Stinks!) — Random House Children’s Books

Marz Jr. (Transformers: Worst Bot Ever – Meet Ballpoint!) — Skybound Entertainment

Post-Panel Book Signing — 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

A special thank you to:

The San Diego Comic-Con Programming Team for their guidance and help in organizing the panels.

The San Diego Public Library and Library Shop for their work at their location, organizing our panelists’ book signings, and having the books available for purchase onsite.

The amazing book creators, their publishers, and the CBC Graphic Novel Committee members.

Our great moderators — Tina Lerno, Christina E. Taylor, & Jack Phoenix — for their collaboration and contribution.

Learn more about the CBC Graphic Novel Committee.

Authors, Did You Check Your Metadata?

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:33:00 +0000

When your book is listed for sale on major websites such as Amazon, Walmart, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Apple, etc., you need to make sure that your metadata is complete, accurate, and crafted to your advantage.

What is metadata, you ask? Is it the information that you provide to describe your book in a way that the online world sorts, files, and searches for your book.

Let’s look at the many key components that make up your metadata:

1. Your Book Title

It is recommended that your title be short, memorable, easy to say or spell, and not be the same as a competing title. For your metadata, Ingram Spark recommends that a title and subtitle combined do not exceed 80 characters for maximum mobile optimization.

2. Author Name & Contributors

Whatever names that are on your cover – author, co-author, illustrator, translator – should be listed with no misspellings and consistency (ie – if a middle initial is used or not).

3. Author Bio

Keep it to 50-250 words and avoid using external links to blogs, sites, etc.

4. Description

Using 200-600words, describe your book in a conversational tone. Consider bolding the opening line and use paragraph breaks.

5. Genre

Choose up to three BISAC subject codes (genres). Pay to cover three distinct areas.

6. Keywords

Choose five to seven words or phrases that draw customers in. Repeat them throughout anything – description, reviews, testimonials, biography, etc.

7. Format

List all formats and ISBN’s for each one – ie: e-book, trade paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

8. Review/Media Quotes & Testimonials

List three to ten quotes from professional book reviewers, stories in the media about you or the book, and testimonials from experts.

9. Age/Grade

If you chose a juvenile or YA audience code, pick a targeted age range that is focused.

10. Series

Inform your readers of other titles in a series, including the names of your series, and if applicable, the book numbers in the series.

Your metadata is like a book’s DNA – a series of codes that tells everyone how to identify your book. Take the time and effort to get it right.

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over four million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 4.5 million pageviews. With 5,300+ posts over the past 14 years, it

IndieView with Claire Barner, author of Moonrising

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 13:00:42 +0000

I want to write books that have layers. I want them to be enjoyable reads with characters and relationships you get obsessed with, while also being meaty enough for a deep book club discussion.

Claire Barner – 11 July 2025

The Back Flap

In 2073, controversial agronomist Dr. Alex Cole has dedicated her life to mutagenetic food, the only solution to feeding a world torn apart by climate change. When fierce opposition from radical environmentalists wipes out her lab funding, a surprising lifeline appears in the form of Mansoor Al Kaabi, a charismatic Emirati businessman who needs a sustainable food supply for his guests on the Moon’s first hotel.

Alex moves to the Moon colony with Mansoor, and they immediately dive into the challenging work. As she smuggles in illegal chickens, fights a vexing tomato fungus, and dreams of olive groves on the Moon, Alex is surprised to find herself falling in love not just with the lunar colony, but with Mansoor, whose vision for the future of the Moon extends far beyond luxury hotels.

Back on Earth, eccentric genius Victor Beard and Mansoor’s younger brother Rashid fight to push the Homestead Act through Congress. Without the support of the US government, they’ll never be able to achieve their goal to relocate humanity to the Moon and secure a second chance for life on Earth.

When eco-terrorists threaten the lunar colony, Alex, Mansoor, Victor, and Rashid must choose what they’re willing to die for–and what they’re really living for. Is it their grandiose visions of saving the planet–or is it each other?

About the book

What is the book about?

Moonrising is about a University of Chicago researcher, Alex Cole, who likes plants more than people. When she is recruited to build a greenhouse on the fledgling lunar colony, she learns how to let people in and build community. Along the way, she falls in love with Mansoor Al Kaabi, a charming, self-contained Emirati businessman developing the first hotel on the Moon. Back on Earth, we follow self-taught physicist Victor Beard on his quest to build the world’s fastest rocket ship while obliviously falling in love with Mansoor’s brother Rashid.

When did you start writing the book?

I first started writing Moonrising way back in 2013.

How long did it take you to write it?

It took me ten years to finish the first draft of Moonrising. Between raising three kids, buying a fixer-upper bungalow, and holding down a full time job, I could never find the time to give the book my full attention. In 2023, I was lucky enough to earn a 10-week paid sabbatical from my job, and I spent that time as a full-time writer. After ten years of struggling to find the time, I finished drafting Moonrising in only eight weeks.

Where did you get the idea from?

Moonrising started with two ideas. NASA successfully grew red romaine lettuce on the International Space Station. As a vegetable gardener, I was interested in what growing vegetables in space might look like. I created my main character, Dr. Alex Cole, a UChicago agronomist who is recruited to develop a greenhouse on a Moon colony. At the same time, I saw an article about Virgin Galactic’s plans to build a spaceport in Abu Dhabi. From this idea, I developed my other two point of view characters, Mansoor Al Kaabi, an Emirati businessman opening a Moon hotel and Victor Beard, a rocket scientist building the ships that will launch the tourists to the Moon.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

Because I spent ten years developing the first draft of Moonrising, I had a lot of ideas and research. I ended up having too many ideas! When I first started working with my agent, Jenna Satterthwaite, she encouraged me to change the ending to cut an antagonist that wasn’t closely tied to my main character Alex’s journey. I ended up drastically changing the last third of the book, and it turned out so much better.

What came easily?

I loved incorporating my research into the story. I read several astronaut memoirs and used their experiences when describing Alex’s first flight into space. I also have a few chapters set in Abu Dhabi that were richly informed by hours and hours of book research and a wonderful sensitivity reader.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

I have a lot in common with my main character, Alex. She’s a University of Chicago researcher, and I am a UChicago alumni. She’s an agronomist, and I’m a gardener. In many ways, at the beginning of the book, she’s the worst version of me. She’s quick to argue and dig in on her position. She thinks everyone around her isn’t following science and data and is frustrated by people with a different point of view than her own. These are all traits Alex and I share, though I’ve worked hard to soften my hard edges and have more self awareness. With Alex, I dialed up those traits, and I think it makes her character a unique and compelling protagonist.

We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?

My favorite sci-fi writer is Lois McMaster Bujold, who wrote the Vorkosigan Saga. Her stories are rooted in characters and relationships. She explores big themes like motherhood, reproductive freedom, disability rights, family loyalty, and honor inside of fun, hilarious, romantic adventures in space. There is a particular book of hers, Komarr, that on its surface is about an investigation into a mysterious accident on an occupied planet, but is really about the crushing weight of a loveless marriage and how a woman can lose her sense of self focusing on her duty to her husband and child. And it’s also funny, empowering, and romantic! I want to write books that have layers. I want them to be enjoyable reads with characters and relationships you get obsessed with, while also being meaty enough for a deep book club discussion.

Do you have a target reader?

I think Moonrising has crossover appeal. I am very interested in recruiting romance and romantasy readers to try sci-fi romance! Moonrising is grounded in the real world and isn’t full of unfamiliar jargon. Many of my early readers do not read much sci-fi and were drawn in by the relatable characters and situations.

At the same time, I do think sci-fi readers who love science heavy books like The Martian or sci-fi based in physics like The Expanse series will enjoy the well-researched and interesting science in Moonrising.

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?

Whenever possible, I love to spend a few hours at my local coffee shops writing. With three kids and a full time job, I tend to do most of my writing late at night. My sweet spot is 9 pm to 11 pm. I try to write every single day.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I only outline a little. I have a spreadsheet of chapters with the POV, timing, and a sentence.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I spend most of my writing time on editing. The hardest part for me is drafting something new. I’ve accepted that I prefer to edit from the beginning at least once a week, even though I know this is terribly inefficient. I tried to get out of the habit and found I didn’t enjoy the writing process as much when I wasn’t polishing as I went. I’d rather go slower and be proud of the words already on the page rather than have a complete, messy draft I’m not happy with.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Mostly classical music like Bach and Mozart. I find anything with lyrics distracting.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

Yes, I have a wonderful agent, Jenna Satterthwaite from Storm Literary Agency

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

I’m excited to be part of re-launching Diversion Book’s fiction program this summer. I chose Diversion because my editor, Toni Kirkpatrick, clearly loved the characters and story. I was also thrilled to be offered a two-book deal. Their new distribution partnership with Simon & Schuster was also a factor in my decision.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

Diversion took my cover ideas and designed a beautiful cover. I love it so much!

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

Diversion has a partnership with Books Forward for marketing. I also have my own plan in a spreadsheet.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

I encourage writers to follow the path that makes sense for them! There are so many wonderful options to get your book out there.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I grew up as the oldest of six kids in Park Ridge, IL, right outside of Chicago.

Where do you live now?

I live in the Portage Park neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side with my husband and our three kids.

What would you like readers to know about you?

My book club is an important part of my life. We read from a variety of genres and always find ourselves having rich conversations that last for at least two hours. We also vacation together, support each other through hard times, and celebrate each other’s successes. Our favorite reads include All Fours by Miranda July, James by Percival Everett, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

What are you working on now?

My second book with Diversion, The Red Woman of Mars, is tentatively planned for publication in summer 2026. It’s a Pride and Prejudice inspired feminist sci-fi romance set on Mars.

End of Interview:

For more from Claire Barner visit her website and Substack blog as well as following her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.

Get your copy of Moonrising from Amazon US.

The post IndieView with Claire Barner, author of Moonrising first appeared on The IndieView.

“The Future of Futurity: Affective Capitalism and Potentiality in a Global City” by Poornima Mankekar and Akhil Gupta

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 08:31:43 +0000

The IT sector seems to be concerned with the flow of information across nations. However, it can also be about the flow of emotions. Labour around technology is not only about programming; it can also be about emotional exhaustion. In The Future of Futurity: Affective Capitalism and Potentiality in a Global City, anthropologists Poornima Mankekar and Akhil Gupta document the workings of call centres by looking at how the BPO “agents” (workers or operators are called agents) navigate the demands of their job: doing “night work”, learning and unlearning accents, and racist abuse from the customers.

The book is a result of the field work conducted by the authors between 2009 and 2016 in three BPO companies of different sizes in Bengaluru (Bangalore). The authors conducted interviews with employees at these companies between 18 and 25 years of age, representative of the BPO workers: coming from lower class-caste backgrounds, barely finished high school, and looking forward to upward class mobility. Mankekar and Gupta argue that these jobs are an example of “affective capitalism”, heavily dependent on managing emotions—employees’, their families’, and their customers’.

The Future of Futurity: Affective Capitalism and Potentiality in a Global City, Purnima Mankekar,
Akhil Gupta (Duke, April 2025)

Employees’ emotional lives come into the picture in several ways. One, they become “intimate strangers” to the customers from the UK, the USA and Australia. From selling vacation deals to providing customer service and recovering debts, these agents gain access to the lives of people they barely know. Sometimes, they empathise with the customers; on other occasions, they judge them. For instance, the authors relate that an agent judged a customer for piling up on credit card debt on “frivolous” things such as cruises.

Vandana had made several calls to this customer coaxing her to pay her debt but to no avail. This was a woman who, after her retirement, had made a hobby of going on cruises several times a year. The only problem was that she put her expenses for the cruises on her credit card and quickly amassed huge debts that she was unable to pay off, and it fell to Vandana to recover them. Vandana called her several times and finally lost her patience: this was a huge faux pas for a customer service agent, but it was incomprehensible to Vandana that her customer could build up debts in order to go on cruises. Vandana had seen her father take out a loan with tremendous trepidation when her brother had needed an operation. She had also heard of relatives who, in sheer desperation, had taken loans when their crops failed. But to amass such huge debts to go on cruises was something she could never understand. This was a world that made no sense to her. Enraged by Vandana’s impatience, her customer complained to the credit card company, which in turn threatened to withdraw the contract from the BPO. Vandana shook her head with mortification as she recounted to Mankekar what had happened.

The culture shock comes from the fact that most agents have witnessed what debt does to families in India, especially from the socioeconomic contexts they come from. Other things that contribute to emotional dissonance include learning and unlearning accents, training the facial muscles in specific, unnatural ways.

“Accent training” and learning a “neutral” accent are, fundamentally, implicated in the process of being (re)embodied as a racialized subject. Changing one’s accent, even if to neutralize it, involves specific physiological practices…When we observed training sessions, we saw how trainees struggled to change how they spoke by learning to use their tongues and breath differently: pronouncing t’s and p’s in a supposedly neutral accent meant training oneself to aspirate differently, just as distinguishing between v’s and w’s involved new and unfamiliar movements of the lips and teeth. But beyond these obviously corporeal processes, learning to speak English a certain way and retraining one’s accent was as much about retraining— and reconfiguring—the body as it was the mind.

The agents also have to unlearn Indian ways of formal address (“Sir”/”Madam”), understand the nuances of “no worries” or “you’re welcome”, and watch English sitcoms to understand idiom but not pick up profanities and on their “own” time when there is hardly any time left in their waking hours.

Agents are also victims of being stereotyped by the media as promiscuous individuals doing “night work” as a means to sexual escapades. A media report quotes a head of a counseling center in Bengaluru as saying that a call center’s drainage system was found to be choked with condoms! Family members feel rattled by such reports and the stigma around working at night. One story relates a woman agent complaining that her mother forced her for a virginity test because she had missed her menstrual cycle for the last two months. Another story is that of a woman who is unable to conceive because of the toll caused by disturbance in the circadian rhythms. While families appreciate the money flowing in thanks to these jobs, they remain uncomfortable with the fact that these jobs with odd timings do not let them participate in normal family life.

Managing customers’ emotions requires the agents to dismiss racist abuse as silly and unprofessional, and something that needs to be responded to with courtesy, attention, empathy and care. The agents are expected to “absorb” the customers’ anger towards the companies politely because the customer satisfaction score is a metric that is used to evaluate the agents’ performance. While customer satisfaction is the core of the hospitality sector in general, the unique feature about the BPOs is that the agents have only their voice to depend on to communicate with the customer: they are told that they have to emote when speaking or that the customer should be able to “hear” them smile.

Additionally, the architecture of the BPOs—located in tech parks near shopping malls or surrounded by manicured lawns and water fountains—makes a certain kind of impression on the aspirants. This strategy is a way of appealing to youngsters: it promises them an entry into global citizenship who know how to shop in Western ways, accessorize, speak, use escalators, watch movies in multiplexes and so on. The built environment is designed as a means to “pedagogy of aspiration”: the agents look forward to moving around in this world with “pose and confidence”. The industry talks about steering the country towards a brighter future, projecting its services as reflections of technological and financial progress or development. However, against this projected hope is the emotion of despair: the industry as well as the employees do not know what the future holds for them. Advancements in chat functionalities, and now AI, make a lot of jobs redundant, as is the case elsewhere in other industries and other countries. The entire industry is built on emotional fragilities.

Here is an excerpt that provides a glimpse into the different themes of the book while also summarising the nature of the industry:

Raghu once complained to us, “Sometimes I feel that I can never hit the Pause button.” Our interlocutors’ affective labor did not finish with the end of the long working night. It left traces on their minds, hearts, and bodies, for many of them, there was no closure. It was implicated in their sleep patterns, digestive systems, musculature, and the curvature of their spines; it transected their intimate relations and their engagements with family and community; in some instances, it disrupted ovulation cycles. Labor and consumption, each fully imbricated with capital, generated futures and futurities, lifeworlds and socialities, subjectivities and solidarities. The push to work ceaselessly, without a period, did not so much overwrite our interlocutors’ desires or identities as produce them. And yet there were many moments when they veered off script; they entered into relations of intimacy with each other and with customers in physical and cultural landscapes far removed from their own; they engaged in forms of imaginative and virtual travel to navigate new worlds of mystery, fascination, and anxiety.

The key takeaway from the book is that not all remote work is the same, including the so-called IT jobs. BPOs are touted as part of the IT sector but they are not different from hospitality and are even more demanding than hospitality. Here is an example of remote work in which switching off the camera does not amount to the freedom that comes with being “AFK” or just shutting someone down or being physically free and not intimidated into being in an office. BPO jobs are remote jobs where functioning requires listening and attention. More importantly, The Future of Futurity shows what forced transplantation of cultural habits (accents, interactions, or work schedules) does to the context of tradition in countries such as India. In what ways do employees work the same everywhere? What other examples of “cyber coolies” exist in the Global South?

Soni Wadhwa lives in Mumbai.

Rights Roundup: Warm Weather Titles on the World Market

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 02:06:21 +0000

The books in this Rights Roundup come from Canada, Italy, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Finland, and the United States.

The post Rights Roundup: Warm Weather Titles on the World Market appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.

French Publishers Navigate a Shifting Rights Landscape

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 18:57:57 +0000

A newly released report show France's publishers faced a 2.6-percent drop in rights contracts in 2024, with co-editions surging.

The post French Publishers Navigate a Shifting Rights Landscape appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.

The Big Idea: Sara Omer

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:30:00 +0000

When you see a possibly terrifying mythical creature, is your first thought, I’m totally gonna pet that? If so, then Sara Omer, author of The Gryphon King, might have something in common with you.

SARA OMER:

At its core, The Gryphon King is about a horse girl on a quest for vengeance versus a man with cat-related PTSD. But before I can get into the infernal horse and lion biology at play, I have to gush about the monster-riding story more generally.

Just as children wish for puppies, children reading fantasy books wish for dragons. The unbreakable bonds between fire-breathing beasts and reluctant heroes populate epic fantasy stories, but if giant flying lizards aren’t your style, there’s any number of mythic monsters that might be mountable (monster romance implications of that statement aside). I love a dragonrider story as much as the next person, probably more than most people, but there’s a whole ecosystem of underutilized fantastic monsters out there that deserve some time in the spotlight. In the empire of Dumakra in The Gryphon King, there is at least one stable full of flying horses that didn’t ask to be ridden into battle or form lifelong bonds with power-hungry morally gray disaster princesses, but we can’t always fight the fate we’re dealt.

Growing up, having my own horse was as much a fantasy as having my own dragon, but I like to think I lived a tangential horse girl experience. I wasn’t yet in kindergarten when I learned to ride horses, taught by the grandfatherly carriage driver Mr. “Grandpa” Clint, who drove his carriage around the town square. After learning how to drive a carriage at an age that was definitely not road legal (to the chagrin of many other children), Grandpa Clint taught me how to ride a horse at his stable. The horse for the job was an ancient old white gelding living a life of comfort in retirement, and who I enthusiastically urged to a flying gallop my first time on the trail. I had a wonderful time as my mom and Mr. Clint raced after, concerned I would be terrified or die, probably. Surprise, I lived. I think everyone should experience that exhilaration, and a few hundred feet off the ground while you’re at it.

I had a formidable collection (army) of Breyer horses, although unlike Nohra in The Gryphon King, I didn’t grow up with an imperial stable. But some family friends had their own horses and boarded them nearby. Sometimes I would get to go ride or hang out at the stable and in the pastures. Rambo, their stubborn paint gelding, was barely tall enough to even be considered a horse rather than a pony, and I vividly remember a time he got kicked, presumably for being an asshole, and the bloody branding of the hoof that slowly healed. For this and other reasons, I’m convinced every horse is a little like a dragon.

There are multiple breeds of mythic horses I added to the bestiary that is The Gryphon King. Because why stop at sky horse when you can have water horse? And when I really got to thinking about the biology of pegasuses, I wanted to explore their avian side. What better way to celebrate the incredible Eurasian horses and the birds of prey in the region than combine them into one omnivorous monster that has an appetite for blood? As if horses weren’t already dangerous enough, now they really, really want to eat your fingers and the barn cats. And—oh, look—the battlefield became good grazing once the fighting’s quieted down. Really, pegasuses are a little terrifying, and they’re not even the most threatening strain of horse in Dumakra.

The moral is that if you make a bird big enough, humans begin to look like the small animals scurrying through the tall grass, evading tooth and talon. And what’s more terrifying than horse-eagle? Lion eagle.

I have utmost respect for anyone who can make a big cat with a massive wingspan seem docile and friendly; I just think, considering the injuries a falconer could incur and compounding those with what might befall your average lion tamer, you should have to sign a few release waivers to approach a gryphon.

Maybe I made all my animals ferocious because nature is ferocious and dangerous, and when people play at power, they don’t come close to the might of beasts. But their actions have often irreparable impacts on nature nonetheless.

Fear and respect can coexist. Add a little human curiosity, and I would never fault anyone who decided to ride a murder horse. The Gryphon King is for the readers who would go out of their way to pet a man-eating monster, who would risk it all to bond with a creature that could kill them a few different ways on purpose or by accident—I’m a little scared for your wellbeing, but I respect the drive and share the dream.

The Gryphon King: Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Bookshop|Powell’s

Author Socials: Bluesky|Instagram|Twitter

Podcast with Paul French, author of “Destination Macao”

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 11:22:50 +0000

Macau—onetime Portuguese colony, now casino hotspot—has long captured the imaginations of travelers, reporters, artists and writers. The city served as the only gateway to China for centuries; then, after the rise of Hong Kong, its slightly seedier vibe made it a popular setting for books, articles and movies exploring the more criminal elements of society.

Destination Macao, Paul French (Blacksmith, May 2025)

Paul French joins us, once again, to talk about his new book Destination Macao, the latest book in his Destination series. We chat about colonies and casinos, but also some of the lesser-known parts of Macau’s history, like an aborted British attempt to invade Macau in 1808; furious media rumors in 1935 about Japan’s interest in buying the colony, and the city’s brief time as an aviation hub for the Pan Am Clipper.

Paul French was born in London and lived and worked in Shanghai for many years. His book Midnight in Peking was a New York Times Bestseller and a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. He received the Mystery Writers’ of America Edgar award for Best Fact Crime and a Crime Writers’ Association (UK) Dagger award for non-fiction.

Nicholas Gordon has an MPhil from Oxford in International Relations and a BA from Harvard. He is a writer, editor and occasional radio host based in Hong Kong.

What to read as you await the next Thursday Murder Club book

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:00:00 +0000

If you love the cozy-and-complex vibes of Richard Osman’s hit mystery series, check out these 6 charming whodunits.

The Association of University Presses: ‘Essential Reading’ on Immigration

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 03:17:33 +0000

Almost 40 university presses have contributed to a collection of writings on issues in immigration and migration. By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson University Presses Share Their Targeted Resources rom time to time, the Association of University Presses asks its member-publishers to contribute some of their most signal work. This is a way the organization can take advantage of what ...

The post The Association of University Presses: ‘Essential Reading’ on Immigration appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.

Radish Announces the ‘Difficult Decision’ To Close

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 22:35:05 +0000

Less than a decade in action, one of the key 'online literature' serialization platforms, Radish, is to close on December 31.

The post Radish Announces the ‘Difficult Decision’ To Close appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.

Into the Woods

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 21:11:23 +0000

Krissy is off visiting friends for a couple of days, and so it falls to me to take the dog for her daily walk through the local nature preserve. I mean, I could not do it, but then I would disappoint Charlie, and, look, you just do not want to disappoint a dog. She will look at you all mopey and sad for the whole rest of the day. No thank you. A walk is vastly preferable. Plus, you know. I need the exercise too.

How has your Wednesday been?

— JS

A Lesson for Democrats

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 20:29:53 +0000

Last month Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second-largest teachers union, stepped down from the Democratic National Committee, where she has been a member since 2002. In the aftermath of Kamala Harris’s defeat in the 2024 election, the party has come under intensified criticism, both internally and externally, over […]

The Roberts Siblings Honor Their Mother’s Legacy of Faith in New Book 'Lucy Sings'

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 17:20:00 +0000

She sang through sorrow and spoke God's truth with courage. Now her children are sharing the faith-filled legacy of a mother who changed every room she entered with hymns, Scripture, and bold love.

Why Are You Marketing Your Book?

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 15:55:00 +0000

I have spent a career that spans three decades in book publishing and public relations, encouraging authors to market their books. If they don’t drive the promoting of their books, no one else will. And without promotions, books die and never see the light of a reading lamp. But now I want authors to ask themselves: “Why am I marketing my book?”

What will your answer be?

* The book deserves it

* To change people’s lives

* To reform public policy

* To expose a truth, avenge a wrong, or save someone or something from a terrible fate

* To entertain, inspire, enlighten, or inform others

* To sell more copies

* To help sell my backlist of books

* To sell my other products and services

* To get it picked up by a TV network, movie studio, or streaming service

* To make me famous and serve my ego

* To help earn well-paid speaking gigs

* To aid me in getting a promotion at work

* To get hired somewhere

* To get a big publisher for my next book

* To establish or preserve a legacy

Of course, why you are marketing a book should be aligned with why you wrote the book. The answers should be the same.

Your book’s success cannot be left to chance, random discovery, or pure luck. Once you know exactly why you are marketing your book, craft an effective marketing campaign that supports your goals with the right efforts.

You market not out of guilt or peer pressure, but rather, to satisfy your original need or intended desire to write and publish this book. Don’t look at marketing as an obligation, a tax, or a chore. Lift off your shoulders such a burden. Instead, feel empowered to seize this opportunity to get your voice heard, your book read, and your ideas and views embraced.

Do You Need Book Marketing Help?

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 4.52 million pageviews. With 5,300+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” Copyright 2025.

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook. It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum

Nosy Crow’s North American Publisher Katie Cunningham, Dead at 43

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 04:05:18 +0000

Kate Cunningham of Nosy Crow has died following complications related to ovarian cancer.

The post Nosy Crow’s North American Publisher Katie Cunningham, Dead at 43 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives.

“Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia” by Sam Dalrymple

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 01:41:21 +0000

The noun “Partition” (with a capital “P”) has, in South Asia and perhaps globally, come to mean the 1947 split of India and Pakistan, a climactic event that still roils, if not poison, domestic and international politics.

In his aptly-titled Shattered Lands, Sam Dalrymple brings not only cinematic urgency to this oft-told narrative, but also sets it in a much wider historical context of other “partitions” of India, five in all by his count.

The 1971 splitting of East and West Pakistan, resulting in the establishment of Bangladesh, is the the other “partition” most recounted, often on its own. Yet Dalrymple is no doubt correct to set the latter in the context of the former, much as did Tahir Kamran in Chequered Past, Uncertain Future: The Story of Pakistan.

Dalrymple however turns the clock further back.

As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait – were bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the Indian Empire, or more simply as the Raj… Its people used the Indian rupee, were issued passports stamped ‘Indian Empire’… Five Partitions tore it apart, carving out new nations, redrawing maps, and leaving behind a legacy of war, exile and division.

Shattered Lands as deeply-felt as it is deeply-researched

Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, Sam Dalrymple (William Collins, Fourth Estate India, June 2025; WW Norton, February 2026)

Shattered Lands is in some ways two different books: one, by the far the larger one, is an integrated narrative of the unwinding of the entirety of the “Indian Empire” and its successor states. Dalrymple is good at connecting dots and establishing throughlines. His background as a filmmaker is also much in evidence: the narrative is episodic and directed; characters are developed through their own words and actions.

Raised in India and having co-founded a peace-building initiative to reconnect refugees displaced by Partition, Dalrymple has first-hand exposure to issues and individuals. His approach uses and incorporates a great many primary sources, including diaries and oral histories conducted in a wide variety of languages. Its huge cast of characters includes not just the likes of Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and Aung San, but also Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen and Naga Bible-salesman Angami Zapu Phizo. Shattered Lands is—despite its wide geographical and thematic spread—readable and easy to follow.

Shattered Lands also posits a historiographical superstructure in the form of the “Five Partitions” of the title. Dalrymple’s expansion of the geography beyond the subcontinent itself is most convincing in his inclusion of Burma (now Myanmar) into the narrative. Regardless of whether Burma was “really” part of India (Gandhi, for one, concluded it was not), it was nevertheless tightly tied administratively, commercially and militarily. Unwinding it (there were more than a million Indians in Burma in the 1930s) was “devastating” social and political consequences, “triggering famine, a catastrophic migration crisis and laying the seeds for several insurgencies.”

Prior to Upper Burma being incorporated into the British Raj in the late 19th-century, borders between it and India had been largely vague and inconsequential, something untenable in a later world of unambiguous nation states. In a footnote, Dalrymple quotes Robert Reid, the Governor of Assam:

[the] boundary between our [Indian] hills and the Burma hills is as artificial as it is imperceptible,” he observed. The hill people “are not Indians in any sense of the word, neither in origin, nor in language, nor in appearance, not in habits, nor in outlooks, and it is by historical accident that they have been tacked on to our Indian province.”

During the War, Reid

lobbied to unite the Patkai peoples on both sides of the border in a completely separate crown colony … the possibility of another partition after the war.

Shattered Lands is an integrated narrative of the unwinding of the entirety of the “Indian Empire”.

Yet Burma was part of “India” only because the British deemed it to be so (Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, was never part of the Raj; it was acquired differently). Perhaps the devastating consequences that Dalrymple describes in empathetic detail derive not so from Burma being separated from India, but rather from Burma having been conjoined to India in the first place.

The fourth of his partitions is that of “Princely India”:

Much of the shape of modern India, Pakistan and Burma was actually determined by the decisions of the Indian princes, rather than British administrators, who chose to ‘integrate’ their kingdoms with one of the new countries, or become independent.

Few (if any) were in fact given the latter option. Given that even states such as Hyderabad that would have remained independent had they been allowed to, were forcibly annexed, this process seems not “partition” but its opposite.

And finally, while the Arab states—which bring the partitions to five—were nominally part of the Raj, this seems little more political and administrative expedience. That the Persian Gulf states might have ended up as part of the modern state of India, as Dalrymple claims, seems unlikely.

“Partitions”, while emotive, seems a less than entirely apt term to describe this process. Thankfully, Dalrymple’s mastery of narrative and sources means one doesn’t need to accede to the “five partitions” framing in order to benefit greatly from a book as deeply-felt as it is deeply-researched.

Peter Gordon is editor of the Asian Review of Books.

Top Ten Tuesday: Not Really a Re-Reader Re-Reads

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:34:00 +0000

With so much tragedy in the news right now, I really look forward to things that are light and fun like Top Ten Tuesday. Before we get to that, though, I want to mention another enjoyable bookish event: Summer's One Must Read Book 2025. Hosted by the wonderful Carol at Reading Ladies Book Club, it's a yearly collab where experienced book bloggers from around the world recommend their pick for the ONE book you MUST read this summer. I love participating each year. It's always a joy to see what everyone is recommending, even though it adds more books to my already-overwhelming TBR ~~pile~~ ~~mountain~~ mountain chain. Be sure to check it out. Okay, back to TTT...today's prompt is: Top Ten Books I'd Like to Re-read (submitted by Becky @Becky's Book Blog). I'm not a huge re-reader, but I *think* I can come up with ten. We'll see.

As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Books I'd Like to Re-read

1. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness—I recently learned that Ness is starting a spin-off series set in the world where his Chaos Walking trilogy takes place, the first installment to be released in Spring 2026. This ignited a desire in me to re-read the original books, which I adored when I read them back in 2011. I've already sped through The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer. Since the books are all so relentlessly intense, I'm taking a wee break before opening Monsters of Men, the final installment. Spoiler alert: I have loved the trilogy just as much this time around as I did the first time. The books are unique, immersive, and gripping.

2. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling—Although I was a 20-something wife and mother when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone came out in 1998, I devoured this children's book, eagerly grabbing up each subsequent installment as they were published. Other than the first book, which I've re-read a couple of times, I haven't re-read the series. I need to get on that since I loved all the books.

3. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins—I've been told that I don't need to re-read this series in order to understand what's happening in Sunrise on the Reaping, but—like the Harry Potter novels—I read the HG books as they came out and haven't re-read them. Yet.

4. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens—I re-read this classic novella every December to get me in the holiday spirit. I especially enjoy listening to it on audio with the incomparable Tim Curry narrating.

5. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak—I always list this YA novel as one of my all-time favorites, but I've only read it once and that was back when it first came out. I'm definitely due for a re-read.

6. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett—Honestly, I'm not sure if I've ever read this children's classic. I've read voraciously ever since I learned how as a kindergartner, so I probably have, but I don't remember it very well. I'm hoping to get to it before the year ends.

7. A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd—A number of years ago, I read and enjoyed the first couple books in Todd's Bess Crawford series. Bess is a WW1 nurse who finds herself embroiled in intrigue and mysteries of all sorts. That's about all I remember about the series. I'd love to re-read the initial installments and then pick up where I left off. I love a good historical mystery series!

8. Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani—I was reminded the other day about this series, which I read back in the early 2000s. Other than the fact that I loved it, I don't remember much about it, hence the need for a re-reading.

9. Atomic Habits by James Clear—This is another book I re-read every year. It helps motivate me to work on the goals/resolutions I set each January. I've read other books about habits, but this one resounds most with me.

10. A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich—I feel like I read this 1928 YA classic when I was a kid, but I'm not sure. Either way, I'm planning to read it this year since I love pioneer stories and I need a book set in Nebraska for the Literary Escapes Reading Challenge.

Phew, I did it! Ten books/series I want to re-read. Have you read any of them? Are you a re-reader? What are you planning to re-read this year? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.

Happy TTT!