In Case You Missed It: Backlist Book Love (May 12)
Some recommendations of books you don't yet know you desperately want to read
Inspired by the example of Bigolas Dickolas (and if you don’t know what that phrase means, first off, congratulations on not being Very Online, love that for you, but second, do read up on it, because it’s pretty amazing), I’m starting a new feature here. I don’t know how often I’ll do it — maybe once a month, maybe once a week — I’m going to yell about some older books I think you should read.
Most of the time, I will cut straight to yelling about those books, but for this first installment, I want to share a few words on why I’m going to start doing this.
The past few days have seen a lot of conversations like the above on Writer Twitter (which is still gamely dragging itself along the deck of that Hindenburg of a platform). There’s also this thread from Matt Wallace, which I think was spawned by other Discourse, but which plays into the same financial reality of being a writer: It kind’a sucks. Success has to be both huge and immediate to mean anything, at least to the publisher — and if your book doesn’t hit those metrics, your future offers are likely to suffer.
And this, as I opined, fundamentally misunderstands the life cycle of a book. Books take more time to consume than a lot of media, and so it takes longer for word about them to spread. Those of us who don’t get stellar debuts hope and pray for the “long tail” — the ability of a book to keep selling after its release — and if we’re very, very, very lucky, maybe four years down the line, a Bigolas Dickolas recommendation, supported by all the people who’ve quietly loved the book all along, skyrockets us back into some kind of profitability.
So, in the spirit of the Bigolas Dickolas Challenge, I’m going to make a regular habit of hyping up some older titles that I love.
I’ll do at least three each time. I won’t even be posting, like, full reviews. Just feral joy. They’ll all be at least a year old. Some of them might be a lot older! They’ll be from all sorts of genres — mostly fantasy, but also sci-fi, romance, mystery, historical, nonfiction. Living authors, because, hey, they’ll benefit the most from sales. And yeah, they’ll have Bookshop links that might earn me a few affiliate coins, if you’re so inclined.
If you also love one of these books? Help me hype it! Restack it in a Note. Toss out a Tweet or a whatever-they’re-called-on-other-platforms-now. Forward the rec to friends. I’m going to avoid things that were, like, huge hits (because, again, they don’t need the help), but some of them might be things that were very big if you’re inside the publishing world, but that the wider world might never have heard of, even if they’re award winners or Very Known Within Certain Circles. And others might be incredibly niche, because sometimes that’s what I latch onto.
So. Let’s share some love.
The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca
Published February 2021 | Adult fantasy
It’s frankly a crime against literature that this book didn’t get a bigger push when it came out. Queernorm dieselpunk fantasy with tacos, motorcycles, and magic mushrooms. You have no idea how much you want this book in your life.
Temporarily out of stock on Bookshop so get it from B&N or go ask a local indie store to order it for you!
Once & Future by A. R. Capetta and Cory McCarthy
Published March 2019 | YA sci-fi
Queer gender-flipped Arthuriana in spaaaaaaaaaaace. I’ve been putting this one on the summer reading lists for my campers, since we’ve got an Excaliber-themed Quest this year.
Spoiler Alert and All the Feels by Olivia Dade
Published October 2020 & November 2021 | Adult contemporary romance
I don’t read a lot of contemporary romance, but when I do, it’s geek romance, and frankly we need a lot more in this genre. These books are charming as all-get-out and also incredibly validating as a GoT fan who will literally die mad about S8. Spoiler Alert is the first, but I think I like All the Feels best because I adore Alex. (Ship Wrecked is also great but came out within the past year, so technically falls outside the scope of my self-imposed parameters for this feature). I hardly ever have time to re-read books anymore, but I will definitely re-read these, possibly at the beach later this month.
Hey, do you know how much it sucked to have a book, any book, come out in 2020? But you can make it suck less by getting Spoiler Alert and All the Feels from Bookshop now!
Now! Go forth and read! And spread some book joy!