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soemand) wrote2026-01-05 05:52 pm
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reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 08:55 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Credit: Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
While several Stephen King adaptations have made it to a screen near you lately (I’m looking at you, The Running Man, IT: Welcome to Derry, and The Long Walk), there are at least two adaptations that seem to have fallen to the wayside.
The first is The Talisman, a series of fantasy books King wrote with Peter Straub. Back in 2021, we found out that the Duffer Brothers were attached to adapt The Talisman novels into a series for Netflix, but in an interview with CBR for Stranger Things, Ross Duffer shared that “sadly, Talisman is no longer at Netflix, so we’re not involved.”
The wording there is interesting, because it doesn’t mean that the project is completely dead, just that it’s no longer a project at Netflix. The Duffers, however, will also no longer be working for Netflix. The two signed a deal with Paramount last summer that begins when the pair’s Netflix deal ends in April 2026. That doesn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t be involved with an adaptation, though, of course, they said they aren’t at the moment regardless. Whatever the case, it appears certain that the brothers will not be working on The Talisman, whether or not the project continues on elsewhere. At least we know that as of July 2025, King is “almost done” writing a third Talisman novel, which is based on an idea he and Straub talked about before Straub’s death in 2022.
The other project—the CW’s proposed adaptation of King’s short story, “The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson”—is very definitely dead. In it, a woman accidentally shoots herself in the head with a nail gun but is totally, totally fine, except for the fact she now talks to a manifestation of Jesus who wants her to stop an apparent apocalypse. The CW announced the project way back in July 2020, but Matt Webb Mitovich broke the news via his newsletter, Matt’s Inside Line, that the network dropped the series after it was acquired by Nexstar in 2022. As part of that acquisition, the CW has moved away from scripted series (which includes canceling all of the Arrowverse shows) and is turning toward reality television and sports. ‘Becka Paulson, it seems, was also in Nexstar’s crosshairs.
While these two projects are dead or at least delayed, don’t fret: there’s sure to be more King adaptations on the horizon, including Mike Flanagan’s takes on The Dark Tower series and Carrie. [end-mark]
The post Two Previously Announced Stephen King Adaptations Appear to Be Dead appeared first on Reactor.
quomodocumque_feed) wrote2026-01-05 09:15 pmSix popular math authors, including me, did a round-table interview for the Notices of the American Mathematical Society about talking about math to the non-academic public, or, as the Notices calls them for some reason, “the masses.” What fun to be in this conversation with the people who have been at this a lot longer than I have! I like what Steve Strogatz says about precision:
“I would want to bring up the great probability theorist, Mark Kac, who said “Tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, but not the whole truth.” I think that works pretty well. Don’t lie. But you can leave some things out, and they can be in the notes at the end. I just worry that our training predisposes us to be really tight when it comes to writing for the public, because you do have to make little mistakes. Some people call it dumbing down. I wouldn’t, though, but it takes skill. If you really try to put in all the carping and the caveats that we’re used to, that’s going to be bad writing.”
As I said at the top, this is not a Marxist post — best I can do is to resurface an old interview I did for The Atlantic where I appreciate my Marxist art history professor from college, Howard Lay. (I wonder if he ever knew we called him “Frito.”) It looks like the Atlantic piece is behind a paywall, so if you can’t read it there, here’s what I said:
“I had an art history professor in college, Howard Lay, who was a Marxist critic, and who always reminded us that a painting was labor transformed into a physical object with the purpose of being bought and sold.
What was great about him was that he never talked about paintings as just marketable objects. His Marxism didn’t reduce our understanding of the paintings, it enriched it. An object for sale is only one of many things a painting is, but if you ignore the material circumstances of the painting’s production, you’re missing something about the painting that actually matters.
This stuck with me, and it affects how I think of the role in mathematics in the so-called real world. A legislative session is not just a series of numbers; a novel is not just a probability distribution of words; the Internet is not just a network with nodes and edges; but, still, they are mathematical entities, among all of the other things they are, and missing out on this means missing out on a valuable channel of understanding.”
prixmium) wrote2026-01-05 03:42 pm
candyheartsex and here is my Dear Author Letter on my dreamwidth that has become a dear author letter repository. ursulas_alcove) wrote2026-01-05 03:31 pm
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addme_fandom2026-01-05 05:25 pmcitrine_too) wrote2026-01-05 01:39 pm
reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 08:00 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
There is a lot of entertainment out there these days, and a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror titles to parse through. So we’re rounding up the genre shows coming out each month.
It’s the start of winter anime season, which means a lot of new anime, including the return of some favorite titles like Jujutsu Kaisen and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, and spinoffs of some popular anime like Trigun and My Hero Academia. A new Star Trek show also launches this month, along with the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe series, and a Game of Thrones spinoff.
(Season 6) A college student discovers a supernatural world after stumbling into a tiny village and being attacked by zombies. A mysterious sword-wielding girl saves him, but that’s only the beginning of his adventures. This anime is based on a Chinese webcomic called Under One Person.
In this fantasy world, criminals are sentenced to acts of heroism—and this condemned criminal must battle endless hordes of monsters. When he dies, he’s simply resurrected and forced to fight them again. But there might be a way out, if he allies with a mysterious goddess…
A young blind man named Kunon decides to hone water magic in order to create a new set of eyes. Kunon begins to show great skill in his magic training, even surpassing his mentor in ability. But even as his magical ability grows, his main goal remains out of reach—will he ever be able to see?
A very powerful six-year old has been reborn as the child of an emperor. He has a ton of powers, which increase with every loyal follower who pledges themselves to his cause. But all this wealth, power, and privilege has a hidden cost, especially when it comes to the royal court’s political machinations.
In a world where most people have some sort of superpower, only a few are chosen to go on and become heroes. But one unlicensed college student decides to test his luck and becomes a vigilante. This series takes place five years before the events of popular anime series My Hero Academia.
Demon King Ahriman wants to conquer the world—till he’s stopped by his compassionate daughter Dou. She’s just such a sweetheart that everyone who meets her melts immediately! Jahi, the king’s loyal secretary, decides to train Dou into a proper, terrifying demon—but can she overcome Dou’s adorableness and kind heart?
In this comedic enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, a demon unexpectedly falls for a beautiful priestess. He’s supposed to destroy her adventuring party, but now all he wants to do is confess his affection for her—even if that means going behind the demon king’s back.
An office worker is transported to a fantasy kingdom… but instead of becoming a hero, he plays to his strengths and gets a job in the palace’s accounting department. His skills attract the attention of the handsome, but icy, Knight Captain and soon a romance blossoms between them.
Van, the child of a marquis, realizes that he has immense knowledge from a past life and becomes a prodigy in magic. His snooty battle magic-favoring family doesn’t care for his crafting magic skill, so they banish him to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. But Van uses this banishment as an opportunity to maximize his crafting magic and tap into the memories of his past life so that he can revitalize the tiny village.
Though he grew up poor and hunting for food, Hajime Shinonome enjoys a comfortable life as the local village’s resident adventure: he gets money and food in exchange for going on quests and fending off monsters. But his life takes a bit of a turn when he rescues an orphaned girl from a monstrous slime and decides to adopt her. Adventuring isn’t so easy when you have a hyper sword-wielding child tagging along.
A chancellor in a fantasy realm gets transported to another fantasy realm. But he’s not about to let this kerfuffle get him down. In fact, he’s determined to use this as a chance to get some much needed rest and relaxation from his noble duties.
(Season 3) Following season two’s catastrophic Shibuya Incident arc, the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen sees the sorcerers enter the “Culling Game”—a twisted battle royale conducted by ancient sorcerer Kenjaku as a way to evolve humanity. The sorcerers and cursed users must battle each other to the death across different sections of Japan.
After a terrible betrayal, kindhearted Constance Grail is sentenced to death. But as she awaits execution, the ghost of Scarlett Castiel, a noblewoman executed for trying to poison the prince’s lover, whispers to her and offers her a chance at salvation. Together, the two of them unravel a conspiracy hiding in the kingdom.
Even though she’s prophesied to hold great power and defeat the Demon Lord, Flum doesn’t really understand her abilities. Her party leader sees her as a liability and ends up selling her into slavery. But when Flum is thrown into a gladiatorial death match against some monsters, her power finally ignites.
Akira Tounome, a polite invisible man, runs a detective agency with the help of Shizuka Yakou, a mild-mannered blind woman. As they work together day after day, a slow romance begins to blossom between them. After all, Shizuka can always tell where Akira is, even though he’s invisible and she can’t see. It’s a sweet slice-of-life with a magical spin.
(Season 3: Part 2) In a world where people spontaneously combust and turn into fiery monsters, a group of pyrokinetic fire fighters is entrusted to protect humanity. This new season sees the main characters uncovering a big secret, but before they can stop an impending disaster, they’re branded as traitors.
In this quiet seaside town, the most popular boys at rival prestigious academies just so happen to be vampires and werewolves respectively. When a new student transfers to the vampire boys’ school, both sets of popular boys find themselves inexplicably drawn to her…. Based on the popular webtoon of the same name, it’s like Twilight, but with even more boys.
In the distant future, humanity is forced to leave Earth and searches the stars for habitable planets. On one distant arid planet, an outlaw named Vash wanders the wastelands, hiding from his hostile brother. This series, which is a sequel to Trigun Stampede (itself a reboot of a ‘90s anime), picks up two and a half years after the first show and finds Vash hiding out in a remote village after a catastrophic tragedy.
A contentious online streamer who purposefully trolls his viewers with ragebait is actually a soft-hearted older brother who just wants to take care of his little sister’s medical bills. He doesn’t care if the world hates him, so long as the money from his streams helps out his sister. But when the unthinkable happens, he finds himself pulled into the world of digital exorcists who fight digital evil spirits and ghosts who possess the accounts of the deceased.
The Holy Grail is a magical wish-granting device capable of fulfilling any desire—which means people desperately want it and wage full wars to obtain it. After the end of the Fifth Grail War in Japan, rumors point to a new grail in the United States of America. Mages start to gather and a new battle for the grail begins.
A grumpy, misanthropic teacher takes a new job at a remote mountain school, hoping that it will be a relaxing experience. But he quickly learns the school is for demi-humans—werewolves, mermaids, half-rabbit creatures, oh my! His new job is to help them learn to blend in with humans!
(Season 3) From legendary animator Genndy Tartakovsky, Primal takes place in a fantastical version of the past, where Neanderthals and dinosaurs coexist. It follows a neanderthal man named Spear who bonds with a female t-rex named Fang. The two bond after both losing their families and form a partnership as they encounter different humans, like Vikings and Ancient Egyptians, and dangerous animals.
A group of death row convicts are sent to search for the coveted elixir of life on a mythical and dangerous island. In this new season, the main characters arrive at the castle that belongs to the monsters who rule the island. Meanwhile, other expeditions have arrived on the island, also seeking the powerful elixir.
A precocious five year-old constantly gets in trouble in kindergarten… but it turns out that it’s because she can see evil spirits! Her way of getting rid of them is punching them, which is why she’s been getting into trouble! A new teacher aims to help her out.
A girl is reincarnated into her favorite romance video game! But as the main villainess, instead of one of the main characters! The game’s story progresses as normal, but things take a turn when the prince of a neighboring country swoops in and unexpectedly proposes to her.
A warrior princess is captured by a demon army, expecting to be tortured. But the torture comes in the form of delicious food! Can she resist these tempting treats and keep the secrets of her kingdom?
(Season 3) The twin children of a tragically murdered pop idol are actually reincarnated fans of hers, who were also brutally killed. They make their way in the entertainment industry, while also trying to solve the murders of their mother and their former lives.
The newest Star Trek spinoff series follows a class of Starfleet cadets as they train to be officers. Starfleet Academy takes place in the far-future timeline of the Star Trek franchise and this class of cadets is the first one in over a century. The students, made up of humans and aliens alike, are taught aboard the USS Athena, which docks in San Francisco.
(Season 2) One of the most evocative fantasy anime out there, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End follows the titular elven mage who has outlived all the members of her original adventuring party. She’s determined to journey to the land of the dead, so she can pay final tributes to her old friends. Now, she travels with two young heroes. The show dives into the ramifications of long-lived fantasy races and doesn’t hold back in getting really poignant about the passage of time.
The latest prequel to Game of Thrones adapts George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. The stories follow Sir Duncan the Tall (or Dunk), a lowborn knight, and his young squire, Prince Aegon Targaryen (known as “Egg”). And yes, Egg is one of those Targaryens.
Ryan Murphy’s latest is a sci-fi body horror series about a sexually transmitted virus that transforms regular people into absolutely gorgeous ones, but with gruesome and terrifying consequences. Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall star as FBI agents looking into the bloody deaths of international supermodels.
Struggling actor Simon Williams lands the lead role in the remake of an in-universe superhero flick—and eventually gets superpowers himself. Apparently, in the MCU’s version of Hollywood, superpowers are looked down upon, so Simon has to hide his newfound abilities. He’s joined by Trevor Slatterly, the actor who once “played” the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 and also returned for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings after being kidnapped by a criminal organization for impersonating the Mandarin. Hopefully, he can finally catch a break![end-mark]
The post Here Are All the Genre TV Premieres Airing in January! appeared first on Reactor.
greghousesgf) wrote2026-01-05 11:50 amreactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 07:20 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Credit: Apple TV
reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 07:00 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Success breeds imitation. That’s why, ever since the first movie tickets were sold for a profit, the most popular films always portend a swarm of knockoffs, often with comically lower budgets and lesser-known actors.
These days, plenty of movies that seem to pop up on streaming services almost instantaneously in the wake of a big hit movie often have the feel of an imitation. Several tiers below that are the ubiquitous mockbusters, the kind of movie that tends to end up in the DVD bargain bins of convenience stores. Zero-budget and straight-to-video, these movies often have deliberately misleading titles that get conflated with big Hollywood pictures. And whenever a “real” movie is based on intellectual property in the public domain, a mockbuster is virtually guaranteed. And why not? The producers don’t even have to change the title! In fact, the term “mockbuster” appears to have been coined in reference to the movie H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, released by Asylum Films the day before the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation.
Back in the ’80s and ’90s, however, many of these seemingly redundant movies emerged from the bizarro world of made-for-TV movies. I have written about TV movies before (here and here), and not because I think they’re good. It’s more like processing some traumatic accident. I find myself asking: Why did this have to happen? Who’s responsible? How do I move on?
Shockingly, though, a few of these unnecessary TV movies might nevertheless surprise some viewers. Despite lowered expectations, many of them were serious (if flawed) attempts to tell a story. Of course, as one would predict, many other examples would never even make it to the bargain bin. Here are a few that range from “hey, not bad!” to “what were they thinking?”
I’ll start with one that’s worth a shot. In May 1991—about a month before Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves premiered in theaters—the British-made Robin Hood debuted on FOX. This may be a TV movie, but it was not made for TV. Instead, it was intended for release in American theaters until it became obvious that it would get snowed under by the looming Kevin Costner-led blockbuster.
That’s a shame, because this movie features several elements that were fresh at the time, including a “gritty” medieval look, a serious (but not too serious) take on the characters, and a more independent Maid Marian who joins the action rather than waiting to be rescued. The cast has some people worth watching. Patrick Bergin plays a charming Robin Hood. In my recollection (I was 13 at the time), FOX’s relentless ad campaign prominently featured Uma Thurman as Marian. No objection there. Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot) and Jeroen Krabbé (The Fugitive) are the bad guys, and a young Owen Teale (Game of Thrones) is Will Scarlett. Most important, this movie is comfortable with a smaller scale. Rather than telling a globe-trotting story involving the Crusades and court intrigue in faraway London, this is a more focused and realistic narrative about a local conflict.
I always viewed this one as a pleasant surprise, a thoughtful companion to the fun but somewhat overblown theatrical release that arrived a few weeks later. Why choose? You can like them both!
By the 1990s, Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame had been adapted so many times that it seemed inevitable that Disney would eventually give it a try. Somehow, they produced a version of this heartbreaking story that featured not only singing gargoyles, but an uplifting theme and a happy ending. Even the most skeptical critics had to admit that Disney succeeded.
A year later, TNT attempted a serious take1 on the story, with no singing gargoyles. And they brought out the big guns: Richard Harris as the villainous Dom Frollo, Salma Hayek as the gypsy dancer Esmeralda, and a barely recognizable Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo, the tragic bell-ringer. IMdb has a funny story of how Patinkin tried but hilariously failed to secure the title role for the Disney film, which led directly to him getting the role here. And hey… wait a minute… is that Nigel Terry from Excalibur? Yes! It is!
The production values may not have aged well, but they garnered four Emmy nominations back in the day. More than that, the movie offers some smart, sensitive, and nuanced commentary on class, faith, and human progress. Still, the film is held back by the limited scope of a TV movie. There’s a lot of creative camera work to make the tiny crowd of extras resemble a massive Paris uprising. The big action set pieces are somehow less impressive than a previous made-for-TV adaptation from 1982, starring Anthony Hopkins. And the runtime may be too compact to explore all the relationships, from the unrequited love stories to the fraught mentor-mentee tension between Quasimodo and Dom Frollo. So, your mileage may vary with this one. But if you need more adaptations of this story in your life—like the people who run this blog that I discovered—then it’s worth a try.
In the fall of 1999, director Luc Besson followed up The Fifth Element (1997) with The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, starring his then-wife Milla Jovovich. Critics were not receptive. Many pointed to the disjointed themes: the movie had feminist aspirations, but also casually toyed with the idea that Joan was mentally ill. The most generous reviews tried to compare the film to Braveheart (1995), arguing that it was a clumsy patriotic epic that was meant to be more fun than historically accurate… not exactly a ringing endorsement.
Expectations for a TV movie, however, are mercifully lower. And so the two-part Joan of Arc released on CBS earlier that year enjoyed a warmer reception. Rather than speculating about the main character’s psychological state, this version opts for a paint-by-numbers narrative, no doubt tested to please a wider audience. Joan of Arc plays it so safe that if you search for reviews, you’ll find many conservative-leaning websites praising the film for not bashing the Catholic Church.
At the time, the major networks were on a roll with high-concept miniseries. Among these, Merlin (1998) with Sam Neill might be the best known. Joan of Arc has a similar feel, especially when it comes to the talented cast. Leelee Sobieski takes the title role, supported by Peter O’Toole (who won an Emmy), Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, and Neil Patrick Harris (back when most people would still point to the screen and say, “Doogie Howser?”) Whereas The Messenger received multiple Razzie nominations, this redundant TV movie was rewarded with four Emmy nominations and thirteen more from the Golden Globes.
I don’t really know what any of that means, though. Miniseries are notoriously bloated, and this is no exception. By the time it reaches its first battle scene, most feature-length films would be over. Joan of Arc might be more useful as an artifact of how religious piety (and zealotry) was depicted in popular culture in the late 20th century. After all, the movie starts with Joan thanking God while burning to death, an act of fanaticism that I hope would be explored and deconstructed a bit more in the present day. Besides, can anyone really top Jane Wiedlin’s Joan from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure? That’s a debate for another time.2
Let’s crawl out of the Middle Ages and into the modern world, where we find a movie that is much closer to the classic mockbuster model that we love to ridicule. I’m talking about Goddess of Love, released by NBC in 1988. Props to fellow Reactor writer Reneysh Vittal for reintroducing me to this mess. I remember that NBC promoted this movie so relentlessly that there was no escaping the ads—even David Letterman satirized the promotional campaign run by his own network.
So here’s the plot: on Mount Olympus, which looks strangely like a backyard in Beverly Hills, the god Zeus (John Rhys-Davies!?) punishes a disobedient Venus by imprisoning her in statue form. Her only way of escaping is to make a man fall in love with her. Centuries later, the statue is delivered to 1980s Los Angeles. Through a silly sequence of events, a hairdresser named Ted places his engagement ring on the statue’s finger, bringing the goddess to life. While Ted dodges her increasingly aggressive advances, Venus discovers the wonders of modern America. And yes, in typical ’80s fashion, that includes a credit card and a makeover.
Goddess of Love is a remake of a comedy from the 1940s, but its inspiration (and much of its script) appears to be drawn from Mannequin, the critically panned but financially successful rom-com released a year earlier. Perhaps the most blatant rip-off involves Mannequin’s main comic relief, Hollywood Montrose (Meshach Taylor), a gay character whose positive portrayal was considered trailblazing for the time. Goddess goes for the same laughs by casting Little Richard in a similar role… but they don’t commit to the bit, leaving him mostly out of the plot.
Even if Little Richard had the chance to carry the movie, he would have been weighed down by the puzzling decision to cast Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White in the lead. I don’t blame them for trying, but the script does her no favors. Maybe this could have worked if, like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s early performances, she only had to deliver a handful of quippy, memorable lines. But no: she’s expected to be funny, cutesy, sexy, emotional, and sometimes scary. Even for a more experienced actor, it’s a lot to ask. If NBC ever re-ran this one, it was certainly without the relentless ad campaign.
Am I leaving out any redundant, ripped off, or mockbuster-adjacent examples from my list of TV movies? I’m not entirely sure if I want to know, but if you have any that have stuck with you over the years, please add them in the comments. And may the goddess of love have mercy on our souls.
︎︎The post Made-for-TV Movies That Mimicked Hollywood, For Better or Worse appeared first on Reactor.
reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 06:19 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Screenshot: Warner Bros.
reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 06:00 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Credit: Warner Bros. Television
milesent_feed) wrote2026-01-05 06:08 pmNot a lot to report; on Friday I wrote up instructions on how to move pages on the MiddleWiki and helped the husband move 4 pages. woot! Hopefully he will get the hang of it and be a great help on the great page migration.
On Saturday I went to my Yoga class (which was packed… not surprising, the New Years Resolutions have just started and all!) It was a good class and helped me de-stress marvelously. Afterward I stopped at the drug store (egad! I can do that?) My dear husband had helpfully pointed out that it was on the way home from the Yoga studio and indeed, it was. The sort of obvious thing I tend not to think of. Anyway, I got the two small items we needed and a bunch of things we didn’t, which was fun.
Sunday my womb-mate came over to sew and it was a good and accomplishy afternoon which we capped off with a soak in the hot tub. Poor, neglected hot tub. I had not used it since the last time I changed the chlorine and before we went in I checked the levels… and I had to change the chlorine. Tsk. It’s not that I didn’t want to use the hot tub… it’s that I just did not dedicate time to it.
MiddleWiki Update: I’ve moved 60 pages, woot! Husband has moved 4, hee. A good start. I’m so glad the templates are working now.
Sewing Update: I got out my Bugundian belt to attach the new hole thingies to make new holes (it was too big when I got it) alas, could not find washers the right size for the back. Have elicited the husband’s assistance.
I also folded up and put away the pattern pieces for the coat. Very proud of myself for that, hee. I do still have finishing touches to do on the great coat repair, but as it’s wearable I moved on to a more fun project:
I picked up that black wool skirt that has been sitting, pinned together, on the floor for way longer than I’d like to think. I tried it on and, with the sister’s help, decided how to fix it. I felt it was too ‘poofy’ at the top and was thinking of tailoring the top instead of pleating (It was pinned into pleats) ah, new solution: Sew down the pleats. Easy peasy, nice smooth top. I even got the belt band attached, zipper put in and hook and eye. It is now completely done, save the hem. *twirl!* The down side; our late cat, Amy, liked to knead on it and sleep on it… so it is covered with her hair. Not sure I can bear to wash it.
The doppelganger worked on her 15th century Italian dress and got a lot done as well. Go team! We decided to do this again next week.
fox_in_me) wrote2026-01-05 06:53 pm
smartbitches_feed) wrote2026-01-05 04:30 pm
Throne of Secrets by Kerri Maniscalco is $2.99! This is book two in the Prince of Sin series. I loved book one and excitedly preordered this one. These are erotic fantasy romances and I’ll say I liked this one slightly less than book one. Still a fun time though! Book three is out soon and I’ve preordered that one as well.
Two rivals torn apart by a dark memory reunite on a deadly hunt—and in an irresistibly twisted fairy tale—in the next steamy standalone fantasy romance from New York Times bestselling sensation Kerri Maniscalco.
A wicked prince determined to save his kingdom.
Gabriel Axton—infamous as the Prince of Gluttony, the self-proclaimed rake of rakes—has always lived for indulgence: in delicious food, in tantalizing women, and most of all, in the thrill of the hunt, where his love of danger can take over. But when his favorite adventure takes a deadly turn, he realizes something is very wrong in his demon court. With the clock ticking, he must turn to the only one who might uncover the truth: a journalist he has spent a decade avoiding…
A reporter hell-bent on finding the truth.
Adriana Saint Lucent has been on the hunt for years—if she could just report something damning enough about that no-good scoundrel Gabriel Axton, she knows others would finally see the demon as she does. But she never expected to turn up a rumor too terrifying to be believed: could the ice dragons to the north be growing restless? Drawn into the secrets of the Underworld, Adriana’s investigation leads her into the place she dreads most…Axton’s infamous court.
A dangerous rivalry—and deliciously twisted fairy tale.
To stop darkness from falling over their kingdom, Axton and Adriana will have to unite against an escalating danger. But with each holding tight to their own secrets, can they find the truth before it’s too late? And what will they do with an equally troubling rumor: that they might not actually hate one another, after all?
RECOMMENDED: Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton is $2.99! Carrie gave this one an A-, but warns it’s definitely not a romance. Definitely skim her review to see if this book is right for you:
This book broke my heart but it also made me so happy.
One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse in this uniquely hilarious debut from a genre-bending literary author.
Then Big Jim’s eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to feel like something isn’t quite right. His most tried-and-true remedies–from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim’s loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis–fail to cure Big Jim’s debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he discovers that the neighbors are devouring each other and the local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of dangerous new predators roaming Seattle. Humanity’s extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a foul-mouthed crow whose knowledge of the world around him comes from his TV-watching education.
Hollow Kingdom is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow can become a hero.
House of the Beast by Michelle Wong is $1.99! I mentioned this on Hide Your Wallet and even purchased a physical copy. It’s currently resting atop TBR mountain.
Step into the House of the Beast in this dark fantasy debut from The Legend of Korra graphic novel illustrator Michelle Wong, about a young woman who strikes a deal with a mysterious and alluring god to seek revenge on her aristocratic family—featuring illustrations throughout by the author.
Born out of wedlock and shunned by society, Alma learned to make her peace with solitude, so long as she had her mother by her side. When her mother becomes gravely ill, Alma discovers a clue about her estranged father and writes a message begging for help. Little does she know that she is a bastard of House Avera, one of the four noble families that serve the gods and are imbued with their powers—and her father is a vessel of the Dread Beast, the most frightening god of all, a harbinger of death.
In a desperate exchange for her mother’s medicine, Alma agrees to sacrifice her left arm to the Beast in a ceremony that will bind her forever to the House and its deity. Regardless, her mother soon passes, leaving Alma trapped inside the Avera’s grand estate, despised by her relatives and nothing but a pawn in her father’s schemes.
Now vengeance is the only thing that keeps Alma going. That, and the strange connection she has with her god—a monster who is constantly by her side, an eldritch being taking the form of a beautiful prince with starlit hair that only she can see. He tells Alma that she has been chosen to bring change upon their world, and with his help, Alma plots a perilous journey to destroy the House that stole everything from her.
A gripping fantasy novel marked by divine rituals, intense combat, and twisted romance, House of the Beast is a tale of revenge, resilience, and the power of love to see us through the darkness.
The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah is $2.99! This fantasy novel was mentioned in a previous Hide Your Wallet. I’ve also seen it recommend in the comments a few times, like our Rec League for Book Club Suggestions.
reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 05:00 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Image: Lionsgate
reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 04:30 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Thanks to editor Mal Frazier at Tor, who read the SFF Bestiary article on Moby-Dick and offered an early look at an upcoming novel, I have had a very pleasant end-of-year vacation reading Alexis Hall’s Hell’s Heart. The jacket copy calls it “Gideon the Ninth meets Moby-Dick,” and that’s accurate. It’s a bravura piece, following the plot and characters of Melville’s novel closely, but taking them in directions that are all its own.
There is so much to this retelling and recasting. Literary allusions in two languages and cultural traditions. Historical references. Worldbuilding that riffs, sometimes ferociously, off current events.
In the far future, the spaceship Pequod, which the narrator calls a hunter-barque, and its crew and its legendary captain, hunt Leviathans on and in Jupiter. Earth, or Terra, has been stripped of its resources and essentially abandoned. Most of humanity lives in space.
It’s a grand adventure. It’s also blessed (some readers might say cursed, but that would not be me) by Melville’s original structure, which puts the worldbuilding right out front, in dedicated chapters. We learn in detail what a hunter-barque looks like, what its parts are and why; we know what it’s doing out there, and above all, for the purposes of the Bestiary, what it’s hunting.
There’s a whole chapter called “Cetology.” Here we learn that
The broad class of beasts that includes the Leviathan, sometimes known as Titans and sometimes Cetaceans, includes four main categories of horror: Behemoths, Krakens, true Leviathans, and Wyrms.
These are the creatures we will meet, and the characters will hunt and fight and kill and be killed by. The category adds up to, at its simplest, “some great beast with chitinous mandibles and feeder tendrils.”
Behemoths are the biggest:
[…] armored maggots a kilometer long which move ponderously through an ocean of ultra-dense liquid star-metal.
They have no mouths, and some scholars speculate that they feed on the massive electrical energies generated by the currents within Jove’s liquid center.
The description makes me think of amphipods, though these small and abundant terrestrial creatures are not armored. The shape and overall structure are similar.
[Krakens] are nearly as big as the Behemoths, but less massive, if you see what I mean. They’re all tentacles and float-sacs, and most of the time they just blow whatever way the winds take them on long parachute arms. Once or twice, however, I’ve seen one expel a great jet of plasma from its rear end. Or its front end. Their body has a lozenge shape, and they’re studded all over with eyes, so the extent to which they can be said to even have a front and a rear is debatable.
They’re basically giant muscular bags full of gas, and however they turn atmospheric flotsam and any ships they might eat into usable energy, the organs don’t survive gutting.
That reads to me like jellyfish. Jellies are as alien as it gets on this planet, and I can see them making sense on Jupiter.
Wyrms are a different kind of animal, and ubiquitous in the story:
[…] invariably eel-like, invariably fly in the strange skies of Jove, and there their similarities to one another end. Some are as long as your finger and feed by skimming some unknown element from the surface of the hydrogen sea. Some are twice as long as your entire body and feed by biting chunks out of anything they happen to fly into. Some attach parasitically to Behemoths or Leviathans, some seem to hunt the ones that live parasitically. In a lot of ways it’s beautiful. If your idea of beauty revolves strongly around long thin monsters eating each other.
The narrator points out the analogy to eels, and to the remoras that surround various species of whales, as well as the parasites that infect the eyes of Greenland sharks. Wyrms are a fair bit like sharks themselves, in the way they’re always there, ready to swarm in toward any possible prey. A considerable part of the job of processing a kill involves fighting off Wyrms.
And finally, there are the true Leviathans, of which there are multiple species.
They’re all between some tens and some hundreds of meters in length, always far longer than they are broad and far broader than they are tall. Their flight, which like most Jovian creatures makes a complete mockery of conventional aerodynamics, is an undulating motion supported by rippling side fins which together make up perhaps half their body width. There’s also similarity in their tails, which are always long and taper to points.
Although we know these are the Jovian analogues of whales—both baleen and toothed whales—their anatomy, with the rippling fins and the sharply pointed tail, points toward another terrestrial species, the giant oarfish.
Finally, they’re always hydrogenically amphibious, able to exist both in the skies and in the hydrogen sea itself, although different species divide their time between those environments differently.
Of those species, the ones most relevant to the story are the Barnard’s or Slack-Jawed, which is the largest and least known, and which feeds on energy by swimming or flying along with its mouth wide open; the Death’s Head,
named for the skull-like armor plates that cover most of its head (all Leviathans are armored, the Death’s Head just frontloads it). Although its jaws are dangerous, its primary means of attack against large enemies seems to be ramming. This makes it a huge threat to hunter-barques, but since it feeds exclusively on the lesser Jovian creatures, smaller even than the Wyrms, scholarly consensus is that the head armor evolved for mating duels, rather than for hunting.
And finally, the real point of it all, the reason for the hunt and the whole epic adventure, the Ridgeback or Sperm Leviathan.
It takes its name (both of its names, really) from the long, broad ridge that runs the length of its spine. This ridge is filled with long bundles of nerve fibers, and those fibers themselves are bathed in the unique substance we call spermaceti. The creature’s brain is also marinated in the stuff. At least two scholars have suggested that this close neural connection to such a powerful fuel should grant the creature psychokinetic abilities, and one of those adds that this might help to explain how it (and by extension all Jovian creatures) can actually fly.
There are others, but these are the ones that figure in the story. The Ridgeback matters most of all to the universe it lives and is hunted in, because spermaceti powers everything in the human system. Without it, there’s no life support, no transport, no habitats, nothing. Everything relies on it.
That makes the Pequod’s mission vital. The crew sign on for a three-year voyage, paid by shares in the eventual profits, like terrestrial whalers. The ship becomes their world. They meet other ships occasionally, but for the most part they sail, or fly, through the Jovian atmosphere in search of the electrical spouts that mark the presence of their prey.
The hunt, the capture, the kill, proceed much as they do in Melville, with similar levels of both danger and tedium. Because this is Moby-Dick in space, the ship’s captain is spectacularly and epically fixated on the legendary (if not outright mythical) Möbius Beast. This Leviathan of extraordinary size, intelligence, and apparent malice robbed her of her leg, and she is dead set on revenge.
Leviathan anatomy, biology, and behavior are crucial parts of the story. Despite centuries of the hunt, no one knows a great deal about Jovian animals. It’s not even known to science how or when or where they breed, though hunters (if they should ever be asked) can answer some of those questions. The Pequod, like its terrestrial forebear, finds a breeding ground, and sees how Leviathans gather in family groupings, with females and young and the enormous males.
Scientists might study, but hunters hunt. The breeding ground is a bonanza. Hunters can pick and choose their quarry, hunt down and kill and process as many Leviathans as their equipment and their crew can manage. Conservation is not an issue, and preservation has no meaning. The human universe can’t survive without the hunt and the kill. There’s no alternative, as far as we know or the narrator will tell us.
Just as in Melville, the hunters don’t see the quarry as fellow sentients. They’re hunting monsters, creatures whose intelligence isn’t relevant, unless it happens to be hostile. Even there, that hostility or apparent malice may be no more real or intentional than the storms that buffet them or the gravity that pulls them down into the depths of the gas giant.
Hell’s Heart does a splendid job of capturing the spirit of Moby-Dick. A good part of that, and a great deal of the fun, is the range and variety of its fauna. Even though we know how it has to end, when we finally meet the Möbius beast, we’re there for it. We’re ready for that last, terrifying, fatally fascinating ride into the heart of Jupiter’s blood-red hell.[end-mark]
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reactor_feed) wrote2026-01-05 04:00 pmPublished on January 5, 2026
Photo: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Gunpowder & Sky
