Offbeat Offline: September 2024 (Plus Announcing the Last Hiatus of the Year)

Welcome to Offbeat Offline, where I bring you up-to-date with what went on in my life during the month just gone, give you a sneak peek of my next shenanigans, and share my favourite posts of late!

What happened last month to yours truly? Basically nothing - nothing new at least (I'll take it as a win). After the third visit in 20 days, I've been told my retina is still intact, but I should do a check-up in 3 or 4 months. My husband's ulcer is going well. The heat has receded. I've read the last book in one of my favourite series ever. It could be worse...and it often has been, so 🤐.

📚 SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING BLUE NEW. I decided to do some rereads this month - also because I was waiting for a last-minute ARC, so I needed to be able to interrupt my reading at any given moment to dive into it. The ARC came (if a little later that I had envisioned, due to formatting issues - so my review got postponed, if only by a few days), and it was a blast! Here's my monthly bookish recap...

Approvals (0+2...that is, no real approvals this month, but an ARC from the author and another one I decided to download from a publisher that auto-approved me a while ago):

• Deadgirl: Gravedust by B.C. Johnson (YA, afterlife - from the author)

For Lucy and her friends, the end is here.

The deals they've made have fallen apart, and their enemies prepare a final attack on everything Team Deadgirl holds dear. An army of monsters out of a nightmare arrives on their doorstep, but Lucy, Morgan, Zack, and Daphne are scattered, unprepared, and alone.

When an old villain turns out not to be as dead as they appeared—which is sort of Lucy's thing—the team again faces the one girl they were never able to defeat.

And she isn't just seeking revenge against Lucy. She's after something far worse.

• Darkly by Marisha Pessl (YA, thriller - autoapproved on NetGalley UK)

When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation poses this question, seemingly every high school student in the country rushes to apply. Arcadia “Dia” Gannon has been obsessed with Louisiana Veda, the late game designer whose obsessive creations have attained a cultlike status, ever since she and her mom played Disappearing Act—but Dia has never won anything in her life. So she’s shocked when she’s chosen as an intern, along with six other teenagers from around the world.

Little is known about Louisiana Veda. Her game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious, terrifying toys and games, rife with hidden symbols and secrets. But after Veda’s mysterious death, Darkly went bankrupt, and production was discontinued. The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious items commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Now the interns are thrust into the enigmatic heart of Louisiana Veda’s operation, and Dia immediately questions everything: Who are these other kids? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.

Reads (7):

• The Darkness Behind the Door by Mira Gonzalez (NA, supernatural/contemporary)

Very good, though not what I expected (which is often a badge of honour with me, so...).

• Deadgirl: Gravedust by B.C. Johnson (see above)

A whirlwind of emotions...

• Streetlight People by Charlene Thomas (YA, magical realism)

A trippy take on time travel and classism...or a twist on dark academia, only with time travel...

• Darkly by Marisha Pessl (see above)

Highly improbable, but fun!

• The Wonder State by Sara Flannery Murphy (Adult/YA, magical realism – reread [pub. 2023])

A dark, yet poetical story steeped in magic, with a double timeline. I can see myself rereading it multiple times and never getting tired of it. Here's my old ARC review.

• Mister Magic by Kiersten White (Adult, supernatural  – reread [pub. 2023])

Again, a dark - yet emotive and hopeful - childhood-friends reunion on the backdrop of a supernatural mystery, with some flashbacks; but a different book altogether from the above. I got hooked a second time. Here's my old review.

• Last Exit by Max Gladstone (Adult, multiverse/urban fantasy  – reread [pub. 2022])

Another estranged-friends reunion, but again, different from the other two. Engrossing, visionary yet painfully rooted in reality, with excellent characterisation and writing to boot. Here's my old review (technically not an ARC one, because I was approved for the UK version, but the book had already come out in the US).

Reviews (4):

• The Darkness Behind the Door by Mira Gonzalez (see above)

Scheduled for November.

• Deadgirl: Gravedust by B.C. Johnson (see above)

You might remember I already posted my review last month. Another 5-star rating for this series...the last one, since this was the finale. MY EMOTIONS 😭.

• Streetlight People by Charlene Thomas (see above)

Mini review scheduled for November.

• Darkly by Marisha Pessl (see above)

Mini review scheduled for November.

Normally at this point I would list the reviews I plan on posting and the TMST prompts I plan on answering in October, but I'm taking the month off in order to focus on my ARCs and on housekeeping. In the meantime, here's the TMST prompt list for the rest of October (the first question of the month was scheduled for today), in case you want to join in:

• October 8th: Tell us about your favorite fall comfort foods
• October 15th: Who is your ideal book boyfriend/girlfriend?
• October 22nd: What are the top three items on your bucket list?
• October 29th: How do you like to be scared? Horror or thriller?

🌦️ A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. The heat has been leaving us alone for a while now, thankfully. A week or so into the month, it rained, and the temps took a dive - then they backtracked a bit, but nothing like the nightmare of the past two months of course. (We've been lucky, too, because some regions have been through hell, weather-wise, and people have died. Thankfully, our area tends not to be affected so hard). I have to say that, while I do appreciate the lack of constant sweating and such, I'm still sapped of energy regardless of the more merciful climate. But I think it's a lost battle at this point...what with my age and the kind of life I'm living 😭.

👣 BABY STEPS. The hubs' ulcer is on the mends, though its healing will STILL take time. But at least we're on the right path, after 2 years. He's also reprised his walking attempts, and it's damn hard, and I don't know when he will be able to go out again (and relieve me from my burden in that sense, or at least drive me around), but it's something. Too little, too late, but still something...

PUBLISHING NEWS/TIPS

None this month.

THINK-PIECES, DISCUSSIONS, ORIGINAL FICTION

• Sam asks if you get defensive when it comes to your bookish opinions.
• The Orangutan Librarian asserts that book reviews are not academic.
• Shannon lists 5 reasons why she still reviews books.
• Cee Arr shares her fiction (Songbirds) and her poetry (Gasoline).

REVIEWS/RECOMMENDATIONS

• Jen reviews We Solve Murders and discusses it in relation to other Osman books.
• The Orangutan Librarian recommends philosophical picture books.
• Eluned reviews Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews (without spoilers). (Note: I'm quite new to her blog, and I really like her reviewing format, so I'm trying to make her popular among you all 😉).

OTHER

• Author Chuck Wendig blasts NaNoWriMo's position on AI.
• Author A.S. King and her son are creating a non-profit organization for LGBTQ youth and families in honour of their late daughter and sister.

That's it for now. My next post will be up on November 1st, and it will be a new Offbeat Offline installment. I'm going to go radio silent until then, and I won't blog-hop either, but I'll catch up with you all next month!

So, what were your highs/lows in the past month?