Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

The end is nigh (or maybe not)!

An unlikely angel and an odd devil work together to stop Armageddon in this genius partnership between two of my favorite writers. I picked it up now because it's about to be released as a TV series with Gaiman at its helm.

A kid in England is actually the Antichrist, but nobody knows that. Every time he thinks about something hard enough (Atlantis, UFOs, or tunnels to China) it happens - and let's just say Adam is a real thinker.

It's very funny, and wicked smart, so I can't wait to see how they film it, since Neil's overseeing it so maybe they can't bleed the fun out of it.

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson

Strangers meet in an airport bar and end up planning a murder. Is it just folly, or will they follow through?

Ted's a rich dude with a cheating wife and a mansion under construction. Lily is a librarian with no connection to Ted, and a plan that might help him. But wow is this twisty, and even right up to the last line there's a surprise.

I picked up this pop suspense novel because a friend said she couldn't put it down. And I have to say - I didn't see it coming, and that's not what I thought would happen. (Which is the highest praise I give - I hate it when books are super predictable!)

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

Dancing through the New York drag ball scene of the 1980s, this is a heartbreaking, fantastic story of love and friendship.

A young queen in love begins the first Latino house on the circuit. But we know gay love stories of the 80s usually end badly, so she must rely on friends to be her real family. There is music and fashion, there are drugs and there are tears. There is money to be made the hard way, because there is always rent to be paid.

But don't let me depress you out of reading this, because it's wonderful. Angel and Venus and Hector and Daniel and all the rest are friends you'll be glad to have met.

Also, the 80s weren't so long ago, and we should not forget.

Armada by Ernest Cline

If we stand a chance, it will be the gamers who save us. Because maybe, just maybe, they've been training us as drone warriors through video games.

Zack lost his dad before he was a year old, and he's spent his youth a little obsessed about the same movies, music, and games his dad loved, just to feel a kinship. So on the day of the alien invasion, Zack finds he's perfectly positioned for a top spot in the real-world fighting force he's been trained on in his favorite game.

In the face of potential extermination, much about the world changes: the bonds of friendship and family are stronger, and so is the possibility of love at first sight. But is human nature what will save us, or what dooms us? We'll have to play out this game to see.

I loved Ready Player One, and this is just as good.

Inspiration: retelling

Are we running out of good ideas? Has it all been done before? In any event, today's movies, television, and books are full of derivative works: reboots, reinventions, retellings and twisted adaptations.

So this week's prompt is a retelling - and it will be even better if you're already acquainted with the original source works!

What are the most retold stories of all time? This film article says it's the logical problem-solving of Sherlock Holmes, Cinderella's rags-to-riches story and the spine-chilling horror of Dracula and Frankenstein. This article says there are only six core plots to choose, anyway.

Places to find books based on classics:

• Popular classic retelling books on Goodreads
• 16 Retellings of your favorite classic novels on BookBub
• Famous, retold stories in literature on Flavorwire
• Wikipedia's page of Modernized adaptations of old works (broken out by movies, tv, literature, etc.)

Some lists of NEW materials that fit the theme:

• 8 Retellings of classic books out in 2018 that are just too good to miss on Bustle
• New releases tagged retellings on Goodreads
• Teen materials: 16 New and upcoming retellings of classic plays, novels, and tales on Barnes & Noble

And if you're just looking for something in a general theme (Me Against the World, Quest, Stalker) Vulture has a break down: An encyclopedia of every literary plot, ever.

Inspiration: hyphenated author

I have to admit that some of these inspirations are easier to blog about than others - and this one is challenging!

Mostly, I'm just trying to get you to step outside your comfort zone and pick a book for a weird reason, and this one is a stupid, arbitrary piece of punctuation! Have a little fun with this one, and don't take it too seriously.

PS: It doesn't matter if the hyphen is in the first name or last name!

• Jussi Adler-Olsen (Danish mystery, thriller)
• William Baring-Gould (Sherlock Holmes scholar)
• Lily Brooks-Dalton (Good Morning, Midnight)
• Ivy Compton-Burnett (Victorian novelist, English)
• Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn (literary fiction, Jamaican)
• Caite Dolan-Leach (suspense, mystery)
• Seth Grahame-Smith (classic-contemporary horror mashups)
• Patrisse Khan-Cullors (timely activism nonfiction)
• Chang-Rae Lee (literary fiction, Korean-American)
• Jo-Ann Mapson (fiction about women in the American Southwest)
• Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir)
• Gina McMurchy-Barber (teen fiction, Canadian)
• Lori Rader-Day (mystery, suspense)
• Antoine de Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince)
• Jean-Paul Sartre (French philosopher)
• Gil Scott-Heron (poet, the "godfather" of rap)


• Hugh Trevor-Roper (European history)

Let's Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording with Wilco, Etc. by Jeff Tweedy

In an honest, funny look at his life, indy musician Jeff Tweedy opens up about his family, his career, and how his brain works. It's fascinating!

It's no secret I love a good music bio, and what separates the good from bad is honesty and introspection. Tweedy owns it here, with a self-deprecating humor that certainly entertains. He's thoughtful about his creative process without being precious about it, and he reminisces about former friendships, band breakups and makeups, and even how his marriage works.

Confession: I will read this book again, on audiobook, because Tweedy narrates it himself! (I couldn't wait, so I read it on paper first.)