MAY 2023

The Sun and the Star by Mark Oshiro and Rick Riordan | 2 out of 5

"As the son of Hades, Nico di Angelo has been through so much, from the premature deaths of his mother and sister, to being outed against his will, to losing his friend Jason during the trials of Apollo. But there is a ray of sunshine in his life--literally: his boyfriend, Will Solace, the son of Apollo. Together the two demigods can overcome any obstacle or foe. At least, that's been the case so far...

Now Nico is being plagued by a voice calling out to him from Tartarus, the lowest part of the Underworld. He thinks he knows who it is: a reformed Titan named Bob whom Percy and Annabeth had to leave behind when they escaped Hades's realm. Nico's dreams and Rachel Dare's latest prophecy leave little doubt in Nico's mind that Bob is in some kind of trouble. Nico has to go on this quest, whether Mr. D and Chiron like it or not. And of course Will insists on coming with. But can a being made of light survive in the darkest part of the world? and what does the prophecy mean that Nico will have to "leave something of equal value behind?"

Nico will have to face demons both internal and external as his relationship with Will is tested to the core in this standalone adventure featuring two of the most popular characters in the Percy Jackson saga."

The Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa | 3 out of 5

"High-school senior and notorious wallflower Hawkins finally works up the courage to remove her mascot mask and ask out her longtime crush: Regina Moreno, head cheerleader, academic overachiever, and all-around popular girl. There's only one teensy little problem: Regina is already dating Chloe Kitagawa, athletic all-star...and middling English student. Regina sees a perfectly self-serving opportunity here, and asks the smitten Hawkins to tutor Chloe free of charge, knowing Hawkins will do anything to get closer to her.

And while Regina's plan works at first, she doesn't realize that Hawkins and Chloe knew each other as kids, when Hawkins went by Belle and wore princess dresses to school every single day. Before long, romance does start to blossom...but not between who you might expect. With Belle of the Ball, cartoonist Mariana Costa has reinvigorated satisfying, reliable tropes into your new favorite teen romantic comedy."

Darkest Night by Molly Knox Ostertag | 4.5 out of 5

NOTE: This was a serialized graphic novel on Molly Knox Ostertag's substack that recently ended! I believe she's planning on publishing it traditionally at some point but for now the only way to read it is via subscribing to her substack.

"Magdalena Hererra, Mags to everyone, was born with a secret. She keeps the secret locked in the basement, where it cannot hurt anyone else. She feeds the secret, every day. No one knows the secret, besides her family—and her childhood best friend, who is back in town after being gone for ten years.

Nessa remembers the mysterious death that prompted her family to move away, and remembers what Mags is keeping in the basement...and she is not going to sit back and let it drain the life from her oldest friend."

The Hands and the Mouth by yves. | 4.9 out of 5

NOTE: This work doesn't have a description so I will write by own!

A gay scifi-fantasy short story about a boy living on the streets who encounters an unusual friend running for his life

where is everybody? by Kaylee Rowena | 4 out of 5

"an 8-page zine about the fermi paradox, extraterrestrial life, and bad dads. mostly found text from wikipedia articles chopped up and rearranged."

on whimsey by Kaylee Rowena | 5 out of 5

"a 16-page zine about the importance of being a silly little guy who is full of love & building 0.0001% of communism

also about: optimism, haunted clown dolls, the giant bug from disco elysium, using as many fonts as possible with no regard for "good graphic design", and twitter threads about potatoes"

Query by Zilla Novikov | 4 out of 5

"City planner by day, tired climate activist by day off, aspiring writer Zilla Novikov’s query letters quickly devolve into a darkly funny exploration of her own psyche. As the rejections pile up, her novel blurbs and biographies grow increasingly unhinged, while Zilla discovers that the road to bestseller-dom is paved with neoliberal hellscapes."

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon | 5 out of 5

"For sixty years Jewish refugees and their descendants have prospered in the Federal District of Sitka, a "temporary" safe haven created in the wake of the Holocaust and the shocking 1948 collapse of the fledgling state of Israel. The Jews of the Sitka District have created their own little world in the Alaskan panhandle, a vibrant and complex frontier city that moves to the music of Yiddish. But now the District is set to revert to Alaskan control, and their dream is coming to an end.

Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. And in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder--right under his nose. When he begins to investigate the killing of his neighbor, a former chess prodigy, word comes down from on high that the case is to be dropped immediately, and Landsman finds himself contending with all the powerful forces of faith, obsession, evil, and salvation that are his heritage."