FollowDrunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson
An engaging sci-fi/murder mystery. The Logis, aliens from an advanced planet, have set up and embassy in New York and use specially-trained translators (from the Londson School of ). However, the alien language makes the translators drunk if they translate for too long, leading to some behavioral and memory issues. Translator Lydia wakes up in the embassy to find that Fitz, the cultural attaché she had been translating for, is murdered and she has no recollection of what happened. However, Lydia still hears Fitz’s voice in her head and she team up with Madison, another Logi, to get to the bottom of things. Great characters, concept, and writing.
Dark Squares: How Chess Saved My Life by Danny Rensch
It is a surprisingly heart-warming story of growing up in an Arizona cult and the attendant psychodrama surrounding that mixed with Rensch’s chess and business careers (and a chief chess officer of Chess.com). Good insights on cults from the inside, on the chess world, and on the backstory of chess.com (and the Carlson-Niemann affair). Competently written with some clunky spots.
The Heathens by Ace Aktins
A fast moving story of Mississippi mayhem featuring Sherrif Quinn Colson. The characters are a bit too exaggerated, but the story held my interest. I’ll read more of the series.
