We’re officially half way through the year, how did this happen?? I can’t believe it’s July, which means my favorite event of the year is coming up fast:
This year, San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) is celebrating its 50th year, and I’m so grateful I’m able to attend! I’ll be there July 17 – 21, and in about a week or so I’ll do a post about my tentative plans for the convention. Author schedules and panels are usually released at the last minute, so even now I’m not exactly sure who will be there. But it’s always a super fun time, and as usual my daughter will be going with me! Stay tuned for more…
In other July news, I am literally buried in review books this month, and I can only hope to half-way dig myself out of the pile. I usually don’t get much reading done at Comic Con, so although I’m having a blast, my reading does suffer a bit during that time. Still, I like to think I’ll be able to read as many of these books as possible, so wish me luck! Here is what’s on my plate this month:
Planned Review Books:
These are probably my most anticipated reads this month!
Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. In my perfect blogging dream, I had hoped to read this already by now, since it comes out tomorrow, but things just didn’t work out that way. Expect a review in the next two weeks!
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is getting lots of buzz. I’m excited for this rather short novel that is being called “unusual” and “unique.”
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington. Wellington has written a bunch of horror fiction that I haven’t read yet, so this will be my first book of his. I’ve been on a space opera kick lately (and with so many space opera books coming out, it’s hard not to notice them!), so hopefully this will be a good one.
I’m ready for some creepy horror fiction too, and I think The Toll by Cherie Priest is going to fit the bill nicely:-D
The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson. I’ve heard this described as a coming of age story reminiscent of Robert McCammon’s A Boy’s Life, and for that reason I can’t wait to read it.
Salvation Day by Kali Wallace is yet another space opera-type story that I’m looking forward to checking out!
Priest of Lies by Peter McLean is book #2 in his series. I’ve read some glowing reviews of this already, so I have fairly high hopes that I’ll enjoy it.
The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson is a short novella and the second one in the series. The first book, The Murders of Molly Southbourne was very strange, but I really enjoyed it.
Three Laws Lethal by David Walton came out in June, but I just got a copy last week, so I’m going to try to squeeze it in this month. I’ve loved the other books of his I’ve read, so this should be a fast-paced, fun read.
Sweet Dreams by Tricia Sullivan has just come out in the U.S., after being published in the UK a few years ago. I’m a little leery of the “dream” aspect, which doesn’t always work for me, but we shall see…
Heartwood Box by Ann Aguirre was sent to me unsolicited, but I do want to make time for it. Can you believe I’ve never read anything by Aguirre before? I’m shocked!
Growing Things by Paul Tremblay is a collection of horror stories. My plan is to start this now and try to read a story every few days or so. This works better than trying to read a whole story collection all at once.
Giveaways:
Wow you guys, I have SO MANY giveaways this month! Most of these are U.S. only (although I don’t have all the details yet, so don’t quote me on that.) My monthly Book Review Giveaway is always international, though, so stop by around the 15th for that. My publisher-sponsored giveaways include The Saturday Night Ghost Club on July 8th, The Gossamer Mage on July 26th and a HUGE 10th anniversary giveaway for the entire Jane Yellowrock series on July 7th! Lots of opportunities, so if you aren’t subscribed to my blog, now might be a good time:-)
AAAAAAAH, you’re going to ComicCon! That’s such a dream of mine. Enjoy!!
Thanks Lisa, it’s fun, I won’t lie;-)
On my long list of things I have to do: attend a Con. Just gotta get off my butt and go!
You won’t regret it:-)
Comic Con, woohoo! So excited to see book schedules and get up to just general shenanigans! My July is some ARC catch up, I’m hoping for more backlist reads in August and September!
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I’m so impatient! I want to plan my schedule but I know a lot of what I want to do (which means: authors I want to meet and books I want to get!) we won’t know about until we get there.
I’ve had good luck getting the vast majority of schedules from the publishers about a week out from the event. The Fierce Reads list is already circulating online, but I’m desperate for Penguin’s schedule!
Yeah, Penguin definitely has the most books/authors! Are you going to preview night?
My July also seems to be a bit shocking for some reason – I keep thinking I’m behaving but clearly I’m not.
I’m looking forward to a few of these. Read and loved Priest of Lies and can’t wait to start the Cherie Priest.
Lynn 😀
I had no idea how out of control my July books were until I sat down to write this post:-O
So many cool books! I am curious about a few of them so I hope you get to the ones I want to know about…hehehe. I wish I lived closer to things like ComicCon! Hope you have a blast and I wouldn’t get much reading done either…lol.
I always try to read there but there are too many distractions:-)
The Toll sounds like it’s going to be great. I can’t wait to see more about what you’re hoping to get up to at SDCC!
I’m really excited for The Toll, I hope it’s scary:-) I’ll definitely do a SDCC recap:-)
Comic Con is one of those things I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t yet. I can’t wait to read about your adventures there. Looks like you have a lot of great books coming up too!
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Comic Con is so much fun, even for book lovers:-)
Oh man! Have loads of fun at SDCC!! I’ll wait for you to tell us all about it so I can experience it vicariously through your blog.
Thanks, I will!
How excited you are going to Comic Con, Tammy! I can’t wait to read about your itinerary. I’m also looking forward to Wanderers and The Saturday Night Ghost Club! I hope we both love them!
I’m off on vacation later this month too, and I think my reading time will plummet (vacations are never as relaxing as I want them to be) so now I’m trying to get ahead and schedule a bunch of reviews before I leave. So many of these are on my list!
Its on my bucket list to go to SDCC some day <3 I hope you have a blast! I look forward to seeing your posts on it 😀
It’s so much fun! Definitely a goal if you haven’t been, although getting tickets these days is almost a pipe dream.
I somehow missed this post but wow those are some amazing looking titles on your July plate!
I’m also insanely jealous that you are going to ComicCon! I’d love to get to one someday, especially the San Diego one.
San Diego Comic Con is so much fun, and it’s hard to describe. Also it’s almost impossible to get tickets these days. I lucked out this year but next year who knows?? So sad…
I’m really sad- the Vikings Cast has gone every year for the past few years I think and I would have loved to have seen them all together. I don’t know if Travis Fimmel, who played Ragnar will be there anymore, but I would have loved to have seen them all together like that.
Sadly between real tickets and plane tickets it will probably be awhile before I ever get there, and the local one doesn’t attract much of interest.
Also- I was looking for the post but can’t seem to find it- I won the Salvation Day giveaway! The book randomly showed up in my mail today and I was so excited so thanks for hosting that!
OMG really?? That’s awesome! I’m going to be reading it soon
Yeah I’m really excited!
I’m also confused where the time went, it’s just flying by. I don’t know how it’s July already! I really hope you have a fun time with SDCC. Bring back lots of books! 🙂
Yay comic con!! I I hope you have fun! ALSO, I loved This is How you Lose the Time War so friggin much! I wasn’t expecting much from it because it’s only 200 pages and I’m weirdly biased against short books, but it’s seriously an incredible read. And this is one of the few instances where I don’t care about hyping up a book too much because it deserves every bit of it. 😀 So. Ahem. I hope you like it too!!
I am so jealous that you have SDCC tickets! Depending on how I am feeling, I might head down to the freezone if there are events of interest. (I am back in San Diego now!) I just finished Time War and ‘unique’ is definitely a good descriptor for it!
I apparently won the 24 Hour Salvation Day giveaway, a copy arrived on my doorstep yesterday! Excited to read it once I knock out the rest of my July arcs.
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Oh cool, San Diego is the BEST. I would live there if I could:-) SDCC tickets are such a crap shoot these days, you practically have to know someone important to get them. I’m lucky I have a friend whose company has a booth on the convention floor, so I was able to beg and plead for them! And wow, congrats on your Salvation Day win! I think there must have been a few winners because someone else who reads my blog won as well. Yay for bloggers!
Yea I haven’t gone to SDCC since 2008, and for the last 8 years or so it has been impossible to buy passes unless you went the previous year. I’m excited you were able to snag one, though! And I am glad I’m not the only Salvation Day winner because I feel guilty about not shuffling my TBR to read it immediately LOL