Weekend Shorts - The Not-Dog-Thing by Corey Farrenkopf

Name - The Not-Dog-Thing 

Written by - Corey Farrenkopf

Published on - Bourbon Penn August 2026 (issue 39)

That was a weird one. This short story was predictable where it was going almost from the start. Yet, Corey Farrenkopf somehow managed to create a unique tale that kept me interested all throughout with engaging prose and making me care for his characters. 

The story was a weird piece. Told through the form of an edited interview for an online forum in which a man talks about his missing father, mostly through the depiction of the TikTok videos he used to make to pass time after his wife died. There is a creepy not-dog creature that his father found in the woods which transforms into something sinister yet oddly familiar.

There is a keen sense of family dynamic dispersed between the weird tale, how they miss their dead loved one. How they fail to communicate their grief in a meaningful way, to get the closure they crave. I really liked these lines, "I don’t tell my father that every once in a while, I can almost picture Mom’s eyes in the face of a nuthatch, or a bluejay, or a wren. He wasn’t the only one allowed to see Mom in the wild."

Then comes the predictable yet finely executed ending leaving the narrator wondering if things could have turned differently if they just talked about how they felt. 

"There are too many questions. Not enough answers.

I wish my father had been better at talking to me.

Some things need to be discussed at length.

Not everything can be settled in silence."

That ending left me wondering if all that creepy creature stuff was just a metaphor that the author created to describe the darkness that grief, loneliness, and distance can bring in us.

I will give this one 4 out of 5 stars. Corey Farrenkopf has certainly become a writer to check out in the future for me.

Promising Books being published on October 2026

September was such a busy month for me, so I am a bit late with the list for October. This month has releases from some big names of the genre writing circle. And also some relative newcomers as well. These are my picks from the promising stuff.

"The Thrice-Bound Fool (Blacktongue #2)" by Christopher Buehlman from Tor Books/ Gollancz

Professional thief and inveterate trickster Kinch Na Shannack has always enjoyed a good book. But now his life, and the future of all of Manreach, depends on him deciphering a very bad book indeed; a stolen, sentient tome that tries to kill him every time he opens it—and often when it’s closed.

Galva, veteran of the goblin wars and death’s sworn handmaiden, has vowed to protect Kinch while he mines the book for its dark magic and even darker secrets. She does so not for Kinch’s sake—though the cheeky bastard is growing on her—but because the book is the key to stopping the shadowy tyrants out to kill the queen she serves, and loves.

The ruthless, all-seeing Taker’s Guild dogs their every step, and thief and knight must flee the known world entirely if they hope to succeed in their mission. But trouble finds Kinch wherever he goes, and the pair may have traded the devil they know for horrors far darker and hungrier as they enter lands unknown.

[ I still haven't read the first book yet, but meaning to check out this highly acclaimed series. ]

"Legacies of Betrayal (The Tales of Witness #3)" by Steven Erikson from Tor Books / Bantam UK

Endless training, gruelling marches, and the frenzy of battle against more enemies than can be counted-such is the life of a marine in the Malazan Empire.

Year by year, month by month, week by week, day by day, moment by moment. Skills are honed to deadly precision, the secret language of the soldier in a world drowning in perpetual discontent, the eternal conflict against the fates. And we should forget the seemingly inevitable interference of mischievous gods and more often than not, the resurrected remains of ancient and once believed long-dead entities.

As a new holy war starts sparked in the fire-blackened cauldron of Seven Cities, the Fifth and Sixth squads are about to embark a mission they don't want for a cause they don't care about. Not that anybody asked their opinion. They can only hope that their objective isn't as hopeless as it seems, and that they aren't simply being used as pawns—a strategic sacrifice, if you will, in the machinations of their betters.

So what's life like as a marine in the Malazan Army?

Well, let's see, shall we...

[ I don't know when I will be able to get back into the Malazan world. But I remember it so fondly still.]


"Off the Reservation (The Only Good Indians #2)" by Stephen Graham Jones from Saga Press / Titan Books

Five years have passed since the massacre on the Blackfeet reservation in Stephen Graham Jones’s breakout bestseller The Only Good Indians. Nathan Yellow Tail, one of the survivors of the revenge murders, finds himself in the hospital after a terrible accident that should’ve killed him and that nearly killed his best friend, Sebby, who is hanging on to life in a room a few doors down.

Nate’s life is out of balance, so when he is given the chance to reset his life, and maybe save Sebby in the process, Nate steps up, again. This time it’s into a camper van that is almost as run down as his broken body, filled with three older Blackfeet, to find the bones of the lone Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School—where many Indigenous children were abused—and repatriate this boy home. The problem is, when they get the bones, something terrible has escaped with them.

By turns terrifying and deeply moving, Off the Reservation is a haunting American Indian novel of survival, reckoning, and redemption, shining light on the dark corners of this country’s history while also showing the desperate choices people make when they’re put up against a wall.

[ The second book in another acclaimed series. Should read this soon as well, I think.]

"Find Me Where It Ends" by Cassandra Khaw from Tor Nightfire / Titan Books

Antigone is no stranger to death.

For the women of her family, death always comes in the form of a black dog.

When Antigone’s own black dog arrives, she isn’t afraid. She invites it inside, where it soon becomes a daily source of companionship and comfort. It also forces her to reflect on the life she’s led—the parts of herself she’s hollowed out for the sake of others, and the bone-deep exhaustion that’s hounded her every step.

Her Death’s arrival must be a sign, permission to finally let go. To rest. Because while mortality is inevitable, living is a choice.

But a good death comes at a price.

[ A promising short horror read. I always fancy these.]

"Frankenstein Rex" by Adam Roberts from Gollancz

Frankenstein is the name of the maker, but we always think of the monster...

And what a monster he is. Frankenstein is a splendid creature, in almost every respect superior to humanity: smarter, stronger, and able to endure extremes of heat and cold that would kill a normal person. He is also effectively immortal.

Such a being, released into our world, would sooner or later come to rule it. Welcome to FRANKENSTEIN REX.

The monster's ugliness is a positive advantage: his towering height and ghastly face scream power; and people, who understand that power is never pretty, that it is brute and unpleasant and that our best chance is to have it on our side rather than set against us, flock to follow him. In a few years the monster conquers Europe, and in a matter of decades he rules the whole world.

But although generations come and go believing their world-dictator to be immortal, the creature himself now understands that he is dying. The creature re-opens Frankenstein's original research, to re-discover those lost skills and techniques and so to create for himself an heir.

[ Well, this has a very interesting premise. Somehow I feel like I am going to enjoy this.] 

"The Fist of Memory" by Whole Talabi from DAW books / Gollancz 

Fist Of Memory is simultaneously a near-future thriller and a meditation on the nature of memory, legacy, and connectedness.

When a strange and non-communicative alien spacecraft suddenly appears in the night sky, approaching Earth at an impossible velocity, the established world order is thrown into turmoil.

But for Tope, a principled and extremely effective Nigerian assassin with a bionic arm and talent for lethality who works for anyone willing to pay her oga - the mysterious witchdoctor known only as 'Baba' - it's all just business as usual. That is, until a routine job goes sideways, and she gets caught up in a high stakes game of power and politics.

Tope is joined by Itumeleng, a South African astronomer who has seen her and the alien craft in his dreams and, like her, is haunted by a complicated past. Now they must both survive long enough to navigate their way through the maze of competing agendas and understand how they, and all of humanity, are connected to the alien craft before it lands and the world changes forever.

But it won't be easy. There are powerful, sinister forces determined to kill them, including a strange and motivated supernatural assassin obsessed with a single memory . . .

[ Another one with such a well thought out setting and characters, at least it seems so on the surface. Hopefully it is as good as it sounds. ]

"The Scarlet Ball" by Nghi Vo from Tor Books / Del Rey

Pick a face, pick a fate.

Judith Ban, former convent girl, courtesan, and failed thief, is on the lookout for her next identity. The daughter of a Vietnamese adventuress and a French naval officer, she’s no stranger to risk, but she’s unprepared for the secrets of New York’s legendary Four Hundred, or for the women who build their power at the city’s heart through blood-soaked, gold-etched rituals of demonic marriage.

In exchange for enough wealth to outrun her past, Judith strikes a deal with the matriarch of the powerful Howard family: she will stand in for the missing Howard granddaughter, who was poised to make her debut when she disappeared. With Miss Iphigenia Marshall’s face stitched over her own, Judith is white, rich, and about to risk body and soul in the deadly games that determine which girls will find a match—and which will be devoured. If she can keep her wits and her life, her reward will be a husband with undreamt-of power who will be hers to command... so long as she can keep his infinite hungers fed. But to survive the season, Judith will have to seduce a storm in the shape of a man, before the night to which everything has been leading—the Scarlet Ball where the demons choose their brides.

[ Vo has been on my reader for a while now. A promising new standalone should be a good place to start.]

New Metal Review - 'Insignificance' by Anoreksi

Album Name - Insignificance 

Band Name - Anoreksi 

Genre - Melodic Death Metal

Label - Unsigned/independent 

Release Date - September 15, 2026

Line Up -

  Anıl Sevener - bass

  Onur Aker - drums

  Mete Aker - vocals

  Emirhan Canbaz - guitars 

  Cem Arda Atçeken - guitars 

Melo-death is a genre of metal that is usually not something I delve into much. This is because I find it has rather a smaller ground for maneuvering in or lesser freedom for constructing anything original. There are some classic releases which the newer generation tries to mostly reinterpret rather than trying to establish a sense of individuality into the mix. 

So when I decided to check the latest album of Anoreksi out I was convinced it would follow the same general formula of all other modern works of the genre. It does do that as a matter of fact, using the strength of dual guitars to create a background of melodic metal, dispersing precision drumming and groovy bass which often gets some high ground despite the dominating guitars and a characteristic typically aggressive vocal that uses both growls and screams to get his point through. And the fact that everything including the production is done to almost perfection makes the album quite entertaining despite being formulaic. 

The album opens with 'Outsiders', which is followed by 'Coast of the Future' both of which are perfectly executed melodic death metal with Cathy melodic riffs, tortured vocals and shredding solos. The third track 'Book of Silence' may have the most memorable riffs in the album, while 'Insignificance' is the most differently structured song with slow midsection and brooding melodies. 'Wet Sidewalk' concludes the stronger first half of the album with its focus on some enjoyable bass work and varied vocals. The second half containing the last four songs is much more straightforward melo-death, with 'Remnants' providing an emotional closure to the album.

All throughout, the dual guitars by Emirhan Canbaz and Cem Arda Atçeken complimented each other quite diligently, never relenting in their onslaught with hooking riffs and interesting solos. I also loved that the production and mixing provided the bass by Anıl Sevener to shine through occasionally with its rhythmic grooves, especially in songs like 'Wet Sidewalk'. Sadly, the drumming by Onur Aker never got to truly come out of the shadows of other instruments despite doing enough to complement all others. 

And lastly, the vocals by Mete Aker did have a nice range and admirably performed anguished shrieks and growls. I really liked the piano intros and the keyboards dispersed through the album and would have loved if there were more cleaner vocals showcase too.

Though not doing anything groundbreaking Anoreksi has delivered a solid album here. In the future, there is nothing but room to improve based on this foundation. Let's just hope there is no 15-year break between albums this time around.

Overall Score - 

                                 8 out of 10.

For more info check out the bands official website and their metal-archives page -

https://anoreksiband.bandcamp.com/

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Anoreksi/3540352229   

Weekend Shorts - Middle Song by Thomas Ha

Name - Middle Song 

Written by - Thomas Ha

Published on - Bourbon Penn April 2026 (issue 38)

After being thoroughly impressed by 'In My Country', I was quite eagerly waiting to experience something new by Thomas Ha. It was no surprise that I jumped in to read 'Middle Song' after reading about it on Bluesky. And it was so different from what I expected, once again leaving me gasping at his depth of making readers amazed with his storytelling prowess.

The story starts with a group of people coming into a Roadhouse, they are looking for a fugitive and the person who helped him escape. Then Ha uses his unusually evocative style in describing their leader trying to interrogate the people in the place regarding information. Part way into investigation we finally get introduced to the actual main character of the story, "The Captain turns and, for the first time since entering, acknowledges me, standing there, behind the bar. Their type rarely looks at service people unless given reason, and I guess this finally provides that reason."

Then the real tale finally begins to unfold through his narration; we get into the backstory of the world and its people. We slowly learn about the patron of the joint, and about how he became like he currently is. In between dispersed the origin of the 'manuatons', of the struggles of the native population and the story of the mysterious magus.

Finally, the story once again changes direction, more layers are peeled away, revealing things like the futile cruelty in trying to mold our offspring into our image or showing due sympathy to those in need among other interesting bits to offer. There is another beautiful little piece towards the end describing the true essence of the story, 

"A father tells his child, I’ll find a way to live forever.

A child tells their father, I’ll bury you dead.

But the truth’s somewhere in the middle, as with all things, I hate to say."

Well, that was another very enjoyable short story by Thomas Ha, of whom I am slowly becoming a fan. I wish once again that I had the chance to spend more time in this world or the story to be longer than it was. I feel the need to read more stuff by him as soon as possible. At this point I am thinking of stopping all I am currently reading and jumping into his short story collection 'Uncertain Sons and Other Stories' right now.

This gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

Video Game Music review - Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Original Soundtrack

Album Name - Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves Original Soundtrack

Released On - June 3, 2026

Composed By - Philip Joe, Hideki "sha-v" Asanaka, Naoki Kita, Minori Sasaki, Yu Shimoda, Mayuko Hino, Fuga Yamahata, Akira Sakamoto, Rei Wako, Yoko Shimomura

Recording Studio- ODEN STUDIO

Lyrics By - Philip Joe

Published By - SNK

Fighting games usually have mostly rock music as character background music, which is mixed with various other genres including hip-hop, pop, and dance music including various other genres. City of the Wolf follows this trend in incorporating a vast range of influences to create a mixture of a plethora of genre jumble. While trying to be comprehensive in the selection of almost all tracks and sound, the constant DLCs with new characters and some copyrighted music make this impossible.

The soundtrack is structured quite adequately within its two discs with both discs having characters BGM in the first half followed by other musics for the game neatly arranged. The album starts with the main theme 'Chain Reaction' an appropriately charged rock track readily setting the mood for what's to follow. The BGM tracks that follow are quite neatly arranged per characters with disc one focusing on the main cast and disc two featuring many of the DLC characters' BGM.

The album has enough variations for everyone, with primary focus on rock and dance music. I liked the jazz influences dispersed throughout the album giving it a different kind of edge. There is a distinct lack of vocals in the songs, only present in the title song and 'Blue Mary's BLUES', which are some of the highlights. I wish more were used. The character themes are mostly appropriate and some are even quite nostalgic reminding listeners of the classic games.

I hope there will be a future extension album or an upgraded one after the DLCs are complete, because there are some really cool tracks missing from this one. And I wish the album was a bit more rock influenced as I am rather fond of the genre. Also, some more jazzy tracks and use of vocals in more songs wouldn't have hurt either.

Notable tracks - 'Chain Reaction', 'Young Blood', 'Reminiscence', 'N.D.R', 'End of the Last Nightmare', 'Pass It!', 'Theme of Ken/Ryu/Chun-li', 'Blue Mary's BLUES' & 'f You Gaze at Reality' among others.

Overall Score  - "7.5 out of 10" 

New Book Review - Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito

Name - Uncanny: The Origins of Fear

Written by - Junji Ito

Translated by - Jocelyne Allen

Published by - Viz Media LLC

First things first, I got this book from Edelweiss as an ARC, so thank you Edelweiss and Viz Media LLC for this opportunity.

It really is a joy to get under the skin of a creative mind, getting to learn how that brain of their works, seeing what influenced to create their masterpieces, and most of learning about their life and knowing that they are as normal an individual as us in many aspects. 'Uncanny: The Origins of Fear' is such a deep dive into the mind of one of the greatest horror manga artists ever, and it is very enjoyable.

The book has a gorgeous layout with many drawings and layouts from the mangaka, as well as some interesting bits of his life, from his early childhood up to his struggles to make a living, then finally turning into a full-time creator of mangas. It is not an easy path being one of the best, especially when you also have to learn enough to make it all matter, and it is also amazing to see how Junji Ito's mind works in deciphering meaning and ideas out of his everyday experiences.

The author divided the whole thing into five carefully thought out chapters. The first two work like an autobiography, with details from his childhood, his initial work as a dental technician, all the whole trying to write and draw mangas, to finally his breakout into the manga world slowly through his sheer determination and creativity. The most interesting part about these first two chapters is the fact how Ito writes about his various influences and how these moulded him; I really loved this because I am not very learned in Japanese manga history. I gained lots of recommendations from this section to enrich my TBR pile.

Sadly for those who hadn't read much work of Junji Ito, the last three chapters delve into spoiler filled territory, as Ito delves deep into his creation process through numerous examples of his works. These three deal with his exploration of how he gets his ideas, to his points of view and inspiration about some iconic characters he created, ending the last chapter by going into a detailed glimpse into his drawing process with some delightful arts on display.

As a non-fiction book, this was quite enjoyable. This should cater especially to the taste of readers who are already his fans. But that doesn't mean there isn't enough to enjoy for casual readers of him or the people just starting to get into his work. The drawings throughout the book are honestly enough for any enthusiast of manga to collect this one.

A resounding 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.

Weekend Shorts - Every Child a Changeling by Samantha Pellegrino

Name - Every Child a Changeling 
Written by - Samatha Pellegrino 
Published by - Strange Horizons (August 3, 2026)

That was a fun read. Pellegrino took the difficulties of first experience at motherhood and the trials of being a single parent and incorporated a dark fantasy setting into it, while also hinting at the concept of how being different and not easily understandable gets someone turned into an outcast.

This is a tale of a new mother whose newborn daughter is swapped for a changeling boy, and details her struggles in nurturing the boy while also dealing with the people around her, blaming it on her carelessness. We just learned that new motherhood is always tough in any situation, especially if you are a single mother.

The prose was simple and fun to read, without attempts at over stuffing it with lyrical prose or unnecessary styling. The small number of characters that were present felt realistic and natural.

But, in the end, the story wasn't anything that hadn't been done before, and it was quite predictable from the beginning which direction it would take.

I will give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.