Books, podcasts, videos, essays, and other source materials that nourish the garden.
29 entries
Vienna, 1911. Gustav Klimt, the most famous painter in the Austrian Empire, the darling of Viennese society, spots a woman’s nude body in the Danube canal. He knows he should summon a policeman, but he can’t resist stopping to make a sketch first. And as he draws, the woman coughs. She’s alive! Back at his […]
A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.” The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds. As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the […]
In this volume, Carl, Donut, and their growing alliance descend to the dungeon’s fourth floor, known as The Iron Tangle. Instead of traditional fantasy landscapes, this floor is a mind-bending, impossibly complex labyrinth constructed from the subterranean subway and rail systems of countless conquered worlds. Space, distance, and direction are entirely warped—up is down, close […]
The Test by Sylvain Neuvel is a dystopian sci-fi novella that functions as a dark, psychological examination of state bureaucracy, immigration, and human morality. The Premise The story is set in a near-future United Kingdom, where the government has implemented the rigorous British Values Assessment (BVA). Only male immigrants between the ages of 16 and […]
The second book in Matt Dinniman’s series is titled Carl’s Doomsday Scenario. Picking up immediately after the events of the first book, the novel transitions the characters from the basic tutorial phases into a complex, open-world environment that satirizes classic MMORPG mechanics. Carl and his sapient, magic-casting feline partner, Princess Donut, arrive on the third […]
Annalee Newitz’s delightful novella, Automatic Noodle, is a masterfully crafted piece of near-future speculative fiction that manages to be both deeply comforting and razor-sharp. It seamlessly balances the warmth of “cozy sci-fi” with a thoughtful, hard-hitting exploration of freedom, dignity, and systemic prejudice. The story takes place in a San Francisco working to rebuild itself […]
risten L. Berry’s gripping debut novel, We Don’t Talk About Carol, follows Sydney Singleton, a former crime reporter who returns to North Carolina following her grandmother’s death to help her family sort through the estate. While clearing out the house, Sydney discovers a hidden photograph of a teenage girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to […]
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is a fast-paced, darkly comedic LitRPG (Literary Role-Playing Game) novel that kicks off an incredibly popular apocalyptic survival series. It blends high-stakes action, absurd humor, and a critique of corporate greed and reality television. The story begins on a freezing night when alien syndicates suddenly flatten every building on […]
The story follows 17-year-old Medusa, nicknamed “Meddy,” who lives on a secluded island. Unlike her immortal parents (the minor sea deities Phorcys and Ceto) and her sisters, Meddy is mortal and feels like an outsider. Yearning for adventure and a purpose beyond her family’s expectations, she leaps at the chance to leave the island when […]
