Praetermancy March, 2025 Monthly Roundup
Note: This post contains affiliate links which enable me to continue with this project.
Introduction
Looking back this month, I found there wasn't much to say other than that it's been busy. A lot of life, but not a lot of extremes. It was a month, and I'm content with my tea, my wife, and my writing. It is enough.
Articles
This months articles are ones that I'm really proud of. While none got much traction, they are all ones that I highly recommend if you are interested in the kind of things I'm in. The Light is the Darkness post is especially niche given it’s current unavailability.
Bibliomancy: What I've been Reading
The Light is the Darkness - Laird Barron
I actually wrote a whole article on this this month, so go read that!
Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 7: This Inevitable Ruin - Matt Dinniman
This Inevitable Ruin struggled to grab me out the gates. Part of that was mood, part of that was just that this book's opening takes its time in a way that I haven't seen since Book 4. About a third of the way through, there was a rather emotional moment that grabbed me and from then on it wouldn't let go. It's not quite as good as book 5, but it's damn close, and that means this is probably one of the better books I'll read this year.
Malazan Book of the Fallen: Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson
Ho boy. This one was... A lot. Deadhouse Gates is definitely among the densest books I've ever read. Like Dark Souls however, it's difficulty is a little overblown. With focus and a little help from the community is it very readable on the sentence to sentence level. I'll have more thoughts posted in May probably.... or it will just wind up as a note/reddit post. Probably that if I'm honest.
The Wind Began to Howl - Laird Barron
I actually read this one twice as I prepped for the Read-Along post releasing in April. It's really good, and while I don't think it beats out Worse Angels as the best piece of Coleridge media, it's close. You'll have to wait until next month for my detailed thoughts though.
Beware of Chicken Volumes 1-4 - Casualfarmer
After the density of Malazan and The Wind Began to Howl, I wanted something a more light-hearted. A little more fun. A slice of life story about a man and his inappropriately named chicken. This series is a parody of the Cultivation genre, that by the end of book two has looped around into an extremely good execution of the genre. However, if you don't know what a cultivation novel is, you should probably avoid it for the moment as many of the jokes won't land. Instead I recommend starting with Cradle or A Thousand Li, both of which play the tropes a little straighter.
To Flail Against Infinity: Stargazers War Book 1 - JP Valentine
This is a really good book for what it is. I think in many ways its actually stronger than most other cultivation novels like Beware of Chicken and Forge of Destiny. This in part is because it seems to have been written as a book first rather than as a web novel. It stays more focused, tighter. It manages slice of life and also sprinkles in a firm dusting of genuine horror. I'm curious to see what else Valentine has in store for the series and I'll probably find out sooner rather than later.
Ludus: What I've been playing
Alan Wake II - Remedy
Damn this game is good. While I'm only about 1/3rd of the way through it at time of writing, it has fully captured my imagination. Also, the sound tracks that play between chapters are incredible and tie into the story. I can already see quite a bit of thematic depth here. This one might actually get a full review. I'm not sure yet though. And it will probably show up in the next few editions of Praetermancy simply because I’m slow at gaming.
Split Fiction - Hazelight
I'm playing this one with my wife and we will probably be playing it for most of next month as well if I had to guess. Is it the best game ever? No, the writing is a little mediocre at times and incredibly unsubtle, but everything else is very well done, and there is a magic to games built from the ground up to be Co-op.
Cinemancy: What I've been Watching (Yes, I know that's terrible Latin.)
Nothing this month. Sorry.
Augury: Looking Forwards into April
Upcoming Articles
It is the beginning of the end for the Laird Barron Read-along series, and there are two releases on the 26th.
1. April 5th Laird Barron Read-along 78: Isaiah Coleridge Book 1: Blood Standard
2. April 12th Laird Barron Read-along 79: Isaiah Coleridge Book 2: Black Mountain
3. April 19th Laird Barron Read-along 80: Isaiah Coleridge Book 3: Worse Angels
4. April 26th Laird Barron Read-along 81: Isaiah Coleridge Book 4: The Wind Began to Howl
5. April 26th Praetermancy April 2025
Long Term Project Status
This Encroaching Darkness is not going to be releasing this summer like I'd hoped it would be. It just needs more editing and I'm running into issues getting the cover formatted. Hopefully it will be sometime this year, but once again, I can't make any promises.
Short stories are still on hold.
The Laird Barron Read-along proceeds apace. April will have the last batch of these for awhile, and we will be transitioning to a more balanced schedule.
My Dolmenwood Campaign has started up and we are through the first two sessions with the third scheduled for tomorrow. My plan is to release a session summary once a month starting in May, currently the first two are written, but we will have to see how it turns out.
Auspices: Things I'm Interested in
Books
Releases April 1st: A Drop of Corruption - Robert Jackson Bennett
This is one I've already reviewed (I got an ARC!), and you can read my thoughts on it here.
Sword Heart - T Kingfisher
I somehow missed this book's release last year. Huh. Guess I'll have to get to it sometime soon.
TTRPGs
Shadowdark: The Western Reaches - The Arcane Library
This one looks good to me, though I doubt I'll buy it. I just have too much on my hands at the moment. Still it looks really good, and comes with several bundles to help you get into Shadowdark as a whole if you are interested.
Mana Meltdown - Shane Walshe
This looks facinating. A Battle Royale adventure published by Lazy Lich. I have no idea what is in store but I know two things:
1. The art will be Bleeping awesome.
And the adventure will be interesting.
Video Games
Despite my track record of games I'm looking forward too largely crashing and burning, I am still doing this segment for some reason. This month:
South of Midnight - Compulsion Games
This one looks really good to me. I love the art style, and I'm down for some southern gothic adventures... hopefully it's good.
Movies & TV
Nothing This month.