#spell bound

Spell Bound

Man, I flipped my wig when I saw the first Astraleyez post about Spell Bound (2023). The book debuted at the Lethal Matters book fair in LA and I pretty much begged my pal Michael C Hsuing, who was also vending there, to snag me a copy. Thank goodness he did, because the 333-copy first edition sold out pretty much immediately — many folks I recommended the book to in that first week were left wanting (there is a second edition out now and, while the cover is also cool, I think the cover here, shot by Emily Utne (somehow in 2023, not 1974?) is the definitive one.

Anyway, the book is a set of photographs of the cover of paperbacks from the collection of Mr. Eyez. As you might have guessed, they are unified by their interest in the occult, but they range from books about witchcraft to books that are extremely nervous about witchcraft but also turned on by witches and straight up horror novels both terrified of and supportive of witches. All of them are pleasingly worn in, which foxed edges, crinkled spines and smudges on the cover. The overall effect is not just a celebration of these often lurid books, but also the assembly of them as a the wares of some sort of perfect or archetypal occult/vintage book shop I can visit in my mind. It’s one of very few books I’ve encountered that conjures the memory of a smell.

April is here and that means spring is here too! Here’s what I’m planning to read this month:

Vicious -currently reading

Common Goal -currently reading

A Vigil In The Mourning

Covenant vol 3

Alpha Dragon’s Wolf

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards

Dinosaur Sanctuary vol 2

Role Model

Spell Bound

JOMP Book Photo Challenge

Two rival apprentice sorcerers must team up to save their teachers and protect their own magic in this lively young adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of In Deeper Waters and So This Is Ever After.

Edison Rooker isn’t sure what to expect when he enters the office of Antonia Hex, the powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. He doesn’t have much experience with hexes or curses. Heck, he doesn’t even have magic. But he does have a plan—to regain the access to the magical world he lost when his grandmother passed.

Antonia is…intimidating, but she gives him a job and a new name—Rook—both of which he’s happy to accept. Now all Rook has to do is keep his Spell Binder, an illegal magical detection device, hidden from the Magical Consortium. And contend with Sun, the grumpy and annoyingly cute apprentice to Antonia’s rival colleague, Fable. But dealing with competition isn’t so bad; as Sun seems to pop up more and more, and Rook minds less and less.