Written by Moriah

With November being crunch-time for many students in trying to catch up on assignments as well as prepare for finals, it is obviously very hard to focus on anything else. While I love to recommend stories, I also find it hard to split my attention from homework onto a full series. So instead, for the next couple of posts, I want to recommend a semi-random assortment of short reads.

Here are some options of stories ranging from either 200 pages or less than four hours through audiobook selections!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells, #1 of the Murderbot Diaries

Yes, the Murderbot series. Though he doesn’t call himself that out loud, Murderbot does have a distaste for the humans he is forced to accompany for space exploration. He would much rather stay isolated with the time to catch up on all the soap operas he downloaded after killing his last crew. But due to corporate regulations, every human group needs one sanctioned robot. And of course his missions get derailed by circumstances out of anyone’s control.

This series has one of the best audiobooks on the planet. Each one runs from two to four hours with a few full length novels in between. And it is currently being adapted into a television show with Apple TV. Despite reading this twice, I could not tell you what happened in this novella because I spent the whole time laughing at how utterly mopey Murderbot is about having to interact with people when he just wants to watch television and stay under the radar about his self-awareness.

Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio

Five slightly connected people working their respective late shifts stumble upon the strangest of situations in a church yard. When a gravedigger creeps out the local bartender, hotel receptionist, a rideshare driver, editor for the college paper, and a student who lives in the mostly haunted church beyond the way. They start to connect the dots tracing back to weirder happenings the past few months.

For being just under 150 pages, I feel like everything in the synopsis is a potential spoiler. Even with it being November, the spooky times do not end. And this novella does it right, more so a mystery thriller than an outright horror. It works best as a physical read instead of the audiobook with how it lays down the path towards the reveals. Warnings for mice, mushrooms, and eeriness.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

Two rival agents Red and Blue communicate with each other through letters as they fight a seemingly endless war across key moments in time. Starting from taunting rivalry to growing affection, however there is still action in the background that affects them at every moment.

Very strange and I enjoyed every minute of reading it. Any story handling time travel in an odd way is almost guaranteed to become a favorite of mine, and even though I am a self-proclaimed hater. The romance in here was done beautifully.

A Dead Djinn in Cairo (Dead Djinn Universe)- P.Djèlí Clark

A steampunk mystery set in an alternate Cairo where our protagonist, Fatma el-Sha’arawi, is tasked with investigating what started off as a simple case. Which of course leads to a chase around the city, encountering ghouls, clockwork angels, her own department, as well as assassins while the clock counts down.

Nearly 45 pages, and a wonderful prelude to the full length novel A Master of Djinn, this establishes the world of 1912’s Egypt and history of alchemy that came before Fatma’s role as Investigator. The audiobook for this and the other prelude novella’s The Haunting of Tram Car 015, and the Angel Of Khan El-Khalili pack just as much of a punch for worldbuilding and immersion. A great distraction from exam preparations.

A Magical Girl Retires – Park Seolyeon

After being stopped from a suicide attempt, a twenty-nine year old woman drowning in credit card debt is told that she may be the “magical girl” destined to help the world in need. However there are just as many demands to being a magical girl as there are in the job she was just fired from. Trade classes, job fairs, networking nightmares, all while trying to figure out why her “magical wand” developed into an unusable credit card. And how she can use all this new information to fight the global climate crisis that has accelerated.

I’m starting to realize the only theme this list has at the moment is that I think all these covers are pretty. Anyways this translated novella has beautiful interchapter artwork as well as a compelling plot line throughout the scenes. The ending for this was so rewarding and the pacing makes it very easy to read in one sitting if you ever have the time.

The Employees – Olga Ravn

Another translated novella compiling the memos, reports, and tasks from the crew members of the Six-Thousand Ship. However the work dynamic amongst the human and humanoid staff grows tense as they all get attached to new inventory from a nearby planet.

This has been on my Halloween book list for a while, and I still have yet to read it. But the cover design is creepy, and the idea of a corporate and mechanical space conflict is something that I need to check out as soon as I can. Honestly, I might start it tomorrow and update this section in the future. Some of the chapters are as small as a paragraph and I need to know more about why the formatting is like this.

Well, this list seems to be just as jumbled as my brain in this upcoming exam preparations but I do hope that you get the time to check out at least one of these selections! Please take care of yourself and stay hydrated and well rested. It is hard to focus if you’re ignoring the systems that help you stay functioning.

Have a pleasant halloweekend!