 Welcome to Church of the Chair, where the only thing we like more than buying books is reading them. I'm your host, E, and today we're talking about a couple books that I got and what I'm reading. The first thing is what I'm reading. I am currently reading Echo by Thomas Old Huvelt. I think I pronounced that right, I've been practicing all day, but I probably still got it wrong. Anyways, on with the description. Travel journalist and Mountaineer Nick Griebers, that's probably pronounced wrong too, wakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustine, is missing and presumed dead. Nick's own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying. With his face wrapped in bandages and unable to speak, Nick claims amnesia. But he remembers everything. He remembers how he and Augustine were mysteriously drawn to the modded, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps. He remembers something was waiting for them. But it isn't just the trauma of the accident that haunts Nick. Something has awakened inside of him. Something that endangers the lives of everyone around him. It's one thing to lose your life, it's another to lose your soul. I'm currently 280 pages into this 400 page book. My review should be up in the next week. But until then, I'm enjoying it. I read Huvelt's last book, Hex, and I enjoyed that one also. I went with a 3 star because sometimes it was a little bit on the silly side, and I'm having the same experience here, but it's still a very readable book. I would like to preface this book haul with a thank you to my friend Amanda. She sent me a $50 gift card, and without that, this book haul wouldn't be a thing. The first thing I got was Shining in the Dark, with stories from Stephen King, Clive Barker, John Lindquist, and Ramsay Campbell, and many more. Celebrating 20 years of Ligia's Library. This creepy collection of stories is perfect for horror fans of all backgrounds. With a terrifying tale that has never been previously included in any of Stephen King's own collected works, as well as exclusive frightening fiction from Let the Right Ones in John's Lindquist, Shining in the Dark is an unforgettable anthology of mayhem, Madness and the Macabre, by some of the genre's best known and most talented authors. And now for a list of the stories and who they're by. The Blue Air Compressor by Stephen King. The Net by Jack Ketchum and Pede Kasek, C-A-C-E-K. The Novel of the Holocaust by Stuart O'Nan. Aliana by Bev Vincent. Pigeon and Teresa by Clive Barker. An End to All Things by Brian King. Cemetery Dance by Richard Chismar. Drawn to the Flame by Kevin Quigley. The Companion by Ramsey Campbell. The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. A Mother's Love by Brian James Freeman. And finally, The Keeper's Companion by John Lindquist. Yes, I'm purposefully not saying his middle name because I don't want to get it wrong. Sorry. I am once again sorely disappointed in the lack of diversity in this book. There is only one female author in this entire lineup and that is Pede Kasek, but I would like to see more diversity going forward, especially when you have room in your anthology for a story that's been published literally hundreds of times and is currently in the public domain. Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. Next up, we have Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri. In the description reads, A nobleman's daughter with magic in her blood. An empire built on the dreams of enslaved gods. The Amarenthi are outcasts, nomads descended from desert spirits. They are coveted and persecuted throughout the empire for the power in their blood. Mere is the illegitimate daughter of an imperial governor and an exiled Amarenthi mother she can barely remember but whose face and magic she has inherited. She can manipulate the dreams of the gods and alter the shape of the world. This sounds amazing. When Mere's powers come to the attention of the emperor's most feared mystics, she must use every ounce of will, subtlety, and power she possesses to resist their cruel agenda. And should she fail, the gods themselves may awaken seeking vengeance. I'm hyped for this one, that's all I gotta say about that. Next up, we have a book by the same author as one of my top 10 short story collections, Friday Black by Nana Kwame Ajebrenia. This is the collection, but this is the book I picked up. Chain Gang All-Stars, on with the description. This one's good y'all, just listen. Loretta Therwar and Hamara Hurricane Stacks Stacker are the stars of the Chain Gang All-Stars. The Cornerstone of Cape, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment. A highly popular, highly controversial profit raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. That's a tongue twister. Anyways, it's the return of the gladiators, and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize, their freedom. In Cape, prisoners travel as links in Chain Gangs, competing in deathmatches before packed arenas with righteous protesters at the gate. Therwar and Stacks, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. If all goes well, Therwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow links, Therwar considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games. Cape's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo, and the obstacles they lay in Therwar's path have devastating consequences. Moving from the links in the field to the protesters, to the Cape employees and beyond, Chain Gang All-Stars is a kaleidoscopic, excoriating look at the American prison system's unholy alliance of systemic racism, unchecked capitalism, and mass incarceration. And a clear-eyed reckoning with what freedom in this country really means from a new and necessary American voice, Tommy Orange, The New York Times Book Review. I have been waiting for this book ever since I first read the collection Friday Black. The way this author writes, if he is not on your radar, you need to go check him out right now. Next up, we have Loan Women by Victor Laval. I got this one quite some time ago and I did a book haul on a live stream, but I wanted to add this one in here because it just came out recently and it needs to be on your guys' radar. Now for the description. Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It's locked at all times because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear. The year is 1915 and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the Loan Women, taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who contain it, except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory. Drafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Loan Women blend shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape and a portrait of the early 20th century America like you've never seen and at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past or redeem it. Last but certainly not least, we have the new Joe Goldberg book, You, Sorry, For You and Only You by Caroline Kepnes. I won't be reading the description of this one because it's the fourth one in the series and I do not want an ounce of spoiler before I go into it. But that's all the time I have for you today. If you're interested in reading any of these books or you have read any of these books, let me know what you thought of them down there in the comments section. Please no spoilers though. Also, if you would like to post your own recent book hauls, please do so. And until next time, I'll hail the chair.