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It’s time to expand your horizons, RPG-lovers! Whether you’re looking for the best fantasy RPGs aside from D&D or whether you want to explore something entirely different, this list of tabletop roleplaying games has a little bit of everything for you. We’ve got mysteries. We’ve got superheroes. We’ve got teen gangs. We’ve got vampires. We’ve got aliens. We’ve cyberpunk. And so much more. The other really cool thing about expanding your horizons to different RPG worlds?...

In all seriousness, creators of color need and deserve our support. The publishing industry is challenging to break into, and that difficulty is compounded for authors and illustrators with marginalized identities. Furthermore, authors of color are often paid less than their white counterparts. Children’s books are among the most important genres in need of diversification. Children from diverse racial backgrounds need to see themselves reflected in books. Conversely, children from dominant cultures need to see others represented in various and multifaceted ways....

From fantasy manga to sports manga to slice-of-life manga, below are nine manga that will take you through a rollercoaster of emotions, some with unexpected twists and great characters, others with predictable endings that still hurt you anyways. With gorgeous art and great stories about friendship, family, love, betrayal, reality and trying to survive as humans in a world that isn’t always fair, these manga leave an impact on you long after you finish reading them....

What does a seventeen-year-old Haitian American from Miami with way too little life experience have to say about anything? Actually, a lot. Thanks to “the incident,” Alaine Beauparlant is spending the next two months in Haiti on a “spring volunteer immersion project.” It’s definitely no vacation. Under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle and her lean-in queen of a mother, she is on strict orders to finally do things right....

Couple of small disclaimers before we start with the actual patterns. First, for this list I chose a range of easy to complicated patterns that all come with detailed, downloadable instructions. So while some projects are harder, they are still “easy” to do. Plus, they’re all in the cross-stitch pattern, which is easier to follow for beginners. Another thing, most if not all of these also come with recommendations of fabric and floss colors to really match the original design if you want....

Former military psychiatrist Brooke Adams and Special Ops Sergeant Asher James thought they left the fight on the battlefield. But their greatest struggles are just beginning. Bestselling author Lynette Eason returns with a new series that spans the globe and will have your heart working overtime. “Eason remains a force in action-packed inspirational fiction with this excellently paced, heartening tale.” —Publishers Weekly. “Readers who enjoy the combination of faith and romantic suspense will be thrilled with Eason’s latest, the first in the Danger Never Sleeps series, which introduces a fascinating cast of characters who will surely populate forthcoming sequels....

In Romancelandia, it’s also when the “holiday” romance novels start popping up on shelves. Most holiday romances are vaguely Christmas themed, but the last few years have seen a few more romances set around other winter holidays, whether it’s Thanksgiving, Diwali, Solstice, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa. (There are also more focused on Lunar New Year, but that’s not until January.) We’ve still got quite a ways to go before that representation is anywhere near equitable (especially since there are so many people in the U....

Best Books for Every New Dad Best Books for Nontraditional New Dads Best Books for New Dads of Disabled Kids Best Books for New Dads of Black Kids Build or buy that crib. Get the baby’s room ready even though they won’t use it until they’re ready to have an opinion about the paint color. Childproof the outlets and cabinets. And get to reading some of these best books for new dads....

Writing from the Soviet Union – and the countries that preceded and succeeded it – has long been lauded. Writers from Russia like Dostoyevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Pushkin and Tolstoy are fundamental to any consideration of literary history and achievement. In recent years, women’s voices have thankfully come more to the fore, with both Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich and Polish author Olga Tokarczuk winning the Nobel in recent years. Plenty of international writers have significant expertise about the Soviet Union’s history, but many ‘local’ authors clearly have a lived experience that should be seen and recognised....

**Book Riot does not condone trying to use dragonfire for illumination. Or dragons as lamps. YA Fantasy Books Like Skyrim The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke This, folks, is THE Skyrim book (at least as far as I’m concerned). If you read only one book on this list, make it Tucholke’s The Boneless Mercies. I put off buying my own copy of Skyrim for the longest time because I had other games I hadn’t played half to death that I wanted to finish first....

But since J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy hit the top of the bestseller lists, the national discussion about the region has been reduced to the debate around a single memoir. Last fall, I wrote about how one single book cannot define a region and gave 15 recommendations for readers looking to read more Appalachian literature. More recently, J.D. Vance announced his run for Senate, and a slew of writers have voiced their concern for his problematic stance on Appalachia (and many other issues), including Alana Anton on 100 Days of Appalachia and Tom Nichols in The Atlantic....

Welcome to Finale, the final book in Stephanie Garber’s #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series! It’s been two months since the Fates were freed from a deck of cards, two months since Legend claimed the throne for his own, and two months since Tella discovered the boy she fell in love with doesn’t really exist. Tella must decide if she’s going to trust Legend. After uncovering a secret, Scarlett will need to do the impossible....

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim (January 7) This is the first of a new duology from the author of the Timekeeper series and it is a genderbent retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. When Amaya saves a stranger from drowning off the debtor ships she’s imprisoned on, he offers her a chance to get the revenge she’s always wanted by masquerading as a countess. You may recognize Maria Liatis’s voice from her previous work on Bruja Born or One of Us Is Next....

Fortunately, books are great record keepers. Thanks to them, we can hold firsthand knowledge of something that happened 50 years ago in our palms. Plus, there are some authors with the resources and knowledge to do an immense amount of research. So even though they didn’t live through a specific event they can pass it on reliably. Black history books are windows into the lives of others, past and present....

These past few years were an era. So, if you’ve lost your sense of time as I have, you might’ve missed some great reads. Luckily, I am here to help you get up to speed. While there are many excellent award winners from 2020-2022, I’ve included a sample of five titles from each year. As an educator, book lover, and read-aloud enthusiast, audiobooks are absolutely my jam. In a dream world, I’d be a full-time writer and audiobook narrator....

Open up your wallets, friends: you’re going to want to pick up some of these rad bookish goods from Black-owned and Black-created shops. I’ve done my best to research the creators and offer up a wide array of really cool literary gifts for your life. Gifts for Readers By Black Creatives Love tea? You’ll love this tea bag bookmark featuring an array of crystals. How sweet! $7, with options for what gemstone you receive....

The leading authority on the science of feline communication explains how you can understand what your cat is trying to tell you — and how you can talk back — for fans of The Lion in the Living Room and The Inner Life of Animals. Have you ever wondered what your cat is saying? Cat sounds have a purpose, and they can carry important messages, whether for us or other cats....

YA books about cults are having a moment right now, and they’re going to continue their growth over the next year or two in the category. Perhaps because of the ways they connect neatly with fans of true crime as well as fans of thrillers, YA cult books are a natural fit for those readers. YA cult books go further than that, though, as they represent the adolescent experience more broadly....

Escape is just the beginning. Twin sisters Becca and Cassie barely got out of the Crazy House alive. Now they’re trained, skilled fighters who fear nothing–not even the all-powerful United regime. Together, the sisters hold the key to defeating the despotic government and freeing the people of the former United States. But to win this war, will the girls have to become the very thing they hate? In this gripping follow-up to James Patterson’s YA blockbuster Crazy House, the world is about to get even crazier....

Notably, this is the first year that a single book appears on three lists: Sharks in the Time of Saviors, the debut novel from Kawai Strong Washburn, is longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, and the PEN Open Book Award. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson is longlisted twice, and so is Asako Serizawa’s Inheritors along with Luster: A Novel by Raven Leilani....