Emma can be a tricky book to retell. It's a beloved classic and Emma as a protagonist is a mess. But maybe that's why I have an affinity for Emma retellings? Whatever the reason, The Code for Love and Heartbreak caught my eye. Today we're sharing a Q&A with the author, Jillian Cantor, below, but first here's a little more about the book:

As a reader of comics and paranormal romance novels, I was reeeeally excited about this anthology. While I ended up really liking it, it wasn't what I was expecting, so here are the talking points summarized for you:

• These are not explicit romance. Maybe PG-13, for some kissing, but if Love in Panels had a PG rating, I'd probably give it that.
• Lots of ghosts! I was ...

  Review based on Dates 1:

  Cravats. Latin. Rope-walking. Androgyny. Pirates. Girls in gowns running away together. Boys and boys and girls and girls and people who don't identify any particular way... This book is hard to review because not only is it an anthology, the stories within span thousands of years of history, continents, empires, cultures... it's impossible to pin down. ...

  The second volume of Power & Magic is funding on Kickstarter right now (7/14/17) and the first volume just won a PRISM Award. Since I've had the PDF on my iPad for a few weeks, I figured it was time to give it a read. It's... wow.

  What you get for your $10 (digital) is 15 stories about queer witches of color, some more magical than others, all of them accessible and ...

  I've been waiting for this since Limerence announced it, and I'm super pleased with the result!

  The first 25 pages is set-up: what are pronouns and why is it important to use the correct pronouns when referring to or talking to a person.

  The middle section is the how-to portion of the book. How to use gender neutral pronouns in a professional setting, when you don't ...

  www.loveinpanels.com/comics/queer-and-trans-identities

  www.loveinpanels.com/comics/croquette-and-empanada

  www.loveinpanels.com/comics/gender-queer

  www.loveinpanels.com/comics/quick-and-easy-guide-to-sex-and-disability

After being buried under an overwhelming pile of new books in September, we're taking a bit of a breather in October.

As we hurtle toward a life-changing election here in the States, I hope you're able to find some time to recharge between actions. I know we all hate phone calls, but consider what you might be able to do to get out the vote, to support candidates who aren't authoritarian toadies and to help protestors who are risking their lives to fight for justice. One of my neighbors makes a lot of lasagna these days.

If you are sick and terrified and exhausted, you're not alone. But please, if something good happens to or for you? Take a minute to celebrate. You deserve to enjoy that promotion, to dance around the kitchen with your just-published book, to eat birthday cake.

Now, before I go off and write more postcards, here's a list of our October anticipated new releases (and a bunch more you might be interested in).

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Publishing is a fickle mistress. Some months I’m scraping the depths of the Interwebs to find a handful of unusual historical titles and other months it’s an explosion of confetti being shot out of an air cannon.  Since September is an air cannon month, I’ll stop blathering on so we can get to the goodness. 

So let’s look at what indulgences caught my eye this month:

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Mini-reviews of Best Laid Plaids, Lovewrecked, The Switch, Charming as a Verb and Kiss My Cupcake. That's an m/m historical, a contemporary (women's?) novel, two f/m contemporaries and an f/m contemporary YA.

I'm pretty amped for Smash It! Here's why:

What happens when you combine a no-nonsense woman who knows what she wants, the man she’s been pining after for years, a meddling little sister, a birthday celebration,and a surprise cameo by Carole Baskin? 

One of the things you have to know about me to understand my adoration for this novel is that I LOVE “trash” reality shows: The Chasing series, The Housewives Franchise, OG Real World and the messiest of all: MTV’s Catfish. So a book based off two people falling for one another while catching a catfish? Right up my alley.

In case you missed my squee of spooky delight these last two years, I've loved both of Hester Fox's gothic historicals. While her debut, The Witch of Willow Hall, leans more into the "what the hell is happening?!" style (with an HEA), her second novel, The Widow of Pale Harbor, has a more prominent romance to go alone with the dead birds and scary happenings. As I get into more of my Spooky Season reading, I'm looking forward to the third gothic from Fox, The Orphan of Cemetery Hill, out September 15.

Mini-reviews of More Than Maybe, Hairpin Curves, I Think I Might Love You and The Fell of Dark. That's an f/m contemporary YA, an f/f contemporary, an f/m contemporary and an m/m YA contemporary fantasy.

Kate Stayman-London's debut novel One to Watch falls neatly within the bounds of "women's fiction," focusing on Bea's character arc as she's propelled from her popular plus-size fashion blog to the role of first-ever plus-size star on a Bachelorette-esque dating show.