Sickos! The June votes have finished and we are ready to rock on our June picks for the Fiction & History Sickos Book Clubs.

After two rounds of voting and twelve books to choose from, the Fiction Sickos will be reading:

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

This is an ambitious and unique standalone, adult fantasy story that ranks among my all-time favorites regardless of genre. This is very much an all-or-nothing type book, but I've found that the people who are able to find their footing early on typically consider it top tier stuff. The reason it can be difficult to get into at first comes down to the 2nd person POV and the storytelling device it uses to make it a story within a story. It's f'n brilliant but it does take getting used to. My advice: don't do this as audio only, at least at first. The best way is to immersion read it (physical + audio) or go straight eyeball reading.

The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—hold the countryside in their choking grip. They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace.

But that god cannot be contained forever.

With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison. And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever. The journey ahead will be more dangerous than any of them could have imagined.

This will be a re-read for me but I haven't read it in a few years so I'm pretty jazzed up to give it another go and discuss it with y'all!

The History Sickos will be reading:

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts

This barely edged out Carthage Must Be Destroyed (which I'll probably be re-reading later in the month anyway), and was a suggestion from our comrade Whimsical Judge Theo. I know nothing about it other than the subtitle so here's what's labeled on the tin:

An international bestseller, a nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and made into a critically acclaimed movie, Shilts' expose revealed why AIDS was allowed to spread unchecked during the early 80's while the most trusted institutions ignored or denied the threat. One of the few true modern classics, it changed and framed how AIDS was discussed in the following years.

As always, the discussion forums for these are in our Discord and to unlock those channels you'll need to be at the Sicko plus tiers.

OTHER STUFF...

• I recently reviewed Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents on YouTube

• A Complement of Scoundrels' Kindle version is on sale for $3.99

• We believe we've found the perfect audiobook narrator for A Complement of Scoundrels, will update when I can there

• Hoping this is the week I can announce the second acquisition for our Kist Reads publishing imprint

• Monday Updates will be back tomorrow

• Expect some history content regarding my read of Empire of the Steppes soon