"Shoggoth's Old Peculiar" by Neil Gaiman (2014) from The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy edited by Mike Ashley, Carroll & Graf

An American student, following a guidebook on a Walking Tour of British Coastlines, discovers that in the "off season" that not much of anything is open along the rainy grey coast.  He stops at a village called Innsmouth.  He finds a pub with an odd name and checks to see if they serve food.  They do, of a sort, but he decides the British serve food as a punishment.  Two fellows sit by him and he buys them a round of Shoggoth's Old Peculiar.  He's never drank alcohol before and listens as the two men talk to him about H.P. Lovecraft and how they're acolytes.  He wakes up in the morning with a terrific headache, but no village.

Your First Million Words: Finding the Story Inside You by Jeff Wheeler (2019) Amberlin

Jeff Wheeler is a best selling fantasy author who is also deeply religious and worked many years for Intel.  This is a tretise on how he continued on with his dream of becoming a writer in the face of disasters, raising a family, going on a mission, serving in various leadership capacities in the church, and stumbling through years of trying to break into becoming a published writer, even publishing his own e-zine and books.  The basic conclusion is to be prepared for the consequences of what you want.

The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang (2019) Harper Voyager

Rin, the heroine of the Poppy Wars, returns, addicted to heroin in an effort to quiet the murderous Phoenix inside her mind and to escape the guilt of how she ended the war.  This time, the Dragon warlord seeks to overthrow the empress and establish a republic with the help of foreigners who have advanced technology, but will not provide help until they see that the Dragon lord's plan will work.  Only the empress is not so easy to defeat, and the Dragon lord is not really helping a republic form.  In the end, he will do whatever he needs to preserve his family's position and safety.

The Hob’s Bargain by Patricia Briggs (2001) Ace Books

A farmer’s daughter, Aren, gets married when she thought she was doomed to be an old maid.  Then on the second day of her marriage, everything goes wrong.  Raiders kill her husband, his brother, and her parents.  She could see it was happening and ran to her hidden cellar, terrified she would suffer the same fate.  Magic is considered evil, even having the sight.  But she sees more and feels compelled to warn the villagers, even though she knows they can condemn her to death.  While in the village, a great earthquake happens, and the villagers and farmers fear it will cut them off from the town where they sell their produce.  As they go over the Hob, a mountain between them and their destination, Aren is ‘saved’ by the Hob.  He is bound to the mountain and is a strong magical spirit.  More spirits attack the village and Aren returns to the Hob to strike a bargain for his protection.  But what he wants in return is her.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) Harper

David Copperfield in the Appalachians.  The story even starts with a similar line; “First, I got myself born.”  Only here we are in the current century with the current problems that have affected our society.  Our hero, the title character, lives with his drug addicted mother, until the government decides it would be in his best interest to live in foster care, meaning people who are only interested in the monthly check from the government and the free labor that comes with it.  Things go from bad to worse until he hits the jackpot with the local hero football coach.  But fate won’t by stopped by the cornucopia of temptations and tragedies of the twenty-first century.  And all Demon wants to do is see the ocean.

Silverton County SD-101: Trust Part 2 by Timothy Brown

This is a story of people who are experts in defending themselves, but they are put to the test in ways that make their lives difficult at best.  The character’s voices are distinct enough to hear snippets and know which one is talking.  The suspense is intense.  And there is a supernatural element, giving us a connection in the story that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.  It needs editing (we all do on our writing), but that can be taken care of after the first draft is complete.  A very interesting story.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

The Drum Family lives in a small town south of Mankato in Minnesota.  The father is a pastor to three congregations in the vicinity.  The mother is talented soprano and conducts the local chorus.  The daughter outshines her mother due to the same teacher.  She composes, she plays, she astounds.  There are two brothers, one is the narrator of the story and often gets himself and his brother, who has a stuttering problem, into difficulty.
The story takes place post-World War two.  A blind man, the teacher, son of the local wealthy family, and his sister, who is deaf, seem to only be befriended by the Drum family.  The boys help the deaf woman with her garden.  The father plays chess with the man.  The mother has fond memories of the man she was going to marry, before he went off to war and lost his sight and his beauty.  The daughter is typing up his memoir.  But the story is not about an idyllic life.  It is about death, which seems to occur repeatedly in the story.  One death in particular leads the narrator to want to solve the puzzle that seems beyond his reach.  But he is persistent.