You are listening to All the Backlist, a weekly show about books that are not new.

I'm your host for the week, Trisha Brown, and this is episode number 493.5. It is December, which means, like it or not, there's holiday stuff and

vibes everywhere. Everywhere. Even if you don't celebrate, it can be a real challenge to

avoid it. And even if you do celebrate, it can be

kind of a lot. So we're going to go in a slightly different direction this week. And we're

going to talk about a couple of books about death with a capital D, by which I mean death is a

main character. These are fiction books. They're not super dark, but there's just enough edge to offer

a little bit of a break from that hallmark movie, blow-up Grinch in the Yard, sparkly,

candy cane nature of the month. And I will tell you more about them in just a minute.

Today's episode is brought to you by Lydia M. Hawk, author of bold urban fantasy for women

who know their power. In Becoming Crone, the first book in the Thrillient Crone Wars series,

divorce has already turned Claire Emerson's tidy, predictable life upside down. So when her

60th birthday brings a cranky gargoyle, an overprotective

wolf shifter, and an unknown magical calling, she thinks she's losing the only thing she has left,

which is her sanity, been there girl. Because listen, menopausal grandmothers with creaky hips

don't usually discover that they're next in a long line of

powerful women protecting the world from dark mages. That is until the mages attack. But when

Claire tries to fight back, her brand new magic proves to be just as unpredictable as her hot flashes

and mayhem ensues. Clearly, if she's going to save the world, never mind her own life, she'll have to learn

to control the magic, and that means accepting her own power first. If she can, make sure to pick up

the empowering and fun book by Lydia M. Hawk, becoming Crone. And thanks again to Lydia M. Hawk

for sponsoring this episode.

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