Reader's Forecast

Reader's Forecast

By Sam VacikArtsBooksLeisure
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Reader's Forecast episodes

  • Make Nice, Not Heist!

    Got some feedback for the Reader's Forecast podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself in the next episode or bonus content!

    Cloud heists getting you down in this era of the data empire? What does an astronaut have to do with an authoritarian Romanian regime in 1989? Don’t want to “make nice” with the Cloak and Dagger Club? Don’t worry! All of this hot and humid weather’s got nothing on this forecast’s selection of books, featuring a cloud heist thriller, a golden age murder mystery club, pioneering women, an assassin with sing magic in a romantasy while an immortal chases a time traveler in a romascifi, and more! The Reader’s Forecast has you covered for this week’s exciting new publishing finds and two humorous and curious debut authors.

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast.

    Publishing Week: 14 July 2026

    27 min
  • Apocalyptically Cozy

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    Heat domes, thunderstorms, and sunshine — oh gee wiz! What is coming of this world? It’s almost apocalyptically cozy! Travel with the host through apocalyptic African American sci fi topping off a trilogy to a romantasy starting a new one like Throne of Glass. We explore the dramas of Death living and loving among us before escaping into the cool summer nights of the Disco era. Come with the Reader’s Forecast and you’ll see a world full of reading possibilities!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast.

    Publishing Week: 7 July 2026

    24 min
  • Smart Moss Seeks Timely Eyre

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    Ever wonder what happens when a classic literary hero becomes a time traveler? Are you curious what sentient moss would think and do? What would it be like to live forever and watch each of your romances end in the ever eventual death of each mortal suitor? This week’s forecast examines multiple genre-bending story scenarios, including a time traveling Jane Eyre, a smart moss serving as the brain of a space ship with a need for revenge, and an immortal who seeks love but outlives every love interest. It’s hot and humid this week and these books may be able to take your mind off it. Tune in to learn more in this week’s Reader’s Forecast!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast.

    Publishing Week: 30 June 2026

    22 min
  • 6 Summer Drenching Debuts

    Got some feedback for the Reader's Forecast podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself in the next episode or bonus content!

    Pull out your umbrellas for this downpour of debuts — because there are six of them out of a total of nine authors! Reader’s Forecast packs historical, fantasy, sci-fi, detective mysteries, thrillers, and more into this full episode. Whether it’s a modern romantic fairy tale or a raccoon private investigator, this forecast features a book for you. Click play to find out which book is your best match!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast.

    Publishing Week: 23 June 2026

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author)

    1) Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

    2) The Door in Penrose Forest by Sean David Robinson *

    3) Nine Lives by Catherine Steadman

    4) Nothing to My Name by Kangkang Li Kovacs *

    5) Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein *

    6) Names Have Been Changed by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow *

    7) Little Wild by Laura Evans *

    8) The Tinder Box by M. R. Carey

    9) Agnes Lives! By Hallie Elizabeth Newton *

    26 min
  • Fast and Ficticious

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    Slow your summer roll with this cozy collection of history and fast fiction. What if Henry VIII and his queens lived in an epic fantasy world with dragons? What if a mother was secretly working as a paid assassin? What if an alien signal sparked the world to change? Explore your humanity and our very existence through these “what-if” novels involving historical fantasy, sci-fi, romance, history, and more in this warm and enriching episode of the Reader’s Forecast; one of these books is for you!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast.

    Publishing Week: 16 June 2026

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author)

    1) Arrivals.& Departures by Amanda Eyre Ward

    2) Six Savage Thrones by Holly Race

    3) Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, & Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper by Alex Wright

    4) Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh

    5) Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne

    6) The Lady Imam by Charla Power

    7) Good Company by Kate Christensen

    8) Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World by Katherine Dunn *

    9) Voyagers by Meg Charlton *

    28 min
  • Multi-Flavored SciScream

    Got some feedback for the Reader's Forecast podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself in the next episode or bonus content!

    Ready for an exciting summer? Get ready for a Reader’s Forecast full predominantly of flavors of science fiction, including multiple sci-fi thrillers, mysteries, timebending, and more! There will be thunder; there will be screams; and there will be laughs. But, when I’m done, there won’t be any more ice cream, because the heat is rising and the books are opening… Three debut authors and a touch of historical realism, fiction, or fantasy will bring the thrilling reads to life for your entertainment! We’re only one Schrodinger cat away from starting on time. Tune into this episode to find out… if one of these sci-fi thrills, romances, or comedies is for you!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast. URLS for the books in this episode will be included on www.readersforecast.com (soon — under construction).

    Publishing Week: 9 June 2026

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author)

    1) Contrapposto by Dave Eggers

    2) Cat Love by Tomas Q Morin *

    3) Summer’s Never Over by Darby Bozeman *

    4) Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

    5) Feast by Catherine Kurtz

    6) Earth 7 by Deb Olin Unferth

    7) The Traveler by Joseph Eckert *

    8) Daughters of the Sun & Moon by Lisa Lee

    9) The Reimagining of Thornwood House by Jaleigh Johnson

    10) Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

    30 min
  • Comedy, Dramedy, Romedy

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    Prepare for a week of storms, brusk winds, and lustrous lightning with a thriller, heist, and legal drama that cede the way to sunshine and rainbows with comedy and romance. This week’s forecast features mix of genres ranging from thriller to science and from sci-fi to historical fantasy and from historical fiction to humor. We’ll explore the culture of animal kingdoms, hunt for unicorns in a French forest, and search for a monstrously sized, magical jellyfish plagueing the Northeast US coast. Stay tuned for an episode that may knock your socks off with plain comedy, dramedy, or an almost Shakespearean-level romedy! Is one of these books your next read for the weekend?

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast out of sheer interest.

    Publishing Week: 2 June 2026

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author)

    1) An Artful Dodge by Karen Odden / Thriller Heist

    2) A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

    3) Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim *

    4) The Hidden Nations of Animals: A Grand Tour of Earths’ Wild Civilizations y Ryan Huling

    5) The Unicorn Hunters by Katherine Arden

    6) Alan Opts Out by Courtney Baum

    7) The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang *

    8) Meeting New People by Daniel M. Lavery

    9) Puck boy Samantha Allen

    31 min
  • Horrorably Romantic

    Got some feedback for the Reader's Forecast podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself in the next episode or bonus content!

    Frigid horror freezes the beginning of the week but gives way to two sci-fi novels. Though, one requires you to be up to date on your spy craft while the other features a cyborg dog with a smart mouth. There’s fantastical heat and magic happening deep in rural South Dakota and black romance is in the air as much as aromanticism. Is it possible to be romantic when aromantic? We’ll find out in this week’s Reader’s Forecast!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast. URLS for the books in this episode will be included on www.readersforecast.com (soon — under construction).

    Publishing Week: 26 March 2026

    Major retailers:

    • Barnes & Noble (all formats)
    • Rakuten Kobo (ebook & audiobook)
    • eBooks.com (ebooks only)
    • Amazon.com (all formats)

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author):

    1) Dead Weight by Hildur Knutsdottir

    2) Nothing on Earth by Ian MacKenzie

    3) Ode to the Half-Broken by Suzanne Palmer

    4) Freedom Round the Globe: A World History of the American Revolution by Sarah M. S. Pearsall

    5) Ghalen: A Romance in Black by Walter Mosley

    6) Pixie by Jill Dawson

    7) Babylon, South Dakota by Tom Lin

    8) Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It by Brooke Averick *

    9) Being Aro: A Collection of Aromantic Fiction about Love, Connection, and Empowerment by Madeline Dyer, Rosiee Thor

    32 min
  • Swearing Warblers Don’t Say, “Aloha”

    Got some feedback for the Reader's Forecast podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself in the next episode or bonus content!

    Summer may not be the time of ghostly humans outside October, but it’s perfect for ghostly horses with all that heat outside. Perhaps, New York City brings to mind swearing people, but apparently, warblers are just as likely to swear with all this wretchedly hot, humid, and stormy weather.

    Expect a vibrant episode from the blues of the Pacific to the colorful language of animals in NYC. Perhaps one of these books from two debuts and many established authors is the one for you!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast.

    Publishing Week: 19 May 2026

    Major retailers:

    • Barnes & Noble (all formats)
    • Rakuten Kobo (ebook & audiobook)
    • eBooks.com (ebooks only)
    • Amazon.com (all formats)

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author):

    1) Broken Truths by Alessandro Robecchi

    2) Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler

    3) The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh

    4) Score by Kennedy Ryan (Book 2 in the Hollywood Rennaissance series)

    5) An Expanse of Blue by Kuakanilehua Mahoe Adams

    6) Glyph by Ali Smith

    7) Mare by Emily Haworth-Booth *

    8) The Hope Keeper

    9) It’s Hard to Be an Animal by Robert Isaacs *

    AND -- a mysterious bonus at the end of this episode!

    28 min
  • Two Debut Thunder Catchers

    Got some feedback for the Reader's Forecast podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself in the next episode or bonus content!

    High temperature thrills and change crash out early in the week, giving way to the coldness of a space opera, but not to worry, as warmth returns with romantasy and a genre-questioning new fiction novel from a debut author. This week features 8 books — of which one might be for you! Stay tuned — 8 new books are headed your way in this week’s Reader’s Forecast!

    This podcast was not sponsored nor elicited. All books were selected by the host for inclusion in this podcast. URLS for the books in this episode will be included on www.readersforecast.com (soon — under construction).

    Publishing Week: 17 March 2026

    Major retailers:

    • Barnes & Noble (all formats)
    • Rakuten Kobo (ebook & audiobook)
    • eBooks.com (ebooks only)
    • Amazon.com (all formats)

    Books included in this weeks forecast by Title & Author (* debut author)

    1) A Siege of Owls by Uchenna Awoke

    2) Men Like Ours by Bindu Bansinath *

    3) Radiant Star by Ann Leckie

    4) The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony

    5) The Franchise by Thomas Elrod *

    6) The Pillagers’ Guide to Arctic Pianos by Kendra Langford Shaw

    7) Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth

    8) Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969 - 2000 by Barry Walters

    25 min

About Reader's Forecast

From the publisher's feed

What's on the horizon this week at our local bookstores? Don't have time to shop yourself for delicious new reads? Looking for new books to help you relax and enjoy a story or new topic?

In…