When the Reckoning Comes A Novel • Notes by Zodi Texensis 🌌🪻 • Popfeed The opening of this book is already giving me chills. Chattel slavery is the ultimate horror.

#NowReading
Title - When the Reckoning Comes: A Novel
Author - LaTanya McQueen
Format - Audiobook

popfeed.social/notes/at://d...

#ZodiReads #BlackBookSky #HorrorSky

I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies Dedicated to the Poet Agostinho Neto, President of The People’s Republic of Angola: 1976 1 I will no longer lightly walk behind a one of you who fear me:   ...

Good morning, BlackSky!
Today I offer a June Jordan poem: I Must Become a Menace to My Enemies.

Excerpt:
How many of my brothers and my sisters
will they kill
before I teach myself
retaliation?
Shall we pick a number?

www.junejordan.net/i-must-becom...

#ZodiReads

Fable | Stories for everyone

Listening to the audiobook while I work. But I need the hardcover because the artwork of Harmonia Rosales adds so much depth to the stories. #ChroniclesOfOri #ZodiReads
fable.co/book/chronic...

Cover of “The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye”

Kicking off #BHM reading with this audiobook about Jacquotte Delahaye, a Black woman pirate who may or may not have existed.

I enjoy reading about pirates & how they challenged gender, race, & class norms.

#NowReading #ZodiReads

Promo poster for the film “The Witch” by Robert Eggers

Cover of “Slewfoot” by Brom

This movie and this book are gloriously dark vengeful siblings.
(‘I, Medusa’ by Ayana Gray is their cousin.)

If you enjoyed Robert Eggers’ take on New England folklore, definitely read Brom’s ‘Slewfoot.’

#PuritansWereTheWorst
#ZodiReads

The Best Black History Books of 2025 - AAIHS We are pleased to release this year’s AAIHS list of the best books published in 2025! Check out this extraordinary list of great books from 2025 that offer varied historical perspectives on the Black ...

And if you find a video that arouses your interest, there is probably at least one book that can help you learn more. AAIHS is a superb resource for #BlackHistory book recommendations. You should definitely browse their blog during #BlackHistoryMonth.

#ZodiReads

www.aaihs.org/the-best-bla...

Covers for Zodi’s January 2026 Reads 1. The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham 2. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix 3. Carmilla by J. Sheridan le Fanu 4. Medusa by Ayana Gray

The 4 books I finished in January 2026. Started the year with vampires, romance, & mythology, all with an undercurrent of destroying the patriarchy.

The books I planned to read for #BHM are still on hold in Libby 😒, so I’m digging through my TBR for something they have available.

#ZodiReads

ROBERT SMALLS AND HIS DESCENDANTS on JSTOR C. G. Woodson, ROBERT SMALLS AND HIS DESCENDANTS, Negro History Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 2 (NOVEMBER, 1947), pp. 27-33, 46

Preparing for my son’s #BlackHistoryMonth project on #RobertSmalls.

Found this 1947 article full of photos of his family.
#ZodiReads

www.jstor.org/stable/44174...

A collection of book covers that Zodi read in 2025, from the StoryGraph

I do want to get my numbers up in 2026, but I think I read a decent mix of nonfiction, smut, horror, historical fiction, & fantasy in 2025.
I don’t track reference books (although maybe I should).

I’m aiming to read a wider variety this year. More poetry & science. #ZodiReads #BlackBookSky

Cover of ‘I, Medusa’ by Ayana Gray

First book of 2026!

Title: I, Medusa
Author: Ayana Gray
Narrators: Tyla Collier, A’Rese Emokpae
Format: audiobook 🎧

#ZodiReads #BlackBookSky #mythology

Cover of Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi

Cover of Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

I strongly recommend you read these 2 books in 2026. Both of them in tandem paint an irresistibly lush picture of West African history and mythology. #ZodiReads #BlackSky #BlackBookSky

Cover of The Seventh Veil of Salome By Silvia Moreno-Garcia

After that gross surprise with the AI-narrated audiobook (shudder), I am diving into ‘The Seventh Veil of Salome’ tonight. This one has a whole human cast of narrators. 🎉
Silvia Moreno-Garcia never disappoints.
#ZodiReads #BookSky

Listening to the audiobook version of ‘Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon’ this week. It is a treat!
Wonderful story + engaging narration by Ben Arogundade.

#ZodiReads #BlackBookSky

A reminder to read this soon:

shadycharacters.co.uk/books/shady-...

#ZodiReads

My next fiction audiobook. I enjoyed my first foray into Jessica Cage’s work, so I’m going back for the first book in this series.
I love that her characters are relatable grown women.

#ZodiReads #BlackRomanceBooks #BlackBookSky #NowReading

Cover of Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom By bell hooks

Cover of Pedagogy of the Oppressed By Paulo Freire

📚 Knowledge is power.

🙏🏾 May our quest for knowledge lead us to transformative action.

✊🏾 May we leave a better world for our children through our actions.

#ZodiReads #EmancipatoryKnowledge
#TheoryToPraxis

The #BlackCommunistReadingList - AAIHS Here is a list of recommended books on African Americans and Communism. As a graduate student at the University of Illinois, I read many of these books to gain an intellectual understanding of why bla...

Oh! Can’t forget this list either. These are some foundational texts for understanding how our ancestors adopted #classconsciousness in their fight for liberation. They were well aware of the detriment of capitalism.

#ZodiReads #PanAfricanism #Labor #AntiCapitalism

www.aaihs.org/the-blackcom...

#Charlestonsyllabus - AAIHS Here is a list of readings that educators can use to broach conversations in the classroom about the horrendous events that unfolded in Charleston, South Carolina on the evening of June 17, 2015. Thes...

Although a decade old, the Charleston Syllabus is a treasure trove of knowledge on our history and methods of resistance, survival, & adaptive culture in the face of imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

#ZodiReads #FightTheKyriarchy

www.aaihs.org/resources/ch...

I’m late, but I’m finishing up my last book for #SpookySeason2025 this week: Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ‘The Bewitching.’

Wonderful use of mystery and tension to drive the plot forward. I love when authors can pull off multiple POVs and timelines like this.

#ZodiReads #HorrorSky #BookSky

I added Eden Royce’s Psychopomp and Circumstance to my #SpookySeason2025 reading list.

Listening to Bahni Turpin’s impeccable narration for the audiobook.

I love the world the author created here.

#ZodiReads #BlackBookSky

I finished “The Possession of Alba Díaz,” and I just want @isabelcanas.bsky.social to know that her take on the possession/exorcism subgenre is perfect. I won’t give spoilers, but the plot resolution is so satisfying.

Also, the cover is gorgeous. Get into it.
#ZodiReads #HorrorSky #BookSky

So far, I have finished “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” and “Blood Slaves.”

Next up is “The Possession of Alba Diaz” for my #SpookySeason2025 reading. Perfect timing. I’m in the mood for #horromance.

#BookSky #HorrorSky #ZodiReads

Another article to annotate.
#ZodiReads

Dirks, Annelieke. “Between Threat and Reality: The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Emergence of Armed Self-Defense in Clarksdale and Natchez, Mississippi, 1960-1965.” www.jstor.org/stable/41887....

Found this article as I was reading about the MFDP. #ZodiReads

Umoja, Akinyele Omowale. “‘We Will Shoot Back’: The Natchez Model and Paramilitary Organization in the Mississippi Freedom Movement.” Journal of Black Studies 32, no. 3 (2002): 271–94. www.jstor.org/stable/3180864.

Cover of “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones

Wrapping up work for the week & getting into this #SpookySeason2025 audiobook. A review said this is “an American Indian revenge story” so I’m ready for a good dose of horror, history, & vindication. Can’t have #SpookySeason without #vampires.

#ZodiReads #BookSky #HorrorSky #VampSky

Cover of Night Everywhere We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton (2023)

I did not intend to add this book to my #SpookySeason2025 reading list, but after finishing it just now…
🤬😢💔

We will never comprehend the horrors of slavery. The horrors of white folks. Their utter depravity.

A superb, terrifying novel: Night Everywhere We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton
#ZodiReads

Cover of The Davenports: More Than This, written by Krystal Marquis

In need of something more lighthearted today, so I’m getting into ‘The Davenports: More Than This’ by @/krystalmarquis.bsky.social.
If you’re a fan of Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte or The Guilded Age’s Peggy Scott, you’ll probably like this series. #ZodiReads #BlackBookSky #BlackRomance #Audiobooks

Cover of SLAVERY'S EXILES: THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN MAROONS Written By: SYLVIANE A. DIOUF Read by: CHANTÉ MCCORMICK

Next up: Slavery’s Exiles by Sylviane A. Diouf

#Maroons #Maroonage #BlackHistory #AfricanHistory #UnitedStatesHistory #Resistance #BlackBookSky #ZodiReads #NowReading #Audiobooks

Cover of “THE BOOK OF JUJU: AFRICANA SPIRITUALITY FOR HEALING, LIBERATION, AND SELF-DISCOVERY” by JUJU BAE

Re-reading #TheBookOfJuJu by @itsjujubae.bsky.social as we head into the weekend. I appreciate how she makes her historical overviews accessible and straightforward, not pedantic. This book is a great resource for anyone interested in spirituality across the Diaspora.
#ZodiReads #BlackBookSky

COVER OF WE REFUSE: A FORCEFUL HISTORY OF BLACK RESISTANCE by KELLIE CARTER JACKSON

Next up, #WeRefuse by Dr. Kellie Carter Jackson (@/kcarterjackson.bsky.social).

I’m interested to see how this text diverges from This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed by Charles E. Cobb (2014).
#ZodiReads #NowReading