Today’s edition covers:

• My 10 favorite book lists for February…

• What are we working on at Shepherd.com?

• What am I reading?

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My 10 Favorite Book Lists For February…

*Sorry for the late send. BeeHiiv is having some trouble, and I had to do a workaround to our normal format because they are still working to fix it.

What are we working on at Shepherd.com?

A 20-minute walk-through of our 2025 roadmap.

I just finished a live Zoom event with authors to walk them through the 2025 roadmap. You can watch that below if you are curious. In a few weeks I will have a new website with a better roadmap page up as well.

Book series pages are 99% done, but…

We hit a small roadblock. The API provider we used to create the data that creates the concept of a “book series” in our backend was bought by a hedge fund, which promptly broke the product and raised prices. Weeeeeee!

We are looking at our options and should have an update soon.

A massive update for our genre/topic pages…

We started working on the massive upgrade to our bookshelves. This is going to make it a lot more fun to browse science-fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, and other genre sections. As well as age groups and topics (and tropes, themes, and moods coming in 2025).

What will we be adding?

• The best books of all time (with many deep dives, such as per decade, etc.).

• A page to highlight trending books that were talked about the most in the last month.

• The best books from the last 3 years (new books).

• Lists by experts/fans to help you find books through the eyes of another avid reader.

Highlights from the build blog:

• Build blog: I am working on a new & improved website for authors (and it will have a section for readers as well) 😎

• Build blog: Book series pages + personalizing the Best Books of the Year...

What am I reading?

I just finished...

• A Soldier's Life by AlwaysRollsaOne—I love fiction about Ancient Rome, and this book moves Ancient Rome into a fantasy world (along with some LitRPG elements). I am really enjoying it and am about to finish book #3. I can’t quite tell why I am enjoying it so much, as the characters are not crazy deep, but the world has ensnared me.

• Not Till We Are Lost (Bobiverse #5) - I love this series and Dennis Taylor didn’t disappoint with book #5. I can’t wait to see where it goes.

• A Tide of Black Steel by Anthony Ryan - This is a fantastic fantasy book from an author I enjoy. The first 150 pages were a bit slow, but once I got the characters and world, I was hooked. He has created an amazing world, and I am looking forward to the sequel this summer.

• The Russia House by John le Carre—My brother picked this as his choice for our family book club. It is my first John le Carre book, and I thought it was okay. However, my brother said this book wasn’t as good as his others. I am going to try The Little Drummer Girl next.

I am reading...

• Damascus Station (by David McCloskey) - I found this spy thriller by an ex-CIA agent through Shepherd. It was my pick for our family book club.

• Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It

  (by Ian Leslie) - I am doing some research on curiosity, as it is one of Shepherd's foundations and a key element I want to design for.

What have I been up to outside of Shepherd?

Beyond a cold from hell, I’ve been reading a lot 😀.

My wife and I just finished the Chernobyl TV miniseries. The weight of the situation was chilling at times, but an incredible story (thanks to my brother for recommending it to me).

For my son’s Winter break, we drove to Spain, and I am enjoying the sunshine and biking.

Thanks, Ben