Release Week: 29 March 2022
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Release Week: 29 March 2022
Posted on 2022-03-29 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
A week late (I was on vacation!) here we go...
PICKS:
Sweep of Stars By: Maurice Broaddus, read by Emana Rachelle for Macmillan -- "The first in the Astra Black trilogy that explores the struggles of an empire. Epic in scope and intimate in voice, it follows members of the Muungano empire - a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretches from O.E. (original Earth) to Titan - as it faces an escalating series of threats."
The Long Weekend: A Novel By: Gilly Macmillan, read by Olivia Poulet for Harper -- "In this pulse-pounding thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Nanny, a group of women travel to the most remote place in England for a weekend escape, only to discover a startling note that one of their husbands will be killed before they return home - perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley."
A House Between Earth and the Moon: A Novel By: Rebecca Scherm, read by Xe Sands for Penguin -- "The gripping story of one scientist in outer space, another who watches over him, the family left behind, and the lengths people will go to protect the people and planet they love."
The Temps By: Andrew DeYoung, read by Paul Heitsch for Dreamscape -- "Jacob Elliot doesn’t want a temporary job in the mailroom at Delphi Enterprises, but after two post-college years of unpaid internships and living in his parents’ basement, he needs the work. Then, on his first day, the unthinkable happens: toxic gas descends on a meeting in Delphi’s outdoor amphitheater, killing all the regular employees and leaving Jacob stranded inside the vast office complex."
Out There: Stories By: Kate Folk, read by Sophie Amoss, Hannah Choi, Michael Crouch, Will Damron, Renata Friedman, and Kristen Sieh for Random House -- "With a focus on the weird and eerie forces that lurk beneath the surface of ordinary experience, Kate Folk’s debut collection is perfectly pitched to the madness of our current moment. A medical ward for a mysterious bone-melting disorder is the setting of a perilous love triangle. A curtain of void obliterates the globe at a steady pace, forcing Earth’s remaining inhabitants to decide with whom they want to spend eternity. A man fleeing personal scandal enters a codependent relationship with a house that requires a particularly demanding level of care. And in the title story, originally published in The New Yorker, a woman in San Francisco uses dating apps to find a partner despite the threat posed by “blots”, preternaturally handsome artificial men dispatched by Russian hackers to steal data. Meanwhile, in a poignant companion piece, a woman and a blot forge a genuine, albeit doomed, connection."
Pennyblade By: J. L. Worrad, read by Sarah Lambie for Blackstone -- "A sharp-tongued, disgraced noble-turned-mercenary has to stop the world collapsing into chaos in this gripping, savagely funny epic fantasy packed with unforgettable characters, for fans of Joe Abercrombie."
Wild and Wicked Things By: Francesca May, read by Marisa Calin, Gemma Dawson, and Ralph Lister for Redhook -- "In the aftermath of World War I, a naive woman is swept into a glittering world filled with dark magic, romance, and murder in this lush and decadent debut."
The Diamond Eye: A Novel by Kate Quinn, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Harper -- "An unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet librarian who becomes history's deadliest female sniper."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Changing Planes By: Ursula Le Guin (2003), read by Gabrielle de Cuir for Phoenix Books -- "Sita Dulip has missed her flight out of Chicago. But instead of listening to garbled announcements in the airport, she discovers a method of bypassing the crowds at the desks, a nasty lunch, whimpering children, their punitive parents, and the blue plastic chairs bolted to the floor: she changes planes—literally. Sita discovers entire planes of existence and visits societies not found on Earth—bizarre societies that share similarities with Earth's cultures and sometimes open doors into the alien."
Cyber Mage By: Saad Z. Hossain (2021), read by Fajer Al-Kaisi for Scribd -- "Welcome to Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2089. A city notorious for its extreme population density has found an unexpected way to not just survive a global climate apocalypse, but thrive: pump enough biological nanotech into the neighborhood and all of the bodies together form a self-sustaining, and even temperate, microclimate. Of course, this means that millions of humans have to stay put in order to maintain a livable temperature, and people are getting restless. All of the nanotech has also led to some surprises: certain people no longer need food or water, while others can live without functioning organs. So the mercenary Djibrel has to carry a machete wherever he goes."
Red Dust By: Yoss (2020), read by Javier Vazquez Jr for Scribd Audio -- "From beloved Cuban science fiction author Yoss comes a bitingly funny space-opera homage to Raymond Chandler, about a positronic robot detective on the hunt for some extra-dangerous extraterrestrial criminals."
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! By: Terry Brooks (1986), read by Jeremy Arthur for Random House -- Supplanting the 2001 Cameron Beierle narration for Books in Motion and the 2008 Dick Hill narration for Brilliance Audio, a new production of Brooks' first non-Shannara series of 6 books: "Landover was a genuine magic kingdom, with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement has promised. But after he purchased it, Ben Holiday learned that there were a few details the ad had failed to mention. The kingdom was in ruin. The Barons refused to recognize a king, and the peasants were without hope. A dragon was laying waste the countryside, while an evil witch plotted to destroy everything."
Hex and the City: Nightside Series, Book 4 By: Simon R. Green (2005), read by Dan Calley for Tantor
SERIES WATCH:
The Chasm: The Seclusion Series, Book 2 By: Jacqui Castle, read by Lisa Beacom -- Sequel to 2020 INDIES Book of the Year Award Winner in Science Fiction ("In the year 2090, America has walled itself off from the rest of the world.") here, "When a familiar enemy resurfaces and she learns the previously unknown fate of a loved one, Patch must make a choice: stay and live a life of relative safety, or risk everything to expose the Board’s actions to the world."
Until the Last of Me: Take Them to the Stars, Book Two By: Sylvain Neuvel, read by the author and Thomas Judd for Macmillan -- "A darkly satirical first contact thriller, as seen through the eyes of the women who make progress possible and the men who are determined to stop them."
Race Rivalry: Gate Ghosts, Book 3 By: S.H. Jucha, read by Nicole Poole
Forbidden: Forgotten Space, Book 3 By: M.R. Forbes, read by Dave Jackson
World of Warcraft: Sylvanas By: Christie Golden, read by Patty Mattson -- "The epic, definitive story of Sylvanas Windrunner, one of World of Warcraft’s most enduring and iconic characters."
INDIE WATCH:
Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough by Kyle Tran Myhre, read by the author for Button Publishing -- "A sci-fi-flavored exploration of the role that art and artists play in resisting authoritarianism. Featuring new poems, theater elements, and Casper Pham‘s stunning visual art, the book follows two wandering poets as they make their way from village to village, across a prison colony moon full of exiled rebels, robots, and storytellers. Part post-apocalyptic road journal, part alternate universe ode to hip-hop, and part Letters to a Young Poet-style toolkit for emerging poets and aspiring movement-builders, it’s also a one-of-a-kind practitioners’ take on poetry, power, and possibility."
Officer, Gentleman, Monster By: Alec Birri, read by Jonathan Keeble -- "What if Britain's royal family had been murdered after World War One? It’s 1919, and an atrocity with worldwide implications plunges a returning WWI veteran straight into a new fight—against the rise of the Nazis and a mysterious multiverse-bending professor determined to help the monsters. But why?" Keeble's Churchill is pretty fantastic here.
An Unwitting Prince: New Home, Book 1 By: Sean Oswald, read by Peter Berkrot for Recorded Books -- "Coming of age is hard enough when you don't have to face monsters.... When your family ends up stranded in a magical world, you don't have much choice."
A Soul as Cold as Frost: The Winter Souls, Book 1 By: Jennifer Kropf, read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw -- "Sixteen-year-old Helen Bell understood tragedy better than most kids growing up—she knew what it was like to wear clothes from donation bins and be mocked by the beautiful girls in school. She thought these brutal experiences made her ready for anything. But, she wasn't ready for this. After an eccentric girl opens Helen's eyes to let her see the realm of winter—a world with intersects tucked carefully into the cracks of our own, where monarchs have risen and fallen, it's forbidden to mention the name of the dead king of winter, and the currency is gold rings—Helen comes to realize the downtown confrontation was more significant than what the eccentric girl let on."
Legend of Horian and the Dycentian Blade By: Shah Jalal (2017), read by Nigel Peever (2019) for Pro Audio Voices -- "The Kingdom of Dycentia was tyrannized by the Dragonking. His supremacy unchallenged, no one was able to right the many wrongs, no one was brave enough to even try—until Horian rose from the shadows. How did this hero and his deep sense of duty save Dycentia?"
MOST MISSING:
Conflict Born: Endless Skies, Book 1 by Richard Fife (Falstaff Books) -- "Hunting pirates in the gravity-free sky was a simple enough life for Captain Ellie Nivkah, but her latest contract has become complicated. A mysterious skyraker appeared from nowhere, destroyed her bounty, and nearly blew her out of the sky as well. Now, with a damaged ship, injured crew, and few options, she has to accept a noblewoman’s help and become embroiled in a conspiracy threatening both the empire she loathes and the skies she loves."
Burning Shakespeare by A.J. Hartley (Falstaff Books) -- "How would the world look without the influence of Shakespeare pervading so many aspects of life and culture and belief? In a race against time, with the fate of lives and souls hanging in the balance, the forces of good and evil battle to save or destroy Shakespeare’s works. Which side works to which end? That is the question, isn’t it? Would we be better off without Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, and the others, or would the safety valve that theatrical expression provides back up into an explosion of apocalyptic proportions? Follow the cast of this tale--from university student to petty thief to talk show host--as they travel through time and space."