Release Week: 21 June 2022
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Release Week: 21 June 2022
Posted on 2022-06-21 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Lapvona: A Novel By: Ottessa Moshfegh, read by the author for Penguin -- "In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh’s most exciting leap yet."
Learning to Talk: Stories By: Hilary Mantel, read by Anna Bentinck, Jane Collingwood, and Patrick Moy for Macmillan -- "A dazzling collection of short stories from the two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wolf Hall Trilogy."
Even the Darkest Night: A Terra Alta Novel By: Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean, read by Lee Osorio for Random House -- "The first book in the acclaimed series: Barcelona detective Melchor Marín is sent to the countryside to investigate a horrific double murder. Before long, it becomes clear that nothing about the case is quite as it seems."
The Colony By: Audrey Magee, read by Stephen Hogan for Dreamscape -- "It is the summer of 1979. An English painter travels to a small island off the west coast of Ireland. Mr. Lloyd takes the last leg by curragh, though boats with engines are available and he doesn't much like the sea. He wants the authentic experience, to be changed by this place, to let its quiet and light fill him, give him room to create. He doesn't know that a Frenchman follows close behind."
Poguemahone By: Patrick McCabe, read by the author for Biblioasis -- "Una Fogarty, suffering from dementia in a seaside nursing home, would be all alone without her brother Dan, whose epic free-verse monologue tells their family story. Exile from Ireland and immigrant life in England. Their mother’s trials as a call girl. Young Una’s search for love in a seemingly haunted hippie squat, and the two-timing Scottish stoner poet she’ll never get over. Now she sits outside in the sun as her memories unspool from Dan’s mouth and his own role in the tale grows ever stranger—and more sinister."
Bitter Orange Tree By: Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, read by Raghad Chaar for Tantor -- "From Man Booker International Prize-winning author Jokha Alharthi, Bitter Orange Tree is a profound exploration of social status, wealth, desire, and female agency. It presents a mosaic portrait of one young woman's attempt to understand the roots she has grown from, and to envisage an adulthood in which her own power and happiness might find the freedom necessary to bear fruit and flourish."
The Blacksmith's Daughter By: Selim Özdoğan, read by Vaneh Assadourian for Blackstone -- "A close-knit family is transformed forever when its matriarch tragically dies, leaving behind a husband, Timur the blacksmith, and their three young daughters. The Blacksmith’s Daughter follows the life of the eldest daughter, Gül, who is growing up in rural Turkey in the 1940s and ’50s."
The Final Strife: A Novel By: Saara El-Arifi, read by Nicole Lewis, Dominic Hoffman for Random House -- "Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm. As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn."
Juniper & Thorn: A Novel By: Ava Reid, read by Stina Neilsen for Harper -- "From highly acclaimed, bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente."
The Truth and Other Stories By: Stanislaw Lem, read by David Aaron Baker for Recorded Books -- "Twelve stories by science-fiction master Stanislaw Lem, nine of them never before published in English."
The Nobodies By: Alanna Schubach, read by Carmen Torres for Blackstone -- "The story of two young women whose friendship offered—and demanded—more than either should share. For fans of Sally Rooney and Claire North."
In the Shadow of Lightning: Glass Immortals, Book 1 By: Brian McClellan, read by Damian Lynch for Macmillan -- "From Brian McClellan, author of The Powder Mage trilogy, comes the first novel in the Glass Immortals series, In the Shadow of Lightning, an epic fantasy where magic is a finite resource—and it’s running out."
The Ballad of Perilous Graves By: Alex Jennings, read by Gralen Bryant Banks for Redhook -- "Music is magic in this vibrant and imaginative debut novel set in a fantastical verison of New Orleans: a battle for the city's soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song."
The Classmate By: Will McIntosh, read by Erik Bloomquist for Tantor -- "Thirteen-year-old Benjamin is pulled from his old life and forced to attend a special boarding school in the middle of nowhere. That's confusing enough. Then, he's fed instructions through an earbud and thrown into etiquette classes alongside an angry, spike-covered creature. Despite wearing purple dresses and having the unassuming name of Eve, the creature is horrifying and, as Eve quickly demonstrates, dangerous."
BACKLIST WATCH:
The Licorice Daughter: My Year with Ruffian By: Lyn Lifshin (2005), read by Bonnie Trost -- "A year spent with Ruffian, recounting through poetry the life of this amazing filly."
The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur: Round Table, Book 4 By: Howard Pyle, read by Dennis Kleinman for Blackstone
SERIES WATCH:
The Seed of Cain: Record Keeper, Book 2 By: Agnes Gomillion, read by Adenrele Ojo for Recorded Books -- "Return to the startlingly original dystopian world of The Record Keeper in this stunning sequel."
Speaking Bones: The Dandelion Dynasty, Book 4 By: Ken Liu, read by Michael Kramer for Simon and Schuster -- "The battle continues in this silkpunk fantasy as science and destiny collide against the will of the gods in this final installment in the epic Dandelion Dynasty series from Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Ken Liu."
Exile's Quest: Assassins of Landria, Book 4 By: Gail Z. Martin, read by Samuel Roukin for Recorded Books -- "A vacant throne. A dark mystic intent on the crown. Two fugitive assassins risking everything to save the kingdom that exiled them."
Queen Amid Ashes: Sun Eater, Book 4.75 By: Christopher Ruocchio, read by Samuel Roukin for Recorded Books -- "Hadrian Marlowe is newly a knight of the galaxy-spanning Sollan Empire: a hero who they say slew the alien Prince Aranata Otiolo in single combat; a man they say no man or xenobite can kill. Acting on the Emperor’s orders, Hadrian has come to the desert planet Thagura and driven off the Cielcin invaders, rescuing in the process the Lady Gadar Malyan, Baroness of that entire world. But not all the fighting is ended. Pockets of inhuman resistance remain on the desert world, and Hadrian the Halfmortal must soon do battle with not only the man-eating alien barbarians, but with something just as terrible: man’s own inhumanity to man."
A Champion Falls: The Chain Breaker, Book 8 By: D.K. Holmberg, read by John Pirhalla
Hell Divers IX: Radioactive: The Hell Divers Series, Book 9 By: Nicholas Sansbury Smith, read by R. C. Bray
INDIE WATCH:
Dante’s Indiana By: Randy Boyagoda, read by the author -- "Middle-aged, married, but living on his own, Prin has lost his way. Desperate for money and purpose, he moves to small-town Indiana to work for an evangelical millionaire who’s building a theme park inspired by Dante’s Inferno. He quickly becomes involved in the difficult lives of his co-workers and in the wider struggles of their opioid-ravaged community while trying to reconcile with his distant wife and distant God. Both projects spin out of control, and when a Black teenager is killed, creationists, politicians and protesters alike descend."
Longhand By: Andy Hamilton (2020), read by Callum O'Neill for Unbound -- "Malcolm George Galbraith is a large, somewhat clumsy Scotsman. He’s being forced to leave the woman he loves behind and needs to explain why. So he leaves her a handwritten note on the kitchen table (well, more a 300-page letter than a note). In it, Malcolm decides to start from the beginning and tell the whole story of his long life, something he’s never dared do before. Because Malcolm isn’t what he seems: He’s had other names and lived in other places. A lot of other places. As it gathers pace, Malcolm’s story combines tragedy, comedy, mystery, a touch of leprosy, several murders, a massacre, a ritual sacrifice, an insane tyrant, two great romances, a landslide, a fire, and a talking fish."
The Quantum Curators and the Fabergé Egg: Quantum Curators Series, Book 1 By: Eva St. John (2020), read by Lucy Rayner and Alex Wyndham for Tantor -- "Anyone can track down a priceless artefact that's been lost for hundreds of years. Finding one that's been hidden on a parallel Earth . . . now that's a neat trick."
A Mage's Guide to Human Familiars: R'iyah Family Archives, Book 1 By: AJ Sherwood, read by Tim Paige, Michael Ferraiuolo, and Greg Boudreaux for Podium -- "One mage: Bel Adams–part demon, gun shy about being rejected by one again, needs a familiar. One familiar: Nico di Rossi–Army Ranger, needs a change of pace and a new purpose in life, is a golden retriever in human form (though not literally). Plus one familiar: Garen Dallarosa–Secret Service, part gargoyle, needs his ex-lover Nico back. One second chance–all for the taking."
Starseed R/evolution: The Awakening By: Dr. Richard Horowitz, read by Jamie Renell for Tantor -- "Enter the extraordinary world of Crown Prince Ian, the last surviving heir of the Royal Arcturian family of Antwar. He's half-human, half-alien, with an IQ approaching 200, and a penchant for Swiss chocolates and defending humanity from itself. Is he Earth's savior from climate change? Or, as his genetic grandmother would say, only another mensch?"
MOST MISSING:
The Dark Matter of Natasha by Matthew R. Davis (Grey Matter Press) -- "Natasha stalks the quiet streets of dead-end Lunar Bay like doom in a denim jacket. She’s a grim reminder that some teenagers can never escape the ever-tightening noose of their lives. Burned out and benumbed by a traumatic past, dogged by scurrilous small-town gossip, she finds solace in drugs, sex and Slayer."
Her Word Is Bond: Navigating Hip Hop and Relationships in a Culture of Misogyny by Christalle "Psalm One" Bowen (Haymarket Books) -- "Psalm One is a legend to rap nerds, scholars, and “heads,” and has gone on to work with the brightest names in rap and have her work celebrated and taught around the globe. In Her Word Is Bond, Psalm One tells her own story, from growing up in Englewood, Chicago through her life as a chemist, teacher, and legendary rapper. Intrinsically feminist, this story is a celebration of the life and career of one artist who blazed the trail for women in hip hop."