Release Week: 1 November 2022
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Release Week: 1 November 2022
Posted on 2022-11-01 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Saha: A Novel By: Cho Nam-Joo, translated by Jamie Chang, read by Kahyun Kim for Blackstone -- "This haunting account of a neglected housing complex in the shadows of Town: a former fishing village bought out by a massive conglomerate. Town is prosperous and safe―but only if you’re a citizen with “valuable skills and assets,” which the residents of Saha Estates are not. Disenfranchised and tightlipped, the Saha are forced into harsh labor, squatting in moldy units without electricity."
The Cloisters: A Novel by Katy Hays, read by Emily Tremaine for Simon and Schuster -- "When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future."
We Are the Light: A Novel by Matthew Quick, read by Luke Kirby for Simon and Schuster -- "Lucas Goodgame lives in Majestic, Pennsylvania, a quaint suburb that has been torn apart by a recent tragedy. Everyone in Majestic sees Lucas as a hero—everyone, that is, except Lucas himself. Insisting that his deceased wife, Darcy, visits him every night in the form of an angel, Lucas spends his time writing letters to his former Jungian analyst, Karl. It is only when Eli, an eighteen-year-old young man whom the community has ostracized, begins camping out in Lucas's backyard that an unlikely alliance takes shape and the two embark on a journey to heal their neighbors and, most importantly, themselves."
When Franny Stands Up: A Novel By: Eden Robinson, read by Lily Ganser for Blackstone -- "Franny Steinberg knows there’s powerful magic in laughter. She’s witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper."
The Stroke of Winter: A Novel By: Wendy Webb, read by Xe Sands for Brilliance -- "She’s restoring the old family home on the hill. And unearthing something evil."
Small Game: A Novel By: Blair Braverman, read by Kristen Sieh for Harper -- "A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds."
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022 edited by Rebecca Roanhorse and series editor John Joseph Adams, read by Keylor Leigh, Hayden Bishop, Carolyn Kang, Shahjehan Khan, Kaipo Schwab, and Anthony Rey Perez for Harper
NON-FICTION WATCH:
Control Freak: My Epic Adventure Making Video Games By: Cliff Bleszinski, read by Kurt Kanazawa for Simon and Schuster -- "The designer of Unreal and Gears of War offers an eye-opening personal account of the video-game industry as it grew from niche hobby to hundred-billion-dollar enterprise."
The Philosophy of Modern Song By: Bob Dylan, read by Bob Dylan, with Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard, Jeffrey Wright, and Renée Zellweger for Simon and Schuster -- "Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence."
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story By: Bono, read by the author for Random House -- "The remarkable life he’s lived, the challenges he’s faced, and the friends and family who have shaped and sustained him."
MOST MISSING:
Try Anarchism for Life: The Beauty of Our Circle by Cindy Barukh Milstein (Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness) -- "What are some of the many beautiful dimensions of anarchism?"
Dreams for a Broken World edited by Ellen Meeropol and series editor Julie C. Day (Essential Dreams Press) -- "Our society is rife with injustice and inequality, war and environmental disaster, racism and hatred. Stories help us imagine other futures. Stories inspire us. When we read, or write, about individuals and communities fighting for justice, we grow to believe in these possibilities. Maybe we even join the characters, breaking through barriers and building new connections."
Lucid by Mark Allan Gunnells (Valhalla Books) -- "Jimmy discovered at a young age that he was a lucid dreamer, able to control his dreams and create an ideal world for himself. No matter how rough things got in his waking life, he always had the dream world into which he could escape. Until the accident. After getting hit by a car, Jimmy finds himself in a coma, which traps him in his dream world. At first this seems wonderful, but then he realizes that the people in his dream have more autonomy than he thought. And some of them want him dead."
Slip by Michael Pogach (Macabre Ink) -- "Just a few maddening seconds. Never able to change anything. It’s a curse she’s been running from for years. Just like she ran away from home where her mother died the day she was born. Where her father blamed her. But when her father dies suddenly, Byron is finally able to come home. A quick visit, she thinks—collect her inheritance, say hello to her childhood best friend, Chase, and be gone before morning. Except Chase is missing…and no one seems to be looking for her."
Twelve Paths To Glory: A Shapeshifter Clan novel by Joyce Chng -- "A litrpg xianxia/wuxia novel based on the twelve Chinese zodiac animals. In a land filled with magic and beauty, a young cultivator strives for excellence and glory. Armed with a sword that sings, can a rabbit become a great warrior and earn honour for their clan?"
And Fire Poured Forth: 6 Tales of Military Horror by Alan Baxter -- "From cosmic terrors in underground caverns to warrior nuns protecting humanity to invisible aliens decimating a faraway world, within these pages you’ll find six stories of military horror. Taken from the pages of (or inspired by) the SNAFU anthology series, where the remit is for stories crammed with extreme action, monsters, and military mayhem, everything here will leave you breathless."
MORE SCI-FI, FANTASY, and HORROR:
The Luminaries By: Susan Dennard, read by Caitlin Davies for Macmillan -- "a haunting and high-octane contemporary fantasy, about the magic it takes to face your fears in a nightmare-filled forest, and the mettle required to face the secrets hiding in the dark corners of your own family."
White Horse: A Novel By: Erika T. Wurth, read by Tonantzin Carmelo for Macmillan -- "An Indigenous woman must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit."
The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey By: Serena Burdick, read by Karen Cass for Harlequin -- "The story of literary secrets, a family curse and the lengths women will go to take charge of their future."
Slaughtered Gods By: Thilde Kold Holdt, read by Candida Gubbins for Penguin -- "Norse chiefs meet Christian kings on Midgard's battlefields, as Loki's army of the dead clashes with Odin's golden shields on Asgard. An ancient premonition of death hangs over all. Only two are free to choose their paths, to prevent the annihilation of the Nine Worlds: Ragnar, a storyteller who holds all fates in his hands, and Hilda, a warrior with no fate at all. Death, pain, and fear."
Ledge: The Glacian Trilogy, Book 1 By: Stacey McEwan, read by Sarah Slimani for Watkins -- "After being randomly selected as a human sacrifice, instead of death, Dawsyn finds herself on a quest to save her people from their icy prison."
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms: Whimbrel House, Book 1 By: Charlie N. Holmberg, read by Amanda Leigh Cobb, Graham Halstead, and Nicholas Boulton for Brilliance -- "A house of haunted history and ill temper. Make yourself at home in this beguiling novel of love, magic, and danger."
Farther Reefs: Ten Stories of Ocean Adventure, New Relationships, and Nautical Mystery edited by J.S. Fields and Heather Tracy, read by Lynn Norris for Space Wizard Science Fantasy -- "High seas adventure, fantasy, and magic weave together in this sapphic anthology focusing on the joy of the unbounded oceans. Stories by Sarah Day, Tim Pratt, Kim Pritekel, Kyoko M., Sara Codair, William C. Tracy, N.L. Bates, Robin C.M. Duncan, Margaret Adelle, and Vanessa Ricci-Thode."
Against All Odds: An Epic Fantasy Collection By: Stuart Thaman, Kell Inkston, Chad Retterath, Dr. Scott Simerlein, Christopher Bond, Sarah McCarthy, and Pemry Janes, read by Ink Arnadine for Hydra Publications -- "Seven new tales of harrowing challenges, epic battles, rousing victories, and crushing defeats."
The Stars Beyond: A Twilight Imperium Anthology edited by Charlotte Llewelyn-Wells, read by Erin deWard for Tantor -- "Intergalactic civilization emerges from its war-torn ruins for the first time in generations to explore the galaxy, in this stunning new anthology from the bestselling world of Twilight Imperium."
SERIES WATCH:
The World We Make: The Great Cities, Book 2 By: N. K. Jemisin, read by Robin Miles for Orbit -- "All is not well in the city that never sleeps. Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside."
Flight Risk: Booking Agents, Book 2 By: Cherie Priest, read by Ulka Simone Mohanty, Timothy Andrés Pabon for Simon and Schuster -- "When psychic travel agent Leda Foley is approached by a man searching for his sister, she quickly agrees to help. The missing woman disappeared with a vintage orange car, a fat sack of her employer’s cash, and a grudge against her philandering husband—a man who never even reported her missing."
A Restless Truth: The Last Binding, Book 2 By: Freya Marske, read by Aysha Kala for Macmillan -- "The second entry in Marske’s beloved, award-winning trilogy, the queer historical fantasy series that began with A Marvellous Light."
Ocean's Echo By: Everina Maxwell, read by Raphael Corkhill for Macmillan -- "A stand-alone space adventure about a bond that will change the fate of worlds, set in the same universe as Winter's Orbit."
The Sword's Elegy: The Sorcerer's Song Series, Book 3 By: Brian D. Anderson, read by Gildart Jackson for Blackstone -- "The doom of humankind has at last been realized. Belkar’s prison is broken and his army is on the move. The nations of Lamoria, unaware of the greater danger, look to repel the aggression of Ralmarstad."
Moira's Pen: Queen’s Thief, Book 7 By: Megan Whalen Turner, read by Steve West for Harper -- "Discover and rediscover friends old and new, and explore the inspiration behind Megan Whalen Turner’s rich and original world. A stunning and collectible volume to return to again and again."
Critical Role: The Mighty Nein—The Nine Eyes of Lucien By: Madeleine Roux, read by Robbie Daymond, Matthew Mercer, Taliesin Jaffe, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham for Random House -- "Delve into the mind of Critical Role’s most charming villain in this original novel that chronicles Lucien’s early life and his fateful meeting with the Mighty Nein."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Mort: Discworld, Book 4, Reaper Man: Discworld, Book 11 and Soul Music: Discworld, Book 16 By: Terry Pratchett, read by Sian Clifford, Peter Serafinowicz, and Bill Nighy -- Discworld's "Death" sub-series comes to audio!
The Written: Emaneska, Book 1, Pale Kings: Emaneska, Book 2, and Dead Stars: Part One: Emaneska, Book 3 By: Ben Galley, read by Steven Cree for Audible -- "Game of Thrones meets Die Hard in this explosive epic fantasy, packed with tattooed mages wielding unbridled spells, meddling gods, dragon-riders, and twisted Norse mythology."
The Bacta War: Star Wars: Legends: Rogue Squadron, Book 4 By: Michael A. Stackpole, read by Marc Thompson for Random House
Scardown: Jenny Casey, Book 2 By: Elizabeth Bear (2005), read by Carolina Hoyos for Tantor -- "The year is 2062, and after years on the run, Jenny Casey is back in the Canadian armed forces. Those who were once her enemies are now her allies, and at fifty, she's been handpicked for the most important mission of her life—a mission for which her artificially reconstructed body is perfectly suited."
Animal Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland By: Sharon Jacksties (2020), read by Sharon Jacksties for QUEST -- "Stories and animals have long travelled the same routes. Through our heritage of charming, quirky and profound tales, you will find yourself re-acquainted with Britain's wondrous fauna."