Release Week: 6 December 2022
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Release Week: 6 December 2022
Posted on 2022-12-06 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
“Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”
PICKS, BACKLIST EDITION:
- My Darkest Prayer: A Novel By: S. A. Cosby (2019), read by Adam Lazarre-White with an introduction read by the author, for Macmillan -- "Whether it's working at his cousin's funeral home or tossing around the local riffraff at his favorite bar, Nathan Waymaker is a man who knows how to handle the bodies. A former marine and sheriff's deputy, Nathan has built a reputation in his small Southern town as a man who can help when all other avenues have been exhausted. When a beloved local minister is found dead, his parishioners ask Nathan to make sure the death isn’t swept under the rug."
PICKS, SERIES EDITION:
The Citadel of Forgotten Myths: Elric Saga, Book 1.5 By: Michael Moorcock, read by Samuel Roukin for Simon and Schuster -- "Elric along with his companion Moonglum return, in this prequel set within the early days of Elric’s wanderings, in order to investigate the history of Melniboné and its dragons, known as the Phroon, in this exciting new addition to the Elric Saga from World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Michael Moorcock."
Stella Maris: The Passenger, Book 2 By: Cormac McCarthy, read by Julia Whelan, Edoardo Ballerini for Random House -- "An intimate portrait of grief and longing, as a young woman in a psychiatric facility seeks to understand her own existence."
PICKS, POETRY AND FICTION:
Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World edited by Pádraig Ó Tuama, read by the editor for Tantor -- "In the tumult of our contemporary moment, poetry has emerged as an inviting, consoling outlet with a unique power to move and connect us, to inspire fury, tears, joy, laughter, and surprise. This generous anthology pairs fifty illuminating poems with poet and podcast host Pádraig Ó Tuama's appealing, unhurried reflections. With keen insight and warm personal anecdotes, Ó Tuama considers each poem's artistry and explores how its meaning can reach into our own lives."
Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone By: Sequoia Nagamatsu, read by Brian Nishii and June Angela for Dreamscape -- "A collection of twelve fabulist and genre-bending stories inspired by Japanese folklore, historical events, and pop culture."
Cursed Bunny: Stories By: Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur, read by Greta Jung for Algonquin -- "A stunning, wildly original debut from a rising star of Korean literature—surreal, chilling fables that take on the patriarchy, capitalism, and the reign of big tech with absurdist humor and a (sometimes literal) bite."
A Fractured Infinity By: Nathan Tavares, read by Tom Picasso for Recorded Books -- "Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner—a mysterious device that can predict the future. Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf…as his husband."
The Light Pirate By: Lily Brooks-Dalton, read by Rosemary Benson for Grand Central -- "Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels wreak gradual havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker, his pregnant wife, Frida, and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds in search of his children. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before."
The Union By: Leah Vernon, read by Alaska Jackson, Sisi Aisha Johnson, and Kirby Heyborne for Brilliance -- "A thousand years in the future, a Black elite class reigns. The lower classes toil in the fields or scrape by in blighted cities, serving their rulers in a cruel, divided world. Among the Elites is eighteen-year-old Avi Jore, born to a powerful father and destined to rule. But as she comes of age, Avi cannot help but notice the injustices in her world—the treatment of enslaved workers, the oppression of the lower classes. Her disillusionment grows when she meets Saige Wilde, a mixed-race enslaved girl whose only goal is escaping beyond the borders of their brutal nation."
American Afterlife By: Pedro Hoffmeister, read by Frankie Corzo for Dreamscape -- "The Pacific Northwest lies in ruins in the aftermath of the 9.2 Cascadia earthquake. There is a tsunami at the coast, annihilated infrastructure in all the towns and cities, and failed dams in the Oregon river valley where fifteen-year-old Cielo lives with her mother, a fearful evangelical who’s become caught up in a fearsome cult called The Collection of Redeemed Souls. Cielo and her mother, Mexican citizens without U.S. papers, have always had their status teeter on the edge—and now it’s about to plunge into the abyss. When the earthquake hits, Cielo’s mother hasn’t been home in days, but Cielo suspects that she’s holed up with the cult and might even be dead."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
The Earl and the Pharaoh: From the Real Downton Abbey to the Discovery of Tutankhamun By: The Countess of Carnarvon, read by the author for Harper -- "The thrilling behind-the-scenes story of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun on its centennial, and explores the unparalleled life of family ancestor George Herbert—the famed Egyptologist, world-traveler, and 5th Earl of Carnarvon behind it—whose country house, Highclere Castle, is the setting of the beloved series Downton Abbey."
Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood By: Jessica Grose, read by Suehyla El-Attar for Harper -- "In this timely and necessary book, New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose dismantles 200 years of unrealistic parenting expectations and empowers today’s mothers to make choices that actually serve themselves, their children, and their communities."
Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul By: Evette Dionne, read by the author for Harper -- "A poignant and ruthlessly honest journey through cultural expectations of size, race, and gender—and toward a brighter future—from National Book Award nominee Evette Dionne."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Summer's End By: John Van Stry, read by André Santana for Audible -- "Sometimes a dark past can haunt you. Other times it just may be the only thing keeping you alive. Fresh out of college with his Ship Engineer 3rd-Class certificate, Dave Walker’s only thought is to try to find a berth on a corporate ship plying the trade routes between the many habs, orbitals, and moons in the Solar System. The problem for Dave, however, isn't his straight C average; it's that his stepfather, a powerful Earth senator he’s never met, now wants him dead. Forced to take the first berth he can find, Dave ends up on the Iowa Hill, an old tramp freighter running with a minimal crew and nearing the end of its useful life, plying the routes that the corporations ignore and visiting the kinds of places that the folks on Earth pretend don’t exist. Between the assassins, the criminals, and the pirates he needs to deal with, Dave is discovering that there are a lot of things out there that he still needs to learn. But there’s one hard lesson he learned long ago that he’s being forced to remember: how to be ruthless."
Calor: The Nightingale Trilogy, Book 1 By: J.J. Fischer, read by Stacey Glemboski for Oasis -- "What if you could edit memories with a single touch? The world-that-was is gone, lost to everything except living memory . . . but remembering comes at a terrible price. Sixty-two years after the apocalypse, a new society has emerged from the ashes of the old world where highly valued memories are traded and nostalgia is worth dying—and even killing—for. Enslaved by a cruel master, Sephone Winter is forced to use her rare ability to manipulate memories to numb the darkest secrets of the ruling aristocracy."
Blade and Bone By: D.K. Holmberg, read by John Pirhalla for ASH Publishing -- "Kanar Reas, an ex-soldier known as the Blackheart, hides a dangerous secret. Exiled from the Realmsguard, he wants nothing to do with the kind of magic that destroyed his life. That is until his team of mercenaries is offered a job they can’t refuse. He’ll need the help of others working in the city: An assassin who uses the bones of her enemies in her art. An archer with strange skills. And a stranded sailor whose loyalties are unknown. Impossible wealth awaits if they succeed, but far more is at stake if they fail, for a deadly magic will be unleashed upon the world."
TIE-IN WATCH:
- Marvel: Original Sin By: Gavin G. Smith, read by Qarie Marshall for Marvel -- "Who shot the Watcher? Uatu, a mysterious being who observes mankind from the moon, is dead. Nick Fury forges unlikely alliances to lead a cosmos-spanning investigation into the murder."
SERIES WATCH:
A Fire Endless: Elements of Cadence, Book 2 By: Rebecca Ross, read by Ruth Urquhart for Harper -- "The stunning conclusion to the duology finds the delicate balance between the human and faerie realm threatened by Bane, the spirit of the North Wind, whose defeat can only come through fire, song, and heart-rending sacrifice."
Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Hyde: The Classified Dossier Series, Book 2 By: Christian Klaver, read by Tom Woosnam for Blackstone -- "1903. A darkness has descended on London. A series of grisly murders are uncovered, trophies taken, bodies arranged, and soon there are whispers of Jack the Ripper’s return."
The Cuckoo: Under the Northern Sky, Book 3 By: Leo Carew, read by Matt Addis for Orbit -- "Two fierce armies collide in the finale of the trilogy, a thrilling and savagely visceral epic fantasy."
Three Axes to Fall: The Grave of Empires, Book 3 By: Sam Sykes, read by Daisy-May Parsons for Orbit -- "A deal struck in a dark place set an outlaw mage on the path to revenge. And now that it’s led to places even darker, she and everyone she knows may pay the price for her bargain."
Queens of an Alien Sun: Arkship Trilogy, Book 3 By: Peter F. Hamilton, read by Elizabeth Klett for Tantor
The Ivory Tomb: The Rooks and Ruin Series, Book 3 By: Melissa Caruso, read by Senn Annis for Blackstone
Well Traveled: Well Met, Book 4 By: Jen DeLuca, read by Brittany Pressley for Penguin -- "The Renaissance Faire is on the move, and Lulu and Dex are along for the ride, in the next utterly charming rom-com."
The Anarchist-Mage of Ziammotienth: Myth of the Dragon, Book 4 By: Michael Anderle, read by Emily Beresford for Tantor
To Blackfyre Keep: The Seven Swords, Book 4 By: Anthony Ryan, read by Steven Brand for Audible
A Call to Insurrection: Book IV of Manticore Ascendant By: David Weber and Timothy Zahn with Thomas Pope, read by Eric Michael Summerer for Audible
Failure Mode: Expeditionary Force, Book 15 By: Craig Alanson, read by R.C. Bray for Podium
Marshal Arcane: Spellmonger, Book 15 By: Terry Mancour, read by John Lee for Podium
Red Winter: A Jack Ryan Novel, Book 22 By: Marc Cameron, read by Scott Brick for Random House -- "In this previously untold adventure, a young Jack Ryan goes behind the Iron Curtain to seek the truth about a potential Soviet defector."
MOST MISSING:
Dying World: Gods Fare No Better, Book 1 by J David Osborne (Broken River Books) -- "Kentaro was the best assassin in Cyclone City, a sweaty cyberpunk metropolis in the heart of a future bombed-out America. That is, until he got a full memory wipe. Emerging from the isolation of a monastery, he resumes his life as a killer, attempting to unravel the mystery of who he is, and why he'd have chosen to erase his past. Sasuke is a bodyguard for a prominent preacher. His boss has run afoul of the all-powerful corporations, who have sent a small army of punks and off-duty cops out for his head. In Cyclone City, if your client dies, your head explodes, so Sasuke must reluctantly protect his scumbag boss, even though all he wants is a nap. Zuno is a Hybrid, a man so obsessed with becoming a deer that he's gone too deep, too quickly into the world of body modification. When he is tasked with killing a rodeo clown, Zuno will tip over the edge into psychosis. The first blisteringly fast-paced cyberpunk novel in a ten-part series where magic and technology meet sex and violence."
Howl: The Howling Earth, Book 1 by e rathke (Broken River Books) -- "After being banished by the only people they have ever known, a man and woman wander the forest of towering mushrooms, where they meet Lady Agova, a giantess who has a job for them: help her hunt a vampire. Set in a desolate postapocalyptic world where science and magic blend and reality itself twists and bends, where some attempt to grow a new world while others delve through the detritus of a shattered civilization."
Wings Unfurled: Wings Rising, Book 2 by Rebecca Gomez Farrell (Meercat Press) -- "The vicious claren that used to plague the reunited countries of Medua and Lansera are long gone. So what are the new dark patches appearing in Lady Serra's second sight? She rushes to King Albrecht to report the danger, only to discover that he's ailing and Vesperi, Prince Janto's wife, has fled far to the north to grieve her disappeared daughter."
Worlds Long Lost edited by Christopher Ruocchio and Sean CW Korsgaard (Baen) -- "The universe is older and more alien than we can ever understand. We were not alone. The farther we push into the universe, the more obvious it becomes. The signs are everywhere: canals and pyramids on Mars, old roads on the moons of Jupiter, ruined cities on worlds about the nearer stars. The galaxy once teemed with life, or so it seems. Which begs the question: What happened to it all? These stories explore the ruins of lost civilizations, solve ancient mysteries . . .and awaken horrors from beyond the dawn of time."
Festival by Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden (Dark Horse Books) -- "The Valhalla music festival commemorates a long-ago Viking slaughter, but when strange things start to happen it seems the massacre may be far from over. When festival-goers begin to disappear, and musicians find themselves playing mysterious and ancient songs as if possessed, the fans have to figure out what’s going on before the festival site’s haunting past comes back for blood."