Release Week: 14 February 2023
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Release Week: 14 February 2023
Posted on 2023-02-14 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
The King Is Dead: Stories By: Walter Tevis, read by Christopher Grove, Lee Osorio, Max Meyers, Philip Hernandez, and Mark Bramhall for Random House -- "For the first time ever, a complete collection of short fiction the New York Times bestselling author of The Queen's Gambit."
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride: A Novel By: Roshani Chokshi, read by Steve West and Sura Siu for Harper -- "Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past. But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives."
The Private Lives of Trees: A Novel By: Alejandro Zambra, translated by Megan McDowell, read by Gisela Chipe for Penguin -- "Veronica is late, and Julián is increasingly convinced she won't ever come home. To pass the time, he improvises a story about trees to coax his stepdaughter, Daniela, to sleep. He has made a life as a literature professor, developing a novel about a man tending to a bonsai tree on the weekends. He is a narrator, an architect, a chronicler of other people's stories. But as the night stretches on before him, and the hours pass with no sign of Veronica, Julián finds himself caught up in the slipstream of the story of his life—of their lives together."
Essex Dogs: A Novel by Dan Jones, read by Ben Miles for Penguin -- "The New York Times bestselling historian makes his historical fiction debut with an explosive novel set during the Hundred Years' War."
The Shamshine Blind: A Novel By: Paz Pardo, read by Aida Reluzco for Simon and Schuster -- "A beguiling blend of noir detective story and science fiction perfect for fans of Michael Chabon and Emily St. John Mandel, this binge-worthy debut imagines a world where emotions have been weaponized, and a small-town law enforcement agent uncovers a conspiracy to take down what’s left of American democracy."
Black Wolf: A Novel By: Kathleen Kent, read by Eva Kaminsky for Mulholland -- "A dazzling spy thriller about a female CIA agent whose extraordinary facial recognition powers lead her into the dangerous heart of the Soviet Union—and the path of a killer who shouldn’t exist."
The Guest Lecture: A Novel By: Martin Riker, read by Vanessa Johansson for Tantor -- "In a hotel room in the middle of the night, Abby, a young feminist economist, lies awake next to her sleeping husband and daughter. Anxious that she is grossly underprepared for a talk she is presenting tomorrow on optimism and John Maynard Keynes, she has resolved to practice by using an ancient rhetorical method of assigning parts of her speech to different rooms in her house and has brought along a comforting albeit imaginary companion to keep her on track—Keynes himself."
My Last Innocent Year: A Novel By: Daisy Alpert Florin, read by Sarah Bierstock for Macmillan -- "An incisive, deeply resonant debut novel about a nonconsensual sexual encounter that propels one woman’s final semester at an elite New England college into controversy and chaos—and into an ill-advised affair with a married professor."
Jazzed By: Jill Dearman, read by Orlagh Cassidy for Blackstone -- "Academic geniuses, Wilhelmina “Will” Reinhardt and Dorothy “Dolly” Raab, become roommates at Barnard in the early 1920s, a time when college for women was a rarity."
And Then I Woke Up By: Malcolm Devlin, read by Graham Mack for Tantor -- "In a world reeling from an unusual plague, monsters lurk in the streets while terrified survivors arm themselves and roam the countryside in packs. Or perhaps something very different is happening. When a disease affects how reality is perceived, it's hard to be certain of anything."
Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel: Stories By: Julian K. Jarboe, read by Adi Cabral for Tantor -- "In this debut collection of body-horror fairy tales and mid-apocalyptic Catholic cyberpunk, memory and myth, loss and age, these are the tools of storyteller Jarboe, a talent in the field of queer fabulism. Bodily autonomy and transformation, the importance of negative emotions, unhealthy relationships, and bad situations amidst the staggering and urgent question of how build and nurture meaning, love, and safety in a larger world/society that might not be "fixable.""
3 Days to Live By: James Patterson, read by Anna Caputo, Corey Carthew, and Ellen Archer for Grand Central -- "The people closest to you can be your most dangerous enemies in this heart-pounding collection of 3 brand-new thrillers from the master of suspense."
YOUNG READER WATCH:
The Windeby Puzzle: History and Story By: Lois Lowry, read by Lauren Ezzo and Andrew Gibson, with an introduction read by the author, for Harper -- "Newbery Medalist and New York Times bestselling author Lois Lowry transports listeners to an Iron Age world through the suspenseful dual narrative of a boy and girl both battling to survive. In an utterly one-of-a-kind blend of fiction and history, a master storyteller explores the mystery and life of the 2,000-year-old Windeby bog body."
The Grace of Wild Things By: Heather Fawcett, read by Aven Shore for Harper -- "An inventive and fantastical reimagining of Anne of Green Gables—with magic and witches!—that explores found family, loss, and the power of a girl's imagination."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions By: Greta Thunberg, read by Amelia Stubberfield, Greta Thunberg, Nicholas Khan, and Olivia Forrest for Penguin -- "You might think it's an impossible task: secure a safe future for life on Earth, at a scale and speed never seen, against all the odds. There is hope—but only if we listen to the science before it's too late."
The Darkness Manifesto: Our Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life By: Johan Eklöf (2020), translated by Elizabeth DeNoma (2022), read by Owen Findlay (2022, Penguin Audio) for Simon and Schuster -- "In the bestselling tradition of Why We Sleep and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent and insightful look at the hidden impact of light pollution, and a passionate appeal to cherish natural darkness for the sake of the environment, our own wellbeing, and all life on earth."
Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World By: Malcolm Harris, read by Patrick Harrison for Little, Brown and Company -- "The first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, from railroad capitalists to microchip assemblers, showing how Northern California created the world as we know it."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Solenoid By: Mircea Cărtărescu (2015), translated by Sean Cotter (2022), read by Paul Boehmer for Tantor -- "Based on Cartarescu's own role as a high school teacher, Solenoid begins with the mundane details of a diarist's life and quickly spirals into a philosophical account of life, history, philosophy, and mathematics. One character asks another: when you rush into the burning building, will you save the newborn or the artwork?"
Seven of Infinities: A Xuya Universe Novella By: Aliette de Bodard (2020), read by Emily Woo Zeller for Tantor -- "Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student. Sunless Woods is a mindship-and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She's come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân's resolute integrity. When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân's student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship-and to the devastating secrets they've kept from each other."
NEW EDITION WATCH:
- Pines, Wayward, and The Last Town: The Wayward Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch, read by Max Meyers for Random House -- Replacing the Paul Michael Garcia narrations from 2012: "Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a mission: locate two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation turns up more questions than answers: Why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out?"
SERIES WATCH:
The Endless Song: Tales of the Forever Sea, Book 2 By: Joshua Phillip Johnson, read by Belinda Fenty and Leo Wringer for WF Howes -- "The second book in this environmental epic fantasy series delves into the mysteries of a world where ships kept afloat by magical hearthfires sail an endless grass sea."
The Cage of Dark Hours: The Five Penalties, Book 2 By: Marina Lostetter, read by Christopher Bonwell, Shala Nyx, and Mylo Sermon for Macmillan -- "The second novel in the epic fantasy trilogy from acclaimed author Marina Lostetter, where the defeat of a serial killer back from the dead has pulled the mask off the myths and magics of a fantastical city."
The Tyranny of Faith: Empire of the Wolf, Book 2 By: Richard Swan, read by Lucy Paterson for Orbit -- "Action, intrigue, and magic collide in the second book in an epic fantasy trilogy, where Sir Konrad Vonvalt’s role as an Emperor’s Justice requires him to be a detective, judge, and executioner all in one—but these are dangerous times to be a Justice."
Chance: Constance, Book 2 By: Matthew FitzSimmons, read by Michael Crouch for Brilliance -- "A clone plays a dangerous game of life, death, memory, and murder."
Symphony for a Deadly Throne: The Mousai, Book 3 By: E.J. Mellow, read by Madeline Lake and Tony Roberts for Brilliance -- "The third and final installment in the Mousai series, following a young woman torn between the man she loves and the kingdom she calls home."
The Last Orphan: An Orphan X Novel, Book 8 By: Gregg Hurwitz, read by Scott Brick for Macmillan -- "Everything changes and everything is at risk."
Death of a Traitor: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery, Book 35 By: M. C. Beaton with R.W. Green, read by Graeme Malcolm for Grand Central -- "Sergeant Hamish Macbeth—Scotland's most quick witted but unambitious policeman—is back to investigate the disappearance of a local woman who is more than she seems."
Infinity Engine: Transformation, Book 3 By: Neal Asher (2017), read by Fleet Cooper for Library Ideas -- Oof. This new-to-me publisher has "Neil" in the metadata for the release, but "The rogue AI Penny Royal makes a final stand in the explosive conclusion to Neal Asher's hard-hitting and high-tech Polity space opera trilogy."
Avengers of Gor: Gorean Saga, Book 36 and Warriors of Gor: Gorean Saga, Book 37 by John Norman (2021, 2022), read by Ralph Lister for Audible -- "Puzzling, disturbing rumors have reached Port Kar." And: "The Saga of Gor continues as Tarl Cabot attempts to save a beautiful prisoner from a terrible fate."
INDIE WATCH:
- When a Moth Loved a Bee: Destini Chronicles, Book 1 By: Pepper Winters, read by Tor Thom and Fiona Clare -- "The first volume in the Epic Fantasy Romance Destini Chronicles. A heavily romantic, spice-filled fantasy set in a world where life and death, shadows and stars watch over two forbidden lovers whose powers are best left forgotten. Recommended for listeners over 18 due to explicit scenes, content, and darker elements."
MOST MISSING:
The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss (Mythic Delirium) -- "A wicked stepsister frets over all the ways in which she failed to receive her mother's love. A lost woman travels through an enchanted forest looking for someone who can remind her of her name. A girl must wear down seven pairs of shoes to gain help from a witch. A fox makes a life with a human, but neither can deny their true natures. A young woman returns to her childhood home and the fantastic stories she left there. A man lets himself be taken prisoner by the Snow Queen to prove that the woman who loves him would walk barefoot through the ice to save him. Medusa cuts her hair for love."
Sing, Nightingale by Marie Hélène Poitras, translated by Rhonda Mullins (Coach House) -- "When the curtain rises on Malmaison, it reveals a once-enchanting estate, quietly falling into darkness and ruin, and at the heart of it, a father, one of a long line of fathers who have flourished at the expense of those around them. The silence seems peaceful, but lurking under it is a deep malevolence, scores of ugly and violent secrets kept by cast-off mistresses and abandoned daughters. Ever-greedy, the father brings in Aliénor, a woman who promises to make the lands give even more of themselves; the plants will flourish, the animals will multiply, each feast will be more sumptuous than the last. The father thinks the stage is set to satisfy his every desire, but Aliénor will bring a new script, one in which the hunters are hunted and a new reign will begin."
The Scarlet Circus by Jane Yolen, with an introduction by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon) -- "A rakish fairy meets the real Juliet behind Shakespeare's famous tragedy. A jewelry artist travels to the past to meet a successful silver-smith. The addled crew of a ship at sea discovers a mysterious merman. More than one ignored princess finds her match in the most unlikely men. From ecstasy to tragedy, with love blossoming shyly, love at first sight, and even love borne of practical necessity—beloved fantasist Jane Yolen’s newest collection celebrates romance in all its glory."