Release Week: 21 February 2023
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Release Week: 21 February 2023
Posted on 2023-02-21 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
I Have Some Questions for You: A Novel By: Rebecca Makkai, read by Julia Whelan and JD Jackson for Penguin -- "A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie. But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws."
Arch-Conspirator By: Veronica Roth, read by Dion Graham, January LaVoy for Macmillan -- "Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored, humanity will end. Antigone’s parents–Oedipus and Jocasta–are dead. Passing into the Archive should be cause for celebration, but with her militant uncle Kreon rising to claim her father's vacant throne, all Antigone feels is rage. When he welcomes her and her siblings into his mansion, Antigone sees it for what it really is: a gilded cage, where she is a captive as well as a guest. But her uncle will soon learn that no cage is unbreakable. And neither is he."
Sister, Maiden, Monster By: Lucy A. Snyder, read by Arielle DeLisle, Katherine Littrell, and Lindsey Dorcus for Macmillan -- "A virus tears across the globe, transforming its victims in nightmarish ways. As the world collapses, dark forces pull a small group of women together."
The Shadow of Perseus: A Novel By: Claire Heywood, read by Olivia Darnley for Penguin -- "An imaginative and female-centered reinterpretation of the myth of the great hero Perseus, told through the voices of three women who are sidelined in the traditional version—his mother, Danae; his trophy, Medusa; and his wife, Andromeda—but whose viewpoints reveal a man who is not, in fact, a hero at all."
Hopeland By: Ian McDonald, read by Esther Wane for Blackstone -- "A time-traveling, futuristic saga of a family trying to outlast and remake a universe with a power unlike any we’ve seen before."
Nocturne: A Novel By: Alyssa Wees, read by Zura Johnson for Random House -- "In this haunting, lyrical fantasy set in 1930s Chicago, a talented ballerina finds herself torn between her dreams and her desires when she’s pursued by a secretive patron who may be more than he seems."
Users By: Colin Winnette, read by Justin Price for HighBridge -- "Miles, a lead creative at a midsize virtual reality company known for its "original experiences," has engineered a new product called The Ghost Lover. Wildly popular from the outset, the "game" is simple: a user's simulated life is almost identical to their reality, except they're haunted by the ghost of an ex-lover. However, when a shift in the company's strategic vision puts The Ghost Lover at the center of a platform-wide controversy, Miles becomes the target of user outrage, and starts receiving a series of anonymous death threats. Typed notes sealed in envelopes with no postage or return address, these persistent threats push Miles into a paranoid panic, blurring his own sense of reality, catalyzing the collapse of his career, his marriage, and his relationship with his children."
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide By: Rupert Holmes, read by Neil Patrick Harris and Simon Vance for Simon and Schuster -- "From the diabolical imagination of Edgar Award-winning novelist, playwright, and story-songwriter Rupert Holmes comes a devilish thriller with a killer concept: The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, a luxurious, clandestine college dedicated to the fine art of murder where earnest students study how best to “delete” their most deserving victim."
The Thorns Remain By: JJA Harwood, read by Eilidh Beaton for Magpie -- "1919. In a highland village forgotten by the world, harvest season is over and the young who remain after war and flu have ravaged the village will soon head south to make something of themselves. Moira Jean and her friends head to the forest for a last night of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She had plans to leave once – but her lover died in France and with him, her future. The friends light a fire, sing and dance. But with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees. The fae are here."
The Forcing By: Paul E. Hardisty, read by John Chancer for Isis -- "Civilisation is collapsing. Frustrated and angry after years of denial and inaction, a government of youth has taken power in North America, and a policy of institutionalised ageism introduced. All those older than the prescribed age are deemed responsible for the current state of the world, and are to be 'relocated', their property and assets confiscated."
SERIES WATCH:
The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country By: Matt Ruff, read by Kevin Kenerly for Harper -- "In this thrilling adventure, a blend of enthralling historical fiction and fantastical horror, Matt Ruff returns to the world of Lovecraft Country and explores the meaning of death, the hold of the past on the present, and the power of hope in the face of uncertainty."
Every Man a King: King Oliver, Book 2 By: Walter Mosley, read by Dion Graham for Little, Brown and Company -- "In this highly anticipated sequel to the Edgar award winner Down the River Unto the Sea, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he's asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up."
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The High Country By: John Jackson Miller, read by Robert Petkoff for Simon and Schuster -- "When an experimental shuttlecraft fails, Captain Christopher Pike suspects a mechanical malfunction—only to discover the very principles on which Starfleet bases its technology have simply stopped functioning. He and his crewmates are forced to abandon ship in a dangerous maneuver that scatters their party across the strangest new world they’ve ever encountered."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe By: Thomas Ligotti (1986, 1991), foreword by Jeff VanderMeer, read by Jon Padgett and Linda Jones for for Penguin -- "Thomas Ligotti’s debut collection, Songs of a Dead Dreamer, and his second, Grimscribe, permanently inscribed a new name in the pantheon of horror fiction. Influenced by the strange terrors of Lovecraft and Poe and by the brutal absurdity of Kafka, Ligotti eschews cheap, gory thrills for his own brand of horror, which shocks at the deepest, existential, levels."
This Immortal By: Roger Zelazny, read by Peter Berkrot for Tantor -- "Conrad Nomikos has a long, rich personal history that he'd rather not talk about. And, as Arts Commissioner, he's been given a job he'd rather not do. Escorting an alien grandee on a guided tour of the shattered remains of Earth is not something he relishes—especially when it is apparent that this places him at the center of high-level intrigue that has some bearing on the future of Earth itself."
Wasteland Marshals: Wasteland Marshals, Book 1 By: Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin (2019), read by Roger Wayne for Tantor -- "The world ended. Then things got tough. Shane Collins and Lucas Maddox are the last two US Marshals after a global cataclysm that destroyed most of modern civilization. They're still on the job, fighting the good fight, although they're no longer fully human and maybe not entirely sane. Witches and werewolves were not covered in their training as US Marshals. Then again, neither was the Apocalypse."
NEW EDITION WATCH:
- Shadow's Edge: Night Angel, Book 2 By: Brent Weeks (2008), read by Simon Vance for Orbit -- "Kylar Stern has given up the way of shadows for a life of peace, but when an old ally returns, Kylar must make a deadly choice in the second novel of the Night Angel Trilogy by NYT bestselling author Brent Weeks."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America By: Will Sommer (2021), read by Joe Knezevich (2021) for Harper -- "The definitive book on QAnon from the reporter knows them best; Will Sommer explains what it is, how it has gained a mainstream following among Republican lawmakers and ordinary citizens, the threat it poses to democracy, and how we can reach those who have embraced the conspiracy and are disseminating its lies."
The Education of Kendrick Perkins: A Memoir By: Kendrick Perkins with Seth Rogoff, read by JD Jackson for Macmillan -- " Kendrick “Perk” Perkins is known for his blunt, opinionated, “carry the hell on” commentary on ESPN’s most popular shows. As a fourteen-year NBA player and starting center for the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics, Perk earned a reputation as an enforcer, a fierce defender, and a great teammate. Now, In The Education of Kendrick Perkins, he opens a different side of himself: a powerful and intimate memoir that goes beyond basketball to discuss the reality of being Black in America."
Sink: A Memoir By: Joseph Earl Thomas, read by the author for Grand Central -- "A wrenching and redemptive coming-of-age memoir about the difficulty of growing up in a hazardous home and the glory of finding salvation in geek culture."
It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism By: Senator Bernie Sanders with John Nichols, read by Senator Bernie Sanders for Random House -- "A progressive takedown of the uber-capitalist status quo that has enriched millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the working class, and a blueprint for what transformational change would actually look like."
INDIE WATCH:
- The Shapes of Wrath: Hope’s Seven Deadly Sins, Book 1 By: Melissa Yi (Melissa Yuan-Innes), read by Carmilla Jo -- "Dr. Hope Sze launches into her general surgery rotation with Dr. Vrac, the scourge of operating room three, also known as the death OR. Dr. Vrac screams at the resident doctors suffering under him, the nurses who don't move fast enough, the anesthesiologist, his auto mechanic, and even a garbage can. Patients begin to die under Dr. Vrac’s scalpel. This morning, Hope discovers a dead man in the back of the OR. Next, a ghost lingers outside of Montreal's St. Joseph's Hospital. Can Hope outwit the enraged killer before someone slices her throat?"