Release Week: 28 March 2023
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Release Week: 28 March 2023
Posted on 2023-03-28 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
Almost all the same titles as Audible, except not:
- titles published by Audible
- many indie titles published through ACX (very heavily incentivized to be exclusive to Audible)
etc. Now, Downpour does have something which Audible doesn't have: Cory Doctorow! (Audible won't sell his audiobooks DRM free, so he won't allow them to sell them at all.)
PICKS:
Lone Women: A Novel By: Victor LaValle, read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt for Random House -- "Blue skies, empty land—and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and a bracing new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of The Changeling."
A House with Good Bones By: T. Kingfisher, read by Mary Robinette Kowal for Macmillan -- "[S]tepping inside, [Sam Montgomery] quickly realizes home isn’t what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she’s the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above. To find out what’s got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried."
White Cat, Black Dog: Stories By: Kelly Link, read by Rebecca Lowman, Dan Stevens, Dominic Hoffman, Kristen Sieh, Ish Klein, Tanya Cubric, and Patton Oswalt for Random House -- "Seven ingeniously reinvented fairy tales that play out with astonishing consequences in the modern world, from one of today's finest short story writers."
Loki's Ring By: Stina Leicht, read by Shiromi Arserio for Simon and Schuster -- "Gita Chithra embarks on a mission through space to save the robot she loves as a daughter—or risk losing her in the depths of Loki’s Ring."
The Great Reclamation: A Novel By: Rachel Heng, read by Windson Liong for Penguin -- "Set against a changing Singapore, a sweeping novel about one boy’s unique gifts and the childhood love that will complicate the fate of his community and country."
Y/N: A Novel By: Esther Yi, read by Greta Jung for OrangeSky -- "It’s as if her life only began once Moon appeared in it. The desultory copywriting work, the boyfriend, and the want of anything not-Moon quickly fall away when she beholds the idol in concert, where Moon dances as if his movements are creating their own gravitational field; on live streams, as fans from around the world comment in dozens of languages; even on skincare products endorsed by the wildly popular Korean boy band, of which Moon is the youngest, most luminous member. Seized by ineffable desire, our unnamed narrator begins writing Y/N fanfic—in which you, the audience, insert [Your/Name] and play out an intimate relationship with the unattainable star."
Chlorine: A Novel By: Jade Song, read by Catherine Ho, Imani Parks for Harper -- "A debut novel that blurs the line between a literary coming-of-age narrative and a dark unsettling horror tale, told from an adult perspective on the trials and tribulations of growing up in a society that puts pressure on young women and their bodies…a powerful, relevant novel of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming."
A Brief History of Living Forever: A Novel By: Jaroslav Kalfar, read by Juanita McMahon for Little, Brown and Company -- "In an authoritarian near-future America obsessed with digital consciousness and eternal life, two long-lost siblings risk everything to save their mother from oblivion."
I’d Really Prefer Not to Be Here with You, and Other Stories By: Julianna Baggott, read by January LaVoy, Kelli Tager, Natasha Soudek, Emily Woo Zeller, Em Grosland, Rachel Jacobs, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Cassandra Campbell, Lisa Flanagan, Erin Bennett, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Xe Sands, Emily Lawrence, Tavia Gilbert, and Andi Arndt for Blackstone -- "Bestselling author Julianna Baggott delivers her mind-bending debut short-story collection, featuring an array of genres populated by deeply human characters."
The New One By: Evie Green, read by Anniwaa Buachie and Ellie Rose Boswell for Penguin -- "A suspenseful, cutting-edge novel about two parents who finally get the daughter they’ve always wanted—it’s too bad she isn’t real."
The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill By: Rowenna Miller, read by Jesse Vilinksy for Orbit -- "There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier—a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop. Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister’s wedding day. When Delphine confides her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape him. Small bargains buy them time, but a major one is needed. Yet, the price for true freedom may be more than they’re willing to pay."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
- Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere: An American Story of Assimilation and Erasure By: Robert Lopez, read by Lee Osorio for HighBridge -- "Robert Lopez's grandfather Sixto was born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, in 1904, immigrating to the United States in the 1920s, where he lived in a racially proportioned apartment complex in East New York, Brooklyn, until his death in 1987. The family's efforts to assimilate within their new homeland led to the near complete erasure of their heritage, culture, and language within two generations."
YOUNG ADULT WATCH:
- A Door in the Dark By: Scott Reintgen, read by Jesse Vilinsky for Simon and Schuster -- "One of Us Is Lying meets A Deadly Education in this fantasy thriller that follows six teenage wizards as they fight to make it home alive after a malfunctioning spell leaves them stranded in the wilderness."
MIDDLE GRADE WATCH:
- Hamra and the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf, read by Samantha Tan for Harper -- "A Malaysian spin on Little Red Riding Hood from the critically acclaimed author of The Girl and the Ghost."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Where It Rains in Color By: Denise Crittendon (2022), read by Mia Ellis for Tantor -- "Lileala has just been named the Rare Indigo—beauty among beauties—and is about to embrace her stardom, until something threatens to change her whole lifestyle and turn the planet of Swazembi upside down. Colonized by the descendants of Earth's West African Dogon Tribe, the planet of Swazembi is a blazing, color-rich utopia and famous vacation center of the galaxy. No one is used to serious trouble in this idyllic, peace-loving world, least of all the Rare Indigo. But Lileala's perfect, pampered lifestyle is about to be shattered. The unthinkable happens and her glorious midnight skin becomes infected with a mysterious disease. Where her skin should glisten like diamonds mixed with coal, instead it scabs and scars. On top of that, she starts to hear voices in her head, and everything around her becomes confusing and frightening."
In That Endlessness, Our End By: Gemma Files (2021), read by Deanna Anthony, Neil Hellegers, Steven Jay Cohen, Bronson Pinchot, Andi Arndt, Chelsea Stephens, Zura Johnson, and Sarah Beth Pfeifer for Blackstone -- "Hot on the heels of her 2018 This Is Horror Award–winning short story collection Spectral Evidence, critically horror author Gemma Files compiles fifteen more of her most startling recent nightmares—a creepily seductive downward spiral of dark poetry and existential dread, entirely suitable to the slow apocalypse going on all around us. So take your mind off your troubles and send it somewhere the rules still operate, if only to punish those who violate them."
Whale By: Cheon Myeong-kwan (2004), translated by Chi-Young Kim, read by Cindy Kay for Tantor -- "A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named "Girl of Spring." A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaurant to reveal a hidden fortune. Whale, set in a remote village in South Korea, follows the lives of many linked characters, including Geumbok, an extremely ambitious woman who has been chasing an indescribable thrill ever since she first saw a whale crest in the ocean; her mute daughter, Chunhui, who communicates with elephants; and a one-eyed woman who controls honeybees with a whistle."
Glory Lane By: Alan Dean Foster (1987), read by Alexander Cendese for Tantor -- "It's just another boring late night in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Seeth, a disillusioned punk rocker with too much time on his hands and too little money. That is, until he heads to a bowling alley and runs into Kerwin, a geeky graduate student who's there doing research for a sociology assignment. While trying to distract Kerwin from his scholarly pursuits, Seeth notices two burly cops trying to unlawfully arrest a lone bowler, and for laughs, he jumps in to save him. When it turns out the bowler, the cops, and even the bowling ball are all different races of aliens involved in an interstellar chase, Seeth and Kerwin find themselves on a ship careening through space—protecting a mysterious, all-powerful lifeform that might possibly be the most valuable thing in the universe."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Rubicon By: J. S. Dewes, read by Eunice Wong for Macmillan -- "Sergeant Adriene Valero wants to die. She can't. After enduring a traumatic resurrection for the ninety-sixth time, Valero is reassigned to a special forces unit and outfitted with a cutting-edge virtual intelligence aid. They could turn the tide in the war against intelligent machines dedicated to the assimilation, or destruction, of humanity. When her VI suddenly achieves sentience, Valero is drawn into the machinations of an enigmatic major who’s hell-bent on ending the war—by any means necessary."
Infinity Gate By: M. R. Carey, read by Dami Olukoya for Orbit -- "[A] genre-defying story of humanity's expansion across millions of dimensions—and the AI technology that might see it all come to an end."
MORE FICTION:
The Echo of Old Books: A Novel By: Barbara Davis, read by Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, and Sarah Zimmerman for Brilliance -- "Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance."
The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts By: Soraya Palmer, read by Jaimi Gray for Dreamscape -- "Sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father’s violence and their mother’s worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home. But the sisters, like their parents, must come together to answer to something more ancient and powerful than they know—and reckon with a family secret buried in the past."
Sea Change: A Novel By: Gina Chung, read by Jeena Yi for Random House -- "An enchanting novel about Ro, a woman tossed overboard by heartbreak and loss, who has to find her way back to stable shores with the help of a giant Pacific octopus at the mall aquarium where she works."
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise By: Colleen Oakley, read by Hillary Huber for Penguin -- "Twenty-one-year-old Tanner Quimby needs a place to live. Preferably one where she can continue sitting around in sweatpants and playing video games nineteen hours a day. Since she has no credit or money to speak of, her options are limited, so when an opportunity to work as a live-in caregiver for an elderly woman falls into her lap, she takes it. One slip on the rug. That’s all it took for Louise Wilt’s daughter to demand that Louise have a full-time nanny living with her. Never mind that she can still walk fine, finish her daily crossword puzzle, and pour the two fingers of vodka she drinks every afternoon. Bottom line: Louise wants a caretaker even less than Tanner wants to be one."
The Lonely Hearts Book Club By: Lucy Gilmore, read by Angie Kane for Dreamscape -- "Sloane Parker lives a small, contained life as a librarian in her small, contained town. She never thinks of herself as lonely...but still she looks forward to that time every day when old curmudgeon Arthur McLachlan comes to browse the shelves and cheerfully insult her. Their sparring is such a highlight of Sloane's day that when Arthur doesn't show up one morning, she's instantly concerned. And then another day passes, and another."
So Close: Blacklist, Book 1 By: Sylvia Day, read by Tamika Katon-Donegal, Simon Mattacks, Caitlin Kelly, Susan Nezami for Brilliance -- "Widower Kane Black is still ruinously married to his late wife, Lily. Grief has hollowed him… until he sees a woman with his wife’s inimitable beauty on the streets of Manhattan. He whisks her up to his towering penthouse, protectively under guard, nestling her in dark opulence where Lily’s memory is a possessive beguiling force. Aliyah, Kane’s mother, deals in science. There are too many questions, too few answers, and too much at stake. “Lily” has dangerous control over Kane and there can be only one queen on the throne. Amy, Kane’s sister-in-law, has been bloodied by deceit and betrayal, and she’s devolving into murderous rage. She’s paid too high a price and now intends to claim what she’s owed. Three women, linked by buried secrets, circle the man who unquestioningly accepts the return of his beloved long-dead wife. Kane is happier than he’s ever been, and he’ll do anything to stay that way."
Community Board: A Novel by Tara Conklin, read by Kristen Sieh for Harper -- "Darcy Clipper, prodigal daughter, nearly thirty, has returned home to Murbridge, Massachusetts, after her life takes an unwelcome left turn. Murbridge, Darcy is convinced, will welcome her home and provide a safe space in which she can nurse her wounds and harbor grudges, both real and imagined. But Murbridge, like so much else Darcy thought to be fixed and immutable, has changed. And while Darcy's first instinct might be to hole herself up in her childhood bedroom, subsisting on Chef Boy-R-Dee and canned chickpeas, it is human nature to do two things: seek out meaningful human connection and respond to anonymous internet postings. As Murbridge begins to take shape around Darcy, both online and in person, Darcy will consider the most fundamental of American questions: What can she ask of her community? And what does she owe it in return?"
SERIES WATCH:
Ashes: The Obelisks Series, Book 2 By: Ari Marmell, read by Cindy Kay for Blackstone -- "The world has ended. Along with other scattered survivors, astronaut Cynthia Han and the remainder of ISS Expedition 81 have finally learned what happened to the people they’d left behind, and it’s worse than any of them could have imagined."
Dark City: The Travelers, Book 2 By: Nathan Hystad, read by Jonathan Davis for Audible -- "It’s a year after the invasion of Bell Island, and things are looking up."
Queens of Themiscyra: The Grecian Women Series, Book 3 By: Hannah Lynn, read by Helen Keeley for Tantor -- "In ancient Themiscyra, Hippolyte rules as Queen of the Amazons. Feared throughout Greece, their skills on the battlefield are unrivalled. But when a ship lands on their shores, it brings something more dangerous than the threat of war. It brings a future Hippolyte could never have dreamed of."
The Perfumist of PAris: The Jaipur Trilogy, Book 3 by Alka Joshi, read by Sneha Mathan for Harlequin -- "Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she's finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents."
Outlaw's Vengeance: Assassins of Landria, Book 5 By: Gail Z. Martin, read by Samuel Roukin for Recorded Books -- "A year after the evets of Fugitive's Vow, the worst of Rett's wounds are healed. His recovery came at a high cost, leaving Ridge indebted to a mage of dubious integrity."
NEW EDITION WATCH:
- Shift: The Silo Saga, Book 2 By: Hugh Howey (2013), read by Edoardo Ballerini for Blackstone -- Replaces the original narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds for Brilliance: "Howey goes back to show the first days of the Silo, and the beginning of the end."
INDIE WATCH:
- Thief of Crowns By: Allen Niles (2021), read by Jonathan Johns for Tantor -- "Emperor Cronos was born into luxury, ruling selfishly, insulated from the needs of his people by his wealth and magic. But upon his mysterious death, he's reincarnated as Crow, a peasant child in a village that's more poverty-stricken than he ever believed was possible. Luckily, Crow still has a gift for magic, but in this new world, magic is outlawed for the poor—and punishable by death. Crow must beg, borrow, and steal, using the knowledge of the ruling class from his past life just to stay alive. As Crow's mission oscillates between survival and vigilante justice, he'll discover the darkest secrets the kingdom has to offer and be forced to interrogate who he once was if he wants to change his destiny in this life."
MOST MISSING:
The Ten Percent Thief by Lavanya Lakshminarayan (Rebellion) -- "Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore, where everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Twenty Percent – the Virtual elite – and have the world at your feet. Otherwise you risk falling to the precarious Ten Percent, and deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water or even humanity. The system has no flaws. Until the elusive “Ten Percent Thief” steals a single jacaranda seed from the Virtual city and plants a revolution in the barren soil of the Analog world."
Peacemaker: Sharps and Springfield, Book 1 by Morgan Brice (Darkwind Press) -- "Supernatural Secret Service agents Owen Sharps and Calvin Springfield meet on the train to their new assignment in St. Louis, and sparks fly between them. But it's 1897, and they need to be very careful—falling in love can be dangerous for men like them. It's their first case together, investigating mysterious disappearances—including the two agents who preceded them. Grim evidence leads them to look for a darker purpose. Old ghosts haunt the railroad line, zombie rise, signs point to ritual sacrifice, and they suspect someone is trying to open the gates of hell. Can Calvin and Owen stop the mayhem, thwart the vampires, and find true love, or will everything go up in smoke?"
Seven Tears in the Sea by Adrienne Moore (Aquarian Answers) -- "For orphaned Silas, it’s welcome oblivion to loneliness and grief, but instinct keeps forcing him back to human form, first to conceive a daughter, and later to guard and deliver her sealskin. For Silas’s daughter Alise, it’s a cage she can’t escape, stalked by obsessive Elliot who hopes to possess her by stealing her pelt, and madly in love with Douglas who has no idea his young wife is a selkie. For Alise’s daughter Ellie, it’s a death sentence, unless she can find her missing sealskin before a weakening illness destroys her."