Release Week: 9 May 2023
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Release Week: 9 May 2023
Posted on 2023-05-09 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
BACKLIST WATCH:
The Breath of the Sun By: Isaac Fellman (2018), read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw for Tantor -- "Lamat Paed understands paradoxes. She's a great mountain climber who's never summited, the author of a tell-all that didn't really tell anything. For years she guided pilgrims up the foothills of the Sublime Mount, leading them as high as God would let them go. And then she partnered the apostate Southern priest Mother Disaine on the most daring, most blasphemous expedition in history—an attempt to reach the summit of the sacred mountain, the top of God's head. Disaine returned in triumph, claiming to be the first person since the prophet to have summited and lived. But Lamat went into hiding. Now, late in life and exiled from the mountain, Lamat finally tells her story to her partner, Otile. It's the story of why she really wrote her first book all those years ago, how she came to be cast out from the mountain dwelling Holoh people, and how she fled to the anonymity of the city to hide from her fame. Most of all, it's the story of her bond with Mother Disaine—the blasphemer, charlatan, and visionary who stole Lamat's life to serve her own purposes—and what really happened on their last, greatest expedition."
The Manifestations of Sherlock Holmes By: James Lovegrove (2020), read by Dennis Kleinman for Blackstone -- "Maverick detective Sherlock Holmes and his faithful chronicler Dr. John Watson return in twelve thrilling short stories. The iconic duo find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events: an otherworldly stone whose touch inflicts fatal bleeding; a hellish potion to unlock a person’s devilish psyche; a fiendishly clever, almost undetectable method of revenge and many more—including a brand-new Cthulhu Casebooks story."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Reforged by Seth Haddon, read by Gary Furlong for Tantor -- "Since time immemorial the warriors of the Paladin Order have harnessed arcane powers to protect their rulers. For Balen, who has given up his chance at love and fought his way to the top of the Paladin Order, there can be no greater honor than to serve his king. But when assassins annihilate the royal family, Balen suddenly finds himself sworn to serve the very man he abandoned."
We Dare: No Man's Land: An Anthology of Strong Female Leads By: Jamie Ibson, Chris Kennedy, Griffin Barber, Rick Partlow, A.K. DuBoff, Sarah A. Hoyt, Quincy J. Allen, Jonathan P. Brazee, Rachel Aukes, Kacey Ezell, Josh Hayes, Joelle Presby, Marie Whittaker, Melissa Olthoff, and Marisa Wolf, read by Richard Wright for Theogony Books -- "A collection of 15 all-new stories with female leads. Whether it’s changing an engine on the outside of a spaceship’s hull or chasing SimNACs through the jungle, these heroines have only one goal in mind—to win at all costs! From defending asteroid bases to searching giant space stations, these women get the job done."
SERIES WATCH:
Stan Lee's The Devil's Quintet: The Shadow Society: The Devil's Quintet Series, Book 2 By: Stan Lee and Jay Bonansinga, read by Charles Everett for Blackstone -- "Stan Lee’s The Devil’s Quintet return to take on a fiendish new adversary: The Shadow Society."
Not of This World: Gideon Sable, Book 4 by Simon R. Green, read by Gideon Emery for Recorded Books -- "This might be his biggest coup yet! Legendary master thief Gideon Sable is on the hunt for the ghost of an alien-possessed man in this fast-paced supernatural heist thriller."
1637: Dr. Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner: Ring of Fire, Book 33 by Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright (2021), read by George Guidall for Recorded Books
WTF WATCH:
- Monster Match by Isabel Jordan, read by Mia Madison for Tantor -- "She met a hot reanimated dead guy at a monster speed dating event. Then things really got weird."
MOST MISSING:
The Roamers by Francesco Verso (Flame Tree Press) -- "The pulldogs, a group of people at the twilight of Western civilisation, undergo an anthropological transformation caused by the dissemination of nanites (nanorobots capable of assembling molecules to create matter). This technology changes the way they eat and gives rise to a culture which, while reminiscent of an ancient nomadic society, is creative and new. Liberation from the imperative of food, combined with the ability to 3D print objects and use cloud computing, makes it possible for the pulldogs to make a choice that seems impossible and anachronistic – a new life, but is it really an Arcadia?"
Fairy Films: Wee Folk on the Big Screen by Joshua Cutchin (Educated Dragon Publishing) -- "Since their inception, motion pictures have brought fantastic imagery to life, mining mythology and folklore to entertain audiences worldwide. As a staple of fantasy, fairies almost immediately received attention and their influence on the artform of film has never truly waned. Even into the modern era, filmmakers draw upon the themes of fairy lore, perhaps unknowingly. Quaint children’s tales of whimsical, benevolent sprites belie a rich tradition of complex, magical beings sharing our reality, entities whose very existence may have some root in fact. In this groundbreaking collection of essays, editor Joshua Cutchin reveals how this ancient body of folklore infuses multiple genres of contemporary cinema. Featuring essays by Wren Collier, Joshua Cutchin, Susan Demeter, Patrick Dugan, David Floyd, Jack Hunter, Allison Jornlin, James P. Nettles, Neil Rushton, Mark Anthony Wyatt, and Simon Young."
FICTION PICKS:
The Eyes and the Impossible By: Dave Eggers, read by Ethan Hawke for Listening Library -- "Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea. His job is to be the Eyes—to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. His friends—a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican—work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the Equilibrium is in balance. But changes are afoot. More humans, including Trouble Travelers, arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats—an actual boatload of goats—who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes’s view of the world."
Atalanta by Jennifer Saint, read by Beth Eyre for Macmillan -- "From the beloved bestselling author of Elektra and Ariadne, a reimagining of the myth of Atalanta, a fierce huntress raised by bears and the only woman in the world’s most famous band of heroes, the Argonauts."
The Book That Wouldn't Burn By: Mark Lawrence, read by Jessica Whittaker for Penguin -- "The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities. The girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust, where nightmares stalk and no one goes. The world has never even noticed them. That’s about to change. Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned."
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, read by Charley Flyte for Random House -- "A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things."
The Baba Yaga Mask By: Kris Spisak, read by Allyson Voller for Tantor -- "When their Ukrainian grandmother is lost on a trans-Atlantic Flight, two sisters are swept into a quest across eastern Europe to find the woman who had always told more tales than truths. From Poland to Slovakia to Hungary and beyond, Larissa and Ira navigate the steps of Ukrainian folk dance, the cliff-side paths of Slovak Paradise National Park, and the stark realities of war, folktales, and feminism, all for the sake of chasing who they're starting to believe is a true Baba Yaga. Understanding their family's roots has never been more clear."
Death of an Author: A Novella By: Aidan Marchine with an afterword by Stephen Marche, read by Edoardo Ballerini for Pushkin Industries -- "When Gus Dupin, literary critic and scholar, finds himself invited to the funeral of Peggy Firmin, celebrated novelist and now murder victim, he is determined to find out who killed her and why. As his investigation gets underway, it is not long before he finds himself at the center of an experiment at Marlow AI, a large language model company. Why was he included in this experiment and what role did Firmin play? Further, why is Dupin suddenly a suspect in Firmin’s murder? And worse: is he the next victim? As Dupin attempts to unravel the mystery of the death of his favorite author, listeners find themselves in an alternate reality that raises a sinister question: what is the appropriate relationship between humans and machines and is murder the consequence when it goes too far?"
Silenced: A #MeToo Fairytale By: Ann Claycomb, read by Mia Barron, Samara Naeymi, Chriselle Almeida, Lynnette R. Freeman for Recorded Books -- "After her girlfriend breaks up with her for being too emotionally stifled, Jo Miller is trying to become more expressive. But then her boss calls her into his office for a private meeting and sexually assaults her. His parting words are, “you won't want to talk about this Jo. You think you do now, but trust me, you won’t.” Jo had been ready to go straight to the police, but every time she tries to talk about what happened, live insects crawl up her throat and into her mouth. She finds that she can’t say anything negative about the CEO or what he did to her without spitting out centipedes, red ants, beetles, slugs, wasps, and occasionally even a snake. Jo isn’t alone. Her colleagues Abony LePrince, the head of HR, and Ranjani Bakshi, a graphic designer, have also been assaulted by the CEO and cursed into staying quiet. Abony is compelled to buy a new pair of Louboutins each week, financially crippling her, and Ranjani cannot go anywhere new without making her mother suffer. When the three of them get together they discover another victim, Maia English, who’s been working from home for the last eight months after she shrank to just six inches tall."
Nigeria Jones: A Novel by Ibi Zoboi, read by Marcella Cox for Balzer and Bray -- "Warrior Princess. That's what Nigeria Jones's father calls her. He has raised her as part of the Movement, a Black separatist group based in Philadelphia. Nigeria is homeschooled and vegan and participates in traditional rituals to connect her and other kids from the group to their ancestors. But when her mother—the perfect matriarch of their Movement—disappears, Nigeria's world is upended. She finds herself taking care of her baby brother and stepping into a role she doesn't want."
The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece: A Novel By: Tom Hanks, read by the author with Peter Gerety, Natalie Morales, Ego Nwodim, Nasim Pedrad, Connor Ratliff, Holland Taylor, Rita Wilson, and a full cast for Random House -- "From the legendary actor and best-selling author: a novel about the making of a star-studded, multimillion-dollar superhero action film...and the humble comic books that inspired it. Funny, touching, and wonderfully thought-provoking, while also capturing the changes in America and American culture since World War II."
Tales of Polynesia By: Yiling Changues, read by Kaleo Griffith for Chronicle Books -- "A woman falls in love with the king of the sharks. Two powerful sorcerers compete in a battle of magical wits. The king of Maui's fastest messenger races to bring a young woman back from the dead. In these traditional tales, the borders blur between life and death, reality and magic, and land and sea."
NON-FICTION PICKS:
Laozi's Dao De Jing: A Plain Translation by Ken Liu, read by BD Wong for Audible Originals -- "Translated by bestselling author Ken Liu and read by acclaimed actor BD Wong, this new take on the Dao De Jing speaks directly to the sensibilities of a modern audience. Liu dispenses with footnotes and the granular details of academic debate in favor of presenting Laozi’s invaluable writing as clearly and colorfully as possible."
Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” by Héctor Tobar, read by André Santana for Macmillan -- "Assembles the Pulitzer Prize winner Héctor Tobar's personal experiences as the son of Guatemalan immigrants and the stories told to him by his Latinx students to offer a spirited rebuke to racist ideas about Latino people. Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of "Latino" as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and seeks to give voice to the angst and anger of young Latino people who have seen latinidad transformed into hateful tropes about "illegals" and have faced insults, harassment, and division based on white insecurities and economic exploitation."
Night Vision: Seeing Ourselves Through Dark Moods By: Mariana Alessandri, read by Gisela Chípe for Princeton University Press -- "Under the light of ancient Western philosophies, our darker moods like grief, anguish, and depression can seem irrational. When viewed through the lens of modern psychology, they can even look like mental disorders. The self-help industry, determined to sell us the promise of a brighter future, can sometimes leave us feeling ashamed that we are not more grateful, happy, or optimistic. Night Vision invites us to consider a different approach to life, one in which we stop feeling bad about feeling bad."
Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems By: William D. Eggers and Donald F. Kettl, read by Paul Heitsch for Kalorama -- "Our government is in crisis, mired in bureaucracy and often unable to fix tough problems. This book provides an essential new model for transforming the system and getting things done."
The Last Kings of Macedonia and the Triumph of Rome By: Ian Worthington, read by Gareth Richards for HighBridge -- "In the history of ancient Macedonia, the last three Antigonid kings—Philip V, his son Perseus, and the pretender Andriscus or Philip VI—are commonly overlooked in favor of their predecessors Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, who established a Macedonian empire. By the time Philip V became king, Macedonia was no longer an imperial power and Rome was fast spreading its dominance over the Mediterranean. Viewed as postscripts to the kingdom's heyday, the last Macedonian kings are often denounced for self-serving ambitions, flawed policies, and questionable personal qualities by hostile ancient writers. They are condemned for defeats by Rome that saw both the end of the monarchy and the fall of the formidable Macedonian phalanx before the Roman legion."