Release Week: 23 January 2024
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Release Week: 23 January 2024
Posted on 2024-01-23 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase, read by Christel Mutombo for Recorded Books -- "Nelah seems to have it all: fame, wealth, and a long-awaited daughter growing in a government lab. But, trapped in a loveless marriage to a policeman who uses a microchip to monitor her every move, Nelah’s perfect life is precarious. After a drug-fueled evening culminates in an eerie car accident, Nelah commits a desperate crime and buries the body, daring to hope that she can keep one last secret. The truth claws its way into Nelah’s life from the grave. As the ghost of her victim viciously hunts down the people Nelah holds dear, she is thrust into a race against the clock: in order to save any of her remaining loved ones, Nelah must unravel the political conspiracy her victim was on the verge of exposing—or risk losing everyone."
Exordia by Seth Dickinson, read by Sulin Hasso for Macmillan -- "Anna Sinjari—refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker—has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. Enter Ssrin, a many-headed serpent alien who is on the run from her own past. Ssrin and Anna are inexorably, dangerously drawn to each other, and their contact reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, Anna must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world."
All Souls Lost by Dan Moren, read by Mirron Willis for Spotify -- "Say hello to Mike Lucifer, Spiritual Consultant. He’s back in town to take care of business. Unfortunately, when business is good, things must be very, very bad. After two years trying to run away from his past, Mike Lucifer’s back in his office less than ten minutes when a persistent young woman shows up asking for help: her boyfriend’s been possessed by a demon."
The Bullet Swallower: A Novel By: Elizabeth Gonzalez James, read by Lee Osorio for Simon and Schuster -- "A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making."
Family Family: A Novel By: Laurie Frankel, read by Patti Murin for Macmillan -- "India Allwood grew up wanting to be an actor. Armed with a stack of index cards (for research/line memorization/make-shift confetti), she goes from awkward sixteen-year-old to Broadway ingenue to TV superhero. Her new movie is a prestige picture about adoption, but its spin is the same old tired story of tragedy. India is an adoptive mom in real life though. She wants everyone to know there’s more to her family than pain and regret. So she does something you should never do—she tells a journalist the truth: it’s a bad movie. Soon she’s at the center of a media storm, battling accusations from the press and the paparazzi, from protesters on the right and advocates on the left. Her twin ten-year-olds know they need help–and who better to call than family? But that’s where it gets really messy because India’s not just an adoptive mother… The one thing she knows for sure is what makes a family isn’t blood. And it isn’t love. No matter how they’re formed, the truth about family is this: it's complicated."
Diva: A Novel by Daisy Goodwin, read by Lorelei King for Macmillan -- "In the glittering and ruthlessly competitive world of opera, Maria Callas was known simply as la divina: the divine one. With her glorious voice, instinctive flair for the dramatic and striking beauty, she was the toast of the grandest opera houses in the world. But her fame was hard won: raised in Nazi-occupied Greece by a mother who mercilessly exploited her golden voice, she learned early in life to protect herself from those who would use her for their own ends. When she met the fabulously rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, for the first time in her life, she believed she’d found someone who saw the woman within the legendary soprano. She fell desperately in love. He introduced her to a life of unbelievable luxury, showering her with jewels and sojourns in the most fashionable international watering holes with celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. And then suddenly, it was over. The international press announced that Aristotle Onassis would marry the most famous woman in the world, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, leaving Maria to pick up the pieces."
Harbor Lights: Stories By: James Lee Burke, read by Gary Furlong, Matt Pittenger, Michael David Axtell, Ali Andre Ali, Alan Carlson, Kaleo Griffith, Leon Nixon, Zac Aleman for Simon and Schuster -- " a story collection from one of the most popular and widely acclaimed icons of American fiction, featuring a never-before-published novella. These eight stories move from the marshlands on the Gulf of Mexico to the sweeping plains of Colorado to prisons, saloons, and trailer parks across the South, weaving together love, friendship, violence, survival, and revenge."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
And Then We Rise: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Self By: Common, read by the author for Harper -- "From the multi-award-winning performer, author, and activist, a comprehensive program for addressing mental and physical health—and encouraging communities to do the same."
Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine By: Uché Blackstock MD, read by the author for Penguin -- "Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, it never occurred to Uché Blackstock and her twin sister, Oni, that they would be anything but physicians. In the 1980s, their mother headed an organization of Black women physicians, and for years the girls watched these fiercely intelligent women in white coats tend to their patients and neighbors, host community health fairs, cure ills, and save lives. What Dr. Uché Blackstock did not understand as a child—or learn about at Harvard Medical School, where she and her sister had followed in their mother’s footsteps, making them the first Black mother-daughter legacies from the school—were the profound and long-standing systemic inequities that mean just 2 percent of all U.S. physicians today are Black women."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Uranians: Stories by Theodore McCombs, read by Gabriel McKnight for Tantor -- "Discerning which dreams of Western civilization to hold fast to and which to leave behind, these outsiders set their gazes on new horizons and prepare for the changes to come. Arch but tender, clear-eyed and compassionate, Uranians brilliantly illustrates the vital role that queerness plays in every possible version of our world."
The First Ambassador to Crustacea by Ashton Macaulay, read by Joel Simler for Spoken Realms -- "The galaxy is a colorful place and Crustacea is no exception. Born on a whim of a madman, the planet of psychic crabs evolved through a combination of radiation, cosmic energy, and what scientists could only describe as ‘the right vibes'. Now, the crustacean leadership must deal with the impending arrival of the first ambassador from the United Commission of Planets, renegade lobsters, and foul creatures lurking in the deep."
Nemesis by Jeremy Robinson, read by R.C. Bray for Podium -- "From the ashes of a devastated Boston, a harrowing legend emerges. Thirteen years prior, the colossal kaiju, Nemesis, ravaged the city in her relentless pursuit of retribution. Today, mankind's survival teeters on the sacrificial offerings atop a chilling monolith known as The Altar, where the condemned pay the ultimate price to prevent Nemesis's wrath from consuming humanity."
Faebound: A Novel by Saara El-Arifi, read by Bahni Turpin for Random House -- "As a warrior in the elven army, Yeeran has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future. When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven Lands, both sisters are forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the impossible: the fae court. The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world, torn among their loyalties to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts."
BACKLIST WATCH:
- Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt (1997), read by Justin Price for Tantor -- "The Roadmakers left only ruins behind—but what magnificent ruins! Their concrete highways still cross the continent. Their cups, combs, and jewelry are found in every Illyrian home. They left behind a legend, too-a hidden sanctuary called Haven, where even now the secrets of their civilization might still be found. Chaka's brother was one of those who sought to find Haven and never returned. But now Chaka has inherited a rare Roadmaker artifact—a book called A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court—which has inspired her to follow in his footsteps."
MOST MISSING:
Kinning: Everfair, Book 2 by Nisi Shawl (Tor) -- "[C]ontinues the stunning alternate history where barkcloth airships soar through the sky, varied peoples build a new society together, and colonies claim their freedom from imperialist tyrants. The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes’ stories are far from done." Update: now out in audio!
Reckoning: A Darkhurst Novel, Book 3 by Gail Z. Martin (SOL Publishing) -- "Undertaker brothers fight the monsters who killed their family and uncover a dark secret that could destroy a kingdom."