Release Week: 12 March 2024
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Release Week: 12 March 2024
Posted on 2024-03-12 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Until August: A Novel By: Gabriel García Márquez, translated by Anne McLean, read by Catalina Sandino Moreno, Cristobal Pera, and Rodrigo Garcia for Random House -- "The extraordinary rediscovered novel from the Nobel Prize–winning author of Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude—a moving tale of female desire and abandon."
The Most Secret Memory of Men By: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, translated by Lara Vergnaud, read by Leon Nixon for Tantor -- "In 2018, Diegane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer in Paris, discovers a legendary book from the 1930s, The Labyrinth of Inhumanity. No one knows what became of its author, once hailed as the "Black Rimbaud," after the book caused a scandal. Enthralled by this mystery, Diegane decides to search for T.C. Elimane, going down a path that will force him to confront the great tragedies of history, from colonialism to the Holocaust."
Jumpnauts by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu, read by Catherine Ho for Simon and Schuster -- "From the Hugo Award–winning author of Folding Beijing comes a gripping science fiction thriller in which three unlikely allies attempt a desperate mission of first contact with a mysterious alien race before more militaristic minds can take matters into their own hands."
Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology by Wole Talabi, read by Kofi Boakye, Anniwaa Buachie, Délé Ogundiran, and Tony Tambi for Recorded Books -- "The first anthology of stories set in this fictional shared world based on a blend of African cultural worldviews."
Those Beyond the Wall: A Novel By: Micaiah Johnson, read by Angel Pean for Random House -- "A searing sci-fi thriller about a woman reckoning with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable deaths in the face of a coming apocalypse—from the Compton Crook Award-winning author of The Space Between Worlds."
All of Us Strangers: A Novel By: Taichi Yamada, read by Geoff Sugiyama for Harper -- "Screenwriter Harada is disconnected from the world. Lonely and jaded, he’s drifted apart from his son and is dismissive when approached with gestures of friendship, including from a lonely and mysterious tenant who lives in his mostly empty apartment building. One night, when Harada returns to the dilapidated downtown district of Tokyo where he grew up, he meets a man who looks exactly like his long-dead father. And so begins Harada’s ordeal, thrust into a reality where his parents appear to be alive at the exact age they had been when they died many years earlier."
Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere By: Anastacia-Renee, read by the author for Harper -- "In this bold hybrid collection of poetry, flash fiction, and Afrofuturism sci-fi, the award-winning interdisciplinary writer and author of Side Notes from the Archivist explores what happens when god is a Black woman in a town. What happens when there are multiple universes in the middle of nowhere?"
Between You and Us: A Novel By: Kendra Broekhuis, read by Anna Caputo for Random House -- "From the author of Sea Change comes a short story collection that explores Korean American womanhood, bodies, animals, and transformation as a means of survival."
Welcome to Forever by Nathan Tavares, read by Neil Shah for Recorded Books -- "A sweeping, psychedelic romance of two men caught in a looping world of artificial realities, edited memories, secretive cabals and conspiracies to push humanity to the next step in its evolution."
SERIES WATCH:
Sunbringer: Godkiller Book 2 by Hannah Kaner, read by Kit Griffiths for Harper -- "Return to the world of Godkiller in this thrilling sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling fantasy debut."
2054: A Novel By: Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis USN, read by Junior Nyong'o, Brian Nishii, Eunice Wong, Emily Woo Zeller, and Vikas Adam for Penguin -- "From the acclaimed authors of the runaway New York Times bestseller 2034 comes another explosive work of speculative fiction set twenty years further in the future, at a moment when a radical leap forward in artificial intelligence combines with America’s violent partisan divide to create an existential threat to the country, and the world."
Demon Daughter: A Penric and Desdemona Novella By: Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner for Blackstone -- "A six-year-old shiplost girl draws the kin Jurald family of Vilnoc into complex dilemmas, and sorcerer Learned Penric and his Temple demon Desdemona into conflict—with each other. It will take all of Penric’s wits, his wife Nikys’s wisdom, and the hand of the fifth god’s strangest saint to untangle the threads of their future."
Sanctuary: The Remaining By: D. J. Molles, read by Christian Rummel for Audible -- "Wounded and on the run from their former lives in Northern California, Bran and Kat find themselves in the Oregon wilderness, searching for a place to call home—a place where they can escape their past, with people that will accept Kat for what she is."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny (1968), read by Paul Bellantoni for Tator -- "Hell Tanner isn't the sort of guy you'd mistake for a hero: he's a fast-driving car thief, a smuggler, and a stone-cold killer. Facing life in prison for his various crimes, he's given a choice: Rot away his remaining years in a tiny jail cell or drive cross-country and deliver a case of antiserum to the plague-ridden people of Boston, Massachusetts."
Star Wars Legends: I, Jedi By: Michael A. Stackpole (1998), read by Marc Thompson for Random House -- "The dramatic story of an X-wing pilot on the razor’s edge between the hero he once was and the power he could have—if he’s willing to embrace the Dark Side."
Birchwood: A Novel By: John Banville (2009), read by John Lee for Harlequin -- "A classic novel of family, isolation and a blighted Ireland from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea depicts the end of innocence for a boy and his country."
MORE FICTION:
Headshot: A Novel By: Rita Bullwinkel, read by Cassandra Campbell for Penguin -- "An unexpected tragedy at a community pool. A family’s unrelenting expectation of victory. The desire to gain or lose control; to make time speed up or stop; to be frighteningly, undeniably good at something. Each of the eight teenage girl boxers in this blistering debut novel has her own reasons for the sacrifices she has made to come to Reno, Nevada, to compete to be named the best in the country. Through a series of face-offs that are raw, ecstatic, and punctuated by flashes of humor and tenderness, prizewinning writer Rita Bullwinkel animates the competitors’ pasts and futures as they summon the emotion, imagination, and force of will required to win."
The Underground Library: A Novel By: Jennifer Ryan, read by Fenella Woolgar for Random House -- "When the Blitz imperils the heart of a London neighborhood, three young women must use their fighting spirit to save the community’s beloved library in this novel based on true events from the author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir."
Twilight Territory: A Novel By: Andrew X. Pham, read by David Lee Huynh for HighBridge -- "The peak of the hot season, 1942: The wars in Europe and Asia and the Japanese occupation have upset the uneasy balance of French Indochina. In the Vietnamese fishing village of Phan Thiet, Tuyet ekes out a living at a small storefront with her aunt Coi, her cousin Ha, and her two-year-old daughter, Anh. She can hardly remember her luxurious life in the city of Saigon, which she left just two years ago. The day Tuyet meets Japanese major Yamazaki Takeshi is inauspicious and stifling, with no relief from the sand-stirring wind. But to her surprise, she feels not fear or wariness, but a strange kinship."
Great Expectations: A Novel By: Vinson Cunningham, read by Aaron Goodson for Random House -- "A historic presidential campaign changes the trajectory of a young Black man’s life in the highly anticipated debut novel from one of The New Yorker’s rising stars."
Victim: A Novel By: Andrew Boryga, read by Anthony Rey Perez for Random House -- "A fearless satire about a hustler from the Bronx who sees through the veneer of diversity initiatives and decides to cash in on the odd currency of identity."
Some Strange Music Draws Me In: A Novel By: Griffin Hansbury, read by Petey Gibson for Audible -- "It’s the summer of 1984 in Swaffham, Massachusetts, when Mel (short for Melanie) meets Sylvia, a tough-as-nails trans woman whose shameless swagger inspires Mel’s dawning self-awareness. But Sylvia’s presence sparks fury among her neighbors and throws Mel into conflict with her mother and best friend. Decades later, in 2019, Max (formerly Mel) is on probation from his teaching job for, ironically, defying speech codes around trans identity. Back in Swaffham, he must navigate life as part of a fractured family and face his own role in the disasters of the past."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
Beyond Enemies by Marisa Wolf, read by Morgan Hallett for Recorded Books -- "An assignment on a backwater world turns deadly for a combat vet and her AI tank."
A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene, read by Heather O’Sullivan for Orbit -- "Set in a world of perilous magic and moonlit forests, this seductive romantic fantasy tells the story of a defiant changeling, her cursed sister, and the dangerous fae lord she must defeat to save her family."
Unusual Minds By: Tracie Hollis, read by Chelsea Stephens for Tantor -- "As a child, Angela Mathers was the victim of a top-secret experimental program that implanted neural chips in children to correct disorders and enhance intelligence. Shunned by society, she, and others like her were locked away in camps. Now an adult Luman, she is both brilliant and calculating. Her quest for redemption brings her to DC, where she works to get a government bill that would free the Lumans passed into law. Isabella Dodge works for Control, the agency tasked with tracking and imprisoning the remaining Lumans. But Isabella has one secret. She's a Solo—an undocumented Luman who fled the camps years ago. When their paths cross, an innocent touch sparks something in both women. But is it love, or simply their neural programming? When Control finds out Isabella is a Solo and captures her, Angela finds her answer—she will risk everything to save Isabella, even her own freedom."
INDIE WATCH:
- Heretical Fishing, Book 1 By: Haylock Jobson, read by Heath Miller for Podium -- I don't usually go for LitRPG or Progression Fantasy titles but, c'mon, this one looks intriguing: "When summoned to a fantastical world and granted powers by a broken System, most freshly minted protagonists would strap on their big-boy boots and get ready for their stats to start climbing. But Fischer isn't like most MCs. In fact, he doesn't want to be a hero at all. Fame? Fortune? Power? He had enough of all that in his old life. Discovering forbidden fishing techniques and petting every cute animal that comes within scritching distance? Now that's a good time. Unfortunately for Fischer, cosmic forces rarely care for mortal feelings. He's hounded on all sides by inept cults, conspiring nobles, and more magical misunderstandings than those of a preteen relationship."
MOST MISSING:
The Siege of Burning Grass by Premee Mohamed (Solaris) -- "The Empires of Varkal and Med’ariz have always been at war. Alefret, the founder of Varkal’s pacifist resistance, was bombed and maimed by his own government, locked up in a secret prison and tortured by a ‘visionary’ scientist. But now they’re offering him a chance of freedom. Ordered to infiltrate one of Med’ariz’s flying cities, obeying the bloodthirsty zealot Qhudur, he must find fellow anti-war activists in the enemy’s population and provoke them into an uprising against their rulers. He should refuse to serve the warmongers, but what if he could end this pointless war once and for all? Is that worth compromising his own morals and the principles of his fellow resistance members?"
The Mirror of Eternity: The Night Trilogy, Book 3 by Garrett Boatman (Crossroad Press) -- "In the Desert of Dudael, the demon Azazel is freed from the pit where he has dwelled for millennia. On the frozen world of Abyss, fallen angels banished from earth in the time of Enoch, prepare for their return."