Release Week: 19 March 2024
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Release Week: 19 March 2024
Posted on 2024-03-19 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
The Morningside by Téa Obreht, read by Carlotta Brentan for Random House -- "After being expelled from their ancestral home in a not-so-distant future, Silvia and her mother finally settle at the Morningside, a crumbling luxury tower in a place called Island City where Silvia’s aunt Ena serves as the superintendent. Silvia feels unmoored in her new life because her mother has been so diligently secretive about their family’s past, and because the once-vibrant city where she lives is now half-underwater. Silvia knows almost nothing about the place where she was born and spent her early years, nor does she fully understand why she and her mother had to leave. But in Ena there is an opening: a person willing to give the young girl glimpses into the folktales of her demolished homeland, a place of natural beauty and communal spirit that is lacking in Silvia’s lonely and impoverished reality."
The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le, read by VyVy Nguyen for Macmillan -- "In the industrial city of Theumas, Nhika is seen not as a healer, but a monster that kills for pleasure. And in the city's criminal underbelly, the rarest of monsters are traded for gold. When Nhika is finally caught by the infamous Butchers, she's forced to heal the last witness to a high-profile murder. As Nhika delves into the investigation, all signs point to Ven Kochin, an alluring yet entitled physician's aide. Despite his relentless attempts to push her out of his opulent world, something inexplicable draws Nhika to him. But when she discovers Kochin is not who he claims to be, Nhika will be faced with a greater, more terrifying evil lurking in the city's center. Her only chance to survive lies in a terrible choice—become the dreaded monster the city fears, or risk jeopardizing the future of her kind."
Memory Piece: A Novel By: Lisa Ko, read by Eunice Wong for Penguin -- "Moving from the predigital 1980s to the art and tech subcultures of the 1990s to a strikingly imagined portrait of the 2040s, Memory Piece is an innovative and audacious story of three lifelong friends as they strive to build satisfying lives in a world that turns out to be radically different from the one they were promised."
James: A Novel By: Percival Everett, read by Dominic Hoffman for Random House -- "A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view, from the “literary icon” (Oprah Daily) and Pulitzer Prize Finalist whose novel Erasure is the basis for Cord Jefferson’s critically acclaimed film American Fiction."
Song of the Huntress By: Lucy Holland, read by Kristin Atherton and Lucy Holland for Redhook -- "The acclaimed author of Sistersong transforms the story of Herla and the Wild Hunt into a rich, feminist fantasy in this stunning tale of two great warriors, a war-torn land, and an ancient magic that is slowly awakening."
Cascade Failure: A Novel By: L. M. Sagas, read by Torian Brackett for Macmillan -- "There are only three real powers in the Spiral: the corporate power of the Trust versus the Union's labor's leverage. Between them the Guild tries to keep everyone's hands above the table. It ain't easy. Branded a Guild deserter, Jal "accidentally" lands a ride on a Guild ship. Helmed by an AI, with a ship's engineer/medic who doesn't see much of a difference between the two jobs, and a "don't make me shoot you" XO, the Guild crew of the Ambit is a little . . . different. They're also in over their heads. Responding to a distress call from an abandoned planet, they find a mass grave, and a live programmer who knows how it happened. The Trust has plans. This isn't the first dead planet, and it's not going to be the last. Unless the crew of the Ambit can stop it."
Annie Bot: A Novel By: Sierra Greer, read by Jennifer Jill Araya for Harper -- "A powerful, provocative novel about the relationship between a female robot and her human owner, exploring questions of intimacy, power, autonomy, and control."
The Princess of Las Vegas: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Books on Tape -- "From the New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant and The Lioness, a Princess Diana impersonator and her estranged sister find themselves drawn into a dangerous game of money and murder in this twisting tale of organized crime, cryptocurrency, and family secrets on the Las Vegas strip."
Fervor: A Novel By: Toby Lloyd, read by Genevieve Gaunt for Simon and Schuster -- "A chilling and unforgettable story of a close-knit Jewish family in London pushed to the brink when they suspect their daughter is a witch."
Rainbow Black: A Novel By: Maggie Thrash, read by Hope Newhouse for Harper -- "For fans of Donna Tartt and Ottessa Moshfegh comes a brilliant, deliriously entertaining novel from the acclaimed author of Honor Girl. Rainbow Black is part murder mystery, part gay international fugitive love story—set against the ’90s Satanic Panic and spanning 20 years in the life of a young woman pulled into its undertow."
Nearly All the Men in Lagos Are Mad: Stories By: Damilare Kuku, read by Anniwaa Buachie and Thabang Makhubela for Harper -- "This remarkable short story collection takes us deep into the heart of modern Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, and the lives of a collection of audacious women who cope with romantic difficulties by brilliantly turning the tables on the men who wrong them."
Self-Portraits: Stories By: Osamu Dazai (1991), translated by Ralph McCarthy, read by Brian Nishii for New Directions -- "In these short stories, collected and translated by Ralph McCarthy, we can see just how closely Dazai’s life mirrored his art, and vice versa, as the writer/narrator falls from grace, rises to fame, and falls again. Addiction, debt, shame, and despair dogged Dazai until his self-inflicted death, and yet despite all the lies and deception he resorted to in life, there is an almost fanatical honesty to his writing. And that has made him a hero to generations of listeners who see laid bare, in his works, the painful, impossible contradictions inherent in the universal commandment of social life—fit in and do as you are told—as well as the possibility, however desperate, of defiance."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
The Observable Universe: An Investigation By: Heather McCalden, read by the author for Random House -- "Is anyone ever truly lost in the internet age? A moving, original memoir of a young woman reckoning with her parents’ absence, the virus that took them, and what it means to search for meaning in a hyperconnected world."
Candy Darling: Dreamer, Icon, Superstar By: Cynthia Carr, read by Justin Vivian Bond for Macmillan -- "From the acclaimed biographer Cynthia Carr, the first full portrait of the queer icon and Warhol superstar Candy Darling."
BACKLIST WATCH:
My Name is Legion by Roger Zelazny, read by Adam Barr for Tantor -- "He'd been an important part of the team putting together the International Data Bank, which would track every single move made by every single human being. As the project neared completion, he realized that no one would ever truly be free again. At the very last moment he blanked his file, changed his face, and created a back door into the system. Now he was nameless, had no past, left no traces, according to the IDB he no longer existed. But he could become anyone at any time for any reason. Not being in the system meant that he had to earn a living outside of the normal confines of human society. But there were people willing to pay cold, hard cash for a man who could be anyone and then disappear once the job was done."
The Old Man Who Read Love Stories: A Novel By: Luis Sepúlveda (1994), read by Ian Guerra for Harper -- "The spellbinding classic tale of man and nature, honor, and adventure, in which the peaceful life of an aging, book-loving widower in the Ecuadorean jungle is upended when an ignorant tourist provokes a mother ocelot."
John James Audubon: The Making of an American By: Richard Rhodes (2004), read by Grover Gardner for Blackstone -- "Rhodes shows us young Audubon arriving in New York from France in 1803, his illegitimacy a painful secret, speaking no English but already drawing and observing birds. We see him falling in love, marrying the wellborn English girl next door, crossing the Appalachians to frontier Kentucky to start a new life, fashioning himself into an American just as his adopted country was finding its identity."
All the Sad Young Literary Men By: Keith Gessen (2008), read by Ari Fliakos for Penguin -- "A charming yet scathing portrait of young adulthood at the opening of the twenty-first century. The novel charts the lives of Sam, Mark, and Keith as they overthink their college years, underthink their love lives, and struggle to find a semblance of maturity, responsibility, and even literary fame."
The Iron King: The Iron Fey, Book 1 By: Julie Kagawa (2010, 2020), read by Khristine Hvam for Harlequin -- "Enter a fantastical world of dangerous faeries, wicked princes and one half-human girl who discovers her entire life is a lie."
World Breakers edited by Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio (2021), read by J. Rodney Turner for Tantor -- "Formed from cold steel and superpowered computing brains, these gigantic tanks with the firepower of an entire army have been the decisive factors in interplanetary battle. But are humans worthy of the extraordinary instruments of war that they have created? Are the Worldbreakers the greatest protector of human liberty, or its worst threat? For, while these Worldbreakers very definitely have minds of their own, the question remains: within their iron and superluminal quantum breasts, does there lie a faithful heart? Stories of world breakers and world makers in the great tradition of Keith Laumer's Bolos from David Weber, Larry Correia, Wen Spencer, and more."
The Shuddering City By: Sharon Shinn (2022), read by Leanne Woodward for Tantor -- "In the city of Corcannon, everyone has a secret. Madeleine is planning her wedding to Tivol, but she's really in love with Reese. Jayla has become the guardian of a child named Aussen, but she knows that Aussen possesses a mysterious and dangerous power. Brandon is a temple solider keeping the enigmatic Villette a prisoner in her own home, but finds himself risking everything to keep her safe. Pietro is pretending he's surprised every time the city is wracked by tremors, but he'll do anything to stop the devastation. Even Corcannon itself has a secret. It's built on a lie, and that lie is about to come tumbling down."
Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror edited by Ellen Datlow (2023), read by Carrie Coello and Andrew J. Andersen for Tantor -- "Hugo Award-winning editor, and horror legend Ellen Datlow presents a terrifying and chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, and many more."
Gollitok by Andrew Najberg (2023), read by Joe Hempel for Tantor -- "In a post-nuclear Eastern Europe, Hammel E Varka departs for a remote island to join a survey team cataloguing the abandoned Gollitok prison in the hopes that he will redeem his family's tarnished reputation. After the passage across the strait leaves a team member injured, Varka quickly realizes that this survey is far from routine and that what he thought he knew about the island was a cover for more horrifying truths."
SERIES WATCH:
The Weavers of Alamaxa: The Alamaxa Duology, Book 2 By: Hadeer Elsbai, read by Priya Ayyar and Nikki Massoud for Harper -- "Following up on one of the most exciting fantasy debuts, The Daughters of Izdihar, Hadeer Elsbai concludes her Alamaxa Duology—inspired by Egyptian history and myth—with a tale of magic, war, betrayal, sisterhood, and love."
Promise Kept: The Promises Series, Book 2 By: K’wan, read by Honey Jones for Blackstone -- "In this stunning sequel to Promise Broken, K’wan spins a pulse-pounding story about surviving, thriving, and the consequences of love."
The War of the Givens: The Silvers Series, Book 3 By: Daniel Price, read by Rich Orlow for Penguin -- "X-Men meets Blake Crouch in the explosive conclusion to Daniel Price’s genre-bending Silvers trilogy about six extraordinary people whose fates become intertwined on an Earth far different from our own...one that is headed for utter destruction."
Tower of Silence: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 4 by Larry Correia, read by Tim Gerard Reynolds for Audible -- "The assassination of the chief judge has pushed the Capitol to the edge. The Great Extermination has spread to all the land. The casteless must be annihilated."
MORE FICTION:
Lilith: A Novel By: Eric Rickstad, read by Brittany Pressley for Blackstone -- "After her son, Lydan, suffers traumatic injuries in a school shooting, single mom Elisabeth Ross grows enraged at men in power. If they won’t do anything to help end this epidemic of violence, she will. Believing it’s her destiny, she sets out to awaken the world to the cowards these men are and commits her own shocking act of violence. Going by the name Lilith—the first wife of Adam who fled Eden rather than serve a man—she posts a video of her crime that reverberates throughout society. Praised by some, demonized by others, and hunted by the FBI and vigilantes alike, Elisabeth must keep her identity a secret as she tries to care for her son."
The Tree Doctor By: Marie Mutsuki Mockett, read by June Angela for Dreamscape -- "When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother’s garden—convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle—and the dormant cherry tree within it. Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother’s garden, and together they embark on reviving it."
Jaded: A Novel By: Ela Lee, read by Rosa Escoda for Simon and Schuster -- "A young lawyer wakes up the morning after a work gala with no memory of how she got home the previous night and must figure out what, exactly, happened—and how much she's willing to put up with to make her way to the top of the corporate ladder."
How We Named the Stars By: Andrés N. Ordorica, read by Christian Barillas for Dreamscape -- "When Daniel de La Luna arrives as a scholarship student at an elite East Coast university, he bears the weight of his family’s hopes and dreams—and the burden of sharing his late uncle’s name. Daniel flounders at first, but then Sam, his roommate, changes everything. As their relationship evolves from brotherly banter to something more intimate, Daniel soon finds himself in love with a man who helps him see himself in a new light. But just as their relationship takes flight, Daniel is pulled away, first by Sam’s hesitation and then by a brutal turn of events that changes Daniel’s life forever."
American Sycamore: A Novel By: Charles Kenney, read by Michael Ward for Skyhorse -- "A moving novel about the devotions of friendship and the power of love to heal, American Sycamore celebrates the American experiment and the importance of giving a damn."
The Never Tell Collection from Audible Original Stories -- "How well do you know people? How well do they know you? Six award-winning, bestselling authors of suspense explore the lingering threat of secrets and the inescapable fear that they can’t stay buried forever. No matter how dark the hiding place, the consequences of revealing the truth can bring out the worst in lovers, friends, family, and strangers."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
The Memory Bank By: Brian Shea and Raquel Byrnes, read by Megan Tusing for Tantor -- "Technology pioneer Dr. Gerald Price is at the height of his scientific career. After years of research in the field of memory augmentation, he's just made a world-changing breakthrough. But his life's work is mysteriously cut short by a fatal overdose in a seedy motel. All evidence points to a suicide, and the case is closed . . . until Detective Morgan Reed begins working a series of similarly strange deaths."
The Day Tripper By: James Goodhand, read by James Meunier for Harlequin -- "It’s 1995, and Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames. He wakes the next day to find he’s in a messy, derelict room he’s never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn’t recognize, with no idea of how he got there. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he’s older—much older—and has been living a hard life, his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. He snatches a newspaper and finds it’s 2010—fifteen years since the fight. After finally drifting off to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it’s now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it’s 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night by the river."
Floating Hotel By: Grace Curtis, read by Braden Wright for Brilliance -- "Welcome to the Grand Abeona Hotel: home of the finest food, the sweetest service, and the very best views the galaxy has to offer. All year round it moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury—and an absolute magnet for intrigue. Intrigues such as: Why are there love poems in the lobby inbox? How many Imperial spies are currently on board? What is the true purpose of the Problem Solver’s conference? And perhaps most pertinently—who is driving the ship?"
INDIE WATCH:
Shabin: The Reluctant Prince of Rhime By: Andrew Heister, read by Caius Ashburn -- "Over four hundred years ago, Jason’s great-grandfather mixed alien and human DNA until he created a lab rat son. Since the Herodians communicated with a telepathic link, it wasn’t surprising when Jason’s grandfather gained some of those abilities. Using mental manipulation, Shabin Industries became a planetary empire—always keeping details of the power a secret. After Jason’s insane father murders his only friend, he runs away, fearing he’s next. Leaving the planet, and the protection he’s always enjoyed, was a stupid thing to do, but a chance meeting with company pilot, Sparrow, and several other minions, both willing and unwilling, turns his flight into a frantic attempt to stop an interplanetary war."
All Hope of Becoming Human By: Lonnie Busch, read by Patricia Shade -- "FBI Special Agent Demzey knows nothing about archaeology; his specialty— anomalous crimes, the fringe edge of the aberrant and the unknown. Demzey is investigating a recent rash of vicious and brutal murders, the clues surrounding the killings both disturbing and inexplicable. He and his assistant Connie Wegman catch a break when they discover remains of two monstrous creatures unknown to science, believed to be a race of aliens responsible for attacks on humans across the globe."
MOST MISSING:
Just Another Tuesday: The Adventures of Basil & Moebius, Book 7 by Erik Scott de Bie, Richard Lee Byers, Chris A Jackson, Ryan Schifrin, and Timothy Zahn (Red Circle Productions) -- "Spellbinding supernatural artifacts? Check. The ghost of a legendary dragon? Check. An invisible inter-dimensional carnivorous monster? Check. Sentient A.I. bent on world dominatoin? Check. And that's just for starters. For anyone else, it would be the hair raising thrill-ride of a lifetime. For Basil & Moebius, it's... just another Tuesday."
A Voice Calling by Christopher Barzak (Psychopomp) -- "Button House has stood for centuries, digging its roots and its rot deeper and deeper, consuming all who approach: twin brothers, a child bride, an innocent baby, four young factory workers. And then came Rose Billings, who had an affinity with the house like no other. Rose, who could hear the house and the pleas of its many ghosts. Rose, who would attempt to solve the mysteries of Button House, or die trying."
The Princess Scout by Henry Vogel (Rampant Loon) -- Alas, this series has started coming to audio in the dreaded "Virtual Voice" format, but this one hasn't, leaving me hope that Vogel and Rampant Loon will get back to actual human narrations. "Separated from their classmates during a drill, Scout Cadets Anne Villas and Christine Montide find themselves stranded on a previously uncharted world. By pure chance they've discovered a lost human colony that wants to stay lost, and the rulers of this planet will use all the power they have to keep it a secret."