Release Week: 14 May 2024
← Release Week: 7 May 2024Release Week: 21 May 2024 →
Release Week: 14 May 2024
Posted on 2024-05-14 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Aliss at the Fire By: Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls, read by Kåre Conradi for Dreamscape -- Winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature: "In her old house by the fjord, Signe lies on a bench and sees a vision of herself as she was more than twenty years earlier: standing by the window waiting for her husband Asle, on that terrible late November day when he took his rowboat out onto the water and never returned. Her memories widen out to include their whole life together, and beyond: the bonds of family and the battles with implacable nature stretching back over five generations, to Asle's great-great-grandmother Aliss."
Spitting Gold: A Novel By: Carmella Lowkis, read by Katherine Press for Simon and Schuster -- "A deliciously haunting debut set in 19th-century Paris, blending gothic mystery with a captivating sapphic romance as two estranged sisters—celebrated (and fraudulent) spirit mediums—come back together for one last con."
The Blue Maiden By: Anna Noyes, read by Alyssa Bresnahan for Recorded Books -- "It’s 1825, four generations after Berggrund Island’s women stood accused of witchcraft under the eye of their priest, now long dead. In his place is Pastor Silas, a widower with two wild young daughters, Beata and Ulrika. The sisters are outcasts: imaginative, oppositional, increasingly obsessed with the lore and legend of the island’s dark past and their absent mother, whom their father refuses to speak of. As the girls come of age, and the strictures of the community shift but never wane, their rebellions twist and sharpen. Ever capable Ulrika shoulders the burden of keeping house, while Bea, alone with unsettling visions and impulses, hungers for companionship and attention."
The Small Museum By: Jody Cooksley, read by Louise Williams for W.F. Howes -- "London, 1873. Madeleine Brewster's marriage to Dr. Lucius Everley was meant to be the solution to her family's sullied reputation. After all, Lucius is a well-respected collector of natural curiosities. His 'Small Museum' of bones and specimens in jars is his pride and joy, although firmly kept under lock and key. His sister Grace's philanthropic work with fallen women is also highly laudable. However, Maddie soon finds herself unwelcome in what is meant to be her new home. The more she learns about both Lucius and Grace, the more she suspects that unimaginable horrors lie behind their polished reputations."
The House That Horror Built By: Christina Henry, read by Lisa Flanagan for Penguin -- "A single mother working in the gothic mansion of a reclusive horror director stumbles upon terrifying secrets in the captivating new novel from the national bestselling author of Good Girls Don't Die and Horseman."
When Among Crows By: Veronica Roth, read by Helen Laser, James Fouhey, and Tim Campbell for Macmillan -- "Swift and striking, drawing from the deep well of Slavic folklore and asking if redemption and atonement can be found in embracing what we most fear."
Cinderwich By: Cherie Priest, read by Traci Odom for Dreamscape -- "Decades after trespassing children spotted the desiccated corpse wedged in the treetop, no one knows the answer. Kate Thrush and her former college professor, Dr. Judith Kane, travel to Cinderwich, Tennessee, in hopes that maybe it was their Ellen: Katie’s lost aunt, Judith’s long-gone lover. But they’re not the only ones to have come here looking for closure. The people of Cinderwich, a town hardly more than a skeleton itself, are staunchly resistant to the outsiders’ questions about Ellen and her killer. And the deeper the two women dig—the more rot they unearth—the closer they come to exhuming the evil that lies, hungering, at the roots of Cinderwich."
NON-FICTION WATCH:
Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal, read by the author for Penguin -- "A brilliant, singular collection of essays that looks to music, fantasy, and pop culture—from Beyoncé to Game of Thrones—to excavate and reimagine what has been disappeared by migration and colonialism."
Down with the System: A Memoir (of Sorts) by Serj Tankian, read by the author for Hachette -- "An exhilarating, thoughtful, and beautifully written memoir by musician, songwriter, and lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band, System Of A Down."
Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham, read by Jacques Roy for Simon and Schuster -- "The definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research."
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna, read by the author for Harper -- "An electric, searing memoir by the original rebel girl and legendary front woman of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre."
BACKLIST WATCH:
The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (2004), read by Peter Kenny for Orbit -- "As complex, turbulent and spectacular as the gas giant on which it is set, this novel from Iain M. Banks is space opera on a truly epic scale."
The Bell Chime: A Novella By: Mona Kabbani (2020), read by Jennifer Pickens for Tantor -- "A girl suffering from paralyzing night terrors finds a missing poster hanging from the door of her apartment building. On that poster is a photograph of a frighteningly familiar face. It's her."
The Glass Bead Game: A Full-Cast BBC Radio Dramatisation By: Hermann Hesse, read by Derek Jacobi and Tom Ferguson with a full cast -- "Originally published in 1943, The Glass Bead Game was Herman Hesse’s last novel. It was hailed as his magnum opus, and was instrumental in securing him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946. Set in a utopian future society, it explores themes of knowledge, individualism, creativity and spirituality, and has inspired contemporary thinkers from authors to game designers."
MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:
I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons By: Peter S. Beagle, read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett for Simon and Schuster -- "From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Unicorn comes a new novel with equal amounts of power and whimsy in which a loveable cast of characters trapped within their roles of dragon hunter, princess, and more must come together to take their fates into their own hands."
The Honey Witch By: Sydney J. Shields, read by Mia Hutchinson Shaw for Orbit -- "The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all."
Road to Ruin: Magebike Courier, Book 1 By: Hana Lee, read by Natalie Naudus for Simon and Schuster -- Look, as someone who grew up reading Turbo Cowboys, I am here for this: "An electrifying, gritty fantasy from debut author Hana Lee that takes a royal messenger on a high-speed chase across a climate-ravaged wasteland, featuring motorcycles, monsters, and magic."
SERIES WATCH:
Blood Red Summer: Jess Keeler Thrillers, Book 2 By: Eryk Pruitt, read by Khristine Hvam, JD Jackson, Stephen Graybill, and Aaron Shedlock for Brilliance -- "Second in the Jess Keeler Thrillers series, this moody installment follows the podcaster’s investigation of one brutal, bloody summer in a former mill town and the shocking truths brought to light."
Grantville Gazette IX edited by Eric Flint, Walt Boyes, and Joy Ward (2021), read by P.J. Ochlan for Tantor
Think Twice: Myron Bolitar, Book 12 by Harlan Coben, read by Steven Weber for Hachette -- "A man presumed dead is suddenly wanted for murder in this thriller of secrets, lies, and dangerous conspiracies that threaten to cover up the truth."
The Stellar Debut of Galactica Macfee: 44 Scotland Street, Book 17 By: Alexander McCall Smith, read by Robert Ian Mackenzie for Recorded Books
INDIE WATCH:
Silver Wing By: Z.Z. Claybourne, read by Sanya Simmons for Realm -- "On a desert planet in the far future, an old dragon hunter embarks on a desperate journey to save her estranged son."
Born to the Blade: Season 1 By: Michael R. Underwood (2018), Malka Older, and Cassandra Khaw, read by Xe Sands for Serial Box -- "For centuries the Warders' Circle on the neutral islands of Twaa-Fei has given the countries of the sky a way to avoid war, settling their disputes through formal, magical duels. But the Circle's ability to maintain peace is fading: The Mertikan Empire is preparing for conquest, and the trade nation of Quloo is sinking, stripped of the aerstone that keeps both ships and island a-sky."