Release Week: 17 June 2025

(in progress)

Some weeks are too big to even sum up. Anyway, here's my best...

PICKS:

Fox: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates, read by a full cast for Books On Tape -- "A spellbinding novel of literary and psychological suspense about the dark secrets that surface after the shocking disappearance of a charismatic, mercurial teacher at an elite boarding school."
Wearing the Lion By: John Wiswell, read by Christian Black and Elizabeth Klett
The Mercy Makers By: Tessa Gratton, read by Emily Lawrence
A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry, read by Nathaniel Priestly for Macmillan -- "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell meets A Tale of Two Cities in a heart-rending fantasy of faery revenge set during the French Revolution."
This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Stepsister: A Novel by Ry Herman, read by Kristen Sieh for Random House -- "A princess with a mostly useless magical talent takes on horrible monsters, a dozen identical masked heroes, and a talking lion in a quest to save a kingdom—and herself—in this affectionate satire of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale The Twelve Huntsmen."

BACKLIST WATCH:

Time Out Of Joint by Philip K. Dick (1959), read by David Aaron Baker for Recorded Books -- "Ragle Gumm has a unique job: every day he wins a newspaper contest. And when he isn’t consulting his charts and tables, he enjoys his life in a small town in 1959. At least, that’s what he thinks. But then strange things start happening. He finds a phone book where all the numbers have been disconnected, and a magazine article about a famous starlet he’s never heard of named Marilyn Monroe. Plus, everyday objects are beginning to disappear and are replaced by strips of paper with words written on them."

TIE-IN WATCH:

Star Wars: The High Republic: Trials of the Jedi by Charles Soule, read by Marc Thompson for Random House -- "In this epic conclusion to Star Wars: The High Republic, the Jedi face a final confrontation against the Nihil and Marchion Ro."

SERIES WATCH:

Engines of War: Age of Uprising, Book 3 By: R.S. Ford, read by Daniel Crespin, Ciaran Saward, Mark Meadows, Katie Villa, Andrew Kingston, Alison Campbell, and Phoebe McIntosh
The Folded Sky: White Space, Book 3 By: Elizabeth Bear, read by Sarah Slimani
A Covenant of Ice: The Crowns of Ishia, Book 3 By: Karin Lowachee, read by BJ Harrison for Tantor -- "The exciting conclusion to the gunslinging dragonrider trilogy."
School of Shards: Vita Nostra, Book 3 by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, read by Jessica Ball for Harper -- "The haunting final chapter of the modern classic Vita Nostra trilogy. The Dyachenkos’ magical dark academia novel brings the story of Sasha to a revelatory climax as she learns to take control of her powers and reshape the world...or destroy it forever."
Max Abaddon and the Path of Blood By: Justin Leslie, read by Luke Daniels -- "Max finally made his way out of hell—literally, only to find past choices coming back to haunt him."

MOST MISSING:

Closing Time at the Sunny-Side-Up by David Niall Wilson (Shotgun Honey Books) -- "Quentin Tarantino meets Smokey & The Bandit in this noir, science-fiction thriller. Sometimes, people just need killing. When Sam West wanders into the Sunny-Side-Up Diner hoping for a last slice of Mort’s world-class pie, and one last look at a waitress named Delilah, he has no idea he’s about to become the instrument of a great, karmic cleansing. The only thing crazier than the seemingly inevitable trail of bodies following Sam and Delilah south is the fact that – as State Police and local sheriffs begin to investigate – they find no evidence. Nothing. And the missing bodies are just the start, as an unlikely band of companions are drawn together in a scientific experiment more in line with the TV Series Fringe than anything in reality, with the threat of alien probes, local law enforcement, and rednecks around every corner."