Release Week: 23 August 2022

Posted on 2022-08-23 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution By: R. F. Kuang, read by Chris Lew Kum Hoi and Billie Fulford-Brown for Harper -- "A thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire."

• The Sleepless By: Victor Manibo, read by Joel de la Fuente for Recorded Books -- "A mysterious pandemic causes a quarter of the world’s population to permanently lose the ability to sleep—without any apparent health implications. The outbreak creates a new class of people who are both feared and ostracized, and most of whom optimize their extra hours to earn more money. Jamie Vega, a New York journalist at C+P Media, is one of the Sleepless. When his irascible boss dies in an apparent suicidal overdose, Jamie doesn’t buy this too-convenient explanation—especially given its suspicious timing in the middle of a corporate takeover—and begins to investigate."

• Afterlives: A Novel By: Abdulrazak Gurnah, read by Damian Lynch for Penguin -- "From the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, a sweeping, multigenerational saga of displacement, loss, and love, set against the brutal colonization of East Africa."

• Into the Broken Lands By: Tanya Huff, read by Nicholas Techosky for Audible -- "Shattered by mage wars, the Broken Lands will test the bonds of family and friendship, strength, and sanity. To save their people, the Heirs of Marsan have no choice but to enter, trusting their lives and the lives of everyone they protect, to someone who shouldn't exist, who can't be controlled, and who will challenge everything they believe about themselves."

• Haven By: Emma Donoghue, read by Aidan Kelly for Little, Brown and Company -- "In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Taking two monks—young Trian and old Cormac—he rows down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery. Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. In such a place, what will survival mean?"

• Babysitter: A Novel By: Joyce Carol Oates, read by Cassandra Campbell, Kirby Heyborne, Max Meyers for Random House -- "In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved child-killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences."

• Reluctant Immortals By: Gwendolyn Kiste, read by Carlotta Brentan for Simon and Schuster -- "For fans of Mexican Gothic, from three-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes a novel inspired by the untold stories of forgotten women in classic literature—from Lucy Westnera, a victim of Stoker’s Dracula, and Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester’s attic-bound wife in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre—as they band together to combat the toxic men bent on destroying their lives, set against the backdrop of the Summer of Love, Haight-Ashbury, 1967."

• A Dreadful Splendor: A Novel By: B.R. Myers, read by Olivia Vinall for Harper -- "London, 1852. Genevieve Timmons has made her living posing as a spiritualist to swindle wealthy believers, until one misstep lands her in a jail cell awaiting the noose. Then a stranger, Mr. Lockhart, arrives to make her a peculiar offer. The Lord he serves, Mr. Pemberton, has been grieving the mysterious death of his beautiful bride-to-be for six months. Although no foul play was ever uncovered, the young Lord is certain that she was murdered. If Genevieve can hold a séance to persuade him that his betrothed’s spirit is at peace, Mr. Lockhart promises to have the charges against her dismissed. But when Genevieve arrives at the grand Somerset Park estate, she is surprised to discover that the handsome and aloof Mr. Pemberton is anything but the heartbroken lover she expected. Then Mr. Pemberton approaches Genevieve with an offer of his own: Working together, they can perform a séance so convincing it will coax the killer out of the shadows."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• A Night in the Lonesome October By: Roger Zelazny (1993), read by Matt Godfrey for Recorded Books -- "Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night. It is brave, devoted Snuff who must calculate the patterns of the Game and keep track of the Players—the witch, the mad monk, the vengeful vicar, the Count who sleeps by day, the Good Doctor and the hulking Experiment Man he fashioned from human body parts, and a wild-card American named Larry Talbot—all the while keeping Things at bay and staying a leap ahead of the Great Detective, who knows quite a bit more than he lets on."

• Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Mercedes Lackey (1997), read by Christa Lewis for Tantor -- "A magical murderer is loose in Alanda. The victims are always women, always lower-class, and the weapon is always a three-sided stiletto, most often found among Church regalia. But the killers are never churchmen, and they always commit suicide immediately after the bloody deed. Tal Rufen is just a simple constable. But he really cares about his job, and when one of these murder/suicides happens on his beat, he becomes obsessed. His superiors don't care—the victims will never be missed, and their murderers are already justly dead. But every instinct Tal Rufen has cries out that he has seen only one small piece of a bigger and much nastier puzzle."

• The Bond: The Bond Trilogy, Book 1 By: Robin Kirk (2018), read by Alexa Elmy for Far Eek Books -- "Trust what you see, not what you’re told. In a society that made males obsolete, the Weave engineers a female’s abilities. Girls like Dinitra are engineered by Sowers and assigned their life purpose when they turn 16. But sometimes, the Sowers get things wrong. A resistance is growing. Rebels are fabricating humans of their own—including males—and plan to topple the Weave in a war that could destroy them all. When Dinitra is assigned a job with the Legion, she uncovers the ugliest secrets of the Weave. Her loyalty is tested when she’s captured by the rebels and develops a dangerous bond with a male warrior—a shameful crime that she may pay for with her life."

• Huntsman: Fox Hollow Zodiac, Book 1 By: Morgan Brice (2020), read by John Solo for Tantor -- "A grieving wolf. A hunted fox. Fated mates, thrown together by chance, and the looming threat of a fabled Huntsman who might tear them apart forever."

SERIES WATCH:

• The Dark One: Vicious Lost Boys, Book 2 By: Nikki St. Crowe, read by Stella Hunter, Shane East, Curtis Michael Holland, Diontae Black, and Vanessa Edwin for Blackwell House -- "It wasn't until Pan and Neverland that I finally felt alive. But things are not all full of magic and sunlight on the island. There's something darker and more sinister haunting the forest."

• Dance with the Devil: Mercenary Librarians Series, Book 3 By: Kit Rocha, read by Lidia Dornet for Tantor -- "Power is never given, only taken. Tobias Richter, the fearsome VP of Security of the TechCorps is dead. The puppet master is gone and the organization is scrambling to maintain control by ruthlessly limiting Atlanta's access to resources, hoping to quell rebellion. Our band of mercenary librarians have decided that the time for revolution has come."

• Out of the Fire: Out of the Earth, Book 3 By: Jake Bible, read by Eric Michael Summerer for Tantor -- "The rest of the world is not far behind as volcano after volcano erupts, spewing not just magma and hot ash, but monsters of impossible size out onto the battered and broken surface. These monsters are hellbent on getting to North America to do battle with the behemoth that has broken free of the Yellowstone super volcano. A battle that could tear the Earth apart."

• Tarzan and the Forest of Stone: Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe By: Jeffrey J. Mariotte, read by John McLain and Jaimee Draper for Oasis -- "The groundbreaking series continues with Tarzan and the Forest of Stone, a brand-new standalone novella set during the classic canon directly after the events of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan and the Lion Man."

• Soul Taken: A Mercy Thompson Novel, Book 13 By: Patricia Briggs, read by Lorelei King

MORE FICTION:

• Please Join Us: A Novel By: Catherine McKenzie, read by Joy Osmanski for Simon and Schuster -- "At thirty-nine, Nicole Mueller’s life is on the rocks. Her once brilliant law career is falling apart. She and her husband, Dan, are soon to be forced out of the apartment they love. After a warning from her firm’s senior partners, she receives an invitation from an exclusive women’s networking group, Panthera Leo. Membership is anonymous, but every member is a successful professional. It sounds like the perfect solution to help Nicole revive her career. So, despite Dan’s concerns that the group might be a cult, Nicole signs up for their retreat in Colorado."

• The Perfect Golden Circle By: Benjamin Myers, read by Tim Key for Tantor -- "Summer 1989, deep in the English countryside—during a time of mass unemployment, class war, and rebellion. Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men—Calvert, an ex-soldier traumatized by his experience in the Falklands War, and his affable friend Redbone—set out nightly in a decrepit camper van to undertake an extraordinary project. Under cover of darkness, they traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns, painstakingly avoiding damaging the wheat to yield designs so intricate that their overnight appearances inspire awe amongst a mystified public."

• The Darkness of Others By: Cate Holahan, read by Chanté McCormick, Jennifer Jill Araya for Grand Central -- "Imani Banks lives in a posh Brooklyn Heights neighborhood that has just been rocked to its core. An acclaimed movie director has been murdered, and his blond trophy wife—Imani’s closest friend—is missing. Their neighbors, along with the media, jump to the conclusion that Melissa Walker has killed her husband in a fit of rage and is on the run."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy By: Megan Bannen, read by Michael Gallagher and Rachanee Lumayno for Orbit -- "Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness. Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest. After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born."

• Glitterati By: Oliver K. Langmead, read by Toby Longworth for W.F. Howes -- "A Clockwork Orange and RuPaul's Drag Race meet Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in this fabulous dystopian fable about fashion, family and feckless billionaires."

• Unto the Godless What Little Remains By: Mário Coelho, read by Ayesha Antoine for Rebellion on Penguin -- "Liverloin is a fractured man, a collection of personas—artificial constructs of wants, fears and needs—created by underground science-artists to help him hide in a hyper-connected world. But he can't hide from Big Momma. She is the living internet, a benevolent AI who knows everything and everyone...and somehow is in love with Liverloin."

• The Surf By: Kwaku Osei-Afrifa, read by Rachel Handshaw for Rebellion on Penguin -- "Elerie Astrada is hanging in almost-space, awaiting launch. Ultsurf is a popular, high-stakes relay race contested at the edge of a planet's atmosphere. It's fast, hard and dangerous: it isn't a bloodsport, but blood is often spilled. It is also highly illegal. And Ele is at the top of her game, just a few wins away from the major leagues. But making the fastest Split isn't Ele's biggest challenge. When her childhood friend India blackmails her with knowledge of her Ultsurfing career, Ele's thrown into the politics of money and power, and way over her head."

• Silver Queendom By: Dan Koboldt, read by Michael Page for Tantor -- "Service at the Red Rooster Inn isn't what you'd call "good," or even "adequate." Darin would be the first to say so, and he owns the place. Evie isn't much of a barmaid; Kat's home brewed ale seems to grow less palatable with each new batch; and Seraphina's service at the bar leaves much to be desired. As for the bouncer, Big Tom, well, everyone learns right quick to stay on his good side. They may be bad at running an inn, but they're the best team of con artists in the Old Queendom. When a prospective client approaches Darin with a high-paying job, he knows he should refuse."

• The Witches of Moonshyne Manor By: Bianca Marais, read by Amy Landon for Harlequin -- "Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation. But the mob is only the start of their troubles."

• Lightlark: Lightlark, Book 1 By: Alex Aster, read by Suzy Jackson for Recorded Books -- "Welcome to the Centennial. Every 100 years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that only the rulers of six realms are invited to play. The invitation is a summons—a call to embrace victory and ruin, baubles and blood. The Centennial offers the six rulers one final chance to break the curses that have plagued their realms for centuries. Each ruler has something to hide. Each realm’s curse is uniquely wicked. To destroy the curses, one ruler must die. Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling—a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. They are feared and despised, and are counting on Isla to end their suffering by succeeding at the Centennial. To survive, Isla must lie, cheat, and betray...even as love complicates everything."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 16 August 2022

Posted on 2022-08-16 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• The First Binding: Tales of Tremaine, Book 1 By: R.R. Virdi, read by Vikas Adam for Macmillan -- "All legends are born of truths. And just as much lies. These are mine. Judge me for what you will. But you will hear my story first. I buried the village of Ampur under a mountain of ice and snow. Then I killed their god. I've stolen old magics and been cursed for it. I started a war with those that walked before mankind and lost the princess I loved, and wanted to save. I've called lightning and bound fire. I am legend. And I am a monster. My name is Ari. And this is the story of how I let loose the first evil."

• Witches By: Brenda Lozano, translated by Heather Cleary, read by Kyla García for HighBridge -- "Paloma is dead. But before she was murdered, before she was even Paloma, she was a traditional healer named Gaspar. Before she was murdered, she taught her cousin Feliciana the secrets of the ceremonies known as veladas, and about the Language and the Book that unlock their secrets. Sent to report on Paloma's murder, Zoe meets Feliciana in the mountain village of San Felipe. There, the two women's lives twist around each other in a danse macabre. Feliciana tells Zoe the story of her struggle to become an accepted healer in her community, and Zoe begins to understand the hidden history of her own experience as a woman, finding her way in a hostile environment shaped by and for men."

• Touch: A Novel By: Olaf Olafsson, read by Peter Noble for Harper -- "A mesmerizing, panoramic story of one man’s search to find a lover who suddenly disappeared decades before."

• Stories from the Tenants Downstairs By: Sidik Fofana, read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Nile Bullock, Sidik Fofana, Dominic Hoffman, DePre Owens, André Santana, Bahni Turpin, Jade Wheeler for Simon and Schuster -- "Set in a Harlem high rise, a stunning debut about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it."

• A History of Present Illness: A Novel By: Anna DeForest, read by Helen Laser for Little, Brown and Company -- "A novel of meticulous brevity and a tone and vision all its own, transmuting the practice of medicine into a larger exploration of humanity, the meaning of care, and the nature of annihilation—physical, spiritual, or both."

• Elizabeth Finch By: Julian Barnes, read by Justin Avoth for Recorded Books -- "We'd like to introduce you to Elizabeth Finch. We invite you to take her course in Culture and Civilisation. Her ideas are not to everyone's taste. But she will change the way you see the world."

• No Kindness Too Soon By: Sylvain Neuvel, read by Melanie Nicholls-King, Deepti Gupta, Neil Hellegers, Gabriel Vaughan, Kathy Searle, Imani Jade Powers, Nicolette Chin, Gopal Divan, and Garrett Michael Brown for Audible Originals -- "A mysterious radio signal is picked up from a neighboring star system. A group of experts is brought to the floor of the Grand Canyon to investigate its origin and its meaning as the planet suffers one natural disaster after another. Cut off from the rest of the world, they must question everything, including each other, if they hope to solve the mystery."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Go Back at Once By: Robert Aickman (1975), read by Kim Howsley for Audible -- "A delicious, delirious comic fantasy about the joys and terrors experienced by two young women seeking to escape the degradations of our technological and conformist age by fleeing to a chaotic, poet-ruled utopia."

SERIES WATCH:

• The Oleander Sword: Burning Kingdoms, Book 2 By: Tasha Suri, read by Shiromi Arserio for Orbit -- Sequel to The Jasmine Throne. "The prophecy of the nameless god—the words that declared Malini the rightful empress of Parijatdvipa—has proven a blessing and curse. She is determined to claim the throne that fate offered her. But even with the strength of the rage in her heart and the army of loyal men by her side, deposing her brother is going to be a brutal and bloody fight."

• Second Spear: Mkalis Cycle, Book 2 By: Kerstin Hall, read by Michael Braun for Recorded Books -- "After surviving the schemes of a vengeful goddess and learning some shattering truths about her former life, the warrior Tyn feels estranged from her role guarding her ruler. Grappling with knowledge of her identity, she unleashes her frustration on all the wrong people."

• Dawnshard: Stormlight Archive, Book 3.5 By: Brandon Sanderson, read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer for Recorded Books -- "Taking place between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War, this tale (like Edgedancer before it) gives often-overshadowed characters their own chance to shine."

TIE-IN WATCH:

• Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel By: Beth Revis, read by Saskia Maarleveld and Marc Thompson for Random House -- "You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo."

• Assassin's Creed:The Magus Conspiracy By: Kate Heartfield, read by Moira Quirk for Recorded Books -- "The war between Assassins and Templars wreaks havoc in the Victorian era."

• Aliens vs. Predators: Rift War By Weston Ochse and Yvonne Navarro, read by Kate Rudd for Blackstone -- "The planet LV-363 teems with exotic life, including a plant growing in the shadows of its deep rifts. The plant’s flower yields a valuable narcotic, and people are forced by the cartels to harvest it. When a Yautja (Predator) ship arrives for a hunting ritual, the Predators seed the rifts with Xenomorph eggs. The aliens emerge and the result is bizarre and deadly hybrids, with humans trapped between the Predators and their prey. These deadly Xenomorph hybrids—some of which possess the ability to fly—swarm out of control and may prove more than either the Yautja or the humans can defeat."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• Dark Harvest By: Will Jordan, read by Bradford Hastings for Blackstone -- "For fans of World War Z, a chilling mystery, an ancient threat, and a race against time to save humanity—inspired by the true events of the Dyatlov Pass incident."

• Tune in Tomorrow By: Randee Dawn, read by Rebecca LaChance for Penguin -- "She's just a small town girl, with big mythic dreams. Starr Weatherby came to New York to become...well, a star. But after ten years and no luck, she's offered a big role—on a show no one has ever heard of. And there's a reason for that. It's a 'reality' show beyond the Veil, human drama, performed for the entertainment of the Fae."

MOST MISSING:

• The Year's Best Fantasy: Volume One edited by Paula Guran (Pyr) -- "This superbly curated collection explores myth and fable, dark and light—a heroic creature facing a dangerous demon; an earthly love facing the mossy decay of death. With tales of living ball gowns and timid monsters, of modern witches and multidimensional magic, these twenty-four stories will transport you from fantastical realms that push the limits of imagination to alternative realities mirroring much of our own. Discover bewitchment and wonder, the surreal and the chimerical, in a fantasy anthology representing a diverse array of accomplished talent from around the world . . . and perhaps beyond."

• Warlady: The Calpurnian Wars, Book 2 by Jo Walton (Candlemark and Gleam) -- "The Warlady of Morrigan has been assassinated, and it’s up to her military attaché, Sandrine Dal-Vesta, to find the killer. For Sandrine and her former secret lover, the electromancer Jauffre Castal-Edo, it’s a race against time with control of the planet hanging in the balance."

• A Spaceship Repair Girl Supposedly Named Rachel by Richard Roberts (Crossroad Press) -- "One minute, Rachel is taking a break from babysitting. The next, she's escaping the Earth on a pedal-powered interplanetary bus. It could happen to anybody."

Thanks so much for the reply!

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 9 August 2022

Posted on 2022-08-09 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Manmade Constellations By: Misha Lazzara, read by Tavia Gilbert for Blackstone -- "A modern-day love story that explores childhood trauma, the boundaries between idealism and self-righteousness, and the heartaches we must confront in order to chart our courses forward."

• High Times in the Low Parliament By: Kelly Robson, read by Amy Scanlon for Recorded Books -- "Lana Baker is Aldgate's finest scribe. She has a sharp pen and an even sharper wit. Gregarious, charming, and ever so eager to please, she agrees to deliver a message for another lovely scribe in exchange for kisses and ends up getting sent to Low Parliament by a temperamental fairy as a result. There, she transcribes the endless circular arguments of Parliament."

• The Art of Prophecy By: Wesley Chu, read by Natalie Naudus for Random House -- "So many stories begin the same way: With a prophecy. A chosen one. And the inevitable quest to slay a villain, save the kingdom, and fulfill a grand destiny. But this is not that kind of story. It does begin with a prophecy: A child will rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, a cruel immortal god-king, and save the kingdom. And that prophecy did anoint a hero, Jian, raised since birth in luxury and splendor, and celebrated before he has won a single battle. But that’s when the story hits its first twist: The prophecy is wrong."

• Mount Chicago: A Novel By: Adam Levin, read by Dennis Boutsikaris for Random House -- "From the award-winning author of Bubblegum and The Instructions, a daring new novel about the absurdity, the humor, and the tragedy of survivorship. A one-in-ten-billion natural disaster devastates Chicago. A Jewish comedian, his most devoted fan, and the city’s mayor must struggle to move forward while the world—quite literally—caves beneath their feet. With this polyphonic tale of Chicago-style politics and political correctness, stand-up comedy and Jewish identity, celebrity, drugs, and animal psychology, Levin has constructed a monument to laughter, love, art, and resilience in an age of spectacular loss."

• Midnight on the Marne By: Sarah Adlakha, read by John Pirhalla and Saskia Maarleveld for Macmillan -- "France, 1918. Nurse Marcelle Marchand has important secrets to keep. Her role as a spy has made her both feared and revered, but it has also put her in extreme danger from the approaching German army. American soldier George Mountcastle feels an instant connection to the young nurse. But in times of war, love must wait. Soon, George and his best friend Philip are fighting for their lives during the Second Battle of the Marne, where George prevents Philip from a daring act that might have won the battle at the cost of his own life. On the run from a victorious Germany, George and Marcelle begin a new life with Philip and Marcelle’s twin sister, Rosalie, in a brutally occupied France. Together, this self-made family navigates oppression, near starvation, and unfathomable loss, finding love and joy in unexpected moments. Years pass, and tragedy strikes, sending George on a course that could change the past and rewrite history. Playing with time is a tricky thing. If he chooses to alter history, he will surely change his own future—and perhaps not for the better."

• The Women Could Fly By: Megan Giddings, read by Angel Pean for Harper -- "A biting social commentary from the acclaimed author of Lakewood that speaks to our times—a piercing dystopian novel about the unbreakable bond between a young woman and her mysterious mother, set in a world in which witches are real and single women are closely monitored."

• Bronze Drum By: Phong Nguyen, read by Quyen Ngo for Grand Central -- "A stunning novel of ancient Vietnam based on the true story of two warrior sisters who raised an army of women to overthrow the Han Chinese and rule as kings over a united people, for listeners of Circe and The Night Tiger."

• The Awoken By: Katelyn Monroe Howes, read by Sarah Naughton for Penguin -- "A cinematic, speculative debut about a woman who undergoes cryogenic preservation at the time of her death and wakes up a century later in a world where her very life is a crime."

• The Monsters We Defy By: Leslye Penelope, read by Shayna Small for Redhook -- "A woman able to communicate with spirits must assemble a ragtag crew to pull off a daring heist to save her community in this timely and dazzling historical fantasy that weaves together African American folk magic, history, and romance."

• The Babysitter Lives By: Stephen Graham Jones, read by Isabella Star LaBlanc for Simon and Schuster -- "A mind-bending haunted house tale from the Jordan Peele of horror literature, Stephen Graham Jones."

• Widowland By: C. J. Carey, read by Esther Wane for Blackstone -- "To control the past, they edited history. To control the future, they edited literature."

• The Water Witch By: Jessica Thorne, read by Helen Keeley for Hachette UK -- "Brittany, France. Ariadne Walker’s fiancé, Simon, drowned in the stormy Atlantic Ocean doing what he loved: searching for the lost underwater city of Ys. Local legend says it was destroyed centuries ago when the princess of Ys became a water witch, cursing the name of the man who betrayed her."

• Roadkill By: Dennis E. Taylor, read by Ray Porter for Audible Originals -- "Jack Kernigan is having a bad day…a bad year…a bad life. After being booted out of MIT, he’s back in his Ohio hometown, working for the family business, facing a life of mediocrity. Then one day, out on a delivery, his truck hits…something. Something big…something furry…something invisible. And, it turns out, something not of this Earth."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Sultana's Dream and Padmarag By: Rokeya Hossain (1905), translated by Barnita Bagchi, introduction by Tanya Agathocleous, read by Priya Ayyar for Penguin Classics -- "As a pioneering work of science fiction and feminist utopian literature at the turn of the century, Sultana’s Dream is strikingly advanced in its critique of patriarchy, war, industrialization, and the exploitation of the natural world, speaking to the concerns of our contemporary world as much as its own. At a time when British colonialism was using the treatment of women in India as justification for colonial intervention there, Hossain’s story, in imagining a world in which men rather than women are kept inside, positions her protest against Islamic patriarchy within a larger feminist vision that takes on Western as well as Islamic forms of gender hierarchy."

• The Black By: Paul E. Cooley (2014, 2022), read by Joe Hempel for Fireside Audio -- "Under 30,000 feet of water, the experimental exploration rig Leaguer has discovered an oil field larger than Saudi Arabia, with oil so sweet and pure, nations would go to war for the rights to it. But as the team starts drilling exploration well after exploration well in their race to claim the sweet crude, a deep rumbling beneath the ocean floor shakes them all to their core. Something has been living in the oil, and it's about to give birth to the greatest threat humanity has ever seen."

SERIES WATCH:

• Glacier's Edge: The Way of the Drow, Book 2 By: R. A. Salvatore, read by Victor Bevine for Harper -- "The follow-up to Starlight Enclave and thrilling second novel in his newest trilogy, The Way of the Drow, expanding the Forgotten Realms through the adventures of Drizzt, Catti-brie, Jarlaxle, Artemis Entreri, and Zaknefein…and a society of drow unlike one any elf from Menzoberranzan could possibly imagine."

• The Family Remains By: Lisa Jewell, read by Dominic Thorburn, Bea Holland, Hugh Quarshie, Josh Dylan, Thomas Judd, Eleanor Tomlinson for Simon and Schuster -- "An intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to The Family Upstairs."

• Councilor: The Grand Illusion, Book 2 By: L. E. Modesitt Jr., read by Michael Bower for Macmillan -- "Continues his brand-new gaslamp, political fantasy series with Councilor, the thrilling sequel to Isolate. Welcome to the Grand Illusion."

• Head Case: Starship for Sale, Book 2 By: M. R. Forbes, read by Dave Jackson for Quirky Algorithms -- "It was one thing to take a job as a smuggler to pay for basic necessities like maintenance, fuel, and food. Another to have one of the most powerful nobles in the galaxy gunning for him at every turn. But when Keep turns up unexpectedly with a new offer that’s even wilder than the last, will it put him on the path toward his true destiny? Or is it just another con?"

• Travelers: A Freaks Novel, Book 2 By: Brett Riley, read by P.J. Morgan for Imbrifex -- "Falling in love. Evading the authorities. Chasing the rabbits."

• Gilded Ghost: The Ripple System, Book 3 By: Kyle Kirrin, read by Travis Baldree for Portal -- "Now the site of EBO’s first completed Red Cathedral, the Onyx Delta has become the center of the virtual world, and the entire player base is descending on Ned’s city to try their hand at the fearsome new raid and reap the game-changing rewards within."

TIE-IN WATCH:

• Heat 2: A Novel By: Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, read by Peter Giles for Harper -- "An explosive return to the world and characters of his classic film Heat—an all-new story that illuminates what happened before and after the iconic film."

• Predator: Eyes of the Demon edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, read by Stacy Gonzalez, Kevin Kenerly, Joe Hempel, Lucy Rayner, Traber Burns, Natalie Naudus, Hillary Huber, Bradford Hastings, John McLain, Neil Shah, and Sarah Mollo-Christensen for Blackstone -- "A brand-new anthology from a diverse lineup of authors, offering taut and dramatic exclusive tales set on Earth and in dark reaches of space, featuring the ultimate hunters known as Predators."

• Halo: The Rubicon Protocol By: Kelly Gay, read by Scott Brick for Simon and Schuster -- "December 2559. Humanity has its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity drops out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished."

INDIE WATCH:

• Tiny Souls By: Phoenix Grey, read by Ellory Lane for Royal Guard Publishing -- "After a string of bad luck left her newly orphaned and homeless, Kara Andrews never expected to be approached by an angel. God sent the angel on a search for a pure soul to complete objectives in other worlds, and his crosshairs landed on her. The reward is worth fighting for. Seven worlds. Seven opportunities for failure. One chance to bring her family home. But the adventure is unlike anything she ever expected...."

MOST MISSING:

• Maror by Lavie Tidhar (Apollo) -- "A multi-generational saga with cultural and political depth, drawing on the rich, often troubling recent history of Israel, for fans of A History of Seven Killings or The White Tiger."

• The Honey Talker by Malcolm Havard (Northodox) -- "May 1997 Election night. Blair’s New Labour is predicted to win with a landslide. It feels like a new start for everyone, the grey days of sleaze are over. There’s a new hope that things really are about to get better. But not for Aidan. He’s a reporter whose life and career are going nowhere, relegated to a backwater job within the paper, existing on a diet of fast food and with virtually every day starting with a stinking hangover. He’s clinging on to his job by his fingernails. Then, after a terrifying road-rage incident, the story of his life drops in his lap. It looks like the chance to make his name and salvage his career. But within 24 hours his best friend is dead, he’s forced to work with Suzie, a combative, abrasive, ambitious younger colleague whilst the most powerful gangster in Manchester hunts Aidan armed with a weapon no one can resist."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 2 August 2022

Posted on 2022-08-02 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• The Book Eaters By: Sunyi Dean, read by Katie Erich for Macmillan -- "Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries. Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon—like all other book eater women—is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories. But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger—not for books, but for human minds."

• The Devil Takes You Home: A Novel By: Gabino Iglesias, read by Jean-Marc Berne for Mulholland -- "Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation."

• The Last White Man: A Novel By: Mohsin Hamid, read by the author for Penguin -- "One morning, a man wakes up to find himself transformed. Overnight, Anders’s skin has turned dark, and the reflection in the mirror seems a stranger to him. At first he shares his secret only with Oona, an old friend turned new lover. Soon, reports of similar events begin to surface. Across the land, people are awakening in new incarnations, uncertain how their neighbors, friends, and family will greet them."

• Our Wives Under the Sea By: Julia Armfield, read by Annabel Baldwin, Robyn Holdaway for Dreamscape -- "Leah is changed. Months earlier, she left for a routine expedition, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night. As Miri searches for answers, desperate to understand what happened below the water, she must face the possibility that the woman she loves is slipping from her grasp."

• Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel By: Anthony Marra, read by Carlotta Brentan for Random House -- "The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini’s Italy to 1940s Los Angeles—a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena."

• Calling for a Blanket Dance By: Oscar Hokeah, read by the author and Rainy Fields for Algonquin -- "A moving and deeply engaging debut novel about a young Native American man finding strength in his familial identity, from a stellar new voice in fiction."

• Small Angels: A Novel By: Lauren Owen, read by Daphne Kouma, Tamsin Kennard, Rebecca Lee, and Eleanor Yates for Random House -- "In a hypnotic tale of sisterhood, first love, and hauntings, a wedding in a small English village stirs up unsettling magic and forces a troubled family’s secrets out into the open."

• The Wild Hunt By: Emma Seckel, read by Ruth Urquhart for HighBridge -- "Leigh Welles has not set foot in on the island in years, but when she finds herself called home from a disappointing life on the Scottish mainland by her father's unexpected death, she is determined to forget the sorrows of the past—her mother's abandonment, her brother's icy distance, the unspeakable tragedy of World War II—and start fresh. Fellow islander Iain MacTavish, a RAF veteran with his eyes on the sky and his head in the past, is also in desperate need of a new beginning. A young widower, Iain struggles to return to the normal life he knew before the war. But this October is anything but normal. This October, the sluagh are restless."

• Face By: Joma West, read by Patricia Santomasso, André Santana for Macmillan -- "Margaret Atwood meets Kazuo Ishiguro in this sci-fi domestic drama that reimagines race and class in a genetically engineered society fed by performative fame."

• 40 By: Alan Heathcock, read by Julia Atwood for Blackstone -- "In a future America ravaged by natural disaster, pandemic, and political unrest, a fundamentalist faction emerges. As the Novae Terrae gain power, enticing civilians with bread and circuses, a civil war breaks out between its members and the US government. Mazzy Goodwin, a young soldier, only wants to find her little sister, Ava Lynn. One day, she wakes in a bomb crater to find wings emerged from her back. Has she died? Been gifted wings by God? Undergone a military experiment? The world sees a miracle. Mazzy is coaxed into seeing it as an opportunity: to become the angel-like figurehead of the revolution, in return for being reunited with her sister."

• Shutter By: Ramona Emerson, read by Charley Flyte for Recorded Books -- "Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook."

• Thank You for Listening: A Novel By: Julia Whelan, read by the author for Harper -- "From the author of My Oxford Year, Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel."

• Eversion By: Alastair Reynolds, read by Harry Myers for Orbit -- "From the master of the space opera comes a dark, mind-bending adventure spread across time and space, where Doctor Silas Coade is tasked with keeping his crew safe as they adventure across the galaxy in search of a mysterious artifact."

• Kismet: A Thriller By: Amina Akhtar, read by Dilshad Vadsaria, Kimberly Woods, Rhett Samuel Price for Brilliance -- "Lifelong New Yorker Ronnie Khan never thought she’d leave Queens. She’s not an “aim high, dream big” person - until she meets socialite wellness guru Marley Dewhurst. Marley isn’t just a visionary; she’s a revelation. Seduced by the fever dream of finding her best self, Ronnie makes for the desert mountains of Sedona, Arizona. Healing yoga, transcendent hikes, epic juice cleanses...Ronnie consumes her new bougie existence like a fine wine. But is it, really? Or is this whole self-care business a little sour? When the glam gurus around town start turning up gruesomely murdered, Ronnie has her answer: all is not well in wellness town."

• Embers on the Wind By: Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, read by Karole Foreman for Brilliance -- "The past and the present converge in this enthralling, serpentine tale of women connected by motherhood, slavery’s legacy, and histories that span centuries."

• Why Solange Matters By: Stephanie Phillips, read by Dede Davi for OrangeSky -- "Growing up in the shadow of her superstar sister, Solange Knowles became a pivotal musician in her own right. Defying an industry that attempted to bend her to its rigid image of a Black woman, Solange continually experimented with her sound and embarked on a metamorphosis in her art that continues to this day."

• Camp Scare By: Delilah S. Dawson, read by Cassandra Morris for Listening Library -- "An eerie, twisty ghost story about twelve-year-old Parker, who only wanted a summer of fun and new friendship at sleepaway camp, but ends up finding a nightmare instead."

SERIES SPOTLIGHT:

• Dragons of Deceit: Dragonlance Destinies: Volume 1 By: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, read by Kirsten Potter for Random House -- "Destina Rosethorn—as her name implies—believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. She loses not only her beloved father but also the legacy he has left her: the family lands and castle. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan—to go back in time and prevent his death. First, she has to secure the Device of Time Journeying, last known to be in the possession of the spirited kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot."

SERIES WATCH:

• Fault Tolerance: A Novel By: Valerie Valdes, read by Almarie Guerra for Harper -- "From the author of the critically acclaimed Prime Deceptions and Chilling Effect, the hilarious new novel about the adventures of Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra."

• Sword of Ghosts: Legends of the Dragonrealm By: Richard A. Knaak, read by Joshua Saxon for Hydra -- "The City of Knowledge lies conquered, its longtime ruler, the Gryphon, now in exile as the Aramites continue their quest to finally extend their mastery to the Dragonrealm."

• Noble Roots: Spells, Swords, & Stealth, Book 5 By: Drew Hayes, read by Roger Wayne for Tantor -- "For generations, nobles have gathered at a scenic estate once per year to compete. What transpires there is spoken of only in rumors, save for the prizes. Potent, powerful, and precious; the winners are said to receive a gift from magic itself."

• Junkyard Ghost Ship: Junkyard Pirate, Book 6 By: Jamie McFarlane, read by Mikael Naramore -- "A flying saucer's crash-landing is just the beginning of a race against time to save innocent aliens from a devious plot."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• Convergence: Convergence, Book 1 By: Craig Alanson, read by R.C. Bray for Podium -- "My name is Kazimir Wolfe. People call me "Kaz", except they don’t. I never use my real name; it’s too dangerous, for me and for anyone I meet. I’m on the run from the law, who think I killed my aunt, and from whoever did kill her, because they want to finish the job. So, I move around a lot, working construction or whatever job I can find. It’s a lonely life. I don’t let anyone get close...people who get close to me end up dead. Why? I’m a wizard. The world’s only wizard, as far as I know. I don’t have a wand or a sword, and I don’t ride a dragon. I carry a Glock, and drive around in a beat-up RV with a talking dog. Yeah. The talking dog was a surprise to me, too. Duke is inhabited by the spirit of a 3,000-year-old wizard from Babylon, and he’s a good dog, but he is still a dog, and that’s a problem. Like, he still thinks squirrels are his mortal enemy. And that I don’t feed him enough. How did the spirit of a wizard reach across millennia, to our time? I don’t know. The truth is, I’m not much of a wizard, because there’s not much magic in the world for me to work with. But there used to be magic. And magic is coming back as our world converges with the Nether. Unless I can stop it."

• A Broken Blade: The Halfling Saga By: Melissa Blair, read by Kyla Garcia for Blackstone -- "Keera is a killer. As the King’s Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the king’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure moves against the Crown, Keera is called upon to hunt down the so-called Shadow. She tracks her target into the magical lands of the Fae, but Faeland is not what it seems—and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she learns and can’t help but wonder who her enemy truly is: the King that destroyed her people or the Shadow that threatens the peace. As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago, one that will test her in every way. To keep her word, Keera must not only save herself but an entire kingdom."

• When the Dust Fell By: Marshall Ross, read by Tara Marie Kirk for Tantor -- "When Sarah Long gets the message that her sister is alive and needs rescuing, she packs a bag with survival gear, loads a coat with six kinds of weapons, and hopes her pregnancy won't slow her down. It's been three years since the ancient, city-sized ship was discovered. And three years since it turned half the planet into deserts of black dust. Sarah's treacherous journey will cross continents and an ocean, as well as the lines between Earther and Alien, friend and foe. The dangers, though, go beyond the brutal reality of the lawless world she travels. For the last three years the mysterious ship has been Sarah's home. And she knows its powers. And there are those who will do absolutely anything to get them."

• Prodigals By: Alan Dean Foster, read by Fred Berman for Podium -- "The galaxy is vast, and not everything is what it seems. The invasion we always feared is here. This begs the question: what do the invaders fear? If not us, then what…or who? What happens to the would-be peacemakers when they find themselves in the middle of something else? Something dangerous, something highly advanced...and something familiar? If humanity is wise, we will prepare for everything we can imagine. But we cannot prepare for what we cannot imagine. It might be benign, it might be malign, or it might be a sign. You just have to know where to look."

• Signal Moon: A Short Story By: Kate Quinn, read by Saskia Maarleveld and Andrew Gibson for Audible Originals -- "Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption. One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help. An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s…2023. Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Krytos Trap: Star Wars Legends: Rogue Squadron By: Michael A. Stackpole (1996), read by Marc Thompson for Random House -- "The brave pilots of Rogue Squadron face the impossible as the sinister Ysanne Isard wreaks havoc on a fragile Coruscant."

• Shadow Hunter: Star Wars Legends: Darth Maul By: Michael Reaves (2001), read by Sam Witwer for Random House -- "After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step in his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down. But he is too late. The secret has already passed into the hands of information broker Lorn Pavan, which places him right at the top of Darth Maul’s hit list. Then, in the labyrinthine alleyways and sewers of Coruscant, capital city of the Republic, Lorn crosses paths with Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a mission to earn her Knighthood. Now the future of the Republic depends on Darsha and Lorn. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man, stranger to the powerful ways of the Force, hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?"

• The Great Hunt: Book Two of 'The Wheel of Time' By: Robert Jordan, read by Rosamund Pike for Macmillan -- "Pike returns with an outstanding narration of The Great Hunt, Book Two of the Wheel of Time, now an original series on Prime Video, starring Rosamund as Moiraine."

MOST MISSING:

• Real Sugar is Hard to Find: Stories by Sim Kern (Android Press) -- "... explores intersections of climate change, reproductive justice, queer identities, and family trauma. Whether fantasy, science fiction, or terrifyingly close-to-home, the worlds of these stories are inhabited by flawed characters whose lives are profoundly impacted by climate change and environmental degradation. Arranged in a progression from dystopian to utopian worlds, the stories chart a path from climate despair towards resilience and revolutionary optimism. Even in the bleakest of futures, however, Kern offers reasons to hope, connect, and keep fighting for a better world."

• The Leaves of a Necronomicon edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Chaosium) -- "The Necronomicon. For centuries, scholars of the occult have sought out the darkly fabled tome, hoping to gain insight into the secret workings of the universe—or unbridled power. Instead, the book rewards their pursuit with madness and devastation. Under the guidance of Shirley Jackson Award-winning editor Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., The Leaves of a Necronomicon traces the impact of a single copy of the mysterious work on its owners and those around them as it passes from hand to hand across the decades. The history is told in braided novel form, with chapters contributed by a gathering of outstanding horror and dark fantasy authors, including S. P. Miskowski, Michael Cisco, Damien Angelica Walters, Nick Mamatas, Anna Tambour, and Jeffrey Thomas."

• Trouble Walked In by Mike Kupari (Baen) -- "Cassandra Blake, an employee for the Ascension Planetary Holdings Group—the largest and most powerful corporation in Nova Columbia—has gone missing. And her sister wants to know why. When questions need answering on Nova Columbia, Detective Ezekiel “Easy” Novak is the man folks turn to. But what begins as a routine missing person case quickly turns into something much bigger and more sinister, with implications that could affect the entire planet. It seems Cassandra wasn’t just investigating her employer. She had uncovered a secret effort to excavate and exploit an ancient alien artifact known only as The Seraph. Soon, Easy finds himself trying to unravel a conspiracy that may implicate not only Ascension but the highest echelons of the Terran Confederation itself."

Ha! Even at my peak I wasn't getting to more than 4 a week. :)

Downpour has Horror:

https://www.downpour.com/genre-horror

Audible has Literature and Fiction - Horror:

https://www.audible.com/cat/Literature-Fiction/Horror-Audiobooks/18574490011

Ah - I hadn't pored through this week's Horror releases yet when you replied, I did add a few that looked good to my 'picks' list.

Ha no worries! I know I overlook a lot of romance, too.

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 26 July 2022

Posted on 2022-07-26 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• A Half-Built Garden By: Ruthanna Emrys, read by Kate Handford for Macmillan -- "A literary descendent of Ursula K. Le Guin, Ruthanna Emrys crafts a novel of extraterrestrial diplomacy and urgent climate repair bursting with quiet, tenuous hope and an underlying warmth. A Half-Built Garden depicts a world worth building towards, a humanity worth saving from itself, and an alien community worth entering with open arms. It's not the easiest future to build, but it's one that just might be in reach."

• Life Ceremony: Stories By: Sayaka Murata (2019), translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, read by Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi, Nancy Wu, Natalie Naudus, Eunice Wong, and Pun Bandhu for Blackstone -- "The long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existence."

• The Book of Gothel By: Mary McMyne, read by Vanessa Johansson for Redhook -- "This dark, lush, and beautiful reimagining of the story of Rapunzel presents the witch’s perspective in this tale of motherhood, magic, and the stories we pass down to our children."

• A Strange and Stubborn Endurance By: Foz Meadows, read by James Fouhey and Vikas Adam for Macmillan -- "Velasin vin Aaro never planned to marry at all, let alone a girl from neighboring Tithena. When an ugly confrontation reveals his preference for men, Vel fears he’s ruined the diplomatic union before it can even begin. But while his family is ready to disown him, the Tithenai envoy has a different solution: for Vel to marry his former intended’s brother instead. Caethari Aeduria always knew he might end up in a political marriage, but his sudden betrothal to a man from Ralia, where such relationships are forbidden, comes as a shock. With an unknown faction willing to kill to end their new alliance, Vel and Cae have no choice but to trust each other. Survival is one thing, but love—as both will learn—is quite another."

• Old Country By: Matt Query and Harrison Query, read by Juliette Goglia and Kiff VandenHeuvel for Grand Central -- "Based on the Reddit sensation, a horror thriller of a young couple who buys the perfect, secluded house—only to discover the terror within."

• Denial By: Jon Raymond, read by George Newbern for Simon and Schuster -- "The year is 2052. Climate change has had a predictably devastating effect: Venice submerged, cyclones in Oklahoma, megafires in South America. Yet it could be much worse. Two decades earlier, the global protest movement known as the Upheavals helped break the planet’s fossil fuel dependency, and the subsequent Nuremberg-like Toronto Trials convicted the most powerful oil executives and lobbyists for crimes against the environment. Not all of them. A few executives escaped arrest and went into hiding, including pipeline mastermind Robert Cave. Now, a Pacific Northwest journalist named Jack Henry who works for a struggling media company has received a tip that Cave is living in Mexico. Hoping the story will save his job, he travels south and, using a fake identity, makes contact with the fugitive."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Last Unicorn By: Peter S. Beagle (1968), with a new introduction by Patrick Rothfuss, read by Orlagh Cassidy and Joshua Kane for Penguin -- "The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone... ...so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a despondent monarch—and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction...."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• Hot Moon: Apollo Rising, Book 1 By: Alan Smale, read by Vivienne Leheny for Recorded Books -- "From the Sidewise Award-winning author of the acclaimed Clash of Eagles trilogy comes an alternate 1979 where the United States and the Soviets have permanent Moon bases, orbiting space stations, and crewed spy satellites supported by frequent rocket launches."

• Three Miles Down By: Harry Turtledove, read by George Guidall for Recorded Books -- "From New York Times bestselling author Harry Turtledove, the modern master of alternate history, a novel of alien contact set in the tumultuous year of the Watergate scandal."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 19 July 2022

Posted on 2022-07-19 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau By: Silvia Moreno-Garcia, read by Gisela Chípe for Random House -- "From the bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a dreamy reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico."

• Hokuloa Road: A Novel By: Elizabeth Hand, read by Kaleo Griffith for Mulholland -- "On a whim, Grady Kendall applies to work as a live-in caretaker for a luxury property in Hawaiʻi, as far from his small-town Maine life as he can imagine. Within days he's flying out to an estate on remote Hokuloa Road, where he quickly uncovers a dark side to the island’s idyllic reputation: it has long been a place where people vanish without a trace. When a young woman from his flight becomes the next to disappear, Grady is determined—and soon desperate—to figure out what's happened to Jessie, and to all those staring out of the island’s “missing" posters. But working with Raina, Jessie’s fiercely protective best friend, to uncover the truth is anything but easy, and with an inexplicable and sinister presence stalking his every step, Grady can only hope he'll find the answer before it's too late."

• Dark Earth: A Novel By: Rebecca Stott, read by Hannah Morrish for Random House -- "The year is 500 AD. Sisters Isla and Blue live in the shadows of the Ghost City, the abandoned ruins of the once-glorious mile-wide Roman settlement Londinium on the bank of the River Thames. But the small island they call home is also a place of exile for Isla, Blue, and their father, a legendary blacksmith accused of using dark magic to make his firetongue swords—formidable blades that cannot be broken—and cast out from the community. When he dies suddenly, the sisters find themselves facing enslavement by the local warlord and his cruel, power-hungry son. Their only option is to escape to the Ghost City, where they discover an underworld of rebel women living secretly amid the ruins. But if Isla and Blue are to survive the men who hunt them, and protect their new community, they will need to use all their skill and ingenuity—as well as the magic of their foremothers—to fight back."

• Briefly, a Delicious Life By: Nell Stevens, read by Ferdelle Capistrano for Simon and Schuster -- "A lively, daring ghost story about a teenage ghost who falls in love with a writer who doesn’t know she exists."

• Just Like Home By: Sarah Gailey, read by Xe Sands for Macmillan -- "Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?"

• The Book of Sand By: Theo Clare, read by Kristin Atherton for Blackstone -- "Sand. A hostile world of burning sun. Outlines of several once-busy cities shimmer on the horizon. Now empty of inhabitants, their buildings lie in ruins. In the distance a group of people—a family—walks toward us. Ahead lies shelter: a “shuck” the family calls home and which they know they must reach before the light fails, as to be out after dark is to invite danger and almost certain death. To survive in this alien world of shifting sand, they must find an object hidden in or near water. But other families want it too. And they are willing to fight to the death to make it theirs. It is beginning to rain in Fairfax County, Virginia, when McKenzie Strathie wakes up. An ordinary teenage girl living an ordinary life—except that the previous night she found a sand-lizard in her bed, and now she’s beginning to question everything around her, especially who she really is...."

• Venomous Lumpsucker By: Ned Beauman, read by John Hastings for HighBridge -- "The near future. Tens of thousands of species are going extinct every year. And a whole industry has sprung up around their extinctions, to help us preserve the remnants, or perhaps just assuage our guilt. For instance, the biobanks: secure archives of DNA samples, from which lost organisms might someday be resurrected . . . But then, one day, it's all gone. A mysterious cyber-attack hits every biobank simultaneously, wiping out the last traces of the perished species. Now we're never getting them back."

• Dead Water By: C. A. Fletcher, read by Siobhan Redmond for Redhook -- "On the edge of the Northern Atlantic lies a remote island. The islanders are an outwardly harmonious community - but all have their own secrets, some much darker than others. And when a strange disorder begins to infect them all, those secrets come to light. Ferry service fails, and contact with the mainland is lost. Rumors begin to swirl as a temporary inconvenience grows into nightmarish ordeal. The fabric of the once tight-knit island is unnervingly torn apart—and whatever the cause, the question soon stops being how or why it happened, but who, if anyone, will survive."

• Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Rena Mason, read by Jeanette Illidge, Catherine Ho, James Fouhey, Tim Chiou, Neil Shah, and Blessing Mokgohloa for Harper -- "Be they of a different culture, a different background, a different sexual orientation or gender identity, a different belief system, or a different skin color, some people simply aren’t part of the community’s majority - and are perceived as scary. Humans are almost instinctively inclined to fear what’s different, and there are a multitude of individuals who have spent far too long on the outside looking in. And the thing about the outside is...it’s much larger than you think. In Other Terrors, horror writers from a multitude of underrepresented backgrounds have created stories of everyday people, places, and things where something shifts, striking a deeper, much more primal chord of fear. Are our eyes playing tricks on us, or is there something truly sinister lurking under the surface of what we thought we knew? And who among us is really the other after all?"

• Split Decision: Life Stories By: Ice-T, Spike, and Douglas Century, read by the authors for Simon and Schuster -- "Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Ice-T unveils a compelling and astonishing memoir of his early life robbing jewelry stores until he found fame and fortune—while a handful of bad choices sent his former crime partner down an incredibly different path."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Moonday Letters By: Emmi Itaranta (2020), read by Xe Sands for Recorded Books -- "Part space-age epistolary, part eco-thriller, and a love story between two individuals from very different worlds. Sol has disappeared. Their Earth-born wife Lumi sets out to find them but it is no simple feat: each clue uncovers another enigma. Their disappearance leads back to underground environmental groups and a web of mystery that spans the space between the planets themselves. Told through letters and extracts, the course of Lumi’s journey takes her not only from the affluent colonies of Mars to the devastated remnants of Earth, but into the hidden depths of Sol’s past and the long-forgotten secrets of her own."

• The Robot Who Looked Like Me: Stories By: Robert Sheckley (1973), read by Johnny Heller for Tantor -- "From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• The Weight of Command By: Michael Mammay Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell for Audible Originals -- "Lieutenant Kiera Markov is a scout platoon leader for a peacekeeping force on the remote planet of Tanara, where little has happened for decades, and the only mission is to keep the lithium flowing up the space elevator to feed the galaxy’s incessant demand. But when an unprecedented attack kills the entirety of the brigade’s leadership, the untested lieutenant suddenly finds herself in command. Isolated and alone, Markov must contend with rival politicians on both sides of the border, all of whom have suspect motives and reason to take advantage of an untested leader, while an unseen enemy seeks to drive the two sides toward a war that Markov has a mission to prevent. It’s enough to test even a seasoned leader. Markov isn’t that. With challenges from all sides, and even from her own troops, Markov will have to learn quickly and establish her authority. Because what hangs in the balance is not only the future of the peacekeeping force, but of the planet itself."

• Wild Fire: New Frontier, Book 1 By: Nicholas Sansbury Smith and Anthony Melchiorri, read by Bronson Pinchot for Recorded Books -- "Two years after an attack brought down the electrical grid across the United States, the recovery effort is well underway. A new network of armored trains carry supplies and industrial equipment crucial to rebuilding the country. But along the rails, one area of America is still mired in darkness, violence, and danger. Some call it the Badlands. Others the Wild West. The government simply refers to it as the New Frontier."

• Ion Curtain By: Anya Ow, read by Jason Keller for Penguin -- "Lieutenant Kalina Sokolova is aid to Counter-Admiral Kasparov the major strategist for the Russian navy. Kalina is also an agent of the Jinyiwei, an elite spy working for the UN. She is tasked with watching the Counter-Admiral, and assassination is not out of the question. For decades the UN and the Russian military have navigated a tense interstellar Cold War. Peace is on the knife's edge, and events are coming ever closer to open conflict. Solitaire Yeung is a corsair, a scavenger, a pirate, In the heart of a destroyed Russian battleship, his salvage crew discovers a mysterious device they shouldn't have: the brain of the ship's top secret artificial intelligence. And against all better sense, they take it and run. The UN wants it, and the Russians want it back. Solitaire and his crew are on the run from the most powerful forces in the system, but they are not the only ones hunting the AI brain. An even more powerful foe grows in the darkness of space. Now all of humanity has to fight to survive...."

SERIES WATCH:

• Out of the Sky: Out of the Earth, Book 2 By: Jake Bible, read by Eric Michael Summerer for Tantor -- "Federal Marshal Lu Morgan and her ragtag group of survivors and government agents fought hard to stay alive and defeat the massive monsters, but now a second eruption has sent even more deadly creatures flying up into the ash-cloud that covers the land."

• Forest Folk: The Folklore Cycle, Book 2 By: John Hood, read by Benjamin Fife -- "The focus shifts to the War of 1812, the beginnings of the abolitionist movement, and the Trail of Tears."

• The Puppeteer: Nathan K, Book 11 By: Stuart Jaffe, read by the author

TIE-IN WATCH:

• The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil By: Seth MacFarlane, read by Bruce Boxleitner for Hyperion Avenue -- "An original novella set in season three of The Orville—straight from the pen of Seth MacFarlane, creator of the beloved sci-fi TV show! When Captain Ed Mercer and the crew of the U.S.S. Orville come face-to-face with one of humanity's most vile ideologies, they must solve the moral conundrum of who to hold accountable for evil deeds real… and imagined. Occurring just after episode 308, this is the Orville like you've never seen it before."

• Avatar, the Last Airbender: The Dawn of Yangchen: The Chronicles of the Avatar Series, Book 3 By: F. C. Yee, read by Nancy Wu

INDIE WATCH:

• His Black Tongue By: Mitchell Luthi, read by Anna Capraro and Scott Miller -- "A tale of medieval horror, plunging the listener into the plague-torn land of 14th-century France when pestilence and death walked hand-in-hand, and life was little more than a sputtering candle, waiting to be put out. But there are worse things than death, than sickness and decay…and it comes upon leathery black wings."

• The Void: A Space Opera By: Jason Hill, read by Rodney Tompkins -- "When veteran astronaut Capt. Butch Turner finds himself trapped in one of the gigantic voids of intergalactic space, he has a lot of time to think about things—namely his flaws, his past, and President Penelope Kane—his former lover, mistress, and the person who sent him (and three other crew members) on this ill-fated mission. Before that even happens, however, there is a roller-coaster ride of adventure and political intrigue and plenty of classic science-fiction leading up to it."

• Zan By: Angela Pepper, read by DJ Holte -- "Zan West has a strange power that only works on girls. He doesn't know why he has this so-called “gift”, but it's killing his chances of ever getting a girlfriend. Then he meets an older girl named Austin, and she's strangely immune to his power. Zan can't see her secrets, but he can't see her future, either. There's something she isn't telling him, and it's driving him mad. Zan consults a powerful witch who offers him peace of mind in exchange for his power. What he doesn't know is this so-called peace of mind comes with a big bad heaping of death. The permanent kind."

MOST MISSING:

• The Sisters of Saint Nicola by Garth Nix (Tor.com) -- "In this raucous, steampunk tale a sacred order of scientist nuns battle against vicious Invaders from Mars and their murderous machines in an ongoing conflict that has lasted centuries."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 12 July 2022

Posted on 2022-07-12 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

IT'S A DISCWORLD AFTER ALL:

• New editions of Discworld are coming our way in huge batches and the first handful of these is out, with the "Rincewind" storyline (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Eric, Sourcery, and Interesting Times) going first, read by Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz, and Bill Nighy. Already some subreddit discussion here!

PICKS:

• What Moves the Dead By: T. Kingfisher, read by Avi Roque for Macmillan -- "When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania. What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves. Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all."

• The Extractionist By: Kimberly Unger, read by Justis Bolding for Recorded Books -- "Elias McKay is an Extractionist. As an “Xwire” with a head full of experimental mites, he specializes in pulling minds out of virtual space and getting them back into their bodies intact. He’s one of the best. But he’s fallen on hard times. After getting banned by the government from doing lucrative legal work due to a past indiscretion, McKay picks up slightly shady gigs wherever he can find them—a far cry from his former glory days. His latest job takes him to Singapore for a quick extraction of a corporate bigwig, but things go from bad to worse when hired muscle, secret black ops agents, and hackers attack him and his client."

• We Lie Here: A Thriller By: Rachel Howzell Hall, read by Alaska Jackson for Brilliance -- "A woman’s trip home reveals frightening truths in a twisty novel of murder and family secrets by the New York Times bestselling author of And Now She’s Gone and These Toxic Things."

• Half Outlaw By: Alex Temblador, read by Luzma Ortiz for Blackstone -- "Looking for the missing half of herself, a woman goes on one last ride with the motorcycle club that raised her and gets more than she bargained for."

• Wake the Bones: A Novel By: Elizabeth Kilcoyne, read by Bailey Carr for Macmillan -- "The sleepy little farm that Laurel Early grew up on has awakened. The woods are shifting, the soil is dead under her hands, and her bone pile just stood up and walked away. After dropping out of college, all she wanted was to resume her life as a tobacco hand and taxidermist and try not to think about the boy she can’t help but love. Instead, a devil from her past has returned to court her, as he did her late mother years earlier. Now, Laurel must unravel her mother’s terrifying legacy and tap into her own innate magic before her future and the fate of everyone she loves is doomed."

• Sirens & Muses: A Novel By: Antonia Angress, read by Rebecca Lowman for Random House -- "Four artists are drawn into a web of rivalry and desire at an elite art school and on the streets of New York in this magnificent debut for fans of Writers & Lovers and The Goldfinch."

• The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Novel By: Monique Roffey, read by Ben Onwukue and Vivienne Acheampong for Random House -- "n 1976, David is fishing off the island of Black Conch when he comes upon a creature he doesn’t expect: a mermaid by the name of Aycayia. Once a beautiful young woman, she was cursed by jealous wives to live in this form for the rest of her days. But after the mermaid is caught by American tourists, David rescues and hides her away in his home, finding that, once out of the water, she begins to transform back into a woman."

• Upgrade: A Novel By: Blake Crouch, read by Henry Levya for Random House -- "At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little...sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep. But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways. The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy. Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost."

• Into the Mist By: P.C. Cast, read by: Lorelei King for Dreamscape -- "The world as we know it ends when an attack on the U.S. unleashes bombs that deliver fire and biological destruction. Along with sonic detonations and devastating earthquakes, the bombs have also brought the green mist. If breathed in, it is deadly to all men—but alters the body chemistry of many women, imbuing them with superhuman abilities."

• August Kitko and the Mechas from Space By: Alex White, read by Hayden Bishop for Orbit -- "When an army of giant robot AIs threatens to devastate Earth, a virtuoso pianist becomes humanity's last hope in this bold, lightning-paced, technicolor space opera series from the author of A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe."

• Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir By: Erika L. Sánchez, read by the author for Penguin -- "From the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, an utterly original memoir-in-essays that is as deeply moving as it is hilarious."

• Death and the Conjuror By: Tom Mead, read by Jake Ruddle for HighBridge -- "A magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes."

• Assemble Artifacts Short Story Magazine: Summer 2022 read by Ron Butler, Natasha Soudek, Erica Sullivan, Kirsten Potter, Zoë Watkins, Erin Bennet, and Grover Gardner for Blackstone -- "A short story magazine that assembles a thrilling new mix of stories from genres including horror, science-fiction, comedy, and suspense. Buried at the heart of every story in the magazine is a unique artifact, an object that has inspired our storytellers to create a big idea, an irresistible question, a new immersive world, or a sense of wonder."

SERIES WATCH:

• A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: A Monk and Robot Book, Book 2 By: Becky Chambers, read by Em Grosland for Macmillan -- "After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home. They hope to find the answers they seek while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe."

• The Hedge Witch: Threadneedle, Book 2 By: Cari Thomas, read by Gabrielle Nellis-Pain for Harper -- "Rowan is visiting her aunt—Winne the hedge witch—in the Welsh countryside, to get back to nature and hone her skills, as well as taking a break from her annoying sisters and enjoying some peace and quiet. However, Rowan soon comes to realise that hedges are a serious business and this isn’t quite the opportunity to rest and escape she thought it might be."

• Ymir: Violet Wars, Book 2 By: Rich Larson, read by Alan Medcroft for Orbit -- "Yorick never wanted to see his homeworld again. He left Ymir two decades ago, with half his face blown off and no love lost for the place. But when his employer's mines are threatened by a vicious alien machine, Yorick is shipped back home to hunt it."

• Into the Narrowdark: Last King of Osten Ard, Book 3 By: Tad Williams, read by Andrew Wincott for Penguin -- "The High Throne of Erkynland is tottering, its royal family divided and diminished."

• Firetide Coast: The Monstrous Heart Trilogy, Book 3 By: Claire McKenna, read by Elaine Claxton for Harper -- "The epic conclusion to the Monstrous Heart Trilogy; a magical tale of intrigue on dark waters and a love story for the ages. The perfect gothic gaslamp fantasy—ideal for fans of V.E. Schwab and China Mieville."

• Winter Work: A Claire Saylor Series Novel By: Dan Fesperman, read by Dan Fesperman for Random House -- "An exhilarating spy thriller inspired by a true story about the precious secrets up for grabs just after the fall of the Berlin Wall—from the acclaimed author of The Cover Wife."

• Chrysalis: A Thriller: Dr. Jeremy Logan, Book 6 By: Lincoln Child, read by Johnathan McClain for Random House -- "Centered on a dominant tech company — Chrysalis — whose groundbreaking virtual reality technology is redefining the way we live...and possibly introducing a catastrophic danger to the world."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Book of Dreams: The Demon Princes Series, Book 5 By: Jack Vance (1981), read by Stefan Rudnicki for Skyboat -- "Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter—and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hard-boiled space opera."

• A Time of Omens: Westlands Series, Book 2 By: Katharine Kerr (1992), read by Ruth Urquhart for Tantor -- "In Deverry, the volatile history of humanity continues as a dashing young king journeys to his throne in disguise, fulfilling an ancient prophecy. In the Westlands the exiled lord Rhodry travels anonymously as a silver dagger—a mercenary—as he did in his youth, following a destiny that will take him from the grassy plains of the elven peoples to the hills and towns of Deverry, where dark forces are gathering."

• A Hard Day's Knight: Nightside Series, Book 11 By: Simon R. Green (2011), read by Dan Calley for Tantor -- "London Proper. It's been years since I've been back-and there are good reasons for that...."

INDIE WATCH:

• Soul Fraud: The Debt Collection, Book 1 By: Andrew Givler, read by Michael Mola for Sad Seagull -- "Matthew Carver has a terrible life. Seriously--it's awful. It is so bad that Dan the Demon is shocked when Matt turns down his infernal offer: 10 years of a blissful life in exchange for his soul. But Dan is a salesman behind on his quota, and his demonic managers are running out of patience. He forges Matt's signature on the dotted line, stealing his soul and thrusting him into a supernatural world he never knew existed."

MOST MISSING:

• The Long List Anthology Volume 7: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List edited by David Steffen -- "Every year, supporting members of WorldCon nominate their favorite stories first published during the selected year to determine the top five in each category for the final Hugo Award ballot. This is an anthology collecting more of the stories from that nomination list to reach more readers."

• Brian W. Aldiss (Modern Masters of Science Fiction) by Paul Kincaid (University of Illinois Press) -- "Brian W. Aldiss wrote classic science fiction novels like Report on Probability A and Hothouse. Billion Year Spree, his groundbreaking study of the field, defined the very meaning of SF and delineated its history. Yet Aldiss’s discomfort with being a guiding spirit of the British New Wave and his pursuit of mainstream success characterized a lifelong ambivalence toward the genre."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 5 July 2022

Posted on 2022-07-05 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• The Pallbearers Club: A Novel By: Paul Tremblay, read by Graham Halstead, Xe Sands, and Elizabeth Wiley for Harper -- "A cleverly voiced psychological thriller about an unforgettable—and unsettling—friendship, with blood-chilling twists, crackling wit, and a thrumming pulse in its veins."

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: A Novel By: Gabrielle Zevin, read by Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi for Random House -- "Two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality."

• Night of the Living Rez: Stories By: Morgan Talty, read by Darrell Dennis for Recorded Books -- "Set in a Native community in Maine, Night of the Living Rez is a riveting debut collection about what it means to be Penobscot in the twenty-first century and what it means to live, to survive, and to persevere after tragedy."

• Joan: A Novel of Joan of Arc By: Katherine J. Chen, read by Hannah Morrish for Random House -- "Girl. Warrior. Heretic. Saint? From the acclaimed author of Mary B comes a stunning, secular reimagining of the epic life of Joan of Arc."

• The Last Storm By: Tim Lebbon, read by Curt Bonnem, Johanna Parker, Billie Fulford-Brown, and Hillary Huber for Blackstone -- "A gripping, terrifying road trip through the heat of the post-apocalyptic American desert from the author of Netflix’s The Silence."

• Take No Names: A Novel By: Daniel Nieh, read by Ewan Chung for Harper -- "A riveting thriller about a fugitive in search of a quick payday in Mexico City who finds himself in the crosshairs of a dangerous international scheme."

• First Born: A Novel By: Will Dean, read by Susie Riddell for Simon and Schuster -- "Molly Raven lives a quiet, structured life in London, finding comfort in security and routine. Her identical twin, Katie, living in New York, is the exact opposite: outgoing, spontaneous, and adventurous. But when Molly hears that Katie has died, possibly murdered, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. As terrifying as it is, she knows she must travel across the ocean and find out what happened. But as she tracks her twin’s final movements, cracks begin to emerge, and she slowly realizes her sister was not who she thought she was and that there’s a dangerous web of deceit surrounding the two of them."

• The Icarus Plot By: Timothy Zahn, read by Marc Thompson for Random House -- "There wasn’t much money to be made as a Trailblazer, searching out new worlds for possible development. Still, it was safer than the bounty hunter career that had cost Gregory Roarke his left arm six years ago. And thanks to his Kadolian partner Selene’s ultrasensitive sense of smell, they occasionally discovered a medically promising seed or spore they could sell under the table. It was a quiet life, uneventful and mostly legal. Until Roarke was approached by two men with a proposal: Track down a mysterious woman named Tera and, through her, locate a secret project called Icarus."

• Silk Fire By: Zabé Ellor, read by Kirt Graves for Penguin -- "Koré wants to destroy a man. Koré knew that meddling in politics could end badly, particularly when trying to sabotage his aristocratic father's campaign before it destroys the city he has come to love. And when a chance encounter with a dying god imbues him with magic-breathing powers, it gets worse: he suddenly becomes a commodity—and a political player."

• Flames of Mira By: Clay Harmon, read by Luke Francis for Penguin -- "People like Ig are born from life-threatening trials that bind periodic elements to the human body, forged in the boiling volcanoes and subterranean passages under Mira's frozen lands. One of the most powerful known elementals, he is forced to work as an enforcer for Magnate Sorrelo Adriann—cursed with a flesh binding—magic that will kill him at the first sign of disobedience."

• Space: 1969 By: Bill Oakley, read by Natasha Lyonne and a full cast for Audible Originals -- " What if President John F. Kennedy had survived and rocketed the Space Race of the 1960s into overdrive? And what if he was, maybe, not quite… himself?"

• The Church of Baseball: The Making of Bull Durham: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings, and a Hit by Ron Shelton, read by the author for Books on Tape -- " From the award-winning screenwriter and director of cult classic Bull Durham, the extremely entertaining behind-the-scenes story of the making of the film, and an insightful primer on the art and business of moviemaking."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Wounded Land: The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Book 1 By: Stephen R. Donaldson (1980), read by Scott Brick for Brick By Brick and Blackstone -- "Four thousand years have passed since Covenant first freed the Land from the devastating grip of Lord Foul and his minions. The monstrous force of Evil has regained its power, once again warping the very fabric and balance of the Land. Armed with his stunning white gold, wild magic, Covenant must battle not only terrifying external forces but his own capacity for despair and devastation. His quest to save the Land from ultimate ruin is as exciting and heroic as ever."

• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street By: Natasha Pulley (2015), read by Thomas Judd for Bloomsbury -- "For listeners of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an enchanting, bestselling novel that sweeps listeners into a magical Victorian London inhabited by a clockwork octopus and a mysterious watchmaker who is not at all what he first appears."

• A Collapse of Horses: A Collection of Stories By: Brian Evenson (2016), read by Neil Shah for Audible -- "A provocative collection of literary horror stories by one of America’s most acclaimed and inventive writers."

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 5 edited by Neil Clarke (2020), read by Catherine Ho, Jennifer O'Donnell, Lisa Renee Pitts, Michael Braun, Sneha Mathan, Christopher Salazar, and Tony Tambi for Recorded Books -- "A year-in-review and twenty-eight of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2019."

• Have Spacecat, Will Travel and Other Tails By: John G. Hartness (2020), read by James Anderson Foster for Tantor -- "This collection of short stories and poetry from the award-winning creator of Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter has a little bit of everything."

SERIES WATCH:

• Master of Furies: Firemane Saga, Book 3 By: Raymond E. Feist, read by David Thorpe for Harper -- "From King of Ashes to Queen of Storms, it’s all built up to this."

• Dreadgod: Cradle, Book 11 By: Will Wight, read by Travis Baldree

• The Law: A Dresden Files Novella (Dresden Files, Book 17.5) By: Jim Butcher, read by Jim Butcher for Podium

MOST MISSING:

• Dragonsgate: Spirits by James Maxey -- "Dragonsgate: Spirits continues the epic saga that began in Dragonsgate: Devils! Searching for his daughter, Zeeky, Bitterwood travels through underspace to an enchanted forest known as the Tangle. To bring Zeeky home, he must battle the Night Queen and her undead minions. But not even Bitterwood is a match for the godlike entity the Night Queen serves — the Waste-Wyrm, a cosmic dragon that devours worlds!"

• Prophet's Debt by Robert Creekmore (Cinnabar Moth Publishing) -- "At fourteen, Naomi Pace knows she loves her best friend, Tiffany. During the Perseid meteor shower of summer 1993, she finds out Tiffany feels the same, just as they’re outed. Naomi is sent away to a conversion program in the remote Appalachians of North Carolina, knowing nothing of the horrors that await or the strength they will catalyze. Escaping into the frigid wilderness, she forges her own destiny. Trapped in hiding, Naomi fights to conquer fear and find her way back to Tiffany. Taking bloody vengeance to end a cult that tortures and murders children seems impossible, but so is having the guidance of a mythic creature of strength and violence. Those who hurt Naomi as a girl will come to fear the woman she has become and the path she will tread to find revenge, safety, and Tiffany."

• Fantasy: How It Works by Brian Attebery (OUP Oxford) -- "An exciting and accessible study of the genre of fantasy."

• Awry With Dandelions by J.S. Fields (Space Wizard Science Fantasy) -- "Orin sells dandelion latex at a no-name market, barely scraping by. Mette is a princess. Maybe. What Orin does know is that for thirty seconds every night, Mette visits Orin in xir dreams. Orin has long since written the fancy ghost woman off as a recurring nightmare, but when Mette insists upon meeting in real life, Orin's inner world turns out to be more substantive than imaginary."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 28 June 2022

Posted on 2022-06-28 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Thrust: A Novel By: Lidia Yuknavitch, read by Natasha Soudek, Ron Butler, Cassandra Campbell, Robbie Daymond, Darrell Dennis, Dominique Franceschi, Kathleen Gati, Graham Halstead, Austin Ku, Omar Leyva, Karen Murray, and TL Thompson for Penguin -- "The story of Laisvė, a motherless girl from the late 21st century who is learning her power as a carrier, a person who can harness the power of meaningful objects to carry her through time. Sifting through the detritus of a fallen city known as the Brook, she discovers a talisman that will mysteriously connect her with a series of characters from the past two centuries: a French sculptor; a woman of the American underworld; a dictator's daughter; an accused murderer; and a squad of laborers at work on a national monument. Through intricately braided storylines, Laisvė must dodge enforcement raids and find her way to the present day, and then, finally, to the early days of her imperfect country, to forge a connection that might save their lives--and their shared dream of freedom."

• Invisible Things: A Novel By: Mat Johnson, read by Nicole Lewis for Random House -- "A sharp allegorical novel about a hidden human civilization, a crucial election, and a mysterious invisible force that must not be named, by one of our most imaginative comic novelists."

• Drunk on All Your Strange New Words By: Eddie Robson, read by Amy Scanlon for Recorded Books -- "Lydia works as translator for the Logi cultural attaché to Earth. They work well together, even if the act of translating his thoughts into English makes her somewhat wobbly on her feet. She’s not the agency’s best translator, but what else is she going to do? She has no qualifications and no discernible talent in any other field. So when tragedy strikes and Lydia finds herself at the center of an intergalactic incident, her future employment prospects look dire—that is, if she can keep herself out of jail! But Lydia soon discovers that help can appear from the most unexpected source...."

• The Beached Ones By: Colleen M. Story, read by Rob Shapiro for CamCat -- "Daniel and his younger brother grew up in an abusive home, but Daniel was the only one who escaped. Now an established stunt rider, he intends to go back to rescue his brother. But then one jump goes horribly wrong.... When he wakes up from a nightmare in Iowa, unscathed, with no memory of how he got there, his life falls apart. His team moves on without him. His best friend won’t answer his calls. Strangers die in front of him. Even his girlfriend is hiding something. All Daniel knows is that he must pick up his brother in San Francisco. In five days."

• Elsewhere: A Novel By: Alexis Schaitkin, read by Ell Potter for Macmillan -- "Richly emotive and darkly captivating, with elements of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and the imaginative depth of Margaret Atwood, Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin conjures a community in which girls become wives, wives become mothers and some of them, quite simply, disappear."

• Against All Gods: The Age of Bronze, Book 1 By: Miles Cameron, read by Peter Noble for Gollancz -- "A vibrant and powerful epic set against an alternate Bronze Age, this tale of gods, men and monsters, conspiracy and war, is a rich, compelling and original tale from a master of the historical and fantasy genres. The people caught up in toils of the gods are merely trying to survive. Victims of vicious whims, trapped by their circumstances or pushed beyond what the mortal frame can bear, a handful of god-touched mortals—a scribe, a warlord, a dancer and a child - are about to be brought together in a conspiracy of their own."

• Driftwood Orphans By: Paul Krueger, read by Sarah Diamond for Gollancz -- "Before she was betrayed and left for dead, Tenny was many things: prodigal daughter of the Driftwood City underworld. Leader of the Thorn Orphans, the gang fighting for a better tomorrow. City shaman, able to bend her home's boroughs to her will. Partner-in-crime to Cole, the runaway rich boy with powers just like hers. But that was all before."

• Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell By: Tim Miller, read by Josh Bloomberg for Harper -- "Former Republican political operative Tim Miller answers the question no one else has fully grappled with: Why did normal people go along with the worst of Trumpism?"

TIE-IN WATCH:

• Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith By: Adam Christopher, read by William DeMeritt for Random House -- "Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian return in this essential novel set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The Empire is dead. Nearly two decades after the Battle of Endor, the tattered remnants of Palpatine’s forces have fled to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. But for the heroes of the New Republic, danger and loss are ever-present companions, even in this newly forged era of peace. Jedi Master Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions of the dark side, foretelling an ominous secret growing somewhere in the depths of space, on a dead world called Exegol. The disturbance in the Force is undeniable . . . and Luke’s worst fears are confirmed when his old friend Lando Calrissian comes to him with reports of a new Sith menace."

• Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty By: M. K. England, read by James Anderson Foster for Blackstone -- "Serenity is bound for the planet Kerry with a hold full of sealed unidentified cargo for the planet’s highest-ranking nobleman. The duke is a surprisingly genial man whose court brings all the fanciness and fun of Persephone’s high society but little of the pretension—and, most importantly, he’s got the promise of more work. Obliged to stick around while Inara is with a client—and hoping to score future employment—the crew settles in. The liquor flows freely at court, and there’s food, entertainment, and comfortable lodgings to enjoy. Everyone is thrilled but Zoë. Her gut says something is off. When the duke’s estate is attacked in the middle of the night, Mal sends Serenity to safety while he and Zoë investigate. What they find turns the whole story of Kerry upside-down. Revolution is brewing, and each of them will have to decide where to make their stand, even if it lands them on opposite sides …"

SERIES WATCH:

• Locklands: The Founders Trilogy, Book 3 By: Robert Jackson Bennett, read by Tara Sands for Random House -- "The jaw-dropping conclusion to the acclaimed Founders Trilogy, from the Hugo-nominated author of Foundryside and Shorefall."

• The Origin of Storms: Lotus Kingdoms, Book 3 By: Elizabeth Bear, read by Moira Quirk for Recorded Books -- "Bear returns to conclude her acclaimed epic fantasy trilogy of the Lotus Kingdoms which began with The Stone in the Skull and The Red-Stained Wings, bringing it all to brings a surprising, satisfying climax."

• Sands of Dune: Novellas from the Worlds of Dune By: Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, read by Scott Brick for Macmillan -- "These stories expand on the Dune universe, telling of the lost years of Gurney Halleck as he works with smugglers on Arrakis in a deadly gambit for revenge; inside the ranks of the Sardaukar as the child of a betrayed nobleman becomes one of the Emperor’s most ruthless fighters; a young firebrand Fremen woman, a guerrilla fighter against the ruthless Harkonnens, who will one day become Shadout Mapes."

• Resolute: The Lost Fleet: Outlands, Book 2 By: Jack Campbell, read by Christian Rummel for Recorded Books -- "Admiral John "Black Jack" Geary must battle dangers both within and without the Alliance in this exciting continuation of the New York Times bestselling series."

• Mage of No Renown: Tales of Terralor, Book 1 By: Kel Kade, read by Nick Podehl for Podium -- "From the author of the New York Times bestselling King’s Dark Tidings series comes a prequel novel set in that world."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• From the Dust Returned By: Ray Bradbury (2001), read by Keith Szarabajka for Blackstone -- "They have lived for centuries in a house of legend and mystery in upper Illinois—and they are not like other Midwesterners. Rarely encountered in daylight hours, their children are curious and wild; their old ones have survived since before the Sphinx first sank its paws deep in Egyptian sands. And some sleep in beds with lids."

• The Firebrand By: Marion Zimmer Bradley (1987), read by Lisa Flanagan for Blackstone -- "Blending archaeological fact and legend, the myths of the gods, and the feats of heroes, Marion Zimmer Bradley breathes new life into the classic tale of the Trojan War. Reinventing larger-than-life figures as living people engaged in a desperate struggle that dooms both the victors and the vanquished, their fate is seen through the eyes of Kassandra—priestess, princess, and passionate woman with the spirit of a warrior."

• Drink Down the Moon: The Jack of Kinrowan Series, Book 2 By: Charles de Lint (2014), read by Taylor Meskimen for Blackstone -- "In Jack the Giant-Killer, where magical creatures carry on a secret existence in the streets and parks of modern Ottawa, Jacky Rowan once slew giants. In this thrilling sequel, she is tricked and then enslaved by a master of vicious Unseelie creatures."

• Flash: Archform: Beauty Series, Book 2 By: L. E. Modesitt Jr. (2004), read by BJ Harrison for Tantor -- "In the twenty-fourth century, Earth is vastly changed. Ecological and biological catastrophe have raged across the planet, but for the survivors, it is a world of plenty. Even the poorest live in abundance, and the upper class—the ascendant—command technological marvels."

INDIE WATCH:

• Jury Duty: First Contact By: Peter Cawdron, read by Curt Bonnem for Podium -- "Nick isn't smart. He's not brave. He's selfish. He's an asshole, but he's about to embark on a journey that will change not only his life but the lives of everyone on the planet."

• Möbius 1: The Timeless Artifact, Book 1 By: Brandon Q. Morris, read by Shawn Compton for Podium -- "It is 2056. Mathematics professor Elisabeth Gabai is fascinated by multi-dimensional forms that have no equivalent in reality. Then, her boss sends her to the site of an artifact that might have come straight from her theories—or from the technology of an advanced civilization. Twenty-eight years earlier, physicist Max Webber is hell-bent on improving Einstein’s theories of relativity. His latest concept seems flawless, except it predicts the end of humanity."

MOST MISSING:

• The Clockwork Empire by Lucas J.W. Johnson (Fireside) -- "It is the height of the industrial revolution, and the Roman Empire has stood for thousands of years. Airborne fortresses and mechanically remade soldiers guard against threats outside the empire's vast borders—even as it rots from the inside. As an ambitious senator rises to power, and a mysterious agent plots the downfall of the gods, a motley crew of exiles assembles to stop the rising fascism of the state: an excommunicated Praetorian Guard, her remade muscle, a spy, a pilot, an ex-slave, and a noble boy disgraced, experimented on, and remade with a clockwork heart. But smashing an authoritarian state is no simple fistfight in a taverna. Nor can one easily repair a machine that has been rusting for so long. As oppression takes hold across the Empire, the crew must find each other, find their fire, and find the agent known only as Servius—before he leads the world to destruction."

• Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances: A Dragons and Blades Story by Aliette de Bodard (JABberwocky) -- "It was supposed to be a holiday, with nothing more challenging than babysitting, navigating familial politics and arguing about the proper way to brew tea. But when dragon prince Thuan and his ruthless husband Asmodeus find a corpse in a ruined shrine and a hungry ghost who is the only witness to the crime, their holiday goes from restful to high-pressure. Someone is trying to silence the ghost and everyone involved. Asmodeus wants revenge for the murder; Thuan would like everyone, including Asmodeus, to stay alive."

• The Martyr: The Covenant of Steel, Book 2 by Anthony Ryan (Orbit) -- "Times have changed for Alwyn Scribe. Once an outlaw, he’s now a spymaster and sworn protector of Lady Evadine Courlain, whose visions of a demonic apocalypse have earned her the fanatical devotion of the faithful. Yet Evadine’s growing fame has put her at odds with both Crown and Covenant. As trouble brews in the kingdom, both seek to exploit her position for their own ends."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 21 June 2022

Posted on 2022-06-21 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Lapvona: A Novel By: Ottessa Moshfegh, read by the author for Penguin -- "In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh’s most exciting leap yet."

• Learning to Talk: Stories By: Hilary Mantel, read by Anna Bentinck, Jane Collingwood, and Patrick Moy for Macmillan -- "A dazzling collection of short stories from the two-time winner of the Man Booker Prize and #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wolf Hall Trilogy."

• Even the Darkest Night: A Terra Alta Novel By: Javier Cercas, translated by Anne McLean, read by Lee Osorio for Random House -- "The first book in the acclaimed series: Barcelona detective Melchor Marín is sent to the countryside to investigate a horrific double murder. Before long, it becomes clear that nothing about the case is quite as it seems."

• The Colony By: Audrey Magee, read by Stephen Hogan for Dreamscape -- "It is the summer of 1979. An English painter travels to a small island off the west coast of Ireland. Mr. Lloyd takes the last leg by curragh, though boats with engines are available and he doesn't much like the sea. He wants the authentic experience, to be changed by this place, to let its quiet and light fill him, give him room to create. He doesn't know that a Frenchman follows close behind."

• Poguemahone By: Patrick McCabe, read by the author for Biblioasis -- "Una Fogarty, suffering from dementia in a seaside nursing home, would be all alone without her brother Dan, whose epic free-verse monologue tells their family story. Exile from Ireland and immigrant life in England. Their mother’s trials as a call girl. Young Una’s search for love in a seemingly haunted hippie squat, and the two-timing Scottish stoner poet she’ll never get over. Now she sits outside in the sun as her memories unspool from Dan’s mouth and his own role in the tale grows ever stranger—and more sinister."

• Bitter Orange Tree By: Jokha Alharthi, translated by Marilyn Booth, read by Raghad Chaar for Tantor -- "From Man Booker International Prize-winning author Jokha Alharthi, Bitter Orange Tree is a profound exploration of social status, wealth, desire, and female agency. It presents a mosaic portrait of one young woman's attempt to understand the roots she has grown from, and to envisage an adulthood in which her own power and happiness might find the freedom necessary to bear fruit and flourish."

• The Blacksmith's Daughter By: Selim Özdoğan, read by Vaneh Assadourian for Blackstone -- "A close-knit family is transformed forever when its matriarch tragically dies, leaving behind a husband, Timur the blacksmith, and their three young daughters. The Blacksmith’s Daughter follows the life of the eldest daughter, Gül, who is growing up in rural Turkey in the 1940s and ’50s."

• The Final Strife: A Novel By: Saara El-Arifi, read by Nicole Lewis, Dominic Hoffman for Random House -- "Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm. As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn."

• Juniper & Thorn: A Novel By: Ava Reid, read by Stina Neilsen for Harper -- "From highly acclaimed, bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente."

• The Truth and Other Stories By: Stanislaw Lem, read by David Aaron Baker for Recorded Books -- "Twelve stories by science-fiction master Stanislaw Lem, nine of them never before published in English."

• The Nobodies By: Alanna Schubach, read by Carmen Torres for Blackstone -- "The story of two young women whose friendship offered—and demanded—more than either should share. For fans of Sally Rooney and Claire North."

• In the Shadow of Lightning: Glass Immortals, Book 1 By: Brian McClellan, read by Damian Lynch for Macmillan -- "From Brian McClellan, author of The Powder Mage trilogy, comes the first novel in the Glass Immortals series, In the Shadow of Lightning, an epic fantasy where magic is a finite resource—and it’s running out."

• The Ballad of Perilous Graves By: Alex Jennings, read by Gralen Bryant Banks for Redhook -- "Music is magic in this vibrant and imaginative debut novel set in a fantastical verison of New Orleans: a battle for the city's soul brews between two young mages, a vengeful wraith, and one powerful song."

• The Classmate By: Will McIntosh, read by Erik Bloomquist for Tantor -- "Thirteen-year-old Benjamin is pulled from his old life and forced to attend a special boarding school in the middle of nowhere. That's confusing enough. Then, he's fed instructions through an earbud and thrown into etiquette classes alongside an angry, spike-covered creature. Despite wearing purple dresses and having the unassuming name of Eve, the creature is horrifying and, as Eve quickly demonstrates, dangerous."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Licorice Daughter: My Year with Ruffian By: Lyn Lifshin (2005), read by Bonnie Trost -- "A year spent with Ruffian, recounting through poetry the life of this amazing filly."

• The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur: Round Table, Book 4 By: Howard Pyle, read by Dennis Kleinman for Blackstone

SERIES WATCH:

• The Seed of Cain: Record Keeper, Book 2 By: Agnes Gomillion, read by Adenrele Ojo for Recorded Books -- "Return to the startlingly original dystopian world of The Record Keeper in this stunning sequel."

• Speaking Bones: The Dandelion Dynasty, Book 4 By: Ken Liu, read by Michael Kramer for Simon and Schuster -- "The battle continues in this silkpunk fantasy as science and destiny collide against the will of the gods in this final installment in the epic Dandelion Dynasty series from Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-winning author Ken Liu."

• Exile's Quest: Assassins of Landria, Book 4 By: Gail Z. Martin, read by Samuel Roukin for Recorded Books -- "A vacant throne. A dark mystic intent on the crown. Two fugitive assassins risking everything to save the kingdom that exiled them."

• Queen Amid Ashes: Sun Eater, Book 4.75 By: Christopher Ruocchio, read by Samuel Roukin for Recorded Books -- "Hadrian Marlowe is newly a knight of the galaxy-spanning Sollan Empire: a hero who they say slew the alien Prince Aranata Otiolo in single combat; a man they say no man or xenobite can kill. Acting on the Emperor’s orders, Hadrian has come to the desert planet Thagura and driven off the Cielcin invaders, rescuing in the process the Lady Gadar Malyan, Baroness of that entire world. But not all the fighting is ended. Pockets of inhuman resistance remain on the desert world, and Hadrian the Halfmortal must soon do battle with not only the man-eating alien barbarians, but with something just as terrible: man’s own inhumanity to man."

• A Champion Falls: The Chain Breaker, Book 8 By: D.K. Holmberg, read by John Pirhalla

• Hell Divers IX: Radioactive: The Hell Divers Series, Book 9 By: Nicholas Sansbury Smith, read by R. C. Bray

INDIE WATCH:

• Dante’s Indiana By: Randy Boyagoda, read by the author -- "Middle-aged, married, but living on his own, Prin has lost his way. Desperate for money and purpose, he moves to small-town Indiana to work for an evangelical millionaire who’s building a theme park inspired by Dante’s Inferno. He quickly becomes involved in the difficult lives of his co-workers and in the wider struggles of their opioid-ravaged community while trying to reconcile with his distant wife and distant God. Both projects spin out of control, and when a Black teenager is killed, creationists, politicians and protesters alike descend."

• Longhand By: Andy Hamilton (2020), read by Callum O'Neill for Unbound -- "Malcolm George Galbraith is a large, somewhat clumsy Scotsman. He’s being forced to leave the woman he loves behind and needs to explain why. So he leaves her a handwritten note on the kitchen table (well, more a 300-page letter than a note). In it, Malcolm decides to start from the beginning and tell the whole story of his long life, something he’s never dared do before. Because Malcolm isn’t what he seems: He’s had other names and lived in other places. A lot of other places. As it gathers pace, Malcolm’s story combines tragedy, comedy, mystery, a touch of leprosy, several murders, a massacre, a ritual sacrifice, an insane tyrant, two great romances, a landslide, a fire, and a talking fish."

• The Quantum Curators and the Fabergé Egg: Quantum Curators Series, Book 1 By: Eva St. John (2020), read by Lucy Rayner and Alex Wyndham for Tantor -- "Anyone can track down a priceless artefact that's been lost for hundreds of years. Finding one that's been hidden on a parallel Earth . . . now that's a neat trick."

• A Mage's Guide to Human Familiars: R'iyah Family Archives, Book 1 By: AJ Sherwood, read by Tim Paige, Michael Ferraiuolo, and Greg Boudreaux for Podium -- "One mage: Bel Adams–part demon, gun shy about being rejected by one again, needs a familiar. One familiar: Nico di Rossi–Army Ranger, needs a change of pace and a new purpose in life, is a golden retriever in human form (though not literally). Plus one familiar: Garen Dallarosa–Secret Service, part gargoyle, needs his ex-lover Nico back. One second chance–all for the taking."

• Starseed R/evolution: The Awakening By: Dr. Richard Horowitz, read by Jamie Renell for Tantor -- "Enter the extraordinary world of Crown Prince Ian, the last surviving heir of the Royal Arcturian family of Antwar. He's half-human, half-alien, with an IQ approaching 200, and a penchant for Swiss chocolates and defending humanity from itself. Is he Earth's savior from climate change? Or, as his genetic grandmother would say, only another mensch?"

MOST MISSING:

• The Dark Matter of Natasha by Matthew R. Davis (Grey Matter Press) -- "Natasha stalks the quiet streets of dead-end Lunar Bay like doom in a denim jacket. She’s a grim reminder that some teenagers can never escape the ever-tightening noose of their lives. Burned out and benumbed by a traumatic past, dogged by scurrilous small-town gossip, she finds solace in drugs, sex and Slayer."

• Her Word Is Bond: Navigating Hip Hop and Relationships in a Culture of Misogyny by Christalle "Psalm One" Bowen (Haymarket Books) -- "Psalm One is a legend to rap nerds, scholars, and “heads,” and has gone on to work with the brightest names in rap and have her work celebrated and taught around the globe. In Her Word Is Bond, Psalm One tells her own story, from growing up in Englewood, Chicago through her life as a chemist, teacher, and legendary rapper. Intrinsically feminist, this story is a celebration of the life and career of one artist who blazed the trail for women in hip hop."

Posted in Release Week