Release Week: 11 August 2026

Posted on 2026-08-11 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

FICTION PICKS:

• A Tender Age: A Novel by Chang-rae Lee, read by Keong Sim for Books On Tape -- "From the Pulitzer Prize finalist, a story of guilt, innocence, and a boy on the cusp of adolescence."

• A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young, translated by Sophie Bowman, read by Joy Osmanski for Macmillan -- "Visionary Korean author Kim Bo-Young unleashes a Lovecraftian nightmare of infection, transformation, and abomination."

• Them by W.H. Chizmar, read by Johnny Heller and Kevin R. Free for Simon and Schuster -- "A post-apocalyptic/survival horror novel written in the bestselling traditions of Stephen King’s The Mist and Josh Malerman’s Bird Box."

• Dreamland: A Novel by Olivie Blake, read by a full cast for Macmillan -- "A tantalizing story of power, seduction, and the omens you’ll ignore when everything you’ve dreamed of feels just within reach."

• Murmuration by TJ Klune, read by Kirt Graves for Macmillan -- "A timeless romance set in a perfect little town with a big dark secret."

• Freight: A Novel by Ryan Lowell, read by Pete Simonelli for Little, Brown and Co -- "As a lone semi-truck makes its snowy way to the US-Canadian border, a series of vivid characters are inexorably drawn into a desperate, comedic, and murderous scheme to steal its precious cargo."

• The Dungeon Book by Gareth Hanrahan, read by Lawrence Neale for Orbit -- "A young girl is left to die in a wizard's dungeon but finds a new home with the monsters around her in this humorous and heartfelt standalone epic fantasy."

• A Tangled Magic by Andrea Eames, read by Olivia Dowd for Recorded Books -- "A woman with amnesia—and magical hair—searches for her lost memories while navigating a web of royal intrigue, bone magic, and secret monasteries."

• She Haunts Me Still: A Novel by De Elizabeth, read by Ellie Gossage for Penguin -- "After surviving a shadowed childhood marked by ghost stories and loss, Mallory Webb is ready to start fresh as a theater major at her mother’s alma mater, a sanitarium turned liberal arts university in Rhode Island. Landing the lead role in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet feels like a dream—until the blood-soaked spirit she suspects caused her mother’s death resurfaces after years of quiet."

• The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope, read by Leon Nixon and Tyla Collier for Redhook -- "For five years, Zahara Douglass has been haunted by her sister’s impossible disappearance. Now, in December 1999, with the world on the brink of chaos, Zahara sets out to find her sister no matter the cost."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

• Great and Unfortunate Things by Jason Arday, read by the author for Simon and Schuster -- Obviously a great deal more controversial now, Arday's "memoir of overcoming remarkable challenges and responding to adversity with resilience" is being accused of being a warped fantasy by The Guardian.

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818), read by Stefan Rudnicki, Anthony Heald, and Simon Templeman for Blackstone -- "The original horror story, a classic that sparked a thousand nightmares and redefined what it means to be human."

• Castle Dor by Daphne du Maurier and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1961), read by Toby Longworth for Little Brown and Co -- "A magical, compelling retelling of Tristan and Iseult, the star-crossed lovers transplanted in time to the Cornwall of the last century. A chance encounter between the Breton onion-seller, Amyot Trestane, and the newly-wed Linnet Lewarne launches their tragic story, taking them in the fateful footsteps of the doomed lovers of Cornish legend."

• Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier (1972), read by Sarah Lambie for Little Brown and Co -- "Emma wakes up one morning to an apocalyptic world. The cozy existence she shares with her grandmother, an eccentric retired actress known to all as Madam, has been shattered: there's no post, no telephone, no radio - and an American warship sits in the harbor."

• St. Patrick’s Gargoyle by Katherine Kurtz (2001), read by Bruce Mann for Tantor -- "The gargoyles of Dublin, Ireland, have a sacred duty to perform. Formerly God's avenging angels, for centuries they have been entrusted with guarding the churches and cathedrals of the Irish capital while avoiding all contact with human beings. But once a month these loyal stone sentries must leave their posts to attend a conclave of their kind, and it is during one such absence that a sacrilege occurs."

MORE FICTION:

• The Peace Child by D.J. Molles, read by Will Damron for Blackstone -- "A snark-fueled, high-octane alien invasion thriller where humanity’s last hope might just be the most dangerous babysitting job in the galaxy."

• These Vile Hearts by Melody Robinette, read by Dan Bittner, Natalie Naudus, and Melody Robinette for Penguin -- "A delightfully wicked, fizzy debut romantasy--an enemies to lovers tale about a desperate mortal woman and a cursed fae prince."

INDIE WATCH:

• The Dark Within Us by Jess Popplewell, read by the author -- "Jenny's felt broken for a long time. Luc has his own issues - you would too if your family ruled Hell. When they meet at a party, sparks fly. She sees a handsome devil. He sees a lost soul. Both sense trouble. But it will take a journey to the very depths of the underworld to bring a girl and a demon together."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 14 July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-14 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

(in progress...)

PICKS:

* The Intrigue by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, read by Andre Bellido for Random House -- "A sizzling noir set in 1940s Veracruz about desire, danger, and greed, in which seduction is the ultimate con."

* Not with a Bang by Temi Oh, read by Nneka Okoye for Simon and Schuster -- "Station Eleven meets Leave the World Behind in this family drama at the end of the world about a crumbling household’s attempts to find their way back to each other amidst a cataclysmic event."

* Ice Vegas by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes, read by Shayna Small for Blackstone -- "Carver Reeves is head of security for BALDR, the massive nuclear facility that powers half of Europe, and by extension Ice Vegas, the glittering architectural fantasia of a domed city that has grown up beside it. But before he can peacefully retire, saboteurs infiltrate BALDR, determined to cripple the power plant, destroy the city, and kill hundreds of thousands of people."

* The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell, read by Zura Johnson for Audible -- "A dragon whose three heads bear rather…different...personalities finds family in the most unexpected of places."

* The Eye of Leviathan by M. A. Carrick, read by Leslie Catalina Esparza for Orbit -- "In an alternate Spanish Golden Age, the Council of the Sea Beyond has risen to unrivaled power, exploiting the Otherworld’s most precious resources for their own gain. Estevan seeks to uncover their secrets, but he risks the exposure of his own: that he is a faerie, masquerading as a mortal."

* Dominion by Jean Kwok, read by Annie Q. Riegel and Eric Yang for Penguin -- "Fourth Wing—by way of Chinese mythology—meets The Hunger Games in a perilous world where a young woman with no memory and little magic may hold the key to uniting the Dominions and saving the mortal realm."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

* They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy by Lauren Collins, read by Emma Ladji

* Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America's Love for the Wild by Heather Hansman, read by Kimberly M. Wetherell

* Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast by Pamela Colloff, read by Gabra Zackman

NEW EDITION WATCH:

* Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler, read by Anika Noni Rose for Grand Central, with an foreword by LeVar Burton and an Afterword by N.K. Jemisin -- "Fifteen-year-old Lauren Olamina lives inside a gated community with her preacher father, family, and neighbors, sheltered from the surrounding social chaos and anarchy caused by climate change and economic crisis. In a society where any vulnerability is a risk, she suffers from hyperempathy—a debilitating sensitivity to others' emotions. Precocious and clear-eyed, Lauren must make her voice heard in order to protect her loved ones from the imminent disasters her small community stubbornly ignores. But what begins as a fight for survival soon leads to something much more: the birth of a new faith . . . and a startling vision of human destiny."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

* Unpredictable Magic by Faith Hunter, read by Khristine Hvam for Penguin -- "Angelina Everhart-Trueblood and her brother Evan run Everhart Investigations, a PI firm in Chattanooga that solves paranormal crimes committed by supernatural beings. When their new client wants help finding her friend, who supposedly disappeared during a reception at Angie’s aunt Jane’s winter residence, things get . . . complicated."

* Hell to Pay: Infernal Affairs, Book 1 by Sherrilyn Kenyon, read by Fred Berman for Podium -- "A darkly witty supernatural thriller where the Devil's exiled son must solve crimes on Earth or be damned for eternity."

* Unbound: Bound and Unbound, Book 2 by Ali Hazelwood, read by Dean Miller -- "A five-thousand-year-old woman who has outlived empires and a doctor who's spent his life fighting death collide."

INDIE WATCH:

* The Men of the Mountain by Drew Harrison, read by L. Connor McGeverly -- "Five years ago, the Men of the Mountain descended from their icy peaks and took Cade’s sister. They called it an honor; Cade calls it an abduction. Since then, the clanless trapper has lived in the silence of her absence, nursing a quiet hatred for the "benevolent" sorcerers who rule Fort Hope with fear and magic. He has waited for a sign, a mistake, or a chance to strike back. That chance arrives in a ball of fire."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 7 July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-07 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

* Nightjar: Stories by Emily Ruskovich, read by Robert Petkoff, Ellen Adair, Emma Ladji, and Jay Myers for Random House -- "From the award-winning author of the national bestseller Idaho comes a stunning collection of stories that explore how unexpected intuitions forever alter the lives of ordinary people."

* Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle, read by Mara Wilson for Macmillan -- "An aspiring fashion influencer by day, Poppy moonlights as a grave robber to make ends meet, wheeling and dealing dead bodies across Palm Springs. When her hero, the flamboyant, piano-slamming rockstar Eddie Michaels, unexpectedly dies, Poppy gets a call to retrieve his body from the medical examiner’s office for a lucrative sum. It could be the last job she’ll ever need—if everything goes to plan."

* Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt: A Novel by Ben Reeves, read by Mike Frankland for Simon and Schuster -- "An astonishing, deeply moving novel about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death."

* Tsubaki Stationery Store: A Novel by Ito Ogawa, translated by Cat Anderson, read by Hanako Footman for Penguin -- "A spellbinding and heartwarming Japanese bestseller about a young woman who inherits a stationery store from her late grandmother and becomes the trusted scribe of the town."

* Wisdom Corner: A Novel by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, read by Shane Ghostkeeper for Ecco -- "From the award-winning author of Winter Counts comes a new thriller about life—and death—on the Rosebud Indian Reservation."

* An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton, read by Barton Caplan and Kelli Tager for Penguin -- "When an astronaut is lost in space, his wife relives their epic love as she attempts to unravel what truly happened to him, in this sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s Space Race."

* Earth 7: A Novel by Deb Olin Unferth, read by Amanda Dolan for Recorded Books -- "Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth."

* The Memory Bookshop: A Novel by Song Yu-jeong, read by Jennifer J. Kim for William Morrow -- "A spellbinding novel about a mysterious bookshop that exists outside of time and space, where the past is only a page away."

* We Were Forbidden by Jacqueline Harpman, translated by Ros Schwartz, read by Samara Naeymi for Podium -- "From the author of I Who Have Never Known Men comes a startling new collection of three never-before-translated stories, each plumbing the depths of that most necessary human instinct: defiance."

* Ungodly Rich: A Novel by Katharine McGee, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Random House -- "A modern-day twist on ancient mythology in this bold reimagining of the Greek gods as a family of billionaires—with all the messy drama that entails."

* The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley, read by Christine Williams for Dreamscape -- "A savage, hypnotic dive into the lives and deaths of a coven of vampires living in nineteenth-century Paris on the cusp of revolt and revolution."

* The Brides: A Novel by Charlotte Cross, read by Anna Popplewell and Sam Woolf for Harlequin -- "A feminist gothic horror about the three women who became the brides of Dracula – and the fourth who managed to escape."

* The Names of a Hare by Bernice Barry, read by Emma Powell for Bolinda -- "Cornwall, 1628. A young girl guards a dangerous secret: she can leave her body and fly. Steeped in herbal lore and forbidden spells, the girl becomes a woman, while across the land whispers of witchcraft turn deadly."

* The Farewitch of Foxe Holler by Ellen Pauley Goff, read by Amanda Stribling for Simon and Schuster -- "Steel Magnolias meets Practical Magic in this charming contemporary fantasy about a thirty-something kitchen witch who is recruited to help a reclusive warlock and discovers love on the other side of the next bake."

POETRY WATCH:

* The Acrobat: Essential Poems by Wislawa Szymborska, read by Beata Pozniak for Ecco -- "A vibrant collection of the lasting, essential work of the Nobel Prize–winning poet."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

* This is Where the Future Bleeds by Mike Brooks, read by Kim Bretton for Tantor -- "A thrilling adventure packed with laughs, escapes, and kick-ass action, about a smart-talking bunch of rogues and dropouts being thrust into an epic quest to save the future and meddle with the destinies of empires."

* Killswitch Protocol by M. J. Kuhn, read by Laura Jennings for Tantor -- "In New Avarita, every person is born with a purpose. Once fulfilled, they are eligible for Ascent, a peaceful passing and assumed rebirth on the next plane of existence, celebrated for having left their perfect mark upon the world. At least, that's what the powers that be want them to believe."

MORE FICTION:

* Summer of Love by Kerri Maher, read by Lauryn Allman for Penguin -- "In this moving novel about the transformative power of storytelling, three women make life-changing decisions set in motion by the 1967 Summer of Love in San Francisco."

* The Simp: A Novel Without a Hero by Roshan Sethi, read by Vidish Athavale for Simon and Schuster -- "A razor-sharp novel about the rise and fall of an unemployed actor who lands the greatest role of his life when he’s hired as a personal assistant to an absurd Hollywood family"

* We Will See You Bleed by Ron Currie, read by Lisa Flanagan for Penguin -- "It's late summer 1984, and Babs Dionne’s hometown of Waterville, Maine is on the verge of collapse. A strike at the paper mill has dragged on for a year, pitting neighbor against neighbor, leaving everyone broke and exhausted."

BACKLIST WATCH:

* Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey (2017), read by Gabra Zackman and Scott Aiello for Blackstone -- "A collection of shockingly prescient stories covering topics from aliens to AI, including some that have never before been seen, from the New York Times best-selling author of the Silo trilogy."

* AL:ICE by CW Lamb (2014), read by Daniel Thomas May for Tantor -- "Captain Jacob Thomas USMC is a divorced combat veteran just trying to get his life back on track. Returning to the Marine Corps after a failed attempt at reconciliation with his estranged wife, Jake volunteers for a DARPA experiment that catapults him into a future where humanity has been stripped of 200 years of technological advancements and more than half its population."

SERIES WATCH:

* Manor of Decay: A Novel by Maxym M. Martineau, read by Alexandra Hunter and Stephen Dexter for Harper Voyager -- "In the high-stakes sequel to House of Blight, Edira must decide if the world is worth saving… and if she has enough power left to save herself too."

* False Gods: The Horus Heresy Saga, Book 2 by Graham McNeill, read by Jonathan Keeble for Black Library -- "The Great Crusade that has taken humanity into the stars continues. The Emperor of Mankind has handed the reins of command to his favoured son, the Warmaster Horus. Yet all is not well in the armies of the Imperium."

NEW EDITION WATCH:

* Queen of the Damned: The Vampire Chronicles, Book 3 by Anne Rice (1988), read by Robin Miles and Vikas Adam for Audible -- "The rock star known as Vampire Lestat, worshipped by millions of spellbound fans, prepares for a concert in San Francisco. Among the audience—pilgrims in a blind swoon of adoration—are hundreds of vampires, creatures who see Lestat as a "greedy fiend risking the secret prosperity of all his kind just to be loved and seen by mortals," fiends themselves who hate Lestat's power and who are determined to destroy him."

* The Odyssey by Homer, read by MacLeod Andrews for Literati Audio -- "The epic ten-year journey of King Odysseus home after the Trojan War."

INDIE WATCH:

* Splinter: Splintered World, Book 1 by Brian Moyer, read by Luke Daniels for Unbound Books -- "Ama is two days from her graduate program at Montana State when she pulls off a Wyoming highway to rest her eyes. She wakes on bare earth beneath unfamiliar stars. Her car is gone. The highway is gone. The world she's fallen into looks like Wyoming—the Red Desert, the Great Divide Basin, sage and sandstone—but it runs on different rules. People here develop capabilities: the ability to move water, heat stone, push air in ways physics back home can't explain. Those without capabilities survive on skill, trade, and instincts about who to trust."

* The Keepers by Alys Mackay, read by a full cast for Abandoned Gods Press -- "Tsunala is carried through a land that no longer remembers mercy—guarded by monsters, watched by a half-breed who should be her enemy, and pulled toward truths she is not ready to name. Power lingers beneath her skin, unclaimed and dangerous. As desire stirs where fear should live, something ancient begins to breathe again. The gods, long silent, are waking—not as legends, but as beings who can bleed, ache, and love."

MOST MISSING:

* The Language of Knives: Stories by Haralambi Markov (Mythic Delirium) -- "A murderous nine-headed monster from legend permits a podcast interview. The mall has opened its doors, and nothing, not even certain death, will keep the shoppers away. A dead man’s curse drives his descendants to drown themselves, no matter how far from home they flee. An eerie haunted house attraction receives an even more unnerving guest. A grieving widower, knife in hand, undertakes a painstaking, gruesome ritual to appease the gods. If seeking a boon from Baba Yaga sounds nerve-shattering, imagine having to live under her roof."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 30 June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-30 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

NON-FICTION PICK:

* The Anthony Bourdain Reader: New, Classic, and Rediscovered Writing by Anthony Bourdain, read by the late author and a full cast for Ecco -- "A testament to the enduring and singular voice Bourdain crafted, with eclectic and curated chapters that encapsulate the unique brilliance of his restless mind."

FICTION PICKS:

* Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep: A Novel by Paul Tremblay read by Sophie Amoss, Graham Halstead, John Pirhalla, and Dan Bittner for William Morrow -- "Philip K. Dick meets the Coen Brothers in this genre-bending near-future that is as bitingly funny as it is horrifically believable."

* The Summer of the Serpent by Cecilia Eudave, translated by Robin Myers, read by: Kim Ramirez for Highbridge -- "A horror-infused, polyphonic work about the violence and cruelty seething in a late-seventies Guadalajara neighborhood."

* The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares, read by Ruffin Prentiss -- "In 1977—a world in which America launched its space program shortly after WWII—Mitch Ward followed Flynn, the lost love of his youth, into the US Spaceguard. Now, he’s stuck on a backwater moon base with his only friend, Gloria, watching every shuttle in the hope Flynn will be on it. After an inexplicable encounter with a strange, euphoric being, Mitch and Gloria find themselves dishonourably discharged, and stuck in a USA rapidly sliding into fascism with no plans and no future. There’s nothing for it but to move to Los Angeles to chase their dreams, and find their people in the discos of the city."

* The Loom Tree by Angela Mi Young Hur, read by Catherine Ho and Da Eun Yoon for Recorded Books -- "Ninth House meets Babel for fans of myth and folklore in this contemporary fantasy about a Korean-American college student at a magical university where fairy tales intersect with family heritage to unleash powers beyond imagining."

* July Sun: Stories by Aamina Ahmad, read by Deepti Gupta for Penguin -- "In a searing collection by the award-winning author of The Return of Faraz Ali, characters seek to make their futures their own in a Pakistan riven by class, gender and religion."

* Witch Season: A Novel by Julia Bianco, read by Nora Sofyan for Macmillan -- "Exhilarating, dangerous, and seductive, an action-packed and fiercely romantic contemporary fantasy debut."

* The Feywild Job by C. L. Polk, read by Vico Ortiz for Random House -- "Sparks fly when bitter exes are forced to team up for an elaborate Feywild heist."

* Shades of Forever by Chris Kluwe, read by Tess Irondale for Podium -- "In a heretofore calm pocket of a postapocalyptic world, a few survivors find they are not alone as they face a new reality rife with cosmic horrors."

* Songbird in the Gallows: A Novel by Alta Hensley, read by Rock Engle and Jillian Macie for Avon -- "Five years ago, Saylor Mitchell’s father was brutally murdered in front of her, shattering her world. Now his killers have tracked her down to finish the job."

* Moss'd in Space by Rebecca Thorne, read by Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick and Natalie Naudus for Macmillan -- "Torian Razner finally bought a starship, and contrary to Amelia’s assessment, it was not “a meteoric sign of stupidity.” Sure, the alien starship may have been abandoned for a century, and it may be covered in moss now… but it’s Torian’s ticket to freedom, regardless of what her ex… ah, captain… said. Except Torian’s first flight reveals a surprise passenger: the moss is actually an organic computer with a snarky attitude and serious abandonment issues."

* The Winged Game: A Novel by Sophie Kim, read by Will Watt and Shakira Shute for Random House -- "Fantasy meets sports romance in this sizzling slow-burn novel in which the disgraced star of a brutal magical sport must team up with the rival who destroyed her career."

* 4 Janes: A Novel by Marian Yee, read by Elizabeth Knowelden, VyVy Nguyen, and David Lee Huynh for Brilliance -- "Through time, space, and the transcendence of maternal love, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is reimagined in the parallel lives of one soul searching for meaning, connection, and a place to belong."

* The Delivery by Gregg Hurwitz, read by Scott Brick for Audible -- "From the author of the Orphan X series comes a tense novella, a psychological thriller about an AI companion that will do anything to serve—with terrifying consequences."

* All We Have Left by Emily Paxman, read by Aven Shore for Tantor -- "Thirty years after the end of the world, a young woman enters into a marriage of convenience with a man she hardly knows so she can secure vital medical care for her beloved younger sister."

* Eos by Vera Nazarian, read by Ruthie Bowles for Tantor -- "A mysterious vigilante meets Scheherazade in high-tech Ancient Atlantis, set against the backdrop of an impending global apocalypse."

* The Golden Feather by Tracy Rees, read by Joseph Discher for Podium -- "Saul Bonnytop—penniless, uneducated and very, very old—has a secret dream: to enter the mighty Emperor's storytelling competition. But the contest, to find the most marvellous tale in all the land, is out of reach for someone like Saul—until the arrival of a mysterious golden feather."

* The Blood Year Daughter: Stories by G.G. Silverman, read by Shana Pennington-Baird for Dreamscape -- "In this debut fairytale-horror collection, a woman builds husbands out of gravel and slaughterhouse feathers, two sisters eat cinnamon-scented pieces of their mother, and a charming doctor's murdered brides whisper warnings to his newest wife."

BACKLIST WATCH:

* Solar Lottery by Philip K. Dick, read by John Skelley for Recorded Books -- "In 2203 anyone can become the ruler of the solar system. There are no elections, no interviews, no prerequisites whatsoever—it all comes down to the random turns of a giant wheel. But when a new Quizmaster takes over, the old one still keeps some rights, namely the right to hire an unending stream of assassins to attempt to kill the new leader."

* Children of Solitude by Michael G. Williams (2025), read by the author for Gold Dust -- "This Appalachian cosmic horror novel tells the story of a gay man who must return to his ancestral home in the mountains of Western North Carolina after his mother’s death to clean it out and sell it off. Navigating feelings of grief and anger, he finds her house is haunted and her nosy neighbors always watching him—and one of those neighbors happens to be his favorite adult performer."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 23 June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-23 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

My pre-order this week is is a non-fiction title:

* The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence—Before It's Too Late by Cory Doctorow, read by the author for Macmillan -- "A short, provocative guide to what's good, bad, and stupid about AI and the discourse around AI, by the author of Enshittification." (Note: not available at Audible due to their DRM requirements.)

More PICKS:

* The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus, read by Kimberly Woods for Simon and Schuster -- "Perfectly aligned for readers of Iain M. Banks’s The Culture series and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, The Sixth Nik is a galaxy spanning adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Angel Down and Whalefall."

* Retro: A Novel by Jessica M. Goldstein, read by Allyson Ryan for Random House -- "An out-of-work actress gets a job as a tour guide for an ultra-luxury time travel company—only to discover her trips to the past could upend her present—in this rollicking, speculative debut novel."

* Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by John Pirhalla for Macmillan -- "Philip Marlowe meets Redwall in this superior adult noir tale, where all the characters are animals, fighting for survival in the city underneath the humans."

* The Tinder Box by M. R. Carey, read by Richard Trinder for Orbit -- "Wounded in his county's endless wars, former soldier Mag Tresti finds work in the home of a reclusive widow, Jannae Mirchella. But Jannae is more than she seems. A witch of great skill and might, she hides her powers and her deep-laid plans behind a mask of harmless respectability. When a dead demon falls out of the sky, the fates of the soldier and the witch are irrevocably intertwined. On the demon's body Mag finds a tinderbox—an artefact of terrifying magical power that can not only grant his every wish, but also change the fate of nations."

* Tales of a Monstrous Heart: A Novel by Jennifer Delaney, read by Hollie Hales for Recorded Books -- "An instant Sunday Times bestseller and love letter to the Brontë sisters, Tales of a Monstrous Heart is a delicious gothic fantasy, filled with forbidden romance, magic, and monsters."

* Little Wild: A Novel by Laura Evans, read by Tamaryn Payne for Macmillan -- "Weyward meets Atonement in a shimmering debut novel of first love, betrayal, and revenge set on a crumbling British estate."

* A Treason of Magic by Melissa Marr, read by Gail Shalan for Brilliance -- "In a world where magic, desire, and duty collide, it is beauty who is fated to kill the beast in a lush historical fantasy of secrets and star-crossed love."

SERIES WATCH:

* The Fall: The Bound and The Broken, Book 0.5 by Ryan Cahill, read by Derek Perkins -- A novella-length prequel: "The City of Ilnaen is on fire. Dragons fill the skies. Traitors fill the streets."

* Chaos Blade: Crucible by A.P. Beswick, read by Aaron Smith and Raya Kane for Simon Maverick -- "New skills required: teamwork, balance…and surviving the arena."

INDIE WATCH:

* American Paladin, Book 1 by Larry Correia, read by Nick Searcy for Ark Press -- "Welcome to the dark places of the modern American west—a west where mythic worlds roam the landscape like so many weather fronts. And when those fronts collide, horror often spills out. Blood-soaked ground. Vanished neighbors. Towns gutted by monstrous horrors no one dares name. The so-called authorities won’t touch this stuff. Most won’t even admit it’s real. But when the last shred of hope is nearly spent, there’s one man who will step into that darkness—and deal with it."

More FICTION titles on my watch list this week:

* Tillinghast: A Novel by Clare Cavenagh, read by Timothy Andrés Pabon for Penguin -- "A dark and utterly original literary horror debut, following a priest whose bloodthirsty life has extended far longer than any mere human's—and is upended when a stranger comes to town."

* Asperfell by Jamie Thomas, read by Nicola Barber for Orbit -- "A noblewoman with hidden magic. An exiled prince with dark secrets. Only together can they escape their magical prison and save their realm, in this romantic fantasy novel."

* Nothing to My Name: A Novel by Kangkang Li Kovacs, read by Jen Zhao for Penguin -- "Inspired by the author’s own family history, and spanning the past hundred years of Chinese history, this multi-generational family saga explores how women survive the tsunamis of history."

* Names Have Been Changed: A Novel by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, read by Mirai for Penguin -- "Catch Me If You Can meets Counterfeit in this thrilling debut novel about Ophir—not her real name—who starts a confessional podcast about her years on the run around the globe, in an unforgettable story about the costs of freedom and the inescapable pull of home."

* The Future Perfect: A Novel by Cay Kim, read by Greta Jung for Penguin -- "A radiant, exquisitely told portrait of a young woman growing up between cultures, in search of her future self."

* The Spoil: A Novel by Maile Chapman, read by Jennifer Pickens for Brilliance -- "In a rambling split-level house on the outskirts of Tacoma in the 1970s, a young girl is preoccupied by the anomalous phenomena she reads about in magazines: alien visitations, ESP, pyramid power, the Bermuda Triangle. Meanwhile, she and her stepbrother, thrown uneasily together by disaster and divorce, grow increasingly convinced that a malevolent presence resides in their house, and they develop elaborate strategies to live with it."

* The Broken Hearts Agency: A Novel by Clarence A. Haynes, read by a full cast for Legacy Lit -- "In a spicy, contemporary fantasy novel, private investigator Linda Villanueva runs a detective agency for troubled souls using her mystical powers—all while wrestling with her own heart."

* The Door in Penrose Forest: A Novel by Sean David Robinson, read by Nan McNamara for Tantor -- "As a boy, Nico once accompanied his mother on a research trip to investigate a stalled migration of monarch butterflies. One night, upon hearing her sneak out of their rented cabin, he followed her to a clearing in the forest where a famed mansion once stood. Paralyzed with fear, he watched his mother climb a staircase and vanish, along with the stairs and the strange glowing door at its peak. No one believed his story, and as he grew older, he too stopped believing it was real."

* Hunt the Ever Wild by S. E. Kiser, read by Graham Halstead for Tantor -- "A gothic standalone combining the gaslamp fantasy of C. L. Polk's Witchmark with the slow-burn rivals-to-lovers romance of Isa Agajanian's Modern Divination and the whimsy of Howl's Moving Castle."

* Acceleration Clause: Ransom's Law, Book 1 by Robert Kroese, read by Stacy Carolan for Podium -- " He used to weaponize contracts from a desk. Now he enforces them at gunpoint in deep space."

More NON-FICTION titles on my watch list this week:

* The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning by Robert Wright, read by Chris Henry Coffey for Simon and Schuster -- "A sweeping new view of artificial intelligence—as an evolutionary force that will pose deep political and spiritual challenges and could, in the process, give our species a unifying sense of purpose."

* Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution by Denise Kiernan, read by the author for Penguin

* Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage by Matthew Wolfe, read by Dan John Miller and the author for Penguin

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 16 June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-16 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

FICTION PICKS:

• The Frenzy: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates, read by a full cast for Random House -- "A gripping collection of propulsive, psychologically suspenseful stories by the legendary American writer."

• Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian, read by Luke Daniels for Simon and Schuster -- "A London rocker is faced with a life-or-death choice when he realizes that a powerful society of magic wielders are the only ones keeping London safe in this deft contemporary fantasy."

• A Year of Marvelous Ways by Sarah Winman, read by the author for Penguin -- "The remarkably life-affirming novel from the highly acclaimed author of Still Life, set in 1940s Cornwall following the unlikely friendship between an eighty-nine-year-old woman at the end of her story and a young soldier, reeling from World War II, at the start of his own."

• The Shrouded Queen by Ashley Tropea, read by Soneela Nankani and Rasha Zamamiri for Simon and Schuster -- "In the first book in this romantasy duology inspired by ancient Egyptian mythology, a slave and a princess switch places during an enemy attack, igniting parallel journeys of love and survival."

• Voyagers: A Novel by Meg Charlton, read by Michael Crouch for Harper -- "When the Signal—a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system— arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing this could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirtysomething lawyer who’s spent years distancing himself from the unexplainable, the Signal feels deeply personal—the opening of an old wound."

• Kill All Wizards by Jedediah Berry, read by Raphael Corkhill for Macmillan -- "The barbarian traveled far to consult the wizards of the empire. Instead of lending their aid, they ensorcelled him, exploited his strength, and stole his sword. They should not have done that. Now the barbarian plans to kill every wizard who wronged him, even if that means blending in with their vile society: dressing in finery, taking tea in exclusive clubs, and reserving the best box at the theater. Oh, he hates it all with the fiery passion of his savage heart—but not as much as he hates these wizards."

• The Inn Side Shop by Gil Hess, read by Luke Daniels for Simon Maverick -- "A new cozy LitRPG fantasy series about a young man, a magical inn, and a story that levels up with every chapter."

• Wildflower: A Novel by Becky Jenkinson, read by Beth Lilly for Random House -- "A magical florist journeys from the kingdom’s capital to its wild woods to fulfill an unusual request, and stumbles upon friendship, conspiracy, and the buds of new love in this debut cozy fantasy."

• Leave and Come Back: A Novel by Lavanya Lakshmi, read by Priya Ayyar and Raoul Bhaneja -- "For the first time, Simran Gopal is living out her own swoon-worthy romance to rival the beloved Bollywood films of her childhood... until she receives her cousin’s wedding invitation. Now, Simran finds herself returning to the family home she’s been avoiding for the last seven years to take part in a two-week long Indian wedding."

• Vervain Hollow by Catriona Silvey, read by Brenda Scott Wlazlo for Union Square -- "Two years ago, Laura was in a cult. But when the sprawling house in the hollow burned down with Vervain, their strikingly handsome and magnetic leader, trapped inside, Laura had nowhere to go but home. Brokenhearted, she finds herself longing for their lost leader—despite the trauma of that strange and terrifying year, she knows the power he promised her was real. But her estranged friend, Aliyah, calls to tell her that Daniel, one of the other acolytes, has been lured back to the hollow by a message from Vervain."

• Queenswood by Kathleen Schwab, read by Liam Gerrard and Jess Moran for Blackstone -- "A lush, lyrical historical fantasy debut that transports readers to twelfth-century Ireland."

• Seal of Rome by Eden Maddox, read by Jake Bordeaux and Ash Kingsley -- "When an elite gladiator defies death in the arena, his shocking victory earns him more than glory—it draws him into the heart of a secret mission that could change the fate of the Empire. Hardened by brutality and betrayal, Jason is recruited into a covert task force to stop an insidious coup from toppling Rome from within."

• Dhampira by Amy Pennza, read by Jaclyn Kelso for Penguin -- "A long-lost noble of the ruthless vampire court discovers she might not need to choose between her two suitors in this blood-pounding new romantasy."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

• I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World by Sarah Wilson, read by the author -- "A deeply moving, wise guide to finding joy and meaning in a world that seems to be falling apart."

• Monster of a Land: On the Road in Search of Modern America by Lauren Hough, read by the author for Random House -- "An update of John Steinbeck’s trip in Travels with Charley, a cross-country journey exploring modern America with Lauren Hough’s signature observational wit, searing social commentary, and perspective as someone who knows what it’s like to truly exist on the margins in this country."

• How to Be a (Happy) Skeptic: The Power of Doubt in a Meaningful Life--Lessons from Cicero's Philosophy by Massimo Pigliucci, read by Robert Fass

• The Crooked Places Made Straight: Reflections on the Moral Meaning of America by Raphael G. Warnock, read by the author -- "From Senator Reverend Warnock, a sermon in the public square on the issues that plague us most."

• Never Tell a Black Girl How to Black Girl: Essays by Amena Brown, read by the author -- "An irresistible delight, this hilarious and heartwarming essay collection gathers essential tales about growing up in the South and the pitfalls of date night."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Homo Machina by P.A. Vasey (2025), read by Joshua Macrae -- "The year is 2098. Humanity is no more. Earth is a ravaged, radioactive wasteland. On Mars, a small group of synthetic humanoids survive—their memories of the apocalypse wiped, seeking to understand their role in the fall of humanity. Until Sol-5 receives a message. A message from a possible human survivor, and a plea to go to Earth to find her. But what he finds there will change everything. The humans were wiped out for a reason."

• Spellbent: The Jessie Shimmer Series, Book 1 by Lucy A. Snyder (2009), read by Devon Chandler -- "In the heart of Ohio, Jessie Shimmer is caught up in hot, magic-drenched passion with her roguish lover, Cooper Marron, who is teaching her how to tap her supernatural powers. When they try to break a drought by calling down a rainstorm, a hellish portal opens and Cooper is ripped from this world, leaving Jessie fighting for her life against a vicious demon that's been unleashed."

SERIES WATCH:

• Exodus: The Helium Sea by Peter F. Hamilton, read by John Lee for Random House -- "The epic conclusion of the Archimedes Engine duology."

• The Shape of Monsters: Moon Heresies, Book 2 by Tessa Gratton, read by Emily Lawrence for Orbit -- "A talented heretic and the emperor she both loathes and loves will learn what monsters are really made of."

• Choke Point: A Scot Harvath Thriller by Brad Thor, read by Armand Schultz -- "A devastating series of bombings tears through Bangkok. Scores of American citizens are dead. The attacks send shock waves around the world."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 9 June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-09 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Contrapposto: A Novel by Dave Eggers, read by Dion Graham -- "A sweeping novel about friendship, love, and the lifelong pursuit of art."

• The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones: A Novel by Lex Croucher, read by Ellise Chappell -- "An extraordinary dark academia fantasy about dangerous privilege, corrupted power, and two former best friends caught on opposite sides of the secrets rotting at the heart of Britain’s most prestigious boarding school."

• Cat Love: A Novel by Tomás Q. Morín, read by Kaniehtiio Horn and John Detty -- "The indelible cat heroine of this unexpected tale recalls her life with “the Mustache,” her beloved owner. Trapped in a one-way mirrored box, displayed in a classroom for people who must contemplate her fate as part of their training to become “Emotional Support Humans,” she weaves a self-soothing paean to the poetry, music, and creature comforts she shared with her Mustache—the best products of a society that has gone off the rails in its violence and intolerance."

• Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer, read by Jennifer Pickens -- "Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she's kidnapped. They're not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN. Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped. She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it's the last thing she does."

• Feast by Catherine Kurtz, read by Anushka Chakravarti -- "In nineteenth-century France, a young woman with a magical sense of taste saves a duc from poison, and her new role as poison taster thrusts her into the world of the nobility, where secrets and danger lurk around every corner."

• I'll Take the Fire: A Novel by Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor, read by Lara Sawalha -- "From one of the boldest and most captivating voices in world literature, a sensual and provocative coming-of-age novel about a young Arab woman on a quest for sexual and political freedom."

• The Traveler by Joseph Eckert, read by Ray Porter -- "It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling head-long down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell."

• We Hexed the Moon: A Novel by Mollyhall Seeley, read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw -- "Bunny meets The Craft in this speculative debut about four best friends who perform a ritual on the moon in a last-ditch attempt to hold onto one another but are forced to reckon with the consequences."

• This Immortal Heart: A Novel of Aphrodite by Jennifer Saint, read by Lydia Leonard -- "The epic, captivating tale of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who must reconcile her mind and heart when she is drawn against all odds to Ares, the god of war."

• Daughters of the Sun and Moon: A Novel by Lisa See, read by Jennifer Lim -- "The story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles."

• Social Animals by Camille Perri, read by Ellen Adair and Mark Bramhall -- "Three women. One dog park. Things are about to get messy."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

• Freedom: Essays by Zinzi Clemmons, read by the author -- "A radically vulnerable and virtuosic inquiry into the pursuit of freedom and the interminable nature of struggle."

• Centennial: The Great Fair of 1876 and the Invention of America's Future by Fergus M. Bordewich, read by Sean Patrick Hopkins

• Two Ships: Jamestown 1619, Plymouth 1620, and the Struggle for the Soul of America by David S. Reynolds, read by Paul Bellantoni

POETRY WATCH:

• Birds of America: Poems by Chera Hammons, read by the author -- "An evocative, uplifting, and thoughtful collection of poems steeped in the natural world, examining life and healing in the aftermath of trauma."

BACKLIST PICKS:

• Believarexic by J.J. Johnson (2015), read by the author -- Blends fiction and memoir in a powerful package, very happy this has come to audio to accompany the new print edition: "Jennifer can’t go on like this—binging, purging, starving, and all while trying to appear like she’s got it all together. But when she finally confesses her secret to her parents and is hospitalized, her journey is only beginning. As Jennifer progresses through her treatment, she learns to recognize her relationship with food, and friends, and family—and how each is healthy or unhealthy. She has to learn to trust herself and her own instincts, but that’s easier than it sounds. She has to believe—after many years of being a believarexic."

• Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2019), read by David Thorpe -- "Humanity clings to life on a dying Earth in an epic, far-future science fiction novel from an award-winning author. The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor. This is his testament, an account of the journey that took him into the blazing desolation of the western deserts; that transported him east down the river and imprisoned him in the verdant hell of the jungle's darkest heart; that led him deep into the labyrinths and caverns of the underworld. He will meet with monsters, madmen, mutants. The question is, which one of them will inherit this Earth?"

SERIES WATCH:

• Inkpot Gods: Alchemical Journeys, Book 4 by Seanan McGuire, read by Amber Benson -- "More than a century has passed since Asphodel Baker refined the process allowing her to imbue alchemically created life with power in a way no one else had ever been able to achieve. More than a century since she built the Impossible City on the ruins of Olympus, forging it from nothing more than imagination and spite, and penned it in plain view, enabling it to be read and cherished and believed by children the world over. And now, so long after her exit from the world, the descendants of her dark alchemy—who exist in a reality that inches ever closer to the hellscape of her imagination—step into a place of birth, of discovery, of horror, to make amends for the sins of the past."

• Fleet of Ghosts: Destroyermen: Corps of Discovery, Book 1 by Taylor Anderson, read by PJ Ochlan -- "An expeditionary force will discover unfamiliar lands, fight deadly foes, and reveal secrets as they explore the mysterious new earth they now call home in this gripping alternate history adventure set in the world of the Destroyermen series."

OMNIBUS WATCH:

• After the End: Volumes 1-4 and After the End: Volumes 5-8 by Ali Hazelwood, Adriana Herrera, Nikki Payne, Nina Saxena, Claire Kent, Elizabeth Stephens, Cate C. Wells, and Sherry Thomas, read by a full cast

A few more on the watch list this week:

• The Newcomers By Pam Troy Narrated by Tanya Eby

• Modern Magic By Beth Williams Narrated by Sarah Kempton

• The Master of Puppets By Molly J. Bragg Narrated by Jennifer Pickens

• It Came from Neverland: A Novel By Cynthia Pelayo Narrated by Ella Lynch and Rory Barnett

• Ghostly Kyoto: 87 Supernatural Tales from Japan By Éric Faure Narrated by Brian Nishii

• The Gilded City of Dreams: A Novel By Luanne G. Smith Narrated by Jess Moran

• The Reimagining of Thornwood House By Jaleigh Johnson Narrated by Isuri Wijesundara

• Bone of My Bone By Johanna van Veen Narrated by Amy Noble

• The Witch’s Stone By Kirsty Ferry Narrated by Karen Cass

• Red Sheet: A Novel By James Ellroy Narrated by Craig Wasson

• The Courage to Commit: Embrace the Radical Power of Sticking with Something by Shawn Johnson and Andrew East, read by the authors

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 2 June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-02 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

* The Unicorn Hunters: A Novel by Katherine Arden, read by Fiona Hardingham for Random House -- "In a desperate gamble to save her throne, a young monarch conceals a secret marriage in the shadows of an enchanted forest—and unknowingly alters the fate of her world."

* Land: A Novel by Maggie O'Farrell, read by Dane Whyte O'Hara for Books On Tape -- "A soaring historical novel set in Ireland in the years before and after the Great Hunger."

* Whistler: A Novel by Ann Patchett, read by the author for Harper -- "A moving, luminous novel that reminds us of the sweetness and impermanence of life and the power of connection to defy time."

* The Children: A Novel by Melissa Albert, read by Rebecca Lowman with Saskia Maarleveld, Kristen Sieh, Leslie Aleman, and Iggy Costello for William Morrow -- "The estranged adult children of a legendary author, written into their dead mother’s beloved fantasy series, must contend with the vine-like creep of legacy, memory, and magic."

* The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions by Ruth Ozeki, read by the author with Jeff Ebner, George Newbern, and Akie Kotabe for Books On Tape -- "A spellbinding story collection from Booker Prize finalist Ruth Ozeki, about the lives we almost lived, the people we can’t quite forget, and the stories that shape us long after the last page is turned."

* The Jellyfish Problem by Tessa Yang, read by Erin Lin for Books On Tape -- "A marine biologist makes the discovery of a lifetime when called to rescue the inhabitants of a small Maine island being menaced by a giant, glowing jellyfish in this richly imagined, wholly original debut."

* Valet: A Novel by J.P. Lacrampe, read by Kevin R. Free for Simon and Schuster -- "A helper robot and his thirty-five-year-old ward embark on a madcap adventure to save the fate of the family company in this whimsically speculative ode to Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster."

* Sublimation by Isabel J. Kim, read by Major Curda and Michelle H. Lee for Macmillan -- "Doppelgängers, corporate intrigue, heartbreak, betrayal, and the harsh permanence of the border; a thrilling and provocative debut for fans of Severance that asks what you'd sacrifice for a different life."

* The Clock House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji, translated by Ho-Ling Wong, read by Jonathan Yen for Tantor -- "Brilliant detective Shimada Kiyoshi must save a team of paranormal investigators, trapped in an abandoned house, as they are picked off one-by-one."

* Muñeca by Cynthia Gómez, read by Elena Rey and Frankie Corzo for Penguin -- "Set in 1968 Oakland, a vivid, surreal Gothic about a queer, Latine, working class witch who sets out to rescue a bespelled heiress and loses control of her powers and her heart in the process."

* Mr. Yay: A Novel by Emily Jane, read by Alex Picard, Marc Vietor, and Nile Bullock for Audible -- "A hilarious, genre-blending speculative novel about rappers and dogs, love and marriage, private detectives, nostalgia, and embracing your true self, in a world where the past is different than what you remember."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

* The Heart of the Nhaga: Book One of the Bird That Drinks Tears by Lee Young-do, translated by Anton Hur, read by Tim Lounibos for Harper Voyager -- "A tale of castles built on the backs of flying mantas, giant birdmen, heartless immortals, and a quest that will change the very nature of the world and its gods."

* Nobody's Quest by Alyssa Day, read by Maeve York for Tantor -- "For a hundred years, Altarra has burned. Corvynne, the goddess of war, has conquered kingdom after kingdom, leaving only ruin in her wake. Every prophecy says the same thing—nobody can defeat her. And after a century of failure, someone finally takes that literally. When the goddess Artemisen chooses Soli Graymind—a nobody from the lowest caste who suffers from chronic depression—to lead one last desperate quest, the world laughs. But Soli won’t be alone. She's joined by five others just as broken, just as lost."

SERIES WATCH:

* Darksight Dare: A Penric & Desdemona Novella by Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner

* The Dawn Throne: The Dark Gods, Book 3 by Tara Sim, read by Nikki Patel

* Worlds Enough and Time by Joe Haldeman (1992), read by Victor Warren

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 19 May 2026

Posted on 2026-05-19 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

* And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer, read by Jess Moran for Audible -- "An intergalactic art heist by a ragtag group of underqualified misfits. What could go wrong?"

* Palaces of the Crow: A Novel by Ray Nayler, read by Eunice Wong for Macmillan -- "Four young teens caught between Nazis and the Red Army survive winter in the woods with the help of a flock of highly intelligent crows with a magnificent secret of their own to protect."

* The Arcane Arts: A Novel by S. D. Coverly, read by Will Damron, Alina Sofia, Stevi Incremona, and Sean Masters for Random House -- "In this thrilling and sexy dark romance, a graduate student and her adviser dive into a taboo branch of magic, igniting a dangerous passion."

* Deathbringer: A Novel by Sonia Tagliareni, read by Chris Lew Kum and Kristin Atherton for Simon and Schuster -- "A slow-burn dark academia filled with delicious yearning, dripping with atmosphere, and a compelling mystery about a death mage who hates her magic and a poison mage who hates her that are forced to work together to stop a killer before one of them is next."

* The Dorians by Nick Cutter, read by Corey Brill for Simon and Schuster -- "On a remote island in the Canadian wilderness, five elderly volunteers from different walks of life are given a tantalizing offer: to stall their biological clocks or even reverse them, restoring their lost youth. The chance to put death on pause—forever, perhaps. The remarkable secret lies in the high-tech harnessing of an ancient and extraordinary biological agent…one with no conscience, yet possessed with a single-minded purpose that has helped it persist for eons: the will to survive."

* Some Kind of Wonderful by Debbie Macomber, read by Gabra Zackman for Recorded Books -- "In Macomber’s delightful take on Beauty and the Beast, an idealistic teacher and a mysterious mogul prove that opposites do attract … all the way to happily ever after."

SERIES WATCH:

* Villain: Hench, Book 2 by Natalie Zina Walschots, read by Alex McKenna for William Morrow -- "The Boys meets Assistant to the Villain in the electrifying, sharp, violent, and hilarious sequel to the highly acclaimed novel, Hench. Filled with a queer and neurodiverse cast, Villain asks the question: what happens when a diabolically brilliant henchperson looks back at their already storied career and thinks, I can be so much worse."

* The Ballad of Falling Dragons: Moonfall, Book 2 by Sarah A. Parker, read by a full cast for Avon -- "The much-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling phenomenon When the Moon Hatched, featuring an immersive, vibrant world with mysterious creatures, a unique magic system, and a love that blazes through the ages."

* White Feathers, Crimson Leaves: A Legend of the Five Rings Novel by Josh Reynolds, read by Raechel Wong

TIE-IN WATCH:

* New History of the DC Universe by Mark Waid, read by Dan Bittner with a full cast for Random House -- "In celebration of 90 years of DC comes a thrilling and immersive audio production adapting super fan and writer Waid’s comprehensive New History of the DC Universe, turning back time to the very beginning of it all."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 12 May 2026

Posted on 2026-05-12 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

OF COURSE:

* A Parade of Horribles: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 8 by Matt Dinniman, read by Jeff Hays -- "As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon. Races."

PICKS:

* Star by Ann Leckie, read by Adjoa Andoh -- "Space opera's sharpest mind returns to the world of the Imperial Radch in this brilliant standalone from award-winning author Ann Leckie."

* 2084 by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis, read by Keith Szarabajka, Eric Yang, Pun Bandhu, Eunice Wong, and Emily Woo Zeller -- "By the year 2084, the world is divided into the equatorial countries that bear the brunt of the climate crisis—led by Nigeria, Brazil, and Indonesia—and wealthier countries like China and the US, beset by their own problems after a series of civil wars. Tensions between the two sets of countries have reached a breaking point, until finally the so-called Reparationist nations of the equator decide that only military force can bring them justice."

* Make Me Better: A Novel by Sarah Gailey, read by Xe Sands -- "Celia is so tired of being alone. All she wants is to have a family—to belong to someone. That's why she's going to Kindred Cove for the annual Salt Festival held by the secluded community that lives there. They promise that healing is possible. They promise that transformation is inevitable. There is no grief at Kindred Cove, because there is no suffering. Nothing is ever lost. Celia knows that, at that mysterious island surrounded by that impossible, ever-growing reef -- she will find herself. She’s ready to be healed. She’s ready to be transformed. She's ready to believe."

* The Lost Book of Lancelot: A Novel by John Glynn, read by Thomas Delacourt -- "A queer retelling of the legend of Sir Lancelot, following the famous knight as he grows up orphaned, falls in love, and attempts to fulfill his destiny at the Round Table."

* Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffmann, read by Nancy Wu - "A script supervisor for an AI media conglomerate is caught between her intense need for an orderly life and her deeper, darker queer desires."

* The Franchise by Thomas Elrod, read by John Pirhalla -- "The classic fantasy world of The Malicarn has been brought to life on the big screen in a series of phenomenally successful blockbuster movies, almost entirely populated by characters in total belief that their sham fantasy lives are real. A fan-favorite actor finds himself doubting the studio's work, but this franchise has an almost unstoppable momentum, and bringing freedom to a population that already believes itself to be free won’t be as easy as he thinks."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

* Take Me to Your Leader: Practical Advice for Your First Alien Encounter by Neil deGrasse Tyson, read by the author

* Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom by Jet Li, read by Justin Chien -- "The martial arts legend and international movie star distills ten powerful insights from his iconic career, his personal life and philosophies, and his thirty-year Buddhist practice."

* Kafkaesque: From Jorge Luis Borges to Primo Levi, Ten Writers Who Translated Kafka and Transformed Twentieth-Century Literature by Maïa Hruska, read by the author

* American Rambler: Walking the Trail of Johnny Appleseed by Isaac Fitzgerald, read by the author

* Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A. by Jonathan Vigliotti, read by the author -- "A searing firsthand account of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, the failures that fueled the catastrophe, and the high-stakes battle over how the city will rebuild ahead of the 2028 Olympic Games."

* Redeem a Nation: The Century-Long Battle to Restore the Soul of America by Damario Solomon-Simmons -- "We all feel it, the teetering toward a place in America from which there is no return. The battle to remain hopeful in spite of injustice after injustice. In this powerful story of one lawyer’s fight for his community, both justice and hope are redeemed."

BACKLIST WATCH:

* David Starr, Space Ranger (1952) by Isaac Asimov, read by MacLeod Andrews -- "Conway could remember the day, the exact minute, when the news had reached Science Tower. Patrol ships had shot out into space, tracing the pirates; they attacked the asteroid lairs in a fury that was completely unprecedented. Whether they caught the particular villains who had gutted the Venus-bound ship none could ever say, but the pirate power had been broken from that year on. And the patrol ships found something else: a tiny lifeboat winding a precarious orbit between Venus and Earth, radiating its coldly automatic radio calls for help. Only a child was inside."

* Isle of the Dead by Roger Zelazny, read by Eric Jason Martin -- "Human Francis Sandow is amused when the alien Pei'ans mistake him for Shimbo of Darktree, God of Thunder, but the Shimbo's enemy, Belion—a true supreme being—arrives for a showdown."

* King Comus by William Demby

* Love Story Black by William Demby

NEW EDITION WATCH:

* This Census-Taker: A Novel by China Miéville, read by the author -- "In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries—and fails—to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape. When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over. But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?"

SERIES WATCH:

* The Tapestry of Fate: Amina al-Sirafi, Book 2 by Shannon Chakraborty, read by Lameece Issaq, Amin El Gamal, and Sneha Mathan -- "The second adventure of pirate Amina al-Sirafi as her quest to track down magical artifacts brings her to the island lair of a sorceress whose woven enchantments are impossible to flee."

* All Hail Chaos: Time of Iron, Book 2 by Sarah Rees Brennan, read by Moira Quirk and Shane East

The rest of my WATCH LIST for the week:

* Jeremiah Bourne in Time by Nigel Planer, read by the author -- "As Jeremiah Bourne is swept from his crumbling home in Blackfriars in 2019, to the same house but in 1910, he suddenly faces two questions: how did he get here, and how can he return to his own time? On his quest for answers, he encounters a cast of comic characters and situations: a coven of free-thinking spiritualists, a futuristic residents’ association, warring street gangs, eugenic scientists, aggressive domestic servants and a nudist magistrate."

* Seek the Traitor's Son by Veronica Roth, read by Imani Jade Powers, Max Meyers, Rebecca Soler, and Steve West -- "A new epic romantic, dystopian fantasy begins."

* Memory House by Elaine Kraf, read by Kristen Sieh -- "The never-before-published novel by the cult feminist author, exploring what happens when a drained writer fakes her death and joins a mysterious club for failing artists."

* Sister Svangerd and the Devil You Know by K. J. Parker

* The May House by Jillian Cantor

* Deathbringer by Sonia Tagliareni

* Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray

* Femme Feral by Sam Beckbessinger

* Worthy of Fate by A.N. Caudle

* Mighty Real by Barry Walters

* The Bone Door by Frances White, read by Honi Cooke

* Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon, read by Tim Bruce

* We Dance Upon Demons by Vaishnavi Patel, read by Nikita Tewani

* Model Actress Whatever by Kim Newman, read by Olivia Darnley, Finlay Robertson

Not sure what happened, but the title of the new Leckie book is "Radiant Star". I don't seem able to edit the comment, alas.

Posted in Release Week