Release Week: 5 August 2025

Posted on 2025-08-05 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• People Like Us: A Novel by Jason Mott, read by the author with Ronald Peet and JD Jackson for Penguin -- "Two Black writers are trying to find peace and belonging in a world that is riven with gun violence. One is on a global book tour after a big prize win; the other is set to give a speech at a school that has suffered a shooting. And as their two storylines merge, truths and antics abound in equal measure: characters drink booze out of an award trophy; menaces lurk in the shadows; tiny French cars putter around the countryside; handguns seem to hover in the air; and dreams endure against all odds."

• Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, read by Em Grosland for Macmillan -- "You don't have to eat food to know the way to a city's heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food—the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around—for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war. But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they'll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other—and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn't built for them."

• Hungerstone By: Kat Dunn, read by Perdita Weeks for Penguin -- "A compulsive feminist reworking of Carmilla, the queer novella that inspired Dracula."

• The Magician of Tiger Castle By: Louis Sachar, read by Edoardo Ballerini and Louis Sachar for Penguin -- "Long ago and far away (and somewhere south of France) lies the kingdom of Esquaveta. There, Princess Tullia is in nearly as much peril as her struggling kingdom. Esquaveta desperately needs to forge an alliance, and to that end, Tullia's father has arranged a marriage between her and an odious prince. However, one month before the "wedding of the century," Tullia falls in love with a lowly apprentice scribe. The king turns to Anatole, his much-maligned magician. Seventeen years earlier, when Anatole first came to the castle, he was regarded as something of a prodigy. But after a long series of failures—the latest being an attempt to transform sand into gold—he has become the object of contempt and ridicule. The only one who still believes in him is the princess. When the king orders Anatole to brew a potion that will ensure Tullia agrees to the wedding, Anatole is faced with an impossible choice. With one chance to save the marriage, the kingdom, and, of most importance to him, his reputation, will he betray the princess—or risk ruin?"

• Dwelling: A Novel By: Emily Hunt Kivel, read by Christine Lakin for Macmillan -- "A dazzling, surrealist fairy tale of a young woman's quest for house and home—from New York to the Texas hinterlands and, maybe, back again."

• Lord Guan: Warrior, Hero, God; A Historical Novel By: Charles N. Li, read by Ewan Chung for Blackstone -- "In the spirit of Shōgun comes an iconic story inspired by the real-life hero Lord Guan, also known as Guan Yu, an honorable warrior who fought to restore the Han dynasty in second-century China."

• Ride or Die by Delilah S. Dawson, read by Dominique Salvacion for Listening Library -- "Tonight is Brie’s chance to finally be accepted by the Ems—the most popular girls at school. If she can just keep one potentially reputation-ending secret under wraps, she’ll have the best night of her life, screaming on scary rides and running the Wildwoods amusement park with her new friends. But when the Ems take a game of truth or dare too far, Brie ends up alone in a creepy abandoned section of the park. There, she meets a group of cool older teens that invite her to join them. They seem friendly enough. Little does Brie know she’s about to come face to face with a reawakened evil that wants to take her on the ride of her life...make that her death."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Mindscape By: Andrea Hairston (2006), read by Jasmin Walker for Recorded Books -- "Hairston's extraordinary debut novel, nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award and short-listed for the Otherwise Award. The world has been divided by the Barrier. For 115 years this extraterrestrial, epi-dimensional entity has divided the earth into warring zones. Power-hungry politicians, gangsters, and spiritual fundamentalists are determined to thwart a potential treaty to end the internal wars. When the treaty's architect is assassinated, her protégée, Elleni, a talented renegade and one of the few able to negotiate the Barrier, is forced to take up her mantle. Now Elleni and a motley crew of allies risk their lives to make the treaty work."

• The Toynbee Convector: Stories By: Ray Bradbury (1984), read by Ali Andre Ali, Corey Brill, Danielle Cohen, Gary Furlong, and Suehyla El-Attar Young for Simon and Schuster -- "A collection of twenty-two stories, including the continuing saga of H.G. Well’s time traveler and his Toynbee Convector, a ghost on the Orient Express, and a bored man who creates his own genuine Egyptian mummy."

NEW EDITION WATCH:

• Ubik By: Philip K. Dick (1964), read by Edoardo Ballerini for Recorded Books -- "A mind-bending, classic Philip K. Dick novel about the perception of reality, named as one of Time's 100 best books. Glen Runciter runs a lucrative business—deploying his teams of anti-psychics to corporate clients who want privacy and security from psychic spies. But when he and his top team are ambushed by a rival, he is gravely injured and placed in "half-life," a dreamlike state of suspended animation. Soon, though, the surviving members of the team begin experiencing some strange phenomena, such as Runciter's face appearing on coins and the world seeming to move backward in time. As consumables deteriorate and technology gets ever more primitive, the group needs to find out what is causing the shifts and what a mysterious product called Ubik has to do with it all."

SERIES WATCH:

• Accomplice to the Villain: Assistant to the Villain, Book 3 by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, read by Em Eldridge for Tantor -- "Evie Sage didn't mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom's most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised "light paperwork and occasional beheadings," and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss. Now, with a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire―or her dignity, which is hanging by a very sarcastic thread."

TIE-IN WATCH:

• Star Wars: Sanctuary: A Bad Batch Novel By: Lamar Giles, read by Marc Thompson for Random House -- "Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Omega gamble on a mission to help rebuild Pabu in this thrilling adventure for The Bad Batch."

• Era of the Eclipse: A Starfinder Novel By: Tim Pratt, read by Mike Dent for Paizo -- "When two novice Starfinders, the energetic Dae and somber Chk Chk, make a startling discovery, they unlock a link to one of the galaxy’s most momentous events: the Gap, and the disappearance of the now lost world of Golarion. Shrouded in mystery, the Gap ended with mortals across the cosmos suddenly finding themselves with memories stripped from their minds without warning or explanation."

• RuneScape: The Gift of Guthix By: Erin M. Evans, read by Stewart Crank for Tantor -- "A thrilling epic of betrayal and magic set during the founding of Falador and the doomed Fremennik Great Invasion."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• House of the Beast: A Novel By: Michelle Wong, read by Jeanne Syquia for Harper -- "Step into the House of the Beast in this dark fantasy debut from The Legend of Korra graphic novel illustrator Michelle Wong, about a young woman who strikes a deal with a mysterious and alluring god to seek revenge on her aristocratic family."

• The Deathless One: The Gravesinger Series, Book 1 By: Emma Hamm, read by Kelsey Navarro Foster for Simon and Schuster -- "A princess murdered at the altar makes a deal with the god of death for vengeance and to save her people."

• Zomromcom By: Olivia Dade, read by Joy Nash for Penguin -- "Teaming up with your neighbor during a zombie outbreak is a no-brainer, but if it turns out he’s a vampire . . . the stakes couldn’t be higher."

• Awakened By: Laura Elliott, read by Antonia Beamish for Dreamscape Lore -- "Civilisation has ended. In a bid to make us more productive, to give us more time, science took sleep from humanity. But sleeplessness turned people into feral monsters, and now a small group of scientists are trapped in the Tower of London, consumed by guilt at what they have done and desperately searching for a cure. And then one day, as the last ravens circle, two miraculous survivors walk into the Tower. Are they the answer, or a terrible question?"

• Ethos: Link, Book 1 By: Nathan Hystad, read by Jonathan Davis for Audible -- "On the 300th anniversary of Earth’s first expedition to another solar system, the original colony ship miraculously appears near Saturn. But the crew of Excursion One is nowhere to be found. All that’s left is a broken android, and a string of clues."

INDIE WATCH:

• Manzakar: The Slave-Soldier Series, Book 1 By: R. Laham, read by Edmund Bloxam for Oliver Heber Books -- "The Gohari are a race of nomadic, pansexual people with inherent magic who are suffering at the hands of the Kingdom of Anzor’s angry god, Cenk. By harnessing the nomads’ skills in horsemanship and archery, Anzor has built a powerful, elite class of slave-soldiers who are above and beyond any other kingdom’s army: the Manzakars. Sold into slavery to save his nomad family from starving, Tikran becomes a Manzakar believing that they are warriors of justice. However, as he campaigns in Gohar, the land of his birth, he realizes that not only is Anzor using the Manzakars to persecute the nomads, but it’s also exploiting the Gohari by enslaving them and stealing their magic—the Essence—to be the most powerful kingdom on the Continent. As the most celebrated Manzakar in Anzor and the king’s personal bodyguard, Tikran must decide if he’s willing to forfeit his dreams of glory—as well as his own life and the lives of those he loves—to stand up for what he believes in and fight for the oppressed people of Gohar."

MOST MISSING:

• The Outspoken and the Incendiary: Interviews with Radical Speculative Fiction Writers by Terry Bisson (PM Press) -- "For more than a decade, radical science fiction author and activist journalist Terry Bisson interviewed some of the most provocative and outspoken authors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Anarchism, sexuality, creativity, and the future of humanity itself—no topic was taboo. Bisson's prankster spirit also shone through as he quizzed his subjects about what cars they drove, played free association games, and created an atmosphere of two old friends having intimate late-night chats. Foreword by Jonathan Lethem; Introduction by Nisi Shawl; Afterword by Nalo Hopkinson; Elegies by Rudy Rucker and Peter Coyote."

• Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions by John Langan (Word Horde) -- "A garishly painted figurine contains a terrible curse; the ten-year anniversary of a sensational horror film shot in an abandoned mine reveals stunning secrets; endnotes for a book review uncover a strange high-tech pathogen; a man witnesses something uncanny and unexplained as his friend succumbs to a watery death; a seasick woman aboard a ferry is pursued by a barnacle-covered specter; a professor reveals the mysterious connection between Joseph Conrad and Peter Pan; a man encounters the ghost of his lost sister in a liminal space between the land and sea; an academic meets a mythical creature on a mysterious island."

• Hideki Smith and the Omukade: Hideki Smith, Demon Queller, Book 2 by A.J. Hartley with Hisako Osako and Kuma Hartley (Falstaff Books) -- "Hideki—the apprentice superhero formerly known as Caleb—and his shape shifting fox sister Emily, have barely had time to recover from saving their North Carolina mountain town from an invasion by creatures from Japanese folklore, but now it looks like that invasion might be back on. Unfamiliar bugs are appearing all over Portersville and at least one of them is very strange and, it appears, getting bigger by the day. And that's not the only strange thing in town. A glamorous and persuasive stranger has captivated the locals and brought some very peculiar plans for the area. And there are secrets closer to home too, some of which might be enough to tear Hideki’s family apart. Assuming the bugs don’t get them first…"

(in progress)

7/31 Muckle Flugga By: Michael Pedersen Narrated by: Jack Lowden for Faber and Faber

7/31 The Last Voyage By: Brian D. McLaren Narrated by: Davis Brooks

8/1 While the Dark Remains The Winter Dark, Book 1 By: Joanna Ruth Meyer Narrated by: Kimberly Woods

8/5 Escaping Denver By: Teague Bohlen

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 29 July 2025

Posted on 2025-07-29 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• An Oral History of Atlantis: Stories by Ed Park, read by a full cast for Random House -- "Gilt-edged stories that slice clean through the mundanity of modern life, from the author of Same Bed Different Dreams, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize."

• The Memory Hunters: The Consecrated, Book 1 By: Mia Tsai, read by Channie Waites for Recorded Books -- "Inception meets Indiana Jones in this cinematic, slow burn, romantic fantasy following a headstrong academic and her equally stubborn bodyguard as they unearth an ancient secret that rocks the foundations of their society … and challenges their unspoken love for one another. A sapphic, dark academia-adjacent, climate dystopia—with mushrooms."

• Silvercloak By: L. K. Steven, read by Saffron Coomber for Random House -- "In this addictive new fantasy series set in a world where magic is fueled by pleasure and pain, an obsessive detective infiltrates a brutal gang of dark mages—knowing that one wrong move will get her killed."

• Birth of a Dynasty: A Novel By: Chinaza Bado, read by Adenrele Ojo for Harper -- "Combining the political intrigue of She Who Became the Sun with the gorgeous world-building of Children of Blood and Bone, Birth of a Dynasty is the start of a thrilling epic fantasy trilogy centered around three families’ fight for power in Ahkebulin, a land where magic is feared, giants are real, and prophecy holds sway."

• The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey By: Kathleen Kaufman, read by Mhairi Morrison for Highbridge -- "As spiritualism reaches its fevered pitch at the dawn of the twentieth century, a Scottish girl crosses the veil to unlock a powerful connection within an infamous asylum in this thrillingly atmospheric, exquisitely evocative exploration of feminine rage and agency."

• The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World By: J.R. Dawson, read by Lindsey Dorcus and Mara Wilson for Macmillan -- "At the edge of Chicago, nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, there is a waystation for the dead. Every night, the newly-departed travel through the city to the Station, guided by its lighthouse. There, they reckon with their lives, before stepping aboard a boat to go beyond. Nera has spent decades watching her father—the ferryman of the dead—sail across the lake, each night just like the last. But tonight, something is wrong. The Station's lighthouse has started to flicker out. The terrifying, ghostly Haunts have multiplied in the city. And now a person—a living person—has found her way onto the boat. Her name is Charlie. She followed a song. And she is searching for someone she lost."

• Beasts of Carnaval By: Rosália Rodrigo, read by Inés del Castillo for Harlequin -- "Within the shores of Isla Bestia, guests from around the world discover a utopia of ever-changing performances, sumptuous feasts and beautiful monsters. Many enter, but few ever leave—the wine is simply too sweet, the music too fine and the revelry endless. Sofía, a freedwoman from a nearby colonized island, cares little for this revelry. Born an enslaved mestiza on a tobacco plantation, she has neither wealth nor title, only a scholarly pragmatism and a hunger for answers. She travels to el Carnaval de Bestias in search of her twin brother, who disappeared five years ago. There’s a world of wonder waiting for her on the shores of this legendary island, one wherein conquerors profit from Sofia’s ancestral lands and her people’s labor. But surrounded by her former enslavers, she finds something familiar in the performances—whispers of the island’s native tongue, music and stories from her Taike’ri ancestors…a culture long hidden in the shadows, thrust into the light."

• The Final Chapter By: January Gilchrist, read by Elizabeth Brennan and Oriana Morris-Johnson for Harper -- "Desley Barron is ready to prove her doubters, and herself, wrong about her flagging writing career. She's won a spot at an exclusive writing retreat in the Blue Mountains. Only instead of feeling creative, Desley finds her insecurity increases while the ghost stories about the house have her jumping at shadows. This reclusive house is the last place anyone will think to look for high-profile author Colette Halifax, which is perfect as she hides from a looming scandal. Unfortunately, someone here is threatening to ruin the one part of her life that isn't already a shambles."

• The Lies They Told By: Ellen Marie Wiseman, read by Elisabeth Rodgers for Recorded Books -- "In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement—when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin."

• The Alchemy of Flowers: A Novel By: Laura Resau, read by Cassandra Campbell for Harper Muse -- "A broken woman. A mysterious job ad. A chance to heal in French castle gardens—but strange things are growing behind the ancient stone walls. This debut adult novel is an enchanting, modern-day take on The Secret Garden, sprinkled with magic."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Dinner at Deviant's Palace By: Tim Powers (1985), read by Justin Price for Tantor -- "In the twenty-second century, the City of Angels is a tragic shell of its former self, having long ago been ruined and reshaped by nuclear disaster. Before he was in a band in Ellay, Gregorio Rivas was a redeemer, rescuing lost souls trapped in the Jaybirds cult of the powerful maniac Norton Jaybush. Rivas had hoped those days were behind him, but a desperate entreaty from a powerful official is pulling him back into the game. The rewards will be plentiful if he can wrest Urania, the official's daughter and Gregorio's first love, from Jaybush's sinister clutches. To do so, the redeemer reborn must face blood-sucking hemogoblins and other monstrosities on his way to discovering the ultimate secrets of this neo-Californian civilization."

• World Made by Hand (2009) and The Witch of Hebron (2010) by James Howard Kunstler, read by Jim Meskimen for Simon and Schuster -- "For the townspeople of Union Grove, New York, the future is nothing like they thought it would be. Following a cascading set of catastrophes—the end of oil, climate change, resource wars, and global pandemics—they are doing whatever they can to get by. The outside world is largely unknown. There may be a president, and he may be in Minneapolis now, but people aren’t sure. The townspeople’s challenges play out in a dazzling, fully realized world of abandoned highways and empty houses, horses working the fields, and rivers—no longer polluted—replenished with fish."

• Fruits of the Gods By: William C. Tracy (2023), read by Lynn Norris for Tantor -- "Sisters Kisare and Belili uproot an ancient box in their owner's orchard and find a miracle inside: a fifth godfruit in a society that knows only four. It is punishable by death for non-nobles to eat godfruit, so the sisters hide the discovery and plot to escape servitude for good. With the power represented in the box, they could live as nobles themselves. But Kisare finds her new freedom more difficult than she imagined, and Belili has many secrets she strives to keep hidden."

TIE-IN WATCH:

• Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons By: Jaleigh Johnson, read by Lauren Fortgang for Random House -- "When the day is threatened by tyrannical foes or monstrous fiends, the people of Faerûn place their trust in the realm’s mighty heroes. When the mighty heroes don’t show up, they get the Fallbacks."

MOST MISSING:

• The Dagger in Vichy by Alastair Reynolds (Subterranean Press) -- "In a deep medieval future, a band of players travels across France to perform the same old tales in the same old towns. When passing soldiers entrust them with a mysterious box that they say must be delivered to the Imperator, old playwright Master Guillaume and young escaped thief Rufus puzzle at what the box might contain. When Rufus overhears strange conversations between his Master Guillaume and the thing in the box, he must choose between his loyalty to the man who saved him from the noose and fear of the ancient intelligence working in their midst."

• Bloody Bones by Garrett Boatman (Cemetery Dance) -- "Thirty years ago, the stranger came to the sleepy southern town of Farnsworth and the killings began. Wearing a black suit and passing himself off as a traveling preacher, the Dark Man targeted children. But when he took the daughter of the local hoodoo woman, she exacted a terrible revenge."

• Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins by Colleen Anderson (Raw Dog Screaming Press) -- "Complex emotions and experiences are woven into the architecture of Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins, where the reader is both captured and freed by meditations on perseverance and survival. While fables and mythology tower over our literary landscape casting a long shadow, Anderson uses electrifying retellings in verse to illuminate new meaning in well-known tales."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 22 July 2025

Posted on 2025-07-22 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• It Was Her House First By: Cherie Priest, read by Kristen DiMercurio, Cindy Kay, and Mark Bramhall for Sourcebooks -- "Silent film star Venita Rost's malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that's claimed countless unlucky souls. And she's not alone. Snared in her terrible web, Inspector Bartholomew Sloan—her eternal nemesis—watches her wreak havoc in helpless horror, shackled by his own guilt and Venita's unrelenting wrath. Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it's Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen. She arrives armed with an unexpected inheritance, a strong background in renovation, and a blissful ignorance regarding the house's blood-soaked history. But her arrival has stirred up more than just dust and decay. In the shadows, unseen eyes watch. Then, a man comes knocking. He brings wild stories and a thinly veiled jealousy, as well as a secret connection to the house that can only lead to violence."

• The Library at Hellebore By: Cassandra Khaw, read by Natalie Naudus

• Volatile Memory By: Seth Haddon, read by Emily Gibbons Bouchard for Macmillan -- "This is How You Lose the Time War meets Ex Machina; a sapphic sci-fi action adventure novella."

• Necessary Fiction: A Novel By: Eloghosa Osunde, read by a full cast for Penguin -- "From the acclaimed author of Vagabonds!: an audacious and eye-opening exploration of cross-generational queer life in Nigeria."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights By: John Steinbeck (1976) Narrated by: Nezar Alderazi for Penguin

• The Stone Door By: Leonora Carrington (1976) Narrated by: Lorna Bennett for Tantor

SERIES WATCH:

• Edmund, Accountant of the Night: Merseton Tales, Book 2 By: Angel Martinez Narrated by: Dan Calley

• Angel Eye: The Cursebreakers Series, Book 2 By: Madeleine Nakamura Narrated by: Tim Lounibos

• In Kazar: The Calamitous Bob, Book Two By: Alex Gilbert

• Rhymer: Hel: Rhymer Trilogy, Book 3 By: Gregory Frost Narrated by: Alex Wyndham

• The Last Wizards' Ball: Gunnie Rose, Book 6 By: Charlaine Harris Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky

• The End of the End: Zombie Fallout, Book 25 By: Mark Tufo Narrated by: Sean Runnette

INDIE WATCH:

• Physical Magic: The Shifting Lands, Book 1 By: William C. Tracy Narrated by: Adi Cabral

MOST MISSING:

• The Knave of Graves by S.J. Shank (Carthago Nova Press) -- "Jeppo loathes his hometown and he can scarcely tolerate the townsfolk. Mostly, he despises his life as a gravedigger. He went to the Academy in the south, after all. He was never meant to take up his father’s shovel. When a wicked sorcerer arrives at his gate demanding the bones of the local saint, Jeppo has no objection in principle. But he fears the wrath of the night hag, to whom he has been selling corpses for years. Jeppo must choose the lesser of two evils, and do so quickly. The spiraling feud threatens to spill innocent blood … and worse still, his darkest secrets."

(in progress)

One Yellow Eye By: Leigh Radford Narrated by: Sofia Engstrand

The Phoenix Pencil Company A Novel By: Allison King

Salt Bones A Novel By: Jennifer Givhan Narrated by: Victoria Villarreal for Mulholland

Arcana Academy By: Elise Kova

Bonding: A Novel By: Mariel Franklin Narrated by: Ellie Kendrick

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 15 July 2025

Posted on 2025-07-15 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, read by Gisela Chipe for Random House -- "Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic."

• Killer on the Road By: Stephen Graham Jones, read by Isabella Star LaBlanc, Richard Brake, and the author for Simon and Schuster -- "A gripping high-speed chase novel pitting a runaway teen and her unsuspecting friends against a relentless serial killer on a dangerous road trip where survival is anything but guaranteed."

• Royal Gambit: A Novel By: Daniel O'Malley, read by Moira Quirk for Little, Brown and Company -- "From the brilliant and hilarious author of The Rook, a delightful new supernatural adventure: When the heir to the British throne suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances, Checquy operative and reluctant aristocrat Alix is assigned to be lady-in-waiting/personal bodyguard to the new Crown Princess, and must navigate the halls of power and privilege while investigating the supernatural murder of the Prince of Wales."

• A Resistance of Witches: A Novel By: Morgan Ryan, read by Grace Gray for Penguin -- "A historical fantasy debut set against the backdrop of World War II, where a witch journeys to find a book of unspeakable power before it lands in Nazi hands."

• American Mythology: A Novel By: Giano Cromley, read by Lee Osorio for Random House -- "A charming and comic debut novel about a quirky ensemble embarking on an epic quest to find Bigfoot."

• Chilco: A Novel By: Daniela Catrileo, translated by Jacob Edelstein, read by Victoria Villarreal for Recorded Books -- "A near-future fable about love, life, and friendship in a world that’s coming apart."

• Spent: A Comic Novel By: Alison Bechdel, read by the author with a full cast for Harper -- "The celebrated and beloved New York Times bestselling author of the modern classic Fun Home presents a laugh-out-loud, brilliant, and passionately political work of autofiction, adapted for audio by the author herself and brought to life with a star-studded cast."

• The Girl in the Creek by Wendy Wagner, read by Jennifer Pickens for Macmillan -- "Buried secrets only spread. Erin's brother Bryan has been missing for five years. It was as if he simply walked into the forests of the Pacific Northwest and vanished. Determined to uncover the truth, Erin heads to the foothills of Mt. Hood where Bryan was last seen alive. He isn’t the first hiker to go missing in this area, and their cases go unsolved. When she discovers the corpse of a local woman in a creek, Erin unknowingly puts herself in the crosshairs of very powerful forces—from this world and beyond—hell-bent on keeping their secrets buried."

• Ashes to Ashes By: Thomas Maltman, read by Michael Crouch for Recorded Books -- "Small-town Minnesota teenager Basil “The Brute” Thorson—a shy, reluctant wrestling star and “special” tracked into special education classes—vows to make his family whole again in the wake of multiple tragedies, during a year in which his community is roiled by strange religious and mythological events."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Walk Me to the Distance By: Percival Everett (1985), read by Jared Zeus for Tantor -- "Haunting, provocative and bleakly funny, Walk Me to the Distance is Everett's brilliant reexamination of the Western, and a laconic tragicomedy about what it takes to survive in the last days of a bygone big-sky country."

SERIES WATCH:

• The Enchanted Greenhouse: A Spellshop Novel By: Sarah Beth Durst, read by Caitlin Davies for Macmillan -- "A new standalone novel set in the world of The Spellshop, a cozy fantasy nestled on a faraway island brimming with singing flowers, honey cakes, and honeyed love."

• The Jasad Crown: The Scorched Throne, Book 2 By: Sara Hashem, read by Rasha Zamamiri, Lukas Arnold, Ali Nasser, and Victoria Nassif for Orbit -- "In the thrilling conclusion to the Egyptian-inspired Scorched Throne duology, a fugitive queen must risk everything and everyone she loves for the chance to restore her lost kingdom of Jasad."

• Three Shattered Souls: Five Broken Blades, Book 3 By: Mai Corland, read by Greg Chun, Zion Jang, Sophie Oda, Jaine Ye, and Roger Yeh for Recorded Books -- "The Blades were never supposed to survive this long. But after the battle in Quu Harbor, escaping is no longer enough. The most dangerous liars in the four realms have one last mission—return to Yusan and finish what they started. But now a usurper sits on the serpent throne. And he may be more dangerous than the god-king."

• Reckoner: Darkblade, Book 8 By: Andy Peloquin, read by John Lee for Tantor -- "The Hunter's enemies will soon learn a bloody truth: No foe is more dangerous than a cornered assassin."

• The Golden Goblin: A Spellmonger Novel By: Terry Mancour, read by John Lee for Podium -- "An epic road trip with two brilliant young wizards who find themselves on a trail that leads through the Goblin Kingdom and into the cold, forbidding Minden mountain range, the very edge of humanity's settlement."

MORE FICTION:

• Make Your Way Home: Stories By: Carrie R. Moore, read by Khaya Fraites and William DeMeritt for Recorded Books -- "A debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories. How can you love where you come from, even when home doesn’t love you back?"

• Blowfish By: Kyung-Ran Jo, read by David Shih and Jennifer Kim for Blackstone -- "For fans of Han Kang and Sheila Heti, an atmospheric, melancholic novel about a successful sculptor who decides to commit suicide by artfully preparing and deliberately eating a lethal dish of blowfish."

• Fireweed: A Novel by Lauren Haddad, read by Therese Plummer for Audible -- "In the mowed-down industrial north of Prince George, Canada, “white trash” housewife Jenny Hayes shares a fence with the only First Nations woman in the neighborhood, Rachelle, and her two little girls. Jenny desperately wants a child and can’t understand why Rachelle, with her trash-pocked and overgrown yard, should have what Jenny wants most in the world."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• House of Frost and Feathers By: Lauren Wiesebron, read by Daphne Kouma for Harper -- "A touch of The Bear and the Nightingale, a bit of Juniper & Thorn, and a sense of wonder and adventure makes up this lyrical debut fantasy of a young woman in search of a home, and a home in search of people to make it feel lived in."

• The Girl I Was By: Jeneva Rose, read by Hillary Huber for Dreamscape -- "Alexis Spencer will use any inspirational quote to rationalize her failures and shortcomings. Her closest friends are a distant memory, and her college debt is still as high as the day she left. But that’s all fine and dandy, because “whatever will be, will be.” However, when Alexis loses her job and her relationship on the same day, there’s no quote strong enough to get her through that. In typical fashion, she blames the world for her problems, including her younger self, who should have tried harder. Feeling sorry for herself, Alexis finds a bottle of vodka from her college days and goes on a bender, blacking out in the process. Only this time, she doesn’t wake up at home, or in the right city. In fact, she isn’t even in the right year. Alexis is back in her college town in the year 2002."

• If Wishes Were Retail By: Auston Habershaw, read by Brittany Goodwin for Tantor -- " In this hilarious debut fantasy cozy, a rebellious—but enterprising—young woman and an ancient—but clueless—genie set up shop at the local mall."

• In the Veins of the Drowning: The Siren Mage, Book 1 By: Kalie Cassidy, read by Ell Potter for Little, Brown and Company -- "Imogen Nel is in hiding. Hiding from a cruel kingdom that believes Sirens are monstrous, blood-hungry creatures. Hiding from a king and his captain who viciously hunt her kind. Hiding from her own alluring abilities. By keeping herself from the sea, Imogen’s bloodlust is dulled, and her black wings remain concealed beneath her skin."

• The Immeasurable Heaven By: Caspar Geon, read by Dan Calley for Tantor -- "An entirely alien cast race across the multiverse in search of a priceless map of the realities in this thrilling cosmic space opera."

INDIE WATCH:

• Breaking the Lore: An Inspector Paris Mystery, Book 1 by Andy Redsmith, read by John Last for SAGA Egmont -- "Inspector Nick Paris believes in facts, not fairytales. But when a murdered fairy turns up in the middle of Manchester, he's dragged into a hidden world of magic, mayhem, and mythical creatures with attitude problems. Soon he's sheltering dwarves, dodging demons, and trying not to take career advice from a chain-smoking, talking crow. As the barriers between realms begin to crumble, Nick must face the unthinkable: magic is real – and it's seriously messing with his city."

• The Fork in the Road: Five Decades by Eric J. Drysdale, read by Stefan Rudnicki for Skyboat -- "We all come to the fork in the road many times every day, every week. What was your last fork and where did the road lead? Choice, Chance, and Repercussion face each of us when we decide to go left or right. Reflecting later was it a good or poor choice? Did it yield wealth or disaster? Should we have taken greater care? These 25 stories examine those possibilities."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 24 June 2025

Posted on 2025-06-24 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• The Compound: A Novel By: Aisling Rawle, read by Lucy Boynton for Random House -- "Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation."

• The Whyte Python World Tour: A Novel By: Travis Kennedy, read by Wil Wheaton for Random House -- "Rikki Thunder, twenty-two-year-old drummer for the scorching new ’80s metal band Whyte Python, is about to have it all: absurd wealth, global fame, and a dream girlfriend. But an unwitting role as an international spy? That was definitely not part of the plan."

• The Tiny Things Are Heavier By: Esther Ifesinachi Okonkwo, read by A’rese Emokpae for Bloomsbury -- "A heart-rending debut novel about a Nigerian immigrant as she tries to find her place at home and in America—a powerful epic about love, grief, family, and belonging."

• Smile for the Cameras: A Novel By: Miranda Smith, read by Abigail Reno, Marwan Salama, Louisa Zhu, Vas Eli, and Jeff Ebner for Random House -- "An actress desperate to reclaim her fame must survive the real-life plot of the horror movie that made her famous in this psychologically twisted locked-room thriller."

• A Magic Deep and Drowning By: Hester Fox, read by Lauren Ezzo for Harlequin -- "Set in the waning days of the Dutch Golden Age, this enchanting, lush reimagining of The Little Mermaid is perfect for fans of Jesse Burton’s The Miniaturist and Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar."

• Glass Girls By: Danie Shokoohi, read by Christine Lakin for Gillian Flynn Books -- "When possession threatens to destroy the ones she loves, a former child medium is forced to face her deadly inheritance and the ghosts she left behind in this electrifying debut."

• Don't Let Him In: A Novel by Lisa Jewell, read by a full cast for Simon and Schuster -- "Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband's unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling."

MORE HORROR:

• Ten Sleep by Nicholas Belardes, read by Kim Ramirez for Recorded Books -- "Jordan Peele's Nope meets True Grit in a supernatural modern-day western about a trio of young people on a 10-day cattle drive that leads them through a canyon haunted by ancient mysteries and savage beasts who existed long before humankind."

• Of Flesh and Blood: A Novel by Hunter Burke and NL Lavin, read by a full cast for Spotify -- "A forensic psychiatrist’s investigation into an infamous Louisiana serial killer leads him down a dangerous path of obsession as he discovers they share the same cursed blood."

• The No-End House by Jeremy Bates, read by Joe Hempel for Tantor -- "It's the ultimate haunted house challenge. A crumbling stone mansion nestled in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, it may be the best-kept secret in Europe—a little-known attraction featuring nine escape rooms to explore, nine puzzles to solve, and a large cash prize for anyone who makes it to the end. There's just one catch: no one makes it to the end of The No-End House."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• The Last Vigilant By: Mark A. Latham, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Orbit -- "In a world where magic is forgotten, monsters lurk in the dark woods, and honorable soldiers are few, this utterly gripping epic fantasy tells the story of an out-of-practice wizard and a hot-headed sargent who are thrust into the heart of a mystery that threatens to unravel their kingdom's fragile peace."

• A Legionnaire's Guide to Love and Peace: A Novel By: Emily Skrutskie, read by Natalie Naudus for Random House -- "In this charming fantasy with a swoony friends-to-lovers romance, two soldiers must choose the futures they want in the wake of a last-chance hookup on the night before the world was supposed to end."

• The Ether Witch: The Casting Call By: Delemhach, read by Matthew Wolf for Audible -- "Tamlin Ashowan has troubled his family for years. Between the fearfulness of his magic and his refusal to share exactly what it does, his loving parents and sister don’t know how best to guide him. Tam, on the other hand, insists he doesn’t need any assistance. Despite ignoring his magic and possessing a preference for remaining locked up in his room with a good book, Tam is determined to play his role as the heir to his dukedom to the best of his ability. But being the son of Finlay Ashowan, the famous hero of Daxaria, his life is prone to chaos. Will a new assistant, who has even more secrets than Tam himself, be able to help navigate Tam's endless responsibilities?"

• The Secret Romantic’s Book of Magic edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane, stories by Kelly Andrew, Olivia Blake, A.G. Slatter, Melissa Marr, Tasha Suri, Kelley Armstrong, Megan Bannen, Paul Kane, A.C. Wise, Eliza Chan, Katherine Arden, Marie O'Regan, Hannah Nicole Maehrer, and Kamilah Cole, read by Jessica Preddy and Am Stubberfield for WF Howes -- "Enemies become lovers, rivalry turns to romance, and convenient marriages create true love in these 12 addictive tales."

• The Chosen Queen: A Novel of the Pendragon Prophecy by Sam Davey, read by Anna Burnett for Recorded Books -- "The story of Camelot begins not with the sword in the stone, but rather with a twisted chain of murder, magic, and deceit in this powerful, feminist retelling featuring Igraine, the destined mother of King Arthur."

TIE-IN WATCH:

• All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, adapted by Meghan Fitzmartin, read by a full cast for Random House -- "A spectacular reimagining of the Superman mythos, from the Man of Steel's origin to his greatest foes and beyond and considered one of the most iconic storylines in the character’s history. In the audiobook, The Man of Steel goes toe-to-toe with Bizarro, his oddball twin, and the new character Zibarro, also from the Bizarro planet. And Superman faces the final revenge of Lex Luthor in the form of his own death!"

BACKLIST WATCH:

• The Dragon and the George: The Dragon Knight Series, Book 1 By: Gordon R. Dickson (1976), read by Eric Burgher for Tantor -- "Through no fault of his own, the once human Jim Eckert had become a dragon. Unfortunately, his beloved Angie had remained human. But in this magical land anything could happen. To make matter worse, Angie had been taken prisoner by an evil dragon and was held captive in the impenetrable Loathly Tower. So in this land where humans were edible and beasts were magical—where spells worked and logic didn't—Jim Eckert had a big, strange problem."

• Scream to the Shadows by Tunku Halim (2020), read by Andrew Hoffland for Random House -- "Unconfined to a single theme, this new collection of twenty short stories by Halim offers five distinct worlds–the paranormal mysteries from ‘The occult world’, with its dark settings reveal supernatural existences in the characteristic Halim style."

INDIE WATCH:

• The Mudpuddle Manual of Natural Magic: Natural Magic, Book 1 By: Ciara Blume, read by Ryan H. Reid, Jessica Threet, Andrea Parsneau, and Travis Baldree for Soundbooth Theater -- "Eccentric heiress Maida Westabrook treasures her peaceful, "ordinary" life in California—morning strolls along the beach, warm evenings by the fire, and losing herself in her beloved library of myths and legends. Yet Maida can’t shake the nagging feeling that there’s more to her story than she’s been led to believe. Strange and inexplicable occurrences have always surrounded her, dismissed as nothing more than her overactive imagination. When a distant relative mysteriously vanishes, a body is discovered, and Maida’s lifelong dream of owning an enchanted bookshop suddenly comes true she realizes her "wild" imagination might not have been so far-fetched after all. There’s just one hitch: the sentient bookshop has gone into hiding and it’s up to Maida to coax it back."

• Helloween by Duncan Ralston, read by Joe Hempel for Podium -- "On October 31st, 2001, five teens set out to make a horror film at a Halloween haunt in the small town of Crooks Corner."

MOST MISSING:

• Magnitude by Victor Jiminez (Zeppelin) -- "In the near future, on the shortest night of the year, 137 stars appear in the outline of a set of human eyes. Everyone races to point every instrument of man at them. All except David, a radio astronomer at a university, who left his equipment pointed elsewhere. Now, he has to mail the tapes of his useless data, probably for the last time. He almost gets run over by a cement truck and encounters a beautiful woman who stops a break in into his car. They hit it off and have dinner that night. Ecstatic to be with someone out of his league, he returns home to discover his apartment has been firebombed, the tapes destroyed. Two friends try to console him. The beautiful woman calls him and David lets it slip he still has a copy of the data in his pocket on a USB stick. This sets off a globe spanning adventure, running from a mysterious and powerful enemy intent on devastation."

• The World Turns Red by Tim Waggoner (Cemetery Dance) -- "Welcome to the meat room. At first, it’s a whisper on the edge of your consciousness. As it gets louder, you begin to make out words—dark, sharp, dangerous words… You clap your hands over your ears to shut them out, but you can’t escape what comes from inside you. The voice tells you to do things to yourself. Bad things. Awful things… The longer you listen, the more they seem reasonable. Desirable. Inevitable."

• Indifferent Universe by Joseph Blackhurst -- "An all-knowing A.I. was asked: How did our universe begin, how will it end, and what is the meaning of life? The answer follows the life story of Aldo Go—an artist living in a hilarious alternate universe from our own. The reader watches as Aldo is transformed by the ugliness of the modern-day zeitgeist from a starry-eyed child to a disillusioned man who drags a dead body into his condo to watch it decompose."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 17 June 2025

Posted on 2025-06-17 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

(in progress)

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

PICKS:

• Fox: A Novel by Joyce Carol Oates, read by a full cast for Books On Tape -- "A spellbinding novel of literary and psychological suspense about the dark secrets that surface after the shocking disappearance of a charismatic, mercurial teacher at an elite boarding school."

• Wearing the Lion By: John Wiswell, read by Christian Black and Elizabeth Klett

• The Mercy Makers By: Tessa Gratton, read by Emily Lawrence

• A Far Better Thing by H.G. Parry, read by Nathaniel Priestly for Macmillan -- "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell meets A Tale of Two Cities in a heart-rending fantasy of faery revenge set during the French Revolution."

• This Princess Kills Monsters: The Misadventures of a Fairy-Tale Stepsister: A Novel by Ry Herman, read by Kristen Sieh for Random House -- "A princess with a mostly useless magical talent takes on horrible monsters, a dozen identical masked heroes, and a talking lion in a quest to save a kingdom—and herself—in this affectionate satire of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale The Twelve Huntsmen."

BACKLIST WATCH:

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

TIE-IN WATCH:

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

SERIES WATCH:

• Engines of War: Age of Uprising, Book 3 By: R.S. Ford, read by Daniel Crespin, Ciaran Saward, Mark Meadows, Katie Villa, Andrew Kingston, Alison Campbell, and Phoebe McIntosh

• The Folded Sky: White Space, Book 3 By: Elizabeth Bear, read by Sarah Slimani

• A Covenant of Ice: The Crowns of Ishia, Book 3 By: Karin Lowachee, read by BJ Harrison for Tantor -- "The exciting conclusion to the gunslinging dragonrider trilogy."

• School of Shards: Vita Nostra, Book 3 by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, read by Jessica Ball for Harper -- "The haunting final chapter of the modern classic Vita Nostra trilogy. The Dyachenkos’ magical dark academia novel brings the story of Sasha to a revelatory climax as she learns to take control of her powers and reshape the world...or destroy it forever."

• Max Abaddon and the Path of Blood By: Justin Leslie, read by Luke Daniels -- "Max finally made his way out of hell—literally, only to find past choices coming back to haunt him."

MOST MISSING:

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

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 10 June 2025

Posted on 2025-06-10 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

OVERALL PICK:

• King of Ashes: A Novel By: S. A. Cosby, read by Adam Lazarre-White for Macmillan -- "When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger. Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his brother: himself, and his own particular set of skills."

BACKLIST PICK:

• Mapping the Interior By: Stephen Graham Jones (2017), read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett for Macmillan -- Winner of the Bram Stoker Award: "Walking through his own house at night, a young boy thinks he sees another person stepping through a doorway. The figure reminds him of his long-dead father, who drowned mysteriously before his family left the reservation. When he follows, it he discovers his house is bigger and deeper than he ever knew."

INDIE PICK:

• The Universe By: Mike Matzdorff, read by Tony Shalhoub for Green Crow -- Yes, that Tony Shalhoub: "After the tragic loss of her husband, Katie seeks a fresh start and finds it when she is hired by the Universe. The job is to carefully orchestrate events, large and small, to keep existence on track—or so she's been told. During her first big assignment, Katie meets Mike--a man employed by the Universe for hundreds of years—and she begins to question her purpose. As their paths merge, and as Katie digs deeper into the secrets of the Universe, a dark secret reveals itself."

FICTION PICKS:

• Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil By: V. E. Schwab, read by Julia Whelan, Katie Leung, and Marisa Calin for Macmillan -- "1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada. 1827. London. 2019. Boston. A new genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger."

• The River Is Waiting By: Wally Lamb, read by Jeremy Sisto for Simon and Schuster -- "The propulsive story of a young father who, after an unbearable tragedy, reckons with the possibility of atonement for the unforgivable."

• Kill Your Darlings: A Novel By: Peter Swanson, read by Steven Weber for Harper -- "An inventive, utterly propulsive murder-mystery in reverse, tracing a marriage back in time to uncover the dark secret at its heart."

• The Great Mann: A Novel By: Kyra Davis Lurie, read by Ian Hackney for Random House -- "In this poignant retelling of The Great Gatsby, set amongst L.A.’s Black elite, a young veteran finds his way post-war, pulled into a new world of tantalizing possibilities—and explosive tensions."

• Great Black Hope: A Novel By: Rob Franklin, read by Justice Smith and the author for Simon and Schuster -- "An arrest for cocaine possession on the last day of a sweltering New York summer leaves Smith, a queer Black Stanford graduate, in a state of turmoil. Pulled into the court system and mandated treatment, he finds himself in an absurd but dangerous situation: his class protects him, but his race does not. It’s just weeks after the death of his beloved roommate Elle, the daughter of a famous soul singer, and he’s still reeling from the tabloid spectacle—as well as lingering questions around how well he really knew his closest friend. He flees to his hometown of Atlanta, only to buckle under the weight of expectations from his family of doctors and lawyers and their history in America. But when Smith returns to New York, it’s not long before he begins to lose himself to his old life—drawn back into the city’s underworld, where his search for answers may end up costing him his freedom and his future."

• This Is Not a Ghost Story: A Novel By: Amerie, read by Leon Nixon, January LaVoy, and Robin Miles for Harper -- "Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Amerie’s dazzling, satirical adult debut tells the story of a Black man who walks into the light…to find himself in Los Angeles, where he becomes an instant celebrity for being the first visible and verifiable ghost."

• Murder at the Patel Motel By: Maulik Pancholy, Zackary Grady, and Achilles Stamatelaky, read by a full cast for Audible Originals -- "A witty, Agatha Christie-style mystery about a complicated Indian-American family, the gay son who vowed to never return home, and a small town that prefers its secrets stay buried."

MORE SCI-FI and FANTASY:

• Of Monsters and Mainframes By: Barbara Truelove, read by Gail Shalan, Emana Rachelle, Chris Devon, Zura Johnson, Charlie Albers, Cary Hite, and Eve Passeltiner for Dreamscape -- "Demeter just wants to do her job: shuttling humans between Earth and Alpha Centauri. Unfortunately, her passengers keep dying—and not from equipment failures, as her AI medical system, Steward, would have her believe. These are paranormal murders, and they began when one nasty, ancient vampire decided to board Demeter and kill all her humans."

• The Palace of Illusions By: Rowenna Miller, read by Christa Lewis for Redhook -- "In the run up to the 1900s World’s Fair Paris is abuzz with creative energy and innovation. Audiences are spellbound by the Lumiere brothers’ moving pictures and Loie Fuller’s serpentine dance fusing art and technology. But for Clara Ironwood, a talented and pragmatic clockworker, nothing compares to the magic of her godfather’s mechanical creations, and she’d rather spend her days working on the Palace of Illusions, an intricate hall of mirrors that is one of the centerpieces of the world’s fair. When her godfather sends Clara a hideous nutcracker for Christmas, she is puzzled until she finds a hidden compartment that unlocks a mirror-world Paris where the Seine is musical, fountains spout lemonade, and mechanical ballerinas move with human grace. The magic of her godfather’s toys was real."

• A Most Puzzling Murder By: Bianca Marais, read by Dylan Moore for Harlequin -- "How do you solve a murder that hasn't happened yet?"

• A Dance of Lies By: Brittney Arena, read by Lauren Fortgang and the author for Random House -- "A debut fantasy romance filled with hope after heartbreak, secrets, and betrayal, as a dancer-turned-spy must decide how far she will go to secure her freedom."

• The Bookshop and the Barbarian By: Morgan Stang, read by Ell Potter for Blackstone -- "Explore its many rooms, pick something nice off the shelf, and have a little read by the fire at the Cozy Quill Bookshop."

• Six Wild Crowns By: Holly Race, read by Olivia Dowd and the author for Orbit -- "A breathtaking epic fantasy of dragons, courtly intrigue, sapphic yearning, and the wives of Henry VIII as you've never seen them before."

• The Nimbus By: Robert P. Baird, read by André Santana for Dreamscape -- "On an otherwise ordinary fall day on a university campus in Chicago, the toddler son of an ambitious divinity school professor named Adrian Bennett mysteriously starts to glow. The nimbus, as the strange, soft light comes to be known, offers no clues to its origin and frustrates every attempt at rational explanation."

NON-FICTION WATCH:

• Joy Goddess: A'Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance by A'Lelia Bundles, read by the author for Simon and Schuster -- "A vibrant, deeply researched biography of A'Lelia Walker—daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and herself a central figure of the Harlem Renaissance—written by her great-granddaughter."

MORE BACKLIST:

• Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, translated by Jeffrey Angles, read by Kaipo Schwab for Tantor -- "Awakened and transformed by nuclear weapons testing, Godzilla serves as a terrifying metaphor for humanity's shortsighted destructiveness: this was the intent of Shigeru Kayama, the science fiction writer who drafted the 1954 original film and its first sequel and, in 1955, published these novellas."

• The Man Who Cried I Am: A Novel By: John A. Williams, read by David Sadzin for Audible -- "Rediscover the sensational 1967 literary thriller that captures the bitter struggles of postwar Black intellectuals and artists and lays bare America's racial fault lines."

• Sad Tiger By: Neige Sinno, translated by Natasha Lehrer, read by Jennifer Pickens for Tantor -- "Sinno was seven years old when her stepfather started sexually abusing her. At nineteen, she decided to break the silence that is so common in all cultures around sexual violence. This led to a public trial and prison for her stepfather, and Sinno started a new life in Mexico. Through the construction of a fragmented narrative, Sinno explores the different facets of memory—her own, her mother's, as well as her abusive stepfather's; and of abuse itself in all its monstrosity and banality."

SERIES WATCH:

• Flight of the Fallen: Magebike Courier, Book 2 By: Hana Lee, read by Natalie Naudus for Simon and Schuster -- "Lee’s gritty, queer Mad Max-inspired fantasy duology continues with more high-stakes political intrigue, monsters of all kinds, and a high-speed motorcycle adventure to find a refuge for humanity beyond the wasteland."

• Inked in Onyx: A Twisted Fairy Tale: Inkbound, Book 2 By: Shannon Mayer, read by Amelia Hugh for Simon and Schuster -- "Escape the page, or die trying..."

• The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses: The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, Book 3 By: Malka Older, read by Lindsey Dorcus for Recorded Books -- "When a former classmate begs Pleiti for help on behalf of her cousin—who’s up for a prestigious academic position at a rival Jovian university but has been accused of plagiarism on the eve of her defense—Pleiti agrees to investigate the matter."

• Bee Speaker: Dogs of War, Book 3 By: Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by Gabrielle Nellis-Pain and Rod Hallett for Bloomsbury -- "The end of the world has been and gone. There was no one great natural disaster, no all-consuming world war, no catastrophic pandemic. Only scores of storms, droughts, and selfish regional conflicts. Humanity was not granted a heroic end. Instead, it bled to death from a thousand cuts. But where Earth fell apart, Mars pulled together. Engineered men and beasts, aided by Bees – an outlawed distributed intelligence – survived through co-operation, because there was simply no alternative."

• The Burial Witch: A Threadneedle Novella By: Cari Thomas, read by Diana Yekinni for Harper Voyager -- "At home one memorable summer, Miranda unearths a mysterious suitcase in her attic that once belonged to her late grandmother. Inside, she finds a strange and unopenable wooden box. Determined to discover what’s inside, she ends up enlisting the help of Maya, the owner of a local spiritualist shop, and is drawn into a world of witchcraft, magic and temptation."

MOST MISSING:

• Animals by Geoff Ryman (NewCon Press) -- "The chilling tale of a family caught at the heart of a terrifying and transformative epidemic, in an astonishing fusion of beautiful writing and pure horror at its finest."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 3 June 2025

Posted on 2025-06-03 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

(in progress)

BACKLIST PICK:

The Illustrated Man By: Ray Bradbury Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Ari Fliakos, and Marin Ireland for Simon and Schuster

PICKS:

6/3/25 Tempest By: K. Ibura

6/3 Shroud By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Of Monsters and Mainframes By: Barbara Truelove

6/3 Ten Incarnations of Rebellion A Novel By: Vaishnavi Patel

The Two Lies of Faven Sythe By: Megan E. O'Keefe Narrated by: Zara Ramm

Realms of the Round Table By: John Matthews, John Howe - illustrator, John Boorman - foreword

A Song of Legends Lost Invoker Trilogy, Book 1 By: M. H. Ayinde Narrated by: Jerry Myre Ob

The Phoenix Pencil Company A Novel By: Allison King Narrated by: Carolyn Kang, Jodi Long, Sura Siu, Crystal Yu

YA WATCH:

• Kill Creatures by Rory Power, read by Valerie Rose Lohman for Books on Tape -- "Last year, Nan’s three best friends ventured into the canyons near their small town and never returned. Now one of them is back, and Nan can’t believe it…because she’s the one who killed them."

• Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray, read by Isis Hainsworth for Macmillan -- "Red Queen meets Shadow and Bone in this explosive start to a YA romantasy trilogy about dangerous magic, forbidden love, and a cut-throat competition for the throne in an empire where crowns are not inherited—they're won."

(in progress)

5/29 Sacrilege: Curse of the Mbirwi

Doctor Who: Spectral Scream 15th Doctor Novel By: Hannah Fergesen Narrated by: Michelle Asante

Doctor Who: Fear Death by Water 15th Doctor Novel By: Emily Cook Narrated by: Susan Twist

6/1 Europa By: Greig Beck Narrated by: Sean Mangan

The Palace at the End of the Sea by Simon Tolkien

6/3 Shadows of the Empire Star Wars Legends By: Steve Perry (1996) Narrated by: Marc Thompson

Rogue Planet Star Wars Legends By: Greg Bear Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Black Salt Queen Letters from Mayanara, Book 1 By: Samantha Bansil Narrated by: Jensen Olaya

Illusory Education Primal Wizardry, Book 1 By: Peter J. Lee Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Beyond the Aching Door The Fatebound Duology, Book 1 By: Victoria Mier Narrated by: Sara Brodt

There Are Reasons for This A Novel By: Nini Berndt Narrated by: Krystal Hammond

The Luna Monolith The Black Monolith, Book 1 By: Brandon Q. Morris Narrated by: Danny Hughes

The Unmapping By: Denise S. Robbins Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Chaos Blade Rebirth By: A.P. Beswick, Raya Kane Narrated by: Aaron Smith

Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune: A LitRPG Progression Fantasy Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune, Book 1 By: Tismon Narrated by: Michael Gallagher for Podium

The Hands of Lyr Five Senses Series, Book 1 By: Andre Norton Narrated by: Dani Cochrane for Dreamscape

Angelmass By: Timothy Zahn (2002) Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin

Advocate The Warden, Book 3 By: Daniel M. Ford Narrated by: Lindsey Dorcus for Dreamscape

6/3 Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon By: Annie Mare

Amrevet Days One An Alien Honeymoon Travelogue of Atlantis (Amrevet Days, Book 1) By: Vera Nazarian Narrated by: Jessica Marchbank, Paul Woodson

6/3 The Afterlife Project A Novel By: Tim Weed Narrated by: Bradford Hastings, Dawn Harvey, Frankie Corzo

6/3 Queen of Mercy by Natania Barron (Solaris)

6/3 Fenrir by Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor

6/3 the adventures of mary darling by Pat Murphy

6/3 Meet Me at the Crossroads A Novel By: Megan Giddings

Wraithwood Botanist by Little Lynx

Rise From Ruin by Melissa Olthoff

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 27 May 2025

Posted on 2025-05-27 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Written on the Dark By: Guy Gavriel Kay, read by Simon Vance for Penguin -- "Both sweeping and intimate, a majestic (fantasy) novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France; an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind."

• Harmattan Season: A Novel By: Tochi Onyebuchi, read by Dion Graham for Macmillan -- "Veteran and private eye Boubacar doesn’t need much—least of all trouble—but trouble always seems to find him. Work has dried up, and he’d rather be left alone to deal with his bills as the Harmattan rolls in to coat the city in dust, but Bouba is a down on his luck deux fois, suspended between two cultures and two worlds. When a bleeding woman stumbles onto his doorway, only to vanish just as quickly, Bouba reluctantly finds himself enmeshed in the secrets of a city boiling on the brink of violence. The French occupiers are keen to keep the peace at any cost, and the indigenous dugulen have long been shattered into restless factions vying for a chance to reclaim their lost heritage and abilities. As each hard-won clue reveals horrifying new truths, Bouba may have to carve out parts of himself he’s long kept hidden, and decide what he’s willing to offer next."

• Autocorrect: Stories By: Etgar Keret, read by a full cast for Penguin -- "From one of the most acclaimed masters of the short story form whom the New York Times calls “Genius,” a darkly funny collection of stories explores themes of identity, reality, and meaning."

• When Devils Sing By: Xan Kaur, read by Jennifer Pickens, Landon Woodson, Michael Crouch, and Anjali Kunapaneni for Macmillan -- "Four unlikely allies in a small town investigate a local teen's disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their community is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined."

• Lay Your Armor Down: A Novel By: Michael Farris Smith, read by Mike McColl for Little, Brown and Company -- "An old woman, riddled with dementia, walks off into the woods in the middle of the night. A light in the wood draws her to a campfire with two strange, dangerous men, one young and one old, who are there plotting a crime of as-yet-indeterminate purpose. The two men have a job to do. They are hunting something precious but have only been told: you’ll know it when you see it. When they arrive at the place, an abandoned church cellar in the burned-out countryside, they find an answer they never could have predicted. Now, the job feels dubious, one that’ll surely bring them to ruin. Yet if they’re to go against orders, no step can be undone, and nothing can be taken back."

• Oromay: A Novel By: Baalu Girma, translated by Mesfin Felleke Yirgu and David DeGusta, read by Beru Tessema for Highbridge -- "December 1981, Ethiopia. Tsegaye Hailemaryam, a well-known journalist for the state-run media, has just landed in Asmara. He is on assignment as the head of propaganda for the Red Star campaign, a massive effort by the Ethiopian government to end the Eritrean insurgency. There, amid the city's bars and coffeehouses buzzing with spies and government agents, he juggles the demands of his superiors while trying to reassure his fiancée back home that he's not straying with Asmara's famed beauties."

• Talk of the Devil: The Collected Writings of Ian Fleming By: Ian Fleming, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt for Harper -- "A fascinating collection of rarely seen journalism and other writings by Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series."

• Every Version of You By: Grace Chan, read by Nicolette Chin for WF Howes -- "In late-twenty-first-century Australia, Tao-Yi and her partner Navin spend most of their time inside an immersive, consumerist virtual reality called Gaia. They log on, go to work, socialise and even eat in this digital utopia. Meanwhile, their aging bodies lie suspended in pods inside cramped apartments. Across the city, in the abandoned real world, Tao-Yi's mother remains stubbornly offline, dwindling away between hospital visits and memories of her earlier life in Malaysia. When a new technology is developed to permanently upload a human brain to Gaia, Tao-Yi must decide what is most important: a digital future or an authentic past."

• The South: A Novel By: Tash Aw, read by Windson Liong for Dreamscape -- "A radiant, intimate novel of the longing that blooms between two boys over the course of one summer—about family, desire, and what we inherit."

• The Book of Guilt By: Catherine Chidgey, read by George Naylor and Alison Campbell for WF Howes -- "England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night. Their nightmares are recorded in The Book of Dreams. Their lessons are taken from The Book of Knowledge. And their sins are reported in The Book of Guilt. All the boys want is to be sent to the Big House in Margate, where they imagine a life of sun, sea and fairground rides. But, as the government looks to shut down the Sycamore Homes, the triplets begin to question everything they have been told."

• The Black Swan Mystery: Inspector Onitsura Mysteries, Book 1 By: Tetsuya Ayukawa, read by Brian Nishii for Spotify -- "Early one morning, a body is found lying next to the railway tracks just outside of Kuki Station in Saitama Prefecture, shot dead. It is identified as belonging to the owner of a local mill which is embroiled in a labour dispute. Suspicion initially falls on the workers' union, then on a new religious sect that has been gaining followers recently. Chief Inspector Onitsura and his assistant Tanna are called in to investigate, and soon set off in a journey across Japan, from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka, and finally to the island of Kyushu, in a hunt for the killer."

• Jack Serpent: The Scriver Archives, Book 1 By: E.A. Field, read by Ralph Lister for Dreamscape -- "Jack Serpent is the only person to have survived the Scriver Trials. With that, he became a lore keeper for the origin of monsters, a spy, and hybrid soldier able to withstand crushing magic. Ever since a coven of Strygan murdered his family, he’s set out to discover and record what plagues the continents. It’s the sort of highly valuable knowledge that could change wars and divide kingdoms."

• The Blackbirds of St. Giles By: Lila Cain, read by Paterson Joseph for Recorded Books -- "From the brutal horrors of Jamaican plantations to the teeming streets of 19th century London, through lavish manor houses and across dangerous seas, escaped enslaved siblings survive the American War of Independence and arrive in London to seek their fortune in this binge-worthy, immersive story of survival, betrayal, secrets, and the quest for true freedom."

• Lush By: Rochelle Dowden-Lord, read by Isabel Adomakoh Young for Bloomsbury -- "Four wine experts, each at a crucial point in their lives, arrive at a French vineyard estate for an unforgettable experience—but not the kind they expected."

• Summerhouse By: Yiğit Karaahmet, translated by Nicholas Glastonbury, read by George Guidall for Recorded Books -- "Fehmi and Şener have been together forty years—no small feat for any pair, but especially admirable for a gay couple in Turkey. Behind closed doors, their life on Büyükada, an idyllic island near Istanbul, is like a powder keg that needs only one spark to blow. That spark soon comes in the form of Deniz, the wildly handsome and troubled teenager next door, who immediately catches Fehmi’s eye."

• Salvage By: Jennifer Mills, read by Eleni Cassimatis for Macmillan Australia -- "Two estranged sisters reconnect in the aftermath of ecological and social collapse, in this work of suspenseful, deeply human literary speculative fiction."

YOUNG ADULT WATCH:

• The Floating World: The Floating World, Book 1 By: Axie Oh, read by Eden Jun for Dreamscape -- "Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of gold for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light. Meanwhile, far to the west, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat living in an idyllic mountain village with her adoptive family. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to save her foster father's life, or to save her adoptive uncle from being grievously wounded."

• This Moth Saw Brightness By: A. A. Vacharat, read by Elena Rey, Austin Ku, and Maggi-Meg Reed for Listening Library -- "Wayne Le—known as "Invisible-D 'Wayne" at school—has been invited to participate in a seemingly ordinary, innocuous adolescent health study by a prestigious university. The study has a few nice perks, but most important to ‘Wayne, is the opportunity to give his immigrant father an accomplishment to be proud of—something that's been in short supply since 'Wayne's mother left. But the study quickly proves to be anything but ordinary and innocuous, and ‘Wayne, his best friend Kermit, and a fellow study participant named Jane (a girl who shall not be manic-pixied) find themselves sucked into an M. C. Escheresque maze of conspiracies that might be entirely in their heads or might truly be a sinister government plot."

• The Whisperwood Legacy by Jo Schulte, read by Bailey Carr for Hachette -- "Welcome to Whisperwood, a sprawling theme park nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, where thrilling rides and picture-perfect scenery bring cult-classic fairy tales to life. Or at least they did until eighteen months ago, when the family matriarch, Virginia Strauss, suddenly shut Whisperwood's gates and the beloved park was left to wither away along with the family's dwindling fortune. For seventeen-year-old Frankie Strauss, Whisperwood's closure has been a blessing in disguise. After seeing three generations of wealth's corrupting influence, she is more than ready to shed the Strauss-family's gilded handcuffs. But when Virginia goes missing, Frankie realizes that her family might be guilty of something much worse than mere dysfunction."

BACKLIST WATCH:

• Lammas Night By: Katherine Kurtz (1983), read by Martyn Swain for Tantor -- "The year is 1940, and Great Britain's forces struggle against the Nazi war machine. France has fallen to Adolf Hitler's army, and England is next. A British secret agent pays the ultimate price to deliver early warning to harness the power of the occult to conquer Great Britain by launching a supernatural assault that no defending military force could possibly deflect."

• The Ghost in Love By: Jonathan Carroll (2008), read by Malcolm Hillgartner for Brilliance -- "One day Ben Gould slips on the ice, hits his head, and is supposed to die. But he doesn’t. Instead, Gould finds himself in a strange situation where he continues to live as if nothing happened. As a result, a ghost that was originally sent to guide Ben to the Afterlife is stuck on earth while its bosses try to figure out what went wrong."

• The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black By: E. B. Hudspeth (2013), read by Justin Price for Blackstone -- "Philadelphia, the late 1870s. A city of gas lamps, cobblestone streets, and horse-drawn carriages—and home to the controversial surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a grave robber, young Dr. Black studies at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: that the mythological beasts of legend and lore—including mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs—were in fact humanity’s evolutionary ancestors. And beyond that, he wonders: what if there was a way for humanity to reach the fuller potential these ancestors implied?"

• Ruined a Little When We Are Born: Stories By: Tara Isabel Zambrano (2024), read by Rachel Yong for Tantor -- "A young couple ponders their opposing religions after one of them finds a cow's tongue left on their porch. A widow helps her neighbor mourn the death of his wife by burying the woman's belongings in the backyard. A mother forces her daughter to undergo various rituals to lighten her skin to find a good match. And when a man needs a son as his heir, he brings his new, much younger wife to live with his current wife and daughter, changing his daughter's life in ways she couldn't have imagined."

SERIES WATCH:

• The Malevolent Eight: Malevolent Seven, Book 2 By: Sebastien de Castell, read by Joe Jameson for Arcadia -- "The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade: the mortal realm."

• Everybody Wants to Rule the World Except Me: Dark Lord Davi, Book 2 By: Django Wexler, read by Jeanette Illidge for Orbit -- "Davi rules the kingdom, but she must now break the time loop that binds her in this hilariously bloody conclusion to the duology."

• Dance of Shadows: The Raag of Rta, Book 2 By: Gourav Mohanty, read by Raj Ghatak for Head of Zeus -- "The Mathuran Republic and Magadhan Empire are locked in mortal struggle, but they are not the only pieces on the board. Over the Eastern horizon, storm clouds gather. The Rakshasan Tree Cities have opened their borders for the first time in centuries, gathering kings, clerics, matriarchs and merchant lords to a Conclave of Peace... all the better to carve up the future without having to worry about either Empire or Republic. After all, a season of peace is the time to plant anew the seeds of war."

• Damned: The Scarlet Revolution, Book 3 By: Genevieve Cogman, read by Emma Fenney for Tor -- "The final book in the Scarlet Revolution series, a spellbinding adventure of magic, vampires and mayhem."

• Deliverance of Dragons: The Dragon Prophecy Trilogy, Book 3 By: Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, read by Kate Rudd and Christopher Lane

• Never Flinch: Holly Gibney, Book 4 By: Stephen King, read by Jessie Mueller for Simon and Schuster -- "An extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters."

• Return to Sender: Walt Longmire Mysteries, Book 21 By: Craig Johnson, read by George Guidall

INDIE WATCH:

• American Narcissus By: Chandler Morrison, read by Rebecca Lucas for Death's Head -- "Stoned and porn-addicted surfer Baxter Kent is terrified of women and anxious to make things work with a sex robot. Acid junkie Arden Coover has a useless philosophy degree and a doomed relationship he believes might save him. His younger sister Tess is considering, or resisting, a convenient but loveless marriage to a wealthy, narcissistic novelist. Ryland Richter, an alcoholic insurance executive with too much money and too few scruples, is seeking toxic solace in the arms of a dangerously unhinged subordinate. As wildfires rage, this lost and hopeless cast makes their way through the embers of Los Angeles and beyond in a desperate search for meaning and connection in a world without a future."

Posted in Release Week

Release Week: 20 May 2025

Posted on 2025-05-20 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

PICKS:

• Mother London By: Michael Moorcock, read by Nicholas Boulton for Simon and Schuster -- "Shortlisted for the Whitbread Award, award-winning author of the Elric series Michael Moorcock offers a captivating and immersive portrait of London from World War II through the 1980s through the eyes of three outpatients from a mental hospital."

• Major Arcana By: John Pistelli, read by Nick Mills for Recorded Books -- "It begins with a gunshot: a student's public suicide on a university campus. The blast radius of this tragic explosion expands to encompass 50 years of our history and two of the grandest characters in recent American fiction: Simon Magnus, a comic-book writer who transfigured popular culture turned gender activist who transfigures the English language, and Ash del Greco, an online occultist who by the age of 20 has seen to the end of everything and wants desperately to prove the superiority of mind over matter."

• The Memory Collectors: A Novel By: Dete Meserve, read by Andrew Eiden, Erin Bennett, Hillary Huber, and Michael Crouch for Spotify -- "Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake. Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders—which allows some lucky clients the chance to spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients, including Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth, yearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever. But when their “hour” extends beyond sixty minutes, they find themselves stranded in the past."

• Rockets’ Red Glare: A Sage Mendiluze Novel, Book 1 by William Webster and Dick Lochte, read by Grover Gardner for Blackstone -- "After two wilderness guides are gunned down at a remote campsite in a nearby national forest, it’s determined that the fatal shots came from Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation. Tribal Police Deputy Sage Mendiluze is called in to hike the rugged backcountry and investigate. Sussing out the sniper’s perch, he and his Australian shepherd, Peak, just escape becoming two more casualties when an IED is tripped. The site tells Sage there are two perps. The explosion confirms they are devious and extremely dangerous."

TIE-IN WATCH:

• The Eternal Warrior By: Ari Marmell, read by Michael Braun for Blackstone -- "For millennia, the Sumerian known as Gilad Anni-Padda has stood on the front lines between humanity and the vile, unnatural things that would see innocence, society, or life itself cast down. Gifted and cursed with immortality, he has been a guardian even death cannot long hold. An Eternal Warrior. But Gilad has been laid low—his past, his purpose, even his name stripped from him by a mystic ritual gone awry. In his absence, the worshippers of Nergal, a cult of death as old as Gilad himself, enact their intricate schemes. Drawn back into this forgotten conflict, aided only by new allies he does not trust, Gilad must reclaim everything he was—while facing an enemy who now has access to his own stolen memories, and intends to use that knowledge to reshape not only the Eternal Warrior, but the world he has so long protected."

YA WATCH:

• Cruel Is the Light By: Sophie Clark, read by Fiona Hardingham, Ethan Reid, and Steve West for Listening Library -- "An epic new fantasy about a demon hunter and a foot soldier thrown together in a centuries-old war. . . and the forbidden love that could change the course of history."

• The Girl in the Walls By: Meg Eden Kuyatt, read by Kira Fixx for Scholastic -- "When a neurodivergent girl finds a ghost in the walls, she must decide if the ghost is an ally or an enemy—and the wrong decision could destroy her and her family."

MORE FICTION:

• Sins of Survivors: A Carter Brothers Novel By: Joe McClean, read by Blair Underwood for Harper -- "Harlem Shuffle meets The Godfather in this fierce and dazzling crime family saga presented by award-winning actor and producer Blair Underwood and written by filmmaker Joe McClean, set in the Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit in the dark and dangerous days of the 1930s."

• The Doorman: A Novel by Chris Pavone, read by Edoardo Ballerini for Macmillan -- "Chicky Diaz is everyone's favorite doorman at the Bohemia, the most famous apartment house in the world, home of celebrities, financiers, and New York's cultural elite. Up in the penthouse, Emily Longworth has the perfect-looking everything, all except her husband, whom she'd quietly loathed even before the recent revelations about where all the money comes from. But his wealth is immense, their prenup is iron-clad, and Emily can't bring herself to leave him. Yet. And downstairs in 2a, Julian Sonnenberg—who has carved himself a successful niche in the art world, and led a good half-century of a full and satisfying, cosmopolitan life—has just received a devastating phone call that does nothing at all to alleviate his sense that, probably for better and worse, he has aged out and he's just not that useful to anyone any more. Meanwhile, gathered in the Bohemia's bowels, the building's almost entirely Black and Hispanic, working-class staff is taking in the news that that just a few miles uptown, a Black man has been killed by the police, leading to a demonstration, a counterdemonstration, and a long night of violence across the tinderbox city."

• The Last Ferry Out: A Novel By: Andrea Bartz, read by Dani Martineck, Imani Jade Powers, and Natasha Soudek for Random House -- "When Abby steps foot on Isla Colel, she isn’t sure what—if anything—she’ll find. She only knows that she needs to see the place where her fiancée, Eszter, died to try and make sense of the tragic accident. The island is nothing like Abby expected: Though it was once a bustling tourist hub, a hurricane has left it a shell of its former self, with only a handful of residents remaining. Even the once-daily ferry to the mainland now runs every week or so. There, Abby befriends an alluring group of expats, but her sense of unease surges when one of them says he knows the truth about Eszter’s final days. Before he can tell her more, though, he vanishes from the island. Hours turn to days with no sign of him, and the others are chillingly cavalier about his disappearance."

SERIES WATCH:

• The Malevolent Eight: The Malevolent Seven, Book 2 By: Sebastien de Castell, read by Joe Jameson for Arcadia -- "The world is teetering on the brink of annihilation. The Lords Celestine and the Lords Devilish, celestial and infernal beings locked in an age-old enmity, have at last found the perfect battlefield for their apocalyptic Great Crusade: the mortal realm."

• The Lords of Creation: Lords of Creation, Book 3 By: S. M. Stirling, read by Todd McLaren for Tantor -- "In this series conclusion, the richly imagined worlds of a habitable Venus and Mars, each with their own unique civilizations and ecosystems, come alive again."

• Strange New World: Dr. Greta Helsing, Book 4 By: Vivian Shaw, read by Catrin Walker-Booth for Orbit -- "In this witty conclusion to a delightful fantasy series finds Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, facing the latest and strangest challenge of her career...accompanying an anxious angel and a sullen demon on a road trip across America."

• Punk's Force: A Novel By: Ward Carroll and Tony Peak, read by Paul Heitsch for Blackstone -- "In the electrifying fourth novel of the Punk series, Admiral “Punk” Reichert faces a critical mission that could redefine naval warfare. With the future of the USS Gerald Ford—and the entire aircraft carrier program—hanging in the balance, Punk must prove that America’s pride can defend itself against the most advanced hypersonic missile threats. If he fails, long-range bombers may replace carriers, and the Navy’s legacy will be forever altered."

• Love, Death + Robots: The Official Anthology: Volume 4 By: Stant Litore, Siobhan Carroll, Bruce Sterling, John McNichol, Dave Hutchinson, Marc Laidlaw, John Scalzi, Robert Bisi, Andy Lyon, Amanda J. Spedding, and more

• Graveyard of Demons: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior, Book 5 By: Larry Correia, read by Tim Gerard Reynolds for Audible -- "Hero of the people Ashok Vadal lives! Now, he must face down enemies on all sides if he and the Sons of the Black Sword are to have any hope of destroying the evil Capitol."

• He Who Fights with Monsters 12: A LitRPG Adventure by Shirtaloon a.k.a. Travis Deverell, read by Heath Miller for Podium

• Tom Clancy: Line of Demarcation: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel, Book 13 By: M.P. Woodward, read by Scott Brick

• Short: The Bookstore Family: The Once upon a Time Bookshop Stories By: Alice Hoffman, read by Jennifer Jill Araya

INDIE WATCH:

• Technomagica: Technomagica, Book 1 By: Vitaly S. Alexius, read by Keith Brown for Dreamscape Lore -- "The life of a bio-weapons designer Vladislav Kerenski ends with a bang… …Only to be reborn in a realm of gods and monsters. Escaping from the Ocean of the Dead and soulbound to his twin sister, Vladislav begins to unravel a life-altering magical system using his knowledge of the scientific method, computational mathematics, biochemistry, and virology."

MOST MISSING:

• Beneath the Moon and Long Dead Stars by Daniel Wallace (Bull City Press) -- "The drifter who is mistaken for a movie star, an old woman who sits on the roof of her house to smoke her secret cigarette, a man building a coffin for his wife— the men and women in these stories, hungry for connection, often find that everything hangs on a gust of wind or a single word."

(in progress)

5/15 The Quiet By: Barnaby Martin

The Tomorrow Project By: H. Critchlow Narrated by: Amy Noble

5/20 Sing to Me A Novel By: Jesse Browner

The Oblivion Bride A Novella By: Caitlin Starling Narrated by: Mollie Stark, Xe Sands

5/20 The Starving Saints A Novel By: Caitlin Starling

The Knight and the Moth By: Rachel Gillig Narrated by: Samantha Hydeson Series: Stonewater Kingdom, Book 1

Forsworn The Forsworn Oath, Volume 1 By: David Estes Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

The Book of Records By: Madeleine Thien Narrated by: Athena Karkanis, Richard Lam, Madeleine Thien, Jeff Yung, Scott Turner Schofield

Esperance By: Adam Oyebanji Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran

Heart of the Sun By: Mia Sheridan Narrated by: André Santana, Annalee Scott

Behooved By: M. Stevenson Narrated by: Natalie Naudus

The Resurrectionist The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black By: E. B. Hudspeth (2013) Narrated by: Justin Price

Martian Time-Slip By: Philip K. Dick Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Anywhen By: Beth Duke Narrated by: Amy McFadden

The Glass Magician Glass Magician By: Caroline Stevermer Narrated by: Annalee Scott

Pawn’s Gambit And Other Stratagems By: Timothy Zahn Narrated by: Erin deWard

The Midnight Project By: Christy Climenhage Narrated by: Senn Annis

Smoke in the Cypress A Napoleonic Officer in New Orleans By: Owen Pataki Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Posted in Release Week