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Charlaine Harris is back! The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse series (the books that inspired HBO’s True Blood) has an all-new series that fans new and old will adore. Perfect for readers of alternate history and weird westerns, A LONGER FALL is set in a world where Franklin D. Roosevelt was assassinated, and follows gunslinger Lizbeth Rose in the fractured countries and territories that were once the United States of America. Tying in touches of magic and mystery, this is one for all readers of speculative fiction and thriller will enjoy.
Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex with some new releases for you and news, including some even-further-in-the-future releases that I am totally freaking out about.
My favorite thing of the week so far is this cartoon, because this is exactly what it’s like to do science.
New Releases
Agency by William Gibson – Verity takes on a job to test a new app, a digital assistant that operates in a pair of ordinary-looking glasses. She discovers an AI named Eunice, who has a face, a fragmented past, and a worryingly good grasp of combat strategy. A century in the future and in a different timeline, Verity and Eunice are the current “project” of a woman who can look into alternate pasts and nudge them in the direction she wishes.
Remembrance by Rita Woods – Separated out across two centuries, the lives of three Black women (two of whom are enslaved and seeking the road to freedom) are intertwined by the mysterious power that each possesses. If you liked Kindred by Octavia Butler, you don’t want to miss this one.
Given by Nandi Taylor – Yenni, a warrior princess of the Yirba, seeks the cure for her father’s mysterious illness, traveling alone to the Empire of Cresh. Unfortunately, no one warned her about the dragons there… let alone that a particularly arrogant one would try to claim her as his destined mate.
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi – Ella has a Thing, one that lets her see events that haven’t happened yet, make herself invisible, and more, fueled in part by her helpless anger at the foundation-deep racism her family and her city constantly face. When her brother Kev, who was born in the middle of a riot, is incarcerated, she must decide what to do with this power of hers that can destroy cities.
Ashlords by Scott Reintgen – Phoenix horses are magical creatures made of ash and alchemy, a gift to the Ashlords by their gods. Over the centuries, their cultural orbit around the phoenix horses has created a multi-day, high stakes event: The Races. This year, three of the eleven riders competing are riding for even higher stakes than grievous bodily harm and glory–who will win?
A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff – Can’t really get more concise than what the publisher had to say: “Orphaned, exiled and hunted, Cerulia, Princess of Weirandale, must master the magic that is her birthright, become a ruthless guerilla fighter, and transform into the queen she is destined to be. But to do it she must win the favor of the spirits who play in mortal affairs, assemble an unlikely group of rebels, and wrest the throne from a corrupt aristocracy whose rot has spread throughout her kingdom.”
News and Views
Wanna read a short story about a cat fighting demons? For He Can Creep
We’re going to be getting a “vengeful Desi, f/f epic fantasy” from Tasha Suri and I AM SO EXCITED. (Tasha wrote Empire of Sand.)
Suyi Davis Okungbowa will be writing a fantasy series inspired by Wes African empires. I AM ALSO EXCITED FOR THIS! (Suyi wrote David Mogo, Godhunter.)
The Watch has released some stills and some fans are pretty concerned. To be honest, I’m willing to roll with a lot, but where they seem to be going with Sybil is getting a big NOPESPIDER.GIF from me.
Elon Musk apparently would love to make some horrible scifi futures for the not-rich (including the one I wrote; company towns are bad, y’all) actually real. Tobias S. Buckell also has a good point about the squirmy way we talk about going to space. Silvia Moreno-Garcia also wrote a very relevant book: Prime Meridian.
Christopher Tolkien passed away at the age of 95.
Australian firefighters saved the world’s only groves of Wollemi Pines, a plant species that has outlived the dinosaurs and was thought to be extinct until 1994.
Physicists have confirmed the fastest way to load passengers on an airplane.
A draft genome of the giant squid has been published.
See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.