Sponsored by Baen Books.
No rest for the weary.
Rick Galloway’s still not sure what inspired him to volunteer to fight Cubans in Angola, and he never expected to be shanghaied by a flying saucer and end up on the planet Tran—a galactic civilization with human slaves and alien masters. He managed an impossible balancing act for 13 years. But now, everything has changed . . . again. New Starmen have arrived with weapons of their own. Everything Rick Galloway thought he knew about his mission on Tran is about to be turned on its head. And everyone expects him to fix it.
Welcome to Check Your Shelf, where there will be no news items about murder wasps.
Collection Development Corner
Publishing News
- Harlequin announces a larger mass market paperback format.
- Taco Bell has its own literary magazine, again proving my theory that the world is a giant Mad Lib, and we’re just living in it.
- For the life of me, I can’t remember if I included a link in a previous newsletter that Barnes & Noble would no longer be carrying magazines. If I did, or if you also heard that news floating around, that is apparently not true, and the article that originally included the information has since been updated.
New & Upcoming Titles
- A preview of Tana French’s upcoming novel, The Searcher! (She swears it’s less depressing than The Witch Elm.)
- Meghan and Harry are working with two journalists on a biography, due out in August.
- Sandhya Menon announced a new novella from the Dimpleverse.
- Mona Awad announced her next book.
- Details about Emma Donoghue’s next book, The Pull of the Stars.
- 25 upcoming notable releases.
- May picks from Amazon, Crime Reads, io9, Time, and Washington Post.
- Most anticipated books of the summer.
- 30 LGBTQ YA novels you’ll want to pick up this spring.
- Mystery & suspense titles by women of color to read in 2020.
What your patrons are hearing about
- The End of October – Lawrence Wright (LA Times, New York Times, NPR, Washington Post)
- Little Family – Ishmael Beah (New York Times, Washington Post)
- Girl Gone Viral – Alisha Rai (NPR)
- Little Eyes – Samanta Schweblin (New York Times)
- Take Me Apart – Sara Sligar (USA Today)
RA/Genre Resources
- An in-depth look at racism within the romance industry.
- The state of crime writing in 2020, part 1 and part 2.
- The rise of magical realism in YA fiction.
On the Riot
- A guide to horror sub-genres.
All Things Comics
- An online auction to help comic book shops raises over $430,000!
- There’s also a campaign going on to raise money for women and non-binary comic book retailers.
On the Riot
- 10 manga featuring black characters.
- 50 must-read comics about friendship.
- 5 comics to help you feel some feels.
- 10 great novels that were adapted into comics.
- 5 comics about awesome mom figures.
Audiophilia
- Penguin Random House donates audiobooks to prison and hospital radio stations.
- Libro.fm has a great list of poetry audiobooks.
- 8 new romance audiobooks from your favorite narrators.
- 5 debut novels to listen to in quarantine.
On the Riot
- Get free audiobooks for teens all throughout the summer with SYNC.
- 7 of the best audiobooks by Muslim women authors.
- Fast and fabulous audiobooks under 4 hours.
Book Lists, Book Lists, Book Lists
Children/Teens
- 22 diverse poetry picture books.
- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month book recs for kids.
- 14 YA novels to read once you’ve finished Normal People.
- 16 books to try based on your most recent favorite show on Netflix.
- 20 books to read to get over a breakup.
Adults
- 6 books by black female authors.
- 11 books if you liked Normal People.
- Seanan McGuire’s personal Top 10 urban fantasy books for adults.
- 10 best book series to reread when you need something familiar.
- 32 short story collections to cure your reading slump.
- Queer comfort reads.
On the Riot
- 11 body positive books for children.
- Feel-good middle grade recs.
- 8 YA thrillers for fans of The Hunger Games.
- Books about whales for all ages.
- 4 pregnancy books worth reading.
- 8 knitting books for short, cute projects.
- Historical fiction picks that don’t take place during WWII.
- Short reads to beat the quarantine gloom.
- Harry Potter readalike recs for adults.
- 13 books like Red Dead Redemption.
- Paranormal cozy mysteries.
- 10 nonfiction titles that will change the way you see books.
- 4 books about caring for aging relatives.
Level Up (Library Reads)
Do you take part in LibraryReads, the monthly list of best books selected by librarians only? We’ve made it easy for you to find eligible diverse titles to nominate. Kelly Jensen created a database of upcoming diverse books that anyone can edit, and Nora Rawlins of Early Word is doing the same, as well as including information about series, vendors, and publisher buzz.
Virtual hugs. Stay safe, healthy, and relatively sane.
—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter. Currently reading Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden.