Sponsored by Blackstone Publishing.
The first book in New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s gritty new series following the Moretti Neapolitan crime family’s rise to power in a postapocalyptic Los Angeles, and the brave few that risk everything to stop them from destroying what little remains of the city. “Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s captivating new postapocalyptic mobster series starts with a daringly original, high-octane bang. An engaging cast of characters you will root for—even when you shouldn’t.” — Don Winslow
Happy Tuesday, shipmates! What a year June has been, huh? It’s Alex, bringing you the startling news that June is almost over, and the parting gift is one last round of books for us, including the final installment of a barn-burner of a trilogy. There’s also some news and a couple essays to go with it. Be most excellent to each other as we head into July!
Non-SFF thing that made me smile: The Hamilton cast reunited to sing “Helpless” from home with a bunch of improvised instruments.
Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.
New Releases
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty – The capstone of the fantastic Daevabad Trilogy, which started with The City of Brass. Daevabad has fallen and been stripped of its magic. In the wake of that brutal conquest, a resurrected Dara works to try to stabilize the fractious people left scattered while dealing with his personal demons that have been loosed by the fighting and the loss of Nahri. In Cairo, Nahri and Ali are safe, but haunted by those they have left behind. All three must reassess their relationships with each other, with their own histories, and with those they once hurt if they wish to remake the world.
Goddess in the Machine by Lore Beth Johnson – Andra wakes up from a cryosleep journey that was supposed to be 100 years, just long enough to get to a new home planet, to find out that it’s been over a thousand years and everyone she knew is now dead. The descendents of her fellow colonists also, unaccountably, think she’s some kind of goddess. Soon she’s drawn into politics she doesn’t understand with an exiled bastard prince trying to use her as a path to what he believes is his rightful place on the throne.
Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh – The first time someone has their period, they report to the station and are given either a blue or a white ticket, defining what kind of woman they will be. A white ticket means marriage and family; a blue ticket means career and freedom. No choices are necessary and there are no take backs. When a woman with a blue ticket becomes pregnant and questions her assigned lot, she must go on the run and learn about the qualities within herself that her blue ticket indicated she did not have.
Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe – In a future where our culture continues, if somewhat diminished in size but far more advanced in technology, clones can be made of uploaded personalities. One of these clones is author E.A. Smithe, who is not happy to find that as a borrowed person, the uploaded clone of a dead mystery writer, he’s a piece of property and has no rights. When he’s sent on interlibrary loan to another branch, he runs into another E.A. Smithe… who might not be dead.
The Second Star by Alma Alexander – Earth’s first starship, the Parada, has been missing for over two centuries. One of its successors finds it, drifting in the depths of space, and brings it back home. The crew, miraculously—and due to time dilation—are still alive and have barely aged. But while six people went out on the Parada, what returns are over 70 fractured personalities contained in six bodies. Two psychologists are tasked with finding out why this has happened, and if the condition can be cured. But they find a much deeper, darker mystery than either of them could have predicted.
I accidentally put Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in last week’s news letter, which was an error. It actually releases today.
News and Views
Congratulations to the 2020 Locus Award Winners! Novel highlights:
- Science Fiction Novel: The City in the Middle of the NIght by Charlie Jane Anders
- Fantasy Novel: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
- Young Adult Novel: Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
There’s a biopic coming out about Tove Jansson, the creator of Moomin.
Kayla Shaggy has written and shared an essay about one of the current goings-on in the SFF literary world: Anti-Blackness within Indigenous Circles and How it Contributes to the Mistreatment of Rebecca Roanhorse, a Black Indigenous Author
Rosamund Lannin on searching for body postivity in fantasy.
Cree Myles: If you really want to unlearn racism, read Black sci-fi authors.
Beyoncé is releasing her next visual album on Disney+ on July 31. (I am blown away by the trailer and it’s got some very SFF imagery in it.)
Margot Robbie is leading an all new Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Birds of Prey screenwriter is in on it too.
The science behind the smell of fresh rain.
On Book Riot
You can enter to win a three-book fantasy prize pack from Saga.
Oh and hey! We’re running a reader survey. You could even win an ereader from it.
Enter before the end of the month and you could win a 1-year subscription to Audible or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.
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.