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The New Mythic Heroes Anthology from Rick Riordan and More Book Radar!

It’s Monday!!! Wow, that was fast. I hope everyone had a successful weekend of reading. I managed to get a few new books under my belt, and I watched a couple of documentaries on Netflix. (Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a He-Man documentary???) My plans for the week are to read more books (of course), find more wild documentaries to watch, and to keep watch on the burrows under the bushes in my yard to see if there are any baby woodchucks yet!

Before I jump into today’s newsletter, I want to thank you for joining me each week. Wring Book Radar is so much fun, and I appreciate everyone who reads it. (Socially distanced hugs for you all!) And if you’re so inclined, it would be a great help if you shared the sign up link with other people you think would enjoy it too. Your support means a lot to me, and I thank you.

Moving on: I have some exciting book news for you today and a look at a fun space opera, plus cover reveals, a terrible pun, a naughty orange gremlin, and trivia! Let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s Monday’s trivia question: Who wrote the ten-volume novel Jean-Christophe? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

The cover of The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

Stacey Lee’s The Downstairs Girl to be developed as a series.

Here are the 2021 Young Lions Fiction Award finalists.

And here are the winners of the 2021 PEN America Literary Awards.

Here’s the first look at I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness, the new novel by Claire Vaye Watkins.

Two books by Kennedy Ryan are going to be made into limited series.

Here’s the cover reveal of The Cursed Carnival and Other Calamities: New Stories About Mythic Heroes edited by Rick Riordan.

Here’s the final trailer for The Woman in the Window with Amy Adams.

Here’s the cover reveal of People from My Neighborhood: Stories by Hiromi Kawakami and translated by Ted Goossen.

Here’s the trailer for the new adaptation of The Mosquito Coast.

Tom Holland will star in a new series based on The Minds of Billy Milligan by Daniel Keyes.

And Benedict Cumberbatch will star in a remake of The 39 Steps.

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Loved, loved, loved: 

You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo (Tor Books, September 7)

I had been trying to get my hands on this for months, ever since I read that it was like “Farscape meets The Great British Bake Off.” And now I have read it, and it is indeed great! But I would say it is more like Farscape meets the movie Big Night.

Niko Larson is a former Admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind. She now runs a restaurant, The Last Chance, with several others who had been under her command at the TwiceFar space station on the edge of the galaxy. When the book opens, the restaurant is getting ready to receive a very important food critic, whose glowing recommendation could launch their restaurant into the stratosphere. So of course, it’s going to be one of those days. While trying to get the foods needed to impress the critic, Niko also receives a mysterious package, and a huge party including Niko’s former boss requests a last-minute reservation that she can’t turn away. Could anything else go wrong?

Yes, it can! Because just as dinner gets underway, the space station is attacked and Niko and her crew wind up on a sentient spaceship called You Sexy Thing. The ship thinks Niko and her crew are stealing it, so it charts a course for the galactic prison. Niko and her crew have four days to convince the ship not to take them to jail, while also dealing with the contents of that mysterious package AND an evil space pirate. Will they ever get back to their restaurant?

This book is a lot of fun. It wasn’t quite as silly as I was expecting from the description, and the plot was a lot more intricate, but it was still plenty funny and fun! There’s lots of wisecracks, action, ghosts, pirates, aliens, politics, and foodie talk. Niko’s crew is comprised by beings from other worlds, including a 12-tentacled alien, a Jawa-like little priest with a big prophecy for Niko, and rambunctious twin brothers who shape-shift into lions. There’s also a lot of backstory involving Niko and her time in the Hive Mind, and a particular incident.

If you like space operas, talking ships, and lots of outer space action, this is a perfect read to mark down on your TBR now!

(CW for space violence and action, war, and death.)

What I’m reading this week.

Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford

Bath Haus by PJ Vernon

The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu

The Maid by Nita Prose

Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart

Groan-worthy joke of the week: 

Why do bees have sticky hair? Because they use a honeycomb.

And this is funny:

I wish my cats would do this.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

And here’s a cat picture!

There is no place in my house that Zevon hasn’t conquered.

Trivia answer: Romain Rolland.

Remember that whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I am sending you love and hugs. Please be safe, and be mindful of others. It takes no effort to be kind. I’ll see you again on Thursday. xoxo, Liberty