Categories
Swords and Spaceships

Hungry Ghosts, Ominous Stars, Deadly Schools, and Other New Releases

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I come bearing news that it’s the very last Tuesday of September, and WOW are there a lot of new releases coming out this week. So many, and all of them look so good, that I’m just giving you new books to look at — the news links are going to have to wait for Friday, though there are a couple of things at Book Riot you might want to cast your eyeballs on. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/, anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co, and Jane’s Due Process.


New Releases

Cover of Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo, featuring a human hand underwater wrapped in weeds reaching for a skeleton hand wrapped in weeds

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Andrew and Eddie are best friends, closer than brothers, and the longest they’ve been apart is when Eddie heads off to start his graduate studies at Vanderbilt, on the understanding that Andrew will be moving out to join him in six month. But just days before Andrew’s arrival, Eddie is dead, apparently of suicide, and he leaves behind questions and secrets and a hungry ghost that Andrew must now deal with.

The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated by Martin Aitken

A group of ordinary people go about their lives as one day, a huge star suddenly begins burning in the sky. No one knows what could have caused it; after the initial excitement, people return to their ordinary routines. Strange things begin happening across the world, at the fringes of human existence… but it won’t stay on the fringes for long.

Cover of The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik

El has made it to her senior year in the deadly school known as Scholomance, where the very institution tries to do its best to kill its students. She’s made a few allies along the way, but it’s not enough — the school seems desperate to kill her unless she accepts her destiny of dark sorcery. But she is determined to survive, to find her own fate, and to get herself and her friends out alive.

Steelstriker by Marie Lu

Mara has fallen to the Karensa Federation, and Striker Talin is forced to betray her fellows and the remains of her nation if she wants to save her mother from the hands of the Premier. She must become one of the Federation’s Skyhunters, though hope is not wholly lost. Red remains as well, and though his link with Talin is weak, together they might be able to salvage their home.

cover of Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray, featuring a hissing snake wrapped in ferns wrapped around the title

Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

Koffi is sixteen years old and has been indentured at the Night Zoo to pay off her family’s debts. But she has a secret of her own–magic that should not exist flows in her blood, and if that is found out, she will be killed. But when she has to used her power against the cruel master of the Night Zoo, she flees for her life and accidentally saves the young warrior Ekon from a fabled monster called the Shetani. Together, they form a tentative alliance and hunt down the beast, Ekon for redemption, and Koffi for freedom.

For All Time by Shanna Miles

Tamar and Fayard have lived thousands of lives across the history of the world, with one thing in common — their love for each other and the lengths they’ll go to be together. The one thing they’ve never experienced is how their story ends — and to see that, they must break the cycle. But it may require more than they’re willing to sacrifice.

cover of Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka made a literal deal with the devil to escape damnation. The price? She has to convince seven of her fellow violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She’s managed to swindle sixth, but in her pursuit of the final soul, she runs into complications she could have never imagined: a retried starship captain who she can’t help but love and a runaway with a wild talent who all too quickly feels like family.

Activation Degradation by Marina J. Lostetter

Unit Four is a biological robot created to oversee a Helium-3 mine in Jupiter’s atmosphere. It is activated in the middle of a crisis, with aliens attacking. It should seem a simple matter of ship-to-ship combat and following its handler’s orders, but something is wrong. There are missing files, missing information, and more afoot, and Unit Four will need to become something more than a simple tool in short order.

Cover of The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher

The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher

Persephone has never known her family; she was abandoned as an infant and spent her childhood being shuttled around the foster care system. And she’s was a weird child at that, with inexplicable things always happening around her. As an adult, she has remained rootless, moving from town to town and working only temporary jobs. After accidentally showing off her magic, she quickly moves on… only to be invited to Wile Isle by the one friend she’s managed to make. There, she begins to find answers about herself and her family… and the curse that haunts them.

On Book Riot

“What did I know of mortal babies?”: six parenthood lessons from Circe

Buckle up, me hearties: best YA pirate stories

You can enter to win a copy of Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

This month you can enter to win a QWERKY keyboard.


See you, space pirates. 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.