Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got some Indian-inspired fantasy coming at you today. Whew, the month is really flying by, isn’t it? We’re only 10 days off from Halloween — how did that happen? And here in Colorado we might be due for a frost in the next week, to go with all the crunchy leaves. Hope you have a warm drink and a good book to curl up with! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.
Bookish Goods
Fantasy Reader Sticker Collection by FINNandFABLE
Sometimes you just need some cute stickers for notebooks or laptops or any other flat surface. This five sticker sheet (pictured to the left is just one of the stickers) celebrates the magic of fantasy books. $11
New Releases
Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra
Katyani is the best guardswoman in Garuda, advisor to the prince — and subject of a forbidden soul bond to the queen of Chandela that saved her as a child. After a foiled assassination attempt leaves her with a faceless corpse on her hands and no further leads, she dutifully follows the princes to a monastic school in a forest where monsters roam. When tragedy strikes, Katyani finds herself separated from the only life she has ever known, and the key to her future will be the answers found only in her past.
Singer Distance by Ethan Chatagnier
In the 1960s, Mars has been sending Earth mathematical puzzles by carving them into the surface of the planet; it’s been 30 years since the last unsolved proof, however. But Crystal Singer, her boyfriend Rick, and three other MIT grad students think they have the answer and trek out to Arizona to paint it across the desert. But after this experiment of theirs, Crystal disappears…and Rick is left to find a new path for himself.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Rati Mehrotra’s new fantasy book has me wanting more Indian-inspired fantasy, so here’s a couple others!
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala
A coup against the royal family took everything from Esha; she’s since taken on the name “Viper” and become a rebel to make the guilty pay. But her greatest target yet, General Hotha, will put more of a challenge than she bargained for in her path: his nephew, a soldier who never strays from what he thinks is the right path.
The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana
When the conquering Emperor Sikander comes to Shalingar, Princess Amrita offers herself as his bride, sacrificing everything she cares for to try to save her people and her land. Her offer is not enough; soon she’s fleeing from her besieged palace with only Thala, an oracle once enslaved by Sikander, for company. While Amrita wants to try to help her people, Thala has a grander idea: they will find the Library of All Things, which will allow them to reverse their fates and regain everything Sikander has taken from them.
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.