Happy Friday shipmates! Here we are, the first Friday of November, and I’m coming at you with a new Nisi Shawl collection (and some other books of hers you ought to check out)! I hope you’ve all had an absolutely lovely first week of my favorite month of the year and that you got some good stuff out of Discount Candy Day. 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
Steampunk Silver Book Necklace by PureMaddy
I’ve got steampunk on the brain today — you might figure out why if you look into the recommendations — so I found this neat little pendant. It actually opens into a tiny book with paper pages! Very cool. $14
New Releases
Our Fruiting Bodies by Nisi Shawl
Here’s a new short story collection by the inimitable Nisi Shawl, one that focuses on old growth and fresh decay, and the connections between life and nonlife.
The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix
Ranka is a young blood-witch already tired of life, traumatized by her past; all she wishes is to live quietly with her coven. But when she is chosen as the treaty bride to be given south to the human kingdom of Isodal, she is sent with one mission: kill him. But the prince is nothing like Ranka expected, and neither is his sister — and when other witches begin to die of a mysterious, magical plague, Ranka’s only chance is to make alliances and finally learn to control her magic.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
I’m so excited that we’re getting another collection by Nisi Shawl. If you’d like more of her work (and you should definitely give her a try if you somehow haven’t yet!) here’s a couple more recommendations.
Everfair by Nisi Shawl
In an alternate Belgian Congo, the native Africans developed steam power before their would-be colonial oppressors. Everfair is a safe haven within the Congo, a place for native populations and escaped slaves to find fair treatment and peace, and its story is told in a multitude of voices.
Filter House by Nisi Shawl
Nishi Shawl’s previous short story collection has 14 tales that speak to the reader’s subconscious and summon magic, traveling to strange and wonderful places.
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.