Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s another wild week of March book releases, and this is Alex with a double dose of good new reads coming your way.
I had a bit of a sad weekend due to the sudden passing of actor Lance Reddick, who has been part of the game Destiny since the beginning. There are people who bring such light to the world that it’s hard not to feel things are a little darker when they’re gone, even if you didn’t know them personally. We’re all treasuring one of the lines he gave us before we left: “If we do not meet again…know how proud I am of what you have done.” Stay safe out there, space pirates, read a good book, and tell someone you love them. I’ll see you on Friday.
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Bookish Goods
Rocket Ship Bookends by KnobCreekMetalArts
As someone whose books have long since overflowed onto the tops of their shelves, I am a complete sucker for some cute bookends, and I love this kind of visual gag even more! $56
New Releases
The Moonlight Blade by Tessa Barbosa
Narra Jal is an outcast, someone who has been considered lucky her entire life, doomed to live on the fringes of society. But to save her mother, she returns to the city that turned its back on her, Bato-Ko, and enters into the trials that will determine its next ruler. The fact that she has no weapons, no armor, no magic, no training, no chance will not stop her. With sheer, fierce determination, she will show her opponents that they were right to fear would bring them ill luck.
The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores
One terrible night destroyed Ava and Kaye’s deep friendship — the night the vampires broke through the barrier protecting their town, killing Kaye’s mother and turning Ava into one of their number. These two young witches are now at odds, and it only gets worse when Ava’s mother plans to destroy the town herself, forcing Ava to seek help from the very vampires that attacked them two years ago…and forcing Kaye to try to hunt her down.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
This was another week where so many awesome-looking books were coming out, I couldn’t limit my choices to my space! So I am once again cannibalizing the recommendations section to put two extra new releases in front of your eyeballs.
Flux by Jinwoo Chong
Three people — 8-year-old Bo, 28-year-old Brandon, and 48-year-old Blue — each of them struggling with strife and loss that’s just hit them hard, find their lives intersecting because of a web of secrets and an experimental technology that might soon upend he entire world.
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
Adelaide Henry is a woman who carries an enormous, weighty secret — and a steamer trunk that must remain locked no matter what. Those things have followed her to Montana, where she’s become a “lone woman” braving the wide open space as a homesteader. Really, she just wants the space to lose herself and the secret that’s already taken her parents — and could take more people if that steamer trunk is opened again. (Note: I just found out that the release date on this one got pushed out by a week, so it will actually be coming at you on March 28!)
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.