Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got a couple of new books from this month for you to check out and some Frankenstein-inspired recommendations. Looking through all the Frankenstein-related stuff also makes me want to watch Young Frankenstein — that was one of my dad’s favorite movies, and it’s still funny as heck thanks to Gene Wilder’s gleeful gnawing of the scenery. We’re heading into a long weekend in the U.S., so I hope you have a good and relaxing one! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.
BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world with interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. Subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.
Bookish Goods
Frankenstein’s Student ID Card by LiteraryCraftParlour
This is advertised as a bookmark, which you could definitely use it as, but honestly it’s just a cool little cosplay object or decoration. The attention to detail on it is just fantastic. $4
New Releases
Allah’s Spacious Earth by Omar Sayfo translated by Paul Olchávry
In a future where anti-Muslim sentiment has become so poisonous that Muslims have been isolated from the world in enclaves like the Zone, a young man named Nasim struggles with the restrictions placed on him from without and the expectations placed on him from within.
Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill
The 1850s in London are a wild time of science and debate, when the dinosaur sculptures have just wowed the world from their installation in the Crystal Palace. Mary, the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein, wants to make her own mark in the scientific milieu. She’s making no headway until she discovers the truth behind her great uncle’s past and disappearance. This truth takes her and her geologist husband, Henry, on a wild, gothic adventure into the wilds of Scotland, all while someone pursues them, intent on acquiring these scientific secrets for themself.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Mary Shelley’s work has been an inspiration for a lot of authors! Here’s a couple more to consider if Our Hideous Progeny above piqued your interest.
Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai
Plum is a queer, biracial Chinese intern at an embryology lab; she runs away from home with the intention of being with her girlfriend and finds herself alone instead. Dr. Frank is a queer, biracial, Indonesian scientist whose ambition is to achieve procreation without needing sperm or egg. But the nonbinary being she creates is quickly abandoned due to complications at birth. Dr. Frank recruits Plum for her next project, but it soon becomes a question of what all of them are willing to risk.
This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel
Written as a prequel to Mary Shelley’s novel, this story follows the adventures of 16-year-old Victor Frankenstein who is determined to save the life of his ill twin, Konrad. With no ideas, he sets his sights on the Elixir of Life and takes his cousin Elizabeth and his best friend Henry on a dangerous adventure to search for the ingredients that will hopefully cure his brother.
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.