Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got new releases for you today, with half of them focused on short stories in case you’re in the mood for small bites. Whew, but it was one heck of a weekend here. Nine-plus inches of snow to shovel (RIP, me) and then thick fog! Ah well, as we like to say in Colorado, “We need the moisture.” May your weekend have been warmer, or at the least, may the plows have visited your street swiftly. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian relief to children in the Middle East regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation; and Ernesto’s Sanctuary, a cat sanctuary and animal rescue in Syria that is near and dear to my heart.
Bookish Goods
Leather Book Harness by FierceEagleLeather
These book holsters look very cool—a way to carry a book hanging from your belt, whether it’s what you’re reading, what you’re journaling in, or what you’re sketching in.
New Releases
Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender
Ash wants to be one of the elite few legally allowed to study magic, but after his rejection by the Lancaster College of Alchemic Science, he takes his ambition underground by getting hired as a groundskeeper for the school. He studies alchemy there in secret until he’s caught by Ramsay, who promises to keep his secret if he helps her find a sacred book that will give her extraordinary power. It’s a quest that pits them both against powerful alchemists…including Ash’s estranged father.
Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine
The apocalypse has come and gone, brought on by a strange condition where meeting another human being’s eyes will cause both to break into deadly, violent rage. In order to survive, Riley hasn’t seen another human face in years. When Ellis moves in down the road, Riley can’t help but try to get to know him, as starved for human contact as she is. All she wants is to take just one look…
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Let’s do a bit of short story reading! So here’s a recent collection and an anthology to check out.
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories by GennaRose Nethercott
This collection focuses on the inner abomination that resides in the heart of every human, the way longing is both monstrous and necessary, and questions what a beast truly is.
Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories edited by Sandra Proudman
This collection features 16 stories by Latinx authors that remix classics, myths, and fairy tales through the lens of their experience and imagination. Prepare yourself for Pride and Prejudice in space and The Great Gatsby in Costa Rica!
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.