Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got new releases and some SFF in translation for your reading pleasure today. And…somehow, July returned. What happened to June? No one can say. But now we’re truly into the summer, so if you’re in my neighborhood, it’s about reading books while standing watch over the grill and drinking a cold iced tea or lemonade.
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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
Persephone Bandana by TheMushroomCove
This is a really cool two-sided bandana with a Hades/Persephone theme that feels very appropriate for today! $15
New Releases
The Hades Calculus by Maria Ying
Elysium has long been under siege by colossi; it is a battle the land of the dead is losing by inches. Hades has long sought a solution. She finds one in Persephone, a cyborg who seems made to pilot a war machine and who wants nothing more than to escape her mother’s control. Hades is all too happy to provide her an avenue for escape in exchange for her service.
The Night Ends With Fire by K.X. Song
Even though war burns through the Three Kingdoms, Meilin’s father—an opium addict—refuses to obey the imperial draft. Worse, he is determined to sell Meilin for her dowry to a man as violent and ill-tempered as he. The solution she finds is both simple and daring: Meilin disguises herself as a man and takes her father’s place in the army. Even as she grows as a warrior, she finds herself torn between two princes, one her training partner and one her enemy, and the power offered to her by a sea dragon spirit. Everyone has their own agenda, and she must find a way to navigate between loyalty, independence, and her own heart.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Here’s some new SFF in translation!
Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías, translated by Heather Cleary
In a near future ravaged by ecological discussion, a woman tries to survive in a plague-wracked city where a toxic algae bloom has poisoned the very air. There is only one food that all people can afford: a pink slime with proprietary ingredients. Between deadly windstorms, she tries to maintain the few relationships she still has with those who have yet to escape the city, and the worse conditions become, the more determined she is to stay in her home, no matter the price.
The Tyranny of Flies by Elaine Vilar Madruga, translated by Kevin Dunn
On an island that is Definitely Not Cuba, three siblings try to endure life under the tyranny of their country’s dictator, Pop-Pop Mustache, and the tyranny of their parents—their father was Pop-Pop’s right-hand man. Each sibling rebels in their own way, but most worrying is Calia, the youngest and quietest, who may be in league with the flies that swarm around the house.
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.