Sponsored by Baen Books.
What lies beyond the eleventh gate? Despite economic and territorial tensions, no one wants the city-states of the Eight Worlds to repeat the Terran Collapse by going to war. But when war accidentally happens, everyone seeks ways to exploit it for gain. However, the unexpected key to victory lies with two individuals uninterested in conquest, profits, or power. Philip Anderson seeks the meaning of the underlying physics of the universe, while the defiant Tara Landry discovers an eleventh star-jump gate, and a remarkable find on the planet behind it. Together, Anderson and Landry alter everything for the Eight Worlds.
Happy Friday, shipmates! Ready to head into the weekend–or if you have hit the pandemic place where time no longer has any meaning, I assure that it is still the weekend, should you choose to celebrate it. It’s Alex, with some news and a themed selection of books. But first, I have a bunch of things that just really made me happy this week that I want to share with you:
Toshio Suzuki would like everyone to draw pictures, and he showed us how to draw a Totoro.
Mandy Patinkin takes a guess at what GIF means
Some of the purest joy I have ever witnessed
News and Views
Aliette de Bodard has announced a new Dominion of the Fallen story, coming at us in July: Of Dragons, Feasts, and Murders
Subterranean Press is doing a limited edition of Ted Chiang’s Exhalation
A cover re-creation photo the likes of which god has not seen.
James D. Nicoll writes a bitingly sarcastic piece about how of course, the sci-fi of the golden age totally didn’t have a political agenda.
I Wish More People Would Read… Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
INKubator has an interview with E. Catherine Tobler about her circus stories, including her upcoming collection The Grand Tour
The Fictitious podcast interviewed Roshani Chokshi about, among other things, her newest book, The Gilded Wolves.
An amazing Twitter thread: The Men of Middle Earth as bad ex-boyfriends who ruined your life
Companion amazing Twitter thread: The types of LotR girls
An oral history of Mad Max: Fury Road
AMC will be adapting Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles for TV. Can’t wait til they get to the really weird ones later in the series.
Astounding Award-nominee Nibedita Sen has shared her recipe for Khichdi
A sinkhole near the Pantheon has revealed 2000-year-old Roman paving stones
Arrows are actually really nasty, and medieval arrows might have been fletched to put a spin on them like rifling does for bullets
On Book Riot
This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is about feel-good SFF.
3 Great Modern Fantasy Books Imagined as Graphic Novels
Is Anybody Out There? Comfort Through Broadcast Connections in Sci-Fi Books
Science Fiction Podcasts: 15 You Can Listen to Right Now
Hmmm: How to Read The Witcher Books and Comics
You can enter to win $50 at your favorite indie book store and/or a 1-year subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Free Association Friday: Supporting Black SFF Authors
This has been an incredibly difficult week for the Black and African American community in this country. Among other things we can and should be doing that are outside the scope of this newsletter, it’s always a good time to support writers. The easiest way to do that is by buying their books… and leaving them a good review.
Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list, because I have space limits.
A Phoenix First Must Burn: Sixteen Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope edited by Patrice Caldwell – This anthology is just what it says on the tin, and it delivers with fire.
Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter – This book is wall-to-wall intense combat in a fantasy world with dragons and some really cool (scary) magic. You can also pre-order the second book in the series, The Fires of Vengeance.
My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due – The start of the African Immortals series, about a woman who discovers she has unwittingly married a 400-year-old immortal man and now must fight against him if she wishes to keep her own soul.
Core of Confliction by Maquel A Jacob – The start of a space opera series that kicks off with a low-level drug runner trying to rescue a member of his crew that’s been kidnapped… and ends up with him looking for vengeance for the people he’s been forced to forget.
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark – A bootlegger versus the monsters of the KKK, who have magically found a way to unleash hell on Earth. The cover on this thing still has me stunned.
Escaping Exodus by Nicki Drayden – A dynastic struggle between siblings that takes place inside a void-breathing space beast, the only place left for humans to live now that the Earth is kaput.
Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender – The last survivor of a ruling family murdered by colonizers makes her move for revenge when the new king of the islands declares he’ll be looking for his successor in the noble families.
The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull – An apparently benevolent alien race lives among humans, and everything seems fine… until a young boy dies at their hands.
The Conductors by Nicole Glover – A former conductor of the Underground Railroad–who also has magic–and her husband solve crimes ignored by the police in post-Civil-War Philadelphia.
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis – Five girls who were sold to a “welcome house” and branded with cursed markings embark on a journey toward freedom and justice when one of their number accidentally kills a man.
Witchmark by C.L. Polk – Bicycle chases and fae and dark secrets in not-quite-Edwardian fantasy England. I will take you by the shoulders and shake you until you understand how much I love this book and its sequel, Stormsong.
See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.