Sponsored by San Joaquin Valley Press.
Throwback to classic science fiction… Professor Ryder’s idea was to have people move through a parallel dimension where they would be hidden from people in our world. He called it the transit dimension. The Army saw its possibilities immediately: a secret way to move large bodies of troops. But on the first test of the professor’s idea, the probe team was unexpectedly lost. So a rescue team was sent in. But the transit dimension was more dangerous than anyone expected, and the question became, who would rescue the rescuers? All books come autographed by the author.
Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with a selection of new releases and a few news items for you. My foray into the world of the garage sale went well over the weekend (I was excited to see how many people wanted to buy books!) but things took a downright post apocalyptic turn Saturday morning, when a change in the wind blew a massive amount of wildfire smoke over use. We’re talking yellow skin, dull orange sun, light looking pink on the concrete. It was a commonplace experience last year during wildfire season, and I’m not excited to see it back. I hope you’re staying safe out there, space pirates, and remember that N95s can filter out the smoke if it gets bad where you are. See you on Friday!
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ and anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co
New Releases
Under the Milky Way by Vanessa Barneveld
Dawson, Colorado, is a sleepy town where nothing happens, until Cassidy’s mom check’s into a “wellness center” for apparently no reason. And everyone continues to insist that nothing is happening when mysterious lights appear in the sky and people find themselves missing chunks of time. And the new boy in school, Hayden, starts to notice Cassidy… while she notices that everything weird going on seems to lead right back to him.
They Met in a Tavern by Elijah Menchaca
A group of former heroes known as the Starbreakers have long since gone their separate ways and built their own lives after the destruction of a city left them all blaming each other. But now bounty hunters are tracking them down and they have little choice to reunite if they want to protect what little they have left. After seven years, getting back together is even harder than breaking up, and they need to mend old wounds if they want to survive.
The Sisters of Reckoning by Charlotte Nicole Davis
Now that the Good Luck Girls are free, most have crossed the border to pursue new lives, while Aster tries to help more girls escape. But when she finds out about a new welcome house opening, she decides that helping individuals isn’t enough. She hatches an ambitious and dangerous plan to free all dustbloods, and calls upon her friends to make it a reality.
The Rookery by Deborah Hewitt
Alice Wyndham has discovered within herself a magical ability–she can see souls. Now, she wishes to return to the Rookery, learn to use her magic, and discover the truth behind who she is. But barely-remembered secrets from her past threaten her plans and the Rookery is on the brink of destruction. To save her city and her people, there are more sacrifices she must make.
The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate
A new drug, Memoroxin, is undergoing testing as a treatment for Alzheimer’s. Unsurprisingly, this drug has also seen far more recreational use throughout Hollywood, with those who have abused it finding their memories deeply affected if not completely erased. Lucien, whose mother has Alzheimer’s, and Sophie, a ballerina who makes ends meet with waitressing, meet at a treatment facility for heavy users of Memoroxin. Inexplicably drawn to each other, they cannot remember anything that came before… such as how they might actually know each other.
The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel
Kobo is a scout for Big Pharma-owned baseball teams, scoping out the latest genetically-augmented players… but he’s barely scraping by and doesn’t have the money to update his own cybernetics while loan sharks are closing in. Then his brother gets murdered, and Kobo must level up to searching through an entirely new stratum of corruption and risk both his safety and sanity.
News and Views
Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Sir Julius Vogel Awards!
Over at his Patreon, Charles Payseur rounded up a ton of queer short SFF published in July
Read Before Assembly: The Influence of Sci-Fi on Technology and Design
Martha Wells and Becky Chambers in conversation
Rankin designs covers for Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy
Arrakis Rippers: A Guide to Dune-inspired Metal
Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky
Young People Read Old SFF does Neutron Star by Larry Niven
The Tolkien Society has announced its Autumn Seminar
Writing Against the Grain: T. Kingfisher’s Feminist Mythopoeic Fantasy
On Book Riot
Hopepunk featuring creative solutions to the climate crisis
This month you can enter to win a $250 Barnes & Noble gift card, a $100 gift card to a Black-owned bookstore, a pair of airpods pro, and a QWERKY keyboard.
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.