Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got new releases for you, as well as some recommendations for novels about mecha…because who doesn’t love giant robots? (If you don’t love giant robots, please let me continue to live in ignorant bliss, because my inner 10-year-old knows there is absolutely nothing cooler that exists in the entire human imagination.) I hope everyone is having an utterly wonderful week so far, and will keep it going!
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Bookish Goods
Mecha Headphones by matchanicho
These are some fancy bluetooth headphones, but I cannot resist the aesthetic of them, which feels perfect for several of the books I mention below. The only thing cooler than a mech, after all, is a mech with wings. $149
New Releases
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon
In a world where AI are gods, one going off kilter can wreak unimaginable destruction. Khuon Mo killed its priests and wiped its own city from the map…but as it died, it brought Sunai, its favorite child, back to life. For 17 years, Sunai has been unable to age, die, or forget the horror of what Khuon Mo did, though he has tried to lose himself in the throes of drugs and sex. But when he wakes up in the bed of a man he never should have gone home with, he’s once more drawn back into the world of the machine-gods.
Gods of the Wyrdwood by RJ Barker
The only ones who can navigate the dangers of the Deepforest are the foresters — and Cahan du Nahare, who once belonged to the god of fire, is one such forester. He will guide Udinny, a servant of the goddess of the lost, when she ventures into the Deepforest to search for a lost child. In that search, Cahan must choose between the forest and the fire — the choice he makes will set the course for his entire world.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
I love me a giant robot story, and we have one this week with The Archive Undying. Here’s two more!
The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang
Misery Nomaki knows they’re a fraud; they hear the voice of an angel telling them they are the chosen warrior who will lead their people to victory in a holy war, and that voice is obviously a delusion brought on by too much space exposure in their ancestry. But if they want to survive, they must master piloting a holy mech and convince the Emperor of the Faithful of what they do not themself believe…until they begin to wonder if they’re not a fraud after all, and an angel truly is speaking to them.
August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White
Earth is doomed, and jazz pianist Gus Kitko intends to spend his final moments playing humanity’s swan song at the most off-the-hook goodbye party of all time as he waits for the alien Vanguard mecha to land and start the destruction. But instead, the Vanguard that busts into the party saves Gus instead of ending him — and he finds out he’s been chosen to join a small resistance group of Vanguard traitors and their pilots.
Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday! 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.