Happy Friday, shipmates! I’m Alex, and it’s…somehow already November? Where the heck did October even go? Well, here we’ve had our first snow of the season and a fun Halloween with some cute trick-or-treaters. For you today, I’ve got new releases, and a last couple of indie releases over from October that I didn’t want you to miss. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!
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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 Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers who are striking for living wages and a future where humans can continue to create art for each other.
Bookish Goods
MCRN Coffee Mug by FictionalMugs
This is a fun reference to The Expanse series — MCRN is the Mars Congressional Republic Navy. Comes in black or white. And you can get an OPA mug to go with it! $25
New Releases
Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao
Lady Jing is half-vampire, half-fox spirit, and one hundred percent attitude thanks to her mother pawning her to the King of Hell as a child to pay a debt. After 90 years of being a minor servant, she’s mostly learned to control her temper. But when she overhears some courtiers plotting to steal from the king, she takes it as her chance to rise above her station, so long as she has an airtight case. She just needs the help of a mortal whose actual job is to set up the Central Bank of Hell…and she’ll drag both of them through Hell and Jazz-age Shanghai to get the information she needs.
Communications Breakdown: SF Stories About the Future of Connection edited by Jonathan Strahan
In this anthology, editor Jonathan Strahan has asked famous and familiar science fiction authors what communication will look like in the future and how it may well change — even if the fundamental human need to connect does not.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Here are a couple more cool indie releases that came out in October to check out!
Off-Time Jive by A.Z. Louise
In an alternate Harlem Renaissance, Black artists are creating new forms of magic, and Bessie Knox is an investigator who specializes in just that, even though her own abilities are fading. But when her old colleagues start turning up dead, she needs to use every skill at her disposal if she doesn’t want to be next.
How to Get Over the End of the World by Hal Schrieve
James is a goth, gay, trans stoner who is in his last year of high school — and he cannot wait to get out. He’s sliding by on his classes and focusing on punk shows and fundraising for Compton House, the local LGBTQ+ support group. But when he meets and falls in love with Orsino, he needs to ask himself if the world and its possibilities are bigger than he’s imagined…and Orsino hopes that he’s finally found someone who can accept his telepathic powers and the apocalyptic visions of the future he experiences.
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.