Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got a double dose of new releases for you today: half standalones and half sequels because sequels need some love too. Gentle reminder that if you are in the U.S., it’s election day! Please vote if you haven’t yet! We’re in an off year, but those school board elections are super important for fighting back against the absolutely unhinged recent movement to ban books. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!
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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
TBR Cards by HeyBookLover
This deck of prompt cards is intended to help you overcome being frozen at the size of your TBR pile and get you to just pick a dang book to read! They’re very cute. $17
New Releases
The Princess of Thornwood Drive by Khalia Moreau
Laine’s parents were killed a year ago in a horrific car accident, which also left her younger sister paralyzed and nonverbal. Laine is struggling to make ends meet while battling predatory banks and a monstrous healthcare system. So when the Lake Forest Adult Day Center takes on Alyssa’s care for free, it’s a relief. Alyssa is still aware of what is happening around her…though in a very different reality. There was no car accident, to her mind. Rather, her parents were the king and queen of Mirendal, and a year ago, they were kidnapped, and she was placed under a curse. So, while Laine struggles to make ends meet, Alyssa will have to lead a battle that may destroy her and her sister — and their entire kingdom.
Bradbury Weather by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Caitlín R. Kiernan is mostly known as an author of horror and weird, but they’ve written quite a bit of science fiction. In this, their first sci-fi collection since 2009, nearly all of their short fiction that sits under the science fiction umbrella is at last in one place.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Today, I want to highlight a couple of sequels that have just come out; first books in series tend to get the most attention, but these are very worth continuing on to!
We Are the Crisis by Cadwell Turnbull
Sequel to No Gods, No Monsters. In the three years since the Monster Massacre, the world has changed a lot. Anti-monster groups have begun to organize, as have pro-monster organizations. Targeted killings of monsters and monster allies, kidnappings, both pro- and anti-monster legislation — all of these things call to question if there can be peace and if a new world can be built. Then, members of Rebecca’s old wolf pack begin to go missing while two ancient orders escalate their inscrutable conflict.
Chaos Terminal by Mur Lafferty
Sequel to Station Eternity. Mallory Viridian would really like it if people would stop mysteriously dying around her, leaving her to solve the case. But a serial killer followed her to Station Eternity when she was just trying to have a break, though she caught that person in the previous book. Now, more people are showing up to make her life complicated, including a law enforcement officer who was bugging her on Earth and two of her friends from high school. And, of course, someone on that latest shuttle gets murdered.
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.