Author: Alex Acks

How to Get Over the End of the World

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date November 2, 2023

Sponsored by

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.

Cover of Communications Breakdown edited by Jonathan Strahan

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Halloween Vibes Up to 11

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 30, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Halloween, shipmates! Oh, and I guess it’s Tuesday as well, technically speaking. It’s Alex, and I have turned the Halloween vibes up to eleven over here — so be aware that today’s book recommendations are definitely on the dark-to-horror side of SFF. Colorado’s annual Halloween snowstorm managed to miss the mark by a few days, so we might get to see some trick-or-treaters who aren’t wearing their costumes under little snowsuits…here’s hoping! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I hope you have enough candy on hand! I’ll see you on Friday.

Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: the 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

Black Cat Suncatcher by Artixcraft

You can’t expect me to let the official birthday of all black cats go by without one more neat black cat thing! This wooden suncatcher is absolutely gorgeous (and can be personalized). $18

New Releases

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

In June of 1950, 12-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sent to an infamous reformatory school for the crime of kicking the son of the largest landowner in town for harassing his older sister. But with him, Robbie brings an unusual skill; he can see haints (ghosts). It’s something that once brought him comfort after the death of his mother, but now it reveals the horrifying truth of the Gracetown School for Boys.

A Season of Monstrous Conceptions by Lina Rather

Sarah Davis is a midwife’s apprentice with uncanny secrets that sent her fleeing to London. When unnatural babies begin to be born across the city, ones with webbed fingers and toes and the dark eyes of fish, she well knows what is going on. But she keeps her head down still…until she is hired by the wealthy Lady Wren and discovers that her husband, a famous architect, has his own obsession with the uncanny that might well unmake the earth…

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

This…is…Halloween! And to celebrate, we’re doing a second helping of spooky recent releases, these ones from small and indie publishers!

An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand

Dawn is forced back to her old home in a tiny prairie city haunted by the pain of her fractured family when her big city life implodes. Worse, her brother Cody, to whom she has not spoken since he was sent to prison seven years ago, is out…and he has a mysterious new friend. Soon, Dawn discovers increasingly sinister evidence that Cody and his friend are reaching into the supernatural world.

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca

Henley’s Edge is a quiet, peaceful small town in Connecticut…one where there’s been a string of mysterious disappearances. For a grieving widower sheltering a dark secret, these draw him into the orbit of Heart Crowley, who wants followers for a dark magic ritual. For local law enforcement, these are ordinary crimes to be solved, and the investigator soon finds a deep well of unbridled hatred and bigotry at the heart of it all.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Curl Up with a Black Cat This Halloween

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 26, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m crunching through the fallen leaves to bring you more new releases and more books about black cats! Holy heck, we’re less than a week from Halloween. Sound the candy corn siren! My dream is that someday, I will have the money to give trick-or-treaters both candy and a random paperback. Some day. Have a great weekend, space pirates, and I will see you on Tuesday for the best night of the year!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders; 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

Black Cat Book Sleeve by BooksAndStitchesCo

I’ve begun to really like book sleeves, which are essential when carrying books in full laptop bags, say. (Also, they sometimes fit a tablet quite nicely.) This one is very cute, and has black cats on it! My favorite. $22

New Releases

Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu

Twenty-two short stories comprise this collection from the winner of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. E. Lily Yu brings compassion and beautiful prose to stories about strange occurrences and monsters.

Christmas and Other Horrors: A Winter Solstice Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow

Finally, a marriage of winter holidays and Halloween in the form of horror. The stories — written by Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Garth Nix, and many more — bring in a wealth of place and tradition to what horrors lurk without and within when families gather together and huddle against the cold.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

More black cats!!

Sailor Moon Short Stories 2 by Naoko Takeuchi

I think my love of Naoko Takeuchi and her creation of Sailor Moon is well known at this point, but Luna is one of the best black cats out there…and this short story collection has one all about her! It’s based on an old Japanese folktale, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” and it’s ADORABLE.

The Ninth Life by Clea Simon

This book sits at the junction of cozy mystery and animal fantasy, with the hero and chief investigator a black cat named…well, Blackie. He has no memories of the time before he was rescued by a street kid named Care in a ruined city; he’s on a quest to protect his savior, help her solve the mystery of her mentor’s murder, and recover his own past.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Speculative Short Stories and Things That Go Hiss in the Night

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 23, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! We’re one week out from the best day of the best month (Halloween!), and I’m (…me, I’m Alex, hi, as usual) here with two short story collections and recommendations for books starring black cats! This also means that I survived moving this weekend and did not get lost in a maze of cardboard boxes, never to be seen again, so thank you to everyone who spared a thought for the horrors of boxing up all one’s belongings and dragging them to another geographical location. Have a wonderful week, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Black Cat Enamel Bookmark by PineappleSundaysCo

This enamel clip bookmark is adorable! I love the little black cat. Even better is the message: Hiss off, I’m reading. (This seller also has a bookmark that reads “Not meow, I’m reading.” Yes, the cat puns!) $15

New Releases

Cover of Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology

Between Dystopias: The Road to Afropantheology by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Joshua Uchenna Omenga

This two-author collection of stories (short to novella in length) and essays explores African mysticism and dystopia, separately and in concert.

Cover of The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories

The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories by Kij Johnson

This collection is built from stories written by Kij Johnson over the last decade in formats ranging from traditional to experimental, focused on topics such as gender, animals, and the nature of stories themselves. It includes the award-winning The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe and the title work, as well as two entirely new stories.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

It is a well-known fact that October is the official birthday (a month-long birthday!) of all black cats. So this week, we’re looking at speculative fiction starring black cats!

The Wildings by Nilanjana Roy

A small band of feral cats lives in an old neighborhood in Delhi named Nizamuddin. They communicate with other bands of cats via something akin to a telepathic link, learning the news of the day and otherwise doing as they please…until an orange kitten with green eyes tumbles into their lives, who has unprecedented and strange powers. This special kitten is the herald of much more dire things to come…

The Thirteen Black Cats of Edith Penn by Sean McDonough

Edith Penn was well known as a witch in the small town of New Birmingham, never spoken to directly, but always the one sought out when a potion or spell was needed. But she’s dead now, and she’s only the first. No one knows how many will die, how it will all end or why…except for Edith’s 13 black cats.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Werewolves of Yesteryear

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 19, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m here with new releases and some historical fantasy books about werewolves. And…look, at this point, I have nothing in my brain but cute stickers because I’m in the home stretch of getting moved into a new house, and all I want to do is lay down on the floor and fall asleep, cat on my face optional. May your chilly autumn nights be filled with hot tea and good books! I’ll see you on Tuesday if I’m not taken out by an avalanche of boxes!

Bookish Goods

Reading Ghost Stickers by IllieMillieDesigns

Oh, to be a little ghost, sitting on a pumpkin and reading a book…but at least I can have a sticker of one on my laptop! These are just so dang cute. $4

New Releases

A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli

Mingshin is a clever woman who outsmarted three princes to win the crown for the man she loved…but she wasn’t smart enough to see the ultimate betrayal that ends with her own murder. With her dying breath, she begs for a chance to make things right — and the gods answer by returning her to two years earlier, where her new knowledge is not the only thing that has changed.

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

Jun Ironway, an occasional and only mildly successful thief, has scored a bigger fish than she knows how to handle: a secret that could destroy the star-spanning empire she’s part of. The two most brutal clerics of the Kingdom, Chono and Esek, are tasked with hunting her down. And hunting all three is an enigma named Six, who shares a past with them in a way no one realizes. The fate of an empire rests on manipulation and betrayal, and in the end, it’ll be sheer luck if any of them survive.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

More werewolves for you in this haunted October! These ones are historical.

Moon Dance by S.P. Somtow

During the European ~~expansion~~ invasion into western North America in the 1800s, a pack of Viennese werewolves emigrates to America in search of happier hunting grounds. Little do they know that supposedly “untouched” Dakota territory is already home to a pack of Lakota werewolves. (There’s also a prequel novella: Madonna of the Wolves.)

The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw

Marie Penthièrvre of Chalendrey swore to never marry a Breton after her abduction, and when the one man who might have changed her mind, Tiarnán of Talensac, marries someone else, she vows to become a nun. But Tiarnán has a secret, one that leads the woman he married to betray him and then have him presumed dead so she can marry a rival of his. Marie has a chance to find Tiarnán, rescue him, and restore him to his rightful place…if she’s not too late.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

The Plight of the 200-Year-Old Werewolf

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 16, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got two new releases for you and a werewolf-themed book recommendation week coming in hot! I am in the midst of moving, so…hoo boy, am I tired and sore and filled with lots of other complaints. But at least I’ve had some audiobooks to keep me company while packing boxes! Right now, I’m listening to The Spice Must Flow by Ryan Britt. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Warning: Werewolf Area Sign by SignsbyLindaNee

I love a novelty sign as decoration (I have a raptor attack one that lives in my office) and this is an excellent example of that genre. Particularly good if you’ve got a bit of a backyard to decorate! $25

New Releases

Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam

Evelyn Hazard is a very normal middle-class housewife in 1920s Edinburgh…until her husband announces that he can communicate with the dead. This pulls them both into the spiritualist movement, and her normal life begins to unravel quickly, even before secrets from her past begin to catch up to her. Worst, she must grapple with a question no wife wants to ask herself: is the man she loves a fraud, fallen into insanity, or worse — can he actually speak to the dead?

The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen

Two sisters who are witches grow up together in the birch woods of Norway, driven there on the day their former village burned their mother. Kaija, however, longs to rejoin society and eventually does, even though it means she will have to suppress her magic. Minna is devastated by her sister’s betrayal, and she expresses her rage with a curse aimed at punishing everyone who took away her family — she understands too late that it will destroy Kaija, too.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

In keeping with the Halloween theme of the month, more monsters! This time, it’s werewolves — the non-romantic sort.

The Path of Thorns by A.G. Slatter

Asher Todd comes to Morwood as a governess because she knows the house is one that tends to eat secrets, and she has quite a few she’d like to make it choke on. But she unfortunately also becomes fond of the children, and the people of the surrounding community… just in time to wonder if she really wants to follow through with a plan she can’t really stop.

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

At a bit over 200 years old, Jake Marlowe is the last werewolf, and he is tired. All he’s got to try to salve his burgeoning existential crisis is his love of scotch and books…and the lust for meat and pleasures of the flesh that takes him during the full moon. He might be thinking of ending it all, but there are two groups, both equally dangerous, who want very much to keep him alive.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Witchy Westerns

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 12, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got your second dose of new releases for the week, and a second dose of witchy fantasy books in keeping with this glorious season. There’s a bite in the air, which requires drinking a lot of hot tea to shake it off. Perfect reading weather, if you ask me. May you get to take advantage of it! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday next week!

Bookish Goods

a photo of a wide-brimmed hat with phases on the moon painted on the brim

Hand Painted Wide Brim Hat by RarefiedandRaw

I went looking for “witchy western” thanks to one of the books in the recommendations this week. What I found is this hat, which I am now utterly obsessed with. For anyone who wants a nontraditional — and gorgeous — witch hat! $110

New Releases

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang

This is a collection of SFF short stories curated by R.F. Kuang. Authors include Alix E. Harrow, S.L. Huang, Malka Older, Sofia Samatar, and more!

Red River Seven by A. J. Ryan

Seven people wake in a boat lost in mist-shrouded waters, and none of them remember who they are, how they got here, or anything else helpful. Each of them also has a gun. This is already a recipe for suspicion, paranoia, and someone getting shot…and then the screams start up out in the mist.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

I’m still in the mood for witch books, so here are two more coming at you for this October!

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

This was one of my favorite books of 2021, so you can bet your butt I’m going to take this opportunity to recommend it again. Immanuelle has been raised isolated in a cult where her existence is a blasphemy because her mother loved an outsider — and one of a different race at that. But when she accidentally ends up in the woods where the first prophet killed four powerful witches, their spirits give her an unexpected gift: a chance to know more about her mother, even if it comes with the unpleasant truth that she once consorted with witches…and had good reason to.

The Black Tree Atop the Hill by Karla Yvette

Marisol is the witch of Jack Boyd’s ranch, hired to notice threats that edge into the otherworldly. Thus, she’s the first one to look past the disastrous calving season and notice the tree that’s appeared atop the hill. But the tree is not alone, and soon Marisol and the ranch’s resident ghost must work together to stop the trees from taking over the ranch, California, and maybe even the world.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Jazz Witches in the 1920s

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 9, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m here to welcome you to the second glorious week of October with a couple of new releases, and a couple of awesome books about witches! The leaves are starting to turn on the tree outside my window (they go bright yellow) and we’re in the finals for Fat Bear Week. Truly, we are in the midst of autumn! My advice is: have something delightful and warm to drink, considering who your favorite of the fat bears is, and kick back with a good book. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Baba Yaga Book Bag by HallowedMountain

I can never get enough of a nice canvas tote bag — good for groceries and for books. The design on this one is lovely, a take on Baba Yaga flying in her mortar. $18.56

New Releases

Touched by Walter Mosley

Martin Just is an ordinary man, patriarch of the only Black family in his Hollywood Hills neighborhood — until he wakes up one morning, feeling as if he’s slept for centuries, knowing two things with perfect clarity: Humanity is a virus that will destroy everything, and he is the Cure. It is for him to defend his family against pure evil with this knowledge, and the strange new physical strengths he possesses.

A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper

Olivia ran away from home three years ago with big dreams, but now she’s stuck in a dead-end job in Chapel Hill, PA, and the only thing she’s got going for her is her best friend, Sunflower. But when a horrific storm hits the town, followed by a monster, Olivia has new impetus to escape Chapel Hill as well — if she can dodge the residents enslaved by the storm’s mystical influence and find Sunflower first.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Now that we’ve survived the new release tsunami of the first week in October, I want to get back to more themed recommendations to go with the season! And to start with, a couple of books about witches:

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

Fourteen years ago, Josephine’s mother disappeared with no explanation and only speculation left behind. The most worrying theory is that she was a witch, because witches are real — and a Black woman particularly can be accused of witchcraft and put on trial all too easily. At 28 years old, Jo is also staring down state-required marriage unless she wants to put herself on a government registry for monitoring, and neither choice is good. When she’s given a chance to follow one last request made in her mother’s will, she leaps at it.

Bindle Punk Bruja by Desideria Mesa

Luna — also known as Rose, depending on which crowd she’s with — is the only white-passing child of a Mexican immigrant mother, and it’s an advantage in 1920s Kansas City she’s used without hesitation in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club. But her race is not the only part of her heritage she’s hiding; she’s also a bruja with ever-growing magical abilities, and soon she’ll find that she’ll need to stop keeping both identities in check if she’s to save her friends and family.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Quoth the Raven, “Nope.”

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 5, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy first Friday in October, shipmates! It’s Alex, coming at you with a bunch more new releases because this week has been what is technically called a “doozy.” I hope everyone is getting some cooler weather to go with shorter days — and had a good start to the best month of the year! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Bookish Goods

A photo of a pillow wiht an illustration of a raven and the text Quoth the Raven. Underneath, a speech bubble for the raven says, "Nope."

Quoth the Raven Pillow by EccentricStarDesign

Appropriate for the season? Yes. But what sold me on the pillow was the little “nope.” It gave me a moment of Poe meets Effin’ Birds, and I love it. $25

New Releases

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu

Shantiport is a city that was supposed to be great, once. Now it’s sinking both physically and culturally under the weight of its colonialist rulers. Lina loves her home city, though, and as the daughter of failed revolutionaries, she would do anything to save it. But when a tech billionaire coerces her and her brother — a monkey bot with an attitude — into getting a powerful (maybe even alien) artifact that will let him reshape reality with the power of three wishes, Shantiport will be changed forever.

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub

This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice in which Lydia Bennet reveals what truly happened after the end of the book, including the shocking truths that Kitty is actually a barn cat transformed, Wickham is indeed wicked because he is a demon, and Mr. Darcy is even more uptight about magic than he is about etiquette.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

As I mentioned on Tuesday, there were more than twenty-six new books this week. Asking me to pare it down to eight to tell you about is…painful but do-able. Trying to get it down to six or four would have been inhuman. So here’s a couple more new releases!

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Julie Crew is a 30-year-old burnout with a lot of magic at her beck and call, so she’s trying to establish herself as a psychic operative in NYC, willing to work absolutely gruesome jobs to climb the ladder. But when being on the grind isn’t enough, she tries to get a leg up by summoning a guardian angel…and in so doing, accidentally releases an elder god that wants to destroy the entire galaxy.

Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead by K. J. Parker

“Battlefield salvager” isn’t really a job one applies for, and it doesn’t come with much training, either. It’s a “pick things up as you go” profession, a living only because someone has to deal with the dead. Saevus has made a decent amount of money and done his best to stay out of trouble…but one thing he hasn’t managed to bury as deeply as needed is his own past.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Beware the Man of Sap

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 2, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates. It’s Alex, and I’m SO EXCITED because we’re finally at my favorite month of the year — October!! And wow, are we off to a massive start on the book release front. There were at least 26 new books I found for this week alone — and I may well have missed some from smaller publishers that I’ll catch up on later. I think everyone was saving their witch-related and creepy SFF offerings for this month, too. Understandably. So, while I normally try to do themed recommendations throughout October, this week, it’s going to just be a lot of new releases because I was apparently kidding myself when I said last month was the deluge. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and kiss a black cat between the ears for good luck! I’ll see you on Friday.

Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or cozy fantasy novels you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders; 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

a t-shirt with an image of the top of a black cat's head and the text "Watcha Reading?"

Watcha Reading? T-shirt by kiwiandthebird

October is the official birthday of all black cats, so that makes this adorable T-shirt extra appropriate! $22

New Releases

Beholder by Ryan La Sala

Athan has spent his life making it on charm and good looks…and that turns out to be a bad choice when he gets himself invited to a penthouse party attended by artsy elites. Because when he sneaks off to use the bathroom, everyone else at the party has been massacred…and arranged into an elegant sculpture. As the only survivor, Athan is the primary suspect, and he must solve a supernatural mystery if he wants to prove his innocence.

cover of The Owl Cries by Hye-young Pyun

The Owl Cries by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

In the western woods, a dark and chill place that emanates foreboding, a park ranger disappears. The investigation should be a simple enough thing. But everyone who once knew the man denies his existence. When an accident and a death derail the investigation further, the park ranger who replaced him, In-su Park, begins his own search in the woods, prompted by a mysterious message left under his desk: “In the forest the owl cries.”

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

At least 26 new SFF books came out this week, so you bet I’m going to use my opportunity to tell you about two more—my goodness.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

Talasyn has only known war and ruin, born in a nation besieged by the Night Emperor and torn by constant hurricanes. But she has a secret: light magic that could cut through the emperor’s shadows, if only she survives long enough to use it. When the emperor’s son, Prince Alaric, sees her shining on the battlefield, he tries to kill her, recognizing the magic that destroyed his grandfather and turned his father into a monster. But instead of striking her dead, his magic combines with hers to make a power the likes of which no one has before seen…a magic that could end the wars, and perhaps save them all from an even greater danger that lurks just out of sight.

the cover of Before the Devil Knows Your Here by Autumn Krause

Before the Devil Knows You’re Here by Autumn Krause

In 1836 Wisconsin, Catalina lives with her father and brother in desperate conditions at the edge of the woods. Then her father dies of a sudden illness, and the Man of Sap, a strange figure with leaves growing from his head and sap dripping from his eyes, abducts her brother. Determined and with nothing else to lose, Catalina takes her father’s knife and embarks on a journey to get her brother back.

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.