Category: Swords and Spaceships

Merciful Crows and Fireflies

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date July 6, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got your new releases for the week and a couple of fiery recommendations. I hope everyone in the ol’ US of A had a good (and safe) holiday, and that those of you not in a place where your neighbors spend the entire week setting off fireworks at all hours and scaring your pets have had a generally good week. We’ve had a lot of thunderstorms here, so it’s been very cool, but July and fireworks still have me thinking about fire, and that’s what got me picking out the two recommendations. I hope y’all have a great weekend! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

What do S.A. Cosby, Khaled Hosseini, Sarah Bakewell, and Yahdon Israel have in common? They’ve been guests on Book Riot’s newest podcast, First Edition where BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world. Subscribe to hear them and stay to hear Book Riot’s editors pick the “it” book of the month.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

a photo of a fabric book protector with a fireflies print

Fireflies Page & Pocket Book Sleeve by PAGEandPOCKET

This handmade book keeper comes in three sizes (better to fit your book) and I just love the fabric pattern used here. Fireflies are very summery! There are quite a few other designs as well. $17

New Releases

Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty

In a world reimagined from Vedic India, the Magadhan Empire has all but battered the Mathuran Republic into oblivion. Senator Krishna and his third wife Sayabhama are trying to keep their beloved country from destruction with plots internal and external, but they find out soon that neither money nor alliances last forever, and they are not the only ones engaged in deadly political games.

Shaken Loose by Ilana DeBare

Annie Maple, a total underachiever from San Francisco who hasn’t really done much bad — or much good — in her life, dies at age 29. And then gets sent to Hell, the classic Christian one, with devils and pitchforks and sulfur. The systems governing Hell are starting to break down, however, giving her a chance to escape. On that perilous journey she learns that it’s a place host not to just the truly evil, but billions of people who simply didn’t happen to be Christian. Soon she finds herself trying to choose between returning to life for a second chance, or staying dead and challenging the entire system.

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

Riot Recommendations

We’re well into summer now, and coming down off the 4th of July, so of course I’ve got fire on the brain. Here are a couple of books that have magical fire in their pages!

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

Thanh was sent away as a hostage to Ephteria as a child, a way to secure the questionable freedom of her mother’s country from colonization rather than simply being under Ephteria’s thumb. She returns as a teenager, haunted by memories of her first, abusive romance, and of the magical fire that destroyed Ephteria’s palace. As it turns out, both of these “ghosts” have followed her home.

The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen

The Crow are a caste of undertakers and mercy-killers, looked down upon always by others. But when one of their number, Fie, is called upon to collect dead from the royal family, she’s hoping it will finally be a massive payout for her caste. Unfortunately, it turns out that the dead royal isn’t dead…he just faked his own death, and now he’s made it her problem.

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

Hapless Alien Abductions

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 29, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! And happy just-about-to-be-a-holiday-weekend to my fellow USians! It’s Alex, and I’ve got your last new releases for June on board, and a couple silly sci-fi books extra — one that involve aliens. We’re well into the summer now, huh? I could do without the [illegal in Colorado] fireworks going off, and the heat, but I can’t say no to barbecue weather all the same. I hope my fellow Americans out there have a good holiday coming at you. And a reminder: since it’s a holiday here, no newsletter on Tuesday. You’ll get all your new releases on Friday next week instead. Stay safe — I mean it! — out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you next Friday.

Looking for fascinating stories, informed takes, useful advice, and more drawn from our collective experience as power readers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and bookish professionals? Subscribe to The Deep Dive, a biweekly newsletter to inform and inspire readers, delivered to your inbox! Your first read (The Power Reader’s Guide to Reading Logs & Trackers) is on the house. Check out all the details and choose your membership level at bookriot.substack.com.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

Alien Riding a Unicorn T-Shirt by Shirtmandude

Look, given the rather silly mood Connie Willis’s new book (see below) has put me in, this T-shirt seems VERY appropriate. I think the cowboy hat is a nice touch. $19

New Releases

The Shadow Sister by Lily Meade

Casey’s sister has gone missing, and it’s the worst thing to happen to her family. Casey is also furious because Sutton is a deeply manipulative person, and her family does nothing but sing her praises…a necessity when no one goes looking for Black (or half-Black) girls unless they’re thought to be perfect angels. But when Sutton reappears as mysteriously as she vanished and remembers nothing of her disappearance, Casey knows something is seriously wrong. Did she ever really know her sister? And what happened to the other girls who have disappeared?

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis

Francie never believed in supernatural nonsense, an umbrella that definitely covers aliens as well. When she goes to Roswell for an alien-themed wedding, the last thing she expects is to be abducted by one — and one that looks nothing like popular media would have us believe. She’s also not the only abductee — probably just the least oddball of the lot. And soon, she realizes that the alien might actually be in trouble and in need of all their help…

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

Riot Recommendations

Connie Willis’s new book has me thinking of other books where ET is a bit hapless…

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu

On morning, out-of-shape IT guy Roen wakes up to a voice in his head. He immediately and naturally assumes he’s lost his marbles. But no, it’s just an ancient alien named Tao who has taken up residence in his brain, and needs him to become an ultimate secret agent and warrior to save all of humanity. No big deal.

Space Unicorn Blues by T.J. Berry

Magical creatures have become resources to be exploited, and half-unicorn Gary desperately wants to escape it all — preferably before his horn gets ground to powder to fuel FTL travel. But when he tries to make his escape in a stone ship once flown by his ancestors, Captain Jenny Perata steals it out from under him. They have a…complicated history that involves murder, and that’s just the start. This is a book about some serious subjects (slavery, exploitation) that doesn’t shy away from also being very silly at times.

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 Only Thing Cooler Than a Mech

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 26, 2023

Sponsored by

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!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

a photo of white headphones with white mecha-like wings on the sides

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.

Cover of August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Hop On the Korean SFF Wave!

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 22, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got a couple new releases for you, and a bit of a Korean theme thanks to one of the new releases. (And also, I will admit, because a Bonchon franchise just opened a short walk from my house and its Korean fried chicken has changed my life.) I hope you’ve had a lovely week, possibly with some delicious fried chicken in it as well (if that’s something you like). Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

an enamel pin of a snarling nine-tailed fox

Gumiho Enamel Pins by Linai

With the Korean SFF-theme that evolved in this newsletter (just keep reading), I of course also thought about Kat Cho’s Wicked Fox. The nine-tailed fox appears in a lot of east Asian mythology and well, you know I love an enamel pin. This is one of the designs in a set of three. $15

New Releases

And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong

Mirae’s destiny was always to be queen, but the ceremony that was to end with her on her throne instead is cut short by terror and death — and the awakening of a magic power within her. In the chaos, her older brother is taken, and Mirae must master her new magic to rescue him and save her queendom from an ancient, monstrous enemy.

Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool

Marlow Briggs once lived in the gilded cage called Evergarden; she’s now made a name for herself in the Marshes as the best cursebreaker around. Yet no matter how many people she helps and how many mysteries she solves as she rends curses asunder, she cannot escape the haunting mystery of her mother’s disappearance. When an old friend who is also the scion of a wealthy family comes to her for help with a curse, Marlow is reluctant to accept — there’s too much emotional baggage between them. But with him comes a new lead in her mother’s case.

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

Riot Recommendations

With And Break the Pretty Kings coming out this week (and dang, is that not a COOL title?) how about a couple more novels rooted in Korea and its mythology?

Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh

Over a century and a half from now, East Asia is in ruins after a massive war. Neo Seoul is a brutal place ruled by combat, ad Lee Jaewon is an ex-gang member who has found success as a pilot in the academy — it’s his best chance to escape his past. His ambitions for military glory become complicated when he meets Tera, a test subject in a supersoldier project, destined to pilot a God Machine in a never-ending war.

Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur

Many years ago, Elsa’s mother warned her that the women in their family are destined — and doomed — to repeat the narratives of their ancestors. Elsa sees a far more realistic problem: mental illness and generational trauma carried by her immigrant family. When she spots her imaginary childhood friend, a spectral woman waiting for her in the snow outside the neutrino observatory in Antarctica, and when her mother wakes from her catatonic state and speaks, she knows there is no more running from her family and their 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

We’re All Stories In the End

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 19, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex with a dose of new releases…and then a couple more for good measure because I just cannot make myself choose sometimes, and this is one of those weeks. It’s been a rainy weekend in Colorado, nice and cool, and it’s still my favorite kind of weather. It’s been a great opportunity to sit down with Matt Wallace’s Savage Crowns, and witness a series I’ve loved wrap up. There’s no feeling quite like it, eh? Hope y’all had a great weekend! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

Bracelet with a charm that reads "We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one."

We’re All Just Stories in the End Bracelet by TheTwinklingTalisman

In honor of one of the books this week definitely not being about a mysterious guy called the Doctor under a different name, here’s a pretty bracelet inspired by our favorite Timelord. $24

New Releases

A Crooked Mark by Linda Kao

Matt has spent his young life rootless, moving from town to town with his dad as they hunt for people marked by the Devil himself — and eliminate them. When he meets Rae, the survivor of a car accident that killed her father, he’s at first certain she must be so marked. But as he gets to know her and they become friends (and perhaps more) he begins to question his entire mission…and the existence of the Devil’s mark to begin with.

Citadel by C.M. Alongi

The people of Citadel, the only city on the planet Edalide, have long been told it is their holy mission to exterminate the unholy, vicious demons of the Flooded Forest. Then Olivia, a 19-year-old, nonverbal autistic woman, meets one such “demon” and recognizes that they are not animals nor vicious except in their own desperate defense, but sentient people. She embarks on a hazardous journey into the forest to try to stop this war and prevent anyone else from losing a loved one.

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

Riot Recommendations

Hello there, shipmates! As is my wont, I didn’t want to choose between new releases this week, so here’s a couple more I wanted to tell you about!

The Infinite Miles by Hannah Fergesen

Harper Starling is lost in a dead-end job and a fruitless life, grieving for her best friend Peggy, who went missing three years ago. All she has for comfort is her favorite science fiction television show, Infinite Voyage. But then Peggy returns unexpectedly, only to demand to be taken to the Argonaut…the fictional hero of the show. And then the Argonaut himself shows up and whisks Harper away across time, claiming that Peggy used to travel with him but is now being controlled by hostile aliens. And then, as if that’s not already too much for a body to handle, he ditches her in 1971…

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron

At a summer attraction that lets fans relive scenes from a classic slasher film, The Curse of Camp Mirror Lake, Charity plays the final girl, and she’s having the time of her life. But the last weekend before the season ends, Charity’s coworkers start disappearing…and she’s almost able to convince herself there’s nothing behind it until one of them turns up dead. Suddenly, the movie they’re recreating is far too real, and if Charity wants to survive the night and keep her best friend alive, they need to unravel mysteries far deeper than they could have imagined.

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

Let’s Travel the Multiverse

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 15, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m coming at you with new releases and a little multiverse theme. I hope that no matter what universe you live in, you had a most excellent week. Maybe even one that involved cake, since I firmly believe that cake is S-tier in every universe. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

Multiverse Anniversary Card by KraftStreetPaperCo

Since I’m on a bit of a multiverse kick, that’s what I went looking for on Etsy…and I cannot get over how cute this nerdy little anniversary card is. And it’s printed on recycled cardstock! $6

New Releases

The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni

Mike Brink was once a rising star in football until a trumatic brain injury that caused him to acquire a rare savant syndrome. This gave him the ability to solve puzzles in ways no other can understand — and construct them as well. This skill causes him to be called on by the psychiatrist of murderer Jess Price, who hasn’t spoken for five years, but has drawn a strange puzzle. Mike is drawn into first the cipher, then the far more dangerous mysteries behind it, deeper than a simple murder.

Cover of Many Worlds edited by Cadwell Turnbull and Josh Eure

Many Worlds: Or, the Simulacra edited by Cadwell Turnbull and Josh Eure

This anthology is a collection of stories by authors building a shared multiverse together. The tales are strange, transformational, subversive, and transgressive, ranging from the depths of internet conspiracy forums that might be on to something to interstellar telepaths touching on unknowable cosmic forces.

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

Riot Recommendations

Multiverses are not as common in fiction as I would have thought — though they might be making a major commercial start thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who knows. But there are still some other good books with multiverse stories!

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson

Am I going to take this opportunity to once again plug the absolute best book I’ve read in the last decade? You bet your butts I will. In a dystopian world wracked by climate disasters and worse, multiverse travel has been discovered — and it’s used by the corporation that owns it to steal data and inventions from other worlds. One wrinkle of the travel is that if you travel to a world where your doppelganger is alive, it’ll kill one or both of you. So Cara, who is for some reason dead in almost every other universe, is an invaluable employee. But Cara has her own secrets, which implicate even darker things than just the underlying corruption of a corporate oligarchy.

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Marguerite’s parents created the Firebird, an invention that allows people to jump into multiple universe. But then her father is murdered by, shockingly, his assistant Paul, who escapes into another universe before he can be caught by the police. Unwilling to give up on bringing Paul to justice, Marguerite pursues him through the multiverse, meeting alternate versions of people she knows…and discovering the motivations behind and cause of her father’s death might not be as clear cut as they seem.

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

ON EARTH AS IT IS ON TELEVISION

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 12, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and it’s time for a double dose of new releases for your summer reading pile. It was a cool and rainy weekend here in Denver, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is my favorite time of year — it’s so green outside, which will not be the case once the summer heat really gets going. But right now, perfect for sitting under a tree and reading a book while catching some fresh air. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

UFO Bookmark by LittleBlackBats

There’s a fun-looking UFO book in this week’s new releases, and this bookmark is perfect for it. The bookmark is light, ink printed of “clear paper” and if you’d like to be abducted into a story with a different colored light beam, you can request it! $8

New Releases

Owlish by Dorothy Tse

Nevers is a mysterious city bound by mountains, and in its lives a literature professor known as “Q.” He’s uninterested in his own marriage, nearly as uninterested in his own career, and his only joy is his collection of antique dolls. One day, he receives the crowning glory of that collection: a music box ballerina doll named Aliss, who is alive in her own way. Q soon finds the passion he has lacked elsewhere in his life by embarking on an affair with Aliss.

Cover of On Earth as It Is on Television

On Earth as It Is on Television by Emily Jane

One day, quite without warning, massive UFOs show up in the skies above Earth, hovering undeniably and visible for all to see. Then they depart, as abruptly as they showed up, and without a word as to why they were here or what they might want. As first contacts go, it’s not the most earth-shattering, but it still throws humanity into disarray with the knowledge that we are not alone in the universe…and this novel follows the lives of a few such humans trying to grapple with a sudden reorientation of their place while still dealing with the weirdness of modern life.

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

Riot Recommendations

As is becoming my habit (and I hope you don’t mind!) I wanted to sneak in an extra round of new releases this beautiful Tuesday morning. There are just so many good books, and I can’t choose just a few!

Where Rivers Go to Die by Dilman Dila

Dilman Dila is a Ugandan Africanfuturist writer, and this new collection of eight short stories from him showcases both his talent and his delightful constructions with language, all with tales seated in Uganda’s myth, culture…and future. In these pages, British colonizers find Martians in Africa, a detective tries to stop a vengeful spirit from killing grooms before they can get married, and a warrior faces down both ancient horrors and his own elders to secure paradise for all his people.

Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara

Psyche is prophesied to defeat a monster even the gods fear; she decides to approach this by training with bow and blade, the traditions of society be damned. When she offends Aphrodite, the goddess sends her son Eros to teach her a lesson, though there’s nothing the young god wants less than to be involved in humanity’s affairs. But when he pricks his finger with one of his own arrows, he falls indelibly in love with Psyche. Fate brings them together as the Trojan War begins, and it’s for them to decide if they will allow war and the rest of the gods to tear them back apart.

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

Solidarity, Me Hearties

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 8, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with a couple more new releases for you, and some solidarity-with-labor-flavored SFF for you to check out. I might have missed May Day this year, but seeing the WGA stand up for its writers and with SAG-AFTRA voting to authorize a strike as well, I’ve never been more proud to be a member of a union. Solidarity, me hearties. Stay safe out there, have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers impacted by the strikes.

Bookish Goods

Solidaritree Pin by TheArtOrchardByLucy

A very cool design that goes with the theme of solidarity this week…and you know how I love an enamel pin. I also love this description of the design: “The trunk of the tree is a fist of solidarity. The roots represent the intersecting causes of oppression, whilst the branches represent the solutions: the coming together of different marginalised groups, and their allies, to form a beautiful and powerful whole.” $15

New Releases

The Library of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson

The Library is the peacekeeper of three systems, its ever-shifting tunnels the home of the gods. Freida is the daughter of one of these gods, and she will be called on to unearth a terrible secret long-buried after she decides to help both a Tierran boy who wants to save his people and a disciple from a persecuted religion while their systems stand at the brink of war.

Relentless Melt by Jeremy P. Bushnell

Artie Quick is an ambitious and very inquisitive young woman in Boston who wants to be a detective. Unfortunately for her, it’s 1909, so she must disguise herself as a man to pursue her studies into Criminal Investigation, paying for it by being a department store salesgirl by day. Before her course of study is even finished, she’s ready to put her knowledge into practice and goes hunting for a mystery with her friend Theodore, who is studying magic. Together, they end up on the trail of a series of violent abductions, which will test their investigative and occult skills.

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

Riot Recommendations

With the WGA on strike (solidarity!) and SAG-AFTRA voting to authorize a strike themselves, I wanted to highlight some science fiction that touches on solidarity and labor issues! There’s a lot more than you’d think, though not nearly enough, in my opinion.

The Wall by Gautam Bhatia

For the last two thousand years, the city of Sumer has been entirely enclosed by a wall, through which nothing leaves and nothing enters. Mithila is a young woman who hungers for new experiences in a place where any deviation from the rules is punished brutally. And she will try to cross the wall, though every power in the city will try to stop her — because breaking the rules will cause civilization to collapse, they say. This book leads into The Horizon, which follows an agricultural workers’ union that is trying to address the inequity of the society of Sumer.

The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliott

Esther hasn’t been to the Beyond, the space between the worlds, since the Concilium banned her and her six-person traveling party for a decade. But when she discovers her adult son has been taken, she and her Hex are the only ones who can rescue him, ban be damned. Esther is basically a union organizer — and her union are the municipal workers who work under a dragon.

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

A Double Dose of New SFF!

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 5, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! We’re well into June now, huh? It’s Alex, with your first set of June new releases — a double dose because there were a lot of great-looking books coming out this week! (And I still didn’t have room to include them all.) Here in Colorado, it’s been a cool and very rainy start to June, which I’m really enjoying before the summer gets hot…even if it’s very weird for there to be humidity for once. You can tell it’s quite damp because even book pages feel different! I’m sure the “normal” will return soon, but until then, I’ll just do my best to ignore the weird things my hair is doing. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

a photo of a clock with a spiral of numbers on its face

Time Travel Clock by TomasStoreCo

There are a lot of books coming out this month that have a time travel component in them, so this eye-bending clock caught my eye immediately. It’s also got customization options! $46

New Releases

Translation State by Ann Leckie

In a new, standalone novel that takes place in the Imperial Radch universe, a missing translator brings three disparate people together; their actions will reverberate across the empire. Qven was created to learn human ways and serve as an intermediary between Presger and humans — but they want something else for their life, and that is non-“optimal” behavior that will get them eliminated. Enae is a diplomat on a hunt for a fugitive that’s been missing for over 200 years at the behest of their dead grandmaman. Reet is an adoptee who is desperate to learn of his origins. And coming at them all is the Conclave of the various species, which will decide if the treaty between humanity and the Presger continues.

The Moon Represents My Heart by Pim Wangtechawat

The great secret of the Wang family is that they have the ability to time travel, and do so regularly. But one day Joshua and Lily, the parents of the family, depart for the distant past and do not return, leaving their children Eva and Tommy to face the world alone and figure out how to live while dealing with the grief of their loss. Eva searches for answers in the present while Tommy begins to delve into the past…until he falls in love with a woman in the 1930s in London’s Chinatown.

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

Riot Recommendations

This is one of those weeks with so many good new releases that I’m giving you a double dose today!

cover of The Grimoire of Grave Fates; illustration of a magic book on the cover

The Grimoire of Grave Fates edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen

The Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary is a prestigious institution that has recently reinvented itself as a school for all young magicians that welcomes any identity or culture. Sadly, there are those not happy with this positive change. And when Professor of Magical History Septimius Dropwort is murdered, everyone in the Academy becomes a suspect, and the students must solve the murder themselves.

The Endless Vessel by Charles Soule

In the near future of a world that could be ours, a “depression plague” ravages humanity without seeming rhyme or reason. Lily Barnes, a young scientist from Hong Kong, is trying to keep her own hopes alive in an increasingly grim world when she hears the calling of the Endless Vessel, which may be the key to returning happiness to herself and the world. She leaves her life behind and embarks on a journey across time and space to find out.

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 Reality Controller of Delhi

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date June 1, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, here to sneak in two last May new releases for you and offer a couple recommendations for SFF by Indian authors. I had a lot of fun over the long weekend, thanks to running a garage sale with my best friend. (Really!) I had to make myself thin out my paper book collection a bit, but the great part was seeing those old books find new homes with people who were utterly delighted to find them! For all that I tend more toward ebooks these days just because that way no one knows how enormous my to-read list is, they’re not nearly as easy to pass on to happy new homes. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

a photo of a mini scifi book nook that looks like spaceship controls

Mini Scifi Book Nook by WickedBotany

If you have a little gap in your shelves, here’s a cool, light-up decoration for it! It can add a bit of sci-fi flare among the spines. This shop also has some larger “book nooks” that look pretty darn cool. $33

New Releases

The Light at the End of the World by Siddhartha Deb

Four different timelines (near future, 1984, 1947, and 1859) interweave and interconnect as a low-ranking paper pusher named Bibi is assigned by the global consulting firm he works for to find a man thought to be dead, who might actually be alive — and worse, the source of a lot of documents that reveal secrets about the Indian government that they would rather keep buried, including detention centers, bioengineered diseases, and alien wreckage.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs

The Kalotay family has long been charged with guarding a collection of books that are rare, ancient — and magically dangerous. Half-sisters Joanna and Esther were raised to be the next caretakers, but they have been separated and estranged for years. Esther has hidden herself away in Antarctica in an attempt to escape the fate that took her mother’s life, and Joanna has become a veritable shut-in within the family’s home in Vermont, devoting herself to studying the books. But when their father suddenly dies as he reads a book completely new to Joanna, she and Esther will need to reunite to save their family legacy — and learn long-hidden secrets.

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

Riot Recommendations

Siddhartha Deb’s novel has inspired me to recommend some other SFF written by Indian authors and set in India.

The City Inside by Samit Basu

In near-future Delhi, Joey works as a Reality Controller, which means she supervises multi-reality livestreams. Her current client is, unfortunately, Indi, her college ex. Rudra is estranged from his wealthy family, only reluctantly communicating with them again after his father’s death, but Joey has his gratitude for offering him a job and letting him once again escape the clutches of his family. When the two somehow end up tangled in multiple conspiracies, they must find their own way in the mess of dysfunctional relationships, corporate loyalty (or lack thereof) and the multi-faceted monster that is surveillance capitalism.

The Rakta Queen by Shweta Taneja

Anantya Tantrist is an unofficial consultant for the Central Bureau of Investigation in Delhi. Her expertise is the dangerous and the occult. When she’s called on to investigate two cases, one a Kaula tantrik murdered by his chandaali slave, and the other a group of university students performing an orchestrated orgy in front of a metro station, she’ll have to navigate her way past a murderous sorcerer, jinn out to scam her, and even more dangerous enemies. (And there are two more books in the series! The Matsya Curse and Cult of Chaos!)

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.