Category: Swords and Spaceships

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and it must be time for some new releases and a few bits of genre news. It’s almost time for WorldCon, which means I’ve been doing a lot of Zoom time in preparation. This’ll actually be my first virtual convention, so I’ll let you know how it goes! (And this also means the Hugos are coming, though they won’t be done in time for Friday news.) Stay safe out there, and I’ll catch you on Tuesday!

Thing I’m screaming about right now: HALO INFINITE

Non-SFF thing: Alyssa Cole’s Spring Fling 2020 Keynote is really worth reading.

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

New Releases

Note: There appear to be almost no authors of color on the new SFF release lists for this week that I have access to.

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline – Joan’s husband Victor goes missing a few hours after they have their first truly serious argument as a couple. She searches for him in vain and has almost given up when she hears Victor’s voice coming from inside a revival tent. The man preaching there says his name is Reverend Wolff, but Joan sees her husband, somehow struck with amnesia, in him—and a darker power as well, something old and very dangerous. She turns to her Métis family and their traditions to uncover the truth.

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories by Laura van den Berg – A collection of short stories about women on the emotional edge, fighting misogyny, America’s ridiculous economics, and violence. Ranging in tone from fairy tales to ghost stories, they are both haunting and unflinching.

The Worst of All Possible Worlds by Alex White – Drawn by rumors of humanity’s fabled birth place, the Origin, the crew of the Capricious go searching for the first colony ship—and a power that could rival a god’s. Too bad this crew seems to leave a trail of destruction in their wake and always sets a course for danger, whether they want it or not. With their enemies on their tail and their home planet in serious need of their help, they’d better hope they can pull this mission off.

Automatic Reload by Ferret Steinmetz – Mat and Silvia don’t have a normal meet-cute. Mat is a disabled verteran-turned-mercenary who has crafted his body into a perfect weapon by replacing all of his limbs with an interchangeable roster of cybernetic weapons. Silvia is a woman who had her debt called in by an untrustworthy corporation that decided the best way for her to repay was by genetically engineering her into a perfect killing machine. But even when they’re running from the aforementioned shady corporation, which is intent on killing them, they can’t escape their very real chemistry.

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings – Bettina Scott is a woman deserted by her family in the burning heat of a small west Queensland town; her father has left and her brothers vanished. But then she receives a note from one of those supposedly-disappeared brothers, one that has her questioning the circumstances of departure of the men in her family, and she embarks on a search for the truth. The heat, dust, and sun of interior Queensland makes a bright backdrop for a decidedly gothic and dangerous journey.

Deal With the Devil by Kit Rocha – An information broker and her team of mercenary librarians cross paths with a squad of AWOL supersoldiers in a crumbling America. They can either fight each other, and destroy what’s left of their country in the process… or they can team up and just maybe save it all.

News and Views

Jeannette Ng on The Inescapable Whiteness of Avatar: The Legend of Korra, and its Uncomfortable Implications

Read an excerpt from Every Bone a Prayer.

Lovecraft Country sneak peek from Comic-Con!

His Dark Materials trailer

Comic-Con panel: What makes epic fantasy “epic”?

Dune publishing reveals from Comic-Con

Charlize Theron on her career thus far with highlights transcribed here. And here’s a clip about the training regime for The Old Guard

A Red Dwarf reunion movie???

On Book Riot

Authors don’t owe you books

8 new epic fantasy debuts for 2020

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Friday, space pirates! We made it through another week that has both felt like a decade and disappeared in an instant, because time is a mortal construct that no longer has any meaning. It’s Alex, with a space-opera-heavy set of book recommendations this week, and an extra helping of news items (to make up for Tuesday’s lack) to take you into the weekend. Stay safe out there!

Thing that made me smile today: The best runway walk I’ve ever seen

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

News and Views

First glance (and awesome cover reveal) at a North Africa-inspired fantasy debut, C.L. Clark’s The Unbroken

Lavie Tidhar and Silvia Moreno-Garcia on the best SFF of the year so far and the books they’re looking forward to

Through sci-fi and fantasy, Muslim women authors are building new worlds

Science fiction explores the interconnectedness revealed by the coronavirus pandemic

Forbidden desires and locked doors: the origins of “Rapunzel”

The future in Star Trek feels very far away

CW: Harassment Orbit statement on Sam Sykes

Apex Magazine will be returning via Kickstarter.

TOC has been released for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020.

Ann and Jeff Vandermeer preview The Big Book of Modern Fantasy

Every single one of N.K. Jemisin’s novels has had its TV/film rights bought.

CoNZealand will be offering Hugo Finalists passes and partial refunds after a group of Finalists sent in a letter of concern. The programme guide is now available, by the way.

Look, I’m a geologist, so of course I love rocks that look like food

A major challenge for future Mars explorers will be boredom

On Book Riot

10 Great 2020 Adult LGBTQ+ Fantasy Books

Which post-apocalyptic YA book should you read next?

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

Free Association Friday: Lady Pilots

123 years ago today, Amelia Earhart was born. I figure a suitable celebration is to call out some science fiction that has awesome female pilot characters in it. (I’ve certainly written a few in my own work. Why? Because they kick ass!)

Michael R. Underwood’s Annihilation Aria has a super awesome—and extremely grumpy—female pilot named Wheel. She ferries around her team in a rattletrap ship called The Kettle, which she fully inhabits via cybernetic implants. She’s got a colorful past that she can only hope to outfly so long.

Along a similar space opera vein, you have Min, the pilot of La Sirena Negra in Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes. Min pilots the ship by sort of mentally merging with it, which occasionally makes her confuse her meat body and her metal body when it comes to damage reports.

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal has Elma York, who was a service pilot during World War II. Then a meteorite hits the Earth and kicks off a slow-motion but certain climate disaster that means humanity needs to get to Mars, right now. Elma fights for the inclusion of women in the newly-minted space program—you can’t do a sustainable colony without women, after all—and the ranks of the Lady Astronauts are soon filled out by other badass female pilots.

Noemi in Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray definitely qualifies. She’s a total badass fighter pilot serving on the planet Genesis, a colony that resource-starved Earth is starting a war with–and she’s also dealing with an AI that’s becoming self-aware.

Prudence Wu in Rebelwing by Andrea Tang flies the titular character, a sentient mecha shaped like a dragon. Because dragons are cool. And Rebelwing was supposed to bond with a guy, the political heir to power, but decided that Pru was much, much cooler.

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone has Xiara, another cybernetically-bonds-with-the-ship space opera pilot. But it also has Zanj, who can fly a ship if she wants to, because she’s Zanj the pirate queen, and you do not tell that woman no if you want to live.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m going to keep this short because there are SO MANY BOOKS coming out today, I want to save all the words for them. Stay safe and keep reading!

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

New Releases

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson – Immanuelle’s existence is blasphemy in Bethel, where the Prophet reigns supreme. She is of mixed race, and the daughter of an outsider. But when she ventures into the forbidden woods that surround Bethel, the spirits of the four powerful witches murdered by the Prophet give her a gift: the journal of her long-dead mother. Soon, Immanuelle is struggling with the truth about the Church, about witches, and about herself.

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters – Shady Grove has inherited a powerful gift from her deceased father; she can call ghosts from the grave by playing his fiddle. But she also knows this gift brings only trouble and wants to avoid it… until her brother is accused of murder, one for which only the dead can clear his name.

The Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee – Kiyoshi, now the Avatar but at high cost, journeys across the four nations in an attempt to keep peace. But a mysterious threat emerges from the Spirit World, and Kiyoshi must unite with reluctant allies if the nations and their people are to survive.

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson – As World War II is about to start burning across Europe, Phyllis works as an assassin in New York City, cutting through any target her underworld bosses pay enough to point her toward. But when she falls in love, she must face the ever-present ghosts of her past–and find if there is ever enough blood to wash clean the generations of injustice that loom over her and all she cares for.

Annihilation Aria by Michael R. Underwood – Once upon a time, a stranded but extremely cheerful xeno-archaeologist from Earth got lost in space and fell in love with Lahra, a warrior from an almost extinct race capable of massive destruction through the power of song. Now married, they hunt artifacts to keep themselves from falling too deeply into debt, and in hopes that it will show Max the way home. But when they unwittingly pick up an incredibly powerful artifact, they find themselves in the middle of a web of galactic intrigue that leaves them dodging space fascists and trying to kick off a rebellion.

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis – In 2007, a leak reveals that the US government has secretly had first contact with aliens. Cora wouldn’t even care, but her estranged father is in the center of the cover-up… and the more she learns, the more she realizes how deep the lies go, to both her and the public. And the best way she can bring the truth to light is as a whistleblower—but as an intermediary with the aliens.

Savage Legion by Matt Wallace – The Savages are the Empire’s greatest weapon: the dregs of the cities, culled by the thousands and thrown against all enemies. There is no escape but death for the Savages; if they survive a battle, their reward is to be flung into another. Evie is a warrior who joins the Savage Legion as she searches for the man she once loved, who may also hold the key to ending this mass conscription or the poor and powerless once and for all. (Full disclosure: Matt and I have the same agent.)

The Rightful Queen by Isabelle Steiger – War has returned to Lantistyne at the hand of Imperator Elgar, though the rogues who were once forced into his service have scattered into hiding. As the situation on the continent worsens and kingdoms struggle to remain standing against the Imperator, Adora Avesti is revealed as the rightful queen of Issamira. But Adora has drawn the attention of beings older than the lands currently being watered with blood, and they offer magic and knowledge to those strong enough to take it.

On Book Riot

SFF Yeah! has Sharifah and Jenn’s Spring 2020 favs

20 Must-Read Books by Women and Non-binary Authors

10 Great 2020 Adult LGBTQ+ Science Fiction Books

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Friday, shipmates! Hey, we made it through another week, and I’m proud of us all. Hopefully you’ll have a chance to do a little relaxing—and reading. It’s Alex, with some books by nonbinary writers for you, since it is still nonbinary week, and a few news items. Stay safe out there!

Thing that made me smile: This wholesome video on how to make chai is the start of an entire, wholesome thread.

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

News and Views

Registration is now live for FIYAH’s online convention 

(CW: Sexual assault) Authors, Customers Demand Borderlands Books Owner Divest From Store

Octavia E. Butler and racialized labor

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Shirley Jackson Awards!

Online Hugos voting is available. The deadline is July 22.

Sarah Gailey: Everything Is The Hunger Games Now

Library of Congress to honor Colson Whitehead

New short story from Seanan McGuire that is a side story to In an Absent Dream: Juice Like Wounds

Alex Brown’s list of must-read short SFF from June

Abigail Nussbaum on “The Political Hugo”

If you ever wondered how surgery in space would work…

On Book Riot

8 weird genre fiction books by diverse authors

The appeal of desert fantasy stories and Each of Us a Desert

Reading pathways: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

Free Association Friday: Nonbinary SFF Showcase!

July 14 is International Nonbinary People’s Day, if you didn’t realize. We’ve been officially celebrating for eight years—though trust me, we’ve been around waaaaaaaay longer than that. And it’s Nonbinary Week all this week, so what better time to talk about more fiction from nonbinary writers?

Neon Yang’s Tensorate novella series were actually the first books I ever read that had a nonbinary character who was also a love interest. I will always love them for that—plus it’s just a super fun fantasy world with dinosaurs! And magic! And anti-authoritarian rebels! Start with The Black Tides of Heaven. (Full disclosure: Neon and I have the same agent.)

Houses Under the Sea by Caitlín R. Kiernan – Caitlín has written a ton of short fiction, and this is just one of their collections–the Lovecraftian one.

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis – Five girls who were sold to a “welcome house” as children and branded with cursed marking embark on a difficult journey to freedom and justice when one of their number accidentally kills a man.

Behold the Deep Never Seen by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor – Merc writes a ton of really good short fiction, and this one’s a place to start. If you’re looking for more short bites, check out their website.

Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender – The only survivor of a family massacred by colonizers sees her opportunity for revenge when the childless king of the islands declares that he will seek an heir among the nobles.

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey – Accidental murder by magic! High school friends trying to make things right and only making things worse! (Full disclosure: Sarah and I have the same agent.)

Empire of Light by Alex Harrow – A hired killer gets his butt kicked by his mark, and in exchange for his life, she demands that he help out the revolution he was supposed to stop.

Depart, Depart! by Sim Kern – A Jewish trans man takes shelter in a basketball arena after a hurricane devastates Houston. As conditions in the shelter detereorate, he begins to see the ghost of his grandfather, who fled Nazi Germany as a boy.

Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore – In 1518, a strange sickness made women dance in the streets of Strasbourg until they died from exertion. Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes visit the same curse on an unlucky girl. Her only hope is the descendent of the family who was blamed for the deaths in Strasbourg.

Ariah by B.R. Sanders – Ariah’s just getting a handle on his dangerous magic–and having a romance with his mentor’s brother–when his education is cut short by an empire expanding its borders.

Feeder by Patrick Weekes – A monster hunter who uses an interdimensional creature to drag aliens into another dimension finds her life even more complicated after she stumbles across a group of super-powered, mutant teenagers being held captive by her employers.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy new book day, shipmates! Hopefully the hot summer breeze (or the cold winter wind, if you’re reading this in the southern hemisphere) is bringing you the scent of fresh pages and new adventure. It’s Alex, with some new books and a bit of bookish news (though I’ll warn you now, the first item is, I think important, but very difficult).

Non-SFF that made my day: I was just introduced to Indian Folk Metal (particularly the music of Bloodywood) so I MUST share. A couple songs to start: Machi Bhasad and Jee Veerey

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

New Releases

Note: There do not appear to be any authors of color on the new SFF release lists for this week that I have access to. Though I will note if you want something that’s filed as horror, definitely check out The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones.

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal – As the climate disaster set into motion by the meteor impact becomes more clear again, the IAC’s mission to get as many humans off the planet as possible is threatened by riots and sabotage. While Elma York is on her way to Mars to begin that step of the plan, her fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is hard at work trying to establish humanity’s first and perhaps most important colony on the Moon. The last thing Nicole needs on top of that difficult task is her husband deciding to run for president.

Peace Talks by Jim Butcher – Harry Dresdent is called on to join the White Council’s security team as the supernatural nations across the world meet to negotiate the end of ongoing hostilities. As the meeting progresses, the politicking threatens not only peace of the supernatural world, but the very existence of Chicago.

Mayhem by Estelle Laure – Mayhem flees with her mother Roxy to California after Roxy’s husband (and Mayhem’s step father) pushes them too far. Mayhem has always known there’s something strange about her and her mother, but on the beaches of Santa Maria, she discovers it’s not just an inborn strangeness, but magic that runs through the female line of her family. Mayhem’s self-discovery is interrupted by the search for a man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach; that sends her into a tangled mess of revenge and vigilante justice.

In the Kingdom of All Tomorrows by Stephen R. Lawhead – Tara’s Hill has become a refuge for those driven from their homes by the violence of the Scálda barbarians. Conor mac Ardan, the new clan chief of the Darini, must join the other lords of Eirlandia as the black ships of the Scálda draw closer—and treachery threatens from within.

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune – Nick isn’t an Extraordinary himself, but he’s the most popular fanfiction writer in the whole fandom, so that counts for something. After encountering the Extraordinary who is his biggest crush, Nick becomes determined to join their ranks—and drags his best friend (who might be the actual love of his life), Seth, along.

Other People’s Pets by R.L. Maizes – An animal empath named La La Fine has been abandoned twice by her mother; she has only her father, a locksmith who is in reality a thief. Growing up, she used her skills to calm watchdogs while her father performed robberies. Now an adult in veterinary school, she is forced to drop out when her father is arrested and her tuition money needs to go to pay his legal fees. She takes up burglary again, though now she only robs houses where she senses the pets are in trouble, leaving behind aide for animals even as she takes valuables with her.

News and Views

TW for sexual assault, domestic violence: allegations of violent and predatory behavior have been made about the owner of Borderlands Books.

There’s now a Murderbot box set.

Sara Kuhn’s Heroine Complex series is coming to audiobook!

Nnedi Okorafor shared the new cover of the 10th anniversary edition of Who Fears Death and the new cover for The Book of Phoenix.

The New York Times Magazine has published the Decameron Project, which is 29 short stories about current times, from authors such as Margaret Atwood and Victor LaValle.

New book coming from S.B. Divya! You can already pre-order Machinehood.

The politics of peeing in space.

On Book Riot

8 elemental fantasies to read after your Avatar: The Last Airbender rewatch

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with something a little unusual this week. I’ve just got one book I want to shriek about, but you’ll understand why when you get there. Have a great weekend and stay safe, everyone!

I wish to share a TikTok that brought me joy this week.

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

News and Views

Nisi Shawl would like to guide you on a tour through the history of Black science fiction.

In case you missed it: N.K. Jemisin and Kate Elliott in conversation.

P. Djèlí Clark and and Troy L. Wiggins talk about the building of FIYAH.

Octavia Butler’s motivational notes to herself

C.L. Polk and Alyssa Cole have a conversation about romance in science fiction and I LOVE IT. (And if you haven’t grabbed Alyssa’s book The AI Who Loved Me, check it out.)

Sci-fi shows ruined by terrible endings

ConZealand has unveiled a Colonised, Marginalised, and Historically Underrepresented People Inclusion Initiative. They’re also extending the Hugo voting deadline due to issues getting online voting up and running.

UFO sightings have gone way down in the last few years.

41 years ago today, Voyager 2 started going in for its Jupiter fly-by.

On Book Riot

12 must-read high fantasy novels coming out in the second half of 2020.

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

Free Association Friday: Stealing Thunder

I want to do something a little different this Friday, because You-Know-Who is having another Twitter tantrum and I just finished reading a book that’s sticking with me. I want to talk about Stealing Thunder by Alina Boyden.

In her intro to the book, Alina writes that it’s the first fantasy novel published by a major publisher (Ace) that’s written by a trans woman and has a trans woman protagonist. As far as I know, that’s true. It’s about Razia Khan, a hijra who lives in a fantasy Mughal Empire, dancing and also stealing for her supper. Razia was formerly the son of a powerful Sultan; she escaped him to live as her true self, and despite all she has lost—and then suffered as a hijra—she still considers it a good bargain. Then she meets Prince Arjun, the son of a Maharaja who is her father’s rival, and falls in love with him.

I don’t want get into spoilers, but I do want to tell you, it’s a ton of fun–though I’d add content warnings for discussion (but not depiction) of sexual assault and Razia getting dead named a lot. What I want to talk about is my own reaction to reading it and why I love it.

Stealing Thunder is about a trans woman who gives up everything—wealth, power, and her beloved zahhak (a dragon powerful princes fly around on) Sultana—in order to be her true self. And her true self necessitates a life of scrambling and suffering, clawing always to be above poverty, but is still better than being someone she isn’t. That part of the story isn’t so different from common trans narratives in fiction that cis people consume, though it’s very firmly on centered Razia’s experience of the reality of her gender. But the rest of the book is very much about Razia taking back everything she has lost and about her finding love and family that accept her for herself. It’s about Razia winning, and winning, and winning, and winning against a cis-centered society that would love nothing more than to see her lose.

In that way, it’s a work of pure wish fulfillment. It’s a book that, honestly, I would have rolled my eyes at a bit if the heroine had been a cis woman, because at times it feels almost too easy. But the very fact of a trans woman enacting that wish fulfillment fantasy was, let me tell you, absolutely revolutionary for a trans person like me to read. It’s defiant. It’s beautiful.

There’s a lot of discussion about stories of queer suffering in general. How cis and straight people write us, or the narratives that we write for ourselves that have previously been deemed acceptable for consumption by intended cis audiences. There definitely needs to be space for us to process our traumas and explore darker themes, and do so when we are our own intended audience. But we so infrequently get a chance to explore our wishful fantasies and our joy, particularly not when major publishers are involved. That’s why Stealing Thunder was a shot of sunlight directly to my heart.

Here’s hoping that Stealing Thunder will open the door for more kinds of wish fulfillment stories and joy. It’s our turn, damnit.

Aside: If you want more Mughal-inspired fantasy that’s really good and has an A+ romance (this one written by a cis queer woman), I definitely recommend Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri, and its sequel Realm of Ash.

 

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ll keep this brief so I can stuff even more new releases into this newsletter. July is off to a good start. Hope you stayed safe over the weekend–and that you’re hungry to read.

Thing I’m laughing about: I cannot believe this hilarious fake trailer was made 8 years ago and not this year.

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

New Releases

Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott – Princess Sun has come of age in a time when conniving ambassadors and scheming noble houses have set their sights on removing her as heir to the Chaonia republic, or better yet, just killing her outright. Sun isn’t going down without a fight; in her coming battle for survival, she will rely on her wits, her secret lover, her biggest rival, and a prisoner of war.

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust – Soraya is a princess who poisons all who touch her. She’s been hidden away by her family, but when her brother gets married, she has the chance to step out of the shadows–if she chooses. Caught between a demon who promises her knowledge and a young man who sees through her coating of poison, she must figure out if she is a human or a demon herself.

Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim – Maia has succeeded in making beautiful dresses from the sun, moon, and stars, but she returns to a kingdom at the brink of war. The boy she loves is gone forever, and she has no choice but to take her place as the Emperor’s bride-to-be. The political machinations going on around her are nothing compared to the changes within, however. As the corrupting touch of the demon spreads through her, Maia has only a short time before she loses even herself.

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders by Aliette de Bodard – When a dragon prince brings home is brooding husband home for Lunar New Year, they find not their weight in candied fruit, but a corpse laying outside their quarters. Neither are thrilled by being embroiled in either a murder investigation or the inevitable politics that follow. It will take all of their diplomacy–and skill with knives–to get through this mess.

Haunted Heroine by Sara Kuhn – Evie is a woman who has it all: she’s a badass superheroine, she’s got good relationships with her superhero partner, and a hot half-demon husband. Then she finds out she’s pregnant–and she’s not sure if she’s cut out for motherhood. When she gets called in to investigate a series of “hauntings” at the local women’s college, she finds herself reliving her grad school days–and wondering how things might have gone differently…

A Peculiar Peril by Jeff Vandermeer – Jonathan will inherit his grandfather’s house, which is more like a museum of curiosities, if he can just catalog its contents with the help of a few of his friends. But the house is linked to an alternate Earth called Aurora, and Jonathan has a destiny to fulfill in a secret society whose entire purpose is to keep Aurora from encroaching.

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron – 200 years after the death of Cinderella, teenaged girls are now required to appear at the Annual Ball so men can select them as brides based on their finery–and those not chosen disappear. Sophia, not wanting this kind of marriage, runs away and meets Cinderella’s last known descendent. Together, they vow to take down the king who thinks this all is a great idea.

Or What You Will by Jo Walton – “He” is the spark of an idea in 73-year-old award-winning novelist Sylvia’s mind, and he has been many things throughout her books. But he is also very aware that Sylvia is getting old, and when she dies, so does he. But he has an idea how they could gain immortality, together, if she’ll just listen…

Every Sky a Grave by Jay Posey – Humanity decoded the Deep Language of the universe 8,000 years ago and has used that knowledge to spread to the limits of the galaxy. The First House is in charge of “correcting” humanity using language so strong that words can destroy worlds. A mendicant named Elyth is sent to a backwater world to stamp out a forbidden strain of Deep Language, but what she finds there challenges her understanding of everything.

News and Views

After a long hiatus, Fantasy Magazine will be relaunching in November!

Andy Serkis will be recording a new audio edition of The Hobbit.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has some great news about her out-of-print books!

Godzilla officially says Happy Pride. My heart is so full of rainbows.

Awesome time lapse video of the Sun taken from observations of the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory.

On Book Riot

Pride is a rebellion, and rebellions are built on hope

5 science fiction books full of humor

Enter before the end of the month and you could win The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, a year of free books, or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! What a year June has been, huh? It’s Alex, bringing you the startling news that June is almost over, and the parting gift is one last round of books for us, including the final installment of a barn-burner of a trilogy. There’s also some news and a couple essays to go with it. Be most excellent to each other as we head into July!

Non-SFF thing that made me smile: The Hamilton cast reunited to sing “Helpless” from home with a bunch of improvised instruments.

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

New Releases

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty – The capstone of the fantastic Daevabad Trilogy, which started with The City of Brass. Daevabad has fallen and been stripped of its magic. In the wake of that brutal conquest, a resurrected Dara works to try to stabilize the fractious people left scattered while dealing with his personal demons that have been loosed by the fighting and the loss of Nahri. In Cairo, Nahri and Ali are safe, but haunted by those they have left behind. All three must reassess their relationships with each other, with their own histories, and with those they once hurt if they wish to remake the world.

Goddess in the Machine by Lore Beth Johnson – Andra wakes up from a cryosleep journey that was supposed to be 100 years, just long enough to get to a new home planet, to find out that it’s been over a thousand years and everyone she knew is now dead. The descendents of her fellow colonists also, unaccountably, think she’s some kind of goddess. Soon she’s drawn into politics she doesn’t understand with an exiled bastard prince trying to use her as a path to what he believes is his rightful place on the throne.

Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh – The first time someone has their period, they report to the station and are given either a blue or a white ticket, defining what kind of woman they will be. A white ticket means marriage and family; a blue ticket means career and freedom. No choices are necessary and there are no take backs. When a woman with a blue ticket becomes pregnant and questions her assigned lot, she must go on the run and learn about the qualities within herself that her blue ticket indicated she did not have.

Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe – In a future where our culture continues, if somewhat diminished in size but far more advanced in technology, clones can be made of uploaded personalities. One of these clones is author E.A. Smithe, who is not happy to find that as a borrowed person, the uploaded clone of a dead mystery writer, he’s a piece of property and has no rights. When he’s sent on interlibrary loan to another branch, he runs into another E.A. Smithe… who might not be dead.

The Second Star by Alma Alexander – Earth’s first starship, the Parada, has been missing for over two centuries. One of its successors finds it, drifting in the depths of space, and brings it back home. The crew, miraculously—and due to time dilation—are still alive and have barely aged. But while six people went out on the Parada, what returns are over 70 fractured personalities contained in six bodies. Two psychologists are tasked with finding out why this has happened, and if the condition can be cured. But they find a much deeper, darker mystery than either of them could have predicted.

I accidentally put Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia in last week’s news letter, which was an error. It actually releases today.

News and Views

Congratulations to the 2020 Locus Award Winners! Novel highlights:

• Science Fiction Novel: The City in the Middle of the NIght by Charlie Jane Anders
• Fantasy Novel: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
• Young Adult Novel: Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

There’s a biopic coming out about Tove Jansson, the creator of Moomin.

Kayla Shaggy has written and shared an essay about one of the current goings-on in the SFF literary world: Anti-Blackness within Indigenous Circles and How it Contributes to the Mistreatment of Rebecca Roanhorse, a Black Indigenous Author

Rosamund Lannin on searching for body postivity in fantasy.

Cree Myles: If you really want to unlearn racism, read Black sci-fi authors.

Beyoncé is releasing her next visual album on Disney+ on July 31. (I am blown away by the trailer and it’s got some very SFF imagery in it.)

Margot Robbie is leading an all new Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Birds of Prey screenwriter is in on it too.

The science behind the smell of fresh rain.

On Book Riot

You can enter to win a three-book fantasy prize pack from Saga.

Oh and hey! We’re running a reader survey. You could even win an ereader from it.

Enter before the end of the month and you could win a 1-year subscription to Audible or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Avast, shipmates. Wow, what a decade this week has been, huh? It’s Captain Alex, and I’ve got some news items and books that involve cats. Because it’s been a week and I really like cats. Hope you’re staying cool or warm, whichever is appropriate to your environment–and that you’re staying safe.

Thing that made me happy this week: Change.org petition to rename Columbus, OH to FLAVORTOWN

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

News and Views

Cover reveal for Premee Mohamed’s A Broken Darkness, sequel to Beneath the Rising.

Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells won the 2019 Bisexual Book Award for SFF.

On virtual conventions.

Some cool sci-fi face masks.

Amazon picked its best books of 2020 so far. The reviewers at Tor.com have also picked theirs.

Star Trek compound of skincare ingredient?

Orlando Jones returns to the Black Girls Nerds podcast

GRRM mentioning The Winds of Winter over at his Not a Blog

Six word stories at Wired: a sci-fi apocalypse with a happy ending

On Book Riot

6 strange tales for strange times

15 fascinating books like Dune

Journey to new worlds this summer with a middle grade fantasy series

Enter before the end of the month and you could win a 1-year subscription to Audible or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

Free Association Friday: CATS

Look, it’s been a week, and I’m mentally exhausted, so how about we just talk about some SFF books that have cats in them. Because I love cats, and cats are good. Even when they’re bad.

Speaking of cats, File 770 has an entire tag that’s nothing but sleepy cats in proximity to SFF novels.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami – I don’t think I get to expound on my love for Haruki Murakami often enough in this space, since he’s often borderline as far as actually being SFF. There’s six cats in this book, and half the chapters are the story of a young man who can communicate with cats after being rendered unconscious as a child by a mysterious flash of light. So as an adult, he just finds lost cats.

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett is our first introduction to Greebo, who is most definitely the Best Worst Cat of all time. Greebo is to all appearances a foul-tempered, evil, one-eyed old tom cat, but Granny Weatherwax knows the truth: he is in fact a Good. A Very Good, really. Greebo is a recurring character in the Discworld series. As he should be.

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes – Captain Eva Innocente has to do a lot of really dangerous and unpleasant things to try to pay the ransom for her sister after she gets kidnapped by the shadowy syndicate known as the Fridge. One of these things involves a shipment of psychic cats. This goes just about as well as you think.

Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams – I honestly don’t go for animal POV books all that much–they’re just not really my thing–but I make an exception for this one. It’s from the viewpoint of feral cats, who have their own mythologies and legends and culture. And look, one of the cats is named Eatbugs.

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune – This book features a total cat diva named Calliope, the companion of one of the main characters, a case worker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – One of my favorite things about the fantasy world these books occupy is that everyone rides around on giant cats. How freaking cool is that?

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold – This is actually my absolute favorite of the Vorkosigan Saga novels for a number of reasons that I cannot get into without spoiling it. But I can say that this book also introduces a recurrent character: Zap the Cat, a stray that takes possession of Miles’s house because he makes the mistake of feeding her (he’s lonely and needs friends, so you can’t blame him) and goes on to have a lot of kittens over the rest of the series.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente – Features a cat along for the ride when two musicians get sort of but not really abducted by space aliens so they can play in a music contest in an attempt to save the world. The cat, notably, would happily give up India to the aliens to save its own skin, which is notably why we don’t give cats those kind of options.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! There are some exciting books on the horizon, so full speed ahead. It’s Alex, and I’ve got a few items of book news for you as well. Also, happy (belated) Solstice, whichever side of it you might be celebrating!

If you need a smile, I offer: Trailer for the Quarantine Cat Film Festival

Oh and hey! We’re running a reader survey. You could even win an ereader from it.

Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? blacklivesmatter.card.co and The Okra Project.

New Releases

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected on Water by Zen Cho – You had me at “A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there.” A wuxia fantasy with found family in which a young votary joins a group of thieves to protect a sacred object, and it just goes out of control from there.

A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry – In this fantastical version of the Age of Englightenment, Robespierre is a necromancer calling for revolution in France and weather mage Toussaint L’Ouverture leads the enslaved people of Haiti in their bid for freedom. And in England, Prime Minister William Pitt must consider the matters of abolition and the legalization of magic for commoners. But the upheaval of the world isn’t just normal human conflict–there’s a darker force behind it, and it will take the combined wits and powers of all revolutionaries and abolitionists to win that battle.

Mexican Gothic By Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Noemí, a glamorous debutante with a spine of steel and an unbreakable will, heads to a house in the Mexican countryside after she gets a frantic letter from her cousin, who has just married a mysterious Englishman. Things are perhaps worse than her cousin intimated: the Englishman is menacing, his father seems weirdly obsessed with Noemí, and the house itself has a dark personality and a supernatural presence that invades Noemí’s dreams. The house and the family hold dark and violent secrets that Noemí will unearth if she digs enough–and she’s never been one to give up.

Shadow Fall: An Alphabet Squadron Novel by Alexander Freed – After the New Republic’s victory, Alphabet Squadron is still busy hunting the elusive Shadow Wing. But while the heroes of Alphabet Squadron prepare a risky trap to catch their quarry, they’re unaware of the evolution of the Shadow Wing that makes it ever more dangerous. The last of the Imperial Aces has taken control of Shadow Wing and is determined to give these lost soldiers–and himself–meaning and purpose. The only thing that stands in his way is Alphabet Squadron–and his traitorous former mentee.

Hunted by the Sky by Tanaz Bhathena – Gul has a star-shaped birthmark on her arm, something that has forced her to remain on the run for years, because in Ambar girls with that birthmark always, always disappear. She’s rescued from the clutches of soldiers who have already murdered her parents by the Sisters of the Golden Lotus, who promise to teach her the warrior magic she’ll need to have her revenge. Then she meets Cavas, a poor boy ready to sign his life over to the Ambar army to save his terminally ill father, at the capital’s bazaar. Sparks fly, and Cavas finds himself drawn into Gul’s revenge.

Instances of Head Switching by Teresa Milbrodt – A collection of short stories that interweave the utterly fantastical (sphinxes as pets? head switching?) with real world questions of disability and economic insecurity.

News and Views

Publishers Weekly did an interview with S.L. Huang about Burning Roses.

The Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist is out.

V.E. Schwab reads an excerpt from The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

Animorphs movie!

Chuck Tingle remains a national treasure.

You can catch up with the online, inaugural Juneteenth Book Fest (launched by L.L. McKinney and Saraciea Fennell) on YouTube.

Goodbye to Ian Holm, who has been in a lot of great genre movies.

Today I learned there’s a really cool map site that’ll let you see what ancient organisms used to live in your neighborhood.

On Book Riot

A brief guide to grimdark fantasy and where to start reading it

4 time travel books about lost time

Enter before the end of the month and you could win a 1-year subscription to Audible or a $250 Barnes and Noble gift card.

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See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. 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.