Category: Swords and Spaceships

Happy Friday, shipmates! We made it to the weekend, believe it or not. Your reward is some news items and books from me, Alex. And I promise that this next bit is the only mention of virus-related things there will be.

Public service announcement: How to clean your smart phone the right way, according to Wired. Also, hand washing advice from Lady Macbeth. Or, alternate songs you can sing the chorus of to keep the soap going for 20 seconds.

News and Views

To get ready for The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin, reread the short story that kicked it off: The City Born Great

An illustrated edition of Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales is coming.

Starting March 8, you can download Tor.com’s Nevertheless, She Persisted for free!

MIT Press has reissued some of Stanisław Lem’s less well known work.

How much does accuracy matter in an adaptation? (I’m guessing this was prompted by the not entirely crowd-pleasing Artemis Fowl trailer.)

If you’re in a board game mood, there’s Harry Potter: House Cup Competition, which is a worker placement game.

Really cool: ConZealand has announced a scholarship to help marginalized fans attend.

Season 1 of The Witcher in 20 seconds.

Daniel Radcliffe talks about his new movie… and how glad he is that the Harry Potter actors weren’t online as much in their day as the Stranger Things crew is now.

A planetary scientist ranks the “ringed planet” emojis. 

SETI@Home is ending. 🙁

On Book Riot

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast features favorite Star Trek and Star Wars books.

Which Queer YA Fantasy Couple Do You Ship?

Free Association Friday: The SFF Abides

I had to think a lot about what to do for this Free Association Friday. Then I discovered March 6 is “The Day of the Dude,” celebrating the anniversary of the release of The Big Lebowski and the easygoing philosophy of the Dude himself.

Protagonists in SFF tend to be a lot more… kinetic than the Dude, let’s be honest. A laid-back slacker is kind of fun to watch on screen, but maybe less arresting to read about. But there are some books about hapless small-timers or downright schmoes who just want to be left to their own business… and then big things happen to them. In order of least dude-like to most dude-like:

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Casiopea works too hard to be called a slacker, but she has a very ordinary life, taking care of her ailing grandfather, and hoping that at some point she can get out of her small town in southern Mexico and have some jazz-age-fun in the big city. Then she accidentally wakes up the Mayan god of death, and he’s out for revenge, and she gets dragged along.

Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines – Mops is just a regular ol’ space janitor, trying to keep her Earth Mercenary Corps ship clean when a bioweapon attack takes out almost the entire crew. Suddenly Mops and her intrepid band of sanitation specialists have to figure out how to pilot a ship, care for the survivors of the crew, and then unravel the galaxy-shaking mystery of just what happened to humans many years ago when the aliens showed up to invite Earth to join their alliance and things went unexpectedly to hell.

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty – Nahri isn’t a slacker as such, but she’s a con woman and a swindler who’s enjoying her life extracting money from Ottoman nobles. Then she accidentally summons an [incredibly hot] djinn warrior named Dara, and his very existence forces her to reassess her basic disbelief in magic. And that’s just the beginning of how Nahri’s life and knowledge of herself are about to be turned upside-down.

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter – While this is a book absolutely packed full of intense combat, the main character, Tau, has a very humble beginning where he aspires to nothing more than getting injured–but not too injured–at the start of his warrior training so he can go home, live out a peaceful life, and hopefully marry the girl he likes. As you can imagine, fate has other ideas in store for him, and his path goes to a very bloody and dark place.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells – Poor Murderbot. A sophisticated security android that has hacked its own security module, all it really wants is to be left in peace to watch soap operas. But the humans around it keep getting in trouble, and then the Company keeps trying to murder them all, and it’s just a massive amount of fuss.

Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling – Peter Jobless is not, in fact, jobless–that was his dad–but he’s definitely not anyone important, and he’s totally fine with that. He just wants to be left alone to scrap defective machines… except he can’t bring himself to scrap some of them, and unwittingly, he’s becoming the leader of a band of robotic misfits. Even that’s not such a big deal. The real problem is that the infallible algorithms of TheShop have sent him something, and he doesn’t want it. And then he tries to return it. And then all hell breaks loose.

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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.

Hello, shipmates! It’s Alex, with new releases for you… and honestly, that’s nearly all I could fit in this newsletter because there are SO MANY AMAZING BOOKS coming out today! March is coming in hard, I guess.

But by the way, if you loved the javelina from last week, there’s a whole Twitter account for javelina+music now. Because sometimes the internet is good, actually.

New Releases

Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed – Nick and Joanna have been friends since they were kids, though she’s rich and white and he’s brown and poor. Joanna is also a genius, and Nick is secretly in love with her. Then Joanna invents a clean reactor that could solve all the world’s fossil fuel problems… but it comes with the little wrinkle that in the process, she’s awakened evil Ancient Ones who want to subjugate humanity. Now Nick and Joanna have a new mission: survival. And to accomplish that, they’ll have to trust each other completely.

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry – It’s 1989, and the Danvers (Massachusetts) High School women’s field hockey team will stop at nothing to win–even the witchcraft that haunts their town’s history.

Cyber Shogun Revolution by Peter Tieryas – Third book in the series that started with United States of Japan. Ace mecha pilot Reiko Morikawa has been recruited into a secret organization that’s plotting to overthrow the corrupt governor (who also happens to be a Nazi sympathizer) of the United State of Japan. An assassin code-named Bloody Mary get to him first… but she’s not going to stop with just him. Reiko must join forces with Bishop Wakana, an agent of the secret police, who is also hot on Bloody Mary’s trail.

Docile by K.M. Szpara – In an all-too-plausible near future where generational debt has destroyed countless families and eaten the future of the unborn, indentured servitude has made a comeback, with the rich and powerful buying the contracts of the impoverished and doing with them as they please. To ease the horror of their servitude, most take the drug Dociline, which gives the indentured their name: Docile. Elisha refuses the drug, which took his mother from him. But the owner of his contract is the scion of the ultra-rich family behind both the drug and the system of debt that has trapped him and countless others.

This Town Sleeps by Dennis E. Staples – In Languille Lake, an Ojibwe reservation, an Ojibwe man named Marion starts a relationship with a closeted white man. Then one night, Marion accidentally brings the spirit of a dog back from the dead, and the dog leads him to the grave of an Ojibwe basketball star who was murdered at the age of seventeen. Marion’s investigation of the still-unsolved mystery takes him deep into his own family–and old legends.

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu – Nannerl Mozart has only one wish: to be remembered forever. But she’s a woman in 18th century Europe, and her unquestionable talent for music only buys her the chance to perform until she can be married off by her father. As her own star dims, her younger brother Wolfgang’s only seems to shine brighter and more fiercely. Until one day, a mysterious stranger offers to make her wish come true–but at the cost of everything she holds dear.

Otaku by Chris Kluwe – Ditchtown is a city of skyscrapers built on the drowned remnants of Miami, filled with miscreants, unbelievers, and the other dregs of society. Ashley Akachi lives in that stinking prison as an anonymous girl whose family is falling about–but she also lives in the Infinite Game, a virutal world where she is known, feared, and loved by millions across the world. Then Ashley stumbles across a conspiracy that threatens to bring her two worlds crashing together and might tear them down around her ears.

News and Views

Jeannette Ng did a from-memory translation of The Ballad of Mulan.

More short fiction ahoy! The 2019 winners of the Clarke’s World readers’ survey.

AO3 has been blocked in China.

Lady Gaga has gone colorfully post-apocalyptic in the music video for her song Stupid Love.

The required plots of Star Trek.

Sex in the Theater: Jeremy O. Harris and Samuel Delaney in conversation

All 35 Video Game Movies, Ranked From Least Bad to Worst

On Book Riot

15 Books Like Skyrim for Bold Adventurers

3 Sci-fi Books by Black Women That Changed My Life

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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 has been cold as heck here in Colorado… hopefully you’re somewhere warmer, or if not, you’re getting to curl up under a blanket with a good book and a mug of your favorite hot beverage of choice. It’s Alex, with some news items (there was a lot of book news this week!) and some combat-heavy books to peruse for you.

In the department of things I can watch again and again: this amazing video of an owl in flight.

And on a completely different level, were you aware of the viral moment on twitter where we learned how fast a javelina can run? A lot of people set that video to music. Here’s my favorite.

News and Views

A hard-hitting essay about The Hunger Games and revolution for mass consumption: The Revolution Will Be Dramatized

Three Crows magazine did an interview with Tamsyn Muir about, among other things, Gideon the Ninth and the fanfiction controversy. TW for discussion of child abuse.

Amazon is partnering with Macro TV and Ava Duvernay’s production company for the adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Dawn.

File 770 brings you the 2019 edition of Novellapalooza! If you’re looking for a short-but-not-too-short-read recommendation, this is an amazing place to go.

Alix E. Harrow would like to tell you about her next novel.

Rest in peace, Clive Cussler.

Beer inspired by Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy.

Drama dots!

The next Star Wars universe major project: The High Republic. Let me tell you, as a resident of Colorado, I really have to wonder if they thought hard enough about that name.

Smithsonian Curators Remember Katherine Johnson.

A 46,000-year-old preserved bird.

On Book Riot

10 Dark Fantasy Books Like The Witcher

Cover Reveal: The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

Bookish Candles for Fans of The Raven Cycle

Free Association Friday: Combat-Heavy SFF

I just finished reading The Rage of Dragons, which is honestly a little darker than I normally like to go in my fantasy, but it still gripped me from start to finish. (And after a slightly long “training montage” middle, it takes a left turn into some absolutely dizzying fantasy politics that had me on the edge of my seat.) But one thing that really stands out in this book is just how focused on the feel, mechanics, and intensity of absolutely brutal sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat.

So I was thinking, what are some other books that have a major focus on the nitty-gritty of combat… and make it interesting instead of a dry play-by-play? (And I’ll admit right here that I’m skirting military scifi, because that’s really its own whole topic.)

The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust is a fantasy take on The Three Musketeers, following the story of a young noble from the country who wants to make his way in the emperor’s court. And it’s got SO MANY SWORD FIGHTS. And magic duels. There’s just a lot of fighting in this book.

Jade City by Fonda Lee has a fighting tournament that’s a major turning point for one of the characters, and to go with the tournament there is some intense kung fu action.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse is about a lady who hunts monsters and also has to fight plenty of humans who don’t like her. There’s a lot of down and dirty combat. There’s also an (illegal) fighting pit that gets a moment in the spotlight.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman does not actually have as many sword fights as some of the other books, but it more than deserves a place on the list because the fight between Wesley and Inigo is full of so much intense fencing nerdery.

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner is not as intensely nerdy about its fencing as The Princess Bride, but it is approximately a million times gayer.

And then as honorable mentions for intense combat that isn’t so up close and personal:

Ninefox Gambit is the token scifi for this list and it opens off with an amazing ground forces battle scene of “calendrical warfare,” which involves using math to just rip your opponents to shreds. Then some quick thinking leads our protagonist into giant ship-to-ship battles… and a war that will end up encompassing billions of lives.

His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik has often been shorthanded as Master and Commander but with dragons instead of ships, and for good reason. The level of detail and thought that goes into Patrick O’Brian’s (or C. S. Forester’s a la Horatio Hornblower) loving and intense descriptions of ship-to-ship combat and sailing action in his novels is basically replicated here… with massive dragons crewed by humans.

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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! And you know what that means–it’s time to load up the book cannon with black powder and fire off a broadside of new releases. It’s Alex with some books you might want to check out and some news from the last few days.

Two things to make you smile for Tuesday:

Thanks to Twitter, I learned that Lee Pace has a farm and does selfies with his chickens.

And my favorite science diagram that looks like a shitpost of the week.

New Releases

Rebelwing by Andrea Tang – Prudence Wu, a prep school student who makes money on the side selling banned media across the border into a country ruled by an evil corporation, thought her life couldn’t get more complicated. Then one of her smuggling deals goes wrong. Then she gets rescued from it by a cybernetic dragon, which is her government’s major weapon in the coming war with the evil corporation. Then it turns out that the dragon’s imprinted on her.

Finna by Nino Cripri – I cannot summarise better than this: “When an elderly customer at a Swedish big box furniture store ― but not that one ― slips through a portal to another dimension, it’s up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company’s bottom line.” There’s carnivorous furniture and multi-dimensional swashbuckling to be had. (Full disclosure: Nino and I share an agent.)

Black Leviathan by Bernd Perplies, translated by Lucy Van Cleef – If you replaced the white whale of Moby Dick with a black dragon and the Pequod with an air ship that hunted him through the cloud seas, you’d end up with this book. Do you really need to know more?

Carved From Stone and Dream by T. Frohock – During the Spanish Civil War, members of Los Nefilim, who wield music and light in the supernatural war between angels and daimons, are on the run for the French border with the Nationalists at their heels. As the angelic forces try to survive in the Pyrenees, Diago, who comes from both angelic and daimonic descent, must choose between saving his family and betraying Los Nefilim.

The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow – A misunderstanding between humans and invading aliens has killed one-third of earth’s population dead. The survivors in the alien-controlled cities are not allowed to express emotion, and music and books have been made illegal. Seventeen-year-old Ellie breaks the rules by keeping a secret library. Lab-created M0R1S should be turning Ellie in for her crime, but instead finds himself drawn to the art… and her. Together they embark on a perilous journey with a bag of books and a collection of their favorite albums.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu – A collection of seventeen short stories (sixteen reprints and one brand-new novella) from one of the best short story writers currently out there.

News and Views

Congratulations to the 2019 Nebula Award finalists!

Drew Williams and Arkady Martine talk about crafting space opera

I Went to Hogwarts for Seven Years and Did Not Learn Math or Spelling, and Now I Can’t Get a Job

Tangentially related and written by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: The Girl in the Mansion: How Gothic Romances Became Domestic Noirs

The best part of Avatar: The Last Airbender was its villains.

Exploring Disney World’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

Seven new characters cast for The Witcher’s next season

Physics undergrads did the math on how long it would take to fill the Enterprise with tribbles.

A new method for searching for exoplanets, which involves observing disturbances of the star’s aurora, has yielded its first find!

On Book Riot

If you’re in Canada, you’ve got until 11:45 PM tonight to enter this giveaway for a copy of Of Curses and Kisses.

Sci-fi Reads Based on Your Favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation Character

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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! Time to head into the weekend, time to read some more books, and maybe some bookish news? It’s Alex, here to help you out with all of that. Today it was snowing as I left work, which made the roads horrible. The good news was, I got to read a bunch of Stormsong, which is both REALLY FREAKING GOOD and incredibly appropriate to the weather.

In non-SFF news that warmed the cockles of my heart, Kickstarter has become the first tech company to unionize. Solidarity forever!

News and Views

Congratulations to all the finalists for the LA Times’ first Ray Bradbury Prize!

You can read “Staying Behind” from Ken Liu’s The Hidden Girl and Other Stories.

John Scalzi is going on tour for his next book! Here are the dates and places if you want to see him.

I managed to miss this, but we’ve got our first tie-in novel with the new Picard series! The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack. She wrote a Big Idea post about it over at Scalzi’s blog.

…a TV show about time traveling vikings?

Cathy Yan saw this epic Birds of Prey appreciation thread, and it warmed my heart. Also, here is a beautiful eulogy for The Sandwich.

The New Horizons mission has already changed theories of planet formation.

On Book Riot

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is about science fiction and fantasy that confronts slavery.

Free Association Friday

Today in history, two cool invention-type things that happened. First, in 1842 in Wales, the first self-propelling steam locomotive had its first outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks. Then in 1842, John Greenough was awarded the first patent in the United States for the sewing machine. It’s an invention that absolutely revolutionized fashion as an industry and changed our relationship to clothing forever, by making it into something that could be mass-produced and purchased much more cheaply. So here’s a list that’s half sewing and half trains, because I couldn’t choose one or the other!

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim – Maia disguises herself as a boy to take her ailing father’s place when he is summoned to court. Her father is a renowned tailor, a job she desperately wants and can’t hope to attain if her gender is known. The bad news is, she takes his place in a contest with twelve other tailors, and there’s a lot of backstabbing about to happen as they vye to sew three magical gowns for the emperor’s reluctant betrothed.

Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead – In an alternate history of pre-Civil-War America, the Underground Railorad is a literal railroad, and it’s the only path to freedom a young enslaved woman named Cora has if she wants to survive.

Torn by Rowenna Miller – Sophie is a charm caster and a dressmaker who has lifted her family out of poverty by creating beautiful ballgowns. She can truly secure their future with a royal contract… too bad her brother is an anti-monarchist revolutionary.

Railsea by China Miéville – Moletrains travel the endless rails of the railsea, harpooning moles for their ivory, battling for death and glory. Sham dreams that there is something more than this life, and one day finds a hint that it might exist–a wrecked train with pictures that hint of a different life. Soon, he’s hunted on all sides, running toward a fate that will change the entire railsea.

Kushiel’s Chosen by Jacqueline Carey – While it’s not the focus of the novel, a couturier named Favrielle makes her first appearance in this book, and the descriptions of the fashion are just as lush as everything else in Phedre’s adventures.

Rosewater by Tade Thompson – Again, not the focus, but I love the train that circles the alien dome around which the city of Rosewater in Nigeria has organically grown. Aliens have invaded, and brought with them psychic abilities and endless biological change that threatens to consume humanity… subtly.

The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman – In a world that’s still half chaotic and still being made, it’s the Line–spirit-possessed locomotives that wish to enslave the world under industry–versus the gun–a cult of viiolence and chaotic destruction.

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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, coming in with new releases and some genre news for you. I’ve been down all week with an absolutely horrible cold, so please think some healthy thoughts for me and give your hands an extra wash. (I’ve also learned that if you’re someone who can’t stand menthol, there are cough drops made with pectin instead! Who knew!) The good news is, this email transmission is guaranteed to be virus free (har har)!

In non-sick news, I’ve been reading about dams in the US, which are definitely items of human interference with geological processes. Or if you want something less technical, how about a cat scaring off a black bear?

New Releases

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon – A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, with a centuries-old family feud played out by teenagers at an elite boarding school. Lord Grey Emerson is a misanthropic jerk, convinced he’s doomed when he turns 18 thanks to an ancient curse laid on his family by a long-gone matriarch of the Rao clan. Princess Jaya Rao wants revenge for her little sister, who was targeted by the awful Emerson family, and she hatches a plan to make Grey love her and then break his heart. As one might imagine, things don’t go according to plan.

Sword of Fire by Katharine Kerr – In the kingdom of Deverry, the bards are the peoples’ voice. The terribly corrupt state of the law courts are thrown into sharp relief when a bard is allowed to starve to death rather than let their grievances be heard. Alyssa has the evidence that could overthrow the corrupt courts, but the most powerful lords in the kingdom would rather kill than let even the smallest part of their privilege go.

Bridge 108 by Anne Charnock – In the near future, out of control wildfires force millions to flee southern Europe. Twelve-year-old Caleb is separated from his mother during the trek and taken by human traffickers to Manchester. With a fellow victim, he escapes and begins a new journey, looking for a better life and for his family.

The Golden Key by Marian Womack – In the wake of Queen Victoria’s death, seances and spiritualism rise to the fore in an England that practically heaves with the uncanny. A woman with the ability to find what is lost is hired by a lady who wants closure to a twenty-year-old mystery: the disappearance of her three stepdaughters in the Norfolk Fens. But the fens are a place of dark magic and the fae…

The Life Below by Alexandra Monir – Sequel to The Final Six. The teenage astronauts for the mission to Europa have been chosen, but there are still more questions than answers. What happened to the previous, failed mission? Is Europa a blank slate, waiting for humanity, or is there alien life there already? Teenage astronauts Leo and Naomi have to find answers before the mission is launched and its too late for everyone.

News and Views

Twitter basically lost its mind over this trailer for The Green Knight. Because Dev Patel, and this looks absolutely metal as hell.

The Hottest New Literary Genre Is “Doomer Lit” (and by doom, they mean climate doom)

Barbara Remington, whose Lord of the Rings illustrations were beloved by everyone but Tolkien, has died

Amal El-Mohtar has a game recommendation for you: For the Queen

io9 attempts a definitive list of the 10 best presidents in science fiction

The dark history behind Hansel and Gretel

First Stranger Things season 4 trailer is out.

Alan Tudyk plays the alien doctor in Resident Alien.

Eternals will have Marvel’s first big screen queer couple.

Tor.com would like you to pick your necromancy family from the houses of Gideon the Ninth

Cathy Yan breaks down the end fight scene of Birds of Prey where Harley is on roller skates

New images show Betelgeuse isn’t dimming evenly

On Book Riot

Discovering a Love of Science Fiction and Fantasy and Recent Favorites

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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 the some news and a load of books to take you into the weekend. I’m still valiantly struggling to survive against the horrific onslaught of viral invaders, but I guess the good news is I’ve been getting a bit more reading done while I lay in bed and wait for the cough syrup to whisk me sweetly away. I just finished The Warrior Moon by K. Arsenault Rivera, which is the final book of an epic trilogy in which lesbians take on a god–and become gods themselves.

In non-SFF news, this interview with Bong Joon Ho is excellent and have I mentioned I love him? Also, the Oscars happened, so Genevieve Valentine has a red carpet rundown.

News and Views

Highlights from CL Polk’s reddit AMA.

Tor.com has a great introduction to KJ Charles’s work.

Black Girl Nerds have a list of six SFF books you should read during Black Future Month.

I honestly have no idea what is going on in this trailer, but I dig it.

Some of SFF artist Michael Whelan’s work has found a new home in a Louis Vuitton campaign.

Tochi Onyebuchi (Riot Baby) was on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.

Just in case you, a foolish mortal, thought you could not possibly love Taika Waititi more, I bring you exhibit A and exhibit B.

We Asked a Hedgehog Dentist to Explain Why Sonic’s Human Teeth Are So Upsetting (You will come away from this article knowing many new facts about hedgehog teeth and how one cleans them.)

I just… These Crows Evolved Into a New Species, Boned the Old Species Too Much, Now Back Where They Started

On Book Riot

The Underground Railroad Book Club Questions and Reading Guide

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is about genre-blending SFF.

Don’t forget to check out the Black History Month Book Bundle give away! There’s three excellent SFF books in among the great selection.

Free Association Friday

Last week, I suggested some SFF retellings of literature from the “western canon” by non-white authors. There were a lot of other cool retellings that I ended up leaving off because my focus was so narrow. So how about another slice of retellings by PoC–this time it’s folklore edition!

Dark and Deepest Red by Anne-Marie McLemore – A retelling of “The Red Shoes,” updating the Strasbourg dancing plague of 1518 by five centuries when a pair of shoes seal onto an unwitting young woman’s feet.

Burning Roses by S.L. Huang – (Pre-order) This promises to be a mashup of Red Riding Hood and a genderbent Hou Yi the Archer.

Thorn by Intisar Khanani – A retelling of The Goose Girl, in which a princess who wishes to escape the pressures of royal life becomes the goose girl after a sorceress steals her identity.

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee – Overachieving student who just wants to get into an Ivy-league school (is that all) meets a hot transfer student who is literally the Monkey King of Journey to the West fame, just in time for her town to come under siege by demons.

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – A Snow White retelling that delves into questions of race; a white woman marries a light-skinned African-American man who has an apparently white daughter and finds herself becoming the wicked (step)mother when the son they have together is dark-skinned.

Ash by Malinda Lo – A lesbian retelling of Cinderella, where instead of a prince, “Cinderella” meets the King’s huntress and befriends her… and then becomes more.

The Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao – A beautiful girl with a cruel witch of an aunt lives at the edge of a forest. But if the girl wants to achieve greatness, she must fuel the magic within her by eating the hearts of the recently killed. It’s Snow White with a definite twist.

The Changeling by Victor LaValle – A modern changeling story that crashes right into some horrific Norse myths about trolls–and horrific realities of white supremacy.

Wicked Fox by Kat Cho – A nine-tailed fox quietly living in the modern world decides to rescue a young man in trouble instead of eating him… and then her life only gets more complicated from there.

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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! We all know what that means by now… Alex coming in at a slow, zombie-esque shuffle, fighting against the horrible infestation of cold viruses that have left them with barely enough strength to tow in the new releases. Okay, thankfully, that’s not how it goes every week. Please wash your hands a lot, y’all. And get your flu shot.

Happy things for the week, though! This happened at the Independent Spirit Awards and it was the best thing I’ve seen all week. Also, you might not know this about me, but I also really enjoy reading romance. So this list on Book Riot about romances that express queerness while also being m/f (which is something I think gets erased way too often) gave me a lot of books to add to my to-read pile.

New Releases

Stormsong by C.L. Polk – Grace must face the consequences of her decision to help her brother undo an atrocity. The power is out and a line of ferocious winter storms are coming in to batter Aeland. But while she’s trying to guide her family to safety, she must deal with interference from a vengeful queen, the murmurings of revolution–and worst of all, a photojournalist named Avia who has a nose for secrets and is aimed straight at Grace’s heart.

Tyll: A Novel by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin – A scrawny boy named Tyll is forced to flee his quiet village in the seventeenth century when his father’s interest in alchemy and magic is found out by the church. Tyll eventually becomes a traveling performer as he wanders a land devestated by the Thirty Years War and meets meets figures both historic and fictional.

A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers – Helen Lambert meets a man who claims he’s watched her for centuries–and unbeknownst to her, he has, through different lives as a musician and actress. She begins to have vivid dreams of these lives, all of them cut abruptly short–and in so doing develops uncanny powers that will perhaps help her break the curse she’s caught in.

And I Do Not Forgive You by Amber Sparks – A collection of weird and otherworldly stories about women, from the fantastic to the historical; each story seeks to return a voice to those who have been silenced, by the lies of history or the inequities of modern life.

The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood – An orc priestess named Csorwe is “betrothed” to the god called the Unspoken One, which means she will be sacrificed to him in her fourteenth year. But as she climbs the mountain to his shrine to meet her fate, a mage intervenes and offers her a new life: become his hired sword and assassin, help him topple an empire and regain his rightful place as ruler, and she will live if she’s strong and clever enough. Csorwe takes her chance and embarks on her new life… but all debts come due eventually.

News and Views

Exploring the People of Middle-earth: Éowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan is a really fascinating piece about Éowyn’s evolution as a character during Tolkien’s writing process.

Darcie Little Badger’s debut novel now has a gorgeous cover (and you can read an excerpt)! You can also pre-order Elatsoe, though the cover hasn’t made it onto Amazon yet.

Here’s Alex Brown’s suggestions on what short fiction you should read from January.

Naomi Novik is going to write a new fantasy trilogy.

Birds of Prey is out now, and I’ve seen it and I love it, in case you were wondering. One of the things I loved best was the action sequences were flippin’ amazing. There’s a really good reason for that.

I know as a rule I don’t really link to book reviews, but I really want there to be more yelling about Given.

NASA brought Voyager 2 back online!

Something that definitely deserves to be explored in sci-fi: SpaceX’s satellites and the night sky

Christina Koch has set a new record for the longest space flight by a woman.

On Book Riot

The Best Bookish Games for Your Interests

Check out Book Marks, our new reading tracker and journal (complete with recommended reading lists from Book Riot)!

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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! Whew, it sure has been a month this week, hasn’t it? But we got through it; it’s time for the weekend, which means time to catch up on reading (and, if you’re me, the weekly episode of Picard.) It’s Alex, with a bit of SFF-related news and a set of books you might want to check out, given… current events.

I confess, I’m not a sports afficiando, so I’m only now just catching up with the Super Bowl commercials. Some things are eldritch horrors that shall not be mentioned, but I’m going to share my two favorites because they both make me smile: Jeep’s homage to one of my favorite movies ever, Groundhog Day; and the Doritos commercial that brought together two of my favorite guys.

News and Views

Here’s a short story from C.L. Polk: St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid

Because I like you and want you to be happy, here’s a picture of Gates McFadden in her Star Trek uniform, on a unicycle.

A history of Star Trek’s uneasy relationship with androids.

A 4-minute VFX reel from The Rise of Skywalker, which includes shots of how they brought Carrie Fisher into the film.

Seanan McGuire’s next Wayward Children book will be called Across the Green Grass Fields.

There are many good Twitter threads about the most recent publishing “are you f*****g kidding me?” moment. SL Huang’s is a good one. And so is NK Jemisin’s.

A cat in Siberia who lost all four of her paws to severe frostbite now has 3D-printed, titanium prosthetics.

On Book Riot

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is about mind-bending SFF.

Free Association Friday

For a different no particular reason than last week (goodness, but you’d think the publishing world would run out of YIKES eventually), let’s take a look at some SFF takes on “classic literature”–by which I mean works generally considered to be part of the “Western canon”–that are written by non-white authors!

The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard – Genderbent Sherlock Holmes meets space opera, where Watson is an intelligent, tea-blending space ship. Have I mentioned I love this book? Because I love this book.

Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim – This is a fantasy retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo… and as a bonus, it’s gender-swapped!

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi – Just what it says on the tin: a horrific and darkly humorous take on the most classic of all scifi, set in contemporary, US-occupied Baghdad.

Destroyer by Victor LaValle – Also a take on Frankenstein, but this one is set in the modern United States and is very much about state (police) violence against Black people. Bonus: check out his book The Ballad of Black Tom for a retelling of one of Lovecraft’s most racist (and there’s stiff competition) stories, The Horror of Red Hook.

A Blade so Black and A Dream so Dark by L.L. McKinney – A modern, urban fantasy retelling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that starts in Atlanta and goes quickly through the looking glass.

King Maker: The Knights of Breton Court by Maurice Broaddus – A King Arthur retelling that’s set in Indianapolis and follows a hustler named King, who must unite gang members and criminals–and lead them on an epic, righteous quest.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige – A retelling of The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy isn’t helping her friends find hearts and brains… she’s out to remove them by whatever means necessary.

The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer – A steampunk, fantastical take on Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, which in this imagining, takes place on a zeppelin flying high above a rich and mysterious metropolis.

The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delaney – A retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, but it’s Delaney, so hold onto your butts. Things get weird fast.

 

Bonus round! Not strictly a retelling, but you should still check this out:

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – This is a take on every gothic horror novel you’ve known and loved–think: The Turn of the Screw–but set in Mexico in the 1950s.

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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! Hope your shelves are ready for another wave of new releases. February is going to be a busy month. It’s Alex, trying to stay warm and out of the snow in Colorado. Also, trying to put the pieces of my heart back together after the incredibly rude and totally perfect finale of The Good Place.

Not-genre but beautifully pointed: As a 28-Year-Old Latino, I Am Shocked My New Novel, Memoirs of a Middle-Aged White Lady, Has Been So Poorly Received

New Releases

The Resisters by Gish Jen – In near future AutoAmerica, half the land is under water; the “Netted” have jobs and live on the high ground while the “Surplus” live as high as the swamps… if they’re lucky. A Surplus couple have a daughter, Gwen, who has a “golden” arm that takes her straight to the top in the sport of baseball just as AutoAmerica is eyeing a return to the Olympics. Gwen finds herself playing on a team filled with Netted as her mother challenges the foundation of their divided society.

These Marvelous Beasts by Natania Barron – A lamia retires to Tarrytown, New York, to be with the love of her life, a sylph. She’s actually about to get around to telling said love about the entire love thing when the sylph is kidnapped when they are both called on to work together to solve a dark and dangerous mystery.

The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata – In 1929, a Dominican immigrant woman named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel that receives raves reviews. She immediately starts on the sequel… and then falls mysteriously, mortally ill as she finishes it. Inexplicably, she destroys the manuscript before she dies. Decades later, a man named Saul finds a manuscript authored by Adana Moreau as he’s cleaning out his grandfather’s house in Chicago. His attempt to track down Adana’s descendents takes him to New Orleans just as Hurricane Katrina hits.

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey – (Full disclosure: I have the same agent as Sarah.) Also, can’t sum it up better than this: “Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her―a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.”

Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland – Jane has ended up in a protected village called Nicodemus after the fall of Summerland in this sequel to Dread Nation. But Nicodemus doesn’t turn out to be a quiet place where she can leave behind her past… or stop hunting the undead. There are familiar faces from fallen Summerland in the village, and more than its fair share of mysterious, lies, and violence. Whether Jane wants to or not, she’ll have to team up with Katherine Deveraux if she wants to survive.

The Queen’s Assassin by Melissa de la Cruz – Cal is the Queen’s Assassin, which means he’s bound to her by magic and can only be released from her service by her word. A surprise attack throws Cal together with Shadow, who is a court lady out of obedience to her family when she really dreams of being an assassin. Together, they must unravel a web of intrigue and lies while deciding if they will be master and apprentice, or lovers.

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender – When Kingston’s brother Khalid dies unexpectedly, King is sure that he just shed his skin and became a dragonfly–and now visits him in dreams. Right before he died, Khalid also told Kingston that he needed to stop being best friends–or any kind of friend at all–with Sandy, because he’s gay. But when Sandy runs away from his abusive father and hides in King’s back yard, he can’t turn his back on his (former) best friend again.

News and Views

Issues of Identity in Modern Science Fiction

NPR’s Code Switch interviewed Tomi Adeyemi about YA fantasy where the oppression is real

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is Queerness and Hope in a Dark World

George RR Martin met up with the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London, and the results were pretty cute.

As a final salute to The Good Place, William Jackson Harper has performed the full version of Chidi’s Kierkegaard rap.

I am very excited by Fast and Furious‘s ever-closer embrace of total scifi soap opera bananapants-ness.

S.L. Huang does a simple mathematical trick that still made my brain explode.

Or, mind-blowing in a totally different way, how about the highest-res video of the surface of the Sun ever made?

At Book Riot

10 Alice in Wonderland Illustrators

6 YA Books About Assassins

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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.