Category: Swords and Spaceships

Avast, ye book-reading rogues! It’s Tuesday, the absolute best day of the week, and I’m not just saying that because it’s my regular pub-quiz-and-pizza night. It’s book release day, and we’ve got some good ones coming down the pike… with a helping of nerdy news.

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Sponsored by Carmilla by Kim Turrisi from KCP Loft

An adaptation of Shaftesbury’s award-winning, groundbreaking queer vampire web series of the same name, Carmilla mixes the camp of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the snark of Veronica Mars, and the mysterious atmosphere of Welcome to Nightvale.

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New Releases

Exhalation by Ted Chiang – I still haven’t emotionally recovered from his last short story collection (Stories of Your Life and Others); this one promises some brand new stories, as well as previously published (but not collected) work.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – “Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.” Sold.

Snakeskins by Tim Majors – A sci-fi thriller about cloning and shadowy people trying to take over the government.

Westside: A Novel by W.M. Akers – Historical fantasy set in Manhattan in 1921, about a detective named Gilda Carr.

Finale by Stephanie Garber – The final book in the Caraval trilogy

News and Views

Holly Black is writing a middle-grade novel about Maleficent, due to come out in October.

The Aso­ciación de Literatura de Ciencia Ficción y Fantástica has been founded in Chile and is open to members from other countries. Sounds like they’ll be trying to bring Spanish-speaking fans together and bring work by Chilean authors to the attention of the worldwide fandom.

An update from GRRM on the Game of Thrones spin-offs.

Ray Bradbury’s hometown of Waukegan, Illinois, will have a statue of him dedicated in front of its public library on his birthday, August 22. It looks like a pretty fun statue, not gonna lie.

Circe by Madeline Miller made it onto the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction shortlist.

We’re starting to get reviews of Tolkien, which comes out on May 10.

There’s a documentary about Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, and I must see it.

SYFY Wire has a behind the scenes look at the forthcoming Game of Thrones storyboard book.

At Book Riot, we’ve got a look at the current 30 top Sci-fi books on Goodreads.

Special Belated May the Fourth Be With You News

There was so much good Star Wars stuff this week, I felt like it needed its own section. My apologies if Star Wars is Not Your Thing (and no judgment here!) but it was formative piece of space fantasy for a lot of us. I’m personally a massive The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi fan, which you could probably use to decently profile my personality if you wanted it. And while I feel like we’ve still got light years to go in a lot of ways (where are my on-screen queer Jedi?) it never fails to get me choked up when I think about the new generation of rebels–Rey, Finn, Rose, and Poe–carrying on for General Leia.

The California state legislature officially recognized May the Fourth as Star Wars Day.

Rebecca Roanhorse is writing a Star Wars novel! Sounds like it’ll bridge the gap between The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. (And by the way, if you haven’t read her debut novel, Trail of Lightning, I heartily recommend it. The sequel, Storm of Locusts, just came out.)

There’s a bunch of other new Star Wars novels coming at us. Including a middle-grade novel by Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation.

An academic study has looked at costuming for Leia and Padme to examine the impacts of romance on their power. (Spoiler: the more they were an object of romance, the more objectified they got.)

As an aside, if the traveling exhibit Star Wars and the Power of Costume ever comes to an art museum near you, it is super worth going.

A Physics Analysis of Every Jedi Jump in All of Star Wars.

Tor.com has a list of nine Star Wars books that are there to meet your specific fandom needs.

We said goodbye to Peter Mayhew last week; his family has asked that those who would like to express their grief with gifts or flowers consider donating to his charity foundation. Also oh my heart.

May the Force be with you, always.

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 on the (Hugo-nominated!!!) Skiffy and Fanty Podcast or over at my personal site.

Happy Friday, me hearties! I’m the new captain of this marauding ship-masquerading-as-a-humble-newsletter, the Dread Pirate Alex. If you frequent the main Book Riot site much, you may remember me for my obsession with local beer and my (admittedly at times overly-long) looks at book world controversies. I also write steampunk about rail pirates under my own name, and science fiction about space witch biker mercenaries under the pen name Alex Wells.

Ready for some pillaging and general skullduggery? Er, I mean… let me check my notes… news! And books!

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News and Views

The 2018 Shirley Jackson Award nominees have been announced, and it’s a heck of a good list.

Goodbye, Peter Mayhew. He will be missed as the Wookie of our hearts and, more importantly, an all-around nice human being.

An interview with Samuel R. Delany over at io9. (What’s your favorite of Delany’s books, though? Mine’s Dhalgren.)

How did I not know before now that there’s going to be a YA novel about Marvel’s Loki by Mackenzi Lee and it’s apparently going to be super queer? Prepare to smash the pre-order button.

You can get the Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set for a cool $8-ish right now.

Sarah Gailey’s Upright Women Wanted has a cover and it’s pretty cool looking. (Fully disclosure: Sarah and I have the same agent.)

SYFY Wire has a list of 11 sci-fi and fantasy romances.

Captain America clips edited to Old Town Road. Or how about the women of Marvel to Wicked Ones. Or maybe a Twitter thread of Brie Larson as each of the Sailor Senshi. You’re welcome.

Once again we have to have the same old talk about Mary Sues because a lady character was good at something. (This time it was Arya in Game of Thrones)

If you, like me, love profanity, then you need to read this list of all the best profanity from Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

The other dynamic duo, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, will be adapting Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London for TV.

Spoiler warning for Avengers: Endgame, but if you’ve watched the movie, I really want you to go read this piece on Tor.com about Thor in that film.

Spoiler warning for this week’s Game of Thrones episode, but the Angry Staff Officer wrote a tactical analysis of the Battle of Winterfell at Wired. I am a bad nerd who doesn’t even go here and I still found it fascinating.

Throwback Thursday

Or not quite… that’s just easier to say than “free association combining books and some weird thing that happened on this day in history.”

Long before the internet as we know it could have ever been imagined, there was ARPANET; ARPA stood for the (US) Advanced Research Projects Agency. ARPANET was first conceptualized in 1967, then came to life in 1969 when four university computers were interconnected. More computers were added to the network so (mostly) scientists could share resources and information more easily.

On May 3, 1978, a marketing executive from the company Digital Equipment Corporation (doesn’t that sound like something from a comic book already?) sent unsolicited commercial email to every US west coast address on ARPANET. And thus, the spam email was born. Curse you, unnamed marketing executive!

Another bulk email that wasn’t quite spam went out on ARPANET the next year, asking a bunch of recipients who their favorite science fiction writers were. In those fledgling pre-internet days, no one screamed in horror at the thought of replying to all. Those emails eventually morphed into a sort of proto-forum, and the ARPANET users started seeing the social possibilities of this kind of network, particularly when it came to talking about nerdy stuff. Read the full story over at Slate.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Society restructured the internet, and now the internet is in the process of restructuring society–in both good and really scary ways. Which leads me to Malka Older’s Hugo-nominated Centenal Cycle, which explores how powerful information and the networked exchange thereof is. Start with Infomocracy.

Or, for true throwback goodness, you can currently get The Pride of Chanur by Science Fiction Writers of America Grandmaster C.J. Cherryh for $2.99 on Kindle.

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 on the (Hugo-nominated!!!) Skiffy and Fanty Podcast or over at my personal site.

Hello and happy Tuesday, demons and dragonriders! Jenn here, back for one more installment, and bring glad tidings of new adaptations, covet-worthy new releases, LEGOs, a review of The Storm Runner by JC Cervantes, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Tor Books.

Mimi is a waste worker on Silicon Isle, an island off the coast of China submerged in the world’s electronic waste. Migrant workers come for a chance at a living wage and a better life, but conflicts between those in power, local gangs, and eco-terrorists are bubbling to the surface. Mimi must decide whether she will uphold the status quo or help shape a new world. From award-winning author Chen Qiufan comes Waste Tide, a new, thought-provoking vision of the future.

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Let’s start with news:

The British Science Fiction Awards have been announced! Revenant Gun and Rosewater both made the list for Best Novel, but Embers of War by Garth L. Powell beat them out to claim the prize, it’s about a sentient ship, and now I am curious.

In other award news, Circe (which has been making the circuit) is up for this year’s Womens Prize and is the only SF/F book to make the list.

Here’s a cover reveal for Come Tumbling Down, a new novella in the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire.

I have been WAITING for this announcement! Jinn, Netflix’s first Arabic series, involves teenagers and supernatural hijinks and will be out in June and my body is ready.

Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, which people have been telling me to read for actual years, has a deal to be adapted by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s production company!

I don’t usually audiobook but I am very interested in an audiodrama based on William Gibson’s Aliens script, how about you?

There are now Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire LEGO sets, and I covet them extremely.

And last but not least I saw Avengers: Endgame and this post of things the Tor staff loved and hated captures my feelings my pretty well.

New releases:

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: This is a gorgeous new edition of a classic Butler title, with a forward by NK Jemisin, and I honestly did not need a reason to buy a new copy but here we are.

Solo: A Star Wars Story, Expanded Edition by Mur Lafferty: Did y’all know Mur Lafferty was doing the novelization of Solo? Because I did not! And this apparently includes “scenes from alternate versions of the script including Han Solo’s time in the Imperial Navy, Qi’ra’s past, the beginnings of the rebellion, and more,” consider me intrigued.

Give me all the Mayan mythology-inspired books, starting with The Storm Runner by JC Cervantes:

This is where I confess that I don’t appreciate middle grade SF/F enough, and by “appreciate” mean “read.” I’ve been meaning to pick up most of the titles in the Rick Riordan Presents line, for instance, especially after a friend convinced me to finally read Percy Jackson a few years back (thanks, Preeti!). The Storm Runner is the first I’ve gotten to, and it is a DELIGHT.

Zane Obispo is a pretty average 13-year-old; he likes books and his dog, and hates school because that’s where he gets bullied and teased over having a short leg and a limp. He also happens to have a volcano in his backyard, which is his favorite hangout. (I was instantly jealous of this plot point, why was I not raised in the New Mexico desert near a volcano??!) One day, a girl shows up to tell him that he’s the subject of a prophecy and is fated to release an evil god, and then demons show up, and then he finds out that he’s not entirely human, and then the hijinks really start to kick into high gear.

We all know how well it works out when you try to defeat a prophecy and don’t know exactly who your dad is, am I right? It’s so much fun to see this trope rearranged and redone, this time with Mayan mythology. Cervantes throws in wonderful side characters — Zane’s psychic neighbor, his Lucha- and punk rock-loving uncle, a surf-boarding goddess — alongside some very gross, pus-oozing demon, and the plot unfolds at a brisk clip. Zane is an endearing narrator; he’s a kid who has very few illusions about the world, but hasn’t let that break his spirit, and his determination to take care of his friends and family (and dog!) is just the best.

A balanced SF/F diet includes the heady and intense, the light and fun, and everything in between, and for me that means chapter books alongside YA and adult fiction. Perhaps a new series like this will help me remember it more often! I loved spending time in this world, and my timing is good for more; the sequel, The Fire Keeper, comes out this September.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

I’ll be back
(maybe)
(but probably not for a while),
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, heffalumps and woozles! As of next week, this newsletter will have a new writer: the very excellent Alex Acks! I can’t wait to see what ze does with it. In this my final installment, we’re talking time travel, eco-disasters, Game of Thrones playlists, high fantasy, Star Wars, The Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst, and more (whew!).

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This newsletter is sponsored by HMH.

The Emperor of the vast Burnt Empire has died, leaving a turbulent realm without a sovereign. Two young princes are in line to rule, but birthright does not guarantee inheritance: For any successor must sit upon the Burning Throne and pass The Test of Fire. Imbued with dark sorceries, the throne is a crucible—one that incinerates the unworthy. The princes pass The Test . . . but there is another who also survives: a girl from an outlying kingdom. When she is denied her claim, her father, a powerful demonlord, declares war—leaving the princes to rule a shattered realm embroiled in rebellion.

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Biggest of cosigns on this short time travel reading list — I especially appreciate the “Doctor Who angst level equivalent” rating for each pick.

If, like me, you enjoy imagining potential catastrophes, here are 50 must-reads about eco-disasters.

And speaking of the environment, Sharifah and I talked about naturey SF/F on this week’s podcast.

Ready your fantasy-reading engines! Here are 10 excellent-looking fantasy novels aimed at adults and coming out soon.

Also, ready your fantasy-listening engines, because SYFY WIRE has a list of high fantasy podcasts for you.

Listening-related: Spotify has a bunch of Game of Thrones playlists to celebrate the final season!

Now that we’ve all had some feelings about the latest Star Wars trailer, here’s a wishlist of characters who deserve their own stand-alone books and/or movies.

The Tolkien estate is NOT ON BOARD with the new biopic, apparently.

If you were looking for spoiler-free reactions to Avengers: Endgame, io9 has a round-up and they are very positive.

I am both charmed and a little weirded out by this video with various UK military personnel about the best way to slay a dragon.

Let’s talk about The Deepest Blue by Sarah Beth Durst:

You might remember me reviewing all the Queens of Renthia books; this one is set in the same world, with at least one recurring character (oh hey Garnah!), but is otherwise a stand-alone. And if you like stories about women banding together to overthrow an unjust system plus magic and sea beasties, this is for you.

Not only do the inhabitants of the islands of Belene have to contend with the usual dangers of island life, but the seas and islands themselves are full of malevolent spirit creatures. Some held in check by the power of the Queen and her heirs; others are wild, and must be avoided at all costs. Those women with the power to control the spirits and become potential heirs are even less safe than your average citizen, because the testing process is brutal. Either be abandoned on an island full of wild spirits for a month, where only the strongest survive, or give up your identity, friends, and family to become a Silent One, living entirely under the control of the Queen and the ruling Families. Either way, it sucks to be you. Because of this, deep sea diver Mayara has been hiding her power away — but on her wedding day, a storm of spirits sweeps across her island, she has no choice. She saves everyone in her village and then tries to make a run for it, only to be captured and sent to the island.

As Mayara meets the other women, she discovers each has their own story, and some have sinister secrets. Is it safer to make it on your own, or rely on someone who might turn on you? Are there truly only the options presented to these young women, or could things change? As she tries to answer these questions while also staying alive, her new husband Kelo makes his way to the Queen’s court to plead on her behalf and finds himself enmeshed in a political tangle and in way over his head.

A secret princess, a touch of the Mafia, a lot of bloodthirsty supernatural critters, and a woman known for risk-taking who finds the limits of her strength make The Deepest Blue a compelling read. For someone who hasn’t read Durst before, it’s a great introduction to a fascinating fantasy world. For those who have, it’s a deeper exploration of Renthia and its magic and origins. It also does what I’ve begun to see as Durst’s trademark, in that she asks different questions for her characters. For instance, The Reluctant Queen gave us a mother who continues to parent throughout her epic quest. The Deepest Blue gives us a couple who accept each other fully and are made stronger by each other. It’s far easier for me to think of recent books that use love as a weapon against its heroes and heroines than as a weapon for them, and it’s a lovely change of pace. If that sounds a little Disney to you, not to worry; there’s lots of blood, gore, and backstabbing as well. Please note: I do not recommend taking this on your next beach vacation, for obvious reasons.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books I’ve recommended in this newsletter on this handy Goodreads shelf. You can still find me talking science fiction and fantasy with my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Live long and prosper,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, goblins and Guardians. There’s a lot of book news this week, both sad and happy, including some awards. I spent the weekend in a reading rut, picking up book after book only to abandon them 50 pages later, so instead of a single review this week I’m offering you a round-up of books newly in paperback, for the price-conscious/trade-waiters/vacation-read-seekers amongst you!

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This newsletter is sponsored by BookCon.

BookCon is a celebration of storytelling happening June 1 & 2 in NYC! BookCon is packed with authors you know and love, and new ones to discover! Have your books signed by V.E. Schwab, Leigh Bardugo, Charlie Jane Anders, NK Jemisin and more. Meet up with other book lovers, snag copies of books before they’re released and explore this event packed with bookish goodies and interactive experiences.

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In bookish news:

RIP Gene Wolfe and Vonda McIntyre both, two renowned SF/F writers who passed away in recent weeks. I still own a battered copy of McIntyre’s The Moon and the Sun, which is about mermaids and the court of Louis XIV, and I was very sad to see this news.

Now for something happy: awards!
– The Ditmar Awards, for Australian SF, has announced its preliminary ballot.
– The Kitchies (a personal favorite, awarded to “the year’s most progressive, intelligent and entertaining science fiction”) have been announced — congrats to Circe by Madeline Miller and Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi!

Zen Cho has written a wuxia-inspired novella about a thief and a nun and Tor.com will be publishing it, and HOO BOY am I jazzed for this.

We’ve got an exclusive excerpt from the new epic fantasy We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples has an official end date, and I can’t lie to you — I’m so relieved there’s a planned ending!

And The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon is getting a TV show.

This week in new releases:

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse
It’s finally here, y’all! That cover! I am 2 of 2 on library holds for it and I can’t believe someone else beat me to it. I cannot wait to see what is next for my favorite grumpy, angry, vengeful monster-hunter Maggie.

And in ebook deals:

Cast in Shadow (Chronicles of Elantra #1) by Michelle Sagara, $1.99, for those who like a murder mystery plus supernatural hijinks.

Worlds of Exile and Illusion (Rocannon’s World; Planet of Exile; City of Illusions) by Ursula K. Le Guin, $2.99, for completists who might have missed these early (and very strange) novels in Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle.

Review Spotlight: New in Paperback!

I’m sure I’m not the only one who waits for paperback versions of books, even though exercising impulse control is the pits. This is a very good month for it — here are five books, both sequels and stand-alones, newly out in April and ideal for shoving into your backpack/suitcase/tote for all your summer reading needs.

Only Human (Themis Files #3) by Sylvain Neuvel
I’m not current with this series, alas, but I very much enjoyed talking to Neuvel about sci-fi on the Recommended podcast, and this conclusion to the Themis Files trilogy has been pitched as The Martian meets Pacific Rim, so it’s on my list.

Tender by Sofia Samatar
This short story collection is full of gems. Some have a scholarly feel, like “An Account of the Land of Witches” or “Ogres of East Africa,” in which Samatar is cataloguing wonders previously unseen. Some are funny and heartbreaking, like “Walkdog.” All of them are bursting at the seams with magic, and with Samatar’s deliberate and precise use of language. Her style is a moving target — sometimes ornate and sometimes spare, some times casual and sometimes formal — but it’s always deployed with purpose, and the results are spell-binding. In conclusion, I am president of the Sofia Samatar Fan Club, over here. (There is even a blurb from me on the back cover!) Get this collection on your shelf and into your brain.

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss
Another one from my TBR! This novel continues the adventures of Mary Jekyll and other daughters of mad scientists (great premise, amirite) who go on a trip across Europe to save another “monstrous girl,” what could go wrong SLASH what’s not to love? This is the sequel to The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, in case you missed it.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Poppy War starts off feeling like a pre-Industrial silkpunk fantasy, similar to Dao’s Forest of a Thousand Lanterns or Liu’s The Grace of Kings; it becomes a somewhat wry underdog story set in a military academy; and then suddenly you are reading a drug-addled, supernaturally-twisted meditation on the horrors of war and prejudice.

Rin is a war orphan, raised by abusive foster parents who want to sell her off into a loveless marriage. She takes matters into her own hands when she decides to take the Keju, a nation-wide test that can send her to school and give her a shot at a future of her own choosing. Her stubborn determination sees her through and she receives a scholarship to the prestigious military academy of Sinegard. If she can hack it there, sheʼll become a general in the Empressʼs army, and sheʼs determined to hack it — at any cost. And when war comes to Nikara, Rin is forced to face the darkest parts of both humanity and herself.

The Book of Flora (The Road to Nowhere #3) by Meg Ellison
Several of my Book Riot colleagues are in love with this series, and I somehow missed that there are now three of them (!). It’s also won a Philip K. Dick Award, which is nothing to sneeze at. It’s a post-apocalypse story about birth control and gender, among other things, and if that’s your jam, all three of the books are now in paper.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, ambassadors and aswangs! Today in linky goodness we’ve got some reading recommendations, a counter to Game of Thrones, and Tolkien’s grave, plus a review of A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Finder by Suzanne Palmer.

From Hugo Award winner Suzanne Palmer comes a sci-fi caper starring Fergus Ferguson, interstellar repo man with a simple mission: find the spacecraft Venetia’s Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, a power-hungry trade boss. Fergus locates both Gilger and Sword in a backwater deep space colony. But his arrival kicks off a civil war, and Fergus must ally with Gilger’s enemies to survive. Even worse, he’s become inconveniently invested in the lives of the locals. He’ll need all the help he can get to take back the Sword—and maybe save the colony from destruction in the process.

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I am, perhaps weirdly, a sucker for epidemic stories (both fiction and nonfiction) so this post about 10 fictional pandemics is of great interest to me, and even has a few I haven’t read yet. (Shout-out to favs Station Eleven, Zone One, and Her Body and Other Parties!)

If you’ve been struggling with HBO’s Game of Thrones, this essay on leaving GoT and learning to love The Dragon Prince is a great and nuanced read.

The fairytale nerd in me is absolutely in love with this round-up of ways to start a story from around the world. Krik krak!

And speaking of fairytales, an amateur folklorist is here to correct some of the many misconceptions surrounding them, and I love this idea of fairytale as meme!

Do you need more unicorns in your life? DON’T WE ALL? Here are 50 must-reads, you’re welcome.

If you’re in need of “Thanos was wrong” ammunition, this look at the scientific practicalities of The Snap is my favorite, especially for the line: “If you wiped out half of all humans, in another 40 years, we’d likely be back to the same population numbers.” It would, however, be very bad for rhinos.

And from cool-and-kind-of-weird: did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien is buried in a special type of grave known as a cradle grave, that allows for gardening on top? I’m a gardener in a historic cemetery tending a couple of these, and now need to plan a pilgrimage/chat with the Tolkiens’ gardener. They will probably definitely not think I am weird at all!

Space opera ahoy! It’s A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine:

We get regular requests on the Get Booked podcast for Star Trek read-alikes, which I understand to mean space opera that contains interesting and varied characters, political and moral complexity, and trending overall towards optimism. It’s an interesting question, and I don’t take the comparison lightly. (Captain Janeway is my captain, for the record.) So when I say that Arkady Martine’s debut A Memory Called Empire should be added to that list, I really mean it.

In a galaxy far far away, in an Empire that references both the Aztecs and Romans, newly-minted ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives at the Emperor’s court to find her predecessor murdered. Had the previous ambassador followed protocol and backed up his memories for implant, this would just be a regular ol’ murder problem — but Dzmare only has access to an implant, or imago, that is 15 years old, and it’s malfunctioning. She has no idea what he’s been up to in the meantime, people at court know things about her home station that they shouldn’t, and Mahit has to plunge into the deadly political wheelings and dealings of Teixcalaan with only her gut instincts and occasional flashes of insight to guide her. Oh, and solve a murder!

Martine has done such excellent world-building here, both for Mahit’s Stationer home and Teixcalaan. The obsession with poetry and literature; the variety of inventive tech; the jagged emotional edges of civil unrest; the descriptions of clothes and food and the streets and the palace, and and and! It’s detailed without being overwrought, highly immersive, and fascinating. The emotional details are on point as well: Mahit struggles with her fascination with Teixcalaan and her loyalty to her home, the high-stakes game of chicken she is forced to play to maintain their independence is an absolute nail-biter, and the other characters are beautifully drawn as well. The political machinations felt genuine (and, in certain cases, unsettlingly familiar), and the action sequences were well-paced. Martine also shows the respect of a historian for her influences, which is perhaps not surprising since she is, in fact, a historian. I do have a quibble in that the use of italics for emphasis through-out is a stylistic choice I never love, but c’est la vie.

While the main plot-line came to a staggering resolution, there are no tidy conclusions to be found here. Which is as it should be; complexity begets complexity, and one can retain hope without settling for “easy” answers. I picked up this book because it had an Ann Leckie blurb on the cover, and I’m happy to say that it was well-earned. I’ll be following this series with great interest, and shelving it alongside Leckie, Le Guin, Butler, and my ST: Voyager DVDs.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello gelflings and garudas! I am returned from my cryopod, I MEAN Toronto, and am back in the saddle. Today we’re talking a little GoT, a little Star Wars, a little science, and Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive.

Meet Libby. The award-winning reading app that makes sure you always have something to read. It’s like having your entire library right in your pocket. Download the app today and get instant access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free thanks to your public library and OverDrive.

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We’re a little light on straight-up book news today, but there are some interesting things afoot regardless:

Winter has arrived with the latest season of Game of Thrones, and all you die-hard fans will be excited to hear that Folio Society is releasing a collector’s edition later this year!

Sharifah and I spent a bunch of time discussing the new live-action Cowboy Bepop, as well as con-artists and thieves, in the latest episode of SFF Yeah!

If like me you were traveling on Friday and didn’t get a chance to watch the Star Wars IX trailer, here’s a breakdown from Black Nerd Problems (although heads up that that’s Mark Hamill at the end, not Fisher). (Also, where’s my hankie 😭.)

Speaking of die-hard fans, if you’re burning to know the details of the Mandalorian trailer, viewed only by in-person attendees at Star Wars Celebration on Sunday, io9 has a recap.

And in “science is really freaking cool” news, here’s a fascinating primer on the first-ever photograph of a black hole.

Buzzy new releases this week:

Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker
I absolutely intended to read this by review week, and yet. This is an epic fantasy series based on The Mahabharata (like A Spark of White Fire, but for adults) and I am here for it.

No Country for Old Gnomes (The Tales of Pell #2) by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
Not going to lie, I am listing this almost entirely for that title. The description includes gnomes in cardigans and halflings on war alpacas, and it looks like this belongs in the Terry Pratchett-esque section of fantasy, so I am intrigued!

Cheap ebooks update:

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, $2.99 (BUY THIS IMMEDIATELY, this is an absolute steal)

The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo by Kerrelyn Sparks, $1.99 (I know nothing about this but can’t stop laughing, today is Amazing Titles Day)

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, $1.99 (relevant to today’s review)

Let us talk about the timeliness of Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson:

Even though it was published in 2015 and the stories were written over the course of many years, the foreword of Falling in Love with Hominids feels like it could have been written yesterday. Hopkinson writes:

[O]ne of the progressions I’ve made is from being a depressed teenager who saw how powerless she was to change all the ills around her to being a mostly cheerful fifty-something who realizes there are all kinds of ways of working towards positive change. […] [W]e’re all on the same spinning ball of dirt, trying to live as best we can. […] So part of the work of these past few decades of my life has been the process of falling in love with hominids.

In this Year of Our Continued Angst 2019, this was both a welcome message and reminder that facing and exploring humanity’s flaws is not the same as exonerating them, and the stories contained within do that work in so many ways. These are stories of abuse, of failure, of violence, but also of love, of yearning, of joy.

Whether she’s reimagining werewolves in “The Easthound,” The Tempest in “Shift,” or dating a plant-lady in “A Raggy Dog, A Shaggy Dog” (a personal favorite, that last one), Hopkinson is deeply aware of the fault lines in the human psyche. That’s where the horror comes from, but also the beauty. “Delicious Monster” takes a complicated father-son relationship and gives it a supernatural twist; “A Young Candy Daughter” imagines what growing up might look like for God. If you’re a Borderlands fan — and even if you’re not — “Men Sell Not Such in Any Town” is a must-read.

Each of the 18 stories comes with a short intro, and each is infused with Hopkinson’s lyrical language, Caribbean rhyme and folklore, and often patois. Some are as short as a page and a half while others are as long as 20 pages, but all feel much bigger on the inside, as the saying goes. And all of them went some way towards helping me fall a little bit back in love with humanity. I’m glad I’m not legally required to pick a favorite Hopkinson; between Brown Girl in the Ring, Salt Roads, Midnight Robber, and Falling in Love with Hominids, it’s an impossible choice. For those looking for a starting place to her work, this is a perfect entry point; for current fans, it’s a must not miss.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

May the Force be with you,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, my little triffids! It’s me, Liberty! Jenn once again needed a day off to recharge her brain pan in her ecto-cocoon, so I am going to talk at you today instead. And by Grabthar’s Hammer, you’re going to be entertained! Today we’ve got drag queen sorceresses, necrogoth cavaliers, and more.

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Sponsored by Berkley

New York Times bestselling author Stephen R. Donaldson returns to the world of his Great God’s War fantasy epic, twenty years after the realms of Belleger and Amika ceased generations of war. That alliance was sealed with the marriage of Prince Bifalt to Estie, the crown princess of Amika. But the peace–and their marriage–has been uneasy. Now the terrible war that King Bifalt and Queen Estie feared is coming. An ancient enemy has arisen, and it will take all of the monarchs’ strength and will to inspire their kingdoms to become one, or all will be lost. . . .
Notes

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Okay, so we have to get this out of the way first: Game of Thrones returns for its final season this Sunday, April 14th at 9pm EST. Who doesn’t think this is going to be the most-watched show of all time?

• Tor had some thoughts on a notable character absence from the series. (Is it too much to wish an appearance might still happen?)
• The Rioters voted on who they think should get the Iron Throne. (Spoiler: I voted Cersei. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.)
• Pedro Pascal was the highlight of the red carpet premiere. (Not counting Gwendolyn Christie’s dress.)
• The Shake Shake is offering a Game of Thrones menu.
• Here are the horrible diseases you could get in Westeros.
• And here’s all the stuff you need to know in case you need a refresher before you watch the final season.
• Here’s SyFy’s list of the seven essential episodes.
• And if you’re into spoilers, here’s a new clip from Season 8.

Jo Walton read 27 books in March. And you can see them all for yourself.

Funny papers: Here’s a list of new comics out this week.

Here’s the cover for the sequel to Children of Blood and Bone: Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi will hit shelves on December 3rd.

Remember how I went on and on about Gideon the Ninth last time I filled in? You can read the first two chapters about your soon-to-be favorite necrogoth online now. (Seriously, I am obsessed.)

N.K. Jemisin has written a foreword for the latest edition of Octavia Butler’s classic Parable of the Sower.

And here’s the first look at Ryan La Sala’s Reverie, coming in January 2020, which the description says is about “a gay teenager with amnesia who is haunted by a drag queen sorceress,” and is being marketed as “Inception meets The Magicians.”

And don’t forget Hellboy opens this weekend!

Me: Meh, I am not interested in a new Hellboy film.

Movie: Oh look, it’s Baba Yaga’s chicken leg house.

Me: THIS IS EVERYTHING I WANTED.

Zombie, zombie, zom-bie-ie-ie-ie: Jonathan Maberry’s zombie YA series Rot & Ruin is going to be a film.

Erin Morgenstern shared the cover for The Starless Sea. It’s coming November 5th and is worth the wait, I promise!

It’s another great week for exciting new releases:

Riverland by Fran Wilde

The Casket of Time by Andri Snær Magnason (Author), Björg Arnadóttir (Translator), Andrew Cauthery (Translator)

The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses) by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

The Dream Peddler: A Novel by Martine Fournier Watson

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

Dreaming Darkly by Caitlin Kittredge

Through the White Wood by Jessica Leake

How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow

The City of Folding Faces by Jayinee Basu

We Are Mayhem: A Black Star Renegades Novel by Michael Moreci

Alien: Echo: An Original Young Adult Novel of the Alien Universe by Mira Grant

Seven Blades in Black (The Grave of Empires) Sam Sykes

Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

Princess Bari by Hwang Sok-yong, Sora Kim-Russell (Translator)

No teasing this time, I promise! For this week’s review, I actually picked a book this time around that is out now, so you don’t have to wait!

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

This is an AMAZING new YA fantasy novel about kingdoms, politics, and revenge! And it has courtroom drama, which I didn’t realize I needed in a YA fantasy novel until I read this one.

So Princess Hesina of Yan is super not into being royalty, and hopes to live out her days without having any real responsibilities. But then her father is murdered. At least, she believes he was murdered, and she’s going to prove it. And oh yeah, now she’s going to have to be queen, too. So much for avoiding any adulting.

In order to gather the evidence and strength Hesina needs, she disguises herself to go into a seedy part of the kingdom and visit a soothsayer. Sooths were banned from the land, and she could lose her life if she’s caught, but avenging her father’s death is more important to Hesina. The sooth knows why she is there and tells her who she must find to represent her in the royal courts.

Hesina is hesitant when she hears her lawyer is secretive convicted criminal. But Akira proves himself to be brilliant. And while her political advisers attempt to convince Hesina her father’s death was the work of a rival kingdom, in order to start a war that will further their political goals, Hesina knows it was someone close to her. And with Akira’s help, she’s going to prove it.

This was F-U-N with a capital “HELL YES!” I loved Hesina. She’s stubborn, and flawed, and adamant about her beliefs. And sometimes she’s wrong, but she’s making all her own decisions on her own terms. Not for romance or a sense of duty, which is what we need from more princesses in fantasy books. This awesome novel is a standalone, but I hear rumor that there will be a companion book. Now GET THEE TO A BOOKSTORE.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. (I don’t have the keys to the Goodreads account, but I’m sure Jenn will add Descendant of the Crane when she gets back.) If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch Jenn and Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. If you want to check out more of my bookish enthusiasm, you can find me on All the Books! and All the Backlist!, or sharing tons of pictures of my cats and books on Instagram at @franzencomesalive. Be excellent to each other!

Hello, gods and goblins! I hope you’re having a fine Tuesday. Today we’re doing a deep dive into the Hugo Finalists, along with some exciting new book and book adaptation news concerning Sarah J. Maas, Cat Valente, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Wednesday Books and Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan.

The monster hidden behind pale, tortured eyes and a devastating smile. The girl with Dark Gods whispering spells in her head. The prince surrounded by deadly assassins and ambitious suitors. “This gothic jewel of a story will sink its visceral iron claws into you, never letting go until you’ve turned the last page.” (Robin LaFevers)

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Before any of that, though, I am delighted to tell you that we have a new podcast on Book Riot! It’s called Kidlit These Days, covers all things picture books and middle grade, and the first two episodes are live. Go forth and find it on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or the podcatcher of your choice!

And a few quick news bites before we get into our Hugo Finalists Spotlight:

George R.R. Martin will be in conversation with Marlon James tomorrow, Wednesday April 10, in a livestream from The Verge.

Sarah J. Maas announced the release date of her new novel, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, on Instagram — it’ll be hitting shelves January 28, 2020.

Cat Valente announced on Twitter that there will be a sequel to Space Opera called Space Oddity, in 2021.

Chuck Wendig’s new novel Wanderers has been optioned [Deadline] by the producers of Get Out.

Naomi Ishiguro, daughter of Kazuo Ishiguro, got a book deal [The Bookseller] for a short story collection and I for one cannot wait to read it.

And now, for our Spotlight on the Hugo Finalists!

Looking through the list, I realized I had reviewed a good chunk of them, so I decided to put together a refresher. In the meantime, I desperately need to read the ones I missed!

Best Novel:

Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager): Both a meditation on mortality and a celebration of what it means to choose your life, Record of a Spaceborn Few adds new depth to Chambers’ world-building, a new take on the generation ship trope, and new characters to love. (full review here)

Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris):  Is consent possible when the choices are rigged? What does it mean to be a self-aware monster? What does it mean to struggle against a society that sets you up to be a monster? Lee is exploring these questions and more, and taking us along for the ride. (full review)

Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik (Del Rey / Macmillan): Much like Uprooted, Novik is retelling a variety of fairy tales here. But this book is a much more timely and broad-ranging story, taking on anti-Semitism, abuse and trauma, and father-daughter relationships. It’s a tightly paced, beautifully plotted and written book, and I think it’s my favorite thing she’s ever written. (full review here)

Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga): Roanhorse has brought Navajo legends to life in a post-apocalyptic world with a monster-slaying, kick-ass heroine, and it is one of my favorite debuts — and favorite post-apocalyptic fantasies — of the year. (full review here)

Best Novella

The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing): Set in an alternate 1880s United States, in which the Civil War ended in a truce and Louisiana is a neutral free-state, The Black God’s Drums takes us on a whirling tour of a vivid and vibrant alternate New Orleans, complete with political wheelings and dealings, houses of ill-repute, some very surprising nuns, airships, and a battle for the soul of a city. (full review here)

Best Series

The Centenal Cycle, by Malka Older (Tor.com Publishing): I came for the concept, got sucked in by the action, and stayed for the personalities brought to life in these pages. I said back in 2016 when I first read Infomocracy that it was one of the few books I’d read that made me feel better about the US election, and this continues to be true. (full review here)

Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris): You already know how I feel about this series, enough said.

The Universe of Xuya, by Aliette de Bodard (most recently Subterranean Press): Her ability to world-build is immense, and her prose is rich and vibrant with details. (full review of On a Red Station, Drifting)

Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager): If I had to boil down the premises of each of the Wayfarers books into a single sentence, it would go like this:
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is about finding your family. A Closed and Common Orbit is about finding yourself. Record of a Spaceborn Few is about finding your place.

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

S.A. Chakraborty (2nd year of eligibility): Chakraborty continues expandin her world and mythology, offering new insights into her characters, tackling the fall-out from prejudice and bigotry, and creating an immense amount of tension in the meantime. (review of City of Brass here and Kingdom of Copper here)

R.F. Kuang (1st year of eligibility): Occasionally a book comes along that is so surprising, it takes time to process what you just read. The Poppy War is one of those books. (full review here)

Rivers Solomon (2nd year of eligibility): An Unkindness of Ghosts is a generation-ship story that examines the intersections of racism and class structures, and is essential for readers who can’t get enough NK Jemisin, Ursula Le Guin, and Octavia Butler.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, hackers and hellhounds! Today we’ve got the Hugo Awards finalists announcement, Baba Yaga reads, divine costuming, cookie drama, a review of The Vela Season 1, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling.

Desperate to earn money to get off of her backwater planet, Gyre lied her way onto this solo cave expedition. But the fat paycheck should have meant a skilled surface team to keep her safe. Instead, she got Em. Em controls Gyre’s body with drugs and withholds critical information. She knows about Gyre’s lies, and uses them as a leash. As Gyre descends, inconsistencies begin to make her paranoid: missing supplies, unexpected route changes, and shifts in Em’s motivations. Gyre must overcome more than just dangerous terrain and the Tunneler which calls underground home if she wants to make it out alive.

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Before we get into the nitty gritty, I am delighted to announce our newest podcast! Kidlit These Days covers picture books and middle grade novels, and if you love kids books and/or find yourself gifting them regularly, you’ll want to give it a listen.

Speaking of podcasts, the special book club episode of SFF Yeah! that I’ve been teasing for weeks is live! Ausma Zehanat Khan (The Black Khan) and I talked about eugenics, strong female characters, Arab representation, and did some fancasting for Dune by Frank Herbert.

The Hugo Award finalists have been announced! It is an amazing list, and I’m super excited for The Skiffy and Fanty Show podcast’s Best Fancast nomination — Book Riot contributor Alex Wells and sound engineer Jen Zink are both involved, and I am happily firing a confetti cannon on their behalf.

I am a huge fan of Baba Yaga (despite only recently having learned the correct pronunciation, which is ‘BA-ba ya-GA’), so this list of five reads about her is definitely in my wheelhouse.

I have not watched the TV adaptation of American Gods at all yet, but this round-up [SYFY WIRE] of the best costumes so far is excellent. (Gillian Anderson!!!!)

It is finally Spring, and I know because I was able to go outside without a coat twice already this month! Glorious. In addition to warmer weather, April is also bringing us some exciting new reads [SYFY WIRE].

This just made me hungry: as part of their promotion with Game of Thrones, Oreo remade the title sequence [YouTube] entirely with cookies. Well played.

And now, let’s talk about why you should tune in to The Vela by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, S.L. Huang, and Rivers Solomon:

Currently available in audio; omnibus ebook coming late 2019.

That author line-up, though! That alone is probably enough for some of you to dive in. For the rest, there are five episodes currently available in Season 1 of The Vela and I am here to tell you that it’s one hell of a ride.

The Vela begins with Agent Asala Sikou, a veteran soldier and sniper who is hired by the president of the planet Khayyam to guard the visiting dictator from neighboring planet Gan-De. Their entire solar system is in peril: their sun is dying, due in part to Khayyam’s over-harvesting of hydrogen, and the Outer Planets have already become inhabitable, leading to a refugee crisis. Gan-De is notoriously isolationist and while Khayyam is not much better, President Ekrem has sent a state-of-the-art ship to bring high-profile refugees back to Khayyam. The ship goes missing, an attack is made on General Cynwrig, and Asala must try to solve both problems.

A former refugee herself, Asala is a prickly and solitary character who wants nothing more than to stay out of politics, do her job, and get paid. But this mission and her unwanted sidekick Niko, a young hacker who is also the child of President Ekrem, are forcing her to relive her own past and question her priorities. As Asala and Niko head out into the ‘verse to find answers, they only end up with more questions — and no one is being completely honest about what they know. High-stakes hijinks ensue, including ground and space battles, double agents, AI, and prison breaks (whew!).

Huang and Lee are clear choices for a story like this: both excel at action sequences, and Lee has made his mark on space opera with The Machineries of Empire series. Rivers Solomon and Becky Chambers are interesting additions — Chambers is aces at character development and space stories, and it’s fun to see her flex her action-sequence chops (which are considerable, it turns out). Solomon, whose novel An Unkindness of Ghosts is a personal favorite, holds their own as well; I loved the blend of character background and covert ops in Episode 3.

As I mentioned, there are currently five episodes live; I should note here that I have read them, rather than listened, so I can’t speak to the sound of the episodes. But I have been lucky enough to get to read through Episode 10, so believe me when I say that this story will keep you on the edge of your seat. The pacing is cleverly thought out; the world-building is richly detailed; the cast is intriguing and diverse in gender, sexuality, culture, and ethnicity. I cannot wait to see where The Vela goes as it continues to develop.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn