Category: Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 22

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 21, 2019

Hello and happy Tuesday, vampires and Vogons! Today we’ve got some exciting book news including a cover reveal and sequel announcement, new releases, ebook deals, and a review of my first ever (I know, I know!) Terry Pratchett read.

This newsletter is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

Enchantée by Gita Trelease transports readers to the glittering and magical world of 1870s Paris. After her parents die, Camille must find a way to provide for her sister by transforming scraps of metal into money. But soon she begins to pursue a more dangerous mark: the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Camille transforms herself into a baroness and is swept up into life at Versailles. She meets a handsome young inventor, and begins to believe that love and liberty may both be possible. But magic has costs, and when revolution erupts, Camille must choose—before Paris burns.

In straight-up-book news:

I loved CB Lee’s Not Your Sidekick (it’s an awesome queer superpowered teen adventure) and we’ve got the cover reveal and an excerpt for Not Your Backup (June 1), the third book in the series. Note to self, time to catch up!

Daniel José Older (Shadowshaper, Half-Resurrection Blues) is moving from straight-up fantasy to magical realism with his new novel, The Book of Lost Saints.

Melissa Albert fans (:looks pointedly at Sharifah:), rejoice! The Night Country, a sequel to Hazel Wood, is happening.

In adaptation news:

Netflix is adapting Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows in one eight-episode series, what what!

For my Trekkies, a new novel in the Discovery‘verse has been announced, which will follow the Enterprise during the Klingon War. AND Michelle Yeoh is getting her own spin-off TV series, OMG.

Also in screen-to-page news, a prequel novel for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been announced and Sarah Rees Brennan (In Other Lands) is writing it!

New releases:

The Kingdom of Copper by SA Chokraborty (reviewed here)

Tor.com Publishing Editorial Spotlight #1: A Selection of Novellas (please ignore this terrible title, this is CHOCK FULL of amazing work including stories by JY Yang and Kai Ashante Wilson)

Ebook deals:

The Lilith’s Brood ebook set by Octavia Butler is $2.99, a lot of bang for your buck (tw: graphic alien sex, coercion)

Torn by Rowenna Miller is $1.99 (this one’s high on my TBR, as several other folks I trust loved it)

All Systems Red (Murderbot #1) by Martha Wells is $3.99 (highly recommend)

And now, let me be the zillionth person to recommend Terry Pratchett to you!

Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6; The Witches #2) by Terry Pratchett

Over the holiday break, I read my first ever Terry Pratchett. I know, I know — how does someone who works in SF/F for a living get to their mid-30s without reading him? I don’t know what to tell y’all except to say that there are many many many books in this world. Fortunately Sharifah talks about him all the time on SFF Yeah!, and my library had Wyrd Sisters available when I was late-night whim-surfing their ebook catalog. (I was looking for The Wee Free Men, but the fates had other plans.)

Those of you already inducted into the Pratchett Fan Club will be unsurprised to hear that I loved it; for those like me who haven’t gotten around to him yet, despite the fact that (or possibly because?) there are eleventy-jillion Discworld books, this is both a great stand-alone and enough of a tease to make me want to dive further into the series.

A rompy Shakespearean mash-up, Wyrd Sisters follows the three Very Eccentric witches of Lancre as they meddle in the recently-overturned succession of the throne. They’re minding their own business, having a perfectly normal coven meeting, when some guardsmen chase a man holding a baby right into their midst. There’s nothing for it but to save the child, send him away with a group of traveling players, and feel confident that destiny will return him when the time is right — but of course, it’s not that simple. We also meet the not-very-bright but highly indignant ghost of a murdered king, a playwright who is haphazardly channeling the creative zeitgeist, a put-upon jester, and a very troublesome cat named Greebo.

Pratchett has a distinctly British sense of humor and, as I’m already a Monty Python and Douglas Adams fan, it works for me. I suddenly understand the great affection fans have for Granny Weatherwax, although I think if pressed my actual favorite would be Nanny Ogg (must learn that hedgehog song!). It was a delight picking out the bits of Macbeth and Hamlet, and getting both a small-town story via the Lancre witches and a tromp through greater Discworld via the players balanced the book nicely. I inhaled the whole thing in a matter of hours, and am currently first in line on the hold list for Equal Rites; I’ll be working my way through the other Witches books when I can squeeze them in between work-reading.

In conclusion: come on in, the water’s fine.

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

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 18

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 16, 2019

Hello and happy Friday, djinns and direwolves! Today we’ve got linky goodness from around the interwebs including military sci-fi, some ungreat news about the Earth’s magnetic pole, vampires, a review of The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet.

Captain Tess Bailey and her ragtag band of thieves are wanted criminals. They steal from the “haves” to give to the “have nots.” Even though her heart is in the right place, her actions still get her into trouble – and there’s no trouble greater than the dreaded Galactic Overseer Novalight. After stealing a top-secret military laboratory and inciting Novalight’s rage, Tess and her crew manage to escape—and miraculously survive. Docked on their new planet, Tess encounters the tall, dark, and haughty bounty hunter Shade Ganavan, who has to decide if he wants to turn them over to the Galactic Overseer and be set for life, or if the real payoff is winning Tess’s heart.

Been hearing about Nnedi Okorafor but not sure which of her books is for you? There’s a Reading Pathways for that.

Always wanted to get into military sci-fi but not sure where to start? We’ve got a guide! (And a shout-out to Ninefox Gambit, very good.)

Need more vampires and/or manga in your life? Have we got a list for you.

If you’re not sure what you should be picking up this month, Swapna has a January round-up for you.

And if you need more SF/F by Latinx authors in your life, this list is VERY GOOD (Malka Older! Silvia Moreno-Garcia! Plus new names for me!).

I feel like I’ve been reading fiction about the flipping of the magnetic poles since I was a teen — and apparently we’re getting a lot closer to that actually happening, so keep ’em coming.

Now listen, I know I put “books to read if you like Doctor Who” lists in here on the regular, but this one is actually made up of books ABOUT Doctor Who!

I don’t even know how to begin talking about this sequel, let’s see what happens.

The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty

Y’all. Have you read The City of Brass yet? If not, save this newsletter for a later date, because I don’t even know how to begin talking about the sequel, The Kingdom of Copper, without spoilers. If you need a short pitch for the series, it’s an Islamic-mythology inspired epic fantasy featuring a thief/con artist heroine, a powerful djinn with a very dark past and a lot of secrets, and a magical city being torn apart by tribal warfare and prejudice.

Let the spoilers begin!

When we last left our fictional babies, Nahri was about to marry Muntadhir, Alizayd had vanquished Dara and then been banished, and Ghassan al Qahtani was busy being the absolute worst. Kingdom of Copper opens up with a prologue featuring Nahri’s wedding night, Ali’s wanderings through the desert, and … a thing I refuse to spoil for you. I do have my limits!

Then we jump five years into the future, which initially made me nervous — five years is, after all, a BIG jump. But Chakraborty clearly knows where she’s going, and after a quick adjustment so does the reader. Nahri has claimed her healing power but is still struggling to retain any agency outside the sickroom, while Alizayd just wants to be left out of his family’s politics and also figure out what the hell that marid did to him. When Ali is forced to return to Daevabad and sucked right back into the city’s unrest, he and Nahri find themselves working together on an ambitious project that they hope will heal the growing rifts between the tribes. (They are very wrong.)

This is not a short book, and the pacing varies between almost frenetic action sequences and slower character vignettes. But that was fine by me — I’m very attached to these characters, and the action had me on the edge of my seat. I also had an intense need to reach into the book and strangle certain characters until they made better choices and/or pulled their heads out of their asses, which is what makes this sequel so compelling. And the cliffhanger at the end! If you thought the last chapter of City of Brass was rough, just you wait.

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. I will be over here anxiously awaiting the next installment, if you’d care to join me.

May the wind be ever at your back,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 15

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 14, 2019

Hello and happy Tuesday, centaurs and Alpha Centaurians! Today we’ve got anticipated reads, Game of Thrones show updates, some very exciting new releases, a review of Resist: Tales From a Future Worth Fighting Against, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

We’re giving away $100 to the bookstore of your choice! Enter to win by signing up for Unusual Suspects, our mystery/thriller newsletter about new releases, book recommendations, book deals, and more. Enter here.

Book news is a bit light this week, but as usual the adaptation trains are rolling:

More-more Most Anticipated! We’ve got our full Riot list up, and you can sort by SF and F if you so desire.

The Game of Thrones prequel show has revealed some new cast members and a director for the pilot episode, S.J. Clarkson. I am rooting for a female director’s involvement, so my fingers and toes are crossed.

If you wanted a refresher on the status of the Lord of the Rings prequel show, The Nerdist has you covered. (Also I did not know that tidbit about Simon Tolkien getting disinherited [?!] briefly over his involvement!)

And the Dune remake is moving along, and recently cast Dave Bautista as “Beast” Rabban and Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, cool cool cool. I will say that while I’m not familiar with Rebecca Ferguson’s work, visually she’s a ringer for the Lady Jessica in my head.

This has been moldering in my inbox since December (woops) but better late than never: House DeFraction, a.k.a. Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction, inked a big TV deal, and now I desperately need a … movie? mini-series? show? whatever! of Bitch Planet.

And this week in exciting new releases:

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee (I have GOT to get my hands on this)

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (loved her first book, curious about this one)

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (magical Parisian alt-history, yes yes yes)

In ebook deals, here are some genre stand-bys you can pick up on the cheap:

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, $1.99

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb, $1.99

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney, $1.99

And now, for an anthology that also does good (a minimum of 50% per sale goes to the ACLU).

Resist: Tales From a Future Worth Fighting Against, edited by Gary Whitta, Christie Yant, and Hugh Howey

It seems to me that you can tell right from the get-go whether or not this collection is for you based on the premise: “Join twenty-seven of today’s top science fiction authors as they write about possible tomorrows we hope to avoid, drawing on challenges taken from today’s headlines.” Art, gender, fake news, AI, trolling, religion, the consumer industrial complex, you name it and someone has written about it. The contributor list for this collection is both extensive and impressive: Charlie Jane Anders, Elizabeth Bear, Charles Yu, John Scalzi, Saladin Ahmed, I could literally go on and on. And with 27 stories to talk about, it’s very hard to give an overview. It goes in so many directions, with so many different experiments in narrative as well as plot; poetry, second-person narration, non-linear, epistolary, everyone is playing with everything.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you’ve probably guessed that all of this adds up to a “Hell, yes!” from me. While I’ve been working more optimistic reads (hi, solarpunk!) into my book diet, I’m also up to watch authors play with darker scenarios, and four of these in particular caught my eye.

“Monster Queens” by Sarah Kuhn imagines what might happen if aliens hijacked a teen beauty pageant, because Sarah Kuhn is hilarious and amazing. I laughed, I gasped, I chewed on my fingernails, and I thoroughly appreciated how Kuhn dives into beauty standards, competitive and performative femininity, and gives us page-turning action sequences (including, naturally, baton twirling). Also funny — in a dark and twisted way — is “The Arc Bends” by Kieron Gillen, which follows a man who chose to have his head cryogenically frozen in hopes of being brought back in the future. He is — only to be put on trial for the crimes of the 21st century. Gillen gives us multiple futures, all narrated by the head in question, and it’s a genius, cringe-and-laugh-inducing concept.

It’s hard to pick an absolute favorite but “Bastion” by Daniel H. Wilson might be it; told in transcripts, it follows the capture and interrogation of a young human who was raised by rogue AI. Having read a fair amount of Wilson’s work (The Clockwork Dynasty, reviewed here) including short stories (Guardian Angels and Other Monsters, reviewed here), I wasn’t surprised that I liked it, but I was perhaps not prepared for how much I loved it. If you too were raised on and shaped by Space: Above and Beyond, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica, you need this story in your life.

Last but not least is my favorite new-to-me, and one of the stories I’ll be pondering for some time, “Three Points Masculine” by An Owomoyela. Examining gender in a future where it is assessed and licensed by the U.S. government, and in which there’s a civil war on, Owomoyela (who is nonbinary) digs into the tangled, complicated ways in which performance, identification, and public “acceptance” bounce and rebound off each other, and reminds us that these issues are more complex than many of us like to think.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 11

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 9, 2019

Hello and happy Friday, hobgoblins and harbingers! Today I’ve got some winter reads for you, beer pairings, a vampire quiz, a review of Slayer by Kiersten White, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by Disney Publishing Worldwide.

The gripping sequel to New York Times best-selling authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s romantic sci-fi adventure, Unearthed. Trapped aboard the Undying’s ancient spaceship and reeling from what they’ve learned there, scavenger Mia and academic Jules are plunged into a desperate race to warn their home planet of the danger humanity’s greed has unleashed. From the mountains of Spain to the streets of Prague, the sequel to Unearthed is a white-knuckle ride that will send readers hurtling back to earth, and leave them breathless until the last page.

Correction: Jade War‘s publication date has been pushed back to July 23, LE SIGH. Please to update your calendars accordingly!

What do people eat in the future? This piece on sci-fi’s obsession with, or lack of thought on, food is an interesting one and goes from Star Trek to The Broken Earth trilogy.

For my beer-lovers: Alex has new winter pairings of SF/F with brews, and they are mouth-watering.

Speaking of winter, here’s a round-up of SF/F to warm up your January, and it’s got titles I hadn’t heard of!

It’s been almost a year since Ursula Le Guin passed away, and this lengthy (and worth it) interview with Charles Vess about the process of collaborating with her on the illustrated Books of Earthsea is a lovely memoriam.

Whether or not you read according to your Hogwarts house, this round-up of paranormal and fantasy romance from 2018 is :chef_kiss:.

Which famous vampire are you? We’ve got a quiz, and I am apparently the little girl from Let the Right One In, run for your lives.

And speaking of vampires!

Slayer (Slayer #1) by Kiersten White

Trigger warning: mentions of child abuse

I have been eagerly awaiting this new series, and I am happy to report that Slayer is a fun, world-expanding, page-turning addition to the Buffyverse. White is clearly a huge fan, and her take on a slayer origin story has a lot going for it.

The story picks up after the events of the Season 7 finale and is part of the same continuity as the comics (as per White’s Twitter, I am not current on those and cannot verify), and this piece answers a lot of questions about how this fits into the broader multi-media storyline. I can assure you that familiarity with the TV show alone is plenty, and not strictly necessary at that. Our heroine, Nina, is the quiet, overlooked twin while her sister Artemis has all the combat training, physical skills, and confidence. Raised by Watcher parents, they’re holed up in a castle in Ireland laying low and trying to figure out what happens now that the Watcher Council has been decimated, magic has been banished from the world, and rogue Slayers and demons are both roaming freely. Nina has been training as a medic and dreaming of ways that the Council and the Slayers could heal, instead of just stabbing/staking everything they come across — and as far as she is concerned, Buffy is the worst of the lot.

When an incident with a hellhound reveals that Nina is actually a Potential now coming into her Slayer powers, her entire life is turned upside down. Her mother has been keeping huge secrets, her relationship with her sister is falling apart, and she’s helping a friend hide a demon in a shed. Her life, in other words, has become Very Complicated. As the plot unfolds, Nina finds herself part of a much bigger schism within the Watcher ranks, and her enemies might be closer to her than her friends.

White excels at capturing the confused, angsty teenage voice here, as well as the heart of what made Buffy so special to me: being a teenager is hell already. How do you figure out who you are when the world is telling you one thing, your family is telling you another, and a voice inside you is telling you something completely different? Nina’s growth from angry, resentful, and confused to determined and strong was a joy to follow. Throw in lots of action, an underground supernatural fighting ring, demons galore, and a nicely played twist at the end, and you’ve got Slayer.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 8

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 7, 2019

Hello and happy Tuesday, shapeshifters and Silurians! Today we’re looking at the first round of book news for the year including a beetle named after a dragon and a new book from Cixin Liu, plus new releases to get excited about and the most anticipated sequels of 2019.

This newsletter is sponsored by The NOVL.

After the shocking revelations and betrayals in The Cruel Prince, Jude continues to navigate the Faerie world as a mortal. Unable to trust her family and dangerously drawn to the cruel prince of Elfhame, Cardan, Jude will do anything to hold on to the power she’s fought for.

Let’s get newsy with it:

Continuing the “most anticipated” trend, we’ve got two roundups for just fantasy.

And here’s Tor.com’s most anticipated. Y’all, there’s a lot of anticipation going around.

Three new beetles got named after the Game of Thrones dragons! This is exactly the kind of scientific content I would like to see in the world.

Vulture is tracking 2019 fantasy adaptations for you, very kind and useful of them.

And IN VERY EXCITING BOOK NEWS we’re getting a stand-alone Cixin Liu novel in October!

Speaking of adaptations, here’s a look at Joe Hill’s NOS4A2 casting (TERRIFYING).

And here’s a cover reveal for Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth, which is a queer swords-and-necromancers story that I am going to be keeping an eye out for!

Some new releases to keep an eye out for:

The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4) by Seanan McGuire

The Winter of the Witch (Winternight #3) by Katherine Arden

The Girl King by Mimi Yu

And some ebook deals to take advantage of:

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay (reviewed here) is only $1.99.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is $1.20.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin (a personal favorite among her works) is $2.49.

And now, for the promised Most Anticipated Sequels of 2019 (through June, because I had to stop somewhere):

collage of the covers of the first six books mentioned

Mahimata (Asiana #2) by Rati Mehrotra (Mar 5)
I loved Markswoman (reviewed here) a ton: a future Asia in which warrior women wield supernatural daggers, aliens have left dangerous artifacts strewn about the continent, and a power struggle has sent our heroine on the run.

The True Queen by Zen Cho (Mar 12)
Y’all, we have been waiting for this sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown for actual years, and I am going to literally throw a party when I get my hands on this book. And we get new characters, sisters Muna and Sakti, who must make the journey to England to talk to the Sorceress Royal (#TeamPrunella)!

The Rosewater Insurrection (Wormwood #2) by Tade Thompson (Mar 12)
You might remember me saying during our SFF Yeah! book club episode about Rosewater that I was desperately hoping the sequel would be told from Aminat’s point of view. Well I GOT MY WISH! :fires confetti cannon:

Ruse (Want #2) by Cindy Pon (Mar 12)
Want (reviewed here) was a favorite in last year’s reads — I love a near-future heist. And now the gang’s nemesis is out for blood, Zhou has been estranged from his friends for months, and aaahhhh what will happen to my fictional babies!

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse (Apr 23)
Trail of Lightning ended with a little closure for Maggie, although not exactly a triumphant ending. Storm of Locusts includes a cult, the return of Kai, an excursion out of Dinétah, and promises to be just as high-stakes, bloody, and nerve-wracking as the first.

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee (May 7)
Jade City (reviewed here) was, as I said, an Asian Godfather with superpowers, and in this sequel the clan war is going international. Foreign governments and organizations want jade for themselves, and suddenly the Kaul clan isn’t just fighting for supremacy in Kekon — they’re fighting for the future of all Green Bones.

Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) by Nalini Singh (June 4)
I mentioned in my review that Singh’s new series was a great jumping-on point to the world of the Psy-Changeling, and I am stoked for the next installment! According to the synopsis, we’re finally going to see what it means for Silence to be broken — and it’s not all going to be good.

Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee (June 25)
Cue inarticulate flailing about how much I love The Machineries of Empire trilogy and HOW EXCITED I AM for some further visits to that dark, bloody, fascinating world! Also this is the perfect excuse to finally reread the trilogy, now I know what I’m doing in May.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Jan 4

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date January 3, 2019

Hello and welcome to 2019, Earthlings and Ents! We’re kicking the year off with some food for thought about magic, the future of work, highly anticipated reads of the year to come, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by The Similars by Rebecca Hanover.

This fall, six new students are joining the junior class at the elite Darkwood Academy. But they aren’t your regular over-achieving teens. They’re clones. And they’re joining the class alongside their originals. The Similars are all anyone can talk about: Who are these clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? And who is the madman who broke the law against cloning to create them? Emmaline Chance couldn’t care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and it’s all she can do to get through each day without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver’s exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

We interviewed debut author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah about being a genre writer (and of course Hogwarts Houses came up).

Lest we forget that it’s not all unicorns and rainbows, here’s a post about five books that remind us of the dangers of magic.

And speaking of dark/dangerous things, here are 20 dark YA fantasies to suit that wintry reading mood you might be in.

Need more short fantasy fiction in your life? Alex has you covered!

And speaking of short fiction, Wired asked eight writers to imagine various futures around work (including Ken Liu, Nisi Shawl, Charlie Jane Anders, and Martha Wells!).

We’re going to kick the year off with some of my most anticipated reads of January to June 2019 — meaning I haven’t read them yet, this is completely speculation, but WOW AM I EXCITED. Note: these are either stand-alones or the starts of a new series; we’ll look at Most Anticipated Sequels next week!

collage of nine covers of the books listed below

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (Feb 5)
Booker Award winner James is trying his hand at fantasy, and this has been pitched as the first book in a trilogy in the vein of an African Game of Thrones. Nuff said!

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde (Feb 12)
A new stand-alone! From Jasper Fforde! Involving killer viral dreams, hibernating humans, stamp-collecting, and I probably don’t need to say anything else.

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas (Feb 12)
This is a debut and I am intrigued: it’s about four women who invent time travel, but then erase one of the original team’s contributions, and the descendant who must find out what actually happened.

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (Feb 12)
A dying planet, two cities and a wasteland in between, a student exile, and found family from the author of All the Birds in the Sky. Sold!

Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation, translated by Ken Liu (Feb 19)
Ken Liu is a force of nature determined to bring us sci-fi in translation, and I could not be more delighted for any and all of his next efforts.

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie (Feb 26)
A fantasy novel from the sci-fi genius who brought us Ancillary Justice! Intriguing. Gods and their human agents, blood sacrifice, a succession crisis and invading forces, :grabby hands: gimme.

The Bird King by G Willow Wilson (March 12)
An alt-history fantasy novel set during the Spanish Inquisition featuring a mapmaker who can alter reality, a concubine, and a jinn, from the author of Ms. Marvel and Alif the Unseen. Sign. Me. Up.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley (March 19)
I have thoroughly enjoyed Hurley’s epic fantasy, so much so that even though I couldn’t handle the body-horror of The Stars are Legion, I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on this futuristic military novel.

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (March 26)
Another one that caught my eye, from a historian of the Byzantine Empire who has decided to write a space opera! I am here for this.

Unraveling by Karen Lord (June 4)
My love for Karen Lord’s work (Redemption in Indigo, Galaxy Game) is well-documented, and I am SO EXCITED to see her doing a Caribbean-folktale-inspired fantasy-murder-mystery.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes (June 4)
Go listen to this story-in-the-form-of-a-song from the hip hop group clipping., and then come back and freak out with me about how exciting it is that Rivers Solomon (An Unkindness of Ghosts) was tapped to write the novel version!

Bonus: Sharifah and I each picked a few anticipated titles (including some of the above) to talk about on this week’s SFF Yeah!.

Live long and prosper,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Dec 21

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date December 20, 2018

Happy Friday, friends! This will be the last newsletter of 2018 — I’m wishing you all the best, most geektastic, fantastical, wibbly wobbly timey wimey holidays of ever. To finish off this year, I’ve got some podcast linky goodness, stand-alone fantasies, vampires, SF/F fonts, a review of State Tectonics by Malka Older, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by Dynamite Entertainment.

For over FORTY YEARS, Troma Studios has blazed its own bloody, slime-covered trail, making movies their own damn way! From The Toxic Avenger to The Class Of Nuke ‘Em High to Poultrygeist to Tromeo And Juliet, Lloyd Kaufman never compromised, waving his independent freak-flag freely, and helped jumpstart the careers of luminaries such as James Gunn, Eli Roth, and countless others! How, you might ask, did a couple of rebels with almost no cash manage to make a library of a THOUSAND films? You’ll have to pick up this incredible collection to find out!

This week on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I talked about some favorite LGBTQ+ SFF, as well as JK Rowling’s terrible assistant, my deep dive into this year’s Best Of lists, and more.

Because the universe wants us to have something nice for the holidays, the December 11 episode of LeVar Burton reads features NK Jemisin!

Got no time for a new series? I love this list of stand-alone fantasy novels, some really great ones on there. (Sunshine by Robin McKinley! The Devourers by Indra Das! Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip!)

Let’s talk fonts: I also love this analysis of the fonts used in various SF/F covers from an author who has made fonts his specialty. It’s a great nerdy deep dive, do recommend.

Need a little holiday romance? This round-up of SF/F ones (Shelly Laurenston! And a Christmas vampire?!) is just generally an A+ idea for your vacation reading.

Speaking of vampires! We’ve got a list of 28 vampire novels targeted towards adults, if you need more of them in your reading diet.

Does It’s A Wonderful Life count as an SF/F movie? Do zombies survive on brains? Why is this even a question?

Not books but: the Men In Black: International trailer is a delight.

And for your consideration, the conclusion to one of my favorite near-future series of the past few years.

State Tectonics (The Centenal Cycle #3) by Malka Older

Set in a near-future in which micro-democracy is a world-wide phenomenon, this trilogy has followed both those who work for the overseeing organization, Information, and those who oppose it. It’s Information’s job to run the elections, make sure none of the governments post misinformation, run the debates, and control the data-gathering and surveillance of huge swathes of the world. Information has survived hacking, electoral upheaval, and an attempt to overthrow it from the outside. But can it survive the loss of faith of its own employees, and a conspiracy hatched within its own ranks?

State Tectonics follows the further adventures of Mishima (#TeamMishima), Roz, Amran, and other characters we’ve met in the previous books, and adds new depth to the plot and the world-building at large. Older balances policy discussions and action sequences, personal life and espionage, data analysis and character arcs, which is what has kept me reading since I first picked up Infomocracy. I came for the concept, got sucked in by the action, and stayed for the personalities brought to life in these pages. And speaking of! Mishima’s continuing evolution, from badass spy to badass spy who is also a mom, is one of my favorite aspects of the series; Older knows that being a parent can’t erase everything you’ve been and done before, and shouldn’t. Mishima’s struggle to find a balance between her own goals and family life will be recognizable to many, and I loved the way it was handled.

On a broader note, Older’s lack of patience with ideologues is hugely refreshing, and her deep understanding of bureaucracy and organizational politics makes this thought experiment feel that much more real. The reminder that no system of governance is perfect, and that disruption is both dangerous and necessary for change, feels both timely and useful. Whether or not it’s possible to build the One True System is not the question — it’s how we grow, correct, and develop the one we have. 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. Citizenship is a choice, a verb, an action, and participating is the work. And if you’d like to think about what that means, both the good and the bad, then you should definitely pick up The Centenal Cycle.

See you in 2019!,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Dec 19

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date December 17, 2018

Hello and happy Tuesday, intrepid voyagers! Today we’ve got a cover reveal, an adaptation for Catherynne Valente, new releases, deals, a review of Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews, and more, in this last Tuesday newsletter of 2018. Onward!

This newsletter is sponsored by The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge.

Commander Jon Tiberius Munro is reeling from the death of his son, while Vexton, the man responsible, campaigns for the presidency of the Galactic Federation. Not only is Vexton preparing to claim the most powerful seat in colonized space, but also the heart of one of the galaxy’s most popular holoactresses, Penelope. Everything seems to be going Vexton’s way, but he has no idea what lengths Munro and his crew will go to for revenge… Find Warship Jolly Roger Book 2: Revenge by Sylvain Runberg and illustrated by Miquel Montlló in stores now from The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge!

To absolutely toot our own horn, our Read Harder Challenge for 2019 is up and includes some SF/F tasks!

The newest book in the Tensorate series (much beloved by yours truly) gets a cover reveal! And, as with all of the covers in series so far, it’s stunning.

Also in Tor news, if you need more stories in your inbox Tor.com is launching a short fiction newsletter, promising “two months’ worth of short fiction delivered to their inboxes in multiple digital formats on a bimonthly basis.”

We’ve got a giveaway for an early audiobook download of S.A. Chakraborty’s The Kingdom of Copper, if you’re finding the wait til January 22 just too long.

An adaptation of Catherynne Valente’s Refrigerator Monologues is being produced by Amazon Studios.

Remember that monster-creation contest Dungeons & Dragons was running? We have a winner!

Not an adaptation but a Spike Lee time-travel movie is coming to Netflix in 2019 and that is very exciting.

How did I miss that Netflix is revisiting the world of The Dark Crystal? A prequel, The Age of Resistance, has a cast and some first looks at character designs.

New releases to look out for in the coming weeks:

The Feed by Nick Windo Clark, December 24 (a tech-collapse apocalypse novel, just what you need for your holidays!)

Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant, December 31 (a pandemic novella, see above)

Ebook deals to pad your holiday TBR:

Wintersong by S. Jae Jones for $2.99 (this one seems like it’s on perennial discount, and I continue to highly recommend it)

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng for $1.99 (ditto)

All three of the Heartland Trilogy by Chuck Wendig are on deep sale — Under the Empyrean Sky for $1.99, Blightborn for $0.99, and The Harvest for $0.99

And for today’s review, I consider a spin-off series of my all-time favorite (yes, you read that right) urban fantasy series.

Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1) by Ilona Andrews

I somehow missed that Hugh D’Ambray, of the Kate Daniels series infamy, had gotten his own book. Imagine my surprise when he turned up in Magic Triumphs (reviewed here), and married! And not on the side I expected him on!

This is not a spoiler — the entire set-up to Iron and Magic is that the banished Hugh, forsaken by his god-like master Roland, has to provide for his troops and that means a marriage of convenience to a woman who owns a castle. Said castle-owner Elara turns out to be a woman of power in her own right, possessed of a reputation that may or may not include human sacrifice. It’s a match made in exactly the kind of hellish world that Hugh and Elara inhabit, as it turns out.

If you haven’t read any of the Kate Daniels books, you could start here — the main players are well-introduced, the backstory is referenced when necessary, and the plot for this first installment is specifically contained to the castle in Kentucky and its surrounding areas, eschewing the wider world of the series for the time being. But there are a lot of big players lurking in the background, and Hugh’s own arc is such a delicious about-face from what we previously knew of him that I definitely recommend at least reading Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6) before you dive into this one.

I picked this up wondering how Andrews could possibly redeem Hugh Freaking D’Ambray. The answer, my friends, is a marriage of convenience and an enemies-to-lovers romance, with plenty of gore, strategy, and struggles for dominance (both in and out of the bedroom). Elara and Hugh are excellent counterpoints, both strong leaders used to keeping secrets as a matter of course. Watching them spar with each other was a pleasure. The tiny hints of Elara’s backstory are well-played, especially since we already know all of Hugh’s worst moments; the promise of more details kept the pages turning and will definitely keep me invested moving forward.

There are magical villains, vampires, sorcery, and all-out battles aplenty; Iron and Magic also has the camaraderie, found-family, and broken characters searching for redemption that I’ve come to both expect and love. Andrews writes a mean fight scene as well as a great party, and this book sits nicely alongside the primary series. A must-read for anyone who’s already sold on the series, and a solid introduction to a much bigger world just waiting for you to enter.

Praise the old gods and the new,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Dec 14

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date December 12, 2018

Happy Friday, fairfolk and Ferengi! Today we’ve got more nerdy gift guides, the best dragon books, rogue robots, a review of Gunsmoke & Glamour by Hillary Monahan, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by Fierce Reads and Archenemies by Marissa Meyer.

They are the world’s best hope… but each other’s worst nightmare. In this second installment of the bestselling Renegades trilogy, Nova, Adrian, and the rest of their crew are faced with escalating crime in Gatlon City, while covert weapons and conflicting missions have Nova and Adrian questioning not only their beliefs about justice, but also the feelings they have for each other. The line between good and evil has been blurred, but what’s clear to them both is that too much power could mean the end of their city—and the world—as they know it.

Our official Best of 2018 is here, behold! You can sort by category if you just want the SF/F picks.

We had a “low fantasy” primer and now we’ve got one for “high fantasy” and one for “urban fantasy.” Enjoy!

Calling all VE Schwab fans: we’ve got a gift guide just for you.

What are the best dragon series? Silvana has picked 15, and maybe your favorite is on the list. Mine was not (although also perhaps too obvious), obligatory shout-out to The Dragonriders of Pern.

This round-up of Captain Marvel merch has me positively drooling (that bomber jacket!!!).

Did you read Fire & Blood yet? If so, then Tor.com has six mysteries it would like to ponder with you.

Do we need another “books to read if you like Doctor Who” list? Sure, why not. (I really love a bunch of books on this list, actually.)

It was only a matter of time — a “personality prototype” robot turned belligerent on the International Space Station, HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM SCI-FI, I ASK YOU.

Important update: Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber is actually NOT up for auction.

Can NASA rescue Iron Man? Stay tuned!

If you’re a fan of weird Westerns and magical hijinks, this review is for you.

Gunsmoke & Glamour by Hillary Monahan

Trigger warnings: depictions of transmisogynism, ableist language

What do you get when you take a magic-sensing sheriff, two fairy sisters (one of whom has, shall we say, flexible morals), a transgender lady doctor, and a family of very bad tempered witches, and throw them in a blender with the Old West? You get Gunsmoke & Glamour, that’s what.

Clay’s mother was a fairy of the Seelie Court, his father human, and that gives him the ability to sense both magical beings and magic being used. When a marshal specializing in magical crimes meets him and discovers his talent, Clay finds his calling. But he also finds himself enamored with Cora, a con-artist and fairy who flits in and out of his life. They both know that some day his duty to the law will come into conflict with her … shall we say, extra-legal activities … but they take a chance on love anyway. Our story begins with Clay suffering from a deadly curse and searching desperately for a cure, because that day has come to pass. We find out how it went down chapter by chapter, alongside the cross-country adventure to save Clay’s life.

While written in the third person, the book stays true to Clay’s POV, which is fine — he’s entertaining and likable, a horny cowboy with a good heart. But it’s the female characters in this book that truly shine: clever and impulsive Cora, her voracious man-eating sister Adelaide, the sweet and pragmatic Doc Irene. If there’s a sequel, I can only hope it follows the further adventures of Irene because lady doctors in the Old West are an obsession of mine (you can blame Dr. Quinn) and when you add magic, you’ve got my attention.

There are some odd touches; for example, the Civil War is referred to as the “War of Northern Aggression” more than once, in what I can only assume is an attempt at historical accuracy given the places the characters are visiting, even though the characters’ sympathies clearly lie with the Union. And while the book is overall body-positive, I found Clay’s constant commentary on the relative attractiveness of every female he meets wearisome. But overall, the book delivers on its promises and premise. This is a raunchy, bordering on sex-obsessed, fun, fairy-filled Western with a diverse cast that readers of Sarah Gailey and Seanan McGuire should definitely check out.

Stay away from the fairy food,
Jenn

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Dec 11

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date December 10, 2018

Hello and happy Tuesday, necromancers and Necromongers! There’s not a bunch of book news today, December being the deadest of dead times in publishing, but there is a ton of adaptations and trailer news, a very special lightsaber auction, some deals and squeals, and a review of Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang.

This newsletter is sponsored by BBC Books .

Meet the women who run the Whoniverse! Featuring historical women such as Agatha Christie and Queen Victoria alongside fan favourites like Rose Tyler and Missy, The Women Who Lived tells the stories of women throughout space and time.

Here’s that news I mentioned:

More-more Best Of — we picked our favorite queer books of 2018 and a few of them are magically-inclined as well.

Someone decided to turn a Herman Melville short story into a space series!? (Really!)

Brian K. Vaughan has inked a TV deal, and I am SO CURIOUS as to what specifically from his extensive oeuvre will get adapted, BOY DO I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.

The Avengers: Endgame trailer is out. I desperately need to know what happened to Cap’s beard.

The Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer is also out!

And so is the new full-length trailer for Captain Marvel, whew.

At the time of writing, I still am girding myself to watch the Watership Down trailer.

And for all you graphic novel fans, Umbrella Academy‘s first trailer is up, featuring Mary J. Blige the time-traveling assassin.

Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone reboot attached a ton of new names including John Cho, bestill my heart.

And last but not least, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber is up for auction, if you have a hoard you need to spend.

New releases to look for:

The Disasters by MK England (“The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy” is a killer tagline)

A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy by Alex White (I keep hearing about this series, and this is #2)

And those aforementioned deals:

Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha and Matt Griffin is $1.99, in case you were waiting for a good excuse to snap that up.

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell, a magical alt-history, slightly steampunk Cinderella retelling that I loved, is $2.99.

Are you ready to go on one hell of a wild ride? Then proceed!

Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang

I mentioned last week that I was in a reading slump, and Zero Sum Game busted me right out of it. This action-thriller features high stakes, warring government agencies, math-related superpowers, and a main character who’s shot to the top of my personal favorites list.

Cas Russell is so good at math that she can dodge bullets, take down a room of soldiers twice her size, steal cars in seconds, calculate police response times on the fly, you name it. She’s a “finder” — for the right fee, she’ll retrieve whatever you want, and this time she’s retrieving a person being held by a Colombian cartel. Just another day on the job for her, until she runs into an ally undercover, and the person she’s been hired to rescue is involved in something much, much bigger than drug smuggling. Along with an unlikely crew, Cas finds herself taking on an organization that might have someone even more super-powered than her.

I loved the layers to this book. The plot was beautifully paced, the action sequences were stellar (unsurprising, as Huang is a working stuntwoman among other things), and the found family/misfit crew supporting characters were a delight. While the main plot of Zero Sum Game was relatively wrapped up, the real cliffhanger here involves Cat’s own backstory. Cas’s struggles with her powers throughout the novel start to draw the curtain back, and then there’s the ending … Let’s just say I now have a Mighty Need to know everything about her.

Is there anything I didn’t like? I really don’t think so. It’s a pleasure to have another STEM-powered heroine, especially one of color, to root for, and Huang is an immensely entertaining writer. This is the first in a five-book series that Tor is republishing; I’m sorely tempted to go used-book hunting for older editions, since #2 (Null Set) isn’t due out until July.

Keep what you kill,
Jenn