Category: Swords and Spaceships

Werewolves of Yesteryear

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 19, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m here with new releases and some historical fantasy books about werewolves. And…look, at this point, I have nothing in my brain but cute stickers because I’m in the home stretch of getting moved into a new house, and all I want to do is lay down on the floor and fall asleep, cat on my face optional. May your chilly autumn nights be filled with hot tea and good books! I’ll see you on Tuesday if I’m not taken out by an avalanche of boxes!

Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders; and Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers who are striking for living wages and a future where humans can continue to create art for each other.

Bookish Goods

Reading Ghost Stickers by IllieMillieDesigns

Oh, to be a little ghost, sitting on a pumpkin and reading a book…but at least I can have a sticker of one on my laptop! These are just so dang cute. $4

New Releases

A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli

Mingshin is a clever woman who outsmarted three princes to win the crown for the man she loved…but she wasn’t smart enough to see the ultimate betrayal that ends with her own murder. With her dying breath, she begs for a chance to make things right — and the gods answer by returning her to two years earlier, where her new knowledge is not the only thing that has changed.

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

Jun Ironway, an occasional and only mildly successful thief, has scored a bigger fish than she knows how to handle: a secret that could destroy the star-spanning empire she’s part of. The two most brutal clerics of the Kingdom, Chono and Esek, are tasked with hunting her down. And hunting all three is an enigma named Six, who shares a past with them in a way no one realizes. The fate of an empire rests on manipulation and betrayal, and in the end, it’ll be sheer luck if any of them survive.

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

Riot Recommendations

More werewolves for you in this haunted October! These ones are historical.

Moon Dance by S.P. Somtow

During the European ~~expansion~~ invasion into western North America in the 1800s, a pack of Viennese werewolves emigrates to America in search of happier hunting grounds. Little do they know that supposedly “untouched” Dakota territory is already home to a pack of Lakota werewolves. (There’s also a prequel novella: Madonna of the Wolves.)

The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw

Marie Penthièrvre of Chalendrey swore to never marry a Breton after her abduction, and when the one man who might have changed her mind, Tiarnán of Talensac, marries someone else, she vows to become a nun. But Tiarnán has a secret, one that leads the woman he married to betray him and then have him presumed dead so she can marry a rival of his. Marie has a chance to find Tiarnán, rescue him, and restore him to his rightful place…if she’s not too late.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

The Plight of the 200-Year-Old Werewolf

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 16, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got two new releases for you and a werewolf-themed book recommendation week coming in hot! I am in the midst of moving, so…hoo boy, am I tired and sore and filled with lots of other complaints. But at least I’ve had some audiobooks to keep me company while packing boxes! Right now, I’m listening to The Spice Must Flow by Ryan Britt. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Warning: Werewolf Area Sign by SignsbyLindaNee

I love a novelty sign as decoration (I have a raptor attack one that lives in my office) and this is an excellent example of that genre. Particularly good if you’ve got a bit of a backyard to decorate! $25

New Releases

Hazardous Spirits by Anbara Salam

Evelyn Hazard is a very normal middle-class housewife in 1920s Edinburgh…until her husband announces that he can communicate with the dead. This pulls them both into the spiritualist movement, and her normal life begins to unravel quickly, even before secrets from her past begin to catch up to her. Worst, she must grapple with a question no wife wants to ask herself: is the man she loves a fraud, fallen into insanity, or worse — can he actually speak to the dead?

The Witches at the End of the World by Chelsea Iversen

Two sisters who are witches grow up together in the birch woods of Norway, driven there on the day their former village burned their mother. Kaija, however, longs to rejoin society and eventually does, even though it means she will have to suppress her magic. Minna is devastated by her sister’s betrayal, and she expresses her rage with a curse aimed at punishing everyone who took away her family — she understands too late that it will destroy Kaija, too.

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

Riot Recommendations

In keeping with the Halloween theme of the month, more monsters! This time, it’s werewolves — the non-romantic sort.

The Path of Thorns by A.G. Slatter

Asher Todd comes to Morwood as a governess because she knows the house is one that tends to eat secrets, and she has quite a few she’d like to make it choke on. But she unfortunately also becomes fond of the children, and the people of the surrounding community… just in time to wonder if she really wants to follow through with a plan she can’t really stop.

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

At a bit over 200 years old, Jake Marlowe is the last werewolf, and he is tired. All he’s got to try to salve his burgeoning existential crisis is his love of scotch and books…and the lust for meat and pleasures of the flesh that takes him during the full moon. He might be thinking of ending it all, but there are two groups, both equally dangerous, who want very much to keep him alive.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Witchy Westerns

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 12, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got your second dose of new releases for the week, and a second dose of witchy fantasy books in keeping with this glorious season. There’s a bite in the air, which requires drinking a lot of hot tea to shake it off. Perfect reading weather, if you ask me. May you get to take advantage of it! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday next week!

Bookish Goods

a photo of a wide-brimmed hat with phases on the moon painted on the brim

Hand Painted Wide Brim Hat by RarefiedandRaw

I went looking for “witchy western” thanks to one of the books in the recommendations this week. What I found is this hat, which I am now utterly obsessed with. For anyone who wants a nontraditional — and gorgeous — witch hat! $110

New Releases

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang

This is a collection of SFF short stories curated by R.F. Kuang. Authors include Alix E. Harrow, S.L. Huang, Malka Older, Sofia Samatar, and more!

Red River Seven by A. J. Ryan

Seven people wake in a boat lost in mist-shrouded waters, and none of them remember who they are, how they got here, or anything else helpful. Each of them also has a gun. This is already a recipe for suspicion, paranoia, and someone getting shot…and then the screams start up out in the mist.

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

Riot Recommendations

I’m still in the mood for witch books, so here are two more coming at you for this October!

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

This was one of my favorite books of 2021, so you can bet your butt I’m going to take this opportunity to recommend it again. Immanuelle has been raised isolated in a cult where her existence is a blasphemy because her mother loved an outsider — and one of a different race at that. But when she accidentally ends up in the woods where the first prophet killed four powerful witches, their spirits give her an unexpected gift: a chance to know more about her mother, even if it comes with the unpleasant truth that she once consorted with witches…and had good reason to.

The Black Tree Atop the Hill by Karla Yvette

Marisol is the witch of Jack Boyd’s ranch, hired to notice threats that edge into the otherworldly. Thus, she’s the first one to look past the disastrous calving season and notice the tree that’s appeared atop the hill. But the tree is not alone, and soon Marisol and the ranch’s resident ghost must work together to stop the trees from taking over the ranch, California, and maybe even the world.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Jazz Witches in the 1920s

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 9, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m here to welcome you to the second glorious week of October with a couple of new releases, and a couple of awesome books about witches! The leaves are starting to turn on the tree outside my window (they go bright yellow) and we’re in the finals for Fat Bear Week. Truly, we are in the midst of autumn! My advice is: have something delightful and warm to drink, considering who your favorite of the fat bears is, and kick back with a good book. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Baba Yaga Book Bag by HallowedMountain

I can never get enough of a nice canvas tote bag — good for groceries and for books. The design on this one is lovely, a take on Baba Yaga flying in her mortar. $18.56

New Releases

Touched by Walter Mosley

Martin Just is an ordinary man, patriarch of the only Black family in his Hollywood Hills neighborhood — until he wakes up one morning, feeling as if he’s slept for centuries, knowing two things with perfect clarity: Humanity is a virus that will destroy everything, and he is the Cure. It is for him to defend his family against pure evil with this knowledge, and the strange new physical strengths he possesses.

A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper

Olivia ran away from home three years ago with big dreams, but now she’s stuck in a dead-end job in Chapel Hill, PA, and the only thing she’s got going for her is her best friend, Sunflower. But when a horrific storm hits the town, followed by a monster, Olivia has new impetus to escape Chapel Hill as well — if she can dodge the residents enslaved by the storm’s mystical influence and find Sunflower first.

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

Riot Recommendations

Now that we’ve survived the new release tsunami of the first week in October, I want to get back to more themed recommendations to go with the season! And to start with, a couple of books about witches:

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

Fourteen years ago, Josephine’s mother disappeared with no explanation and only speculation left behind. The most worrying theory is that she was a witch, because witches are real — and a Black woman particularly can be accused of witchcraft and put on trial all too easily. At 28 years old, Jo is also staring down state-required marriage unless she wants to put herself on a government registry for monitoring, and neither choice is good. When she’s given a chance to follow one last request made in her mother’s will, she leaps at it.

Bindle Punk Bruja by Desideria Mesa

Luna — also known as Rose, depending on which crowd she’s with — is the only white-passing child of a Mexican immigrant mother, and it’s an advantage in 1920s Kansas City she’s used without hesitation in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club. But her race is not the only part of her heritage she’s hiding; she’s also a bruja with ever-growing magical abilities, and soon she’ll find that she’ll need to stop keeping both identities in check if she’s to save her friends and family.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Quoth the Raven, “Nope.”

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 5, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy first Friday in October, shipmates! It’s Alex, coming at you with a bunch more new releases because this week has been what is technically called a “doozy.” I hope everyone is getting some cooler weather to go with shorter days — and had a good start to the best month of the year! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Bookish Goods

A photo of a pillow wiht an illustration of a raven and the text Quoth the Raven. Underneath, a speech bubble for the raven says, "Nope."

Quoth the Raven Pillow by EccentricStarDesign

Appropriate for the season? Yes. But what sold me on the pillow was the little “nope.” It gave me a moment of Poe meets Effin’ Birds, and I love it. $25

New Releases

The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu

Shantiport is a city that was supposed to be great, once. Now it’s sinking both physically and culturally under the weight of its colonialist rulers. Lina loves her home city, though, and as the daughter of failed revolutionaries, she would do anything to save it. But when a tech billionaire coerces her and her brother — a monkey bot with an attitude — into getting a powerful (maybe even alien) artifact that will let him reshape reality with the power of three wishes, Shantiport will be changed forever.

The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub

This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice in which Lydia Bennet reveals what truly happened after the end of the book, including the shocking truths that Kitty is actually a barn cat transformed, Wickham is indeed wicked because he is a demon, and Mr. Darcy is even more uptight about magic than he is about etiquette.

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

Riot Recommendations

As I mentioned on Tuesday, there were more than twenty-six new books this week. Asking me to pare it down to eight to tell you about is…painful but do-able. Trying to get it down to six or four would have been inhuman. So here’s a couple more new releases!

The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey

Julie Crew is a 30-year-old burnout with a lot of magic at her beck and call, so she’s trying to establish herself as a psychic operative in NYC, willing to work absolutely gruesome jobs to climb the ladder. But when being on the grind isn’t enough, she tries to get a leg up by summoning a guardian angel…and in so doing, accidentally releases an elder god that wants to destroy the entire galaxy.

Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead by K. J. Parker

“Battlefield salvager” isn’t really a job one applies for, and it doesn’t come with much training, either. It’s a “pick things up as you go” profession, a living only because someone has to deal with the dead. Saevus has made a decent amount of money and done his best to stay out of trouble…but one thing he hasn’t managed to bury as deeply as needed is his own past.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Beware the Man of Sap

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date October 2, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates. It’s Alex, and I’m SO EXCITED because we’re finally at my favorite month of the year — October!! And wow, are we off to a massive start on the book release front. There were at least 26 new books I found for this week alone — and I may well have missed some from smaller publishers that I’ll catch up on later. I think everyone was saving their witch-related and creepy SFF offerings for this month, too. Understandably. So, while I normally try to do themed recommendations throughout October, this week, it’s going to just be a lot of new releases because I was apparently kidding myself when I said last month was the deluge. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and kiss a black cat between the ears for good luck! I’ll see you on Friday.

Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or cozy fantasy novels you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders; and Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers who are striking for living wages and a future where humans can continue to create art for each other.

Bookish Goods

a t-shirt with an image of the top of a black cat's head and the text "Watcha Reading?"

Watcha Reading? T-shirt by kiwiandthebird

October is the official birthday of all black cats, so that makes this adorable T-shirt extra appropriate! $22

New Releases

Beholder by Ryan La Sala

Athan has spent his life making it on charm and good looks…and that turns out to be a bad choice when he gets himself invited to a penthouse party attended by artsy elites. Because when he sneaks off to use the bathroom, everyone else at the party has been massacred…and arranged into an elegant sculpture. As the only survivor, Athan is the primary suspect, and he must solve a supernatural mystery if he wants to prove his innocence.

cover of The Owl Cries by Hye-young Pyun

The Owl Cries by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

In the western woods, a dark and chill place that emanates foreboding, a park ranger disappears. The investigation should be a simple enough thing. But everyone who once knew the man denies his existence. When an accident and a death derail the investigation further, the park ranger who replaced him, In-su Park, begins his own search in the woods, prompted by a mysterious message left under his desk: “In the forest the owl cries.”

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

Riot Recommendations

At least 26 new SFF books came out this week, so you bet I’m going to use my opportunity to tell you about two more—my goodness.

The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon

Talasyn has only known war and ruin, born in a nation besieged by the Night Emperor and torn by constant hurricanes. But she has a secret: light magic that could cut through the emperor’s shadows, if only she survives long enough to use it. When the emperor’s son, Prince Alaric, sees her shining on the battlefield, he tries to kill her, recognizing the magic that destroyed his grandfather and turned his father into a monster. But instead of striking her dead, his magic combines with hers to make a power the likes of which no one has before seen…a magic that could end the wars, and perhaps save them all from an even greater danger that lurks just out of sight.

the cover of Before the Devil Knows Your Here by Autumn Krause

Before the Devil Knows You’re Here by Autumn Krause

In 1836 Wisconsin, Catalina lives with her father and brother in desperate conditions at the edge of the woods. Then her father dies of a sudden illness, and the Man of Sap, a strange figure with leaves growing from his head and sap dripping from his eyes, abducts her brother. Determined and with nothing else to lose, Catalina takes her father’s knife and embarks on a journey to get her brother back.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Navigating Foxes and Phantom Dragons

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 28, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m coming at you with your last September new releases. Because, indeed, it’s the next to last day of September. Almost time for…October. But not yet. I’m stuffing my plastic skeletons back in the closet for a couple more days, promise. We’re starting to get some leaves changing color around here already — I hope you’ve got some pretty sights coming your way! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday — in October!

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, plus five mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

Green Galaxy Fox Metal Bookmark by ChocolateRaisinUK

Since we’ve got a fox book in the new releases this week, here’s an absolutely gorgeous fox bookmark to go with it! I just love the colors on this! $15

New Releases

Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker

The second in the anthology series that started with Vampires Never Get Old, this is a 14 story collection of YA tales about people with fish tails…so to speak. Authors include Darcie Little Badger, Julie C. Dao, Preeti Chhibber, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, and more!

The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe

Quintus Shu’al is a navigating fox, the only in the world, and he’s in complete disgrace after navigating an expedition to its death. After a year of shame and shadows, he has a chance to redeem himself…if he can survive the job: leading a motley crew to the very gates of Hell.

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

Riot Recommendations

As we exit September, here’s a couple of small pub releases to round out the month.

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan

In the era of the Spanish Inquisition, Toba Peres is an enigma that must carefully hide her talents, such as her ability to write with both hands at once in two different languages. Naftaly, too, must hide that he dreams truths and sees what isn’t real. When the Queen of Spain demands that every Jew converts, Toba and Naftaly are just two among many who flee their homes. And it is they who discover a pomegranate grove that is an entrance into the mirror realm of Mazik, a place of immortals terrorized by its own Inquisition.

A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert

Vade is what’s called a Phantom Dragon, part of an anarchist faction that’s aiming to destroy the empire Althus is a Touchstone, an imperial agent, for. They’re assigned to spy on each other. Neither was supposed to fall for the other.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

3 Witches and a Ghost in a Cat Costume

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 25, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and we’re in the home stretch for September, being swept along by the endless tidal wave of super cool new releases. I am…exhausted, to be honest, because I’m dealing with real estate nonsense and nothing turns a brain to soup faster than trying to coordinate that much stuff. But hey, you can still bet I’m building a TBR for when all this is over and I can sit down in my domicile — which will have a designated reading nook — and read until I zonk out in a chair with an elderly cat on my face. Enjoy the new release selections for today: there are more good ones coming at you on Friday. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

"All that you touch, you change." "All that you change, changes you." on two hand-shaped stickers

Parable of the Sower Hand Stickers by RiddleandJinx

These absolutely gorgeous vinyl stickers have one of the tenets of Earthseed from Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler split across them. I love these so much! $10

New Releases

Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor

A re-issue of an out-of-print novel, this is the start of a story about Ejii Ugabe, a girl living on a changed earth where the laws of physics aren’t quite what they used to be. At 9, she watched her father be murdered; while he was a corrupt and terrible politician, a child doesn’t understand those things. Now 15, she sets out to find her father’s killer, using the strange abilities she has begun to manifest…

The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth

The Undetectables are a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost hiding in a cat costume…well, to be fair, they’re just starting out, and their only case is unsolved. (The unsolved case? It’s the ghost in the cat costume.) But then they’re hired to find a serial killer stalking the occult town of Wrackton, they can hardly say no…and they’d better find the killer soon, before they become the next victims.

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

Riot Recommendations

Why are there so many books in September? SO MANY. I have to tell you about more. I cannot in good conscience not mention these two as well!

The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde

Ife Adebola has been sent to the prestigious boarding school known as Nithercott, thanks to an Urban Achievers scholarship. She’d rather not be there, and does her best to steer clear of both the friendly and unfriendly faces. But when one of her classmates begins acting very weird, Ife begins to wonder what exactly is going on at the school…and what it might have to do with the school’s legend of the Changing Man.

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

Murdock is part of a four-woman crew, a petty thief turned successful hacker and con artist under the tutelage of the crew’s leader, Hark. They have been undefeated through many heists…until now. But when they’re caught and then tithed to a sentient warship that’s turned itself into an incredibly punitive prison, their next job is conning their way out of this place. Easier said than done, with the team starting to crack…and the AI in charge of the ship very interested in using a hacker like Murdock for its own devices.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Recently Banned SFF You Need to Read

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 21, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got two more new releases for you…and some recently banned books I want to spotlight, which is a far less happy occurrence. (I doubt it will come as any kind of surprise that I’m finding the ongoing campaign against particularly LGBTQ+ books…upsetting.) Please support your local libraries, fight back however you can, and read a banned book. Also, please have as good of a weekend as you can. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus five mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

LGBTQIA+ Books Save Lives T-shirt by angiepea

This shirt is not particularly SFF in its theme, but very in keeping with the books in the recommendations this Friday. It’s not an exaggeration to say that giving people books they can see themselves in (and books where they can learn to empathize with people unlike them!) saves lives. A T-shirt isn’t going to fix what’s happening right now, but it sure doesn’t hurt to make a statement. $30

New Releases

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake

The Aristene are an order of female warriors, but they are never the ones immortalized in legend. It’s their task to lead others to their victorious path. Reed is a young trainee in the order who wishes to be initiated. The only task left to her is to shepherd her first hero to glory. Too bad her assignment is both infuriating…and intriguing.

The Land of Lost Things by John Connolly

Ceres’s 8-year-old daughter Phoebe lies in a coma after a car accident, her spirit having fled her body. Ceres tries to call her back by reading fairy stories, but with little success…until an old house on the hospital grounds, which is connected to a book written by an author since mysteriously vanished, calls to Ceres and offers her a passage to the Land of Lost Things, where she just might find her lost daughter.

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

Riot Recommendations

I think we’re all aware at this point of the deeply gross right-wing push to ban books; SFF isn’t immune from that. There’s now a library in Virginia that may get shut down because its funding is being withheld over LGBTQ books. You can read more at The Guardian (and get the recommended reading list of books these total jerks are mad about). If you want to keep up with stories like this, subscribe to our Literary Activism newsletter.

There are quite a few titles that are familiar to me on the list, but I want to call out three in particular…

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

This is a story about a Lipan girl named Nina and a cottonmouth named Oli who comes from the land of spirits and monsters. After a catastrophe on Earth, the two will find each other and bring their worlds together in ways not seen in centuries. Darcie pointed out on Bluesky that this is the first book by a Native writer to win a Newbery honor…and that all three complainants against it admit to not having actually read the book.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Jam is a young girl in the city of Lucille, raised to believe that monsters no longer exist after the revolution that happened not long ago. But then she meets Pet, a creature who comes from one of her mother’s paintings, who has come to hunt a monster in Lucille…and the monster resides in her best friend Redemption’s house. I love this book in a very personal way, and like Darcie’s book, it’s one where there is zero sexual content. Its “sin” is the existence of queer people at all.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

This is another book I absolutely love, which dares to feature queer characters and traditions outside the (white) (Christian) American mainstream. And it’s worth noting that this was the first time a book by an openly trans author about an inarguably trans character made it onto the NYT Bestseller List. This book is about Yadriel, a trans boy from a family that’s a long line of Brujas and Brujos, a lineage of very gendered magic that his existence challenges. In his quest to have his identity respected, he summons a ghost who refuses to leave— and, in doing so, stumbles into a mystery and a romance.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Courtiers to the Vampire King

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 17, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and we’re over the September hump, heading down to the best month of the year (in my opinion): October. But we’re not quite there yet, so I’ve got some new releases…and some more new releases because September continues to be a mass of new, awesome books. I am definitely detecting a spooky thread to the new releases, though, which I will attribute to both horror as a genre continuing with its renaissance and that, as I mentioned before, we’re approaching October. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Cultist Cats Coloring Pages by EccentricExprColor

I love doing a bit of coloring while I listen to audiobooks, and this seller on Etsy has a ton of fantastical coloring sheets for digital download! This one is for 50 sheets of anthropomorphic cats dressed up in fantasy religious robes, but there’s a whole array to look at…including 50 sheets of zombie Yorkshire Terriers. $4

New Releases

Candelaria by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Candelaria’s granddaughters have all lost their way: archaeologist Bianca lost the dig of her life in Guatemala after being seduced by her advisor; after being missing for over a decade, Bianca has resurfaced as a wellness cultist in Boston renamed Zoe; Candy has the most ordinary troubles as a recovering addict left pregnant by a man who…might not actually exist. But Candelaria has kept her concerns to herself — until a cataclysmic earthquake hits Boston, and she must, for reasons known only to her, reach the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet while battling strange monsters. We know only that doing this will save her granddaughters…and maybe the world.

Cover of The Court of Shadows by Victor Dixen

The Court of Shadows by Victor Dixen, translated by Françoise Bui

Once known as the Sun King, Louis XIV embraced immortality and became the first vampire in the world, turning into the King of Shadows. Three centuries later, he still rules from the Court of Shadows in Versailles, maintaining the loyalty of his nobles with tithes of his subjects’ blood. Commoner Jeanne Froidelac survives the murder of her family by the king’s soldiers and takes on their legacy: a rebellion in its infancy that involves the secrets of alchemy. In pursuit of vengeance, she disguises herself and enrolls in a school for those who would be courtiers to the King of Shadows.

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Riot Recommendations

As is my wont, I’m sneaking in more new releases for you today!

The Box by Mandy-Suzanne Wong

The box seems innocuous: small and white and made of strips of woven paper, impossible to open without being destroyed. And yet everywhere it passes in this collapsing metropolis, it causes confluences, conflicts, and disasters. Is it a truly inanimate object? And who says what is inanimate cannot have agency?

Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons

When an aspiring comedian named Raely survives a train wreck — one so disastrous that she’s the sole person to make it out — she discovers that she’s being followed by a ghost. But as ghosts go, this new friend (who may actually be a much older friend who has been following her all her life) she calls Casper is quite helpful and nice…which is good, because she’s also got a demonic spirit on her tail that would like nothing more than to destroy her.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.