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The Past Is Red is the enchanting, dark, funny story of Tetley Abednego, a girl who made two terrible mistakes: she told the truth, and she dared to love the world.
The future is blue. Endless blue…except for a few small places that float across the hot, drowned world left behind by long-gone fossil fuel-guzzlers. One of those patches is a magical place called Garbagetown.
But Earth is a mess, hope is a fragile thing, and many people are angry with Tetley. Then Tetley discovers a new friend, a terrible secret, and more to her world than she ever expected.
Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got quite the selection of new releases for you this lovely day. This weekend was a very hot one in Colorado, and I was hoping for some delicious watermelon to cool down — except our watermelon turned out to be rotten. At the first puncture of a knife, an unbelievable tide of slimy pink liquid that smelled like bad fish spurted out of it. It’s the most horrifying thing to ever happen in my kitchen. So, my wish for you this week, space pirates: may your watermelons be ever fresh and never bad! State safe out there, and I’ll see you on Friday!
Thing that made me smile this week: Check out the trailer for Reservation Dogs
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ and anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co
New Releases
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
When a bandit attack leaves an eighth-born son destined for greatness and his second-born sister destined for nothing orphaned, it’s another trick of fate that the son dies. The daughter takes on her brother’s name, Zhu, and in an attempt to escape her own fate, enters a monastery masquerading as a male novice. But when the monastery, too, is destroyed, Zhu must fully take her brother’s fate of greatness and make it her own.
Assassin’s Orbit by John Appel
The planet Ileri is about to join the Commonwealth when a government minister is assassinated, threatening to spark an interstellar war. A disparate team must come together to solve this mystery and avert the possible destruction of their planet: a private investigator named Noo Okereke, a spy named Meiko Ogawa, and a police chief named Toiwa.
Colorful by Eto Mori, translated by Jocelyne Allen
The angel Prapura kicks a formless soul into the body of fourteen-year-old Makoto Kobayashi, who has just died by suicide. This is the soul’s second and last chance if he doesn’t want to be entirely removed from the cycle of rebirth. He needs to remember the worst mistake of his past life while living Makoto’s life and understanding the circumstances of his death.
Savage Bounty by Matt Wallace
The Savages that the empire culls from its cities and uses as shock troops have risen in rebellion and started their own war. Leading the legion is Evie, called the Sparrow General. Along with Dyeawan, a strategist operating in the shadows of imperial government; Lexi, the head of a guild who finds herself at the center of a political power play; and Taru, who has just been conscripted into a new legion of Savages, she will decide the fate of an empire and a world. (Full disclosure: Matt and I have the same agent.)
The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler
Bréone Hemmerli is a diplomat negotiating what might be humanity’s most important alliance if we wish to survive a world devastated by climate change: peace with an alien race represented by a being named Tura. But Bréone’s memory is failing badly with age, and humanity’s time grows short.
News and Views
Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Rhysling Awards!
Hayao Miyazaki’s Lost Magic of Parenthood
The Fellowship of the Ring and the memes of Middle-earth
The novel solutions of utopian fiction
Fantasy Faction has begun its Seventh Annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off
Cast of Wonders is celebrating its 10th anniversary
Brian Murphy argues that sword & sorcery needs a revival
The Heroine’s Journey – A Study in Story Structures
5 monsters in need of career advice
Post-Human Capitalism and Revolution: Detroit and Blade Runner 2049
Why the MCU’s Lighting Kind of Sucks
Loki costume designer tells us the secret of Tom Hiddleston’s magic pants
Check out The Cage, the first science fiction film made in Venezuela
On Book Riot
If you enter by the 22nd, you can win a $150 ThriftBooks gift card.
This month you can enter to win a $250 Barnes & Noble gift card, a Kindle Paperwhite, and a Kindle Oasis.
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.
