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Riot Rundown

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Today In Books

25 Stephen King Short Films to be Shown at Virtual Festival: Today in Books

The 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival will be Held Saturday, April 24

Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research will be holding its 2nd Annual National Antiracist Book Festival on Saturday, April 24. This virtual book festival “is the first and only book festival that brings together, showcases, and celebrates the nation’s leading antiracist writers and helps to prepare the writers of tomorrow.” Events will take place all day, including topically-organized panels featuring writers such as Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange (There There), New York Times bestselling author Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age), co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter Alicia Garza (The Purpose of Power), and many more. There will also be writers workshops facilitated by leading book editors and literary agents. For a full list of events and registration details, check out the event page.

25 Stephen King Short Films to be Shown at Virtual Festival

The Stephen King Rules Dollar Baby Film Festival will be streaming 25 short films adapted from the works of prolific author Stephen King. The virtual event is entirely free and will run from April 23rd to the 25th. The films include adaptations of King’s short stories, such as “Popsy,” “The Woman in the Room,” and “The Last Rung on the Ladder.” Additionally, the festival will include exclusive interviews and discussions with the filmmakers. You can find the full schedule on the Barker Street Cinema website.

Dear Netflix: Adapt These Queer Black Multicultural Romances

Dear Netflix: Please adapt these romance novels by and about queer Black people. We need them right now. Please and thank you.

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Giveaways

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We’re giving away $100 to spend at the children’s bookstore Books of Wonder! All you have to do is sign-up for our Kid Lit Giveaways newsletter, and get notified whenever we’re giving away free kids’ and middle grade books! Click here or the image below to enter now!

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Check Your Shelf

THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES Gets All the Attention

Welcome to Check Your Shelf. For those of you following along with the saga of my injured finger from Tuesday’s newsletter, I’m happy to report that it’s healing quite nicely and I no longer need to wear a bandage 24/7. The cut itself looks quite small, and there’s a part of me that wants to insist that no, really, I swear it was bleeding all over the place, I’m not just being a big baby for nothing!

Anyway, let’s library.


Libraries & Librarians

News Updates

ALA asks the Biden administration to include specific funding for libraries in the American Jobs Plan.

Tennessee state legislators have introduced a bill that would ban any books that “promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender issues or lifestyles” from Tennesse schools. The bill passed out of committee last week, so if you live in Tennessee, now is a good time to contact your state representatives.

Georgia school librarians are alarmed by proposed legislation that seeks to remove them from decisions about which books students can (or can’t) read at school.

The most frequently banned books of 2020 include a lot more titles focused on racial inequality.

Cool Library Updates

Public programming with virtual murder mysteries.

“Whispering libraries” are coming to Brooklyn this summer.

Worth Reading

7 library changes that this librarian hopes will stick around after the pandemic.

Banned books in Florida prisons.

You don’t have to be cool to promote your library to teens!

Book Adaptations in the News

Tessa Thompson launches a production company and is set to executive produce adaptations of Who Fears Death and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page will not return for season two.

A To All the Boys spinoff series is in the works.

Ken Follett’s The Evening and the Morning is being developed as a TV series.

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen is also being developed as a TV series.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is starring in the upcoming Amazon series, Hot Pink, which is based on the book What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold.

Amanda Seyfriend has replaced Kate McKinnon to play Elizabeth Holmes in the Hulu series The Dropout.

Casting update for Station Eleven, The Good Nurse, and Matilda.

Vanity Fair has a piece about “The failure of American Gods and the trouble with Neil Gaiman,” in response to the news that American Gods has been canceled.

Books & Authors in the News

A Cincinnati firefighter wrote a children’s book to inspire and empower young girls.

The many faces of Ramona Quimby.

Numbers & Trends

A rare 1938 Superman comic book has sold for a record $3.5 million at auction.

Award News

The winners of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Awards have been announced.

Deesha Philyaw wins the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies.

James McBride wins the inaugural Gotham Book Prize.

The British Science Fiction Association Award winners have been announced.

The winners of the Windham-Campbell Prize have been announced.

Here are the shortlists for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and the 2020 Aurealis Awards.

Bookish Curiosities & Miscellaneous

NPR wants your mini poems to celebrate National Poetry Month!

On the Riot

Visiting the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

An English professor’s perspective on hating poetry.

Beginner mistakes to avoid during a 24-hour readathon.

A guide to Lord of the Rings special edition sets.


All right. Everyone’s fingers still attached? Good. Let’s keep it that way. Have a safe weekend, everyone!

—Katie McLain Horner, @kt_librarylady on Twitter.

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Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships for April 9

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with some pre-orders you should totally check out and some sci-fi newsy links. Colorado’s moving into one of my most favorite parts of the year–cold at night, warm enough for a bike ride during the day, and we’re getting rain! Trust me, that last item is very exciting. I’ll be able to put my plants outside soon, and make the cats happy because they can have one of their windowsills back. Hope that spring is bringing some equally lovely days your way. Stay safe out there, and I will see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make 2021 better than 2020. A good place to start? The Okra Project and blacklivesmatter.carrd.co


News and Views

The 2020 BSFA Award Winners have been announced

Science Fiction Representations of Cyborgs in Kim Ch’o-yŏp’s“My Space Heroine”

WorldCon 2021 has changed hotels and moved its dates to December 15-19

Nerds of a Feather did some Nebula and Hugo Award predictions

Philip K. Dick’s complete short stories are getting a Folio Society edition

Samuel R. Delaney received a lifetime achievement award from the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

The return of the return of MST3K!

WandaVision creator explains why it was never really Agatha all along

30-year-old Soviet TV adaptation of The Lord of the Rings surfaces on YouTube

A Scientist Taught AI to Generate Pickup Lines. The Results are Chaotic.

A great thread about horror in space, spurred by a very silly take

Is science fiction holding back climate action?

Game of Thrones’ 10th Anniversary Celebrations Hope You’ve Forgotten the Final Season

…no, we’re way past April 1. And… peeps are getting their own movie?

On Book Riot

This week’s SFF Yeah! podcast is the SFF mixtape

What kind of SFF hero are you?

This month you can enter to win your own library cart, a year of free books, $100 to spend on comics, and a $100 Books of Wonder gift card.

Free Association Friday

To be honest, I’ve been avoiding Twitter lately because every time I open it, I see the newest anti-trans, gender-policing attack legislation getting pushed through in various states. It’s making me really tired, y’all. So how about a little list of some upcoming books (and one previously released that I missed somehow) by trans and nonbinary authors? Pre-orders are love, and these books look pretty awesome! As a bonus, there’s two more books fit for this list that’ll be coming out on Tuesday–you’ll see them then.

Cover of The Witch King by H. E. Hedgmon

The Witch King by H. E. Edgmon (June 1)

Wyatt is a witch from the realm of Asalin, where he was betrothed to a fae prince, Emyr, who was also his best friend. But after losing control of his magic, Wyatt flees to the human world to find himself and escape his past… until Emyr hunts him down, still intent on seeing their engagement through so he doesn’t lose his throne.

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (May 4)

A pregnant woman escapes from a religious compound to give birth to her twins in the woods. But cults don’t let go easily, and she’s forced to fight against that community and the outside world to defend her family–a battle that begins an uncanny metamorphosis of her body that can only be understood by facing the past.

Cover of Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K Jarboe

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K Jarboe

A short story collection that ranges from fairy tales to Catholic cyberpunk, all with a healthy dose of body horror and queer fabulism.

The Scratch Daughters by Hannah Abigail Clarke (September 14)

Sequel to The Scapegracers. As the loss of her magical soul drives her to desperate measures, Sideways Pike still has to keep her coven together, deal with her evil ex, and maybe throw some hexes at toxic men while she’s at it.

Cover of The Sisters of Reckoning by Charlotte Nicole Davies

The Sisters of Reckoning by Charlotte Nicole Davies (August 10)

Sequel to The Good Luck Girls. Now that the Good Luck Girls are free, most have crossed the border to pursue new lives, while Aster tries to help more girls escape. But when she finds out about a new welcome house opening, she decides that helping individuals isn’t enough. She hatches an ambitious and dangerous plan to free all dustbloods, and calls upon her friends to make it a reality.


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.

Categories
True Story

Top-Selling Nonfiction of 2020

I try to highlight some weird or obscure nonfiction on here when I can, but what if we just went all in on popular nonfiction? That seems fun, right? So I looked at the top 100 selling books and did some cherry picking because I can. Enjoy!

A Promised Land cover by Obama

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Of course of COURSE this is on here. Obama’s 700+ page memoir is the first in a two-volume set. This volume goes from Obama’s early years through the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, so before he was elected for his second term. According to Wikipedia, Obama took the longest of any president writing a memoir since it started being a regular “thing” with Calvin Coolidge. But it’s a massive book, so we get it, Obama. We get it.

Untamed cover by Glennon Doyle

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Doyle’s previous books include Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior. Her most recent memoir “is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live.” She discusses her divorce, her marriage to Abby Wambach, and their blended family. The book is divided into three sections: Caged, Keys, and Freedom. It’s all about empowerment for women and finding courage. My wife loves this book.

How to Be an Antiracist cover by Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

This was on so many antiracism lists last year, so it’s not a huge surprise it was one of the top sellers! Kendi talks about antiracism as “a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism” and “points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other.” He relates how racism creates false hierarchies in society and makes everything actively worse. So we should stop that.

Caste cover

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson

Pulitzer Prize–winning Wilkerson’s new book was a big, big release of last year. Despite America’s proclamation of being based in the notion that all people are created equal, all people are not treated equally. Wilkerson posits that there is a hidden caste system, which can be defined through eight pillars, including divine will and bloodlines. You know. The things people have used for millennia to say why they’re inherently better than other people. This came out last August, which both feels forever ago and “what, only eight months ago?”

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz

This one surprised me, so I looked into it! For those of you in the know, forgive me, but I was shocked to see this has been a NYT bestseller for a full decade, so it made the top nonfiction list for 2020. All the reviews are very either “this book immediately changed my life” or “this book is garbage nonsense!” So sounds like something to arrive at your own opinion about!


For more nonfiction new releases, check out the For Real podcast which I co-host with the excellent Kim here at Book Riot. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.

Categories
Unusual Suspects

Justin Theroux Will Star in Thriller Adapted From Uncle’s Novel

Hello mystery fans! It’s time for news, roundups, some of my reading, and lots of Kindle deals.

From Book Riot and Around the Internet

The Unquiet Dead audiobook cover

7 Great Mysteries and Thrillers on Audio

8 of the Best Ecological Thrillers for Your TBR

Liberty and Danika chat about new releases including Rioter Tirzah Price’s first in the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries, Pride and Premeditation, on the latest All the Books!

‘The Lincoln Lawyer’: Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine Joins Netflix Legal Drama Series

Kellye Garrett talked about the manuscript she’s working on and yes.please.now.

The 60 Hottest New (and Upcoming) Mysteries & Thrillers

The Top 13 Crime Drama Shows on Netflix

The True Story of This Is a Robbery’s $600m Art Heist, and What Happened Next

Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse Trailer Delivers Violent Spy Thrills

Justin Theroux Tries to Ditch the U.S. Government in New Trailer for ‘The Mosquito Coast’ (based on the same titled 1981 novel by Justin Theroux’s uncle, Paul Theroux)

‘Northern Spy’ Is Reese’s Book Club Pick

Hello, gorgeous cover for upcoming thriller starring a Black lawyer: All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

Giveaway: a year’s subscription to TBR at the hardcover level!

Giveaway: Win a $100 to Spend on Comics!

Giveaway: Enter to Win Your Own Library Cart: April, 2021

A Bit Of My Week In Reading

For Your Own Good by Samantha Downing

Holy revenge, Batman! This is a delicious page-turner with so many layers of revenge, you won’t soon forget. I absolutely loved watching how this unfolded starting with a jerk teacher at a prep school who thinks it’s his job to punish others into being better… I’m super excited about this one so mark your calendars for July 20th.

I just got the audiobook for Femi Kayode’s Lightseekers, which gives the investigator role to a psychologist in Nigeria looking into a crime that involved the killing of three students by a mob.

And I am suuuuuper excited for this upcoming cozy mystery: Mango, Mambo, and Murder (A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery #1) by Raquel V. Reyes. The sleuth is the star of a Cuban-American cooking show, so I’m drooling already.

Kindle Deals

Jar of Hearts cover image

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

If your checklist has dark, fictional serial killer, and page-turner, pick up this thriller from Hillier for $2.99! (Review) (TW: rape scenes/ domestic violence/ pedophilia off page)

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

Looking for history and true crime? For $1.99 you got it!

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg

If you want to travel to the 1950s and wonder what is under London, here’s a fun secret organization murder-mystery for $2.99! (Review) (TW past suicide mentioned kind of as reveal, brief detail)

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich

If you can read brutal true crime memoirs, this was the first true crime memoir I read that I found to be an excellent read and it’s currently $2.99. (Review) (All the trigger warnings)

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Why yes the retired NBA player is an author of a Sherlock series, and you can check it out for $2.99!

Who Is Vera Kelly? (A Vera Kelly Story) by Rosalie Knecht

If you’re looking for a recent in history historical and a character-driven spy story, here you go for $2.99! (TW child abuse/ suicide)


Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2021 releases. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

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Riot Rundown

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The Stack

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Audiobooks

Audiobooks 04/08/21

Hola Audiophiles! Remember how last week I promised to be done with my latest listen by now? Well, the universe laughed at me and my silly little plans. Since the last newsletter came out, I took my dad to the hospital three times in four days, and then he had emergency surgery on Monday. I’m not sure what day it is anymore and def didn’t finish this book. but I’m going to tell you about it anyway because I love it so far and feel confident enough to recommend it.

Ready? Let’s audio.

New Releases – Week of April 6

publisher descriptions in quotes

audiobook cover image of Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price

It’s finally here!!!! My former Read Harder co-host and wonderful friend, Book Riot’s own Tirzah Price, has a book out in the world! This is the first in a series of YA murder mystery Austen retellings (weeee!) In Pride and Premeditation, 17-year-old Lizzie Bennet is an aspiring lawyer. When a scandalous murder rocks London society, Lizzy is convinced authorities have imprisoned the wrong person and sets out to solve the murder on her own. But as the case and her feelings for the heir to the prestigious Pemberley Associates firm (Mr. Darcy, you may have heard of him) become more complicated, Lizzie realizes her dream job could very well get her killed. (YA mystery)

Oh and ehhem, the book is also Barnes & Noble’s April YA Book Club Pick. Just a casual flex for the people!

I was so excited when I found out Morag Sims was reading Tirzah’s book (The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite, The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley). Such a perfect choice!

audiobook cover image of Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

Harlem,1998: after a series of pregnancies that’ve ended in heartbreak, Laila turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family, for help. She makes a deal to obtain a piece of caul from them, a precious layer of skin that’s said to be the source of their healing power; but the deal falls through and another pregnancy ends in tragedy. Meanwhile another baby is about to be born to her cousin Amara and then given to the Melancons to raise as their own. The matriarchs of that family predict that this child, Hallow, will restore the family’s prosperity, but Hallow grows up to question her identity and the way she was raised. As the Melancons thirst to maintain their status grows, Hallow’s mother Amara is determined to avenge her longstanding grudge against the family. Mother and daughter will cross paths, forcing Hallow to decide where she really belongs. (fiction)

Read by Joniece Abbott-Pratt (The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn)

audiobook cover image of Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

Helen Oyeyemi is an $@*# gem. Her books just take me out of my body! This latest is the story of Otto and Xavier Shin whose aunt has gifted them a magical train ride as a not-honeymoon honeymoon. The couple realizes that they appear to be alone on this former tea-smuggling train and soon realize that it’s not your average locomotive. When Otto discovers a secretive woman who issues a cryptic message, “further clues and questions pile up. As the trip upends everything they thought they knew, Otto and Xavier begin to see connections to their own pasts, connections that now bind them together.” (literary fiction)

Read by Ben Allen, Intae Kim, Jade Wheeler, Deana Taheri, Rosa Escoda, and Deepti Gupta. The only person I’m familiar with personally from that cast is Deep Gupta but I am already sold based on a preview!

cover image of Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

If you don’t already know about Jenny Lawson and are looking for super candid, often hilarious, sometimes cringey (but charmingly so) musings on mental health peppered with personal anecdotes sharing some very honest struggles, look her up. This latest from Lawson “humanizes what we all face in an all-too-real way, reassuring us that we’re not alone and making us laugh while doing it. From the business ideas that she wants to pitch to Shark Tank to the reason why Jenny can never go back to the post office, Broken leaves nothing to the imagination in the most satisfying way.” (nonfiction, essays, autobiography/memoir)

Read by the author in her signature brand of wacky run-on sentences and relatable quirk. Love her so much.

Latest Listens

audiobook cover image of Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

This is a stunning beautiful desert fantasy set in the Americas. The main character is sixteen year old Xochitl, the cuentista in her village of Empalme. The people in her village give her their stories, then Xochitl returns those stories to the earth, to Solís, at the conclusion of the ritual. The confessor walks away free from the guilt and burden of their story, and Xochitl gives it story back to Solís and promptly forgets it. She’s been told, as have all cuentistas, that this ritual is a necessity for the protection off her village.

Hers is a lonely existence and often a heavy one; she longs to be free and to share her heart with a kindred spirit. Then a horrible tragedy in the village forces Xochitl to consider whether what she’s been told about her role is a lie. It’s on a journey across the desert to get answers that Xochitl is joined by Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the murderous conqueror responsible for the tragedy that sent Xochitl on this quest in the first place. They agree to complete the rest of the journey as companions and soon find themselves drawn to one another. Their hearts could be the match Xochitl longs for… if they can survive the terrors that wait for them in the desert each night when the sun goes down.

We often get asked for recommendations for books where the setting is a character and this is precisely that kind of book. The desert is a living, breathing entity, one that both gives with unexpected benevolence and takes with horrible cruelty. This book is an homage to both the beauty and the terror as well as the people that inhabit these spaces. It’s a gorgeous F/F love story, an action-packed ride full of tons of Espańol, and a thought-provoking examination of the weight of taking on other people’s stories.

As for narration, Frankie Corzo (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Everyone Knows You Go Home by Natalia Sylvester, Incendiary by Zoraida Córdova) really hasn’t let me down. Her tone pairs perfectly with the story, emotional and vulnerable yet full of quiet power just like Xochitl herself. She handles the pacing wonderfully and gives distinct personalities to each character deftly. I so enjoy spending time with her warm and lovely performances.

From the Internets

at Audible: The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is the Fictional Oral History You Have to Hear

at Audiofile: 5 Audio Novels for Spring

at The Washington Post: The top audiobooks of the last year, according to our readers

at Libro.fm: 10 Must-Read Books on Urban History, Monopoly, Inequality, and Tech

Libro.fm is also gearing up for Independent Bookstore Day! Spend at least $15 USD at your indie either online or in-person between April 24th and 26th then submit your receipt to get a free audiobook! See the list of awesome selections here.

Over at the Riot

7 Great Mysteries and Thrillers on Audio


Thanks for hanging with me today! Shoot me an email at vanessa@riotnewmedia.com with with all things audiobook or find me on Twitter and the gram @buenosdiazsd. Sign up for the In The Club newsletter and catch me once a month on the All the Books podcast.

Stay bad & bookish, my friends.
Vanessa