Month: January 2017

Categories
Giveaways

Giveaway: TWO DAYS GONE by Randal Silvis

We have 10 copies of Two Days Gone by Randall Silvis to give away to 10 readers.

Here’s what it’s about:

What could cause a man to suddenly snap and destroy everything he has built? This is the question that haunts Sergeant Ryan DeMarco after the wife and children of beloved college professor and bestselling author Thomas Huston are found slaughtered in their home. Huston himself has disappeared and so is immediately cast as the prime suspect.

DeMarco knows—or thinks he knows—that Huston couldn’t have been capable of murdering his family. But if Huston is innocent, why is he on the run? And does the half-finished manuscript he left behind contain clues to the mystery of his family’s killer?

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the cover image below. Good luck!

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Categories
What's Up in YA

YA Book-To-Screen Adaptations Coming In 2017

Howdy, YA Readers!

frost-bloodThis Week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Elly Blake’s Frostblood.

They say that frost and flame were once friends. That world is long gone.

Vivid and compelling, Frostblood is the first in an exhilarating new series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies…but together create a power that could change everything.

____________________

 

I spent a long time this last week digging around, trying to pull together a comprehensive list of YA books being adapted for the big screen this year. It wasn’t easy — there’s a lot of half-way information about production schedules, release dates, release territories and so forth. Hollywood operates much differently from the book world that trying to get answers as an outsider, even with a paid subscription to a tool like IMDB Pro, is challenging.

Which is to say, if the information I did find is accurate, it seems to me that there are fewer YA adaptations this year than in years past. Perhaps more than 2016, where we saw more flops than we saw hits, but it’s still a rather small number for what seems like were an endless number of deals and rights acquisitions for adaptation in the last few years. A lot of those deals, though, are still marked as being pre-production or in some other similar status, so we might see them pop up later in the year or in future years.

To make this list a little bit longer, I’m including the adaptations going to the smaller screen. Think Netflix series and made-for-TV productions. Again, this isn’t comprehensive but what I could verify through more than one source.

Descriptions come from IMDB, since those offer the most interesting and succinct look at how the book is being reimagined for film, and I’ve included the book cover from which the adaptation is coming, with the title linked through to the book’s Amazon listing. 

Please note that release dates can change and some titles don’t yet have a final release date. If you know of other adaptations, especially those hitting smaller screens, I’d love to know the titles and release dates. As the year progresses and we learn more about what to expect in the summer and fall, I’ll pull together another similar round-up.

 

On The Big Screen

I’ll start with my cheat title.

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Hidden Figures (release date: currently playing)

Based on a true story. A team of African-American women provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions.

*I consider this one a cheat title, if only because the adaptation is from the adult version of the book, rather than the Young Reader Edition. But since there’s a Young Reader Edition, it’s counting.

 

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A Monster Calls (release date: currently playing)

A boy seeks the help of a tree monster to cope with his single mum’s terminal illness.
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Before I Fall (release date: March 3)

February 12 is just another day in Sam’s charmed life until it turns out to be her last. Stuck reliving her last day over one inexplicable week, Sam untangles the mystery around her death and discovers everything she’s in danger of losing.

 

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Break My Heart 1,000 Timess (release date: May 4)

Set nine years after an apocalyptic event that killed millions and left the world inhabited by ghosts.

 

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Everything, Everything (release date: May 19)

A teenager who’s lived a sheltered life because she’s allergic to everything, falls for the boy who moves in next door.

 

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Let It Snow (release date: November 22)

In a small town on Christmas Eve, a snowstorm brings together a group of young people.

 

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Ashes In The Snow (release date: unannounced)

In 1941, an aspiring artist and her family are deported to Siberia amidst Stalin’s brutal dismantling of the Baltic region. In a seemingly hopeless place, love is the only means of survival.

*The change in title on this one makes sense, as it would be far too easy to get Between Shades of Gray confused with another ‘Grey’ franchise.

 

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Fallen (release date: unannounced)

A young girl finds herself in a reform school after therapy since she was blamed for the death of a young boy. At the school she finds herself drawn to a fellow student, unaware that he is an angel, and has loved her for thousands of years.

*This one’s been released in some countries already, but there’s been no date set for a US release. Last year, the director had mentioned something about waiting to see what the interest was in the States before a date would be given, but so far, there’s still no date for either a theatrical or DVD release.

 

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My Friend Dahmer (release date: unannounced)

Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by John Backderf, Jeffrey Dahmer struggles with a difficult family life as a young boy- and during his teenage years he slowly transforms, edging closer to the serial killer he becomes.

*This Alex Award winning graphic novel has massive appeal for YA readers, so I’m including it on the list since I didn’t know it was going to be adapted.

 

On The Small Screen

 

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A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix, current)

After the loss of their parents in a mysterious fire, the three Baudelaire children face trials and tribulations attempting to uncover dark family secrets.

*Probably technically more along the middle grade lines, but it has such great YA appeal, I’m including it.

 

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Trollhunters (Netflix, current)

Based on a book by del Toro, Trollhunters tells the story of friends who unearth a mystery underneath their hometown.

 

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Famous in Love (Freeform, April 18)

An ordinary college student gets her big break in a Hollywood blockbuster and must navigate through an undeniable chemistry with her two co-leads, while uncovering the truth about a missing popstar.

 

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The Divergent Series: Ascendant (no network listed, June 17)

Tris and Four fight to end the Bureau of Genetic Welfare’s authoritarian reign over the United States.

*This one has so much information and so little at the same time. There’s a release date but I couldn’t find the network it would be released on. We don’t know who Tris is, either.

 

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13 Reasons Why (Netflix, no date listed)

Thirteen Reasons Why, based on the best-selling series by Jay Asher, follows teenager Clay Jensen in his quest to uncover the story behind his classmate and crush Hannah’s decision to end her own life.

*No release date yet but we know it’ll be this year. It feels like this one has been talked about for years and years (it might have even been the first YA acquired for Netflix).

 

And there you have it! Anything that you’re looking forward to seeing? Anything you’re surprised will be making the leap to the big/small screen?

We’ll be back next week with more YA talk. Until then, snuggle in with a good YA book — or a good YA adaptation!

Categories
Kissing Books

Welcome To Kissing Books!

It’s here! It’s here!

Welcome to the first issue of Kissing Books!

From here on out, every two weeks, you’ll get tons of romance fun, right in your inbox. And what, you might ask, do I mean when I say romance? For the most part, I’m sticking to books published under the category of romance by romance publishers and imprints, so it’s going to be grown-ups falling in love, with or without the sexytimes. Kelly is doing such an awesome job with her YA newsletter that I would just be repeating her work if I wanted to cover all the love stories for all the ages, but don’t come after me with pitchforks if you occasionally see one or two spectacular pieces of YA fiction that I think romance readers would love! Here, you’ll get everything from drama in romancelandia to quick reviews, and every now and then, information about those near unicorns: film adaptations!

Let’s start with those! Have you seen the newest Fifty Shades Darker trailer yet? I will admit to (*gasp!*) having absolutely no idea what’s going on because I didn’t make it to the second book in the series. But I enjoyed the movie and am looking forward to seeing this one…eventually. In the comfort of my own home.

the-trouble-with-mistletoeAnd in future news, Jill Shalvis tweeted this page from a movie script for her book The Trouble With Mistletoe. According to her blog, casting is next, but there isn’t much out there on the project. No other info on who’s picked it up, how it’ll be released (I’m hoping for some Christmas-in-July Hallmark Channel feels), but I’m gonna keep an ear to the ground on this one!

It’s been a couple weeks, but the drama with All Romance ebooks (ARe) and their offshoots has still left quite a few people upset and unsure of what the future of independent online sales might look like. Larger publishers like Riptide have been patient with customers, offering copies of their ebooks to people who didn’t get the chance to pull their libraries from All Romance before it went dark on January 1 (as long as they provided screenshots proving they owned the titles already), allowing customers to keep the titles and (hopefully) getting more royalties to their authors if those purchases were made in Q4. But independent authors who were relying on royalties there were otherwise pretty much screwed. (If you have no clue what I’m talking about, here’s a blog post about it, and here is a quick rundown from Bree Bridges on Twitter.)

Over on Book Riot, Amanda Diehl wrote about how annoying it is when publishers compare books to Fifty Shades of Grey, and I couldn’t agree more! It was such a polarizing book, and continues to be so, so why would you potentially turn away half of your customer base when the people who enjoyed it might not need the comparison as an impetus to pick up the book?

Dana, meanwhile, wants a few tropes subverted. Don’t you love a good trope-twisting? I think that might be one of the reasons I’m such a fan of menage romance—not only is the conflict of the love triangle taken out (though in those cases, you actually end up with a real triangle, not a love V as most “love triangles” tend to be), but, in the good ones at least, the other issues with heteronormative hypermasculinity can be addressed in ways straight cishet romances often can’t or won’t address them.

Did you see Hidden Figures this past weekend? Want to read about more awesome women doing things with numbers, letters, and code? NPR put out a nice roundup of romances with women in STEM. I haven’t read any of them, but they’re all on my list!

And now, quick reviews!

Roller Girl, Vanessa North

roller girl vanessa north coverI started out my year with Vanessa North’s Roller Girl, and it was adorable. Tina, a newly divorced physical trainer has a midnight plumbing emergency, and Joe is definitely not the person she expected the company to send. The two are immediately attracted to each other, but Joe is interested in Tina for more than just getting to know her; she wants Tina to join her roller derby team. Tina, a pro wakeboarder in her former life, is definitely interested in getting back into competitive sports, but there’s one problem: Joe is the coach. There’s nothing illegal about team members fraternizing with coaches, but it could still cause issues. The whole secret relationship concept is not usually my thing, but Tina’s relationships with everyone else in her life kept me going. And the writing is so great and the community is so gorgeous, I’m going to have to go back and read everything else North has written.

Read Harder Bonus: Not only is it a book about an uncommon sport, but it’s also an LGBTQ+ romance!

Insert Groom Here, KM Jackson

Insert Groom Here CoverIn the first book in Jackson’s new Unconventional Brides series, we open the scene with Eva getting dumped on national television. And this isn’t just any dumping; the pair have won a contest to have their dream wedding live in just a few weeks. In a fit of rage, Eva declares to the world (and the internet) that she will have her wedding; “insert groom here!” Leave it to someone at the station to come up with a new plan: push the wedding back long enough to have a Bachelor-style segment where she goes on dates to find her perfect groom. Unfortunately, there’s a problem. She and her new producer, Aidan, have a super hot chemistry, and no matter how they try, they can’t stay away from each other. Too bad she’s supposed to be getting married at the end of all this, huh?

I really enjoyed this novel; it was compelling and I really needed to see what Eva was going to do about the whole Aidan thing. I will admit to wanting to see if they were going to throw in a date that she’d end up liking more than her former fiance. It wasn’t fall down, roll over funny like I expected from some people’s descriptions, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment.

No Read Harder Bonus here, but I will admit that I spent half my time trying to actually envision Aidan in my head. His race is never mentioned, and any description of him is almost racially ambiguous—so if you wanted to, you could consider him a POC. But that’s up to you.

And just as a bonus because it’s on sale and the second book in the series is a pretty damn good price right now:

Love on My Mind, Tracey Livesay

Love on my mind coverI don’t usually go for romances that involve extensive deception, but this one pulled me in and kept me going through to the end, almost without stopping. Chelsea is a PR specialist who has been corralled into an impossible task: get tech bigwig Adam Bennett through his next big launch, without telling him he’s her job. This means getting into his life using…alternative methods, and using her best PR skills to subtly get him through interviews and public appearances. Maybe change his image, too. Adam, who has Asperger’s syndrome, has very strong feelings about liars and deception, and has trust issues to boot. What could possibly go wrong?

Other new releases to look out for until we chat again:

Driven to Distraction coverWanted, A Gentleman by KJ Charles

Taming Sugar, Rebecca Grace Allen

Finding Your Feet, Cass Lenox

Dirty Money, Jessica Clare

Driven to Distraction, Olivia Dade

 

May you have many swoons and sizzles until next time!

–Jess

Thanks to Serial Box for sponsoring our first Kissing Books newsletter!

serial-box-logo-300x300-2Serial Box, today’s hottest publisher of serialized fiction is bringing everything that’s awesome about TV (easily digestible episodes, team written, new content every week) to what was already cool about books (well-crafted stories, talented authors, enjoyable anywhere). From Urban Fantasy to Young Adult Science Fiction – they have something for every taste, and reading (or listening!) on the go has never been easier than with their iOS app. Readers longing for royalty can get their feet wet with Whitehall – the lush historical drama of Queen Catherine of Braganza, the King she loved, and the mistress he loved.

Categories
Unusual Suspects

Naughty Victorians, Archie, and More in Mystery/Thrillers

It’s a new year and I’m once again challenging myself to read ALL the books. Oh, and I’ve already read a mystery that will be in my top reads of 2017 so clearly it’s going to be an excellent reading year!

My top read already!

the-dry-by-jane-harper The Dry by Jane Harper: This was a completely satisfying read that has two mysteries, past and present, and a town that is as much a character as the people. Aaron Falk returns to his hometown after the death of his childhood best friend and family, in what appears to be a murder-suicide, but after being asked to investigate, Falk is forced to face the town’s current state of despair and also everything he ran away from years before: the death of a childhood friend and the questions he’s never answered… My only complaint is that it’s a debut novel and I don’t have a back catalog I can go binge read!

Have you heard?

Benedict Cumberbatch is related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a real life twist that no one would believe in fiction. And you can play along with a live Sherlock mystery on Twitter.

I love a book that takes a sharp turn into WTF? land!

the-man-in-my-basement-by-walter-mosley The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley: Charles Blakey is struggling to pay his mortgage and get a job which makes the arrival of a stranger offering him a ton of money to rent his basement a bizarre proposition he’s slowly finding his way to accepting. But then the stranger’s demands and cage arrive and Blakey, a black man, suddenly with a white man imprisoned in his basement finds himself unable to understand what is happening. Blakey is about to find out what type of man would offer a ton of money to hide in his basement inside a cell…

Archie, Jughead, and a murder!

At least that would be my tagline. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is imagining the dark underbelly from the Archie Comics in Riverdale on the CW and I am 100% here for the January 26th premiere. Did I mention Luke Perry and Molly Ringwald are Archie’s parents?! Watch the trailer here.

Hilarious!

a-perilous-undertaking-by-deanna-raybourn A Perilous Undertaking (Veronica Speedwell #2) by Deanna Raybourn: I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this much in a mystery, let alone historical fiction. Imagine 1887 London and getting to know all the badly behaved of “polite society.” If that sounds like fun—it was!—you don’t want to miss Veronica Speedwell (a lepidopterist) and Stoker (a natural historian) as they try to solve the murder of an artist before the man accused of committing the crime is hanged. Added bonus: Speedwell and Stoker each have family drama and, unrelated to that drama, sexual tension.

So much Nancy Drew:

The 2007 Nancy Drew film starring Emma Roberts is now streaming on Netflix.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Del Col, Werther Dell’Edera (illustrated): This dark reimagining I’m hesitant on. I love the idea of a darker, older, reimagining of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys but I’m not sure how the ‘femme fatale’ will be handled. Guess I’ll just have to wait until its March release. Fingers crossed.

Looking for a nice Nancy Drew pin to wear? Here you go.

Want to read a dark and gruesome locked-room mystery?

the-tokyo-zodiac-murders-by-soji-shimada The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada, Shika MacKenzie (Translator), Ross MacKenzie (Translation): In the 1970s friends Ishioka and Mitarai try to solve a gruesome crime and locked-room mystery from the 30s. Artist Umezawa had planned on creating the perfect woman by using dismembered body parts from six daughters and nieces. The women were in fact dead and one would think Umezawa had to be the murderer, BUT he had been murdered days before in his locked studio leaving a decades-old unsolved mystery of seven murders. This is one of the few books that I had ZERO idea of the solution and I loved that.

Like your books with a sharp twist and multiple points of view?

everything-you-want-me-to-be-by-mindy-mejia Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia: Hattie Hoffman reminded me a bit of a teenage Amy Dunne (Gone Girl) in that Hoffman is never really herself but rather constantly morphing into the person someone else wants, needs, or expects her to be. She hates everything about her small town and is planning on moving immediately after her high school graduation but something changes that will forever keep her in her hometown. Chances are you won’t see the twist coming.

In Theaters: Live by Night is Ben Affleck’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s same titled crime novel. Watch trailer here.

Watch Now: The adaptation of The Girl On the Train on Digital HD from Amazon/iTunes or buy the DVD on January 17th.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

Categories
Giveaways

Win 10 Great Non-Fiction Books!

Mailbag giveaway time! We’re giving away 10 books from our book mail to celebrate the launch of our new nonfiction newsletter, True Story, including Hidden Figures, and Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist!

Our resident nonfiction expert Kim Ukura will be bringing you the bi-weekly dispatch on nonfiction news, book recommendations, new release updates, and more!

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the image of the books we’re giving away below:

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Categories
Riot Rundown

011017-Sourcebooks-LizzieLovett-Riot-Rundown

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti.

lizzielovett_200wHawthorn Creely doesn’t fit in, and that was before she inserted herself into a missing persons investigation. She doesn’t mean to interfere, but Lizzie Lovett’s disappearance is the most fascinating mystery their town has ever had—which means the time for speculation is now.

So Hawthorn comes up with a theory way too absurd to take seriously…at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie’s life? It might just be the push Hawthorn needs to find her own place in the world.

Categories
The Goods

Socks BOGO

Only two days left to treat your feet! The BOGO socks sale ends Monday. You know what to do: buy one, get one 50% off.

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Categories
New Books

Missing Sleepwalkers, Apocalypse Cults, and More New Books!

So we’re ten days into 2017 – how’s everyone holding up? There are certainly a ton of amazing books coming out today, and further down the road, so at least we can look forward to another great year of reading. I have a few great books to tell you about today, and you can hear about more wonderful books on this week’s episode of the All the Books! Rebecca and I talked about a few awesome books we loved, such as Fever Dream, Always Happy Hour, and The Dry.

frostbloodThis week’s newsletter is sponsored by Frostblood by Elly Blake.

They say that frost and flame were once friends. That world is long gone.

Vivid and compelling, Frostblood is the first in an exhilarating new series about a world where flame and ice are mortal enemies…but together create a power that could change everything.

little heavenLittle Heaven by Nick Cutter

This is a book about mercenaries hired by a woman to find her nephew, who is being held by a cult. Except not quite as straight-forward as that. The mercenaries have weird abilities and an insane backstory, and the cult may actually be situated in Hell. It’s bananapants. Fans of The Troop know the crazy, gory stories Cutter is capable of spinning, and this one spins out of control and right off the edge. In the best way, of course. (And if you enjoyed this, keep your eyes out for Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman, out May 23.)

Backlist bump: Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman

lucky boyLucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran

Two women are bound together by their love for a baby boy in this moving novel of motherhood, immigration, and privilege. Solimar crossed the Mexican border into California to find a better life, but now she is pregnant and alone. Kavya has always dreamed of being a mother, and when Solimar is placed in immigrant detention, her baby is placed in Kavya’s care. But when Soli fights to get her baby back, the two women will experience the anguish and heartbreak of broken dreams and second chances.

Backlist bump: The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

the second mrs hockadayThe Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers

When Major Hockaday asks for Placidia’s hand in marriage, she has known him for two days. But a life away from her family home intrigues her, so she accepts. Two days later, the major is off to fight in the Civil War, where he is taken prisoner, leaving Placidia alone for three years. Upon his return, he learns his wife has given birth. Where is the child, and who is its father? Told through letters and reports, we learn the intense circumstances of Placidia’s plight. It’s a suspenseful tale of love, marriage, and racial division in the antebellum era.

Backlist bump: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

glaxoGlaxo by Hernan Ronsino (Author), Samuel Rutter (Translator)

A fantastic whodunit revolving around the lives of four men, best friends who grew up in Argentina and became embroiled in romances and politics they would have been wise to avoid. Now one is dying, one is in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, and one is a police officer fuming over his wife’s infidelity. And someone is dead. Who can you trust when everyone could be guilty? This is a suspenseful mystery-slash-western, now in English for the first time.

Backlist bump: The Black Minutes by Martin Solares (Author), Aura Estrada (Translator), John Pluecker (Translator)

the sleepwalkerThe Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian

Annalee Ahlberg has been a sleepwalker for years. Sometimes her nightly walks are harmless, and other times they’re scary, like when she climbed onto a bridge. But she’s never disappeared – until now. All clues point to Annalee being dead, but one detective continues to show up at the house asking questions. How does he know so much about Annalee’s sleepwalking habits? Is she really dead? All will be revealed in this chilling mystery. You can always count on Bohjalian to tell a great story, and it’s always very different from his others.

Backlist bump: The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian

YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today – time to get back to reading! I am REALLY into reading about historical murder these days (but don’t be scared). Especially books set around the mid-19th century to early 20th century, so if you have any book recommendations, fiction or nonfiction, please send them my way! You can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!

Stay rad,

Liberty

Categories
Swords and Spaceships

Swords & Spaceships: January 13 2017

Greetings, fellow Earthlings!

This week’s newsletter is sponsored by St. Martin’s Griffin.

Freeks by Amanda HockingMara is used to the extraordinary. Roaming from place to place with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Carnival, she longs for an ordinary life where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. She gets her chance when the struggling sideshow sets up camp in a small town, where she meets a gorgeous guy named Gabe. But then Mara realizes there’s a dark presence in the town that’s threatening her friends. She has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she had in order to save everyone she cares about—and change the future forever.

Let’s have some good news, shall we?

In perhaps the most welcome and exciting press release I’ve had the pleasure to receive, Orbit Books has announced a new three-book deal with NK Jemisin (tired of hearing me talk about her? TOO BAD.). The first in the series is also Jemisin’s first novel set in our world and will deal with “themes of race and power in New York City,” due out in April of 2019. No one who’s read Jemisin’s work will be surprised by this description; she frequently deals with themes of race and power. But ever since I read her short story “Non-Zero Probabilities” I have been yearning for an urban fantasy from her, and now we’re getting one. I look forward to looking forward to that for the next two years.

LitHub recently published a selection of letters from Alice B. Sheldon as James Tiptree Jr. to Joanna Russ, and I am fascinated. Not least because I love the work of both authors, but because it gives us a look at the charade Sheldon maintained and her reasons for it. My first encounter with Tiptree’s work was “The Girl Who Was Plugged In,” likely via The James Tiptree Award Anthology 3 — well worth a read if you haven’t already. As near as I can tell, the letters quoted are from this collection (which does not appear to be digitized, alas).

Did you watch the first episode of Emerald City last Friday? I did! And I definitely plan to keep watching. I knew it would be visually lush since Tarsem Singh is involved, and I was excited about having a Latina lead; beyond that, I had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t disappointed: it’s gorgeous to watch, Adria Arjona is beautiful and really good at looking creeped out, Vincent D’Onofrio is perfectly obnoxious as The Wizard, and while it is not without problems there was plenty of plot to intrigue me. (Tor.com agrees.) It also made me want to read the Oz books, as I have heard from friends that Tip’s character is a particularly exciting inclusion (I know, how have I not read them?). Our very own Annika has contemplated the magical systems of both the show and the books (spoilers if you haven’t read the books). This is just one of a plethora of sci-fi/fantasy shows hitting the channels this year; io9 has a guide for you, if you’re interested in adding some screen-time to your 2017.

If you’re looking to add some representation to your TBR, Nicole Brinkley put together a list of Seven Fantasies with Asexual Leads for Book Riot and I want to read all of them. (Except for maybe Jughead; I am just not an Archie fan, y’all.)

Will everyone please report to the bridge? An exact replica of the original Star Trek bridge exists in Ticonderoga, NY, and you can visit it. It’s currently closed, but you can buy gift tickets now; might be a good Valentine’s Day gift for the Trekkie you love, I am just saying. Special tours with the original Chekov, Walter Koenig, (RIP Anton Yelchin) will go on sale in February.

And now: books!

Galactic Empires, edited by Neil Clarke
Galactic Empires Anthology, edited by Neil ClarkeEmpires, so hot right now! You’ll forgive me for not having read all of this 600+ page anthology yet, as I’ve been cherry-picking. Personal favorites Ann Leckie, Aliette de Bodard, Yoon Ha Lee, and Naomi Novik all have pieces here-in, and all are worth your time. If you’ve missed the Raadchai, Leckie’s brief tale of interspace espionage will scratch that itch (and if you’re unfamiliar with her Ancillary series, welcome aboard). De Bodard expands on the world of the Dai Viet (On a Red Station Drifting should be required reading for all space-opera fans, in my opinion) and offers a truly unsettling look at sentience and culture clash. Yoon Ha Lee gives us origami-inspired warships and moral ambiguity. I am here for all of it! You can see the full Table of Contents here to check if your favorites are included (I bet at least a few are).

Nine of Stars, Laura Bickle
Nine of Stars by Laura BickleI am a die-hard fan of the Dresden Files, the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, and of Walt Longmire, so the publicity for Nine of Stars had me curious. “Weird West” is a tricky thing to pull off (and I’m not qualified to comment on the inclusion of Native American elements aside from to say that at least Bickle has honored the original Navajo definition of a skinwalker, unlike a bunch of other writers I could mention), but I enjoyed this installment a great deal. This is the third book in the Dark Alchemy series and I haven’t read the first two, but I didn’t have any trouble following the action or feeling attached to the main protagonists, reluctant alchemist Petra Dee and her love-interest the supernaturally-inclined Gabriel. While Dee and Gabriel are far less grumpy than Harry Dresden or Kate Daniels, it’s still a good comp for those series; Nine of Stars has some nicely escalating villainy, an intriguing supporting cast, and a well-imagined rural West setting. I’ll be going back to read the first two, and recommend them to anyone looking for a good distraction and/or escapist contemporary fantasy.

 

Live long and prosper (at the very least, until the next newsletter).

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Book Radar

Book Radar

In his more formative years, my dad was a radar man in the Navy. It’s interesting to consider that with today’s modern technology, I would suspect that just about everything he did back then has since been completely overhauled, deprecated, and otherwise rendered obsolete. Radar, as we know it, is no longer a viable way of detecting precise movements that a military unit requests.

It’s interesting then to take a step back and ponder what other technical formats have since been made obsolete during our own times. Surely, we would feel very out of place in this day and age if we suddenly found ourselves in a position where we have to use a payphone. Remember card catalogs? It’s hard to believe these were still the standard 25 years ago as I was going through grade school.