It’s the most wonderful day of the weeeeeek: Tuesday! That’s right, it’s new book day! Can you smell the fresh paper on the wind? Hear the pages rustling as they wing their way toward us. Get out your nets, me hearties, and let’s see what we can catch. It’s Alex, with new book releases and nerdy news!
[Editor’s note: This newsletter contains a major spoiler for Game of Thrones, so if you haven’t watched it, skip today’s News & Views section!]
This newsletter is brought to you by Tor Books, proud publisher of An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass.
In Cantagna, being a sorcerer is a death sentence. When a plot to overthrow the Shadow Lord and incite civil war is uncovered, only Romy knows how to stop it. To do so, she’ll have to rely on newfound allies—a swordmaster, a silversmith, and her own thieving brother—to pull off an elaborate heist. And they’ll need the very thing that could condemn them all: magic.
New Releases
Unraveling by Karen Lord – A serial killer chasing a myth that might lead them to immortality haunts the City. A forensic therapist named Dr. Miranda Ecouvo is put on the track to find this killer by Chance and Trickster, brothers she meets during a near-death experience.
Wastelands: The New Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams – An anthology of variably created wastelands, with new stories by Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Tobias S. Buckell, Veronica Roth, and others.
Five Midnights Ann Dávila Cardinal – This tagline is amazing: “Five friends cursed. Five deadly fates. Five nights of retribución.” A thriller based on the legend of el Cuco.
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey – Reluctant detective Ivy Gamble, who was born without magic and definitely doesn’t mind that fact, has to solve a murder at a school for mages and reclaim her gifted sister in the process. (Full disclosure: I have the same agent as Sarah Gailey.)
Fire Opal Mechanism by Fran Wilde – Sequel to the gorgeous and heart-breaking The Jewel and Her Lapidary.
The Soul of Power by Callie Bates – A girl who was never supposed to rule finds the crown upon her head and must navigate a political maze she should never have been dropped into.
News and Views
Tor.com has collected livetweets from two really cool panels at BookCon, in case we weren’t envious enough about not being there: Worldbuilding and Rebecca Roanhorse and N.K. Jemisin talk about writing themselves in speculative fiction.
Since Aladdin is upon us, here’s a list of 7 books about djinn! (And while it involves daiva rather than djinn, I’d add that Empire of Sand might hit an adjacent sweet spot.)
First trailer for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is out and it looks utterly gorgeous. Puppets and trauma for everyone!
Next time I’m in Tokyo, I have to go to this sci-fi themed bar.
Four “nonfiction” ebooks about the world of Harry Potter are coming.
Ikea recreated some famous living rooms with their own furniture, including the one from Stranger Things.
New Steven Universe storybook is coming our way: The Tale of Steven.
Ready for another Hidden Figures moment? Here’s an awesome Twitter thread about the only woman who was inside the control room during the Apollo 11 launch.
Robert Pattinson will be the next Batman. This has got to be my favorite tweet about it.
Whether you did or didn’t like the King Bran thing, it’s apparently GRRM’s fault?
The 2019 Eugie Award Finalists have been announced; check it out for a list of some good short fiction to try.
Yeah, we regret you didn’t make The Dark Tower movie horror, too, Ron Howard.
Good Omens easter eggs according to the cast and crew.
Baskin Robbins has some Stranger Things-themed treats.
This Feels Like it Should Be in a Science Fiction Novel Corner
This fascinating review of Underland is here to remind us that our planet can be more fantastic than fiction.
The title: Sonic black holes produce “Hawking radiation,” may confirm famous theory. It just gets cooler from there.
NASA picks three commercial companies to attempt moon landings.
From the department of “I smelled the sour milk so now I’m going to make you smell it too so we can all suffer together, plus holy wow is this some dystopian stuff so silly I don’t think anyone’s ever put it in a novel”: The Department of Energy did a press release that called natural gas “freedom gas” and “molecules of U.S. freedom.”
See you, space pirates. You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me on the (Hugo-nominated!!!) Skiffy and Fanty Podcast or over at my personal site.