Sponsored by There Will Come a Darkness by Katy Rose Pool with Fierce Reads
The Age of Darkness approaches. Who will stop it… or unleash it? With chaos on the horizon, five souls are set on a collision course: A prince exiled from his kingdom. A ruthless killer known as the Pale Hand. A once-faithful leader torn between his duty and his heart. A reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone. And a dying girl on the verge of giving up. One of them—or all of them—could break the world. Will they be savior or destroyer? Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Kristin Cashore, and Sabaa Tahir.
Happy Tuesday, space pirates! I hope everyone had a great and hopefully relaxing weekend. It’s Alex, with a selection of new releases and some (at times extremely hilarious) news items. But before we get started, here’s what I’m loving right now, mostly because I never get tired of music videos about Steve Rogers. Bonus: this homecoming assembly Marvel-themed dance routine, holy forking shirtballs.
New Releases
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi – There are no monsters in the city of Lucille. But when a creature made of horns, color, and claws crawls out of a painting in Jam’s house, she’s forced to reconsider this truism. The creature is named Pet, and has come to hunt a monster–one that no on will admit exists.
A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker – Look, I think the hook alone on this book is enough: “Public gatherings are illegal, making concerts impossible, except for those willing to break the law for the love of music–and for one chance at human connection.”
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – January is the ward of a wealthy man and feels little different than the arcane artifcats that he stocks his sprawling mansion with–until she finds a book that promises adventures in other worlds and truths about her own.
The Resurrectionist of Caligo by Wendy Trimboli and Alicia Zaloga – A body thief who makes his living selling cadavers to medical schools is framed for the murder of one of those cadavers. To escape execution, he agrees to bind himself to a former friend forever in a blood magic ritual–and then help her find the real murderer running loose in their city.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Space necromancers in a gothic sci-fi universe vie to ascend to immortality. Gideon is a swordswoman dragged into this murderous contest by her childhood nemesis when all she really wants is out.
News and Views
McSweeney’s, killing it as always: I’m just the guy to write your female empowerment series.
Volume 5 of the Long List Anthology (an anthology of stories that didn’t quite make the finalist cut for the Hugos) is crowdfunding now.
Maria Haskins has short fiction recommendations from the month of August.
Fonda Lee (author of Jade War) is writing for Marvel’s Sword Master, starting with issue #4.
A list of fiction’s greatest technopaths.
Supernova Era by Cixin Liu is going to be adapted for film in China.
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders has been optioned for series development by Sony.
Jonathan Igla, who was a writer and the executive story editor for Mad Men has been hired to write the Hawkeye series for Disney+.
Here’s the first look at the final season of The Good Place.
NPR had Margaret Atwood do an exclusive reading from The Testaments.
There’s an actual statue of Iron Man in Italy and reading about it made me tear up.
Joker won the Golden Lion (the highest honor) at the Venice Film Festival.
A personal essay about recognizing fannish toxicity in oneself.
Walter Mosley left the Star Trek: Discovery writers room after being warned by HR to not use the N-word. (For context: Walter Mosley is African-American.)
The TSA has relented on those soda bottles from Galaxy’s Edge.
We have all seen this movie and most recently it was called The Meg.
Pairing solar panels and certain crops can be a win-win.
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 over at my personal site.