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Happy Friday, shipmates! At least I assume it’s Friday. Time is a mortal construct that I have long since transcended, and now I exist on all Fridays simultaneously. Yes, it’s Alex, with some news and some well-dressed but monochromatic books.
Thing that made me happy that I must share with you: You can watch the Globe’s production of The Winter’s Tale until May 31!
News and Views
Congratulations to the BSFA award winners!
There’s a cover and a title for the next Wayward Children book, Across the Green Grass Fields!
There’s also a cover for Rise of the Red Hand by Olivia Chadha, which involves revolutionaries fighting a crushing technocratic government and climate change in South Asia.
Alyssa Cole is coming for us; she’s written a sci-fi romcom called The A.I. Who Loved Me. I’m only mad that I can’t get it until June 3.
An amazing Twitter thread about the 18 kinds of songs in Disney movies, which finishes by putting them in a periodic table.
Man breaks into Australian museum, takes selfies with dinosaurs
Patrick Stewart got some help for sonnet 57
TNT, what are you doing to Snowpiercer?
May 18 was the 40th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. I cannot recommend the 2012 blog series from Scientific American enough, but if you want to read just one entry, read this one: The Cataclysm: “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!”
And this Twitter thread about geologist Harry Glicken broke my heart.
On Book Riot
Taika Waititi is hosting a reading series of James and the Giant Peach.
Everything we know about Rick Riordan’s new book, Tower of Nero.
Quiz: Which character from Twilight are you?
Today is your last chance to win a copy of Superman Smashes the Klan!
You can enter to win $50 at your favorite indie book store and/or a 1-year subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Free Association Friday
I had no idea, but May 22 is World Goth Day. According to the extremely cute World Goth Day site, “World Goth Day is exactly what it says on the wrapper-a day where the goth scene gets to celebrate its own being, and an opportunity to make its presence known to the rest of the world.”
I can’t think of a better way for this newsletter to celebrate than to call out some of the most Goth SFF out there. And we’re doing it hard mode: no vampires.
True fact: Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng was actually the first book I thought of. Because it’s gothic, yes, but it’s also got that aesthetic that is undeniably plain goth. This book is such a spiritual sibling to Crimson Peak, which is both gothic horror and incredibly goth thanks to its Guillermo del Toro leave-no-fabric-behind look. (And the two stories certainly have another thing or two in common that I won’t be elaborating on here, because spoilers.)
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is probably the most obvious recent choice, which I can’t possibly leave out if I don’t want to get my hands slapped. I mean, just look at the cover. There’s necromancers. We don’t really need to go further than that.
The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson is something that sits on the grittier end of goth, in my opinion. Every time Molly bleeds even a little, another Molly is born, one who desperately wants to kill her progenitor. Molly’s getting pretty tired of killing herself in self-defense.
Down Among the Sticks and Bones and Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire are about Jack and Jill in their native environment of the Moors, which is probably the second most goth world of the Wayward Children series–the first mentioned thus far is definitely the Halls of the Dead. Yes, there is technically a vampire in the Moors, but the books aren’t about him, so I’m giving myself a pass.
The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht is set in a dying, plague-choked city, surrounded by a sea that twists everything that touches it. Tell me more. There’s a monster without a name stalking it. Even better. Then a sorcerer hires the monster, and they start hunting down everyone who has wronged them. And it’s very, very gay.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is the token short story collection for this list, and it swings through some thoroughly dark and gothy places in some of its tales.
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar has a lingering ghost haunting the son of a pepper merchant, and while two religious cults are trying to use him as a pawn, he has to figure out how to free himself by freeing the ghost. Bonus: the book synopsis also calls reading “that seductive necromancy.”
I promise I haven’t forgotten Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake. Please don’t yell at me. This is basically the grandaddy of the goth(ic) fantasy novel. The family lives in a crumbling castle and is called Groan, for goodness sake.
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.