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Welcome to October, shipmates—the best month EVER (more on that later)!! It’s Alex with a bit of news and some rather… cosmic books to carry you into the first weekend of International Black Cat Month. (I made that up, but it should be true.) Stay safe, and may you find some joy this weekend, no matter how big or how small.
Looking for non-book things you can do to help in the quest for justice? Louisville Community Bail Fund
News and Views
If you’re quick, you can still grab a ticket for Literary Mothers: Influence and Inspiration with a panel of female Desi authors, hosted by the Carl Brandon Society (and if you don’t get to see the event livestreamed, sounds like there will be a recording you can watch later).
Neon Yang announces their next book!
Pulp Librarian did a thread of amazing (and NSFW) terrible old SFF book covers.
Queer Enchantments: Finding Fairy Tales to Suit a Rainbow of Desires
The Folio Society is doing an EVEN FANCIER version of Dune [than the one I own] for Frank Herbert’s 100th birthday. Limited edition, only 500 copies, and whew— $695 is a killer price tag.
Peter McLean’s Priest of Bones is being adapted for TV
On Book Riot
Cover reveal and excerpt: Seed of Cain by Agnes Gomillion (This is the sequel to The Record Keeper and I am VERY EXCITED.)
8 seriously unnerving science thrillers
Free Association Friday: Cosmic Horror in SFF
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
With spiders on cobwebs
And black cats with cute blebs in moonlight so clear
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With kids trick-or-treating
Candy corn for the eating while the goths throw a ball
It’s the hap-happiest season of all!
At last, it’s October! Happy Halloween, everybody! To kick off the best freaking month of the year, how about some SFF with cosmic horror?
Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed – A white child prodigy, Johnny, and her brown, ever-faithful sidekick, Nick, go on a world-hopping quest to stop some very chthonic gods from crossing over into our world. The fact that there are chthonic gods nosing around in the first place may or may not be Johnny’s fault—and there are a lot of other things in Nick’s life that may or may not be her fault as well.
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle – Kind of goes without saying, right? But if you haven’t read this one yet, it’s an answer to “The Horror at Red Hook” and takes on what is the worst about Lovecraft head on. Also, better wordcraft than Lovecraft could have ever dreamed.
White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi – Give a gothic haunted house tale unmistakably cosmic underpinnings and this might be the book you get. Miranda’s mother dies on a trip abroad, which makes Miranda’s pica—which causes her to eat chalk–worsen… and then Miranda starts hearing spirits. Spirits that become extremely hostile when she brings friends to her strange family home.
She Walks in Shadows edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles – If you’re looking for some short cosmic horror, this brings together women from across the world with stories of the weird and Lovecraftian.
Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys – In the late 1920s, the US government rounded up the residents of Innsmouth and took them to the desert, far from their Deep One ancestors and their sleeping god. Only two people from Innsmouth survived… and now the government that took everything from them need their help in the midst of the Cold War.
Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan – A government agent known only as the Signalman is tracking down a dangerous cult who eat a lot of “magic” mushrooms. Except rather than magic, those mushrooms might be something dangerous and alien… and there’s something out past Pluto that seems about to make contact with humanity, whether we like it or not.
Hammers on Bone by Cassandra Khaw – John Persons is a PI who has been hired by a 10-year-old kid to murder the kid’s dad. But it’s okay, because the dad is a real piece of work. But this abusive, terrible dad might actually be something worse than an abominable human. Thankfully John is up to the job, since he’s ancient and magical himself.
Red Right Hand by Levi Black – Charlie is rescued from certain death at the teeth of three horrifying skinhounds by something that might be worse: the Man in Black, an elder god who demands she become his acolyte in payment for the rescue. But the Man in Black isn’t even the worst evil out there, and Charlie is forced to help him on his quest to destroy the other elder gods.
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin – I can’t tell you why. Just trust me. Plus it’s a dang good book anyway.
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.