Sponsored by Baen Books.
EXILED FROM IMMORTALITY! The third entry in McCarthy’s groundbreaking, mind-bending Queendom of Sol series back in print. Brash and idealistic, rebels without a cause in a world governed by science, reason . . . and immortality. Once banished they now face a bold future and must face a perilous voyage with thousands of their fellow exiles. The journey will last a century, but with technology they can “print” a fresh, youthful version of themselves. Before long, their optimistic young colony has started to show signs of strain. And worst of all, death itself has returned with a vengeance.
Happy Tuesday, shipmates! We’re midway through December now and publishing has just about gone into hibernation until 2021, but we’ve still got a few new books for you to check out (and a few awesome 2020 indie books too, continuing that feature). We had a snowy weekend here, so I stayed inside and did a lot of both reading and playing video games since biking wasn’t an option. I read The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho in one sitting–just devoured it–and I want you to know it is DELIGHTFUL. For its slim length, it’s got a lot of plot and a lot of very lovable characters, and is as wuxia as promised. I’ve also started reading The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood and I’m really enjoying it so far. (Plus it has the first fantasy map I’ve actually liked in quite some time, because I am a well-known curmudgeon about maps.) Hope you’ve got good books to keep your company, and I’ll see you on Friday!
This is very local news to me, but I think it’s cool: Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore is now the largest Black-lowned bookstore in the US
New Releases
The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True by Sean Gibson
In a fantasy world filled with epic adventure, the kind that makes for excellent stories, the truth tends to get bent a little. Heroes are told to be more heroic than they were, villagers more helpless, and so on. But Heloise the Bard is there to set the record straight about how easy adventuring isn’t and how truly rare heroism happens to be. This time, she’s skewering the story of the fearsome red dragon, Dragonia.
The Garden of Promises and Lies by Paula Brackston
The proprietress of the Little Shop of Found Things has no choice but to take responsibility for accidentally transporting a dangerous man from his time to her own, and now she has to figure out how to make things right and keep herself and Flora safe. Then a beautiful, antique wedding dress makes itself known to her, and she realizes the dress and her enemy are connected. She’ll need the help of her boyfriend and a long step back into the 19th century to put things right.
Lockdown Tales by Neal Asher
Neal Asher has kept himself busy during the lockdown by writing five brand new novellas and novelettes and reworking one previous novella, all of them exploring the Polity universe and beyond. He’s collected them all into one book, for fans old and new.
Indie Book Celebration!
Since December doesn’t tend to have many new releases, let’s look back at some awesome indie books that came out over the last year! If you want to check out more SFF indie goodness, look at these replies over on Twitter.
Liquid Crystal Nightingale by EeLeen Lee
Pleo has survived the loss of her twin sister and the tragedy that utterly broke her father. She has one goal: to escape this colony, an attainable goal only for the rich or the lucky. Then she’s framed for the murder of a rival student who happens to be from a wealthy family, and she must go on the run. Escape might just destroy the old colony entirely…
Visitation Seeds by Ben Berman Ghan
Life has mysteriously sprung forth on the Moon, and humanity is all too eager to seize on this new land to colonize. Decades later, the dead are no longer laying quiet in the ground and murmurings of rebellion echo through the living. A cyborg is dispatched from earth to investigate, but she might uncover a secret that will undo all the life that has sprung up from the barren world.
Kill Three Birds by Nicole Givens Kurtz
Tasifa is a Hawk, one who investigates strange and difficult situations in the kingdom of Aves. She’s dispatched to a small mountain village where a young girl has been found dead… but when she arrives, she discovers the dead actually number three, and the town is filled with secrets and murder.
News and Views
I wish I could enthuse about all the cool stuff Disney revealed will be coming, but I can’t in good conscience do so until Disney pays Alan Dean Foster and stops endangering the livelihoods of authors everywhere.
Arkady Martine and Amal El-Mohtar in conversation at the Brooklyn Book Festival
Mary Robinette Kowal’s talk about her Lady Astronaut series for the 2020 National Book Festival
Michelle Sagara writes about The Emperor’s Wolves over at File 770
Tor.com has acquired two novellas from Christopher Rowe (full disclosure: Christopher and I have the same agent)
Sarah Gailey’s Personal Canons series has ended; here’s the wrap up post that indexes all the essays
I mentioned the effort to buy the Tolkien house previously… turns out the Trustees of the Tolkien Society have major reservations about the plan
Alex Brown’s recommendations for must-read speculative short fiction from November
A.C. Wise has done her round up for her favorite short fiction of 2020
A female-led Zorro? SIGN ME UP.
On Book Riot
This week’s SFF Yeah! is about mecha two ways
This month you can enter to win a $100 Books-A-Million Gift Card and a 1-year Kindle Unlimited subscription.
See you, space pirates. 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.