Categories
Swords and Spaceships

A Rage Virus, Alien Bounty Hunters, Nihil Marauders, and More SFF New Releases

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got some fresh new releases, coming in hot for this very first day of February. I hope you all had a lovely weekend–I spent an absolutely embarrassing amount of time playing video games while I listened to audiobooks, but dang it was some relaxation I needed. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process


New Releases

Note: The new release lists I have access to weren’t as diverse as I would have liked this week.

Cover of This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi

Alizeh appears to be an unimportant and disposable servant–but she is the long-lost heir to a Jinn kingdom, hiding in plain sight for her own safety in the kingdom of a human. The crown prince, Kamran, already worries about the prophecies of his king’s death… but little does he suspect that a servant girl in his own house will be at the center of the coming storm.

The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson

Chelsea Martin is a housewife in an outwardly perfect marriage that is in fact a nightmare of domestic abuse perpetrated by her husband David. When a strange condition of unknown origin sweeps across the nation, causing anyone infected to explode into fits of animalistic rage and attack anyone nearby, Chelsea sees in it the opportunity to save herself and her daughter from the monster that’s been living with them all along.

Cover of Star Wars The High Republic: Midnight Horizon by Daniel José Older

Star Wars: The High Republic: Midnight Horizon by Daniel José Older

The Republic believes that it’s finally got the Nihil marauders beaten… until they seem to attack the Galactic Core itself, causing destruction on Corellia. Jedi Masters Cohmac Vitus and Kantam Sy and their Padawans are sent to investigate, though none of them are in the best mental place to be doing so, dealing with the after effect of months of danger and trauma. What they uncover shows the attack is not a lone incident, but part of a greater design aimed right at the Jedi.

Azura Ghost by Essa Hanson

Caiden has spent the last ten years constantly on the run, keeping his Graven ship, the Azura, out of the hands of Threi. His life has almost become a routine… until his childhood friend he’s long believed was dead reappears, and lures him into a far more deadly game of keep-away with Threi’s sister, Abriss. If he wants to survive and fly free, his will have to unlock the Azura’s full power… and confront his own origins.

Cover of Hunt the Stars by Jessie Mihalik

Hunt the Stars by Jess Mihalik

Octavia “Tavi” Zarola is the dedicated leader of a crew of bounty hunters, a found family she’ll do anything to keep together. Strapped for cash and at the end of her rope, she’s forced to take a job from her sworn enemy, a ruthless former general named Torran Fletcher. But with the amount of money on offer, it comes with a big catch–Torran and his own crew are going to be joining up with Tavi. As sparks fly between Tavi and Torran, they also uncover a plot that threatens the delicate peace between the humans and the alien Valoffs.

Make sure to get your own Read Harder Book Journal from Book Riot to track your reading for the year!

News and Views

An uplifting pandemic drama? How Station Eleven pulled off the impossible

Can science fiction wake us up to our climate reality?

An official biography of Sir Terry Pratchett is coming

And so is season 2 of Good Omens

Cora Buhlert’s roundup of indie speculative fiction for January 2022

Eric Schwitzgebel recommend five sci fi books that go deep into philosophy

How LeVar Burton Landed Whoopi Goldberg Her Role on Star Trek

JMS did a commentary video on the Babylon 5 episode “The Coming of Shadows”

Dungeons & Dragons & Novels: Revisiting The Halfling’s Gem

Welsh town to retell tale of how it built Star Wars‘ Millennium Falcon

Doctor Who fans find hidden Scots “Easter egg” in released scripts from the latest series

Studio Ghibli theme park!

On Book Riot

8 of the Best Queer Space Opera Books

Toil and Trouble: 8 Bewitching Books About Magic Schools

You can enter to win a copy of The Supervillain’s Guide to Being a Fat Kid by Matt Wallace

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!


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.