Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got some new releases for you and my three favorite WLW SFF books because I’m feeling self-indulgent and it’s my newsletter.
I am writing this to you with a purring cat in my lap who would not take “five more minutes” for an answer, so I’m going to cut this intro short because he’s making it super awkward. 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.
Trans Awareness Dragon’s Eye Soap by OrcDad Creations
The colors of this soap are gorgeous, it’s got a great mold, it’s honey apple-scented, and apparently it’s all vegan and non-synthetic materials, hand-crafted in small batches? I love all of that. $10.62
New Releases
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer translated by Shaun Whiteside
An Austrian science fiction classic translated into English, this is the story of a middle-aged woman who is on vacation in the mountains. One day she finds her hunting lodge surrounded by a mysterious, invisible wall. She must learn to survive and cope with loneliness, with only a few domesticated animals as companions.
The Seed of Cain by Agnes Gomillion
The leader of the worker rebellion, General Arika Cobane, makes a highly illegal play to win her people’s freedom that ultimately ends in failure. With her co-conspirator hanged for treason, she blacks out, only to awaken to a world where she’s been stripped of her power. The Kongo is now being lead by a traitor who will consign them all back to servitude in the name of peace. Arika must seek treatment for her blackouts and make new allies if she’s to save Kongo.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
It’s still Pride Month so we’re going to keep this train going! I’m going to be self-indulgent and tell you three of my absolute favorite WLW SFF books. If you’ve been subscribed to this newsletter for any length of time, I bet you can guess at least a couple of them…
Stormsong by C.L. Polk
The Entire Kingston Cycle is a delightfully queer, fantasy Edwardian series, and it is deeply dark and messed up beneath it all. I adore every one of these books. But this one is about Dame Grace Hensley, who has to figure out how to save her nation from horrendous winter storms that will kill thousands–but in a way that doesn’t repeat the horrifying mistakes of their past.
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
This was my number one book of 2020, hands down. It is a gorgeously written book about parallel worlds, the class divide, identity, and the ruthless calculus of survival. Cara’s a perfect multiverse traveler because she’s been murdered in almost every other reachable universe, gathering data from them for a shady corporation while under the watch of her handler, a woman she has complicated feelings for.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood
An orc named Csorwe is supposed to be sacrificed to a god whose name cannot be spoken… and instead she decides to put herself into the hands of a powerful mage and become an assassin in exchange for her life. This is delightful fantasy that reads like a D&D campaign I would desperately love to play in.
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.