Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex with some new releases — focusing on short stories this newsletter — and some fun space opera books. Because I got to see Love and Thunder this weekend and it was just the level of silliness than I needed in my life. I’m a fan of SFF that doesn’t take itself in the slightest bit seriously. I hope everyone had a lovely weekend, too. 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.
Bookish Goods
Valkyrie in Training shirt by iprintasty
I am in a Thor mood, and further I am very much a Valkyrie partisan, so I am all on board for this fun t-shirt that declares you’re a Valkyrie in training. $20
New Releases
Where You Linger by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
A series of interconnected short stories by acclaimed writer and poet Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, which ranges from past to future, from living to dead, and covers robot assassins, a group of friends stalked by the bones of extinct animals, a world where the rain can kill, and a woman who turns into a man-eating monster when she returns to her repressive hometown.
New Voices in Chinese Science Fiction edited by Neil Clarke, Xia Jia, and Regina Kanyu Wang
A collection of science fiction short stories by eight Chinese authors, newly published in English. The stories are by Shuang Chimu 双翅目, Liu Xiao 刘啸, Yang Wanqing 杨晚晴, Hui Hu 灰狐, Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu 慕明, Liang Qingsan 梁清散, Shi Heiyao 石黑曜, and Liao Shubo 廖舒波.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
In honor of Love and Thunder, which is an absolute ton of fun, here’s a couple of my favorite silly space opera books!
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
Captain Eva Innocente is a small-time operator who has some big-time problems, and that’s even before her sister gets kidnapped by a criminal syndicate who demands she do a bunch of dangerous missions as ransom. There’s also the angry space emperor who doesn’t understand how to take “no” gracefully, the cargo of psychic cats, and her cute engineer that she’s got a crush on.
Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines
After a mysterious plague made most humans into shambling near-zombies and destroyed our civilization, the alien Krakau took pity on us by still bringing us into the alliance of sentient species. Sort of. Humans are now at best part of the Earth Mercenary Corps, overseen by the Krakau, and at risk of turning into zombies at any moment… which is what happens when a bioweapon hits the good ship Pufferfish and leaves only the space janitors capable of rational thought.
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.