Happy first Friday in October, shipmates! It’s Alex, coming at you with a bunch more new releases because this week has been what is technically called a “doozy.” I hope everyone is getting some cooler weather to go with shorter days — and had a good start to the best month of the year! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!
Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders; and Entertainment Community Fund, which supports entertainment workers who are striking for living wages and a future where humans can continue to create art for each other.
Bookish Goods
Quoth the Raven Pillow by EccentricStarDesign
Appropriate for the season? Yes. But what sold me on the pillow was the little “nope.” It gave me a moment of Poe meets Effin’ Birds, and I love it. $25
New Releases
The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu
Shantiport is a city that was supposed to be great, once. Now it’s sinking both physically and culturally under the weight of its colonialist rulers. Lina loves her home city, though, and as the daughter of failed revolutionaries, she would do anything to save it. But when a tech billionaire coerces her and her brother — a monkey bot with an attitude — into getting a powerful (maybe even alien) artifact that will let him reshape reality with the power of three wishes, Shantiport will be changed forever.
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch by Melinda Taub
This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice in which Lydia Bennet reveals what truly happened after the end of the book, including the shocking truths that Kitty is actually a barn cat transformed, Wickham is indeed wicked because he is a demon, and Mr. Darcy is even more uptight about magic than he is about etiquette.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
As I mentioned on Tuesday, there were more than twenty-six new books this week. Asking me to pare it down to eight to tell you about is…painful but do-able. Trying to get it down to six or four would have been inhuman. So here’s a couple more new releases!
The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey
Julie Crew is a 30-year-old burnout with a lot of magic at her beck and call, so she’s trying to establish herself as a psychic operative in NYC, willing to work absolutely gruesome jobs to climb the ladder. But when being on the grind isn’t enough, she tries to get a leg up by summoning a guardian angel…and in so doing, accidentally releases an elder god that wants to destroy the entire galaxy.
Saevus Corax Deals With the Dead by K. J. Parker
“Battlefield salvager” isn’t really a job one applies for, and it doesn’t come with much training, either. It’s a “pick things up as you go” profession, a living only because someone has to deal with the dead. Saevus has made a decent amount of money and done his best to stay out of trouble…but one thing he hasn’t managed to bury as deeply as needed is his own past.
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.