Author: Alex Acks

Navigating Foxes and Phantom Dragons

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 28, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m coming at you with your last September new releases. Because, indeed, it’s the next to last day of September. Almost time for…October. But not yet. I’m stuffing my plastic skeletons back in the closet for a couple more days, promise. We’re starting to get some leaves changing color around here already — I hope you’ve got some pretty sights coming your way! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday — in October!

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, plus five mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s 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

Green Galaxy Fox Metal Bookmark by ChocolateRaisinUK

Since we’ve got a fox book in the new releases this week, here’s an absolutely gorgeous fox bookmark to go with it! I just love the colors on this! $15

New Releases

Mermaids Never Drown: Tales to Dive For edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker

The second in the anthology series that started with Vampires Never Get Old, this is a 14 story collection of YA tales about people with fish tails…so to speak. Authors include Darcie Little Badger, Julie C. Dao, Preeti Chhibber, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, and more!

The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe

Quintus Shu’al is a navigating fox, the only in the world, and he’s in complete disgrace after navigating an expedition to its death. After a year of shame and shadows, he has a chance to redeem himself…if he can survive the job: leading a motley crew to the very gates of Hell.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

As we exit September, here’s a couple of small pub releases to round out the month.

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan

In the era of the Spanish Inquisition, Toba Peres is an enigma that must carefully hide her talents, such as her ability to write with both hands at once in two different languages. Naftaly, too, must hide that he dreams truths and sees what isn’t real. When the Queen of Spain demands that every Jew converts, Toba and Naftaly are just two among many who flee their homes. And it is they who discover a pomegranate grove that is an entrance into the mirror realm of Mazik, a place of immortals terrorized by its own Inquisition.

A Necessary Chaos by Brent Lambert

Vade is what’s called a Phantom Dragon, part of an anarchist faction that’s aiming to destroy the empire Althus is a Touchstone, an imperial agent, for. They’re assigned to spy on each other. Neither was supposed to fall for the other.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

3 Witches and a Ghost in a Cat Costume

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 25, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and we’re in the home stretch for September, being swept along by the endless tidal wave of super cool new releases. I am…exhausted, to be honest, because I’m dealing with real estate nonsense and nothing turns a brain to soup faster than trying to coordinate that much stuff. But hey, you can still bet I’m building a TBR for when all this is over and I can sit down in my domicile — which will have a designated reading nook — and read until I zonk out in a chair with an elderly cat on my face. Enjoy the new release selections for today: there are more good ones coming at you on Friday. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Parable of the Sower Hand Stickers by RiddleandJinx

These absolutely gorgeous vinyl stickers have one of the tenets of Earthseed from Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler split across them. I love these so much! $10

New Releases

Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor

A re-issue of an out-of-print novel, this is the start of a story about Ejii Ugabe, a girl living on a changed earth where the laws of physics aren’t quite what they used to be. At 9, she watched her father be murdered; while he was a corrupt and terrible politician, a child doesn’t understand those things. Now 15, she sets out to find her father’s killer, using the strange abilities she has begun to manifest…

The Undetectables by Courtney Smyth

The Undetectables are a detective agency run by three witches and a ghost hiding in a cat costume…well, to be fair, they’re just starting out, and their only case is unsolved. (The unsolved case? It’s the ghost in the cat costume.) But then they’re hired to find a serial killer stalking the occult town of Wrackton, they can hardly say no…and they’d better find the killer soon, before they become the next victims.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Why are there so many books in September? SO MANY. I have to tell you about more. I cannot in good conscience not mention these two as well!

The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde

Ife Adebola has been sent to the prestigious boarding school known as Nithercott, thanks to an Urban Achievers scholarship. She’d rather not be there, and does her best to steer clear of both the friendly and unfriendly faces. But when one of her classmates begins acting very weird, Ife begins to wonder what exactly is going on at the school…and what it might have to do with the school’s legend of the Changing Man.

The Salvation Gambit by Emily Skrutskie

Murdock is part of a four-woman crew, a petty thief turned successful hacker and con artist under the tutelage of the crew’s leader, Hark. They have been undefeated through many heists…until now. But when they’re caught and then tithed to a sentient warship that’s turned itself into an incredibly punitive prison, their next job is conning their way out of this place. Easier said than done, with the team starting to crack…and the AI in charge of the ship very interested in using a hacker like Murdock for its own devices.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Recently Banned SFF You Need to Read

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 21, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got two more new releases for you…and some recently banned books I want to spotlight, which is a far less happy occurrence. (I doubt it will come as any kind of surprise that I’m finding the ongoing campaign against particularly LGBTQ+ books…upsetting.) Please support your local libraries, fight back however you can, and read a banned book. Also, please have as good of a weekend as you can. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus five mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

LGBTQIA+ Books Save Lives T-shirt by angiepea

This shirt is not particularly SFF in its theme, but very in keeping with the books in the recommendations this Friday. It’s not an exaggeration to say that giving people books they can see themselves in (and books where they can learn to empathize with people unlike them!) saves lives. A T-shirt isn’t going to fix what’s happening right now, but it sure doesn’t hurt to make a statement. $30

New Releases

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake

The Aristene are an order of female warriors, but they are never the ones immortalized in legend. It’s their task to lead others to their victorious path. Reed is a young trainee in the order who wishes to be initiated. The only task left to her is to shepherd her first hero to glory. Too bad her assignment is both infuriating…and intriguing.

The Land of Lost Things by John Connolly

Ceres’s 8-year-old daughter Phoebe lies in a coma after a car accident, her spirit having fled her body. Ceres tries to call her back by reading fairy stories, but with little success…until an old house on the hospital grounds, which is connected to a book written by an author since mysteriously vanished, calls to Ceres and offers her a passage to the Land of Lost Things, where she just might find her lost daughter.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

I think we’re all aware at this point of the deeply gross right-wing push to ban books; SFF isn’t immune from that. There’s now a library in Virginia that may get shut down because its funding is being withheld over LGBTQ books. You can read more at The Guardian (and get the recommended reading list of books these total jerks are mad about). If you want to keep up with stories like this, subscribe to our Literary Activism newsletter.

There are quite a few titles that are familiar to me on the list, but I want to call out three in particular…

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

This is a story about a Lipan girl named Nina and a cottonmouth named Oli who comes from the land of spirits and monsters. After a catastrophe on Earth, the two will find each other and bring their worlds together in ways not seen in centuries. Darcie pointed out on Bluesky that this is the first book by a Native writer to win a Newbery honor…and that all three complainants against it admit to not having actually read the book.

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

Jam is a young girl in the city of Lucille, raised to believe that monsters no longer exist after the revolution that happened not long ago. But then she meets Pet, a creature who comes from one of her mother’s paintings, who has come to hunt a monster in Lucille…and the monster resides in her best friend Redemption’s house. I love this book in a very personal way, and like Darcie’s book, it’s one where there is zero sexual content. Its “sin” is the existence of queer people at all.

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

This is another book I absolutely love, which dares to feature queer characters and traditions outside the (white) (Christian) American mainstream. And it’s worth noting that this was the first time a book by an openly trans author about an inarguably trans character made it onto the NYT Bestseller List. This book is about Yadriel, a trans boy from a family that’s a long line of Brujas and Brujos, a lineage of very gendered magic that his existence challenges. In his quest to have his identity respected, he summons a ghost who refuses to leave— and, in doing so, stumbles into a mystery and a romance.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Courtiers to the Vampire King

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 17, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and we’re over the September hump, heading down to the best month of the year (in my opinion): October. But we’re not quite there yet, so I’ve got some new releases…and some more new releases because September continues to be a mass of new, awesome books. I am definitely detecting a spooky thread to the new releases, though, which I will attribute to both horror as a genre continuing with its renaissance and that, as I mentioned before, we’re approaching October. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Bookish Goods

Cultist Cats Coloring Pages by EccentricExprColor

I love doing a bit of coloring while I listen to audiobooks, and this seller on Etsy has a ton of fantastical coloring sheets for digital download! This one is for 50 sheets of anthropomorphic cats dressed up in fantasy religious robes, but there’s a whole array to look at…including 50 sheets of zombie Yorkshire Terriers. $4

New Releases

Candelaria by Melissa Lozada-Oliva

Candelaria’s granddaughters have all lost their way: archaeologist Bianca lost the dig of her life in Guatemala after being seduced by her advisor; after being missing for over a decade, Bianca has resurfaced as a wellness cultist in Boston renamed Zoe; Candy has the most ordinary troubles as a recovering addict left pregnant by a man who…might not actually exist. But Candelaria has kept her concerns to herself — until a cataclysmic earthquake hits Boston, and she must, for reasons known only to her, reach the Watertown Mall Old Country Buffet while battling strange monsters. We know only that doing this will save her granddaughters…and maybe the world.

The Court of Shadows by Victor Dixen, translated by Françoise Bui

Once known as the Sun King, Louis XIV embraced immortality and became the first vampire in the world, turning into the King of Shadows. Three centuries later, he still rules from the Court of Shadows in Versailles, maintaining the loyalty of his nobles with tithes of his subjects’ blood. Commoner Jeanne Froidelac survives the murder of her family by the king’s soldiers and takes on their legacy: a rebellion in its infancy that involves the secrets of alchemy. In pursuit of vengeance, she disguises herself and enrolls in a school for those who would be courtiers to the King of Shadows.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

As is my wont, I’m sneaking in more new releases for you today!

The Box by Mandy-Suzanne Wong

The box seems innocuous: small and white and made of strips of woven paper, impossible to open without being destroyed. And yet everywhere it passes in this collapsing metropolis, it causes confluences, conflicts, and disasters. Is it a truly inanimate object? And who says what is inanimate cannot have agency?

Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons

When an aspiring comedian named Raely survives a train wreck — one so disastrous that she’s the sole person to make it out — she discovers that she’s being followed by a ghost. But as ghosts go, this new friend (who may actually be a much older friend who has been following her all her life) she calls Casper is quite helpful and nice…which is good, because she’s also got a demonic spirit on her tail that would like nothing more than to destroy her.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Nightmare Houses and Magical Comas

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 14, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got a couple new releases and two book recommendations about rather awful houses because…well, I’m in the midst of trying to sell my house and it’s the stuff of nightmares. So that’s where my brain is at. I guess the upside is that with most of my earthly possessions already in boxes and my house staged to look like an Airbnb where I can’t touch most anything, I have no excuse not to get some reading done. Always look on the bright side, eh? Stay safe out there, space pirates, and pour one out for my sanity. I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus 5 mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

Magic Room Book Nook Kit by PatchDecoration

My best friend has started making these really cool miniature houses and shops from kits like this — and don’t be fooled, this is a kit you get the fun of building for yourself, unlike the couple other book nooks I’ve pointed out in the past. If you like doing miniatures, this kind of thing is super cute and a ton of fun! $57

New Releases

Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura

In the massive, magic-filled city of Astrum, people are falling into magical comas, and no one can find out why. Adrien Desfourneaux, a professor of magic struggling with disgrace, his own mental health, and a bad relationship, has an idea of why this might be happening, but the deck is stacked against him even without the political intrigue coming his way.

A Market of Dreams and Destiny by Trip Galey

The Untermarkt is a magical bazaar that lies beneath Covent Garden; it is a place where anything has a price, and the price is counted in time and life and experience paid. Deri was sold to a merchant there as a child, but sees his chance of freedom when he meets a princess who wants nothing more than to sell her royal destiny.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Let’s just say I’m having nightmares about houses right now, so that’s our theme!

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

When Mouse is tasked with clearing out her recently deceased grandmother’s home, she finds a horrifying task ahead of her; grandma was a hoarder, and the house is overflowing with garbage. And that’s before she discovers her step-grandpa’s diaries, which are full of nonsensical rants and cryptic references that she dismisses…until she meets one of the eldritch beings in the woods herself.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A socialite from Mexico City goes to a country estate to try to find out what’s gone wrong with her cousin, who married into a wealthy Anglo family. The house is a character in any good gothic tale, rotting from the inside out just like the horrible family filled with secrets it contains, and Mexican Gothic‘s house is no different.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

A Hamlet Murder Mystery in Space

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 11, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m coming at you today with a double dose of new releases, because September is just a massive flood of new books, apparently. I had a very busy weekend (trying to get ready to move, RIP me) but thankfully the weather’s been nice at least. It’s finally feeling like autumn, and I’m loving every second of it — because it definitely puts me in the mood to make a cup of tea and settle on the couch with a book. Have a great week, everyone. Stay safe out there, space pirates, I’ll see you on Friday!

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus 5 mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

Hamlet Book Scarf by Cyberoptix

I’m in a Shakespeare kind of mood thanks to Em X. Liu’s book (see below) being a Hamlet retelling. So I like this scarf that’s printed with the title page from the 1604 print of the play. And you can choose from a lot of colors! $48

New Releases

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

Hayden Lichfield has been working with his father on the Sisyphus Formula, which one day promises to reverse death. But when Hayden’s father is murdered in their lab and the security camera footage is conveniently erased, he already has plenty of motivation to investigate, even before discovering his father’s final message to him: Avenge me…

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

As beings birthed by human desires and fed by worship, gods are startlingly common…except in the kingdom of Middren, where they are forbidden. And Middren is kept free of their presence by “godkillers” paid to destroy any that manifest. Kissen became a godkiller after her family was killed by a fire god; her latest job has been to find a way to kill a small god of white lies that is bonded to the soul of a child — without killing the child.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

This is another September week with an abundance of good new releases, so you’re getting a double dose today!

Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo

Wanderer Cleric Chih returns to their home of the Singing Hills Abbey after nearly three years on the road because their mentor, Cleric Thien, has died. However, Thien was not always a simple cleric; they were once the patriarch of the Coh clan, and now their daughters want their body back for burial.

Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Ever since her younger sister, Sky, died, Sage Flores has been running from her family and their so-called “gifts.” Eight years later, she finally returns to her hometown and takes a job where she can use her ability to communicate with plants to find unusual specimens in the surrounding hills. With magic family drama already beginning, the last thing Sage needs is the boy who broke her heart in high school coming back into her life as a mature, sexy man.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

On the Run From an AI Assassin

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 7, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with a selection of new releases that I painstakingly winnowed out of the massive tidal wave of new books that hit this week. There’s a lot more coming at us this month — over 70 SFF new releases from just the bigger publishers — so brace yourselves and get ready to read! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus 5 mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

Metal Black Cat Bookends by ArtekaMetalWallArt

It’s been a minute since I found some cute bookends, and one of the covers this week has me thinking about cats… plus, these cute bookends remind me of my beloved black cat, Tengu. Perfect, adorable, and durable. $44

New Releases

Androne by Dwain Worrell

When all major military installations on Earth are wiped out by a completely unknown power, humanity creates the andrones, combat androids remotely piloted by soldiers who will never see the battlefield. Sergeant Paxton Arés is one such pilot, spending mostly uneventful days patrolling for an enemy that no one has ever even seen. But Paxton soon finds he cannot set his curiosity aside — he needs to understand the unknowable, no matter how dangerous the truth may be.

Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson

Anna thought that she would be with her sister, Emily, forever, happy to let Emily stand in the spotlight while she stayed quietly in the background. But when she finds out Emily is in fact moving away — on Emily’s wedding night — Anna stomps out of the reception and into a raging storm, where she soon has no choice but to take shelter in a mysterious hotel called the Houdini. This strange hotel suddenly puts Anna at the center of its attention, and she finds she enjoys it immensely — but if she doesn’t leave by the time the clock strikes midnight, she will be trapped there forever.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

The number of new releases this first week of September is absolutely stunning, so I had to tell you about two more, because I couldn’t choose!

What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts

Sayuri Komachi is the most enigmatic and mysterious librarian in Tokyo, with an uncanny ability to sense and find exactly what each visitor to her shelves is looking for — and needs.

Exadelic by Jon Evans

When an AI is trained on “black magic” rather than stolen, copyrighted material, it learns to hack reality itself… and then it decides that a middle manager named Adrian Ross is a threat that must be eliminated. If Adrian wants to survive, he has to not only go on the run and find a way off the grid, he must embark on a journey across time and worlds.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

Short Bites of SFF

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date September 5, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, coming in off a holiday weekend and…attempting to recover from it. Thus, I have focused today’s new releases and recommendations on anthologies, since short bites of fiction seem the best way to ease into life after a holiday. Also, I want to bring your attention to this Kickstarter, Embroidered Worlds: Fantastic Fiction from Ukraine and the Diaspora. That’s all from me for today — stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus 5 mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

Xenomorph-in-a-Jar Movie Prop Replica by SUstudios

These prop replicas based on the xenomorphs from Alien (which has also had books written about it!) look cool and could double as a bedside reading lamp if you would like to never sleep again. $35

New Releases

Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror and Delight edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown

This queer horror anthology features writers of color putting a new spin on classic tropes. Authors include Shelly Page, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Tara Sim, and more!

The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven edited by Neil Clarke

This is Neil Clarke’s seventh entry in his anthologies of cutting-edge science fiction, curated from everything that’s been published in the last year. Authors include Aliette de Bodard, Ken Liu, Hannu Rajaniemi, Tade Thompson, and more!

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Since today is anthology day, here are two more anthologies to check out!

Far Out: Recent Queer Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by Paula Guran

This anthology seeks to cover the rainbow of queer identity with its selections, as well as the full range of the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Stories by Tamsyn Muir, Nino Cipri, Nalo Hopkinson, Neon Yang, Amal El-Mohtar, and many more!

Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History edited by Rose Fox and Daniel José Older

This is an alternate history anthology composed of speculative stories that are set between 1400 and the early 1900s, focused on marginalized people. Authors include Sofia Samatar, Tananarive Due, Nghi Vo, and Troy L. Wiggins!

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.

Swords and Spaceships

An Intergalactic Pop-Up Restaurant

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date August 31, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m coming in with the final wave of new releases that are technically from the end of August, even though it’s September now. Yes, really. It’s September. I don’t believe it either. Imagine me saying “Time is a flat circle” in my best Matthew McConaughey voice. We’ve got a holiday weekend coming up (in the US at least), so I hope you have something fun and also relaxing planned. Well, I hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend ahead of you even if it isn’t a holiday! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Book Riot’s editorial team is writing for casual and power readers alike over at The Deep Dive! During the month of September, all new free subscribers will be entered to win Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler plus 5 mystery books from The Deep Dive. To enter, simply start a free subscription to The Deep Dive. No payment method required!

Bookish Goods

Dragon Book Nook by 3dGameCraft

As unlikely as it seems that someone might have space on their bookshelves to put something like this, dang this is a cool shelf decorator for anyone partial to dragons. $48

New Releases

Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim

Channi and Vanna are sisters who seem like opposites; Vanna is the greatest beauty of their village, while Channi was cursed with the face of a serpent when her father offered her in sacrifice to the Demon Witch. But they love and trust each other deeply, and when Vanna is offered up as the prize for a vulgar contest that will bring money to the village elders, Channi defends her sister from the cruelest of her “suitors.”

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea

Laura Mesny is a perfectionist — not unusual for a ballerina in the Parisian ballet — but she’s also Black, which sets her apart from her fellows in a way that makes it likely she’ll never take center stage. Until one day, she makes a deal with a river of blood in the Catacombs, which promises her adoration and fame, so long as she’s feeling sufficiently vengeful to climb over the broken bodies of her peers to reach it. As she ascends to fame, she simultaneously descends into madness — and becomes the target of a god-killer.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Second books in series often don’t get enough love, so here’s a couple I’d like to call your attention to!

The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle by T.L. Huchu

This is the third book in the series that starts with Library of the Dead. Ropa, who is a ghosttalker, arrives at the biennial conference of the Skeptical Enquirers and is immediately sucked into a mystery that’s not so much locked room as locked down creepy haunted castle. But Ropa’s got a secret weapon for solving a crime rife with powerful players — the many ghosts that occupy the castle.

The Lightstruck by Sunya Mara

Sequel to The Darkening. Vesper sacrificed everything to become a vessel of The Great Queen and thus save her city from the cursed storm. Three years later, she wakes to find that her city still lives in fear, but now not of a storm — The Great King and his army of lightstruck terrorize the people. And now that she’s awake, the people are looking for her to save them; she’s a goddess, after all.

Devil’s Gun by Cat Rambo

Sequel to You Sexy Thing. Niko and her crew are on the run from a vengeful pirate-king, and inconveniently enough, the intergalactic Gate that would take them to something approaching safety is shut down. So they make a pop-up restaurant to serve the other stranded ships and hope for the best…until an archaeologist shows up claiming to be able to fix the Gate and provide the crew with a weapon that could stop their enemy in his tracks.

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.

Swords and Spaceships

A Pop Star Alien Ambassador

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date August 28, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and boy howdy do I have a lot of new releases to tell you about today (and Friday). I don’t know why the publishers felt the need to stack them all up toward the end of the month, but YEESH. Hope you’ve got plans to read a lot for the upcoming holiday weekend! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Delighting velocireaders since 2017, Book Riot’s New Release Index will keep you in the know about all the latest books. All of them! For when my double features are not enough, because there are too many good books. Subscribe today — you won’t be able to read them all, but it’s fun to try!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s two places to start: Maui Aloha: The People’s Response, which sends support to those affected by the wildfires on Maui, particularly first responders. 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

Darmok and Jalad T-shirt by LeleArtworks

With Karen Lord’s new book coming out, I’m in a first contact kind of mood, and when I think first contact stories, I think of the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Darmok. This t-shirt design is just a delightful riff on it. $16+

New Releases

The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord

While climate change is transforming Earth into a more hostile place to humans, we are being watched from afar by alien civilizations…and they have decided to make contact. There are several humans interested in preparing their fellows for first contact, trying to reimagine society into one that cooperates with aliens. And they have a surprise ally: Owen, a pop star who has a hidden talent that allows him to do far more than connect with his adoring fans.

House of Marionne by J. Elle

Quell has lived all seventeen years of her life on the run with her mother, thanks to the deadly magic she must hide. But when someone finally catches onto her and her secret, she finds her only choice is to join a secret society of magical social elites called “the Order,” who will teach her to use her magic and hide her from the assassin that pursues her. But if she fails, at magic or at being a perfect debutante, she will die.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

There are so many awesome new books sneaking in before the end of the month, I’m going to give you a double dose of new releases today!

The Phoenix King by Aparna Verma

Born of prophecy, the Ravani kingdom is ruled by the Ravence, who command the Eternal Fire. The heir to the throne, Elena Aadya, is the only one of her family who cannot wield that magic, and so she must find another way to prove her worthiness to inherit. Into that mix is thrown Yassen Knight, an assassin who claims he is loyal to the throne…but Elena knows he must be hiding something.

A Second Chance for Yesterday by R.A. Sinn

SavePoint is a brain implant that rewinds the seconds of a person’s most embarrassing moments, and Nev Bourne, hotshot programmer, is working feverishly on the next rollout, to the extent that she’s basically ghosted everyone in her life. But when she tests SavePoint 2.0, she wakes up to discover that she’s fallen backward in time by a day…and it’s only going to get worse.

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.