Author: Jenn Northington

Hello and happy Tuesday, shapeshifters and spice mongers! Today we’ve got a bunch of book news including an Atwood cover reveal, a lost Merlin story, Dune casting continued, plus buzzy new releases, some ebook deals, and a review of The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik.

Ada von Hasenberg fled her family after her father tried to arrange a politically valuable, but personally undesirable, marriage. Now, after two years on the run, the spirited princess’s luck has run out. Thrown into a prison cell with the notorious former soldier Marcus Loch, she’s about to be returned to her father when her ship is attacked by a rival noble house – the man she was supposed to marry. If her jilted fiancé captures her, Ada will become a political prisoner. Her only hope is to strike a deal with the dangerous fugitive Loch – but if she’s not careful, she’ll lose much more than she bargained for…

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Let’s start on book and adaptation news:

You might recall that Margaret Atwood is writing a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, called The Testaments, and her publisher recently revealed the cover. Reactions are STRONG, y’all.

Also in cover reveals, Karen Lord’s Unraveling is one of my most anticipated reads of 2019 and just look at this gorgeous cover!

And in sequel news, Kat Howard has announced that there will be a sequel to An Unkindness of Magicians called A Sleight of Shadows, releasing in 2020.

Academics discovered new story material about Merlin of Arthurian legend in a book printed in the late 1400s, and I cannot wait for the full transcription omg.

In further Dune casting news, which is just getting bonkers at this point, Javier Bardem is in talks to play Stilgar and Oscar Isaac might play Duke Leto and Zendaya might play Chani, and I don’t even begin to know how to feel about all of this?!

CBS All Access is bringing viewers a new limited-series adaptation of The Stand by Stephen King. Watching the 1994 mini-series was a formative moment in my life, and this religiously-apocalyptic pandemic novel is my favorite of his bar none, and therefore I feel personally attacked by this news. Will they finally get my $5 a month!? Stay tuned, friends.

A few of this week’s new releases to keep an eye on:

A People’s Future of the United States, edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams

Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (which I’m reading right now, stay tuned for a future review and in the meantime, trigger warning for every kind of violence under the sun to all possible persons)

The Ruin of Kings by Jenny Lyons (the buzz has been strong on this one)

And here are your ebook deals:

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison, $0.99.

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark, $3.99.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (reviewed here), $2.99.

Today’s review is for a backlist title that recently jumped out of the library and into my heart.

The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Content warnings: domestic violence; rape; racially motivated violence; narrow representation of Native Americans.

I found this book through the magic of late night library e-book browsing, and it feels like a book I should have read years ago. It’s got real-world-plus-magic, nuanced characters, takes a hard look at racism, immigration in America, the gaps between generations, identity, and love, and it reads like a dream.

Tilo, our narrator, was born a long time ago in a land far away, and through a tangled personal journey (including sea snakes and pirates!) discovered that she has a talent: she can see into people’s hearts and souls, and name their troubles. That talent also means that she had the ability to learn the magic of spices, which have the power to help heal or harm (please note, I will never look at ginger or cinnamon the same way). But to become a Mistress of Spices, you have to let go of your time, physical being, and identity, and accept the mission you are given. Hers takes her to Oakland in modern times (well, modern-ish — this book was published in 1998) and gives her the body of an old woman, where she runs a small spice shop and dispenses her magic unbeknownst to her customers. There are many rules, and she follows them willingly, until the night a lonely stranger walks into the store. He’s struggling to make peace with his own identity, and his pull on Tilo is almost irresistible.

Tilo must decide what her powers mean to her; she has to figure out who exactly she is; she has a chance at love, but it’s not a fairytale in the slightest; and most importantly, she has to help the people around her — and make sure her help doesn’t make things worse. There are heartbreaking moments in here, alongside the magical ones, as well as a deep-dive into the Indian-American experience, and I was gripped from the first to the last page. It’s not a perfect book, but it is a beautiful one, and it gave me many feelings.

Side note, I just discovered there is a movie version!? Will watch and get back to you all.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

The spice must flow,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday and happy first day of February, wargs and woozles! Today we’ve got linky goodness from around the web including a Hugo Awards explainer, a Star Wars reading order, fan-art, and a review of the Folio Society edition of Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, introduced by Nalo Hopkinson and illustrated by Francis Vallejo.

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This newsletter is sponsored by DAW Books.

Collected for the first time in an omnibus edition, discover the Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning sci-fi trilogy that tells the story of Binti, a young Himba girl with the chance of a lifetime: to attend the prestigious Oomza University. But after the jellyfish-like Medusae attack her spaceship, Binti must fend for herself, alone with the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination. If Binti is to survive this voyage and save the inhabitants of the unsuspecting planet that houses Oomza Uni, it will take all of her knowledge and talents to broker the peace.

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This week on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I got very excited about this year’s Hugo awards, and here’s a reminder that you can (and should) nominate and vote, plus a step-by-step tutorial on how!

If you too feel like you’ve been dumped into the wrong timeline, here are some parallel universe reads that might make you feel better. (Or worse? Or just the same; mileage, it varies!)

Looking for advice on where to start with the many recent Star Wars books? Kristina breaks it down for you!

SF/F by female authors is often mistakenly categorized as YA, and this piece has some thoughts on how and why it happens.

Baby, it’s cold outside … excuse me while I put every one of these superhero hoodies on my wishlist (but particularly that Cap. Marvel one, holy wow).

Winter is here, obviously, and we’ve got 50 Game of Thrones quotes to use around the fire (or in work emails or whatever).

This is such a simple fan-art concept, and yet this Meet Cute piece gave me feelings.

In today’s review, we’re gonna talk about Books as Art.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, with an introduction by Nalo Hopkinson, illustrated by Francis Vallejo

If you’re not familiar with the Folio Society, be prepared to drool. They do beautifully packaged and illustrated editions of classics, and have more modern titles alongside standbys like Alice in Wonderland and The Time Machine. One of their latest releases is an incredibly lush edition of Anansi Boys, and wowza.

Anansi Boys was actually the first book by Neil Gaiman that I ever read, probably close to 20 years ago now, and I’ve somehow never revisited it. My intention was just to read the new Hopkinson intro and then page through this Very Fancy, Oh God Must Not Get Food On It edition; I started reading and found myself five chapters in before I knew it. I hadn’t realized that Gaiman reached out to Hopkinson for help with the Caribbean dialogue and details when he was first writing it, and Hopkinson’s notes both on what that process was like and on ‘nancy stories’ are wonderful. And rediscovering Fat Charlie and Spider was a pleasure, especially since I did an American Gods reread not too long ago. I’ll definitely be finishing the book, and glorying in seeing the art unfold alongside the text this time around.

I say this time around, because absolutely the first thing I did upon receiving this book was to page through and find each and every one of Vallejo’s illustrations. There are the chapter splash pages, which tell their own spider story; full-color pages scattered throughout that are a glorious riot of color and style; and the black and white drawings that share space with text, grace notes bringing specific moments of plot to life. I love the range of texture and media Vallejo employs; his art feels just as exuberant, dynamic, and moody as the story itself. There’s a lovely video interview with him here — it’s very thoughtful, and also gets into the nitty gritty of how one specific illustrator approaches a task like this.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the price-tag is high; at $135, this isn’t a casual purchase for most readers. If you want an entirely new reading experience and a killer intro from Nalo Hopkinson, put it on your wishlist or in your birthday budget; you won’t regret it.

Bonus: Hopkinson is also part of the team writing new installments in the Sandman universe, which you should check out if you have not already!

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, archers and aeronauts! Today we’re talking about Robert Jordan’s first ever novel, another bookish lawsuit for Netflix, another exciting adaptation deal, A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Mulholland Books.

In a strange alternate society that values law and truth above all else, Laszlo Ratesic is a nineteen-year veteran of the Speculative Service. He lives in the Golden State, a place very similar to California, a place where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life and governance impossible. In the Golden State, knowingly contradicting the truth—speaking a lie—is the greatest crime. Stopping those crimes is Laz’s job. A mind-bending vision of America, Golden State is a wild journey into our post-truth society, a Fahrenheit 451 for our anxious times.

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Let’s start out with a little book news, shall we?

Here’s a cover reveal for Fran Wilde’s new novel in the Gemworld series.

Tor is publishing Robert Jordan’s first-ever, previously unpublished novel, and I would like to be on the record as unsure whether this is every a good idea.

Fans of the She-Ra reboot, rejoice! We’re getting a novel that ties into the first two episodes.

And in the adaptation world:

The Wheel of Time TV show starts production this fall, which means we’ll probably actually get a show at some point.

Empire of Sand (reviewed here) has been optioned! Huzzah!

Here’s the Umbrella Academy trailer.

Nicholas Hoult is going to play JRR Tolkien in this biopic and I feel old, anyone else remember him in About a Boy?

The hits keep coming for Netflix (the not-good kind); now they’re being sued by Chooseco, makers of Choose Your Own Adventure novels, over Bandersnatch.

Buzzy new releases for this week:

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo

Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett

And here are some deals for your digital library:

A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell, $1.99

Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri, $4.99 (just read it already)

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, $4.99 (old school)

Today’s review is for a novel about a space princess set in a world inspired by Indian mythology, and some of you are already sold.

A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy #1) by Sangu Mandanna

I heard a lot about this book when it came out, and I am happy to report that the reading experience lived up to the promise. How far would you go for family? The characters in A Spark of White Fire must each find an answer, and their answers will change the world.

Our heroine Esmae has grown up an orphan on Wychstar, exiled from her family by a curse and hidden away in obscurity. She yearns for nothing more than to be reunited with them, and has spent years of her young life planning and training for that day. (She’s basically Cinderella on Deep Space 9, and I am here for it.) Opportunity has come knocking: the king of Wychstar built a sentient, gods-blessed, unbeatable spaceship called Titania, and he’s holding a contest. The victor of the contest will win Titania, and every royal in the galaxy will be competing. It’s a beautiful plan: Esmae will win the contest and the ship, and then take it to help her deposed family regain their throne on Kali. Despite the warning of the goddess Amba, she sets out to do just that — and learns that even with her brilliant tactical mind, the best laid plans often go awry. There’s an enemy prince who turns out to be much more complex — and much more interesting — than she could have imagined; her long-lost family is less than overjoyed to see her; and the deeper into her plot she gets, the less people seem to be who she thought they were.

Esmae is prickly, headstrong, and so believable. She knows her faults, but she also knows her strengths, and watching her defy everyone, even fate itself, to work toward her goals was both harrowing and a joy. I also loved how Mandanna depicted her community; so many heroines, both in YA and adult, are loners or lacking in support, and it was a real pleasure to watch someone with friends and found family from the start, and to see her struggle with all the emotions (positive and negative) that go with those ties. Then there’s the world-building, lush and evocative, a breath of fresh air in the space opera genre.

Complicated family dynamics, tangled loyalties, political backstabbery, a sentient spaceship, and an inclusive cast of characters (in sexual orientation, ability, and ethnicity) — it’s reader catnip, I tell you, catnip! And while I know the basics of the Mahabharata, from which Mandanna is drawing her inspiration, I think this book will be accessible to readers regardless of their familiarity with her source material. (For those who would like to know more, here’s an interview.)

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

May your arrows fly true,
Jenn

Happy Friday to all you travelers from past, future, and present! Today we’re talking about fantasy graphic novels, subverted gender roles, recaps for series, sharks, and Long Division by Kiese Laymon.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Tor Teen.

In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, eighteen-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. When her magic is discovered by the government, she’s arrested and brought to the Emperor’s spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship. On board Soliton, nothing is as simple as it seems. She doesn’t expect to have to contend with feelings for a charismatic fighter who shares her combat magic, or for a fearless princess who wields an even darker power.

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Y’all, we had a World of Fantasy Day on Book Riot and there was so much good content, I’m just going to link to the full round-up of posts. If you’re looking to read lots of different kinds of fantasy from lots of different parts of the globe, get clicking.

And if you’d like more graphic novels in your fantasy diet, here’s a great post for that.

On Tuesday I noted that Leigh Bardugo’s work will be adapted by Netflix; if you’re not sure where to start with her work and want to catch up, we’ve got a reading pathway!

So far this month on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I have talked about some of our most anticipated stand-alones and sequels of 2019.

Where is the petition to make recap chapters a thing in series books? I will gladly sign it.

Subversion of gender roles is one of my favorite things to see in SF/F novels, and this round-up of five includes a couple I haven’t read yet!

Which SF author correctly predicted the Internet? To be quite honest I would not have predicted any of these three possible names!

Scientists for the continued win: a shark is now named after Galaga!

Today’s review is for a book that takes time travel into rarely-traveled territory.

Long Division by Kiese Laymon

Trigger warnings: family violence, racial violence, use of slurs

Laymon is currently best known for his nonfiction writin, in particular his intense memoir Heavy (which I talked about on All the Books), but his first novel is a meta-fictional time travel novel that is well worth your time if you like weird, funny, and heart-breaking coming-of-age novels.

Long Division takes place across two narratives. In 2013, Citoyen “City” Coldson melts down on a nationally-televised vocabulary contest and has to deal with his sudden infamy, structural and overt racism, and the everyday hazards of teenage life. His one comfort during the aftermath of his meltdown is a book called Long Division by an unknown author. Chapters from this internal Long Division are woven into City’s story, and follow the exploits of another young black boy named City who lives in 1985 and discovers a hole in the woods that allows him to travel back and forward in time — but only to two specific times, 2013 and 1964. As the story moves back and forth the two narratives become increasingly intertwined, and the various characters have to choose when and how they want to live — and what that might mean for those they love.

I’m a sucker for a “book within a book,” and time travel well-handled (NO TIME LOOPS, PLEASE) is another personal favorite, so this book was like catnip. We so rarely get time travel books about characters of color, much less teenaged ones, and Long Division contemplates both its pleasures and dangers through an adolescent perspective. The results are refreshing, occasionally hilarious, and also made me want to reach into the book and yell “OH GOD DON’T DO THAT!”. But let there be no doubt that this book is not breezy or light-hearted — the issues City and his friends encounter are real, dangerous, and life-changing.

If you’re down for a weird, wild ride that will make you sit up, pay attention, and think about it well after the last page, pick this up ASAP, particularly if you’re a fan of Charles Yu, Victor LaValle, and/or Jeff VanderMeer.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Don’t step on any butterflies,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, vampires and Vogons! Today we’ve got some exciting book news including a cover reveal and sequel announcement, new releases, ebook deals, and a review of my first ever (I know, I know!) Terry Pratchett read.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Flatiron Books.

Enchantée by Gita Trelease transports readers to the glittering and magical world of 1870s Paris. After her parents die, Camille must find a way to provide for her sister by transforming scraps of metal into money. But soon she begins to pursue a more dangerous mark: the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Camille transforms herself into a baroness and is swept up into life at Versailles. She meets a handsome young inventor, and begins to believe that love and liberty may both be possible. But magic has costs, and when revolution erupts, Camille must choose—before Paris burns.

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In straight-up-book news:

I loved CB Lee’s Not Your Sidekick (it’s an awesome queer superpowered teen adventure) and we’ve got the cover reveal and an excerpt for Not Your Backup (June 1), the third book in the series. Note to self, time to catch up!

Daniel José Older (Shadowshaper, Half-Resurrection Blues) is moving from straight-up fantasy to magical realism with his new novel, The Book of Lost Saints.

Melissa Albert fans (:looks pointedly at Sharifah:), rejoice! The Night Country, a sequel to Hazel Wood, is happening.

In adaptation news:

Netflix is adapting Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows in one eight-episode series, what what!

For my Trekkies, a new novel in the Discovery‘verse has been announced, which will follow the Enterprise during the Klingon War. AND Michelle Yeoh is getting her own spin-off TV series, OMG.

Also in screen-to-page news, a prequel novel for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina has been announced and Sarah Rees Brennan (In Other Lands) is writing it!

New releases:

The Kingdom of Copper by SA Chokraborty (reviewed here)

Tor.com Publishing Editorial Spotlight #1: A Selection of Novellas (please ignore this terrible title, this is CHOCK FULL of amazing work including stories by JY Yang and Kai Ashante Wilson)

Ebook deals:

The Lilith’s Brood ebook set by Octavia Butler is $2.99, a lot of bang for your buck (tw: graphic alien sex, coercion)

Torn by Rowenna Miller is $1.99 (this one’s high on my TBR, as several other folks I trust loved it)

All Systems Red (Murderbot #1) by Martha Wells is $3.99 (highly recommend)

And now, let me be the zillionth person to recommend Terry Pratchett to you!

Wyrd Sisters (Discworld #6; The Witches #2) by Terry Pratchett

Over the holiday break, I read my first ever Terry Pratchett. I know, I know — how does someone who works in SF/F for a living get to their mid-30s without reading him? I don’t know what to tell y’all except to say that there are many many many books in this world. Fortunately Sharifah talks about him all the time on SFF Yeah!, and my library had Wyrd Sisters available when I was late-night whim-surfing their ebook catalog. (I was looking for The Wee Free Men, but the fates had other plans.)

Those of you already inducted into the Pratchett Fan Club will be unsurprised to hear that I loved it; for those like me who haven’t gotten around to him yet, despite the fact that (or possibly because?) there are eleventy-jillion Discworld books, this is both a great stand-alone and enough of a tease to make me want to dive further into the series.

A rompy Shakespearean mash-up, Wyrd Sisters follows the three Very Eccentric witches of Lancre as they meddle in the recently-overturned succession of the throne. They’re minding their own business, having a perfectly normal coven meeting, when some guardsmen chase a man holding a baby right into their midst. There’s nothing for it but to save the child, send him away with a group of traveling players, and feel confident that destiny will return him when the time is right — but of course, it’s not that simple. We also meet the not-very-bright but highly indignant ghost of a murdered king, a playwright who is haphazardly channeling the creative zeitgeist, a put-upon jester, and a very troublesome cat named Greebo.

Pratchett has a distinctly British sense of humor and, as I’m already a Monty Python and Douglas Adams fan, it works for me. I suddenly understand the great affection fans have for Granny Weatherwax, although I think if pressed my actual favorite would be Nanny Ogg (must learn that hedgehog song!). It was a delight picking out the bits of Macbeth and Hamlet, and getting both a small-town story via the Lancre witches and a tromp through greater Discworld via the players balanced the book nicely. I inhaled the whole thing in a matter of hours, and am currently first in line on the hold list for Equal Rites; I’ll be working my way through the other Witches books when I can squeeze them in between work-reading.

In conclusion: come on in, the water’s fine.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, djinns and direwolves! Today we’ve got linky goodness from around the interwebs including military sci-fi, some ungreat news about the Earth’s magnetic pole, vampires, a review of The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Nightchaser by Amanda Bouchet.

Captain Tess Bailey and her ragtag band of thieves are wanted criminals. They steal from the “haves” to give to the “have nots.” Even though her heart is in the right place, her actions still get her into trouble – and there’s no trouble greater than the dreaded Galactic Overseer Novalight. After stealing a top-secret military laboratory and inciting Novalight’s rage, Tess and her crew manage to escape—and miraculously survive. Docked on their new planet, Tess encounters the tall, dark, and haughty bounty hunter Shade Ganavan, who has to decide if he wants to turn them over to the Galactic Overseer and be set for life, or if the real payoff is winning Tess’s heart.

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Been hearing about Nnedi Okorafor but not sure which of her books is for you? There’s a Reading Pathways for that.

Always wanted to get into military sci-fi but not sure where to start? We’ve got a guide! (And a shout-out to Ninefox Gambit, very good.)

Need more vampires and/or manga in your life? Have we got a list for you.

If you’re not sure what you should be picking up this month, Swapna has a January round-up for you.

And if you need more SF/F by Latinx authors in your life, this list is VERY GOOD (Malka Older! Silvia Moreno-Garcia! Plus new names for me!).

I feel like I’ve been reading fiction about the flipping of the magnetic poles since I was a teen — and apparently we’re getting a lot closer to that actually happening, so keep ’em coming.

Now listen, I know I put “books to read if you like Doctor Who” lists in here on the regular, but this one is actually made up of books ABOUT Doctor Who!

I don’t even know how to begin talking about this sequel, let’s see what happens.

The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty

Y’all. Have you read The City of Brass yet? If not, save this newsletter for a later date, because I don’t even know how to begin talking about the sequel, The Kingdom of Copper, without spoilers. If you need a short pitch for the series, it’s an Islamic-mythology inspired epic fantasy featuring a thief/con artist heroine, a powerful djinn with a very dark past and a lot of secrets, and a magical city being torn apart by tribal warfare and prejudice.

Let the spoilers begin!

When we last left our fictional babies, Nahri was about to marry Muntadhir, Alizayd had vanquished Dara and then been banished, and Ghassan al Qahtani was busy being the absolute worst. Kingdom of Copper opens up with a prologue featuring Nahri’s wedding night, Ali’s wanderings through the desert, and … a thing I refuse to spoil for you. I do have my limits!

Then we jump five years into the future, which initially made me nervous — five years is, after all, a BIG jump. But Chakraborty clearly knows where she’s going, and after a quick adjustment so does the reader. Nahri has claimed her healing power but is still struggling to retain any agency outside the sickroom, while Alizayd just wants to be left out of his family’s politics and also figure out what the hell that marid did to him. When Ali is forced to return to Daevabad and sucked right back into the city’s unrest, he and Nahri find themselves working together on an ambitious project that they hope will heal the growing rifts between the tribes. (They are very wrong.)

This is not a short book, and the pacing varies between almost frenetic action sequences and slower character vignettes. But that was fine by me — I’m very attached to these characters, and the action had me on the edge of my seat. I also had an intense need to reach into the book and strangle certain characters until they made better choices and/or pulled their heads out of their asses, which is what makes this sequel so compelling. And the cliffhanger at the end! If you thought the last chapter of City of Brass was rough, just you wait.

Chakraborty continues expandin her world and mythology, offering new insights into her characters, tackling the fall-out from prejudice and bigotry, and creating an immense amount of tension in the meantime. I will be over here anxiously awaiting the next installment, if you’d care to join me.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

May the wind be ever at your back,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, centaurs and Alpha Centaurians! Today we’ve got anticipated reads, Game of Thrones show updates, some very exciting new releases, a review of Resist: Tales From a Future Worth Fighting Against, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

We’re giving away $100 to the bookstore of your choice! Enter to win by signing up for Unusual Suspects, our mystery/thriller newsletter about new releases, book recommendations, book deals, and more. Enter here.

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Book news is a bit light this week, but as usual the adaptation trains are rolling: 

More-more Most Anticipated! We’ve got our full Riot list up, and you can sort by SF and F if you so desire.

The Game of Thrones prequel show has revealed some new cast members and a director for the pilot episode, S.J. Clarkson. I am rooting for a female director’s involvement, so my fingers and toes are crossed.

If you wanted a refresher on the status of the Lord of the Rings prequel show, The Nerdist has you covered. (Also I did not know that tidbit about Simon Tolkien getting disinherited [?!] briefly over his involvement!)

And the Dune remake is moving along, and recently cast Dave Bautista as “Beast” Rabban and Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Harkonnen, cool cool cool. I will say that while I’m not familiar with Rebecca Ferguson’s work, visually she’s a ringer for the Lady Jessica in my head.

This has been moldering in my inbox since December (woops) but better late than never: House DeFraction, a.k.a. Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction, inked a big TV deal, and now I desperately need a … movie? mini-series? show? whatever! of Bitch Planet.

And this week in exciting new releases:

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee (I have GOT to get my hands on this)

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (loved her first book, curious about this one)

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (magical Parisian alt-history, yes yes yes)

In ebook deals, here are some genre stand-bys you can pick up on the cheap:

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, $1.99

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb, $1.99

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney, $1.99

And now, for an anthology that also does good (a minimum of 50% per sale goes to the ACLU).

Resist: Tales From a Future Worth Fighting Against, edited by Gary Whitta, Christie Yant, and Hugh Howey

It seems to me that you can tell right from the get-go whether or not this collection is for you based on the premise: “Join twenty-seven of today’s top science fiction authors as they write about possible tomorrows we hope to avoid, drawing on challenges taken from today’s headlines.” Art, gender, fake news, AI, trolling, religion, the consumer industrial complex, you name it and someone has written about it. The contributor list for this collection is both extensive and impressive: Charlie Jane Anders, Elizabeth Bear, Charles Yu, John Scalzi, Saladin Ahmed, I could literally go on and on. And with 27 stories to talk about, it’s very hard to give an overview. It goes in so many directions, with so many different experiments in narrative as well as plot; poetry, second-person narration, non-linear, epistolary, everyone is playing with everything.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you’ve probably guessed that all of this adds up to a “Hell, yes!” from me. While I’ve been working more optimistic reads (hi, solarpunk!) into my book diet, I’m also up to watch authors play with darker scenarios, and four of these in particular caught my eye.

“Monster Queens” by Sarah Kuhn imagines what might happen if aliens hijacked a teen beauty pageant, because Sarah Kuhn is hilarious and amazing. I laughed, I gasped, I chewed on my fingernails, and I thoroughly appreciated how Kuhn dives into beauty standards, competitive and performative femininity, and gives us page-turning action sequences (including, naturally, baton twirling). Also funny — in a dark and twisted way — is “The Arc Bends” by Kieron Gillen, which follows a man who chose to have his head cryogenically frozen in hopes of being brought back in the future. He is — only to be put on trial for the crimes of the 21st century. Gillen gives us multiple futures, all narrated by the head in question, and it’s a genius, cringe-and-laugh-inducing concept.

It’s hard to pick an absolute favorite but “Bastion” by Daniel H. Wilson might be it; told in transcripts, it follows the capture and interrogation of a young human who was raised by rogue AI. Having read a fair amount of Wilson’s work (The Clockwork Dynasty, reviewed here) including short stories (Guardian Angels and Other Monsters, reviewed here), I wasn’t surprised that I liked it, but I was perhaps not prepared for how much I loved it. If you too were raised on and shaped by Space: Above and Beyond, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica, you need this story in your life.

Last but not least is my favorite new-to-me, and one of the stories I’ll be pondering for some time, “Three Points Masculine” by An Owomoyela. Examining gender in a future where it is assessed and licensed by the U.S. government, and in which there’s a civil war on, Owomoyela (who is nonbinary) digs into the tangled, complicated ways in which performance, identification, and public “acceptance” bounce and rebound off each other, and reminds us that these issues are more complex than many of us like to think.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, hobgoblins and harbingers! Today I’ve got some winter reads for you, beer pairings, a vampire quiz, a review of Slayer by Kiersten White, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Disney Publishing Worldwide.

The gripping sequel to New York Times best-selling authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner’s romantic sci-fi adventure, Unearthed. Trapped aboard the Undying’s ancient spaceship and reeling from what they’ve learned there, scavenger Mia and academic Jules are plunged into a desperate race to warn their home planet of the danger humanity’s greed has unleashed. From the mountains of Spain to the streets of Prague, the sequel to Unearthed is a white-knuckle ride that will send readers hurtling back to earth, and leave them breathless until the last page.

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Correction: Jade War‘s publication date has been pushed back to July 23, LE SIGH. Please to update your calendars accordingly!

What do people eat in the future? This piece on sci-fi’s obsession with, or lack of thought on, food is an interesting one and goes from Star Trek to The Broken Earth trilogy.

For my beer-lovers: Alex has new winter pairings of SF/F with brews, and they are mouth-watering.

Speaking of winter, here’s a round-up of SF/F to warm up your January, and it’s got titles I hadn’t heard of!

It’s been almost a year since Ursula Le Guin passed away, and this lengthy (and worth it) interview with Charles Vess about the process of collaborating with her on the illustrated Books of Earthsea is a lovely memoriam.

Whether or not you read according to your Hogwarts house, this round-up of paranormal and fantasy romance from 2018 is :chef_kiss:.

Which famous vampire are you? We’ve got a quiz, and I am apparently the little girl from Let the Right One In, run for your lives.

And speaking of vampires!

Slayer (Slayer #1) by Kiersten White

Trigger warning: mentions of child abuse

I have been eagerly awaiting this new series, and I am happy to report that Slayer is a fun, world-expanding, page-turning addition to the Buffyverse. White is clearly a huge fan, and her take on a slayer origin story has a lot going for it.

The story picks up after the events of the Season 7 finale and is part of the same continuity as the comics (as per White’s Twitter, I am not current on those and cannot verify), and this piece answers a lot of questions about how this fits into the broader multi-media storyline. I can assure you that familiarity with the TV show alone is plenty, and not strictly necessary at that. Our heroine, Nina, is the quiet, overlooked twin while her sister Artemis has all the combat training, physical skills, and confidence. Raised by Watcher parents, they’re holed up in a castle in Ireland laying low and trying to figure out what happens now that the Watcher Council has been decimated, magic has been banished from the world, and rogue Slayers and demons are both roaming freely. Nina has been training as a medic and dreaming of ways that the Council and the Slayers could heal, instead of just stabbing/staking everything they come across — and as far as she is concerned, Buffy is the worst of the lot.

When an incident with a hellhound reveals that Nina is actually a Potential now coming into her Slayer powers, her entire life is turned upside down. Her mother has been keeping huge secrets, her relationship with her sister is falling apart, and she’s helping a friend hide a demon in a shed. Her life, in other words, has become Very Complicated. As the plot unfolds, Nina finds herself part of a much bigger schism within the Watcher ranks, and her enemies might be closer to her than her friends.

White excels at capturing the confused, angsty teenage voice here, as well as the heart of what made Buffy so special to me: being a teenager is hell already. How do you figure out who you are when the world is telling you one thing, your family is telling you another, and a voice inside you is telling you something completely different? Nina’s growth from angry, resentful, and confused to determined and strong was a joy to follow. Throw in lots of action, an underground supernatural fighting ring, demons galore, and a nicely played twist at the end, and you’ve got Slayer.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, shapeshifters and Silurians! Today we’re looking at the first round of book news for the year including a beetle named after a dragon and a new book from Cixin Liu, plus new releases to get excited about and the most anticipated sequels of 2019.

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This newsletter is sponsored by The NOVL.

After the shocking revelations and betrayals in The Cruel Prince, Jude continues to navigate the Faerie world as a mortal. Unable to trust her family and dangerously drawn to the cruel prince of Elfhame, Cardan, Jude will do anything to hold on to the power she’s fought for.

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Let’s get newsy with it:

Continuing the “most anticipated” trend, we’ve got two roundups for just fantasy.

And here’s Tor.com’s most anticipated. Y’all, there’s a lot of anticipation going around.

Three new beetles got named after the Game of Thrones dragons! This is exactly the kind of scientific content I would like to see in the world.

Vulture is tracking 2019 fantasy adaptations for you, very kind and useful of them.

And IN VERY EXCITING BOOK NEWS we’re getting a stand-alone Cixin Liu novel in October!

Speaking of adaptations, here’s a look at Joe Hill’s NOS4A2 casting (TERRIFYING).

And here’s a cover reveal for Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth, which is a queer swords-and-necromancers story that I am going to be keeping an eye out for!

Some new releases to keep an eye out for: 

The Kingdom of Copper (The Daevabad Trilogy #2) by S.A. Chakraborty

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4) by Seanan McGuire

The Winter of the Witch (Winternight #3) by Katherine Arden

The Girl King by Mimi Yu

And some ebook deals to take advantage of:

The Witches of New York by Ami McKay (reviewed here) is only $1.99.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is $1.20.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin (a personal favorite among her works) is $2.49.

And now, for the promised Most Anticipated Sequels of 2019 (through June, because I had to stop somewhere):

Mahimata (Asiana #2) by Rati Mehrotra (Mar 5)
I loved Markswoman (reviewed here) a ton: a future Asia in which warrior women wield supernatural daggers, aliens have left dangerous artifacts strewn about the continent, and a power struggle has sent our heroine on the run.

The True Queen by Zen Cho (Mar 12)
Y’all, we have been waiting for this sequel to Sorcerer to the Crown for actual years, and I am going to literally throw a party when I get my hands on this book. And we get new characters, sisters Muna and Sakti, who must make the journey to England to talk to the Sorceress Royal (#TeamPrunella)!

The Rosewater Insurrection (Wormwood #2) by Tade Thompson (Mar 12)
You might remember me saying during our SFF Yeah! book club episode about Rosewater that I was desperately hoping the sequel would be told from Aminat’s point of view. Well I GOT MY WISH! :fires confetti cannon:

Ruse (Want #2) by Cindy Pon (Mar 12)
Want (reviewed here) was a favorite in last year’s reads — I love a near-future heist. And now the gang’s nemesis is out for blood, Zhou has been estranged from his friends for months, and aaahhhh what will happen to my fictional babies!

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World #2) by Rebecca Roanhorse (Apr 23)
Trail of Lightning ended with a little closure for Maggie, although not exactly a triumphant ending. Storm of Locusts includes a cult, the return of Kai, an excursion out of Dinétah, and promises to be just as high-stakes, bloody, and nerve-wracking as the first.

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee (May 7)
Jade City (reviewed here) was, as I said, an Asian Godfather with superpowers, and in this sequel the clan war is going international. Foreign governments and organizations want jade for themselves, and suddenly the Kaul clan isn’t just fighting for supremacy in Kekon — they’re fighting for the future of all Green Bones.

Wolf Rain (Psy-Changeling Trinity #3) by Nalini Singh (June 4)
I mentioned in my review that Singh’s new series was a great jumping-on point to the world of the Psy-Changeling, and I am stoked for the next installment! According to the synopsis, we’re finally going to see what it means for Silence to be broken — and it’s not all going to be good.

Hexarchate Stories by Yoon Ha Lee (June 25)
Cue inarticulate flailing about how much I love The Machineries of Empire trilogy and HOW EXCITED I AM for some further visits to that dark, bloody, fascinating world! Also this is the perfect excuse to finally reread the trilogy, now I know what I’m doing in May.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Your fellow booknerd,
Jenn

Hello and welcome to 2019, Earthlings and Ents! We’re kicking the year off with some food for thought about magic, the future of work, highly anticipated reads of the year to come, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by The Similars by Rebecca Hanover.

This fall, six new students are joining the junior class at the elite Darkwood Academy. But they aren’t your regular over-achieving teens. They’re clones. And they’re joining the class alongside their originals. The Similars are all anyone can talk about: Who are these clones? What are the odds that all of them would be Darkwood students? And who is the madman who broke the law against cloning to create them? Emmaline Chance couldn’t care less. Her best friend, Oliver, died over the summer and it’s all she can do to get through each day without him. Then she comes face-to-heartbreaking-face with Levi—Oliver’s exact DNA replica and one of the Similars.

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We interviewed debut author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah about being a genre writer (and of course Hogwarts Houses came up).

Lest we forget that it’s not all unicorns and rainbows, here’s a post about five books that remind us of the dangers of magic.

And speaking of dark/dangerous things, here are 20 dark YA fantasies to suit that wintry reading mood you might be in.

Need more short fantasy fiction in your life? Alex has you covered!

And speaking of short fiction, Wired asked eight writers to imagine various futures around work (including Ken Liu, Nisi Shawl, Charlie Jane Anders, and Martha Wells!).

We’re going to kick the year off with some of my most anticipated reads of January to June 2019 — meaning I haven’t read them yet, this is completely speculation, but WOW AM I EXCITED. Note: these are either stand-alones or the starts of a new series; we’ll look at Most Anticipated Sequels next week!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James (Feb 5)
Booker Award winner James is trying his hand at fantasy, and this has been pitched as the first book in a trilogy in the vein of an African Game of Thrones. Nuff said!

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde (Feb 12)
A new stand-alone! From Jasper Fforde! Involving killer viral dreams, hibernating humans, stamp-collecting, and I probably don’t need to say anything else.

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas (Feb 12)
This is a debut and I am intrigued: it’s about four women who invent time travel, but then erase one of the original team’s contributions, and the descendant who must find out what actually happened.

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (Feb 12)
A dying planet, two cities and a wasteland in between, a student exile, and found family from the author of All the Birds in the Sky. Sold!

Broken Stars: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation, translated by Ken Liu (Feb 19)
Ken Liu is a force of nature determined to bring us sci-fi in translation, and I could not be more delighted for any and all of his next efforts.

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie (Feb 26)
A fantasy novel from the sci-fi genius who brought us Ancillary Justice! Intriguing. Gods and their human agents, blood sacrifice, a succession crisis and invading forces, :grabby hands: gimme.

The Bird King by G Willow Wilson (March 12)
An alt-history fantasy novel set during the Spanish Inquisition featuring a mapmaker who can alter reality, a concubine, and a jinn, from the author of Ms. Marvel and Alif the Unseen. Sign. Me. Up.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley (March 19)
I have thoroughly enjoyed Hurley’s epic fantasy, so much so that even though I couldn’t handle the body-horror of The Stars are Legion, I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on this futuristic military novel. 

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (March 26)
Another one that caught my eye, from a historian of the Byzantine Empire who has decided to write a space opera! I am here for this.

Unraveling by Karen Lord (June 4)
My love for Karen Lord’s work (Redemption in Indigo, Galaxy Game) is well-documented, and I am SO EXCITED to see her doing a Caribbean-folktale-inspired fantasy-murder-mystery.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes (June 4)
Go listen to this story-in-the-form-of-a-song from the hip hop group clipping., and then come back and freak out with me about how exciting it is that Rivers Solomon (An Unkindness of Ghosts) was tapped to write the novel version!

Bonus: Sharifah and I each picked a few anticipated titles (including some of the above) to talk about on this week’s SFF Yeah!.

And that’s a wrap! You can find all of the books recommended in this newsletter on a handy Goodreads shelf. If you’re interested in more science fiction and fantasy talk, you can catch me and my co-host Sharifah on the SFF Yeah! podcast. For many many more book recommendations you can find me on the Get Booked podcast with the inimitable Amanda, or on Twitter as jennIRL.

Live long and prosper,
Jenn