Author: Jenn Northington

Happy Friday, friends! This will be the last newsletter of 2018 — I’m wishing you all the best, most geektastic, fantastical, wibbly wobbly timey wimey holidays of ever. To finish off this year, I’ve got some podcast linky goodness, stand-alone fantasies, vampires, SF/F fonts, a review of State Tectonics by Malka Older, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Dynamite Entertainment.

For over FORTY YEARS, Troma Studios has blazed its own bloody, slime-covered trail, making movies their own damn way! From The Toxic Avenger to The Class Of Nuke ‘Em High to Poultrygeist to Tromeo And Juliet, Lloyd Kaufman never compromised, waving his independent freak-flag freely, and helped jumpstart the careers of luminaries such as James Gunn, Eli Roth, and countless others! How, you might ask, did a couple of rebels with almost no cash manage to make a library of a THOUSAND films? You’ll have to pick up this incredible collection to find out!

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This week on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I talked about some favorite LGBTQ+ SFF, as well as JK Rowling’s terrible assistant, my deep dive into this year’s Best Of lists, and more.

Because the universe wants us to have something nice for the holidays, the December 11 episode of LeVar Burton reads features NK Jemisin!

Got no time for a new series? I love this list of stand-alone fantasy novels, some really great ones on there. (Sunshine by Robin McKinley! The Devourers by Indra Das! Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip!)

Let’s talk fonts: I also love this analysis of the fonts used in various SF/F covers from an author who has made fonts his specialty. It’s a great nerdy deep dive, do recommend.

Need a little holiday romance? This round-up of SF/F ones (Shelly Laurenston! And a Christmas vampire?!) is just generally an A+ idea for your vacation reading.

Speaking of vampires! We’ve got a list of 28 vampire novels targeted towards adults, if you need more of them in your reading diet.

Does It’s A Wonderful Life count as an SF/F movie? Do zombies survive on brains? Why is this even a question?

Not books but: the Men In Black: International trailer is a delight.

And for your consideration, the conclusion to one of my favorite near-future series of the past few years.

State Tectonics (The Centenal Cycle #3) by Malka Older

Set in a near-future in which micro-democracy is a world-wide phenomenon, this trilogy has followed both those who work for the overseeing organization, Information, and those who oppose it. It’s Information’s job to run the elections, make sure none of the governments post misinformation, run the debates, and control the data-gathering and surveillance of huge swathes of the world. Information has survived hacking, electoral upheaval, and an attempt to overthrow it from the outside. But can it survive the loss of faith of its own employees, and a conspiracy hatched within its own ranks?

State Tectonics follows the further adventures of Mishima (#TeamMishima), Roz, Amran, and other characters we’ve met in the previous books, and adds new depth to the plot and the world-building at large. Older balances policy discussions and action sequences, personal life and espionage, data analysis and character arcs, which is what has kept me reading since I first picked up Infomocracy. I came for the concept, got sucked in by the action, and stayed for the personalities brought to life in these pages. And speaking of! Mishima’s continuing evolution, from badass spy to badass spy who is also a mom, is one of my favorite aspects of the series; Older knows that being a parent can’t erase everything you’ve been and done before, and shouldn’t. Mishima’s struggle to find a balance between her own goals and family life will be recognizable to many, and I loved the way it was handled.

On a broader note, Older’s lack of patience with ideologues is hugely refreshing, and her deep understanding of bureaucracy and organizational politics makes this thought experiment feel that much more real. The reminder that no system of governance is perfect, and that disruption is both dangerous and necessary for change, feels both timely and useful. Whether or not it’s possible to build the One True System is not the question — it’s how we grow, correct, and develop the one we have. I said back in 2016 when I first read Infomocracy that it was one of the few books I’d read that made me feel better about the US election, and this continues to be true. Citizenship is a choice, a verb, an action, and participating is the work. And if you’d like to think about what that means, both the good and the bad, then you should definitely pick up The Centenal Cycle.

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.

See you in 2019!,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, intrepid voyagers! Today we’ve got a cover reveal, an adaptation for Catherynne Valente, new releases, deals, a review of Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews, and more, in this last Tuesday newsletter of 2018. Onward!

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This newsletter is sponsored by The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge.

Commander Jon Tiberius Munro is reeling from the death of his son, while Vexton, the man responsible, campaigns for the presidency of the Galactic Federation. Not only is Vexton preparing to claim the most powerful seat in colonized space, but also the heart of one of the galaxy’s most popular holoactresses, Penelope. Everything seems to be going Vexton’s way, but he has no idea what lengths Munro and his crew will go to for revenge… Find Warship Jolly Roger Book 2: Revenge by Sylvain Runberg and illustrated by Miquel Montlló in stores now from The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge!

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To absolutely toot our own horn, our Read Harder Challenge for 2019 is up and includes some SF/F tasks!

The newest book in the Tensorate series (much beloved by yours truly) gets a cover reveal! And, as with all of the covers in series so far, it’s stunning.

Also in Tor news, if you need more stories in your inbox Tor.com is launching a short fiction newsletter, promising “two months’ worth of short fiction delivered to their inboxes in multiple digital formats on a bimonthly basis.”

We’ve got a giveaway for an early audiobook download of S.A. Chakraborty’s The Kingdom of Copper, if you’re finding the wait til January 22 just too long.

An adaptation of Catherynne Valente’s Refrigerator Monologues is being produced by Amazon Studios.

Remember that monster-creation contest Dungeons & Dragons was running? We have a winner!

Not an adaptation but a Spike Lee time-travel movie is coming to Netflix in 2019 and that is very exciting.

How did I miss that Netflix is revisiting the world of The Dark Crystal? A prequel, The Age of Resistance, has a cast and some first looks at character designs.

New releases to look out for in the coming weeks:

The Feed by Nick Windo Clark, December 24 (a tech-collapse apocalypse novel, just what you need for your holidays!)

Kingdom of Needle and Bone by Mira Grant, December 31 (a pandemic novella, see above)

Ebook deals to pad your holiday TBR:

Wintersong by S. Jae Jones for $2.99 (this one seems like it’s on perennial discount, and I continue to highly recommend it)

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng for $1.99 (ditto)

All three of the Heartland Trilogy by Chuck Wendig are on deep sale — Under the Empyrean Sky for $1.99, Blightborn for $0.99, and The Harvest for $0.99

And for today’s review, I consider a spin-off series of my all-time favorite (yes, you read that right) urban fantasy series.

Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1) by Ilona Andrews

I somehow missed that Hugh D’Ambray, of the Kate Daniels series infamy, had gotten his own book. Imagine my surprise when he turned up in Magic Triumphs (reviewed here), and married! And not on the side I expected him on!

This is not a spoiler — the entire set-up to Iron and Magic is that the banished Hugh, forsaken by his god-like master Roland, has to provide for his troops and that means a marriage of convenience to a woman who owns a castle. Said castle-owner Elara turns out to be a woman of power in her own right, possessed of a reputation that may or may not include human sacrifice. It’s a match made in exactly the kind of hellish world that Hugh and Elara inhabit, as it turns out.

If you haven’t read any of the Kate Daniels books, you could start here — the main players are well-introduced, the backstory is referenced when necessary, and the plot for this first installment is specifically contained to the castle in Kentucky and its surrounding areas, eschewing the wider world of the series for the time being. But there are a lot of big players lurking in the background, and Hugh’s own arc is such a delicious about-face from what we previously knew of him that I definitely recommend at least reading Magic Rises (Kate Daniels #6) before you dive into this one.

I picked this up wondering how Andrews could possibly redeem Hugh Freaking D’Ambray. The answer, my friends, is a marriage of convenience and an enemies-to-lovers romance, with plenty of gore, strategy, and struggles for dominance (both in and out of the bedroom). Elara and Hugh are excellent counterpoints, both strong leaders used to keeping secrets as a matter of course. Watching them spar with each other was a pleasure. The tiny hints of Elara’s backstory are well-played, especially since we already know all of Hugh’s worst moments; the promise of more details kept the pages turning and will definitely keep me invested moving forward.

There are magical villains, vampires, sorcery, and all-out battles aplenty; Iron and Magic also has the camaraderie, found-family, and broken characters searching for redemption that I’ve come to both expect and love. Andrews writes a mean fight scene as well as a great party, and this book sits nicely alongside the primary series. A must-read for anyone who’s already sold on the series, and a solid introduction to a much bigger world just waiting for you to enter.

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.

Praise the old gods and the new,
Jenn

Happy Friday, fairfolk and Ferengi! Today we’ve got more nerdy gift guides, the best dragon books, rogue robots, a review of Gunsmoke & Glamour by Hillary Monahan, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Fierce Reads and Archenemies by Marissa Meyer.

They are the world’s best hope… but each other’s worst nightmare. In this second installment of the bestselling Renegades trilogy, Nova, Adrian, and the rest of their crew are faced with escalating crime in Gatlon City, while covert weapons and conflicting missions have Nova and Adrian questioning not only their beliefs about justice, but also the feelings they have for each other. The line between good and evil has been blurred, but what’s clear to them both is that too much power could mean the end of their city—and the world—as they know it.

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Our official Best of 2018 is here, behold! You can sort by category if you just want the SF/F picks.

We had a “low fantasy” primer and now we’ve got one for “high fantasy” and one for “urban fantasy.” Enjoy!

Calling all VE Schwab fans: we’ve got a gift guide just for you.

What are the best dragon series? Silvana has picked 15, and maybe your favorite is on the list. Mine was not (although also perhaps too obvious), obligatory shout-out to The Dragonriders of Pern.

This round-up of Captain Marvel merch has me positively drooling (that bomber jacket!!!).

Did you read Fire & Blood yet? If so, then Tor.com has six mysteries it would like to ponder with you.

Do we need another “books to read if you like Doctor Who” list? Sure, why not. (I really love a bunch of books on this list, actually.)

It was only a matter of time — a “personality prototype” robot turned belligerent on the International Space Station, HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING FROM SCI-FI, I ASK YOU.

Important update: Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber is actually NOT up for auction.

Can NASA rescue Iron Man? Stay tuned!

If you’re a fan of weird Westerns and magical hijinks, this review is for you.

Gunsmoke & Glamour by Hillary Monahan

Trigger warnings: depictions of transmisogynism, ableist language

What do you get when you take a magic-sensing sheriff, two fairy sisters (one of whom has, shall we say, flexible morals), a transgender lady doctor, and a family of very bad tempered witches, and throw them in a blender with the Old West? You get Gunsmoke & Glamour, that’s what.

Clay’s mother was a fairy of the Seelie Court, his father human, and that gives him the ability to sense both magical beings and magic being used. When a marshal specializing in magical crimes meets him and discovers his talent, Clay finds his calling. But he also finds himself enamored with Cora, a con-artist and fairy who flits in and out of his life. They both know that some day his duty to the law will come into conflict with her … shall we say, extra-legal activities … but they take a chance on love anyway. Our story begins with Clay suffering from a deadly curse and searching desperately for a cure, because that day has come to pass. We find out how it went down chapter by chapter, alongside the cross-country adventure to save Clay’s life.

While written in the third person, the book stays true to Clay’s POV, which is fine — he’s entertaining and likable, a horny cowboy with a good heart. But it’s the female characters in this book that truly shine: clever and impulsive Cora, her voracious man-eating sister Adelaide, the sweet and pragmatic Doc Irene. If there’s a sequel, I can only hope it follows the further adventures of Irene because lady doctors in the Old West are an obsession of mine (you can blame Dr. Quinn) and when you add magic, you’ve got my attention.

There are some odd touches; for example, the Civil War is referred to as the “War of Northern Aggression” more than once, in what I can only assume is an attempt at historical accuracy given the places the characters are visiting, even though the characters’ sympathies clearly lie with the Union. And while the book is overall body-positive, I found Clay’s constant commentary on the relative attractiveness of every female he meets wearisome. But overall, the book delivers on its promises and premise. This is a raunchy, bordering on sex-obsessed, fun, fairy-filled Western with a diverse cast that readers of Sarah Gailey and Seanan McGuire should definitely check out.

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.

Stay away from the fairy food,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, necromancers and Necromongers! There’s not a bunch of book news today, December being the deadest of dead times in publishing, but there is a ton of adaptations and trailer news, a very special lightsaber auction, some deals and squeals, and a review of Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang.

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This newsletter is sponsored by BBC Books.

Meet the women who run the Whoniverse! Featuring historical women such as Agatha Christie and Queen Victoria alongside fan favourites like Rose Tyler and Missy, The Women Who Lived tells the stories of women throughout space and time.

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Here’s that news I mentioned:

More-more Best Of — we picked our favorite queer books of 2018 and a few of them are magically-inclined as well.

Someone decided to turn a Herman Melville short story into a space series!? (Really!)

Brian K. Vaughan has inked a TV deal, and I am SO CURIOUS as to what specifically from his extensive oeuvre will get adapted, BOY DO I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THIS.

The Avengers: Endgame trailer is out. I desperately need to know what happened to Cap’s beard.

The Game of Thrones Season 8 trailer is also out!

And so is the new full-length trailer for Captain Marvel, whew.

At the time of writing, I still am girding myself to watch the Watership Down trailer.

And for all you graphic novel fans, Umbrella Academy‘s first trailer is up, featuring Mary J. Blige the time-traveling assassin.

Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone reboot attached a ton of new names including John Cho, bestill my heart.

And last but not least, Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber is up for auction, if you have a hoard you need to spend.

New releases to look for:

The Disasters by MK England (“The Breakfast Club meets Guardians of the Galaxy” is a killer tagline)

A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy by Alex White (I keep hearing about this series, and this is #2)

And those aforementioned deals:

Hocus Pocus and the All-New Sequel by A.W. Jantha and Matt Griffin is $1.99, in case you were waiting for a good excuse to snap that up.

Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell, a magical alt-history, slightly steampunk Cinderella retelling that I loved, is $2.99.

Are you ready to go on one hell of a wild ride? Then proceed!

Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang

I mentioned last week that I was in a reading slump, and Zero Sum Game busted me right out of it. This action-thriller features high stakes, warring government agencies, math-related superpowers, and a main character who’s shot to the top of my personal favorites list.

Cas Russell is so good at math that she can dodge bullets, take down a room of soldiers twice her size, steal cars in seconds, calculate police response times on the fly, you name it. She’s a “finder” — for the right fee, she’ll retrieve whatever you want, and this time she’s retrieving a person being held by a Colombian cartel. Just another day on the job for her, until she runs into an ally undercover, and the person she’s been hired to rescue is involved in something much, much bigger than drug smuggling. Along with an unlikely crew, Cas finds herself taking on an organization that might have someone even more super-powered than her.

I loved the layers to this book. The plot was beautifully paced, the action sequences were stellar (unsurprising, as Huang is a working stuntwoman among other things), and the found family/misfit crew supporting characters were a delight. While the main plot of Zero Sum Game was relatively wrapped up, the real cliffhanger here involves Cat’s own backstory. Cas’s struggles with her powers throughout the novel start to draw the curtain back, and then there’s the ending … Let’s just say I now have a Mighty Need to know everything about her.

Is there anything I didn’t like? I really don’t think so. It’s a pleasure to have another STEM-powered heroine, especially one of color, to root for, and Huang is an immensely entertaining writer. This is the first in a five-book series that Tor is republishing; I’m sorely tempted to go used-book hunting for older editions, since #2 (Null Set) isn’t due out until July.

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.

Keep what you kill,
Jenn

Happy Friday, bards and brigands! I’m in a bit of a reading slump (it happens to all of us, alas), so today is a double-sized dose of linky goodness including more Best Of lists, interviews and guest posts from some favorite authors, holiday-themed reading, nerd gear, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Once a King and HMH Teen.

For twenty years, Channelers—women with a magical ability—have been persecuted in Malam by those without magic. Now King Aodren wants to end the bloody divide and unite his kingdom. But decades of hatred can’t be overcome by issuing decrees, and rumors of a deadly Channeler-made substance are only fueling people’s fears. Lirra has every reason to distrust Aodren. Yet when he asks for help to discover the truth behind the rumors, she can’t say no. With Lirra by his side, Aodren sees a way forward for his people. But can he rewrite the mistakes of the past before his enemies destroy the world he’s working so hard to rebuild?

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This week on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I gave our favorite picks for gift-giving (to yourself or others!) this holiday season.

The Best of 2018 lists, in all their various permutations, continue to roll in! Here’s a round-up:
– Goodreads Choice Awards (Fantasy: Circe by Madeline Miller; Sci-Fi: Vengeful, V.E. Schwab)
– Autostraddle (scroll down for the SF/F category, which includes So Lucky by Nicola Griffith, The Merry Spinster by Daniel Mallory Ortberg, and The Descent of Monsters by JY Yang)
– NPR’s Book Concierge (with shout-outs to Witchmark, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, Record of a Spaceborn Few, Gnomon, How Long Til Black Future Month, and many more)
– NYPL’s Top 100 (Circe and Spinning Silver made the top 10, there is definitely a pattern here)

Last year I crunched the SF/F titles on these lists for the most-picked, and I’ve decided to do it again. Tune into SFF Yeah!‘s 12/19 episode for those details!

On the flip side of “best of,” here’s a list of 2018 YA fantasy that Namera thinks were hugely underrated (including For a Muse of Fire, reviewed here).

And not an official “best of,” but here’s a round-up of 21 amazing horror books by women (including personal favs Tananarive Due, Mira Grant, Nalo Hopkinson, and Lauren Beukes).

Are we in a Golden Age of interplanetary stories? Here’s a list with compelling evidence (and an earworm for you).

A very happy Chanukah to those celebrating; here’s a list of Jewish SF/F for all of us to add to our TBRs.

I just reviewed Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri (here), so I was delighted to see this thoughtful guest post from her about magic’s role in faith and history.

Also in “I just reviewed that!” (here), NK Jemisin is making the interview rounds for How Long Til Black Future Month, and these two pieces are worth a read: Vulture chronicles her trajectory as a writer and looks at her forthcoming urban fantasy; and GQ talked to her about the mythology of cities, particularly New York, and political despair.

How do people really behave during an apocalypse? There’s research around this, and as Arkady Martine discusses, it’s not what you might think.

Waterworld but better: here’s a round-up of undersea SF/F, including some deep cuts that I now desperately need to read.

This post of fantasy-inspired makeup looks makes me want to get way better at makeup.

Do you or a loved one need a really fancy Hoth-inspired parka? Columbia is on it.

Also in the Star Wars-gifts realm, here’s a coffee table book of blueprints.

And in a final gifty deep-dive, here are three biographies for the Madeleine L’Engle completist in your life.

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 odds be ever in your favor,
Jenn

Hello and happy Tuesday, demon-hunters and Daredevils. Today we’ve got the first of what will probably be many rounds of nerdy gift guides, some new book news and adaptations, a couple excellent e-book deals, a review of Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri, and more!

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Today’s newsletter is sponsored by sponsored by our $250 All the Books Barnes and Noble gift card giveaway!

Enter to win a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble in support of our All the Books! podcast. Click here for more info.

 

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In gift, adaptation, and book news:

Let’s kick off December with the first nerdy gift guide to appear in my inbox! The honor goes to Unbound Worlds.

We here at Book Riot also have a gift guide, which includes but is not limited to SF/F stuff.

Not to be outdone, here is PW’s (scroll down for the SF/F section), which includes An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim (reviewed here) and Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (reviewed here).

Also also in gift news, here is lots of amazing Tamora Pierce/Tortall swag.

We’re getting another installment in the world of The Machineries of Empire from Yoon Ha Lee! It’s a short story collection called Hexarchate Stories, but it won’t be out til June 2019 (:weeps:).

Netflix is cancelling Daredevil, but I’m doing fine because Runaways will be back on December 21.

Meanwhile, Blade Runner is getting an anime series. Dare I hope that the showrunners have read the original, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, and we’ll get some specifics from that? Anyway I confess I am interested.

V.E. Schwab’s got another adaptation deal, this time for her novel City of Ghosts!

And it’s probably not a sea monster that caused some mysterious quakes … but could it be an orogene?!?! BRB, have to stuff my copy of The Fifth Season into my go-bag.

Some new releases for this week to keep an eye on:

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of the One #2) by Nora Roberts

And here are two great ebook deals:

Wintersong by S. Jae Jones (reviewed here), $2.99

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng, $1.99

And today in reviews, we’ve got a young woman on an epic quest — always a good time!

Empire of Sand (The Books of Ambha #1) by Tasha Suri

Looking for a high fantasy to fill that Dreamblood Duology and/or The City of Brass and/or The Grace of Kings and/or Kushiel’s Legacy-shaped hole in your life? Look no further — Empire of Sand is a page-turner and an enthralling start to a new series.

Mehr is the illegitimate but pampered daughter of an imperial governor, raised in luxury and seclusion but with relatively little power, influence, or choice. Her mother, exiled from her daughters since Mehr was a little girl, is part of a tribe persecuted for their beliefs and their magic. Between avoiding her stepmother’s ire (basically impossible) and hanging on to what little she remembers of her mother and her culture, Mehr tries to live as best she can. When she discovers she inherited powers along with her mother’s blood, she draws the attention of the Emperor and is offered a choice that’s no choice at all — bring down the wrath of the Emperor on herself and her family, or marry an intimidating, aloof mystic and use her newly discovered powers for others’ dark purposes. And the choices she must make only get more complicated from there…

Suri has written an epic, high-stakes fantasy here, one that revolves around a question often implicit but less often directly addressed: what does choice mean in the grips of compulsion and coercion? The world-building, inspired in part by Mughal India, is immersive and lush — which is a weird word to use about a desert empire, but it really does feel vibrant and rich. The colors and textures of Mehr’s world practically sparkle on the page. There are demons, battles, and politics aplenty, plus a gorgeously complicated storyline about love and family.

Perhaps my favorite thing about this book is that it stands beautifully by itself — Suri sets everything up for more adventures, but the main plot is brought to an immensely satisfying close. While I can’t wait to see what’s next for these characters, I’m relieved that I will not have to wail and gnash my teeth for however long it takes til Book 2 comes out. So for all the high fantasy enthusiasts out there, particularly those looking for #ownvoices South Asian-inspired stories, treat yo’self to this one.

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.

Stay frosty,
Jenn

Hello and happy Friday, centaurs and cyborgs! Today we’re talking SF/F sub-genres, dinosaurs, Margaret Atwood news, ASoIaF, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Yen Press.

The Empire can be seductive, particularly if you’re an aspiring young pilot… Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree both know this very well when they enroll Imperial Academy, eager to pursue their dreams. When Thane discovers the darker side of the Empire, though, and defects to the Rebellion, the pair’s lifelong friendship will be put to the ultimate test. Will Thane and Ciena’s relationship — or even they themselves — survive this galactic conflict…?

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Normally I save the news for Tuesdays, but this one’s a big’un: Margaret Atwood has declared she will write a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale.

Did you know “low fantasy” was a thing? Because I sure didn’t! But I’m 100% behind the foundational concept, and a lot of those books are great reads, so I will accept this argument. (Side note: does that mean urban fantasy is a sub-genre of low fantasy?)

If you followed along with our SFF Yeah! book club for Rosewater by Tade Thompson — or if you just read it — you’ll want to check out this great interview with Thompson about his reading habits, inspirations, and what is coming next.

This is the kind of real world & SF/F crossover I live for: a newly discovered dinosaur has been named after Thanos! On purpose!! Carry on, paleontology nerds.

If you were on the fence, Chris Lough over at Tor.com thinks you should DEFINITELY read Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin: “I haven’t enjoyed a Song of Ice and Fire book this much since A Storm of Swords.”

I got distracted this week, as you will see below, so instead of a review we’ve got a sub-genre round-up!

I’d never heard of hopepunk before this essay by Alexandra Rowland made the rounds in the Insiders forum, but now it has my attention. This, in particular, caught my eye:

Hopepunk isn’t pristine and spotless. Hopepunk is grubby, because that’s what happens when you fight. It’s hard. It’s filthy, sweaty, backbreaking work that never ends. It isn’t pretty, and it isn’t noble, and it isn’t nice, though I expect the natural inclination (and even my own instinctive inclination) is to make it so—to forget the word “radical” in the phrase “radical kindness,” to forget the “punk” part of “hopepunk,” which is really the operative half of the word. To forget the anger of it and let it soften, because softness is what we’re aching for. We want the world to be better—kinder, more just, more merciful. We still yearn toward noblebright, toward an honest and desperate belief that love conquers all. Except, when the other guy has more guns and fewer moral objections than we do, it doesn’t.

Have I read any hopepunk? I’m trying in my head to distinguish between this and, for example, Becky Chambers’ books — which aren’t about defeating an oppressive regime, which I think is what makes them so restful, but are about people finding kindness and family, so let’s continue to call that cozy sci-fi. But since I can’t stop thinking about it, here’s my current approximation of a (short) hopepunk reading list. These books walk the line between documenting injustice and making you believe that, truly, humanity can be kind, hope is real, and while the war is never truly over, battles can be won. Arranged in order of least-dark to wow-things-get-really-dark-wow.

Witchmark by C.L. Polk
A veteran soldier-turned-doctor is fighting to save returning soldiers from a malicious form of PTSD in this Edwardian-esque fantasy. He’s also hiding from someone, when a murder victim falls into his lap. His search for the truth about the murder and his patients takes him deep into danger and conspiracy; full review here.

Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells
A young woman in a motorcycle gang on a corporate-controlled planet finds herself drawn into an intergalactic battle when her family is threatened by mysterious forces. Full review here.

The Wrong Stars by Tim Pratt
A mercenary crew find an impossibly old spacecraft — and a survivor — and then witness the destruction of an entire space station. Their quest for justice takes them farther than they could ever have guessed. Full review here.

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria
A group of teenaged rebels plots to bring down the council that rules by prophecy and violence — and must face dissension in their own ranks. Full review here.

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
A young mother living in a near-future Toronto gets pulled into a gang’s struggle for power by her no-good ex-boyfriend, and that struggle turns out to be supernatural as well as earthly. Full review here.

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
I KNOW I KNOW I don’t even have to say it, but JUST IN CASE! Full review here.

The Machineries of Empire Trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee
I don’t care if you’re tired of hearing me talk about these, they are So. Good. Full review here.

Bonus: if you need some hopepunk for your ears, Polygon has a podcast listening list.

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, vagabonds and Vogons! Today we’re talking about Doctor Who, notable SF/F of 2018, new She-Ra books, a couple new releases, N.K. Jemisin’s collection How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?, and more.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Rebel Base Books and The Spectral City by Leanna Renee Hieber.

In 1899 New York City, the police have a secret spiritual go-to for solving the city’s most haunting crimes. Her name is Eve Whitby, gifted medium and leader of The Ghost Precinct. With her group of female psychics and wayward ghosts, nineteen-year-old Eve holds her own against New York’s darkest threats. But when her ghostly conduits begin to disappear, Eve realizes that a malevolent force is out to destroy the balance between two realms. Now, she must brave the darkness to make sure no one is ever left for dead.

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Here’s the latest very handy round-up of SF/F adaptations in the works on Tor.

The NY Times picked their 100 notable books of 2018, and congrats go out to the genre books that made the list: Eternal Life by Dara Horn (reviewed here), Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, and Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (critically acclaimed and high on my TBR).

We’ve got a trailer and a fancy shmancy website for the Harry Potter AR game over at Wizards Unite, and it’s very appealing to this Potterhead at least.

Where my Scots at? Scotland is getting its own SF, F, and Horror festival in 2019, and it looks very interesting.

In gifty news, my fellow Bitch Planet fans and I can now rock a non-compliant boot tag!

Get your pre-ordering engines ready; there will be Little Golden Books for He-Man and She-Ra in July!

Doctor Who actor Tom Baker has written a Doctor Who novel, based on a script that never saw the light of day. (Doctor? Doctor!)

New releases you might also be excited about:

Aladdin: A New Translation, translated by Yasmine Seale (very interested in this!)

The Mortal Word: An Invisible Library Story by Genevieve Cogman

Today’s review is for this week’s most exciting new release, AT LONG LAST!

How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

The first short story of Jemisin’s I ever came into contact with was “Non-Zero Probabilities,” which she read at a group event in Brooklyn years ago. I gushed over it, thinking it was new, only to find out that it had come out in 2009 and was a Hugo award nominee. (DERP.) The chance to read it again here, having since read all of her novels and some other short works, was a delight. And let’s get right to it: I love this collection. Not only does it contain my favorite Jemisin short stories plus exciting new ones, it also includes an Introduction and Acknowledgements that shed light on her writing process (for all you aspiring writers/process lovers).

Whether they are from 2009 or 2004 or 2017, all of these stories hold up, and I couldn’t have told you from a first read which were more recent than others. (If anyone wants to really nerd out and read them in chronological order, they’re listed as such on the copyright page.) Instead, I just lost myself in each one. Each showcases in its own way her huge imagination and willingness to experiment with structure, voice, and place.

The collection kicks off with “The Ones Who Stay and Fight,” which is both a response to Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and a clarion call for accountability that is all too relevant in the current political climate. Others, including “The You Train,” “Non-Zero Probabilities,” “The City Born Great,” and “Cuisine des Mémoires,” are just the slightest bit off from our present world. Still others play with history (“The Effluent Engine”), and then there’s the hard sci-fi of “The Evaluators,” which is rare for Jemisin and most welcome to this reader. Longtime readers of hers will be delighted by “Stone Hunger,” which takes place in the Broken Earth ‘verse and contains some familiar characters, and “The Narcomancer,” which revisits the world of the Dreamblood Duology. And if I were going to make a playlist for this collection, which I am strongly tempted to do, I would pair “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters” with Beyoncé’s “Formation.” Read it, and you’ll see why.

Whether she’s exploring alien life forms or political machinations, self-sacrifice or monsters in New Orleans, Jemisin’s characters are boldly drawn, complex, and so engaging. This is a great gift for any long-time fan and a solid introduction to her work for the curious, and I highly recommend you grab yourself the gorgeous hardcover version.

Bonus! You can read (either before or after the collection, suit yourself!) the piece entitled “How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?” that the collection was named after but does not contain.

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.

You gotta tip on the tightrope,
Jenn

Happy Friday, trollhunters and Targaryens! I am grateful for all of you, and for your continued interest in my meanderings about SF/F. Today in said meanderings we’ve got updated Satanic lawsuit news, warrior women, Star Trek controversy, mixed morality, and a review of The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson.

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This newsletter is sponsored by Revell Books.

To save his enclave’s future, he’ll have to risk his own It’s been fifty years since the Great Crash. What was once America is now a collection of enclaves, governed on the local level and only loosely tied together by the farce of a federal government. Catawba, one of the largest and most affluent enclaves in the southern states, is relatively stable and maintains a successful business of trade with nearby enclaves. But when a new vein of gold is found beneath their feet, it’s only a matter of time before trouble finds them.

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In the continued saga of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the Church of Satan is totally fine with that statue (which the Satanic Temple is suing Netflix over). Related, if you want to do a deeper dive into Wicca and paganism, we’ve got a reading list for you.

One Rioter is struggling with her complicated feelings on the Harry Potter franchise and the latest Fantastic Beasts movie.

If you need a warm hug of a post, this round-up from Tor of some of their favorite things from 2018 is exactly that.

This list of warrior women in fantasy novels has my sword.

Exactly how controversial is the most controversial Star Trek book, Killing Time? Here’s a deep dive.

If, like me, you’re a fan of all things occult, you will be very interested in this interview about the historical overlap between technology and the supernatural.

For those who prefer their morals gray, Marissa Meyer recommends five books in which you’re not sure which side to root for.

For your ears, Sharifah and I talked about SF/F romances on SFF Yeah!, which was new territory for her.

And now, for a Game of Thrones read-alike that is also an unfinished series, let us all weep together.

The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Trigger warnings: dubious consent, institutionalized homophobia

Y’all, I’m going to try SO HARD not to give away any spoilers. Here goes.

Baru Cormorant continues to rise through the ranks of the Masquerade government, wielding her mathematical genius with ruthless cunning and keeping her true purpose to herself. But even Baru has scruples from time to time, and now she’s being pursued by a foe hell-bent on torment and her ultimate destruction. She’s also been sent on a mission to discover the truth behind rumors of a shadowy cabal — and the result of this mission could determine the fate of nations.

This sequel to The Traitor Baru Cormorant has all the twists, turns, betrayals, battles, and machinations that you’d expect. What I didn’t expect was, given the events of the first book, how connected to humanity Baru has stayed despite her best efforts. In the hands of another writer, the Baru of Monster could be just that: numbed, narcissistic, entirely convinced of her own rightness, and isolated by choice and/or design from those around her. Instead, we get a Baru who is tormented indeed, but far from numb. Every choice she has made and continues to make is a raw wound, and circumstances conspire time and again to force her to see those around her as people — with their own agendas, and their own wounds. And those people continue to see her as a person, which means she’s not allowed to forget that she is one. It would be easier for her if she could, and in fact this makes her anti-heroism all the more effective. She’s a smoking dumpster fire of internal conflict and contradictions and, as she manipulates and betrays others in the worst of ways, she feels every bit of it.

We also get occasional POV from other characters, and while the voice switches sometimes confused me (some are first-person, some second, some third), I loved the added perspective. Baru knows she’s not seeing everything on the table, and it’s both glorious and terrifying to be able to see what she can’t. My biggest complaint is the enormous, incredibly frustrating cliffhanger — exactly HOW LONG do we have to wait for the next installment?! *Flails arms dramatically*

For those of you who are dying (heh) for a dark, bloody, political-shenanigans-filled, heartbreaker of a series about an antiheroine, grab these two books and buckle up for a wild ride.

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.

Stay strong and keep moving,
Jenn

Happy Tuesday, were-tigers and warlocks! It may be a holiday week in the US but we’re carrying on as usual. Today I’ve got lots of news for you about lots of things, including Game of Thrones, some more exciting adaptations, and some very sad news regarding William Goldman, plus a review of Nine Lives by Ursula K. Le Guin.

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This newsletter is sponsored by our $250 All the Books Barnes and Noble gift card giveaway!

Enter to win a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble in support of our All the Books! podcast. Click here for more info.

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Book and adaptation news:

William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride, passed away last week.

We have casting news (plot spoilers warning!) for the adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novelette, Nine Lives (reviewed below), and I am delighted — Jonny Lee Miller and Common will be playing mining scouts Pugh and Martin, and they are perrrrfectttttt. (Except now I’m dying to know who is going to be playing the ten-clone John Chow. Fancasts accepted!)

Jewel Gomez’s The Gilda Stories are being adapted and I could not be more excited for this story about Gilda, an escaped black slave and bisexual vampire, to come to the screen courtesy of Cheryl Dunye, a black lesbian woman.

Rolling in the Deep, the mermaid thriller by Mira Grant (a.k.a. Seanan McGuire), is being adapted for the screen by director Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary), it’s like someone out there just wants me to be happy.

The final season of Game of Thrones is coming to your TV in April…

and George R.R. Martin’s NOT-Game-of-Thrones property, Wild Cards, is probably going to Hulu.

On to a new release you might need:

Fire and Blood: 300 Years Before a Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin — because something is better than nothing?

How about an ebook deal?

Rosewater by Tade Thompson (our SFF Yeah! book club pick) is only $4.99.

 

And now for today’s review, which is a classic poised to become new again.

Nine Lives by Ursula K. Le Guin

Trigger warning: incest

People often ask me about the best place to start with Le Guin’s work, and depending on what they prefer (sci-fi or fantasy), I’ll say Lathe of Heaven or Earthsea, respectively. But I’m beginning to wonder if her shorter fiction wouldn’t be better — collections like The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, for example, which has both her SF and F and includes classics like “Vaster Than Empires And More Slow” and “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” All of this is to say that when I saw the news about the casting for Nine Lives, her novelette, I dove into The Wind’s Twelve Quarters to find it — and it is indeed a gorgeous starting place if you’re new to Le Guin, and a great reminder of her genius for her fans.

Mining scouts Owen Pugh and Alvaro Guillen Martin are out in space working on an unstable uranium mine, and help has finally arrived in the form of ten clones, five male and five female, known collectively as John Chow. The clones are brilliant, young, beautiful, and efficient; so efficient, in fact, that Owen and Alvaro find themselves mostly unable to interact with them. They have each other and that’s all they need. While Owen and Alvaro struggle with their emotional reactions to the clones, the clones carry on with the work — until disaster strikes.

To say more about the plot would be to give too much away (it is a novelette, after all), but what particularly struck me was the complicated, messy humanity of the piece. Here are two men who have become accustomed to dealing with each other’s quirks and flaws and have found an equilibrium, only to have that equilibrium upset by new person(s). And here are ten clones who have never known anything but equilibrium. How do you bridge a gap that seems unbridgeable? How do you learn to deal with external personalities when you’ve never had to? Through the lens of cloning and space exploration, Le Guin ponders the connectedness of people of all kinds, and what it means to relate — and truly connect — to one another.

It’s a heartbreaker of a story, and I remain a bit flabbergasted both that it originally ran in a 1968 edition of Playboy and that it holds up as well as it does. I have so many questions about how they’ll adapt it; there’s not a ton of plot, and I can see the Powers That Be adding more whizbangflash than it currently has. While I do love a good action movie, I live in hopes that the director cares about maintaining the story’s incredible emotional resonance as well.

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