Author: Liberty Hardy

Happy Monday, book lovers! I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. I will admit to watching the Dune trailer several times. It’s an epic nerdpurr, like a little movie in itself! It’s weird, I wasn’t excited about it and then all of a sudden, I am SO excited for the movie. Mostly because the cast is AMAZING. This will be my first time seeing Timothée Chalamet or Zendaya in anything, and I am also excited about that. Come on, October 1st!

Moving on: I have a little delightful book news for you today. I also have a look at an awesome upcoming summery thriller, plus cover reveals, a terrible pun, my distracting office mate, and trivia! Let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s Monday’s trivia question: In Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, where does Marian Graves’s plane go missing? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Sanaa Lathan will direct the adaptation of On the Come Up by Angie Thomas.

Here are the winners of the 2021 Pulitzer Prizes!

Tor Nightfire announced their first graphic novel.

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams is being adapted for television.

A Lord of the Rings anime movie is in the works: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

Issa Rae is adapting the book The Gang’s All Queer: The Lives of Gay Gang Members by Vanessa R. Panfil.

Netflix released the Fear Street trilogy trailer.

Here’s the first look at Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett.

The Peabody- and Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle is releasing a book: This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods

Here’s the cover reveal for You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen.

Harry Melling will play Edgar Allan Poe in the Netflix mystery The Palest Eye.

Here’s the first look at Anthem by Noah Hawley.

Lucy Boynton and Will Poulter will star in the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Loved, loved, loved: 

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman Books, July 27)

This is a perfect book for summer vacation! It’s fun, compulsively readable, and a little bit ridiculous, which is my favorite kind of murder thriller! The day after a disastrous Easter dinner with their three grown children and their significant others, millionaires Fred and Sheila Merton are found brutally murdered in their mansion.

Fred Merton was a cruel tyrant who did everything he could to belittle and undermine his children. Sheila Merton was an often-absent mother who had a nanny raise her children, and never stood up to her husband when he was being abusive toward their children. Each of their three kids has a motive for murder, besides the obvious inheritance, but did they do it? Each of them has an alibi, but are they telling the truth? There’s also a few other people who knew the Mertons who might want them dead, or maybe this was just a random robbery. It’s up to two detectives to figure it out.

I read a LOT of mysteries, and I am usually good at guessing who is responsible. So the thing I loved most about this book was that I had no idea who the murderer was through the whole book, not even an educated guess! Lapena doesn’t show her hand at all during the story, just teases out why each person could have done it, then retracts it with more information, and then blows those theories up too, and so on. And when I said earlier it was a little ridiculous, I meant that the plot is wildly over the top, which for me makes enjoying a book about murder much easier to handle. I like fictional murder, and this book does it right.

(CW for bullying, abusive parents and partners, stalking, and murder.)

What I’m reading this week.

The Undertakers by Nicole Glover

Godspeed by Nickolas Butler

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson 

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

Groan-worthy joke of the week: 

What kind of car does a sheep like to drive? A lamborghini.

And this is funny:

You’ve been struck by a smooth criminal.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

• Music! I’ve had to take a lot of car trips recently, which means I get to listen to music! It’s something I rarely do at home, because I cannot read while there is music playing. So I turn the stereo in my truck all the way up (yes, I’m that driver, I’m sorry) and rock out on the road. Here’s a playlist I made last summer that is once again all I want to listen to. (*Roger Daltrey voice* Meet the new playlist, same as the old playlist.)
• Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

My office mate is totally useless.

Trivia answer: Antarctica.

Remember that whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I am sending you love and hugs. Please be safe, and be mindful of others. It takes no effort to be kind. I’ll see you again on Thursday. xoxo, Liberty

Happy Thursday, book friends! I hope all is well in your worlds, and that you have lots of great things to read. I am hurrying to finish this newsletter so I can get back to Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter, which I’m pretty sure was written just for me. Do you read middle grade graphic novels? I highly recommend it. I’m a big fan of Zita the Spacegirl and Rutabega the Adventure Chef, and Bone, of course. I also loved Dungeon Critters, which I read recently.

Moving on to today’s newsletter and book talk: I have shiny news for you today, including adaptation deals, book cover reveals, and a look at a debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Plus I’ve included a picture of my upside down orange monster, some trivia, and more! I love writing these newsletters and I appreciate your support so much. Whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I hope you good bob and we same place again very now. I’ll see you again on Thursday (because of the holiday). – xoxo, Liberty, Your Friendly Neighborhood Velocireader™

Trivia question time! Michelle Zauner, the author of Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, is also a member of what band? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Crying in H Mart will be a film, with author Michelle Zauner adapting her memoir and providing the soundtrack for the film via her music act Japanese Breakfast.

Here are the winners of the 2020 Nebula Awards.

Here are the finalists of the Good Sex Awards.

N.K. Jemisin will adapt her Broken Earth trilogy for Sony’s TriStar.

Emma van Straaten has won the inaugural Women’s Prize Trust Discoveries writing prize for Heartstring.

Bryan Fuller is directing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Christine, just in time for the book’s 40th anniversary.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid is being adapted as a series for Hulu.

Here’s the cover reveal of Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders, the sequel to Victories Greater Than Death.

Here’s the first look at You’ve Got Red On You, a book about the making of Shaun of the Dead.

Here’s the cover reveal of One True Loves by Elise Bryant.

Netflix has renewed Shadow and Bone for a second season.

Netflix has also just revealed new official photos for the second season of Locke & Key.

And speaking of Joe Hill, his short story Abraham’s Boys is being adapted into a film.

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Excited to read: 

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang (Flatiron Books, April 5, 2022)

This book has been on my radar for soooooo long and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. It’s a debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl trying to find her place in the American West in the 1880s. You know how I love books set during that time period!

Daiyu was kidnapped from China and brought across the ocean to America, and she must now fight to survive and discover her true self as she traverses from “a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains.” I have heard nothing but incredible things about this book and Jenny Tinghui Zhang, and I hope galleys are available soon!

What I’m reading this week.

Ham Helsing: Vampire Hunter by Rich Moyer

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson 

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir by Akwaeke Emezi

Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat

Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann

Song stuck in my head:

Brighton by Swelo. A perfect song for summer drives. (Also, I’m still really into listening to songs I loved when I was young. You can listen to a lot of them in this playlist I made!)

And this is funny:

That’s one strong duck.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

• Music! I’ve had to take a lot of car trips recently, which means I get to listen to music! It’s something I rarely do at home, because I cannot read while there is music playing. So I turn the stereo in my truck all the way up (yes, I’m that driver, I’m sorry) and rock out on the road. Here’s a playlist I made last summer that is once again all I want to listen to. (*Roger Daltrey voice* Meet the new playlist, same as the old playlist.)
• Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

These cats have it real rough, I tell you what.

Trivia answer: Japanese Breakfast.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Happy Monday, star bits! I am so happy to solidly be in warm weather now. There are so many beautiful plants and adorable critters in our yard these days. Except bunnies. I wish we had bunnies! Maybe someday a bunny family will move onto our property. I will continue to make them leisurewear while I wait. And I guess no bunnies is better than bunnies and scorpions. Or no bunnies and having scorpions. (How do people live with scorpions??? I would never put my feet down on the floor.)

Moving on: I have some delightful book news for you today. I also have a look at an awesome upcoming dark fairy tale from a favorite author, plus cover reveals, a terrible pun, my adorable little orange monster, and trivia! Let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s Monday’s trivia question: Who is the protagonist of While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is being adapted into a feature film.

Sabaa Tahir has a new standalone novel on the way that is also being developed for television.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner will be a drama series at Fox.

C.J. Prince won the inaugural Sisters in Crime Pride Award.

Kid del Toro, a new bilingual children’s book “inspired by Guillermo del Toro’s love for monsters” is coming in August.

At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop, translated from French by Anna Moschovakis, has won the 2021 Booker International Prize.

Blumhouse and Jamie Lee Curtis are adapting Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta novels for television.

The Guncle by Steven Rowley will be a feature film.

Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters is writing a memoir.

Tor Nightfire announced Lucy A. Snyder’s Apocalypse Apocrypha.

A scholarship has been created in memory of the late John le Carré.

Mary-Louise Parker will join Natalie Portman in HBO’s adaptation of Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante.

Random House has partnered with Funko Pop! and Universal for Little Golden Books.

Here’s the cover reveal of Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan.

The FX adaptation of Y: the Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra, and Jose Marzan Jr, will premiere September 13.

Here’s the cover reveal of Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.

Mosquito Coast has been renewed for a second season.

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Loved, loved, loved: 

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books, April 26, 2022)

Before I start, I would like apologize in advance—this book is not out until April. But it’s really so amazing, it deserves attention now! I have to get it out of my brain before it explodes.

If you haven’t read T. Kingfisher before, I cannot recommend her enough. She has fast become one of my favorite authors. Her amazing two last novels, The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places, were equal parts terror and comedy, and she has a delightful recent fantasy novel, A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking.

Nettle & Bone is about a tiny kingdom situated between two very large kingdoms. Marra is a princess of the tiny kingdom, the third of three daughters. For many years, the North and South kingdoms to either side have threatened to take Marra’s family’s very tiny kingdom, because it is the only one situated on the harbor. Whoever controls it would rule the whole realm.

To keep this from happening, Marra’s older sisters are promised to the Prince of the North in a political move. But the prince is a tyrant, like, a Joffrey Baratheon-level monster. After watching her sisters suffer for years while she’s tucked away at a convent (where she has been sent so she can’t marry and have an heir before her sisters), Marra decides it is time to do something about the prince. Which turns this tale into a delightfully funny and scary story about, well, committing murder.

But the Prince’s fairy godmother protected him with magic at his birth, so Marra can’t just walk into the North Kingdom and kill him. In order to get past his spell of protection, Marra enlists the help of a powerful gravewitch, who sends her off to complete three impossible tasks in return for her help. Also joining Marra on her quest for revenge is a formidable former knight, a fairy godmother with her own unique skills, a special kind of dog (I don’t want to spoil it, but you will find out what kind of dog in the first few pages!) and a chicken possessed by a demon. (Yes, the chicken is as excellent as you would expect. I want one.) Together, this group will try and bring an end to the Prince’s terrifying reign, for themselves, for Marra’s sisters, and for her kingdom.

This book is so full of imagination! I was delighted by the unusual monsters in the scary bits (omg wait until the innkeeper) and it’s also so, so funny. The dog, especially. T. Kingfisher is really good at writing dogs, dogs and books that are both hilarious and scary. And it’s also a great look at what harsh realities faced the women of medieval times, fantasy or not, and how they have been portrayed, even if the were a princess, a queen, a fairy godmother, or a powerful gravewitch. I really enjoyed the parts with the convent, because it’s not the usual “oh, the nuns are so mean” storyline, but instead a place filled with women who know they have been sent there because people fear them or want to punish them, and they bond over their power. Seriously, I love this book so much and I will tell you about it approximately eleventy million more times. MARK IT DOWN ASAP.

(CW for mentions of real and fantastical violence and murder, misogyny, physical abuse, trauma, body horror, scary situations, animal peril, traumatic pregnancy and miscarriage, and child death.)

What I’m reading this week.

The Cabinet by Un-Su Kim

I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena 

Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

Groan-worthy joke of the week: 

Where do you learn to make a banana split? Sundae school.

And this is funny:

You know they put that sign there because it’s happened.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

• Hacks: I would like every show to star Jean Smart from now on. She is a national treasure. And Hannah Einbinder is also fantastic—and the daughter of comedy royalty!
• Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

Zevon loves lamp.

Trivia answer: Law clerk Avery Keene.

Remember that whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I am sending you love and hugs. Please be safe, and be mindful of others. It takes no effort to be kind. I’ll see you again on Thursday. xoxo, Liberty

Happy Thursday, kittens! I hope you have had a nice week. I have had a great week of reading, although I am so confused as to what day it is now, since Book Riot was closed on Monday for the holiday. I did have a good Monday, though, because I read a horror book, Where They Wait by Scott Carson, which included an ancient evil that was discovered right off the coast where I live, as part of the plot. I was like, “YAY, HOMETOWN EVIL!” So many horror books are set in Maine. It gives you something to think about…

Moving on to today’s newsletter and book talk: I have lots of shiny news for you today, including adaptation deals, book cover reveals, and the deets on the newest book from Nicola Griffith. Plus I’ve included a picture of my upside down orange monster, some trivia, and more! I love writing these newsletters and I appreciate your support so much. Whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I hope you good bob and we same place again very now. I’ll see you again on Thursday (because of the holiday). – xoxo, Liberty, Your Friendly Neighborhood Velocireader™

Trivia question time! In Red, White, and Royal Blue, who is Alex Claremont-Diaz’s mother? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams is the new Reese Witherspoon book club pick.

Here are the winners of the 33rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards!

Here’s the cover reveal of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake.

The Literary Tarot is a kickstarter for a tarot deck about stories, with a star-studded list of contributors, including Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, Margaret Atwood, and Celeste Ng.

And speaking of Margaret Atwood, she has a new collection of essays coming in 2022.

Jordanian poet and novelist Jalal Barjas won the 14th International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel Notebooks of the Bookseller.

Eunnie’s upcoming YA sapphic rom-com graphic novel, If You’ll Have Me, has sold to Viking Press for six figures.

Roxane Gay is starting her own publishing imprint.

Rupert Evans is joining the cast of Bridgerton season 2.

Here’s the trailer for the new Gossip Girl reboot.

A series adaptation of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides is on the way.

Here’s the cover reveal of Reclaim the Stars: Seventeen Tales Across Realms & Space edited by Zoraida Cordova.

The U.S. Selfies announced its 2021 shortlist.

Marvel confirmed that Oscar Isaac will star in Moon Knight.

Here’s the cover reveal of Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl by Julie Kagawa.

Akwaeke Emezi is a TIME Next Generation Leader.

Edward Carey has a book on the way featuring the pencil drawing-a-day project he worked on during the pandemic.

The Killing Kind by Jane Casey will be a limited series.

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Excited to read: 

Spear by Nicola Griffith (Tordotcom, April 19, 2022)

First of all, if you’ve never read Nicola Griffith, I recommend running out right now and correcting it. Like, just run through the wall like the Kool-Aid Man, it’s totally fine. Start with Hild or Slow River. Then you can join me in being really excited for the upcoming book!

Not very much is known about this book yet except that it is a queer retelling of the Arthurian legend, about a young girl who knows her fate lies at court, so she picks up her spear and leaves home to face her destiny. COUNT ME IN. My only knowledge of Arthurian legend comes from The Sword in the Stone movie from Disney, The Crystal Cave, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but I keep meaning to learn more. For instance, I had no idea who Morgan le Fay was when she showed up in The Librarians. I do know that I am excited to read more retellings in Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices edited by Swapna Krishna and our very own Jenn Northington.

What are your favorite Arthurian tales?

What I’m reading this week.

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho

The Cabinet by Un-Su Kim

I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins

God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney

Shoot the Moonlight Out by William Boyle

Song stuck in my head:

Starships by Nicki Minaj. This has been returning to rotation in my brain every few days since I watched Resident Alien a few months ago. (Also, I’m still really into listening to songs I loved when I was young. You can listen to a lot of them in this playlist I made!)

And this is funny:

This is definitely my new favorite literary reference joke/burn.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

• Hacks: I would like every show to star Jean Smart from now on. She is a national treasure. And Hannah Einbinder is also fantastic—and the daughter of comedy royalty!
• Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

Warning: if you sit like this too long, your brain settles to the top of your skull and sticks there. 🙃

Trivia answer: The president of the United States of America.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Happy Thursday, star bits! Is anyone else basically just waiting for Sunday to arrive so we can watch the final episode of Mare of Easttown??? I know I am. My husband and I watched the latest episode and I must have said, “It’s them, they’re the killer! Wait, no, it’s them!” half a dozen times. At this point, I still think it could be pretty much anyone, except maybe Jean Smart. Also, can we pass a law that says Jean Smart has to be in every television show? She is legend.

Moving on to today’s newsletter and book talk: It was a slower news week, but I still have some exciting book news for you about adaptations, book covers, and a new book from Tochi Onyebuchi. Plus I’ve included a picture of my melted orange tabby, some trivia, and more! I love writing these newsletters and I appreciate your support so much. Whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I hope you good bob and we same place again very now. I’ll see you again on Thursday (because of the holiday). – xoxo, Liberty, Your Friendly Neighborhood Velocireader™

Trivia question time! In The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, where do the Vignes twins grow up? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Here’s the first look at the official Schitt’s Creek tie-in book from Dan and Eugene Levy.

We’ve got a giveaway for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here.

Ji-young Yoo has joined the cast of the adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates.

Who had “John Steinbeck wrote a werewolf novel” on their bingo card? No one?

Timothée Chalamet to play a young Willy Wonka.

Elizabeth Banks will direct and co-star in an adaptation of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen.

Here’s the first look at the first chapter of Malibu Rising, the new book from Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Here’s the cover reveal of Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz.

The Game of Thrones prequel 10,000 Ships has found its writer.

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Excited to read: 

Goliath by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom, January 25, 2022)

Tochi Onyebuchi has his first adult novel coming at the beginning of next year and I could not be more excited if I swallowed a cat and broke out in kittens!!! I am such a huge fan of his novella Riot Baby, and his War Girls YA series. It’s always confusing to me when books are listed as “first _____” after an author has been publishing for a while. I had to think about it for a minute, but this is indeed going to be his first full-length book for adults.

According to the publisher description, it’s being compared to Station Eleven and is about Earth in 2050. People have started leaving the planet for space colonies, if they can afford it. The people left behind must deal with the cannibalization of their neighborhoods, as supplies are shipped off to the colonies. In the midst of this are the narratives of a space dweller seeking his former love, a marshal looking to solve a kidnapping, a journalist writing about the world of those left behind, and a group of laborers trying to salvage the great cities of the Earth. GIVE IT TO ME NOW, PLEASE.

What I’m reading this week.

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders

The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease by Daisy Hernández

Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt 

The Pariah by Anthony Ryan

Song stuck in my head:

We Are Between by Modest Mouse. Yessssssssssss new Modest Mouse. (Also, I’m still really into listening to songs I loved when I was young. You can listen to a lot of them in this playlist I made!)

And this is funny:

I am endlessly delighted by the imagination of other people.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

• Bob’s Burgers: It turns out, the eleventh season was not ten episodes long, but was twenty-two. What I took to mean the end of the season was actually a ten-week break between episodes and I had no idea! So imagine my delight when I learned I had twelve more episodes to watch. ::heart eyes::
• Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

The temperature in Maine has been in the low 80s the last few days and Farrokh is over it.

Trivia answer: Mallard, Louisiana.

You made it to the bottom! High five. Thanks for reading! – xo, L

Hello, newsletter friends! I have had a pretty splendid few days. Somehow, the universe heard my request in last week’s Book Radar to read Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher and granted my wishes. I got a copy that night and dropped everything to read it and—SPOILER—it’s amazing. I will definitely be doing a bigger discussion of it in the coming weeks, because it knocked my brain’s socks off.

Moving on: I have some delightful book news for you today. I also have a look at an awesome upcoming cyber-mystery, plus cover reveals, a terrible pun, my adorable little orange monster, and trivia! Let’s get started, shall we?

Here’s Monday’s trivia question: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia takes place in what decade? (Scroll to the bottom for the answer.)

Deals, Reals, and Squeals!

Doubleday will publish two more books in the Avery Keene series from Stacey Abrams, which starts with While Justice Sleeps.

We’ve got a giveaway for a chance to win an iPad Mini! Enter here.

Ellie Marney announced her next YA thriller. (Have you read None Shall Sleep yet? I loved it!)

Netflix announced a 3D animated series based on the comic book series Mech Cadet Yu by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa.

Here’s the cover reveal of All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie.

Here’s the trailer for Love, Victor on Hulu.

Here’s the first look at Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra’s new thriller The Rumor Game.

Amy Spalding has a book written for adults on the way!

Here’s the first look at the cover for Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour.

TorCon 2021 announced the schedule of events.

Peacock has ordered a series based on the Vampire Academy series of novels by Richelle Mead.

Lupin author Maurice Leblanc’s The Island of Thirty Coffins will be a film.

Book Riot Recommends 

At Book Riot, I work on the New Books! email, the All the Books! podcast about new releases, and the Book Riot Insiders New Release Index. I am very fortunate to get to read a lot of upcoming titles, and learn about a lot of upcoming titles, and I’m delighted to share a couple with you each week so you can add them to your TBR! (It will now be books I loved on Mondays and books I’m excited to read on Thursdays. YAY, BOOKS!)

Loved, loved, loved: 

The Body Scout by Lincoln Michel (Orbit, September 21)

Holy cats, I don’t even know where to start with this amazing book! It’s set in the future and there is SO much going on, and all of it is awesome.

Let’s start with the world: in this future, people talk to holograms instead of phones, all the animals to ever have existed have been brought back (and are food), Neanderthals have been cloned and walk among the population again, and people can get mechanical parts of themselves replaced when one goes bad (if they can afford it), so some people have the ability to live forever.

Enter Kobo. Once a star for a cyber baseball team, he now works as a scout for the sport since cyber athletes were banned and Big Pharma now owns all the professional sports teams. Kobo’s brother is also a big-time baseball star. J.J. Zunz plays for the Monsanto Mets, and at the beginning of The Body Scout, he dies on the field. Was it all the performance-enhancing drugs and gene manipulation he underwent, or was it murder? (Cyber parts are banned, but drugs are still very much allowed.)

Kobo is determined to get to the bottom of his brother’s death, starting with finding the identity of a young girl his brother was spotted with before his death. He also needs to figure out how to keep the loan sharks off his back, since he still owes for his robotic parts, even though he’s no longer in a profession where they’re needed. Together with the help of his awesome friend, who pulls his genetically-modified bacon out of the fire repeatedly, Kobo searches for the answers.

This is a wild, inventive sci-fi thriller with a lot of heart and a lot of humor, and it also addresses a lot of philosophical questions about cloning and body modification. Imagine if Mickey Spillane wrote Blade Runner—it’s a lot like that. I’m a big fan of wisecracking, down-on-their-luck PIs who still fight to do what’s right, and I also loved the loan shark heavies, Brenda and Wanda, half-robot twins who dog Kobo everywhere he goes. I hope we get to see more of this world!

(CW for violence, murder, body modification and body horror, gore, trauma, and chemical use and abuse. Plus a lot of inferred animal death through meat eating.)

What I’m reading this week.

Playing a Dangerous Game by Patrick Ochieng

Catch the Sparrow: A Search for a Sister and the Truth of her Murder by Rachel Rear

The Pariah by Anthony Ryan

Sex Cult Nun: Breaking Away from the Children of God, a Wild, Radical Religious Cult by Faith Jones

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh 

Groan-worthy joke of the week: 

What kind of noise does a witch’s vehicle make? Brrrroooom, brrroooom.

And this is funny:

Actual LOL.

Happy things:

Here are a few things I enjoy that I thought you might like as well:

• Ted Lasso: I know it’s a television show but I want to be BFFs with Coach Beard. His karaoke performance slays me.
• Lungwort: We got these (horribly named) plants for the first time and placed them in several spots around our yard and they’re lovely!
• Purrli: This website makes the relaxing sounds of a cat purring.

And here’s a cat picture!

Zevon is a glamourpuss. (Don’t let that innocent face fool you—he’s a zoomy midnight speed racer, chewer of cords, and surprise climber of humans.)

Trivia answer: The 1950s.

Remember that whatever you are doing or watching or reading this week, I am sending you love and hugs. Please be safe, and be mindful of others. It takes no effort to be kind. I’ll see you again on Thursday. xoxo, Liberty