Newsletters Dev – Page 1059

101118-KilltheQueen-Riot-Rundown

Post author By Natalia Heroux
Post date October 11, 2018

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep

Dark forces are at work inside the Bellona royal court. When the crown princess assassinates her mother to take the throne by force, even seventeenth-in-line-for-the-throne Lady Everleigh is in danger.

Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain, the gladiators are highly trained warriors. Uncertain of her future Evie begins training with the troupe. But as the bloodthirsty queen exerts her power, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a gladiator . . . and kill the queen

The Stack

101118-Fraternity-The-Stack

Post author By Natalia Heroux
Post date October 11, 2018

Today’s The Stack is sponsored by The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge

It’s 1863 in New Fraternity, Indiana and the townsfolk are already on edge from the deserters coming to seek asylum from the Civil War. When a mysterious feral beast is found prowling the forest, fear and paranoia grows and there’s no telling what the people will do… This haunting horror story written by Juan Díaz Canales, the co-creator of the popular Blacksad series, and illustrated by the talented José-Luis Munuera, is perfect for fans of the monster genre and classic universal monster movie enthusiasts. Fraternity is in stores October 9^nd from The Magnetic Collection at Lion Forge!

Today In Books

Lynchian–100 Film-Related Words Added To Oxford English Dictionary: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 10, 2018

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by First Second Books.

100+ Film-Related Words Added To Oxford English Dictionary

You can now say “Lynchian,” and if someone doesn’t know what you mean they can look it up in the Oxford dictionary. My favorite, which I’d never heard before, is “Sword-and-sandal”: (chiefly attributive) a genre of film characterized by a setting in the ancient world, often featuring characters from the Bible or classical history and myth.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Accepts PEN Pinter Prize

She accepted the award as a writer whose work shows “the real truth of our lives and our societies,” and in her acceptance lecture, Shut Up and Write, she spoke about the responsibility of speaking out in the U.S. current political climate and also her personal experience for defending women’s rights in Nigeria.

It’s October So Here’s The Trailer for Pet Sematary

No, not the ’80s film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel but the coming-in-April-2019 film adaptation. I can’t look because I’m still traumatized from someone freezing the original on the kid’s shoe in the road but you can see the trailer.

And don’t forget to enter our giveaway for a custom book stamp for your personal library. Stamp all the books!

Riot Rundown TestRiotRundown

101018-Inkshares-Riot-Rundown

Post author By Devin Service
Post date October 10, 2018

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Inkshares, the publishing and rights management platform behind books like Scott Thomas’ Kill Creek and Christopher Huang’s A Gentleman’s Murder.

Join fellow novelists in submitting your partial or finished manuscripts to Inkshares’ Mystery-Thriller and Horror contests, running through November 21st and December 15th, respectively. At least three novels per contest will be chosen for publication and representation.

Inkshares books have garnered starred reviews in every publishing magazine, features in major publications including USA Today, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, awards from organizations including the American Library Association, and have reached the global top-five most-sold books. Inkshares’ novels have been licensed in foreign territories alongside top-of-market advances and are in development for television and film at top networks and studios.

Is your novel next?

Check out the Inkshares Horror Contest Video Trailer here.

Check out the Inkshares Mystery-Thriller Contest Video Trailer here.

Kissing Books

The Next Reluctant Royals Book Has A Cover And I’m Here For It

Post author By Jessica Pryde
Post date October 10, 2018

It’s the second week of October and it finally feels like fall in Southern Arizona. Well. If a high of 77 really counts as “fall.”

Sponsored by Epic Reads

It’s 1871, and Emmeline Carter is poised to take Chicago’s high society by storm. Between her father’s sudden rise to wealth and her recent engagement to Chicago’s most eligible bachelor, Emmeline has it all. But she can’t stop thinking about the life she left behind, including her childhood sweetheart, Anders Magnuson. Fiona Byrne, Emmeline’s childhood best friend, is delighted by her friend’s sudden rise to prominence, especially since it means Fiona is free to pursue Anders herself. But when Emmeline risks everything for one final fling with Anders, Fiona feels completely betrayed. As the summer turns to fall, the city is at a tipping point: friendships are tested, hearts are broken, and the tiniest spark might set everything ablaze.

New and Useful Links

THERE IS A COVER. I am so excited. Look at it. Look at them. Look at those words.

The Bawdy Bookworms have released their second monthly list of diverse romances, and I’m really looking forward to a lot of the books coming out this winter. But that’s not the only thing they do over at Bawdy-central. They also have a seasonal subscription box, and it’s hella fun. Not only do you get a steamy book, but you get some kind of sensual…bonus items, too. Sometimes they’re battery operated, sometimes not. Full disclosure: Kim from BB sent me one to check out, and I can tell you if you’re looking for something like that, or didn’t know you were, it’s worth checking out at least once. Want to know more from someone better with words and more fun than me? Check out Suzanne’s video review.

Every response to this tweet prompt is something I want to watch, including Greg Pak’s. I’ll even read the romance novel inspired by it.

Corey Alexander interviewed Rebekah Weatherspoon about Rafe and I really need to read that book. (I will. Soon. I swear. Ish.)

Kinky is coming out this weekend. Are you gonna see it? I’m curious, but might wait for it to arrive on a streaming network. As far as I know, it’s not book-related, but I’m sure it’s definitely got some appeal for romance readers. Also, basically every single person in this movie is four-alarm hot, so no matter what the script and story turn out to be like, at least it’ll be pretty?

Deals!

cover of Ms Behave by Cathy Yardley There’s a new Fandom Hearts novella called Ms. Behave and it’s 1.99 right now!

Looking for a new romantic suspense series to start? Kendra Elliot’s A Merciful Death is 1.99.

Helen Hardt’s Craving is FREE right now (and if you want the audio as an add on, you can get it for 1.99, too!)

Over on Book Riot

I never watched The Office, but even I ship Jim and Pam. Here are some books to put you in that same mood they inspired.

You all know my feelings about Jessica Avery, but seriously, this person is my person. She’s in my heart and soul, and knows my mind. Her most recent expression of my hopes and dreams is for a horror sugbenre of romance. I spent a brief period of time expressing a strong desire for something dark and atmospheric that also had a central love story. Give me The Others with kissing. The first half of Crimson Peak, before things get…weird. Ok, no, I like the weirdness, but I also like certain characters not dying and leaving with the love of their life and having a HEA. I will take those immediately, thank you.

Are you still doing Riotgrams? I’m trying, I swear.

Trisha and I talked about Butterfly Swords on When in Romance and also employer/employee romances.

And we’re still giving away a custom book stamp! (Psst! If for some reason you don’t want one for yourself—you don’t read print books, you’ve Kondo’d your home, etc—hey, enter and I’ll take it :wink-emoji:)

Recs!

This week’s Feature Creature is one who had to grow on me in romance, after spending a little too much time with Richard Zeeman in my formative paranormal years.

The Wolf Man.

Mating the Huntress
Talia Hibbert

Talia Hibbert writes at the speed of light, so it was both an awesome surprise and no surprise at all when she revealed that she’d written a Halloween-themed paranormal romance—her first paranormal at all. The name says it all, but says nothing. In this novella, Chastity is one of a collection of siblings in a universe where the women are sworn werewolf hunters and the men are the healers. When her sister is wearing her sweatshirt and a werewolf just takes part of it instead of killing her, Chastity is curious. She becomes even more curious when a wolf in human form starts coming to her family’s coffee shop…and then he asks her out. What better way to prove herself to her family and get some, right?

This is the most adorable thing that is also about people who kill monsters. And Luke is preciously supportive of Chastity’s violence. So there’s that. It’s a quick read and a delight to experience.

Wolfsong
TJ Klune

If you want something that is not a quick read, may I present Wolfsong to you. I sort of felt like this book would never end, but I was not sad about that. TJ Klune is something else when it comes to wordmaking and he put a lot together in this story. Ox, the narrator, tells the story of growing up, his dad leaving, finding a family in the guys at the shop where he works, and then meeting another family. The family down the lane, full of beautiful, brilliant, caring people. Ox meets the youngest member, Joe, on the road home, and Joe at the ripe old age of ten can’t help but latch on—because Ox smells like awesome. His words, not mine. Ox and Joe grow together, and learn together, and become better men together. And then stuff happens and they’re not together. And then they’re together again. It’s a thing. A long thing. With lots of other stuff.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to include this one because so much of the earlier part takes place when Ox is a teenager. But he grows up, and so does Joe, and all kinds of things happen for them. Also, every single supporting character is amazing.

Both of these stories are about fated mates (Mating the Huntress more so than Wolfsong), so if that’s not your thing, you probably want to pass on them. But if you’re curious about two authors who do it well, these are good places to start.

New and Upcoming Releases

Cover of Thug Love by Zuri Day Thug Love by Zuri Day
Gridiron Heartbreaker by Melissa Blue
Band Sinister by KJ Charles (October 11)
How the Dukes Stole Christmas by Tessa Dare, Sarah MacLean, Sophie Jordan, and Joanna Shupe (October 15)
One Day in December by Josie Silver (October 16)
Night at the Opera by Stacy Henrie (October 16)

As usual, catch me on Twitter @jessisreading or Instagram @jess_is_reading, or send me an email at jessica@riotnewmedia.com if you’ve got feedback or just want to say hi!

What's Up in YA

🍿So Many Potential YA Movies

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date October 9, 2018

Hey y’all: It’s YA book news o’clock!

“What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by Lost Soul Be at Peace by Maggie Thrash.

A year and a half after the summer that changed her life, Maggie Thrash wishes she could change it all back. She’s trapped in a dark depression and flunking eleventh grade, befuddling her patrician mother while going unnoticed by her father, a workaholic federal judge. The only thing Maggie cares about is her cat, Tommi . . . who then disappears somewhere in the walls of her cavernous house. So her search begins — but Maggie’s not even really sure what she’s lost, and she has no idea what she’ll find. Lost Soul, Be at Peace is the continuation of Maggie’s story from her critically acclaimed memoir Honor Girl, one that brings her devastating honesty and humor to the before and after of depression.

Before diving into this week’s YA news links, time to brag! Although the release date for The Hate U Give was bumped up to October 2, it’s still a limited release. But, since I was in New York City this week, I managed to sneak time in to see it. It is even better than you’re anticipating it to be. I highly recommend seeing it when it’s available near you.

That out, here’s what else to know this week!

Speaking of The Hate U Give, a piece about Amandla Stenberg and how they’re still finding their voice in acting.
Here’s the director of THUG talking about the production, on firing a star, and more. Great reading.
This year’s National Book Award in Young People’s Literature finalists have been announced.
More names are attached to the adaptation of All The Bright Places.
The Amazon pilot for Panic by Lauren Oliver has more names attached, too.
A new trailer for The Mortal Engines is out.
The title for this YA novel that might see itself being adapted is just outstanding (& yes, I’m making you click).
The headline is a little bit of one you’d never expect: Jay-Z’s production company is going to produce a YA novel.
Ally Condie will have a new YA book out next year.
David Yoon’s upcoming YA novel — not even out yet! — has been scooped for a potential adaptation. Yoon is the husband of beloved YA author Nicola Yoon.
Two new books by Veronica Roth are coming to YA (this is in addition to her adult novel coming, too). Note the line in here about how one of the short stories in one of the upcoming books has already been tapped for potential adaptation.
Renée Ahdieh has a new book series coming, too, and it’ll be a vampire series. As I was reading this piece it hit me how much I think 2019 is going to be similar to 2009-2012 in terms of trends. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially because they’ll be inclusive.
Bright Burning Stars looks fantastic.
Gabrielle Union has snagged rights to adapt a YA book.

Recent Book Mail

Another big book mail week! We’ll go left to right, then top to bottom.

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert (Goodreads link)

Izzy and Tristan by Shannon Dunlap

Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart (Goodreads link)

Rise by Ellen Goodlett (Goodreads link)

You Must Not Miss by Katrina Leno

Positively Teen by Nicola Morgan

Internment by Samira Ahmed

We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra

Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard by Alex Bertie

Teeth in the Mist by Dawn Kurtagich

Amelia Westlake Was Never Here by Erin Gough

She Did It: 21 Women Who Changed The Way We Think by Emily Arnold McCully

The Perfect Candidate by Peter Stone

Words We Don’t Say by KJ Reilly

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn

We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Lying Woods by Ashley Elston

The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig by Don Zolidis

For a Muse of Fire by Heidi Heilig

Cheap Reads

Grab these great YA books while they’re discounted. Prices current as of Wednesday, October 10.

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon came out almost ten years ago. Grab it for $2.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone is worth far more than the $2 price tag.

Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson is the first in a high fantasy series and can be yours for $3.

The Falconer, The Vanishing Throne, and The Fallen Kingdom — each of the three titles in Elizabeth May’s “The Falconer” series — are $1 each. Grab ’em all.

Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach, one of my favorite YA reads, is $3.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is $2.

Heather Kaczynski’s Dare Mighty Things is available for $2.

Pick up Laini Taylor’s award-winning Strange The Dreamer for $3.

Bryan Bliss’s No Parking At The End Times is $4.

Itching for a fun werewolf book? Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock is $2.

____________________

Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you again next week!

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Instagram and Twitter

Unusual Suspects

A Psychological Suspense Perfect For Fans Of Gillian Flynn

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 9, 2018

Hi mystery fans! I have a character driven murder mystery, the new Tana French, and a psychological suspense perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn–or just dark mysteries.

Join YA Authors In One Action A Day: Today In Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 9, 2018

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Zola’s Elephant, written by Randall de Sève and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

Join YA Authors In One Action A Day

Follow #28DaysOfAction on Twitter where YA authors have joined together to take one action–big or small–a day to do until the election. It’s a great way to combat that feeling of having no power in a situation, plus many are giving great examples of things to do if you don’t even know where to start.

Calling John le Carré Fans!

Here is your teaser trailer for AMC’s six-part miniseries adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl. Starring Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgård, and Michael Shannon it will premiere November 19th.

And In History Is Cool News

An ancient Roman comic strip with speech bubbles was found in an unearthed Roman tomb in the northern Jordanian town of Beit Ras. There’s more than sixty speech bubble like inscriptions that explain the action in the images. You can see more images and a video of the discovery here.

And don’t forget to enter our giveaway for a custom book stamp for your personal library. Stamp all the books!

Audiobooks

Spooky, Scary Audiobooks

Post author By Katie MacBride
Post date October 9, 2018

Howdy, audiophiles!

What’s in your ears these days? I just finished listening to Robert Galbraith AKA JK Rowling’s fourth Cormoran Strike mystery, Lethal White. I really enjoyed it–-it could have used a little more editing–-but otherwise it was really entertaining. I really liked the first two in the series, but the third was a little gross for my taste (the book opens with a severed leg being sent to the detective agency) but I still finished it, so I suppose that’s an endorsement in and of itself.

Sponsored by The Hero’s Brother by M. Scott Anderson from The Parchment Farm

It’s hard enough being barely above average, when your brothers include the deadliest swordsman of the realm, a saint, prodigies – and the greatest hero of the Middle Ages. But what if you haven’t seen your Queen of Love in years, and she’s imprisoned by lethal librarians and a one-armed religious zealot? Even worse, your only allies turn out to be vicious killers, with terrible table manners. Who all want to murder your heroic brother. The result – in a world of pedantic misrule, feckless magic, and courage both dauntless and daunted – is either High Adventure or an Identity Crisis. Or both.

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway for a custom book stamp for your personal library. Enter here!

As it’s the spookiest, scariest month of the year, I wanted to highlight some of the most frightening audiobooks but, as a scaredy cat I’m not the best authority on horror. Right now, I’m listening to the Young Adult book Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman, which is kind of like horror–-at least for me, because it’s novel about California running out of water. Coupled with that super scary report about climate change that was just released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is about as close to horror as I’m going to get. So I enlisted some help from my fellow rioters as well as scoured the internet for the horroristy horror audiobooks I could find.

Rioter Margaret Kingsbury told me what she’s listening to: “I’m listening to We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, read by Bernadette Dunne. Shirley Jackson does amazing things with character voice, and I love how Bernadette Dunne captures each character idiosyncrasy. Now when I read the title, I read it in Uncle Julian’s voice. It’s not heavy on the horror, but the creepiness slowly builds up, and the main character — Merricat — is so weirdly wonderful. It’s just under 6 hours, so a perfect quick listen.”

Rioter Jessica Woodbury also recommended The Good House by Tananarive Due (different from The Good House by Ann Leary, a book I’m always talking about how much I love). This Good House is “a story of ancient powers and modern retribution in a small Pacific Northwest town. When a young woman returns to her grandmother’s empty mansion, she is pitted against demonic forces that have poisoned her family for generations.”

I hunted through a bunch of horror audiobook lists which I’m compiling here. For descriptions of all the books, check out the links at the end of each list.

From Backpackerverse:

1) Doctor Sleep: A Novel by Stephen King

2) Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories by H. P. Lovecraft

3) Weaveworld by Clive Barker

4) Night Chill by Jeff Gunhus

5) The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates

6) The Ghost Files (The Ghost Files – Book 1) by Apryl Baker

7) The Darkening by Paul Antony Jones

8) Alex by Adam J. Nicolai

9) The House on 211 by L. A. Maldonado

10) Wickers Bog: A Tale of Southern Gothic Horror by Mike Duran

https://backpackerverse.com/best-horror-audiobooks/

Bustle put together a list of 13 audiobooks they think are “way more terrifying” than the written version:

Amatka by Karin Tidbeck, narrated by Kirsten Potter
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, narrated by the author
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, narrated by Bernadette Dunn
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle, narrated by Kevin R. Free
The Good House by Tananarive Due, narrated by Robin Miles
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, narrated by Kate Mulgrew
You by Caroline Kepnes, narrated by Santino Fontana
Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones, narrated by Jonathan Yen
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay, narrated by Joy Osmanski
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, narrated by Amy Landon
Welcome to Night Vale‘ by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, narrated by Cecil Baldwin, Dylan Marron, Retta, Thérèse Plummer, and Dan Bittner
The Visitors by Catherine Burns, narrated by Kate Reading
It by Stephen King, narrated by Steven Weber

https://www.bustle.com/p/13-horror-audiobooks-that-are-actually-way-more-terrifying-than-the-written-version-7871394

With a name like Dead Good Books, you can count on these recs to scare the bejesus out of you.

The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund, read by Gabrielle Glaisters
It by Stephen King, read by Steven Weber
Lying In Wait by Liz Nugent, read by Caoilfheann Dunne, David McFetridge and Lesley McGuire
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo, read by Sean Barrett
Ghost Stories by E F Benson, read by Mark Gatiss
Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land, read by Hannah Murray
Bird Box by Josh Malerman, read by Katharine Mangold
Fear, ed. by Roald Dahl, read by Rory Kinnear, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Tom Felton and Kevin Eldon
The House by Simon Lelic

https://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/creepy-scary-audiobooks/

Last but certainly not least, the great Amanda Nelson put together this list of scary audiobooks for Book Riot in 2016. Note that this is the *third* list on which Stephen King’s It appears, so you can be sure I will never, as long as I live, listen to that audiobook.

It by Stephen King
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Good House by Tananarive Due
Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud
My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle
Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

10 Excellent Horror Audiobooks – Book Riot

What are your favorite horror audiobooks? Or mystery audiobooks that get you in the mood for Halloween? Let me know on twitter, where I’m msmacb or via email at katie@riotnewmedia.com.

Until next week,

~Katie

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Oct 12

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date October 9, 2018

Happy Friday, mech-pilots and poltergiests! Today we’re talking a lot about witches, a bit about vampires, plus some NYCC news, Mech Cadet Yu by Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa, and more.

This newsletter is sponsored by First Second Books.

Two timelines. Second chances. One love. A ragtag crew travels to the deepest reaches of space, rebuilding beautiful, broken structures to piece the past together. Two girls meet in boarding school and fall deeply in love—only to learn the pain of loss. With interwoven timelines and stunning art, award-winning graphic novelist Tillie Walden creates an inventive world, breathtaking romance, and an epic quest for love.

This week on SFF Yeah!, Sharifah and I talked about all of the adaptation news (I had some Feelings about Narnia), plus a couple of our favorite witches.

Which witch are you? We’ve got a quiz so you can find out! I got Sally Owens from Practical Magic and I feel very seen right now.

More witchy content: I’m sincerely grateful for the reboot trend that’s bringing us Charmed, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Bewitched. Important clarification: Charmed is not a fully-Latina reboot.

Here’s Tor’s coverage of NYCC 2018 (some of those panels have AMAZING line-ups). You can also get a free e-book from them of Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom, which I highly recommend! Only good through tonight (11:59pm Oct 12).

Speaking of NYCC, these pictures of #HijabHeroes are everything.

ICYMI: The first trailer for the Good Omens TV show is A++. (“I don’t even like you!”)

I do believe I’ve shared this before, but there’s no time like the week of Indigenous Peoples’ Day to remind us all about the indigenous authors writing SF/F (extreme cosigns on Stephen Graham Jones, Daniel H. Wilson, and post author Rebecca Roanhorse).

It’s not books, but I adore this Favorite Female Vampires from TV and movies round-up — #TeamKatherine.

Need some Doctor Who read-alikes to celebrate that first episode? Here you go.

In today’s review, I get all worked up about giant robots and teamwork.

Mech Cadet Yu: Vol. 1 by Greg Pak (writer) and Takeshi Miyazawa (illustrator)

If you too have fond memories of the Transformers cartoon from the ’80s and ’90s, and/or love the idea of Rock’em Sock’em Robots plus aliens, and/or have burned through Voltron and need MORE, then I encourage you to get Mech Cadet Yu immediately.

The Sky Corps Academy trains young cadets to be the best robot mech-pilots they can be — but only some will actually get the chance to bond with a robot. Each year for the last sixty years, a few sentient robots return to Earth to choose their humans from the best and brightest cadets; the pairs then train together to keep Earth safe from the alien scourge, the Sharg.

This year when the robots come, things do not go as planned. One mech unit bonds instead with an Academy janitor’s son, passing over a general’s daughter to do so. Yu is over the moon excited, but it’s not going to be easy to prove he has a place amongst the other cadets.

Miyazawa’s art plays beautifully against Pak’s storyline — the palette and style give it the feel of a classic comic but with modern sensibilities. Pak throws parental pressure, a military industrial complex, classism, an immigration story, sentient robots, and teenage drama into a blender — and the result is delicious and heart-warming. The dynamic between mean-girl Park and underdog Yu is just pitch-perfect, and I’m a sucker for “a team of has to come together despite their differences” storylines.

Bonus: you can hear Pak talk about his early influences on our Recommended podcast.

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.

Roll out,
Jenn