Newsletters Dev – Page 1268

Win THE SACRIFICE OF SUNSHINE GIRL by Paige McKenzie!

Post author By Jeff O'Neal
Post date October 27, 2017

We have 10 The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl “swag bag” prizes—which include: stickers, t-shirts, bookmarks, and 5 signed books/bookplates—to give away to 10 Riot readers!

Here’s what the book is all about:

The final installment of the New York Times bestselling Haunting of Sunshine Girl trilogy (based on the hit YouTube channel) about a girl who can communicate with ghosts.

Now that Sunshine Griffith’s luiseach powers are fully awakened, and having barely survived an abyss full of demons at the end of Book Two, Sunshine must figure out who—or what—has been organizing the forces of darkness against her.

Thanks to her brainiac boyfriend, Nolan, they unearth that Sunshine’s death would trigger a calamitous event, and that all civilization depends on her survival.

Go here to enter the giveaway, or just click the cover image below:

Today In Books

Read Elena Ferrante’s Next Novel for $200: Today in Books

Post author By Sharifah Williams
Post date October 26, 2017

Read Elena Ferrante’s 2019 Novel…For $200

Elena Ferrante’s 2019 novel isn’t available on galley sites like Edelweiss, but it is available to readers willing to shell out $200. Bookselling Without Borders has listed the advanced readers copy as a pledge reward for their Kickstarter. Ferrante is the author of the widely beloved Neapolitan Novels, and her publisher is a sponsor of Bookselling Without Borders. The project strives “to help American booksellers be better advocates for international writing, and to help them enrich their communities of readers with a diverse array of voices from beyond our borders.” If you’re interested in checking out the Kickstarter (the rewards are super legit), and maybe even pledging for that Ferrante ARC, it’s open until October 29.

Showtime To Develop Kingkiller Chronicle Series

Not only is Showtime developing the adaptation of Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicle series, the show will be executive produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Hamilton creator will also compose the music, so prepare for earworms.The television series adaption will be an origin story set a generation before the first novel, The Name of the Wind, an autobiography of the notorious wizard and adventurer Kvothe.

Hulu Drops Full-Length Trailer For Marvel’s Runaways

Hulu has been developing a series adaption of Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways comic, and they just dropped the first full-length trailer. The series follows the adventures of a group of kids who discover their parents are basically villains. The kids have to become a superhero team to defeat “the Pride.” What a buncha cool kids; also, parents, beware next Halloween.

Don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Click here to enter.

Thank you to Penguin, publisher of Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn, comes a sweeping, action-packed YA adventure set against the backdrop of Feudal Japan where Mulan meets Throne of Glass.

Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. Mariko is promised to the son of the emperor’s favorite consort—a political marriage that will elevate her family’s standing. But en route to the imperial city, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black Clan.

Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the Black Clan. Once she’s within their ranks, though, Mariko finds for the first time she’s appreciated for her intellect and abilities. She even finds herself falling in love—a love that will force her to question everything she’s ever known about her family, her purpose, and her deepest desires.

True Story

“Thank You For Your Service” and Other Adaptations of True Stories

Post author By Kim Ukura
Post date October 26, 2017

This week is the opening of one of my most anticipated movie adaptations this year, Thank You for Your Service. The film is based on David Finkel’s truly excellent 2013 book of the same name, and stars Miles Teller as Sgt. Adam Schumann and Haley Bennett as his wife, Saskia.

Sponsored by Workman Publishing, publisher of Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything

Looking back with fascination, horror, and a dash of dark humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices. Ranging from the merely weird to the outright dangerous, here are 67 outlandish, morbidly hilarious “treatments”, exploring their various uses and why they thankfully fell out of favor. With vintage illustrations, photographs, and advertisements throughout, Quackery seamlessly combines macabre humor with science and storytelling to reveal an important and disturbing side of the ever-evolving field of medicine.

If you haven’t read Thank You for Your Service, I highly recommend it. The book chronicles the lives of soldiers in the 2-16 Infantry Battalion during the 2007 and 2008 “surge” in Iraq. Finkel embedded with the battalion during their deployment, and followed many of the men afterwards to show what it is like for many traumatized soldiers and their families after they come home. It’s a remarkable piece of reporting that offers a compelling portrait of the sacrifices we ask from soldiers and the less obvious sacrifices that a deployment can ask from others. It’s a remarkable piece of work.

Thinking about that movie reminded me that I have some nonfiction adaptation news saved up that I haven’t had a chance to include in a newsletter for awhile:

Production has begun on a movie adaptation of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, a story about a young boy who builds a windmill that saves his African village from a famine. The movie stars newcomer Maxwell Simba as 13-year-old Kamkwamba and Chiwetel Ejiofor as his father. Ejiofor is also directing and writing the adaptation.

Universal Pictures

Felicity Jones is starring as Ruth Bader Ginsberg in an upcoming biopic titled On the Basis of Sex. The film will follow “a young Ginsburg as she fights for equal rights, from her time at Harvard University and Columbia Law School, to Washington, D.C.” The movie is set to be released in 2018.

A production company has acquired the rights to A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story, a memoir by Elaine Brown about her time as the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party. The company that acquired the rights is currently negotiating to find a writer.

And finally, Variety reported that “Fox has ordered a script for a drama series based on the book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class.” The book by Lawrence Otis Graham includes interviews with members of some of America’s most prominent black families. The series will be a “a multi-generational family drama uncovering the lives of America’s black upper class by chronicling a dazzling Chicago dynasty with a dark secret threatening to rip it apart.”

New Releases on My Radar

An American Family by Khizir Khan – It seems a little fitting that a memoir by Khizir Khan, a member of the first Gold Star family that President Trump decided to attack, is coming out amidst criticism of his treatment of another Gold Star family. In the book, Khan recounts his childhood in Pakistan, his efforts to attend Harvard Law School, and the loss of his son in Iraq.

Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan – In this memoir, novelist Amy Tan writes about her traumatic and complicated childhood, her life as a writer, and “the symbiotic relationship between fiction and emotional memory.” I’ve never read any of Tan’s books, but memoirs by writers always fascinate me.

American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee – In the 1920s, wolves were hunted almost to extinction in the United States. Bringing back that population has sparked conflict between conservationists, hunters, ranchers, and others in the West. American Wolf explores that conflict through the story of O-Six, an alpha female beloved by naturalists and other wolf watchers.

Kindle Deals in Biography and Memoir

This week in ebook deals, I want to highlight four great memoirs by interesting women:

Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller for $.99
West with the Night by Beryl Markham for $1.99
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward for $1.99
My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall for $.099

And don’t forget, we’re giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Click here to enter. Hit me up on Twitter or Instagram (@kimthedork) or via e-mail at kim@riotnewmedia.com with questions, comments, or reading suggestions!

Swords and Spaceships

Swords and Spaceships Oct 27

Post author By Jenn Northington
Post date October 26, 2017

Happy Friday, ghouls and Gallifreyans! Today I’ve got reviews of Moscow But Dreaming and the sci-fi works of Charles Yu, plus more robot news, witch face-offs, Ravenclaw reading, and more.

Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Provenance by Ann Leckie.

Following her record-breaking debut, award winner Ann Leckie, returns with a new novel of power, theft, privilege and birthright.

A power-driven young woman has one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artifacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned.

Ingray and her charge return to her home and find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating interstellar conflict. They must make a new plan to salvage her future, her family, and her world, before they are lost to her for good.

Remember that robot battle I was so excited about last week? WELP. They faked the livestreaming. I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN EVERYONE INVOLVED.

Invisibility! It’s just science. Kind of. Maybe. Sort of.

This has almost nothing to do with books but I love this Good Witch vs. Bad Witch round-up on Tor.

What are the best epic fantasy series? Margaret has nominated 50. Not only does she have very deliberate rules for how she made the list, but she also includes important details like whether or not a given series is finished. I’ll be over here wallowing in nostalgia and adding things to my TBR.

Remixed fairytales are my favorite. If they’re yours too, here’s a list of seven (all of which I cosign).

The New Weird: it’s a genre, we swear. If you’ve read China Mieville or Jeff VanderMeer, you’ve already experienced it, and here are some more. I’d like to nominate The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden for inclusion as well.

Where my Ravenclaws at? I deeply appreciate this reading list for myself and my fellow Housemates.

And now for our reviews!

Charles Yu: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe and Sorry Please Thank You

As Charles Yu is the guest editor for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017, it seemed the perfect time to remind you how wonderful his own works are!

HTLSIASFU, as we like to abbreviate How to Live Safely… because wow that is a whopper of a title, is Yu’s debut novel, and it punched a hole in my heart the first time I read it. On the surface, it’s the story of a time-travel technician also named Charles Yu who lives in one of the many universes created by the existence of fiction (not unlike the primary conceit of The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde). So, for example, he answers a repair call from Luke Skywalker’s son. His dog is imaginary, and his computer’s name is Phil. But the beating heart of this book is a father-son story: our protagonist’s father disappeared when he was a boy, and he took the job he has mostly so he could go searching for him. Yu balances the real emotional weight of this with lots of sly wit, grammar jokes, and surprise appearances from pop culture. True story: I loved this book so much when I first read it that I created a fan account for Phil on Twitter.

If you like short stories and you enjoy structural experimentation, you must get yourself Sorry Please Thank You. The subjects of his imagination are as varied as his style: from the big-box employee who finds zombies during the graveyard shift (heh), to intrepid RPG players, to the contractor having your bad day for you, and so much more. There is real grief, real heartbreak, real struggle on the page; there are also puns, numbered lists, and absurd plays on modern life. In other words, it has all the components of a sci-fi-inspired collection you could want.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Yu picked for this year’s Best American; while I’m waiting for my library hold to come in, I’ll be over here with his books and a box of tissues.

Moscow But Dreaming by Ekaterina Sedia

If you’ve listened to either Get Booked or SFF Yeah!, you’ll know that I often browse through my library’s ebook catalogs late at night looking for new things to read. It’s appropriate that that is how I found Moscow But Dreaming — as the title implies, it’s a surreal, fabulist, very dreamy-feeling collection. If you’re a fan of the stories of Kelly Link, China Miéville, Helen Oyeyemi, Aimee Bender, Angela Carter, I could go on and on but will stop now, you’ll want to pick this up.

There’s not an official through-line other than Sedia’s style; while many do take place in Moscow or Russia generally, the collection opens with a story set on the Moon. While the stories are mostly fantastical, one features artificial intelligence. One takes place from the point of view of a sock puppet at a school for autistic children. Two involve zombies. One takes for its inspiration the many email scams involving foreign banking. Mythology and folklore butt up against modern settings and concerns, and then blend and twist in startling ways. Some of these stories made me wince; some made me laugh; several made me check to see if I was, in fact, awake. None of them failed to provoke a reaction.

In his introduction to this collection, Sedia’s fellow SFF author Jeffrey Ford talks about the many accolades her novels have won as well as the charms of these stories. None of them were on my TBR list before, but you can bet they are now. Sedia is a welcome addition to my reading life, one that leaves me aware of the inherent strangeness of all things if we just bother to look.

And that’s a wrap! 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.

Ravenclaws represent,
Jenn

Giveaways

Win a THE RBG WORKOUT Prize Pack!

Post author By Jeff O'Neal
Post date October 26, 2017

We have one (1) prize pack for The RBG Workout to give away to one winner! The prize pack includes: a copy of The RBG Workout by Bryant Johnson, Tote, Water Bottle, Resistance Band, Wristbands, and $150 to 361 to pick out the workout shoes or gear of their choice.

Have you ever wondered what keeps Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the Supreme Court’s favorite octogenarians, so sprightly?

She owes it in part to the twice-weekly workouts she does with her personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, a man she’s called “the most important person” in her life. Now you too can work out with Justice Ginsburg’s trainer in the comfort of your home with The RBG Workout. From planks to squats to (full) push-ups, this simple but challenging workout will have you getting fit in no time. Each exercise is demonstrated with full-color illustrations of the justice in her workout gear, always using perfect form. With tips from the bench, and sidebars with Bryant’s folksy wisdom on getting fit and staying healthy, this delightful book is a perfect gift for anyone looking to emulate one of America’s most admired women.

Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the cover image below:

The Stack

102617-SherlockFrankenstein-The-Stack

Post author By Devin Service
Post date October 26, 2017

Today’s The Stack is sponsored by Dark Horse Comics.

Lucy Weber, daughter of the Black Hammer, grew up to become an investigative reporter for the Global Planet. Now she’s on the hunt for the true story about what happened to Spiral City’s superheroes after they defeated Anti-God and saved the world. All answers seem to lie with the dangerous super villain tenants of Spiral City’s infamous asylum. As she gets closer to the truth she uncovers the dark origin stories of some of her father’s greatest foes, and learns how they tie into the puzzle of what happened to Spiral City’s greatest hero.

Riot Rundown

102617-ReadyPlayerOne-Riot-Rundown

Post author By Devin Service
Post date October 26, 2017

Today’s Riot Rundown is sponsored by Ready Player One on audiobook from Penguin Random House Audio.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia, partly because its creator James Halliday has hidden a series of keys in it. Whoever finds all the keys and solves all the riddles will win big time. When Wade stumbles on the first key, suddenly the race is on. Wil Wheaton narrates the audiobook edition of this pop-culture loving adventure-filled quest.

Today In Books

The Daily Telegraph Villainizes Literary Activist: Today in Books

Post author By Sharifah Williams
Post date October 25, 2017

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH Clutches Its Pearls

After The Daily Telegraph wrote a story villainizing a student who called for Cambridge’s English Literature curriculum to include post-colonial or BME authors, the university issued a statement that they will not be dropping any one author in favor of another. This was specifically in response to the Telegraph‘s claim that Lola Olufemi, the student who created the petition, was forcing the school to “replace white authors with black writers.” Cambridge also condemned social media harassment of the student after word of the petition spread. The fact that the Telegraph splashed a giant photo of Olufemi with that headline across their front page tells me plenty about their intentions.

The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction Shortlists

The Carnegie Committee announced the Fiction and Nonfiction shortlists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence. The Fiction finalists are: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan, and Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. In Nonfiction, the finalists are: The Doomsday Machine by Daniel Ellsberg, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, and You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie. The winners will be announced in Denver, Colorado on February 11th.

John McCain Will Publish A Memoir

Senator John McCain will publish a memoir titled, The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations. Mark Salter, a speechwriter and McCain’s co-writer on this book, said the memoir will be “expansive and reflective about his career and life, the direction of our politics and our leadership in the world, and the causes and values that matter most to him.” The Restless Wave will be out in April. It seems like there are a ton of political memoirs out and upcoming as of late. I wonder why…

We’re giving away $500 to spend at the bookstore of your choice! Click here, or on the image below to enter:

Audiobooks

5 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Audiobooks I’ve Loved

Post author By Amanda Nelson
Post date October 25, 2017

Hello audiophiles, it’s Amanda here (Book Riot’s Managing Editor), filling in for Katie while she’s on vacation. I’m usually a nonfiction-only audiobook listener because my brain can wander for a few minutes without missing an essential plot point, but this year I’ve discovered audiobooks are also my favorite way to ingest sci-fi and fantasy. Having the story read to me means I absorb the worldbuilding more thoroughly (I have a bad skimming habit), and don’t waste time trying to figure out how to pronounce the names of distant planets and alien races. This week, I’m recommending some SFF audiobooks I’ve really enjoyed.

Bisexual YA, On John Green’s Latest, and More In Recent YA Talk

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date October 25, 2017

Hey YA Readers!

This week’s “What’s Up in YA?” is sponsored by 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant.

Inspired by the real psychology study popularized by the New York Times and its “Modern Love” column, this contemporary YA is full of humor and heart. It explores the interactions between Hildy and Paul, two random strangers in a university psychology study, when they ask each other the 36 questions that are engineered to make them fall in love. Told in the language of modern romance–texting, Q&A, IM–and punctuated by Paul’s sketches, this clever high-concept YA will leave you searching for your own stranger to ask the 36 questions. Maybe you’ll even fall in love.

The end of October is here, and what better way to spend some time than by catching up on recent YA talk while enjoying sweet Halloween treats.

Snow White retellings, YA style, in honor of its 80s birthday this year.
Excellent quotes from John Green’s latest book. Oh, and here’s a Nerdfighter on reading the book.
12 of your favorite YA retellings of myths and legends.
A look at the masterminds behind Rainbow Boxes, Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy, and their initiative to get queer books into the hands of young readers.
A Harry Potter mug for you. A Harry Potter mug for you. And a Harry Potter mug for you.
What do you think about these YA adaptations getting a redo?
13 YA books featuring bisexual boys.
A rainbow of queer YA reads.
Solid middle grade and YA comic book novelizations.
YA verse novels written by black authors.
Scary reads for YA fans.
Recently released and forthcoming bisexual YA.
20 great YA books for older teens who are reluctant readers.
A look at the (very few) YA novels set in Puerto Rico.
Some YA reads about outcasts.
YA books featuring asexual characters and whether or not you should pick ’em up.
And finally, your teeny tiny round-up of YA books hitting shelves through the end of this year.

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I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that we’ve dropped not one, but two, episodes of Hey YA this month. If you love podcasts, then you’ll want to add this one to your podcast player of choice.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the $500 (!!!!!) gift card giveaway to a bookstore of your choice going on.

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Cheap Reads!

Cynthia Hand’s Unearthly, the first in the trilogy, is a mere $2.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow, a fairytale retelling by Jessica Day George, is also $2. If you love this one, her Princess of the Silver Woods is also only $2.

I know I’ve shared this, but it’s worth repeating: Emery Lord’s The Start Of Me and You is $2, and you can never go wrong with Lord’s work.

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Thanks for hanging out this week. We’ll see you again next week for even more YA talk.

–Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars