New Books : 29 September 2020

Let’s get multi-generational with violent teenagers, magical boarding school students, BESTIARY by K-Ming Chang, and a woman searching an infinite library for a life worth living!


New books this week are by K-Ming Chang, Bennett R. Coles, Elwin Cotman, Matt Haig, S.L. Huang, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Naomi Novik, James Rollins, and Lauren Shippen.


* Chang, K-Ming : Bestiary
(Penguin Random House/One World 978-0-593-13258-6, $27, 272pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780593132609
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780593207796

Literary fantasy novel, the author’s first novel, about three generations of Taiwanese American women.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Chang’s wild story of a family’s tenuous grasp on belonging in the U.S. stands out with a deep commitment to exploring discomfort with the body and its transformations.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Coles, Bennett R. : Dark Star Rising
(Harper Voyager 9780063022690, $7.99, 384pp, mass market paperback, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062820389
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062990051
Blackwood & Virtue #2

SF novel, second in a series following Winds of Marque (2019), about a starship on a mission to dismantle a pirate network.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “Science fiction fans of the Hornblower or Aubrey/Maturin sailing sagas will likely thrill as the cannons are run out for battles in space.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Cotman, Elwin : Dance on Saturday: Stories
(Small Beer Press 978-1-61873-172-2, $17, 318pp, trade paperback, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781618731739

Collection of six long stories, all but one original to this book.
• Small Beer’s site has this description with numerous blurbs and quotes from reviews.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review; citing the title story, it concludes “Readers will be blown away by this standout tale, which grapples with the responsibility of holding power, and whether that power can, or should, be shared. Cotman’s bold and timely speculative fiction marks him as a writer to watch.”
• Paul Di Filippo reviewed it for Locus Online in August: “Cotman is a Black author who plainly writes out of his lived experience. His fiction is invested with palpable touchstones of the contemporary and historical Black experience. But beneath all the invaluable Black cultural clothing, flesh and blood that endow his fiction with a distinctive aura and vibe lies a strong universal skeleton of pan-human fantastika.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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+ Haig, Matt : The Midnight Library
(Viking 978-0525559474, $26, 304pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780525559481
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780593340233

Fantasy novel about a library containing an infinite number of books, one for every possible reality and timeline, and about a woman who travels through it to find a life worth living.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Haig’s agreeable narrative voice and imagination will reward readers who take this book off the shelf.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Huang, S. L. : Burning Roses
(Tordotcom 978-1-25076-399-0, $21.99, 160pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250763983

Short fantasy novel in which Rosa (aka Red Riding Hood) and Hou Yi the Archer join forces.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “The quest to stop Feng Ming, and Rosa and Hou Yi’s parallel stories of reconciliation with the families they lost in their adventures are expertly woven, giving this slim volume an epic feel. Fantasy fans won’t want to miss this.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Johnson, Jeremy Robert : The Loop
(Saga 978-1-5344-5429-3, $26.99, 320pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781534454316
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781797111889

SF novel about an outbreak of violence among teenaged children of executives of a biotech firm in a central Oregon town.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Johnson has a gift for lightening up dark moments with humor and human connection, and though set over the course of an all-night gore-fest, the well-shaded characters are given plenty of room to breathe; the moments of quiet make the scares all the more powerful.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Novik, Naomi : A Deadly Education
(Del Rey 978-0-59312-848-0, $28, 336pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780593128497
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780593287415
The Scholomance #1

Fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, about a young sorceress at a magical boarding school who resents another student who keeps saving her life.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Readers will delight in the push-and-pull of El and Orion’s relationship, the fantastically detailed world, the clever magic system, and the matter-of-fact diversity of the student body. This is a must-read for fantasy fans.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Rollins, James : Unrestricted Access: New and Classic Short Fiction
(William Morrow 978-0062686800, $27.99, 416pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062686824
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780063015999

Collection of 12 stories, including a novella original to this book and 11 reprinted stories.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Many will conclude that Rollins’s blend of fantastic concepts, violence, and action works best at novel length.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Shippen, Lauren : A Neon Darkness
(Tor Teen 978-1250297549, $17.99, 256pp, hardcover, September 2020)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Sep 2020
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250297556
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250771933
The Bright Sessions #2

Young adult SF novel, second in a series following The Infinite Noise (2019), about a young man, one of a group of “Unusuals,” who struggles to control his power of persuasion.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “Though any teen open to gay romance might enjoy this novel, it will have particular resonance with those who have experienced depression or emotional overloads.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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These listings are based on publisher schedules and availability on Amazon (rather than on confirmation of physical publication via purchase, review copies, or sightings in bookstores). Titles are listed only once they are published (with rare exception). We do not list galleys or advance reading copies. Page counts are based on publisher or Amazon listings, and typically only approximate the bibliographic page counts of finished books. * = first edition + = first US edition Date with publisher info is official publication month. ‘Nominal Publication Date’ is the day of publication, typically as indicated by Amazon.com.


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One thought on “New Books : 29 September 2020

  • September 29, 2020 at 1:36 pm
    Permalink

    I noticed that you’d missed the new Jim Butcher book, Battle Ground. It is the second Dresden books to come out this year. It’s release date is September 29th.

    Reply

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