New Books: 2 August 2022
Attebery, Brian: Fantasy: How it Works 
(Oxford University Press 978-0-1928-5623-4, $27.95, 208pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, June 30, 2022)
Non-fiction, critical exploration of the genre, its popularity, and its relevance to contemporary experience as “the lie that speaks truth”. Authors covered include Ursula K. Le Guin, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor.
Blair, Melissa: A Broken Blade 
(Barnes & Noble/Union Square & Co. 9781454947875, $17.99, 448pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Fantasy novel. Half-Fae Keera is forced to serve a cruel Fae-hating king who sends her to hunt the mysterious Shadow, who leads her into the magical lands of the Fae.
Dawson, Delilah S.: Camp Scare 
(Penguin Random House/Delacorte 978-0-593-37326-2, $16.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Middle-grade horror novel/ghost story. 12 year old Parker wants fun and new friends at sleepaway summer camp, but finds a nightmare instead.
Emerson, Ramona: Shutter 
(Soho Crime 9781641293334, $25.95, 312pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Supernatural mystery novel set in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene sees ghosts that help point out clues at crime scenes — but they also sabotage her personal life.
Fernandez, Cristina: How to Date a Superhero (And Not Die Trying) 
(HarperCollins/Tegen Books 978-0-06-311430-2, $18.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Young-adult superhero fantasy novel. Astrid struggles to keep up with her pre-med studies and her life as the girlfriend of a superhero.
Ford, Jamie: The Many Daughters of Afong Moy 
(Simon & Schuster/Atria 978-1982158217, $28.00, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
SF novel about seven generations of women, all fictional descendants of Afong Moy, believed by some to be the first Chinese woman to come to America. Dorothy Moy and her five-year-old daughter undertake an experimental treatment to mitigate inherited trauma carried in genetic memory.
Foster, Alan Dean: Prodigals 
(Podium Audio, $30.62, 8 hours 30 minutes, format: audio, August 2, 2022)
SF novel. A strangely familiar alien invasion is underway. Print and ebook versions were announced by WordFire Press, but are not yet available for order.
Griffin, Rachel: Wild Is the Witch 
(Sourcebooks Fire 978-1728229454, $18.99, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Young-adult fantasy novel. After a night of magic goes wrong, Iris hides that she’s a witch, but an angry curse gets away from her — stolen by an owl.
Hamid, Mohsin: The Last White Man 
(Penguin Random House/Riverhead 978-0-593-53881-4, $26.00, 192pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Allegorical fantasy novel of racial transformation, set in an unnamed country where a white man mysteriously turns brown, and others follow suit, leading to reactions ranging from violently racist to hopeful.
Heartfield, Kate: Assassin’s Creed: The Magus Conspiracy 
(Aconyte 978-1-83908-167-5, $16.95, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Gaming tie-in novel. The war between Assassins and Templars wreaks havoc in the Victorian era.
Heathcock, Alan: 40 
(Macmillan/Farrar, Straus, Giroux/MCD 978-0-374-10023-0, $27.00, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Near-future apocalyptic science fantasy novel of a future American civil war. Soldier Mazzy Goodwin wakes in a bomb crater with wings, and fundamentalist revolutionaries promise to reunite her with her missing sister if she’ll act as their miraculous figurehead.
Iglesias, Gabino: The Devil Takes You Home 
(Little, Brown/Mulholland Books 978-0-316-42691-6, $28.00, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Supernatural thriller/noir/horror novel set on the US Southwest border, about a father who becomes a hit man to help pay for his daughter’s leukemia treatments.
Ikenberry, Kevin: The Crossing 
(Baen 978-1-9821-9201-3, $25.00, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, August 2, 2022)
Alternate history/time travel/military SF novel, part of Eric Flint’s Assiti Shards shared universe series (which also includes the Ring of Fire series.) Time-displaced ROTC cadets from 2008 take part in the American Revolutionary War.
Kupari, Mike: Trouble Walked In 
(Baen 978-1-9821-9203-7, $15.99, 304pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, August 2, 2022)
SF novel. On a far-flung space colony, a search for a missing woman exposes a conspiracy that could threaten an entire planet.
Linden, Rachel: The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie 
(Penguin Random House/Berkley 978-0-593-44019-3, $16.99, 352pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Fantasy/magic realism novel. Lolly, working in her family’s diner and pining over the life she might have had, gets a strange gift: three lemon drops, each letting her see a single day in an alternate version of her life. Includes a pie recipe.
Manibo, Victor: The Sleepless 
(Erewhon 978-1-64566-046-0, $27.95, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Near-future SF novel. A pandemic causes a quarter of the world to lose the ability to sleep, without apparent health problems.
Martin, George R.R., ed.: Wild Cards: Full House 
(Tor 978-1-250-16795-8, $31.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, August 2, 2022)
Shared-world anthology/mosaic novel, 29th in the Wild Cards series, this time a gathering of stories previously published on Tor.com. Authors include Daniel Abraham, Cherie Priest, Carrie Vaughn, Walter Jon Williams.
Morimi, Tomihiko: Tower of the Sun 
(Hachette/Yen On 978-1-9753-3548-9, $20.00, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, August 2, 2022)
Fantasy novel. A college student’s life falls apart when his girlfriend dumps him, and he and his enormous (possibly delusional) imagination tear through the streets of Kyoto. Translated from the Japanese.
Noone, Ashton: Vicious Creatures 
(Scarlet 978-1-61316-338-2, $25.95, 312pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Gothic thriller novel. Ava Montgomery returns to her childhood home in Oregon with her 14-year-old daughter, a place where one child vanishes every ten years or so.
Owen, Lauren: Small Angels 
(Penguin Random House/Random House 978-0-593-24220-9, $28.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Dark fantasy novel. Chloe plans her wedding at a small village church by a wood where old magic stirs.
Riley, Brett: Travelers 
(Imbrifex 978-1945501760, $14.99, 311pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Young-adult horror novel, the second in the Freaks series. Four bullied high-school friends who accidentally open a portal to another dimension and gained strange superpowers, the Freaks face a secret government task force trying to capture them, while a new foe from another world arrives.
Seckel, Emma: The Wild Hunt 
(Tin House 978-1-953534-224, $16.95, 351pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Fantasy novel. Leigh Welles, drawn by her father’s death to the small Scottish island where she grew up, finds the legendary sluagh, the birdlike creatures that carry the souls of the dead, are restless.
Taylor, Travis S.: Ballistic 
(Baen 978-1-9821-9202-0, $25.00, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, August 2, 2022)
Near-future military SF novel. An American astronaut must stop Russian terrorists on the International Space Station from using stolen nuclear missiles to attack Earth.
Terrill, Cristin: The Stars Between Us 
(St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 978-1-250-78376-9, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Young-adult SF novel. Impoverished teen Viktoria unexpectedly inherits the fortune of one of the richest men in the planetary system, who died under suspicious circumstances.
Valdes, Valerie: Fault Tolerance 
(Harper Voyager US 978-0-06-308589-3, $16.99, 416pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Space opera SF novel, third in the trilogy begun in Chilling Effect. Captain Eva Innocente, her crew, and her psychic cats get involved when monoliths appear across the universe demanding the surrender of all occupied systems.
West, Joma: Face 
(Tordotcom 978-1-250-81029-8, $26.99, 272pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 2, 2022)
Dystopian SF novel. A family’s engineered perfection makes them the focus of intense scrutiny, admiration, and envy, causing their lives to fracture.
We already live in a world where, for many, looks are currency, identity is performative, and status is a game. There’s no shortage of opinion on the effects of social media on culture, research on how phones have – literally – changed our posture and vision, and speculation on how replacing online communication either enhances or erodes human connection. Joma West’s debut novel, Face, takes those questions to extreme, extrapolating what’s next for us, if we keep chasing the dopamine hits of “likes” and the next viral post.
In the future, touch and physical intimacy have become abhorrent ideas. Coupling is done voluntarily, but partners are chosen based on their appearance (highly complementary or contrasting skin, hair, and eye colors are a popular guideline for a coupling aesthetic) or the social clout they bring to the union. Gone are any taboos about gender and sexuality – as well as any notion of love or passion. The goal is, always, to climb the social ladder.
