New Books: 6 June 2023
3dtotal Publishing: Sketching from the Imagination: Character Concepts (3dtotal Publishing 9781912843626, $37.00, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, 6/6/2023)
Following the success of previous titles in this popular series, Sketching from the Imagination: Character Concepts showcases the incredible character work of 50 artists and illustrators. Chosen especially for this book, these artists from around the globe take inspiration from folklore, myths, modern stories, and sometimes real life as a basis for their imaginative work.
Acevedo, Kristy: The Warning (Sourcebooks Fire 9781728268392, $11.99, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Young-adult dystopian science fiction novel, the first in a duology. Mysterious portals appear around the world, with holograms warning that a comet is going to collide with Earth, and only the portals offer safety.
Alkaf, Hanna & Margaret Owen: The Grimoire of Grave Fates (Penguin Random House/Delacorte 9780593427453, $18.99, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Young-adult multi-author collaborative novel “Project” with 18 authors including Kat Cho, Mason Deaver, Hafsah Faizal, Darcie Little Badger, Tehlor Kay Mejia. A professor has been murdered and 18 students race to find out who did it. Created by Hanna Alkaf & Margaret Owen.
Ashley-Smith, J.: The Measure of Sorrow (Meerkat Press 9781946154774, $17.95, 202pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Collection of ten dark stories, four new including the title novella. A first collection.
Basham, Brendan Shay: Swim Home to the Vanished (Harper 9780063241084, $30.00, 240pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Literary fantasy/magical realism novel based on Diné lore. After the death of his brother, a grief-stricken young man seeks refuge and oblivion in a secluded fishing village dominated by a family of brujas in this haunting debut novel, inspired, in part, by the ramifications of Diné history and thought—a mesmerizing, original tale in the tradition of works by Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, and Gabriel García Márquez.
Bushnell, Jeremy P.: Relentless Melt (Melville House 9781685890322, $18.99, 352pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Supernatural mystery novel. The year is 1909, and Artie Quick—an ambitious, unorthodox and inquisitive young Bostonian—wants to learn about crime. By day she holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s; by night she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA’s Evening Institute for Younger Men
Dila, Dilman: Where Rivers Go to Die (Rosarium Publishing 9780578368030, $17.95, 180pp, formats: trade paperback, 6/6/2023)
Collection of eight stories. A young teen, haunted by the ghost of his father, takes it upon himself to save his brother and his people from a warlord’s marauding army. A frustrated detective is driven to the brink, confronting the vengeful spirit killing grooms on their wedding night. What happens when British colonials find Martians in Africa, a brash warrior battles his elders and ancient horrors in order to secure paradise for his people, or an exiled abiba is stolen away to find his true destiny?
Frost, Gregory: Rhymer (Baen 9781982192662, $25.00, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Epic fantasy novel, the first in a trilogy about Thomas the Rhymer, the 12th-century Scottish balladeer who fights through time against the aliens called “elves” by everyone. He’s known by many names over time—Tam Lin, Robin Hood, and numerous other incarnations reaching into the present—but at his heart he is still True Thomas, one man doing all he can to save us all from a powerful foe.
Hendrix, M: The Chaperone (Sourcebooks Fire 9781728260006, $11.99, 448pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Young-adult dystopian science fiction novel, set in a New America where girls must have chaperones at all times until marriage. Stella’s new chaperone shows her a different way of life, and Stella starts questioning her world. A first novel.
Hoke, Henry: Open Throat (Macmillan/Farrar, Straus, Giroux/MCD 9780374609870, $25.00, 176pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Fantasy novel of Los Angeles, climate change, existential angst, and survival, narrated by a queer mountain lion living in the drought-devastated Hollywood hills, protecting homeless people and meditating on the complexities of gender identity, until fire sends them into the city of LA.
Leckie, Ann: Translation State (Orbit US 9780316289719, $29.00, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Far-future science fiction novel in the Ancillary/Imperial Radch universe. Three people following very different mysteries end up embroiled in a political conflict that threatens interspecies coexistence in space.
Leede, CJ: Maeve Fly (Tor/Nightfire 9781250857859, $26.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Horror novel. By day, Maeve Fly works at the happiest place in the world as every child’s favorite ice princess. By the neon night glow of the Sunset Strip, Maeve haunts the dive bars with a drink in one hand and a book in the other, imitating her misanthropic literary heroes. But when Gideon Green—her best friend’s brother—moves to town, he awakens something dangerous within her, and the world she knows suddenly shifts beneath her feet. Untethered, Maeve ditches her discontented act and tries on a new persona. A bolder, bloodier one, inspired by the pages of American Psycho. Step aside Patrick Bateman, it’s Maeve’s turn with the knife.
McManus, Kristi: Our Vengeful Souls (CamCat Books 9780744308914, $19.99, 304pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Young-adult fantasy novel, a prequel to “The Little Mermaid” with elements of Greek mythology. When magical mermaid Sereia saves her little sister and overshadows brother and the sea’s rightful heir, Triton, the position of next ruler of the sea is in question. Determined to keep his throne, Triton curses Sereia, transforming her into a human and stripping her of magic.
Moke, Jenny Elder: A Spark in the Cinders (Disney/Hyperion 9781368039918, $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Young-adult fantasy novel. The story has reached its happily ever after, the peasant girl has married her prince and become queen, all is well in the kingdom…. But for Aralyn, the princess’s stepsister, the story is only just beginning.
Moorcock, Michael: The Woods of Arcady (Tor 9780765324788, $32.99, 496pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Autobiographical/historical/fantasy novel. A wild desert crossing, a secret island paradise, a hidden underground civilization, plus London and Paris. The multiverse expands as pulp adventure mixes with unreal memoir in the second volume in The Sanctuary of the White Friars series.
Russell, Craig: The Devil’s Playground (Little, Brown UK/Constable 9780735231665, $28.00, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/8/2023)
Historical horror novel about a 1920s film rumored to be cursed, and a 1960s journalist who hunts for the rumored last copy.
Shirley, John: SubOrbital 7 (Titan Books UK 9781803363820, $16.95, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Science fiction novel. A routine rescue mission leaves a team of US soldiers, rescued hostages, and a prisoner trapped above Earth in a suborbital craft, in this cinematic action-packed near-future thriller, perfect for fans of Tom Clancy and Jack Carr.
Soule, Charles: The Endless Vessel (Harper Perennial 9780063043046, $30.00, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 6/6/2023)
Near-future dystopian thriller novel. During a plague of incurable depression, scientist Lily Barnes finds a mysterious device that might help, but while investigating ends up traveling through time and space, meeting loved ones past and present.
Tse, Dorothy: Owlish (Graywolf Press 9781644452356, $16.00, 224pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Fantasy novel/fable. In the mountainous city of Nevers, there lives a professor of literature called Q. He has a dull marriage and a lacklustre career, but also a scrumptious collection of antique dolls locked away in his cupboard. And soon Q lands his crowning acquisition: a music box ballerina named Aliss who tantalizingly springs to life. Guided by his mysterious friend Owlish and inspired by an inexplicably familiar painting, Q embarks on an all-consuming love affair with Aliss, oblivious to the sinister forces encroaching on his city and the protests spreading across the university that have left his classrooms all but empty.
Tuttle, Lisa: The Curious Affair of the Missing Mummies (Quercus UK/Jo Fletcher 9781529422740, £16.99, 432pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 6/8/2023)
Fantasy mystery novel, Miss Lane is puzzled by Jasper Jesperson’s interest in what seems a very minor theft—possibly even a prank—from the storerooms at the British Museum. But London in the 1890s is rife with secret organisations, cults and individuals eager to acquire some of the legendary magic of ancient Egypt. The deeper the two detectives dig, the more hidden crimes they uncover, and the higher the death toll mounts.
Weber, David & Jacob Holo: The Weltall File (Baen 9781982192655, $28.00, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 6/6/2023)
Science fiction mystery novel. The Weltall Tournament’s professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions.
