New Books: 1 August 2023

Bacon, Eugen: Languages of Water (Mvmedia 9798985733662, $5.99, 179pp, formats: ebook, 8/1/2023)

Original anthology of stories, poems, and essays; a rare but intimate fusion of East, West and Africa, a stunning artefact of writerly immersion and cultural exchange. This child of digital collaboration brings together writers, illustrators and translators of poetry, fiction and essays, and refuses to be contained.

 

 

Bergman, Rebekah: The Museum of Human History (Tin House 9781953534910, $17.95, 256pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Young-adult Science Fiction novel. After nearly drowning, eight-year-old Maeve Wilhelm falls into a strange comatose state. As years pass, it becomes clear that Maeve is not physically aging. A wide cast of characters finds themselves pulled toward Maeve, each believing that her mysterious “sleep” holds the answers to their life’s most pressing questions; as Maeve remains asleep, the characters grapple with a mysterious new technology and medical advances that promise to ease anxiety and end pain, but instead cause devastating side effects.

 

 

Brown, Alex: Damned If You Do (Page Street 9781645679998, $18.99, 345pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Humorous horror novel inspired by Filipino folklore. Teen Cordelia Scott discovers the school guidance counselor is a demon, and she’s been missing a piece of her soul since she unwittingly made a deal with him to get rid of her father.

 

 

Burstein, Michael A.: Jewish Futures (Fantastic Books/Gray Rabbit Publications 9781515458043, $15.99, 256pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, 8/7/2023)

Original anthology of stories of what Jews might be doing in the future. Authors include
Esther Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Susan Shwartz, Steven H Silver. Introduction by Jack Dann.

 

 

Condé, E.G.: Sordidez (Stelliform Press 9781777682361, $15.99, 160pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 8/1/2023)

Near-future fantasy novella. Vero has always felt at odds with his community. As a trans man in near-future Puerto Rico, he struggles to gain acceptance for his identity and his vision of an inclusive society. After a hurricane decimates the island and Puerto Rico is abandoned by the United States, Vero leaves his home to petition the centralized government for aid and seek the truth about new colonists arriving on the island. But in the Yucatan, Vero finds a landscape ravaged by an ecological disaster of humanity’s own making-the Hydrophage, a climate technology warped into a weapon of war and released onto the land by the dictator Caudillo. Amidst the destruction, Vero finds both desperation and hope for regrowth as he documents the lives of the survivors. Details about the colonists’ intentions emerge when Vero meets the Loba Roja, an anti-Caudillo revolutionary who imagines the renewed power of the Maya. Intrigued by her vision of the future and her unapologetic violence, Vero is faced with life-changing questions: can an Indigenous resurgence protect his beloved island? And what must he sacrifice to support it?

 

 

Coney, S.L.: Wild Spaces (Tordotcom 9781250866837, $16.99, 122pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Lovecraftian horror novella. An eleven-year-old boy lives an idyllic childhood exploring the remote coastal plains and wetlands of South Carolina alongside his parents and his dog Teach. But when the boy’s eerie and estranged grandfather shows up one day with no warning, cracks begin to form as hidden secrets resurface that his parents refuse to explain.

 

 

Ekpeki, Oghenechovwe Donald: The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction 2022 (Arc Manor/Caezik SF & Fantasy 9781647100766, $19.99, 450pp, formats: trade paperback, 8/1/2023)

Year’s best anthology. The first won the World Fantasy Award for best anthology and was met with widespread critical acclaim from across the world, with the science fiction trade magazine Locus calling it a “must read.” Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, who created the first anthology, now joins forces with Eugen Bacon, a 2022 World Fantasy Award finalist and Milton Davis, an award-winning Black Speculative fiction writer and editor to introduce readers to an ever more diverse set of writers associated with Africa.

 

 

Gannon, Charles E.: Endangered Species (Baen 9781982192716, $25.00, 528pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 8/1/2023)

Science Fiction novel. Caine Riordan has faced many crises in his unintended career as diplomat, soldier, and first contact specialist, but none more challenging than the one he faces now. He and twelve of his crew are adrift in uncharted space, so far beyond Earth that the starfield is unrecognizable. And with the controls and computer destroyed, they have no way to calculate their position or call for rescue.

 

 

Greathouse, J.T.: The Pattern of the World (JAB Books 9781625676436, $18.99, 412pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 8/3/2023)

Fantasy novel. In an ill-fated attempt to prevent the tyrannical Emperor from rekindling war with the gods, young rebel Foolish Cur made the dreadful mistake of wielding incredibly powerful but forbidden magic. In doing so, he himself fell into a trap of the gods’ own making, inadvertently setting them free. Now, after uncountable years, the gods are free to wreak their own chaos upon the world, transforming the lands into a nightmare for mortals while horrific new creatures emerge to terrorize all in their path. The Empire, the rebellion, and existence itself stand on the brink of destruction. To undo the damage he caused, Foolish Cur must use every ounce of skill, intelligence, and guile within him while gathering those who still have the will to fight.

 

 

Green, Ian: The Gauntlet and the Broken Chain (Bloomsbury UK/Head of Zeus/Ad Astra 9781800244122, $29.99, 464pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 8/3/2023)

Fantasy novel. Across the ruins of Ferron, the rotstorm ever rages. From its nightmarish depths, demons and goblins and rust-folk have struck forth and claimed the Northern Marches as their sanctuary. Through the Undal Protectorate, the land is gripped in a Claw Winter, a frozen mirror of the punishment laid down to the west.

 

 

Jae-Jones, S.: Guardians of Dawn: Zhara (St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 9781250191427, $20.00, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Young-adult fantasy novel, the first in a series inspired by East Asian elements. Simultaneous with the UK (Titan Books) edition.

 

 

Jones, Howard Andrew: Lord of a Shattered Land (Baen 9781982192723, $25.00, 512pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 8/1/2023)

Sword-and-sorcery fantasy novel. The Dervan Empire has at last triumphed over Volanus, putting the great city to the torch, its treasures looted, temples defiled, and fields sown with salt. What little remains of Volanus is scattered across the empire, its treasures plundered and its survivors sold into slavery. It is an absolute victory for the Dervans in every way but one.

 

 

Marshall, Kate Alice: The Narrow (Penguin Random House/Viking 9780593405147, $19.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Young-adult horror novel. Everyone has heard the story of the Narrow. The river that runs behind the Atwood School is only a few feet across and seemingly placid, but beneath the surface, the waters are deep and vicious. It’s said that no one who has fallen in has ever survived. Eden White knows that isn’t true. Six years ago, she saw Delphine Fournier fall into the Narrow—and live.

 

 

Meyer, Tim: Lacuna’s Point (DarkLit 9781998851263, $20.00, 414pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 8/2/2023)

Horror novel. Three years ago, Ellie Brower’s daughter went missing somewhere in the heart of Virginia. Today, Ellie receives a mysterious text message that leads her to believe her daughter might still be alive. She follows this rabbit hole to the coastal town of Lacuna’s Point. But there’s something wrong with this place. The town’s only constable is zero help and downright hostile. There’s a beloved mayor who presides over town affairs, but no one has ever seen his face. Meanwhile, an enormous clock tower holds something sinister behind its cyclopean eye of time.

 

 

Northington, Jenn: Fit for the Gods (Penguin Random House/Vintage 9780593469248, $17.99, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 8/1/2023)

Original anthology of 15 stories and one poem of Greek mythology reimagined: gender-bent, neurodiverse, and inclusive stories by authors including Zoraida Córdova, Maya Deane, Zeyn Joukhadar, Sarah Gailey, and Valerie Valdes. Notes by the authors on their stories are included.

 

 

Skye, Evelyn: The Hundred Loves of Juliet (Penguin Random House/Del Rey 9780593499245, $28.00, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Fantasy novel, a modern-day reimagining of Romeo and Juliet. Helene starts to write a novel, meets a fisherman who matches her novel’s hero in every detail, and discovers she’s part of a doomed love story that plays over and over, with a Romeo doomed to live forever, and she is Juliet, reborn again and again, doomed to die shortly after she and Romeo meet, no matter what they try to change things.

 

 

Strahan, Jonathan: The Book of Witches (Harper Voyager UK 9780008618438, $40.00, 512pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Original anthology. With a breathtaking array of original stories from around the world, P. Djèlí Clark, Amal El Mohtar, Garth Nix, Darcie Little Badger, Sheree Renée Thomas, and two dozen other fantasy and science fiction geniuses bring a new and exciting twist to one of the most beloved figures in fiction, witches, in never-before-seen works written exclusively for The Book of Witches, compiled by award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan and illustrated by award-nominated artist Alyssa Winans.

 

 

Webber, Heather: At the Coffee Shop of Curiosities (Tor/Forge 9781250867261, $28.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 8/1/2023)

Southern magical realism/mystery novel. A mysterious letter. An offer taken. And the chance to move forward. When Ava Harrison receives a letter containing an unusual job listing one month after the sudden death of her ex-boyfriend, she thinks she’s being haunted. The listing―a job as a live-in caretaker for a peculiar old man and his cranky cat in Driftwood, Alabama―is the perfect chance to start a new life. Ava has always been too fearful to even travel, so no one’s more surprised than she is when she throws caution to the wind and drives to the distant beachside town.