New Books: 8 August 2023
Anderson, Kevin J.: Skeleton in the Closet
(WordFire Press, $20.99, 242pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, 08/08/2023)
Humorous fantasy novel about a motley crew of medieval con artists. Cullin the former scamp, Sir Dalbry a washed-up knight in shining armor; Reeger, ready and eager for any part of the dirty work; and Affonyl, former princess, who wanted to study science and alchemy, rather than embroidery. Together, they cross the land with one scam after another, concocting their own heroic deeds, preparing mock dragon heads, or selling kraken tusks and mermaid scales.
Bear, Lauren J.A.: Medusa’s Sisters
(Ace, $28.00, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Mythological fantasy novel retelling the story of Medusa and her family. A first novel. Medusa’s sisters Stheno, and Euryale have never been more than horrifying hags, damned and doomed. But their journey from lowly sea-born origins to the outskirts of the pantheon is a journey that rests, hidden, underneath their scales.
Blackburry, Sabrina: Dirty Lying Dragons
(Wattpad/W by Wattpad, $27.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 08/08/2023)
Paranormal romance novel, the second in the Enchanted Fates series. From the author of Dirty Lying Faeries comes a new installment in the Enchanted Fates series, where a young witch finds herself on the run for her life… and in the company of a centuries-old dragon who may or may not be able to help save her.
Burgis, Stephanie: The Raven Throne
(Bloomsbury USA, $17.99, 291pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Middle-grade fantasy novel, the second in a series begun in The Raven Heir. Raven Queen Cordelia falls into an enchanted sleep, and her sisters must quest across the kingdom to seek help from the ancient spirits of the land. But their family’s greatest enemies lurk at every turn, and it will take all of the triplets’ deepest strengths to fight against them.
Christy, Ann: The Never-Ending End of the World
(Campfire, $26.99, 488pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Post-apocalyptic SF novel. All of Manhattan is reliving time on loops of varying length, except for Coco. After eight years of solitude, learning to survive and precisely timing the loops that weave around the city, Coco wonders what lies beyond New York and what has become of the rest of the world. As she leaves home for the first time, one question haunts her above all: “Am I the only one left?”
Cutter, Nick & Sullivan, Andrew F.: The Handyman Method
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press, $17.99, 292pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, 08/08/2023)
Horror novel, mixing elements of self-doubt, family dysfunction, a possibly haunted new house, and a mysterious online DIY instructor making dark, subliminal suggestions.
Habeck, Emily: Shark Heart
(Simon & Schuster/Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books, $28.00, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Fantasy romance novel. Newlywed Wren has to face her fears when her husband Lewis turns into a great white shark over nine months, with all a predator’s impulses, but his memories, intellect, and artist’s heart remain the same. A first novel.
Molles, D.J.: A Harvest of Ash & Blood
(Blackstone Publishing, $29.99, 518pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, trade paperback, audio, 08/08/2023)
Epic fantasy novel. The Brannic Empire is powered by the ashes of those with magical abilities, after they are burned to death. A veteran soldier, a girl trying to save her brothers, and a disaffected priest seek to reverse the course of generations of evil.
Nelson, Rachelle: Sky of Seven Colors
(Enclave Escape, $24.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 08/08/2023)
Young-adult fantasy novel. After the accident, Meg would do anything to wake her best friend from his deadly coma. At least, that’s what she whispered into the woodland shadows. She never imagined her wish would trap her in a gray other-earth, void of any color.
Meg’s vibrant humanity is a priceless artifact in the gray kingdom, coveted by the royal court. All she wants to do is find a way back home. Until she discovers the other-earth contains healing powers that can save her friend. But only if Meg becomes what the gray people need—a human bride for Kalmus, the powerful king of the capital city.
Nelson, Steph: The Vein
(Dark Matter Ink, $17.99, 370pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 08/08/2023)
Supernatural horror novel with elements of mystery. It’s 1989 and failed detective, Syl Dixon, has returned to her childhood home in Pate, Idaho, to sell the old place she grew up in, back before her Gran mysteriously disappeared. But when the shriveled corpse of a local man is discovered inside the old silver mine the town was built around, Syl is unexpectedly asked to help investigate.
Okosun, Ehigbor: Forged by Blood
(Harper Voyager US, $30.00, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Fantasy novel, first in the Tainted by Blood duology. A first novel. Simultaneous with the UK (Harper Voyager 8/31/2023) Debut author Ehigbor Okosun’s first book in an action-packed, poignant duology inspired by Nigerian mythology—full of magic and emotion and set in a highly atmospheric, complex world in which a young woman fights to survive a tyrannical society, having everything stripped away from her, and seeks vengeance for her mother’s murder and the spilled blood of her people.
Saintcrow, Lilith: The Salt-Black Tree
(Tor, $17.99, 288pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Contemporary fantasy novel inspired by Russian folklore, the second in the duology The Dead God’s Heart. Nat Drozdova has crossed half the continent in search of the stolen Dead God’s Heart, the only thing powerful enough to trade for her beautiful, voracious, dying mother’s life. Yet now she knows the secret of her own birth—and that she’s been lied to all her young life. Now she is faced with an impossible choice: Save her mother’s very existence… or accept the consequences of her own.
Talabi, Wole: Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon
(Astra House/DAW, $27.00, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Contemporary fantasy novel about a disgruntled nightmare god at the Orisha spirit company, sent on a job that takes him and rebellious sort-of-succubus Nneaoma on a magical heist that ends up deep in the British Museum. A first novel.
Watson, Honey: Lessons in Birdwatching
(Angry Robot UK, $17.99, 312pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
SF novel. On Apech—a planet ravaged by a time distorting illness, students witness such illogical brutality that they’ve resorted to psychedelic antidepressants and group sex to take the edge off. After a night of indulgence following a gruesome execution, they wake to find an impaled corpse dangling from the exterior of their residence. As bodies pile up above ground, a deranged fanatic stokes an existential threat below, coaxing the embers of a forgotten god, and its temporal virus, to life.
White, Kiersten: Mister Magic
(Penguin Random House/Del Rey, $28.00, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/08/2023)
Supernatural thriller novel. Years ago, a tragic accident shut down production of the classic children’s program Mister Magic, and the five surviving cast members have done their best to move on. With no surviving video of the show, no evidence of who directed or produced it, and no records of who—or what—the beloved host actually was, memories are all the former actors have. Unexpectedly brought together thirty years later at a remote desert filming compound they explore what really happened on that deadly last day.
