New & Notable Books, November 2023
Eugen Bacon, Serengotti (Transit Lounge 8/23) Bacon’s distinctive style infuses surreal, poetic elements into this mostly mainstream novel about identity, community, trauma, and being African in Australia. Ch’anzu loses hir job and wife on the same day and decides to take a job in Serengotti, a migrant African community in rural Australia.
Stephen Baxter, Creation Node (Gollancz 9/23) SF novel of first contact and big cosmological ideas, starting with a 2255 space mission, which makes the first visual sighting of Planet Nine – which not only isn’t what anyone expected, but also sends a signal that sets off a possible extinction event.
Indra Das, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar (Subterranean 6/23) A boy who doesn’t fit in 1990s Calcutta has dreams that suggest his nomadic parents came from a place more like a fantasy world in a book than anything on Earth. This is ‘‘a gorgeously written novella which is part coming-of-age tale, part love letter to fantasy, part family mystery, and part elegantly understated fable of identity.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]
Dare Segun Falowo, Caged Ocean Dub (Tartarus Press UK 5/23; Android Press US 6/23) Falowo, getting critical acclaim as a rising author of the Nigerian Weird, offers this debut collection of 18 stories, nine new, that effectively mix the fantastic and the everyday, and elements of indigenous cosmology and pop culture.
T.L. Huchu, The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle (Tor UK 7/23; Tor US 8/23) This highly entertaining mystery involves murder and theft at a prestigious magical convention in a castle on the Isle of Skye in a post-apocalyptic Scotland. The third book in the Edinburgh Nights series featuring the irrepressible Ropa Moyo, this sees her out of her element in this elite gathering, but somehow she still gets stuck with the job of solving the crime quickly to avoid an international incident, leading to lots of snarky encounters with snooty magicians, enigmatic ghosts, and plot twists aplenty.
Allan Kaster, ed., The Year’s Top Tales of Space and Time 3 (Infinivox 8/23) Kaster’s latest year’s best anthology presents 12 SF stories from 2022, a mix of space adventure, alternate history, and time travel. The impressive roster of authors includes Kemi Aishing-Giwa, Indrapramit Das, Theodora Goss, T.L. Huchu, Ian R. MacLeod, and Michael Swanwick, with stories that show ‘‘authors are still finding new, exciting, and important ways to use space and time to explore contemporary ideas and, just as importantly, to tell rollicking good stories.’’ [Alexandra Pierce]
Stephen King, Holly (Scribner 9/23) King’s latest horror novel may not be supernatural, but returns to popular recurring character Holly Gibney from Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and The Outsiders. Now a solo private investigator, Holly takes a missing persons case which may involve a pair of wily elderly academics with a secret in their basement.
Garth Nix, Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz (Gollancz 8/23; Harper Voyager US 8/23) Nix presents sword-and-sorcery with some twists in this adult collection of nine stories, one new, about a mercenary witch-knight and a puppet sorcerer, agents of an agency working to eliminate malign godlets. Stories range from horrifying to hilarious, with multi-layered characters and a world that is exciting to explore. ‘‘A grin-inducing, buddy/road series that also includes some gore, a bit of ill-chosen romance, and plenty of puppet eye-rolling.’’ [Colleen Mondor]
Ian R. MacLeod, Ragged Maps (Subterranean Press 5/23) Collection of 15 stories, one new, from a master of the genre. Paul Di Filippo raves: ‘‘Ian MacLeod’s fiction?… it’s elegant, complex, mysterious, empathetic, melancholy, mystical, and, somehow, quintessentially British; full of startling ideas often verging on the surreal… all of these variegated tales are crafted to perfection.’’
Joyce Carol Oates, ed., A Darker Shade of Noir (Akashic 9/23) Noted author and editor Oates curates this anthology of 15 original stories of body horror by women writers, inspired by monsters from mythic to modern; all but one of the stories have supernatural or surreal elements. Authors include Margaret Atwood, Aimee Bender, Tananarive Due, Elizabeth Hand, Cassandra Khaw, and Lisa Tuttle.
Lavie Tidhar, The Circumference of the World (Tachyon 9/23) In this tribute to the Golden Age of SF, a woman searches for her missing husband, who disappeared while hunting for a mysterious SF novel with a cult-like following, while an SF-obsessed mobster will do anything to get a copy; Tidhar even provides a spot-on ’60s-style excerpt from the novel and an autobiography of its L. Ron Hubbard-inspired author.
Honey Watson, Lessons in Birdwatching (Angry Robot 8/23) Research students investigate murder in an alien city suffering a time-distortion plague in this striking science fantasy first novel. ‘‘In what appears to be her flying-out-of-the-gate debut novel, Honey Watson has essentially taken the territory that C.J. Cherryh staked out so brilliantly – humans and aliens communicating and miscommunicating across exotic scrims of politesse – and imbued it with New Weird stylings and gonzo action sequences to create something truly fresh and arresting.’’ [Paul Di Filippo]
From the November 2023 issue of Locus.
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