New Books, 20 August 2024

Anderson, Kevin J. & Morris, Jeffrey: Persephone
(WordFire Press 9781680576207, $16.99, 292pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, 08/20/2024)

SF novel. Colonists on the ark-ship Odyssey awaken to discover the ship’s tech has been damaged. Also, their new planet is barely habitable, and has a mysterious giant geoglyph that might be a massive ore deposit — or a message.

 

Burton, Gabi: Drown Me with Dreams
(Bloomsbury USA 9781547610419, $19.99, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 08/20/2024)

Young-adult fantasy romance novel, sequel to Sing Me to Sleep. Illustrated by Fernanda Suarez. Saoirse, a siren assassin, is the most wanted fugitive in Keirdre. Banished for her own safety, she uncovers a secret plot and must decide between saving her kingdom and betraying the man she loves.

 

Childs, Lisa: The House by the Cemetery
(Kensington 9781496748997, $17.95, 288pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Domestic/psychological thriller, the first in a series focusing on different members of a family whose fortune was built in the funeral industry. The suspicious death of a wealthy undertaker and resulting family infighting forces his estranged daughter to face family secrets.

 

Collins, Bridget: The Silence Factory
(HarperCollins/Morrow 9780063220010, $30, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy/gothic suspense novel. A powerful family hides their exploitative history as they create a business making fabric from magical and dangerous spider silk. On one side of the fabric, it shields from sound, and on the opposite side the fabric emits eerie murmurs, causing physical and mental afflictions.

 

Croft, Rachel Koller: We Love the Nightlife
(Penguin Random House/Berkley 9780593547533, $29, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Supernatural thriller novel. 50 years after the two met at a nightclub, Amber, a younger vampire, wants to escape Nicola, the ancient vampire who turned her. Sensing Amber’s restlessness Nicola proposes that they open their own nightclub. Amber agrees but continues hatching her own plans for escape, despite learning that others who have tried to escape Nicola have wound up dead.

 

Feehan, Christine: Betrayal Road
(Penguin Random House/Berkley Romance 9780593638781, $8.99, 400pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Paranormal romance novel, the ninth in the Torpedo Ink motorcycle club series. The handsome stranger who comes to Azelie’s San Francisco coffee shop is actually there on Torpedo Ink business, seeking information to bust up a human trafficking ring. He’s not sure if Azelie is involved or not, but gets close to her to learn more.

 

Feist, Raymond E.: A Darkness Returns
(Harper Voyager US 9780062315847, $32, 480pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy novel in the world of Midkemia and the Riftwar Legacy series. Hatushaly is transported from his war-torn world of Garn to Midkemia to train under a great magician, in preparation for fighting the newly-risen Church of the One, and dark creatures from the Void.

 

Guran, Paula, ed.: The Year’s Best Fantasy: Volume 3
(Start/Pyr 9781645060932, $23.95, 300pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 08/20/2024)

Year’s Best anthology with 23 fantasy stories from 2023. Authors include P. Djèlí Clark, Amal El-Mohtar, Ken Liu, Catherynne M. Valente, Nghi Vo, and more.

 

Hall, Kerstin: Asunder
(Tordotcom 9781250625434, $29.99, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy novel. Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with a terrifying eldritch being who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths, until a job connects her to a dying stranger with dangerous secrets.

 

Hand, Cynthia & Ashton, Brodi, & Meadows, Jodi.: My Salty Mary
(HarperTeen 9780062930101, $19.99, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Young-adult historical fantasy novel based loosely on the story of The Little Mermaid and pirates — only this mermaid decides she wants to become the Pirate Queen.

 

Hannah, Darci: A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor
(Kensington Cozies 9781496747440, $27, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 08/20/2024)

Paranormal mystery novel, first in the Food and Spirits series. Chef Bridget “Bunny” MacBride gets her break with a reality show, cooking for spooks while teamed with ghost hunter Brett Bloom and psychic medium Giff McGrady — but their first episode in haunted hotel Bramsford Manor goes wrong when an all-too-human guest is killed with Bunny’s knife.

 

Harper, Lana: Rise and Divine
(Little, Brown UK/Piatkus 9780593637982, $19, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Paranormal rom-com novel, fifth in the Witches of Thistle Grove series. Dasha is an event planner at the Arcane Emporium occult megastore, with the rare necromantic ability to banish demons and traverse the veil. Still grieving her parents and dealing with a breakup, Dasha must both plan an event with Ivy her ex, and team up with her to defend their town against an otherworldly threat.

 

Hopkinson, Nalo: Blackheart Man
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 9781668005101, $28.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy novel. Veycosi, a griot-in-training, tries to help when an unfriendly foreign fleet arrives at the island of Chynchin, and then evil forces stir, led by the demon Blackheart Man. And on top of all that Veycosi has personal problems with his polyamorous love life.

Those who have been following Nalo Hopkinson’s fascinating (and Grand Master-winning) career have long been aware that a major novel titled Blackheart Man has been in the works for some time. In a Locus interview a couple of months ago, Hopkinson said she’d been working on it for more than fifteen years, and she even mentioned the book in an earlier interview in this magazine way back in 2007. It’s really none of our business to speculate about the reasons for the long gestation (although check out that recent interview for a few details), but now that Blackheart Man is here, I’m happy to report that it’s been worth the wait. It’s Hopkinson’s most narratively complex novel since The Salt Roads, her boldest re-imagining of Caribbean culture since The New Moon’s Arms (which also took place on an imaginary Caribbean island), and her most linguistically inventive work to date.

–Gary K. Wolfe, Locus, July 2024

 

Jungeun, Hwang: One Hundred Shadows
(Kensington/Erewhon 9781645661443, $19.95, 192pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Magical realism novel. Translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon. Eungyo and Mujae, electronics-repair-shop employees in a Seoul slum slated for demolition, watch as their community is torn apart. Residents’ shadows have begun to rise, though nobody knows why, and people are warned not to follow their shadow if it wanders away.

 

Keyes, Greg: The Wind that Sweeps the Stars
(Titan Books 9781789095500, $16.88, 400pp, formats: paperback, ebook, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy novel. Yash of Zeltah arrives in the fortress city of Honaq, seemingly a simple barbarian here for an arranged marriage to avert a war. But the truth is that armies already ravage the land, and she’s a skilled and deadly assassin, here to defeat the masters of the nine towers, and even the immortal emperor himself.

 

Maberry, Jonathan: The Dragon in Winter
(St. Martin’s Griffin 9781250892638, $24, 592pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Dark epic fantasy novel, third and final in the Kagen the Damned trilogy. Kagen faces the impossible task of toppling a usurper whose dark magic conquered an empire in a single night. The Witch-king will not go down without a fight, and he is willing to drown the western lands in innocent blood to retain his stolen crown.

 

Mochizuki, Mai: The Full Moon Coffee Shop
(Penguin Random House/Ballantine 9780593726822, $23, 240pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy novel set in Kyoto. A myth says that if you are kind to a cat, one day the cat will return the favor. And if you’re kind to the right cat, you might be invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a full moon, where talking cats serve cakes and coffee and tea, and consult the stars to offer cryptic wisdom. Translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood.

 

Okorafor, Nnedi: She Who Knows
(Astra House/DAW 9780756418953, $23, 176pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Science fantasy novella inspired by West African culture, the first in the eponymous series set in the world of Who Fears Death. 13-year-old Najeeba has The Call, even though only men and boys experience the annual call to the Salt Roads to mine salt at Dead Lake. It’s a strange occurrence, but nobody worries about it much, and for Najeeba, the freedom and adventure is wonderful. But then her presence on the road changes everything.

 

Pedersen, Kailee: Sacrificial Animals
(St. Martin’s 9781250328243, $29, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Supernatural rural horror novel with elements of Chinese mythology. Nick and his brother Josh return home to the family farm in Nebraska on learning their abusive father is dying, but “the ghost of a crime” comes back, seeking vengeance. A first novel.

 

Perry, Carol J.: Death Scene
(Kensington Cozies 9781496743664, $8.99, 304pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Mystery with psychic elements, the 14th in the Witch City series. A major movie studio arrives in Salem to shoot a witchcraft-themed movie. Lee and her police detective husband Pete Mondello are busy documenting the movie’s progress, corralling fans, and managing traffic. Then the lead actress is found dead on stage. Includes recipes.

 

Polito, Frank Anthony: Haunted to Death
(Kensington Cozies 9781496750051, $17.95, 304pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Paranormal mystery novel, third in the Domestic Partners in Crime series. A home renovation reality TV show begins work on Woods Hall, a lavish 1913 manor home in a Detroit suburb, that once belonged to the town’s founding family and comes with its own ghost—and a mystery to solve.

 

Stovall, Shami: Time-Marked Warlock
(Capital Station Books 9781957613819, $25.99, 382pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Paranormal fantasy novel, book one in the Chronos Chronicles. Retired warlock PI Adair Finch is dragged back into action by a twelve-year-old witch who bangs on his door in the middle of the night. Her mother has been murdered and the assassin is after her as well.

 

Strychacz, Isabel: House of Thorns
(Simon & Schuster 9781665942591, $19.99, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Young-adult haunted house horror novel. Five years ago Lia’s family fled their home, the infamous ancestral Brier Hall, but the oldest of three sisters went missing that night. As the five year anniversary of the night they left nears, Lia begins seeing her missing sister everywhere. Then her remaining sister disappears too, forcing Lia to return to Brier Hall.

 

Swanson, Kara: Ignite
(Enclave Escape 9798886051346, $24.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Young-adult fantasy novel, first in the Phoenix Flame duology. In a frozen wasteland suffocating beneath a dying sun, Mara is a young phoenix raised by her father to explode at his command. When her family mysteriously vanishes, Mara goes searching for them and learns that her people may not be the innocent victims she was taught to believe.

 

Thompson, Marielle: The Last Witch in Edinburgh
(Kensington 9781496742643, $17.95, 384pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy novel. Nellie is a witch on the run since a disaster in 1824 Edinburgh, but after 200 years love renews her will to share her knowledge and power with others fighting the patriarchy.

 

White, Frances: Voyage of the Damned
(Harlequin/Mira 9780778387428, $30, 464pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 08/20/2024)

Fantasy mystery novel about a magical gay mystery cruise. Ganymedes, a magically powerless provincial heir, finds himself on a 12-day cruise with some of the most powerful people in the kingdom as bodies start to pile up.

 

Yu, Catherine: Helga
(Page Street 9798890039514, $18.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 08/20/2024)

Young-adult horror novel, a gender-bent Frankenstein mixing humor and body horror. Helga was created to be a superhuman lab assistant, but when her father goes out of town, Helga quickly escapes and heads into the city, curious about the world. But her father will be back in two weeks, and the nearby volcano may end her adventure even sooner.