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Fantasy and Science Fiction August 2019
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Tides of the Titans
by Thoraiya Dyer
What's it about: After the murder of his lover, the Queen of Airakland, the Leaper vows revenge.
Series alert: This is book 3 in the Titan's Forest series. Book 1 is Crossroads of Canopy and Book 2 is called Echoes of Understorey .
Author note: Thoraiya Dyer is an Australian writer, based in Sydney. Her work has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. She has won multiple Aurealis and Ditmar awards. In 2018, she was given a Ditmar Award for best novel for her work, Crossroads of Canopy.
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| This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max GladstoneWhat happens: Two time traveling operatives from competing futures fall in love, expressing their longing through letters composed in lava flows, glasses of water, tree rings, and more.
Why you might like it: Fritz Leiber's The Big Time meets Ian McDonald's Time Was in this lyrical epistolary love story.
About the authors: Lebanese-Canadian author Amal El-Mohtar is the author of The Honey Month; Campbell Award nominee Max Gladstone is best known for his popular Craft novels. |
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| The Affair of the Mysterious Letter by Alexis HallWhat it is: a witty Sherlock Holmes adaptation with a speculative twist and a LGBTQIA diverse cast.
Starring: Captain John Wyndham and his new roommate, consulting sorceress Ms. Shaharazad Haas; their first case involves Hass' former lover, Lady Eirene Viola, who's being blackmailed.
For fans of: Claire O'Dell's Janet Watson novels or G.S. Denning's Warlock Holmes series. |
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| The Record Keeper by Agnes GomillionIntroducing: Arika Cobane, the valedictorian of her graduating class, who has spent a decade training to become a Record Keeper.
But then... the arrival of a new student with dangerous ideas causes Arika to question her complicity in perpetuating the injustices of her racially segregated, rigidly hierarchical post-apocalyptic society.
For fans of: Rivers Solomon's An Unkindness of Ghosts, another lyrical Afrofuturist work that examines systemic racism through a speculative lens. |
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River of Night
by John Ringo
What it is about: A survivor of a Zombie apocalypse in New York City assembles a team of allies to fight to save civilization.
Series alert: River of Night is Book 7 in the Black Tide Rising Series. The series is comprised of the following titles: Under a Graveyard Sky To Sail a Darkling Sea Islands of Rage and Hope Strands of Sorrow Black Tide Rising The Valley of Shadows
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| The Lesson by Cadwell TurnbullWhat happens: The alien Ynaa occupy St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, causing tension between the newcomers and the locals.
Why you might like it: This thought-provoking debut is at once an allegory for colonialism and a moving, character-driven first contact story.
For fans of: Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and Tade Thompson's Rosewater. |
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| Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin HearneWhat it is: a quirky comedic fantasy adventure that riffs on classic genre tropes.
Featuring: a farm boy (briefly), a talking goat, a seven-foot-tall warrior in a chainmail bikini, an enchanted rabbit bard, an alektorophobic assassin, a sand witch, and a dark lord.
For fans of: William Goldman's The Princess Bride, Diana Wynne Jones' Dark Lord of Derkholm, or Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. |
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| The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee MartinezIntroducing: 28-year-old Constance Verity, who has spent most of her life saving the world.
The goal: To achieve the normal existence she craves, Constance must track down the fairy godmother who blessed (or is that cursed?) her with an adventurous life.
Want a taste? "Trouble wasn't content to follow Constance Verity. Trouble was more proactive when it came to Connie." |
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| A Blink of the Screen: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry PratchettWhat it is: a short story collection by the late (and much-missed) Terry Pratchett.
Contains: several Discworld stories, as well as an assortment of other pieces, all with commentary from the author.
Don't miss: "The Hades Business," written when Pratchett was just 13 (it got published); "The Ankh-Morpork National Anthem." |
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| Space Opera by Catherynne M. ValenteWhat it's about: “Glamrock messiah” Danesh Jalo is fighting for mankind’s continued existence -- by taking center stage in an intergalactic talent show bursting with glitter, lipstick, and rock and roll.
Reviewers say: An “endearing, razzle-dazzle love song about destiny, finding one’s true voice, and rockin’ the house down” (Publishers Weekly).
Is it for you? If you like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, David Bowie, or the Eurovision Song Contest, you'll like this humorous science fiction extravaganza. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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