Publishers Weekly: Drawing heavily from Trinidadian folklore, Palumbo packs her debut collection of 12 uncanny shorts with love, longing, and death. A recurring motif is a woman mourning a life with a lover that she has to leave, as in “The Pull of the Herd,” in which the shape-shifting protagonist has left her herd of doe to live as a human with her mate, but is called back to the wilderness by her doeskin. In “Apolepisi: A De-scaling,” the mermaid […]
Starred Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells
Booklist: After the events of Fugitive Telemetry (2021), Murderbot, ART, and their colleagues remain on the alien-infected planet on the other side of the wormhole, combating the infection and trying to convince the planetary colonists to leave their world for their own safety. But corporate interests oppose their efforts, and it turns out there are more people on the planet than they realized. Meanwhile, Murderbot is having some issues and isn’t operating at full capacity. How are they supposed to successfully navigate everyone […]
Review: The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
Tor.com: Brilliant wonderful amazing fantasy novel, and the second fantasy novel I have read this year (or ever) featuring UBI. The experience of reading The Saint of Bright Doors is a little like having a mild fever—it’s the atmosphere of the book and the way it makes you feel. Everything is slightly too big and too bright, and details keep piling up and slipping out of control, and it’s all stirred together with a dash of Kafka—but in a good way. […]
Deal: Kim Harrison
New York Times bestselling author of The Hollows, Kim Harrison, sold FIRST CONTACT, TOTALITY, and EMERGENCE. With story roots born after the author witnessed the 2017 eclipse, the epic tale begins in the wake of a solar eclipse. A portal between our world and a paranormal realm opens—and a scientist’s life will never be the same, in this new thrilling serialized adventure: Eclipsed Evolution. Executive Editor Anne Sowards at Penguin Random House / Ace acquired rights via Jennifer Jackson. To be released […]
Congratulations to Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey!
THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey makes the Barnes and Noble’s Best Books of 2023 list! Julie is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-year-old whose only retirement plan is dying early. She’s been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she’ll work the most gruesome gigs, exorcize the nastiest demons, and make deals with the cruelest gods to claw her way to the top. But nothing can prepare her for the toughest job […]
Starred Review: The Olympian Affair by Jim Butcher
Booklist: Two years after the events of The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2015), Spire Albion is hovering on the brink of war with Spire Aurora, which has been field-testing a powerful weapon that leaves no witnesses as to what could cause such complete destruction. Captain Mad Grimm and the crew of the privateer airship Predator manage to rescue some survivors of an attack on Albion territory—a tribe of kittens. But the felines refuse to identify the threat unless provided with a new home, which will require negotiations […]
Review: System Collapse by Martha Wells
Locus: The seventh of Martha Wells’s Murderbot long-form stories, System Collapse is a novel-length sequel to Network Effect, picking up within days of that novel’s conclusion. Murderbot fans are unlikely to be disappointed here: Wells is on form with the series’ trademark black humour, razor-sharp tension, Murderbot’s all-too-relatable interpersonal interactions, action, and high stakes. But despite its action-adventure bones, System Collapse is a more low-key, introspective novel than many of the Murderbot stories have been so far. As is usual for Martha Wells’ work, I thoroughly […]
Review: The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberly & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Booklist: In their third adult contemporary romance, following Never Vacation with Your Ex (2023), married writing duo Wibberley and Siegemund-Broka explore the relationship between a famous pop star and the man who inspired her greatest hit. Riley Wynn has finally attained mainstream success with her newest album and its lead single, but everyone thinks the song is about her famous ex-husband. Determined to reclaim the narrative, she asks her ex-college-boyfriend, Max Harcourt, to go public as its real inspiration. Max agrees […]
Review: A Second Chance for Yesterday by R.A. Sinn
Locus: “provocative, assured, compelling debut novel” “The romance that develops between Myx and Nev is indicative of the nicely divided dual priorities by which Sinn contours the book. Not only is the techno-riddle given full prominence, but so is Nev’s whole familial and adult backstory. She ends up on a path to solve not only the Glitch, but also all the little glitches in her life. The knockout ending knots off both threads nicely.” “As with so much classic SF, […]
Review: It Takes Monsters by Mandy McHugh
Booklist: McHugh’s dark, disturbing, and twisty sophomore thriller (after Chloe Cates Is Missing, 2022) features rich and privileged characters that readers will love to hate. When Victoria Tate’s husband, Warren, steals her family’s company out from under her and begins to control her life, she decides she is done with him. This time, he has gone too far, and she will not be told what to do. Victoria plans the perfect murder, but someone knows her intentions and beats her […]









