Review: Red-Stained Wings by Elizabeth Bear

Apr 122019
 

Publishers Weekly: In this satisfyingly complex sequel to The Stone in the Skull, the descendants of the Alchemical Emperor vie for dominion over the remnants of his empire, or for simple survival for themselves and their people. In the city of Sarathai-tia, the young rajni, Mrithuri, faces a siege by the power-hungry raja Anuraja. She is supported by her own court and by new arrivals­including Serhan, the Dead Man, a former bodyguard and her new lover­but one of her inner circle may be a traitor. Anuraja holds hostage Sayeh Rajni, the trans or “third-sex” ruler of Ansh-Sahal, whose realm was destroyed by a volcanic eruption caused by Anuraja’s wizard accomplice, Ravani. Sayeh’s son, Drupada, has been kidnapped by a fourth royal, raja Himadra, who hopes to assume guardianship over the boy and thus control the refugees and army of Ansh-Sahal. And Serhan’s friend the Gage, a brass automaton with a human soul, continues his journey through a poisonous landscape in search of the Singing City of the dragons and possible allies there. Sorcery and scheming successfully propel the characters and plot lines of this rich and lovely India-tinged fantasy.

2019 Hugo Award Finalists

Apr 102019
 

Congratulations to the DMLA authors nominated for the 2019 Hugo Awards!

Best Novel
Revenant Gun, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)

Best Novella
Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing)
Binti: The Night Masquerade, by Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com publishing)

Best Novelette
The Only Harmless Great Thing, by Brooke Bolander (Tor.com publishing)

Best Short Story
“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat,” by Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Magazine 23, July-August 2018)

Best Series
Machineries of Empire, by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)

Best Graphic Story
Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Sami Kivelä, colours by Jason Wordie, letters by Jim Campbell (BOOM! Studios)
Black Panther: Long Live the King, written by Nnedi Okorafor and Aaron Covington, art by André Lima Araújo, Mario Del Pennino and Tana Ford (Marvel)

Best Semiprozine
Elsa Sjunneson-Henry as managing editor for Fireside Magazine
Elsa Sjunneson-Henry as special issue editor for Uncanny Magazine, Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction

Best Fan Writer
Elsa Sjunneson-Henry

2019 Associated Awards (Not a Hugo Award):

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book
Dread Nation, by Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Jeannette Ng (2nd year of eligibility)

Triple Jeopardy by Anne Perry

Apr 092019
 

Young lawyer Daniel Pitt must defend a British diplomat accused of a theft that may cover up a deadly crime in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Twenty-one Days.

Daniel Pitt, along with his parents, Charlotte and Thomas, is delighted that his sister, Jemima, and her family have returned to London from the States for a visit. But the Pitts soon learn of a harrowing incident: In Washington, D.C., one of Jemima’s good friends has been assaulted and her treasured necklace stolen. The perpetrator appears to be a man named Philip Sidney, a British diplomat stationed in America’s capital who, in a cowardly move, has fled to London, claiming diplomatic immunity. But that claim doesn’t cover his other crimes. . . .

When Sidney winds up in court on a separate charge of embezzlement, it falls to Daniel to defend him. Daniel plans to provide only a competent enough defense to avoid a mistrial, allowing the prosecution to put his client away. But when word travels across the pond that an employee of the British embassy in Washington has been found dead, Daniel grows suspicious about Sidney’s alleged crimes and puts on his detective hat to search for evidence in what has blown up into an international affair.

As the embezzlement scandal heats up, Daniel takes his questions to intrepid scientist Miriam fford Croft, who brilliantly uses the most up-to-date technologies to follow an entirely new path of investigation. Daniel and Miriam travel to the Channel Islands to chase a fresh lead, and what began with a stolen necklace turns out to have implications in three far greater crimes—a triple jeopardy, including possible murder.

Congratulations to Yoon Ha Lee!

Apr 082019
 

Cover of Dragon Pear by Yoon Ha Lee.Congratulations to Yoon Ha Lee with DRAGON PEARL on the New York Times Children’s Middle Grade Bestseller List for another week at #8!

Rick Riordan Presents Yoon Ha Lee’s space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you’d never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min’s mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times.

Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She’s counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored tohave tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.

Min’s quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.

This sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.

Starred Review: Toll by Cherie Priest

Apr 052019
 

Publishers Weekly: Priest (The Family Plot) spins a small, swampy urban legend into a riveting, swelteringly atmospheric story that questions just how far the residents of a Southern town will go to forget, or appease, a past they cannot bear to confront. Cameron Spratford has lived with his elderly cousins Claire and Daisy in Staywater, Ga., since his parents abandoned him there as a toddler. Although everyone in Staywater encourages Cam to leave, he is content to remain­until Titus Bell arrives. Titus and his wife, Melanie, are traveling through the Okefenokee Swamp when they arrive at a strange, one-lane bridge. Sometime later, Titus wakes up in the middle of the road, alone. He makes his way to Staywater and, while awaiting news of Melanie, begins to shake the secrets of the town loose. Cameron gradually discovers the truth about the bridge outside Staywater, the role Claire and Daisy played in bringing peace there once, and what they are willing to do to keep Cameron safe. Priest keeps the supernatural elements grounded by developing nuanced characters who feel as though they could walk off the page. Moody and mysterious, this gothic tale touches the heart even as it wraps chilly fingers around the spine.

Starred Review: The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion

Apr 042019
 

Publishers Weekly: Gomillion debuts with a gut-punch Afrofuturist novel that examines the incalculable damage systemic racism wreaks on individuals and societies, and the many forms liberation can take. Sometime in the future, in the aftermath of WWIII, societies enforce peace through rigidly controlled racial hierarchies. That control includes using medication to erase the memories of the less privileged. Born in the remnants of America, Arika Cobane inhabits the upper echelons of the race of dark-skinned laborers known as the Kongo, trained by her white teachers to be a record keeper and write false histories that reinforce social norms. As rumors spread of rebels challenging the state’s authority, a new Kongo student, Hosea Khan, enters Arika’s class, shocking her by openly questioning the violence committed against the Kongo people on the pretext of upholding peace. Arika helps Hosea nurse injured laborers, confronts her complicity in the structures of power that perpetuate the Kongo’s enslavement, and devotes herself to tearing those structures apart, starting by leading an uprising against the school’s teachers and administrators. This intellectually rich, emotional, and ruthlessly honest confrontation of racism proves Gomillion is a critically important new voice.

Deal: Shaun David Hutchinson

Apr 032019
 

photo of author Shaun David HutchinsonDavid Linker at HarperCollins has bought WE ARE THE ANTS author Shaun David Hutchinson’s THE STATE OF US, the story of Dean and Dre—the 16-year-old sons of the Republican and Democratic candidates for President of the United States—who fall in love on the sidelines of their parents’ presidential campaigns. The book is planned for summer 2020; Katie Shea Boutillier brokered the deal for world rights.

Deal: Michael Livingston

Apr 022019
 

SHARDS OF HEAVEN author Michael Livingston’s fantasy trilogy SEABORN, in which a matriarchal sea-faring culture faces invasion by an airborne armada intent on eradicating the use of forbidden magic, to Steve Feldberg at Audible Originals, by Paul Stevens.

Congratulations to Yoon Ha Lee!

Apr 012019
 

Cover of Dragon Pear by Yoon Ha Lee. Congratulations to Yoon Ha Lee with DRAGON PEARL on the New York Times Children’s Middle Grade Bestseller List at #4 for another week!

PERfunctory afFECTION by Kim Harrison

Mar 312019
 

Is it better to live a lie of perfection when the truth is too ugly to survive? Meg wants a normal life. Her new artistic style, born in the depression of her mother’s death, is poised to take the art world by storm, if she could just overcome the debilitating anxiety caused by the car accident that scarred her boyfriend, Austin.

Encouraged by her therapist, Meg pushes outside her comfort zone to befriend Haley, a guest instructor at the university where Meg teaches. Haley is everything Meg wants to be: charismatic, confident, and perfect, but when Austin expresses his worry that Haley is changing Meg too fast and leads her to realize that Austin is trying to keep her afraid and needing him, Meg kicks him out of her life. Or at least, she tries.

Kim Harrison, author of the number one bestselling Urban Fantasy Hollows series, brings to life a world terrifyingly near to our own, where what’s real and what shouldn’t exist twine together in the madness of a troubled mind desperate for a way out. But when the truth is revealed, the question remains, is it better to live a lie of perfection, or cleave to an ugly reality that will destroy you?

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