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Review: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Dec 162020
 

NPR: Elatsoe – Ellie to her friends – is an asexual Lipan Apache girl who can raise the ghosts of dead animals, in a world where fairies and vampires are acknowledged members of American society. When she’s visited in a dream by a cousin telling her he’s been murdered, she and her parents resolve to support his widow and child through their mourning – as well as solve the mystery of his murder and bring his killer to justice. Warm and spooky, charming and devastating by turns, Elatsoe brims over with love and deep grief, held in the stronger arms of family and community.

NPR’s Books Concierge Best of the Year 2020

Dec 142020
 

Congratulations to all our DMLA authors who made NPR’s Books Concierge Best of the Year 2020 list!

THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS by Micaiah Johnson
ELATSOE by Darcie Little Badger
HARROW THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir
IKENGA by Nnedi Okorafor
THE MIDNIGHT BARGAIN by C.L. Polk
NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells

Deal: Darcie Little Badger

Dec 092020
 

Author of ELATSOE Darcie Little Badger’s A SNAKE FALLS TO EARTH, a tale influenced by traditional Lipan Apache storytelling structure about a girl from Earth and a Cottonmouth kid from the land of spirits and monsters who agree to help each other save their families, to Nick Thomas at Levine Querido, for publication in fall 2021, by Michael Curry.

Deal: Cassandra Khaw

Nov 192020
 
Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw’s THE DEAD TAKE THE A TRAIN, a fast-paced dark fantasy about a freelance psychic operative tracking an ever-morphing supernatural serial killer in New York City, as well as a second untitled book, to Diana Gill at Nightfire (with Kelly Lonesome editing), for publication in Summer 2022 and Summer 2023, by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown for Kadrey and by Michael Curry for Khaw.

 

Wonder and Glory Forever by Nick Mamatas

Nov 182020
 

Even though he passed over 80 years ago, H. P. Lovecraft maintains a visceral influence over a host of contemporary writers. Inspired by the Master of the Macabre’s more optimistic writings, this unique collection spotlights the weird works of nine current horror and fantasy authors, including the award-winning Michael Cisco and Livia Llewellyn plus Victor LaValle, Molly Tanzer, and Masahiko Inoue. Also includes Clark Ashton Smith’s 1931 “The City of the Singing Flame” and Lovecraft’s own “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” as well as an extensive Introduction by leading Lovecraftian scholar Nick Mamatas.

Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2020

Nov 042020
 

Congratulations to Darcie Little Badger – ELATSOE has been picked for Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2020 in the Young Adult Category!

Review: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Oct 122020
 

NPR: There’s a spooky warmth to Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger’s debut novel. Set in a version of our contemporary world where everyone knows ghosts, fairies, and vampires are real, Elatsoe, like its namesake protagonist, walks a zig-zagging line between humor and horror, braiding them into each other. Dead dogs make cheerful ghost companions while widows mourn young husbands; vampires propose marriage to fairy princesses while miracle-working doctors keep sinister secrets….This was deeply enjoyable from start to finish, with moments of shockingly clear insight and sharp knife-twists of plot. Ellie’s a great character, kind and keen, and her relationships with friends and parents are a pleasure to dwell in. It’s very moving to me to see a whole family pulling together as a dramatic unit, and I loved the place parents and grandparents occupy in the narrative, present as storytellers and stories both. The plot is smoothly woven through with folkloric stories of heroic ancestors, and the pattern they make together is beautiful.

It’s also very satisfying to see a lovely boy/girl friendship exist for its own sake: Ellie’s best friend next to Kirby is Jay, a descendent of Oberon who’s as supportive of her quest for justice as he is respectful of her asexuality. More mainstream narratives would treat a young woman’s disdain for marriage and sexuality as naïve immaturity in need of correction; Ellie’s identity is a matter-of-fact constant, affirmed by those who love her in a handful of grace notes chiming through the overall melodic line of the book….There’s so much love in Elatsoe, such deep grief held in the stronger arms of family and community. I’m so excited for all the young people who get to read this book and find themselves in it.

Starred Review: Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

Oct 022020
 

Shelf Awareness: Darcie Little Badger’s creative and meticulously plotted YA debut, Elatsoe, is a supernatural murder mystery that takes place in a United States that has Fairy Ring Transportation Centers, endless fields of scarecrows with human eyes and a rich history of Lipan Apache ghost whisperers.

When Elatsoe’s ghost dog, Kirby, throws a fit, she knows something is very wrong. Turns out, Ellie’s cousin Trevor was in a fatal car accident. That night Ellie, whose “family secret” is the knowledge of how to bring back the dead, dreams of Trevor. “A man named Abe Allerton murdered me,” he tells Ellie. “Don’t let Abe hurt my family.” Ellie’s mother and father believe that Ellie is as powerful as her Six-Great-Grandmother who traveled Lipan Apache territory saving her people from undead evils, dangerous creatures and deadly settlers. Knowing the strength of his daughter’s gift, Ellie’s father agrees to help her investigate. With the assistance of her parents and her good friend and Lord Oberon descendant, Jay, Ellie takes a trip across Texas to find Abe Allerton and bring him to justice.

Little Badger excellently balances humor and horror in this inventive YA mystery/alternate history/fantasy. Ellie is a very likable protagonist whose Lipan heritage and ethnicity is not just twined with the story, but is the story: her gift comes from Six-Great; she’s vocal about the contemporary mistreatment of Indigenous people; and she has a pretty ingenious way of dispelling vampires. Each chapter begins with graceful, almost ethereal black-and-white illustrations by And the Ocean Was Our Sky artist Rovina Cai, adding to the evanescent vibe of the book, a Lipan Apache Sookie Stackhouse for the teen set. One hopes Ellie—and the wonderfully developed world in which she lives—will appear in many more books to come.

Deal: Cassandra Khaw

Sep 282020
 

Locus and British Fantasy Award nominee Cassandra Khaw’s debut novel THE ALL-CONSUMING WORLD, about a diverse team of former criminals who get back together to rescue a missing comrade and solve the mystery of their last, disastrous mission while battling their own traumas and a universe of sapient AI ageships who want them dead, to Sarah Guan at Erewhon, by Michael Curry.

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