@bookstodon Notable new book releases in the U.S. for September 26, 2023. It took forever to wade through everything this week and try to narrow/compile the best list I could. Please be aware that there's also a lot of great teen, YA, and especially nonfiction released today.
Black River Orchard, Chuck Wendig. [An apple a day won't keep the horror away.] ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Furies, Margaret Atwood, et al. [Feminist tales aim to reclaim slurs used for centuries vs. strong independent female characters.]
Land of Milk and Honey, C Pam Zhang. [Examination of the seductive nature of consumption, in a clever allegory about Climate Change.]
The Golem of Brooklyn, Adam Mansbach. [Surprisingly funny and affecting story about faith, group identity, bigotry, and vengeance.]
People Collide, Isle McElroy. [Gender swap premise remade with sharp intelligence and thoughtful questions about sexuality/identity.]
And Then She Fell, Alicia Elliott. [First Nations new mother in Toronto feels her belonging and her sanity unraveling, and cannot determine how much she's being gaslit.]
The Caretaker, Ron Rash. [A small town, in which each character thinks they know what really matters, until dramatic events make them see more clearly.]
The Witches of Bone Hill, Ava Morgyn. [Dark twists and turns abound in this creepy house of horror thriller.]
Enlightened, Sachi Ediriweera. [Graphic novel about the origin of Buddhism: Siddhartha. Told through the prince on a journey.]
The Navigating Fox, Christopher Rowe. [Intriguing speculative/alt history fiction about the Roman Empire expanding into some of North America and, happily, all of the Indigenous Nations still thrive.]
Undiscovered, Gabriela Weiner, Julia Sanchez, translator. [Partially based on actual history, about the emotional
struggle to reconcile the colonial past with modern identity.]
Blackward, Lawrence Lindell. [Fantastic title, right? A graphic novel for all of us who felt like we didn't belong to the cool club in school, with special love for Black, queer, nerdy, "weird" folks.]
The Out Side: Trans and Nonbinary Comics, The Kao, ed. [I enjoyed this graphic novel. You rarely see comics about the experiences of coming out, collected all in one place.] ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Notable new book releases in the U.S. for September 19, 2023:
Mother, Daughter, Traitor, Spy, Susan Ella MacNeal. [WWII hunt for Nazi sympathizers in L.A.]
Starter Villain, John Scalzi. [I mean, SPY CATS, do you need anything more?]
The Box, Mandy-Suzanne Wong. [ A puzzle box within an expanding and contracting puzzle box.]
Beyond the Door of no Return, David Diop, Sam Taylor. [Senegalese Revenant story.]
Never Whistle at Night: an Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, Shane Hawk, ed.
The World Wasn't Ready for You, Justin C. Key. [If "Get Out" were expressed in short horror stories]
Have You Seen Her? Dea Poirer. [Missing sister psychological thriller.]
Red Rabbit, Alex Grecian. [Western Folk-Horror with a bazillion characters. I'm definitely going to need to read this one.]
Inverse Cowgirl, Alicia Roth Wiegel. [Intersex rights and identity.]
Mr. Texas, Lawrence Wright. [Political parody as big as Texas.]
North Woods, Daniel Mason. [If these walls could talk.]
Black Sheep, Rachel Harrison. [You can't go home again.]
The Golden Gate, Amy Chua. [Historical thriller with everything: politics, racism, sex, and war.]
A Volga Tale, Guzel Yakhina. [Historical fiction as big and bold as the river that separates two peoples.]
Night Watch, Jayne Anne Phillips. [Post-Civil War survival story.]
The Wolves of Eternity, Karl Ove Knausgaard. [Big questions about how we see the world and our place in it, fate, destiny, and what we owe each other along the way.]
Pig: Poems, Sam Sax. [Humanity seen through the lens of everything pig. Brash, intelligent and a bit tawdry.]
The Square of Sevens, Laura Shepherd-Robinson [Dickensian tale of an orphaned fortune teller, who finds that the path to truth is filled with twists and turns.]
The Spirit Bares its Teeth, Andrew Joseph White [Dickensian tale of a spiritual medium, who finds that the path to authenticity and self empowerment is torturous.]
Herc, Phoenicia Rogerson [Instead of centering Hercules, this feminist retelling of the Greek myth tells the stories of those around "Herc."]
Hush Harbor, Anise Vance [No justice, no peace means what it says.]
Phoebe's Diary, Phoebe Wahl [Illustrated story of adolescence. Honest and forthright.]
The Circumference of the World, Lavie Tidhar [Sly SciFi Pulpfic Puzzle.]
The September House, Carissa Orlando [That creepy house is going for cheap. What could go wrong?]
The Trespassers, Stephanie Black [How long can paranormal powers be kept secret?]
Mother-Daughter Murder Night, Nina Simon [Marketed as "Gilmore Girls, but with murder."]
Wednesday's Child: Stories, Yiyun Li [What jolts you out of the mundane, out of your ordinary life? From the author of The Book of Goose.]
Dayswork, Chris Bachelder, Jennifer Habel [Not for everyone, but if you like subtextual metaphors, this introspective novel is for you.]
Dearborn, Ghassan Zeineddine [The complex immigrant experience, told in stories.]
Independent and small press publishers talk about a few of the books they are releasing this fall and early next year, and yes, of course my TBR wishlist has increased again.
@queerscifi@lgbtqbookstodon I recently dropped book 3 in my queer supernatural superspy series and have been struggling to make headway on 4 (which should largely conclude things, though I have plans for a fun time-skip in 5), some encouragement would go a long way!
It's Speculative Fiction Saturday - authors, pop in and tell us about your latest success. New book or short story coming out? Let us know. Just sell something? Let us know so we can cheer you on!
HOW IT WORKS:
—Post your announcement as a separate post so we can comment on it directly
—Check out the other posts and congratulate and share them too!
We are about one month away from one of my favorite times of the year…fall reading! But we still have a couple more weeks before that begins, so let us enjoy the remaining days of summer with great book releases!