Must-Have Monday #142
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other genres sneak in occasionally too.
This week I have SEVEN books I’m excited to tell you about!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
The Infinite Miles by Hannah Fergesen Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Pansexual MC
Published on: 20th June 2023
Goodreads
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Fans of Claudia Gray and Kelly Link will love Hannah Fergesen’s wild and poignant debut—a wacky time-traveling sci-fi odyssey wrapped in an elegiac ode to lost friendship and a clever homage to Doctor Who.
To save the future, she must return to the beginning
Three years after her best friend Peggy went missing, Harper Starling is lost. Lost in her dead-end job, lost in her grief. All she has are regrets and reruns of her favorite science fiction show, Infinite Voyage.
Then Peggy returns and demands to be taken to the Argonaut, the fictional main character of Infinite Voyage. But the Argonaut is just that … fictional. Until the TV hero himself appears and spirits Harper away from her former best friend. Traveling through time, he explains that Peggy used to travel with him but is now under the thrall of an alien enemy known as the Incarnate—one that has destroyed countless solar systems.
Then he leaves Harper in 1971.
Stranded in the past, Harper must find a way to end the Incarnate’s thrall … without the help of the Argonaut. But the cosmos are nothing like the technicolor stars of the TV show she loves, and if Harper can’t find it in herself to believe—in the Argonaut, in Peggy, and most of all, in herself—she’ll be the Incarnate’s next casualty, along with the rest of the universe.
Apparently a love-letter to Dr Who, which, valid. The reviews seem a little mixed, but enough readers I trust have said good things that I want to try it out for myself!
Citadel by C.M. Alongi Genres: Sci Fi
Representation: Nonverbal autistic MC
Published on: 20th June 2023
Goodreads
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Citadel, the only city on the planet Edalide, has a holy mission: exterminate the demons from the Flooded Forest. The unholy, vicious animals were a mistake made by their god that must be corrected.
Or at least, that's what everyone's been told.
When Olivia, a nonverbal autistic nineteen-year-old, has a chance run-in with a demon, she realizes that these beings are not vicious, animals, or unholy, but sentient people. Forever scarred by her mother's legally sanctioned murder, and determined to prevent either side from losing more loved ones, Olivia embarks on a hazardous journey into the Flooded Forest where she faces flesh-eating predators, telekinetic zealot-warriors, and the demons of her own past.
Olivia's quest for answers forces her to decide to either seek justice for both sides, or continue the cycle of war, revenge, and death.
We do not get autistic MCs in SFF very often, and I don’t think I’ve ever come across a nonverbal one before! Between that and the rest of the premise, I definitely need to pounce on Citadel!
Night's Edge (Night's Edge, #1) by Liz Kerin Genres: Horror, Queer Protagonists, Speculative Fiction
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 20th June 2023
Goodreads
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“This one’s a killer.” ―Erika T. Wurth, author of White Horse
Liz Kerin’s Night’s Edge is a sun-drenched novel about the darkest secrets we hide and how monstrous we can be to the ones we love most.
Having a mom like Izzy meant Mia had to grow up fast. No extracurriculars, no inviting friends over, and definitely no dating. The most important Tell no one of Izzy’s hunger – the kind only blood can satisfy.
But Mia is in her twenties now and longs for a life of her own. One where she doesn’t have to worry about anyone discovering their terrible secret, or breathing down her neck. When Mia meets rebellious musician Jade she dares to hope she’s found a way to leave her home – and her mom – behind.
It just might be Mia’s only chance of getting out alive.
“Night’s Edge is a gruesome and surprisingly heartfelt page-turner.” ―Alexis Henderson, author of House of Hunger
I’ve seen a few places calling this YA, but the author has been very clear that it is absolutely not, so with the Adult books it goes. Apparently it’s lots of toxic mother-daughter vibes, which means I’ll need to steer clear – triggers, aren’t they fun? – but it sounds so interesting I couldn’t not feature it!
Like Smoke, Like Light: Stories by Yukimi Ogawa Genres: Horror, Sci Fi, Science Fantasy
Published on: 20th June 2023
Goodreads
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“Ogawa’s debut collection of 17 speculative shorts stuns with its delicacy … There’s a gorgeous fluidity to these tales that makes them hard to pin down, as they often end somewhere very different from where they began. Harkening back to the oldest folk and fairy tales and raising pointed questions about how humans value and devalue each other, this is a showstopper.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Her work is unexpected, often horrific, and always enthralling. Weaving Japanese folklore in with the new, the weird, and science fiction horror elements, Ogawa’s body of work is prolific and evergreen.”
—Thea James, Tor.com
A monster wearing the stolen dress of a deceased mother agrees to help the woman’s orphaned son. A girl whose blood can cause hallucinogenic visions makes a daring escape from the merchants who traffic her. In a society where people are prized for their jewel-hued skins—indigo, silver, amber, emerald—one girl endures brutal bruises to shine brightest of all, while another, her eyes sealed inside a featureless helmet, risks death to retrieve colors from the outside world. In the future of that culture, one where androids serve with brimming resentment and artificially altering one’s skin color can be a crime, the most ordinary in appearance can prove the best detectives, and the most subtly effective rebels. On a far distant space station, another android encounters a goddess humans forgot.
“At pure surface level, these works appear rooted in the fantastical and magical, but as soon as you think you’ve found your footing and understand where you are, Ogawa warps your perception almost imperceptibly until the world is completely unfamiliar again.”
—Haralambi Markov, Tor.com
Like Smoke, Like Light, the debut collection of short fiction from Japanese author Yukimi Ogawa, gathers seventeen tales that Locus Magazine has described as constructed in a “wild—but still grounded, feeling more like SF than fantasy—fashion.” As novelist and poet Francesca Forrest writes in her introduction, “Ogawa is a remarkable light in the science fiction and fantasy firmament,” who “writes unsettling stories that are by turns horrifying and touching.” This book “give us space and time to think about how we really feel about tricky questions—like what makes a monster” and how loving families can be found when one accepts “the forms they choose to wear.”
There are some publishers it’s simply good sense to keep an eye on, and Mythic Delirium is certainly one of them! So when I saw they were putting out a new collection, it mattered not that I don’t know the author – I fully intend to pounce on this anyway!
Might wait till I’m feeling a bit braver, though; sounds like the stories here will be plenty horror-y…
Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 20th June 2023
Goodreads
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The heart wants what it wants. Saddle up, ride out, and claim it.
A vibrant and cinematic debut set in the American West about a scrappy orphan who finds friendship, romance, and her true calling as a revenge-seeking gunslinger.
It's the spring of 1877 and sixteen-year-old Bridget is already disillusioned. She's exhausted from caring for her ne'er-do-well alcoholic father, but when he's killed by a snakebite as they cross the Kansas prairie, she knows she has only her wits to keep her alive. She arrives penniless in Dodge City, and, thanks to the allure of her bright red hair and country-girl beauty, is soon recruited to work at the Buffalo Queen, the only brothel in town run by women. Bridget takes to brothel life, appreciating the good food, good pay, and good friendships she forms with her fellow "sporting women."
Then Spartan Lee, the legendary female gunfighter in the region, rides into town, and Bridget falls in love. Hard. Before long, though, a series of shocking double-crosses shatter the Buffalo Queen's tenuous peace and safety. Desperate for vengeance and autonomy, Bridget resolves to claim her own destiny.
A thoroughly modern reimagining of the Western genre, Lucky Red is a masterfully crafted, propulsive tale of adventure, loyalty, desire, and love.
Look, the blurb is hugely misleading here; very little of the book is Bridget wanting to be a gunslinger, so please don’t pick this up if that’s what you’re looking for! But this is a super addictive, surprisingly insightful and funny whirlwind of a read, and I adored it utterly!
And Break the Pretty Kings by Lena Jeong Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Korean-coded setting and cast
Published on: 20th June 2023
Goodreads
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A crown princess. A monster the gods fear. A destiny no one can outrun.
Inspired by Korean history and myths, the first book in the Sacred Bone series is a rich and evocative high-stakes fantasy that is perfect for fans of Gallant and Six Crimson Cranes.
Mirae was meant to save her queendom, but the ceremony before her coronation ends in terror and death, unlocking a strange new power within her and foretelling the return of a monster even the gods fear. Amid the chaos, Mirae's beloved older brother is taken--threatening the peninsula's already tenuous truce.
Desperate to save her brother and defeat this ancient enemy before the queendom is beset by war, Mirae sets out on a journey with an unlikely group of companions while her unpredictable magic gives her terrifying visions of a future she must stop at any cost.
Between the title – I am so here for kingbreakers – and the lovely descriptive prose I’ve been promised, I’m looking forward to giving this a try! I don’t read nearly enough Korean-inspired stories.
Veil Us in Gold (Sins of the Divine Book 1) by Shepard DiStasio Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 22nd June 2023
Goodreads
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Find a weapon lost to myth, and Drake can save the world.
Find a creature lost to war, and they can save themself.
Drake Elýnus was never supposed to be in Tārāmen. They were never supposed to be working for Tārāmen’s royal family. They were never supposed to do the things they’ve done. But Drake hasn’t stood a chance since the day their home was burned to the ground, the boy they loved was executed in front of them, and wayward magic cast them into a life of lonely immortality far from anything they’d ever known. All they have is revenge.
But when the culmination of their efforts backfires into a death sentence, their only hope is to make a deal with the very queen they tried to ruin.
The world around Drake is unraveling. Whispers of ancient monsters bubble beneath the surface. Fights escalate on the borders of a country that has not been its own in fifty years. Treaties are no longer worth any more than the blood they were written in. And a mysterious general they all call the ‘White Rose’ is apparently the face of it all.
With the gilded gold of society finally peeling, Drake might have a chance to escape—but only if they confront who they were truly supposed to be.
The first book of the Sins of the Divine series and DiStasio's debut, Veil Us in Gold explores what it means to be good, the secrets people will do anything to keep hidden, and the monsters that prowl not only in shadows, but inside hearts as well.
‘Blessed be those who kill gods’ is such a chilling and exciting tagline! This doesn’t sound like anything I’ve encountered before, which is a surefire way to get my attention, and every part of the blurb heightens my interest more than the last! GIMME!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
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