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Today, I’ve got some new releases and some potential preorders for you to check out. Get ready for dragons, bog wives, and the vagaries of memory.
Bookish Goods
Fire Breathing Drago n Wall Mount by CreateFantasyCrafts
…or book shelf mount, as the case may be. This cool little sculpture has light-up flame (color of your choice) and looks pretty easy to mount wherever you’d like the dragon attack to commence. The seller page has a neat little video showing how it works. ($30)
New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Releases Out This Week
The Mechanics of Memory by Audrey Lee
Copeland-Stark is a company that purports to understand memory; it’s their sole business. Yet they cannot seem to do anything to help Hope Nakano recover a year she’s “lost.” That missing year has destroyed the life she wanted to build with her great love, and she wants it back. Each procedure recovers only fragments for her, ones that only make her doubt the memories she retains even more. Inconsistencies pile up, hinting at secrets that must be unearthed — both hers and those of the company.
Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson
Lord Reacher has declared himself the supreme ruler of the Celes Basin, purportedly to enforce unity against the enemies that threaten it. But this political move inflames old rivalries and pushes political factions to the point of tearing the basin apart from within. Into that melee enters a glassblower’s apprentice sent to the court as a false tribute bride, a laundress with strange abilities who wishes only to survive, and a dragon rider who had his dragon shot out from under him. It is those three-bit players who, in their fight for survival, will be instrumental in fighting the monsters both within and without.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Preorder Now
Preorder time again! Here are two books that I’m really looking forward to, both of which will be coming at us in October.
Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-il Kim translated by Anton Hur
The Empire has become so greedy for conquest that it has begun to consume even its own dead; the corpses of sorcerers are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to fuel the march of necromancy across the land. Hidden beneath a volcano, the seven-eyed dragon that once guarded the people languishes in similar chains. Arienne is a sorcerer resigned to her fate, until a long-dead magic user speaks in her head and offers her a different option. Loran, a sword-wielding widow, finds the dragon to plead for help and leaves with a new sword made from its fang. Cain lives in the Imperial capital and kept to himself until his best friend was murdered, leaving him on a path of vengeance that he will follow to its end, even if it means causing a war. Their world needs a hero; what it gets is Arienne, Loran, and Cain. (October 8)
The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
The Haddsley family has lived and died by their cranberry bog — quite literally. Each generation, they sacrifice their patriarch to the bog, and in return, the bog produces from its vegetation a “bog-wife” who carries on the family line. But one year, their sacrifice is not accepted. The five Haddsley siblings, already at war with each other and grieving their mother, who disappeared years earlier, cannot agree on how to address this crisis, and each reacts in their own desperate and destructive way. (October 1)
And here’s your neat thing from Scotland for the day: the Glasgow Necropolis. We went on a self-guided tour that highlighted the different kinds of stone used by the markers — and meant we got to see the marker memorializing Lord Kelvin. (Yes, the very guy who came up with the absolute temperature system.) Stay safe out there, space pirates, have a great weekend, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!
See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.
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