Lovely sight, innit.
Now that The Big Day's come and gone, lots of us have some giftcards, or some actual filthy lucre, to spend. There being no better way to spend that haul than on books, here are some reasonably priced options you might not've thought of to get your story needs met.
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In Search of the Unknown by Robert W. Chambers
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: Chambers' early novel explores the mysteries of the unknown. "Very genuine, though not without the typical mannered extravagance of the eighteen-nineties, is the strain of horror in the early work of Robert W. Chambers . . . One cannot help regretting that he did not further develop a vein in which he could so easily have become a recognised master."—H.P. Lovecraft. (Includes a brief introduction by Lovecraft.)
Robert William Chambers was an American artist and writer. His most famous, and perhaps most meritorious, effort is The King in Yellow, a collection of weird short stories, connected by the theme of the fictitious drama The King in Yellow, which drives those who read it insane.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Like The King in Yellow, this is a collection of weird short stories, this time connected by the character of a scientist who, in the fashion of the times, goes on hunts to retrieve sample organisms previously only rumored to (still) exist.
Very much in the mode of its day, the breathless excitement of taking ownership via description and study of wild things resonates very differently now. It is notable that Chambers, whose later career was writing mostly romantic fiction, grafts a romance onto the last story that has an unfulfilled unreturned love in it.
Wildside Press (non-affiliate Amazon link) offers a trade paper edition for $15.95, or you can opt for a free Kindle edition.
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The Tracer of Lost Persons by Robert W. Chambers
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: from Wikipedia: Chambers's novel The Tracer of Lost Persons was adapted into a long-running (1937–54) radio crime drama, Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons, by soap opera producers Frank and Anne Hummert.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I can see how this loosely structured novel inspired the long-running soap opera it did. I really dislike the author's unquestioned-imperialism era worldview, which I see everywhere in his stories. It's clear, however, that he understands narrative structure intimately.
The "occult detective" genre was a way to add supernatural frisson to the emerging blockbuster of amateur sleuth stories in the middle nineteenth century. I've read and enjoyed John Thunstone and Jules de Grandin stories, so I'm not immune to the charms here. But this is a pleasure best sipped in a liqueur glass of story size, where a novel is a quart jar of high-fructose corn syrup.
Enjoy in moderation, and it can be fun. Odin’s Library Classics (non-affiliate Amazon link) offers a trade paperback for $5.25. Or there's always Project Gutenberg.
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Blood Heir (Blood Heir Trilogy #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: In the Cyrilian Empire, Affinites are reviled. Their varied gifts to control the world around them are deemed unnatural—even dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, is one of the most terrifying Affinites.
Ana's ability to control blood has long been kept secret, but when her father, the emperor, is murdered, she is the only suspect. Now, to save her own life, Ana must find her father's killer. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is one where corruption rules and a greater conspiracy is at work--one that threatens the very balance of Ana's world.
There is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to the conspiracy's core: Ramson Quicktongue. Ramson is a cunning crime lord with sinister plans--though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Five years ago, there was quite a brouhaha about an early version of the book that got tagged for some problematic themes surrounding human trafficking. Author Zhao, Chinese descended ESL writer that she is, took that criticism to heart and pulled her self-published book to address the issues; somehow an idiot white man stuck his oar in to say this was the PC mob forcing her into a corner. Hijinks ensued for months.
The book, a well-crafted YA secondary-world fantasy about the ways that people use us-v-them instincts to control, manipulate, and devalue others via Othering, is just fine. She didn't learn English until late. It shows. It's a self-translation, made by someone creative but not entirely familiar with English or its worldwide cultures, of a story informed by the author's abiding desire to show the personal cost of Othering.
Ironic, that. I think it deserves the reading world's support. Delacorte Press (non-affiliate Amazon link) wants $9.99 for a Kindlebook.
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The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander WINNER OF THE NEBULA AND LOCUS AWARDS!
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: In the early years of the 20th century, a group of female factory workers in Newark, New Jersey slowly died of radiation poisoning. Around the same time, an Indian elephant was deliberately put to death by electricity in Coney Island.
These are the facts.
Now these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted. Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Sci-fi doing what it does so very well: Speculate. Can we really say for sure that there was never a connection among the females of many species in acknowledgment of their sad exploitation by males? We can't prove it. We also can't DISprove it because no one has bothered to try, so we don't have a framework for the effort.
I'm not as delighted as so many others were. I suspect it's because I'd've done better at falling in love with it if we'd had more room to develop the connections among the timelines. The modern-day timeline felt poorly attached to the 1920s, to me at least.
Tor.com Publishing (non-affiliate Amazon link) only asks $1.99 and that is, no matter my quibbling, an excellent value for money.
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Mother Knows Best by Kira Peikoff
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: A mother’s worst nightmare, a chance at redemption, and a deadly secret that haunts a family across the generations.
There’s only room for one mother in this family.
Claire Abrams’s dreams became a nightmare when she passed on a genetic mutation that killed her little boy. Now she wants a second chance to be a mother, and finds it in Robert Nash, a maverick fertility doctor who works under the radar with Jillian Hendricks, a cunning young scientist bent on making her mark—and seducing her boss.
Claire, Robert, and Jillian work together to create the world’s first baby with three genetic parents—an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease. But when word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire, leaving Jillian to serve out a prison sentence that destroys her future.
Ten years later, a spunky girl named Abigail begins to understand that all is not right with the reclusive man and woman she knows as her parents. But the family’s problems are only beginning. Jillian, hardened by a decade of jealousy and loss, has returned—and nothing will stop her from reuniting with the man and daughter who should have been hers. Past, present—and future converge in a mesmerizing psychological thriller from acclaimed bestselling author Kira Peikoff.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: Heteronormative cult-of-mother story I expected to rail against and rag on for its regressive construction of "family" and its reprehensible Fatal Attraction-inflected gender relations. The latter was indeed a really big downside resulting in three stars being as high as I could go.
The former, though...much more nuanced than I expected, down to the way Author Peikoff draws the tangled love, hate, guilt, joy cat's cradle among Jillian, Claire, and daughter Abby. The man was really, in the end, pointless. What induced Claire and Jillian to agree to this idiotic division of responsibilities?! How did he talk them into any of it? He's too much of a cipher as written for me to buy it.
The result is a waffling three stars, though I'd definitely still recommend it. Crooked Lane Books (non-affiliate Amazon link) wants $14.99 for a Kindle edition. Used hardcovers are bound to be cheaper.
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A Beginner's Guide to Free Fall by Andy Abramowitz
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: After their lives fly off the rails, getting back on track takes everything they have left.
Davis Winger has it all. A respected engineer who designs roller coasters in theme parks across the country, he is deeply in love with his wife and has a beautiful young daughter and a happy home. Until an accident strikes on one of his rides. Nothing fatal—except to his career. And to his marriage, when a betrayal from his past inadvertently comes to light. In one cosmically bad day, Davis loses it all.
His sister, Molly, is at a crossroads herself. She’s coasting through a dire relationship with an incompatible man-child. And she’s a journalist whose deeply personal columns about mothers and daughters are forcing her to confront the truth about her own mother, who abandoned Molly and Davis years ago and disappeared.
For these two siblings, it’s just a matter of bracing themselves for one turbulent summer in this redemptive and painfully funny family drama about making the best of the sharp turns in life—those we choose to take and those beyond our control.
I RECEIVED A COPY FROM THE AMAZON FIRST READS PROGRAM. THANK YOU.
My Review: Man screws (literally) his really decent marriage and life into a wad of misery, spends the book whinging about it, manages his adult sister's life (better than his own), all without any apparent self-reflection.
Throwback to pre-#MeToo times. I gave it three stars because there's some witty dialogue. I suspect the best reader for it will need to be in need of something Hallmark-like.
Lake Union Publishing (non-affiliate Amazon link) asks $4.99 for a Kindle edition.
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The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.
Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has—books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.
Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.
A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors—The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: The 1939 story, split from its successor, would get four stars and at least a little more love from me. I really, really, really did not like the Montana 1983 part. At all.
My principal issue was with the motivating incident. I did not believe for a second that the response of moving to the ass-end of nowhere much was the kind of response someone as emotionally intelligent, as reourceful and resilient, as Odile would come up with. As a result, I disinvested in the entire proceedings. That's fatal to a good read.
However, I think the Romance of It All will carry lots of readers right over that hurdle, so I still say it's worth a gift card. Atria Books (non-affiliate Amazon link) needs $13.99 for a Kindlebook. Used hardcovers will be cheaper, as usual.
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The Pelican: A Comedy by Martin Michael Driessen (tr. Jonathan Reeder)
Rating: 3.5* of five
The Publisher Says: From award-winning Dutch author Martin Michael Driessen comes a fearlessly funny tragedy about an improbable friendship, unstable dreams, missed opportunities, and epic coincidence.
In a quiet coastal town in Yugoslavia, two men seeking more than the Communist regime can offer find their lives deceitfully entwined.
Andrej is a postman in complete denial of his existence. He yearns for respect and fame but commits petty crimes for reasons he doesn’t fully comprehend. Josip is an increasingly irrelevant cable car operator and unfaithfully married. Life was so much simpler when neither one knew the other’s secrets. Now that they do—discovered quite by accident—each man has resorted to blackmailing the other. As their anonymous misdeeds escalate, a farce of mutual dependency begins. So does the unlikeliest of friendships when Andrej and Josip finally meet face-to-face.
In a tale set against the impending wars, Martin Michael Driessen ingeniously explores the foibles of two painfully ordinary men boldly staking their claims on life.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: This *is* a comedy, albeit a really dark one, despite the synopsis and the actual content matching perfectly. The strangeness of two old friends unknowingly blackmailing each other for unsuspected peccadillos that neither knows the other is the one committing...we're well into absurdist territory. Set just before the Yugoslav civil wars that ended the artificially created country as an entity amid atrocities and abomination, it might be just a bit on-the-nose.
I enjoyed the story as a story. When I could ignore the geopolitical resonances of a book written in the teens about events already by then a quarter century gone, I was okay. It really *is* funny. It's only the overlay of my post-2020 knowledge base that made me squirm. The way Andrej and Josip could simply...not know...each other was deeply sad. It's kind of the point, of course, how well do we know each other? Yet the ending point of the story was very very dark indeed.
Don't think too much about the title. It does eventually make sense.
Amazon Crossing (non-affiliate Amazon link) says "$4.99 please" for a purchase, or "free" if you pay them for Kindle Unlimited.
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Tokyo Green by C.D. Wight
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: In 2048, AI specialist Tomo is about to lose his job in Silicon Valley, as U.S. unemployment soars past thirty percent. He’s a terrible team player, and his ass-kissing skills are sub-par. While Tomo’s got talents for making computers act more human, the job makes him feel more like a machine.
When his hometown in Japan is destroyed by a tsunami, Tomo has the reason he needs to take a break. But in Tokyo, Tomo overhears something impossible: a care-giving bot is pressuring his grandmother to sell her condo and move into an old folks’ home. Elderly neighbors complain their bots sing the same tune.
Tomo breaches the veil of customer service at the care-giving company, revealing a yakuza scheme that amounts to genocide. Tomo now has an opportunity to put his talents to better use—with help from an upbeat slacker and a rogue AI.
TOKYO GREEN is a stand-alone SF novel that explores not only the dangers of technology, but also the ability of technology to thrust humanity deeper into nature, making the future a worthwhile destination for all.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: AI anxiety, elder abuse, and a really dry witty voice made this under-the-radar DRC a real pleasure for me to read. The US is in the early stages of an AI takeover of healthcare, so this feels more than usually relevant. I'm sure that the author, writing in 2018, thought thirty years was a solid gap between bringing the book out and it becoming prescient...it worked okay as more or less the gap between 1948 and 1984.
More like months than years this time. I was required to keep reading by the sense of "oh wow, I can really see that happening" married to his narrative voice. I *did* need to overlook spelling and grammar infelicities of a very minor sort. Under 300 pages (if only just), it read more like 150. It filled the pages and left me satisfied...you too, I hope, as the Kindle edition is the best bargain here at $2.99 (non-affiliate Amazon link).
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An Act of Faith (Songs of the Lost Islands #1) by C.A. Oliver
Rating: 3* of five
The Publisher Says: An Act of Faith is the first of twelve books which comprise the 'Songs of the Lost Islands' series. It introduces the reader to a vast archipelago, home to several ancient Elvin civilizations, whose survival is at stake as they confront the unavoidable rise of men, and their thirst for conquest and wealth.
For centuries, the sailors of the clan Filweni have sought to cross the Austral Ocean in search of the Lost Islands, a lost archipelago beyond the antipodes, the legendary ultimate refuge of the elves.
No ship from the Elvin kingdom of Essawylor has ever returned.
Until Feïwal dyn and his Irawenti crew set sails onboard the Alwïryan, towards the infinite South.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: A perfectly fine "High Fantasy" series starter. I'm not always that interested in the genre. This proved to be involving enough to make my investment of eyeblinks worth it, in spite of being almost four hundred pages long with not a lot of action occurring.
I don't care about Elves per se. I got involved in the crew of Alwïryan's personalities. It was surprising to me, I wasn't trying to find reasons to keep going...yet I did. A fantasy-fancying reader might love it a lot more than I did.
The Kindle costs $6.99 (non-affiliate Amazon link).
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