Stred (The Father of Lies) delivers some graphic chills in this bite-sized work of psychological and supernatural horror. David Stewart, who claims to be 400 years old and possessed by an ancient evil, is the new patient of the acclaimed Dr. Rachel Hoggendorf in an unnamed institute. When her treatment of what she believes to be David’s multiple personality disorder results in bouts of violence, she calls in both a trusted colleague and a priest for help. David tells cryptic tales, most eerily the story of Rachel’s own rape and abortion, a well-kept secret he would have no reason to know. The longer Rachel works with David, the more she too begins to act strangely, leading her coworkers to wonder if David’s demon is real—and spreading. Uncanny rituals, corrupted religion, and erratic psychiatric patients are all time-honored horror staples, and while there’s nothing particularly fresh here, Stred plays the hits with gusto. Though some of the expository dialogue feels stilted, the scenes of bloody violence are lush and cinematic. Readers in the mood for some old-school jump scares will be satisfied. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

The Enemy continues to pursue Solveig and her companions in Saintcrow’s well-constructed second Black Land’s Bane fantasy. After the events of A Flame in the North, Solveig has found a measure of safety in the Elder city of Waterstone, home of the ancient weapon that Elder Aeredh believes only Solveig can wield. She, however, is wary of the toll the weapon will take on her magic. It soon becomes clear that she has other motives for coming to the city—and that Aeredh hasn’t been honest about his intentions in bringing her there. With her faith in her friends and her own powers shaken, Solveig finds Waterstone to be a gilded cage. Meanwhile, though the Enemy cannot reach her within the city’s walls, their dark forces continue to grow within the Black Land. The Norse mythology–inspired worldbuilding remains fascinating, and Saintcrow keeps the pages turning by weaving together danger and magic. This sets things up nicely for the epic conclusion. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Wolf (Send Me Their Souls) launches a new trilogy with this breathtaking epic, masterfully weaving threads of science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, and mystery into a propulsive coming-of-age story. Six hellish months after the noble father that Synali Woster never met murdered her mother, she finally gets her revenge. It takes a lot of maneuvering for Synali, the child of the squalid Low Ward section of a massive, stratified space station, to get at her father, the Duke of Hauteclare, and she flees the crime scene via one of the giant mech suits that the station’s knights ride into jousting tournaments in space, prepared to go out in a blaze of glory surrounded by rabid fans of the sport. But then something odd happens: she doesn’t lose her match. Her unexpected skills as a mech driver catch the eye of a nobleman from a different house who claims to know of seven other coconspirators who were involved in her mother’s death and offers her a deal: for each joust she wins in his family’s name, he’ll take one of them out. Swept into a whirlwind of intrigue and reluctantly drawn into the elite world of riders, Synali must decide who she can trust. Wolf balances the unflinching action with evocative worldbuilding, considerate characterization, and a thoughtful exploration of the hope found in quiet places. This astonishes. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Assoc. (May)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Gallagher (Flotation Device) serves up a short but explosive novella about the last human remaining in the galaxy. In 1967, trans woman Alice stumbled upon the stargate network and fell “through the rabbit hole” into outer space. She watched from afar as her home planet died from climate change and war, but was able to extend her life by transporting through galaxies, making a living as a scavenger. Now, while combing through a market that serves countless species of aliens a unique variety of goods to trade, she comes across an item she doesn’t quite understand. Possession of it, however, gets her chased through the market by a pack of Delosi, militaristic extraterrestrials who resemble elves, so she knows she has something valuable on her hands. After narrowly evading capture, Alice makes it to a safe house and works out what she’s found: it’s a weapon controlled by a human consciousness that has been trapped in its data core for thousands of years and harbors a grudge against the society it left. Alice names the data core Gunn. As she’s pursued by parties that want to use Gunn for evil, she searches for a means to set the consciousness free. The impressive worldbuilding, replete with myriad references to Alice in Wonderland, could easily sustain a much longer adventure. Readers are sure to be sucked in. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Hearne (the Iron Druid Chronicles series) explores the limitations of running from one’s feelings in this slight sci-fi novella. Recently widowed Tennessean Winnie Mae Chisholm hopes moving far enough away will help her and her teenage son, Pax, cope with their grief. Her only requirements while house hunting are quiet neighbors and a nearby river, leading her to a property in rural Oregon with a gorgeous stream and a notorious recluse named Mr. Fisher for a neighbor. When Pax meets Mr. Fisher, however, he learns the old shut-in is not what he seems: he’s a talking, technologically advanced giant otter who explains he’s “from this planet—just a different version of it.” His species found a way to travel between parallel worlds using the water ways that connect all things, but Mr. Fisher has been trapped for decades—and he needs the Chisholms’ help to finally get home, a task that’s complicated by a busybody neighbor from down the road. The folksy charm of Winnie Mae’s narration (she notes that “welcome cookies from new neighbors” and “sympathy casseroles from old neighbors” are both “offerings of calories to be deployed in times of uncertainty”) does a lot to carry the narrative, though it still ends up feeling more like a precursor to a fascinating portal adventure than a complete plot unto itself. It’s entertaining but undercooked. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Reeves’s collaboration with bestseller Miéville (The City and the City), based on the actor’s BRZRKR comic books, disappoints. The U.S. government’s secret Belief Systems and Ancient Technology Migration Unit is “dedicated to the collaboration with; study, decoding, and keeping secret of; questioning and protecting (laughable as that was) of; and performing necessary wetwork with an eighty-thousand-year-old warrior who would not die.” This immortal warrior is Unute, also known as B, who periodically loses his supernatural powers only to be reborn out of a large egg, and is eager to finally die. Diana Ahuja, who works with the Unit, investigates Unute’s connection with the Life Project, a shadowy organization premised on the idea that society needs to be weaned off its addiction to death. She gets a lead on the project’s members by searching the dark web for people who are “interested in ancient magic and who are also investigating the biology of echidnas and platypuses, and who are big fans of Solange Knowles and Millie Jackson, and who speak German and Polish and Farsi and who are very keen on baking.” That risible, random assortment of qualities is consistent with an overall tone that undercuts suspension of disbelief. Leaden writing (“Thereafter would come to her the fundamental rewritings of history and prehistory occasioned by her new subject”) doesn’t help. This is tedious. (July)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

The 13 short stories, prose poems, and dialogues collected in this provocative volume showcase what Marcel Schwob, in his preface, describes as the “inimitable imagination” of Rachilde, the pen name of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860–1953). In the closet drama “A Bother,” a guardian angel projects a variety of possible futures to be chosen by the soul of an unborn baby, each one inevitably ending in despair. “The Panther” explores the inherent cruelty of humanity in its depiction of a wild beast that refuses to maul a victim in a gladiatorial arena and the savage punishment inflicted upon it. In “The Tooth,” the unexpected loss of a tooth immerses an otherwise healthy young woman in gloomy reflections on mortality. Rachilde’s appraisals of human nature—tinged with a singular cynicism that sets them apart from other absurdist works of the time—are brought out expressively through Garrett’s translation. Fans and scholars of fin de siècle France’s decadent movement will want to add this to their bookshelves. (May)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

DiLouie (Episode Thirteen) remixes classic horror tropes into a harrowing thriller set in 1988. Middle-aged Max Maurey, known for his series of low-budget Jack the Knife slasher films, is appalled that audiences are cheering and laughing at the violence in his latest sequel. He feels like a hack, but his seedy producer, Jordan Lyman, won’t let Max explore his true artistic ambitions. He’s inspired, however, when he encounters Sally Priest, an aspiring actor who believes, like Max, that “horror is only horror if it’s real.” At an estate sale for a reclusive director, Max buys the camera that recorded the infamous film Mary’s Birthday, which ended in tragedy when the actors were sliced to bits by a disabled helicopter. Despite the message scrawled on the case (“Never use this camera”), Max decides to try it out—and discovers that people he points the camera at die gruesomely. It’s just the kind of truth he’s been searching for in his work, so he sets out to make a movie that will upend cliché, casting Sally as his final girl. The cursed object set up feels familiar, but readers will be pulled in by the morally twisted characters and serpentine plot. Film buffs will especially enjoy this paean to ’80s slasher films and the people who love them. Agent: David Fugate, Launchbooks Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

Buehlman builds on the lore of his Blacktongue series with this thrilling prequel to The Blacktongue Thief. It’s presented as the journal of Galva dom Braga, who recalls her journey to and experiences in the goblin wars, dwelling on memories of late friends and lovers and supplementing her account with letters from family members. To save humanity from goblin occupation, Galva is off to join an all-female unit tasked with fighting the goblins using their corvid companions, large mutated attack birds. She marches across Gallardia with her brothers Pol, Migaéd, and Amiel, each of whom is in a different squad of the Western Army of the Illuminated Kingdom of Ispanthi. Readers know from the start that Galva survives, but all other lives hang in the balance, and Galva’s unwavering love for her imperiled friends and family keeps the stakes of the many battles high. The result is an introspective look into how Galva came to be a fierce warrior. Series fans looking for insight into Buehlman’s badass heroine’s psyche will want to check this out. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink

An infamous gumiho, a Korean nine-tailed fox spirit, partners with a disgraced god in this enchanting fantasy from Kim (Reign of the Talon). In 1888, gumiho Kim Hani earns her title as the Scarlet Fox after greedily consuming the souls of 500 men. Now, over a hundred years later, Hani has retired and hides out from her past life by working as a barista, begrudgingly serving coffee to condescending customers like Detective Seokga, the fallen god of trickery. When two men attack Hani one night, she gives in to her killing instincts and brings their livers to her young gumiho coworker, Somi, as a gift. Soon after, Detective Seokga identifies the murders as the Scarlet Fox’s work, and Hani offers to assist in the investigation to ward him off her scent. Meanwhile, Seokga’s brother, the heavenly emperor, offers him a deal—kill the Scarlet Fox and the escaped demon that has been brutally murdering citizens, and he will reinstate Seokga’s position and powers. Little does Seokga know that one of his targets is beside him—and with each passing day, he finds himself falling for her. With an intoxicating mix of action, mystery, and deliciously angsty romance, this reads like the most bingeable K-drama. Readers will be riveted. Agent: Emily Forney, BookEnds Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 04/26/2024 | Details & Permalink