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The State of SFF – April 2024

Dina

April 1

Lots of news this month, so let's get right into it.

Quickie News

The Nebula Award finalists have been announced and it's a great looking shortlist! I have only read one of the Best Novel finalists, but the rest are all on my TBR. And at least two of them just climbed up much higher on the priority list. Congratulations to all the finalists!

So have the Hugo Award finalists! My first impressions/reaction post is in the works, but for now let me just say CONGRATULATIONS to all the finalists. It looks to be a cool and interesting year with lots of books for me to catch up on.

Vernor Vinge, Hugo-award winning author of A Fire Upon the Deep and many other novels has passed away at the age of 79. I still haven't read that most well-known of his books but he was indeed a beloved author whose work I hope to check out very soon.

Another sad and surprising author death has occured: Jamie Lee Moyer (Delia's Shadow) was found dead in her apartment after police were sent to do a wellness check.

Travis Baldree's hit cozy fantasies Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust are coming to us in limited edition hardcovers with (in my opinion) the prettiest design yet, plus sprayed edges. I'm thiiiiiis close to pre-ordering.

Fundraisers, IndieGoGos, Backerkits

First of all, let me mention the Locus Magazine fundraiser currently happening on IndieGoGo. I backed it and you should too. 🙂
(Snagged myself a nice signed copy of an Angela Slatter book and, yes, you may now all be jealous of me. Although if you're quick, I think there's still another of her titles up for grabs.)
I backed the Locus Magazine campaign last year and got a sample subscription, which then turned into a full subscription that I don't intend to cancel anytime soon. I really enjoy Locus so much more than I had expected. Not only do they cover all the bookish SFF news, review new and upcoming books, write features about conventions and awards and all that, but you also get intersting glimpses into the world of publishing. I really hope they meet their goal and we can all enjoy Locus for many years to come.

Another project I backed (mostly because I'm not missing out again, no sir!) is Brandon Sanderson's latest and - again - record-breaking campaign on Backerkit. It is meant to fund the leatherbound edition of the second Stormlight Archive book, Words of Radiance. I am not too interested in that (too expensive, too big, doesn't appeal to me aesthetically), but he has apparently written yet another book in secret and I very much want to grab a shiny Dragonsteel edition of that. So fine, Sanderson, take my money.
For those of you who also want (only) the new Secret Project, be advise that those are projected to ship mid-2025. The rest is shipped much earlier, depending on what add-ons you choose.

Adaptation News

Martha Wells' beloved Murderbot Diaries are getting closer and closer as we got some casting news. Alexander Skarsgard playing the titular Murderbot has been known for a while, but now we get the actors who will play Gurathin (David Dastmalchian) and even more excitingly, Dr. Mensah (Noma Dumezwani) who is one of my favorite human characters in the series. Some more actors have been announced, as well. You can check them all out here.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, a book pretty much every German-speaking bookworm has read, is getting a new series adaptation. Now I know opinions are... varied on the 1986 adaptation, but I personally love it to pieces and have watched it over and over. It will be a tall order making something better than that, even if we do finally get the entire story, rather than only the first half of the book.
But I am cautiously optimistic and look forward to meeting Fuchur (Falkor), Atreyu, Artax, and of course Bastian again.

It's trailer time! Not only did we get two trailers for the next season of House of the Dragon (which I quite liked despite not wanting to), but we were also treated to a trailer for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel to the cult film, starring much of its original cast. I can't wait!

Books From the Future (or: Feed Your Wishlist)

Oh my God, we're finally getting something new from Jordan Ifueko!! Also, more gay romance by Freya Marske!!! I'm running out of exclamation points and I'm okay with it!!!

The Maid and the Crocodile is a new book by Jordan Ifueko that made me scream when I saw the announcement. It's set in the world of her Raybearer duology and will come out in August 2024.
Freya Marske is giving us a new fantasy romance with Swordcrossed in October. Please keep them coming, I can't get enough of Marske's stories.
The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond caught my eye because of the stunning cover. But I'll glady read about a lady knight who faces a legendary dragon.

Exciting April Publications

Hello, spring. Hello, books!

ANN LECKIE - LAKE OF SOULS (April 2nd)

Ann Leckie keeps on giving, and this time she's giving us a short story collection. Which reminds me, I should really finish that Imperial Radch trilogy, shouldn't I?

Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner Ann Leckie is a modern master of the SFF genre, forever changing its landscape with her groundbreaking ideas and powerful voice. Now, available for the first time comes the complete collection of Leckie's short fiction, including a brand new novelette, Lake of Souls.

Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.

Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled The Raven Tower.

Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.

And so much more, in this masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.

JOHN WISWELL - SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN (April 2nd)

I've only read some of Wiswell's short fiction, but I am excited to pick this one up. There is another cover variant, but I adore the atmosphere of this one.

"Do love stories often end this way?" "Why do you think it's over?"

Shesheshen has made a fatal mistake for a she's fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who usually resides as an amorphous lump in the swamp of a ruined manor, unless impolite monster hunters invade intent on murdering her. Through a chance encounter, she meets a different kind of human, warm-hearted Homily, who mistakes Shesheshen for a human in turn.

Shesheshen is loath to deceive, but just as she's about to confess her true identity, Homily reveals she's hunting the shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Shesheshen didn't curse anyone, but to give them both a chance at happiness, she must figure out why Homily's twisted family thinks she did. And the bigger challenge surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with the woman she loves.

A glorious, funny, occasionally slightly violent love story which asks us to examine - and re-examine - the meaning of legacy, family and love.

LEIGH BARDUGO - THE FAMILIAR (April 9th)

I mean, do I have to explain why I need this? You probably all need this too. I can, however, brag a little with the special edition I managed to get, which is the cloth-bound Illumicrate one that I cannot wait to see in person.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

DARCIE LITTLE BADGER - SHEINE LENDE (April 16th)

I was not as enamoured of Elatsoe as many other people, but I did like it and will probably read the sequel. It has Rovina Cai art again, so even if I dislike the story, that alone is a win.

Darcie Little Badger's Elatsoe launched her career and in the years since has become a beloved favorite. This prequel to Elatsoe, centered on Ellie's grandmother, deepens and expands Darcie's one-of-a-kind world and introduces us to another cast of characters that will wend their way around readers' hearts.

Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can't afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood - and the loss of Shane's father and her grandparents. They don't think they'll ever get their home back.

Then Shane's mother and a local boy go missing, after a strange interaction with a fairy ring. Shane, her brother, her friends, and her lone, surviving grandparent - who isn't to be trusted - set off on the road to find them. But they may not be anywhere in this world - or this place in time.

Nevertheless, Shane is going to find them.

MOLLY X. CHANG - TO GAZE UPON WICKED GODS (April 16th)

It may be a rather clunky title and a very busy cover, but there is still enough about this book that makes me want to try it. Enemies striking a bargain and probably falling in love just works for me.

She has power over death. He has power over her. When two enemies strike a dangerous bargain, will they end a war . . . or ignite one?

Heroes die, cowards live. Daughter of a conquered world, Ruying hates the invaders who descended from the heavens long before she was born and defeated the magic of her people with technologies unlike anything her world had ever seen.

Blessed by Death, born with the ability to pull the life right out of mortal bodies, Ruying shouldn't have to fear these foreign invaders, but she does. Especially because she wants to keep herself and her family safe.

When Ruying's Gift is discovered by an enemy prince, he offers her an impossible deal: If she becomes his private assassin and eliminates his political rivals—whose deaths he swears would be for the good of both their worlds and would protect her people from further brutalization—her family will never starve or suffer harm again. But to accept this bargain, she must use the powers she has always feared, powers that will shave years off her own existence.

Can Ruying trust this prince, whose promises of a better world make her heart ache and whose smiles make her pulse beat faster? Are the evils of this agreement really in the service of a much greater good? Or will she betray her entire nation by protecting those she loves the most?

SOFIA SAMATAR - THE PRACTICE, THE HORIZON, AND THE CHAIN (April 16th)

Sofia Samatar's Strange in Olondria was such an ethereally beautiful book and her writing has haunted me ever since I read it. Of course I'm getting her newest, especially since it's set in space. That's quite the departure.

Celebrated author Sofia Samatar presents a mystical, revolutionary space adventure for the exhausted dreamer in this brilliant science fiction novella tackling the carceral state and violence embedded in the ivory tower while embodying the legacy of Ursula K. Le Guin.

"Can the University be a place of both training and transformation?"

The boy was raised as one of the Chained, condemned to toil in the bowels of a mining ship out amongst the stars.

His whole world changes―literally―when he is yanked "upstairs" to meet the woman he will come to call "professor." The boy is no longer one of the Chained, she tells him, and he has been gifted an opportunity to be educated at the ship's university alongside the elite.

The woman has spent her career striving for acceptance and validation from her colleagues in the hopes of reaching a brighter future, only to fall short at every turn.

Together, the boy and the woman will learn from each other to grasp the design of the chains designed to fetter them both, and are the key to breaking free. They will embark on a transformation―and redesign the entire world.

SAMANTHA MILLS - THE WINGS UPON HER BACK (April 23rd)

Mills wrote my favorite short story last year and took home a well-deserved (if uncertain, because cencorship) Hugo Award. I am sooooo stoked to read this novel of hers, I don't even care what it's about.

A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past. This gripping science-fantasy novel from a Nebula and Locus Award-winning debut author is a complex, action-packed exploration of the costs of zealous faith, brutal war, and unquestioning loyalty.

Five gods lie mysteriously sleeping above the city of Radezhda. Five gods who once bestowed great technologies and wisdom, each inspiring the devotion of their own sect. When the gods turned away from humanity, their followers built towers to the heavens to find out why. But when no answer was given, the collective grief of the sects turned to desperation, and eventually to war.

Zenya was a teenager when she ran away from home to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people and city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Zenya became Winged Zemolai.

But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is cast out, and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai fights for her life, she begins to understand the true nature of her sect, her leader, and the gods themselves.

SYLVIE CATHRALL - A LETTER TO THE LUMINOUS DEEP (April 25th)

Slightly unwieldy titles seem to be en vogue this month. However, Freya Marske blurbed this and said it's great, and that's really all I need to know.

'An underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, gorgeous worldbuilding, and anxious scholars doing their best to meet the world with kindness and curiosity' Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light

A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light and Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries.

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other.

Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.'s home, and she and Henerey vanish.

A year later, E.'s sister Sophy, and Henerey's brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery of their siblings' disappearances with the letters, sketches and field notes left behind. As they uncover the wondrous love their siblings shared, Sophy and Vyerin learn the key to their disappearance - and what it could mean for life as they know it.

JOAN HE - SOUND THE GONG (April 30th)

I'm currently reading the first book in this duology and I really love it. Joan He has yet to disappoint me. So naturally, I pre-ordered this one long before I even started reading its prequel. No regrets!

From New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, comes the dazzling and sweeping conclusion to The Kingdom of Three duology, Sound the Gong, the breathtaking sequel to the critically-acclaimed Strike the Zither.

All her life, Zephyr has tried to rise above her humble origins as a no-name orphan. Now she is a god in a warrior's body, and never has she felt more powerless. Her lordess Xin Ren holds the Westlands, but her position is tenuous. In the north, the empress remains under Miasma's thumb. In the south, the alliance with Cicada is in pieces.

Fate also seems to have a different winner in mind for the three kingdoms, but Zephyr has no intentions of respecting it. She will pay any price to see Ren succeed—and she will make her enemies pay, especially one dark-haired, dark-eyed Crow. What she'll do when she finds out the truth—that he worked for the South all along…

Only the heavens know.

News from the blog

I did okay in March. It's a bit surprising, seeing as my SO turned 40 and we did celebrate a bit. Then again, I can already feel that excitement and hype that comes with waiting for the Hugo finalists (I am so ready to dive into those books!) and for the Orilium Magical Readathon to start. So maybe that's why I read so much. Let's hope that I can keep it up.

What I read last month:

Brandon Sanderson - Starsight (re-read) (7.5/10)
Brandon Sanderson, Janci Patterson - Sunreach (7/10)
Brandon Sanderson, Janci Patterson - ReDawn (5/10)
Brandon Sanderson, Janci Patterson - Evershore (7/10)
Brandon Sanderson - Cytonic (7.75/10)
Brandon Sanderson - Defiant (7.25/10)
Frances White - Voyage of the Damned (6.5/10)
Moses Ose Utomi - The Truth of the Aleke (9/10)
Ali Hazelwood - Bride (6/10)
Timothy Zahn - Heir to the Empire (6/10)

My re-read and actual finishing of Sanderson's Skyward series was a full success. Thanks to Suzy Jackson's superb audiobook narration, I got through these books much faster than I had expected. The series as a whole was a lot of fun and made me eager for even more Sanderson.
I also read Ali Hazelwood's first SFF romance, which was okay, but not great; and I finally, after sooooo many years of saying I would, read the first in the Thrawn trilogy, a Star Wars novel that was so Star Wars-y, it made me hum the opening tune at random times of the day. 🙂

Currently reading:

Shelley Parker-Chan - He Who Drowned the World
Joan He - Strike the Zither
Sen Lin Yu - Manacled

Normally, it's not smart for me to read two books inspired by East Asia at the same time because I have a hard enough time keeping the names straight in my head anyway, but Joan He's characters all come with English sobriquets (like Zephyr, Crow, Cicada, Miasma) that make it wonderfully easy to remember them.

Until next month: Stay safe, stay kind, and keep reading. 🙂