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Fantasy and Science Fiction June 2019
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| Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan; translated by Ken LiuWelcome to: "Silicon Isle," the e-waste recycling capital of southern China, which serves as the setting of this class-conscious, cyberpunk-inflected debut.
Featuring: "waste girl" Mimi, who sorts trash; Luo Jincheng, Mimi's boss and the scion of the family that controls the industry; American businessman Scott Brandle; and his translator, Chen Kaizong.
Try this next: Director Jiulang Wang's 2016 documentary Plastic China, which takes viewers behind the scenes of China's recycling industry and looks at the lives of the low-wage workers who make it possible. |
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| Exhalation: Stories by Ted ChiangWhat it is: the long-awaited 2nd short story collection by the author of Stories of Your Life and Others.
Don't miss: "The Life Cycle of Software Objects," in which humans and machines form parent-child bonds; "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a time travel tale in the style of One Thousand and One Nights.
Reviewers say: "likely to linger in the memory the way riddles may linger -- teasing, tormenting, illuminating, thrilling" (The New Yorker). |
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| A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel KayWhat happens: Elderly courtier Guidanio Cerra recounts how his life changed forever after a fateful encounter with assassin Adria Ripoli. His story, and hers, intertwine with other people's perspectives on the event.
Read it for: an evocative setting inspired by Renaissance Italy, and a richly detailed tapestry of a narrative that explores the ripple effects of individual actions and choices.
Want a taste? "It was interesting, I suppose it still is, how vicious men can take power and be accepted, supported by those they govern, if they bring with them a measure of peace." |
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| Middlegame by Seanan McGuireWhat it's about: Created by alchemists, twins Roger (linguistically talented) and Dodger (mathematically gifted) can communicate via quantum entanglement yet can't escape their fate.
Is it for you? This dark and stylistically complex novel by the author of the Wayward Children series opens with the line, "There is so much blood," giving readers some idea of how much violence to expect.
For fans of: the complex characters and exploration of moral gray areas in V.E. Schwab's Villains series. |
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| The Gordian Protocol by David Weber and Jacob HoloIntroducing: 21st-century history professor Benjamin Schröder, who has two sets of conflicting memories, and 30th-century time traveler Raibert Kaminski, who has an explanation for Schröder's plight that involves multiverse theory and temporal knots.
About the authors: David Weber is best known for his Honor Harrington series; Jacob Holo wrote the military SF novel The Dragons of Jupiter.
Reviewers say: "time travel enthusiasts will enjoy the moral dilemmas, nonstop action, and crisp writing" (Publishers Weekly). |
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Iron Angels
by Eric Flint
What it's about: When a bizarre kidnapping, a strange apparition and a hideously mutilated corpse lead him into the mysterious world of a strange religious cult, FBI Special Agent Jasper Wilde teams up with Supervisory Special Agent Temple Black to handle this peculiar case that is centered around northwest Indiana’s huge steel industry.
Author Note: Eric Flint was born in southern California in 1947. He received a bachelor's degree from UCLA in 1968. In 1993, his short story entitled "Entropy and the Strangler" won first place in the Winter 1992 Writers of the Future contest. His first novel, Mother of Demons, was published in 1997 and was picked by the Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. He became a full-time writer in 1999.
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The Perdition Score : a Sandman Slim novel
by Richard Kadrey
What it's about: While investigating the disappearance of a young boy, Jonathan Stark, aka Sandman Slim, and Candy must enter Hell to save one of their closest friends and become trapped in a war between the angels that could lead to the destruction of the world and the souls of everyone in it.
Book Buzz: "VERDICT For series newcomers, last year's Killing Pretty is a better volume to start with, but for longtime fans, all the familiar faces are back, Stark has been showing some real growth, especially in the efforts he has put into his relationship with his girlfriend Candy." -- ( Library Journal Review)
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A Scandal in Battersea
by Mercedes Lackey
Starring: Psychic Nan Killian and Medium Sarah Lyon-White and their ward Suki.
What it is about: While enjoying the Christmas season, Nan and Sarah, along with Dr. Watson and his wife Mary, are called to investigate when missing women reappear and their experiences while gone have driven them mad.
Author Note: Fantasy fiction author Mercedes Richie Lackey was born in Chicago on June 24, 1950, and she received a B.S. from Purdue University in 1972. Lackey started writing her own short stories when her favorite science fiction and fantasy authors weren't producing new books fast enough for her. .
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| A Study in Honor by Claire O'DellStarring: Dr. Janet Watson, a disabled veteran of America's second Civil War, and her new roommate, the enigmatic Sara Holmes.
Why you might like it: Full of literary references (Watson is very well-read!), this near-future gender-swapped Sherlock Holmes adaptation introduces a pair of LGBTQIA women of color who solve mysteries.
You might also like: Alexis Hall's The Affair of the Mysterious Letter. |
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| Rosewater by Tade ThompsonWelcome to: Rosewater, a doughnut-shaped Nigerian city that rings the mysterious alien biodome that has become an object of veneration since it first appeared back in 2055.
Meet: government agent Kaaro, who owes his psychic abilities to the biodome. When his fellow "sensitives" start dying, Kaaro investigates and makes some unsettling discoveries about his past -- and his future.
Book buzz: Rosewater, the 1st installment of the Wormwood trilogy, made the 2019 Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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