Dane (Cry Pilot) delivers a fascinating but often frustrating tale of an unlikely friendship in a postapocalyptic wilderness, where the remaining humans have formed tight-knit communities to protect themselves from outsiders, especially “twitches,” robot-human hybrids with superhuman physical and mental capabilities. Ysmany, a teen girl raised in one of these communities, witnesses her people kill a family who wandered into their territory. Only one infant boy survives. Desperate to protect the baby, Ysmany runs away with a mysterious figure known as the Ragpicker, a twitch looking for his husband. The relationship between Ysmany, the Ragpicker, and the baby, and the ways it is perceived by those they encounter, forms the heart of the story and keeps the pages turning. Many readers, however, will struggle to orient themselves in this elaborate world as key concepts are kept obscure for much of the novel. Even understanding what exactly a twitch is, which is essential to grasping anything else that’s happening, proves arduous. For those willing to put in the work, however, there are plenty of enticing speculative ideas here. Agent: Caitlin Balsdell, Liza Dawson Assoc. (July)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

Hugo Award winner Strahan (Twelve Tomorrows) spotlights 15 sophisticated, award-winning science fiction stories from the past decade that epitomize the best of space opera. He defines the genre as “romantic adventure... told on a grand scale,” set either in space or on a space station with high-stakes plot—and each of these perceptive and evocative stories perfectly fits the bill. In Tobias S. Buckell’s clever revenge tale, “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance,” after a galactic war, a sentient maintenance robot discusses free will with a cybernetically enhanced human from the fleet that surrendered. Yoon Ha Lee’s “Extracurricular Activities” delivers a lively adventure when assassin Jedao infiltrates a space station to rescue a former classmate and their crew, all while fighting pirates and evading a gene-altering substance. Aliette de Bodard’s pensive “Immersion” imagines a future in which a device provides wearers with an avatar and guidance on culturally acceptable appearance, language, and gestures, while obfuscating any sense of individuality, ethnicity, and heritage. Other stories feature vindictive clones, a planet-eating blob, outlaws, and space cults. Throughout, plentiful action, enigmatic and complex worldbuilding, sinister technology, and vast space vistas impress. It’s a gift for sci-fi lovers.. Agent Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Agency. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

1913 Paris, when the City of Light is about to be darkened by WWI, is the setting for this effervescent fantasy from Graudin (Wolf by Wolf). The Enchantresses, a found family of three young women painters running scams and nesting in the famed Pere Lachaise cemetery, butt up against the pasts that each was trying to escape. Swept into the truly magical world of Le Fée Verte, a man with the power to steal other people’s dreams, each Enchantress discovers her own special ability, putting them at risk of being targeted by Le Fée’s nameless nemesis, a dark wizard. Graudin mixes a heady cocktail of decadent parties with the bittersweet tang of a world about to self-destruct. Cameos from real historical figures, including the lost Russian princess Anastasia and Igor Stravinsky, charm without overshadowing the fictional heroines, and Graudin’s already sparkling prose takes a turn for the poetic whenever magic comes into play (“The drink tasted like the last page of a book falling shut or that last slant of sun escaping through drawn curtains”). This is a delectable confection. Agent: Tracey Adams, Adams Literary. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

Neville (The House of Ashes) gives the serial killer thriller a novel spin in this riveting splice of crime and weird fiction. FBI agent Marc Donner is a cybercrime specialist skilled at drawing out pedophiles and groomers by posing as vulnerable young people on social media. When some of his predator quarry turn up murdered with their throats slashed and their spinal cords severed, Marc speculates it’s the work of a serial killer—and he’s right. In a parallel story line, Rebecca Carter and her 12-year-old daughter employ the same sorts of online trickery to lure their victims as they cut a bloody swath from Wisconsin to Arizona. After tantalizing the reader with the prospect that the mother-daughter duo are female Dexters, Neville torques his tale fully into uncanny territory with a spectacular confrontation between Donner and the pair that propels his plot into the realm of the supernatural. The chapters toggle between Marc’s and Rebecca’s perspectives, sustaining breathless suspense as the story builds to its wild and cinematic finale. This is a satisfying exercise in high-voltage horror. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

Kraus’s second attempt at completing an unfinished novel from horror master Romero (1940–2017), after The Living Dead, is a dud; the plot, about a boogeyman targeting children in the Louisiana bayou, is familiar, and lackluster prose and thin characterizations do little to elevate it. The backwoods town of Alligator Point is home to the legend of the Piper, “the thing kids whispered about, the thing that drank laughter like Kool-Aid, that chewed good feelings like bubblegum.” The Piper strikes early in the narrative, abducting nine-year-old Billy May as punishment for the sins of his ancestors, then removing his heart and devouring it. Billy’s fate remains unknown for months, but after more kids disappear, panic sets in, and his best friend endeavors to learn the truth. Kraus’s rendering of the Cajun dialect often sounds like a parody (“Dat somet’ing out t’ere, it de root of all de awful on de Point”), and the plot’s late-breaking Lovecraftian elements feel tacked on and can’t save the cookie-cutter story line. Even diehard Romero fans will be disappointed. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

Winning (Burn the Negative) takes cancel culture to terrifying extremes in this gruesome yet surprisingly upbeat horror novel. Sitcom star Willow is caught in “tweetageddon” after her well-meaning post is misinterpreted and she’s accused of being a right-wing, anti-gay crackpot. After losing her job, her fiancé, and all of her friends, she heads to Camp Castaway, an adult sleepaway camp that bans phones and promises to unplug visitors from the internet. The “Camp Mom,” Bebe, created the haven out of a sincere desire to help others, but the place hides a dark secret. On the first night, campers hear a classic fireside ghost story about Knock-Knock Nancy, a headless spirit who cuts off the heads of others in hopes of replacing her own. As campers begin to disappear and eerie knocking sounds are heard throughout the campsite, Willow and the others start to wonder whether the story might be true. Their retreat from the world soon becomes horrific, but, in banding together, this group of wounded souls learn to embrace their true selves. Between the frequent jump scares and blood spillage, Winning’s story is packed with an awful lot of heart. Readers will be on the edges of their seats. Agent: Kristina Perez, Perez Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Miles’s tantalizing and surreal debut begins with Everly Tertium on a stroll around her neighborhood. Things take a turn for the strange when she meets Richard Dubose, who claims to be her grandfather. After revealing to Everly that she has a genetic anomaly, he leads her to a 100-story building called the Eschatorologic. Everly has a gut feeling the building is unnatural, but Richard evades all her questions about its history. Convinced she may find answers about her father’s recent death within the Eschatorologic’s walls, Everly begins poking around, encountering odd residents and piecing together the puzzle of the building’s history. But the more time she spends inside the building, the more likely it becomes she will never be able to leave. Miles takes her time teasing out the building’s bizarre powers, while the intrigue surrounding the origins of its otherworldly residents keeps the pages turning. This genre-bending mystery satisfies. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

McMyne (The Book of Gothel) brings rich creativity, feminist sensibility, and a meticulous grounding in history to her captivating imagining of the life of the Dark Lady, the illusive inspiration for Shakespeare’s later sonnets. Hedonist Rose Rushe is more interested in becoming a court musician than preparing for marriage. Rose’s astrologer father’s unexpected death and an accusation of witchcraft by a powerful noble leads her to flee with her mother and her dearest friend, Cecely, to the household of an old friend of her father, whom they discover has also just died. His heir, Richard Underhill, becomes obsessed with Rose, and her mother hopes to encourage a proposal. Meanwhile, Rose attempts to secure independence by finding her mother’s estranged family in London’s brothels. This quest leads her into a tempestuous erotic connection with the young poet Will Shakespeare, an introduction to his friend Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, and, eventually, a secret career as a witch. Rose’s secret romantic devotion to Cecely forms the central love story, but her sensual enthusiasm for and emotional resonance with Will also shines. Rose is a delightfully impish heroine, steeped in music, magic, and a deep urge toward self-determination. McMyne centers Rose’s challenges and successes while weaving her seamlessly into a satisfying alternate history that fits the facts without being limited by them. This is an impressive feat. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Lee debuts with the quirky tale of a store where dreams are sold in glass bottles to customers hoping to cure their various ills while unconscious. Penny, who gets a job as a vendor despite thinking she botched the interview, learns the trade of dream selling from her wise boss, Dallergut, and her colleagues Weather, Mogberry, Speedo, Motail, and Vigo Myers. Her gentle, episodic narrative chronicles the many customers and their desires. One patron wants her crush to appear in her dreams, while another, who is dying, wants to create dreams with parting messages for their loved ones. Some customers hope for a glimpse into the future; others use dreams to cope with trauma—though they aren’t necessarily happy with the results. The stakes are low and the plot minimal, but it’s a joy to spend time in this whimsical world and the endlessly inventive ways that Lee deploys dreams and nightmares will keep readers invested. This will especially appeal to fans of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker Award winner Iglesias (The Devil Takes You Home) weaves a dark tale of grief and vengeance set in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the lead up to Hurricane Maria. “If someone fucks with one of us, they fuck with all of us,” is the motto Gabe and his friends—Bimbo, Paul, Tavo, and Xavier—live by. When Bimbo’s mother, Maria, is murdered, Bimbo and the others vow to track down her killers. In his quest for revenge, Bimbo leads his friends on a brutal spree of violence. Trouble arises when they discover that Maria’s murder is tied to a notorious drug lord, Papalote. Their plans are temporarily put on hold when Hurricane Maria hits, bringing destruction and a supernatural presence also seeking revenge. Meanwhile, an unexpected tragedy strikes, leaving Gabe and his friends shaken as they navigate San Juan’s criminal underground amid a string of strange occult occurrences. Iglesias blends the history and myths of Puerto Rico into a gritty coming-of-age story, whose violent excesses may be off-putting to some readers. Readers who like their horror bloody, however, will be pleased. Agent: Melissa Danaczko, Stuart Krichevsky Literary. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink