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Yeah. Hard to believe that this is a thing in 2024, but here we are. This also feels like a good time to say that early voting has started in many places.
In less depressing news, there’s a new book for the word nerds that looks at how language shapes us — Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love by Julie Sedivy. Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City’s Soul by Aran Robert Shetterly is another nonfiction release out this week, this time one that looks at a racial tragedy. Keeping it real but moving to the youngin’s, there’s the graphic memoir Halfway There by Christine Mari.
Switching gears to the fictional, there’s the YA thriller Rest in Peaches by Alex Brown. Meanwhile, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland follows up her Witch of Wild Things with the similarly witchy romantasy Lightning in Her Hands, and Tara Isabel Zambrano serves up short stories centered around the Indian diaspora.
As for the books below, there’s pirate treasure and murder in Nova Scotia, strange beasts in early 20th-century Paris, Pride and Prejudice in space, and more.
Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris
This is like a mashup of a couple of the most iconic gothic/mystery characters out of the late 1800s, with a sprinkling of puzzle-box mystery and queer pining. It’s the beginning of the 20th century in Paris, and the daughter of Dracula’s killer, Samantha Harker, works as a researcher for the Royal Society for the Study of Abnormal Phenomena and gets put on a case with Dr. Helena Moriarty (yes, the daughter of Sherlock Holmes’ archnemesis). To stop a killing rampage, they’ll be taken through elite Parisian clubs, catacombs, and have to go up againsr monster,s raggedy men, and even each other.
The Indian Card: Who Gets to Be Native in America by Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz
Native American identity has an interesting component to it. Unlike other races and ethnicities, there’s a lot of bureaucracy involved with it, which even includes a card. In recent years, the number of people self-identifying as Native American has more than doubled, and it’s clear that some people are lying, mistaken, and may even be caught up in red tape. Here, Carrie Schuettpelz explores the complicated — and historically violent — thing that is Native American identity.
Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon
Where my monster lover girlies at? The author of the mega-popular Ice Planet Barbarians has something for you.
Aspeth Honori is a Holder’s daughter whose father has gambled away all their family’s magical artifacts, which could mean losing their position and even their lives. To get them back, Aspeth joins the Royal Artifactual Guild to go on their ancient ruin exploring expeditions, but she hits a snag once she realizes that they won’t let her train because she’s a woman. That’s where her surly minotaur guild member teacher comes in — they both stand to gain from marrying each other. Now she’ll just have to contend with certain…monstrous aspects that come with being married to a minotaur.
The Treasure Hunters Club by Tom Ryan
For a hundred years, people have been traveling to Maple Bay, Nova Scotia, for a legendary pirate treasure, but the town holds more secrets than that. And, as three strangers’ paths cross, the bodies start piling. There’s the nearly 40-year-old Peter looking to visit his estranged family’s mansion, the 17-year-old Dandy dealing with her grief by trying to solve the mystery her grandfather was obsessed with, and Cass, whose housesitting job may have just granted her the perfect story for a debut book. Let’s just say they’re not ready for what they’re about to discover.
Pride and Prejudice in Space by Alexis Lampley
Reading the title, you pretty much know what time it is — the classic Regency rom-com gets a space opera makeover. The Elizabeth Bennet here lives on a moon and wants to pilot a starship, not settle down with a man. But then the Netherfield StarCruiser gets docked on a neighboring estate, and Elizabeth is introduced to the proud Darcy. And you know the rest. If you appreciate a good visual, this also has 50+ color illustrations of the lunar system, gowns, and spaceship designs.
Tangleroot by Kalela Williams
Sophronia (Noni) is the daughter of this very well-respected professor and researcher of Black literature, Dr. Castine, who moves them from New England to Tangleroot Plantation in a Virginian town. Turns out, Tangleroot was built by one of Noni’s ancestors and an enslaved man named Cuffee Fortune, who her mother also thinks started Stonepost College. Noni, tight about the move, finds herself invested in the racist white family in town who has a connection to her own, and as time goes on, she finds herself uncovering secrets that upend everything.
Other Book Riot New Releases Resources:
- All the Books, our weekly new book releases podcast, where Liberty and a cast of co-hosts talk about eight books out that week that we’ve read and loved.
- The New Books Newsletter, where we send you an email of the books out this week that are getting buzz.
- Finally, if you want the real inside scoop on new releases, you have to check out Book Riot’s New Release Index! That’s where I find 90% of new releases, and you can filter by trending books, Rioters’ picks, and even LGBTQ new releases!
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