7 New(ish) Books for Speculative Fiction Fans

What's your favorite escape reading? Do you turn to a steamy romance, light women's fiction, or a heart-thudding spy thriller? I've been known to read all three, but I think my top genres for ditching reality are good, solid murder mysteries and full-on speculative fiction, especially fantasies. If you're like me, then read on . . . here are seven fall fantasies that should be on your current reading list. (Descriptions are adapted from the publisher's summary.)

The Alehouse at the End of the World by Stevan Allred (Forest Avenue Press, November 6). Genre: epic fantasy. Audience: adult.

When a fisherman receives a mysterious letter about his beloved’s demise, he sets off in his skiff to find her on the Isle of the Dead. Set in the sixteenth century, where bawdy Shakespearean love triangles play out with shapeshifting avian demigods and a fertility goddess, drunken revelry, bio-dynamic gardening, and a narcissistic, bullying crow, who may have colluded with a foreign power. A hopeful tale for our troubled times.

City of Ash and Red by Hye-young Pyun (Arcade Publishing, November 6). Translated from Korean. Genre: dystopian. Audience: adult.

Distinguished for his talents as a rat killer, the nameless protagonist is sent on an extended assignment to a country descending into chaos and paranoia, swept by a contagious disease, and flooded with trash. No sooner does he disembark than he is whisked away by quarantine officials and eventually told he is the prime suspect in his wife's murder. Barely managing to escape arrest, he must struggle to survive in the streets of a foreign city gripped with fear of contamination and find a way to clear his reputation.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan (Jimmy Patterson, November 6). Genre: fantasy. Audience: young adult.

Lei--a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara--lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it's Lei they're after, whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest. At the palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. Lei's ensuing forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Although still a country girl at heart, Lei must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd (HMH Books for Young Readers, October 2). Genre: dark, epic fantasy. Audience: young adult. First in a series.

Seventeen-year-old Anouk has been enchanted from an animal form into a human girl but is forbidden to venture beyond her Parisian prison to mix with real humans. She is destined for a life surrounded by dust bunnies and cinders serving the evil witch who spelled her into existence. But when her mistress is found murdered, Anouk is accused of the crime. Pursued through Paris by an underground magical society, Anouk and her friends have only have three days to find the real killer before the spell keeping them human fades away. If they fail, they will lose the only lives they’ve ever known, but if they succeed, they could be more powerful than anyone ever bargained for.

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch (DAW, November 20). Genre: urban fantasy. Audience: adult. Seventh in the River of London series.

The series follows Peter Grant, a constable turned magician’s apprentice, as he solves crimes in London. This mystery-thriller-fantasy involves the Faceless Man, who is wanted for multiple counts of murder, fraud, and crimes against humanity. Detective Grant soon realizes that in order to bring the criminal to justice and thwart a larger, deeper conspiracy he may have to rely on a woman who once betrayed him.

The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman (Ace, November 27). Genre: time travel / urban fantasy. Audience: adult. Fifth in the Invisible Library series.

The series follows librarian Irene and her assistant Kai as they travel to various worlds fighting creatures of chaos and tracking down important books. In this installment Irene travels to 1890s Paris where a powerful dragon has been murdered in the middle of a top secret dragon-Fae peace conference. Tasked with solving the case, Irene and fellow Librarians find evidence of a larger crime that might involve the Invisible Library itself.

The XY by Virginia Bergin (Sourcebook Fire, November 6): Genre: dystopian. Audience: young adult.

Sixty years ago, a virus wiped out almost all men on Earth. Now women run the world, and men are kept in repopulation facilities, safe from the deadly virus. At least, that's what everyone has been led to believe, until River discovers a young man on a country road-—injured but alive. Mason has been outside for five days since escaping from his facility, and no one can understand how he has survived. Hiding the boy violates the rules of their world, but as the women of the town band together to try to save him, River begins to suspect that the truth behind Mason's existence is darker than she could have imagined.

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Today's Read & Giveaway: Sci-Fi Junior High by John Martin and Scott Seegert

NOTE: For some reason, Google forms is suddenly creating a popup for some people asking if you want to leave this page when you click away. Just say yes! I can't figure out how to stop it.

Have you ever been the new kid in school? Even if you have, I bet you had it easy compared to Kelvin, whose new home is very, very far away from his last one. Oh and did I forget to mention the dodgy principal, a food fight, and the mad scientist?

Seriously? Mom and Dad expect me to get up and go to school the morning after a 329,000,000,000,000,000-mile road trip across the galaxy? And I'm not even a morning person to begin with. I can't fake being sick, either. Not with the sterile environment of the space station. No germs = no sickness. Ever. Not even the sniffles. At least I got a good night's sleep. The zero-gravity pods in our LIV spaces are waaaay mroe comfortable than regular beds. And you sleep standing up, so they take up less space.

—Sci-Fi Junior High by John Martin and Scott Seegert (Jimmy Patterson, 2017, p. 7)

Quick Facts

• Setting: the Galactic Science Hub, somewhere in our galaxy
• Circumstances: Kelvin Klosmo's parents are two of the smartest scientists around and are often called on to work on special projects, which means Kelvin and his little sister, Bula, move often. Everyone assumes Kelvin's the smartest kid in the universe because he inherited double intelligence from his parents. Kelvin, however, is trying to hide the fact that his brilliance hasn't quite kicked in yet. Just days after he settles into his new school—Sciriustrati Fibronoculareus (aka Sci-Fi) Junior High—and starts to make new friends, the space station is threatened by an evil scientist. Can Kelvin and his friends save the galaxy?
• Genre and medium: science fiction combined with humor; a mix of chapter book and graphic novel
• Themes: family friendship, learning how to be yourself instead of trying to impress others
• Characters: the Klosmo family; a strict principal; male and female students at school; a villian
• The good: I really like the premise behind this story and the new Jimmy Patterson imprint, which is geared to making reading fun for kids just getting into longer books. Sci-Fi Junior High is written in short chapters, many of which are drawn out in comic book form, and the dialogue is introduced with icons of the characters, which makes the story easy to follow. There is a very diverse cast of individuals (creatures from around the universe), but they are familiar in personality, so young readers will easily relate.
• The less good: The story itself isn't told chronologically, and the transitions weren't always smooth. I think the dialogue would appeal to youngsters, but it didn't always work for an adult reader, but—of course—adults are not the intended audience. Finally, the plot was somewhat formulaic, but that's again from an adult perspective.
• Recommendations: Young middle grade readers (8- to 10-year-olds), the target audience for Sci-Fi Junior High, will love the humor and adventure of Kelvin's story. Kids just getting addicted to reading and moving into chapter books will love the drawings and sections told through comic book panels. This book is a terrific way to help children discover the adventure of reading.
• Other things to know: You can follow the new Jimmy Patterson imprint (a division of Hachette Book Group) on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and can learn more by visiting the official website. Look for hashtag #SciFiJuniorHigh across all your social media.

The Giveaway

Thanks to the great people at Jimmy Patterson Books, I have a super giveaway today: one reader with a U.S. mailing address will not only receive a copy of John Martin and Scott Seegert's Sci-Fi Junior High but will also get a cool iron-on patch, a pencil case, and rocket ship pens! This is seriously awesome book swag. All you have to do to be entered for a chance to win is to fill out the following form. I'll pick a winner via random number generator on March 7. Once the winner has been confirmed, I'll erase all personal information from my computer. Good luck!

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