New Books and ARCs, 1/22/19
Posted on January 22, 2019 Posted by John Scalzi 36 Comments
This week I have two — count them, two! — super sized stacks of new books and ARCs for you, and here is the first of them, filled with reading goodness. What here is calling to you through the computer? Tell us in the comments!
Kevin J. Anderson’s Services Rendered.
Wait, so they let that other author call their book The Widening Gyre??
You will ADORE They Promised Me The Gun Wasn’t Loaded. Just as good as the first one.
Yeah, I thought your book was going to be called The Widening Gyre.
I guess I’m ignorant, but I hadn’t heard the phrase before, but it’s not that uncommon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Second_Coming_(poem)
Scott Meyer is on my (mental) watchlist. I enjoyed “Off to be the wizard” but not so much the sequels. “The Authorities” still sticks as the best ever explanation for the popularity of Disney’s “Frozen”.
I shall definitely be looking at “Out of Spite, Out of Mind”
Achievement Unlocked: See my ARC on Whatever.
If that title had been used for what became The Consuming Fire, I’m sure we would have changed it. I’m quite pleased we didn’t have to do that, as the titles of the second and third book are also from Yeats’ poem, and I’d have hated to change them.
For myself, I’m really looking forward to reading Caitlin Starling’s The Luminous Dead
I haven’t read James Alan Gardner in a while. Not since “Radiant”. “They Promised Me The Gun Wasn’t Loaded” is the second book of a new series? I need to catch up on some Gardner.
I’ve got The Prisoner of Limnos carefully hoarded on my Kindle, because I’m sad it’s the last of Pen and Des. I’ve gotten very fond of them.
I’m sure you’ve been asked this before but why do publishers send these to you? I can’t imagine that you have time to read more than a very few of them and getting a picture of the book’s spine published on the internet doesn’t seem a very good ROI. Also, why would Penguin send you “A Discovery of Witches” so long after it was published?
I guess though that they just turn up and you are not answerable for the actions of their marketing departments.
Just about finished with A Discovery of Witches although I’m not certain I’m actually enjoying it. I think I’ve read too many vampire/witch/werewolf stories lately.
Mike:
Because the site’s content is seen by tens of thousands of people daily (either by direct visits or through feeds) and my Twitter, where I also post photos, has 160k followers, and nearly all of them are readers. It’s supercheap advertising for them, basically.
Thoroughly jealous that you got The Prisoner of Limnos.
@JustaTech : is the end of Pen and Des a spoiler or did Lois say she was done writing them?
Very excited to see that a new Blake Crouch novel is coming out! His last novel “Dark Matter” was one of my favorite books of the last couple of years. It is with good reason that his writing style is compared to Michael Crichton. The title of the new novel “Recursion” is quite tantalizing…I can’t wait to find out what he’s up to with that!
@Scalzi – Re: Your comment on the “free advertising” for the books/authors/publishers … Given that is your context of posting these pics, do you sometimes edit the books you share? if I were in the same spot as you riffling through these book packages, I’d be like “yep, yep, yep, screw that guy/lady, yep, really??, yep, OH HELL NO” or something like that.
A Discovery of Witches and its two immediate sequels are possibly my favorite books I’ve read the last couple of years.
I enjoyed “A Discovery of Witches” and the sequels. I also enjoyed “The Prisoner of Limnos”.
Now I’m intrigued by “a People’s Future of the United States”. I think I’ll get that in hardcover to make sharing with the hubby easier. Let the debates begin!!
James Alan Gardner’s “They Promised Me The Gun Wasn’t Loaded” was a really fun sequel to “All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault.”
Lois McMaster Bujold’s “The Prisoner of Limnos” with Penric & Desdemona was great, of course, and the Subterranean Press editions are SO nice.
Nah, I generally post what I get.
“They promised me the gun wasn’t loaded. “
What an intriguing and thought provoking title. It’s as if the story begins just with that title alone.
You know…so few companies think about their product titles or labels. Look at the wine industry. It’s all about being cute. Fat Bastard. Cupcake. Ménage a trois ( a great red blend, btw). So many are just being cute or snarky.
Here’s a thought: how about making a *quality* wine?
Anyway . . . That particular title is intriguing. But you know what they say. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
FWIW I just finished “the collapsing empire”. Came here to see if there’s a follow up. So much potential left in there and want to read more. Enjoyed it very much.
I literally yelled SHAMBLE, when I saw the top one lol, my cat now hates me.
I really dug “A Discovery of Witches” and its sequels. And I’m curious about “Out of Spite Out of Mind,” enough to go look for it.
That “A People’s Future of the United States” is definitely calling my name. The lineup of writers featured is especially impressive.
Oh, nice, a new Scott Meyer one! (I will also ave to check out the others on the list, but my reading list is growing faster than I can catch up!
Loved Discovery of Witches and we are on the last episode of the television show on Sundance Now. I can’t believe this didn’t get picked up by a more mainstream venue, it is so well done.
I have _A People’s Future of the United States_ on pre-order. I. Can’t. Wait. And based on comments here, I guess I have to add _They Promised Me the Gun Wasn’t Loaded_ to my TBR pile. Your books and ARCs posts can be…expensive.
I’ve been looking at these New Book/ARC post for about a year but I’ve never really gone into the weeds of the comments. I do that rarely here for any posting. However, I hope that I can be permitted to ask what may be a question with an obvious answer. What is an “ARC?”
Couple of OTs. Concerning “Gyre,” I don’t think book titles can be copyrighted. Concerning Bujold, she’ll turn 70 this year (I think) and she may be winding down her wonderful output.
David Hunt: ARC is Advanced Reader Copy
SusanB: Thank you. the idea of finding the correct meaning of that acronym was daunting.
Recursion! I loved Dark Matter so this one is definitely on my reading list.
I am absolutely positively not allowed to add anything to my TBR until I clear at least a page of the new content off my Kindle. Have been in writing mode instead of reading mode. That said, yes, ‘the widening gyre’ had me doing a Scooby noise and ‘they promised me the gun wasn’t loaded’ is a GREAT title. :-)
Re: A Discovery of Witches. The show is produced by the UK satellite channel Sky One (which has already committed to a second and third series). From what I gathered from Deborah Harkness (at a signing for her new book), the Sundance people made the best offer for the series in the US. According to the initial press release, it will first appear on their Sundance Now and Shudder streaming services with a second window on the Sundance TV channel. It did very well in the UK and has garnered some awards.
Anderson, Bujold, Hunt and Harkness
Be interesting to see Larry Correia’s new book in one of these stack. FWIW, I like both writers, think Scalzi is much better, but Larry can be entertaining too.
Harry: I don’t know that it’s the last one, but at least in Kindle edition they were all out last year so I just sort of assumed that it was written as a set of 6.
As much as we might like for our favorite authors to keep churning out great books about our favorite characters forever, it is sadly not possible.
They Promised Me The Gun Wasn’t Loaded was everything I hoped it was going to be: great fun, fascinating ideas, and some really lovely moments.