New Books and ARCs, 4/29/22
Posted on April 29, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 21 Comments

As we head out of April and into May, here’s another very fine stack of new books and ARCs that have come to the Scalzi Compound. What here makes you want to take it into a brand new month? Share in the comments.
I feel horrible. Currently on my Kindle sit two books I feel I’m going to DNF. And none of these look terribly interesting to me. I think I’m in a book slump. This can’t happen!!!!!
“To Say Nothing of the Dog” is a grand fun read. Glad to see Subterranean is putting out a new edition. I’ve got “A Master of Djinn” on my reading list. I supported “Dragon” on Kickstarter, and I must say the art and storytelling are both top-notch.
Gah. I’m coveting that Master of Djinn. It sold out before I could snag a copy!
I’m looking longingly at the Sub Press To Say Nothing of the Dog.
I’m most certainly in a book slump, but I’ve been trying to get out of it. Maybe that’s why this stack actually has some stuff I’d sit down and give a try: P. Djeli Clark and N.K. Jemisin are two I’d be reluctant to pass up. I may have read something by Saladin Ahmed a while back that was very good so I’d really want to look that over.
This is a good stack of books, imho.
I have sooo many things I need to read right now. PLease don’t tempt me more!
They’re re-editing “To say nothing of the Dog”!
A great opportunity for those who don’t know Connie Willis, one of the very best.
A Sub Press edition of To Say Nothing of the Dog! I love that book–I will have to Look Into It.
A Master of Djinn was my Fantasy book of the year in 2021. If you are curious about my Science Fiction book of the year for 2021, it was Project Hail Mary. (2020 was The Last Emperox)
Another enthusiastic hurrah to seeing a favorite in that stack! ‘To Say Nothing of the Dog’ is a dear old friend.
Connie Willis’ “To say nothing of the dog” is a glorious tribute/romp/homage to Jerome K. Jerome’s comedy classic “Three men in a boat”.
My son and I met her years ago at a MileHiCon (Denver), and when I told her that it had encouraged my (then) 12 year old son to read Jerome’s classic, she positively beamed, proclaiming that was part of why she wrote it.
BTW – another famous reference by an SF author to “Three men” is in Heinlein’s “Have Spacesuit, Will Travel”.
Why do you bother including old material like About the Dog on these? Loved it but would rather see new material leading.
Hey John, a question. How many of these books you get do you read? And, as I’m sure you don’t have time to read them all, how do you decide which ones to read?
New P. Djeli Clark! New Holly Black! And a new edition of TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG, the funniest and most lovely and most touching of time travel books. A good May.
@jim – this is what Scalzi says about the books he gets: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/03/08/because-people-ask-book-acquisition-details/
@jim – this is what Scalzi has said about the books her gets: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/03/08/because-people-ask-book-acquisition-details/
Another upvote for “To Say Nothing of the Dog” – I’ve enjoyed it both in the book and audiobook formats.
Weirdly, I can’t find Hurley’s Future Artifacts on Goodreads and had a hard time finding it on Amazon. I expected her to do a better job of promoting her writing. “Get to Work, Hurley!”
Because Subterranean sent him the new edition. Leaving it out wouldn’t make a new book miraculously appear in its stead.
And since nine people have had warm things to say about it, it seems that they’re glad to see it. It got me to borrow it from the library — I started reading another Willis time-travel novel and didn’t care for it, but I’ve since read some Willis short stories and liked them, so I’m going to try it out.
Subterranean Press really likes you. They are sold out of the 300 signed and numbered copies at $175.00 each. The fancy version is $700. I am pretty certain that your local bookstore will appreciate the donation ( presuming that the book follows the usual trajectory).
I think I will go the e-book route for $7.00 or a used hardcover for not much more.
I got the Sub press version of Kaiju but read the e-book because I was afraid of messing up the pretty book.
“To Say Nothing of the Dog” is one of my bery favorite books! It’s a screwball comedy in time travel. I’m happy that Willis is still making money from it.