New Books and ARCs, 11/25/22
Posted on November 25, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 14 Comments

We’re heading into the holiday season now, and what better way to go into it than with a fine selection of new books and ARCs! What here is making you feel merry? Share in the comments!
— JS
Bliss – another beautiful and pricey book from Subterranean Press, not a reprint. I mostly window shop there but I’m happy there’s a market for them. Would like to read, in a more conventional format.
2 there on my to get list: Jim Butcher and one for my ever growing collection of Jeff VanderMeer (or as his cat Neo refers to him “Jeff!monkey”) books.
Interesting to see Erewhon by Samuel Butler in the pile. I assume it is a reprint of the novel first published in 1872. I found an old second hand copy of it many years ago, and it is still sitting in my “I must get around to reading that” pile.
The Iron Gate, the new book from Harry Connolly in the Twenty Palaces series, is an excellent continuation of the series – I read the ebook version just a short while ago, and I’m about to start the next one, The Flood Circle. He did a Kickstarter that raised funds for both books. Strongly recommended, especially if you liked the earlier books!
The Law Jim Butcher
I know better than to bargain with the Fae.
The Iron Gate by Harry J. Connolly was fantastic, and its sequel The Flood Circle is already out. A terrific series. I highly recommend the entire 20 Palaces series, starting with the first book, Child of Fire, before reading the prequel that came out later, Twenty Palaces.
See You At San Diego! I’m a fan of the con and a fan of the publisher.
I let my teenager crack open XDM, and not much later they were showing off a bunch of card handling tricks.
@B A. Good to hear. I had sent a copy of XDM to an in-law I thought might benefit from it. It didn’t seem like something I would be able to appreciate properly myself, but it did sound like a labor of love.
Why oh Why do I have to wait until April for Phil Plait’s book.
I love to read anything by Jim Butcher or Phil Plait.
Delighted to see Erewhon in the pile!
Everything that Harry Connolly has ever published is awesome; I would go out and buy The Iron Gate immediately, except that I already did.
2nd the motion that if you enjoy Butcher, you will likely enjoy Connoll. Here’s a reading order.
0 Twenty Palaces, A Prequel
1 Child of Fire
2 Game of Cages
3 Circle of Enemies
4 The Iron Gate
5 The Twisted Path: A Twenty Palaces Novella
? Bad Little Girls Die Horrible Deaths: And Other Tales Of Dark Fantasy (1 story)
6 The Flood Circle: A Twenty Palaces Novel
There’s a 0 in there because I’m too lazy to renumber my list. The ? is there because there’s a single 20 Palaces story in it, and I haven’t read mine yet. It was published after Twisted Path.