Recreational Reading: New & Notable

Winner of the Sherley Jackson Horror Award
On the surface is a story of murder in small-town America. But beneath is its beating heart: a biting critique of American colonialism, Indigenous displacement, and gentrification, and a heartbreaking portrait of a broken young girl who uses horror movies to cope with the horror of her own life.

Not for the faint of heart!
A virus that turns anyone with high enough testosterone levels into zombielike monsters transforms the U.S. into an apocalyptic nightmare. Another threat looms—anti-trans feminists plotting the mass murder of the surviving trans population. In this harrowing, action-packed story, two trans women, Beth and Fran, survive by hunting the feral creatures that were once men and harvesting their estrogen-rich testicles.

When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she’s moving back to Malaysia with her parents – a country she last saw when she was a toddler.
She soon learns the new voice isn’t even hers, it’s the ghost of her estranged grandmother. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a business magnate who has offended the god—and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jess wants to or not.

Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon, the tycoon's henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad.
Aided by a troupe of supernatural magic-show troupe and a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet, Ming sets out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge.

Heiress Tessa Crane planned on enjoying her honeymoon cruise to Mars in anonymous bliss, but when her new husband is accused of murder, Tessa brings her fame, her reputation, and her money to bear in order to find out who really committed homicide on the luxury space liner. Featuring a smart heroine with chronic pain and PTSD, this ultimate shipboard mystery is delivered with gin-soaked determination and a load of snark and sparkle.

This isn't a fairytale where the princess marries a prince. It's one where she kills him. After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself. Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince-if she can complete three impossible tasks.

Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain. Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren't real. Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself. But now--Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire--by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder.

n the ancient city of Bassa, Danso is a clever scholar on the cusp of achieving greatness—except he doesn’t want it. Instead, he prefers to chase forbidden stories about what lies outside the city walls. The Bassai elite claim there is nothing of interest. The city’s immigrants are sworn to secrecy. When Danso stumbles across a warrior wielding magic that shouldn’t exist, he’s put on a collision course with Bassa’s darkest secrets. Drawn into the city’s hidden history, he sets out on a journey beyond its borders—and the chaos left in the wake of his discovery could bring down an empire.

Firuz-e Jafari is fortunate enough to have immigrated to the Free Democratic City-State of Qilwa, fleeing the slaughter of other traditional Sassanian blood magic practitioners in their homeland. Firuz has a good job at a free healing clinic in Qilwa, working with Kofi, a kindly new employer, and mentoring Afsoneh, a troubled orphan refugee with powerful magic.
But a new illness is spreading quickly through Qilwa, and there are dangerous accusations of ineptly performed blood magic. In order to survive, Firuz must break a deadly cycle of prejudice, untangle sociopolitical constraints, and find a fresh start for their both their blood and found family.

In the summer of 1925, along Washington, DC's "Black Broadway", a malevolent entity has begun preying on Negro residents. Twenty-three-year-old Clara Johnson is determined to discover what's going on in her community. Using her natural ability to talk with spirits, she begins to investigate, but a powerful spirit tasks her with a difficult quest: steal an ancient, magical ring from the finger of a wealthy socialite. When Clara meets Israel Lee, a supernaturally enhanced jazz musician also vying for the ring, the two decide to work together. They put together an unlikely team including a former circus freak, a pickpocketing Pullman Porter, and an aging vaudeville actor to pull off an impossible heist.

Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother's disappearance fourteen years ago: she was kidnapped; murdered; took on a new identity to start a new family; she was a witch. This is the most worrying charge because in a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions and a woman-- especially a Black woman-- can find herself on trial for witchcraft. The State mandates that all women marry by the age of 30-- or enroll in a registry that allows them to be monitored, effectively forfeiting their autonomy. At 28, with her ability to control her life on the line, Jo feels as if she has her never understood her mother more. Offered the opportunity to honor one last request from her mother's will, Jo leaves her regular life to feel connected to her one last time.

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

When Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian of his niblings, Patrick has no idea what to expect. Quickly realizing that parenting--even if temporary--isn't solved with treats and jokes, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you're unfailingly human.

Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness. Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart.
An accidental letter leads to an unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares—each other?

Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known. Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it―not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.

When archivist Sol meets Elsie, the larger than life widow of a moderately famous television writer who's come to donate her wife's papers, there's an instant spark. But Sol has a secret: he suffers from an illness called vampirism, and hides from the sun by living in his basement office. On their way to falling in love, the two traverse grief, delve into the Internet fandom they once unknowingly shared, and navigate the realities of transphobia and the stigmas of carrying the "vampire disease."

Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve.

Writer Freddie Kincaid is sharing a table with three others at the Boston Public Library when they hear a scream and discover that a woman has been murdered. As she narrates, Freddie recounts her growing friendship with and suspicion of the others. Then it becomes clear that a bestselling Australian novelist is writing Freddie’s story while coping with her own stalker.

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and often misreads people's intentions. But no matter--she still throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid at the five-star Regency Grand. ut Molly's orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find Mr. Black dead--very dead--in his bed.

Inspired by the legend of Chang'e, the Chinese moon goddess. Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing the elixir of immortality. When Xingyin's existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind. Alone, powerless, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. However, when treachery looms and forbidden magic threatens the kingdom, she must challenge the ruthless Celestial Emperor - striking a dangerous bargain in which she is torn between losing all she loves and plunging the realm into chaos.

The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, Kaikeyi is raised on grand stories about the might and benevolence of the gods. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, her own worth measured by how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear. Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the ancient texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. But as the demons of stories Kaikeyi grew up hearing threaten the cosmic order, her will clashes with the path that the gods have chosen for her family-and especially that of her beloved son, Rama