Archives de catégorie : London 2022 Fiction

THE BULLET THAT MISSED de Richard Osman

A new mystery is afoot in the third book in the Thursday Murder Club series from record-breaking, bestselling author Richard Osman..

THE BULLET THAT MISSED
by Richard Osman
Viking UK / Pamela Dorman US, September 2022
(via Mushens Entertainment)

It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be getting back to normal. But trouble is never far away, as The Thursday Murder Club encounter a local news legend on the hunt for a killer headline. They soon find themselves hot on the trail of two murders, ten years apart. To make matters worse, a new nemesis pays Elizabeth a visit – and tasks her with a deadly mission she can’t refuse. To kill or be killed. While Elizabeth grapples with her conscience (and a gun), the mystery unfolds amongst a cast of TV stars, money launderers and ex-KGB colonels. Can the gang, and their unlikely new friends, solve the murders and save Elizabeth before the killer strikes one final time?

Richard Osman is an author, producer, television presenter, and a creative director for Endemol UK. He has worked as an executive producer on numerous shows. His first two novels, The Thursday Murder Club, and The Man Who Died Twice were multi-million-copy number one bestsellers around the world. He became a New York Times bestseller and has been nominated for an Edgar Award in the US. He lives in London with his partner and Liesl the cat.

LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD d’Allison Epstein

In 1812 Russia, the exiled second son of the Tsar and his lover come under the sway of a magnetic woman who may be more than what she seems. As she drives the lovers toward conflict with the throne, they fall into collaboration with a revolutionary faction organizing an uprising for workers’ rights in St. Petersburg.

LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD
by Allison Epstein
‎ Doubleday, 2023
(via JABberwocky)

Russia, 1812. The war with Napoleon is over, and Imperial Army Captain Aleksandr Nikolaevich is returning home to Tsarskoe Selo, the imperial summer palace, where Prince Felix, the tsar’s second son and Sasha’s sometime lover, holds court. But the reunion he planned goes awry when Sasha saves a woman lying unconscious in the snow and carries her into the palace, only to discover she’s not quite a woman at all.
When Sasha and Felix watch Sofia transform herself into an owl, their reactions sunder their relationship. Sasha, who remembers the stories of the vila and the ways they torment humans, is terrified, but Felix is enchanted. And when Sofia shows him visions of the destruction his father’s war has wrought, for the first time in his life Felix feels a sense of responsibility. With a fire burning for change and his father unwilling to listen, Felix follows Sofia to a rebellion brewing among the working class of Saint Petersburg, where he finds community and purpose. But Sasha has orders to bring him back at any cost, and Sofia has motivations of her own. Felix might be the key to peaceful change – but he also might be the spark that ignites Saint Petersburg.

Allison Epstein earned her M.F.A. in fiction from Northwestern University and a B.A. in creative writing and Renaissance literature from the University of Michigan. A Michigan native, she now lives in Chicago, where she works as an editor. When not writing, she enjoys good theater, bad puns, and fancy jackets. She is the author of A Tip for the Hangman.

THE FIRST BINDING de R. R. Virdi

A heroic fantasy series which follows a wandering storyteller, a hero or villain out of legend (depending on who you’ve heard the stories from), on a quest to kill the terrifying demons who took everything from him, and to undo a worse evil he’s set loose—a power nearly as old as god bent on turning the world at war with itself.

THE FIRST BINDING
(Tales of Tremaine, Book 1)
by R.R. Virdi
Tor/Macmillan, August 2022
(via JABberwocky)

All legends are born of truths. And just as much lies. These are mine. Judge me for what you will. But you will hear my story first.
I buried the village of Ampur under a mountain of ice and snow. Then I killed their god. I’ve stolen old magics and been cursed for it. I started a war with those that walked before mankind and lost the princess I loved, and wanted to save. I’ve called lightning and bound fire. I am legend. And I am a monster.
My name is Ari.
And this is the story of how I let loose the first evil.

Thus begins the tale of a storyteller and a singer on the run and hoping to find obscurity in a tavern bar. But the sins of their past aren’t forgotten, and neither are their enemies.
Ari is still in the throes of hunting down the story book demons that took his old life from him and set him on the path to becoming all he is known and feared to be. But corrupt nobles are playing a dangerous game of politics and murder, old enemies are coming to find him, magical beings out of storybooks bent on revenge of their own against him, and a power nearly as old as god working to turn neighboring countries against one another in war.
Ari’s old lives are catching up swiftly and it could cost him the entire world. Unless he turns back and faces his past.

« Crafted with patience, passion, and most importantly, tremendous love. Read R.R. Virdi! » ―Jim Butcher, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files

« THE FIRST BINDING is epic fantasy at its finest―an homage to storytelling and legend, richly told and endlessly engaging. Complex and luxuriant, this is an emotional, multifaceted gem of a book that examines the twists and turns a story takes on its journey from the truth. » ―Andrea Stewart, author of Bone Shard Daughter

R.R. Virdi is a two-time Dragon Award finalist and a Nebula Award finalist. He is the author of two urban fantasy series, The Grave Report, and The Books of Winter. One of his short stories is part of a collection of artists’ works to go to the moon aboard the Astrobotic Peregrine Lunar Lander in 2022. His love of classic cars drove him to work in the automotive industry for many years before he realized he’d do a better job of maintaining his passion if he stayed away from customers. He was born and raised in Northern Virginia and is a first generation Indian-American with all the baggage that comes with. He’s offended a long list of incalculable ancestors by choosing to drop out of college and not pursue one of three pre-destined careers: lawyer, doctor, engineer. Instead, he decided to chase his dream of being an author. His family is still coping with this decision a decade later. He expects them to come around in another fifteen to twenty years. Should the writing gig not work out, he aims to follow his backup plan and become a dancing shark for a Katy Perry music video.

WAKE OF WAR de Zac Topping

A timely account of the lengths those with power will go to preserve it, and the determination of those they exploit to destroy everything in the name of freedom anew.

WAKE OF WAR
by Zac Topping
Forge/Macmillan, July 2022
(via JABberwocky)

The United States of America is a crumbling republic. With the value of the dollar imploding, the government floundering, and national outrage and resentment growing by the hour, a rebellion has caught fire. The Revolutionary Front, led by Joseph Graham, has taken control of Salt Lake City.
In a nation where opportunity is sequestered behind the gilded doors of the rich and powerful, joining the Army seemed like James Trent’s best option. He just never thought he’d see combat. Now Trent finds himself on the front lines fighting for something he doesn’t even know if he believes in. Destroying innocent lives wasn’t what he signed on for, and he can feel himself slipping away with every casualty.
Sharpshooter Sam Cross was just fourteen when American soldiers gunned down her parents and forced her brother into conscription. Now, five years later, retribution feels like her only option to stitch the wound of her past. She has accepted Joseph Graham’s offer to be his secret weapon. His Reaper in the Valley. But retribution always comes at a cost.
When forces clash in Salt Lake City, alliances will be shattered, resolve will be tested, and when the dust clears nobody will be able to lie to themselves, or be lied to, again.

Zac Topping grew up in Eastern Connecticut where, contrary to popular belief, it’s not all trust funds and yacht clubs. He spent his formative years on the move, as some do, and discovered a passion for writing early in life. He is a veteran of the United States Army and has served two tours in Iraq. He currently lives with his wife in a quiet farm town in Connecticut and works as a career fire fighter. WAKE OF WAR is his debut novel.

AND THEN HE SANG A LULLABY d’Ani Kayode Somtochukwu

A searingly honest and resonant debut from a Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist, exploring what love and freedom cost in a society steeped in homophobia.

AND THEN HE SANG A LULLABY
by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu
Roxane Gay Books/Grove Atlantic, June 2023

 

August is a God-fearing track star who leaves Enugu City to attend university and escape his overbearing sisters. He carries the weight of their lofty expectations, the shame of facing himself, and the haunting memory of a mother he never knew. It’s his first semester and pressures aside, August is making friends, doing well in his classes. He even almost has a girlfriend. There’s only one problem: he can’t stop thinking about Segun, an openly gay student who works at a local cybercafé. Segun carries his own burdens and has been wounded in too many ways. When he meets August, their connection is undeniable, but Segun is reluctant to open himself up to August. He wants to love and be loved by a man who is comfortable in his own skin, who will see and hold and love Segun, exactly as he is.
Despite their differences, August and Segun forge a tender intimacy that defies the violence around them. But there is only so long Segun can stand being loved behind closed doors, while August lives a life beyond the world they’ve created together. And when a new, sweeping anti-gay law is passed, August and Segun must find a way for their love to survive in a Nigeria that was always determined to eradicate them. A tale of rare bravery and profound beauty, AND THEN HE SANG A LULLABY is an extraordinary debut that marks Ani as a voice to watch.

Ani Kayode Somtochukwu is an award-winning Nigerian writer and queer liberation activist. His work interrogates themes of queer identity, resistance, and liberation. His writings have appeared in literary magazines across Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America.