Archives par étiquette : JABberwocky

THESE BURNING STARS de Bethany Jacobs

A sweeping portrait of an empire on the verge of collapse, a braided narrative with secrets and revelations around every corner, and a spectacular inversion of expectations. This thrilling new space opera is perfect for fans of Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire and Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit.

THESE BURNING STARS
by Bethany Jacobs
Orbit, March 2023
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

Jun Ironway, hacker, con artist, and only occasional thief, has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for life: a video that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.
Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the three star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly-and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her down: preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.
But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all-and that they are heading for a bloody confrontation that no one will survive unscathed.

Bethany Jacobs is a former college instructor of writing and science fiction, who made the leap to education technology and now teaches tech heads how to write. She lives in Buffalo, New York with her wife and her dog and her books. THESE BURNING STARS is her debut novel.

UNDER FORTUNATE STARS de Ren Hutchings

A captivating debut space opera perfect for fans of Alex White and Becky Chambers, about two ships that fall into a space-time rift and discover they are from each other’s past and future. With their ships’ power running out, they have only once chance to escape the rift and save the future.

UNDER FORTUNATE STARS
by Ren Hutchings
Solaris/Rebellion Publishing, May 2022
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

Two Ships. One chance to save the future. Fleeing the final days of the generations-long war with the alien Felen, smuggler Jereth Keeven’s freighter the Jonah breaks down in a strange rift in deep space, with little chance of rescue—until they encounter the research vessel Gallion, which claims to be from 152 years in the future.
The Gallion’s chief engineer Uma Ozakka has always been fascinated with the past, especially the tale of the Fortunate Five, who ended the war with the Felen. When the Gallion rescues a run-down junk freighter, Ozakka is shocked to recognize the Five’s legendary ship—and the Five’s famed leader, Eldric Leesongronski, among the crew.
But nothing else about Leesongronski and his crewmates seems to match up with the historical record. With their ships running out of power in the rift, more than the lives of both crews may be at stake…

Ren Hutchings is a speculative fiction writer, writing mentor, and history grad. She spent most of the past decade working in game dev while also plotting twisty space novels. She loves pop science, unexplained mysteries, 90s music, collecting outdated electronics, and pondering about alternate universes. Ren always drafts out of order, and almost everything she writes ends up involving a dash of time travel. You can find Ren online at renhutchings.com, and on social media as @voidcricket.

THE SLEEPLESS de Victor Manibo

Perfect for fans of Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon series, about a mysterious pandemic that causes people to become insomniacs and a man caught in a conspiracy at his workplace.

THE SLEEPLESS
by Victor Manibo
Erewhon, August 2022
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

A mysterious pandemic causes a quarter of the world’s population to permanently lose the ability to sleep—without any apparent health implications. The outbreak creates a new class of people who are both feared and ostracized, and most of whom optimize their extra hours to earn more money.
Journalist Jamie Vega is one of the Sleepless. When his boss Simon dies in an apparent suicidal overdose, Jamie is suspicious, given that their company is in the middle of a corporate takeover—and begins to investigate.
When Jamie discovers that he was the last person who saw Simon alive, Jamie realizes he can’t remember that night. Now a suspect to the police, Jamie worries his memory loss is related to the illegal procedure he underwent to become a Sleepless. As Jamie delves deeper into Simon’s final days, he is forced to confront past traumas, and the consequences of his decision to biohack himself. Along the way he uncovers a terrifying truth about what it means to be Sleepless.

• Featured on Polygon’s Summer 2022 “Most Anticipated” list

“Victor Manibo’s The Sleepless is a thrilling debut with a fresh edgy voice.”
—Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Manibo neatly dissects the drawbacks of capitalist demands on society in this taut near-future procedural. It’s smart, high-tech noir.” —Publishers Weekly

Victor Manibo is a speculative fiction writer living in New York City, and his writing is influenced by his experiences as an immigration and civil rights lawyer. As a queer immigrant and a person of color, he also writes about the lives of people with these identities.

FOX FIRES d’Emilia Ojala

A fantasy-adventure graphic novel addressing the relationship between humans and nature, friendships, family, self-growth, and Finnish folklore, told from an animal’s perspective.

FOX FIRES
by Emilia Ojala
Rocketship Entertainment, May 2022
(via JABberwocky)

“Fox Fires” refers to the Northern Lights; a literal translation from the Finnish word “revontulet.” (Revontulet = Repo’s fires.) The Fox Fires are a gate between this world and the land of the dead – it allows souls to visit their loved ones. But suddenly, the Fox Fires disappear. Our main character, a young raccoon dog named Raate, heads north to find what’s happened to Repo, the fire fox whose burning fur is said to make the Fox Fires appear in the sky. On her journey, Raate meets all kinds of interesting creatures, and also new friends. 

Emilia Ojala, also known as « Pipilia », hails from the small, cold country of Finland. A self-taught artist with a degree in graphic design, Emilia had always dreamed of writing and illustrating folk stories (while also owning many pets, of course!). Her passion for storytelling, art, and animation led her to develop her own stories at a very young age. Even back then her stories centered around animals, typically the adventures of her family pets. The small, Finnish towns she grew up in, with their close proximity to the fields and forests, provided Emilia with many opportunities to spend ample time in nature. These experiences have driven her creative process for tales about what might happen within nature when people aren’t around to see it. A fan of folklore and mythology, it was while Emilia was reading Finnish tales one afternoon she was inspired to create FOX FIRES. Since Finnish myths are somewhat lesser known she felt FOX FIRES could be a wonderful opportunity to open them up to the rest of the world.

THE GUSTAV GLOOM SERIES d’Adam-Troy Castro

Award-winning author Adam-Troy Castro evokes Roald Dahl and Tim Burton with this spooky favorite about a gloomy boy raised by shadows and his cheerful best friend who joins him on adventures.

THE GUSTAV GLOOM SERIES
by Adam-Troy Castro
illustrated by Kristen Margiotta
Grosset & Dunlap, 2012-2016
(via JABberwocky)

Book 1: GUSTAV GLOOM AND THE PEOPLE TAKER – August 2012

Fernie What finds herself lost in the Gloom mansion after her cat appears to have been chased there by its own shadow. Fernie discovers a library full of every book that was never written, a gallery of statues that are just plain awkward, and finds herself at dinner watching her own shadow take part in the feast!
Along the way Fernie is chased by the People Taker who is determined to take her to the Shadow Country. It’s up to Fernie and Gustav to stop the People Taker before he takes Fernie’s family.
Featuring a unique cover and beautifully dark full-page illustrations by Kristen Margiotta, Gustav Gloom is sure to be a hit with fans who love a little darkness in their lives.

• A Scholastic Book Fair selection, complete with animated promo video!
• Selected following a 25,000 copy initial special market sale to Scholastic
• An Amazon Best Book of the Month
• A Costco selection for Fall 2017

Adam-Troy Castro has said in interviews that he likes to jump genres and styles and has therefore refused to ever stay in place long enough to permit the unwanted existence of a creature that could be called a « typical » Adam-Troy Castro story. As a result, his short works range from the wild farce of his Vossoff and Nimmitz tales to the grim Nebula nominee « Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs. » His twenty prior books include a nonfiction analysis of the Harry Potter phenomenon, four Spider-Man adventures, and three novels about his interstellar murder investigator, Andrea Cort (including a winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, Emissaries from the Dead). Adam’s other award nominations include eight Nebulas, two Hugos, and three Stokers. Adam lives in Florida with his wife, Judi, and three insane cats named Uma Furman, Meow Farrow, and Harley Quinn.