Welcome to New Release Tuesday, where I round up the sci-fi releases dropping this week that I think you should know about. I'm Zee, I'm a Tattooed Bibliophile, and if you are here I you probably are too, and my whole thing is diversity in sci-fi — meaning if it's queer, BIPOC-authored, indie, or just something the Big 5 didn't bother to tell you about, it belongs here. While sci-fi isn't the "it girl" right now, it's far from a dying genre. It may make it hard to find new releases, but that's what I'm here for, because I don't want you to miss a thing! So what's new?

First Mage on the Moon by Cameron Johnston (Angry Robot) Space Fantasy with a disabled wheelchair-using skymage who wants to fly to the moon to stop a war -gasps a deep breath- described as Gideon the Ninth meets The Expanse? Well, I haven't read The Expanse but you know if someone tells me it's like Gideon the Ninth I'm either out to devour it or hate read it just to tell you they are wrong, because nobody writes like my corpuscular Queen Tamsyn. And Angry Robot is an indie press so you know I love to support them...Although what does a girl have to do to get on their ARC list? I've been trying, I promise, because I want to read as many sci-fi books as possible to tell you if they're good or if they are shit!!!

Last week I somehow missed the release of The Bloody and the Damned by Becca Coffindaffer (Macmillan) but it's a dystopian climate fantasy with an enby assassin who is trying to save their siblings and a thief as a love interest, AND they mention it's "perfect for fans of Iron Widow" so...I couldn't just not tell you! I love a villain story. And it's standalone, which is kind of an anomoly in the sci-fi and fantasy world. Or at least it used to be? I feel like? Someone argue with me with some stats, I am unconvinced of my own opinion on this.

The Weathering by Artem Chapeye (Penguin RH) is a a post-apocalyptic climate (I think?) dystopia about a couple who returns to Ukraine only to find that the world as they once knew it no longer exists, and they have to partner with other survivors to form a new society, where "erosion floats in on a breeze..." I mean who writes these book descriptions? Erosion cannot, by definition, float in on anything, and the book description is so vague that I'm not sure if that's meant as a metaphor? Like they take a vacation into the mountains and then come back to the city and it's different, but they didn't know? Idk. If the book is anything like the blurb, I don't think this one is for me. Maybe it's translation error?

Wife Shaped Bodies by Laura Cranehill (Simon & Schuster/Saga Press) Ok first I just want to say that I don't love when authors seem to have book naming trends, or cover design trends. It's art, be yourself, ya know? But whomever is in charge of this kind of cover? I'm low key obsessed. These are so pretty and haunting and would make gorgeous tattoos. Ok, on to the actual book. This is a sci-fi women's lit horror mashup. Or you could just say thriller, you do you. All the women in the village are covered in mushroom growths, told those are repulsive, and sheltered into their homes until they are married and moved from one prison to the next. Then she meets another rebellious girl and gae things happen. And can we all just say a collective "YAY!"

The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon (Simon & Schuster) Tell me why my kitchen hood has wifi? And for what purpose does AI in a toaster have? In the (pretty near TBH) future where even the smallest of appliances are sentient, a young Roomba vacuum (after listeing to her human, Harold, read To Kill a Mockingbird to his dying wife) sets out to save the humans of her house from the omnipresent and always listening city AI Grid, who seeks to remove them from the home. Now, time for the tea! I went to scope out Glenn Dixon's IG, and he has AI generated images of him he posted for fun. Which is entirely counter to this satire he wrote about the danger of AI. We all contain multitudes, but it reeks of hypocrisy, and I was totally into the book before seeing that. Should I, or should I not, leave him a comment asking about it? Shall I or Shall I Not, start shit?

The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey (Hachette/Orbit) — Book 2 of The Captive's War from the duo behind The Expanse. Thought I'd tell you about it...too many diverse reads to get to to have picked this one up. Worth it or no, let me know in the comments.

Listen, romantasy may be the current pick me girl in Big 5 publishing, because who doesn't need a little escapism in late stage capitalism? But sci-fi is a reflection of our hope for the future (or currently just a hope that there will be a future.) And HOPE IS RESISTANCE! So go forth and read some sci-fi and RESIST!

See you next week. You know, if we're not in a nuclear winter.

— Zee

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