The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang: The first of a pair of fantasy novellas, Yang crafts an elegant tale about family and responsibility in a gorgeous Eastern fantasy world that is quite unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s a beautiful jeweled puzzle of a book, with characters that come alive in just a few sentences.Killing Is My Business by Adam Christopher: Christopher returns to his post-post-singularity alternate 60’s L.A. for another mystery staring Ray Electromatic. The robot detective turned assassin solves another brilliantly noir science fiction mystery that is a unique delight for fans of either genre.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: Saunders spins a single tragic event, the death of Abraham Lincoln’s young son WIllie in 1862, into a strange portrait of America, populated by selfish ghosts unaware of their true nature, mixed with conflicting accounts of the events leading up to the boy’s death. The novel is by turns clever, sad, and hopeful. The audiobook version further elevates the material with a stellar full-cast read that includes Saunders himself.

The Refrigerator Monologues by Cathrynne M. Valente: A brilliant metafictional take on women in superhero comics, Valente builds an entire universe of superheroes and tears them down again. The women and their stories are all instantly recognizable and totally fresh. This is a love letter to comics that cuts it to the bone at the same time, and is well worth the time of any pulp fan.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey: Gailey’s inventive alternate history gives us a rollicking river-boat adventure staring queer, hippo-riding cowboys. It was exactly the novella I didn’t know I needed this year.

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