Premee Mohamed’s novel The Siege of Burning Grass (Solaris, 2024) is set during an ongoing war between two empires: Varkal and Med’ariz and follows Alefret, a founder of Varkal’s pacifist resistance who has been arrested and imprisoned by his own country. When the opportunity for freedom presents itself, Alefret must decide how willing he is to col…

Approaching translations of Tolkien's works as stories in their own right, Reading Tolkien in Chinese: Religion, Fantasy and Translation (Bloomsbury, 2024) reads multiple Chinese translations of Tolkien's writing to uncover the new and unique perspectives that enrich the meaning of the original texts. Exploring translations of The Lord of the Rings…

Dana Elmendorf’s novel In The Hour of Crows (Mira Books, 2024) takes place in small town Appalachia and follows Weatherly Opal Wilder, a young woman with the ability to talk death out of the dying. Our story begins shortly after the death of her cousin, Adaire, as Weatherly struggles to find justice for her cousin and to navigate small town politic…

Award winning author and short fiction writer, C. J. Spataro's debut novel, More Strange Than True (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024) takes us in to a world of faeries and what happens when wishes do come true. After an epically shitty day, Jewell Jamieson unknowingly eats a magic-spiked meal and happens also to make a certain wish-and that's why she a…

Eliza Chan’s debut novel Fathomfolk (Orbit, 2024) takes place in the semi-submerged city of Tiankawi, where humans and fathomfolk - a collection of peoples including sirens, seawitches, kelpies, and kappas - navigate an increasingly tense political situation. The novel follows half-siren Mira, the recently promoted captain of the border guard and N…

Rachel Greenlaw's debut young adult romantasy, Compass and Blade (Inkyard Press, 2024) is filled with sirens and mysterious magic, swoony romance and cutthroat betrayal. This world of sea and storm runs deep with bargains and blood. On the remote isle of Rosevear, Mira, like her mother before her, is a wrecker, one of the seven on the rope who swim…

Alix E. Harrow’s new novel Starling House (Tor Books, 2023) is named for the infamous old mansion in the otherwise unremarkable town of Eden, Kentucky. For years the house has haunted the dreams of our protagonist, Opal, a reluctant resident of Eden who is focused on building a better life for her younger brother–one that would get him both out of …

The Dragons of Deepwood Fen (Daw Books, 2023) is an immersive fantasy which takes you deep into a world of duality. There are two suns, one light and one dark; and two types of dragons, one yielding a substance called umbra and one a substance called aura. There are two peoples, one subjugated by the other. The people of the woods, mostly the dark-…

Wole Talabi’s debut novel Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon (Daw Books, 2023) follows Shigidi–a former nightmare god–and his partner, the succubus Nneoma as they attempt to carve a life independent from the control of Spirit Corporations. The story spans continents and decades but centers on a heist to steal an artifact back from the British M…

Hannah Kaner’s debut novel Godkiller (Harper Voyager, 2023) takes place in Middren, a country where gods have been banned as the result of a brutal civil war. The novel follows Kissen–a woman whose family were killed by zealots of a fire god and who now makes a living killing gods herself. In this interview, Kaner describes her interest in examinin…

Bookshop.org is an online book retailer that donates more than 80% of its profits to independent bookstores. Launched in 2020, Bookshop.org has already raised more than $27,000,000. In this interview, Andy Hunter, founder and CEO discusses his journey to creating one of the most revolutionary new organizations in the book world. Bookshop has found …

To mark the publication of John's book Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea (My Reading), with Oxford University Press (2023), John and Elizabeth take to the airways to share their love of Le Guin's "speculative anthropology," gender politics, and goats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium memb…

Aparna Verma’s debut novel The Phoenix King (Orbit, 2023) takes place in the desert kingdom of Ravence as war brews on its borders and the king is set to step down. The story follows an assassin exiled but struggling to return home as well as both the king and the heir to the throne. In this interview, Verma describes the way her love of the desert…

Garth Nix’s new collection Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: Stories of the Witch Knight and the Pupper Sorcerer (Harper Voyager, 2023) gathers together stories written over more than fifteen years for a variety of publications and follows the artillerist knight and his sorcerous, paper mâché companion as they pursue their duties as god-slayers. In thi…

Any novel set in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533–1584) is an instant draw for me; that is, after all, the setting for most of my own fiction. Throw in Baba Yaga, the wicked witch of Russian folklore, and give her a makeover, and I am hooked. Throw out the warts and the cackle, the flying mortar and pestle, the human skulls lighte…

M. A. Carrick’s newest novel Labyrinth’s Heart (Orbit, 2023) is the culmination of their Rook and Rose trilogy, which chronicles the life of the thief Arenza Lenskaya after she returns home to the city of Nadežra to con her way into one of the city’s noble families. The co-writers describe the trilogy’s origins–as the spinoff of a tabletop game–and…

T. Kingfisher’s newest novel Thornhedge (Tor, 2023) is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty that follows Toadling, the person in charge of keeping the fair maiden asleep inside her tower and the thorns surrounding that tower strong. Kingfisher discusses the joys of retellings, her love of plants, and the ways in which a story can be simultaneously murder…

Today I talked to L. R. Lam about Dragonfall (DAW, 2023). Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the “gods” remember, and they do not forgive. Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerfu…

In his new novel Loki (Pegasus Books, 2023), Melvin Burgess follows the antics of Norse mythology’s trickster god as he takes the reader on a wild ride through legendary stories about the founders of Asgard. Born from a fire inside the hollow of a tree trunk, Loki arrives in Asgard as an outsider. Despite his cleverness and wit (or, perhaps, becaus…

Daniel M. Ford’s new novel The Warden (Tor, 2023) follows Aelis de Lenti, a young necromancer in her first year as the Warden of Lone Pine—a small frontier village surrounded by sheep and little else. The story follows Aelis as she works to win over locals who are distrustful of magic generally, and necromancy particularly, and as she unravels a se…

Today I talked to Kelly Barnhill about her book The Crane Husband (Tordotcom, 2023). Our unnamed narrator, a fifteen-year-old girl, manages to care for her six-year-old brother and creative but irresponsible mother by skipping school and selling her mother’s artwork. Her father taught her everything useful before he died, and much like Katniss in T…

Today I talked to Olivia Atwater about her new book Half a Soul (Orbit, 2022). When a nasty fairy Lord tries to take young Dora’s soul, her doting cousin, Vanessa, fights him off with a pair of iron scissors—but not before he can abscond with half of his desired bounty. As an orphan, Dora is already disadvantaged. After losing half her soul, her af…

The Daughters of Izdihar (Harper Voyager, 2023), like last year’s A Master of Djinn, is set in a world similar to Egypt, during the time of the suffragette movement. American-Egyptian author Hadeer Elsbai has chosen to focus even more on social justice issues, through her two main characters, rich spoiled girl Nehal, and struggling bookworm Giorgin…

A road trip novel, The Revivalists (Harper, 2022) is intimate, funny, and at times, shocking. It has only the dystopian setting in common with Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. While Cormac’s characters are shadow figures on a stage devoid of meaning, our narrator, Bill, and Penelope, his wife, seem like people we know, or even, reflections of ourselves.…

Today I talked to Tanvi Berwah about Monsters Born and Made (Sourcebooks Fire, 2022). In our narrator Koral’s world—an oceanic world full of sea monsters, brutal heat, and only a few islands—choices are limited. Koral belongs a to class of people called Renters, who don’t own land, or in many cases, even have proper dwellings. The Landers live prot…

A clever magical mystery which needs your full attention, Comeuppance Served Cold (Tordotcom, 2022) challenges this podcaster to write a review without a spoiler. The novella begins with what appears to be the murder of a young dark-haired woman, followed by the departure of a masked person who might be the perpetrator. Or maybe not. Nothing what i…

In R. F. Kuang’s Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution (Harper Voyager in 2022), we meet Robin Swift. Orphaned by Cholera in Canton in 1828, he is brought to London by a mysterious Professor Lovell, who trains him in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, to prepare him for enrollment in Oxford Uni…

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (Tor, 2022) is marketed as a historical fantasy novel, but its subtle and humane sweetness set it aside from most examples of the genre. Though it offers political intrigues and battles, it is also a compassionate exploration of a man’s recovery from assault and homophobia with the help of his new husband. The man i…

The Justice of Kings (Orbit, 2022) opens with our young narrator, Helena, traveling from town to town as clerk to the King’s Justice, a learned and idealistic man called Vonvalt. The first few chapters build towards a pivotal incident, the razing of the village of Rill and the immolation of its inhabitants. Vonvalt, who has leeway on how he applies…

Today I talked to Cassandra Rose Clarke about her book The Beholden (Erewhon Books, 2022). Two impoverished sisters, one with magical gifts and one with ladylike manners and pretty dresses, brave the wilds of the jungle to find the River Goddess and compel her to grant them a boon. They’re accompanied by a former pirate, Ico, who is hired to protec…

Augusta is a meek museum curator trapped in a dead-end job and relationship, when an employment offer to become the collections manager at Harlowe House changes her life. With new friends and new responsibilities, as well as a new handsome coworker, Augusta is drawn to investigate the life of Margaret Harlowe. Margaret’s portrait at Harlowe House r…

Elizabeth and John talk about fantasy's power of world-making with Edinburgh professor Anna Vaninskaya, author of William Morris and the Idea of Community: Romance, History and Propaganda, 1880-1914 ( 2010) and Fantasies of Time and Death: Dunsany, Eddison, Tolkien ( 2020). Anna uncovers the melancholy sense of displacement and loss running through…

Get ready for a cruel dark world of abnegation and revenge, featuring a woman who struggles to achieve psychic integration after a succession of betrayals. Like a Westworld written by Edgar Allen Poe, Bone Orchard (Tor Books, 2022) comes with its own charming brothel owner, whose name actually is Charm. Charm’s free will is limited by an implant, a…

Today I talked to G. R. Macallister about her book Scorpica (Gallery / Saga Press, 2022). A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single girl being born in this sweeping epic fantasy that's perfect for fans of Robin Hobb and Circe. Five hundred years of peace between queendoms shatters when girls …

Nell Young, a dedicated cartographer, once had it all—a dream job in the New York Public Library, a stylish boyfriend, Felix, who understood her obsession with maps, and a good salary as a researcher. Then she and her father, Dr. Young, the top scholar at NYPL had a fight about the importance of find she discovered in the basement, and her dreams c…

Did you ever hear the one about the elf, druid, and warlock that walk into—no, not a bar—but a trailer? Trailer Park Trickster (Blackstone, 2021), David Slayton’s follow up to White Trash Warlock, offers urban fantasy alternating with backwoods spookiness. If you’ve thought of warlocks as tall elegant fellows with a British accent and a swirling ve…

Today I talked to Sue Lynn Tan about her new book Daughter of the Moon Goddess (Harper Voyager, 2022). The immortal Xinyin lives a quiet life on the moon with her mother the Moon Goddess, and a devoted servant. When an innocent Xinyin ignores her mother’s warning, her actions raise the suspicion of the Empress of the Celestial Kingdom, who swoops i…

Rin Chupeco's Wicked As You Wish (Sourcebooks Fire, 2020) begins with our Filipina narrator, Tala, and her best friend, Alexei, who both attend high school in the small Arizona town of Invierno. Alexei has a few secrets. For one, he’s gay, but not out, and for another, he’s the exiled Prince of Avalon, hiding from the evil Snow Queen and her minion…

The Seventh Queen (HarperCollins, 2021) is the second book in the Warrior Witch Duology, so the following review and questions for author Greta Kelly assume you’ve read the first one. If not, go get yourself a copy before listening to the podcast, so you don’t encounter any spoilers. The Frozen Crown ends with a cliffhanger. Princess Askia had trav…

Today I talked to Jennifer Estep about her new book Capture the Crown (HarperCollins, 2021). Princess Gemma Ripley is famous for her glittering outfits, in which she flounces through countless parties and balls. There’s another side to her, though. Her duties as a royal also include putting on a disguise and spying, in order to discover any trouble…

We have a collective memory of a primeval world embodied in myth. It is a world where spirits lived in the trees, water, and mountains, and nature was sacred. Was such a world ever possible, or was it doomed as soon as humans spread? What went wrong with our planet and whose fault is it? Are innovators, who look to science for answers, agents of po…

Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark goes full-length for the first time in his dazzling debut novel: A Master of Djinn (Tordotcom, 2021). Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha'arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she's certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing …

Today I talked to Ava Reid about her new book The Wolf and the Woodsman (Harper Voyager, 2021) The wolf, in the title refers to a pagan woman, given to the dreaded Woodsmen to keep her village safe. She’s part of a tithe, sent to satisfy the King, who demands a quota of witches every year. The impoverished villages hidden in the woods are inhabited…

Today I talked to Andrea Stewart about The Bone Shard Daughter: The Drowning Empire Book One (Hachette UK, 2020). In a world of floating islands, various narrators try to achieve or avoid their destiny, or just understand the mysteries of their existence. There’s Lin, the Emperor’s daughter, set against her foster brother by the manipulative Empero…

The horror of the battlefield is fresh for Princess Askia. She’s just been forced to flee her kingdom, the northern country of Seravesh, where her cousin now rules under the protection of the Emperor of Roven. All that remains of her army is a loyal general and her last remaining legion, the Black Wolves—not enough to protect her former kingdom fro…

Today I talked to Anne Marie Lutz about her book Taylenor (Hydra, 2019). Taylen is the designation for magical power in the world that Anne Marie Lutz has created: a power so desirable that a special position of Seeker has been created. Seekers wander throughout the country, hoping to identify children with the gift. Our Seeker, a kind-hearted fema…

Seanan McGuire's Across the Green Grass Fields (Tor.com, 2021), a stand-alone novel in the Wayward Children series, a portal transports a horse-loving ten-year old, Regan, to Hooflands. Soon she becomes part of a centaur herd, learning how to herd unicorns, finding her place as an apprentice healer, and making a new best friend her own age, a centa…

This quirky, offbeat novel introduces us to two people, Zoe and Jamie, who both have amnesia and super-powers. While Jamie is a criminal who holds up banks, Zoe is a vigilante crime-stopper. After her first attempt to arrest him goes south, Zoe and Jamie meet again at a memory-loss group and develop an uneasy friendship. In many ways, they’re the o…

Today I talked to Ilona Andrews about her book Emerald Blaze: A Hidden Legacy Novel (Avon Books, 2020). Catalina Baylor is the titular Prime of House Baylor, where she and her crew, including her dangerous cousin Leon, engage in detective work. She’s also secretly the Deputy to the Texas Warden, charged with keeping the potent serum that creates ma…

In order to reclaim her throne and save her people, an ousted queen must join forces with a young warrior in the second book of this"relentlessly gripping, brilliant" epic fantasy series from a breakout author (James Islington). Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dang…