ALSO OUT
Further titles we couldn’t quite fit in include BLACK SUN (out now, Solaris), by Rebecca Roanhorse. Set in a world inspired by the pre-Colombian Americas, and featuring a sun priestess, a man raised to be the vessel of a god, and a sailor whose song can calm the ocean, it’s fantasy with political intrigue aplenty and multiple queer/trans characters. In CJ Tudor’s psychological thriller THE BURNING GIRLS (out now, Michael Joseph), a reverend and her teenage daughter move to a Sussex hamlet where 500 years ago eight Protestant martyrs were burned at the stake. The last vicar committed suicide, and soon young Flo is plagued by visions of burning girls… Samantha Shannon’s supernatural dystopia series The Bone Season concludes with fourth book THE MASK FALLING (out now, Bloomsbury), as “dreamwalker” heroine Paige Mahoney embarks on an adventure which takes her from the catacombs of Paris to the hallways of Versailles. There’s also a new entry in Kristin Cashore’s YA series Graceling Realm. In WINTERKEEP (out now, Bloomsbury), Bitterblue, Queen of Monsea, sets off to the titular realm, where people travel in airships and have telepathic foxes as pets… but ends up kidnapped. Yikes! We enjoyed 2017’s Scarred For Life, an affectionate and chatty look at child-traumatising ’70s pop culture. SCARRED FOR LIFE VOLUME TWO (out now, bit. ly/scarredtwo) focuses on ’80s TV. Its 70+ essays cover topics such as The Tripods, The Day Of The Triffids, the AIDS iceberg “ad” and Noseybonk (shudder).