Helloooo - sorry for recent radio silence on this I’ve been a bit busy with the life thing but lets go into a quick catch up of books on my radar to keep an eye out for

Orfela by Joanne M Harris (Illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins) out now from Gollancz £14.99 Hardback £8.99 Kindle

When you can find me an acre of land,

Every sage grows merry in time,
Between the ocean and the sand
Then will you be united again.
(Inspired by The Child Ballads 2 & 19)

So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself.

But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something precious, be it a song, a memory, or her freedom itself . . .

Beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins, this is a stunning and original modern fairytale.

Harris has created some truly beautiful tales based around the mysterious Child Ballads. I am always here fore her work and very much hope to review this soon

She Lies Close by Sharon Doering - out now from Titan - £8.99 paperback £6.99 Kindle ebook

Five-year-old Ava Boone has been missing for six months. There are have been no leads, no arrests, no witnesses. The only suspect was quiet, middle-aged Leland Ernest.

And Grace Wright has just bought the house next door. Recently divorced, Grace uprooted her two small children to start again and hopes the move will reset her crippling insomnia. But now she understands bargain-price for her beautiful new house. 

With whispered neighbourhood gossip and increasingly sleepless nights, Grace develops a fierce obsession with Leland and the safety of her children. Could she really be living next door to a child-kidnapper? A murderer? 

With reality and dream blurring more each day, Grace desperately pursues the truth - following Ava's family, demanding answers from the police - and then a body is discovered...

I do indeed love Titan’s thriller and this should be a great autumn read

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart - out now from Orbit - £12.99 Hardback £8.99 Kindle

The Sukai Dynasty has ruled the Phoenix Empire for over a century, their mastery of bone shard magic powering the monstrous constructs that maintain law and order. But now the emperor's rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire's many islands.

Lin is the Emperor's daughter, but a mysterious illness has stolen her childhood memories and her status as heir to the empire. Trapped in a palace of locked doors and old secrets, Lin vows to reclaim her birthright by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

But the mysteries behind such power are dark and deep, and wielding her family's magic carries a great cost. When the revolution reaches the gates of the palace itself, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her throne - and save her people.

Expect a review of this later this week. The early buzz on this novel has been high and reading the first few chapters I have a great feeling about this one…

To Sleep In A Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini - out 15/9 from Tor - £20 Hardback £9.99 Kindle

Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds

Now she’s awakened a nightmare 

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she’s delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.

As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn’t at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.

While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity’s greatest and final hope . . . 

It may be a while before I get to this (nearly 900 pages in hardback) but a reviewer I trust said this was damn good SF. I’ve never read Paolini before so lets see!

The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison - out 17/9 from Solaris - £12.99 Hardback £5.03 Kindle

From the moment Dr J. Doyle takes lodgings in Baker Street with the angel Crow, he becomes intimately acquainted with the supernatural and criminal worlds of London. 

But living with a rogue angel is not so easy; the pair find themselves drawn into mystery after mystery, from a man kidnapped by a vampire nest to Jack the Ripper's horrific murders. 

And besides Doyle's nightmares and shapeshifting, there is the lingering problem of Crow's sense of belonging and the worry that he might Fall... 

Yes the author of The Goblin Emperor one of my all time favourite books has a new book out this week. Holmesian take mixed with fantasy - how could I not look at that one

The Human Son by Adrian J Walker - out 17/9 from Solaris £8.99 paperback £4.31 kindle ebook

500 years in the future, Earth is a paradise...without us. 

The Earth was dying, and only the Erta could save it. Created to be genetically superior, hyper-intelligent and unburdened by the full range of human emotions, they succeeded by removing the cause: humans. 

Now the Erta are faced with a dilemma if they reintroduce the rebellious and violent Homo sapiens, all of their work could be undone. 
They decide to raise one child: a sole human to decide if we should again inherit the Earth. 

But the quiet and clinical Ima finds that there is more to raising a human than she had expected; and there is more to humanity's history than she has been told

A tale of some optmisim in 2020 - I need that…I so need that

Sweet Harmony by Claire North - out 22/9 from Orbit - £1.99 Kindle

Insert Harmony is tired. Tired of working so hard, tired of the way she looks, tired of being average. But all that changes when she decides to splash out and upgrade her nanos. 

And why not? Everyone's doing it now. With a simple in-app purchase, you can update the tech in your bloodstream to transform yourself - get enhanced brain power, the perfect body or a dazzling smile. 

Suddenly, everything starts going right for Harmony. She's finally becoming the person she always wanted to be. But when she ends up running too many upgrades on her body all at once, the effects will be more catastrophic than she could have imagined.

Spoilers - read this novella by one of my favourite authors over the weekend. Its a sharp, smart and twisted black mirror style tale of a land where perfection of the body can be bought if you are wiling to pay some high prices.

The Ikessar Falcon by K S Villoso our 24/9 from orbit - £9.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle

Abandoned by her people, Queen Talyien's quest takes a turn for the worse as she stumbles upon a plot deeper and more sinister than she could have ever imagined, one that will displace her king and see her son dead. The road home beckons, strewn with a tangled web of deceit and unimaginable horrors - creatures from the dark, mad dragons and men with hearts hungry for power. 

To save her land, Talyien must confront the myth others have built around her: Warlord Yeshin's daughter, symbol of peace, warrior and queen and everything she could never be. 

The price for failure is steep. Her friends are few. And a nation carved by a murderer can only be destined for war.

I LOVED The Wold of Oren-Yaro and very very keen to find out what happened next!!

Dead Man in A Ditch by Luke Arnold - out 24/9 from Orbit £8:99 paperback £4.31 Kindle

Fetch Philips has nothing left to believe in. Which is why he's surprised when the people of Sunder City start to believe in him...

Rumour has it that Fetch is only one who can bring magic back into the world. So when a man is murdered in a way that can only be explained as magical, Fetch is brought in on the case. A case which just might unearth things best left buried...

Loved the first instalment in the tale of Fetch Phillips so very intersted to see how this fascinatign idea of a fanatsy world with no more magic pans out.

Greensmith by Aliya Whiteley - out 12/10 from Unsung Stories - £9.99 paperback

Penelope Greensmith is a bio-librarian, responsible for a vast seed bank made possible by the mysterious Vice she inherited from her father. She lives a small, dedicated life until the day the mysterious and charming Horticulturalist arrives in her garden, asking to see her collection. He thinks it could hold the key to stopping a terrible plague sweeping the universe. Soon Penelope is whisked away on an intergalactic adventure by the Horticulturalist, seeing the vast and bizarre mysteries amongst the stars. But as this gentle woman searches for a way to save the universe, her daughter Lily is still on Earth, trying to track her down, trying to survive the terrible events unfolding there... 

An auhor I do enjoy reading a lot. Very much an instant must read and so looking forward to sharing with you soon!

Fearsome Creatures by Aliya Whiteley - out 8/10 from Black Shuck Books £4.99 paperback

A series of micro-collections featuring a selection of peculiar tales from the best in horror and speculative fiction.

From Black Shuck Books and Aliya Whiteley comes Fearsome Creatures, the twenty-second in the Black Shuck SHADOWS series.

Oops look at that also a short horror fictyion collection by that author I enjoy reading

The Ministry For The Future by Kim Stanley Robinson - Out 8/10 from Orbit - £20 hardback £9.99 Kindle ebook

Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organisation was simple: To advocate for the world's future generations and to protect all living creatures, present and future. It soon became known as the Ministry for the Future, and this is its story.

From legendary science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson comes a vision of climate change unlike any ever imagined.

Told entirely through fictional eye-witness accounts, The Ministry For The Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, the story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades to come.

Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us - and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.

It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.

I admit I have over many years a very on and off relationship for Robinson but I was hearing good things about this one months ago so very very hopeful this will be one i can click with.

The Big Book of Classic Fantasy edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer - out now £19.37 paperback

Unearth the enchanting origins of fantasy fiction with a collection of tales as vast as the tallest tower and as mysterious as the dark depths of the forest. 

Fantasy stories have always been with us. They illuminate the odd and the uncanny, the wondrous and the fantastic: all the things we know are lurking just out of sight--on the other side of the looking-glass, beyond the music of the impossibly haunting violin, through the twisted trees of the ancient woods. Other worlds, talking animals, fairies, goblins, demons, tricksters, and mystics: these are the elements that populate a rich literary tradition that spans the globe. A work composed both of careful scholarship and fantastic fun, The Big Book of Classic Fantasy is essential reading for anyone who's never forgotten the stories that first inspired feelings of astonishment and wonder.

Yes an impulse buy but I’m thinking perhaps a 2021 project to look at these various collections

Oh and as we do long distance tempting…

Skyward Inn by Aliya Whiteley our from Solaris March 2021

This is a place where we can be alone, together. 

Skyward Inn, within the high walls of the Western Protectorate, is a place of safety, where people come together to tell stories of the time before the war with Qita.But safety from what? 

Qita surrendered without complaint when Earth invaded; Innkeepers Jem and Isley, veterans from either side, have regrets but few scars.Their peace is disturbed when a visitor known to Isley comes to the Inn asking for help, bringing reminders of an unnerving past and triggering an uncertain future. 

Did humanity really win the war? 

A thoughtful, literary novel about conflict, identity and community; a fresh new perspective in speculative fiction from critically-acclaimed writer Aliya Whiteley.Jamaica Inn by way of Jeff Vandermeer, Ursula Le Guin, Angela Carter and Michel Faber, Skyward Inn is a beautiful story of belonging, identity and regret.

So 2021 is nearly here (relatively speaking) so how the hell can I resist talking about a book being compared to Le Guin, Carter and Vandermeer??

Anything on your radar to tempt me - leave a message in the comments