In 1950s Mexico, a headstrong socialite embarks on an adventure to save her cousin from a questionable marriage, a potentially haunted gothic mansion, and some twisted family secrets. (And also a lot of mushrooms.) Title: Mexican GothicAuthor: Silvia Moreno-GarciaGenre:…
Naomi Novik is back with a brand new series, and dear readers, I am hooked. Title: A Deadly EducationAuthor: Naomi NovikGenre: FantasyPublisher: Del ReyPublication Date: September 29, 2020Hardcover: 336 pages Lesson One of the Scholomance: Learning has never been this…
In 2010, Kate Elliott’s first spiritwalker book, Cold Magic–an alternate, post-fall-of-Rome historical-European, proto-steampunk fantasy with fairies and magic–was published. Suffice it to say, dear readers, that we loved it (and also loved subsequent books Cold Fire and Cold Steel…
Non-Binary Authors To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting non-binary authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place for their work. Welcome to the December 2020 edition of Non-Binary Authors to Read. It’s been quite the…
Women To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting female authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place for their work. Welcome to another edition of Women to Read! If you’re new to the series, with…
A New Book by Zen Cho? Hell yes! Announcing: Black Water Sister – due out May 2021
Hello everybody and we have Most Excellent news to share! Zen Cho – author of SORCERER TO THE CROWN, THE TRUE QUEEN and more recently, THE ORDER OF THE PURE MOON REFLECTED IN WATER – has a new book…
Veronica Roth is back with an adult(ish) SFF offering, taking the Chosen One trope to the next level. Title: Chosen Ones Author: Veronica Roth Genre: Speculative Fiction/Science Fiction Publisher: John Joseph Adams / Houghton Mifflin HarcourtPublication Date: April 2020Hardcover: 432…
You thought you were prepared for this book. You were, and I can’t stress this enough, not. You loved Gideon the Ninth. In fact, you may have uttered words like “best book of 2019”, “genius” and “most fun I…
Hello everybody! We have Sarah Kuhn back to the blog today to talk about the fourth HEROINE novel, the inspirations and influences behind it and what it means to go back to the start and write again from the…
We are speechless. After multiple nominations and losses, starting back in 2014–we were like, the Leo Dicaprios of the Hugo Awards–THE BOOK SMUGGLERS WON A HUGO AWARD FOR BEST FANZINE LAST NIGHT! WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT! WHAT A DELIGHT! (Yes,…
Hello, friends! We are pleased to announce that The Book Smugglers are finalists for the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Fanzine! Every year, the Hugo Awards are administered and voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Convention…
Katherine Addison, the author of award-winning The Goblin Emperor, has a new fantasy novel out, a dark Fantasy that is mash-up of Jack the Ripper and the detectives of Baker Street. We have a guest post from the author today,…
The Best of British Fantasy 2019 contains two dozen tales of the weird and wonderful: featuring pensive houses, angry gods, ghosts, monsters, living statues, were-creatures, sorcerers, swordsmen, spells, skeletons, and, of course, the end of the world. Stories by Lavie…
Non-Binary Authors To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting non-binary authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place for their work. Welcome to another edition of Non-Binary Authors to Read! While we’re all stuck inside, we…
Social Distancing Reads #5: The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
Hello everybody – hope you are all keeping safe. I am lucky enough to be exclusively working from home and as I do so, I am trying to create a mental health routine of comfort reading, writing, going for…
Hello everybody – hope you are all keeping safe. I am lucky enough to be exclusively working from home and as I do so, I am trying to create a mental health routine of comfort reading, writing, going for…
The world is a little scary right now. (As a New Yorker who lives in Queens, I feel this fear acutely at this particular point in time.) If you are a reader of apocalyptic and dystopian fiction, or a…
“On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a feature for books that have caught our eye: books we have heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. Thus, the Smugglers’ Radar was…
I’ve been doing a lot of reading (and not a whole lot of writing) over the past few months. This has been a bad thing–not writing reviews all the time makes me feel sad but also means I often…
Hello everybody – hope you are all keeping safe. I am lucky enough to be exclusively working from home and as I do so, I am trying to create a mental health routine of comfort reading, writing, going for…
Today, we are delighted to host the cover reveal for Claire Eliza Bartlett’s The Winter Duke, along with an introduction by the author. Titan Book is bringing it to the UK, publishing the book – a tale of intrigue…
SOCIAL DISTANCING READS #2: Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis
Hello everybody – hope you are all keeping safe. I am lucky enough to be exclusively working from home and as I do so, I am trying to create a mental health routine of comfort reading, writing, going for…
Social Distancing Reads #1: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Hello everybody – hope you are all keeping safe. I am lucky enough to be exclusively working from home and as I do so, I am trying to create a mental health routine of comfort reading, writing, going for…
Today we are delighted to be hosting the exclusive reveal of Elizabeth Bear’s upcoming new novel Machine. Out from Saga Press in October this year, Machine is for space opera fans of Becky Chambers and Alex White and is…
Happy Monday! We are here today unveiling the cover for Claire O’Dell’s upcoming fantasy book THE EMPIRE’S EDGE, which releases in August, 2020. Without further ado, here is the Smugglerific cover: ABOUT THE BOOK: From Lambda Literary Award-winning author Claire O’Dell comes The Empire’s Edge, her…