Did one of the book covers on our homepage catch your eye? They are all new titles being released in October 2021, and all are well-reviewed and anticipated. You can watch the video or read the description of each below, then click the linked title to request a copy or get your name on the wait list. And don't forget to watch for more featured releases next month!
Nightwatch on the Hinterlands by K. Eason
When Lieutenant Iari hears screams, she expects to interrupt a robbery or break up a fight. Instead she finds a murder with an impossible suspect: a riev, a battle-mecha decommissioned after the last conflict, repurposed for manual labor. Riev don't kill people. And yet one has. Gaer, officially, is an ambassador from the vakari. Unofficially, he's a spy, sending information back to his government, unfiltered by diplomatic channels. Unlike Iari, Gaer isn't so sure the riev's behavior is a malfunction, since the riev were created using unstable alchemy and arithmancy.
As Gaer and Iari search for the truth, they discover that the murderous riev is just a weapon in the hands of a wielder with wider ambitions than homicide.
Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper
Emmy is a witch who hasn't been to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has to do with her complicated family and the tiniest bit to do with Gareth, heir to a powerful magical family, breaker of hearts, and destroyer of dreams.
But when a spellcasting tournament that her family judges for approaches, the pull of tradition (or the guilt trip that comes with it) brings Emmy back. She'll do her familial duty; spend time with her best friend, Linden; then get back to Chicago.
On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia—an adept in the darker arts—who is fresh off a breakup with Gareth. Talia had discovered Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst to either of them. Now she and Linden want revenge. Is Emmy in? And why can't she stop thinking about the charming Talia?
Trashlands by Alison Stine
A few generations from now, the coastlines have been redrawn by floods and tides. Global powers have agreed to not produce new plastics, and what is left has become valuable: garbage is currency.
In the region-wide junkyard of Appalachia, Coral is a “plucker,” pulling plastic from the rivers and woods. She’s stuck in Trashlands, a dump named for a strip club where local women dance and the club's owner is the unofficial mayor. In the polluted landscape, Coral tries to save enough to rescue her child from the recycling factories, where he is forced to work. In her free hours, she makes art.
When a reporter from the coast arrives, Coral is given an opportunity to change her life. But can she choose a future for herself?
Featured Nonfiction for October
Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life by Sutton Foster
Whether she’s an “age-defying” editor on television or dazzling audiences on Broadway, Sutton makes it look easy. How? Crafting. When she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape bullying chorus girls, she became hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, then collages, which led to drawing, and more. Channeling her emotions into creating centered her and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now Sutton shares those moments, including her relationship with her agoraphobic mother; a divorce splashed on tabloid pages; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on stage; her breakout TV role in Younger; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!
The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron and Clint Howard
In The Boys, Ron and his younger brother, Clint, examine their childhoods. For Ron, playing Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days offered fame, joy, and opportunity—and stress and bullying. For Clint, starting on programs like Gentle Ben and Star Trek petered out in adolescence.
With the perspective of time and success, the Howard brothers delve into an upbringing that seemed normal to them. Their parents, Rance and Jean, moved to California to pursue their dreams. But it was their sons who found employment as actors. Rance put aside his ego to become Ron and Clint’s teacher. Jean became their protector from the traps of Hollywood. Confessional, nostalgic, and harrowing, The Boys is a dual narrative that lifts the lid on the Howard brothers’ lives.
In the Weeds: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale
It's been nearly two years since Anthony Bourdain's death. His genuine interest in the cultures he visited made the world feel smaller and more knowable. Despite his affable, sometimes arch TV persona, the real Tony was intensely private, conflicted about his fame, and an enigma-except to the crew following him around the world. And almost no one knew him better than his producer and director Tom Vitale. Over ten years traveling together, Tony became a boss, friend, hero and, sometimes, tormentor. In the Weeds goes behind the scenes and behind the guise, to reveal not just the insanity that went into filming in some of the most volatile places in the world, but the complicated man behind the Anthony Bourdain persona.
