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I’m going to let you in on a secret—I have a lot of books.
Jk, everyone knows that, even your dog, who can probably hear the floor joists in my house screaming for help. My house is full to the rafters with books. Having lots of books is not for everyone, but I love it. It’s my aesthetic, my dream come true. I am the daughter of a librarian and bookseller; I always wanted my own library growing up, and now I have one. I even have a retired library card catalog, and last week I was gifted an old library cart!
So, you get it: I have a lot of books. Sometimes, I forget what I have, and that sounds bad, which it is because I am getting older, but it’s also exciting! Because then I can peruse my shelves and it’s like, “Ooooo, what’s this?”
Such is the case with the books below. The other day, I was thinking that I should read a bit more sci-fi and fantasy backlist, so I went upstairs and pulled these titles from the stacks to read next. Two of them I know I bought for the title, one I definitely bought for the cover, and the other two must have followed me home somehow. Have you read any of these? Which would you read first?
All Access members, keep reading to learn about the five backlist SFF books on my TBR.
Borderline (The Arcadia Project Book 1) by Mishell Baker
I picked this book up because I know my fellow Book Rioters really love it. It’s the first in a trilogy about a disabled film director with borderline personality disorder who is recruited by a secret organization. Her job is to oversee relations between Hollywood and Fairyland, a job that requires keeping track of the crossover of visitors from one realm to the next. Her first assignment involves finding a missing actor, who also happens to be Seelie royalty.
The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Minister Faust
I bought this one for the title, but also because it was recommended to me by a customer at the bookstore where I used to work. It sounds absolutely bananapants. It’s about two roommates who get mixed up with a mysterious woman (who may not be human), a health food kingpin who used to be an enforcer, dealers of psychedelic drugs, and old high school enemies. And if that isn’t wild enough, cannibalism is somehow involved?
Think Like a Dinosaur: And Other Stories by James Patrick Kelly
I know I bought this one for the cover. Spacesuit dinosaur! (But how can it reach up to take off its helmet???) James Patrick Kelly is a legend in the sci-fi community, and I picked it up at a sci-fi convention many years ago. This was the first book to collect his works from over twenty years of writing, from hard science fiction to horror.
The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai
This one also sounds bananapants, and it’s a Lambda Literary Award winner! It’s about a group of women who can regenerate their limbs like starfish. But when a doctor’s lover dies of a mysterious flu that is spreading through their ranks, she will have to visit the origin of the pandemic to get answers. (I have a nagging suspicion that I have already read this one, but I can’t find it marked down in any of the usual spots where I keep track of such things.)
The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo and translated by Lola Rogers
I picked up this satire many years ago because it’s by an award-winning author and it’s supposed to be really weird and really distressing, but also it had great reviews. It’s an alternative history novel about the Eusistocratic Republic of Finland, where a sub-species of women has been created for pleasure, while women with high intelligence levels are delegated menial jobs. And somewhere in there, the sale of hot peppers becomes a big business. A hot commodity? (Sorry, not sorry.)
You might also be interested in 5 Great Older SFF Books To Revisit and The Best Science Fiction Books You’ve Never Heard of.
Okay, star bits, now take the knowledge you have learned here today and use it for good, not evil. If you want to know more about books, I talk about books pretty much nonstop (when I’m not reading them), and you can hear me say lots of adjectives about them on the BR podcast All the Books! and on Instagram.