New Books Network Podcast

Fantasy February 24, 2023

Half a Soul

Olivia Atwater

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Today I talked to Olivia Atwater about her new book Half a Soul (Orbit, 2022). When a nasty fairy Lord tries to take young Dora’s soul, her doting cousin, Vanessa, fights him …

Fantasy January 10, 2023

The Daughters of Izdihar

Hadeer Elsbai

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

The Daughters of Izdihar (Harper Voyager, 2023), like last year’s A Master of Djinn, is set in a world similar to Egypt, during the time of the suffragette movement. American-Egyptian …

Fantasy November 7, 2022

The Revivalists

Christopher M. Hood

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

A road trip novel, The Revivalists (Harper, 2022) is intimate, funny, and at times, shocking. It has only the dystopian setting in common with Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. While Cormac’s characters are …

Fantasy October 14, 2022

Monsters Born and Made

Tanvi Berwah

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Today I talked to Tanvi Berwah about Monsters Born and Made (Sourcebooks Fire, 2022). In our narrator Koral’s world—an oceanic world full of sea monsters, brutal heat, and only a few islands—choices …

Fantasy September 14, 2022

Comeuppance Served Cold

Marion Deeds

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

A clever magical mystery which needs your full attention, Comeuppance Served Cold (Tordotcom, 2022) challenges this podcaster to write a review without a spoiler. The novella begins with what appears …

Literature August 18, 2022

Babel

Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution

R. F. Kuang

Hosted by Jennifer Lee

In R. F. Kuang’s Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution (Harper Voyager in 2022), we meet Robin Swift. Orphaned by Cholera in Canton …

Fantasy August 8, 2022

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

Foz Meadows

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (Tor, 2022) is marketed as a historical fantasy novel, but its subtle and humane sweetness set it aside from most examples of the genre. Though it offers …

Fantasy June 27, 2022

The Justice of Kings

Richard Swan

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

The Justice of Kings (Orbit, 2022) opens with our young narrator, Helena, traveling from town to town as clerk to the King’s Justice, a learned and idealistic man called Vonvalt …

Fantasy May 26, 2022

The Beholden

Cassandra Rose Clarke

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Today I talked to Cassandra Rose Clarke about her book The Beholden (Erewhon Books, 2022). Two impoverished sisters, one with magical gifts and one with ladylike manners and pretty dresses, brave the …

Fantasy May 2, 2022

A Lullaby for Witches

Hester Fox

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Augusta is a meek museum curator trapped in a dead-end job and relationship, when an employment offer to become the collections manager at Harlowe House changes her life. With new …

Recall This Book April 7, 2022

Fantasy Then, Now, and Forever with Anna Vaninskaya

A Conversation with Anna Vaninskaya

Anna Vaninskaya

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

Elizabeth and John talk about fantasy's power of world-making with Edinburgh professor Anna Vaninskaya, author of William Morris and the Idea of Community: Romance, History and Propaganda, 1880-1914 (2010) and …

Fantasy April 4, 2022

Bone Orchard

Sara A. Mueller

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Get ready for a cruel dark world of abnegation and revenge, featuring a woman who struggles to achieve psychic integration after a succession of betrayals. Like a Westworld written by …

Fantasy March 24, 2022

Scorpica

The Five Queendoms, Book 1

G. R. Macallister

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Today I talked to G. R. Macallister about her book Scorpica (Gallery / Saga Press, 2022). A centuries-long peace is shattered in a matriarchal society when a decade passes without a single …

Fantasy March 15, 2022

The Cartographers

Peng Shepherd

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Nell Young, a dedicated cartographer, once had it all—a dream job in the New York Public Library, a stylish boyfriend, Felix, who understood her obsession with maps, and a good …

Fantasy February 2, 2022

Trailer Park Trickster

David R. Slayton

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Did you ever hear the one about the elf, druid, and warlock that walk into—no, not a bar—but a trailer? Trailer Park Trickster (Blackstone, 2021), David Slayton’s follow up to …

Fantasy January 11, 2022

Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Sue Lynn Tan

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Today I talked to Sue Lynn Tan about her new book Daughter of the Moon Goddess (Harper Voyager, 2022). The immortal Xinyin lives a quiet life on the moon with her mother …

Fantasy December 1, 2021

Wicked As You Wish

Rin Chupeco

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Rin Chupeco's Wicked As You Wish (Sourcebooks Fire, 2020) begins with our Filipina narrator, Tala, and her best friend, Alexei, who both attend high school in the small Arizona town …

Fantasy November 1, 2021

The Seventh Queen

A Novel

Greta Kelly

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

The Seventh Queen (HarperCollins, 2021) is the second book in the Warrior Witch Duology, so the following review and questions for author Greta Kelly assume you’ve read the first one. If …

Fantasy October 11, 2021

Capture the Crown

Jennifer Estep

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

Today I talked to Jennifer Estep about her new book Capture the Crown (HarperCollins, 2021). Princess Gemma Ripley is famous for her glittering outfits, in which she flounces through countless parties and balls …

Fantasy August 10, 2021

Appleseed

Matt Bell

Hosted by Gabrielle Martin

We have a collective memory of a primeval world embodied in myth. It is a world where spirits lived in the trees, water, and mountains, and nature was sacred. Was …