Books Received, June 14 to June 20

[james_davis_nicoll]

Five works new to me: 2 fantasy, 1 non-fiction, 2 science fiction, of which 1 belongs to a series, and the other 4 are stand-alone.

Books Received, June 14 to June 20

Poll #33275 Books Received, June 14 to June 20

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 49

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Which of these look interesting?

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99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them by A. M. Alker, M. D. & Ashely Alker (January 2026)
26 (53.1%)

The Folded Sky by Elizabeth Bear (June 2025)
26 (53.1%)

From These Dark Abodes by Lyndsie Manusos (May 2024)
9 (18.4%)

The Prestige by Christopher Priest (July 2025)
10 (20.4%)

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai (April 2026)
14 (28.6%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
32 (65.3%)

Comments

[petrea_mitchell]

What audience is the marketing person writing a book description writing for when they use the phrase "Quirky yet commercial"?

[(Anonymous)]

I was very irritated by the movie of *The Prestige*, and I expect I'd find the same flaw in the novel. If you choose to write a novel about stage magicians, it should be about stage magic. All the tricks should have a physically possible explanation. Instead, *The Prestige* establishes the characters and setting as one about a rivalry between stage magicians, but then chooses to give one of the rivals laws-of-the-universe breaking magical powers just to fuck with the reader.

It's like if you sat down to read a Miss Marple mystery novel and the twist ending was that the victim had been killed by the Evil Eye.

--
Nathan H.

[(Anonymous)]

One wonders how many of the 99 ways to die our beloved James has successfully avoided?

[thomasyan]

why 99? why not go for 100 at that point?

but even more why: the cover shows Ashely Alker, but how come both A. M. Alker, M. D. and Ashely Alker are listed as authors? Are they different people?