It’s big release season as we get ever closer to the big Christmas haul! As we countdown to the end of the year, the book options in this round up take us all over the world and across time – and beyond! From Greek immigrants in 1940s Western Australia to modern day Argentina, exploring the cutthhroat world of Parisian ballet to the deserts of the American South-West, traversing from fantasy kingdoms to space opera galaxies, and delving into the women behind some of the literary world’s biggest classics, here are the reads the book squad are hoping to find in their stockings – if they can wait that long!
October
The Wild Huntress by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Hachette Australia | Pub Date: 1st October | Order HERE
Matia by Emily Tsokos Purtill
UWA Publishing | Pub Date: 1st October | Order HERE
Emily: I first met Emily Tsokos Purtill at a literary themed dinner party, where her cooking was already the stuff of legend. Then, I heard a sample of her work, and I have been eagerly awaiting the release of Matia ever since.
Following Sia, a young Greek woman who comes to Western Australia in 1945, the novel is about one family, the prophecy that haunts the women in each generation, and the matia, the jewellery, that they hope will protect them. I forsee that this book will be full of beautiful writing, and also that I will need to have some delicious baklava or spanakopita on hand for whenever I read this.
Juice by Tim Winton
Penguin Australia | Pub Date: 1st October | Order HERE
Jess: Tim Winton’s books have never really appealed to me. His writing style coupled with the more contemporary settings have just never really engaged me. But when a friend with an advance copy of this book told me that it was in no uncertain terms, hard speculative fiction, I decided to look it up. Despite the author and Australian publishing absolutely refusing to use the words “speculative fiction” or ‘sci-fi” to describe it, there can be no doubt that it is indeed speculative and therefore I’m willing to dive in and give Tim Winton another chance.
After a human-induced apocolypse, two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert and roll into an abandoned mine site. They’re exhausted, traumatised and desperate, and the mine is filled with twisted iron, rusty wire adn piles of sun-baked trash, but it’s the most promising refuge they’ve seen. The only problem is, they’re not alone. When every minute is a matter of survival, how does one maintain human decency while everyone around falls further in barbarism?
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez
Allen & Unwin | Pub Date: 1st October | Order HERE
Simon: It may seem like everywhere is on the countdown to Christmas, but don’t forget we need to get through spooky season first, and there’s no better book to curl up with this Halloween than A Sunny Place for Shady People – the latest from award-winning Argentinian sensation Mariana Enriquez (translated by Megan McDowell).
A Sunny Place for Shady People is Enriquez’ first short story collection since the International Booker Prize-shortlisted The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. It promises a healthy dose of ghosts, the occult and the macabre; as well as stories that explore love, womanhood, LGBTQ counterculture, parenthood and Argentina’s brutal past.
Revenants by Mel C. Bell
BDA Publishing | Pub Date: 1st October | Order HERE
Jodie: If the phrase “zombie western romance” doesn’t have you chomping at the bit, I’m not sure how else to sell Revenants to you. Perhaps by pointing out that it’s coming to you from BDA Publishing, an independent publishing house that specialises in creepy, quirky, genre-bending brilliance.
When her solitary life is interrupted by a mysterious soldier, Maddie finds herself plunged into the lawless expanse of the wild West. Ravaged by war and stalked by the undead, the frontier will test her mettle beyond anything she could have prepared for in her isolated cabin. When the world’s fate hinges on a woman’s heart, the battle lines between heaven and hell are drawn.
November
The Close Up by Pip Drysdale
HarperCollins | Pub Date: 30th October | Order HERE
Emily: While I’m not typically a reader of thrillers, I have been a fan of Pip Drysdale’s ever since I interviewed her at Perth Festival a few years back when she was promoting her debut novel, The Sunday Girl. This new novel, The Close Up is about a struggling novelist who reunites with an ex-flame who is now a movie star – which means her face is plastered all over the tabloids, right where her stalker can find her. A stalker who is hell-bent on re-enacting things from the writers’ own books…
Pip Drysdale’s work often explores the fine line between passion and danger, and always feature a strong, badass female lead. This one has pool-side read that will have you on the edge of your sun-lounger written all over it.
The Writing Class by Esther Campion
Hachette Australia | Pub Date: 27th November | Order HERE
The Queen Thief by Madeline Te Whiu
New Dawn Publishing | Pub Date: 31st October | Order HERE
Jess: The third and final installment of Te Whiu’s debut series, I am ready for the final confrontation. There’s also something very exciting about the fact that this is the finale to the series that marks the first book published by this publisher.
If you haven’t seen the series before, the first book, The Assasin Thief, opened with exiled assassin Telium being recruited by a Fae warrior to help her defeat the Mad Fae King and prevent an all-out war. As we enter book three, war is now upon them and Telium is desperate to save her people. But she is soon to discover, the only thing guaranteed in war… is death.
Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia
Cinder Press/Dead Ink | Pub Date: 14th November | Order HERE
Simon: Mystery Lights is the debut short story collection from American author Lena Valencia. Primarily set in the deserts of the American South West, the collection tells of the stories of women and girls at the crossroads of mundane daily life and existential dread. In one story, an influencer attempts to derail a viral TV marketing campaign with her violent cult following. In another, the marriage between two ghost hunters comes under threat when one of the couple loses their ability to see spirits. It’s a collection that grapples with the very real terrors and horrors experienced by women, but also is quite at home delving into the fantastical and strange.
I have become a huge fan of this particular publisher, and their varied but consistent output, over the last few months so I really have high hopes for this collection.
Sundown in San Ojuela by M.M. Olivas
Lanternfish Press | Pub Date: November 19th | Order HERE
Jodie: Left clairvoyant by a childhood accident, Liz never wanted to return to San Ojuela, an isolated town with borders stalked by monsters and ancient gods. But when her aunt dies, she and her sister Mary have no choice but to make their way back.
She’s relieved at first to find her childhood friend, Julian, is still there, but he too has changed – haunted, somehow. But when night falls, he might be her only help.
On her website, author M.M. Olivas describes Sundown in San Ojuela as a “gothic spaghetti western”. That alone has me adding it to my cart.
December
I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea
Pan Macmillan Australia | Pub Date: 31st December | Order HERE
Jess: A villain origin story, mixed with dark fantasy, exclusive arts institutions and a tag line that mentions House of Hollow – I am sold!
Laure Mesny is a perfectionist with an axe to grind. Always overlooked in the elite cutthroat world of the Parisian ballet and desperate to prove that Black girl can take centre stage, she ventures deep into the Catacombs adn strikes a deal with a pulsating river of blood. The primordial power gives Laure evyerthing she’s dreamed of and leaves broken bodies behind her on her climb to stardom. But Laure is not he only monster around.
New Adventures in Space Opera edited by Jonathan Strahan
NewSouth Books | Pub Date: 13th December | Order HERE
The Scent of Oranges by Kathy George
HQ Fiction | Pub Date: 4th December | Order HERE
Emily: Kathy George’s beautiful debut novel Sargasso was a sumptuous Australian coastal gothic, but since then she has turned her pen to reimagining the worlds of Charles Dickens. Last year, in Estella, it was Great Expectations, and this December, George explores the life of Nancy Sikes from Oliver Twist in The Scent of Oranges. I’m fascinated by the re-orientation of classic works of literature through the eyes of their (often sole) female characters, and I suspect that the work of Dickens will prove fruitful- pardon the pun- for this author in this regard for years to come. The Scent of Oranges promises to examine the complexities of Nancy’s character and the hard decisions she is forced to make by her circumstances.
With the inclusion of James by Percival Everett on this year’s Booker shortlist, perhaps there is a vast appetite for literary retellings, and I for one am on board, provided that the novels are done tastefully. No shade intended for that bondage themed version of Wuthering Heights I found in the library discards the other day. None at all…
The Stone Witch of Florence by Anna Rasche
HarperCollins | Pub Date: 4th December: Order HERE
Jodie: The year is 1348, and the Black Death is sweeping through Italy. After a decade of exile, Ginevra di Gasparo is summoned to Florence. Having cast her out for witchcraft, the same men who banished her are now begging for her help. Ginevra is a stone witch, able to heal the sick with the power of gemstones, but she is surprised to find it isn’t her healing skills they want. Someone is stealing relics from Florence’s churches, the same relics that promise protection for the city. If Ginevra can use her gemstones to track down the thief, she’ll be free to practice as a physician and will never be accused of witchcraft again.
But as her investigation progresses, Ginevra realises she’s just one part of a much larger scheme, one run by dangerous men who won’t hesitate to get rid of anyone who stands in the way of what they want – stone witch or otherwise.
Plague? Sorcery? A city in ruins? Only one witch who can save them? Yeah, I’m in.
Thanks to Jemimah Brewster, Simon Clark, Emily Paull and Jodie Sloan for their contributions to this article.
You can read our picks for January to March HERE; for April to June HERE; and for July to September HERE.
