Welcome to Future Fiction, my reimagining of the Waiting on Wednesday meme! There are so many amazing new books coming out, that I can no longer pick just one. My goal with Future Fiction is to share at least three new books each week, a combination of recent cover reveals and books that I’ve recently added to my TBR pile. I’m still going to be linking up with Wishful Endings/Can’t Wait Wednesday, and I also want to give a shout out to Jill at Breaking the Spine for starting the original Waiting on Wednesday meme. I hope you’ll find some new books to add to your TBR piles, and as always, I look forward to hearing what YOU’RE looking forward to:-D
Two new science fiction books and a historical mystery!
From award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that divides them.
Everybody’s getting one.Val and Julie just want what’s best for their kids, David and Sophie. So when teenage son David comes home one day asking for a Pilot, a new brain implant to help with school, they reluctantly agree. This is the future, after all.
Soon, Julie feels mounting pressure at work to get a Pilot to keep pace with her colleagues, leaving Val and Sophie part of the shrinking minority of people without the device.
Before long, the implications are clear, for the family and society: get a Pilot or get left behind. With government subsidies and no downside, why would anyone refuse? And how do you stop a technology once it’s everywhere? Those are the questions Sophie and her anti-Pilot movement rise up to answer, even if it puts them up against the Pilot’s powerful manufacturer and pits Sophie against the people she loves most.
We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker. Releases in May 2021 from Berkley Books. I stumbled upon this book by accident, and I’m so glad I did! I’m a big Sarah Pinsker fan and simply loved her last book, A Song For a New Day. Pinsker seems to have a talent for writing books that take place in the near future but focus on characters and relationships. I am so excited for this!
Hugo Award-winner Becky Chambers’s delightful new series gives us hope for the future.
It’s been centuries since the robots of Earth gained self-awareness and laid down their tools.
Centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again.
Centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.
But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.
They’re going to need to ask it a lot.Becky Chambers’ new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?
A Psalm for the Wild Built (Monk & Robot #1) by Becky Chambers. Releases in July 2021 from Tor.com. A new Becky Chambers series! Well, these are novellas, but still. I know July is super far away, but who’s excited? And what about that cover?
In this addictive and spectacularly imagined debut, a female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course
Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.
With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating exploration of women rebelling against a man’s world, the destructive force of revenge and the remarkable ways that women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Releases in March 2021 from Park Row (HarperCollins). I absolutely love this cover, and even though historical mystery isn’t my usual go-to genre, this sounds amazing! I just had to request it on NetGalley (fingers crossed!)
The Lost Apothecary sounds excellent. It’s on my the now. Thanks for introducing me!
Anytime! I’m excited to read it too:-)
Two new Becky Chambers in 2021! Swoon. The apothecary book sounds awesome too. Thanks for the good book news. Arrr!
x The Captain
I’m always happy to share book news:-)
All these sound wonderful! The Sarah Pinsker one especially as I’ve been wanting to read her for quite some time. Great picks this week!
She’s awesome, I hope you get to check her out:-)
These look great, keen on the Pinsker and it’s always exciting to see a new Chambers.
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…Can’t Wait Wednesday : The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor
Yes, I’m VERY keen on the Pinsker!
We Are Satellites sounds terrifying with that pressure to give up your freedom, but The Lost Apothecary sounds fantastic!
I think Sarah Pinsker will put a positive spin on her subject matter, since that’s what she did with her last book, which was about sheltering at home after a bomb scare:-)
I really like this batch, each and every one of them. Adding them all to my TBR. We Are Satellites is about a question that keeps becoming more and more relevant, and I often ponder my answers to it in different contexts. A Psalm For the Wild Built, for whatever reason, brings to mind Made Things by Tchaikovsky, being about things that we don’t typically consider living beings. And I love the idea of the historical mystery in The Lost Apothecary. I don’t read much of that but have recently been considering picking up one of my Umberto Eco books.
I have to admit I’m in love with this batch of books:-) And I like your comparison to Made Things. That actually makes me want to read it even more!
Love the covers of the last two! Great picks, thanks for sharing! My post is in the link below!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…Lisa’s Looking Forward To #80 – September 29th, 2020
I love these covers as well:-)
Oh wow, they all sound amazing! I would definitely read The Apothecary and Satellites!
It’s a good batch, I have to admit:-)
We Are Satellites sounds like a great one. I love the title of it! A Psalm for the Wild Built sounds pretty intriguing too. I love that it’s novellas. And of course The Lost Apothecary is SO my thing!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Can’t-Wait Wednesday: The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill
I’m very excited about The Lost Apothecary too, and I could stare at that cover all day:-)
I’m so delighted by the sound of the new Becky Chambers. She never fails to touch my heart and this is perfect
This does sound touching, it’s very exciting to see the start of a new series:-)
I cannot wait to read The Lost Apothecary. It sounds so awesome. I’m really curious too about We Are Satellites. Sounds like a thought provoking story. I hope you enjoy all of these when you read them, Tammy. I hope you have a great week!
Thanks, you too!
They all look great! I especially like that Martha Wells blurbed Becky Chambers’ novella 🙂
Oh I didn’t see that, that’s pretty cool:-)
We Are Satellites sounds fantastic. I have yet to read A Song For a New Day yet but I sure need to!
I’m sooo excited! I just love Sarah Pinsker and her new book is bound to be amazing:-)
Ooh! All of these covers look awesome! Great picks!
Ronyell (a.k.a Rabbitearsblog) recently posted…Waiting on Wednesday #185: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Skyhunter by Marie Lu
Thanks Ronyell!
That new Becky Chambers series sounds wonderful!
I think it does too, I’m very excited:-)
I have the first two on my watchlist too! Probably feature them for Sci-Fi month 😀
I have no idea what I’ll use for Sci Fi Month, I’m using up all the good ones this month, lol.
Pinsker’s book is not my usual type of read, but that premise is very interesting. Especially since tech is saving right now
I’ve read a lot of books dealing with this type of tech, but I’m willing to read one more simply because I love her books:-)
I haven’t read a single Becky Chambers’ books yet (I know, shame on me!) but I have all of them on my TBR and now I have to add this new series too, because it seems just great!
And The Lost Apothecary seems another interesting book. I am not a fan of the double time line, but it seems interesting enough all the same! I would keep an eye on it!
I haven’t read Becky Chambers either, Susy!!
I was feeling all alone, but now I am glad not to be!!
The first two on your list are insta-buy authors for me. I slammed that pre-order button from our local bookstore as soon as Sarah had posted it on twitter for her new book hahaha. That was before the gorgeous cover was revealed!
The third book on your list sounds pretty amazing as well. We’re so lucky to have these to look forward to. 🙂
I’m really curious about A Psalm for the Wild Built, I love Becky Chambers!
Caitlin G. recently posted…Review: HARROW THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir
That last cover is gorgeous!
These all have such beautiful covers, I certainly like the look of Becky Chambers book!
You get hold of the coolest books, Tammy! While I dribbled over the Becky Chambers novella, the one I LOVE the look of is We Are Satellites. The premise is wonderful…
I didn’t know about this Becky Chambers news! Sounds like her version of Murderbot? I’m okay with that!!
I’m in love with that The Last Apothecary cover And the story sounds amazing. Gonna request this one myself!
*adds The Lost Apothecary to her TBR* Thanks for getting this one on my radar, Tammy!
Kal @ Reader Voracious recently posted…14 Book Releases Hitting the Shelves in October 2020