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
This week I have three very different books, something for everyone:
Mexican Gothic meets The Lie Tree by way of Oscar Wilde and Mary Shelley in this delightfully witty horror debut.
A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences.
It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregor’s business is exotic plants – lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he’s seen, inspires him to attempt a true intelligent life from plant matter.
Driven by the glory he’ll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.
The experiment – or Chloe, as she is named – outstrips even Gregor’s expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor’s experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes. The mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?
Told with wit and warmth, this is an extraordinary tale of family, fungus and more than a dash of bloody revenge from an exciting new voice in queer horror.
A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock. Releases in March 2024 from Titan Books. This sounds pretty amazing, and the cover is evocative. I’m always drawn to Gothic horror stories involving fungus, and I love the mix of elements. Can’t wait!
A riveting technological thriller following a woman whose life is upended when her husband and son disappear in a mysterious plane crash and she is left alone with an unnerving home robot, only to get caught up in an AI-related conspiracy.
In near-future Japan, Susie Sakamoto is mourning the loss of her husband and son to a plane crash. Alone in her big modern house, which feels like more of a prison, Susie spends her days drinking heavily and taking her anger out at the only “sentient” thing left in her life: Sunny, the annoying home robot her husband designed. Susie despises Sunny, and sometimes even gets a sinking feeling that Sunny is out to hurt her.
To escape her paranoia and depression, Susie frequents the seedy, drug-fueled bars of the city, where she hears rumors of The Dark Manual, a set of guidelines that allow you to reprogram your robot for nefarious purposes. In the hopes of finding a way to turn off Sunny for good, Susie begins to search for the manual, only to learn it’s too late: the machines are becoming more sentient and dangerous. Thrust into the center of a dark, corporate war, Susie realizes there’s someone behind the code, pulling the strings. And they want her dead.
With a darkly humorous yet propulsive voice, O’Sullivan presents us with an unsettling look at a future that feels all too real. Gripping and thought-provoking, Sunny is a haunting character study of an anxious woman teetering in an anxious time.
Sunny by Colin O’Sullivan. Releases in December 2023 from Mariner. I can’t remember where I saw this book, maybe on Instagram? In any case, it’s not a publisher I usually feature or even read, but the concept is fascinating. It’s also slated to be a show on Apple TV. I’ll be keeping my eye on it for sure.
It’s 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with…normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That’s how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny―Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore’s soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone.
But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it’s clear that the Strigoi―the original vampire―are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.
As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi’s return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren’t the only things you want to keep buried.
A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and blood-soaked Southern charm, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish.
Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan. Releases in April 2024 from Minotaur Books. Wow this sounds like fun! There’s something about a Southern vampire tale set in the 1990s that grabs my attention. This is going to be a must read for sure.
Three very cool features! I think I will always love the gothic floral covers like A Botanical Daughter.
Rebecca @ Powder & Page recently posted…Can’t Wait Wednesday: The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert
There are so many gorgeous floral covers out there, and I never get tired of them.
Bless Your Heart and A Botanical Daughter sound awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I hope we both get to read them:-)
How do you find these books. All of them sound interesting. Especially Bless Your Heart.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Sammy And Scarlett’s Coral Reef Adventures by Robert Andrew Provan ~ Review And Giveaway
I spend a lot of time stalking authors and publishers on Instagram:-)
A Botanical Daughter sounds fabulous. Thank you for sharing – once again, you get the coolest books!
Thanks Sarah! I’m excited for A Botanical Daughter too:-)
I’ve got to read Bless Your Heart. It sounds like a blast!
It does!
These all sound good, but A Botanical Daughter is the one that really caught my attention. Victorian experimentation gone wrong — what’s not to love?
I agree, it’s such a great set up!
“A captivating tale of two Victorian gentlemen hiding their relationship away in a botanical garden who embark on a Frankenstein-style experiment with unexpected consequences.” SCREAMING YES! 😀
I thought you might like that one:-)
Bless Your Heart does indeed sound like a fun story – and of course I’m unable to resist a book featuring vampires! 😉
Me too, and vampires and humor is a great combo:-)
Sounds like I would enjoy Sunny thanks!
Emma @ Words And Peace recently posted…Book review: Second Best
Also the Japanese setting might be perfect for you:-)
A Botanical Daughter is the prettiest but Bless Your Heart seems more my jam!
Bless Your Heart sounds like fun, right?
A Botanical Daughter sounds so good. Everything about it draws me in! Sunny also sounds like a particularly intriguing premise. That’s exciting about it already being slated for a show!
Sunny is intriguing, right? And I want to watch the TV show:-)
That first one is too far away. 🙂 And “turn off sunny for good” ha I need that one.
Greg recently posted…The Sands Of Tie Ch 47
Ha ha I know what you mean:-)
Okay that is weird because I saw Sunny somewhere too but cannot remember! Either way it looks pretty interesting and I want it. I had not heard of Botanical Daughter but wow I NEED it! Bless Your Heart definitely sounds fun, too! Great choices, thanks for sharing them!
Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight recently posted…Reviews in a Minute: Six Septembers
LOL we must have seen Sunny in the same (forgettable) place.
I have Bless Your Heart on my list too, when I saw the cover I knew I had to read it!
I love the cover too!
Bless Your Heart is definitely the one I would like to read most, but that first cover is so striking I can hardly stop looking at it.
It’s one of those covers you have to keep staring at, right?
Wow – that cover for A Botanical Daughter.. lovely.
Lynn 😀
It’s stunning, right?
Love the covers. Hope you enjoy all of them.
Rolé @ Hooked By That Book recently posted…Looking Back On August 2023
Thanks Role!
Oh my gosh, A Botannical Daughter sounds AMAZING. I definitely need to read that one! Plus, the cover is breathtaking.
I agree, the story and the cover are pretty amazing:-)