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Can’t Miss Indie Press Speculative Fiction for November and December 2022

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Can’t Miss Indie Press Speculative Fiction for November and December 2022

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Published on November 4, 2022

Two months remain in this eminently strange year of 2022. And, not surprisingly, there are still a number of eye-catching books set for release on independent presses before the new year enters stage left. These books wrestle with national myths and transport their characters to other realms; they feature arch-villains and bears on the wrong side of the law. Here’s a look at a number of indie press books due out between now and the end of the year that might pique your interest, arranged thematically.

 

Nations, Myths, and Histories

Over the course of his impressive career as a writer, Percival Everett has ventured into countless genres, sometimes embracing realism or satire, at others veering into the surreal or the haunting. His previous novel, The Trees, was a procedural that slowly transformed into something apocalyptic; his latest, Dr. No, is a riff on James Bond—or, to be more precise, on James Bond villains. We’re intrigued. (Graywolf Press, November 1, 2022)

The role that the Pony Express played in the history of the United States in the 19th century is fascinating in its own right. What happens when you throw some uncanny elements into the mix? J.M. Lee’s long-awaited novel The Nightland Express answers that question, telling the story of two young riders discovering who they are in a world far more mysterious than they’d anticipated. (Erewhon Press, November 8, 2022)

Set in Yorkshire in 2016, Tariq Goddard’s High John the Conqueror begins with a police investigation, but quickly takes a sharp turn into the bizarre. As two officers investigate a disappearance, they slowly become aware of a conspiracy around them—one that involves an obscure band and a drug that offers its users an experience far beyond transcendence. (Repeater Books, November 8, 2022)

Kay Chronister’s previous book, the collection Thin Places, drew plenty of acclaim on its release, with one review hailing its sense of use of different locations. That quality comes to the forefront in her new novel, Desert Creatures, set in the southwestern United States in the near future. Las Vegas looms large in this narrative—one of many archetypes Chronister explores. And you can read an excerpt from it here. (Erewhon Press, November 8, 2022)

 

Wars, Secret and Otherwise

Are haunted houses—either literal or metaphorical—having a moment right now? Mike Flanagan’s various The Haunting series offers one take on the idea, while the recently-concluded comic series Home Sick Pilots offers a very different angle on it. S.L. Edward’s novel, In the Devil’s Cradle, factors into this pop-culture moment as well, with a unique twist: here, the haunted house is a country unto itself. (Word Horde, November 8, 2022)

In 2017, the first book in Rebecca Gomez Farrell’s Wings Rising duology was published. Now, the followup is here, with Wings Unfurled juxtaposing political machinations and familial tragedies with a fantastical setting and bizarre creatures. Throw a vanishing moon into the mix and you have a recipe for intrigue. (Meerkat Press, December 2022)

Miracle Jones’s novel Sharing—the first in what’s anticipated to be a seven-book series titled The Fold—has been out as an ebook for a while now, but it’s now seeing its first publication in physical form. (The same is true for books two and three in the series.) I’m not sure I can top one writer’s description of this book as “Chronicles of Narnia meets William Burroughs by way of Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” so I won’t try. It’s a deeply intriguing elevator pitch, for sure. (Instar Books, December 2022)

 

Collections and Anthologies

Besides his work as an author, Sam Richard also co-edited The New Flesh, an anthology of fiction inspired by David Cronenberg’s work. If learning that information suggests that Richard has a penchant for the visceral and the uncanny, you are correct. His new collection Grief Rituals, explored unexpected transformations and mysterious hauntings—and rarely goes where you’d expect. (Weirdpunk Books, November 2022)

It’s often fascinating to see what different writers can come up with when exploring the same place in a speculative manner. In the anthologies Opulent Syntax: Irish Speculative Fiction (Don Duncan and dave ring, editors) and Snaring New Suns: Speculative Works From Hawai‘i And Beyond (Tom Gammarino, Bryan Kamaoli Kuwada, D. Kealiʻi MacKenzie, and Lyz Soto, editors), a wide range of writers explore questions of identity and technology. (Opulent Syntax: Neon Hemlock, December 2022; Snaring New Suns: Bamboo Ridge Press, November 1, 2022)

It’s a great time to be an admirer of Cassandra Khaw’s work. Recent years have brought books like The All-Consuming World and Nothing But Blackened Teeth; now, their collection Breakable Things is set for publication. Khaw’s range as a writer is impressive, and this new book should serve as further demonstration of that. (Undertow Publications, November 2022)

 

A Sense of Place

Reading the writings of adrienne maree brown makes for an engaging experience — whether she’s discussing transformative justice or telling a haunting speculative story set during a pandemic. The new collection Fables and Spells brings together brown’s short-form writings to date, encompassing both poetry and fiction—and providing a primer in the work of an essential author. (AK Press, November 8, 2022)

A very strange coffee shop provides one of the main settings in Never Angeline North’s new book Rainbear!!!!!!!!!. Also found within? Dreams within dreams, surreal rituals, and extended riffs on folklore. There’s something about these descriptions that suggests that it’s both very contemporary in its concerns and hearkens back to the uncanny fiction of a century ago—which sounds like an enticing combination. (Apocalypse Party, November 15, 2022)

Ever since I read Terry Bisson’s story “Bears Discover Fire” many years ago, I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for stories in which bears do unexpected things. One of the stories in John Jodzio’s collection This Was The Decade I Kept Getting Stabbed features a bear opting for a sideline in bicycle theft; throw in some trickster figures and menacing deer and you have my attention. (The Cupboard, November 2022)

When you look closely enough at a place, you might begin noticing things that don’t quite mesh with your understanding of the world. Think most folk horror; think Twin Peaks. Janice Obuchowski’s new collection The Woods heads into a suburban Gothic space, with some of its stories populated by ghosts and strange creatures. (University of Iowa Press, November 10, 2022)

For some writers, the area around them can serve as the realistic backdrop for their work. For others, that same region could act as a kind of muse of the surreal. In Luigi Musolino’s collection A Different Darkness and Other Abominations, the author draws upon his knowledge of Italy’s Piedmont region for these tales of the uncanny and bizarre. (Valancourt Books, November 8, 2022)

 

reel-thumbnailTobias Carroll is the managing editor of Vol.1 Brooklyn. He is the author of the short story collection Transitory (Civil Coping Mechanisms) and the novel Reel (Rare Bird Books).

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