MacTrump
A Shakespearean Tragicomedy of the Trump Administration, Part I
Paperback | Kindle
By Ian Doescher and Jacopo della Quercia
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release date: October 1, 2019

MacTrump, the new President of the United Fiefdoms, has come to rule much to the distress of supporters of the former President, Banquo O’Bama. He thinks it will be a simple job, and that the people will beg for his legacy to continue. His first 2 years are not without bumps as he fires many people, like Stephen Bannox, causing Spicero to hide behind potted plants. He even ends up being investigated by Sir Robert of MacMueller! Whatever shall the greatest President of the United Fiefdoms to have ever lived do or tweet? One hopes he will listen to Banquo’s ghost or the spirits of the other presidents. Do you think he will?

More below on MacTrump: A Shakespearean Tragicomedy of the Trump Administration, Part I by Ian Doescher and Jacopo della Quercia.

The Necronomnomnom
Recipes and Rites From The Lore Of H. P. Lovecraft
Hardcover | Kindle
Written by Mike Slater
Edited by Thomas Roache
Illustrations by Kurt Komoda
Publisher: Countryman Press | W.W. Norton
Release date: October 1, 2019

“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming… about tasty food and drinks.” Or so you would think when you read The Necronomnomnom: Recipes and Rites From The Lore Of H. P. Lovecraft. Apparently, when the Great Old One awakens, he’ll have a hankering for some Cthus-Koos, aka Tuna Couscous. Thankfully this tome contains Cthulhu’s own secret recipe, which serves four, so it should be suitable for a lovely reunion.

If tuna’s not your thing, mix up some Tsathogguambalaja (seafood jambalaya), a favorite of the Old One, Tsathoggua (another sleepy dude). Or if any shoggoths stop by, serve them the Shogghoulash (beef and tomato goulash). For the vegetarians (like me), construct the Atlach-Nachos (nachos) without the layer of meat or summon up some Mi-Go To Go portobello sandwiches. For the young ones, the Lovecraft Macaroni and Cheese is sure to hit the spot. Then finish it all up by invoking The Ring That Should Not Be (Jell-O ring) and The Cake In Yellow (angel food cake) for dessert. Whoever (or whatever) your guests are, don’t forget the libations: Gin and Miskatonic for the adults, and At The Fountains Of Madness (gummy bears frozen in cherry syrup) for the kids.

How To Survive A Horror Movie
All the Skills to Dodge the Kills
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Seth Grahame-Smith
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release date: September 24, 2019

Released by Quirk Books, one of the best publishers of fun and original genre literature, Seth Grahame-Smith’s How To Survive A Horror Movie is a love note to the “poor bastards” who inevitably get killed by the psychos, slashers, and madmen of cinema. Grahame-Smith originally wrote this in 2007 when he was struggling to pay rent, and has since gone on to become a New York Times Best Selling author with books like horror-parodies Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2010). He wrote screenplays for the latter as well as The LEGO Batman Movie before producing the amazingly successful IT: Chapter I (2017). With over a decade of success in and around the horror industry, Grahame-Smith updated the book with new sections, artwork, and over a decade’s worth of horror films to glean from as he advises us faithful horror fans in the art of surviving our favorite genre.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Black Spire
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Galaxy’s Edge – Book 2
Written by Delilah S. Dawson
Narrated by January LaVoy
Publisher: Del Rey | Random House Audio
Release date: August 27, 2019

In the second book of Disney’s new Star Wars series related to the Galaxy’s Edge theme park, Black Spire focuses on spy Vi Moradi’s attempts to resuscitate a flagging Resistance in the days immediately following the eighth film, The Last Jedi. With the New Republic’s central government destroyed by Starkiller Base and their forces all but defeated, Vi is sent by her mentor, General Leia Organa, to seek promising new worlds on which to re-kickstart the Resistance. To help her, Leia sends along Archex, a man with an intimate knowledge of the First Order. You see, he was not only a former Stormtrooper Captain known as Cardinal, but he and Moradi have a history all their own… Cardinal tortured Moradi after capturing her. During their torture sessions, though, Moradi discovered a weakness in Cardinal/Archex and exploited it. This allowed her to not only escape the clutches of the First Order, but also rescue a Stormtrooper was now able to see the error of his ways.

Violet
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
Written by Scott Thomas
Publisher: Inkshares
Release date: September 24, 2019

In the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut, Kill Creek, author Scott Thomas brings us a much more deliberate and slow-building terror in Violet. Kris Barlow, in an attempt to escape from the platitudes of friends, family, and strangers after a car accident claims the life of her husband, takes her daughter to a house on Lost Lake that has been owned by her family for decades, and that she hasn’t visited since she was about her daughter’s age.

Unfortunately, the best of intentions rarely go as you’d expect and the same happens here. Kris has forgotten that the reason why she hasn’t visited the house is because of things that happened to her family so many years prior. While she hasn’t thought about them in decades, those “things” never left the lake house. They’ve been lying in wait for Kris. And now they’re about to make themselves known again.

Fallen: An Alex Verus Novel
Alex Verus Book 10
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Benedict Jacka
Publisher: Ace (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Release Date: September 24, 2019

I am a fairly new fan of Benedict Jacka‘s Alex Verus series. As a longtime reader of urban fantasy, I cannot fathom how I ever failed to pick these up until last year. But life is funny like that. I chewed through the first nine books in the series fairly quickly and was stoked beyond words when I saw that this one, Fallen, was coming out soon. I literally inhaled it when I received it. In fact, the guy who got me started on these books was so jealous that it took all I had not to tease him with some spoilers. But I persevered and he remains oblivious to the story. Sorry, Patrick. But it is better this way. Anyway, let me fill you in one some of the basics about the book without ruining the overall plot. Okay? Okay.

Monster, She Wrote
The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release date: September 17, 2019

They’re the queens of horror fiction — gothic horror’s founding mother Mary Shelley, haunted house maven Shirley Jackson, and vampire queen of the damned Anne Rice. But did you know that there have been and still are many other women writers like them contributing to the genre for centuries, most of whom wrote under repressive circumstances? Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction, a new non-fiction book from Quirk Books, gives these women and their works a spotlight.

In this 352-page compendium, authors Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson dig deep into the feminine roots of the gothic horror genre, beginning with its precursors Margaret Cavendish and Ann Radcliffe before moving on to the creator herself, Mary Shelley, author of the early 19th century classic Frankenstein.

Echoes of War
Book 1 in the Echoes Trilogy
Paperback | Kindle
By Cheryl Campbell
Publisher: SparkPress
Paperback release date: September 10, 2019

Dani’s whole world implodes when she discovers she is not human, but an Echo, a race of aliens that can regenerate after death to a younger age. A member of the Brigands, survivors who scavenge to live, she is in danger of falling into the hands of the Wardens. The Wardens are aliens like her who want to brainwash Echoes who are not a part of their mission, and kill all the humans. She also has to worry about MP raids, the human police group. This apocalyptic life was what she knew until she saved a little boy from death. Inspired by the boy, Dani wonders if there is not more that can be done to stop the Wardens from destroying MPs and Brigands alike, no matter if human or Echo. If that is not enough, Dani is also the object of deadly obsession of one of the Wardens, of whom Dani had humiliated and wounded in one of her previous lives.

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A Hero Born: The Definitive Edition
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
Legends of the Condor Heroes: Book 1
Written by Jin Yong
Translated by Anna Holmwood
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release date: September 17, 2019

Set during China’s Song Dynasty, approximately 1200 AD, A Hero Born, the first in the celebrated Chinese Legends of the Condor Heroes book series, starts when two sworn brothers are confronted with a terrible choice after being charged with treason by the local government: argue their innocence before a corrupt magistrate that will likely condemn them to death or try to make a run for it with their wives and sons in tow, fighting their way through soldiers who have come to arrest them.

Dungeons & Dragons: Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus
Hardcover
D&D Accessory
Wizards Of The Coast
Release Date: September 17, 2019

Well, what in the Nine Hells has Wizards Of The Coast released now, you might ask. Okay, so if you literally phrased it like that, then you pretty much answered your own question. Because the newest Dungeons & Dragons release is called Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus and it is all about making your way from one of the most notable cities on the prime Material plane to the first layer of the Nine Hells. This journey is obviously dangerous, but few understand exactly how perilous it can be!