Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. Click the link to see the original post plus a whole slew of links to other blogs. After you read this one, of course.
RadianceAuthors: Catherynne M. Valente
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: August 18, 2015
Link to Goodreads:
The first adult novel in more than three years from the bestselling author of the Fairyland books,
Radiance is a decopunk pulp SF alt-history space opera mystery set in a Hollywood—and solar system—very different from our own, from the phenomenal talent behind the New York Times bestselling The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.
Severin Unck’s father is a famous director of Gothic romances in an alternate 1986 in which talking movies are still a daring innovation due to the patent-hoarding Edison family. Rebelling against her father’s films of passion, intrigue, and spirits from beyond, Severin starts making documentaries, traveling through space and investigating the levitator cults of Neptune and the lawless saloons of Mars. For this is not our solar system, but one drawn from classic science fiction in which all the planets are inhabited and we travel through space on beautiful rockets. Severin is a realist in a fantastic universe.
But her latest film, which investigates the disappearance of a diving colony on a watery Venus populated by island-sized alien creatures, will be her last. Though her crew limps home to earth and her story is preserved by the colony’s last survivor, Severin will never return.
Aesthetically recalling A Trip to the Moon and House of Leaves, and told using techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative, Radiance is a solar system-spanning story of love, exploration, family, loss, quantum physics, and silent film.
Why I'm Excited:
I'm not going to pretend to understand what I just read, but this certainly sounds intriguing. I love that it is told using "techniques from reality TV, classic film, gossip magazines, and meta-fictional narrative". Mostly because I have no idea what that is going to sound like. I've always meant to read the Fairyland books, but never have. Also, that cover is gorgeous.
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Beautiful cover! Love the retro style. Sounds like an interesting concept, and I love Valente's writing in her Fairyland books. I'll have to check this one out!
ReplyDeleteThis one definitely intrigues me, but I'll have to read reviews before I commit to it. I love the idea of an alternate 1986! Great pick! ~Pam
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