★ 08/09/2021
Kadrey concludes his bestselling Sandman Slim series (after Ballistic Kiss ) with a knockdown magical slugfest between antihero James Stark and the mysterious King Bullet. Stark and his close-knit group of friends and allies are living through a viral epidemic that has stricken Los Angeles, leaving many dead and others deranged, suffering from autophagia and extreme violent tendencies. Some of these plague victims pledge themselves to King Bullet, attacking Stark and his friends Fuck Hollywood (so named because of the T-shirt she was wearing when she first met Stark) and Carlos, the bartender of the Bamboo House of Dolls. Thomas Abbot, the leader of the Sub Rosa council of magicians, repeatedly pits Stark against King Bullet and his Shoggot thugs—fights that Stark loses, forcing him to doubt Abbot’s help and to seek other, even more powerful backup. Kadrey doesn’t shy away from the horror of pain and madness here, nor does he spare Stark’s companions, so much so that he begins with a trigger warning. The result is a phenomenal finale to Sandman Slim’s saga, perfect for Dresden Files fans who want their hero to be even more damaged. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown. (Aug.)
"Kadrey concludes his bestselling Sandman Slim series with a knockdown magical slugfest...The result is a phenomenal finale to Sandman Slim’s saga, perfect for Dresden Files fans who want their hero even more damaged." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“King Bullet brings in Richard Kadrey’s masterpiece for a hell of a landing…Kadrey has written a true capstone, worthy of a significant and ground-breaking contribution to the field. Endings are hard , and this is a good one. I’m going to miss Stark—but I’m so glad that he got such a worthy conclusion.” — Cory Doctorow
“This novel is like every great action movie with car chases, fight scenes, and giant explosions, all wrapped up in one fantastic book. King Bullet is by far the craziest monster that Sandman Slim has yet had to face.” — Seattle Book Review
“King Bullet is an absolutely deranged novel from start to finish (in a good way, I promise), and is probably the closest you’ll get to experiencing an acid trip while being completely sober…It really felt like Kadrey decided to leave absolutely nothing off the table when it came to the conclusion of Stark’s story, and I, for one, am glad he decided to go for it, because it gives the book an almost manic intensity that makes it hard to stop turning the pages… Read if: You like long fights against impossible odds; you know what it’s like to live on nothing but pizza; you’re wary of pigs.” — Lightspeed Magazine
"The prose simmers with Kadrey’s characteristic blend of cynicism and absurdist humor, but the nuanced character development and exciting relationship-building make this feel like a brave new direction for the series. This addictive urban fantasy works in its own right—and sets things up for what promises to be one hell of a finale." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Ballistic Kiss
"As always, Slim’s humor and action are right at the forefront. Perfect for readers who like their urban fantasy just a little bit over the top, and those missing Jim Butcher's Dresden Files." — Booklist on Ballistic Kiss
“In the Sandman Slim novels the reader can feel the heat of L.A., smell the smog, taste the carnitas and tamales, and know the joy of finally sliding into the AC and onto that barstool at the end of a brutal, bloody hard day of searching, fighting, killing, and just plain old surviving.” — New York Journal of Books on Ballistic Kiss
“If this is escapism, it’s the most masochistic kind I can imagine.” — NPR Books on Ballistic Kiss
“I hope Kadrey keeps putting out Sandman Slim books for the next twenty years. They’re that much fun to read.” — Wired on Ballistic Kiss
In the Sandman Slim novels the reader can feel the heat of L.A., smell the smog, taste the carnitas and tamales, and know the joy of finally sliding into the AC and onto that barstool at the end of a brutal, bloody hard day of searching, fighting, killing, and just plain old surviving.”
New York Journal of Books on Ballistic Kiss
If this is escapism, it’s the most masochistic kind I can imagine.”
NPR Books on Ballistic Kiss
I hope Kadrey keeps putting out Sandman Slim books for the next twenty years. They’re that much fun to read.”
"As always, Slim’s humor and action are right at the forefront. Perfect for readers who like their urban fantasy just a little bit over the top, and those missing Jim Butcher's Dresden Files."
Booklist on Ballistic Kiss
King Bullet brings in Richard Kadrey’s masterpiece for a hell of a landing…Kadrey has written a true capstone, worthy of a significant and ground-breaking contribution to the field. Endings are hard , and this is a good one. I’m going to miss Stark—but I’m so glad that he got such a worthy conclusion.
This novel is like every great action movie with car chases, fight scenes, and giant explosions, all wrapped up in one fantastic book. King Bullet is by far the craziest monster that Sandman Slim has yet had to face.
King Bullet is an absolutely deranged novel from start to finish (in a good way, I promise), and is probably the closest you’ll get to experiencing an acid trip while being completely sober…It really felt like Kadrey decided to leave absolutely nothing off the table when it came to the conclusion of Stark’s story, and I, for one, am glad he decided to go for it, because it gives the book an almost manic intensity that makes it hard to stop turning the pages… Read if: You like long fights against impossible odds; you know what it’s like to live on nothing but pizza; you’re wary of pigs.
In the Sandman Slim novels the reader can feel the heat of L.A., smell the smog, taste the carnitas and tamales, and know the joy of finally sliding into the AC and onto that barstool at the end of a brutal, bloody hard day of searching, fighting, killing, and just plain old surviving.”
null New York Journal of Books on Ballistic Kiss
If this is escapism, it’s the most masochistic kind I can imagine.”
null NPR Books on Ballistic Kiss
I hope Kadrey keeps putting out Sandman Slim books for the next twenty years. They’re that much fun to read.”
null Wired on Ballistic Kiss
"As always, Slim’s humor and action are right at the forefront. Perfect for readers who like their urban fantasy just a little bit over the top, and those missing Jim Butcher's Dresden Files."
null Booklist on Ballistic Kiss
I hope Kadrey keeps putting out Sandman Slim books for the next twenty years. They’re that much fun to read.”
%COMM_CONTRIB%Wired on Ballistic Kiss
03/01/2021
In Adams's debut, teenage library worker Aleisha shares The Reading List she's found (all scrunched up) with a widower trying to relate to his book-obsessed granddaughter (75,000-copy first printing). Alderson's Sisters in Arms tells the story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black battalion of the Women's Army Corps during World War II (150,000-copy first printing). Buxton's Feral Creatures reintroduces us to S.T., the fabulously cheeky crow who starred in the multi-best-booked Hollow Kingdom . Ferguson, the Duchess of York, tells the Victorian-era story of Lady Margaret Montagu Scott in Her Heart for a Compass (150,000-copy first printing). Second in a spin-off from Hearne's New York Times best-selling "Iron Druid Chronicles" series, Paper & Blood features wily Scottish detective Al MacBharrais. In Jio's latest, Seattle-based librarian Valentina Baker receives news sent With Love from London that she's inherited an apartment and bookshop from the mother who abandoned her. Wealthy newcomers wreak havoc to the point of horror in a lakeside rural town in Bram Stoker Award winner Jones's My Heart Is a Chainsaw (100,000-copy first printing). New York Times best-selling Kadrey wraps up his iconic "Sandman Slim" series with the Shoggot gang, led by King Bullet , overrunning a virus-undone Los Angeles (75,000-copy first printing). Debuter Lange's We Are the Brennans features almost-30 Sunday Brennan returning from Los Angeles to New York to explain to both family and ex-fiancé why she left them five years ago (100,000-copy first printing). Author of the LJ best-booked Mexican Gothic , Moreno-Garcia returns with Velvet Was the Night , featuring a romance magazine-reading secretary in 1970s Mexico City obsessed with the disappearance of her beautiful next-door neighbor. Switching from big-hit dystopias, Mott sends his Black protagonist on one Hell of a Book tour in which he confronts police violence. In Pearce's Yours Cheerfully , first in a new series, advice columnist Emmeline Lake helps keep World War II London safe A(150,000-copy first printing). "Bridgerton" series author Quinn joins forces with her illustrator sister to create a graphic novel telling the story of Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron , first hinted at in the seventh book in the series (50,000-copy first printing). After a four-year renovation, Paris's glamorous Hotel Louis XVI reopens, with Steel allowing Complications to erupt.
