ladybusiness | Roundtable: Anticipated 2019 Books (Reply)

It's 2019 and we are excited for some books! We had a conversation and here it is!

Renay: This edition of BLOG CHAT is now in session!

Chelsea: Yay!

Diana: :)

Renay: We're here today to discuss all the great 2019 books we're excited about! My 2019 TBR is 72 books long and I expect I am not the only one with a TBR bursting at the seams.

Jenny: Mine is fine and normal. Reasonable and restrained are two adjectives an outsider would use to describe my TBR list.

Chelsea: Yes, Jenny. Two adjectives that frequently apply to this group.

Diana: Mine is less than that mostly because I've been forgetting to tag what is getting released in 2019.

Claire: I've got almost 50 books for the first half of the year!

Renay: Claire, you might have me beat; mine is for the whole year and I have a bunch of Q3 stuff.

Claire: I plundered your list, though!

KJ: I need to figure out some way to keep track of upcoming releases because i can think of five books, maybe six?

Jenny: Can I kick us off with a boarding school book?

Renay: Yes!

Chelsea: YES JENNY

Diana: Thirded!

Jenny: Tehlor Kay Mejia has a book coming out in February about a boarding school for wives in a dystopian society. It's called We Set the Dark on Fire and I am HYPE for it.

Diana: I've heard good things about that one!

Chelsea: Ohhh, that cover is GORGEOUS.

Jenny: Isn't the cover great?

Chelsea: Isn't it supposed to be super queer, too?

Diana: Yep! A friend read an arc and she specifically commented on that.

Jenny: FANTASTIC. I did not know that, I saw "boarding school" and stopped reading.

Chelsea: I seem to remember it popping up on a bunch of anticipated queer releases.

Diana: It's also Latinx inspired or so I've heard.

Chelsea: Speaking of queer stuff, Alyssa Cole's F/F novella drops the 8th of January: Once Ghosted, Twice Shy.

Jenny: I CANNOT WAIT OH MY GOD THAT COVER!

Diana: I love that cover!!!

Claire: Those SMILES! ♥

Jenny: And let us not forget that the two cover models are in a relationship IRL and I ship them so much

Diana: Apparently the cover models are a real life couple, which: ♥

Chelsea: The ladies in that cover are an IRL couple and I swoon.

Jenny: ahahahah we are all soulmates.

Chelsea: Aw, ladies! Great minds.

Diana: Speaking of queer books, I'm also really looking forward to The Afterward by E.K. Johnston. It's a "what happens after the quest" book and the cover is GORGEOUS and it has so many ladies

Chelsea: I really like E.K. Johnston. I've always had good luck with her work

Diana: She also has a Padmé book, Queen's Shadow, coming out in March which I'm so excited for. WE'RE FINALLY GETTING A PADME YA BOOK, IT'S BEEN 84 YEARS!!

Chelsea: That Padme book is going to be SO GOOD.

Jenny: Speaking of ladies, Ellen Klages has a book coming out about a little girl breaking the gender barrier in baseball and I am going to read it despite my well-known hatred for baseball. It's called Out of Left Field.

Chelsea: I could break my sportsball ban for that. Is that fiction or nonfiction?

Jenny: Fiction!

KJ: I have a baseball book on my list! Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes.

Diana: That's the Pop Culture Happy Hour host, right?

KJ: Yep, and one of my favorite writers on Television Without Pity back in the day.

Renay: I'm so excited to read a book by her! She's so smart.

KJ: Me too! I have high hopes for her as a fiction author.

Chelsea: I have 1 (one) sportsball book on my list: Intercepted by Alexa Martin.

Jenny: SHRIEK that's on my list, too!! And I third or fourth or whatever the Linda Holmes anticipation. She's really funny and sweet and I'm sure her debut will be, too.

Chelsea: Jenny, I'm so excited I don't even care that it's about FOOTBALL, my least fave of all sportsball.

Diana: I have a non-fiction sports book on my list. It's called Soccerwomen: The Icons, Rebels, Stars, and Trailblazers Who Transformed the Beautiful Game by Gemma Clarke. Because 2019 is the women's world cup aka the best competition. Chelsea, I'm with you on football.

Jenny: Chelsea and Di, you are beautiful but you're wrong and I just spent $100 on Saints gear and I'm not sorry. But Soccerwomen sounds tremendous.

Chelsea: Bless, friend. Ride your bliss.

Renay: I have zero sportsball on my list, but I DO have SPACE FICTION. Everyone: uh huh, this isn't a surprise.

Chelsea: Oh, Renay. Sticking to brand!

KJ: What, Renay, space fiction? Say it’s not so! :)

Diana: I'm so shocked.

Jenny: IS IT THE WEIGHT OF STARS BY K. ANCRUM? I can't describe how excited I am for space lesbians.

Renay: I didn't even have that on my list until right now!

Chelsea: THAT'S ON MY LIST. SPACE. LESBIANS.

Renay: It is actually Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee, of Nicefox Gambit fame.

Jenny: I ALSO CANNOT WAIT FOR THAT.

KJ: More Yoon Ha Lee, yes please!

Chelsea: I am so stoked for all of Rick Riordan's pub line this year.

Diana: I love the imprint a lot so far.

Jenny: Rick Riordan does whiteness well and I respect him even though his books are not for me, not least because he's bringing me a Yoon Ha Lee middle grade and I love Yoon Ha Lee so intensely.

Chelsea: I'm also excited for Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez coming in March, which is a Riordan Presents book.

Renay: I also have Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles. It and Dragon Pearl are my most coveted books for January.

Jenny: Are we doing most coveted?

Renay: We can!

Diana: THE TRUE QUEEN BY ZEN CHO.

Jenny: Helen Oyeyemi has a new book out in March, and it's fairy-tale inspired and it's called Gingerbread.

KJ: Jade War by Fonda Lee! I need that book like yesterday.

Claire: Seconding The True Queen!! In other sequel news Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse!

Chelsea: I am itching for that book, Claire!

KJ: Put me on the The True Queen train, as well. I have been anticipating True Queen from the minute i finished Sorcerer to the Crown. It’s like top of my "read before Hugo nominations" list

Jenny: Oh my GOD I can't wait for True Queen. Zen Cho's latest short story for B&N SFF was amaaaaazing and it's reminded me of how much I love her.

Diana: I kinda hope they re-release Sorcerer to the Crown with a matching cover because I would buy it in a heartbeat

Chelsea: We're also supposed to be getting the new Helen Hoang book, The Bride Test, in May. which I'm beyond excited for after The Kiss Quotient this year!

Claire: Another sequel I'm excited for is That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire, which is the next InCryptid book. Chelsea, I have both of those on my TBR!

Diana: In unsurprising news, another Star Wars book is on my list for anticipated early 2019 releases.

Claire: Really Di? :P

Diana: Claudia Gray is gonna rip my heart out with Master & Apprentice and I am READY FOR IT. I re-read her Qui-Gon short in From a Certain Point of View and it hurt, but in a good way.

Renay: Each month I have coveted books because just having a few for the whole first half of the year is impossible. The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (February), A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (March), Defy the Fates by Claudia Gray (April), The Bride Test by Helen Hoang (May), Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (June)

Chelsea: RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE! Friends! I am just so excited for the queer YA that's coming out this year. 2019 is going to be BANANAS for queer YA stuff.

Claire: RED WHITE & ROYAL BLUE SOUNDS SO GOOD

KJ: The City in the Middle of the Night! I am looking forward to that one.

Renay: I have a lot of queer YA on my list—I was surprised

Jenny: SPEAKING OF WHICH! I have been told there is a CW-ish teen YA with a canonical poly relationship. It is called Castle of Lies by Kiersi Burkhart.

KJ: Ooh.

Jenny: I LOVE THE CW!

Chelsea: I HAVE MISSED THIS!

Claire: Don't Date Rosa Santos by Nina Morena sounds cool, too! WITCHES! It's about a girl cursed by the sea!

Renay: The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg and Birthday by Meredith Russo are pretty high on my list.

Chelsea: BIRTHDAY! Yes! I'm also really looking forward to I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver.

Diana: I'm also excited for Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy.

Renay: I am very jealous of Teens. :'D

KJ: This is not YA, but I am super excited about The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie. I love her writing and I love fantasy and I’m so excited to read the combo.

Claire: A couple of my friends have read it and LOVE IT. It's apparently in second person? But Dee Libris says it's amazing and I trust their judgment.

KJ: That either really works or Really Doesn’t, but I trust Ann Leckie.

Renay: What other big releases are we excited about?

Diana: I'm looking forward to Elizabeth Bear's space opera, Ancestral Night.

Renay: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James seems to be getting some good press. Not sure if it's gonna be "big" in SFF, but he's a really beloved author in literary fiction circles.

Chelsea: I was just about to say that, Renay!

Claire: Oh yes, I want to try that one! They are using Game of Thrones as a comp title so it might well be.

KJ: That's the "Game of Thrones in Africa" book? I feel like i’ve been hearing about that for a while.

Jenny: YES IT IS KJ IT SURE IS!

Claire: Yes, that's right.

KJ: I am definitely at least curious.

Renay: Bloodwitch by Susan Dennard will be out, too, and that's a big YA release (Bridget just blocked me on Twitter).

Diana: XD

Renay: I'M SORRY. THE HETS GOT ME.

Diana: G. Willow Wilson has a book coming out in March, The Bird King, which I'm really excited about.

Jenny: Ooh, I didn't know about that!

Diana: It's set in Grenada during the Reconquista which hits so many areas of interest for me.

Claire: The Bird King sounds great and I've not read books set in that time or place before so I'm excited. Another big adult SFF one is The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley. She's said it's going to be more plotty than some of her other books which makes me very interested.

Diana: It's time travel too, which should be interesting.

Claire: I do love some timey wimeyness.

Renay: I keep trying Hurley's work because I like her writing style so much BUT there's SO MUCH GORE sometimes. Or body horror. OR BOTH. One day.

Diana: Max Gladstone's new book is also coming out in June. I really loved the Craft Sequence (which I need to finish) and Empress of Forever sounds super interesting.

KJ: I really want to catch up on the Max Gladstone series this year.

Renay: He and Amal El-Mohtar co-wrote This Is How You Lose the Time War. That's out in June.

Chelsea: In terms of romance, Alyssa Cole is hitting it out of the park this year (the novella, a contemporary romance A Prince on Paper, and her next historical An Unconditional Freedom) and both Tessa Dare and Lucy Parker have long awaited next-books coming out in the first half of the year: The Wallflower Wager and The Austen Playbook.

Diana: When is Alisha Rai's new book, The Right Swipe, out?

Chelsea: July 2nd!

Claire: I don't have enough romance on my list! I will add everything you just said.

Jenny: OH CAN I CHOOSE THE VELA!? I'm so excited for The Vela

Renay: The Vela is Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, and SL Huang. WHAT A LINE UP. I may just expire from excitement.

Diana: That's so solid

KJ: It’s like an all-star team!

Chelsea: What a creative project for them to all team up on!

Claire: Yes, that's intriguing!

Renay: Rivers Solomon is also writing a novel called The Deep based on the song by clipping?

Chelsea: What?! That's going to be super interesting.

Diana: Hey, you know what comes out early next year that hasn't been mentioned? The last Queen's Thief book, Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.

Renay: The LAST ONE! ;___;

Jenny: OH MY GOD HOW DID I FORGET THAT? I like—I forgot because I can't contain my emotions, probably.

Renay: I blocked it out. I'm not ready. Little did I know I would fall in love with later books in the series after failing out so hard after The Thief.

Chelsea: I'm not ready!

Jenny: Nobody could ever be ready. I love everyone in those books so much! The last one was so good.

Chelsea: But what a perfect excuse for yet another reread!

Diana: I need to catch up, but I'm excited.

Jenny: There's a lot of unanswered questions, and I never ever don't need more of the Queen of Attolia, whom I adore.

Claire: Can we talk about DRAGON BOOKS?

Diana: Yes!

KJ: ALWAYS.

Claire: Okay, so I'm really excited about the new Samantha Shannon book, The Priory of the Orange Tree. I've not read her other work but this is A TOME.

Chelsea: YES CLAIRE! The ARC I am most sad to not have.

Renay: This has DRAGONS? Or is it just large?

Claire: It's about a world on the brink of war with dragons—and the women who must lead the fight to save it. And it's 850 pages.

KJ: Yikes, but also wow.

Diana: I was not a big fan of the Bone Season, but that sounds intriguing.

Renay: Instead of chunksters can we just call books 500> dragons?

Chelsea: I accept that petition.

Claire: Renay, that's great.

Jenny: Change approved!

Claire: We could just rename every increment of 100 pages after a cool magical critter. Novellas are salamanders.

Renay: I have NO DRAGON BOOKS on my TBR. That is a shock to me

Claire: I have also got a dragon adjacent book! Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto, which is about phoenix riders instead of dragonriders.

Chelsea: Oh, that's an interesting take!

Diana: Oooh.

Chelsea: In an SFF/horror/nonfic/neglected female history venn diagram, I am so excited for The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara to come out in March. Who else has rad nonfiction?

Renay: I saved that book when the author posted it got accepted, before a cover or goodreads page or ANYTHING. I am so excited.

KJ: Oh, I have a dragon book! Sorta. Turning Darkness into Light by Marie Brennan. It’s a follow up to the Lady Trent books.

Claire: Also in dragon books but later in the year there's a new Marie Brennan book—GREAT MINDS!

KJ: I heard her read an excerpt a couple of years ago and i’ve been on pins and needles ever since.

Renay: The Shadow Glass by Rin Chupeco isn't a dragon book, but it's the last book in a series where the main character controls giant monsters. It starts with The Bone Witch and I love the series so much because POWERFUL LADIES!

Chelsea: That's a wonderful book, Renay!

Claire: Three more books for my want-to-read!

Renay: Oh, oh! What about books that don't have a solid release date?

Jenny: I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THAT

KJ: Same, Jenny.

Diana: There is a YA fake dating book that I'm looking forward to. It's called Fake it Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen.

Claire: Oh yes!! I have this one too, Di.

Diana: I'm a sucker for fake dating and the description sounds so good.

Renay: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott! Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell! The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow! The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz!

Diana: NEW KATE ELLIOTT

KJ: Is that the Alexander the Great in space one?

Renay: Yep! Also, I'm excited for whatever N.K. Jemisin's next book gets called!

Claire: The City We Became (the N.K. Jemisin one)

Renay: Oooh, is that the name? I'M EXCITED.

Claire: Gods of Jade & Shadow by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Diana: Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is out in January.

Chelsea: I am very bad at tracking upcoming things with no release date :joy:

Renay: Oh, I just track them in my spreadsheet listed by "2019 sometime". LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.

Chelsea: Um, yes actually. That's a really rational solution to my non-problem.

Claire: I have an overall 2019 shelf and a shelf for each quarter.

Diana: I completely blanked that the next Amberlough book, Amnesty by Lara Elena Donnelly is out in April. I need to read Armistice still.

Jenny: Ooh yes I'm super into the Amberlough series.

Renay: The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah sounds great, too.

Chelsea: DID SOMEONE SAY GILDED WOLVES?! My angsty heart can't take the wait!

Diana: I DID, CHELSEA!

Chelsea: I AM SO READY!

Claire: I've got a few novellas too! The Test by Silvain Neuvel is going to murder my feelings because it's about the UK citizenship test.

Chelsea: It looks like Tor.com is, no surprise, on track for another great novella year.

Diana: The new JY Yang novella, The Ascent to Godhood is out soonish!

Claire: Also looking forward to The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark. Clark wrote The Black God's Drums which is on my best of 2018 list.

Chelsea: Your Favorite Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore, The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark, and Ragged Alice by Gareth L. Powell all sound amazing. I'm also really excited for more Zoraida Cordova (Hollow Crown) AND Silvia Moreno Garcia (Gods of Jade and Shadow) this year! Oh, and the new Ted Chiang collection, Exhalation: Stories.

Diana: Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey also looks really good.

Claire: Di, they also have another Magic book out later in the year!! When We Were Magic.

Renay: What books do we think are going to make a big splash?

Diana: The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie.

Chelsea: Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The Light Brigade. A Place for Wolves by Kosoko Jackson.

Renay: Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi! I think The Vela has a good chance to be very popular.

Claire: Oh yes! And A People's Future of the United States because there are many awesome contributors.

Chelsea: I know it's already out, but I think How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin is going to pick up steam the closer we get to award noms.

Claire: Agreed, Chelsea!

Renay: Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir is EVERYWHERE in my feed, although it's not out until later in the year. Lesbian necromancers!

Claire: LESBIAN NECROMANCERS!

Jenny: Oh YES I have heard a lot of good things about that book.

Claire: Also, I didn't mention it earlier, but I'm getting wild Ancillary Justice vibes from A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine—that's out from Tor.

Diana: WAIT THERE IS A NEW SHERWOOD SMITH COMING OUT THIS YEAR!!! It's called A Sword Named Truth and I'm so excited. Crown Duel is one of my favorite books & my copy is held together with tape

Renay: Descendant of the Crane by Joan He has been cropping up on my feed, too

Claire: Another potential big release is On the Come Up which is Angie Thomas's next book.

Chelsea: Temi Oh's Do You Dream of Terra Two has been popping up in my feed a surprising amount for how much later in the year is comes out.

Claire: Chels, I think Do You Dream of Terra Two comes out earlier in the UK.

Renay: Nonfiction-wise, Lindy West's The Witches Are Coming seems like it's gonna be awesome.

Chelsea: That Lindy West book is going to be something else. I am so beyond ready. I am really intrigued by She/He/They/Me: For the Sisters, Misters, and Binary Resisters from Robyn Ryle. It's a choose your own adventure style explanation of gender theory!

Claire: Love a Choose your own adventure format! And what an intriguing way to approach that.

Renay: I have A Sin by Any Other Name: Reckoning with Racism and the Heritage of the South by Robert W. Lee which I am both excited for but afraid of. He's the dude who is related to Lee who was like "stop being racist!" and his church booted him.

Chelsea: That sounds heavy, Nay, but also really, really Worth It.

Renay: I don't have too much nonfiction yet but suspect in January the lists will start cropping up and I'll have like, 19 microhistories

Chelsea: I am just waiting to raid Jenny's nonfic TBR, if we're being honest.

Claire: I'm just stealing all your nonfiction picks because I really don't know what's going on there. But I'm excited about The Witches Are Coming because WITCHES. (I know it's not about actual witchcraft :P)

Renay: Okay, to wrap up! What ONE BOOK flying under the radar are you stoked for?

Chelsea: Just one?! CRUELTY.

Renay: I am a harsh taskmaster.

Diana: The new Sherwood Smith, A Sword Named Truth, because I legit just found out about it and I can't remember seeing an announcement anywhere.

Jenny: The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas. It's about women scientists in the 1960s working together to build a time machine.

Chelsea: The Cerulean by Amy Ewing.

Renay: Mine, which may be a lie, because it's been a lie EVERY YEAR is reV by Madeline Ashby. Will it come out? WHO KNOWS? But I keep hope alive.

Claire: One I just found out about is These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling, which is F/F fantasy it looks like.

Renay: This is only half a year.

Jenny: hahahahahaha

Claire: So many books!

Renay: When we do this again in July we can recap and see how things are going. Did we CORRECTLY PREDICT THE CLAW?

Jenny: Sounds great!

Renay: I love books.

Claire: YAY BOOKS!

Renay: Now I have to go add all of these to my TBR.

Roundtable: Anticipated 2019 Books

2018 Books

January

February

March

April

May

June

Beyond July & Unknown

Actually Out in 2020 ;___;

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