Most Anticipated New Books – September 2020

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

Release Date: September 1st

Asha Lemmie’s debut novel is billed as “…a sweeping, heartrending coming-of-age novel about a young woman’s quest for acceptance in post-World War II Japan.” A story about a bi-racial young woman coming to terms with her heritage and place in the world sounds like something that could make for a fantastic novel. The lives of Black people in America has been top-of-mind this year and reading about the dynamic in another country to heighten the perspective is welcome.

Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy by Timothy Zahn

Release Date: September 1st

Thrawn Ascendancy is the latest release from the Star Wars Disney Canon novels series. Zahn’s last trilogy following his creation Grand Admiral Thrawn covered Thrawn’s early days in the Empire. This time around, Zahn will be tackling the origins of the Chiss Ascendancy. I’ll always be sign up to read anything that Zahn writes about Thrawn.

The Autobiography of Malcom X (Audiobook) read by Laurence Fishburne

Release Date: September 10th

Malcom X’s definitive autobiography is getting a new adaptation from Audible. This important work of history that chronicles of one of the key figures in the Civil Rights Movement is performed in this new edition by Laurence Fishburne. Given the current state of the American social justice awakening, there’s never been a better time to get educated about one of the people who helped push things forward half a century ago.

Piraneesi by Susanna Clarke

Release Date: September 15th

Ring the new Susanna Clarke alarm!!! Clarke is back with her first full-length release in over a decade. I adore Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell and The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories and Piraneesi sounds like it will live in the same kind of fairy tale space as Clarke’s previous works. I’m extremely excited to get started with this one.

If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future by Jill Lepore

Release Date: September 15th

My favorite historian is back with a new book that seeks to illuminate the roots of modern Silicon Valley boosted disinformation campaigns that have run rampant in the past decade. Lepore shows that these strategies of mining and manipulating consumers through data are nothing new. Lepore’s previous few books These Truths and The Secret History of Wonder Woman have been equal parts informative and a searing indictment of the world that bore them. I’m expecting more of the same in If Then.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Release Date: September 22nd

I haven’t read any of Natalie Zina Walschot’s work before, but the summary for Hench sounds incredible. Hench sees a data-centric temp employee for a villain injured in a super hero dust-up. The employee, Anna, then uses what she knows best, data, to tell the story of the human cost that super heroes incur and work her way through the ranks of a super villain organization. It sounds like a great inversion and deconstruction of the typical super hero story.

Heaven’s River (audiobook) by Dennis E. Taylor

Release Date: September 24th

After a brief hiatus, Dennis E. Taylor returns to his breakout sci-fi Bobiverse series. This fourth entry is coming to audiobook first and looks continue the Bob story now hundreds of years since the first book. I love the sense of exploration, humor, and AI rumination that Taylor brings to this series and I’m glad he’s returning to the well again.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

Release Date: September 29th

In any other month that didn’t feature Susanna Clarke, a new release from Namoi Novik would surely take the top spot on my excitement list. Novik’s releases in recent years have shot her way up my list of favorite authors and A Deadly Education sounds like it will follow a similar spellcraft and romance format as Uprooted and Spinning Silver. Novik is on a hot-streak and I’m hoping it continues here.

Skyhunter by Marie Lu

Release Date: September 29th

YA sci-fi superstar Marie Lu is back with a new series. I liked the Warcross series a lot, and despite my sometimes hesitance to jump in to the YA genre, Lu has built up plenty of trust with me. Skyhunter sounds like another good old fashioned sci-fi concept worth exploring.

Three Ring Circus by Jeff Pearlman

Release Date: September 29th

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that there’s only one thing (apart from my family and friends of course) that I care about more than reading…the Los Angeles Lakers. Any chance to mash those passions together is welcome. Three Ring Circus follows the story of the Shaq and Kobe Lakers from cradle to grave. I can’t wait to see what new nuggets of information I learn about the soap opera that was the Lakers from 1996-2004.

A Neon Darkness by Lauren Shippen

Release Date: September 29th

In A Neon Darkness, the second book of Lauren Shippen’s Bright Session series, we get to see what happens when teenage superheroes get the therapy they desperately need. Inversions of the normal superhero story seem to be a bit of a theme in my picks for this month, but after reading the same origin story over and over, I always like when an author tackles the subject from a different point-of-view.