State of the ARC is a meme hosted by Avalinah’s Books in which we round up our ARCs and attempt to wrangle them into something approaching order. Sometimes it’s like herding cats.

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Things are going to start picking up on the ARC front in the next month or so. Four of the seven books on my ‘To Read’ shelf are being published in October– two of them on the same day. I try to spread things out a little more than that, but they all looked so interesting that I couldn’t resist. So I’ll be doing a lot of ARC reading in August and September.

Upcoming Releases:

• Lobizona (Wolves of No World #1) by Romina Garber
  YA Fantasy
  Expected publication date August 4, 2020, by Wednesday Books

Manuela Azul is an undocumented immigrant on the run from her father’s Argentine crime-family. Her life is necessarily small until her surrogate grandmother is attacked and her mother is arrested by ICE. Lifelong lies are exposed, and Manuela discovers a deeper world where her real heritage leads back to an ancient cursed city. There, she finds that not only is her immigrant status is illegal- her very existence is, too.

 

• Where Dreams Descend (Kingdom of Cards #1) by Janella Angeles
  YA Fantasy
  Expected publication August 25, 2020, by Wednesday books

In a city of ice and ruin, daring magicians face off in a competition to find the next leader of the Conquering Circus. But they soon find themselves under threat from an unknown enemy. As the acts becoming more daring and more magicians disappear, three of the magicians must reckon with their pasts before they disappear forever, too.

 

• The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg
  Fantasy/LGBTQIA
  Expected publication September 4, 2020, by Tachyon Publications

Among the Khana people in the city of Iyar, women venture out in caravans for trading, while men remain behind in the city’s center to work as scholars. One man struggles to settle into the masculine world after spending years in the women’s world as a trader, mother, and grandmother. As his past catches up to him, he must choose between his new life and Uiziya, an assassin on her own quest to find her aunt, discover the final secret of her order, and challenge the evil ruler of Iyar.

 

• The Silvered Serpents (The Gilded Wolves #2) by Roshani Chokshi
  Fantasy
  Expected publication date September 22, 2020, by Wednesday Books

Severin and his friends have succeeded in thwarting the Fallen House, but the cost was higher than they could have imagined. Now they must pick up the pieces and push forward, for Severin has an agenda he is obsessed with and has set his sights on an artifact that grants its user god-like powers. The search takes them all to wintry Russia, where secrets come to light and force them to face themselves and discover new depths to themselves.

 

• The Haunting of H.G. Wells by Robert Masello
  Fantasy
  Expected publication date October 1, 2020 by 47North

In 1914, the world is gripped by the Great War. There’s a story from the Western Front that St. George and a band of angels have descended from Heaven to fight with the British troops. But how can this possibly be true? Writer H.G. Wells is dispatched to find out the truth of the matter and finds himself in the midst of an eerie wasteland inhabited by the living, the dead, and those somewhere between. The unhappy souls trail Wells home to London, where he discovers a plot that could turn the tide of the war. Along with the love of his life, journalist and suffragette Rebecca West, Wells must do battle against diabolical forces to save his sanity– and the world.

 

• Machine (White Space #2) by Elizabeth Bear
  Science Fiction
  Expected publication date October 6, 2020 by Saga Press

Doctor Jens hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years, but she’s fine with that and with her job of jumping out of perfectly good space ships in order to develop new treatments for the alien species she encounters. But when she encounters two ships– one ancient, one new– locked together, with their crews suffering from some strange ailment, Dr. Jens can’t help but start digging into the mystery. She has no idea what sorts of horrifying truths she’ll find.

 

• Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse
  Fantasy
  Expected publication date October 13, 2020 by Saga Press

In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time of celebration. But a rare solar eclipse is predicted to happen, and the Sun Priest predicts that it heralds a time of unbalance in the world. Meanwhile, Xiala, a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters is captaining a ship bound for Tova. Her only passenger is a young blind man who seems harmless, but Xiala knows her stories. Those who seem harmless often turn out to be villains, and her ship is due to arrive in Tova on the Winter Solstice.

 

• Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
  Fantasy
  Expected Publication date October 13, 2020 by Redhook Books

In 1893, there are no witches. But when the Eastwood sisters joing the suffragist movement, they end up exploring strange words and ways that could change the women’s movement into something else entirely. Stalked by sickness and threatening strangers, the sisters must call upon ancient powers and stay united if they hope to survive.

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As of today, I have 46 approvals and a feedback ration of 87%. I have three titles awaiting approval. Of those three requests, I made one of them on January 1st. The book has since come out, and I’m pretty sure it’s been archived. I like to have tidy shelves whether they’re physical or digital, so I really wish the publisher would just go ahead and decline the request so I can be done with it. I hope the other two publishers respond to the requests for the other books I’m waiting on before they come out this fall.