This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna, Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library Local History Librarian. This week’s selections include sci-fi, fantasy and horror titles in the library’s new adult fiction collection. Remember, you can find additional titles at wcvpl.blogspot.com. 

 

In The Last Astronaut by David Wellington, a large alien object has entered our solar system and seems to be on a course straight for Earth. There has been no reply at our attempts to communicate with us and there are no detectable transmissions coming from the object. NASA is out of time and out of options, so they turn to former Mission Commander Sally Jansen. Once upon a time, Sally was their top astronaut, but a terrible accident during a mission to Mars ended her career. She is now haunted by her failure and lives in quiet anonymity. If Sally thought her days in space were over, she was wrong.

If you like your sci-fi or fantasy with a nice scoop of humor, then you may want to try This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero. Adrian and Zooey Kimrean — collectively known as A.Z. — are private investigators with a dingy office in Fisherman’s Wharf. They are also twin brother and sister constantly at odds with one another, which is inconvenient because they quite literally share a single body. They must learn to work together, however, if they are going to crack their next case. Someone is murdering the sons of the drug cartel boss of San Carnal, California. A.Z. Kimrean is hired to infiltrate the drug lord’s inner circle and figure out who is targeting his heirs. This case promises the usual, luxury villas, muscle cars, ninja assassins, undercover cops, femmes fatales, and the usual gaggle of neckless goons.

Sealed by Naomi Booth is a haunting ecological nightmare ready to leave its mark. Alice and her partner Pete are sick and tired of the city, so they decide on a house in the mountains where Alice can have their child and raise him/her far away from the rumor of a skin-sealing epidemic beginning to infect the urban population. They are hoping this is their haven, but the mountains and their people possess their own kind of danger. Alice and Pete’s relationship begins to warp under the immense pressure around them until it erupts into violence and Alice must face the unthinkable as she fights to protect her unborn child.

Josiah Bancroft continues his Books of Babel Steampunk Series with Arm of the Sphinx. Senlin has been forced into a life of piracy in his hunt for his lost wife. He and his crew are struggling to survive aboard their stolen airship. They are desperate to break into the Tower of Babel, but it is proving more difficult than it was to break out of. Hopelessness and desperation take over and they turn to a legend, the mysterious Sphinx. But help from the Sphinx always comes with a price and, as Senlin well knows, debts aren’t always what they seem. Time is running out and Senlin will have to choose between his friends, his freedom, and his beloved wife.

Timothy G. Huguenin delivers an atmospheric horror novel with Little One. Kelsea Stone doesn’t remember her childhood, and frankly, she really doesn’t want to. She is doing just fine on her own in Los Angeles without family bonds to tie her down. When Kelsea finds out that her estranged birth parents have died and willed her their house in Canaan Valley, West Virginia, she discovers more than just an inheritance waiting for her in the mountains. A timeless presence lurks there, watching, waiting for the right moment to exact revenge. A soul has grown powerful despite being frozen in the form of a six-year-old girl.

Brian Hauser uses many layers in writing his book Memento Mori: The Fathomless Shadows. In the late 1970s, Tina Mori became a legend as an underground filmmaker. She shot a series of visionary Super 8 shorts with her stolen camera, along with a single feature film lauded as a masterpiece. Then she disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Was it foul play, or did Tina go somewhere else? But where? Does the otherworldly Carcosa — so often referenced in her films — play any part in her disappearance? Told through letters, a ‘zine made by a teenage horror fan, and a memoir written by Tina’s college roommate, this story explores the depths of shadows, truth, fiction, and the uncanny.