Mailbox Monday 1/24/22é

 Happy Monday! I can't believe we're already in the third week of January, where is the time even going?! I've hardly done any blogging, or reading for that matter, but I'm hoping to get back into it this week as I finish off my deadlines. So what better way to get into it than to whet my appetite by sharing my own new reads and seeing what y'all received this week! 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.  It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads!

Voice of the Fire (25th Anniversary Edition) by Alan Moore (IDW Publishing; 3/1/2022)

Discover the astonishing first prose novel from the legendary author of Watchmen and From Hell — an epic yet intimate portrait of a single English town across the whole span of human history.

The precursor to Jerusalem.

In a story full of lust, madness, and ecstasy, we meet twelve distinctive characters that lived in the same region of central England over the span of six thousand years. Their narratives are woven together in patterns of recurring events, strange traditions, and uncanny visions. First, a cave-boy loses his mother, falls in love, and learns a deadly lesson. He is followed by an extraordinary cast of characters: a murderess who impersonates her victim, a fisherman who believes he has become a different species, a Roman emissary who realizes the bitter truth about the Empire, a crippled nun who is healed miraculously by a disturbing apparition, an old crusader whose faith is destroyed by witnessing the ultimate relic, two witches, lovers, who burn at the stake. Each interconnected tale traces a path in a journey of discovery of the secrets of the land.
 
Throughout, the image of the fire resonates between the tales, while Moore finds a different voice for each character – though most are inherently duplicitous in some manner, leading to a further commentary on the disparity between myth and reality, and which is more likely to endure over time.

While I haven't read either Watchmen or From Hell, I most certainly know about them! It was the first line of the blurb though, about the 'story full of lust, madness, and ecstasy, that completely got me! I also love a cover that looks like a stain-glass window!

Silk Fire by Zabé Ellor (Solaris; 7/5/2022)

Set in a planet-sized matriarchal city where magic and technology freely bleed together, a male courtesan’s quest for vengeance against his aristocrat father draws him into an ancient struggle between dragons, necromancers, and his home district’s violent history.

Koré knew that meddling in politics could end badly, particularly when trying to sabotage his aristocratic father’s campaign before it destroys the city he has come to love. And when a chance encounter with a dying god imbues him with magic-breathing powers, it gets worse: he suddenly becomes a commodity – and a political player.

But the corruption in his city runs deeper than just one man, and an ally's betrayal unleashes an army of the dead on his home street. Koré must trust the world with his deepest secret to stand beside the woman and man he's finally let himself love, as only the bright truth of dragon's fire can break the iron fist of a necromancer's hold.

This one first caught me by the cover, but then that blurb also offers up all kinds of fascinating things. I love the idea of a matriarchy, I'm very curious about the name Koré as it's giving me Persephone-vibes, and are we getting more throuples in the Year of our Lord 2022?!

The Young Woman and the Sea by Catherine Meurisse (Europe Comics, 12/15/2021)

Catherine Meurisse once again draws upon her memories. Her stay in a far-off, strange-yet-familiar land, at the Japanese villa Kujoyama in 2018, provides the artist with another opportunity to pursue her creative quest, this time where the West and Far East meet. In the manner of Lewis Carroll, the young artist lets characters out of legend lead her through pictorial landscapes. Imagination and dialogue are key to penetrating the secrets of this strange territory and discovering why the young explorer finds it so fascinating. This Alice daydreams and wonders, returning every now and then to reality and nature, that dynamic dictator of events and situations. After The Great Outdoors, Catherine Meurisse continues her pursuit of beauty in an unknown land, between mountain and sea, illustrating landscapes that reflect the seasons and the artist’s progress. Truly splendid!

I've actually already started this one and I'm loving Meurisse's art style and the tone of the comic. Being abroad and completely out of your comfort zone can be so inspiring, if also quite terrifying, so I can't wait to see more about Meurisse's adventures in Japan.

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo (Macmillan-Tor/Forge; 5/10/2022)

It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic.

“No maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.” Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill—but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

Siren Queen offers up an enthralling exploration of an outsider achieving stardom on her own terms, in a fantastical Hollywood where the monsters are real and the magic of the silver screen illuminates every page.

How stunning is this cover? How beautiful and captivating?! I love the whole vibe of this book and I have a very strong feeling I'm going to adore Luli for going after everything it is she wants, even if it requires becoming a monster.

So that's my bookshelf! See anything you like?