Halloween is over, the clocks have gone back, and the Holidays are hurtling towards us at a rapid pace. But at Turnaround, we’re here to remind you that there’s still plenty of exciting things — honestly, they’re all books — coming in the month of November to get you through those dark, cosy… 4 PMs…
Here’s our round up of the new fiction titles coming in November! Whether you’re looking to recapture the magic of spooky season with tales of folk horror, escape the cold with an exciting fantasy adventure, or discover a new favourite comfort-read to see you into the Holiday season, these books have got you covered.
Toto by A. J. Hackwith
ACE | 9780593546574 | PB | £16.99 | 12th November 2024
The true hero of The Wizard of Oz takes centre stage in this brilliant, delightfully snarky reimagining told by Toto, the dog.
I was mostly a Good Dog until they sold me out to animal control, okay?
But if it’s a choice between Oz, with its creepy little singing dudes, and being behind bars in grey old Kansas, I’ll choose the place where animals talk and run the show for now, thanks.
It’s not my fault that the kid is stuck here too, or that she stumbled into a tug-of-war over a pair of slippers that don’t even taste good. Now one witch in good eyeliner calls her pretty and we’re off on a quest? Teenagers. I try to tell her she’s falling in with the wrong crowd when she befriends a freaking hedge wizard made of straw, that blue jay with revolutionary aspirations, and the walking tin can. Still, I’m not one to judge when there’s the small matter of a coup in the Forest Kingdom….
Look, something really stinks in Oz, and this Wizard guy and the witches positively reek of it. As usual, it’s going to be up to a sensible little dog to do a big dog’s job and get to the bottom of it.
And trust me: Little dogs can get away with anything.
“Full of energy, wit, and no shortage of snark, TOTO made me grin from start to finish. This is my headcanon for Oz now – the version of Oz we all need!” – Jo Miles, author of Ravenous State
The Great Library of Tomorrow by Rosalia Aguilar Solace
Text Publishing Co. | 9781911231455 | HB | £20.00 | 12th November 2024
Helia has served as the Sage of Hope for the Great Library of Tomorrow for centuries. She is one of the chosen few who embody and protect the values of humanity across the numerous realms of Paperworld, which are connected within the Library itself via magical Portals controlled by the Book of Wisdom. But even her hope is tested when she and her partner Xavier, the Sage of Truth, are attacked while visiting the famous Rose Garden in the realm of Silvyra.
Wounded and in shock amidst a storm of fire, they are confronted by a deadly figure known to them as the Ash Man. With the Garden destroyed and its dragon protector missing, Xavier sacrifices his life so that Helia can return home to warn the other Sages. But there she finds the Book of Wisdom — always a guide to the Sages — eerily silent. With the Ash Man gaining strength, Helia soon finds herself in a race against time, searching for clues to the origins of their foe—and any possible way to defeat him.
Fuelled by the same collaborative heart and boundless imagination that dazzle millions of devoted Tomorrowland followers and festivalgoers every year, The Great Library of Tomorrow is perfect for fans of The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn.
“Exuberant and inventive, The Great Library of Tomorrow is an epic, worlds-spanning adventure that is too full of heart to have any room for cynicism. A joyous paean to the power of stories.” — Julie Leong, author of The Teller of Small Fortunes
In Thrall by Jane DeLynn
Divided Publishing Limited | 9781739516161| PB | £11.99 | 19th November 2024
“Dear Miss Maxfeld … what I’m really afraid of is that I am a homosexual human being. I wish you were one too but I don’t think it’s possible there could be so many in one school, do you? — probably there is only one person who is homosexual in one place at one time and that one person (I am afraid) is me …”
After sixteen-year-old Lynn writes her thirty-seven-year-old English teacher a letter they embark on one of the funniest — and saddest — love affairs in fiction, shrouded in secrecy and guilt.
Experience the first part of Jane DeLynn’s lost trilogy, exploring sex and authority, this November. With an introduction from Colm Tóibín.
Your Own Dark Shadow Edited by Jack Fennell
Tramp Press | 9781915290106 | PB | £14.99 | 8th November 2024
An old house turns out to not be as empty as its new owners supposed. A nobleman barters his soul in exchange for arcane knowledge. A stranger with a terrible curse looks for an unsuspecting victim to take her place.
Monsters, killers and unquiet spirits stalk these stories, drawn from the places where folklore, the Gothic and modern fiction intertwine — Irish literature’s dark and ever-present shadow.
Edited and introduced by Jack Fennell, this collection of lesser-known works of classic Irish horror includes stories by William Carleton, Henry de Vere Stacpoole, Mildred Darby and more.
Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia
Dead Ink Books | 9781915368799 | PB | £10.99 | 28th November 2024
An influencer attempts to derail a viral TV marketing campaign with her violent cult following. A marriage between two ghost hunters is threatened when one of them loses her ability to see spirits. The lives of a famous painter in the twilight of her career and a teenage UFO enthusiast converge when a mysterious glowing orb appears in their small desert town. And a slasher-flick screenwriter looking for inspiration escapes a pack of wild dogs only to find herself locked in an SUV with a strange man beside her.
Set primarily in deserts throughout the American Southwest, Lena Valencia’s Mystery Lights is a debut collection of stories about women and girls at the crossroads of mundane daily life and existential dread. From the all-too-real horror of a sexual predator on a college campus to a lost sister transformed by cave-dwelling creatures, Mystery Lights grapples with terrors both familiar and fantastic, introducing an electrifying new voice in contemporary fiction while bringing to light the many faces of the forces that haunt us.
Bad Houses by John Elizabeth Stintzi
Arsenal Pulp Press | 9781551529615| PB | £18.99 | 21st November 2024
From John Elizabeth Stintzi, the mind that created the daringly bizarre novel My Volcano (Two Dollar Radio, 2022), comes an electrifying collection of strange and dark tales.
In the surreal, often precarious realities of Bad Houses, a doctor discovers a double-edged cure for the Ebola virus, a college student loses a different body part each time they return home for the summer, Midas’s hairdresser strives to keep his secrets, and a young girl develops a fascination with the trolls who harvest her father’s pumpkin patch. At once humourous and horrifying, these stories will inevitably take residence in your mind.
Present throughout Bad Houses is a deep and abiding sense of humanity sprinkled with a dash of alienation, guilt, and instability. Filtered through a fabulist lens, these stories contemplate the struggles of modern existence. Each character lives their own haunted life, trying to navigate the path from bad houses to good homes.
Featuring Stintzi’s own expressive ink illustrations, Bad Houses is a book that feels like it was penned by a trans Alice Munro mixed with a bubblier Franz Kafka. Enter if you dare.
Brick Lane Book Shop: New Short Stories
BLB Press | 9781916208254| PB | £9.95 | 15th November 2024
The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize was created in 2019 as a celebration of the short story form and the resilience of independent booksellers. Funded by Brick Lane Bookshop, the competition is open to all UK residents and seeks to discover, publish and promote new, exciting and diverse voices in fiction.
This edition features twelve short stories selected from over 1000 entries to the 2024 Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize. It’s a showcase of some of the boldest new voices in short fiction. Featuring: Sean Bell, Danny Beusch, Rosie Chen, Jane Coneybeer, Louie Conway, Karrish Devan, Karishma Jobanputra, Sharmaine Lim, David McGarth, Ali Roberts, Laura Surynt, and Sukie Wilson.
