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The Warm Machine by Aimee Cozza

When a robot built for construction work first sees an angular, sleek prototype military robot slink onto the base he's working outside of, he immediately falls in love. The problem is, only anomalous bots understand the concept of love, and the lowly laborbot has not deviated from his default programming once. So he thinks, anyway. When the laborbot is scheduled for decommission, the military bot cannot possibly live without him, and the two bots set out on a path to find the fabled anomalous robot utopia Root. COVER ARTIST: Aimee Cozza PUBLISHER: 9mm Press YEAR: 2024 LENGTH: 196 pages  AGE: Adult GENRE: Science Fiction RECOMMENDED: Highly Queer Rep Summary: The main characters are robots, likely closest to aro/ace but those terms aren't quite applicable. Gender is also not an important factor. THE WARM MACHINE plays with ideas of friendship, connection, and searching for utopia, all through the lens of a construction robot who falls in love at first sight with a military bot....

Late September Reviews (2024)

Greetings

Welcome to the Books That Burn Fortnightly Roundup! Releasing every two weeks (one week early for Patrons) - at least that’s the plan. My father-in-law passed away at the end of September, and it’ll be a few weeks yet before everything is settled with that. If the next newsletter is delayed, it will not be by more than a week or two.

I’ve been participating in BBNYA 2024, and for the next two months there will be book spotlight posts on the blog. I’ve read parts of some of the books, but I’m sharing all the SFF books it seemed like you, the audience, might like, given that you like my reviews and the podcast.

News and Events

I am no longer using TheStoryGraph, due to their continued use of AI.

I track upcoming book releases by authors we've previously covered on a shareable google calendar.

Notable October Releases:

  • Right Hand by Natalie Zina Walschotts

  • Swordcrossed by Freya Marske

  • Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

  • The Reanimator's Remains by Kara Jorgensen

Recent Reviews

A CROWN SO CURSED by L.L. McKinney, book 3 of The Nightmareverse is Fantasy, with queer character(s), marketed as Young Adult. Alice has to defend her family when the Nightmares get stronger and stranger. Told in First/Third Person with Ensemble POVs.

Review forthcoming for SWORDCROSSED by Freya Marske.

Rereads and Older Reviews

I’m still re-reading October Daye, but I’m nearing the end and have started having room for new books.

Current Reads

THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR by Victoria Goddard is a queer slow-burn about the Secretary to the Sun on Earth. It’s nearly a thousand pages, and the first 500 pages have been excellent.

FOUL HEART HUNTSMAN by Chloe Gong is the sequel to FOUL LADY FORTUNE. It’s been a while since I read the previous book, so my main praise for now is that it’s very forgiving of gaps in information, helping me catch up and remember what happened last time even as new things occur.

In Case You Missed It

This time last year I read TALES OF MUNDANE MAGIC: VOLUME FOUR by Shaina Krevat.

Pluggables and Podcast News

As for the podcast, hopefully you're enjoying our most recent episode. If you'd like to receive episodes early, as well as bonus content, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Patrons receive this newsletter one week early, as well as a list of upcoming podcast episodes and even more planned reviews.

Patrons at any level receive the booklist with our planned episodes for up to three months at a time.

Thanks for reading, the next roundup will be in two weeks!

-Robin

Co-host of Books That Burn

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