Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Remember You Will Die by Eden Robins, which is out October 22nd 2024.

A search. A puzzle. Sixty protagonists—all of whom are dead.

Told entirely through obituaries and ricocheting through time, Remember You Will Die is an innovative, genre-bending epic about the messy tapestry of human history and the threads that connect us, told through the eyes of Peregrine, an AI mother grappling with the unexpected death of her human daughter, Poppy.

And from the newspaper clippings of individual lives emerges something else unexpected: generations entwined through blood and art and the consequences of their actions, betrayals and redemptions that traverse our dying world and beyond.

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The post Read An Excerpt From ‘Remember You Will Die’ by Eden Robins appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

After 37 days of awkward summer romance, I had decided my eighth-grade boyfriend and I were not meant to be. And when I broke the news to him over the phone (give me a break, I was twelve), I figured he’d be upset. Maybe say something like “what did I do?” or “I don’t want to be ‘just friends,’” or even call me a bitch. Standard 20^th century tween stuff! Instead, he was silent for a moment. I smushed the phone against my ear, wondering if he’d hung up on me. But then, he yelled (yelled!): “Germany needs a third empire! Kill all the Jews!”

So that was my first breakup.

This is one of those stories that has pinged around in my brain like a ‘90s screensaver ever since. Free-floating and oddly disconnected from the rest of my life. Not like I hadn’t experienced other breakups since, not like I hadn’t experienced more antisemitism. But I was never able to make sense of it, or slot it in context with the rest of my life. I mean, the story was weird. It embarrassed me. It had the potential to bring every conversation to a screeching, humiliating halt. And I always got a sneaking feeling that people didn’t believe me.

When I was doing research for my debut novel When Franny Stands Up – a queer Marvelous Mrs. Maisel where jokes are magic – I took a stand-up comedy class in Chicago called Fem Com, taught by the ridiculously talented comedian Alex Kumin. I took the class because I wanted to know what the creative process of joke-writing was like, and what it felt like to stand under a hot spotlight, microphone at my lips. What I had not planned to learn was how writing stand-up comedy would help me rewrite my painful memories until they made sense. Until they were mine, and not just a collection of stuff that had happened to me.

Now, I’ve written plenty of personal essays about my life, but somehow this was different. Personal essays didn’t offer the same catharsis as picking my memories apart to find the humor and absurdity in them. Of writing and rewriting to find the perfect word with the perfect rhythm to make a joke funny, funnier, funniest. It really rankles me when people think being funny means you’re unserious. There is nothing harder or more serious than the gentle but persistent demands of humor. Look closer, closer, what about this shadow? Shine that light here, don’t be afraid, and don’t look away. I have such respect for comedians, because to be truly good they must be brave and above all, honest.

I once heard someone define trauma as a “rupture in meaning-making,” and in my short, one-night tenure as a stand-up, I found comedy to be an art form that mends this rupture. Not only that – that rupture becomes something totally new, something bright and bold. Like the Japanese art of Kintsugi – mending the cracks in pottery with gold – or the visible mending of ripped clothes. If there will be scars no matter what, why not make them beautiful?

Transforming difficult and traumatic experiences into jokes forces you to stop hiding from them, to spread them out in front of you. You approach them with all your senses – what shape are they? What’s that stench, really? What did he say, exactly? It’s a kind of therapy, applying physical senses to memory instead of just vaporous feelings. I was finally able to examine my thirteen-year-old Nazi-obsessed ex, really look at him, and suddenly I wasn’t embarrassed anymore. I didn’t care if the story made people uncomfortable or made them doubt me. This was my shitty experience, and honestly? It’s fucking hilarious. Because I say so.

And when I made an audience laugh at it with me? That was pure magic.

This experience of doing stand-up was the inspiration for the Showstopper – the magic in When Franny Stands Up. The Showstopper is a kind of magic that only female stand-up comedians have. By being honest and gently molding their secrets and traumas on their own terms, the comedians in my book get to experience the kind of healing that I did. Then, when they make their audience laugh, the audience gets to feel that comedian’s Showstopper — something unique; a mystical or pleasurable or wacky feeling that only that particular comedian could bestow. The audience might feel like a Hollywood starlet, they might believe they can fly, they might have a literal orgasm right there in their seats. Each Showstopper can only be conjured by that particular comedian. By bringing something new into the world with the power of their voices, they turn pain into pleasure. They defang their memories and remake themselves into something glorious. And hilarious.

It wasn’t easy for me to examine this old memory – which happened at a tender, confusing time in my life. And so many other memories came flooding back with it. But I had had enough of feeling small and ashamed, and as the jokes came, they fit together like a puzzle that made me make sense. These stories were mine, but they didn’t define me. And when I made people laugh, I knew I wasn’t the only one who needed to hear them.

The post The Transformational Power of Humour: How To Write A Comedy About Trauma appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

From Susan Dennard, the New York Times bestselling author of the Witchlands series, comes a haunting and high-octane contemporary fantasy, about the magic it takes to face your fears in a nightmare-filled forest, and the mettle required to face the secrets hiding in the dark corners of your own family.

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth
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White Horse is a gritty, vibrant debut from Erika T. Wurth about an Indigenous woman who must face her past when she discovers a bracelet haunted by her mother’s spirit.

The Ones We Burn by Rebecca Mix
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Love and duty collide in this richly imagined, atmospheric young adult debut about a witch whose dark powers put her at the center of a brewing war between the only family she’s ever known and the enemy who makes her question everything.

The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

USA TODAY bestselling author Kimberly Belle returns with a deeply addictive thriller exploring the dark side of the digital world when a mommy-blogger’s assistant goes missing.  

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin
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Love isn’t always by the book in this charming romantic comedy about a bookseller discovering how to be the main character in her story.

Wicked Little Things by Justin Arnold
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A campy teen horror novel that follows Dane as he returns to his hometown of Jasper Hollow intent on solving his cousin’s grisly murder with the help of a coven of mean girls intent on making him over.

Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Celeste, a card sharp with a penchant for trouble, takes on the role of advocatus diaboli, to defend her sister Mariel, accused of murdering a Virtue, a member of the ruling class in the mining town of Goetia, in a new world of dark fantasy.

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The author of the “swoon-worthy debut” (Harper’s Bazaar) The Charm Offensive returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord…only to fall for his sister.

When Franny Stands Up by Eden Robins
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel meets A League of Their Own in this inspiring story Buzzfeed calls “a warm hug of a novel.”

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

When their now famous ex-boyfriend asks them to participate in a teen reality show, two eighteen year old girls―one bent on revenge, the other open to rekindling romance―get tangled up in an unexpected twist when they fall for each other instead in Never Ever Getting Back Together by nationally and internationally-bestselling and Indie Next Pick author Sophie Gonzales.

Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli
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Someday, Maybe is a stunning, witty debut novel about a young woman’s emotional journey through unimaginable loss, pulled along by her tight-knit Nigerian family, a posse of friends, and the love and laughter she shared with her husband.

A Matter of Happiness by Tori Whitaker
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A cherished heirloom opens up a century of secrets in a bittersweet novel about family, hard truths, and self-discovery by the author of Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish.

What November releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post November 2022 Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.