What’s Geeky in July 2022?

What up, Geeks?

Summer is in full swing, and not only is the weather hot but so are the great pieces of media coming for our beautiful geeky souls.

We’ve got some movies by the amazing directors Jordan Peele and Taika Waititi, the conclusion of the Camp Cretaceous story, a videogame where you get to be a cat and another where you get to be a bear running your own bed and breakfast, and so many books including a new novel by Timothy Zahn (the creator of Thrawn), and new work for fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Dragon Prince.

And don’t forget to sign up for Geek Alerts to be the first to hear about all of the great nerdy things coming your way.

With so many great things coming, let’s dive in!

Movies and TV Shows

July 1^st: Stranger Things 4 part 2, and The Princess

This is going to be a bloody day.

First, we get the insanely epic conclusion that we’ve all been waiting a month for with Stranger Things 4, part 2 on Netflix. After that insane cliffhanger, we’re all looking forward to seeing everything play out.

And, boy howdy, is it going to be epic! The last two episodes are about one and a half hours and two hours long respectively, making them the length of full-length movies and with a budget to match. The Duffer Brothers have said that part two will have more VFX than the entirety of season 3, which already had a lot of special effects going on. So, grab an Eggo and get ready!

Next, we have Hulu’s The Princess about a princess (played by Joey King) who was locked in a tower… and then proceeded to murder everyone who put her there as she tried to save her kingdom. Also starring Dominic Cooper (you’ll remember him from Preacher and as Howard Stark) as the sociopathic fiancé who put her in the tower, the movie promises lots of action and blood and is directed by Vietnamese action-movie maker Le-Van Kiet.

July 5^th: Titans

HBO’s Titans returns for its fourth season having previously saved Gotham from Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) and returning with Jason Todd. With rumors of Damian Wayne joining the team, this means that all three Robins will be on the show. What we don’t know yet is who the villain will be. I’ve seen rumors that it will be Brother Blood, but we just don’t know yet. Either way, it’s going to be awesome!

July 7^th: Moonhaven

This new show from AMC+ focuses on a smuggler, Bella Sway (played by Emma McDonald) who is marooned on a utopian colony on the moon called Moonhaven. Unable to believe in Paradise on the Moon, she teams up with a local detective to investigate a conspiracy involving the community’s AI and a plot to destroy the Earth.

Joining Emma McDonald will be Joe Manganiello and Dominic Monaghan among many others.

July 8^th: Thor: Love and Thunder and The Sea Beast

This will be a fun day.

First up is Thor: Love and Thunder in movie theaters where everyone’s favorite Norse God is trying his best to retire and relax. We all knew that wouldn’t last, and this time his peace is interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, who has made it his mission to destroy all of the gods. Joining the great blonde hunk are his old friends the Guardians of the Galaxy, King Valkyrie, Korg, and Thor’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster, who can now wield the power of Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor.

Next is the Netflix movie The Sea Beast, about a young girl named Maisie Brumble who stows away on a sea monster hunting ship in order to be close to her hero, the great monster hunter Jacob Holland. With no way to return her to shore, Jacob is stuck with young Maisie and must work with her as they hunt ferocious monsters who… may not be all that they seem.

July 12^th: What We Do in the Shadows

Season 4 of FX’s show will premier four days after the movie premiere of Taika Waititi’s latest movie (you know, Thor), who also created the original movie of this Vampire mockumentary about a bunch of misfit vampire roommates. In addition to its fantastic and absurd writing, the show also boasts an impressive list of guest stars including Mark Hamill as a vampire looking for unpaid rent from the 1800s, Benedict Wong as a necromancer and tchotchke salesman, and Scott Bakula as himself.

July 14^th: Resident Evil

Netflix has now jumped in the ring with an adaptation of one of the most successful videogame franchises of all time, Resident Evil. The show is set to take place over two different timelines, before and after the T-virus infects the world, and will follow Jade Wesker, the daughter of the sinister Dr. Albert Wesker who is partly responsible for the virus that destroyed the world.

July 21^st: Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous

The final season of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is finally here! The show follows six teens as they are left behind on Isla Nublar following the destruction of Jurassic World and their subsequent adventures getting off the island. Now in the clutches of the fallen theme park’s ruthless competitors, the team will have to risk it all to save the dinosaurs—and themselves—from the evil men in Mantah Corp. who have now unlocked the ability to communicate with the prehistoric predators.

July 22^nd: Nope

Writer/director Jordan Peele is at it again with a new horror story starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as the owners of a horse ranch in California who witness a close encounter from outer space. Hoping to profit off of their encounter with the extraterrestrials they try to film their next visit… and that’s when things start to go horribly wrong.

Video Games

There are a lot of videogames coming this month, including a new Digimon game celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the anime (boy, did that hit me right in the age), several rereleases onto new platforms, and a game where you get to be a cat.

July 8^th:

Arcadegeddon

PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC

The owner of the last arcade is trying to keep his doors open against the ruthless tactics of Fun Fun Co, who have infected the games with a virus. As one of the arcade’s best customers, you are tasked with going into the games to defeat the viruses, Tron-style. While it does feature single-player, Arcadegeddon also features several multiplayer options and games.

Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC

Bandai Namco Entertainment is rereleasing fully remastered versions of the 3D side-scrolling adventure games Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil. Relive the adventures of Klonoa as he fights against evil forces in the dream worlds. This remastered version will include adjustable difficulty settings and the ability for two-person cooperative gameplay.

July 13^th:

Loopmancer

PC

Loopmancer is a rogue-lite action game about a detective named Xiang Zixu who is stuck in a Groundhog’s Day loop where he must investigate the death of a journalist in this cyberpunk futuristic city. Every time he dies and wakes up again in his apartment he has the option to change how events play out. But is it always for the better?

July 14^th:

Eyes in the Dark: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom

PC

We have another side-scrolling adventure with the new Eyes in the Dark game about young Victoria Bloom who must rescue her family from the haunted Bloom Manor. To battle ghosts, monsters, and spiders as big as a room Victoria Bloom has only her trusty flashlight to banish the darkness.

July 19^th:

As Dusk Falls

Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Next, we have the interactive crime drama about two families in a small town in Arizona spanning generations and thirty years. The game starts out with a robbery-gone-wrong and from there, your choices will make a powerful impact on the characters’ lives. Will you be able to break free of your family’s toxicity? Will you survive?

Endling: Extinction is Forever

PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

In this game, you will play as the last mother fox on earth, scavenging for food and protecting your young as the world around you slowly decays and dies. A beautiful forest in the game’s beginning becomes a barren wasteland. A clear stream becomes a garbage dump. And the humans that you cannot understand slowly become sicker and sicker until, like the trees, they start to disappear.

Stray

PS4, PS5, PC

Play as a stray cat, alone and separated from his family, as you navigate the neon-lit underbelly of a cyberpunk city inhabited by strange droids and fearsome monsters. Be sneaky, fast, silly, or just be as annoying as you can as you knock over bottles and other objects as you explore. Helping you on your journey is a small flying drone named B-12 who, just like you, wants to get out.

July 21^st:

Wayward Strand

PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC

“A heartfelt story, told in a curious way.” Taking place on an airborne hospital, you play as Casey Beaumaris, an intrepid teenage journalist on the airship for the first time. Walk through the flying hospital and discover the stories of the various patients. Uncover the airship’s many mysteries as the inhabitants go through their various routines as they live out their lives.

July 22^nd:

Live A Live

Switch

This RPG from 1994 is getting a brand new remake for Western audiences. The game is played in seven chapters (with an eighth chapter and a final confrontation after all other chapters are completed) covering different periods of time from pre-historic times to Edo Japan to the Wild West to the far future. All seven protagonists in different times must confront a powerful enemy with the same name: Odio.

July 28^th:

Bear and Breakfast

Switch, PC

Have you ever wanted to create a bed and breakfast? Have you ever wanted to live life as a bear? Well, now you can do both! Bear and Breakfast allows you to forage for supplies in a wooded landscape teeming with tourists. With your sense of decoration tingling, get out your hammer and your massive paws and build the ideal bed and breakfast with the help of your woodland pals.

Lost Epic

PS4, PS5, PC

This 2D sidescrolling RPG adventure allows you to become the God Slayer, a knight traveling around the world of Sanctum where humans are at war with the gods. Combine your Divine Skills to create deadly combos that can take down any opponent and craft weapons and potions through fishing and cultivation. All of this will help you take down the Pantheon of Six.

July 29^th:

Digimon Survive

PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC

The Digital Monsters are back! And just in time for the 25^th anniversary of the anime (wow, I just felt old). This game sees a brand new group of teenagers who get lost on a school camping trip and are sent into a new world full of monsters. The choices you make will affect how your Digimon evolves, as well as the final ending.

Xenoblade Chronicle 3

Switch

Noah and Mio are two soldiers from the opposing and warring countries of Keves and Agnus who are inexplicably linked together as they journey across a massive open world. Command up to six characters in the action RPG as you try to end the cycle of violence between two warring nations and discover that the real enemy is something much worse.

Books

As always I haven’t included the massive amount of Manga and Graphic Novels being released but, rest assured, they’re there.

But I would like to direct your attention to the new books by such greats as Timothy Zahn (creator of Star Wars’ Thrawn novels) and the master of alternative history, Harry Turtledove. There are also tie-ins to Avatar the Last Airbender, Netflix’s The Dragon Prince, and the Shroud of the Avatar video games.

Without further ado, here are the books released in July.

July 5^th:

• The Darkening by Sunya Mara—YA Dark Fantasy
• The Jigsaw Assassin by Catherine Asaro—Book 4 of the Major Bhaajan Series, Space Opera
• Nura and the Immortal Palace by M.T. Khan—Middle Readers, Fantasy
• Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist—Book 3 of The Firemane, Epic Fantasy
• 1812: The Rivers of War by Eric Flint—Alternative History
• The Icarus Plot by Timothy Zahn—Space Opera
• Lark and the Wild Hunt by Jennifer Adam—Middle Reader Fantasy
• Flying the Coop by Lucinda Roy—Book 2 of The Dreambird Chronicles, Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction

July 6^th:

• The Snow Laundry by Mette Jakobsen—eBook only, Middle Readers Dystopian Science Fiction

July 7^th:

• The Hedge Witch by Cari Thomas—eBook only, Fantasy
• Firetide Coast by Claire McKenna—Book 3 of The Monstrous Heart Trilogy, eBook only, Historical Fantasy
• Twice We Make Magic by Sarah Driver—YA Fantasy

July 12^th:

• The Outward Urge by John Wyndham—Hard Science Fiction, Space Opera
• Into the Narrowdark by Tad Williams—Book 3 of The Last King of Osten Ard, Dark Fantasy
• The Wizard of Eventide by Jon Skovron—Book 3 of The Goddess War, Epic Fantasy
• Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik—Romantic Space Opera
• Crimson Twill: Witch in the City by Kallie George—Middle Readers Fantasy
• The Moonday Letters by Emmi Itaranta—Science Fiction, LGBTQ
• The Last Storm by Tim Lebbon—Post-apocalyptic Science Fiction, Thriller

July 19^th:

• Dauntless by Elisa A. Bonnin—YA Epic Fantasy, LGBTQ
• The Mysterious Messenger by Gilbert Ford—Middle Reader Fantasy and Mystery
• These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan—Book 2 of These Hollow Vows, Dark Fantasy
• Bloodmoon Huntress by Nicole Andelfinger and Felia Hanakata—Middle Readers, Fantasy Graphic Novel, a tie-in to The Dragon Prince tv show
• Heat Wave by T.J. Klune—Book 3 of Extraordinaries, YA Fantasy, Superheroes, LGBTQ
• Dead Water by C.A. Fletcher—Science Fiction, Horror
• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia—Science Fiction, Horror, Hispanic & Latino
• The Dawn of Yangchen by F.C. Yee—Book 3 of Avatar Kyoshi, YA Epic Fantasy, a tie-in to Avatar: The Last Airbender tv show
• The Mirror Fractured Path by J.C. Cervantes—YA Historical Fantasy
• We All Go Home by Sarah Gailey—Urban Fantasy

July 26^th:

• Padawan by Kiersten White—a Star Wars novel, Middle Readers Science Fiction and Space Opera
• The Tablet of Destinies by Roberto Classo—Historical Fantasy and Mythology
• The Eye of Scales by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott—Book 2 of Blade of the Avatar, Epic Fantasy, a tie-in to Shroud of the Avatar video game
• Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen—YA Dark Fantasy
• Master of Iron by Tricia Levenseller—Book 2 of Bladesmith, YA Fantasy
• A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows—Romantic Fantasy
• The Book of Gothel by Mary McMyne—Fairy Tale, Fantasy
• A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys—Hard Science Fiction
• Denial by Jon Raymond—Dystopian Science Fiction and Political Thriller
• The Awoken by Katelyn Monroe Howes—Dystopian Science Fiction and Political Thriller
• Three Miles Down by Harry Turtledove—Alternate History and Science Fiction
• The Witchery by S. Isabelle—YA Urban Fantasy and Horror
• Beasts of Ruin by Ayana Gray—Book 2 of Beasts of Prey, YA Fantasy
• Grounded for All Eternity by Darcy Marks—Middle Readers Fantasy
• The Doom of Odin by Scott Oden—Fantasy and Mythology

That’s July

That’s July, Geeks!

There’s lots of great stuff for you to enjoy with that glass of ice-cold lemonade as you sit by the pool. Sign up for Geek Alerts to stay current on all the Geeky things coming your way.

Keep it Geeky!