Release Week: Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince, Django Wexler's The Thousand Names, Anthony Ryan's Blood Song, Melissa Marr's The Arrivals, Matt Haig's The Humans, and Stephen Graham Jones' Zombie Bake-Off

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Release Week: Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince, Django Wexler's The Thousand Names, Anthony Ryan's Blood Song, Melissa Marr's The Arrivals, Matt Haig's The Humans, and Stephen Graham Jones' Zombie Bake-Off

Posted on 2013-07-09 at 3:32 by Sam

JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2013: July is off and running with a first release week to jump-start your summer listening plans. From hard-to-the-point-of-being-nearly-incomprehensible sf (Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Fractal Prince) to a more The Hunger Games esque (with aliens!) book (Melissa Marr’s The Arrivals) to first books in new epic fantasy series (Django Wexler’s The Thousand Names and Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song) to the latest in quite a string of literary authorial takes on sf (Matt Haig’s The Humans), to… well, a Zombie Bake-Off. And beyond the “picks” there are plenty more to pick from, from Richard Kadrey’s Metrophage to the second book in D.B. Jackson’s historical fantasy series “Thieftaker”, post-apocalyptic Steampunk worlds of endless snow (Romulus Buckle), on and on. (It’s also a pretty big week for the “Seen but not Heard” listings, led by Neptune’s Brood by Charles Stross, so don’t forget your reading glasses alongside your earphones this month.) Happy listening, and sorry this one is coming so very late this week. It’s practically time for another post…

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Out in print last year and now in audio is a science fiction title which leads my picks this week: The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi, with narrator Scott Brick reprising his role as narrator on The Quantum Thief, though the publisher has changed from Macmillan Audio to Recorded Books for the sequel. The first book was a marvelous debut, a deep future of encrypted data exchange that bordered on the nearly incomprehensible even to this security software jockey, displaying Rajaniemi’s breathtaking grasp of higher maths as well as compelling writing. Here: “A physicist receives a mysterious paper. The ideas in it are far, far ahead of current thinking and quite, quite terrifying. In a city of “fast ones,” shadow players, and jinni, two sisters contemplate a revolution. And on the edges of reality a thief, helped by a sardonic ship, is trying to break into a Schrödinger box for his patron. In the box is his freedom. Or not. Jean de Flambeur is back. And he’s running out of time. In Hannu Rajaniemi’s sparkling follow-up to the critically acclaimed international sensation The Quantum Thief, he returns to his awe-inspiring vision of the universe…and we discover what the future held for Earth.”

fractal-prince-cropped-square thousand-names-cropped-square

The Thousand Names: Book One of The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler is also out from Recorded Books, though instead of months-delayed as Rajaniemi’s it is concurrent with the print/ebook release from Roc Hardcover, and instead of hundreds-of-titles-and-counting Brick as narrator it is Richard Poe, best known perhaps as the narrator on Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons but also a narrator of works by Don DeLillo (Underworld) and Cormac McCarthy (Blood Meridian). Here: “Enter an epic fantasy world that echoes with the thunder of muskets and the clang of steel—but where the real battle is against a subtle and sinister magic.” There’s an excerpt up at Tor.com as well.

More epic fantasy, you say? How about Blood Song: Raven’s Shadow, Book 1 By Anthony Ryan, Narrated By Steven Brand for Penguin Audio, out concurrent with the new US hardcover release and ebook re-releace by Ace. Originally self-published, the (e) book gained a considerable following and now gets the “big publisher” treatment complete with hardcover and audiobook. “Vaelin Al Sorna was only a child of ten when his father left him at the iron gate of the Sixth Order. The Brothers of the Sixth Order are devoted to battle, and Vaelin will be trained and hardened to the austere, celibate, and dangerous life of a Warrior of the Faith. He has no family now save the Order.”

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan The Arrivals by Melissa Marr

The Arrivals: A Novel By Melissa Marr, Narrated By Matt Burns for Harper Audio, concurrent with the print/ebook release. “Chloe walks into a bar and blows five years of sobriety. When she wakes, she finds herself in an unfamiliar world, The Wasteland. She discovers people from all times and places have also arrived there: Kitty and Jack, a brother and sister from the Wild West; Edgar, a prohibition bootlegger; Francis, a one-time hippie; Melody, a mentally unbalanced 1950s housewife; and Hector, a former carnival artist. None know why they arrived there or if there is way out of the The Wasteland, a world populated by monsters and filled with corruption.”

Though it shows up in the “fiction” listings, The Humans: A Novel by Matt Haig, narrated By Mark Meadows for Simon & Schuster Audio certainly takes a familiar science fictional approach to examining what it means to be human: “The narrator of this tale is no ordinary human, in fact, he’s not human at all. Before he was sent away from the distant planet he calls home, precision and perfection governed his life. He lived in a utopian society where mathematics transformed a people, creating limitless knowledge and immortality. But all of this is suddenly threatened when an earthly being opens the doorway to the same technology that the alien planet possesses. Cambridge University professor Andrew Martin cracks the Reimann Hypothesis and unknowingly puts himself and his family in grave danger when the narrator is sent to Earth to erase all evidence of the solution and kill anyone who has seen the proof. The only catch: the alien has no idea what he’s up against. Disgusted by the excess of disease, violence, and family strife he encounters, the narrator struggles to pass undetected long enough to gain access to Andrew’s research. But in picking up the pieces of the professor’s shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans’ imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there.”

The Humans by Matt Haig zombie-bake-off-front-cropped-square

Zombie Bake-Off By Stephen Graham Jones, Narrated By Scott Sowers for Recorded Books. “It’s time for the annual Recipe Days bake-off in Lubbock, Texas. Soccer moms and grandmothers gather to show off their family recipes, learn new secrets for the perfect shortcake, and perhaps earn a chance to be on the famous cooking show, How Would You Cook It, Then? When the bake-off is crashed by a federation of pro wrestlers - including American Badass, Jersey Devil Jill, Tiny Giant, The Village Person, Jonah the Whale, the Hellbillies, and the fan favorite Xombie - all hell is set to break loose.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Elisha Barber: The Dark Apostle, Book 1 | E. C. Ambrose Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders | Richard Ellis Preston Thieves' Quarry: Thieftaker Chronicles, Book 2 | [D. B. Jackson]

BLACKSTONE AUDIO: THE INTEGRAL TREES by Larry Niven, read by Tom Weiner; The Demon Lover: The Fairwick Trilogy, Book 1 By Juliet Dark, Narrated By Justine Eyre

MACMILLAN AUDIO: (Teen) A Midsummer Night’s Scream By R.L. Stine, Narrated By Brittany Pressley

PENGUIN AUDIO: Affliction: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 22 By Laurell K. Hamilton, Narrated By Kimberly Alexis; (Teen) SYLO: SYLO, Book 1 By D. J. MacHale, Narrated By Andrew Bates

HARPER AUDIO: (Teen) Vortex: Insignia, Book 2 By S. J. Kincaid, Narrated By Lincoln Hoppe

RECORDED BOOKS: Battle of Kings By M. K. Hume, Narrated By Steven Crossley; (Teen) Awaken: Abandon, 3 By Meg Cabot, Narrated By Natalia Payne

TANTOR AUDIO: Chaosbound: The Eighth Book of the Runelords By David Farland, Narrated By Ray Porter; The Magic of Recluce: Saga of Recluce, Book 1 By L. E. Modesitt, Narrated By Kirby Heyborne; Storm Surge: Destroyermen, Book 8 By Taylor Anderson, Narrated By William Dufris

OASIS: King: Books of the Infinite, Book 3 By R.J. Larson, Narrated By Brooke Sanford Heldman

BOLINDA: (Kids) Von Gobstopper’s Arcade: Strangest Adventures, Book 3 By Alexandra Adornetto, narrated By Matilda Reed; (Teen) The Cloud Road: Kingdom of the Lost, Book 2 By Isobelle Carmody

INDIE: These Old Tales By Kenneth W. Cain, Narrated By Alfred Clermont; The Calling: A Supernatural Thriller By Robert Swartwood, Narrated By Tristan Morris; Assault on the Gods: The Society Universe By Stephen Goldin, Narrated By Laura Jennings; Earthfall By Stephen Knight, Narrated By Guy Williams; and The Frozen Sky: The Novel By Jeff Carlson, Narrated By Darrin Revitz

HARLEQUIN: Beautiful Danger By Michele Hauf, Narrated By Amanda Cobb

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: Elisha Barber: (Book One of the Dark Apostle) by E.C. Ambrose; Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders By Richard Ellis Preston, Narrated By Luke Daniels

AUDIBLE INC: The Harp of Imach Thyssel By Patricia Wrede, Narrated By Nicole Greevy; (Teen) The Siren Song By Anne Ursu, Narrated By Cassandra Morris

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: Thieves’ Quarry: Thieftaker Chronicles, Book 2 By D. B. Jackson, Narrated By Jonathan Davis; White Trash Zombie Apocalypse By Diana Rowland, Narrated By Allison McLemore; On the Razor’s Edge: Tales of the Spiral Arm, Book 4 By Michael Flynn, Narrated By Tessa Auberjonois; Metrophage By Richard Kadrey, Narrated By Peter Ganim; Blood of the Demon (Kara Gillian, Book 2) By Diana Rowland, Narrated By Suzy Jackson

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

COMING SOON:

Crown Thief: Tales of Easie Damasco, Book 2 | [David Tallerman] The Flames of Shadam Khoreh: The Lays of Anuskaya, Book 3 | [Bradley P. Beaulieu]

AUGUST and LATER: SEPTEMBER and LATER:
  • Anthology: Glitter and Mayhem edited by John Klima, Lynne M. Thomas, and Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Books, Sep 1) — “Welcome to Glitter & Mayhem, the most glamorous party in the multiverse. Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery.”
  • Shaman: A novel of the Ice Age by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit, 3 Sep 2013) — UK release date, US date not confirmed for this historical fiction “novel set in the ice age, about the people who made the paintings in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in southern France, about 32,000 years ago”
  • Happy Hour In Hell (Bobby Dollar) by Tad Williams (Sep 3, 2013)
  • Chimes at Midnight: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire (Sep 3, 2013)
  • Constellations: A Play by Nick Payne (Faber and Faber Plays, Sep 3, 2013) — already available in Kindle and in the UK — via an interesting review on Tor.com
  • Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond (September 3, 2013)
  • 23 Years on Fire: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel by Joel Sheppard (Pyr, September 3, 2013) — “Commander Cassandra Kresnov has her hands full. She must lead an assault against the Federation world of Pyeongwha, where a terrible sociological phenomenon has unleashed hell against the civilian population. Then she faces the threat from a portion of League space known as New Torah, in which a ruthless regime of surviving corporations are building new synthetic soldiers but taking the technology in alarming directions.”
  • The Given Sacrifice: A Novel of the Change (Change Series) by S. M. Stirling (Sep 3, 2013)
  • The Scroll of Years: A Gaunt and Bone Novel by Chris Willrich (Pyr, September 10) — fantasy debut novel from the well-published in short f/sf Willrich, in his “Gaunt and Bone” sword and sorcery milieu
  • Monsters of the Earth (Books of the Elements #3) by David Drake (Tor, September 2013)
  • The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland Books, September 10) — ‘In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack’s about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme. In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure equal parts True Gritand Stand by Me–the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called “as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm–or Mark Twain” (New York Times Book Review).’
  • Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / Listening Library, Sep 10, 2013)
  • Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest (Tor, Autumn 2013)
  • American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett (Recorded Books, Sep 13) — published earlier this year in print/ebook, and perhaps to show up in digital audio a bit earlier (Sep 1)
  • The One-Eyed Man: A Fugue, With Winds and Accompaniment by L. E. Modesitt (Sep 17, 2013)
  • The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan (Orbit, Sep 17) — Riyria Chronicles #2
  • The Falconer by Elizabeth May (Gollanz UK, Sep 19) — I don’t see a US release until 2014 for this much-balyhooed debut fantasy
  • The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding (Sep 19, 2013) — final novel in the Ketty Jay series
  • Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio, September 24) — King returns to The Shining
  • Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Sep 24, 2013)
  • The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White (Tor, Sep 24) — “Secret societies, immortality, murder mysteries and Las Vegas all in one book? Shut up and take my money.” —John Scalzi
  • Dead Run, The by Adam Mansbach (HarperCollins, Sep 24, 2013)
  • Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse, September 24, 2013)
  • The Fall of the Governor: The Walking Dead, Book 3 By Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, Narrated By Fred Berman — Scheduled Release Date: 09-24-13
  • Collection: If Angels Fight: Stories by Richard Bowes (Fairwood Press/Patrick Swensen, September 2013) — collection of 14 stories – 3 new – all newly collected
OCTOBER and LATER:
  • Treecat Wars by David Weber (Oct 1, 2013)
  • Hero by Alethea Kontis (Harcourt Children’s Books, October 1)
  • Bastion: Book Five of the Collegium Chronicles (A Valdemar Novel) by Mercedes Lackey (Oct 1, 2013)
  • Pandemic by Scott Sigler (Crown, Oct 1, 2013)
  • Ghosts Know by Ramsey Campbell (Tor, Oct 1)
  • Anthology: Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, October 2)
  • Pull Down the Night by Nathan Kotecki (Houghton Mifflin, October 6) — second book in his YA urban fantasy series after The Suburban Strange
  • The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3) by Scott Lynch (Spectra, October 8)
  • Veil of the Deserters (Bloodsounder’s Arc #2) by Jeff Salyards (Night Shade Books, Oct 8, 2013)
  • A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish (Orbit, Oct 8) — originally self-published, now being re-published by Orbit
  • Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer and Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image, Oct 15, 2013) — an audiobook for this doesn’t make sense and so there isn’t one and won’t be one, but definitely a project I’m looking forward to
  • Copperhead by Tina Connolly (Tor, October 15, 2013) — follow-on to Ironskin cover revealed
  • Fiendish Schemes by K. W. Jeter (Tor, October 15) — “The long-awaited stand-alone sequel to the seminal novel Infernal Devices by one of the founding fathers of steampunk”
  • The Last Dark: The climax of the entire Thomas Covenant Chronicles (Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) by Stephen R. Donaldson (Oct 15, 2013)
  • The Blood Flower Throne by T.L. Morganfield (Panverse, October 19) — “the first book in a feminist retelling of the myths and legends surrounding the Toltec priest-king Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl”
  • The Abominable: A Novel by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown and Company, Oct 22, 2013)
  • Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, October 29) — book one is in audio from Blackstone
  • The Faceless One by Mark Onspaugh (Hydra, Oct 28, 2013)
  • Teen: Horde (Enclave) by Ann Aguirre (Macmillan Young Listeners, Oct 29, 2013) — “The epic conclusion to the USA Today bestselling trilogy.”
  • The n-Body Problem by Tony Burgess (ChiZine, October 2013) — “Tony Burgess returns to the realm of the zombie”
  • The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder UK, October 2013) — just announced — “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy meets Watchmen in Tidhar’s The Violent Century, the thoughtful and intensely atmospheric novel about the mystery, and the love story, that determined the course of history itself. The Violent Century is the sweeping drama of a time we know too well; a century of fear and war and hatred and death.  In a world where everyday heroes may become übermenschen, men and women with extraordinary powers, what does it mean to be a hero? To be a human? Would the last hundred years have been that much better if Superman were real? Would they even have been all that different?”
  • Collection: Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor (Prime, October 2013)
  • Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, November 1) — I know nothing about his other than the quite interesting cover…
  • Twenty-First Century Science Fiction by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor, Nov 5, 2013)
  • Starhawk by Jack McDevitt (Ace Hardcover, Nov 5)
  • Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach (Orbit, Nov 5)
  • Hell Bent: A Broken Magic Novel by Devon Monk (Nov 5, 2013)
  • Hild: A Novel by Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov 12, 2013) — “Since Griffith has won the Tiptree, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards, the Premio Italia, and the Lambda Literary Award six times, you’re well advised to grab this fictionalized portrait of a girl name Hild who grew up in seventh-century Britain and became St. Hilda’s of Whitby. Griffith gives us a determined and uncannily perceptive Hild who seems capable of predicting the future (or at least of human behavior), a trait that puts her in the life-and-death position of being made the king’s seer. The writing itself is uncannily perceptive, with none of the flowery excess of some historical fiction writing, though the detailed narrative runs close to 600 pages. I thought of Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall even before I noted the comparison in the promotion.” — LibraryJournal
  • Apparition by Trish J. MacGregor (Tor, Nov 12)
  • Watcher of the Dark by Joseph Nassise (Tor, November 19)
  • Bloodstone by Gillian Philip (Tor, Nov 19)
  • Arcanum by Simon Morden (Orbit, Nov 19) — “A historical fantasy novel of medieval Europe in which the magic that has run the world for centuries is disappearing– and now the gifts of the gods must be replaced with the ingenuity of humanity.”
  • The Land Across by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Nov 26)
  • Last to Rise by Francis Knight (Orbit, Nov 26) — concluding volume in a new trilogy which started with Knight’s debut Fade to Black in early 2013
  • The Irreal Reader: Fiction & Essays from The Cafe Irreal edited by G.S. Evans and Alice Whittenburg (Guide Dog, November 2013)
  • Collection: Bleeding Shadows by Joe R. Lansdale (Subterranean, November 2013)
  • Anthology: Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Tor, Dec 3) — table of contents includes Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, and Pat Cadigan, among others
NEXT YEAR:
  • The Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson (Jo Fletcher Books, January 7, 2014) — a “Viking fantasy novel” by a new Icelandic author
  • The Girl with All the Gifts by M.J. Carey (Orbit, Jan 7, 2014) — “Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her ‘our little genius’. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.” — link to cover
  • Rex Regis by L. E. Modesitt (Tor, Jan 7, 2014)
  • Dirty Magic (Prospero’s War) by Jaye Wells (Jan 21, 2014)
  • Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, January 21, 2014) — book 2 in The Stormlight Archive after The Way of Kings
  • Maze by J.M. McDermott (Apex, January 2014)
  • Leaving the Sea: Stories by Ben Marcus (Knopf, January 2014)
  • The Emperor’s Blades (The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1) by Brian Stavely (Tor, January 2014) — “follows siblings Valyn, Kaden, and Adare, who are in different parts of the world when they learn about the assassination of their father, the Emperor. All of them are in danger of being the next targets, and all of them are caught in the maelstrom of conspiracy, intrigue, treachery, and magic that sweeps through Staveley’s auspicious debut novel.”
  • Reign of Ash (Book Two in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga) by Gail Z. Martin (Orbit, January 2014) — follow-on to Ice Forged
  • Like a Mighty Army (Safehold) by David Weber (Feb 4, 2014)
  • The Crimson Campaign (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian McClellan (Orbit, February 2014)
  • The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison (Feb 25, 2014)
  • Dreamwalker by C.S. Friedman (February 2014)
  • The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking, Early 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King
  • Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2014) — the first of three “Southern Reach” novels being published in 2014 — “For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious, remote, and concealed by the government as an environmental disaster zone even though it is to all appearances pristine wilderness. For thirty years, too, the secret agency known as the Southern Reach has monitored Area X and sent in expeditions to try to discover the truth. Some expeditions have suffered terrible consequences. Others have reported nothing out of the ordinary. Now, as Area X seems to be changing and perhaps expanding, the next expedition will attempt to succeed where all others have failed. What is happening in Area X? What is the true nature of the invisible border that surrounds it?”
  • City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown/Broadway and Recorded Books, April 1, 2014) — “a second-world story of spies, subterfuge, and statesmanship set in a nation of dead gods.”
  • Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (Hodder & Stoughton, April 2014) — “The Nigerian megacity of Lagos is invaded by aliens, and it nearly consumes itself because of it.”
  • The Moon King by Neil Williamson (Newcon, April 2014) — Debut novel: “The story of The Moon King grew out of its setting, the sea-locked city of Glassholm, which is a thinly veneered version of Glasgow, Scotland where I live. Glasgow is a city of mood swings, brilliant with sun and warm sandstone one minute and dour with overcast and rain soaked tarmac the next. Summer days are long and filled with light. The winter months pass mostly in darkness. Living here, your spirit is tied to the city’s mood. As soon as I hooked that almost bipolar sense to the idea of natural cycles, the story blossomed. In Glassholm, the moon never sets and everything, from entropy to the moods of the populace, is affected by its phasing from Full to Dark and back to Full again. I wanted to know what would life be like there, what quirks nature might throw into the mix. And what would happen if it was discovered that the cyclic euphorias and depressions were not natural after all.”
  • Immolation (Children, #1) by Ben Peek (Tor UK, Spring 2014) is “set fifteen thousand years after the War of the Gods. The bodies of the gods now lie across the world, slowly dying as men and women awake with strange powers that are derived from their bodies. Ayae, a young cartographer’s apprentice, is attacked and discovers she cannot be harmed by fire. Her new power makes her a target for an army that is marching on her home. With the help of the immortal Zaifyr, she is taught the awful history of ‘cursed’ men and women, coming to grips with her new powers and the enemies they make. The saboteur Bueralan infiltrates the army that is approaching her home to learn its terrible secret. Split between the three points of view, Immolation‘s narrative reaches its conclusion during an epic siege, where Ayae, Zaifyr and Bueralan are forced not just into conflict with those invading, but with those inside the city who wish to do them harm.”
  • The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (Random House/Crown, May 2014) — “traces the harrowing twin journeys of two women forced to flee their homes in different times in the near future. The first, Meena, is a Brahmin-caste student whose odyssey takes her from the coastal city of Mumbai toward Djibouti across a futuristic but treacherous bridge that spans the Arabian Sea. The second, Mariama, escapes from slavery as a small child in Mauritania, joining a caravan heading across Saharan Africa toward Ethiopia.”
  • Blood and Iron by Jon Sprunk (Pyr, 2014)
  • The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula Jones (Greenwillow, Summer 2014) — “Fans of the late writer Diana Wynne Jones – who died in March 2011 – are in for an unexpected treat. In the summer of 2014, Greenwillow will publish a new title from the acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author. Titled The Islands of Chaldea, the book is a standalone novel unconnected to any of the author’s earlier works. It is also the result of an unusual, asynchronous collaboration between the writer and her younger sister, Ursula Jones.”
  • The Chaplain's War by Brad Torgerson (Baen, 2014)
  • Colossus by Stephen Messer (Random House Children's Books, 2014)
Posted in Release Week | Tagged anthony ryan, django wexler, hannu rajaniemi, scott brick, stephen graham jones