Release Week: Countdown City, This is How You Die, The Long War, and Helen & Troy's Epic Road Quest

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Release Week: Countdown City, This is How You Die, The Long War, and Helen & Troy's Epic Road Quest

Posted on 2013-07-23 at 3:43 by Sam

JULY 10-16, 2013: Well… yet another Release Week post coming nearly a week late. I could try to excuse this with time spent on a lot of additions to the “Coming Soon” listings, including Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam (September 3), James Gunn’s Transcendental (August 27), Mur Lafferty’s Ghost Train to New Orleans (March 4, 2014) and, well, too many to list up here. But! Honestly I’ve had it mostly ready since mid last week, and just couldn’t find the time to finish it up. On the plus side, it allowed time to finish Countdown City so I could give it a bit of a nicer writeup, which it well deserves. Enjoy! I’m catching up on a wonderful title from 2012, Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore — what are you listening to this week?

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Countdown City: The Last Policeman, Book 2 By Ben H. Winters, Narrated By Peter Berkrot for Brilliance Audio, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Quirk Books. This is the one where I was looking at this week’s titles and said: yup, this is the book to start with, and so that is exactly what I did. I really liked The Last Policeman and Countdown City turns the ratchet up a notch on the impending global doom of “Maya”, a planet-killing asteroid on a collision course for Earth. Less than three months to go, but hey, who’s counting? Everyone. Here, Countdown City starts with a missing persons case, but with people going “Bucket List” left and right, and the shutdown of the adult crimes investigative division, it’s anything but easy to even begin. On to the University of New Hampshire campus — now a student-led anarchist squat — and through a few twists and turns, though not quite as tightly-plotted as the first book it’s still a fantastic listen. I could easily stand for this series to give us several more books before the asteroid hits, and then, hey, gives us a series of detective novels set in a post-apocalyptic landscape reminiscent of The Road. Mr. Winters and Quirk Books, along with Brilliance Audio and narrator Berkrot, make like Henry Palace and just keep going.

Countdown City: The Last Policeman, Book 2 | [Ben H. Winters] This Is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death | [David Malki (editor), Ryan North (editor)]

Next up is the second in an anthology series after 201o’s (group) self-published Machine of Death, this time around to wide distribution fanfare and an audio edition: This Is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death edited by Matthew Bennardo, David Malki, and Ryan North, narrated by Will Collyer, Dan Woren, Erin Bennett, and Tessa Auberjonois for Hachette Audio, concurrent with the print/ebook editions from Grand Central. The editors considered nearly 2000 stories to come up with a final table of contents, all stories following the successful blueprint of the first anthology: you are told how you will die, but not when. And there is no escape…

Out in print/ebook a bit earlier this summer and now in audio this week is the sequel to last year’s The Long Earth, The Long War: The Long Earth, Book 2 by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, with narrator Michael Fenton-Stevens returning to bring the story to life for Harper Audio. Book one introduced Joshua, Lobsang, and The Long Earth (uncounted millions of alternate Earths a potato-electronic-device “step” away, one after the other), and here the story picks up: “A generation after the events of The Long Earth, humankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by “stepping”. A new “America” - Valhalla - is emerging more than a million steps from Datum - our Earth. Thanks to a bountiful environment, the Valhallan society mirrors the core values and behaviors of colonial America. And Valhalla is growing restless under the controlling long arm of the Datum government. Soon Joshua, now a married man, is summoned by Lobsang to deal with a building crisis that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any humankind has waged before.” It’s a strange synthesis of Pratchett’s humor — c’mon, a potato device to reach alternate worlds, and everyone vomits after each “step” — and Baxter’s deep/hard sf worldbuilding and strange, step-wise biologies, but it works. It’s not often laugh-out-loud Discworld guffaws, nor long exposition on the micro-chemical underpinnings of evolutionary shift, but rather, well, to put it as one character: Lobsang is a distributed strong AI who also claims to be the karmic reincarnation of a Nepalese motorcycle repairman. So there’s that.

The Long War: The Long Earth, Book 2 | [Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter] Helen & Troy's Epic Road Quest | [A. Lee Martinez]

For those looking for outright guffaws this week, you could certainly do far worse than to take a chance on the latest from A. Lee Martinez, Helen & Troy’s Epic Road Quest, narrated By Khristine Hvam for Audible Inc. Orbit Books has also posted a sample of this latest comedic sf/f novel from Martinez, the author of Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain. “Witness the epic battle of the cyclops! Visit the endangered dragon preserve! Please, no slaying. Solve the mystery of The Mystery Cottage, if you dare! Buy some knickknacks from The Fates! They might come in handy later. On a road trip across an enchanted America, Helen and Troy will discover all this and more. If the curse placed upon them by an ancient god doesn’t kill them or the pack of reluctant orc assassins don’t catch up to them, Helen and Troy might reach the end their journey in one piece, where they might just end up destroying the world. Or at least a state or two. A minotaur girl, an all-American boy, a three-legged dog, and a classic car are on the road to adventure, where every exit leads to adventure. Whether they like it or not.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Brilliance | [Marcus Sakey] Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization | [Alex Irvine] New Earth: The Grand Tour, Book 18 | [Ben Bova]

BLACKSTONE AUDIO: New Earth: The Grand Tour, Book 18 and The Kinsman Saga by Ben Bova, both narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO: Witch Wraith: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book 3 By Terry Brooks, Narrated by Rosalyn Landor; (History) Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth By Reza Aslan, Narrated By Reza Aslan

PENGUIN AUDIO: (Teen) The Strangers: The Books of Elsewhere, Volume 4 By Jacqueline West, Narrated By Lexy Fridell; (Memoir) The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant By Dan Savage, Narrated By Dan Savage

HARPER AUDIO: (Teen) The Registry By Shannon Stoker, Narrated By Kate Reinders

BOLINDA PUBLISHING: Geomancer: Well of Echoes, Book 1 By Ian Irvine, Narrated By Grant Cartwright

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: Brilliance By Marcus Sakey, Narrated By Luke Daniels; The Poisoned Pilgrim: The Hangman’s Daughter, Book 4 By Oliver Pötzsch, translated by Lee Chadeayne,  and narrated by Grover Gardner [another Whispersync for Voice price deal at $4.99 Kindle and $1.99 Audible]

AUDIBLE LTD: The Wine Dark Sea By Robert Aickman, Narrated By Reece Shearsmith

AUDIBLE INC: Rocket Science By Jay Lake, Narrated By Scott Aiello; Death of a Starship By Jay Lake, Narrated By Marc Vietor; and Science Fiction: A Very Short Introduction By David Seed, Narrated By Brian Holsopple

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization By Alex Irvine, Narrated By Christian Rummel, and Jay Snyder [this one is a pretty decent Whispersync for Voice price deal at $6.79 Kindle and $3.49 Audible]; Snipers By Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Narrated By Katie Hale; Celebromancy: Ree Reyes, Book 2 By Michael R. Underwood, Narrated By Mary Robinette Kowal; Reanimators By Pete Rawlik, Narrated By Oliver Wyman

INDIE: The End: A Post Apocalyptic Novel By G. Michael Hopf, Narrated By Joseph Morton; Lycan Fallout: Rise of the Werewolf By Mark Tufo, Narrated By Sean Runnette [both have Whispersync for Voice price deals at $3.99 Kindle plus $1.99 Audible]; The Last Swordmage: The Swordmage Trilogy, Book 1 By Martin Hengst, Narrated By Alexander Edward Trefethen [ditto, but yet cheaper at $2.99 Kindle]; and (Teen) The Conjure Book By A. A. Attanasio, Narrated By Laura Rubin

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Theatre of the Gods North American Lake Monsters: Stories

  • Non-Fiction: 9.5 Theses on Art and Class by Ben Davis (Haymarket, Jul 9, 2013) -- "9.5 Theses on Art and Class and Other Writings seeks to show how a clear understanding of class makes sense of what is at stake in a broad number of contemporary art's most persistent debates, from definitions of political art to the troubled status of "outsider" and street art to the question of how we maintain faith in art itself."
  • Devouring Milo by Tonia Brown and David Naughton-Shires (Jul 12, 2013)
  • Theatre of the Gods by Matt Suddain (Jonathan Cape UK, July 15) -- Steampunk space opera: "Wholly original, and by turns annoying and exhilarating, this antidote to formula fiction reads like Douglas Adams channelling William Burroughs channelling Ionesco, spiced with the comic brio of Vonnegut." (via The Guardian)
  • Cog by K. Ceres Wright (Dog Star Books, Jul 13, 2013) -- "The Ryder family is at the top of the corporate elite. Father Geren Ryder heads up a global wireless hologram company with his son, Wills Ryder, a capable second, while daughter, Nicholle, is curator at an art museum. But when a dark stranger shows up, it sets off a chain reaction that puts Geren into a mysterious coma while Wills disappears with $50 billion from the family business."
  • Collection: North American Lake Monsters: Stories by Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer Press, July 16) -- "These are love stories. And also monster stories. Sometimes these are monsters in their traditional guises, sometimes they wear the faces of parents, lovers, or ourselves. The often working-class people in these stories are driven to extremes by love. Sometimes, they are ruined; sometimes redeemed. All are faced with the loneliest corners of themselves and strive to find an escape." -- UPDATE: Per Ballingrud, a deal has just been inked with Audible.com to bring this to audio.
  • The Homecoming (Niceville Trilogy) by Stroud, Carsten (Jul 16, 2013)
  • Anthology: Beacons edited by Gregory Norminton (Oneworld Publications, Jul 16, 2013) — “Beacons throws down the gauntlet, challenging best-selling and award-winning authors to imagine where we, and out planet, might be headed and, in imagining, help us transform the way we look at our world and change things for the better. From Joanne Harris’ powerful vision of a near future where ‘outside’ has become a thing of history to Nick Hayes’ beautifully illustrated tale of the bond between man and nature, Beacons sees the coming together of dystopian satire, speculative and historical fiction, metaphorical flights of fancy, quiet tragedy, and farcical comedy in stories that are as various as our possible futures. Provocative, encouraging, and deeply moving, Beacons represents the best of short story writing — and collectively illuminates the immediacy of the ecological problems at hand. All author royalties will go to the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, one of the largest groups of people dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s poorest people.”
  • Collection: The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente (VIZ Media/Haikasoru, Jul 16, 2013)
  • Big Iron: Iron Kingdoms Chronicles (The Fall of Llael) by C.A. Suleiman (Jul 16, 2013)
  • Replica by Jenna Black (Tor, Jul 16, 2013)
  • Blackwater Lights by Michael M. Hughes (Hydra, Jul 16, 2013)
  • Graphic novel: Harlan Ellison's 7 Against Chaos by Harlan Ellison and Paul Chadwick with Ken Steacy (DC Comics, July 2013) -- fantastic interview with Ellison at Bloody Disgusting
  • Nonfiction Anthology: Parabolas of Science Fiction edited by Brian Attebery and Veronica Hollinger (Wesleyan University Press, July 15) -- "Nonfiction anthology of 14 original essays about the 'inherently collaborative nature of science fiction'. Conitributors include Terry Dowling, L. Timmel Duchamp, Graham Sleight, and Gary K. Wolfe." (via Locus Online)
  • Anthology: Where Thy Dark Eye Glances: Queering Edgar Allan Poe edited by Steve Berman (Lethe Press, July 15) -- "Anthology of 26 original stories and poems that explore queer variations on the work of Edgar Allan Poe. Authors include Richard Bowes, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Nick Mamatas, and Christiopher Barzak." (via Locus Online)
  • The Summer Is Ended and We Are Not Yet Saved by Joey Comeau (Chizine, July 16)
  • Mist by Susan Krinard (Tor, July 16) -- "Urban fantasy novel, first of a series, about a San Francisco woman who discovers her boyfriend is Loki and that she’s a Valkyrie." (via Locus Online) -- Tantor Audio will publish an audio edition on August 12
  • Cobweb Bride by Vera Nazarian (Norilana Press, July 16) -- "Historical fantasy novel inspired by the Persephone myth, set in an alternate Reinaissance world where Death comes to the Kingdom of Lethe to claim his bride." (via Locus Online)
  • Storm Riders by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes (Tor, Jul 16, 2013) -- "Epic military fantasy novel, second of a series following Shadow Raiders (2011), set in a world connected by airships where two rival empires vie for an invention that could revolutionize warfare." (via Locus Online)
COMING SOON:

Carniepunk | [Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, Jennifer Estep, Allison Pang, Kelly Gay, Delilah S. Dawson, Kelly Meding] Daughter of the Forest: Sevenwaters, Book 1 | [Juliet Marillier]

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)
  • MaddAddam: A Novel  by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese and Random House Audio, September 3) -- "Bringing together Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, this thrilling conclusion to Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction trilogy points toward the ultimate endurance of community, and love."
  • 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)
  • Monsters of the Earth (Books of the Elements) by David Drake (Tor, Sep 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
  • 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)
  • Dissident Gardens: A Novel by Jonathan Lethem (Sep 10, 2013)
  • The Arrows of Time (Orthogonal)  by Greg Egan (Night Shade Books, September 10, 2013) -- book 3 after The Clockwork Rocket and The Eternal Flame
  • Horse of a Different Color: Stories by Howard Waldrop (Small Beer Press, September 10)
  • Anthology: Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, September 11)
  • On the Steel Breeze (Poseidon's Children) by Alastair Reynolds (Sep 12, 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)
  • Divinity and the Python by Bonnie Randall (Panverse, September 15)
  • 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
  • Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (Sep 17, 2013)
  • Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman and Skottie Young (Harper Children's, September 17)
  • Proxima by Stephen Baxter (Gollanz, Sep 19, 2013) -- "The very far future: The Galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous Galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light...The 27th century: Proxima Centauri."
  • 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
  • The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach (HarperCollins, Sep 24, 2013)
  • Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse, September 24, 2013)
  • The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes by Mann, George (Sep 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
  • Charming (Pax Arcana)  by Elliott James (September 24, 2013)
  • The Plague Forge: The Dire Earth Cycle: Three by Jason M. Hough (Sep 24, 2013)
  • Seven Forges by James A. Moore (Sep 24, 2013)
  • Collection: Jewels in the Dust by Peter Crowther (Subterranean Press, September 30)
  • 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: 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)
  • Fury of the Demon by Diana Rowland (Jan 7, 2014)
  • Work Done for Hire  by Joe Haldeman (Ace Hardcover, January 7, 2014) -- novel about an ex-sniper turned sf screenwriter turned reluctant hitman; I've hear Haldeman read from this novel in draft and am very much looking forward to its release
  • Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh by Jay Lake (Prime Books, January 7, 2014) -- "Markus Selvage has been bent by life, ground up and spit out again. In San Francisco's darkest sexual underground, he is a perpetual innocent, looking within bodies - his own and others' - for the lost secrets of satisfaction. But extreme body modification is only the beginning of where he will go before he's finished..."
  • Rex Regis (Imager Portfolio)  by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Jan 7, 2014)
  • 1636: Seas of Fortune  by Iver Cooper (January 7, 2014)
  • Black Arts: A Jane Yellowrock Novel  by Faith Hunter (Jan 7, 2014)
  • Darkest Fear (Birthright) by Cate Tiernan (Jan 7, 2014)
  • Watchers in the Night (Guardians of the Night) by Jenna Black (Jan 14, 2014)
  • The Man Who Made Models: The Collected Short Fiction  by R.A. Lafferty (Centipede Press, January 14, 2014)
  • The Emperor's Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne)  by Brian Staveley (Jan 14, 2014)
  • Dawn of Swords (The Breaking World)  by David Dalglish (Jan 14, 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
  • The Book of the Crowman by Joseph D' Lacey (Jan 28, 2014)
  • A Darkling Sea by James Cambias (Tor, Jan 28, 2014)
  • 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
  • Annihilation (Southern Reach, Volume 1) by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, Feb 4, 2014) — the first of a trilogy of “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?”
  • 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)
  • Like a Mighty Army (Safehold)  by David Weber (Feb 4, 2014)
  • V-S Day: A Novel of Alternate History  by Allen Steele (Feb 4, 2014)
  • Empire of Men  by David Weber and John Ringo (Feb 4, 2014)
  • The Waking Engine by David Edison (Feb 11, 2014)
  • The Judge of Ages (Count to a Trillion) by John C. Wright (Feb 25, 2014)
  • The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison (Feb 25, 2014)
  • Dreamwalker by C.S. Friedman (February 2014)
  • Night Broken (A Mercy Thompson Novel)  by Patricia Briggs (Mar 4, 2014)
  • Ghost Train to New Orleans (The Shambling Guides) by Mur Lafferty (Orbit, Mar 4, 2014) -- sequel to The Shambling Guide to New York City
  • The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent (A Natural History of Dragons) by Marie Brennan (Mar 4, 2014)
  • Hope Rearmed by S.M. Stirling and David Drake (March 4, 2014)
  • Blood and Iron (The Book of the Black Earth) by Jon Sprunk (Pyr, March 11)
  • Resistance by Jenna Black (Mar 11, 2014)
  • Working God's Mischief (Instrumentalities of the Night)  by Glen Cook (Mar 11, 2014)
  • Mentats of Dune  by Brian Herbert (March 11, 2014)
  • Lockstep  by Karl Schroeder (Mar 25, 2014)
  • The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Anthology: The Time Traveler's Almanac by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (Tor, Mar 18, 2014)
  • 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.”
  • The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (April 1, 2014)
  • Cauldron of Ghosts (Crown of Slaves) by David Weber (April 1, 2014)
  • Baltic Gambit: A Novel of the Vampire Earth by E.E. Knight (April 1, 2014)
  • Shipstar  by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford (Tor, April 8, 2014)
  • Transhuman  by Ben Bova (April 15, 2014)
  • The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes (Gollanz UK, 17 Apr 2014) -- from the author of Tome of the Undergates
  • 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.”
  • Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson (Tor, Spring 2014) -- "Caeli-Amur: a city torn by contradiction. A city of languorous philosopher-assassins and magnificent creatures from ancient myth: minotaurs and sirens. Three Houses rule over an oppressed citizenry stirring into revolt. The ruins of Caeli-Amur’s sister city lie submerged beneath the sea nearby, while the remains of strange advanced technology lie hidden in the tunnels beneath the city itself."
  • The Furies: A Thriller  by Mark Alpert (April 22, 2014)
  • Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 1, 2014)
  • The Sea Without a Shore by David Drake (May 6, 2014) -- Lt. Leary series
  • Graphic novel: All You Need Is Kill: The Graphic Novel by Nick Mamatas, Lee Ferguson, Fajar Buana, and Zack Turner, based on the novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (VIZ Media/Haikasoru, May 6, 2014)
  • 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.”
  • 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 Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking, August 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King
  • The Chaplain’s War by Brad Torgerson (Baen, 2014)
  • Colossus by Stephen Messer (Random House Children’s Books, 2014)
  • The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, 2014)
Posted in Release Week | Tagged a. lee martinez, ben h. winters, machine of death, stephen baxter, terry pratchett, the long earth