Release Week: Shovel Ready, The Emperor's Blades, Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse, Shawn Speakman's The Dark Thorn, Gateways, and Clive Barker's The Books of Blood

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Release Week: Shovel Ready, The Emperor's Blades, Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse, Shawn Speakman's The Dark Thorn, Gateways, and Clive Barker's The Books of Blood

Posted on 2014-01-15 at 20:23 by Sam

JANUARY 8-14, 2014: This week the name of the game is “fantasy”, though near-future noir (Shovel Ready), the latest Peter Clines (Ex-Purgatory, read by Jay Snyder), classic sf from Asimov (read by Scott Brick) and Vonda McIntyre (read by Gayle Hendrix), and most singularly the Frederik Pohl tribute anthology Gateways (read by the voice of Pohl’s Gateway, Oliver Wyman) do make for a more diverse range of offerings. But the lion’s share of my picks this week? There are swords, there are blades, there are knights, and there is blood. Even into the “also out this week” listings: there are cold mages (Kate Elliott’s Cold Fire), there are thieves, there are more swords (David Dalglish’s Dawn of Swords), and there is even a kaiju sighting. (Whether you want to shelve that last into fantasy or sf is, of course, be up to you.) And, as last week, there’s another highly-anticipated Africa-set fiction novel, Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe. This week’s picks are also voiced by some of the best narrators in the business, so you’re in for a treat whichever way you turn. Unless of course you were hoping for one of the “seen but not heard” books (JM McDermott’s Maze, Kathe Koja’s The Mercury Waltz, or Rachel Cantor’s A Highly Unlikely Scenario) or are on the US side of the digital regional divide and were hoping for The Girl with All the Gifts which is now out in audio in the UK. Sadly there’s not even a physical audiobook edition to import, so the long wait for the June US release begins. Ticktock!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

This book wasn’t even on my radar until Tuesday morning, but the more I read about Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh and the more I enjoy Arthur Morey’s gravelly narration, the more I’m taken in by this tightly-wound (under 7 hours) crime novel, out from Random House Audio concurrent with the print/ebook release from Crown. “The futuristic hard-boiled noir that Lauren Beukes calls ‘sharp as a paper-cut’ about a garbage man turned kill-for-hire. Spademan used to be a garbage man. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, and before the city became a blown-out shell of its former self. Now he’s a hitman. In a near-future New York City split between those who are wealthy enough to “tap in” to a sophisticated virtual reality, and those who are left to fend for themselves in the ravaged streets, Spademan chose the streets. His new job is not that different from his old one: Waste disposal is waste disposal.  He doesn’t ask questions; he works quickly; and he’s handy with a box cutter. But when his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, his unadorned life is upended: His mark has a shocking secret and his client has a sordid agenda far beyond a simple kill. Spademan must navigate between these two worlds—the wasteland reality and the slick fantasy—to finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he’s not the one who winds up in the ground.”

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley

The Emperor’s Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne) by Brian Staveley, read by the always fantastic Simon Vance for Brilliance Audio concurrent with the print/ebook release from Tor. There have been excerpts going up on Tor.com for several months now as well as a free 7-chapter ebook preview for this debut novel, first in a new epic fantasy series, which “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.”

He Drank, and Saw the Spider: An Eddie LaCrosse Novel by Alex Bledsoe, read by the also always fantastic Stefan Rudnicki for Blackstone Audio, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Tor: “Alex Bledsoe continues the adventures of freelance sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse in the thrilling He Drank, and Saw the Spider. After he fails to save a stranger from being mauled to death by a bear, a young mercenary is saddled with the baby girl the man died to protect. He leaves her with a kindly shepherd family and goes on with his violent life. Now, sixteen years later, that young mercenary has grown up to become cynical sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse. When his vacation travels bring him back to that same part of the world, he can’t resist trying to discover what has become of the mysterious infant.”

He Drank, and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe The Dark Thorn | [Shawn Speakman]

The Dark Thorn By Shawn Speakman, Narrated By Nick Podehl for Audible is the Unfettered editor Speakman’s 2012 debut novel, narrated by the voice (in the US) of Pat Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind.  “Beneath the streets of Seattle, a long-forgotten war is about to be renewed…Richard McAllister, a spiritually destitute homeless man and Knight of the Yn Saith, protects one of seven portals linking his world to that of Annwn, where the fey Tuatha de Dannan of antiquity have been relegated by a long-running religious war. Unknown to Richard though, powerful forces are aligning against him and all he stands to keep safe.” Reviews are a bit mixed, but on the strength of Podehl’s narration I’ll forgive a few debut novel imperfections. (And it’s a $1.99 Whispersync upgrade for those who have the Kindle edition, which doesn’t hurt, either. And! Unfettered is coming to audio next week, so look for more mentions of Speakman in roughly 7 days, and also look for this: “Many of the contributors will be hosting audiobook giveaways.” Do stay tuned…)

Gateways: Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl edited by Elizabeth Anne Hull, with stories from Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernon Vinge, and Gene Wolfe, all narrated by absolutely the perfect choice for this project, Oliver Wyman, for Audible Frontiers. What makes Wyman such a good choice? Well, for one, his range and past work already make him one of my favorite narrators, but he’s also a huge fan of Pohl’s work himself, as well as the narrator both of Pohl’s 5-book Heechee Saga (including Gateway, from which this tribute anthology gets its title) and the late and beloved Pohl’s last novel, All the Lives He Led: A Novel. Here, a wide-ranging (from hard sf to satire and back again) anthology from so many of the authors who were inspired by Pohl’s work.

Gateways: Original New Stories Inspired by Frederik Pohl | [Elizabeth Anne Hull (editor), Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Vernon Vinge, Gene Wolfe] The Books of Blood: Volume 6 | [Clive Barker]

Lastly, out last Wednesday was The Books of Blood: Volume 6 By Clive Barker, Narrated By Simon Vance, Dick Hill, Johnny Heller, Pearl Hewitt, Chris Patton, and Jeffrey Kafer for Crossroad Press — now all 6 volumes are in audio, narrated by an all-star cast. “In this, the sixth and final volume of Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, with a new introduction by Mark Miller, five new stories of darkness unleashed: “The Life Of Death” - Hidden in the crypt of a derelict church she found Decay and Corruption in hits terrible glory. But such glamour can prove infectious… “How Spoilers Bleed” - They committed a crime no jury could convict them for. But there were other judges…other punishments… “Twilight At The Towers” - Ballard was the perfect spy. A man with all the cunning of an animal. Or was it vice-versa? “The Last Illusion” - (A Harry D’Amour novella) - New York had shown Harry horrors enough for a dozen lifetimes. He thought he’d seen the worst that flesh could suffer. Then the beautiful widow walked into his life, with a husband who wouldn’t lie down dead, and all Hell on her hells. And suddenly Harry was face to face with forces that could teach Manhattan a lesson in depravity. “On Jerusalem Street” (a Postscript) - After the end, a new beginning: Walking the highway of the dead…”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Cold Fire: The Spiritwalker Trilogy, Book 2 | [Kate Elliott] Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

 

  • That Frigid Fargin Witch (The Legend of Vanx Malic) by Mathias, M. R. (Jan 8, 2014)
  • Maze by JM McDermott (Apex Book Company, Jan 13, 2014) -- One of my most-anticipated fantasy novels of 2014, building on his fantastic short story "Dedalus and the Labyrinth", from the author of Last Dragon and The Dogsland Trilogy: "From every corner of time and space, sometimes people go missing without a trace. They never come back. Get lost in the long stone halls of the maze with the ones that find each other, form tribes, scrape out a life from rocks and sand. Their stories interweave. Maia Station is a scientist ripped from stasis, but she has no tools to test the way things are. Instead, she raises her daughter as best she can and survives. Wang Xin once had his head dipped in water, and a djinni in the water entered his eye. He sees the future, exactly as it was supposed to be if he hadn’t seen the light, but it does him no good in the life he has. In a world much like our own, Joseph comes home from a ten year high school reunion and encounters a light in the darkness. The light speaks. My name is Jenny. Put me in your lung. Breathe deep."
  • The Mercury Waltz by Kathe Koja (Roadswell Editions, Jan 14) -- sequel to Koja's beautiful Under the Poppy, reviewed as: "The Mercury Waltz returns us to the grimy, decadent, fin-de-siècle world of Under the Poppy, cranking the resolution to reveal every brilliantly imagined nook of one corner of this world, in prose that is exquisite, sensual, evocative, romantic, and luxurious.  There is no one left to compare Koja to--I don't know another writer with her fearlessness, erudition, and perfect pitch.  The effect is dazzling." by Lewis Shiner, author of Slam and Deserted Cities of the Heart. Cory Doctorow's Boing Boing shared the book trailer last summer but it wasn't until Koja's "Big Idea" essay on Scalzi's Whatever blog that I knew this was actually coming (and indeed finally out)
  • Music of Sacred Lakes by Laura Cowan (Jan 14, 2014) -- "Peter Sanskevicz doesn’t belong. He doesn’t want the sixth-generation family farm his great great-grandfather unwittingly stole from its Odawa owners, and can’t continue his jobs serving “fudgies,” tourists in Northern Michigan who seem more at home than he is. He can’t take charge of things or do anything but make a mess. Then, Peter accidentally kills a girl. Seeing his life is at risk, his friend takes him to his uncle, a pipe carrier of the Odawa tribe, who tells him he must live by the shores of Lake Michigan until the lake speaks to him."
  • A Highly Unlikely Scenario, or a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World: A Novel by Rachel Cantor (Melville House, Jan 14, 2014) -- the Big Idea today on Scalzi's Whatever blog
  • Star Road: A Novel by Matthew Costello and Rick Hautala (St. Martin's/Dunne, Jan 14, 2014) -- "SF space opera novel about a rebel leader assigned by the World Council to carry out a secret mission on the planet Omega IX." (via Locus Online)
  • Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough (Jo Fletcher Books, Jan 14) -- US release for a Jack-the-Ripper based supernatural thriller first published last year in the UK
COMING SOON:

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2014:

17607897

  • The Heaven Makers by Frank Herbert, read by To Be Announced for Blackstone Audio Feb 1)
  • Annihilation (Southern Reach, Volume 1)by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux in print/ebook and read by Carolyn McCormick for Blackstone Audio, 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?” Of the book, Kim Stanley Robinson says: “This swift surreal suspense novel reads as if Verne or Wellsian adventurers exploring a mysterious island had warped through into a Kafkaesque nightmare world. The reader will want to stay trapped with the biologist to find the answers to Area X’s mysteries.”
  • Like a Mighty Army (Safehold) by David Weber (Feb 4, 2014) — coming to audio read by Oliver Wyman
  • 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)
  • Red Delicious: A Siobhan Quinn Novel by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Feb 4, 2014)
  • V-S Day: A Novel of Alternate History by Allen Steele (Feb 4, 2014) — narrated by Ray Chase
  • Empire of Men by David Weber and John Ringo (Feb 4, 2014)
  • Under a Graveyard Sky: Black Tide Rising, Book 1 By John Ringo, Narrated By Tristan Morris for Audible Frontiers (Feb 4)
  • Dreamwalker by C.S. Friedman (DAW, February 4, 2014)
  • Into the Storm By Larry Correia, Narrated By Ray Porter (Feb 4)
  • Cress (Lunar Chronicles, #3) by Marissa Meyer (Feb 4, 2014)
  • Burn (Pure, #3) by Julianna Baggott (Feb 4, 2014)
  • By Blood We Live (The Last Werewolf, #3) by Glen Duncan (Feb 4, 2014)
  • Stolen Crown: A Novel of Mithgar by McKiernan, Dennis L. (Feb 4, 2014)
  • Three Princes by Wheeler, Ramona (Feb 4, 2014)
  • The Flight of the Silvers by Daniel Price (Penguin / Blue Rider, Feb 4, 2014) -- "In The Flight of the Silvers, Daniel Price’s time-bending X-Men travel through an alternative America that is both alien and disturbingly familiar. Fast-paced, poignant, and absorbing." —Emily Croy Barker, author of The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic
  • Strange Bodies: A Novel by Marcel Theroux (FSG, Feb 4, 2014) -- US release for a book examining identity published last year in the UK
  • Definitely Maybe (Neversink) by Arkady Strugatsky, Strugatsky Boris and Antonina W. Bouis (Melville House, Feb 4, 2014) -- a new "unexpurgated" edition of this classic work of Russian sf, called "Surely one of the best and most provocative novels I have ever read, in or out of sci-fi" by Theodore Sturgeon
  • Thriller: The Contractors (A Jon Cantrell Thriller) by Harry Hunsicker (Feb 4, 2014)
  • Prince of Shadows: A Novel of Romeo and Juliet by Caine, Rachel (Feb 4, 2014) -- audio coming March 5 from Tantor
  • Fiction: The Sun and Other Stars: A Novel by Brigid Pasulka (Simon & Schuster / Dreamscape Media, Feb 4, 2014) -- "In the seaside town of San Benedetto, soccer (or calcio) is more than just a sport: it’s an obsession. Twenty-two-year-old Etto, however, couldn’t care less about soccer. His beloved twin brother Luca, a rising soccer star, died tragically in a motorcycle accident, and their Californian mother, unable to cope with her grief, drowned herself on the anniversary of Luca’s death. This has left Etto alone to tend the butcher shop—where his father barely seems to take in his presence and entrusts him with only the most basic tasks. But then Yuri Fil, a Ukrainian soccer star who Etto’s father idolizes, takes refuge from the paparazzi in a nearby villa, and Etto accidentally falls into Yuri's orbit—and that of Yuri’s beautiful and tough sister, Zhuki. Under their influence, he begins to learn a few life lessons: that the game of soccer might not be a total waste of time, that he might not in fact be a total loser—and that San Benedetto, his father, love, and life itself might have more to offer him than he would have ever believed possible."
  • Astra by Naomi Foyle (Jo Fletcher Books, February 6, 2014) -- "Like every child in Is-Land, all Astra Ordott wants is to have her Security Shot, do her National Service and defend her Gaian homeland from Non-Lander ‘infiltrators’. But when one of her Shelter mothers, the formidable Dr Hokma Blesser, tells her the shot will limit her chances of becoming a scientist and offers her an alternative, Astra agrees to her plan.
    When the orphaned Lil arrives to share Astra’s home, Astra is torn between jealousy and fascination. Lil’s father taught her some alarming ideas about Is-Land and the world, but when she pushes Astra too far, the heartache that results goes far beyond the loss of a friend." (via The BiblioSanctum)
  • Fiction: Pioneer Girl: A Novel by Bich Minh Nguyen (Viking Adult and Dreamscape Media, Feb 6, 2014) -- "From an award-winning author, a novel about a Vietnamese American family’s ties to The Little House on the Prairie."
  • Melt Down: A Breakers Novel, Outcome: Breakers, and Knifepoint: Breakers, Book 3 By Edward W. Robertson, Narrated By Ray Chase (Feb 7)
  • The Runestone Incident (The Incident) by Neve Maslakovic, narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal (Feb 11, 2014)
  • The Waking Engine by David Edison (Feb 11, 2014)
  • White Space (Dark Passages, #1) by Ilsa J. Bick (Feb 11, 2014)
  • The Martian: A Novel by Weir, Andy (Random House, Feb 11, 2014) — picked up by Random House after self-publishing success; 2013 audiobook by Podium Publishing
  • The Dreams of a Dying God: The Godlanders War, Book 1 and The Wrath of a Shipless Pirate: The Godlanders War, Book 2 By Aaron Pogue, Narrated By Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio (Feb 11)
  • The Man Who Made Models: The Collected Short Fiction by R.A. Lafferty (Centipede Press, Feb 11, 2014)
  • Teen: Conquest: Book 1, The Chronicles of the Invaders (The Chronicles of the Invaders Trilogy) by John Connolly and Jennifer Ridyard (Feb 11, 2014) -- "Earth is no longer ours. . . . It is ruled by the Illyri, a beautiful, civilized, yet ruthless alien species. But humankind has not given up the fight, and Paul Kerr is one of a new generation of young Resistance leaders waging war on the invaders."
  • Kids: The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Turnage, Sheila (Feb 11, 2014) — “The eagerly anticipated followup to the Newbery honor winner and New York Times bestseller, Three Times Lucky. Small towns have rules. One is, you got to stay who you are — no matter how many murders you solve. When Miss Lana makes an Accidental Bid at the Tupelo auction and winds up the mortified owner of an old inn, she doesn’t realize there’s a ghost in the fine print. Naturally, Desperado Detective Agency (aka Mo and Dale) opens a paranormal division to solve the mystery of the ghost’s identity. They’ve got to figure out who the ghost is so they can interview it for their history assignment (extra credit).”
  • Fiction: Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement (Hogarth, Feb 11, 2014) -- "Ladydi Garcia Martínez is fierce, funny and smart. She was born into a world where being a girl is a dangerous thing. In the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, women must fend for themselves, as their men have left to seek opportunities elsewhere. Here in the shadow of the drug war, bodies turn up on the outskirts of the village to be taken back to the earth by scorpions and snakes."
  • The Copper Promise by Jen Williams (February 13, 2014) -- (via The BiblioSanctum)
  • With Silent Screams (The Hellequin Chronicles) by Steve McHugh (Feb 18, 2014)
  • Influx by Suarez, Daniel (Dutton Adult, Feb 20, 2014)
  • Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard (February 20, 2014)
  • Meridian 144 By Meg Files, Narrated By Carly Robins — Scheduled Release Date: 02-25-14
  • Alabaster: Pale Horse by Caitlin Kiernan and Daniel Chabon (Feb 25, 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)
  • Honor’s Knight — Book 2 in the Paradox series — By Rachel Bach, Read By Emily Durante for Tantor (February 25, 2014) — “Rachel Bach presents the rollicking sequel to the science fiction novel Fortune’s Pawn.”
  • Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci (Roaring Brook, Feb 25, 2014) -- "On their way to start a new life, Tula and her family travel on the Prairie Rose, a colony ship headed to a planet in the outer reaches of the galaxy. All is going well until the ship makes a stop at a remote space station, the Yertina Feray, and the colonist's leader, Brother Blue, beats Tula within an inch of her life. An alien, Heckleck, saves her and teaches her the ways of life on the space station."
  • Blades of the Old Empire: Book I of the Majat Code by Kashina, Anna (Angry Robot, Feb 25, 2014)
  • A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain by Adrianne Harun (Penguin, Feb 25, 2014) -- "In isolated British Columbia, girls, mostly native, are vanishing from the sides of a notorious highway. Leo Kreutzer and his four friends are barely touched by these disappearances—until a series of mysterious and troublesome outsiders come to town. Then it seems as if the devil himself has appeared among them."
  • Fiction: The Fall of Saints: A Novel by Wanjiku wa Ngugi (Feb 25, 2014) -- "In this stunning debut novel, a Kenyan expat living the American dream with her husband and adopted son soon finds it marred by child trafficking, scandal, and a problematic past."
  • The Godmakers by Frank Herbert, read by To Be Announced for Blackstone Audio Mar 1)
  • Skinwalkers by Wendy W. Wager (Paizo, March 1) — this Pathfinder Tales novel from one of the “Inkpunks” will be available from Paizo on March 1, 2014
  • Kids: Half Bad (The Half Bad Trilogy) by Green, Sally (Mar 3, 2014) — via Kate Atkinson (the author of Life after Life) a new middle grade series about witches in modern-day England
  • 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)
  • Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, March 4, 2014) — book 2 in The Stormlight Archive after The Way of Kings
  • Hope Rearmed by S.M. Stirling and David Drake (March 4, 2014)
  • Half-Off Ragnarok: An Incryptid Novel by Seanan McGuire (Mar 4, 2014)
  • Black Moon: A Novel by Calhoun, Kenneth (Hogarth, Mar 4, 2014) -- a story of mass insomnia from an acclaimed short fiction writer
  • Murder of Crows: A Novel of the Others by Bishop, Anne (Mar 4, 2014)
  • Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion) by Corey, James S.A. (Mar 4, 2014)
  • The Weirdness: A Novel by Jeremy P. Bushnell (Melville House, Mar 4, 2014) -- "At thirty, Billy Ridgeway still hasn't gotten around to becoming a writer; he thinks too much to get anything done, really, except making sandwiches at a Greek deli with his buddy Anil. But the Devil shows up with fancy coffee one morning, promising to make Billy's dream of being published come true: as long as Billy steals The Neko of Infinite Equilibrium, a cat-shaped statue with magical powers, from the most powerful warlock in the Eastern United States."
  • Notes from the Internet Apocalypse by Wayne Gladstone (Thomas Dunne and Blackstone Audio, Mar 4, 2014) -- "When the Internet suddenly stops working, society reels from the loss of flowing data and streaming entertainment. Addicts wander the streets talking to themselves in 140 characters or forcing cats to perform tricks for their amusement, while the truly desperate pin their requests for casual encounters on public bulletin boards. The economy tumbles and the government passes the draconian NET Recovery Act." and: "An oddly heartfelt journey through the wasteland of a techno-collapse. Gladstone takes an admittedly far-fetched and off-putting story idea and breathes startling life into it. He gambles here, but he wins. Give it a read." —Patton Oswalt
  • The Barrow by Mark Smylie (Pyr, March 4, 2014) — “In this debut novel, Mark Smylie gives the world he created in his “Artesia” comic books, a new life. We start with a band of dangerously endearing rogues, a magical map, and a dangerous search for a wizard’s sword. My sense of adventure is at the ready. Bring on the emotional manipulation and unabashed violence. I’m ready for an epic quest!” (via Omnivoracious)
  • Indexing by Seanan McGuire, read by Mary Robinette Kowal (March 4, 2014) — published in prose last year (May 21, 2013)
  • Teen: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess (Greenwillow, Mar 4, 2014) -- YA fantasy
  • Kids: Knightley and Son By Rohan Gavin, Narrated By Greg Wagland for Audible for Bloomsbury (Mar 4) -- "Sherlock Holmes meets Dirk Gently with a touch of Doctor Who - this brand-new comedy thriller delivers big laughs and big adventures with real heart."
  • Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel by Oyeyemi, Helen (Riverhead, March 6, 2014) — “From the prizewinning author of Mr. Fox, the Snow White fairy tale brilliantly recast as a story of family secrets, race, beauty, and vanity. In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty—the opposite of the life she’s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she’d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy’s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white. Among them, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold. Dazzlingly inventive and powerfully moving, Boy, Snow, Bird is an astonishing and enchanting novel. With breathtaking feats of imagination, Helen Oyeyemi confirms her place as one of the most original and dynamic literary voices of our time.”
  • Blood and Iron (The Book of the Black Earth) by Jon Sprunk (Pyr, March 11, 2014)
  • The Fell Sword (The Traitor Son Cycle, #2) by Miles Cameron (Orbit, March 11) -- sequel to The Red King
  • The Detainee by Peter Liney (Jo Fletcher Books, March 2014) — “Admittedly, I’ve developed a bad attitude toward dystopian stories lately. So it’s quite meaningful that one of the books I’m most looking forward to this year will find me begging for “punishment satellites” to protect me on a shanty-laden island where mainland residents ship their garbage. And since a massive economic collapse, “garbage” includes the weakest members of society — like “Big Guy” Clancy, former muscle for a crime boss.” (via Omnivoracious)
  • Resistance by Jenna Black (Mar 11, 2014)
  • Working God’s Mischief (Instrumentalities of the Night) by Glen Cook (Mar 11, 2014)
  • The High Druid’s Blade: The Defenders of Shannara by Brooks, Terry (Mar 11, 2014)
  • Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert (March 11, 2014)
  • Ruins (Partials, #3) by Dan Wells (March 11, 2014)
  • Teen: Daughter of Chaos by Jen McConnel (Month9Books, March 11, 2014) -- a new paranormal YA novel from the author of the Bloomsbury Spark-published The Secret of Isobel Key -- description via IPG: "There comes a time in every witch's life when she must choose her path. Darlena's friends have already chosen, so why is it so hard for her to make up her mind? Now, Darlena is out of time. Under pressure from Hecate, the Queen of all witches, Darlena makes a rash decision to choose Red magic, a path no witch in her right mind would dare take. As a Red witch, she will be responsible for chaos and mayhem, drawing her deep into darkness. Will the power of Red magic prove too much for Darlena, or will she learn to control it before it's too late?"
  • Fiction: The Weight of Blood: A Novel by Laura Mchugh (Spiegel & Grau, Mar 11, 2014) -- "For fans of Gillian Flynn, Scott Smith, and Daniel Woodrell comes a gripping, suspenseful novel about two mysterious disappearances a generation apart in the town of Henbane, deep in the Ozark Mountains."
  • Deadroads by Robin Riopelle (Night Shade Books, Mar 17, 2014)
  • Anthology: The Time Traveler’s Almanac by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (Tor, Mar 18, 2014)
  • The Pilgrims (The Pendulum Trilogy) by Will Elliott (Tor, Mar 18, 2014)
  • The Lascar’s Dagger: The Forsaken Lands by Glenda Larke (Mar 18, 2014)
  • Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett (Random House Audio, Mar 18, 2014) -- US release for the latest and 40th Discworld novel, in which "the Disc's first train come steaming into town."
  • The Midnight Witch by Brackston, Paula (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Raising Steam (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Lockstep by Karl Schroeder (Mar 25, 2014)
  • The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Dawn’s Early Light: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel by Ballantine, Pip and Morris, Tee (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Truth and Fear (The Wolfhound Century) by Peter Higgins (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Written in My Own Heart’s Blood: A Novel (Outlander) by Gabaldon, Diana (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Sunstone (Heartwood) by Robertson, Freya (Angry Robot, Mar 25, 2014)
  • The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Fiction: Every Day Is for the Thief: Fiction by Cole, Teju (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Fiction: Frog Music: A Novel by Donoghue, Emma (Mar 27, 2014) -- "Emma Donoghue's explosive new novel, based on an unsolved murder in 1876 San Francisco."
  • Code Zero (Joe Ledger, #6) by Jonathan Maberry (March 2014)
  • Anthology: KAIJU RISING (Kickstarter, March 2014)
  • Dirtbags by Eryk Pruitt (Immortal Ink Publishing, March/April 2014) — “The blame for a county-wide murder spree lies at the feet of three people broken by a dying mill town: Calvin, a killer; London, a cook; and Rhonda, the woman who loves them both. Neither they, nor the reader, see the storm brewing until it’s too late in this Southern Gothic noir (or Southern neo-noir) that adds a transgressive, chicken-fried twist to a story ripped straight from the pages of a true crime novel.”
APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2014:

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  • 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.” -- latest IndieBound and Amazon listings indicate this is a September 9 release
  • The Revolutions by Felix Gilman (Tor, Apr 1, 2014) — “Following his spectacularly reviewed The Half-Made World duology, Felix Gilman pens a sweeping stand-alone tale of Victorian science fiction, space exploration, and planetary romance in The Revolutions.”
  • Reign of Ash (Book Two in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga) by Gail Z. Martin (Orbit, April 1, 2014) — follow-on to Ice Forged
  • 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)
  • Covenant: The Books of Raziel by Benulis, Sabrina (Apr 1, 2014)
  • Peacemaker: Foreigner #15 by Cherryh, C. J. (Apr 1, 2014)
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude By Gabriel García Márquez, Narrated By Jimmy Smits for Blackstone Audio — Scheduled Release Date: April 1, 2014
  • Salvage by Alexandra Duncan (Greenwillow, Apr 1, 2014) — “a thrilling, surprising, and thought-provoking debut novel that will appeal to fans of Across the Universe, by Beth Revis, and The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. This is literary science fiction with a feminist twist, and it explores themes of choice, agency, rebellion, and family. Ava, a teenage girl living aboard the male-dominated, conservative deep space merchant ship Parastrata, faces betrayal, banishment, and death. Taking her fate into her own hands, she flees to the Gyre, a floating continent of garbage and scrap in the Pacific Ocean. This is a sweeping and harrowing novel about a girl who can’t read or write or even withstand the forces of gravity. What choices will she make? How will she build a future on an earth ravaged by climate change? Named by the American Booksellers Association as a Spring 2014 Indies Introduce Pick.”
  • Poetry Collection: Reel to Reel (Phoenix Poets) by Alan Shapiro (University of Chicago Press, Apr 7, 2014) — “Reel to Reel, Alan Shapiro’s twelfth collection of poetry, moves outward from the intimate spaces of family and romantic life to embrace not only the human realm of politics and culture but also the natural world, and even the outer spaces of the cosmos itself. In language richly nuanced yet accessible, these poems inhabit and explore fundamental questions of existence, such as time, mortality, consciousness, and matter. How did we get here? Why is there something rather than nothing? How do we live fully and lovingly as conscious creatures in an unconscious universe with no ultimate purpose or destination beyond returning to the abyss that spawned us? Shapiro brings his humor, imaginative intensity, characteristic syntactical energy, and generous heart to bear on these ultimate mysteries. In ways few poets have done, he writes from a premodern, primal sense of wonder about our postmodern world.”
  • Steles of the Sky (The Eternal Sky) by Bear, Elizabeth (Apr 8, 2014)
  • The Word Exchange: A Novel by Graedon, Alena (Doubleday and Blackstone Audio, Apr 10, 2014) -- "In the not-so-distant future, the forecasted "death of print" has become a near reality. Bookstores, libraries, newspapers, and magazines are essentially things of the past, as we spend our time glued to handheld devices called Memes that not only keep us in constant communication but have become so intuitive as to hail us cabs before we leave our offices, order takeout at the first growl of our stomachs, change traffic lights and interface with home appliances--even create and sell language itself in a marketplace called the Word Exchange."
  • Shipstar by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford (Tor, April 8, 2014)
  • Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3) by Laini Taylor (April 8, 2014)
  • The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by North, Claire (Redhook, Apr 8, 2014)
  • Teen: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares (Delacorte, Apr 8, 2014) -- from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series comes "An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to."
  • Transhuman by Ben Bova (April 15, 2014)
  • Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan (Tachyon and Recorded Books, April 15, 2014)
  • House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple (Harper Teen, April 15, 2014)
  • Kids: The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler (Apr 15, 2014)
  • The Serpent of Venice: A Novel by Moore, Christopher (Apr 22, 2014)
  • Murder by Sarah Pinborough (April 24, 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.”
  • Black Cloud by Juliet Escoria (April 2014)
  • 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, April 15, 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.”
  • Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor, Apr 17, 2014) — in Kowal’s latest “Jane and Vincent” (a.k.a. “Shades of Milk and Honey” series) Regency fantasy she sets her sights on the heist novel. Color me VERY intrigued.
  • The Furies: A Thriller by Mark Alpert (April 22, 2014)
  • Teen: The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer (Philomel, Apr 22, 2014) -- "In this world, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth, they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled has to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks. The Inventor’s Secret is the first book of a YA steampunk series set in an alternate nineteenth-century North America where the Revolutionary War never took place and the British Empire has expanded into a global juggernaut propelled by marvelous and horrible machinery. Perfect for fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners, Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel, ScottWesterfeld's Leviathan and Phillip Reeve's Mortal Engines."
  • Thornlost (Glass Thorns) by Rawn, Melanie (Apr 29, 2014)
  • Peacemaker by Marianne De Pierres (Angry Robot, Apr 29, 2014)
  • Morningside Fall (Legends of the Duskwalker, Book 2) by Jay Posey (Angry Robot, Apr 29, 2014) — Second after 2013 debut novel Three: “Stark and powerful, THREE is a stunning debut. Reinventing the post-apocalyptic western as a journey across interior badlands as dangerous as the cyborg-haunted terrain his hero must cross, Posey has crafted a story that is impossible to put down.” — Richard E. Dansky, author of Snowbird Gothic
  • Grunt Life: A Task Force Ombra Novel by Weston Ochse (Apr 29, 2014
  • A Certain Exposure by Jolene Tan (Epigram Books, April 2014)
  • Afterparty by Daryl Gregory (TOR, April 2014) — “Before the first chapter even begins, there’s religion, drugs, and suicide — all presented in a crisp, engaging writing style that itself threatens to be addictive. Set in the near-future in a world in which smart drug recipes are opensourced, one church uses dependency on their sacriment, a mind-altering narcotic called “Numinous,” to keep followers in line. One of the drug’s creators tries to undo the damage. I’m so hooked!” (via Omnivoracious)
  • Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 6, 2014) — “The bone-chilling, hair-raising second installment of the Southern Reach Trilogy. For thirty years, a secret agency called the Southern Reach has monitored expeditions into Area X—a remote and lush terrain mysteriously sequestered from civilization. After the twelfth expedition, the Southern Reach is in disarray, and John Rodriguez (aka “Control”) is the team’s newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and more than two hundred hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves—and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he’s promised to serve.”
  • The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor, May 6, 2014) -- Follow-on to The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince: "With his infectious love of storytelling in all its forms, his rich characterization and his unrivaled grasp of thrillingly bizarre cutting-edge science, Hannu Rajaniemi swiftly set a new benchmark for SF in the 21st century. Now, with his third novel, he completes the tale of the many lives, and minds, of gentleman rogue Jean de Flambeur."
  • The Sea Without a Shore by David Drake (May 6, 2014) — Lt. Leary series
  • Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris (May 6) -- "The first novel in this supernaturally nuanced trilogy has me curious to see what Charlaine Harris is immersing herself in now that Sookie has ridden off into the sunset. Not much information on Charlaine’s website, just that it’s set in a 'mysterious Texas town.'" (via Paul Goat Allen's "The Most Anticipated Sci-fi and Fantasy Releases of 2014" for Barnes & Noble)
  • The Falconer (The Falconer, #1) by Elizabeth May (May 6, 2014) — US release for fantasy novel published in 2013 in the UK
  • The Silk Map: A Gaunt and Bone Novel by Willrich, Chris (Pyr, May 6, 2014)
  • 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)
  • After the End (After the End, #1) by Amy Plum (May 6, 2014)
  • The Oversight by Fletcher, Charlie (Orbit, May 6, 2014) -- "Once there were hundreds of members of the Oversight, the brave souls who guard the borders between the mundane and the magic. Now there are only five. When a vagabond brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, she could answer their hopes for new recruit, or she could be the instrument of their downfall."
  • Mirror Sight: Book Five of Green Rider by Britain, Kristen (May 6, 2014)
  • King of Ashes: Book One of The War of Five Crowns by Raymond E. Feist (May 6, 2014)
  • The Bees: A Novel by Laline Paull (Ecco, May 6, 2014) -- "The Handmaid's Tale meets The Hunger Games in this brilliantly imagined debut set in an anciet culture where only the queen may breed and deformity means death."
  • Fiction: Wonderland by D'Erasmo, Stacey (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 6, 2014) -- "This breakout novel from a brilliant stylist—dropping us into the life a female rock star—centers on that moment when we decide whether to go all-in or give up our dreams."
  • Queen of the Dark Things: A Novel by C. Robert Cargill (Harper Voyager, May 13, 2014) — follow-on to Dreams and Shadows
  • Dead but Not Forgotten By Charlaine Harris (editor), Toni L. P. Kelner (editor) with stories by MaryJanice Davidson, Seanan McGuire, and more (Audible Frontiers, May 13, 2014) — “Charlaine Harris’ smash-hit Sookie Stackhouse series may have reached its conclusion, but the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, lives on in this all-new collection of 15 stories.”
  • Renegade (MILA 2.0, #2) by Debra Drizza (May 13, 2014)
  • Fiction: The Last Illusion: A Novel by Porochista Khakpour (Bloomsbury USA, May 13, 2014)
  • Sworn in Steel: A Tale of the Kin by Douglas Hulick (May 6, 2014)
  • Jade Sky by Patrick Freivald (JournalStone, May 16) -- via K.H. Vaughan on a SF Signal Mind Meld of "books we can't wait to read in 2014" -- "Matt Rowley hasn’t been human for years. A commando for the International Council on Augmented Phenomena, he hunts down superhuman monsters the military can’t handle. But his abilities come with a price: bloodthirsty whispers that urge him to acts of terrible violence. An encounter with a giant, angelic being with wings of smoke and shadow casts him into a world of inhuman brutality, demonic possession, and madness, where he must choose between his family and his soul."
  • The Three: A Novel by Sarah Lotz (Little, Brown and Company, May 20, 2014) -- "Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he's right?" -- Lotz is South African novelist I first heard about either from Lauren Beukes (and later forgot) and most recently from Nnedi Okorafor's fine essay African Science Fiction is Still Alien
  • The Severed Streets by Cornell, Paul (May 20, 2014)
  • The Man with the Compound Eyes: A Novel by Ming-Yi, Wu (May 20, 2014) -- published last year in a more limited release by Harvill Secker, a Taiwanese eco-dystopia: "We haven't read anything like this novel. Ever. South America gave us magical realism - what is Taiwan giving us? A new way of telling our new reality, beautiful, entertaining, frightening, preposterous, true. Completely unsentimental but never brutal, Wu Ming-Yi treats human vulnerability and the world's vulnerability with fearless tenderness" -- Ursula Le Guin
  • A Dance of Shadows (Shadowdance) by David Dalglish (May 20, 2014)
  • Cyador’s Heirs (Saga of Recluce) by L. E. Modesitt (May 20, 2014)
  • She, Sniper by Hunter, Stephen (May 20, 2014) — a thriller which gets on my list by dint of being narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Defenders by McIntosh, Will (May 27, 2014)
  • Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold (Tor, May 27, 2014)
  • Thief’s Magic (Millennium’s Rule) by Trudi Canavan (May 27, 2014)
  • City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6) by Cassandra Clare (May 27, 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.” A big-name blurb is in from none less than Kim Stanley Robinson: “The Girl in the Road is a brilliant novel–vivid, intense, and fearless with a kind of savage joy. These journeys–Meena’s across the Arabian Sea and Mariama’s across Africa–are utterly unforgettable.”
  • My Real Children by Jo Walton (Tor, May 2014) — “story about one woman and the two lives that she might lead”
  • Sword of the North (The Grim Company, Book 2) by Luke Scull (Roc Hardcover, June 1) -- "In The Grim Company, Luke Scull introduced a formidable and forbidding band of anti-heroes battling against ruthless Magelords and monstrous terrors. The adventure continues as the company—now broken—face new dangers on personal quests…."
  • Veil of the Deserters (Bloodsounder’s Arc #2) by Jeff Salyards (Night Shade Books, June 3, 2014)
  • Ruin and Rising (The Grisha, #3) by Leigh Bardugo (Jun 3, 2014)
  • Mr. Mercedes: A Novel by King, Stephen (Scribner, Jun 3, 2014)
  • The Merchant Emperor (The Symphony of Ages) by Elizabeth Haydon (Jun 3, 2014)
  • On Her Watch (Don't Tell) by Rie Warren (Jun 3, 2014) -- "The year is 2070 and all hell has broken lose. The rebellion has started and the government is trying desperately to regain control of the territories formerly known as the United States."
  • Cibola Burn (The Expanse) by Corey, James S. A. (Jun 5, 2014)
  • California Bones by Greg van Eekhout (Tor, Jun 10, 2014)
  • The Leopard by K.V. Johansen (Pyr, June 10, 2014) -- "Part one of a two-book epic fantasy, set in a world as richly drawn as J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, but with Mideastern and Eastern flavors." (via The BiblioSanctum)
  • Memory of Water: A Novel by Emmi Itäranta (Harper Voyager, Jun 10, 2014) -- "An amazing, award-winning speculative fiction debut novel by a major new talent, in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin. Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village."
  • The Girl with All the Gifts by M.J. Carey (Orbit, June 10, 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
  • Head Full of Mountains by Brent Hayward (ChiZine, Jun 15, 2014) -- "When Crospinal's ailing father dies, he is left utterly alone in the pen, surrounded by encroaching darkness. The machines that tended to him as a child have long ago vanished, and the apparitions that kept Crospinal company are now silenced. Struggling with his congenital issues, outfitted in a threadbare uniform, he has little choice but to leave what was once his home, soon discovering that nothing in the outside world is how he had been told it would be. In his quest for meaning and understanding, and the contact of another, Crospinal learns truths about himself, about his father, and about the last bastion of humanity, trapped with him at the end of time."
  • Shattered: The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne (Jun 17, 2014)
  • Teen: Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolamore (Disney Hyperion, Jun 17, 2014)
  • The Long Childhood: A Novel (Long Earth) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Jun 17, 2014)
  • The Quick: A Novel by Lauren Owen (Random House, Jun 17, 2014) -- "An astonishing debut, a novel of epic scope and suspense that conjures up all the magic and menace of Victorian London"
  • Prince of Fools (The Red Queen’s War, #1) by Mark Lawrence (Ace, June 2014)
  • Anthology: The End is Nigh: The Apocalypse Triptych #1 edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (June 2014) — via io9, “Contributors include Nancy Kress, Paolo Bacigalupi, Daniel Wilson, Elizabeth Bear, and many other incredible authors (full disclosure: io9 editor Charlie Jane Anders and myself (Annalee Newitz) are also contributing stories).”
JULY 2014 and LATER:

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  • All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park (Tor, Jul 1, 2014)
  • The Rhesus Chart (A Laundry Files Novel) by Charles Stross (Jul 1, 2014)
  • Tower Lord (A Raven’s Shadow Novel) by Anthony Ryan (Jul 1, 2014)
  • The Shadow Throne: Book Two of the Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler (Jul 1, 2014)
  • Shattering the Ley by Palmatier, Joshua (DAW Hardcover, Jul 1, 2014)
  • Unwept: Book One of The Nightbirds by Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman (Jul 1, 2014)
  • How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer, read by Joshilynn Jackson (St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio, July 1) — Netzer’s follow-on to her brilliant 2012 novel Shine Shine Shine, reunited with the same fine narrator
  • Skin Game (The Dresden Files #15) by Jim Butcher (Roc, July 3, 2014)
  • Armada by Ernest Cline (July 3) -- "Cline wowed the world with Ready Player One in 2011, a brilliant debut that was pure geek gold: a glorious fusion of near future science fiction, epic fantasy quest, and unlikely love story, that above all else is an homage to the 1980s. Millions of readers worldwide have been anxiously awaiting his second novel, which evidently chronicles the adventures of a video game geek named Zack, who is conscripted into a top-secret government program and must save the world from an alien invasion." (via Paul Goat Allen's "The Most Anticipated Sci-fi and Fantasy Releases of 2014" for Barnes & Noble)
  • Resistance by Samit Basu (Titan, Jul 8, 2014) — follow-on to Turbulence
  • A Plunder of Souls (The Thieftaker Chronicles) by D. B. Jackson (Jul 8, 2014)
  • The Return of the Discontinued Man (A Burton & Swinburne Adventure) by Mark Hodder (Jul 8, 2014)
  • The Path to Power (The Tarnished Crown Series) by Miller, Karen (Jul 8, 2014)
  • California: A Novel by Edan Lepucki (Little, Brown and Company, Jul 8, 2014) -- "The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can't reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in one other. But the tentative existence they've built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she's pregnant."
  • Collection: Her Husband’s Hands and Other Stories by Adam-Troy Castro (Prime Books, July 8, 2014)
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Sweterlitsch, Thomas (Jul 10, 2014) -- "A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash. While the rest of the world has moved on, losing itself in the noise of a media-glutted future, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive—a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved. Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold, but when he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene—the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he’s convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive—his cycle of grief is shattered."
  • Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone (Tor, Jul 15, 2014)
  • The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3) by Deborah Harkness (July 15, 2014)
  • The Outsorcerer's Apprentice by Holt, Tom (Jul 15, 2014)
  • Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels) by Ilona Andrews (Jul 29, 2014)
  • Teen: The Young World by Weitz, Chris (Jul 29, 2014)
  • Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey, July 8, 2014) — “A classic coming-of-age tale, set in a brilliantly imagined alternative historical world reminiscent of the Dark Ages with Viking overtones, the book tells the story of Yarvi, youngest son of a warlike king. Born with a crippled hand, he can never live up to his father’s expectations of what a real man should be and his destiny is not the throne but the Ministry, not the sword and shield but the book and the soft word spoken.”
  • 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.”
  • World of Trouble: The Last Policeman, Book 3 by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books, July 2014) -- the third and concluding book in Winters' Edgar Award winning and Philip K. Dick Award nominated Last Policeman trilogy
  • The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking Adult, August 5, 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King – “The stunning conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy. Quentin Coldwater has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Along with Plum, a brilliant young undergraduate with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. But all roads lead back to Fillory, and his new life takes him to old haunts, like Antarctica, and to buried secrets and old friends he thought were lost forever. He uncovers the key to a sorcery masterwork, a spell that could create magical utopia, a new Fillory—but casting it will set in motion a chain of events that will bring Earth and Fillory crashing together. To save them he will have to risk sacrificing everything. The Magician’s Land is an intricate thriller, a fantastical epic, and an epic of love and redemption that brings the Magicians trilogy to a magnificent conclusion, confirming it as one of the great achievements in modern fantasy. It’s the story of a boy becoming a man, an apprentice becoming a master, and a broken land finally becoming whole.”
  • The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord (Del Rey, Aug 5, 2014)
  • The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth) by Jemisin, N. K. (Orbit, Aug 5, 2014) -- "This is the way the world ends. Again."
  • Revenant by Kat Richardson (August 5) -- "The ninth installment of Richardson’s Greywalker saga, featuring private investigator Harper Blaine, should be a blockbuster of a novel. I absolutely loved this series, which blends hardboiled mystery with supernatural fiction and is comparable to the work of classic writers including Raymond Chandler and Algernon Blackwood. With the conclusion of this series looming, I’m curious to see where Richardson takes her iconic protagonist." (via Paul Goat Allen's "The Most Anticipated Sci-fi and Fantasy Releases of 2014" for Barnes & Noble)
  • The Widow's House (The Dagger and the Coin) by Abraham, Daniel (Aug 5, 2014)
  • The House of the Four Winds (Dragon Prophecy) by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory (Aug 5, 2014)
  • The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy: A Novel by Jacopo della Quercia (St. Martin's Griffin, Aug 5, 2014)
  • Fish Tails: A Novel by Sheri S. Tepper (Harper Voyager, Aug 5, 2014)
  • Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage: A novel by Haruki Murakami and translated by Philip Gabriel (Knopf, Aug 12, 2014) -- Published in Japan last year: "Tsukuru Tazaki's life was irreparably changed when his relationships with his high school best friends became severed during Tsukuru's college days. Now at 35, Tsukuru's girlfriend Sara suggested to Tsukuru to go and talk to these high school friends in person to mend the relationships, and to discover the real reason behind the friends' decision to reject Tsukuru. Tsukuru visited his friends in Nagoya and Finland one by one, and uncovers the real reason as to why their relations were broken off."
  • Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor, Aug 12, 2014)
  • Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb (Aug 12, 2014)
  • The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, August 26, 2014)
  • Lock In by John Scalzi (Tor, Aug 26, 2014)
  • The Getaway God (Sandman Slim) by Richard Kadrey (Aug 26, 2014)
  • The Chaplain’s War by Brad Torgersen (Baen, 2014) — debut novel
  • The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books, 2014) — the first of an announced trilogy of translated editions of this 400,000-copy-selling Chinese sf series
  • Frostborn (Thrones & Bones #1) by Lou Anders (Random House Children’s Books, August 2014) — longtime Pyr editor Anders’ debut novel, a young reader book which “introduces Karn, who would rather be playing the board game Thrones and Bones, and Thianna, half-frost giant, half-human, who team up when they are chased by wyverns, a dead Viking sea captain, and a 1200-year-old dragon.”
  • Acceptance: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer (Sep 1, 2014)
  • Anthology: Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan edited by Nick Mamatas (Haikasoru, Sep 16, 2014) — another original trade paperback anthology edited by Mamatas for VIZ Media’s Haikasoru sf/f prose imprint after 2012′s well-received The Future is Japanese
  • Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale (Del Rey, 2014) — “His novella of a Roman invasion of ancient America, “A Clash of Eagles” in the Panverse Two anthology (edited by Dario Ciriello), won the 2010 Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and he has recently sold a trilogy of novels set in the same universe. The first book, CLASH OF EAGLES, will appear from Del Rey in 2014.”
  • Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin (Solaris, Summer 2014) — “It’s official! I’ll be writing a new urban fantasy novel for Solaris Books called “Deadly Curiosities” (from my short story universe of the same name) that will come out in summer, 2014!”
  • The Scorched Earth by Drew Karpyshyn (Summer 2014) — sequel to 2013 novel Children of Fire
  • Echopraxia by Peter Watts (August 16, 2014) — “We are going to the Sun, rs and Ks. Whereas the last time out we froze in the infinite Lovecraftian darkness of the Oort, now we are diving into the very heart of the solar system— and man, there’s gonna be a hot time in the ol’ town tonight.”
  • Consumed: A Novel by David Cronenberg (Sep 2, 2014) -- debut novel from the acclaimed filmmaker: "the story of two journalists whose entanglement in a French philosopher’s death becomes a surreal journey into global conspiracy."
  • The Winter Long (October Daye, #8) by Seanan McGuire (September 2014)
  • Mortal Beauty (Immortal Game, #1) by Ann Aguirre (September 2014)
  • Kids: The Eighth Continent by Matt London (Razorbill, September 2014) — via PW Book Deals: “Debut novelist Matt London sold his middle-grade series, the 8th Continent, to Gillian Levinson at Razorbill. Agent Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger handled the three-book, world-rights deal for the author. Razorbill said the humorous series was pitched as “Despicable Me meets Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego?”; it follows a brother and sister trying to turn the Great Pacific Garbage Patch into “a utopic eighth continent.””
  • Hawk by Steven Brust (Tor, Oct 7, 2014)
  • Kids: Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen (Henry Holt, Oct 21, 2014)
  • A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin (Simon451, October 2014) -- "first in the EarthEnd trilogy" by the X-Files actress and her co-author Rovin
  • The Undying by Ethan Reid (Simon451, October 2014) -- a dystopia
  • Chimpanzee by Darin Bradley (Resurrection House, Fall 2014) — “a delightfully weird existential near-fi conspiracy theory romance”
  • Heraclix and Pomp by Forrest Aguirre (Resurrection House, Fall 2014) — “an alternative history fantasy set in the Eastern Europe. It features a golem, a faery, and a mad scientist (well, more of 17th century alchemist/demonologist, but it’s the same trope)”
  • Rooms by Lauren Oliver (Fall 2014)
  • Collection: The Nickronomicon by Nick Mamatas (Inssmouth Free Press, Fall/Winter 2014) — collects all of Mamatas’ Lovecraft-inspired fiction into a single volume, including a new, never-before-published novella, titled “On the Occasion of My Retirement.”
  • Anthology: Shattered Shields edited by Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt (Baen, Nov 4) — a military fantasy anthology with headliners Glen Cook (Black Company), Larry Correia, John Marco, Elizabeth Moon (new Paksenarrion), David Farland (new Runelords), Catherine Asaro, Sarah A. Hoyt, Robin Wayne Bailey.
  • Anthology: The End is Now: The Apocalypse Triptych #2 edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (December 2014) — via io9
UNDATED or 2015:
  • Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh, read by the author for Simon & Schuster Audio — out in print/ebook in late October
  • All the Worlds Against Us (Jon and Lobo) by Mark L. Van Name (Baen) — Audible Frontiers has produced the previous books in the series, under fantastic narrations by Tom Stechschulte
  • Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick (2014)
  • The Thousand and One: Book II of The Crescent Moon Kingdoms by Saladin Ahmed (2014?)
  • Sleeping Late on Judgement Day (Bobby Dollar #3)by Tad Williams (DAW, 2014)
  • Ebon (Pegasus, #2) by Robin McKinley (2014?)
  • The Doors of Stone (Kingkiller Chronicle #3)by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW, 2014?)
  • Shadows of Self (Mistborn, #5) by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, 2014?)
  • Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy #3) by Ken Follett (2014?)
  • The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6) by George R.R. Martin (2015?)
  • The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (Knopf, 2015) — “Knopf has acquired a new novel by Paolo Bacigalupi, the science fiction writer whose 2009 book “The Windup Girl” sold 200,000 copies and was considered one of the top novels of the year. The new book, “The Water Knife,” is set in a lawless, water-starved American Southwest in the not-too-distant future.”
  • Because You’ll Never Meet Me byLeah Thomas (Bloomsbury USA, 2015) — first novel from 2010 Clarion Workshop graduate
  • The Philosopher’s Zombie by Robert J. Sawyer (April 2015)
  • Anthology: The End has Come: The Apocalypse Triptych #3 edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (June 2015) — via io9
  • John Claude Bemis is set to launch a new Steampunk/alchemist series for young readers, to be published by Disney/Hyperion starting in 2015
  • The Skull Throne (Demon Cycle, #4) by Peter V. Brett (2015?)
  • The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) — “Originally planned as a collection of short stories, the project changed to focus on Harry D’Amour going up against Pinhead. The novel has been in works for more than a decade and we’ll be able to read it in 2015, courtesy of St. Martin’s Press: ‘Clive is delighted to announce that St Martin’s Press has acquired world English rights to publish The Scarlet Gospels, his upcoming novel featuring Pinhead and Harry D’Amour. St Martin’s anticipates a winter 2015 publication date.’”
  • The City of Mirrors (The Passage, #3) by Justin Cronin
  • The Uninvited by Cat Winters (William Morrow) — via PW Book Deals: “Lucia Macro at HarperCollins’s William Morrow imprint acquired world English rights to Cat Winters’s novel, The Uninvited. The book, which Morrow compares to The Night Circus and The Thirteenth Tale, is a paranormal work set during the influenza pandemic of 1918. Winters, who was represented by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, was a finalist for the YALSA’s 2014 Morris Award, for her novel In the Shadow of Blackbirds.”
  • How to Invent a Language by David Peterson (Penguin) — via PW Book Deals: “For Penguin Press, Elda Rotor took world rights to David Peterson’s How to Invent a Language. Peterson has created languages for shows like HBO’s Game of Thrones and Syfy’s Defiance, and the book will be a guide for anyone looking to craft a new tongue. Agent Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media represented Peterson.”
  • Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie -- sequel and book two in the planned trilogy which started with Ancillary Justice
Posted in Release Week | Tagged alex bledsoe, books of blood, clive barker, eddie lacrosse, gateways, oliver wyman, shawn speakman, shovel ready, simon vance, stefan rudnicki, the emperor's blades