Release Week: Chuck Wendig's Mockingbird, Adam Christopher's Seven Wonders, and Lee Battersby's The Corpse-Rat King

Release Week: Chuck Wendig's Mockingbird, Adam Christopher's Seven Wonders, and Lee Battersby's The Corpse-Rat King

Posted on 2012-08-29 at 14:29 by Sam

Monday’s haul easily crossed the threshhold to put together the “earlier this week” releases, including several Stanislaw Lem novels (including Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age), the much-lauded self-published sf series Wool Omnibus Edition (Wool 1 - 5) By Hugh Howey, and Briarpatch By Tim Pratt (narrated by this blog’s own Dave Thompson). Meanwhile it’s a big Tuesday (August 28, 2012) for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio.

Mockingbird By Chuck Wendig, Narrated by Emily Beresford for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio — Length:9 hrs and 4 mins —after Blackbirds earlier this year, reviewed very warmly by The Guilded Earlobe. Here: “Miriam is trying. Really, she is. But this whole “settling down thing” that Louis has going for her just isn’t working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year round. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl. And her relationship with Louis - who’s on the road half the time in his truck - is subject to the piss and vinegar Miriam brings to everything she does. Still, she’s keeping her psychic ability - to see when and how someone is going to die just by touching them - in check. But even that feels wrong, somehow. Like she’s keeping a tornado stoppered up in a tiny bottle. Then comes one bad day that turns it all on her ear.”

Seven Wonders By Adam Christopher, Narrated by Nick Podehl for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio — Length:14 hrs and 37 mins — after his debut novel Empire State: A Novel early this year, Christopher takes another look at superhero fiction with his follow-up: “Tony Prosdocimi lives in the bustling Metropolis of San Ventura – a city gripped in fear, a city under siege by the hooded supervillain, The Cowl. When Tony develops super-powers and acts to take down The Cowl, however, he finds that the local superhero team Seven Wonders aren’t as grateful as he assumed they’d be….”

Yeah, I mentioned it Monday, but once more with feeling: Briarpatch By Tim Pratt, Narrated by Dave Thompson — Length:10 hrs and 9 mins — “Darrin’s life has been going downhill ever since his girlfriend Bridget walked out on him without a word of explanation six months ago. Soon after losing her, he lost his job, and his car, and eventually his enthusiasm for life. He can’t imagine things getting worse - until he sees Bridget again, for the first time since she walked out, just moments before she leaps to her death from a bridge. In his quest to find out why Bridget took her own life, he encounters a depressive (and possibly immortal) cult leader; a man with a car that can drive out of this world and into others; a beautiful psychotic with a chrome shotgun; and a bridge that, maybe, leads to heaven. Darrin’s journey leads him into a place called the Briarpatch, which is either the crawlspace of the universe, or a series of ambitious building projects abandoned by god, or a tangle of alternative universes, depending on who you ask. Somewhere in that disorderly snarl of worlds, he hopes to find Bridget again.”

Also, there’s a new GraphicAudio title out this month that catches my eye. It’s The Highwayman, the first installment of The Saga of the First King by R.A. Salvatore, with part 2 coming in September and part 3 coming in October:

• Devil Said Bang: Sandman Slim, Book 4 By Richard Kadrey, Narrated by MacLeod Andrews — Length:12 hrs and 14 mins
• Bloodstar: Star Corpsman, Book 1 By Ian Douglas, Narrated by David Drummond — Length:12 hrs and 45 mins
• Short: Sinner: A Prequel to the Mongoliad By Mark Teppo, Narrated by Luke Daniels — Length:1 hr and 38 mins
• World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War By Christie Golden, Narrated by Justine Eyre — Length:12 hrs and 33 mins
• Haunted: Anna Strong, Vampire, Book 8 By Jeanne C. Stein, Narrated by Dina Pearlman — Length:8 hrs and 35 mins
• Death Warmed Over: Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., Book 1 By Kevin J. Anderson, Narrated by Phil Gigante — Length:8 hrs and 45 mins
• Cannibal Corpse, M/C By Tim Curran, Narrated by Steve Coulter for Audible Frontiers — Length:10 hrs and 26 mins — a post-apocalyptic biker gang, a rising evil
• The Harvest Cycle By David Dunwoody, Narrated by Al Dano for Audible Frontiers — Length:8 hrs and 9 mins
• Teen: Every Day By David Levithan, Narrated by Alex McKenna — Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins — Knopf Books for Young Readers, Listening Library — “Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.”
• Mystery/Thriller: Season of the Witch By Arni Thorarinsson, Anna Yates (Translator), Narrated by Jeff Cummings for Brilliance Audio — Length:10 hrs and 18 mins — the only supernatural element seems to be the in-book performance of the Icelandic play Loftur the Sorcerer, set amidst another Scandinavian murder
• Fiction: The Mirrored World: A Novel By Debra Dean, Narrated by Yelena Shmulenson for Harper Audio — Length:6 hrs and 56 mins — a vision comes true in the court of 18th century St. Petersburg

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

• A Guile of Dragons by James Enge (Pyr, August 24) — “It’s dwarves versus dragons in this origin story for Enge’s signature character, Morlock Ambrosius! Before history began, the dwarves of Thrymhaiam fought against the dragons as the Longest War raged in the deep roads beneath the Northhold. Now the dragons have returned, allied with the dead kings of Cor and backed by the masked gods of Fate and Chaos.”
• Reaper (Lightbringer #2), by K.D. McEntire (August 24, Pyr)
• Dusk Watchman (The Twilight Reign, Book Five) by Tom Lloyd (Pyr, Aug 24, 2012) — no audio news
• The Eternal Flame (Orthogonal #2) by Greg Egan (Night Shade Books, Aug 26) — the second in Egan’s alternate physics series after The Clockwork Rocket
• The Spark by Susan Jane Bigelow (Candlemark & Gleam, August 28) — book three after 2011’s well-received Unbroken and January’s Fly Info Fire from this high quality small press
• YA: The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna (Libba+Bray/HarperCollins, August 28) — “Eva’s life is not her own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra, her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready. But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.”
• Anthology: Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron edited by Jonathan Strahan (Aug 28, 2012)
• Death of Light by Peter Crowther (Angry Robot, Aug 28, 2012)
• Breakdown by Katherine Amt Hanna (47North)
• Sanctuary (The Outcast Chronicles #3), by Rowena Cory Daniells (August 28, Solaris)
• Cold Fire (Spiritwalker #2) by Kate Elliott (Orbit, Aug 28)
• Ghost of a Dream by Simon R. Green (Ace, Aug 28)
• Ghost Spin by Chris Moriarty (Spectra, Aug 28, 2012)
• Endgame (A Sirantha Jax novel) by Ann Aguirre (Ace, Aug 28)
• Soul Trade by Caitlin Kittredge (St. Martin’s, Aug 28)
• The Shattered Vine: Book Three of The Vineart War by Laura Anne Gilman (Pocket Books, Aug 28)
• The Dragons of Winter (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica #6), by James A. Owens (August 28, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)
• Vanquished (Crusade #3), by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie (August 28, Simon Pulse)
• Wrayth (Book of the Order #3), by Phillippa Ballantine (August 28, Ace)
• Bloodstar (Star Corpsman: Book One) by Ian Douglas (Harper Voyager, August 28)
• Taken (An Alex Verus Novel) by Benedict Jacka (Ace, Aug 28)
• The Last Summoner by Nina Munteanu (Starfire World Syndicate, Aug 28)
• Anthology: Maelstrom: Tales of Madness and Horror edited by Lillian Cohen-Moore (Savage Mojo) — floods, storms, and Lovecraftian horror, with stories by Richard Dansky, Phil Brucato, Cat Tobin, and more
• Anthology: Ghosts: Recent Hauntings edited by Paula Guran (Prime, Aug 28)
• Anthology: Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top edited by Ekaterina Sedia (Prime, Aug 28)
• Anthology: Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction edited by Carrie Ryan (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Aug 28)

• Legion, by Brandon Sanderson (August 31, Subterranean) — while I’m unsure if the audio will be released simultaneously, I know the recording is “in the can” from Oliver Wyman
• Collection: No Sharks in the Med and Other Stories by Brian Lumley (Subterranean, Aug 31)
• Teen: Zeuglodonby James Blaylock (Subterranean Press, Aug 31) — “set in the world envisioned in James Blaylock’s The Digging Leviathan”
• Clockwork Angels by Kevin J. Anderson, read by Neal Peart for Brilliance Audio (Sep 1) — Peart reading the novelization by Anderson for Peart’s concurrently releasing Rush album
• Collection: Near + Far by Cat Rambo (Hydra House, September 1, 2012)

• The Dirty Streets of Heaven: Volume One of Bobby Dollarby Tad Williams (Sep 4, DAW Hardcover) — one of my favorite authors for his fantasy series “Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn”, Williams turns to urban fantasy and is getting rave reviews:  “When I heard that Tad Williams was writing an urban fantasy novel, I got all tingly. Now I’ve read it, and it’s even better than I’d dared to hope. It’s snarky, fast-paced, and above all, original. You should be tingly, too.” (Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Wind) — no audio news, sadly
• Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama (FS&G, September 4) — “Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.”
• The Kingmakers by Clay and Susan Griffith (Pyr, September 4) — the conclusion of their Vampire Empire series which began with 2010’s The Greyfriar and 2011’s The Rift Walker — book one came to audio earlier this year from Buzzy Multimedia, read by James Marsters, and the remaining books will be coming along eventually
• The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor UK, Sep 4, 2012) — Tor US release in October
• Non-Fiction: Punk: An Aesthetic by Jon Savage, William Gibson, Linder Sterling and Johan Kugelberg (Rizzoli, Sep 4, 2012) — this “heavily illustrated” book is not a good match for audio, but it’s on my list anyway, well, because Gibson and punk. So there.
• Short: Two Ravens and One Crow: An Iron Druid Chronicles Novella by Kevin Hearne (Del Rey, Sep 4)
• Teen: Origin by Jessica Khoury (Razorbill, Sep 4)
• Teen: Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (Strange Chemistry, Sep 4)
• Ashes of Honor (October Daye, #6) by Seanan McGuire (Brilliance Audio, September 6, 2012)
• Anthology: Dark Faith: Invocations edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon (Apex Publications, September 6, 2012) — the second anthology in this series after the well-received Dark Faith
• The City’s Son by Tom Pollock (Flux Books, Sep 8 — originally published in the UK by Jo Fletcher Books in August) — a PW-starred review urban fantasy set in modern London

• The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer, #2) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, September 11)
• The White Forest by Adam McOmber (Sep 11, Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) — “A young woman can hear the souls of man-made objects, and they’re not exactly singing happy tunes in McOmber’s Victorian gothic debut.” (Kirkus)
• YA/YR: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan (Knopf, Sep 11, 2012)

• The Forge of Darkness by Steven Erikson (Tor, Sep 18)  — begins a new trilogy “that takes place millennia before the events of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and introduces readers to Kurald Galain, the warren of Darkness.”
• Midst Toil and Tribulation (Safehold) by David Weber (Tor, Sep 18)
• Collection: Beautiful Sorrows by Mercedes M. Yardley (Shock Totem Press, Sep 22)

• Alchemystic by Anton Strout (Ace, Sep 25) — Book One of The Spellmason Chronicles — “Alexandra Belarus is a struggling artist living in New York City, even though her family is rich in real estate, including a towering Gothic Gramercy Park building built by her great-great-grandfather. But the truth of her bloodline is revealed when she is attacked on the street and saved by an inhumanly powerful winged figure.”
• Bad Glass by Richard E. Gropp (Del Rey, Sep 25) — winner of the Del Rey/Suvudu Writing Contest from the author of the powerful 2011 short story “Filling up the Void”

The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon, November 1, 2012) — a short novel / long novella set in the same world as Sanderson’s novelElantris.

Posted in regular, Release Week | Tagged adam christopher, angry robot, chuck wendig, graphicaudio, RA Salvatore, release week, the corpse-rat king