Release Week: The Testament of Jessie Lamb, A Red Sun Also Rises, and Shadow and Bone

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Release Week: The Testament of Jessie Lamb, A Red Sun Also Rises, and Shadow and Bone

Posted on 2012-12-05 at 18:02 by Sam

The first release week in December brings an Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, along with the latest from Mark Hodder and a much-anticipated young adult release, and, well, a few dozen more audiobooks, besides. The most missing audiobook this week for me is a debut novel, Ink, by Damien Walters Grintalis. (More on those after the avalanche of new audiobooks.)

The Testament of Jessie Lamb: A Novel By Jane Rogers, Narrated by Fiona Hardingham for Blackstone Audio — Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins. Published by Highland, Scotland-based Sandstone Press in early 2011 and finding wider release with a May 2012 release from Harper Perennial, winner for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize —

The Testament of Jessie Lamb: A Novel | [Jane Rogers]

I’ve been waiting for this one a good while now: “A rogue virus that kills pregnant women has been let loose in the world, and nothing less than the survival of the human race is at stake. Some blame the scientists, others see the hand of God, and still others claim that humanity is reaping the punishment it deserves for years of arrogance and destructiveness. Jessie Lamb is an ordinary 16-year-old girl living in extraordinary times. As her world collapses, her idealism and courage drive her toward the ultimate act of heroism. Jessie wants her life to make a difference; but is she heroic, or is she, as her scientist father fears, impressionable, innocent, and incapable of understanding where her actions will lead?”

A Red Sun Also Rises By Mark Hodder, Narrated by Peter Batchelor for Audible Frontiers, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Pyr — Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins. Hodder is also the author of the acclaimed Steampunk Burton and Swinburne series, here brings a Victorian aesthetic to… an alien planet: “A tale of good and evil, where neither is what it seems! Aiden Fleischer, a bookish priest, finds himself transported to an alien world. With him is Miss Clarissa Stark, a crippled hunchback of exceptional ability, wronged by an aristocrat and cast out from society.”

A Red Sun Also Rises | [Mark Hodder] Shadow and Bone | [Leigh Bardugo]

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Narrated by Lauren Fortgang for Audible, Inc. — Series: Grisha, Book 1 — Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins. “Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee. Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.”

OUT TUESDAY:

EARLIER THIS WEEK: SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Fungi Ink

  • The Kyoto Man by D. Harlan Wilson (Raw Dog Screaming Press) -- in limited hardcover, with wider paperback release early next year
  • The Book of Thomas by Robert Boyczuk (ChiZine, Nov 30) -- recent Big Idea post on Scalzi's Whatever blog
  • Anthology: Fungi by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Orrin Grey (Innsmouth Free Press, Dec 1, 2012) -- among other authors, Jeff VanderMeer, Laird Barron, Nick Mamatas, W.H. Pugmire, Lavie Tidhar, Ann K.Schwader, Jesse Bullington, Molly Tanzer and Simon Strantzas
  • Teen: Shaman of Stonewylde by Kit Berry (Gollanz, Dec 1, 2012)
  • The Last Dragoon by James Daniel Ross (Dark Quest Books, Dec 3) -- "The Ivy City is dying. It flails under a sea of the risen dead, the holy churches broken, the nobles largely destroyed, the population leaderless and alone, the city itself is bleeding and growing cold. Tattered crimson ribbons of blood fill the gutters. A despicable wizard, scion of the noble line, has shoved the Ivy City to the brink of death as he seeks what he sees as his rightful throne. Doomed by his forbidden love, discarded by the crown, forgotten by the people, a disgraced hero rises from the ashes to combat the rising darkness. Accompanied by a novice of the god of death, this armored savior will crash headlong into the ranks of the undead. As the legions of the unliving surround and entrap him, he faces the dark truths of his own failures, and discovers the limits of his warrior will."
  • Inkby Damien Walters Grintalis (Samhain Publishing, Dec 4) -- Debut novel: "The griffin inked on Jason’s arm looks real enough to take flight. Jason thinks his new tattoo is perfect. Until he wakes up one night to find his arm temporarily ink free. Until he finds a brick wall where the tattoo shop should be."
  • The Siren Depths by Martha Wells (Night Shade Books, Dec 4) -- third book in The Books of the Raksura with the first two books in audio from Audible Frontiers
  • Teen: The Steam Mole by Dave Freer (Pyr, Dec 4) -- sequel to Cuttlefish
  • The Doctor and the Rough Rider by Mike Resnick (Pyr, Dec 4) -- third in The Weird West Tales
  • Alien vs. Alien by Gini Koch (DAW, Dec 4) -- the sixth book in the Katherine “Kitty” Katt series. The first book is Touched by an Alien
  • Elemental Magic edited by Mercedes Lackey (DAW, Dec 4) -- ninth book in the Elemental Masters series
  • Andromeda’s Fall by William C. Dietz (Ace, Dec 4)
  • Mecha Rogue: A Novel of the Armor Wars by Brett Patton (Roc, Dec 4)
  • Supervolcano: All Fall Down by Harry Turtledove (Roc, Dec 4)
  • Robert Asprin’s Myth-Quoted by Jody Lynn Nye (Ace Trade, Dec 4)
  • Collection: The Ghost Pirates and Others: The Best of William Hope Hodgson by William Hope Hodgson (Night Shade Books, Dec 4)
  • Virus: The Day of Resurrection by Sakyo Komatsu (VIZ Media LLC, Dec 4)
  • Rising Sun by Robert Conroy (Baen, Dec 4) -- "Alternate history novel set in 1942, as the US loses the Pacific to the Japanese, who begin attacking the American west coast." (via Locus Online)
ON PRE-ORDER LISTINGS: COMING SOON:

The Bones of the Old Ones The Folly of the World

  • Collection: Don't Pay Bad for Bad by Amos Tutuola (Cheeky Frawg, Dec 5) -- ebook collection with rare and previously unpublished stories by the iconic Nigerian author, with a blurb from Nnedi Okorafor and an afterword by Matthew Cheney, along with an extensive introduction by Tutuola's son, Yinka Tutuola. From Okorafor: “I first discovered the worlds of Amos Tutuola deep in the African Literature section of Michigan State University’s library. I haven’t been the same since. His stories utterly threw me off. They were Yoruba folktales woven into indigenous quirky Nigerian fantasy. Tutuola’s work is under-celebrated, overwhelming, deliciously mad and many times just plain hilarious. In his worlds, Death isn’t even safe from misfortune. His tales are both local and universal. If you are a fan of speculative literature, Don’t Pay Bad for Bad is required reading.”
  • The Bones of the Old Ones by Howard Andrew Jones (Thomas Dunne, Dec 11) -- sequel to The Desert of Souls
  • Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes (Razorbill, Dec 11)
  • Kids: The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man’s Canyon, S.S. Taylor (McSweeney's/McMullens, December 11) -- "The first middle-grade novel from McSweeney’s McMullens imprint" (via Flavorwire)
  • Z 2134 by Sean Platt & David W. Wright (47North, Dec 11) -- originally a Kindle Serial
  • The Folly of the World by Jesse Bullington (Orbit, Dec 18) — “On a stormy night in 1421, the North Sea delivers a devastating blow to Holland: the Saint Elizabeth Flood, a deluge of biblical proportions that drowns hundreds of towns, thousands of people, and forever alters the geography of the Low Countries. Where the factions of the noble Hooks and the merchant Cods waged a literal class war but weeks before, there is now only a nigh-endless expanse of grey water, a desolate inland sea with moldering church spires jutting up like sunken tombstones. For a land already beleaguered by generations of civil war, a worse disaster could scarce be imagined. Yet even disaster can be profitable, for the right sort of individual, and into this flooded realm sail three conspirators: a deranged thug at the edge of madness, a ruthless conman on the cusp of fortune, and a half-feral girl balanced between them.”
  • The Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle (Angry Robot, Dec 18) -- the second book in Night’s Masque. The first book is The Alchemist of Souls
  • Nexus by Ramez Naam (Angry Robot, Dec 18)
  • The Merchant of Dreams (Night’s Masque) by Anne Lyle (Angry Robot and Brilliance Audio, Dec 18)
  • An audiobook edition of Alchemystic by Anton Strout, published earlier this fall — reportedly coming from Audible Frontiers on Dec 21
  • The Complete John Thunstone by Manly Wade Wellman (Haffner Press, Dec 22)
  • Luck of the Draw by Piers Anthony (Tor, Dec 24)
  • The Hermetic Millennia by John C. Wright (Tor, Dec 24) -- sequel to Count to a Trillion
  • The Shadow’s Heir by K.J. Taylor (Ace, Dec 24)
  • Anthology: Latin American Science Fiction: Theory and Practice edited by M. Elizabeth Ginway and J. Andrew Brown (Palgrave Macmillan, Dec 24)
  • The Shadow’s Heir (The Risen Sun) by K. J. Taylor (Ace, Dec 24)
  • Unnatural Acts (Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.) by Kevin J. Anderson (Kensington and Brilliance Audio, Dec 24)
  • Blood and Bone: A Novel of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont (Bantam Press, Dec 25)
  • Witchbreaker: The Dragon Apocalypse 3 by James Maxey (Solaris, Dec 26) -- after Greatshadow and Hush
  • Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell (Solaris, Dec 26)
  • Day by Day Armageddon: Shattered Hourglass by J. L. Bourne (Permuted Press, Brilliance Audio, Dec 26)
  • Glass Thorns (Glass Thorns 1) by Melanie Rawn (Titan, Dec 28)
  • Doktor Glass by Thomas Brennan (Ace, Dec 31)
  • Ember: A Penguin Special from Roc by James K. Decker (Roc, Dec 31) -- prequel novella to The Burn Zone
  • Nell Gwynne’s On Land and At Sea by Kage Baker & Kathleen Bartholomew (Subterranean, Dec 31)
  • The Dog in the Dark: A Novel of the Noble Dead by Barb Hendee & J.C. Hendee (Roc Hardcover, Dec 31)
  • The Circle by Bentley Little (Cemetery Dance, December)
Posted in Release Week | Tagged jane rogers, leigh bardugo, mark hodder, me and the devil, nick tosches, release week, shadow and bone, the testament of jessie lamb