Release Week: Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds, Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove, Ben Bova's Farside, and Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill

Release Week: Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds, Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove, Ben Bova's Farside, and Hiroshi Sakurazaka's All You Need is Kill

Posted on 2013-02-14 at 03:50 by Sam

The second release week in February comes with quite a haul, with deep future sf from Mythopoetic Award-winner Karen Lord, a lush collection from Karen Russell, a pair of highly anticipated continued epic fantasy series from Recorded Books, new sf from Ben Bova read by Stefan Rudnicki, and one of the more unique audiobooks to come this year, All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. (And one of the more unique books of last year, Patrick Wensink’s Broken Piano for President, gets a professional unabridged production as well.) Unfortunately no sign yet of Robert Jackson Bennett’s latest, American Elsewhere, but there is a Recorded Books audiobook coming in the third quarter this year so there’s some solace there. And of course, there’s the latest in John Scalzi’s best-selling series The Human Division, with this installment being Tales from the Clarke: The Human Division, Episode 5. Speaking of ongoing episodic audio, The Leviathan Chronicles continued this week with Snipe by Mur Lafferty and Christof Laputka, which “takes you on a round-the-world cat & mouse chase to keep a weapon of catastrophic power from falling into the wrong hands.” And! At the bottom of the post I have a few more Whispersync for Voice “price quirk” deals, as well as a quick run-down of Audible.com’s currently ongoing $4.95 “Win-Win” sale.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

I had been expecting to lament that The Best of All Possible Worlds By Karen Lord was not in audio this week, but luckily indeed here it is, narrated By Robin Miles for Audible Frontiers — Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins. This was a very happy surprise, as I hadn’t seen any concrete audio news for this book I’ve been eagerly anticipating for a very long time, having thoroughly enjoyed the Mythopoetic Award-winning Redemption in Indigo. And so seeing the book show up in audio concurrent with the US print release from Del Rey, with the fantastic narration of Robin Miles, well, there’s a reason it’s already over there under “Sam is currently listening to”. I’m several chapters in and I’m very much enjoying this one, but: it’s really not quite fair that Lord can go from mythopoetic oral storytelling to deep future interstellar sf as well as she does here. Instead of chasing down the well-trodden path of AI run amok (though perhaps that is in the background somewhere, not yet touched upon), Lord’s far future comes with millenia of genetic selection to the near point of speciation — and developed psi characteristics ranging from empathy to suggestion to telepathy to, well, the ability to pilot mind ships through deep space, though that last bit isn’t yet explored in the story, which focuses on a bio-technician turned guide on a most unusual anthropological expedition across one of the melting plot planets. Here’s both a review in Locus Magazine by Gary K. Wolfe, and lastly the publisher copy: “Karen Lord’s debut novel, the multiple-award-winning Redemption in Indigo, announced the appearance of a major new talent—a strong, brilliantly innovative voice fusing Caribbean storytelling traditions and speculative fiction with subversive wit and incisive intellect. Compared by critics to such heavyweights as Nalo Hopkinson, China Miville, and Ursula K. Le Guin, Lord does indeed belong in such select company—yet, like them, she boldly blazes her own trail. Now Lord returns with a second novel that exceeds the promise of her first. The Best of All Possible Worlds is a stunning science-fiction epic that is also a beautifully wrought, deeply moving love story. A proud and reserved alien society finds its homeland destroyed in an unprovoked act of aggression, and the survivors have no choice but to reach out to the indigenous humanoids of their adopted world, to whom they are distantly related. They wish to preserve their cherished way of life but come to discover that in order to preserve their culture, they may have to change it forever. Now a man and a woman from these two clashing societies must work together to save this vanishing race—and end up uncovering ancient mysteries with far-reaching ramifications. As their mission hangs in the balance, this unlikely team—one cool and cerebral, the other fiery and impulsive—just may find in each other their own destinies… and a force that transcends all.”

Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories By Karen Russell, Narrated By Arthur Morey, Joy Osmanski, Kaleo Griffith, Mark Bramhall, Michael Bybee, Romy Rosemont, and Robbie Daymond for Random House Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins — concurrent with print/ebook release from Knopf. Along with a great review by Elizabeth Hand in the Washington Post, here’s the publisher copy: “From the author of the instant New York Times best seller Swamplandia! (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), a dazzling new collection of stories that showcases Karen Russell’s gifts at their inimitable best. In the collection’s marvelous title story, two aging vampires in a sun-drenched Italian lemon grove find their hundred-year marriage tested when one of them develops a fear of flying. In “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach, 1979”, a dejected teenager discovers that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left in a seagull’s nest. “Proving Up” and “The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis” - stories of children left to fend for themselves in dire predicaments - find Russell veering into more sinister territory, and ultimately crossing the line into full-scale horror. In “The New Veterans”, a massage therapist working with a tattooed war veteran discovers she has the power to heal by manipulating the images on his body. In all, these wondrous new pieces display a young writer of superlative originality and invention coming into the full range and scale of her powers.”

Out concurrent with its print/ebook release from Tor is Farside By Ben Bova, Narrated by the incomparable and always magnificent Stefan Rudnicki for Blackstone Audio — Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins — “Farside, the side of the moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder. Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some 30 light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth - and if it bears life. Farside observatory will have the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the moon’s solid body. Building Farside is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the moon, under constant bombardment by hard radiation and in-falling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns - mechanical and emotional - are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal. But what they ultimately find will stun everyone, and the human race will never be the same.”

Originally published in Japan in 2004 and published in print and ebook in English in 2009 by Haikasoru, All You Need Is Kill By Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Narrated By Mike Martindale for Simon & Schuster Audio — Length: 5 hrs and 25 mins. Basis (though with many changes) of the planned 2014 film starring Tom Cruise. “There’s one thing worse than dying. It’s coming back to do it again and again. When the alien Gitai invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to find himself reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On the 158th iteration though, he sees something different, something out of place: the female soldier known as the Bitch of War. Is the Bitch the key to Keiji’s escape, or to his final death?”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Recorded Books brings the continuation of two well-received epic fantasy series including concurrent new release The Daylight War: The Demon Cycle, Book 3 By Peter V. Brett, Narrated By Pete Bradbury, and one of the most missing audiobooks of 2012 in The King’s Blood: The Dagger and the Coin, Book 2 By Daniel Abraham, Narrated By Pete Bradbury; an alternate history series continues with 1635: The Papal Stakes By Charles E. Gannon and Eric Flint, Narrated By George Guidall— and there’s also a new unabridged recording of Broken Piano for President By Patrick Wensink, a much improved recording from the abridged version which last year accompanied the Lazy Fascist Press-published indie international bestseller which gained notice from the “World’s Nicest Cease and Desist” letter from Jack Daniels

Shadow on the Crown: A Novel by Patricia Bracewell (Viking Adult and Penguin Audio, Feb 7, 2013) — historical fiction set in the early 1000s

The Magician’s Apprentice By Trudi Canavan, Narrated By Richard Aspel for Bolinda Publishing — Length: 25 hrs and 19 mins — replacing the incredibly stripped down abridged recording (under 6 hours) narrated By Rosamund Pike

Among several other additions to the Audible Frontiers Dungeons & Dragons collection: Gauntlgrym: Legend of Drizzt: Neverwinter Saga, Book 1 By R. A. Salvatore, Narrated By Victor Bevine (with the remaining 3 books in this series coming over the following weeks) and Spellfire: Forgotten Realms: Shandril’s Saga, Book 1 By Ed Greenwood, Narrated By James Patrick Cronin

Among a few other Audible Inc titles, the adventure memoir of sf writer leads the way in terms of my interest this week: Predators I Have Known By Alan Dean Foster, Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer. In fiction: Swan Song: Hooded Swan, Book Six By Brian Stableford (1975), Narrated By Zach Herries; Husk: A Novel By Corey Redekop, Narrated By Paul Costanzo; The Shattered Horse By S. P. Somtow, Narrated By Napoleon Ryan; The Oracle Glass By Judith Merkle Riley, Narrated By Linda Bruno; The Code of the Zombie Pirate: How to Become an Undead Master of the High Seas By Scott Kenemore, Narrated By Bernard Setaro Clark; and several novels by Barbara Hambly, narrated variously by Anne Flosnik, Simon Vance, and others

Among several other releases by Audible Frontiers of previously published books, the completion of Joel Rosenberg’s Guardians of the Flame series, read by Keith Silverstein: The Heir Apparent: Guardians of the Flame, Book 4, The Warrior Lives: Guardians of the Flame, Book 5, The Road to Ehvenor: Guardians of the Flame, Book 6 , and The Road Home: Guardians of the Flame, Book 7 — along with two more Rosenberg novels, D’Shai (Narrated By Ray Chase) and Not for Glory: Thousand Worlds, Book 3 (Narrated By Maxwell Glick) — as well as: The Legend That Was Earth By James P Hogan, Narrated By John Morgan; Captive of Gor: Gorean Saga, Book 7 By John Norman, Narrated By Lexi Maynard; and Drifter, McCade’s Bounty, and Alien Bounty By William C. Dietz, all narrated By Bill Quinn

The week’s haul from Crossroad Press includes among others: Journey: The Five Worlds Trilogy, Book 2 By Al Sarrantonio, Narrated By Dave Courvoisier; Twilight Hankerings By Ronald Kelly, Narrated By J. C. Hayes; The Crossings By Jack Ketchum, Narrated By Scotty Drake; Horrorween: The Orangefield Series, Book 1 By Al Sarrantonio, Narrated By Gene Blake; and The Quest of the Thirteen By John DeFilippis, Narrated By Timothy J. Danko

One adult sf/f release from Brilliance Audio next week: The Beast of Calatrava: A Foreworld SideQuest By Mark Teppo, Narrated By Luke Daniels — Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins

Iambik Audio had a big week: Bearded Women By Teresa Milbrodt, Narrated By Darla Middlebrook; The Hair Wreath and Other Stories By Halli Villegas, Narrated By Dawn Harvey; Fire Logic: Book 1 of Elemental Logic By Laurie J. Marks, Narrated By Anita Roy Dobbs; Race for the Heir: Book 2 of the Prophecies of Ballitor By Kirsty Riddiford, Narrated By Ruth Golding; and Tranquility’s Blaze: Book 1 of Tales of Tranquility By Krista D. Ball, Narrated By Cori Samuel (who was wonderful on JM McDermott’s Last Dragon)

Short: A Man and His God: A Sacred Band Tale By Janet Morris (1981), Narrated By David Kudler — Length: 1 hr and 52 mins — “This landmark short novel contains what may be the first male/male kiss in modern fantasy, and was widely reprinted, after appearing in somewhat different form in Thieves’ World(r), in the Science Fiction Book Club, two Issac Asimov collections, and the Baen Book “Tempus” by Janet Morris.”

Teen: Maggot Moon By Sally Gardner, Narrated By Robert Madge for Candlewick on Brilliance Audio — Length: 3 hrs and 38 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 02-12-13 — “On the other side of the wall there is a dark secret. And the devil. And the Moon Man. And the Motherland doesn’t want anyone to know.”

Two shorts for kids from Nation9: The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa By Dan Redwine, Narrated By Ken MacMillan (15 mins) and Intro to Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of the Four: Intro to Classics By Arthur Conan Doyle, Narrated By Zach Taylor (51 mins)

And a few more quick notes:

• My Life with Ewa: The Early Years By Tim Pratt, Narrated By Tim Pratt -- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins -- a memoir from the author of Briarpatch
• Hit Me: Keller, Book 5 By Lawrence Block, Narrated By Richard Poe — Length: 8 hrs
• Extinction: A Thriller By Mark Alpert, Narrated By Todd McLaren for Tantor Audio — Length: 14 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 02-12-13
• Fiction: The House Girl: A Novel By Tara Conklin, Narrated By Bahni Turpin for Harper Audio
• Non-Fiction/Short: Guns By Stephen King, Narrated By Christian Rummel -- Length: 49 mins

• Sutherland’s Rules by Dario Ciriello (Panverse, February) — “Some people go gentle into that long good night. Billy Sutherland isn’t one of them. All Christian White wants is a quiet life. But between the FDA threatening new regulations which would bankrupt his business, and the challenges posed by his open marriage to Carol, his attractive, younger, bi wife, peace isn’t anywhere on the horizon. And when he receives a letter from Billy, his old chum and sometime guardian angel from their hippie days, asking him to come to London and help him to collect on a forty-year-old IOU, Christian’s other problems start to look insignificant. Because the IOU is for two hundred and fifty kilos of charas, high-grade hashish from Afghanistan. And Christian owes Billy too much to even consider refusing.” Blurb from Nebula/Hugo winner Ken Liu: “SUTHERLAND'S RULES is an exciting adventure that will keep you turning the pages: fun, fast, fabulously plotted.”
• American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett (Orbit, Feb 12, 2013) — no audio quiet yet; c’mon publishers, it took far too long for The Troupe to make it into audio, get working sooner on these! There is a Recorded Books audiobook coming in the third quarter this year
• Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui (Vintage, Feb 12) — “This is not a new book, but it’s very worth mentioning — Paprika came out in Japan in 1993, and was made into a movie by Satoshi Kon a dozen years later. This English translation, by Andrew Driver, came out in 2009 on a small press. But now, it’s out in a fancy edition from Random House, so you can learn why Japanese readers went into mourning when Yasutaka went on strike years ago. There’s a lengthy review of the book, comparing it with the film, over at Strange Horizons.” (via io9)
• The Afrika Reich: A Novel by Guy Saville (Henry Holt, Feb 12, 2013) -- US release for this 2011 alternate history novel
• Anthology: Who Done it? with Lev Grossman, Lemony Snicket, Libba Bray, and more (Soho Teen, Feb 12)
• Teen: The Ruining by Anna Collomore (Penguin/Razorbill)
• Teen: Revel by Maurissa Guibord (Random House/Delacorte)
• Teen: The Mirrored Shard by Caitlin Kittredge (Random House/Delacorte)
• Teen: Arcadia Burns by Kai Meyer (Harper/Balzer+Bray)
• Anthology: Futuredaze edited by Hannah Strom-Martin and Erin Underwood (Underwords Press)

• The Emperor of all Things by Paul Witcover (Bantam UK, 14 Feb 2013)
• Vacant Graves: The Magnocracy Series, Book 2 By Christopher Beats, Narrated By Steve Coulter for Carina Press -- Scheduled Release Date: 02-18-13
• The Inner City by Karen Heuler (ChiZine, February 19) — “Heuler continues to delight with her thoughtful brand of modern surrealism/magic realism—a criminally underrated writer. –Jeff VanderMeer”
• The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination: Original Short Fiction for the Modern Evil Genius by John Joseph Adams — Brilliance Audio Exclusive | Simultaneous Release with the Hardcover (February 19)
• Fuse By Julianna Baggott, Narrated By Khristine Hvam, Casey Holloway, Kevin T. Collins, and Pierce Cravens — Series: Pure, Book 2 — Length: 14 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 02-19-13
• Anthology: Superheroes, edited by Rich Horton (Prime Books, Feb 19)
• Anthology: Encounters of Sherlock Holmes edited by George Mann (Titan, Feb 19) -- "a new collection of adventures from Titan Books include stories from horror and steampunk authors like James Lovegrove, Paul Magrs, Guy Adams, George Mann and Mark Hodder" (via an interview with editor Mann)
• Star Corps: Book One of The Legacy Trilogy By Ian Douglas, Narrated By David Drummond — Length: 12 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 02-19-13 — with books two and three coming shortly thereafter
• Extinction Point: Extinction Point, Book 1 By Paul Antony Jones, Narrated By Emily Beresford — Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 02-19-13
• Six Heirs by Pierre Grimbert — Brilliance Audio Exclusive | Simultaneous Release with the Trade Paperback — “In a vast land of elemental magic, myriad gods, and powerful legends, protecting an astonishing secret will unite a determined band of unlikely heroes against the forces of destruction and domination.” (February 19)
• The Office of Mercy: A Novel by Ariel Djanikian (Viking Adult, Feb 21, 2013) — “Weaving philosophy and science together into a riveting, dystopian story of love and adventure, The Office of Mercy illuminates an all-too-real future imagined by a phenomenal new voice in fiction. Twenty-four-year-old Natasha Wiley lives in America-Five—a high-tech, underground, utopian settlement where hunger and money do not exist, everyone has a job, and all basic needs are met. But when her mentor and colleague, Jeffrey, selects her to join a special team to venture Outside for the first time, Natasha’s allegiances to home, society, and above all to Jeffrey are tested. She is forced to make a choice that may put the people she loves most in grave danger and change the world as she knows it.”
• The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist (Dutton Juvenile, Feb 21, 2013)
• Imager’s Battalion: Book 6 in the Imager Portfolio by L.E. Modesitt, Jr., read by William Dufris (Tantor Audio, February 25) — hardcover from Tor is Jan 22
• Star Trek: The Original Series: Devil’s Bargain by Tony Daniel (Pocket Books/Star Trek, Feb 26)
• Fade to Black By Francis Knight, Narrated By To Be Announced for Hachette Audio — Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 02-26-13 — excerpt available
• Dreams and Shadows: A Novel by C. Robert Cargill (Harper Voyager and Harper Audio, Feb 26, 2013)
• The Teleportation Accident: A Novel by Ned Beauman (Bloomsbury, Feb 26, 2013)
• Mongoliad, The: Book Three (The Foreworld Saga) by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo and Nicole Galland (Feb 26, 2013)
• Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond by John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen — Brilliance Audio Exclusive | Simultaneous Release with the Trade Paperback (February 26)
• Hell to Pay by Matthew Hughes (Angry Robot:26 February)
• Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman | Brilliance Audio Exclusive | Simultaneous Release with the Trade Paperback — “In this intelligently-written urban fantasy novel, listeners will sink into Emma Newman’s mirror world, hidden somwhere amid the streets of Bath, England.” (February 26)
• Fragments: Partials, Book 2 By Dan Wells, Narrated By Julia Whelan — Length: 16 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 02-26-13
• Seer: The Third Prequel to the Mongoliad: The Foreworld Saga By Mark Teppo, Narrated By Luke Daniels — Series: Mongoliad — Length: 1 hr and 55 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 02-26-13
• Six-Gun Snow White  by Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean, Feb 28) — “From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves.”
• The Night of the Swarm (Book 4 in the Chathrand Voyage series) By Robert V. S. Redick, Read By Michael Page for Tantor Audio — Scheduled Release Date: 02-25-13
• The Savage Boy by Nick Cole (HarperCollins, Feb 26, 2013) — sequel to The Old Man and the Wasteland
• Low Down Death Right Easy by J David Osborne (Swallowdown Press, February) — from the author of By the Time We Leave Here, We’ll Be Friends – excerpt available

• THE VEILED WEB by Catherine Asaro, read by Caroline Shaffer (Blackstone Audio, 1 March)
• CHAOSBOUND by David Farland,read by Ray Porter (Blackstone Audio, 1 March)
• STARFIRE by Charles Sheffield, read by Gary Dikeos (Blackstone Audio, 1 March)
• The Human Front (Outspoken Authors) by Ken Macleod (PM Press, Mar 1, 2013)
• The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (Mar 1, 2013)
• The Accursed By Joyce Carol Oates, Narrated By Grover Gardner for Harper Audio — Length: 23 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-05-13 — “A major historical novel from “one of the great artistic forces of our time” (The Nation) – an eerie, unforgettable story of possession, power, and loss in early-20th-century Princeton, a cultural crossroads of the powerful and the damned.”
• No Return by Zachary Jernigan (Night Shade Books, Mar 5, 2013)
• Empty Space by M. John Harrison (Mar 5, 2013) — US release for this very well-received conclusion after Light and Nova Swing
• The Demonologist: A Novel by Andrew Pyper (Simon & Schuster and S&S Audio, Mar 5, 2013)
• Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson, read by Ralph Lister for Brilliance Audio (March 5) -- book two in Malazan Book of the Fallen
• Teen: Requiem: Delirium Trilogy, Book 3 By Lauren Oliver, Narrated By Sarah Drew – Length: 10 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-05-13
• Teen: Earth Girl by Janet Edwards (Pyr, Mar 5, 2013)
• Teen: When We Wake by Karen Healey (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Mar 5, 2013) — audiobook coming from Hachette Audio — “My name is Tegan Oglietti, and on the last day of my first lifetime, I was so, so happy. Sixteen-year-old Tegan is just like every other girl living in 2027–she’s happiest when playing the guitar, she’s falling in love for the first time, and she’s joining her friends to protest the wrongs of the world: environmental collapse, social discrimination, and political injustice.”
• Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Evolution, and Revolution edited by Victoria Blake (Underland Press, March 12)
• Sister Mine by Nalo Hopkinson (Mar 12, 2013)
• Bloodfire Quest: The Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book 2 By Terry Brooks, Narrated By Rosalyn Landor — Series: Dark Legacy of Shannara, Book 2 — Length: 15 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-12-13
• Fiction: Child of Vengeance: A Novel By David Kirk, Narrated By Mark Bramhall for Random House Audio — Length: 11 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-12-13 — “A bold and vivid historical epic of feudal Japan, based on the real-life exploits of the legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto.”
• MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza (Mar 12, 2013) — read by Tara Sands for HarperCollins
• Mystery/Thriller: The Andalucian Friend: A Novel By Alexander Söderberg, Narrated By Gildart Jackson for Random House Audio — Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 03-12-13 — “Imagine if Quentin Tarantino directed The Godfather“
• The Curve of The Earth by Simon Morden (Orbit, Mar 19, 2013)
• Self-Reference ENGINE by Toh EnJoe (Haikasoru, Mar 19, 2013) — “This is not a novel. This is not a short story collection. This is Self-Reference ENGINE.”
• Anthology: Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor, March 19)
• Bitterwood by James Maxey, read by Dave Thompson (March 19) — first in Maxey’s “Bitterwood” (or “Dragon Age”) trilogy, published 2007 by Solaris
• The Gate Thief By Orson Scott Card, Narrated by To Be Announced (though my money’s on Stefan Rudnicki) — Series: Mither Mages, Book 2 — Length: 13 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-19-13
• The Clockwork Princess: Infernal Devices, Book 3 By Cassandra Clare, Narrated By Daniel Sharman — Length: 18 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-19-13
• Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear (Tor, Mar 19, 2013) — the second book of Bear’s The Eternal Sky trilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts
• Fiction: House of Earth: A Novel By Woody Guthrie, Narrated By Will Patton, Douglas Brinkley for Harper Audio — Length: 8 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 03-19-13
• Shadow on the Sun (Black Hole Sun #3) by David Macinnis Gill (Greenwillow, March 26)
• Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer (Ace Hardcover, Mar 26, 2013)
• The Marching Dead by Lee Battersby (Angry Robot: 26 March)
• Black Feathers by Joseph D’Lacey (Angry Robot: 26 March)
• The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher (Angry Robot: 26 March)
• Dead Earth: Sanctuary By David Wilbanks and Mark Justice, Narrated By James Snyder for Audible Frontiers — Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 03-26-13
• Solaris Rising 2: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction by Whates Ian (Solaris, Mar 26, 2013)
• Young readers: Wild Boy: The Real Life of the Savage of Aveyron by Mary Losure and Timothy Basil Ering (Candlewick on Brilliance Audio, Mar 26, 2013) — narrative nonfiction of a late 18th story
• The Best of Joe Haldeman by Joe Haldeman and Jonathan Strahan (Subterranean, Mar 31, 2013)
• The Rift Walker: Vampire Empire, Book 2 by Clay and Susan Griffith, read by James Marsters for Buzzy Multimedia (March 2013) — print/ebook published September 2011 by Pyr
• Channel Zilch by Doug Sharp (Panverse, March/April 2013) — “Mick Oolfson trashed his astronaut career by stunt-flying a shuttle during re-entry. He’s miserable as a groundling, so when testosterone-surfing geek goddess Heloise Chin offers him an astronaut gig on Channel Zilch, a pirate orbiting reality show, Mick jumps at the chance to return to space, though it means denting his Boy Scout scruples by stealing space shuttle Enterprise from the Smithsonian. CHANNEL ZILCH is a near-future hard science fiction caper with heart and purpose, the first book of The Geek Rapture Project. Book 2, HEL’S BET, will be published by Panverse later in 2013.”

• Into the Cave by Alex Granados (April 1)
• New Taboos (Outspoken Authors) by John Shirley (PM Press, Apr 1, 2013)
• Prophet of Bones: A Novel by Ted Kosmatka (Henry Holt and Macmillan Audio, Apr 2, 2013)
• Life After Life: A Novel by Kate Atkinson (Reagan Arthur Books, Apr 2, 2013)
• Odds Against Tomorrow: A Novel by Nathaniel Rich (FSG, Apr 2, 2013)
• Dead Roads by Robin Riopelle (Night Shade Books, Apr 2, 2013)
• Without a Summer (Shades of Milk and Honey) by Mary Robinette Kowal (Apr 2, 2013)
• Protector: Foreigner #14 by C. J. Cherryh (DAW Hardcover, Apr 2, 2013)
• River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay (Roc Hardcover, Apr 2, 2013)
• Use of Weapons By Iain M. Banks, Narrated By Peter Kenny for Hachette Audio — Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 04-02-13 — a recording available in the UK for some time now
• Blood Trade (Jane Yellowrock, #6)  by Faith Hunter (Roc, April 2)
• The Heretic (Raj Whitehall) by Tony Daniel and David Drake (Baen, April 2)
• Fearless: Mirrorworld By Cornelia Funke, Narrated By To Be Announced for Listening Library — Length: 7 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 04-02-13
• Collection: The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron (Night Shade, April 2)
• Reaper’s Legacy (Toxic City Book Two) by Tim Lebbon (Pyr, Apr 2, 2013)
• Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game By Orson Scott Card (editor), Narrated by To Be Announced — Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 04-02-13
• Anthology: Weird Detectives: Recent Investigations by Simon R. Green, Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale and Paula Guran (Prime Books, Apr 3, 2013)
• The Far Time Incident by Neve Maslakovic and read by Mary Robinette Kowal (Apr 9, 2013)
• Teen: The Flame in the Mist By Kit Grindstaff, Narrated By Rosalyn Landor — Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 04-09-13
• The Machine by James Smythe (Blue Door UK, 11 Apr 2013)
• A Stranger in Olondria: a novel by Sofia Samatar (Small Beer Press, Apr 16, 2013) — no audio news
• YOU by Austin Grossman (Mulholland Books, 04/16/2013) — “A novel of mystery, videogames, and the people who create them, by the bestselling author of Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman. When Russell joins Black Arts games, brainchild of two visionary designers who were once his closest friends, he reunites with an eccentric crew of nerds hacking the frontiers.” Unfortunately no audio news yet for this new novel, called “moving” by Cory Doctorow.
• London Falling by Paul Cornell (Tor, Apr 16, 2013)
• Equilateral: A Novel by Ken Kalfus (Bloomsbury, Apr 16, 2013)
• Promise of Blood (The Powder Mage Trilogy) by Brian McClellan (Orbit, Apr 16, 2013)
• The Silver Dream: An InterWorld Novel by Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves and Mallory Reaves (HarperTeen, Apr 23, 2013)
• Unnatural Creatures: Short Stories Selected by Neil Gaiman by Neil Gaiman (Harper Collins, Apr 23, 2013)
• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (Harper, Apr. 23) - "Harper is really getting behind this debut in the vein of The Night Circus and The Discovery of Witches. The novel combines historical fiction with a magical fable about two supernatural creatures in turn-of-the-20th-century New York City." (via PW)
• Rogue Descendant (Nikki Glass, #3) by Jenna Black (Pocket Books, April 30)
• NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (William Morrow, April 30) — no audio news
• The Whispering Muse, The Blue Fox, and From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón (FSG, April 30) — new US English editions of “one of Iceland’s greatest living novelists”
• The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu (Angry Robot: 30 April)
• Collection: The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies by John Langan (Hippocampus Press, April 2013)

• The Kings and Queens of Roam: A Novel by Daniel Wallace (Touchstone, May 7)
• Shield of Sea and Space (The Chaos Knight Book Three) by Erin Hoffman (Pyr, May 7, 2013)
• Never (Lightbringer) by K. D. Mcentire (Pyr, May 7, 2013)
• Gods and Monsters: Unclean Spirits by Chuck Wendig (Abaddon, May 7, 2013)
• The Summer Man by S.D. Perry (47North and Brilliance Audio, May 7, 2013)
• Non-Fiction: Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier (Simon & Schuster, May 7, 2013) — from the author of You Are Not a Gadget: Being Human in an Age of Technology
• Red Moon by Benjamin Percy (Grand Central, May 7) - "Exploring one of the oldest themes in weird fiction—the werewolf—Percy (The Wilding) delivers a stunning alternate history epic that transcends its genre trappings to read as a provocative reflection on the contemporary zeitgeist. At a point where many other writers would flinch, Percy follows through on the direst possibilities of his premise, building to a shocking denouement and even more shock climax in the final pages." (via PW)
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Teen, May 14, 2013)
• The Tyrant’s Law (The Dagger and the Coin) by Daniel Abraham (Orbit, May 14, 2013)
• Magician's End by Raymond E. Feist (Harper Voyager, May 14)
• The Human Division by John Scalzi (Tor, May 14, 2013) — currently being serialized in both ebook and audiobook
• Collection: Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee (Prime Books, May 21, 2013)
• Teen: THE PLANET THIEVES by Dan Krokos (Blackstone Audio, 21 May)
• The Garden of Stones (Echoes of Empire) by Mark Barnes (47North and Brilliance Audio, May 21, 2013)
• The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty (Orbit, May 28)
• RED HORSE by Alex Adams (Blackstone Audio, 28 May) — sequel to White Horse
• The Eighth Court by Mike Shevdon (Angry Robot: 28 May)
• The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (Angry Robot: 28 May)
• Antiagon Fire (Imager Portfolio) by L. E. Modesitt (Tor, May 28, 2013)
• Anthology: Fearsome Journeys: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris, May 28)
• After Earth By Peter David, Narrated By To Be Announced for Random House Audio — Length: 10 hrs — Scheduled Release Date: 05-28-13 — novelization of the forthcoming Will Smith film
• Fiction: WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES by Karen Joy Fowler (Blackstone Audio, 31 May)
• Unfettered edited by Shawn Speakman (Grim Oak Press, May 2013) –a charity anthology with stories from Terry Brooks, Patrick Rothfuss, Tad Williams, Brandon Sanderson, R.A. Salvatore, Naomi Novik, Peter V. Brett, Lev Grossman, Daniel Abraham, Michael J. Sullivan, David Anthony Durham, Robert V.S. Redick, Kevin Hearne, Mark Lawrence, …
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (Mulholland Books, 6/04/2013) — “A time-traveling serial killer is impossible to trace–until one of his victims survives. In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential.” No audio news.
• Abaddon’s Gate (The Expanse) by James S.A. Corey (Orbit, Jun 4, 2013)
• In Thunder Forged: Iron Kingdoms Chronicles (The Fall of Llael Book One) by Ari Marmell (Jun 4, 2013)
• Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X) by Richelle Mead (Penguin Audio, Jun 4, 2013)
• Fiction: The Blood of Heaven by Kent Wascom (Grove Atlantic, Jun 4, 2013) -- "an epic novel about the American frontier in the early days of the nineteenth century"
• Siege and Storm (Grisha Trilogy (Shadow and Bone)) by Leigh Bardugo (Henry Holt, Jun 4, 2013)
• After the End: Recent Apocalypses by Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow, Margo Lanagan and Nnedi Okorafor (Jun 5, 2013)
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow and Harper Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
• The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Harper, Jun 18, 2013) — sequel to The Long Earth
• The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn (47North and Brilliance Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
• The Adjacent by Christopher Priest (Orion UK, Jun 20, 2013) — no US release news
• Divinity and the Python by Bonnie Randall (Panverse, June 21)
• Cold Steel (The Spiritwalker Trilogy) by Kate Elliott (Orbit, Jun 25, 2013)
• Anthology: Aliens: Recent Encounters by Alex Macfarlane (Prime, Jun 25, 2013)
• Thieves’ Quarry by D.B. Jackson (Tor, July 2) — sequel to Thieftaker
• Neptune’s Brood by Charles Stross (Ace, Jul 2, 2013) — “The year is AD 7000. The human species is extinct—for the fourth time—due to its fragile nature. Krina Alizond-114 is metahuman, descended from the robots that once served humanity. She’s on a journey to the water-world of Shin-Tethys to find her sister Ana. But her trip is interrupted when pirates capture her ship. Their leader, the enigmatic Count Rudi, suspects that there’s more to Krina’s search than meets the eye.”
• A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp (Angry Robot: 2 Jul 2013)
• Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond (Jul 2, 2013)
• The Thousand Names: Book One of The Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler (Roc Hardcover, Jul 2, 2013) — “Enter an epic fantasy world that echoes with the thunder of muskets and the clang of steel—but where the real battle is against a subtle and sinister magic.”
• Anthology: Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books, Jul 2, 2013)
• North American Lake Monsters: Stories by Nathan Ballingrud (Small Beer Press, July 16)
• Beacons edited by Gregory Norminton (Oneworld Publications, Jul 16, 2013) — “Beacons throws down the gauntlet, challenging best-selling and award-winning authors to imagine where we, and out planet, might be headed and, in imagining, help us transform the way we look at our world and change things for the better. From Joanne Harris’ powerful vision of a near future where ‘outside’ has become a thing of history to Nick Hayes’ beautifully illustrated tale of the bond between man and nature, Beacons sees the coming together of dystopian satire, speculative and historical fiction, metaphorical flights of fancy, quiet tragedy, and farcical comedy in stories that are as various as our possible futures. Provocative, encouraging, and deeply moving, Beacons represents the best of short story writing — and collectively illuminates the immediacy of the ecological problems at hand. All author royalties will go to the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, one of the largest groups of people dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s poorest people.”
• Anthology: Carniepunk (Pocket Books, July 30)
• Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows (Darwen Arkwright #3) by AJ Hartley (Razorbill, August 1)
• The Crown Tower (The Riyria Chronicles #1) by Michael J. Sullivan (Orbit, August 3)
• The Emergence of the Digital Humanities by Steven E. Jones (Routledge, Aug 3, 2013)
• Wrath-bearing Tree (A Tournament of Shadows Book Two) by James Enge (Pyr, Aug 6, 2013)
• Emperor of Thorns (The Broken Empire) by Mark Lawrence (Ace, Aug 6, 2013)
• Kindred and Wings (A Shifted World Novel) by Philippa Ballantine (Pyr, Aug 6, 2013)
• Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik (Del Rey, Aug 13, 2013)
• The Time of Contempt (The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit, Aug 27, 2013)
• Billy Moon: A transcendent Novel Reimagining the Life of Christopher Robin Milne by Douglas Lain (Tor, Aug 27, 2013)
• The Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson (Jo Fletcher Books, August 2013) — a “Viking fantasy novel” by a new Icelandic author
• Super Stories of Heroes and Villains edited by Claude Lalumiere (Tachyon, August 2013) — Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, Jonathan Lethem, Cory Doctorow, Kelly Link’s “Origin Story”, Carol Emshwiller, Gene Wolfe, GRRM, …

• The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3) by Scott Lynch (Spectra, September 3)
• Shaman: A novel of the Ice Age by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit, 3 Sep 2013) — UK release date, US date not confirmed for this historical fiction “novel set in the ice age, about the people who made the paintings in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in southern France, about 32,000 years ago”
• Monsters of the Earth (Books of the Elements #3) by David Drake (Tor, September 2013)
• Three (Duskwalker Cycle #1) by Jay Posey (Angry Robot, Autumn 2013)
• Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest (Tor, Autumn 2013)
• Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio, September 24) — King returns to The Shining
• Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Sep 24, 2013)
• Dead Run, The by Adam Mansbach (HarperCollins, Sep 24, 2013)
• Hero by Alethea Kontis (Harcourt Children’s Books, October 1)
• Pandemic by Scott Sigler (Crown, Oct 1, 2013)
• Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer and Jeremy Zerfoss (Abrams Image, Oct 15, 2013) -- an audiobook for this doesn't make sense and so there isn't one and won't be one, but definitely a project I'm looking forward to
• Copperhead by Tina Connolly (Tor, October 15, 2013) — follow-on to Ironskin – cover revealed
• Collection: Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor (Prime, October 2013)
• Twenty-First Century Science Fiction by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor, Nov 5, 2013)
• Maze by J.M. McDermott (Apex, January 2014)
• City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown/Broadway and Recorded Books, April 1, 2014) -- “a second-world story of spies, subterfuge, and statesmanship set in a nation of dead gods.”
• The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking, Early 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King
• Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2014) — the first of three “Southern Reach” novels being published in 2014 — “For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious, remote, and concealed by the government as an environmental disaster zone even though it is to all appearances pristine wilderness. For thirty years, too, the secret agency known as the Southern Reach has monitored Area X and sent in expeditions to try to discover the truth. Some expeditions have suffered terrible consequences. Others have reported nothing out of the ordinary. Now, as Area X seems to be changing and perhaps expanding, the next expedition will attempt to succeed where all others have failed. What is happening in Area X? What is the true nature of the invisible border that surrounds it?”

The Speed of Dark By Elizabeth Moon, Narrated By Jay Snyder for Audible Frontiers — Regular Price :$24.95 / Member Price :$17.46 or 1 Credit. “Listen to The Speed of Dark, then pick up right where you left off with the Kindle book, available from Amazon.com for $7.99. Get this Audiobook for the reduced price of $5.99, when you buy the Kindle edition first.”

Swan Song By Robert McCammon, Narrated By Tom Stechschulte for Audible Inc. — Regular Price :$39.95 / Member Price :$27.96 or 1 Credit / Sale Price :$4.95. “Listen to Swan Song, then pick up right where you left off with the Kindle book, available from Amazon.com for $8.54. Get this Audiobook for the reduced price of $3.95, when you buy the Kindle edition first.”

AUDIBLE.COM “WIN-WIN” SALE:

Speaking of Elizabeth Moon and obviously of Swan Song above, through February 18 Audible.com is having another $4.95 “Win-Win” sale through February 18. While there are dedicated SF and Fantasy sections this time around, I still scanned through for titles of interest:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged ben bova, karen lord, karen russell, stefan rudnicki