Release Week: Life after Life, River of Stars, Prophet of Bones, The Kundalini Equation, and Use of Weapons

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Received: March 2013 →

Release Week: Life after Life, River of Stars, Prophet of Bones, The Kundalini Equation, and Use of Weapons

Posted on 2013-04-03 at 14:22 by Sam

MARCH 27-APRIL 2, 2013: While there are other quite worthy audiobooks in the “Also Out This Week” listings (Book 3 in Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, Memories of Ice, Ilie Ruby’s The Salt God’s Daughter, Alex Hughes’ Clean and Sharp, Rachel Pollack’s World Fantasy Award winner Godmother Night, and Mary Robinette Kowal’s latest Glamourist Histories novel Without a Summer) I managed to hold the line at just five picks this week. Good luck making your own selections! And, of course, there is a new episode of John Scalzi’s The Human Division, that being the penultimate Episode 12, The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Life After Life: A Novel by Kate Atkinson, narrated By Fenella Woolgar for Hachette Audio, concurrent with the hardcover/ebook release from Reagan Arthur. I’ve been hearing great things about this book for months now, starting with multiple Lev Grossman interviews where he’s heaped “book of the year” style praise, and continuing on with starred reviews left and right. “What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula’s apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can - will she?”

Life After Life: A Novel | [Kate Atkinson] River of Stars | [Guy Gavriel Kay]

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated By Simon Vance for Penguin Audio, concurrent with print/ebook release from Roc Hardcover. “In his critically acclaimed novel Under Heaven, Guy Gavriel Kay told a vivid and powerful story inspired by China’s Tang Dynasty. Now, the international best-selling and multiple award-winning author revisits that invented setting four centuries later with an epic of prideful emperors, battling courtiers, bandits and soldiers, nomadic invasions, and a woman battling in her own way, to find a new place for women in the world - a world inspired this time by the glittering, decadent Song Dynasty.”

Prophet of Bones by Ted Kosmatka, narrated By Scott Sowers for Macmillan Audio, concurrent with hardcover/ebook release from Henry Holt. “Paul Carlson, a brilliant young scientist, is summoned from his laboratory job to the remote Indonesian island of Flores to collect DNA samples from the ancient bones of a strange, new species of tool user unearthed by an archaeological dig. The questions the find raises seem to cast doubt on the very foundations of modern science, which has proven the world to be only 5,800 years old, but before Paul can fully grapple with the implications of his find, the dig is violently shut down by paramilitaries.”

Prophet of Bones | [Ted Kosmatka] The Kundalini Equation | [Steven Barnes]

The Kundalini Equation (1986) by Steven Barnes, narrated By Ron Butler for Blackstone Audio. "The coauthor of Beowulf’s Children strikes out on his own with this novel of mystic revelation and martial arts. What if the disciplines we know as the martial arts, meditation, and fasting were mere fragments of a greater, more powerful killing art? What if that hidden discipline could produce in a man the power to manipulate matter and energy at will? What if the effect on the mind were so deadly that, uncontrolled, the result would be an inhuman killer? And what if, unknowingly, a young man in modern-day Los Angeles were to stumble onto the secret, setting in motion The Kundalini Equation?"

Lastly, a US release from Hachette Audio for Iain M. Banks’ Use of Weapons, read by Peter Kenny. This 1990 novel, set in the world of Banks’ ‘Culture’, has been available in audio in the UK for about a year, and comes at an unfortunately coincidental time, as it has just been announced that Banks has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer.

Use of Weapons | [Iain M. Banks]

Use of Weapons is the third Culture novel, after Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games, both in audio: “The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances’ foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought. The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman’s life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a lost cause. But not even its machine could see the horrors in his past.” While later books Matter, Surface Detail, and The Hydrogen Sonata are available in audio in the US, Excession is only recently available in the UK (perhaps next year in the US?) and Inversions and Look to Windward await production and publication.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

The Mermaid of Brooklyn | [Amy Shearn] Memories of Ice: Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 3 | [Steven Erikson] The Salt God's Daughter | [Ilie Ruby] Without a Summer | [Mary Robinette Kowal] Protector: Foreigner Sequence 5, Book 2 | [C. J. Cherryh] Sharp: A Mindspace Investigations Novel, Book 2 | [Alex Hughes]

BLACKSTONE AUDIO: The Mermaid of Brooklyn By Amy Shearn; Inherit the Stars By James P. Hogan; and To Be a King: Guardians of Ga’Hoole, Book 11 By Kathryn Lasky

MACMILLAN AUDIO: Hellhole: Awakening: The Hellhole Trilogy, Book 2 By Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Narrated By Scott Brick; and Eve of Darkness: A Marked Novel, Book 1 By Sylvia Day

HACHETTE AUDIO: Infinite Jest, Part III: The Endnotes By David Foster Wallace, Narrated By Sean Pratt

LISTENING LIBRARY: Fearless: Mirrorworld By Cornelia Funke

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: Memories of Ice: Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 3 By Steven Erikson, Narrated By Ralph Lister; Godforsaken Idaho: Stories By Shawn Vestal, Narrated By Benjamin L. Darcie; The Haunted Air: Repairman Jack Series, Book 6 By F. Paul Wilson; When Darkness Falls: The Alliance Vampires, Book 2 By Heather Graham; and The Exiled Blade: Act Three of The Assassini By Jon Courtenay Grimwood

AUDIBLE INC: The Salt God’s Daughter By Ilie Ruby, Narrated By Jane Jacobs; Godmother Night By Rachel Pollack, Narrated By Coleen Marlo; and Down the Road to Eternity: New & Selected Fiction By M. A. C. Farrant

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: Without a Summer (The Glamourist Histories, Book 3) By Mary Robinette Kowal; Servant of the Dragon: Lord of the Isles, Book 3 By David Drake, Narrated By Michael Page; Clean: A Mindspace Investigations Novel, Book 1 and Sharp: A Mindspace Investigations Novel, Book 2 By Alex Hughes; Blood Trade: Jane Yellowrock, Book 6 By Faith Hunter, Narrated By Khristine Hvam; Protector: Foreigner Sequence 5, Book 2 By C. J. Cherryh; Appalachian Overthrow: Vampire Earth, Book 10 By E. E. Knight; Restoration: Rai-Kirah, Book 3 By Carol Berg; Slayers By C. J. Hill; along with several titles (among others) by Barry N. Malzberg, Mercedes Lackey, J. R. Rain, and Fred Saberhagen, and additional Dungeons & Dragons titles

INDIE: Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue: The Bern Saga, Book 1 By Hugh C. Howey; Infinity: The Complete Saga By Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff; The Spires of Denon: A Diving Universe Short Novel By Kristine Kathryn Rusch; and Awake By Scott C. Smith

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Odds Against Tomorrow 

  • The Best of Joe Haldeman by Joe Haldeman and Jonathan Strahan (Subterranean, Mar 31, 2013)
  • Necroscope: The Mobius Murders by Brian Lumley and Bob Eggleton (Subterranean, Mar 31, 2013)
  • Anthology: Hauntings edited by Ellen Datlow (Tachyon, March 2013) — “This spine-tingling anthology—complied by the horror genre’s most acclaimed editor—collects a chilling array of ghost stories from the past twenty-five years.”
  • Collection: Squaring the Circle: A Pseudotreatise of Urbogony by Gheorghe Sasarman, translated by Ursula K. le Guin (Aqueduct Press, Apr 1, 2013) -- "Squaring the Circle presents 24 fantastic tales by Gheorghe Sasarman, originally published in Romanian, to readers in English, thanks to the efforts of Ursula K. Le Guin, a great admirer of Sasarman's tales. Each tale marvelously depicts the world of a city through the eloquence of its architecture." (via Cheryl Morgan)
  • New Taboos (Outspoken Authors) by John Shirley (PM Press, Apr 1, 2013)
  • Odds Against Tomorrow: a novel by Nathaniel Rich (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, April 2) -- coming to audio May 6 from Tantor
  • Dead Roads by Robin Riopelle (Night Shade Books, Apr 2, 2013)
  • The Heretic (Raj Whitehall) by Tony Daniel and David Drake (Baen, April 2) -- review from Bull Spec's The Expoding Spaceship
  • Fire with Fire by Charles E. Gannon (Baen, Apr 2, 2013)
  • Goldenland Past Dark by Chandler Klang Smith (ChiZine, April 2) -- "Fantasy novel about a 1960s travelling circus, whose ringmaster is pursued by a hostile stranger." (via Locus Online)
  • 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)
  • Stolen Magic by Stephanie Burgis (Atheneum, Apr 2) -- "Young adult fantasy novel, conclusion of a trilogy following Kat, Incorrigible (2011) and Renegade Magic (2012), about a Regency-era girl who inherits her mother’s magical talents." (via Locus Online)
  • Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells (Strange Chemistry, April 2)
  • Sacrifices by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill (Tor Teen, April 2)
  • The Forever Knight by John Marco (DAW, April 2)
  • Stepping Stone/Love Machine by Walter Mosley (Tor, April 2) -- coming to audio from Dreamscape in May
  • A Matter of Blood by Sarah Pinborough (Ace, April 2)
  • Iron Kin by M.J. Scott (Roc, April 2)
  • Overdraft: The Orion Offensive (Kindle Serial) by John Jackson Miller (Amazon/47North, Apr 2, 2013) -- the first installment of an "every two weeks" serial: "After an egotistical stock trader for one of the twenty-second century’s biggest corporations gets greedy and loses his employer a fortune, he has two options: go to jail or make the money back before anyone notices. Unfortunately, the only place such profits can be found is the galactic frontier, a region so dangerous it’ll take an uneasy alliance with a crew of rugged mercenaries to keep him alive and in the black."
COMING SOON:

A Stranger in Olondria You

MAY:

The Kings and Queens of Roam: A Novel The Shambling Guide to New York City

JUNE and LATER:

The Shining GirlsNorth American Lake Monsters: Stories

  • The Shining Girls by (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 WINDS OF ALTAIR by Ben Bova, read by Stefan Rudnicki for Blackstone Audio (Available 15 June 13)
  • ATTICA by Garry Kilworth, read by Simon Vance for Blackstone Audio (Available 15 June 13)
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow and Harper Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
  • Before the Fall by Francis Knight (Orbit, Jun 18) -- book two in a trilogy to be published in its entirety in 2013, starting with (already out) Fade to Black
  • The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Harper, Jun 18, 2013) — sequel to The Long Earth
  • Wisp of a Thing by Alex Bledsoe (Tor, Jun 18) — coming to audio read by Stefan Rudnicki, this is book 2 after 2011′s The Hum and the Shiver
  • The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn (47North and Brilliance Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
  • The Quarry by Iain M. Banks (Little, Brown and Co., June 20, 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)
  • THE INTEGRAL TREES by Larry Niven, read by Tom Weiner for Blackstone Audio (Available 1 July 13)
  • Channel Zilch by Doug Sharp (Panverse, July 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.”
  • 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)
  • Anthology: Impossible Monsters edited by Kasey Lansdale (Subterranean Press, July 2013) — “The Lansdale name is legendary in the horror field. Now acclaimed musician and actress Kasey Lansdale follows in her father’s footsteps, making her editing debut with this anthology of monstrously innovative stories. The twelve creatures that stalk the pages of Impossible Monsters spring from the twisted imaginations of a dozen of today’s most noted authors.” This anthology includes Neil Gaiman’s “Click-Clack the Rattlebag” among other tales.
  • Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan (Kickstarter, July 2013) — “Ellis Rogers is an ordinary guy who has always done the right things and played by the rules. But like many, his life didn’t turn out as he had planned. Facing a terminal disease, he’s willing to gamble that a cure could exist in the future, and although it is insanely dangerous to try, he really has nothing to lose. There are many books that explore what life might be like many years from now, and they cover the spectrum from the idealized world of the original Star Trek, with its progressive stance on equality and civil rights, to Huxley’s dystopian Brave New World. For years I’ve been fascinated by the observation that perception can make people see the same thing in very different ways. So I created a future, which if I’ve done my job properly, will be seen by some as a utopia and by others as exactly the opposite.”
  • 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)
  • The Third Kingdom by Terry Goodkind (Tor, Aug 6) -- direct sequel to The Omen Machine
  • Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik (Del Rey, Aug 13, 2013)
  • Collection: Celestial Inventories by Steve Rasnic Tem (ChiZine, Aug 15)
  • 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 Daylight War: The Demon Cycle, Book 3 by Peter V. Brett (GraphicAudio, August 2013)
SEPTEMBER and LATER:
  • 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”
  • Constellations: A Play by Nick Payne (Faber and Faber Plays, Sep 3, 2013) — already available in Kindle and in the UK — via an interesting review on Tor.com
  • 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)
  • The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan (Orbit, Sep 17) -- Riyria Chronicles #2
  • Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner and Simon & Schuster Audio, September 24) — King returns to The Shining
  • Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Sep 24, 2013)
  • The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White (Tor, Sep 24)
  • 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)
  • Ghosts Know by Ramsey Campbell (Tor, Oct 1)
  • The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3) by Scott Lynch (Spectra, October 8)
  • A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish (Orbit, Oct 8) -- originally self-published, now being re-published by Orbit
  • 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
  • Fiendish Schemes by K. W. Jeter (Tor, October 15) -- "The long-awaited stand-alone sequel to the seminal novel Infernal Devices by one of the founding fathers of steampunk"
  • Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, October 29) — book one is in audio from Blackstone
  • The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder UK, October 2013) — just announced — “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy meets Watchmen in Tidhar’s The Violent Century, the thoughtful and intensely atmospheric novel about the mystery, and the love story, that determined the course of history itself. The Violent Century is the sweeping drama of a time we know too well; a century of fear and war and hatred and death.  In a world where everyday heroes may become übermenschen, men and women with extraordinary powers, what does it mean to be a hero? To be a human? Would the last hundred years have been that much better if Superman were real? Would they even have been all that different?”
  • Collection: Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor (Prime, October 2013)
  • Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, November 1) — I know nothing about his other than the quite interesting cover…
  • Twenty-First Century Science Fiction by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor, Nov 5, 2013)
  • Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach (Orbit, Nov 5)
  • Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, November 12) -- book 2 in The Stormlight Archive after The Way of Kings
  • Apparition by Trish J. MacGregor (Tor, Nov 12)
  • Watcher of the Dark by Joseph Nassise (Tor, November 19)
  • Bloodstone by Gillian Philip (Tor, Nov 19)
  • Arcanum by Simon Morden (Orbit, Nov 19) -- "A historical fantasy novel of medieval Europe in which the magic that has run the world for centuries is disappearing-- and now the gifts of the gods must be replaced with the ingenuity of humanity."
  • The Land Across by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Nov 26)
  • Last to Rise by Francis Knight (Orbit, Nov 26) -- concluding volume in a new trilogy which started with Knight's debut Fade to Black in early 2013
  • Anthology: Dangerous Women edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Tor, Dec 3) -- table of contents includes Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, and Pat Cadigan, among others
  • Maze by J.M. McDermott (Apex, January 2014)
  • Leaving the Sea: Stories by Ben Marcus (Knopf, January 2014)
  • The Crimson Campaign (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian McClellan (Orbit, February 2014)
  • 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?”
  • 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 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.”
Posted in Release Week | Tagged guy gavriel kay, life after life, prophet of bones, river of stars