Release Week: Will Self's Umbrella, Mark T. Barnes' The Garden of Stones, Dan Krokos' The Planet Thieves, and a free Neil Gaiman short

← The Shambling Guide to New York City Listen-a-Long: Chapter 2
Revisiting the regional digital divide, again →

Release Week: Will Self's Umbrella, Mark T. Barnes' The Garden of Stones, Dan Krokos' The Planet Thieves, and a free Neil Gaiman short

Posted on 2013-05-22 at 14:25 by Sam

May 15-21, 2013: A bit of a lull after last week’s haul, but certainly none the lesser in top-level impact as a long, long hoped-for literary fiction title is here this week in the form of Will Self’s Booker-shortlisted Umbrella. But don’t worry, sf/f fans, whether “sf” or “f” strikes your fancy there are a few audiobooks to check out this week as well, of course. There’s also a particularly strong crop of “indie” releases (see a selection of those in the “also out this week” listings) as well as a few more “mainstream” fiction titles that may pique.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Umbrella: A Novel by Will Self, narrated by John Lee for Audible Inc. by arrangement with Grove/Atlantic. Published in the UK last year and shortlisted for the Booker, the latest novel from Self was published in the US in January and finally comes to audio. “Moving between Edwardian London and a suburban mental hospital in 1971, Umbrella exposes the 20th century’s technological searchlight as refracted through the dark glass of a long-term mental institution. While making his first tours of the hospital at which he has just begun working, maverick psychiatrist Zachary Busner notices that many of the patients exhibit a strange physical tic: rapid, precise movements that they repeat over and over. One of these patients is Audrey Dearth, an elderly woman born in the slums of West London in 1890. Audrey’s memories of a bygone Edwardian London, her lovers, involvement with early feminist and socialist movements, and, in particular, her time working in an umbrella shop, alternate with Busner’s attempts to treat her condition and bring light to her clouded world. Busner’s investigations into Audrey’s illness lead to discoveries about her family that are shocking and tragic.”

Umbrella: A Novel | [Will Self] The Garden of Stones: Echoes of the Empire, Book 1 | [Mark T. Barnes]

The Garden of Stones: Echoes of the Empire, Book 1 by Mark T. Barnes, narrated by Nick Podehl for Brilliance Audio, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Amazon’s 47North, tops my interest meter this week in terms of fantasy and science fiction, not the least reason being that it is narrated by Podehl, the voice of the US editions of Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles. Australian writer and Clarion South alumnus Barnes sold the first three books to Amazon last July, and Tor.com has an excerpt. Here’s the pitch: “Fueled by visions promising him prolonged life and political power, the dying Corajidin, leader of a millennia-old dynasty, has brought the nation of Shrian to civil war. But is his bright destiny assured, or do the events unfolding around him promise a more ignoble, and finite, future? Indris, warrior-mage of the Seq Scholars and scion of a rival Great House, is caught in the upheaval. Driven by loyalty and conscience to return to a city that haunts his past, Indris reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation toward peace.The celebrated warrior-poet, Mari, touches both men’s lives: one as daughter, one as lover. As her world unravels around her, can she be true to both her duty to blood, and her own desires for freedom and happiness?”

While I still retain most of my decade-long allergy to most YA-oriented fiction, closer to middle grade books can still be a welcome listen. In that category this week: The Planet Thieves By Dan Krokos, narrated By Kirby Heyborne for Blackstone Audio, concurrent with its print/ebook release from Starscape (Tor). “13-year-old Mason Stark and 17 fellow cadets from the Academy for Earth Space Command (ESC) boarded the SS Egypt for a routine voyage to log their required space hours when they are attacked by the Tremist, an alien race at war with humanity. With the captain and crew dead, injured, or taken prisoner, Mason and the cadets are all that’s left to warn the ESC. Soon they find out the reason the Tremist chose to attack: the Egypt is carrying a weapon that could change the war forever. Mason will have to lead the cadets in a daring assault to take back the ship, rescue the survivors, and recover the weapon - before there isn’t a war left to fight.”

The Planet Thieves | [Dan Krokos] Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A Free Short Story by Neil Gaiman, Plus a Preview of The Ocean at the End of the Lane | [Neil Gaiman]

And… apparently I missed this last week? How? Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar: A Free Short Story by Neil Gaiman, Plus a Preview of The Ocean at the End of the Lane written and read by Neil Gaiman for Harper Audio. It runs nearly an hour, all told: “‘Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar’, a short story from Neil Gaiman’s collection Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions, follows an American student’s walking tour of the British coastline, which takes an odd turn when he comes to the town of Innsmouth. This free short story also includes a preview of The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel, the author’s next full-length novel, available now for pre-order and due out on June 18.” (This had been the short story “Cold Colors” when I bought it, but it morphed into “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar” by the time I downloaded it.)

ALSO OUT:

Star Trek: Into Darkness: Star Trek Movie Novelizations, Book 2 | [Alan Dean Foster] Test of Fire | [Ben Bova]

BLACKSTONE AUDIO: Test of Fire By Ben Bova, narrated By Dean Sluyter

HACHETTE AUDIO: The Red Plague Affair: A Bannon and Clare Case By Lilith Saintcrow, narrated By Jane Collingwood; Fear By Jeff Abbott, narrated By Rick Zief

HARPER AUDIO: (Teen) Transparent By Natalie Whipple, narrated By Tavia Gilbert

SIMON & SCHUSTER AUDIO: Star Trek: Into Darkness By Alan Dean Foster, narrated By Alice Eve; (Short) The Runaway Queen: The Bane Chronicles, Book 2 By Cassandra Clare and Maureen Johnson, narrated By George Blagden

BELL BRIDGE: Forged in Death: The Death Wizard Chronicles, Book 1 By Jim Melvin, narrated By Phil Ross

SHADOW MOUNTAIN: The Void of Mist and Thunder: The 13th Reality, Volume 4 By James Dashner, narrated By Kirby Heyborne

RAVENPHEAT: Leaflings By Darren Shell, narrated by Sule Greg Wilson, Tim Paulson, Norma Jean Strickland

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: The Game-Players of Titan and We Can Build You By Philip K. Dick; Blessed Child: The Caleb Books, Book 1 and A Man Called Blessed: The Caleb Books, Book 2 By Ted Dekker and Bill Bright, narrated By Benjamin L. Darcie

AUDIBLE INC: Vortex By Jon Land, narrated By J. Paul Guimont; The Best Ghost Stories Ever Told: Best Stories Ever Told edited by Stephen Brennan, narrated By J. M. Badger and Imelda Pot

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: Streams of Silver: Legend of Drizzt: Icewind Dale Trilogy, Book 2 By R. A. Salvatore, narrated By Victor Bevine; Annihilation: Star Force, Book 7 By B. V. Larson, narrated By Mark Boyett; and the usual haul of miscellaneous backlist novels as well

INDIE:

F***ness | [Andersen Prunty] Breach: The Union, Part 1 | [Robert Allan]

  • Fuckness by Andersen Prunty, narrated By Jeff Bower -- "This darkly offbeat, sometimes hilarious, sometimes violent and terrifying coming-of-age Midwestern gothic novel opens with the narrator, Wallace Black, as the target of the school bully's violence. After suffering a horrendous beating, Black goes home to his equally abusive family. As a punishment for fighting at school, his mother straps a set of grotesque horns to the top of his head. He is unsure of where the horns came from. They have always been in the house. And they contain a power no one could have expected."
  • (Short) Maiden Voyage of the Rio Grande: Galvanic Century By Michael Coorlim, narrated By Wayne Farrell -- "The Bartleby and James Adventures steampunk mystery series follows the cases of consulting detectives Anton Bartleby and James Wainwright through an alternate Victorian history. Their latest adventure takes them high above the greatest city in the world."
  • (Short) Breach: The Union, Part 1 By Robert Allan, narrated By Commodore James
  • My Name Is Michael Bishop By TR Goodman, narrated By Noah James Butler
  • Mako: The Mako Saga, Book 1 By Ian J. Malone, narrated By Andrew Wehrlen
  • Gruesomely Grimm Zombie Tales By Wilhelm Grimm, Jakob Grimm, and TW Brown, narrated By Darla Middlebrook
FICTION:

And the Mountains Echoed | [Khaled Hosseini] Wash: A Novel | [Margaret Wrinkle]

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:
  • Skinjumpers by Michael D. Griffiths (M-Brane Press, May) -- "They are renegades, subversives, criminals. And freedom fighters. They are hunted by a team of Enforcers bent on destroying them and a way of life that threatens to unseat a corrupt old order in the dangerous city of New Cluster. But one of those Enforcers has defected. And maybe he is about to become—truly—one of them. Meet Dak and Erin, and all of their friends and enemies, as a deadly long-simmering conflict among New Cluster’s factions comes to a boil, in Michael D. Griffith’s new novel, based on a series of short stories originally seen in M-Brane SF Magazine."
  • Wraiths of the Broken Land by S. Craig Zahler (Raw Dog Screaming Press, May 15 2013) — “A brutal and unflinching tale that takes many of its cues from both cinema and pulp horror, Wraiths of the Broken Land is like no Western you’ve ever seen or read. Desperate to reclaim two kidnapped sisters who were forced into prostitution, the Plugfords storm across the badlands and blast their way through Hell. This gritty, character-driven piece will have you by the throat from the very first page and drag you across sharp rocks for its unrelenting duration. Prepare yourself for a savage Western experience that combines elements of Horror, Noir and Asian ultra-violence.”
  • Jane (The Warriors of Love) by P. F. Jeffery (May 15, 2013) — new edition from Chomu Press; the title was previously (2010) self-published on Lulu
  • The Stranger’s Shadow: The Labyrinths of Echo: Book Four by Frei, Max (Overlook Hardcover, May 15, 2013)
  • Collection: Electricity and Other Dreams by Micah Dean Hicks (New American, May 20, 2013) -- "In this unsettling, impressive collection, Hicks effortlessly mixes realism, the fantastical, and the darkly gritty to great effect. These stories feel layered, lived-in, timeless...I loved it." (Jeff VanderMeer)
  • Adventure Rocketship by Wright Jonathan (May 20, 2013) -- "Adventure Rocketship! is a new magazine in book form steeped in science fiction and geek culture. Mixing fiction, interviews and essays, its subject is nothing less than the future. Each issue of Adventure Rocketship! will explore a specific theme, with the first issue - Let's All Go To The Science Fiction Disco - focusing on the intersection between music, SF and the counterculture."
  • Collection: Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee (Prime Books, May 21, 2013)
  • Tarnished (Silver) by Rhiannon Held (Tor Books, May 21, 2013) -- "Andrew Dare has found his mate in Silver, but they haven’t found the pack they can call home."
  • The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E. B. Hudspeth (Quirk Books, May 21, 2013)
  • Noble V: Greylancer by Hideyuki Kikuchi (VIZ Media, May 21, 2013) -- "Greylancer, a Noble (vampire) from the world of the Vampire Hunter D series, pushes his own immortality to the limit in a millennia-long battle against the Outer Space Beings."
  • Indexing (Kindle Serial) by Seanan McGuire (47North, May 21, 2013) -- "For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected—perhaps infected is a better word—by memetic incursion: where narratives the rest of the world considers fairy tales becomes reality, often with disastrous results."
  • Blood and Bone: A Novel of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont (Tor, May 21, 2013) -- US release, previously published in the UK late last year
  • September Girls by Bennett Madison (HarperTeen, May 21, 2013)
  • Aquarius Rising by Brian Burt (May 21, 2013) -- "On an Earth ravaged by global warming, human-dolphin hybrids called Aquarians have built thriving reef colonies among the drowned cities of the coast. Now their world is under siege from an enemy whose invisible weapon leaves no survivors. Only Ocypode the Atavism—half-human and half-Aquarian, marooned in the genetic limbo between species—knows why."
COMING SOON:

The Shambling Guide to New York City | [Mur Lafferty] Bullettime | [Nick Mamatas]

JUNE and LATER:

The Shining Girls North American Lake Monsters: Stories

  • THE WALL (1962) by Marlen Haushofer, read by Kathe Mazur (Blackstone Audio, June 1) — “I can allow myself to write the truth; all the people for whom I have lied throughout my life are dead…” writes the heroine of Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall, a quite ordinary, unnamed middle-aged woman who awakens to find she is the last living human being.
  • Exiles at the Well of Souls By Jack L. Chalker -- Scheduled Release Date: 06-01-13
  • Heart of Iron: London Steampunk, Book 2 By Bec McMaster, narrated By Alison Larkin for Tantor Audio — Scheduled Release Date: 06-03-13
  • The Rings of Haven: Frontiers Saga, Book 2 By Ryk Brown, Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer for Tantor Audio -- Scheduled Release Date: 06-03-13
  • The Shining Girls by (Mulholland Books and Hachette Audio, 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.”
  • The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill (Ace, Jun 4, 2013) — “An exciting debut novel, in the tradition of The Passage. The Beautiful Land is part science fiction, part horror–and, at its core, a love story, between a brilliant young computer genius and the fragile women he has loved since high school. Now, he must bend time and space to save her life, as the world around them descends into apocalyptic madness.”
  • 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)
  • Joyland By Stephen King, Narrated By Michael Kelly -- Scheduled Release Date: 06-04-13
  • The Firebird By Susanna Kearsley, Narrated By Lucy Rayner for Brilliance Audio — Scheduled Release Date: 06-04-13
  • Heart of Obsidian: Psy-Changeling, Book 12 By Nalini Singh, Narrated By Angela Dawe -- Scheduled Release Date: 06-04-13
  • Kids: Curse of the Ancients: Infinity Ring, Book 4 By Matt de la Pena, Narrated By Dion Graham for Scholastic Audio -- Scheduled Release Date: 06-04-13
  • After the End: Recent Apocalypses by Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow, Margo Lanagan and Nnedi Okorafor (Jun 5, 2013)
  • Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh (Orbit, June 11) — “In the future, love is complicated and death is not necessarily the end. Love Minus Eighty follows several interconnected people in a disquieting vision of romantic life in the century to come.”
  • The Skystone: Camulod Chronicles, Book 1 By Jack Whyte, Narrated By Kevin Pariseau for Audible Inc. -- Scheduled Release Date: 06-11-13
  • Shattered Pillars (The Eternal Sky, Book 2) by Elizabeth Bear (Recorded Books, 14 June 2013) — Out in ebook and hardcover earlier this year from Tor: “A winner of multiple Hugo Awards and a Locus Award, Elizabeth Bear crafts mesmerizing tales of science fiction and fantasy. The second novel in her Eternal Sky trilogy, Shattered Pillars continues the epic saga of politics, war, and magic that began with Range of Ghosts. Temur the exiled heir and Sarmarkar the Tsarepheth wizard must gather all their strength to fight the dark forces determined to conquer every great empire along the Celedon Road.”
  • 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)
  • CLOAK & SILENCE by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Blackstone Audio, June 17)
  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow and Harper Audio, Jun 18, 2013)
  • Lexicon by Max Barry, read by Heather Corrigan and Zach Appelman for Dreamscape Media (concurrent with hardcover/ebook release from Penguin, June 18) — “An up-all-night thriller for freaks and geeks who want to see their wizards all grown up in the real world and armed to the teeth in a bloody story.” – Kirkus Reviews; as well as blurbs from both Lev (“About as close you can get to the perfect cerebral thriller: searingly smart, ridiculously funny, and fast as hell. Lexicon reads like Elmore Leonard high out of his mind on Snow Crash.”) and Austin Grossman (“I don’t know how you could craft a better weekend read than this novel of international intrigue and weaponized Chomskian linguistics. It’s the perfect mix of philosophical play and shotgun-inflected chase scenes. Like someone let Grant Morrison loose on the Bourne identity franchise.”)
  • Sea Change by S.M. Wheeler (Tor, Jun 18) — “Wheeler’s stunning debut is a sophisticated fantasy whose lush descriptions, lurical dialogue, and engaging structure are reminiscent of the very best fairy tales… This profoundly beautifuly evolution of fairy tale elements will have readers eagerly awaiting Wheeler’s next book.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
  • Requiem by Ken Scholes (Tor, Jun 18) — “the latest in The Psalms of Isaak series”
  • 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 Blackstone 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)
  • Blade Reforged (A Fallen Blade Novel) by Kelly McCullough (Ace, Jun 25, 2013)
  • The Goliath Stone by Larry Niven and Matthew Joseph Harrington (Tor Books, Jun 25) — “Twenty-five years ago, the Briareus mission took nanomachinery out to divert an Earth-crossing asteroid and bring it back to be mined, only to drop out of contact as soon as it reached its target. The project was shut down and the technology was forcibly suppressed. Now, a much, much larger asteroid is on a collision course with Earth—and the Briareus nanites may be responsible.”
  • Hunted: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 6 by Kevin Hearne, narrated by Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio -- Scheduled Release Date: 06/25/13
  • A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp (Angry Robot: 25 June 2013)
  • The World of the End by Ofir Touché Gafla (Tor, Jun 25) — “As an epilogist, Ben Mendelssohn appreciates an unexpected ending. But when that denouement is the untimely demise of his beloved wife, Ben is incapable of coping. Marian was more than his life partner; she was the fiber that held together all that he is. And Ben is willing to do anything, even enter the unknown beyond, if it means a chance to be with her again. One bullet to the brain later, Ben is in the Other World, where he discovers a vast and curiously secular existence utterly unlike anything he could have imagined: a realm of sprawling cities where the deceased of every age live an eternal second life, and where forests of family trees are tended by mysterious humans who never lived in the previous world. But Ben cannot find Marian. Desperate for a reunion, he enlists an unconventional afterlife investigator to track her down, little knowing that his search is entangled in events that continue to unfold in the world of the living. It is a search that confronts Ben with one heart-rending shock after another; with the best and worst of human nature; with the resilience and fragility of love; and with truths that will haunt him through eternity.”
  • 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)
  • 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.”
  • 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.”
  • Playing Tyler by T L Costa (Strange Chemistry, Jul 2, 2013)
  • Anthology: Wastelands II: More Stories of the Apocalypse by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books, Jul 2, 2013)
  • Anthology: The Lowest Heaven (Jurassic London, July 3) -- "17 original science fiction stories inspired by our closest celestial neighbours and published in partnership with the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Features new work from Alastair Reynolds, Sophia McDougall, Kameron Hurley, S. L. Grey, E. J. Swift, Maria Dahvana Headley, James Smythe, Matt Jones and many others." (limited hardcover release in mid-June)
  • The Curiosity: A Novel by Stephen Kiernan (William Morrow, Jul 9, 2013)
  • Fiction: This Is How You Fall by Keith Dixon (Thomas and Mercer, Jul 9, 2013) -- coming to audio read by Nick Podehl for Brilliance Audio
  • 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.”
  • This Is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death by Matthew Bennardo, David Malki ! and Ryan North (Grand Central, Jul 16, 2013)
  • Anthology: Carniepunk (Pocket Books, July 30)
  • The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem by Stephen King and Glenn Chadbourne (Cemetery Dance, Jul 30, 2013)
  • Anthology: The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons edited by Paula Guran (Running Press, July 30) -- UK edition was published May 16
  • Three (Duskwalker Cycle #1) by Jay Posey (Angry Robot, July 31, 2013) — cover reveal and excerpt up at io9
  • 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)
  • The Companions: The Sundering, Book I by R. A. Salvatore (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)
  • The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara (Doubleday, Dreamscape Media, August 13) — “In 1950, a young doctor, Norton Perina, signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote island of Ivu’ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub “The Dreamers,” who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States. He proves his thesis, earning worldwide fame, but he soon discovers that its miraculous property comes at a terrible price. As things quickly spiral out of his control, his own demons take hold, with devastating consequences.”
  • Collection: Celestial Inventories by Steve Rasnic Tem (ChiZine, Aug 15)
  • Fiction: Lookaway, Lookaway: A Novel By Wilton Barnhardt, Narrated By Scott Shepherd for Macmillan Audio (concurrent with print/ebook release from St. Martin’s) — Scheduled Release Date: 08-20-13
  • 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:
  • Anthology: Glitter and Mayhem edited by John Klima, Lynne M. Thomas, and Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Books, Sep 1) — “Welcome to Glitter & Mayhem, the most glamorous party in the multiverse. Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery.”
  • 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)
  • Channel Zilch by Doug Sharp (Panverse, September 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.”
  • The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale (Mulholland Books, September 10) — ‘In the throes of being civilized, East Texas is still a wild, feral place. Oil wells spurt liquid money from the ground. But as Jack’s about to find out, blood and redemption rule supreme. In The Thicket, award-winning novelist Joe R. Lansdale lets loose like never before, in a rip-roaring adventure equal parts True Gritand Stand by Me–the perfect introduction to an acclaimed writer whose work has been called “as funny and frightening as anything that could have been dreamed up by the Brothers Grimm–or Mark Twain” (New York Times Book Review).’
  • Anthology: Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, September 11)
  • Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest (Tor, Autumn 2013)
  • American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett (Recorded Books, Sep 13) — published earlier this year in print/ebook, and perhaps to show up in digital audio a bit earlier (Sep 1)
  • The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan (Orbit, Sep 17) — Riyria Chronicles #2
  • The Falconer by Elizabeth May (Gollanz UK, Sep 19) — I don’t see a US release until 2014 for this much-balyhooed debut fantasy
  • 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)
  • Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse, September 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”
  • The Abominable: A Novel by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown and Company, Oct 22, 2013)
  • Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, October 29) — book one is in audio from Blackstone
  • The n-Body Problem by Tony Burgess (ChiZine, October 2013) — “Tony Burgess returns to the realm of the zombie”
  • 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)
  • Starhawk by Jack McDevitt (Ace Hardcover, Nov 5)
  • 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
  • Hild: A Novel by Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov 12, 2013) -- "Since Griffith has won the Tiptree, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards, the Premio Italia, and the Lambda Literary Award six times, you’re well advised to grab this fictionalized portrait of a girl name Hild who grew up in seventh-century Britain and became St. Hilda’s of Whitby. Griffith gives us a determined and uncannily perceptive Hild who seems capable of predicting the future (or at least of human behavior), a trait that puts her in the life-and-death position of being made the king’s seer. The writing itself is uncannily perceptive, with none of the flowery excess of some historical fiction writing, though the detailed narrative runs close to 600 pages. I thought of Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall even before I noted the comparison in the promotion." -- LibraryJournal
  • 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
  • Collection: Bleeding Shadows by Joe R. Lansdale (Subterranean, November 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 Emperor's Blades (The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, #1) by Brian Stavely (Tor, January 2014) -- "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."
  • 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.”
  • 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.”
  • 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.”
  • The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne (Random House/Crown, 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."
  • Blood and Iron by Jon Sprunk (Pyr, 2014)
Posted in Release Week | Tagged dan krokos, neil gaiman, will self