Release Week: Niven and Harrington's The Goliath Stone, Christopher Priest's The Adjacent, Madeline Ashby's iD, Paul S. Kemp's A Discourse in Steel, Calvino's Invisible Cities, and Ballard's The Drowned World

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Release Week: Niven and Harrington's The Goliath Stone, Christopher Priest's The Adjacent, Madeline Ashby's iD, Paul S. Kemp's A Discourse in Steel, Calvino's Invisible Cities, and Ballard's The Drowned World

Posted on 2013-06-26 at 15:0 by Sam

JUNE 19-25, 2013: June goes out with quite a bang — limiting the picks to even the four pairs below still leaves titles of interest in the “also out this week” listings, such as a literary historical fantasy from Andrew Sean Greer and Jeff Noon’s follow-on to Vurt; it’s also another big week for self-published releases with David D. Levine, M.R. Mathias and Hugh Howey all publishing well-produced audiobooks of their works.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

I’ll start the pairings with two top-flight concurrent new releases from giants in the field, starting with The Goliath Stone by Larry Niven and Matthew Joseph Harrington, read by Jeff Woodman for Audible Frontiers, concurrent with the print and ebook from Tor Books. “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.” Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “As nanites make the protagonists younger, healthier, and sexier, they engage in fast, funny, and gloriously self-referential repartee, with repeated homage paid to classic science-fiction writers and their work. The hard science can be dense, but it never gets in way of the breezy mood that gives this delightful romp its wings.”

The Goliath Stone | [Larry Niven, Matthew Joseph Harrington] The Adjacent | [Christopher Priest]

And while there is not yet a US print or ebook release in sight, out concurrent with the UK release from Gollanz is a US-available audiobook edition from Audible Ltd for The Adjacent by Christopher Priest. Locus Online describes the book as: “SF/slipstream novel concerning a terrorist attack in near-future London, a World War I era meeting between a stage magician and a science fiction writer, a woman pilot who escapes the Nazis in 1943, and a present day scientist who creates an ‘adjacency’.” And links to a five star review by Jonathan Wright at SFX which calls the book “One of the best novels of the year.”

Next up, a pair of “book 2” entries from Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio. First up, iD: Machine Dynasty, Book 2 by Madeline Ashby, narrated by Luke Daniels. I learned a bit late of this follow-on to last summer’s well-received vN: The First Machine Dynasty. Here: “Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine – a self-replicating humanoid robot. But Amy is a robot unlike any other - her failsafe has broken, meaning she is no longer sworn to protect humans. She and her equally synthetic partner Javier are holed up in their own robot paradise. But the world that wanted so much to get hold of Amy - to imprison her, melt her down, or use her as a weapon - will not stay away much longer. Javier must run, to Mecha, the robot kingdom, in search of salvation…or death.”

iD: Machine Dynasty, Book 2 | [Madeline Ashby] A Discourse in Steel: A Tale of Egil and Nix, Book 2 | [Paul S. Kemp]

A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp, read by Nick Podehl for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, is a sequel to last summer’s The Hammer and the Blade. “Egil and Nix have retired, as they always said they would. No, really - they have! No more sword - and hammer - play for them! But when two recent acquaintances come calling for help, our hapless heroes find themselves up against the might of the entire Thieves Guild. And when kidnapping the leader of the most powerful guild in the land seems like the best course of action, you know you’re in over your head…”

Two more next books in a series, beginning with another of the “blockbuster” releases this week, Hunted: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 6 by Kevin Hearne, narrated by Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio. It’s the latest in Hearne’s best-selling series about a 2,000-year-old Druid, Atticus O’Sullivan, and his run-ins with the gods and goddesses of various pantheons. Here: “he’s being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt - Artemis and Diana - for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is…run like hell.”

Hunted: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 6 | [Kevin Hearne] Steel Blues | [Melissa Scott, Jo Graham]

Much less a blockbuster but also a follow-on to check out is Steel Blues by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham, narrated by John Lee for Crossroad Press. Lee reprises his role (and American accents!) as narrator on Lost Things, which introduced the Order of the Air with a high-stakes trans-Atlantic airship crossing, deftly combining occult fantasy with hints of Steampunk art deco era adventure. Here: “When the Gilchrist Aviation team tries to win the money to keep the business going by placing first in a coast-to-coast air race, things get complicated! A stolen necklace, a runaway Russian countess, and a century-old curse seem like trouble enough, but then there’s New Orleans, and the unsolved murders of the New Orleans Axeman. But what if the murderer is one of them?” This title also is one of the better “Whispersync for Voice” price quirks of the week: “Listen to Steel Blues, then pick up right where you left off with the Kindle book, available from Amazon.com for $4.99. Get this Audiobook for the reduced price of $3.49, when you buy the Kindle edition first.”

Last up are a pair of older works now available in audio, starting with Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, narrated by John Lee for Tantor Audio. Invisible Cities is the Italian author Calvino’s 1972 novel, first published in English in 1974: “In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo - Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts the emperor with tales of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. Soon it becomes clear that each of these fantastic places is really the same place.”

Invisible Cities | [Italo Calvino] The Drowned World | [J. G. Ballard]

Lastly, Audible Inc. published new audiobooks of several of J.G. Ballard’s novels, led for me by The Drowned World, narrated by Julian Elfer, also including Hello America (narrated by David Ledoux), The Unlimited Dream Company (narrated by Dylan Lynch), Rushing to Paradise (narrated by Eva Kaminsky), High-Rise (narrated by Eric-Yves Garcia), and The Day of Creation (narrated by Fleet Cooper). The Drowned World is Ballard’s 1962 novel which (publisher copy) “not only gained him widespread critical acclaim but also established his reputation as one of the finest writers of a generation. The Drowned World imagines a terrifying world in which global warming has melted the ice caps and primordial jungles have overrun a tropical London.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells | [Andrew Sean Greer] Pollen | [Jeff Noon] Kings, Queens, Heroes & Fools: The Wardstone Trilogy, Book Two | [M. R. Mathias]

HARPER AUDIO: The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells By Andrew Sean Greer, Narrated By Orlagh Cassidy; (Teen) In the After By Demitria Lunetta, Narrated By Julia Whelan

HACHETTE AUDIO: The Universe Versus Alex Woods By Gavin Extence, Narrated By Joe Thomas; and Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities By Chris Kluwe

RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO: Sisterland: A Novel By Curtis Sittenfeld, Narrated By Rebecca Lowman

MACMILLAN AUDIO: Eve of Destruction: Marked, Book 2 By Sylvia Day, Narrated By Jill Redfield

PENGUIN AUDIO: (Kids) The BFG By Roald Dahl, Narrated By David Walliams

DREAMSCAPE: (Collection) Mortal Lock By Andrew Vachss, Narrated By Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross; Goslings By J.D. Beresford, Narrated By Matthew Brenher

TANTOR AUDIO: Fusion: Patrick Chronicles, Book 2 By Nicole Williams, Narrated By Paul Boehmer

RECORDED BOOKS: Ancients By David L. Golemon, Narrated By Richard Poe

LISTENING LIBRARY: The Lost Sun: United States of Asgard, Book 1 By Tessa Gratton, Narrated By Robbie Daymond

RAVENPHEAT: Leaflings By Darren Shell, Narrated By Sule Greg Wilson, Tim Paulson, and Norma Jean Strickland

BOOKS IN MOTION: Vortex: Sten, Book 7 By Allan Cole and Chris Bunch, Narrated By Jerry Sciarrio

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: Lost Souls: Caitlyn O’Connell, Book 2 By Delilah Devlin, Narrated By Natalie Ross

AUDIBLE LTD: Pollen (follow-on to 1993 Arthur C. Clarke Award winning Vurt) by Jeff Noon, narrated by Maggie Mash

AUDIBLE INC: The Data Runner By Sam A. Patel, Narrated By Vikas Adam; Honeymoon of the Dead By Tate Hallaway; Daughter of Witches By Patricia Wrede, Narrated By Nicole Greevy

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: The Shattered Oath: Prince of the Sidhe, Book 1 and Forging the Runes: Prince of the Sidhe, Book 2 By Josepha Sherman, Narrated By A.C. Fellner; Outworld Cats By Jack Lovejoy, Narrated By John McLain; Roads Less Traveled: Shades of Gray By C. Dulaney, Narrated By Elisabeth Rodgers; The Alternate Martians By A. Bertram Chandler, Narrated By Kyle Munley; and Star Courier: John Grimes, Book 9 By A. Bertram Chandler, Narrated By Aaron Abano

RADIO ARCHIVES: Doc Savage: The Forgotten Realm By Kenneth Robeson, Lester Dent, and Will Murray, Narrated By Roger Rittner

INDIE: Space Magic: Stories by David D. Levine, narrated by the author; Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions By Hugh Howey, Narrated By Jennifer O’Donnell; Kings, Queens, Heroes & Fools: The Wardstone Trilogy, Book Two By M. R. Mathias, Narrated By Chris Dorman; Through the Wildwood: The Legend of Vanx Malic By M. R. Mathias, Narrated By Gregory Silva; The Battle Lord’s Lady: The Battle Lord Saga By Linda Mooney, Narrated By Kate Udall; Legend: Spirian Saga, Book 3 By Rowena Portch, Narrated By Molly Elston; Gone: The Tangle Saga, Volume 1: A Science Fiction Mystery By Traci Tyne Hilton, Narrated By Rebecca Thomas; and Hand of Time: The Nemesis Chronicles, Book 2 by H. R. Jackson, narrated by the author

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

  • Collection: The Very Best of Barry N. Malzberg by Barry N. Malzberg (Nonstop Press) -- reviewed by Barry Agonistes in the LA Review of Books
  • The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce (Gollanz, 20 June, 2013) -- Joyce's latest novel has been published in the UK; no audio or US edition I'm aware of yet
  • Heron Fleet by Paul Beatty (Matador, Jun 20, 2013) — “Not far in the future, Francesca is an apprentice in the idyllic, agrarian community of Heron Fleet. She loves her impetuous partner Anya and the community acts as mother and father to her, as its founders intended. But outside Heron Fleet, the world is violent.”
  • Terminus by Adam Baker (Hodder, Jun 20, 2013) — “A rescue squad enters the subway tunnels beneath New York. The squad are searching for Dr Conrad Ekks, head of a research team charged with synthesising an antidote to the lethal virus.”
  • Ectopia by Martin Goodman (Jun 20, 2013)
  • Anthology: Tomorrow: Apocalyptic Short Stories edited by Karen Henderson (Kayelle Press, Jun 22, 2013) — “You’ve read the predictions of people like Nostradamus and Mother Shipton. And some believed the Mayan Calendar predicted the end of the world in 2012. Yet here we still are… But what if, tomorrow, we woke up to a world with no electricity, no gas, no telephone?”
  • Writers of the Future Volume 29 (L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future) by Brian Trent, Stephen Sottong, Tina Gower and Christopher Reynaga (Jun 22, 2013)
  • 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)
  • Crash by Guy Haley (Solaris, June 25) -- "SF novel in which the demands of the Market for endless economic expansion inspires an interstellar colony, which becomes marooned on a tidally-locked planet." (via Locus Online)
  • The ‘Geisters by David Nickle (ChiZine, June 25) -- "Fantasy novel about a woman, possessed by a poltergeist since childhood, who now feels other forces struggling to take away her control of it." (via Locus Online)
  • The Book of Cross: The Mona Lisa Sacrifice by Peter Roman (ChiZine, June 25) -- "Urban fantasy novel, first of a series, about Cross, a mortal soul trapped in Christ’s body, summoned by an angel to find the real life woman who inspired the painting Mona Lisa." (via Locus Online)
  • 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.”
  • Fiction: The Quarry by Iain Banks (Redhook, June 25, 2013) -- the last novel by the late Iain Banks is out in audio in the UK from Hachette, read by the recurring voice of Banks' fiction, Peter Kenny
  • Anthology: Bad Seeds: Evil Progeny edited by Steve Berman, with stories by Holly Black, Stephen King, Joe R. Lansdale and Cassandra Clare (Prime Books, Jun 25, 2013)

COMING SOON:

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”
  • Happy Hour In Hell (Bobby Dollar) by Tad Williams (Sep 3, 2013)
  • Chimes at Midnight: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire (Sep 3, 2013)
  • 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
  • 23 Years on Fire: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel by Joel Sheppard (Pyr, September 3, 2013) -- "Commander Cassandra Kresnov has her hands full. She must lead an assault against the Federation world of Pyeongwha, where a terrible sociological phenomenon has unleashed hell against the civilian population. Then she faces the threat from a portion of League space known as New Torah, in which a ruthless regime of surviving corporations are building new synthetic soldiers but taking the technology in alarming directions."
  • The Given Sacrifice: A Novel of the Change (Change Series) by S. M. Stirling (Sep 3, 2013)
  • The Scroll of Years: A Gaunt and Bone Novel by Chris Willrich (Pyr, September 10) — fantasy debut novel from the well-published in short f/sf Willrich, in his “Gaunt and Bone” sword and sorcery milieu
  • Monsters of the Earth (Books of the Elements #3) by David Drake (Tor, September 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).’
  • Zombie Baseball Beatdown by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / Listening Library, Sep 10, 2013)
  • 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 One-Eyed Man: A Fugue, With Winds and Accompaniment by L. E. Modesitt (Sep 17, 2013)
  • 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
  • The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding (Sep 19, 2013) -- final novel in the Ketty Jay series
  • 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) -- "Secret societies, immortality, murder mysteries and Las Vegas all in one book? Shut up and take my money." —John Scalzi
  • Dead Run, The by Adam Mansbach (HarperCollins, Sep 24, 2013)
  • Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse, September 24, 2013)
  • The Fall of the Governor: The Walking Dead, Book 3 By Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga, Narrated By Fred Berman — Scheduled Release Date: 09-24-13
  • Collection: If Angels Fight: Stories by Richard Bowes (Fairwood Press/Patrick Swensen, September 2013) -- collection of 14 stories - 3 new - all newly collected
  • Treecat Wars by David Weber (Oct 1, 2013)
  • Hero by Alethea Kontis (Harcourt Children’s Books, October 1)
  • Bastion: Book Five of the Collegium Chronicles (A Valdemar Novel) by Mercedes Lackey (Oct 1, 2013)
  • Pandemic by Scott Sigler (Crown, Oct 1, 2013)
  • Ghosts Know by Ramsey Campbell (Tor, Oct 1)
  • Anthology: Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, October 2)
  • The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard, #3) by Scott Lynch (Spectra, October 8)
  • Veil of the Deserters (Bloodsounder's Arc #2) by Jeff Salyards (Night Shade Books, Oct 8, 2013)
  • 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 Last Dark: The climax of the entire Thomas Covenant Chronicles (Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) by Stephen R. Donaldson (Oct 15, 2013)
  • The Blood Flower Throne by T.L. Morganfield (Panverse, October 19) -- "the first book in a feminist retelling of the myths and legends surrounding the Toltec priest-king Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl"
  • 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 Faceless One by Mark Onspaugh (Hydra, Oct 28, 2013)
  • Teen: Horde (Enclave) by Ann Aguirre (Macmillan Young Listeners, Oct 29, 2013) -- "The epic conclusion to the USA Today bestselling trilogy."
  • 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)
  • Hell Bent: A Broken Magic Novel by Devon Monk (Nov 5, 2013)
  • 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
  • The Irreal Reader: Fiction & Essays from The Cafe Irreal edited by G.S. Evans and Alice Whittenburg (Guide Dog, November 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
  • Ascension, a Tangled Axon novel by Jacqueline Koyanagi (Masque Books, December 4) -- "Alana Quick is the best damned sky surgeon in Heliodor City, but repairing starship engines barely pays the bills. When the desperate crew of a cargo vessel stops by her shipyard looking for her spiritually-advanced sister Nova, Alana stows away. Maybe her boldness will land her a long-term gig on the crew. But the Tangled Axon proves to be more than star-watching and plasma coils. The chief engineer thinks he's a wolf. The pilot fades in and out of existence. The captain is all blond hair, boots, and ego... and Alana can't keep her eyes off her. But there's little time for romance: Nova's in danger and someone will do anything - even destroying planets - to get their hands on her!"
NEXT YEAR:
  • The Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson (Jo Fletcher Books, January 7, 2014) — a “Viking fantasy novel” by a new Icelandic author
  • The Girl with All the Gifts by M.J. Carey (Orbit, Jan 7, 2014) -- "Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her ‘our little genius’. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh." -- link to cover
  • Rex Regis by L. E. Modesitt (Tor, Jan 7, 2014)
  • Dirty Magic (Prospero's War) by Jaye Wells (Jan 21, 2014)
  • Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, January 21, 2014) — book 2 in The Stormlight Archive after The Way of Kings
  • 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.”
  • Reign of Ash (Book Two in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga) by Gail Z. Martin (Orbit, January 2014) -- follow-on to Ice Forged
  • Like a Mighty Army (Safehold) by David Weber (Feb 4, 2014)
  • The Crimson Campaign (The Powder Mage Trilogy, Book 2) by Brian McClellan (Orbit, February 2014)
  • The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison (Feb 25, 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, May 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)
  • The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones and Ursula Jones (Greenwillow, Summer 2014) -- "Fans of the late writer Diana Wynne Jones – who died in March 2011 – are in for an unexpected treat. In the summer of 2014, Greenwillow will publish a new title from the acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author. Titled The Islands of Chaldea, the book is a standalone novel unconnected to any of the author’s earlier works. It is also the result of an unusual, asynchronous collaboration between the writer and her younger sister, Ursula Jones."
Posted in Release Week | Tagged christopher priest, italo calvino, jg ballard, john lee, kevin hearne, larry niven, luke daniels, madeline ashby, melissa scott, paul s. kemp