Release Week: The Curiosity, Burton and Swinburne, The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, and David Tallerman's Crown Thief

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Release Week: The Curiosity, Burton and Swinburne, The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, and David Tallerman's Crown Thief

Posted on 2013-07-15 at 18:18 by Sam

JULY 3-9, 2013: Whew. Another nearly week late Release Week roundup. What gives? Have I forsaken all that is audio? No, just busy. My picks this week include two concurrent new releases, one from the “genre in the mainstream” side of the fence and the other the latest in Mark Hodder’s series of “Burton and Swinburne” Steampunk adventures, along with two audiobooks which belatedly continue fantasy series. Also see the “also out this week” listings, particularly the return of the Fiction River original anthology series with How to Save the World: Fiction River, #2. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

That “genre in the mainstream” novel is The Curiosity: A Novel By Stephen Kiernan, narrated by Kate Udall, Erik Bergmann, and George Guidall for Harper Audio, out concurrent with the print/ebook release from William Morrow. “A powerful debut novel in which a man, frozen in the Arctic ice for more than a century, awakens in the present day and finds the greatest discovery is love… Dr. Kate Philo and her scientific exploration team make a breathtaking discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice. As a scientist in a groundbreaking project run by the egocentric and paranoid Erastus Carthage, Kate has brought small creatures - plankton, krill, shrimp - back to life for short periods of time. But the team’s methods have never been attempted on larger life-forms.Heedless of the potential consequences, Carthage orders that the frozen man be brought back to the lab in Boston and reanimated.”

The Curiosity: A Novel | [Stephen Kiernan] The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi: Burton & Swinburne, Book 4 | [Mark Hodder]

Out concurrent with the print/ebook release from Pyr is The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi: Burton & Swinburne, Book 4 by Mark Hodder, narrated by Gerard Doyle for Audible Frontiers. “Burton & Swinburne return in a new series! The Beast is coming. History will be remade. Since the assassination of Queen Victoria in 1840, a cabal of prominent men-including King George V, HRH Prince Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel-has received guidance from the Afterlife. The spirit of a dead mystic, Abdu El Yezdi, has helped them to steer the empire into a period of unprecedented peace and creativity.”

Out earlier this year, self-published by the author via a Kickstarter campaign after the demise of Night Shade Books, is The Flames of Shadam Khoreh: The Lays of Anuskaya, Book 3 by Bradley P. Beaulieu, narrated By Ray Chase for Audible Frontiers. The series is very well-regarded, and this book made Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist’s top 5 books of 2013 so far. Also: The audiobook has a regular price of $30.57. But! Through the magic of “Whispersync for Voice” if you get the Kindle book, available from Amazon.com for $6.99, you can add the Audible audiobook for $1.99. OK, enough about the about of the book, here’s the actual about the book: “Nearly two years after the harrowing events of The Straits of Galahesh, Atiana and Nikandr continue their long search for Nasim. The clues they find lead them to the desert wastes of the Gaji, where the fabled valley of Shadam Khoreh lies. But all is not well. War has moved from the islands to the mainland, and the Grand Duchy knows its time may be limited if Yrstanla rallies its forces.”

The Flames of Shadam Khoreh: The Lays of Anuskaya, Book 3 | [Bradley P. Beaulieu] Crown Thief: Tales of Easie Damasco, Book 2 | [David Tallerman]

Crown Thief: Tales of Easie Damasco, Book 2 By David Tallerman, Narrated By James Langton for Brilliance Audio. Published in print/ebook late last year by Angry Robot, we re-visit the sarcastic humor of Easie Damasco from early last year’s Giant Thief. “Meet Easie Damasco: thief, liar…and lately, reluctant hero. But whatever good intentions Damasco may have are about to be tested to their limits, as the most valuable - and dangerous - object in the land comes within his light-fingered grasp. Add in some suicidally stubborn giants, an old enemy with dreams of empire, and the deadliest killer in two kingdoms on his heels, and Easie’s chances of staying honest - or even just surviving - are getting slimmer by the hour.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Fiend: A Novel | [Peter Stenson] How to Save the World: Fiction River, #2 | [David Gerrold, William H. Keith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith]

MACMILLAN AUDIO: Fifth Grave Past the Light: Charley Davidson, Book 5 By Darynda Jones, Narrated By Lorelei King

RANDOM HOUSE AUDIO: Fiend: A Novel By Peter Stenson, Narrated By Todd Haberkorn; Crucible: Star Wars By Troy Denning, Narrated By Marc Thompson

HACHETTE AUDIO: Skinner By Charlie Huston, Narrated By Jay Snyder; and Zom-B Angels By Darren Shan, Narrated By Emma Galvin

SIMON & SCHUSTER AUDIO: (Nonfiction) I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) By Chuck Klosterman

TANTOR AUDIO: Freedom’s Dawn: Frontiers Saga, Book 4 By Ryk Brown, Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: The Sentinel: A Jane Harper Horror Novel, Book 1 By Jeremy Bishop, Narrated By Emily Beresford; Infernal: Repairman Jack, Book 9 By F. Paul Wilson, Narrated By Christopher Price; (Fiction) This Is How You Fall by Keith Dixon, read by Nick Podehl

AUDIBLE LTD: (Collection) Cold Hand in Mine By Robert Aickman, Narrated By Reece Shearsmith

AUDIBLE INC: Caught in Crystal By Patricia Wrede, Narrated By Nicole Greevy — Series: Lyra, Book 4; (Teen) The Nightmare Affair By Mindee Arnett, Narrated By Cassandra Morris

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: Ex-Communication By Peter Clines

WMG PUBLISHING: How to Save the World: Fiction River, #2 By David Gerrold, William H. Keith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Dean Wesley Smith, Narrated By Matthew Buchman, Jerimy Colbert, Kristine Rusch, and Dean Smith

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

  • 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 Detainee by Peter Liney (Jo Fletcher UK, 4 Jul 2013) -- "Dystopian SF novel, the author’s first novel, in which the old, sick, and poor are exiled to a remote island watched over by punishment satellites." (via Locus Online)
  • Dust Devil on a Quiet Street by Richard Bowes (Lethe Press, July 5) -- "Autobiographical fantasy novel about the author’s life from childhood to adulthood in New York City." (via Locus Online)
  • The Executioner’s Heart (Newbury & Hobbes, Book 4) by George Mann (Tor, Jul 9, 2013)
  • The Glass God (Magicals Anonymous #2) by Kate Griffin (Orbit, July 9) -- sequel to Stray Souls
  • Blood and Feathers: Rebellion by Lou Morgan (Solaris, July 9) -- sequel to Blood and Feathers
COMING SOON:

The Long War: The Long Earth, Book 2 | [Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter] Brilliance | [Marcus Sakey]

AUGUST and LATER: 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
  • Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond (September 3, 2013)
  • 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
OCTOBER and LATER:
  • 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)
  • Pull Down the Night by Nathan Kotecki (Houghton Mifflin, October 6) — second book in his YA urban fantasy series after The Suburban Strange
  • 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
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
  • Annihilation (Southern Reach, Volume 1) by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, Feb 4, 2014) — the first of a trilogy of “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?"
  • 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)
  • Dreamwalker by C.S. Friedman (February 2014)
  • The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking, Early 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King
  • 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.”
  • The Chaplain’s War by Brad Torgerson (Baen, 2014)
  • Colossus by Stephen Messer (Random House Children’s Books, 2014)
Posted in Release Week