Release Week: Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam, Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman, Toby Barlow's Babayaga, and Seanan McGuire's Chimes at Midnight

Release Week: Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam, Kim Stanley Robinson's Shaman, Toby Barlow's Babayaga, and Seanan McGuire's Chimes at Midnight

Posted on 2013-09-04 at 19:05 by Sam

AUGUST 28-SEPTEMBER 3, 2013: September kicks off with two of my most anticipated titles of the year, Margaret Atwood’s MaddAddam and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Shaman. It also brings news from The Hugo Awards at this weekend’s World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio, where Mur Lafferty (The Shambling Guide to New York City) won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Author, and John Scalzi’s Redshirts was named Best Novel. This week does not, however, bring all the audiobooks that were hoped for: in particular, I was very surprised to see that Happy Hour in Hell, the second Bobby Dollar novel by Tad Williams, was not (yet?) in audio, after a fantastic first audiobook, The Dirty Streets of Heaven, read by George Newbern. Still, with these four picks and the rest of this week’s haul, there’s more than plenty to listen to and enjoy. So… Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

MaddAddam: A Novel by Margaret Atwood is now out in the US after a brief bit of Canadian exclusivity, from Nan A. Talese and Random House Audio. “Bringing together Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood, this thrilling conclusion to Margaret Atwood’s speculative fiction trilogy points toward the ultimate endurance of community, and love.” Read by Bernadette Dunne, Bob Walter, and Robbie Daymond, it’s the conclusion to one of the defining speculative fiction series of the early 21st century: “Months after the Waterless Flood pandemic has wiped out most of humanity, Toby and Ren have rescued their friend Amanda from the vicious Painballers. They return to the MaddAddamite cob house, newly fortified against man and giant pigoon alike. Accompanying them are the Crakers, the gentle, quasi-human species engineered by the brilliant but deceased Crake. Their reluctant prophet, Snowman-the-Jimmy, is recovering from a debilitating fever, so it’s left to Toby to preach the Craker theology, with Crake as Creator. She must also deal with cultural misunderstandings, terrible coffee, and her jealousy over her lover, Zeb.”

Shaman: A novel of the Ice Age by Kim Stanley Robinson, narrated by Graeme Malcolm for Hachette Audio concurrent with the print/ebook release from Orbit. After last year’s solar-system-spanning sf 2312 comes an 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”. First, the book description: “There is Thorn, a shaman himself. He lives to pass down his wisdom and his stories — to teach those who would follow in his footsteps. There is Heather, the healer who, in many ways, holds the clan together. There is Elga, an outsider and the bringer of change. And then there is Loon, the next shaman, who is determined to find his own path. But in a world so treacherous, that journey is never simple — and where it may lead is never certain. SHAMAN is a powerful, thrilling and heartbreaking story of one young man’s journey into adulthood — and an awe-inspiring vision of how we lived thirty thousand years ago.” And I encourage you to check out this week’s Locus Online New Books posting to see excerpts of very interesting reviews from Gary K. Wolfe and Cecelia Holland.

Babayaga by Toby Barlow was published in print/ebook by FSG on August 6, and here comes to audio read by Dan Miller  for Tantor. “By the author of Sharp Teeth, a novel of love, spies, and witches in 1950s Paris—and a cop turned into a flea: Will is a young American ad executive in Paris. Except his agency is a front for the CIA. It’s 1959 and the Cold War is going strong. But Will doesn’t think he’s a warrior—he’s just a good-hearted Detroit ad guy who can’t seem to figure out Parisian girls.  Zoya is a beautiful young woman wandering les boulevards, sad-eyed, and coming off a bad breakup. In fact, she impaled her ex on a spike. Zoya, it turns out, has been a beautiful young woman for hundreds of years; she and her far more traditionally witchy-looking companion, Elga, have been thriving unnoticed in the bloody froth of Europe’s wars. Inspector Vidot is a hardworking Paris police detective who cherishes quiet nights at home. But when he follows a lead from a grisly murder to the abode of an ugly old woman, he finds himself turned into a flea.”

Chimes at Midnight: An October Daye Novel by Seanan McGuire is the 7th in McGuire’s urban fantasy October Daye series, all narrated by Mary Robinette Kowal for Brilliance Audio — one of those enduring, perfect matches of author, character, and narrator. Here: “Things are starting to look up for October “Toby” Daye. She’s training her squire, doing her job, and has finally allowed herself to grow closer to the local King of Cats. It seems like her life may finally be settling down…at least until dead changelings start appearing in the alleys of San Francisco, killed by an overdose of goblin fruit.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

• Monsters of the Earth: Books of the Elements, Book 3 By David Drake, Narrated By David Ledoux for Audible Frontiers -- "Governor Saxa, of the great city of Carce, a fantasy analog of ancient Rome, is rusticating at his villa. When Saxa's son Varus accompanies Coryluson a visit to the household of his father, Crispus, a retired military commander, Saxa graciously joins the party with his young wife Hedia, daughter Alphena, and a large entourage of his servants, making it a major social triumph for Crispus. But on the way to the event, something goes amiss. Varus, who has been the conduit for supernatural visions before, experiences another: giant crystalline worms devouring the entire world."
• The Tyrant's Law By Daniel Abraham, Narrated By Pete Bradbury for Recorded Books -- Book 3 of The Dagger and the Coin: "The great war cannot be stopped. The tyrant Geder Palliako had led his nation to war, but every victory has called forth another conflict. Now the greater war spreads out before him, and he is bent on bringing peace. No matter how many people he has to kill to do it. Cithrin bel Sarcour, rogue banker of the Medean Bank, has returned to the fold. Her apprenticeship has placed her in the path of war, but the greater dangers are the ones in her past and in her soul."
• The Lord of Opium By Nancy Farmer, Narrated By Raul Espanza for Simon & Schuster Audio -- "a sequel to her 2002 National Book Award winner, The House of the Scorpion, a tale of the clone of a drug lord struggling to dismantle his master's empire." (via Indy Week), here: "As the teenage ruler of his own country, Matt must cope with clones and cartels."
• Ghost Hawk By Susan Cooper, Narrated By Jim Dale for Simon & Schuster Audio -- new young reader historical fiction, "a story of adventure and friendship between a young Native American and a colonial New England settler", from the Award Winning author of The Dark is Rising Sequence

RECORDED BOOKS: The Art of Stealing Time: A Time Thief Novel, Book 2 By Katie MacAlister, Narrated By Celeste Ciulla; Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter, read by Jacquie Floyd; Carpathian: Event Group, Book 8 By David L. Golemon, Narrated By Richard Poe; and Storm Riders: The Dragon Brigade, Book 2 By Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes, Narrated By John Keatin

HACHETTE AUDIO: (Teen) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown By Holly Black, Narrated By Christine Lakin; and (Fiction) The Maid’s Version: A Novel By Daniel Woodrell, Narrated By Brian Troxell

MACMILLAN AUDIO: Styxx: Dark-Hunter, Book 23 By Sherrilyn Kenyon, Narrated By Fred Berman

PENGUIN AUDIO: Dark Lycan By Christine Feehan, Narrated By Robert Sarkus

BLACKSTONE AUDIO: (Teen) Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare: The Saga of Darren Shan, Book 1 By Darren Shan, Narrated By Ralph Lister; and The Angel Stone: Fairwick Trilogy, Book 3 By Juliet Dark, Narrated By Justine Eyre

TANTOR AUDIO: The Given Sacrifice: A Novel of the Change (Change Series) by S. M. Stirling, narrated by Todd McLaren; and The Savage Dead By Joe McKinney, Narrated By Michael Kramer for Tantor Audio [a particularly good Whispersync for Voice price deal, at $5.79 Kindle and $3.49 Audible]

HARPER AUDIO: (Teen) I Am Alice: The Last Apprentice, Book 12 By Joseph Delaney and Patrick Arrasmith, Narrated By Angela Goethals; and (Teen/Short) The Transfer: A Divergent Story By Veronica Roth, Narrated By Aaron Stanford

NAXOS AUDIOBOOKS: The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Stories By H. P. Lovecraft, Narrated By William Roberts

BOLINDA AUDIO: (Teen) Scrutator: Well of Echoes, Book 3 By Ian Irvine, Narrated By Grant Cartwright; and (Fiction) Once Were Warriors By Alan Duff, Narrated By Jay Laga’aia

BRILLIANCE AUDIO: The Last President: Daybreak, Book 3 By John Barnes, Narrated By Angela Dawe; Kingmaker By Christian Cantrell, Narrated By Will Damron; Realm of Shadows: The Alliance Vampires, Book 4 By Heather Graham, Narrated By Tanya Eby; The Drowning Guard: A Novel of the Ottoman Empire By Linda Lafferty, Narrated By Suzanne Cypress; and Ground Zero: Repairman Jack, Book 13 By F. Paul Wilson, Narrated By Christopher Price

AUDIBLE INC: Moonrise By Cassandra King, Narrated By Jennifer James Bradshaw, Willow Hale, and Elle Newlands

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: The Phoenix and the Mirror: Vergil Magus, Book 1 By Avram Davidson, Narrated By Robert Blumenfeld [along with books 2 and 3]; They Also Serve: Jump Universe, Book 3 By Mike Shepherd, Narrated By Michael McConnahie; and quite a few additional backlist titles

• Anthology: Tales of Jack the Ripper edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Word Horde, August 31)
• Collection: This Strange Way of Dying: Stories of Magic, Desire & the Fantastic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Exile Editions, Sep 1, 2013)
• Channel Zilch by Doug Sharp (Panverse, September 3) — “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.”
• Divinity and the Python by Bonnie Randall (Panverse, Sep 3) -- "The Python is the hottest nightclub in freezing Edmonton: all skin, no substance, and definitely no spirituality. Bartender Shaynie Gavin knows better—all things have a soul, and on an evening she’s come to call Hellnight, The Python left a dark stain on hers."
• Happy Hour In Hell (Bobby Dollar) by Tad Williams (DAW Hardcover, Sep 3, 2013) -- the second Bobby Dollar book by Williams after last year's fantastic The Dirty Streets of Heaven -- which was narrated very well by George Newbern -- "Bobby Dollar is an angel—a real one. He knows a lot about sin, and not just in his professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught between Heaven and Hell. Bobby’s wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own—pride, anger, even lust."
• Mage's Blood (The Moontide Quartet) by David Hair (Jo Fletcher Books, Sep 3, 2013) -- "Most of the time the Moontide Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every 12 years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed, its gates open for trade." -- “Hair’s first foray into adult fantasy is similar in scope to George R.R. Martin’s Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time novels and is sure to please those authors’ many fans.”—Jane Henriksen Baird, Library Journal (starred review)
• Cry Murder! in a Small Voice by Greer Gilman (Small Beer Press, Sep 3) -- "Fantasy novella about playwright Ben Jonson playing detective in 1603 London." (via Locus Online)
• Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo (Baen, Sep 3)
• The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul by Jon F. Merz (Baen, Sep 3)
• The Demi-Monde: Fall by Rod Rees (Jo Fletcher Books, Aug 29)
• Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot: To Obey by Mickey Zucker Reichert (Roc, Sep 3)
• The Grim Company by Luke Scull (Roc, Sep 3)
• When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach (Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry, Sep 3)
• Department 19: Battle Lines (Department Nineteen #3) by Will Hill (Razorbill, Sep 3)
• The 100 by Kass Morgan (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Sep 3) -- first in a new YA sf series about 100 teens sent to recolonize a nuclear-devastated Earth after centuries of humanity's survival in orbit; coming to a TV series on the CW, and coming to audio later this fall
• 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
• The Woken Gods by Gwenda Bond (Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry, September 3, 2013) -- "Five years ago, the gods of ancient mythology awoke around the world. This morning, Kyra Locke is late for school. Seventeen-year-old Kyra lives in a transformed Washington, D.C., home to the embassies of divine pantheons and the mysterious Society of the Sun. But when rebellious Kyra encounters two trickster gods on her way back from school, one offering a threat and the other a warning, it turns out her life isn't what it seems."
• Collection: Mother Box, and Other Tales by Sarah Blackman (Fiction Collective 2, Sep 3, 2013)
• Collection: The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books, September 3, 2013)

• 23 Years on Fire: A Cassandra Kresnov Novel by Joel Sheppard (Pyr, September 10, 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.” -- books 1-3 of the Cassandra Kresnov are in audio from Audible Frontiers
• 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)
• Dissident Gardens: A Novel by Jonathan Lethem (Sep 10, 2013)
• Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett (Tor, Sep 10, 2013)
• The Arrows of Time (Orthogonal)  by Greg Egan (Night Shade Books, September 10, 2013) — book 3 after The Clockwork Rocket and The Eternal Flame
• Horse of a Different Color: Stories by Howard Waldrop (Small Beer Press, September 10)
• The First Betrayal: Chronicles of Josan, Book 1 and The Sea Change: Chronicles of Josan, Book 2 By Patricia Bray, Narrated By Christopher Kipiniak — Scheduled Release Date: 09-10-13
• The Pearls and The Crown: The Pearls and the Crown Duology, Book 2 By Deborah Chester, Narrated By A. Savalas — Length: 23 hrs and 2 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 09-10-13
• Mystery: The Bones of Paris (A Novel of Suspense) By Laurie R. King, Narrated By Jefferson Mays for Recorded Books (print release from Bantam) — Scheduled Release Date: 09-10-13
• Anthology: Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, September 11)
• On the Steel Breeze (Poseidon’s Children) by Alastair Reynolds (Sep 12, 2013)
• Divinity and the Python by Bonnie Randall (Panverse, September 15)
• Colony By Ben Bova– Scheduled Release Date: 09-15-13
• Super Stories of Heroes and Villains edited by Claude Lalumiere (Tachyon, September 15, 2013) — Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola, Jonathan Lethem, Cory Doctorow, Kelly Link’s “Origin Story”, Carol Emshwiller, Gene Wolfe, GRRM, …
• 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
• Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon (Sep 17, 2013) -- "It is 2001 in New York City, in the lull between the collapse of the dot-com boom and the terrible events of September 11th. Silicon Alley is a ghost town, Web 1.0 is having adolescent angst, Google has yet to IPO, Microsoft is still considered the Evil Empire. There may not be quite as much money around as there was at the height of the tech bubble, but there’s no shortage of swindlers looking to grab a piece of what’s left."
• Kinslayer: The Lotus War, Book Two By Jay Kristoff — Scheduled Release Date: 09-17-13
• The Cloning of Joanna May: A Novel By Fay Weldon, Narrated By Lesley Parkin — Scheduled Release Date: 09-17-13 — also by Weldon on this date: Darcy’s Utopia: A Novel narrated by Susannah Tyrrell
• Skirmishes: Diving Universe, Book 4 By Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Narrated By Jennifer Van Dyck — Scheduled Release Date: 09-17-13
• Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman and Skottie Young (Harper Children’s, September 17)
• Kids: Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud (Disney-Hyperion and Listening Library, Sep 17, 2013) — “A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see-and eradicate-these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.  In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall’s legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?”
• Non-Fiction: Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety By Eric Schlosser, Narrated By Scott Brick for Penguin Audio — Length: 61 hrs and 39 mins — Scheduled Release Date: 09-17-13
• Proxima by Stephen Baxter (Gollanz, Sep 19, 2013) — “The very far future: The Galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous Galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light…The 27th century: Proxima Centauri.”
• 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) — narrated by Macleod Andrews for Audible Frontiers
• 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 — narrated by Ray Porter for Audible Frontiers
• The Scroll of Years: A Gaunt and Bone Novel by Chris Willrich (Pyr, September 24) — fantasy debut novel from the well-published in short f/sf Willrich, in his “Gaunt and Bone” sword and sorcery milieu
• The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach (HarperCollins, Sep 24, 2013)
• Love is the Law by Nick Mamatas (Dark Horse, September 24, 2013)
• The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes by George Mann (Sep 24, 2013)
• Stonecast (A Spellmason Chronicle) by Anton Strout (Ace, Sep 24, 2013) — book two after last year’s Alchemystic in this contemporary set urban fantasy concerning “spellmasons” who can construct stone gargoyles
• 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
• Harrowgate by Kate Maruyama (47North and Brilliance Audio read by Nick Podehl, Sep 24, 2013) — “Michael should be overjoyed by the birth of his son, but his wife, Sarah won’t let him touch the baby or allow anyone to visit. Greta, an intrusive, sinister doula has wormed her way into their lives, driving a wedge between Michael and his family. Every time he leaves the Harrowgate, he returns to find his beloved wife and baby altered. He feels his family slipping away and, as a malevolent force begins to creep in, Michael does what any new father would do–he fights to keep his family together.”
• Charming (Pax Arcana)  by Elliott James (September 24, 2013)
• The Plague Forge: The Dire Earth Cycle: Three by Jason M. Hough (Sep 24, 2013)
• Seven Forges by James A. Moore (Sep 24, 2013)
• Vicious by V.E. Schwab (Tor, Sep 24, 2013)
• Hard Magic: Paranormal Scene Investigations, Book 1 and Packs of Lies: Paranormal Scene Investigations, Book 2 By Laura Anne Gilman, Narrated By Romy Nordlinger — Scheduled Release Date: 09-24-13
• Soul of Fire (Book Two of The Portals) by Laura Anne Gilman (Harlequin/Luna, Sep 24, 2013)
• Collection: Jewels in the Dust by Peter Crowther (Subterranean Press, September 30)
• 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)
• Collection: In the Company of Thieves by Kage Baker (Tachyon, Oct 1, 2013)
• 1636: The Devil’s Opera (Ring of Fire)  by Eric Flint (Oct 1, 2013)
• Anthology: In Space No One Can Hear You Scream by Hank Davis (Baen, Oct 1, 2013)
• Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books, October 1)
• Teen: Blackout by Robison Wells (Harper Teen, Oct 1, 2013)
• The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield: Lost Stars, Book 2 By Jack Campbell, Narrated By Marc Vietor — Scheduled Release Date: 10-01-13
• Chimaera: Well of Echoes, Book 4 By Ian Irvine, Narrated By Grant Cartwright — Scheduled Release Date: 10-01-13
• The First Bird, Episode 1 By Greig Beck, Narrated By Sean Mangan for Bolinda Audio — Scheduled Release Date: 10-01-13
• William Shakespeare’s Star Wars By Ian Doescher — Scheduled Release Date: 10-01-13
• Pull Down the Night by Nathan Kotecki (Houghton Mifflin, October 8) — 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) — read by Michael Page for Tantor Audio
• The Diamond Deep (Ruby’s Song) by Brenda Cooper (Pyr, Oct 8, 2013)
• The Circle by Dave Eggers (Knopf, Oct 8, 2013) — a technothriller: “What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.”
• 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 — Orbit is also doing a “Making of a Cover” web series for this series
• Anthology: Welcome to the Greenhouse: New Science Fiction on Climate Change By Gordon Van Gelder (editor), Bruce Sterling, Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Alan Dean Foster, Narrated By Bob Dunsworth — Scheduled Release Date: 10-08-13
• 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
• METAtropolis: Green Space By Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, Karl Schroeder, Seanan McGuire, Tobias S. Buckell, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Ken Scholes — Series: METAtropolis, Book 3 — Scheduled Release Date: 10-15-13
• 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 Legacy: Legend of Drizzt: Legacy of the Drow, Book 1 By R. A. Salvatore, Narrated By Victor Bevine — Scheduled Release Date: 10-15-13
• Anthology: Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs edited by Mike Resnick and Robert T. Garcia (Baen, October 15) -- "Eleven new tales set in the legendary worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs."
• 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)
• The Faceless One by Mark Onspaugh (Hydra, Oct 28, 2013)
• Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone (Tor Books, October 29) — book one is in audio from Blackstone, so here’s hoping book two follows “suit”
• Dead Set: A Novel By Richard Kadrey, Narrated By Kate Rudd — Scheduled Release Date: 10-29-13 — a standalone dark fantasy from the author of the Sandman Slim series
• The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu (Angry Robot, Oct 29, 2013) — sequel to The Lives of Tao
• Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened… by Allie Brosh (Touchstone, Oct 29, 2013) — an audio edition for this 4-color illustrated book is indeed coming, read by the author for Simon & Schuster Audio
• 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)
• Datura by Leena Krohn, translated by Juha Tupasela and Anna Volmari (Cheeky Frawg, October 2013) — from the author of World Fantasy finalist Tainaron
• Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, November 1) — I know nothing about his other than the quite interesting cover…
• Collection: Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts (Tachyon, Nov 1, 2013)
• Burning Paradise  by Robert Charles Wilson (November 5, 2013)
• Starhawk (A Priscilla Hutchins Novel)  by Jack McDevitt (Ace Hardcover, November 5, 2013)
• Contagion (Toxic City) by Tim Lebbon (Pyr, Nov 5, 2013) — book #3 in the Toxic City series
• Fortune’s Pawn (Paradox Series)  by Rachel Bach (Orbit, Nov 5, 2013)
• A Dance of Blades (Shadowdance) by David Dalglish (Orbit, Nov 5, 2013)
• Twenty-First Century Science Fiction by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor, Nov 5, 2013)
• Hell Bent: A Broken Magic Novel by Devon Monk (Nov 5, 2013)
• The Royal Ranger: Ranger’s Apprentice, Book 12 By John Flanagan, Narrated By John Keating — Scheduled Release Date: 11-05-13
• Anthology: A Cosmic Christmas 2 You edited by Hank Davis (Baen, Nov 5, 2013) — “Twelve new stories of Christmas in very unusual circumstances, ranging from vampires to robots, from the hills of Appalachia to a high orbit space station, all celebrating the holiday in their own, off-beat ways.” Includes stories by (among others) Joe Haldeman, Connie Willis, and Tony Daniel
• Anthology: Space Opera edited by Rich Horton, Kage Baker, Elizabeth Bear and Jay Lake (Nov 6, 2013)
• Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest (Tor, Nov 12, 2013) — latest novel in Priest’s Boneshaker series The Clockwork Century
• 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)
• Slam by Lewis Shiner, read by Stefan Rudnicki (Blackstone Audio, November 15, 2013) — Shiner’s 1990 novel of a paroled tax evader, anarchist skateboarders, and, well, 23 cats.
• The Orphans’ Promise (Secret of Ji, Book Two) by Pierre Grimbert, translated by Matt Ross and Eric Lamb (Nov 19, 2013)
• 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
• Darkwalker: A Nicolas Lenoir Novel by E.L. Tettensor (Roc, Dec 3, 2013)
• A Dance of Mirrors (Shadowdance) by David Dalglish (Orbit, Dec 3, 2013)
• Cloak and Spider: A Shadowdance Novella by David Dalglish (Orbit, Dec 3, 2013)
• Andromeda’s Choice (Legion of the Damned)  by William C. Dietz (December 3, 2013)
• Collection: Her Husband’s Hands and Other Stories by Adam-Troy Castro (Prime Books, December 4)
• Year’s Best SF 18  edited by David G. Hartwell (December 10, 2013)
• Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner, read by Stefan Rudnicki, John Rubinstein, Janis Ian, Scott Brick, Kimberly Farr, Arthur Morey, Roxanne Hernandez Coyne, Kristoffer Tabori, Gabrielle de Cuir, and Karen Joy Fowler (Blackstone Audio, December 15, 2013) — the “definitive collection” of Shiner’s short fiction in the form of 41 stories
• The Grendel Affair: A SPI Files Novel by Lisa Shearin (Dec 31, 2013)
• The Iron Wolves by Andy Remic (Angry Robot and Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, Dec 31, 2013)

• The Queen of Dreams by Peter Hamilton (Doubleday UK, 2 Jan 2014) -- first children's book by the epic sf author Peter F. Hamilton: "Taggie and Jemima are summer holidaying on their dad's farm. They know just what to expect - a tumbledown cottage, sunshine and strawberry-picking. But then Jemima sees a white squirrel wearing glasses . . . And things become even more extraordinary when their dad is captured and whisked away to a faerie world. Magical adventures await, as the two sisters discover powers they never knew they had and a series of worlds to explore. But can Taggie and Jemima rescue their dad and defeat the evil King of Night?"
• 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)
• Fury of the Demon by Diana Rowland (Jan 7, 2014)
• Work Done for Hire  by Joe Haldeman (Ace Hardcover, January 7, 2014) — novel about an ex-sniper turned sf screenwriter turned reluctant hitman; I’ve hear Haldeman read from this novel in draft and am very much looking forward to its release
• Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh by Jay Lake (Prime Books, January 7, 2014) — “Markus Selvage has been bent by life, ground up and spit out again. In San Francisco’s darkest sexual underground, he is a perpetual innocent, looking within bodies – his own and others’ – for the lost secrets of satisfaction. But extreme body modification is only the beginning of where he will go before he’s finished…”
• Rex Regis (Imager Portfolio)  by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Jan 7, 2014)
• 1636: Seas of Fortune  by Iver Cooper (January 7, 2014)
• Black Arts: A Jane Yellowrock Novel  by Faith Hunter (Jan 7, 2014)
• Darkest Fear (Birthright) by Cate Tiernan (Jan 7, 2014)
• Watchers in the Night (Guardians of the Night) by Jenna Black (Jan 14, 2014)
• The Man Who Made Models: The Collected Short Fiction  by R.A. Lafferty (Centipede Press, January 14, 2014)
• Dawn of Swords (The Breaking World)  by David Dalglish (Jan 14, 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
• The Book of the Crowman by Joseph D’ Lacey (Jan 28, 2014)
• A Darkling Sea by James Cambias (Tor, Jan 28, 2014)
• 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)
• Like a Mighty Army (Safehold)  by David Weber (Feb 4, 2014)
• V-S Day: A Novel of Alternate History  by Allen Steele (Feb 4, 2014) — narrated by Ray Chase
• Empire of Men by David Weber and John Ringo (Feb 4, 2014)
• The Waking Engine by David Edison (Feb 11, 2014)
• The Judge of Ages (Count to a Trillion) by John C. Wright (Feb 25, 2014)
• The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison (Feb 25, 2014)
• Dreamwalker by C.S. Friedman (February 2014)
• Night Broken (A Mercy Thompson Novel)  by Patricia Briggs (Mar 4, 2014)
• Ghost Train to New Orleans (The Shambling Guides) by Mur Lafferty (Orbit, Mar 4, 2014) — sequel to The Shambling Guide to New York City
• The Tropic of Serpents: A Memoir by Lady Trent (A Natural History of Dragons) by Marie Brennan (Mar 4, 2014)
• Hope Rearmed by S.M. Stirling and David Drake (March 4, 2014)
• Blood and Iron (The Book of the Black Earth) by Jon Sprunk (Pyr, March 11)
• Resistance by Jenna Black (Mar 11, 2014)
• Working God’s Mischief (Instrumentalities of the Night)  by Glen Cook (Mar 11, 2014)
• Mentats of Dune  by Brian Herbert (March 11, 2014)
• Lockstep  by Karl Schroeder (Mar 25, 2014)
• The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher (Mar 25, 2014)
• Anthology: The Time Traveler’s Almanac by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (Tor, Mar 18, 2014)
• City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown/Broadway and Recorded Books, April 1, 2014) — “a second-world story of spies, subterfuge, and statesmanship set in a nation of dead gods.”
• The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (April 1, 2014)
• Cauldron of Ghosts (Crown of Slaves) by David Weber (April 1, 2014)
• Baltic Gambit: A Novel of the Vampire Earth by E.E. Knight (April 1, 2014)
• Shipstar  by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford (Tor, April 8, 2014)
• Transhuman  by Ben Bova (April 15, 2014)
• The City Stained Red by Sam Sykes (Gollanz UK, 17 Apr 2014) — from the author of Tome of the Undergates
• 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.”
• Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson (Tor, Spring 2014) — “Caeli-Amur: a city torn by contradiction. A city of languorous philosopher-assassins and magnificent creatures from ancient myth: minotaurs and sirens. Three Houses rule over an oppressed citizenry stirring into revolt. The ruins of Caeli-Amur’s sister city lie submerged beneath the sea nearby, while the remains of strange advanced technology lie hidden in the tunnels beneath the city itself.”
• The Furies: A Thriller  by Mark Alpert (April 22, 2014)
• Authority: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 1, 2014)
• The Sea Without a Shore by David Drake (May 6, 2014) — Lt. Leary series
• Graphic novel: All You Need Is Kill: The Graphic Novel by Nick Mamatas, Lee Ferguson, Fajar Buana, and Zack Turner, based on the novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka (VIZ Media/Haikasoru, May 6, 2014)
• 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.”
• 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 Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking, August 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King
• The Chaplain’s War by Brad Torgerson (Baen, 2014)
• Colossus by Stephen Messer (Random House Children’s Books, 2014)
• The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, 2014)
• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books, 2014) — the first of an announced trilogy of translated editions of this 400,000-copy-selling Chinese sf series
• Frostborn (Thrones & Bones #1) by Lou Anders (Random House Children’s Books, August 2014) — longtime Pyr editor Anders’ debut novel, a young reader book which “introduces Karn, who would rather be playing the board game Thrones and Bones, and Thianna, half-frost giant, half-human, who team up when they are chased by wyverns, a dead Viking sea captain, and a 1200-year-old dragon.”

Posted in Release Week | Tagged babayaga, kim stanley robinson, maddaddam, margaret atwood, mary robinette kowal, seanan mcguire, shaman, toby barlow