Release Week: Doctor Sleep, The Incrementalists, Every Boy Should Have a Man, and North American Lake Monsters

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Release Week: Doctor Sleep, The Incrementalists, Every Boy Should Have a Man, and North American Lake Monsters

Posted on 2013-09-26 at 02:28 by Sam

SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2013: Well, I warned you last week that this week would be big. Huge. The list of excellent audiobooks that fall into the “also out this week” would make for a stellar set of release week picks: V.E. Schwab’s Vicious (Tor and Brilliance Audio), James A. Moore’s Seven Forges, Jhumpa Lahiri’s recently-ABA-longlisted The Lowland, War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, Laura Anne Gilman’s Paranomal Scene Investigations, David Tallerman’s Prince Thief, Anton Strout’s Stonecast, Jason M. Hough’s The Dire Earth Cycle concludes with The Plague Forge and Emma Newman’s The Split Worlds concludes with All Is Fair, Allan Gurganus returns to the setting of his Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All with Local Souls, John Brandon’s surrealistic A Million Heavens, a new Penumbra short from Robin Sloan, not to mention Brandon Sanderson’s “first novel for teens”, the YA superhero novel Steelheart. I mean, that’s pretty much two weeks worth right there. But I’m sticking to these four picks as the must-listens in a crowded week, a varied list of themes and styles that I found the most intriguing. Two concurrent hardcover releases whose experienced and bestselling authors are both having “first novel” esque jitters, and two small press titles from earlier this year now in audio, the first a short novel from Akashic Press, and the second a Small Beer Press-published collection of powerful short fiction. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

There’s little doubt that the blockbuster of the week is Doctor Sleep, a decades-later sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining, read by Will Patton for Simon & Schuster Audio concurrent with the hardcover release from Scribner. It’s also got a wicked cover, so there’s that. “Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant ‘shining’ power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes ‘Doctor Sleep.’ Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.”

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King The Incrementalists | [Steven Brust, Skyler White]

The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White is out from Tor and Audible Frontiers, and the co-authors requested and got their audiobook dream team of Ray Porter and Mary Robinette Kowal. Brust is the bestselling author of the Vlad Taltos series, and while I have much more familiarity with Kowal as a narrator than Porter, my experience with both narrators is very good. Put it all together in a book that John Scalzi blurbs as “Secret societies, immortality, murder mysteries and Las Vegas all in one book? Shut up and take my money.” and you’ll have my attention. “The Incrementalists—a secret society of two hundred people with an unbroken lineage reaching back forty thousand years. They cheat death, share lives and memories, and communicate with one another across nations, races, and time. They have an epic history, an almost magical memory, and a very modest mission: to make the world better, just a little bit at a time. Their ongoing argument about how to do this is older than most of their individual memories. Phil, whose personality has stayed stable through more incarnations than anyone else’s, has loved Celeste—and argued with her—for most of the last four hundred years. But now Celeste, recently dead, embittered, and very unstable, has changed the rules—not incrementally, and not for the better. Now the heart of the group must gather in Las Vegas to save the Incrementalists, and maybe the world.”

Preston L. Allen’s Every Boy Should Have a Man was published earlier this year by small independent Akashic Press. Now it’s in audio, read by Michael McConnahie for Audible, and while I’m not completely sold on McConnahie’s overly-radio-announcer mainline narration, his voices in dialogue here are delightful and the story is just… bizarre and strange and fantastic. “A riveting, poignant satire of societal ills, with an added dose of fantasy, Every Boy Should Have a Man takes place in a post-human world, where creatures called oafs keep humanlike “mans” as beloved pets. One day, a poor boy oaf brings home a man, whom he hides under his bed, in the hopes his parents won’t find out. When the man is discovered, the boy admits it is not his - but the boy is no delinquent. Despite the accusations being hurled at him, he’s telling the truth when he says he found the man wandering aimlessly in the bramble. Nevertheless, he must return the man to his rightful owner. But when the heartbroken boy comes home from school one afternoon, he finds wrapped up in red ribbon a female man with a note around her neck: ‘Every boy should have a man. You’re a fine son. Love, Dad.‘”

Every Boy Should Have a Man | [Preston L. Allen] North American Lake Monsters: Stories | [Nathan Ballingrud]

Finally, a collection,  North American Lake Monsters: Stories By Nathan Ballingrud, narrated By Travis Young for Audible Inc. after being published in print/ebook earlier this year by Small Beer Press. I’ve heard Ballingrud read from his collection and am delighted to say that narrator Young captures the author’s voice and taps into the working class essence of these monstrous, lovely stories. Fair warning: “The Good Husband” may haunt you for some time after your encounter with it. “In this striking and bleak, yet luminous debut collection, Nathan Ballingrud, winner of the inaugural Shirley Jackson Award, uses the trappings of the Gothic and the uncanny to investigate a distinctly American landscape: The loneliest and darkest corners of contemporary life.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

A Million Heavens | [John Brandon] Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl | [Emily Pohl-Weary] In Concert | [Steve Rasnic Tem, Melanie Tem] Prince Thief: Tales of Easie Damasco, Book 3 | [David Tallerman] Steelheart | [Brandon Sanderson] Ajax Penumbra 1969 | [Robin Sloan]

  • Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, Sep 24, 2013) — narrated by Macleod Andrews (Sandman Slim) for Audible Frontiers: "From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of the Mistborn Trilogy, Brandon Sanderson, comes the first book in a new, action-packed thrill ride of a series - Steelheart. Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills."
  • Prince Thief: Tales of Easie Damasco, Book 3 By David Tallerman, Narrated By James Langton for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio (Sep 24) -- Langton is on again for the third installment in the self-deprecating rogue Damasco's tales of adventure and misadventure: "Once again, all hope lies with Damasco and his sticky-fingered approach to problem solving, along with his long suffering partner, the gentle giant Saltlick. But this time it's a human being that needs stealing, with his own desires and opinions, and events only grow more complicated as Damasco realises that he and the rebellious young prince have more in common that either would admit."
  • Fiction: The Lowland By Jhumpa Lahiri, Narrated By Sunil Malhotra for Random House Audio, concurrent with the print release from Knopf (Sep 24, 2013) — from the author of The Namesake and recently longlisted for the National Book Award. I'm not blown away by the pace of the narration, but Lev Grossman's review for TIME has me knowing that one way or another I'll be getting to this novel this year: "The book introduces itself to the reader as a novel about two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, growing up in Calcutta in the 1960s."
  • Teen: Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl By Emily Pohl-Weary, Narrated By Kate Rudd for Brilliance Audio -- Cory Doctorow has blurbed ("An absolutely fabulous new young adult novel…The story is fast and superbly told, and the characters are likable and believable") the latest novel from Pohl-Weary, grand-daughter of Frederik Pohl: "Eighteen-year-old rock star Sam Lee isn't like other girls. She's the super-talented bass player and songwriter for an all-girl indie band and an incurable loner. Then one night after a concert in Central Park, she's attacked by a "wild dog." Suddenly, this long-time vegetarian is craving meat - the bloodier, the better. Sam finds herself with an unbelievable secret and no one she trusts to share it."
  • A Million Heavens By John Brandon, Narrated By Fleet Cooper for Audible Inc. -- out last year from McSweeney's last year, a novel of gritty surrealism, of "an unlikely piano prodigy" who lies in a coma and the figures -- his father, a cult-like collection which forms outside the hospital, a wolf, and "above them all, a would-be angel sits captive in a holding cell of the afterlife, finishing the work he began on earth, writing the songs that could free him"
  • Collection: In Concert By Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem, Narrated By Abby Elvidge for Crossroad Press. "In Concert collects the collaborative short fiction of Melanie Tem and Steve Rasnic Tem, who have worked at the cutting edge of imaginative fiction for over a quarter century. In the twenty-one tales herein, the reader will find fear, joy, and mystery. In Concert showcases the wide range of their collaborative work." And for those frugally-minded listeners, this one's a steal through Whispersync for Voice, at $3.99 Kindle plus $1.99 Audible. Meanwhile, independent digital publisher Crossroad Press continues to put out perfectly-produced audiobooks with rich, nuanced narrations, and on a sampling this one looks to be no exception.
  • Short: Ajax Penumbra 1969 By Robin Sloan, Narrated By Ari Fliakos for Macmillan Audio -- a new digital-only short in ebook (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and audio, concurrent with the paperback release for Sloan's fantastic, wonderful, amazing 2012 debut novel Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, with Fliakos reprising his role as narrator, a role which he performed with flair and to my high enjoyment. Here we get a prequel, in which we learn how Ajax Penumbra came to San Francisco and became involved with a most peculiar bookstore...
  • 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 -- Narrated By Linda Borg for Audible Frontiers
  • All Is Fair: The Split Worlds - Book 3 by Emma Newman (Angry Robot / Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, Sep 24, 2013) -- I don't see a digital audio edition, but the physical audiobooks are showing up "in stock" for this third of three books out this year from Newman
  • The Plague Forge: The Dire Earth Cycle: Three by Jason M. Hough (Sep 24, 2013) -- read by the amazing Simon Vance for Random House Audio, it's the third novel in rapid succession from Hough set in his Dire Earth Cycle: "Hough's first novel combines the rapid-fire action and memorable characters associated with Joss Whedon’s short-lived Firefly TV series with the accessibility and scientific acumen of J. S. Corey’s ‘Expanse’ series." (Library Journal on The Darwin Elevator)
  • Seven Forges by James A. Moore (Sep 24, 2013) -- read by David de Vries for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio: "The Seven Forges are a range of impassable mountains, far to the north of the settled lands of Fellein. From time to time explorers venture up beyond the Blasted Lands in search of a way over them and the promise of legendary riches, but without success. Now Captain Merros Dulver has found a path, and encountered, at last, the half-forgotten people who dwell there. And it would appear they were expecting him."
  • Vicious by V.E. Schwab (Tor, Sep 24, 2013) -- Narrated By Noah Michael Levine for Audible Inc. -- "Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong."
  • Local Souls By Allan Gurganus, Narrated By Allan Gurganus for Audible Inc. -- "With the meteoric success of Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, Allan Gurganus placed himself among America’s most original and emotionally engaged storytellers. If his first comic novel mapped the late nineteenth-century South, Local Souls brings the twisted hilarity of Flannery O’Connor kicking into our new century. Through memorable language and bawdy humor, Gurganus returns to his mythological Falls, North Carolina, home of Widow. This first work in a decade offers three novellas mirroring today’s face-lifted South, a zone revolutionized around freer sexuality, looser family ties, and superior telecommunications, yet it celebrates those locals who have chosen to stay local. In doing so, Local Souls uncovers certain old habits - adultery, incest, obsession - still very much alive in our New South, a "Winesburg, Ohio" with high-speed Internet."
ALSO ALSO OUT THIS WEEK: The Dead Run | [Adam Mansbach]

HARPER AUDIO: The Dead Run by Adam Mansbach, read by Erik Bergmann

RECORDED BOOKS: Autumn Whispers By Yasmine Galenorn, Narrated By Cassandra Campbell

AUDIBLE INC: Devlin’s Honor By Patricia Bray, Narrated By Mirron Willis

AUDIBLE FRONTIERS: The Price of Peace: Jump Universe, Book 2 By Mike Shepherd, Narrated By Michael McConnahie

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Darkbeast Rebellion (Darkbeast, #2) Love Is the Law A Cold Season (Library Hardback)

  • Proxima by Stephen Baxter (Gollanz UK, 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
  • 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.” -- audio is now scheduled for December 10
  • Darkbeast Rebellion by Keyes, Morgan (Margaret K. McElderry, Sep 24, 2013) -- "Betrayal threatens everything Keara dreams of in this fast-paced, exciting sequel to Darkbeast. Keara, her friend Goran, and the wily old actor, Taggart, are fleeing for their lives. They have all spared their darkbeasts, the creatures that take on their darker deeds and emotions and lift their spirits. But their actions defy the law, which dictates that all citizens must kill their darkbeasts on their twelfth birthdays."
  • A Cold Season by Alison Littlewood (Jo Fletcher Books, Sep 24) -- US release for this intriguing horror novel published previously in the UK
  • 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
  • A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway (Del Rey, Sep 24, 2013) -- "Evelina Cooper, the niece of the great Sherlock Holmes, is poised to enjoy her first Season in London Society. But there’s a murderer to deal with—not to mention missing automatons, a sorcerer, and a talking mouse." First of a three-book series, to be published in successive months.
  • The Casebook of Newbury & Hobbes by George Mann (Sep 24, 2013)
  • Charming (Pax Arcana) by Elliott James (Orbit, Sep 24, 2013) -- "Urban fantasy novel, the author’s first novel and first of a series, about a cursed prince named John Charming." (via Locus Online)
  • Star Wars Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge by Martha Wells (Del Rey, Sep 24) -- "two years after the events of A New Hope, Leia encounters survivors of Alderaan who’ve responded to their loss in a very different, and much more violent, way than she has" -- looks like it only slipped one day and is now out: Razor's Edge: Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion, Book 1, by Martha Wells, Narrated By January LaVoy for Random House Audio, so look for it again somewhere in next week's listings
  • A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock (47North, Sep 24, 2013) -- coming to audio read by Susan Duerden for Brilliance Audio in December
  • Soul of Fire (Book Two of The Portals) by Laura Anne Gilman (Harlequin/Luna, Sep 24, 2013)
  • Sleepless Knights by Mark Williams (Atomic Fez Publishing, Sep 24, 2013) -- playwright and TV writer Williams' first novel, about the head butler to King Arthur
  • Teen: Untold (The Lynburn Legacy Book 2) by Sarah Rees Brennan (Random House Books for Young Readers, Sep 24, 2013)
  • Teen: The Devil's Apprentice by Jan Siegel (Rebellion, Sep 24, 2013)
COMING SOON:

 

NOVEMBER:
  • Parasite by Mira Grant (Orbit, November 1) — I know nothing about his other than the quite interesting cover…
  • Burning Paradise  by Robert Charles Wilson (Tor, 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 (Roc, 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
  • Non-Fiction: This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage By Ann Patchett, Narrated By Patchett for Harper Audio — an essay collection including the title story, which was released as a standalone speech in 2011
  • 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.
  • Collection: Beyond the Rift by Peter Watts (Tachyon, Nov 18, 2013)
  • 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.”
  • Wild Fell by Michael Rowe (ChiZine, Nov 19, 2013)
  • Apparitions: Ghosts of Old Edo by Miyuki Miyabe and translated from Japanese by Daniel Huddleston (Haikasoru, Nov 19, 2013)
  • The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen and translated from the Finnish by Lola Rogers (Pushkin Press, Nov 21, 2013) — “A highly contagious book virus, a literary society, and a Snow Queen-like disappearing author.”
  • The Arrows of Time (Orthogonal)  by Greg Egan (Gollancz UK, November 21, 2013) — book 3 after The Clockwork Rocket and The Eternal Flame — the Night Shade Books US release has moved to 2014
  • The Land Across by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Nov 26) — audiobook coming January 4, 2014 from Brilliance Audio
  • 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)
DECEMBER: NEXT YEAR:

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer Southern Reach trilogy the-girl-in-the-road-monica-byrne

  • 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 Land Across by Gene Wolfe (Tor, Nov 26) — audiobook coming January 4, 2014 from Brilliance Audio
  • 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)
  • Once In a Blue Moon by Green, Simon R. (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)
  • Half-Off Ragnarok: An Incryptid Novel by Seanan McGuire (Mar 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)
  • Anthology: The Time Traveler’s Almanac by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (Tor, Mar 18, 2014)
  • Lockstep  by Karl Schroeder (Mar 25, 2014)
  • The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher (Mar 25, 2014)
  • Anthology: KAIJU RISING (Kickstarter, March 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 6, 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.”
  • My Real Children by Jo Walton (Tor, May 2014) -- "story about one woman and the two lives that she might lead"
  • 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.”
  • Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale (Del Rey, 2014) — “His novella of a Roman invasion of ancient America, “A Clash of Eagles” in the Panverse Two anthology (edited by Dario Ciriello), won the 2010 Sidewise Award for Alternate History, and he has recently sold a trilogy of novels set in the same universe. The first book, CLASH OF EAGLES, will appear from Del Rey in 2014.”
  • Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin (Solaris, Summer 2014) — “It’s official! I’ll be writing a new urban fantasy novel for Solaris Books called “Deadly Curiosities” (from my short story universe of the same name) that will come out in summer, 2014!”
  • Echopraxia by Peter Watts (2014) -- "We are going to the Sun, rs and Ks.  Whereas the last time out we froze in the infinite Lovecraftian darkness of the Oort, now we are diving into the very heart of the solar system— and man, there’s gonna be a hot time in the ol’ town tonight."
  • The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (Knopf, 2015) — “Knopf has acquired a new novel by Paolo Bacigalupi, the science fiction writer whose 2009 book “The Windup Girl” sold 200,000 copies and was considered one of the top novels of the year. The new book, “The Water Knife,” is set in a lawless, water-starved American Southwest in the not-too-distant future.”
UNDATED:
  • When Women Were Warriors by Catherine M. Wilson, read by Janis Ian for Dog Ear Audio
  • A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar, coming from Audible
  • (Collection) North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud, coming from Audible
  • Fair Coin and Quantum Coin by E.C. Myers, coming from Audible
  • All the Worlds Against Us (Jon and Lobo) by Mark L. Van Name (Baen) — Audible Frontiers has produced the previous books in the series, under fantastic narrations by Tom Stechschulte
Posted in Release Week | Tagged brandon sanderson, doctor sleep, nathan ballingrud, stephen king, steven brust, the incrementalists