Release Week: Jim Butcher's Skin Game, Jane Lindskold's Artemis Awakening, Glen Hirshberg's Motherless Child, Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw, and Tim Pratt's Heirs of Grace

Release Week: Jim Butcher's Skin Game, Jane Lindskold's Artemis Awakening, Glen Hirshberg's Motherless Child, Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw, and Tim Pratt's Heirs of Grace

Posted on 2014-05-29 at 15:27 by Sam

MAY 21-27, 2014: Well, crap. I should have snatched up Nick Harkaway’s Tigerman before Audible (US) realized that it couldn’t sell it to me, but hopefully that’s a “not yet” and not an “ever”. So, a release week I was over-the-top excited about is taken down a notch, though with blockbuster series releases from Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files continues with Skin Game, read by James Marsters), Elizabeth Moon (Crown of Renewal in her  Paksennarion: Paladin’s Legacy series), and Ian Douglas (Dark Matter in his Star Carrier series), along with new audio releases such as Jane Lindskold’s Artemis Awakening, Glen Hirshberg’s Motherless Child, and Jo Walton’sd World Fantasy Award-winning 2003 novel Tooth and Claw (read by John Lee) to check out along with Tim Pratt’s concluded Kindle Serial Heirs of Grace, any disappointment is pretty quickly tempered. The ALSO OUT listings include three age-differentiated productions of Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon along with a pretty good haul for kids (Tesla’s Attic), teens (City of Heavenly Fire which concludes the Mortal Instruments series), and fans of thrillers (The Last Refuge, I Am Pilgrim, and The Night Heron) and Tom Robbins (his long-awaited memoir Tibetan Peach Pie) and fiction (Smith Henderson’s 1980s Montana-set Fourth of July Creek, which Jeff VanderMeer calls a “brilliant debut”). The SEEN BUT NOT HEARD listings include some good-looking books as well: Sarah Beth Durst’s “macabre foray into literary urban fantasy for adults” The Lost, a pair of highly-anticipated original anthologies (Fearful Symmetries and Reach for Infinity), and J.R.R. Tolkien’s long-unpublished translation of (and commentary on) Beowulf. Among a pretty sizable list of newly ADDED listings below: Brandon Sanderson’s Firefight in January, Warren Ellis’ Normal: A Novel in November, D. Harlan Wilson’s Primordial: An Abstraction in July, Jen McConnel’s Her Secret Inheritance in June, and (out in print/ebook earlier this year and much-bemoaned in my “seen but not heard” writeup) Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, also in June. Lastly, the big book NEWS this week comes from Orbit, which announced “the acquisition of three new novels and four original novellas from multiple Hugo Award-nominated author Mira Grant. One of the novels will be a third book in the “Parasitology” series and will conclude the trilogy, while the second novel and all four novellas will be set in the world of the “Newsflesh” series. The third novel will be a standalone.” And! The Audie Awards are tonight. Narrator Xe Sands (@xesands on Twitter) will be live-tweeting the awards as they happen starting around 7 pm, using hashtag #audies. Good luck, and enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

I’ll start with the clear blockbuster title this week, though I’m well, well behind in the series myself: Jim Butchers’s The Dresden Files continues with book 15, Skin Game, out from Roc in hardcover/ebook and read by James Marsters for Penguin Audio. Surely neither series nor narrator need too much introduction? “Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day … Because as Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to do. Usually, it’s something awful. He doesn’t know the half of it. Mab has just traded Harry’s skills to pay off one of her debts. And now he must help a group of supernatural villains—led by one of Harry’s most dreaded and despised enemies, Nicodemus Archleone—to break into the highest-security vault in town, so that they can then access the highest-security vault in the Nevernever.”

Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold is out in hardcover/ebook from Tor, a new series-starting science fiction novel with fantasy undertones from the co-author of the Star Kingdom (David Weber’s Honorverse) series: “The distant world Artemis is a pleasure planet created out of bare rock by a technologically advanced human empire that provided its richest citizens with a veritable Eden to play in. All tech was concealed and the animals (and the humans brought to live there) were bioengineered to help the guests enjoy their stay…but there was always the possibility of danger so that visitors could brag that they had “bested” the environment. The Empire was shattered in a horrific war; centuries later humanity has lost much of the advanced technology and Artemis is a fable told to children. Until young archeologist Griffin Dane finds intriguing hints that send him on a quest to find the lost world. Stranded on Artemis after crashing his ship, he encounters the Huntress Adara and her psych-linked companion, the puma Sand Shadow. Their journey with her will lead Dane to discover the planet’s secrets…and perhaps provide a key to give unimagined power back to mankind.” Narrated by Joe Barrett for Audible, this is actually the concurrent new release I’m personally most intrigued by this week, after seeing the book reviewed positively at Tor.com.

Motherless Child by Glen Hirshberg, read by Xe Sands for Dreamscape Media, comes out just a couple of weeks after the May 13 (Tor) first post-limited release (originally published by Earthling, 2012/2013) of this Southern horror set in the age of Twitter and subverting the recent trend of Vampire romances: “Bram Stoker Award–nominee Glen Hirshberg, author of the International Horror Guild Award–winning American Morons, exposes the fallacy of the Twilight-style romantic vampire while capturing the heart of every reader.” I haven’t seen this one up at either Downpour or Audible yet, but it is available through OverDrive (where you can hear a sample) and at Barnes & Noble. Horror, North Carolina, music? And Xe Sands? Yup.

Tooth and Claw By Jo Walton, Narrated By John Lee for Audible (May 23) is Walton’s 2003 standalone novel which went on to win the 2004 World Fantasy Award, read by the always-masterful John Lee: “A tale of contention over love and money - among dragons. Jo Walton burst onto the fantasy scene with The King’s Peace, acclaimed by writers as diverse as Poul Anderson, Robin Hobb, and Ken MacLeod. In 2002, she was voted the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Now Walton returns with a very different kind of fantasy story: the tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, of a son who goes to law for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father’s deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband. Except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw. Here is a world of politics and train stations, of churchmen and family retainers, of courtship and country houses… in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society’s high-and-mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby. You have never read a novel like Tooth and Claw.” (And I hope we don’t have to wait 10 years for an audiobook for her latest novel, My Real Children.)

Lastly: Heirs of Grace By Tim Pratt, Narrated By Leslie Hull for Brilliance Audio (May 22) — Pratt’s Kindle serial comes to audio: “Recent art school graduate Bekah thought she’d hit the jackpot: an unknown relative died, and she inherited a small fortune and a huge house in the mountains of North Carolina. Trey Howard, the lawyer who handled the estate, is a handsome man in his 20s and they hit it off right away - and soon become more than friends. Bekah expected a pleasant year to get her head together and have a romantic fling. Problem is, the house is full of junk…and siblings she didn’t know she had are willing to kill her for it. More important, the junk in her new house is magical, she’s surrounded by monsters, and her life seems to be in mortal peril every time she ventures into a new room. As Bekah discovers more about her mysterious benefactor and the magical world he inhabited, she’s realizes that as tough and resourceful as she is, she might just be in over her head… Heirs of Grace is a tale of family and magic, action and wonder, blending the strong heroine, cheeky humor, and dark fantasy that have become the hallmarks of Tim Pratt’s writing.”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

• Fiction: Lost for Words: A Novel By Edward St. Aubyn, Narrated By Alex Jennings (May 21)
• Kids/Teens: The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame, adapted by Chris Derochie, and narrated by Mike Tate for Cobblestone Media (May 21) -- A quite nice music/sound production of about a half hour in length: "A peaceful, poetic dragon is befriended by a book-loving boy and they spend many wonderful days together high up in the hills, until one day, when the townsfolk find out that there's a dragon on their doorstep and call in a dragonslayer to help them! The Reluctant Dragon is a classic story from the author of The Wind in the Willows, about a dragon and a knight who don't want to fight, a town that desperately wants them to, and a boy who tries to bring them all together. Adapted by Chris Derochie to be more accessible to children aged 6-12, with modern language and shorter pages but still retaining the same story as the original version." That original version? Also produced this week by Cobblestone Media, with sound and music as well, and a runtime of one hour, along with an even shorter adaptation of 11 minutes for preschool listeners
• Warrior Woman By Marion Zimmer Bradley, Narrated By Christa Lewis (May 22)
• Thriller: The Last Refuge By Craig Robertson, Narrated By Tim Gerard Reynolds (Simon & Schuster UK, May 22) — “When John Callum arrives on the wild and desolate Faroe Islands, he vows to sever all ties with his previous life. He desperately wants to make a new start, and is surprised by how quickly he is welcomed into the close-knit community. But still, the terrifying, debilitating nightmares just won’t stop. Then the solitude is shattered by an almost unheard of crime on the islands: murder.”
• Kids: The Amazing Spider-Man 2: The Junior Novelization By Marvel Press, Narrated By MacLeod Andrews (May 22) -- 2 hours
• Kids: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the Race against Time: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Book 3 By Frank Cottrell Boyce, Narrated By David Tennant (May 22) -- 4 hours
• Horror: They Hunger By Scott Nicholson, Narrated By Milton Bagby (May 23) -- an expedition into the remote Appalachians finds more than the white water rafting they were looking for
• Teen: Valhalla By Ari Bach, Narrated By Steve Carlson for Dreamspinner Press (May 23) -- "Violet MacRae is one of the aimless millions crowding northern Scotland. In the year 2330, where war is obsolete and only brilliant minds are valued, she emerges into adulthood with more brawn than brains and a propensity for violence. People dismiss her as a relic, but world peace is more fragile than they know. Branded from childhood as a useless barbarian, Violet is about to learn the world needs her exactly as she is."
• Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion series Paladin's Legacy continues with Crown of Renewal, out from Del Rey in hardcover/ebook and read by Susan Ericksen for Brilliance Audio. As I'm way back on Sheepfarmer's Daughter I've a long ways to catch up on this oft-recommended fantasy world. The most common narrator on the series is Jennifer Van Dyck (all of the original trilogy and half of the previous 4 in Paladin's Legacy), with Angela Dawe reading the most recent installment and this being Ericksen's (who has also read titles from Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Jacqueline Carey, and John Barnes) second turn as narrator, after book 2, Kings of the North. "The mysterious reappearance of magery throughout the land has been met with suspicion, fear, and violence. In the kingdom of Lyonya, Kieri, the half-elven, half-human king, struggles to balance the competing demands of his heritage while fighting a deadly threat to his rule: evil elves linked in some way to the rebirth of magic. Meanwhile, in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia, a set of ancient artifacts recovered by the former mercenary Dorrin Verrakai may hold the answer to the riddle of magery’s return. Thus Dorrin embarks on a dangerous quest to return these relics of a bygone age to their all-but-mythical place of origin. What she encounters there will change her in unimaginable ways—and spell doom or salvation for the entire world." (May 27)
• Master of Whitestorm By Janny Wurts, Narrated By Simon Prebble (May 27)
• The Immortal Circus: Final Act: Cirque des Immortels, Book 3 By A. R. Kahler, Narrated By Amy McFadden for Brilliance Audio (May 27)
• Z-Topia: Z-Boat, Book 2 By Suzanne Robb, Narrated By Kevin Stillwell for Audible (May 27)
• Dark Matter: Star Carrier: Book Five by Ian Douglas (Harper Voyager, May 27) – Narrated By Nick Sullivan
• The Pilo Family Circus By Will Elliott, Narrated By Mark Stephens for Audible (May 27)
• The Cursed: Krewe of Hunters, Book 12 By Heather Graham, Narrated By Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio (May 27)
• Teen: City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6) by Cassandra Clare (May 27, 2014) -- Narrated By Jason Dohring, Sophie Turner
• Teen: While We Run By Karen Healey, Narrated By Bernard Setaro Clark (May 27)
• Teen: Vengeance Bound By Justina Ireland, Narrated By Eve Bianco (May 27)
• Teen: Meridian: Arclight, Book 2 By Josin L. McQuein, Narrated By Tara Sands, Tristan Morris (May 27)
• Fiction: Goodnight June: A Novel By Sarah Jio, Narrated By Katherine Kellgren (May 27) -- "Goodnight Moon is an adored childhood classic, but its real origins are lost to history. In Goodnight June, Sarah Jio offers a suspenseful and heartfelt take on how the "great green room" might have come to be."
• Fiction: Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson, read by MacLeod Andrews and Jenna Lamia (Harper Audio, May 27) -- "In this shattering and iconic American novel, PEN Prize–winning writer Smith Henderson explores the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion, and anarchy, brilliantly depicting our nation’s disquieting and violent contradictions." Set in 1980s Montana, Jeff VanderMeer calls the novel a "brilliant debut". The novel was also selected for the ABA's Indies Introduce list for summer/fall 2014.
• Fiction: The Lobster Kings: A Novel By Alexi Zentner, Narrated By Cassandra Campbell (May 27)
• Fiction collection: Chase Us: Stories By Sean Ennis, Narrated By Nick Podehl for Brilliance Audio (May 27)
• Thriller: I Am Pilgrim: A Thriller By Terry Hayes, Narrated By Christopher Ragland (Simon & Schuster Audio, May 27) -- "An anonymous young woman murdered in a run-down hotel, all identifying characteristics dissolved by acid. A father publicly beheaded in the blistering heat of a Saudi Arabian public square. A notorious Syrian biotech expert found eyeless in a Damascus junkyard. Smoldering human remains on a remote mountainside in Afghanistan. A flawless plot to commit an appalling crime against humanity."
• Thriller: Night Heron By Adam Brookes, Narrated By Jason Isaacs (May 27) -- China-set 21st century thriller of secrets and extraction
• Thriller: Ghost Ship: NUMA Files, Book 12 By Clive Cussler, Graham Brown, Narrated By Scott Brick for Penguin Audio (May 27)
• Kids: Tesla's Attic: The Accelerati Trilogy, Book 1 By Neal Shusterman, Eric Elfman, Narrated By Vikas Adam for Audible (May 27) -- "After their home burns down, fourteen-year-old Nick, his younger brother, and their father move into a ramshackle Victorian house they've inherited. When Nick opens the door to his attic room, he's hit in the head by a toaster. That's just the beginning of his weird experiences with the old junk stored up there. After getting rid of the odd antiques in a garage sale, Nick befriends some local kids - Mitch, Caitlin, and Vincent - and they discover that all of the objects have extraordinary properties."
• Memoir: Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins, read by Keith Szarabajka for Harper Audio (May 27) -- "Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins delivers the long-awaited tale of his wild life and times, both at home and around the globe."
• Indie: Wizard Rising: Five Kingdoms #1 By Toby Neighbors, Narrated By Graham Halstead [9.5 hours, "In the realm of the five Kingdoms, magic is strictly controlled by a small group of powerful wizards who call themselves the Torr."]; The Vessel By Rita Kempley, Narrated By Dani Dodge [5.5 hours, "As chief neurosurgeon of the family's life-extension center, she transfers clients' memories, talents and personalities into young replacement bodies."] and Mountain Challenge By John Mierau, Narrated By Robert Rossmann [1 hour, "An old wolf nearing the end of his days climbs a mountain top, and meets an unexpected challenge. By the light of the full moon, the challenge between Wolf... and Dragon... will be decided."]

• Anthology: Sword & Laser Anthology edited by Tom Merritt and Veronica Belmont, with an foreword by Patrick Rothfuss (Sword and Laser, May 2014) -- "Twenty never-before-published short stories span the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, inviting readers of both genres to lose themselves in tales sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying, and always engrossing." With stories from (among others) Aidan Moher, Adam Callaway, and Jacob Boyd
• Fiction? The Fun We've Had by Michael J. Seidlinger (Lazy Fascist Press, May 2014) -- via the Barnes & Noble blog's May Indie Books Roundup: "A man and a woman are adrift in a never-ending sea. Did I mention they’re in a coffin? Also, we have no idea who “they” are, known only as “he” and “she.” Is it a story? A metaphor for relationships? All I know is that Seidlinger is consistently enjoyable to read, and whatever world he’s created here will be engaging, colorful, and, as the title says, most definitely fun."
• Tigerman by Nick Harkaway (William Heinemann, 22 May 2014) — US release set for July 29, and while I thought a US digital audiobook was coming concurrent with the UK release, narrated by Matt Bates for Whole Story Audio, as it turns out that audiobook is only (at least for now) available in the UK as well — “Lester Ferris, sergeant of the British Army, is a good man in need of a rest. He’s spent a lot of his life being shot at, and Afghanistan was the last stop on his road to exhaustion. He has no family, he’s nearly forty and burned out and about to be retired. The island of Mancreu is the ideal place for Lester to serve out his time. It’s a former British colony in legal limbo, soon to be destroyed because of its very special version of toxic pollution – a down-at-heel, mildly larcenous backwater. Of course, that also makes Mancreu perfect for shady business, hence the Black Fleet of illicit ships lurking in the bay: listening stations, offshore hospitals, money laundering operations, drug factories and deniable torture centres. None of which should be a problem, because Lester’s brief is to sit tight and turn a blind eye.” — an extract is available at Pornokitsch
• Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (May 22, 2014) — reviewed by the NY Times
• The Artful (Shadows of the City, Book 1) by Wilbert Stanton (Curiosity Quills, May 26, 2014) -- "New York City, 2025: Everything is changed. The city that never sleeps is now a land of death and decay. A rampant virus has taken over and the survivors have become carriers, quarantined from the rest of the world. Twist and Dodger grew up in the streets, the sewers and underground tunnels - their playground. They aren't heroes. They just like attention; and stealing meds from the rich and giving them to the poor is their golden ticket. On their latest raid, they unknowingly steal a cure that puts them square between the ailing Emperor of Manhattan and the war hungry Governor of Brooklyn and forces them on a quest into the darkest shadows of their putrefying world."
• The Lost by Sarah Beth Durst (Harlequin Mira, May 27, 2014) -- her first novel for adults: "It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassible dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she's going to have to figure out just what she's missing—and what she's running from—before she can leave. So now Lauren's on a new search for a purpose and a destiny. And maybe, just maybe, she'll be found…."
• Strange Country by Deborah Coates (Tor Books, May 27) -- "Fantasy novel, third in a series following Wide Open (2012) and Deep Down (2013), about a psychic Afghanistan vet who’s returned home to face supernatural threats in her South Dakota hometown." (description via Locus Online)
• White Heart of Justice (A Noon Onyx Novel) by Jill Archer (Ace, May 27, 2014) -- "Urban fantasy novel, third in a series following Dark Light of Day (2012) and Fiery Edge of Steel (2013), set in a post-Armageddon world in which demons are worshiped." (via Locus Online)
• Night Terrors by Tim Waggoner (Angry Robot, May 27) -- "Urban fantasy novel, first in a new series, about a team that tries to prevent your dreams and nightmares from breaking through into the living world." (description via Locus Online)
• The Given: Celestial Blues: Book Three by Vicki Pettersson (Harper Voyager, May 27, 2014) -- "Paranormal romance novel, third in a trilogy following The Taken (2012) and The Lost (2013), about former private investigator Grif Shaw, who has become an angel." (via Locus Online)
• Teen: Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn’t Fly by Stephen Graham Jones and Paul Tremblay (ChiZine, May 27, 2014) — Mary’s life is going fine. Except for being a freshman in high school. And having anxiety attacks. And her dad having no job. So, introduce one boy who can fly, kidnap the little brother she’s supposed to be babysitting, and drop a military quarantine on her town and that should make her anxiety completely disappear, right? Wrong!”
• Teen: Bad Luck Girl: The American Fairy Trilogy Book 3 by Sarah Zettel (Random House Books for Young Readers, May 27, 2014) -- "Young adult fantasy novel, third in a trilogy following Dust Girl (2012) and Golden Girl (2013), about a half-mortal, half-fae teenage girl." (via Locus Online)
• Anthology: Fearful Symmetries edited by Ellen Datlow (ChiZine, May 27, 2014) — “In addition to sixteen stories specifically solicited for the anthology, Ellen Datlow chose four stories submitted during the month-long open reading period, adding some excellent new writers to the mix. So in addition to award-winning and/or bestselling writers such as Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Ford, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Pat Cadigan, and Michael Marshall Smith, there are a few names with whom readers might not yet be familiar—yet. Writers such as Siobhan Carroll, Catherine MacLeod, and Carole Johnstone. Each writer in this book has a unique voice, and this multitude of voices has created a symphony that will continue to be appreciated for many years to come.”
• Anthology: Reach for Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris, May 27) -- "What happens when humanity reaches out into the vastness of space? The brightest names in SF contribute new orginal fiction to this amazing anothology from master editor Jonathan Strahan. Including new work by Alastair Reynolds,Greg Egan,Ian McDonald, Ken Macleod, Pat Cadigan, Karl Schroeder, Hannu Rajaniemi, Karen Lord, Adam Roberts, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Aliette de Bodard Peter Watts, and others."

• Z-Burbia 3: Estate of the Dead , Volume 3 By Jake Bible, Narrated By Andrew B. Wehrlen (May 28)
• Fantasmagoria By Rick Wayne, Narrated By Matt Thurston (May 28)
• Pride of Kings By Judith Tarr, Narrated By Ralph Lister (May 28)
• Shadow of a Dead Star: The Wonderland Cycle By Michael Shean, Narrated By James Patrick Cronin (May 28)
• Bound: The Divine, Book 4 By M. R. Forbes, Narrated By Jeff Hays (May 28)
• The Immortal Crown: Age of X, Book 2 By Richelle Mead, Narrated By Emily Shaffer (May 29)
• Fiction: The Vacationers: A Novel by Emma Straub (Riverhead, May 29) — “An irresistible, deftly observed novel about the secrets, joys, and jealousies that rise to the surface over the course of an American family’s two-week stay in Mallorca.” -- Narrated By Kristen Sieh for Penguin Audio
• Collection: Sight for Sore Eyes by Alex Bledsoe (May 29, 2014) -- a new collection of Firefly Witch stories
• The Milkman: A Freeworld Novel by Michael J. Martineck (EDGE, May 30, 2014)
• The River of Souls by Robert McCammon (Subterranean Press, May 31, 2014) — via Nathan Ballingrud, the latest installment in the Matthew Corbett series of historical thrillers: “The year is 1703. The place: the Carolina settlement of Charles Town. . Matthew Corbett, professional “problem solver,” has accepted a lucrative, if unusual, commission: escorting a beautiful woman to a fancy dress ball. What should be a pleasant assignment takes a darker turn when Matthew becomes involved in a murder investigation. A sixteen-year-old girl has been stabbed to death on the grounds of a local plantation. The suspected killer is a slave who has escaped, with two family members, into the dubious protection of a nearby swamp. Troubled by certain discrepancies and determined to see some sort of justice done, Matthew joins the hunt for the runaway slaves. He embarks on a treacherous journey up the Solstice River, also known as the River of Souls.  He discovers that something born of the swamp has joined the hunt… and is stalking the hunters with more than murder in mind. What follows is a shattering ordeal encompassing snakes, alligators, exiled savages, mythical beasts, and ordinary human treachery. The journey up the River of Souls will test the limits of Matthew’s endurance, and lead him through a nightmarish passage to a confrontation with his past, and a moment that will alter his life forever. Gripping, unsettling, and richly atmospheric, The River of Souls is a masterful historical adventure featuring the continuing exploits of a young hero the USA Character Approved Blog has called ‘the Early American James Bond.’”
• Beginning a Beginning by Danny Birt (Dark Quest Books, May 2014) -- The concluding Book Five in the Laurian Pentology: "The reopening of Pentagram, the ancient nation of mages, was bound to attract attention. Now the greatest forces in the world are gathering, preparing for battle -- humans and elves, dwarves and vampires, gods and demigods, assassins and healers, mages split between both sides -- none of whom will hold back, for the result of their battle will be no less than the ultimate fate of their world."
• Black Gum Godless Heathen by J David Osborne (Broken River Books, May 2014) — sequel to Low Down Death Right Easy
• Sword of the North (The Grim Company, Book 2) by Luke Scull (Roc Hardcover, June 1) — “In The Grim Company, Luke Scull introduced a formidable and forbidding band of anti-heroes battling against ruthless Magelords and monstrous terrors. The adventure continues as the company—now broken—face new dangers on personal quests….”
• The Girls at the Kingfisher Club: A Novel by Genevieve Valentine (Atria and Dreamscape Media, Jun 3, 2014) — “From award-winning author Genevieve Valentine, a “gorgeous and bewitching” (Scott Westerfeld) reimagining of the fairytale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses as flappers during the Roaring Twenties in Manhattan.”
• ADDED: Justice (The Tainted Realm) by Ian Irvine (Orbit, Jun 3, 2014)
• Replay By Marc Levy, Narrated by Sean Runnette (Jun 3)
• Veil of the Deserters (Bloodsounder’s Arc #2) by Jeff Salyards (Night Shade Books, June 3, 2014)
• Ruin and Rising (The Grisha, #3) by Leigh Bardugo (Jun 3, 2014)
• Prince of Fools (The Red Queen’s War, #1) by Mark Lawrence (Ace, June 3, 2014)
• Mr. Mercedes: A Novel by King, Stephen (Scribner, Jun 3, 2014)
• Blood Red (Elemental Masters) by Lackey, Mercedes (Jun 3, 2014) – Narrated By Tamara Marston
• The Dark Between the Stars: The Saga of Shadows, Book One By Kevin J. Anderson, Narrated By Mark Boyett (Jun 3)
• The Herald: Forgotten Realms: The Sundering, Book VI By Ed Greenwood, Narrated By John Pruden (Jun 3)
• The Merchant Emperor (The Symphony of Ages) by Elizabeth Haydon (Jun 3, 2014)
• On Her Watch (Don’t Tell) by Rie Warren (Jun 3, 2014) — “The year is 2070 and all hell has broken lose. The rebellion has started and the government is trying desperately to regain control of the territories formerly known as the United States.”
• ADDED: The Science of Discworld: A Novel By Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, Jack Cohen, Narrated By Michael Fenton Stevens, Stephen Briggs (Jun 3)
• Non-Fiction: Wild Connection: What Animal Courtship and Mating Tells Us about Human Relationships by Jennifer L. Verdolin (Prometheus Books, Jun 3) — “A specialist in animal behavior compares the courtship rituals and mating behaviors of animals to their human equivalents, revealing the many and often surprising ways we are both similar to and different from other species.”
• Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente (Dreamscape Media, Jun 3) — Valente’s Hugo-nominated January 2013 novella from Subterranean Press gets an audio edition: “A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents – a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother’s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine’s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength.”
• Psy-Changeling Series # 13, Shield of Winter By Nalini Singh, Narrated By Angela Dawe (June 3)
• NEWLY ADDED: 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon (Jun 3)
• NEWLY ADDED: Night Shifters by Sarah A. Hoyt (Baen, Jun 3) -- "There are those living secretly among us who have the power to change their physical form from that of a human to an animal, even animals thought to be mythical, such as dragons. Throughout out the ages, these shape shifters have come together to protect themselves from humans—and other shape shifters. One of those places they’ve come together is the town of Goldport, Colorado."
• NEWLY ADDED: Short: Everybody's Baby: A Novella by Lydia Netzer (Macmillan, Jun 3, 2014)
• Blood Will Follow by Snorri Kristjansson (Jo Fletcher Books, Jun 5) — follow-on to Swords of Good Men
• The Truth of Valour: A Confederation Novel by Tanya Huff (Titan, June 6)
• California Bones by Greg van Eekhout (Tor, Jun 10, 2014)
• ADDED: The Goblin Emperor By Katherine Addison, Narrated By Kyle McCarley (Jun 10) -- out earlier in the year from Tor
• Koko Takes a Holiday by Shea, Kieran (Jun 10, 2014) – narrated By Hillary Huber
• The Leopard by K.V. Johansen (Pyr, June 10, 2014) — “Part one of a two-book epic fantasy, set in a world as richly drawn as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, but with Mideastern and Eastern flavors.” (via The BiblioSanctum)
• NEWLY ADDED: Monster's Chef: A Novel by Jervey Tervalon (Amistad, Jun 10, 2014) -- "A former chef, fresh out of rehab, takes a job cooking for a music superstar named Monster — but the Monster's lair turns out to have dark secrets hidden inside." (via the LA Times Summer Reading Guide)
• Shield and Crocus By Michael R. Underwood, Narrated By Luke Daniels (Jun 10)
• Memory of Water: A Novel by Emmi Itäranta (Harper Voyager, Jun 10, 2014) — “An amazing, award-winning speculative fiction debut novel by a major new talent, in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin. Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village.”
• The Girl with All the Gifts by M.J. Carey (Orbit, June 10, 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 – narrated by Finty Williams
• Written in My Own Heart’s Blood: A Novel (Outlander) by Gabaldon, Diana (June 10, 2014)
• The Madonna and the Starship by James Morrow (Tachyon, June 10) — “In this satirical novel set in the 1950s, a group of skeptical alien crustaceans invade NBC studios, threatening to vaporize millions of “irrational” fans of a religious TV show. It’s up to the Bill Nye-esque science TV personality “Uncle Wonder” to write a script that’s so rationally absurd that the aliens will be deterred in their deadly mission.” (via io9.com)
• Earth Awakens: The First Formic War, Book 3 By Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston, Narrated By Stefan Rudnicki for Macmillan Audio (June 10)
• On the Steel Breeze: Poseidon’s Children, Book 2 By Alastair Reynolds, Narrated By Adjoa Andoh for Recorded Books (June 12)
• ADDED: Her Secret Inheritance By Jen McConnel, Narrated By Carolyn Bonnyman for Audible (Jun 12) -- 3.5 hours -- "Five years after the trip to Scotland that changed her life, Lou is back in the misty, magical country. But this time, she’s not on vacation. When Brian, her old Highland fling, turns up at the scene of some depressing family business, tension mounts between the former lovers. But dealing with Brian is only part of the problem; something wicked is stirring in Scotland. Lou must use all her strength to handle the increasingly desperate situation, but will she be strong enough to battle both a vengeful ghost and her heart? Lou may have thought that she was finished with the witch Isobel Key, but some secrets can’t stay buried forever."
• NEWLY ADDED: Kids: Dreamwood by Heather Mackey (Putnam Juvenile, Jun 12, 2014) -- "When 12-year-old Lucy's scientist father goes missing, she embarks on a supernatural ecological adventure through a fantastical version of the Pacific Northwest." (via the LA Times Summer Reading Guide)
• NEWLY ADDED: Kids: The Glass Sentence (The Mapmakers Trilogy) by S. E. Grove (Viking Children's, Jun 12, 2014)
• We Leave Together (Dogsland #3) by J.M. McDermott (Word Horde, June 15, 2014) — the eagerly-awaited conclusion to McDermott’s dark fantasy Dogsland trilogy (Never Knew Another and When We Were Executioners)
• Head Full of Mountains by Brent Hayward (ChiZine, Jun 15, 2014) — “When Crospinal’s ailing father dies, he is left utterly alone in the pen, surrounded by encroaching darkness. The machines that tended to him as a child have long ago vanished, and the apparitions that kept Crospinal company are now silenced. Struggling with his congenital issues, outfitted in a threadbare uniform, he has little choice but to leave what was once his home, soon discovering that nothing in the outside world is how he had been told it would be. In his quest for meaning and understanding, and the contact of another, Crospinal learns truths about himself, about his father, and about the last bastion of humanity, trapped with him at the end of time.”
• Cibola Burn (The Expanse) by Corey, James S. A. (Jun 17, 2014) — narrated by Erik Davies
• Shattered: The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne (Jun 17, 2014)
• Half-Off Ragnarok: InCryptid, Book 3 By Seanan McGuire, Narrated By Ray Porter, Emily Bauer (Jun 17)
• ADDED: Three Souls: A Novel By Janie Chang, Narrated By Emily Woo Zeller for Harper Audio (Jun 17) — published by William Morrow in February after its initial publication in the UK in 2013: “We have three souls, or so I’d been told. But only in death could I confirm this…. So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls – stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun - who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.”
• Teen: Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolamore (Disney Hyperion, Jun 17, 2014)
• The Long Mars: A Novel (Long Earth) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Jun 17, 2014) — had been called “The Long Childhood” but new title looks confirmed
• The Quick: A Novel by Lauren Owen (Random House, Jun 17, 2014) — “An astonishing debut, a novel of epic scope and suspense that conjures up all the magic and menace of Victorian London”
• A Better World (The Brilliance Saga) by Sakey, Marcus (Jun 17, 2014)
• Spell or High Water (Magic 2.0, Book 2) by Scott Meyer, read by Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio (Jun 17, 2014) — sequel to the fantastically funny Off to Be the Wizard
• Chasers of the Wind by Alexey Pehov (Tor, June 17)
• Child of a Hidden Sea by A.M. Dellamonica (Tor, June 24) — “One minute, twenty-four-year-old Sophie Hansa is in a San Francisco alley trying to save the life of the aunt she has never known. The next, she finds herself flung into the warm and salty waters of an unfamiliar world. Glowing moths fall to the waves around her, and the sleek bodies of unseen fish glide against her submerged ankles. The world is Stormwrack, a series of island nations with a variety of cultures and economies—and a language different from any Sophie has heard.”
• Alien Shores: A Fenris Novel, Book 2 By Vaughn Heppner, Narrated By Jeff Cummings (Jun 24)
• Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler (Open Road Media, June 24) – “Two never-before-published stories from the archives of one of science fiction’s all-time masters. The novella “A Necessary Being” showcases Octavia E. Butler’s ability to create alien yet fully believable “others.” Tahneh’s father was a Hao, one of a dwindling race whose leadership abilities render them so valuable that their members are captured and forced to govern. When her father dies, Tahneh steps into his place, both chief and prisoner, and for twenty years has ruled without ever meeting another of her kind. She bears her loneliness privately until the day that a Hao youth is spotted wandering into her territory. As her warriors sharpen their weapons, Tahneh must choose between imprisoning the newcomer—and living the rest of her life alone. The second story in this volume, “Childminder,” was commissioned by Harlan Ellison for his legendary (and never-published) anthology The Last Dangerous VisionsTM. A disaffected telepath connects with a young girl in a desperate attempt to help her harness her growing powers. But in the richly evocative fiction of Octavia E. Butler, mentorship is a rocky path, and every lesson comes at a price.”
• Baptism of Fire (The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit, June 24)
• Vicky Peterwald: Target by Mike Shepherd (Ace, June 24) -- Narrated By Dina Pearlman
• Deadly Curiosities by Gail Z. Martin (Solaris, June 24, 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!”
• The Blasted Lands (Seven Forges, Book 2) by James A. Moore (Osprey, June 24, 2014) — “The Empire of Fellein is in mourning. The Emperor is dead, and the armies of the empire have grown soft. Merros Dulver, their newly-appointed – and somewhat reluctant – commander, has been tasked with preparing them to fight the most savage enemy the world has yet seen. Meanwhile, a perpetual storm ravages the Blasted Lands, and a new threat is about to arise – the Broken are coming, and with them only Death.”
• The Silkworm by J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith (June 24) — “The Cuckoo’s Calling is finally getting a sequel! According to the publisher, Robert Galbraith (the pseudonym used by J.K. Rowling) will be releasing the next novel in the Cormoran Strike mystery series on June 24th. The description released by the publisher gives a summary of the newest mystery.”
• Thorn Jack: A Night and Nothing Novel (Night and Nothing Novels) by Harbour, Katherine (Jun 24, 2014) — read by Kate Rudd for Brilliance Audio
• In the End (In the After) by Demitria Lunetta (Jun 24, 2014)
• Target: Vicky Peterwald, Book 1 By Mike Shepherd, Narrated By Dina Pearlman (Jun 24)
• Reckoning, Happily Never After, and Devil to Pay By Jeaniene Frost, Narrated By Tavia Gilbert (Jun 24)
• Unbound (A Veiled Worlds Novel) by Jo Anderton (FableCroft, June 2014) — via aninterview with Lawrence M. Schoen for his “Eating Authors” series: “the first two volumes, Debris and Suited are out there waiting for you to scoop them up.”
• Anthology: Searchers After Horror edited by S.T. Joshi (Fedogan and Bremer, June 2014) — “21 “New Tales of the Weird and Fantastic” selected by noted authority S.T. Joshi, nearly all to be published here for the very first time … Fine weird stories by Caitlin Kiernan, Donald Tyson, Ramsey Campbell, W.H. Pugmire, …”

JULY 2014:

• All Those Vanished Engines by Paul Park (Tor, Jul 1, 2014)
• The Rhesus Chart (A Laundry Files Novel) by Charles Stross (Orbit, Jul 1, 2014)
• Tower Lord (A Raven’s Shadow Novel) by Anthony Ryan (Ace, Jul 1, 2014)
• The Shadow Throne: Book Two of the Shadow Campaigns by Django Wexler (Jul 1, 2014)
• Shattering the Ley by Palmatier, Joshua (DAW Hardcover, Jul 1, 2014)
• Unwept: Book One of The Nightbirds by Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman (Jul 1, 2014)
• Hurricane Fever by Tobias S. Buckell (Tor, July 1) — “Prudence “Roo” Jones never thought he’d have a family to look after—until suddenly he found himself taking care of his orphaned teenage nephew. Roo, a former Caribbean Intelligence operative, spends his downtime on his catamaran dodging the punishing hurricanes that are the new norm in the Caribbean. Roo enjoys the simple calm of his new life—until an unexpected package from a murdered fellow spy shows up. Suddenly Roo is thrown into the center of the biggest storm of all.”
• ADDED: Artful: A Novel By Peter David, Narrated By James Langton (Jul 1)
• How to Tell Toledo from the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer, read by Joshilynn Jackson (St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio, July 1) — Netzer’s follow-on to her brilliant 2012 novel Shine Shine Shine, reunited with the same fine narrator
• The City By Dean Koontz, Narrated By Korey Jackson for Recorded Books (July 1)
• Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell (Jo Fletcher Books, July 1) — “In the first of a new fantasy series by Sebastien de Castell, a disgraced swordsman struggles to redeem himself by protecting a young girl caught in the web of a royal conspiracy. Falcio is the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding King’s Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were, until they stood aside while the Dukes took the kingdom, and impaled their king’s head on a spike” — UK release was March 6th
• The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones (Mulholland Books, July 1) — “A family is hunted by a centuries-old monster: a man with a relentless obsession who can take on any identity. The String Diaries opens with Hannah frantically driving through the night–her daughter asleep in the back, her husband bleeding out in the seat beside her. In the trunk of the car rests a cache of diaries dating back 200 years, tied and retied with strings through generations. The diaries carry the rules for survival that have been handed down from mother to daughter since the 19th century. But how can Hannah escape an enemy with the ability to look and sound like the people she loves?”
• William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return By Ian Doescher, Narrated By Marc Thompson, Jonathan Davis, Daniel Davis, Jeff Gurner, January Lavoy, and Ian Doescher (Jul 1)
• How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back By Diana Rowland, Narrated By Allison McLemore (Jul 1)
• Monster Hunter Nemesis By Larry Correia, Narrated by Oliver Wyman (Jul 1)
• NEWLY ADDED: Ghosts of Time by Steve White (Baen, Jul 1)
• NEWLY ADDED: The Great Glass Sea by Josh Weil (Grove Press, Jul 2, 2014) -- "In an alternate near future, space mirrors make sure daylight never ends for a glass-encased farming town in Russia. After an encounter with the town's oligarch, two cousins whose paths have diverged become unwilling rivals." (via the LA Times Summer Reading Guide)
• The Child Eater by Rachel Pollack (Jo Fletcher Books, July 3) — “On Earth, the Wisdom family has always striven to be more normal than normal. But Simon Wisdom, the youngest child, is far from normal: he can see the souls of the dead. And now the ghosts of children are begging him to help them, as they face something worse than death. The only problem is, he doesn’t know how. In a far-away land of magic and legends, Matyas has dragged himself up from the gutter and inveigled his way into the Wizards’ college. In time, he will become more powerful than all of them – but will his quest blind him to the needs of others? For Matyas can also hear the children crying. But neither can save the children alone, for the child eater is preying on two worlds…”
• ADDED: Primordial: An Abstraction by D. Harlan Wilson (Anti-Oedipus Press, July 4) -- "A nameless professor’s methods of teaching and scholarship become toxic; he is sent back to college to redo his Ph.D. and redeem his authority. This is only the beginning of terror. Life at the university isn’t what it used to be. Confronted by absurdity, redundancy, and pornogrpahy at every turn, the professor must struggle to follow the rules and be a good student even as he terrorizes the roommates, faculty, staff and administrators that threaten to undermine his rancorous will to power. Narrated in D. Harlan Wilson’s token “Hörnblower prose,” Primordial is an exercise in contemporary idiocy that rakes academia over the coals while plumbing the uncanny obscurities of existence and identity."
• Half a King by Joe Abercrombie (Del Rey, July 8, 2014) — “A classic coming-of-age tale, set in a brilliantly imagined alternative historical world reminiscent of the Dark Ages with Viking overtones, the book tells the story of Yarvi, youngest son of a warlike king. Born with a crippled hand, he can never live up to his father’s expectations of what a real man should be and his destiny is not the throne but the Ministry, not the sword and shield but the book and the soft word spoken.”
• Haxan by Kenneth Mark Hoover (ChiZine, July 8) — “Thermopylae. Masada. Agincourt. And now, Haxan, New Mexico Territory, circa 1874. Through a sea of time and dust, in places that might never be, or can’t become until something is set right, there are people destined to travel. Forever. Marshal John T. Marwood is one of these men. Taken from a place he called home, he is sent to fight an eternal war. It never ends, because the storm itself, this unending conflict, makes the world we know a reality. Along with all the other worlds waiting to be born. Or were born, but died like a guttering candle in eternal night . . . Haxan is the first in a series of novels. “Lonesome Dove meets The Punisher . . . real, gritty, violent, and blatantly uncompromising.””
• The Queen of the Tearling: A Novel By Erika Johansen, Narrated By Katherine Kellgren for Harper Audio (Harper, July 8) — “Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler – and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her. On her 19th birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa.”
• The High Druid’s Blade: The Defenders of Shannara by Terry Brooks, narrated by Simon Vance (Del Rey, July 8) – postponed from its original March release date; the second book, The Darkling Child, will publish in August 2015
• Resistance by Samit Basu (Titan, Jul 8, 2014) — follow-on to Turbulence
• A Plunder of Souls (The Thieftaker Chronicles) by D. B. Jackson (Jul 8, 2014)
• The Return of the Discontinued Man (A Burton & Swinburne Adventure) by Mark Hodder (Jul 8, 2014) -- Narrated By Gerard Doyle (Jul 15)
• The Path to Power (The Tarnished Crown Series) by Miller, Karen (Jul 8, 2014)
• ADDED: Out of the Black: Odyssey One, Book 4 By Evan Currie, Narrated By David deVries (Jul 8)
• California: A Novel by Edan Lepucki (Little, Brown and Company, Jul 8, 2014) — “The world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they’ve left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working side-by-side to make their days tolerable despite the isolation and hardships they face. Consumed by fear of the future and mourning for a past they can’t reclaim, they seek comfort and solace in one other. But the tentative existence they’ve built for themselves is thrown into doubt when Frida finds out she’s pregnant.”
• Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen (Thomas Dunne Books, July 8) – ”Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It’s my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy.”
• Pathfinder Tales: Skinwalkers by Wendy W. Wager (Paizo, July 8) — a Pathfinder Tales novel from one of the “Inkpunks” — “As a young woman, Jendara left the cold northern isles of the Ironbound Archipelago to find her fortune. Now, many years later, she’s forsaken her buccaneer ways and returned home in search of a simpler life, where she can raise her young son, Kran, in peace. When a strange clan of shapeshifting raiders pillages her home, however, there’s no choice for Jendara but to take up her axes once again to help the islanders defend all that they hold dear.”
• Echo Lake: A Novel by Letitia Trent (Dark House Press, July 8) — the first book from Dark House Press (edited by Richard Thomas): “Thirty-something Emily Collins inherits her recently murdered aunt’s house, deciding to move to Heartshorne, Oklahoma, to claim it and confront her family’s dark past after her dead mother begins speaking to her in dreams, propelling this gothic, neo-noir thriller toward terrifying revelations of murderous small-town justice when a horrible community secret is revealed through the supernatural pull of Echo Lake.“
• Uncaged (The Singular Menace, 1) by John Sandford and Michele Cook (Jul 8, 2014)
• NEWLY ADDED:  Fiction: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday, Jul 8, 2014) -- "A homeless teen wanders through New England in the aftermath of a nuclear plant meltdown that may have been triggered by her alcoholic father." (via the LA Times Summer Reading Guide)
• Short: The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains By Neil Gaiman, Narrated By Neil Gaiman (Jul 8) — Gaiman’s long short story from the Stories anthology gets a new standalone edition
• Land of Love and Drowning: A Novel by Tiphanie Yanique (Riverhead, July 10) — “In the early 1900s, the Virgin Islands are transferred from Danish to American rule, and an important ship sinks into the Caribbean Sea. Orphaned by the shipwreck are two sisters and their half brother, now faced with an uncertain identity and future. Each of them is unusually beautiful, and each is in possession of a particular magic that will either sink or save them.”
• Robogenesis: A Novel by Daniel H. Wilson (Doubleday and Random House Audio, July 10) — “The stunningly creative, epic sequel to Wilson’s blockbuster thriller and New York Timesbestseller Robopocalypse. ‘The machine is still out there. Still alive.’”
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Sweterlitsch, Thomas (Jul 10, 2014) — “A decade has passed since the city of Pittsburgh was reduced to ash. While the rest of the world has moved on, losing itself in the noise of a media-glutted future, survivor John Dominic Blaxton remains obsessed with the past. Grieving for his wife and unborn child who perished in the blast, Dominic relives his lost life by immersing in the Archive—a fully interactive digital reconstruction of Pittsburgh, accessible to anyone who wants to visit the places they remember and the people they loved. Dominic investigates deaths recorded in the Archive to help close cases long since grown cold, but when he discovers glitches in the code surrounding a crime scene—the body of a beautiful woman abandoned in a muddy park that he’s convinced someone tried to delete from the Archive—his cycle of grief is shattered.”
• World of Trouble: The Last Policeman, Book 3 by Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books, July 15, 2014) — the third and concluding book in Winters’ Edgar Award winning and Philip K. Dick Award nominated Last Policeman trilogy
• The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (Tor, Jul 15, 2014) — Follow-on to The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince: “With his infectious love of storytelling in all its forms, his rich characterization and his unrivaled grasp of thrillingly bizarre cutting-edge science, Hannu Rajaniemi swiftly set a new benchmark for SF in the 21st century. Now, with his third novel, he completes the tale of the many lives, and minds, of gentleman rogue Jean de Flambeur.”
• Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone (Tor, Jul 15, 2014) — the third in Gladstone’s fantastic secondary world fantasy The Craft Sequence series after Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise; a sample is available at Tor.com
• Anthology: Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters By Larry Correia, Peter Clines, Timothy W Long, Howard Andrew Jones, Peter Rawlik, James Swallow, C. L. Werner, James Maxey, and more, Narrated By To Be Announced (Jul 15)
• The Hunter from the Woods and The Wolf’s Hour By Robert McCammon, Narrated By Simon Prebble (Jul 15)
• The Book of Life (All Souls Trilogy, #3) by Deborah Harkness (July 15, 2014)
• The Outsorcerer’s Apprentice by Holt, Tom (Orbit, Jul 15, 2014)
• The Scorched Earth by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey, July 15, 2014) — sequel to 2013 novel Children of Fire
• Graphic Novel: The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew (Jul 15, 2014)
• Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (Gollancz, 17 Jul 2014) — the fifth book in the Peter Grant series, with a sixth on the way next year, and contracted for books 7 and 8 — US release is from DAW on Oct 7
• The Seventh Miss Hatfield by Anna Caltabiano (Gollancz, July 21) — debut novel from 17-year-old author Caltabiano which ”follows Rebecca, a young American unhappy with her life.  When her mysterious neighbour Miss Hatfield invites her in, Rebecca isn’t entirely sure why she says yes. A short while later, Rebecca becomes immersed in her neighbour’s peculiar world – not only does she discover that Miss Hatfield is immortal, but that she has century-spanning plans, which will soon involve Rebecca.”
• Extraction by Stephanie Diaz (Jul 22, 2014)
• ADDED: Valor (The Faithful and the Fallen) by John Gwynne (Orbit, Jul 22, 2014)
• Kids: The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy (Jul 22, 2014)
• Tigerman by Nick Harkaway (July 29) -- US release, published in the UK on May 22 by William Heinemann and (read by Matt Bates for) Whole Story Audio — “Lester Ferris, sergeant of the British Army, is a good man in need of a rest. He’s spent a lot of his life being shot at, and Afghanistan was the last stop on his road to exhaustion. He has no family, he’s nearly forty and burned out and about to be retired. The island of Mancreu is the ideal place for Lester to serve out his time. It’s a former British colony in legal limbo, soon to be destroyed because of its very special version of toxic pollution – a down-at-heel, mildly larcenous backwater. Of course, that also makes Mancreu perfect for shady business, hence the Black Fleet of illicit ships lurking in the bay: listening stations, offshore hospitals, money laundering operations, drug factories and deniable torture centres. None of which should be a problem, because Lester’s brief is to sit tight and turn a blind eye.” — an extract is available at Pornokitsch
• The Buried Life by Patel, Carrie (Angry Robot, Jul 29, 2014)
• Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels) by Ilona Andrews (Jul 29, 2014)
• Teen: The Young World by Weitz, Chris (Jul 29, 2014)
• Hardship (Theirs Not to Reason Why) by Jean Johnson (Ace, July 29)
• Cast in Flame by Michelle Sagara (Harlequin MIRA, July 29)
• Bound (Alex Caine, Book 1) by Alan Baxter (HarperVoyager Australia, July 2014) — first in a trilogy of “modern grim dark fantasy thrillers”
• Anthology: War Stories edited by Jaym Gates and Andrew Liptak (Apex Books, July/August 2014) — initially funded by Kickstarter, an original anthology of military sf with stories from (among others) Joe Haldeman, Ken Liu, Linda Nagata, Maurice Broaddus, Jay Posey, Yoon Ha Lee, T.C. McCarthy, and Karin Lowachee [full table of contents]

AUGUST 2014:

• The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman (Viking Adult, August 5, 2014) — book three after The Magicians and The Magician King – “The stunning conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy. Quentin Coldwater has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical land of his childhood dreams. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Along with Plum, a brilliant young undergraduate with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. But all roads lead back to Fillory, and his new life takes him to old haunts, like Antarctica, and to buried secrets and old friends he thought were lost forever. He uncovers the key to a sorcery masterwork, a spell that could create magical utopia, a new Fillory—but casting it will set in motion a chain of events that will bring Earth and Fillory crashing together. To save them he will have to risk sacrificing everything. The Magician’s Land is an intricate thriller, a fantastical epic, and an epic of love and redemption that brings the Magicians trilogy to a magnificent conclusion, confirming it as one of the great achievements in modern fantasy. It’s the story of a boy becoming a man, an apprentice becoming a master, and a broken land finally becoming whole.”
• The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit by Joyce, Graham (Aug 5, 2014)
• Broken Souls by Stephen Blackmoore (DAW, Aug 5)
• Assail: A Novel of the Malazan Empire by Ian C. Esslemont (Aug 5, 2014)
• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer (Mulholland Books, August 5) — “William Gibson meets Chuck Palahniuk in an ambitious novel of international techno conspiracy and dark comedy. The Committee, an international cabal of techno-industrialists and media barons, is on the verge of privatizing all information. Dear Diary, an idealistic online Underground, stands in the way of that takeover, using radical politics, classic spycraft, and technology that makes Big Data look like dial-up. Into this pitched and secret battle tumbles an unlikely trio: Leila Majnoun, a disenchanted non-profiteer; Leo Crane, a bipolar trustafarian; and Mark Devreaux, a wracked and fraudulent self-betterment guru.”
• Revenant by Kat Richardson (August 5) — “The ninth installment of Richardson’s Greywalker saga, featuring private investigator Harper Blaine, should be a blockbuster of a novel. I absolutely loved this series, which blends hardboiled mystery with supernatural fiction and is comparable to the work of classic writers including Raymond Chandler and Algernon Blackwood. With the conclusion of this series looming, I’m curious to see where Richardson takes her iconic protagonist.” (via Paul Goat Allen’s “The Most Anticipated Sci-fi and Fantasy Releases of 2014″ for Barnes & Noble)
• The Widow’s House (The Dagger and the Coin) by Abraham, Daniel (Aug 5, 2014)
• The House of the Four Winds (Dragon Prophecy) by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory (Aug 5, 2014)
• The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy: A Novel by Jacopo della Quercia (St. Martin’s Griffin, Aug 5, 2014)
• Dark Lightning by John Varley (Ace, Aug 5) — “On a voyage to New Earth, the starship Rolling Thunder is powered by an energy no one understands, except for its eccentric inventor Jubal Broussard. Like many of the ship’s inhabitants, Jubal rests in a state of suspended animation for years at a time, asleep yet never aging.”
• Fish Tails: A Novel by Sheri S. Tepper (Harper Voyager, Aug 5, 2014)
• Lair of Dreams: A Diviners Novel by Bray, Libba (Aug 5, 2014)
• NEWLY ADDED: Islands of Rage and Hope (Black Tide Rising) by John Ringo (Baen, Aug 5, 2014)
• Kids: Frostborn (Thrones & Bones #1) by Lou Anders (Random House Children’s Books, August 5, 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.” — narrated by Fabio Tassone for Listening Library — a prologue plus two chapter sampler are online, as is a positive review from Kirkus in which we learn of an important message: “always stand downwind from a troll”
• Teen: Opposition (A Lux Novel) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Aug 5, 2014)
• Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage: A novel by Haruki Murakami and translated by Philip Gabriel (Knopf, Aug 12, 2014) — Published in Japan last year: “Tsukuru Tazaki’s life was irreparably changed when his relationships with his high school best friends became severed during Tsukuru’s college days. Now at 35, Tsukuru’s girlfriend Sara suggested to Tsukuru to go and talk to these high school friends in person to mend the relationships, and to discover the real reason behind the friends’ decision to reject Tsukuru. Tsukuru visited his friends in Nagoya and Finland one by one, and uncovers the real reason as to why their relations were broken off.”
• We Are All Completely Fine by Darryl Gregory (Tachyon, Aug 12) — “Harrison is the Monster Detective, a storybook hero. Now he’s in his mid-thirties and spends most of his time not sleeping. Stan became a minor celebrity after being partially eaten by cannibals. Barbara is haunted by the messages carved upon her bones. Greta may or may not be a mass-murdering arsonist. And for some reason, Martin never takes off his sunglasses.  Unsurprisingly, no one believes their horrific tales until they are sought out by psychotherapist Dr. Jan Sayer. What happens when these likely-insane outcasts join a support group? Together they must discover which monsters they face are within and which are lurking in plain sight.”
• Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor, Aug 12, 2014)
• ADDED: Cursed Moon (Prospero’s War) by Jaye Wells (Orbit, Aug 12, 2014)
• ADDED: Fortune’s Favors (Nyx Fortuna) by Marlene Perez (Orbit, Aug 12, 2014)
• The Ultra Thin Man by Patrick Swenson (Tor, Aug 12) — “In the twenty-second century, a future in which mortaline wire controls the weather on the settled planets and entire refugee camps drowse in drug-induced slumber, no one—alive or dead, human or alien—is quite what they seem. When terrorists manage to crash Coral, the moon, into its home planet of Ribon, forcing evacuation, it’s up to Dave Crowell and Alan Brindos, contract detectives for the Network Intelligence Organization, to solve a case of interplanetary consequences. Crowell’ and Brindos’s investigation plunges them neck-deep into a conspiracy much more dangerous than anything they could have imagined.”
• Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (Aug 12, 2014)
• Hellhole Inferno By Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Narrated by Scott Brick (Aug 12)
• Your Face in Mine: A Novel by Jess Row (Riverhead, Aug 14) — “An award-winning writer delivers a poignant and provocative novel of identity, race and the search for belonging in the age of globalization.”
• We Will All Go Down Together by Gemma Files (Aug 15) — “A mosaic novel whose characters are gifted and semi-monstrous people linked by shared blood and a violent common history, a Five-Family Coven whose 500-year-long vendetta with each other is finally coming to a head. It’s Alice Munro meets Clive Barker, with a cast that includes body-stealing witches, time-travelling changelings, monster-killing nuns and evil angels.”
• Echopraxia by Peter Watts (August 16, 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 Godless by Ben Peek (Thomas Dunne, August 19, 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.”
• Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volume 1 edited by Laird Barron (ChiZine, Aug 19, 2014) — inaugural edition of a new, rotating-editor year’s best anthology for Weird fiction, with authors (among others) including Jeff VanderMeer, Jeffrey Ford, Sofia Samatar, Joseph S. Pulver Sr, John Langan, Richard Gavin, and W. H. Pugmir.
• ADDED: The Ripper Affair by Lilith Saintcrow (Orbit, Aug 19)
• Visions: A Cainsville Novel by Armstrong, Kelley (Aug 19, 2014)
• The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, August 26, 2014)
• Lock In by John Scalzi (Tor, Aug 26, 2014) — “Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. Four percent suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And one percent find themselves “locked in”—fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. One per cent doesn’t seem like a lot. But in the United States, that’s 1.7 million people “locked in”…including the President’s wife and daughter.” — via Scalzi’s Whatever blog, Tor.com will be excerpting the first five chapters starting with Chapter 1 here
• The Getaway God (Sandman Slim) by Richard Kadrey (Aug 26, 2014) – Narrated By MacLeod Andrews
• Voices from Beyond (A Ghost Finders Novel) by Simon R. Green (Ace, August 26) — “In a quiet London suburb, four university students participating in an experiment inside a reputed haunted house hold a séance that goes terribly wrong. What—or who—ever they summoned has taken their minds away, leaving them empty shells. Enter the Ghost Finders, ready to confront an enraged poltergeist for the students’ very souls.”
• Greenglass House by Milford, Kate and Zollars, Jaime (Aug 26, 2014)
• Teen: The Rule of Thoughts (Mortality Doctrine, Book Two) (The Mortality Doctrine) by James Dashner (Aug 26, 2014)
• Kids: Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor: 1 by Jon Scieszka and Brian Biggs (Aug 26, 2014
• Kids: Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen and Scott Bakal (Aug 26, 2014)
• The Fire Prince (The Cursed Kingdoms Trilogy) by Emily Gee (Solaris, Aug 27) — “The long awaited and much anticipated sequel to 2011′s The Sentinel Mage. The Fire Prince continues the saga of Prince Harkeld, Innis the shapeshifter and the imperiled Seven Kingdoms.”
• All That Outer Space Allows (The Apollo Quartet, Book 4) by Ian Sales (Whippleshield, August 2014) — “I plan to have copies available for Loncon 3 in August, but we’ll see how the research and writing goes. I suspect it may be the hardest of the four to write – and Then Will The Great Ocean Wash Deep Above was no picnic… Meanwhile, I have a bunch of other projects on the go.”
• Anthology: Burnt Tongues edited by Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Thomas, and Dennis Widmyer (Medallion Press, August 2014) — “This collection of transgressive short stories will be out in August. Cover art by Jay Shaw. With an introduction by Chuck Palaniuk. Stories by Neil Krolicki, Chris Lewis Carter, Gayle Towell, Tony Liebhard, Michael De Vito, Jr., Tyler Jones, Phil Jourdan, Richard Lemmer, Amanda Gowin, Matt Egan, Fred Venturini, Brandon Tietz, Adam Skorupskas, Bryan Howie, Brien Piechos, Jason M. Fylan, Terence James Eeles, Keith Buie, Gus Moreno, and Daniel W. Broallt.”

SEPTEMBER 2014:

• Acceptance: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer (Sep 1, 2014)
• City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown/Broadway and Recorded Books, September 9, 2014) — “a second-world story of spies, subterfuge, and statesmanship set in a nation of dead gods.” — latest IndieBound and Amazon listings
• Consumed: A Novel by David Cronenberg (Sep 2, 2014) — debut novel from the acclaimed filmmaker: “the story of two journalists whose entanglement in a French philosopher’s death becomes a surreal journey into global conspiracy.”
• Sleeping Late On Judgement Day: A Bobby Dollar Novel by Tad Williams (DAW Hardcover, September 2) — “Where does an angel go when he’s been to Hell and back? Renegade angel Bobby Dollar does not have an easy afterlife. After surviving the myriad gruesome dangers Hell oh-so-kindly offered him, Bobby has returned empty-handed – his demon girlfriend Casmira, the Countess of Cold Hands, is still in the clutches of Eligor, Grand Duke of Hell. Some hell of a rescue. Forced to admit his failure, Bobby ends up back at his job as an angel advocate. That is, until Walter, an old angel friend whom Bobby never thought he’d see again, shows up at the local bar. The last time he saw Walter was in Hell, when Walter had tried to warn him about one of Bobby’s angel superiors. But now Walter can’t remember anything, and Bobby doesn’t know whom to trust.” I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the first two Bobby Dollar books (The Dirty Streets of Heaven and Happy Hour in Hell) and am looking forward to finally finding out what the hell is going on among the big powers.
• Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson by Briggs, Patricia (Sep 2, 2014) (via Suvudu)
• The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (Ace Trade, September 2) — “Gray’s deep talent for magick has won him a place at Merlin College. But when he accompanies four fellow students on a mysterious midnight errand that ends in disaster and death, he is sent away in disgrace—and without a trace of his power. He must spend the summer under the watchful eye of his domineering professor, Appius Callender, working in the gardens of Callender’s country estate and hoping to recover his abilities. And it is there, toiling away on a summer afternoon, that he meets the professor’s daughter.”
• Spells at the Crossroads by Barbara Ashford (DAW, September 2)
• The Golden Princess: A Novel of the Change (Change Series) by S.M. Stirling (Roc Hardcover, September 2) — “A new generation faces its own challenges in the world the Change has made. Princess Orlaith, heir to Rudi Mackenzie, Artos the First, High King of Montival, now wields the Sword of the Lady—and faces a new enemy. Fortunately, she also has a new ally in Reiko, Empress of Japan, who has been pursued to America by a conquering army from Asia.”
• Maplecroft: The Borden Dispatches by Cherie Priest (Roc Trade, Sep 2) — “Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one…. The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny. But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.”
• Twelve Kings in Sharakhai (The Song of the Shattered Sands) by Bradley Beaulieu (Sep 2, 2014)
• The Savior (The General) by Tony Daniel and David Drake (Baen, Sep 2) — “Sequel to The Heretic, Book 10 in the nationally best-selling General series.”
• Outrider: A Novel by Steven John (Night Shade, Sep 2) — “The only people that can stop the high-tech terrorists who are stealing power are on horseback.”
• Age of Iron (Iron Age) by Angus Watson (Orbit, Sep 2)
• NEWLY ADDED: Thriller: Seven Wonders by Ben Mezrich (Running Press, Sep 2, 2014) -- via Scalzi's Books and ARCs roundup
• The Bone Clocks: A Novel by Mitchell, David (Random House, Sep 9, 2014) — the author of Cloud Atlas sets his sights on the near, post-oil future with a “metaphysical thriller” unveiled as an interactive graphic in The Guardian
• The Witch with No Name (Hollows) by Kim Harrison (Sep 9, 2014)
• Teen: The Caller (Shadowfell) by Juliet Mariller (Knopf Books for Young Readers, Sep 9) — “In the final book in this gripping, romantic fantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Robin McKinley, Kristin Cashore, and Shannon Hale, Neryn’s band of rebels reach their climactic confrontation with the king. The stunning conclusion to the story that began with Shadowfell and Raven Flight is full of romance, intrigue, magic, and adventure.”
• Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress (Tachyon, Sep 9) — “Aliens have landed in New York. A deadly cloud of spores has already infected and killed the inhabitants of two worlds. Now that plague is heading for Earth, and threatens humans and aliens alike. Can either species be trusted to find the cure?”
• Exo (Jumper) by Steven Gould (Tor, Sep 9)
• Hieroglyph: Stories and Blueprints for a Better Future by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow, September 9) — I assume this is in reference to Stephenson’s “Hieroglyph” challenge/project, to inspire tech and science research with grand sf stories
• Anthology: Rogues edited by Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin (Bantam Spectra, September 9, 2014) — “There’s something for everyone in ROGUES — SF, mystery, historical fiction, epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, comedy, tragedy, crime stories, mainstream, as well as rogues, cads, scalawags, con men, thieves, and scoundrels of all descriptions.” With stories from: Gaiman, Rothfuss, Willis, Nix, Abraham, Cornell, Cherie Priest, Lynch, Vaughn, Swanwick, Lansdale, Hughes, Gillian Flynn!, and Joe Abercrombie
• Broken Monsters by Beukes, Lauren (Mulholland, Sep 16, 2014) — “A criminal mastermind creates violent tableaus in abandoned Detroit warehouses in Lauren Beukes’s new genre-bending novel of suspense. Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit’s standards: half boy, half deer, somehow fused together. As stranger and more disturbing bodies are discovered, how can the city hold on to a reality that is already tearing at its seams?”
• Ancestral Machines: A Humanity’s Fire novel by Michael Cobley (Sep 16, 2014)
• Anthology: Phantasm Japan: Fantasies Light and Dark, From and About Japan edited by Nick Mamatas (Haikasoru, Sep 16, 2014) — another original trade paperback anthology edited by Mamatas for VIZ Media’s Haikasoru sf/f prose imprint after 2012′s well-received The Future is Japanese
• Gideon Smith and the Brass Dragon by David Barnett (Tor, Sep 16)
• The Infinite Sea: The Second Book of the 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (Sep 16, 2014)
• Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld (Sep 23, 2014) — “Scott Westerfeld, the author of the extremely popular Uglies and Leviathan series, has a new novel novel coming out on Sept. 23. Afterworlds is a suspenseful thriller about a young writer, Darcy Patel, who arrives in New York City with a contract to write a YA novel. There’s a meta element: Darcy’s novel-within-the-novel, also called Afterworlds— about a girl who delves into a realm between the living and the dead to hide out during a terrorist attack — is woven into Darcy’s narrative as she learns to navigate life in the city.”
• The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts (Knopf Books for Young Readers, Sep 23) — “People say when you take Heam, your body momentarily dies and you catch a glimpse of heaven. Faye was only eleven when dealers forced Heam on her and her best friend, Christian. But Faye didn’t glimpse heaven—she saw hell. And Christian died. ”
• The Seventh Sigil by Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes (Tor, Sep 23)
• The Wonder of All Things by Mott, Jason (Harlequin MIRA, Sep 30, 2014) — the author of The Returned returns with a new novel about the cost and power of living with miracles: “On an ordinary day, at an air show like that in any small town across the country, a plane crashes into a crowd of spectators, killing and injuring dozens. But when the dust clears, a thirteen-year-old girl named Ava is found huddled beneath a pocket of rubble with her best friend, Wash. He is injured and bleeding, and when Ava places her hands over him, his wounds miraculously disappear.”
• Wolf in White Van: A Novel by John Darnielle (FSG, Sep 30, 2014) — “Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move. Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. As the creator of “Trace Italian”—a text-based, role-playing game played through the mail—Sean guides players from around the world through his intricately imagined terrain, which they navigate and explore, turn by turn, seeking sanctuary in a ravaged, savage future America.”
• The Brothers Cabal (Johannes Cabal Novels) by Jonathan L. Howard (Sep 30, 2014)
• 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.”
• The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, Book 1) by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot, September 2014) — “On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself.”
• The Winter Long (October Daye, #8) by Seanan McGuire (September 2014)
• Mortal Beauty (Immortal Game, #1) by Ann Aguirre (September 2014)
• Kids: The Eighth Continent by Matt London (Razorbill, September 2014) — via PW Book Deals: “Debut novelist Matt London sold his middle-grade series, the 8th Continent, to Gillian Levinson at Razorbill. Agent Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger handled the three-book, world-rights deal for the author. Razorbill said the humorous series was pitched as “Despicable Me meets Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego?”; it follows a brother and sister trying to turn the Great Pacific Garbage Patch into “a utopic eighth continent.””
• Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett (Aqueduct Press, September 2014) — “A computer program etched into the atmosphere has a story to tell. It’s the story of two people … of a city lost to chaos … of survival and love … but the data has been corrupted.”

OCTOBER 2014:

• Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie (Orbit, October 7) — sequel and book two in the planned trilogy which started with Ancillary Justice
• Armada by Ernest Cline (October 7) — “Cline wowed the world with Ready Player One in 2011, a brilliant debut that was pure geek gold: a glorious fusion of near future science fiction, epic fantasy quest, and unlikely love story, that above all else is an homage to the 1980s. Millions of readers worldwide have been anxiously awaiting his second novel, which evidently chronicles the adventures of a video game geek named Zack, who is conscripted into a top-secret government program and must save the world from an alien invasion.” (via Paul Goat Allen’s “The Most Anticipated Sci-fi and Fantasy Releases of 2014″ for Barnes & Noble)
• Falling Sky by Rajan Khanna (Pyr, Oct 7) — “Ben Gold lives in dangerous times. Two generations ago, a virulent disease turned the population of most of North America into little more than beasts called Ferals. Some of those who survived took to the air, scratching out a living on airships and dirigibles soaring over the dangerous ground. Ben has his own airship, a family heirloom, and has signed up to help a group of scientists looking for a cure. But that’s not as easy as it sounds, especially with a power-hungry air city looking to raid any nearby settlements. To make matters worse, his airship, the only home he’s ever known, is stolen. Ben must try to survive on the ground while trying to get his ship back. This brings him to Gastown, a city in the air recently conquered by belligerent and expansionist pirates. When events turn deadly, Ben must decide what really matters–whether to risk it all on a desperate chance for a better future or to truly remain on his own.”
• Nightmare Carnival edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books, Oct 7, 2014) — new anthology includes (among others) Nick Mamatas, Nathan Ballingrud, Jeffrey Ford, Genevieve Valentine, Stephen Graham Jones, Robert Shearman, and Laird Barron
• The Shotgun Arcana by R.S. Belcher (Tor, Oct 7)
• The Chaplain’s War by Brad Torgersen (Baen, October 7, 2014) — debut novel — “A chaplain serving in Earth’s space fleet is trapped behind enemy lines where he struggles for both personal survival and humanity’s future. The mantis cyborgs: insectlike, cruel, and determined to wipe humanity from the face of the galaxy. The Fleet is humanity’s last chance: a multi-world, multi-national task force assembled to hold the line against the aliens’ overwhelming technology and firepower. Enter Harrison Barlow, who like so many young men of wars past, simply wants to serve his people and partake of the grand adventure of military life. Only, Harrison is not a hot pilot, nor a crack shot with a rifle. What good is a Chaplain’s Assistant in the interstellar battles which will decide the fate of all?”
• The Sword of Michael (Depossessionist) by Marcus Wynne (Baen, Oct 7, 2014)
• Spark: A Novel by John Twelve Hawks (Doubleday, Oct 7)
• Broken Soul by Faith Hunter (Oct 7, 2014) — presumably the next Jane Yellowrock book
• Poison Fruit: Agent of Hel by Jacqueline Carey (Roc Hardcover, Oct 7)
• Silverblind (Ironskin) by Tina Connolly (Tor, October 7) — the third book in Connolly’s Ironskin series
• The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan (Del Rey, Oct 7) — “The final part of Richard Morgan’s fast-moving and brutal fantasy brings Ringil to his final reckoning and sees the world tipping into another war with the dragon folk. And, most terrifying of all, the prophecy of a dark lord come to rule may be coming true very close to home …”
• Hawk (Vlad) by Steven Brust (Tor, October 7)
• Closer to Home: Book One of Herald Spy by Mercedes Lackey (October 7)
• The Young Elites by Marie Lu (Oct 7, 2014)
• Anthology: Fearsome Magics by K.J. Parker, Scott Lynch, Christopher Priest and Jonathan Strahan (Oct 7, 2014)
• Those Above by Daniel Polansky (Hodder & Stoughton, Oct 9, 2014) — “You’ve seen him do crime – low fantasy by way of HBO’s The Wire. You knew it as Low Town, the crime-ridden city where only death is certain. But you’ve never seen him do epic fantasy. Until now. From the acclaimed author of THE STRAIGHT RAZOR CURE comes this spectacular new series – epic fantasy, as only Daniel Polansky can imagine it.”
• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books, October 14, 2014) — the first of an announced trilogy of translated editions of this 400,000-copy-selling Chinese sf series; a Tor.com article in early May provides yet more information
• Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen by Garth Nix (Oct 14, 2014)
• Collection: The Wilds by Julia Elliott (Tin House, Oct 14, 2014) — “At an obscure South Carolina nursing home, a lost world reemerges as a disabled elderly woman undergoes newfangled brain-restoration procedures and begins to explore her environment with the assistance of strap-on robot legs. At a deluxe medical spa on a nameless Caribbean island, a middle-aged woman hopes to revitalize her fading youth with grotesque rejuvenating therapies that combine cutting-edge medical technologies with holistic approaches and the pseudo-religious dogma of Zen-infused self-help. And in a rinky-dink mill town, an adolescent girl is unexpectedly inspired by the ravings and miraculous levitation of her fundamentalist friend’s weird grandmother. These are only a few of the scenarios readers encounter in Julia Elliott’s debut collection, The Wilds. In these genre-bending stories, teetering between the ridiculous and the sublime, Elliott’s language-driven fiction uses outlandish tropes to capture poignant moments in her humble characters’ lives. Without abandoning the tenets of classic storytelling, Elliott revels in lush lyricism, dark humor, and experimental play.”
• Fire in the Blood by Erin M. Evans (Wizards of the Coast, Oct 14) — “SCRIBE-award-winning author, Erin M. Evans, continues the riveting tale of her Sundering character, Farideh, as she becomes embroiled in a Forgotten Realms-flavored game of thrones.”
• Teen: The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi (Little Brown Books for Young Readers and Listening Library, Oct 14) — “In this page-turning contemporary thriller, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Paolo Bacigalupi explores the timely issue of how public information is distorted for monetary gain, and how those who exploit it must be stopped.”
• Teen: Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond (Skyscape, Oct 14) — “A ballerina, twirling on a wire high above the crowd. Horses, prancing like salsa dancers. Trapeze artists, flying like somersaulting falcons. And magic crackling through the air. Welcome to the Cirque American!”
• Teen: Girl at the Bottom of the Sea by Michelle Tea (McSweeney’s McMullen’s, October 14) — “the follow-up to Michelle Tea’s beloved Mermaid in Chelsea Creek, “a refreshing breath of air in the world of YA, equal parts eerie, heartbreaking, and fantastical.””
• The Free by Brian Ruckley (Orbit, Oct 14)
• Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (Balzer + Bray, Oct 14, 2014)
• Graphic Novel: In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang (First Second, Oct 14, 2014) — from the announcement: “a graphic novel about gaming and gold farming for young adults based on Doctorow’s award-winning story Anda’s Game, adapted by Jen Wang, creator of the amazing graphic novel Koko Be Good.”
• Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris (October 14, 2014) — no, an audiobook doesn’t seem to make sense here (though an app maybe…)
• Red Tide by Larry Niven, Brad Torgersen, and Matthew J. Harrington (Phoenix Pick, Oct 15)
• The Death House by Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz, Oct 16, 2014) — “The Death House is a home where, in a world where people are safe against illness, children and teenagers who are susceptible to terminal conditions are sent to die. Their fates are certain. Their lives are in their hands. The question is: what will they choose to do with them?”
• The Mime Order: The Bone Season (The Remnant Chronicles) by Samantha Shannon (Oct 21, 2014) — sequel to The Bone Season – “Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal penal colony of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the fugitives are still missing and she is the most wanted person in London.”
• Bathing the Lion by Jonathan Carroll (St. Martin’s Press, Oct 21, 2014) — “In Jonathan Carroll’s surreal masterpiece, Bathing the Lion, five people who live in the same New England town go to sleep one night and all share the same hyper-realistic dream. Some of these people know each other; some don’t. “
• ADDED: Collection: Knife Fight and Other Struggles by David Nickle (ChiZine, Oct 21, 2014)
• Kids: Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen (Henry Holt, Oct 21, 2014) — “One night during the Perseid meteor shower, Arianne thinks she sees a shooting star land in the fields surrounding her family’s horse farm. About a year later, one of their horses gives birth to a baby centaur. The family has enough attention already as Arianne’s six-year-old brother was born with birth defects caused by an experimental drug—the last thing they need is more scrutiny. But their clients soon start growing suspicious. Just how long is it possible to keep a secret? And what will happen if the world finds out?”
• War Dogs by Greg Bear (Orbit, October 21) — “AN EPIC INTERSTELLAR TALE OF WAR FROM A MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION. The Gurus came in peace, bearing gifts. They were a highly advanced, interstellar species who brought amazingly useful and sophisticated technology to the human race. There was, of course, a catch. The Gurus warned of a far more malevolent life form, beings who have hounded the Gurus from sun to sun, planet to planet, across the cosmos. Pundits have taken to calling them the Antagonists-or Antags-and they have already established a beachhead on Mars. For all they’ve done for us, the Gurus would now like our help.”
• The Abyss Beyond Dreams: Chronicle of the Fallers by Peter F. Hamilton (Del Rey, Oct 21)
• Ink Mage (Ink Mage series) by Gischler, Victor (Oct 22, 2013)
• A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin (Simon451, October 2014) — “first in the EarthEnd trilogy” by the X-Files actress and her co-author Rovin
• The Peripheral by William Gibson (Putnam Adult, October 28) — “William Gibson returns with his first novel since 2010’s New York Times–bestselling Zero History. Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran’s benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC’s elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there’s a job he’s supposed to do—a job Flynne didn’t know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He’s supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That’s all there is to it. He’s offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn’t what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.”
• The City Stained Red (Bring Down Heaven) by Sam Sykes (Orbit, Oct 28, 2014) — begins a new series from the author of Tome of the Undergates
• Falling from Horses by Molly Gloss (Oct 28)
• The Wolf in Winter: A Charlie Parker Thriller by John Connolly (Oct 28, 2014)
• Teen: Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Oct 28, 2014)
• The Undying by Ethan Reid (Simon451, October 2014) — a dystopia
• Chimpanzee by Darin Bradley (Resurrection House, Fall 2014) — “a delightfully weird existential near-fi conspiracy theory romance”
• Heraclix and Pomp by Forrest Aguirre (Resurrection House, Fall 2014) — “an alternative history fantasy set in the Eastern Europe. It features a golem, a faery, and a mad scientist (well, more of 17th century alchemist/demonologist, but it’s the same trope)”
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver (Fall 2014)
• Collection: The Nickronomicon by Nick Mamatas (Inssmouth Free Press, Fall/Winter 2014) — collects all of Mamatas’ Lovecraft-inspired fiction into a single volume, including a new, never-before-published novella, titled “On the Occasion of My Retirement.”

NOVEMBER and DECEMBER 2014:

• The Slow Regard of Silent Things: A KingKiller Chronicle Novella by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW, November 4, 2014) — “set at The University, where the brightest minds work to unravel the mysteries of enlightened sciences, such as artificing and alchemy. Auri, a former student (and a secondary but influential character from Rothfuss’s earlier novels) now lives alone beneath the sprawling campus in a maze of ancient and abandoned passageways. There in The Underthing, she feels her powers and learns to see the truths that science—and her former classmates—have overlooked.”
• ADDED: Normal: A Novel by Warren Ellis (FSG Originals, Nov 4, 2014) — “A smart, tight, provocative techno-thriller straight out of the very near future—by an iconic visionary writer. Some people call it “abyss gaze.” Gaze into the abyss all day and the abyss will gaze into you.”
• Willful Child by Steven Erikson (Tor, Nov 4, 2014) — “From the New York Times Bestselling author Steven Erikson comes a new SF novel of devil-may-care, near calamitous and downright chaotic adventures through the infinite vastness of interstellar space. These are the voyages of the starship A.S.F. Willful Child. Its ongoing mission: to seek out strange new worlds on which to plant the Terran flag, to subjugate and if necessary obliterate new life-forms, to boldly blow the… And so we join the not-terribly-bright but exceedingly cock-sure Captain Hadrian Sawback and his motley crew on board the Starship Willful Child for a series of devil-may-care, near-calamitous and downright chaotic adventures through ‘the infinite vastness of interstellar space.’”
• The Future Falls: Book Three of the Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff (Nov 4, 2014)
• Genesis Code: A Thriller of the Near Future by Jamie Metzl (Arcade Publishing, Nov 4) — “Blue Magic, the latest designer drug linked to a rash of overdoses, might explain the needle mark on the arm of a young woman found dead in her apartment in Kansas City. But when Star reporter Rich Azadian digs deeper, the clues tie her to a much bigger story: MaryLee Stock was a special protégée of evangelical megastar and powerbroker Cobalt Becker, who is poised to deliver his followers and the presidency to a firebrand rightwing senator in the next election. What makes the story hot is she may have been pregnant by Becker. More disturbing, the embryo may have been—illegally—genetically enhanced to produce a superbaby. But in America in 2023—bankrupt, violently divided by the culture wars, and beholden to archrival China—the rules of the game are complicated, and when the Department of National Competitiveness shuts down Azadian’s investigation and he learns that Chinese agents were also interested in the dead woman, he can only do what he does best: go rogue, assemble a team of brilliant misfits like himself, and investigate.”
• Jala’s Mask by Mike and Rachel Grinti (Pyr, Nov 4)
• Dreamer’s Pool: A Blackthorn & Grim Novel by Juliet Mariller (Nov 4)
• Anthology: Shattered Shields edited by Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt (Baen, Nov 4) — a military fantasy anthology with headliners Glen Cook (Black Company), Larry Correia, John Marco, Elizabeth Moon (new Paksenarrion), David Farland (new Runelords), Catherine Asaro, Sarah A. Hoyt, Robin Wayne Bailey.
• Revival: A Novel by King, Stephen (Scribner, Nov 11, 2014) — “A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.”
• ADDED: A Dance of Ghosts (Shadowdance) by David Dalglish (Orbit, Nov 11, 2014)
• Chaos Unleashed by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey, Nov 11)
• ADDED: The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars) by Ian Tregillis (Orbit, Nov 18, 2014)
• ADDED: Symbiont (Parasitology) by Mira Grant (Orbit, Nov 25, 2014)
• The Whispering Swarm: Book One of The Sanctuary of the White Friars by Michael Moorcock (Tor, Nov 25)
• The Thorn of Emberlain (Gentleman Bastard #4) by Scott Lynch (November 2014)
• ADDED: City of Eternal Night (Crescent City) by Kristen Painter (Orbit, Dec 2, 2014)
• Anthology: Carbide Tipped Pens edited by Ben Bova and Eric Choi (Tor, December 2, 2014) — a an original hard sf anthology with stories from Gregory Benford, Nancy Fulda, Aliette de Bodard, Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu), Daniel H. Wilson, and more
• The Lady (Marakand) by K.V. Johansen (Pyr, Dec 9)
• The Jupiter Pirates #2: Curse of the Iris by Jason Fry (Dec 16, 2014)
• Anthology: The End is Now: The Apocalypse Triptych #2 edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (December 2014) — via io9

UNDATED or 2015:

• The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord (Del Rey, Jan 6, 2015) — a follow-on to 2013′s The Best of All Possible Worlds: “For years, Rafi Delarua saw his family suffer under his father’s unethical use of psionic power. Now the government has Rafi under close watch, but, hating their crude attempts to analyse his brain, he escapes to the planet Punartam, where his abilities are the norm, not the exception. Punartam is also the centre for his favourite sport, wallrunning – and thanks to his best friend, he has found a way to train with the elite. But Rafi soon realises he’s playing quite a different game, for the galaxy is changing; unrest is spreading and the Zhinuvian cartels are plotting, making the stars a far more dangerous place to aim. There may yet be one solution – involving interstellar travel, galactic power and the love of a beautiful game.”
• ADDED: Firefight (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, Jan 6, 2015) -- follow-on to best-selling Steelheart
• Spell-Blind (Casebooks of Justis Fearsson) by David B. Coe (Baen, Jan 6, 2015)
• Get in Trouble: Stories by Kelly Link (Random House, Jan 13, 2015)
• ADDED: The Dagger’s Path by Glenda Larke (Orbit, Jan 13, 2015) — sequel to The Lascar’s Dagger
• Golden Son: Book II of the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown (Jan 13, 2015)
• Cities & Thrones by Carrie Patel (Feb 5, 2015) — follow-up to The Buried Life
• The Thousand and One: Book II of The Crescent Moon Kingdoms by Saladin Ahmed (February 2015)
• ADDED: The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan (Orbit, Feb 10, 2015)
• The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth) by Jemisin, N. K. (Orbit, 2015) — “This is the way the world ends. Again.”
• 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
• Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick (2014)
• Love in the Time of Mechanical Replication by Judd Trichter (St. Martins? Thomas Dunne? 2014?)
• Ebon (Pegasus, #2) by Robin McKinley (2014?)
• The Doors of Stone (Kingkiller Chronicle #3) by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW, 2014?)
• Shadows of Self (Mistborn, #5) by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, 2014?)
• Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy #3) by Ken Follett (2014?)
• The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6) by George R.R. Martin (2015?)
• 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.”
• Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas (Bloomsbury USA, 2015) — first novel from 2010 Clarion Workshop graduate
• Anthology: Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams (Titan Books, February 2015) – “Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams, WASTELANDS 2: MORE STORIES OF THE APOCALYPSE is the star-studded follow-up to the 2008 bestselling anthology Wastelands.”
• The Philosopher’s Zombie by Robert J. Sawyer (April 2015)
• Anthology: The End has Come: The Apocalypse Triptych #3 edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (June 2015) — via io9
• John Claude Bemis is set to launch a new Steampunk/alchemist series for young readers, to be published by Disney/Hyperion starting in 2015
• The Skull Throne (Demon Cycle, #4) by Peter V. Brett (2015?)
• The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) — “Originally planned as a collection of short stories, the project changed to focus on Harry D’Amour going up against Pinhead. The novel has been in works for more than a decade and we’ll be able to read it in 2015, courtesy of St. Martin’s Press: ‘Clive is delighted to announce that St Martin’s Press has acquired world English rights to publish The Scarlet Gospels, his upcoming novel featuring Pinhead and Harry D’Amour. St Martin’s anticipates a winter 2015 publication date.’”
• The City of Mirrors (The Passage, #3) by Justin Cronin
• The Uninvited by Cat Winters (William Morrow) — via PW Book Deals: “Lucia Macro at HarperCollins’s William Morrow imprint acquired world English rights to Cat Winters’s novel, The Uninvited. The book, which Morrow compares to The Night Circus and The Thirteenth Tale, is a paranormal work set during the influenza pandemic of 1918. Winters, who was represented by Barbara Poelle at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency, was a finalist for the YALSA’s 2014 Morris Award, for her novel In the Shadow of Blackbirds.”
• How to Invent a Language by David Peterson (Penguin) — via PW Book Deals: “For Penguin Press, Elda Rotor took world rights to David Peterson’s How to Invent a Language. Peterson has created languages for shows like HBO’s Game of Thrones and Syfy’s Defiance, and the book will be a guide for anyone looking to craft a new tongue. Agent Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media represented Peterson.”
• Teen: The Burning Depths by James P. Smythe (Hodder, February 2015) — “Centuries ago, the Australia left a dying Earth in search of an inhabitable planet its colonists could call home. But no such planet was ever discovered. Law and order gave way to rioting and chaos as gangs began battling for control of the ship and its dwindling resources, and the Australia was left to drift, directionless, through the emptiness of space. Seventeen-year-old Chan, fiercely independent and self-sufficient, keeps her head down and lives quietly, careful not to draw attention to herself amidst the violence and disorder. Until the day she makes an extraordinary discovery – a way to return the Australia to Earth. But doing so would bring her to the attention of the fanatics and the murderers who control life aboard the ship, putting her and everyone she loves in terrible danger. And a safe return to Earth is by no means certain.”
• Shower of Stones by Zachary Jernigan (Night Shade Books, Spring 2015) — “Conclusion to the visceral, inventive narrative begun in No Return, ‘the most daring debut novel of 2013,’ Shower of Stones pits men against gods, swords against world-destroying magic, offering readers another glimpse into the fascinatingly harsh world of Jeroun.”
• King of Ashes: Book One of The War of Five Crowns by Raymond E. Feist (April 7, 2015)
• The Unnoticeables by Robert Brockway (Tor, July 2015) — “Tor said the books are “hilarious urban fantasy novels” set in a world that pulls from New York’s punk scene in the 1970s as well as the modern-day Los Angeles entertainment industry.” (via PW)
• Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (Tor, Fall 2015) — “The series is set in a world where three empires rule and every member of the population is born with a magical skill set, known as a “witchery.” Tor elaborated: “Now, as the Twenty Year Truce in a centuries-long war is about to end, the balance of power will fall on the shoulders of two young women, who must accept their fate, and themselves, to survive.”” (via PW)
• The War Against Assholes by Sam Munson (Simon & Schuster / Saga Press, 2015?) — “set in a Manhattan “shrouded in mystery” and follows a 17-year-old Catholic high school student who begins to acquire supernatural powers after being introduced to a book called The Calendar of Sleights by a strange classmate. The protagonist is then pulled into a long-running war among rival factions of magicians.” (via PW)
• Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear (Gollanzc, late 2016) — first in a two-book space opera which “imagines the invention of The White Drive: an easy, nonrelativistic means of travel across unimaginable distances. The gripping story follows salvage operators, Haimey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz, as they pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human – and alien – vessels.”

Posted in Release Week | Tagged artemis awakening, glen hirshberg, heirs of grace, james marsters, jane lindskold, jim butcher, jo walton, john lee, leslie hull, motherless child, skin game, the dresden files, tim pratt, tooth and claw, xe sands