Release Week: Bears Discover Fire, The Quick, Rogues, The Fever, high-end sf sequels, and Luke Daniels, Luke Daniels, Luke Daniels

Release Week: Bears Discover Fire, The Quick, Rogues, The Fever, high-end sf sequels, and Luke Daniels, Luke Daniels, Luke Daniels

Posted on 2014-06-21 at 13:35 by Sam

JUNE 11-17, 2014: There is an absolute avalanche of outstanding audio this week, comprised mostly of audiobooks we’ve been anticipating for a good while now, but led by a breathtaking surprise: Terry Bisson’s 1993 collection Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories. There’s high-end sf (Cibola Burn, The Long Mars, On the Steel Breeze), there’s historically-set fantasy (The Quick), there’s comedic fantasy (Spell or High Water) and urban fantasy (Shattered, Half-Off Ragnarok) and an sf/thriller hyrbid (A Better World) and the latest GRRM/Dozois original anthology (Rogues), new fiction from Dave Eggers, Janie Chang’s Three Souls, the conclusion to Leigh Bardugo’s Greisha trilogy, and! still more this week as well, a week where it was too hard to not just go with this full double handful of picks, and even then having to really squint to make the final cuts. (And I didn’t even yet get to mention fantasy author Zachary Jernigan’s turn as narrator on Tim Marquitz’s Armageddon Bound or Daniel Jose Older reading his own collection Salsa Nocturna.) Happy listening!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Terry Bisson’s first collection Bears Discover Fire, and Other Stories was published in 1993, and I’ve read and re-read it so many times. From the multiple award-winning title story “Bears Discover Fire” to the oft-linked “They’re Made Out of Meat” to “Over Flat Mountain”, “George”, so many favorites, on and on; it’s one of my 10 “desert island” books, and its audio publication this week by Skyboat Media took me completely by happy surprise. Narrated By Janis Ian, Stefan Rudnicki, and Kristoffer Tabori, it’s already out at Audible and is scheduled for June 24 release at Downpour. “Bears Discover Fire is the first short-story collection by the most acclaimed science fiction writer of the decade, the author of such brilliant novels as Talking Man and Voyage to the Red Planet. It brings together nineteen of Terry Bisson’s finest works for the first time in one volume, among them the darkly comic title story, which garnered some of the field’s highest honors, including the Hugo, Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and Locus Awards.” (And Skyboat has been busy, with the 1995 hard sf novella anthology Far Futures out this week as well.)

The Quick: A Novel by Lauren Owen is pitched as “an astonishing debut, a novel of epic scope and suspense that conjures up all the magic and menace of Victorian London”, and the concurrent Random House Audio release read by accomplished British actor Simon Slater delivers the goods. The book is also reviewed quite positively as a “tour de force” at Locus Online. Back to the book description: “1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Alarmed, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine London that greets her, she uncovers a hidden, supernatural city populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling ‘Doctor Knife.’” Buy: [Downpour | IndieBound | Amazon | Kobo | Kindle]

Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Random House Audio) is the latest of the fantastic line of Martin/Dozois anthology collaborations (Warriors and Dangerous Women among many others) and includes new original short fiction from the likes of Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Neil Gaiman, Cherie Priest, Connie Willis, and! one I’m exceedingly curious about: Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn. Oh yeah, and there’s a new Song of Ice and Fire story from Martin as well, narrated by a fantastic cast including Gwendoline Christie, Julia Whelan, Roy Dotrice, Phil Gigante, Ron Donachie, Morgan Sheppard, and Janis Ian. Buy: [IndieBound | Kobo | Kindle | Audible]

Nick Mamatas calls Megan Abbot “the best crime novelist in America” and her latest novel, The Fever, draws both on her imagination and on the stranger-than-fiction real life events of a town’s teen tic epidemic (NPR). Narrated By Caitlin Davies, Kirby Heyborne, and Joe Barrett — Hachette Audio has posted an excerpt on SoundCloud — the novel carries echoes of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (and not just in its sharing narration by Heyborne) and, as Booklist notes, Arthur Miller’s dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible. “The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie’s best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school, and community. As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families, and the town’s fragile idea of security.”

The next three picks are all high-end science fiction sequels, starting with On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds (Ace, June 3, and Recorded Books, June 12) — It’s almost hard to believe that this follow-on to Blue Remembered Earth has been out since September in the UK and we’re only now just getting it over here, but that situation is what it is. Here: “Chiku Akinya, great granddaughter of the legendary space explorer Eunice and heir to the family empire, is just one among millions on a long one way journey towards a planet they hope to call their new home. For Chiku, the journey is a personal one, undertaken to ensure that the Akinya family achieves its destiny among the stars. The passengers travel in huge self-contained artificial worlds—holoships—putting their faith in a physics they barely understand. Chiku’s ship is called Zanzibar—and over time, she will discover it contains an awesome secret—one which will lead her to question almost every certainty about her voyage, and its ultimate destiny.” British actress Adjoa Andoh narrates as the POV shifts away from Geoffrey Akinya, voiced by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith in book one. Buy: [Downpour | IndieBound | Amazon | Kobo | Kindle]

Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey (Orbit, June 17) — From the initial publication of Leviathan Wakes as a new voice in noir-tinged space opera, James S.A. Corey (a pseudonym for co-authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) has become a go-to name for science fiction. With Cibola Burn, the ongoing solar-system-spanning The Expanse series now comprises four full-length novels, along with multiple short stories and novellas. Here: “The gates have opened the way to a thousand new worlds and the rush to colonize has begun. Settlers looking for a new life stream out from humanity’s home planets. Ilus, the first human colony on this vast new frontier, is being born in blood and fire.” More: An excerpt is available at Orbit Books and the author(s) were just interviewed on the Functional Nerds podcast. Audio: Concurrent from Hachette Audio, read by Erik Davies, replacing Jefferson Mays as the voice of the series. Buy: [Downpour |IndieBound | Kobo]

The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (Harper, June 17) — The conclusion to Pratchett and Baxter’s The Long Earth trilogy: “2040. The Long Earth is in chaos… . The cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption is shutting down civilization. Whole populations flee to the relative safety of myriad stepwise Earths. Sally Linsay, Joshua Valiente, and Lobsang have all been involved in the perilous post-eruption clean-up. But Joshua faces a crisis close to home. From a long childhood hidden deep in the Long Earth, a new breed of young, super-bright post-humans is emerging—but “normal” human society is turning against them, driven by ignorance and fear. For Joshua, caught up in the conflict, a dramatic showdown seems inevitable. Meanwhile, US Navy  Commander Maggie Kauffman embarks on an incredible journey, leading an expedition to the unexplored limits of the far Long Earth.” Audio: Concurrent from Harper Audio, with the fantastic Michael Fenton Stevens reprising his role as narrator from the first two books in the series.Buy: [Downpour | IndieBound | Kobo | Kindle]

The last three picks all feature narrator Luke Daniels, starting with Shattered: The Iron Druid Chronicles, by Kevin Hearne (Del Rey and Random House Audio, June 17) — Though I’m well behind in this seven-novel series, another chance to hear Luke Daniels as Atticus O’Sullivan and the colorful cast around him is always welcome. Here: “For nearly 2,000 years, only one Druid has walked the Earth – Atticus O’Sullivan, the Iron Druid, whose sharp wit and sharp sword have kept him alive as he’s been pursued by a pantheon of hostile deities. Now he’s got company. Atticus’ apprentice Granuaile is at last a full Druid herself. What’s more, Atticus has defrosted an archdruid long ago frozen in time, a father figure (of sorts) who now goes by the modern equivalent of his old Irish name: Owen Kennedy. And Owen has some catching up to do.” Buy: [IndieBound | Kobo | Kindle]

A Better World (The Brilliance Saga) by Marcus Sakey (Thomas & Mercer and Brilliance Audio, Jun 17, 2014) — The Guilded Earlobe loved Brilliance, book one in this sf/thriller hybrid series, and here comes book two. “The brilliants changed everything. Since 1980, 1% of the world has been born with gifts we’d only dreamed of. The ability to sense a person’s most intimate secrets, or predict the stock market, or move virtually unseen. For thirty years the world has struggled with a growing divide between the exceptional…and the rest of us. Now a terrorist network led by brilliants has crippled three cities. Supermarket shelves stand empty. 911 calls go unanswered. Fanatics are burning people alive. Nick Cooper has always fought to make the world better for his children. As both a brilliant and an advisor to the president of the United States, he’s against everything the terrorists represent. But as America slides toward a devastating civil war, Cooper is forced to play a game he dares not lose—because his opponents have their own vision of a better world. And to reach it, they’re willing to burn this one down.”

Spell or High Water (Magic 2.0, Book 2) by Scott Meyer (47North and Brilliance Audio, June 17) — I’m hoping for more laughs and witty, pop-culture-laden banter from Meyer’s follow-on to the fantastically funny Off to Be the Wizard, not the least reason being Luke Daniels’ equally fantastic narration. “The adventures of an American hacker in Medieval England continue as Martin Banks takes his next step on the journey toward mastering his reality-altering powers and fulfilling his destiny. A month has passed since Martin helped to defeat the evil programmer Jimmy, and things couldn’t be going better. Except for his love life, that is. Feeling distant and lost, Gwen has journeyed to Atlantis, a tolerant and benevolent kingdom governed by the Sorceresses, and a place known to be a safe haven to all female time-travelers. Thankfully, Martin and Philip are invited to a summit in Atlantis for all of the leaders of the time-traveler colonies, and now Martin thinks this will be a chance to try again with Gwen. Of course, this is Martin Banks we’re talking about, so murder, mystery, and high intrigue all get in the way of a guy who just wants one more shot to get the girl.” Buy: [IndieBound | Amazon | Kindle]

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

• Armageddon Bound: Demon Squad By Tim Marquitz, Narrated By Zachary Jernigan (Jun 11) — the author of one of the best fantasy debuts of 2013, No Return, takes a turn as narrator
• Salsa Nocturna: Stories By Daniel Jose Older, Narrated By Daniel Jose Older for Audible (June 11)
• The Haunted City By Tom Slemen, Narrated By Priscilla Finch (Jun 11)
• 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.”
• Days Gone Bad: Vesik, Book 1 By Eric Asher, Narrated By William Dufris (Jun 12)
• Short: Time's Echo: A CHRONOS Files Novella By Rysa Walker, Narrated By Nick Podehl (Jun 12)
• Kids: Dreamwood by Heather Mackey (Putnam Juvenile and Recorded Books, 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) -- narrated by Jennifer Grace
• Far Futures By Greg Bear, Donald Kingsbury, Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman, Charles Sheffield, Narrated By Vikas Adam, J. Paul Boehmer,Susan Hanfield, Alex Hyde-White, Stefan Rudnicki for Skyboat Media (Jun 13) -- 1995 hard sf novella anthology comes to (as usual from Rudnicki and Skyboat) well-produced audio
• Anthology: Across the Spectrum edited by Deborah J. Ross and Pati Nagle, with stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ursula K. Le Guin,Vonda N. McIntyre, Patricia Rice, Judith Tarr, Madeleine E. Robins, Narrated By Aaron Abano, Tess Van Horn (Jun 16)
• Anthology: Mad Science Café edited by Deborah J. Ross, with stories by Chris Dolley, Marie Brennan, Brenda W. Clough, Madeleine E. Robins, David D. Levine, Nancy Jane Moore, Judith Tarr, and Jeffrey A. Carver, Narrated By Paula Hoffman (Jun 16)
• Half-Off Ragnarok: InCryptid, Book 3 By Seanan McGuire, Narrated By Ray Porter, Emily Bauer (Jun 17)
• Rose Point: Her Instruments 2 By M.C.A. Hogarth, Narrated By Daniel Dorse (Jun 17)
• 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: Ruin and Rising (The Grisha, #3) by Leigh Bardugo (Jun 17, 2014) -- Narrated By Lauren Fortgang, the conclusion of Bardugo's The Grisha trilogy
• Dead Mech: Apex Trilogy, Book 1 By Jake Bible, Narrated By Julie Hoverson (Jun 17)
• Fiction: Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? by Dave Eggers (Knopf, June 17) — a short novel entirely in dialogue, narrated by MacLeod Andrews and "Various" (Mark Deakins, Michelle Gonzalez, John H. Mayer, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Rebecca Lowman, Bruce Turk, and Marc Cashman) additional narrators providing the non-captor sides of the conversations: "In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at his chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions."
• Short: Cloud City: An Anna Strong Novella By Jeanne C. Stein, Narrated By Dina Pearlman (Jun 17)
• Kids: Still Life: The Books of Elsewhere, Volume 5 By Jacqueline West, Narrated By Lexy Fridell for Penguin Audio (Jun 17)

• Related non-fiction: Vintage Visions: Essays on Early Science Fiction edited by Arthur B. Evans (Wesleyan, Jun 11)
• Blade Singer by Aaron de Orive and Martha Wells (Cloak & Dagger, Jun 12, 2014) — “Sure, Manny Boreaux wanted to escape his real world problems. But being trapped in the body of a goblin pickpocket wasn’t what he had in mind. Still, it’s kind of cool to be able to move like a spider monkey and go invisible. Unless you happen to work for an evil witch and her vicious gang of cutthroats. If they find out who he really is, they’ll turn him into minced pies!”
• Teen: Wings (A Black City Novel) by Elizabeth Richards (Putnam Juvenile, Jun 12)
• Kids: The Glass Sentence (The Mapmakers Trilogy) by S. E. Grove (Viking Children’s, Jun 12, 2014) — reviewed positively in both the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, drawing comparisons to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials
• 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)
• Sekabo by Richard Woolley (Thames River Press, June 16)
• The Line Book One: Carrier by Anne Tibbets (Carina Press, Jun 16)
• Chasers of the Wind by Alexey Pehov (Tor, June 17) – Fantasy novel, first book in a new series, loosely related to the author’s earlier “Chronicles of Siala” trilogy. (via Locus Online)
• Haxan by Kenneth Mark Hoover (ChiZine, June 17) — “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 White Towers: Book 2 of The Rage of Kings by Andy Remic (Angry Robot, Jun 17, 2014)
• Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis (Amulet, Jun 17, 2014) — excerpt up at Abrams
• Flight of the Golden Harpy by Susan Klaus (Tor Books, June 17) — “Young adult SF novel, the author’s first novel, about human colonists on a planet whose feral “harpies” are hunted as dangerous animals.” (via Locus Online)
• Collection: Irregular Verbs and Other Stories by Matthew Johnson (ChiZine Publications, Jun 17) — subject of a recent Big Idea on Scalzi’s Whatever blog
• Teen: Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolamore (Disney Hyperion, Jun 17, 2014)

• Teen: Graduation Day: The Testing, Book 3 By Joelle Charbonneau, Narrated By Elizabeth Morton for Recorded Books (Jun 18)
• Related Non-Fiction: Science Fiction, Alien Encounters, and the Ethics of Posthumanism: Beyond the Golden Rule by Elana Gomel (Palgrave Macmillan, June 18)
• Short: The Breath of Heaven: Stories from Distant Worlds By Nancy Fulda, Narrated By Marguerite Kenner (Jun 18)
• Mystery: The Silkworm by J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith (June 19) — “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.” -- read by Robert Glenister
• Barricade by Jon Wallace (Gollancz, Jun 19)
• The Country of Ice Cream Star by Sandra Newman (Chatto & Windus, 19 Jun 2014) — UK release, with Canada release coming in July and US release not until 2015 from Ecco — “In the ruins of a future America, fifteen-year-old Ice Cream Star and her people survive by scavenging in the detritus of an abandoned civilization. Theirs is a world of children – by the time they reach twenty, each of them will die from a disease they call posies. When her brother sickens, Ice Cream sets out on the trail of a cure, led by a stranger whose intentions remain unclear. It’s a quest that will lead her to love and heartbreak, to captivity and to a nation’s throne, and ultimately into a war that threatens to doom everyone she loves.“
• Short: The Face in the Window: A Powder Mage Short Story By Brian McClellan, Narrated By Daniel Dorse (Jun 19)
• Mammals by James Robert Herndon (Omnidawn, June 23) — a 40-page chapter book, winner of the Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Contest – “A unique tale of love, commitment and redemption. In Mammals, an orphaned teenager sent to juvenile detention because of a violent crime becomes part of an odd experiment to see if he can learn about compassion and also teach it to another living creature. The story displays sensitivity without sentimentality and a sense of the strange that is grounded in very real emotions. A thoughtful and unusual gem.” (Jeff VanderMeer, City of Saints and Madmen, and judge for the Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Contest)
• 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)
• The Shadow Master by Craig Cormick (Angry Robot, 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)
• 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.”
• This Perfect Day By Ira Levin, Narrated By Kevin T. Collins (Jun 24)
• 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 (Ace, Jun 24)
• Reckoning, Happily Never After, and Devil to Pay By Jeaniene Frost, Narrated By Tavia Gilbert (Jun 24)
• The Barrow by Mark Smylie, read by Michael Page for Tantor Audio (June 25) — Out in print/ebook in March from Pyr, performed by one of the best in the business of epic fantasy audiobooks: “Action, horror, politics, and sensuality combine in this debut epic fantasy novel set in the world of the Eisner Award-nominsted Artesiacomic books. When a small crew of scoundrels, would-be heroes, deviants, and ruffians discover a map that they believe will lead them to a fabled sword buried in the barrow of a long-dead wizard, they think they’ve struck it rich. But their hopes are dashed when the map turns out to be cursed and then is destroyed in a magical ritual. The loss of the map leaves them dreaming of what might have been, until they rediscover the map in a most unusual and unexpected place.”
• The Spectral Link by Thomas Ligotti (Subterranean, June 30)
• Poetry collection: Songs for Ophelia by Theodora Goss (Papaveria Press, June 30)
• Black Gum Godless Heathen by J David Osborne (Broken River Books, June 2014) — sequel to Low Down Death Right Easy

• 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.”
• 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)
• Ghosts of Time by Steve White (Baen, Jul 1)
• 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…”
• 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.” -- narrated by John Keating for Recorded Books
• Fiction: Submergence By J. M. Ledgard, Narrated By Julian Elfer – Scheduled Release Date: 07-08-14 — 2013 novel from the author of Giraffe: A Novel
• Teen: Earthquake (Earthbound) by Aprilynne Pike (Razorbill and Dreamscape Media, Jul 31, 2014) — part two of a series; read by Hallie Cooper-Novack
• 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)
• 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.” — audiobook coming concurrently, read by Emma Galvin for Hachette Audio (digital) and Dreamscape Media (CD)
• 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)
• 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
• A Grimm Warning: The Land of Stories, Book 3 By Chris Colfer, Narrated By Chris Colfer for Hachette (Jul 8)
• Anthology: The Apex Book of World SF 3 edited by Lavie Tidhar (Apex Books, July 8)
• 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.”
• 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
• Seeders: A Novel by A. J. Colucci (Thomas Dunne, Jul 15, 2014)
• Head Full of Mountains by Brent Hayward (ChiZine, July 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.”
• 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) -- Narrated By Jennifer Ikeda
• 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
• Circle of Reign by Jacob Cooper (July 15) — book one of the Dying Lands Chronicle
• ADDED: Caves of Steel: Robot, Book 1, The Naked Sun: The Robot Series, Book 2, and The Robots of Dawn: The Robot Series, Book 3 By Isaac Asimov, Narrated By William Dufris (Jul 15)
• 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)
• 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)
• Marina By Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Narrated By Daniel Weyman for Hachette (Jul 22)
• 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)
• Jani and the Greater Game by Eric Brown (Solaris, Jul 29, 2014) — “It’s 1910 and the British rule the subcontinent with an iron fist – and with strange technology fueled by a power source known as Annapurnite – discovered in the foothills of Mount Annapurna. But they rule at the constant cost of their enemies, mainly the Russian and the Chinese, attempting to learn the secret of this technology… This political confrontation is known as The Greater Game. Into this conflict is pitched eighteen year old Janisha Chaterjee who discovers a strange device which leads her into the foothills of the Himalayas. When Russians spies and the evil priest Durja Das find out about the device, the chase is on to apprehend Janisha before she can reach the Himalayas. There she will learn the secret behind Annapurnite, and what she learns will change the destiny of the world for ever. Jani and The Greater Game is the first book in a rip-roaring, spice-laden, steampunk action adventure series set in an exotic India and featuring a feisty heroine who subverts all the norms.”
• One Night in Sixes (Children of the Drought) by Arianne ‘Tex’ Thompson (Solaris, 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)
• ADDED: The Winter King by C. L. Wilson (Avon and Harper Audio, Jul 29, 2014) -- epic fantasy romance -- "After three long years of war, starkly handsome Wynter Atrialan will have his vengeance on Summerlea's king by taking one of the man's beautiful, beloved daughters as his bride. But though peace is finally at hand, Wynter's battle with the Ice Heart, the dread power he embraced to avenge his brother's death, rages on." -- Narrated by Heather Wilds
• 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]
• Anthology: Upgraded edited by Neil Clarke (Wyrm Publishing, July 2014) -- "An anthology of original cyborg stories edited by a cyborg. Stronger. Better. Faster. We will rebuild you."
• Collection: The Court of Lies by Mark Teppo (Fairwood Press, July 2014)

• ADDED: Inamorata By Megan Chance, Narrated By David deVries for Brilliance Audio (Aug 1)
• 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 (Doubleday and Dreamscape Media, Aug 5, 2014) — “David, a college student, takes a summer job at a run-down family resort in a dying English resort town. This is against the wishes of his family…because it was at this resort where David’s biological father disappeared fifteen years earlier. But something undeniable has called David there.”
• 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)
• 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)
• ADDED: Inhuman: Post-Human Series, Book 5 By David Simpson, Narrated By Ray Chase (Aug 8)
• 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.”
• Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor, Aug 12, 2014)
• Cursed Moon (Prospero’s War) by Jaye Wells (Orbit, Aug 12, 2014)
• ADDED: The Atlantis World: The Origin Mystery, Book 3 By A.G. Riddle, Narrated By Stephen Bel Davies (Aug 12)
• 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 Are All Completely Fine by Daryl Gregory (Tachyon, Aug 15) — “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.”
• We Will All Go Down Together by Gemma Files (ChiZine, 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.”
• 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.
• The Ripper Affair by Lilith Saintcrow (Orbit, Aug 19)
• Visions: A Cainsville Novel by Armstrong, Kelley (Aug 19, 2014)
• Echopraxia by Peter Watts (Tor Books and Dreamscape Media, August 26, 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 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; a starred review from Publishers Weekly says: “Hugo-winner Scalzi (Redshirts) successfully shifts away from space opera with this smart, thoughtful near-future thriller resonant with the themes of freedom, ethics, and corporate greed… This powerful novel will intrigue and entertain both fans and newcomers.”
• The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, Book 1) by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot, Aug 26, 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 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)
• World of Fire by James Lovegrove (Solaris, Aug 26, 2014)
• Anthology: Solaris Rising 3: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction by Aliette de Bodard, Adam Roberts, Ken Liu and Ian Whates (Solaris, 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.”

• 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.
• Grudgebearer (THE GRUDGEBEARER TRILOGY) by J.F. Lewis (Pyr, Sep 2, 2014) — “Kholster is the first born of the practically immortal Aern, a race created by the Eldrennai as warrior-slaves to defend them from the magic-resistant reptilian Zaur.  Unable to break an oath without breaking their connection with each other, the Aern served the Eldrennai faithfully for thousands of years until the Sundering. Now, the Aern, Vael, and Eldrennai meet every hundred years for a Grand Conjunction to renew their tenuous peace.”
• 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)
• ADDED: Fiction: The Mathematician's Shiva: A Novel by Stuart Rojstaczer (Penguin, Sep 2, 2014) -- "Alexander "Sasha" Karnokovitch and his family would like to mourn the passing of his mother, Rachela, with modesty and dignity. But Rachela, a famous Polish émigré mathematician and professor at the University of Wisconsin, is rumored to have solved the million-dollar, Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem. Rumor also has it that she spitefully took the solution to her grave. To Sasha's chagrin, a ragtag group of socially challenged mathematicians arrives in Madison and crashes the shiva, vowing to do whatever it takes to find the solution--even if it means prying up the floorboards for Rachela's notes."
• Thriller: Seven Wonders by Ben Mezrich (Running Press, Sep 2, 2014) — via Scalzi’s Books and ARCs roundup
• Anthology: Zombies: More Recent Dead by Mike Carey, Paula Guran, Jay Wilburn and Neil Gaiman (Prime Books, Sep 3, 2014)
• 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
• NEWLY ADDED: Fiction: The Family Hightower: A Novel by Brian Francis Slattery (Seven Stories Press, Sep 9, 2014) -- "a Ukrainian-American Godfather" from the author of Spaceman Blues, Liberation, and the Philip K. Dick Award winning Lost Everything
• Collection: After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones (Dark House Press, Sep 9, 2014)
• Sword of the Bright Lady (WORLD OF PRIME) by M.C. Planck (Pyr, Sep 9, 2014) — “Christopher Sinclair goes out for a walk on a mild Arizona evening and never comes back. He stumbles into a freezing winter under an impossible night sky, where magic is real — but bought at a terrible price.”
• 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.”
• 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
• Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress (Tachyon, Sep 15) — “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?”
• 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
• ADDED: The Clockwork Dagger: A Novel by Beth Cato (Harper Voyager, Sep 16, 2014) -- "Orphaned as a child, Octavia Leander was doomed to grow up on the streets until Miss Percival saved her and taught her to become a medician. Gifted with incredible powers, the young healer is about to embark on her first mission, visiting suffering cities in the far reaches of the war-scarred realm. But the airship on which she is traveling is plagued by a series of strange and disturbing occurrences, including murder, and Octavia herself is threatened."
• 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.”
• Rooms by Lauren Oliver (Ecco, Sep 23) — adult debut from best-selling YA author, in the vein of The Ocean at the End of the Lane
• 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 and Dreamscape Media, 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 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.”
• Collection: Bitter Waters by Chaz Brenchley (Lethe Press, Autumn 2014) — with an introduction by Geoff Ryman

• 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)
• Collection: Unseaming by Mike Allen (Antimatter Press, Oct. 7, 2014) – with an introduction by Laird Barron: “Mike Allen has put together a first class collection of horror and dark fantasy. Unseaming burns bright as hell among its peers.”
• 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)
• Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Oct 14) — “In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last–a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more.”
• 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)
• Anthology: The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen edited by Ellen Datlow (Tachyon, 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.”
• Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn’t Fly by Stephen Graham Jones and Paul Tremblay (ChiZine, Oct 21, 2014) — US release, out in Canada in May — “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!”
• The Door in the Mountain by Caitlin Sweet (Oct 21, ChiTeen) — US release, out in Canada in May — “The Greece of The Door in the Mountain (Book 1 of a two-part series) is a place where children are marked by gods and goddesses; a place where a manipulative, bitter princess named Ariadne devises a mountain prison for her hated half-brother, where a boy named Icarus tries, and fails, to fly, and a slave girl changes the paths of all their lives forever.”
• 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. “
• 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
• Fiction: 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)”
• 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.”

• 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.”
• 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.”
• Lowball: A Wild Cards Novel edited by George R.R. Martin (Tor, Nov 4) — the 22nd Wild Cards book! with: “The Big Bleed” by Michael Cassutt; “Those About to Die” by David Anthony Durham; “Galahad in Blue” by Melinda M. Snodgrass; “Ties That Bind” by Mary Anne Mohanraj; “Cry Wolf” by David D. Levine; “Road Kill” by Walter Jon Williams; “Once More, for Old Time’s Sake” by Carrie Vaughn; “No Parking…” by Ian Tregillis
• 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.”
• A Dance of Ghosts (Shadowdance) by David Dalglish (Orbit, Nov 11, 2014)
• Chaos Unleashed by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey, Nov 11)
• The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars) by Ian Tregillis (Orbit, Nov 18, 2014)
• 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)
• City of Eternal Night (Crescent City) by Kristen Painter (Orbit, Dec 2, 2014)
• Vacant: A Mindspace Investigations Novel by Alex Hughes (Roc, Dec 2, 2014)
• The Beating of His Wings by Paul Hoffman (Dec 2, 2014) — US release for the final installment of Hoffman’s The Left Hand of God trilogy
• 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)
• The Cendrillon Cycle by Stephanie Ricker (Dec 21, 2014) — “I’m extremely pleased to announce that if you enjoy the world of A Cinder’s Tale, you’ll have the chance to explore that universe further in The Cendrillon Cycle, a series of novellas recounting the past and future adventures of Elsa, Karl, Bruno, and the rest of the cinder crew.”
• Anthology: The End is Now: The Apocalypse Triptych #2 edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey (December 2014) — via io9

• 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.”
• 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)
• 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)
• Teen: Fairest by Melissa Meyer (Macmillan, Jan 27) — a prequel to Cinderin her The Lunar Chronicles series
• ADDED: Teen: A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd (Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins, January 27, 2015) -- the final book in the Madman’s Daughter series
• City of Savages by Lee Kelly (Simon & Schuster/SAGA, Feb 3, 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)
• The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan (Orbit, Feb 10, 2015)
• Persona by Genevieve Valentine (Simon & Schuster/SAGA, 3/10/15) — “When Suyana, Face of the United Amazonia Rainforest Confederation, secretly meets Ethan of the United States for a date that can solidify a relationship for the struggling UARC, the last thing she expects is an assassination attempt. Daniel, a teen runaway-turned-paparazzi out for his big break, witnesses the first shot hit Suyana, and before he can think about it, he jumps into the fray, telling himself it’s not altruism, it’s the scoop. Just like that, Suyana and Daniel are now in the game of Faces. And if they lose, they’ll die.”
•  The Darkside War by Zachary Brown (Simon & Schuster/SAGA, 3/17/15) — “People used to wonder if we were alone in the universe. Well, we’re not. Not by a long shot. Aliens come in all shapes and sizes, and even the good guys are likely to haunt your nightmares. And oh, you’ll have nightmares, even after you leave the service. If you leave the service.”
• The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu (Simon & Schuster/SAGA, 4/7/15) — “Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, soaring battle kites, conspiring goddesses, underwater boats, magical books, as a streetfighter-cum-general who takes her place as the greatest tactitian of the age. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.”
• 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 a better world, adjoa andoh, alastair reynolds, bears discover fire, cherie priest, cibola burn, erik davies, gardner dozois, george rr martin, gillian flynn, james sa corey, janis ian, joe abercrombie, joe barrett, kevin hearne, kirby heyborne, lauren owen, luke daniels, marcus sakey, megan abbott, michael fenton-stevens, neil gaiman, on the steel breeze, patrick rothfuss, rogues, roy dotrice, scott meyer, shattered, simon slater, skyboat media, spell or high water, stefan rudnicki, stephen baxter, terry bisson, terry pratchett, the fever, the iron druid chronicles, the long mars, the quick