Release Week(s): Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, Graham Joyce's The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit, Robin Hobb's Fool's Assassin, Charles Gannon's Fire With Fire, Ekaterina Sedia's Heart of Iron, John Shirley's Everything is Broken, Jacob Cooper's Circle of Reign, and just a ridiculous all-star cast reads R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt stories (for free)

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Release Week(s): Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, Graham Joyce's The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit, Robin Hobb's Fool's Assassin, Charles Gannon's Fire With Fire, Ekaterina Sedia's Heart of Iron, John Shirley's Everything is Broken, Jacob Cooper's Circle of Reign, and just a ridiculous all-star cast reads R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt stories (for free)

Posted on 2014-08-26 at 03:17 by Sam

AUGUST 6-19, 2014: Another two-weeks-worth of roundup here, with new books from Murakami, Joyce, and Hobb, backlist Sedia, Shirley, and Gannon, and highly notable epic fantasy audio from the completely unexpected to the completely unprecedented. Yup. And there’s a long list of “also out this week” titles of note including (at least) Sean Platt and David Wright’s Yesterday’s Gone from Podium Publishing, Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett’s Point of Dreams, J.G. Ballard’s The Drought, The Atrocity Exhibition, and The Crystal World, R.A. MacAvoy’s Death and Resurrection, Sarah Creech’s Season of the Dragonflies, AG Riddle’s The Atlantis World, Michael Mather’s The Dystopia Chronicles, Richard Phillips’ Once Dead, Drew Karpyshyn’s The Scorched Earth,  Charles Beaumont’s horror collection The Hunger and Other Stories, Bernard Malamud’s God’s Grace, and Brazilian author Cristovao Tezza’s 1998 Machado de Assis Award winning Brief Space Between Color and Shade in English for the first time. The “seen but not heard” listings aren’t short on books to check out, either, including Brent Hayward’s Head Full of Mountains, Benjanun Sriduangkaew’s Scale-Bright, Patrick Swenson’s Ultra Thin Man, Nick Cole’s Soda Pop Soldier, John Hornor Jacobs’ The Incorruptibles, Ben Peek’s The Godless, and Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine. Lastly, some casting news to pass along: Brad Torgersen announced that George Newbern (fantastic on Tad Williams’ Bobby Dollar audiobooks) will narrate his debut novel The Chaplain’s War for Audible. Whew! Next week — er, tomorrow — is set to be a big one, and the September 2 crop is another epic haul, so: Happy listening!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his Years of Pilgrimage | [Haruki Murakami, Philip Gabriel (translator)] 

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 with ridiculous numbers sold pretty much instantly, the US reviews have been a bit more mixed. Patti Smith praised the novel for the NY Times, but TIME magazine’s Lev Grossman was left feeling a bit more lukewarm. (Here I must note the fairly incredible coincidence that Murakami’s latest has just dethroned Grossman’s latest as the NY Times #1 hardcover bestseller. Ah, the live of a critic/novelist.) What’s it about? Is it one in his fiction mode (Norwegian Wood) or more along the lines of his weirder, alternate worlds, strangely fantasy books? Weighted much towards the former, but with some nods — in the form of dreams — to the latter. “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.” Narrated by Bruce Locke for Random House Audio, a performance which both appears to be Locke’s first, and which has been getting some fairly mixed reviews of its own for the use of an accent in dialogue, though mostly weighted on the positive and which (to me) help convey the flat, colorless affect of our hapless Tsukuru. Get: [Downpour | Audible | IndieBound | Overdrive | Kobo | Kindle]

The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit by Graham Joyce (Doubleday, Aug 5 and Dreamscape Media, Aug 19, 2014) is the incredibly talented Joyce’s latest novel, after the World Fantasy Award nominated The Silent Land and the slightly less-appealing follow-up Some Kind of Fairy Tale. While his past two were narrated by John Lee, here Dreamscape has tapped Gildart Jackson, who performs admirably as “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.” Like Murakami, Joyce often straddles the line between the mystical and the real; here he comes down a little more decisively on the mystical than Murakami has with Tsukuru (above). Get: [Downpour | Audible | IndieBound | Overdrive | Kobo | Kindle]

Fool's Assassin: Book One of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy | [Robin Hobb] Fire with Fire: Caine Riordan, Book 1 | [Charles E. Gannon]

Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (Del Rey, Aug 12, 2014) and narrated by Elliot Hill for Random House Audio — Series: Fitz and the Fool, Book 1 — “FitzChivalry - royal bastard and former king’s assassin - has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire. Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past…and his future.” Also out is Fool’s Fate: The Tawny Man, Book 3, Narrated By James Langton for Brilliance Audio. Get: [Downpour | Audible | IndieBound | Overdrive | Kobo | Kindle]

Fire with Fire: Caine Riordan, Book 1 and Trial by Fire: Caine Riordan, Book 2 By Charles E. Gannon, Narrated By Kevin Pariseau for Audible. Published last year in print/ebook by Baen, Fire with Fire was nominated for a Nebula Award, and is out in audio concurrent with the print/ebook/audio release of Trial by Fire. A near-future story of space and conspiracy: “2105, September: Intelligence Analyst Caine Riordan uncovers a conspiracy on Earth’s Moon - a history-making clandestine project - and ends up involuntarily cryocelled for his troubles. Twelve years later, Riordan awakens to a changed world. Humanity has achieved faster-than-light travel and is pioneering nearby star systems. And now, Riordan is compelled to become an inadvertent agent of conspiracy himself. Riordan’s mission: travel to a newly settled world and investigate whether a primitive local species was once sentient - enough so to have built a lost civilization.”

Heart of Iron | [Ekaterina Sedia] Everything Is Broken | [John Shirley]

Heart of Iron By Ekaterina Sedia, Narrated By Caroline Shaffer for Audible — “In a Russia where the Decembrists’ rebellion was successful and the Trans-Siberian railroad was completed before 1854, Sasha Trubetskaya wants nothing more than to have a decent debut ball in St. Petersburg. But her aunt’s feud with the emperor lands Sasha at university, where she becomes one of its first female students - an experiment, she suspects, designed more to prove female unsuitability for such pursuits than offer them education.” First published by Prime Books in 2011.

Everything Is Broken By John Shirley, Narrated By Michael Goldstrom for Audible — “Twenty-year-old Russ arrives in the northern California town of Freedom to visit his dad. Freedom has peculiarities other than its odd name: the local mayor’s ideas of “decentralization” have left it without normal connections to state or federal government and minimal public services. Russ meets an interesting young woman, Pendra, but before he can get to know much about Freedom or its people, a savage tsunami strikes the West Coast.” First published in 2011 (ebook) and 2012 (print) by Prime Books as well.

Circle of Reign: The Dying Lands Chronicle, Book 1 | [Jacob Cooper] Free: The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories | [R. A. Salvatore]

Lastly, two epic fantasy releases that I really did not see coming. At all. I’ll start with a self-published book that popped up from time to time in my Facebook feed, Circle of Reign by Jacob Cooper. It was a fairly sophisticated marketing push, and more than I usually see for a self-published epic fantasy, and after noting it in the “seen but not heard” listings in July I thought I wouldn’t have much opportunity to revisit it. I was pretty much blown away when I saw the (also self-published via ACX) audiobook was narrated by Michael Kramer. My thoughts were: “Wow!! An indie audio release with one of the biggest names in epic fantasy narration — Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn and Stormlight Archive — where did this come from?” Listening to the sample and then getting further into the book, it’s definitely worth checking out, particularly at the Whispersync deal-level price of $3.99+$1.99, and it’s easy to see why fans of Jordan and Sanderson, clamoring for more, are doing so.

And then there’s the free — through September 20 — collection of R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt stories, The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories, read by “An All-Star Cast”. Who, you may ask? Oh, you know. The usuals. Ice-T. Sean Astin. Al Yankovic. Michael Chiklis. David Duchovny. And: Wil Wheaton, Felicia Day, Dan Harmon, Greg Grunberg, Tom Felton, Danny Pudi, and Melissa Rauch. It’s pretty much ridiculous. Now, I grew up with the Drizzt books, first the Crystal Shard trilogy and then the Dark Elf trilogy, and on and on. These stories are pretty much all standalone, slotting in all over the map in space and time. And some thought went into the casting as well, with Ice-T’s disaffected exile a pretty solid turn, and Sean Astin bringing some big screen epic fantasy sidekick weight to his narration on an Entreri/Jarlaxle story. Felicia Day’s performance is one of the most dynamic, and Wheaton gets the longest turn on Salvatore’s novella of dragon mortality “If Ever They Happened Upon My Lair”. “Weird” Al Yankovic brings humor and levity to his performance, but unfortunately Duchovny’s performance fell a little flat for me. All the stories are available individually, if for some reason you really don’t want to just pick up the whole thing. Did I mention free? More: Salvatore’s IAmA mass interview on reddit.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Point of Dreams: A Novel of Astreiant: Astreiant, Book 2 | [Melissa Scott, Lisa A. Barnett] Brief Space Between Color and Shade | [Cristovão Tezza, Alan R. Clarke (translator)]

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

Scale-Bright The Incorruptibles

  • Anthology: Fantastic Stories Presents: Science Fiction Super Pack #1 edited by Warren Lapine (Positronic Publishing, August 2014) -- "Included in one massive volume are thirty-seven stories by some of the greatest science fiction writers who ever lived as well as many new up and coming authors."
  • Anthology: Fantastic Stories Presents: Fantasy Super Pack #1 edited by Warren Lapine (Positronic Publishing, August 2014) -- "This super pack contains thirty-four wonderful tales of fantasy" including reprints from Robert E. Howard, James Blish, Frederik Pohl, Fritz Leiber, and Philip Jose Farmer and original fiction from Paul Kincaid
  • Collection: How a Mother Weaned Her Girl from Fairy Tales by Kate Bernheimer (Coffee House Press, August 2014)
  • Head Full of Mountains by Brent Hayward (ChiZine, August 8, 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.” — [The Star]
  • Scale-Bright by Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Immersion Press, 8 Aug 2014) -- "Julienne's aunts are the archer who shot down the suns and the woman who lives on the moon. They teach her that there's more to the city of her birth than meets the eye - that beneath the modern chrome and glass of Hong Kong there are demons, gods, and the seethe of ancient feuds. As a mortal Julienne is to give them wide berth, for unlike her divine aunts she is painfully vulnerable, and choice prey for any demon. Until one day, she comes across a wounded, bleeding woman no one else can see, and is drawn into an old, old story of love, snake women, and the deathless monk who hunts them."
  • Fortune’s Favors (Nyx Fortuna) by Marlene Perez (Orbit, Aug 12, 2014) -- "The end always comes at a price... To save his cousin Claire, Nyx Fortuna was forced to release the goddess Hecate. Free and bent on destroying the world, Hecate will kill anyone that gets in her way... starting with every member of the Wyrd family."
  • 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.”
  • Soda Pop Soldier: A Novel by Nick Cole (Harper Voyager, Aug 12, 2014) — “Call of Duty meets Diablo in this fast-paced, action-packed novel from the author of The Wasteland Saga.”
  • Black Ice (Midgard) by Susan Krinard (Tor, Aug 12, 2014) -- "Urban fantasy novel, second in a series after Mist (2013), about a San Francisco woman who discovers her boyfriend is Loki and that she’s a Valkyrie." (via Locus Online)
  • The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero (Doubleday, Aug 14, 2014) -- "When twentysomething A., the European relative of the Wells family, inherits a beautiful, yet eerie, estate set deep in the woods of Point Bless, Virginia, it comes as a surprise to everyone—including A. himself. After all, he never knew he had a "second cousin, twice removed" in America, much less that his eccentric relative had recently committed suicide by jumping out of the third floor bedroom window—at the same age and in the same way as his father had before him . . ."
  • The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs (Gollancz, Aug 14, 2014) — latest novel from the author of Southern Gods, This Dark Earth, and The Twelve-Fingered Boy — “In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way up stream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it – from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do. In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes them untouchable. They are wrong. And with them is a mysterious, beautiful young woman, who is the key to peace between warring nations and survival for the Empire. When a callow mercenary saves the life of the Governor on an ill-fated hunting party, the two groups are thrown together. For Fisk and Shoe – two tough, honourable mercenaries surrounded by corruption, who know they can always and only rely on each other – their young companion appears to be playing with fire.”
  • Fiction: 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.” -- coming to Audio Sep 23 from Dreamscape
  • 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.”
  • 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.”
  • Kids: The League of Seven by Alan Gratz and Brett Helquist (Tor/Starscape, Aug 19, 2014) -- "Middle-grade steampunk adventure novel, first in a series, set in an alternate 1875 America." (via Locus Online)
COMING SOON:

 The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, #1) Lock In | [John Scalzi] Lock In | [John Scalzi]

  • Zydeco Queen and the Creole Fairy Courts By Leah Cutter, Narrated By Robin Miles for Audible (Aug 20)
  • Short: Industrial Revolution By Poul Anderson, Narrated By Tom Weiss (Aug 20)
  • Collection: Harry Harrison: Selected Sci-Fi Stories By Harry Harrison, Narrated By Jim Roberts (Aug 20)
  • Related Non-Fiction: Like Tears in Rain: Meditations on Science Fiction Cinema by Alex Kane (Aug 20, 2014)
  • ADDED: The Monster's Wife by Horsley Kate (Barbican Press, Aug 21, 2014) -- "A startling new sequel to Mary Shelley’s classic novel Frankenstein. Told from the perspective of the girl Victor Frankenstein transformed into a Bride for his monster."
  • Cast in Flame: Chronicles of Elantra Series, Book 10 By Michelle Sagara, Narrated By Khristine Hvam for Tantor (Aug 21)
  • Dire Blood: The Descent Series, Book 5 By S M Reine, Narrated By Kate Udall for Red Iris (Aug 21)
  • Mega 2: Baja Blood By Jake Bible, Narrated By Lee Strayer (Aug 21)
  • Short: Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love By Mercedes M. Yardley, Narrated By Jorjeana Marie (Aug 21)
  • The Grendel Affair By Lisa Shearin, Narrated By Johanna Parker for Audible Studios (Aug 25)
  • A Rage for Revenge By David Gerrold, Narrated By John Pruden for Audible (Aug 25)
  • 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.” [Overdrive]
  • The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3) by Brent Weeks (Orbit, August 26, 2014) -- there's also a new pronunciation guide read by Simon Vance
  • 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.” — coming in two audio editions, one read by Wil Wheaton and the other by Amber Benson; there’s a special pre-order deal for pre-ordering either edition which gives you the other edition (through Aug 22) [Kobo]
  • The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, Book 1) by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot and Audible, 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.” Per Hurley’s recent FAQ there is an Audible edition forthcoming!
  • The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter by Rod Duncan (Angry Robot, Aug 26) — book one of a new duology — “Elizabeth Barnabus lives a double life – as herself and as her brother, the private detective. She is trying to solve the mystery of a disappearing aristocrat and a hoard of arcane machines. In her way stand the rogues, freaks and self-proclaimed alchemists of a travelling circus.”
  • The Getaway God (Sandman Slim) by Richard Kadrey (Aug 26, 2014) – Narrated By MacLeod Andrews
  • The Hot Zone: A Rainshadow Novel, Book 3 By Jayne Castle, Narrated By Barbara Rosenblat for Recorded Books (Aug 26)
  • Voices from Beyond (A Ghost Finders Novel) by Simon R. Green (Ace and Recorded Books, 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.” -- narrated by Tim Reynolds
  • Greenglass House by Milford, Kate and Zollars, Jaime (Aug 26, 2014)
  • World of Fire by James Lovegrove (Solaris, Aug 26, 2014)
  • ADDED: Unborn: Unborn, Book 1 By Amber Lynn Natusch, Narrated By Angela Dawe for Brilliance Audio (Aug 26)
  • ADDED: The Lore of the Evermen: The Evermen Saga, Book 4 By James Maxwell, Narrated By Simon Vance for Brilliance Audio (Aug 26)
  • Short: I Will Hold My Death Close: The Zombie Bible By Stant Litore, Narrated ByAmy McFadden for Brilliance Audio (Aug 26)
  • 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)
  • Fiction: The Miniaturist By Jessie Burton, Narrated By Davina Porter for HarperAudio (Aug 26) — [Overdrive]
  • 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.”
  • Anthology: A Mountain Walked edited by S.T. Joshi (Centipede Press, August 2014) — “an oversize anthology with almost 700 pages. S.T. Joshi has selected the best of the reprinted Cthulhu Mythos stories and combined them with over a dozen new works written just for this anthology. This book has over 25 stories, including new stories by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., Donald Tyson, Cody Goodfellow, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Jonathan Thomas, Laird Barron, Michael Shea, Patrick McGrath, Mark Samuels, Gemma Files, and others. The book also has new artwork by David Ho, John Kenn Mortensen, Drazen Kozjan, Denis Tiani, and Thomas Ott.”
  • Collection: Blood Spatters Quicky by Edward D. Wood, Jr. (OR Books, August 2014) — “Wood died in 1978, but the legacy of the director of “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” “Glen or Glenda,” “Jail Bait” and so many other beloved screen classics has only grown in importance. Wood speaks—not least for himself—as one of America’s “outsiders” caught up in the struggle to find acceptance inside—and never more directly than in the material in this book.”
  • Say Anything But Your Prayers by Alan M. Clark (Lazy Fascist Press, August 2014)
  • Anthology: Upgraded edited by Neil Clarke (Wyrm Publishing, August 2014) — “An anthology of original cyborg stories edited by a cyborg. Stronger. Better. Faster. We will rebuild you.”
  • Anthology: Fantastic Stories Presents: Fantasy Super Pack #1 edited by Warren Lapine (Fantastic Stories, August 2014) — original and reprint stories from Frederik Pohl, Ada Milenkovic Brown, David Niall Wilson, Paul Kincaid, Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, and many more
  • The Last Projector by David James Keaton (Broken River Books, August 2014) — “In this hysterical fever dream of a novel, meet an unhinged paramedic turned porn director uprooted from an ever-shifting ’80s fantasy. Discover a crime that circles back through time to a far-reaching cover-up in the back of an ambulance. Reveal a manic tattoo obsession and how it conspires to ruin the integrity of a story and corrupt identity itself. Unravel the mystery surrounding three generations of women and the one secret they share. And follow two amateur terrorists, whose unlikely love story rushes headlong toward a drive-in apocalypse.”
SEPTEMBER 2014:

acceptanceanimation14 

  • The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Series) by Charlie N. Holmberg(47North and Brilliance Audio, Sep 1, 2014) — debut novel already topping the Kindle best-seller charts a month ahead of publication: “Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.”
  • Crime: A Cold and Broken Hallelujah (Long Beach Homicide) by Tyler Dilts(Sep 1, 2014)
  • Kids: The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Books for Young Readers, Sep 1) — “In a story of an unexpected hero, a thief’s daughter, and some very tricky magic, Barnhill weaves a powerful narrative about the small tragedies that happen when parents fail their children, even with the best intentions.”
  • Acceptance: A Novel (The Southern Reach Trilogy) by Jeff VanderMeer (FSG Originals, Sep 2, 2014) — the concluding third book of VanderMeer’s fantastic Southern Reach trilogy after Annihilation and Authority – “It is winter in Area X. A new team embarks across the border on a mission to find a member of a previous expedition who may have been left behind. As they press deeper into the unknown—navigating new terrain and new challenges—the threat to the outside world becomes more daunting. In Acceptance, the last installment of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may have been solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound—or terrifying.” -- read by Xe Sands, Bronson Pinchot, and Carolyn McCormick for Blackstone Audio
  • 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.
  • The Winter Long (October Daye, #8) by Seanan McGuire (September 2, 2014)
  • The Future for Curious People By Gregory Sherl (with Julianna Baggott), Narrated By Heather Corrigan, Justin Torres (Algonquin Books and HighBridge Audio, Sep 2) — “follows Evelyn and Godfrey’s soon-to-be-entwined lives, set in motion by the fabulist premise of a world with envisionists like Dr. Chin. In struggling with their pasts and possible futures, the characters encounter the mysteries of sorrow, love, death, and fate. It’s a story that will capture you with its brightness, its hopefulness, its anxious twists and turns. It is a love story that is ultimately a statement about happiness and how to accept our fleeting existence.” [Overdrive] [More]
  • 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 Magic Half by Annie Barrows, read by Cris Dukeheart for Dreamscape Audio (Sep 2) — “Miri is the non-twin child in a family with two sets of them – older brothers and younger sisters. The family has just moved to an old farmhouse in a new town, where the only good thing seems to be Miri’s ten-sided attic bedroom. But when Miri gets sent to her room after accidentally bashing her big brother on the head with a shovel, she finds herself in the same room…only not quite. Without meaning to, she has found a way to travel back in time to 1935 where she discovers Molly, a girl her own age very much in need of a loving family.”
  • The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (Ace Trade and Audible Studios, 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.” — Narrated By Julian Elfer
  • Spells at the Crossroads by Barbara Ashford (DAW, September 2)
  • A New Dawn: Star Wars By John Jackson Miller, Narrated By Marc Thompson (Sep 2)
  • Non-Fiction: What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Monroe, read by Wil Wheaton (Blackstone Audio, Sep 2) — “From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd comes this hilarious and informative book of answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.”
  • 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.” — narrated by Johanna Parker and Roger Wayne for Tantor Audio
  • 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)
  • Collection: Stories of the Raksura, Book 1 By Martha Wells, Narrated By Christopher Kipiniak (Sep 2)
  • Teen: Heir of Fire: Throne of Glass, Book 3 By Sarah J. Maas, Narrated By Elizabeth Evans (Sep 2)
  • 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.”
  • ADDED: Son of No One: Dark-Hunter, Book 18 By Sherrilyn Kenyon, Narrated By Holter Graham (Sep 2)
  • 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)
  • Reapers: Breakers, Book 4 By Edward W. Robertson, Narrated By Ray Chase for Podium Publishing (Sep 5)
  • ADDED: Hatch By James Stevens, Narrated By Tim Bruce for Podium Publishing (Sep 5)
  • ADDED: Wielder's Awakening: Wielder Trilogy: Book One By T. B. Christensen, Narrated By Malk Williams for Podium Publishing (Sep 5)
  • ADDED: Hellifax: Mountain Man, Book 3 By Keith C. Blackmore, Narrated By R. C. Bray for Podium Publishing (Sep 5)
  • The Spire by William Golding (1964), read by Benedict Cumberbatch (Sep 7) — “The actor Benedict Cumberbatch is to narrate the first ever unabridged recording of William Golding‘s vision of an immense spire erected on a cathedral.”
  • 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 — Narrated ByAlma Cuervo
  • 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
  • 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)
  • Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf and Random House Audio, Sep 9) — “Station Eleven is Millionsstaff writer Emily St. John Mandel’s fourth novel, and if pre-publication buzz is any indication, it’s her best, most ambitious work yet. Post-apocalyptic tales are all the rage this season, but Mandel’s intricate plotting and deftness with drawing character makes this novel of interlinked tales stand out as a beguiling read. Beginning with the onslaught of the deadly Georgian flu and the death of a famous actor onstage, and advancing twenty years into the future to a traveling troupe of Shakespearean actors who perform for the few remaining survivors, the novel sits with darkness while searching for the beauty in art and human connection.” (via The Millions) — Narrated By Kirsten Potter
  • YA anthology: Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales by Various, Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant (Candlewick, Sep 9, 2014) — reviewed positively by Kirkus
  • Collection: Lovely, Dark, Deep by Joyce Carol Oates (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) — Narrated By Marguerite Gavin
  • 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) — Narrated By Emily Rankin
  • Hieroglyph: Stories and Blueprints for a Better Future by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow, September 9) — in reference to Stephenson’s “Hieroglyph” challenge/project, to inspire tech and science research with grand sf stories — Narrated By Danny Campbell, Cassandra Campbell
  • ADDED: Vampires of Manhattan: The New Blue Bloods Coven By Melissa de la Cruz, Narrated By MacLeod Andrews (Sep 9)
  • ADDED: And After: Until the End of the World, Book 2 and So Long, Lollipops: The FREE Until The End of the World Novella By Sarah Lyons Fleming, Narrated By Julia Whelan for Podium Publishing (Sep 12)
  • 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?”
  • Wolf in White Van: A Novel by John Darnielle (FSG, Sep 16, 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.”
  • Gifts for the One Who Comes After by Helen Marshall (ChiZine, Sep 16, 2014)
  • They Do the Same Things Different There by Robert Shearman (ChiZine, Sep 16, 2014)
  • 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
  • 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)
  • Collection: Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood (Nan. A. Talese, Sep 16) — “Some fans will remember well the titular story in Atwood’s forthcoming collection, which was published in the New Yorker in December of 2011, and which begins, in Atwood’s typical-wonderful droll fashion: “At the outset, Verna had not intended to kill anyone.” With this collection, according to the jacket copy, “Margaret Atwood ventures into the shadowland earlier explored by fabulists and concoctors of dark yarns such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Daphne du Maurier and Arthur Conan Doyle…” If you aren’t planning to read this book, it means you like boring stuff.” (via The Millions)
  • 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.”
  • ADDED: Shadow of the Ancients (Secret of JI) by Pierre Grimbert and translated by Matt Ross (Amazon Crossing, Sep 23, 2014) -- 3rd volume in the new English translations of this best-selling and prize-winning French epic fantasy series
  • 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)
  • Gordon R. Dickson‘s Dragon Knight series, narrated by Paul Boehmer: The Dragon and the George, The Dragon Knight, The Dragon on the Border, The Dragon, the Earl, and the Troll, The Dragon and the Djinn, The Dragon and the Gnarly King, and The Dragon in Lyonesse as well as The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (Sep 23)
  • Cut Off: Breakers, Book 5 By Edward W. Robertson, Narrated By Ray Chase for Podium Publishing (Sep 26)
  • ADDED: Blood of the Earth: Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 4 By David A. Wells, Narrated By Derek Perkins for Podium Publishing (Sep 26)
  • 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.”
  • We Will All Go Down Together by Gemma Files (ChiZine, Sep 30) — “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.”
  • A Sudden Light: A Novel By Garth Stein (Simon & Schuster Audio, Sep 30) — “When a boy tries to save his parents’ marriage, he uncovers a legacy of family secrets in a coming-of-age ghost story by the author of the internationally best-selling phenomenonThe Art of Racing in the Rain.”
  • Company Town by Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot, Sep 30)
  • The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray (Angry Robot, Sep 30)
  • The Brothers Cabal (Johannes Cabal Novels) by Jonathan L. Howard (Sep 30, 2014)
  • Rise of the King by R.A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast, Sep 30) — “In the second book of the Companions Codex, the latest series in the New York Times best-selling saga of dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden, R.A. Salvatore picks up the storyline of dwarf king Bruenor Battlehammer and his bloody feud with the orc kingdom of Many Arrows.”
  • Fiction collection: The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher: Stories by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt, Sep 30) — “Just this month, Mantel was made a dame; the reigning queen of British fiction, she’s won two of the last five Man Booker Prizes. But Mantel’s ascension to superstardom was long in the making: she is at work on her twelfth novel in a career that’s spanned four decades. This fall sees the publication of her second collection of short stories, set several centuries on from the novels that earned her those Bookers. Her British publisher, Nicholas Pearson, said, ‘Where her last two novels explore how modern England was forged,The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher shows us the country we have become. These stories are Mantel at her observant best.’” (via The Millions)
  • The Gifted Dead by Jenna Black (September 2014) -- "Politics and magic make dangerous bedfellows."
  • 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
  • Anthology: War Stories edited by Jaym Gates and Andrew Liptak (Apex Books, September/October 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]
OCTOBER 2014:

Armada 

  • Fiction: A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Riverhead, Oct 2) — “Marlon James follows his stunning and brutal The Book of Night Women with A Brief History of Seven Killings, which depicts the 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley, “spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters — assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts.” Irvine Welsh calls it ‘an amazing novel of power, corruption and lies. I can’t think of a better one I’ve read this century.’” (via The Millions)
  • 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.”
  • An English Ghost Story by Kim Newman (Titan, Oct 7, 2014) — “A dysfunctional British nuclear family seek a new life away from the big city in the sleepy Somerset countryside. At first their new home, The Hollow, seems to embrace them, creating a rare peace and harmony within the family. But when the house turns on them, it seems to know just how to hurt them the most—threatening to destroy them from the inside out.”
  • Anthology: 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
  • Anthology: Year’s Best Weird Fiction Volume 1 edited by Laird Barron (ChiZine, Oct 7, 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.
  • Scarlet Tides by David Hair (Jo Fletcher, Oct 7, 2014) — US release for this middle book of a trilogy published late last year in the UK — “The Moontide has come, and a scarlet tide of Rondian legions is flooding into the East, slaughtering and pillaging in the name of Emperor Constant. But the Scytale of Corineus, the source of ultimate magical power, has slipped through the emperor’s fingers.”
  • 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) — Narrated By Bernard Setaro Clark
  • Closer to Home: Book One of Herald Spy by Mercedes Lackey (October 7)
  • The Young Elites by Marie Lu (Oct 7, 2014)
  • A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson and Jeff Rovin (Simon451, October 7, 2014) — “first in the EarthEnd trilogy” by the X-Files actress and her co-author Rovin; coming to Simon & Schuster Audio read by Anderson
  • 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.”
  • ADDED: Cursed Bones: Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 5 By David A. Wells, Narrated By Derek Perkins for Podium Publishing (Oct 10)
  • 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.”
  • 300,000,000 by Blake Butler (Harper, Oct 14) — “Blake Butler deploys words like chemicals that merge into phrases, coalescing in alternate existences, with familiar worlds distorted. In Butler’s third novel, There is No Year, a family survives a disease but is still subject to a scourge of infestations and other horrors and mysteries, including a house with secret passageways and the existence of a duplicate “copy family.” Butler began his latest novel, 300,000,000, as a retaliation against the hype surrounding Roberto Bolaño’s 2666. The result? A portrait of American violence, told through the minds of a Manson-like cult figure and the policeman responsible for figuring him out, while tracking a trail of violence and descent into psychosis.” (via The Millions)
  • 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.””
  • Fiction: McGlue (The Fence Modern Prize in Prose) by Ottessa Moshfegh (Oct 14, 2014) — “Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of name or situation or orientation—he may have killed a man. That man may have been his best friend. Intolerable memory accompanies sobriety. A-sail on the high seas of literary tradition, Ottessa Moshfegh gives us a nasty heartless blackguard on a knife-sharp voyage through the fogs of recollection.”
  • The Free by Brian Ruckley (Orbit, Oct 14)
  • Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch (Balzer + Bray, Oct 14, 2014)
  • ADDED: The Trafalgar Gambit: Ark Royal, Book 3 By Christopher G. Nuttall, Narrated By Ralph Lister for Audible (Oct 14)
  • 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)
  • Fish Tails: A Novel by Sheri S. Tepper (Harper Voyager, 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 Man Lies Dreaming by Lavie Tidhar (Hodder & Stoughton, 23 Oct 2014) — “Deep in the heart of history’s most infamous concentration camp, a man lies dreaming. His name is Shomer, and before the war he was a pulp fiction author. Now, to escape the brutal reality of life in Auschwitz, Shomer spends his nights imagining another world – a world where a disgraced former dictator now known only as Wolf ekes out a miserable existence as a low-rent PI in London’s grimiest streets. An extraordinary story of revenge and redemption, A Man Lies Dreaming is the unforgettable testament to the power of imagination.”
  • 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 Slow Regard of Silent Things: A KingKiller Chronicle Novella by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW Hardcover and Penguin Audio, October 28, 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.”
  • 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)
  • The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (Hogarth and Random House Audio, Oct 28) — “Faber’s latest novel – which David Mitchell called his “second masterpiece” after The Crimson Petal and the White – touches on interstellar space travel, cataclysmic events, romantic love, and religious faith. Such broad territory seems befitting for an author claimed simultaneously by the nations of Scotland, Australia, and the Netherlands.” (via The Millions)
  • Talon: The Talon Saga, Book 1 By Julie Kagawa (Oct 28)
  • The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones ByGeorge R. R. Martin, Elio Garcia, Linda Antonsson (Oct 28)
  • Teen: Stone Cold Touch (The Dark Elements) by Jennifer L. Armentrout (Oct 28, 2014)
  • ADDED: The Blood Vivicanti Part 3: Theo By Becket, Narrated By Simone Tetrault for Audible (Oct 31)
  • 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)”
  • Bad Wizard by James Maxey (Antimatter Press, October 2014) — “Dorothy Gale is a reporter for the Kansas Ear investigating Oscar Zoaraster Diggs, the man she met as a child who called himself the Wizard of Oz. Diggs returned from Oz with a balloon stuffed full of high quality emeralds and promptly became the richest man in Kansas. With his winning smile, a gift for gab, and willingness to throw his wealth around, he soon got himself appointed US senator from Kansas, where he became friends with a go-getter named Teddy Roosevelt. Now that Roosevelt is president, Diggs has become the US Secretary of War. Dorothy has discovered that Diggs is overseeing a top secret project to build a fleet of rigid hulled, steerable balloons designed by some German named Count Zeppelin, ostensibly so Roosevelt can expand his quest to make the world safe for democracy. Dorothy suspects Diggs has a darker agenda for his armed aircraft. But proving to her editor that Diggs is planning to invade an invisible island floating over Kansas presents a few difficulties…”
  • Collection: The Nickronomicon by Nick Mamatas (Inssmouth Free Press, Fall/Winter 2014) — collects all of Mamatas’ Lovecraft-inspired fiction into a single volume, including a new, never-before-published novella, titled “On the Occasion of My Retirement.”
NOVEMBER and DECEMBER 2014:
  • Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet (WW Norton, Nov 3) — “After the high hilarity of her satirical early work, Lydia Millet reached new emotional depths in her last three novels. This new novel, concerning the discovery of mermaids and the ensuing scramble to cash in, looks to achieve a new kind of synthesis.” (via The Millions)
  • 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)
  • The Glass Magician (The Paper Magician Series) by Charlie N. Holmberg(47North, Nov 4, 2014)
  • 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.
  • ADDED: Linkershim: Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 6 By David A. Wells, Narrated By Derek Perkins for Podium Publishing (Nov 7)
  • ADDED: No Worse Enemy: The Empire's Corps, Book 2 By Christopher G. Nuttall, Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer for Podium Publishing (Nov 7)
  • Revival: A Novel by Stephen King (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 End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (New Directions, Nov 11) — “One of the most significant German-language novelists of her generation, Erpenbeck follows up the celebrated novel Visitation with a heady conceit located somewhere between Cloud Atlas and Groundhog Day. The End of Days follows a single character, born early in the 20th Century, to five different deaths: the first as an infant, the second as a teenager, and so on. In each case, her life illuminates the broader history of Europe, which remains ever in the background, dying its own deaths.” (via The Millions)
  • Teen: Revolution (Replica) by Jenna Black (Tor Teen, Nov 11, 2014)
  • Black Gum Godless Heathen by J David Osborne (Broken River Books, November 15, 2014) — sequel to Low Down Death Right Easy
  • Fiction: Wyatt in Wichita: A Historical Novel by John Shirley (Night Shade Books, Nov 17, 2014)
  • The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars) by Ian Tregillis (Orbit, Nov 18, 2014)
  • Asura Girl by Otaro Maijo and Stephen Snyder (Haikasoru, Nov 18, 2014)
  • Symbiont (Parasitology) by Mira Grant (Orbit, Nov 25, 2014)
  • ADDED: When the Bough Breaks: The Empire's Corps, Book 3 By Christopher G. Nuttall, Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer for Podium Publishing (Nov 28)
  • 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
  • Skylight by José Saramago (HMH, Dec 2) — “This is Saramago’s so-called “lost work,” which was written in the 1950s, but rediscovered after the Nobel laureate’s death in 2010. The novel features the interconnected stories of the residents of an apartment building in Lisbon in the 1940s.” (via The Millions)
  • The Whispering Swarm: Book One of The Sanctuary of the White Friars by Michael Moorcock (Tor, Dec 9)
  • 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
  • Jazz Age Cthulhu by Jennifer Brozek, A.D. Cahill, and Darin Grey (Innsmouth Free Press, 2014)
UNDATED or 2015:

The Galaxy Game Take An Exclusive Peek At The Most Anticipated Scifi Imprint In Years

  • 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)
  • The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne) by Brian Staveley (Tor, Jan 13, 2015) -- "Brian Staveley's Providence of Fire, the second novel in the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, a gripping new epic fantasy series in the tradition of Brandon Sanderson and George R. R. Martin. The conspiracy to destroy the ruling family of the Annurian Empire is far from over."
  • 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)
  • Fiction: Binary Star by Sarah Gerard (Two Dollar Radio, Jan 13) — “Sara Gerard’s star is rising. The NYC-based bookseller slash art-mag-employee slash writer drew attention last fall with “Things I Told My Mother,” an essayistic inquiry into women’s representation in society, spawned by a topless walk the author took through Times Square. This kind of intensity and boldness guide all of Gerard’s work — whether concerning other writers, or her own bout with anorexia, addiction, and a stint jumping freight trains, and now in her first novel Binary Star. Binary Star interweaves astronomical research with a story about an unnamed anorexic who burns through her intensely dysfunctional life like a star burns fuel, never to be replenished.” (via The Millions)
  • Glow by Ned Beauman (Knopf, Jan 20) — “Beauman’s previous novels, The Boxer Beetle and The Teleportation Accident — the one a fanciful look at eugenics and fascism, the other a genre-bending wonder about an avant-garde set designer in 1930s Berlin — each displayed a learned, diabolical imagination at work. His latest appears just as unhinged. Enrolled in a “continuous amateur neurochemistry seminar” and suffering from a sleep disorder, its hero experiments with the designer drug, “glow,” which opens up a gateway into a Pynchonian universe: a disappeared friend, pirate radio stations, and a nefarious Burmese mining company.” (via The Millions)
  • Teen: Fairest by Melissa Meyer (Macmillan, Jan 27) — a prequel to Cinderin her The Lunar Chronicles series
  • Teen: A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd (Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins, January 27, 2015) – the final book in the Madman’s Daughter series
  • Anthology: Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (PM Press, Feb 1, 2015)
  • 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)
  • Dendera by Yuya Sato and translated by Edwin Hawkes (Haikasoru, Feb 10, 2015)
  • Find Me by Laura van den Berg (FSG, Feb 17) — “Laura van den Berg’s fictions often unfurl just beyond the real, with their madcap mix of zany and dreamlike set-ups. Case in point, van den Berg’s recent story collection, The Isle of Youth, was peopled by yacht thieves, a mother-daughter magician team, and newlyweds who survive a plane crash. Her first novel, Find Me, continues this surreal, at times catastrophic streak, as it follows Joy, a grocery clerk, cough-syrup addict who’s immune to an ongoing plague of memory illness. Joy’s resulting hospital stay and cross-country journey plotline sounds like a surreal mash-up of Stephen King’s The Stand and Grace Krilanovich’s The Orange Eats Creeps.”
  • Anthology: Old Venus by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Mar 3, 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.”
  • Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale (Del Rey, Mar 17, 2015) — “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.”
  •  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.”
  • Disciple of the Wind by Steve Bein (April 2015) — concluding book in a trilogy (Daughter of the Sword and Year of the Demon)
  • The Thorn of Emberlain (Gentleman Bastard #4) by Scott Lynch (2015)
  • Anthology: Exigencies edited by Richard Thomas (Dark House Press, 2015) — a 22-story original neo-noir fiction anthology
  • 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
  • Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Del Rey, June 2015) -- "Naomi Novik, author of theTemeraire novels, is taking us to a new world with Uprooted! The story is a dark fairy tale, where a grim wizard defends villagers from the horrors of an enchanted Wood. In return? He demands ten years of service from a young girl of his choosing. Now the choosing is approaching, and a young woman named Agnieszka fears that her best friend, the lovely Kasia, will be taken. But what if the wizard makes a different choice?" (via Tor.com)
  • 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.”
  • Anthology: The Doll Collection edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor, March 2015) — all-original dark tales including: “Heroes and Villains” by Stephen Gallagher; “The Doll-Master” by Joyce Carol Oates; “Gaze” by Gemma Files; “In Case of Zebras” by Pat Cadigan; “Miss Sibyl-Cassandra” by Lucy Sussex; “Skin and Bone” by Tim Lebbon; “There Is No Place for Sorrow in the Kingdom of the Cold” by Seanan McGuire; “Goodness and Kindness” by Carrie Vaughn; “Daniel’s Theory of Dolls” by Stephen Graham Jones; “After and Back Before” by Miranda Siemienowicz; “Doctor Faustus” by Mary Robinette Kowal; “Doll Court” by Richard Bowes; “Visit Lovely Cornwall on the Western Railway Line” by Genevieve Valentine; “Ambitious Boys Like You” by Richard Kadrey; “The Permanent Collection” by Veronica Schanoes; “Homemade Monsters” by John Langan; “Word Doll” by Jeffrey Ford
  • 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)
  • Lair of Dreams: A Diviners Novel by Bray, Libba (Apr 14, 2015)
  • Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor, Apr 28, 2015) — coming simultaneously in audio from Audible, read by the author
  • Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor, June 1, 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)
  • Anthology: Neverland’s Shadow edited by Shawn Speakman and Roger Bellini (Grim Oak Press, 2015) — from the editor/publisher of Unfettered comes an original short fiction anthology focusing on the antagonist, with contributors including Ken Liu, Ann Aguire, R. Scott Bakker, Mark Lawrence, Tanith Lee, Scott Lynch, and Michael J. Sullivan (among others)
  • The Lost Level by Brian Keene (Apex Books, 2015)
  • Fake Fruit Factory by Patrick Wensink (Curbside Splendor, Fall 2015) — “Thrilled to announce that we’ll publish best-selling author Patrick Wensink’s next novel FAKE FRUIT FACTORY in Fall 2015. Part screwball comedy, part sociological autopsy of small town America, and part love story FAKE FRUIT FACTORY is like Karen Russell by way of E.L. Doctorow.”
  • 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.”
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