Release Week: Kameron Hurley's The Mirror Empire, Steven Erikson's Willful Child, Daryl Gregory's Pandemonium, and Tad Williams' Otherland

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Release Week: Kameron Hurley's The Mirror Empire, Steven Erikson's Willful Child, Daryl Gregory's Pandemonium, and Tad Williams' Otherland

Posted on 2014-11-12 at 20:11 by Sam

OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 4, 2014: Breathtakingly imaginative epic fantasy, sarcastic star-crossing science fiction, a demon possession pandemic, and multiverse-spanning virtual realities make for a fantastic release week of concurrent and backlist new audiobooks this week to start November. It’s a packed week as well, with several very good titles also out this week including Stephen Baxter’s Proxima, Jack McDevitt’s Coming Home, Kim Newman’s An English Ghost Story, Lydia Millet’s Mermaids in Paradise, Ryan Graudin’s The Walled City, Jamie Metzl’s Genesis Code, Paul Dale’s The Dark Lord’s Handbook, Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis’s The Map to Everywhere, and two David Drake “Hammer’s Slammers” novels read by Jay Snyder. And, outside of speculative fiction, Richard Ford returns to his Frank Bascombe stories with Let Me Be Frank With You, and a pair of non-fiction titles catch my eye/ear as well: Bill Nye’s Undeniable and Martin Short’s I Must Say, both read by the author. And! There’s a trio of new GraphicAudio titles worth checking out as well, including Cherie Priest’s The Inexplicables, Jon Sprunk’s Blood and Iron, and Simon R. Green’s Ghost of a Chance. It’s also a week with some intriguing books in the “seen but not heard” listings, including David James Keaton’s The Last Projector, Chaz Brenchley’s collection Bitter Waters, Fred Venturini’s The Heart Does Not Grow Back, Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s anthology Shattered Shields, and a new Wild Cards mosaic novel, Lowball. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

The Mirror Empire: Worldbreaker Saga | [Kameron Hurley] Willful Child by Steven Erikson

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley was published in print/ebook just a bit earlier this year by Angry Robot, starting a new series The Worldbreaker Saga for the author of the Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy. Before I get to the audiobook, here’s what’s on the pbulisher’s tin: “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. In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin.” Narrated by Liza Ross for Audible, the book/audiobook here is much, much stranger than the publisher copy. Sentient trees, acid magic, a kaleidoscope of original creatures and weapons and plots. 72-year-old actress and veteran narrator Ross lends a confident voice of wisdom to the older characters — this is no one-note cast, with children and crones and all shapes and sizes in between — while still ably capturing the frightened young girl, Lilia, in whose point of view we open the novel, raiders breaching her village’s defenses, the houses on fire. Ross’ previous fantasy experience serves her well, particularly her work in the Forgotten Realms universe — how many narrators get “chitinous” to feel right? — and while overall I still found the narration not exactly spot-on it’s still a very, very worthwhile audiobook. Meanwhile, fresh off a double Hugo Award win for her non-fiction at this year’s WorldCon, and for her fiction already a BFA Newcomer winner and nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, BSFA, and Clarke Awards, Hurley’s imaginative novel has dawn plenty of well-deserved attention, and it’s a must read for this year. More: Hurley’s guest post for Scalzi’s The Big Idea. Get: [Audible]

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.’” There’s an excerpt available at Tor.com, and now that it’s out you can hear samples narrated by MacLeod Andrews for Brilliance Audio, which gives a clearer picture as to what you’re getting into here: a darkly funny, sarcastic take on space exploration motifs. This is kind of in the neighborhood of Redshirts or Galaxy Quest but also unlike both, perhaps channeling a little more of Futurama’s Zapp Brannigan. Andrews is great for this role, dialing down the street smarts from his work on Sandman Slim but keeping the confident sarcasm. More: Tor.com presents highlights from Erikson’s Septembter reddit AMA. Get: [Downpour | Audible]

 City of Golden Shadow: Otherland, Book 1 | [Tad Williams]

Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory, read by Peter Berkrot for Tantor (Nov 4) — I’ve had Gregory’s 2008 debut, World Fantasy Award nominated novel in my daily “where’s the audiobook” search for quite a while — that particular intersection of debut novel and World Fantasy Award nominee has brought many fantastic books my way over the years now — and I’m very excited to find that it’s come from narrator Berkrot, whom I’ve enjoyed on Ben H. Winters’ The Last Policeman series. “It is a world like our own in every respect … save one. In the 1950s, random acts of possession begin to occur. Ordinary men, women, and children are the targets of entities that seem to spring from the depths of the collective unconscious, pop-cultural avatars some call demons. There’s the Truth, implacable avenger of falsehood. The Captain, brave and self-sacrificing soldier. The Little Angel, whose kiss brings death, whether desired or not. And a string of others, ranging from the bizarre to the benign to the horrific.” From an author whose other books include Raising Stony Mayhall, Afterparty, and We Are All Completely Fine, all AudioBookaneers favorites. Get: [Audible]

City of Golden Shadow: Otherland, Book 1 [Downpour] and River of Blue Fire: Otherland Book 2 [Downpour] by Tad Williams, narrated by George Newbern for Penguin Audio (Oct 30) — Tad’s 1996 and 1998 novels in his far-spanning tetralogy of virtual realities: “Surrounded by secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nightmares. Incredible amounts of money have been lavished on it. The best minds of two generations have labored to build it. And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth’s most valuable resource – its children.” Newbern has been fantastic in voicing The Dirty Streets of Heaven and the remainder of the Bobby Dollar books, so it’s an easy pairing to follow into old/new territory. I’m excited by this for two further reasons: 1. perhaps now the re-launched Otherland MMORPG really will happen and 2. perhaps we’ll see his truly fantastic Memory, Sorrow and Thorn epic fantasy trilogy come to audio ahead of the decades-later continuation The Witchwood Crown due in 2015.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

The Voyage: Hammer's Slammer's Series | [David Drake] Mermaids in Paradise | [Lydia Millet] Genesis Code: A Thriller of the Near Future | [Jamie Metzl] The Walled City | [Ryan Graudin] An English Ghost Story | [Kim Newman] Proxima: Book 1 | [Stephen Baxter] Coming Home | [Jack McDevitt] The Dark Lord's Handbook | [Paul Dale] 1636: The Viennese Waltz | [Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlett] Dreamer's Pool: Blackthorn & Grim, Book 1 | [Juliet Marillier] Tarkin: Star Wars | [James Luceno] Halo: Broken Circle: Halo, Book 13 | [John Shirley] The Map to Everywhere | [Carrie Ryan, John Parke Davis]

  • The Voyage: Hammer’s Slammer’s Series and Cross the Stars: Hammer’s Slammer’s Series By David Drake, Narrated By Jay Snyder for Audible (Oct 31) -- Snyder has picked up Drake's Hammer's Slammers series where Stefan Rudnicki (4 books) and Christial Rummel (1 book) left off and keeps things rolling
  • 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) — in audio read by Cassandra Campbell for Dreamscape Media concurrent with print release, also available via Overdrive in many public library systems
  • Genesis Code: A Thriller of the Near Future by Jamie Metzl (Skyhorse/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.” -- read by Andy Caploe for Audible
  • The Walled City by Ryan Graudin (Little, Brown-Nov 4th) -- Narrated By Eugene Kim, Kim Mai Guest, and Janet Song for Hachette Audio: "There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Right now, my life depends completely on the first. Run, run, run. Jin, Mei Yee, and Dai all live in the Walled City, a lawless labyrinth run by crime lords and overrun by street gangs. Teens there traffic drugs or work in brothels - or, like Jin, hide under the radar. But when Dai offers Jin a chance to find her lost sister, Mei Yee, she begins a breathtaking race against the clock to escape the Walled City itself."
  • An English Ghost Story By Kim Newman, Narrated By Emma Fenney for Audible (Nov 4) -- "A dysfunctional British nuclear family seeks 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."
  • Proxima by Stephen Baxter, read by Kyle McCarley for Tantor (Nov 4) — “The very far future: The galaxy is a drifting wreck of black holes, neutron stars, and chill white dwarfs. The age of star formation is long past. Yet there is life here, feeding off the energies of the stellar remnants, and there is mind, a tremendous galaxy-spanning intelligence each of whose thoughts lasts a hundred thousand years. And this mind cradles memories of a long-gone age when a more compact universe was full of light.”
  • Coming Home By Jack McDevitt, Narrated By Jennifer VanDyck for Recorded Books (Nov 4) -- Series: Alex Benedict, Book 7 -- "Thousands of years ago, artifacts of the early space age were lost to rising oceans and widespread turmoil. Garnett Baylee devoted his life to finding them, only to give up hope. Then, in the wake of his death, one was found in his home, raising tantalizing questions. Had he succeeded after all? Why had he kept it a secret? And where is the rest of the Apollo cache? Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his pilot, Chase Kolpath, have gone to Earth to learn the truth."
  • The Dark Lord’s Handbook by Paul Dale, narrated by Gildart Jackson for Tantor (Nov 4) — “To become a Dark Lord is no easy thing. Morden, the latest contender, had better be a quick study.”
  • 1636: The Viennese Waltz By Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlett, Narrated By George Guidall for Recorded Books (Nov 4)
  • Dreamer’s Pool: A Blackthorn & Grim Novel by Juliet Mariller (Nov 4) -- Narrated By Scott Aiello, Natalie Gold, Nick Sullivan for Audible -- "Award-winning author Juliet Marillier "weaves magic, mythology, and folklore into every sentence on the page" (The Book Smugglers). Now she begins an all-new and enchanting series that will transport readers to a magical vision of ancient Ireland..."
  • Tarkin: Star Wars By James Luceno, Narrated By Euan Morton for Random House Audio (Nov 4)
  • Halo: Broken Circle: Halo, Book 13 By John Shirley, Narrated By Scott Brick for Simon & Schuster Audio (Nov 4) -- [Downpour]
  • Kids/Teens: The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Nov 4) — “To Master Thief Fin, an orphan from the murky pirate world of the Khaznot Quay, the Map is the key to finding his mother. To suburban schoolgirl Marrill, it’s her only way home after getting stranded on the Pirate Stream, the magical waterway that connects every world in creation. With the help of a bumbling wizard and his crew, they must scour the many worlds of the Pirate Stream to gather the pieces of the Map to Everywhere–but they aren’t the only ones looking. A sinister figure is hot on their tail, and if they can’t beat his ghostly ship to find the Map, it could mean the destruction of everything they hold dear!” -- Narrated By John Glouchevitch for Hachette Audio
Clockwork Century 4: The Inexplicables Book of the Black Earth 1: Blood and Iron Ghost Finders 1: Ghost of A Chance

Update: Here are the 3 GraphicAudio titles I mention in the updated intro. Two are available in audio for the first time: Jon Sprunk’s Blood and Iron and Cherie Priest’s The Inexplicables, the 2012-published 5th novel in her Clockwork Century series. The last, Simon R. Green’s Ghost of a Chance, is available in standard audiobook.

ALSO ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

John Golden: Freelance Debugger | Django Wexler The Blood Vivicanti: A Novel of New Blood Drinkers | Becket Doubletake: Cal Leandros, Book 7 | Rob Thurman Blue Lily, Lily Blue: Book 3 of the Raven Cycle | Maggie Stiefvater The Glass Magician | Charlie N. Holmberg Waistcoats & Weaponry | Gail Carriger

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD: tlp new cover 2 The Heart Does Not Grow Back: A Novel
  • Fiction: The Ice Garden by Moira Crone (Carolina Wren Press, October 2014) -- "Ten-year-old Claire adores her brand-new baby sister, but her mother doesn't feel the same. Trapped in the suffocating culture of the small-town South in the early 1960s, Claire's mother tries to cope with her own mental illness and all the expectations placed upon a woman of her class. While Claire's father remains too dazzled by his beautiful wife to recognize the impending dangers, Claire is left largely on her own to save herself and her baby sister--with mesmerizing and shocking consequences."
  • The Last Projector by David James Keaton (Broken River Books, October 31, 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.” -- reviewed by Albedo One as "a brutal headcase of a novel"
  • Novella: Tortured Souls by Clive Barker (Subterranean Press, Oct 31) -- ahead of a limited hardcover release next year: "Lurking at the edges of this extravagant tale is the ancient entity known as 'Agonistes,' who accepts the pleas of selected 'Supplicants,' transforming them, through a combination of art, magic, and pain, into avatars of violence and revenge. The story begins when a freelance assassin named Zarles Krieger commits a routine murder-for-hire. This act will lead him to two life-altering encounters, one with the daughter of his victim, the other with Agonistes himself. This conjunction of the human and the inhuman stands at the center of this instantly absorbing creation."
  • Anthology: Alembical 3: A Distillation of Three Novellas by Matthew S. Rotunda, Kami Oi Lee, and John P. Murphy, edited by Lawrence M. Schoen and Arthur Dorrance (Paper Golem, Oct 31) -- "ALEMBICAL 3 is the tenth book published by Paper Golem, and the third volume in this series, continuing our mission to provide a much-needed home for novellas. The anthology features three original, speculative fiction novellas by Phobos Award winner Matthew S. Rotundo, Chicago-based author Kam Oi Lee, and robotics professional John P. Murphy. Running the gamut from the complexities of interpersonal relationships in a far future, offworld economy, to a post-apocalyptic future where one old man clinging to a simpler, decent past does his part to restore order, to a robotic, tongue-in-cheek homage to the work of Rex Stout, this anthology celebrates novella length fiction!"
  • Short: The Blind Hears Well (Songs of Peter Sliadek) by Henry Lion Oldie (Oct 31) -- "Cassandra, a prophetess, foretold only bitter events. Her prophecies always came true, but everyone hated them. Why did Troy fall—because of insidious Achaeans or Cassandra’s gloomy prophecies? THE BLIND HEAR WELL is the 6th novelette from the book “The Songs of Peter Sliadek” by Henry Lion Oldie. The entire novel consists of 12 novelettes. The book received the "Sigma-F" Grand Prize at "Sigma-F Conference" in Moscow, Russia, in 2005."
  • The Face of Any Other by Michael J. Seidlinger (Lazy Fascist, Nov 1) -- "A man without a face infects the lives of others, becoming the person he discovers to be most interesting, feasting on their flaws, peering into their peculiarities in order to fulfill their meaningless desires."
  • Collection: Young Woman in a Garden: Stories by Delia Sherman (Small Beer Press, Nov 1) — “Lightly flecked with fantasy and anchored in vividly detailed settings, the 14 stories in Sherman’s first collection are distinguished by determined women who challenge gender roles in order to make their way in the world. Wry humor leavens the serious themes.” (via PW’s best books of 2014)
  • Collection: Bitter Waters by Chaz Brenchley (Lethe Press, November 3, 2014) — with an introduction by Geoff Ryman, and more recently a starred review from Publishers Weekly -- update: an audiobook is coming Nov 14, read by Matthew Lloyd Davies
  • Tommy Black and the Staff of Light by Jake Kerr (Currents and Tangents, Nov 3, 2014) — debut novel from Nebula Award nominated author (“The Old Equations” in Lightspeed) — “For fourteen-year-old Tommy Black, nothing is worse than being raised by an overprotective grandfather in the city that never sleeps. That is until his grandfather is captured by magical creatures and Tommy has to save him with his family’s magical staff. That wouldn’t be so bad, but the only magic he can do with the staff is weak–making light. What the heck can you do with light? Tommy finds out as he fights golems, shadow creatures, and djinn in a journey that features a magical river, an enchanted train, and an illusionary fortress. But the worst part of all? Tommy has to save his grandfather with the help of Naomi, a girl whose talent with magic is only rivaled by her ability to hurl insults.” — Ken Liu says: “Jake Kerr has told an exciting coming-of-age tale that asks serious ethical questions about the costs of magic. This is a world that will stay with the reader long after the last page.”
  • The Heart Does Not Grow Back by Fred Venturini (Picador, Nov. 4th) — “Dale Sampson is used to being a nonperson at his small-town Midwestern high school, picking up the scraps of his charismatic lothario of a best friend, Mack. He comforts himself with the certainty that his stellar academic record and brains will bring him the adulation that has evaded him in high school. But when an unthinkable catastrophe tears away the one girl he ever had a chance with, his life takes a bizarre turn as he discovers an inexplicable power: He can regenerate his organs and limbs.” (via My Bookish Ways)
  • 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
  • The Future Falls: Book Three of the Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff (Nov 4, 2014)
  • Jala’s Mask by Mike and Rachel Grinti (Pyr, Nov 4) -- "Fantasy novel based on African and Polynesian folklore, about an island people who use magic to raid the mainland." (description via Locus Online)
  • Tainted Blood by ML Brennan (Roc-Nov. 4th) -- "Urban fantasy novel, third novel in a series followingGeneration V (May 2013) and Iron Night (Jan. 2014), about a down and out vampire faced with a threat to his family’s territory." (via Locus Online)
  • Empire of Dust by Jacey Bedford (DAW, Nov 4) -- "SF novel, the author’s first novel and first in a series, about agent working for interplanetary mega corporations, who are implanted with telepath technology." (via Locus Online)
  • A Play of Shadow by Julie E. Czerneda (DAW, Nov 4) -- "Fantasy novel, second in a series following A Turn of Light(2013), about a pioneer town that overlaps into a magical world called the Verge." (via Locus Online)
  • The Sword of Michael (Depossessionist) by Marcus Wynne (Baen, Nov 4, 2014)
  • Another One Bites the Dust by Chris Marie Green (Roc, Nov 4) -- "Fantasy novel, second in a series following Only the Good Die Young (Feb. 2014), about a deceased woman, now a ghost, who becomes a private detective." (via Locus Online)
  • 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.
  • Anthology: Geek Theater: 15 Plays by Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers edited by Jen Gunnels and Erin Underwood (Underwords Press, Nov 4) — “In case you didn’t know, there is such a thing as SF theater. It has been around for a long time, and there is quite a lot of it. In recent years there has been a strong growth and diversification, a lot of new plays, original, not adaptations of stories–though there are a lot of those too. This is a book full of the new stuff, original plays that, all together point to a renaissance of SF theater. Pay attention, and it will blow you away!” – David Hartwell, Hugo Award-winning editor
  • Fiction: McGlue (The Fence Modern Prize in Prose) by Ottessa Moshfegh (Nov 4, 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.”
  • Related non-fiction: Harry Harrison! Harry Harrison! by Harry Harrison (Tor, Nov 4) -- Harrison's collected non-fiction/memoir
  • Non-Fiction: The Last Beach by Orrin H. Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper (Duke University Press, November 2014) -- "an urgent call to save the world's beaches while there is still time. The geologists Orrin H. Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper sound the alarm in this frank assessment of our current relationship with beaches and their grim future if we do not change the way we understand and treat our irreplaceable shores. Combining case studies and anecdotes from around the world, they argue that many of the world's developed beaches, including some in Florida and in Spain, are virtually doomed and that we must act immediately to save imperiled beaches."
  • Kids: The Cat's Pajamas by Daniel Wallace (Inkshares, November 2014) -- from the author of Big Fish, an illustrated children's book: "Meet Louis Fellini. Louis lived in a time long ago when cats wore clothes, worked in cities, and went on picnics. But the cats dressed all the same, down to the shoes they wore. Louis Fellini was a different sort of cat. He wanted to be himself. But it isn t as easy as you might think to be yourself, especially when everyone else looks the same, when everybody else is a . . . copy cat. But Louis Fellini found a way. He was just that kind of cat. He was the cat s pajamas."
COMING SOON:

The Apocalypse Ocean | [Tobias Buckell] The Three-Body Problem | [Liu Cixin]

  • Teen: The Silence of Six by E.C. Myers (Adaptive Books, Nov 5, 2014) — in a guest post for YA Books Central he writes: “Ever since I read Alvin’s Secret Code by Clifford Hicks when I was a kid, I have been fascinated with ciphers. This one is pretty easy to crack, but I got to play with some more challenging puzzles in THE SILENCE OF SIX. Designing a book cover is a little like cryptography: You try several different approaches and when you hit on the right one, it just fits. That’s how it was with this cover! As soon as I saw what the brilliant creative team at Adaptive Books had come up with, I knew it was the perfect image to convey the intrigue, technology, and darkness at the core of the story — without giving away too much.” The post includes an excerpt as well as this synopsis: “Haunted by the unforgettable image of his best friend’s death, Max’s entire world is upended as he suddenly finds himself the target of a corporate-government witch-hunt. Fearing for his life and fighting for his own innocence, Max is on the run with no one to trust and too many unanswered questions.”
  • Teen: The Queen of Zombie Hearts By Gena Showalter, Narrated By Natalie Gold for Harlequin (Nov 5)
  • Criss Cross: PsyCop, Book 2 By Jordan Castillo Price, Narrated By Gomez Pugh (Nov 5)
  • Non-Fiction: Far Journeys By Robert Monroe, Narrated By Kevin Pierce for Crossroad Press (Nov 5) -- "The sequel to Monroe's Journey Out Of The Body (out in audio earlier this year as well) is an amazing parapsychological odyssey that reflects a decade of research into the psychic realm beyond the known dimensions of physical reality."
  • Indie: Railroad!: Volume 1: Rodger Dodger By Tonia Brown, Narrated By JoBe Cerny (Nov 5) -- "a fast pace steampunk story of gadgetry, gunplay and grit.Join us as we follow the strange stand-alone train known as the Sleipnir; eight cars of free traveling steam powered might. Able to lay her own tracks, as well as pick them up again, the train is a marvelous feat of engineering, and as an unbound entity she can travel anywhere her master desires. The only trouble is the trouble she attracts."
  • Veil of the Dragon: Prophecy of the Evarun, Book 1 By Tom Barczak, Narrated By Neil Hellegers (Nov 5)
  • The Child Prince: The Artifactor, Book 1 By Honor Raconteur, Narrated By Cheridah Best (Nov 5)
  • Shifter: Wicked Woods, Book 6 By Kailin Gow, Narrated By Kate Metroka (Nov 6)
  • Time and Time Again By Ben Elton, Narrated By Jot Davies for Random House Audio (Nov 6) -- "It’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be. Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history. Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war. A war that will begin with a single bullet. But can a single bullet truly corrupt an entire century? And, if so, could another single bullet save it?"
  • Linkershim: Sovereign of the Seven Isles, Book 6 By David A. Wells, Narrated By Derek Perkins for Podium Publishing (Nov 7)
  • No Worse Enemy: The Empire’s Corps, Book 2 By Christopher G. Nuttall, Narrated ByJeffrey Kafer for Podium Publishing (Nov 7)
  • McDowell's Ghost By Jack Cady, Narrated By Grover Gardner for Audible (Nov 7) -- Cady's 1982 novel: "McDowell returns to his ancestral home in the South and finds it haunted by the ghost of a uniform-clad Confederate ancestor, who has been waiting to settle accounts from the past."
  • Roads Less Traveled: Phoenix By C. Dulaney, Narrated By Kevin T. Collins for Audible (Nov 7)
  • Moonshine: Cal Leandros, Book 2, Madhouse: Cal Leandros, Book 3, Deathwish: Cal Leandros, Book 4, Roadkill: Cal Leandros, Book 5,
  • Blackout: Cal Leandros, Book 6 By Rob Thurman, Narrated By Macleod Andrews (Nov 7)
  • Indie: The Thought Readers: Mind Dimensions, Book 1 By Dima Zales, Narrated By Roberto Scarlato (Nov 7)
  • Indie: Quintessential Tales: Magic of Solendrea Anthology, Book 5 By Martin Hengst, Narrated By Carolyn Light (Nov 7)
  • Spider Bite: A Spider Novel: The Spider Trilogy, Book 3 By J.R. Rain, Scott Nicholson, Narrated By Bob Dunsworth (Nov 10)
  • Echo of the High Kings: Eoriel Saga Volume 1 By Kal Spriggs, Narrated By Eric G. Dove (Nov 10)
  • Husk: A Maresman Tale By D.P. Prior, Narrated By Bob Neufeld (Nov 10)
  • The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu (Tor Books, November 11, 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 and recently an excerpt has been posted; coming to audio read by Luke Daniels and a sample is available at Overdrive
  • 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) -- Narrated By Elijah Alexander
  • Seas of Venus By David Drake, Narrated By Kevin T. Collins for Audible (Nov 11) -- Drake's "Keeps" stories: "Earth is a dead cinder beyond the dense clouds. On a terraformed Venus, the land is ruled by savage plants and the even more savage beasts that prey on them, while monsters out of nightmare swim though the globe-girdling seas. Mankind huddles in domed underwater Keeps, living a purposeless static existence - dedicated to pleasure but destined for oblivion later if not sooner. Only the Free Companions, the mercenaries who fight proxy wars for the Keeps, live on the surface of Venus."
  • The Shadow Master By Craig Cormick, Narrated By Ric Jerrom (Nov 11)
  • Ringstones By Sarban, Narrated By Gabrielle de Cuir, Stefan Rudnicki for Skyboat (Nov 11) -- out a bit early (Nov 5) at Audible, first published in 1951: "One of Sarban’s first published works, Ringstones helped establish him among critics and readers as a writer of unusually evocative power. Originally published in 1951, the story is set on the Northumberland moors, where Daphne Hazel appears to cross the boundaries of time, becoming involved with terrifying personalities from the mysterious past."
  • Homefront: A Novel of the Transgenic Wars By Scott James Magner, Narrated By Allyson Johnson (Nov 11)
  • Chaos Unleashed by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey, Nov 11)
  • The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard (Skyboat Audio, Nov 11) — the 3rd book in Howard’s Johannes Cabal series -- out a bit early (Nov 5) at Audible
  • Wakening the Crow by Stephen Gregory (Solaris- Nov. 11th)
  • Crystal Rain, Ragamuffin, Sly Mongoose, and The Apocalypse Ocean By Tobias Buckell, Narrated By Robin Miles and Prentice Onayemi for Audible (Nov 11) -- new audio editions of Buckell's Xenowealth novels, some of which replace older editions: "Long ago, so the stories say, the old-fathers came to Nanagada through a worm's hole in the sky. Looking for a new world to call their own, they brought with them a rich mélange of cultures, religions, and dialects from a far-off planet called Earth. Mighty were the old-fathers, with the power to shape the world to their liking - but that was many generations ago, and what was once known has long been lost."
  • Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham, read by Neil Shah for Tantor (Nov 11) — book two of The Long Price Quartet, published a decade ago and now coming to audio
  • Last Stand of the Legion: Rift: Blood War, Book 1 By Rod Carstens, Narrated By Alexander Edward Trefethen (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)
  • Mogadishu of the Dead: Arisen, Book Two By Michael Stephen Fuchs, Glynn James, Narrated By R.C. Bray (Nov 11)
  • A Crucible of Souls: The Sorcery Ascendant Sequence, Book 1 and Blood of Innocents: The Sorcery Ascendant Sequence, Book 2 By Mitchell Hogan, Narrated By Oliver Wyman (Nov 11)
  • Seven Years: Seven, Book 1 By Dannika Dark, Narrated By Nicole Poole (Nov 11)
  • Related non-fiction: The Art of Asking: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help by Amanda Palmer (Grand Central, Nov 11) — an audiobook is coming as well, read by the author — “Rock star, crowdfunding pioneer, and TED speaker Amanda Palmer knows all about asking. Performing as a living statue in a wedding dress, she wordlessly asked thousands of passersby for their dollars. When she became a singer, songwriter, and musician, she was not afraid to ask her audience to support her as she surfed the crowd (and slept on their couches while touring). And when she left her record label to strike out on her own, she asked her fans to support her in making an album, leading to the world’s most successful music Kickstarter.”
  • Teen: Revolution (Replica) by Jenna Black (Tor Teen, Nov 11, 2014)
  • Anthology: The Many Deaths of Joe Buckley (Baen, Nov 11, 2014) -- A charity anthology: "Who is the mysterious Joe Buckley, and why does he meet so many unfortunate ends in various Baen books? Joe Buckley is simultaneously a real person and an unlucky figment of numerous Baen authors' imaginations. He's been drowned, shot, stabbed, turned into a werewolf, eaten by a shark, and put through a snow blower and had his atomized remains spewed into the air, just to name a few. He's been spindled, folded, mutilated, blown up, and autopsied. Now for the first time we have compiled the many instances of Buckley meeting a bad end, with introductions by the dastardly authors--and one artist--who did him in. Find out who killed him first and why, and how the tradition grew."
  • Short: You Have to F*cking Eat by Adam Mansbach, read by Bryan Cranston for Audible (Nov 12) -- "Treading lightly in the illustrious footsteps of Samuel L. Jackson, who narrated the audio version Go the F-ck to Sleep, Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston will lend his voice to the profane nursery rhyme’s sequel." (via TIME, currently a free download at Audible.com)
  • Doctor Who and the Carnival of Monsters: A 3rd Doctor Novelization By Terrance Dicks, Narrated By Katy Manning for BBC (Nov 13)
  • Black Gum Godless Heathen by J David Osborne (Broken River Books, November 15, 2014) — sequel to Low Down Death Right Easy
  • Anthology: STRAEON edited by M. David Blake (Rampant Loon, Nov 16) — a new original short fiction anthology series
  • Asura Girl by Otaro Maijo and Stephen Snyder (Haikasoru, Nov 18, 2014)
  • Collection: The Nickronomicon by Nick Mamatas (Inssmouth Free Press, November 18, 2014) — collects all of Mamatas’ Lovecraft-inspired fiction into a single volume, including a new, never-before-published novella, titled “On the Occasion of My Retirement.”
  • The Dire Earth: A Novella by Jason M Hough (Random House-Nov. 18th)
  • Dire Straits: Bo Blackman, Book 1 by Helen Harper, read by Saskia Maarleveld for Tantor (Nov 18) — “Bo Blackman is a rookie private investigator working for the London based firm of Dire Straits. She doesn’t often get triber-based assignments, which is just as well. Vampires and daemons don’t interest her as much as humans do. However, when she has to serve a summons on a dodgy daemon called Devlin O’Shea and she ends up saving his life instead of being framed for his murder, her life takes a shocking turn for the worse.”
  • V Wars: Blood and Fire edited by Jonathan Maberry (Blackstone Audio, Nov 18) — a follow-on to the original V Wars anthology!
  • Prisoner 489 by Joe R. Lansdale (Dark Regions, Nov 18) — a new novella — “On an island with a prison for the most evil and powerful criminals in the world, a new prisoner is strapped to the electric chair for execution. After multiple surges of electricity and nearly knocking out power to the entire island, the prisoner is finally dead. The staff buries him in the prison graveyard with a simple marker baring three numbers: 489.”
  • ADDED: Omnibus: Area X by Jeff VanderMeer (FSG, Nov 18) -- collecting the NY Times bestselling novels Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance in a new hardcover
  • ADDED: Mystery: The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green, Narrated By Gabrielle de Cuir for Skyboat (Nov 18) -- out a bit early at Audible, originally published in 1890: "An old and dilapidated inn in upstate New York provides the setting for this gothic mystery involving two couples in the 1700s. Edwin Urquhart, loved by two sisters, chooses to marry the elder. Arriving at the Forsaken Inn for their honeymoon, they occupy an apartment containing a secret chamber. That night, the young bride is murdered and buried in this secret room. Did her new husband commit the crime - or is something much more sinister afoot?"
  • Symbiont (Parasitology) by Mira Grant (Orbit and Hachette Audio, Nov 25, 2014) — “The SymboGen designed tapeworms were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world’s population began attacking their hosts turning them into a ravenous horde.” — read by Christine Lakin
  • Night Shift by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, and Milla Vane (Berkley andTantor Audio, Nov 25) — read by Angela Dawe — “In Night Shift, four masters of urban fantasy and paranormal romance plunge listeners into the dangerous, captivating world unearthed beyond the dark.”
  • Black Widow By Jennifer Estep, Narrated By Lauren Fortgang (Nov 25)
  • Endsinger by Jay Kristoff (St. Martin’s Press -Nov 25th)
  • The Last Changeling by Jane Yolen (Viking Children’s, Nov 28)
  • When the Bough Breaks: The Empire’s Corps, Book 3 By Christopher G. Nuttall, Narrated By Jeffrey Kafer for Podium Publishing (Nov 28)
DECEMBER 2014:
  • Elysium by Jennifer Marie Brissett (Aqueduct Press, Dec 1, 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.”
  • Anthology: Letters to Lovecraft edited by Jesse Bullington (Stone Skin Press, Dec 1) — stories in direct response to quotes selected from Lovecraft’s essay “Supernatural Horror in Literature.”
  • Anthology: The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane (Running, Dec 1) — via PW’s best books of 2014: “Written in the form of letters, travelogues, encyclopedia entries, and galactic gazetteers as well as conventional narratives, and embracing approaches that include folktales (Nalo Hopkinson’s “Tan-Tan and Dry Bone”), Lovecraftian horror (Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette’s “Boojum”), steampunk (Tori Truslow’s “Tomorrow Is Saint Valentine’s Day”), and hard SF (Nisi Shawl’s “Good Boy”), the 33 stories that MacFarlane (Aliens: Recent Encounters) has gathered for this volume dazzle with the virtuosity of their contributors’ talents.”
  • 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
  • The Dragons of Dorcastle By Jack Campbell, Narrated By MacLeod Andrews (Dec 2)
  • Rise of the Spider Goddess: An Annotated Novel by Jim C. Hines (Dec 2, 2014) — “In 2006, DAW Books published Jim C. Hines’ debut novel Goblin Quest. But before Jig the goblin, before fairy tale princesses and magic librarians and spunky fire-spiders, there was Nakor the Purple, an elf who wanted nothing more than to stand around watching lovingly overdescribed sunrises with his pet owl Flame, who might actually be a falcon, depending on which chapter you’re reading. This is Nakor’s story, written in 1995 and never before shared with the world. (For reasons that will soon be painfully clear.) Together with an angsty vampire, a pair of pixies, and a feisty young thief, Nakor must find a way to stop an Ancient Evil before she destroys the world. (Though, considering the rel-atively shallow worldbuilding, it’s not like there’s much to destroy…) With more than 5000 words of bonus annotation and smart-ass commentary, this is a book that proves every author had to start somewhere, and most of the time, that place wasn’t very pretty.”
  • ADDED: The Fortress in Orion by Mike Resnick (Pyr, Dec 2) -- the first book in a new military space opera series: "The Democracy is at war with the alien Traanskei Coalition. War hero Colonel Nathan Pretorius has a record of success on dangerous behind-enemy-lines missions, missions that usually leave him in the hospital. Now he’s recruited for a near-impossible assignment that may well leave him dead."
  • An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham, read by Neil Shah for Tantor Audio (Dec 2) — book 3 of The Long Price Quartet, first published a decade ago
  • 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)
  • Short: The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami and translated by Ted Goossen (Knopf and Random House Audio, Dec 2, 2014) — an illustrated short novel of “A lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plot their escape from the nightmarish library of internationally acclaimed, best-selling Haruki Murakami’s wild imagination.” — Narrated By Kirby Heyborne for Random House Audio
  • Anthology: Dangerous Games edited by Jonathan Oliver (Solaris, Dec 4) — “In a world of chances, one decision can bring down the house, one roll of the dice could bring untold wealth, or the end of everything. In this anthology of all new short stories the players gather, their stories often dark, and always compelling.”
  • The Whispering Swarm: Book One of The Sanctuary of the White Friars by Michael Moorcock (Tor, Dec 9)
  • Our Lady of the Islands by Shannon Page and Jay Lake (Per Aspera, Dec 9) — via PW‘s best books of 2014: “A fantasy set in the archipelago world of Alizar, Our Lady of the Islandsfeatures the reluctant adventures of Domina Sian Katte — a middle-aged business woman who is wrenched away from her comfortable, quiet life when she is unwillingly chosen by the Priest of the Butchered God and endowed with an unwanted power. Book One of The Butchered God.”
  • The Lady (Marakand) by K.V. Johansen (Pyr, Dec 9)
  • Beautiful Curse by Jen McConnel (Swoon Romance, Dec 9, 2014) — “a contemporary retelling of the myth of Psyche and Cupid.”
  • Finders, Inc. by Michael Jasper (UnWrecked Press, Dec 9) — book one in a new supernatural mystery series set in Boone, NC
  • Severance by Chris Bucholz (Apex Books, Dec 9) — a dark SF novel from Cracked.com columnist Bucholz — “After 240 years traveling toward Tau Prius and a new planet to colonize, the inhabitants of the generation ship Argos are bored and aimless. They join groups such as the Markers and the Breeders, have costumed orgies, and test the limits of drugs, alcohol, and pain just to pass the time. To Laura Stein, they’re morons and, other than a small handful of friends, she’d rather spend time with her meat plant than with any of her fellow passengers. But when one of her subordinates is murdered while out on a job, Laura takes it as her responsibility to find out what happened. She expects to find a personal grudge or a drug deal gone wrong, but instead stumbles upon a conspiracy that could tear the ship in two.”
  • Mystery: Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz (Dec 9, 2014)
  • The Jupiter Pirates #2: Curse of the Iris by Jason Fry (Dec 16, 2014)
  • Dragonsbane: Fate’s Forsaken, Book 3 By Shae Ford, Narrated By Derek Perkins for Podium (Dec 19)
  • Three Parts Dead: Arisen, Book Three By Michael Stephen Fuchs, Glynn James, Narrated By R.C. Bray (Dec 19)
  • 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.”
  • The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham, read by Neil Shah for Tantor (Dec 23) — fourth book of Abraham’s Long Price Quartet series, first published 2009
  • Jazz Age Cthulhu by Jennifer Brozek, A.D. Cahill, and Darin Grey (Innsmouth Free Press, 2014)
  • All That Outer Space Allows (The Apollo Quartet, Book 4) by Ian Sales (Whippleshield, December 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.”
  • Our Love Will Go the Way of the Salmon by Cameron Pierce (Broken River Books, December 2014)
  • Maker of Moons by Robert W. Chambers, read by Stefan Rudnicki (December 2014)
  • The Ninth Wind by Moses Siregar III (December 2014) — Follow-on to The Black God’s War in Siregar’s epic fantasy “Splendor and Ruin” trilogy: “I’ve been lucky enough to get my hands on an early copy of The Ninth Wind by Moses Siregar, a terrific Indy writer who I think is going to blow up big when this comes out. A top tier epic fantasy from him, and hopefully it will be out soon.” –Jonathan Wood, author of NO HERO
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)
  • Strands of Sorrow (Black Tide Rising) by John Ringo (Jan 6, 2015)
  • Kids: Dragonbreath #10: Knight-napped! by Ursula Vernon (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)
  • The Mime Order: The Bone Season (The Remnant Chronicles) by Samantha Shannon (Jan 25, 2015) — 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.”
  • The Dragon Conspiracy (SPI Files) by Lisa Shearin (Ace, Jan 27, 2015)
  • ADDED: Pacific Fire by Greg van Eekhout (Tor, Jan 27) -- could this be a follow-on to California Bones? Signs point to maybe...
  • 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
  • Dark Intelligence: Transformation: Book One by Neal Asher (29 Jan 2015)
  • Related non-fiction: The Cambridge Companion to American Science Fiction (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Gerry Canavan and Eric Link (Jan 31, 2015)
  • Horror: This is Filth by Nathan Ballingrud (This is Horror Press, January 2015) -- “Ballingrud is a master at writing about the darkness inside us. And as terrifying as it might be to see, you can’t look away or close your eyes against it thanks to his beautifully precise and evocative prose. There’s a dark heart to The Visible Filth and Ballingrud uses its blood for ink to tell a story that really gets under your skin, or rather calls to something that might already be there. Fantastic work, highly recommended.” --Ray Cluley
  • Anthology: Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (PM Press, Feb 1, 2015)
  • ADDED: Impulse: Lightship Chronicles, Book 1 by Dave Bara (DAW, Feb 3)
  • Collection: Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman (Feb 3)
  • 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.”
  • Related Non-Fiction: They Live (Cultographies) by D. Harlan Wilson (Wallflower press, Feb 17, 2015) — “Born out of the cultural flamboyance and anxiety of the 1980s,They Live (1988) is a hallmark of John Carpenter’s singular canon, combining the aesthetics of multiple genres and leveling an attack against the politics of Reaganism and the Cold War. The decision to cast the professional wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as his protagonist gave Carpenter the additional means to comment on the hypermasculine attitudes and codes indicative of the era. This study traces the development of They Live from its comic book roots to its legacy as a cult masterpiece while evaluating the film in light of the paranoid/postmodern theory that matured in the decidedly ‘Big 80s.’”
  • Star Trek: The Original Series: Savage Trade by Tony Daniel (Feb 24, 2015)
  • The Death House by Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz, Feb 26, 2015) — “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?”
  • Those Above by Daniel Polansky (Hodder & Stoughton, Feb 26, 2015) — “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.”
  • Anthology: Old Venus by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Mar 3, 2015)
  • Edge of Dark (The Glittering Edge) by Brenda Cooper (Pyr, Mar 3, 2015) — “What if a society banished its worst nightmare to the far edge of the solar system, destined to sip only dregs of light and struggle for the barest living.  And yet, that life thrived?  It grew and learned and became far more than you ever expected, and it wanted to return to the sun.  What if it didn’t share your moral compass in any way? The Glittering duology describes the clash of forces when an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh and blood life meets the near-AI’s that it banished long ago.  This is a story of love for the wild and natural life on a colony planet, complex adventure set in powerful space stations, and the desire to live completely whether you are made of flesh and bone or silicon and carbon fiber.  In Edge of Dark, meet ranger Charlie Windar and his adopted wild predator, and explore their home on a planet that has been raped and restored more than once.  Meet Nona Hall, child of power and privilege from the greatest station in the system, the Diamond Deep.  Meet Nona’s best friend, a young woman named Chrystal who awakens in a robotic body….”
  • Into the Maelstrom (Citizen) by David Drake and John Lambshead (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.”
  • Stiletto (The Checquy Files 2) by Daniel O’Malley (Head of Zeus, 1 Apr 2015) — UK release for the sequel to The Rook
  • 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: A Novel of the Fated Blades by Steve Bein (Roc, Apr 7, 2015) —  concluding book in a trilogy (Daughter of the Sword and Year of the Demon)
  • Superposition by David Walton (Pyr, Apr 7)
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (William Morrow, Apr 14, 2015) — I know nothing yet about this book, other than that I will be reading and/or listening to it on April 14, and that Upcoming4Me has posted a synopsis
  • Clash of Iron by Angus Watson (Orbit, Apr 14, 2015) — “Battle-hardened warriors and bloodthirsty druids clash in the second volume of this action-packed historical fantasy trilogy that will appeal to fans of Joe Abercrombie and HBO’s Game of Thrones.”
  • Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon (Dial, Apr 21, 2015) — “From the creator of Dragonbreath comes a tale of witches, minions, and one fantastic castle, just right for fans of Roald Dahl and Tom Angleberger. When Molly shows up on Castle Hangnail’s doorstep to fill the vacancy for a wicked witch, the castle’s minions are understandably dubious. After all, she is twelve years old, barely five feet tall, and quite polite.”
  • A Long Time Until Now (BAEN) by Michael Z Williamson (May 5, 2015)
  • Teen: Girl at the Bottom of the Sea by Michelle Tea (McSweeney’s McMullen’s, May 5, 2015) — “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.””
  • Eternity’s Wheel (InterWorld Trilogy) by Neil Gaiman, Michael Reaves and Mallory Reaves (May 19, 2015)
  • Odin: The Viking Allfather (Myths and Legends) by Steven Long and Maria Moreno(Osprey, May 26, 2015)
  • Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit, May 2015) — “A new work that takes us on an interstellar journey in search of a new home planet from New York Times bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson.”
  • Dance of Chaos by David Dalglish (Orbit, May 2015)
  • Fiction: Minnow by James McTeer (Hub City, May 2015) — winner of the South Carolina First Novel Prize — “Minnow is a gorgeous fever-dream of a novel,” said competition judge Ben Fountain. “McTeer’s story of a young boy’s quest achieves a narrative drive and depth that are rare in any novel, much less a debut effort. Minnow picked me up by the scruff of the neck and carried me along as powerfully as a novel by Pat Conroy or Toni Morrison. Yeah, McTeer is that good. I look forward to many more novels by this excellent young writer.”
  • Fiction: Hashtag by Eryk Pruitt (280 Steps, Spring 2015) -- "from the author of Dirtbags, a twisted and sinister crime story."
  • Anthology: Aickman’s Heirs edited by Simon Strantzas (Undertown Books, Spring 2015) — “an anthology of strange, weird tales by modern masters of weird fiction, in the milieu of Robert Aickman, the master of strange and ambiguous stories.”
  • The Shadow Revolution (Crown & Key) by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith (Jun 2, 2015) — “In the 1820s, a powerful but inexperienced magician is trapped in a struggle between ancient necromancers and elementals. To save innocents from the growing darkness, he gathers a group of alchemists, arcane engineers, and monster hunters to fight with him. Think of it as Charlotte Bronte’s Avengers.”
  • Because You’ll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas (Jun 2, 2015) — first novel from 2010 Clarion Workshop graduate
  • Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey (Orbit, June 2015) — “The fifth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series–now being produced for television by the SyFy Channel!”
  • 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, August 4, 2015) — “This is the way the world ends. Again.”
  • The Cage by Megan Shepherd (Balzer+Bray, Supper 2015) — first in a new “YA sci-fi trilogy about six teenagers trapped in an elaborate “human zoo” by an otherworldly race known as the Kindred.”
  • The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams (DAW, 2015) — Williams returns to the world of his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn epic fantasy trilogy
  • 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? 2015?)
  • Ebon (Pegasus, #2) by Robin McKinley (2015?)
  • The Doors of Stone (Kingkiller Chronicle #3) by Patrick Rothfuss (DAW, 2015?)
  • Shadows of Self (Mistborn, #5) by Brandon Sanderson (Tor, 2015?)
  • 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.”
  • Anthology: Wastelands 2: More Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams (Titan Books, February 2015) – “the star-studded follow-up to the 2008 bestselling anthology Wastelands.”
  • Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant (Subterranean Press, March 2015) — “When the Imagine Network commissioned a documentary on mermaids, to be filmed from the cruise ship Atargatis, they expected what they had always received before: an assortment of eyewitness reports that proved nothing, some footage that proved even less, and the kind of ratings that only came from peddling imaginary creatures to the masses.”
  • A Crown for Cold Silver by Alex Marshall (Orbit, April 14) — “It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre.”
  • War of Shadows by Gail Z. Martin (Orbit, April 21, 2015) — book 3 in the Ascendant Kingdoms saga which began with Ice Forged
  • 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.”
  • Pocket Apocalypse: InCryptid, Book Four by Seanan McGuire (Mar 3, 2015)
  • Company Town by Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot, Mar 3, 2015)
  • Ancestral Machines: A Humanity’s Fire novel by Michael Cobley (Orbit, Mar 10, 2015)
  • The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars) by Ian Tregillis (Orbit, March 10, 2015)
  • The Last Days of Video: A Novel by Jeremy Hawkins (Soft Skull Press, Mar 17, 2015) — “The video stores are dying. But most of you don’t care. You’ve got your Netflix and your Redbox and your DVR, so why deal with VHS tapes or scratched DVDs? Why deal with the grumpy guy at the worn-down independent video store?”
  • In the Time of Dragon Moon by Janet Lee Carey (Penguin/Kathy Dawson, Mar 24, 2015)
  • 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)
  • Dark Heir: A Jane Yellowrock Novel by Faith Hunter (Apr 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; RT has the scoop on thecover reveal
  • ADDED: Teen: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley (Harper Collins, Apr 28, 2015) -- "a fiercely intelligent, multilayered fantasy where Neil Gaiman's Stardust meets John Green's The Fault in Our Stars in a story about a girl caught between two worlds . . . two races . . . and two destinies."
  • The Waterborne Blade by Susan Murray (Angry Robot, May 5, 2015)
  • The Familiar: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski (Pantheon, May 19, 2015)
  • Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor, June 1, 2015) — synopsis and cover available at SFSignal
  • The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (Jul 7, 2015) — cover reveal on Tor.com for this second book in “The 3-Body Problem” translated by Ken Liu
  • Last First Snow (Craft Sequence) by Max Gladstone (Tor, Jul 14, 2015) — Gladstonewrites about writing this novel (in the universe which includes Three Parts Dead) at Tor.com
  • Kids: Nightborn (Thrones and Bones, Book 2) by Lou Anders (Crown Books for Young Readers, Jul 14, 2014) — follow-on to Frostborn, a fantastic Viking-infused middle grade fantasy of board games, dragons, frost giants, and more
  • Alive by Scott Sigler (Del Rey, Jul 14, 2015) — “For fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising comes a gripping sci-fi adventure in which a group of teenagers wake up in a mysterious corridor with no knowledge of who they are or how they got trapped. Their only hope lies with an indomitable young woman who must lead them not only to answers but to survival.”
  • Armada by Ernest Cline (Crown, July 28, 2015) — “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)
  • 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)
  • World of Water by James Lovegrove (Solaris, August 25, 2015) — follow-on to World of Fire — “Dev Harmer has landed in a new body on a new planet. He has gills and fins and a chronic malfunction in his genes. With only 72 hours to bring the settlers and natives of a colonised world to peace before his temporary body expires, murder and corruption are the least of his worries.”
  • The Spider’s War by Daniel Abraham (Orbit, August 2015) — “The epic conclusion to The Dagger and The Coin series, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin.”
  • 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.”
  • Illuminae by Annie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (Knopf, Fall 2015) — “Told through a dossier of hacked documents – including emails, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, graphics, and more – for what’s billed as a found footage-style mashup of Battlestar Galactica and Ten Things I Hate About You, Illuminae is the story of of a young hacker and her fighter pilot ex-boyfriend who must uncover the truth about the deadly plague ravaging their fleet, the AI that should be protecting them, and the powers that be who may or may not be lying about everything.”
  • Anthology: The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction edited by David Afsharirad (Baen, 2015) — first installment in a new anthology series
  • YA: Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly (Tor Teen, 2015) — “a YA about a girl who’s being raised by a seriously wicked witch. It contains: 1 sweet boy-band boy, 1 dragon who lives in an RV garage, 1 demon who occasionally imitates Elvis, 1 hidden phoenix that’s going to explode on Halloween, 1 witch who just wants to run the whole city, sheesh, is that too much to ask? and 1 girl named Cam trying to fix it all”
  • The End of All Things (The Human Division, Book 2) by John Scalzi (Tor, 2015)
  • Normal: A Novel by Warren Ellis (FSG Originals, Nov 3, 2015) — “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.”
  • 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)
  • Tell the Wind and Fire by Sarah Rees Brennan (HarperCollins, 2015?) — “A modern retelling of A Tale of Two Cities. With magic!”
  • The Dregs by Leigh Bardugo (Henry Holt, 2015?) — “The project, described as a blend of Ocean’s 11 and Game of Thrones, is set in Kerch, a small island nation in the “Grishaverse” (meaning the same universe as her Shadow and Bone books) with tremendous economic power, the hub of all international trade and a country rich in art and culture … but also home to one of the most dangerous criminal underworlds. A crew of dangerous felonious misfits face impossible odds when they are pulled together to break into one of the most guarded places in the world.”
  • Graphic novel: The Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvilland (First Second, 2015?) -- "Nobody's ever really explained the Spill. Was it an angelic visitation? A nanotech accident? A porthole opening from another world? Whatever it was, no one's allowed in the Spill Zone these days except government scientists and hazmat teams. But a few intrepid explorers know how to sneak through the patrols and steer clear of the dangers inside the Zone. Addison Merrick is one such explorer, dedicated to finding out what happened that night, and to unraveling the events that took her parents and left her little sister mute and disconnected from the world."
  • Underground Airline by Ben H. Winters (Mulholland, Spring 2016) — “an ‘epic contemporary detective story,’ according to the publisher, set in alternate world in which the Civil War never happened and slavery still exists in the American South. The novel follows an undercover agent trying to capture an escaped slave. Winters, who has written titles for adults and children, won both the Edgar and the Philip K. Dick Award for books in the Last Policeman series.” (via PW)
  • Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear (Gollanzc, late 2016) — first in a two-book space opera which “imagines the invention of The White Drive: an easy, nonrelativistic means of travel across unimaginable distances. The gripping story follows salvage operators, Haimey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz, as they pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human – and alien – vessels.”
Posted in Release Week | Tagged daryl gregory, george newbern, kameron hurley, liza ross, macleod andrews, otherland, pandemonium, peter berkrot, steven erikson, tad williams, the mirror empire, willful child