Page 11 of posts by: Sam

Release Week: The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, Thorn Jack, and The Silkworm

Posted on 2014-06-29 at 04:10 by Sam

JUNE 18-24, 2014: A fairytale recast as imaginative -- but not overtly speculative -- fiction by the always fantastic Genevieve Valentine, a contemporary fantasy retelling of the Scottish folk tale of Tam Lin by debut novelist Katherine Harbour, and J.K. Rownling writing as Robert Galbraith headline the last full release week in June, which also includes epic fantasy from L.E. Modesitt, sf from Mike Shepherd and Vaughn Heppner, a collection from Nancy Fulda, and several books from Ira Levin's backlist

Posted in Release Week | Tagged genevieve valentine, j.k. rowling, katherine harbour, robert galbraith, the girls at the kingfisher club, the silkworm, thorn jack

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

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

JUNE 11-17, 2014: There is an absolute avalanche of outstanding audio this week, comprised mostly of audiobooks we've been anticipating for a good while now, but led by a breathtaking surprise: Terry Bisson's 1993 collection Bears Discover Fire and Other Stories. There's high-end sf (Cibola Burn, The Long Mars, On the Steel Breeze), there's historically-set fantasy (The Quick), there's comedic fantasy (Spell or High Water) and urban fantasy (Shattered, Half-Off Ragnarok) and an sf/thriller hyrbid (A Better

Posted in Release Week | Tagged a better world, adjoa andoh, alastair reynolds, bears discover fire, cherie priest, cibola burn, erik davies, gardner dozois, george rr martin, gillian flynn, james sa corey, janis ian, joe abercrombie, joe barrett, kevin hearne, kirby heyborne, lauren owen, luke daniels, marcus sakey, megan abbott, michael fenton-stevens, neil gaiman, on the steel breeze, patrick rothfuss, rogues, roy dotrice, scott meyer, shattered, simon slater, skyboat media, spell or high water, stefan rudnicki, stephen baxter, terry bisson, terry pratchett, the fever, the iron druid chronicles, the long mars, the quick

Release Week: The Goblin Emperor, The Girl with All the Gifts, Koko Takes a Holiday, and Pills and Starships

Posted on 2014-06-18 at 13:52 by Sam

JUNE 3-10, 2014: Another fantastic release week this week, from fantasy to sf to all kinds of stuff in between, both in the picks of the week and beyond, though some of my most-anticipated books of the month end up in the "seen but not heard" list as well. Meanwhile, there's a second Recorded Books Humble Audiobook Bundle ongoing through June 24/25, offering a chance to "pay what you want" for a set of audiobooks including Pierce Brown's Red Rising, Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and

Posted in Release Week | Tagged daniel h wilson, finty williams, hillary huber, katherine addison, kieran shea, koko takes a holiday, kyle mccarley, lydia millet, Michael R Underwood, mozhan marno, mr carey, pills and starships, the girl with all the gifts, the goblin emperor

Release Week: Six-Gun Snow White, The River of Souls, The Dark Between the Stars, Prince of Fools, The Science of Discworld, and Mr. Mercedes

Posted on 2014-06-10 at 16:10 by Sam

MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2014: June got off to a big start, with star-spanning sf (Kevin J. Anderson's The Dark Between the Stars), epic fantasy (Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools), historical almost-supernatural thriller (Robert McCammon's The River of Souls), a fairytale recast in the Wild West (Catherynne M. Valente's Six-Gun Snow White), and yes, horror from Stephen King (Mr. Mercedes). In the ALSO OUT listings there's an Expanse novella from James S.A. Corey along with Chandler Klang Smith's 2013 debut Goldenland

Posted in Release Week | Tagged catherynne m valente, edoardo ballerini, julia whelan, kevin j anderson, mark lawrence, mr mercedes, prince of fools, robert mccammon, six-gun snow white, stephen king, terry pratchett, the dark between the stars, the river of souls, the science of discworld, tim gerard reynolds

Top 25 most-anticipated books of June 2014

Posted on 2014-06-05 at 18:40 by Sam

Everyone has their own lists, but here’s ours: what we're most looking forward to this month, in chronological order of release, with audiobook information if we know about it. (I tried holding the list to 10 as I managed for last month's preview, but after a second pass cutting as much as I was close to happy with, I was still in the 30s. Trimming further to 25 was hard enough!)

JUNE 3

Searchers After Horror edited by S.T. Joshi (Fedogan and Bremer, June 1) — The first of two anthologies on my list this

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged adjoa andoh, alastair reynolds, am dellamonica, antonia hodgson, california bones, catherynne m valente, child of a hidden sea, cibola burn, deadly curiosities, dogsland, eli horowitz, emily bauer, emmi itaranta, erik davies, finty williams, gail z martin, gardner dozois, genevieve valentine, george rr martin, greg van eekhout, hillary huber, incrypted, iron druid chronicles, j.k. rowling, james morrow, james robert herndon, james sa corey, jm mcdermott, john lee, julia whelan, kate rudd, katherine addison, katherine harbour, kevin hearne, kevin j anderson, kieran shea, koko takes a holiday, lauren owen, luke daniels, mammals, mark boyett, mark smylie, memory of water, michael fenton-stevens, michael page, mr carey, mr mercedes, octavia e butler, on the steel breeze, ray porter, rayla 2212, robert galbraith, rogues, scott meyer, seanan mcguire, searchers after horror, shattered, simon slater, six-gun snow white, spell or high water, spoken freely, st joshi, stephen baxter, stephen briggs, stephen king, terry pratchett, the barrow, the dark between the stars, the devil in the marshalsea, the expanse, the girl with all the gifts, the girls at the kingfisher club, the goblin emperor, the long mars, the madonna and the starship, the quick, the science of discworld, the silent history, the silkworm, thorn jack, unexpected stories, we leave together, will patton, ytasha womack

Whispersync Monthly Deals for June 2014: Ben Winters, Joyce Carol Oates, Joe Hill, Marcus Sakey, Elmore Leonard, and more (updated June 5!)

Posted on 2014-06-02 at 18:23 by Sam

June is here, and along with it another crop of monthly Kindle deals, including quite a few fantastic titles with inexpensive Whispersync for Voice upgrades to the Audible editions. Here are the eight titles which most caught my eye:

Countdown City: The Last Policeman Book II (Last Policeman Trilogy) by Ben H. Winters, read by Peter Berkrot for Brilliance Audio, for $3.99 Kindle plus $3.99 Whispersync for Voice upgrade to the Audible edition -- "There are just 77 days to go before a deadly asteroid

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged ania ahlborn, ben h. winters, brilliance, countdown city, daniel radcliffe, dave donovan, elmore leonard, grover gardner, horns, joe hill, joyce carol oates, kate mulgrew, luke daniels, marcus sakey, nos4a2, peter berkrot, raylan, seed, the accursed, the gift, timothy olyphant

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

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

MAY 21-27, 2014: Well, crap. I should have snatched up Nick Harkaway's Tigerman before Audible (US) realized that it couldn't sell it to me, but hopefully that's a "not yet" and not an "ever". So, a release week I was over-the-top excited about is taken down a notch, though with blockbuster series releases from Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files continues with Skin Game, read by James Marsters), Elizabeth Moon (Crown of Renewal in her  Paksennarion: Paladin's Legacy series), and Ian Douglas (Dark Matter in his

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

Release Week: Monica Byrne's The Girl in the Road, Stephen Baker's The Boost, and Hartley and Hewson's Hamlet, read by Richard Armitage

Posted on 2014-05-22 at 18:29 by Sam

MAY 14-20, 2014: One of my most-anticipated titles of the year, let alone this month, is finally here, Monica Byrne's The Girl in the Road, along with Stephen Baker's all-too-near-future of brain hacking, The Boost, and a new audio-original novelization of Shakespeare's Hamlet from the same authors who brought us Macbeth -- another audio original -- in 2011. There's a long list of titles to check out in the ALSO OUT listings as well, including South African author Sarah Trotz's The Three and Australian

Posted in Release Week | Tagged aj hartley, david doersch, david hewson, dioni collins, hamlet, monica byrne, nazneen contractor, richard armitage, stephen baker, the boost, the girl in the road

Release Week: C. Robert Cargill's Queen of the Dark Things, Felix Gilman's The Revolutions, Josh Malerman's Bird Box, Norman Lock's The Boy in His Winter, and Dead Man's Hand edited by John Joseph Adams

Posted on 2014-05-14 at 17:56 by Sam

MAY 7-13, 2014: A sequel I've been anticipating for the past year, a short stay on the "missing in audio" list for a book from one of my favorite authors, a post-apocalyptic horror, Huck Finn in the future, and a Weird West anthology headline a fairly quiet publishing week this week, at least compared to last week's haul, but by no means does that imply that there aren't more books worth checking out in the ALSO OUT listings as well. Those include (among others) Porochista Khakpour's The Last Illusion and

Posted in Release Week | Tagged bird box, c robert cargill, cassandra campbell, dead man's hand, felix gilman, grover gardner, john joseph adams, josh malerman, natalie ross, norman lock, phil gigante, ralph lister, the boy in his winter, the revolutions, vikas adam

Sam's Listening Report: April 2013

Posted on 2014-05-13 at 16:39 by Sam

Well, I've lapped myself in terms of getting out these so-called "monthly" listening reports, as these listens are all from a year (and counting) ago. But it was a fantastic month for me, with all four books showing up in my favorites of the year, spread across four genres: horror (The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates), heroic fantasy (No Return by Zachary Jernigan), literary speculative fiction (Life After Life by Kate Atkinson), and a hard-to-categorize novel of game development and friendship (You by Austin

Posted in Sam's Monthly Listening Report | Tagged austin grossman, fenella woolgar, grover gardner, john fitzgibbon, joyce carol oates, kate atkinson, life after life, no return, the accursed, will collyer, you, zachary jernigan