Release Week: Tobias Buckell's Hurricane Fever, Benjamin Parzybok's Sherwood Nation, Peyton Marshall's Goodhouse, Howard Jacobson's J, and David Cronenberg's Consumed read by William Hurt

Posted on 2014-10-07 at 19:18 by Sam

SEPTEMBER 24-30, 2014: I already knew this was going to be a big week, ahead of a huge October slate (previewed by Bookpage, io9, SFSignal, and BuzzFeed) and then several surprises made coming up with a manageable set of picks a nearly impossible task. Beyond the five audiobooks I do highlight this week, there's plenty more to check out in the "also out" listings including Garth Stein's A Sudden Light, Hilary Mantel's The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Jason Mott's The Wonder of All Things, Jonathan L. Howard's latest "Brothers Cabal" book, a new full cast production of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, a Recorded Books collection of Asimov's Robot Dreams, Rich Horton's Superheroes anthology, and! Elizabeth May's debut The Falconer comes to audio as well. I'm also updating the October Whispersync Deal Roundup with a big list of titles from SFSignal's monthly ebook sales listings. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged Benjamin Parzybok, Consumed, David Cronenberg, Goodhouse, howard jacobson, Hurricane Fever, Peyton Marshall, Sherwood Nation, tobias buckell, William Hurt

October Whispersync Deal Roundup: Octavia Butler's Kindred, Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising, Jenni Fagan's The Panopticon, Tim Pratt's Heirs of Grace, James Blaylock's The Affair of the Chalk Cliffs, and more (UPDATED!)

Posted on 2014-10-02 at 14:22 by Sam

October is here, and so a new crop of monthly e-book deals are live. While quite a lot of the September roundup remains live as well (outside of the specifically monthly price drops) here's what's new:

NOTE: Updated on Tuesday Oct 7 with a pile of new listings! And again on Oct 15!

Octavia Butler's Kindred ($2.09+$3.49) -- Narrated by Kim Staunton for Recorded Books, this is one of the all-time-great novels of any genre in my opinion, and a fantastic audiobook: "The first science-fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of African-American literature. This combination of slave memoir, fantasy, and historical fiction is a novel of rich literary complexity. Having just celebrated her 26th birthday in 1976 California, Dana, an African-American woman, is suddenly and inexplicably wrenched through time into antebellum Maryland. After saving a drowning white boy there, she finds herself staring into the barrel of a shotgun and is transported back to the present just in time to save her life. During numerous such time-defying episodes with the same young man, she realizes the challenge she's been given: to protect this young slaveholder until he can father her own great-grandmother. Author Octavia E. Butler skilfully juxtaposes the serious issues of slavery, human rights, and racial prejudice with an exciting science-fiction, romance, and historical adventure. Kim Staunton's narrative talent magically transforms the listener's earphones into an audio time machine."

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged james blaylock, kindred, octavia butler, susan cooper, the dark is rising, tim pratt

Release Week: Wolf in White Van, Afterworlds, Rooms, Horrorstör, and Terry Pratchett's A Slip of the Keyboard

Posted on 2014-10-01 at 20:33 by Sam

SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2014: Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks, and this release week roundup is more than a week late. But! I can't do my usual trick of combining two weeks into one roundup, because there's just too many great titles coming out here as summer turns to fall. This week: a full review of John Darnielle's affecting Wolf in White Van, along with picks from YA (Scott Westerfeld's Afterworlds) and horror (Lauren Oliver's adult debut Rooms and Grady Hendrix's bizarre and aptly-published-by-Quirk-Books Horrorstör), and Terry Pratchett's essay collection A Slip of the Keyboard. Also out this week: an omnibus edition of Ellen Kushner's Riverside novels, Robin Cook's groundbreaking medical thriller Coma, Benjamin Whitmer's Cry Father, Will Wiles' The Way Inn, a US release for Audible's original dramatic production The Child, and a pair of shorts: Roberto Trotta's The Edge of the Sky: All You Need to Know about the All-There-Is (read by Bronson Pinchot) and Robertson Dean's narration of Washington Irving's classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Meanwhile in podcast land, part two of the Baen audio drama "Islands" debuted on the Baen Free Radio Hour, and! episode one of Mur Lafferty's Ghost Train to New Orleans, a free podcast of her second "Shambling Guides" novel, published by Hachette Audio in March. In "seen but not hear" a few which really catch my eye, including Jenna Black's "Game of Thrones meets House of Cards" contemporary urban fantasy The Gifted Dead and Greer Gilman's Small Beer Press-published Exit, Pursued By a Bear. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged afterworlds, bronson pinchot, grady hendrix, Heather Lind, horrorstor, john darnielle, lauren oliver, michael fenton-stevens, rooms, scott westerfeld, sheetal sheth, tai sammons, terry pratchett, wolf in white van

Release Week: Broken Monsters, My Real Children, The Rabbit Back Literature Society, and Jay Lake's Last Plane to Heaven

Posted on 2014-09-22 at 17:22 by Sam

SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2014: One of the quietest weeks in overall numbers in a good while nonetheless has very, very much to recommend it, with US audio releases for the latest novels from Lauren Beukes and Jo Walton, an eagerly-awaited Finnish speculative fiction, and Jay Lake's posthumous final collection Last Plane to Heaven. Also out this week: John Shirley's historical fiction Wyatt in Wichita well ahead of the planned print/ebook release, Ken Follett's Century Trilogy concludes with Edge of Eternity, Kelly Barnhill's The Witch's Boy, Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress: Nine Tales, a fantastic Skyboat Media production of Christopher Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, and Jonathan Kellerman (with son Jesse) revisits the legendary golem of Prague with The Golem of Hollywood. Seen but not heard selections include the Nick Mamatas-edited Phantasm Japan anthology, Helen Marshall's collection Gifts for the One Who Comes After, Beth Cato's The Clockwork Dagger, and (both already out in audio mid-week) Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle and Cry Father by Benjamin Whitmer. Meanwhile, in podcast land, the Baen Free Radio Hour has just included part 1 of a 4-part radioplay miniseries for which I had a small part: "a full-cast, lushly produced audio drama adaptation" of the novella "Islands" by Eric Flint, set in the world of the Belisarius series by Eric Flint and David Drake. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged alison larkin, broken monsters, jay lake, jo walton, lauren beukes, my real children, pasi ilmari jaaskelainen, the rabbit back literature society

Release Week: Station Eleven, City of Stairs, Hieroglyph, Monstrous Affections, and Gregory Maguire's Egg and Spoon

Posted on 2014-09-16 at 13:31 by Sam

SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2014: A highly-praised post-apocalyptic fiction, a secondary-world fantasy, an optimistic hard sf anthology, a young adult fantasy anthology, and an "all ages" fantasy lead a crowded week which also includes Daryl Gregory's "dark, degenerate, and sublime" We Are All Completely Fine, Karen Miller's The Falcon Throne, Angus Watson's Age of Iron, Siobhan Adcock's ghost story The Barter, Paula Guran's anthology Zombies: More Recent Dead, Benedict Cumberbatch reading William Golding's The Spire, and the first two books in David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr. Speaking of series, Steven Gould's Jumper series continues with Exo and Kim Harrison's Hollows series concludes with The Witch with No Name. And it's a packed week in the "seen but not heard" listings as well, with (among others) Nancy Kress's Yesterday's Kin, etc. Jonathan Wood's Yesterday's Hero, D. Harlan Wilson's Primordial: An Abstraction, M.C. Planck's Sword of the Bright Lady, Benjamin Parzybok's Sherwood Nation, Darin Bradley's Chimpanzee, and Stephen Graham Jones' collection After the People Lights Have Gone Off, and Laila Lalami's historical fiction The Moor's Account. In terms of news and links and such, as usual there's news a-plenty. Last week I shared the official announcement that Patrick Rothfuss would be narrating his forthcoming novella, and this week I'll link to another read by the author title to look forward to soon: John Darnielle's narration of Wolf in White Van is pretty fantastic. In other news and links, narrator Luke Daniels shared A Brief History of Talking Books for the Blind and Recorded Books answered Tantor's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with aplomb. Meanwhile, as I detailed as part of the September Whispersync Roundup (which has since been updated to include a few more deals) Audible's Win-Win Sale ends on September 18. All right! Get listening! By the time you read this, The Rabbit Back Literature Society, Lauren Beukes' Broken Monsters, and Jay Lake's Last Plane to Heaven will all be out. Enjoy...

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged alma cuervo, city of stairs, daryl gregory, egg and spoon, emily st john mandel, gavin grant, gregory maguire, hieroglyph, kathryn cramer, kelly link, kirsten potter, michael page, monstrous affections, neal stephenson, robert jackson bennett, siobhan adcock, station eleven, the barter

September Whispersync Deal Roundup

Posted on 2014-09-12 at 14:45 by Sam

Out with the deals of August and in with the deals of September! As usual, the daily #WhispersyncDeal posts on Facebook/Twitter cover the more ephemeral deals, but here's some titles to check out all September long -- but first, some deals that either end today (Friday) or in a week:

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged among others, amy mcfadden, annihilation, ben aaronovitch, carolyn mccormick, charlie n holmberg, dead with walking, emily durante, ernest cline, faith hunter, fortune's pawn, frederik pohl, gabrielle de cuir, gateway, harrowgate, jane yellowrock, jeff vandermeer, jo walton, john scalzi, kate maruyama, katherine kellgren, kavalier and clay, khristine hvam, kim harrison, kobna holdbrook-smith, macleod andrews, marguerite gavin, michael chabon, midnight riot, nick podehl, oliver wyman, paolo bacigalupi, pierre grimbert, rachel bach, ready player one, redshirts, richard kadrey, siddhartha mukherjee, skinwalker, stefan rudnicki, the drowned cities, the king in yellow, the paper magician, tyler dilts, wil wheaton

Release Week: Acceptance, The Bone Clocks, Maplecroft, Sleeping Late on Judgement Day, and Randall Munroe's "What If?"

Posted on 2014-09-09 at 03:49 by Sam

AUGUST 27-SEPTEMBER 2, 2014: September is here, and so are 5 of my most-anticipated audiobooks of the entire year: Jeff VanderMeer's Acceptance concludes his Southern Reach trilogy, David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks is the Cloud Atlas author's first new novel in four years, Cherie Priest's Maplecroft gives us Lizzie Borden and her axe, we find out what happens to an angel on the run after Sleeping Late on Judgement Day, and Wil Wheaton narrates an audiobook adaptation of Randall Munroe's What If? Also out this week: Seanan McGuire's The Winter Long, Gregory Sherl's The Future for Curious People, Sylvia Izzo Hunter's The Midnight Queen, Charlie N. Holmberg's The Paper Magician, Richard Parks' Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter, along with an absolutely unbelievable lineup of narrators for the complete run of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and! thrillers galore, including Tana French's The Secret Place. Seen but not heard picks include: Stuart Rojstaczer's The Mathematician's Shiva, Ben Lerner's 10:04, Tony Daniel and David Drake's The Savior, J.F. Lewis' Grudgebearer, and Nina Allen's The Race. Plenty of news and links to share this week: Ellen Kushner talks audiobooks with Forbes, Veronica Scott talks audiobooks with USA Today, Ford is giving away copies of Edan Lepucki's California, Simon & Schuster Audio is having a massive thriller audiobook giveaway contest, and indie narrator Jeff Hays did an "ask me anything" on reddit. OK! By the time you read this, Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs, Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven, Steven Gould's Exo, and Neal Stephenson's Hieroglyph anthology will already be out. (Not to mention Siobhan Adcock's The Barter, which already is, and, finally! The Rabbit Back Literature Society which is due September 11.) Happy listening!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged bobby dollar, bronson pinchot, cherie priest, david mitchell, jeff vandermeer, maplecroft, randall munroe, tad williams, the bone clocks, the southern reach, what if, wil wheaton, xe sands, xkcd

Release Week: John Scalzi's Lock In, Peter Watts' Echopraxia, Richard Kadrey's The Getaway God, and Brent Weeks' The Broken Eye

Posted on 2014-09-02 at 02:46 by Sam

AUGUST 20-26, 2014: August goes out with quite a bang, with a near-future sf thriller, medium-future space sf, urban fantasy, and epic fantasy releases among the biggest of the year, ahead of what is set to be quite a September to remember. Also out this week: an English translation of Daniel Kehlman's tragicomic novel F, Lisa Shearin's Southern-fried, NYC-set urban fantasy The Grendel Affair, Simon R. Green's Voices from Beyond, David Drake's "Northworld" trilogy, Janet Morris and Chris Morris' The Sacred Band, and Stant Litore's "Zombie Bible" series continues with a short: I Will Hold My Death Close. Meanwhile there's some real gems in the "seen but not heard" listing, including Kameron Hurley's The Mirror Empire, though an audiobook is in the works. The big audiobook news to pass along this week is that Stefan Rudnicki is set to record Lewis Shiner's novel Frontera, with a late October release date. Frontera is Shiner's Philip K. Dick and Nebula Award finalist debut sf novel, first published in 1984, of a corporate-controlled near future and a lost Martian colony. I've been hoping for exactly this development for quite some time now, and am eagerly awaiting the result. Now: get listening! Jeff VanderMeer's Acceptance, David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks, Cherie Priest's Maplecroft, and Tad Williams' Sleeping Late on Judgement Day will be out by the time you read this. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged amber benson, brent weeks, david drake, echopraxia, john scalzi, lisa shearin, lock in, macleod andrews, northworld, peter watts, richard kadrey, sandman slim, simon vance, the broken eye, the getaway god, the grendel affair, wil wheaton

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:

Posted in Release Week, Uncategorized | Tagged al yankovic, bruce locke, charles e gannon, cirlce of reign, colorless tsukuru tazaki, david duchovny, dreamscape media, ekaterina sedia, elliot hill, everything is broken, felicia day, fire with fire, fool's assassin, gildart jackson, graham joyce, haruki murakami, heart of iron, ice-t, jacob cooper, john shirley, kevin pariseau, michael chiklis, michael kramer, prime books, RA Salvatore, robin hobb, sean astin, the ghost in the electric blue suit, the legend of drizzt, wil wheaton

August Whispersync Deal Roundup

Posted on 2014-08-16 at 03:46 by Sam

While I've continued the daily #WhispersyncDeal posts on Facebook/Twitter, with another month has come another set of month-long Whispersync deals, both in Amazon's monthly Kindle deal listings and beyond. First those "official" deals, starting with sci-fi and fantasy:

Carniepunk for $1.99+$3.99 -- "Come one, come all! The Carniepunk Midway promises you every thrill and chill a traveling carnival can provide. But fear not! Urban fantasy's biggest stars are here to guide you through this strange and dangerous world...." -- Written by: Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Kevin Hearne, Seanan McGuire, Jennifer Estep, Allison Pang, Kelly Gay, Delilah S. Dawson, and Kelly Meding -- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Kirby Heyborne

Fuzzy Nation for $2.99+$3.49 -- "In John Scalzi's re-imagining of H. Beam Piper's 1962 sci-fi classic Little Fuzzy, written with the full cooperation of the Piper Estate, Jack Holloway works alone for reasons he doesnt care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorps headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporations headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, thats not up for discussion." -- Written by: John Scalzi -- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Kids: The 39 Clues Book 1: The Maze of Bones (along with later books in the series) -- "What would happen if you discovered that your family was one of the most powerful in human history? What if you were told that the source of the family's power was hidden around the world, in the form of 39 Clues? What if you were given a choice - take a million dollars and walk away...or get the first Clue? If you're Amy and Dan Cahill, you take the Clue - and begin a very dangerous race." -- Written by: Rick Riordan -- Narrated by David Pittu

WESTERNS and MYSTERY

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged anathem, canada, carniepunk, charming, chuck wendig, claire dewitt, cyberstorm, elliott james, fuzzy nation, john scalzi, luke daniels, matthew mather, neal stephenson, patrick dewitt, podium publishing, ray chase, richard ford, rick riordan, sara gran, scott meyer, stant litore, the sisters brothers, tom taylorson, wil wheaton