[[[Red Rising]]] by Pierce Brown. Del Rey, $25.00, 384pp, hc, 9780345539786. Fiction. On-sale date: 28 January 2014.
Darrow is a miner and a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he digs all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of the planet livable for future generations. Darrow has never seen the sky.
Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better future for his children.
But Darrow’s people have been betrayed. Humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow and Reds like him are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow joins a resistance group in order to infiltrate the ruling class and destroy society from within. He will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
[[[Ender’s Game]]] by Orson Scott Card, Read by Stefan Ruddnicki and a full cast. Macmillan Audio, $29.99, 9CDs/10.5 house, 9781427235398. Science fiction audio book.
This movie tie-in audiobook features this beloved story repackaged to match the upcoming film. Celebrate the story that has thrilled millions by listening to it everywhere.
[[[The Wasteland Saga]]] by Nick Cole. (contains three novels: The Old Man and the Wasteland, The Savage Boy, and The Road is a River), Harper Voyager, $16.99, 664pp, tp, 9780062210197. Fiction/Dystopia.
The future is now: readers and fans of anything from general fiction to any number of specific sub-genres have access to any number of books that cater directly to their interests, thanks to the advent of digital publishing. But what lies beyond current trends steeped in the digital age? Nick Cole, author of the forthcoming Wasteland Saga, is poised to find out.
In more ways than one, Cole’s trade is the future. The serialized novels set in Cole’s “Wasteland” first found success independently, and then rose to critical acclaim through Harper Voyager Impulse, HarperCollins Publishers’ e-original line, and are now making the leap to the printed page. On sale both digitally and as print trade paperbacks, The Wasteland Sage is another nod to Cole’s fascination with the future; the three novels, including The Old Man and the Wasteland, The Savage Boy, and the never before-released The Road is a River, paint a gritty picture of a world struggling to survive some forty years after a nuclear apocalypse. Nick re-interprets the frequently depressing genre to give readers a sense of hope for the future amidst the eerie realism.
Genre-splicing works of post-apocalyptic fiction are a budding trend with a strong foundation from recent works like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, Tom Hanks’ Electric City, and the video games Fallout and Borderlands. Nick sets himself apart by borrowing elements from the likes of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and King Lear to create a new take edgy fiction in a class all its own – – and always with one eye looking towards the future. The Wasteland Saga is a must-have for fans of science and post-apocalyptic literature: terrifying in its realism, masterful in its prose, and addictively readable.
[[[Swords of Exodus]]] by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari. Baen, $7.99, 594pp, pb, 9781476736112. Fantasy.
Needed: The Best of the Best
On the far side of the world, deep in former Soviet Central Asia, lies a stronghold called the Crossroads. It is run with an iron fist by a brutal warlord calling himself Sala Jihan. He is far more than a petty dictator, for Johan holds the fate of nations in his grasp. To save a world slipping into chaos, Jihan must be stopped, and one secret organization called Exodus plans to make that happen.
For this mission, Exodus needs the best of the best. Unfortunately, mercenary Michael Valentine is rotting in an almost unassailable prison. Enter Lorenzo, thief extraordinaire. He’s not retired, but his FBI agent brother has gone missing, disappeared into the stronghold of the warlord Johan. Exodus promises Lorenzo a chance to rescue his brother – – but first he must break Valentine out of a secret prison from which no one has ever emerged alive. And if Lorenzo can accomplish the impossible, then the Crossroads will await the swords of Exodus.
[[[The Osiris Curse: A Tweed & Nightingale Adventure]]] by Paul Crilley. Pyr, $17.99, 288pp, hc, 9781616148577. Steampunk.
When Nikola Tesla is murdered and blueprints for his super weapons are stolen, Sebastian Tweed and Octavia Nightingale are drawn into a global cat-and-mouse chase with his killers. What’s more, it seems that the people responsible for Octavia’s mother’s disappearance. As the two cases intertwine, Tweed and Nightingale’s investigations lead them to a murdered archeologist and a secret society called The Hermetic Order of Osiris. Fleeing the cult’s wrath, they go undercover on The Albion, a luxury airship setting out on her maiden voyage to Tutankhamen’s View, a five-star hotel built in the hollowed-out and refurbished Great Pyramid of Giza.
In Egypt, the duo begins to unravel the terrible truth behind Tesla’s death, a secret so earth shattering that if revealed it would mean rewriting the entire history of the world. But if the cult’s plans aren’t stopped, Britain may lose the future.
[[[In Space No One Can Hear You Scream]]] edited by Hank Davis. Baen, $15.00, 325pp, tp, 9781451639414. Science fiction anthology.
The scream you can’t hear may be your own
“The Oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown,” the grand master of horror, H.P. Lovecraft once wrote. And the greatest unknown is the vast universe, shrouded in eternal cosmic night. What things might be lurking on other planets – – or in the dark gulfs between the stars?
One might hope that in the void beyond the Earth will be found friendly aliens, benevolent and possibly wiser than humanity, but don’t be surprised if other worlds have unpleasant surprises in store for future visitors. And in vacuum, no one will be able to hear your screams….
[Contributors: Arthur C. Clarke, Tony Daniel, Peter Phillips, Sarah A. Hoyt, Robert Sheckley, Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette, Theodore Sturgeon, James H. Schmitz, Neal Asher, Paul Ernst, Hank Davis, Clark Ashton Smith, and George R.R. Martin.]
[[[Star Corpsman, Book Two: Abyss Deep]]] by Ian Douglas. Harper Voyager, $7.99, 373pp, pb, 9780061894770. Science fiction.
New York Times bestselling author Ian Douglas’s virtuosic Star Corpsman series proves one thing: The Marines are still the toughest sons of guns in the galaxy.
As Bravo Company defuses a hostage crisis on an orbiting mining station, Navy Corpsman Elliot “Doc” Carlyle not only saves the lives of a wounded Marine and two extraterrestrial friendlies – – he averts a terrorist strike intended to kill billions. His reward? Deployment on a recon mission into the darkest depths known to man.
Abyss Deep is a foreboding ocean planet torn by extremes: boiling storm world on one side, unbroken glacier on the other. Humans established a research colony there to study the planet’s giant sea serpents – – but the colony has gone ominously silent. When Carlyle’s team arrives, they discover a vessel belonging to a warlike alien species hovering above the atmosphere. But below the ice lurks a mystery so chilling it will make even Elliot Carlyle’s blood run cold.
[[[1636: The Devil’s Opera]]] by Eric Flint and David Carrico. Baen, $25.00, 512pp, hc, 9781451639285. Alternate history.
Revolution, Murder and High Notes…
1636: the United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war. His brain injured in the war with Poland, Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy. His goal: to assemble the forces of the hide-bound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.
In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns’ wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna’s plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down-time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression.
But another plot is underway – – this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the war are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befirended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective and his down-timer partner thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal? It’s not over until the fat lady sings.
[[[Dark Duets: All-New Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy]]] edited by Christopher Golden. Harper Voyager, $25.99, 432pp, hc, 9780062240279. Horror anthology. On-sale date: January 2014.
A feast of eerie and mesmerizing horror, thriller, and dark fantasy tales – – an ambitious and unique anthology featuring biting and atmospheric original stories from seventeen sets of acclaimed writers, all collaborating for the first time.
Written by pairs of authors – – and in one case, a trio – – who have never worked together before, the stories in this enthralling literary experiment blend diverse elements and rich themes into mesmerizing and highly combustible tales that delve deep into the shadowy, unexplored realms of the imagination.
On the night before Halloween, an unwitting young woman falls under a mesmerizing man’s spell – – and into a multiverse of elves, demons, and minions – – in “T. Rhymer,” by Gregory Frost and Jonathan Maberry. Sarah MacLean and Carrie Ryan explore the exquisite agony of eternal love in “She, Doomed Girl.” “Welded” by Tom Piccirilli and T.M. Wright offers an unsettling vision of evil that infects and destroys lives.
Mixing the ordinary – – parents, teenagers, lovers – – with the extraordinary – – angels, demons, serial killers – – these bold and vivid stories offer a compelling survey of the supernatural world sure to frighten and enchant.
[Contributors: Charlaine Harris & Rachel Caine; Holly Black, Cassandra Clare & Sarah Rees Brennan; Stuart MacBride & Allan Guthrie; Kevin J. Anderson & Sherrilyn Kenyon; Chelsea Cain & Lidia Yuknavitch; Jonathan Maberry & Gregory Frost; Michael Koryta & Jeffrey David Greene; Carrie Ryan & Sarah MacLean; David Liss & Robert Jackson Bennett; Amber Benson & Jeffrey Mariotte; Tim Lebbon & Michael Marshall Smith; Nate Kenyon & James A. Moore; Rick Hautala & Holly Newstein; Mark Morris & Rio Youers; Tom Piccirilli & T.M. Wright; F. Paul Wilson & Rhodi Hawk; and Joe R. Lansdale & Kasey Lansdale.]
[[[The Cusanus Game]]] by Wolfgang Jeschke. Tor, $25.99, 544pp, hc, 9780765319081. Science fiction.
Wolfgang Jeschke is Grand Master of German science fiction and editor of more than 100 SF anthologies since 1970. Jeschke has won the Kurd Lasswitz award, the most prestigious German science fiction prize, 17 times – – including for The Cusanus Game, published in Germany in 2005. Tor Books is proud to release Jeschke’s latest work The Cusanus Game for the first time in English.
Biologist Domenica Ligrina fears her planet is dying. She might be right.
An atomic disaster in Germany has contaminated Northern Europe with radioactivity. Economic and political calamities are destroying the whole planet. Human DNA is mutating, plant species are going extinct, and scientists are feverishly working on possible solutions. It becomes increasingly apparent that the key to future salvation lies in the past. In 2052 a secret research facility in the Vatican is recruiting scientist for a mission to restore the flora of the irradiated territories. The institute claims to have time travel. When Domenica’s sometime-lover tells her that he knows her future but that she must decide her own fate, she enlists despite his ambiguous warning.
The Middle Ages hold Domenica spellbound. She immerses herself in the mysteries, puzzles, and peculiarities of a culture foreign to her, though she risks changing the past with effects far more disastrous than radiation poisoning. Perhaps there is more than one Domenica, and more than one catastrophe.
Aspiring, though-provoking, and spellbinding, The Cusanus Game will captivate and awe Jeschke’s many fans and science fiction readers everywhere.
[[[Pathfinder Tales: Stalking the Beast]]] by Howard Andrew Jones. Paizo, $9.99, 367pp, pb, 9781601255723. Fantasy.
Out for Blood
When a mysterious monster carves a path of destruction across the southern River Kingdoms, desperate townsfolk look to the famed elven ranger Elyana and her half-orc companion Drelm for salvation. For Drelm, however, the mission is about more than simple justice – – it’s about protecting the frontier town he’s adopted as his home, and the woman he plans to marry. Together with the gunslinging bounty hunter Lisette and several equally deadly allies, the heroes must set off into the wilderness, hunting a terrifying beast that will test their abilities – – and their friendships – – to the breaking point and beyond. But could it be that there’s more to the murders than a simple rampaging beast?
From critically acclaimed author Howard Andrew Jones comes a new adventure of love, betrayal, and unnatural creatures, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
[[[Dead Set]]] by Richard Kadrey. Harper Voyager, $22.99, 310pp, hc, 9780062283016. Dark fantasy.
Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey creates a wonderful, stand-alone dark fantasy
After her father’s funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe’s only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams – – a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest companion: her lost brother, Valentine.
But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It’s here that the shop’s strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then…
[[[The God Tattoo: Untold Tales from the Twilight Reign]]] by Tom Lloyd. Pyr, $18.00, 249pp, tp, 9781616148591. Fantasy.
Even Forgotten Secrets Can Kill
Eleven stories that add further color and shape to the epic story of the Twilight Reign series – – this is an essential volume for Tom Lloyd’s many fans.
The history of the Land may remember the slaughter at Moorview or the horror of Scree’s fall, but there were other casualties of the secret war against Azaer – – more tales surrounding those bloody years that went unrecorded. In the shadow of memorials to the glorious dead, these ghosts lie quiet and forgotten by all but a few.
A companion collection to the Twilight Reign quintet, these eleven stories shine a rather different light on the Land. Look past the armies and politics of the Seven Tribes and you will find smaller moments that shaped the course of history in their own way. But even forgotten secrets can kill. Even shadows can have claws.
[[[A Dance with Dragons]]] by George R.R. Martin. Bantam, $9.99, 1152pp, pb, 9780553582017. Fantasy.
Now available in paperback for the first time, A Dance with Dragons is the fifth book in George R.R. Martin’s bestselling series, which began with A Game of Thrones.
In the aftermath of a colossal battle, Daenerys Targaryen rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way east – – with new allies who may not be the ragtag band they seem. And in the frozen north, Jon Snow confronts creatures from beyond the Wall of ice and stone, and powerful foes from within the Night’s Watch. In a time of rising restlessness, the tides of destiny and politics lead a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves, to the greatest dance of all.
[[[Orbiting Ray Bradbury’s Mars: Biographical, Anthropological, Literary, Scientific and Other Perspectives]]] edited by Gloria McMillan, foreword by Peter Smith. McFarland, $40.00, 264pp, tp, 9780786475766. Non-fiction.
This essay collection explores the life and work of science fiction doyen Ray Bradbury from a variety of perspectives. Noting the impact of the Southwest on Bradbury, some of the essays analyze Bradbury’s southwest metaphors: colonial pollution of a pristine ecology, the impacts of a colonial invasion upon an indigenous population, the meeting of cultures with different values and physical aspects. Other essays view Bradbury via the lens of post-colonialism, drawing parallels between such works as The Martian Chronicles and real-life colonialism and its effects. Another essay views Bradbury sociologically, analyzing border issues in his 1947 New Yorker story “I See You Never,” written long before the issue of Mexican deportees appeared on the American literary horizon. From the scientific side, four essays by astronomers document how Bradbury formed the minds of many budding scientists with his vision. On August 22, 2012, the Martian landing site of the Curiosity rover in the Gale Crater was named “Bradbury.” This honor shows that Bradbury forms a significant link between the worlds of fiction and planetary science.
[Contributors: Peter Smith, Gloria McMillan, Jonathan R. Eller, Wolf Forrest, Marleen S. Barr, Grace L. Dillon, Adam Lawrence, Francisco Laguna-Correa, Aaron Barlow, Kimberly Fain, Christopher Cokinos, Ari Espinoza, David M. Acklam, Charles L. Dugan Jr., Christopher P. McKay & Carol Stoker, Paul Cote, Howard Allen, and Martin R. Hall.]
[[[Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs]]] edited by Mike Resnick and Robert T. Garcia. Baen, $15.00, 356pp, tp, 9781451639353. Science fiction anthology.
The grand master of science fiction adventure
Who was the best-selling writer of the 1920s? Not Fitzgerald. Not Hemingway. Not Faulkner. It was Edgar Rice Burroughs. His Tarzan of the Apes is possibly the most well-known fictional character in the world, but Burroughs was also a pioneer of science fiction, sending John Carter to Mars, David Innes to the wondrous world at the center of the Earth (Pellucidar), and Carson Napier to Venus. Many of today’s top writers grew up reading Burroughs, and now they offer new stories set in the worlds he created and brought to vivid life in this celebration of one of the great masters of science fiction adventure.
[Contributors: Mike Resnick & Bob Garcia; Kristine Kathryn Rusch; Mercedes Lackey; Richard A. Lupoff; Mike Resnick; Ralph Roberts; Peter David; Kevin J. Anderson & Sarah A. Hoyt; Max Allan Collins & Matthew Clemens; Todd McCaffrey; David Innes & F. Paul Wilson; and Joe R. Lansdale.]
[[[Phoenix Rising]]] by Ryk E. Spoor. Baen, $7.99, 562pp, pb, 9781476736136. Fantasy.
Three exiles against the darkness
Kyri: a highborn young woman whose life is shattered by the murder of her kin. She must venture across Zarathan, a world on the brink of a long foretold Chaos War that may usher in a long age of darkness. Against that darkness stands Kyri and her companions, including valiant swordsman Tobimar Silerun, Prince of Skysand, exiled on the turn of a card and a prophecy who is now seeking his people’s lost homeland; and Poplock Duckweed, an unlikely hero whose diminutive size is as much a weapon as it is a weakness.
Kryri must find a legendary ancient weaponsmith, take up the sword and armor of a new order of warrior defenders, and bring the power of justice and vengeance to the spreading evil that has darkened her native land.
[[[Rise Again Below Zero]]] by Ben Tripp. (sequel to rise Again), Gallery, $16.00, 342pp, tp, 9781451668322. Dark fantasy.
With a truly original storyline, Rise Again Below Zero breathes new life into the genre of zombie fiction. In the apocalyptic world, there is a hierarchy – – moaners, hunters, thinkers, and then there are those who appear somewhere between alive and dead.
Picking up where Rise Again leaves off, Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran has tracked down her runaway kid sister Kelly across the country. Kelly is definitely undead – – yet she still somehow retains part of her humanity.
Featuring a strong yet still majorly flawed female protagonist, Rise Again Below Zero is a close look at the humanity of the apocalypse, an original and rare addition to the zombie cannon.
[[[Beyond the Rift]]] by Peter Watts. Tachyon, $14.95, 240pp, tp, 9781616961251. Science fiction. On-sale date: December 2013.
A four-year-old’s detached soul can’t cope with the physics of her body. Holy war comes easily once you can prove God exists. The sky is falling… and it’s out to get you.
Watts’ masterful juxtaposition of cold technology and hot tempers races from single cells to dying suns and beyond. In these thirteen tales, humanity will take, lose, and (occasionally) regain control of its destiny. On worlds light-years away and right around the corner, evolution is fast, violent, and unraveling at the seams. Bold and unnerving, these stories will take you to the razor’s edge of dystopia, dissecting the strange, secret bonds of man and machine.
Beyond the Rift collects Watts’ most darkly triumphant works, including the Hugo Award-winning “The Island,” the Prix Aurora Award-winning “A Niche,” and the Shirley Jackson Award-winning “The Things.”
[[[Treecat Wars]]] by David Weber and Jane Lindskold. (a Star Kingdom novel), Baen, $18.99, 376pp, hc, 9781451639339. Science fiction.
Survivors searching for a home
The fires from fire season are out, but the trouble’s just beginning for the treecats.
On pioneer planet Sphinx, ruined lands and the approach of winter force the treecats of the now Landless Clan to seek new territory. They have one big problem – – there’s nowehere to go. Worse, their efforts to find a new home awaken the enmity of their neighbors – – a stronger clan who’s not giving up a single branch without a fight.
Worse still, Stephanie Harrington, the treecats’ greatest advocate, is not even on the planet. She’s off to Manticore for extensive training – – and up to her ears in challenges of her own there.
Can Jessica, Anders, and the rest left behind find a way to save the treecats from themselves? Can they do it without exposing the treecats’ problems to the attention of a newly arrived group of xenoanthropologists, a group whose agenda may not be as benign as it seems?
And can Jessica and Anders find a way to deal with their growing attraction to each other – – an attraction that seems a betrayal of Stephanie, the best friend either of them have ever had?
A Novel in the New Space Adventure Series Set in the Universe of Honor Harrington – – Sequel to the Hal Clement Award-Winning Novel