[[[The Clock Struck None]]] by Lou Antonelli (introduction by Scott A. Cupp). Fantastic Books, $14.99, 274pp, tp, 9781617209444. Science fiction collection.
A collection of alternate and secret history short stories
From airships lost between universes, to golems winning the fight against racism, Lou Antonelli explains the many ways the world might have been. Dip into this collection of previously published tales, where you’ll experience:
* technology suppresing magic in an apartheid-like state
* ancient civilizations that succumb to their own nuclear holocausts
* alternate worlds in which Christianity is just one of many minor Earth-bound religions, and others where it rules and spans outer space
* how America’s westward expansion would have happened if the New Madrid earthquake had allowed the North American inland sea to reform
Here you’ll find Antonelli’s version of Brigadoon, and of the sinking of the Titanic and the Carpathia. You’ll visit alternate realities that have been hiding Neanderthals, and pick up the lost photos of what might have been. With cameo appearances by O. Henry, Robert E. Howard, and Rod Serling, join this wild ride and delve into demonic possession, immortality, and the infinite variety of other worlds.
Includes the 2013 Sidewise Award for Alternate History finalist short story “Great White Ship.”
[Contents: Introduction by Scott A. Cupp; Great White Ship; Hearts Made of Stone; The Centurion and the Rainman; Meet Me at the Grassy Knoll; After Image; Double Exposure; Across the Plains; The Relic; Damascus Interrupted; Twilight on the Finger Lakes; The Goddess of Bleecker Street; The Starship Theodora; The Dragon’s Black Box; Tell Gilgamesh I’m Sorry; Re-Opening Night; The Hideaway; Airy Chick; Pirates of the Ozarks; Barsoom Billy; Ladybug, Ladybug; Black Hats and Blackberrys; Mak Siccar; The Quantum Gunman; Encounter in Camelot; My Ugly Little Self; The Amerikaan Way; Insight; Wet and Wild.]
[[[Jupiter War]]] by Neal Asher. (The Owner: Book Three), Night Shade, $15.99, 384pp, tp, 9781597804936. Science fiction. On-sale date: May 2014.
War threatens to destroy Earth’s last hope in the final installment of the Owner trilogy
Alan Saul is now part human and part machine. He craves the stars, yet his human side still controls him; he can’t leave his sister to die. He must leave Argus Station and stage a dangerous rescue. But Saul’s robots make his crew feel increasingly redundant, sowing the seeds of mutiny and betrayal.
Serene Galahad, Earth’s ruthless dictator, hides her crimes from a cowed populace as she desperately readies a new attack on Saul. She aims to destroy her enemy in a vicious display of violence.
The Scourge limps back to Earth, its earlier mission to annihilate Saul a failure. Some members of the decimated crew plan to murder Galahad before she has them murdered for their failure, but Clay Ruger plans to negotiate for his life. Events build to a climax as Ruger holds humanity’s greatest asset — seeds to rebuild a dying Earth. This stolen Gene Bank data is offered at a price, but what will Galahad pay for humanity’s future?
Neal Asher has been thrilling science fiction fans for over a decade with his Polity series. Jupiter War brings his new Owner trilogy to a stunning conclusion.
[[[Dragons Wild]]]by Robert Asprin. Ace, $7.99, 362pp, pb, 9780425272053. Fantasy.
First in the series that’s a breath of hot air — from the New York Times bestselling author of the Phule’s Company and Myth books.
A low-stakes con artist and killer poker player, Griffen McCandles drifted through college, always taking for granted that there’d be a family job waiting for him after he graduated. He just never suspected what his family was…
His mysterious uncle drops the bomb: Griffen and his sister, Valerie, are dragons — and almost purebred ones to boot. Unwilling to let Uncle Mal take him under his wing, so to speak, Griffen heads to New Orleans with Valerie to make a living the only way he knows how. And even the criminal underworld of the French Quarter will heat up when Griffen lands in town…
[[[Red Caps]]] by Steve Berman. Lethe Press, $10.00, 204pp, tp, 9781590212820. Young Adult Speculative Fiction.
Red Caps might be a rock band. Or they might be something more sinister, a fey source of sounds that are but the backdrop to thrills and misadventures. These thirteen stories provide readers jaded by the traditional, Old World fairy tales with tempting new stories that will entice bored readers from their suburban ennui. Closets are waiting to be explored. Escape from work camp leads to a dangerous encounter on a wet road. That high school year book is magical and might be mocking you… or helping you find love. And isn’t love one of the central premises of the fairy tale? These teenage boys and girls need not fear that their love has no worth, because Steve Berman has written for them princesses who love maidens and adorkable students who have wondrous and smart boyfriends. Readers can be assured that, if the tale does not end happy, it ends most memorably.
[Contents: The Harvestbuck; Most Likely; Cruel Movember; Thimbleriggery and Fledglings; Bittersweet; All Smiles; Persimmon, Teeth, and Boys; Gomorrahs of the Deep; A Calenture of the Jungle; Three on a Match; Steeped in Debt to the Chimney-pots; Worse than Alligators; Only Lost Boys are Found.]
[[[The Finisher]]] by David Baldacci. Scholastic, $17.99, 512pp, hc, 9780545652209. Middle-grades fantasy. On-sale date: 4 March 2014.
Why would Quentin Herms flee into the Quag? There was nothing in the Quag except certain death.
Vega Jane has never left the village of Wormwood. But this isn’t unusual — nobody has ever left the village of Wormwood. At least not until Quentin Herms vanishes into the unknown.
Vega knows Quentin didn’t just leave — he was chased. And he’s left behind a very dangerous trail of clues that only she can decode.
The Quag is a dark forest filled with terrifying beasts and bloodthirsty Outliers. But just as deadly are the threats that exist within the walls of Wormwood. It is a place built on lies, where influential people are willing to kill to keep their secrets. Vega is determined to uncover the truth — but the closer she gets, the more she risks her life.
With The Finisher, master storyteller David Baldacci conjures a thrilling, imaginative world where things are as wrong as wrong can be — and introduces us to an unforgettable heroine who must think fast, look close, and defy all odds in her fight to do what’s right.
[[[Smasher]]] by Scott Bly. Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, $16.99, 256pp, hc, 9780545141185. Middle grade thriller. On-sale date: 25 March 2014.
In Scott Bly’s debut middle grade thriller Smasher, two children from different times must work together to ave the world from a tech-savvy and uncannily powerful corporate tycoon.
In twenty days, the cold-hearted Gramercy Foxx will unleash a deadly biological computer virus that will ruin Geneva’s world as she knows it. As the unassuming public eagerly awaits an invention that they have been told promises ultimate relaxation, harmony, and community, the evil businessman plans to put an end to freedom. Geneva must go back in time to look for the right person to help save her world.
Charlie, a math genius with an almost magical ability to solve complicated problems and puzzles, is an outcast in his world, with some even considering his talents dangerous. When Geneva yanks Charlie into her space and time to try to stop Gramercy Foxx, the two must track down some very dark secrets in order to stop Foxx and save the world. Will Charlie be able to help save Geneva’s present and future?
Fresh,unique, and gripping, Smasher celebrates the power of love, hope, and friendship in the face of a technologically dangerous future.
[[[Red Rising]]] by Pierce Brown. Del Rey, $25.00, 386pp, hc, 9780345539786. Science fiction.
“I live for the dream that my children will be born free,” she says. “That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them.”
“I live for you,” I say sadly.
Eo kisses my cheek. “Then you must live for more.”
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.
Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that 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 sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
[[[How Dark the World Becomes]]] by Frank Chadwick. Baen, $7.99, 422pp, pb, 9781476736266. Science fiction.
An Addictive Taste of Freedom
Sasha Naradnyo is a gangster who sticks his neck out for no man. That’s how you stay alive in Crack City, a colony stuffed deep into the crust of the otherwise unlivable planet Peezgtaan. Sasha’s parents came to this rock figuring to make it big, only to find that they’d been recruited as part of an indentured labor force for alien overlords known as the Varoki.
Now a pair of rich young Varoki under the care of a beautiful human nanny are fleeing Peezgtaan, and Sasha is recruited to help. He’d prefer to leave the little alien lordlings to their fate, but certain considerations — such as Sasha’s own imminent demise if he remains — make it beneficial for him to take on the job. Now all he has to do is survive and keep his charges alive in a hostile galaxy.
But it’s the galaxy that had better watch out. For now the toughest thug in Crack City has gotten his first taste of real freedom. He likes it, and he wants more.
[[[The Heritage of Heinlein: A Critical Reading of the Fiction]]] by Thomas D. Clareson and Joe Sanders (foreword by Frederik Pohl). McFarland, $45.00, 232pp, tp, 9780786474981. Nonfiction.
Robert A. Heinlein is generally recognized as the most important American science fiction writer of the 20th century. This is the first detailed critical examination of his entire career. It is not a biography — that is being done in a two-volume work by William Patterson. Instead, this book looks at each piece of fiction (and a few pieces of sf-related nonfiction) that Heinlein wrote, chronologically by date of publication, in order to consider what each contributes to his overall accomplishment. The aim is to be fair, to look clearly at the strengths and weaknesses of the writings that have inspired generations of readers and writers.
The late Thomas D. Clareson was a leading scholar in the fields of science fiction, 19th century American literature, and Victorian literature. A professor of English at the College of Wooster (Ohio) for 38 years and the author or editor of more than 20 books, Clareson died in July 1993.
Joe Sanders, professor emeritus, Lakeland Community College, has written extensively about Roger Zelazny, E.E. “Doc” Smith, and Neil Gaiman. He lives in Mentor, Ohio.
[[[Shadow Ops: Breach Zone]]] by Myke Cole. Ace, $7.99, 370pp, 9780425256374. Fantasy/Science Fiction.
The Great Reawakening did not come quietly. Across the country and in every nation, people began “coming up Latent.” They developed terrifying powers — summoning storms, raising the dead, and setting everything they touched ablaze. Those who Manifest must choose: become a sheepdog who protects the flock or a wolf who devours it…
In the wake of a bloody battle at Forward Operating Base Frontier and a scandalous presidential impeachment, Lieutenant Colonel Jan thorsson, call sign “Harlequin,” becomes a national hero and a pariah to the military that is the only family he’s ever known.
In the fight for Latent equality, Oscar Britton is positioned to lead a rebellion in exile, but a powerful rival beats him to the punch: Scylla, a walking weapon who will stop at nothing to end the human-sanctioned apartheid against her kind.
When Scylla’s inhuman forces invade New York City, the Supernatural Operations Corps are the only soldiers equipped to prevent a massacre. In order to redeem himself with the military, Harlequin will be forced to face off with this havoc-wreaking woman from his past who’s been warped by her power into something evil…
[[[Suffer the Children]]] by Craig DiLouie. Permuted Press/Gallery, $16.00, 352pp, tp, 9781476739632. Horror. On-sale date: 20 May 2014.
Suffer the Children by Craig DiLoouie is an apocalyptic horror reimagining vampires as blood-hungry children risen from the dead.
One day, everywhere around the world, children die. Three days later, they return from the grave asking for one thing — blood.
With blood, they stop being dead. They stop rotting. They continue to remain the children they once were… but only for a short time. Too soon, they die again. And need more blood to live.
The average human body holds ten pints of blood. The inevitable question for parents everywhere becomes: How far would you go to bring your child back?
Author Craig DiLouie explores the themes of parenthood and society within a world filled with terror, creating a fresh and original apocalyptic horror story.
[[[Reave the Just & Other Tales]]] by Stephen R. Donaldson. Ace, $16.00, 400pp, tp, 9780425257036. Fantasy collection.
The New York Times bestselling author of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant presents a collection of stories and novellas spanning fourteen years, including dark fables and lush fairy tales, featuring legendary heroes, lowly beggars and immortal beings…
[Contents: Reave the Just; The Djinn Who Watches Over the Accursed; The Killing Stroke; The Kings of Tarshish Shall Bring Gifts; Penance; The Woman Who Loved Pigs; What Makes Us Human; By Any Other Name.]
[[[American Craftsmen]]] by Tom Doyle. Tor, $24.99, 320pp, hc, 9780765337511. Fantasy. On-sale date: 6 May 2014.
In American Craftsmen by Tom Doyle, two soldiers will fight their way through the magical legacies of Poe and Hawthorne to destroy an undying evil — if they don’t kill each other first.
US Army Captain Dale Morton is a magician soldier — a “craftsman.” After a black-ops mission gone wrong, Dale is cursed by a Persion sorcerer. Major Michael Endicott, a Puritan craftsman, finds gruesome evidence that the evil Mortons have returned, and that Dale might be one of them. Meanwhile, Dale uncovers treason in the Pentagon’s highest covert ranks. As he hunts for his enemies before they can murder him, Endicott pursues Dale, divided between his duty to capture a rogue soldier and his desire to protect Dale from his would-be assassins. Together, they will discover that the demonic horrors that have corrupted American magic are not bound by family, or even death itself.
[[[Scruffians! Stories of Better Sodomites]]] by Hal Duncan. Lethe Press, $15.00, 210pp, tp, 9781590211939. Speculative fiction. On-sale date: 1 April 2014.
Are you prepared to enter acclaimed author Hal Duncan’s world of scruffians and scamps and sodomites? Beware, for it is filled with the gay pirate gods of Love and Death, immortal scoundrels, and young men who find themselves forced to become villains. But who amongst us does not adore a gamin antihero? These fantastical tales from the fringes of an imaginative realm of supernatural fairies and human fey will captivate the reader. Light a smoke, raise a cup of whiskey, and seek a careful spot to cruise the Scruffians!
[[[Dark Duets: All-New Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy]]] edited by Christopher Golden. Harper Voyager, $16.99, 424pp, tp, 9780062240286. Horror anthology.
Dark Duets is 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 pairs of acclaimed writers, all collaborating together for the first time, including New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Stuart MacBride, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jonathan Maberry and David Liss.
Mixing the ordinary with the extraordinary, these bold and vivid stories offer a compelling survey of the supernatural world that is sure to frighten and enchant.
Each work is written by two authors (in one case, by three) who have never worked together before. The stories in this enthralling literary chemistry blend diverse elements and rich themes into mesmerizing and highly combustible tales that delve deep into the shadowy, unexplored realms of the imagination.
[Contributors: Sherrilyn Kenyon & Kevin J. Anderson; Tom Piccirilli & T.M. Wright; Charlaine Harris & Rachel Caine; Stuart MacBride & Allan Guthrie; Gregory Frost & Jonathan Maberry; Sarah MacLean & Carrie Ryan; Chelsea Cain & Lidia Yuknavitch; Robert Jackson Bennett & David Liss; Amber Benson & Jeffrey J. Mariotte; Tim Lebbon & Michael Marshall Smith; Rhodi Hawk & F. Paul Wilson; Kasey Lansdale & Joe R. Lansdale; Holly Newstein & Rick Hautala; Nate Kenyon & James A. Moore; Michael Koryta & Jeffrey David Greene; Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare & Holly Black; and Mark Morris & Rio Youers.]
[[[A Few Good Men]]] by Sarah A. Hoyt. (a Darkship novel), Baen, $7.99, 492pp, pb, 9781476736259. Science fiction.
The Son Also Rises
Some men are born revolutionaries, some have revolution thrust upon them.
In a world in which “Good Man” means totalitarian ruler, no one could be less prepared to be a revolutionary leader than Lucius Keeva. Unexpectedly released from prison after more than a decade, he finds himself at risk from both his own class and the forces that would overthrow it. His only hope of survival lies with a notoriously unstable character, Nat Remy, and the organization he belongs to. Lucius Keeva would prefer not to involve himself with the armed rabble that are The sons of Liberty, much less the mystical and strange Usaian religion to which they belong. But they and the revolution they dream of are his only hope of saving his life and protecting those who trust in him.
[[[One Was Stubborn]]] by L. Ron Hubbard. Galaxy, $9.95, 144pp, tp, 9781592123704. Science fiction. On-sale date: April 2014.
Things are disappearing. Parts of buildings, parts of people, parts of the whole world — they’re here today, gone tomorrow. Old Shellback — a character as crazy-smart as Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future — thinks he needs glasses. But all he really has to do is open his eyes… and see the light.
Or so says George Smiley — otherwise known as the Messiah. George claims that the reason things are vanishing is because he wants them to go away. He has no more use for the world… and so it goes. Say goodbye. But Old Shellback has a different idea, and since he is the most stubborn man in the universe, ,you might want to hear him out.
What’s Shellback’s idea? That two can play at this game. While George is making this world disappear, Old Shellback will make another one appear. Join him on an amazing odyssey — as he heads back to a future of his own making.
[[[Carousel Sun]]] by Sharon Lee. (sequel to Carousel Tides), Baen, $15.00, 324pp, tp, 9781476736235. Fantasy.
When magic meets mundane, sparks fly
These are exciting times in Archers Beach, Maine. An unprecedented Early Season has united townies and carnies in an effort to expand into a twelve-month resort, recapturing the town’s former glory.
Kate Archer, owner and operator fo the vintage wooden carousel, is caught up in the excitement — and is quite possibly the cause of it. Because Kate leads a double life, as a carny and as the Guardian of the land. Her recent return to the home she had forsaken has changed the town’s luck for the better and energized the trenvay, the earth and water spirits who are as much citizens of the Beach as their mundane counterparts.
But the town’s new energy isn’t the only change afoot. Joe Nemeier, the local drug lord, whose previous magical consultant was vanquished by Kate, has acquired a new ally — and this one plays with fire.
[[[The Enceladus Crisis: Book Two of the Daedalus Series]]] by Michael J. Martinez. Night Shade, $15.99, 320pp, tp, 9781597805049. Speculative fiction. On-sale date: May 2014.
Fans of the speculative fiction author Arthur C. Clarke as well as the Napoleonic-era naval fiction of Patrick O’Brien and C.S. Forester will love The Enceladus Crisis: Book Two of the Daedalus Series, Michael J. Martinez’s sequel to his critically acclaimed debut novel, The Daedalus Incident.
Nineteen years have passed since a seemingly impossible Martian earthquake threatened the very fabric of space itself, and Project Daedalus now seeks to defend against other dimensional incursions. Lieutenant Commander Shaila Jain is back and given the assignment of her dreams — the first manned mission to Saturn. But there’s competition and complications when she arrives aboard the survey ship Armstrong. The Chinese are vying for control of the critical moon Titan, and the moon Enceladus may harbor secrets deep under its icy crust.
Back on Earth, Thomas Weatherby, now captain of the seventy-four-gun frigate Fortitude, is sent to destroy a French ship perched along the banks of the Nile, and, in Egypt, alchemist Andrew Finch has ingratiated himself with Napoleon’s forces — only to discover the horrible reason why the French invaded Egypt in the first place. In this intriguing second installment of the Daedalus trilogy, new players want to open the door between worlds once again… and this time, they’re getting impatient.
[[[Raising Steam: A Discworld Novel]]] by Terry Pratchett. Doubleday, $26.95, 384pp, hc, 9780385538268. Science fiction. On-sale date: 18 March 2014.
Terry Pratchett is the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series with more than 80,000,000 copies sold. Raising Steam is his latest Discworld novel. His books have been widely adapted for stage and screen; he is the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, and was awarded a knighthood for services to literature. After falling out with his keyboard, he now talks to his computer. Occasionally, these days, it answers back.
Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man with a flat cap and a sliding rule. He has produced a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all of the elements — earth, air, fire, and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it’s soon drawing astonished crowds.
To the consternation of the formidable Lord Vetinari, no one is in charge of this new invention. Who better than the man he has already appointed master of the Post Office, the Mint, and the Royal Bank: Moist von Lipwig. Moist is not a man who enjoys hard work — unless it is dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don’t always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse.
Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs, and some very angry drawfs if he’s going to stop it all going off the rails…
[[[Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons]]] by Tom Purdom (introduction by Michael Swanwick). Fantastic Books, $15.99, 356pp, tp, 9781617209437. Science fiction collection.
Century-spanning life spans. Biohacking. Personality modification technology.
Tom Purdom likes to quote Frederik Pohl’s prescription for a good science fiction story: “interesting people doing interesting things in an interesting future.” He began his writing career over 50 years ago, selling stories and novels to legendary editors like Pohl, John W. Campbell, H.L. Gold, and Donald Wollheim.
For the last twenty years, he’s been roving space and time with an acclaimed string of stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine. Settle back with twelve of his best portraits of all-too-human characters coping with the challenges of the future.
[Contents: Introduction by Michael Swanwick; “Fossil Games” (Hugo nominee for Best Novelette, 2000); “Haggle Chips”; “Dragon Drill”; “Canary Land”; “Research Project”; “Sheltering”; “Bonding with Morry”; “Sepoy”; “Legacies”; “A Response from EST17”; “The Path of the Transgressor”; “The Mists of Time”.]
[[[Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children]]] by Ransom Riggs. Quirk, $17.99, 400pp, hc, 9781594746123. Fantasy.
In 2011, Ransom Riggs’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children entranced the world with a unique fantasy story paired with haunting vintage photography. Along with earning countless rave reviews, this unforgettable young adult novel has spent more than 60 consecutive weeks on the New York Times best sellers list. Translation rights have been sold in over 34 countries, and film rights were sold to Twentieth Century Fox, with a release date of July 2015.
In January 2014, the adventure of the world’s favorite peculiar children continues in Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children. Beginning right where the first book ended, the sequel opens with Jacob and the other peculiars on the run from wights posing as soldiers. Desperately trying to reach London before it’s too late, the children hope to find a cure for their beloved Miss Peregrine, who is still trapped in bird form.
Along their journey, the group encounters a menagerie of peculiar animals, a band of gypsies, and more peculiar children. But telling allies from enemies is harder than it seems, and wights and hollowgasts are lurking behind every corner, creeping every closer to the children’s trail.
Complete with entirely new vintage photographs that bring the story to life, Hollow City will give fans of Miss Peregrine a gripping sequel that starts with a bang and doesn’t let up until the astonishing conclusions. What does the future hold for the peculiars? Can they save Miss Peregrine? And what does Riggs have in store for book three (tentatively scheduled for release in June 2015)?
[[[To a Darkling Sea]]] by John Ringo. Baen, $25.00, 374pp, hc, 9781476736211. Fantasy.
Survivors of the Apocalypse vs. Zombies
A World Cloaked in Darkness
With human civilization annihilated by a biological zombie plague, a ragtag fleet of yachts and freighters known as Wolf Squadron scours the Atlantic, searching for survivors. Within every abandoned liner and carrier lurks a potential horde, safety can never be taken for granted, and death and turning into one of the enemy is only a moment away.
The Candle Flickers
Yet every ship and town holds the flickering hope of survivors. Oen and two from lifeboats, a dozen from a fishing village, a few hundred wrenched by fury and fire from a ship that once housed thousads…
Light a Flame
Now Wolf squadron must take on another massive challenge: clear the assault carrier USS Iwo Jima of the infected before its trapped Marines and sailors succumb to starvation. If Wolf Squadron can accomplish that task, an even tougher trial awaits: an apocalyptic battle to win a new dawn for humanity. The war for civilization begins as the boats of the Wolf Squadron become a beacon of hope on a darkling sea.
[[[Star Wars: Maul Lockdown]]] by Joe Schreiber. LucasBooks/Ballantine, $27.00, 348pp, hc, 9780345509031. Science fiction/tie-in.
The follow-up to Star Wars: Darth Plagueis is a Darth Maul prison novel set before the events of Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
It’s kill or be killed in the space penitentiary that houses the galaxy’s worst criminals, where convicts face off in gladiatorial combat while an underworld gambling empire reaps the profits of the illicit blood sport. But the newest contender in this savage arena, as demonic to behold as he is deadly to challenge, is fighting for more than just survival. His do-or-die mission, for the dark masters he serves, is to capture the ultimate weapon: an object that will enable the Sith to conquer the galaxy.
Sith lords Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious are determined to possess the prize. And one of the power-hungry duo has his own treacherous plans for it. But first, their fearsome apprentice must take on a bloodthirsty prison warden, a cannibal gang, cutthroat crime lord Jabba the Hutt, and an unspeakable alien horror. No one else could brave such a gauntlet of death and live. But no one else is the dreaded dark-side disciple known as Darth Maul.
[[[The Grendel Affair]]] by Lisa Shearin. (A SPI Files novel, first in a new series), Ace, $7.99, 292pp, pb, 9780425266915. Fantasy.
We’re Supernatural Protection & Investigations, known as SPI. Things that go bump in the night, the monsters you thought didn’t exist? We battle them and keep you safe. But some supernatural baddies are just too big to contains, even for us…
When I moved to New York to become a world-famous journalist, I never imagined that snagging a job at a seedy tabloid would change my career path from trashy reporter to undercover agent. I’m Makenna Fraser, a seer for SPI. I can see through any disguise, shield, or spell that a paranormal pest can come up with. I track down creatures, and my partner, Ian Byrne, takes them out.
Our cases are generally pretty routine, but a sickle-wielding serial killer has been prowling the city’s subway tunnels. And the murderer’s not human. The fiend in question, a descendant of Grendel — yes, that Grendel — shares his ancestor’s hatred of parties, revelry, and drunkards. And with New Year’s Eve in Times Square only two days away, we need to bag him quickly. Because if we don’t find him — and the organization behind him — by midnight, our secret’s out and everyone’s time is up.
[[[The Echo]]] by James Smythe. Harper Voyager, $14.99, 304pp, tp, 9780062287281. Science fiction.
2013 was a great year for space. Not only did the blockbuster, Oscar-contender Gravity completely revolutionize space movies, but the scientific community hit some incredible milestones, including: Voyager 1 becoming the first manmade object to leave our solar system; Voyager 1 recording the first sounds ever heard from interstellar space; and the Mars rover discovering water on that planet.
With these advancements and the tantalizing possibility of increased exploration, the question presents itself: what will humans be like when faced with the vastness of the universe? Novelist James Smyther sets out to examine this question in The Echo, the second book in his “superlative” Anomaly quartet (Tor.com).
Last January, Smythe sent an untried journalist into deep space with devastating results. This year, readers will learn that even the most careful, the most dedicated, the most skilled astronauts cannot control the unfathomable entity that is “The Anomaly.”
The disappearance of the spaceship Ishiguro twenty-three years ago devastated the global space program and set back exploration for a generation. Now, thanks to the tirelessefforts of twin brothers Mira and Tomas Hyvonen, the program has been resurrected. Spearheading a new age of human discovery, the brothers also hope to solve the mystery behind the Ishiguro’s disastrous mission.
Mira and Tomas are determined to make their trip successful. They have arranged everything down to the smallest detail. Nothing has been overlooked.
They don’t know that in space, the devil isn’t always in the details… and nothing goes according to plan.
[[[The Emperor’s Blades]]] by Brian Staveley. Tor, $27.99, 480pp, hc, 9780765336408. Fantasy.
This debut epic fantasy begins the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne and embarks on an exciting saga of magic, mayhem, and marvels that fans of Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R.R. Martin will love.
The Emperor has been murdered.
Adare, eldest of his three children, maneuvers through the political gauntlet left by her father’s passing in the sparkling capital city of Annur. Unable to take the throne due to her gender, Adare determines to hunt her father’s murderer and ensure justice is carried out. But everyone, herself included, wears masks of false intentions and Adare must tread lightly through the corrupt minefield of the empire’s leaders.
Kaden, heir to the throne, has spent eight years far away from the world, high up in the Bone Mountains studying the austere discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. As he struggles to master their ways and learn the secret to controlling a mysterious power, a terrifying creature unlike any mortal beast begins to haunt the cliffs, leaving carnage in its wake.
Valyn, youngest of the three, was also sent away: to join the Kettral, an elite force of soldiers who ride on the backs of massive black hawks. Put through years of the harshest training imaginable, Valyn becomes a hardened fighter despite his royal lineage. But before he can take the final horrifying test to join the Ketral ranks, Valyn must investigate a murderous mystery.
News travels slowly across the sprawling Annurian Empire and Kaden and Valyn must resolve their own struggles before they even learn of their father’s death. As intrigue and danger slowly descend on each of the three siblings, Staveley crafts his story to an adrenaline-pumping finale that sets the stage for Book II of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.
Winding through the stories of Adare, Kaden, and Valyn is a fantastically imagined system of magic and religion played out over a lush and exotic third-world landscape. Brian Staveley is the new voice-to-watch in the epic fantasy genre and this novel will sweep the reader away into a world of danger and excitement.
[[[V-S Day]]] by Allen Steele. Ace, $26.95, 308pp, hc, 9780425259740. Science fiction.
With a gift for visionary fiction that “would make Robert A. Heinlein proud” (Entertainment Weekly), three-time Hugo Award-winning author Allen Steele now imagines an alternate history rooted in an actual historical possibility: What if the race to space had occurred in the early days of World War II?
It’s 1941, and Wernher von Braun is ordered by his Fuhrer to abandon the V-2 rocket and turn German resources in a daring new direction: construction of a manned orbital spacecraft capable of attacking the United States. Work on the rocket — called Silbervogel — begins at Peenemunde. Though the plan is top secret, British intelligence discovers it and brings word to Franklin Roosevelt. The American president determines that there is only one logical response: The United States must build a spacecraft with the ability to intercept Silbervogel and destroy it. Robert Goddard, inventor of the liquid-fuel rocket, agrees to head the classified project.
So begins a race against time between two secret military programs and two brilliant scientists whose high-stakes competition will spiral into a deadly game of political intrigue and unforeseen catastrophes played to the death in the brutal skies above America.
[[[Shovel Ready]]] by Adam Sternbergh. Crown, $24.00, 256pp, hc, 9780385348997. Speculative fiction.
In Shovel Ready, Adam Sternbergh’s propulsive, gripping, and wholly original debut, we meet Spademan, a one-of-a-kind antihero in this futuristic dystopian novel. Sternbergh, who previously worked for New York as editor-at-large and is the current culture editor of The New York Times Magazine, was inspired to write his debut after coming across a statistic listing New York City as the number one domestic tourist destination in the United States, even higher than Disney World. The new Times Square, the cleaned-up Central Park, the High Line, and even Brooklyn have all helped the Big Apple surpass the Happiest Place on Earth… but it wasn’t always like that. Just thirty years ago New York was seen as crime-ridden, derelict, a wasteland — not somewhere you’d take the children for a vacation. Sternbergh wondered what it would take to get New York City back to its gritty former self.
Set in the near future, Shovel Ready imagines just a scenario. A lone gym bag explodes on a subway — followed by a van full of stolen radioactive waste in Times Square. then comes a well-timed wave of car bombs in the weeks that follow. A mass exodus ensues: the bankers go to London, Seoul, Beijing; the artists to Barcelona or Mumbai; the media to Chicago and Los Angeles. Tourism comes to a halt, and within a month Times Square is dead, rotting beyond resuscitation. Those who stayed behind are either wealthy enough to spend months on end in “the limnosphere,” a sophisticated virtual reality where any and all fantasies can be made real, or they are making their way in the rough-hewn new landscape. That’s where we meet Spademan. A former garbageman and devoted husband, Spademan’s now alone, working as a hit man. He finds that killing people for money is not that different from collecting trash, and the pay is better. When his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, things get tricker than he expected. His conscience gets the better of him, and he suddenly has more plates spinning than he’d like: a shadowy client, a sparkplug of a mark, and a circle of friends and confidantes that give him grief. But he’ll need all of them if he wants to get the job done… and stay alive.
[[[Empire of Man]]] by David Weber and John Ringo. Baen, $14.00, 1032pp, tp, 9781476736242. Science fiction.
An heir to the empire is marooned on a planet of death
Roger Ramius MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. It probably wasn’t too surprising that someone in his position should react by becoming spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?
Then the Empire of Man’s worst rivals sabotaged and crippled his starship and Roger was shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, whose jungles are full of deadly predators and barbarian hordes with really bad dispositions. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the planet, then capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, somehow commandeer one of the enemy’s starships, and then go home to Mother for explanations.
Fortunately, Roger has an ace in the hole: Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of the Empress’ Own Regiment. If anyone can get him off Marduk alive, it’s the Bronze Barbarians. And, in the process, Roger might learn what it means to be a real leader.
March Upcountry and March to the Sea, the first tow novels in the Empire of Man series, in one volume for the first time.
[[[The Martian]]] by Andy Weir. Crown, $24.00, 368pp, hc, 9780804139021. Science fiction.
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he may be the first person to die there.
Andy Weir’s brilliant debut novel The Martian is a gripping story of survival against all odds… set in space. Wise-cracking astronaut Watney is a member of Ares 3, the third manned mission to Mars, scheduled for a two-month assignment. After an epic dust storm threatens the crew’s ascent, they are forced to abort the mission. Watney, separated from the rest of the team, is unintentionally abandoned, with the rest of the crew believing him to be dead. Now he’s stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to get him first. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his MacGyver-esque ingenuity, mechanical engineering skills, and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit, he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
In The Martian, all of the obstacles Weir’s hero confront, and the solutions he engineers are entirely eblievable and science-based thanks in large part to Weir’s relentless research and fascination with NASA, orbital mechanics, relativistic physics, astronomy, and the history of manned spaceflight. If we started planning a manned mission to Mars tomorrow, it would look a lot like what’s depicted in these pages. Weir even calculated the various orbital paths involved in the story to make the physics of space travel as accurate as possible, which required him to write his own software.
[[[Transformers: Retribution]]] by David J. Williams and Mark S. Williams. Del Rey, $7.99, 392pp, pb, 9780345519870. Science fiction.
For decades, Transformers fans across the globe have marveled at the mighty clashes of Megatron and Optimus Prime, and speculated about their arrival on planet Earth. Now, in Transformers: Retribution, the prequel to the Transformers animated series, the epic odyssey of these two great warriors is finally revealed as Autobots and Decepticons battle one another… and the most diabolic foe they’ve ever encountered.
Aboard the Ark, Optimus Prime leads his Autobots through deep space, searching for the AllSpark so vital to their home planet, Cybertron. Megatron’s not far behind, and his Decepticons are itching for war. But a mysterious planet conceals an enemy far more cunning and powerful: the Quintessons. Masters of tyranny, technology, and twisted double crosses, the Quintessons are out to enslave both Autobots and Decepticons. Their deadly bag of tricks includes fiendish trials and a secret link all the way back to Cybertron, where Shockwave is wreaking havoc with supercomputer Vector Sigma. In the coming conflagration, Star Seekers, Wreckers, Alpha Trion, and Sharkticons all have their parts to play. For none can dodge the Quintesson juggernaut of evil, and none will escape the cataclysmic life-and-death battles that will catapult Autobots and Decepticons to Earth.
[[[Pathfinder Tales: The Dagger of Trust]]] by Chris Willrich. Paizo, $9.99, 440pp, pb, 9781601256140. Fantasy.
Fog of War
Gideon Gull leads a double life: one as a talented young bard at the Rhapsodic College, the other as a student of the Shadow School, where Taldor’s infamous Lion Blades are trained to be master spies and assassins. When a magical fog starts turning ordinary people into murderous mobs along the border between Taldor and Gideon’s home nation of Andoran, it’s up to him and a crew of daring performers to solve the mystery before both nations fall to madness and slaughter. But how do you fight an enemy that turns innocent people into weapons?
From critically acclaimed author Chris Willrich comes a bold new adventure of intrigue, espionage, and arcane mystery, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
[[[The Silk Map: A Gaunt and Bone Novel]]] by Chris Willrich. Pyr, $15.95, 270pp, tp, 9781616148997. Steampunk.
At the end of The Scroll of Years, the poet Persimmon Gaunt and her husband, the thief Imago Bone, had saved their child from evil forces at the price of trapping him within a pocket dimension. Now they will attempt what seems impossible; they will seek a way to recover their son. Allied with Snow Pine, a scrappy bandit who’s also lost her child to the Scroll of Years, Gaunt and Bone awaken the Great Sage, a monkeylike demigod of the East, currently trapped by vaster powers beneath a mountain. The Sage knows of a way to reach the Scroll — but there is a price. The three must seek the world’s greatest treasure and bring it back to him. They must find the worms of the alien Iron Moths, whose cocoons produce the wondrous material ironsilk.
And so the rogues join a grand contest waged along three thousand miles of dangerous and alluring trade routes between East and West. For many parties have simultaneously uncovered fragments of the Silk Map, a document pointing the way toward a nest of the Iron Moths. Our heroes tangle with Western treasure hunters, a blind ystic warrior and his homicidal magic carpet, a nomad princess determined to rebuild her father’s empire, and a secret society obsessed with guarding the lost paradise where the Moths are found — even if paradise must be protected by murder.