[[[Environments in Science Fiction: Essays on Alternative Spaces]]] edited by Susan M. Bernardo. McFarland, $40.00, 208pp, tp, 9780786475797. Non-fiction.
The all-new essays in this book respond to the question, How do spaces in science fiction, both built and unbuilt, help shape the relationships among humans, others animals and their shared environments? Spaces, as well as a sense of place or belonging, play major roles in many science fiction works. This book focuses especially on depictions of the future that include, but move beyond, dystopias and offer us ways to imagine reinventing ourselves and our perspectives; especially our links to and views of new environments.
There are ecocritical texts that deal with space/place and science fiction criticism that deals with dystopias but there is not other collection that focuses on the intersection of the two.
[Contributors: Lauren J. Lacey, Melanie A. Marotta, Jonathan P. Lewis, Adam Lawrence, Matthew Hadley, Margaret S. Kennedy, Justin T. Noetzel, Shayani Bhattacharya, Susan M. Bernardo, and Keith Elphick.]
[[[New Frontiers: A Collection of Tales about the Past, the Present, and the Future]]] by Ben Bova. Tor, $25.99, 288pp, hc, 9780765376442. Science fiction collection. On-sale date: 22 July 2014.
Fourteen startling visions of yesterday, today, and tomorrow from the six-time winner of the Hugo Award
Frontiers can be found in all directions. Frontiers of time and space, as well as frontiers of courage, devotion, love, hate, and the outer limits of the human spirit. This outstanding collection of stories by one of science fiction’s premier talents spans the length and breadth of history and the universe, while exploring thought-provoking new ideas and dilemmas.
From the Baghdad of the Arabian Nights to a vast interstellar empire thousands of years in the future, from the Vatican to a one-man vessel drifting in the vast emptiness of the Asteroid Belt, from virtual reality duels to the subtle intricacies of time travel and a golf tournament on the Moon, here are tales of scoundrels and heroes, scientists and explorers, aliens and artificial intelligences, and even a young Albert Einstein. Each of them stands at the border of a new frontier and must venture out into unexplored territory—thanks to the limitless imagination of Ben Bova.
[[[Mirror Sight]]] by Kristen Britain. (Book Five in the Greed Rider series), DAW, $27.95, 778pp, hc, 9780756408794. Fantasy.
Kristen Brtain returns to the beloved story of Karigan G’ladheon, legendary Green Rider and messenger of the king who can traverse the barriers of time and space, in Mirror Sight, the highly anticipated sequel to the national bestselling Blackveil. The conclusion of Blackveil left readers on the edge of their seats when Karigan was jolted out of the Blackveil Forest and awoke in darkness after a magical confrontation against Mornhavon the Black.
Lying on smooth, cold stone, Karigan reaches out to realize that stone is not just beneath her, but above and around her as well. In fact, she has landed in a sealed stone sarcophagus, some unknown tomb, and the air is becoming thin.
Is this to be her end? Is she still in the world she remembers, or has the magical explosion transported her somewhere completely different. To find out, she must first break free of her prison—before it becomes her grave.
[[[Unwrapped Sky]]] by Rjurik Davidson. Tor, $25.99, 432pp, hc, 9780765329882.
Tor Books is proud to published Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson, a stunningly original debut by a young master of the New Weird. A hundred years ago, the Minotaurs saved Caeli-Amur from conquest. Now, three very different people may hold the keys to the city’s survival…
Once, it is said, gods used magic to create reality, with powers that defied explanation. But the magic—or science, if one believes those who try to master the dangers of thaumaturgy—now seems more like a dream. Industrial workers for House Technis, farmers for House Arbor, and fisher folk of House Marin eke out a living and hope for a better future.
But revolution burns at the edges of this city and three very different people will find their lives intertwined as they maneuver and manipulate through the magic and myth. Idealistic seditionist Maximilian hatches a mad plot to unlock the vaunted secrets of the Great Library of Caeli-Enas in hopes of overthrowing the Houses in power. Set against him is Boris, an official of House Technis who enjoys the life his position affords him too much to allow an upset to the status quo. Enter Kata, a philosopher-assassin hird by Boris to infiltrate Maximilian’s circle and spy on his plans. But Kata is her own woman and soon the three are in a dance of politics and intrigue.
In a novel of startling originality and riveting suspense, these three people, reflecting all the hopes and dreams of the ancient city, risk everything for a future that they can create only by throwing off the shackles of tradition and superstition, as their destinies collide at ground zero of a conflagration that will transform the world… or destroy it.
[[[A Dark Inheritance]]] by Chris D’Lacey. (UFiles Book One), Scholastic, $16.99, 304pp, hc, 9780545608763. Middle grades fantasy.
New York Times bestselling author Chris D’Lacey creates a bold and thrilling new series for middle-grade readers, the UFiles—the first in the series, A Dark Inheritance is a tale of alternate realities, paranormal mystery, and extraordinary adventure.
When Michael Malone unexpectedly saves a dog’s life, he discovers something extraordinary: he can alter reality. Quickly recruited by UNICORNE, a mysterious organization dedicated to investigating strange and paranormal phenomena, he joins in hope of finding his father who mysteriously vanished three years earlier. Michael’s first task is to solve the mystery of the dog he rescued from a precarious clifftop—a mystery that leads him to a strange and sickly classmate and a young girl who was killed in a devastating accident. But the deeper Michael ventures into the strange world of UNICORNE the quicker danger seems to find him. Stakes are high as Michael learns to harness his newfound ability and uncover the deadly truth about his father’s disappearance.
[[[American Craftsmen]]] by Tom Doyle. Tor, $24.99, 320pp, hc, 9780765337511. Military fantasy.
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 Persian 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.
Fans of military fiction, historical fiction, and urban fantasy alike will enjoy this exciting debut in military fantasy!
[[[The Ghosts of Watt O’Hugh]]] by Steven S. Drachman. Chickadee Prince Press, $12.99, 204pp, tp, 9780991327409.
[[[Watt O’Hugh Underground]]]. Chickadee Prince Press, $12.99, 242pp, tp, 9780991327416. Science fiction/historical fantasy.
The Memoirs of Watt O’Hugh trilogy by Steven S. Drachman is a Western/Science Fiction mash up that will take you on a magical trip through Wild west. The second in the series, Watt O’Hugh Underground will be released for the first time this May, along with a reissue of his debut, The Ghosts of Watt O’Hugh, both featuring stunning covers by renowned illustrator Mark Matcho.
Watt O’Hugh Underground is a rollicking tale of a man determined to avenge his lost love and do nothing less than rescue the emerging American frontier. His longtime adversaries are the fantastically menacing and mysterious Western settlers whose idea of manifest destiny is nothing less than the destruction of rugged individualism itself. From his first journey across space, time, and the American desert to the train robbery he engineers to save his country from its deadliest enemies, right through his showdown in a dystopian and darkly magical mountain metropolis, Watt O’Hugh is a new kind of American frontiersman. He is humorous but heroic, possessed of an ability to roam Time with ease and confront shape shifters with aplomb, and full of hard won and homespun wisdom as well as the capacity for love, romance, and awe. Even in those pages that follow the exploits of other characters—ranging from a Chinese poet sent to San Francisco on an inexplicable mission by the empress, to J.P. Morgan himself—the voice and spirit of Watt O’Hugh suffuse every word.
Watt O’Hugh Underground is a smart and enjoyable romp where you savor every word and want to return to the first chapter the moment you reach the last page. Steven Drachman has created a unique American hero who will captivate readers of Westerns, lovers of fantasy, and everyone who wants to save the world.
[[[The Sea Without a Shore]]] by David Drake. Baen, $25.00, 364pp, hc, 9781476736396. Science Fiction.
Cinnabar’s chief spymaster is a mother also, and her son is determined to search for treasure in the midst of a civil war. Who better to hold the boy’s hand—and to take the blows directed at him—than Captain Daniel Leary, the Republic of Cinnabar Navy’s troubleshooter, and his friend the cyberspy Adele Mundy?
The only thing certain in the struggle for control of the mining planet Corcyra is that the rival parties are more dangerous to their own allies than to their opponents. Daniel and Adele face kidnappers, pirates, and a death squad—even before they can get to their real business of ending the war on Corcyra. Only with planetary peace can the boy they’re escorting get on with his mission.
The boy thinks the treasure he’s looking for is a thousand years old. Daniel and Adele know that it’s probably a dream—
But if the treasure is real, it just might be tens of thousands of years older than anyone imagines, and incalculably more valuable!
[[[Earth Star]]] by Janet Edwards. Pyr, $17.99, 287pp, hc, 9781616148973. YA sf.
Eighteen-year-old Jarra has a lot to prove. After being awarded one of the military’s highest honors for her role in a daring rescue attempt, she finds herself—and her Ape status—in the spotlight. Jarra is one of the unlucky few born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Derided as an “ape”—a “throwback”—by the rest of the universe, she is on a mission to prove that Earth Girls are just as good as anyone else.
Except now the planet she loves is under threat by what could be humanity’s first ever alien contact. Jarra’s bravery—and specialist knowledge—will once again be at the center of the maelstrom, but will the rest of the universe consider Earth worth fighting for?
[[[Professor Whiskerton Presents Steampunk ABC]]] by Lisa Falkenstern. Two Lions, $17.99, hc, 9781477847220.
In Professor Whiskerton Presents Steampunk ABC, two mice dressed in Victorian clothing use gadgets and found objects—each starting with a different letter of the alphabet—to build a fantastic steampunk surprise. A is for anvil; M is for monkey wrench; P is for periscope. Steampunk-inspired elements abound on every page as the mice make use of ordinary household items—spoons, a sardine tin, life-size toothbrushes—to create the letters and, ultimately, the book’s surprise at the end. Young readers will delight in the mice characters and their fantastical creations, while parents will enjoy the celebration of steampunk—making old things new again, the retro/futuristic details, and the emphasis on creativity. With standout illustrations that are both charming and intricate, children and parents alike will want to pore over this story again and again.
Lisa Falkenstern created steampunk gadgets in her studio in New Jersey as she worked on this book. Altogether, she made numerous sculptures and used 1,072 pieces of hardware before she started the artwork.
[[[Portal]]] by Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor. Baen, $7.99, 398pp, pb, 9781476736426. Science fiction.
Hell Frozen Over
Madeline Fathom had miraculously landed the crippled exploration ship the Nebula Storm on Europa. There she joined on that frozen moon of Jupiter the stranded crewmembers of the ill-fated EU vessel Odin. There is no hope of rescue, and their only hope is to make Nebula Storm fly again. But Europa has one more discovery waiting for them… a discovery that might be the deadliest trap in the Solar System…
[[[Afterparty]]] by Daryl Gregory. Tor, $26.99, 304pp, hc, 9780765336927. Science fiction.
Tor Books is excited to publish Afterparty by Daryl Gregory, a smartly crafted near-future thriller that explores issues of religion and consciousness. Gregory is the acclaimed author of Pandemonium and The Devil’s Alphanet, which were finalists for the World Fantasy and Philip K. Dick Awards, respectively.
Meet Lyda Rose, formerly a leading chemist intent on developing a drug to help those suffering from schizophrenia—but ten years after a major breakthrough finds her languishing in a psych ward outside of Toronto talking to Dr. Gloria, her permanent hallucination of an angel of God. It all started when the drug she and her team were developing turned out to have an unexpected side effect: inducing the feeling of God’s love (howsoever the imbiber might envision the deity). Named Numinous, the drug fills the taker with a sense of comfort, of being watches and protected and loved by an Almighty—at least for as long as the effects last. Realizing the danger of such a power, Lyda and her team mothballed the forumla—or so they thought. Now living with the aftereffects of a Numinous overdose, Lyda is stunned when a young girl comes into the ward panicked at the loss of her God—a god she found in a strip-mall church who gave out communion on little tabs of paper…
Determined to track down the church and those responsible for releasing the Numinous drug, Lyda (with Dr. Gloria ever in tow) goes hunting, joined by a motley crew of misfits: Ollie, a paranoid-obsessive-compulsive ex-Special Forces op/security spook (as well as an ex-lover of Lyda’s); Bobby, a “batshit craz” (but nice-kid) who believes his soul dwells in a plastic aquarium treasure chest; and the nerdy Rovil Gupta who worked on Numinous and suffered a similar overdose resulting in his own permanent deity hallucination in the form of an elephant-headed Ganesh. Throw in a matriarchal Afghan-expatriate drug cartel, some Native American cigarette smugglers, and a psychotic hit man whose murderous pill-induced alter-ego shadows a timid, agoraphobic rancher of thimble-sized genetically engineered bison—and you’ve got Afterparty, the smartest thriller of 2014.
[[[Cleopatra in Space: Book One: Target Practice]]] by Mike Maihack. Scholastic/Graphix, $12.99, 174pp, tp, 9780545528436.
In his first graphic novel, award-winning writer and artist Mike Maihack imagines a young Cleopatra on an intergalactic adventure to the future—she’s Cleopatra in Space.
When a young Cleopatra (yes, that Cleopatra) finds a mysterious tablet while exploring her home in Egypt, she is zapped to the far, really far future, where she learns of an ancient prophecy that says she is destined to save the galaxy from the tyrannical rule of the evil Xaius Octavian. She enrolls in Yasiro Academy, a high-tech school with classes like algebra, biology, alien languages, and combat training. With help from her teacher Khensu and new friends, Cleo learns what it takes to be a great leader—all while trying to figure out how she’s going to get her homework done, make friends, and avoid detention!
[[[Bird Box]]] by Josh Malerman. Ecco, $25.99, 272pp, hc, 9780062259653.
Written with the narrative tension of The Road and the exquisite terror of classic Stephen King, Bird Box by debut author Josh Malerman, is a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat thriller, set in an apocalyptic near-future world. This spine-tingling story opens with a woman and her two small children making their way down a river in a rowboat, blindfolded. What or who they are running from, where they are running to, and why they can’t open their eyes, frame and propel this breathtaking debut. “This completely compelling novel contains a thousand subtle touches but no mere flourishes—it is so well, so efficiently, so directly written I read it with real admiration,” said Peter Straub. “Josh Malerman does the job like a fast-talking, wised-up angel.”
Something is out there… something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. When the world began to unravel, Malorie joined a motley group of strangers who banded together against the unseen terror in an effort to create order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?
Five years later, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her instincts and the children’s trained ears. With the threat of someone, or something, following them, one wrong move could lead to a grisly death.
[[[Rogues]]] edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois. Bantam, $30.00, 832pp, hc, 9780345537263. Fantasy anthology. On-sale date: 17 June 2014.
The latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. These original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R.R. Martin himself offers a brand new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire Ice and Fire saga.
Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand in this rogues’ gallery of stories that will plunder your heart—and yet leave you richer for it.
[[[The Enceladus Crisis]]] by Michael J. Martinez. (Book Two of the Daedalus Series), Night Shade, $15.99, 328pp, tp, 9781597805049. Science fiction.
Fans of the speculative fiction of 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 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.
[[[The Science Fiction Dimensions of Salman Rushdie]]] by Yael Maurer. McFarland, $40.00, 212pp, tp, 9780786474967. Non-fiction.
This book focuses on the science fictional dimensions of Rushdie’s later novels, Fury, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Shalimar the Clown and Luka and the Fireof Life, and Rushdie’s first unpublished novel, The Antagonist, to show how the author’s oeuvre moves towards a more consistent engagement with science fiiction as a generic form and an ideological investment.
The author demonstrates how Rushdie recreates personal and national histories in a science fictional setting and mode, and contends that the failure of his first novel Grimus may have led Rushdie away from SF for some time, although he returns to it with a much firmer conviction and a much stronger voice in his later novels, showing his commitment to this imaginative form which he describes in Fury as providing “the best popular vehicle ever devised for the novel of ideas and metaphysics.”
The science fictional mode is the most appropriate vehicle for expressing these thematic and ideological concerns and the organizing feature of Rushdie’s oeuvre. The author rereads the later novels in light of recent critical engagement with SF as a vehicle for reimagining national histories and as a potentially subversive tool for social and political engagement in a fictional realm.
[[[The Serpent of Venice]]] by Christopher Moore. William Morrow, $26.99, 326pp, hc, 9780061779763.
In 2012, New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s entertaining take on French Impressionist painters, Sacre Bleu, was one of his most successful and well-reviewed novels to date. Now, in his latest hilarious adventur, The Serpent of Venice, Moore returns to another one of his great successes, Fool (2009), to bring his multitude of fans yet another satirical take on the Bard of Avon starring everybody’s favorite fool, Pocket of Dog Snogging, in a glorious and farcical mash-up of William Shakespeare’s Othello and The Merchant of Venice along with Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”—with much ingenious artistic license (of course).
The setting is Venice, a long time ago. And three prominent Venetians await their most loathsome and foul dinner guest, the erstwhile envoy from the Queen of Britain: the rascal-Fool Pocket. This trio of cunning plotters—the merchant, Antonio; the senator, Montressor Brabantio; and the naval officer, Iago—have lured Pocket to a dark dungeon, promising an evning of spirits and debauchery with a rare Amontillado sherry and Brabantio’s beautiful daughter, Portia.
But their invitation is, of course, bogus. The wine is drugged. The girl isn’t even in the city limits. Desperate to rid themselves once and for all of the man who has consistently foiled their grand quest for power and wealth, they have lured him to his death. (How can such a small man be such a huge obstacle?). But this Fool is no fool… and he’s got more than a few tricks (and hand gestures) up his sleeve. Greed, revenge, deception, lust and a giant (but lovable) sea monster combine to create another hilarious and bawdy tale from modern comic genius Christopher Moore.
[[[Treasure Planet: A Man-Kzin Nove]]] created by Larry Niven; written by Hal Colebatch and Jessica Q. Fox. Baen, $15.00, 312pp, tp, 9781476736402. Science fiction.
Fifteen Kzin on a Dead Man’s Chest…
“Ah, the wealth of the treasure planet be beyond the dreams of Man or the hopes o’ Kzin!”
On Wunderland, a generation after Liberation, memories of the bloody kzin conquest and Occupation have faded and men and kzin live largely in peace. But the fabulous treasure of the kzin pirates, hidden on a distant world, remains a magnet for freebooters. Young Peter Cartwright and his kzinrett friend Marthar receive information and a map from a most unlikely source and soon find themselves fighting the most ruthless pirates in Known Space for an unimaginable prize.
A thrilling stand alone novel addition to the popular Man-Kzin Wars series created by New York Times best-selling and multiple award-winning author, Larry Niven.
[[[Secret of the Stars]]] by Andre Norton. Baen, $14.00, 234pp, tp, 9781476736747. Science fiction.
The Hunters and The Hunted
Secret of the Lost Race: Joktar was running for his life—and he didn’t know why. After growing up orphaned in the spaceman’s helltown of interstellar New York, Joktar was adept at dodging the law, but he knew of no special reason why all the police forces of the civilized galaxy should suddenly concentrate on him. All he knew was that he had to run—out of the Solar System and across the galaxy to the mysterious Wolf worlds. In the freezing hell that was the planet Fenris, Joktar turned to face his hunters and fight to regain his freedom in a universe gone mad.
Star Hunter: On safari to an unexplored jungle world, Ras Hume must hunt two kinds of quarry—the fearsome native beasts and the equally menacing lone survivor of a mysterious spaceship crash.
Two popular Andre Norton science fiction adventure novels in one omnibus volume.
[[[The Bees]]] by Laline Paull. Ecco, $25.99, 340pp, hc, 9780062331151.
A “gripping Cinderella/Arthurian tale with lush Keatsian adjectives” (Margaret Atwood, via Twitter), The Bees is a brilliantly imagined and seamlessly executed debut novel from British writer Laline Paull. Set within the timeless matriarchal society of a beehive, it is a parable of sisterhood, power, and defiance, wrapped in an exquisitely-detailed depiction of the natural world under siege. While already eliciting comparisons to A Handmaid’s Tale, Animal Farm, and The Hunger Games, is a wholly original work that makes a complex and mysterious world its own.
The novel centers on Flora 717, who is not only born into the lowliest class in the hive—sanitation workers—but is oversized and close to deformed in her ugliness. Such a status and appearance would normally guarantee her termination for the greater good of the community—an act euphemistically called the Kindness. But Flora gains the unlikely patronage of a powerful priestess from the ruling class, who recognizes something special about the young bee and puts her to work in the nursery, where she helps tend the Queen’s vast number of progeny.
There is a great sense of impending crisis in the hive. The foragers have had trouble finding enough nectar, and a nagging hunger threatens the bees’ way of life. Flora tries to keep her head down as she goes about her duties, but she has an innate intelligence that belies her humble origins. Her cleverness, empathy, and strength converge when she is instrumental in fighting off a wasp attack of the hive. Her bravery wins her an audience with the Queen, who gives her a forbidden glimpse into secret mysteries of their ancient, highly stratified society. This unprecedented royal favor wins her many enemies among the higher placed ladies of the court, and when she gains the attentions of a drone, Lord Linden, Flora crosses a line that will forever change her future and that of the hive.
Flora experiences a brave new world when she becomes a forager, allowed to venture out into the wider domain in search of nectar and pollen. But she breaks the most sacred law of all, daring the challenge the Queen’s exclusive fertility. Her instincts to follow the rules—“Accept, Obey, and Serve”—are replaced by more primal urges and devotions she does not fully understand. the choices Flora must make could save her life—or mean the very destruction of her society.
[[[Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods]]] written by Sean K. Reynolds. Paizo, $39.99, 336pp, hc, 9781601255976. Roleplaying game.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Gods details the chief gods and goddesses of the Pathfinder world of Golarion, including hundreds of demigods, and the histories, dogmas, rituals, and secrets of faith, both religious and profane. The sourcebook also contains new prestige classes, subdomains, and spells to empower characters to be champions of their own deities. Legions of otherworldly enemies and allies, from mighty divine servants to the unstoppable heralds of each deity, as well as dozens of new traits, feats, magic items, and more, await players in Inner Sea Gods.
Says Paizo Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Erik Mona, “Inner Sea Gods offers amazing new insight into the gods, demigods, angels, and religions of the Inner Sea. While religious characters like clerics and paladins will find much to enhance their campaigns, the book also provides tons of information and ideas suitable to all character classes. It’s also one of the most gorgeous books we’ve released to date, with stunning artwork on nearly every page.”
[[[Deadroads: A Novel of Supernatural Suspense]]] by Robin Riopelle. Night Shade, $15.99, 314pp, tp, 9781597805131. Fantasy.
Readers of dark urban fantasy and the supernatural will enjoy Deadroads: A Novel of Supernatural Suspense, which combines the Southern flavor of the Sookie Stackhouse series with an affabl, yet plagued spectral guide Neal Gaiman readers will love.
Meet Sol Sarrazin: EMT by day, spectral guide by night. In the backwoods of Louisiana, familiar territory for fans of the Sookie Stackhouse series, he spent his screwed-up bayou childhood leading angry ghosts and drunks and psych patients along Deadroads into the afterworld. Eventually his family, burdened by shared supernatural powers and fractured by clashing egos, scatters. So what if Sol still lays hand to heart and blows across his fingers to help conjure a spectral path? He sure doesn’t have to tell anyone about it—and that includes his girlfriend and the other paramedics at Denver Health.
Trouble finds the Sarrazin children once again when their father, Aurie, is killed by a devil. Sol, his brother Baz, and his sister Lutie are thrown headlong into a world of gory sprites, brilliant angels, and nefarious demons. And Sol isn’t the only one with a secret: Baz is a traveling musician with a truly spiritual voice; and Lutie combats her eerie visions with antipsychotics. Together, they’ll soon discover that re-entering the supernatural netherworld is small potatoes compared to reconciling familial differences.
A literary adventure that invests as much energy into the dynamic of family drama as it does into ghost hunting, Deadroads expertly leads readers onto a mysterious trail of paranormal proportions.
[[[Gemsigns]]] by Stephanie Saulter. (Revolution Book 1), Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus, $26.99, 352pp, hc, 9781623651602. Science fiction.
In Gemsigns, the first book in The Revolution Series, Stephanie Saulter has created a rollicking science fiction tale that also provides serious philosophical fodder for discussion. Fans of science fiction, thrillers, and societal commentary alike will find themselves inspired by the struggle between the Gems and the Norms.
Fascinated by the commentary dystopian literature offers about our current society, Saulter wanted to write a fast paced read that also explores our very nature. Says Saulter: “The nature of humanity doesn’t change just because our technology or our social structures do. We are prone to making the same mistakes, over and over again; we find it hard to put the lessons we learn into practice, especially when it means changing our opinion of someone we would rather look down on.”
Gemsigns is a story of survivors. Set in a world after The Syndrome, a crisis that nearly lead to the extinction of the human race, Gemsigns follows the people who invented the cure and the genetically modified humans, or Gems, they created in the process. These Gems each have unique physical and mental adaptations necessary for jobs that normal human beings cannot undertake—some can breathe underwater, others can see a spectrum of colors beyond human capabilities—but their most distinguishing feature is their bright, neon-colored hair that sets them apart from the Norms they were bred to serve.
Built in a lab, Gems now have to fight to gain rights, to free themselves from their slavery to the people who created them, and to be viewed as autonomous members of the post-Syndrome society. With profits at stake for the corporations who created Gems, and both sides on the cusp of a violent uprising, it is up to one man, Dr. Eli Walker, to answer the question causing so much unrest: What makes somebody a human?
A heady mixture of politics, science, and non-stop action, Gemsigns will have you reeling over the dark side of human nature: corporate greed, slavery, and genetic engineering—leave you contemplating the very meaning of humanity itself.
Says Saulter of writing about the Gems and the prejudice they face from the Norms in Gemsigns: “The thing we are able to do better than any other creature on earth is to think about our actions—the prejudices and presumptions that they’re based on, where they might lead—and yet I often think it’s the thing we do least. And it isn’t just ethics and culture that change slowly. We don’t evolve, physically, at anywhere near the same pace as we implement changes to which our biology must respond.”
[[[The Ultra Thin Man]]] by Patrick Swenson. Tor, $25.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765336941. Science fiction. On-sale date: 12 August 2014.
A tense and fast-paced near-future noir thriller where aliens, terrorists, and interplanetary conspiraces collide…
The Ultra Thin Man is set in the twenty-second century, a future in which mortaline wire controls the weather on the settled planets and entire refugee camps drowse in drug-induced slumber, no one—alive or dead, human or alien—is quite what they seem. When terrorists manage to crash Coral, the moon, into its home planet of Ribon, forcing evacuation, it’s up to Dave Crowell and Alan Brindos, contract detectives for the Network Intelligence Organization, to solve a case of interplanetary consequences. Crowell and Brindos’s investigation plunges them neck-deep into a conspiracy much more dangerous than anything they could have imagined.
The two detectives soon find themselves separated, chasing opposite leads: Brindos has to hunt down the massive Helkunn alien Terl Plenko, shadow leader of the terrorist Movement of Worlds. Crowell, meanwhile, runs into something far more sinister—an elaborate frame job that puts our heroes on the hook for treason.
In this debut novel from Patrick Swenson, Crowell and Brindos are forces to fight through the intrigue to discover the depths of an interstellar conspiracy. And to answer the all-important question: Who, and what, is the Ultra Thin Man?
[[[Ithanalin’s Restoration]]] by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Wildside Press, $13.99, 240pp, tp, 9781434442444. Fantasy.
Kilisha, an apprentice wizard, returns home to find her master, Ithanalin the Wise, transformed into a statue. A tax collector interrupted Ithanalin while working on a spell, a magic mirror tells her, with the result that the wizard’s soul has been distributed among various household objects. “The dish ran away with the spoon” is literally the case, as all the furnishings have become animated and escaped out the door!
In her efforts to track down the runaway objects and restore her petrified master to his former self, Kilisha seeks help from the Wizards’ Guild with little success. Ultimately she must rely on the few spells she knows, her master’s spell book—and her own imagination, initiative, and ingenuity!
[[[House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion]]] by David Weber. Baen, $7.99, 774pp, pb, 9781476736433. Science fiction.
The ultimate guide to the many worlds of Honor Harrington
Enjoy an all-new David Weber short novel, I Will Build a House of Steel, set in the early days of the Manticoran Star Kingdom, then dig into a treasure trove of facts about the Honorverse, including the history of the Star Kingdom, descriptions of key planets, details of technology, illustrations, and more—from the BuNine research group and overseen by David Weber himself.
[[[Freehold]]] by Michael Z. Williamson. Baen, $25.00, 514pp, hc, 9781476736341. Science fiction.
Earth’s Most Wanted Woman
Sergeant Kendra Pacelli is innocent, but that doesn’t matter to the repressive government pursuing her. Mistakes might be made, but they are never acknowledged, especially when billions of embezzled dollars earned from illegal weapons sales are at stake.
But where does one run when all of Earth and most settled planets are under the aegis of one government? Answer: The Freehold of Grainne. There, one may seek asylum and build a new life in a society that doesn’t track its residents’ every move.
But now things are about to go royally to hell. Because Earth’s government has found out where she is, and they want her back. Or dead.
[[[The Best of Connie Willis]]] by Connie Willis, featuring new author commentary. Del Rey, $18.00, 496pp, tp, 9780345540669. Science fiction collection.
Few authors have had careers as successful as that of Connie Willis. Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and recently awarded the title of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Willis is still going strong. Her smart, heartfelt fiction runs the gamut from screwball comedy to profound tragedy, combining dazzling plot twists, cutting-edge science, and unforgettable characters.
From a near future mourning the extinction of dogs to an alternate history in which invading aliens were defeated by none other than Emily Dickinson; from a madcap convention of bumbling quantum physicists in Hollywood to a London whose Underground has become a storehouse of intangible memories both foul and fair—here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today.
All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners—some even have the distinction of winning both. with a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story—plus a special look at three of Willis’s unique public speeches—this is unquestionably the collection of the season, a book that every Connie Willis fan will treasure, and, to those unfamiliar with her work, the perfect introduction to one of the most accomplished writers of our time.
[[[The Silk Map]]] by Chris Willrich. (a Gaunt and Bone novel), Pyr, $15.95, 443pp, tp, 9781616148997. Fantasy.
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 dimensions. 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 to a nest of the Iron Moths. Our heroes tangle with Western treasure hunters, a blind mystic 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.
[[[Robogenesis]]] by Daniel H. Wilson. (sequel to Robopocalypse), Doubleday, $26.95, 352pp, hc, 9780385537094. Science fiction. On-sale date: 10 June 2014.
The machine is still out there. Still alive.
Archos R014. This sophisticated artificial intelligence infected the world’s computers and machines in the critically acclaimed national bestseller Robopocalypse. Over the span of three grueling years, humankind adapted and learned to fight back—waging a brutal guerrilla war that ended in triumph on the ice fields of northern Alaska.
In this riveting sequel, the menace returns—in unimaginable new forms. From the heart of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, to the depths of a supercomputer stack in far-eastern Russia, to an awe-inspiring stronghold on the shores of a devastated Tokyo, Daniel H. Wilson’s diverse, expertly drawn characters must adapt in remarkable ways to an onslaught of evolving machines.
Drawing on his cutting-edge understanding of real-world technology, roboticist Wilson creates a stunning world that I sjust one step from our own, where humanity and technology are pushed to their breaking points. Humankind will be forced to choose startling allies as an insidious new enemy rises from the wreckage of the New War… and Archos R-14 may represent the only hope for survival.
[[[L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume 30]]] edited by Dave Wolverton. Galaxy Press, $15.95, 418pp, tp, 9781619862654. Sf anthology.
Celebrate new writers, new winners, new worlds.
This is your escape into fantastic realms of the human mind lurking just beyond your imagination… and reaching deep into your wildest dreams.
This is your ticket to tomorrow.
Celebrate the future of science fiction and fantasy… now.
Marking the 30th anniversary of the Writers of the Future Contest and the 25th anniversary of the Illustrators of the Future Contest.
[Contributors: Dave Wolverton; Megan E. O’Keefe illustrated by Sarah Webb; Paul Eckheart illustrated by Michael Talbot; Shauna O’Meara illustrated by Cassandre Bolan; L. Ron Hubbard illustrated by Adam Brewster; Terry Madden illustrated by Seonhee Lin; C. Stuart Hardwick illustrated by Andrew Sonea; Leena Likitalo illustrated by Trevor Smith; Robert Silverberg; Orson Scott Card illustrated by Vincent-Michael Coviello; Liz Colter illustrated by Kirbi Fagan; K.C. Norton illustrated by Kristine Kim; Oleg Kazantsev illustrated by Adam Brewster; Anaea Lay illustrated by Bernardo Mota; Val Lakey Lindahn; Mike Resnick illustrated by Andrew Sonea; Amanda Forrest illustrated by Vincent-Michael Coviello; Timothy Jordan illustrated by Cassandre Bolan; Randy Henderson illustrated by Vanessa Golitz; and Stephen Hickman.]