Margaret Atwood, MaddAddam
(Random House/Doubleday/Talese Sep 2013)

Post-apocalyptic survival takes some odd twists in this third volume in Atwood’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic SF trilogy after Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. ‘‘As SF, the trilogy has what we might call issues with coherence. As a kind of posthuman foundation myth, however, it achieves some moments of genuinely haunting power.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe] Published 8/13 by McClelland & Stewart in Canada and Bloomsbury UK.

 




Paolo Bacigalupi, Zombie Baseball Beatdown
(Little, Brown Sep 2013)

Bacigalupi’s first middlle-grade novel mixes horror, baseball, and humor in this of three kids dealing with a zombie outbreak, with racism, bullying, corporate greed, and other real-world horrors providing a powerful counterpoint to the zombies.

 




Laird Barron, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories
(Night Shade Books Sep 2013)

The latest collection from Barron presents nine dark stories, one new. ‘‘The horrors of his stories are never run of the mill, and are usually of a scope so vast that is is hard to describe them.’’ [Stefan Dziemianowicz]

 




Holly Black, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown
(Little, Brown Sep 2013)

A teen trying to save herself must brave the decadent heart of Coldtown, a place where vampires and the humans infected with the vampire virus are kept quarantined. Black asks some important questions about addiction and choices, but, ‘‘it’s Tana’s journey coupled with some sexy vampire brooding that keeps the whole kicky adventure bubbling along just as it should.’’ [Adrienne Martini]

 




Peter Crowther, Jewels in the Dust
(Subterranean Press Sep 2013)

The latest collection from noted author and editor Crowther gathers 13 stories from 1996 to 2006, with notes on the writing of each by the author.

 




Paul Di Filippo, WikiWorld
(ChiZine Publications Sep 2013)

The prolific and consistently entertaining Di Filippo presents 19 stories from the last six years in this new collection, which includes collaborations with Rudy Rucker and Damien Broderick.

 




Hugh Howey, Dust
(Broad Reach Publishing Aug 2013)

The conclusion to the hugely popular post-apocalyptic Silo Saga begun in Wool and Shift.

 




Stephen King, Doctor Sleep
(Simon & Schuster/Scribner Sep 2013)

In this much-anticipated follow-up to The Shining, we learn what happened to six-year-old Danny, now grown up and using booze to find oblivion from his haunted past. ‘‘It’s a rehab parable elaborated as a tale of supernatural horror… written with the conviction of someone very familiar with demons – metaphoric and otherwise – and that makes [it] as believable as it is terrifying.’’ [Stefan Dziemianowicz]

 




Scott Lynch, The Republic of Thieves
(Ballantine Del Rey Oct 2013)

The third fantasy novel in the witty Gentlemen Bastards series begun in The Lies of Locke Lamora presents a new tale of scoundrels and schemes. ‘‘Lynch does it deliciously well. This world is rich in the tropes that you’d expect from sword, magic-and-sea-based fantasy but Lynch makes [it all] feel fresh. [Adrienne Martini]

 




George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, eds., Old Mars
(Bantam Oct 2013)

Return to the Mars of yesteryear with this anthology of 15 all-new stories in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, C.L. Moore, and other classic adventures. The impressive roster of authors includes Matthew Hughes, Howard Waldrop, Phyllis Eisenstein, and Michael Moorcock.

 




Robin McKinley, Shadows
(Penguin/Paulsen Sep 2013)

McKinley’s acclaimed knack for inventive fantasy is evident in this young-adult novel about a teen who suspects there’s something wrong about her new stepfather – and it’s not just that he comes from Oldworld, where they still use magic, unlike her world of science and technology.

 




Brandon Sanderson, Steelheart
(Random House/Delacorte Sep 2013)

Ordinary humans are the real heroes in this young-adult adventure of post-apocalyptic superhero fantasy, the first book in a trilogy about rebellion against the super-powered emperor of Chicago.

 




Rachel Swirsky, How the World Became Quiet: Myths of the Past, Present, and Future
(Subterranean Press Sep 2013)

This retrospective collection of 19 stories shows ‘‘Swirsky is a writer of considerable and varied gifts… one of the most important collections of the year.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two
(Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends Oct 2013)

The third volume in the acclaimed young-adult fantasy series begun in the Andre Norton and Locus Award-winning The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. ‘‘Valente’s wild powers of invention dispel [any] threat that her heroine’s latest adventures might turn into an obvious sermon… at the most, such notions lurk, never overwhelming vivid, tactile trips through dreamscapes toward a point near absolute surrealism.’’ [Faren Miller]

 




Evangeline Walton, She Walks in Darkness
(Tachyon Publications Sep 2013)

Walton, best known for her fantasy based on Celtic myth, tried her hand at a gothic thriller with this novel, written in the 1960s but never published, about a Tuscan villa hiding ancient secrets. Paul Di Filippo’s introduction provides insight into Walton’s career and its posthumous ‘‘second efflorescence.’’