Poul Anderson, The Collected Short Works of Poul Anderson, Volume 6: A Bicycle Built for Brew
(NESFA Press Aug 2014)

The ongoing series of the SF Grand Master’s short fiction continues with this collection of five short novels and three novellas, including the original magazine version of Three Hearts and Three Lions (unavailable since its original 1953 publication), along with stories featuring Nicholas van Rijn, Dominic Flandry, and David Falklyn. Editor Ric Katze provides an introduction, and Astrid Anderson Bear offers an essay on her father, the author.

 




Elizabeth Bear, One-Eyed Jack
(Prime Books Aug 2014)

This long-awaited and triumphant return to the rich, complex world of the Promethean Age fantasy series concerns a rivalry between the supernatural rulers of Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with all the compelling weird magic we’ve come to expect, featuring the ghosts of John Henry and Doc Holliday, the vampire Elvis Presley, and fictional 1960s TV spies transformed into immortal culture heroes.

 




Kate Bernheimer, How a Mother Weaned Her Girl from Fairy Tales
(Coffee House Press Aug 2014)

A collection of nine new and retold fairy tales by the World Fantasy Award winner and celebrated modern master of the form.

 




James P. Blaylock, The Adventure of the Ring of Stones
(Subterranean Press Jun 2014)

The latest Langdon St. Ives novella sees the scientist/adventurer setting sail on a millionaire’s steam yacht, headed for a volcanic island that hides valuable treasure – and dangers that could threaten London itself. With lavish illustrations by J.K. Potter.

 




Gardner Dozois, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-first Annual Collection
(St. Martin’s Griffin Jul 2014)

The legendary anthology series moves into its fourth decade of continuous publication, this time with over 300,000 words of the best short science fiction of 2013, with 32 stories by authors including Aliette de Bodard, Nancy Kress, Jay Lake, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, and more. Includes the editor’s extensive summation of the state of the SF field last year.

 




Max Gladstone, Full Fathom Five
(Tor Jul 2014)

The third volume in the Craft sequence, focusing on people with mundane jobs in a world of gods and monsters, is the best yet. Kai is a combination priestess/investment banker, helping the rich hide their assets from jealous gods, until a heroic (or foolhardy) act leads her to uncover a conspiracy. ‘‘While it’s the richness of the world that initially draws a reader in – his places feel fully lived in rather than meticulously constructed – it’s his voice that keeps you there.’’ [Adrienne Martini]

 




Daryl Gregory, We Are All Completely Fine
(Tachyon Publications Aug 2014)

The members of a support group for the survivors of various horror stories – a man partially eaten by cannibals, a former boy detective who faced down a Lovecraftian cult, a woman forever marked by a serial killer, and more – join together to face a new threat. This is Gregory’s ‘‘most tightly constructed and compulsively readable novel to date, and a small gem of what we might call post-horror horror.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Sharona Muir, Invisible Beasts
(Bellevue Literary Press Jul 2014)

This lyrical and charming mosaic novel takes the form of studies and commentary on the titular beasts, written by amateur naturalist Sophie, who has the inherited ability to see the invisible, sentient creatures living among us. ‘‘Its recurring characters and exploratory spirit provide a sense of wholeness not typically found in collections of stories, vignettes, and comments.’’ [Faren Miller]

 




Paul Park, All Those Vanished Engines
(Tor Jul 2014)

Park’s latest is a novel composed of three novellas: an adventure set in the aftermath of an alternate Civil War, an alternate-present exploration of a secret WWII weapons project, and the near-future tale of a man who discovers evidence of a past alien invasion – all inspired by and woven in with the author’s actual family history. ‘‘Closer in form to Borges than to Wells, All Those Vanished Engines is not so much a return to science fiction as an effort, maddening and brilliant by turns, to re-invent it as a way of understanding our own tangled histories.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




K. J. Parker, Academic Exercises
(Subterranean Press Jul 2014)

The enigmatic pseudonymous author’s debut collection features three essays and ten stories, including World Fantasy Award winners ‘‘Let Maps to Others’’ and ‘‘A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong’’. ‘‘Practically a master class in the [short story] form, a body of work that suggests an already accomplished artist refining a particular instrument while still experimenting with structure and technique.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Hannu Rajaniemi, The Causal Angel
(Tor Jul 2014)

The third volume in the mind-bending series that began with The Quantum Thief and The Fractal Prince sees ‘‘gentleman adventurer’’ Jean le Flambeur on a mission to rescue the warrior Mieli in a world of far-future scientific wonders. ‘‘The entire trilogy could become an early classic of the neo-neo-hard SF, something we can celebrate as stunningly detailed and evocative world-building, or simply as pulp, or as both. The trilogy exists in a quantum superposition of its own states, and it’s quite an achievement.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Lucius Shepard, Beautiful Blood
(Subterranean Press Jul 2014)

In one of his final works, Shepard returned to his most strange and beloved milieu, the world of the immense dragon Griaule, to tell the tale of Richard Rosacher, an ambitious doctor who thinks the dragon’s blood can be used for its wondrous properties, and who becomes wealthy and corrupt in the process. ‘‘Beautiful Blood, both fortunately and unfortunately, leaves us wanting more.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Genevieve Valentine, The Girls at the Kingfisher Club
(Atria Jun 2014)

The author reinvents and re-envisions the classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale ‘‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’’ in Roaring Twenties-era New York. ‘‘Valentine knows exactly when to leave the Grimm Brothers behind in the construction of her own tale… the result is a haunting fable that reads like a dream of forgotten history.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




Ben H. Winters, World of Trouble
(Quirk Books Jul 2014)

The final installment in the quirky and heart-wrenching Last Policeman trilogy returns to the doomed world of detective Hank Palace, as he doggedly investigates crimes despite the approaching asteroid that will destroy life on Earth, now just two weeks away.