New and Notable Books, November 2015
John Joseph Adams, ed., Loosed Upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press Sep 2015)
Adams selects stories from an impressive roster of authors for this anthology of 26 stories about climate change. Authors include Margaret Atwood, Paolo Bacigalupi, Seanan McGuire, and Robert Silverberg.
Margaret Atwood, The Heart Goes Last
(Doubleday/Talese Sep 2015)
Noted author Atwood presents this near-future dystopian SF fix-up novel, revised from five novellas previously published online. The Positron Project in the town of Consilience has inhabitants spend alternating months in town and in jail.
Greg Bear, Killing Titan
(Orbit Oct 2015)
Master Sergeant Venn and his team head to Saturn’s moon, Titan, where a strange object has been seen. The second book in a series begun in War Dogs. ‘‘After this much set-up, the Titan section has some serious expectations to live up to, and it does not disappoint… as strong a mid-trilogy volume as you could want.’’ [Russell Letson].
Lila Bowen, Wake of Vultures
(Orbit Oct 2015)
Dark fantasy mixes with Westerns in this first book in The Shadow series, following Nettie Lonesome, a half-breed girl who dresses like a boy and was raised by people who treat her like a slave – until she kills a strange man and develops the ability to see monsters. This is a pen name for Delilah S. Dawson.
Zen Cho, Sorcerer to the Crown
(Ace Sep 2015)
England’s magic is disappearing in this historical fantasy novel set in an alternate Regency England. The Sorcerer Royal – already a scandal as a freed slave – may have to stoop so low as to ally with a woman to figure out what is going on. A first novel from a winner of the Crawford Award for her short fiction collection Spirits Abroad.
Seth Dickinson, The Traitor Baru Cormorant
(Tor Sep 2015)
This SF novel of a brilliant woman plotting rebellion in the Empire of Masks is the first novel from a writer known for his short fiction. ‘‘By the end, this somewhat mannerpunk volume succeeds in building and exploring a morally treacherous world populated with exotic characters whose hearts nonetheless align with ours.’’ [Paul Di Filippo]
Will Elliott, The Pilo Traveling Show
(Resurrection/Underland Sep 2015)
The dark and creepy show must go on in this sequel to The Pilo Family Circus. Jamie is drawn back to the circus with its new boss, and Jamie’s belief that he’s immune to the clown paint – until his evil twin is found and reanimated.
Laura Anne Gilman, Silver on the Road
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press Oct 2015)
Fantasy novel, the first in the Devil’s West series set in an alternate world, one which intriguingly has the Devil in charge of a large part of the mid-West, what in another world would be the USA’s Louisiana Purchase. Teenaged Isobel, just freed from years as the Devil’s indentured servant, chooses to keep working for him as his Left Hand, but first must go on the road with an experienced rider to meet people and learn how to spot and solve problems – of which there are many.
Kameron Hurley, Empire Ascendant
(Angry Robot Oct 2015)
The second book in the Worldbreaker Saga, acclaimed for its complex worldbuilding, gender-bending characters, and new takes on fantasy tropes. ‘‘The novel achieves what the most important fantasy strives for: it gives us a world the like of which we have never quite seen before, but that offers us some often unpleasant and provocative shocks of recognition.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe on The Mirror Empire.]
Ann Leckie, Ancillary Mercy
(Orbit Oct 2015)
The third SF novel in a trilogy begun with the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ancillary Justice. ‘‘This brings a very satisfactory sense of closure to these three volumes.’’
George R. R. Martin, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
(Bantam Oct 2015)
Prequels to A Song of Ice and Fire, set almost 100 years earlier, these three novellas in the Dunk and Egg series follow the wandering knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire, Egg. Previously published in anthologies, these come with new illustrations by Gary Gianni that help make this a treat for Martin’s fans.
Ian McDonald, Luna: New Moon
(Tor Sep 2015)
SF novel about life on the moon, three generations into development, ruled by five incorporated families – and the Corta family risks losing it all when their founder Adriana dies, if her five children can’t work together. A heady mix of incorporated warfare, major new human achievements (and abuses), and struggles for survival in a lawless frontier society where every breath is charged for. ‘‘The best moon novel I’ve seen in many years.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]
Ilana C. Myer, Last Song Before Night
(Tor Sep 2015)
A young woman runs away to live as a male musician and lyricist in a land where society forbids such things to women, and poems and songs were once magic. An impressive first novel.
Terry Pratchett, The Shepherd’s Crown
(HarperCollins Sep 2015)
The final book in the overall Discworld series is also the fifth in the young-adult Tiffany Aching series, which finds Tiffany in charge of opposing a new invasion of the elves, recruiting witches to help defend the Chalk and the mountains near Lancre. With a special appearance by DEATH, this is a surprisingly touching, and fitting, finale to the Discworld series.
Ken Scholes, Blue Yonders, Grateful Pies and Other Fanciful Feasts
(Fairwood Press Aug 2015)
Scholes’s third collection presents 16 inventively varied stories (one a collaboration with Jay Lake) and one poem. ‘‘Scholes can adopt so many themes and voices… with combinations of myth and music, hope and grief.’’ [Faren Miller]
