* Bakker, R. Scott : The Great Ordeal
(Overlook Press 978-1-4683-0169-4, $28.95, 512pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Aspect Emperor #3

Fantasy novel, third in a trilogy following The Judging Eye (2009) and The White-Luck Warrior (2010).
• Overlook’s site has this description.

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* Chu, Wesley : Time Siege
(Tor 978-0-7653-7754-8, $25.99, 432pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466856028
Time Salvager #2

SF novel, sequel to Time Salvager (2015), about a time traveler from the future trying to save his ravaged Earth.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “The story’s intricate plotting, breathtaking battles, and hefty doses of cruelty, betrayal, sacrifice, courage, and hope culminate in a cliff-hanger that will leave readers longing for the next installment.””

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+ Das, Indra : The Devourers
(Del Rey 978-1-101-96751-5, $26, 320pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101967522
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780451483249

First US edition (us: Penguin India, 2015)

Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel, about a college professor’s encounter with a mysterious stranger who recounts tales of an ancient race of people.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Das’s brutal, intoxicating, and gorgeously visceral debut merges an often mythic sensibility with an appreciation for the coarse beauty of the everyday.””

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* Davidson, Rjurik : The Stars Askew
(Tor 978-0765329899, $25.99, 416pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781429945127
Caeli-Amur #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following Unwrapped Sky (2014), set in a new age in the city of Caeli-Amur.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “Readers who enjoy the mix of outré technology and body-warped beings in China Miéville’s Bas-Lag novels will appreciate Davidson’s work, though Davidson makes it easier to distinguish between good guys and bad guys.””

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* Gratz, Alan : The Monster War
(Tor/Starscape 978-0765338242, $17.99, 336pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466838529
League of Seven #3

Middle-grade steampunk adventure novel, third in a series following The League of Seven (2014), and The Dragon Lantern, set in an alternate 1875 America. Illustrations are by Brett Helquist.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.

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* Haley, Guy : The Ghoul King
(Tor.com 978-1-4668-9198-2, $14.99, 07+176pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466891982
Dreaming Cities #2

Post-apocalyptic SF novel, second in a series following The Emperor’s Railroad (Apr. 2016), about far-future feudal societies.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Haley further illuminates the damaged world of the Dreaming Cities and the ancient forces that continue to influence human activities. Fans of dark secrets and postapocalyptic adventure will be eager for the next chapter in Quinn’s story.””

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* Henry, Christina : Red Queen
(Ace 978-0425266809, $15, 304pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101618196
Alice #2

Fantasy novel, sequel to Alice (2015), inspired by the works of Lewis Carroll.
• Penguin’s site has this description with a preview.

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* Kane, Paul : Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell
(Solaris 978-1781084557, $9.99, 384pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016

Sherlock Holmes novel set in the world of Cliver Barker’s Hellraiser series, concerning the Cenobites, servants of hell.
• Solaris’ site has this post about the book.

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* Lain, Douglas, ed. : Deserts of Fire: Speculative Fiction and the Modern War
(Skyhorse/Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-852-1, $15.99, 372pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016

Anthology of 21 original and reprinted stories inspired by recent US wars.
• Reprinted authors include Norman Spinrad and Kate Wilhelm; original stories are by Ken Liu, Linda Nagata, and Tim Pratt.
• Night Shade’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “In his introductory notes, Lain sometimes overexplains what the stories are ‘about,’ but his selections prove that the best speculative fiction, no matter how futuristic, is always about the here and now.””

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* Levine, David D. : Arabella of Mars
(Tor 978-0-7653-8281-8, $25.99, 352pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466889491
The Adventures of Arabella Ashby #1

SF novel, the author’s first novel and first book in a series, about a British colony on Mars a century after the first expedition there in the late 1600s.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Arabella is a fully realized character, daring and willing to risk everything to protect the brother she loves and the legacy that her father has left them. Her wits and cleverness save the ship and crew more than once in this rousing swashbuckler.””
• Paul Di Filippo will have a review for Locus Online later this month.

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* MacNaughton, Laurence : It Happened One Doomsday
(Pyr 978-1-63388-187-7, $18, 280pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Conspiracy of Angels #1

Fantasy novel, first in a series, about an amateur magicians in a world in which a handful of powerful sorcerers fight the forces of darkness.
• Pyr’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The quest to save the world is tinged with romance and takes some predictable turns along with the odd unexpected twist. The story relies heavily on fast-paced car chases and adventure. MacNaughton has created a strong foundation for a fascinating series where anything is possible and everything has a cost.””

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* Strahan, Jonathan, ed. : Drowned Worlds
(Solaris 9781781084519, $14.99, 336pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016

Anthology of 15 (mostly) original stories, subtitled “Tales from the Anthropocene and Beyong”, inspired by J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World.
• Authors include Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Lavie Tidhar, Jeffrey Ford, and Kim Stanley Robinson.
• Strahan has this post with the table of contents.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the July issue of Locus Magazine: “For all the recurring iconic images that populate Drowned Worlds, each story manages to become its own human-scale drama, evoking at its best not only a profound sense of loss, but a sort of cultural and global PTSD that may be getting pretty close to inevitable.””

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+ Taylor, Jodi : A Symphony of Echoes
(Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-869-9, $12.99, 310pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
The Chronicles of St. Mary’s #2

SF novel, second in a series following Just One Damned Thing After Another (June 2016), about time-traveling historians from St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research.
• The UK edition was published in August 2015.
• Night Shade’s site has this description.
Publishers Weekly gave the first book a starred review: “”The humor is plentiful, but the comic situations aren’t overly exaggerated. Max’s world is depicted in lush detail, mixed with appropriately interesting historical tidbits. U.S. readers will be impatient for later installments to make their way across the Atlantic.””

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* Walton, Jo : Necessity
(Tor 978-0-7653-7902-3, $25.99, 336pp, hardcover, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466865709
Thessaly #3

SF novel, third in a trilogy following The Just City (Jan. 2015) and The Philosopher Kings (June 2015), about a city founded on the ideas of Plato’s Republic and populated by children and adult teachers from across history.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it “an adequately satisfying conclusion”” to the trilogy.

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* Weisman, Jacob, ed. : Invaders
(Tachyon Publications 978-1-61696-210-4, $16.95, 368pp, trade paperback, July 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jul 2016

Anthology, subtitled “22 Tales from the Outer Limits of Literature”, of SF stories by authors not usually associated with the genre.
• Authors include Junot Diaz, George Saunders, Robert Olen Butler, W.P. Kinsella, and Jonathan Lethem.
• Tachyon’s site has this description with the table of contents.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “This volume is a treasure trove of stories that draw equally from SF and literary fiction, and they are superlative in either context.””

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