New Books : 28 August 2018
John Varley’s Irontown Blues, Jeffrey Ford’s Ahab’s Return: or, The Last Voyage, Adam Roberts’ By the Pricking of Her Thumb, and titles by Ilona Andrews, Seb Doubinsky, Nicholas Eames, Richard Kadrey, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Rhonda Mason, Brian McClellan, and Victoria Schwab
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* Andrews, Ilona : Magic Triumphs
(Ace 978-0425270714, $26, 336pp, hardcover, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698136823
• Kate Daniels #10
Urban fantasy novel, tenth in the “Kate Daniels” series following Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds (2010), Magic Slays (2011), Magic Rises (2012), Magic Breaks (2014), Magic Shifts (2015), and Magic Binds (2016), about a female mercenary in a magical Atlanta.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Doubinsky, Seb : Missing Signal
(Meerkat Press 978-1-946154-11-8, $14.95, 206pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
SF novel, latest in the author’s City-States cycle, about a government worker who fakes UFO stories who meets a woman who claims she’s from another planet.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a video and a link to Amazon’s preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review says the book “explicitly names its inspirations in the aesthetics of Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘beautiful emptiness,’ William S. Burroughs’s theories, and the porn and B-movies of the 1960s and ’70s, as well as the tropes of alien encounters in early SF…”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Eames, Nicholas : Bloody Rose
(Orbit 978-0-316-36253-5, $15.99, 560pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316362528
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781549168178
• The Band #2
Fantasy novel, second in a series following Kings of the Wyld (2017), about a band of mercenaries.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives the book, as it did the previous titles, a starred review: “Eames joyfully mashes rock music elements and epic fantasy tropes to create the equivalent of a 500-page heavy metal guitar solo: loud, frenetic, unpredictable, and gripping.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Ford, Jeffrey : Ahab’s Return: or, The Last Voyage
(William Morrow 978-0-06-267900-0, $26.99, 272pp, hardcover, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062679031
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062849090
Fantasy novel that reimagines Captain Ahab and Ishmael, from Melville’s Moby Dick, in which Ahab survives and confronts Ishmael about the fate of his wife and child.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it “unusual and gripping.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “As effective as Ahab’s Return is as a fast-paced and efficient thriller, it’s also a sharply critical fiction, raising issues of addiction, homelessness, and demagoguery, with the metaphysical whiteness of Melville’s whale replaced by the more toxic whiteness of ‘Me First’ and ‘a quest for the reclamation of white Protestant superiority.’ Manticores and gangsters might make for hazardous adventures in a steampunk past, but the actual horrors have never really gone away.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Kadrey, Richard : Hollywood Dead
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-247417-9, $26.99, 368pp, hardcover, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062474209
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062859242
• Sandman Slim #10
Urban fantasy thriller, tenth in a series following Sandman Slim (2009), Kill the Dead (2010), Aloha from Hell (2011), Devil Said Bang (2012), Kill City Blues (2013), The Getaway God (2014), Killing Pretty (2015), The Perdition Score (2016), and The Kill Society (2017), about James Stark, hit man from Hell.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The nonstop action and dark humor will thrill urban fantasy fans, including those new to the series.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Kenyon, Sherrilyn : Stygian
(Tor 978-1250102683, $27.99, 656pp, hardcover, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250102706
• Dark-Hunter #22
Supernatural romance novel, 30th volume (by Wikipedia’s count) or 22nd novel (by the publisher’s count) in the bestselling “Dark-Hunters” series, following Dragonsworn (2017).
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Mason, Rhonda : Exile’s Throne
(Titan 978-1783299454, $14.95, 352pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Empress Game #3
SF space opera novel, third in a trilogy following The Empress Game (2015) and Cloak of War (2016), about a seat on the intergalactic ruling council that is won through ritualized combat.
• Titan’s site has this description.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* McClellan, Brian : War Cry
(Tor.com 978-1250170163, $11.99, 96pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250170156
Fantasy novella about a shape-shifting Changer and his stranded military platoon.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Roberts, Adam : By the Pricking of Her Thumb
(Gollancz 978-1473221499, $24.99, 272pp, hardcover, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 23 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781473221529
• Real-Town Murders #2
SF novel, stand-alone companion to The Real-Town Murders (2017), about a private investigator confronted by an impossible murder.
• Orion’s site has this description.
• This is a UK edition but available in the US via Amazon.com, as linked here.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Schwab, Victoria : City of Ghosts
(Scholastic Press 978-1338111002, $17.99, 304pp, hardcover, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
Middle-grade fantasy novel about a girl who, since her near-drowning, can enter the world of spirits.
• Scholastic’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “This atmospheric ghost story from Schwab chills and charms while challenging readers to face their fears. Courageous, quick-witted Cassidy inspires, her relationship with Jacob is tender, and the thrilling conclusion is sure to gratify.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Varley, John : Irontown Blues
(Ace 978-1-101-98937-1, $16, 304pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101989388
• Eight Worlds #4
SF novel, fourth in a series set in a solar system some 200 years after humanity has been expelled from Earth that includes Varley’s first novel The Ophiuchi Hotline (1977) and later novels Steel Beach (1992) and The Golden Globe (1998). This book is about a private eye in one of the largest Lunar cities.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Varley gleefully mashes together elements of noir (including racial stereotypes), cyberpunk, and hard SF that jostle for space.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “Despite its modest beginnings and various narrative byways (Sherlock in particular is easily distracted from the tale he’s telling), Irontown Blues is a worthy successor to Steel Beach and a timely reassertion of Varley’s reputation as a worthy, but not slavish, heir to the Heinlein tradition.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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These listings are based on publisher schedules and availability on Amazon (rather than on confirmation of physical publication via purchase, review copies, or sightings in bookstores). Titles are listed only once they are published (with rare exception). We do not list galleys or advance reading copies.
Page counts are based on publisher or Amazon listings, and typically only approximate the bibliographic page counts of finished books.
* = first edition
+ = first US edition
Date with publisher info is official publication month.
‘Nominal Publication Date’ is the day of publication, typically as indicated by Amazon.com.
