New in Paperback : September 2018

Annalee Newitz’ Autonomous, Paolo Bacigalupi’s Tool of War, Stephen King & Owen King’s Sleeping Beauties, and titles by Cassandra Clare, Julie E. Czerneda, Stephen R. Donaldson, Gene Doucette, Seanan McGuire, Patrick Ness, and Robin Sloan

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Bacigalupi, Paolo : Tool of War
(Little, Brown 978-0316220811, $12.99, 384pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018
Ship Breaker #3

(First edition: Little, Brown, October 2017)

Young adult SF novel, third in a series following Ship Breaker (2010) and The Drowned Cities (2012), about the leader of a pack of human soldier boys.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The book ranked 3rd in this year’s Locus poll in the Young Adult Book category.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Clare, Cassandra : Lady Midnight
(McElderry 978-1534432307, $4.99, 720pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018
The Dark Artifices #1

(First edition: Simon & Schuster/McElderry, March 2016)

Young adult fantasy novel, first in a new series that’s a sequel to the earlier Mortal Instruments series, concerning the Shadowhunters of Los Angeles.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a preview.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Czerneda, Julie E. : To Guard Against the Dark
(DAW 978-0756412432, $7.99, 448pp, mass market paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018
Reunification #3

(First edition: DAW, October 2017)

SF novel, third in a trilogy following This Gulf of Time and Stars (2015) and The Gate to Futures Past (2016), set in the same universe as the author’s Clan Chronicles.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Donaldson, Stephen R. : Seventh Decimate
(Berkley 978-0399586156, $16, 336pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018
The Great God’s War #1

(First edition: Berkley, November 2017)

Fantasy novel, first in a trilogy, about a prince’s quest for a sorcerous library.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Doucette, Gene : The Spaceship Next Door
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/John Joseph Adams 978-1-328-56746-8, $15.99, 368pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018

Young adult SF novel about a spaceship that’s landed three years before near a small Massachusetts town, and the neighbor 16-year-old girl who has some answers about its purpose.
• The book has a 2015 copyright and presumably was published earlier by the author.
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “The head-spinning ideas both power the narrative and invite the reader to think hard, while plenty of humor and action move the plot along. This excellent work will appeal to readers from middle school through adulthood.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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King, Stephen, & Owen King : Sleeping Beauties
(Gallery 978-1501163418, $19.99, 720pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 18 Sep 2018

(First edition: Simon & Schuster/Scribner, September 2017)

Father/son collaborative horror novel set in a small town where the women fall asleep and become shrouded cocoons, leaving the men on their own.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a preview.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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McGuire, Seanan : The Brightest Fell
(DAW 978-0756409494, $7.99, 448pp, mass market paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Aug 2018
October Daye #11

(First edition: DAW, September 2017)

Urban fantasy novel, eleventh in a series about October (Toby) Daye, a half-human, half-faerie private investigator in San Francisco, following the author’s debut novel Rosemary and Rue (2009), A Local Habitation (2010), An Artificial Night (2010), Late Eclipses (March 2011), One Salt Sea (2011), Ashes of Honor (2012), Chimes of Midnight (2013), The Winter Long (2014), A Red Rose Chain (2015), and Once Broken Faith (2106).
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Ness, Patrick : Release
(HarperTeen 978-0062403209, $9.99, 304pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018

Young adult novel about a gay teenager’s coming of age, with a supernatural element about a ghost.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description, which acknowledges the author’s debut to Judy Blume’s Forever and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, with a sample.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Newitz, Annalee : Autonomous
(Tor 978-0765392084, $15.99, 304pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Sep 2018

(First edition: Tor, September 2017)

SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a military agent and his bot partner Paladin on the trail of a drug hack that has left people addicted to their work.
• Macmillan’s site has this description, with an excerpt.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it last year in Locus Magazine: “Paladin is by far the most interesting character in the book, and while his/her grappling with the notion of being human is far from new in SF, Newitz’s sophisticated understanding of current AI research and of the social construction of gender make a good case for rethinking the fictional uses of bots, and make Autonomous one of the most accomplished debut novels of the year.”
• The book placed second in this year’s Locus Poll in the First Novel category.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Sloan, Robin : Sourdough
(Picador 978-1250192752, $17, 272pp, trade paperback, September 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 18 Sep 2018

(First edition: Farrar, Straus & Giroux/MCD, September 2017)

SF novel about a San Francisco software engineer who gets involved with Bay Area food culture when she acquires a sourdough starter for making bread.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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Monitor listings are based on publisher schedules and availability on Amazon, rather than on confirmation of physical publication (i.e. via purchase, review copies, or sightings in bookstores). With occasional exceptions, titles are listed only once they are published, and we do not list galleys or advance reading copies.

* = 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.

If physical copies have been seen or received, that date is given following the book description.


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