+ Banks, Iain : Stonemouth
(Pegasus 978-1-60598-382-0, $25, 368pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 10 Oct 2012

First US edition (UK: Little, Brown, April 2012)

First US edition of an associational (non-fantastic) novel about a man who returns to a small Scottish town where he has a history with the town’s biggest crime family.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review: “The flower of Scotland’s more than a wee bit wilted from drink and recreational drugs in this violent, funny, coming-of-age explosion from veteran Scottish novelist Banks set in moderately affluent Stonemouth, near Aberdeen….”

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* Benford, Gregory, & Larry Niven : Bowl of Heaven
(Tor 978-0-7653-2841-0, $25.99, 416pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012
• Bowl #1

Hard SF novel, first book of a duology, about explorers who discover a huge bowl-shaped object that half-encircles its star.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it “a strong SF series launch”, and concludes, “While hardly groundbreaking, this is a solid work that will appeal to fans of classic hard SF.”
• Benford’s blog has this post with a signing tour schedule and a discussion of Big Dumb Objects and Big Smart Objects, plus comments by coauthor Niven.
• Russell Letson’s review from Locus Magazine is posted here; “Bowl of Heaven has room to accommodate both the thrill-ride and head-scratching sides of its sub-tradition, and I think when the second half appears, this new effort by two of the Old Masters will hold its own just fine.”

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* Bennett, Christopher : Only Superhuman
(Tor 978-0-7653-3229-5, $24.99, 352pp, hardcover, October 2012, jacket art Raymond Swanland)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012

Hard SF adventure novel set in a future solar system in which genetic engineering is banned on Earth but runs rampant in the asteroid belt.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review notes that “A healthy respect for superhero tropes is the strength and weakness of Bennett’s first non–tie-in novel.”

(Tue 2 Oct 2012)
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* Block, Francesca Lia : The Elementals
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-00549-6, $24.99, 272pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012

Coming-of-age fantasy novel about a young woman who attends UC Berkeley in part to search for a friend who vanished there years before.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls this a “thrilling new bildungsroman”, and concludes, “Block’s fresh take on the coming-of-age story is a compelling and quick read, and her dark renderings of familiar college types will keep readers engaged and guessing as the pages fly by.”

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* Brown, Eric : Helix Wars
(Solaris 9781781080498, $8.99, 544pp, mass market paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 11 Oct 2012
• Helix #2

SF/space opera novel, sequel to Helix (2007), about human colonists who serve as peacekeepers among a huge spiral of worlds surrounding its sun.
• The author’s site has this post — “Helix Wars is the type of SF I love to read – fast paced, exciting, featuring all manner of exotic alien races and featuring at its core a mystery to be unravelled. It was a great book to write, and a welcome return to the world of the Helix.”
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.

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+ Chan, Kylie : Earth to Hell
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-202143-4, $7.99, 624pp, mass market paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 11 Oct 2012
• Journey to Wudang #1

Fantasy novel, first in a new series that follows the “Dark Heavens” trilogy (White Tiger, Red Phoenix, and Blue Dragon), about Chinese gods living on Earth.
• Harper’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The author’s site has this description of the original edition, which was published in Australia and New Zealand in January 2010.
• The Publishers Weekly review is mixed: “Chan valiantly tries to combine Chinese legend with the thrill of a fast-paced martial-arts movie…”

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* Cronin, Justin : The Twelve
(Ballantine 978-0-345-50498-2, $28, 592pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012
• The Passage trilogy #2

Post-apocalyptic vampire novel, second of a trilogy following The Passage (2010), in which a vampire plague is unleashed by a government experiment gone wrong.
• The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Amazon has an exclusive essay by the author.
• The Publisher Weekly review calls it a “bloated apocalyptic thriller, [which] like many a trilogy’s middle book, falls short of the high standard set by its predecessor…”
• Entertainment Weekly gives a B+.

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* Drake, Jocelynn : Angel’s Ink
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-211785-4, $14.99, 352pp, trade paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012
• The Asylum Tales #1

Urban fantasy novel, first in a series, about a magical tattoo artist in a world where supernatural beings live among humans.
• Harper’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The Publishers Weekly review says the author “very ably spins a series launch about a tattoo artist with big secrets….”

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* Furukawa, Hideo : Belka, Why Don’t You Bark?
(Haikasoru 978-1-4215-4937-8, $25.99, 368pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012

SF novel about military dogs left behind on an Aleutian island by Japanese troops in 1943, and a kidnapped Japanese girl who develops a psychic connection with dogs.
• Haikasoru’a site has this description, which mentions that the book was an award nominee in 2005, and an excerpt.

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* Litore, Stant : Strangers in the Land
(Amazon/47north 978-1612183923, $14.95, trade paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2012
• Zombie Bible #3

Horror novel, third in a series following Death Has Come Up into Our Windows and What Our Eyes Have Witnessed (both August 2012), retelling biblical tales in terms of zombies. This one is set in 1160 BC Israel, based on an episode from the book of Judges.
• The Zombie Bible series site has background on the author and stories.

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