* Banks, Iain M. : The Hydrogen Sonata
(Orbit US 978-0-316-21237-3, $25.99, 496pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012
• Culture #10

Far future SF novel set in the author’s Culture, 10th book in the sequence following 2010’s Surface Detail.
• It’s about the Gzilt civilization, one of the founding societies of the Culture, now ready to elevate themselves to the Sublime.
• Banks’ site has this description of the US edition.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review: “The action tumbles along at a dizzying pace, bouncing among a fascinating array of characters and locales. It’s easy to see why Banks’s fertile, cheerfully nihilistic imagination and vivid prose have made the Culture space operas bestsellers and award favorites.”

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* Barnhill, Kelly : Iron Hearted Violet
(Little, Brown 978-0-316-05673-1, $16.99, 432pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012

Young adult fantasy novel, with illustrations by Iacopo Bruno, about a plain princess who finds a forbidden book that leads her to the last dragon in existence.
• The publisher’s site has this description, with a link to an educators guide.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it “a splendid fantasy around a story’s power to change the world”, and concludes, “Messages about self-esteem, acceptance, and the power of the heart may feel heavy to seasoned readers, but those same positive themes, the trim chapter lengths, and Barnhill’s nimble prose make this a winning choice for before-bedtime readalouds.”

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* Barrett, Neal, Jr. : Other Seasons: The Best of Neal Barrett, Jr.
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-406-5, $40, 560pp, hardcover, September 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 30 Sep 2012

Collection of 28 stories, a retrospective of the author’s career, with stories first published since 1963.
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page, with the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Readers who enjoy insightful and visionary fiction will cherish Barrett’s oblique writing style, as will anyone who has an interest in the history of the genre.”
• Gardner Dozois reviews the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine, describing how he discovered the author in the slush pile, and concludes, “Barrett’s work won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you like vivid, unique, quirky, strong-flavored stuff that’s unlike anything that anybody has ever written before or ever will write again, then this collection belongs in your library.”
• Paul Di Filippo reviewed the book for Locus Online, posted here: “Emerging from over five hundred pages of Neal Barrett Jr.’s singular, macabre, exultant, visionary storytelling, the reader will feel that without his presence, our genre would be a vastly paler and feebler and less interesting creature.”

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* Clarke, Cassandra Rose : The Assassin’s Curse
(Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry Us 978-1908844019, $9.99, 320pp, trade paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 4 Oct 2012
• Ananna #1

Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel, about a young woman who flees an arranged marriage to become a pirate on her own.
• Strange Chemistry’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature also provides a preview.
• The author’s site indicate a sequel, The Pirate’s Wish, due next year.

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* Cummings, Sean : Poltergeeks
(Angry Robot/Strange Chemistry Us 978-1908844101, $9.99, 320pp, trade paperback, October 2012, cover art Paul Young)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 4 Oct 2012
• Poltergeeks #1

YA fantasy novel about a 15-year-old girl, daughter of a witch, who takes on a local poltergeist with the help of her two friends.
• Strange Chemistry’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature also provides a preview.
• The author’s site indicate three previous titles from Snowbooks, and a sequel planned to the present volume.

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* Datlow, Ellen, & Terri Windling, eds. : After
(Hyperion Books for Children 978-142314619-3, $16.99, 11+370pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012

Anthology of 19 original young adult “stories of apocalypse and dystopia”.
• Authors include Genevieve Valentine, N.K. Jemisin, Carol Emswhiller, Jeffrey Ford, Gregory Maguire, Nalo Hopkinson, Jane Yolen, and Garth Nix.
• SF Signal has the complete table of contents

(Tue 2 Oct 2012)
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* Gramazio, Ronnie : Exposé 10
(Ballistic 978-1921828195, $79, 240pp, hardcover, September 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012

Art book, subtitled “The Finest Digital Art in the Known Universe”.
• The publisher’s site has this page for the book, though the cover it shows is not the same as the one Amazon.com shows. [Locus Online has not seen a physical copy of the book.]
• Locus Magazine includes it on its September issue New & Notable Books page: “The tenth edition of the annual round-up of the world’s best digital art includes work by over 350 artists, in categories that include SF, fantasy, fantasy femmes, robotic/cyborg, steampunk, and surreal. Also features a section on Grand Master Jim Burns, with an essay about his career and a gallery of his work.”

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* Harrison, Kim : Into the Woods
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-197432-8, $24.99, 528pp, hardcover, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012

Collection of 11 stories, the author’s first collection, subtitled “Tales from the Hollows and Beyond”, with several original stories, including “Hollows” novella “Million-Dollar Baby”.
• Harper’s site has this description .
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides the table of contents and a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review summarizes: “Harrison’s talent for making supernaturals understandable, likable, and engaging is amply demonstrated in this strong collection.”

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* Holm, Chris F. : The Wrong Goodbye
(Angry Robot Us 978-0857662217, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 4 Oct 2012
• Collector #2

Urban fantasy novel, second in a series following the author’s first novel Dead Harvest (March 2012), about a man who collects souls of the damned.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Publishers Weekly called the first book a “twisty, fast-paced, and thoroughly enjoyable urban fantasy debut.”

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* Park, John : Janus
(ChiZine 978-1-927469-10-1, $15.95, 300pp, trade paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012

SF novel about a man who arrives on the colony world of Janus, where he discovers that, like many of the colonists, he has lost his memory of his life on Earth.
• ChiZine’s site has this description with a link to a PDF previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review is mixed: “Less interested in world-building than the question of whether we are more than the sums of our memories, Park rushes the story to its conclusion. Though the book is at times graceful and engaging, it feels like it could have been much more.”

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* Rabuzzi, Daniel A. : The Indigo Pheasant
(Chizine Publications 978-1927469095, $16.95, 350pp, trade paperback, October 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Oct 2012
• Longing for Yount #2

Historical fantasy novel, seond in the “Longing for Yount” trilogy following The Choir Boats (2009), about a former Maryland slave working in 1817 London to build a machine that will free the land of Yount.
• The publisher’s site has this description with quotes from reviews and links to samples of the illustrations by Deborah Mills and to text and PDF excerpts.
• Faren Miller wrote of the first book in then January ’10 issue of Locus Magazine: “Both the voyage and the arrival are adventurous, filled with perils and continuing uncertainty about just who or what might be Evil in a deliciously convoluted tale . . . A strong opening to what could be a remarkable project.”

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* Rambo, Cat : Near + Far
(Hydra House Books 978-0-9848301-4-5, $16.95, 318pp, trade paperback, September 2012, cover art Sean Counley)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 19 Sep 2012

Collection of 24 stories, published dos a dos, with flip covers on each side.
• The publisher’s site has this post about the launch, with images of both covers.
• The author’s site points to the Amazon page, whose “Look Inside” function shows blurbs from Karen Joy Fowler, Nancy Kress, Norman Spinrad, and others, and the table of contents for the “Near” side of the book.
• The Publishers Weekly review advises that “Her characters, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, struggle against systems stacked against them”… and the review concludes, “Rambo’s poststory notes are as engaging as the strong, thought-provoking stories, and she’s an undeniably talented prose stylist and world-builder, but taken as a whole, this tour of misery and ambiguity is hard to love.”

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* Siegel, Mark : Sailor Twain, or, The Mermaid in the Hudson
(First Second 978-1-59643-636-7, $24.99, 400pp, hardcover, October 2012, jacket illustration Mark Siegel)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 2 Oct 2012

Graphic novel, set 100 years ago on the Hudson River, about a riverboat captain who rescues a mermaid.
• Parent publisher Macmillan’s site has this description with preview images and a video trailer.
• Tor.com has this original comic by the author.
• Publishers Weekly gave this a starred review, concluding, “Siegel’s strength as a storyteller is in knowing precisely how to balance the verbal and the visual, sometimes taking us for two or three pages on a wordless sequence that says so much more than dialogue ever could. As well, the manner in which he presents both the real and the fantastic shows his profound understanding of both worlds.”

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* Tidhar, Lavie, ed. : The Apex Book of World SF 2
(Apex 978-1-937009-05-2, $21.95, 356pp, hardcover, August 2012, cover art Raúl Cruz)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 21 Aug 2012

Anthology of 26 stories by authors from Africa and Latin America.
• Authors include Lauren Beukes, Will Elliot, Hannu Rajaniemi, Nnedi Okorafor, Ekaterina Sedia, and Andrzej Sapkowski, some original to the book and others translated here into English.
• The publisher’s site has this description with the table of contents and excerpts from reviews.
• Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review: “Apex’s second international anthology hits the right chord for readers looking for mostly non-Western perspectives on science fiction and the world at large. Some stories are original to this anthology; others appear in their first English translation. … Each story pushes past established boundaries, bringing readers experiences that are unique and familiar all at once.”

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* Turzillo, Mary : Lovers & Killers
(Dark Regions Press 978-1-937128-32-6, $9.95, 73pp, chapbook, August 2012)

Collection of 37 poems, roughly half of which are previously published since 1988, the others original to this volume.
• The publisher’s site has this description and order page; the book is not listed on Amazon.com.

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