New Books, 22 December 2015
* Files, Gemma : Experimental Film
(ChiZine Publications 978-1771483490, $16.99, 352pp, trade paperback, December 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 17 Dec 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781771483506
Fantasy ghost story about a woman with an autistic son who makes a discovery about an early 20th-century Canadian filmmaker.
• ChiZine’s site has this description with blurbs by Laird Barron and Jeff VanderMeer.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Goh, Jaymee, & Joyce Chng, eds. : The SEA Is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia
(Rosarium 978-1-4956-0756-1, $15.95, 270pp, trade paperback, November 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Nov 2015
Anthology of stories set in Southeast Asian (SEA).
• Rosarium’s site has this brief description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review, mentioning contributors Marilag Angway, Kate Osias, Olivia Ho, and Robert Liow, and concluding “Even the slighter stories have the craft, perspective, and components that merit savoring, and the finest would be worth considering for any year’s best anthology.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Kiernan, Caitlín R. : Beneath an Oil-Dark Sea
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-706-6, 608pp, hardcover, December 2015, jacket art Lee Moyer)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Nov 2015
Collection of 25 stories and one poem published from 2004 to 2012, the second of two volumes providing a retrospective of Kiernan’s career, following Two Worlds and In Between: The Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan (Volume One) (20111).
• Publication is indicated as November 30th, but the book has not been available on Amazon until this week.
• Subterranean’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review:
gave it a starred review: “Although these tales abound with nods to Lovecraft, Lewis Carroll, and other touchstones in literature and popular culture, Kiernan’s innovative approach to fantastic ideas shows a refreshingly original synthesis of her influences. Her best stories are also some of the best fantastic fiction of the past decade.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
+ Pratchett, Terry, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen : Judgment Day: The Science of Discworld IV
(Random House/Anchor 978-0-8041-6900-4, $15.95, 368pp, trade paperback, December 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 22 Dec 2015
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780553397994
Nonfiction with fictional elements, fourth and final volume in a series by these authors, exploring in this volume cosmology, human belief, and creation myths in the context of the Discworld universe.
• The UK edition was published in 2014.
• Random House’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “While the fantasy frame here is weaker than those in previous books, the investigations of the late Pratchett’s pragmatic wizards—when they aren’t distracted by the last chocolate biscuit on the tea tray—provide a firm foundation for science coverage from mathematician Stewart and zoologist Cohen, reminding readers that ‘scientific revolutions don’t change the universe. They change how humans interpret it.’ “
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Roberts, Adam : The Thing Itself
(UK: Orion/Gollancz 978-0575127722, £16.99, 368pp, trade paperback, December 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 17 Dec 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780575127746
SF novel about two men at an Antarctic research station who learn that they are not alone.
• Gollancz site has this description, which says that the author “turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taught and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenter’s The Thing.”
• Tor.com has this review by Niall Alexander: “No phrase of the praise I would happily heap upon the remarkable achievement this tremendous text represents could outstrip that there statement, so let’s call it a day, eh? Except to say that though The Thing Itself is many things, all of the things The Thing Itself is are evidence of Adam Roberts’ inimitable brilliance.”
• Locus Online will have a review by Paul Di Filippo later this month.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
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