Barnes, John : Daybreak Zero
(Ace 978-1937007300, $7.99, 432pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Dec 2011
• Daybreak #2
(First edition: Ace, March 2011)

SF thriller, second in a trilogy following Directive 51 (2010), about the aftermath of a movement that destroyed modern civilization. In this book Heather O’Grainne leads a movement to try to put the world back together.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a link to an excerpt.
• The third book in the trilogy, The Last President, is tentatively due October 2012.

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Ferrari, Mark J. : The Book of Joby
(Tor 978-0-7653-5611-6, $8.99, 754pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
(First edition: Tor, August 2007)

Fantasy novel about Joby Peterson, who from the age of nine is focus of an age-old battle between Lucifer and the Creator.
• It’s the first novel from the author, previously known as an artist. The author’s site has a synopsis and several PDF excerpts.
• Tor’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function has a preview.

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Harkness, Deborah : A Discovery of Witches
(Penguin 978-0143119685, $16, 592pp, trade paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Dec 2011
(First edition: Viking, February 2011)

Literary fantasy novel about an Oxford scholar who discovers an magical manuscript that unleashes vampires, demons, and witches into the library.
• Viking’s site has this description with links to an excerpt and an author interview.
• Elizabeth Hand reviewed it last year for the Washington Post: “Matthew is 1,500 years old; this novel’s pacing is so torpid that readers may feel that aged, too. … The pace finally steps up in the last 100 pages. The ending, in which Diana and Matthew beat a hasty retreat, made me wish the book had started there. If Harkness doesn’t ring many changes upon the overworked tropes of paranormal romance, at least she leaves readers with hope of a more engaging sequel.”

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Hendee, Barb, & J.C. Hendee : Of Truth and Beasts
(Roc 978-0-451-46402-6, $7.99, 512pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
• Noble Dead #9
(First edition: Roc, January 2011)

Fantasy novel, ninth in the “Noble Dead” series following Dhampire, Thief of Lives, Sister of the Dead, Traitor to the Blood, and Rebel Fay, In Shade and Shadow, Child of a Dead God, and Through Stone and Sea, about a half-vampire vampire-hunter and her half-elf partner.
• The authors’ site NobleDead.com has a description with quotes from reviews, a pronunciation guide, and an excerpt.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function has a preview.

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Hunt, Stephen : The Rise of the Iron Moon
(Tor 978-0-7653-6610-8, $7.99, 468pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
• Jackelian #3
(First edition: UK: HarperVoyager, February 2009)

Steampunk fantasy novel, third set in the world of The Court of the Air (2007) and The Kingdom Beyond the Waves (2010).
• Tor’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review described it as a “campy postapocalyptic steampunk environmental morality tale”.
• The next book in the series, Secrets of the Fire Sea, is due March 27, 2012.

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Lackey, Mercedes, Steve Libbey, Cody Martin & Dennis Lee : Invasion
(Baen 978-1451637724, $7.99, 592pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Dec 2011
• Secret World Chronicle #1
(First edition: Baen, March 2011)

Alternate history thriller, first in a series, about the emergence of ‘metahumans’ during World War II, and an attack by soldiers in robotic suits bearing Third Reich swastikas.
• Baen’s site has this description with links to several chapters.
• The next book in the series, World Divided, is due February 7, 2012/

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Locke, M. J. : Up Against It
(Tor 978-0-7653-5421-1, $7.99, 454pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
(First edition: Tor, March 2011)

SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a crisis at an asteroid colony, a threat from a Martian crime syndicate, and a rogue AI.
• Tor’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function has a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “Compulsively readable and packed with challenging ideas, this hefty debut is set in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter….”

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Marmell, Ari : The Warlord’s Legacy
(Ballantine Spectra 978-0-553-59316-7, $7.99, 384pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Dec 2011
• Corvis Rebaine #2
(First edition: Spectra, February 2011)

Humorous dark fantasy novel, follow-up to The Conqueror’s Shadow (2010), about an evil overlord, nicknamed “Terror of the East”, who faces a new villain.
• Spectra’s site has this description with an excerpt.

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Martin, George R. R., & Gardner Dozois, eds. : Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance
(Tor 978-0-7653-3109-0, $17.99, 672pp, trade paperback, December 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 20 Dec 2011
(First edition: Subterranean Press, October 2009)

Anthology of 22 original stories, a tribute anthology to Jack Vance, created with the cooperation of Vance, his family, and his agents.
• Authors include Robert Silverberg, Mike Resnick, Jeff VanderMeer, Lucius Shepard, Tad Williams, Elizabeth Hand, Dan Simmons, Howard Waldrop, George R.R. Martin, and Neil Gaiman.
• Dean Koontz provides a tribute/introduction, and Vance a preface.
• The book, first published by Subterranean Press in 2009, was on Locus‘ 2009 Recommended Reading List. In the 2010 Locus Poll, the book placed 3rd in the anthology category, and Neil Gaiman’s “An Invocation of Incuriosity” won in the short story category.
• Tor’s website has this description.

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McCaffrey, Anne, & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough : Catacombs
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-51379-3, $15, 256pp, trade paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 10 Jan 2012
• Tales of the Barque Cats #2
(First edition: Ballantine Del Rey, December 2010)

SF novel, second “Tale of the Barque Cats”, about a breed of cats who have become prized crewmembers on interstellar starships, following Catalyst.
• The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt.

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Pohl, Frederik : All the Lives He Led
(Tor 978-0-7653-6145-5, $7.99, 385pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
(First edition: Tor, April 2011)

Near-future science fiction novel, Pohl’s first novel since The Boy Who Would Live Forever (2004), set in 2079 as a virtual reality festival celebrates the 2000th anniversary of the destruction of Pompeii by Vesuvius.
• The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes: “This seminihilistic novel, reminiscent of Mining the Oort and The Cool War, is not among Pohl’s best only because the Grand Master’s previous novels have set such a high standard, and it stands as a demonstration of his continuing strengths in the eighth decade of his career.”
• Russell Letson’s review in Locus Magazine said: “Fred Pohl remains a cunning, astringent, and entertaining observer of our follies.”

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Saberhagen, Joan Spicci, & Robert E. Vardeman, eds. : Golden Reflections
(Baen 978-1451637748, $7.99, 656pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Dec 2011
(First edition: Baen, February 2011)

Omnibus/anthology including Fred Saberhagen’s 1979 time travel novel The Mask of the Sun, plus seven stories set in the same universe by Walter Jon Williams, Harry Turtledove, David Weber, and others.
• Baen’s site has this description with excerpts including introductions by the two editors.

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Swanwick, Michael : Dancing With Bears
(Night Shade Books 978-1597803342, $14.99, 300pp, trade paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
(First edition: Night Shade Books, May 2011)

Post-apocalyptic SF novel about con artists Darger and Surplus, subjects of several short stories over the past decade, including Hugo Award winner “The Dog Said Bow-Wow” (2001).
• Night Shade’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book last year in Locus Magazine, noting that the lead characters “are modern SF’s most direct descendants of Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, but Swanwick is acutely aware of something that nostalgic readers often overlook — underlying the rollicking sword-and-sorcery surface of Leiber’s tales was a distinctly dark undercurrent, and some of their adventures are virtually horror stories.”

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Taylor, Travis S., & Les Johnson : Back to the Moon
(Baen 978-1451637731, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Dec 2011
(First edition: Baen, December 2010)

SF novel about the United States’ return to the Moon, which becomes a rescue mission when an earlier Chinese mission is stranded there.
• Baen’s site has this description with links to several chapters.

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Walton, Jo : Among Others
(Tor 978-0-7653-3172-4, $14.99, 304pp, trade paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Jan 2012
(First edition: Tor, January 2011)

Fantasy novel about a Welsh teen girl whose coming of age is informed by science fiction and fantasy novels.
• Tor’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “Never deigning to transcend the genre to which it is clearly a love letter, this outstanding (and entirely teen-appropriate) tale draws its strength from a solid foundation of sense-of-wonder and what-if.”
• Gary K. Wolfe’s review from the January 2011 issue of Locus Magazine is posted here; he writes, “I don’t believe I’ve seen, either in fiction or in memoir, as brilliant and tone-perfect an account of what discovering SF and fantasy can mean to its young readers — citing chapter and verse of actual titles — as in Jo Walton’s remarkable and somewhat autobiographical new novel Among Others.”

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West, Michelle : House Name
(DAW 978-0-7564-0703-2, $8.99, 736pp, mass market paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 4 Jan 2012
• The House Wars #3
(First edition: DAW, January 2011)

Fantasy novel, third in “The House Wars” series following The Hidden City (2008) and City of Night (2009), about a city besieged by worshippers of the Lord of the Hells.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.

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Wolfe, Gene : Home Fires
(Tor 978-0-7653-2819-9, $14.99, 304pp, trade paperback, January 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Jan 2012
(First edition: Tor, January 2011)

Science fiction novel about a couple separate by time dilation who reunite for a round-the-world cruise that encounters spies, aliens, and pirates.
• Tor’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the December 2010 issue of Locus Magazine, calling it “the purest SF novel from Wolfe in something like a decade … Amazingly, Wolfe’s approach to SF themes that we thought we knew all about is as innovative and elegant as ever.”

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