* Baggott, Julianna : Pure
(Grand Central 978-1455503063, $25.99, 431pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 8 Feb 2012

Young adult post-apocalyptic horror novel in which disfigured survivors of the ‘Detonations’ live separately from the ‘pure’ residents of sealed Domes.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Baggott mixes brutality, occasional wry humor, and strong dialogue into an exemplar of the subgenre.”

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+ Brenchley, Chaz : House of Doors
(Severn House 978-0-7278-8089-5, $28.95, 240pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 1 Jan 2012

Haunted house novel about a London nurse during World War II assigned to an isolated country estate.
• The UK edition was published in September 2011. The publisher’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review said “Brenchley clearly knows the language and motifs of gothic country-house horror; despite occasionally labored prose and an odd overfondness for the word ‘brutal,’ he turns genre conventions to his advantage with genuinely disturbing moments of terror and his complex, deeply troubled heroine.”

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* Hand, Elizabeth : Available Dark
(Minotaur 978-0-312-58594-5, $23.99, 246pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012
• Generation Loss #2

Associational novel — subtitled “A Crime Novel”, a sequel to Generation Loss (2007), though this book apparently has no fantastic element — about a photographer who accepts an offer in Helsinki to evaluate a collection of photographs of corpses.
• Parent publisher Macmillan’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “It’s to the author’s credit that Neary, who almost makes Lisbeth Salander seem like a model of mental stability, engages rather than repels in this stunning sequel.”

(Mon 13 Feb 2012)
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* Horton, Rich, & Sean Wallace, eds. : Robots: Recent AI
(Prime Books 978-1607013181, $14.95, 384pp, trade paperback, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012

Anthology of 18 stories about robots and artificial intelligence. Most are reprints of recently published stories; one, by Lavie Tidhar, is original.
• Other authors include Elizabeth Bear, Ian McDonald, Catherynne M. Valente, Robert Reed, Tim Pratt, and Cory Doctorow.
• Prime’s site has this description with the table of contents.

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* Kittredge, Caitlin : The Nightmare Garden
(Random House/Delacorte 978-0385738316, $17.99, 432pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012
• Iron Codex #2

Young adult fantasy novel set in an alternate 1950s America, second in a series after The Iron Thorn (2011), about an engineering student who discovers she’s a changeling, half human and half from the land of Thorn.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Publishers Weekly described the first book as “a fevered if somewhat unlikely mashup of steampunk, the Cthulhu mythos, and traditional fairy tale”.

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* Marmell, Ari : Thief’s Covenant
(Pyr 978-1616145477, $16.95, 240pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012
• Widdershins Adventure #1

Young adult fantasy novel, first in a series, about an orphan and thief in the city of Davillon.
• Pyr’s site has this description.
• The author’s site has this page for the book, with a link to an excerpt.

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* Marshall, W. G. : Enormity
(Night Shade 978-1-59780-394-6, $14.99, 280pp, trade paperback, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012

Sf/fantasy novel about an American working in Korea, a proverbial “ninety-eight-pound weakling” who’s transformed by an accident into a mile-high giant.
• Night Shade’s site has this description and order page.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review says, “Marshall’s energetic, tragic action-adventure pays equal homage to 1940s B-movies, mid-20th-century militarism, and 21st-century angst.”

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* Mayo, Eduardo Jiménez, & Chris N. Brown, eds. : Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic
(Small Beer Press 978-1-931520-31-7, $16, 261pp, trade paperback, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012

Anthology of 34 original fantasy and science fiction stories by Mexican authors.
• The book has an introduction by Bruce Sterling.
• Small Beer Press’ site has this description with the table of contents, quotes from reviews, and notes on the authors.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review says “By turns creepy, self-consciously literary, and engagingly inventive, these 34 stories selected by translator-scholar Jiménez Mayo and writer-critic Brown offer some excellent and ghastly surprises.”

(Tue 31 Jan 2012)
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* Meyer, Kai : Arcadia Awakens
(Harpercollins/Balzer + Bray 978-0-06-200606-6, $17.99, 464pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012
• Arcadia #1

Young adult fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, about a New York girl who travels to Sicily, falls in love with a boy from a rival family, and learns secrets about their families’ mythical pasts.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a preview function.

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+ Nevill, Adam : The Ritual
(St. Martin’s Griffin 978-0-312-64184-9, $14.99, 432pp, mass market paperback, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012

Horror novel, the author’s first novel, about four university friends on a camping trip in the wilderness near the Arctic Circle.
• The book was published in the UK in 2011 by Pan Macmillan.
• The publisher’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “Nevill makes the natural world deeply menacing, using the power of suggestion rather than explicit images to create a growing claustrophobic feeling…”
• Stefan Dziemianowicz reviewed the book in the October 2011 issue of Locus Magazine: “Nevill does an excellent job of keeping the menace just far enough out of plain sight that the characters – and the reader – can give it shape only by fitting their worst imaginings to it. … Nevill continues to spring surprises up until the final paragraphs.”

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* Ramsey, Jo : From the Ashes
(Jupiter Gardens Press 978-0-9639726-1-7, $13.95, 175pp, trade paperback, November 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 17 Nov 2011
• Reality Shift #5

Young adult fantasy novel, fifth in a series, about two teenagers in contact with spirit guides.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a link to an excerpt.

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* Rice, Anne : The Wolf Gift
(Random House/Knopf 978-0307595119, $25.95, 416pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012

Werewolf novel, set in northern California, about a young reporter’s investigation of a famous mansion about to be sold.
• The publisher’s site has this synopsis with an excerpt.
• Amazon has a video trailer and a statement from the author about writing the book.
• Washington Post just published this review by Elizabeth Hand: “All of this starts out as good, pulpy fun, with Rice’s violet-tinged prose making for a delectable cocktail of old-fashioned lost-race adventure, shape-shifting and suspense, brightened by enticing hints of a secret history dating back to ancient Sumeria.” But Hand has reservations; “Rice seems to have forgotten that readers don’t want werewolves with good taste; they want werewolves who think humans taste good.”

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* Schroeder, Karl : Ashes of Candesce
(Tor 978-0-7653-2492-4, $27.99, 384pp, hardcover, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 Feb 2012
• Virga #5

Science fiction novel, fifth book set in Virga, a miniature cosmos filled with numerous artificial worlds, following Sun of Suns (2006), Queen of Candesce (2007), Pirate Sun (2008), and The Sunless Countries (2009).
• Tor’s website has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.

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* Vivelo, Jackie : Night Vision II: Eleven More Haunting Tales
(Jupiter Gardens Press 978-0-9839726-2-4, $11.95, 131pp, trade paperback, December 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 14 Dec 2011

Collection of eleven young adult paranormal short stories, follow-up to Night Vision: Eleven Haunting Tales (2011).
• The publisher’s site has this description, with a link to an excerpt.

(Mon 30 Jan 2012)
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* Williams, Walter Jon : The Fourth Wall
(Orbit US 978-0-316-13339-5, $13.99, 416pp, trade paperback, February 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 13 Feb 2012
• Dagmar Shaw #3

Near-future thriller, third in a series following This Is Not a Game (2009) and Deep State (2011), about a game designer Dagmar Shaw.
• This book concerns a washed up child actor hired by Dagmar to star in a movie serial.
• Orbit’s site has this sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it a “sedate and sinister near-future mystery” … “Williams is a master of the little details that add depth to his exceptional writing and bring his world to life.”

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