* Barnes, John : Losers in Space
(Viking 978-0-670-06156-3, $18.99, 416pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 12 Apr 2012

Young adult SF novel about nine teenagers who stow away on a spaceship to Mars.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it a “painstakingly constructed SF novel, a sort of amped-up Breakfast Club set in a celebrity-obsessed future.” It concludes, “What keeps this book rolling is Barnes’s unfailing ability to draw readers into his characters’ lives and perils—underneath all the scientific language, Barnes knows how to spin a good yarn.”
• The New York Times ran this review by Jonathan Liu: “The result is a curious mash-up: part science fiction, part teenage drama, part thriller. While not all of Barnes’s predictions are convincing, he has a pretty good sense of where our media addiction might lead, and he nails the reality of space travel, both the logistics and the emotional impact.”

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* Bear, Elizabeth : ad eternum
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-444-7, $25, 96pp, hardcover, March 2012, cover art Patrick Arrasmith)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 Feb 2012
• New Amsterdam #4

Fantasy novella, fourth volume of a series of alternate history stories following New Amsterdam (2007), Seven for a Secret (2009), and The White City (2011).
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page. A limited edition includes an extra 9000 word story.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “There’s not much drama to the tale, but there are enough incidents and reunions with old acquaintances to prompt Bear’s likable wampyr to insightful reflection on the shortcomings of immortality, and to espouse wisdom that comes from more than one lifetime of having to deal with mortals and their all-too-human natures.”
• Russell Letson reviews it in the April 2012 issue of Locus Magazine: “Despite the ‘capstone’ label applied to ad eternum, it strikes me as less a finish than as a pause: the confluence of new and old associations, the possibility of a new enterprise, and the resuming of an old identity all suggest that the world-weary wampyr will return – one certainly hopes so.”

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* Black, Holly : Black Heart
(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1442403468, $17.99, 304pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Apr 2012
• Curse Workers #3

Young adult fantasy novel, third in a series following The White Cat (2010) and Red Glove (2011), about a family of illegal curse workers.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a “Browse Inside” function.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.

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* Dillon, Grace L., ed. : Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction
(University of Arizona 978-0-8165-2982-7, $24.95, 272pp, hardcover, March 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 1 Mar 2012

Anthology of stories by indigenous authors — Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal Australian, and New Zealand Maori authors — including William Sanders, Stephen Graham Jones, Sherman Alexie, and Gerald Vizenor.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Publlishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Every piece is a perspective twister and a thought inducer built on solid storytelling from ancient and newer traditions, and the anthology will encourage readers to further investigate indigenous speculative works.”

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* Hand, Elizabeth : Radiant Days
(Viking 978-0-670-01135-3, $17.99, 287pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 12 Apr 2012

Young adult fantasy novel, follow-up to Illyria (UK 2007, US 2010), about a painter in 1978 Washington DC, and poet Arthur Rimbaud in 1870 Paris, who come together in 1978.
• The publisher’s page has a description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Hand’s descriptions of art and poetry as they are being made are breathtaking—“In front of me was a whorl of black and red, emerald vines and orange flame, a shifting wheel of shadowy forms like those cave paintings drawn in charcoal”—and her troubled, beautifully drawn characters make the heart ache.”

(Thu 12 Apr 2012)
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* Harland, Richard : Liberator
(Simon & Schuster 978-1442423336, $17.99, 496pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Apr 2012
• WorldShaker #2

Young adult steampunk SF novel, sequel to World Shaker (2009), in which miles-long juggernauts move over land and sea, ruled over by governments from the old powers of Europe.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a “Browse Inside” function.
• The author’s site has this page for the series, with links to videos, diagrams, a history page, etc.

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* Hathaway, Jill : Slide
(Harpercollins/Balzer + Bray 978-0-06-207790-5, $17.99, 256pp, trade paperback, March 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Mar 2012

Young adult paranormal thriller, the author’s first novel, about a teenage girl with the ability to ‘slide’ into the minds of others, as she inadvertently witnesses a murder.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a preview function.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “The shifting perspectives—as Vee enters the bodies of her friends, love interest Rollins, and others—give the story an exhilarating momentum and an absorbing, cinematic quality. … An emotionally taut mystery with depth.”

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* Hopkinson, Nalo : The Chaos
(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1416954880, $16.99, 256pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Apr 2012

Young adult fantasy novel about a 16-year-old girl as a supernatural Chaos affects the world.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Hopkinson’s use of language and imagery is almost magical, and her characters add much-appreciated diversity to the genre.”

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* Kress, Nancy : After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall
(Tachyon Publications 978-1-61696-065-0, $14.95, 189pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 1 Apr 2012

SF novel set in 2035 in which 26 survivors of an alien attack in 2014 are kept alive on an otherwise barren Earth.
• Tachyon’s site has this description with quotes from numerous reviews.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review says that “Kress mixes time travel, global catastrophe, and mysterious aliens in this strong postapocalyptic tale…”
• Gary K. Wolfe’s review in the April issue of Locus Magazine is posted here: “The chief engine of suspense in After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, other than the mystery surrounding the Tesslies themselves, consists of seeing how the three narrative lines eventually converge and complement each other, and Kress handles this with her usual superior craftsmanship and efficiency.”

(Tue 20 Mar 2012)
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* Marques, Sarah : Sword & Blood
(Prime Books 978-1-60701-331-0, $14.95, 288pp, trade paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 3 Apr 2012
• Vampire Musketeers #1

Alternate history fantasy novel, first of a series, about three musketeers in a France where vampires rule.
• Sarah Marques is a pseudonym for Sarah A. Hoyt.
• Prime’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review advises, “The result is a serviceable and straightforward adventure story where morality is black and white and a brave few hold back the night with courage and daring, but readers expecting a Dumas pastiche will be disappointed.”

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* Martin, George R. R., Daniel Abraham & Tommy Patterson : A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Volume 1
(Bantam 978-0-440-42321-8, $25, 240pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Mar 2012

Graphic novel version of Martin’s novel A Game of Thrones, adapted by Daniel Abraham and illustrated by Tommy Patterson.
• Wikipedia has this page about A Game of Thrones (comics).
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview, including many pages of background material about the creation of the graphic novel.

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* McMahon, Gary : Silent Voices
(Solaris 978-1907992797, $8.99, 384pp, mass market paperback, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 11 Apr 2012
• Concrete Grove #2

Horror novel, second of a trilogy following The Concrete Grove (2011), about a housing project that’s a gateway to a realm of ghosts and monsters.
• Solaris’ site has this description.

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* Myers, E. C. : Fair Coin
(Pyr 978-1-61614-609-2, $16.95, 250pp, hardcover, March 2012, cover by Sam Weber)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Mar 2012

Young adult novel, the author’s first novel, about a teenage boy who discovers a dead duplicate of himself, among whose belongings he finds a strange coin that grants his wishes.
• Pyr’s site has this description.
• The author’s site also has a description with blurbs (from Sarah Beth Durst and N.K. Jemisin among others) and quotes from numerous reviews.

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* Ore, Rebecca : Time and Robbery
(Aqueduct Press 978-1-933500-87-4, $16, 178pp, trade paperback, March 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sat 31 Mar 2012
• Vel #2

Short SF novel, sequel to Centuries Ago and Very Fast (2009), about Vel, an immortal born in the Paleolithic age who can jump back and forth in time.
• Aqueduct’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Faren Miller reviewed it in the March 2012 issue of Locus Magazine: “Time and Robbery shows that the wild idea behind Vel’s origin and continued existence, with its mingled aspects of SF and Fae, can do more than survive through another tale. Thrown into a genuine plot, involved in both problem and solution, he loses none of his original quirky appeal.”

(Thu 1 Mar 2012)
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* Tem, Steve Rasnic : Deadfall Hotel
(Centipede Press 978-1-61347-012-1, $125, 400pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Apr 2012

Horror novel about a widower who becomes manager of a mysterious hotel, with illustrations by John Kenn Mortensen.
• The publisher’s site has this synopsis with samples of the text and illustrations.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Though Richard’s strange encounters unfold episodically, they build to a revelatory climax that Tem engineers perfectly. His interwoven reflections on the cathartic value of horror entertainments add considerably to the novel’s emotional impact.”
• Stefan Dziemianowicz reviews the book in the April issue of Locus Magazine, calling it “a haunting dark fantasy concerned with death, grieving, and the cathartic role served by horror in fiction, film, and other entertainment forms.”

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* Zito, V. M. : The Return Man
(Orbit 978-0-316-21828-3, $9.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 27 Mar 2012

Zombie thriller, the author’s first novel, about a scientist dispatching zombies in the American Southwest.
• Orbit Books’ site has this sample.
• Official book site http://www.thereturnman.com/ has a description, a free chapter, and a link to the author’s blog.
• The Publishers Weekly review says the book “is thrilling, melancholy, and stomach-churningly gory.”

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