Aiken, Joan : The Serial Garden: The Complete Armitage Family Stories
(Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House 9781931520829, $16, 320pp, trade paperback, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Apr 2012

(First edition: Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House, October 2008)

Collection of 24 stories, including four originals, about a family with two children to whom “interesting” things happen each week.
• The book includes introductions by Lizza Aiken and Garth Nix, and a “Prelude” by the author.
• Small Beer Press’ site has this description with the table of contents, quotes from reviews, and a link to a PDF download of one story.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides excerpts.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Bakker, R. Scott : The White-Luck Warrior
(Overlook Press 978-1-59020-816-8, $15.95, 608pp, trade paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 May 2012
• Aspect Emperor #2

(First edition: UK: Orbit, August 2010)

Fantasy novel, second the “Aspect Emperor” series following The Judging Eye (2009).
• The publisher’s site has this description.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Drake, David : Out of the Waters
(Tor 978-0-7653-6046-5, $7.99, 496pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 22 May 2012
• Books of the Elements #2

(First edition: Tor, July 2011)

Fantasy novel, second in a four book sequence following The Legions of Fire (2010).
• Tor’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review called it “imaginative and fast-paced”.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Flint, Eric, & Ryk E. Spoor : Threshold
(Baen 978-1451637779, $7.99, 464pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 May 2012
• Boundary #2

(First edition: Baen, June 2010)

SF novel, sequel to Boundary (2006), about a paleontologist whose work takes her from Mars to Ceres and the Jupiter system in a search for alien technology.
• Baen’s site has this description and links to several chapters.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Green, Simon R. : For Heaven’s Eyes Only
(Penguin/Roc 978-0-451-46424-8, $7.99, 416pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 7 Jun 2012
• Secret Histories #5

(First edition: Roc, June 2011)

Fantasy novel, fifth in the series about Shaman Bond, aka Eddie Drood, who protects humanity from the forces of darkness, following The Man with the Golden Torc (2007), Daemons Are Forever (2008), The Spy Who Haunted Me (2009), and From Hell with Love (2010).
• The publisher’s site has a description and an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Grossman, Lev : The Magician King
(Plume 978-0452298019, $16, 416pp, trade paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 20 May 2012
• Magicians #2

(First edition: Viking, August 2011)

Fantasy novel, sequel to The Magicians (2009), in which a high school boy discovered the land he’s read about in a series of fantasy novels actually exists.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a Chapter 4 excerpt.
• Adreinne Martini reviewed it last year in Locus Magazine, concluding “Grossman’s gift for plots that feel organic rather than outlined shines here, too. Like Sondheim, he’s folded our expectations into a new topography. All the right bits are there, yes, just not in the places that you’d expect them. Quentin does wind up on a quest, just like a hero should, only the reward isn’t quite what he believed it to be. Instead, he grows up. What’s so satisfying about The Magician King is how he gets there.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Lackey, Mercedes : Unnatural Issue
(DAW 978-0-7564-0726-1, $7.99, 384pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 5 Jun 2012
• Elemental Masters #7

(First edition: DAW, June 2011)

Fantasy novel, about an Elemental Master who conceives a plan to use his daughter’s body to bring back his deceased wife’s spirit.
• It’s the seventh book in the Elemental Masters series, following Fire Rose, Gates of Sleep, Serpent’s Shadow, Phoenix and Ashes, The Wizard of London, and Reserved for the Cat.
• The author’s website has this description.
• The eighth book in the series, Home from the Sea, just appeared in hardcover.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Lo, Malinda : Huntress
(Little, Brown 978-0-316-03999-4, $8.99, 416pp, trade paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Jun 2012

(First edition: Little, Brown, April 2011)

Young adult fantasy novel, prequel to the author’s first novel Ash (2009), about two seventeen-year-old girls on a journey to the city of the Fairy Queen.
• The author’s site has this description with an excerpt, FAQ, playlist, quotes from reviews, and a list of honors.
• Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review: “Lo’s storytelling and prose are masterful, and her protagonists will fascinate, particularly Taisin and her relationship to death and its accompanying rituals, her visions, and the way she can occupy another’s mind…”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

McCaffrey, Anne, & Todd McCaffrey : Dragon’s Time
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-50090-8, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 May 2012
• Dragonriders of Pern/Todd #4

(First edition: UK: Transworld/Bantam UK, June 2011)

SF novel in the Pern series, the authors’ fourth collaboration following Dragon’s Kin (2003), Dragon’s Fire (2006), and Dragon Harper (2007).
• Del Rey’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The next book, Sky Dragons, is due in hardcover later this month.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Palma, Félix J. : The Map of Time
(Simon & Schuster/Atria 978-1-4391-6741-0, $16, 611pp, trade paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 26 Jun 2012
• Map of Time #1

(First edition: Atria, June 2011)

Science fiction thriller, first of a trilogy, following three time travel stories all linked by H.G. Wells.
• This book, first published in Spain in 2008, is here translated by Nick Caistor.
• The publisher’s site has this description, with an browse inside feature.
• The Publishers Weekly review called it “the brilliant first in a trilogy, an intriguing thriller that explores the ramifications of time travel in three intersecting narratives…”
• The next volume, The Map of the Sky, is due in September.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Pitts, J. A. : Honeyed Words
(Tor 978-0-7653-6410-4, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 22 May 2012
• Sarah Beauhall #2

(First edition: Tor, July 2011)

Fantasy novel, second in a series following the author’s first novel Black Blade Blues (2010), about a props master for low-budget movies who repairs a broken sword that she discovers is magical.
• Tor’s website has this description.
• The next book, Forged in Fire, is due later this month.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Simmons, Dan : Flashback
(Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur/Back Bay Books 9780316101981, $16.99, 576pp, trade paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 26 Jun 2012

(First edition: Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur Books, July 2011)

Near-future thriller set in a dystopian US where a drug called flashback allows people to relive their favorite memories.
• The author’s website has a very long essay explaining the genesis of the novel and calling it his “one and only dystopian novel”.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Taylor, Laini : Daughter of Smoke and Bone
(Little, Brown 978-0-316-13399-9, $9.99, 448pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 5 Jun 2012

(First edition: Little, Brown, September 2011)

Young adult fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, about a 17-year-old art student in Prague whose encounter with an angel reveals the mysteries of her family.
• The book site has background on characters and the world, a video trailer, and an excerpt.
• Gwenda Bond’s review for Locus Magazine‘s November 2011 issue said: “The reason Daughter of Smoke and Bone is such a special novel is that Taylor – as in her earlier work – has great faith in the reader to hang in there, knowing she’ll take us somewhere we don’t expect. Here, she does so more successfully than ever before…”
• The next volume, Days of Blood and Starlight, is due in November.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Thomas, Lee : The Dust of Wonderland
(Lethe Press 978-1-59021-389-6, $18, 278pp, trade paperback, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Apr 2012

(First edition: Alyson, August 2007)

Horror novel about a man who returns to New Orleans following an attack on his college-age son, apparently related to long-ago murders at a gay lounge called Wonderland.
• Lethe Press’ site has this description.
• The book won a Lambda Literary Award as best LGBT Sci-fi/fantasy/horror book of 2007.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book is an “eloquent supernatural tale reminiscent of Peter Straub’s Ghost Story“, and a preview via its “Look Inside” function.

(Mon 14 May 2012)
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)

Yep, Laurence : City of Ice
(Starscape 978-0-7653-5880-6, $5.99, 384pp, mass market paperback, June 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 22 May 2012
• City Trilogy #2

(First edition: Starscape, June 2011)

Young adult novel, second in a trilogy following City of Fire (2009), about a girl and her companions from Hawaii pursuing a villain to the Arctic.
• Tor’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)