New Books, 22 July
* Bitov, Andrei, translated by Polly Gannon : The Symmetry Teacher
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux 978-0374273514, 288pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780374712099
Metaphysical novel about the author, Bitov, reconstructing an old British novel he once read and had forgotten.
• It was published in Russian in 2008.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Blending elements of Nabokov, Calvino, and Percival Everett, Bitov’s (Pushkin House) shape-shifting novel is not really a novel so much as a narrative puzzle that revels in its own language.” The review concludes, “Bitov, a pioneer postmodern writer, packs physics-defying deaths, mysterious doorbells, and space aliens into this lively literary feat.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Bova, Ben : New Frontiers: A Collection of Tales about the Past, the Present, and the Future
(Tor 978-0-7653-7644-2, $25.99, 336pp, hardcover, July 2014, cover art John Harris)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 22 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466851368
Collection of 14 previously published stories, with new introductions by the author.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review says, “This strong collection achieves an unusually satisfying fusion of varied settings with a consistent humane vision.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
+ Gwynne, John : Valor
(Orbit 978-0316399746, $17, 688pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 22 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316399753
• The Faithful and the Fallen #2
First US edition (UK: Macmillan/Tor UK, March 2014)
Fantasy novel, second novel in a series following the author’s first novel Malice (2013), set in the Banished Lands where armies of men and giants have battled.
• The UK edition was published as Valour.
• Orbit’s site has an excerpt. Hachette’s site has a description with a preview function.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Muir, Sharona : Invisible Beasts
(Bellevue Literary Press 978-1-934137-80-2, $14.95, 256pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B00KV1P350
Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel, subtitled “Tales of the Animals that Go Unseen Among Us”, about an amateur naturalist who compiles a bestiary of the invisible, sentient creatures she can perceive.
• The publisher’s site has this description with excerpts from numerous reviews.
• Madeleine Monson-Rosen reviewed it for io9: “This inventory of fantastical beasts allows Muir to tell a story at the level of the human, but also all of humanity. We don’t, Invisible Beasts argues, have to be able to see animals to value them.”
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “In Sophie’s struggles to find her footing in a world only she and a few others can see, Muir expertly pinpoints the frailty of the human condition. This is an amazing feat of imagination.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
+ Nevill, Adam : The House of Small Shadows
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-04127-2, $25.99, 384pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466837386
First US edition (UK: Macmillan/Tor Uk, October 2013)
Horror novel about an appraiser who comes to the house of a late taxidermist and puppeteer.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “This emotionally intense, intellectually challenging supernatural novel explores secret geographies of conscience while raising hackles, and is addictively readable.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Niven, Larry, adapted by Robert Mandell, illustrated by Sean Lam : Ringworld: The Graphic Novel, Part One
(Tor/Seven Seas 978-0-7653-2462-7, $15.99, 272pp, trade paperback, July 2014, cover art Stephen Youll)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781429943048
First volume of a graphic novel adaptation of Niven’s famous 1970 novel. The adaptation is by Robert Mandell, illustrated by Sean Lam.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with sample pages.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Oreskes, Naomi, & Erik M. Conway : The Collapse of Western Civlization: A View from the Future
(Columbia University Press 978-0-231-16954-7, $9.95, 104pp, trade paperback, May 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-0-231-53795-7
Future historical account from the viewpoint of 2393 about how climate change led to the collapse of the global order.
• The authors are a professor of history at Harvard, and a historian employed by CalTech, respectively.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Accurately researched and logically persuasive, this is nevertheless a political manifesto, not dramatically structured or emotionally involved storytelling.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Sklar, David, & Sarah Avery : Trafficking in Magic, Magicking in Traffic
(Fantastic Books 978-1617209451, $15.99, 264pp, trade paperback, May 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Fri 23 May 2014
Anthology of 18 original stories about travel.
• Authors include Elizabeth Bear, Megan Arkenberg, and Darrell Schweitzer.
• Amazon has a description of the book.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Sweterlitsch, Thomas : Tomorrow and Tomorrow
(Putnam 978-0-399-16749-2, 352pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 10 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698142701
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780698163898
SF thriller set 10 years after a terrorist bomb has wiped out Pittsburgh, concerning a survivor obsessed with a digital reconstruction of the city to relive time with his wife, and investigate an unsolved murder.
• Penguin’s site has this description with blurbs and quotes from reviews.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it a “strong debut” and concludes, “Sweterlitsch takes an unusual turn in that Dominic closes in on the truth by shredding connections between virtual and real, and the more he operates in the real world, the more vivid and compelling the story becomes.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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