* Blaylock, James P. : The Adventure of the Ring of Stones
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-584-0, $35, 176pp, hardcover, June 2014, jacket art J. K. Potter)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Jun 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B00LE4QC58

Short novel in Blaylock’s series of stories about Langdon St. Ives, this one concerning a mystery discovered in the log of a murdered lighthouse keeper.
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page, with sample illustrations.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

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* Cardin, Matt, ed. : Born to Fear: Interviews with Thomas Ligotti
(Subterranean Press 978-1596066212, $40, 248pp, hardcover, June 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Jun 2014

Collection of interviews and nonfiction pieces.
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page. A $60 limited edition is also available.
• Stefan Dziemianowicz reviews it in the July issue of Locus Magazine, concluding, “A certain amount of repetition is inevitable, since many of the interviewers ask Ligotti the same question or about the same story. Nevertheless, Ligotti always manages to find refreshing new ways to state what he has said before. The final interview question in the book is ‘‘Why do you write,’’ and you couldn’t ask for a better answer than Ligotti’s: ‘‘Words and what they express have the best chance of returning the baneful stare of life.’’”

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* Cormick, Craig : The Shadow Master
(Angry Robot 978-0857665157, $7.99, 352pp, mass market paperback, July 2014, cover art Steve Stone)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 24 Jun 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857665164
• UK edition: 9780857665140 (Thu 3 Jul 2014)
• Walled City #1

Fantasy novel, first in a series, set in a Walled City where two families, followers of Leonardo and Galileo, vie for control.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description with a preview function.

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* Guran, Paula, ed. : The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2014 Edition
(Prime Books 978-1-60701-431-7, $19.95, 576pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Jun 2014

Anthology of 33 dark fantasy and horror stories first published in 2013.
• Authors include Dale Bailey, Elizabeth Bear, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Yoon Ha Lee, Ken Liu, Lisa Tuttle, and Carrie Vaughn.
• Prime Books’ site has this description with the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “this fearful feast of revelations, hauntings, and shattered realities reveals the horror genre’s enduring power and creativity.”

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* Johnson, Matthew : Irregular Verbs and Other Stories
(ChiZine Publications 978-1771481779, $16.99, 275pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781771481786

Collection of 22 stories.
• ChiZine’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “With an introduction by Helen Marshall, these stories represent if not the totality of the author’s stories to date, then a very healthy majority. Readers interested in modern speculative fiction would be strongly recommended to make this their next choice.”

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+ Jones, Stephen Lloyd : The String Diaries
(Little, Brown/Mulholland 978-0-316-25446-5, $26, 423pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316254441
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781478953708

Horror novel, the author’s first novel, about a Welsh family haunted for generations by a shape-shifting monster.
• Hachette’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The publisher’s site quotes the starred Booklist review: “A scary and exciting horror novel that keeps us off kilter, trying to figure out what’s going on until we’re so involved in the story that we couldn’t look away even if we tried. . . . This is Jones’ first novel, and you don’t see many debuts more ambitious and memorable than this one.”

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* Kendall, Gillian Murray : The Garden of Darkness
(Rebellion/Ravenstone 978-1-78108-248-5, $9.99, 336pp, trade paperback, June 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 25 Jun 2014

Young adult SF novel, the author’s first novel, about four children and one adult who seem to be the only survivors of a plague that has wiped out the rest of humanity.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Kendall tells the story from an emotional distance and at a leisurely pace, helping to strengthen the bleak, horrifying nature of the setting and premise. The narrative, while sometimes prone to meandering and digression, is strong and occasionally haunting, and the ending leaves much open for future exploration.”

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* Koontz, Dean : The City
(Bantam 978-0-345-54593-0, $28, 416pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-0-345-54594-7

Historical novel novel with metaphysical elements about a musical prodigy’s life and experiences in 1960’s New York City.
• Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The Kirkus review concludes, “Koontz offers a passable modern fairy tale about good and evil, love and loyalty.”

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* Ligotti, Thomas : The Spectral Link
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-650-2, $20, 96pp, hardcover, June 2014, jacket art Harry O. Morris)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Jun 2014

Collection of two horror stories, both original to this volume.
• Subterranean’s site has this description and order page. There’s also a $60 limited edition.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “His writing, an inspiration for the HBO series True Detective, is mannered and introspective, not for action fans. Ligotti publishes slowly, but like a philosophical oyster irritated by the grit of existence, he produces miniature pearls.”
• Stefan Dziemianowicz reviews the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine, relating it to the context of Ligotti’s 2011 manifesto about the misery of human existence: “Ligotti noted in an interview conducted four years before his book’s publication and reprinted in Born to Fear: Interviews with Thomas Ligotti, ‘‘we must smother our consciousness as best we can by using various tactics. The result is a whole species of beings that have to lie unceasingly to themselves, not always successfully, about what they are and what their lives are really like.’’”

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* Millet, Lydia : Pills and Starships
(Black Sheep 978-1617752766, $22.95, 256pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Jul 2014

Young adult SF novel set in a future affected by climate change, about two children visiting their long-lived parents in Hawaii, where the parents have decided to end their lives.
• The publisher’s site has this description. Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Washington Post ran this review by Sara Sklaroff: “Nat has a credible and charming voice, and the book provides enough twists and turns to suit a teenage reader. And enough hope: The world Millet describes is terribly damaged but not fully lost. Her shorthand on the environmental science behind the catastrophe is spot-on for young adults, if a bit heavy-handed for older readers.”
• Locus Online‘s Roundtable recently posted a guest essay by Millet.

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* Moore, James A. : The Blasted Lands
(Angry Robot 978-0857663924, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 24 Jun 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857663931
• UK edition: 9780857663917 (Thu 3 Jul 2014)
• Seven Forges #2

Fantasy novel, second of a series following Seven Forges (2013), about an expedition into the far north Blasted Lands, inhabited by a half-forgotten race.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description with a preview function.

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* Weil, Josh : The Great Glass Sea
(Grove Press 978-0-8021-2215-5, $27, 400pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 2 Jul 2014

Alternate history SF novel, the author’s first novel, about two brothers in an alternate contemporary Russia, where they work in a greenhouse perpetually lit by space mirrors.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “A well-timed dystopian tale, the novel beautifully details both the politics of this hypothetical Russia—“oligarchs bred beneath the clamp of communism let loose upon loot-fueled dreams”—and its impact on one small family.”

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