* Brooks, Terry : The High Druid’s Blade
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-54070-6, $28, 320pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-0-345-54071-3
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 978-0-8041-9063-3
• UK edition: Little, Brown UK/Orbit 978-0356502168 (Tue 8 Jul 2014)
• Defenders of Shannara #1


Fantasy novel, first book in a new series set hundreds of years after the “Dark Legacy of Shannara” series (Wards of Faerie (2012), Bloodfire Quest (2013), and Witch Wraith (2013)).
• Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “After vast world-spanning epics filled with quests and armies, Brooks tries his hand at a more personal story, first with Paxon’s training and then his rushing off when the ambitious Arcannen takes Chrys a second time. The intriguing premise veers into old and familiar patterns, though…”

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

* Currie, Evan : Out of the Black
(Amazon/47north 978-1477817872, $14.95, 448pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B00F0SI3EM
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 978-1480581562
• Odyssey One #4

Military SF novel, fourth in the Odyssey One series, following Into the Black (2012), The Heart of the Matter (2012), and Homeworld (2013), about humanity’s first starship and hostile aliens who think humanity is too barbaric to be allowed into the cosmos.
• Amazon has a description, and its “Look Inside” function provides previews.

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

* Datlow, Ellen, ed. : Fearful Symmetries
(ChiZine Publications 978-1771481939, $16.99, 400pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Jun 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781771481946

Anthology of 20 original fantasy and horror stories.
• Authors include Nathan Ballingrud, Pat Cadigan, Jeffrey Ford, Robert Shearman, and Garth Nix.
• The book was funded on Kickstarter, as the publisher’s description explains. The page lists the complete table of contents.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “…on balance, this is an excellent anthology for horror fans, with a nice range of tones and styles and some intriguing new voices.”

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

+ Erikson, Steven : The Wurms of Blearmouth
(Tor 978-0-7653-2426-9, $24.99, 208pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466860704
• Malazan #11

First US edition (UK: PS Publishing, September 2012)

Fantasy novella, subtitled “A Tale of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach”.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• There’s also a trade paperback edition (978-0-7653-7622-0).
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “There are hidden sorcerers and goddesses, and all manner of nefarious deeds going down. Erikson has produced another winning entry in the long-lived, endlessly fascinating Malazan Book of the Fallen series.”

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

* Green, Simon R. : Tales of the Hidden World
(Open Road 978-1-4804-9116-8, $14.99, 240pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014

Collection of 17 stories, including one original about the Droods.
• The author provides an afterword to each story.
• Open Road’s site has this description.
• One of the reader reviews on Amazon lists the table of contents.

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

* Herbert, Brian : The Little Green Book of Chairman Rahma
(Tor 978-0-7653-3254-7, $25.99, 412pp, hardcover, July 2014, jacket art Stephen Youll)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466856059

Near-future SF novel in which the US has saved the environment at the cost of becoming a dictatorship.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The book’s text is set in green type.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Herbert skimps on dystopian motifs, creating a fresh and forbidding near-future world.”

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

* Hodder, Mark : The Return of the Discontinued Man
(Pyr 978-1-61614-905-5, $18, 340pp, trade paperback, July 2014, cover illustration Jon Sullivan)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Burton & Swinburne #5

Steampunk fantasy novel, fifth in a series following The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (winner of a Philip K. Dick Award), The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon (2012), and The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi (2013).
• Pyr’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Readers persistent enough to make their way through the bewildering opening will be riveted by Hodder’s ingenious reinventing of both history and recent present, while quailing at what that reimagining does to the future.”

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

* Hoover, Kenneth Mark : Haxan
(ChiZine Publications 978-1771481755, $16.99, 250pp, trade paperback, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781771481762
• Haxan #1

Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel and first in a series, about an eternal war being fought by a marshal in Haxan, New Mexico.
• ChiZine’s site has this description with a long blurb from Richard Parks.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

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

* Jackson, D. B. : A Plunder of Souls
(Tor 978-0-7653-3818-1, $26.99, 304pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466840782
• Thieftaker Chronicles #3

Historical fantasy, third in a series following Thieftaker (2012) and Thieves’ Quarry (2013), about Ethan Kaille, a conjurer in pre-revolutionary Boston who casts spells to solve crimes.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Jackson is a pseudonym for David B. Coe.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The fiery climax recalls other urban fantasies, but Kaille and his city remain their own creations. Jackson is an increasingly reliable tour guide to America’s colonial past.”

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

* Johansen, Erika : The Queen of the Tearling
(Harper 978-0-06-229036-6, $26.99, 448pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062290373
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062332288
• Queen of the Tearling #1

Fantasy novel, the author’s first novel and first book of a trilogy, about a young princess attempting to reclaim her dead mother’s throne.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review says, “Johansen makes an impressive debut with this ambitious fantasy adventure, which takes place several centuries from now following the collapse of civilization and mass migration to a newly discovered continent. The resultant society resembles medieval Europe, with modern technology all but forgotten, and magic is subtly present.”

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

* Lepucki, Edan : California
(Little, Brown 978-0-316-25081-8, $26, 400pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316250825
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781478978268

Literary post-apocalyptic SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a couple that flees a devastated Los Angeles.
• Hachette’s site has this description with a blurb by Jennifer Egan.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Though real-world parallels can be drawn regarding the circumstances of the world’s decline and rebirth in the novel—“the Group” is like a mash-up of the Occupy Wall Street and Weather Underground movements; the sterile wealthier “Communities” clearly signify the 1%—Lepucki focuses on Cal and Frida’s evolving relationship and their divergent approaches to their predicament. As seen in chapters told from their alternating perspectives, the less they trust each other, the more tension mounts, building to an explosive climax that few readers will see coming.”
• The New York Times recently ran this article about how interest in the book exploded after Stephen Colbert recommended the book in the context of the Amazon-Hachette brawl.
• And Jeff VanderMeer reviewed it in the NYT Book Review this past Sunday, comparing it to other dystopian novels: “But there’s a middle path too — one exemplified by Edan Lepucki’s first novel, “California,” in which characters traverse a cross-section of mid-collapse landscape, framed by the gradual decline of civilization. This approach may seem too optimistic given dire news about melting icecaps and acidic oceans, but it does allow for a reading of the novel as satire, skewering the elements of modern life that have brought us to this tipping point.”

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

* Ouellette, Pierre : The Forever Man
(Random House/Alibi 978-0-8041-7719-1, $2.99, 316pp, e-bk, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014

Near-future thriller, in an e-book only publication, about a contract cop in a degenerated Portland who discovers that his brother is part of a secret experiment into immortality.
• Random House’s site has this description,
• The author previously published The Deus Machine (1993) and The Third Pandemic (1996).
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

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

* Roth, Veronica : Four: A Divergent Collection
(Katherine Tegan 978-0062345219, $17.99, 304pp, hardcover, July 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 Jul 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B00IRCZGXY
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 978-0062346766

Collection of stories that precede or enhance the author’s popular YA series Divergent (2011), Insurgent (2012), and Allegiant (2013). Several of the stories have previously been released as e-books.
• Harper’s site has this description.
• Wikipedia has this page about the book.

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