New Books, 23 December
+ Barclay, James : Once Walked with Gods
(Gollancz 978-0-575-08503-9, £15.95, 408pp, trade paperback, December 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 1 Oct 2014
• Elves #1
First US edition (UK: Gollancz, August 2010)
Fantasy novel, first of a trilogy (already followed by Elves: Rise of the TaiGethan (2012) and Elves: Beyond the Mists of Katura (2013) in the UK), in which elves are enslaved by humans.
• Orion’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it “a sensational fable of political upheaval, treachery, and redemption in the world of Calaius.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Gaiman, Neil, illustrated by Chris Riddell : The Sleeper and the Spindle
(UK: Bloomsbury 978-1408859643, £12.99, 72pp, hardcover, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 23 Oct 2014
Short children’s novel that reimagines elements of fairy tales Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.
• Bloomsbury’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Hair, David : Unholy War
(UK: Quercus/Jo Fletcher 978-1780872032, £14.99, 688pp, hardcover, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 30 Oct 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781780872049
• Moontide Quartet #3
Fantasy novel, third in a series following Mage’s Blood and The Scarlet Tides (both 2013), about war between two continents.
• Quercus’ site has this description. There’s also a simultaneous hardcover edition.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Haley, Guy, ed. : Sci-Fi Chronicles: A Visual History of the Galaxy’s Greatest Science Fiction
(Firefly 978-1-77085-264-8, $29.95, 576pp, trade paperback, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 11 Sep 2014
Nonfiction guide to the greatest creations of science fiction, divided into five historical sections, and focusing on media SF.
• Firefly’s site has this description.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the December issue of Locus Magazine: “But despite the jacket copy’s unlikely claim of being ‘‘definitive,’’ it’s probably unfair to dwell on how limited or incomplete Sci-Fi Chronicles is as a reference; books like this are really made to be flipped and browsed and wallowed in and gifted, and the sharpness and color of the enormous number of illustrations – sometimes as many as 12 or 14 to a page – make this an enjoyable time-killer, especially if you have a really good magnifying glass.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Kent, Jasper : The Last Rite
(UK: Transworld/Bantam UK 978-0593069554, £14.99, 480pp, trade paperback, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 23 Oct 2014
• Danilov Quintet #5
Historical vampire novel, final volume of a quintet following Twelve (2010), Thirteen Years Later (Feb. 2011), The Third Section (Oct. 2011), and The People’s Will (Jan. 2014), spanning Russian history from 1812 to 1917 as Russian agent Aleksei Danilov battles creatures called the voordalak.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Newton, Mark Charan : Retribution
(UK: Macmillan/Tor UK 978-0230766846, £18.99, 400pp, hardcover, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 23 Oct 2014
• Drakenfeld #2
Fantasy crime novel, second in a series following Drakenfeld (2013), inspired by Ancient Rome.
• Pan Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Tor.com has this review by Niall Alexander, who comments, “Retribution is ultimately on a par with its predecessor, but it works for different reasons than Drakenfeld did. Given the ubiquity of the grim and the gritty, I was sorry to see Newton go back to the dark side after the refreshing lightness of his last.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Pratchett, Terry : Mrs. Bradshaw’s Handbook
(UK: Transworld/Doubleday UK 978-0857522436, $12.99, 144pp, hardcover, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 9 Oct 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781473509849
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781473525405
“Nonfiction” guide, in Pratchett’s long-running Discworld series, to railway sites and destinations as written by one Mrs Georgina Bradshaw.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Sheehan, Anna : No Life But This
(UK: Orion/Gollancz 978-0575104778, £8.99, 320pp, trade paperback, December 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 18 Dec 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780575104785
• UniCorp #2
Young adult SF novel, a stand-alone sequel to A Long, Long Sleep (2011, a Golden Duck Award nominee), about a girl who slept a hundred years on an interstellar voyage.
• Orion’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Tidhar, Lavie : A Man Lies Dreaming
(UK: Hodder & Stoughton 978-1444762921, £18.99, 288pp, hardcover, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 23 Oct 2014
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781444762969
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781444762952
Alternate history SF novel in which Adolf Hitler works as a London private-eye in 1939.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Gary K. Wolfe’s review from the November issue of Locus Magazine is posted here; “What really haunts the novel is not the ghost of Hitler, but that dreaming figure, borrowed more closely from our own history than from Tidhar’s fake one, and the disarming shadow of an anti-Semitic fascist regime emerging in England itself in 1939.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
* Whates, Ian, ed. : Paradox
(UK: NewCon Press 978-1907069710, £12.99, 236pp, trade paperback, October 2014)
• Nominal Publication Date: Fri 15 Aug 2014
Anthology of 15 stories, subtitled “Stories Inspired by the Fermi Paradox”.
• Authors include Pat Cadigan, Adam Roberts, Paul Di Filippo, George Zebrowski, and Robert Reed.
• NewCon’s site has this order page with the table of contents.
• Rich Horton reviews it in the December issue of Locus Magazine, recommending the Robert Reed story.
• Purchase this book from Amazon
• (Directory Entry)
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