* Black, Holly : The Darkest Part of the Forest
(Little, Brown 978-0-316-21307-3, $18, 328pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316213059
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781478955894

Young adult fantasy novel about a girl and her brother who live in a town where faeries are a tourist attraction.
• Hachette’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Close in tone to some of Charles de Lint’s work, it’s an enjoyable read with well-developed characters and genuine chills, though perhaps not as original as Black’s earlier supernatural excursions.”

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* Carey, Peter : Amnesia
(Random House/Knopf 978-0-385-35277-2, $25.95, 320pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-0-385-35278-9

Associational literary novel by the two-time Booker Prize winner, about a cyber attack on Australian and American prisons, and a journalist’s attempt to write a biography of the culprit.
• Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• NPR interviewed Carey.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Throughout the book, Carey’s cartwheeling prose and dazzling intellect can be challenging to keep up with, but the book is worth the effort.”

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* Grahame-Smith, Seth : The Last American Vampire
(Grand Central 978-1-4555-0212-7, $27, 416pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781455502103
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781611138283
• Vampire #2

Fantasy novel, seqeuel to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2010), about vampire Henry Sturges in early 20th-century America and England.
• Hachette’s site has this description with preview function.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “There are some nice twists—one spoiled by the previous book, unfortunately—and fans of supernatural fights and gory killings will find plenty to enjoy.”

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* Larke, Glenda : The Dagger’s Path
(Orbit 978-0316399685, $16, 464pp, trade paperback, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316399678
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781478983620
• The Forsaken Lands #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following The Lascar’s Dagger (2014), about a religious conspiracy that implicates the king’s spiritual adviser.
• Hachette’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Publishers Weekly said of the first book “Densely plotted without being convoluted, this is an absorbing political fantasy that bodes well for the rest of the series.”

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* Moorcock, Michael : The Whispering Swarm
(Tor 978-0765324771, $26.99, 480pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781429986427
• The Sanctuary of the White Friars #1

Fantastic, semi-autobiographical novel, first of a trilogy, about a man in post-World War II London who discovers a secret realm beneath London.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Locus Magazine’s December issue ran an interview with Moorcock, conducted by John Picacio, excerpted here.

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* Morrow, James : Galapágos Regained
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-05401-2, $28.99, 496pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 6 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466880924

Historical SF/associational novel about an assistant to Charles Darwin in 1848 who steals Darwin’s unpublished theory in order to enter a contest to prove or disprove the existence of God.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Although too long, the complex tale is a round-the-world romp of improbable but delightful fun and harrowing adventures, a cross between Phileas Fogg and Lara Croft.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the January issue of Locus Magazine: “Morrow is not unfamiliar with the classic science fictional notion of using ideas as heroes – he did it in The Last Witchfinder and The Philosopher’s Apprentice – and his title Galápagos Regained, suggesting both Darwin and Milton, certainly calls attention to this. But I can think of few authors who would try to cast a deeply intellectual psychomachia in the form of a wildly comic picaresque tall tale, and fewer still who could get away with it and have so much fun in the process.”

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* Rusch, Kristine Kathryn : A Murder of Clones
(WMG 978-1-56146-608-5, $18.99, 380pp, trade paperback, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• The Anniversary Day Saga #3

Mystery/SF novel, tenth in the ‘Retrieval Artist’ series following The Disappeared (2002), Extremes (2003), Consequences (2004), Buried Deep (2005), Paloma (2006), Recovery Man (2007), Duplicate Effort (2009), Anniversary Day (2011), and Blowback (2012), and third in the sequence beginning with Anniversary Day.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Fans of Rusch’s Retrieval Artist universe will enjoy the expansion of the Anniversary Day story, with new characters providing more perspectives on its signature events, while newcomers will get a good introduction to the series.”

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* Staveley, Brian : The Providence of Fire
(Tor 978-0-7653-3641-5, $27.99, 608pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following The Emperor’s Blades (2014), about the daughter and two sons of a slain emperor.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Staveley nicely complicates the moral scheme with plausible-sounding villains and shaky political alliances, but the appearance of immortals and legends threatens to drown out his mortal protagonists, and the realizations and reversals seem to stem from plot needs more than character development.”

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* Walton, Jo : The Just City
(Tor 978-0-7653-3266-0, $25.99, 368pp, hardcover, January 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 13 Jan 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466800823

SF novel about a planned city created by the goddess Pallas Athene and populated by children and adult teachers from across history.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The sequel, The Philospher Kings, is due in June.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments “Walton expertly observes the cracks between Platonic ideal and messy reality, but she relies heavily and uncomfortably on sexual violence and its aftermath as vehicles for exploring concepts of consent and free will.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the January issue of Locus Magazine, contrasting the varying styles of Walton’s novels: “The Just City, by contrast, is nearly all dialogue – which seems appropriate since its model, not only in form but in substance, is Plato’s dialogue The Republic.”

(Fri 26 Dec 2014)
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