+ Aldiss, Brian : Finches of Mars
(Open Road 978-1-5040-0213-4, $12.99, 202pp, trade paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015

First US edition (UK: HarperCollins UK/The Friday Project, June 2013)

SF novel about a colony on Mars whose women give birth only to stillborn children.
• Open Road’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Paul Di Filippo reviewed the book for Locus Online last year: “Finches of Mars certainly does not disappoint, and in fact shows Aldiss at the top of his game. … It’s truly a novel of ideas, in the manner of late-period Wells (“Brian at the end of his tether?”) or perhaps one of the Euro-SF authors like Lem.”

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* Ames, Phyllis : Frozen in Amber
(DAW 978-0-7564-0780-3, $7.99, 400pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698197725

Urban fantasy novel about a woman who shapeshifts into a WerCougar.
• Penguin’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review begins, “Ames’s urban fantasy debut relies on an angsty protagonist incoherently stumbling her way through a completely confusing plot.”

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* Andrews, Ilona : Magic Shifts
(Ace 978-0-425-27067-7, $25.95, 352pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Kate Daniels #8

Urban fantasy novel, eighth in the “Kate Daniels” series following Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds (2010), Magic Slays (2011), Magic Rises (2012), and Magic Breaks (2014), about a female mercenary in a magical Atlanta.
• Penguin’s site has this description.
• Carolyn Cushman reviews it in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “This is definitely a middle book in the series, but it’s all quite chaotic and fun.”

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* Arnett, Mindee : The Nightmare Charade
(Tor Teen 978-0-7653-3335-3, $18.99, 384pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466800700
• Arkwell Academy #3

Young adult fantasy novel, third in a series following The Nightmare Affair (2013) and The Nightmare Dilemma (2014), about a girl at a magic academy who can sneak into people’s dreams.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly said of the first book “The scrappy first-person narration and integration of frightening dreamscapes make Arnett’s debut a fun paranormal mystery, with a focus on atmosphere over romance. But original it is not: for all the tweaks, Dusty, down to her frizzy red hair, is barely a step removed from Hermione Granger.”

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+ Baxter, Stephen : Ultima
(Roc 978-0451467720, $26.95, 512pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698142961
• Proxima #2

First US edition (UK: Orion/Gollancz, November 2014)

SF novel, second of a duology following Proxima (2013), about a 27th century colonization of a planet circling Proxima Centauri.
• Penguin’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Russell Letson reviewed the book last year in Locus Magazine. ” ‘‘Ultima’’ can mean ‘‘farthest’’ as well as ‘‘last,’’ and that extremity would seem to be the destination of this second volume, though it takes its time getting there and wanders through some genre spaces that do not at first seem much related to the cosmic gosh-wow promised by the vatic opening and closing passages of Proxima. (Part of me wonders whether Baxter is seeing how many SF tropes and traditions he can fit into one big narrative framework.)”

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* Bedford, Jacey : Crossways
(DAW 978-0756410179, $7.99, 544pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698173149
• Psi-Tech #2

SF novel, second in a series following Empire of Dust (2014), about agents working for interplanetary mega corporations who are implanted with telepath technology.
• Penguin’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “Readers who crave high adventure and tense plots will enjoy this voyage into the future.”

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* Bee, Ishbelle : The Contrary Tale of Butterfly Girl
(Angry Robot 978-0857664457, $9.99, 336pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857664464
• UK edition: 9780857664440 (Thu 6 Aug 2015)
• Notebooks of John Loveheart #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror & Goliath (June 30, 2015), about a nonhuman little girl and her shape-shifting guardian in Victorian England.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description.

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* Brennan, M. L. : Dark Ascension
(Roc 978-0451474124, $7.99, 320pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Generation V #4

Urban fantasy novel, fourth novel in a series following Generation V (May 2013), Iron Night (Jan. 2014), and Tainted Blood (Nov. 2014), about a down and out vampire faced with a threat to his family’s territory.
• Penguin’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly said of the previous book, “Brennan’s smart, sassy, and seductive vampire mythos injects fresh blood into a lethargic subgenre.”

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* Doubinsky, Seb : The Song of Synth
(Skyhorse/Talos 978-1-940456-25-6, $14.99, 276pp, trade paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015

Near-future SF novel about a drug that induces hallucinations indistinguishable from reality.
• Skyhorse’s site has this description.
• This is presumably an expansion of a novella published by PS Publishing in 2012.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “At once gritty and dreamlike, somber and sexy, this is a powerful tale of guilt, addiction, and self-discovery.”

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* Farnsworth, Christopher : The Eternal World
(HarperCollins/Morrow 978-0062282927, $25.99, 352pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062282934

Fantasy novel about a descendant of the Spanish conquistador who claimed the Fountain of Youth, now head of a pharmaceutical firm developing anti-aging medicines, and a centuries-long rivalry with a survivor of the Native American tribe that guarded the fountain.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Each man is obsessed with living forever, yet exhausted from the lies and hiding they’ve done for centuries and bored by life’s pleasures. ‘To live forever, you have to have something to live for,’ one of them thinks. The realistic approach is one of this inventive novel’s major strengths.”

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+ Foyle, Naomi : Astra
(Quercus/Jo Fletcher Us 978-1623654054, $22.99, 464pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Astra #1

First US edition (UK: Quercus/Jo Fletcher, February 2014)

Young adult SF novel, first of a series, about a girl in Is-Land who learns the truth about her home and the Non-Land “infiltrators” she’s been taught threaten it.
• Quercus’ site has this description.

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* Henry, Christina : Alice
(Ace 978-0425266793, $15, 304pp, trade paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101618189

Stand-alone fantasy novel, inspired by the works of Lewis Carroll, about a woman in a hospital who doesn’t remember why she’s there.
• Penguin’s site has this description.

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* Hocking, Amanda : Crystal Kingdom
(St. Martin’s Griffin 978-1250075352, $22.99, 432pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• The Kanin Chronicles #2

Middle-grade fantasy novel, third in a series following Frostfire (Jan. 2015) and Ice Kissed (May 2015), about a half-blood blond girl in a magical secret kingdom.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.

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* Jacka, Benedict : Veiled
(Ace 978-0-425-27575-7, $7.99, 304pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Alex Verus #6

Urban fantasy novel, sixth in a series following Fated (March 2012), Cursed (June 2012), Taken (Sept. 2012), Chosen (2013), and Hidden (2014), about a London magician who can foresee the future.
• Penguin’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls this a “consistently smart and exciting urban fantasy series.”

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* Jackson, Shirley : Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings
(Random House 978-0812997668, $30, 448pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780812997675

Collection of 56 stories and nonfiction pieces, many never before published, by the author of “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill House.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “together they are a multifaceted portrait of the artist as wife, mother, commentator on the comfortable middle class, and pioneer who explored a world of inexplicable, occasionally frightening phenomena.”

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* Jemisin, N. K. : The Fifth Season
(Orbit 978-0-316-22929-6, $15.99, 512pp, trade paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• The Broken Earth #1

Fantasy novel, first book in a new trilogy, set on a world whose sole continent is split by a great red rift.
• Hachette’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Jemisin’s graceful prose and gritty setting provide the perfect backdrop for this fascinating tale of determined characters fighting to save a doomed world.”

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* Kenyon, Sherrilyn : Dragonbane
(St. Martin’s 978-1250029942, $27.99, 352pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250029959
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781427261205
• Dark-Hunter #25

Supernatural romance novel, 25th volume (by Wikipedia’s count) or 19th volume (by the publisher’s count) in the bestselling “Dark-Hunters” series, following Retribution (2011), Time Untime (2012), Styxx (2013), and Son of No One (2014).
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The author’s site has this page for the book, with links to excerpts, background, and the book’s playlist.

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* Lain, Douglas : After the Saucers Landed
(Skyhorse/Night Shade Books 978-1597808231, $15.99, 248pp, trade paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B00VGTC692

Satirical SF novel in which the aliens that land on the White House lawn look just like the cheesy aliens from a B movie.
• Night Shade’s site has this description.

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* Meluch, R. M. : The Twice and Future Caesar
(DAW 978-0756408961, $24.95, 368pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101637388
• Merrimack #6

Military SF novel, sixth in the series about the USS Merrimack, in a 25th century with American and Roman interstellar empires battling an alien threat called the Hive, following The Myriad (2005), Wolf Star (2006), The Sagittarius Command (2007), Strength and Honor (2008), and The Ninth Circle (2011).
• Penguin’s site has this description.

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* Miéville, China : Three Moments of an Explosion
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-1-101-88472-0, 400pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101884737
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781101922835
• UK edition: Macmillan 978-0230770171 (Thu 30 Jul 2015)


Collection of 28 stories, 10 of them original to this book.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Award winner Miéville moves effortlessly among realism, fantasy, and surrealism in this dark, sometimes horrific short story collection.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “Miéville is as brilliant as ever in finding the necessary balance between narrative mode and unfettered invention.”

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* Murray, Susan : Waterborne Exile
(Angry Robot 978-0857664396, $7.99, 432pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857664402
• UK edition: 9780857664389 (Thu 6 Aug 2015)
• Waterborne Blade #2

Fantasy novel, second book in a series following The Waterborne Blade (May 2015), about a queen who flees her citadel to escape an invading traitor.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description.

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* Posey, Jay : Dawnbreaker
(Angry Robot 978-0857664488, $7.99, 512pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857664495
• UK edition: 9780857664471 (Thu 6 Aug 2015)
• Legends of the Duskwalker #3

SF novel, third in a series following Three (2013) and Morningside Fall (2014), set in a post-apocalypse western US.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description.

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* Saintcrow, Lilith : Blood Call
(Orbit 978-0-316-34360-2, $20, 320pp, trade paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316343640

Supernatural thriller about a woman who turns to her ex-boyfriend, a liquidation agent with “talents”, for help.
• Hachette’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review has reservations, but concludes, “But exploding baddies make for exciting action scenes, and Anna and Josiah’s pale, mangled, cautious vampire ally is delightfully creepy.”

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* Snodgrass, Melinda : The Edge of Dawn
(Tor 978-0-7653-3816-7, $27.99, 352pp, hardcover, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466837812
• Edge of Reason #3

Fantasy novel, third in a series following The Edge of Reason (2008) The Edge of Ruin (2010), about an Albuquerque cop and his involvement in a war between magic and reason.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Snodgrass focuses on the internal struggles as effectively as the exterior action, which helps distinguish her protagonist from his enemies more clearly than the stated division between rationality and superstition…”

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* Vaughn, Carrie : Kitty Saves the World
(Tor 978-0-7653-6870-6, $7.99, 336pp, mass market paperback, August 2015)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Kitty Norville #14

Fantasy novel, fourteenth and final book in the series following Kitty Steals the Show (2012), Kitty Rocks the House (Apr. 2013), Kitty in the Underworld (Aug. 2013), and Low Midnight (Jan. 2015), about werewolf radio talk show host Kitty Norville.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Longtime readers will enjoy the sense of payoff—especially when certain characters meet much-deserved fates and others get their happy-for-nows—and they’ll be eager to see where Vaughn goes next. “
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed it in the July issue of Locus Magazine: “Rarely do books boast such a huge spoiler in the title, but seeing how Kitty gets there is the entertaining part in this 14th and final book in the Kitty series.”

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* Weber, David : The Sword of the South
(Baen 978-1476-7-8084-9, $27, 560pp, hardcover, August 2015, cover art Asplund Miller)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-62579-429-1
• Sword of the South #1

Fantasy novel, first book in a series set in the author’s Bahzell Bahnakson/War God universe.
• Baen’s site has this description with links to several chapters.

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* White, Steve : Soldiers Out of Time
(Baen 978-1-4767-8072-6, $15, 256pp, trade paperback, August 2015, cover art Don Maitz)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 4 Aug 2015
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-62579-430-7
• Jason Thanou #5

SF novel, fifth in a series following Blood of the Heroes (2006), Sunset of the Gods (Jan. 2013), Pirates of the Timestream (Aug. 2013), and Ghosts of Time (2014), about a time traveler to ancient Greece where the Greek gods are real.
• Baen’s site has this description with links to several chapters.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “The time travel leads to a twisty, clever series of surprises and plot mechanics.”

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