James Bradley, Clade
(Penguin Australia Jan 2015)

Three generations of a family face the effects of global warming in this near-future literary SF novel that follows the family through severe storms, political unrest, a pandemic, and more, enduring with unexpected moments of hope.





Paula Guran, ed., Warrior Women
(Prime Books Dec 2015)

Guran’s latest anthology brings us 24 stories about powerful woman, ranging from sword & sorcery to outer space. The roster of notable authors includes Tanya Huff, Elizabeth Bear, Seanan McGuire, Robert Reed, George R.R. Martin, and Ken Liu.





Caitlín R. Kiernan, Beneath an Oil-Dark Sea
(Subterranean Press Dec 2015)

Kiernan herself selected the contents for this hefty collection of 27 stories, a short novel, and one poem, all from 2004 to 2013. ‘‘If a writer who is compiling a collection as huge as this one, covering scarcely more than a decade, still has to omit some excellent stories, it’s pretty strong evidence that she’s on quite a roll.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]





Stephen King, The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
(Simon & Schuster/Scribner Nov 2015)

A new treat from the master of horror, this new collection of 20 stories (11 reprints, some revised), includes autobiographical notes on how these stories came to be. ‘‘Intimations of mortality percolate through the 20 stories…. readers will no doubt be convinced that there is no theme that King couldn’t write up as a captivating story.’’ [Stefan Dziemianowicz]





Microsoft, Future Visions
(Microsoft Nov 2015)

This original anthology presents nine SF stories, one in graphic form, inspired by Microsoft, and available free online. The impressive line-up of authors includes Greg Bear, David Brin, Nancy Kress, Ann Leckie, and Seanan McGuire. ‘‘Another of the year’s best SF anthologies appeared suddenly, almost without warning…. there’s nothing here that’s bad or even mediocre.’’ [Gardner Dozois]





Emma Newman, Planetfall
(Roc Nov 2015)

A woman joins a mission to another planet, part of a group led by a Pathfinder who knows a far planet where God can be found. A few settlers die early on, but the colony continues – and then the impossible son of one of the deceased colonists turns up. It’s a mystery with some fun SF elements: ‘‘A fascinating and propulsive tale about what could happen when actual humans try to settle a planet and about how little protection technology can really offer in the face of our inherent weaknesses.’’ [Adrienne Martini]





James Renner, The Great Forgetting
(Sarah Crichton Books Nov 2015)

Memory can be a blessing or a curse in this thriller about history teacher Jack Felter, whose search for his onetime best friend, Tony, leads him to confront a series of conspiracy theories. But what if some of those theories are true? A fun, sometimes outlandish, thriller with touches of SF and fantasy.





Mary Rickert, You Have Never Been Here: New and Selected Stories
(Small Beer Press Nov 2015)

This collection of 11 stories, one original, includes one World Fantasy Award winner and a Shirley Jackson Award winner. ‘‘With any luck, Small Beer will bring these stories to a wider readership, which will likely be as stunned as we were when we originally read them.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]





Nisi Shawl & Bill Campbell, eds., Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany
(Rosarium Publishing Jul 2015)

This heartfelt tribute anthology presents 31 pieces of fiction and non-fiction, an eclectic gathering of four essays and the rest mostly original stories by an impressive line-up of authors, including Ellen Kushner, Nalo Hopkinson & Nisi Shawl, Nick Harkaway, Hal Duncan, and Geoff Ryman.





Sharon Shinn, Jeweled Fire
(Ace Nov 2015)

The third novel in the Elemental Blessings series brings a bit of entertaining change to the series as Princess Corene decides to look outside her own country for a prince to marry – and possibly gain a throne in the process. Unfortunately for Corene, she’s not the only princess with that idea.





Ian Tregillis, The Rising
(Orbit Dec 2015)

Action and serious questions merge in this fascinating epic fantasy of AI, free will, and the existence of the soul. This second book in the Alchemy Wars series, set in an alternate North America, finds New France hard put to stop the Dutch with their clockwork robots. The story follows three characters: the rogue robot, Jax; Berenice, a former spymaster for New France; and Captain Hugo Longchamp of New France, tasked with rallying his untested forces.





Catherynne M. Valente, Radiance
(Tor Oct 2015)

Hollywood gets an alternate history/space opera treatment in this ‘‘decopunk’’ SF novel about a documentary film maker who travels through a solar systerm out of pulp fiction. Told through scripts, interviews, and various other sources. ‘‘It’s bold, ambitious, eloquent, and profane, suffused with the anarchic spirit of free jazz, free verse, and abstract art…. a challenge for artists and audiences alike.’’ [Faren Miller]





Gene Wolfe, A Borrowed Man
(Tor Oct 2015)

Wolfe bends his formidable talents to this quirky mystery about a clone, E.A. Smithe, who lives in a library, there to be checked out by Colette Coldbrook, who needs his help. Smithe is the last surviving person­ality of the author of Murder on Mars – a book that could lead to an immense family fortune. ‘‘An oddball murder mystery that is, almost inevitably with Wolfe, a good deal more than it initially seems to be.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]