New Books : 19 December 2017
Published today: Ada Palmer’s The Will to Battle. Also listed: titles from recent weeks by Steve Berman, Hassan Blasim, St. Sukie de la Croix, Junot Díaz, Hal Duncan, John Fleskes, Megan Hunter, Jeff Mann, Anne Rice & Christopher Rice, Nora Roberts, and Bogi Takács.
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* Berman, Steve, ed. : Wilde Stories 2017: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction
(Lethe Press 978-1-59021-625-5, $20, 286pp, trade paperback, November 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 15 Nov 2017
Anthology of 17 stories first published in 2016.
• Authors include Sam J. Miller, Steve Carr, Matthew Cheney, A. Merc Rustad, Rich Larson, and Charles Payseur.
• Lethe’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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+ Blasim, Hassan, ed. : Iraq + 100: The First Anthology of Science Fiction to Have Emerged from Iraq
(Tor 978-1-250-16132-1, $17.99, 224pp, trade paperback, September 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Sep 2017
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250161314
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781427294593
Anthology of 11 stories by Iraqi authors, speculating on what their country will look like in 100 years.
• The book was first published in 2016 by Comma Press in Great Britain.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Inventive and surprising, these tales, many of which are translated, blend the surreal with the commonplace, pushing the boundaries of speculative fiction. Readers will savor each story as it probes the deeper questions of existence and the possibilities and perils of the future. This is a must-read for all science fiction enthusiasts.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* de la Croix, St. Sukie : The Blue Spong and the Flight from Mediocrity
(Lethe 978-1-59021-608-8, $13, 99pp, trade paperback, November 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 15 Nov 2017
Historical fantasy novella about the aristocratic Clam Sisters and their purchase of a rare bird.
• Lethe’s site has this description.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Díaz, Junot, ed. : Global Dystopias
(Boston Review 978-1-946511-04-1, $19.95, 208pp, trade paperback, November 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Fri 27 Oct 2017
Anthology of stories, essays, and interviews about various kinds of dystopias.
• Authors include Charlie Jane Anders, Margaret Atwood, Nalo Hopkinson, Maureen McHugh, and China Miéville.
• Boston Review’s site has this page with links the book’s contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls out stories by Charlie Jane Anders, Maria Dahvana Headley, Tananarive Due, Maureen McHugh, and Nalop Hopkinson.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Duncan, Hal : Susurrus on Mars
(Lethe 978-1-59021-683-5, $13, 120pp, trade paperback, October 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Wed 1 Nov 2017
Novella-length collection of vignettes about the idylls of a gene-spliced child of Zephyros and Area on a terraformed Mars.
• Lethe’s site has this description.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Fleskes, John, ed. : Spectrum 24: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art
(Flesk Publications 978-1933865997, $45, 304pp, hardcover, November 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 7 Nov 2017
Anthology of over 300 artworks from 2016.
• Contributors include Julie Bell, Brom, Dave McKean, David Palumbo, and Dan Dos Santos. The book includes winning works from this year’s Spectrum Awards.
• The publisher’s site has this description and order page.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Hunter, Megan : The End We Start From
(Grove Press 978-0-8021-2689-4, $22, 160pp, hardcover, November 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 7 Nov 2017
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-0-8021-8906-6
Post-apocalypse SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a woman and her newborn child fleeing a flooded London.
• Grove Atlantic’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Told in a voice that is by turns meditative, desperate, and hopeful, this novel showcases Hunter’s considerable talents and range.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it in the November issue of Locus Magazine: “As environmental fiction, The End We Start From offers almost nothing particularly new, although the poet’s choice of evocative language does develop a strong sense of the encroaching chaos.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Mann, Jeff : Insatiable
(Lethe 978-1-59021-637-8, $18, 266pp, trade paperback, October 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 22 Oct 2017
Fantasy novel about a Scotsman vampire battling a mining company in his adopted home of West Virginia.
• Lethe’s site has this description.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Palmer, Ada : The Will to Battle
(Tor 978-0-7653-7804-0, $26.99, 352pp, hardcover, December 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 19 Dec 2017
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466858763
• Terra Ignota #3
SF novel, third in a series following Too Like the Lightning (2016) and Seven Surrenders (March 2017), about a far future in which a convict works as a spiritual counselor as part of a conspiracy to maintain global stability.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Growing accustomed to this future world and Mycroft’s description of it takes time, but the payoff is rewarding.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Rice, Anne, & Christopher Rice : Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra
(Anchor 978-1-101-97032-4, $16, 400pp, trade paperback, December 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 21 Nov 2017
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781101970485
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780525527992
• Ramses #2
Fantasy novel about the former pharaoh of Egypt reawakened in Edwardian England; a sequel to The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned (1989) by Anne Rice.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “In their first literary collaboration, the Rices, mother and son, configure these subplots into an entertaining soap opera replete with romantic alliances, betrayals, and ends left tantalizingly loose as grist for sequels.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Roberts, Nora : Year One
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-12295-7, $27.99, 432pp, hardcover, December 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 5 Dec 2017
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250122988
• Chronicles of the One #1
Fantasy novel, first of a trilogy, about a sickness that wrecks the world but leaves some survivors with magical powers.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishes Weekly review concludes, “Characters are pretty much stock good or evil, but readers who are after a well-told apocalyptic story with magical touches will be satisfied.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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* Takács, Bogi, ed. : Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction
(Lethe Press 978-1-59021-662-0, $18, 193pp, trade paperback, October 2017)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 22 Oct 2017
Anthology of 16 stories first published in 2016.
• Authors include Charlie Jane Anders, Sonya Taaffe, An Owomoyela, Brit Mandelo, and S. Qiouyi Lu.
• Lethe’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “This anthology embraces the multifaceted nature of trans identities, imagining them into worlds that are both new and familiar. Takács has assembled a book that reads like a fascinating conversation in which the reader feels lucky to participate.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
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These listings are based on publisher schedules and availability on Amazon (rather than on confirmation of physical publication via purchase, review copies, or sightings in bookstores). Titles are listed only once they are published (with rare exception). We do not list galleys or advance reading copies.
Page counts are based on publisher or Amazon listings, and typically only approximate the bibliographic page counts of finished books.
* = first edition
+ = first US edition
Date with publisher info is official publication month.
‘Nominal Publication Date’ is the day of publication, typically as indicated by Amazon.com.
If physical copies have been seen or received, that date is given following the book description.
