New Books : 23 January 2018
New this week: Alastair Reynolds’ Elysium Fire and titles by Brooke Bolander, Rati Mehrotra, Keith Rosson, Ahmed Saadawi, Neal Shusterman, Na’amen Gobert Tilahun, and Chuck Wendig.
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* Bolander, Brooke : The Only Harmless Great Thing
(Tor.com 978-1-250-16948-8, $10.99, 96pp, trade paperback, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-250-16947-1
Alternate history SF novella about early 20th century female factory workers dying of radiation poisoning, and an elephant put to death in Coney Island.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “The lyrical writing is pleasant and builds a certain atmosphere…”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Mehrotra, Rati : Markswoman
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-256454-2, $15.99, 384pp, trade paperback, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062564566
• Asiana #1
Fantasy novel, first in a series and the author’s first novel, about magical-knife wielding female assassins in a post-apocalyptic world.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review says, “This enjoyably melodramatic science fiction and fantasy blend rings familiar sounds from slightly unusual bells.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Reynolds, Alastair : Elysium Fire
(Orbit 978-0-316-55567-8, $15.99, 432pp, trade paperback, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-0-316-55566-1
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781478947851
• UK edition: 978-0575090583 (Thu 25 Jan 2018)
• Revelation Space #6
SF novel about the police force of a democratic society of 10,000 city-state habitats orbiting the planet Yellowstone as they react to a series of mysterious deaths.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Reynolds has been building his Revelation Space universe for decades in a series of stories and novels; this one is a direct sequel to 2007’s The Prefect, reprinted in 2017 as Aurora Rising, and it’s even fresher and smarter than its predecessors.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Rosson, Keith : Smoke City
(Meerkat Press 978-1946154163, $26.95, 330pp, hardcover, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
Fantasy novel about a contemporary man who’s the reincarnation of Joan of Arc’s executioner.
• Meerkat’s site has this description and order page with quotes from reviews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Saadawi, Ahmed : Frankenstein in Baghdad
(Penguin 978-0-14-312879-3, $16, 288pp, trade paperback, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780143128809
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781524778613
Literary horror novel set in US-occupied Baghdad, about an activist whose efforts to give human body parts proper burials create a monster.
• The book was originally published in Arabic in 2013. The translation here is by Jonathan Wright.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “While the Frankenstein through line doesn’t quite hold Saadawi’s novel together, the book is successful as a portrait of a neighborhood, and a way of life, under siege.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Shusterman, Neal : Thunderhead
(Simon & Schuster 978-1-4424-7245-7, $18.99, 512pp, hardcover, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Jan 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781442472471
• Arc of the Scythe #2
Young adult SF novel, second in a series following Scythe (2016), set in a future Earth in which humans can be easily revived and are only truly dead when killed by scythes to keep the population under control.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a Google preview.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Interweaving heady questions of morality, responsibility, loyalty, and power, Shusterman builds to a devastatingly intense conclusion that sends the characters and larger world into terrifying new territory.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Tilahun, Na’amen Gobert : The Tree
(Night Shade Books 978-1597808903, $14.99, 384pp, trade paperback, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
• The Wrath & Athenaeum #2
Urban fantasy novel, second in a series following The Root (2016), about a former teen star living in San Francisco who learns he’s descended from the Gods.
• Night Shade’s site has this description with blurbs from Charlie Jane Anders and Kate Elliott.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Wendig, Chuck : The Raptor & the Wren
(Saga Press 978-1-4814-4874-1, $27.99, 288pp, hardcover, January 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 23 Jan 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781481448765
• Miriam Black #5
Fantasy novel, fifth in a series following Blackbirds (May 2012), Mockingbird (Sep. 2012), The Cormorant (2014), and Thunderbird (2017), about a woman who perceives the future death of anyone she touches.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a Google preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Wendig expertly splashes Miriam’s considerable emotional pain across the page, never sparing her the price of her gut-wrenching circumstances, and closes with a shocking twist that is a true game-changer.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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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.
