New Books : 31 July 2018
Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2018 Edition, JY Yang’s The Descent of Monsters, Catherynne M. Valente’s The Future Is Blue, and titles by Brenda Cooper, Cornelia Funke, David D. Levine, Michael Mammay, Claire O’Dell, Vivan Shaw, and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
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* Cooper, Brenda : Keepers
(Pyr 978-1-63388-421-2, $18, 464pp, trade paperback, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781633884229
• Project Earth #2
SF novel, second in a series after Wilders (2017), about two sisters in a future where cities compete with open space for the reintroduction wildlife.
• Pyr’s site has this description. Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview.
• Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “The science fiction elements—including ecobots, domed cities, and artificial reality glasses—are believable and intriguing, and readers will be drawn into the dystopian depiction of the Outside and the various factions double-crossing each other for money and power.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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+ Funke, Cornelia : Dragon Rider: The Griffin’s Feather
(Scholastic/Chicken House 978-1338215533, $17.99, 432pp, hardcover, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Dragon Rider #2
Middle grade fantasy novel, sequel to Dragon Rider (2004), about a boy, a dragon, and the discovery of the last Pegasus in the world.
• The UK edition was published in July 2017.
• Scholastic’s site has this description with a series trailer.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Horton, Rich, ed. : The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy: 2018 Edition
(Prime Books 978-1607015260, $19.95, 576pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 17 Jul 2018
Anthology of 34 stories first published in 2017.
• Authors include Rich Larson, Charlie Jane Anders, Robert Reed, Samuel R. Delany, Yoon Ha Lee, and Linda Nagata.
• Prime’s site isn’t up to date; the editor’s blog has this post with the table of contents.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Levine, David D. : Arabella The Traitor of Mars
(Tor 978-0765382832, $26.99, 336pp, hardcover, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466889514
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781427298690
• The Adventures of Arabella Ashby #3
Alternate history SF novel, third in a series following Andre Norton winner Arabella of Mars (2016) and Arabella and the Battle of Venus (2017), about a British colony on Mars a century after the first expedition there in the late 1600s.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly said of the previous book, “This interesting piece of speculative fiction draws on venerable imaginings of distant worlds while still feeling fresh and original, especially to the younger readers who are its most likely audience.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Mammay, Michael : Planetside
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-269466-9, $7.99, 384pp, mass market paperback, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062694676
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062882158
Military SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a war hero summoned to investigate a mystery on a space station orbiting a war-torn planet.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “…Mammay capably writes Butler’s gritty, old-school soldier’s voice, and the story delivers enough intrigue and action for fans of military SF.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* O’Dell, Claire : A Study in Honor
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-269930-5, $15.99, 304pp, trade paperback, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062699329
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062882196
SF mystery novel set in near-future Washington DC, where two black women named Holmes and Watson pursuing a murderer targeting Civil War veterans.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “This is a real treat for fans of Conan Doyle and SF mysteries.”
• Adrienne Martini reviews the book in the June issue of Locus Magazine: “The Conan Doyle homage might have been the seed that set [O’Dell’s] mind moving, but her Dr. Watson and Holmes move under their own power, one that doesn’t really need to be tethered to the outlines we already know.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Shaw, Vivian : Dreadful Company
(Orbit 978-0-316-43463-8, $15.99, 448pp, trade paperback, August 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316434645
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781478945161
• Dr. Greta Helsing #2
Humorous fantasy novel, second in a series following Strange Practice (2017), about a doctor for the undead.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review, calling it “a playfully witty confection spun from the setting of The Phantom of the Opera, sardonic yet a touch sweet, in which the elegant vampires of Helsing’s social set come up against an undisciplined coven of sparkly, eyeliner-loving youngsters.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Tchaikovsky, Adrian : Redemption’s Blade
(Solaris 978-1781085790, $11.99, 520pp, trade paperback, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07D82XDWK
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: B07FPMV56Z
• After the War #1
Fantasy novel, first in a series, set in the aftermath of the brief, brutal reign of the Kinslayer.
• Solaris’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Valente, Catherynne M. : The Future Is Blue
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-874-2, $40, 368pp, hardcover, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
Collection of 13 stories, three original to this book, and including the Theodore Sturgeon Award winning title story.
• Subterranean’s site has this description with the table of contents and excerpts from several stories.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “…Valente’s unique knack for bending genres and confounding the senses is on full display. Her approach is dreamlike, even hallucinatory, leaping from one idea to the next with dizzying frequency and skill.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
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* Yang, JY : The Descent of Monsters
(Tor.com Publishing 978-1-250-16585-5, 176pp, trade paperback, July 2018)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 31 Jul 2018
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-250-16584-8
• The Tensorate Series #3
Short fantasy novel, third in a series following The Black Tides of Heaven and The Red Threads of Fortune (both Sept. 2017), about a catastrophe at a Protectorate research facility.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Fans of the earlier works will continue to enjoy Yang’s crisp writing…”
• Liz Bourke reviewed it in the June issue of Locus Magazine: “As a work of art, though, The Descent of Monsters is a fascinating experiment. I’m looking forward to seeing what Yang does next.”
• 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.
