New Books : 30 October 2018

Explore the end of the world in this list of 12 new books: an uncharted sea, a border wall. Impending cataclysms, post-apocalypses, and humanity’s war with aliens.

Stephen King’s Elevation, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition illustrated by Charles Vess, Lavie Tidhar’s Unholy Land, and titles by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Shaun Barger, Seth Dickinson, Victor Godinez, Jonathan Maberry, Garth Nix & Sean Williams, Eliot Peper, Charles Stross, and Jane Yolen

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* Armentrout, Jennifer L. : The Darkest Star
(Tor Teen 978-1-250-17573-1, $18.99, 368pp, hardcover, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250175724
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250299543
Origin #1

Young adult SF romance novel about a seventeen-year-old girl in the aftermath of humanity’s war with aliens, set four years after the author’s previous Lux series.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “While this series opener draws heavily on the events and premise of the previous series, it works as an entry point for new readers.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Barger, Shaun : Mage Against the Machine
(Saga Press 978-1-5344-0304-8, $25.99, 512pp, hardcover, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781534403062
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781508277798

Post-apocalypse fantasy novel, the author’s first novel, in which mages gradually recover from the destruction of civilization.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a Google preview.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Dickinson, Seth : The Monster Baru Cormorant
(Tor 978-0-7653-8074-6, $28.99, 464pp, hardcover, November 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466875135
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250310927
The Masquerade #2

Fantasy novel, second in a trilogy following The Traitor Baru Cormorant (2015), about a young woman who tries to liberate her people.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Dickinson packs a lot into this dense, multilayered, complicated epic, letting the story unfold through multiple perspectives, flashbacks, tense shifts, and other narrative devices.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Godinez, Victor : The First Protectors
(Talos Press 978-1945863356, $15.99, 304pp, trade paperback, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018

SF novel about a retired Navy SEAL who discovers a crashed alien spaceship in the New Mexico desert.
• Skyhorse’s site has this description.
• Amazon has indicated an October 2nd publication date, but the book hasn’t been available for delivery until this week.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* King, Stephen : Elevation
(Scribner 978-1-982102-31-9, $19.95, 160pp, hardcover, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781982102333
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781508260486

Short fantasy novel, set in the author’s fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, about a man who is mysteriously losing weight and a neighboring lesbian couple trying to launch a new restaurant.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a Google preview.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “King’s tender story is perfect for any fan of small towns, magic, and the joys and challenges of doing the right thing.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Le Guin, Ursula K., illustrated by Charles Vess : The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition
(Saga Press 978-1481465588, $59.99, 1008pp, hardcover, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018

Omnibus, illustrated edition of five novels and several stories comprising the author’s Earthsea series, illustrated by Charles Vess.
• Novels include A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, and The Other Wind.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description with a Google preview.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Maberry, Jonathan : Deep Silence
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-09846-7, $18.99, 480pp, trade paperback, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250098474
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250312129
Joe Ledger #10

Horror thriller, tenth and final book in the series following Patient Zero (2009), The Dragon Factory (2010), The King of Plagues (2011), Assassin’s Code (2012), Extinction Machine (2013), Code Zero (2014), Predator One (2015), Kill Switch (2016), and Dogs of War (2017), about a Baltimore detective recruited by the US Department of Military Sciences to fight various terrorist threats.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Effortlessly blending cutting-edge science fiction, military action, and Lovecraftian horror into a memorable synthesis, Maberry delivers a story that starts strong and doesn’t let up until the end.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Nix, Garth, & Sean Williams : Let Sleeping Dragons Lie
(Scholastic Press 978-1338158496, $17.99, 272pp, hardcover, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Have Sword, Will Travel #2

Middle-grade fantasy novel, second in a series following Have Sword, Will Travel (2017), about a boy and a girl who find a talking sword.
• Scholastic’s site has this description.
Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “Nix and Williams offer a fast-paced, tongue-in-cheek adventure featuring memorable heroes, an entertaining premise, and not one but two magical swords with way too much personality.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Peper, Eliot : Borderless
(47North 978-1-5039-0472-9, $24.95, 267pp, hardcover, November 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07BM7F9SF
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: B07HFHHRQ4
Analog #2

SF novel, second in a series following Bandwidth (May 2018), about a political lobbyist who discovers his private digital feed has been hijacked.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Readers will find that this novel’s near-future scenario resonates resoundingly with present-day headlines about net neutrality and global dependence on the internet, and the adventure story is satisfying.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Stross, Charles : The Labyrinth Index
(Tor.com 978-1250196088, $27.99, 368pp, hardcover, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250196071
Laundry Files #9

Fantasy novel, ninth in the author’s “Laundry Files” sequence following The Atrocity Archives (2004), The Jennifer Morgue (2006), The Fuller Memorandum (2010), The Apocalypse Codex (2012), The Rhesus Chart (2014), The Annihilation Score (2015), The Nightmare Stacks (2016), and The Delirium Brief (2018), about British secret service agent Bob Howard battling Lovecraftian horrors.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Tidhar, Lavie : Unholy Land
(Tachyon 978-1-61696-304-0, $15.95, 288pp, trade paperback, November 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 16 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-61696-305-7

Alternate history SF novel set in a Jewish state that’s building a border wall to keep out African refugees.
• Tachyon’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Readers of all kinds, and particularly fans of detective stories and puzzles, will enjoy grappling with the numerous questions raised by this stellar work.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Yolen, Jane : Finding Baba Yaga
(Tor.com 978-1250163875, $10.99, 144pp, trade paperback, October 2018)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 30 Oct 2018
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250163868

Short novel-in-verse about a young woman who takes control of her fate.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

• 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.


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