New & Notable Books, February 2019
M.R. Carey, Someone Like Me (Orbit 11/18) From the author of The Girl with All the Gifts, this psychological thriller follows Liz Kendall, a mother-of-two with a violent alter ego, and Fran Watts, a sixteen-year-old with the ability to see both of Liz’s personalities at the same time.
Scott Edelman, Tell Me Like You Done Before: And Other Stories Written on the Shoulders of Giants (Lethe 12/18) Collection of 16 stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, John Steinbeck, Alice Sheldon, Shel Silverstein, James Tiptree, Jr., and others. Includes an introduction by Andy Duncan and story notes. “Edelman exhibits a keen eye for all the requisites of good fiction: deep characterization, sharp pacing, micromachined prose.” [Paul Di Filippo]
Mira Grant, Kingdom of Needle and Bone (Subterranean 12/18) This medical thriller “with some twists” from a highly prolific and lauded author is deeply rooted in scientific and technical detail, and features cover art by Julie Dillon. “Mira Grant has written a classic SF tale: it would have been right at home in Gernsback’s Amazing Stories.” [Tom Whitmore]
N.K. Jemisin, How Long ’til Black Future Month? (Orbit 11/18) The three-time Hugo Award winner’s first collection contains 22 stories – including Hugo-nominated “The City, Born Great”, and four original pieces – with “quick narrative hooks, deftly sketched characters, clean linear plots (sometimes wound tight as a mainspring), [and] satisfying payoffs.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
Alex London, Black Wings Beating (FSG 9/18) In this epic YA fantasy, the first of the Skybound Saga, twins Brysen and Kylee are training as falconers in a land that reveres birds of prey above all else. When war threatens their home, they must journey into the mountains to catch the mythical ghost eagle, while being hunted by enemies who seek only power.
Luis Ortiz, ed., The Science Fiction Fanzine Reader (Nonstop 4/19) A collection of more than 50 essays covering fanzine culture and fandom from 1930-1960, including pieces by Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, Donald A. Wollheim, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Damon Knight, Robert Silverberg, and more, pulled from thousands of fanzines. Ortiz also provides a detailed introduction and numerous notes.
T.A. Pratt, Do Better (Merry Blacksmith 11/18) Following up his ten-volume urban fantasy series, Locus‘s own Tim Pratt presents a collection of 23 stories, including two original, about occult detective/monster hunter Marla Mason. The “Marla Mason novels packed an ass-kicking amount of fun, and punch, into a short and weird urban fantasy space.” [Liz Bourke]
Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Moon (Orbit 10/18) This near-future geopolitical thriller on the moon is “as convincingly textured and observant as we’ve come to expect from one of the finest writers of his generation.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
Alex White, A Bad Deal for the Whole Galaxy (Orbit 12/18) Second in the Salvagers series following A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe about a former racecar driver and a team of treasure hunters. “White has written a compelling science fantasy space opera that reminds me partly of Melissa Scott’s Five-Twelfths of Heaven, partly of television’s Farscape, and partly of Killjoys.” [Liz Bourke]
Jane Yolen, How to Fracture a Fairy Tale (Tachyon 11/18) From Grand Master Jane Yolen comes a collection of 28 stories and 29 poems, remixing and inverting folk or fairy tales from around the world. Includes an introduction by Marissa Meyer and accompanying story notes. “An invaluable reminder of Yolen’s central role in contemporary fantasy.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
Yoss, Condomnauts (Restless 7/18) Science fiction novel from Cuban writer Yoss about a class of specialists who establish first contact by having sex with alien species. “Condomnauts, brought brilliantly into life by David Frye’s translation, is an unconventional space opera that’s heartfelt, brazen, exciting, and just a little bit naughty.” [Ian Mond]
This and more like it in the February 2019 issue of Locus.
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