New Books : 14 May 2019

New titles this week are by Sarah Beth Durst, Fernando Flores, W. Michael Gear, Paula Guran, Guy Gavriel Kay, Dean Koontz, Steven Kotler, Ambelina & Ezekial Kwaymullina, Una McCormack, Eliot Peper, Max Porter, Karen Russell, and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

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* Durst, Sarah Beth : Spark
(Clarion 978-1328973429, $17.99, 320pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019

Middle-grade fantasy novel about a shy girl who discovers the secret behind the storm beasts that create her country’s idyllic weather.
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Flores, Fernando : Tears of the Trufflepig
(MCD x FSG Originals 978-0374538330, $16, 336pp, trade paperback, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780374720148
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250243720

Near-future SF novel set in south Texas, where filtered animals, species brought back from extinction, are smuggled across the border.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Flores’s novel shows he has talent and creativity to spare.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Gear, W. Michael : Pariah
(DAW 978-0756413439, $26, 496pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780756413453
• Donovan #3

SF novel, third in a series following Outpost (Feb. 2018) and Abandoned (Nov. 2018), about a planetary colony facing corporate threats in a hostile environment.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Guran, Paula, ed. : Mythic Journeys: Retold Myths and Legends
(Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-958-0, $15.99, 456pp, trade paperback, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019

Anthology 27 reprint and original fantasy stories .
• Authors include Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Hand, Peter Straub, Tanith Lee, Ken Liu, and Ann Leckie.
• Night Shade’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Rich Horton reviews it in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “The one new story is a fine horror piece from John Shirley, ‘Zhuyin’, in which an Army project gone wrong has turned a girl’s father into a huge snakelike creature.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Kay, Guy Gavriel : A Brightness Long Ago
(Berkley 978-0-451-47298-4, $27, 448pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698183285

Historical fantasy novel, set in the world of Children of Earth and Sky (2016), an analogue of early Renaissance Italy.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Though not quite as intricate as Kay’s early work, this well-constructed tale still has all the thoughtfulness and poignancy his fans have come to love and expect.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “Kay seems almost to be calling attention to his own aesthetic. It’s easy to read A Brightness Long Ago as an extended parable of butterfly effects and unforetold consequences, but this reminder that Kay’s novels are among the most elegantly designed in modern fiction goes a lot farther toward explaining the effects of his unique approach of placing very real people in not-quite-imaginary gardens. Stories, he reminds us, are told, but novels are shaped.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Koontz, Dean : The Night Window
(Bantam 978-0525484707, $28, 432pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780525484714
• Jane Hawk #5

Fantasy thriller, fifth and final book in a series following The Silent Corner (2016), The Whispering Room (2017), The Crooked Staircase (2018), and The Forbidden Door (2018), about a woman whose investigation of mysterious suicides has led to the discovery of a secret government mind-control program.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Kotler, Steven : Last Tango in Cyberspace
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-20207-9, $27.99, 336pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250202086
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250225443

Near-future cyberpunk SF novel about Lion Zorn, an empathy tracker who becomes involved in a criminal conspiracy.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Kotler clearly hopes that humans will compassionately open their minds and hearts to the wider world rather than heedlessly destroying it, but Lion’s easy ability to bond with wild creatures and TSA agents may be overly optimistic. Still, it’s a fun story with plenty of SF media references for fans to enjoy.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Kwaymullina, Ambelina, & Ezekial Kwaymullina : The Things She’s Seen
(Knopf 978-1-9848-4937-3, $17.99, 208pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781984849380
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781984884398

Young adult fantasy novel about a murdered girl who helps her father solve the death of a second girl.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Colleen Mondor reviews it in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “The Things She’s Seen packs a massive punch; it’s the kind of novel that stays with you and reaffirms just how significant teen literature can be.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* McCormack, Una : The Undefeated
(Tor.com 978-0-7653-9925-0, $11.99, 110pp, trade paperback, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780765399243

SF novella about a journalist returning to her home planet to confront humanity’s newest enemy.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “McCormack builds a melancholy, literary tale, raising echoes of the Gilded Age as seen through a nostalgic lens, and enhances the story with a flowery narrative voice…”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Peper, Eliot : Breach
(47north 978-1542044592, $24.95, 236pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07HHY3MRM
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: B07NSNQ4C7
• Analog #3

SF novel, third in a series following Bandwidth and Borderless (both 2018), about a political lobbyist who discoves his private digital feed has been hijacked.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews. There’s a simultaneous trade paperback edition (978-1542044615).
• Publishers Weekly said of the previous book, “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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+ Porter, Max : Lanny
(Graywolf Press 978-1555978402, $24, 160pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019

Fantasy novel about a boy who moves with his family to an English village inhabited by the mythical Dead Papa Toothwort.
• Graywolf’s site has this description with excerpt from four starred reviews.
• The UK edition from Faber & Faber was published in March.
• Publishers Weekly has this starred review: “In the novel’s satisfying conclusion, Toothwort stages a hallucinatory play that reveals Lanny’s fate. This is a dark and thrilling excavation into a community’s legend-packed soil.”
• Ian Mond reviews it in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “With Lanny, Max Porter pulls off the near-impossible by writing an overtly experimental and surreal novel that’s also accessible. … It might be mid-March while I write this review, but I already know Lanny will be one of my top five books of the year. It might even end up being my favourite.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Russell, Karen : Orange World and Other Stories
(Knopf 978-0525656135, $25.95, 288pp, hardcover, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780525656142
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781984892034

Collection of eight stories, first published from 2013 to 2018.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Each story is impeccably constructed and stunningly imagined, though not all of them land emotionally. Regardless, this is a wonderfully off-kilter collection.”
• Ian Mond reviews it in the May issue of Locus Magazine: “I may not have liked all the pieces in Orange World and Other Stories, but when Russell gets it right, as she does with, ‘The Tornado Auction’ and ‘Orange World’, it makes for a sublime reading experience.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Tchaikovsky, Adrian : Children of Ruin
(Orbit 978-0316452533, $15.99, 608pp, trade paperback, May 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 14 May 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316452540
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781549119781
• UK edition: 978-1509865833 (Thu 16 May 2019)

SF novel, sequel to Arthur C. Clarke Award winning Children of Time (2015), about humanity’s survivors on the terraformed world of Nod.
• Hachette’s site has this description.
• The UK edition, due May 16, is a hardcover.
• Paul Di Filippo’s review for Locus Online will be posted later this month.

• 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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