New Books : 11 June 2019

The elixir of eternal life, a priest of war, The Last Supper Before Ragnarok, the God of Broken Things, galactic AI Gods, and quite nice Good Omens are all on this week’s list of new books!
New titles this week are by Taylor Anderson, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Terry Brooks, Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston, Peter Cawdron, Blake Crouch, Neil Gaiman, Ada Hoffmann, Cameron Johnston, Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw, Barbara Krasnoff, Laurie J. Marks, Megan E. O’Keefe, M.C. Planck, Sherwood Smith, Ferrett Steinmetz, David Walton, and Jake Wolff.


* Anderson, Taylor : Pass of Fire
(Ace 978-0399587535, $27, 480pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780399587542
Destroyerman #14

Alternate history SF novel, fourteenth in the “Destroyermen” series following Into the Storm (2009), Crusade, Maelstrom, Distant Thunders, Rising Tides, Firestorm, Iron Gray Sea (2012), Storm Surge (2013), Deadly Shores (2014), Straits of Hell (2015), Blood in the Water (2016), Devil’s Due (2017), and River of Bones (2018), about a World War II US battleship transported back in time to an era when two intelligent dinosaur species are fighting a war.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Bob-Waksberg, Raphael : Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory: Stories
(Knopf 978-1-5247-3201-1, $25.95, 256pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781524732028
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781984891884

Collection of 18 humorous stories about love, some with SF elements.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review gives one example of a story with a fantastic premise: “‘A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion’ pokes fun at the arbitrary absurdity of wedding traditions and expectations by introducing a world in which engagement rings are replaced by expensive ‘promise eggs’ and goats are routinely sacrificed at ceremonies.” The review concludes, “These stories are at times poignant and triumphantly silly, but always manage to ring true.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Brooks, Terry : The Stiehl Assassin
(Del Rey 978-0-553-39154-1, $28, 352pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 28 May 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780553391558
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781984890306
The Fall of Shannara #3

Fantasy novel, third in a planned four-book conclusion to the Shannara series, following The Black Elfstone (2017) and The Skaar Invasion (2018).
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Card, Orson Scott, & Aaron Johnston : The Hive
(Tor 978-0765375643, $25.99, 400pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466847828
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250223135
The Second Formic War #2

SF novel, second in a prequel trilogy to Card’s Ender’s Game, following The Swarm (2016).
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly said of the previous book,””It’s a solid continuation of the ongoing epic, moving all the pieces into place for the next entry.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Cawdron, Peter : Reentry
(John Joseph Adams 978-1-328-58991-0, $24, 304pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019

SF novel, standone sequel to Retrograde (2017), about a Martian astronaut returning an Earth ravaged by war with AI.
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “With scientific detail that will please fans of hard SF, Cawdron raises interesting questions about the nature of consciousness. The story sets itself apart from tales that revel in dystopia by imagining what comes after, as humans and AIs learn to collaborate.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Crouch, Blake : Recursion
(Crown 978-1-5247-5978-0, $27, 336pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781524759803
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781984886866

SF thriller about False Memory Syndrome, an affliction that causes victims to remember lives they never lived.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Crouch effortlessly integrates sophisticated philosophical concepts—such as the relationship of human perceptions of what is real to actual reality—into a complex and engrossing plot. Michael Crichton’s fans won’t want to miss this one.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Gaiman, Neil : The Quite Nice & Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book
(William Morrow 978-0062896902, $21.99, 512pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062896926

Collection of scripts for the TV series based on the novel by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Hoffmann, Ada : The Outside
(Angry Robot 978-0-85766-813-4, $14.99, 400pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857668141

SF novel, the author’s first novel, about a human invention that warps reality and the galactic AI Gods who bring punishment.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review: “This beautifully smart, uncynical space opera will charm fans of Charles Stross and Lois McMaster Bujold.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Johnston, Cameron : God of Broken Things
(Angry Robot 978-0857668097, $12.99, 432pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857668103
The Age of Tyranny #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following The Traitor God (2018), about an outcast magician fighting demons.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Kadrey, Richard : The Grand Dark
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-267249-0, $26.99, 432pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062672537
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062931603

Standalone fantasy novel about a a bike courier in a city, following the end of the Great War, indulging in hedonism but threatened by a new war.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “A constant underlying tension makes the city’s powder-keg agitation visceral, and the individual neighborhoods and their residents are well wrought. Any fan of convoluted science fiction will appreciate the sharp twists Largo has to navigate if he and those he loves are going to survive.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Khaw, Cassandra : The Last Supper Before Ragnarok
(Abaddon 978-1-78108-645-2, 352pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Gods & Monsters #3

Urban fantasy novel, conclusion of a series following Rupert Wong, Cannibal Chef (2015) and Rupert Wong and the Ends of the Earth (2017), two ebooks that were published in print as Food of the Gods in 2017.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Krasnoff, Barbara : The History of Soul 2065
(Mythic Delirium 978-1-73264-401-4, $15.95, 220pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019

Mosaic novel of 20 connected stories about two young Jewish girls before World War I.
• Jane Yolen provides an introduction.
• Mythic Delirium’s site has this description with blurbs from Samuel R. Delany, James Morrow, Jeffrey Ford, and others.
Publishsers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Powerful and dreamlike, this intergenerational meditation on family, mortality, and hope is far more than the sum of its parts.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Marks, Laurie J. : Air Logic
(Small Beer Press 978-1-61873-160-9, $17, 400pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Elemental Logic #4

Fantasy novel, fourth a final volume in a series following Fire Logic (2002), Earth Logic (2004), and Water Logic (2007), set in a world where those born with magic talent are known as elementals, aligned with earth, air, fire, or water.
• Small Beer’s site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The fullness with which Marks has thought out the particulars of her world and its characters, and the logic by which her story’s events proceed, complete an extraordinary fantasy saga that’s well worth revisiting or exploring for the first time.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* O’Keefe, Megan E. : Velocity Weapon
(Orbit 978-0316419598, $15.99, 544pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
The Protectorate #1

SF space opera novel, first in a series, about a sergeant who is shot down and who wakes 230 years later after the war has been lost.
• Orbit’s site has this excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “O’Keefe delivers a complicated, thoughtful tale that skillfully interweaves intrigue, action, and strong characterization. Themes of found family, emotional connection, and identity run throughout, backed up by strong worldbuilding and a tense narrative.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Planck, M. C. : Black Harvest
(Pyr 978-1633885585, $18, 352pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781633885592
World of Prime #4

Fantasy novel, fifth in a series following Sword of the Bright Lady (2014), Gold Throne in Shadow (2015), Judgment at the Verdant Court (2016), and Verdict on Crimson Fields (2018), about a mechanical engineer turned priest of war.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Smith, Sherwood : A Sword Named Truth
(DAW 978-0-7564-0999-9, $27, 656pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698161504
Rise of the Alliance #1

Fantasy novel, first in a new series set in the same world as the author’s Indra series, about young rulers facing a magical threat.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The leisurely pace, sprawling cast, and wide-ranging scope will delight existing fans and those seeking an immersive experience, but many of the finer details risk being lost along the way.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Steinmetz, Ferrett : The Sol Majestic
(Tor 978-1250168191, $16.99, 384pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250168184
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250227898

SF novel about a teen guru who aspires to advise the galaxy’s elite.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Much like the kitchen in which it’s set, Steinmetz’s culinary space opera is filled with variety. At its heart, it’s a complex, chaotic, and mystifying coming-of-age story of a young man becoming a lover, an aesthete, and an activist.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Walton, David : Three Laws Lethal
(Pyr 978-1633885608, $17, 392pp, trade paperback, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781633885615

Near-future SF novel about self-driving cars in New York City and superintelligent AIs developing goals of their own.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Wolff, Jake : The History of Living Forever
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux 978-0374170660, $27, 384pp, hardcover, June 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 11 Jun 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780374717513
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250236142

Literary fantasy novel, the author’s first novel, about a student in search of the elixir of eternal life.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “The epic sweep and sly humor in the midst of enormous anguish will remind readers of Michael Chabon’s work as they relish this heady exploration of grief, alchemy, and love.”

• 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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