New Books : 15 October 2019

New titles this week are by Nina Allan, Harold Bloom, Elizabeth Bowen, Daniel Braum, John Connolly, Nicky Drayden, S.C. Emmett, Derek Künsken, Joel Levy, Laurence MacNaughton, Benjamin Percy, Madeleine Roux, Priya Sharma, and Tade Thompson.

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+ Allan, Nina : The Dollmaker
(Other Press 978-1-59051-993-6, $16.99, 416pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781590519943

Fantasy novel about the correspondence between a dollmaker and an institutionalized woman.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview function.
• The UK first edition appeared in April.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Allan’s characters hide their intense sentiments behind calm exteriors and the overlapping story lines pleasantly delay answers to mysteries. This uncanny novel of longed-for connection is worth the effort.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “The Dollmaker is a novel that recedes deeper into its own hall of mirrors as you read it, and it’s compelling in the same way: you want to find your way out of these reflections, but you want to savor them as well.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Bloom, Harold, edited by David Mikics : The American Canon: Literary Genius from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Ursula K. Le Guin
(Library of America 978-1-59853-640-9, $32, 435pp, hardcover, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019

Collection of essays written over five decades about American writers.
• Subjects include Ursula K. Le Guin, Thomas Pynchon, Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and Cormac McCarthy.
• The publisher’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Bloom’s values are aesthetic beauty and rhetorical originality; he admires ‘self-reliant, self-radiant’ Emily Dickinson and the ‘vast consciousness’ of Henry James and calls Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘sensibility… very nearly unique in contemporary fiction.’ “

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Bowen, Elizabeth : Collected Stories
(Everyman’s Library 978-1101908181, $30, 920pp, hardcover, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019

Collection of 79 stories by the Irish-British writer known for fiction about wartime London but also for her ghost stories.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Braum, Daniel, ed. : Spirits Unwrapped
(Lethe Press 978-1-59021-695-8, $15, 198pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sun 13 Oct 2019

Anthology of 14 stories about mummies.
• Authors include John Crowley, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Cisco, and Lee Thomas.
• Lethe’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Fans of campy and creepy mummy stories will find plenty to like here.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Connolly, John : A Book of Bones
(Atria/Emily Bestler Books 978-1982127510, $28.99, 688pp, hardcover, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781982127534
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781508294818
• Charlie Parker #17

Horror thriller, 17th in a series about private investigator Charlie Parker, this time investigating a series of sacrificial murders in England.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description.
• Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review: “Connolly’s nuanced characterizations and facility at creating spooky atmospherics make it easy to suspend disbelief about the threat of cosmic horror from other dimensions. This underrated author deserves a wider audience.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Drayden, Nicky : Escaping Exodus
(Harper Voyager 978-0-06-286773-5, $16.99, 336pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062867742
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062932310

SF novel about a young woman investigating threats to her people’s colony inside a giant vacuum-breathing space beast.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• Tom Whitemore reviewed it in the September issue of Locus Magazine: “If you can imagine a feminist, Afro-centric, queer Heinlein juvenile, with a strong discussion of class politics, then you might get close to what she’s doing here. I don’t think I could have imagined such a book before reading this one. This is something I’ve been missing.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Emmett, S. C. : The Throne of the Five Winds
(Orbit 978-0316436946, $15.99, 704pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316558280
• Hostage of Empire #1

East-Asia inspired epic fantasy novel, first in a series.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The book is copyright by Lilith Saintcrow.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Künsken, Derek : The Quantum Garden
(Solaris 978-1781085714, $11.99, 300pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07VFVRS3K
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: B07WDQY91V
• The Quantum Evolution #2

SF novel, second in a series following The Quantum Magician (2018), about genetically modified con-man Belisarius.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Levy, Joel : Reality Ahead of Schedule: How Science Fiction Inspires Science Fact
(Smithsonian Books 978-1-58834-670-4, $29.95, 224pp, hardcover, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019

Illustrated nonfiction study of how science fiction anticipated technological developments.
• Smithsonian’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “These historical insights are interspersed with flashy images of pulp magazine covers, movie and TV show stills, and, most intriguingly, vintage 19th-century drawings and patents. Eye-catching as well as informative, Levy’s popular history ably and enjoyably succeeds in showing how science fiction has impacted the real world.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* MacNaughton, Laurence : Forever and a Doomsday
(Pyr 978-1-63388-556-1, $18, 288pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-63388-557-8
• Dru Jasper #4

Fantasy novel, fourth in a series following It Happened One Doomsday (2016), A Kiss Before Doomsday (2017), and No Sleep Till Doomsday (2018), about an amateur magician in a world in which a handful of powerful sorcerers fight the forces of darkness.
• Pyr’s site has this description.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Percy, Benjamin : Suicide Woods
(Graywolf Press 978-1-64445-006-2, $16, 216pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07XX1ZRWM

Collection of horror and thriller stories.
• Graywolf’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “This gripping, often unnerving collection showcases Percy’s talent as a skilled, versatile storyteller.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Roux, Madeleine : Salvaged
(Ace 978-0-451-49183-1, $16, 368pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780451491848
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780593151471

SF novel about a woman tasked with salvaging a research vessel whose crew is infected by an alien parasite.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Scenes of violence are gory but not gratuitous, and Roux will leave readers wondering whether the real source of evil is in human minds and hearts. This entertaining, deeply disturbing, and clever story hits all the right notes for those who like a little horror with their SF.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Sharma, Priya : Ormeshadow
(Tor.com 978-1-250-24144-3, $14.99, 170pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-250-24143-6

Short historical fantasy novel about a family forced to relocate to a farm where folklore claims the land covers a sleeping dragon.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “This short, sharp tale is often wrenching and worth savoring.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Thompson, Tade : The Rosewater Redemption
(Orbit 978-0-316-44909-0, $16.99, 416pp, trade paperback, October 2019)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 Oct 2019
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316449113
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781549183102
• The Wormwood Trilogy #3

SF novel, third in a trilogy following Rosewater (2016) and The Rosewater Insurrection (March 2019), about an alien invasion in Nigeria.
• Orbit’s site has an excerpt.
• Hachette’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Thompson’s tale is dense and mercurial, with the story line leaping among myriad perspectives and tones even as it jumps from the real world to a liminal landscape in which time, space, and memory are mutable. This ambitious wrap-up requires significant sacrifice and upheaval, but it succeeds admirably.”
• Ian Mond reviews it in the October issue of Locus Magazine: “…that’s what makes Thompson’s Wormwood trilogy so exciting. There are no bromides here, no easy solutions or pat endings, but rather a narrative structured around difficult choices made by a group of well-rounded, yet flawed characters.”

• 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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