New Books : 12 November 2019

New titles this week are by Kacen Callender, Myke Cole, Glen Cook, K.A. Doore, Greg Egan, W.L. Goodwater, Christopher Hinz, Julia Keller, Margo Lanagan, Ian McDonald, Seanan McGuire, Claire North, Weston Ochse, Susan Palwick, Tasha Suri, Kaaron Warren, Peter Watts, Daniel H. Wilson, and Kevin Wilson.


* Callender, Kacen : Queen of the Conquered
(Orbit 978-0-316-45493-3, $15.99, 400pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316454919
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781549150371
Islands of Blood and Storm #1

Caribbean-inspired fantasy novel, first in a series, about a young woman with the power to control minds seeking revenge against the royals who murdered her family.
• Orbit’s site has this excerpt.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The moral complexity of the story’s climax is satisfying, but readers will have to be very patient to get there.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Cole, Myke : The Killing Light
(Tor.com 978-0-7653-9599-3, $19.99, 240pp, hardcover, October 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780765395986
The Sacred Throne #3

Fantasy novel, third in a trilogy following The Armored Saint and The Queen of Crows (both 2018), set in a world in which acts of magic are suppresed lest they open portals to hell.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Cole has brought this trilogy home with hard insight, maintaining the high standard set from the start.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Cook, Glen : The Best of Glen Cook
(Night Shade Books 978-1949102178, $25.99, 538pp, hardcover, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019

Collection of 18 stories, including stories set in all the author’s various series, and with one original Black Company story.
• Night Shade’s site has this description.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Doore, K. A. : The Impossible Contract
(Tor 978-0-7653-9857-4, $17.99, 368pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780765398581
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781250243638
Chronicles of Ghadid #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following The Perfect Assassin (May 2019), about an assassin charged with solving the murders of several family members.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “New readers and series fans alike will be hooked by this triumphant fantasy adventure.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Egan, Greg : The Best of Greg Egan
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-942-8, $47, 736pp, hardcover, October 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Thu 31 Oct 2019

Collection of 20 stories from across the author’s career, arranged in chronological order from 1990 to 2019.
• Titles include “Learning to Be Me,” “Axiomatic,” “Luminous,” “Oceanic,” and “Uncanny Valley.”
• Subterranean’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Amazon indicates the book “out of print” but it’s still available from Subterranean’s site.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Although demanding, this doorstopper will prove rewarding for anyone interested in technology’s role in shaping the world.”
• Russell Letson reviewed it in the July issue of Locus Magazine: “Egan is determined to make sense of everything – to understand the whole world as an intelligible, rational, material (and finally manipulable) realm – even if it means abandoning comfortable and comforting illusions. This is fundamental to the whole project of SF and it’s why Egan’s Best – and his Rest – is worth any number of looks.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Goodwater, W. L. : Revolution
(Ace 978-0-451-49105-3, $16, 336pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780451491060
Cold War Magic #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series following Breach (2018), in which the Berlin Wall is made entirely of magic.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Goodwater imbues each member of his extensive cast of spies, rebels, and shadowy villains with a distinct voice and motivation. By turns humorous, suspenseful, and deeply disquieting, this meaty thriller will keep readers on the edges of their seats.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Hinz, Christopher : Starship Alchemon
(Angry Robot 978-0-85766-817-2, $14.99, 376pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780857668189
UK edition: 9780857668172 (Tue 12 Nov 2019)

SF space opera novel about nine explorers on a starship beset by freakish incidents.
• Angry Robot’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Keller, Julia : Dark Star Calling
(Tor Teen 978-0765387691, $17.99, 271pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780765387707
Dark Intercept #3

Young adult SF novel, third in a trilogy following The Dark Intercept (2017) and Dark Mind Rising (2018), set in a future in which New Earth is monitored by a universal surveillance system called the Intercept.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Lanagan, Margo : Stray Bats
(Small Beer Press 978-1-61873-175-3, $10, 60pp, mass market paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781618731760

Chapbook collection of 50 vignettes based on poems by Australian women, with illustrations by Kathleen Jennings.
• Small Beer’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Note that Amazon offers only a Kindle version (9781618731760); see Small Beer’s site to order the print version.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “In flash fiction pieces that occasionally read like character sketches or prose poems themselves, Lanagan conjures eerie ghostly girls, travelers lost in strange lands, and, most frequently, fey folk and spellcasters on the fringes of society. … What these tales may lack in plot, they make up for in atmosphere and beauty.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* McDonald, Ian : The Menace from Farside
(Tor.com 978-1-250-24779-7, $14.99, 160pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781250247780

Short SF novel set in the universe of the author’s Luna trilogy.
• Macmillan’s site has this description.
• Russell Letson reviewed it in the October issue of Locus Magazine: “The novella is less an extension of the Luna sequence than a filling-in, a picture of what it might be like to be an ordinary, if rather bolshy kid (rather than a dynastic pawn) in that world of reinvented familial and social structures.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* McGuire, Seanan : Laughter at the Academy
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-928-2, $40, 376pp, hardcover, October 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Thu 31 Oct 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07YN3JNRF

Collection of 22 stories from the past decade.
• Subterranean’s site has this description with the table of contents and an excerpt, but indicates the book is out of stock. Amazon offers only a Kindle edition (B07YN3JNRF).
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Uplifting and heartbreaking, provocative and comforting, this collection is a treat for fans, an ideal introduction for newcomers, and an excellent source of insight into what makes McGuire so popular across a variety of genres. Reading it is like opening a box of candy and never knowing which sweet little treat will destroy civilization as we know it.”
• Carolyn Cushman reviews it in the November issue of Locus Magazine: “Plague and mad science, AI, genetic engineering, ghosts, Lovecraftian beings…there’s a lot of variety here, and not a little humor, but the dark thread is what sticks with you.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* North, Claire : The Pursuit of William Abbey
(Orbit 978-0-316-31684-2, $16.99, 464pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316316859
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781549195044
UK edition: 978-0356507415 (Thu 14 Nov 2019)

Fantasy novel about the ghost of a boy lynched in 1880s South Africa that haunts an English doctor in his travels around the world.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The UK edition, due November 14, is a hardcover.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “North unflinchingly describes the ruthlessness of imperialism, but her choice to use a straight white male character to fight back against the exploitation of colonialism muddies her message. Readers will find this fantastical thriller as entrancing as it is disturbing.”
• Ian Mond reviews it in the November issue of Locus Magazine: “The Pursuit of William Abbey is Claire North’s most ambitious novel to date. It would have been one thing to write a British-centric story about the decline of Empire, but Abbey’s enforced travels across the world – he visits every continent – means we get a much richer and broader perspective on the tumultuous political and social changes of the period.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Ochse, Weston : Dead Sky
(Solaris 978-1781086681, $8.99, 480pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Burning Sky #2

Military horror novel, sequel to Burning Sky (2018), about veterans of Afghanistan, back in Los Angeles, haunted psychological entities.
• Simon & Schuster’s site has this description.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Palwick, Susan : All Worlds Are Real
(Fairwood Press 978-1-933846-84-2, $17.99, 322pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 5 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07XX9NMBZ

Collection of 15 stories, with an introduction by Jo Walton.
• Fairwood’s site has this description with blurbs from Pat Murphy, A.M. Dellamonica, and others.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “…Palwick’s mastery of vibrant, immersive storytelling is never in doubt. Readers will be thoroughly transported by these achingly beautiful tales.”
• Paul Di Filippo’s review for Locus Online concludes, “Any reader who’s even just a little bit tired of intergalactic warfare, endless heroic quests, and bloody abominations will revel in Palwick’s down-to-earth yet miraculous fables.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Suri, Tasha : Realm of Ash
(Orbit 978-0-316-44975-5, $16.99, 496pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316449724
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781549185410
The Books of Ambha #2

Fantasy novel, second in a series inspired by Mughal India following Empire of Sand (2018).
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Suri’s exquisitely detailed world and complex plotting make up for any shortcomings.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Warren, Kaaron : Into Bones Like Oil
(Meerkat Press 978-1-946154-42-2, $12.95, 90pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-946154-43-9

Horror novella about a woman who comes to a haunted rooming house on the beach.
• Meerkat’s site has this description with blurbs and quotes from reviews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “This grim portrait of broken people in a broken setting reckoning with trauma, paranoia, and grief will especially appeal to horror readers who appreciate melancholic and atmospheric stories.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Watts, Peter : Peter Watts Is an Angry Sentient Tumor: Revenge Fantasies and Essays
(Tachyon Publications 978-1616963194, $16.95, 320pp, trade paperback, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B07RM4ZCLP

Nonfiction collection of over 50 essays from the author’s blog since 2004.
• Tachyon’s site has this description with quotes from reviews and the table of contents.
• Tachyon quotes the starred Booklist review: “This collection of well-written essays has actual science backing up most of Watts’ opinions about politics and humanity. Give it to readers looking for a deep dive into privacy, antirhetorical biases, and other sociological issues.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Wilson, Daniel H. : The Andromeda Evolution
(Harper 978-0-06-247327-1, $29.99, 384pp, hardcover, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 12 Nov 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062473288
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062473318

SF thriller, sequel to Michael Crichton’s 1969 The Andromeda Strain, in which the extraterrestrial microbe reappears in the Brazilian jungle.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides previews.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Wilson, a roboticist himself, employs his expertise to add depth and credibility to the advanced technology the scientists use, trusting the reader to keep up with his technical terminology. Fans of the original techno-thriller won’t be disappointed.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Wilson, Kevin : Nothing to See Here
(Ecco 978-0-06-291346-3, $26.99, 272pp, hardcover, November 2019)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 29 Oct 2019
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062913487
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062957863

Humorous fantasy novel about a woman who becomes caretaker for two children who occasionally burst into flames.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The book got a front page review in last Sunday’s New York Times Book Review, by Taffy Brodesser-Akner: “Good Lord, I can’t believe how good this book is. I know you’re supposed to begin book reviews with subtlety and a nod to storytelling’s past and the long literary tradition that the book has managed to hook itself onto. But “Nothing to See Here,” the third novel by Kevin Wilson (“The Family Fang”), defies an entry like that because it’s wholly original. It’s also perfect.”
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Wilson captures the wrenching emotions of caring for children in this exceptional, and exceptionally hilarious, novel.”

• 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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