New & Notable Books, November 2019
Joe Abercrombie, A Little Hatred (Orbit US 9/19) Abercrombie makes a welcome return to the grimdark world of the First Law trilogy, giving it fresh flavor as he picks up with a new generation in this first book in the Age of Madness trilogy. Industrial revolution has dawned, with accompanying social change and unrest, leaving young people to find new ways to prove themselves – but trouble always remains.
Nina Allan, The Silver Wind (Titan US 9/19) Time-travel with a fantasy/slipstream flair infuses this fix-up novel (or collection), of five interconnected stories, plus extras, about Martin Newland, who can use clocks and watches as time machines, but whose memories about them are complicated and contradictory. “Readers who cherish Wolfe’s The Fifth Head of Cerberus for its insidiously thrilling mind games now finally have a volume to stand proudly alongside that classic.” [Paul Di Filippo] (Revised and expanded from the 2011 Eibonvale Press edition.)
Margaret Atwood, The Testaments (Talese 9/19) The much-anticipated sequel to Margaret Atwood’s classic The Handmaid’s Tale picks up 15 years later with a new generation of young women who have grown up in or near the theocracy of Gilead. Published simultaneously in the UK by Chatto & Windus.
L.X. Beckett, Gamechanger (Tor 9/19) A public defender investigates why a controversial naysayer is trying to stop a project to reclaim the ruined Earth in this unusually hopeful, yet thrilling, near-future SF novel getting stellar reviews. Beckett is a pen name for A.M. Dellamonica.
Ellen Datlow, ed., The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Eleven (Night Shade 9/19) Respected editor Datlow returns with her latest pick of the best horror of 2018, with 25 stories and a summation of the year in horror. The stellar roster of authors includes Laird Barron, Adam-Troy Castro, Kristi DeMeester, Gemma Files, Joe Hill, John Langan, and Michael Marshall Smith.
Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January (Redhook 9/19) Portals to alternate worlds, stories within stories, and questions of race, gender, and power mix in this multilayered fantasy of a mixed-race girl in the early 20th century. A “remarkable first novel…. As grim and Dickensian as it sometimes gets, Harrow clearly means her tale to be a joyous celebration of the magic of words and stories, and her enthusiasm is undeniably infectious.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
Kameron Hurley, Meet Me in the Future (Tachyon 8/19) Hurley displays sharp, inventive, and often dark, visions of the future – particularly what can happen to the human body – in this provocative collection of 16 stories.
Michael Kelly, All the Things We Never See (Undertow Publications 9/19) Unexpected and unsettling developments abound in this collection of 26 strange and dark stories, two new, plus a scattering of poetry, a varied gathering from a noted editor and author, sure to delight fans of weird fiction.
Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (Tor.com Publishing 9/19) An irreverent young lesbian swordswoman with plenty of attitude fights to survive ancient ruins, deadly intrigues, and bizarre tests for aristocratic necromancers vying for power in a decaying space empire. This fast-paced, darkly entertaining, and ultimately rather twisted gothic romp is an intriguing first novel, the first in a series.
Annalee Newitz, The Future of Another Timeline (Tor 9/19) Newitz gives both time travel and the battle of the sexes new twists as opposing groups seek to manipulate history – one group fighting for women’s rights, another to give men more power and eliminate trans women. “As a time-hopping and suspenseful historical adventure, it’s a delight, but as a commentary on who owns history – or thinks they ought to own it – it’s a scary and timely reminder.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
Félix J. Palma, The Heart and Other Viscera (Atria 9/19) This collection brings together 12 of Palma’s best stories, available for the first time in English, featuring extraordinary encounters in a mix of the fantastic and the macabre. Translated from Spanish by Nick Caistor & Lorenzo García.
Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein (Jonathan Cape 5/19; Grove 10/19) This fascinating and funny new novel from celebrated author Winterson alternates between the 1816 events that spawned Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein and a very-near-future, post-Brexit England, where echoes of the earlier characters deal with AI, sex-bots, cryogenics, immortality, and even love.
From the November 2019 issue of Locus.
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