New Books : 1 December 2020

New books this week are by Eugen Bacon, Kacen Callender, Evie Green, Sam Hawke, Mercedes Lackey, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Sam J. Miller, Tamsyn Muir, Tyler Whitesides, and Connie Willis.

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* Bacon, Eugen : The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories
(Meerkat 978-1-946154-31-6, $16.95, 202pp, trade paperback, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: B08KFPQNFY

Collection of 24 stories, 7 of them original to this book.
• Meerkat’s site has this description with a preview and tour schedule.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Complex, earnest, and striking, Bacon’s impeccable work is sure to blow readers away.”
• Ian Mond reviewed it in the November issue of Locus Magazine: “While I didn’t love all the stories that appear in The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories, Bacon’s passion for language and her willingness to play with the short-story form, to never settle on one type of narrative or genre, makes this an exciting collection that’s well worth picking up.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Callender, Kacen : King of the Rising
(Orbit 978-0-316-45494-0, $16.99, 384pp, trade paperback, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316454957
• Islands of Blood and Storm #2

Caribbean-inspired fantasy novel, second in a series following World Fantasy Award winner Queen of the Conquered (2019), about a revolution in an island nation led by a former slave.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Green, Evie : We Hear Voices
(Berkley 978-0-593-09830-1, $26, 384pp, hardcover, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780593098325
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780593290842

Near-future horror novel about a boy who survives a flu pandemic and inherits an imaginary friend.
• The book is copyright by Emily Barr.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Green’s truly terrifying tale wisely focuses on the human element in the midst of a global catastrophe.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Hawke, Sam : Hollow Empire
(Tor 978-0-7653-9694-5, $30.99, 560pp, trade paperback, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780765396990
• The Poison Wars #2

Epic fantasy novel, second in a two-book series following City of Lies (2018), about a master of poisons trained to protect the Chancellor’s family.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt. There’s also a simultaneous hardcover (9781250207081).
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Fans will savor Hawke’s well-shaded characters, the lavish descriptions of their fictional world, and Hawke’s acute analyses of self-doubt, guilt, discrimination, and recrimination. This is a political epic done right.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Lackey, Mercedes : Jolene
(DAW 978-0756412142, $28, 320pp, hardcover, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780756412166
• Elemental Masters #15

Fantasy novel, fifteenth book in the Elemental Masters series, following Fire Rose, Gates of Sleep, Serpent’s Shadow, Phoenix and Ashes, The Wizard of London, Reserved for the Cat, Unnatural Issue (2011), Elemental Magic (2012), Steadfast (2013), Blood Red (2014), From a High Tower (2015), A Study in Sable (2016), A Scandal in Battersea, The Bartered Brides (2018), and The Case of the Spellbound Child (2019).
• This one is about The Queen of the Copper Mountain, and is set in Tennessee coal country.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with an excerpt.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Lee, Sharon, & Steve Miller : Trader’s Leap
(Baen 978-1-9821-2501-1, $25, 416pp, hardcover, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 978-1-62579-799-5
• Liaden #23

SF novel in the authors’ long-running Liaden Universe series, following previous novel Accepting the Lance (2019).
• Baen’s site has this description and this page linking several sample chapters.

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Miller, Sam J. : The Blade Between
(HarperCollins/Ecco 978-0-06-296982-8, $26.99, 384pp, hardcover, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780062969859
• Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780062969866

Psychological horror novel about a gay photographer who returns to his hometown in upstate New York, to find it overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests.
• HarperCollins’ site has this description with a sample.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “The author takes his time in introducing the supernatural, but once he does, the novel lifts off toward an exciting conclusion. Insightful social commentary is a bonus. Thriller fans will welcome Miller as a fresh new voice.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it in the November issue of Locus Magazine: “In the end, it’s that view of latent, abiding evil – something like Hudson’s own version of Pennywise, only more darkly erotic – that gives The Blade Between its considerable power.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Muir, Tamsyn : Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower
(Subterranean Press 978-1-59606-991-6, $40, 216pp, hardcover, November 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Nov 2020

Short fantasy novel about a princess trapped in a tower so full of monsters that the supply of princes trying to save her has dried up.
• Subterranean’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Told with the humor, whimsy, and innocent romance of a children’s story, this adult fairy tale is a winsome enchantment.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Whitesides, Tyler : The Last Lies of Ardor Benn
(Orbit 978-0-316-52032-4, $17.99, 672pp, trade paperback, December 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 Dec 2020
• Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780316520294
• Kingdom of Grit #3

Epic fantasy novel, third and last in a series following The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn (2018) and The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn (Nov. 2020), about a master con artist.
• Hachette’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Whitesides excels at balancing detailed worldbuilding and page-turning plot, sprinkling in plenty of humor along the way. This is a worthy finale to the series, and Whitesides’s fans will be eager to see what he does next.”

• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound

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* Willis, Connie : Take a Look at the Five and Ten
(Subterranean Press 978-1-64524-019-8, $40, 120pp, hardcover, November 2020)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 30 Nov 2020

Humorous SF Christmas tale, also published in the current issue of Asimov’s magazine.
• Subterranean’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Note that Amazon lists only its Kindle edition.
• Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “This brisk holiday novella is quirky, heartwarming, and impossible to put down.”

• 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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