New Books: 19 October 2021
Anonymous, ed.: Arkham Horror: Dark Origins 
(Aconyte US 978-1-83908-118-7, $17.95, 512pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 19, 2021)
Collection of four novellas in the world of the Lovecraftian fantasy game, the first book in the Collected Novellas series. Authors incl. Dave Gross, Graeme Davis, Richard Lee Byers, Chris A. Jackson.
Armentrout, Jennifer L.: A Shadow in the Ember 
(Evil Eye Concepts/Blue Box Press 978-1-952457-64-7, $31.99, 570pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Fantasy romance novel, first in the Flesh and Fire series set in the world of the Blood and Ash series. Seraphena Mierel has been promised since before her birth to the Primal of Death as his Consort, but that’s not her true mission there.
Benford, Gregory: Shadows of Eternity 
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 978-1-5344-4362-4, $27.99, 496pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 19, 2021)
Set two centuries in the future, a SETI library on the moon is established to interpret messages from alien societies, including alien AI minds with aggressive agendas.
Blackwood, Lauren: Within These Wicked Walls 
(St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 978-1-250-78710-1, $18.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Young-adult dark fantasy novel, an Ethiopian-inspired retelling of Jane Eyre. An exorcist needing a patron takes a job with the difficult eccentric Magnus Rochester, who is under a horrifying curse.
Dalcher, Christina: Femlandia 
(Penguin Random House/Berkley 978-0-593-20110-7, $27, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Dystopian/post apocalyptic SF novel set in a post-economic-collapse America. A woman and her teenage daughter flee to a women-only colony where babies—all girls—are conceived without men.
Denning, Troy: Halo: Divine Wind 
(Simon & Schuster/Gallery 978-1-9821-7490-3, $16.99, 384pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
SF gaming tie-in novel. In the year 2559 the galaxy is controlled by a renegade AI, as a fanatical group seeks to activate Halo and take the last steps to the Great Journey into transcendence.
Eason, K.: Nightwatch on the Hinterlands 
(DAW 978-0-7564-1533-4, $27, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 19, 2021)
Space opera SF novel, a return to the universe of the Thorne Chronicles. A decommissioned battle mecha kills someone, which shouldn’t be possible. Clues show that whoever is controlling the mecha has much more planned than murder.
Ellis, Lindsay: Truth of the Divine 
(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-27454-0, $28.99, 496pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
SF novel, sequel to Axiom’s End. World politics regarding granting rights to the alien amygdalines are complicated by increasing unrest in the US.
Guran, Paula, ed.: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: Volume Two 
(Start/Pyr 978-1-64506-032-1, $21.95, 492pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 19, 2021)
“Year’s Best anthology with 30 stories from 2020, the second volume in the series from Pyr (after ten from Prime). Authors include Elizabeth Hand, Maria Dahvana Headley, Stephen Graham Jones, Naomi Kritzer, Steve Rasnic Tem, Catherynne M. Valente.
Henry, Patti Callahan: Once Upon a Wardrobe 
(Harper Muse 978-0785251729, $20.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
In response to her dying brother’s request, Megs Devonshire seeks out C.S. Lewis to find out the true origins of Narnia.
Khaw, Cassandra: Nothing but Blackened Teeth 
(Tor Nightfire 978-1-250-75941-2, $19.99, 128pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Horror novella, a haunted house story inspired by Japanese folklore.
Mellow, E.J.: Dance of a Burning Sea 
(Amazon/Montlake 9781542026086, $12.95, 511pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Dark fantasy romance novel, the second in the Mousai series about three sorceresses who help the Thief King rule his kingom of magic and pleasure. Niya is taken hostage by a pirate looking for a pardon from the Thief King.
Modesitt, L.E., Jr.: Isolate 
(Tor 978-1-250-77740-9, $29.99, 608pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Gaslamp political fantasy novel, the first in the Grand Illusion series. Isolate Steffan Dekkard is an isolate, a rare person immune to the projections of empaths, and his job as security for politicians lands him in the middle of a deadly power struggle.
Owen, Margaret: Little Thieves 
(Macmillan/Holt 978-1-250-19190-8, $18.99, 512pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Young-adult fantasy novel, a retelling of “The Goose Girl”. A maid must outsmart palace nobles and Low Gods to pay a debt to her otherworldly adoptive mothers, Death and Fortune, so she magically swaps places with Princess Gisele.
Pentecost, Kate: That Dark Infinity 
(Little, Brown 978-0-7595-5783-3, $18.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Young-adult fantasy novel. A cursed, immortal monster hunter seeking death and a royal handmaiden quest for a lost princess.
Posey, Jay: Every Star a Song 
(Simon & Schuster/Skybound 978-1-9821-0777-2, $17, 448pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
SF novel, the second in the Ascendance series. Set in the far future, mankind has decoded the language of the universe, allowing them to settle the entire galaxy and live in peace. When a planet suddenly appears out of nowhere, a renegade agent agrees to investigate in exchange for clemency.
Rocklyn, Zin E.: Flowers for the Sea 
(Tordotcom 978-1-250-80403-7, $13.99, 108pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Gothic fantasy novella. Refugees from a flooded kingdom struggle to survive on an ark. Among them is Iraxi, a pregnant commoner, despised by the others, whose child might be more than human.
Salvatore, R.A., Lewis, Erika: The Color of Dragons 
(HarperTeen 978-0-06-291566-5, $17.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Young-adult romance/fantasy. Pre-Arthurian tale exploring the origins of magic, Merlin, and Morgan LeFay.
Sapkowski, Andrzej: Warriors of God 
(Orbit US 978-0-316-59324-3, $28, 656pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, audio, October 19, 2021)
Medieval fantasy novel, the second in the Hussite trilogy. Translated from the Polish by David French. Reynevan is entrusted with a secret mission, forcing him out of hiding. Pursued by enemies, he continues to seek revenge for the death of his brother, and find the woman he loves.
Wending, Chuck: Dust & Grim 
(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 978-0316706230, 16.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Rival orphaned siblings inherit the family business, a mortuary for monsters, and have to figure out both how to get along and how to deal with all the dangerous magic and clients.
Winn, Claire: City of Shattered Light 
(North Star Editions/Flux 9781635830712, $9.99, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 19, 2021)
Young-adult SF novel. A tech-empire heiress, Asa tries to stop her father from reprogramming her rebellious sister, and ends up stranded on outlaw planet Requiem, teaming up with amibitious female gunslinger Riven against a nasty AI virus.
Wunsch, Sacha: Lies My Memory Told Me 
(Harlequin/Inkyard Press 978-1-335-01827-4, $18.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 19, 2021)
Young-adult near-future psychological SF thriller novel. Nova’s parents invented the wildly popular Enhanced Memory, which lets people share memories, but she’s just starting to realize the damage the technology does.
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