New Books: 22 February 2022
Card, Orson Scott: Wakers 
(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1-4814-9619-3, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Young-adult SF novel, the first book in the Side Step trilogy. Laz can jump his consciousness to alternate versions of himself in parallel worlds, escaping any mistake, until he awakens in facility full of dead clones that look just like him, on a seemingly abandoned Earth, and he can’t jump away.
Deas, Stephen: The House of Cats and Gulls 
(Angry Robot US 978-0-85766-878-3, $16.99, 421pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, February 22, 2022)
Fantasy novel, second in the Dominion series. Myla, Seth, and Fings find themselves under siege in Deephaven, a city ravaged by the plague, and stalked by demons.
Fawcett, Jennifer: Beneath the Stairs 
(Simon & Schuster/Atria 978-19821-7715-7-, $27.00, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Horror novel. Abby and Clare, estranged best friends traumatized by an adolescent encounter with the haunted Octagon House, are pulled together years later when Abby tries to commit suicide at the house.
Felker-Martin, Gretchen: Manhunt 
(Tor Nightfire 978-1-250-79464-2, $17.99, 304pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Post-apocalyptic horror novel. Transwomen Beth and Fran hunt these feral men, harvesting their organs.
Fellman, Isaac: Dead Collections 
(Penguin Random House/Penguin 978-0143136910, $17.00, 256pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Supernatural romance about a trans vampire archivist who falls for a sapphic television writer’s widow.
Fortune, Margaret: Iolanthe 
(DAW 978-0-6984-0437-3, $9.99, 659pp, format: ebook, February 22, 2022)
SF novel, the third in the Spectre War series. Teal is exiled to a remote colony, until mysterious invaders arrive and she must flee to the savage alien rainforest.
Gilstrap, John: Blue Fire 
(Blackstone Publishing 979-1-4967-2857-9, $26.00, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Near-future post-apocalyptic SF thriller novel, set in the aftermath of a one-day nuclear war (AKA Hell Day) that destroyed civiliztion, and prepper Victoria Emerson’s efforts to keep her tiny West Virginia town safe.
Hart, Rob: The Paradox Hotel 
(Penguin Random House/Ballantine 978-1-984820648, $28.00, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Time-travel SF mystery novel, set in a hotel for time-traveling tourists, rumored to be haunted by ghosts, and definitely suffering a rash of murders as the imminent privatization of time-travel technology has bidders willing to do anything for an advantage.
Legrand, Claire: Extasia 
(HarperCollins/Tegen Books 978-0-06-269663-2, $17.99, 496pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Young-adult feminist dark fantasy/horror novel. A girl joins a coven to root out the evil stalking her village.
Len, Vanessa: Only a Monster 
(HarperTeen 978-0063024649, $18.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Young-adult fantasy novel, the first in the Monsters trilogy. History buff Joan Chang-Hunt learns her family are monsters, with the ability to travel in time by stealing hours from a human’s life.
Macallister, G.R.: Scorpica 
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 978-1-9821-6789-9, $27.99, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Fantasy novel, the first in the Five Queendoms series, following a group of matriarchal societies as queens, heroines, and sorceresses vie for power.
Mammay, Michael: The Misfit Soldier 
(Harper Voyager US 978-0-06-298100-4, $7.99, 368pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Military science fiction novel. Former conman, now soldier, Seargeant “Gas” Gastovsky is halfway through his service contract, passing time with low-level cons, but he might have just found a big score.
Ockert, Jason: Shadowselves 
(Dzanc Books 978-1-950539-39-0, $16.95, 192pp, formats: trade paperback, February 22, 2022)
Collection of ten speculative and darkly surreal stories, one new, others slightly revised.
Oh, Axie: The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea 
(Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends 978-1-250-78086-7, $18.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Young-adult feminist fantasy retelling of the Korean folktale “The Tale of Shim Cheong”. In an attempt to placate the angry sea god, a village throws a beautiful maiden into the sea every year, hoping that one year the girl sacrificed will be the god’s true bride, and he will be appeased.
Rather, Lina: Sisters of the Forsaken Stars 
(Tordotcom 978-1-250-78214-4, $16.99, 192pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
SF novella, followup to Sisters of the Vast Black. Earth is looking to regain control of its colonies and space stations that rebelled decades before, and the defiant sisters of the Order of Saint Rita have to decide what role they will play in reshaping the galaxy.
[T]he sisters now need to figure out if they want to lead the revolution that feels like its kicking off, or high-tail it to someplace safe. But, increasingly, it looks like there is no safety to be found.
Rather’s world – one where humans grow living spaceships around engineered materials and the Catholic Church funds missions across galaxies – is an interesting one.
—Adrienne Martini, Locus, February 2022
Sagara, Michelle: Sword and Shadow 
(Harlequin/Mira 978-0-7783-1177-5, $16.99, 512pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Fantasy novel, second in the Wolves of Elantra series, a spin-off from the Chronicles of Elantra series. The newest member of an elite force of executioners takes a leave of absence to pursue information about his unknown past.
Scholte, Astrid: League of Liars 
(Penguin Random House/Putnam 978-0593112373, $18.99, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Young-adult fantasy novel. Four teens charged with murder and caught up with the illegal use of magic band together to devise a jailbreak.
Swan, Richard: The Justice of Kings 
(Orbit US 978-0-316-36138-5, $28.00, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Fantasy mystery novel, the first in the Empire of the Wolf trilogy. Emperor’s Justice Sir Konrad Vonvalt investigates a noblewoman’s murder and uncovers a conspiracy that could end the Empire.
Thomas, Richard: Spontaneous Human Combustion 
(Turner/Keylight 978-1-684427543, $19.99, 248pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, audio, February 22, 2022)
Collection of 14 dark speculative fiction/horror stories. Illustrated by M.S. Corley. Introduction by Brian Evenson.
Wade, Juliette: Inheritors of Power 
(DAW 978-0-7564-1801-4, $19.00, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, February 22, 2022)
Science fiction novel, third book in the Broken Trust series. A fragile peace begins to fall apart when a trash hauler walks into somewhere he doesn’t belong and is arrested for trespassing.
