New Books: 4 October 2022

Adams, Erin E.: Jackal

(Penguin Random House/Bantam 978-0-593-49930-6, $27.00, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Mystery horror novel. Something is taking Black girls in a small, mostly white, town.

 

Aguirre, Ann: Extra Witchy

(Sourcebooks Casablanca 978-1-7282-6246-8, $15.99, 352pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Feminist fantasy romantic comedy novel, the third in the Fix-It Witches series. Leanne, after two failed marriages, cares more for her coven than romance, but needs the right husband to boost her political career.

 

Baxter, Stephen: The Thousand Earths

(Orion UK/Gollancz 9781473228900, £22.00, 586pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, September 29, 2022)

Space traveler Hackett has been “time-traveling” through time dilation, and his life ends up interwoven with that of a woman on a world being destroyed by an ever-rising Tide.

 

Brill-Holland, Emily, ed.: Year’s Best Autearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 4

(Paper Road Press NZ , $5.99, 171pp, format: ebook, October 1, 2022)

Year’s best anthology with 14 stories originally published by New Zealanders in 2021. Authors include Andi Buchanan, Octavia Cade, A.J. Fitzwater, and M. Darusha Wehm.

 

Bruce, Camilla: The Witch in the Well

(Tor 978-1-250-30209-0, $26.99, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Horror/mystery novel with folklore/possible fantasy elements. Two women researching the death of a witch over 100 years before become rivals, and one ends up dead — but is it murder or a sinister something from the well?

 

Campbell, Rebecca: The Talosite

(Undertow 9781988964409, $13.99, 134pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Horror novella, set in 1916 during the First World War, in an alternate world where resurrection is possible.

 

Capetta, A.R., Roush, Wade, eds.: Tasting Light

(Candlewick/MITeen 978-1-536219388, $19.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult original anthology of ten SF stories speculating on future developments based on emerging technologies of today.  Authors include William Alexander, K. Ancrum, Elizabeth Bear, A.R. Capetta, Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, A.S. King, Wendy Xu.

 

Cardinal, Ann Dávila: The Storyteller’s Death

(Sourcebooks Landmark 978-1-728250779, $16.99, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Fantasy novel about a Puerto Rican teen who develops a strange ability when her cuentista grandmother dies.

 

Carle-Sanders, Theresa: Castle Rock Kitchen: Wicked Good Recipes from the World of Stephen King

(Penguin Random House/Crown/Ten Speed Press 978-1984860026, $35.00, 256pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Cookbook of 80 recipes inspired by Stephen King’s fictional Maine town settings, including Castle Rock, Derry, and others. Foreword by Stephen King.

 

Cochrane, Neil: The Story of the Hundred Promises

(Forest Avenue Press 978-1-942436-51-5, $18.00, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Fairytale fantasy novel, a loose retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” centered on queer and trans characters. Trans sailor Darragh searches for the enchanter who once gave him the magic to become his true self.

 

Croft, Tehani, Lai, Stephanie, eds.: The Art of Being Human

(FableCroft Publishing 978-0-9944690-9-0, $10.49, 509pp, format: ebook, October 1, 2022)

Anthology of 23 stories and one poem, written to remind people of the importance of art in the face of reduced funding. Authors include Aiki Flinthart, Juliet Marillier, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Kaaron Warren.

 

Davidson, Cesi: Bilabials

(Aqueduct Press $12.00, 135pp, format: ebook, October 1, 2022)

Collection of three short plays with interstitial prose. Volume 84 in the Conversation Pieces series.

 

Davis, Brooke Lauren: After Dark with Roxie Clark

(Bloomsbury USA 978-1547606146, $18.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult horror novel. Roxie, a member of a supposedly cursed family, runs a ghost tour and helps investigate the death of her sister’s boyfriend.

 

Duke, Gloria: When Life Gives You Vampires

(Sourcebooks Casablanca 978-1-7282-5744-0, $15.99, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Vampire romantic comedy. Lilly accidentally gets turned into a vampire and has to deal with romance, a vampire master who wants her truly dead, a co-worker turned slayer, and the fact that her  body will now be plus-size forever.

 

Gallagher, Stephen: Comparative Anatomy: The Best Short Fiction of Stephen Gallagher

(Subterranean Press 978-1-64524-070-9, $45.00, 568pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, September 29, 2022)

Collection of 31 stories, with an introduction by Stephen Volk.

 

Givhan, Jennifer: River Woman, River Demon

(Blackstone Publishing 978-1-6650-5750-9, $28.99, 330pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Fantasy novel about a Chicana artist who practices brujeria and curanderisma, but is having trouble even before her husband is arrested for the murder of their friend, and the ghosts of two murdered women start haunting her.

 

Glaze, Amanda: The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond

(Sterling/Union Square & Co. 978-1-4549-4678-6, $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult historical horror novel set in 1885 California. Runaway twins Edie and Violet Bond are powerful mediums who join an all-female traveling spiritualist show, only to realize a dark spirit and a killer are killing mediums.

 

Harrison, Rachel: Such Sharp Teeth

(Penguin Random House/Berkley 978-0-593-54582-9, $27.00, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Werewolf novel. Rory Morris returns to her hometown to help her pregnant twin sister, but after she is attacked one night she begins to look and feel different.

 

Hodgell, P.C.: Deathless Gods

(Baen 978-1-9821-9216-7, $17.00, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Fantasy novel, tenth in the Godstalk/Kencyrath series. Jamethiel Knorth, Priest’s Bane and Dream-Weaver, has returned victorious from Tai-tastigon, but trouble dogs the Kencyrath.

 

Hood, Christopher: The Revivalists

(Harper 978-0-06-322139-0, $27.99, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Post-apocalyptic SF novel. A couple, among the few lucky survivors of the deadly Shark Flu, decide to cross a devastated America to find their daughter, who joined a cult.

 

Howey, Hugh: Across the Sand

(HarperCollins/Morrow 978-0-358-67045-2, $27.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

SF novel, a standalone set in the world of Sand. A disaster has destroyed civilization as we know it, and four siblings struggle to build their futures amid the harsh wastes of endless desert.

 

Johnson, Jane: The White Hare

(Simon & Schuster 978-1982140939, $17.99, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Gothic dark fantasy/horror novel of family secrets, superstition, and old mysteries, set in 1954 Cornwall. Mila, learning her husband is unfaithful, moves with her daughter and mother-in-law to a neglected old house with a reputation.

 

Kudei, Sonya: The Portals of Sparkling Falls

(BHC Press 9781643973135, $23.99, 268pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Portal fantasy novel. Sixteen-year-old Laura finds herself with amnesia, in a village with dark secrets, but without electricity or running water.

 

Lafferty, Mur: Station Eternity

(Ace 978-0-593-09811-0, $17.00, 464pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

SF mystery novel. An amateur detective causes enough trouble that it drives her to live on an alien space station, but her probems come with her.

Leong, Sloane, Hart, Cassie, eds.: Death in the Mouth: Original Horror by People of Color

(self-published 979-8-9863124-9-1, $15.00, 404pp, formats: ebook, October 1, 2022)

Original anthology of 26 horror stories showcasing BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers and artists from around the world, each story with an illustration by a different artist. Authors include K-Ming Chang, Johnny Compton, Darcie Little Badger, P.H. Low, Karin Lowachee, Rivers Solomon.

 

Lerner, Gail: The Big Dreams of Small Creatures

(Penguin Random House/Nancy Paulsen 978-0-593-40785-1, $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Middle-grade talking animal fantasy novel. Ten-year-old Eden and nine-year-old August discover a secret Institute dedicated to the peaceful co-existence of insects and humans, but it also holds a dangerous secret.

 

Lofficier, Jean-Marc, Lofficier, Randy, ed.: The Handbook of French Science Fiction

(Black Coat Press 978-1-64932-161-9, $24.95, 338pp, formats: trade paperback, October 1, 2022)

Non-fiction reference, a guide to French science fiction from the 16th century to 2000. Parts previously appeared in French Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror & Pulp Fiction (McFarland 2000), now split into three parts with The Handbook of French Fantasy & Supernatural Fiction and The Handbook of French Fantastic Cinema & Television. Corrections have been made, and an afterword offers an overview of development in the field since 2000. Includes index.

 

Lund, Natalie: The Wolves Are Watching

(Penguin Random House/Viking 978-0-593-35109-3, $19.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult horror novel. A toddler goes missing in a small town, and her mother investigates the wolves in the woods and another little girl’s disappearance in 1870.

 

Ly, David, Zomparelli, Daniel, eds.: Queer Little Nightmares

(Arsenal Pulp 978-1-55152-901-1, $18.95, 272pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Anthology of horror stories and poems. Queer authors re-imagine classic monsters and explore the fear of the other.

 

Marino, Andy: It Rides a Pale Horse

(Orbit US/Redhook 978-0-316-62952-2, $17.99, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Horror novel. An artist is forced to read a book that seems demonic — or its writer unhinged — to save his sister in a small town with dark secrets.

 

Miller, Linsey: Prince of Song & Sea

(Disney Press 978-1-368069113, $17.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult fantasy novel, the first in the Princes series offering the princes’ perspectives on Disney stories.

 

Nayler, Ray: The Mountain in the Sea

(Macmillan/Farrar, Straus, Giroux/MCD 978-0374605957, $28.00, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Near-future cephalopod/AI thriller about the nature of consciousness. An octopus civilization on a remote archipelago attracts scientists and greedy corporations, and the cephalopods want them gone.

Neal, D.T.: The Cursed Earth

(Nosetouch Press 978-1-944286-70-5, $16.99, 480pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Folk horror novel. Gang members hiding out in rural Pennsylvania try to extort money from a mushroom farm with an enigmatic owner.

 

Ng, Celeste: Our Missing Hearts

(Penguin Random House/Penguin Press 978-0-593-49254-3, $29.00, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Very near-future dystopian novel about a 12-year-old boy trying to track down his long-lost mother, a Chinese-American poet. Set in a world like ours, with the polarization, censorship, scapegoating of Asian-Americans, and removal of children from their families as a means of political control.

 

Rogers, Andrea: Man-Made Monsters

(Levine Querido 978-1-64614-179-1, $19.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult collection of Cherokee horror stories. Illustrated by Jeff Edwards.

 

Schaefer, Laura: A Long Way from Home

(Lerner/Carolrhoda 978-1-72841-670-0, $19.99, 280pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Middle-grade SF novel. Abby meets two boys “a long way from home” who need her help, and travels to the future with them.

 

Scott, J. Todd: The Flock

(Amazon/Thomas & Mercer 978-1662500398, $15.95, 492pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, October 2, 2022)

Near-future postapocalyptic SF thriller novel set in a world devastated by multiple catastrophes. A woman who fled a cult years before suspects it’s behind her daughter’s kidnapping and husband’s murder.

 

Shatner, William, Brandon, Joshua: Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder

(Simon & Schuster/Atria 978-1-6680-0732-7, $28.00, 256pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Non-fiction, a collection of autobiographical essays by Shatner with Brandon, reflecting on what Shatner has learned over his many years, told through stories of his life.

 

Shepherd, Megan: Malice House

(Disney/Hyperion Avenue 978-1368089289, $26.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Supernatural thriller. Artist Haven Marbury finds a manuscript by her late father, Bedtime Stories for Monsters, and decides to illustrate the stories — but things start to get strange.

 

Silvera, Adam: The First to Die at the End

(HarperCollins/Quill Tree 978-0-06-324080-3, $19.99, 560pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult fantasy/quasi-SF novel, a prequel to They Both Die at the End about two new strangers spending their last day together after DeathCast makes its first fateful announcements.

 

Slater, David Michael: The Vanishing

(Library Tales Publishing 978-1956769111, $21.99, 191pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, September 29, 2022)

Horror novel. An invisible girl goes on a journey to save her best friend from the horrors of Nazi Germany.

 

Tan, Shaun: Creature

(Levine Querido 978-1-64614-200-2, $35.00, 224pp, format: hardcover, October 4, 2022)

Non-fiction collection of essays on art, illustration, and film-making, offering advice to writers and artists, young and old.

 

Thorne, Jennifer: Lute

(Tor Nightfire 978-1-250-82608-4, $26.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Horror novel. American Nina Treadway moves to the island of Lute, a27.00nd doesn’t believe the stories that every seventh summer, seven people die.

 

Tudor, C.J.: A Sliver of Darkness

(Penguin Random House UK/Michael Joseph 978-0241582633, $27.00, 256pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, September 29, 2022)

Collection of horror stories. The author’s first collection.

 

Veres, Attila: The Black Maybe: Liminal Tales

(Valancourt Books 978-1-954321-70-0, $17.99, 310pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, October 4, 2022)

Collection of ten macabre stories from Hungary’s leading horror writer. Translated from the Hungarian by Luka Karafiáth.

 

Waldherr, Kris: Unnatural Creatures

(Muse Publications 979-8-9853512-0-0, $18.99, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Gothic novel drawing from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, looking at the women in Victor Frankenstein’s life.

 

Waters, Erica: The Restless Dark

(HarperTeen 978-0-06-311590-3, $18.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, October 4, 2022)

Young-adult horror novel. Teens compete to find a killer’s remains.

 

Weber, David, Holo, Jacob: The Janus File

(Baen 978-1-9821-9215-0, $27.00, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, October 4, 2022)

SF novel of time travel and alternate universes, third book in the Gordian Division series.

 

Wilkins, Rob: Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes

(Penguin Random House UK/Transworld/Doubleday UK 978-0857526632, $40.00, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, September 29, 2022)

Official biography, by Pratchett’s manager, finishing the memoir that Pratchett was unable to complete before his death.

 

Willett, Edward: The Tangled Stars

(DAW 978-0-7564-1815-1, $9.99, 473pp, formats: ebook, October 1, 2022)

SF space opera novel. More than a century ago, the network that made interstellar travel possible collapsed, but the connection to old Earth appears to have reopened.