New Books: 6 December 2022
Baron, Melissa: Twice in a Lifetime 
(The Quick Brown Fox/Alcove Press , $17.99, 325pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy timeslip novel of parallel realities. A woman gets messages supposedly from her husband in the future, trying to prevent her suicide.
Isla has moved away from Chicago after a breakdown; she now lives in a tiny cottage outside St. Louis, working as a graphic designer and figuring out what life can look like. A few months in, she receives a text message addressed to ‘‘Buttercup,’’ to which she kindly replies ‘‘you have the wrong number.’’ This starts a text message thread that gets weirder as the other person insists it’s the right number, and they turn out to know a great many details about her life. Isla is, understandably, disturbed by this, and she eventually stops answering; but she doesn’t block the number, meaning that the sender can text again. And does. All of which sounds like the beginning of a horror novel, but instead it’s where the romance starts: the sender claims to be Isla’s husband.
–Alexandra Pierce, Locus, December 2022
Brooks-Dalton, Lily: The Light Pirate 
(Grand Central 978-1538708279, $28.00, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Near-future SF story of a Florida woman’s life from her birth during a hurricane to adulthood in a world changed by rising sea levels and drastic weather.
Carew, Leo: The Cuckoo 
(Orbit 978-1472273123, $17.99, 704pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Epic fantasy novel, the third book in the Under the Northern Sky trilogy. Two fierce armies collide in a final battle.
Crittendon, Denise: Where It Rains in Colour 
(Angry Robot UK 978-1-915202123, $17.99, 416pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Afrofuturist SF novel. On the utopian vacation world of Swazembi, Lileala has been named the Rare Indigo, beauty among beauties, but becomes infected with a disfiguring disease before she can enjoy her new fame — and then she starts to hear voices, and develops a new power.
de Jager, Mark: Homecoming’s Fall 
(Rebellion/Solaris UK 978-1-78618-721-5, $16.99, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy novel, a standalone addition to the After the War series. Embittered war hero Orec Blackblade comes to the aid of Doctors Catt and Fisher to stop another evil power wreaking havoc across their war-torn land.
Dumas, Luke: A History of Fear 
(Simon & Schuster/Atria 978-1-9821-9902-9, $27.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Horror novel with psychological and possible supernatural elements, about a grad student in Scotland who killed, said the Devil made him do it, then killed himself, and left a manuscript telling his story.
Elliott, Lauren: Steeped in Secrets 
(Kensington 978-1-4967-3520-1, $26.00, 304pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, November 29, 2022)
Paranormal mystery novel. Shayleigh Myers inherits a tea and psychic shop and discovers a talent for reading tea leaves and solving murders.
Farrell, Rebecca Gomez: Wings Unfurled 
(Meerkat Press 978-1-946154-64-4, $18.95, 348pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy novel, second in the Wings Rising series begun in Wings Unseen. Lady Serra’s second sight has dark patches, sending her to the king, only to find the royal family in disarray.
Finelli, Jen: Neodymium Sacrifice 
(WordFire Press $4.99, 387pp, format: ebook, December 6, 2022)
SF novel, third in the Neodymium Chronicles. Between Jei Bereens struggles for freedom and Lem Banzaran tries to escape her destiny, while an old rival is poised to take full control of the galaxy.
Fischer, J.J.: Calor 
(Enclave 979-8-88605-022-6, $24.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy novel, first in the Nightingale trilogy. Sixty-two years after an apocalypse a new society trades in memories and nostalgia, but magic can manipulate memories, or even erase them.
Green, Simon R.: Haunted by the Past 
(Baen 978-1-9821-9228-0, $25.00, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy mystery novel, 11th in the Ishmael Jones series. Lucas and Penny investigate the disappearance of a co-worker.
Harrison, Rachel: Bad Dolls 
(Penguin Random House/Berkley $2.99, formats: ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Collection of four horror stories, explores themes of body image, complicated female friendship, heartbreak, and hauntings.
Hoffmeister, Pedro: American Afterlife 
(The Quick Brown Fox/Crooked Lane 978-1-63910-164-1, $29.99, 289pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Near-future SF apocalyptic disaster novel about an undocumented Mexican teen in Oregon, searching for her mother’s body after a massive earthquake and flood, with no relief efforts visible and cultists forcibly converting all survivors.
Kilworth, Garry: The Wild Hunt 
(NewCon Press , 16.99, 294pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy novel, “An Anglo Saxon Saga”. Wrongfully accused of his father’s murder, Osric flees his homeland, vowing to return one day in vengeance and reclaim his birthright as King of the East Angles.
Künsken, Derek: Flight From the Ages and Other Stories 
(Rebellion/Solaris UK 978-1-86187-28-4, $16.99, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Collection of two novellas and four long short stories, visiting many worlds of the Quantum Evolution universe as well as few new worlds.
Landers, Melissa: Lumara 
(Disney/Hyperion 978-1-368-07656-2, $18.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Young-adult fantasy novel. Talia, once scammed by a Mystic, is dismayed to learn her boyfriend Nathaniel is a Mystic with a powerful and secretive family.
Moorcock, Michael: The Citadel of Forgotten Myths 
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 978-1982199807, $28.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy novel in the Elric Saga series, set between the first two books in the series, in the early days of Elric’s wanderings.
Ross, Rebecca: A Fire Endless 
(Harper Voyager US 978-0-06-305603-9, 27.99 512pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy novel, the second in the Elements of Cadence series. The Isle of Cadence is thrown into imbalance when the spirit of the North Wind makes a bid for dominion.
Rutherford, Mara: The Poison Season 
(Harlequin/Inkyard Press 978-1-335-91580-1, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Young-adult fantasy novel. Leelo risks her community by saving an outsider from the dangerous waters around their island.
Speakman, Shawn, ed.: Unbound II: New Tales by Masters of Fantasy 
(Grim Oak 978-1956000078, $35.00, 496pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, December 6, 2022)
Original anthology of 17 stories. Authors include Kristen Britain, Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson, Tamora Pierce.
Sykes, Sam: Three Axes to Fall 
(Orbit US 978-0-316-36352-5, $19.99, 736pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
Fantasy adventure novel, the third and final book in the Grave of Empires trilogy. When her magic was taken, Sal the Cacophony made a deal for vengeance with a dark power, but now the price of that deal has come due.
Tavares, Nathan: A Fractured Infinity 
(Titan Books 9781803360386, $15.95, 361pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
SF novel. A filmmaker is kidnapped from a remote cabin by scientists because a machine that predicts the future shows him helping build the machine in a parallel universe and an attempt to reach into that universe sets off a series of disasters.
Van Stry, John: Summer’s End 
(Baen 978-1-9821-9229-7, $17.00, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, December 6, 2022)
SF novel. Newly graduated ship engineer Dave Walker, wanted dead by his powerful stepfather, takes the first berth he can get, on an old tramp freighter serving questionable ports in the Solar System.
