New Books, 19 November 2024
Anderson, Kevin J.: Horror and Dark Fantasy Stories, Volume 2
(WordFire Press 9781680577198, $18.99, 332pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, 11/19/2024)
Second volume of horror and dark fantasy stories in Anderson’s short story series, with stories about ancient gods and unleashed demons, resurrected rock stars and bloodthirsty drums, haunted trains, the boogeyman, as well as Bela Lugosi and the real Vlad the Impaler.
Ashta, Lucía: Ride and Die
(Podium Publishing 9781039478527, $18.99, 224pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Paranormal romance novel, the first in the Ridgemore series. Joss has a crush on her friend Griffin, but she’s afraid acting on it would affect their friendship with Hunt, Layla, and Brady, too. Then Brady has a horrible accident, and recovers with miraculous speed, and the friends realize their little town hides disturbing secrets.
Broadbent, Carissa: The Songbird & the Heart of Stone
(Tor/Bramble 9781250367785, $29.99, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy romance novel, third in the Crowns of Nyaxia series and the first in a duology. Mische lost everything when she was forcibly Turned into a vampire – her home, her humanity, and most devastating of all, the love of the sun god to whom she had devoted her life. Now, she’s sentenced to death for murdering the vampire prince who Turned her.
Caruso, Melissa: The Last Hour Between Worlds
(Orbit US 9780316303477, $19.99, 432pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy time loop novel. Kembral Thorne is taking a few hours away from her newborn to enjoy a year-turning party. But while celebrating, the guests start dropping dead because mysterious forces are plunging the whole party through layers of reality into nightmare.
Dennard, Susan: The Whispering Night
(Tor Teen 9781250339485, $20.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, third in the Luminaries series. Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive and Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task.
Drakeford, Scott: The Fate of Silent Gods
(Tor 9781250820167, $29.99, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Epic fantasy novel, the second in the Age of Ire trilogy. Emrael Ire has won the first round of war against the dark god, but at a terrible cost to himself. Unsure of who he can trust, even among his own people, Emrael must find a way to score a major victory against both the forces of the dark lord and the corrupt lords of the provinces.
Ibrahim, Maiya: Serpent Sea
(Penguin Random House/Delacorte 9780593127001, $19.99, 512pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, the second in The Spice Road trilogy. Imani is a magic-wielding warrior sworn to protect her land from the monsters that roam the desert. But an even worse enemy now threatens the Sahir. As the powerful Harrowlanders march south with their greatest weapon — spice magic — Imani knows it’s only a matter of time before their invasion of her land begins, and it will be a losing battle for her people.
Johansen, K.V.: The Wolf and the Wild King
(Crossroad Press/Mystique Press 9781637890943, $14.99, 353pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy novel. Assassin, executioner, shapeshifter, and dutiful son of the undying Queen of the land called the Forest, Mairran is haunted by the voice of a long lost Immortal, who runs with him as a wolf in his dreams. Though he is more accustomed to being the instrument of death than an arbiter of justice, Mairran’s mother sends him to find out who offered an earl’s life in an unsanctioned sacrifice to the Forest.
Jost, Sarah: The Estate
(Sourcebooks Landmark 9781728262734, $16.99, 416pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy/suspense novel. An art historian can secretly enter the world of any piece of art, and take others with her, but when she takes a job authenticating statues on a French estate she gets sucked into its walls, and finds a world of luxury and greed that causes her to risk losing herself. Includes a reading group guide.
Kristjánsson, Snorri: The Silent Emperor
(Rebellion/Solaris UK 9781837862221, $16.99, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy novel about a secret order of Roman monster-hunters, the second in the Hidden Legion trilogy. Aemilius and his new comrades in the Hidden Legion have a new mission: to infiltrate the villa of a powerful politician and foil a plot against him. As Aemilius’s newfound magical powers slowly unfold, he begins to hear the thoughts of animals and finds unexpected new allies, including a house cat with an inflated sense of its own importance.
Landers, Melissa: The Half King
(Entangled/Red Tower 9781649374103, $32.99, 512pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy romance novel. The Great Betrayal changed everything for the Allied Realm. Long ago, the kingdom’s noble houses rose up against the goddess, and for their treachery, the firstborn of each noble family was cursed, with the royal house Mortara receiving the worst affliction of all: while the king exists during the day, he fades into nothingness at night, until his twenty-first birthday, when he will be lost to the shadows forever.
Moschovakis, Anna: An Earthquake Is a Shaking fo the Surface of the Earth
(Soft Skull Press 9781593767839, $16.95, 208pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 11/19/2024)
SF novel. After a seismic event, the ground remains in constant motion, leaving the unnamed narrator struggling to even walk. Then her housemate disappears, and she obsessively searches for her, even traveling back in time in her pursuit.
Murakami, Haruki: The City and Its Uncertain Walls
(Penguin Random House/Knopf 9780593801970, $35, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy/magical realism novel/fable. A young man searches for the imaginary city where his missing girlfriend’s true self lives, and finds her working in a dream library, with no memory of their life together. Translated by Philip Gabriel from the Japanese.
Olivas, M.M.: Sundown in San Ojuela
(Lanternfish Press 9781941360750, $19, 343pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 11/19/2024)
Southwest gothic/horror novel. After her aunt’s death, Liz and her younger sister return to the town where an accident left Liz clairvoyant. There Liz discovers that monsters and ancient Aztec gods stalk the night, and her childhood best friend is changed. This is an annotated edition, edited by Ruthanna Emrys.
CJ, Piper: A Chill in the Flame
(Sourcebooks/Bloom Books 9781464218729, $18.99, 464pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Dark fantasy romance novel, the first in the Villains Prequels a duology in the world of The Night and Its Moon series. Grieving her sister’s murder, Princess Ophir’s gift for fire magic threatens to incinerate the castle until mysterious siren Dwyn arrives from the sea, pledging both assistance and something more. They work to quench Ophir’s flames, all the while Dwyn’s longtime rival watches from the shadows: Tyr, who has tracked Dwyn’s abilities across the continent and now finds himself embroiled in a sinister competition with her for Ophir’s heart.
Roberts, Nora: The Mirror
(St. Martin’s 9781250288776, $30, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Gothic fantasy romance novel, the second book in the Lost Bride trilogy. Sonya McTavish inherits a huge Victorian mansion on the coast of Maine that turns out to be haunted, while in her dreams she sees glimpses of the past and starts having visions of an antique mirror, drawing her to it.
Robinson, Rebecca: The Serpent and the Wolf
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 9781668052488, $28.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Fantasy romance novel. Vaasa believes the magic growing inside her will kill her, and her merciless brother arranges a marriage to a foreign prince so her death will give him an excuse for war. A first novel.
Sheldon, Deborah, ed.: Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales about Pregnancy, Birth and Babies
(IFWG Publishing International 9781922856807, $15.99, 292pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 11/25/2024)
Original anthology of 22 horror stories from Australasian authors reinterpreting birth and babies in a myriad of unexpected ways.
Simone, Gail: Red Sonja: Consumed
(Orbit US 9780316475679, $30, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
Tie-in novel based on Robert E. Howard’s character in the world of Conan the Barbarian. When rumors start bubbling up from Red Sonja’s homeland — about unknown horrors emerging from the ground and pulling their unsuspecting victims to their deaths — and a strange voice begins whispering to her in her sleep, Sonja realizes she may have to return to the country that abandoned her and confront her past. A first novel from the comic book writer.
Wagers, K.B.: And the Mighty Will Fall
(Harper Voyager US 9780063115248, $19.99, 464pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 11/19/2024)
SF space opera novel, standalone but fourth in the NeoG series. Commander Maxine Carmichael and Lieutenant Commander Saqib Vahid are at the Mars Orbital Station to help facilitate the official handover from NeoG to Mars civilian control as part of the ongoing negotiations. But members of the extreme wings of the fight for Martian independence refuse to remain silent, and are willing to resort to violence to make their voices heard.
