New Books, 17 December 2024
Anderson, Brad C.: Ashme’s Song
(Shadowpaw Press 9781998273164, $19.99, 402pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 12/17/2024)
SF novel. Ashme, a genetically enhanced New Mesopotamian has the ability to control computer systems at will, destined to help her oppressed people. But she is stuck caring for her neurologically frail twin brother.
Heitz, M. Turville: Black River
(Crossroad Press/Mystique Press 9781637891346, $14.99, 350pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 12/17/2024)
Fantasy novel. Kyle Nelson, sent to Earth as an infant and raised in Wisconsin, discovers he’s from another world, the last of a ruling caste with the power to travel magically between worlds, and his return reignites an ancient war.
Henry, Veronica G.: A Breathless Sky
(Amazon/47North 9781662520280, $16.99, 315pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 12/17/2024)
SF novel, second in the Scorched Earth series, sequel to The Canopy Keepers. A tour guide for the Sequoia National Park, Syrah Carthan wants to save it. Syrah has an affinity for the millennia-old Giants that extends to Rhiza, a subterranean world as ancient as Earth itself. Her duty is to maintain balance between nature and humans. But her brother is on the side of the trees and wants humankind to get what it deserves.
Paige, Danielle: Spell of the Sinister
(Bloomsbury USA 9781681196886, $20.99, 464pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 12/17/2024)
Young-adult dark fantasy novel, the second book in the Fairy Godmother Novels series. With Cinderella gone off with her prince, the queendoms have been in disarray, but the two fairy godmothers find themselves on opposite sides, as one seeks peace and one wants power.
Rath, Emily: North Is the Night
(Kensington/Erewhon 9781645662204, $27, 592pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 12/17/2024)
Dark fantasy novel, the first in the Tuonela Duet inspired by Finnish folklore. In the Finnish wilderness, more than wolves roam the dark forests. For Siiri and Aina, summer’s fading light is a harbinger of unwelcome change. Land-hungry Swedes venture north, threatening the peace; a zealous Christian priest denounces the old ways; and young women have begun to disappear.
Wagner, Erin K.: Mechanize My Hands to War
(Astra House/DAW 9780756419349, $28, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 12/17/2024)
Near-future SF novel of the AI revolution in Appalachia. An anti-android demagogue stars raising an army of children, as GMO crop seeds fail, and an android that seems to have nothing wrong with it, shoots and kills a child.
Zahed, Ramin, ed.: The Art & Making of Spellbound
(Titan Books 9781803362434, $48.93, 176pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 12/17/2024)
Art book. The official companion guide to the upcoming family animated film. Includes concept art, sketches, and 3D models.
