New & Notable
Aliette de Bodard, In the Shadow of the Ship (Subterranean 9/24) This far-future SF mystery novella is the latest installment in the author’s popular and ambitious Xuya universe. Khuyĕn, now a magistrate, returns to the sentient ship Nightjar and the family she hasn’t seen since fleeing as a teen to attend her grandmother’s funeral… but a disappearance forces her to face the past. “A sharp-edged and glittering science-fictional gem.” [Liz Bourke]
Harlan Ellison & J. Michael Straczynski, eds., The Last Dangerous Visions (Blackstone 10/24) Harlan Ellison’s legendary (and infamously unfinished) final installment in the ambitious Dangerous Visions anthology series is here at last, thanks to his literary executor Straczynski, and features more than 20 stories by both original contributors and newer writers, including Mildred Downey Broxon, Edward Bryant, Cory Doctorow, and A.E. Van Vogt. Straczynski offers notes on the history and process of the project.
Paula Guran, ed., The Year’s Best Fantasy: Volume 3 (Pyr 8/24) Locus’s own Guran returns with a new volume collecting some of the best short fantasy fiction of 2023, with 17 stories from authors including Eleanor Arnason, P. Djèlí Clark, Amal El-Mohtar, Ken Liu, Catherynne M. Valente, and Fran Wilde.
Nalo Hopkinson, Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions (Tachyon 10/24) The SFWA Grand Master’s newest collections includes 15 stories, including Sturgeon Memorial Award winner “Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Tale”, plus author notes and a foreword by Nisi Shawl, her collaborator on the title piece. “Hopkinson’s imagination is both unique and singularly important.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
Michael Kelly, ed., Northern Nights (Undertow 10/24) This original anthology of 20 strange and chilling horror stories by Canadian authors includes work by leading lights of dark fiction Rich Larson, Premee Mohamed, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, David Nickle, Naben Ruthnum, and more.
Ahmed Naji, ed., Egypt + 100 (Comma Press UK) This original anthology, latest in the “Future Past” anthology series, features 12 stories by Egyptian authors, each set in 2111, a century after the January 25th Revolution in Tahrir Square. The editor’s introduction provides context on the history leading up the revolution, its implications, and some background on Egyptian SF. It stands as “a testament to the vitality of Egyptian science fiction.” [Niall Harrison]
Keith Rosson, The Devil by Name (Random House 9/24) Rosson made a splash with literary horror novel Fever House in 2023, and now he’s back with a sequel, set five years later. The world has been torn apart by a plague of uncontrolled violence, with corporations and the government establishing quarantine zones while a cast of compelling characters scattered across the globe fight to survive, uncover secrets, and find a way to restore what was lost.
Rivers Solomon, Model Home (MCD 10/24) Three Black siblings are forced to return to their childhood home, in a white gated community, after their parents die, but the place is haunted, and not just by bad memories. “Stunningly written and full of the kind of trauma that can only come from family, this novel takes the haunted house trope and turns it into something that feels entirely new, very fresh, and packing an emotional punch that lingers.” [Gabino Iglesias]
Jill Tew, The Dividing Sky (Joy Revolution 10/24) This YA debut mingles elements of dystopian SF and romance. Eighteen-year-old Liv ekes out a living selling her memories to the wealthy. When she takes on an illegal job that requires her to leave the safety of the Metro, she draws the attention of Adrian, a handsome rookie cop who wants to crack down on the shady side of the memory trade.
Nghi Vo, The City in Glass (Tordotcom 10/24) In this new dark and literary novella by the World Fantasy and Hugo Award winner, a demon tries to rebuild the fabulous ruined city of Azril while navigating her relationship with a cursed angel who was once a foe, and is now something more complicated. “It’s a beautifully written meditation on loss, reparation, and redemption.” [Gary K. Wolfe]
From the December 2024 issue of Locus.
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