New Books

Billingsley, Franny: The Robber Girl

(Candlewick Press 978-0-7636-6956-0, $18.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, September 14, 2021)

Middle-grade fantasy/mystery novel about a girl who relies on her knife, but needs her wits when magical dolls give her three tasks.

Boyle, T.C.: Talk to Me

(HarperCollins/Ecco 978-0-06-305285-7, $27.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, September 14, 2021)

An animal behaviorist, his young chimp who speaks sign language, and enthusiastic undergraduate Aimee ...Read More

brown, adrienne maree: Grievers

(AK Press 978-1-84935-452-3, $15, 206pp, formats: trade paperback, September 7, 2021)

Fantasy novella, the first in the Black Dawn series. A woman investigates the cause of a mysterious plague in Detroit that leaves victims in a permanent non-responsive state.

Hall, Coy: Grimoire of the Four Impostors

(Nosetouch Press 978-1944286293, $28, 250pp, formats:  hardcover, trade paperback, audio, September 7, 2021)

Gothic horror novel told in ...Read More

Becker, Elayne Audrey: Forestborn

(Tor Teen 978-1-250-75216-1, $17.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 31, 2021)

A young, orphaned shapeshifter in a world that fears magic must risk everything if she hopes to save her only friend.

Brenchley, Chaz: Everything in All the Wrong Order: The Best of Chaz Brenchley

(Subterranean Press 978-1-64524-011-2, $45, 427pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, August 31, 2021)

Collection of 31 stories. Hardcover is a signed, ...Read More

Anders, Charlie Jane: Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories

(Tordotcom 978-1-250-80001-5, $26.99, 240 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 17, 2021)

Collection of essays on writing, society, politics, and how to flourish during the the present emergency.

Bova, Ben: Neptune

(Tor 978-1-250-29662-7, $28.99, 240 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 17, 2021)

SF novel, second in the Outer Planets trilogy, ...Read More

Awad, Mona: All’s Well

(Simon & Schuster 978-1-9821-6966-4, $27, 368 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 3, 2021)

A theater professor dealing with chronic pain is given the ability to transfer her pain to others, and gets vindictive.

Azad, Nafiza: The Wild Ones

(Simon & Schuster/McElderry 978-1-5344-8496-2, $18.99, 352 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, August 3, 2021)

Young-adult fantasy novel. A group of women known as the Wild Ones ...Read More

Appel, John: Assassin’s Orbit

(Rebellion/Solaris US 978-1-78618-915-6, $14.99, 448 pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, July 20, 2021)

Far-future SF mystery novel. An assassination threatens a planet’s vote to join the Commonwealth, and police and private detectives work together to uncover an old threat that could spark interplanetary war.

Ashley-Smith, J.: The Ariadne, I Love You

(Meerkat Press 978-1-946154-50-7, $10.95, 76 pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, July 20, 2021) ...Read More

Altman, Mark A., Gross, Edward: Secrets of the Force: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Wars

(St. Martin’s 978-1-250-23687-6, $29.99, 576 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, July 13, 2021)

Nonfiction book exploring the entire story of the Star Wars franchise from the beginning. Features the commentaries of hundreds of actors and filmmakers involved with and impacted by Star Wars, as well as writers, commentators, critics, executives, authors, film ...Read More

Barry, Max: The 22 Murders of Madison May

(Penguin Random House/Putnam 978-00593-08520-, $27.00, 336 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, July 6, 2021)

Serial killer novel of parallel worlds. Reporter Felicity Staples investigates a murder and discovers that someone is killing Madison May in multiple universes.

Estep, Jennifer: Capture the Crown

(Harper Voyager US 978-0-06-302303-1, $16.99, 464 pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, July 6, 2021)

Fantasy novel, the first ...Read More

Bayron, Kalynn: This Poison Heart

(Bloomsbury USA 978-1-5476-0390-9, $15.99, 384 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, June 29, 2021)

YA novel featuring adopted teen Briseis, who has a power over plants. She only starts to learn the full extent of her power when an unexpected inheritance gives her a 40-acre estate full of deadly plants and secrets about her birth family.

deVos, Kelly: Eat Your Heart Out

(Penguin Random House/Razorbill ...Read More

Anonymous, ed.: Terrifying Ghosts

(Flame Tree Collections US 978-1-839644818, $30, 432 pp, format: hardcover, June 15, 2021)

Anthology of ghost stories, including many from open submissions by new writers. Part of the Collector’s Editions series.

Bova, Ben: Power Challenges

(Arc Manor/Caezik SF & Fantasy 978-1-64710-018-6, $28.50, 236 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, June 15, 2021)

America begins to colonize the solar system, starting with a permanent moon base, with ...Read More

Andrews, Claire: Daughter of Sparta

(Little, Brown/Jimmy Patterson 978-0316540070, $18.99, 384 pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, June 8, 2021)

Young-adult reimagining of ancient Greek mythology, where a headstrong girl does whatever it takes to rise up and become the most powerful fighter her people have ever seen.

Aryan, Stephen: The Coward

(Angry Robot US 978-0-85766-888-2, $14.99, 400 pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, June 8, 2021)

Fantasy novel, book ...Read More

Blake, Adrienne: Pride and Paranormal

(City Owl Press 9781648980671, $14.99, 316pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, June 1, 2021)

Paranormal romance novel about witches and warlocks, inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Boekweg, Sheena: A Sisterhood of Secret Ambitions

(Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends 978-1-250-77098-1, $18.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, June 1, 2021)

Young-adult alternate/secret-history SF novel set in a world where women manipulate history behind the scenes, and ...Read More

Bangs, Elly: Unity

(Tachyon Publications , $15.95, 304 pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, April 16, 2021)

Danae is not only herself. She is concealing a connection to a grieving collective inside of her body. But while she labors as a tech servant in the dangerous underwater enclave of Bloom City, her fractured self cannot mend. In a desperate escape, Danae and her lover Naoto hire the enigmatic ex-mercenary Alexei to ...Read More

Anders, Charlie Jane: Victories Greater Than Death

(Tor Teen 978-1-250-31731-5, $15.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, April 13, 2021)

A young-adult SF novel and the first in the Unstoppable trilogy, centering around a sleeper-agent alien teenager on Earth whose part in an intergalactic war is bigger than she thinks.

 “It’s properly, wickedly exciting – I devoured it! How Anders packs so much power and energy into her prose is astonishing. ...Read More

Allington, Patrick: Rise & Shine

(Scribe US 978-1-950354-42-9, $16.00, 240pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, April 6, 2021)

Post-apocalyptic SF novel of survivors in the only two city-states left, literally fed only by the suffering they see in graphic footage of perpetual war.

[Rise & Shine] could easily be an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Netflix series Black Mirror…Rise & Shine does not shy away from the ...Read More

Brown, Eli: Oddity

(Candlewick Press/Walker US 978-1-5362-0851-1, $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, Mar 30, 2021)

Middle-grade alternate-history fantasy novel set in a 19th century where the Louisiana Purchase never went through, leaving the US in conflict with France. The daughter of a murdered doctor protects a magical Oddity he left behind. Illustrated by Karin Rytter.

Langmead, Oliver K.: Birds of Paradise

(Titan Books US 978-1789094817, $15.95, 304pp, formats: trade ...Read More

Barlough, Jeffrey E.: Hooting Grange

(Gresham & Doyle 978-0-9787634-7-3, $14.95, 273pp, formats: trade paperback, Mar 23, 2021)

Alternate-world Victorian fantasy novel, the 11th in the Western Lights series. Sea captain Robert Surtees loses his ship and moves into the ramshackle old family house at Hooting Grange.

Carey, M.R.: The Fall of Koli

(Orbit US 978-0-316-45872-6, $16.99, 576pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, Mar 23, 2021)

Post-apocalyptic SF novel, concluding ...Read More

Adler, Dahlia, ed.: That Way Madness Lies

(Macmillan/Flatiron 978-1-250-75386-1, $18.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, Mar 16, 2021)

Young-adult original anthology with 15 retellings of some of Shakespeare’s most noted works, including some fantastic elements. Authors include Melissa Bashardoust, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro.

Briggs, Patricia: Wild Sign

(Ace 978-0-440-00158-4, $28.00, 368pp, formats: hardcover, trade paper, ebook, audio, Mar 16, 2021)

Urban fantasy novel, sixth in the bestselling ...Read More

Bishop, Anne: The Queen’s Weapons

(Ace 978-1-9848-0665-9, $28.00, 541pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, March 9, 2021)

Fantasy novel, book eleven in the Black Jewels series. Author has stated that this is the end of the series for now.

Brockmeier, Kevin: The Ghost Variations

(Penguin Random House/Pantheon 978-1-524748838, $27, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, March 9, 2021)

Collection of 100 short ghost stories.

Deneen, Brendan: Morbius: The Living Vampire: ...Read More

Beaton, E.J.: The Councillor

(DAW 978-0-7564-1699-7, $27.00, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, March 1, 2021)

Machiavellian fantasy whcih follows a scholar’s quest to choose the next ruler of her nation amidst lies, conspiracy, and assassination. Debut novel.

Boehme, Jillian: The Stolen Kingdom

(Tor Teen 978-1-250-29882-9, $18.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, March 2, 2021)

Young-adult epic fantasy. A vintner’s daughter’s magical blood reveals her to be secret royalty, involving ...Read More

Bacchilega, Cristina, Orme, Jennifer, eds.: Inviting Interruptions: Wonder Tales in the 21st Century

(Wayne State University Press 978-0-8143-4700-3, $92.99, 254pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, Feb 23, 2021)

Anthology of stories, comics, and visual texts intended to challenge the popular heteronormative/happy ending perception of fairy tales. Each entry includes editorial notes and further critical resources.

Galland, Nicole: Master of the Revels

(HarperCollins/Morrow 978-0-06-284487-3, $29.99, 552pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, ...Read More

Ahmad, Ehsan, Ahmad, Shakil: Unbound

(Uproar Books, $16.95, 325pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, Feb 16, 2021)

Space opera SF novel, the second and final book in the Wild Sun duology. Coauthored by two brothers.

Barron, Rena: Reaper of Souls

(HarperTeen 978-0-06-287098-8, $18.99, pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, Feb 16, 2021)

Young adult fantasy novel, the second in a trilogy inspired by West Africa.

Bear, Greg: The Unfinished Land ...Read More

Note: the Locus Online editor has stepped down from producing New Books posts, and we are in the process of rebuilding the workflow. Thank you for your patience as we do this.

Deas, Stephen: The Moonsteel Crown

(Angry Robot US 978-0-857668769 $14.99, 384pp, trade paperback, February 9, 2021)

The Emperor of Aria is dead, and three junior members of a street gang are unwittingly caught up in the ensuing struggle ...Read More

New books this week are by Andrew Caldecott, Craig Dilouie, John Fleskes, Peter F. Hamilton, Essa Hansen, E.E. Knight, R.F. Kuang, Jonathan Maberry, Chloe Neill, J.K. Rowling, Brandon Sanderson, Harry Turtledove, and Kimberly Unger.

+ Caldecott, Andrew : Lost Acre (Jo Fletcher 978-1787473768, $26.99, 496pp, hardcover, November 2020) • Nominal Publication Date: ...Read More

Unannotated listing of new books published from 27 Oct to 3 Nov 2020. ...Read More