Excerpt

Excerpt: ROGUE SEQUENCE by Zac Topping (Tor Books)

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ToppingZ-RogueSequenceUSHCRogue Sequence is the latest near-ish future thriller from Zac Topping. Due to be published by Tor Books in June, it promises more of the action-packed intensity of the author’s previous novel, Wake of War (which I have, and is rapidly climbing my TBR mountain). The publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share with our readers, to whet your appetite for the upcoming novel. Here’s the synopsis:

It’s 2091 and independent contract companies around the world are producing genetically modified soldiers… to be sold to the highest bidders.

Ander Rade is a super-soldier, a genetically engineered living weapon, and has been dutifully following orders since he gave himself to Xyphos Industries’ Gene-Mod Program several years ago. But when a mission goes sideways, he’s captured, imprisoned, and forced into brutally violent fighting pits for the better part of the next decade… until agents from the Genetic Compliance Department of the United American Provinces appear in the visiting room.

Things have changed since Rade was captured. Shortly after his incarceration, the World Unity Council banned human genetic engineering and deemed all modified individuals a threat to society. Overnight, an entire subculture of people became outlaws simply for existing. But instead of leaving Rade locked behind bars, the GCD agents have come with an offer: Freedom in exchange for his help tracking down one of his former teammates from that ill-fated mission all those years ago.

It’s an offer Rade can’t refuse, but he soon realizes that the situation is far more volatile than anyone had anticipated, and is forced to take matters into his own hands as he tries to figure out whose side he’s really on, and why.

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Excerpt: HELL FOR HIRE by Rachel Aaron (Bach/Aaron)

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AaronR-HellForHireHell For Hire is publishing next month: Rachel Aaron‘s next action-packed urban fantasy, and the first novel in the author’s Tear Down Heaven series. Fans of Aaron’s work will no doubt find plenty of what they’ve come to enjoy in her books. Today, we have the first chapter to share with CR’s readers. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

The Crew
A hulked-out wrath demon who eats gamer rage and loves cats, a shapeshifting lust demon who enjoys their food a bit toomuch, and a void demon who doesn’t see the point of any of this. They’re not the sort of mercenaries you’d hire on purpose, but Bex wouldn’t trust her life to anyone else.

Ever since the ancient Mesopotamian king Gilgamesh decided death wasn’t for him, killed the gods, and conquered the afterlife, times have been rough for a free demon. But the denizens of the Nine Hells aren’t the quitting sort, and Bex and her team have been choking a living out of the Eternal King’s lackeys for years. It’s not honest work, but when Heaven itself declares you a non-person, you smash-and-grab what you can get.

This next gig looks like more of the same… until Bex meets the client.

The Job
Adrian Blackwood is a witch with a problem. His family has skirted the edges of King Gilgamesh’s ire for centuries, but thanks to a decision he made as a child, Adrian is personally responsible for putting his entire coven in Heaven’s crosshairs.

Determined to set things right, Adrian drags his broom, caldron, and talking cat thousands of miles across the country to Seattle where he can fight the Eternal King’s warlocks without bringing the rest of his family into the fray. But witchcraft — like all crafts — takes time, and if the warlocks catch him before his spells are ready, he’s dead. So Adrian does what any professional witch would do and hires a team of mercenaries to keep the warlocks off his back. He didn’t expect to get demons, but when you’re already on the killing-edge of Heaven’s bad side, what’s a bit more fuel on the fire?

Sometimes you get more than you paid for.
Neither Adrian nor Bex knew what to expect when they signed their contract, but witch-plus-demon turns out to be a match made in the Hells. With this much chaos at their fingertips, even impossible dreams can come back into reach, because Bex wasn’t always a mercenary. She used to be the Eternal King’s biggest nightmare, and now that she’s got a witch in her corner, it’s time to put the old magics back on the field and show Adrian Blackwood just how much Hell he’s hired.

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Excerpt: A FRIEND INDEED by Elka Ray (Blackstone Publishing)

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RayE-AFriendIndeedUSHCTomorrow, Blackstone Publishing are due to publish the latest novel by Elka Ray: A Friend Indeed — a “twisty and ingenious” psychological thriller, “perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Ruth Ware.” To mark the release, we have an excerpt (Chapter 2), provided by the publisher. First, here’s the synopsis:

Twisty and ingenious, A Friend Indeed is an engrossing psychological thriller perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Ruth Ware.

When single mom Jo Dykstra was at her lowest — jobless and penniless — her childhood friend Dana McFarlane helped her out big-time by securing her a teaching job and thus an opportunity for a new life in the affluent Pacific Northwest town of Glebes Bay. So, when Jo gets a frantic late-night call from Dana, sobbing and desperate for help, it feels like a chance to help her friend in return.

The last thing Jo expects to see when she arrives at Dana’s oceanfront mansion? Her friend’s handsome and wealthy husband, Stan, dead, sprawled face down on the floor. Dana admits to killing her husband following years of secret abuse and begs Jo not to call the police. For nearly two decades, Dana’s marriage and family had looked picture perfect. Who’d ever believe that pillar-of-the-community Stan was a monster? Determined to cover up her husband’s killing and shield her kids from scandal, Dana convinces Jo to help her dispose of the body.

But the cover-up starts to crumble when a blackmailer threatens to expose their crime. Hounded by gossipy neighbors, ill-fated lovers, and zealous cops, truth and lies are laid bare between Jo and Dana, putting their families in danger and threatening to shatter a thirty-year friendship. Shocking and fast-paced, A Friend Indeed is a riveting tale about the power of friendship and the deadly weight of lies.

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Excerpt: STILL WATERS by Matt Goldman (Forge)

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GoldmanM-StillWatersUSHCStill Waters, the latest thriller from Matt Goldman, is due to be published on May 21st. To celebrate the pending release, Forge Books has allowed CR to share the first two chapter from the book! Before we get to that, check out the synopsis:

If you’re reading this email, I am dead. I know this will sound strange, but someone has been trying to kill me.

Liv and Gabe Ahlstrom are estranged siblings who haven’t seen each other in years, but that’s about to change when they receive a rare call from their older brother’s wife. “Mack is dead,” she says. “He died of a seizure.” Five minutes after they hang up, Liv and Gabe each receive a scheduled email from their dead brother, claiming that he was murdered.

The siblings return to their family run resort in the Northwoods of Minnesota to investigate Mack’s claims, but Leech Lake has more in store for them than either could imagine. Drawn into a tangled web of lies and betrayal that spans decades, they put their lives on the line to unravel the truth about their brother, their parents, themselves, and the small town in which they grew up. After all, no one can keep a secret in a small town, but someone in Leech Lake is willing to kill for the truth to stay buried.

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Excerpt: THE RUNES OF ENGAGEMENT by Dave Klecha & Tobias S. Buckell (Tachyon Publications)

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BuckellKlecha-RunesOfEngagementUSHCNext month, Tachyon Publications are due to publish the new novel by Dave Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell: The Runes of Engagement. Pitched as “The Lord of the Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World of Warcraft“, it’s a “delirious mashup” that pits the U.S. military against legendary monsters from fantasy novels and roleplaying games. And that sounds very cool indeed! To celebrate the upcoming release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share. But first, here’s the synopsis:

No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But the world fought back against the invaders as best it could, with soldiers, tactical weapons, and even some rudimentary magic.

Now a tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side of the portals. The enchanting landscape looks like Middle Earth but — to the dismay of the nerdiest soldiers — is nothing like it. While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a VIP (Very Important Princess) who could broker a strategic alliance between worlds.

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Excerpt: The FORTUNATE FALL by Cameron Reed (Tor Books)

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ReedC-FortunateFallUS2024This summer, Tor Books are due to publish the new, Essentials edition of The Fortunate Fall, Cameron Reed‘s debut novel. This edition also marks the book’s return to print after a few decades. With a new introduction by Jo Walton, this looks like a perfect way to (re)visit this classic science fiction novel. To celebrate the upcoming release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share. Before we get to that, though, here’s the synopsis:

Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure.

On its first publication in 1996, The Fortunate Fall was hailed as an SF novel of a wired future on par with the debuts of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Now it returns to print, in advance of forthcoming new work by the same author. It is one of the great underground classics of the last several decades in SF.

Maya Andreyeva is a “camera,” a reporter with virtual-reality-broadcasting equipment implanted in her brain. What she sees, millions see; what she feels, millions share.

And what Maya is seeing is the cover-up of a massacre. As she probes into the covert political power plays of a radically strange near-future Russia, she comes upon secrets that have been hidden from the world… and memories that AI-controlled thought police have forced her to hide from herself. Because in a world where no thought or desire is safe, the price of survival is betrayal — of your lover, your ideals, and yourself.

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Excerpt: RAKESFALL by Vajra Chandrasekera (TorDotCom)

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ChandrasekeraV-RakesfallUSHCToday, we have an excerpt from the new “standalone science fiction epic about two souls bound together from here until the ends of time” by Vajra Chandrasekera: Rakesfall.

Some stories take more than one lifetime to tell. There are wrongs that echo through the ages, friendships that outpace the claws of death, loves that leave their mark on civilization, and promises that nothing can break. This is one such story.

Annelid and Leveret met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. They found each other in a torn-up nation, peering through propaganda to grasp a deeper truth. And in a demon-haunted wood, another act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey throughout the ages. No world can hold them, no life can bind them, and they’ll never leave each other behind.

Tracing two souls through endless lifetimes, Rakesfall is a virtuosic exploration of what stories can be. As Annelid and Leveret reincarnate ever deeper into the future, they will chase the edge of human possibility, in a dark science fiction epic unlike anything you’ve read before

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Excerpt: CALYPSO by Oliver K. Langmead (Titan Books)

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LangmeadOK-CalypsoHCToday, we have an excerpt from the new epic verse novel Calypso, by Oliver K. Langmead: “A saga of colony ships, shattering moons and cataclysmic war in a new Eden.” It’s out now, published by Titan Books. Here’s the synopsis:

Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role as engineer on the colony ark, Calypso. But she finds the ship has transformed into a forest, populated by the original crew’s descendants, who revere her like a saint.

She travels the ship with the Calypso’s creator, the enigmatic Sigmund, and Catherine, a bioengineered marvel who can commune with the plants, uncovering a new history of humanity forged while she slept.

She discovers a legacy of war between botanists and engineers. A war fought for the right to build a new Earth – a technological paradise, or a new Eden in bloom, untouched by mankind’s past.

And Rochelle, the last to wake, holds the balance of power in her hands.

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Excerpt: WITHERED by A.G.A. Wilmot (ECW Press)

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WilmotAGA-WitheredHCTomorrow, ECW Press is due to publish the second novel from A.G.A. Wilmot (following 2018’s The Death Scene Artist): Withered — a “queer paranormal horror novel in the style of showrunner Mike Flannagan” (Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and so forth). To mark the release, the publisher has allowed CR to share the novel’s Prologue with our readers. First, check out the synopsis:

After the tragic death of their father and surviving a life-threatening eating disorder, 18-year-old Ellis moves with their mother to the small town of Black Stone, seeking a simpler life and some space to recover. But Black Stone feels off; it’s a disquieting place surrounded by towns with some of the highest death rates in the country. It doesn’t help that everyone says Ellis’s new house is haunted — everyone including Quinn, a local girl who has quickly captured Ellis’s attention. And Ellis has started to believe what people are saying: they see pulsing veins in their bedroom walls and specters in dark corners of the cellar. Together, Ellis and Quinn dig deep into Black Stone’s past and soon discover that their town, and Ellis’s house in particular, is the battleground in a decades-long spectral war, one that will claim their family — and the town — if it’s allowed to continue.

Withered is queer psychological horror, a compelling tale of heartache, loss, and revenge that tackles important issues of mental health in the way that only horror can: by delving deep into them, cracking them open, and exposing their gruesome entrails.

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Excerpt: GREY DOG by Elliott Gish (ECW Press)

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GishE-GreyDogHCTomorrow, ECW Press are due to publish Grey Dog by Elliott Gish — a “subversive” literary horror debut that “disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage”, it sounds like this deserves quite a wide readership. To celebrate the release, the publisher has provided us with a short excerpt to share with our readers. First, though, here’s the synopsis:

The year is 1901, and Ada Byrd — spinster, schoolmarm, amateur naturalist — accepts a teaching post in isolated Lowry Bridge, grateful for the chance to re-establish herself where no one knows her secrets. She develops friendships with her neighbors, explores the woods with her students, and begins to see a future in this tiny farming community. Her past — riddled with grief and shame — has never seemed so far away.

But then, Ada begins to witness strange and grisly phenomena: a swarm of dying crickets, a self-mutilating rabbit, a malformed faun. She soon believes that something old and beastly — which she calls Grey Dog — is behind these visceral offerings, which both beckon and repel her. As her confusion deepens, her grip on what is real, what is delusion, and what is traumatic memory loosens, and Ada takes on the wildness of the woods, behaving erratically and pushing her newfound friends away. In the end, she is left with one question: What is the real horror? The Grey Dog, the uncontainable power of female rage, or Ada herself?

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