Upcoming

Upcoming: A PRAYER FOR THE CROWN-SHY by Becky Chambers (Tor.com)

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ChambersB-M&R2-PrayerForTheCrownShyNext summer, Tor.com are due to publish the second novella in Becky Chambers‘s Monk & Robot science fiction series: A Prayer For the Crown-Shy. The first book in the series, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, was a great surprise and one of my favourite reads of the year. The cover for book two was unveiled recently, in addition to the synopsis:

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is a story of kindness and love from one of the foremost practitioners of hopeful SF.

After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.

They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

In a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy is due to be published by Tor.com in North America and in the UK, on July 22nd, 2022. I’m really looking forward to this one.

Also on CR: Reviews of A Psalm for the Wild-Built and To Be Taught, If Fortunate

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Upcoming: SWEEP OF STARS by Maurice Broaddus (Tor.com)

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BroaddusM-SweepOfStarsNext year, Tor Books are due to publish the first book in Maurice Broaddus‘s new Astra Black trilogy: a sci-fi epic that explores the struggles of  members of the interstellar Muungano empire — a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretches from O.E. (original earth) to Titan — as it faces an escalating series of threats. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of Broaddus’s previous work, and I’m rather looking forward to giving this a try. Here’s the synopsis:

“The beauty in blackness is its ability to transform. Like energy we are neither created nor destroyed, though many try.” — West African Proverb

The Muungano empire strived and struggled to form a utopia when they split away from old earth. Freeing themselves from the endless wars and oppression of their home planet in order to shape their own futures and create a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretched from Earth and Mars to Titan.

With the wisdom of their ancestors, the leadership of their elders, the power and vision of their scientists and warriors they charted a course to a better future. But the old powers could not allow them to thrive and have now set in motion new plots to destroy all that they’ve built.

In the fire to come they will face down their greatest struggle yet.

Amachi Adisa and other young leaders will contend with each other for the power to galvanize their people and chart the next course for the empire.

Fela Buhari and her elite unit will take the fight to regions not seen by human eyes, but no training will be enough to bring them all home.

Stacia Chikeke, captain of the starship Cypher, will face down enemies across the stars, and within her own vessel, as she searches for the answers that could save them all.

The only way is forward.

Maurice Broaddus’s Sweep of Stars is due to be published by Tor Books in North America and in the UK, on March 29th, 2022.

Also on CR: Interview with Maurice Broaddus (2017); Guest Post on “Worldbuilding Pimp My Airship“

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Upcoming: OGRES by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Solaris)

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TchaikovskyA-OgresA new book from Adrian Tchaikovsky is always great news. Next year, Solaris are due to publish the author’s fifth novella with them, Ogres. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each of the author’s shorter books (he’s published a few with Tor.com, too), and this one looks equally intriguing. Here’s the synopsis:

Ogres are bigger than you.

Ogres are stronger than you.

Ogres rule the world.

It’s always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call.

Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It’s always been that way. It’s the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes.

But when the headman’s son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord’s son, he sets himself on a path to learn the terrible truth about the Ogres, and about the dark sciences that ensured their rule.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Ogres is due to be published by Solaris Books on March 17th, 2022.

Also on CR: Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky (2012); Guest Posts on “Nine Books, Six Years, One Stenwold Maker”, “The Art of Gunsmithing — Writing Guns of the Dawn“, “Looking for God in Melnibone Places: Fantasy and Religion”, and “Eye of the Spider”; Excerpt from Guns of the Dawn; Reviews of Empire of Black & Gold, Guns of the Dawn, Children of Ruin, Spiderlight, Ironclads, Made Things, One Day All This Will Be Yours, and Shards of Earth

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Upcoming: LAST EXIT by Max Gladstone (Tor)

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GladstoneM-LastExitUSI can’t remember when or where I first heard about Max Gladstone‘s upcoming new novel, Last Exit (probably from a catalogue), but after the cover was revealed my interest was well and truly piqued — I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but just look at it. Described as “American Gods meets The Dark Tower in Last Exit,” I think this is going to be a good one. Here’s the synopsis:

Ten years ago, Zelda led a band of merry adventurers whose knacks let them travel to alternate realities and battle the black rot that threatened to unmake each world. Zelda was the warrior; Ish could locate people anywhere; Ramon always knew what path to take; Sarah could turn catastrophe aside. Keeping them all connected: Sal, Zelda’s lover and the group’s heart.

Until their final, failed mission, when Sal was lost. When they all fell apart.

Ten years on, Ish, Ramon, and Sarah are happy and successful. Zelda is alone, always traveling, destroying rot throughout the US.

When it boils through the crack in the Liberty Bell, the rot gives Zelda proof that Sal is alive, trapped somewhere in the alts.

Zelda’s getting the band back together ― plus Sal’s young cousin June, who has a knack none of them have ever seen before.

As relationships rekindle, the friends begin to believe they can find Sal and heal all the worlds. It’s not going to be easy, but they’ve faced worse before.

But things have changed, out there in the alts. And in everyone’s hearts.

Fresh from winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards, Max Gladstone weaves elements of American myth ― the muscle car, the open road, the white-hatted cowboy ― into a deeply emotional tale where his characters must find their own truths if they are to survive.

Max Gladstone’s Last Exit is due to be published by Tor Books in North America and in the UK, on February 22nd, 2022.

Also on CR: Interview with Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar (2019)

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Upcoming: SEA OF TRANQUILITY by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf/Picador)

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MandelESJ-SeaOfTranquilityUSHCLike many people, I thoroughly enjoyed Emily St. John Mandel‘s 2014 novel, Station Eleven. While I’ve been slowly catching up with the author’s earlier novels, I’ve also been eagerly anticipating each new novel (The Glass Hotel, a follow-up to Station Eleven, was published last year). Next April, readers will be able to enjoy the author’s next offering, Sea of Tranquility — an ambitious-looking, centuries-spanning novel with an intriguing science fictional twist. Here’s the synopsis:

A novel of art, time, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon three hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space.

Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing in an airship terminal — an experience that shocks him to his core.

MandelESJ-SeaOfTranquilityUKHCTwo centuries later a famous writer named Olive Llewellyn is on a book tour. She’s traveling all over Earth, but her home is the second moon colony, a place of white stone, spired towers, and artificial beauty. Within the text of Olive’s bestselling pandemic novel lies a strange passage: a man plays his violin for change in the echoing corridor of an airship terminal as the trees of a forest rise around him.

When Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City, is hired to investigate an anomaly in the North American wilderness, he uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

Really looking forward to reading this. Emily St. John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility is due to be published by Knopf in North America (April 19th) and Picador in the UK (April 28th).

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Upcoming: FAR FROM THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN by Tade Thompson (Orbit)

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ThompsonT-FarFromTheLightOfHeavenThe cover and synopsis for Tade Thompson‘s next novel — Far From the Light of Heaven — was unveiled by Orbit Books a little while ago. In addition to that eye-catching artwork, the novel’s synopsis also grabbed my attention, and I’m very much looking forward to reading this:

The colony ship Ragtime docks in the Lagos system, having traveled light-years from home to bring thousands of sleeping souls to safety among the stars.

Some of the sleepers, however, will never wake — and a profound and sinister mystery unfolds aboard the gigantic vessel as its skeleton crew make decisions that will have repercussions for the entire system — from the scheming politicians of Lagos station to the colony of Nightshade and the poisoned planet of Bloodroot, poised for a civil war.

Tade Thompson’s Far From the Light of Heaven is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on October 26th, 2021. Thompson is also the author of the superb Molly Southbourne novellas, the Wormwood Trilogy, and Making Wolf — all out now!

Also on CR: Reviews of The Murders of Molly Southbourne and The Survival of Molly Southbourne

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Upcoming: YOU SEXY THING by Cat Rambo (Tor Books)

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RamboC-YouSexyThingIn addition to having a rather eye-catching title, Cat Rambo‘s next novel has an unusual pitch: “Farscape meets The Great British Bake Off“. My interest in You Sexy Thing has certainly been piqued. Due to be published in September, here’s the synopsis:

Just when they thought they were out…

TwiceFar station is at the edge of the known universe, and that’s just how Niko Larson, former Admiral in the Grand Military of the Hive Mind, likes it.

Retired and finally free of the continual war of conquest, Niko and the remnants of her former unit are content to spend the rest of their days working at the restaurant they built together, The Last Chance.

But, some wars can’t ever be escaped, and unlike the Hive Mind, some enemies aren’t content to let old soldiers go. Niko and her crew are forced onto a sentient ship convinced that it is being stolen and must survive the machinations of a sadistic pirate king if they even hope to keep the dream of The Last Chance alive.

Cat Rambo’s You Sexy Thing is due to be published by Tor Books in North America and in the UK, on September 7th, 2021.

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Upcoming: GIGANTIC by Ashley Stokes (Unsung Stories)

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The cover for Ashley Stokes‘s upcoming new novel, Gigantic, was recently revealed on Fantasy Hive. Due to be published in September, it has a premise that looks quite fun and intriguing:

“I wasn’t sure you would get this far, so thanks a million already. You opened the mystery bag… Inside the bag, along with this letter, is a dossier that describes the whole story.”

Kevin Stubbs is a Knower. He knows life hasn’t always treated him fairly. He knows he wants to be allowed access to his son again. But most of all, he knows that the London Borough of Sutton is being stalked by a nine-foot-tall, red-eyed, hairy relict hominid — the North Surrey Gigantopithecus.

Armed with a thermal imaging camera (aka the Heat Ray), a Trifield 100XE electromagnetic field reader (aka the Tractor Beam), and his trusty comrades in the GIT (aka the Gigantopithecus Intelligence Team), Kevin sets out to prove that the Gartree-Hogg footage from Sutton Cock is real, and that a British Bigfoot is living in suburban London: FACT.

But what he discovers undermines everything he believes in — and forces Kevin to face up to his own failures, and the very real, very scary prospect that he might have got it all terribly wrong.

Ashely Stokes’s Gigantic is due to be published by Unsung Stories on September 2nd, 2021.

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Upcoming: THE DESERT PRINCE by Peter V. Brett (Voyager/Del Rey)

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PrettPV-1-DesertPrinceUKThis August, the highly-anticipated new novel by Peter V. Brett is due to arrive on shelves. The Desert Prince is set in the same world as his best-selling Demon Cycle series — only, 15 years later, and is the start of an as-yet-untitled new series. It’s UK and North American covers were unveiled recently, so I thought I’d share them here. If you haven’t yet had the chance to read any of Brett’s novels, then I’d highly recommend them: The Painted Man (UK)/The Warded Man (US) is one of the best fantasy debuts I’ve ever read.

Here’s the synopsis for The Desert Prince:

Fifteen years have passed since the end of the war with demons, creatures of darkness who have hunted the night and plagued humanity for time out of mind. The heroes of mankind’s hour of need have become legend, and those that remain struggle to escape their shadows.

Olive Paper and Darin Bales have grown up in this new, peaceful world. Demons have all but been destroyed, but dangers still lurk for the children of heroes.

PrettPV-1-DesertPrinceUSOlive, Princess of Hollow, has her entire life planned out by her mother, Duchess Leesha Paper. A steady march on a checklist to prepare her for succession. The more her mother writes the script, the more Olive rails against playing the parts her mother assigns.

Darin faces challenges of a different kind. Though free to choose his own path, the weight of legacy hangs heavy round his shoulders. It isn’t easy being the son of the man people say saved the world. Everyone expects greatness from Darin, but the only thing he’s ever been great at is hiding.

But when Olive and Darin step across the wards one night, they learn the demons are not all gone, and those that remain hunger for revenge. Events are set in motion that only Prophecy can foresee as Olive and Darin seek to find their own places in the world in time to save it again.

Peter V. Brett’s The Desert Prince is due to be published by Voyager in the UK and Del Rey in North America, on August 3rd, 2021.

Also on CR: Reviews of The Painted/Warded Man, The Great Bazaar & Brayan’s Gold, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War, and Messenger’s Legacy

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Upcoming: THIEF OF SOULS/CITY OF ICE by Brian Klingborg (Minotaur/Headline)

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KlingborgB-LF1-ThiefOfSoulsUSI spotted Brian Klingborg‘s upcoming novel in a catalogue a little while ago, and have been looking forward to reading it ever since. Earlier this week, I found the UK cover, so I decided to share the details here. Published in North America as Thief of Souls, and in the UK as City of Ice, it looks like an intriguing start to a new Chinese crime/mystery series. Here’s the synopsis:

The brutal murder of a young woman in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing — but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, living in exile in the small town, is interested in justice for the victim.

KlingborgB-LF1-CityOfIceUKLu Fei is a graduate of China’s top police college but he’s been assigned to a sleepy backwater town in northern China, where almost nothing happens and the theft of a few chickens represents a major crime wave. That is until a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, and joss paper stuffed in her mouth. The CID in Beijing — headed by a rising political star — is on the case but in an increasingly authoritarian China, prosperity and political stability are far more important than solving the murder of an insignificant village girl. As such, the CID head is interested in pinning the crime on the first available suspect rather than wading into uncomfortable truths, leaving Lu Fei on his own.

As Lu digs deeper into the gruesome murder, he finds himself facing old enemies and creating new ones in the form of local Communist Party bosses and corrupt business interests. Despite these rising obstacles, Lu remains determined to find the real killer, especially after he links the murder to other unsolved homicides. But the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery, the more he puts himself and his loved ones in danger.

Brian Klingborg’s first Inspector Lu Fei novel is due to be published on May 4th, 2021, in North America by Minotaur Books, as Thief of Souls; and in the UK by Headline as City of Ice.

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