Upcoming

Upcoming: THE BLACK COAST and THE SPLINTER KING by Mike Brooks (Orbit/Solaris)

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BrooksM-1-BlackCoastUKMike Brooks‘s first foray into epic fantasy, the God-King Chronicles series, arrives this year! The first novel, The Black Coast, is already out now in the UK (published by Orbit), and is due out in mid-March in North America. Fans of the first novel won’t have to wait long for the sequel, though, as The Splinter King is due out in July! The series has an intriguing premise, and I’m looking forward to reading the novels. For readers in North America, here’s the synopsis for book one…

WAR DRAGONS.
FEARSOME RAIDERS.
A DAEMONIC WARLORD ON THE RISE.

When the citizens of Black Keep see ships on the horizon, terror takes them because they know who is coming: for generations, the keep has been raided by the fearsome clanspeople of Tjakorsha. Saddling their war dragons, Black Keep’s warriors rush to defend their home only to discover that the clanspeople have not come to pillage at all. Driven from their own land by a daemonic despot who prophesises the end of the world, the raiders come in search of a new home…

Meanwhile the wider continent of Narida is lurching toward war. Black Keep is about to be caught in the crossfire – if only its new mismatched society can survive.

BrooksM-2-SplinterKingUKAnd, for those who have already had the chance to read the first novel, here’s the synopsis for The Splinter King…

THE WORLD FRACTURES AS A DEAD GOD RISES…

Darel, dragon knight and the new leader of Black Keep, must travel to the palace of the God-King to beg for the lives of his people. But in the capital of Narida, Marin and his warrior husband will be drawn into a palace coup, and Princess Tila will resort to murder to keep her hold on power.

In the far reaches of the kingdom an heir in exile is hunted by assassins, rumours of a rival God-King abound, and daemonic forces from across the seas draw ever nearer…

Mike Brooks’s The Splinter King is due to be published by Orbit in the UK (July 7th) and Solaris Books in North America (September 7th). The two covers above are for the UK editions — I’ll update the post when I find the North American cover. In the meantime, the North American cover for The Black Coast is below. Brooks has also written a number of short stories and novels for Black Library, and is the author of the Keiko sci-fi trilogy (Del Rey in UK; Saga Press in North America).

Also on CR: Interview with Mike Brooks (2015)

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter Continue reading →

Upcoming: THE KINGDOMS by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury)

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PulleyN-KingdomsUSIn May, Bloomsbury is due to publish The Kingdoms, the new novel by Nastasha Pulley. The author of the acclaimed, best-selling Watchmaker of Filigree Street duology and The Bedlam Stacks. It looks like an intriguing mash-up of alternative history/reality and fantasy. Here’s the synopsis:

Come home, if you remember.

The postcard has been held at the sorting office for ninety-one years, waiting to be delivered to Joe Tournier. On the front is a lighthouse – Eilean Mor, in the Outer Hebrides.

Joe has never left England, never even left London. He is a British slave, one of thousands throughout the French Empire. He has a job, a wife, a baby daughter.

But he also has flashes of a life he cannot remember and of a world that never existed – a world where English is spoken in England, and not French.

And now he has a postcard of a lighthouse built just six months ago, that was first written nearly one hundred years ago, by a stranger who seems to know him very well.

Joe’s journey to unravel the truth will take him from French-occupied London to a remote Scottish island, and back through time itself as he battles for his life – and for a very different future.

Natasha Pulley’s The Kingdoms is due to be published on May 25th by Bloomsbury Publishing in North America and in the UK. Really looking forward to reading this one.

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Upcoming: MEET ME IN ANOTHER LIFE by Catriona Silvey (Voyager)

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SilveyC-MeetMeInAnotherLifeUSI only recently stumbled across information about Catriona Silvey‘s upcoming debut novel, Meet Me in Another Life. It was mentioned with a comparison to Kate Atkinson, Audrey Niffenegger, and Claire North, so I decided to check it out. I can see why those comparisons make sense, but the synopsis suggests something quite different, but equally intriguing:

Two people. Infinite lifetimes. One impossible choice.

Thora and Santi are strangers in a foreign city when a chance encounter intertwines their fates. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit — someone who shares their insatiable curiosity, who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Only days later, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.

SilveyC-MeetMeInAnotherLifeUKBut this is only one of the many connections they share. Like satellites trapped in orbit around each other, Thora and Santi are destined to meet again: as a teacher and brilliant student; a caretaker and dying patient; a cynic and believer. In numerous lives they become friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies. As blurred memories and strange patterns compound, Thora and Santi come to a shocking revelation — they must discover the truth of their mysterious attachment before their many lives come to one, final end.

By turns joyful, devastating, and quietly profound, Meet Me in Another Life is a spectacularly compelling page-turner filled with astonishing twists that affirms the power of love to connect us beyond time and space.

Catriona Silvey’s Meet Me in Another Life is due to be published by William Morrow in North America (April 27th) and Voyager in the UK (July 8th). Really looking forward to reading this.

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Upcoming: THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides (Celadon/W&N)

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MichaelidesA-MaidensUSThe Maidens by Alex Michaelides has been getting a fair amount of pre-publication buzz. It’s the author’s second novel (his debut was The Silent Patient). The synopsis suggests an intriguing campus thriller, and certainly piqued my interest:

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike-particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

MichaelidesA-MaidensUKMariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything-including her own life.

Alex Michaelides’s The Maidens is due to be published by Celadon Books in North America (June 15th) and W&N in the UK (June 10th). Looking forward to reading this.

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Upcoming: HELL OF A BOOK by Jason Mott (Dutton/Trapeze)

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MottJ-HellOfABookUSHell of a Book, the upcoming novel by Jason Mott, has been getting some pretty good pre-publication buzz online recently (UK review copies must have just gone out). I haven’t read anything else by Mott, but this sounds really interesting. Pitched as “both incredibly funny and heartfelt”, it’s a novel that “goes to the heart of racism, police violence, and the hidden costs exacted upon Black Americans, and America as a whole.” Really looking forward to reading this. Here’s the synopsis:

In Hell of a Book, an African-American author sets out on a cross-country book tour to promote his bestselling novel. That storyline drives the novel and is the scaffolding of something much larger and urgent: since the novel also tells the story of Soot, a young Black boy living in a rural town in the recent past, and The Kid, a possibly imaginary child who appears to the author on his tour.

MottJ-HellOfABookUKThroughout, these characters’ stories build and build and as they converge, they astonish. For while this heartbreaking and magical book entertains and is at once about family, love of parents and children, art, and money, there always is the tragic story of a police shooting playing over and over on the news.

Who has been killed? Who is The Kid? Will the author finish his book tour, and what kind of world will he leave behind? Unforgettably powerful, an electrifying high-wire act, ideal for book clubs and the book Mott says he has been writing in his head for ten years, Hell of a Book in its final twists truly becomes its title.

Jason Mott’s Hell of a Book is due to be published by Dutton in North America and Trapeze in the UK, on August 10th, 2021.

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Upcoming: THE 22 MURDERS OF MADISON MAY by Max Barry (G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Hodder)

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BarryM-22MurdersOfMadisonMayUSThis summer, readers will get a new novel from Max Barry. The first of Barry’s novels that I read was Lexicon, back in 2013. I really enjoyed it, and set about reading anything else of his I could find (I’d also recommend Jennifer Government). Last year’s Providence was also pretty good. Each of his novels has been interesting and imaginative, so I’m always keen to try his latest book. His new book, The 22 Murders of Madison May sounds pretty interesting:

A mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality.

“I love you. In every world.”

Young real estate agent Madison May is shocked when a client at an open house says these words to her. The man, a stranger, seems to know far too much about her, and professes his love — shortly before he murders her.

Felicity Staples hates reporting on murders. As a journalist for a midsize New York City paper, she knows she must take on the assignment to research Madison May’s shocking murder, but the crime seems random and the suspect is in the wind. That is, until Felicity spots the killer on the subway, right before he vanishes.

Soon, Felicity senses her entire universe has shifted. No one remembers Madison May, or Felicity’s encounter with the mysterious man. And her cat is missing. Felicity realizes that in her pursuit of Madison’s killer, she followed him into a different dimension—one where everything about her existence is slightly altered. At first, she is determined to return to the reality she knows, but when Madison May — in this world, a struggling actress — is murdered again, Felicity decides she must find the killer—and learns that she is not the only one hunting him.

Traveling through different realities, Felicity uncovers the opportunity — and danger — of living more than one life.

Max Barry’s The 22 Murders of Madison May is due to be published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons in North America (July 6th) and Hodder in the UK (July 8th).

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Books on Film: WITHOUT REMORSE by Tom Clancy

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WithoutRemorse2021-PosterTom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst-turned-action-hero-turned-president has had a storied fictional career. The star of 12+ novels (and a secondary character in many more), he has also been the subject of a number of movie adaptations. He was first portrayed on film by Alec Baldwin, in 1990’s The Hunt for Red October — a movie that gave us Sean Connery’s portrayal of Marko Ramius, the only Soviet submarine captain to ever have a thick Scottish accent. In 2018, the character got his first TV adaptation, with Amazon Prime’s Jack Ryan (two seasons are available now, with a third apparently slated for this year). A major supporting character in Clancy’s novels and the movie adaptations is John Kelly/Clark: a former Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran, he is a black ops specialist frequently called in to help out Ryan, to do the unsavoury things in the dark that Ryan can’t or won’t do.

On screen, the character first appeared in 1994’s Clear and Present Danger — in which Ryan (Harrison Ford) gets tangled up in the drug war — and was portrayed by the ever-excellent Willem Dafoe. In The Sum of All Fears (2002), he was portrayed by Liev Schreiber — a quieter version of the character, perhaps, but no less capable. He was more “spy” than Dafoe’s action-man-in-the-jungle version. He was more Schreiber, really.

This year, we’re getting an adaptation of Clancy’s novel that put Clark front-and-centre: Without Remorse (1993). This time, the character will be portrayed by Michael B. Jordan (one of the best young actors today). Continue reading →

Upcoming: AMONG THIEVES by M. J. Kuhn (Gallery/Saga Press)

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KuhnMJ-AmongThievesUSAmong Thieves, M. J. Kuhn‘s debut novel, is pitched as “a high-stakes heist novel set in a gritty world of magic and malice”. It’s not clear if it’s the first in a planned series or a stand-alone, but it looks pretty interesting (I do love a good heist story). Here’s the synopsis:

In just over a year’s time, Ryia Cautella has already earned herself a reputation as the quickest, deadliest blade in the dockside city of Carrowwick — not to mention the sharpest tongue. But Ryia Cautella is not her real name.

For the past six years, a deadly secret has kept her in hiding, running from town to town, doing whatever it takes to stay one step ahead of the formidable Guildmaster — the sovereign ruler of the five kingdoms of Thamorr. No matter how far or fast she travels, his servants never fail to track her down… but even the most powerful men can be defeated.

Ryia’s path now leads directly into the heart of the Guildmaster’s stronghold, and against every instinct she has, it’s not a path she can walk alone. Forced to team up with a crew of assorted miscreants, smugglers, and thieves, Ryia must plan her next moves very carefully. If she succeeds, her freedom is won once and for all… but unfortunately for Ryia, her new allies are nearly as selfish as she is, and they all have plans of their own.

Among Thieves is due to be published by Gallery/Saga Press in North America and in the UK, on September 7th, 2021.

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Review copy received via NetGalley

Upcoming: THE PARIAH by Anthony Ryan (Orbit)

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RyanA-CoS1-PariahAnthony Ryan has a new novel out this year! The Pariah is the first in a new fantasy series, the Covenant of Steel. In addition to that moody cover (which I rather like), the novel’s premise promises an action-packed fantasy of revenge, intrigue, and more:

Born into the troubled kingdom of Albermaine, Alwyn Scribe is raised as an outlaw. Quick of wit and deft with a blade, Alwyn is content with the freedom of the woods and the comradeship of his fellow thieves. But an act of betrayal sets him on a new path – one of blood and vengeance, which eventually leads him to a soldier’s life in the king’s army.

Fighting under the command of Lady Evadine Courlain, a noblewoman beset by visions of a demonic apocalypse, Alwyn must survive war and the deadly intrigues of the nobility if he hopes to claim his vengeance. But as dark forces, both human and arcane, gather to oppose Evadine’s rise, Alwyn faces a choice: can he be a warrior, or will he always be an outlaw?

The Pariah is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on August 24th, 2021.

Also on CR: Guest Post on “Inspiration for Fantasy Authors”

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Upcoming: THE HOOD by Lavie Tidhar (Head of Zeus)

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Tidhar-TheHoodUKHCI already wrote about Lavie Tidhar‘s upcoming The Escapement, earlier today, but it turns out he has two novels out in October 2021! The other is The Hood, the second novel in the author’s Anti-Matter of Britain Quartet. The Hood is a “viscerally entertaining, ominously subversive and poetically profane remixing” of the Robin Hood myth in a similar style to By Force Alone — the author’s superb retelling/remix of the King Arthur myth. Check out the synopsis:

God bless you, England, on this glorious Year of Our Lord, 1145.

Don’t cross the Templars. Everybody knows that. But Will Scarlet, back from the crusades, hopped up on khat and cider, did. Stabbed thrice in the belly but somehow still alive, he’s heading home to Nottingham.

And things are not right in Nottingham.

It’s the wood, you see. Sherwood. Ice-age ancient, impenetrable, hiding a dark and secret heart. As the ancient sages say, If you go into the woods today, you may not come out tomorrow, and the person who comes out may not be you…

The Hood is Lavie Tidhar’s narcotic remix of an ancient English myth, a tale knotted from legends lost to time, shredded and restitched for each passing century. A tale for today.

The Hood is due to be published by Head of Zeus in the UK, on October 7th, 2021. (At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any information about a North American release.)

Also on CR: Reviews of The Violent Century and By Force Alone

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