Featuring: Charles Arthur, Anna Bailey, Mike Brooks, S. A. Cosby, Kate Elliott, Mirin Fader, Dan Fante, Alex Finlay, John Fletcher, Jeffrey Frank, Mike Gayle, J.T. Greenhouse, Ha Jin, Chris Hadfield, Cameron Johnston, Ward Larsen, Ben Mezrich, Alex Michaelides, Claire North, J.P. Oakes, K.J. Parker, Vince Passaro, Anna Pitoniak, Nita Prose, Catherine Steadman, Matt Sullivan, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lavie Tidhar
In 2021, Ad Astra are due to publish Furious Heaven, the sequel to Kate Elliott’s acclaimed Unconquerable Sun. A space opera trilogy inspired by the life of Alexander The Great, it has plenty of “non-stop action, space battles and intrigue”. While I still have to get caught up on the first novel, I’m really looking forward to reading them both. Here’s the synopsis for the second novel:
The Republic of Chaonia fleets under the joint command of Princess Sun and her formidable mother, Queen-Marshal Eirene, have defeated and driven out an invading fleet of the Phene Empire, although not without heavy losses. But the Empire remains strong and undeterred. While Chaonia scrambles to rebuild its military, the Empire’s rulers are determined to squash Chaonia once and for all by any means necessary.
On the eve of Eirene’s bold attack on the rich and populous Karnos System, an unexpected tragedy strikes the republic. Sun must take charge or lose the throne. Will Sun be content with the pragmatic path laid out by her mother for Chaonia’s future? Or will she forge her own legend despite all the forces arrayed against her?
Kate Elliott’s Furious Heaven is due to be published by Ad Astra in the UK (September 1st). The first novel was published in North America by Tor Books, so I guess the second novel will be as well (no details at time of writing, though).
Featuring: Marie Brennan, Rae Carson, Antony Dapiran, Eric Jerome Dickey, Seth Dickinson, Kate Elliott, Dan Franklin, John French, Sarah Gerard, Nicole Jarvis, N.K. Jemisin, Stephen Graham Jones, Val Kilmer, Yoon Ha Lee, David Litt, David Mack, Andrew Pyper, John Scalzi, Alexis Schaitkin, V.E. Schwab, Matt Sorum, Zoje Stage, Ryan Van Loan, Adrian J. Walker, Matt Wallace, Martha Wells, Ben Widdicombe, Anne Wiener
Featuring: Fiona Barton, Robert Jackson Bennett, Lee Bermejo, Mike Brooks, Nick Cole, Steve Coogan, Nate Crowley, David Dalglish, Matthew Dunn, Kate Elliott, Christopher Fowler, Alexander Freed, Teresa Frohock, Christopher Golden, Charlaine Harris, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Mark Hodder, Drew Karpyshyn, Julia Knight, Victor Lavalle, Peter Liney, Peter McLean, Claire North, Megan O’Keefe, Steven Rowley, Jane Smiley, Paul Starkey, Tom Toner, Ian Tregillis
Here’s a selection of upcoming titles from Little, Brown UK that have caught my eye. (It’s a bit more of a mix than usual.)
Kelley Armstrong, DECEPTIONS (August 18th, Sphere)TRUST NO ONE
Olivia Jones is desperate for the truth. The daughter of convicted serial killers, she has begun to suspect that her parents are innocent of their crimes. But who can she trust, in a world where betrayal and deception hide in every shadow?
RISK EVERYTHING
Liv does have one secret weapon: a mysterious sixth sense that helps her to anticipate danger. The trouble is, this rare power comes with its own risks. There are dark forces that want to exploit Liv’s talents – and will stop at nothing to win her to their side.
FACE THE TRUTH
Now Liv must decide, before it’s too late. Who does she love? Who is really on her side? And can she save herself without burning down everything that matters most?
Book three in Armstrong’s Cainsville series — following Omens and Visions. All published in the US by Dutton.
*
Stephen Aryan, BATTLEMAGE (September 24th, Orbit)An action-packed and magic-fuelled fantasy novel from a British debut author, Stephen Aryan’s Battlemage features mages fighting an empire-spanning war for a homeland that fears and despises them
‘I can command storms, summon fire and unmake stone,’ Balfruss growled. ‘It’s dangerous to meddle with things you don’t understand.’
BALFRUSS is a battlemage, sworn to fight and die for a country that fears his kind.
VARGUS is a common soldier – while mages shoot lightning from the walls of his city, he is down on the front line getting blood on his blade.
TALANDRA is a princess and spymaster, but the war will force her to risk everything, and make the greatest sacrifice of all.
Magic and mayhem collide in this explosive epic fantasy from a major new talent.
*
Jonathan Aycliffe, THE LOST (October 1st, Constable)When a man is lost, who but his ghosts will find him?
British born Michael Feraru, scion of a long line of Romanian aristocrats, leaves his country of birth and his love, to reclaim his heritage — a Draculian castle deep in the heart of Transylvania. He plans to turn his inheritance into an orphanage in the new post-Ceausescu, post-communist country. There he enlists the help of a young local lawyer, Liliana Popescu, to search for the missing Feraru millions, and battle through the complex maze of old bureaucracy in the scam-rich, newly-born state.
Feraru describes his journey into the heart of the Romanian countryside, wasted by years of neglect and caught in a time-warp, as though the twentieth century had never reached it. When he eventually arrives at his inheritance, he finds the castle of the Ferarus, in a sunless valley in the Carpathian Mountains, is home to much more than memories…
*
Jim Butcher, THE AERONAUT’S WINDLASS (September 29th, Orbit)A new series set in a fantastic world of noble families, steam-powered technology, and magic-wielding warriors…
Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls, aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace.
Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship, Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy’s shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is severely damaged in combat, leaving captain and crew grounded, Grimm is offered a proposition from the Spirearch of Albion-to join a team of agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring Predator to its fighting glory.
And even as Grimm undertakes this dangerous task, he will learn that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity’s ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake.
Published by Orbit in both the UK and US. This is the first in a new series, The Cinder Spires.
*
Monica Byrne, THE GIRL ON THE ROAD (September 3rd, PB, Blackfriars)In a world where global power has shifted east and revolution is brewing, a young woman sets out from her home in India on a desperate, profound journey of escape and discovery.
A young woman called Meena wakes up one morning covered in blood. There are mysterious snakebites across her chest. She knows she’s in danger but something has happened to her memory. All she can do is run — but why? And from whom?
As Meena plots her escape she hears of the Trail – an extraordinary, forbidden bridge that spans the Arabian sea, connecting India to Africa like a silver ribbon. Its purpose is to harness the power of the ocean — Blue Energy — but it also offers a subculture of travellers a chance for sanctuary and adventure.
Convinced the Trail is her salvation, Meena gathers supplies — GPS, a scroll reader, a sealable waterproof pod. And so begins her extraordinary journey — both physical and spiritual – from India to Ethiopia, the home of her birth. But as she runs away from the threat of violence she is also running towards a shocking revelation about her past and her family.
Still haven’t had the chance to read this, unfortunately. New paperback edition.
*
Kate Elliott, COURT OF FIVES (August 27th, LB Young Readers)In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott begins a new trilogy with her debut young adult novel, weaving an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege
Jessamy’s life is a balance between acting like an upper class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But at night she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multi-level athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors. Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an unlikely friendship between a girl of mixed race and a Patron boy causes heads to turn. When a scheming lord tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test Kal’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a powerful clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.
*
Joseph Fink & Jeffery Cranor, WELCOME TO THE NIGHT VALE (October 20th, Orbit)From the creators of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves… no matter where we live. The Telegraph calls Night Vale a ‘cultural phenomenon’ and Time Out says it’s ‘as hilarious as it is macabre’. For fans of Stephen King, Serial, Twin Peaks and of course the number one iTunes podcast itself.
Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.
Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked ‘KING CITY’ by a mysterious man in a tan jacket. She can’t seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City before she herself unravels.
Diane Crayton’s son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane’s started to see her son’s father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.
Diane’s search to reconnect with her son and Jackie’s search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: ‘KING CITY’. It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures . . . if they can ever find it.
*
Robert Galbraith, CAREER OF EVIL (October 22nd, Sphere)When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg.
Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible – and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.
With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…
A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, Career of Evil is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives. You will not be able to put this book down.
I loved the first two novels in Galbraith’s series — The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm. Very much looking forward to Career of Evil. Oh, if you were somehow unaware of the fact, “Robert Galbraith” is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling.
*
Kim Harrison, THE DRAFTER (September 1st, Piatkus)LIVE. DIE. REPEAT.
Detroit 2030: Double-crossed by the person she loved and betrayed by the covert government organization that trained her to use her body as a weapon, Peri Reed is a renegade on the run. Don’t forgive and never forget has always been Peri’s creed. But her day job makes it difficult: she is a drafter, possessed of a rare, invaluable skill for altering time, yet destined to forget both the history she changed and the history she rewrote.
When Peri discovers her name is on a list of corrupt operatives, she realizes that her own life has been manipulated by the agency. Her memory of the previous three years erased, she joins forces with a mysterious rogue soldier in a deadly race to piece together the truth about her fateful final task. With only her intuition to guide her, she’s on a vengeful mission to decide-who must she kill and who, including herself, can she trust?
*
Julia Knight, SWORDS AND SCOUNDRELS (October 8th, Orbit)The first book in the Duellist’s trilogy — a fast-paced adventure from one of the most exciting new British talents in fantasy
Gold is for fools, and dying is for amateurs…
Vocho and Kacha are champion duellists: a brother and sister known for the finest swordplay in the city of Reyes. Or at least they used to be — until they were thrown out of the Duellist’s Guild.
Now all that’s left to them is to become reluctant highwaymen. Well — it’s a living, and for Vocho it’s a way to win back some form of notoriety. But when they pick the wrong carriage to rob, their simple plans to win back fame and fortune go south fast.
After facing down three armed men and barely besting a powerful magician, Vocho and Kacha make off with an immense locked chest. Vocho is convinced it must be worth a fortune, perhaps enough to buy him and his sister back the lives he lost for them when he inadvertently killed a priest.
But the contents of the chest will bring them much more than they’ve bargained for — when they soon find themselves embroiled in a dangerous plot to return an angry king to power…
Julia Knight is also known as Francis Knight, the author of the Rojan Dizon trilogy (which is very good). Details of the second book in the Duellists trilogy, Legends and Liars (November 5th), are here. The covers for all three novels in the series can be seen in all their glory here.
*
Barry Lyga, Peter Facinelli & Robert DeFranco, AFTER THE RED RAIN (August 27th, LB Young Readers)A post-apocalyptic novel with a cinematic twist from New York Times bestseller Barry Lyga, actor Peter Facinelli, and producer Robert DeFranco.
On the ruined planet Earth, where 50 billion people are confined to mega-cities, and resources are scarce, Deedra has been handed a bleak and mundane existence by the Magistrate she works so hard for. But one day, she comes across a beautiful boy struggling to cross the river. A boy with a secretive past and special abilities, who is somehow able to find comfort and life from their dying planet. A boy with an unusual name… Rose.
But just as the two form a bond, it is quickly torn apart by the murder of the Magistrate’s son, and Rose becomes the prime suspect. Little do they know how much their relationship will affect the fate of everyone who lives on the planet.
*
Catherine M. Valente, RADIANT (October 20th, Corsair)Severin Unck is the headstrong young daughter of a world famous film director. She has inherited her father’s love of the big screen but not his exuberant gothic style of filmmaking. Instead, Severin makes documentaries, artful and passionate and even rather brave – for she is a realist in a fantastic alternate universe, in which Hollywood occupies the moon, Mars is rife with lawless saloons, and the solar system contains all manner of creatures, cults and colonies.
For Severin’s latest project she leads her crew to the watery planet of Venus to investigate the disappearance of a diving colony there. But something goes wrong during the course of their investigations; and her crew limp home without her.
All that remains of Severin are fragments. Can these snippets of scenes and shots, voices and memories, pages and recordings be collected and pieced together to tell the story of her life – and shed light on the mystery of her vanishing?
Clever, dreamy, strange and beautifully written – Radiance is a novel about how stories give form to worlds.
David E. Emrys is the author of a couple of self-published fantasies. I got to chatting with him on Twitter, and he seemed like a good fellow. So I asked if he’d like to write something. And he did. So here it is.
Is the fantasy world over-populated? It’s a valid question and one that keeps raising its ugly head in the current era of ‘Lord of the Authors: The Fellowship of the Fantasy’.
Without battling out the topic of Indie vs Traditional, I want to take a moment and talk about fantasy worlds. A simple blog post can’t cover every single fantasy tome to have ever graced a book shelf (or a digital market place like Amazon, for all you e-publishing gurus), but we can highlight a few.
J.R.R. Tolkien with his elves, and his dwarves, his hobbits with their hairy feet, and his trolls. Ringwraiths, a dark lord, and a powerful artefact that is a curse to all those who bear it.
George R.R. Martin with his thrones, and his games, the squabbles of men, and the treachery, futility and thick-fast plots (oh, and if you’ve watched the TV adaptation, there’s a fair number of boobs, too).
Ursula K. Le Guin – if there was a Godmother of fantasy, it would be le Guin. Her stories are folklore brought to life, magic and mysticism intoned with a rich world building.
Robin Hobb, who’s back catalogue boasts more tomes than the knives of Joe Abercrombie’s cast (below) – claimed by Orson Scott Card to have “set the standard for the most serious fantasy novel”.
Peter V. Brett – demons galore! How ‘man’ (and woman!) can overcome their fears for what they believe is right.
Karen Miller strives to break down the old fantasy clichés, using them where she will, but bending and twisting them into something new, pushing ‘fantasy’ into a more ‘fantastical’ realm.
Mark Lawrence explores the moral depravity of a Prince who won’t let anything – or anyone – stand in his way, even if that involves burning the world just to keep warm.
Michael J. Sullivan brings bromance to the fold (Webster’s unofficial definition of bromance: “bro-mance, a combination of brother and romance, meaning ‘a brotherly romance’ between two males.” Often seen sharing large quantities of bruises, beauties, and beatings) with a healthy dose of death-defying escapades and swashbuckling adventures.
John Gwynne breaths fresh life into the folklore and legend side of fantasy, giving Giants, Wyrms and even Angels a gritty new lease with a Nordic/Celtic feel.
Brent Weeks forefronts assassins in one, and mages in another, but above all else they struggle with their own powers for further means.
Brandon Sanderson… Magic, need I say more? But then again, his world-building is second to none.
Joe Abercrombie touts more knives than any sane man should ever need, but lucky for us not all of his characters can be deemed sane enough to count or care for that matter. But when all is said and done, it’s down to being what you’re meant to be, and (as he often states by way of infamous barbarian Logen NineFingers) once you’ve got a task to do, it’s better to do it than live with the fear of it.
Helen Lowe, a relative newcomer to the fold, but with her fresh blood added to the mix, the 2012 Gemmell Award winner (Morningstar category) weighs in with a hefty dose of darker, grittier fantasy and a deeper meaning of how we treat each other.
I’ve barely even touched the surface here. I could go on for hours. James Barclay, David Gemmell (big daddy of British heroic-fantasy), Robert E. Howard, Patrick Rothfuss, Robert Jordan, Tamora Pierce, David Dalglish, Mazarkis Williams, Moses Sirergar III, Ben Galley, Steven Erikson, Christopher Paolini… ok, ok – I’ll stop, now.
So, the fantasy genre is a busy set of worlds. But each and every one of them is different. Yes, a lot of them share themes or creatures (elves, dragons, hobbits, dwarves, damsels in distress… hobbits, or other creatures with hairy feet?), but would you really say: “No more!” Heck, I’m sure if you asked a lot of these authors they’d admit to being inspired by one another. Of course they would.
Ok, let’s imagine if someone said “No more” to Robert Jordan. Would we have the Peter V. Bretts, and Christopher Paolinis of today? “Put that pen down, David Gemmell…”, and voila, no John Gwynnes or James Barclays. How many would we lose if Robert E. Howard had run out of ink on the first page, and Conan had been lost to an unfinished sentence?
IMAGINE THE CHAOS if someone told J.R.R. Tolkien to shave his hobbit and write a rom-com? Think of the children, pray for their futures!
Publishing is an ever changing industry, and fantasy is an ever changing realm of possibilities. If you’re Indie or Traditional, reader or writer… could you really say NO to one last fantasy? And before you start culling dwarves, shaving hobbit feet, or cashing in dragons’ fangs and hoards for the last copy of 50 Shades of Grey, just remember:
A Fantasy author isn’t just for Christmas. They’re for life.
(And even then, they’ll think of a way to come back and haunt you from the afterlife – they are, after all, in the business of fantasy.)
***
D.E.M. Emrys is the author of two eBooks in his Wroge Elements fantasy series: From Man to Man (UK/US – currently free on both) and It Began With Ashes (UK/US).
'just a nobody with a blog'
library lovin', backlist browsin', SFF reader...
Another Book Off The To Be Read Pile
Mostly book reviews, and sometimes other stuff
Book Reviews, News, and Other Stuff
My Irrational Life
The writings, reviews and ramblings of Paul Starkey...
by Marianne de Pierres
News, data and insight about the powerful forces that shape the world.
Books! Where are the great books?
that doesn't fall apart two days later
A topnotch WordPress.com site
Random musings from an extreme bibliophile.
And for summer days
On the Writing of Epic Fantasy - The Archives
Welcome to Gav Thorpe's Weblog
Speculative fiction
Don't worry. None of this blood is mine.
Civilian Reader 