Sci-Fi

Upcoming: THE HOUND OF JUSTICE by Claire O’Dell (Voyager)

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ODellC-JWC2-HoundOfJusticeClaire O’Dell‘s sci-fi take on Holmes and Watson return in the follow-up to the critically-acclaimed A Study in Honor. I’ve heard really good things about the series, but have yet to read the first novel (so many new series, so little time…). The Hound of Justice is due to be released in July 2019, though, so I have plenty of time to get caught up. Here’s the synopsis:

Dr. Janet Watson and former covert agent Sarah Holmes continue their dangerous investigation into the new American Civil War with the help of fresh allies, advanced technology, and brilliant deduction in this superb reimagining of Sherlock Holmes.

It’s been two months since Dr. Janet Watson accepted an offer from Georgetown University Hospital. The training for her new high-tech arm is taking longer than expected, however, leaving her in limbo. Meanwhile, her brilliant friend and compatriot, Sara Holmes, has been placed on leave — punishment for going rogue during their previous adventure. Neither is taking their situation very well.

Then an extremist faction called the Brotherhood of Redemption, based in the New Confederacy, launches an assassination attempt on the president. The attempt fails but causes mass destruction — fifty dead and hundreds more injured, and Holmes takes on the task of investigating the Brotherhood.

Holmes is making progress when she abruptly disappears. Watson receives a mysterious message from Holmes’s cousin Micha and learns that her friend has quit the service and is operating in the shadows, investigating clues that link the Brotherhood to Adler Industries.

She needs a surgeon, Micha tells Watson. She needs you.

Reunited once more, Dr. Watson, Holmes, and Micha embark on a mission through the deep South to clear Holmes’s name, thwart the Brotherhood’s next move, and most important, bring their nemesis to justice for the atrocities she’s committed in the New Civil War.

The Hound of Justice is due to be published by Harper Voyager in North America and in the UK, in July 2019.

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Upcoming: IMPOSSIBLE TIMES series by Mark Lawrence (47 North)

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Mark Lawrence is best-known for his excellent, best-selling grimdark fantasy novels, including the Broken Empire and Red Queen’s War trilogies, and, most recently, the Book of the Ancestor series. Next year, 47 North are due to publish Lawrence’s first series outside of the fantasy genre (to my knowledge, anyway): the Impossible Times. Described as “Ready Player One meets Stranger Things“, it sounds like a lot of fun. Here’s the synopsis for the first book in the series, One Word Kill:

In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange — yet curiously familiar — man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help — now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

Challenge accepted.

One Word Kill and Limited Wish are due to be published by 47 North in May and June 2019, respectively.

Also on CR: Interview with Mark Lawrence (2011); Reviews of Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns and Prince of Fools

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Upcoming: FINDER by Suzanne Palmer (DAW)

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PalmerS-1-FinderUSDescribed as an “action-packed sci-fi caper” starring an “interstellar repo man and professional finder”, this debut space opera looks like a lot of fun! Suzanne Palmer‘s Finder (maybe the first in a series?) is due to be published by DAW Books in North America, on April 2nd, 2019. At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any information about a UK edition. Here’s the synopsis:

Fergus Ferguson has been called a lot of names: thief, con artist, repo man. He prefers the term finder.

His latest job should be simple. Find the spacecraft Venetia’s Sword and steal it back from Arum Gilger, ex-nobleman turned power-hungry trade boss. He’ll slip in, decode the ship’s compromised AI security, and get out of town, Sword in hand.

Fergus locates both Gilger and the ship in the farthest corner of human-inhabited space, a gas-giant-harvesting colony called Cernee. But Fergus’ arrival at the colony is anything but simple. A cable car explosion launches Cernee into civil war, and Fergus must ally with Gilger’s enemies to navigate a field of space mines and a small army of hostile mercenaries. What was supposed to be a routine job evolves into negotiating a power struggle between factions. Even worse, Fergus has become increasingly — and inconveniently — invested in the lives of the locals.

It doesn’t help that a dangerous alien species thought mythical prove unsettlingly real, and their ominous triangle ships keep following Fergus around.

Foolhardy. Eccentric. Reckless. Whatever he’s called, Fergus will need all the help he can get to take back the Sword and maybe save Cernee from destruction in the process.

Looking forward to this one!

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Upcoming: THE WICKED AND THE DAMNED by David Annandale, Phil Kelly and Josh Reynolds (Black Library)

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AnnandaleKellyReynolds-WickedAndTheDamnedNext year, Black Library are going to kick off their range of horror fiction, and I for one can’t wait! It looks like the series is going to include re-issues of Kim Newman’s Genevieve novels, as well as some brand new works. First up is The Wicked and the Damned by David Annandale, Phil Kelly and Josh Reynolds. A portmanteau novel, here’s the synopsis:

Drawn together by mysterious circumstances, three strangers meet in the mists of a desolate cemetery world. As they relate their stories, the threads of fate are drawn around them, and destiny awaits…

On a misty cemetery world, three strangers are drawn together through mysterious circumstances. Each of them has a tale to tell of a narrow escape from death. Amid the toll of funerary bells and the creep and click of mortuary-servitors, the truth is confessed. But whose story can be trusted? Whose recollection is warped, even unto themselves? For these are strange stories of the uncanny, the irrational and the spine-chillingly frightening, where horrors abound and the dark depths of the human psyche is unearthed.

The Wicked and the Damned will be available to pre-order from Black Library on March 23rd, 2019, and will arrive in stores on April 4th.

Follow the Author (Annandale): Website, Goodreads, Twitter
Follow the Author (Kelly): Website, Goodreads
Follow the Author (Reynolds): Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: THE BAYERN AGENDA by Dan Moren (Angry Robot)

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MorenD-GCW1-BayernAgendaI must confess that the cover is really what attracted me to this book. Of course, reading the synopsis added to my interest, but I’m pretty sure I first learned of this novel when the cover was unveiled. Nevertheless, I think Dan Moren‘s The Bayern Agenda looks really interesting, and like a rather intriguing mixture of spy and sci-fi fiction (“Traitor, Pilot, Banker, Spy”):

Simon Kovalic, top intelligence operative for the Commonwealth of Independent Systems, is on the frontline of the burgeoning Cold War with the aggressive Illyrican Empire. He barely escapes his latest mission with a broken arm, and vital intel which points to the Empire cozying up to the Bayern Corporation: a planet-sized bank. There’s no time to waste, but with Kovalic out of action, his undercover team is handed over to his ex-wife, Lt Commander Natalie Taylor. When Kovalic’s boss is tipped off that the Imperium are ready and waiting, it’s up to the wounded spy to rescue his team and complete the mission before they’re all caught and executed.

The Bayern Agenda is due to be published by Angry Robot Books in North America and in the UK in March 2019.

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Upcoming: LIGHT BRIGADE by Kameron Hurley (Angry Robot/Saga Press)

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HurleyK-LightBrigadeThat just might be the most dazzling cover I’ve seen in a while: it’s bright, attention-grabbing and just a little bit blinding… While I haven’t read as much of Kameron Hurley‘s work as I would like, I have enjoyed everything that’s crossed my path so far (I would especially recommend the Bel Dame series). I think The Light Brigade is a stand-alone novel, and it sounds pretty cool:

The corporate corps transform their soldiers into light to travel between interplanetary battlegrounds. Most grunts make it in one piece, though some don’t, and others come back… different. Fresh infantry recruit, Dietz, is keen to fight and claim her corporate citizenship, but when she’s busted into light it seems like her combat drops are out of sync with everyone else’s. Is Dietz experiencing the war differently, or is it combat stress bending her mind? As she struggles to untangle her timeline, Dietz glimpses a very different war than in the corporate propaganda – one that needs a hero, or maybe a villain – truth is the first casualty of war.

The Light Brigade is due to be published by Saga Press in North America (March 2019) and Angry Robot Books in the UK (April 2019).

Also on CR: Guest Post on “And the World Turned Gray: Gritty vs. Classic Heroes”; Review of God’s War

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Two Quick Reviews: SPEAR OF ULTRAMAR by David Annandale and DREADWING by David Guymer (Black Library)

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Two new Horus Heresy novellas, set before the Siege of Terra

Released as part of the first Black Library Novella Series, these two books tell the story of what prevented two loyalist Legions from rushing to Terra’s defence during the final push before the Siege. If you’ve been following the Horus Heresy series, then I definitely recommend you read these very good novellas.

Continue reading →

Upcoming: CAGE OF SOULS, WALKING TO ALDEBARAN and CHILDREN OF RUIN by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Head of Zeus, Solaris & Tor/Orbit)

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Tchaikovsky-CageOfSoulsUKNext year, Adrian Tchaikovsky has (at least) two new novels on the way! First up, Cage of Souls, which is due to be published by Head of Zeus in April:

Humanity clings to life on a dying Earth. Epic, far-future SF from an award-winning author.

The Sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapur, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilizations, Shadrapur is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity.

Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor. This is his testament, an account of the journey that took him into the blazing desolation of the western deserts; that transported him east down the river and imprisoned him in the verdant hell of the jungle’s darkest heart; that led him deep into the labyrinths and caverns of the underworld. He will meet with monsters, madmen and mutants.The question is, which one of them will inherit this Earth?

Tchaikovsky-WalkingToAldebaranUKIn May, we will get to read a new short novel that I hadn’t heard about before: Walking to Aldebaran. This one is due to be published by Solaris. Here’s the synopsis:

Chilling story of a lost astronaut on an alien artefact, struggling to find his way home even as the world around him transforms his body and mind.

My name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut.

I got lucky; when a probe sent out to explore the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw.

I got even luckier. When disaster hit and our team was split up, scattered through the endless cold tunnels, I somehow survived.

Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here.

​Lucky me.

Lucky, lucky, lucky.

Tchaikovsky-C2-ChildrenOfRuinUKAnd last, but by no means least (I only spotted this cover while writing this post), we have Children of Ruin, the highly-anticipated follow-up to the superb, Arthur C. Clarke Award-Winning Children of Time. Due to be published by Tor Books (UK) and Orbit (US), also in May. Here’s the synopsis:

IT HAS BEEN WAITING THOUGH THE AGES

NOW IT’S TIME…

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time.

Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.

But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.

And it’s been waiting for them.

It looks like 2019 is going to be a great year for sci-fi! And that’s when you only take into consideration Mr. Tchaikovsky’s novels. (There are so many others to anticipate, too.)

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 in Black & Gold, Guns of the Dawn, Spiderlight

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Twitter

Upcoming: EMPRESS OF FOREVER by Max Gladstone (Tor Books)

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GladstoneM-1-EmpressForeverUSI don’t think I know anyone who has read Max Gladstone‘s work who hasn’t been horrified or disappointed that I haven’t had the pleasure, yet. I recently bought his critically-acclaimed Craft Sequence series, but have just been so slow about getting to them. (Soon! Stop telling me off!) Next year, he has a new series coming out. The cover for the first novel, Empress of Forever was unveiled recently by Barnes & Noble. Not only that, but so was the synopsis, which sounds fantastic:

A smart, swashbuckling, wildly imaginative adventure; the saga of a rag-tag team of brilliant misfits, dangerous renegades, and enhanced outlaws in a wartorn future.

A wildly successful innovator to rival Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action. On the eve of her greatest achievement, she tries to outrun people who are trying to steal her success.

In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine.

The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider — until Vivian Liao arrives. Trapped between the Pride — a ravening horde of sentient machines — and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.

It has been described as “a feminist Guardians of the Galaxy crossed with Star Wars and spiced with the sensibility and spirit of Iain M. Banks and William Gibson” — which just makes it sound even more interesting! Not sure if it’s the first in a series or a stand-alone, though. Empress of Forever is due to be published by Tor Books in June 2019, in North America and the UK.

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Upcoming:VIGILANCE by Robert Jackson Bennett (Tor.com)

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BennettRJ-VigilanceI’ve fallen really far behind on Robert Jackson Bennett‘s work! Shameful, really, given how much I love his novels. Anyway, hot on the heels of the acclaimed Foundryside, he has a new novella on the way from Tor.com! Due to be published on January 29th in North America and in the UK, here’s the synopsis for Vigilance:

A dark science fiction action parable from an America that has permanently surrendered to gun violence.

The United States. 2030. John McDean executive produces “Vigilance,” a reality game show designed to make sure American citizens stay alert to foreign and domestic threats. Shooters are introduced into a “game environment,” and the survivors get a cash prize.

The TV audience is not the only one that’s watching though, and McDean soon finds out what it’s like to be on the other side of the camera.

Really looking forward to reading this! While you’re waiting, I would highly recommend his Divine Cities trilogy, too — published by Jo Fletcher Books in the UK and Crown in North America.

Also on CR: Interview with Robert Jackson Bennett (2012); Guest Post on “City of Stairs and the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist”; Excerpt from City of Stairs; Review of City of Stairs

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