The Qwillery

Happy Monday!

There are five debuts this week:

The City of Lost Fortunes (A Crescent City Novel 1) by Bryan Camp;

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller;

From Unseen Fire (Aven Cycle 1) by Cass Morris;

The Spirit Photographer by Jon Michael Varese;

and

Collision Theory by Adrian Todd Zuniga.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Guns Above (Signal Airship 1) by Robyn Bennis is out in Trade Paperback;

The Brass God (Gates of the World 3) by K. M. McKinley;

and

Before Mars (A Planetfall Novel 3) by Emma Newman.

Debut novels are highlighted in blue. Novels, etc. by formerly featured DAC Authors are highlighted in green.

April 16, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Ghost Memories (e)(ri)	Heather Graham	Th/GH - Bone Island Trilogy Prequel
Ghost Shadow (e)(ri)	Heather Graham	Th/GH - Bone Island Trilogy 1

April 17, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Lost: A Gaunt's Ghosts Omnibus	Dan Abnett	SF - Gaunt's Ghosts
Traitor Born	Amy A. Bartol	Dys - Secondborn 2
The Guns Above (h2tp)	Robyn Bennis	SF/SP - Signal Airship 1
The City of Lost Fortunes (D)	Bryan Camp	CF - A Crescent City Novel 1
Future Fiction: New Dimensions in International Science Fiction (e)	Bill Campbell (Ed) Francesco Verso (Ed)	SF - Short Stories
Shadow Star: Book Three of the Saga Based on the Movie Willow (e)	Chris Claremont George Lucas	F - The Chronicles of the Shadow War 3
Shadow awn: Book Two of the Saga Based on the Movie Willow (e)	Chris Claremont George Lucas	F - The Chronicles of the Shadow War 2
Shadow Moon: Book One of the Saga Based on the Movie Willow (e)	Chris Claremont George Lucas	F - The Chronicles of the Shadow War 1
Dead But Once	Auston Habershaw	DF - Saga of the Redeemed 3
The Music of the Deep	Elizabeth Hall	CW
Champions of Chaos	Darius Hinks S. P. Cawkwell Ben Counter	F - Warhammer Chronicles 5
The Talisman (ri)	Stephen King Peter Straub	DF
Black House (ri)	Stephen King Peter Straub	H
The Green Mile: The Complete Serial Novel (ri)	Stephen King	P
Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales (ri)	Stephen King	H - Collection
The Night Lies Bleeding	M.D. Lachlan	HistF - Wolfsangel 5
The Long Sunset	Jack McDevitt	SF - The Academy 8
The Brass God	K. M. McKinley	F - Gates of the World 3
Blackfish City (D)	Sam J Miller	F
Noir	Christopher Moore	F/HU
EMPulse2	Deborah D. Moore	SF/AP/PA
It's Not the End and Other Lies	Matt Moore	SF - Collection
From Unseen Fire (D)	Cass Morris	F/HistF - Aven Cycle 1
Before Mars	Emma Newman	SF/Psy - A Planetfall Novel 3
Last Shot: A Han and Lando Novel	Daniel José Older	SF/SO/MTI - Star Wars
Harry Potter Talking Dobby and Collectible Book	Running Press	F
The Real-Town Murders	Adam Roberts	SF
Pocalypse Road (e)	Lilith Saintcrow	H/Z - Roadtrip Z3
Head On: A Novel of the Near Future	John Scalzi	SF/CyP/Th - Lock In 2
The Atrocities	Jeremy C. Shipp	SF/Gothic
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (h2tp)	Neal Stephenson Nicole Galland	SF/TT
The Spirit Photographer (D)	Jon Michael Varese	Hist/Sus
Jules Verne: The Essential Collection	Jules Verne	SF - Knickerbocker Classics
Collision Theory (D)	Adrian Todd Zuniga	LF/CoA/GH/HU

April 18, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Arrivals (e)	Michael R. Underwood	F - Born to the Blade, Season 1 - Episode 1

D - Debut
e - eBook
Ed - Editor
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
ri - reissue or reprint
tp2mm - Trade Paperback to Mass Market Paperback
Tr - Translator



AC - Alien Contact
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CW - Contemporary Woman
CyP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
Fict - Fiction
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
GN - Graphic Novel
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
Psy Th - Psychological Thriller
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisM - Visionary and Metaphysical

Note: Not all genres and formats are found in the books, etc. listed above.

Happy Monday!

Please note for the next few months The Qwillery will generally have no posts on Saturday and possibly Sunday. I've started a new job that leaves me little time to read during the week. I need the weekends for reading!


There is one debut this week:

The Queens of Innis Lear which is Tessa Gratton's adult debut.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Return of Daud (Dishonered 2) by Adam Christopher;

Beseiged by Kevin Hearned in out in Mass Market Paperback;

Death- Touched (Silver 5) by Rhiannon Held is out in digital format;

Netherspace (Netherspace 1) by Andrew Lane and Nigel Foster is out in Mass Market Paperback;

and

The Brass God (Gates of the World 3) by K.M. McKinley is out in digital format.

Debut novels are highlighted in blue. Novels, etc. by formerly featured DAC Authors are highlighted in green.

March 27, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Born of Darkness (e)	Lara Adrian	PNR - A Hunter Legacy Novel 1
Architects of Infinity	Kirsten Beyer	SF - Star Trek: Voyager
Vanguard (h2mm)	Jack Campbell	SF - The Genesis Fleet 1
The Return of Daud	Adam Christopher	SF/SP/MTI - Dishonoured 2
The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase	Greg Cox	CF/MTI - The Librarians 2
Forge of Darkness (tp2mm)	Steven Erikson	F - The Kharkanas Trilogy 1
The Span of Empire (h2mm)	Eric Flint David Carrico	HSF - Jao Empire 3
The Phoenix Project (e)	Jacquelyn Frank	PNR
Caine's Mutiny (tp2mm)	Charles E. Gannon	SF/SO - Caine Riordan 4
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad (h2mm)	Christie Golden	SF/SO/MTI - Star Wars 2
The Queens of Innis Lear (D - Adult)	Tessa Gratton	F/HistF
Besieged: Stories from The Iron Druid Chronicles (h2mm)	Kevin Hearne	CF - The Iron Druid Chronicles
Death-Touched (e)	Rhiannon Held	UF - Silver 5
Pacific Rim Uprising - Official Movie Novelization	Alex Irvine	MTI/SF/AC
Deadmen Walking (h2mm)	Sherrilyn Kenyon	HistF/PNR/FR - Deadman's Cross 1
Bash Bash Revolution	SDouglas Lain	SF/CyP
Netherspace (tp2mm)	Andrew Lane Nigel Foster	SF - Netherspace 1
Glimpse	Jonathan Maberry	SupTh/H
Doctor Who: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (e)	George Mann Justin Richards	TV/SF - Doctor Who
The Brass God (e)	K. M. McKinley	F - Gates of the World 3
Guardian's Bond	Rhenna Morgan	PNR - Ancient Ink 1
The Morcai Battalion: The Pursuit	Diana Palmer	SFR - The Morcai Battalion 5
Twice Bitten	Lynsay Sands	PNR - An Argeneau Novel 24
Off Rock (tp2mm)	Kieran Shea	SF
The Darkest Promise	Gena Showalter	PNR - Lords of the Underworld 13
Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon	Kerrelyn Sparks	FR/PNR - The Embraced 3
North Star Guide Me Home	Jo Spurrier	F - Children of the Black Sun 3
Void Black Shadow	Corey J. White	SF/SO - The Voidwitch Saga 2
Dragon and Slave (e)(ri)	Timothy Zahn	SF - Dragonback 3
Angelmass (e)(ri)	Timothy Zahn	SF
Dragon and Thief (e)(ri)	Timothy Zahn	SF - Dragonback 1
The Dragonback Series Books 4-6: Dragon and Herdsman, Dragon and Judge, Dragon and Liberator (e)(ri)	Timothy Zahn	SF - Dragonback 4-6
Dragon and Soldier (e)(ri)	Timothy Zahn	SF - Dragonback 2

March 31, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Tea Master and the Detective	Aliette de Bodard	SF
DJStories	David J. Schow	H - Collection

D - Debut
e - eBook
Ed - Editor
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
ri - reissue or reprint
tp2mm - Trade Paperback to Mass Market Paperback
Tr - Translator



AC - Alien Contact
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
Cr - Crime
CyP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
GN - Graphic Novel
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
LC Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PoliSci - Political Science
Psy - Psychological
Rel - Religious
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SO - Space Opera
SocSci - Social Science
SoGothic - Southern Gothic
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy

Note: Not all genres and formats are found in the books, etc. listed above.

Jess Kidd (2017)

Mr. Flood's Last Resort
Atria Books, May 1, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

The award-winning author of Himself presents the spellbinding tale of a lonely caregiver and a cranky hoarder with a house full of secrets. Packed with charming eccentricities, greedy heirs, unresolved disappearances, and a whole lot of heart, Mr. Flood's Last Resort is a gripping mystery that examines the space between sin and sainthood, reminding us that the most important forgiveness we can offer is to ourselves.

Maud Drennan is a dedicated caretaker, but her sunny, capable disposition and snappy quips mask a deep sadness. A tragic childhood event left her in the company of a cast of patron saints who pop in and out of her life like unwelcome tourists. She tries to find solace in her hard work in London...but then she meets the inimitable Mr. Flood.

A menace by all accounts, Cathal Flood is a widower living alone in a Gothic Dorset mansion crawling with collector’s items and feral cats. Stubborn as anything and an extreme hoarder, he has been battling his son’s attempts to move him into an old age home, and rumor has it he sent his last caretaker to the madhouse.

But Maud is this insolent old man’s last chance: if she can help him get the house in order, he might be able to fend off the deportation. So the unlikely pair begin to cooperate, connecting over their shared love of folk tales and their suspicion of Gabriel, Cathal’s overbearing son. Still, shadows are growing in the cluttered corners of the mansion, hinting at buried family secrets, and reminding Maud that she doesn’t really know this man at all. When she starts poking around, the forgotten case of a missing local schoolgirl comes to light, and a full-steam search for answers begins.

Full of charming eccentricities, twisted comedy, a whole lot of heart, and Jess Kidd’s “lyrical, lush, and hugely imaginative” (Sunday Express Magazine) prose, Mr. Flood's Last Resort is a mesmerizing tale that will make you re-examine the space between sin and sainthood, reminding you that when all is said and done, the most important forgiveness that we can offer is to ourselves.

K. M. McKinley (2015)

The Brass God
The Gates of the World 3
Solaris, March 27, 2018
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Magic and technology combine in an epic fantasy like no other.

War is coming to Ruthnia. As ancient, inhuman powers move against one another, Rel Kressind finds himself in the company of the fabled modalmen – giants who regard themselves as the true keepers of humanity’s legacy. Far out in the blasted, magical wastelands of the Black Sands where no man of the Hundred has ever set foot before, Rel comes face to face with the modalman’s deity, the Brass God. What Rel learns in the Brass God’s broken halls will shake his understanding of reality forever.

Magic and technology combine in an epic fantasy like no other, where lost science, giant tides and jealous gods shape the fate of two worlds, and the actions of six siblings may save a universe, or damn it.

Book 1

Book 2

Samantha Shannon (2013)

The Song Rising
The Bone Season 3
Bloomsbury USA, March 6, 2018
Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Hardcover and eBook, March 7, 2017

Now in paperback, the magnificent third book in the New York Times bestselling series: "A tantalizing, otherworldly adventure with imagination that burns like fire" (Kirkus Reviews).

Following a bloody battle against foes on every side, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over London's criminal population.

But, having turned her back on Jaxon Hall and with vengeful enemies still at large, the task of stabilizing the fractured underworld has never seemed so challenging.

Little does Paige know that her reign may be cut short by the introduction of Senshield, a deadly technology that spells doom for the clairvoyant community and the world as they know it . . .

Book 1

Book 2

TQ:  Welcome back to The Qwillery. Your new novel, The City of Ice (The Gates of the World 2), was published on December 27th. Has your writing process changed (or not) from when you wrote The Iron Ship (Gates of the World 1) to The City of Ice?

K. M.:  Hi! Thanks for having me back. My writing process changes all the time. I write a lot, and have to vary my writing to keep it interesting for me or I would go insane with the tedium of repetition.

In the case of The Iron Ship and The City of Ice there was one marked difference - with the first book, I wrote quite a bit of it as single narratives, so I did all of Guis’s bits and all of Rel’s bits and so on almost like separate books, then shuffled them together. I use Scrivener, a godsend for that sort of process. Whereas I wrote The City of Ice pretty much as it appears in print, having planned it out more closely than book one, although I jumped around a lot from place to place as I often do, and the plan did change.



TQ:  What do you wish that you knew about book publishing when The Iron Ship out that you know now?

K. M.:  I’ve been involved with publishing for a long time. It holds very few surprises!



TQ:  Tell us something about The City of Ice that is not found in the book description.

K. M.:  Well, there is a ton of incident in this one. Having spent a lot of time setting up the world in The Iron Ship, I wanted to make book two a really exciting read, something I’ll continue with in book three. A lot happens in this book, and I answer a fair few questions posed in the first. I didn’t want to do a “Lost”, which established a load of mysteries then wholeheartedly avoided giving them any sort of resolution. Hopefully what the actual central mystery is is beginning to crystallise now in the reader’s mind.



TQ:  Which character in the The Gates of the World series has surprised you the most?

K. M.:  Hmmm. I don’t know. I’m happy with them, which I rarely am. They approach the realism I strive for in my made-up people. As usual, I’ll add the caveat to my thoughts that if I succeeded or not is not for me to judge.

Who has been the hardest character to write and why?

None of them were particularly hard compared to the others. All writing seems massively hard while you are doing it, then looks suspiciously easy in retrospect. Getting the tone of Madelyne’s story arc was tricky. She’s a new character for this book who gets involved with the second of Ruthnia’s last gods, the Infernal Duke, who lives in Perus - that’s the city where much of this book is set. Her part of the story is all about power exchange dynamics in sexual relationships, although there is a dark fantasy twist absent from the real thing.

I had a specific aim in mind for this story arc, it’s a kind of warning in some ways, a celebration in others. But it could very easily have gone a bit Fifty Shades of Grey, and I wanted to avoid that. I didn’t want Madelyne to appear weak or a sap, while at the same time I had to have what happens to her seem believable and to accord with her character as a strong woman. You’ll see what I mean if you read it.



TQ:  How difficult or easy is it to write siblings?

K. M.:  Pretty easy. I have a lot of them myself. I’ve drawn on my own experiences with these books more than for any other thing I have ever written (barring out and out reportage, even then that was never very personal). It was another goal with this series, to write about really, really personal stuff. That’s always dangerous, though. The brother I based Trassan on in particular loves these books. I hope he isn’t offended by the character, it’s pretty close to the knuckle in places.



TQ:  Please tell us about your wonderful covers.

K. M.:  I can say that Alejandro Colucci's take on the swooping curves and lines of the city of ice itself inspired my descriptions, as the cover was completed before I had written the book. It’s good to get that kind of synergy between image and words.



TQ:  Why have you chosen to include or not chosen to include social issues in the The Gates of the World series?

K. M.:  You asked me this last year! I always have “issues” in my books, though to make them overly preachy makes them tedious hectoring rather than storytelling. Where there are issues, there is friction, and where there is friction, there are good stories. This is a world gripped by change, and the society there is undergoing upheaval. I return to the plight of the workers in Ruthnia’s new industries for a bit, and again we’re looking at how women can prosper in patriarchal societies. But you know, I don’t want to over-politicise my work. There are insights into my personal philosophies and politics to be had here, but bear in mind other issues in this world include the rights of non-human magical creatures and talking dogs, and the overuse of magic, which would be ridiculous in our world, but in the context of theirs are every bit as important as how many hours six year-olds have to work every day. The use of social issues only gets you so far in storytelling, and it is very easy to get it horribly wrong in several embarassing ways, especially if you approach them with the word “issues” in mind. “Issue” implies a partisan approach to a particular phenomenon. I try hard to see things from all sides.



TQ:  Please give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery lines from The City of Ice.

K. M.:  Firstly, all the best lines are immense spoilers. There are plenty of twists and revelations in The City of Ice. Secondly, I maintain that it’s not up to the writer to choose the best lines from a book, but for the readers. I squirm when asked to sing out how awesome my writing is. I know that’s what you are supposed to do in this internet day and age, but it seems so immodest, and I hate doing it.



TQ:  What's next?

K. M.:  I’m always working on various things, but soon I begin work on book three of The Gates of the World, The Brass God, which has been commissioned and should be out next year.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us again at The Qwillery.

K. M.:  No problem!

The City of Ice
The Gates of the World 2
Solaris, December 27, 2016
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

An ancient city. A wondrous invention. A perilous journey.

The epic sequel to the incredible debut novel The Iron Ship.

Deep in the polar south stands a city like no other, a city built aeons ago by a civilisation mighty and wise.

The City of Ice promises the secrets of the ancients to whomever can reach it first. It may prove too little knowledge too late, for the closest approach of the Twin in 4000 years draws near, an event that has heralded terrible destruction in past ages.

As the Kressind siblings pursue their fortunes, the world stands upon the dawn of a new era, but it may yet be consumed by a darkness from the past.

Industry and magic, gods and steampower collide in the captivating sequel to The Iron Ship.

The Iron Ship
Gates of the World 1
Solaris, May 26, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

An incredible epic fantasy begins!

The order of the world is in turmoil. An age of industry is beginning, an age of machines fuelled by magic. Sprawling cities rise, strange devices stalk the land. New money brings new power. The balance between the Hundred Kingdoms is upset. For the first time in generations the threat of war looms.

In these turbulent days, fortunes can be won. Magic runs strong in the Kressind family. Six siblings strive – one to triumph in a world of men, one to survive murderous intrigue, one to master forbidden sorcery, one to wash away his sins, one to contain the terrible energies of his soul.

And one will do the impossible, by marrying the might of magic and iron in the heart of a great ship, to cross an ocean that cannot be crossed.

About the Author

K. M. McKinley resides near Iverness, in Scotland, not too far from Loch Ness, but not too close either. You never know what’s going to come out of the water.

Happy last Monday in 2016. This has been quite the year in so many ways. As usual I have not read as many books as I'd like to read. I suppose I could give up work and sleeping to read more, but that's just not practical or possible. I have my favorite reads of course but without reading hundreds of books I'm not going to make a best of list. I may tell you about my 2016 favorite reads early next year... which is only 5 days away. Tell me about your favorite reads in the comments if you'd like.

There are no debuts this week (or during December for that matter), but there are books from formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Face of the Unknown (Star Trek: The Original Series) by Christopher L. Bennett;

Faithful (Birth of Saints 2) by Michelle Hauck is out in Mass Market Paperback;

Bell, Book & Candlemas (A Wiccan Wheel Mystery 2) by Jennifer David Hesse;

The City of Ice (Gates of the World 2) by K. M. McKinley;

The Bone Cave (Bone Magic 3) by Sarah Remy is our in Mass Market Paperback;

and

Dreams of the Eaten (Children of the Drought 3) by Arianne 'Tex' Thompson.

December 25, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Soulmates	Mike Resnick Lezli Robyn	SF - Collection

December 27, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Tales from the Vatican Vaults: 28 extraordinary stories by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Garry Kilworth, Mary Gentle, KJ Parker, Storm Constantine and many more	David V. Barrett (Ed)	F - Anthology
The Face of the Unknown	Christopher L. Bennett	SF - Star Trek: The Original Series
Nine of Stars	Laura Bickle	CF - Wildlands Novel 1
Avenge the Forgotten	Kristina Circelli	H - The Five Flames 5
If This Goes Wrong . . .	Hank Davis (Ed)	SF - Anthology
Faithful	Michelle Hauck	HistF - Birth of Saints 2
The Dark Lord	Jack Heckel	FairyT/FolkT/HU/LM
Bell, Book & Candlemas	Jennifer David Hesse	CM - A Wiccan Wheel Mystery 2
A Ghostly Reunion	Tonya Kappes	PCM - Ghostly Southern Mysteries 5
The Edge of the Blade	Jeffe Kennedy	FR - The Uncharted Realms 2
The Drawing of the Three (ri)	Stephen King	F - The Dark Tower 2
Wizard and Glass (ri)	Stephen King	F - The Dark Tower 4
The Waste Lands (ri)	Stephen King	F - The Dark Tower 3
Bad Moon Rising (ri)	Jonathan Maberry	H - A Pine Deep Novel 3
The City of Ice	K.M. McKinley	F - Gates of the World 2
Crash and Burn	Fern Michaels	PNR - Sisterhood 27
CHOP Line	Henry V. O'Neil	SF - Sim War 4
The Bone Cave	Sarah Remy	F - Bone Magic 3
Mission: Tomorrow (tp2mm)	Bryan Thomas Schmidt (Ed)	SF - Anthology
Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard (h2tp)	Lawrence M. Schoen	SF
The Complete Aliens Omnibus: Volume Three	Sandy Schofield Stephani Danelle Perry	SF - Aliens
Allegiance of Honor (h2mm)	Nalini Singh	PNR - Psy-Changeling 15
Dreams of the Eaten	Arianne 'Tex' Thompson	F - Children of the Drought 3
Pathological	Jinkang Wang	MedTh

December 31, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Vacation (ri)	Matthew Costello	H
Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi	John Scalzi	SF - Anthology

e - eBook
Ed - Editor
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
Ke - Kindle eBook only
ri - reissue or reprint
tp2mm - Trade to Mass Market Paperback


AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CM - Cozy Mystery
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GO - Gothic
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MedTh - Medical Thriller
MR - Magical Realism
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PerfArt - Performing Arts
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Pop Culture
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy

Note: Not all genres and formats are found in the books, etc. listed above.

Will McIntosh (2011)

Faller
Tor Books, October 25, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

Faller is a new gripping standalone, science fiction thriller by Hugo Award-winning author Will McIntosh.

Day One: No one can remember anything—who they are, family and friends, or even how to read. Reality has fragmented and Earth consists of an islands of rock floating in an endless sky. Food, water, electricity—gone, except for what people can find, and they can't find much.

Faller's pockets contain tantalizing clues: a photo of himself and a woman he can't remember, a toy solider with a parachute, and a mysterious map drawn in blood. With only these materials as a guide, he makes a leap of faith from the edge of the world to find the woman and set things right.

He encounters other floating islands, impossible replicas of himself and others, and learns that one man hates him enough to take revenge for actions Faller can't even remember.

Burning Midnight
Ember, January 31, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

For fans of The Maze Runner and The Fifth Wave,this debut YA novel from Hugo Award winner Will McIntosh pits four underprivileged teens against an evil billionaire in the race of a lifetime.

No one knows where the brilliant-colored spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at math, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement—and the more expensive the sphere.

Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn’t pay much—Alex Holliday’s stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers—but it helps him and his mom make the rent. When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. One day they find a Gold—a color no one has ever seen. There’s no question the Gold is priceless, but what does it actually do? None of them is aware of it yet, but the fate of the world rests on this little golden orb. Because all the world fights over the spheres, but no one knows where they come from, what their powers are, or why they’re here.

K. M. McKinley  (2015)

The City of Ice
The Gates of the World 2
Solaris, December 27, 2016
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

An ancient city. A wondrous invention. A perilous journey.

The epic sequel to the incredible debut novel The Iron Ship.

Deep in the polar south stands a city like no other, a city built aeons ago by a civilisation mighty and wise.

The City of Ice promises the secrets of the ancients to whomever can reach it first. It may prove too little knowledge too late, for the closest approach of the Twin in 4000 years draws near, an event that has heralded terrible destruction in past ages.

As the Kressind siblings pursue their fortunes, the world stands upon the dawn of a new era, but it may yet be consumed by a darkness from the past.

Industry and magic, gods and steampower collide in the captivating sequel to The Iron Ship.

Peter McLean (2016)

Dominion
A Burned Man Novel 2
Angry Robot, November 1, 2016
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

In the tunnels deep under London, the Earth Elementals are dying.

Hunted by something they know only as the Rotman, the Elementals have no one trustworthy they can turn to. Enter Don Drake, drunken diabolist and semi-reformed hitman, and an almost-fallen angel called Trixie.

When Don learns that Rotman is actually the archdemon Bianakith, he knows this is going to be a tough job. The fiend is the foretold spirit of disease and decay whose aura corrupts everything it comes near, and even the most ancient foundations of London will crumble eventually. Now Don, Trixie and his ever-annoying patron the Burned Man have to hatch a plan to keep Bianakith from wiping out the Elementals and bringing down the city. But the Burned Man has other plans and those may have dire consequences for everyone.

The past never stays buried, and old sins must be atoned for. Judgement is coming, and its name is Dominion.

File Under: Urban Fantasy [ The Devil You Knew / Deeped & Down / Great Irresponsibility / London’s Burning ]

Damnation
A Burned Man Novel 3
Angry Robot, May 2, 2017
Mass Market Paperback and eBook

Don Drake is living rough in a sink estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh, doing cheap spells for even cheaper customers while fending off the local lowlifes. Six months ago, Don fled from London to Glasgow to track down his old girlfriend Debbie the alchemist.

With the Burned Man gradually driving him mad, Don meets with an ancient and mysterious tramp-slash-magician, with disastrous consequences. Now his old accomplices must step in to save Don from himself, before he damns himself for good this time.

File Under: Urban Fantasy

Bec McMaster (2012)

The Many Lives of Hadley Monroe
Lochaber Press, April 4, 2016
eBook, 52 pages

When the clock stops ticking, and the storm rolls in, Hadley Monroe knows exactly what’s going on. Forty years ago her grandfather made a pact with Death, and now Death has come calling again.

Forced to make her own deal with the reaper, Hadley has only three weeks to answer his question, or he’ll take her grandmother too. The problem is, there’s no way to answer it, and three weeks is not long enough with the reaper who’s beginning to steal her heart…

Warning: This short story has been previously published in the Mammoth Book Of Southern Gothic Romance.

Shadowbound
The Dark Arts Trilogy, Book 1
Lochaber Press Pty Ltd, May 8, 2016
     eBook, 377 pages
Lochaber Press Pty Ltd, May 27, 2016
     Trade Paperback, 454 pages

When a powerful relic goes missing from a secret society that dabbles in the occult, Miss Ianthe Martin is charged with finding it at all costs. She needs help, but all clues point to someone on the inside being the thief. The only sorcerer she knows that can't possibly be involved, is the very man she saw locked in Bedlam a year ago...

The mad, bad, dangerous Earl of Rathbourne.

When the seductive Miss Martin appears in his Bedlam cell, Rathbourne fears he's finally lost his mind. The devilish sorceress played a hand in his incarceration, and now she comes asking for help? Perhaps she should begin by begging for mercy...

But Ianthe's offer of freedom is one he can't refuse, although he has a clause of his own to add. She may bind him with her power–the only way to still the demons haunting him–but for every day spent under her command, the nights will be his... to wreak delicious revenge on her willing flesh.

Nobody's Hero
The Burned Lands 1
Lochaber Press Pty. Ltd, May 22, 2016
     eBook, 281 pages
Lochaber Press Pty Ltd, July 25, 2016
     Trade Paperback, 370 pages

First rule of surviving the Wastelands: don't be caught out after the sun sets...

After her father was killed in a warg attack, Riley Kincaid was forced to stand on her own two feet in the brutal Wastelands she calls home. She knows how to survive, but when a lapse in judgment leaves her out after dark, Riley realizes she's in trouble. The sun has set, the monsters are out to play, and there's a band of reivers heading straight for her settlement. Riley needs to warn her people, but that's before she runs a handsome stranger down in her jeep. A stranger who might not be a man after all...

Kidnapping her was the worst mistake he ever made.

Dangerous outlaw, Lucius Wade, lives only for revenge. But when he kidnaps Riley in order to lure an old friend into a trap, suddenly the tables are turned. Riley has no intentions of being bait, and she tempts him in ways he hasn't felt for a long time. He's never played the hero, but suddenly a part of him wants to. Even as he knows there's no point.

When dangerous secrets are revealed, and Luc realizes an old enemy is on his trail, he's forced to change his plans. The hunter is suddenly the hunted, and the only allies he has... is a stubborn blonde who thinks there should be more to live for than revenge, and the ex-friend who shoved a knife in his back ten years ago.

Mission: Improper
London Steampunk: The Blue Blood Conspiracy 1
Lochaber Press Pty. Ltd, August 11, 2016
     eBook, 360 pages
Lochaber Press Pty. Ltd, October 5, 2016
     Trade Paperback, 432 pages

Three years ago, London society changed forever, with a revolution placing the widowed Queen firmly on the throne her blue blood husband tried to take from her. Humans, verwulfen and mechs are no longer considered the lesser classes, but not everybody is happy with the new order...

Entire families have gone missing in the East End. When Caleb Byrnes receives an invitation to join the Company of Rogues as an undercover agent pledged to protect the crown, he jumps at the chance to find out who, or what, is behind the disappearances. Hunting criminals is what the darkly driven blue blood does best, and though he prefers to work alone, the opportunity is too good to resist.

The problem? He's partnered with Ingrid Miller, the fiery and passionate verwulfen woman who won a private bet against him a year ago. Byrnes has a score to settle, but one stolen kiss and suddenly the killer is not the only thing Byrnes is interested in hunting.

Soon they're chasing whispered rumours of a secret project gone wrong, and a monster that just might be more dangerous than either of them combined. The only way to find out more is to go undercover among the blue blood elite... But when their hunt uncovers a mysterious conspiracy, Byrnes and Ingrid must set aside their age-old rivalry if they have any chance at surviving a treacherous plot.

Hexbound
The Dark Arts 2
Lochaber Press Pty. Ltd, October 18, 2016
eBook, 356 pages

It should have been an easy task…

Verity Hastings has a little trick: she can find anything, no matter where it’s hidden. It’s a skill that’s kept her safe and fed all the way from the orphanages and workhouses of her youth. But when she steals a mysterious item for a masked man, she knows the con is on her this time.

In order to protect herself from his associates, she can turn to only one person: Adrian Bishop, the sorcerer she stole the relic from.

Scarred recluse Adrian Bishop is rarely surprised anymore. But when a rather enticing little handful turns up on his doorstep, claiming to be his mysterious thief, he doesn’t know what to think. He needs the relic back, no matter the cost, and he’s not above using Verity to find it. But as Verity begins to sneak under his guard, for the first time in years there’s a ray of light in his dark world. He will do anything to protect her – anything – but can Verity ever love him once she learns the truth of his dark talents? And will he be able to protect her from the trap he sent her into himself?

Holly Messinger  (2015)

Curious Weather
A Jacob Tracy Novel 2
Thomas Dunne Books, November 14, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 368 pages

On the heels of her starred Publisher’s Weekly debut, The Curse of Jacob Tracy, Messinger delivers another remarkably original novel where she deftly recreates the tumultuous post-Civil war era and clashes the natural with the supernatural.

When Jacob Tracy—Civil War veteran, ex-seminarian, and reluctant psychic—agrees to move into Miss Fairweather’s St. Louis mansion and study magic with her, he has one purpose in mind: to hunt down and destroy the necromancer Mereck, a predatory madman who has twice tried to make a meal of Trace and trapped Trace’s partner Boz in a monstrous half-life.

Sabine Fairweather has her own grievance with Mereck, though Trace doesn’t know the details and doesn’t particularly want to. The woman may be a brilliant scientist and a powerful witch in her own right, but there is darkness in her and bitter secrets that threaten the tenuous faith Trace has in her.

With Mereck’s minions circling ever closer, and old allies posing unexpected threats, Trace knows he and Sabine have no choice but to trust each other. But for that to happen, he will have to lay bare all the deepest secrets of her soul…and quite possibly her heart.

TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery.

K. M.:  And thanks for having me!



TQ:  When and why did you start writing?

K. M.:  When I was about 17, but there was an awful lot of thinking about writing, moaning about writing, and not very much actual writing for years. I've been a professional writer since 1997, but didn't get truly serious about fiction until around 2000. Then I really went for it, and started to train myself.



TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

K. M.:  Both. I've written to both methods and everything in between, from writing a super-detailed plot synopsis to sitting down in front of a blank screen with a vague idea of where I'm going. Sometimes, there is wine involved. All produce different kinds of story. I find that varying methods and styles prevents fatigue, no matter what you are writing.



TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

K. M.:  Being able to produce a high enough volume of work to make enough money to live, and not getting utterly worn out doing so. But that's not very different to any kind of job, and I get to nap. It's a privilege to do any kind of writing as a job. Viewing it in terms of difficulty ignores the lot of people who have to get up at 6.00am, drive for two hours to some office they loathe and do the same thing day in day out for years. So, writing feels like a massive pain sometimes, but it's not really, is it?

Ah, you said challenging. Well, it is daily challenging, but only in a good way. Most of the time.



TQ:  Who are some of your literary influences? Favorite authors?

K. M.:  Ursula Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, Robert Silverberg, Fritz Leiber, HP Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, MR James, Clark Ashton Smith, Ray Bradbury, Gene Wolfe, JRR Tolkien, Neal Asher, Michael Swanwick, Adam Roberts, Dan Simmons, Geraldine Harris, Andre Norton, to name but a few.



TQ:  Describe The Iron Ship in 140 characters or less.

K. M.:  Man, I hate writing stuff that looks like I'm full of myself, but here goes:

Game of Thrones influenced magic-punk. A vividly realised neo-industrial world with a sprawling cast of characters. War, magic, machines, family, love and death.

That was my elevator pitch, pretty much.



TQ:  Tell us something about The Iron Ship that is not in the book description.

K. M.:  One thing I wanted to do with The Iron Ship is examine the agency of strong women who are trammelled by a genuinely patriarchal society. A lot of fantasies put a woman in a position of power in a male dominated set up without telling us how she got there. That's missing half the story. It's not as dull as it sounds, I hasten to add. On the contrary, it gave me loads of strong character notes, and some (I hope) really good characters of both sexes.



TQ:  What inspired you to write The Iron Ship?

K. M.:  It's about a big family. I come from a big family. I wanted to explore family dynamics in a time of upheaval and change. That's part of it. Some of the rest I can't say without ruining not book one, but also book three! Ask me again when the series is finished, and I'll spill the beans.



TQ:  What appeals to you about writing Epic Fantasy?

K. M.:  Change again. Epic Fantasy has change at its heart. Unlike SF (I love SF) that says "what if?" fantasy kind of postulates "what else?" There's always some existential peril that threatens the established order of things. It is the fiction of the momentous. Thinning of magic, resurgence of magic, rebellion, the return of old evils... One might almost say that war is the stock in trade of epic fantasy. Some writers use this brilliantly; the sense of melancholy in The Lord of the Rings at the passing of time is almost overpowering, for example. I wanted to try this and make a good job of it. As I get older I think a lot about mortality, the fleeting nature of individual lives, but the continuity of nation, family and locality. All subject to change and bound into subjective history, of course. Hopefully I've captured that in the frame of a rollicking good adventure.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for The Iron Ship?

K. M.:  A fair bit - especially on, would you believe, iron ships. That and industrial processes. I drew a lot on modern history from the 18th and 19th centuries, but I didn't read up on it too much as I know a bit about it anyway. Write what you know!



TQ:  Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

K. M.:  A tough question. Were any easier or harder? I don't think so. They were all equal. Getting them to a point where there's enough material that their own existences spark into being, that's the hard part. Once that's done they come alive and do their own thing. Then you just watch them in a fugue state. With a headache, because your psyche's fractured into two dozen people.



TQ:  Which question about The Iron Ship do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

K. M.:  Holy cow! Another toughie. I actually don't want people to ask me about it, because I'll tell them EVERYTHING. I'm so eager to tell the story. I had to stop myself spilling the plot to this and the next book to my dad only yesterday. Maybe limit all interaction with me to approving nods, or disapproving shakes of the head? Then we'll all be safe.



TQ:  Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery lines from The Iron Ship.

K. M.:  Er, how about...

"If I do this, and I will, and you even think about leaving without me, I will kick you very hard, right in the balls, and then you'll be no use whatsoever to fancy miss spanner pants." She smiled dangerously. "I'm sure even you can understand that."



TQ:  What's next?

K. M.:  I've got a bunch of stuff to write this year, but I'll soon be starting on The City of Ice, the second book in the Gates of the World series.I am very much looking forward to that.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

K. M.:  Thank you.

The Iron Ship
Gates of the World 1
Solaris, May 26, 2015 (US); June 18, 2015 (UK)
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

An incredible epic fantasy begins!

The order of the world is in turmoil. An age of industry is beginning, an age of machines fuelled by magic. Sprawling cities rise, strange devices stalk the land. New money brings new power. The balance between the Hundred Kingdoms is upset. For the first time in generations the threat of war looms.

In these turbulent days, fortunes can be won. Magic runs strong in the Kressind family. Six siblings strive – one to triumph in a world of men, one to survive murderous intrigue, one to master forbidden sorcery, one to wash away his sins, one to contain the terrible energies of his soul.

And one will do the impossible, by marrying the might of magic and iron in the heart of a great ship, to cross an ocean that cannot be crossed.

About the Author

K. M. McKinley resides near Iverness, in Scotland, not too far from Loch Ness, but not too close either. You never know what’s going to come out of the water.

Catherine Chanter

The Well
Atria Books, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages

From the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, a brilliantly haunting and suspenseful debut set in modern-day Britain where water is running out everywhere except at The Well—the farm of one seemingly ordinary family whose mysterious good fortune leads to suspicion, chaos, and ultimately a shocking act of violence.

Ruth Ardingly has just been released from prison to serve out a sentence of house arrest for arson and suspected murder at her farm, The Well. Beyond its borders, some people whisper she is a witch; others a messiah. For as soon as Ruth returns to The Well, rain begins to fall on the farm. And it has not rained anywhere else in the country in over three years.

Ruth and her husband Mark had moved years before from London to this ancient idyll in the hopes of starting their lives over. But then the drought began, and as the surrounding land dried up and died, and The Well grew lush and full of life, they came to see their fortune would come at a price. From the envy of their neighbors to the mandates of the government, from the fanaticism of a religious order called the Sisters of the Rose to the everyday difficulties of staying close as husband and wife, mother and child—all these forces led to a horrifying crime: the death of their seven-year-old grandson, drowned with cruel irony in one of the few ponds left in the countryside.

Now back at The Well, Ruth must piece together the tragedy that shattered her marriage, her family, and her dream. For she believes her grandson’s death was no accident, and that the murderer is among the people she trusted most. Alone except for her guards on a tiny green jewel in a world rapidly turning to dust, Ruth begins to confront her worst fears and learns what really happened in the dark heart of The Well.

A tour de force about ordinary people caught in the tide of an extraordinary situation, Catherine Chanter’s The Well is a haunting, beautifully written, and utterly believable novel that probes the fragility of our personal relationships and the mystical connection between people and the places they call home.

Rachelle Dekker

The Choosing
Seer 1
Tyndale House, May 19, 2015
Trade Paperback, 448 pages

Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.

But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything she’s been told, they resonate deep within.

Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, yet she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.

Bridget Foley

Hugo & Rose
St. Martin's Press, May 5, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

Rose is disappointed with her life, though she has no reason to be - she has a beautiful family and a perfectly nice house in the suburbs. But to Rose, this ordinary life feels overshadowed by her other life - the one she leads every night in her dreams.

After a childhood accident, Rose's dreams take her to a wondrous island fraught with adventure. On this island, she has never been alone: she shares it with Hugo, a brave boy who's grown up with her into a hero of a man.

But when Rose stumbles across Hugo in real life, both her real and dream worlds are changed forever. Here is the man who has shared all of her incredible adventures in impossible places, who grew up with her, even if they aren't what either one imagined. Their chance encounter begins a cascade of questions, lies, and a dangerous obsession that threatens to topple everything she knows. Is she willing to let go of everything she holds dear to understand their extraordinary connection? And will it lead her to discover who she truly wants to be?

Nathan Garrison

Veiled Empire
Harper Voyager Impulse, May 26, 2015
eBook

The Empire is Shrouded, not only by the barrier that covers the land, but by the lies and oppression of the mierothi regime. Magic is the privilege of the elite, and the people of this shadowed country have forgotten what it means to hope under their rule.

But there are some who would resist, with plans put into motion millennia before. For returned to the Empire is a valynkar, servant of the god of light, and with him come the strength and cunning that could tip the scales to end the Emperor's reign. He has gathered a group of heroes ready to ignite the flame of rebellion and fight against the dark power that has ruled for nearly two thousand years. A power that has champions of its own.

Nathan Garrison's Veiled Empire throws a mythical land into chaos, with races long thought forgotten, and magics only just discovered. Steel and sorcery clash as brave souls vie for freedom and control in this astonishing debut novel.

Sophie Jaff

Love is Red
The Night Song Trilogy 1
Harper, May 12, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

Redefining the thriller's tale of the hunter and the hunted, This electrifying, hypnotically beautiful debut spins dark suspense and literary fantasy into a mesmerizing story of survival.

Katherine Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but she doesn't know it yet. However, one man does: a killer stalking the women of New York City, a monster the media dubs the "Sickle Man" because of the weapon he uses to turn his victims' bodies into canvases for his twisted art. People think he's the next Son of Sam, but we know how he thinks and how he feels . . . and discover that he is driven by darker, much more dangerous desires than we can bear to imagine. He takes more than just his victims' lives, and each death brings him closer to the one woman he must possess at any cost.

Amid the city's escalating hysteria, Katherine is trying to unknot her tangled heart. Two very different men have entered her previously uneventful world—handsome and personable David, alluring yet aloof Sael—and turned it upside down. She finds herself involved in a complicated triangle . . . but how well does she really know either of them?

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Katherine and the Sickle Man, Sophie Jaff's intoxicating narrative will pull you in and hold you close. As the body count rises, Katherine is haunted by harrowing visions that force her to question her sanity. All she wants is to find love. He just wants to find her.

Ablaze with fear, mystery, and possibility, Love Is Red is the first book in the Night Song trilogy. With this unforgettable novel—one that combines the literary and the supernatural, fantasy and horror, the past and the present—Katherine's moment of awakening is here. And her story is only just beginning.

Brooke Johnson

The Brass Giant
A Chroniker City Story
Harper Voyager Impulse, May 5, 2015
eBook

Sometimes, even the most unlikely person can change the world

Seventeen-year-old Petra Wade, self-taught clockwork engineer, wants nothing more than to become a certified member of the Guild, an impossible dream for a lowly shop girl. Still, she refuses to give up and tinkers with any machine she can get her hands on, in between working and babysitting her foster siblings.

When Emmerich Goss—handsome, privileged, and newly recruited into the Guild—needs help designing a new clockwork system for a top-secret automaton, it seems Petra has finally found the opportunity she's been waiting for. But if her involvement on the project is discovered, Emmerich will be marked for treason, and a far more dire fate will await Petra.

Working together in secret, they build the clockwork giant, but as the deadline for its completion nears, Petra discovers a sinister conspiracy from within the Guild council…and their automaton is just the beginning.

Aer-ki Jyr

Apex
Harper Voyager Impulse, May 12, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 448 pages

A new dawn is coming.

It's been eons since Humans controlled the universe, after their defeat by a mysterious enemy. With their downfall came a virtual dark age in which culture and technology stagnated. But now trade is once again flourishing as Human artifacts resurface throughout the galaxy, resurrecting long-forgotten advancements.

And one such discovery may very well alter the course of the future forever.

An epic space adventure, Aer-ki Jyr's Apex is a breathless race to the ultimate prize, with the very fate of the stars hanging in the balance.

Renée Knight

Disclaimer
Harper, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

A brilliantly conceived, deeply unsettling psychological thriller— already an international sensation—about a woman haunted by secrets, the consuming desire for revenge, and the terrible price we pay when we try to hide the truth.

Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew—and that person is dead.

Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day . . . even if the shocking truth might destroy her.

Jason LaPier

Unexpected Rain
Harper Voyager (UK), May 7, 2015
eBook, 400 pages

In a domed city on a planet orbiting Barnard's Star, a recently hired maintenance man named Kane has just committed murder.

Minutes later, the airlocks on the neighbourhood block are opened and the murderer is asphyxiated along with thirty-one innocent residents.

Jax, the lowly dome operator on duty at the time, is accused of mass homicide and faced with a mound of impossible evidence against him.

His only ally is Runstom, the rogue police officer charged with transporting him to a secure off-world facility. The pair must risk everything to prove Jax didn’t commit the atrocity and uncover the truth before they both wind up dead.

Kirsty Logan

The Gracekeepers
Crown, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

For readers of The Night Circus and Station Eleven, a lyrical and absorbing debut set in a world covered by water

As a Gracekeeper, Callanish administers shoreside burials, laying the dead to their final resting place deep in the depths of the ocean. Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining in exchange for sustenance.

In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland ("landlockers") and those who float on the sea ("damplings"), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives--offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future.

Inspired in part by Scottish myths and fairytales, The Gracekeepers tells a modern story of an irreparably changed world: one that harbors the same isolation and sadness, but also joys and marvels of our own age.

K.M. McKinley

The Iron Ship
The Gates of the World 1
Solaris, May 26, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 672 pages

An incredible epic fantasy begins!

The order of the world is in turmoil. An age of industry is beginning, an age of machines fuelled by magic. Sprawling cities rise, strange devices stalk the land. New money brings new power. The balance between the Hundred Kingdoms is upset. For the first time in generations the threat of war looms.

In these turbulent days, fortunes can be won. Magic runs strong in the Kressind family. Six siblings strive – one to triumph in a world of men, one to survive murderous intrigue, one to master forbidden sorcery, one to wash away his sins, one to contain the terrible energies of his soul.

And one will do the impossible, by marrying the might of magic and iron in the heart of a great ship, to cross an ocean that cannot be crossed.

Susan Murray

The Waterborne Blade
Waterborne 1
Angry Robot Books, May 5, 2015
       (North America Print and eBook)
Mass Market Paperback and eBook,
Cover: Paul Young at Artist Partners

The citadel has long been the stronghold of Highkell. All that is about to change because the traitor, Vasic, is marching on the capital. Against her better judgement, Queen Alwenna allows herself to be spirited away by one of the Crown’s most trusted servants, safe from the clutches of the throne’s would-be usurper.

Fleeing across country, she quickly comes to learn that her pampered existence has ill-equipped her for survival away from the comforts of the court. Alwenna must toughen up, and fast, if she is even to make it to a place of safety. But she has an even loftier aim – for after dreaming of her husband’s impending death, Alwenna knows she must turn around and head back to Highkell to save the land she loves, and the husband who adores her, or die in the attempt.

But Vasic the traitor is waiting. And this was all just as he planned.

File Under: Fantasy

Andrea Phillips

Revision
Fireside Fiction Company, May 5, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 230 pages

Mira is a trust fund baby playing at making it on her own as a Brooklyn barista. When Benji, her tech startup boyfriend, dumps her out of the blue, she decides a little revenge vandalism is in order. Mira updates his entry on Verity, Benji’s Wikipedia-style news aggregator, to say the two have become engaged. Hours later, he shows up at her place with an engagement ring. Chalk it up to coincidence, right?

Soon after, Benji’s long-vanished co-founder Chandra shows up asking for Mira’s help. She claims Verity can nudge unlikely events into really happening — even change someone’s mind. And Chandra insists that Verity — and Mira’s newly minted fiance — can’t be trusted.

Marguerite Reed

Archangel
Archangel 1Arche Press, May 12, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 298 pages

Earth is dying, and we have begun the search for a new home. Our hopes are pinned on Ubastis, an untamed paradise at the edge of colonized space. But such an influx of people threatens the planet’s unstudied ecosystem–before these settlers arrive, a tenuous research colony must complete its essential and desperate analysis, lest humanity abandon one planet only to die on another.

The Ubasti colonists barely get by on their own. To acquire the tools and supplies they truly need, the colonists are relegated to selling whatever they can to outside investors. For xenobiologist Vashti Loren, this means bringing Offworlders on safari to hunt the specimens she and her fellow biologists so desperately need to study.

Haunted by the violent death of her husband, the heroic and celebrated Lasse Undset, Vashti must balance the needs of Ubastis against the swelling crush of would-be settlers. As she negotiates her grief, Vashti struggles in her role as one of the few colonists licensed to carry deadly weapons, just as she struggles with her history of using them. And when she discovers a genetically engineered soldier smuggled onto the surface, Vashti must face the nightmare of her husband’s murder all over again. Vashti must protect herself, her daughter, and all of Ubastis as she is forced to draw alliances with old enemies, re-evaluate old friends, and take planet-wide action against those who threaten her world. Vashti stands at the threshold of humanity’s greatest hope, and she alone understands the darkness of guarding paradise.

Marc Turner

When the Heavens Fall
The Chronicles of the Exile 1
Tor Books, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 544 pages

If you pick a fight with Shroud, Lord of the Dead, you had better ensure your victory, else death will mark only the beginning of your suffering.

A book giving its wielder power over the dead has been stolen from a fellowship of mages that has kept the powerful relic dormant for centuries. The thief, a crafty, power-hungry necromancer, intends to use the Book of Lost Souls to resurrect an ancient race and challenge Shroud for dominion of the underworld. Shroud counters by sending his most formidable servants to seize the artifact at all cost.

However, the god is not the only one interested in the Book, and a host of other forces converge, drawn by the powerful magic that has been unleashed. Among them is a reluctant Guardian who is commissioned by the Emperor to find the stolen Book, a troubled prince who battles enemies both personal and political, and a young girl of great power, whose past uniquely prepares her for an encounter with Shroud. The greatest threat to each of their quests lies not in the horror of an undead army but in the risk of betrayal from those closest to them. Each of their decisions comes at a personal cost and will not only affect them, but also determine the fate of their entire empire.

The first of an epic swords & sorcery fantasy series, Marc Turner's When the Heavens Fall features gritty characters, deadly magic, and meddlesome gods.

Eli K. P. William

Cash Crash Jubilee
Jubilee Cycle 1
Talos Press, May 5, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 392 pages

A cyber-dystopian world unlike any other

In a near future Tokyo, every action from blinking to sexual intercourse is intellectual property owned by corporations that charge licensing fees. A BodyBank computer system implanted in each citizen records their movements from moment to moment, and connects them to the audio-visual overlay of the ImmaNet, so that every inch of the metropolis crawls with information and shifting cinematic promotainment.

Amon Kenzaki works as a Liquidator for the Global Action Transaction Authority. His job is to capture bankrupt citizens, remove their BodyBank, and banish them to BankDeath Camps where they are forever cut off from the action-transaction economy. Amon always plays by the rules and is steadily climbing the Liquidation Ministry ladder.

With his savings accumulating and another promotion just around the corner, everything seems to be going well, until he is asked to cash crash a charismatic politician and model citizen, and soon after is charged for an incredibly expensive action called "jubilee" that he is sure he never performed. To restore balance to his account, Amon must unravel the secret of jubilee, but quickly finds himself asking dangerous questions about the system to which he's devoted his life, and the costly investigation only drags him closer and closer to the pit of bankruptcy.

In book one of the Jubilee Cycle, Cash Crash Jubilee, debut novelist Eli K. P. William wields the incisive power of speculative fiction to show how, in a world of corporate finance run amok, one man will do everything for the sake of truth and justice.

The Iron Ship
Gates of the World 1
Solaris, August 2015

The Twin flees across the sky, bringing in its wake the Great Tide. The Earth trembles under the shadow of its brother. Times are changing.

The order of the world is in turmoil. An age of industry is beginning, an age of machines fuelled by magic. Sprawling cities rise, strange devices stalk the land. New money brings new power. The balance between the Hundred Kingdoms is upset. For the first time in generations the threat of war looms.

In these turbulent days, fortunes can be won. Magic runs strong in the Kressind family. Six siblings strive – one to triumph in a world of men, one to survive murderous intrigue, one to master forbidden sorcery, one to wash away his sins, one to contain the terrible energies of his soul.

And one will do the impossible, by marrying the might of magic and iron in the heart of a great ship, to cross an ocean that cannot be crossed.