The Qwillery

It is yet again Monday.

There is one debut this week:

The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Spin Trilogy: Creation Machine, Iron Gods, Stone Clock by Andrew Bannister (eBook Bundle);

The Titan’s Forest Trilogy: Crossroads of Canopy, Echoes of Understorey, Tides of the Titans by Thoraiya Dyer (eBook Bundle);

Noumenon Ultra (Noumenon 3) by Marina J. Lostetter;

and

A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers is out in Trade Paperback.

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

August 18, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Spin Trilogy: Creation Machine, Iron Gods, Stone Clock (e)	Andrew Bannister	SF/SO - Spin Trilogy
The Vanished Queen (D)	Lisbeth Campbell	EF
The Titan’s Forest Trilogy: Crossroads of Canopy, Echoes of Understorey, Tides of the Titans (e)	Thoraiya Dyer	EF - Titan's Forest
The Water Lily Warriors: A Novel of Senior Survival	D.A. Francis	Dys
The Quanderhorn Xperimentations (h2tp)	Rob Grant Andrew Marshall	FS/HU/Satire
Scions of the Emperor: An Anthology	David Guymer David Annandale Guy Haley Ian St. Martin Gav Thorpe Darius Hinks James Swallow Chris Wraight	SF/SO - The Horus Heresy: Primarchs Anthology
Avenging Son	Guy Haley	SF - Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of Fire 1
The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs (h2tp)	Katherine Howe	Occ/Sup/CW
New Spring (ri)	Robert Jordan	EF - Wheel of Time 15
Unwitting Street: Stories	Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky	SS/LF/Politcal
A Single Light (h2tp)	Tosca Lee	Sus - Line Between 2
The Haunted (ri)	Bentley Little	H/Sus/FL
Noumenon Ultra	Marina J. Lostetter	SF/SO - Noumenon 3
Electric Breakfast	Paul Meloy	H/F - Collection
Blood World	Chris Mooney	TechTh/SF/HSF/Dys
How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It	K. J. Parker	EF/HU
The Hex Is In: The Fast Life and Fantastic Times of Harry the Book	Mike Resnick	UF - Collection
Kal Jerico: Sinner's Bounty	Josh Reynolds	SF/AP/PA - Necromunda
The Foe of Barnabas Collins	Marylin Ross	Occ/Gothic - Dark Shadows the Complete Paperback Library Reprint Book 9
The Phantom and Barnabas Collins	Marylin Ross	Occ/Gothic - Dark Shadows the Complete Paperback Library Reprint Book 10
The Organs of Sense (h2tp)	Adam Ehrlich Sachs	LF/Hist
A Witch in Time (h2tp)	Constance Sayers	Occ/Sup/HistF/CW
Corpselight	Angela Slatter	UF/P/Cr - Verity Fassbinder 2
The Buried Dagger	James Swallow	SF/SO - Horus Heresy 54
The Doors of Eden (e)	Adrian Tchaikovsky	SF/GenEng
Drowned Country	Emily Tesh	Gaslamp/RF/Gay - The Greenhollow Duology 2
The First Wall	Gav Thorpe	SF/SO - The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra 3
Final Fantasy I * II * III: Memory of Heroes	Takashi Umemura	SF
The Jackal	J.R. Ward	PNR - Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp 1
Bloodlines	Chris Wraight	Cr - Warhammer 40,000

August 19, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Flight: A Tor.com Original (e)	Claire Wrenwood	F/DF

August 20, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
World Engines: Creator (e)	Stephen Baxter	SF/HSF
The House of Styx (e)	Derek Künsken	SF - Venus Ascendant 1

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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistTh - Historical Thriller
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
LMF - Legends, Myths, Fables
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
RF - Romantic Fantasy
ScF - Science Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

It is Monday again!

There is one debut this week -

You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

According to Kovac (Robot Dreams 1) by Andrew Bannister;

Alchemy of Glass by Barbara Barnett;

Gears of War: Bloodlines by Jason Hough;

The Girl and the Stars (The Book of the Ice1) by Mark Lawrence;

We Are Mayhem (Black Star Renegades 2) by Michael Moreci is out in Trade Paperback;

The Ranger of Marzanna (The Goddess War 1) by Jon Skovron;

The Beasts of Lake Oph (Robot Dreams 4) by Tom Toner;

Deep Learning (Robot Dreams 2) by Ren Warom;

and

An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands: A Tor.com Original by Fran Wilde.

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

April 21, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
According to Kovac	Andrew Bannister	SF - Robot Dreams 1
Alchemy of Glass	Barbara Barnett	HistF
Shorefall	Robert Jackson Bennett	F/UF - The Founders Trilogy 2
You Let Me In (D)	Camilla Bruce	Th/PsyTh/Gothic
The Faking of the President: Nineteen Stories of White House Noir	Peter Carlaftes (Ed)	Spec - Anthology
Ship of Fates	Caitlin Chung	HistF
The Binding (h2tp)	Bridget Collins	LF
Master Class	Christina Dalcher	Dys/Sys/CW
Race the Sands	Sarah Beth Durst	F
The Moon Always Rising	Alice C. Early	LF/CW/FL/CRo/MR/CH
Little Digs	Lisa L. Hannett	F
Looking Glass	Christina Henry	DF/FairyT/FolkT/LM - The Chronicles of Alice 3
Gears of War: Bloodlines	Jason M. Hough	SF/MTI
Velocities: Stories	Kathe Koja	SS
The Cerulean Queen	Sarah Kozloff	F - The Nine Realms 4
The Girl and the Stars	Mark Lawrence	F/DF - The Book of the Ice1
Daughter of the Forest (ri)	Juliet Marillier	HistF/FolkT/FairyT/LM - Sevenwaters 1
Life for Sale	Yukio Mishima	Psy/AB - Vintage International
We Are Mayhem (h2tp)	Michael Moreci	SF/SO - Black Star Renegades 2
Lanny (h2tp)	Max Porter	LF/MR/Typography
Aurora Rising (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/Cr/M/GenEng/HSF/SO - The Perfect Dreyfus Emergencies 1
Absolution Gap (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO  - Revelation Space 4
Pushing Ice (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO
Galactic North (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space
Redemption Ark (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space 3
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space
Chasm City (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space 2
House of Suns (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO
Revelation Space (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space 1
Century Rain (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO
The Ranger of Marzanna	Jon Skovron	F/RF - Goddess War 1
Creatures of Charm and Hunger	Molly Tanzer	HistF - Diabolist's Library 3
Blindsight (ri)	Peter Watts	SF/HSF/AC - Firefall 1
Repo Virtual	Corey J. White	SF/CyP

April 22, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Night Sun: A Tor.com Original (e)	Zin E. Rocklyn	H
Deep Learning	Ren Warom	SF - Robot Dreams 2
An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands: A Tor.com Original (e)	Fran Wilde	F

April 23, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Wise Friend	Ramsey Campbell	SupTh/H/Sus - Fiction Without Frontiers
End Game	Hailey Edwards	UF/RF/P - The Foundling 5
Boy in the Box (ri)	Marc E. Fitch	Sus/SupTh - Fiction Without Frontiers
The Heron Kings (ri)	Eric Lewis	F - Fiction Without Frontiers
Paper Hearts	Justina Robson	SF - Robot Dreams 3

April 24, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Beasts of Lake Oph	Tom Toner	SF - Robot Dreams 4

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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
BlHu - Black Humour
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CH - Cultural Heritage
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - Cyperpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
Esp - Espionage
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator(s)
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PP - Police Procedural
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Spec - Speculative
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
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.

Andrew Bannister (2019)

Stone Clock
Spin Trilogy 3
Tor Books, November 19, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

From Andrew Bannister, author of Creation Machine and Iron Gods, comes the final thrilling, heart-in-mouth science fiction novel of the Spin.

A hundred millennia has passed since the events of Iron Gods. The Spin is dying, and its few inhabitants live unknowingly in the relative paradise of one of hundreds of Virtual Realities—'vrealities'—or they scrape a living out of remains of the real world.

As the vrealities drain the last resources of the Spin, a rebellion which could kill millions sparks and gains momentum.

In a remote star system, an ancient insectoid called Skarbo the Horologist has studied The Spin for several lifetimes. Himself near to death, he makes a final journey to look his last on the object of his studies. There he learns of the artificial system's past, the real nature of the vrealities—and the part he has to play in theirfuture...

The Spin Trilogy
Creation Machine
Iron Gods
Stone Clock

Spin Trilogy 1

Spin Trilogy 2

Rebecca Roanhorse (2018)

Resistance Reborn
Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Del Rey, November 5, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

In this pivotal prequel to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the heroes of the Resistance—Poe Dameron, General Leia Organa, Rey, and Finn—must fight back from the edge of oblivion.

The Resistance is in ruins. In the wake of their harrowing escape from Crait, what was once an army has been reduced to a handful of wounded heroes. Finn, Poe, Rey, Rose, Chewbacca, Leia Organa—their names are famous among the oppressed worlds they fight to liberate. But names can only get you so far, and Leia’s last desperate call for aid has gone unanswered.

From the jungles of Ryloth to the shipyards of Corellia, the shadow of the First Order looms large, and those with the bravery to face the darkness are scattered and isolated. If hope is to survive, the Resistance must journey throughout the galaxy, seeking out more leaders—including those who, in days gone by, helped a nascent rebellion topple an empire. Battles will be fought, alliances will be forged, and the Resistance will be reborn.

K. B. Wagers (2016)

Down Among the Dead
The Farian War 2
Orbit, December 3, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 448 pages

Gunrunner empress Hail Bristol must navigate alien politics and deadly plots to prevent an interspecies war, in this second novel in the Farian War space opera trilogy.

In a surprise attack that killed many of her dearest subjects, Hail Bristol, empress of Indrana, has been captured by the Shen — the most ruthless and fearsome aliens humanity has ever encountered. As she plots her escape, the centuries-long war between her captors and the Farians, their mortal enemies and Indrana’s oldest allies, finally comes to a head.

When her captors reveal a shocking vision of the future, Hail must make the unexpectedly difficult decision she’s been avoiding: whether to back the Shen or the Farians.

Staying neutral is no longer an option. Will Hail fight? Or will she fall?


For more from K. B. Wagers, check out:

The Farian War
There Before the Chaos
Down Among the Dead

The Indranan War
Behind the Throne
After the Crown
Beyond the Empire

The Farian War 1

A Pale Light in the Black
NeoG 1
Harper Voyager, March 3, 2020
Hardcover and eBook, 432 pages

The rollicking first entry in a unique science fiction series that introduces the Near-Earth Orbital Guard—NeoG—a military force patrolling and protecting space inspired by the real-life mission of the U.S. Coast Guard.

For the past year, their close loss in the annual Boarding Games has haunted Interceptor Team: Zuma’s Ghost. With this year’s competition looming, they’re looking forward to some payback—until an unexpected personnel change leaves them reeling. Their best swordsman has been transferred, and a new lieutenant has been assigned in his place.

Maxine Carmichael is trying to carve a place in the world on her own—away from the pressure and influence of her powerful family. The last thing she wants is to cause trouble at her command on Jupiter Station. With her new team in turmoil, Max must overcome her self-doubt and win their trust if she’s going to succeed. Failing is not an option—and would only prove her parents right.

But Max and the team must learn to work together quickly. A routine mission to retrieve a missing ship has suddenly turned dangerous, and now their lives are on the line. Someone is targeting members of Zuma’s Ghost, a mysterious opponent willing to kill to safeguard a secret that could shake society to its core . . . a secret that could lead to their deaths and kill thousands more unless Max and her new team stop them.

Rescue those in danger, find the bad guys, win the Games. It’s all in a day’s work at the NeoG.

Happy Monday!

There are no debuts this week. From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Iron Gods (Spin Trilogy 2) by Andrew Bannister;

Death Goddess Dance (The Mythos War 3) by Levi Black;

Dark Age (Red Rising 5) by Pierce Brown;

and

The Spider (Under the Northern Sky 2) by Leo Carew.

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

July 30, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Uncharted (h2mm)	Kevin J. Anderson Sarah A. Hoyt	Hist F - Arcane America
Iron Gods	Andrew Bannister	SF/SO/HSF -  Spin Trilogy 2
Mage Against the Machine (h2tp)	Shaun Barger	SF
Death Goddess Dance	Levi Black	DF/H - The Mythos War 3
The Toynbee Convector (ri)	Ray Bradbury	SF
Dark Age	Pierce Brown	SF/Dys - Red Rising 5
Rotherweird	Andrew Caldecott	HistF/P - Rotherweird 1
The Spider	Leo Carew	F - Under the Northern Sky 2
Brave the Tempest	Karen Chance	UF - Cassie Palmer 9
Alien: Isolation	Keith R.A. DeCandido	SF/AC/MTI
Halo: Silent Storm: A Master Chief Story (h2tp)	Troy Denning	SF - HALO 24
Worlds 2 (tp2mm)	Eric Flint	SF - Collection
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (h2tp)	Hank Green	CoA/SF/CF
An Easy Death (h2mm)	Charlaine Harris	DF - Gunnie Rose 1
The Book Charmer	Karen Hawkins	CW
Dune: The Battle of Corrin (ri)	Brian Herbert Kevin J. Anderson	SF/SO - Legends of Dune 3
Stygian (h2mm)	Sherrilyn Kenyon	FR/P/UF - Dark-Hunter22
The Edge	Tim Lebbon	DF/CF/H - Relics 3
And Then There Were Dragons	Alcy Leyva	Occ/HU - Shades of Hell
Dragon's Code (h2mm)	Gigi McCaffrey	SF/F - The Dragonriders of Pern
Star Trek: Discovery: The Enterprise War	John Jackson Miller	SF - Star Trek: Discovery
Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (h2tp)	Alec Nevala-Lee	Biography
The Hound of Justice	Claire O'Dell	Dys - Janet Watson Chronicles 2
Tide of Battle (tp2mm)	Michael Z. Williamson	SF
Mrs. Morris and the Ghost	Traci Wilton	PCM - A Salem B&B Mystery 1
The Ember Blade	Chris Wooding	F - Darkwater Legacy 1
Ascent to Godhood	JY Yang	F - The Tensorate 4

July 31, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Flowers of Vashnoi	Lois McMaster Bujold	SF - Vorkosigan Saga
Atmosphæra Incognita	Neal Stephenson	SF

August 1, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Drive-Thru Crematorium	Jon Bassoff	H
Till Sudden Death Do Us Part	Simon R. Green	SupTh/SupM - Ishmael Jones Mystery 7
Skinwrapper (Ke)	Stephen Kozeniewski	SF
Grandghost: A haunted house mystery	Nancy Springer	GH/M

August 2, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The October Boys (Ke)	Adam Millard	H

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



AA - Action and Adventure
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
Eng - Engineering
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
Gothic - Gothic
GothicR - Gothic Romance
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistM - Historical Mystery
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
Ke - Kindle eBook
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
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PerfArts - Performing Arts
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SS - Short Stories
ST+R - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
Tech - Technology
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
WS - Women Sleuths

Rebecca Alexander (2014)

A Shroud of Leaves
Sage Westfield 2
Titan Books, July 9, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 464 pages

“The victim had been buried in a carved hollow in the grass and shrouded in fallen leaves…”

Archaeologist Sage Westfield has her first forensics case: investigating the murder of a teenage girl. Hidden by holly leaves, the girl’s body has been discovered on the grounds of a stately home, where another teenage girl went missing twenty years ago – but her body was never found. The police suspect the reclusive owner, Alistair Chorleigh, who was questioned but never charged. But when Sage investigates a nearby burial mound – and uncovers rumours of an ancient curse – she discovers the story of another mysterious disappearance over a hundred years ago. Sage will need both her modern forensics skills and her archaeological knowledge to unearth the devastating truth.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Book 1

Andrew Bannister (2019)

Iron Gods
Spin Trilogy 2
Tor Books, July 30, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages

From Andrew Bannister, author of Creation Machine, comes Iron Gods--another thrilling, heart-in-mouth new science fiction novel of the Spin.

In the depths of space, a beacon has awakened. And an ancient technology has begun to stir. As its memory returns, with it comes a terrifying knowledge—a grave warning about the future of the Spin that has been concealed for ten thousand years.

Ten thousand years after the events of Creation Machine, the Spin is in decline and the beleaguered slave economy of the Inside is surrounded by rebel civilizations. A group of escapees from the vast forced-labor unit known as the Hive have stolen the last of the Inside's ancient warships and woken it from an enforced trance that had lasted for millennia. And someone has destroyed a planet that didn't exist, and halfway across the Spin, something has gone wrong with the sky.

Book 1

Bradley P. Beaulieu (2011)

Beneath the Twisted Trees
Song of Shattered Sands 4
DAW, July 2, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 608 pages

The fourth book in The Song of Shattered Sands series–an epic fantasy with a desert setting, filled with rich worldbuilding and pulse-pounding action.

When a battle to eradicate the Thirteenth Tribe goes awry, the kingdoms bordering the desert metropolis of Sharakhai see the city as weak and ripe for conquest. Çeda, now leader of the Shieldwives, a band of skilled desert swordswomen, hopes to use the growing chaos to gain freedom for Sehid-Alaz, the ancient, undying king of her people. Freeing him is only the beginning, however. Like all the people of her tribe on that fateful night four centuries earlier, Sehid-Alaz was cursed, turned into an asir, a twisted, miserable creature beholden to the kings of Sharakhai—to truly free her king, Çeda must break the chains that bind him.

As Sharakhai’s enemies close in and the assault on the city begins, Çeda works feverishly to unlock the mysteries of the asirim’s curse. But danger lies everywhere. Enemy forces roam the city; the Blade Maidens close in on her; her own father, one of the kings of Sharakhai, wants Çeda to hang. Worst of all, the gods themselves have begun to take notice of Çeda’s pursuits.

When the combined might of Sharakhai and the desert gods corner the survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe in a mountain fastness, the very place that nearly saw their annihilation centuries ago, Çeda knows the time has come. She was once an elite warrior in service to the kings of Sharakhai. She has been an assassin in dark places. A weapon poised to strike from the shadows. A voice from the darkness, striving to free her people.

No longer.

Now she’s going to lead.

The age of the Kings is coming to an end . . .

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from that month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2019 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is published in the US. Cover artist/illustrator/designer information is provided when we have it.

I'm using PollCode for this vote. After you the check the circle next to your favorite, click "Vote" to record your vote. If you'd like to see the real-time results click "View". This will take you to the PollCode site where you may see the results. If you want to come back to The Qwillery click "Back" and you will return to this page. Voting will end sometime on April 6, 2019, unless the vote is extended. If the vote is extended the ending date will be updated.

Vote for your favorite March 2019 Debut Cover!

Creation Machine

Famous Men Who Never Lived

If, Then

Infinite Detail

A Memory Called Empire

The Migration

Miranda in Milan

The Municipalists

The Old Drift

The Perfect Assassin

The Reign of the Kingfisher

Titanshade

Today I Am Carey

The Widening Gyre

The Woman in the Dark

 

pollcode.com free polls

TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery. What is the first piece you remember writing?

Andrew:  Thanks for inviting me in. A beautiful home you have here…

When I was around eight years old I wrote a science fiction short about living underground, probably inspired by a cross between The Wind in the Willows and The Time Machine. Then I read Asimov’s ‘Caves of Steel’ and realized I was Not Alone.



TQ:  Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

Andrew:  I’m a hybrid – a pantser who has to embrace some plotting to make sure the thing gets written!



TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing? How does your background in geology and environmental consulting affect (or not) your fiction writing?

Andrew:  My biggest challenge is trusting myself to put my brain into free-wheel and let it do the strange stuff. Look at it this way – if I was only writing the things I expected to write, I would only be writing the things everyone else expected to read. I would rather be unexpected.

Certainly my background has an effect, in that my planets tend to be geologically plausible even if they’re impossible in other ways, and I do often include the environmental effects of ‘human’ activities. Note that ‘humans’ may come in various forms and external finishes.



TQ:  What has influenced / influences your writing?

Andrew:  I love writers who can do much with few words – John Steinbeck, for example, and Tove Jansson – and who can create complex emotions with simple tools. I try to emulate that. In science fiction particularly, I always namecheck Iain M Banks, Ursula K. Le Guin and Lauren Beukes, but there could be many others too. At the moment I would add Lavie Tidhar.



TQ:  Describe Creation Machine using only 5 words.

Andrew:  War, betrayal, sex, ancient machines… You know how much authors hate writing synopses, right? Five words is just cruel.



TQ:  Tell us something about Creation Machine that is not found in the book description.

Andrew:  Okay, I am particularly proud of the part of the Monastery that floats off to one side and inverts itself like an hourglass. I want one of those! And one of the planets is named after an ancient Roman holiday resort on the present island of Cyprus.



TQ:  What inspired you to write Creation Machine? What appeals to you about writing Science Fiction?

Andrew:  I want amazing worlds. I want stuff that makes me go wow or woah or, occasionally, eugh, and science fiction is a great environment to do that. And through those amazing worlds I hope to animate ordinary, attractive, flawed, strong, weak, vulnerable, unbreakable people like Fleare Haas, who occurred to me when I sketched something about a woman imprisoned in an impossible tower on a dying moon, and who then took over the next ten months of my life without even saying thanks.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for Creation Machine?

Andrew:  None. I’m far too lazy. Or almost none; I think I did about one page of really basic calculation to make sure the Spin (the artificial planetary cluster) was roughly the right size. Near enough is good enough, right?



TQ:  Please tell us about the cover for Creation Machine.

Andrew:  The cover is by Stephen Mulcahey, but he kindly took my suggestions about the concept into account. It does indeed depict something from the novel but as you said no spoilers…



TQ:  In Creation Machine who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Andrew:  The easiest was Alameche, because I just channeled my inner psychopath. Everyone has one, or is that just me? The hardest was Muz, because he spends much of the book in a form where human expressions don’t work; I had to keep thinking of ways for him to express himself. The same is true of Eskjog to some extent, but Eskjog is a less demonstrative character.



TQ:  Does Creation Machine touch on any social issues?

Andrew:  I do social issues, yes. I think writers should. I glance across attitudes to gay people, the contrast between dictatorship and democracy and between industrial oligarchies and leftist revolutionaries, the effects of poverty, ecological destruction… but that said, I don’t preach (I hope) - the story is mainly about people, not issues. If a character happens to be gay, for example, that is because the Universe contains gay people and I don’t intend to limit myself by not writing about them.



TQ:  Which question about Creation Machine do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Andrew:  Which civilization in Creation Machine would you most like to live in? And my guilty answer is that if I were rich and aristocratic I would live in The Fortunate Protectorate, but if I were poor I would prefer Society Otherwise.



TQ:  Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Creation Machine.

Andrew:  Okay. One from Alameche, which sort of sums him up I’m afraid:

Eskjog began to move away, and then stopped. ‘What do you call it, in your society, when a man demands sexual congress with his unwilling wife?’

Alameche shrugged. ‘Marriage,’ he said. ‘So what?’

And one from – someone else:

I don’t know how long I’ve been here. It’s one of a very long list of things I don’t know. Sometimes, when I’m not in a simulation, I try to make a list of the things I do know. I never get past the fact that I’m a simulation myself.

I assume I have a body somewhere.



TQ:  What's next?

Andrew:  I am writing a novella called According to Kovac, which is to be published as part of a set of four (I believe) next year by Newcon Press in the UK and elsewhere. It is set in the same volume of space as the Spin. I do have another major project planned, but I can’t let that out in public yet as it is very much in the discussion phase.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Andrew:  It’s been my pleasure.

Creation Machine
Spin Trilogy 1
Tor Books, March 5, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

Creation Machine is a fast-paced, whip-smart science fiction debut from Andrew Bannister introducing the stunning galaxy called the Spin.

In the vast, artificial galaxy called the Spin, a rebellion has been crushed.

Viklun Hass is eliminating all remnants of the opposition. Starting with his daughter.

But Fleare Hass has had time to plan her next move from exile to the very frontiers of a new war.

For hundreds of millions of years, the planets and stars of the Spin have been the only testament to the god-like engineers that created them. Now, beneath the surface of a ruined planet, one of their machines has been found.

About Andrew

ANDREW BANNISTER grew up in Cornwall and studied geology at Imperial College and went to work in the North Sea before becoming an environmental consultant. He is active in volunteer work, focusing on children with special educational needs. This is his debut novel.










Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter @andrewbauthor

Happy 1st Monday in March!

There are 6 debuts this week:

Creation (Spin Trilogy 1) by Andrew Bannister;

Famous Men Who Never Lived by K. Chess;

The Migration by Helen Marshall;

The Reign of the Kingfisher by T.J. Martinson;

Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan;

and

Today I Am Carey by Martin L. Shoemaker.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Fireweed and Brimstone (Grim Reality 3) by Boone Brux;

In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson is out in Trade Paperback;

The Point by John Dixon is out in Trade Paperback;

Mahimata (Asiana 2) by Rati Mehotra;

The Bayern Agenda by Dan Moren,

If This Goes On: The Science Fiction Future of Today's Politics edited by Cat Rambo;

Pure Chocolate (Chocoverse 2) by Amber Royer;

and

The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J. Walker.

Clicking on a novel's cover will take you to its Amazon page.

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

March 5, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
12 Tales Lie, 1 Tells True (e)	Maria Alexander	H - Collection
The Sea Beast Takes a Lover: Stories (h2tp)	Michael Andreasen	LF/SS/CF - Collection
Invisible Ecologies	Rachel Armstrong	HSF/SF
Creation Machine (D)	Andrew Bannister	SF/SO/HSF - Spin Trilogy 1
Ancestral Night	Elizabeth Bear	SF/SO - White Space 1
Wild Country	Anne Bishop	DF/CF/AH - World of the Others 2
Firebrand (tp2mm)	Kristen Britain	F/DF - Green Rider 6
Famous Men Who Never Lived (D)	K. Chess	SF/AP/PA
In the Valley of the Sun (h2tp)	Andy Davidson	H
Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! (ri)	Gordon R. Dickson Poul Anderson	SF/SO
The Point (h2tp)	John Dixon	SF/Th
String City	Graham Edwards	SF
Emergent	Lance Erlick	CyP/GenEng - Android Chronicles 3
Jacked Cat Jive	Rhys Ford	CF - Kai Gracen Series 3
Mad Lizard Mambo (ri)	Rhys Ford	CF - Kai Gracen Series 2
Black Dog Blues (ri)	Rhys Ford	CF - Kai Gracen Series 1
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (ri)	Neil Gaiman Terry Pratchett	MTI/F/HU
The Women's War	Jenna Glass	F - The Women's War 1
The Far Far Better Thing (e)	Auston Habershaw	F/DF - Saga of the Redeemed
Alice Payne Rides	Kate Heartfield	SF/TT/SP - Alice Payne 2
The Controllers	Paul Kane	SF - Collection
The Hunger (h2tp)	Alma Katsu	PsyTh/Hist/Occ/Sup
Another Kingdom	Andrew Klavan	F - Another Kingdom 1
The Wall	John Lanchester	LF/Dys
The Migration (D)	Helen Marshall	Dys/LF/H
The Reign of the Kingfisher (D)	T.J. Martinson	Sus/SH
Infinite Detail (D)	Tim Maughan	SF/Dys
That Ain't Witchcraft	Seanan McGuire	UF/P/HU - InCryptid 8
Mahimata	Rati Mehrotra	F - Asiana 2
While You Sleep	Stephanie Merritt	Th
The Bayern Agenda	Dan Moren	SF/Th - Galactic Cold War 1
Gingerbread	Helen Oyeyemi	LF/FairyT/FolkT/LM/MR
If This Goes On: The Science Fiction Future of Today's Politics	Cat Rambo (Ed)	SF - Anthology
The Unknown Soldier (e)(ri)	Mickey Zucker Reichert	F
Voices of the Fall	John Ringo (Ed) Gary Poole (Ed)	SF - Black Tide Rising Anthology
Pure Chocolate	Amber Royer	SF/SO/SFR - The Chocoverse 2
Today I Am Carey (D)	Martin L. Shoemaker	SF/HSF
The Last Dog on Earth	Adrian J. Walker	Dys/SF/AP/PA

March 6, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Knowledgeable Creatures: A Tor.com Original (e)	Christopher Rowe	F

March 8, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Fireweed and Brimstone (e)	Boone Brux	UF - Grim Reality 3
Blood They Brought and Other Stories	Ed Kurtz	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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
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)
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humor
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Parnormal Cozy Mystery
PerfArts - Performing Arts
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Spec - Speculative
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SS - Short Stories
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.

Andrew Bannister

Creation Machine
Spin Trilogy 1
Tor Books, March 5, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

Creation Machine is a fast-paced, whip-smart science fiction debut from Andrew Bannister introducing the stunning galaxy called the Spin.

In the vast, artificial galaxy called the Spin, a rebellion has been crushed.

Viklun Hass is eliminating all remnants of the opposition. Starting with his daughter.

But Fleare Hass has had time to plan her next move from exile to the very frontiers of a new war.

For hundreds of millions of years, the planets and stars of the Spin have been the only testament to the god-like engineers that created them. Now, beneath the surface of a ruined planet, one of their machines has been found.

K. Chess

Famous Men Who Never Lived
Tin House Book, March 5, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 324 pages

For readers of Station Eleven and Exit West, Famous Men Who Never Lived explores the effects of displacement on our identities, the communities that come together through circumstance, and the power of art to save us.

Wherever Hel looks, New York City is both reassuringly familiar and terribly wrong. As one of the thousands who fled the outbreak of nuclear war in an alternate United States―an alternate timeline―she finds herself living as a refugee in our own not-so-parallel New York. The slang and technology are foreign to her, the politics and art unrecognizable. While others, like her partner Vikram, attempt to assimilate, Hel refuses to reclaim her former career or create a new life. Instead, she obsessively rereads Vikram’s copy of The Pyronauts―a science fiction masterwork in her world that now only exists as a single flimsy paperback―and becomes determined to create a museum dedicated to preserving the remaining artifacts and memories of her vanished culture.

But the refugees are unwelcome and Hel’s efforts are met with either indifference or hostility. And when the only copy of The Pyronauts goes missing, Hel must decide how far she is willing to go to recover it and finally face her own anger, guilt, and grief over what she has truly lost.

Kate Hope Day

If, Then
Random House, March 12, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 272 pages

“A must-read—a gorgeous literary novel that asks us to imagine all the possible versions of ourselves that might exist.”—J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of Saints for All Occasions

The residents of a sleepy mountain town are rocked by troubling visions of an alternate reality in this dazzling debut that combines the family-driven suspense of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere with the inventive storytelling of The Immortalists.

In the quiet haven of Clearing, Oregon, four neighbors find their lives upended when they begin to see themselves in parallel realities. Ginny, a devoted surgeon whose work often takes precedence over her family, has a baffling vision of a beautiful co-worker in Ginny’s own bed and begins to doubt the solidity of her marriage. Ginny’s husband, Mark, a wildlife scientist, sees a vision that suggests impending devastation and grows increasingly paranoid, threatening the safety of his wife and son. Samara, a young woman desperately mourning the recent death of her mother and questioning why her father seems to be coping with such ease, witnesses an apparition of her mother healthy and vibrant and wonders about the secrets her parents may have kept from her. Cass, a brilliant scholar struggling with the demands of new motherhood, catches a glimpse of herself pregnant again, just as she’s on the brink of returning to the project that could define her career.

At first the visions are relatively benign, but they grow increasingly disturbing—and, in some cases, frightening. When a natural disaster threatens Clearing, it becomes obvious that the visions were not what they first seemed and that the town will never be the same.

Startling, deeply imagined, and compulsively readable, Kate Hope Day’s debut novel is about the choices we make that shape our lives and determine our destinies—the moments that alter us so profoundly that it feels as if we’ve entered another reality.

K. A. Doore

The Perfect Assassin
Chronicles of Ghadid 1
Tor Books, March 19, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages

A novice assassin is on the hunt for someone killing their own in K. A. Doore's The Perfect Assassin, a breakout high fantasy beginning the Chronicles of Ghadid series.

Divine justice is written in blood.

Or so Amastan has been taught. As a new assassin in the Basbowen family, he’s already having second thoughts about taking a life. A scarcity of contracts ends up being just what he needs.

Until, unexpectedly, Amastan finds the body of a very important drum chief. Until, impossibly, Basbowen’s finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. Until, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed.

Every life has its price, but when the tables are turned, Amastan must find this perfect assassin or be their next target.

“The Perfect Assassin is a thrilling fantastical mystery that had me racing through the pages.” —S. A. Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass

“Full of rooftop fights, frightening magic, and nonstop excitement and mystery, I absolutely loved it from start to finish!” — Sarah Beth Durst

Katharine Duckett

Miranda in Milan
Tor.com, March 26, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 2019 pages

With Miranda in Milan, debut author Katharine Duckett reimagines the consequences of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, casting Miranda into a Milanese pit of vipers and building a queer love story that lifts off the page in whirlwinds of feeling.

After the tempest, after the reunion, after her father drowned his books, Miranda was meant to enter a brave new world. Naples awaited her, and Ferdinand, and a throne. Instead she finds herself in Milan, in her father’s castle, surrounded by hostile servants who treat her like a ghost. Whispers cling to her like spiderwebs, whispers that carry her dead mother’s name. And though he promised to give away his power, Milan is once again contorting around Prospero’s dark arts.

With only Dorothea, her sole companion and confidant to aid her, Miranda must cut through the mystery and find the truth about her father, her mother, and herself.

“Love and lust, mothers and monsters, magicians and masked balls, all delivered with Shakespearean panache.” —Nicola Griffith, author of Hild

“Miranda in Milan is somehow both utterly charming and perfectly sinister, and altogether delightful. A pleasure for any lover of romance, myth, and magic—whether or not they're fans of the Bard.” —Cherie Priest, author of Boneshaker and I Am Princess X

Seth Fried

The Municipalists
Penguin Book, March 19, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 272 pages

A novel about an unlikely pair of lonely outsiders–one human, one AI–on an adventure to save the great American city of Metropolis written by “one of the most exciting new voices in fiction” (Charles Yu)

*Named Library’s Journal‘s “Debut of the Month” and one of NYLON‘s “50 Books You’ll Want to Read in 2019″*

In Metropolis, the gleaming city of tomorrow, the dream of the great American city has been achieved. But all that is about to change, unless a neurotic, rule-following bureaucrat and an irreverent, freewheeling artificial intelligence can save the city from a mysterious terrorist plot that threatens its very existence.

Henry Thompson has dedicated his life to improving America’s infrastructure as a proud employee of the United States Municipal Survey. So when the agency comes under attack, he dutifully accepts his unexpected mission to visit Metropolis looking for answers. But his plans to investigate quietly, quickly, and carefully are interrupted by his new partner: a day-drinking know-it-all named OWEN, who also turns out to be the projected embodiment of the agency’s supercomputer. Soon, Henry and OWEN are fighting to save not only their own lives and those of the city’s millions of inhabitants, but also the soul of Metropolis. The Municipalists is a thrilling, funny, and touching adventure story, a tour-de-force of imagination that trenchantly explores our relationships to the cities around us and the technologies guiding us into the future.

Michael R. Johnston

The Widening Gyre
The Remembrance War 1
Flame Tree Press, March 14, 2019
Hardcover, Trade Paperback, 256 pages

Eight hundred years ago, the Zhen Empire discovered a broken human colony ship drifting in the fringes of their space. The Zhen gave the humans a place to live and folded them into their Empire as a client state. But it hasn’t been easy. Not all Zhen were eager to welcome another species into their Empire, and humans have faced persecution. For hundreds of years, human languages and history were outlawed subjects, as the Zhen tried to mold humans into their image. Earth and the cultures it nourished for millennia are forgotten, little more than legends.

One of the first humans to be allowed to serve in the Zhen military, Tajen Hunt became a war hero at the Battle of Elkari, the only human to be named an official Hero of the Empire. He was given command of a task force, and sent to do the Empire’s bidding in their war with the enigmatic Tabrans. But when he failed in a crucial mission, causing the deaths of millions of people, he resigned in disgrace and faded into life on the fringes as a lone independent pilot.

When Tajen discovers his brother, Daav, has been killed by agents of the Empire, he, his niece, and their newly-hired crew set out to finish his brother’s quest: to find Earth, the legendary homeworld of humanity. What they discover will shatter 800 years of peace in the Empire, and start a war that could be the end of the human race.

Helen Marshall

The Migration
Random House Canada, March 5, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 304 pages

“A dark fable that somehow feels both timeless and urgently topical. The Migration is heart-wringing and powerful, but over and above that, it’s just vivid and immersive and enthralling throughout.” –M.R. Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts

When I was younger I didn’t know a thing about death. I thought it meant stillness, a body gone limp. A marionette with its strings cut. Death was like a long vacation–a going away. Not this.

Storms and flooding are worsening around the world, and a mysterious immune disorder has begun to afflict the young. Sophie Perella is about to begin her senior year of high school in Toronto when her little sister, Kira, is diagnosed. Their parents’ marriage falters under the strain, and Sophie’s mother takes the girls to Oxford, England, to live with their Aunt Irene. An Oxford University professor and historical epidemiologist obsessed with relics of the Black Death, Irene works with a Centre that specializes in treating people with the illness. She is a friend to Sophie, and offers a window into a strange and ancient history of human plague and recovery. Sophie just wants to understand what’s happening now; but as mortality rates climb, and reports emerge of bodily tremors in the deceased, it becomes clear there is nothing normal about this condition–and that the dead aren’t staying dead. When Kira succumbs, Sophie faces an unimaginable choice: let go of the sister she knows, or take action to embrace something terrifying and new.
     Tender and chilling, unsettling and hopeful, The Migration is a story of a young woman’s dawning awareness of mortality and the power of the human heart to thrive in cataclysmic circumstances.

Arkady Martine

A Memory Called Empire
Tor Books, March 26, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 464 pages

"A Memory Called Empire perfectly balances action and intrigue with matters of empire and identity. All around brilliant space opera, I absolutely love it."—Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary Justice

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

A fascinating space opera debut novel, Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire is an interstellar mystery adventure.

"The most thrilling ride ever. This book has everything I love."—Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky

T. J. Martinson

The Reign of the Kingfisher
Flatiron Books, March 5, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

30 years ago a superhero tried to save Chicago. Now the city is again under siege, in this gritty, suspenseful, and beautifully written novel from award-winning debut author T.J. Martinson

Somewhere in Chicago, a roomful of people have been taken hostage. The hostages will be killed one by one, the masked gunman says on-screen, unless the police will admit that they faked the death of the legendary superhero called the Kingfisher and helped him to give up his defense of the city thirty years ago.

Retired reporter Marcus Waters made his name as a journalist covering the enigmatic superhero’s five years of cleaning up Chicago’s streets. Then the Kingfisher died, Chicago resumed its violent turmoil, and Marcus slid back into obscurity.

But did the Kingfisher really die? And who would take hostages connected to the Kingfisher's past attempts to clean up the streets? With the help of disgraced police officer Lucinda Tillman and a young hacktivist named Wren, Marcus will explore the city's violence, corruption, and chaos to figure out if the vigilante hero died tragically, or gave up hope and abandoned the city—and for the hostages, the clock is ticking.

Tim Maughan

Infinite Detail
MCD x FSG Originals, March 5, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

A timely and uncanny portrait of a world in the wake of fake news, diminished privacy, and a total shutdown of the Internet

BEFORE: In Bristol’s center lies the Croft, a digital no-man’s-land cut off from the surveillance, Big Data dependence, and corporate-sponsored, globally hegemonic aspirations that have overrun the rest of the world. Ten years in, it’s become a center of creative counterculture. But it’s fraying at the edges, radicalizing from inside. How will it fare when its chief architect, Rushdi Mannan, takes off to meet his boyfriend in New York City—now the apotheosis of the new techno-utopian global metropolis?

AFTER: An act of anonymous cyberterrorism has permanently switched off the Internet. Global trade, travel, and communication have collapsed. The luxuries that characterized modern life are scarce. In the Croft, Mary—who has visions of people presumed dead—is sought out by grieving families seeking connections to lost ones. But does Mary have a gift or is she just hustling to stay alive? Like Grids, who runs the Croft’s black market like personal turf. Or like Tyrone, who hoards music (culled from cassettes, the only medium to survive the crash) and tattered sneakers like treasure.

The world of Infinite Detail is a small step shy of our own: utterly dependent on technology, constantly brokering autonomy and privacy for comfort and convenience. With Infinite Detail, Tim Maughan makes the hitherto-unimaginable come true: the End of the Internet, the End of the World as We Know It.

Vanessa Savage

The Woman in the Dark
Grand Central Publishing, March 12, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

In the vein of The Couple Next Door, a debut psychological thriller about a woman who moves with her family to the gothic seaside house where her husband grew up — and where 15 years ago another family was brutally slaughtered.

Sarah and Patrick are happy. But after her mother’s death, Sarah spirals into depression and overdoses on sleeping pills. While Sarah claims it was an accident, her teenage children aren’t so sure. Patrick decides they all need a fresh start and he knows just the place, since the idyllic family home where he was raised has recently come up for sale. There’s only one catch: for the past fifteen years, it has become infamous as the “Murder House”, standing empty after a family was stabbed to death within its walls.

Patrick believes they can bring the house back to its former glory, so Sarah, uprooted from everything she knows, pours her energy into painting, gardening, and giving the rotting old structure the warmth of home. But with locals hinting that the house is haunted, the news that the murderer has been paroled, strange writing on the walls, and creepy “gifts” arriving on the doorstep at odd hours, Sarah can’t shake the feeling that something just isn’t right. Not with the house, not with the town, or even with her own, loving husband — whose stories about his perfect childhood suddenly aren’t adding up. Can Sarah uncover the secrets of the Murder House before another family is destroyed?

Namwali Serpell

The Old Drift
Hogarth, March 26, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 576 pages

An electrifying debut from the winner of the 2015 Caine Prize for African writing, The Old Drift is the Great Zambian Novel you didn’t know you were waiting for

On the banks of the Zambezi River, a few miles from the majestic Victoria Falls, there was once a colonial settlement called The Old Drift. Here begins the epic story of a small African nation, told by a mysterious swarm-like chorus that calls itself man’s greatest nemesis. The tale? A playful panorama of history, fairytale, romance and science fiction. The moral? To err is human.

In 1904, in a smoky room at the hotel across the river, an Old Drifter named Percy M. Clark, foggy with fever, makes a mistake that entangles the fates of an Italian hotelier and an African busboy. This sets off a cycle of unwitting retribution between three Zambian families (black, white, brown) as they collide and converge over the course of the century, into the present and beyond. As the generations pass, their lives – their triumphs, errors, losses and hopes – form a symphony about what it means to be human.

From a woman covered with hair and another plagued with endless tears, to forbidden love affairs and fiery political ones, to homegrown technological marvels like Afronauts, microdrones and viral vaccines – this gripping, unforgettable novel sweeps over the years and the globe, subverting expectations along the way. Exploding with color and energy, The Old Drift is a testament to our yearning to create and cross borders, and a meditation on the slow, grand passage of time.

Martin L. Shoemaker

Today I Am Carey
Baen, March 5, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

REMARKABLE DEBUT NOVEL FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR MARTIN L. SHOEMAKER. 

Shoemaker proves why he has consitently been praised as one of the best story writers in SF today with this touching, thoughtful, action-packed debut novel, based on his award-winning short story Today I am Paul.

TODAY

Mildred has Alzheimer's. As memories fade, she acquires the aid of a full-time android to assist her in everyday life. Carey. Carey takes care of Mildred, but its true mission is to fill in the gaps in Mildred’s past. To bring yesterday into today by becoming a copy. But not merely a copy of a physical person. A copy from the inside out.

I AM

After Mildred passes, Carey must find a new purpose. For a time, that purpose is Mildred’s family. To keep them safe from harm. To be of service. There is Paul Owens, the overworked scientist and business leader. Susan Owens, the dedicated teacher. And Millie, a curious little girl who will grow up alongside her android best friend. And Carey will grow up with her. Carey cannot age. But Carey can change.

CAREY

Carey struggles. Carey seeks to understand life’s challenges. Carey makes its own path. Carey must learn to live. To grow. To care. To survive. To be.

Dan Stout

Titanshade
The Carter Archives 1
DAW, March 12, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 416 pages

This noir fantasy thriller from a debut author introduces the gritty town of Titanshade, where danger lurks around every corner.

Carter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.

But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.