We did a cover reveal for Brian Lee Durfee’s upcoming epic fantasy back in December. But now that the book is on the verge of being published, I wanted to take another peek.
The Forgetting Moon is a debut novel, part of the stellar line from Saga Press, and the opening book in The Five Warrior Angels series. Brian shared his thoughts on the cover with us back in December; click the image above left to check it out. And read the book description by clicking on the image at right.
The Forgetting Moon will be published by Saga Press on August 30, 2016. It is 576 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $7.99 for the digital edition.
See Saga Press’ complete catalog here, and our coverage of all the best in upcoming fantasy here.
Future Treasures: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
Mary Robinette Kowal won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2008, and she has won the Hugo award for her short fiction several times. Her latest novel is Ghost Talkers, a tale of the mysterious spirit corps, trained to glean crucial intelligence from dead soldiers in World War I.
Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Hartshorne, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.
Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.
Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she’s just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing…
Mary is best known for her popular Glamourist Histories fantasy series from Tor, the first two of which were nominated for a Nebula Award. We covered all five volumes in the series:
Ghost Talkers will be published by Tor Books on August 16, 2016. It is 299 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Chris McGrath. Read the first chapter at the Tor/Forge blog.
See the Comic-Con Teaser Trailers for Justice League and Wonder Woman
I quite enjoyed Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman. One of the things I liked best about it was the care it took in setting up follow-up features in the DC Universe. Yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. unveiled some of the fruits of that careful planning, with the first teaser trailer for Justice League, and a full-length trailer for Wonder Woman.
Justice League features Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, and looks like a lot of fun. Clearly following in the successful footsteps of Marvel’s Avengers, the film gathers an ensemble cast (including Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, J. K. Simmons, Amber Heard and Willem Dafoe) and sets up an epic battle between Earth’s mightiest heroes and an extra-planetary menace.
Principal photography began on April 11, 2016, so this is obviously very early footage. Not a lot is known about the plot, but we do know that Batman assembles the team to take on the interdimensional threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons, as hinted in the closing scenes (and this deleted scene) from Batman vs. Superman. Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder and scheduled for release November 17, 2017.
Be sure to check out the first full-length trailer for Wonder Woman, also released this weekend at Comic-Con. Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, and staring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, and Robin Wright, is the fourth installment in what’s now being called the DC Extended Universe. The producers have whole-heartedly embraced Wonder Woman’s epic backstory, including her origin as Princess Diana of Themyscira, warrior princess of the Amazons of Greek mythology. Gadot surprised me in Batman vs. Superman, pretty much stealing all the scenes she was in, and she brings a marvelous gravity to the role. The film is scheduled to be released on June 2, 2017.
See the Table of Contents for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams
The Mariner Books Best American series is one of the more successful and highly regarded anthology series on the market. Their titles include Best American Short Stories, Best American Mystery Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Science and Nature Writing, and Best American Sports Writing.
Last year they added an inaugural SF and fantasy volume, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, with John Joseph Adams as series editor. The 2015 edition was edited by Joe Hill and was one of the stronger Best of the Year anthologies from last year; check out the compete TOC here.
This year’s volume is edited by Karen Joy Fowler. Earlier this month io9 presented the complete Table of Contents, including fantasy tales by Sofia Samatar, Rachel Swirsky, Salman Rushdie, Maria Dahvana Headley, Sam J. Miller, and others, and science fiction by Kelly Link, Catherynne M. Valente, Dale Bailey, Charlie Jane Anders, Ted Chiang, and many others.
It will be available in trade paperback in October, and will include a Foreword by John Joseph Adams, and an Introduction by Karen Joy Fowler. Here’s the complete TOC.
Nick Mamatas is the author of Move Under Ground, Under My Roof, and several other novels. But his latest, I Am Providence, looks like a breakout book.
Set at a horror convention, where a grisly murder leads to the discovery of an unspeakable horror in the pages of ancient book bound in human skin, it is narrated by a faceless corpse in a morgue. Lavie Tidhar says it is “Dark and hilarious… that murder-mystery-in-a-writers-convention you didn’t even know you wanted.” And Publishers Weekly calls it “A heartfelt homage to Lovecraft lore, [which] perfectly captures the antics of conventioneers.”
I Am Providence will be published by Night Shade Books on August 9, 2016. It is 243 pages, priced at $16.99 in trade paperback and $15.99 for the digital version. The cover art is by Magdalena Pagowksa. Click on the images above for bigger versions.
B&N on 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Debuts to Watch for in the Second Half of 2016
Who doesn’t love a good debut novel? Science fiction and fantasy are all about discovering new and wonderful things… and what’s more new and wonderful than discovering a great new writer, capable of transporting you to amazing worlds?
Last month at the Barnes & Noble blog, Ross Johnson compiled a terrific list of 10 particularly promising debut novels of SF & fantasy. Over the last few weeks, I’ve read and seen enough to know that Johnson has a very keen eye. For example, here’s what he says about An Accident of Stars, the upcoming novel by Black Gate blogger Foz Meadows.
Hugo-nominated fan writer Foz Meadows’ hotly anticipated adult debut tells the story of Saffron Coulter, who falls through a looking glass of sorts into a richly detailed world of magic and intrigue. Saffron is quickly embroiled in a civil war lead by another Earth-born visitor, one who sorely regrets providing aid to the fantasy kingdom’s ruler, Leoden, recent claimant to the throne. The story is as much about the complex relationships between a large cast of (mostly) women characters as it is about the building and exploring the realm of Kena.
An Accident of Stars, Book I of The Manifold World, will be published in mass market paperback by Angry Robot on August 2, 2016. It is 496 pages, priced at $7.99, or $6.99 for the digital edition. Our previous coverage of the B&N blog includes:
You know what long hot summers call out for? A long, satisfying space fantasy… with blasters, smugglers, deadly court intrigue — and, of course, a Space Princess. Orbit Books has just the thing. They’re launching a brand new space fantasy series next month: The Indranan War, by newcomer K.B. Wagers. Book One, Behind the Throne, arrives in trade paperback August 2.
Hailimi Bristol escaped from the suffocating court life of Indrana at the age of 19 and changed the course of her life. She became a universally feared gunrunner and, eventually, captain of her own ship. Twenty years later, though, her life is turned upside down by the death of her best friend and lover, the destruction of her ship, and her own effective kidnapping by Royal Trackers tasked with bringing her home. But why? After twenty years?
Because Princess Hailimi Bristol is the only remaining heir to the Indranan throne.
Her sisters have been killed and her mother is ill. Is it a plot by Indrana’s enemies to restart the war that killed her father? Or is it a cabal of men from within Indrana’s own matriarchal society seeking to change centuries of rule by women? For on Indrana, men are second to women and not all are as accepting of that as they seem.
Caught in a whirlwind of plots and assassination attempts, poor Hail longs for the “simple life” of running guns and smuggling. But she can’t run back to that old life. For if she runs away again, Indrana will enter an unnecessary war with the neighboring kingdoms, millions will die, and the Bristol name will disappear forever.
The next book in the series, After the Crown, will be released next year. Behind the Throne will be published by Orbit Books on Aug 2, 2016. It is 42 pages, priced at $14.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Lauren Panepinto.
Future Treasures: Welcome to Deadland by Zachary Tyler Linville
Zachary Tyler Linville won the first Nerdist Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novel Contest. His winning entry, the zombie apocalypse novel Welcome to Deadland, will be published by Nerdist/Inkshares early next month. The tale of a ragtag group of survivors who may well be humanity’s last hope, Welcome to Deadland is getting some early praise from folks like Jonathan Maberry (“Heartbreaking, compelling and highly recommended!”) and Scott Kenemore (“A powerful new voice in the horror genre… Welcome to Deadland opens doors that most of us would prefer to quietly tiptoe past.”)
A widespread disease has ravaged humanity — symptoms include: animalistic rage, violent outbursts, and a ravenous hunger for human flesh. The few people left are thrust together to fight for their lives, before the world becomes overrun by the infected. Asher, Wendy, and Rico try to reach an abandoned theme park, hoping for sanctuary. Although fear of the infected is ever-present, the group finds themselves facing some very human concerns, as well as new adversaries.
Asher is Wendy’s only friend, and she fears that she’ll lose him if he ever discovers the dark secret she’s been harboring. Reeling from heartbreak, Asher clings to Wendy as he struggles to heal. Rico is a seventeen-year-old rebel used to ditching school and partying all night — but can he outgrow his debauched behavior in order to protect a six-year-old boy who has suddenly fallen under his care? These three will have to overcome their own demons in order to save not only themselves, but the last vestiges of humanity.
Welcome to Deadland will be published by Nerdist/Inkshares on August 9, 2016. It is 414 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $7.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Girl Friday Productions.
Red Right Hand is the debut novel from Atlanta writer Levi Black. Jonathan Maberry calls it “A perfect blend of old-school horror and modern storytelling sorcery… absolutely riveting!”
Charlie Tristan Moore isn’t a hero. She’s a survivor. Already wrestling with the demons of her past, she finds herself tested as never before when she arrives home one night to find herself under attack by three monstrous skinhounds straight out of a nightmare. Just as hope seems lost, she is saved by a sinister Man in Black, dressed in a long, dark coat that seems to possess a life of its own and wielding a black-bladed sword in his grisly red right hand.
But her rescue comes at a cost. The Man in Black, a diabolical Elder God, demands she become his Acolyte and embrace a dark magick she never knew she possessed. To ensure her obedience, he takes her friend and possible love, Daniel, in thrall as a hostage. Now she must join The Man in Black in his crusade to track down and destroy his fellow Elder Gods, supposedly to save humanity from being devoured for all eternity.
But is The Man in Black truly the lesser of two evils – or a menace far more treacherous than the eldritch horrors she’s battling in his name?
I first heard of it at the B&N blog, in Jeff Somers’s post “The Long Arm of Lovecraft: 8 Books That Probe the Mythos,” which also examines Ruthanna Emrys’ The Litany of Earth, Jacqueline Baker’s The Broken Hours, and Nick Mamatas’ I Am Providence. On Red Right Hand, Jeff says:
Charlie… survives an attack by a trio of monstrous skinhounds thanks to the intervention of the Man in Black, whose long coats swirls with a mind of its own and whose grisly red right hand clutches a black blade. The Man in Black is in fact an Elder God, and he enlists Charlie’s help in destroying his peers, claiming to be trying to save mankind. Charlie dives into the fray, unsure if there’s such a thing as the “lesser of two evils” when it comes to Lovecraftian creatures. Readers will be sucked in by the bravado writing.
Red Right Hand will be published by Tor Books on July 26, 2016. It is 304 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition. Read an excerpt here.
Future Treasures: Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone
Four Roads Cross is the fifth novel in Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence, which Ken Liu calls “Brilliant, elegant, epic, astonishing, smart, gritty,” and Django Wexler says is “garnished with skeleton kings, serpent gods, and lawyer-magicians. It’s glorious.” Here’s the description.
The great city of Alt Coulumb is in crisis. The moon goddess Seril, long thought dead, is back – and the people of Alt Coulumb aren’t happy. Protests rock the city, and Kos Everburning’s creditors attempt a hostile takeover of the fire god’s church. Tara Abernathy, the god’s in-house Craftswoman, must defend the church against the world’s fiercest necromantic firm–and against her old classmate, a rising star in the Craftwork world.
As if that weren’t enough, Cat and Raz, supporting characters from Three Parts Dead, are back too, fighting monster pirates; skeleton kings drink frozen cocktails, defying several principles of anatomy; jails, hospitals, and temples are broken into and out of; choirs of flame sing over Alt Coulumb; demons pose significant problems; a farmers’ market proves more important to world affairs than seems likely; doctors of theology strike back; Monk-Technician Abelard performs several miracles; The Rats! play Walsh’s Place; and dragons give almost-helpful counsel.
We covered all four previous novels — which, as Max explains on his blog, are ordered not by publication date, but by title:
