Black Gate

Robert V. S. Redick is the author of The Red Wolf Conspiracy and its three sequels in the Chathrand Voyage sequence. In her review for Black Gate Sarah Avery called the series,

Delightful… The first three books were delicious, but will he pull off the conclusion well enough to justify the time it takes you to reread the whole set? Yes…. I’ve just finished The Night of the Swarm, which I dove into without reacquainting myself with the earlier books, and though it was immensely satisfying, I will definitely be rereading the whole series.

Redick kicks off an ambitious new series The Fire Sacraments, with Master Assassins, in which two village boys mistaken for assassins become the decisive figures in the battle for a continent. It was released in hardcover and trade paperback in March by Talos.

Kandri Hinjuman was never meant to be a soldier. His brother Mektu was never meant for this world. Rivals since childhood, they are drafted into a horrific war led by a madwoman-Prophet, and survive each day only by hiding their disbelief. Kandri is good at blending in, but Mektu is hopeless: impulsive, erratic — and certain that a demon is stalking him. Is this madness or a second sense? Either way, Kandri knows that Mektu’s antics will land them both in early graves.

But all bets are off when the brothers’ simmering feud explodes into violence, and holy blood is spilled. Kandri and Mektu are taken for contract killers and must flee for their lives — to the one place where they can hope to disappear: the sprawling desert known as the Land that Eats Men. In this eerie wilderness, the terrain is as deadly as the monsters, ghouls, and traffickers in human flesh. Here the brothers find strange allies: an aging warlord, a desert nomad searching for her family, a lethal child-soldier still in her teens. They also find themselves in possession of a secret that could bring peace to the continent of Urrath. Or unthinkable carnage.

On their heels are the Prophet’s death squads. Ahead lie warring armies, sandstorms, evil spirits and the deeper evil of human greed. But hope beckons as well — if the “Master Assassins” can expose the lie that has made them the world’s most wanted men.

Master Assassins was published by Talos on March 6, 2018. It is 460 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover, and $14.99 for both the trade paperback and digital editions. Listen to Redick read the first 20 pages of the book here.

Jack McDevitt’s Academy series began with The Engines of God in 1994. The series has garnered four Nebula nominations (for Chindi, Omega, Odyssey, and Cauldron) and one Campbell Memorial Award win (for Omega). It has become one of the most popular and acclaimed science fiction series on the market (see the complete list of books in the series in my previous post here).

In the eighth and latest installment, The Long Sunset, Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins discovers an interstellar message from a highly advanced race that could be her last chance for a mission before the program is shut down for good. Jeff Somers at The Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog calls it “Classic space adventure in the best sense of the term… McDevitt’s optimism and enthusiasm for the profound mysteries of the universe shines through, lending the increasingly fascinating investigation an air of excitement as the crew sifts through dead planets…”

It arrived in hardcover from Saga Press last week. Here’s the description.

Hutch has been the Academy’s best pilot for decades. She’s had numerous first contact encounters and even became a minor celebrity. But world politics have shifted from exploration to a growing fear that the program will run into an extraterrestrial race more advanced than humanity and war.

Despite taking part in the recent scientific breakthrough that rejuvenates the human body and expands one’s lifespan, Hutch finds herself as a famous interstellar pilot with little to do, until a message from an alien race arrives.

The message is a piece of music from an unexplored area. Despite the fact that this alien race could pose a great danger and that this message could have taken several thousand years to travel, the program prepares the last interstellar ship for the journey. As the paranoia grows, Hutch and her crew make an early escape — but what they find at the other end of the galaxy is completely unexpected.

The Long Sunset was published by Saga Press on April 17, 2018. It is 451 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $7.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by John Harris.