Black Gate

Adam Roberts is a prolific British science fiction writer. His novels include Swiftly, Stone, and The Dragon with the Girl Tattoo. Three of his novels, Salt, Gradisil and Yellow Blue Tibia, were nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award; and By Light Alone was nominated for the 2012 British Science Fiction Association Award.

Sadly, not many of his books have made it across the pond. But next month his publisher Gollancz will release the digital version of his latest novel, The Thing Itself, simultaneously in the US and the UK. The Thing Itself is a very intriguing riff on one of my favorite horror films, the classic SF/horror tale The Thing. Sounds like a great time for American readers to try Roberts.

Adam Roberts turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters’ The Thing.

Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book — by the philosopher Kant.

As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. They come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.

The Thing Itself will be published by Gollancz/Hachette Book Group on December 17, 2015. It is 352 pages, priced at $10.99 in digital format. If you prefer the print edition, you can order that from Gollancz in the UK for £8.99.

Lawrence M. Schoen has been nominated for the Nebula Award three times, and the Hugo Award once, and anticipation is high for his next novel: Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, a far-future SF tale in which humans are long gone but anthropomorphic elephants, exiled to the ghetto world of Barsk, speak with the dead. I met Lawrence at the Nebula Awards banquet earlier this year, and he was kind enough to give me an advance copy. The early reviews contains some of the most effusive praise I’ve seen for a novel this year, with Karl Schroeder calling it “A compulsive page-turner and immensely enjoyable,” Robert J. Sawyer describing it as “Weird, wise, and worldly… a triumph,” and James L. Cambias proclaiming it “Captivating… [a] heartwarming story in a unique and fantastic world… as rich and mysterious as Dune.” Do yourself a favor and grab a copy when it arrives next month.

An historian who speaks with the dead is ensnared by the past. A child who feels no pain and who should not exist sees the future. Between them are truths that will shake worlds.

In a distant future, no remnants of human beings remain, but their successors thrive throughout the galaxy. These are the offspring of humanity’s genius-animals uplifted into walking, talking, sentient beings. The Fant are one such species: anthropomorphic elephants ostracized by other races, and long ago exiled to the rainy ghetto world of Barsk. There, they develop medicines upon which all species now depend. The most coveted of these drugs is koph, which allows a small number of users to interact with the recently deceased and learn their secrets.

To break the Fant’s control of koph, an offworld shadow group attempts to force the Fant to surrender their knowledge. Jorl, a Fant Speaker with the dead, is compelled to question his deceased best friend, who years ago mysteriously committed suicide. In so doing, Jorl unearths a secret the powers that be would prefer to keep buried forever. Meanwhile, his dead friend’s son, a physically challenged young Fant named Pizlo, is driven by disturbing visions to take his first unsteady steps toward an uncertain future.

Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard will be published by Tor Books on December 29, 2015. It is 384 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The marvelous cover is by Victo Ngai.