Black Gate

Yoon Ha Lee’s debut novel Ninefox Gambit was one of the most acclaimed SF novels of 2016, nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and its sequel, Raven Stratagem, is one of the most highly anticipated books of 2017. It arrives in paperback from Solaris next month,

Captain Kel Cheris is possessed by a long-dead traitor general. Together they must face the rivalries of the hexarchate and a potentially devastating invasion.

When the hexarchate’s gifted young captain Kel Cheris summoned the ghost of the long-dead General Shuos Jedao to help her put down a rebellion, she didn’t reckon on his breaking free of centuries of imprisonment – and possessing her.

Even worse, the enemy Hafn are invading, and Jedao takes over General Kel Khiruev’s fleet, which was tasked with stopping them. Only one of Khiruev’s subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, seems to be able to resist the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao.

Jedao claims to be interested in defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev or Brezan trust him? For that matter, will the hexarchate’s masters wipe out the entire fleet to destroy the rogue general?

Both novels are set in the world of the hexarchate, also the setting for over half a dozen of Lee’s short stories, most of which can be read online. Raven Stratagem will be published by Solaris on June 13, 2017. It is 400 pages, priced at $9.99 in paperback and $6.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Chris Moore. Read an excerpt at Tor.com, and see all out coverage of the best upcoming SF & Fantasy here.

Rachel Vincent is the author of the bestselling Shifters series, an urban fantasy series about a female werecat, and the Unbound trilogy, about a paranormal tracker. Her YA Soul Screamer series, featuring a high school girl who discovers she’s a banshee, has grown to an impressive 8 novels.

Her new adult fantasy series about carnival magic debuted with Menagerie in October 2015. The second volume, Spectacle, arrives in trade paperback on May 30. Here’s the description for the first volume.

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger’s Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus big-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she’s forced to “perform” in town after town.

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other “attractions” — mermaids, minotaurs, griffins and kelpies — are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she’ll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.

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Isabelle Steiger is something of a mystery, to me at least. She came out of nowhere… no previous novels, no short stories that I can find, zip. Not even a website.

Is Steiger a pseudonym, maybe? Who knows. All I know is that she’s produced the opening novel of a brand new fantasy series that’s getting a lot of attention — no small achievement. The Empire’s Ghost arrives in hardcover in ten days.

The empire of Elesthene once spanned a continent, but its rise heralded the death of magic. It tore itself apart from within, leaving behind a patchwork of kingdoms struggling to rebuild.

But when a new dictator, the ambitious and enigmatic Imperator Elgar, seizes power in the old capital and seeks to recreate the lost empire anew, the other kingdoms have little hope of stopping him. Prince Kelken of Reglay finds himself at odds with his father at his country’s darkest hour; the marquise of Esthrades is unmatched in politics and strategy, but she sits at a staggering military disadvantage. And Issamira, the most powerful of the free countries, has shut itself off from the conflict, thrown into confusion by the disappearance of its crown prince and the ensuing struggle for succession.

Everything seems aligned in Elgar’s favor, but when he presses a band of insignificant but skilled alley-dwellers into his service for a mission of greatest secrecy, they find an unexpected opportunity to alter the balance of power in the war. Through their actions and those of the remaining royals, they may uncover not just a way to defeat Elgar, but also a deeper truth about their world’s lost history.

The Empire’s Ghost will be published by Thomas Dunne Books on May 16, 2017. It is 419 pages, priced at $25.99 in hardcover and $12.99 for the digital edition. The cover was designed by Young Jin Lim,