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New Treasures: Stars Uncharted by S. K. Dunstall

New Treasures: Stars Uncharted by S. K. Dunstall

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Stars Uncharted-small“S. K. Dunstall” is the sibling writing duo of Sherylyn and Karen Dunstall. In 2016 I wrote about their successful Linesman Trilogy from Ace Books.

Their newest novel is Stars Uncharted, a fast-paced space opera that follows a ragtag band of explorers who make the greatest find in the galaxy. John DeNardo at Kirkus Reviews says “It combines the best parts of space action and space opera,” and Booklist says it “Masterfully [weaves] hard science… with engaging characters and a touch of romance, resulting in a brilliant female-driven tale.” It arrives in trade paperback from Ace Books next week.

On this space jump, no one is who they seem…

Captain Hammond Roystan is a simple cargo runner who has stumbled across the find of a lifetime: the Hassim, a disabled exploration ship — and its valuable record of unexplored worlds.

His junior engineer, Josune Arriola, said her last assignment was in the uncharted rim. But she is decked out in high-level bioware that belies her humble backstory.

A renowned body-modification artist, Nika Rik Terri has run afoul of clients who will not take no for an answer. She has to flee off-world, and she is dragging along a rookie modder, who seems all too experienced in weapons and war…

Together this mismatched crew will end up on one ship, hurtling through the lawless reaches of deep space with Roystan at the helm. Trailed by nefarious company men, they will race to find the most famous lost world of all — and riches beyond their wildest dreams…

Stars Uncharted will be published by Ace on August 14, 2018. It is 416 pages, priced at $16 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by John Harris. Read the complete 15-page first chapter here.

See all our recent New Treasures here.

Don’t Let Go the Coat: The Greatcoats by Sebastien de Castell

Don’t Let Go the Coat: The Greatcoats by Sebastien de Castell

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Traitors-Blade-smaller Knights-Shadow-smaller Saints-Blood-smaller Tyrant's Throne-smaller

Rather foolishly, I thought Sebastien de Castell’s Greatcoats trilogy was, er, a trilogy. But that was before the fourth novel, Tyrant’s Throne, showed up in hardcover last year. Jo Fletcher Books reprinted it in trade paperback on May 1 of this year, and this time it seems that de Castell has indeed bought his popular debut series to a close.

In her review of Knight’s Shadow Sarah Avery said,

De Castell is carving himself an enduring place in the fantasy canon…. Knight’s Shadow is so strong, the only way I can see the Greatcoats series failing to achieve eventual wide recognition as a classic is if the author meets an untimely demise.

Fortunately that hasn’t happened, and in fact de Castell just launched a brand new four-volume series, Spellslinger (which we discussed here). The second volume arrives this month, and the next two before the end of the year. With productivity like that, Sebastien de Castell may well be the hardest working man in fantasy.

Here’s the description for Tyrant’s Throne.

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When Traveller Meets Tiptree: The Wayfarers Trilogy by Becky Chambers

When Traveller Meets Tiptree: The Wayfarers Trilogy by Becky Chambers

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The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet-small A Closed and Common Orbit-small Record of a Spaceborn Few-small

I love a good science fiction series, though I don’t get to indulge that love very often. But I’ve got some vacation time coming up this month, and I plan to put it to good use. I’ve had to ruthlessly pare down my to-be-read pile to an achievable size (man, that was painful), and only one SF series survived the culling: Becky Chambers Wayfarers trilogy.

There’s been a lot of praise heaped on these books — including making numerous Best of the Year lists, and a Hugo nomination for the second volume, A Closed and Common Orbit — but what’s really drawn me to them has been the intriguing reviews. Niall Alexander at Tor.com called the opening novel, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, “A genuine joy,” and Publishers Weekly labeled the second “Superb work from one of the genre’s rising stars.” But I think my favorite review came from James Nicoll, who admitted up front that he read the first one expecting a Traveller novel.

I picked it up because, over on Livejournal, Heron61 said:

It’s basically what you’d get if you took Firefly (minus the unfortunate Civil War metaphors) or an average campaign of the Traveller RPG and focused more on interpersonal dynamics and character’s emotional lives, while substantially reducing the level of violence.

Yes, this book reminds me of Traveller… I was more strongly reminded of James Tiptree, Jr.’s short story “And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side”… that is, if James Tiptree, Jr. instead of being relentlessly, inexorably depressing, had been a cheerful optimist. The book isn’t quite what I was expecting, but it was a refreshing change of pace.

The third volume, Record of a Spaceborn Few, arrived last week. I’ve been looking for something fun and different — and new — and this series very definitely fits the bill.

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New Treasures: A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell

New Treasures: A Study in Honor by Claire O’Dell

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A Study in Honor Claire O'Dell-small A Study in Honor Claire O'Dell-back-small

Beth Bernobich is the author of the River of Souls trilogy (Passion Play, Queen’s Hunt, and Allegiance) and Fox and Phoenix (which Rich Horton reviewed for us here.) In his July wrap-up at Kirkus Reviews John DeNardo tipped me off to her latest, A Study in Honor, her first science fiction/mystery, and her first title released under the pen name Claire O’Dell:

Claire O’Dell’s futuristic mystery A Study in Honor is not set in space but is no less thrilling. It’s a gender-flipped re-imagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes. In near future Washington, D.C., Dr. Janet Watson, recently and honorably discharged from the Civil War, teams up with covert agent Sara Holmes to find a murderer targeting veterans.

Early notices for the book have been excellent. Liz Bourke at Tor.com called it “a tense, gripping story, excellently paced, and Janet is an amazingly compelling narrator. This novel is really hard to put down, and I’m looking forward to the sequel with great anticipation.” And Publisher’s Weekly said,

This riveting mystery (fantasist Beth Bernobich’s first work under the O’Dell pseudonym), set in near-future Washington D.C., spotlights delightfully fresh adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous characters. After Dr. Janet Watson loses her arm in an attack by the New Confederacy, she is discharged from the Army and returns home. She meets the fascinating, if infuriating, Sara Holmes, and they become roommates in Georgetown, Va., where, as two black women, they are not entirely welcome. Watson observes troubling patterns in her new job at the VA, and these, along with prompts from Holmes’s top secret connections, send the women on a high-stakes search for answers… This is a real treat for fans of Conan Doyle and SF mysteries.

A Study in Honor was published by Harper Voyager on July 31, 2018. It is 304 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $9.99 for the digital version. The cover is by Chris McGrath. Read an excerpt at Unbound Worlds.

John DeNardo on 31 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books You Should Read in July

John DeNardo on 31 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books You Should Read in July

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Hullmetal Girls-small Lost Gods Micah Yongo-small From the Depths and Other Strange Tales of the Sea-small

Over at Kirkus Reviews, John Denardo has a regular monthly book column. For July he mixes things up a bit by recommending a book for every single day of the month.

I am constantly in awe at the vast number of books that are published every month. July alone sees the publication of several hundred speculative fiction titles vying for your reading time. It can thus be a daunting task for readers to find their way to the best of them. That’s where I come in. Every month, I sift through the vast number of speculative titles and pick out the ones that deserve your attention…

In Emily Skrutskie’s intriguing Hullmetal Girls, the path to a better life (or at least the money to buy one) may be volunteering to become a mechanically-enhanced soldier called a Scela. That’s what Aisha Un-Haad decides to do to raise the money she needs for her brother’s medical treatment. In the Fleet is where Aisha meets Key Tanaka, a Scela with only fuzzy memories of her former, well-to-do, pre-Scela life. Both women from disparate backgrounds must work together if they are to challenge the pending rebellion… There’s also Micah Yongo’s Lost Gods, a dark fantasy in which a young assassin named Neythan finds himself hunted by his assassin brothers and sisters when he is framed for the murder of his closest friend. Neythan’s journey will lead to him learning the true nature of his revered assassin brotherhood… I said it before and I’ll say it again: Short fiction rocks. July is stuffed so full of short fiction, you won’t know where to start. I do… check out From the Depths: and Other Strange Tales of the Sea edited by Mike Ashley.

Hullmetal Girls is available in hardcover from Delacorte Press (320 pages, $17.99, July 17). Lost Souls is from our friends at Angry Robot (448 pages, $12.99 in trade paperback, July 3, 2018). From the Depths is part of the Tales of the Weird library from British Library Publishing (320 pages, £8.99/$12.50 US, July 19, 2018). Check out John DeNardo’s complete list of July recs here.

The Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of July 2018

The Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on the Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of July 2018

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Kill the Farm Boy Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson-small City of Lies Sam Hawke-small Redemption’s Blade Adrian Tchaikovsky-small

July has been a terrific month for fantasy readers, with several exciting debuts, more than a few big names, and a handful of highly anticipated installments in popular series. As usual, Jeff Somers at the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog handily summarizes the most interesting titles of the month. Here’s a half-dozen of his best selections.

Kill the Farm Boy by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson (Del Rey, 384 pages, $27 in hardcover/ $13.99 digital, July 17)

Hearne and Dawson set out to undermine the white male patriarchy in a hilarious and surprisingly deep fantasy in the Pratchett mold. The titular, clichéd farm boy destined to save the world is killed more or less immediately after being anointed the Chosen One, but his death doesn’t end the threat to the world. A colorful band of unlikely heroes must assemble to do the job for him, including a half-rabbit bard, an aspiring evil wizard whose main skill is conjuring bread, a rogue lacking any sort of coordination, and, naturally, a talking goat. Their quest to take on the Dark Lord infesting their world with evil curses and evil-er magic is filled with plenty of jokes, songs, and riffs on the fundamental importance of cheese — but also delves into the inner lives of these crazy characters, making them real, interesting people. (Which is more than can be said of many super-serious epic fantasy stories.)

If Kill the Farm Boy is half as much fun as I’ve been hearing, it deserves to be the breakout title for the month. It’s book 1 of The Tales of Pell; no news yet on the next release.

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New Treasures: Redder Than Blood by Tanith Lee

New Treasures: Redder Than Blood by Tanith Lee

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Redder Than Blood Tanith Lee-small Redder Than Blood Tanith Lee-back-small Red-as-Blood-or-Tales-from-the-Sisters-Grimmer-medium

Tanith Lee passed away in 2015, and at the time I worried that meant her work would quickly vanish from bookstores.

That hasn’t happened, and it’s mostly due to the efforts of her long-time publisher DAW Books, who over the last three years has gradually been returning some of her most popular work to print in gorgeous new paperback editions, including all five Flat Earth novels, the Wars of Vis trilogy, the Birthgrave trilogy, and the just-released novella collection Companions on the Road. Most have covers by French artist Bastien Lecouffe Deharme (website here).

I’m especially appreciative that DAW also saw fit to release a brand new short story collection of dark fairy tales, Redder Than Blood, last year. It’s a companion volume to Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer (1983), a paperback original published by DAW with a Michael Whelan cover no less than twenty-five years ago (above right).

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A Modern Masterpiece: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

A Modern Masterpiece: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

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The-Hazel-Wood-Melissa Albert-smallI usually need to read at least a third of a book before deciding to review it for Black Gate. While I always read the books I review all the way to the end, sometimes it takes that long to decide. But when I picked up Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood, I suspected I’d review it after only reading the first two paragraphs. I was sure of it once I’d hit page three.

That’s got to be some kind of record.

Something’s strange about our protagonist, Alice Crewe. From a young age, she’s always been on the move. Her most dominant memory is the view of the blue sky out the sunroof. But according to her mother, their car doesn’t have one.

When she was three, Alice was abducted by a kind stranger who drove off with her in a blue Buick. Even though her mother swears she’s never seen the man before, we wonder if perhaps six-year-old Alice could be right, and he’s actually her father.

Throughout Alice’s childhood, dangerous people and peculiar occurrences dog Alice and her mother like persistent bad luck, so they lead a semi-nomadic existence, uprooting themselves whenever something uncanny gets too close. Until one day, when Alice’s mother receives a letter informing her of her mother’s death. “This isn’t… forgive me, but this isn’t a bad thing. It’s not,” she insists. “It means we’re free.”

Alice’s grandmother’s death means that, for once, they can stop moving. The bad luck’s gone. When their home is subsequently broken into, it’s not a resurgence of the curse. It’s just New York City being, you know, New York City.

Or so teenage Alice thinks, until the day she’s working at a coffee shop and realizes that one of her customers is the man who kidnapped her when she was six. He’s sitting at a table reading Tales from the Hinterland, the collection of dark fairy tales written by Alice’s grandmother that’s so rare, Alice has never been able to read it. When he sees that she’s noticed him, he exits in a hurry, taking the book with him but leaving behind a bone, a feather, and a red plastic comb. For the first time, Alice wonders whether her grandmother’s disturbing fairy tales might not be fiction.

Maybe they’re real.

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New Treasures: The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri

New Treasures: The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri

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The Book of Hidden Things-smallFrancesco Dimitri has published multiple fantasy novels in Italian. His nonfiction includes To Read Aloud and the upcoming That Sense of Wonder, both written in English. The Book of Hidden Things is his debut English novel; it’s described as “a story about the nature of mystery itself,” which I admit I find a little intriguing. Kirkus Reviews raved in a starred review, saying,

In lesser hands, this blend of detective story, organized crime thriller, and supernatural investigation would feel like a grab bag of plot devices, but Dimitri has created a thrilling spectacle that also manages to point poignantly at the way the landscapes we grow up in shape us in ways even beyond our understanding. A deeply felt look at the idea of home, clothed as a popcornworthy page-turner.

Here’s the description.

From “one of the most significant figures of the last generation of fantasy,” comes Francesco Dimitri’s debut novel in English, an enthralling and seductive fantasy following four old friends and the secrets they keep.

Four old school friends have a pact: to meet up every year in the small town in Puglia they grew up in. Art, the charismatic leader of the group and creator of the pact, insists that the agreement must remain unshakable and enduring. But this year, he never shows up.

A visit to his house increases the friends’ worry; Art is farming marijuana. In Southern Italy doing that kind of thing can be very dangerous. They can’t go to the Carabinieri so must make enquiries of their own. This is how they come across the rumours about Art; bizarre and unbelievable rumours that he miraculously cured the local mafia boss’s daughter of terminal leukaemia. And among the chaos of his house, they find a document written by Art, The Book of Hidden Things, that promises to reveal dark secrets and wonders beyond anything previously known.

Francesco Dimitri’s first novel written in English, following his career as one of the most significant fantasy writers in Italy, will entrance fans of Elena Ferrante, Neil Gaiman and Donna Tartt. Set in the beguiling and seductive landscape of Southern Italy, this story is about friendship and landscape, love and betrayal; above all it is about the nature of mystery itself.

The Book of Hidden Things was published by Titan Books on July 3, 2018. It is 384 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital version. The cover was designed by Titan’s talented Julia Lloyd. Read an excerpt at Tor.com.

Amazon Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (So Far)

Amazon Selects the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year (So Far)

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The Only Harmless Great Thing-small Artificial Condition The Murderbot Diaries-small The-Robots-of-Gotham-medium

Amazon has selected the Best Books of 2018 (so far) in a dozen different categories, including Mysteries & Thrillers, Comics & Graphic Novels, Literature and Fiction… and, of course, Science Fiction & Fantasy. The list includes several titles we’ve covered recently at Black Gate, including

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller
The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
Fire Dance by Ilana C. Myer
Before Mars by Emma Newman
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

and others. Best of all, it showcases a pair of Black Gate writers: Martha Wells’ Artificial Condition, the second installment of her wildly popular Murderbot series from Tor.com, and Todd McAulty’s breakout debut novel The Robots of Gotham. Check out all the details here.