Ellen Datlow, ed., Telling Tales
(Hydra House Jun 2013)

The ‘‘Clarion West 30th Anniversary Anthology’’ gathers 16 stories by graduates of the prestigious writing workshop, including Daniel Abraham, Andy Duncan, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Kij Johnson, Margo Lanagan, and Rachel Swirsky, with afterwords by instructors including Samuel R. Delany, Connie Willis, and Ursula K. Le Guin, and a general introduction by Vonda N. McIntyre.

 




Gardner Dozois, ed., The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection
(St. Martin’s Griffin Jul 2013)

The reigning heavyweight among the year’s best anthologies celebrates 30 years with 29 stories from 2012, including work by Elizabeth Bear, Pat Cadigan, Aliette de Bodard, Jay Lake, Linda Nagata, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, and Lavie Tidhar. ‘‘Dozois’s habitual approach [is] celebrating the core capacities of SF while at the same time keeping an eye out for younger writers who find new ways of voicing those capacities.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]

 




John Fleskes, ed., Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! 2
(Flesk Publications Jun 2013)

This art book is a companion piece to the convention and art show held in May 2013, with an emphasis on guests Peter de Sève, Jon Foster, Tara McPherson, Charles Vess, Michael Whelan, and Terryl Whitlatch, featuring sections on their art and separate introductions by various authors, and a general introduction by Cathy & Arnie Fenner, and an afterword by Fleskes.

 




Paula Guran, ed., The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2013 Edition
(Prime Books Aug 2013)

The latest installment of the annual series features 35 of the best stories of 2013, with work by Laird Barron, Peter S. Beagle, Jeffrey Ford, Neil Gaiman, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Joe R. Lansdale, Ekaterina Sedia, Genevieve Valentine, and other leading voices in dark fiction. Includes an introduction by Guran about the difficulty of defining ‘‘horror’’ and ‘‘dark fantasy.’’

 




Paul Hellard & Mark Thomas, eds., Exposé 11
(Ballistic Publishing Aug 2013)

The eleventh edition of the annual round-up of ‘‘the finest digital art in the known universe’’ includes over 500 pieces by more than 400 artists, in categories including SF, fantasy, robotic/cyborg, steampunk, and surreal, while even the non-genre categories often include work with fantastic elements. Also feature a section on Grand Master Roger Dean, with an essay on his career and a gallery of his work.

 




Richard Kadrey, Kill City Blues
(Harper Voyager Aug 2013)

The fifth installment in the hardboiled dark fantasy Sandman Slim series sees the title character trying to make a life in Los Angeles after renouncing the throne of Hell… but when old gods return and search for a powerful artifact, he’s drawn into killing work again.

 




Kasey Lansdale, ed., Impossible Monsters
(Subterranean Press May 2013)

Lansdale makes her editorial debut with this anthology of a dozen original stories about monsters (loosely defined and interpreted), with contributions from authors including Bradley Denton, Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris, and the editor’s father Joe R. Lansdale. The ‘‘variety is impressive, and several of the selections are as solidly written as you could hope for a well-told tale of horror.’’ [Stefan Dziemianowicz]

 




Will McIntosh, Love Minus Eighty
(Orbit Jun 2013)

This expansion of the Hugo Award-winning 2010 novella ‘‘Bridesicle’’ is a touching and imaginative exploration of love among the warm and the cryogenically frozen. ‘‘The love story… is compelling enough to keep you turning pages. The rich, detailed world that McIntosh has created, one in which the country has dissolved in a ‘soft apocalypse,’ and is mediated by screens and virtual reality, is a nuanced wonder.’’ [Adrienne Martini]

 




Naomi Novik, Blood of Tyrants
(Ballantine Del Rey Aug 2013)

The eighth and penultimate volume in Novik’s popular Temeraire series – set in an alternate Napoleonic War era, with dragons – finds Captain Laurence washed up on a Japanese beach with no memory, which doesn’t stop him from becoming tangled up in politics and straining relations between his native England and Japan. Meanwhile, Napoleon has massed an army and begun his march on Russia.

 




Michael Shea, Assault on Sunrise
(Tor Aug 2013)

This sequel to The Extra and middle book in a trilogy about the horrifying excesses of near-future Hollywood concerns a town under attack by bio-engineered monsters – courtesy of a film studio making a ‘‘Live Death’’ movie about the assault. ‘‘Amid such mayhem, not everybody can survive, and each loss cuts deep. But enough do make it through, or get born into chaos, to leave me eager for the battles of book three, Fortress Hollywood.’’ [Faren Miller]

 




John Shirley, New Taboos
(PM Press Jun 2013)

The latest installment in the ‘‘Outspoken Authors’’ series edited by Terry Bisson collects work from one of the original ‘‘Dread Lords of Cyberpunk,’’ with the title essay, new story ‘‘State of Imprisonment’’, 2011 talk ‘‘Why We Need Forty Years of Hell’’, and an interview conducted by Bisson.

 




J. M. Sidorova, The Age of Ice
(Scribner Jul 2013)

This ambitious debut novel by a Russian-born expert on the science of aging concerns a seemingly ageless man, conceived in a St. Petersburg ice palace and born in 1740, as he travels the world and tries to understand his own strange nature, which includes an immunity to cold. ‘‘Display[s] a remarkable power.’’ [Faren Miller]

 




Charles Stross, Neptune’s Brood
(Ace Jul 2013)

Stross’s latest unconventional space opera is set millennia after his earlier Saturn’s Children, with the robotic metahuman ‘‘descendants’’ of nearly extinct humankind contending with space pirate insurance underwriters and financial instruments of mass destruction. ‘‘Stross has been working out the implications of a proposition that throws buckets of cold water in the face of… expansive science-fictional adventure… while still managing to make the whole project fun.’’ [Russell Letson]