* Damico, Gina : Wax
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 978-0-544-63315-5, $17.99, 368pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 2 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780544633186

Young-adult fantasy novel about a 17-year-old girl who discovers the local candle factory is filled with wax sculptures of people.
• The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review calls it “a deliriously off-the-wall tale of small-town horror”.

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+ Foyle, Naomi : Seoul Survivors
(Quercus/Jo Fletcher 978-1623650186, $14.99, 320pp, trade paperback, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 2 Aug 2016

SF novel about a bio-engineer who retreats to the mountains above Seoul as a meteor called Lucifer’s Hammer is about to destroy Earth.
• The UK edition appeared in February 2013.
• Quercus’ site has this description.

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* Hearn, Lian : Lord of the Darkwood
(FSG Originals 978-0374536336, $13, 240pp, trade paperback, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780374715038
The Tale of Shikanoko #3

Fantasy novel set in medieval Japan, third of a four-book series, all being published this year.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly said of the first book, “This fast-paced tale of dynastic change intriguingly sets up the remaining three books in the series.”
• Faren Miller’s review from the May issue of Locus Magazine is posted here; “Hearn’s lead character gripped my attention from the start – leaving me eager to see how it plays out in the next books.”

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* Hieber, Leanna Renee : Eterna and Omega
(Tor 978-0-7653-3675-0, $25.99, 336pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466829268
The Eterna Files #2

“Gaslamp” fantasy novel, second in a series following The Eterna Files (2015), about competition for a compound that grants immortality.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Hieber creates an intriguing supernatural underworld, with the late 19th century providing an engaging backdrop for scandals and dangers.”

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* Kristoff, Jay : Nevernight
(St. Martin’s/Dunne 978-1-250-07302-0, $25.99, 448pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781466885035
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781427279644
Nevernight #1

Epic fantasy novel, first of a series, set in a land where three suns almost never set.
• Macmillan’s site has this description with an excerpt.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “With a delicate balance of the ancient and the magical, this tense and brutal tale is unflinching, thrilling, and satisfying.”

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* Mamatas, Nick : I Am Providence
(Skyhorse/Night Shade Books 978-1-59780-835-4, $15.99, 256pp, trade paperback, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016

Fantasy novel about a horror writer attending a Lovecraft convention in Providence, Rhode Island, where a novelist is murdered.
• Night Shade’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review comments, “Mamatas provides a heartfelt homage to Lovecraft lore, perfectly captures the antics of conventioneers, and comments on the cutthroat politics of online publishing and the recent discussions of Lovecraft’s bigoted views.”

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* Miéville, China : The Last Days of New Paris
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-54399-8, $25, 205pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780345544001
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9780735286917

Fantasy novel set in a 1950 surrealist Paris where Nazis and the Resistance continue to fight.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description with a preview.
• The Publishers Weekly review concludes, “Knowledge of surrealist art is not necessary to enjoy this odd, action-filled tale, but it helps. An appendix explains the sources of the dozens of manifs mentioned in the story.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “There are moments when one gets the sense that The Last Days of New Paris tries to pack in all the detailed study of Surrealism that Miéville has been saving up for years, but its vision of, as one photographer character puts it, ‘a city where art hunts,’ is as vivid a portrayal of the disruptive and revolutionary nature of art as I’ve seen in quite a while.”

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* Swanwick, Michael : Not So Much, Said the Cat
(Tachyon Publications 978-1-61696-228-9, $15.95, 285pp, trade paperback, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016

Collection of 17 stories, first published from 2008 to 2014.
• Tachyon’s site has this description with the table of contents.
Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “Each of these 17 stories is a gem, beautifully written, expertly plotted, with brilliantly developed characters. This is as good as short speculative fiction gets.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine: “Swanwick opens it out in unexpected ways, and demonstrates as consistently as anyone now working that the craft of the literary short story and the materials of SF and fantasy can not only be compatible, but impressively synergetic.”

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* Swenson, Patrick : The Ultra Big Sleep
(Fairwood Press 978-1933846606, $27.99, 316pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016

SF novel, sequel to The Ultra Thin Man (2014), about a private detective in a future where the eight worlds of the Union have been attacked by mysterious aliens, the Ultras.
• Fairwood’s site has this description. There’s also a trade paperback edition.
Publishers Weekly gave the earlier book a starred review: “Pig Latin, an exotic drug, a comic strip, and a retractable penis add colorful detail to a showdown that puts love and sacrifice at the heart of the self.”

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* Wareness, Noah : Meatheads: How to DIY Without Getting Killed
(ChiZine Publications 978-1771483889, $16.99, 300pp, trade paperback, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9781771483896

Post-apocalyptic SF novel set in zombie-infested San Angeles.
• ChiZine’s site has this description.

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* Wexler, Django : The Guns of Empire
(Roc 978-0451477323, $28, 480pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 9 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780698409460
The Shadow Campaigns #4

Military fantasy novel, thirfourthd in a series following The Thousand Names (2013), The Shadow Throne (2014), and The Price of Valor (2015) about a colonial garrison trying to survive a rebellion.
• Penguin’s site has this description.

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* Whitehead, Colson : The Underground Railroad
(Doubleday 978-0385542364, $26.95, 304pp, hardcover, August 2016)
Nominal Publication Date: Tue 2 Aug 2016
Ebook ISBN [link to Amazon Kindle edition]: 9780385537049
Audiobook ISBN [link to Amazon]: 9781524736255

Alternate reality historical novel in which the slave-era “underground railroad” is a literal network of tunnels and track beneath southern states.
• Penguin Random House’s site has this description, noting the title is the current Oprah Book Club selection.
Publishers Weekly has this profile of the book and its author.
• The book was reviewed by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times: “a potent, almost hallucinatory novel that leaves the reader with a devastating understanding of the terrible human costs of slavery. It possesses the chilling, matter-of-fact power of the slave narratives collected by the Federal Writers’ Project in the 1930s, with echoes of Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved,’ Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Misérables’ and Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man,’ and with brush strokes borrowed from Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka and Jonathan Swift.”

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