New Books, third week September
* Ferencik, Erica : Repeaters
(waking dream press 978-0-9815741-1-0, $14.95, 371pp, trade paperback, September 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Sat 17 Sep 2011
Fantasy thriller about murder victims who, because they never found love in life, are reborn into new bodies bearing the marks of their deaths.
• The publisher’s site has this description and order page.
• Amazon has a couple 5-star reader reviews.
(Mon 8 Aug 2011)
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Jamieson, Trent : The Business of Death
(Orbit Us 978-0316078016, $15.99, 864pp, trade paperback, September 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Mon 19 Sep 2011
• Death Works #3
Omnibus of three humorous urban fantasy novels, Death Most Definite (2010), Managing Death (2011), and The Business of Death (2011) — the first publication of the last title, together in this volume with the two earlier novels.
• Orbit’s blog has this post about it, with a link to a sample chapter.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Johansen, K. V. : Blackdog
(Pyr 978-1616145217, $17, 547pp, trade paperback, September 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 20 Sep 2011
Fantasy novel set in a northern land where a goddess in the incarnation of a girl is protected by a guardian spirit in the shape of a dog.
• Pyr’s site has this description, with blurbs from James Enge and Tom Lloyd, and part of the Library Journal review: “Johansen’s characters project believability, and her world is full of rich and vivid detail. High fantasy for lovers of mythology and of powerful beings in human form, this adult fantasy debut should appeal to fans of Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series.”
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Pratt, Tim : Briarpatch
(ChiZine Publications 978-1926851440, $15.95, 300pp, trade paperback, September 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 15 Sep 2011
Fantasy novel about a man who, while investigating his ex-girlfriend’s suicide, discovers an alternate universe called Biarpatch.
• ChiZine’s site has this description with quotes from reviews and a PDF excerpt.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” also provides an excerpt.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Stephenson, Neal : Reamde
(Morrow 978-0-06-197796-1, $35, 1044pp, hardcover, September 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 20 Sep 2011
Science fiction thriller about the creator of an online role-playing game targeted by hackers who release a virus that holds players’ computer files hostage.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a preview function.
• Stephenson’s site also has the description along with details of his signing tour.
• Amazon names it a Best Book of September with a review by Jason Kirk: “It takes a veritable master of pacing to make a thousand pages feel like barely a third of that, but Stephenson is that master; his breakneck narrative starts fast and never, ever lets up.”
• Publishers Weekly said “Stephenson the master of meandering, inconclusive plots, delivers a sprawling thriller that shows him in complete control of his story, regardless of the many digressions and a host of characters.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine: “when Stephenson sets down to write flat-out adventure (even with a surprisingly sentimental ending), he’s terrific at it.”
(Tue 20 Sep 2011)
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
* Westerfeld, Scott : Goliath
(Simon Pulse 978-1416971771, $19.99, 560pp, hardcover, September 2011)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 20 Sep 2011
• Leviathan #3
Young adult alternate history steampunk novel, third of a four-book series following Leviathan (2009) and Behemoth (2010), about conflict between Darwinists and Clankers in 1914 Europe. Interior illustrations are by Keith Thompson.
• The publisher’s site has this description with a Browse Inside function.
• Amazon has half a dozen 5-star reader reviews.
• Purchase this book from Amazon | Indiebound
• (Directory Entry)
Note: beginning August 2011, Monitor listings will be based on publisher schedules and availability on Amazon, rather than on confirmation of physical publication (i.e. via purchase, review copies, or sightings in bookstores). As before, titles are listed only once they are published; we do not list galleys or advance reading copies.
In addition, some titles (especially latter volumes in ongoing series) will be listed at the bottom of each page, without description.
Locus Online will endeavor to list, with or without description, all significant titles from the principal SF/F and mainstream publishers (omitting for the most part YA, horror, media and gaming ties, and self-published books). Publishers are welcome to alert Locus Online of scheduled titles, but such notice does not guarantee listings; and again, galleys and ARCs are discouraged.
* = first edition
+ = first US edition
Date with publisher info is official publication month.
‘Nominal Publication Date’ is the day of publication, typically as indicated by Amazon.com.
If physical copies have been seen or received, that date is given following the book description.
