March is gone and it is time to bring my favorite new releases for April to your attention. I will be back in the middle of April with my pick for May.

Please check Almanac of forthcoming SF Books for future releases.

Dreadnaught (Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier 1)

by Jack Campbell – ACE – Amazon US | UK

I like Jack Campbell for The Lost Fleet series and this is the first book in a series that continues the story about Black Jack Geary and the fight against the alien threat that orchestrated the war of the previous series. Now he goes for the truth. I should mention that he also is under contract for a second series set in the same universe called Phoenix Stars that have not been scheduled yet. It is set in a formerly Syndic star system as the people there struggles to cope with the ongoing collapse.

The Alliance woke Captain John “Black Jack” Geary from cryogenic sleep to take command of the fleet in the century-long conflict against the Syndicate Worlds. Now Fleet Admiral Geary’s victory has earned him the adoration of the people—and the enmity of politicians convinced that a living hero can be a very inconvenient thing.

Geary knows that members of the military high command and the government question his loyalty to the Alliance and fear his staging a coup—so he can’t help but wonder if the newly christened First Fleet is being deliberately sent to the far side of space on a suicide mission

 

Wonder (WWW book 3)

by Robert J. Sawyer – Ace, April 5 – Amazon US | UK

WWW is a cute little YA series about a girl that befriends an emerging AI on the Internet written by Robert J. Sawyer. The third and final novel Wonder is due now in April. You can read my reviews of the previous books Wake and Watch on Temple Library Reviews.

Webmind-the vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Web-has proven its worth to humanity by aiding in everything from curing cancer to easing international tensions. But the brass at the Pentagon see Webmind as a threat that needs to be eliminated.

Caitlin Decter-the once-blind sixteen-year-old math genius who discovered, and bonded with, Webmind-wants desperately to protect her friend. And if she doesn’t act, everything-Webmind included-may come crashing down.

The View From The Imperium

by Jody Lynn Nye – Baen, April 5 – Amazon US | UK

Jody Lynn Nye isn’t exactly new to me. I have read her Doona collaboration with Anne McCaffrey and a few short stories. The View from the Imperium is on for April this year from Baen. This is promoted as a space opera version of the P. G. Woodhouse’s Jeeves books. I love them so I will definitely get this one. It looks like great fun.

I have only read a few pages so far in this one so far but it shows a great deal of humor and promise.

P. G. Wodehouse meets space opera, as Ensign Thomas Innes Loche Kinago, fresh from the Academy is given his first command. A crumb from the upper crust, he’s eager to uphold the traditions of his family, and in particular, his mother, a distinguished Admiral of the Imperium. Of course, he’s aware of the importance of always having simply smashing tailored uniforms on hand, and having his camera ready to record memorable moments for his scrapbook. In the meantime, a charismatic leader has arisen who seems able to control the minds of anyone he meets, and may be on his way to taking over the entire galaxy. Can Kinago’s aristocratic bearing and unbridled snobbery stand up to such a challenge? Fortunately, his constant companion, the unflappable Jeeves, er, Parsons, is on hand to look after the young, impulsive master, and somehow help his charge bumble his way through, perhaps even saving the galaxy in the process.

 

 

Sea of Ghosts (Gravedigger Chronicles 1)

by Alan Campbell – Tor UK, April 1 – Amazon US | UK

I like Military fantasy as much as science fiction. Sea of Ghosts is the first book in a series by the same name by Alan Campbell and it will be out in April. It is about the last survivor of a elite infiltrator unit that has gone into hiding after the Emperor turned on them. He can’t escape his past and old enemies are rising. It will also give me an opportunity to sample a new-to-me author. This one should land tomorrow.

Sea of Ghosts is the terrific new novel from Deepgate Codex author Alan Campbell. Set in a world of entropic sorcerers, poisoned seas, the Drowned, drug-addicted dragons, Deadships and a powerful sisterhood of telepaths, and featuring ex-soldier Colonel Thomas Granger, this is an incredible novel of imaginative fantasy with strong characters, non-stop action and tremendous descriptive world-building. I’ve just finished editing it and have had to go back and read it again just for the sheer pleasure of it! We’ve got a terrific jacket design from artist Larry Rostant and this will be a lead fantasy hardback for Tor in 2011.

When the last of the Gravediggers, an elite imperial infiltration unit, are disbanded and hunted down by the emperor they once served, munitions expert Colonel Thomas Granger takes refuge in the unlikeliest of places. He becomes a jailer in Ethugra – a prison city of poison-flooded streets and gaols in which a million enemies of the empire are held captive. But when Granger takes possession of two new prisoners, he realises that he can’t escape his past so readily.

Ianthe is a young girl with an extraordinary psychic talent. A gift that makes her unique in a world held to ransom by the powerful Haurstaf – the sisterhood of telepaths who are all that stand between the Empire and the threat of the Unmer, the powerful civilization of entropic sorcerers and dragon-mounted warriors. In this war-torn land, she promises to make Granger an extremely wealthy man, if he can only keep her safe from harm.

This is what Granger is best at. But when other factions learn about Ianthe’s unique ability, even Granger’s skills of warfare are tested to their limits. While, Ianthe struggles to control the powers that are growing in ways no-one thought were possible. Another threat is surfacing: out there, beyond the bitter seas, an old and familiar enemy is rising – one who, if not stopped, will drown the world and all of humanity with it . .

 

Camera Obscura (The Bookman 2)

by Lavie Tidhar – Angry Robot, April 14 (uk) 26 (us) – Amazon US | UK

I really liked The Bookman it certainly had its own brand of steampunk. Martians ruling the commonwealth. Now Lavie Tidhar delivers another book in the same universe this time across the channel in Paris.

CAN’T FIND A RATIONAL EXPLANATION TO A MYSTERY? CALL IN THE QUIET COUNCIL. The mysterious and glamorous Lady De Winter is one of their most valuable agents. A despicable murder inside a locked and bolted room on the Rue Morgue in Paris is just the start. This whirlwind adventure will take Milady to the highest and lowest parts of that great city – and cause her to question the very nature of reality itself.

Other Books of Interest This Month

Betrayer, Flandry’s Legacy and Shadow Chaser are also on order by me because I follow the series.