Order from Amazon US | UK

It’s a big Spiral Arm, and the scarred man, Donavan buigh, has gone missing in it, upsetting the harper Mearana’s plans for a reconciliation between her parents. Bridget ban, a Hound of the League, is unconvinced that reconciliation is either possible or desirable; but nonetheless has dispatched agents to investigate the disappearance. After all, Donovan had once done the favor for her (in Up Jim River).

The powerful Ravn Olafsdottr, a Shadow of the Names, slips into Clanthompson Hall to tell mother and daughter of the fate of Donovan buigh. In the Long Game between the Confederation of Central Worlds and the United League of the Periphery, Hound and Shadow are mortal enemies; yet a truce descends between them so that the Shadow may tell her tale.

There is a struggle in the Lion’s Mouth, the bureau that oversees the Shadows – a clandestine civil war of sabotage and assassination between those who would overthrow Those of Name and the loyalists who support them. And Donovan, one-time Confederal agent, has been recalled to take a key part, willingly or no.

A Rising Thunder (Honor Harrington/Torch/Saganami) by David Weber (Baen) - Amazon US | UK

Honor Harrington is a legend in military science fiction and we are many that looks forward to the next installment in the series. A Rising Thunderis scheduled for March 2012.

Peril and strife strike on a double front for Honor Harrington and company. After a brutal attack on the Manticoran home system, Honor Harrington and the Star Kingdom she serves battle back against a new, technologically powerful, and utterly nefarious enemy. And as if that weren’t task enough, Honor must also face down a centuries-old old nemesis in the crumbling, but still mighty, Solarian League. The war between the People’s Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom is finally won and peace established, but grave danger looms – for there is a plan well on its way to completion designed to enslave the entire human species. Behind that plan lies the shadowy organization known as the Mesan Alignment. Task number one for Honor is to defend against another devastating Mesan strike – a strike that may well spell the doom of the Star Kingdom in one fell blow. It is time to shut down and secure the wormhole network that is the source of the Star Kingdom’s wealth and power – but also its greatest vulnerability. Yet this is an act that the ancient and corrupt Earth-based Solarian League inevitably will take as a declaration of war. The thunder of battle rolls as the Solarian League directs its massive power against the Star Kingdom. And once again, Honor Harrington is thrust into a desperate battle that she must win if she is to survive to take the fight to the real enemy of galactic freedom – the insidious puppetmasters of war who lurk behind the Mesan Alignment!

Orbit/Del Rey March, 2012   Amazon US | UK

This is one of my most expected books for next year. Elizabeth Moon writes characters you care for, they feel like family. The next family album cover is here and it has a dragon. I like it, what do you think?

As threats build abroad, treachery strikes at home …While King Kieri struggles to end the war that plagues his borders, his new subjects are becoming restless. His people include both humans and elves, and their uneasy accord is cracking under the demands of war. But Kieri didn’t fully appreciate the danger until someone close to him is found slain in the woods, and his beloved new wife also finds her life in danger. Kieri must seek out the corruption within his grandmother’s elvish court, or all he’s achieved will turn to nothing. Trouble also finds Dorrin Verrakai on the road, riding to command her kingdom’s defences in the war torn provinces. Her family’s dark power is rising again and it’s down to her to root out the devastating influence of their illicit blood magic. Then her investigations reveal magery in the last place anyone expected. And while mortals struggle, dragonspawn might yet set all their realms afire.

Wow what a marvelous cover! Is that an alien city? or a ship? This one is a beauty! Veteran was my debut of the year 2010 and the sequel War in Heaven will be released this September. This is one of my most anticipated books of the year. Veteran had mysterious aliens, conspiracies, realistic battle scenes, fast pace, lots of wow moments and wonderful characters. I would say it was a mixture of Heavy Metal, Cyber Punk and Classic SF. It is Military Science Fiction at its best and I recommend it to a wider audience. I can’t wait for this new book.

This cover and blurb is fresh from the author. Thank you Gavin!

New Cover for War in Heaven

(Veteran book 2) by Gavin G. Smith (Gollancz) – Amazon UK | US

I should be dead.

The war with the aliens. Them. It’s over. Now we turn on ourselves. Human fighting human again, when we came so close to wiping ourselves out the last time and the bad guys, the true bastards like Rolleston, Cronin and the Grey Lady, hold all the cards. God may control the net, privacy is dead, but Demiurge is coming. We don’t stand a chance.

I’ve had enough. No more fighting for my life, last ditch assaults, putting my mostly machine body back together again. No more desperate chases, nearly dying in space when the integrity of the exo-armour starts to give. No more fear…

I’ve pushed my luck too far. I’m out. This isn’t my war, even if it means I’ve lost her.

Just one last piece of revenge.

But things never go as I plan.

If I could only stop thinking about Morag.

Jakob Douglas, damaged soldier and unlikely hero, returns in another desperate, adrenalin fueled adventure from Gavin Smith, author of the widely acclaimed Veteran.

David Weber is one of the most productive authors I know, which is fortunately since I really love his military science fiction. We have to wait until December or 2012 for the next mainstream Honor Harrington novel A Rising Thunder part 1 (It has been divided into two parts) but In Fire Forged, the fifth Worlds of Honor short story collection came out in February and it might help to tide you over (only three stories there) and if that is not enough there is a new YA series A Beautiful Friendship based on the short story by the same name coming in October. It centers on Stephanie Harrington, Honor’s ancestor that was the first human to be adopted by a treecat, the telepathic felines of Honor’s home planet.  That is not all, the next  Safehold novel, the fifth, will be out in September this year. It is named How Firm a Foundation.

As I understand it David is penning the first novel in this new series and Jane Lindskold will write the sequels.

I like this new cover, a young girl with a big knife and a treecat crouching on a branch about to launch. They both looks pretty grim. The original short story is one of my favorites so this is a book I look forward to this year even if I am not quite in the target group.

A Beautiful Friendship (Honorverse YA)

by David Weber (Baen October 2011)

Amazon US | UK

Stephanie Harrington absolutely hates being confined inside her family’s compound on the pioneer planet of Sphinx, a frontier wilderness world populated by dangerous native animals that could easily tear a human to bits and pieces. Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries—and the biggest discovery of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species.

Treecats are creatures that resemble a cross between a bobcat and a lemur (but with six legs and much more deadly claws). Not only are they fully sentient, they are also telepathic, and able to bond with certain gifted humans such as the genetically-enhanced Stephanie. But Stephanie’s find, and her first-of-its-kind bond with a treecat, brings on a new torrent of danger. An assortment of highly-placed enemies with galactic-sized wealth at stake is determined to make sure that the planet of Sphinx remains entirely in human hands—even if this means the extermination of another thinking species. Stephanie and Lionheart are about to undergo the greatest test two alien species can ever face together: how to survive first contact and win a future with liberty and justice for all!

The first entry in a new teen series and the origin saga for the incredibly-popular, multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling Honor Harrington adult science fiction adventures. Young Stephanie Harrington is none other than the founder of a pioneering family dynasty that is destined to lead the fight for humanity’s freedom in a dangerous galaxy.

Orbit just released this shiny new cover for Michael Cobley’s third Humanity’s Fire novel The Ascendant Stars due 3rd of November this year. Seeds of Earth and The Orphaned Worlds was rather enjoyable space opera so this is high on my wish list. I hope we get a blurb soon too.

What do you think?

Vernor Vinge is one of the great and this year we have a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep, that is something. Children of the Sky will be out this October from Tor.

Ten years have passed on Tines World, where Ravna Bergnsdot and a number of human children ended up after a disaster that nearly obliterated humankind throughout the galaxy. Ravna and the pack animals for which the planet is named have survived a war, and Ravna has saved more than one hundred children who were in cold-sleep aboard the vessel that brought them.

While there is peace among the Tines, there are those among them — and among the humans — who seek power… and no matter the cost, these malcontents are determined to overturn the fledgling civilization that has taken root since the humans landed.

On a world of fascinating wonders and terrifying dangers, Vernor Vinge has created a powerful novel of adventure and discovery that will entrance the many readers of A Fire Upon the Deep. Filled with the inventiveness, excitement, and human drama that have become hallmarks of his work, this new novel is sure to become another great milestone in Vinge’s already stellar career.

It is catalog time and this is the first I seen of David Weber’s next Safehold novel. Seems we might see some army action on the mainland before this is over, I like it.

And we will learn what is under the temple… How awesome is that!

The Charisian Empire, born in war, has always known it must fight for its very survival. What most of its subjects don’t know even now, however, is how much more it’s fighting for. Emperor Cayleb, Empress Sharleyan, Merlin Athrawes, and their innermost circle of most trusted advisers do know. And because they do, they know the penalty if they lose will be far worse than their own deaths and the destruction of all they know and love.For five years, Charis has survived all the Church of God Awaiting and the corrupt men who control it have thrown at the island empire. The price has been high and paid in blood. Despite its chain of hard-fought naval victories, Charis is still on the defensive. It can hold its own at sea, but if it is to survive, it must defeat the Church upon its own ground. Yet how does it invade the mainland and take the war to a foe whose population outnumbers its own fifteen to one? How does it prevent that massive opponent from rebuilding its fleets and attacking yet again?

Charis has no answer to those questions, but needs to find one…quickly. The Inquisition’s brutal torture and hideous executions are claiming more and more innocent lives. Its agents are fomenting rebellion against the only mainland realms sympathetic to Charis. Religious terrorists have been dispatched to wreak havoc against the Empire’s subjects. Assassins stalk the Emperor and Empress, their allies and advisers, and an innocent young boy, not yet eleven years old, whose father has already been murdered. And Merlin Athrawes, the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, has finally learned what sleeps beneath the far-off Temple in the Church of God Awaiting’s city of Zion.

New Releases

Theme Planet (The Anarchy 1)

by Andy Remic – Solaris, December

I am always on the lookout for new authors to try. Solaris have been publishing some of my new favorites like Ian Whates and Eric Brown so Andy Remic caught my interest since he seems right up my alley with  military science fiction and space opera. The book I am interested in is Theme planet, the first in his new series The Anarchy. It is about Amba Miskalov an Anarchy Android, an assassin/torture model fitted with a Quantell Systems v4.7 KillChip. She is beautiful, merciless and deadly, and blends perfectly with her human superiors. It will not be out until towards the end of the year so I will probably take a look at his other series before that.

“It’s better than sex! It’s better than drugs! If you haven’t been sick yet, you soon will be…

Welcome to Theme Planet, an entire alien world dedicated to insane rides, excessive hedonism and dangerous adventure. Operated by the Monolith Corporation, Theme Planet is the No. 1 destination for fun-seeking human holidaymakers Galaxy-Wide! Amba Miskalov is an Anarchy Android, an assassin/torture model fitted with a Quantell Systems v4.7 KillChip. She is beautiful, merciless and deadly, and blends perfectly with her human superiors. Sent to Theme Planet on a dangerous assassination mission, Amba stumbles upon a plot to undermine and destroy Earth’s all-powerful Oblivion Government – and its Ministers of Joy. But Amba is twisted, damaged and decadent – and this rebellion poses Amba a problem: to remain loyal to her creators and tormentors, to support the enemy – or annihilate them all.”

The Moon Maze Game (Dream Park book 4)

by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes – Tor August 16 – Amazon US | UK

Sometimes it is an established author that is doing something I missed or passed over like The Dream Park books by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes. It is about Live action role playing, maybe not quite like my son does it but interesting enough for me to take a look. The fourth book looks too good to pass over so I will have to go back and read the preceding books before The Moon Maze Game comes out in August.

The year: 2085. Humanity has spread throughout the solarsystem. A stable lunar colony is agitating for independence.Lunar tourism is on the rise….
Against this background, professional “Close Protection”specialist Scotty Griffin, fresh off a disastrous assignment, isoffered the opportunity of a lifetime: to shepherd the teenagedheir to the Republic of Kikaya on a fabulous vacation. Ali Kikayawill participate in the first live-action role-playing game conductedon the Moon itself. Having left Luna—and a treasured marriage—years ago because of a near-tragic accident, Scotty leaps atthe opportunity.

Live action role playing attracts a very special sort of individual:brilliant, unpredictable, resourceful, and addicted to problemsolving. By kidnapping a dozen gamers in the middle of theultimate game, watched by more people than any other sportingevent in history, they throw down an irresistible gauntlet: to “win”the first game that has ever become “real.” Pursued by armedand murderous terrorists, forced to solve gaming puzzles to staya jump ahead, forced to juggle multiple psychological realities asthey do…this is the game for which they’ve prepared their entirelives, and they are going to play it for all it’s worth.

Home Fires

by Gene Wolfe – Tor, January 18 (us), February 18 (uk) – Amazon US | UK

Gene Wolfe is another established author I would like to rekindle my relationship with this year. Home Fires is about time dilation, war with aliens, conspiracies and love. And it is out now in January.  I am not overly impressed with the cover though.

Gene Wolfe takes us to a future North America at once familiar and utterly strange. A young man and woman, Skip and Chelle, fall in love in college and marry, but she is enlisted in the military, there is a war on, and she must serve her tour of duty before they can settle down. But the military is fighting a war with aliens in distant solar systems, and her months in the service will be years in relative time on Earth. Chelle returns to recuperate from severe injuries, after months of service, still a young woman but not necessarily the same person—while Skip is in his forties and a wealthy businessman, but eager for her return.

Still in love (somewhat to his surprise and delight), they go on a Caribbean cruise to resume their marriage. Their vacation rapidly becomes a complex series of challenges, not the least of which are spies, aliens, and battles with pirates who capture the ship for ransom. There is no writer in SF like Gene Wolfe and no SF novel like Home Fires.

Deep State (This is Not a Game 2)

by Walter Jon Williams – Orbit, February 7 – Amazon US | UK

Walter Jon Williams is another new-to-me author that I would like to try. I am not sure This is Not a Game is the series to start with but I am leaning towards it and Deep State, the second release in February.

Dagmar Shaw is one of the world’s hottest designers of alternate reality games. She is the Puppetmaster and thousands of gamers are dancing on her strings. But when the campaign she is running in Turkey comes into conflict with the new, brutal regime, she realises that games can have very real consequences.

When an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project so insane, so ambitious, she can’t possibly say no, she is plunged into a world of spies and soldiers. A nation hangs in the balance and in a world of intrigue and betrayal, the master player must face the possibility that she has, herself, been played.

Dagmar is the Puppetmaster, but when the bullets are real and her ‘puppets’ start dying, is any cause worth it?

Embedded

by Dan Abnett – Angry Robot March 26 – Amazon US | UK

I try to avoid franchise series and literature, because time is limited and I have other sub genres I want to cover. The only reason I haven’t read anything by Dan Abnett before is because he mainly writes Warhammer 40k novels  but this year he will be out with a story that has intrigued me since I first heard about it. Embedded that is due in March is about a reporter that is embedded in a chip on a soldier fighting a war on an alien planet. The soldier is killed so the reporter has to take over his body and get out alive by himself.

HE’D DO ANYTHING TO GET A STORY. When journalist Lex Falk gets himself chipped into the brain of a combat soldier, he thinks he has the ultimate scoop – a report from the forbidden front line of a distant planetary war, live to the living rooms of Earth. When the soldier is killed, however, Lex has to take over the body and somehow get himself back to safety once more… broadcasting all the way.

Heart-stopping combat science fiction from the million-selling Warhammer 40,000 author.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Future Warefare | Chipped-In | Anything For a Story | Get Out Alive! ]

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 too.

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.

Embassytown

by China Miéville – Tor UK, May 6 | Del Rey, May 17 – Amazon US | UK

The City and the City was not bad especially consider all the prizes it won last year so who am I not to dive in when China Miéville goes for real scifi with Embassytown in May. Alien cultures and languages clashs.

Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts – who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts.

And that is impossible.

By Light Alone

by Adam Roberts  - Gollancz, June 16 – Amazon US | UK

New Model Army interested me last year but for some reason I never came around to it. This year though I will have to give Adam Roberts a try with By Light Alone. It is also a high concept one like the last. By Light Alone is about a girl that was kidnapped and forced to live on light alone. This is possible in the world she lives in because there we have been genetically modified so that we can photosynthesize sunlight with our hair. I wonder what they do with bold people. Sounds like perfect summer reading since it will be out in June.

In a world where we have been genetically engineered so that we can photosynthesise sunlight with our hair hunger is a thing of the past, food an indulgence. The poor grow their hair, the rich affect baldness and flaunt their wealth by still eating. But other hungers remain . . . The young daughter of an affluent New York family is kidnapped. The ransom demands are refused. Years later a young women arrives at the family home claiming to be their long lost daughter. She has changed so much, she has lived on light, can anyone be sure that she has come home? Adam Roberts’ new novel is yet another amazing melding of startling ideas and beautiful prose. Set in a New York of the future it nevertheless has echoes of a Fitzgeraldesque affluence and art-deco style. It charts his further progress as one of the most important writers of his generation.

Hell Ship

by Philip Palmer – Orbit July 1 – Amazon US | UK

Philip Palmer is new to me but I have been circling him for a while. His new novel Hell Ship will be out in July. It is not set in Debatable Spaces but rather about a universe switching Flying Dutchman.

US description: There is a ship – the Hell Ship. Inside the ship is a world. On the world are thousands of alien life forms-all the last members of their race. Each and every one of them is a slave. And it was the Hell Ship and its infernal crew that destroyed their homes and slaughtered their families and imprisoned them forever.

One man, Jak, has been pursuing the Hell Ship for its crimes. Battle after battle has left Jak scarred and broken and bit by bit he has surrendered his humanity to his quest for revenge.

Now, Jak is no more than a mind in the body of a starship, bent on bloody vengeance. But when one slave finds a way to communicate with the Hell Ship’s relentless pursuer, he realizes that there is more to this mad chase than he realized. And just possibly, there’s a way to end this long, interstellar nightmare.

UK description: The Flying Dutchman (or Hellship) is a faster-than-light scout ship that was supposed to seek out habitable planets, while also cautiously observing alien civilisations to discover which of them might be a danger to mankind. But, a millennium ago, it flew into a black hole while being pursued by dangerous aliens. And it never came back. The vessel is now heavily armed and spends its days travelling from universe to universe – exploring, discovering, scouting and also killing, looting, and annihilating. For the captain and crew of the Dutchman all lost their minds and souls many years ago. They are now monsters, haunted by the remnants of their humanity, and they take sublime joy in killing. They are, in short, the bad guys. But luckily their nemesis David Bishop is idealistic, driven and has made catching the Hellship his life’s work. This is an all-action chase drama in which the hero is the last living human being from his own particular universe. You may also find it bleakly funny, richly nasty, fast-paced and exhilarating – and maybe even terrifying.

The Recollection

by Gareth L. Powell – Solaris, August 30 – Amazon US | UK

The Recollection is a novel that sounds like something I would like. Gareth L. Powell novel splits on two timelines and has a galaxy-spanning scope. It is due late summer or early fall from Solaris.

Blight of Mages (prequel to King breaker King maker)

by Karen Miller – Orbit, August 4 -Amazon US | UK

Karen Miller wrote four books about the magically besieged country of Lur and this august it is time for aBlight of Mages the prequel about Morgan and Barl and what happened when the refugees from Dorana crossed over the mountains.

Dorana is a country ruled by a rigid class system based upon magical aptitude and the right pedigree. While all Doranens have mage ability, some are more blessed than others. Morgan is one of the powerful ruling elite, fanatically devoted to enforcing the regulations and maintaining the purity of mage bloodlines. When he falls in love with Barl, a woman of inferior breeding who possesses astonishing mage powers, he sets himself upon a dangerous course. A terrible mage war erupts when Morgan becomes unstoppable, driving Barl to lead a small pack of survivors into the distant mountains. When they arrive, their welcome is not what they expected, and Barl must embark upon a desperate course to protect and preserve her people until they may be needed once again …

Dust 514 (EVE Online)

by Tony Gonzales – Gollancz, September 15 – Amazon UK

Ignoring what I said before about not getting into franchises, Dust 514 in September looks pretty appealing. Mind upload, interstellar war and high-tech combat is just up my alley. It is a tie in to the new MMORPG with the same name written by Tony Gonzales.

The technology to download the consciousnesses of pilots into multiple clones, the Capsuleers, has finally delivered the dream of immortal soldiers. Train a soldier just once and then however many times he dies he will keep on getting more experienced, more battle toughened, as his brain is downloaded into a ready supply of cloned bodies. But no-one anticpated the effects of the multiple traumas, the multiple stresses of multiple lives and deaths on the battle field. War is hell. And now it can last forever for everyone. A fast-moving action-packed novel of interstellar war and high-tech combat, backed by massive cross promotion.

Debuts

Up Against It

by M. J. Locke – Tor, March 1 – Amazon US | UK

It is hard to pick out the debuts that you will enjoy from the media clutter. The publisher’s catalogs are a good place to start but it is hard to be sure before you have other sources. M. J. Locke debuts with Up Against It, a workplace drama action leaning towards a somewhat twisted scifi society from what I gather from the blurbs. Sounds like fun.

A vastly entertaining novel of artificial intelligence, resource politics, and organized crime, set on a large asteroid colony a couple of hundred years in the future

In M. J. Locke’s absorbing debut novel, rogue artificial intelligence and a lethal resource crisis threaten the asteroid colony Phoecea—while, meanwhile, an interplanetary crime syndicate appears to be pulling the strings. Locke’s background as a resource management specialist in the energy industry gives particular depth to the portrayal of Jane, the bureaucrat-engineer in charge of keeping the plumbing running on her island of humanity in unforgiving space. In short order, Jane discovers that her colony’s water crisis may have been engineered by the Martian mafia, as a means of executing a coup and turning Phocaea into a client-state. And if that wasn’t bad enough, an AI that spawned during the industrial emergency has slipped through the distracted safeguards and gone rogue…and there’s a giant x-factor in the form of the transhumanist Viridian cult that lives in Phocaea’s bowels.

There’s never enough SF like this: accessible, fun to read, featuring both young and old characters who we like instantly and care about, plus a constant flow of fascinating invention. Among other things, Up Against It is a “workplace drama,” full of the fascination of watching competent people do their extremely interesting jobs, with lives at stake.

That is all for this post

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a Fleet of Discovery on a reconnaissance of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expected them to find an alien starship, certainly not one that came out shooting. Faced with a shot first and ask no question situation, Kris shoots back, blowing the ship to bits.

Half a universe away from her superiors, facing a possible mutiny from officers insisting they retreat, Kris holds the fate of humanity in her hands as she struggles to determine the alien threat — and whether or not to start an intersteller war . . .

And today I found this beauty. Like last year about this time the preliminary cover art is out on grimstudios. Like last year there might be some changes before the final copy. I like this one Kris looks especially alive and in an exploratory mode. I miss Nelly on the pictures though or is she supposed to be those colorful tattoos on Kris right hand?

Daring (Kris Longknife book 9) will be out late this year.

The Kris Longknife series is about a formidable woman with a knack for getting in trouble and getting out. She is one of them Longknifes and if life wasn’t enough complicated being an officer in the navy; the society of humanity dissolve and her grandpa is named King making her a reluctant princess. The Peterwald family with their long standing grudge with the Longknife set up their own little pocket empire and starts to make life for Kris and her family difficult. Lots of humor, fantastic characters by Mike Shepherd (links to profile with links to my reviews).

The Black Geary story continues Beyond the Frontier …

We know and love Jack Campbell from The Lost Fleet series and now he are starting at least one new series this year; Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier is first out in April with Dreadnaught that continues the story about Black Jack Geary and the fight against the alien threat; This will be some fun reading. I have been wondering about those aliens for the whole previous series.

He is also 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.

I have read the whole series but only written about the two last books Relentless and Victorious.

Title: Dreadnaught
Series: Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier book 1
Author: Jack Campbell (John G. Hemry)
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: ACE (April 2011)
Order from Amazon US | UK

The New York Times bestselling series that delivers “edge-of- your-seat combat” (Elizabeth Moon, author of the Vatta’s War series).

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.

Anticipation is good for you so I try to restrain myself but a new Neal Asher series is something to become excited over. He wrote The Technician, in my opinion the best book of  2010. This year he begins a new series The Owner’s Trilogy with The Departure and it is one of the books I am most excited about this year. It is set in its own dystopian universe separated from Polity is I understand it correctly (Edit: Neal himself has confirmed that it is not a Polity Novel in the comments on his post. The cover says it is but it has been stated before that it is in its own universe) .  The Departure will be published by Tor UK in August this year according to Amazon.

Blurb one

Like Wellsian war machines the shepherds stride into riots to grab up the ringleaders and drag them off to Inspectorate HQ for adjustment, unless they are in shredding mode, in which case their captives visit community digesters, or rather whatever of them has not been washed down the street drains.

Pain inducers are used for adjustment, and soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet, twelve billion human beings need to die before Earth can be stabilized, but by turning large portions of Earth into concentration camps this is achievable, especially when the Argus satellite laser network comes fully online…

Alan Saul has taken a different route to disposal, waking as he does inside a crate on the conveyor into the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Janus speaks to Saul through the hardware implanted in his skull, sketching the nightmare world for him. And Saul decides to bring it all crashing down…

Blurb two

There are no more wars, just police actions, though sometimes the truncheon used weighs in at about a kilotonne and the undertakers have to wear hazmat suits. Nobody goes hungry, so there certainly aren’t any food riots – just ‘dissident actions’ which end abruptly when the Inspectorate reduces the crowd to a writhing screaming mess using pain inducers.

And didn’t Chairman Alessandro Messina himself say that we are more free than ever before; community political officers conducted a survey only last year to prove this point. The Press has greater freedom too, now being government run and unburdened by financial concerns. People don’t disappear, see, they always come back from Inspectorate cells, ready to sing the praises of the Committee.

But Alan Saul knows that twelve billion are due to die, that the Committee has decided the Safe Departure clinics, the ‘sectoring’ of zero asset communities, the reader guns, razor birds and nightmarish shepherds will not be enough. The Argus satellite laser network is their answer, and he intends to take it away from them.

Related Posts

• New SF&F to Read 2011
• Forthcoming SF&F Books (2011-2012)

Authors you should check out this year

Vernor Vinge is one of the great and this year we have a sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep, that is something. Children of the Sky will be out this Fall from Tor.

Eric Brown master opus Kings of Eternity is another highly anticipated read for me this year.  I enjoyed the Bengali Station Trilogy (Necropath, Xenopath, Cosmopath) and Guardians of the Phoenix a lot. Eric is strong on characters that are human and easy to love. This has every possibility to become my book of the year. This story about strange creatures and connections across time will be out in March.

David Weber is one of the most productive authors I know, which is fortunately since I really love his military science fiction. We have to wait until 2012 for the next mainstream Honor Harrington novel A Rising Thunder but In Fire Forged, the fifth Worlds of Honor short story collection out in February might help to tide you over and if that is not enough there is a new YA series A Beautiful Friendship based on the short story by the same name coming in October. It centers on Stephanie Harrington, Honor’s ancestor that was the first human to be adopted by a treecat, the telepathic felines of Honor’s home planet.  There are indications that are not all. David Weber’s official homepage promises a new Safehold novel, the fifth, late this year probably October or November. It is named How Firm a Foundation.

John Scalzi is one of my absolute favorite authors and this year he launches a new series. It is a safe bet that anything by Scalzi would rank high on my expectations. He is witty and funny and his writing has an edge to it. To quote John: It’s a reboot of the Hugo-nominated 1962 science fiction novel Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper. I took the original plot and characters of Little Fuzzy and wrote an entirely new story from and with them. The novel doesn’t follow on from the events of Little Fuzzy; it’s a new interpretation of that first story and a break from the continuity that H. Beam Piper established in Little Fuzzy and its sequels. The first book Fuzzy Nation will be released on the 10th of May the author’s birthday. Nice!

Cherie Priest is an author I discovered last year and she in turn introduced me to Steampunk with Boneshaker. Her alternative history universe the Clockwork Century is delightfully shiny and steampunky. Beside the wild west technology, airships and zombies her books are also standalone reads with strong female protagonists just like I like them. Ganymede, the fourth Clockwork Century will be out towards the end of the year.

New Releases

I am always on the lookout for new authors to try. Solaris have been publishing some of my new favorites like Ian Whates and Eric Brown so Andy Remic caught my interest since he seems right up my alley with  military science fiction and space opera. The book I am interested in is Theme planet, the first in his new series The Anarchy. It is about Amba Miskalov an Anarchy Android, an assassin/torture model fitted with a Quantell Systems v4.7 KillChip. She is beautiful, merciless and deadly, and blends perfectly with her human superiors. It is not out until towards the end of the year so I will probably take a look at his other series before that.

Sometimes it is an established author that is doing something I missed or passed over like The Dream Park books by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes. It is about Live action role playing, maybe not quite like my son does it but interesting enough for me to take a look. The fourth book looks too good to pass over so I will have to go back and read the preceding books before The Moon Maze Game comes out in August.

Gene Wolfe is another established author I would like to rekindle my relationship with this year. Home Fires is about time dilation, war with aliens, conspiracies and love. And it is out now in January.  I am not overly impressed with the cover though.

Walter Jon Williams is another new-to-me author that I would like to try. I am not sure This is Not a Game is the series to start with but I am leaning towards it and Deep State, the second release in February.

I try to avoid franchise series and literature, because time is limited and I have other sub genres I want to cover. The only reason I haven’t read anything by Dan Abnett before is because he mainly writes Warhammer 40k novels  but this year he will be out with a story that has intrigued me since I first heard about it. Embedded that is due in March is about a reporter that is embedded in a chip on a soldier fighting a war on an alien planet. The soldier is killed so the reporter has to take over his body and get out alive by himself.

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 too.

The City and the City was not bad especially consider all the prizes it won last year so who am I not to dive in when China Miéville goes for real scifi with Embassytown in May. Alien cultures and languages clash from the looks of it.

New Model Army interested me last year but for some reason I never came around to it. This year though I will have to give Adam Roberts a try with By Light Alone. It is also a high concept one like the last. By Light Alone is about a girl that was kidnapped and forced to live on light alone. This is possible in the world she lives in because there we have been genetically modified so that we can photosynthesize sunlight with our hair. I wonder what they do with bold people. Sounds like perfect summer reading since it will be out in June.

Philip Palmer is new to me but I have been circling him for a while. His new novel Hell Ship will be out in July. It is not set in Debatable Spaces but rather about a universe switching Flying Dutchman.

The Recollection is a novel that sounds like something I would like. Gareth L. Powell novel splits on two timelines and has a galaxy-spanning scope. It is due late summer or early fall from Solaris.

Karen Miller wrote four books about the magically besieged country of Lur and this august it is time for a Blight of Mages the prequel about Morgan and Barl and what happened when the refugees from Dorana crossed over the mountains.

Ignoring what I said before about not getting into franchises, Dust 514 in September looks pretty appealing. Mind upload, interstellar war and high-tech combat is just up my alley. It is a tie in to the new MMORPG with the same name written by Tony Gonzales.

Debuts

It is hard to pick out the debuts that you will enjoy from the media clutter. The publisher’s catalogs are a good place to start but it is hard to be sure before you have other sources. M. J. Locke debuts with Up Against It, a workplace drama action leaning towards a somewhat twisted scifi society from what I gather from the blurbs. Sounds like fun.

New Releases in Series I Follow

Troy Rising is an entertaining military science fiction series by John Ringo that premiered last year. He is also a productive author that brings two new books to the series this year Citadel and The Hot Gate in January and May respective. Live Free or Die had a lot of humor in it and I anticipate the same in these new ones.

Ian Whates‘ debuted with two novels last year, one fantasy and one science fiction. I only read The Noise Within not knowing it was the first in a series with the same name. The Noise Revealed continues the story of black ops specialist Jim Leyton as he clashes with alien and human conspiracies. And there is a love interest in this one.

Second books are tricky, since they seldom measure up to the thrill of discovery in the first book. Some of them are just transportation to the final battle and that makes me sad. That said I hope Transmission is just as good as Absorption because I really liked it and have high hopes for this Norse inspired space opera series named  Ragnarok. John Meaney was new to me last year. Now I know he also writes under the name Thomas Blackthorne, another author I have been considering. One thing though, the publisher lists it for April but Amazon for September which date is it?

I like strong female protagonists and Boss is one of them. Diving into the Wreck was the first in the series and City of Ruins in May continues the story about the mysterious stealth technology she first found on the Destiny ship in the first story. It is kind of weird to read a whole novel and never learn the real name of the main character but it works well for Kristine Kathryn Rush.

Jaine Fenn is one of my favorite authors and the fourth Hidden Empire book will be out in July. Bringer of Light continues the story about the superhuman overlords hidden empire with how Jarek Reen tries to save the lost world he discovered in Consorts of Heaven.

Veteran was my debut of the year in 2010. Gavin G. Smith is a new favorite author and the story continues with War in Heaven in July or September depending on if you trust Gollancz catalog or Amazon.

I have really enjoyed Chris Wooding’s excellent retropunk novels Tales of the Kitty Jay. Retribution Falls and The Black Lung Captain was first and this August The Iron Jackal will bright my day with another adventure with Captain Frey and his motley crew.

Another guilty pleasure is Mike Shepherd’s Kris Longknife novels. Mike has been teasing an alien threat in the last two books so I really hope he will get around to it in this year’s book, Daring. I really like the characters in these stories.

Sarah A. Hoyt writes like a modern day Heinlein and I loved Darkship Thieves and this year Sarah promised a continuation with Darkship Renegade sometimes late this year.

New in Fantasy Series I Follow

Aliette de Bodard debuted last year with her aztec murder mystery with cosmological repercussions Servants of the Underworld. Harbinger of the Storm the second book in the Obsidian & Blood series is on its way to me and I expect it to be the first book published this year that I read even if it is a fantasy.

I came to Elizabeth Moon through her science fiction but that doesn’t make my appreciation for her fantasy series any less. Paladin’s Legacy is the Paksenarrion follow up Trilogy that started with Oath of Fealty last year and continues with Kings of the North in March.

Trudi Canavan is another entertaining fantasy writer. The Magician’s Apprentice was in fact the first book I read this decade. It was maybe the best book of her that I have read.I am following another series of hers The Traitor’s Trilogy, the follow up to The Black Magician Trilogy. The Ambassador’s Mission was the first and in May the second book The Rogue comes out. The tale about the Traitors continues with Sonea trying to fight the Rogue loose in her city while her son Lorkin does his best to learn about the Traitors and their unique magic.

I am reading Nights of Villjamur at the moment and like it, maybe a bit too many characters to keep track of but that is not a big issue.City of Ruin sits on my to-be-read pile so the third Legend of the Red Sun book The Book of Transformations is high on my list for next summer (June) and Mark Charan Newton is new to me except for the 200 pages I have finished so far in the first book.

One of my guilty pleasures are reading about Lila Black, Justina Robson’s feisty but flawed half robot heroine as she explores the supernatural Quantum Gravity universe. It is a magical multiverse with demons, dragons and magicians that adhere to scientific principles. This year she goes to the land of the dead in Down to the Bone out in February.

Series That End This Year

The finishing novel of N. K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy will be out in October this year according to the publisher (Orbit). The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and The Broken Kingdoms is sitting on my to-be-read pile waiting to be read and The Kingdom of Gods is on order. I have great hope this will be the year I get to know Jemisin’swriting, I am a bit ashamed I haven’t read them yet.

Elizabeth Bear will end the Jacob’s Ladder trilogy in February with Grail and that is a must read for me. This fantasy inspired generation ship saga that started with Dust and Chill.

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 in April. You can read my reviews of the previous books Wake and Watch on Temple Library Reviews.

Humanity’s Fire, another great space opera will be over in October. It started with Seeds of Earth and continued with The Orphanded Worlds last year. The finale volume is called The Ascendant Stars. Michael Cobley is a writer to watch out for, I really love the worlds he creates.

Kristin Cashore’s much anticipated final novel in The Seven Kingdoms Trilogy, Bitterblue is due in September. That is also a given for me.

New Series

Gary Gibson will be out with a new time travel series ominously named Final Days which is also the name of the first novel. I liked his Shoal Sequence so this is a series I will look into. The cover is beautiful but it is not listed on amazon yet which is weird since it is scheduled for April.

Alastair Reynolds has been working on a hard sf trilogy named Poseidon’s Children (formerly known as 11K) dealing with the expansion of the human species into the solar system and beyond, and the emergence of Africa as a spacefaring, technological super-state several centuries down the line over the next 11,000 years. The first book Blue Remembered Earth will be out in June.

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.

Leviathan Wakes is a new shiny Space Opera for May 2011 by James S.A. Corey (a pen name of  Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). Space opera, big ships, interstellar travel, secrets, conspiracies, and high adventure according to Orbit books. It is the first book in The Expanse. I like it! The blurb sounds like something I would like to read but I am not familiar with either author.

Neal Asher wrote The Technician, in my opinion the best book of  2010. This year he begins a new series The Owner’s Trilogy with The Departure and it is one of the books I am most excited about this year. It is set in its own dystopian universe.

Jack Campbell who I like for The Lost Fleet series are starting at least one new series this year; Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier that continues the story about Black Jack Geary and the fight against the alien threat in April with Dreadnaught; He is also 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 Bookman by Lavie Tidhar was a book I seriously considered last year, it sounds so wonderfully steampunk. It was also the year that I got seriously into steampunk. Camera Obscura takes us to Paris and a clash with reality in April.

Another new series I am interested in because it is about an alien spaceship approaching earth and two teams of astronauts compete to get there first. Heaven’s Shadow is the first in a series with the same name by David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt out this July. The authors are screenwriters behind Batman Begins and The Outer Limits respective.

Re-releases

Corvus is planing to reprint 20 rewritten Chung Kuo novels the upcoming years. The series is set in a future dominated by Chinese culture that goes to drastic steps to conquer and control the world. Son of Heaven is the first due in March. David Wingrove has the added value of being new to me. This looks like the type of scifi I know I am going to like. I get a bit of a Buck Rogers vibe of this, am I right?

To the Galactic Rim: The John Grimes Saga by A. Bertram Chandler is another reprint of of a long series (28 novels and a number of short stories) this time by Baen and in Omnibus form. The first volume about ‘the Horatio Hornblower of science fiction’ covers the three first novels and a collection of short stories. It will be out in March. I hope Baen will pump them out fairly quickly or I will have to try for ACE’s series from the start of this century. The Flandry series suffered from horrible, horrible covers that they hopefully will avoid with this one, Pulp is okay but the homage to sleazy James Bond covers didn’t do it for me in the Flandry case.

I was thinking of trying some romantic scifi this year, again I should say. I tried it once before but where disgusted by how helpless and in need of help the supposedly formidable female protagonist was. This time I have my sights set on something more steamy Megan Hart’s Passion Model reprinted in March.

I have been neglecting Peter F. Hamilton lately so I will try to make up for it this year. I like his novel length near future stories best (Misspent Youth excluded) so the rerelease of Mindstar Rising, A Quantum Murder and The Nanoflower in the The Mandel Files out this July will be perfect for me since I only read the last one.

What am I Missing?

Bearing in mind that my focus is in science fiction and not in fantasy or its urban sub genre that seems so popular today I still think there are a lot of books out there I would like to read this year that I have missed. I would have liked to have a bit more debuts, new authors are exciting. Some publishers and authors also keep it close to the vest what they are up to so there are certainly some really thrilling releases this year that we don’t even know of yet.

I wonder what Tony Bellantyne is working on? I was expecting a third Penrose novel this year now I am not even sure he will write one. I haven’t been able to find out anything. Blood and Iron was a close runner up for best novel last year. His world of ‘natural’ robots is intriguing and they just had their first conflicts with humans.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

The List of Books

Harbinger of the Storm (Obsidian & Blood book 2)

by Aliette de Bodard – Angry Robot January 25 – Amazon US | UK

Death, magic and intrigue in this hotly-anticipated follow-up to Servant of the Underworld. A sumptuously-detailed Aztec world, which will appeal to fans of magical fantasy, historical drama, political intrigue and murder mysteries.

THE AZTEC EMPIRE TEETERS ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION.
As the political infighting starts within the imperial court, Acatl, High Priest for the Dead, makes a macabre discovery in the palace: a high-ranking nobleman has been torn to pieces by an invocation – and it looks like the summoner belongs to the court itself…

File Under: Fantasy [ Aztec Mystery | An Inside Job | Ancient Magics | The Gods Walk! ]

Citadel (Troy Rising 2)

by John Ringo – Baen, January 4 – Amazon US | UK - Excerpt Chapter 1-9

Between the Solar Array Pumped Laser and Troy, the two trillion ton nickel-iron battlestation created by eccentric billionaire Tyler Vernon, Earth has managed to recapture the Sol system from their Horvath conquerors and begin entering the galactic millieu. But when the Rangora Empire rapidly crushes humanity’s only ally it becomes clear the war is just beginning. At the heart of nickel iron and starlight are the people, Marines, Navy, and civilians, who make Troy a living, breathing, engine of war. Survivors of apocalypse, they know the cost of failure. If this Troy falls, no one will be left to write the epic. Citadel continues the saga begun in Live Free or Die, following the paths of several characters during the first years of The Spiral Arm Wars culminating in the First Battle of E Eridani.

Home Fires

by Gene Wolfe – Tor, January 18 (us), February 18 (uk) – Amazon US | UK

Gene Wolfe takes us to a future North America at once familiar and utterly strange. A young man and woman, Skip and Chelle, fall in love in college and marry, but she is enlisted in the military, there is a war on, and she must serve her tour of duty before they can settle down. But the military is fighting a war with aliens in distant solar systems, and her months in the service will be years in relative time on Earth. Chelle returns to recuperate from severe injuries, after months of service, still a young woman but not necessarily the same person—while Skip is in his forties and a wealthy businessman, but eager for her return.

Still in love (somewhat to his surprise and delight), they go on a Caribbean cruise to resume their marriage. Their vacation rapidly becomes a complex series of challenges, not the least of which are spies, aliens, and battles with pirates who capture the ship for ransom. There is no writer in SF like Gene Wolfe and no SF novel like Home Fires.

Grail (Jacob’s Ladder 3)

Elizabeth Bear – Spectra, February 22 – Amazon US | UK

Rife with intrigue and betrayal, heroism and sacrifice, Grail brings Elizabeth Bear’s brilliant space opera to a triumphant conclusion.

At last the generation ship Jacob’s Ladder has arrived at its destination: the planet they have come to call Grail. But this habitable jewel just happens to be populated already: by humans who call their home Fortune. And they are wary of sharing Fortune—especially with people who have genetically engineered themselves to such an extent that it is a matter of debate whether they are even human anymore. To make matters worse, a shocking murder aboard the Jacob’s Ladder has alerted Captain Perceval and the angel Nova that formidable enemies remain hidden somewhere among the crew.

On Grail—or Fortune, rather—Premier Danilaw views the approach of the Jacob’s Ladder with dread. Behind the diplomatic niceties of first-contact protocol, he knows that the deadly game being played is likely to erupt into full-blown war—even civil war. For as he strives to chart a peaceful and prosperous path forward for his people, internal threats emerge to take control by any means necessary.

In Fire Forged (Worlds of Honor V)

editor David Weber – Baen, February 1 – Amazon US | UK – Excerpt: Chapter 1

Honor Harrington is arguably the most popular character in modern science fiction, but there are many other stories in the Honorverse besides those in which she has the central role. This fifth volume in the popular Worlds of Honor series explores some of those stories with the help of such top writers as best-selling author Jane LIndskjold, New York Times best-selling author Timothy Zahn, and more—including an all-new Honor Harrington adventure, set in her younger years, when a mob of space pirates made the mistake of tangling with Commander Harrington. That was a fatal mistake—for the pirates . . .

Deep State (This is Not a Game 2)

by Walter Jon Williams – Orbit, February 7 – Amazon US | UK

Dagmar Shaw is one of the world’s hottest designers of alternate reality games. She is the Puppetmaster and thousands of gamers are dancing on her strings. But when the campaign she is running in Turkey comes into conflict with the new, brutal regime, she realises that games can have very real consequences.

When an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project so insane, so ambitious, she can’t possibly say no, she is plunged into a world of spies and soldiers. A nation hangs in the balance and in a world of intrigue and betrayal, the master player must face the possibility that she has, herself, been played.

Dagmar is the Puppetmaster, but when the bullets are real and her ‘puppets’ start dying, is any cause worth it?

Down to the Bone (Quantum Gravity 5)

by Justina Robson – Gollancz, February 17 | Pyr, August 23 (us)  - Amazon US | UK

Lila Black faces her greatest challange yet as she takes herself, her dead lover and the AI in her head into death’s realm. The Quantum Gravity series, set in a world where our reality mixes with other dimensions that are the homes to Faeries, elementals and demons, is unique in modern SF – a series that is willing to incorporate legend, myth and magic while maintaining a rigorous approach to scientific and pyschological reality. And in Lila Black Justina Robson has created an enduringly strong yet quirkily human and flawed heroine.

The Kings of Eternity

by Eric Brown –  Solaris, March 29 (us), April 1 (uk) - Amazon US | UK

1999. On the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him?

1935. Writers Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings-on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there – no less than a strange creature from another world – will change their lives forever.

What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown’s most ambitious novel to date. Almost ten years in the writing, The Kings of Eternity is a novel of vast scope and depth, yet imbued with humanity and characters you’ll come to love.

Kings of the North (Palanin’s Legacy book 2)

by Elizabeth Moon – Del Rey March 24 (us),  Orbit March 24 (uk) – Amazon US | UK

Elizabeth Moon returns to the fantasy world of the paladin Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter—Paks for short—in this second volume of a new series filled with all the bold imaginative flights, meticulous world-building, realistic military action, and deft characterization that readers have come to expect from this award-winning author. In Kings of the North, Moon is working at the very height of her storytelling powers.

Peace and order have been restored to the kingdoms of Tsaia and Lyonya, thanks to the crowning of two kings: Mikeli of Tsaia and, in Lyonya, Kieri Phelan, a mercenary captain whose royal blood and half-elven heritage are resented by elves and humans alike.

On the surface, all is hope and promise. But underneath, trouble is brewing. Mikeli cannot sit safely on his throne as long as remnants of the evil Verrakaien magelords are at large. Kieri is being hounded to marry and provide the kingdom with an heir—but that is the least of his concerns. A strange rift has developed between him and his grandmother and co-ruler, the immortal elven queen known as the Lady. More problematic is the ex-pirate Alured, who schemes to seize Kieri’s throne for himself—and Mikeli’s, too, while he’s at it. Meanwhile, to the north, the aggressive kingdom of Pargun seems poised to invade.

Now, as war threatens to erupt from without and within, the two kings are dangerously divided. Old alliances and the bonds of friendship are about to be tested as never before. And a shocking discovery will change everything.

To the Galactic Rim: The John Grimes Saga (Omnibus 1-4)

by A. Bertram Chandler – Baen reprint, March 1 – Amazon US | UK – Excerpt: Chapter 1-21

John Grimes will one day command his own starship, and change the course of Galactic history, but right now he’s a wet-behind-the-ears junior officer who finds that he keeps running into problems which were never covered in his courses at the Academy.

The Road to the Rim – meet Lieutenant John Grimes of the Federation Survey Service; fresh out of the Academy-and as green as they come.

To Prime the Pump – El Dorado is a planet with a pressing problem: the men are infertile, cause unknown, and the women want someone to Do Something! Not quite the problem young John Grimes expected to deal with…

The Hard Way Up – a collection of seven tales of John Grime’s adventures, meeting danger and winning glory out at the rim of the Galaxy.

The Broken Cycle – John Grimes never intended to get lost in space, let alone being lost with a very attractive policewoman who’s all business. And he really never expected to run into an entity who claims to be a god and has a garden of Eden ready and waiting for the pair.

Three novels and a story collection, all in one volume of space adventure.

Embedded

by Dan Abnett – Angry Robot April 14 – Amazon US | UK

HE’D DO ANYTHING TO GET A STORY. When journalist Lex Falk gets himself chipped into the brain of a combat soldier, he thinks he has the ultimate scoop – a report from the forbidden front line of a distant planetary war, live to the living rooms of Earth. When the soldier is killed, however, Lex has to take over the body and somehow get himself back to safety once more… broadcasting all the way.

Heart-stopping combat science fiction from the million-selling Warhammer 40,000 author.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Future Warefare | Chipped-In | Anything For a Story | Get Out Alive! ]

Passion Model

by Megan Hart – Samhain, March 1 – Amazon US | UK

Protect and Serve just took on a whole new meaning.

For Recreational Intercourse Operative Gemma, patrolling Newcity’s Lovehuts and Pleasurebots isn’t much of a pleasure. But it’s work she clings to after an accident destroyed her marriage and left her with half her body made of replacement parts.

She keeps her head down and her mind on her job, waiting for the proverbial hammer to fall. The head of the ruling council is out to make those like her illegal. If anyone finds out she’s mecho, she’s toast.

A routine inspection of a Pleasurebot turns into a strictly forbidden—and mind-blowing—sexual encounter. Then she realizes it isn’t an “it” at all. He’s human, and despite the sweet-hot climaxes he gives her, she buries her report to save them both from the consequences.

Except he can’t seem to stay away from her, and for a time life seems almost…normal. Until Gemma uncovers Declan’s own deep, dark secret. A secret that could get her fired from R.I.O. Or both of them killed.

Warning: This book contains graphic depictions of sex with men, women, aliens and robots.

Up Against It

by M. J. Locke – Tor, March 1 – Amazon US | UK

A vastly entertaining novel of artificial intelligence, resource politics, and organized crime, set on a large asteroid colony a couple of hundred years in the future

In M. J. Locke’s absorbing debut novel, rogue artificial intelligence and a lethal resource crisis threaten the asteroid colony Phoecea—while, meanwhile, an interplanetary crime syndicate appears to be pulling the strings. Locke’s background as a resource management specialist in the energy industry gives particular depth to the portrayal of Jane, the bureaucrat-engineer in charge of keeping the plumbing running on her island of humanity in unforgiving space. In short order, Jane discovers that her colony’s water crisis may have been engineered by the Martian mafia, as a means of executing a coup and turning Phocaea into a client-state. And if that wasn’t bad enough, an AI that spawned during the industrial emergency has slipped through the distracted safeguards and gone rogue…and there’s a giant x-factor in the form of the transhumanist Viridian cult that lives in Phocaea’s bowels.

There’s never enough SF like this: accessible, fun to read, featuring both young and old characters who we like instantly and care about, plus a constant flow of fascinating invention. Among other things, Up Against It is a “workplace drama,” full of the fascination of watching competent people do their extremely interesting jobs, with lives at stake.

Son of Heaven (Chung Kuo book 1)

by David Wingrove – Corvus, March 1 – Amazon US | UK

The year is 2085, two decades after the great economic collapse that destroyed Western civilization. With its power broken and its cities ruined, life in the West continues in scattered communities. In rural Dorset Jake Reed lives with his 14-year-old son and memories of the great collapse. Back in ’43, Jake was a rich, young futures broker, immersed in the datascape of the world’s financial markets. He saw what was coming – and who was behind it. Forewarned, he was one of the few to escape the fall. For 22 years he has lived in fear of the future, and finally it is coming – quite literally – across the plain towards him. Chinese airships are in the skies and a strange, glacial structure has begun to dominate the horizon. Jake finds himself forcibly incorporated into the ever-expanding ‘World of Levels’ a global city of some 34 billion souls, where social status is reflected by how far above the ground you live. Here, under the rule of the mighty Tsao Ch’un, a resurgent China is seeking to abolish the past and bring about world peace through rigidly enforced order. But a civil war looms, and Jake will find himself at the heart of the struggle for the future.

Final Days (‘Final Days’ book 1)

by Gary Gibson – Tor UK, April/July

My reviews of Gary’s Shaol Sequence: Stealing Light,  Nova War, Empire of Light

From Tor UK: Final Days by Gary Gibson follows the lives of a few key characters as a cataclysmic event is unleashed in Earth’s near future. This is a twenty-third-century thriller revolving around the slow uncovering of a conspiracy that irrevocably dooms the Earth, set against a backdrop of interstellar colonies. The story takes advantage of current cutting-edge ideas about the creation of artificial wormholes for interstellar travel, and their implications for practicable time travel. Action-packed and fast-paced, this is a thrilling SF adventure and a wonderful start to Gary’s new series.

It’s the 23rd Century and through the advent of wormhole technology more than a dozen interstellar colonies have been linked to Earth. But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.

Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears – they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding.

When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system – all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city. Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor — and once he’s brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that’s coming?”

Wonder (WWW book 3)

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

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 Noise Revealed (The Noise Within book 2)

by Ian Whates – Solaris April 26 (us), May 2 (uk) – Amazon US | UK

A time of flux, a time of change…

While mankind is adjusting to its first ever encounter with an alien civilisation – the Byrzaens – black ops specialist Jim Leyton reluctantly allies himself with the mysterious habitat in order to rescue the woman he loves. This brings him into direct conflict with his former employers: the United League of Allied Worlds government. Scientist and businessman Philip Kaufman is fast discovering there is more to the virtual world than he ever realised. Yet it soon becomes clear that all is not well within the realm of Virtuality. Truth is hidden beneath lies and there are games being played, deadly games with far reaching consequences. Both men begin to suspect that the much heralded ‘First Contact’ is anything but first contact, and that a sinister con is being perpetrated with the whole of humankind as the victim. Now all they have to do is prove it.

The View From The Imperium

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

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 (Gravediggers Chronicles 1)

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

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

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.

Transmission (Ragnarok book 2)

by John Meaney – Gollancz, April – Amazon US | UK

The second volume of Meaney’s epic Ragnarok space opera trilogy. The dark matter in the universe is alive and is seeking to pervert human history to its own ends. Its influence has reached back into the dark ages, to the centre of the 3rd Reich and 600 years into the future. The Ragnarok universe not only provides a stunning SF rationale for Norse mythology but posits a world where pilots are locked into symbiotic relationships with their ships and the cities can come alive.

Dreadnaught (Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier 1)

by Jack Campbell – ACE – Amazon US | Currently unavailable in the UK

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

Embassytown

by China Miéville – Tor UK, May 6 | Del Rey, May 17 – Amazon US | UK

Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts – who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts.

And that is impossible.

City of Ruins (Diving Universe 2)

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch – Pyr, May 24 – Amazon US | UK

Boss, a loner, loved to dive derelict spacecraft adrift in the blackness of space. But one day, she found a ship that would change everything–an ancient Dignity Vessel–and aboard the ship, the mysterious and dangerous Stealth Tech. Now, years after discovering that first ship, Boss has put together a large company which finds Dignity Vessels and finds “loose” stealth technology.

Following a hunch, Boss and her team come to investigate the city of Vaycehn, where fourteen archeologists have died exploring the endless caves below the city. Mysterious “death holes” explode into the city itself for no apparent reason, and Boss believes stealth tech is involved. As Boss searches for the answer to the mystery of the death holes, she will uncover the answer to her Dignity Vessel quest as well—and one more thing, something so important that it will change her life—and the universe—forever…

Fuzzy Nation

by John Scalzi  - Tor, May 10 – Amazon US | UK

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn’t care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorp’s headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporation’s headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, that’s not up for discussion.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there’s another wrinkle to ZaraCorp’s relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped—trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute—shows up at Jack’s outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp’s claim to a planet’s worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed…and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the “fuzzys” before their existence becomes more widely known.

The Hot Gate (Troy Rising 3)

by John Ringo – Baen, May 3  - Amazon US | UK

The fight to free the Earth from alien domination began in Live Free or Die, and continued in Citadel. Now Tyler Vernon, and his troops aboard the gigantic battle station Troy, face a desperate battle with the forces of galactic tyranny. And the very survival of the Earth and its people is not all that is at stake. The galaxy itself must choose to live free or die—and if the tyrants win this battle, darkness will fall across the galaxy for millennia to come.

By Light Alone

by Adam Roberts  - Gollancz, June 16 – Amazon US | UK

In a world where we have been genetically engineered so that we can photosynthesise sunlight with our hair hunger is a thing of the past, food an indulgence. The poor grow their hair, the rich affect baldness and flaunt their wealth by still eating. But other hungers remain . . . The young daughter of an affluent New York family is kidnapped. The ransom demands are refused. Years later a young women arrives at the family home claiming to be their long lost daughter. She has changed so much, she has lived on light, can anyone be sure that she has come home? Adam Roberts’ new novel is yet another amazing melding of startling ideas and beautiful prose. Set in a New York of the future it nevertheless has echoes of a Fitzgeraldesque affluence and art-deco style. It charts his further progress as one of the most important writers of his generation.

The Rogue (Traitor Spy Trilogy 2)

by Trudi Canavan – Orbit, May 5 (uk) 11(us) – Amazon US | UK

Living among the Sachakan rebels, Lorkin does his best to learn about them and their unique magic. But the Traitors are reluctant to trade their knowledge for the Healing they so desperately want and, while he assumes they fear revealing their existence to the world, there are hints they have bigger plans. Sonea searches for the rogue, knowing that Cery cannot avoid assassination for ever, but the rogue’s influence over the city’s underworld is far greater than she feared. His only weakness is the loss of his mother, now locked away in the Lookout. In Sachaka, Dannyl has lost the respect of the Sachakan elite for letting Lorkin join the Traitors. The Ashaki’s attention has shifted, instead, to the new Elyne Ambassador, a man Dannyl knows all too well. And in the University, two female novices are about to remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy is found within.

Leviathan Wakes (Expanse 1)

by James S. A. Corey (pseudonym for Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck) – Orbit, June 15 – Amazon US | UK

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

The Book of Transformations (Legends of the Red Sun 3)

by Mark Charan Newton – Tor UK, June 3 – Amazon US | UK

A new and corrupt Emperor seeks to rebuild the ancient structures of Villjamur to give the people of the city hope in the face of great upheaval and an oppressing ice age. But when a stranger called Shalev arrives, empowering a militant underground movement, crime and terror becomes rampant. The Inquisition is always one step behind, and military resources are spread thinly across the Empire. So Emperor Urtica calls upon cultists to help construct a group to eliminate those involved with the uprising, and calm the populace. But there’s more to The Villjamur Knights than just phenomenal skills and abilities – each have a secret that, if exposed, could destroy everything they represent. Investigator Fulcrom of the Villjamur Inquisition is given the unenviable task of managing the Knights’, but his own skills are tested when a mysterious priest, who has travelled from beyond the fringes of the Empire, seeks his help. The priest’s existence threatens the church, and his quest promises to unweave the fabric of the world. And in a distant corner of the Empire, the enigmatic cultist Dartun Sur steps back into this world, having witnessed horrors beyond his imagination. Broken, altered, he and the remnants of his cultist order are heading back to Villjamur. And all eyes turn to the Sanctuary City, for Villjamur’s ancient legends are about to be shattered …

Blue Remembered Earth (Poseidon’s Children Book 1)

by Alastair Reynolds – Gollancz, June 16 – Amazon UK

One hundred and fifty years from now, in a world where Africa is the dominant technological and economic power, and where crime, war, disease and poverty have been banished to history, Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey’s family, the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans. After the death of Eunice, Geoffrey’s grandmother, erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur, something awkward has come to light on the Moon, and Geoffrey is tasked – well, blackmailed, really – to go up there and make sure the family’s name stays suitably unblemished. But little does Geoffrey realise – or anyone else in the family, for that matter – what he’s about to unravel. Eunice’s ashes have already have been scattered in sight of Kilimanjaro. But the secrets she died with are about to come back out into the open, and they could change everything. Or shatter this near-utopia into shards . . .

Bringer of Light (The Hidden Empire book 4)

by Jaine Fenn – Gollancz – Amazon US | UK

Jarek Reen is trying to save a lost world. He discovered the primitive theocracy of Serenein by accident, and now he wants it to take its place in human-space. To do this he needs a shiftspace beacon – without it, there is no way to find the planet again. The beacons were made by the Sidhe, the race that originally gave humanity access to the stars – and dominated human-space for millennia, before a coalition of human rebels and Sidhe males brought the evil Sidhe females down. Most people think the Sidhe are long dead, but Jarek knows better: a renegade female Sidhe is one of his companions, and a male Sidhe gave her and her lover the special powers that made them Angels, very unusual trained assassins. Jarek’s only hope is to find Aleph, the hidden system where the last Sidhe males are rumoured to live. But even if he can persuade these eccentric, introspective beings to put aside their interminable internal squabbles, he still has to persuade Serenein that joining the rest of humankind is a good thing …for the price of progress is likely to be high. Can he stop it turning into tragedy?

Hell Ship

by Philip Palmer – Orbit July 1 – Amazon US | UK

US description: There is a ship – the Hell Ship. Inside the ship is a world. On the world are thousands of alien life forms-all the last members of their race. Each and every one of them is a slave. And it was the Hell Ship and its infernal crew that destroyed their homes and slaughtered their families and imprisoned them forever.

One man, Jak, has been pursuing the Hell Ship for its crimes. Battle after battle has left Jak scarred and broken and bit by bit he has surrendered his humanity to his quest for revenge.

Now, Jak is no more than a mind in the body of a starship, bent on bloody vengeance. But when one slave finds a way to communicate with the Hell Ship’s relentless pursuer, he realizes that there is more to this mad chase than he realized. And just possibly, there’s a way to end this long, interstellar nightmare.

UK description: The Flying Dutchman (or Hellship) is a faster-than-light scout ship that was supposed to seek out habitable planets, while also cautiously observing alien civilisations to discover which of them might be a danger to mankind. But, a millennium ago, it flew into a black hole while being pursued by dangerous aliens. And it never came back. The vessel is now heavily armed and spends its days travelling from universe to universe – exploring, discovering, scouting and also killing, looting, and annihilating. For the captain and crew of the Dutchman all lost their minds and souls many years ago. They are now monsters, haunted by the remnants of their humanity, and they take sublime joy in killing. They are, in short, the bad guys. But luckily their nemesis David Bishop is idealistic, driven and has made catching the Hellship his life’s work. This is an all-action chase drama in which the hero is the last living human being from his own particular universe. You may also find it bleakly funny, richly nasty, fast-paced and exhilarating – and maybe even terrifying.

The Mandel Files

An Omnibus of Mindstar Rising (1993), A Quantum Murder (1994) and The Nanoflower (1995) by Peter Hamilton – Del Rey, July 26 – Amazon US | UK

Heaven’s Shadow (Heaven’s Shadow Trilogy book 1)

by Michael Cassutt & David S Goyer – Tor, July 1 (uk) | Ace, July 5   – Amazon US | UK

“Heaven’s Shadow” begins with the discovery of an object of unknown origin headed toward Earth. Speculation as to what it might be runs high, and leads to an international competition to be the first to land on it, to claim both the prestige and whatever other benefits there might be. Thus, two rival teams of astronauts begin a thrilling and dangerous race – but what they find when they reach their goal will turn out to be unlike anything they could have imagined …What they have landed on is no asteroid but a spacecraft from a civilization that has travelled tens of thousands of years to reach earth. While the team try to work out what it is they are needed for, more sinister occurrences cause them to wonder if their involvement with this alien race will lead to anything but harm for humanity.

War in Heaven (Veteran 2)

by Gavin G. Smith  - Gollancz, September 15 – Amazon US | UK

The high-powered sequel to VETERAN sees an unlikely hero make an even more unlikely return to take the reader back into a vividly rendered bleak future. But a bleak future where there are still wonders: man travelling out into the universe, Bladerunneresque cities hanging from the ceilings of vast caverns, aliens that we can barely comprehend. Gavin Smith writes fast-moving, incredibly violent SF thrillers but behind the violence and the thrills lies a carefully thought out story and characters who have far more to them than first meets the eye. Never one to avoid controversy Gavin Smith nevertheless invites you to think beyond the initial shock of what you have just read. But in the meantime? Another fire-fight, another chase another flight of imagination.

The Moon Maze Game (Dream Park book 4)

by Larry Niven & Steven Barnes – Tor August 16 – Amazon US | UK

The Departure (Owner Trilogy 1)

by Neal Asher – Tor UK,  (August)

Like Wellsian war machines the shepherds stride into riots to grab up the ringleaders and drag them off to Inspectorate HQ for adjustment, unless they are in shredding mode, in which case their captives visit community digesters, or rather whatever of them has not been washed down the street drains.

Pain inducers are used for adjustment, and soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet, twelve billion human being need to die before Earth can be stabilized, but by turning large portions of Earth into concentration camps this is achievable, especially when the Argus satellite laser network comes fully online…

Alan Saul has taken a different route to disposal, waking as he does inside a crate on the conveyor into the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Janus speaks to Saul through the hardware implanted in his skull, sketching the nightmare world for him. And Saul decides to bring it all crashing down…

Blight of Mages (prequel to King breaker King maker)

by Karen Miller – Orbit, August 4 -Amazon US | UK

Dorana is a country ruled by a rigid class system based upon magical aptitude and the right pedigree. While all Doranens have mage ability, some are more blessed than others. Morgan is one of the powerful ruling elite, fanatically devoted to enforcing the regulations and maintaining the purity of mage bloodlines. When he falls in love with Barl, a woman of inferior breeding who possesses astonishing mage powers, he sets himself upon a dangerous course. A terrible mage war erupts when Morgan becomes unstoppable, driving Barl to lead a small pack of survivors into the distant mountains. When they arrive, their welcome is not what they expected, and Barl must embark upon a desperate course to protect and preserve her people until they may be needed once again …

The Iron Jackal (Tales of the Kitty Jay 3)

by Chris Wooding – Gollancz, August 18 – Amazon US | UK

Vardia is descending into chaos. It’s a great time to be a freebooter. The Archduke has evidence that incriminactes the Awakeners, a powerful religious sect, and he’s determined to use it to bring them down. If they don’t surrender their Imperators – half-confessor, half-inquistor, and just possibly half-daemon as well – then he has threatened to ban their religion, and have their Imperators executed on sight. But that Awakeners won’t give up without a fight, half the country is on their side, and there’s more than a hint of civil war in the air. Never one to miss an opportunity, Captain Darien Frey has hit on a lucrative plan: robbing Awakener temples, and selling their relics back to them through the feared pirate, and former finacee, Trinica Dracken. Things are finally looking good for the Ketty Jay and her crew! …until the Shaklemores, bounty hunters to the artistocracy, catch up with them, anyway. They kidnap Crake, one of Frey’s most valued crewmen, and vanish with him. Crake is wanted for murder – he has been for years – but is his kidnapping in the name of justice or is something altogether more sinister going on behind the scenes? If Captain Frey wants his man back, he and the Ketty Jay are going to have to find out – even if the quest leads them into the heart of the civil war, to the treason and invasion threat beyond.

How Firm a Foundation (Safehold 5)

by David Weber – Tor October/November

This continues the story about the android with the mind of a dead starship captain who has to bring civilization and technology back to the human race before the genocidal aliens that forced them to run returns.

Children of the Sky (sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep)

by Vernor Vinge  -Tor, October

Not much is known about this sequel at this time beside that it will be near term sequel taking place approximately ten years later.

Daring (Kris Longknife 9)

by Mike Shepherd (Ace) – probably fall/winter

Time to go after the alien threat?

Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a Fleet of Discovery on a reconnaissance of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expected them to find an alien starship, certainly not one that came out shooting. Faced with a shot first and ask no question situation, Kris shoots back, blowing the ship to bits.

Half a universe away from her superiors, facing a possible mutiny from officers insisting they retreat, Kris holds the fate of humanity in her hands as she struggles to determine the alien threat — and whether or not to start an intersteller war .

Darkship Renegade (Darkship Thieves book 2)

by Sarah A. Hoyt  - Baen, probably fall/winter

The Ascendant Stars (Humanity’s Fire 3)

by Michael Cobley – Orbit, October 6 – Amazon UK

A multi-layered, 21st century take on the classic tropes of space opera by a bold new voice in British science fiction.

Dust 514 (EVE Online)

by Tony Gonzales – Gollancz, September 15 – Amazon UK

The technology to download the consciousnesses of pilots into multiple clones, the Capsuleers, has finally delivered the dream of immortal soldiers. Train a soldier just once and then however many times he dies he will keep on getting more experienced, more battle toughened, as his brain is downloaded into a ready supply of cloned bodies. But no-one anticpated the effects of the multiple traumas, the multiple stresses of multiple lives and deaths on the battle field. War is hell. And now it can last forever for everyone. A fast-moving action-packed novel of interstellar war and high-tech combat, backed by massive cross promotion.

Bitterblue (Seven Kingdoms Trilogy 3)

by Kristin Cashore – Gollancz, September 15 – Amazon UK

A new novel from Kristin Cashore. Set in the same world as her previous two novels, BITTERBLUE picks up the story of the Seven Kingdoms six years after the events of GRACELIN

A Beautiful Friendship (Honorverse YA 1)

by David Weber – Baen/Tor? October

According to David: “we’re planning an entire series which will be set a couple of hundred years earlier than Honor Harrington’s life, when the Star Kingdom of Manticore is basically Denmark — an affluent, peaceful, quiet little kingdom considerably removed from the powerbroker games of the galaxy.” it is going to be the first book in a new series.

Young Stephanie Harrington was intelligent and talented, with the curiosity typical of an adolescent, and after her family had emigrated to the human colony on Sphinx she wanted to explore. Of course, it was very frustrating that her father forebade her to go into the forest alone, but then she discovered something right at home. Some local wildlife had been eating the celery in the family garden, and when Stephanie lay in wait for the intruder, she encountered a six-legged cat-like creature. What’s more, the creature, known among his own kind as Climbs Quickly, was even more astonished, because he found that he could form a mental link with this strange two-legged young one.

That was the first encounter between a human and the beings who would become known as treecats. Stephanie planned to make a second contact with the treecat, but her plans went disastrously awry and she was stranded in a wilderness full of deadly predators. She could not hope to survive without help—but help was on the way, from Climbs Quickly and his tribe .

That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But it was only the beginning . . .

Source: Amazon and David’s Interviews at davidweber.net and the Weber FAQ

The Kingdom of Gods (The Inheritance Trilogy 3)

by N. K. Jemisin – Orbit, October 2011 – Amazon UK

For two thousand years the Arameri family has ruled the world by enslaving the very gods that created mortalkind. Now the gods are free, and the Arameri’s ruthless grip is slipping. Yet they are all that stands between peace and world-spanning, unending war.

Shahar, last scion of the family, must choose her loyalties. She yearns to trust Sieh, the godling she loves. Yet her duty as Arameri heir is to uphold the family’s interests, even if that means using and destroying everyone she cares for.

As long-suppressed rage and terrible new magics consume the world, the Maelstrom — which even gods fear — is summoned forth. Shahar and Sieh: mortal and god, lovers and enemies. Can they stand together against the chaos that threatens the Kingdom of the Gods?

Ganymede (Clockwork Century 4)

by Cherie Priest – Tor, Fall/Winter 2011.

We don’t know much about this sequel to Clementine and Dreadnought at this time beside the name. I wonder if it refer to the Persian prince, the asteroid, the servant of  Pygmalion, the name used by Rosalind when she is disguised as a man in Shakespeare’s As You Like It or something else alltogether? My money is on Rosalin due to Cherie’s preference for female protagonists. No cover either.

Theme Planet (The Anarchy 1)

by Andy Remic – Solaris, December

“It’s better than sex! It’s better than drugs! If you haven’t been sick yet, you soon will be…

Welcome to Theme Planet, an entire alien world dedicated to insane rides, excessive hedonism and dangerous adventure. Operated by the Monolith Corporation, Theme Planet is the No. 1 destination for fun-seeking human holidaymakers Galaxy-Wide! Amba Miskalov is an Anarchy Android, an assassin/torture model fitted with a Quantell Systems v4.7 KillChip. She is beautiful, merciless and deadly, and blends perfectly with her human superiors. Sent to Theme Planet on a dangerous assassination mission, Amba stumbles upon a plot to undermine and destroy Earth’s all-powerful Oblivion Government – and its Ministers of Joy. But Amba is twisted, damaged and decadent – and this rebellion poses Amba a problem: to remain loyal to her creators and tormentors, to support the enemy – or annihilate them all.”

I keep a watch out for China Mieville’s books after reading The City and the City. Embassytown sounds like an interesting science fiction with aliens and a female protagonist. This is a book likely to be on my list for next year. The cover looks a bit weird?

Edit: This is not the final Cover. According to trusted sources this one was released on amazon by mistake.

Title: Embassytown
Author: China Mieville
Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: Tor UK (May 6, 2010) | Del Rey (May 17, 2011)

Order from:  Amazon US | UK

Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.

Avice is an immerser, a traveler on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts – who cannot lie.

Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes.

Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts.”

The Kollin brothers write good concept books. I liked The Unincorporated Man the first book in the series. But I still have The Unincorporated War to read so I have not decided yet if I am going to put it on my list for next year.

Title: The Unincorporated Woman
Series:  Unincorporated 3
Authors: Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Tor (August 2011)

Order from: Amazon US | UK

The award-winning saga of a revolutionary future takes a new turn.

Justin Cord, the unincorporated man, is dead, betrayed, and his legacy of rebellion and individual freedom is in danger. General Black is the great hope of the military, but she cannot wage war from behind the President’s desk. So there must be a new president, anointed by Black, to hold the desk job, and who better than the only woman resurrected from Justin Cord’s past era, the scientist who created his resurrection device, the only born unincorporated woman. The perfect figurehead.

Except that she has ideas of her own, and secrets of her own, and the talent to run the government her way. She is a force that no one anticipated, and no one can control. The first novel in this thought-provoking series, The Unincorporated Man, won the 2009 Prometheus Award for best novel.

John Scalzi is one of my absolute favorite authors and now he has taken up a new series. It is a safe bet that anything by Scalzi would rank high on my expectations. He is witty and funny and his writing has an edge to it. To quote John: It’s a reboot of the Hugo-nominated 1962 science fiction novel Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper. I took the original plot and characters of Little Fuzzy and wrote an entirely new story from and with them. The novel doesn’t follow on from the events of Little Fuzzy; it’s a new interpretation of that first story and a break from the continuity that H. Beam Piper established in Little Fuzzy and its sequels. Source: Whatever

The release date is May 10th which just happens to be John Scalzi’s birthday. Pretty cool.

I have not read the original but I expect this to be high on my picks for next year.

Title: Fuzzy Nation
Author: John Scalzi
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Tor (May 10 2011)

Order from: Amazon US | UK | B&N

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn’t care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorp’s headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporation’s headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, that’s not up for discussion.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there’s another wrinkle to ZaraCorp’s relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped—trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute—shows up at Jack’s outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp’s claim to a planet’s worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed…and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the “fuzzys” before their existence becomes more widely known.

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1. Old Man’s War
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Elizabeth Bear have written some intriguing and fantastic science fiction lately. I hear her fantasy  is good too but I have only read a short story or two of that. Jacob’s Ladder is pure science fiction with a lot of fantasy references. I enjoyed the previous books Dust and Chill so this is very likely one of my books for next year.

Title: Grail
Series: Jacob’s Ladder
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Genre: Generation Ship Space Opera
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Spectra Books (February 22, 2011)

Order from: RandomHouse | Amazon US | UK | B&N

No blurb yet but Elizabeth has an Epigraph:

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

You Might also want to check out the Jenny Casey Series by Elizabeth Bear.
1. Hammered
2. Scardown
3. Worldwired

Philip Palmer is new to me but I have been circling his work a while and now seemed a good time to strike. This is his book for next year. Orbit is remaking his other works so that the covers match. I am seriously contemplating all four of them but this one may make my pick for next year. I have to read one of his earlier ones to decide.

Title: Hell Ship
Author: Philip Palmer
Genre: Space Opera
Paperback: 460 pages
Publisher: Orbit (July 1 (US) July 7 (UK), 2011)

Order from: Amazon US | UK

A starship travels through space carrying thousands of slaves. Each slave saw their homes, their families, and their entire world crushed by the awesome power of their new masters. And each and every one of them hungers for revenge.

Now, another planet burns and their greatest hero is defeated, captured, and enslaved. Sharrok swears he will have his vengeance. No matter the cost to himself. No matter he threatens the fragile peace between the war-like slaves. No matter that his captors are possessed of technological powers so advanced, they seem like magic.

There is another hope. One man, once a peaceful Trader, pursues the ship for its crimes. Battle after battle has left Jak scarred and broken and bit by bit he has surrendered his humanity to his pursuit. Now, Jack is no more than a mind in the body of a starship.

Together, one working from within, the other from without, there is, just possibly, a way to end this long, interstellar nightmare.

Aliette de Bodard’s debut novel Servants of the Underworld sticks out because of the non standard fantasy settings and Aliette’s compelling story telling. Harbringer of the Storm is definitely among the books I have big expectations of for 2011. The first chapter excerpt promises an exciting new book.

Title: Harbinger of the Storm
Series: Obsidian & Blood book 2
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Angry Robot (January 2011)

Excerpt:  Chapter 1

Order from: Random house | Amazon US | UK | B&N | sfbok

Death, magic and intrigue in this hotly-anticipated follow-up to Servant of the Underworld. A sumptuously-detailed Aztec world, which will appeal to fans of magical fantasy, historical drama, political intrigue and murder mysteries.

THE AZTEC EMPIRE TEETERS ON THE BRINK OF EXTINCTION.
As the political infighting starts within the imperial court, Acatl, High Priest for the Dead, makes a macabre discovery in the palace: a high-ranking nobleman has been torn to pieces by an invocation – and it looks like the summoner belongs to the court itself…

File Under: Fantasy [ Aztec Mystery | An Inside Job | Ancient Magics | The Gods Walk! ]

A new shiny Space Opera for May 2011 by James S.A. Corey (a pen name of  Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). Space opera, big ships, interstellar travel, secrets, conspiracies, and high adventure according to Orbit books. It is the first book in The Expanse.

I like it! The blurb sounds like something I would like to read but I am not familiar with either author. Some research is needed. It has potential for my list but I need more information first.

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice hauler making runs from the rings of Saturn to the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for. War is brewing in the system.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between governments, revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.