Pulled, as always, from the Locus Forthcoming list. If it ain’t on that list, it ain’t on this list.
My standard opening statement:
Usually early in whatever quarter of the year we're in I like to take a look at the Locus list of books coming out in the next quarter. I just like to see what's coming out that I should keep an eye out for. It's about that time. So, here's what I think looks good in the third quarter of 2009. Obviously, publishing schedules can and do change.
July
Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie: Shares the world of The First Law, but features all new characters. It’s Joe Abercrombie. I’m sold.
Unplugged, by Rich Horton (editor): An anthology focused entirely on fiction originally published online.
Metatropolis, by John Scalzi (editor): I’ve already pre-ordered this. Originally an audio project, Metatropolis contains fiction from Scalzi, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, and Karl Schroeder. The audio version is nominated for a Hugo.
August
By Blood We Live, by John Joseph Adams (editor): JJA’s vampire anthology. I like JJA’s anthologies, so I’m interested to see what he pulls together here.
Chasing the Dragon, by Justina Robson: Quantum Gravity Book 4. Justina Robson is more than solid.
September
The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood: So, it’s like this. Atwood can be hit or miss (though generally her misses are still strong efforts) and it’s been a few years since she published a new novel, so it’s kind of a deal. It’ll be interesting to see what she brings to the table here.
The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi: I’m more than coming around on Bacigalupi and I’d love to see what he does with his debut novel. I picked up his collection Pump Six and Other Stories when I saw him read at a bookstore in Minneapolis.
The Best of the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, by Gordon Van Gelder (editor): I read the Asimov’s anthology Sheila Williams edited a couple years back and it was an outstanding anthology. I expect that F&SF has a strong lineup of stories to pick from and that this will be another standout anthology covering the best of one of the Big Three.
Jasper Fforde - Shades of Grey and Charles Stross - Wireless! Yay.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen "Federations" at the store yet but I do have my copy of "Fall of Thanes" sitting on my bookshelf (yes!)
ReplyDeleteJune looks good with Abercrombie, Reynolds and Zafon looking to make for the start of a great reading summer! Thanks for the link Joe!
I still haven't read any Ruckley. Methinks I should.
ReplyDeleteI haven't had the chance to read Federations yet, but I think it's out. But then again, stores are carrying less SFF, so you may have to be lucky to find the new book you want without going online or to a specialty store.
Ruckley has been the closest to GRRM's genre/style that I've read so far though Bloodheir is much better than Winterbirth (imho). So if you enjoy George's work you definitely should read Ruckley (and he's a great guy to boot!)
ReplyDeleteAs to finding Federations in the store, I'm not expecting any trouble as all of his other anthologies were at my neighborhood shop. I really liked his other ones so this is definitely a must buy for me.