High Bloods, John Farris (Tor)

It's the near future, and LA is overrun with werewolves. An International Lycan Control force is set up to keep tabs on the "high bloods," those that can keep their werewolfish nature under control. But then something goes terribly wrong, and the book becomes a hard boiled crime novel. With werewolves.

Wireless, Charles Stross (Ace)

Notorious future-forward sci-fi author Charles Stross has collected the strands of some of his short fiction into this compilation. Stories feature everything from relocating the cold war in deep space to a Lovecraftian take on the Iran-Contra scandal. The collection showcases Stross's short works that have never found their way into any of his longer pieces.

Songs of the Dying Earth, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Subterranean)

Dozois and Martin have gathered a crop of modern sci fi writers to write their own stories exploring Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" universe. The "Dying Earth" series is a cornerstone of its very own sub-genre of dystopian sci fi, and these stories give some other writers a chance to lend their voice to this seminal canon.

Metatropolis,edited by John Scalzi (Subterranean)

Five sci fi writers collaborated on their own urban future, and then each took a turn writing stories set in their collectively imagined universe. The result is a portrait of a possible future of cities. From the io9 review:

These feel like cities where anything can happen, from getting your skull cracked to discovering your life purpose. And most important of all, when I was done reading about this future dys/utopia, I wanted to spend a lot more time there.

The Osiris Ritual, George Mann (Snowbooks)

George Mann's well-received "The Affinity Bridge" created a steam-punk Victorian London landscape for his intrepid mystery solvers. Now his steam-punk Sherlock Holmes is back to solve another mystery, interacting with some distinct characters along the way. This one is for fans of clockwork robots, airships, and good old fashion mysteries.

Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Neil Gaiman (DC)

This hardcover volume collects a few of Gaiman's Batman pieces, focusing on his canon-spanning final story, "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" This story stretches from one end of the Bat's career to the other, offering a new angle on the Batman mythos.

Purple and Black, K.J. Parker (Subterranean)

"Purple and Black" is an epistolary novel, or one told only in letters. In this case, the letters are between a reluctant intellectual emperor and his best friend on the front lines of combat. The result is an exploration of the duty of leadership, of war, and of friendship. It's also printed in two colors, purple for the official empire business between the two friends, and black for the less formal, more personal letters.

The Stars Blue Yonder, Sandra McDonald (Tor)

A military commander dies, but then comes back to life on a mission to save all of humanity. This mission takes him all over space and time, where he meets his yet-non-existent grandchildren and his descendants from thousands of years in the future. He also manages to thoroughly confuse his grieving wife with resurrection and stories of far-flung time travel. The two work together to save everything they've ever known.

Bar None, Tim Lebbon (Night Shade)

After the world ends, a group of tenacious survivors hole up in a giant home in Wales, but supplies start to get thin, and they learn from a supernatural stranger of a haven a few days away. It's the Bar None, and it's maybe the last bar on Earth. The survivors then decide to do probably what anyone would do in their situation: against all odds, braving corpse-strewn countryside, they try to track down a cold beer. From the io9 review:

In the end this is a deeply sentimental and intimate look at memory, loss, and those perfect days barbecuing and tossing a few back with good friends. And flesh-eating monsters.

The Kingdom Beyond the Waves, Stephen Hunt (Tor)

Amelia Harsh, a sort of steam-punk female Indiana Jones, and a cast of adventurers sets out in an ancient U-boat to discover the sunken "perfect society" of Camlantis. Also on board are a band of female mercenaries, escapees from an underwater prison, and an insane guide. Sounds good to me.

Blood Red Sphere, Lawrence Barker (Swimming Kangaroo)

A recovering "cactus juice" addict passes his days scavenging ancient artifacts from the surface of mars and selling them. Then one such object, the "blood red sphere," attracts attention from pretty much everyone on Mars and the rest of the solar system. It's like the "Maltese Falcon" on Mars, which is something I can definitely get behind.

The House of Lost Souls, F.G. Cottam (Thomas Dunne)

After a psychic trauma visits itself on four students (causing one to commit suicide), a journalist investigates a home haunted by madness and strange occult happenings. The novel touches on many different eras of the house's history, eventually leading to a confrontation between our protagonist and an ancient evil.

The Enchantment Emporium, Tanya Huff (DAW)

In this urban fantasy, Allie Gale's grandma disappears, leaving behind a strange shop that sells magical supplies to the local witch population. When Allie takes it over, she's suddenly involved in a mysterious struggle within the Canadian magic community. If you ever wanted to speculate about the witch population of modern Toronto, this is your book.

Naamah's Kiss, Jacqueline Carey (Grand Central Publishing)

From the io9 review:

This is a novel of pure adventure, with a kick ass heroine who gets to fight, do magic, and get laid just like the swashbuckling heroes of old. It's a perfect beach read. And the best part is the Jacqueline Carey is extremely clever – don't let her fool you with all that romantic frippery. She manages to slip a lot of interesting, subversive messages into this swords-and-sorcery tale.

The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean)

The women of a Victorian brothel are hired to cater to the needs of a party of businessmen holding an auction for a mysterious piece. They find themselves quickly involved in intrigue and espionage, in a story with flecks of steampunk and classic mystery. We reviewed it (along with a couple of other Baker books) here.

Wild Thyme, Green Magic, Jack Vance (Subterranean)

This career-spanning collection of stories from Jack Vance includes a wide variety of genres, including a few science fiction stories about other worlds. Vance's ability to build worlds has been praised by Frank Herbert, Poul Anderson and Robert Silverberg.

Fragment, Warren Fahy (Delacorte)

A reality show crew on a ship stumble on an island ecosystem inhabited by parallel-evolved monsters. From the io9 review:

If you like monsters and mad science - and who doesn't? - this is the perfect book to take on your vacation or on that long plane ride to a remote island. However, if you're looking for characters who move outside of two dimensions, you might want to give this one a pass.

The Year's Best Science Fiction 26, edited by Gardner Dozois (Griffin)

I'm a sucker for well-complied science fiction anthologies, and this one appears to be no exception. Including 30 stories from masters and new writers alike, this collection also has an extended list of honorable mentions. It looks like a pretty hefty resource for the short story geek.

Green, Jay Lake (Tor)

A fantasy / steampunky tale of international espionage and mythology. From the io9 review:

At times unsettling but always compelling, Green abounds with intrigue and adventure. A feminist fable lovingly written with a father's hope and concern for his daughter's future, Green is the story of a strong-willed young woman trying to find her place in a world that would rather ignore her. Green will not be ignored.

A Monster's Notes, Laurie Sheck (Knopf)

This novel turns inside out one of the oldest science fiction stories. The story imagines Frankenstein's monster not as Mary Shelley's creation, but as her companion, consoling her in a time of sorrow. He discusses with her all of the facets of humanity, trying to understand human connection in a world where he doesn't belong. It's a tale of speculative alternate history, couched in a story of compassion and companionship.

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, Robert Charles WIlson (Tor)

A speculative future of post-oil America. From the io9 review:

Peak oil has left the world a churchy, early-industrial shambles in Robert Charles Wilson's new novel Julian Comstock. An engaging cross between post-apocalyptic series Jericho and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, it may be the best science fiction novel of the year so far.

Haze, L.E. Modesitt Jr. (Tor)

An agent of the now-Chinese-run Earth investigates a planet surrounded by a haze of nano-satellites. He finds an eerily familiar world of superior technology.

House of Suns, Alastair Reynolds (Ace)

This book came out a little while back in the rest of the world, but this month marks its publication in the United States. It's a space opera of post-humanity and colonization, with the added twist of relativistic travel. As a result, this novel chronicles a mystery distorted by time. It's certainly nice to see a space epic that explores some of the complexity of actual interstellar travel. We reviewed it here.

The Strain, Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (William Morrow)

Master of Horror Guillermo del Toro brings vampires back from their whiney post-Buffy image. From the io9 review:

The Strain is a breakneck thrill ride chronicling only the first four days of the vampire plague that may destroy civilization. The cinematic quality really comes though, making the book feel more like a action blockbuster than a thought-provoking horror novel.

Federations, John Joseph Adams, ed. (Prime)
A collection of short stories about world-spanning civilizations. Featuring Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, George R.R. Martin, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Alastair Reynolds, Robert J. Sawyer, Robert Silverberg and Harry Turtledove. Additional authors: Alan Dean Foster, Kevin J. Anderson, Doug Beason, John C. Wright, Allen Steele, James Alan Gardner, Catherynne M. Valente.

Diamond Star Catherine Asaro (Baen)
This is seriously my favorite back-cover description of the month:

Del was a rock singer. He was also the renegade son of the Ruby Dynasty, which made his career choice less than respectable, and gave him more to worry about than getting gigs and not getting cheated by recording companies, club owners, or his agent. For one thing, the Ruby Dynasty ruled the Skolian Imperialate, an interstellar Empire, which had recently had a war with another empire, the Eubian Concord. For another, Del was singing on Earth, which was part of a third interstellar civilization, and one which had an uneasy relationship with the Imperialate. Del undeniably had talent, and was rapidly rising from an unknown fringe artist to stardom. But, with his life entangled in the politics of three interstellar civilizations, whether he wanted that or not, talent might not be enough. And that factor might have much more effect than his music on the lives of trillions of people on the thousands of inhabited worlds across the galaxy.

If this book doesn't become a movie that looks like Xanadu I am going to cry. (Asaro even made a CD to go with the book.)

Twisted Metal, Tony Ballantyne (Tor)
In a world where robots have taken over, there's a split between two factions of warring bots: The robots of Artemis City believe they are merely metal beasts, those from Turing City that they can be something more. As the Artemis troops go on a crusade to convert all robots to their philosophy, a renegade from Turing goes on a quest to find the legendary Book of Robots and find out how their world came to be.

Pygmy, Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday)
In an alternate world, a generic totalitarian state sends young people to the US midwest disguised as foreign exchange students. The 13-year-old main character, nicknamed Pygmy, sends angry dispatches back home, execrating American life and planning a massive terrorist attack.

Flood, Stephen Baxter (Roc)
The world is flooding - cities like New York and Rome are already underwater. The change goes beyond climate change and into something far more disastrous. In 50 years, the entire planet will be re-submerged the way it was millions of years ago. Will anyone survive? Given that this novel is the first in a series, we're guessing they will.

Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey (Grand Central)
Set in the DMZ created between the US and Mexico after a plague apocalypse, this tale of a mutant orphan named Loup is incredibly action-packed and satisfying. Her city, which lies between two great walls separating the US and Mexico, does not officially exist. But the military promises that any townie who can beat their Olympic-level boxers will get two free tickets out. Loup, with her superstrength, might be able to do it.

Hylozoic, Rudy Rucker (Tor)
The sequel to Postsingular, Hylozoic is about what happens after the singularity on Earth makes everyone telepathic and all objects conscious. Things are going well in the supersaturated mediasphere until a lot of post-singularity alien cultures start to take notice of what's going on down on Earth. And now they want in on the action, and not necessarily in a friendly way.

Conspirator, CJ Cherryh (DAW)
The latest in the Foreigner series, about Cajeiri, an ateva who has lived among humans and is trying to maintain the connections between his traditional people and the human worlds.

Monster, by A. Lee Martinez (Orbit)
Two reluctant monster-hunters living in New York have Buffy-esque adventures. Expect Yetis who steal ice cream in the supermarket and girlfriends from hell - literally. A fun, comic tale of life and love in the big city. You know, with monsters.

The Consorts of Heaven, Jaine Fenn (Gollancz)
Fantasy becomes science fiction in this tale of a boy who can manipulate matter. Though his mother is told this means he must meet a "living goddess" in the City, everything changes when she arrives there. She realizes that her society's mysticism is cover for what's really going on, and hides the people who truly control things on her world.

Dead and Gone, Charlaine Harris (Ace)
It's vampy intrigue in the new Sookie Stackhouse novel.

Empties, George Zabrowski (Golden Gryphon)
A low-rent detective is on the tail of a monster who leaves its victims brainless. Can he stop the monster before he joins her? As you know, brains are mighty tasty.

The City & The City, China Mieville (Del Rey)
A haunting murder mystery from one of urban fantasy's greatest talents, China Miéville, author of Perdido Street Station and The Scar. The City & The City is about what happens when a gumshoe on the tail of a grisly murder must journey from his familiar city into another city which shares a strange relationship to his own. Set on present-day Earth in an anonymous Eastern European city, this is a departure for Miéville, but still touches on typical themes for his work: namely, how multiple cultures and classes can co-exist in one place, and how the division between self and other is as real as dreams. This is a book you don't want to miss.

The Grand Conjunction, Sean Williams (Ace)
The latest galaxy-spanning adventure in the Astropolis series finds Imre returning to challenge the Host's rule and help foment revolution.

Empress of Mars, Kage Baker (Tor)
As we said in our recent review:

In the closing years of the 23rd Century, the British Arean Company, a private corporation, establishes first human colony on Mars. How do the Brits get there first? Find out in Kage Baker's new novel.

Ice Song, Kirsten Imani Kasai (Del Rey)
With a main character who is a shape-shifter and scientist, Kasai has already given us a great hero. Then she puts her hero in the middle of a dangerous mission in the arctic, where she must fight hunters and deal with a patriarchal culture to get her kidnapped babies back. Packed with intriguing ideas, though the writing is uneven.

Clone Wars: No Prisoners, Karen Traviss (LucasBooks)
Another great book from Traviss in the Clone Wars series. Here's what's in store:

Torrent Company's Captain Rex agrees to temporarily relieve Anakin Skywalker of Ahsoka, his ubiquitous-and insatiably curious-Padawan, by bringing her along on a routine three-day shakedown cruise aboard Captain Gilad Pellaeon's newly refitted assault ship. But the training run becomes an active-and dangerous-rescue mission when Republic undercover agent Hallena Devis goes missing in the middle of a Separatist invasion. Dispatched to a distant world to aid a local dictator facing a revolution, Hallena finds herself surrounded by angry freedom fighters and questioning the Republic's methods-and motives.

Coyote Horizon, Allen M Steele, March 3
The latest installment of the Coyote series picks up after the last novel, Coyote Frontier, where the colonists of Coyote have made contact with the alien hjadd, and have maintained relations with these ambassadors to a much larger universe. However, a former convict, Hawk Thompson (who's appeared in earlier Coyote stories), discovers something more about the hjadd - something that will change human history.

Journey into Space, Toby Litt, March 5 (UK)
Journey Into Space follows a generational colony ship, sent out to the stars to populate a different world, leaving behind a violent and chaotic earth. Given the distances, those who left will never see their new home, while their descendants will never know Earth. During the trip, two of the passengers, Auguste and Celeste, do the unthinkable: rebel, and lead a movement to change their destiny - one that they never asked for.

The Seeds of Earth, Michael Cobley, March 5 (UK)
Earth's first contact with extraterrestrials proves to be an invasion, overrunning the solar system. In an attempt to save the human race, three colony ships are sent out to seed other planets, including the world Darien, where humanity lives on with the scholarly, enigmatic Uvovo. Under the surface of the planet's moon, however, lurk secrets that go back to the earliest races in the galaxy. This looks to be the start of a series.

Firebirds Soaring: An Anthology of Original Speculative Fiction edited by Sharyn November March 5
This young-adult anthology, the third in the award-winning series, includes stories by Nancy Springer, Jane Yolen, Laurel Winter, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Louise Marley, Nick O'Donohue, Sherwood Smith, Ellen Klages, and Mike Dringenberg, co-creator of Sandman with Neil Gaiman.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Three, edited by Jonathan Strahan, March 15
Night Shade books will be releasing this book on the 15th, edited by Jonathan Strahan, and contains two dozen stories. Authors include Ted Chiang, Elizabeth Bear, Peter S. Beagle, Ian McDonald, Paolo Baciagalupi, Holly Black, John Kessel, Robert Reed, Stephen Baxter, Maureen McHugh and Kelly Link.

The Temporal Void, Peter F. Hamilton, March 24
This is the second book in the Void trilogy by Peter Hamilton, where a man with begins to dream of a fantastic world, one where humans possessed psychic powers within this microverse. Spawning a religion, the Living Dream, everything is changed by a second dreamer, which triggers war on a galactic level , and a handful of people, including Inigo - the first dreamer, and Araminta, the second, along with others, must work to save their world.

Star Wars: Outcast (Book 1, Fate of the Jedi), Aaron Allston, March 24
This book takes place shortly after the events of the Legacy of the Force series that saw Han and Leia Solo's son Jacen fall to the dark side and bring about another massive war. The Jedi fall out of public favor and Master Luke Skywalker, along with his son, Anakin, are exiled from the Jedi Order, and go on a journey to discover the reasons for Jacen's downfall.

The Warded Man, Peter Brett, March 10
This supernatural-ish tale depicts a society that is plagued with demons, once the darkness falls. Thousands of years ago, humanity found a way to stop the corelings, and society prospered, and this history passed to legend. But now, the corelings have returned, and a trio of heroes have to venture outside of the wards that protect them to discover their history and find a way to survive. This is Brett's first novel.

Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow
Shambling towards Hiroshima is billed as a playful romp and a parable of the dawn of the nuclear era, one that blends, tongue-in-cheek, Godzilla, World War II Japan and genetic engineering gone wrong as the U.S. Navy attempts to breed large fire-breathing iguanas, hiring B-Movie actor Syms Thorley in an attempt to film some propaganda to try and force the Japanese to end the war.

The Walls of the Universe, Paul Melko
Paul Melko's latest book is his second, based off of an Asimov's short story by the same name. This story is set largely between two worlds in the Multiverse, following John, a young high school senior on a journey across worlds. Encountering an alternative version of himself, he finds that he has been tricked while the other profits from his absence, but ends up on a voyage of self-discovery.

Principles of Angels, Jaine Fenn
Jaine Fenn's first novel, Principles of Angels brings together the interesting world of Khesh City, floating above Vellern. Society is split between the upper rich, while the Undertow is far more seedy and dangerous. The story follows Taro, a prostitute who's Aunt, a member of the Angels, a state-sponsored killer, is murdered. To find the killer, he must go down below, where he comes across Elarn, a musician, while their fates intertwine and the entire city is put into danger.

The Caryatids, Bruce Sterling
In 2060, the world has fallen to three major powers, the high tech Dispensation, the green utopia Acquis, and China. From this political environment comes Caryatids, four surviving clones from a mad scientist who has since escaped to a space station. The four women are scattered around the world, and as an environmental cataclysm looms, the four are are gathered together to help save what is left of the world.

Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress
Steal Across the Sky, Nancy Kress's latest novel, is a science fiction thriller that begins as first contact is made through the internet, via this message:

We are an alien race you may call the Atoners. Ten thousand years ago we wronged humanity profoundly. We cannot undo what has been done, but we wish humanity to understand it. Therefore we request twenty-one volunteers to visit seven planets to Witness for us. We will convey each volunteer there and back in complete safety. Volunteers must speak English. Send requests for electronic applications to witness@Atoners.com.

Three humans visit the Atoners on their world, and see just what the crime was, and return to change civilization completely.

Biogenesis and Other Stories, Tatsuaki Ishiguro
This collection of short stories by Tatsuaki Ishiguro is described as being told through scientific reports. In "Biogenesis," Two professors research the rare winged mouse and how the genetic makeup of the creatures pointed to their eventual extinction. The discover that upon mating, both the male and female of the species died. The professors try to clone the winged mice without success, so they breed the remaining pair in captivity, noting the procedure, which includes a vibration of the creatures' wings, what appeared to be kissing, and the shedding of tears—composed of the same substance as their blood—until their eventual death.

Cyberabad Days, Ian McDonald
Cyberbad Days is a return to McDonald's future India, last seen in River of Gods, in a collection of seven stories, two of which have already been nominated for or won the prestigious Hugo Award. It's an amazing collection which tells the stories of (among other things) lovelorn AI, robotwallahs, and family feuds fought with tailor-made genetic weapons.

The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Volume 3, Edited by George Mann
Solaris, the science fiction and fantasy publisher, has released its third anthology of new science fiction, containing stories from authors such as Alastair Reynolds, Stephen Baxter, and Ken MacLeod.

Crypic: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt, Jack McDevitt
This large volume (38 stories) covers the best stories of SF author Jack McDevitt, ranging from alien conspiracies, the beginnings of life on earth, astronomers broadcasting mysterious signals from space stations before being fried, time travelers, artificial intelligence, and intergalactic wars.

Yellow Blue Tibia, by Adam Roberts (Gollancz Books)
Definitely the weirdest alternate history to be published in some time, Yellow Blue Tibia is about what happens when a Russian psyops campaign from the 1940s turns out to be coming true. In an effort to maintain Soviet solidarity, Stalin orders the military to create a story that aliens are about to invade Earth. After creating props, photographs, and stories to bolster the greatest hoax in history, Stalin abruptly calls off the campaign. The Cold War has started, and there's a real enemy to unite the country again. But suddenly, in the present day, the tales spun by those Soviet operatives start to come true . . .

David Falkayn: Star Trader, by Poul Anderson (Baen Books)
This is the second in Anderson's Polesotechnic League series about a galaxy-wide league of star traders. His hero David Falkayn is dispatched to deal with shady goings-on in the interstellar marketplace, to root out dirty tricks and swindlers. Check out this reissued book if you want to immerse yourself in old-school libertarian space opera.

Regenesis, by C.J. Cherryh (DAW Books)
The long-awaited sequel to Cherryh's celebrated series that started with Downbelow Station and Cyteen, this novel is first and foremost a murder mystery. The clone of great scientist Ariane Emory must figure out who murdered her genetic progenitor in a world of post-humans, genetic conditioning, mind control, and interstellar political struggle. But even as she tries to unravel the mystery, she begins to suspect she may be in danger too.

We Think, Therefore We Are, edited by Peter Crowther (DAW Books)
An anthology of tales about artificial intelligence, this collection features new work by Stephen Baxter, Adam Roberts, and several others. Included is a fascinating introduction to the topic by Paul McAuley.

Poe: Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris Books)
If you love the shivery, gothic fiction of Edgar Allan Poe, who turns 200 this year, you'll weep tears of blood over this amazing anthology of Poe-inspired fiction. Everything from alternate history to paranormal romance haunts the pages of these brilliant, original takes on Poe's literary legacy. Included among other writers are Kim Newman, Pat Cadigan, Sharyn McCrumb, Lucius Shepard, Laird Barron, and Suzy McKee Charnas. Datlow is a talented editor who always pulls together amazing anthologies, so if you buy any Poe-inspired books this year, this should be the one.

The Gears of the City, by Felix Gilman (Bantam Spectra)
Welcome back to the giant, industrial creepytown that stars in Gilman's Ararat series about a vast city that's like a shimmery combination of Coruscant and the metropolis in Dark City. A kind of surreal quest tale, Gears of the City is about the people who try to climb the vast, mysterious Mountain that looms over the temporal mish-mash of the city of Ararat. Expect weird landscapes and strange peoples, along with a literary tale of a city slowly falling apart under the weight of possible war and myriad bureaucracies.

A is for Alien, by Caitlin Kiernan (Subterranean Press)
A collection of eight short stories (some award-winning) about Earth's eco-gothic future, where Antarctica is ice-free and the new frontier is being created on the icy moons of Saturn and the frigid valleys of Mars. Tough and beautiful, Kiernan's prose will ensnare you and her ideas stay with you long after you put this collection down.


Mind Over Ship, by David Marusek (Tor Books)
The sequel to Marusek's critically-acclaimed Counting Heads, this novel takes up right where his previous one left off. In a post-human future where AI holograms jockey for power and clones just want to be free individuals, a woman brought back from the dead must find out why she and her politician mother were murdered. The answer is bound up with the creation of the generation ships called "O Ships" that her mother's company has been building so that humanity can spread out to the stars. Marusek's writing is gorgeous and his scientific details intriguing, but the best part of his work is a pervasive sense of cynical humor. His tone reminds us that even our greatest technological achievements are often the result of petty squabbles, lusts, and mistakes.

End of the Century, by Chris Robertson (Pyr Books)
This YA time-travel fantasy combines Arthurian legends with steampunkery. According to Publishers Weekly:

A strange visitation sends young father Galaad to Caer Llundain in the year 498. American teenager Alice Fell, who gets holy visions during epileptic seizures, makes a similar pilgrimage to London in 2000. In 1897, as Queen Victoria celebrates her jubilee, consulting detective Sandford Blank and his sidekick, Roxanne Bonaventure, investigate a series of brutal murders.

Knights of the Cornerstone, by James P. Blaylock (Ace Books)
A classic work of urban fantasy about what happens when a writer goes to visit his family in California and discovers that a modern-day branch of the Knights Templar has set up shop in their town. He quickly becomes embroiled in a plot to protect the "Veil of Veronica," a holy relic that the "Knights of the Cornerstone" (AKA Templar dudes) want to keep out of the hands of the bad guys. Blaylock is an inventive writer who often blurs history into the present, and he'll certainly do justice to a tale of the mysterious Knights Templar. It makes perfect whimsical sense that after hundreds of years of hiding out they would come to sunny California to work their magic.

The Vorkosigan Companion, by Lillian S. Carl (Baen Books)
For anyone who loves Lois McMaster Bujold's space opera Vorkosigan Saga, this collection promises:

A goldmine of information, background details, and little-known facts about the Vorkosigan saga. Included are an all-new interview with Bujold as well as essays by her on crafting the Vorkosigan universe, articles on the biology, technology and sociology of the planet Barrayar, appreciations of the individual novels by experts, maps, a complete timeline of the series, and more.

Bujold is working on a new Vorkosigan novel, too, so you'll want to read this to get ready.

Wild Cards: Busted Flush, edited by George R. R. Martin (Tor Books)
This is book 19 set in the postapocalyptic shared universe of Wild Cards, where most of humanity has been wiped out by an alien virus - and the rest of the population has morphed into crazed zombies and a few superheroes. Busted Flush is a follow-on to series reboot book Inside Straight, which io9 pal Austin Grossman hailed as a work of "unsentimental realism." Expect more twisty plots and bad craziness in this novel, including zombie attacks in Florida and shenanigans among superheroes at the U.N.

The Engine's Child, by Holly Phillips (Del Rey)
A work of dark political fantasy, The Engine's Child is definitely a standout this month, especially if you like challenging, broody tales of urban life like China Mieville's Perdido Street Station. Set on a water world, it's the tale of a woman struggling to escape a past of poverty (both literal and cultural), and how she becomes embroiled in several subversive plots in her city. Writing in Library Journal, Meredith Schwartz says:

This richly complex tale from the author of The Burning Girl deftly encapsulates an entire culture's frictions and fractures in the loyalties of one young woman. Moth seeks to climb out of the Tidal slums where she'd been abandoned without betraying her Tidal friends, her secret mother, her lover, or her bond with the invisible powers of her world. Beneath the surface of a seemingly stable, if compressed, island civilization, connections and tensions link the Society of Doors, an outlaw organization looking to return to the heaven of the past; Lady Vashmarna's scientific idealists seeking to expand limited resources; a ruler clinging to the failing status quo, and the Tidal have-nots coping with an explosive brew of fear, faith, and rumor. Sharp-edged personalities and complicated personal relationship among the characters prevent Phillips's tale from degenerating into allegory.

We'll have a full review of this book for you on io9 later this month.

Fathom, by Cherie Priest (Tor Books)
A fantasy tale set over the course of the twentieth century, Fathom is the story of a young woman who witnesses a terrible murder - and then is sucked into a strange war between various old gods. Surreal, packed with pirates and harbingers of the apocalypse, this is a dark swashbuckler for fans of witchcraft in old cities.

Kilimanjaro: A Fable of Utopia, by Mike Resnick (Subterranean Press)
Resnick, Hugo-winning author of The Other Teddy Roosevelts, is back with another weird allegory. From the publisher:

The Kikuyu tribe of East Africa attempted to create a Utopia on the terraformed planetoid Kirinyaga, which was named for the mountain where their god lives. Things went wrong. Now, a century later, the Maasai tribe has studied Kirinyaga's history, has analyzed their
mistakes, and is ready to create a Maasai Utopia on the planetoid Kilimanjaro, named for the mountain where their god lives. This is the story of that experiment.

No word on an exact release date, though the publisher promises it will be this month.

Tales of Beedle the Bard, by JK Rowling (Childrens High Level Group Charity)
A collection of five fairy tales from the author of the Harry Potter juggernaut, this book was originally released as a limited-edition collectors item last year. This year it comes out in a format that most people can afford, with additional "commentary" on the stories from the scholar Dumbledore himself. Sales of the book benefit the Childrens High Level Group charity, which will be a delight to Harry Potter fans who are fiending for an escape from the Mundane world.

Clone Wars: Wild Space, by Karen Miller (Del Rey)
The second Clone Wars novel, sequel to Karen Traviss' Clone Wars.

Muse of Fire, by Dan Simmons (Subterranean Press)
In the far future, Earth has become a mausoleum. A small band of remaining humans travels across the galaxy, performing Shakespeare plays for audiences of aliens. Gradually it comes to seem as if their performances may be the one thing that will tempt these powerful aliens into saving humanity from its inevitable extinction. This is the book version of Simmons' previously-published novella.

Contagious, by Scott Sigler (Crown)
A possibly-intelligent supervirus is making its deadly way across America, turning the infected into homicidal crazies. In a race against time to stop it are a half-mad football player who can somehow sense when the disease has infected people, along with a CIA agent and epidemiologist who must face weirder and weirder enemies as they watch their country falling into total insanity.

Neal Asher, The Gabble and Other Stories
Asher's monster-packed, politically-savvy novels mostly take place in "the Polity," his interstellar civilization. He's dealt with everything from time travel to AI in books like Gridlinked and Line War, and this new short story collection promises to bring you a satisfying dose of Polity monsters and machinations.

Peter S. Beagle, We Never Talk About My Brother
One of the best works of urban fantasy I've ever read, The Folk of the Air, is by Beagle, though he's probably best known for The Last Unicorn. This collection of short stories from Tachyon is full of previously-published and new stuff from a writer whose work is always bittersweet, wry, and memorable. Describing the stories in the collection, the publisher writes:

The Angel of Death enjoys newfound celebrity while moonlighting as an anchorman on the network news; King Pelles the Sure, the shortsighted ruler of a gentle realm, betrays himself in dreaming of a "manageable war"; an American librarian discovers that, much to his surprise and sadness, he is also the last living Frenchman; and rivals in a supernatural battle forgo pistols at dawn, choosing instead to duel with dramatic recitations of terrible poetry.

UPDATE: This book's release has been delayed until March.

Elizabeth Bear, All the Windwracked Stars
Author of scifi classics like Carnival, here Bear turns again to industrial fantasy, combining Norse paganism with cybernetics in a strange tale of postapocalyptic cities, vengeance, angels, and a two-headed horse. If the phrase "norsepunk" gets your steam engines hot, then this novel will put all your gauges into the red zone.

James P. Blaylock, The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives
A series of rip-roaring novellas from artful anachronist Blaylock, author of The Man in the Moon. I've been waiting a while to delve into this book, which represents the collected adventures of St. Ives, a Victorian-era mad scientist. According to Publishers Weekly:

In "The Ape-Box Affair," St. Ives attempts to launch an orangutan named Newton into outer space, but the ship crashes in a pond in St. James Park, terrifying the people of London into believing that they've been invaded by aliens. In Philip K. Dick Award–winner "Homunculus," St. Ives battles the evil, hunchbacked genius Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, who attempts to awaken the dead, while in "Lord Kelvin's Machine," a grief-beset St. Ives must counter Narbondo's threat to throw the Earth in front of a passing comet.

M.M. Buckner, Watermind
This action-packed novel about a grad student who discovers a new lifeform in a toxic sludge pile promises to be smart, weird, and fun as hell. There's a blend of interesting characters and rip-roaring monster weirdness. Our hero, an MIT dropout, is struggling to deal with her emotionally distant family and an underground journalist lover while also racing across the country to stop the strange new toxic life from getting out of control. Highly recommended!

Jeffrey A. Carver, Sunborn
The fourth book in Carver's space opera Chaos Chronicles, Sunborn is an interstellar murder mystery.

Jeffrey Ford, The Drowned Life
A collection of surreal, melancholy stories dealing with everything from worlds of the drifting dead to drunken tree parties. Ford is the author of the superlative, creepy Well-Built City trilogy and his writing is both powerful and disturbing in the best possible way.

Jack McDevitt, The Devil's Eye
The fourth Alex Benedict novel, this space opera is a madcap mystery involving memory-erasure, novel-writing, and a kidnapping that threatens the future of an entire planet.

Alan Steele, The Last Science Fiction Writer
This is Steele's fifth collection of short stories. According to Publishers Weekly, in this book:

Adventurers who look outward are rewarded with learning where they truly belong, be they canines transplanted off Earth (The War of Dogs and Boids), prospectless teens who stumble across a time-travel repair mission (Escape from Earth) or a virtual author breaking free of marketing straitjackets (The Last Science Fiction Writer).

If you want to know about more amazing books coming out this month or two months from now, always remember to check Locus magazine's upcoming books listings.

If you're looking for a good collection of short stories, you might want to dive into acclaimed author Michael Swanwick's latest collection, The Best of Michael Swanwick (Subterranean). Guaranteed literary weirdness from this two-time Nebula winner. Zombies are getting allegorical and literal on your ass in John Joseph Adams' latest anthology, The Living Dead (Nightshade), which includes a ton of great stuff which you can sample here. Also don't miss Pyr's latest scifi collection, Fast Forward 2, edited by Lou Anders.

Here are some more notable scifi books coming your way in October.

Eric Brown, Necropath (Solaris)
Set on a spaceport called Bengal Station that dominates the airspace between India and Burma, this is part of a series about the cultures of a future Earth that is still divided between rich and poor, East and West. A telepathic investigator stumbles on a drug-fueled cult on the space station, and find himself caught up in conflicting loyalties and a hellish romance.

Tobias Buckell, Tides from the New Worlds (Wyrm)
A limited-edition collection of short stories from the guy who brought you ninjas vs. space zombies on a floating city in the awesome novel Sly Mongoose.

Thomas M. Disch, Wall of America (Tachyon)
This is Disch's last collection of short stories, written shortly before he committed suicide in July. This is a wide-ranging, dark, and satirical collection

Michael Flynn, The January Dancer (Tor)
In this politico-economic space opera, a ship emergency lands on an unknown planet, only to find a shape-shifting stone that belonged to what may be a pre-human civilization. Now Captain Amos January must deal with all the conflicting political (and criminal) forces who want the "Dancer" stone. Flynn is also the author of the critically-acclaimed Eifelheim.

Peter F. Hamilton, The Temporal Void (Del Rey)
A sequel to Hamilton's The Dreaming Void, this novel continues the tale of a massive structure (the Void) at the center of the Milky Way that is slowly devouring everything in its path. Posthumans in this far future have started to believe that the Void might be a kind of salvation, a new home. Amid much intragalactic power-playing, one group has planned an expedition to the Void to find out more. Get ready for some serious Void action.

Kelly Link, Pretty Monsters (Viking)
The author of critically-acclaimed short story collection Magic for Beginners, Link is back with another collection that's sure to be weird, pleasing, and mind-blowing. Known for her so-surreal-it's-real literary style, Link has the ability to suck you into a character instantly, only to destroy all your preconceptions about her or him later. This collection ranges from fantasy tales to stories of alien invasion. I can guarantee they'll be unlike anything else you'll read this month — or this year.

Paul McAuley, The Quiet War (Gollancz)
One of this month's standouts will surely be McAuley's fascinating 23rd century tale of a post-environmental collapse Earth, ruled by a few wealthy families who force millions to labor on their gigantic geoengineering projects that will "restore Earth to an Eden-like state" without industry. Meanwhile, "Outers" who live on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn are building weird new posthuman cultures devoted to science, genetic engineering, and social experimentation. The two branches of humanity are about to collide, as the Outers start to colonize more parts of the solar system.

Philip Reeve, Mothstorm (Bloomsbury)
This looks to be another delightfully silly and action-packed kids book from the author who brought you Starcross. A terrifying mothy peril that lurks in a cloud is closing in on the solar system, and our young hero Art and his family must save the Empire — again.

Brian Francis Slattery, Liberation (Tor)
This trippy, intensely political novel about a dystopian future where slavery has been restored to the United States is both satirical and disturbing. We reviewed it here. Definitely one of the month's standouts if you're a fan of idea-driven adventures.

Jo Walton, Half a Crown (Tor)
This is the conclusion to Walton's trilogy about detectives working at Scotland Yard in an England that reached "accomodations" with the Nazis during World War II. Now it's two decades since the accomodations, and our detective hero is hiding both his gay relationship and a covert operation to smuggle Jews out of the country. Everything will come to a head at a violent political rally, where a young fascist woman might hold the key to unlocking the authoritarian regime.

Top image from Buckell's collection, Tides from the New Worlds.

Want to know what else is coming out in October? Always check the Locus Magazine monthly updates.