The Books We Are Expecting in 2011

[Garlan the Gallant]

Thanks for pointing out Prince of Thorns. It sounds pretty awesome. :thumbsup:

As per 2011, this is my only debut that I have pre-ordered. I'll reserve doing so until Aidan, Pat, or Adam have given something a positive review. :lol:

[Grack21]

What the hell is bugpunk? o.O

[Calibandar]

Another book that caught my attention is being anticipated highly on some blogs is Raising Stony Mayhall, Daryl Gregory's 3rd novel. This is due in June, the synopsis is intriguing:

Daryl Gregory has produced a zombie novel that is equal parts frightening, funny, and (gasp) sensitive. It's A Prayer for Owen Meany meets Dawn of the Dead, a book that only Gregory could write.

The story starts on a frozen Iowa highway stretching out across snow-covered cornfields. A woman is driving with her two girls when she spots a young woman lying on the side of the road. The woman is dead, but there's a baby wrapped in her jacket. At first they think the baby is dead, too, but when they get him into their car, he begins to stir. Because of his gray complexion, the girls dub the baby "Stony."

Eventually, we will learn that Stony is a zombie.

Other than that, the one horror novel I may buy this year is Adam Nevill's ominous looking "Ritual", due on May 6.

And on the third day things did not get better. The rain fell hard and cold, the white sun never broke through the low grey cloud, and they were lost. But it was the dead thing they found hanging from a tree that changed the trip beyond recognition.

When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect with one another. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise.

With limited fitness and experience between them, a shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives. Lost, hungry, and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, Luke figures things couldn’t possibly get any worse.

But then they stumble across an old habitation. Ancient artefacts decorate the walls and there are bones scattered upon the dry floors. The residue of old rites and pagan sacrifice for something that still exists in the forest. Something responsible for the bestial presence that follows their every step. And as the four friends stagger in the direction of salvation, they learn that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees . . .

And I am definitly getting another May release, this one in hardcover from Night Shade, Swanwick's Dancing with Bears:

Michael Swanwick -- The Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy award-wining author of Stations Of The Tide -- delivers a stunning "Post Utopian" novel of swashbuckling adventure, dangerous women, and genocidal AIs.

follows the adventures of notorious con-men Darger and Surplus: They've lied and cheated their way onto the caravan that is delivering a priceless gift from the Caliph of Baghdad to the Duke of Muscovy. The only thing harder than the journey to Muscovy is their arrival in Muscovy. An audience with the Duke seems impossible to obtain, and Darger and Surplus quickly become entangled in a morass of deceit and revolution.

The only thing more dangerous than the convoluted political web surrounding Darger and Surplus is the gift itself, the Pearls of Byzantium, and Zoesophia, the governess sworn to protect their virtue.

This steam punk-esque adventure explores the great game of espionage and empire building, from the point of view of the worlds most accomplished con-men, Darger and Surplus.

There are quite a few other books which are must have's, but nothing in the way of debuts no. I'm not that interested in the Orullian based on that chapter he has on his site. I like the idea of a great new series, but inly if it's really and worth investing in. Not sure the Elsbeth Cooper book is all that interesting either, could be. God's War I will give a pass.

[Jussi]

There is also Sword of Fire and Sea by Erin Hoffman, book one of The Chaos Knight series. It will be published in June by Pyr. I haven't seen a blurb yet, but Lou Anders described it: "Think Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion meets Avatar: The Last Airbender."

[Mjolnir]

I'd forgotten about Sword of Fire and Sea, thanks. X meets Y rarely gives a full sense of what the story's got going on, but I'm cautiously intrigued [though my success rate with Pyr's debuts is very low these days, a lot of the writing doesn't dazzle me the way some of the earlier stuff they published did. Dunno if it's my changing tastes or their changing focus.]

Calibandar, thanks for the Gregory and Swanwick blurbs, hadn't seen iether of them yet and both sound excellent. I'm thinking I might be about full up on zombies, but as it's Gregory that shouldn't matter.

Question: How'd you read the chapter on Orullian's site? Or do you mean the short story? When I click on the "writing" link, then the "novels" link, then the "read the first chapter of The Unremembered" link, it just says "this content coming soon".

Grack21: Who knows? Per the synopsis the story's got big menacing bugs in it, and sounds vaguely aggressive / anti-authoritarian, I suppose someone thought bugpunk sounded cute.

Thanks for mentioning the Obreht, Larry. I don't follow the lit fiction press enough so I probably wouldn't have heard of it and it sounds pretty interesting. As though it might occupy roughly the same fuzzy between genres realm that Helen Oyeyemi's books do, maybe. Shall have to try this.

[polishgenius]

So other than Peter Orullian's Unremembered, Kameron Hurley's God's War, and Elspeth Cooper's Song of the Earth, are there any notable debut authors that are getting any buzz?

There was one mentioned earlier in the topic, The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu, which caught my eye, but I don't know if it's really generating much buzz.

[Garlan the Gallant]

Two questions remain: 1) What is the title on the Ray Carson book? 2) Is there a publication date for Babylon Steel? Thanks!

[Mjolnir]

Well, as to the Carson I was spelling the author's name wrong. It's not Ray Carson, it's Rae Carson. The title is Fire and Thorns, and according to that font of reliability amazon.co.uk it comes out on October 20th. Appears to be a young-princess-finds-self-and-comes-of-age story. Not sure about a US release. Also not sure if it's ya or not, if that matters to anyone -- Gollancz does officially do ya now, so I don't know where they're pitching this.

And as for Babylon Steel, I found Sebold's site and she says October.

[Garlan the Gallant]

Well, as to the Carson I was spelling the author's name wrong. It's not Ray Carson, it's Rae Carson. The title is Fire and Thorns, and according to that font of reliability amazon.co.uk it comes out on October 20th. Appears to be a young-princess-finds-self-and-comes-of-age story. Not sure about a US release. Also not sure if it's ya or not, if that matters to anyone -- Gollancz does officially do ya now, so I don't know where they're pitching this.

And as for Babylon Steel, I found Sebold's site and she says October.

Thanks so much Mjolnir! If you hear of any other buzz-worthy new novels, keep me apprised! :cheers:

[Calibandar]

Mjolnir, yes I meant that short story.

[Jussi]

Greg Keyes' next novel will be published in September 2011:

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345508027

[Jussi]

From a new Peter Orullian interview:

Let’s change gears a bit and talk about the rest of the series. Do you have a set number of books in mind? Or do you plan to let the story evolve and see where it ends?

Ahhhh, that question. I can practically hear a few fantasy-readers’ neck muscles tightening, as they cringe to think about yet another endless investment of time. Well, here’s the deal. I know pretty solidly what’s happening in books two and three—that’s how many Tor bought. And I have the whole ending in my head. Then, I know the broad strokes between book three and that ending. My sense is that it’s six to eight books.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/01/peter-orullian-interview

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Don't know if I'd have admitted that... Straight up poison for a good part of the fantasy readership nowadays and killed the chances of me buying the book short of across the board, insanely positive reviews.

[Jussi]

David Anthony Durham has finished book three of the Acacia Trilogy. It's tentatively named The Sacred Band.

http://acaciatrilogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/sacred-band.html

Yesterday was my deadline for submitting the finished manuscript to my editor. It's now fair for you to ask me if... I... actually... finished... the... damn... thing...

My answer...

Yes.

Now... (deep breath) ...this doesn't mean it'll be smooth sailing from here. My editor needs to dig in fully and then I'll have to respond to his editorial suggestions. I'm hoping that he'll find I've written a large, detailed, well-paced conclusion to the whole story. I think I did, but I won't know for sure until... Well, until I know for sure. I will let you know what that confirmation comes through.

[polishgenius]

Don't know if I'd have admitted that... Straight up poison for a good part of the fantasy readership nowadays and killed the chances of me buying the book short of across the board, insanely positive reviews.

To be fair, it's better that he admits it than says yeah, he's got x books planned, and it actually turns out there's more.

[Balust]

To be fair, it's better that he admits it than says yeah, he's got x books planned, and it actually turns out there's more.

And from that same interview, a little later, he says:

But really, if I get to book four or five and its winding down, I’ll finish it.

I met Orullian at a con last year. He's not given to BS.

[Renasko]

Looking at the first thread post, the only author's work this month I'd be excited about would be Gene Wolfe's. However, I've only read the first half of 'The Book of the New Sun' series, so am quite in the dark as to his writing. Is the new novel a standalone?

[Mjolnir]

Yep, Wolfe's Home Fires is a standalone science fiction novel -- unless there's some surprise connection to other work that hasn't been advertized. He's been doing a rash of them lately -- standalones, I mean -- a crop of books slightly breezier in tone and not connected to one another. I'm a depraved, vile husk of a human in that I've found that I don't connect with a lot of Wolfe's work very well, but I'm sure I'll keep trying his stuff until something works out so I'll probably get this from the library if reviews are good.

For myself, this month I'm optimistic about:

The Fallen Blade, John Courtenay Grimwood's historical vampires-in-Venice series opener; a reserved early review has me waiting for an excerpt or something, but I'm tentatively interested

Among Others by Jo Walton, which seems to be a fantasy novel about a girl growing up in the 70s whose also a fantasy and science-fiction reader [surprisingly rare, at least as a significant part of the narrative]; gets advance props like you wouldn't believe, and sounds fascinating; I may well buy this

God's War by Kameron Hurley: this is the "bugpunk" one that got a starred review from Publishers Weekly the other day [the Walton did too, now I recall]; There's a dedicated website now, godswarbook.com or something, with a PDF sample chapter. The sample comes across a bit like something that's trying to prove it's hard and brutal, as hard and brutal as a very hard and brutal thing indeed, but based on this glimpse the writing's got some real power, there's some nice stark and/or gorey imagery, the world's batshit crazy and cool and the protagonist's bad-ass. It's published by Night Shade, who seem to have a rash of quite interesting-looking things coming this month and the next few.

[Liadin]

Kate Elliott's Cold Fire is due out in September.

[Mjolnir]

Oh good. I'd heard she'd finished drafting Cold Fire; nice to hear it'll make it out this year.