The Goblin Emperor by Katheine Addison
Since I read a good number of author blogs I read plenty abut this novel well before it came out and was really looking forward to it. Katherine Addison is a pseudo name for a writer I've been wanting to read for a while but I'll leave her real identity secret if not much of one. Writer Jim C Hines who seems to have reading tastes a lot like mine and Elizabeth Bear who's fiction I simply can't resist both have great things to say about this to name just a few so I'll leave you with a bit of synopsis and a link to the excerpt from tor.com.
The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three sons in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.
Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment. Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor, and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody.
The Revolutions by Felix Gilman
Among the steampunk and western punk writers I have yet to get the time to read Felix is just about at the top. This novel promises to be a mix of elements I really enjoy Victorian setting science fiction and pulp era genre conventions. This may not exactly be your cup of tea but I think it is tea time in this here readers day. Here is the synopsis that tor.com posted a while back along with the article about the cover design.
In 1893 a storm sweeps through London, while Arthur Shaw—a young astronomer with a side career writing fiction—is at work in British Museum Reading Room. The storm wreaks unprecedented damage throughout London. Its aftermath of the storm Arthur’s prime literary market closes, owing him money, and all his debts come due at once. His fiance Jo takes a job as a stenographer for some of the fashionable spiritualist and occult societies of fin de siècle London society. Meanwhile, Arthur deciphers an encoded newspaper ad seeking able young men. It seems to be a clerking job doing accounting work, but the mysterious head man Mr. Gacewell offers Arthur a starting position at a salary many times what any clerk could expect. The work is long and peculiar, and the men spend all day performing unnerving calculations that make them hallucinate or even go mad...but the salary is compelling.
Things are beginning to look up when the wages of dabbling in the esoteric suddenly come due: a war breaks out between competing magical societies, and Arthur interrupts Jo in the middle of an elaborate occult exploration. This rash move turns out to be dire, as Jo’s consciousness is stranded at the outer limits of the occultists’ psychic day trip. Which, Arthur is chagrinned…
Operation Shield by Joel Shepherd
In this fifth book Joel returns to his part military SF part cyberpunk part part space opera creation that started years ago with the novel Crossover. Like Revolutions above when authors mix genre conventions into a new beast it often adds up to be something I particularly enjoy. Joel's earlier books read a bit like thrillers to me and though I don't read them much I think he does them pretty handily. Here is the synopsis from one of my favorite publishers Pyr...
In 23 Years on Fire, Cassandra discovered that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe. Returning home to Callay, she finds that Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require. Some of these forces will go to any lengths to avoid a new conflict, including taking a sledgehammer to the Federation Constitution and threatening the removal by force of Cassandra's own branch of the Federal Security Agency.
More frighteningly for Sandy, she has brought back to Callay three young children, whom she met on the mean streets of Droze, discovering maternal feelings she had not known she possessed. Can she reconcile her duty as a soldier, including what she must do as a tactician, with the dangers that those decisions will place upon her family-the one thing that has come to mean more to her than any cause she now believes in?
Steles in the Sky by Elizabeth Bear
And speaking of Elizabeth Bear here is the last volume of her Silk Road fantasy series that has been heaped with praise from so many quarters. I didn't plan it this way but it seems that this will be one of the fantasy series that I will be able to read in its entirety once this is out. I know Elizabeth for her first series of science fiction novels but have every expectation that these will be equally as entertaining given her imagination and creativity. Tor.com has an excerpt here and for your reading pleasure a bit of synopsis action as always...
Re Temur, legitimate heir to his grandfather’s Khaganate, has finally raised his banner and declared himself at war with his usurping uncle. With his companions—the Wizard Samarkar, the Cho-tse Hrahima, and the silent monk Brother Hsiung—he must make his way to Dragon Lake to gather in his army of followers.
But Temur’s enemies are not idle; the leader of the Nameless Assassins, who has shattered the peace of the Steppe, has struck at Temur’s uncle already. To the south, in the Rasan empire, plague rages. To the east, the great city of Asmaracanda has burned, and the Uthman Caliph is deposed. All the world seems to be on fire, and who knows if even the beloved son of the Eternal Sky can save it?
Hollow World by Michael J Sullivan
Known for the epic/sword and sorcery Riyria Revelation series that he self published as ebooks and was more recently picked up for publication by Orbit Books is expanding out from his beginnings with Hollow World. A time travel novel that Michael says he never intended to write certainly is a draw for me, one of my favorite novels from last year The Shining Girls was an unconventional sci fi time travel yearn and I'm up for more explorations of this oft mishandled trope. Here is a link to Michael's website for the novel coming from Tachyon books and a short synopsis hook.
Ellis Rogers is an ordinary man who is about to embark on an extraordinary journey. All his life he has played it safe and done the right thing, but faced with a terminal illness he’s willing to take an insane gamble. He’s built a time machine in his garage, and if it works, he’ll face a world that challenges his understanding of what it means to be human, what it takes to love, and the cost of paradise. Ellis could find more than a cure for his illness; he might find what everyone has been searching for since time began…but only if he can survive Hollow World.
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