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Books Fiction Affliction

Fiction Affliction: November Releases in Science Fiction

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Published on October 30, 2012

New science fiction books coming out in November 2012
New science fiction books coming out in November 2012

Science fiction fans will find eleven new SF-ish releases this month, including a new Vorkosigan Saga outing from Lois McMaster Bujold, a collaboration from the keyboards of Jack McDevitt and Mike Resnick, and star-studded space anthologies from Baen and Solaris.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

Note: All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher.

 

WEEK ONE

The Bar Code Prophecy (Bar Code #3), by Suzanne Weyn (November 1, Scholastic Press)

Young Adult. The year is 2025 and the mysterious, ubiquitous, and seemingly omnipotent multi-national corporation, Global 1, holds power through their agent President Loudon Waters. This ominous situation is experienced through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Grace Morrow. When Grace finds out that she’s adopted, her biological father, who’s the head of the Global 1 nano-bot injection project, urges her against getting the bar code tattoo when she turns seventeen. Stunned by the revelations, she goes home to find her adoptive family vanished, and she’s determined to find them, turning to the anti-bar-code group Decode. Grace must hide deep underground and under cover, trying to discover information that will allow Decode to figure out what Global 1 is up to.

A Cosmic Christmas, edited by Hank Davis (November 6, Baen)

A Cosmic Christmas presents twelve stories of Christmas in very unusual circumstances, ranging from vampires to robots, from the hills of Appalachia to a high orbit space station, all celebrating the holiday in their own, offbeat ways. Larry Correia sends his popular tough guy detective and magicwielder, Jake Sullivan, on a special case. Mark L. Van Name’s Lobo drops his usual cynical pose when challenged bya troubled family at Christmas time. Catherine Asaro tells of a romantic weekend that turns into a mystery in a futuristic high-tech house. Mercedes Lackey delivers a ghost story with a not-so-friendly visitation from the beyond, and George O. Smith is on hand with an episode from his classic Venus Equilateral series.

Apollo’s Outcasts, by Allen Steele (November 6, Pyr)

Jamey Barlowe has been crippled since childhood, the result of being born on the Moon. He lives his life in a wheelchair. Jamey’s father sends him, along with five other kids, back to the Moon to escape a political coup d’etat that has occurred in the United States. One of the other five refugees is more than she appears. Their destination is the mining colony, Apollo. Jamey will have to learn a whole new way to live, one that entails walking for the first time in his life. Jamey is determined to make it as a member of Lunar Search and Rescue, also known as the Rangers. Soon Jamey is front and center in a political and military struggle stretching from the Earth to the Moon.

Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance (Vorkosigan Saga #15), by Lois McMaster Bujold (November 6, Baen)

Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor’s life as a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Ivan, cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. When an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect an attractiveyoung woman, Ivan’s chivalrous nature takes over. Tej Arqua and her half-sister and servant Rish are fleeing the violent overthrow of their clan on planet Jackson’s Whole. Now it seems Tej may possess a hidden secret of which even she may not be aware. It’s a secret that could corrupt the heart of a highly regarded Barayarran family and provide the final advantage for the thugs who seek to overthrow Tej’s homeworld.

Swords of Waar, by Nathan Long (November 6, Night Shade)

Jane Carver, a hell-raising, redheaded biker chick from Coral Gables, Florida, had found a new life and love on Waar, a savage planet of fearsome creatures and swashbuckling warriors. Until the planet’s high priests sent her back to Earth against her will. But nobody keeps Jane from her man, even if he happens to be a purple-skinned alien nobleman. Against all odds, she returns to Waar, only to find herself accused of kidnapping the Emperor’s beautiful daughter. Allying herself with a band of notorious sky-pirates, Jane sets out to clear her name and rescue the princess, but that means uncovering the secret origins of the Gods of Waar, and picking a fight with the Wargod himself. Good thing Jane is always up for a scrap.

The Cassandra Project, by Jack McDevitt and Mike Resnick (November 6, Ace)

Jerry Culpepper could never have been accused of being idealistic. Doing public relations, even for politicians, was strictly business. Until he was hired as NASA’s public affairs director and discovered a client he could believe in. Proud of the agency’s history, he was thrilled to be a part of its future. Public disinterest and budget cuts changed that future. A half century after the first moon landing, Jerry feels like the only one with stars, and unexplored planets and solar systems, in his eyes. Then a fifty-year-old secret about the Apollo XI mission is revealed, and he finds himself embroiled in the biggest controversy of the twenty-first century. One that will test his ability, and his willingness, to spin the truth about a conspiracy of reality-altering proportions.

The Creative Fire (Ruby’s Song #1), by Brenda Cooper (November 6, Pyr)

Ruby Martin expects to spend her days repairing robots and avoiding the dangerous peacekeeping forces that roam the corridors of the generation ship The Creative Fire. Her best friend has been raped and killed and the ship is falling apart around her. Everything changes when a ship-wide accident reveals secrets she and her friends had only imagined. Now, she has to fight for her freedom. Her weapons are a fabulous voice, a quick mind, a deep stubbornness, and a passion for freedom. Complicating it all are an unreliable A.I. and an enigmatic man she met and kissed exactly once, and one of them may hold the key to her success. If Ruby can’t transform from a rebellious teen to the leader of a revolution, she and all her friends will lose all say in their future, and nothing will ever change.

Silhouette: A Peacer Novel, by Dave Swavely (November 13, Thomas Dunne Books)

A post-quake San Francisco is ruled by a corporation called the Bay Area Security Service. Its founder, Saul Rabin, is revered by many as the savior of the city, but by others he is feared and loathed as a fascist tyrant. Because of the cutting-edge antigravity technology being developed by his company, this controversial figure is about to become the most powerful man in the world. To his protégé, Michael Ares, the old man is a mysterious benefactor whom he respects and admires. When Michael’s daughter and best friend are brutally murdered, he follows a trail of evidence that leads dangerously close to home. A future world of aerocars, net glasses, and neural cyberware provides the backdrop for this tale of good and evil, revenge and love, infamy and destiny.

 

WEEKS TWO AND THREE

No new releases.

 

WEEK FOUR

Edge of Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan (November 27, Solaris)

“One giant leap for mankind.” Those were Neil Armstrong’s immortal words when he became the first human being to step onto another world. All at once, the horizon expanded; the human race was no longer Earthbound. Our destiny would now be to reach out to eternity. The thirteen stories in this anthology span the whole of the human condition in their race to colonise Earth’s nearest neighbors. Featuring stories by Hannu Rajaniemi, Alastair Reynolds, James S. A. Corey, John Barnes, Stephen Baxter, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Elizabeth Bear, Pat Cadigan, Gwyneth Jones, Paul McAuley, Sandra McDonald, Stephen D. Covey, An Owomoyela, and Bruce Sterling.

The Fractal Prince (The Quantum Thief Trilogy #2), by Hannu Rajaniemi (November 27, Tor)

A physicist receives a mysterious paper. The ideas in it are far, far ahead of current thinking and quite, quite terrifying. In a city of “fast ones,” shadow players, and jinni, two sisters contemplate a revolution. And on the edges of reality a thief, helped by a sardonic ship, is trying to break into a Schrödinger box for his patron. In the box is his freedom. Or not. Jean de Flambeur is back. And he’s running out of time. (Currently available as an ebook release.)

The Sum of Her Parts (Tipping Point #3), by Alan Dean Foster (November 27, Del Rey)

Dr. Ingrid Seastrom was once a respected American physician. Whispr was once a streetwise thief. Now, in a world on the edge of catastrophe they are allies, thrust together by fate to unravel an impossible mystery, even as they are stalked by a relentless killer. They are bound together by a thread: a data-storage thread made of a material that cannot exist, yet somehow does. Their quest to learn its secrets has brought them to South Africa’s treacherous Namib desert. Beyond its dangers waits a heavily guarded research facility that promises answers. Getting there won’t be easy, not with Napun Molé on their trail. They’ve already escaped the assassin twice, and as far as Molé is concerned, finishing them off isn’t just a job anymore, it’s personal.


Author Suzanne Johnson is a book geek with a fondness for a good dystopia. River Road, the second in her Sentinels of New Orleans series after Royal Street, will be released on November 13. Find Suzanne on Twitter.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Suzanne Johnson

Author

Urban fantasy author with a new series, set in immediate post-Katrina New Orleans, starting with ROYAL STREET on April 10, 2012, from Tor Books. Urban fantasy author with a new series, set in immediate post-Katrina New Orleans, starting with ROYAL STREET on April 10, 2012, from Tor Books.
Learn More About Suzanne
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