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Books Fiction Affliction

Fiction Affliction: December Releases in Science Fiction

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Published on November 27, 2012

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

Science fiction fans will find nine new sorta-scientific releases this month, including the sixth Kitty Katt book from Gini Koch and new titles from William C. Dietz, Brett Patton, and John C. Wright. And did you hear about the dinosaurs? They’re back, and just in time for the holidays.

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.

Read about this month’s releases.

 

WEEK ONE

Alien vs. Alien (Katherine “Kitty” Katt #6), by Gini Koch (December 4, DAW)

Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini and the rest of the American Centaurion Diplomatic Corps are still recovering from their introduction to Washington, D.C., politics, parties, and conspiracies. So when compromising pictures arrive, no one’s too surprised. Evil androids running amok, birds of all kinds and from all places creating havoc, a senator trapped in a web of intrigue, and escalating international tensions all seem tough but manageable. The disappearance of Jeff Martini and Charles Reynolds during the International One World Festival signals more than the usual nastiness, though, and it looks like even ACE can’t help them.

Andromeda’s Fall, by William C. Dietz (December 4, Ace)

Hundreds of years in the future, much has changed. But not everything. All her life, Lady Catherine Carletto (called Cat) has lived for nothing but the next party, the next lover, the next expensive toy. Until Imperial Princess Ophelia and her cadre of synth assassins murder her brother the emperor and go on to purge the galaxy of his friends and supporters, including Cat’s family. The Carlettos are known to be staunch supporters of the Emperor. Now Cat is on the run. She finds her sanctuary among the most dangerous of society’s misfits. Welcome to the Legion. Cat Carletto vanishes, and in her place stands Legion recruit Andromeda McKee. A woman with a mission, to bring down Empress Ophelia, or die trying.

Darkship Renegades, by Sarah A. Hoyt (December 4, Baen)

After rescuing her star pilot husband and discovering the dark secret of her own past on Earth, Athena Hera Sinistra returns to space habitat Eden to start life anew.Thena and Kit are placed under arrest for the crime of coming back alive.The only escape from a death sentence: return to Earth and bring back the lost method for creating the Powertrees, the energy source of both Eden and Earth. That mission is secondary to a greater imperative. Thena must not get caught.If she does, suicide is to be the only option. Thena comes to understand what her accusers do not: it is not merely one woman’s life on the line. Thena realizes what is at stake is the fate of Eden and Earth, the continuance of the darkship fleet, and freedom for the Solar system and beyond.

Mecha Rogue: A Novel of the Armor Wars by Brett Patton (December 4, Roc)

Matt Lowell is the hottest new recruit in the Universal Union’s select group of pilots. Their job: control the supremely powerful biochemical robotic avatars known as Mecha. Now, the Prime of Universal Union herself has offered him an unprecedented opportunity: return to Earth to train a new elite force for a covert mission that’s imperative to the future of the Union. When he and his team embark on their mission, on a border world that may be a target for the anarchical Corsairs, Matt finds that everything is not as it seems. The world is home to a dark secret that underlies the very foundation of the Union itself, and suddenly Matt doesn’t know which side he and his mighty Mecha should be fighting for, or against.

 

WEEK TWO

Nightstalkers, by Bob Mayer (December 11, 47North)

Staff Sergeant Winthrop Carter has just been drafted into the Nightstalkers , an elite group of soldiers that…Actually, he’s not quite sure what they do. Born from the Area 51 initiative, the Nightstalkers defy sanity and decorum. All of them take their orders from the elusive Ms. Jones, who everyone claims is just a hologram. Those orders include tracking down and sealing tears in our reality that are releasing interdimensional beings known only as Fireflies, creatures that take control of both living and inanimate matter in order to unleash wanton destruction. Just as Carter is settling in, a rogue scientist triggers a fresh invasion of Fireflies that swarm a swanky gated community. It’s up to Carter and his new teammates to neutralize the threat while figuring out who’s behind the breach.

 

WEEK THREE

Nexus, by Ramez Naam (December 18, Angry Robot)

In the near future, the experimental nano-drug Nexus can link humans together, mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it. When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage, for there is far more at stake than anyone realizes.

 

WEEK FOUR

Dinosaur Thunder, by James F. David (December 24, Forge)

Eighteen years ago, the prehistoric past collided with the present as time itself underwent a tremendous disruption. Neighborhoods, towns, and cities were replaced by dense primeval jungles and modern humanity suddenly found itself sharing the world with dinosaurs. In the end, measures were taken to halt the disruptions and the crisis appeared to be over. Until now. New dinosaurs begin to appear. As time begins to unravel once more, Nick Paulson, director of the Office of Security Science, finds a time passage to the Cretaceous period where humans, ripped from the twenty-first century, are barely surviving in the past. As the asteroid that ends the reign of dinosaurs rushes toward Earth, Nick and his allies must survive a war between species and save the future as we know it.

The Hermetic Millennia, by John C. Wright (December 24, Tor)

Menelaus Illation Montrose, Texas gunslinger, idealist, and posthuman genius, has gone into cryo-suspension following the discovery that, in 8,000 years, a powerful alien intelligence will reach Earth to assess humanity’s value as slaves. He is awakened repeatedly throughout the centuries to confront the woes of an ever-changing and violent world, witnessing millennia of change compressed into a few years of subjective time. The result is a breathtaking vision of future history like nothing before imagined. Montrose’s immortal enemies and former shipmates from the starship Hermetic harness the forces of evolution and social engineering to continuously reshape the Earth in their image, seeking to create a version of man the approaching slavers will find worthy.

The Ramal Extraction: Cutter’s Wars, by Steve Perry (December 24, Ace)

Captained by former Detached Guerrilla Forces Colonel R.A. “Rags” Cutter, the Cutter Force Initiative is one of the best. A specialized team consisting of both aliens and humans, the Cutters offer services ranging from fight training and protection to extraction and assassination, as long as the target deserves it and their employer makes good on payday. When they’re hired to find and rescue Indira, the soon-to-be-married daughter of the Rajah Ramal of New Mumbai, the teams’ first task is to identify the kidnapper. The obvious suspects are insurgents who want to overthrow the rajanate, but as other forces enter the game and an assassination attempt is made on Ramal, the Cutters realize that their in-and-out extraction job is about to get a lot more interesting, and a lot more lethal.


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, was 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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