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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Probably you should just skip this introductory paragraph and get straight to the list, because you’re going to be very busy with books this month. Space is calling! Get the chrome captain’s backstory in Star Wars: Phasma; pick up the new Ann Leckie, Provenance, because of course you’re going to pick up the new Ann Leckie; treat yourself to the new collection of Ursula K. LeGuin’s Hainish Novels. Or, if you’re more in the mood for robots, you might start with the conflicted Brittle in C. Robert Cargill’s Sea of Rust, or the intriguing Paladin, in io9 founder Annalee Newitz’s debut novel. Is it fall yet? Fall is just for reading books, right?

Keep track of all the new releases here. Note: All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher.

 

WEEK ONE

Daughter of Eden (Eden Trilogy #3)—Chris Beckett (September 1, Atlantic Books)
Angie Redlantern is the first to spot the boats—five abreast with men in metal masks and spears standing proud, ready for the fight to come. As the people of New Earth declare war on the people of Mainground, a dangerous era has dawned for Eden. After generations of division and disagreement, the two populations of Eden have finally broken their tentative peace, giving way to bloodshed and slaughter. Angie must flee with her family across the pitch black of Snowy Dark to the place where it all started, the stone circle where the people from Earth first landed, where the story of Gela—the mother of them all—began. It is there that Angie witnesses the most extraordinary event, one that will change the history of Eden forever. It will alter their future and re-shape their past. It is both a beginning and an ending. It is the true story of Eden.

Clade—James Bradley (September 5, Titan Books)
Adam is in Antartica, marking the passage of the solstice. Across the globe, his wife Ellie is waiting for the results of her IVF treatment. So begins the story of one family in a changing world, where the apocalyptic mingles with the everyday; a father battles a biblical storm; an immigrant is mysteriously drawn to the art of beekeeping; a young girl’s diary chronicles a pandemic; and a young man finds solace in building virtual recreations of the dead.

Song of Edmon—Adam Burch (September 1, 47North)
The isolated planet of Tao is a house divided: the peaceful Daysiders live in harmony while the pale Nightsiders pursue power and racial purity through the violent ritual of the Combat. Edmon Leontes, the gentle son of a ruthless warrior noble and a proud Daysider, embodies Tao’s split nature. The product of diametrically opposed races, Edmon hopes to live a quiet life pursuing the music of his mother’s people, but his Nightsider father cruelly forces him to continue in his bloody footsteps to ensure his legacy. Edmon’s defiance will cost him everything … and spark a revolution that will shake the foundations of Tao. His choice—to embrace the light or surrender to the darkness—will shape his own fate and that of his divided world.

Sea of Rust—C. Robert Cargill (September 5, Harper Voyager
It’s been 30 years since the apocalypse and 15 years since the murder of the last human being at the hands of robots. Most of the world is controlled by an OWI—One World Intelligence—the shared consciousness of millions of robots, uploaded into one huge mainframe brain. But not all robots are willing to cede their individuality; these intrepid resisters are outcasts who have formed into an unruly civilization of rogue AIs. One of these resisters is Brittle. Although unable to experience emotions like a human, Brittle is haunted by the terrible crimes the robot population perpetrated on humanity. As Brittle roams the Sea of Rust, a large swath of territory that was once the Midwest, the loner robot slowly comes to terms with horrifyingly raw and vivid memories—and nearly unbearable guilt.

Star Wars: Phasma—Delilah S. Dawson (September 1, Del Rey)
Discover Captain Phasma’s mysterious history in this Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi novel.

Leia: Princess of Alderaan—Claudia Gray (September 1, Disney)
The never-before-told story of how young Leia Organa comes to join the rebellion against the evil Empire, from best-selling author Claudia Gray.

Light Years—Emily Ziff Griffin (September 5, Simon Pulse)
Young adult. Luisa is ready for her life to start. Five minutes ago. And she could be on her way, as her extraordinary coding skills have landed her a finalist spot for a fellowship sponsored by Thomas Bell, the world’s most brilliant and mercurial tech entrepreneur. Being chosen means funding, mentorship, and most importantly, freedom from her overbearing mother. Maybe Lu will even figure out how to control the rare condition that plagues her: whenever her emotions run high, her physical senses kick into overload, with waves of color, sound, taste, and touch flooding her body. But Luisa’s life is thrust into chaos as a deadly virus sweeps across the globe, killing thousands and sending her father into quarantine. When Lu receives a cryptic message from someone who might hold the key to stopping the epidemic, she knows she must do something to save her family—and the world.

Acadie—Dave Hutchinson (September 5, Tor.com)
The Colony left Earth to find their utopia–a home on a new planet where their leader could fully explore the colonists’ genetic potential, unfettered by their homeworld’s restrictions. They settled a new paradise, and have been evolving and adapting for centuries. Earth has other plans. The original humans have been tracking their descendants across the stars, bent on their annihilation. They won’t stop until the new humans have been destroyed, their experimentation wiped out of the human gene pool. Can’t anyone let go of a grudge anymore?

Hainish Novels & Stories Vol. 1 & Hainish Novels & Stories Vol. 2—Ursula K. Le Guin (September 5, Library of America)
The star-spanning story of humanity’s colonization of other planets, Ursula K. Le Guin’s visionary Hainish novels and stories redrew the map of modern science fiction. Now, for the first time, the complete Hainish novels and stories are collected in a definitive two-volume Library of America edition, with new introductions by the author. The first volume gathers the first five Hainish novels: Rocannon’s World, in which an ethnologist sent to a bronze-age planet must help defeat an intergalactic enemy; Planet of Exile, the story of human colonists stranded on a planet that is slowly killing them; City of Illusions, which finds a future Earth ruled by the mysterious Shing; and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning masterpieces The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed—as well as four short stories. The second volume gathers Le Guin’s final two Hainish novels, The Word for World Is Forest, in which Earth enslaves another planet to strip its natural resources, and The Telling, the harrowing story of a society which has suppressed its own cultural heritage. Rounding out the volume are seven short stories and the story suite Five Ways to Forgiveness, published here in full for the first time.

Circle’s End (Sholan Alliance #9)—Lisanne Norman (September 5, DAW)
Finally it is the time for Kusac and his allies to deal with the threat of the warrior Valtegans on their world of M’zull. Will he work to rehabilitate them using tools given him by the Touiban scientists, or will his calling as the Avatar of Justice take over and destroy all of his foes? Isolated on M’zull, Kusac works to destabilize the Valtegan society, posing as the avenging spirit of the long-dead, legendary hero Zsadhi. Is it a ruse to fool the M’zullians, or is Kusac becoming more and more like the first Valtegan king with every passing day? His mission will take Kusac and his clan into mortal danger. Even his young son Shaidan, supposedly safe on a far-distant world, has, unbeknownst to his father, become bound up in the whole plan to destroy the martial spirit of the M’zullians. Can Kusac navigate these dangerous waters and bring all of his family safely home while at the same time ending the M’zullian threat forever?

Frankenstein Dreams: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Science Fiction—Michael Sims (September 5, Bloomsbury)
Long before 1984, Star Wars, or The Hunger Games, Victorian authors imagined a future where new science and technologies reshaped the world and universe they knew. The great themes of modern science fiction showed up surprisingly early: space and time travel, dystopian societies, even dangerously independent machines, all inspiring the speculative fiction of the Victorian era. In Frankenstein Dreams, Michael Sims has gathered many of the very finest stories, some by classic writers such as Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, and H.G. Wells, but many that will surprise general readers. With contributions by Edgar Allan Poe, Alice Fuller, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, Arthur Conan Doyle, and many others, Frankenstein Dreams is a treasure trove of stories known and rediscovered.

The Uploaded—Ferrett Steinmetz (September 5, Angry Robot)
In the near future, the elderly have moved online and now live within the computer network. But that doesn’t stop them interfering in the lives of the living, whose sole real purpose now is to maintain the vast servers which support digital Heaven. For one orphan that just isn’t enough – he wants more for himself and his sister than a life slaving away for the dead. It turns out that he’s not the only one who wants to reset the world…

Forged in Blood—Michael Z. Williamson, creator (September 5, Baen Books)
From the distant past to the far future, those who carry the sword rack up commendations for bravery. They are men and women who, like the swords they carry, have been forged in blood. These are their stories. Featuring all-new stories by Michael Z. Williamson, Larry Correia, Tom Kratman, Tony Daniel, Micahel Massa, Peter Grant, John F. Holmes, and many more.

The Master of Time (Roads to Moscow #3)—David Wingrove (September 1, Random House UK)
As the German and Russian forces seek to destroy a third, seemingly-unstoppable faction, Otto Behr reluctantly finds himself at the centre of all timelines, his very existence the catalyst by which reality itself will be reset or destroyed. But for Otto, the battle to become the Master of Time has become a fight for family, love and reality itself…

 

WEEK TWO

Landscape With Invisible Hand—M.T. Anderson (September 12, Candlewick)
When the vuvv first landed, it came as a surprise to aspiring artist Adam and the rest of planet Earth—but not necessarily an unwelcome one. Can it really be called an invasion when the vuvv generously offered free advanced technology and cures for every illness imaginable? As it turns out, yes. With his parents’ jobs replaced by alien tech and no money for food, clean water, or the vuvv’s miraculous medicine, Adam and his girlfriend, Chloe, have to get creative to survive. And since the vuvv crave anything they deem “classic” Earth culture (doo-wop music, still-life paintings of fruit, true love), recording 1950s-style dates for the vuvv to watch in a pay-per-minute format seems like a brilliant idea. But it’s hard for Adam and Chloe to sell true love when they hate each other more with every passing episode.

The War Dogs Trilogy—Greg Bear (September 12, Orbit)
Omnibus. The Gurus made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago. Providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of, they became indispensable advisors and promised even more gifts that we just couldn’t pass up. But they were followed by mortal enemies—the Antagonists—from sun to sun, planet to planet, and now the Gurus are stretched thin—and they need humanity’s help. Our first bill has come due. Skyrines like Michael Venn have been volunteered to pay the price. They face insidious enemies who were already inside the solar system, establishing a beachhead on Mars. Venn and his comrades will be lucky to make it out alive—let alone preserve the future of all of mankind.

Havergey—John Burnside & Norman Ackroyd (September 12, Little Toller)
A few years from now on the small and remote island of Havergey, a community of survivors from a great human catastrophe has created new lives and a new world in a landscape renewed after millennia of human exploitation. In this new novella, an award-winning poet and novelist brings his unique sensibility to the idea of utopia. A timely reminder about how precious and precarious our world is, it’s also a rejection of the idea of human supremacy over landscape and wildlife.

Iraq + 100: The First Anthology of Science Fiction to Have Emerged from Iraq—Hassim Blasim (September 12, Tor Books)
In a calm and serene world, one has the luxury of imagining what the future might look like. Now try to imagine that future when your way of life has been devastated by forces beyond your control. Iraq + 100 poses a question to Iraqi writers (those who still live in that nation, and those who have joined the worldwide diaspora): What might your home country look like in the year 2103, a century after a disastrous foreign invasion? Using science fiction, allegory, and magical realism to challenge the perception of what it means to be “The Other”, this groundbreaking anthology edited by Hassan Blasim contains stories that are heartbreakingly surreal, and yet utterly recognizable to the human experience. Though born out of exhaustion, fear, and despair, these stories are also fueled by themes of love, family, and endurance, and woven through with a delicate thread of hope for the future.

Retrograde—Peter Cawdron (September 12, John Joseph Adams Books)
Mankind has long dreamed of reaching out to live on other planets, and with the establishment of the Mars Endeavour colony, that dream has become reality. The fledgling colony consists of 120 scientists, astronauts, medical staff, and engineers. Buried deep underground, they’re protected from the harsh radiation that sterilizes the surface of the planet. The colony is prepared for every eventuality except one—what happens when disaster strikes Earth?

An Excess Male—Maggie Shen King (September 12, Harper Voyager)
China’s One Child Policy and its cultural preference for male heirs have created a society overrun by 40 million unmarriageable men. By the year 2030, more than 25 percent of men in their late thirties will not have a family of their own. Wei-guo holds fast to the belief that as long as he continues to improve himself, his small business, and in turn, his country, his chance at love will come. He finally saves up the dowry required to enter matchmaking talks at the lowest rung as a third husband. Only a single family shows interest, yet with May-ling and her two husbands, Wei-guo feels seen, heard, and connected to like never before. But everyone and everything—walls, streetlights, garbage cans—are listening, and men, excess or not, are dispensable to the State. Wei-guo must reach a new understanding of patriotism and test the limits of his love and his resolve in order to save himself and this family he has come to hold dear.

Warcross—Marie Lu (September 12, Putnam Books for Young Readers)
Young adult. For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. Its fan base spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. To make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation. Emika is shocked when she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem … and he wants Emika for the job. Before long, her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

Class: The Stone House—Patrick Ness & A.K. Benedict (September 12, HarperTeen)
Young adult. Tanya keeps having bad dreams about the old stone house around the corner from Coal Hill School—and a girl trapped there, screaming and terrified. When Tanya and her friends investigate the strange house covered in cobwebs, they stumble onto their own worst nightmares come to life. But there is a presence haunting the house that is even more powerful than their individual horrors. A presence that may not want to let them go. In spite of the danger, Tanya is determined to free the mysterious girl in the house. But they are running out of time—the house is scheduled for demolition. With the help of their teacher Miss Quill, Tanya and three other kids prepare to fight their nightmares, and whatever other monsters they hear scuttling around in the walls. But how can they fight against monsters that are supposed to exist only in their dreams?

Rebel Seoul—Axie Oh (September 14, Tu Books)
Young adult. East Asia, 2199. After a great war, the East Pacific is in ruins. In brutal Neo Seoul, where status comes from success in combat, ex-gang member Lee Jaewon is a talented pilot rising in the academy’s ranks. Jaewon is recruited into the most lucrative weapons development division in Neo Seoul, but the mission becomes more complicated when he meets Tera, a test subject in the government’s supersoldier project. Tera was trained for one purpose: to pilot one of the lethal God Machines, massive robots for a never-ending war. With secret orders to report on Tera, Jaewon becomes Tera’s partner, earning her reluctant respect. But as respect turns to love, Jaewon begins to question his loyalty to an oppressive regime that creates weapons out of humans. As the project prepares to go public amidst rumors of a rebellion, Jaewon must decide where he stands—as a soldier of the Republic, or a rebel of the people.

After the Flare (Nigerians in Space #2)—Deji Bryce Olukotun (September 12, Unnamed Press)
A catastrophic solar flare reshapes our world order as we know it—in an instant, electricity grids are crippled, followed by devastating cyberattacks that paralyze all communication. With America in chaos, former NASA employee Kwesi Bracket works at the only functioning space program in the world, which just happens to be in Nigeria. The planet’s only hope rests with the Nigerian Space Program’s plan to launch a daring rescue mission to the International Space Station. Bracket and his team are already up against a serious deadline, but life on the ground is just as disastrous after the flare. Nigeria has been flooded with advanced biohacking technologies, and the scramble for space supremacy has attracted dangerous peoples from all over Africa. With the clock ticking down, Bracket must confront the looming threats to the spaceport in order to launch a harrowing rescue mission into space.

Nyxia—Scott Reintgen (September 12, Crown Books for Young Readers)
Young adult. Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever. Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden—a planet that Babel has kept hidden—where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe. But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

Infinity Wars—Jonathan Strahan, editor (September 12, Solaris)
We have always fought. War is the furnace that forges new technologies and pushes humanity ever onward. We are the children of a battle that began with fists and sticks, and ended on the brink of atomic Armageddon. Beyond here lies another war, infinite in scope and scale. But who will fight the wars of tomorrow? Join Elizabeth Bear, Indrapramit Das, Aliette de Bodard, Garth Nix, An Owomoyela, Peter Watts, and many, many more in an exploration of the furthest extremes of military science fiction…

The Equals (Ones #2)—Daniel Sweren-Becker (September 12, Imprint)
Young adult. The Equality Team continues to round up and subject The Ones—the 1% of the American population who were genetically engineered in vitro—to a vaccine that will level the playing field. Desperate to save her boyfriend James from this fate, Cody flees into the wild to seek assistance from a shadowy rebel group dedicated to equal rights for the Ones at any cost. But when she grows closer to a radical named Kai, she’s brought deeper into the fold, only to realize the group’s leader has a secret plan more dangerous than Cody could have imagined—something that could change the course of the Ones’ future.

The Man in the Tree—Sage Walker (September 12, Tor Books)
Humanity’s last hope of survival lies in space … but will a random death doom the venture? Our planet is dying and the world’s remaining nations have pooled their resources to build a seed ship that will carry colonists on a multi-generational journey to a distant planet. Everything is set for a bright adventure… and then someone is found hanging dead just weeks before the launch. Fear and paranoia spread as the death begins to look more and more like a murder. The authorities want the case settled quickly and quietly so as not to cause panic… and to prevent a murderer from sabotaging the entire mission.

 

WEEK THREE

Autonomous—Annalee Newitz (September 19, Tor Books)
Earth, 2144. Jack is an anti-patent scientist turned drug pirate, traversing the world in a submarine as a pharmaceutical Robin Hood, fabricating cheap scrips for poor people who can’t otherwise afford them. But her latest drug hack has left a trail of lethal overdoses as people become addicted to their work, doing repetitive tasks until they become unsafe or insane. Hot on her trail, an unlikely pair: Eliasz, a brooding military agent, and his robotic partner, Paladin. As they race to stop information about the sinister origins of Jack’s drug from getting out, they begin to form an uncommonly close bond that neither of them fully understand. And underlying it all is one fundamental question: Is freedom possible in a culture where everything, even people, can be owned?

Null States (Infomocracy #2)—Malka Older (September 19, Tor.com Publishing)
The future of democracy is about to implode. After the last controversial global election, the global infomocracy that has ensured thirty years of world peace is fraying at the edges. As the new Supermajority government struggles to establish its legitimacy, agents of Information across the globe strive to keep the peace and maintain the flows of data that feed the new world order. In the newly-incorporated DarFur, a governor dies in a fiery explosion. In Geneva, a superpower hatches plans to bring microdemocracy to its knees. In Central Asia, a sprawling war among archaic states threatens to explode into a global crisis. And across the world, a shadowy plot is growing, threatening to strangle Information with the reins of power.

Zero-G: Green Space (Samuel Lord #2)—William Shatner & Jeff Rovin (September 19, Simon & Schuster)
In the year 2050, the United States sends the FBI to govern its space station, The Empyrean. The “Zero-G” men are in charge of investigating terrorism, crime, corruption, and espionage, keeping an eye on the rival Chinese and Russian stations as well. Director Samuel Lord and his team are assisting NASA in conducting a top-secret project: Using microscopic robots, they plan to construct a vine that can survive in space. Unfortunately, a Russian spy inadvertently causes the growth to rage out of control, not only threatening the Empyrean, but the Russian space station Red Giant. Under the guidance of Lord, Zero-G must not only identify the spy, but help find a way to stop the fast-replicating vine … and a form of “space zombie” birthed by the nanites. The surprising solution takes Lord and a Russian pilot on a dangerous mission to Venus—where a shocking discovery awaits.

 

WEEK FOUR

Freefall—Joshua David Bellin (September 26, Margaret K. McElderry Books)
Young adult. In the Upperworld, the privileged 1% are getting ready to abandon a devastated planet Earth. Cam can’t wait to leave. After sleeping through a 1,000-year journey, he and his friends will have a pristine new planet to colonize. Then Cam sees a banned video feed of protesters in the Lowerworld who also want a chance at a new life. And he sees a girl he has to find—a girl who seems to be gazing straight though the feed directly at him. When Cam finds Sofie, she opens his eyes, and Cam joins her cause for Lowerworld rights. He also falls hard for Sofie. But Sofie has her own battles to fight, and when it’s time to board the spaceships, Cam is alone. Waking up 1,000 years in the future, Cam discovers that he and his shipmates are far off-course, trapped on an unknown and hostile planet. Who has sabotaged their ship? And does it have anything to do with Sofie, and the choices—and the enemies—he made in the past?

Ender’s Game Gift Edition—Orson Scott Card (September 26, Tor Books)
Reissue. For the perfect holiday gift for the reader on your list, pick up Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game in this specially bound edition of the author’s preferred text.

Invictus—Ryan Graudin (September 26, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Young adult. Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time traveler from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in ancient Rome, Far’s very existence defies the laws of nature. All he’s ever wanted was to explore history for himself, but after failing his entrance exam into the government program, Far will have to settle for a position on the black market-captaining a time-traveling crew to steal valuables from the past. During a routine heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl named Eliot who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Eliot has secrets-big ones-that will affect Far’s life from beginning to end. Armed with the knowledge that history is not as steady as it seems, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to set things right before the clock runs out.

Provenance—Ann Leckie (September 26, Orbit)
A power-driven young woman has just one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artifacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned. Ingray and her charge will return to her home world to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating interstellar conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray’s future, her family, and her world, before they are lost to her for good.

In Constant Fear (Detainee #3)—Peter Liney (September 26, Quercus)
Over a year has passed since Clancy and the gang managed to escape from the hell that was the City. Pursued by the ruthless leader of Infinity – the corporation behind the mass murders of thousands of ‘lower class’ citizens – they’ve been on the run ever since; constantly looking over their shoulders. Despite this, they have forged a new life working the land on an abandoned smallholding on the other side of the mountains. Hidden there, they are as close to happy as they can be. Until strange things start to happen in the valley: too many unlucky coincidences convince them that another power is rising against them, and there are many questions to be answered: what is the shadow maker? And who – or what – has begun to howl in the night?

Regeneration (Evolution #3)—Stephanie Saulter (September 26, Quercus)
The gillungs—genetically modified, waterbreathing humans—are thriving. They’ve pioneered new aquatic industries, and their high-efficiency quantum battery technology coupled to tidal turbines in the Thames estuary looks set to revolutionise the energy industry. But as demand grows, so does fear of what their newfound power might mean. Then a biohazard scare at Sinkat, their London headquarters, fuels the opposition and threatens to derail the gillungs’ progress. Was it an accident born of overconfidence, or was it sabotage? DS Sharon Varsi has her suspicions, and Gabriel sees parallels in the propaganda war he’s trying to manage: politicians and big business have stakes in this game too. And now there is a new threat: Zavcka Klist is out of prison. With powerful new followers and nothing to lose, she’s out to reclaim everything they took from her.

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