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

Reactor

In a previous column, I outlined many of the sequels and series continuation books that I’m looking forward to in 2019. (Which I, like many people I know, continue to type “2018” as often as not. It feels very strange to be this far into the science fictional future of the 1980s. But that’s time for you.) In this column, I want to mention some of the standalone or series-opening novels that are due out in 2019, which I’m looking forward to very much.

Let’s start with two novels that I’ve been looking forward to ever since I heard the first whisper of their existence!

 

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear’s Ancestral Night (Gollancz and Saga Press, March 5th) is a big-concept space opera that promises Bear’s trademark intelligence, wit, and verve. A team of salvagers run into a little more trouble than they’re entirely prepared to handle. Complications spiral. I can’t wait to have it in my hands.

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Ancestral Night

Ancestral Night


 

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

Then there’s Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire (Tor Books, March 26th), another space opera novel, in which a diplomat from a minor regional power becomes entangled in the power struggles at the heart of a major empire. I read a version of this in draft and I can’t wait to see the final version.

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A Memory Called Empire

A Memory Called Empire


 

This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This Is How You Lose The Time War (Saga Press, July 16th), a novella from the extremely talented duo of Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, is apparently a story of time travel and cross-time romance (I’ll try anything by either of these writers, and I’m looking forward to their joint adventure).

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This Is How You Lose The Time War

This Is How You Lose The Time War


 

Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett

Katharine Duckett’s Miranda in Milan (Tor.com Publishing, March 26th) is a novella sequel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest and about which I’ve heard nothing but good things.

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Miranda in Milan

Miranda in Milan


 

The Fire Opal Mechanism by Fran Wilde

Fran Wilde’s The Fire Opal Mechanism (Tor.com Publishing, June 4th) is a fantasy novella which, I’m assured by the author, contains librarian warlords, time travel, and girls who kiss girls.

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The Fire Opal Mechanism

The Fire Opal Mechanism


 

The Outside by Ada Hoffman

Ada Hoffman’s The Outside (Angry Robot, June 11th) is a science fiction novel that boasts a touch of Lovecraftian horror and Big Ideas.

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The Outside

The Outside


 

Finder by Suzanne Palmer

Suzanne Palmer’s Finder (DAW Books, April 2nd) looks like a rollicking ride of working-class space opera.

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Finder

Finder


 

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

Empress of Forever (Tor Books, June 18th) is Max Gladstone’s first novel-length foray into science fiction, and based on his Craft sequence of fantasy novels and his science fictional short fiction, I’m really looking forward to this alleged “saga of a rag-tag team of brilliant misfits, dangerous renegades, and enhanced outlaws in a wartorn future.”

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Empress of Forever

Empress of Forever


 

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

Ann Leckie’s first foray into novel-length fantasy, The Raven Tower (Orbit Books, February 26th), looks to have a bit of a Shakespearean vibe, and I’m really interested to see how she treats an entirely new universe from her Radchaai books.

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The Raven Tower

The Raven Tower


 

The Perfect Assassin by K.A. Doore

K.A. Doore brings us a debut fantasy novel in the form of The Perfect Assassin (Tor Books, March 19th), about assassins solving a murder mystery.

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The Perfect Assassin

The Perfect Assassin


 

The Afterward by E.K. Johnston

E.K. Johnston’s The Afterward (Dutton Books for Young Readers, February 19th) is a story about what happens when the great kingdom-saving quest is over and some of the questers are cast back into their daily lives—now heroes, but heroes whose problems from their lives before the quest haven’t gone away, or even become noticeably less large.

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The Afterward

The Afterward


 

Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston

And also from E.K. Johnston, I’m looking forward to Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow (Disney Press, March 5th), a tie-in novel about the young Padmé Amidala and her transition from Queen to Senator (alas for an advanced technological society that has such terrible obstetric care and maternal mortality).

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Star Wars: Queen's Shadow

Star Wars: Queen's Shadow


 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree (Bloomsbury, February 26th) is a novel about which I still know nothing except it has lesbians and dragons, and that’s enough to pique my interest.

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The Priory of the Orange Tree

The Priory of the Orange Tree


 

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Kameron Hurley’s The Light Brigade (Angry Robot Books and Saga Press, March 19th) is a military science fiction novel set in one of Hurley’s trademark weird-tech dystopias.

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The Light Brigade

The Light Brigade


 

Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler

Django Wexler’s Ship of Smoke and Steel (Tor Books, January 22nd) is a coming-of-age story complete with fantastical mysteries and deep peril.

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Ship of Smoke and Steel

Ship of Smoke and Steel


 

The Red-Stained Wings by Elizabeth Bear

I forgot to mention in my last column that Elizabeth Bear will have a sequel to The Stone in the Skull out this year. The Red-Stained Wings is coming from Tor Books (May 28th), and I absolutely can’t wait.

Buy the Book

The Red-Stained Wings

The Red-Stained Wings


by Vivian Shaw

And finally, Vivian Shaw will have her series-concluding Grave Importance out from Orbit (August 20th).

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Grave Importance

Grave Importance

 

That’s the merest beginning of what I’m looking forward to reading in the coming year. What stands out for you guys?

Liz Bourke is a cranky queer person who reads books. She holds a Ph.D in Classics from Trinity College, Dublin. Her first book, Sleeping With Monsters, a collection of reviews and criticism, was published in 2017 by Aqueduct Press. It was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Awards and was nominated for a 2018 Hugo Award in Best Related Work. Find her at her blog, where she’s been known to talk about even more books thanks to her Patreon supporters. Or find her at her Twitter. She supports the work of the Irish Refugee Council, the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, and the Abortion Rights Campaign.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Liz Bourke

Author

Liz Bourke is a cranky queer person who reads books. She holds a Ph.D in Classics from Trinity College, Dublin. Her first book, Sleeping With Monsters, a collection of reviews and criticism, was published in 2017 by Aqueduct Press. It was a finalist for the 2018 Locus Awards and was nominated for a 2018 Hugo Award in Best Related Work. She was a finalist for the inaugural 2020 Ignyte Critic Award, and has also been a finalist for the BSFA nonfiction award. She lives in Ireland with an insomniac toddler, her wife, and their two very put-upon cats.
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