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

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April is an excellent month for anthologies, including a volume of 16 lush and surprising unicorn tales from fantasy icons, plus the 2018 edition of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year from editor Jonathan Strahan. If you’re looking for a great genre-bending novel, choose from: Storm of Locusts, the post-apocalyptic follow-up to Rebecca Roanhorse’s Trail of Lighting; Amnesty, the conclusion to Lara Elena Donnelly’s glam spy thriller trilogy; and Sarah Blake’s Naamah, which re-centers the story of the Biblical flood on Noah’s wife.

Which will you read first?

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

No new releases.

 

WEEK TWO

Naamah—Sarah Blake (April 9, Riverhead Books)

With the coming of the Great Flood—the mother of all disasters—only one family was spared, drifting on an endless sea, waiting for the waters to subside. We know the story of Noah, moved by divine vision to launch their escape. Now, in a work of astounding invention, acclaimed writer Sarah Blake reclaims the story of his wife, Naamah, the matriarch who kept them alive.

Here is the woman torn between faith and fury, lending her strength to her sons and their wives, caring for an unruly menagerie of restless creatures, silently mourning the lover she left behind. Here is the woman escaping into the unreceded waters, where a seductive angel tempts her to join a strange and haunted world. Here is the woman tormented by dreams and questions of her own—questions of service and self-determination, of history and memory, of the kindness or cruelty of fate.

Tor.com Publishing Editorial Spotlight #4: A Selection of Novellas—Ann VanderMeer (Ed.) (April 9, Tor.com Publishing)

A curated selection of novellas by editor Ann VanderMeer, this collection includes:

Mandelbrot the Magnificent by Liz Ziemska
The Warren by Brian Evenson

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 35(April 9, Galaxy Press)

The 35th collection of winners of the Writers and Illustrators of the Future competition features expertly crafted stories and art, spanning the gamut from hard core sci-fi to epic fantasy. Stories so fresh and new, they’re 5–10 years ahead of the curve—the future is literally here and now.

 

WEEK THREE

The Unicorn Anthology—Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman (Eds.) (April 19, Tachyon Publications)

Here are sixteen lovely, powerful, intricate, and unexpected unicorn tales from fantasy icons including Garth Nix, Peter S. Beagle, Patricia A. McKillip, Bruce Coville, Carrie Vaughn, and more.

In this volume you will find two would-be hunters who enlist an innkeeper to find a priest hiding the secret of the last unicorn. A time traveler tries to corral an unruly mythological beast that might never have existed at all. The lover and ex-boyfriend of a dying woman join forces to find a miraculous remedy in New York City. And a small-town writer of historical romances discovers a sliver of a mysterious horn in a slice of apple pie.

Differently Morphous—Yahtzee Croshaw (April 16, Dark Horse)

A magical serial killer is on the loose, and gelatinous, otherworldly creatures are infesting the English countryside. Which is making life for the Ministry of Occultism difficult, because magic is supposed to be their best kept secret.

After centuries in the shadows, the Ministry is forced to unmask, exposing the country’s magical history—and magical citizens—to a brave new world of social media, government scrutiny, and public relations.

On the trail of the killer are the Ministry’s top agents: a junior operative with a photographic memory (and not much else), a couple of overgrown schoolboys with godlike powers, and a demonstrably insane magician.

Amnesty (Amberlough #3)—Lara Elena Donnelly (April 16, Tor Books)

In Amberlough City, out of the ashes of revolution, a traitor returns, a political campaign comes to a roaring head, and the people demand justice for crimes past. As a nation struggles to rebuild, who can escape retribution?

Big Cat: And Other Stories —Gwyneth Jones (April 16, Newcon Press)

Big Cat: And Other Stories gathers together the author’s finest work from the past decade and features a brand new story, “Stella and the Adventurous Roots”, which inspired the cover image. It includes tales that revisit the world of Bold as Love and also the Aleutian Universe (White Queen etc), as well as venturing into brand new possible tomorrows.

Nest of the Monarch (Dark Talents #3)—Kay Kenyon (April 16, Saga Press)

November, 1936. Kim Tavistock is in Berlin on her first Continental mission for SIS, the British intelligence service. Her cover: a sham marriage to a handsome, ambitious British consul. Kim makes the diplomatic party circuit with him, hobnobbing with Nazi officials, hoping for a spill that will unlock a secret operation called Monarch. Berlin is a glittering city celebrating Germany’s resurgence, but Nazi brutality darkens the lives of many. When Kim befriends Hannah Linz, a member of the Jewish resistance, she sets in motion events that will bring her into the center of a vast conspiracy.

Forging an alliance with Hannah and her partisans, Kim discovers the alarming purpose of Monarch: the creation of a company of enforcers with augmented Talents and strange appetites. Called the Progeny, they have begun to compel citizen obedience with physical and spiritual terror. Soon Kim is swept up in a race to stop the coming deployment of the Progeny into Europe. Aligned against her are forces she could never have foreseen, including the very intelligence service she loves; a Russian woman, the queen of all Talents, who fled the Bolsheviks in 1917; and the ruthless SS officer whose dominance and rare charisma may lead to Kim’s downfall. To stop Monarch and the subversion of Europe, she must do more than use her Talent, wits, and courage. She must step into the abyss of unbounded power, even to the point of annihilation. Does the human race have limits? Kim does not want to know the answer. But it is coming.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Thirteen —Jonathan Strahan (Ed.) (April 16, Solaris)

The finest short science fiction and fantasy, from the master anthologist.

Science fiction is a portal that opens doors onto futures too rich and strange to imagine; fantasy takes us through doorways of magic and wonder.

For more than a decade, award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has pored through tens of thousands of stories to select the best, the most interesting, the most engaging science fiction and fantasy to thrill and delight readers.

WEEK FOUR

Storm of Locusts (Sixth World #2)—Rebecca Roanhorse (April 23, Saga Press)

It’s been four weeks since the bloody showdown at Black Mesa, and Maggie Hoskie, Diné monster hunter, is trying to make the best of things. Only her latest bounty hunt has gone sideways, she’s lost her only friend, Kai Arviso, and she’s somehow found herself responsible for a girl with a strange clan power.

Then the Goodacre twins show up at Maggie’s door with the news that Kai and the youngest Goodacre, Caleb, have fallen in with a mysterious cult, led by a figure out of Navajo legend called the White Locust. The Goodacres are convinced that Kai’s a true believer, but Maggie suspects there’s more to Kai’s new faith than meets the eye. She vows to track down the White Locust, then rescue Kai and make things right between them.

Her search leads her beyond the Walls of Dinétah and straight into the horrors of the Big Water world outside. With the aid of a motley collection of allies, Maggie must battle body harvesters, newborn casino gods and, ultimately, the White Locust himself. But the cult leader is nothing like she suspected, and Kai might not need rescuing after all. When the full scope of the White Locust’s plans are revealed, Maggie’s burgeoning trust in her friends, and herself, will be pushed to the breaking point, and not everyone will survive.

William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future!—Ian Doescher (April 23, Quirk Publishing)

In the iconic film by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, teenaged Marty McFly travels back in time from the 1980s to the 1950s, changing the path of his parents’ destiny… as well as his own. Now fans of the movie can journey back even further—to the 16th century, when the Bard of Avon unveils his latest masterpiece: William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future!

Every scene and line of dialogue from the hit movie is re-created with authentic Shakespearean rhyme, meter, and stage directions. This reimagining also includes jokes and Easter eggs for movie fans, from Huey Lewis call-outs to the inner thoughts of Einstein (the dog). By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll be convinced that Shakespeare had a time-traveling DeLorean of his own, speeding to our era so he could pen this time-tossed tale.

WEEK FIVE

Tor.com Publishing Editorial Spotlight #5: A Selection of Novellas—Jonathan Strahan (Ed.) (April 30, Tor.com Publishing)

A curated selection of novellas by editor Jonathan Strahan, this collection includes:

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson
Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
Agents of Dreamland by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Proof of Concept of Gwyneth Jones
Time Was by Ian McDonald

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