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Fantasy and Science Fiction September 2017
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The Massacre of Mankind : Sequel to the War of the Worlds
by Stephen Baxter
It has been 14 years since the Martians invaded England. The world has moved on, always watching the skies but content that we know how to defeat the Martian menace. Machinery looted from the abandoned capsules and war-machines has led to technological leaps forward. The Martians are vulnerable to earth germs. The Army is prepared. So when the signs of launches on Mars are seen, there seems little reason to worry. Unless you listen to one man, Walter Jenkins, the narrator of Wells' book. He is sure that the Martians have learned, adapted, understood their defeat. He is right. Thrust into the chaos of a new invasion, a journalist - sister-in-law to Walter Jenkins - must survive, escape and report on the war. The Massacre of Mankind has begun.
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Sip
by Brian Allen Carr
It started with a single child and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, artificial lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure glow of the moon. Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. And if your shadow was sipped entirely, you became one of them, had to drink the shadows of others or go mad. One hundred and fifty years later, what’s left of the world is divided between the highly regimented life of those inside dome cities who are protected from natural light (and natural shadows), and those forced to the dangerous, hardscrabble life in the wilds outside. In rural Texas, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-domer named Bale search for a mythological cure to the shadow sickness—but they must do so, it is said, before the return of Halley’s Comet, which is only days away.
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Dichronauts
by Greg Egan
Seth is a surveyor, along with his friend Theo, a leech-like creature running through his skull who tells Seth what lies to his left and right. Theo, in turn, relies on Seth for mobility, and for ordinary vision looking forwards and backwards. Like everyone else in their world, they are symbionts, depending on each other to survive. In Seth's world, light cannot travel in all directions: there is a “dark cone” to the north and south. Seth can only face to the east or the west, and if he starts to turn to the north or south, his body stretches out across the landscape. Every living thing is in a state of perpetual migration as they follow the sun’s shifting orbit and the narrow habitable zone it creates. When Seth and Theo join an expedition to the edge of the habitable zone, they discover a terrifying threat: a fissure in the surface of the world, so deep and wide that no one can perceive its limits. As the habitable zone continues to move, the migration will soon be blocked by this unbridgeable void, and there is only one option to save the city from annihilation: descend into the unknown.
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Entropy in Bloom : Stories
by Jeremy Robert Johnson
For more than a decade, Jeremy Robert Johnson has been bubbling under the surface of both literary and genre fiction. His short stories present a brilliantly dark and audaciously weird realm where cosmic nightmares collide with all-too-human characters and apocalypses of all shapes and sizes loom ominously. In “Persistence Hunting,” a lonely distance runner is seduced into a brutal life of crime with an ever-narrowing path for escape. In “When Susurrus Stirs,” an unlucky pacifist must stop a horrifying parasite from turning his body into a sentient hive. Running through all of Johnson’s work is a hallucinatory vision and deeply-felt empathy, earning the author a reputation as one of today’s most daring and thrilling writers. Featuring the best of his independently-published short fiction, as well as an exclusive, never-before-published novella “The Sleep of Judges,” Entropy in Bloom is a perfect compendium for avid fans and an ideal entry point for adventurous readers seeking the humor, heartbreak, and terror of JRJ’s strange new worlds.
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| At the Table of Wolves by Kay KenyonHistorical Fantasy. At the end of the Great War came the "bloom" and, with it, paranormal abilities in the form of "Talents." Now it's 1936 and England is on the verge of war with Germany. Kim Tavistock's Talent, the "spill," causes others to confide their secrets to her, which makes her an ideal spy. For another WWII-era historical fantasy featuring espionage and super-powered individuals, try Ian Tregillis' Milkweed Triptych, which begins with Bitter Seeds. |
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| The Witches of New York: A Novel by Ami McKayHistorical Fantasy. "Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply." After Beatrice Dunn answers this peculiar advertisement, she is hired by the witch-proprietresses of Tea and Sympathy, an establishment that discreetly caters to the needs of its female clientele in 1880 New York City. Beatrice's discovery of her own magic unfolds alongside a growing threat to the city's witches in this atmospheric novel, which should enchant readers who enjoyed Paula Brackston's Shadow Chronicles or Louisa Morgan's A Secret History of Witches. |
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Saga
by Brian K Vaughan
From the worldwide bestselling team of FIONA STAPLES and BRIAN K. VAUGHAN, “The War for Phang” is an epic, self-contained SAGA event! Finally reunited with her ever-expanding family, Hazel travels to a war-torn comet that Wreath and Landfall have been battling over for ages. New friendships are forged and others are lost forever in this action-packed volume about families, combat and the refugee experience.
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| Portal of a Thousand Worlds by Dave DuncanHistorical Fantasy. Once in a millennium, a portal opens, bringing chaos and destruction. This time, it seems likely to bring about the downfall of a dynasty. Inspired by the events of the Boxer Rebellion, this intricately plotted novel boasts a large cast of characters and takes place in a richly detailed alternate version of late-19th-century China, which may appeal to fans of Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven. |
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| Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuireDark Fantasy. Recently returned from the Underworld, where she was the Lord of the Dead's beloved, Nancy has no desire to stay at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. Established to help young people who have journeyed to other realms and returned home to find that their former lives no longer fit, this highly unorthodox boarding school is supposed to be a sanctuary for girls like Nancy. However, when a killer starts stalking its hallowed halls, stealing pieces of the students' souls, Nancy must put aside her dreams of death and keep her peers alive. |
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| The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen BaxterParallel Worlds SF. In the not-too-distant future, a process called "Stepping" allows humans to travel to parallel Earths. Only a few, like Joshua Valienté, can do so without technical assistance. Hired by the transEarth Institute to explore the limits of the Long Earth, Joshua soon makes an alarming discovery. Simultaneously amusing and thought-provoking, this collaboration by the late Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter kicks off the five-volume Long Earth series, which continues with The Long War. |
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| A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. SchwabFantasy. Red London is rife with magic. Grey London has none at all. White London may soon destroy itself in its attempts to steal the powers of its rivals. (And Black London? Well, that city no longer exists except as a cautionary tale to magic abusers.) Traveling between these very different dimensions is Kell, ambassador for Red London's royal family. However, unbeknownst to his employers, he's also a smuggler, transporting forbidden artifacts from one world to the next. What happens when his illicit activities land him in serious trouble? This trilogy opener continues with A Gathering of Shadows and A Conjuring of Light. |
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| Empire Games by Charles StrossParallel Worlds SF. Rita Douglas is a world-walker, who can travel between different versions of Earth. This unusual ability makes her a person of interest to not one but several government agencies across the multiverse, all of which have their own agendas. Although Empire Games is set in the world of the author's Merchant Princes fantasy series, the novel reads more like a futuristic tech thriller. |
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