June 2017 list by Holly Whistler
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Within the Sanctuary of Wings: A Memoir by Lady Trent
by Marie Brennan
In this historical fantasy, naturalist and dragon expert Lady Isabella Trent continues her globetrotting adventures in this 5th and final volume of the Memoirs of Lady Trent series, which features a strong-willed scientist heroine and takes place in an alternate version of Victorian England. Fans will welcome the return of the redoubtable Lady Trent and her dragon-obsessed colleagues, but newcomers should start with A Natural History of Dragons.
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Borne
by Jeff VanderMeer
Animal, mineral, or vegetable? When scavenger Rachel rescues Borne, the discarded creation of a defunct biotech company, she has no idea what she's discovered. That doesn't stop her from taking it home and raising it. To her surprise, the shapeshifting Borne is not only sentient, but intelligent. But Rachel's partner, Wick, is not enchanted with the new arrival. With its dark dystopian setting and non-human(oid) characters, author Jeff VanderMeer's latest novel has more in common with his Ambergris series than his more recent Southern Reach novels.
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The Dragon's Legacy
by Deborah A. Wolf
A dying world and its dwindling resources serve as the board on which a high-stakes game of war and political intrigue will play out; its pawns include warrior princess Sulema, daeborn Jain, and dreamshifter's apprentice Daru. Unfolding from multiple perspectives, this lush, sprawling saga is the 1st volume in a planned series that should appeal to fantasy readers who enjoyed the epic scale of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Its world-building, with echoes of ancient Egypt, may please A Song of Ice and Fire fans who prefer Essos to Westeros.
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The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories
by Mahvesh Murad
A fascinating collection of new and classic tales of the fearsome Djinn, from bestselling, award-winning and breakthrough international writers.
Imagine a world filled with fierce, fiery beings, hiding in our shadows, in our dreams, under our skins. Eavesdropping and exploring; savaging our bodies, saving our souls. They are monsters, saviours, victims, childhood friends. Some have called them genies: these are the Djinn.
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Carnivalesque
by Neil Jordan
It looked like any other carnival, but of course it wasn't. The boy saw it from the car window, the tops of the large trailer rides over the parked trains by the railway tracks. His parents were driving towards the new mall and he was looking forward to that too, but the tracery of lights above the gloomy trains caught his imagination . . . Andy walks into Burleigh's Amazing Hall of Mirrors, and then he walks right into the mirror, becomes a reflection. Another boy, a boy who is not Andy, goes home with Andy's parents. And the boy who was once Andy is pulled--literally pulled, by the hands, by a girl named Mona--into another world, a carnival world where anything might happen.
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The Book of Joan
by Lidia Yuknavitch
When Earth becomes uninhabitable, wealthy survivors head to space and take up residence on suborbital complex CIEL, ruled by celebrity dictator Jean de Men. CIEL inhabitants, physically transformed by radiation, pass their allotted 50-year lifespans by tattooing stories on their skin. The one forbidden tale -- that of eco-warrior Joan of Dirt, who dared defy Jean de Men -- is central to this imaginative SF adaptation of the story of Joan of Arc.
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Nebula Awards Showcase 2017
by Julie Czerneda
The Nebula Awards Showcase volumes have been published annually since 1966, reprinting the winning and nominated stories of the Nebula Awards, voted on by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). This year's editor, selected by SFWA's Anthology Committee (chaired by Mike Resnick), is Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer and editor Julie Czerneda. This year's Nebula Award winners are Naomi Novik, Nnedi Okorafor, Sarah Pinsker, and Alyssa Wong, with Fran Wilde winning the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book. Also included in this volume are works by N. K. Jemisin and Ann Leckie.
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Spoonbenders
by Daryl Gregory
Teddy Telemachus is a charming con man with a gift for sleight of hand and some shady underground associates. In need of cash, he tricks his way into a classified government study about telekinesis and its possible role in intelligence gathering. There he meets Maureen McKinnon, and it’s not just her piercing blue eyes that leave Teddy forever charmed, but her mind—Maureen is a genuine psychic of immense and mysterious power. After a whirlwind courtship, they marry, have three gifted children, and become the Amazing Telemachus Family, performing astounding feats across the country. Irene is a human lie detector. Frankie can move objects with his mind. And Buddy, the youngest, can see the future. Then one night tragedy leaves the family shattered.
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Blackmail
by Rick Campbell
When a U.S. aircraft carrier is severely damaged by Russian forces that claim it was an accident before initiating a devastating military strike, the United States finds itself dangerously vulnerable and must make a desperate choice to avoid a world war. By the author of The Trident Deception.
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Amatka
by Karin Tidbeck
Vanja, an information assistant, is sent from her home city of Essre to the austere, wintry colony of Amatka with an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Immediately she feels that something strange is going on: people act oddly in Amatka, and citizens are monitored for signs of subversion.
Intending to stay just a short while, Vanja falls in love with her housemate, Nina, and prolongs her visit. But when she stumbles on evidence of a growing threat to the colony, and a cover-up by its administration, she embarks on an investigation that puts her at tremendous risk.
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Soleri
by Michael Johnston
The ruling family of the Soleri Empire has been in power longer than even the calendars that stretch back 2,826 years. Those records tell a history of conquest and domination by a people descended from gods, older than anything in the known world. No living person has seen them for centuries, yet their grip on their four subjugate kingdoms remains tighter than ever. On the day of the annual eclipse, the Harkan king, Arko-Hark Wadi, sets off on a hunt and shirks his duty rather than bow to the emperor.
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