New Books and ARCs, 7/31/15
Posted on July 31, 2015 Posted by John Scalzi 32 Comments
The last day of the July, and we have an especially large haul of new books and ARCs for you to admire here. See anything here that begs to be on your own personal bookshelf? Tell me in the comments!
And a reminder: If you are in Indianapolis, for GenCon or any other reason, I and several other awesomely funny people will be on hand for hilarious hijinks tonight at the Concert Against Humanity. I believe there may still be a few tickets left — go get them!
Hell’s Gate is a re-release? I am still anxious for the next part of that series…. It has been dormant for some time but the rumor mill had it, a new part is upcoming.
James P. Hogan, huh. The ‘P’ stood for ‘Holocaust Denier’…
WHEW! Panicked thinking that there was a new Black Tide Rising novel out.
Just the paperback. Relax.
1636!
That series started great, especially the main arc–some of the later stories tended to become more character studies than real novels, and the Dreeson Incident was flat-out bullcrap, but the most recent couple of books have been great. Albrecht von Wallenstein is a Magnificent Bastard, the Ottomans have modernized gear and are about to invade, and Russia is modernizing its government and organization at scary speed.
Oh, and Cardinal Borga is a bastard.
Good series. Can’t wait for the Main Arc 1637 book to come out.
The Off Season looks very interesting. It came out in 1995 but I never noticed at the time; this post is a good reminder to look it up and read it.
A new Chicks anthology!
When I click on the CAH link, the illustrations of 3 different authors look a bit too similar for comfort. jmo
Oh, John, you HAVE to check out Robin Bailey’s story in Chicks and Balances. I guffawed out loud, and then again when I thought of your reaction.
I am super bummed to be missing the Concert Against Humanity, but alas. Gainful employment dictates otherwise. Hope you have fun. The Murat is a great venue. You will be standing on the stage where Weird Al stood just a few months ago.
Now I know why that James P. Hogan paperback is so big – it’s 2 of his old novels in one. I knew it couldn’t be a new novel, but hadn’t realized that Baen was republishing some of his stuff. I love his earliest works, but there came a time when, as some say, “the brain eater got him” and he started believing in pseudoscientific crankery such as the Velikovsky theory. Rather sad actually.
1636, definitely.
Oh, and Chicks and Balances is an anthology. Well, that’s very different.
@Marion- the Chicks in Chainmail anthologies are terrific. I picked up the first one in the summer of 1999 to make fun of the cover and read the Publisher’s Note on the back and I was hooked.
I already have my copy of Chicks N Balances and I’m trying to savor it instead of tearing through it just in case it’s another 11 years until the next one.
Chicks in Chainmail return!!!
‘Scuse me while I go one-click…
I love the idea of the girl with ghost eyes. I hope it’s not something as dull as just a girl who can see ghosts.
@Martin That’s what I noticed right away too. I hadn’t heard any rumors, but sending out copies of the first book all these years later would seem a reasonable indication that something might be happening. One can certainly hope.
Lot of Baen stuff in that stack (much like my shelves in that regard).
I just got done reading 1636: The Cardinal Virtues and thought it was a decent addition to the series, as most of the recent books have been. Just avoid any book with DeMarce as author and you’ll do pretty well, she’s a fine researcher but not a novelist.
This probably sounds like a redundant question, but what do you eventually do with all of these ARCS?
@Ellen West, I did not know Chicks in Chainmail was a thing! I looked it up, and I’ll have to start reading them. They look great.
I did snort at the cover of Chicks and Balances, when contrasted with the cover copy on Amazon.
Ah… super sad puppy John Ringo is sending his book the puppykicker Scalzi. How nice. Ringo writes elsewhere…
“The CHORFs accuse the SPs of ‘fighting to retain white-male privilege.’ The reality is that the CHORFs are desperate to retain any sort of relevance at all. ‘Their’ conventions are failing. ‘Their’ books don’t sell as well as ‘pulp crap’. ‘Their’ magazines are losing circulation and closing. Lose control of the Hugos and they become irrelevant. And desperate regimes get crazier and crazier the more desperate they become. So sad.”
How nice Scalzi can help him out – being his own stuff isn’t selling and all.
Forgot My Name:
In point of fact, John Ringo didn’t send it to me, Baen Books did — along with most of the other books Baen is publishing this month, many of which you will also see in the stacks. I post up Baen Books for the same reason I try to post up all the books sent to me: Because they might be of interest to readers, regardless of any interpersonal nonsense might be going on between authors at the time.
Note well, however, that if Mr. Ringo had sent me the book, I would have been happy to post it up, too.
Shorter version: Let’s not make a big deal of it, please.
Reblogged this on Little Deduction.
I didn’t know that”The Off Season” was being reissued. Cady is always worth reading.
I can’t say that Kratman or Ringo would make it to my reading lists..
Ringo yes (he has an interesting sense of humor and writes good action scenes), Kratman not so much (I’ve picked up and looked at his books but saw nothing to inspire me to give him a chance). I do have to admit that I’ve pretty much stopped buying Ringo though, ever since Oh No John Ringo took over.
Of course, that’s not Scalzi’s reading list, just the stuff Baen sends him. Say what you will about Baen, they do have a strong promotional program.
Does the purple disgruntled-faced comfort object in the background have a name? (I watched The Giver last night)
It’s a gamma rabbit puppet.
I read Hell’s Gate years ago, and if it’s reprint means that a new volume in that series is imminent I’m delighted to hear it. And I’ve read 1636: The Cardinal Virtues and quite liked it, but then I’m a fan of Dumas. And I’m glad several someones with better eyes than I have could read the title of Chicks N Balances, so I can look for it; I love those anthologies. (Not every story is great, but the average is high.) Nothing else of interest to me.
@Elaine Gallagher, hi! Thanks for your interest in THE GIRL WITH GHOST EYES. It’s a meticulously researched historical fantasy novel. In San Francisco’s Chinatown at the end of the 19th century, a young Daoist priestess faces monsters drawn from Chinese folklore. Li-lin carries a peachwood sword and magical paper talismans; her sidekick is a sarcastic talking eyeball.
I studied Chinese languages and religions, and I filled THE GIRL WITH GHOST EYES with accurate depictions of rituals and monsters which have never been written about in the English language. Against the backdrop of the American industrial revolution, the story explores themes about immigration, racial conflict, culture and assimilation. Plus it’s got kung fu.
I’m beaming with the knowledge that my book has found its way into John Scalzi’s hands. :)
Christy: Resurrection House, through its Underland Press imprint, is reissuing all of Cady’s out of print novels, as well as putting together a couple of new collections of his writings. This edition of The Off Season has an introduction by Gordon Van Gelder (who was the original editor of the novel) as well as Cady’s non-fiction essay “On Writing the Ghost Story.”
Reblogged this on milanioliva/ olivera kovacevic jankovic.
Not usually interested in Baen titles and looking over that pile I see nothing of interest to me. There are quite a few authors I don’t recognize in the remaining pile so right now not of interest but may be so in the future. The only one of interest right now is The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 which I have on order from the Local Bookstore. I always find anthologies edited by John Joesph Adams of some interest so I am buying this one without having specific knowledge about it well save for what the title implies.
I read Hell’s Gate and thoroughly enjoyed it. I eagerly await the next entry in the series.
Thank you for clarifying the way in which you select the books to go on these Mr. Scalzi. I was going to ask about the Ringo and Hogan myself.
I haven;t read any of the authors in particular, but it’s a smidgen tough to tell with some of the lighter colored covers.
Hogan (read “Inherit the Stars”) I found dry and extremely lacking in interesting characters, but I attribute that to it being a taste and fit thing. (Hard sci-fi is not my favorite sub-genre)
Ringo I listened to the first book in the Black Tide Rising series (audible). Yeah, I was not fan.