Catching Up With New Books and ARCs, 3/8/16
Posted on March 8, 2016 Posted by John Scalzi 51 Comments
I’m a little behind on showing off the new books and ARCs that have arrived at the Scalzi Compound, so today, here are two — yes, two!! — stacks of new books and ARCs for you peruse and lust after.
And you say, wow, now you’re all caught up, right? Nope, because here are the books that came in the last couple of weeks that I have yet to take out of their packaging:
So guess what I’m about to do. Yes, I know. My life is hard.
So, see any books in the first two pictures that are calling to you? Tell me which ones they are in the comments.
Honest, seeing all those books makes me depressed. Well, OK, not depressed as it’s not in me, but perhaps takes some wind out of my sails. If I had sails, and it they had wind in them.
China Mieville — Always look forward to some new of his.
I’m guessing your postal carrier and your UPS deliverer both hate you….I hope you tip them generously at Christmas!~ LOL
You have Fellside! The Girl With All the Gifts was SO good, I am looking forward to this one!
Wooo i09 just had an interesting interview with Elizabeth Bonesteel (“the most metal last name ever”) and her genre blending that made her book sound very interesting. Maybe even something my wife and I could BOTH enjoy (which hasn’t happened since… um… Hunger Games). Its on my list, for sure.
“City of Mirrors” and “The Glass Sword”…
Kev
Justin Cronin’s “The City of Mirrors” will find its way to my library when it is published in May (unless you want to send me your copy, Scalzi!). I’ve been waiting eagerly for six years for this final book in “The Passage” Trilogy!
China Mieville.
I’ve been reading that China Mieville book of short stories. It’s completely creeping me out, but his writing is, as always, brilliant.
My bad:. Actually four years since Cronin’s “The Twelve” was published. Not generally big on Vampires but this series and the del Torro/Hogan “The Strain” trilogy were excellent.
Just started The Cold Between today. Really liking it so far.
if you need help with any of those books, i’d be happy to take on the odious task of reading the city of mirrors by justin cronin.
Lustlocked apparently isn’t the type of book I thought it was. At least I hope not, given the iguana on the cover.
Hell Hath No Fury is the second book in the series, right? The third book just came out? I like the premise – magical civilization meets Victorian era tech civilization with psionics for flavoring while both are exploring alternate universes – and I can’t argue that the first meeting would very likely end in bloodshed and a major war is a good way to sell books, but I don’t especially want to read four books worth of good people on both sides killing each other for no good reason. If I want that I’ve got Weber’s Safehold, where at least he graciously makes the leaders of one side into two dimensional evil caricatures so I can feel a little better.
Is Ex-Isles actually the fifth book in the series? I’ve missed more than one. I’ve only read the first one, Ex-Heroes. It wasn’t entirely my cuppa, but if superheroes fighting desperately to protect an enclave of civilization from the zombie hordes sounds interesting, it’s well worth a look.
I have to admit I did a double-take there with the second photo — Elissa Sussman’s novel “Burn” looks like it’s titled “Bum”.
;)
oooh, new Mike Carey?! (M.R. Carey, as he writes under now – I’m about to start on “The girl with all the gifts”, really looking forward to it!)
Kelly Link sounds familiar, I think I have some of her short stories on my Kindle.
I’m a fan of Scott Sigler.
Eagerly anticipating the alternating fantastic action set pieces and looking for things that’s likely to be City of Mirrors.
I also always look forward to Mieville. I almost bought Glass Sword yesterday but ended up getting a book for a con I’m attending in May. The Red Queen was one of the best YA novels I’ve read in years, so I’m really looking forward to Glass Sword.
I love Kelly Link’s short stories, and I’ve heard really good things about the China Mieville book. How many of those do you actually get time to read?
I’m going to join the crowd chanting “Mieville,” although the one offering transhuman horror is also intriguing (that’s probably just confirmation bias at work).
Lawks!
Looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of Ex-Isle. On a spending freeze right now else I’d have it already.
I’ve deeply enjoyed the series thus far, particularly because each book’s bigger plot digs into a slightly different corner of superhero themes (super soldiers, magic, parallel realities, etc.) while still upping the tensions & messing with the status quo of the day-to-day so that the setting never feels stale.
New China Mieville, yasss! Also, new books from Kelly Link and Nick Mamatas pique my curiosity.
Buy my book.
I’m watching you all!
I almost wept when I saw the City of Mirrors arc in the pile. I’m SO envious!
I know you’re all looking ahead. And, I hope Mr. Scalzi and his readers don’t mind, but I’m going to quickly mention three superb books which I’ve finished in last 4 days.
They are:
Arcadia by Iain Pears
Quantum Night by Robert Sawyer and,
Arkwright by Allen Steele.
All of these count as among the best books I’ve read in the last few years. And, I average 3 to 6 books a week (I’m a retired geezer geek) . And, more importantly each of them is quite important in its own right.
I cannot recommend them too strongly. Do yourself a favor and read at least one of them soon. I plan on writing reviews up on Goodreads in the next few days.
Rick York
Ex-Isle is sitting on my table now – using it as the proverbial carrot-on-a-stick to entice self meet a couple deadlines. Quite a fun series: superheroes AND zombies! And as another commenter already noted, the stories go a little deeper thematically as well. I enjoy Clines’ books: nice and short but still plenty of plot and characterization – balances out my reading diet of hefty Sanderson tomes. :-)
Alive! Sigler rocks.
I might have to check out Staked. I read through Hearne’s previous books on my guy’s Kindle last summer, and they were pretty entertaining. It’s kind of a toss-up whether a series will hold my interest once I have to start waiting a year or more between installments, though.
I thought you already received a copy of Alive?
Ok, nickmamatas, since you asked so nicely ;)
Off to Amazon…
All of the books look interesting as books always do. I am more intrigued with the packages. Since you haven’t had the time to open and review them I would suggest you simply put a forwarding address on them – specifically mine :D
I know it isn’t, but Lustlocked sounds like a title for some of the cheesy (and not so cheesy) sci-fi romance in my collection. Not a genre I’d have ever thought of until Linnea Sinclair came along. Much shame to me, I’ve read a few stories that have made it worth my while. LOL
Fellside, I loved The Girl With All the Gifts
Maybe The City of Mirrors. I really liked The Passage, but haven’t read The Twelve yet. (Don’t know if TCoM is related and I’m too lazy to check.)
I have mail envy.
We just got Staked when Hearne was in town a few weeks ago. My guy has already read it, but I still have a bit of series catch-up to do.
I already have the Hearne book on my Amazon UK list – I’m a great fan of the Iron Druid series.
Already finished Staked and Ex-Isle – I’m a sucker when it comes to series books, and also have no self-control. (When your to be read pile has as many books as mine does, anything finished is a plus.) Both books were very good; the Hearne feels like the end of a series, although he’s left himself some openings for future books. Maybe his next set will take place a few years in the future.
I’ve grown to love the characters in both books, so the selfish part of me hopes that both he and Clines continue to mine their respective universes for many more years to come.
man, i wish i had a pile of books in packages waiting for me to open them up…
China Meville’s books are amazing. His writing style seems to be putting the English language in a blender, adding a large quantity of LSD, and baking the resultant mixture into a book-shaped cake.
That’s a lot of mail. “Who wants to do the Scalzi run? He’s got mail today.”
I have no better place to put this than here–at least, I think I don’t, but am open to correction.
Here is a friend’s brief review of Agent to the Stars with one of the Best Leads Ever (if it didn’t happen to you).
Mieville! I hold out some hope for something like King Ratio again, but I’I’ve never been disappointed!
Blood Infernal and Ex-Isles! Yeah for new books!
Other commenters: that Mieville collection has been out since August. In fact, it’s not even his most recent publication. (That would be weird-even-for-Mieville novella this census-taker.) Get with it:) He’s got another shorter book coming out this summer as well: The Last Days of New Paris.
It’s hard to believe that City of Mirrors actually exists, but I’ve now seen photographic proof. Thanks Mr. Scalzi!
Burning Midnight. The original short story it’s based on was amazing.
I’ve got Drowning Eyes on Mt TBR. I’m pretty intrigued by Tor’s novella line as a whole, actually. Lots of interesting titles there.
And I have a few books to go with Kevin Hearne, but Staked is eventually on Mr TBR.
I was about to snark about the lack of the many recent books by my many VPeeps — obvious self-promotion is obvious — but then I saw the vast mound of unopened mail, so I assume they are all languishing in there. I’m talking to yall, Claire and Katrina and Michael Lucas.
And holy shit, Curtis, because how could I overlook a book with the awesome title Waypoint Kangaroo?
I don’t think that anyone can deny that you are simply The. Man.
And here I always feel bad for my mail carrier when he has to get out of his truck for my multiple packages per week style mail. That pile is way more stuff than I get.
I’m curious about the Mieville collection, mainly because I’ve yet to read some of the guy’s work but it’s on my list. I hope I can get to half the books on that list before I die. :/
Anna and the Swallow Man is honestly one of the most beautiful books about identity and language that I’ve read in years.