Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   FANTASY       URBAN FANTASY   SCIENCE FICTION       HORROR       FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   After Atlas Newman, Emma 11/8/2016 Roc Alien Morning Wilber, Rick 11/8/2016 Tor Books At the Sign of Triumph Weber, David 11/8/2016 Tor Books Belle Chasse Johnson, Suzanne 11/8/2016 Tor Books Tales from the Darkside: Scripts by Joe Hill Hill, Joe 11/8/2016 IDW Publishing The Iron Beast Remic, Andy 11/8/2016 Tor.com The Mountain of Kept Memory Neumeier, Rachel 11/8/2016 Saga Press The Shadow of What Was Lost Islington, James 11/8/2016 Orbit

An Import of Intrigue is the second installment of The Maradaine Constabulary. It delves deeper into the politics impacting Maradaine and also exposes more about Satrine’s past and Jinx’s magic. Once again, I found myself more interested in the characters than the actual case they are working on.  Full disclosure, I often don’t do well with detective mystery books, so that is not surprising based on my reading preferences. The investigation the book centers on is a murder of a high ranking member of one of Maradaine’s cultural groups. The evidence at the scene points in a multitude of directions, leaving virtually everyone a suspect. To complicate the investigation, and add to the story, Jinx is having a bit of a personal crisis with his magical abilities. So not only do they have to solve the case, Jinx also has a mystery of what is happening to him and his magic. Is he starting to go mad like some members of his family? Or can he find a cause and solution. In this book, I felt like my engagement with the plot may have been hindered a bit by the introduction of all the different cultural factions that were central…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION   FANTASY               URBAN FANTASY       SCIENCE FICTION               FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION Binary Storm Christopher Hinz 11/1/2016 Angry Robot Christmas Magic Hartwell, David G. 11/1/2016 Tor Books Congress of Secrets Burgis, Stephanie 11/1/2016 Pyr Den of Wolves Marillier, Juliet 11/1/2016 Roc Dominion Peter McLean 11/1/2016 Angry Robot Illicit Clamp, Cathy 11/1/2016 Tor Books Invisible Planets Liu, Ken 11/1/2016 Tor Books Seriously Shifted Connolly, Tina 11/1/2016 Tor Teen Shadowed Souls Butcher, Jim 11/1/2016 Roc The Burning Isle Panzo, Will 11/1/2016 Ace The Burning Light Beaulieu, Bradley P. 11/1/2016 Tor.com The Lost Child of Lychford Cornell, Paul 11/1/2016 Tor.com The Operative Brandt, Gerald 11/1/2016 DAW Unquiet…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION   FANTASY               SCIENCE FICTION         FANTASY              SCIENCE FICTION   Altered Starscape Ian Douglas 10/25/2016 Harper Voyager Dragon and Thief Zahn, Timothy 10/25/2016 Tor Books Faller McIntosh, Will 10/25/2016 Tor Books Lost Gods Brom 10/25/2016 Harper Voyager Patterns of the Wheel Jordan, Robert 10/25/2016 Tor Books The Blood Mirror Weeks, Brent 10/25/2016 Orbit The Plague of Swords Cameron, Miles 10/25/2016 Orbit Wierd Space: The Star of the Sea Una McCormack 10/25/2016 Abaddon

The Facefaker’s Game is an entertaining coming of age story that features a number of familiar, but quite likable, tropes. I want to stress that it’s not a negative to contain tropes. I firmly believe these are traits that are so common because they can be quite enjoyable, which is the case within The Facefaker’s Game. The book has enough originality within it’s magic and characters to make the old familiar feel fresh and fun. It feature a 14 year old boy, with no family, trying make it on the mean streets. And trust me, Burroughside is mean. In addition to the gangs of orphans and criminals, there are also monsters that come out at night. People don’t risk breaking curfew because staying out past dark pretty much typically means your life. Another interesting/mysterious feature of this book was certain people (though they don’t call them people) who would appear in Burroughside with no memory of who they are. The word amnesia was never used, but that is the general idea. And with no memory, no place to live, their lack of defenses against the monsters of the night means they are not likely to live long. It’s a mystery of the world that leaves you guessing a bit…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY          HORROR   FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION         HORROR         FANTASY             SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR     Everything Belongs to the Future Penny, Laurie 10/18/2016 Tor.com Exploded View Sam McPheeters 10/18/2016 Talos Gemina Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff 10/18/2016 Knopf Books for Young Readers Pathfinder Tales: Shy Knives Paizo Publishing LLC. 10/18/2016 Tor Books Reanimatrix Pete Rawlik 10/18/2016 Night Shade Books The Found and the Lost Le Guin, Ursula K. 10/18/2016 Saga Press The Rains Hurwitz, Gregg 10/18/2016 Tor Teen The Starlit Wood Parisien, Dominik 10/18/2016 Saga Press The Supernaturals David L. Golemon 10/18/2016 Thomas Dunne Books The Unreal and the Real Le Guin, Ursula K. 10/18/2016 Saga Press

I have to confess when I first saw this book, I did not realize it was a retelling of The Tempest by William Shakespeare. There are some authors that have impressed me enough with my previous reads I honestly don’t feel the need to read the synopsis closely before diving in when I get my hands on it. This was one of those books. I absolutely love The Heart Goes Last, and regardless of what Atwood’s next book was about, I knew I would have to read it. Enter Hag-Seed. I am not sure I was the ideal reader for this particular book. I am woefully unfamiliar with The Tempest, which means that there are likely many reference and parallels, unique twists, etc, that I am not in a position to recognize or appreciate. I will say that the way Hag-Seed is told, I did become more familiar with The Tempest as I read. At the end of the book, there is a section that summarizes The Tempest for the reader. I wish that had been in the beginning as I felt like it may have helped me understand the retelling aspect a bit more if I had read that…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY        HORROR   FANTASY                   URBAN FANTASY   HORROR       FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY        HORROR Chaosmage Aryan, Stephen 10/11/2016 Orbit Conspiracy of Ravens Bowen, Lila 10/11/2016 Orbit Crimson Death Laurell K. Hamilton 10/11/2016 Berkley Hag-Seed Margaret Atwood 10/11/2016 Hogarth Shakespeare Hammers on Bone Khaw, Cassandra 10/11/2016 Tor.com The Apothecary’s Curse Barnett, Barbara 10/11/2016 Pyr The Graveyard Apartment Mariko Koike, Deborah Boliver Boehm (Translator) 10/11/2016 Thomas Dunne The Librarians and The Lost Lamp Cox, Greg 10/11/2016 Tor Books The Midnight Star Marie Lu 10/11/2016 G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers Treachery’s Tools Modesitt Jr., L. E. 10/11/2016 Tor Books Unhonored Hickman, Tracy 10/11/2016 Tor Books

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   FANTASY           URBAN FANTASY     SCIENCE FICTION       HORROR         FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR     All Your Wishes Adams, Cat 10/4/2016 Tor Books Break the Chains O’Keefe, Megan E. 10/4/2016 Angry Robot Closer to the Chest Lackey, Mercedes 10/4/2016 DAW Feedback Grant, Mira 10/4/2016 Orbit Impersonations Williams, Walter Jon 10/4/2016 Tor.com Into the Guns Dietz, William C. 10/4/2016 Ace Level Grind Bellet, Annie 10/4/2016 Saga Press Stranded MacLeod, Bracken 10/4/2016 Tor Books The Rise of Io Chu, Wesley 10/4/2016 Angry Robot The Wall of Storms Liu, Ken 10/4/2016 Saga Press The White Spell Kurland, Lynn 10/4/2016 Berkley

Today we are excited to welcome Fran Wilde to The Speculative Herald. She is here to tell us about all the fascinating (and potentially bad) things that can happen with altitude changes. Her latest book, Cloudbound, releases today, and unfortunate for her characters, they are faced with the altitude change from heading down to the clouds in this book. Into the Depths By Fran Wilde   While Updraft (Tor 2015) is a pretty level novel — flying-wise — Cloudbound (Tor 2016) does exactly what it says on the tin… by heading into the clouds. In this case, vertical worldbuilding became an important part of the characters’ plight, and very quickly, because: science!   How does a high-altitude culture experience a plunge into the depths? My research suggested a couple of potential reactions, and follow-up discussions with several physicians helped support this.   One reaction was a variation on over-oxygenation, hyperoxia, or oxygen intoxication, where the brain gets a rush of unexpected 02 – much more than it’s used to, and too quickly. Side effects can include: disorientation, breathing problems, and vision changes such as myopia. Other observed effects of more oxygen than normal can include elation, a natural high, and/or…