Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell

Due this week: Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell (Tor £7.99):

“At the end of days, what price salvation? In a world where the undead outnumber the living, Moses Todd roams the post-apocalyptic plains of America. His reprobate brother, Abraham – his only companion – has known little else. Together, they journey because they have to; because they have nowhere to go, and no one to answer to other than themselves.

Travelling the bloody wastelands of this ruined world, Moses is looking for a kernel of truth, and a reason to keep going. And a chance encounter presents him with the Vestal Amata, a beguiling and mysterious woman who may hold the key to salvation. But he is not the only one seeking the Vestal. For the Vestal has a gift: a gift that might help save what is left of humanity. And it may take everything he has to free her from the clutches of those who most desire her.”

Phoenicia’s Worlds by Ben Jeapes

Phoenicia’s Worlds by Ben Jeapes is published by Solaris (£7.99):

“La Nueva Temporada is earth’s only extrasolar colony – an earth-type planet caught in the grip of a very earth-type Ice age.

Alex Mateo wants nothing more than to stay and contribute to the terraforming of his homeworld. But tragedy strikes the colony, and to save it from starvation and collapse, Alex must reluctantly entrust himself to the Phoenicia, the only starship in existence, to make the long slower-than light journey back to earth.

But it is his brother Quin, who loathes La Nueva Temporada and all the people on it, who must watch his world collapse around him and become its saviour ... while everyone watches the skies for the return of the Phoenicia.”

Deep Space by Ian Douglas

Deep Space by Ian Douglas is published this coming week from Harper Voyager (£8.99).

“In the vein of the hit television show Battlestar Galactica comes the fourth book in this action-packed, New York Times bestselling, science fiction series in which humankind is in a vast power struggle to bring down an evil empire.

20 years after the fragile truce with the Sh’daar, Koenig is now President of the USNA, and Gray is skipper of the CVS America … soon to be promoted to commander of the entire battle group, Koenig’s old position, and one which he might not be ready for.

The truce with the alien Sh’daar is unravelling as many predicted, and Humankind still knows little about them, or what they are.”

Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey

Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey is out next week (Harper Voyager £12.99):

“James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in LA. But he also lost the Qomrama Om Ya, an all-powerful weapon from the banished older gods. Older gods who are returning and searching for their lost power.

The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall — a global shopping paradise infested with Lurkers and wretched bottom-feeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of retail wasteland. Somewhere in this kill zone is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, recover the artefact, and outwit and outrun the angry old gods — and natural-born killers — on his tail.

But not even Sandman Slim is infallible, and any mistakes will cost him dearly.”

Age of Godpunk by James Lovegrove

James Lovegrove’s Age of Godpunk (Solaris £7.99) includes three novellas with three different gods. They were originally published as ebooks and this is their first time in print:

Age of Anansi: “Dion Yeboah leads an orderly, disciplined life... until the day the spider appears. What looks like an ordinary arachnid turns out to be Anansi, the trickster god of African legend, and its arrival throws Dion’s existence into chaos.”

Age of Satan: “A young man invokes something he shouldn’t have. A politician ushers in a new age that promises enlightenment and tolerance...”

Age of Gaia: “A billionaire businessmen is about to find out his future is very different from the plans he has laid.”

Sea Change by S M Wheeler

Already available: Sea Change by S M Wheeler (Tor $24.99):

“The unhappy child of two powerful parents who despise each other, young Lilly turns to the ocean to find solace, which she finds in the form of the eloquent and intelligent sea monster Octavius, a kraken. In Octavius’s many arms, Lilly learns of friendship, loyalty, and family. When Octavius, forbidden by Lilly to harm humans, is captured by seafaring traders and sold to a circus, Lilly becomes his only hope for salvation. Desperate to find him, she strikes a bargain with a witch that carries a shocking price.

Her journey to win Octavius’s freedom is difficult. The circus master wants a Coat of Illusions; the Coat tailor wants her undead husband back from a witch; the witch wants her skin back from two bandits; the bandits just want some company, but they might kill her first. Lilly's quest tests her resolve, tries her patience, and leaves her transformed in every way.”

You can read an extract here.

The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson

The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson is out shortly (Tor £8.99):

“Must he die to know the truth?

Archivist Luc Gabion is dying, slowly, victim of a forced technology implant while on assignment. He brought down a powerful terrorist, but at great cost, and this new tech brings unexpected dangers.

Luc must investigate the Thousand Emperors, rulers of the Tian Di's stellar empire. One of their number has been murdered and he needs to find the killer. But the technology he now carries supersedes anything he's encountered, and Luc sees things he knows are forbidden. As the truth emerges, he's in trouble. Any of these leaders could be guilty -- and could execute him on a whim. Worse, the murder victim was brokering the coming Reunification. Two great warring civilisations, separated for centuries, due to unite in a new age of peace. But it becomes clear that someone will do anything to ensure that day never comes.”

Alchemy Press website

The Alchemy Press (something I do when wearing one of my other hats) has a new website. It's still being built but please do visit and let me know your thoughts. I want to get it looking good!

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch – the latest in his fantasy/crime series that began with Rivers of London – is out now (Gollancz £14.99):

“A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil; an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common or garden serial killer?

Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the case a town planner going under a tube train and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case-load. So far so London.

But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on an housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate.  Is there a connection?

And if there is, why oh why did it have to be South of the River?”

Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human

“Neil Gaiman meets Tarantino in this madcap, wildly entertaining journey into Cape Town's supernatural underworld.”

Apocalypse Now Now by Charlie Human is out next month from Century (£12.99):

“Baxter Zevcenko’s life is pretty sweet. As the 16-year-old kingpin of the Spider, his smut-peddling schoolyard syndicate, he’s making a name for himself as an up-and-coming entrepreneur. Profits are on the rise, the other gangs are staying out of his business, and he’s going out with Esme, the girl of his dreams.

But when Esme gets kidnapped, and all the clues point towards strange forces at work, things start to get seriously weird. The only man drunk enough to help is a bearded, booze-soaked, supernatural bounty hunter that goes by the name of Jackson ‘Jackie’ Ronin.

Plunged into the increasingly bizarre landscape of Cape Town’s supernatural underworld, Baxter and Ronin team up to save Esme. On a journey that takes them through the realms of impossibility, they must face every conceivable nightmare to get her back, including the odd brush with the Apocalypse.”

Or as the tag line goes: “I love the smell of parallel dimensions in the morning”.