After a slow winter, science fiction rallies a bit in April with eleven releases, including Triggers, a new sci-fi thriller from Robert Sawyer; a seriously handicapped hero in Brian Evenson’s Immobility, and new series additions from David Drake (Lt. Leary), Gini Koch (Katherine “Kitty” Katt), and Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger).
Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.
WEEK ONE
Above, by Leah Bobet (April 1, Arthur A. Levine)
Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee’s wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above—like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers. But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe’s history and the shadows’ attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home—not just for himself, but for Ariel. Young Adult.
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, by Nancy Kress (April 1, Tachyon)
The year is 2035. After ecological disasters nearly destroyed the Earth, 26 survivors are trapped by an alien race in a sterile enclosure known as the Shell. Fifteen-year-old Pete is one of the Six—children born deformed or sterile and raised in the Shell. As the survivors grow sick and die, Pete and the Six struggle to put aside their anger at the alien Tesslies in order to find the means to rebuild the earth together. Their only hope lies within brief time-portals into the recent past, where they bring back children to replenish their gene pool. Meanwhile, in 2013, a brilliant mathematician works with the FBI to solve a series of inexplicable kidnappings. Suddenly her predictive algorithms begin to reveal more than just criminal activity.
The Road of Danger (Lt. Leary/RCN, Book 9), by David Drake (April 3, Baen)
Captain Daniel Leary with his friend and spy, Officer Adele Mundy, are sent to a quiet sector to carry out an easy task: helping the local admiral put down a coup before it takes place. But then the jealous admiral gets rid of them by sending them off on a wild goose chase to a sector where commerce is king and business is carried out by extortion and gunfights. With anarchy and rebellion in the air, a rogue intelligence officer plots the war that will destroy civilization and enlists the help of a brute whom even torturers couldn’t stomach. And, of course, it’s up to Leary and Mundy to put a stop to the madness.
Alien Diplomacy (Katherine “Kitty” Katt, Book 5), by Gini Koch (April 3, Daw)
Being newlyweds and new parents is challenging enough. But Jeff and Kitty Martini are also giving up their roles as super-being exterminators and commanders in Centaurion Division while mastering the political landscape as the new heads of Centaurion’s Diplomatic Corps. Enter a shadowy assassination plot and a new set of anti-alien conspirators, and nothing will ever be the same.
Triggers, by Robert J. Sawyer (April 3, Ace)
On the eve of a secret military operation, an assassin’s bullet strikes President Seth Jerrison. He is rushed to the hospital, where surgeons struggle to save his life. At the same hospital, researcher Ranjip Singh is experimenting with a device that can erase traumatic memories. Then a terrorist bomb detonates. In the operating room, the president suffers cardiac arrest. He has a near-death experience—but the memories that flash through Jerrison’s mind are not “his” memories. It quickly becomes clear that the electromagnetic pulse generated by the bomb amplified and scrambled Dr. Singh’s equipment, allowing a random group of people to access one another’s minds. And now one of those people has access to the president’s memories—including classified information regarding the upcoming military mission, which, if revealed, could cost countless lives. But the task of determining who has switched memories with whom is a daunting one—particularly when some of the people involved have reason to lie.
WEEK TWO
Immobility, by Brian Evenson (April 10, Tor)
Before the Kollaps, Detective Josef Horkai was the one they called in whenever an investigation hit a wall. He’s still pretty certain he’s the best, even if there are very few other people still alive to compete with, even if the rules of the game have changed. Only problem is, he’s been exposed to something that’s slowly killing him. His hair has fallen out, his teeth are all but gone, his legs are already all but useless, and he can feel the feeling slowly seeping out of his fingers. Which is why they’ve kept him frozen, held in suspended animation until they figure out what’s wrong with him. Only he can feel time oozing slowly past, has a vague sense of the world going on without him. And then suddenly, someone claiming to be a friend thaws him out, tells him he’s needed. Something crucial has been stolen—though with the pain in his head it’s hard for him to keep straight what and why. He’s got to get it back or something bad—what was it again?—is going to happen. And he’s got to get it back so they can freeze him again before his own time runs out.
Assassin’s Code (Joe Ledger, Book 4), by Jonathan Maberry (April 10, St. Martin’s Griffin)
When Joe Ledger and Echo Team rescue a group of American college kids held hostage in Iran, the Iranian government asks them to help find six nuclear bombs planted in the Mideast oil fields. These stolen WMDs will lead Joe and Echo Team into hidden vaults of forbidden knowledge, mass-murder, betrayal, and a brotherhood of genetically engineered killers with a thirst for blood. Accompanied by the beautiful assassin called Violin, Joe follows a series of clues to find the Book of Shadows, which contains a horrifying truth that threatens to shatter his entire worldview. They say the truth will set you free. Not this time. The secrets of the Assassin’s Code will set the world ablaze.
Losers in Space, by John Barnes (April 12, Viking Juvenile)
It is the year 2129, and fame is all that matters. Susan and her friends are celebutantes. Their lives are powered by media awareness, fed by engineered meals, and underscored by cynicism. Everyone has a rating; the more viewers who ID you, the better. So Susan and her almost-boyfriend Derlock cook up a surefire plan: the nine of them will visit a Mars-bound spaceship and stow away. Their survival will be a media sensation, boosting their ratings across the globe. There’s only one problem: Derlock is a sociopath. Young Adult.
WEEK THREE
White Horse, by Alex Adams (April 17, Atria)
Thirty-year-old Zoe wants to go back to college. That’s why she cleans cages and floors at GeneTech. If she can keep her head down, do her job, and avoid naming the mice she’ll be fine. Her life is calm—until the President of the United States announces that humans are no longer a viable species. Her boyfriend Nick, fearing he’s contracted the virus, leaves for Greece. When Zoe discovers she’s pregnant, she treks across the world to find Nick and reunite her growing family. On her journey, Zoe comes to see that humanity is defined not by genetic code, but by soulful actions and choices.
Pax Britannia: Pax Omega, by Al Ewing (April 17, Abaddon)
El Sombra’s final battle against the forces of the Ultimate Reich. The Locomotive Man in a showdown with cosmic science on the prairies of the Old West. Jackson Steele defends the 25th Century against the massed armies of the Space Satan. A duel of minds in the mystery palaces of One Million AD. This is steam-pulp sci-fi, from the Big Bang to the End Of Time—eleven tales from Pax Britannia’s past, present and distant future combine into one saga set to shake the universe to its foundations—or destroy it!
WEEK FOUR
Champion of Mars, by Guy Haley (April 24, Solaris)
In the far future, Mars dies a second time. The Final War between man and the spirits is beginning. In a last bid for peace, disgraced champion Yoechakanon Val Moraand his spirit lover Cybele are set free to find the long-missing Librarian of Mars, the only hope to save the remnants of mankind. In the near future, Dr Holland, a scientist running from a painful past, joins the Mars colonisation effort, cataloguing the remnants of Mars’ biosphere before it is swept away by the terraformation programme. When an artefact is discovered deep in the caverns of the red planet, the actions of Holland and his team lead to tragedy, with profound consequences that ripple throughout time, affecting Holland’s present, the distant days of Yoechakanon, and the eras that bridge the aeons between.
Author Suzanne Johnson is a book geek with a fondness for a good dystopia. Her new urban fantasy series, scheduled to begin with the release of Royal Street on April 10 by Tor Books, is set in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. Find Suzanne on Twitter and Facebook.
