It’s a slow month in the world of urban fantasy, paranormal fiction, and horror, with only sixteen new titles. Look for new titles from, among others, Christopher Golden, Eileen Wilks (World of the Lupi), Karen Chance (Cassandra Palmer), Suzanne Johnson (Sentinels of New Orleans), Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith (The Geomancer), and Deborah Blake.
Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here. Note: All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher.
WEEK ONE
Pirateship Down: Stories from the World of the Sentinels of New Orleans—Suzanne Johnson (November 2)
French pirate Jean Lafitte is tall, cobalt-eyed, broad-shouldered, and immortal. What’s not to love? New Orleans’ most esteemed member of the historical undead is headed for trouble. He’s determined to reclaim Le Diligent, his gold-laden schooner lost at sea in 1814 and recently found at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico near Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office might beg to differ. New Orleans wizard DJ Jaco and her merman friend Rene Delachaise can either lock up their friend Lafitte or join him on a road trip to Cajun country in order to save him from himself. Terrebonne Parish, not to mention its jail, might never be the same after the events of the all-new standalone novella Pirateship Down, presented here with a collection of urban fantasy stories and essays. Wizards and Cajun merfolk, slithery shifters and undead French pirates. Welcome to the world of the Sentinels of New Orleans—along with a little Louisiana lagniappe.
Dead Ringers—Christopher Golden (November 3, St. Martin’s Press)
When Tess Devlin runs into her ex-husband Nick on a Boston sidewalk, she’s furious at him for pretending he doesn’t know her. She calls his cell to have it out with him, only to discover that he’s in New Hampshire with his current girlfriend. If Nick’s in New Hampshire, who did she encounter on the street? Frank Lindbergh’s dreams have fallen apart. He wanted to get out of the grim neighborhood where he’d grown up. Both his parents are dead and he’s back in his childhood home. He’s assaulted by an intruder in his living room, an intruder who could be his twin. In an elegant hotel, Tess will find mystery and terror in her own reflection. Outside a famed mansion on Beacon Hill, people are infected with a diabolical malice, while on the streets, an eyeless man, dressed in rags, searches for a woman who wears Tess’s face.
Lost Souls (Reviver Trilogy #2)—Seth Patrick (November 3, Thomas Dunne Books)
After the life-altering events of Reviver, Jonah Miller, the world’s most powerful forensic revivalist, is caught between standing up for what he knows is right, and protecting the job he loves. The tide is turning. Those who campaign against revival have redoubled their efforts. Better funded, their polemic is working. Public opinion is becoming uneasy. Then a bizarrely mutilated body is found. The cause of death baffles police, but Jonah suspects that there are other forces at work, forces just as destructive as those he has already faced. When research efforts begin again to explore the source of revival, old faces reappear and Jonah’s world starts to unravel. As the research closes in on dangerous truths, Jonah and his friends find there’s nowhere left to go; no-one left to trust. And in the darkness, something is coming. (U.S. Release)
Mind Magic (World of the Lupi #12)—Eileen Wilks (November 3, Berkley)
Thanks to the mindspeech lessons she’s receiving from the black dragon, Lily is temporarily benched from Unit Twelve, until her brain acclimates and the risk of total burnout passes. At least she has her new husband, lupi Rule Turner, to keep her occupied. But when her mentor calls in a favor and sends Lily to a murder scene, she’s suddenly back on active status, despite the hallucinations she can’t keep at bay. With one touch, Lily knows the man was killed by magic, but her senses don’t warn her how far the conspiracy goes. A shadowy force within the government wants to take Unit Twelve down, and they don’t mind killing to achieve their goal. With none of her usual resources, Lily is up against impossible odds, because with her mind in disarray, she can’t trust anything she sees.
My Loaded Gun, My Lonely Heart—Martin Rose (November 3, Talos)
Vitus Adamson has a second chance at life now that he’s no longer a zombie, but after killing his brother Jamie, Vitus lands in prison on murder charges. Jamie’s death exposes secret government projects so deep in the black they cannot be seen, without Vitus, that is. The government hires Vitus to clean up Jamie’s mess. A convicted killer safely behind bars may not be so safe after all when it appears he is still committing murder through his victim’s dreams. High on Atroxipine (the drug that once kept him functioning among the living) Vitus’s grip on reality takes a nasty turn when his own dreams start slipping sideways. He deals with his failed friendship with officer Geoff Lafferty, his wrecked romance with the town mortician Niko, government agents working for his father, sinister figures and the complications of learning how to be human again.
Mystic Warrior (Rogue Angel #57)—Alex Archer (November 3, Gold Eagle)
Archaeologist and TV show host Annja Creed trades in her dig tools and dirty excavations for the sunny climes of Hollywood. Serving as a prop consultant for a popular TV fantasy series, Annja’s enjoying the lights, camera and much less action. Until a scrying crystal is stolen off the set. The crystal is a priceless artifact from the period of the Crusades. In the process of recovering it, Annja discovers something far more valuable: an ancient document that could lead to the lost treasure of the Merovingian kings. The Merovingians were said to be mystic warriors, armed with the power of God. Annja isn’t the only one who knows about the document. Now she must face down a malevolent group that’s far too familiar with Garin, one of her closest allies. Good thing she shares far more with these mystic warrriors than even she could imagine.
Reap the Wind (Cassandra Palmer #7)—Karen Chance (November 3, Signet)
You’d think that being Chief Seer for the supernatural world would come with a few perks. But as Cassie Palmer has learned, being Pythia doesn’t mean you don’t have to do things the hard way. That’s why she finds herself on a rescue mission skipping through time, even though she doesn’t entirely understand her dimension-bending new power. Rescuing her friend John Pritkin should have been an in and out kind of deal, but with the near-immortal mage’s soul lost in time, Cassie has to hunt for it through the ages, with Pritkin’s demon dad in tow. He’s the only one who can reverse Pritkin’s curse, but with the guardians of the time-line dead set on stopping anyone from mucking about, Cassie will have to figure out how to get her friend back without ruffling too many feathers, or causing a world-ending paradox or two.
Shivaree—J.D. Horn (November 3, 47North)
As the Korean War ends, army nurse Corinne Ford returns stateside to live in the Mississippi town of Conroy with her new fiancé, Private First Class Elijah Dunne. She wonders if their love is strong enough to overshadow their differences, but upon her arrival to Elijah’s backwoods stomping grounds, she understands that culture shock is the least of her worries. After four good ol’ boys are attacked in the night while seeking to terrorize a local black family, decades of buried secrets begin to rise. From Conroy’s most powerful citizen to the man Corinne intends to marry, no one is innocent. The deepest secret of all involves the beautiful, cruel, and dead Miss Ruby. The former belle of Conroy, and Elijah’s lost love, is neither forgotten nor truly gone. But her death is only the beginning of a slow vengeance that won’t stop until its hunger is satisfied.
The Geomancer (Vampire Earth: A Gareth and Adele Novel)—Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith (November 3, Pyr)
The uneasy stalemate between vampires and humans is over. Adele and Gareth are bringing order to a free Britain, but bloody murders in London raise the specter that Adele’s geomancy is failing. A deranged human called the Witchfinder has surfaced on the Continent, serving new vampire lords. This geomancer has found a way to make vampires immune to geomancy and intends to give his masters the ability to kill humans on a massive scale. If the Witchfinder can use geomancy against humanity, Adele may not have the power to stop him. From a Britain struggling to rebuild to the vampire capital of Paris, from the heart of the Equatorian Empire to a vampire monastery in far-away Tibet, old friends and past enemies return. Adele and Gareth fight side-by-side as always, but they can never be the same if they hope to survive.
The Girl with Ghost Eyes—M.H. Boroson (November 3, Talos)
It’s the end of the nineteenth century in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and ghost hunters from the Maoshan traditions of Daoism keep malevolent spiritual forces at bay. Li-lin, the daughter of a renowned Daoshi exorcist, is a young widow burdened with yin eyes, the unique ability to see the spirit world. Her spiritual visions and the death of her husband bring shame to Li-lin and her father. When a sorcerer cripples her father, terrible plans are set in motion. Only Li-lin can stop them. To aid her are her martial arts and a peachwood sword, her burning paper talismans, and a wisecracking spirit in the form of a human eyeball tucked away in her pocket. Navigating the alleys and backrooms of Chinatown, Li-lin must confront evil spirits, gangsters, and soulstealers before the sorcerer’s ritual summons an evil that could burn Chinatown to the ground.
WEEK TWO
Darkness Hidden (The Name of the Blade #2)—Zoe Marriott (November 10, Candlewick)
Young Adult. Against all odds, Mio has defeated the evil Nekomata and seen her love, Shinobu, restored to life. But in the wake of the battle, Mio’s unsettling connection to the katana, an ancient sword her family has been compelled to guard for generations, has grown more frightening. And now the Underworld has sent the Shikome, foul women whose feathers carry death, to spread a supernatural plague through London. With her best friend in the hospital, Shinobu’s very existence at risk, and the city in chaos, Mio realizes there is no way she can keep everyone she loves alive. What terrible sacrifice must she make to save the world? (U.S.)
Triple Moon: Summer on East End—Melissa de la Cruz (November 10, G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR)
Young Adult. After they cause a terrible accident at their old high school, twin witches Mardi and Molly Overbrook are sent to live with their “Aunt” Ingrid Beauchamp in North Hampton, on Long Island’s mist-shrouded East End. Because the twins cannot control their powers, their father begs Ingrid to tame them over the summer, before the White Council exiles the girls to Limbo. Trouble continues to bubble and boil when the girls meet the younger Gardiner boys, who are just as handsome and sexy as their older kin. But all is not as it seems. As Ingrid helps the girls learn to control their magical impulses, Mardi and Molly have just this summer to figure out how to grow up, how to love, and how to be a family.
Visions: Crash; Bang; Gasp—Lisa McMann (November 10, Simon Pulse)
Omnibus edition. Jules lives with her family above their restaurant. It’s not a recipe for popularity, but she can handle that. What she can’t handle is the recurring vision that haunts her. Jules sees a careening truck hit a building and explode, and nine body bags in the snow. The vision is everywhere, on billboards, television screens, windows, and she’s the only one who sees it. And the more she sees it, the more she sees. The vision is giving her clues, and soon Jules knows what she has to do. Because now she can see the face in one of the body bags, and it’s someone she knows. Someone she has been in love with for as long as she can remember. But the horror doesn’t end there. In fact, this was just the beginning. And when Jules passes her visions on to someone she loves, will they be able to work together to prevent their visions from becoming realities?
WEEK THREE
Blood of the Lost (Rylee Adamson #10)—Shannon Mayer (November 17, Hijinks Ink)
“My name is Rylee and I am a Tracker.” When children go missing, and the Humans have no leads, I’m the one they call. I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot. My final salvage, and this time I must rescue the entire world. Orion has fooled the entire human population with his lies, and they follow him like mindless zombies. They are the lost ones now. I have my allies and my loved ones with me, but while they will fight to their death, it is still not enough. I must seal the Veil closed and send the demons back forever. There is only one thing left for me to do. Face Orion alone. But Orion knows my weakness. And he has stolen her away leaving me with a choice no mother should ever face. Save my daughter, or, save the world? The conclusion to the Rylee Adamson series.
The Beast of Barcroft—Bill Schweigart (November 17, Hydra)
Ben McKelvie believes he’s moving up in the world when he and his fiancée buy a house in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Barcroft. Instead, he’s moving down, thanks to Madeleine Roux, the crazy neighbor whose vermin-infested property is a permanent eyesore and looming hazard to public health. Ben’s fiancée leaves him; then, his dog dies, apparently killed by a predator drawn into Barcroft by Madeleine’s noxious menagerie. Ben is not dealing with any ordinary wild animal. This killer is something much worse. Something that couldn’t possibly exist, in this world. With some grudging assistance from a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the crackpot theories of a self-styled cryptozoologist, he discovers the sinister truth behind the attacks, but knowing the Beast of Barcroft and stopping it are two different animals. (Digital)
Veiled Magic—Deborah Blake (November 17, Penguin/Intermix)
Police officer and Witch Donata Santori spends her days interrogating dead witnesses by summoning their spectral forms. Normally the job is little more than taking statements and filing reports. But when she’s called in on the case of a murdered art restorer, she finds herself suddenly in possession of a mystical portrait that both the human and paranormal communities would kill to get their hands on. Unable to take on the forces hunting her alone, Donata seeks help from two unlikely and attractive allies: a reluctant shape-changer and a half-dragon art forger. But as the three of them hurry to uncover the truth about the powerful painting, Donata realizes that she’s caught in the middle of not one but two wars, one for possession of the painting’s secrets and one for possession of her heart. (Digital)
WEEK FOUR
No new titles.
Suzanne Johnson is the author of the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series, including the new novella and story collection, Pirateship Down. You can find Suzanne on Facebook and on her website.
