Here’s the full list of science fiction titles heading your way in June!
Keep track of all the new SFF releases here. All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher. Release dates are subject to change.
June 2
Sublimation — Isabel J. Kim (Tor Books)
When you immigrate, you leave a copy of yourself behind, an instance. One person enters their new country; the other stays trapped at home. Some instances keep in touch, call each other daily, keep their lives and minds in sync in the hopes of reintegrating and resuming a life as one person. Others, like Soyoung Rose Kang, leave home at ten years old and never speak to their other selves again. Rose, in America, never imagined going back to Korea until her grandfather died and her Korean instance called her home for the funeral. She doesn’t know that Soyoung plans to steal her body and her life. How far would you go to live the choice you didn’t make?
Valet — J.P. Lacrampe (Saga Press)
Cy wants nothing more than to be useful, raise his utility score, and receive the next update for his operating system. But that’s easier said than done when he’s tasked with helping his owner’s 35-year-old son “get out of his funk.” Grayson is nothing like his go-getter, CEO sister Charlotte. He didn’t inherit the family robotics company when their dad passed last year, he doesn’t have a master’s degree, and he just can’t seem to figure out the San Francisco dating scene. He’d rather eat synthesized mozzarella sticks and make pottery at his studio, Kilning Time. When Grayson learns of Charlotte’s plan to sell the company to a tech conglomerate, he panics. It’s not just the family business at stake, it’s all the technology—like Cy—their dad invented over the years. So he does what anyone would do: he steals the flash drive with his father’s most important work stored on it and plans a corporate takeover. If only he knew what that meant. To make matters worse, a fellow VALET deserts his owner and asks Cy to help him hightail it out of town, Grayson’s first real date—and her dog—keeping showing up at inopportune times, and the behemoth tech company wants this deal closed yesterday. Grayson, Cy, and their trusty golden retriever, Sasha III, must go on the lam until they figure out exactly what to do, and whom to trust.
June 9
Fleet of Ghosts (Destroyermen: Scout Cadre #1) — Taylor Anderson (Ace)
Ever since the World War II–era destroyer USS Walker was marooned on a strange alternate earth, naturalist Courtney Bradford has been eager to fully explore the planet. Now that the war with the Grand Alliance’s enemies has settled into an uneasy peace, he is given leave to organize the Corps of Discovery, a motley company formed of veterans of the Great War from all over the Alliance. On board the rebuilt Walker, now a school ship, they set out to investigate reports of a region in the Pacific where ships have gone missing and a terrible bright flash of light on the horizon was witnessed. But what they find there is beyond anyone’s imagination: a great battered fleet made up of strange ships. Courtney suspects the rusty armada may have been transported to this world from another, the same way the Walker was almost five years ago. But the Alliance’s enemies are already aware of these lost ships—and the deadly technology they can harvest from them—and are willing to go to any lengths to steal them. Courtney, a crew of inexperienced cadets, and a handful of lethal commandos are all that stand in the way of another global war—one that the exhausted Alliance simply can’t win.
The Traveler — Joseph Eckert (Tor Books)
It’s a day like any other when Scott Treder first jumps forward through time. One moment, he’s on his way to work, fingers drumming the steering wheel. The next, he’s tumbling headlong down the road, his car gone, a dozen panicked voicemails from his wife waiting on his cell. 7:51am. Monday, April 13th. A blink of an eye. 7:52am. Tuesday, April 14th. An entire 24 hours, gone. This one moment—this first spontaneous slip—marks a change in the course not only of Scott’s future, but that of the world. From this point on, at precisely 7:52am every morning, Scott inexplicably travels forward in time in ever-doubling intervals. First one day lost in a blink, then two, then four, until weeks, even years, are passing him by in an instant. Meanwhile, his wife is left alone to pick up the pieces of the life they once shared together, and, before long, Lyle, Scott’s genius seven-year-old son, will surpass him in age. Because while his dad is rocketing forward in time, Lyle is growing up—graduating early, studying at Berkeley, becoming the foremost scholar of quantum physics, all in an attempt to bring his father back…
Obstetrix — Naomi Kritzer (Tordotcom)
Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she’s kidnapped. They’re not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN. Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped. She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it’s the last thing she does.
Earth 7 — Deb Olin Unferth (Graywolf Press)
Well, that’s about it for the story of planet Earth, poor Earth, reduced to not much more than a piece of burnt coal. Two women meet on a beach of artificial sand. One was raised in a pod in the ocean and the other may or may not be a robot. Their love—or any love—seems so unlikely. Earth is severely depopulated. Some people have given up, gone off to Mars. Others pursue eternal life as digital code. And yet others, like Dylan and Melanie, are holdouts—and some of those holdouts are constructing a vast molecular collection in hopes that a future person may be alive to make a new Earth. Foolhardy? Misguided? Quixotic? Probably. But what can a human (or a robot) do?
Fresh Start — Johnny Worthen (Flame Tree Press)
On the edges of mankind’s domain there is a penal planet called Fresh Start where a sentence is at best exile to five generations, but more likely death in its harsh unforgiving wastes. It is to this planet the empire sends the worst of the worst and it is on this planet that Qays Mendoza searches for his old captain. The galactic empire is falling, civilization contracts. Fresh Start is abandoned. Without oversight, the planet is wild, without guards; the Oubliette, the supermax prison on the supermax planet, lies open, and the Butcher of Raznak, a killer worse than the one Qays seeks, is on the loose. With the help of a street waif called Patience, Qays seeks answers. His soul is stained with guilt and his spirit broken by complicity. Religion did not have the answer; duty did not explain it. Birthright and station were not enough. His answers lie somewhere on Fresh Start.
June 16
Voyagers — Meg Charlton (Harper)
When the Signal—a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system— arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing this could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirtysomething lawyer who’s spent years distancing himself from the unexplainable, the Signal feels deeply personal—the opening of an old wound. Decades ago, Alex and a girl named Ana both vanished for thirty-six hours while on vacation near Palm Springs. When they returned, dazed but unharmed, the six-year-olds’ account of their experience had all the hallmarks of an alien abduction. The media frenzy that followed made them famous, and the long months of child stardom, of talk shows and sitcom cameos, forged a seemingly unbreakable bond between them—until the mystery behind their disappearance began to tear them apart. Now, with the world on edge and the Signal growing stronger, Alex is drawn back to the one person who might have answers. Ana—now a professional advocate for experiencers of extraterrestrial contact—is leading a retreat near Palm Springs, a stone’s throw from the site of their childhood disappearance. As the former best friends tentatively reunite, what starts as a quest to confront the reality of their original experience becomes a larger reckoning with friendship, faith, family, and truth itself—what it means to see the stories we tell ourselves for what they really are.
The Helium Sea (Exodus #2) — Peter F. Hamilton (Random House Worlds)
For millennia, the Crown Dominion has been at relative peace, with the Celestials in control and the human population little better than serfs. But now the Crown Dominion is facing a crisis of epic proportions—one that could change the balance of power in the Centauri Cluster forever—as an exiled faction that has been waiting for seven thousand years beyond the Helium Sea has returned to claim their vengeance. For Finn and his human allies, who have ended up at the center of this conflict either through circumstance or manipulation, this is an unprecedented opportunity. If they can band together, they may be able to outwit the Celestials and finally earn their fellow humans a place of independence and power in the Crown Dominion. But first they must locate and master ancient artifacts of immense power that could give them a needed edge in the conflict ahead. And all while ducking the forces that are determined to knock them off the board for good.
The Disco at the End of the World — Nathan Tavares (Titan Books)
In 1977—a world in which America launched its space program shortly after WWII—Mitch Ward followed Flynn, the lost love of his youth, into the US Spaceguard. Now, he’s stuck on a backwater moon base with his only friend, Gloria, watching every shuttle in the hope Flynn will be on it. After an inexplicable encounter with a strange, euphoric being, Mitch and Gloria find themselves dishonourably discharged, and stuck with no plans and no future in a USA rapidly sliding into fascism. There’s nothing for it but to move to Los Angeles to chase their dreams, and find their people in the discos of the city. But when Flynn crashes back into their lives, claiming to be the host for an emissary of a utopian civilization approaching Earth, he offers Mitch the power to protect himself and friends across the queer community, so they never have to live in the shadows or face oppression again. With the world on the brink of cataclysm, and Mitch and his friends being squeezed out of every space, it’s down to this community of disco-loving outcasts to stand up for what is beautiful and right.
June 23
Foundling Fathers — Meg Elison (Tachyon Publications)
The trouble starts when a curious young man finds a smartphone in his privy. The problem is, it’s supposed to be the year 1750. The Antediluvian Society—a shadowy cabal of right-wing billionaires—is fed up with a country they cannot fully control or understand. So they have done what any reasonable American patriots would do: Clone the Founding Fathers and raise them in secrecy. The plan, unbeknownst to the boys, is for them to restore America to its original “glory.” Ben takes his technological discovery to his brothers, Thomas, John, and George. The boys have been raised on an isolated island plantation by Mary Libertas, a firm but kind woman, and Jeff Hancock, their de facto father. But the idyllic life is far too dull for young men. The boys have been chafing at the restrictions upon them (especially Tom, who has impregnated yet another of the servants). Hancock is complaining to the Society that it’s well past the time to tell the boys where they come from and what they must do. Unfortunately for their keepers, the young men now have a phone… and many other notions.
The Sixth Nik — Daniel Kraus (Saga Press)
Deep into space, far past the triworld outposts, beyond range of the lethal trollbot internet, soars The Sickness: a ship woven from biomatter and capable of reacting to every need of its human crew. Sisilla, a nine-year-old cultist with a brain enhanced by arcane tech known as “niks,” has boarded to investigate the enigma of Fém—a plague-riddled planet that has abruptly gone rogue. The mysterious crew includes a faceless assassin, a beautiful engineer jigsawed by plastic surgery, a peyote-addicted medic, and—most lethal of all—a rugged, NonModded captain with a score to settle with Sisilla. Other dangers abound. A hacked robot begins to believe Sisilla is its daughter. The Sickness itself is mutating, possibly even pregnant. And the secret of Fém is more horrific than anyone could have imagined. To survive, Sisilla will need to forsake her predetermined fate and embrace the unknown.
Lavender Spike — Rachel Tremblay (ECW Press)
Isobel “Izzy” Ker is one of the last Purist artists left. She survives in the slums outside Mahl City, secretly selling illegal paintings in a world ruled by the New Art Government. They keep their citizens in line through Trigger Art, a powerful, addictive form of creation that overwhelms the senses and rewires the mind. When her studio is raided, Izzy has nowhere to run. She is forced to find safety with the Half-Light Rebels, a group of anti-art radicals and glorified thieves who are determined to tear the system down. But rebellion comes at a cost, and her first mission with the rebels fails. Izzy is captured. The New Art Government gives her a choice: rot in the city’s infamous prison, or convert and become a Trigger Artist. Izzy accepts and is thrust into the spotlight as a rising Trigger Artist, intoxicated by the luxury, the power, and the dangerous pull of creation at its most extreme… not to mention her enigmatic bodyguard, Rilke. The wild, engrossing act of creating her first public piece almost makes her forget what life was like in the Dumps. Almost. While the system remakes her into its most powerful weapon, Izzy plays a deeper game. She works in secret with the rebels and prepares to unveil her audacious debut piece. Because the most dangerous creation is defiance.
June 30
A City Dreaming (Astra Black #3) — Maurice Broaddus (Tor Books)
We received a signal. Everything has changed. The Interstellar Alliance are coming. A new empire approaches and the Muungano, already facing foes much closer to home, will have to contend with what it means for their future. Across the solar system, from Earth to Mars and Titan, beyond the Orun Gate, and across time and space itself a battle will rage. Their soldiers, scientists, diplomats and leaders will all have a role to play if their empire is to live on.
Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep — Paul Tremblay (William Morrow)
Meet Julia Flang, a twenty-something former semi-professional gamer, living with her retired uncle, and working two jobs she doesn’t like. Out of the blue, her estranged mother, a CFO for one of the world’s largest tech companies, offers her a temp job with a payday Julia can’t refuse. One sham interview later, she’s offered the job: to chaperone a man in a vegetative state—one with proprietary AI implanted in his head—from California to the East Coast. To sum up in Julia’s own words: “You want me to remote control this dead dude across the country.” In a word, yes. But he’s not dead dead. Meet a middle-aged man who wakes within a disorienting hellscape filled with monstrous grotesqueries. Worse than the fluid, morphing reality in which he’s trapped, he has no memory of who he is. He certainly doesn’t remember getting the rabbit tattoo on his arm. He only knows that he must find a certain person. Who? He can’t remember. Using a cell phone modeled after a video game controller, Julia fumblingly navigates the man she calls “Bernie” from the company campus and onto planes and through one of the largest airports in America. All the while, the man endures an ever-changing and worsening nightmare that offers clues as to who he was—and who he must track down. And as their two lives intertwine, Julia and Bernie become unlikely allies and fugitives on a collision course with reality.
