New Scifi and Fantasy Releases: Week of May 30

Tweet

From this week's list there are only a couple of titles that really stand out for me. There's Illona Andrews new book, Magic Slays, which is part of one of the few urban fantasy series that I follow, and which I will definitely be reading. There is also a new young adult book from Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Midnight Palace, which I also very much want to read.

Other than those two, almost all the books here are sequels to series that I haven't read, though some of them I do intend to. At the top of the list is Mark Charon Newton's series which I've had my eye on for a while and his newest release makes me want to read it even more. I've also heard great things about Mira Grant's book, Feed, and as soon as I get over my aversion to zombie books I plan to pick up that one.

One other book that looks kind of interesting is Well of Sorrows by Benjamin Tate. The description intrigues me and I like the cover so I'll probably look into that book to see what reviewers have to say.

Hope you have a great reading week!

**************************************************************************

Bloodforged (Part of Ulrika the Vampire)
Nathan Long
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Game Workshop
Release Date: May 31

Unable to adapt to Lahmian society, Ulrika seeks her own way, striking out to the Chaos-besieged city of Praag to seek old friends and glory in battle. On her arrival, she finds a devastated but defiant people and the invaders repelled. But the Ruinous Powers can take many forms, and now a more insidious threat is rising from within – a Slaaneshi cult that seeks to claim dominion in Praag. Shunned by her Lahmian sisters, decried by the humans she seeks to protect, Ulrika treads a lonely path as she tries to find the root of this destructive plot. Caught between the will of the vampires and the insane designs of Chaos sorcerers and cultists, Ulrika must call upon all of her cunning and savagery if she is to triumph...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood of the Wicked (Dark Mission #1)
Karina Cooper
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: May 31


When the world went straight to hell, humanity needed a scapegoat to judge, to blame . . . to burn.
As an independent witch living off the grid, Jessie Leigh has spent her life running, trying to blend in among the faceless drudges in the rebuilt city. She thought she was finally safe, but now she's been found in a New Seattle strip club—by a hard-eyed man on a mission to destroy her kind.
A soldier of the Holy Order, Silas Smith believes in the cause: trawling the fringes of society for the murderous witches who threaten what's left of the world. Forced into a twisting web of half-truths and lies, he has to stay close to the most sensuous and electrifying woman he has ever seen and manipulate her into leading him to the witch he has to kill: her brother. Silas doesn't know that Jessie's his enemy, only that he wants her, needs her, even as he lies to her . . . and must protect her until his final breath.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Book of Transformations (The Legends of the Red Sun, Bk 3)
Mark Charon Newton
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: June 3

A new and corrupt Emperor seeks to rebuild the ancient structures of Villjamur to give the people of the city hope in the face of great upheaval and an oppressing ice age. But when a stranger called Shalev arrives, empowering a militant underground movement, crime and terror becomes rampant. The Inquisition is always one step behind, and military resources are spread thinly across the Empire. So Emperor Urtica calls upon cultists to help construct a group to eliminate those involved with the uprising, and calm the populace. But there's more to The Villjamur Knights than just phenomenal skills and abilities - each have a secret that, if exposed, could destroy everything they represent. Investigator Fulcrom of the Villjamur Inquisition is given the unenviable task of managing the Knights', but his own skills are tested when a mysterious priest, who has travelled from beyond the fringes of the Empire, seeks his help. The priest's existence threatens the church, and his quest promises to unweave the fabric of the world. And in a distant corner of the Empire, the enigmatic cultist Dartun Sur steps back into this world, having witnessed horrors beyond his imagination. Broken, altered, he and the remnants of his cultist order are heading back to Villjamur. And all eyes turn to the Sanctuary City, for Villjamur's ancient legends are about to be shattered

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Breaking (Skinners, Bk 5)
Marcus Pelegrimas
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: May 31


Shapeshifters, vampires, and all manner of monstrosities are raining hell down on a small western town—which is why Skinner Paige Strobel is headed there with a band of Old World Skinners who have been battling monsters for centuries using antiquated, yet oddly effective weaponry. Meanwhile, Paige's sometime-partner/sometime-lover Cole Warnecki is being held prisoner by persons—or things—unknown: framed, tortured, and beaten for the slaughter of cops at a vampire warehouse in Denver.
For Paige and Cole, a search for answers has become a battle for survival. The future of unsuspecting humankind is balanced on a knife blade. And the Apocalypse is a certainty unless they can uncover the truth behind a terrible force powering monsters and hunters alike . . . and find out why—after horrific werewolf attacks in KC and bloody carnage in Philly—Skinners are suddenly, inexplicably, turning against Skinners . . .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Concrete Savior
Yvonne Navarro
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: May 31

THEY SAY NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED. BRYNNA MALAK IS LIVING PROOF .

A fallen angel in human form, Brynna is trying to earn another chance at heaven. So far, her road to redemption is littered with casualties, especially since Lucifer's minions are intent on dragging her back to hell. And being mortal only got more complicated since Brynna became involved with Detective Eran Redmond.


Still, Brynna's relationship issues—like the fact that one glimpse of her can drive men crazy with desire—may have to wait. A mysterious "hero" is saving Chicago's citizens from certain death, with strange and sinister consequences. Brynna knows too much about demonkind to believe in coincidences. Some dark force is at work here, and Brynna may be the only one who can stop it. . . .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Damned Busters (To Hell and Back, Book 1)
Matthew Hughes
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: May 31

After accidentally summoning a demon, Chesney Anstruther refuses to sell his soul, which leads through various confusions to, well, Hell going on strike. Which means that nothing bad ever happens in the world… with disastrous consequences.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Darkness Beyond (Paladin's of Darkness, Bk 8)
Alexis Morgan
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Pocket Star
Release Date: May 31

An online game of cat and mouse leads a Paladin warrior on a deadly rescue mission to claim the irresistible lover who should be his greatest enemy.

D.J. Clayborne has finally met his match. After weeks of playing cyber tag, a mysterious hacker bests D.J. at his own game. His nemesis downloads a top-secret history of the Paladins, forcing him to go on the hunt. The trail leads D.J. straight to Regina Morrison, a woman who is as sexy as she is talented in the cyber world.
Reggie has been working around the clock to stop a legendary computer hacker from accessing her clients' files, but the last thing she expects is to have D.J. show up at her door. Or that he's even hotter than his evasive avatar. Soon they're flirting with a dangerous line between duty and desire.

Now, Reggie's investigation gets her kidnapped by the Others and forced across the hostile energy barrier into an alien world. And it's up to D.J. to track down the captivating woman whose ability to break through his firewalls is also breaking through to his warrior's heart.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dead of Veridon (The Burn Cycle, Bk 2)
Tim Akers
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Solaris
Release Date: May 31

Trouble finds Jacob Burn. Kicked out of his house, out of his comfortable life, out of everything that is familiar, even turned away from his circle of criminal friends and interesting enemies. Two years after he saved an ungrateful city from a mad angel, thwarting the plans of every powerful faction in Veridon, Jacob is still trying to pull his life together. And still trouble finds him.

A bad job goes worse, and soon old enemies present themselves as allies, and former friends set themselves against Jacob as he tries to put the dead to rest and the living to justice. Everything gets more difficult when he's appointed by the Council to investigate the rise of the cog-dead, while some hold him personally accountable, and others in the city work to use the chaos to their advantage.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deadline (Newsflesh, Bk 2)
Mira Grant
Genre: Dystopia
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: May 31

 Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dead on the Delta
Stacey Jay
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: May 31

Once upon a time, fairies were the stuff of bedtime stories and sweet dreams. Then came the mutations, and the dre-ams became nightmares. Mosquito-size fairies now indulge their taste for human blood—and for most humans, a fairy bite means insanity or death. Luckily, Annabelle Lee isn't most humans. The hard-drinking, smart-mouthed, bicycle-riding redhead is immune to fairy venom, and able to do the dirty work most humans can't. Including helping law enforcement— and Cane Cooper, the bayou's sexiest detective—collect evidence when a body is discovered outside the fairy-proof barricades of her Louisiana town.
But Annabelle isn't equipped to deal with the murder of a sixyear- old girl or a former lover-turned-FBI snob taking an interest in the case. Suddenly her already bumpy relationship with Cane turns even rockier, and even the most trust-worthy friends become suspects. Annabelle's life is imploding: between relationship drama, a heartbreaking murder investigation, Breeze-crazed drug runners, and a few too many rum and Cokes, Annabelle is a woman on the run—from her past, toward her future, and into the arms of a darkness waiting just for her. . . .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Deadliest Bite (Jaz Parks, Bk 8)
Jennifer Rardin
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: June 2

I have two choices. Carve Brude's name into Hell's bile-encrusted gates. Or lose my soul.

After an assassination attempt on Vayl, I find myself pulled into a tangled web that takes the gang to Romania. So how will I save a ghost, rescue a demon, and cheat the Great Taker out of a soul he's slavering for while defeating my nastiest foe yet so that Vayl can, at last, cherish a few precious years with his sons? With careful planning, major violence, and one (hopefully) final trip to Hell.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deadly Dreams
Andre Norton
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Baen
Release Date: May 31

Perilous Dreams
Tamisen the Dreamer, trained to walk through her dreams to other places, other worlds. But when she is asked by the crippled star traveler Lord Starrex to take him into a dream world where he can regain his legs and his life something goes terribly wrong. Someone, or something, stalks this world, and it does not mean well to Starrex or to Tamisen.

Knave of Dreams
For Ramsay Kimble, sleep means nightmares, and he avoids it whenever possible. But now a car accident has catapaulted him into the very world he most dreads: the horror world of his own dreams. But here he is not his ordinary self, but a nobleman from a fair country, possessed of power to fight back, defeat his nightmare visions, change his dream world – and ultimately rescue his life from the terror that stalks him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Demon (The Fallen, Bk 2)
Kristina Douglas
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: May 31


Once the Fallen’s fearless ruler, a grieving Azazel must find the legendary siren meant to take his lost lover’s place . . . and kill her. He’s a devil of an angel.
Azazel should have extinguished the deadly Lilith when he had the chance. Now, faced with a prophecy that will force him to betray the memory of his one true love and wed the Demon Queen, he cannot end her life until she leads him to Lucifer. Finding the First is the Fallen’s only hope for protecting mankind from Uriel’s destruction, but Azazel knows that ignoring his simmering desire for the Lilith will be almost as impossible.
She’s an angel of a demon.
Rachel Fitzpatrick wonders how Azazel could confuse her with an evil seductress. She’s never even been interested in sex! At least not before she set eyes on her breathtaking captor. And now she can’t think about anything else—besides escape.
Angels and demons don’t mix.
Rachel stirs a carnal need in Azazel that he never thought he’d feel again. Falling for a demon—even if she has no idea she’s the Lilith—means surrendering his very soul. But if he lets her go, he risks abandoning his heart, his dangerous lover, and possibly all of humanity, to Uriel’s deadly wrath.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Desdaemona
Ben Macallan
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Solaris
Release Date: May 31

Jordan helps kids on the run find their way back home. He's good at that. He should be – he's a runaway himself. Sometimes he helps the kids in other, stranger ways. He looks like a regular teenager, but he's not. He acts like he's not exactly human, but he is. He treads the line between mundane reality and the world of the supernatural, including the awesome Powers That Be.

Desdaemona also knows the non-human world far too well. She tracks Jordan down and enlists his aid in searching for her lost sister Fay, who did a Very Bad Thing involving an immortal. This may be a mistake – for both of them. Too many people are interested now, and some of them are not people at all!
Ben Macallan's urban fantasy debut takes you on a terrifying journey, lifting the curtain on what really walks our city streets.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Devil's Plaything
Matt Richtel
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: May 31


We all keep secrets, but what if someone wasn't just stealing our secrets but changing them . . . and our brains?
Journalist Nat Idle is nearly gunned down in Golden Gate Park. He quickly learns it was no random attack. Suddenly, in pursuit of the truth, he's running for his life through the shadows of Silicon Valley, a human lab animal caught in a deadly maze of neurotechnology and institutional paranoia. And his survival rests entirely in the hands of his eighty-five-year-old grandmother, Lane, who's suffering from dementia and can't remember the secret at the heart of the world-changing conspiracy.
Author, technology reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner, Matt Richtel has dreamed up an exquisite nightmare firmly grounded in true science. The future is now, the possibilities endless . . . and positively terrifying.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Devil Without a Cause
Terri Garey
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: May 31

Idle hands are the Devil's workshop...

Temptation and seduction are the tricks of the Devil's trade, and when offered the chance to regain his wings by playing guardian angel, he's hell-bent on doing things his way...

Faith McFarland is in need of a miracle. So desperate to save her sick child, she's willing to make a deal with the Devil: steal a ring worn by Finn Payne, the bad-boy rockstar who long ago sold his soul for rock 'n roll. Temptation and seduction become necessary evils, yet Faith's salvation means Finn's damnation . . . because the ring is all that stands between him and Hell. Falling in love was never part of the bargain, but now that they've tasted heaven in each other's arms, can they convince the Devil to give up his due?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Empire of Gut & Bone
M.T. Anderson
Genre: Middle Grade Science Fiction
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: June 1

Murder! Mystery! Rebellion! From bestselling and National Book Award-winning author M.T. Anderson, a third visit to the world of THE GAME OF SUNKEN PLACES.

The land of New Norumbega is an unusual one--an empire of gut and bone, a kingdom of blood and mucus. At its dark, dry heart is a ruling class that doesn't care about much besides itself . . . and a ruler who is (literally) a one-eyed stump of flesh.
Brian and Gregory have come to New Norumbega for a reason--to get the Norumbegans to help them thwart an alien attack back home on earth. But instead, the two boys find themselves caught up in both a robot rebellion and a murder mystery after one of the Norumbegan leaders is sent to sleep . . . permanently.
In New Norumbega, it's very hard to know who to trust. There are assassins around every corner, and secrets pave every conversation. Brian and Gregory will be lucky to make it out alive, never sure if they are meant to catch the murderer . . . or be the killer's next victim.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, Bk 5)
Ilona Andrews
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: May 31

Plagued by a war between magic and technology, Atlanta has never been so deadly. Good thing Kate Daniels is on the job.

Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but she’s still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be—now that the Order is disparaging her good name, and many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate’s mate.

So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. Turns out this is not an isolated incident, and Kate needs to get to the bottom of it—fast, or the city and everyone dear to her might pay the ultimate price . .
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Infernal Affairs (OSI, Bk 4)
Jes Battis
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: May 31

A dead body on the beach turns out to be a live demon on the run from some of the nastiest bounty hunters in this dimension-or the next. Protecting one demon from another, Tess gets wrapped up in a case that's as dangerous as it is mind-boggling, especially when it begins to involve her own past.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Midnight Palace
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: May 31

In the heart of Calcutta lurks a dark mystery....

Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life. . . .

Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere's sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night--and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Neon Graveyard (Signs of the Zodiac, Bk 6)
Vicki Pettersson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: May 31

Once she was a soldier for the Light, the prophesied savior who would decide the outcome of the eternal conflict raging unseen in the dark corners of her glittering hometown. Now Joanna Archer is just another mortal -- still born of an impossible union of Shadow and Light . . . still hunted by both -- and carrying the unborn child of a lover held captive by a depraved demon goddess. Joining forces with a band of rogue Shadow agents, Joanna's ready to storm the stronghold of her demonic foe, risking everything to enter this ghastly, godforsaken realm where the price of admission is her eternal soul. Because in a world that has stripped her of her power, identity, and fortune, Joanna has nothing left to lose -- except her baby, her future, and the epic war poised to consume the city.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nightspell (Mistwood, Bk 2)
Leah Cypess
Genre: YA
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release Date: May 31

Here be ghosts, the maps said, and that was all.
In this haunted kingdom, ghosts linger—not just in the deepest forests or the darkest caverns, but alongside the living, as part of a twisted palace court that revels all night and sleeps through the daylight hours.
Darri's sister was trapped in this place of fear and shadows as a child. And now Darri has a chance to save her sister . . . if she agrees to a betrothal with the prince of the dead. But nothing is simple in this eerie kingdom—not her sister, who has changed beyond recognition; not her plan, which will be thrown off track almost at once; and not the undead prince, who seems more alive than anyone else.
In a court seething with the desire for vengeance, Darri holds the key to the balance between life and death. Can her warrior heart withstand the most wrenching choice of all?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Reluctant Vampire
Lynsay Sands
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: May 31

Has this immortal finally met her match?
Rogue hunter Drina Argenis (from the Spanish side of the Argeneau family) has been many things in her years as an immortal, but bodyguard/babysitter to a teenage vampire is something new. There's an incentive, however: the other vampsitter, Harper Stoyan, may be Drina's life mate.
Trouble is, having just lost a life mate, Harper is resigned to being alone. He's completely unprepared when sexy and unpredictable Drina bursts into his life to reignite his passions. Can Drina, with a little matchmaking help from their teen charge, tempt this reluctant vampire to take a chance?
Or will a dangerous, unseen renegade kill Drina and Harper's one chance at happiness?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Revenant
Phaedra Weldon
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: May 31

Zoe Martinique is getting used to the strange turn her life has taken since she discovered her ability to travel outside her body. Now beings from another astral plane are being hunted by her old enemy, the Phantasm, and it's up to her to save them and preserve the cosmic balance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starcrossed (Starcrossed #1)
Josephine Angelini
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: May 31


How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Timecaster
Joe Kimball
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: May 31

Chicago, 2064: Talon Avalon is a timecaster-one of a select few peace officers who can operate a TEV, the Tachyon Emission Visualizer, which records events (most specifically, crimes) that have already happened. With crime at an all-time low, Talon has little to do except give lectures to school kids and obsess on his wife's profession as a licensed sex partner. Until one of her clients asks Talon to investigate a possible murder. When Talon uses the TEV to view the crime, the identity of the killer is unmistakable-it's him, Talon Avalon.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Vampire Narcise (Regency Dracula, Bk 3)
Colleen Gleason
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: May 31

REGENCY ENGLAND STANDS DEFIANT AGAINST NAPOLEON. BUT BATTLES AMONG MEN MEAN LITTLE TO THOSE WHO LIVE FOREVER—ESPECIALLY WHEN THE DRACULE ARE WAGING THEIR OWN WAR.

Skilled in the seduction of men, both mortal and immortal, Narcise Moldavi is the greatest weapon in her twisted brother’s war among the Dracule. Until she falls for Giordan Cale.

Her first searing encounter with Giordan seals their fierce connection for their eternal lives. But Giordan’s vow to help Narcise escape her brother’s rule is followed by a betrayal more agonizing than sunlight.

Wounded but determined, Narcise ensnares vampire hunter Chas Woodmore in her quest for revenge and to reclaim her life. He wants her, worships her, will kill for her. And the Dracule never forget a wrong— nor do they forgive.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well of Sorrows
Benjamin Tate
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: May 31

Colin Harten and his parents fled across the ocean to escape the Family wars in Andover. But trouble follows them and their fellow refugees to this new land, forcing them to abandon the settled areas for unexplored territory. It is here that they face even more mysterious beings and dangers. Now Colin must use the powers of the Well of Sorrows to survive-and bring peace to this troubled land.