Cover Reveal: Light Chaser

Tor.com has revealed the cover for Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell. With the combined talents of two of my favourite science fiction authors this will definitely be one to look out for. The cover art by Ben Zweifel is stunning. I can't wait!

Light Chaser by Peter F. Hamilton and Gareth L. Powell
Release date 2021-08-24 / ISBN 9781250769824

Amahle is a Light Chaser – one of a number of explorers who travel the universe alone (except for their onboard AI), trading trinkets for life stories.

When listening to the stories sent down through the ages she hears the same voice talking directly to her from different times and on different worlds. She comes to understand that something terrible is happening, and only she is in a position to do anything about it.

And it will cost everything to put it right.

Cover Reveal: Steel Frame

Just look at this stunning cover for Steel Frame the debut novel from South African writer Andrew Skinner with cover art by Gemma Sheldrake. If that helmet is done in foil I'm absolutely sold*. Heck I was sold at "giant-robot battles". Slated for release this August from Solaris, this looks like it's going to be a blast!

* I have been informed that there is indeed foil involved and that the back cover looks awesome too!

STEEL FRAME by Andrew Skinner
ISBN: 9781781087053
Release date: 22 August 2019

Epic tale of giant-robot battles, built around a personal story of redemption and healing.
FLY HARD

Rook is a jockey, a soldier trained and modified to fly ‘shells,’ huge robots that fight for the outer regions of settled space. When her shell is destroyed and her squad killed, Rook is imprisoned, left stranded, scarred and broken. Hollow and helpless without her steel frame, she’s ready to call it quits.

When her cohort of prisoners are sold into indenture to NorCol, a vast frontier corporation, Rook’s given another shell – a near-decrepit Juno, as broken as she is and decades older – and sent to a rusting bucket of a ship on the end of known space to patrol something called “the Eye,” a strange, unnerving permanent storm in space.

But they’re not alone.

Cover Reveal: Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky

It seems that due to all the madness at work I've missed the cover reveal for Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I fell in love with Children of Time and I practically begged on Twitter for a sequel, so I'm ecstatic that wishes DO come true. I can't wait for some more sentient spider goodness!

CHILDREN OF RUIN by Adrian Tchaikovsky
ISBN: 9781509865833
Release date: 16 May 2019

IT HAS BEEN WAITING THOUGH THE AGES
NOW IT’S TIME . . .

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life – but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time.

Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth.

But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed.

And it’s been waiting for them.

Cover Reveal: A New Look for The Spatterjay Series

Neal Asher's Spatterjay series is getting a makeover with some brand new covers by artist Steve Stone. The new editions are scheduled for release on 29 November.

Pre-Order a copy of The Skinner

Pre-Order a copy of The Voyage of the Sable Keech

Pre-Order a copy of Orbus

While I'll always prefer the truly amazing covers Jon Sullivan did for the series, these look pretty darn good. I'm not a huge fan of the taglines on the covers though (even if they do earn bonus points for sneaking in a Game of Thrones riff on the cover of The Voyage of the Sable Keech).

What do you guys think?

Cover Reveal: Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten

While scrolling through Twitter (as one does) I came across this gorgeous cover for The Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten, the forthcoming horror anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and published by Night Shade Books. I'm a huge fan of these anthologies and I'm excited for this one based on the cover alone.

THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR VOLUME TEN
Edited by Ellen Datlow
ISBN: 9781510716674
Release Date: 5 June 2018

For more than three decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the tenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night.

Stories included are:
Better You Believe  - Carole Johnstone
Liquid Air - Inna Effress
Holiday Romance - Mark Morris
Furtherest - Kaaron Warren
Where’s the Harm? - Rebecca Lloyd
Whatever Comes After Calcutta - David Erik Nelson
A Human Stain - Kelly Robson
The Stories We Tell about Ghosts - A. C. Wise
Endosketal - Sarah Read
West of Matamoros, North of Hell - Brian Hodge
Alligator Point - S. P. Miskowski
Dark Warm Heart - Rich Larson
There and Back Again - Carmen Machado
Shepherd’s Business - Stephen Gallagher
You Can Stay All Day - Mira Grant
Harvest Song, Gathering Song - A. C. Wise
The Granfalloon - Orrin Grey
Fail-Safe - Philip Fracassi
The Starry Crown - Marc E. Fitch
Eqalussuaq - Tim Major
Lost in the Dark - John Langan

Cover art by Chenthooran Nambiarooran.

Cover Reveal: The Soldier

My hiatus in September was planned to give me some much needed time to devote to playing Destiny 2. Sadly my week-long vacation was far too brief and upon my return to work life decided it was the perfect time to triple my workload and dump a bunch of other stressful things on me. Being exhausted seems to be my new reality, but I'm back... I just need to figure out how to do this again.

One of the most exciting things to happen while I was gone was not one, but two cover reveals for Neal Asher's forthcoming novel The Soldier, the start of a brand new series set in his Polity universe.

It's a tough choice, but I think the US cover from Night Shade Books has to be my favourite. It just screams destruction and mayhem - exactly what you'd expect from a book centering around the Jain and the deadly technology at their disposal.

US Cover

UK Cover

THE SOLDIER by Neal Asher
ISBN: 9781509862368 (UK) / 9781597809436 (US)
Release date: May 2018

A hidden corner of space swarms with lethal alien technology, a danger to all sentient life. Designed to obliterate entire civilizations, it was created by the Jain, a long-dead race, and forces are on the move who’ll do anything to unleash their last secrets. Now the tech is guarded by Orlandine, whose mission is to ensure it stays contained – at all costs. Living aboard a state-of-the-art weapons station, she watches over everything. But she’s hatching a plan to remove the threat forever - by destroying it all.

Meanwhile, humanity’s galactic territories and the alien Prador Empire watch this sector of space with interest, as neither can allow the other to claim its power. However, things are about to change. The Jain might not be as dead as they seem and interstellar war is never far away ...

***

I can't wait!

Cover Reveal: Forbidden Suns

Orbit has just unveiled the cover for Forbidden Suns, the third and final book in D. Nolan Clark's Silence trilogy. I loved Forsaken Skies and will definitely try to get my hands on the rest of the series as soon as the final book is released in October.

FORBIDDEN SUNS by D. Nolan Clark
ISBN: 9780356507552
Release date: 19 October 2017
Pre-order a copy from The Book Depository

In the cold of space, the fire of revenge still burns.

Aleister Lanoe has been on a mission since before he can remember. Honing his skills as a fighter pilot and commander through three centuries of constant warfare, he has never met a foe he cannot best.

But now he faces a mission which may be his last: take vengeance on the alien race who has coldly and systematically erased all the sentient life in its path.

In all his years at war, the stakes have never been higher.

Cover Reveal: The Best Horror of the Year Volume Nine

Behold the absolutely creeptastic cover for The Best Horror of the Year Volume Nine edited by Ellen Datlow.

THE BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR VOLUME NINE
edited by Ellen Datlow
ISBN: 9781510716667
Release date: 20 June 2017
Pre-order a copy

With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.

Table of contents:

• Nesters - Siobhan Carroll
• The Oestridae - Robert Levy
• The Process is a Process All its Own - Peter Straub
• The Bad Hour - Christopher Golden
• Red Rabbit - Steve Rasnic Tem
• It’s All the Same Road in the End - Brian Hodge
• Fury - DB Waters
• Grave Goods - Gemma Files
• Between Dry Ribs - Gregory Norman Bossert
• The Days of Our Lives - Adam LG Nevill
• House of Wonders - C.E Ward
• The Numbers - Christopher Burns
• Bright Crown of Joy - Livia Llewellyn
• The Beautiful Thing We Will Become - Kristi DeMeester
• Wish You Were Here - Nadia Bulkin
• Ragman Rebecca - Lloyd
• What’s Out There? - Gary McMahon
• No Matter Which Way We Turned - Brian Evenson
• The Castellmarch Man - Ray Cluley
• The Ice Beneath Us - Steve Duffy
• On These Blackened Shores of Time -  Brian Hodge

Cover Reveal: Infinity Engine

I've been holding on to these since last year when they were first unveiled, but with the release date now only a month away it's finally time to showcase them again.  I'm a huge fan of Neal Asher's work and the covers for his novels are always something special.

The covers for Infinity Engine,  the conclusion to the Transformation trilogy, is no exception. This time round the folks at Night Shade Books have pulled out all the stops for the US edition that simply blows their UK counterpart out of the water.  The artwork by Adam Burn is absolutely stunning. I think he might have just dethroned Jon Sullivan as my favourite cover artist.

US edition. Cover art by Adam Burn.

UK edition. Cover art by Steve Stone.

INFINITY ENGINE by Neal Asher
ISBN US edition: 9781597808897
ISBN UK edition: 9780230750753
Release date: 21 March 2017 (US) / 23 March 2017 (UK)

In the outskirts of space, and the far corners of the Polity, complex dealings are in play.

Several forces continue to pursue the deadly and enigmatic Penny Royal, none more dangerous than the Brockle, a psychopathic forensics AI and criminal who has escaped the Polity’s confinements and is upgrading itself in anticipation of a deadly showdown, becoming ever more powerful and intelligent.

Aboard Factory Station Room 101, the behemoth war factory that birthed Penny Royal, groups of humans, alien prador, and AI war drones grapple for control. The stability of the ship is complicated by the arrival of a gabbleduck known as the Weaver, the last living member of the ancient and powerful Atheter alien race.

What would an Atheter want with the complicated dealings of Penny Royal? Are the Polity and prador forces playing right into the dark AI’s hand, or is it the other way around? Set pieces align in the final book of Neal Asher’s action-packed Transformation trilogy, pointing to a showdown on the cusp of the Layden’s Sink black hole, inside of which lies a powerful secret, one that could destroy the entire Polity.

Cover Reveal: Forgotten Worlds

I absolutely loved Forsaken Skies the first novel in the Silence series by D. Nolan Clark (which reminds me that I actually still need to write that long overdue review). Orbit has revealed the cover for the second novel in the series, Forgotten Worlds and it looks great. I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

FORGOTTEN WORLDS by D. Nolan Clark
Release date: 20 April 2017
ISBN: 9780356507507

The battle is over. But the war has only just begun.

Aleister Lanoe has won a stunning victory against the alien armada that threatened Niraya, but it's not enough to satisfy his desire for vengeance. He won't rest until he's located the armada's homeworld and reduced it to ashes.

Yet his personal vendetta will have to wait. Lanoe now faces a desperate race against time, and the merciless Centrocor corporation, if he's to secure the Earth's future - and discover the truth he seeks.

Cover Reveal: All Systems Red & Killing Gravity

I recently stumbled across the covers for two Tor.com novellas coming out in May and they immediately caught my eye. These are definitely going to be titles worth checking out.

ALL SYSTEMS RED by Martha Wells
Release date: 2 May 2017
ISBN: ISBN: 9780765397522

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that blends HBO's Westworld with Iain M. Banks' Culture books

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

KILLING GRAVITY by Corey J. White
Release date: 9 May 2017
ISBN: ISBN: 9780765395085

Mars Xi can kill you with her mind, but she'll need more than psychic powers to save her in Killing Gravity, the thrilling science fiction space adventure debut by Corey J. White.

Before she escaped in a bloody coup, MEPHISTO transformed Mariam Xi into a deadly voidwitch. Their training left her with terrifying capabilities, a fierce sense of independence, a deficit of trust, and an experimental pet named Seven. She’s spent her life on the run, but the boogeymen from her past are catching up with her. An encounter with a bounty hunter has left her hanging helpless in a dying spaceship, dependent on the mercy of strangers.

Penned in on all sides, Mariam chases rumors to find the one who sold her out. To discover the truth and defeat her pursuers, she’ll have to stare into the abyss and find the secrets of her past, her future, and her terrifying potential.

Cover Reveal: Horizon

The cover for the final installment of Fran Wilde's Bone Universe series, Horizon, has been unveiled and it is simply gorgeous! Artist Tommy Arnold really outdid himself.

The covers for the series have really come a long way from that first, quite generic cover for Updraft, which didn't quite manage to capture the feel of the series. The updated covers really does the series much better justice and this fits in brilliantly.

Horizon will be released on 26 September 2017.

Read my review of Updraft, the first novel in the series (it includes the original cover art.)

Cover Reveal: Revenger

I'm a huge Alastair Reynolds fan so I'm incredibly excited about the forthcoming release of his next novel Revenger.  Today Gollancz unveiled the truly stunning cover. To say it's gorgeous would be a huge understatement. Monochrome has never looked this good!

REVENGER by Alastair Reynolds
Release date: 15 September 2016
ISBN: 9780575090538
Pre-order a copy from The Book Depository

The galaxy has seen great empires rise and fall. Planets have shattered and been remade. Amongst the ruins of alien civilisations, building our own from the rubble, humanity still thrives.

And there are vast fortunes to be made, if you know where to find them . . .

Captain Rackamore and his crew do. It's their business to find the tiny, enigmatic worlds which have been hidden away, booby-trapped, surrounded with layers of protection - and to crack them open for the ancient relics and barely-remembered technologies inside. But while they ply their risky trade with integrity, not everyone is so scrupulous.

Adrana and Fura Ness are the newest members of Rackamore's crew, signed on to save their family from bankruptcy. Only Rackamore has enemies, and there might be more waiting for them in space than adventure and fortune: the fabled and feared Bosa Sennen in particular.

Revenger is a science fiction adventure story set in the rubble of our solar system in the dark, distant future - a tale of space pirates, buried treasure and phantom weapons, of unspeakable hazards and single-minded heroism . . . and of vengeance . . .

Cover Reveal: Beyond The Aquila Rift

It's not often that a title gets released with three distinct covers but Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds is one of those rare cases. This collection of the best short fiction from Alastair Reynolds consisting of 18* short stories, novellettes and novellas will be published in June by both Subterranean Press and Orion books (Gollancz).

Subterranean Press are releasing a trade edition with cover art by Dominic Harman and a limited edition with an exclusive cover by Alastair Reynolds himself.

Trade edition

Limited Edition

While both of the Subterranean Press covers are striking, I must admit that I prefer the more subdued cover of the Gollancz edition which would fit right in with the rest of the Alastair Reynolds novels on my shelf.

Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds contains 7 previously uncollected stories and should be a must-have for all of Alastair Reynolds' fans.

The full table of contents is below.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Great Wall of Mars
• Weather
• Beyond the Aquila Rift
• Minla's Flowers
• Zima Blue
• Fury
• The Star Surgeon's Apprentice
• The Sledge-Maker's Daughter
• Diamond Dogs
• Thousandth Night
• Troika
• Sleepover
• Vainglory
• Trauma Pod
• The Last Log of the Lachrymosa
• The Water Thief
• The Old Man and the Martian Sea
• In Babelsberg
• Story Notes

* While the press release states that the collection consists of 20 stories the table of contents only has 18 stories by my count.

Cover Reveals: Updraft and Cloudbound

Fran Wilde's novels set in the Bone Universe are getting some brand new covers. Back when I read Updraft I couldn't help but feel that the original cover didn't quite do justice to the story. The new covers illustrated by Tommy Arnold are simply amazing. They manage to capture the look and feel of the novels in a way that's much closer to how imagined the world to be.

Cloudbound, the second novel in the series will be published in September 2016. Yes, please.

Cover Reveal: The Long Cosmos

The UK cover for the final installment in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's Long Earth series, The Long Cosmos, has been unveiled. I really hope that this provides a satisfying conclusion to a series filled with endless wonder and possibilities..

THE LONG COSMOS
Release date: 14 July 2016
ISBN: 9780857521781
Pre-order a copy from The Book Depository

2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day and in the Long Earth, the new Next post-human society continues to evolve.
For Joshua Valienté, now in his late sixties, it is time to take one last solo journey into the High Meggers: an adventure that turns into a disaster. Alone and facing death, his only hope of salvation lies with a group of trolls. But as Joshua confronts his mortality, the Long Earth receives a signal from the stars. A signal that is picked up by radio astronomers but also in more abstract ways – by the trolls and by the Great Traversers. Its message is simple but ts implications are enormous:

JOIN US.

The super-smart Next realise that the Message contains instructions on how to develop an immense artificial intelligence but to build it they have to seek help from throughout the industrious worlds of mankind. Bit by bit, byte by byte, they assemble a computer the size of a continent – a device that will alter the Long Earth’s place within the cosmos and reveal the ultimate, life-affirming goal of those who sent the Message. Its impact will be felt by and resonate with all – mankind and other species, young and old, communities and individuals – who inhabit the Long Earths…

Cover Reveal: The Shepherd's Crown

The cover for the final Discworld novel, The Sheperd's Crown, has been revealed. It's bittersweet to know that this will be the last novel in the series, but it's also wonderful that we get the chance to read just one more wonderful, witty work from the late Terry Pratchett. Be still my aching heart...

THE SHEPHERD'S CROWN
Release date: 27 August 2015
ISBN: 9780857534811

A brand new Discworld novel from the man himself, the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett.

Completed in the Summer of 2014, The Shepherd's Crown features the much-loved teenage witch, Tiffany Aching, the hugely popular character (also one of Sir Terry's own favourites) who appeared in The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and most recently, I Shall Wear Midnight.

A hugely anticipated book in an iconic series, which will appeal to both adult Discworld fans and to younger readers.

Cover Reveal: Dark Intelligence

I'm a huge Neal Asher fan so this news brightened an otherwise dreary day. The cover for Neal Asher's next novel, Dark Intelligence, has been revealed.

As always Jon Sullivan has outdone himself. The cover is awesomeness taken to the power of googol. I can happily get lost staring at the little details and all they might imply. Fans of the Polity will be glad to know that this new series marks a return to the Polity universe we all know and love. I definitely can't wait! Is it January* yet?

DARK INTELLIGENCE
Release date: 29 January 2015* (* release date may change)
ISBN: 9780230750722
Pre-order a copy from The Book Depository

One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed...

Thorvald Spear wakes in hospital, where he finds he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war which ended a whole century ago. But when he relives his traumatic final moments, he finds the spark to keep on living. That spark is vengeance.

Trapped and desperate on a world surrounded by alien Prador forces, Spear had seen a rescue ship arriving. But instead of providing backup, Penny Royal, the AI within the destroyer turned rogue. It annihilated friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction, and, years later, it's still free. Spear vows to track it across worlds and do whatever it takes to bring it down. Isobel Satomi ran a successful crime syndicate. But after competitors attacked, she needed more power. Yet she got more than she bargained for when she negotiated with Penny Royal. She paid it to turn her part-AI herself, but the upgrades hid a horrifying secret. The Dark AI had triggered a transformation in Isobel that would turn her into a monster, rapidly evolving into something far from human.

Spear hires Isobel to take him to the Penny Royal AI's last known whereabouts. But he cheats her in the process and he becomes a target for her vengeance. And as she is evolves further into a monstrous predator, rage soon wins over reason. Will Spear finish his hunt, before he becomes the hunted? This is the first volume in a no-holds-barred adventure set in Asher's popular Polity universe.

Cover Reveal: The Abyss Beyond Dreams

Tor UK has unveiled the UK cover for Peter F. Hamilton's next novel, The Abyss Beyond Dreams, due out in October. In an effort to attract a wider audience they've gone with an entirely new look, taking inspiration from SF films and games.

The result is a cover that can do double duty as a poster for the next science fiction blockbuster. It certainly caught my attention so I'd say that it's a job well done.

THE ABYSS BEYOND DREAMS
Release date: October 2014

When images of a lost civilization are ‘dreamed’ by a self-proclaimed prophet of the age, Nigel Sheldon, inventor of wormhole technology and creator of the Commonwealth society, is asked to investigate. Especially as the dreams seem to be coming from the Void – a mysterious area of living space monitored and controlled because of its hugely destructive capabilities. With it being the greatest threat to the known universe, Nigel is committed to finding out what really lies within the Void and if there’s any truth to the visions they’ve received. Does human life really exist inside its boundary?

But when Nigel crash lands inside the Void, on a planet he didn’t even know existed, he finds so much more than he expected. Bienvenido: a world populated by the ancestors of survivors from Commonwealth colony ships that disappeared centuries ago. Since then they’ve been fighting an increasingly desperate battle against the Fallers, a space-born predator artificially evolved to conquer worlds. Their sole purpose is to commit genocide against every species they encounter. With their powerful telepathic lure – that tempts any who stray across their path to a slow and painful death – they are by far the greatest threat to humanity’s continued existence on this planet.

But Nigel soon realizes that the Fallers also hold the key to something he’d never hoped to find – the destruction of the Void itself. If only he can survive long enough to work out how to use it...

Cover Reveal: Broken Monsters

The South African cover for Lauren Beukes' forthcoming novel, Broken Monsters, has finally been revealed. Wow! Joey Hi-Fi really outdid himself again with a truly captivating mix of his stunning illustrations and location photos . The SA cover blows both the UK and US editions out of the water. I want it! I want it now!

Release date: July 2014
ISBN: 9781415202005 
Order a copy from Kalahari.com

IN A BROKEN CITY, A DISTURBED KILLER IS TRYING TO REMAKE THE WORLD IN HIS IMAGE.

Detective Gabriella Versado has seen a lot of bodies. But this one is unique even by Detroit’s standards: half-boy, half-deer, somehow fused together. And it’s only the first.

As winter closes in on Detroit, strange and disturbing corpses start turning up in unusual places, pulling several lives into the killer’s orbit.

Gabi has to juggle the most harrowing case of her career with being a single mom to her troubled teen daughter Layla.

Layla, egged on by her best friend Cas, is playing a dangerous game with an online predator.

Broken Monsters is a dark and gripping thriller about the death of the American Dream, online fame, creativity, compromise and the undercurrents of the world we live in right now.

***

The difference in the designs are quite startling. My first choice would obviously be the South African cover. Between the UK and US covers I'd give the edge to the UK one, even though it has a pretty generic crime/thriller look. I'm not quite sure what to make of the US cover. Graffiti gone wrong?

Which cover do you prefer?

(A quick Twitter poll made it clear the SA cover is the firm favorite with 20 votes, US with 6 and UK with only 4. I must admit that I'm surprised that so many people prefer the US cover.) 

The US cover:

Release date: 16 September 2014 (US)
ISBN: 9780007464593
Pre-order from The Book Depository (free international shipping)

The UK cover:

Release date: 31 July 2014 (UK)
ISBN: 9780007464593
Pre-order from The Book Depository (free international shipping)