Happy Publication Day 9th February 2017!

Welcome to another publication day! It’s time to visit the mysterious deserts of Sharakai where the shifting sands betray the unwary and Çeda continues her quest for vengeance against the godlike kings . . . while for all of you who like your books a bit more portable we’ve got some fantastic titles out in paperback including a title that could be described as Arachnophobia on steroids; intelligent first contact SF; a fun fantasy romp with lots of swearing and blood; and finally a JOE ABERCROMBIE!

 

Blood Upon The Sand by Bradley Beaulieu

 Second in epic new fantasy series of mystery, prophecy and death within the ancient walled city of Sharakhai, home to the Twelve Kings . . .

 Çeda, an elite warrior in service to the kings of Sharakhai, is learning their secrets even as they send her on covert missions to further their rule. She has already uncovered the dark history of the asirim, but it’s only when she bonds with them, chaining them to her will, that she feels their pain as her own. They hunger for release, they demand it, but their chains were forged by the gods themselves and are proving unbreakable.

Çeda could become the champion the enslaved asirim have been waiting for, but the need to tread carefully has never been greater. The kings are hungry for blood, scouring the city in a ruthless quest for revenge, while Çeda’s friend Emre and his new allies in the Moonless Host are laying plans to take advantage of the unrest in Sharakhai, and strike a major blow against the kings and their god-given powers.

The shifting tides of power are fickle and dangerous, though. The Kings and the Moonless Host have their own agendas, as does the dangerous blood mage Hamzakiir, whose plotting uncovers a devastating secret that could shatter the power of the hated kings. But it may all be undone if Çeda cannot learn to control the growing anger of the asirim that threatens to overwhelm her…

‘Exactly the kind of fantasy I like to read’ – Kevin J. Anderson

‘Strong characters and a plot filled with tension and difficult choices make this a good option for fantasy fans’ – Library Journal

 Blood Upon the Sand is out now in trade paperback and eBook

 

The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone

 A terrifyingly enjoyable thriller of our world overrun by a flesh-eating ancient menace… The spiders are coming . . .

The first female president of the United States is summoned to an emergency briefing.

Deep in the jungle of Peru, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist party whole.

FBI agent Mike Rich investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery.

Unusual seismic patterns register in a Indian earthquake lab, confounding the scientists there.

The Chinese government “accidentally” drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country.

And all of these events are connected.

As panic begins to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at Melanie Guyer’s Washington laboratory. The unusual egg inside begins to crack. Something is spreading…

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An virulent ancient species of spiders, long dormant, is now very much awake. But this is only the beginning of our end . . .

‘Brace yourself for sleepless nights’ – SFX

‘Thrilling, scary and great fun’ – John Connolly

 The Hatching is out now in paperback

 

Into Everywhere by Paul McAuley

 The Jackaroo gave humanity access to alien worlds and technologies, yet we still know nothing about them. As humanity spreads wider into the universe, will we discover what secrets they are hiding?

The Jackaroo, those enigmatic aliens who claim to have come to help, gave humanity access to worlds littered with ruins and scraps of technology left by long-dead client races. But although people have found new uses for alien technology, that technology may have found its own uses for people.

The dissolute scion of a powerful merchant family, and a woman living  in seclusion with only her dog and her demons for company, have become infected by a copies of a powerful chunk of alien code.

Driven to discover what it wants from them, they become  caught up in a conflict between a policeman allied to the Jackaroo and the laminated brain of a scientific wizard, and a mystery that spans light years and centuries. Humanity is about to discover why the Jackaroo came to help us, and how that help is shaping the end of human history.

‘McAuley writes intelligent hardcore SF, and this should win him countless new readers’ – Guardian [SOMETHING COMING THROUGH]

‘As tight and relentlessly paced as an Elmore Leonard thriller . . .  gritty Earthbound near-futurism as William Gibson or Lauren Beukes – with the cosmological themes of McAuley’s galaxy-spanning space operas. It’s the freshest take on first contact and interstellar exploration in many years, and almost feels like the seed for an entire new subgenre’ – Alistair Reynolds              [SOMETHING COMING THROUGH]

 Into Everywhere is out now in paperback

 

Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie

 A collection of short stories from The First Law universe

 The Union army may be full of bastards, but there’s only one who thinks he can save the day single-handed when the Gurkish come calling: the incomparable Colonel Sand dan Glokta.

Curnden Craw and his dozen are out to recover a mysterious item from beyond the Crinna. Only one small problem: no one seems to know what the item is.

Shevedieh, the self-styled best thief in Styria, lurches from disaster to catastrophe alongside her best friend and greatest enemy, Javre, Lioness of Hoskopp.

And after years of bloodshed, the idealistic chieftain Bethod is desperate to bring peace to the North. There’s only one obstacle left – his own lunatic champion, the most feared man in the North: the Bloody-Nine . . .

Sharp Ends combines previously published, award-winning tales with exclusive new short stories. Violence explodes, treachery abounds, and the words are as deadly as the weapons in this rogue’s gallery of side-shows, back-stories, and sharp endings from the world of the First Law.

 ‘Highly recommended – a funny, finely-wrought, terrifically energetic work of high fantasy. Seek it out’ – Joe Hill

‘Pratchett-like parody of epic fantasy throughout . . . if Pratchett dropped the C-bomb and relished disembowelment’ – SFX

 Sharp Ends is out now in paperback

 

The Mortal Tally by Sam Sykes

Akin to the works of both Fritz Leiber and Scott Lynch but bringing its  own energy and humorous vigour the writing of Sam Sykes sets itself  apart from the dour feel of Grimdark fantasy and brings a fresh vigour  to fantasy fiction.

Cier’Djaal, once the crowning glory of the civilised world, has gone from a city to a battlefield, and from a battlefield to a graveyard. Foreign armies clash on streets laden with bodies. Cultists and thieves wage shadow wars, tribal armies gather outside the city’s walls, and haughty aristocrats watch the world burn from on high.

As his companions struggle to keep the city from destroying itself, Lenk must travel to the Forbidden East in search of the demon who caused it all. But dark whispers plague his thoughts. The demon promises him a world free of war where Lenk can put down his sword at last. And Lenk finds it hard not to listen . . .

 ‘Sam Sykes continues to reinvent the fantasy adventuring party in a vibrant world of rude magic and good intentions gone bad. Bold and exuberant, never cynical, Sykes fights the good fight on behalf of rich fantasy that nonetheless refuses to apologize for being kick-ass fun’ – Scott Lynch

 ‘From the very first page, I found myself frantically swimming in a very exotic environment, accompanied by some of the most reckless protagonists I’ve ever shared a point-of-view with. I swiftly learned that most of my assumptions about who they were and what they were up to were wrong’ – Robin Hobb [CITY STAINED RED review]

The Mortal Tally is out now in paperback