The Spaceship Next Door
Paperback | Kindle
By Gene Doucette
Publisher: John Joseph Adams | Mariner Books | HMH Books
Release date: September 4, 2018

With a title like The Spaceship Next Door, you’d think this book was a beloved children’s tale about a little girl who befriends her new neighbor, “Shippie,” a spaceship from another world. Instead, in Gene Doucette‘s new novel, the little girl is precocious 16-year-old Annie Collins and “Shippie” is not exactly buddy material.

It’s been three years since an alien spacecraft landed in a field in the small mill town of Sorrow Falls, MA, where it’s sat dormant ever since. The U.S. military has formed a perimeter around it, while just outside is an RV campsite filled with eccentric alien watchers with surveillance equipment waiting for something – anything – to happen. And it’s about to. When Ed Somerville, a government operative unconvincingly posing as a reporter, comes to town, he immediately hires the young, knowledgeable Annie to be his guide and together they try to uncover the secret behind this mysterious ship now that it seems to be “awakening.”

The Gift Of Dark Hollow
Longburrow Book #2
Hardcover | Kindle
Sequel to Podkin One-Ear: Longburrow Book 1
By Kieran Larwood
Illustrated by David Wyatt
Publisher: Clarion House | HMH Books
Release Date: August 7, 2018

Podkin, Pook, and Paz survived the battle against the Gorm, and are now seemingly safe in Dark Hollow, a hidden warren. Curiosity, boredom, and a feeling of uselessness get the better of Podkin, and he stumbles upon another magical gift, one that can help them defeat the Gorm instead of hiding from them. Such is the opening premise of The Gift Of Dark Hollow, the second book in the Longburrow series by Kieran Larwood.

The Wild Dead
The Bannerless Saga Book 2
Paperback | Kindle
By Carrie Vaughn
Publisher: John Joseph Adams | Mariner Books | HMH Books
Release date: July 17, 2018

In The Wild Dead, author Carrie Vaughn delves back into the world she created in Bannerless, where in a future dystopian society the survivors must earn their keep and prove themselves worthy of a banner, which permits a household to have a child. This follow-up sees investigator Enid embroiled in another rare murder-mystery after the body of a young woman is found inside one of the far-off communities. After Enid discovers that the murdered woman was one of the “Wild” folk who live outside of The Coast Road, the name for this rebuilt society, she goes above and beyond the call of duty as well as dangerously out of bounds to try to solve the case.

The sequel opens with Enid away on what should be a quick assignment with her new, rookie partner Teeg, to resolve a simple household dispute. She’s eager to get back home, though, as her household is awaiting the imminent arrival of their baby, being delivered by her housemate Olive. It’s an immensely joyous occasion, and Enid promised to be there for it, but she still has a long way to travel back from The Estuary community, the northern-most town, which borders The Wild area. Just as she’s ready to hand down her judgment on the dispute, the young Wild woman’s body is found. Teeg thinks they should leave the matter unsolved and head home, since it doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction, but Enid is compelled to continue the probe, even if it leads her in uncharted territory.

Brightly Burning
Hardcover | Kindle
By Alexa Donne
Publisher: HMH Books For Young Readers
Release date: May 1, 2018

In Brightly Burning, debut author Alexa Donne takes the classic Jane Eyre tale and sets it in space aboard a starship in a dystopian future during an Earth ice age.

Orphaned at 7, then discarded by her uncaring aunt, Stella Ainsley lives on the starship Stalwart, where she works in engineering as well as helps educate the children. The Stalwart community is an impoverished one, subjected to water and food rationing and frequent power outages. Since Stella has no real passion for engineering, she decides to apply for governess jobs on other starships in the hopes of making a better life for herself. After several letdowns, the nearly 18-year-old Stella is hired to be both a governess and auxiliary engineer on the Rochester, one of the richer, private ships in the fleet. While she enjoys the comforts provided in her new home, there’s something strange about the Rochester and its 19-year-old captain Hugo Fairfax, a man who exhibits inconsistent behavior and is hard for the young girl to figure out. She hears laughter in the corridor at night and has witnessed several events that appear to be sabotage, yet no one else on board will corroborate her findings. To make matters worse, Hugo holds a secret that could alter Stella’s once-hopeful future, as well as threaten the survival of the entire fleet.

The Robots Of Gotham
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Todd McAulty
Publisher: John Joseph Adams | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release date: June 19, 2018

The robopocalypse is coming in Todd McAulty‘s futuristic scifi tome, The Robots Of Gotham.

In his debut novel, McAulty takes us to the year 2083 where many parts of the world are now controlled by a fascist robot regime. After years of war, the United States is now divided, with many areas foreign-occupied, machine-controlled, and/or overrun by Venezuelan “peacekeeping” forces: There’s the Kingdom of Manhattan, a robot-controlled sovereignty; the Occupied States, an area of conflict controlled by the Machine Cabal; the United States Free Zone, which has an elected human President; and the Union of Post-American States, which has a human appointed leader.