The City Of Lost Fortunes
A Crescent City Novel
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Bryan Camp
Publisher: John Joseph Adams | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release date: April 17, 2018

In Bryan Camp‘s debut novel, The City Of Lost Fortunes, a reclusive New Orleans street magician and demigod with the ability to locate lost items is forced out of magical retirement when he’s tasked with solving the murder of the city’s god of Fortune.

Jude Dubuisson is a New Orleans street magician whose schtick is revealing the location of people’s lost items. Oh, and he’s also a demigod, thanks to the deity daddy he never knew. But after Hurricane Katrina tore through his beloved city leaving an overabundance of lost items in its wake, he’s been overwhelmed by his magical gift. The experience took something out of him, as it did to most of the city’s residents, leaving him without his usual swagger and knowing grin, prompting his retirement from the magical community. Unfortunately, he didn’t walk away six years ago scott-free – he still owes a debt to the Fortune god and it looks like now it’s being called in. An invitation to a divine card game ends with the murder of the Fortune god, and now Jude has been drafted by a former employer to find the killer. Who is powerful enough to kill a god and what is their motive? And how is Jude connected to all of this to begin with?

Retrograde
Hardcover | Kindle | Audiobook
By Peter Cawdron
Publisher: HMH Books | John Joseph Adams
Release date: September 12, 2017

The first colony has been established on Mars. Christened Endeavour, the underground community consists of four modules, each with a team of scientists and support staff from the United States, China, Russia, and Eurasia, respectively. The human colonists had been trained to handle living in confined spaces, in isolation, and with limited means in the most inhospitable environments. Every possible scenario the team could face — even the possibility of their own deaths — has been explored and prepared for, except, that is, what to do in the event of a nuclear war on Earth, which is exactly what happens in Peter Cawdron‘s Retrograde.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
The Best American Series
Paperback | Kindle
Edited By Charles Yu and John Joseph Adams
Publisher: Mariner Books
Release Date: October 3, 2017

If I have said it once, I have said it a thousand times: I love anthologies for the sheer fact that I get to preview a plethora of authors, some new and some not so much. Where else but in a compilation like this will you find so much talent in one spot without literally hanging out in a bookstore all day (I’m looking at you old Waldenbooks customers, folks)? That is precisely what The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 will give you. So anyway, I’m going to drop a few names, talk about a few stories, and make you want to run out and grab a copy of this. All in one little review. Are you ready? Okay, here we go!

Bannerless
The Bannerless Saga #1
Paperback | Kindle | Audiobook
By Carrie Vaughn
Publisher: HMH Books | John Joseph Adams | Mariner Books
Release date: July 11, 2017

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has launched a new scifi/fantasy imprint called John Joseph Adams, and they’ve kicked things off right with Bannerless, the first book in Carrie Vaughn‘s futuristic dystopian saga.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Paperback | Kindle
Edited by Karen Joy Fowler
Series Edited by John Joseph Adams
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Release Date: October 4, 2016

Short story compilations are by and large a collection of genre-focused tales that are meant to sell books. In may cases there are a handful of well known authors that are there to create enthusiasm for the book and increase sales. In the case of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, it’s a bit different. Chances are that you have not heard of many of these writers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Many of these voices are fresh and they are what we might call the up and coming writers of tomorrow, though some are obviously known, such as Salman Rushdie and Ted Chiang. But any time you get a chance to see someone rise through the ranks to success, it’s a beautiful thing.