Happy Publication Day, 10th January 2019!
Happy new year one and all. We’re gearing up for great 2019 at Gollancz Towers and are absolutely raring to go! To kick things off, we have a bumper haul of titles releasing today. Scroll on down to check out what you can find now in bookshops!
Before Mars, Emma Newman
Acclaimed author Emma Newman returns to the captivating Planetfall universe with a standalone dark tale of a woman stationed on Mars who slowly starts to doubt her own memories and sanity.
After months of travel, Anna Kubrin finally arrives on Mars for her new job as a geologist and de facto artist-in-residence. Already she feels like she is losing the connection with her husband and baby at home on Earth–and she’ll be on Mars for over a year. Throwing herself into her work, she tries her best to fit in with the team.
But in her new room on the base, Anna finds a mysterious note written in her own handwriting, warning her not to trust the colony psychologist. A note she can’t remember writing. She unpacks her wedding ring, only to find it has been replaced by a fake.
Finding a footprint in a place the colony AI claims has never been visited by humans, Anna begins to suspect that her assignment isn’t as simple as she was led to believe. Is she caught up in an elaborate corporate conspiracy, or is she actually losing her mind? Regardless of what horrors she might discover, or what they might do to her sanity, Anna has find the truth before her own mind destroys her.
PRAISE FOR EMMA NEWMAN’S PLANETFALL NOVELS:
‘An exceptionally engaging novel . . . a vivid, riveting read’ Washington Post
‘Gripping and sorrowful’ Publishers Weekly (starred review)
‘Emma Newman creates addictive page turners’ Starburst Magazine
You can get Before Mars now in mass market paperback, eBook and audio download!
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Cold Iron, Miles Cameron
Gripping and action-packed fantasy with a historical twist.
Aranthur is a student. He showed a little magical talent, is studying at the local academy, and is nothing particularly special. Others are smarter. Others are more talented. Others are quicker to pick up techniques. But none of them are with him when he breaks his journey home for the holidays in an inn. None of them step in to help when a young woman is thrown off a passing stage coach into the deep snow at the side of the road. And none of them are drawn into a fight to protect her.
One of the others might have realised she was manipulating him all along . . .
A powerful story about beginnings, coming of age, and the way choosing to take one step towards violence can lead to a slippery and dangerous slope, this is an accomplished fantasy series driven by strong characters and fast-paced action.
PRAISE FOR MILES CAMERON:
‘A stirring, gritty and at times quite brutal epic fantasy’ Tor.com
‘This series promises to be a standout epic fantasy for the ages’ Fantasy Book Critic
Cold Iron is out now in mass market paperback, eBook and audio download!
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Mistborn: Secret History, Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn: Secret History is a companion story to the original Mistborn trilogy, by besteselling author Brandon Sanderson.
As such, it contains HUGE SPOILERS for the books Mistborn (The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. It also contains very minor spoilers for the book The Bands of Mourning.
Mistborn: Secret History builds upon the characterization, events, and worldbuilding of the original trilogy. Reading it without that background will be a confusing process at best.
In short, this isn’t the place to start your journey into Mistborn (though if you have read the trilogy – but it has been a while – you should be just fine, so long as you remember the characters and the general plot of the books).
Saying anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowledge of this story’s existence is, in a way, a spoiler.
There’s always another secret.
PRAISE FOR BRANDON SANDERSON
‘Easily one of the finest fantasy stories I’ve ever read’ Forbes
‘Highly recommended to anyone hungry for a good read’ Robin Hobb
‘Intrigue, politics, and conspiracies mesh complexly in a world Sanderson realises in satisfying depth and peoples with impressive characters’ Booklist
Mistborn: Secret History is available now in hardback, eBook and audio download!
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Shadow Captain, Alastair Reynolds
Returning to the universe of Revenger, award-winning author Alastair Reynolds delivers another thrilling tale set among the stars.
Two sisters ran away from home to join the crew of a spaceship. They took on pirates, faced down monsters and survived massacres . . . and now they’re in charge. Captaining a fearsome ship of their own, adventures are theirs for the taking – and there’s hoards to loot and treasures to find in the darkest reaches of space. But the rules are also more relaxed out on the fringes, as they’re about to discover . . .
PRAISE FOR SHADOW CAPTAIN
‘A rollicking adventure yarn with action, abduction, fights, properly scary hazards, very grisly torture and even ghosts of a sort’ Daily Telegraph
‘By far the most enjoyable book Reynolds has ever written’ SFX
Shadow Captain is out now in hardback, eBook and audio download!
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The Girl King, Mimi Yu
Two sisters become unwitting rivals in a war to claim the title of Emperor in this sweeping tale of ambition, sacrifice and betrayal for readers of Tomi Adeyemi, Kendare Blake and Samantha Shannon.
All hail the Girl King
Sisters Lu and Min have always known their places as princesses of the empire. Lu is destined to become the first female emperor, while Min is resigned to a life in her shadow. When their father declares their male cousin heir instead, his betrayal throws both their lives into chaos.
Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu must flee the court in search of an ally. Her quest leads her to Nokhai, the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. After years in hiding, Nok is forced into an uneasy alliance with the girl whose family killed everyone he ever loved. Now they need an army to take back the throne.
Left alone in the volatile court, Min’s hidden power awakens. It’s a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set’s reign . . . or allow Min to claim the throne herself.
But there can only be one emperor, and the sisters’ greatest enemy could turn out to be each other . . .
PRAISE FOR THE GIRL KING
‘Everything I want in a high fantasy . . . I expect this to be one of the most talked-about books of 2019’ Samantha Shannon
‘Fierce and unforgettable, The Girl King is an epic fantasy of tremendous lyrical power . . . Mimi Yu has that gift of magic’ Marjorie Liu
‘An absolutely fantastic tale of legends, magic and destiny, Mimi Yu’s The Girl King kept the pages turning. The myths are awesome, the heroes are unsinkable, and the antagonists are chock-full of twisted agendas’ Kendare Blake
The Girl King is available in trade paperback, eBook and audio download – get your copy now!
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Zero Day, Ezekiel Boone
In the thrilling, nerve-wracking finale of Ezekiel Boone’s terrifying Hatching series, the United States goes to war against the queen spiders that threaten to overtake the human race forever.
The world is on the brink of apocalypse. Zero Day has come.
The only thing more terrifying than millions of spiders is the realization that those spiders work as one. But among the government, there is dissent: do we try to kill all of the spiders, or do we gamble on Professor Guyer’s theory that we need to kill only the queens?
For President Stephanie Pilgrim, it’s an easy answer. She’s gone as far as she can-more than two dozen American cities hit with tactical nukes, the country torn asunder – and the only answer is to believe in Professor Guyer. Unfortunately, Ben Broussard and the military men who follow him don’t agree, and Pilgrim, Guyer, and the loyal members of the government have to flee, leaving the question: what can be more dangerous, the spiders or ourselves?
PRAISE FOR EZEKIEL BOONE
‘Following directly on the heels of Skitter, Boone brings his excellent spider-apocalypse thriller to an exciting conclusion’ Booklist (starred review)
‘Big-screen-ready, rip-roaring action’ (Publishers Weekly)
‘Why are humans afraid of spiders? With a multi-stranded narrative that traps you as effectively as a silken web, Skitter makes the answer all too clear’ Daily Mail
Zero Day is available now in mass market paperback, eBook and audio download!