YetiStomper Picks for October

So I'm going to run through my October picks a little quicker than usual. And a little later than usual. Not just because I'm somewhat time deficient at the moment. More so that there are TWENTY ONE books to discuss.

For an industry that's dying, that's a pretty steady heartbeat.

Swell - Corwin Ericson

Stand Alone Novel - Swell is a curious little book that straddles the fine line between literature and genre, depicting an absurd adventure that never takes itself too seriously. Ericson's prose might be a little overwrought at times but he hits far more often than he misses, resulting in a impressive debut that never fails to entertain. (October 25 from Dark Coast Press)

The Children of the Sky - Vernor Vinge

Zones of Thought, Book 2 -  It's been 18 years since Vinge's modern SF classic of galactic proportions took the SF world by storm. The universe established in A Fire Upon The Deep begged for a sequel and we've finally got it. The early buzz is that The Children of the Sky doesn't quite live up to the standard set by it's progenitor but if it's even half as good, it will still be one of the best SF books of the year. (October 11 from Tor)

Osama: A Novel - Lavie Tidhar

Stand Alone Novella - The early contender for timely release of the year before Steve Jobs's autobiography became the book of 2011, Osama is a title everyone should recognize. But the character which Tidhar depicts is not the Bin Laden we all know and despise. Has Tidhar constructed a modern version of Philip K. Dick's seminal The Man in the High Castle? I suspect I'm not the only one who thinks so. (September 21 from PS Publishing)

The Cold Commands - Richard Morgan

A Land Fit For Heroes, Book 2 - Noted SF author Morgan's first foray into fantasy was met with mixed feelings. Now he's back for another go at hard edged fantasy in the vein of Martin and Abercrombie with The Cold Commands. (October 11 from Del Rey)

The Third Section - Jasper Kent

The Danilov Quintet, Book 3 - Kent's vampire saga reaches the halfway point as Dmitry Alekseevich Danilov picks up the fight his father started over 40 years ago. Part sprawling historical epic, part dark fantasy, The Danilov Quintet is one of Pyr's best offerings. (October 25 from Pyr)

Infidel - Kameron Hurley

God's War Trilogy, Book 2 - Only a few months ago, Kameron Hurley was turning heads with a debut novel that blended religion, race, and gender in a far future world unlike anything else in the industry today. Now she returns to that world with Infidel, as ex-assassin Nyx is forced to kill once more to protect a fragile peace. (October 18 from Night Shade Books)

Kingdom of Gods - N. K. Jemisin

Inheritance Trilogy, Book 3 -  A pure storyteller in the same vein as Gaiman and Le Guin, Jemisin has ability to tell a story that transcends the simple words on the page. At first glance, her world of gods and mortals, life and death, freedom and slavery, love and hate might appear overly dichotomous but be assured that in the end, nothing is quite so simple. Whatever "it" is, Nora K. Jemisin has it is droves. (October 27 from Orbit)

The End Specialist - Drew Magary

Stand Alone Novel - No one wants to get old. What if you didn't have to? Awesome, right? Keep in mind that that bus will still kill you, no questions asked. Drew Magary explores the implications of living in a world in which natural death has been removed from the rulebook through the blog of "end specialist" John Farrell. Magary himself is a blogger, and his experience lends itself well to the dark, satirical perspective of the book. (UK: September 29 from Harper Voyager / US: Aug 30 from Penguin)

Snuff - Terry Pratchett

Discworld Novels, Book 39 - It's Pratchett. It's Discworld. I think this is a City Watch novel but that doesn't really matter, does it? (October 11 from Harper)

Riptide - Paul S. Kemp

Star Wars, Jaden Korr, Book 2 - Paul Kemp's Crosscurrent (review) was the best Star Wars book of 2010. Normally, that's not saying much but Kemp brings it - regardless of whether "it" is Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, or his work of his own creation. It's been a long wait to find our what happened to the escaped band of insane cloned Jedi (I know, right?) but I'm excited to watch (mostly) sane Jedi Knight Jaden Korr track them down. (October 25 from Lucasbooks)

The Night Eternal - Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

The Strain Trilogy, Book 3 - Twilight this is not. Del Toro and Hogan understand that vampires aren't sparkly cuddle puppies. They are bloodthirsty monsters who want to eat you or breed you like cattle for their eventual consumption. As such, if you encounter a vampire, please exterminate it with extreme prejudice. Still don't understand? This hybrid horror/thriller will demonstrate until even the zombies get it. (October 25 from William Morrow)

1Q84 - Haruki Murakami

Stand Alone Novel - Hmmm.... I don't even how to begin describe this 944 page monstrosity in a couple of sentences. It may or may not be 1984. There may or may not be two moons. A math teacher and a novelist are rewriting a story. Probably. I'm reasonable sure it's not a Tolkien knock-off, if that helps... I've not yet read 1Q84 but the word on the street is that Murakami is one of the best novelists writing in any language today. And everyone seems to agree that IQ84 is (another) masterpiece. (October 25 from Knopf)

King's War - Maurice Broaddus

The Knights of Breton Court Trilogy, Book 3 - Whoever said you shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight obviously wasn't referring to Excalibur. Broaddus wraps up his inspired retelling of the Arthurian Saga set in modern day Indianapolis amidst the gang plagued Breton Court projects. If West Side Story is Romeo & Juliet + racial tensions in 1950s New York set to music, The Knights of Breton Court is Arthurian Legend + gang violence told as Urban Fantasy. But when your version of Camelot is the projects, what is your Avalon?  (October 25 from Angry Robot)

The Sacred Band - David Anthony Durham

Acacia Trilogy, Book 3 - In a genre where everyone can start a fantasy series but no one can finish one, David Anthony Durham stands out for his ability to not only close out a trilogy but to do so with a level of quality on par with, if not exceeding, that of the introductory volume. Simultaneously fantastic and realistic, the world Acacia is one of the genre's best kept secrets. (October 4 from Doubleday)

Aloha from Hell - Richard Kadrey

Sandman Slim, Book 3 - Unapologetic urban fantasy at its best, Aloha from Hell wraps up the first
Sandman Slim trilogy as James Stark returns to Hell to save the girl, stop a killer, and maintain the balance of good and evil. These books would be so wrong, if they just weren't so much fun. (October 18 from Harper Voyager)

Master of the House of Darts - Aliette de Bodard

Obsidian and Blood Trilogy, Book 3 - If you haven't guessed by now, October is "Finish Your Trilogy Month." De Bodard wraps up her South American infused series with the Master of the House of Darts. If Game of Thrones and its ripoffs have got you tired of Medieval European fantasy analogues give de Bodard's Mesoamerican saga a try. Or don't. It's not like she demonstrates a disturbingly complete understanding of human sacrifice or anything. (October 25 from Angry Robot)

Zone One - Colson Whitehead

Stand Alone Novel - Insert "BRAAIINNZZZZ..." joke here. Zone One is the intellectual's zombie novel, focusing more on the emotional stress of hunting down zombie remnants in a devastated Manhattan reclaimed from the zombie hordes rather than the emotional stress of hunting down zombie remnants in a devastated Manhattan reclaimed from the zombie hordes. But Whitehead's got it all wrong. I've played Left4Dead. Zombie hunting is like getting warm blankets straight out of the dryer. (October 18 from Doubleday)

Iron Jackal - Chris Wooding

Tales of the Ketty Jay, Book 3 - The rapscallious crew of the Ketty Jay returns for a third adventure across the skies of Vardia. Wooding's mashup of steampunk and Firefly probably won't win the Booker Prize but I wouldn't put it past Captain Frey and company to just steal it from whoever does. Train heists, airship races, master thievery; what's not to like? (October 20 from Gollancz)

Context - Cory Doctorow

Essay Collection - As good as his speculation is, there's something to be said for the quality of Doctorow's pontifications. Post-scarcity economics, the efficacy of digital rights management, and 21st century copyright concerns are only a few of the bleeding edge topics touched upon by Doctorow in the follow-up to last year's Content. Thought-provoking, well-written, and alarming, Doctorow's work is a must read for anyone concerned about the well being of digital artists.  (October 1 from Tachyon Publications)

Fox & Phoenix - Beth Bernobich

Long City, Book 1 - A young adult fantasy novel set in the same Chinese influenced fantasy world as Bernobich's novelette "Pig, Crane, Fox", Fox & Phoenix is a quirky blend of humor, character, and adventure. You can download "Pig, Crane, Fox" for free here. Why not give it a try? (October 13 from Viking Children's)

The White People and Other Weird Stories - Arthur Machen

Short Story Collection - What's Halloween without a good scary story? This month Penguin Classics publishes collections of not one but two masters of horror in Arthur Machen and H.P. Lovecraft. I chose to focus on Machen over Lovecraft due to my unfamiliarity with Machen's work but make no mistake, the genre wouldn't be what it is today without these two terrors. (September 27 from Penguin Classics)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: So many options. Too many options. I give up. I'll just flip a coin. At least, when I find a twenty-one sided one. Do they even make dice that multifaceted?

Back on track. It's tempting to go with something of the horror variety, being October and all, but seeing as I'm actually posting this in November, I'm going to go in a different direction. Damn, no turkey themed books either.

So this isn't helping. What happened to the months with two books? I miss those. Let's start by identifying a short(er) list.

• 1Q84
• The Master of the House of Darts
• The Sacred Band
• Kingdom of Gods
• The Children of the Sky

Ugh, and that's ignoring Kameron Hurley and Richard Kadrey. AND Terry Pratchett. Are you still reading this? I wouldn't be.

So now I need to choose between a master of the modern novel (1Q84), an alternate history work that rejects the framework of 99% of modern fantasy (The Master of the House of Darts), the conclusion to one of the most complete fantasy trilogies in ages (The Sacred Band), the closing volume of a series that launched a new voice with the potential to enter the ranks of master storytellers (Kingdom of Gods), and the sequel to one of the best SF novels of the past 20 years (The Children of the Sky).

It's a five way tie!

Let's go to the YetiRulebook: "In the case of a tie, the YetiPick goes to the author who would benefit most from selling an additional 2 books."

Well I don't think I'm going to help Murakami be more of a bestseller, so 1Q84 is out. Likewise for N.K. Jemisin, who is surprising no one after the surfeit of  critical acclaim The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms garnered last year. Let's also cut The Children of the Sky on the grounds it's been anticipated for 16 more years than this blog has been around.

So that takes it down to The Sacred Band and The Master of the House of Darts. Now I can flip a coin.

I don't believe it. It landed on its side.

The Master of the House of Darts and The Sacred Band are both my October YetiPicks of the Month.

Don't look at me like that, what did you think was going to happen when I posted two covers up there?

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: Fortunately, while everyone else was playing "Shut Up and Finish Your Trilogy," only Drew Magary and Corwin Ericson were in catch-up mode, trying to claim a readership of their own. That means there are only two debuts to choose between, a much more manageable number.

While neither is perfect, in both books the positives outweigh the negatives by a wide margin. I'd feel comfortable recommending either to any of you freaks whose to-read lists haven't yet hit triple digits. Both books contain a certain level of satirical absurdity, although more so in Swell. For the most part, The End Specialist tries to draw logical conclusions from illogical premises; Swell feels no such obligation.

In the end, I'm giving the nod to Swell, mostly for its playful prose and unique brand of absurdity. While The End Specialist does offer a fresh perspective on the "end-of-death" scenario, the concept of "post-mortality" itself is one I've seen before through a number of different lenses. These days I find myself more and more drawn away from traditional genre topics and toward the unpredictable and entertaining. Swell, my YetiStomper Debut of the Month, is exactly that.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Maybe I should just stop pretending I'll post these. It's not like I'm already a month behind in my YetiPicks...

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As always, if you are interested in more detail regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

YetiStomper Picks for September

Sorry Yetifans. I know this is late. Really late. Legendarily late. Or as I like to call it, "exactly on yeti standard time." To be truthful, I was doing a little experiment. I've suspected for months that io9 takes my YetiStomper Picks, subtracts one book, adds another and then claims that it as their own "original" picks for the month. I originally became suspicious when they copied my selection of A Dance With Dragons as a "highly anticipated" book. Bastards...

But it turns out, when I didn't post my selections this month, neither did they. That and my tinfoil hat prevented them from looking directly into my brain. Reynold's Wrap, humanity would be lost without you.

Or I was just a lazy ball of blogger this month. Your pick. Either way, better late than never, right?

Reamde - Neal Stephenson

Stand Alone, Book - As prolific as some writers are, Stephenson might put them all to shame. Less than a year after the hernia inducing Anathem, we've got another kilopage tome to get us through the winter months. Both as reading material and combustible fuel. And if a thousand pages a year doesn't impress you enough, bear in mind that Stephenson writes his novels longhand. Reamde is the latest entry in a new wave of MMORPG-centric cyberpunk thrillers which blend all aspects of twenty first century culture into a reality spanning epic. You know - billionaires, hackers, organized crime, terrorists, computer viruses, twitter - the usual.  Early reviews are calling it Stephenson's most accessible book yet - but is that a good thing? (September 20 from William Morrow)

Ganymede - Cherie Priest

The Clockwork Century, Book 4 - The first of two Cherie Priest books due out this month, Ganymede continues chronicling The Clockwork Century, a steampunk alternate American timeline in which the Civil War was never won and the West was never tamed. The titular Ganymede is a mysterious submarine that could finally end the decades long war in the North's favor, if only they could figure out how to use it. Andan Cly is the man whose been tasked to do just that, provided it doesn't kill him first. Personally, I'm getting a little bit tired of steampunk but The Clockwork Century is a series that has me hooked through til the end.  (September 27 from Tor)

Goliath - Scott Westerfeld

The Leviathan Trilogy, Book 3 - Okay, maybe I spoke too soon. Like Ganymede, Scott Westerfeld's steampunk series showcases a historic war with a steampunk slant. In the Leviathan Trilogy, it's World War I all over again but nothing like you the one you learned about it school. Now the Allied Powers pit genetically engineered "Darwinist" creations against walking mechanized monstrosities fielded by the Central Powers. Goliath follows young protagonists Deryn and Alek as they continue their mysterious mission around the world, stopping in Japan before heading to New York for the climatic conclusion of Westerfeld's YA trilogy. I'm about 10 years out of the YA target demographic but that doesn't make this series any less fun. If you're looking for something you can read along with your kids, Westerfeld is your guy. (September 20 from Simon Pulse)

The Girl of Fire and Thorns - Rae Carson

The Fire and Thorns Trilogy, Book 1 - I don't always read debut YA fantasy novels about princesses but when I do they better be worth reading. Fortunately, Rae Carson can deliver the goods. With a strong female lead, clever supporting cast, and mature yet effortless prose, Carson's take on world spanning fantasy represents the future of YA fiction. Carson has already been compared to the likes of Turner and Cashore; don't be surprised if new authors are labeled as "the next Rae Carson" in a few years. (September 20 from Greenwillow)

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Stand Alone - Are creepy circuses (circii?) the new vampires zombies steampunk? Just when I thought Genevieve Valentine was a lock for "best debut circus and/or vaudeville themed novel of 2011," Erin Morgenstern comes out of nowhere with another atmospheric tale more than worth the price of admission. Morgenstern's dark and moody debut has earned starred reviews from every legit source I've ever heard of (and several I haven't). Le Cirque des Reves features two rival magicians - and if they're not careful - for a limited time only. (September 13 from Doubleday)

Debris - Jo Anderton

The Veiled Worlds, Book 1 - Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, correct? Such is the station of futuristic pionner Tanyana, a woman with the ability to manipulates the building blocks of matter itself. At least until she is framed for an accident she didn't commit. Can a technoalchemist ever catch a break? Angry Robot brings us another fantastic debut as Anderton produces a breakneck novel on the driving strength of her first person perspective. (September 27 from Angry Robot)

Spellbound - Blake Charlton

The Spellwright Trilogy , Book 2 - Upstart novelist / medical student / professional shame shaman Blake Charlton returns to make you feel like an abject failure [but I'm at least the 121,594th best book blogger out there!] with the second volume of his Spellwright Trilogy. While he's not saving lives, Dr. Charlton relaxes by penning his own take on traditional fantasy. The Spellwright series focuses on Nicodemus Weal, complete failure and/or the only one who can stop the demonic Typhon from devouring human language itself. Well that's okay, we can just play charades right? Wrong. Language serves as the foundation of Charlton's complex and highly original magic system, so its annihilation might cause a few problems. Problems that Weal himself is intimately familiar with - a demonic curse (guess who) has prevented him from stringing a simple magical sentence together without chaotic consequences since an early age. But don't let the thinly veiled dyslexia metaphor stop you, Spellbound is fantasy at his finest. I would, however, recommend starting with Spellwright (Book 1) to get the full effect. (September 13 from Tor)

Hellbent - Cherie Priest

The Cheshire Red Reports, Book 2 - How funny is it that there are two books this month by different authors both named Cherie Priest? You would think that they would pick different pen names. I mean, one is writing about airships, smugglers, and steampunk submarines; the other is writing about vampire thieves, cross dressing ex-Navy SEALs, and ancient penis parts. That Venn diagram looks like a solar system map of Mercury and Pluto. [Is to a planet!]. And by that I mean there's no overlap. Except for me. Oh, and whoever likes good stories. Like the one that Cherie Priest #2 started with her highly entertaining "Chesire Red Reports" back in January's Bloodshot. With unforgettable characters, potentially gratuitous levels of violence, and "wit" that's one smart-ass comment away from being full blown snark, Hellbent demonstrates that you don't need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to urban fantasy; you just need to make it well rounded, get it moving and run some stuff over. Between Hellbent and Ganymede, good luck picking which Priest to worship. Unless they are by freak occurrence the same person. But that would just be weird.

Update: I'm an idiot. (September 6 from Spectra)

One Salt Sea - Seanan McGuire

October Daye, Book 5 - Multi-pseudonymous author Seanan McGuire continues her series of faerie tales with One Salt Sea in which protagonist October "Toby" Daye is forced to investigate the disappearance of some random but important merkids in order to prevent a war between air and water. Or as faerie folk like to call it, your typical Tuesday. McGuire continues to expand the world governed by Oberon's Laws, both in scope with the introduction of the realm of Saltmist and in depth with an increased focus on Daye's supporting cast of characters. In the paranormal realm, Jim Butcher owns wizards, Charlaine Harris commands vampires, and  Carrie Vaughn controls werewolves. As these books continue to improve, it's clear that Seanan McGuire has claimed the fae as her own with ironclad certainty. My only question is why is Daye still doing grunt work? She's a freaking Countess now. What good are titles if they don't come with minions? (September 6 from DAW)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: Some authors are everywhere. They're blogging their fingers off. They're doing interviews for anyone and everyone with a question worth asking. They're writing guest posts for John Scalzi, Tor.com and whichever bloggers need to take time out of their posting schedules to feed their families. They're engaging readers through twitter, facebook, and geocities. They're mailing out review copies on their own dime. They're traveling around their region of the country doing two signings a day out of the back of their 1996 Pontiac Grand Prix. All while writing the next book and keeping the day job. These are the authors who make the genre what it is, an writhing tangle of nervous energy devoted to the goal of capturing a reader's imagination and doing all kinds of unspeakable things to it.

But there are also authors who are willing to let their work speak for itself and who don't give a frak if you understand it, much less like it. Authors who are willing to write a trillion bazillion words about the origins of calculus, the common problems of 17th century European adventurers, and how the modern banking system came to be because they found numismatic history to be interesting while doing research for their equally tome-tacular cryptogasmic opus. And then to follow that up with Anathem, as if they were doing their publisher a favor with a book that takes a tree and a half to print. It takes a special kind of author to do that. It takes Neal Stephenson to do all that and still hit #1 on the NYT Bestseller List. Reamde might be Stephenson's most accessible book yet but anyone familiar with his work knows that's not necessarily saying much. At the same time, saying the name Stephenson is enough for me - which is why Reamde is my YetiStomper Pick of the Month. Not that he would care.

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: The Woman Who Hates Everything Gazette. Americans Against Fictional Clowns Quarterly. The One Guy Who Liked Twilight Suicide Note. That's it.

That's the full list of publications who didn't give The Night Circus a starred review. It's a hell of lot shorter that the list of people who did. I originally tried typing that out which is what is responsible for my Books of September Post going up on the 29th rather than the 1st of the month. Apparently Google has a character limit, who knew?

Anyway, Morgenstern completely and utterly delivers on the hype and then some, resulting in a novel on par with such memorable debuts as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and The Time Traveler's Wife. It's stylistic, brilliant, moody, evocative and a hell of a lot better than any first novel has any right being. Read The Night Circus, September's YetiStomper Debut of the Month. I dare you to disagree.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out...eventually

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As always, if you are interested in more detail regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

YetiStomper Picks for August

I think I'm actually getting worse at this whole writing thing as I go along. Fortunately, these eight authors seems to know what they're doing.

Southern Gods - John Hornor Jacobs

Stand Alone - Remind me to never visit Arkansas. Any interest I may have had in visiting that fine state is now completely and utterly gone, thanks to genre newcomer John Hornor Jacobs. His debut horror novel, Southern Gods follows war veteran and hired hand Bull Ingram as he tracks down Ramblin' John Hastur, a blues player rumored to have made a deal with the devil himself. Jacobs mixes Lovecratian Horror, Americana, and sweet tea in a unique tale of obsession and redemption on par with the best horror has to offer. (July 26 from Night Shade Books)

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Stand Alone - If SDCC is known for one thing, it's the generation of hype. But geek love is often a fickle bitch, and she rarely leaves with the one who brought her. At this year's comic-con, one of the most talked about properties was Ready Player One, the debut novel from Fanboys director Ernest Cline. Cline offers hope to every geek by creating a world in which encyclopedic knowledge of twentieth century pop-culture isn't just acceptable - it's the key to unlocking untold power and riches within OASIS, the virtual utopia that has come to dominate life in 2044. This is a must read for any child of the 80s. (August 16 from Crown)

Low Town - Daniel Polansky

Low Town, Book 1 - Is historical urban fantasy a thing? It might be soon, if copycats latch on to Daniel Polansky's excellent noir fantasy debut. Magic and murder combine in a gritty adventure that should surprise fantasy fans, even those familiar with the darker tones the genre has adopted over the past few years. Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town. (August 16 from Doubleday)

The Urban Fantasy Anthology - Peter S. Beagle & Joe R. Lansdale, eds.

Urban Fantasy Anthology, duh. - With what appears to be the least boldly titled anthology since Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio edited Stories, Beagle and Lansdale prove that looks can be deceiving. Split into three parts, the surprisingly eclectic anthology examines each of the literary definitions that have been linked to the term "Urban Fantasy" over the years. Neil Gaiman, Jeffrey Ford, and Beagle himself contribute to the group of "Mythic Fiction" stories while Lansdale joins Holly Black and Tim Powers in composing tales of "Noir Fantasy." "Paranormal Romance" rounds out the trio of interpretations with contributions from heavy hitters Carrie Vaughn, Kelly Armstrong, and Patricia Briggs as well as YetiStomper favorite, Norman Partridge. Whatever you assumed this book would be, you're probably wrong. (August 15 from Tachyon Publications)

Kitty's Greatest Hits - Carrie Vaughn

Kitty Norville, Short Fiction Collection - Jim Butcher's Side Jobs and Charlaine Harris's A Touch of Dead have proved that the notion that "short fiction anthologies don't sell" doesn't exactly apply to NYT Bestselling Urban Fantasy Series. Now it's Carrie Vaughn's turn as Tor collects 14 of her Kitty Norville shorts in a single hardcover volume. (August 16 from Tor)

The Magician King - Lev Grossman

The Magician Series, Book 2 - Lev Grossman continues his meta-tacular dissection of fantasy tropes with The Magician King, a book that does for the quest fantasy what its predecessor, The Magicians, did for the coming-of-age tale. Grossman's self-aware series is perfect for those who wonder how a real person might react if they discovered an entire world hidden in the armoire. (August 9 from Viking Adult)

Bluegrass Symphony - Lisa Hannett

Short Fiction Collection - You might call Lisa Hannett's first collection "hard to find." I'd call it "a future collector's item." Published by Ticonderoga one hemisphere over and another down, Bluegrass Symphony highlights one of Australia's up-and-comers with 12 strange stories that will delight and disturb. (August 1 from Ticonderoga Publications)

The Black Lung Captain - Chris Wooding

Tales of the Ketty Jay, Book 2 - In the second of Wooding's adventurous tales, we return to the airship Ketty Jay and it's inscrutable captain, Darian Frey. Many people have drawn comparisons between Wooding's motley crew and that of the tragically canceled Firefly. I'd be hard pressed to disagree. (July 26 from Spectra)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: I've heard a lot of people harping on Lev Grossman. "He's a literary wolf in genre clothing." "The Magicians is a Harry Potter rip-off. And a bad one." "Isn't it funny how the book critic for Time magazine writes the same filth that they would never review." "He pushed my grandmother down the stairs. On her birthday." Okay, I might have made that last one up but for whatever reason, there's a vocal contingent of people out there hell bent on giving Grossman a bad name. Maybe they don't get his books. Maybe they're jealous. Maybe they see him as the enemy, the type of person who sits in a high castle and claims the Chabons, the Gaimans, and the Niffeneggers as his own. Grossman might work with the "establishment" day in and day out but he's more than willing to take off the tweed jacket to come play in the mud. But just because your idea of playing pretend involves more magic and less angsty introspection doesn't mean you enjoy a dirt sandwich. Grossman champions a combination of plot and purpose - the profound notion that books can say something worth saying and be worth reading, all at the same time. With The Magician King, my selection for YetiStomper Pick of the Month, Grossman continues his grim exploration of fantasy from within. After all, just because your life feels like a fairy tale doesn't mean you get to live happily ever after.

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: For a relatively calm month [Aside: when did 8 books become a "calm" amount?], there's still no shortage of debuts to choose between. Polansky [Low Town], Cline [Ready Player One], Jacobs [Southern Gods], and Hannett [Bluegrass Symphony] are all first timers and they've got plenty to be proud of. I'm really intrigued by Cline's premise - it sounds like a Cory Doctorow novel written by Scott Pilgrim or a Goonies reboot scripted by Charlie Stross - but at the same time, I've been burned by hype before. I'm definitely excited for the book but I can't in good faith give it top billing without having read a single word. Then there's the Wunderkind, Daniel Polansky, who at 26 has published one more book that I probably ever will. There's part of me that wants to eliminate Low Town on spite alone. Fortunately, I don't have to - as impressive a debut as Low Town is, it's outshined by the polished prose and seductive story contained in John Hornor Jacobs' premiere. The YetiStomper Debut of the Month, Southern Gods, is Chicken Fried Lovecraft - sheer terror breaded in mystery and malice and deep fried in the muggy backwoods of 1960s Arkansas. I dare you to take a bite and walk away without wanting more.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out...eventually

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As always, if you are interested in more detail regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

YetiStomper Picks for July

Stop. Please. Or at least slow down, for the love of all things ~(;,,;)~ . I can't keep up, much less catch up on everything else.

Here are the 18 books I've tracked for July, the largest single month of recommendations in Stomping on Yeti history. The funny thing? Out of the three biggest books of the month (A Dance With Dragons / Ghost Story / Rule 34), none were originally scheduled to be published this month.

Flashback - Dan Simmons

Stand Alone - If you would have asked me a month ago, the newest novel from Hugo and World Fantasy Award winning author Dan Simmons would have been on the top of my most wanted list (well after A Dance With Dragons, who am I kidding). Flashback warns of a world where a drug that enables you to experience the most euphoric moments of your life has all but crippled the United States. Can flashback-addict Nick Bottom "change the course of an entire nation turning away from the future to live in the past?" There's no denying it's an intriguing premise - but is that enough to ignore the slate of early reviews accusing Simmons of overt racism and OSC-class politiking? I'll file this one under "Approach With Caution." (July 1 from Reagan Arthur)

A Dance With Dragons - George R. R. Martin

A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 5 - Either you knew this was coming or you didn't. But let's pretend you were in a coma for the last 8 years. The Chinese Democracy of fantasy novels, A Dance With Dragons tells the the rest of the story only partially depicted in A Feast for Crows, much to the chagrin of GRRMbling fans. It's bee nearly a decade but we'll finally find out what Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Tyrion Lannister have been up to since we last left them in A Storm of Swords. (July 12 from Bantam)

The Clockwork Rocket - Greg Egan

Orthogonal, Book 1 - Greg Egan's latest combines the themes of Theordore Sturgeon's classic "Microcosmic God" with Einstein's exploration of relativistic time dilation in a hard SF novel sure to challenge readers (in a good way). Yalda's world is in danger of being obliterated by an extraterrestrial threat, yet the technology that might save them might not be invented for generations. But if a science vessel is launched at a high enough speed, they'd be able to complete decades of research while only a few years pass "at home." Confused yet? Now imagine that all of this takes place in a universe where the laws of physics as we know them don't apply. (July 4 from Night Shade Books)

Ghost Story - Jim Butcher

Dresden Files, Book 13 - I won't spoil it for those who are still catching up but rarely does a book live up to its title than Butcher's 12th entry in the Dresden Files, Changes. Fans of the series have been dying to know what happened to I CAN'T BELIEVED YOU LOOKED! WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED? and after being pushed from it's original March pub date, it's finally time to find out. The Dresden Files is the single best Paranormal Detective / Urban Fantasy series on shelves right now and it's not even close. (July 26 from Roc)

Heart of Iron - Ekaterina Sedia

Stand Alone - Ugh. Not another tale of historical intrigue set in 19th century Russia riffing on a potential war between the great powers of Britain, Russia, and China. That subgenre is so played out. Why can't Ekaterina Sedia just do something interesting for a change..? Falser words were never spoken. With Heart of Iron, Sedia cements her place as a font of original speculation in a genre that innovates far less than it would admit. (July 26 from Prime)

Dead Iron - Devon Monk

The Age of Steam, Book 1 - On the subject of  paranormal detectives, Urban Fantasy stalwart Devon Monk shifts her attentions from sulty spellcasters to steampunk werewolves with Dead Iron, the first entry in a new series which combines elements from the two hottest publishing trends into a foggy, fast paced free-for-all. (July 5 from Roc)

Star Wars: Choices of One - Timothy Zahn

Star Wars, Rebellion Era - It's been 20 years since Timothy Zahn reintroduced the Star Wars universe to readers everywhere with his spectacular Thrawn trilogy. Two decades later, Zahn returns to the galaxy far far away with another adventure set during the dark days of the Rebellion when Vader still lurked among the stars, the Battle of Yavin was a recent memory, and Luke still thought he had a chance with Leia. All the familiar faces return, including Zahn's own creations - Mara Jade and the Hand of Judgement. (July 19 from Del Rey / Lucas Books)

Hell Ship - Philip Palmer

Stand Alone - Is there anything more fun than self-aware pulp fiction? Philip Palmer and Orbit deliver more genre goodness with Hell Ship, a SF novel in the same vein as their previous collaborations Red Claw and Version 43. The titular vessel is a intergalactic slave ship, devastating worlds and taking the remnants captive. For obvious reasons, forces inside and out plot the Hell Ship's destruction - but will they succeed?  (July 1 from Orbit)

Heaven's Shadow - David S. Goyer and Michael Cassutt

Heaven's Trilogy, Book 1 - "The science fiction epic of our time has arrived." While I wouldn't go quite that far, there's no denying that The Dark Knight scribe Goyer and his co-conspirator Cassutt are swinging for the fences. Heaven's Shadow, the first in a trilogy of first contact, has already been optioned for film. Here's the text trailer "Three years ago, an object one hundred miles across was spotted on a trajectory for Earth's sun. Now, its journey is almost over. As it approaches, two competing manned vehicles race through almost half a million kilometers of space to reach it first. But when they both arrive on the entity, they learn that it has been sent toward Earth for a reason. An intelligent race is desperately attempting to communicate with our primitive species. And the message is: Help us." Grab your popcorn! (July 5 from Ace)

Rule 34 - Charles Stross

Halting State, Book 2 - In quite possibly the least googleable book in recent history, Charles Stross returns to the world of 2007's Halting State for another police procedural. That is, if your hour long crime drama is set ten years in the future, chronicles internet crimes so bleeding edge their not quite illegal yet, and is uniquely presented in second person perspective. And the best part? The book kept getting delayed after the stuff Stross dreamt up, actually came true. Multiple times. (July 5 from Ace)

The Goblin Corps - Ari Marmell

Stand Alone - Ever tire of all that Elfing Hero Propaganda? You know what I'm talking about - child of prophecy journeys accross vast distances, overcomes impossible odds, blah blah blah. Ari Marmell finally tells the other side of the story in The Goblin Corps, an "alternative" fantasy which sets out to sarcastically prove that just because life is nasty, brutish, and short in the dark lands of Kirol Syrreth doesn't mean it isn't also a lot of fun. "Welcome to the Goblin Corps. May the best man lose." (July 26 from Pyr)

Heartless - Gail Carriger

The Parasol Protectorate, Book 4 - Steampunk alternate history meets urban fantasy once more in Heartless, the penultimate book in The Parasol Protectorate. Carriger's latest outing follows Lady Alexia Maccon once more as she attempts to save the queen from a maniacal ghost among other paranormal problems. (June 28 from Orbit)

7th Sigma - Steven Gould

Stand Alone - Gould, the author of the popular Jumper books, switches microscopic gears from teleporation to self-replicating nanotechnology in his latest book, 7th Sigma. The territory is a dangerous land, plagued by self-replicating, solar-powered, metal-masticating machines. Yet life prevails, rebuilt on a platform of plastic, ceramic and wood. Kimble Monroe is one of the hardy few that chose to remain in the American Southwest among the swarms of synthetic bugs. He's also one in a billion. Intrigued? I am. (July 5 from Tor)

Vortex - Robert Charles Wilson

Spin Books, Book 3 - After the delightful diversion that was Julian Comstock, Robert Charles Wilson returns to the universe of 2006's Hugo-award winning Spin which continues to spin further and further out of control. In Spin, a mysterious group of powers known as "the Hypotheticals" quarantined Earth and catapulted it into the far future of the universe. Two books later and it's time to find out why as their motives are ultimately revealed. Like fellow Canadian SF author Robert J. Sawyer, Wilson specializes in approachable character based science fiction and his talents are on display once again. (July 5 from Tor)

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-eighth Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois, ed.

The Year's Best Science Fiction, Book 28 - After 27 entries, Dozois's yearly collection of science fiction shorts is an undeniable genre staple. Whether you're looking to wrap your brain around some new ideas or just discover a few new authors to satisfy novel needs, you won't find a better place to start than Dozois's latest weighty tome. (July 5 from St. Martin's Griffin)

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day - Ben Loory

Short Story Collection - Ben Loory's a new name on my radar but a interesting one. His relatively short collection is just over two hundred pages in length but boasts forty of the most peculiar (and often hilarious) stories I've ever read. Loory's short shorts feel like modern day fairy tales, albeit ones told by a Mother Goose with a penchant for hallucinogenics and whose eggs are more than a little scrambled. His style bundles complex themes in purposefully simplistic prose packages, providing plenty of dialogue tags bur far fewer conclusions. Frustration has never been this much fun. (July 26 from Penguin)

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities - Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, eds.

Thackery T. Lambshead Anthologies, Book 2 - If we're talking about things that belong in a curious cabinet, look no further than the VanderMeers' latest anthology. Fans of their editorial projects may recognize Thackery T. Lambshead as the fictional doctor responsible for compiling a collection of bizarre but entertaining diseases. Apparently he also had an affinity for collecting oddities as was apparently discovered in his imaginary home after his fictional death. In truth, a number of noted genre authors and artists have come together to stock his strange shelves, combining visual and written elements to create an anthology unlike any I've ever seen. Ted Chiang, China Mieville,  Mike Mignola and Alan Moore are only a few of the names that helped compile this abstract anthology of "exhibits, oddities, images, and stories" (July 12 from Harper Voyager)

Paradise Tales - Geoff Ryman

Short Story Collection - Small Beer Press's niche collections have always been a great place to find "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" in the speculative fiction space. Which isn't to say Ryman isn't ready for the big leagues. Quite the opposite in fact - Ryman already has 7 novels under his belt, including the BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke winning modern masterpiece Air: Or, Have Not Have. Which is probably why Ryman's first collection of SF tales - mundane and not - earned a Starred Review from Publisher's Weekly. (July 12 from Small Beer Press)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: It's a good time to be George R. R. Martin (or if not him, one his fans). The almost flawless adaptation of Game of Thrones is HBO's newest smash hit. The graphic novel is due out in September from Dynamite Entertainment, to be penned by Yeti-favorite Daniel Abraham and illustrated by Tommy Patterson. And of course, Kong itself - the release of the book 5 years in the making. This month's YetiStomper Picks features more books than any other month in this blog's short history but out of all those books, only Jim Butcher's Ghost Story had even a shot of upsetting A Dance With Dragons for YetiStomper Pick of the Month. Now, I'm not fully caught up with A Song of Ice and Fire just yet but what I've read thus far has more than lived up to the hype. The only question is can A Dance With Dragons possibly live up to the colossal expectations placed upon it by the prolonged wait? The early word? - Yes!

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: There is a man. The man wrote a story. It was made up of smaller stories. The stories say everything and nothing. There is another man. He read the first man's story of stories. He was impressed. "I will pick this book," he says. Which is how Stories for Nighttime (and Some for the Day) came be July's YetiStomper Debut of the Month. Loory uses refreshingly simple prose while exploring  frustratingly elusive themes, resulting in a book that goes down smooth but leaves a pleasant aftertaste for you to mull over in your mind. I'm still not sure if Loory's debut is crazy good or just plain crazy but I'll admit I enjoyed it immensely. Undoubtedly the best collection I've read since Livia Llewellyn's Engines of Desire.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out...eventually

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Anyway, as always, if you are interested in more details regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

YetiStomper Picks for June

June's slate is a curious one, full of questions and impracticalities.

Zombie books shouldn't work. The antagonists are brain-dead, dialogue is minimal, and the visual gore factor simply doesn't translate from the screen to the page. They shouldn't happen. Why then, does June bring us not one, but two, zombie novels? And even more curious, why are both of them fantastic?

Science Fiction is dead. Everyone knows it. We are stuck on this planet until we bleed it dry so why even bother speculating scientifically? And will someone please let James S. A. Corey know, whoever that is? I'd hate for him to try to save SF by himself. It's doomed.

Anthologies don't sell. If speculative fiction is a literary ghetto, then anthologies are the genre equivalent of the projects, housing all the poor disenfranchised short stories on the publisher dime. But if that's the case, how do you explain the Wild Cards and Bordertown books which have an impressive 29 installments and counting between them? Where do they keep coming from? And why?

What's going on? Doesn't anyone know anything?

As usual, I blame the authors.  Let's get started.

Raising Stony Mayhall - Daryl Gregory

Standalone - You might not know where GenRenaissance Author Daryl Gregory's fiction will take you next, but there's no denying that when you reach the destination, you'll have enjoyed the trip. Whether he's writing pulp demons, mutant noir, or zombie orphans, Gregory always strikes a delicate balance between humor, heart, and horror in his abstract exploration of what the word "family" really means. Raising Stony Mayhall is the third novel in Daryl Gregory's young career and he amazes once again in his narration of the the curious life of one Stony Mayhall. Mayhall was made an orphan during the the first zombie outbreak. Unfortunately for him, he was born to parents on the losing side. But can his adoptive human family keep him secret from the government that would destroy him? And what to do when you find your relatives aren't as (un)dead as you once thought? (June 28th from Del Rey)

Deadline - Mira Grant

Newsflesh, Book 2 - Somehow, someway, Campbell Award winning author Seanan McGuire manages to maintain an absurd level of quantity and quality in her work, publishing seven novels as two authors in under three years. McGuire's latest (written by alter ego Mira Grant) continues the zombie tale started in 2010's Hugo nominated Feed in which bloggers Georgia and Shaun Mason set out to unravel the conspiracy behind a global pandemic in a world where viral information is the only defense against a viral hunger. (May 31 from Orbit)

Leviathan Wakes - James S. A. Corey

The Expanse, Book 1 - And here I thought 2011 was supposed to be a good year for Fantasy. But with the last three months bringing readers Up Against It, Fuzzy Nation, The Quantum Thief, and now Leviathan Wakes, a veritable Sci-Fi revival appears to be in the works. James S. A. Corey is a pseudonym for a talented pair of writers: Yeti-favorite Daniel Abraham and relative newcomer Ty Francks. Together as Corey, they set out to remind the SF landscape that story and science aren't mutually exclusive. Hard without being immutable, Leviathan Wakes follows Captain Jim Holden and Detective Miller across the solar system as they pull on different threads of the same conspiracy. (June 28 from Orbit)

Chasing the Moon - A. Lee Martinez

Standalone - A. Lee Martinez is just one of those writers who experiences life on a different wavelength. Frequently starting with a concept past the point where other authors would draw the line, Martinez's fiction is absurd, hilarious, and, above all else, unpredictable. His latest, Chasing the Moon, sees a woman move into her dream apartment. Unfortunately for her, there are a couple of unadvertised tenants who are hellbent on making it less of a dream and more of nightmare. But even Vom the Hungering is a potential ally when the fate of the world is on the line. (May 25 from Orbit)

City of Ruin / Book of Transformations - Mark Charan Newton

Legends of the Red Sun, Books 2 and 3 - No matter what side of the pond you're on, June is a good month for fans of Mark Charan Newton. UK fans get The Book of Transformations, the third in Newton's popular Legends of the Red Sun series, while his US followers continue to play catch up with City of Ruin, the sequel to last year's Nights of Villjamur. Either audience will delight in Newton's capital-w Weird approach to fantasy as he expertly crafts another tale in one of his frequently troubled cities. (June 28 from Spectra)

The Final Evolution - Jeff Somers

Avery Cates, Book 5 - After failing to satisfy his personal vendetta in the four previous volumes, Cates' ongoing war with Canny Orel is finally coming to a head in the fifth (and final?) installment. But what price is Cates willing to pay to enact his revenge? Somers' cinematic cyberpunk stylings aren't for everyone but if you like gritty anti-heroes and fun, fast-paced science fiction, The Final Evolution is worth a look.

The Boy at the End of the World - Greg van Eekhout

Middle Grade SF Novel - Van Eekhout's 2nd middle grade novel (after the excellent Kid vs. Squid) is just as strong as the first, delivering an intelligent yet humorous story in a post-apocalyptic package. Fisher is, as far as he knows, the last living human on earth and he's determined to do what he can to change that, even if it means crossing the country with a robot guardian that makes C-3PO seem serene and a cloned woolly mammoth that answers to Protein. If you are looking for a book that will challenge your kids without exposing them to Twilight-esque perversions, The Boy at the End of the World is a great place to start. But don't take my word for it, go read what 10 year old Junior YetiStomper Keegan had to say on the subject in his review. And don't be surprised if you end up reading it as well. I did. (June 21 from Bloomsbury)

Mistification - Kaaron Warren

Standalone - If Angry Robot is determined to bring about a robotic revolution, they are going about it the wrong way. Rather than stockpiling ammunition or energy sources, they seem determined to snap up all the fleshy faced writing talent they can find. One of their deadliest weapons, Kaaron Warren, still owes me several hours worth of sleep after her profoundly good but equally disturbing debut novel, Slights. Later this month, our future robot overlords are unleashing the Astonishing Australian on an unsuspecting populace once again. Mistification, her third novel, tells the story of a stage magician who can't do a single trick, mostly because his magic is completely real. Besides entertaining audiences, Marvo is responsible for shielding the rest of humanity from the unfathomable experience of undiluted reality. Dark, moody, and magnificent, Warren is poised to put on a show.  (June 28 from Angry Robot)

Welcome to Bordertown - Holly Black & Ellen Kushner, eds.

Bordertown Anthologies, Book 5 - After a multi-year hiatus, Bordertown is once again open to tourists. Come visit B-town, a mysterious metropolis juxtaposed between "The World" and "The Elflands" where technology and magic coexist, but not without consequence. Old enough to legally drink,  the shared narrative world of Bordertown was originally conceived back in 1986 by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold but the editing duties have been passed down to long time contributor Ellen Kushner and newcomer Holly Black. In Welcome to Bordertown, a new generation of writers is on display, many of which grew up on Bordertown books decades ago. This latest volume includes original work from Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaiman, Catherynne M. Valente, and well as series regulars Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, Charles de Lint and Windling herself. If you like Urban Fantasy, you owe it to yourself to see where it all started. (May 24 from Random House)

Wild Cards: Fort Freak - George R. R. Martin, ed.

Wild Cards Mosaic, Book 21 - It's a good summer to be GRRM. Hit TV show. Long awaited novel hitting shelves. Plus a handful of passion projects coming to fruition, including Fort Freak, the latest entry in the Wild Cards Mosaic. In case you weren't aware, the long running Wild Card Mosaic  is a series of shared world novels and anthologies written by a cornucopia of talented writers and [mostly] edited by George R. R. Martin himself. The books themselves are set in an alternate 20th century America in which 1% of the world's population was given superpowers, 9% horrible disfigurements and the remaining 90% an early grave. This particular volume concerns Fort Freak, Manhattan's Fifth Police Precinct, in which half the men are more than human and features David Anthony Durham, Ty Franck, Cherie Priest, and Melissa M. Snodgrass among others.  (June 21 from Tor)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: I have a love/hate relationship with books. There are so many good books worth reading. But there are SO MANY good books worth reading. But even among June's decathlon of worthy selections, a few titles stand out. Mark Charan Newton [The Book of Transformations] is writing some of the best (and weirdest) fantasy in the game. Mira Grant [Deadline] is looking to take over the entire industry, even if she has to write it herself. And then there are Daryl Gregory and Daniel Abraham, two palindromic authors who are both FTW and WTF. As in "That book was FTW, WTF haven't you read it yet?" In the end, it comes down to these two: Gregory for his cold skinned but warm hearted Raising Stony Mayhall and Abraham (along with Ty Francks) for their "hard without being hard to read" space opera, Leviathan Wakes. As always, it's a tough call. Book books are outstanding and all three authors are promising talents who could use whatever small support my mention provides. Ultimately, I'm going with Gregory's Raising Stony Mayhall as my YetiStomper Pick of the Month for reasons that should be clear in about one paragraph.

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: Ok, I'm cheating a little. I couldn't really decide between Raising Stony Mayhall and Leviathan Wakes. Read them both if you can. Fortunately, James S. A. Corey is at least partially a debut author (even if the Daniel Abraham half of him isn't) which means I can still give Leviathan Wakes top billing as the YetiStomper Debut of the Month. It was also the only [kinda] debut novel this month. So it both deserved recognition enough to make an exception and won by default. If that makes any sense. Please post in the comments if you know of any other worthy debut contenders even if it means putting them up against the Leviathan itself. Otherwise, go read Leviathan Wakes and Raising Stony Mayhall. The order doesn't matter, just that you read them. And/or any of the great books on this list.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out!

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Anyway, as always, if you are interested in more details regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.

YetiStomper Picks for May

As winter enters its eight month, I'm buried in yet another a blizzard of books. Come back summer!

Embassytown - China Mieville

Standalone SF Novel - Mieville continues his trend of literary eclecticism with Embassytown, a high concept SF thriller set in a wondrous far future where humanity has encountered beings so strange the word "alien" can't do them justice. As Avice Benner Cho (alphabet pun anyone?) returns to Embassytown she finds she has become a figure of speech in the universally unique language of the Ariekei - a language she can't even comprehend. From their... Ok, I give up...  Like any Mieville novel, it's hard to summarize the book in just a few non-nonsensical lines. Just know that Embassytown is a thought-provoking meditation on language, conflict, and incomprehensible otherness executed in mind-melting fashion like only Mieville can. (May 17 from Del Rey)

The Quantum Thief - Hannu Rajaniemi

The Quantum Thief Trilogy, Book 1 - Finnish author Hannu Rajaniemi bursts onto the genre scene with the biggest SF debut of the year. Genre giant Charles Stross not only called The Quantum Thief "the best first SF novel I've read in many years," he went so far as to say "I think Hannu's going to revolutionize hard SF when he hits his stride. Hard to admit, but I think he's better at this stuff than I am." And it's hard not to agree; The Quantum Thief is pure idea concentrate. Rajaniemi packs so many intriguing thoughts into his work that he's forced to throw away concepts that lesser SF authors would frame entire books around. (May 10 from Tor)

Fuzzy Nation - John Scalzi

Standalone SF Novel - A compulsively readable collision of tightly plotted legal thriller and idea-centric science fiction, Fuzzy Nation evokes fond memories of a simpler era of storytelling. Fuzzy Nation is a reimagining of H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy updated for 21st century audiences by fan-favorite SF author John Scalzi. Followers of his popular blog will undoubtedly be drawn to snarktacular protagonist Jack Holloway as he battles corporate douchebaggery in all its forms. Read my full review for more on Scalzi's unputdownable summer blockbuster. (May 10 from Tor)

Eclipse Four - Jonathan Strahan, ed.

Original Short Fiction Anthology, Volume 4 - It's about time. Eclipse Four was pushed from last year's publishing slate for unknown reasons and I feared we might have seen the last of Strahan's excellent anthology series. But things got back on track, the ToC looks great, and Strahan is already hinting at a fifth volume. With strong stories from top to bottom, the only recurring theme is the lack thereof. If you are looking for quality genre authors outside your typical reading patterns, the Eclipse anthology series is one of the best ways to discover some spectacular authors you might not have encountered before. (May 3 from Night Shade Books)

Camera Obscura - Lavie Tidhar

World of The Bookman, Book 2 - While not a sequel per se, Tidhar returns to the world of 2009's much lauded The Bookman for yet another Steampunk story. Camera Obscura moves the action from London to Paris, where Quiet Council agent Lady De Winter is tasked with solving a gruesome murder in the Rue Morgue. May looks to be a Steampunk heavy month and Camera Obscura may be the best of the bunch. (April 26 from Angry Robot)

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti - Genevieve Valentine

Tales of the Circus Tresaulti, Book 1 - Or maybe it's not. I'll let Genevieve Valentine take this one herself: "The Mechanical Circus Tresaulti travels the landscape of a ruined country under the spectre of war, but when two of its performers become locked in a battle of wills, the circus's own past may be the biggest threat of all." Is there anything more bizarre than a fantastical circus? Yes, a steampunk one. After three years of promising shorts, Valentine delivers a debut novel as strange as it is fascinating. Grab your seats now, the show is about to begin. (May 10 from Prime Books)

Degrees of Freedom - Simon Morden

Samuil Petrovitch Trilogy, Book 3 - If things weren't complicated when we left Samuil Petrovitch after April's Theories of Flight, they certainly are now. Artificial intelligence is running amok, Neo-Armageddeonists are determined to blow up the world (again), and Petrovitch has not one but two love interests, both of which may or may not want him dead. It's pretty much par for the course as Orbit wraps up Simon Morden's action packed trilogy with the third paperback volume in three months. (May 31 from Orbit)

Hounded - Kevin Hearne

The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 1 - Somehow, someway, authors keep breathing life into the all but played out Urban Fantasy scene. The most recent resuscitator is Kevin Hearne whose first novel, Hounded, combines Celtic mythology with the more typical tropes of werewolves and vampires. Twenty-one-hundred-year-old Atticus O' Sullivan has been on the run for centuries, fleeing a Celtic god who for whatever reason suspects that O' Sullivan might have a magic sword that doesn't belong to him. Spoiler Alert: He does. When that vengeful deity finally tracks down Atticus in modern-day Arizona, it will take every thing he's learned in his 766,500 days on this planet just to be sure he lives to see one more. Diverse and dynamic, Hounded is our introduction to the Iron Druid Chronicles, the first three of which will be published back-to-back-to-back in May/June/July. (May 3 from Del Rey)

America Pacifica - Anna North

Standalone - Alternatively, if you've grown tired of vampires, werewolves, and clockwork creatures, Anna North's America Pacifica may be the May book for you. Skewing more toward the literary end of the genre spectrum, her dystopic coming of age tale combines pop culture and politics in a futuristic story with its roots firmly in the present. North draws from Lord of the Flies, 1984, TV's Lost, and half a dozen other stories in a dark but expertly crafted debut that should appeal to readers between 15 and 25.

Infernal Devices - K.W. Jeter

Standalone - Angry Robot is republishing Jeter's classic tale of clockwork chaos with a beautiful new cover. If you're a fan of the copper and brass books that have been rolling off production lines recently, you owe it to yourself to read one of the Steampunk stories that started it all. (April 26 from Angry Robot)

Morlock Night - K.W. Jeter

Standalone - Ever wonder what happened to the temporal travelers of The Time Machine after they escaped the clutches of the manical Morlocks? K.W. Jeter did too which was what led him to author Morlock Nights, a continuation of the story started in H.G. Wells' timeless (no pun intended) classic. In what might be the first ever home and home SF series, the far future Morlocks invade 19th century Victorian England and it's up to an intrepid band of English adventurers to save the day. Like Infernal Devices, Morlock Night is being republished and recovered by Angry Robot. (April 26 from Angry Robot)

The Falling Machine - Andrew P. Mayer

The Society of Steam, Book 1 - The steampunk deluge contiues with The Falling Machine, a debut novel from long time video game consultant, Andrew P. Mayer. Mayer reimagines a version of late 19th century New York in which superheroes exist, their extraordinary abilities sustained by a mysterious substance coveted by all. Before long, 20-year-old protagonist Sarah Stanton finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy that runs deeper than anyone expects. When are people going to learn not to ask questions in abstract societies that appear to good to be true? (May 24 from Pyr)

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YetiStomper Pick Of The Month: Like most months, the YetiStomper Pick for May comes down to a pair of worthy contenders. A few other authors might be challengers someday but for now the title card is set - Embassytown vs. Fuzzy Nation.

These are two extremely different novels linked only by their exquisite execution. Scalzi's reboot is the quicker book, a leaner, faster, meaner adaptation of Piper's original. Hit the bathroom now, grab a fresh beer and let the anthropomorphic dog out - once that bell rings, you won't be able to tear yourself away. So don't be surprised if Scalzi turns out to be the fan favorite in this one. He knows what you bought that ticket to see and makes sure Fuzzy Nation is more than worth the price of admission.

But in the other corner lurks the genre giant, China Mieville, a man who reinvents his fighting style with every bout. Balancing a heavyweight's power with a featherweight's touch, Mieville's prose will come at you in ways you'd never expect and inevitably leave you reeling on the floor. It's only a matter of time before he lands a haymaker of unrivaled imaginative ferocity, one that will resonate deep inside and leave a mark that might never heal.

Scalzi will come out quick, drawing on the cheers of his loyal fanbase to win an early round or two. But as impressive as it may be, Scalzi's technique is one we've seen before whereas Mieville's unpredictable approach is yet another enigma. Surprising but never faltering, Embassytown only adds to the impressive record that Mieville has earned while redefining how to play the game. The YetiStomper Pick for May goes to Embassytown via split decision, rewarding Mieville's tireless reinvention over Scalzi's effortless appeal.

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YetiStomper Debut Of The Month: While not the same slugfest as the title fight, the May undercard is not a match to be missed. In true Battle Royale fashion, it's The Falling Machine vs. America Pacifica vs. Hounded vs. Mechanique vs. The Quantum Thief. In the end, I think Mechanique and The Quantum Thief manage to eliminate the other contenders before facing off for Rookie of the Month. From there all bets are off.  While something might be rotten in the state of Denmark, Finland is fresh as can be as The Quantum Thief injects life into the not-exactly-flourishing SF scene. On the other hand, Mechanique is less interested in saving a genre than defining it's own. Valentine's story is more of a circus act than the carnival it describes, managing to amaze with skillful prose and to delight with curious yet playful presentation. As much as I'm tempted to go with the tie, I'm giving this one to Mechanique. You can't go wrong with either book but Mechanique doesn't possess the same support structure The Quantum Thief does with it's small but passionate SF readership. But either book (or any of these debuts) is definitely worth giving another look.

YetiStomper Cover Of The Month: Hmmmm.... Where did this go? Stay tuned to find out!

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Anyway, as always, if you are interested in more details regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. And don't worry, thanks to new state legislation, I don't get a single penny, nickel, or dime from it. It's been hard restructuring my budget without that extra $10 a year but I think I'll survive. Be sure to let me know if there is anything I may have missed in the comments.

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here.