Chen, Mike: Star Wars: Brotherhood
(Penguin Random House / Del Rey 978-0-593-35857-3, $28.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, May 10, 2022)
Star Wars tie-in novel, set just after the events of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.
Finelli, Jen: neodymium betrayal 
(WordFire Press 978-1-68057-284-1, $18.99, 406 pages, Formats: Trade Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, May 4, 2022)
Science fiction novel, second in the series The Neodymium Chronicles. A young space veteran is already battling trauma when he finds out his best friend has betrayed him.
Ford, Jackson: Lots of crazy powers 
(Orbit US 978-0-316-70280-5, $17.99, pp, Formats: Trade Paperback, eBook, May 10, 2022)
Science fiction novel, fourth in a series about telekinetic government agent Teagan Frost. Trapped in a hotel, Teagan’s powers have mysteriously disappeared.
Greene, RWW: Mercury Ascendant 
(Angry Robot US 978-0-857669728, $15.99, 400 pages, Formats: Trade Paperback, eBook, Audio, May 10, 2022)
Alternate history sci-fi novel featuring aliens and an immortal misanthrope in a world where Kennedy wasn’t assassinated, Robert Oppenheim invented a nuclear engine in 1945 and aliens invaded in 1957, and an assassin with a mysterious box of 8-track tapes is creating trouble for a regular guy named Brooklyn.
Koja, Kate: the dark factory 
(Meerkat Press 978-1-946154-75-0, $17.95, 300 pages, Formats: Trade Paperback, Enhanced eBook, May 10, 2022)
Dark fantasy novel about a dance club with “state-of-the-art customizable reality, anything you see, hear and feel”, but a rooftop rave unleashes “unfathomable energy”.
Krauss, Eric: primitives 
(Victory Belt/Briar Road 978-1-628601-33-6, $22.95, 424pp, Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audio, May 10, 2022)
Post-apocalyptic science fiction novel set in a world where the cure for the Great Fatigue reduced most of humanity to a primitive state, and two people make discoveries that suggest other survivors are a greater threat than the primitives. Includes watercolor illustrations.
Lloyd, Stephen: devil’s friend 
(Penguin Random House/Putnam 978-0-33138-5, $26.00, 240pp, Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audio, May 10, 2022)
Noir supernatural horror novel set in the 1980s. Down on his luck private investigator Sam Gregory searches for a stolen manuscript at an elite boarding school with dark secrets.
Maberry, Jonathan: Kagen the Cursed 
(St. Martin’s Griffin 978-1-250-85500-8, $34.99, 560pp, Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook, Audio, May 10, 2022)
Fantasy novel, the first of a new series. Kagen Vale, once a captain of the palace guard, goes missing when the royal family is assassinated, until he hears a rumor that two of the children are still alive.
Matthews, Mark, ed.: Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addictive Horror 
(Wicked Run Press 978-1-7366950-4-3, $14.99, 190pp, Formats: Trade Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, May 2, 2022)
Original anthology of ten horror stories about addictions. Authors include Gabino Iglesias, Cassandra Khaw, Kathe Koja, and Josh Malerman.
O’Loughlin, Jim: Rope 
(BHC Press 978-1-64397-295-4, $28.00, 242 pages, Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook, May 10, 2022)
Sci-fi novel of conspiracy and intrigue set in an orbital space station tethered to Earth by the space elevator called the Cord.
Paris, Glenn: heir of the dragon 
(Outland Entertainment 978-1-954255-26-5, $19.95, 428pp, Formats: Trade Paperback, eBook, May 4, 2022)
Science fiction novel, revised and expanded from the 2018 self-published version. The Efilu people, who left Earth in the time of the dinosaurs, return to the Earth of 1996.
Pink water, Daniel: Crazy in Poughkeepsie 
(Tachyon Publications 978-1616963743, $16.95, pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, May 10, 2022)
Absurd mid-grade fantasy novel. Illustrated by Aaron Renier. Mick agrees to be apprenticed to the strange little guru his older brother brought home from Tibet, and together they embark on a peculiar and mystical quest.
By the time it’s over Crazy in Poughkeepsie turns into a remarkably sweet mystical fantasy about helping a beloved ghost whale find his way to whale heaven. But throughout, it remains a signature Pinkwater story of unexpected twists, hilarious sidebars, and most of all, a celebration of the weird, or at least the quirks and obsessions that make us all weird at one point or another. And, as always, it’s wickedly funny.
–Gary K. Wolfe, PlaceMarch 2022
Rekulak, Jason, Staehle, Will: hidden images 
(Macmillan/Flatiron 978-1250819345, $27.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, May 10, 2022)
Horror novel. A babysitter suspects her ward is in danger after he draws increasingly disturbing pictures. Includes illustrations by Will Staehle and Doogie Horner.
Rice, Christopher: Decimate 
(Amazon/Thomas & Mercer 978-1542032742, $24.95, 432pp, Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook, Audio, May 10, 2022)
Supernatural thriller about near death experiences. 14 years ago, Claire and her brother were struck down by a blinding light, leaving them with strange effects.
Romero, RM: The Ghosts of Rose Hill 
(Peachtree Teen 978-1682633380, $18.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, May 10, 2022)
Young adult fantasy verse novel based on Jewish and Eastern European folktales. Biracial Jewish girl Ilana López dreams of becoming a violinist, but while she visits an aunt in Prague she encounters ghosts and a shadowless man who offers to share her magic.
Vo, Nghi: mermaid queen 
(Tordotcom 978-1-250-78883-2, $26.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, May 10, 2022)
Fantasy novel of a Chinese-American lesbian girl in a pre-Code Hollywood filled with ancient magic.
Vo’s three competing studio moguls inevitably suggest the likes of Thalberg, Mayer and Selznick, Siren Queen’s hermetic, haunted Hollywood is very much Vo’s turf, and it’s a pretty creepy place.
Gary K. Wolfe, PlaceMay 2022
Wheeler, Jeff: the druid 
(Amazon/47North 978-1542034753, $14.95, 333 pages, Formats: Trade Paperback, eBook, Audio, May 1, 2022)
Fantasy novel, the first book in the Dawning of Muirwood series. Humble Eilean, in the new Muirwood Abbey, serves the imprisoned druid Mordaunt, the king’s exiled advisor.
Zhao, Xiran Jay: Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor 
(Simon & Schuster / McElderry 978-1665900706, $17.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, May 10, 2022)
Middle grade fantasy novel. Raised in Maine, Zachary knows little about his Chinese heritage until the spirit of China’s first emperor empowers him and sends him on a quest to the underworld.
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