September kicks off with quite a vengeance with new audio of both new, newly translated, and long-running series. As usual I have my “seen but not heard” complaints, led in a big way by the new widely-praised Tad Williams urban fantasy novel The Dirty Streets of Heaven and the Cory Doctorow/Charles Stross joint The Rapture of the Nerds but, I guess, you can’t have everything.
Out on September 1 was Clockwork Angels: The Novel By Kevin J. Anderson, Narrated by Neil Peart for Brilliance Audio. “International best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson teams up with Rush lyricist and drummer Neil Peart to expand the story set out in Clockwork Angels, the 20th studio album by the legendary rock band. For more than two centuries, the land of Albion has been ruled by the supposedly benevolent Watchmaker, who imposes precision on every aspect of life. Young Owen Hardy from the village of Barrel Arbor dreams of seeing the big city and the breathtaking Clockwork Angels that dispense wisdom to the people, maybe even catching a glimpse of the Watchmaker himself.”
Ashes of Honor: An October Daye Novel, Book 6 By Seanan McGuire, Narrated by for Brilliance Audio — Series: October Daye, Book 6 — Length:12 hrs and 26 mins — “It’s been almost a year since October “Toby” Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day’s sleep. She’s tried to focus on her responsibilities - training Quentin, upholding her position as Sylvester’s knight, and paying the bills - but she can’t help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest supporters.”
Infidel: Bel Dame Apocrypha, Book 2 By Kameron Hurley, Narrated by Emily Bauer — Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins — While book 1, God’s War, remains very high on my “where’s the audiobook?” list, book 2’s appearance may be a good sign. “Nyx used to be a bel dame, a government-funded assassin with a talent for cutting off heads for cash. Now she’s babysitting diplomats to make ends meet and longing for the days when killing was a lot more honorable. When Nyx’s former bel dame “sisters” lead a coup against the government that threatens to plunge the country into civil war, Nyx is tasked with bringing them in. The hunt takes Nyx and her inglorious team of mercenaries to one of the richest, most peaceful, and most contaminated places on the planet - a country wholly unprepared to host a battle waged by the world’s deadliest assassins.”
The book (much more often experienced in the US as the film) to which The Hunger Games was most often compared is the controversial 1999 Japanese dystopian novel Battle Royale By Koushun Takami, translated in 2009 by Yuji Oniki and now available in English language audio for the first time. Narrated by Mark Dacascos for Simon & Schuster Audio; Length:19 hrs and 34 mins. “Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence in a dystopian world, it is one of Japan’s best-selling - and most controversial - novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one “winner” remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. A Japanese pulp classic available in English-language audio for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today’s dog-eat-dog world. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old director Kinji Fukusaku.”
The Map of the Sky: A Novel By Felix J. Palma, Narrated by James Langton — Length:22 hrs and 38 mins — “The New York Times best-selling author of The Map of Time returns with a mesmerizing novel casting H.G. Wells in a leading role, as the extraterrestrial invasion featured in The War of the Worlds is turned into a bizarre reality. A love story serves as backdrop for The Map of the Sky when New York socialite Emma Harlow agrees to marry millionaire Montgomery Gilmore, but only if he accepts her audacious challenge: to reproduce the extraterrestrial invasion featured in Wells’s War of the Worlds. What follows are three brilliantly interconnected plots to create a breathtaking tale of time travel and mystery, replete with cameos by a young Edgar Allan Poe, and Captain Shackleton and Charles Winslow from The Map of Time.”
Series by Free Excerpt: Crystal Soldier), Free Excerpt: Local CustomFree Excerpt: Agent of Change (Theo Waitley — Free Excerpt: Fledgling).
ALSO OUT TUESDAY:
