Drip, drip, drop there’s been more a few little April showers already this month, so we thought we’d gather together some of the best sci fi, fantasy and horror books you could be reading to help keep you safe, warm and dry this month.
Hooray for SFF!
Paradise-1
David Wellington
6th April – Orbit
Paradise-1 is the first book in a truly terrifying new outer-space horror trilogy from Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated author David Wellington.
When Paradise-1, Earth’s first deep space colony goes dark with no communications for months, Firewatch Agent Alexandra Petrova and the crew of deep space exploration ship, the Artimis, are tasked to investigate. To explain what follows would be to spoil this eerily dark and sinister space thriller. Well-paced and driven with smartly relatable characters, Paradise-1 will leave you haunted and wanting to explore Wellington’s world while hiding behind a cushion.
Tress Of The Emerald Sea
Brandon Sanderson
4th April – Gollancz
Fans of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride pay attention! We have magic, pirates and a good old-fashioned fantasy adventure for you in the shape of Tress of the Emerald Sea.
When Tress’s friend Charlie is sent on a voyage to find a bride, her simple and peaceful life is quickly uprooted. Finding herself stowed away, she is soon crossing deadly seas in search of a mysterious and powerful sorceress in the hopes of understanding how she can take her place in the world.
The result of Kickstarter’s biggest and most successful campaign ever, Gollancz have now published a fantastic hardback copy of Brian Sanderson’s newest foray into the world of fantasy which, by his own admission, is what happens when he’s given no time constraints, no expectations and no limits on his imagination.
The Cleaving
Juliet E McKenna
11th April – Angry Robot Books
Flipping the script on Arthurian legends, The Cleaving by Juliet E McKenna focuses on the powerful women oft-sidelined in the tales of Camelot. This time around we focus on Morgana, Guinevere, Nimue and Ygraine as they band together, refusing to act as pawns in the games of men as they play knights in silly armour.
Not content to be a footnote in alt-history, the women strike out to carve their own destinies, rewriting the rules on chivalry, magic and the real meaning of power.
In The Lives Of Puppets
TJ Klune
25th April – Tor
If you haven’t already been swept away by TJ Klune’s ever-imaginative and whimsical style of storytelling then In The Lives Of Puppets might just be the perfect gateway book for you.
Focusing on a secluded and bizarre robotic family unit: fatherly inventor android, Gio, a loving yet sadistic nursing machine and a vacuum desperately searching for love live among the depths of a peculiar forest alongside their human companion, Victor. When on the hunt for robotic salvage, Victor uncovers an unfamiliar android that has a tangled past with Gio and opens up a whirlwind game of cat and mouse as Gio’s painful history of hunting humans is reopened and forces Vic to re-examine his unconventional familial relationships.
Silenced
Ann Claycomb
25th April – Titan Books
A modern fairy tale that haunts with more tangible and relevant darkness than expected, Silenced by Ann Claycomb is a biting update to traditional fables.
Four women have been cursed… by the CEO of their company in a cover-up attempt for his abuses of his power. While he continues to try and use his dark powers to keep them silent, the women discover that they have power themselves. United, angry and motivated, they band together to fight back with grim vehemence.
Claycomb’s writing is uncompromisingly sharp, cutting to the pit of the stomach and dropping nightmares-turned-reality while serving female characters with an achingly hopeful level of agency.
