Sci-fi and Fantasy for 2012

[farley2k]

From an article on Io9.


Most interesting to me

The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel, Stephen King (Scribner)

Set in the world of the Dark Tower, The Wind Through the Keyhole nevertheless stands alone. It's a story from Roland Deschain's difficult youth. Tracking a deadly shape-shifter, he meets a scared boy and comforts him with a story his mother used to tell him, before her death.

and

2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)

Three centuries from now, humanity has spread across the solar system. But things are unraveling. Something is afoot in the wondrous city of Terminator, on Mercury, where Swan Er Hong is being drawn into a conspiracy to destroy worlds.

Anyone else see anything the are excited for?

[Ænima]

The next book and possible finale to the Heroes Die series. If you like gritty, fast-paced, fantasy/sci-fi dystopias, definitely check out Heroes Die.

[Purge]

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

[CeeKay]

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

yeah, I have a feeling Wheel of Time will take up a lot of my reading time for 2012.  I cannot think of anything else I'm really looking forward to, but I also have the Malazan series waiting to be read also.

[kronovan]

Since this is a gaming website I'll go with 2 novels with game settings.


As I said in the General Gaming forums' D&D Novel thread, Bassignthwaites D&D books are well enough written that they could be enjoyed by people that know nothing about the game. This particular novel concludes the Abyssal Plague trilogy, which is set in the original D&D world 1st published in the 70's. Being from that era - a time before a teen sucicide and the resulting controversy made the game's publisher retreat from darker themes- it's tone is more dark fantasy than most of the later settings.

I'm Also looking forward to this:


While technically a late Dec 2011 release, most people probably won't read it until 2012.   So far its getting good reviews and it sounds to be on par with the 1st 2 novels which I enjoyed.

[Eco-Logic]

I can't wait for Blackout by Mira Grant.



Sent from my A500 using Tapatalk

[Kagath]

As I said in the General Gaming forums' D&D Novel thread, Bassignthwaites D&D books are well enough written that they could be enjoyed by people that know nothing about the game. This particular novel concludes the Abyssal Plague trilogy, which is set in the original D&D world 1st published in the 70's. Being from that era - a time before a teen sucicide and the resulting controversy made the game's publisher retreat from darker themes- it's tone is more dark fantasy than most of the later settings.

Is this the Greyhawk world or different one? The chained god reference reminds me of the Vecna guy. I thought he just became a lich or something. ?

[kronovan]

As I said in the General Gaming forums' D&D Novel thread, Bassignthwaites D&D books are well enough written that they could be enjoyed by people that know nothing about the game. This particular novel concludes the Abyssal Plague trilogy, which is set in the original D&D world 1st published in the 70's. Being from that era - a time before a teen sucicide and the resulting controversy made the game's publisher retreat from darker themes- it's tone is more dark fantasy than most of the later settings.

Is this the Greyhawk world or different one? The chained god reference reminds me of the Vecna guy. I thought he just became a lich or something. ?

The novel is set in the Nentir vale within the kingdom of Nerath, which is a portion of a world that was only ever referred to as the Known worlds. The Known worlds predate Greyhawk, with the exception of the Blackmoor region which was also located in both. The Abyssal plague trilogy is considered world spanning in terms of some of the gods, deities and lesser gods. IIRC the Chained God is one such lesser god from a realm linked to many worlds - hence world spanning.

[CeeKay]

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

yeah, I have a feeling Wheel of Time will take up a lot of my reading time for 2012.  I cannot think of anything else I'm really looking forward to, but I also have the Malazan series waiting to be read also.

LOL, looked at Brian Sanderson's blog and found this.

Spoiler for Hiden:

first draft apparently.

[edit] according to a post on Dragonmount, he was listening to this song while doing the final scene; potential spoiler material there (I'm not familiar with the game it's from so I don't know what happened when it played).

[xenocide]

LOL, looked at Brian Sanderson's blog and found this.

Ya, I saw that as well (not 100% sure why that warrants a "LOL").

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

yeah, I have a feeling Wheel of Time will take up a lot of my reading time for 2012.  I cannot think of anything else I'm really looking forward to, but I also have the Malazan series waiting to be read also.

As soon as I see a definitive release date I will start my re-read of the series as well.  I know "Wheel of Time" gets a lot of grief on the internet, but it is still easily my favorite fantasy series.  I have not read any of the WOT books by Sanderson yet, I have been waiting for the series to be done.  At this point I want to be 100% sure that when I read the last page of the 2nd to last book I can walk right to my bookshelf and grab the last book.

As for some of the other upcoming books that look interesting:

I agree with farley2k about the Stephen King book and "2312".

I also think "The Killing Moon"  looks interesting.

I have "Leviathan Wakes" sitting on my shelf and I have heard a lot of good things about it.  If it is as good as people say it is nice to see "Caliban's War", a follow up, is already on the way.  I like "The Wheel of Time" and GRRM and Patrick Rothfuss and others, but it does get old waiting years and years and years for new books (which is why I have not read any new WOT books yet).

[Kevin Grey]

I have "Leviathan Wakes" sitting on my shelf and I have heard a lot of good things about it.  If it is as good as people say it is nice to see "Caliban's War", a follow up, is already on the way.  I like "The Wheel of Time" and GRRM and Patrick Rothfuss and others, but it does get old waiting years and years and years for new books (which is why I have not read any new WOT books yet).

I really enjoyed Leviathan Wakes.  If you do like it, you may want to look into "The Dragon's Path", a fantasy novel by one half of the Leviathan Wakes author pseudonym (Daniel Abraham).  That series also has a second novel coming out this year. 

[CeeKay]

LOL, looked at Brian Sanderson's blog and found this.

Ya, I saw that as well (not 100% sure why that warrants a "LOL").

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

yeah, I have a feeling Wheel of Time will take up a lot of my reading time for 2012.  I cannot think of anything else I'm really looking forward to, but I also have the Malazan series waiting to be read also.

As soon as I see a definitive release date I will start my re-read of the series as well.  I know "Wheel of Time" gets a lot of grief on the internet, but it is still easily my favorite fantasy series.  I have not read any of the WOT books by Sanderson yet, I have been waiting for the series to be done.  At this point I want to be 100% sure that when I read the last page of the 2nd to last book I can walk right to my bookshelf and grab the last book.

bad news, it won't be out until January 2013.

[xenocide]

bad news, it won't be out until January 2013.

Yep, I saw that as well.  And even that is not a firm date.  Glad I waited to start the re-read.

[Azhag]

Well good, I just started reading the series for the first time, (towards the end of) book one. So that means i have plenty of time 

[hepcat]

Man, I hope this year sees someone writing a book from the vampire's point of view!

[Crusis]

Man, I hope this year sees someone writing a book from the vampire's point of view!

On it!

(that was a joke)

[Pyperkub]

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

What crappy artwork.  I hope that's not the cover.

[Purge]

It isn't. It's fan art.

[Pyperkub]

It isn't. It's fan art.

For fan art, not bad.

Epic 4g/Tapatalk

[kronovan]

My new, most anticipated Fantasy novel for 2012 - The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski. Unfortunately not due out until December, I'm hoping it actually arrives on shelves this year. That Oribt Publishing has now released the cover art means it going to truly happen this time. 

[corruptrelic]

2012 it's hard to find the time to read a print book, so stepped up to the next best thing, being able to hear the story while driving. The fact that each character in the book is voiced by a different person (on top of sound effects, music, etc.) really makes it all the better. I'm on the second cd so far and it's turning out to be one of the better graphic audio books I've listened to this year.

My next GA book will be:

Earth, 2508 A.D. Humans have spread across the six arms of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Unified Authority controls Earth's colonies with an iron fist and a powerful military-a military made up almost entirely of clones...

Private first-class Wayson Harris was raised in a U.A. orphanage among thousands of clones born and bred as the ultimate soldiers. But Harris isn't like the other Marines: he has a mind of his own. He figures he's paying for that independent streak when his first assignment out of boot camp is the smallest Marine outpost in the whole U.A.

When a rogue general surfaces, the remote desert world Harris thought was a dead-end posting becomes anything but. Fighting off the general's raid gains Harris a promotion. But it also brings him to the attention of some unfriendly U.A. leaders. They have their own plans for the military-plans Harris disrupts by his very existence. For in an army of clones, the one unforgivable sin is to be different...

[Zarkon]

I am about to begin my re-read of the Wheel of Time to end with A Memory of Light (book 14, estimated to have an August 2012 release).

yeah, I have a feeling Wheel of Time will take up a lot of my reading time for 2012.  I cannot think of anything else I'm really looking forward to, but I also have the Malazan series waiting to be read also.

LOL, looked at Brian Sanderson's blog and found this.

Spoiler for Hiden:

first draft apparently.

[edit] according to a post on Dragonmount, he was listening to this song while doing the final scene; potential spoiler material there (I'm not familiar with the game it's from so I don't know what happened when it played).

Spoiler for Hiden:

Well, since it's long been debated that Rand is the Jesus-figure of the story and there's prophecy about his dying (and comments about Nynaeve never being satisfied until she's Healed someone three days dead), a good guess is that Rand dies to win, but is raised from the dead afterward.  Only relation I can think of from FFX is that the main male character (Tidus) was a dream of a dead civilization.

[Isgrimnur]

The blog post from February indicates that A Memory of Light will hit shelves on January 8th. 

[kronovan]

2012 it's hard to find the time to read a print book, so stepped up to the next best thing, being able to hear the story while driving.

Yup, I have many a co-worker and friend that have grown to love their audio books. It's the opposite for me; I have a 1-1/2 hour commute (both directions counted) by rail to work each day, so printed books work best for me. As well, I'm writing at least a couple of adventures a month for my various RPG's, so it's important for me to visualy see the writer's style and technique. Not that I'm writing novel quality stuff or anything, but having observed good technique helps when it comes to writing the crunchier expository and dialog.

I'm glad you posted this book - I haven't read any of the Rogue Clone series, but I've seen them on shelves and always thought the setting was very cool.

[xenocide]

2012 it's hard to find the time to read a print book, so stepped up to the next best thing, being able to hear the story while driving. The fact that each character in the book is voiced by a different person (on top of sound effects, music, etc.) really makes it all the better. I'm on the second cd so far and it's turning out to be one of the better graphic audio books I've listened to this year.

This seems to be the trend in audio-books.  Maybe I am in the minority, but I don't like it.  I like one person just reading the book. I want the book read word for word.  I want "the door slammed shut" not the sound of a door slamming.  If I want a radio play/drama I will find one.  If I listen to a book on tape, I want the same experience as reading the book, not someone's interpretation.