April showers won’t bring you down if you have a nice pile of rainy-day books to keep you occupied. We’ve got a bumper crop this month, featuring vengeful magicians, space pirates, spelunkers on alien planets, alternate supernatural histories, a rebellious gnome, and so much more.
Finder by Suzanne Palmer
The Hugo winner (2018 novelette “The Secret Life of Bots”) makes her novel debut with this sci-fi caper about an intergalactic con artist/thief/repo man whose latest gig — to steal a ship that’s tucked away on an isolated colony — gets very complicated when he stumbles across a civil war and finds himself targeted by hostile aliens. (April 2)
Kellanved’s Reach by Ian C. Esslemont
The author wraps up his Path to Ascendancy trilogy as the title mage ducks out on an ongoing war and embarks on a dangerous, mysterious quest that others have attempted, but have never succeeded in completing. (April 2)
The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
A woman who fakes her credentials to join a well-funded caving expedition on an alien planet realises too late that it’s not the cushy gig she was expecting. Instead, the conditions she’s subjected to make her paranoid about horrors lurking just below the surface. (April 2)
The War Within by Stephen R. Donaldson
The author returns to the world of his Great God’s War fantasy epic to tell the tale of two kingdoms that are finally enjoying peace after years of fighting — only to be rocked by an ancient discovery that could destroy both lands forever. (April 4)
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan
An unlikely trio — a girl who talks to gods, an imperiled prince, and a boy with a secret — must join together and assassinate a king in order to end a war that’s been raging for centuries. (April 1)
The Scribbly Man by Terry Goodkind
The author of the epic Sword of Truth series kicks off a new novella series, the Children of D’Hara, that will explore the further adventures of Sword of Truth characters Richard and Kahlan and their children. (April 3)
Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence
The author’s Book of the Ancestor trilogy concludes as Nona Grey—on the brink of joining the order of warrior nuns who raised and trained her—must make a troubling choice in order to protect her loved ones as war approaches. (April 3)
Riverland by Fran Wilde
The author of the Bone Universe trilogy turns to younger readers for this tale of two sisters who love monster stories — until they find themselves smack dab in the middle of one, and must work together to protect each other and the rest of their family. (April 9)
Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes
Sal the Cacophony — a mage who’s been horribly betrayed and lost her magic as a result — gathers an array of weapons and sets out with a list of seven names, intent on checking each one off as she piles up the payback. (April 9)
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by KJ Parker
A walled city with no weapons turns to its most valuable resource — a brilliant engineer who has no trouble telling lies or bucking authority — to protect them as an enemy approaches. (April 8)
The Sword and the Dagger by Robert Cochran
Here’s another tale of an unlikely trio united as part of a fearsome task. This time it’s a Christian princess, her fiancé (who’s a prince himself), and a Muslim assassin — and the destination of their adventure-filled journey is the court of Genghis Khan. (April 8)
We Are Mayhem by Michael Moreci
The misfits known as the Black Star Renegades are back to continue their rebellion against an evil galactic empire — but the ancient weapon that might turn the tide is as good as worthless if nobody can figure out how to use it.
As the war escalates, would-be hero Cade Sura travels to the edges of space to try and learn its secrets. (April 8)
Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud
A collection of six horror stories, including one new novella as well as the soon-to-be-a-movie “The Visible Filth”, about a New Orleans bartender who gets drawn into some very bad business after discovering a cell phone one night after a bar fight. (April 9)
All My Colours by David Quantick
When an aspiring author realises he’s the only person who remembers a mysterious book called All My Colours, he decides to write it down word for word and claim it as his own work — a moneymaking scheme that soon takes a very surreal and ultimately devastating turn. (April 15)
Atlas Alone by Emma Newman
The Hugo-winning podcaster (Tea and Jeopardy) and acclaimed author’s latest entry in her series follows space colonist Dee, who’s determined to track down the people responsible for nuking Earth.
An unexpected lead appears when a game she’s been asked to help test suddenly starts influencing the real world in dangerous ways. (April 18)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Volume 13 edited by Jonathan Strahan
Short fiction from authors like Yoon Ha Lee, Rich Larson, Alastair Reynolds, io9 co-founder Charlie Jane Anders, and many more. (April 16)
Big Cat and Other Stories by Gwyneth Jones
The author’s new collection of short stories from the past decade includes a tale that revisits the world of her Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Bold As Love, as well as a brand-new story, “Stella and the Adventurous Roots”. (April 8)
Knight: A Chronicle of the Sibyl’s War by Timothy Zahn
The second Sibyl’s War book picks up with Nicole Hammond, a Philadelphia woman abducted by aliens and put to work aboard their space vessel — though she’s actively working on a plan to take control of everything, including the ship and her own destiny. (April 16)
The Master of Dreams by Mike Resnick
The Hugo winner’s new trilogy begins as a man tries to come to grips with what appear to be sudden fluctuations in time and space. He’s in Manhattan one moment, then he’s in a certain famous gin joint in Casablanca, then he’s somewhere over the rainbow.
And if all that wasn’t weird enough, there’s also malevolent force pursuing him through these realities. (April 16)
Nest of the Monarch by Kay Kenyon
The Dark Talents series concludes as British intelligence agent Kim Tavistock goes undercover in 1936 Berlin. There, she discovers a Nazi program cultivating strange beings whose supernatural abilities exceed her own — and whose powers are most certainly being used in the service of evil. (April 16)
No Country for Old Gnomes: The Tales of Pell by Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne
This affectionate fairy-tale parody takes place in the magical land of Pell, where a one-sided conflict between peaceful gnomes and aggressive halflings suddenly shifts gears, all thanks to a band of misfits led by a pissed-off gnome who’s tired of being bullied and isn’t afraid to fight any mythical creatures who get in his way. (April 16)
Perihelion Summer by Greg Egan
As a black hole lurches ever-closer to the solar system, a man and his buddies carefully plan for survival—though there’s no way to prepare for the new way of life on Earth after the planet undergoes a total cosmic change. (April 15)
Upon a Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker
Ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata is the inspiration behind this new fantasy series from the acclaimed international author.
It begins as two young princes pass a series of dangerous tests in order to gain the right to rule — only to discover there’s a third contender who’s also determined to win the throne. (April 16)
Winds of Marque: Blackwood & Virtue by Bennett R. Coles
This book kicks off a new swashbuckling adventure series that’s tantalizingly described as “Master and Commander in space.” (April 16)
Swords, Sorcery, and Self-Rescuing Damsels edited by Lee French and Sarah Craft
“These ladies aren’t waiting” is the tag line for this collection of 20 stories, all about women and girls kicking arse, cutting loose, and determining their own fates through adventures both epic and personal. (April 15)
The Book of Flora by Meg Elison
The author’s Philip K. Dick Award-winning Road to Nowhere series wraps up as Flora, a young woman struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where women are as prized as they are rare, must choose between staying in the safe haven she’s built for her small community or joining the fight against oppression to ensure a better future for all. (April 22)
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
The apocalypse has come and gone, but the bond between humans and dogs remains unbroken. When a beloved family pet is stolen, one young man sets out across the wasteland to find her by any means necessary. (April 23)
Delta-v by Daniel Suarez
In this near-future thriller, a cave diver joins a risky mining expedition on an asteroid orbiting Earth, part of a scheme cooked up by a competitive billionaire who has his sights set on dominating the emerging off-world economy. (April 23)
Emily Eternal by M.G. Wheaton
An AI named Emily designed to help people deal with trauma finds a lot on her virtual plate when the sun suddenly begins to die, millions of years ahead of schedule.
With human friends protecting her servers as enemies try to sabotage her, Emily races to find a solution that’ll protect the species she’s grown to care so deeply for. (April 22)
Inspection by Josh Malerman
The latest from the author of Bird Box is set at a secretive school for young prodigies that’s isolated deep within a vast forest.
Things begin to change when one student begins to wonder what lies beyond the trees — and soon discovers he’s not the only one who’s been having such curious and controversial thoughts. (April 23)
The Pandora Room by Christopher Golden
When an archaeologist digging in an ancient city below Northern Iraq discovers what appears to be the actual Pandora’s Box — you know, stuffed full of horrible curses just waiting to be unleashed — every government and rebellious faction in the region starts fighting to claim the artifact as their own. What could possibly go wrong? (April 23)
Ragged Alice by Gareth L. Powell
A London detective tasked with investigating a crime in her Welsh hometown must rely on her secret gift — spotting evil lurking within certain people — to solve the perplexing case. (April 23)
Soul Remains by Sam Hooker
The author’s second book in his Terribly Serious Darkness series follows hero-who-hates-heroics Sloot Peril as he tries to get to the bottom of his city’s goblin problem (among other quandaries) while keeping his imperiled soul intact. (April 23)
Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse
In the sequel to Trail of Lightning, Diné monster hunter Maggie Hoskie is drawn into a spooky new mystery that begins with a cult inspired by a Navajo legend, but ends up spiraling out to encompass so much more. (April 23)
Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan, translated by Ken Liu
In what’s described as a near-future “eco-techno-thriller,” a waste worker toiling on a Chinese island where mountains of electronics are recycled finds herself caught up in a war between local gangs, ecoterrorists, rich Americans, and other unsavoury interested parties. (April 30)