The third installment of Scholes’s grand-scale Psalms of Isaak saga (after 2009’s Canticle) expands the genre-blending narrative in glorious style. The secret revival of the bloody Y’Zirite religion, which may be an elaborate conspiracy created generations ago to bring down the Androfrancine Order, has brought madness to the Named Lands. Gypsy King Rudolfo, whose infant son is being called the “Child of Promise” by the cultists, finds blood-magicked spies in his home and enemies in his forest. And as the invisible enemy furthers its masterfully orchestrated invasion, Rudolfo and others hear an ethereal music that seems to require some kind of response. A diverse cast of dynamic characters, a tantalizingly labyrinthine mystery, a world full of wonders, and powerful symbolism and imagery power this seamless merging of epic fantasy and science fiction. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Read Lamentation and Canticle (released today in paperback) — Book 1 and Book 2 of the Psalms of Isaak, both of which also garnered Starred Reviews.

Also, a special e-book offer this month for the first book, Lamentation, for just $2.99 Kindle | Nook | Sony

49 loved the hotel across the river, and that spring, when fog covered her, he knew he had to tell her.

She was all by herself on that side of the river, just her and the rocky shore and the long highway that wound in a ribbon far behind her, and she seemed always so lonely he wanted her to know she was not unloved.

He thought maybe he could court her, but all the life in him left at 5pm, and by the time the sun set all 49 could do was sit in the dark and watch her lights blinking on and off like the notes of a song.

See the amazing and talented list of nominees here.

Lake writes extraordinary short stories, with note-perfect world building as strong as that in his novels. This collection, which focuses on more recent work, opens with “The Sky That Wraps the World Around, Past the Blue and into the Black,” in which the narrator paints ancient shards end-of-the-universe blue. “Achilles, Sulking in His Buick” is a delightful street-racing interpretation of the Trojan War’s key events. There are two new stories as well: “Coming for Green,” which tells of an agent of the Lily Goddess sent to retrieve Green, and “To This Their Late Escape,” which is part of Lake’s satisfying take on space opera. There are also a number of stories set in what Lake calls the Portland wizards arc, including the first one, “The Number of the Bus,” which focuses on a wizard whose power comes from a city bus. Lake covers quite a bit of ground, from the mythic to the futuristic, and does it all with a strong take on the human element and genuinely fantastic tales. –Booklist

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

If Jane Austen had written a fantasy novel, Shades of Milk and Honey would have been the result. Written with painstaking attention to detail, Kowal’s prose is serenely evocative of the time period, and the fantastic elements are a seamless fit. The characterization is extremely well done and Jane is a sympathetic, strong and intelligent heroine whose devotion to her family trumps nearly every other concern. Give this one a try!

In an alternate Regency England where magic exists, young women practice manipulating glamour in their quests to land eligible bachelors. Both Jane and her sister Melody are well-practiced in this womanly art, and Jane’s ability in particular is remarkable. However, it is Melody who is fair of face and who gets most of the masculine attention while Jane, at the age of 28, is on the shelf. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is up to no good and is getting into position to take advantage of her, she pushes her skills to their very limits and, quite accidentally, finds her very own happy ever after.

– Romantic Times, 4-1/2 Star Top Pick

Lake’s sixth collection offers 25 tales written since 2007’s The River Knows Its Own. The collection is bookended by popular favorites: the haunting “The American Dead” and “The Sky That Wraps the World Round, past the Blue and into the Black,” a moody meditation on mistakes and the end of the universe. One of Lake’s strengths is his ability to channel classic writers and styles, such as the heroic fantasy of Robert E. Howard in “The Leopard’s Paw,” Cordwainer Smith in the baroque “The Man with One Bright Eye,” pulp SF in “Lehr, Rex,” and space opera adventure in “To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Yourselves.” Fans of Lake’s novels will especially appreciate the tie-ins to Green, Mainspring, and Trial of Flowers, while the diversity of settings and styles makes this a nice introduction to Lake’s stylish craftsmanship. –Publishers Weekly

Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

Readers will be disappointed only when they finish this enchanting story, which is suffused with genteel charm. The author’s judicious and effective changes to aspects of daily life clearly communicate how similar but different this world is from ours. With the grace of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, a touch of classic fairy tale magic, and an action-packed ending, this debut novel by an award-winning short story writer will appeal to fans of Jane Austen, Jane Yolen, Patricia Wrede, Susannah Clarke, and even Jasper Fforde. –Library Journal

Christmas in Yorkshire is a nasty combination of pouring rain and murder.

Amateur sleuth Phillip Bethancourt, who’s just broken up with his girlfriend Marla, is spending Christmas at his family manor house. His pal, Scotland Yard Detective Jack Gibbons, who’s just returned to duty after sick leave, has been sent to York to check out a murder that might be the work of a serial killer known as Ashdon. Both friends are cheered by the prospect of a juicy murder. Gibbons, certain that the corpse found in a shop is Ashdon’s work, sends for DS Brumby, who is surprised to find an Ashdon case so far from the killer’s usual haunts in southern England. Then Jody Farraday’s body is found in Mittlesdon’s bookshop in York. Though the murder this time doesn’t fit Ashdon’s style, Gibbons and Bethancourt take up residence in the Bethancourt family’s York townhouse and investigate. Bethancourt knows Mittlesdon’s, where free-spirited Farraday used to work, and has an old flame working there now. But his inside knowledge is of little avail. So many people could have possessed a key that the suspect list is large, and Jody’s unusual background and wandering ways make it more difficult to pinpoint a motive until the sleuths learn more, much more, about the victim.

Chan (Village Affairs, 2006, etc.) beefs up the mystery while retaining the Golden Age feel to produce her best work to date. –Booklist

Sedia (Paper Cities) collects 22 tales that look at werewolves from a multitude of different angles. Steve Duffy’s chilling dental thriller “Side-Effects May Include” examines how far a man will go to end his pain. A damaged alpha gains the trust of a homeless woman in Maria V. Snyder’s “Mongrel.” Murderous soccer moms eat cheaters in Samantha Henderson’s “Skin in the Game.” A woman accidentally turned wolf struggles against her dual nature before learning to accept it in Erzebet YellowBoy’s powerful “Inside Out.” The origin of T.J. from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series is told in “Wild Ride,” and Mike Resnick’s preacher/con-artist Lucifer Jones makes an appearance in the hilarious “Royal Bloodlines.” The stories veer from comedy to horror and from tragic love story to coming-of-age tale, showing the richness inherent in the idea of shifting shapes and animal strength. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Piracy meets politics head-on in this steampunk thriller, loosely linked to Priest’s much-lauded Boneshaker (2009). Maria Isabella Boyd, a notorious former actress and Confederate spy, is on her first mission for the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. The airship Clementine must deliver its cargo unimpeded, but its former owner, escaped slave­-turned­-air pirate Croggon Hainey, is determined to recover the ship he stole fair and square. A simple pursuit quickly evolves, and soon Maria and Croggon are forced to fight on the same side. Explosive battle scenes, riveting action, and a sharp-eyed examination of the mistrust between Croggon’s all-black crew and very white, very Southern Maria play out in a desperate race against the clock. Though the unflinching portrayal of complex race relations is aimed at adult readers, Priest’s swashbuckling tale is also quite accessible for older teens. –Publishers Weekly

This is a strong start to a new series. Bonnie is an interesting narrator — more naïve than some of Gilman’s other protagonists, but just as capable and intelligent. The supporting cast is also fascinating. The plot is engaging and compelling, but remains a smidge unresolved, perhaps purposefully. Fans of Gilman’s other novels in this setting will definitely enjoy this volume, while new readers may find some of the worldbuilding confusing, though not overly so. Using the same setting as her Retrievers novels, Gilman looks at the world of Talent from a different perspective, this time through the eyes of Bonnie Torres, an investigator with the fledgling PUPI — Private, Unaffiliated, Private Investigators — organization. Bonnie and the team are new to the world of forensic investigation involving Talent, and their first case will stretch them and their Talents to their limits. After an apparent double suicide, the victims’ daughter hires PUPI to find the truth — no matter what it may be. –Romantic Times, 4 Stars