SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

FANTASY NOVEL
The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (Tor)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK
The Agony House, Cherie Priest & Tara O’Connor (Levine)

NOVELLA
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)
Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing)

NOVELETTE
“Okay, Glory”, Elizabeth Bear (Twelve Tomorrows)

SHORT STORY
“The Starship and the Temple Cat”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 2/1/18)

COLLECTION
Brief Cases, Jim Butcher (Ace; Orbit UK)

“Priest (The Family Plot) spins a small, swampy urban legend into a riveting, swelteringly atmospheric story that questions just how far the residents of a Southern town will go to forget, or appease, a past they cannot bear to confront. Cameron Spratford has lived with his elderly cousins Claire and Daisy in Staywater, Ga., since his parents abandoned him there as a toddler. Although everyone in Staywater encourages Cam to leave, he is content to remain—until Titus Bell arrives. Titus and his wife, Melanie, are traveling through the Okefenokee Swamp when they arrive at a strange, one-lane bridge. Sometime later, Titus wakes up in the middle of the road, alone. He makes his way to Staywater and, while awaiting news of Melanie, begins to shake the secrets of the town loose. Cameron gradually discovers the truth about the bridge outside Staywater, the role Claire and Daisy played in bringing peace there once, and what they are willing to do to keep Cameron safe. Priest keeps the supernatural elements grounded by developing nuanced characters who feel as though they could walk off the page. Moody and mysterious, this gothic tale touches the heart even as it wraps chilly fingers around the spine.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“This time she goes full creepy with a haunted house story set in New Orleans that also manages to throw in a hefty dose of the history of comic books and some thoughtful consideration of the issue of gentrification. Combined with Tara O’Connor’s illustrations, The Agony House blends ghostly visitations with classic mystery solving and serious social commentary to give readers a smart and surprisingly topical read.

Kudos to Priest for crafting a supernatural mystery that blends classic crime-solving with a thoroughly modern sensibility. The inclusion of sections with the actual pages from the Lucinda Might comic book, courtesy Tara O’Connor’s outstanding illustrations, was also a brilliant decision. The Agony House is a fast-paced read that tackles significant social issues while never deviating from its horror roots. This is how you give perceptive readers a good time: you don’t write down to them, you dish out the thrills and chills in a narrative that also makes some insightful assessment of how we live along the way. We need more of this in MG and YA fantasy, much much more.” — Locus Magazine

“Following up on their successful collaboration in I am Princess X (2016), Priest and O’Connor neatly weave together the history of comic books and contemporary concerns about gentrification in this eerie ghost story set in a ramshackle house that’s as much a character as the people living in it. Denise, her mom, and stepdad have just moved into an nearly destroyed, once-beautiful house in New Orleans, and almost right away, Denise starts noticing odd things. First, they’re harmless, if creepy, but later, unexplained, dangerous accidents happen as they renovate the house. But the comic book manuscript Denise finds carefully hidden in the attic (pages of which appear throughout the novel) is the key to source of the poltergeists. Meanwhile, Denise’s neighbors are uneasy about outsiders capitalizing on cheap property in New Orleans, and Priest does a great job of skillfully including the important conversations Denise and her family have with their new community. At its heart, though, this is a ghost story, and Priest excels at building palpable atmosphere: Denise’s parents’ anxiety about their shoestring budget, the sweltering New Orleans summer heat, the disrepair of the house (“soggy plaster fell from the studs like wet cake”), and the increasingly terrifying haunting. Dynamic characters and a surprising mystery round out this sharp, satisfying, and engrossingly spooky story.” — Booklist, Starred Review

“A white family’s attempts to renovate a storm-wracked Victorian New Orleans house are complicated by bitterly contending ghosts.

The resident spirits aren’t particularly reticent either, readily manifesting not only to 17-year-old Denise and her newlywed mother and stepfather, but to visiting neighbors as well—as a whiff of perfume, creeping shadows, a falling ceiling, and other ominous portents. But rather than being a stereotypical screamer, Denise has much in common (characterwise, at least) with intrepid, gun-toting Lucida Might, girl crime fighter and star of a 1950s manuscript comic Denise finds in the attic. Priest (Brimstone, 2017, etc.) ably weaves contemporary issues and a feminist strand into this fantasy as, while briskly fending off ghostly visitations and searching out clues to the house’s violent past, Denise makes new friends and encounters pushback from some St. Roch neighbors rightfully leery of white gentrifiers. Highlighted by a wonderfully melodramatic climax, the author brings her plotlines to upbeat resolutions with a thrilling discovery, a revelation about the comic’s author, and a degree of general community acceptance of Denise and her family. Nearly every character’s race, white or black, is carefully but unobtrusively specified. O’Connor (The Altered History of Willow Sparks, 2018) inserts multiple pages from the comic and atmospheric stand-alone illustrations all printed in haint blue. Conflicts, ectoplasmic and otherwise, laid to rest in a deliciously creepy setting.” — Kirkus

“Brimstone is a haunting and surprisingly funny book—at turns raising the hair on your arms, and a laugh from your belly. Cassadaga is a delight, and being able to experience its intricacies and eccentricities through a newcomer’s eyes, reminded me of exploring Hogsmeade from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, or Hopewell, Illinois from Terry Brooks’s criminally underrated Running with the Demon. Priest has laid enough groundwork that a sequel seems inevitable, but also wraps things up nicely enough for the experience to feel whole and complete. With its unique mix of Americana, post-war themes, likeable characters, and swift plot, Brimstone is easy to recommend.” — Tor.com

“Full of charm and care, with light-hearted fun woven gently into compassionate renderings of sorrow and loss, Brimstone is equal parts affectionate romp and affecting story — not least because, given the state of the world, it’s good to read books in which hate is scarier than ghosts, love is stronger than hate, and witches simply refuse to burn.” — NPR Books

“Priest has a knack for writing likable, well-rounded characters and putting them through some unpleasant, creepy events. The bourbon-loving, easily flustered psychic Alice might be the author’s most purely endearing protagonist yet, and Tomas, the stricken but resolute tailor, is tremendously easy to root for as well. The depictions of the various fires and some other events are vivid and at times wince-inducing. While the immediate narrative here is wrapped up nicely by the end, readers may wish for some return trips to this version of Cassadaga, Fla.” — RT Book Reviews, 4 stars