New Releases by Elizabeth Bear

A sapphic adventure with wit, mayhem, and derring-do, this sequel to the gaslamp fantasy cult classic Karen Memory by Hugo Award winning author Elizabeth Bear will delight fans of T. Kingfisher and T.J. Klune.

Dr. Sunya Song embarks on an interstellar journey across the Milky Way to connect with the artificial intelligence known as Baomind, a moon-sized entity that holds the key to humanity’s survival amidst cosmic challenges and unforeseen threats in Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear’s next epic science fiction novel. Information doesn’t want to be free. Information wants to vanish without a trace. Sunya Song’s job is to stop that from happening. She’s an archinformist: a specialist historian whose job usually involves sitting at a console at her university job near the Galactic Core, sorting ancient documents and restoring corrupted files. But now, the research opportunity of a lifetime has sent her—along with her teenage children and alien wife—halfway across the galaxy to preserve the data and aid in the retrieval of the archaeological find of the century: an ancient alien artificial intelligence called Baomind. As vast as a stellar system, the Baomind orbits a dying red giant, and the star’s time has nearly ended. The isolated research station and its small fleet of ships come under attack by fanatic Freeport pirates who believe that artificial intelligence is an abomination that must be destroyed, putting the lives of Sunya and her family at risk. Tens of thousands of lightyears from home, isolated from all help, Sunya is the only one who can save them all.

A new story set in the world of “The Red Mother.” Hacksilver riddled with a dragon, saved his family''s farm, and won the secret to raise his dead. Nothing prepared him, though, for the long cold winter when the dead walked...and his family came back! At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Here is Black Cat Weekly #61, wrapping up our Halloween celebrations with a delectable assortment of mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural...10 great novels and short stories sure to delight! In this issue are: Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure: “A New Evil,” by H.K. Slade [Michael Bracken Presents short story] “Stamp of Approval,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “The Vicar of Sexton''s Deep,” by Mike Adamson [Barb Goffman Presents short story] “Butcher,” by Richard S. Prather Broken Waters, by Frank L. Packard [novel] Science Fiction / Fantasy / Supernatural: “Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle,” by Elizabeth Bear [Cynthia Ward Presents short story] “Evensong,” by Lester del Rey [short story] “The Mage Snatch,” by Sydney J. Bounds [short story] Troubled Star, by George O. Smith [novel] “The House by the Headland,” by “Sapper” [short story]

Black Cat Weekly #18 is another great lineup of novels and short stories this time, so without further ado—on to the stories! Mysteries / Suspense: “Rediscovery,” by James Holding [short story] “Staying Cool,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “The Ghost Who Read the Newspaper,” by Vicki Weisfeld [Barb Goffman Presents short story] “Mr. Clackworthy and the Auto Rim,” by Christopher B. Booth [short story] “Kane and Averill,” by Bev Vincent [short story] The Merchant of Murder, by Spencer Dean [novel] Science Fiction & Fantasy: “The Deeps of the Sky,” by Elizabeth Bear [Cynthia Ward Presents short story] “Spanish Vampire,” by E. Hoffmann Price [short story] “The Potable Zombie,” by Larry Tritten [short story] The Giant Atom, by Malcolm Jameson [novel]

An academic''s whimsical decision to take a DNA test leads her into uncharted territory, where she discovers some extraordinary truths about herself and new possibilities for her future. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In this compelling and addictive novel set in the same universe as the critically acclaimed White Space series and perfect for fans of Karen Traviss and Ada Hoffman, a space station begins to unravel when a routine search and rescue mission returns after going dangerously awry. Meet Doctor Jens. She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee. But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away. Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a mystery and she begins doing some digging. She has no idea that she’s about to discover horrifying and life-changing truths. Written in Elizabeth Bear’s signature “rollicking, suspenseful, and sentimental” (Publishers Weekly) style, Machine is a fresh and electrifying space opera that you won’t be able to put down.

An unabridged collection spotlighting the best hard science fiction stories published in 2019 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. A coastal restoration researcher can help the police solve a murder but is conflicted over the unjust nature of the criminal justice system in "Soft Edges," by Elizabeth Bear. In "By the Warmth of Their Calculus," by Tobias S. Buckell, the captain of a dustship musters her crew to escape from a trap set by Hunter-Killers in a game of cat and mouse amid the rings of a giant planet. An arachnipede becomes wary of potential mates after she sees a male eat her mother . . . but she''s lonely in "A Mate Not a Meal," by Sarina Dorie. In "The Slipway," by Greg Egan, astronomers are hard-pressed to explain what appears to be a new cluster of stars that''s growing by the hour. Abandoned at a lunar base after losing radio contact with Earth, a newlywed traverses the moon in a buggy with her newborn toward a skyhook on the farside in "This is Not the Way Home," also by Greg Egan. In "Cloud-Born" by Gregory Feeley, children born on a ship from Earth become anxious as they begin to transition to their new lives as colonists of Neptune. An astrobiology postdoc is called at the last minute to remotely navigate a robot searching for hydrogen-based life on Titan in "On the Shores of Ligeia," by Carolyn Ives Gilman. In "Ring Wave," by Tom Jolly, an engineer in a life pod is desperate to join a colony in space after an asteroid destroys Earth. A deep-sea mining company''s operation is threatened by a crustacean scientist in "The Little Shepherdess," by Gwyneth Jones. In "Sacrificial Iron," by Ted Kosmatka, a decades long mission to another star is threatened when the two men keeping watch over a frozen crew turn on each other. A teenager seeks to maintain her "Captain" status among her non-traditional lunar family by leading her siblings on a dangerous trek to Neil Armstrong''s first footprint on the moon in "The Menace from Farside," by Ian McDonald. In "The Ocean Between the Leaves," by Ray Nayler, the mind of a dying gardener is transferred to another body for three days of closure in a state-run experiment. A robot strives to maintain its energy reserves as it crosses thousands of kilometers underwater to find its way home in "At the Fall," by Alec Nevala-Lee. In "Winter Wheat," by Gord Sellar, a Canadian farmer and his son are at odds on how to cope with a powerful agribusiness promoting its genetically modified wheat. And finally, a resentful submarine pilot is ordered to an undersea research facility to assist with the mining survey of a formerly protected seabed in "Cyclopterus," by Peter Watts.

"The Best of Elizabeth Bear contains 27 stories and novellas, many never before collected, that encompass an astonishing range of themes, settings, ideas and emotions. The collection opens with "Covenant," a tale of serial murder unlike any you have ever read, and closes with the extraordinary "Erase, Erase, Erase." The latter is a surrealist tour de force in which the unnamed narrator, a former cult member, reflects on her life, her nebulous but guilty past, and her constantly diminishing sense of self. In between these bookends are more than two dozen carefully crafted tales that never fail to resonate beyond the final page"--

The November/December issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine. Featuring new fiction by Elizabeth Bear, D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Laura Anne Gilman, and Jenn Reese. Essays by G. Willow Wilson, Alexandra Erin, Brandon O'' Brien, Jeannette Ng, and Keidra Chaney, poetry by Sonya Taaffe, Hal Y. Zhang, Annie Neugebauer, and Sylvia Santiago, interviews with Elizabeth Bear and Jenn Reese by Sandra Odell, a cover by John Picacio, and editorials by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota.

The One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King: personifications of the city of Las Vegas-its history, mystery, mystical power, and heart . . . When the Suicide King vanishes-possibly killed-in the middle of a magic-rights turf war started by the avatars of Los Angeles, a notorious fictional assassin, and the mutilated ghost of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, the King''s partner, the One-Eyed Jack, must seek the aid of a bizarre band of legendary and undead allies: the ghosts of Doc Holliday and John Henry the steel-driving man; the echoes of several imaginary super spies, decades displaced in time; and a vampire named Tribute, who bears a striking resemblance to a certain long-lost icon of popular music. All stories are true, but some stories are truer than others.

At last the generation ship Jacob''s Ladder has arrived at its destination: the planet they have come to call Grail. But this habitable jewel just happens to be populated already: by humans who call their home Fortune. And they are wary of sharing Fortune - especially people who have genetically engineered themselves to such an extent that it is a matter of debate whether they are even human anymore. To make matters worse, a shocking murder aboard the Jacob''s Ladder has alerted Captain Perceval and the Angel Nova that formidable enemies remain hidden somewhere among the new crew. On Grail - or Fortune, rather - Premier Danilaw views the approach of the Jacob''s Ladder with dread. Behind the diplomatic niceties of first-contact protocol, he knows that the deadly game being played is likely to erupt into full-blown war - even civil war. For as he strives to chard a peaceful and prosperous path forward for his people, internal threats emerge to take control by any means necessary. Originally published in 2011 as Grail.

“Outstanding…Amid a space opera resurgence, Bear’s novel sets the bar high.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A space salvager and her partner make the discovery of a lifetime that just might change the universe in this wild, big-ideas space opera from Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear. Haimey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz are salvage operators, living just on the inside of the law...usually. Theirs is the perilous and marginal existence—with barely enough chance of striking it fantastically big—just once—to keep them coming back for more. They pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead, it may be the thing that could tip the perilous peace mankind has found into full-out war. Energetic and electrifying, Ancestral Night is a dazzling space opera, sure to delight fans of Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, and Peter F. Hamilton—“Bear''s ability to create breathtaking variations on ancient themes and make them new and brilliant is, perhaps, unparalleled in the genre” (Library Journal, starred review).

A new anthology celebrating the witches and sorcerers of epic fantasy—featuring stories by George R. R. Martin, Scott Lynch, Megan Lindholm, and many others! Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois’s acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf . . . and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda . . . and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore . . . and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped—or misshaped—by the potent magic they seek to wield. Yet though their abilities may be godlike, these men and women remain human—some might say all too human. Such is their curse. And their glory. In these pages, seventeen of today’s top fantasy writers—including award-winners Elizabeth Bear, John Crowley, Kate Elliott, K. J. Parker, Tim Powers, and Liz Williams—cast wondrous spells that thrillingly evoke the mysterious, awesome, and at times downright terrifying worlds where magic reigns supreme: worlds as far away as forever, and as near as next door. FEATURING SIXTEEN ALL-NEW STORIES: “The Return of the Pig” by K. J. Parker “Community Service” by Megan Lindholm “Flint and Mirror” by John Crowley “The Friends of Masquelayne the Incomparable” by Matthew Hughes “The Biography of a Bouncing Boy Terror: Chapter Two: Jumping Jack in Love” by Ysabeau S. Wilce “Song of Fire” by Rachel Pollack “Loft the Sorcerer” by Eleanor Arnason “The Governor” by Tim Powers “Sungrazer” by Liz Williams “The Staff in the Stone” by Garth Nix “No Work of Mine” by Elizabeth Bear “Widow Maker” by Lavie Tidhar “The Wolf and the Manticore” by Greg Van Eekhout “The Devil’s Whatever” by Andy Duncan “Bloom” by Kate Elliott “The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril” by Scott Lynch Plus George R. R. Martin’s classic story “A Night at the Tarn House” and an introduction by Gardner Dozois Praise for The Book of Magic “In The Book of Magic, you get everything you expect and more! Assembling seventeen great authors in one place is a difficult job but this book, with a lot of help from editor Gardner Dozois, does just that. . . . This compilation is a treat for any who love a good fantasy tale.”—Geeks of Doom

Featuring authors Joyce Carol Oates, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Lois Gresh, Gemma Files, Nancy Kilpatrick, Elizabeth Bear, Storm Constantine and others accompanied by the lavish color artwork of Daniele Serra, Dreams from the Witch House: Female Voices of Lovecraftian Horror is a representation of some of the finest cosmic horror and weird fiction from female authors in the field today.

Readers met the irrepressible Karen Memory in Elizabeth Bear''s 2015 novel Karen Memory, and fell in love with her steampunk Victorian Pacific Northwest city, and her down-to-earth story-telling voice. iO9--28 New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Well Worth Checking Out in March Unbound Worlds--20 Best New Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books--March 2018 The Verge--15 new science fiction and fantasy books--March 2018 Kirkus--18 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in March 2018 NerdMuch--20 Best New Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books--March 2018 Now Karen is back with Stone Mad, a new story about spiritualists, magicians, con-men, and an angry lost tommy-knocker—a magical creature who generally lives in the deep gold mines of Alaska, but has been kidnapped and brought to Rapid City. Karen and Priya are out for a night on the town, celebrating the purchase of their own little ranch and Karen''s retirement from the Hotel Ma Cherie, when they meet the Arcadia Sisters, spiritualists who unexpectedly stir up the tommy-knocker in the basement. The ensuing show could bring down the house, if Karen didn''t rush in to rescue everyone she can. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Hugo Award–winning author Elizabeth Bear returns to her critically acclaimed epic fantasy world of the Eternal Sky with a brand new trilogy. Best SFF Books 2017— The Guardian Kirkus Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2017 The Verge Recommended Fantasy for 2017 Locus 2017 Recommended Reading List The Stone in the Skull, the first volume in her new trilogy, takes readers over the dangerous mountain passes of the Steles of the Sky and south into the Lotus Kingdoms. The Gage is a brass automaton created by a wizard of Messaline around the core of a human being. His wizard is long dead, and he works as a mercenary. He is carrying a message from the most powerful sorcerer of Messaline to the Rajni of the Lotus Kingdom. With him is The Dead Man, a bitter survivor of the body guard of the deposed Uthman Caliphate, protecting the message and the Gage. They are friends, of a peculiar sort. They are walking into a dynastic war between the rulers of the shattered bits of a once great Empire. The Lotus Kingdoms #1 The Stone in the Skull #2 The Red-Stained Wings The Eternal Sky Trilogy #1 Range of Ghosts #2 Shattered Pillars #3 Steles of the Sky At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Jonathan Strahan, the award-winning and much lauded editor of many of genre’s best known anthologies is back with his 10th volume in this fascinating series, featuring the best science fiction and fantasy from 2015. With established names and new talent this diverse and ground-breaking collection will take the reader to the outer-reaches of space and the inner realms of humanity with stories of fantastical worlds and worlds that may still come to pass. Featuring Paolo Bacigalupi • Elizabeth Bear • Greg Bear • Jeffrey Ford • Neil Gaiman • Nalo Hopkinson • Nisi Shawl • Simon Ings • Gwyneth Jones • Caitlin R. Kiernan • Anne Leckie • Kelly Link • Usman T. Malik • Ian McDonald • Vonda McIntrye • Sam J. Miller • Tamsyn Muir • Robert Reed • Alastair Reynolds • Kim Stanley Robinson • Kelly Robson • Geoff Ryman • Nike Sulway • Catherynne Valente • Genevieve Valentine • Kai Ashante Wilson • Alyssa Wong

The November/December 2015 issue of Uncanny Magazine. Featuring new fiction by Ursula Vernon, Elizabeth Bear, Karin Tidbeck, Yoon Ha Lee, and Alex Bledsoe, classic fiction by Alaya Dawn Johnson, essays by Annalee Flower Horne and Natalie Luhrs, Aidan Moher, Tansy Rayner Roberts, and Deborah Stanish, poetry by Mari Ness, Sonya Taaffe, and Lisa M. Bradley, interviews with Yoon Ha Lee and Alex Bledsoe by Deborah Stanish, a cover by Julie Dillon, and an editoral by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas. As always, available DRM-free.

An unabridged audio collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2014 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Marielena,” by Nina Allan, an immigrant is haunted by his past, as well as his present and future, in a disturbingly mean-spirited near-future England. A convicted serial killer is sentenced to “rightminding” to cure his neurological disorder that resulted in the sociopathic murdering of thirteen women in “Covenant,” by Elizabeth Bear. “The Magician and LaPlace’s Demon” by Tom Crosshill, follows a powerful AI that discovers the existence of magic and then prosecutes a vendetta against the magicians who grow more powerful as their numbers dwindle. In “Sadness,” by Timons Esaias, a man strikes back, as best he can, against the powerful aliens who conquered Earth long ago. In “Amicae Aeternum,” by Ellen Klages, a young girl shares her last morning on Earth with her girlfriend before boarding a generation starship. “Red Lights, and Rain,” by Gareth L. Powell, is a blend of sci-fi and vampire-hunting lore in which the vampires are made, not born. In “The Sarcophagus,” by Robert Reed, the maintenance cyborgs of the Great Ship encounter a stranded spacer in a derelict lifesuit from a long ago ship. “In Babelsberg,” by Alastair Reynolds, showcases a robot whose account of the dead colonists recently found on Titan are challenged by another AI. In “Passage of Earth,” by Michael Swanwick, a coroner gets a taste of the Earth invaders’ superior intelligence while dissecting a giant worm-like alien. Finally, in “The Colonel,” by Peter Watts, Colonel Moore tries to assess the capabilities of the hived human intelligences that have attacked a compound under his command.

"Bear pumps fresh energy in the steampunk genre with a light touch on the gadgetry and a vivid sense of place . . . Karen and the ladies kick ass." — Library Journal (starred review) Set in the late nineteenth century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen Memery ("like memory only spelt with an e") is a young woman on her own, making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable''s high-quality bordello. Through Karen''s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, begging for sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone''s mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn''t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered. Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper yarn of the old west with a light touch in Karen''s own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science. "[A] rollicking, suspenseful, and sentimental steampunk novel . . . [Karen''s] story is a timeless one: a woman doing what is needed to get by while dreaming and fighting for great things to come." — Publishers Weekly

"The sea is full of mysteries and rivers shelter the unknown. Dating back to ancient Assyria, folkloric tales of mermaids, sirens, rusalka, nymphs, selkes, and other seafolk are found in many cultures, including those of Europe, Africa, the Near East and Asia. Dangerous or benevolent, seductive or sinister -- modern masters of fantasy continue to create new legends of these creatures that enchant and entertain us more than ever. Gathered here are some of the finest of these stories. Immerse yourself in this wonderful -- and sometimes wicked - watery world!"--Page 4 of cover.

Forever is a new monthly science fiction magazine that features previously published stories you might have missed. Each issue will feature a novella, a brief interview with the novella''s author, two short stories, and cover art by Ron Guyatt. Edited by the Hugo and World Fantasy Award winning editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, Neil Clarke.Our fourth issue features a novella by Robert Reed ("The Man With the Golden Balloon"), short stories by Juliette Wade ("Cold Words") and Elizabeth Bear ("The Hand is Quicker--"), and a short interview with Robert Reed.

"This Chance Planet" by Elizabeth Bear is a near future science fiction story about a young Russian waitress with ambitions to become an engineer and her musician boyfriend, who wants her to gestate a liver for money so his band can tour. Plus, there''s a dog. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Modern space adventures crafted by a new generation of Grand Tradition science fiction writers. Smart, engaging stories that take us back to a time when science fiction was fun and informative, pithy and piquant-when speculative fiction transported us from the everyday grind and left us wondrously satisfied. Showcasing the breadth of Grand Tradition stories, from 1940s-style pulp to realistic hard SF, from noir and horror to SF spaceships, alien uplift, and action-adventure motifs, Far Orbit''s diversity of Grand Tradition stories makes it easy for every SF fan to find a favorite.

Prepare to meet the wicked progeny of the master of modern horror. In Lovecraft''s Monsters, H. P. Lovecraft''s most famous creations—Cthulhu, Shoggoths, Deep Ones, Elder Things, Yog-Sothoth, and more—appear in all their terrifying glory. Each story is a gripping new take on a classic Lovecraftian creature, and each is accompanied by a spectacular original illustration that captures the monsters'' unique visage. Contributors include such literary luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Karl Edward Wagner, Elizabeth Bear, and Nick Mamatas. The monsters are lovingly rendered in spectacular original art by World Fantasy Award–winning artist John Coulthart (The Steampunk Bible). Legions of Lovecraft fans continue to visit his bizarre landscapes and encounter his unrelenting monsters. Now join them in their journey...if you dare.

Once again, the finest SF short stories of the year have been collected in a single volume. With Year''s Best SF 18, acclaimed, award-winning editor and anthologist David G. Hartwell demonstrates the amazing depth and power of contemporary speculative fiction, showcasing astonishing short stories from some of science fiction''s most respected names as well as exciting new writers to watch. In this anthology, prepare to travel light years from the ordinary into a tomorrow at once breathtaking, frightening, and possible with some of the greatest tales of wonder published in 2012. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.