OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 5, 2013: I’ve been excited about this week since I first learned that J.M. McDermott’s “Dogsland” books Never Knew Another and When We Were Executioners were coming to audio, and! here they are, along with: a new novel by Robert Charles Wilson, Rachel Bach’s new military sf novel Fortune’s Pawn, Margo Lanagan’s glimmering 2012 selkie fantasy, and the Paula Guran-edited Once Upon a Time anthology, and! plenty more besides in the “also out this week” listings including: Terry Pratchett’s The Carpet People, David Dalglish’s A Dance of Blades performed superbly by Elijah Alexander, the latest in the Infinivox series of “The Year’s Top Short SF Novels”, John Gardner’s mythological epic poem Jason and Medeia, and Guy Endore’s classic 1933 horror novel The Werewolf of Paris, read by Jean Brassard. I also want to highlight Annie Bellet’s collection Till Human Voices Wake Us, which I delve into a bit below in a special “indie spotlight” section. Enjoy!

Georgia author J.M. McDermott is a passionate, creative, inspiring, fantastical genius. I’ve seen him read, breathless, sweating, his lushly layered “Dedalus and the Labyrinth” (the basis of his forthcoming novel Maze); I’ve been blown away by a read (and further still by a re-read) of his debut novel Last Dragon — which until now has been the only of his novels to be available in audio. But! This week brings both of his extant Dogsland novels (book 3 is yet to be published) to audio. Originally published by Night Shade Books, Never Knew Another: Dogsland, Book 1 and When We Were Executioners: Dogsland, Book 2 are this week released by Audible Frontiers, narrated by Eileen Stevens (Lisa Shearin’s Raine Benares, Amanda Hocking’s Hollowland, and most recently for me Will McIntosh’s Love Minus Eighty). Rich in language and layered in context, McDermott’s Dogsland books have been noticed well by some of my favorite critics, including John H. Stevens (SF Signal’s “Erudite Ogre”) whom I tasked with reviewing the books for Bull Spec early last year. OK, I’ll stop gushing. Here’s the description of book one: “Fugitive Rachel Nolander is a newcomer to the city of Dogsland, where the rich throw parties and the poor just do whatever they can to scrape by. Supported by her brother Djoss, she hides out in their squalid apartment, living in fear that someday, someone will find out that she is the child of a demon. Corporal Jona Lord Joni is a demon’s child too, but instead of living in fear, he keeps his secret and goes about his life as a cocky, self-assured man of the law. The first story in the Dogsland Trilogy, Never Knew Another is the story of how these two outcasts meet.” Also! For those with the Kindle editions, both books offer a $3.99 Whispersync for Voice special at Audible.

Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson is Wilson’s latest novel, out this week from Tor, read by Scott Brick (Frank Herbert’s Dune, Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief, Justin Cronin’s The Passage) for Macmillan Audio. “From Robert Charles Wilson, the author of the Hugo Award–winner Spin, comes Burning Paradise, a new tale of humans coming to grips with a universe of implacable strangeness. Cassie Klyne, nineteen-years-old, lives in the United States in the year 2015—but it’s not our United States, and it’s not our 2015. Cassie’s world has been at peace since the Great Armistice of 1918. There was no World War II, no Great Depression. Poverty is declining, prosperity is increasing everywhere; social instability is rare. But Cassie knows the world isn’t what it seems. Her parents were part of a group who gradually discovered the awful truth: that for decades—back to the dawn of radio communications—human progress has been interfered with, made more peaceful and benign, by an extraterrestrial entity. And by interfering with our communications, this entity has tweaked history in massive and subtle ways. That humanity is, for purposes unknown, being farmed.”

Next up is a well-regarded military sf debut, Fortune’s Pawn: Paradox Series, Book 1 by Rachel Bach, narrated By Emily Durante for Tantor Media concurrent with the print/ebook release from Orbit (Nov 5) — “Devi Morris isn’t your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It’s a combination that’s going to get her killed one day – but not just yet.”

My last pick amongst the novels new to audio this week is Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan, narrated By Eloise Oxer and Paul English for Bolinda Audio. An expansion of the 2009 novella “Sea-Hearts” which won the 2010 World Fantasy Award and published in the US (Knopf, September 2012) and UK (David Fickling, February 2012) as The Brides of Rollrock Island, here the book takes its original title from the Australian release (Allen & Unwin, February 2012). “On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock? The men, the women, the children? Once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing? Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire and revenge, of loyalty, heartache and human weakness, and of the unforeseen consequences of all-consuming love.”

Finally, Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales edited by Paula Guran, with stories by Theodora Goss, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tanith Lee, Genevieve Valentine, Nathan Ballingrud, and Richard Bowes among others, narrated by Kate Baker for Prime Books. Wow! I did not see this coming. Baker is the marvelous voice of the Clarkesworld Magazine podcast, and this anthology has original stories from a fantastic lineup:

“Eighteen extraordinary authors devise all-new fairy tales: imaginative reinterpretations of the familiar, evocative new myths, speculations beyond the traditional realm of ‘once upon a time.’ Often dark, occasionally humorous, always enthralling, these stories find a certain Puss in a near-future New York, an empress bargaining with a dragon, a princess turned into a raven, a king’s dancing daughters with powerful secrets, great heroism, terrible villainy, sparks of mischief, and a great deal more. Brilliant dreams and dazzling nightmares with meaning for today and tomorrow…”

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

INDIE SPOTLIGHT:

Till Human Voices Wake Us By Annie Bellet, Narrated By Dan Boice for Bellet’s own Doomed Muse Press. Boice’s narration is a tiny bit rushed, but that’s actually much closer to the listening speed I like. Bellet’s short fiction is collected well here, including of course the titular “‘Til Human Voices Wake Us”. Bellet is pretty much a fixture at Daily Science Fiction and has been at the forefront of author self-publishing in audio.

Quest of the Keys By Scotty Sanders, Narrated By B.J. Harrison — a very high-quality indie released audiobook as well, under the great voice of Harrison (who narrates quite a few of the nearly free Whispersync for Voice classics, such as Alice in Wonderland, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and plenty of Poe and Melville shorts along with other classics such as The Mark of Zorro) and very cleanly produced.

SEEN BUT NOT HEARD:

COMING SOON:

DECEMBER:

NEXT YEAR:

UNDATED: