YetiStomper Picks: Books for October

Canticle (The Psalms of Isaak) - Ken Scholes

Canticle is the 2nd book in Ken Scholes "Psalms of Isaak" sequence after last year's Lamentation. I haven't had a chance to read Lamentation yet but it did get a lot of rave reviews. I'll be interested to see whether Scholes can keep up the pace. Once the series finishes, I'll be hoping on board.

Peter & Max: A Fables Novel - Bill Willingham

Keeping An Eye On author Chris Roberson (interview here) and Bill Willingham were both part of the same writing group. Now it seems they are switching roles as Roberson has been writing comics and Willingham is making the leap to novels. Fables is simply one of the best comic book series out there. It will be interesting to see how it holds up in novel form.

Star Wars: Death Troopers - Joe Schreiber

Star Wars. Horror. Stormtrooper. Zombies. Look at that cover. What else do you need? I also might have an interview with Joe Schreiber sometime this month. If I had to pick one book on the list I would be sure of completing by the end of October, this would be it.

Star Wars: 501st: An Imperial Commando Novel - Karen Traviss

One of Karen Traviss's last SW novels (after she announced she was leaving the universe due to continuity concerns). 501st continues the story of Traviss's Republic Commandos once they find their employers have undergone some restructuring. Out of the two SW novels this month, I'd check out Death Troopers first but Traviss is a great author in her own right and her Republic Commando novels were always excellent.

Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan is a young adult novel portraying WWI in an alternate universe that took a steampunk twist sometime down the line. Prince Aleksander Ferdinand and girl-posing-as-airman Deryn Sharp adventure the world in the titular airship, Leviathan. This book features stunning black and white steampunk drawings throughout the book. Recommend buying the book, reading it carefully, and giving it a child for Christmas if you can part with it.

Eclipse 3: New Science Fiction and Fantasy - Jonathan Strahan

I have neither heard of this book or any interest in reading it. The table of contents has WAY too many women in it. Kidding. This is the third in an absolutely fantastic series of anthologies. If you are looking for quality new authors accross the entire genre, this is the singular anthology for you.

Lovecraft Unbound - Ellen Datlow

Lovecraft + Datlow + Laird Barron = Anthology Cthulu might come back to Earth to read. I'm not particularly well read in the horror subgenre but I've always been interested in the Cthulu mythos/dark SF kind of thing. This is another highly anticipated one.

My Dead Body: A Novel - Charlie Huston

The final book in Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt Casebook. That's right; a urban fantasy series that ends. It will be interesting to see how the 5 book arc ends and how Huston finalizes the transition from episodic plot to an overarching one. I'm planning to read/review all 5 now that the series is complete.

The Secret History of Science Fiction - James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel

This is another anthology but a very interesting one. SHoSF offers to a slate of stories blending science fiction and "literature", two things which aren't always paired together. With stories by Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Chabon, Gene Wolfe, Jonathan Lethem, Margaret Atwood, and others, this anthology might be one to have your "literary" friends read after you smack them over the head with it. They deserve it for dismissing some absolutely incredible authors who manage to tell a story and write literature at the same time.

The Devil's Eye - Jack McDevitt

In the 4th Alex Benedict novel, Jack McDevitt takes his main character to the dark recesses of the universe. This book has been out for a year but I like the books to line up on the shelf so PB for me.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas - Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba

The Umbrella Academy got a ton of critical praise last year. This is the follow up series by the same team. I enjoyed the first one and there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Here's hoping the quality stays up.

October is filled with a lot of series installments and anthologies but there aren't too many big name SF stand-alones. I wonder if there's a good time a year for that? Anyway, as always, if you are interested in more details regarding any of the above books, just click on through the Amazon links. I'm more interested in telling you why I recommended them rather than simply what's out there. Anything that might have escaped my genre nets? Which one of these covers is your favorite?

You can view previous installments of YetiStomper Picks here