New Book Roundup: Water Wars, Magic in the Music, and Underwater Mysteries

The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi
Bacigalupi’s long-awaited second novel for adults, following the mega-selling awards-magnet The Windup Girl, presents another terrifyingly plausible vision of an environmentally ravaged, all-too-near future. It’s a time of wars over water—Nevada and Arizona both lay claim to the ever-dwindling Colorado River, California threatens to muscle in and take it, and skilled assassin detectives known as “water knives” secure hydration for powerful clients. Angel Velasquez, a water knife in the service of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, is pulled into a dangerous game of murder and corruption when he learns of a potentially bounteous new reservoir somewhere in Phoenix. This isn’t one for reading in the tub.

Trial of Intentions, by Peter Orullian
This followup to the recently revised The Unremembered continues Orullian’s epic fantasy series The Vault of Heaven, perfectly pitched to fans of long-running sagas like The Wheel of Time. It’s everything you want in a secondary world tale—bursting with towering giants, evil wizards, and the many races of man; a great evil lurking in the wings (here, it’s a nefarious darkness known as the Quiet); political intrigue; widescreen battles; and an inventive, music-based magic system—all wrapped up in layered, lyrical prose.

Long Black Curl, by Alex Bledsoe
The third volume in Bledsoe’s urban fantasy series featuring the Tufa—descendants of the Fae who make their home in Appalachia and whose music is infused with magic. Bo-Kate is one of only two Tufa to ever be exiled from the secretive community (the other was her lover, Jefferson Powell). Now, Bo-Kate has returned with a plan to take over the tribes, with the help of Byron Harley, a rock singer who has spent the last six decades in a bubble of fairy time. This is a fresh, inventive series set in an unusual, evocative fantasy world.

Vicky Peterwald: Survivor, by Mike Shepherd
Shepherd’s second novel featuring Vicky Peterwald, interplanetary grand duchess turned officer in the interstellar Navy. A hard-as-nails heroine driven by revenge, Peterwald must battle unrest throughout the galaxy, fighting against both the sometimes ruthless tactics of the Peterwald Empire and the unrest sown by the revolutionary actions of Kris Longknife.

Desert Rising, by Kelley Grant
The first of a new fantasy series set in an intriguing desert world, where Sulis, the daughter of a powerful merchant family, dreams of entering the Temple and dedicating her life to service of the four deities of the One. But as dedicated as she is, Sulis can’t quiet the questions that fill her with unease—questions about a society that would deny others full lives due to the unfortunate circumstances of their birth, and where undesirable elements are declared “Forsaken” and cast out. Even as Sulis’ revolutionary ideas gain traction, her twin brother Kadar falls in love with a Forsaken woman…but change may not come soon enough to save them.

The Day Before, by Liana Brooks
This intriguing mystery asks a compelling question: is killing a clone really murder? Is a cloned corpse evidence of a crime…or discarded property? If she wants to get her career back on track, Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation Agent Samantha Rose, relegated to the backwater town in Alabama, will have to figure out the answer—and track down a killer.

Mermaids and Other Mysteries of the Deep, edited by Paula Guran
Stories of mermaids (presumably the real kind, and not manatees after too many bottles of rum) and other underwater creatures from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin R.Kiernan, Sarah Monette (aka Katherine Addison), Delia Sherman, Seanean McGuire, Peter S. Beagle, Margo Lanagan, and the late Tanith Lee.