Looking forward to 2016

There were certainly times when 2015 seemed to drag on a bit, and yet the end of the year seems to have rushed up while I wasn’t paying attention.

My TBR pile grew in 2015, and there are sure a lot of books that came out in 2015 that I urgently want to read, but of course now there also are a good handful of titles coming out in 2016 that will just have to take priority.

For example, we have new titles coming out by Lois McMaster Bujold, CJ Cherryh, Patricia McKillip, and Patricia Briggs.

GENTLEMAN JOLE AND THE RED QUEEN is kind of a cumbersome title, but whatever. Obviously I will be happy to grab it off the shelves no matter what its title is.

Cherryh’s new one is VISITOR, obviously the next in the Foreigner universe. I can’t wait. No cover available yet, but I’m sure we can all have a good picture of Bren and Jago and everyone in our heads by this point.

Briggs is coming out with another Mercy Thompson novel, FIRE TOUCHED. The summary says: “Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.” That thing with the fae has got to take center stage eventually, so apparently now is the time.

And then, of course, there’s McKillip’s KINGFISHER. I don’t need to know anything about that one to know I’m right there for it.

All of those are autobuy authors for me, all of them greatly anticipated. If I had them all on a stack in front of me right now, I hardly know which one I would reach for first. It’ such a pleasure to step back into a familiar world like three of these, but a new McKillip always possesses a practically gravitational pull.

But wait! There’s so much more.

There’s IN THE LABYRINTH OF DRAKES by Marie Brennen, for example. And I see Sarah Rees Brennan has another one out, TELL THE WIND AND FIRE. And now that I’m a definite Frances Hardinge fan, it’s exciting to see THE LIE TREE will be coming out shortly.

And on top of all these, Stephanie Burgess has her first adult title coming out, a historical fantasy called MASKS AND SHADOWS.

Great cover, eh? Goodreads says: “The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most renowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. … Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress — a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet.”

And as it happens, though this one isn’t due out till April, I have an ARC right here in my hand, so I hope I will get to it well before that.

And, of course, I can think of one or two other books due to come out in 2016 that I hope will get some attention:

That is most likely not the actual cover for MOUNTAIN, though I like it a lot and I did send it to Saga so who knows. Since they haven’t sent me a cover sketch yet, I’ll just use this one for the moment.

So, yep, looking forward to 2016!