📕

July 6, 2015 8:21 AM

Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2015 Book Preview [The Millions]

If you like to read, we’ve got some news for you. The second-half of 2015 is straight-up, stunningly chock-full of amazing books. The list that follows isn’t exhaustive — no book preview could be — but, at 9,100 words strong and encompassing 82 titles, this is the only second-half 2015 book preview you will ever need. Scroll down and get started.

If someone told you, “Hey, there are new books coming out by Margaret Atwood, Lauren Groff, Elena Ferrante, John Banville, and Jonathan Franzen this year,” you might say, “Wow, it’s going to be a great year for books.” Well, those five authors all have books coming out in September this year (alongside 22 other books we’re highlighting that month). This year, you’ll also see new books from David Mitchell, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Aleksandar Hemon, Patti Smith, Colum McCann, Paul Murray, and what we think is now safe to call a hugely anticipated debut novel from our own Garth Risk Hallberg.

Related: Most Anticipated: The Great First-Half 2015 Book Preview [The Millions]

posted by Fizz (38 comments total)

But will they hold up for a decade or so when many of us will get around to reading 2015 literary efforts?
posted by sammyo at 8:24 AM on July 6, 2015 [12 favorites]

Oh man, so much good stuff coming out and me with only one set of eyeballs to read them!
posted by Kitteh at 8:26 AM on July 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

Last week when I heard Sarah Vowell had a new book coming out there was a huge and noisy celebration in my household. It was only slightly tempered by the fact that I have to wait for October.
posted by rewil at 8:51 AM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I humbly submit a book, due out in a mere three weeks whose title and cover should cause all who are Just And Righteous to immediately leap forward, wads of sweaty money in hand to demand it be taken from them.

The book: The Dinosaur Lords where "where vast armies of dinosaur-mounted knights engage in battle. "
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:52 AM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

There have been a lot of incredible reading lists posted lately on Mefi, so I will resist making an FPP for this one, and will instead drop it in here: Quintessential American Fiction, According to the Rest of the World
posted by chavenet at 9:20 AM on July 6, 2015 [6 favorites]

"Catholics pivot between the obscene and the divine without missing a step". Well of course, the penance is something fierce for missing a step
posted by fallingbadgers at 9:42 AM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

I am waiting for "The Shepherd's Crown", Terry Pratchett, end of August. The last few pages will be hard...
posted by ltl at 9:44 AM on July 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

Glad that they moved up Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, as I wasn't sure it could wait until September.

In genre fiction, really looking forward to The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weekes (I am so very fond of this series, it's really spectacular) as well as the further adventures of Rook Myfany Thomas in Daniel O'Malley's Stiletto.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:58 AM on July 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

If the list doesn't feature "The Martian 2: Even Martianer", I'm not interested.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:47 AM on July 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

blue_beetle: The Martian 2: Even Martianer

Well, I heard it would be titled "The Martian 2: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Boogaloo" but maybe my source was wrong.
--

There really is something to what sammyo wrote: when I do manage to get around to these, after I read all the other awesome stuff that's been coming out the last few years, will they turn out to have been worth the wait?

I long ago gave up trying to stay ahead of the flow of new, good books because there are so damn many of them! Now I happily stay a year or three behind the curve and tick to the best of the best. It's a good time to be alive and reading!
posted by wenestvedt at 11:01 AM on July 6, 2015

Oh my god 40 new Shirley Jackson stories???

So glad they moved up Between the World and Me, too!
posted by sonmi at 11:32 AM on July 6, 2015

It doesn't have my book on it.

(flips table)

(It's a dollhouse table)

(I'm very weak)
posted by jscalzi at 12:17 PM on July 6, 2015 [22 favorites]

How could this list omit MetaFilter's Own cstross ("The Annihilation Score") AND jscalzi ("The End of All Things", which did sneak out in pieces before its August publication just to confuse the awards categories)? Have the Bad Dogs so degraded the SFF category that only the Hugo-ignored Margaret Atwood and Ernest Cline can make The Millions?
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:19 PM on July 6, 2015 [5 favorites]

If the list doesn't feature "The Martian 2: Even Martianer", I'm not interested.

Chapter 1: "How could the same thing happen to the same guy twice? it's like Die Hard only I have more hair than Bruce Willis."

Jesus, yeah, this thing writes itself.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:26 PM on July 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

Doesn't mention Love and Other Wounds by MetaFilter's Own nor The Suicide of Claire Bishop by an old friend.

Just For The Record.


What I mean to say is, buy these books!
posted by carsonb at 12:36 PM on July 6, 2015

Fizz: "this is the only second-half 2015 book preview you will ever need"

I am tempted to say "challenge accepted!"
posted by TheLittlePrince at 1:28 PM on July 6, 2015

jscalzi : It doesn't have my book on it.

That's alright John. Some of us don't need lists to get the books we want.
posted by jgaiser at 1:29 PM on July 6, 2015

That's alright John. Some of us don't need lists to get the books we want.

But, it is often a great starting place to discover books you haven't heard of.
posted by Fizz at 1:43 PM on July 6, 2015

Jonathan Franzen! I really liked him on Star Trek, The Next Generation.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 1:58 PM on July 6, 2015 [10 favorites]

What the heck has happened with Hilary Mantel's third volume in her trilogy that started with "Wolf Hall"? Wasn't it supposed to come out this year?
posted by mmiddle at 2:04 PM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

Some promising science fiction forthcomings that aren't Cline or Atwood (nothing against either; though I wasn't as enamoured of Ready Player One as others seem to have been):

- Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R. Delany (Nisi Shawl & Bill Campbell, eds.)
- Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson
- Dark Orbit, Carolyn Ives Gilman
- Luna, Ian McDonald
- Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie
- Chasing the Phoenix, Michael Swanwick
- A Borrowed Man, Gene Wolfe

What the heck has happened with Hilary Mantel's third volume in her trilogy that started with "Wolf Hall"? Wasn't it supposed to come out this year?

I suspect collaborating on the RSC stage productions of Wolf Hall this year may have slowed down progress.
posted by aught at 2:14 PM on July 6, 2015 [6 favorites]

It doesn't have my book on it.

Yes, but thanks to this comment I now know how long I should stretch out the process of reading The Last Colony, Zoe's Tale, and The Human Division so I can get to the new one just as it comes out. (Sorry you have to do person-to-person PR. I know it's inefficient!)
posted by purpleclover at 3:08 PM on July 6, 2015

Nothing by Justin Cronin.

Hey, Justin, we're waiting for the third "The Passage" trilogy book!

Just sayin'.
posted by lhauser at 3:27 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Wait, a list that skipped Michael Swanwick AND Gene Wolfe? Is the list dumb or is the world too full of wonders to all fit?!
posted by wenestvedt at 3:39 PM on July 6, 2015

Ladies and Gentlemen, I humbly submit a book, due out in a mere three weeks whose title and cover should cause all who are Just And Righteous to immediately leap forward, wads of sweaty money in hand to demand it be taken from them.

The book: The Dinosaur Lords where "where vast armies of dinosaur-mounted knights engage in battle. "

Hey, that's written by my friend Victor Milan! I am very excited for him. He's been in the business for decades, with more than 100 novels published (some under his name, many under pen names and house names). This looks to be his breakout book, and Tor is really behind it. If you like the (extremely amazing) cover artwork, you are going to love the interior illustrations that begin each chapter. Better yet, the writing is dang good too, and not just some hack-y Jurassic World ripoff.

(Full disclosure: I did Vic's website, so I might be a wee bit biased.)
posted by Lokheed at 4:08 PM on July 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

What the heck has happened with Hilary Mantel's third volume in her trilogy that started with "Wolf Hall"? Wasn't it supposed to come out this year?

If this interview is any indication, it's going to be more like late 2016 or early 2017. Maybe. As long as she isn't talking to G. R. R. Martin.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:09 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I started a new job a few months ago and I've actually been kind of grateful for the longer commute. I spend around an hour in the car each day listening to audiobooks, and it looks like my reasons to enjoy the commute keep coming! HOORAY BOOKS!

New David Mitchell yessssssssssssss
posted by a hat out of hell at 6:04 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

It doesn't have my book, either.

What the hell, new Miéville, that'll do.
posted by RakDaddy at 6:51 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Is this the thread where I can brag that I just picked up cstross's The Annihilation Score in my holds pile at the library even though it technically doesn't come out until tomorrow? I'll be in my bunk. Reading.
posted by skycrashesdown at 6:51 PM on July 6, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'll definitely be on the lookout for "Undermajordomo Minor" by Patrick DeWitt. "The Sisters Brothers" was one of those books that I gave away as Christmas gifts to half a dozen people.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:40 PM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

In genre fiction, really looking forward to The Paladin Caper by Patrick Weekes (I am so very fond of this series, it's really spectacular) as well as the further adventures of Rook Myfany Thomas in Daniel O'Malley's Stiletto.

Are we hiveminding? We might be hiveminding. (I bought the first book in the Weekes series an hour ago, and checked just yesterday for any release updates on Stiletto. Still filed under 'Too far away and it keeps moving, why are you punishing us like this?')
posted by pseudonymph at 11:31 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm most excited for Austin Grossman (of Soon I Will Be Invincible)'s new book, Crooked.
posted by aedison at 1:45 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

or is the world too full of wonders to all fit?!

Well, to be fair, the list wasn't science-fiction-specific, Wolfe and Swanwick are long past their peaks of popularity (though both still great writers), and there really are way too many books being published for the average person to even hope to ever keep up with.
posted by aught at 5:35 AM on July 7, 2015

Since the topic is books and since I know she has fans here at Mefi, I'll mention that Lois McMaster Bujold just released a 35,000 word novella ebook set in her Chalion (five gods) universe. It's titled Penric's Demon.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:16 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

I FORGOT THAT ANCILLARY MERCY WAS OUT THIS FALL.

Further speaking of genre fiction, new Rivers of London! With the ridiculously exciting title The Hanging Tree, which might give us the extended Lady Ty appearance I've been wanting since Book 1.
posted by joyceanmachine at 10:05 AM on July 7, 2015

I can barely keep my eyes open this morning and I place the blame on The Annihilation Score as I was up far too late reading it. "Out-of-context problem," indeed. :)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 10:11 AM on July 7, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ok, I'll read Ancillary Justice, people keep on bringing it up in lists and suggestions from various online communities. FINE!?!! ITS NEXT.
posted by Fizz at 6:33 AM on July 10, 2015

Related: No More Lies: The Great Second-Half 2015 Nonfiction Preview

Last week, our crack team of literary prognosticators gave you the early scoop on 82 of the most anticipated books due out in the next six months, but most of those books were fiction. Today, we offer a preview of some of the most compelling nonfiction titles set to arrive in bookstores between now and December.

posted by Fizz at 5:29 AM on July 13, 2015