Science Fiction and Fantasy

Omens
A Cainsville Novel

Kelley Armstrong

Dutton, $26.95

The first book of the “Otherworld” author’s new series mixes mystery and fantasy as Olivia Taylor Jones discovers that she is the adopted daughter of convicted serial killers; she looks for the truth in the mysterious town of Cainsville, Ill. (August)

The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic

Emily Croy Barker

Pamela Dorman/Viking, $27.95

Grad student Nora Fischer is suffering from writer’s block on her dissertation when she walks through a portal into a glamorous fantasy world — until events take a turn for the worst and Nora must learn magic to survive. (August)

The Shining Girls

Lauren Beukes

Mulholland/Little Brown, $26

In Depression-era Chicago, the sadistic Harper Curtis discovers a house that allows him to jump to other time periods, where he begins murdering bright young women he calls “shining girls.” In 1989, one of his victims survives and begins hunting for the killer. (June)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman

William Morrow, $25.99

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home in England and is overcome by a sudden flood of horrifying memories from his youth; his only hope for escaping this torment is a strange family that knows things no human being could know. (June)

Elysian Fields
Sentinels of New Orleans, Book 3

Suzanne Johnson

Tor, $25.99

In the third volume of Johnson’s urban fantasy series, a necromancer resurrects an early 20th century serial killer known as the Axeman of New Orleans; wizard DJ Jaco seeks to stop the Axeman, as long as the Axeman doesn’t find her first. (August)

Kill City Blues
A Sandman Slim Novel

Richard Kadrey

Harper Voyager, $24.99

The fifth Sandman Slim book finds James Stark (a.k.a. Sandman Slim) back in L.A., tasked by the older gods to find a powerful weapon he recently misplaced and a dead man hidden in an abandoned shopping mall crawling with danger. (August)

The Shambling Guide to New York City

Mur Lafferty

Orbit, $15

Unemployed travel writer Zoe Norris is hired by Underground Publishing to write a travel guide to New York City … for the undead. (June)

The Arrivals

Melissa Marr

William Morrow, $24.99

The day after she breaks five years of sobriety, Chloe awakes in the Wasteland, a mysterious world full of monsters and people pulled from different historical eras; none of them know how they got there or how to get out. (July)

Gameboard of the Gods

Richelle Mead

Dutton, $26.95

In the first book of the “Vampire Academy” author’s new series, former exile Justin March and enhanced soldier Mae Koskinen investigate a series of bizarre ritualistic murders in the dystopian Republic of United North America. (June)

Reviver

A Novel

Seth Patrick

St. Martin’s/Dunne, $25.99

A journalist launches an investigation into medium Eleanor Preston, only to discover that Preston can actually revive the recently deceased; a “forensic reviver” working for the police begins to suspect there are dark forces behind this so-called miracle. (June)

Jack Glass
The Story of a Murderer

Adam Roberts

Gollancz, $24.95

In this novel reminiscent of classic space opera, the discovery of faster-than-light travel offers humanity the chance to travel beyond the solar system, but it also brings with it construction of a bomb capable of destroying entire planets. (June)

The Homecoming

Carsten Stroud

Knopf, $25

After the mysterious death of young Rainey Teague’s parents, Kate and Nick Kavanaugh agree to take care of the child — but soon discover that he’s a time-warping shape-shifter. (July)

The Blinding Knife

Brent Weeks

Orbit, $25.99

This follow-up to “The Black Prism” picks up with a dying Gavin Guile as he deals with magic gone wild, the rebirth of the old gods and an illegitimate son he’s only just met. (August)

Sea Change

S.M. Wheeler

Tor, $24.99

The daughter of a nobleman must embark on an epic quest to rescue her closest friend, a gentle kraken, when he is sold to a circus. (June)