Future Fiction #52: Cover Reveals & Newly Discovered SFF Books

Welcome to Future Fiction, my reimagining of the Waiting on Wednesday meme! There are so many amazing new books coming out, that I can no longer pick just one. My goal with Future Fiction is to share at least three new books each week, a combination of recent cover reveals and books that I’ve recently added to my TBR pile. I’m still going to be linking up with Wishful Endings/Can’t Wait Wednesday, and I also want to give a shout out to Jill at Breaking the Spine for starting the original Waiting on Wednesday meme. I hope you’ll find some new books to add to your TBR piles, and as always, I look forward to hearing what YOU’RE looking forward to:-D


I thought about skipping this post, since many readers are celebrating Christmas today, but hey, it’s the last Future Fiction of the year, and I didn’t want to miss #52! Happy holidays to all my readers and blogging buddies!


Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. Geoffrey of Monmouth, Malory’s Morte D’Arthur, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of . . . whatever. You can look it up on Wikipedia. You can see it in those pretty Pre-Raphaelite paintings. But there was never a painting that showed the true Britain, the clogged sewer Rome abandoned just as soon as it could. A Britain where petty warlords murdered each other in the mud, and all the while the Angles and Saxons and—worst of all—the Jutes, were coming over here and taking our lands and taking our jobs and taking our women. And what of the only man who could stop them. What of Arthur, King of the Britons? An over-promoted gangster, in thrall to that eldritch parasite, Merlin. Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer. The Grail Quest? Have you no idea about the aliens and the radioactive blight? Ach. Well, you’d better read this then.

By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar. Releases in  June 2020 from Tor Books. This sounds so funny! If the actual story is anything like the blurb, I just know this will be a fun read. I’ve read a couple of Tidhar’s books but this sounds very different!


Stephen Graham Jones returns with Night of the Mannequins, a contemporary horror story where a teen prank goes very wrong and all hell breaks loose: is there a supernatural cause, a psychopath on the loose, or both?

Praise for Night of the Mannequins

“Reading Stephen Graham Jones is like sitting in the corner of a bar with an old friend, and everyone quiets down the moment they start telling a story. Night of the Mannequins is dark and twisted, funny, a little crazy, and unsettling as hell. The opening setup gets way under your skin, and then Jones takes the story somewhere much darker than you imagined. If there’s an heir apparent to the kind of no-rules, wild imagination, down home storytelling perfected by Joe R. Lansdale, it’s this guy right here. Read him.”—Christopher Golden

“Sly, surprising psychic sleight-of-hand, in a tale of teenage madness where the next plastic face might be your own.”—John Skipp

“Wicked and wry, this is a terrific story by one of my favorite writers, Stephen Graham Jones. Tip-top with a twist of dead. The narrator’s first person delivery is the most notable aspect of this surprising and creepy tale that nods to popular stalker-killer films of the past, but is so much better than the bulk of those films, and what an ending. You definitely need this.”—Joe R. Lansdale

“Stephen Graham Jones’ has one of the most gripping, stream-of-consciousness voices in horror fiction. Night of the Mannequins is propulsive and poignant, capturing the mundane terror of adolescence, and adding that ever-so-essential dab of killer mannequin. You won’t put it down.” —Sarah Langan

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones. Releases in July 2020 from Tor.com. SGJ has a highly anticipated novel coming out next year, The Only Good Indians, so he’s already on my radar. And now a novella as well? I’m very happy and can’t wait for this one!


At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.

And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.

Incredible tests, impossible choices and deadly odds await both girls. But there can only be one winner.

The Notorious Virtues (The Notorious Virtues #1) by Alwyn Hamilton. Releases in May 2020 from Faber & Faber. One of my goals in 2020 is to read more YA, and this one sounds like it has promise. I have not read Rebel of the Sands, but I know lots of readers who loved that series.


What do you think of this week’s Future Fiction picks? Let me know in the comments!

Posted December 25, 2019 by Tammy in Future Fiction / 27 Comments

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27 responses to “Future Fiction #52: Cover Reveals & Newly Discovered SFF Books

  1. Judging from the synopsis it is hard to tell how much Night of the Mannequins actually has to do with mannequins, but I am curious because my younger sister has a fear of mannequins as she is convinced they will always spring to life suddenly 😛 I would love if the horror novel has them coming to life 😀
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  2. Wow… Just – wow… By Force Alone sounds FABULOUS and Alwyn Hamilton is starting a new series??? Rebel of the Sands is my favourite Sand and Sorcery series, ever. I just loved the characters… the story progression… the fact that I couldn’t ever predict where it was going… Thank you so much for the heads-up – and while I thank you, the TBR fairy who wants the pile to reduce somewhat, is quietly swearing in my ear that I’ve given in to YET MORE BOOKS!!!

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