Spend less time searching for new genre fiction and more time reading it as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Outstanding new releases in fantasy and science fiction include:

Fantasy

Hidden by Kelley Armstrong. Subterranean Press, 2011. Print Length: 193 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (10 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Hiking through the snow, holiday baking and playing board games by the fire - what's not to love about an old-fashioned family Christmas? Werewolves Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers want to give their four-year-old twins, Kate and Logan, something their parents never had: a nice, normal holiday. No Pack responsibilities, no homicidal half-demons or power-hungry sorcerers to deal with - just the four of them, alone, at a chalet outside Ontario's Algonquin Park. Then a strange werewolf shows up at their door...while the town is buzzing about a young man, back from college, found half-eaten in the woods. And there's the missing little girl..."

City of Dragons by Robin Hobb. Harper Collins, 2012. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (23 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book three of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, following Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven.

"Once, dragons ruled the Rain Wilds, tended by privileged human servants known as Elderlings. But a series of cataclysmic eruptions nearly drove these magnificent creatures to extinction. Born weak and deformed, the last of their kind had one hope for survival: to return to their ancient city of Kelsingra. Accompanied by a disparate crew of untested young keepers, the dragons embarked on a harsh journey into the unknown along the toxic Rain Wild River. Battling starvation, a hostile climate, and treacherous enemies, dragons and humans began to forge magical connections, bonds that have wrought astonishing transformations for them all. And though Kelsingra is finally near, their odyssey has only begun. Because of the swollen waters of the Rain Wild River, the lost city can be reached only by flight - a test of endurance and skill beyond the stunted dragons’ strength. The dragons must plumb the depths of their ancestral memories to help them take flight and unlock the secrets buried in Kelsingra. But enemies driven by greed and dark desires are approaching..." - Publisher.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. Little, Brown and Company, 2012. Print Length: 497 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (8 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The body you are wearing used to be mine. So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her. She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own. In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined." - Publisher.

Empire State by Adam Christopher. Angry Robot, 2011. Print Length: 448 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (11 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"The Empire State is the other New York. A parallel-universe, Prohibition-era world of mooks and shamuses that is the twisted magic mirror to our bustling Big Apple, a place where sinister characters lurk around every corner while the great superheroes that once kept the streets safe have fallen into dysfunctional rivalries and feuds. Not that its colourful residents know anything about the real New York... until detective Rad Bradley makes a discovery that will change the lives of all its inhabitants. Playing on the classic Gotham conventions of the Batman comics and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, debut author Adam Christopher has spun this smart and fast-paced superhero-noir adventure, the sort of souped-up thrill ride that will excite genre fans and general readers alike." - Publisher.

Science Fiction

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. LucasBooks, 2012. Print Length: 401 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (41 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Darth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master - but vows never to suffer the same fate. Darth Sidious: Plagueis’s chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor. Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte, target the galaxy for domination - and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of the other to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?" - Publisher.

The Martian Emperor by Andrew Mayne. Print Length: 160 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (10 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled. This is the second book in the author's Chronological Man series, following The Monster in the Mist.

"Who is the Martian Emperor? When a giant airship descends on New York City in 1892 and threatens destruction if the world doesn’t submit to the Martian flag, it’s up to the mysterious Smith, inventor and adventurer to find out what forces are at work. From the dangerous basement fan-tan parlors of Chinatown to the top of the Statue of Liberty’s torch, Smith and his brilliant assistant, April Malone, will have to unravel the clues and avoid danger lurking behind every corner. To stop the menace they’ll need they enlist the help of Theodore Roosevelt and other early twentieth-century heroes." - Publisher.

Faith by John Love. Night Shade Books, 2012. Print Length: 387 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Faith is the name humanity has given to the unknown, seemingly invincible alien ship that has begun to harass the newly emergent Commonwealth. 300 years earlier, the same ship destroyed the Sakhran Empire, allowing the Commonwealth to expand its sphere of influence. But now Faith has returned! The ship is as devastating as before, and its attacks leave some Commonwealth solar systems in chaos. Eventually it reaches Sakhra, now an important Commonwealth possession, and it seems like history is about to repeat itself. But this time, something is waiting: an Outsider, one of the Commonwealth's ultimate warships. Slender silver ships, full of functionality and crewed by people of unusual abilities, often sociopaths or psychopaths, Outsiders were conceived in back alleys, built and launched in secret, and commissioned without ceremony. One system away from earth, the Outsider ship Charles Manson makes a stand. Commander Foord waits with his crew of miscreants and sociopaths, hoping to accomplish what no other human has been able to do - to destroy Faith!" - Publisher.

The Galactic Mage by John Daulton. Daulton Books, 2012. Print Length: 536 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (6 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled.

"Altin Meade is a sorcerer running from a curse, the curse of Six: He’s got too much magic to control, yet not enough to save himself. No Six in his planet’s history has lived beyond the age of twenty-five. Altin is twenty-two. Determined to escape that fate, Altin seeks to leave his home world and remake his destiny amongst the stars. But first he has to invent a way to get there - a process that might bring about the very doom he’s trying to avoid. Far across the galaxy, there is nothing Ensign Orli Pewter hates more than life amongst the stars. Brought aboard as a child, she has spent the last ten years on the spaceship Aspect, a life she never asked for, a life of misery. Bright, strong and beautiful, Orli is now an officer in the fleet from Earth, serving a role and a mission she did not choose. As the lumbering Earth ships hunt a mysterious race of genocidal aliens across the enormity of the galaxy, years are ticking off her life, her very sanity at stake. She’s got to get away. She’s got to get off that ship. But there is nowhere for her to go. Or is there?" - Publisher.

The Lodestone Trilogy by Mark Whiteway. Mark Whiteway, 2011. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (1 review). Text-to-Speech: Enabled. Lending: Enabled. Includes the first three books in the author's Lodestone series: The Sea of Storms, The World of Ice and Stars, and The Crucible of Dawn.

"On the planet Kelanni, life is cheap. With the aid of the fearsome 'Keltar' enforcers, in their flying cloaks, a ruthless invader is forcing the native people to mine the colloquially named 'lodestone' - a substance from another universe with infinitely destructive power. The only ones who can stop him are a tiny girl with fiery disposition, a former Keltar, a failed revolutionary, a musician and the mysterious creature, Boxx, who seems to speak only in riddles." - Publisher.

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