ZERO
Zeroes (Zer0es, #1) by Chuck Wendig Also by this author: The Cormorant, Zer0es
Published by Harper Voyager on August 18, 2015
Pages: 432
Five hackers—an Anonymous-style rabble-rouser, an Arab Spring hacktivist, a black-hat hacker, an old-school cipherpunk, and an online troll—are detained by the U.S. government, forced to work as white-hat hackers for Uncle Sam in order to avoid federal prison. At a secret complex known only as "the Lodge," where they will spend the next year working as an elite cyber-espionage team, these misfits dub themselves "the Zeroes."
But once the Zeroes begin to work, they uncover secrets that would make even the most dedicated conspiracy theorist's head spin. And soon they're not just trying to serve their time, they're also trying to perform the ultimate hack: burrowing deep into the U.S. government from the inside, and hoping they'll get out alive. Packed with electric wit and breakneck plot twists, Zer0es is an unforgettable thrill ride through the seedy underbelly of "progress."
ONE
Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1) by Ernest Cline Also by this author: Armada
Published by Crown Publishers on August 16, 2011
Pages: 374
IN THE YEAR 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
TWO
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill Also by this author: Welcome to Lovecraft, Heart-Shaped Box
Published by William Morrow on April 30, 2013
Pages: 692
NOS4A2 is a spine-tingling novel of supernatural suspense from master of horror Joe Hill, the New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box and Horns.
Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.
Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”
Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.
THREE
Six Months, Three Days by Charlie Jane Anders Published by Tor Books on June 8, 2011
Pages: 33
Enjoy “Six Months, Three Days” a story by Charlie Jane Anders and winner of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
Doug and Judy have both had a secret power all their life. Judy can see every possible future, branching out from each moment like infinite trees. Doug can also see the future, but for him, it's a single, locked-in, inexorable sequence of foreordained events. They can't both be right, but over and over again, they are.
FOUR
Day Four (The Three #2) by Sarah Lotz Also by this author: The Three, Day Four
on June 16, 2015
Pages: 342
"Welcome on board The Beautiful Dreamer, your one-way ticket to Relaxation and Fun! Fun! Fun!"
Among the hundreds of pleasure-seekers on board The Beautiful Dreamer's five-day cruise are a hard-partying singles group, a couple repairing their marriage, a famous psychic and her beleaguered assistant, and a pair of elderly sisters determined to go out with a bang.
For three sun-filled days, the journey seems to deliver all that the cruise brochure promised - a one-way ticket to relaxation and fun in the sun.
Until Day Four.
Without warning, the ship stops dead. Electricity and cellular signals are cut off. Smoke pours out of the engine room. The passengers and crew have no way to call for help and are stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. At first, all aboard are certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon. All they have to do is wait.
As supplies run low, the toilets stop working and a virus plagues the ship. But when the body of a woman is discovered in her cabin, irritation escalates to panic. There's a murderer aboard The Beautiful Dreamer... and maybe something worse.
The chilling, relentlessly suspenseful follow-up to The Three, Day Four is a heart-racing tale from Sarah Lotz, a writer Lauren Beukes hails as "a ferociously imaginative storyteller."
Five Stories High: One House, Five Hauntings, Five Chilling Stories by Jonathan Oliver, Sarah Lotz, Robert Shearman, Tade Thompson, Nina Allan Also by this author: The Three, Day Four
Published by Solaris on December 6, 2016
Pages: 435
One house, five hauntings, five chilling stories.
Five Stories High is a collection of five novellas each set in the same house – Irongrove Lodge. This five storey Georgian mansion, once a grand detached property, has now been split into five apartments. This is a building with history, the very bricks and grounds imbued with the pasts of those who have walked these corridors, lived in these rooms.
Five extraordinary writers open the doors, revealing ghosts both past and present in a collection that promises to be as intriguing as it is terrifying.
Featuring novellas by Sarah Lotz, JK Parker, Nina Allan, Robert Shearman and Tade Thompson.
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty Also by this author: Six Wakes
Published by Orbit on January 31, 2017
Pages: 364
A space adventure set on a lone ship where the clones of a murdered crew must find their murderer -- before they kill again.
It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.
At least, Maria Arena had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.
Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. And Maria wasn't the only one to die recently...
SEVEN
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (The Tales of Dunk and Egg, #1-3) by Gary Gianni Published by Bantam on October 6, 2015
Pages: 355
A century before A GAME OF THRONES, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros…
A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS compiles the first three official prequel novellas to George R.R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE.
Before Tyrion Lannister and Podrick Payne there was Dunk and Egg.
A young, naïve but courageous hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall towers above his rivals – in stature if not experience. Tagging along with him is his diminutive squire, a boy called Egg – whose true identity must be hidden from all he and Dunk encounter: for in reality he is Aegon Targaryen, and one day he will be king. Improbable heroes though they be, great destinies lie ahead for Dunk and Egg; as do powerful foes, royal intrigue, and outrageous exploits.
A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS brings together for the first time the first three official prequel novellas to George R.R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory.
Featuring more than 160 illustrations by Gary Gianni, one of the finest fantasy artists of our time, this beautiful volume will transport readers to the world of the Seven Kingdoms in an age of bygone chivalry.
EIGHT?
NINE
Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber #1) by Roger Zelazny Also by this author: Nine Princes in Amber
Published by Avon
Amber, the one real world, wherein all others, including our own Earth, are but Shadows. Amber burns in Corwin's blood. Exiled on Shadow Earth for centuries, the prince is about to return to Amber to make a mad and desperate rush upon the throne. From Arden to the blood-slippery Stairway into the Sea, the air is electrified with the powers of Eric, Random, Bleys, Caine, and all the princes of Amber whom Corwin must overcome. Yet, his savage path is blocked and guarded by eerie structures beyond imagining; impossible realities forged by demonic assassins and staggering horrors to challenge the might of Corwin's superhuman fury.' to 'Awakening in an Earth hospital unable to remember who he is or where he came from, Corwin is amazed to learn that he is one of the sons of Oberon, King of Amber, and is the rightful successor to the crown in a parallel world.
A couple random extras, just because my 5 and 8 were a bit weaker than I’d have liked.
Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1) by Leigh Bardugo Also by this author: Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
Published by Henry Holt and Company on September 29, 2015
Pages: 465
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .
A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes
Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.
One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning by David Moody Also by this author: One of Us Will Be Dead by Morning
Published by St. Martin's Press on December 5, 2017
Pages: 336
Fifteen people are trapped on Skek, a barren island in the middle of the North Sea somewhere between the coasts of the UK and Denmark. Over the years this place has served many purposes a fishing settlement, a military outpost, a scientific base but one by one its inhabitants have abandoned its inhospitable shores. Today it s home to Hazleton Adventure Experiences, an extreme sports company specializing in corporate team building events.
Life there is fragile and tough. One slip is all it takes. A momentary lapse leads to a tragic accident, but when the body count quickly starts to rise, questions are inevitably asked. Are the deaths coincidental, or something else entirely? Those people you thought you knew well, can you really trust them? Are you standing next to a killer, and will you be their next victim?
A horrific discovery changes everything for everyone. There s no way home now, and a trickle of rumors becomes a tsunami of fear. Is this really the beginning of the end of everything, or a situation constructed by the mass hysteria of a handful of desperate and terrified people?
The lower the population, the higher the stakes.
Kill the rest of them, before one of them kills you.
"
I really like the way you organized your list. Good job.
Lydia recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles with Numbers in Them
Our number 9 matches! God, it’s been so long since I read Nine Princes in Amber. I need to go back to that series one of these days. Love your list — don’t know why NOS4A2 or Six Wakes didn’t occur to me, since I loved them both!
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: From 1 to 10 — Book Titles with Numbers In Them
I always have the Janet Evanovich ones in mind
I love Joe Hill and need to read NOS4A2 soon!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
I had trouble with 8 too – it’s a tricky one! And I really should pick up Day Four – I enjoyed The Three, and I’m a sucker for shipboard disaster narratives…
Nice List! I had trouble with #10, which really surprised me.
Here’s my TTT