Thursday 31 January 2013

The Shape of Things to Come: 2013

I decided to roll all of my normal 'looking ahead' posts into one this year. It's a bit late, so January is missing from these lists and thus it's a list looking forwards to the next eleven months, rather than twelve.

Books



2013 looks set to be an interesting year. At the more literary end of the spectrum we have new novels by Graham Joyce and Christopher Priest (two novels in three years is, by his standards, astonishingly productive). At the diametric opposite end of the scale we have Raymond E. Feist's last-ever Riftwar novel, which is being published to a reception of stone-cold indifference by most SFF readers. Inbetween we have the ongoing re-release of David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series (set to expand by four volumes this year) and the resumption of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, which reaches its ninth and penultimate volume. Neil Gaiman also presents us with his first adult-oriented, full-length novel in eight years, which should be worth a look.

Sadly, we have to bid farewell to Chris Wooding's splendid Tales of the Ketty Jay series, which is wrapping up after four volumes. Peter Brett's Daylight War has some hard work to do to make up for the deficiencies of the second volume, whilst Daniel Abraham hits us with another fantasy/SF double-whammy with The Tyrant's Law and Abaddon's Gate. Richard Morgan's divisive Land Fit For Heroes trilogy (no word yet on if it is indeed expanding to four books) also reaches its third volume with The Dark Defiles.

In the area of SF, Alastair Reynolds has the sequel to his Blue Remembered Earth coming out, whilst Stephen Baxter returns to interstellar exploration and colonisation with Proxima.


Undated, but pretty certain to hit in 2013, is Ian Cameron Esslemont's Assail (working title). Easily the most eagerly-awaited of Esslemont's novels, this book takes us to the much-dreaded continent of Assail. Expect to see a showdown involving the T'lan Imass, Silverfox, the Crimson Guard and much more besides. Less certain for 2013 is Fall of Light, Steven Erikson's middle volume in his Kharkanas Trilogy, which might still just sneak out before the end of the year The ever-fecund. Brandon Sanderson, meanwhile, has several dozen novels due out, with his second Stormlight novel being the most eagerly-awaited (but also one of the most likely to slip to 2014). Stephen Donaldson is also tentatively scheduled to publish the tenth and final Thomas Covenant novel (thirty-six years after the first), The Last Dark, before the end of the year.

That's about it for the epic fantasy big-hitters. No Rothfuss, and Lynch's Republic of Thieves remains MIA. Martin fans will get some more Song of Ice and Fire morsels in the form of a narrative history of the Dance of Dragons, which will appear in Dangerous Women, and then a big coffee-table guidebook to the world with The World of Ice and Fire, which is tentatively scheduled for November (but again delays are possible).
At this stage my most eagerly-awaited novel of the year is River of Stars, a semi-follow-up to Guy Gavriel Kay's excellent Under Heaven.

February

The Daylight War by Peter Brett
Jimmy and the Crawler by Raymond E. Feist
Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill

March
The Art of War by David Wingrove
The High Kingdom by Pierre Pevel

April
The God Tattoo by Tom Lloyd
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
Abominable by Dan Simmons
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay
Son of the Morning by Mark Alder (MD Lachlan)

May
The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham
Magician's End by Raymond E. Feist
Dangerous Women by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (ed.)
The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

June
Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck)
The City by Stella Gemmell
On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds
The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski
Cold Steel by Kate Elliott
The Dragon Queen by Stephen Deas
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp
An Inch of Ashes by David Wingrove
Requiem by Ken Scholes

July
Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea by Adam Roberts
The Glass God by Kate Griffin
Gallow: The Crimson Shield by Nathan Hawke (Stephen Deas)

August
Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honour of Gene Wolfe by Bill Fawcett (ed)
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
War Master's Gate by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan
The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding
Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik
Gallow: Cold Redemption by Nathan Hawke (Stephen Deas)

September
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
The Broken Wheel by David Wingrove
Shaman: A Novel of the Ice Age by Kim Stanley Robinson
Gallow: The Last Bastion by Nathan Hawke (Stephen Deas)
Proxima by Stephen Baxter

October
Drakenfield by Mark Charan Newton

November
The World of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson
Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd

December
The White Mountain by David Wingrove

Undated
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
The Last Dark by Stephen Donaldson
Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams
Assail by Ian Cameron Esslemont
New Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett
King of Cobwebs by David Keck

Possible For 2013 But Uncertain
Fall of Light by Steven Erikson
The Free by Brian Ruckley
Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton
Stormlight Archive #2 by Brandon Sanderson
Next Gaunt's Ghosts novel by Dan Abnett
Dresden Files #15 by Jim Butcher
The Unholy Consult by R. Scott Bakker
The Sea Beggars by Paul Kearney
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
Endlords by J.V. Jones
Triumff: The Double Falsehood by Dan Abnett
The Wheel of Time Encyclopedia by Harriet McDougal


Games


In terms of games, 2013 is looking reasonably good at this point, though (thankfully for my wallet) not as jam-packed as last year. There's a lot of much-delayed games coming out in 2013, such as Aliens: Colonial Marines (which somehow looks less interesting with every trailer that appears) and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, which is arriving a full two years behind schedule. I expect both will be playable, but will be surprised if either is outstanding (in particular, Blizzard really need to hire some new writers).

Also long-awaited is SimCity 5: A Truckload of DRM (or just SimCity as we now have to call it). Long-term fans of the venerable city management series have seen increasing disappointment as they learned of the always-on internet connection and the fact that the biggest cities you can build in the game are disappointingly small.

Looking much more interesting is BioShock Infinite. Whilst I was somewhat underwhelmed by the original BioShock's gameplay, certainly the art direction and visuals were striking and the sequel is following up on that end of things in spades. Hopefully the gameplay will match up this time.

Unfortunately, the dissolution of THQ has left the release dates for Company of Heroes 2, Metro: Last Light and South Park: The Stick of Truth all up in the air. Though the three games have all been rescued (by Sega, Deep Silver and Ubisoft respectively), their transition has left final release dates in some doubt. In particular, there is a legal tussle over South Park that could delay it indefinitely, which is a shame as it was looking like a particularly interesting take on the RPG genre.

Also suffering a delay is Grand Theft Auto V, which slips back four months to September, but only with the console versions confirmed. We all know there will be a PC version - given they released GTA4 on PC at a time when PC sales were rock-bottom and still sold shedloads, they'd be completely idiotic not to now the PC format is back on top of its game - so Rockstar's refusal to confirm it is just tiresome.

Arriving at the end of the year will be the new consoles, and with them the first 'next-gen' titles, such as Star Wars 1313 (likely a launch title for them). However, potentially more interesting is the arrival of the first batch of bigger games funded through Kickstarter (a few, like FTL, have already come out). Wasteland 2, Double Fine Adventure and Carmageddon: Reincarnation should prove whether the concept has legs. 2014 promises even more Kickstarted goodness, with Project: Eternity, Star Citizen and Elite 4 (hopefully) all arriving in force.

For me, the most promising game of the year is easily Rome II: Total War (or Total War: Rome II under Creative Assembly's new naming scheme). There hasn't been a really good Total War game for me since 2006's Medieval II, but Rome II looks like being both more epic and more fun than the last few games in the series.

February
Dead Space 3
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Crysis 3

March
SimCity
Tomb Raider
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
BioShock Infinite

Spring/Summer
Company of Heroes 2
ARMA 3
Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse
Metro: Last Light
South Park: The Stick of Truth

September
Grand Theft Auto V

Late 2013

Rome 2: Total War

Uncheduled
The Elder Scrolls Online

Star Wars 1313

Wasteland 2

X: Rebirth
Carmageddon: Reincarnation
Double Fine Adventure 

Films


Film-wise, 2013 looks a bit same-old, with a strong focus on superhero movies (even if these are some of the more interesting ones). We'll have to wait and see if Zack Snyder can resurrect the Superman movies (I'm not holding my breath), but Thor, Iron Man and a Japanese-influenced Wolverine should at least be fun.

The trailers are also suggesting that Into Darkness will be a more interesting, larger-scaled movie than J.J. Abrams's first Star Trek movie (which I was underwhelmed by: all the right ingredients, but not mixed together quite well). Benedict Cumberbatch certainly looks like a far more compelling villain than Eric Bana, at any rate. Also packed full of CGI and large explosions is Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, which initially looks like a Michael Bay Transformers movie with added Idris Elba (which is in itself quite a good idea, actually). However, Del Toro's trademark weirdness could make this a bit more interesting than it appears.

Later in the year we have sequel city, with the second Hunger Games movie hoping to repeat the better-than-the-book trick of the first one. There's also the second Hobbit movie. I'm hoping against hope that Peter Jackson learns the art of editing so we can get a lean 90-minute (okay, two hours max) action movie, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. What is likely to be a lot shorter and a lot funnier is The World's End, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's long-awaited conclusion to their thematic Three Colours of Cornetto trilogy (following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).

For me, the movie I'm most interested in is, perhaps unexpectedly, Riddick. The third film to feature Vin Diesel's titular character, we've been promised a picture that jettisons most of the excesses of the second film in favour of a tighter scope and more condensed storytelling. With Katee Sackhoff on board to provide support and Karl Urban resuming his role from the second film, this could be a bit of a dark horse.


April
Oblivion

May
Star Trek: Into Darkness
Iron Man 3

June
Man of Steel

World War Z

Kick-Ass 2

July
Pacific Rim

The Wolverine

September
Riddick

October
The World's End

November
Thor: The Dark World

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

December
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


TV


Crimson Nuptials. Does more need to be said?


Community Season 4
Game of Thrones: Season 3
Doctor Who: Season 33.5
Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary Special
The Walking Dead Season 3.5/4.0


16 comments:

David H. said...

Haha, I actually am interested in the Riftwar ending, so it'll encourage me to reread the first 25 and read the latest 5 or however many I've missed.

Bob/Sally said...

While I understand the "stone-cold indifference" of many readers, I have extremely fond memories of the original Riftwar books, so I am curious to see how he wraps up Pug's story.

I'm all caught up on Peter Brett and started The Daylight War. Daniel Abraham is next on my must-catch-up list for both series.

Last I read, Alastair Reynolds had apparently scrapped a significant chunk of his Blue Remembered Earth sequel, putting that release date in some doubt.

River of Stars is, by far, my most anticipated read. I've been begging for an ARC, but no success . . . yet! :)

Paul Weimer said...

AS far as games, I hope Longbow Games finishes and gets out their Gallic Wars game. I have been playing their previous game Hegemony (based on Philip of Macedon). Challenging and interesting.

Even without Rothfuss, Lynch and a new Martin, we'll see how Epic fantasy "Does" this year.I do wonder if the cycle of UF ascendant is coming to a crest.

RobH said...

Surprised that you didn't mention the "Enders Game" movie coming out in November. Definitely seems like something to keep an eye out for.

RobH said...

Surprised that you didn't mention the "Ender's Game" movie coming out in November. Seems like that's something to keep an eye on.

JohnB said...

Stella Gemmel!! Let's hope it is good, I absolutely loved David Gemmells books. If it is even half as good I will be looking forward to this.

Neth said...

You cover the established authors fairly well, but what about some newer series and debut-type authors? What do you have your eye on?

Adam Whitehead said...

At the moment, not a lot from debut authors. They tend to be ones that surprise the most, however, and I'm hoping some do this year. But known quantities are easier to predict than unknown ones :)

2400_AndreasKlein said...

The Unholy Consult is supposed to come out!

Mark said...

Just to confirm, DRAKENFELD (no 'Death Divine' now) is scheduled for October!

Justin Pyle said...

I'm really not excited about the Red Wedding. Dreading it. I always have to pause before reading that scene when I do a reread.

Adam Whitehead said...

THE UNHOLY CONSULT was scheduled for 2013, but my understanding is that Scott has had to take on some extra teaching work on the side (or is thinking about it), which has slowed things down. He hasn't mentioned a predicted release date on his blog for a while though.

Given this is apparently the most important/revelatory book in the series, I can understand him wanting to make sure it's done right.

Marc said...

Glen Cook's 14th Garrett, P.I. fantasy mystery novel Wicked Bronze Ambition is scheduled for release in July 2013.

Prankster said...

Rob already mentioned Ender's Game (though for a number of reasons I'm a little dubious about that one, it's still an Ender's Game movie) but there's also quite a lot of interesting-looking original SF films, particularly Elysium and Gravity. Also After Earth and Oblivion, though those are by M. Night Shyamalan and the guy who directed Tron: Legacy respectively, so check your expectations as appropriate. Still, I think that's quite a long ways from being "Same old, same old".

Anonymous said...

What about Ian Tregillis' third? Is that still happeninge?

Hrishi Diwan said...

A remake of Apogee's "Rise of the Triad" classic FPS is supposed to come out this year :) should be fun