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Following on from my last post. here are some more 2013 titles that have caught my eye. This time, I’m looking at debuts and books by authors whose work is unfamiliar to me.

Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman (March). A tale set amongst the glamour of French cinema in the early 20th century, promising a twist that the publisher pleads readers not to divulge. This sounds right up my street.

The City of Devi by Manil Suri (March). The third novel by Suri (though his name is new to me), this India-set dystopia with mythic overtones sounds intriguing.

Hunters in the Snow by Daisy Hildyard (April). A novel about history, and ‘great’ and ‘ordinary’ lives jostling for attention. The blurb makes this novel sound as though it encompasses so much; I can’t wait to see.

A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea by Dina Nayeri (April). A girl growing up in 1980s Iran imagines a life for her missing mother and twin sister in America. This sounds thematically similar to Rana Dasgupta’s Solo, which is no bad thing at all.

The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter (April). The novel’s about an estranged mother and daughter separated by half the world. But the real reason I want to read it is that I’ve seen some very incisive reviews by Rossiter (sadly no longer available online, it seems), and that makes me interested in her fiction.

Chaplin and Company by Mave Fellowes (May). A novel about a young woman obsessed with Charlie Chaplin, and her ambitions to become a mime artist. Sounds like the kind of offbeat subject matter that I enjoy in a novel.

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Even more: They’re not new, but Nicola Griffith’s Slow River joins the SF Masterworks series in February, and Jeff Noon’s Vurt gets a new edition in April for its 20th anniversary – both works I’d like to read, by authors I haven’t read before (I know, I know…)writer, so I’m mentioning them here. Though its contributors look mostly familiar to me, Salt Publishing’s Best  British Fantasy Stories 2013 (April) is the first anthology in a new series which I’ll be interested to read. Among actual debuts, Rebecca Wait’s family drama The View on the Way Down (April) catches my eye, as does Matt Hill’s near-future satire The Folded Man (May).

Hello, I’m back. As I usually do at this time of year, I’ve been browsing publishers’ spring catalogues for interesting new titles, and I thought I’d share some that I’m most looking forward to. Taking a leaf out of Jackie’s book, I’m going to split it into books by writers I already know, and debuts.

So, here are some of the 2013 titles by familiar authors which have caught my eye:

Adam Robots by Adam Roberts (January). Some of the best and most enjoyable novels I’ve read over the last few years have been by Roberts, so a comprehensive collection of his short fiction is going straight on my to-read list. What a great title and cover it has, too.

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord (February). Lord’s canny debut, Redemption in Indigo, is on my “best reads of 2012” list. She turns to science fiction for her second novel, for which I have high hopes.

Orkney by Amy Sackville (February). I loved Sackville’s debut, The Still Point, for its sense of place and examination of relationships. This follow-up, about a couple living on an Orkney island, looks set to combine the two again.

The Humans by Matt Haig (May). Haig’s previous novel, The Radleys, stood out for what seemed to me a fresh take on a well-worn trope (vampires). The new novel sounds as though it balances grand cosmic themes with ordinary lives – count me interested in that.

Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux (June). I’d have given Theroux the Clarke Award for Far North, and it seems he may have returned to speculative territory for his new book. A tale of identity and a possible return from the dead… I’m fascinated to see what Theroux will do with that material.

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld (June).  The tale of an Australian sheep farmer trying to rebuild his life on a remote British island, though still dwelling on his past. If Wyld’s debut, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, is anything to go by, this will be a treat.

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Bubbling under: Nicholas Royle’s First Novel (January) is far from being its author’s first novel, but it sounds like great metafictional fun. Rupert Thomson returns with Secrecy (March), his first novel in six years. Also in March, Hassan Blasim follows up The Madman of Freedom Square with a new collection, The Iraqi Christ. Chaos Walking author Patrick Ness has a new adult novel out, The Crane Wife (May). I enjoyed The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter, so I’m intrigued to read his follow-up, Beautiful Ruins (May). Ever since I read Mr Chartwell, I’ve been wondering where Rebecca Hunt would go next; June sees my chance to find out, with the publication of Everland. June also sees a UK edition of Billy Lynn author Ben Fountain’s story collection, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara. I’ve enjoyed Alison MacLeod’s short fiction in the past; in July, she’ll have a new novel out, Unexploded. Later in the year, I’ll also be looking forward to Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, Christopher Priest’s The Adjacent, and Katie Kitamura’s Gone to the Forest.

And those are just the authors I’ve read before. I’ll talk about the writers who are new to me in a few days.