This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
HARM by Brian W. Aldiss
Del Rey, $21.95, 227pp, hc, 9780345496713. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
Brian W. Aldiss is indeed one of the giants of science fiction. The author of more than seventy-five books, he has won the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction Association, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards. Aldiss’s story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” was adapted into A.I. Artificial Intelligence, a film initially conceived by Stanley Kubrick and ultimately directed by Steven Spielberg. Del Rey is proud to publish Brian W. Aldiss’s latest novel, HARM.
For years, science fiction authors have written cautionary tales of what our future may hold if it continues down a certain path. In his near-future novel HARM, Brian W. Aldiss shows his readers what may happen tomorrow if we sacrifice our freedoms out of fear. But perhaps tomorrow is today.
In HARM, Paul Fadhil Abbas Ali, a young British citizen of Muslim heritage, has written a satirical novel in which two characters joke about the assassination of the prime minister. Arrested by agents of HARM—the Hostile Activities Research Ministry—Paul is thrown into a nameless Abu Ghraib-like prison, possibly located in Syria, where he is held incommunicado and brutally interrogated by jailers to whom his Muslim heritage is itself a crime meriting the harshest punishment. Under this sadistic regime, Paul’s only escape is found in an alien planet he creates within his mind.
Iain Banks, author of The Wasp Factory, says “Brian Aldiss is one of the most influential—and one of the best—science fiction writers Britain has ever produced.”
From one of science fiction’s greatest living writers, HARM is a powerfully compact masterwork that is sure to be one of the most passionately discussed books of the year.
Intimate Relations with Strangers by David Valentine Bernard
Strebor, $23.00, 241pp, hc, 9781416540366. Fantasy. On-sale date: September 2007.
Following the tradition of The English Patient and perennial classic A Farewell to Arms, Strebor Books is proud to present Intimate Relations with Strangers, where human dynamics are explored and set against the backdrop of the birthplace of fear—war.
The novel is set in the future and once again America is at war. Terrorists have killed the president and one American soldier is assigned to an African country in the Sahara where the culpritis believed to be hiding. However, the brutality and violence of war begins to threaten his sense of humanity, turning him into someone he no longer wishes to be. But to escape his fate, he is forced to confront a unique ability evident since his childhood—a sense of the malleability of time and reality. Now, he must decide where their borders meet in his life.
There is a secret in his past that he doesn’t fully recall: a girl he once loved, but only he remembers ever existed. This girl disappeared one night in a flash of light and once the light faded, it was as if she had been edited out of reality. Struggling to uncover the memories lingering behind in his dreams and a half remembered life, he begins to encounter several strangers—who may or may not be figments of his imagination—who promise to lead him down the path of resolution or further into the insanity and fear of constant battle and bloodshed.
At once a compelling statement on the nature of reality, warfare, and fantasy, Intimate Relations with Strangers takes readers through a brutal, twisted puzzle of intersecting realities in the hope of uncovering the ultimate solution for peace.
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
(Book 1 of The Black Jewels Trilogy), Roc, $14.00, 374pp, tp, 9780451461483. Fantasy reprint. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
Daughter of the Blood is an exciting return to Anne Bishop’s dark fantasy roots that will have fans ready to read The Black Jewels Trilogy all over again. Seven hundred years ago, a Black Widow witch saw an ancient prophesy come to life in her web of visions. She saw a witch who would wield more power than even the High Lord of Hell, but one so young that she would be vulnerable to influence—and corruption. This power lies behind the innocent blue eyes of a young girl that is the impetus for a ruthless game of poilitics, intrigue, and betrayal. The stakes are high, and the prize terrible beyond imagining.
Secrets in the Shadows by Jenna Black
(the second book in the Guardians of the Night series), Tor, $6.99, 312pp, pb, 9780765357168. Paranormal romance.
The Guardians of the Night is a faction of vampires who made an oath not to mindlessly kill for blood. Instead, they choose to use their supernatural strength and abilities to protect the humans they live amongst. Set in the same world as Watchers of the Night, Secrets in the Shadows accompanies Guardian Jules Gerard as he tracks down Ian Squires, the vampire who created him.
Betrayed by Ian, Jules is fraught with the desire for revenge. When he finds out that Ian is skulking around Baltimore killing humans, he breaks free from the Guardians to go after him. In his hunt for Ian, Jules is led down a dangerous path by the allure of power and vengeance. He walks a fine line between maintaining his beliefs as a Guardian and submitting to the temptation of the kill.
Certain Ian has set a trap, P.I. Hannah Moore is hired to follow Jules to Baltimore. She must protect him, both from Ian’s plans and from being consumed by memories of his past. Unaware of just how dangerous vampires are, she is determined to stand by Jules as he tracks down Ian. And underneath his mask of arrogance, Jules finds himself falling in love with her.
The Alton Gift by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross
(sequel to Traitor’s Sun, a Novel of Darkover), DAW, $25.95, 456pp, hc, 9780756400194. Fantasy. On-sale date: June 2007.
The Alton Gift marks the long-awaited continuation of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s celebrated Darkover series, with collaborator Deborah J. Ross reviving the legendary author’s work. The Darkover novels have sold over 5 million copies, and readers will be thrilled with the authenticity of The Alton Gift.
After the death of Regis Hastur, the Terran Federation has abandoned Darkover to pursue interstellar civil war. As Lew Alton wrestles with the dark shadows from his past, his daughter Marguerida’s psychic Gifts warn her of impending danger. As increasingly desperate refugees flood the streets of Thendara, Darkover’s capital city, an ancient menace rises once again, a power against which neither sword nor the psychic sorcery of Darkover can prevail. Now only an outlaw Terran, fleeing from a past he cannot remember, holds the key to Darkover’s survival.
Genesis of Shannara: The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks
Del Rey, $26.95, 381pp, hc, 9780345484116. Fantasy. On-sale date: 28 August 2007.
This September, with the publication of The Elves of Cintra: Genesis of Shannara, Terry Brooks and Del Rey are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Shannara. In 1977, Terry Brooks hit the New York Times bestseller list with his first novel, the groundbreaking Sword of Shannara. The book remained on the list for over five months and since then Brooks has written twenty-four national bestsellers. With more than 21 million copies in print of his US editions alone, Terry Brooks, “the godfather of American fantasy,” remains in the top tier of all fantasy writers.
With his groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Sword of Shannara and its acclaimed sequels, Terry Brooks brought a new audience to epic fantasy. Then he gave the genre a darkly compelling contemporary twist in his trilogy of the Word and the Void. Last year, in Armageddon’s Children, Brooks undertook the stunning chronicle that united two unique worlds. Now, that story of clashing forces of darkness and light, of Shannara’s beginnings and the human race’s possible end, marches forward into an unforgettable second volume full of mystery, magic, and momentous events in The Elves of Cintra.
Across the ruined landscape that is America—hopelessly poisoned, plague-ridden, burned, and besieged by demon armies bent on exterminating all mortal life—two pilgrims have been summoned to serve the embattled cause of good. Logan Tom has journeyed to desolate Seattle to protect a ragged band of street urchins. Likewise, Angel Perez has her own quest, one that will take her from the wreckage of Los Angeles to a distant, secret place untouched by the horrors of the nationwide blight—a place where the race of Elves has dwelled since before man existed. But close behind these lone Knights of the Word swarm the ravening forces of the Void. As the legions of darkness draw the noose tighter, and the time of confrontation draws near, those chosen to defend the soul of the world must draw their battle lines and prepare to fight with, and for, their lives. If they fail, humanity fails.
Mistress of Winter by Giles Carwyn & Todd Fahnestock
(sequel to Heir of Autumn), Eos, $25.95, 483pp, hc, 9780060829773. Fantasy. On-sale date: 22 May 2007.
Filled with sex, intrigue, adventure, and sorcery, Mistress of Winter, the sequel to the author’s debut novel, Heir of Autumn, is sure to please their new fans and those who have made bestsellers out of authors such as Jacqueline Carey and George R.R. Martin.
Sorceress-concubine Shara has sacrificed many years trying to destroy the insidious Black Emmeria, and to free her beloved Brophy from the magical slumber than keeps the sinister magic at bay, but all for naught, until the mysterious Arefaine Morgeon returns. Having been awoken, Brophy has been twisted into a vicious monster after years of tormented dreams. He leaves with the powerful, ambitious young sorceress, whose staggering plans are slowly revealed: the Heir of Efften is determined to return the once great—and notoriously vicious—city of magic to its former glory.
Heartbroken and betrayed, Shara buries her heart in a single-minded quest for power and pleasure, until she is forced into a deadly clash with a sadistic mage whose power comes from pain instead of pleasure. In the struggle that follows, both Shara and Brophy will be tested to the limits in a desperate quest to save Ohndarien.
The Fire Thief Fights Back by Terry Deary
(Book three in The Fire Thief Trilogy), Kingfisher, $9.95, 224pp, hc, 9780753459706. Young adult fantasy.
In his first installment of the wild and wonderful Fire Thief trilogy, international best-selling author Terry Deary reinvented the myth of Prometheus, the Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to the human race.
In Book II, Flight of the Fire Thief, Prometheus travels through time to a murky metropolis called Eden City to escape the gods’ revenge. There he befriends a motley assortment of comic characters and learns what humans have done with his gift of fire.
In this third and final installment of the Fire Thief trilogy, The Fire Thief Fights Back, we meet Sam, who together with his mother, is swindling the folks of Eden City with their medicine show, selling “miracle” cures to their gullible audiences. When the ruse is rumbled and Eden City residents go after them, Prometheus steps in to help out. They also find an unlikely ally in Zeus—who helps them out of their predicament, but not without a cost…
Young readers will love Deary’s comical and cinematic writing, and the spirited wit of Sam, our guide on this wild ride through space and time. Both the mythology of ancient Greece and the rough-and-tumble beginnings of America are reflected in this thoroughly enjoyable and smart conclusion to the much-lauded Fire Thief. Readers are in for an unexpected and memorable climax!
The New Space Opera edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan
Eos, $15.95, 517pp, tp, 9780060846756. Science fiction anthology. On-sale date: 6 June 2007.
What sets space opera apart from any other kind of fiction is its sheer scale: it’s an exuberant celebration of the very large and the very small, of the very old and the very new, of the vast, panoramic instant in which we live: the instant where everything that went before meets and merges with everything yet to be.
The New Space Opera dares the biggest names in science fiction’s biggest genre to write their best and boldest stories yet. This is the kind of book that science fiction has needed for years: fresh, new, aimed at tomorrow but aware of today, and aimed at engaging readers. No single book has yet managed to put stories by the generation of writers who spawned the ‘new space opera’ between a single set of covers. This anthology will correct that.
Contributors: Kage Baker, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Tony Daniel, Greg Egan, Peter F. Hamilton, Gwyneth Jones, James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Ken Macleod, Ian McDonald, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Mary Rosenblum, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, and Walter Jon Williams.
Changeling by Yasmine Galenorn
(sequel to Witchling), Berkley, $6.99, 293pp, pb, 9780425216293. Paranormal romance. On-sale date: June 2007.
Changeling returns to the sexy, savvy, half-human and half-Faerie D’Artigo sisters: Camille, Menolly, and Delilah. This trio of hot operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency has been running into some serious trouble…
Someone has been slaughtering the Weres of the Rainier Puma Pride, and the sisters have been enlisted to investigate. The investigation leads to none other than the Hunters Moon Clan, sworn enemies of the Puma Pride. But getting to the bottom of the murders means confronting the old demon Shadow Wing and visiting the Immortals. Unfortunately, being half-human is just enough to put the trio in mortal danger.
The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
(first in a series), Roc, $23.95, 393pp, hc, 9780451461452. Fantasy. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
All those things you heard about as a kid? The boogeyman under the bed? The Creature in the closet? The ghost in the… er… garage? They’re for real, people. Believe me, I know. I’m Eddie Drood. And if it weren’t for me and my family, all the things that go bump in the night would be mucking the world up right now, big-time. For ages, the Droods have been protecting humanity. We’re the ones who hold back the nightmares, lock the doors, bar the gates, throw away the keys, and put righteous boot to monster arse on a nightly basis. And you poor sods don’t even know we exist. Usually, I’m proud to be a Drood. Right now, though, I’m not so sure.
So begins New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green’s newest novel, The Man with the Golden Torc. Eddie Drood is a new kind of hero whose family has battled the worst of foes with their magic and cunning. Yet now the tables have turned, and apparently Eddie is the one that folks need to be protected from. With a colorful cast of characters, including the deadly Droods, Simon R. Green takes readers on another hilarious, sometimes heart-stopping, flight of fancy.
Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman
Pantheon, $22.95, 291pp, hc, 9780375424861. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
Doctor Impossible—evil genius, diabolical time-traveler, wannabe world dominator—has just broken out of prison. Again. He’s tried to take over the world in every way imaginable, and each time his brilliantly constructed plans have come tumbling down around him in catastrophe. This time it’s going to be different…
In Boston, Fatale—a patchwork woman of skin and chrome with a long silver ponytail, a gleaming technological marvel built by the NSA to be the next generation of warfare—is spending her days watching television and listening to the police scanner when she’s given the chance every super-hero dreams of: to join the Champions, that oncce famous group of young heroes, newly reunited to stop Dr. Impossible. She heads to the Champions’ top-secret headquarters in Manhattan, where she meets:
Damsel: superhero royalty and the force behind the Champions reunion. She floats in a mesmerizing force field of varying colors and wields a deadly pair of swords.
Blackwolf: former Olympic gymnast and one-time scourge of the underworld. He and Damsel were the hot couple in the Champions heydey. They’re divorced now.
Feral: part man, part tiger. He has a drinking problem, but he’s still havoc in a fight.
Lily:ex-girlfriend of Doctor Impossible, who’s crossed over to the other side. Super strong, tough, skin like glass and a past filled with secrets.
Conspicuously absent from the headquarters is CoreFire—Doctor Impossible’s greatest foe and the Champions greatest asset. He flies, he’s invincible, he’s charismatic… and he’s missing.
Debut novelist Austin Grossman’s Soon I Will Be Invincibleis an extraordinarily thrilling comic book adventure with a literary bent; an exploration of power, celebrity, responsiblity, and (of course) good and evil.
The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton
(an Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel), Berkley, $25.95, 423pp, hc, 9780425217245. Fantasy. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
With more than six million copies of her Anita Blake books in print worldwide, #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton is at the forefront of the increasingly popular paranormal literary trend. In The Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel, the fifteenth installment in Hamilton’s wildly popular series, vampire hunter Anita Blake encounters creatures so feared that even the most powerful vampires refuse to mention their names.
It is forbidden to speak of The Harlequin unless you’ve been contacted; but to have been contacted means you’re under sentence of death. The Harlequin has passed judgment on Anita, and she will have to call on her closest friends—including an old favorite readers haven’t seen in years—and allies to survive.
Strange Candy by Laurell K. Hamilton
Berkley, $14.00, 289pp, tp, 9780425215210. Fantasy collection. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
With more than 6 million copies of her Anita Blake novels in print, Laurell K. Hamilton’s series is a full-blown pop culture phenomenon that grows with each installment. Vampire fiction is hotter than ever, thanks in large part to Hamilton’s contributions to the genre.
The thirteen stories in Strange Candy include a never-before-published Anita Blake tale—a must read for fans. Readers won’t be disappointed by these fantastical fairy tales and lush parables as Hamilton welcomes them into the far corners of her “fertile imagination” (Diana Gabaldon). This collection is now available for the first time in paperback.
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
(The Last Tale of the Otori), Riverhead, $15.00, 572pp, tp, 9781594482571. Fantasy. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the stirring conclusion to the bestselling Tales of the Otori series whose imaginative vision has captured readers worldwide. Now, in an epic tale of warfare and sacrifice, passion and revenge, treacherous betrayal, and unconquerable love, The Harsh Cry of the Heron brings the series to a satisfying conclusion, but also stands as a thrilling achievement in its own right.
In Lian Hearn’s fantastic medieval Japanese world, there have been fifteen years of peace and prosperity under the rule of Lord Otori Takeo and his wife Kaede. Yet the blessing of long-awaited peace is threatened by a rogue network of assassins, the resurgence of old rivalries, the arrival of foreigners bearing new weapons and religion, and an unfulfilled prophecy that Lord Takeo will die at the hand of a member of his own family.
The Broken Kings by Robert Holdstock
(book three of The Merlin Codex), Tor, $27.95, 368pp, hc, 9780765311092. Fantasy.
From two-time World Fantasy Award-winner and two-time British Fantasy Award-winner Robert Holdstock comes The Broken Kings, the last chapter in a series that breathes new life into the Arthurian genre by placing Merlin in the land of Greek mythology.
Argo, the ancient ship, has returned and hides beneath Urtha’s fortress in Alba. Jason and the Argonauts are aboard her, enchanted into sleep. Niiv is still Merlin’s lover, still seeking magic and mysteries, still a delight and a torment to him. But something larger is stirring in Alba, an unknown and frightening force that haunts the land. The feckless Sons of Llew bring news of hostels, gateways between the worlds of the living and the dead where the Shades of the dead and unborn gather. Hymon, Urtha’s headstrong son, wants to fight the Shades of Heroes, but Urtha’s daughter, Munda, has the Sight and sees hope in their arrival. She breaks taboo to visit one of the hostels and comes back speaking of the Killer of Kings, the son of Jason.
And as Merlin walks in and out of time, clinging to his magic and the remains of his youth, the forces set in motino will determine the fate of kings and kingdoms alike…
The Heart of Valor by Tanya Huff
(a Confederation novel), DAW, $24.95, 357pp, hc, 9780756404252. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
The Heart of Valor marks Tanya Huff’s fourth Confederation book of acclaimed military science fiction. Huff returns to heroine Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr, who was a Confederation Marine’s marine. Torin had survived more deadly encounters—and kept more of her officers and enlisteds alive—than almost anyone in the Corps, and she was determined to keep her record intact. Yet this mission wasn’t supposed to be that dangerous—Torin was simply traveling to Crucible, the Marines’ training planet to simulate battle. There, she was to serve as a temporary aide to Major Svensson, who was anxious to test his re-grown body after being reduced to merely a brain and spinal cord in battle.
It should have been an easy twenty-day run for Torin Kerr. Yet when she arrives on Crucible, someone begins blasting the training scenario to the cosmos—with very real fire power. Now Torin is not only responsible for the vulnerable Major Svensson, but also the lives of the inexperienced recruits. She must struggle to keep them alive until the Marines arrive, and her record hangs in the balance.
Moongazer by Marianne Mancusi
Shomi/Dorchester, $6.99, 368pp, pb, 9780505527257. Action romance. On-sale date: August 2007.
An enthralling combination of The Matrix and Snow Crash with a bit of Blade Runner thrown into the mix, Moongazer immediately draws the reader into one woman’s terrifying struggle to understand her identity—is she Skye Brown, a successful game designer living in Manhattan or is she really Mariah Quinn, a woman haunted by the post-apocalyptic dreamland she escapes to every night? But what is reality? And who can she trust to find out the truth?
A two-time Emmy Award-winning television news producer, Marianne Mancusi has made a career of challenging the traditional understanding of the romance genre. Her debut novel, A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur’s Court, and its sequel, A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest, hilariously refashioned the classic legends of Camelot and Robin Hood. She has also written three successful Young Adult novels under the pseudonym Mari Mancusi.
The Well of Shades by Juliet Marillier
(Book Three of the Bridei Chronicles), Tor, $27.95, 496pp, hc, 9780765309976. Fantasy.
Juliet Marillier continues the epic fantasy begun with The Dark Mirror, which Interzone called: “A fascinating evocation of life in Pictish England and an emotional roller coaster of a story.”
Kring Bridei is a man with a mission. His wish to unite his kingdom seems almost within his grasp, but there are forces working to undo his dream. He sends Faolan, his most trusted advisor (who is also a master assassin and spymaster) out into the world to ferret out the truth of who is friend and who is foe.
Faolan will uncover many truths. Some may hold the key to Bridei’s future. But more important, they may unlock the secrets that Faolan has held deep within his soul for decades.
And offer him the chance of redemption.
Immortals: The Awakening by Joy Nash
Love Spell/Dorchester, $6.99, 368pp, pb, 9780505526953. Paranormal romance. On-sale date: August 2007.
The sexy, inventive, multi-author Immortals series—which mixes the paranormal with heart-stopping action and erotic romance—has already begun to gain attention in the world of romance. Created by Jennifer Ashely, the series is everything that fans of Christine Feehan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Karen Marie Moning crave: richly layered plots; sexy, charismatic characters; and a setting in which anything can happen.
The Awakening is the third book in this super-charged series that follows five Immortal brothers who are half-God, half-human, and all warrior. Centuries ago, the brothers were charged with protecting mankind, but over time, they’ve been nearly forgotten. Their task of protecting mankind from darkness is as forgotten as they are, and without them, the world teems with vampires, zombies, and evil magic. In The Awakening, water-magician and artist Christine Lachlan goes on a quest to find one of the brothers, Kahlan, and re-awaken him to his purpose so that he can save the world from utter peril. But first, she must save him from the deadly plot of treacherous Sidhe using sex-magic to blind Kahlan from his path and ultimately betray him.
Joy Nash has also written two highly acclaimed Celtic historical romances, The Grail King and Celtic Fire. Nash’s writing was praised by Romantic Times Bookreviews as “suspenseful, haunting, and high-tension romance.” Her flair for spinning tales of searing romance and adventure make the third Immortals story impossible to put down.
Unholy Birth by Andrew Neiderman
Pocket Star, $7.99, 339pp, pb, 9781416516842. Science fiction/horror/terror/suspense.
The Devil’s Advocate author Andrew Neiderman now takes readers to places on the border of the supernatural never before visited. Unholy Birth, Neiderman’s 2007 summer thriller, is a subtle, insidious tale of terror that has the protagonist Kate Dobson believing she is being pursued by a fanatical religious right organization opposed to artificial insemination.
Kate Dobson and her girlfriend run a successful California catering business and share a beautiful home in the Indian Canyons of Palm Springs. They are secure in their relationship and more than comfortable financially. But Kate wants something more… a child. Her longing has invaded her dreams, turning them to nightmares, but it’s a need that won’t be ignored. So it seems like a miracle when Kate is contacted by Genitor, a cutting edge in vitro fertilization clinic. Dr. Lois Matthews, the head of Genitor, will personally handle Kate’s case, and everything is in place for Kate’s pregnancy: an ideal donor, a live-in nanny. But before any test shows she is pregnant, Kate experiences unnerving symptoms in full force, purshing her body—and soon her sanity—to the brink. How can she feel a child quickening inside her? Why is she being purused by a terrorizing radical group—or is she? Paranoia is taking over her mind, but a force of evil is taking over her body. And soon that evil will be delivered. Unholy Birth will keep readers racing to reach the end.
The Book of Time by Guillaume Prévost (translated from French by William Rodarmor)
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic, $16.99, 224pp, hc, 9780439883757. Children’s fantasy. On-sale date: September 2007.
Scholastic is proud to present The Book of Time, the first installment in the captivating and fast-paced fantasy trilogy by acclaimed French author Guillaume Prévost and translated by award-winning translator William Rodarmor. Acquired at auction and will be released simultaneously in the United States and the United Kingdom, Scholastic will publish worldwide English-language rights to this time travel adventure.
The Book of Time takes readers around the globe and through diverse cultures, bringing history to life with vibrancy and intrigue. Filled with history and heart, this engaging trilogy is one part Da Vinci Code, one part Dracula, and one part The Time Traveler’s Wife. A statue; a coin; an old book. They look as dusty as everything else in the Faulkner Antiquarian Bookstore, where 14-year-old Sam Faulkner seeks his father, who’s been missing for days. But when Sam slips the coin into the statue, he’s swept back to Scotland in 900 A.D.—the age of the Vikings!—where he must find both the statue and another coin in order to escape. It’s the first journey in an adventure that will take him to ancient Egypt, World War I, even Dracula’s castle… and a mystery that will end only if Sam finds his father or loses him in time.
Galactic North: Stories from the Revelation Space Universe by Alastair Reynolds
Ace, $24.95, 343pp, hc, 9780441015139. Science fiction collection. On-sale date: 5 June 2007.
With eight short stories and novellas—including three original to this collection—Galactic North by award-winning author Alastair Reynolds, imparts the centuries-spanning events that have produced the dark and turbulent world of Revelation Space. This is Reynolds’s first short story collection and provides an afterword by the author.
Contents: “Great Wall of Mars”, “Glacial”, “A Spy in Europa”, “Weather”, “Dilation Sleep”, “Grafenwalder’s Bestiary”, “Nightingale”, “Galactic North”, and Afterword.
Maledicte by Lane Robins
Del Rey, $14.95, 435pp, tp, 9780345495730. Fantasy. On-sale date: 29 May 2007.
From a dazzling new voice in fantasy comes Maledicte by Lane Robins, a mesmerizing tale of treachery, passion, intrigue, betrayal, and an act of pure vengeance that threatens to bring down a kingdom.
Seething with decadent appetities unchecked by law or gods, the court of Antyre is ruled by the last of a dissolute aristocracy. But now to the kingdom comes a handsome, enigmatic nobleman, Maledicte, whose perfect manners, enchanting charisma, and brilliant swordplay entice the most jaded tastes… and conceal a hunger beyond reckoning.
For Maledicte is actually a woman named Miranda—a beautiful thief raised in the city’s vicious slums. And she will do anything—even promise her soul to Black-Winged Ani, the most merciless of Antyre’s exiled gods—to reclaim Janus, the lover whose passion still haunts her dreams. As her machinations strike at the heart of Antyre’s powerful noble houses, Miranda must battle not only her own growing bloodlust, but also her lover’s newly kindled and ruthless ambitions. As Ani’s force grows insatiable and out of control, Miranda has no choice but to wield a weapon that may set her free… or forever doom her and everything she holds dear.
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss
Del Rey, $25.95, 368pp, hc, 9780345477408. Science fiction.
Civil war rages as the Galactic Alliance—led by Cal Omas and the Jedi forces of Luke Skywalkers—battles a confederation of breakaway planets that rally to the side of rebellious Corellia in Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice. Suspected of involvement in an assassination plot against Queen Mother Tenel Ka of the Hapes Consortium, Han and Leia Solo are on the run, hunted by none other than their own son, Jacen, whose increasingly authoritarian tactics as head of GA security have led Luke and Mara Skywalker to fear that their nephew may be treading perilously close to the dark side.
But as his family sees in Jacen the chilling legacy of his Sith grandfather, Darth Vader, many of the frontline troops adore him, and countless citizens see him as a savior. The galaxy has been torn apart by too many wars. All Jacen wants is safety and stability for all—and he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.
To end the bloodshed and suffering, what sacrifice would be too great? That is the question tormenting Jacen. Already he has sacrificed much, embracing the pitiless teachings of Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith, who has taught him that a strong will and noble purpose can hold the evil excesses of the dark side at bay, bringing peace and order to the galaxy—but at a price.
For there is one final test that Jacen must pass before he can gain the awesome power of a true Sith Lord: He must bring about the death of someone he values dearly. What troubles Jacen isn’t whether he has the strength to commit murder. He has steeled himself for that, and worse if necessary. No, the question that troubles Jacen is who the sacrifice should be.
As the strands of destiny draw ever more tightly together in a galaxy-spanning web, the shocking answer will shatter two families… and cast a grim shadow over the future.
In the fall of 2006, Del Rey and LucasBooks launched the “Darth Who” contest, giving Star Wars fans the opportunity to name the next Sith Lord. The top five candidates were chosen from over 8,500 submissions and then voted on by the fans. The winning Sith name is now featured as the official character name in Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice. Del Rey Books and Lucas Licensing Ltd. wish to thank Tawnia Poland, who contributed the name of our latest Sith Lord, and the thousands of fans who took part in the “Darth Who” contest.
H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education by Mark Walden
Simon & Schuster, $15.99, 309pp, hc, 9781416935711. Young adult science fiction.
Otto Malpense may only be thirteen years old, but is the perfect candidate to become a villain—if he wants to. After coming up with a plan clever enough to trick the most powerful man in the country on national television, Otto finds himself kidnapped from his life and taken to H.I.V.E. (the Higher Institute of Villainous Education), run by the formidable headmaster, Dr. Nero. For the next six years, Otto is supposed to learn exactly what the authorities at H.I.V.E. want him to learn, but Otto has some plans of his own… including breaking out of H.I.V.E. as soon as possible!
Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder by David Weinberger
Times Books, $25.00, 278pp, hc, 9780805080438. Business.
This book is reviewed in this article.
Human beings are information omnivores: we are constantly collecting, labeling, and organizing data. But today, the shift from the physical to the digital is ripping, burning, and mixing our lives apart. In the past, everything had its one place—the physical world demanded it—but now everything has its places: multiple categories, multiple shelves. Suddenly, everything is miscellaneous.
In Everything is Miscellaneous, David Weinberger takes us on a rollicking tour of the rise of the miscellaneous. He examines why the Dewey Decimal system is stretched to the breaking point, how Rand McNally decides what information not to included in a physical map (and why Google Earth is beating them out), how Staples stores emulate online shopping to increase sales, why your children’s teachers will stop having them memorize facts, and how the shifts to digital music and playlists are not just transforming the music business but stand as models for the future in virtually every industry.
Weinberger charts the new principles of digital disorder that are remaking business, media, education, politics, science, and culture, with profound consequences for how we work and how we live:
* Information is most valuable when it is thrown into a big digital “pile” to be filtered and organized by users themselves.
* Instead of relying on experts, groups of passionate users are inventing their own ways of discovering what they know and want.
* Smart companies do not treat information as an asset to be guarded, but let it loose to be “mashed up,” gaining market awareness and customer loyalty.
Finally, Weinberger shows how, by “going miscellaneous,” anyone can reap rewards from the deluge of information in modern work and life.
From A to Z, Everything is Miscellaneous will completely reshape the way we think—and what we know—about the world.
The Silver Sword by Steve Zindell
(sequel to The Lightstone), Tor, $25.95, 320pp, hc, 9780765316745. Fantasy.
Tor Books is pleased to announce The Silver Sword, the sequel to David Zindell’s critically acclaimed novel, The Lightstone. It is an epic tale of good versus evil… and how far a man will go to save his world without destroying all he loves.
On the island continent of Ea it is a dark time of chaos and war. Morjin, the evil Lord of Lies, seeks to enslave the entire world, and land after land falls under his evil power. The one thing that has the potential to destroy him is an object that has been lost for ages: the Lightstone. One of the last rulers to evade Morjin’s crushing grip cries out to those who oppose the dreaded sorcerer to find this Lightstone and put an end to Morjin’s cruel reign.
Many were called; few answered. One such was Valashu Elahad, the seventh and youngest Valeri prince of the royal house of Mesh. With his stalwart companions Val has braved many dangers and fought many a battle in their search for this elusive totem. Finally they feel hope that their quest will soon end, and a great victory shimmers like a beacon in the distance.
But not all images are real. Is the Lightstone within Val’s grasp or has he embarked upon a road too horrible to conceive?