This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow
HarperCollins, $22.95, 312pp, hc, 9780061430220.
Fantasy.
There’s a war going on in Los Angeles: an ancient race of lycanthrophes is thriving in southern California and preying on the down-and-out to join their pack. These modern-day hybrids change from Rolex watch-wearing humans to blood-thirsty canines in a matter of shuddering seconds, and they are leaving a bloody trail as they battle for control of the city’s underbelly of organized crime and drugs. In Sharp Teeth, Toby Barlow has written one of the most original and exciting novels—not to mention one of the most satisfying love stories—in recent memory.
Caught in the midst of the novel’s violence are the unknowing and kind-hearted dogcatcher, Anthony, and the object of his love, a female werewolf who’s abandoned her pack to be with him. She can’t let Anthony discover her secret, and her efforts to keep her identity to herself lead to murderous results. Meanwhile, her pack has fallen victim to a savage attack from a rival gang, forcing the former leader, Lark, to disappear and go undercover as the adopted pet of a lonely suburban woman. Slowly, Lark begins to recruit a new pack of misfits, bent on extracting revenge and reclaiming power.
Reading like a graphic novel without the pictures, Sharp Teeth blends dark humor and epic themes with card-playing dogs, crystal meth labs, surfing, and carne asada tacos. This spellbinding debut is not only strangely funny, sexy and addictive; Toby Barlow manages to make it truly moving as well.
The Legacy by TJ Bennett
Medallion, $7.95, 460pp, pb, 9781933836362. Historical romance. On-sale date: April 2008.
When her brief, disastrous marriage to a fortune hunter ends in scandal, Baronesse Sabina von Ziegler’s vengeful adoptive father imprisons her in a cloister. Nine years later, however, following the teachings of the reformer Martin Luther, she arranges a daring escape. She is free at last—for the moment—a noblewoman of conscience, and has learned a lesson about trusting men she will never forget.
Wolfgang Behaim, a widowed commoner, is a tradition-bound printer from the rising middle class with a secret that threatens to destroy everything he holds dear. Burdened by the mysterious circumstances surrounding his father’s death, he has no heart for love. Yet he finds himself suddenly betrothed to Sabina, the Baron von Ziegler’s adopted daughter.
It is a marriage neither wants. Sabina again finds herself imprisoned by the Baron, in a dungeon this time, being slowly starved to death. Her only key to freedom is marriage to Wolf. And Wolf must marry Sabina, or the murderous Baron will reveal the secret from his past.
Though neither comprehends the dark purpose behind the Baron’s machinations, they are forced into a union they never plan to consummate. But as they fight to discover the truth of the mysteries surrounding them, they find themselves challenged by a fiery passion they cannot resist. Can they overcome their past and find love even as lies, war, and an unexpected enemy conspire against them?
Airs and Graces by Toby Bishop
(book two of The Horsemistress Trilogy), Ace, $7.99, 346pp, pb, 9780441015566. Fantasy.
Airs and Graces is the second in The Horsemistress Trilogy by award-winning fantasy author Toby Bishop. This magical and distinctive tale will appeal to fans of Anne McCaffrey and Patricia Briggs. In the Duchy of Oc, the most precious creatures are the winged horses, blessed by the goddess Kalla. When they are born, they bond with one human, and then are taken to the Academy of the Air to be trained and watched over. Larkyn Hamley is an upper level student at the Academy and a favorite of the headmaster, Mistress Philippa.
Lark is a master in riding her beautiful flying horse, Black Seraph. Their chemistry is envied by many, especially by Duke William, head of the Duchy. His dark obsession with riding a winged horse proves alarming to Lark and Mistress Philippa. It seems he will stop at nothing to get a winged horse to accept him. In the process he is ignoring his traditional duties to protect the kingdom leaving the coast open to enemy Aesk raiders. Now, as the Duchy of Oc is ravaged by chaos, Lark and Philippa are caught in a desperate battle to save the Avademy from the Duke, and their land from the Aesks.
Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
(a Mercy Thompson novel), Ace, $7.99, 287pp, pb, 9780441015665. Fantasy.
National bestselling author Patricia Briggs is back with Iron Kissed, the third book in her bestselling urban fantasy series, The Mercy Thompson Novels. This very popular contemporary paranormal series starring the sassy shapeshifter Mercy Thompson has a devoted fan base that will continue to grow with every new book.
Shape-shifting mechanic Mercy Thompson was raised by werewolves. In her pack, she was taught about loyalty and trust. After a forbidden love affair, Mercy is abandoned by her pack and left on her own, but the lessons she learned will forever be with her. Her loyalty is tested, however, when her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder.
Even though he insists he doesn’t want Mercy to help, Mercy feels it’s her job to clear his name. While she’s never disobeyed her mentor, she can’t just stand by and watch him be falsely accused. Unfortunately, Mercy doesn’t hav etime to second guess herself because the werewolves want their justice and won’t wait for Mercy to make up her mind.
The Time Thief by Linda Buckley-Archer
(book two in The Gideon Trilogy), Simon & Schuster, $17.99, 491pp, hc, 9781416915270. YA Fantasy.
What happens when a 17th century bad guy has 21st century technology at his disposal?
In the first volume of the acclaimed Gideon Trilogy, an accident with an anti-gravity machine catapulted Peter Schock and Kate Dyer into 1763. As The Time Thief opens, a bungled rescue attempt has left Peter stranded in the 18th century while a terrifying villain, The Tar Man, takes his place and explodes onto 21st century London. Concerned about the potentially catastrophic effects of time travel, the NASA scientists responsible for the situation question whether it is right to rescue Peter. Kate decides to take matters into her own hands, and contacts Peter’s father for help. But things don’t go as planned, and soon the physical effects of time travel begin to have a disturbing effect on Kate. Meanwhile, in present day London, The Tar Man wreaks havoc in a city whose police force are powerless to stop him…
Accurate historical detail comes alive as Buckley-Archer weaves together the past and present and trials of Gideon, Kate, Peter and The Tar Man. Set against a background of contemporary London and revolutionary France, The Time Thief is the breathtaking sequel to the acclaimed, Book One of the Gideon Trilogy, The Time Travelers, formerly titled Gideon the Cutpurse.
Small Favor by Jim Butcher
(a novel of the Dresden Files), Roc, $23.95, 432pp, hc, 9780451461896. Fantasy. On-sale date: 1 April 2008.
The highly anticipated 10th installment in the bestselling series, Small Favor: A Novel of the Dresden Files hits the stores this April. Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard (and private investigator!), is back, and his life is finally calming down. Except that he owes a few “small” favors that he can’t turn down—one that will trap Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills to their very limits.
The Lost Fleet: Courageous by Jack Campbell
Ace, $7.99, 299pp, pb, 9780441015672. Science fiction.
The Alliance has been fighting a losing battle against the Syndicate Worlds for over a century. Now, Captain John “Black Jack” Geary, who returned to the fleet after a hundred-year suspended animation, must keep the Alliance one step ahead of its merciless foe…
After a series of deadly engagements, the Alliance fleet is severely damaged and its arsenal is running low. Forced to halt in the Baldur Star System to raid the Syndic mines for raw materials, Geary is anxious to get moving again. But what should the fleet’s next move be? The Syndics are starting to catch on to Geary’s tactics, and as the Alliance ships jump from system to system, it’s getting harder to keep one step ahead.
What’s more, Geary has started to piece fragments of intelligence together into a highly disturbing picture: The Syndics have been keeping the existence of another potential player in the war a secret—and this unknown power may have the means to annihilate the human race…
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
(Book Two of The Mortal Instruments), McElderry, $17.99, 467pp, hc, 9781416914297. Teen fantasy. On-sale date: 22 April 2008.
Amazing events unfold at a dizzying pace in a world of warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and faeries—a world that holds some dangerous surprises for Clary Fray and her friends in the sequel to the New York Times bestseller City of Bones.
In the second installment of this hip urban fantasy trilogy, Clary just wants her life to go back to normal—but what’s normal for a demon-slaying Shadowhunter? For one thing, her mother is still in a magically induced coma. For another, Clary’s just found out that Jace is actually her brother—and their father, Valentine, is not only alive but the mastermind behind all the demon attacks. Not to mention that someone in New York is killing Downworlders and draining their blood, sending Downworld Manhattan to the brink of civil war. When the Silent Brothers are murdered and the second of the Mortal Instruments is stolen, the terrifying Inquisitor is sent to investigate. The Inquisitor is clearly out to get Jace, who feels abandoned as Clary’s romance with Simon starts to heat up. And what if Valentine has already made the Mortal Instruments his own?
Cassandra Clare’s second installment in The Mortal Instruments Trilogy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end. Sexy and gritty, exhilarating and gripping, City of Ashes is a fast-paced and ferociously entertaining teen fantasy where readers are lured back into the dark grip of New York City’s Downworld, where love is never safe and power become the deadliest temptation.
Texas Death Row: Executions in the Modern Era edited by Bill Crawford
Plume, $16.00, 422pp, tp, 9780452289307. True Crime.
The death penalty is one of the most hotly contested and longest standing debates in American politics. It raises questions about justice and morality, crime and punishment, and divides America from state to state and person to person. Texas is always central to the debate—since the death penalty was officially reinstated by the federal government in 1974, the Lone Star State has executed over 390 people, far exceeding other states. In December of 2007, the state of New Jersey abolished capital punishment altogether, and, later this year, the Supreme Court will determine the legality of the current lethal injection process, bringing the issue into the headlines once again.
In the unabashedly and undeniably compelling Texas Death Row, editor Bill Crawford puts faces to those condemned men and women, with stark details on their crimes, black and white mugshots, sentencing, last meals and last words. Texas Death Row provides the rawest information available, in profiles of each of the 390 executed men or women, culled from the records of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Regardless of what side you stand on regarding this issue, Texas Death Row is not only an invaluable resource for anyone interested in capital punishment in America, but also a fascinating, utterly original and compulsively readable book. Crawford’s exhibit based on the book has been shown in Austin and at the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan. He presented the exhibit at the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, Texas in December.
Definitive and objective, Texas Death Row will provide ample fuel for readers on both sides of the death penalty debate and provide an evocative history of a timely and sure to be debated issue this coming year.
The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner
Shadow Mountain, $17.95, 464pp, hc, 9781590388310. Young adult fantasy. On-sale date: March 2008.
James Dashner’s new fantasy novel will keep kids and adults mystified as they try to find the answers behind the baffling riddles and puzzling clues that reveal the secrets of The 13th Reality—the source of every frightening myth, dangerous legend, terrifying nightmare, and the home to a dark power.
Atticus Higginbottom, a.k.a. Tick, is an average thirteen-year-old boy until the day he begins receiving strange letters in his mailbox. Postmarked from Alaska and cryptically signed with the initials “M.G.,” the letters contain riddles and clues that test Tick’s courage and determination to learn the secrets behind the 13 parallel realities. The choices Tick must make ensures he has the guts, intelligence, and strength to join the Realitants, an organization sworn to protect the realities, and battle the evil power that seeks to control them.
The first volume of an outstanding new children’s fantasy series, The Journal of Curious Letters is filled with adventure, humor, riddles, and, oh, yes—danger… As M.G. warns Tick, “Very frightening things are coming your way.”
Unquiet Dreams by Mark Del Franco
Ace, $7.99, 292pp, pb, 9780441015696. Fantasy. On-sale date: 29 January 2008.
Bestselling author Mark Del Franco continues his unique and terrific urban fantasy series with Unquiet Dreams. Sure to be a hit in the tremendously popular urban fantasy genre, Unquiet Dreams is great for readers of Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, and Glen Cook.
It’s been a century sincec the people and places of Celtic Faerie mysteriously appeared in the world, an event known historically as the Convergence. Crime has been rising since the Convergence and investigators at the Guild are having trouble solving murders and catching criminals.
With the body count rising, former Boston investigator Connor Grey is racing to get his magical powers back. But while he’s trying every magic trick in the book, Celtic fairies and Teutonic elves face off against each other, fighting for turf and power until the entire city of Boston is in lockdown and humans are caught in the middle.
The clock is ticking, and if Connor doesn’t stop this feud, the culmination of both fairies and elves fighting may result in a worldwide cataclysm. Connor is the only one who can uncover the vast conspiracy that threatens to destroy not only the city, but the world.
Dark Integers and Other Stories by Greg Egan
Subterranean, $25, 232pp, hc, 9781596061552. Publication date: March 2008.
Greg Egan’s first new collection in a decade contains five stories, set in three worlds.
In “Luminous,” two mathematicians searching for a flaw in the structure of arithmetic find themselves pitted against a ruthless arms manufacturer. In “Dark Integers,” their discovery has become even more dangerous, as they struggle to prevent a war between two worlds capable of mutual annihilation.
“Riding the Crocodile” chronicles a couple’s epic endeavor a million years from now to bridge the divide between the meta-civilization known as the Amalgam and the reclusive Aloof. “Glory,” set in the same future, tells of two archaeologists striving to decipher the artifacts of an ancient civilization.
In the Hugo-winning “Oceanic,” a boy is inducted into a religion that becomes the center of his life, but as an adult he must face evidence that casts a new light on his faith.
Venus on the Half-Shell and Others by Philip José Farmer (edited by Christopher Paul Carey)
Subterranean, $38, 323pp, hc, 9781596061422. Fantasy collection. Publication date: 25 February 2008.
Venus on the Half-Shell and Others collects for the first time the best of the best from Philip José Farmer’s scintillating “fictional-author period.”
In the mid-1970s a fever-pitched furor was created when an actual novel purported to be by Kilgore Trout—the sadsack science fiction writer who appears as a character in the works of Kurt Vonnegut—materialized on the bookracks, complete with a mysterious back cover photo of the author looking like a bearded vagabond sage. Debate raged as to who had truly written Venus on the Half-Shell. Was it Vonnegut himself, or perhaps Theodore Sturgeon, rumored to have been the inspiration for Trout? Or did Kilgore Trout really exist? Just as one respected newspaper published an article “proving” that Vonnegut had written the book, the Hugo Award-winning science fiction author Philip José Farmer announced he was the true author.
The controversial Kilgore Trout episode was neither the first nor the last time Farmer would impishly slip out of his own skin and assume the persona of another author. In Venus on the Half-Shell and Others, Philip José Farmer transforms himself into fictional personalities as compelling as they are diverse: Cordwainer Bird, Paul Chapin, Rod Keen, Harry “Bunny” Manders, Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor, John H. Watson, M.D. and even the real-life author William S. Burroughs (writing his own version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Jungle Lord!). Also included is the original version of Farmer’s classic Sherlock Holmes/Lord Greystoke pastiche The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, back in print for the first time in over thirty years.
A unique collection, Venus on the Half-Shell and Others showcases the grand imagination of one of science fiction’s most resourceful and creative minds.
A Magic of Twilight by S.L. Farrell
(Book one of The Nessantico Cycle), DAW, $24.95, 546pp, hc, 9780756404666. Fantasy. On-sale date: 5 February 2008.
A Magic of Twilight: Book One of The Nessantico Cycle—the first book in S.L. Farrell’s brand new fantasy series—is an epic tale of murder and magic, deception and betrayal, Machiavellian politics, star-crossed lovers, and a world on the brink of devastating war.
Farrell, best known for his Cloudmages trilogy, takes readers into the city of Nessantico. Over the centuries, Nessantico slowly spread its influence in all directions and gathered to itself all that was intellectual, all that was rich, and all that was powerful. There was no city in the world that could rival it, but there were many who envied it.
Darkling by Yasmine Galenorn
(The Sisters of the Moon, book three), Berkley, $7.99, 290pp, pb, 9780425218938. Paranormal romance.
USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn returns with Darkling, book three of The Sisters of the Moon series. Publishers Weekly calls the series “…a whimsical reminder of fantasy’s importance in everyday life,” and Romantic Times Magazine says the series is “…vivid, sexy and mesmerizing.” In this fantastic paranormal romance series, the half human-half faerie D’Artigo sisters are back ridding the Otherworld of evil, one monster at a time.
The Sisters of the Moon saeries features Camille, the good witch, Delilah, a feline shapeshifter, and Menolly, the acrobat vampire. They are all operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency and all three of them have a story. Darkling is Menolly’s story and she has demons to face and people to save before all hell breaks loose. All over Seattle, humans are missing and newborn vampires are appearing. Menolly knows the sadistic demon/vampire Dredge is to blame. She’s the only one that can stop him but the vampire bond between them will make her weak against him. The only way to defeat Dredge is to detach herself from the demon and vampire world that she is connected to, but she doesn’t even know where to begin.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: In Extremis by Ken Goddard
Pocket Star, $7.99, 275pp, pb, 9781416574767. Media tie-in.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: In Extremis by New York Times bestselling author Ken Goddard is the ninth original novel in the Las Vegas CSI series, based on the critically acclaimed hit CBS series.
A ruthless and expertly trained contract killer is on assignment in Nevada’s remote Desert National Wildlife Range… and he deliberately sets in motion a series of seemingly unconnected events that will soon test the skills of Gil Grissom and his team of CSIs—Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, and Greg Sanders—to their limit. For all is not as it appears in this federal refuge, as law enforcement and lawbreakers alike are quickly caught up in a growing crime scene that leads to a deadly game of one-upmanship…
Midnight Reign by Chris Marie Green
(Book Two of the Vampire Babylon trilogy), Ace, $14.00, 326pp, tp, 9780441015603. Fantasy. On-sale date: February 2008.
Bestselling author Chris Marie Green is back with her second book in the Vampire Babylon trilogy, Midnight Reign. Her remarkable books deftly combine contemporary urban fantasy and noir mystery with a touch of romance. Delightfully suspenseful, Green’s distinctive tale will appeal to fans of Charlaine Harris, Simon R. Green and Kat Richardson.
Dawn Madison returns to Hollywood in search of her missing father, and finds an underground world supporting a thriving society of undead vampires. Dawn believes her father went missing while looking for answers to the mysterious death of Dawn’s mother and glamorous movie star Eva Claremont. As Dawn delves deeper into this erotic and bloody night world, she starts finding clues that lead to her father. But Dawn doesn’t realize how dangerous her situation really is.
Warriors: Power of Three #2: Dark River by Erin Hunter
HarperCollins, $16.99, 322pp, hc, 9780060892050. Children’s fantasy.
Warriors: Power of Three: Dark River is the second book in the heart-pounding arc of the national bestselling series.
In Warriors: Power of Three: Dark River readers will find the three cats who prophecy foretells hold the future of the Clans—Hollypaw, Jaypaw, and Lionpaw—continuinng their apprentice training. Hollypaw endeavors to stop a coming battle between ThunderClan, RiverClan, and WindClan; Lionpaw pursues a forbidden romance and makes a startling discovery; and Jaypaw explores his extraordinary talents. Plus there’s lots of riveting action: battles, hunts, visions, rescues, and a near-drowning!
This fabulous series, filled with themes of power and betrayal, appealing animal heroes, tragic romance, heart-pounding battles, and suspenseful surprises has everything that fantasy fans are sure to love.
Horrors Beyond 2: Stories of Strange Creations edited by William Jones
Elder Signs Press, $15.95, 333pp, tp, 9780977987634. Horror anthology.
Explore terrifying landscapes of science unbound.
Uncanny contraptions, weird devices, technologies beyond the control of humanity abound in the universe. Sometimes there are things that resist discovery. When science pushes the boundaries of understanding, terrible things push back. Often knowledge comes at a great cost. 21 unsettling tales of dark fiction are gathered in this volume, exploring the horrors beyond our reality.
Featuring Lovecraftian horror, dark fiction and science fiction by William C. Dietz, Richard A. Lupoff, A.A. Attanasio, Jay Caselberg, Robert Weinberg, John Shirley, Stephen Mark Rainey, Paul S. Kemp, Gene O’Neill, David Niall Wilson, Lucien Soulban, C.J. Henderson, Paul Melniczek, Greg Beatty, Ekaterina Sedia, Michail Velichansky, Tim Curran, Ron Shiflet, Alexis Glynn Latner, John Sunseri, and William Jones.
Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
Roc, $15.00, 422pp, tp, 9780451461902. Fantasy. On-sale date: 5 February 2008.
Set in modern-day Provence, France, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Ysabel is a bold departure from his earlier historical fantasies. Modern day Provence clashes with its history of unparalleled artistry and unimaginable bloodshed. Teenager Ned Marriner finds himself in an otherworldly predicament when he starts encountering warring figures from Provence’s violent past in the area’s cathedrals, cafes, and battlegrounds.
Ned’s family must confront these spirits.. They will disturb a delicate, centuries-old balance, and mend their own 25 year familial rift. Ysabel is an enthralling story of love, redemption, and the true meaning of history.
MechWarrior: Dark Age #30: To Ride the Chimera by Kevin Killiany
Roc, $6.99, 325pp, pb, 9780451461940. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 February 2008.
The epic science fiction action saga continues in MechWarrior: Dark Age #30 by Kevin Killiany. A MechWarrior without peer, Thaddeus Marik has become the figurehead for a new community attempting to resurrect the Free Worlds League. After defeating a Lyran invasion on the planet of Savannah and negotiating a successful alliance with the Protectorate Coalition, Marik must now align himself with Jessica Halas-Hughes Marikl if the new league is to have a chance. Having Marik at her side gives Jessica much-needed credibility and greater influence on Oriente. But old hatreds die hard, erupting in a war against enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy the founding of a new league.
The Guin Saga, Book Two: Warrior in the Wilderness by Kaoru Kurimoto (translated by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander)
Vertical, $9.95, 286pp, tp, 9781934287057. Fantasy.
Author Kaoru Kurimoto changed the face of heroic fantasy when she wrote The Guin Saga—creating a place for herself among names like Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, then taking the crown—writing more volumes than any other fantasy author in history. Steering clear of the Tolkienism that exercises undue influence on recent fantasy writing (the obligatory elves and sleepy opening pages), The Guin Saga harks back instead to an earlier canon, American pulp fiction of the ’20s.
In Japan, where it originally appeared, The Guin Saga now numbers 118 volumes. Started in 1978, Kurimoto’s series continues to be a bestseller; the book’s popularity extends beyond the avid fantasy reader. The saga trails its eponymous hero on his battles to discover his identity and regain his memory. Awaking from a deep sleep, Guin finds a leopard mask attached to his head and remembers only his name. He knows he is born to lead, but whom and where he cannot recall.
Vertical is publishing the first five books, which comprise the saga’s opening “Marches Episodes,” a thematic and narrative unit. In Book Two: Warrior in the Wilderness, Guin and his fellow travelers—the royal twins Rinda and Remus, the scheming mercenary Istavan, and the loyal ape-girl Suni—take one step closer to unraveling the destiny that the god of fate Jarn has spun for all of them.
The Guin Saga Manga: The Seven Magi, Volume 2 by Kaoru Kurimoto, illustrated by Kazuaki Yanagisawa
Vertical, $7.99, 168pp, tp, 9781934287071. Fantasy graphic novel.
When a side story of the world’s longest-running heroic fantasy—The Guin Saga—was to be adapted to the comics medium, its illustrator could have sleepwalked through the assignment, content in the knowledge that his manga version would most assuredly sell like the proverbial hotcakes, riding the coattails of its source material. But Kazuaki Yanagisawa’s interpretation of that original side story—The Guin Saga Manga: The Seven Magi—transcends its parentage as a singular tale, worthy of its own place in the pantheon of great heroic fiction.
As volume two opens, Guin, now King of Cheironia, has exposed the plague killing his subjects for what it truly is: nefarious black magic. While he hunts the source of his city’s ills, he must battle lesser magicians and great beasts, as well as the advances of a particularly bodacious sorceress, unaware that he is also being assailed within his own royal palace. Cheironia, and the inter-dimensional worlds that Guin traverses, are worthy of Howard’s Conan; its denizens, awesome and savage; its women beautiful and dangerous.
Mystery Date edited by Denise Little
DAW, $7.99, 308pp, pb, 9780756404697. Fantasy anthology. On-sale date: 5 February 2008.
Seventeen all-new tales, edited by Denise Lilttle, describe the pleasure—and perils—of dating in Mystery Date. From a childhood board game called “Blind Date” that becomes shockingly true, to a mythological answer to Internet predators, to a woman cursed to see the real truth about her dates after imbibing, to an enchanting translator bent on avenging victims of war crimes, to a young man hearing a special voice from an unplugged stereo system: these are just some of the tales that may lead to happily ever after—or to no ever after at all!
[Contributors: Diane A.S. Stuckart, Jody Lynn Nye, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Nancy Springer, Pauline J. Alama, Diane Duane, Laura Resnick, Janet Deaver-Pack, Alice Henderson, Jean Rabe, Scott William Carter, Terry Hayman, Gail Selinger, Jacey Bedford, Rita Haag, Dean Wesley Smith, and Louisa M. Swann.]
Inside Straight: A Wild Cards Novel edited by George R.R. Martin, assisted by Melinda Snodgrass
Tor, $24.95, 384pp, hc, 9780765317810. Fantasy.
Tor Books, the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy in the world, has teamed up with Sci Fi Channel, the channel that fuels the imagination, to bring their readers and fans the best of new science fiction and fantasy. Each month, one carefully selected Tor title receives the Sci Fi stamp of approval, which appears on the spine and cover of the book. Inside Straight, edited by George R.R. Martin, is the latest Tor book to be included in the Sci Fi Essential books program.
Launched in 1987, Wild Cards is the longest-running series in the shared worlds and fantasy genre. A contemporary world of smart, complicated, and diverse superheroes is brilliantly re-imagined by these talented fantasy writers.
Tor Books is proud to present the re-launch of this landmark series with its eighteenth volume, Inside Straight. Headed up by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin, a top-notch cast of authors introduces a new generation of young, hip, and messed-up superheroes in an interconnected storyline spanning Egypt to Hollywood.
Meet the girl whose stuffed dragon becomes a fifty-foot, fire-breathing version of itself (and she has a whole bag of other little stuffies to boot), the six-armed drummer man most likely to appear on a Rolling Stones cover, and the fox-tailed Japanese guy who uses mythology to create optical illusions.
It is 2007, and the highest rated show on television is American Hero. Earth Witch, Pop Tart, Curveball, Bugsy, and twenty-four other young superheroes—aka “aces”—battle one other in a series of tasks and stunts. On this reality show like no other, alliances form and rivalries explode, as the aces race to make it to the final showdown.
Many years ago, a DNA-altering alien virus was accidentally unleashed, killing 90 percent of those infected. Nine percent of the survivors mutated into “jokers,” tragically deformed creatures, while the other one percent—the “aces”—found themselves transformed with superpowers.
And still others carried the “wild card” within them, never knowing the day when their card would turn.
Now, a new generation has come of age, a generation born into the world of the wild card. Computer geeks, hip-hop freaks, rock stars, and Bohemian slackers—these are the new aces for the millennium. They don’t really understand what the first generation went through, but they know that the world still needs saving and that their parents didn’t quite do the job.
As intrigue boils on and off the set of the #1 reality TV show American Hero, circumstances in the Middle East will slowly draw all the superheroes into a worldwide showdown. And in the course of events, the true heroes will be revealed.
With pop culture references and cameo appearances by the older aces, Inside Straight is action-packed dangerous fun with an unpredictable—and memorable—cast of characters. This is only the beginning of a projected triad of volumes, so let the games begin.
[Contributors: Daniel Abraham, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Carrie Vaughn, Michael Cassutt, Caroline Spector, John Jos. Miller, George R.R. Martin, Ian Tregillis, and S.L. Farrell.]
Paint It Black by Michelle Perry
Medallion, $7.95, 382pp, pb, 9781933836003. Romantic suspense. On-sale date: May 2008.
DEA agent Necie Bramhall thinks she knows a thing or two about revenge. She’s devoted her life to bringing down the drug lord father who abandoned her. When she finally captures him, she thinks she’ll be ablel to put her painful past behind her. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s created a brand new enemy. A deadly enemy.
Maria Barnes is beautiful, ruthless, and driven by a lifelong jealousy of the half-sister she’s never known—the daughter their father could never forget. Her hatred for Necie spirals out of control following their father’s arrest, and Maria vows to destroy everything Necie holds dear… starting with her marriage and her family.
When her daughter is kidnapped, new revelations reveal the man she always perceived as her greatest enemy might be the only one who can save her from her half-sister’s wrath. And now her father is behind bars…
Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters
Roc, $6.99, 375pp, pb, 9780451461933. Fantasy. On-sale date: 8 February 2008.
Whitechapel Gods is the new book by S.M. Peters. The Whitechapel section of Victorian England has been cut off, enclosed by an impassable wall, and is now ruled by two mysterious mechanical gods. Mama Engine is the goddess of sentiment and a mother to her believers. Grandfather Clock represents logic and precision. A few years have passed since the Uprising, when humans fought the gold cloaks, then black cloaks, and even the vicious Boiler Men, the brutal police force responsible for keeping humans in check. Today, Whitechapel is a mechanized, steam-driven hell. But a few brave veterans of the Uprising have formed a new resistance, and they are gathering for another attack. For now they have a secret weapon that may finally free them.
The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg, Volume Three: Something Wild is Loose (1969-72) by Robert Silverberg
Subterranean, $35, 408pp, hc, 9781596061439. Science fiction collection. Publication date: May 2008.
“The world that these stories sprang from was the troubled, bewildering, dangerous, and very exciting world of those weird years when the barriers were down and the future was rushing into the present with the force of a river unleashed. But of course I think these stories speak to our times, too, and that most of them will remain valid as we go staggering onward through the brave new world of the twenty-first century. I am not one of those who believes that all is lost and the end is nigh. Like William Faulkner, I do think we will somehow endure and prevail against increasingly stiff odds.
“A great many strange and dizzying things happen to the characters in these sixteen stories, and in the fourteen stories of the 1972-73 volume that will follow. The reader who makes the journey from beginning to end of all thirty stories will be taken on many a curious trip, that I promise—as was their author during the years when they were being written.”
——Robert Silverberg, from the Introduction
[Contents: “Introduction”, “Something Wild is Loose”, “In Entropy’s Jaw”, “The Reality Trip”, “Going”, “Caliban”, “Good News from the Vatican”, “Thomas the Proclaimer”, “When We Went to See the End of the World”, “Push No More”, “The Wind and the Rain”, “Some Notes on the Pre-Dynastic Epoch”, “The Feast of St. Dionysus”, “What We Learned from This Morning’s Newspaper”, “The Mutant Season”, “Caught in the Organ Draft”, and “Many Mansions”.]
Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson by Tom Sito
University Press of Kentucky, $32.00, 425pp, hc, 9780813124070. History/Film.
For children across the country, nothing is better than waking up on Saturday morning and tuning in to a favorite television cartoon. From Steamboat Willie to Jimmy Neutron, cartoons have been a staple of the quintessential American childhood experience. As celebrated as the field of animation is, however, many are unaware of the painstaking behind-the-scenes work and the large number of animators required to create a single animated short, much less a full-length theatrical release.
In Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson, author Tom Sito presents the first comprehensive history of animators’ unions in the twentieth century, from the era of silent cartoons up to the big-budget digital blockbusters of today. Revealing never-before-published accounts of Hollywood artists themselves, Drawing the Line chronicles the significance of “Toontown,” the community of Hollywood animators, and the numerous triumphs and setbacks which have dramatically shapred the entire entertainment business over the past century.
Sito examines the paradoxical relationship between these vibrant, lighthearted artistic creations and the sometimes dismal working conditions under which they are created. He provides hard-earned insights into the often adversarial relationships between animators and studio heads. From the first efforts to unionize at the turn of the century, to the little-known dark days of the “Great Walt Disney Strike” of 1941, to the darker days of the McCarthy-era blacklisting, Sito focuses on key figures in the industry to convey the realities of labor relations in the animation industry. As Sito notes, “The pressures of personal performance and artistic drive are the same for the people who draw ducks and bunnies for a living as for those in seemingly more serious creative disciplines.”
Sito reveals the animation industry beyond its innocent surface: stifling labor contracts, managerial nepotism, and good old-fashioned paranoia—just as they exist in other industries. Among the tales from the early days of union organization, Sito relates a 1934 convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in which cronies of Al Capone fixed the election of a notorious and dubious character as the head of a motion picture technicians’ union. From allegation of the mafia’s involvement in labor disputes during the years after the depression, to tales such as that of Ronald Reagan carrying a gun to the office during his years at Screen Actors Guild, numerous tantalizing secrets are revealed in Drawing the Line.
Gratia Placenti: For the Sake of Pleasing edited by Jason Sizemore & Gill Ainsworth
Apex Publications, $15.95, 194pp, tp, 9780978867652. Horror anthology.
Gratia Placenti is a Latin phrase, one that means, literally, “For the sake of pleasing.” To what lengths will a person go to satisfy their needs? Thirteen writers bring their unique visions of horror as they explore what happens when nothing will stand in the way of what we want.
[Contributors: Jason Sizemore, Geoffrey Girard, Athena Workman, Debbie Kuhn, David Niall Wilson, Shane Jiraiya Cummings, Teri Jacobs, Adrienne Jones, J.A. Konrath, James Reilly, Ben Vincent, R. Thomas Riley, Neil Ayres, and Mary Robinette Kowal.]
Bone Book 7: Ghost Circles by Jeff Smith
Graphix/Scholastic, $9.99. 152pp, tp, 9780439706346. Graphic novel. On-sale date: February 2008.
The critically acclaimed Bone series continues with the gripping seventh volume!
The valley is ravaged by war while the Bone cousins, Gran’ma Ben, and a baby rat creature are on a dangerous trek to Atheia, the old city of the royal family, to bring Princess Thorn to safety. To get there, they must travel through fields of mysterious ghost circles, where reality and the supernatural collide—and one wrong step could drastically change the valley’s fate forever.
Bite Me! The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Chosen Edition by Nikki Stafford
ECW Press, $17.95, 397pp, tp, 9781550228076. Non-fiction.
The show lasted seven years. Characters died. And some came back. Best friends became enemies. Enemies became lovers. And now, long after the series has ended, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is considered one of the greatest television shows of all time.
Revised and updated, The Chosen Edition of Bite Me!—Nikki Stafford’s critically acclaimed and best-selling guide to Buffy—features:
* Episode guides to all seven seasons
* Updated bios chronicling what happened to the cast after the show ended
* New trivia questions
* A history of the show from conception to afterlife
* A new chapter on Joss Whedon’s season eight comic book series, which has thrilled fans by resurrecting the story of Buffy and Co.
With exclusive photos, Bite Me! offers insight and new information for the Buffy fan who has seen every episode, and acts as a guide through the Buffyverse for fans just beginning to watch. It is the essential guide to the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick
Tor, $25.95, 318pp, hc, 9780765319500. Fantasy.
Nominated for a record 143 awards and counting, five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick delivers his first new fantasy novel in almost a decade. Called “modern fantasy at its finest” in a starred review in Publishers Weekly, The Dragons of Babel is a bold and brilliantly imagined work of hard fantasy set in the same postindustrialized fairy world as Swanwick’s New York Times Notable Book, The Iron Dragon’s Daughter.
In this fascinating blend of old-fashioned magic and rich pop culture, Marlboro Man cigarettes and Duke Ellington recordings mingle with high-born elves, female centaur-soldiers, and mechanical dragons in an urban landscape of tall buildings, malls, strip clubs and junkyards. An injured mechanical war dragon crashes into the field of a nearby village. In a moment of chance, Will le Fey, orphaned since childhood, finds his mind co-opted by the evil dragon and his fellow villagers enslaved.
Upon finally escaping the village, Will embarks on a long journey across Faerie, one involving a railway trip and a run-in with a refugee camp. He also picks up a few companions along the way: Esme, a forever young girl child with no memory; and Nat Whilk, an irreverent and uniquely talented trickster who will ultimately pull the biggest con of all…
The travelers eventually reach Babel, a sprawling intricate city with uncanny similarities to New York City. There, he meets a beautiful woman—a high-born and perhaps unattainable elf. Will also falls in with the homeless living in the city’s subway tunnels and steadily rises in popularity to become something much more than he ever dreamed.
An electrifying and visionary novel from Michael Swanwick, this unforgettable work of hard urban fantasy puts the poetry and the jazz and the high-tech back into steampunk and fairylands. The Dragons of Babel is not to be missed.
Hebrew Punk by Lavie Tidhar (introduction by Laura Anne Gilman)
Apex Publications, $13.95, 152pp, tp, 9780978867645. Fantasy collection.
Popular short fiction writer Lavie Tidhar gathers some of his best work in one collection with stories that are infused with centuries of tradition and mired with Hebrew mythology. The Tzaddik, the Rat, and the Rabbi. Three friends that transcend time.
[Contents: “The Heist,” “Transylvania Mission,” “Uganda,” and “The Dope Fiend.”]
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien, read by Christopher Lee, preface and introduction read by Christopher Tolkien
HarperCollins UK Audio Books, $49.95, 8 CDs (9 hours 30 minutes), 9780007263455. Fantasy audio book. On-sale date: April 2008.
After long study of the various manuscripts that composed this early tale of Middle-Earth, Christopher Tolkien has constructed a coherent and epic narrative that composes a crucial part of his father’s literary oeuvre.
Presented as an unabridged story on eight CDs, The Children of Húrin explores the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West, following the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. Morgoth—the first Dark Lord—dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron. As he waged war against the lands and secret cities of the Elves, the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Niënor unfolds.
These siblings’ brief and passionate lives are dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bears them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them Morgoth sends his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulates the fates of Túrin and Niënor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth is fulfilled.
This audio version of The Children of Húrin is read by Christopher Lee—the actor who portrayed Saruman in the film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee expertly evokes the magic of Tolkien’s fanciful story about Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, struggles and revenge.
The beautiful audio of The Children of Húrin shares an incredible tale of the happenings on Middle-Earth long before the adventures of Frodo and his companions.
The Jack Vance Reader (edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan)
Subterranean, $38, 482pp, hc, 9781596061569. Science fiction collection. Publication date: July 2008.
Jack Vance is science fiction’s world-builder par excellence, a multi-award-winning Grand Master and much-loved doyen of the art of the planetary adventure. In a career spanning 59 years, Vance has been responsible—more than any other writer in the field—for creating exotic alien cultures and living, breathing worlds, among them Tschai, Durdane and Big Planet, Trullion, Cadwal and Wyst, Aerlith, Fader and Dar Sai.
Now, in a single impressive volume, The Jack Vance Reader brings together three of the master’s very best planetary adventures: the internationally acclaimed Emphyrio, the classic interplanetary whodunnit, The Domains of Koryphon, and the provocative and unforgettable The Languages of Pao.
Marseguro by Edward Willett
DAW, $7.99, 392pp, pb, 9780756404642. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 February 2008.
The title of Edward Willett’s new novel, Marseguro, refers to a water world far distant to Earth. Home to a small colony of unmodified humans known as landlings and to a water-dwelling race created by geneticist Victor Hansen from modified human DNA called the Selkies, Marseguro has experienced seventy years of peace and has escaped pursuit by the current theocratic rulers of earth. But the peace won’t last for long when the Earth force decides to conquer Marseguro.
Flight to Freedom by D.J. Wilson
Medallion, $15.95, 354pp, tp, 9781933836379. Fiction. On-sale date: May 2008.
I killed my husband, a town hero, and then called the police and turned myself in. “He’s dead as a doornail,” I said to the officer and then spit on Harland Jeffers’ bloody, dead body.
With my head held high, I allowed myself to be escorted to a squad car outside my house. A house which had been more of a prison than the cell I was headed for.
Cameras flashed.
“Why did you kill Harland?”
Because he needed killing. And I, Montana Ines Parsons-Jeffers did just that.
So begins the rest of what’s left of Montana’s life. Not that she ever really had one.
Now she’s headed for prison. There’s no escaping it. It was the ultimate destination in her Flight to Freedom.
But one man might be able to help…
Roman Dusk by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Tor, $14.95, 352pp, tp, 9780765313935. Horror.
From horror author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro comes a new one in the exciting Saint-Germain series, chronicling vampire Saint-Germain’s quest through historical Rome: Roman Dusk.
Rome is crumbling. The child-emperor, Heliogabalus, diverts the Roman populace with parties, circuses, and celebrations, while his mother and grandmother jockey for power behind the scenes. The government is riddled with scandal and no business is conducted without bribes which grow ever larger. Religions joust for prominence, with factions of Christians seeking to overthrow the ancient Roman pantheon. Courtesans, once honored for their skills and protected by special guards, have become targets of opprobrium. And ancient vampires feud, feed and romance amidst this backdrop of culture of power, greed, and strong religions!