This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher
(a novel of the Polity), Night Shade, $7.99, 341pp, pb, 9781597801546. Science fiction.
Raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and a vicious alien race, the Prador, Ian Cormac is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn’t remember.
Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help restore and maintain order on worlds devastated by the war. There he discovers that though the Prador remain as murderous as ever, they are not anywhere near as treacherous or dangerous as some of his fellow humans, some closer to him than he would like.
Amidst the ruins left by wartime genocides, Cormac will discover in himself a cold capacity for violence and learn some horrible truths about his own past while trying to stay alive on his course of vengeance.
Shalador’s Lady by Anne Bishop
(a Black Jewels novel), Roc, $24.95, 448pp, hc, 9780451463159. Fantasy. On-sale date: 2 March 2010.
Return to the “intense… erotic… and imaginative” (Nancy Kress) world of the national bestselling Black Jewels novels with this sequel to The Shadow Queen. In Anne Bishop’s “vividly painted” (Lynn Flewelling) realm, witches and warlocks channel their power through magical jewels—and one Queen has emerged from the shadows to bring hope to an impoverished people.
For years the Shalador people suffered the cruelties of the corrupt Queens who ruled them, forbidding their traditions, punishing those who dared show defiance, and forcing many more into hiding. And even though the refugees have found sanctuary in Dena Nehele, they have never been able to call it home.
Now that Dena Nehele has been cleansed of tainted Blood, the Rose-Jeweled Queen, Lady Cassidy, makes it her duty to restore the land and prove her ability to rule. She knows that undertaking this task will require all her heart and courage as she summons the untested power within her, a power capable of consuming her if she cannot control it.
And even if Lady Cassidy survives her trial by fire, other dangers await. For the Black Widows see within their tangled webs visions of something coming that will change the land—and Lady Cassidy—forever.
Laugh Lines by Ben Bova
Baen, $7.99, 688pp, pb, 9781439133248. Science fiction collection.
Ben Bova, best-selling and award-winning author of the “Grand Tour” and “Asteroid Wars” series, takes a sardonic look at the humorous possibilities of future technology.
The Starcrossed: Bill Oxnard, a young technological genius, had perfected true three-dimensional television, making ordinary TV obsolete. He thought he would be rich and famous—but he hadn’t realized how deranged the executives running the industry were; nor what sort of programs they were planning to broadcast using the new process in the maniacal quest for ratings.
Cyberbooks: Carl Lewis has a dream—to make books accessible and affordable to every person in the country, and thinks his “cyberbook,” about as large and as cheap as a pocket calculator, will make it possible for anyone to download books directly and cheaply. But he has no idea what he’s about to get into, nor does his contact at Bunker Books, lovely but naïve aspiring editor Lori Tashkajian. Will they survive this foray into the cut-throat world of big publishing? And just who is suddenly murdering all those nice elderly people on the streets of New York, anyway?
These two full-length novels of twistedly comic, but very possible futures, plus six shorter but equally witty works, add up to a generous volume of futuristic fun and hilarious high-tech.
[Contents: The Starcrossed, “Crisis of the Month”, “The Great Moon Hoax”, “The Supersonic Zeppelin”, “Vince’s Dragon”, “The Angel’s Gift”, “A Slight Miscalculation”, and Cyberbooks.]
Exodus: The Ark by Paul Chafe
(book two of the Ark trilogy), Baen, $16.00, 496pp, hc, 9781439133220. Science fiction.
The gigantic starship Ark was launched on a voyage of ten thousand years from an Earth on the brink of collapse. Its mission was to carry a portion of the human race to a new home circling another star, but, centuries after its departure, the descendants of the original crew no longer remember that they are on a city-sized spaceship, and know nothing of the Ark‘s mission, nor of the starry universe outside. The Prophetsy, a theocracy based on slavery and terror, has ruled over most of the Ark for longer than anyone now living can remember, and it has just succeeded in conquering the few remaining free regions of the ship. Yet there are chinks in the monolithic tyranny…
Danil has been a slave since he was a young boy, but his spirit has never been broken, and his keen mind sees ways that the theocracy might be overthrown and envisions new weapons that could achieve that victory.
Annaya is the daughter of the Prophet Polldor, undisputed ruler of the Prophetsy. She is far more intelligent and strong-willed than her brother, but only a male heir can become the next Prophet. To her father, she is only a pawn, to be married off to a powerful ally. But she is determined that will not happen, even if she has to somehow overthrow both her father and the Prophetsy itself.
Olen, the Prophet’s son, is anxious to become the next Prophet. He will cooperate in his sister’s plans as long as he thinks they will lead to his assuming the throne and gaining absolute power, but he is a more dangerous ally than Annaya realizes.
These three, each with a different motive, will strive to change the course of history for the Ark. But even if they restore freedom to their artificial world, can they discover the nature of that world, and regain the knowledge necessary for the successful completion of its mission?
Master storyteller Paul Chafe presents Exodus: The Ark, the gripping second book of the Ark trilogy.
The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook
Night Shade, $7.99, 438pp, pb, 978197801485. Science fiction.
For four thousand years, the Guardships ruled Canon Space with an iron fist. Immortal ships with an immortal crew roamed the galaxy, dealing swiftly and harshly with any mercantile houses or alien races that threatened the status quo.
But now the House Tregesser believes they have an edge; a force from outside Canon Space offers them the resources to throw off Guardship rule. Their initial gambits precipitate an avalanche of unexpected outcomes, the most unpredicted of which is the emergence of Kez Maefele, one of the few remaining generals of the Ku Warrior race—the only race to ever seriously threaten Guardship hegemony.
Kez Maefele and a motley group of mysterious aliens, biological constructs and scheming aristocrats find themselves at the center of the conflict. Maefele must choose which side he will support; the Guardships, who defeated and destroyed his race, or the unknown forces from outside Canon Space that promise more death and destruction.
And Another Thing…: Part Six of Three in Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Eoin Colfer
Hyperion, $25.99, 288pp, hc, 9781401323585. Science fiction.
Hyperion is thrilled to publish And Another Thing…, part six in Douglas Adams’s beloved (and improbably named) Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, with a publication date timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Internationally bestselling author Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) has stepped into the late Douglas Adams’s shoes to continue the series, at the request of Adams’s widow Jane Belson, who said “I could not think of a better person to transport Arthur, Zaphod, and Marvin to pastures new.”
Colfer, a lifelong Hitchhiker’s Guide fan himself, said, “Being given the chance to write this book is like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice. For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world.”
When last we saw Arthur Dent, our towel-toting hero had traveled the length, breadth, and depth of known, and unknown, space. No sooner had he made his way home to (one rather pleasant version of) planet Earth than he discovered that it was about to be blown up… again. Since 1997, Hitchhiker’s fans have feared Arthur and his friends dead, but now, in And Another Thing…, Eoin Colfer revives Adams’s beloved characters using his own brand of humor to propel them through another intergalactic screwball adventure.
Will Arthur ever get a decent cup of tea? Will Random overcome her teenage angst? Will the group survive cocktail hour at Club Beta? All of your answers will finally be questioned in And Another Thing….
The Swordbearer by Glen Cook
Night Shade, $14.95, 250pp, tp, 9781597801508. Fantasy.
A young boy’s dreams of glory and war turn into a bitter nightmare as his father’s kingdom is overrun by an invading army. Lost and alone in the woods, he finds an ancient sword that promises him the ability to claim his vengeance. As he begins to take that vengeance, he begins to realize the price that the sword will demand of him. Enemies soon become allies and strange bedfellows abound as the prophesies of an age swirl into chaos.
The Mall of Cthulhu by Seamus Cooper
Night Shade, $13.95, 235pp, tp, 9781597801275. Fantasy.
A decade ago, college student Laura Harker was saved from a fate worse than death at the hands (and fangs) of a centuries-old vampire priestess and her Satanic minions. Her rescuer, an awkward, geeky folklore student named Teddy, single-handedly slew the undead occupants of the Omega Alpha sorority house, spurred into heroic action by fate itself, inexorably intertwining his and Laura’s destinies.
After navigating her way through law school, Laura is now a junior FBI agent assigned to the Bureau’s Boston office. Unfortunately, she finds her job involves more paperwork than adventure. Ted, on the other hand, has spent the past decade perfecting the ultimate latte, and works as a barista in a nearby corporate chain coffeehouse named for a character in Moby Dick.
When Ted stumbles onto a group of Cthulhu cultists planning to awaken the Oldd Ones through mystic incantations culled from the fabled Necronomicon, calling forth eldritch horrors into an unsuspecting world. He and Laura must spring into action, traveling from Boston to the seemingly peaceful suburbs of Providence and beyond, all the way to the sanity-shattering non-Euclidean alleyways and towers of dread R’lyeh itself, in order to prevent an innocent shopping center from turning into… the Mall of Cthulhu.
The Scarpetta Collection, Volume II by Patricia Cornwell
(contains Postmortem and Body of Evidence), Pocket, $16.99, 640pp, tp, 9781439153031. Fiction.
Fans of Patricia Cornwell, the number one megastar who virtually invented the forensic thriller, will rejoice to see her first two novels, Postmortem and Body of Evidence, united in this much-anticipated omnibus volume. Hugely successful when they were first published, these are the two novels that brought Virginia Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta to the book-reading world. They are presented here complete and unabridged.
Postmortem
A serial killer is on the loose in Richmond, Virginia. Three women have died, brutalized and strangled in their own bedrooms. There is little pattern: the killer appears to strike at random—but always early on Saturday mornings.
When Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is awakened at 2:33 A.M., she knows the news is bad: there is a fourth victim, and she fears now for those who may follow unless she finds the forensic evidence that can break the case.
But not everyone wants her help. Not everyone is pleased to see a woman in this powerful job. Someone may even want to ruin her career and reputation before she can find the killer.
Body of Evidence
A reclusive writer is dead, and her final manuscript has disappeared…
Someone is stalking Beryl Madison. Someone who spies on her and makes threatening, obscene phone calls. Terrified, Beryl flees to Key West—but eventually she must return to her Richmond home. The very night she arrives, Beryl inexplicably invites her killer inside.
Thus begins for Dr. Kay Scarpetta the investigation of a crime that is as convoluted as it is bizarre. Why would Beryl open the door to someone who would brutally slash and then neatly decapitate her? Did she know her killer? Adding to the intrigue is Beryl’s enigmatic relationship with a prizewinning author and the disappearance of her own manuscript.
As Scarpetta retraces Beryl’s footsteps, an investigation that begins in the laboratory with microscopes and lasers leads her deep into a nightmare that soon becomes her own.
The Scarpetta Collection, Volume II by Patricia Cornwell
(contains All That Remains and Cruel and Unusual), Pocket, $16.99, 672pp, tp, 9781439172056. Fiction.
International publishing sensation Patricia Cornwell’s legion of readers will welcome this omnibus edition of her third and fourth megabestselling Kay Scarpetta novels, All That Remains and Cruel & Unusual. These two novels, presented here complete and unabridged, helped to confirm Patricia Cornwell’s status as queen of the forensic thriller and one of the world’s top bestselling authors.
All That Remains
A killer is stalking young lovers. Taking their lives and leaving just a tantalizing clue.
When the bodies of young couples start turning up in remote woodland areas, Dr. Kay Scarpetta’s task as Virginia’s Chief Medical Examiner is made more difficult by the effects of the elements. Eight times she must write that the cause of death is undetermined.
But when the latest young woman to go missing is the daughter of one of America’s most powerful women, Kay also finds herself prey to political pressure and press harassment. The killings must stop. Now.
Scarpetta soon discovers that someone is withholding vital evidence, or even faking it. Meanwhile, a cunning sadistic killer is still at large.
Cruel & Unusual
At 11:05 one December evening in Richmond, Virginia, convicted murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell is pronounced dead in the electric chair. At the morgue, Dr. Kay Scarpetta has been waiting for Waddell’s body. Preparing to perform a postmortem before the subject is dead is a strange feeling for Scarpetta, but she has been here before. And Waddell’s death is not the only newsworthy event on this freezing night: the grotesquely wounded body of a young boy is found propped against a garbage dumpster. To Scarpetta, the two cases seem unrelated, until she recalls that the body of Waddell’s victim had been arranged in a strikingly similar position.
Was Waddell innocent? Is someone else out there, who may attack again?
The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas
Roc, $24.95, 384pp, hc, 9780451463135. Fantasy. On-sale date: 2 February 2010.
In this “fast, furious, and entertaining” (The Wertzone) debut novel, Stephen Deas breathes new life into the dragon mythos. At the center of a tale of political intrigue, lust, and betrayal, his creatures are powerful fire-breathing nightmares that have forgotten what freedom tastes like. Until now…
The power of the Realms depends on its dragons. Jealously guarded, nurtured by their handlers, ridden by the aristocracy, they are bred for hunting and for war. But only the alchemists and the mysterious liquid they administer to the dragons stand between the Realms and disaster. For without the liquid, the dragons would return to their natural fury—unbiddable, terrifying, awesomely strong, able to destroy an entire army and to burn a kingdom to ashes.
Prince Jehal is thinking of other things. Of power over all the Kings and Queens of the Realms—and he is prepared to charm, lie, betray, plot, and murder to get it. Nor is he alone in his ambition. Queen Shezira has her daughters, and she means to use them as she herself was used, to gain the ultimate prize: marrying them off to secure her influence and power.
All sell-sword Kemir is thinking of is money. Of freedom from the unending arrogance of the dragon riders. And maybe of a little cold revenge against the warlords who both need him and despise him.
The Realms are uneasy. Who will rule?
And now a dragon has gone missing…
The Complete Hammer’s Slammers, Volume 1 by David Drake, introduction by Gene Wolfe
Baen, $12.00, 528pp, tp, 9781439133095. Science fiction.
With a veteran’s eye for the harsh and gritty details of war, David Drake depicts a futuristic analog of tank combat in his Hammer’s Slammers fiction. The Slammers are neither cartoon heroes nor propaganda villains; rather they are competent professionals engaged in a deadly business. The inevitable conflicts between policy, necessity, and human nature make Drake’s Slammers fiction instantly identifiable and utterly compelling. This is the first of a three volume set presenting for the first time the entire genre-defining Slammers series in a uniform trade paperback set, with new introductions by major SF figures and new afterwords by David Drake. Each volume will also include a Slammers story not collected in previous Slammer’s books.
[Contents: “Under the Hammer”, “Supteranks”, “The Butcher’s Bill”, “The Church of the Lord’s Universe”, “But Loyal to His Own”, “Powerguns”, “Caught in the Crossfire”, “Backdrop to Chaos”, “Cultural Conflict”, “The Bonding Authority”, “Hangman”, “Table of Organization and Equipment, Hammer’s Regiment”, “Standing Down”, “Code-Name Feirefitz”, “The Interrogation Team”, “The Tank Lords”, “Liberty Port”, “Night March”, “The Immovable Object”, “The Irresistible Force”, and “A Death in Peacetime”.]
Incandescence by Greg Egan
Night Shade, $14.95, 250pp, tp, 9781597801294. Science Fiction.
The Amalgam spans the nearly entire galaxy, and is composed of innumerable beings from a wild variety of races, some human or near it, some entirely other. The one place that they cannot go is the bulge, the bright, hot center of the galaxy. There dwell the Aloof, who for millions of years have deflected any and all attempts to communicate with or visit them. So when Rakesh is offered an opportunity to travel within their sphere, in search of a lost race, he cannot turn it down.
Roi is a member of that lost race, which is not only lost to the Amalgam, but lost to itself. In their world, there is but toil, and history and science are luxuries that they can ill afford. When she meets Zak, the male who will become her teacher and mentor, everything starts to change. Their strange world is under threat, and it will take an unprecedented flowering of science to save it.
Rakesh’s journey will take him across millennia and light years. Roi’s will take her across vistas of learning and discovery just as vast. Greg Egan’s blend of dazzling speculation and gripping storytelling will leave you stunned by the depth of his intellectual rigor and the wondrous world of the deep ffuture that he has created.
Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn
(a Mitch Rapp novel), Pocket, $9.99, 515pp, pb, 9781416505044. Fiction.
Vince Flynn’s deadly and charismatic hero Mitch Rapp wages a war against a new enemy with the help of a fellow soldier as dedicated—and as lethal—as they come.
Now, Rapp and his agency colleague, Mike Nash, may have met their match. The CIA has detected and intercepted two terrorist cells, but a third is feared to be on the loose. Led by a dangerous mastermind obsessed with becoming the leader of al-Qaeda, this determined and terrifying group is about to descend on America. Together, they have made careers out of meeting violence with extreme violence and have never wavered in the fight against the jihadists and their culture of death. Both have been forced to lie to virtually every single person they care about, and both have soldiered on with the knowledge that their hard work and lethal tactics have saved thousands of lives. But the political winds have changed in America, and certain leaders on Capitol Hill are pushing to have men like Rapp and Nash put back on a short leash. And then one spring afternoon in Washington, DC, everything changes.
Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman
(Book One of The Vineart War), Pocket, $26.00, 384pp, hc, 9781439101414. Fantasy.
This fall, Pocket Books will publish the first book in an exciting new fantasy series from acclaimed bestselling author Laura Anne Gilman. Flesh and Fire, book one of the Vineart War trilogy, introduces readers to a new world where magic is derived from the art of wine-making.
Fourteen centuries ago, all power in the Vin Lands was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft the spell-wines. But the people revolted against harsh rule, and were saved by a demigod called Sin-Washer, who broke the First Vine, shattering the hold of the prince-mages.
In 1378 ASW, princes still rule, but it is the Vinearts who now hold the secrets of making spellwines, which have become less powerful than in days of old. Jerzy, a young slave, has just begun his studies to become a Vineart when his master uncovers the first stirrings of a plot to finish the work Sin-Washer began, and shatter the remains of the Vine forever. Only his master believes the magnitude and danger of this plot. And only Jerzy has the ability to stop it… before there are no more Vinearts left at all.
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny by Simon R. Green
(a novel of the Nightside), Ace, $24.95, 288pp, hc, 9780441018161. Fantasy. On-sale date: 5 January 2010.
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny: A Novel of the Nightside is the tenth novel in Simon R. Green’s popular hard-boiled fantasy series.
Hidden away deep in the hollow heart of London is another city, another world, another reality where it’s always night, always dark, always three o’clock in the morning; the hour that tries the souls of men. Angels and demons lurk in shadowed alleyways, arranging deals never to be shared with humankind. Nightmares go walking in borrowed flesh, and not everything that looks back at you with human eyes is really human. Who watches the watchmen? Who preys on the predators? John Taylor does.
He’s a private investigator, with a special gift for finding things, who takes cases that no one else will touch. And of late, things have been going well for him—no one has tried to kill him in weeks, his love-life has taken a good turn, and he’s got enough money to assure that he doesn’t have to take the really, really dangerous cases. So why is he feeling so ill at ease? Is it because his rival PI, Larry Oblivion, has called him to task for letting his brother Tommy die in the Lilith War? Is it because his old enemy the Collector may have moved from acquiring things to acquiring people? Or is it the knowledge that Walker, the man who runs the Nightside, is dying. John knows that Walker is not one to go gently into the night. But what he doesn’t know is that Walker’s plans for his last few months alive center on one man only, the man he has chosen to be his successor… John Taylor.
Starbound by Joe Haldeman
(sequel to Marsbound), Ace, $24.95, 304pp, hc, 9780441018178. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 January 2010.
Starbound is the second installment in the fast-paced trilogy from multiple award-winner Joe Haldeman.
Carmen Dula and her husband Paul Collins have been chosen to spend six years aboard a tiny spacecraft with five other humans and two Martians. Their mission is to travel to the home world of “The Others,” a group of near-immortals who haven’t quite decided if they want to annihilate all of humanity or not. Upon arrival in The Others’ solar system, the ship is directed to land on a nearby, earth-like planet that is covered with the ruins of an ancient civilization. As Carmen and her fellow crewmates discover the truth about The Others’ genesis, they manage to forge an uneasy truce with them.
Now they are sent back to an Earth that, due to relativity, has launched 50 years into the future. The Earthlings are busy building a flotilla of spacecraft in order to defend the planet from The Others’ attentions, when without warning all the ships disappear from the sky. A warning is issued: if any person leaves the solar system, all of humanity will be destroyed. As proof of their word, The Others destroy Venus, leaving nothing but an asteroid belt.
Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover
(book two of The Black Sun’s Daughter), Pocket, $7.99, 360pp, pb, 9781416576778. Fantasy.
In the battle between good and evil, there’s no such thing as a fair fight. When Jayné Heller’s uncle Eric died, she inherited a fortune beyond all her expectations—and a dangerous mission in a world she never knew existed. Reining in demons and supernatural foes is a formidable task, but thankfully Jayné has vast resources and loyal allies to rely on. She’ll need both to tackle a body-switching serial killer who’s taken up residence in New Orleans, a city rich in voodoo lore and dark magic.
Working alongside Karen Black, a highly confident and enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Jayné races to track down the demon’s next intended host. But the closer she gets, the more convinced she becomes that nothing in this beautiful, wounded city is exactly as it seems. When shocking secrets come to light, and jealousy and betrayal turn trusted friends into adversaries, Jayné will soon come face-to-face with an enemy that knows her all too well, and won’t rest until it has destroyed everything she loves most.
Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter
(a Bob Lee Swagger novel), Pocket, $9.99, 451pp, pb, 9781416565147. Fiction.
The need for speed: As the county sheriff’s department braces for the endless traffic jams and relentless revelry of their annual NASCAR week, reporter Nikki Swagger searches for a methamphetamine lab that fuels the sleepy Tennessee town’s lucrative drug trade. She stumbles upon a compound run by a violent clan of fire-and-brimstone gangsters, but after a shadowy figure drives her off the road and into a coma, it’s clear salvation is the last thing on their agenda.
A brutal crash course: Seeking clues to his daughter’s hit-and-run, fearless hero Bob Lee Swagger peels back the layers of a Southern-fired conspiracy bubbling with angst, resentment, and dysfunction that begins with a ruthless family of deranged evangelicals and runs straight through the sheriff’s office. With Nikki’s life at stake, Swagger will stop at nothing, but when he faces a bloodthirsty opponent known as “Sinnerman”, he realizes that in this town, racin’ ain’t the only way to die…
Just After Sunset by Stephen King
Pocket, $9.99, 540pp, pb, 9781416586654. Fiction collection.
Thirteen tales are included in this New York Times bestselling collection. Includes a preview of Stephen King’s new novel Under the Dome—his most thrillingly ambitious epic since The Stand.
[Contents: “Willa”, “The Gingerbread Girl”, “Harvey’s Dream”, “Rest Stop”, “Stationary Bike”, “The Things They Left Behind”, “Graduation Afternoon”, “N.”, “The Cat from Hell”, “The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates”, “Mute”, “Ayana”, “A Very Tight Place”, and “Sunset Notes”.]
Carnifex by Tom Kratman
Baen, $7.99, 944pp, pb, 9781416591504. Science fiction.
Revenge: it won’t bring your wife and kids back, but it might help with the nightmares.
Patricio Carrera has been waging what amounts to a private world war to bring to justice the murderers of his family. He’s raised an army and air force and used them. He’s raised a fleet and he’s about to use that. He’s suborned one republic and is about to undermine another. He’s tracked his enemies across half a world, breaking, in the process, any notion of international law that stood in his way.
Now he’s deployed his legions to Pashtia, penultimate hideout of the Salafi Ikhwan who have made him what he has become. But with each step further from his home, revenge seems no closer. And with each step he leaves behind him a little of his dwindling humanity.
Revenge is a dish best served cold. Yet the trail itself grows cold, as cold as the snow-capped, windswept mountains of Pashtia. Only Carrera’s hate still burns hot, and that’s a fire that is slowly consuming him.
Wolves of the Beyond: Lone Wolf by Kathryn Lasky
Scholastic, $16.99, 240pp, hc, 9780545093101. YA fantasy. On-sale date: January 2010.
Bestselling and award-winning author Kathryn Lasky, whose bestselling Guardians of Ga’Hoole series has more than 4.5 million copies in print, introduces a new fantasy series, Wolves of the Beyond. The first book in the series, Wolves of the Beyond: Lone Wolf, brings to life a world just beyond the legendary land of Ga’Hoole, filled with realistic details of the natural world that bring to life the mythical animal creatures that inhabit it.
Lasky’s research for Wolves of the Beyond was extensive. She consulted many books, ranging from beautiful photographic essays for the coffee table to highly technical works written by behavioral scientists specializing in wolf biology, behavior, ecology, and evolutionary history. To better understand the needs of wolves, she created a wolf avatar and monitored its daily habits with Wolfquest Amethyst Mountain, a video game developed by biologist at the Minnesota Zoo.
Wolves of the Beyond: Lone Wolf begins Faolan’s story—an abandoned wolf pup, born with a twisted paw, whose mother was forced to give him up to eliminate weakness in her pack. He’s left to die on an icy riverbank, but he does the unthinkable—he survives. With the help of an unlikely caregiver, Faolan begins his journey. The series follows Faolan as he makes his way across the great land in this wonderfully atmospheric tale of survival, the power of legend, and the mythical animal world.
Small Miracles by Edward M. Lerner
Tor, $25.99, 352pp, hc, 9780765320940. Science fiction.
From the author of Fools’ Experiments comes Small Miracles, a cautionary tale about nanobots run amok!
Brent Cleary, an engineer at Garner Nanotechnology, is developing nanotech-enhanced safety suits and autonomous first-aid nanobots, pushing the envelope of nanotechnology and exploring previously unimagined possibilities with the microscopic robots. When Cleary goes on a police ride-along to demonstrate the suit, he’s the sole survivor—thanks, of course, to his nanotech gear—of a devastating pipeline explosion that kills hundreds of people. The Army takes notice.
A near-death experience changes a person, so no one is too surprised when easy-going Brent turns somber and cold. But Kim O’Donnell, Brent’s best friend, cannot rationalize the changes. This just isn’t her friends, and she fears something has gotten into him.
Something has indeed gotten into Brent: swarms of medical nanobots. But Garner management refuses to listen—the designers installed a fail-safe in the repair bots. Once their work is completed the tiny medics self-destruct, and medical tests confirm that Brent’s system is clear of the nanobots. With the prospect of a huge defense contract and the Wall Street rewards the contract will bring, Garner management has no intention of disclosing possible side effects.
But while this new Brent may be the first nano/human hybrid, he’s made sure he won’t be the last. If Kim can’t find a way to save—or at least stop—her friend, the rest of humanity is doomed!
Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier
Roc, $24.95, 403pp, hc, 9780451462930. Fantasy.
Heart’s Blood is a new sweeping romantic fantasy from Juliet Marillier, thhe national bestselling author of Heir to Sevenwaters. Combining historical and fairytale elements with a gothic romance, Heart’s Blood has all the components Juliet Marillier’s readers are looking for!
Fleeing an unwanted marriage, Caitrin hopes to find refuge with her mother’s relatives. Instead, she is stranded in an isolated village in the west of Ireland, with only the skills her father, a trained scribe, has taught her. When Caitrin learns that Anluan, the local chieftain, is in need of a scribe, she leaps at the opportunity, only to discover a strange curse that has haunted Anluan’s family. As Caitlin gets to known Anluan and the people of his household, she unearths more mysteries and learns that she, herself, may have a role to play in freeing Anluan from the curse.
CSI: Brass in Pocket by Jeff Mariotte
Pocket, $7.99, 325pp, pb, 9781416545170. Fiction.
Meet the little known and even less understood heroes of police work in Las Vegas—the forensic investigators. Led by veteran Gil Grissom, the remarkable team assigned to the Criminalistics Bureau’s graveyard shift—including Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes, and Greg Sanders—must combine cutting-edge scientific methods and old-fashioned savvy as they work to untangle the evidence behind the yellow police tape.
The Las Vegas Crime Lab’s team of investigators is called out to a cheap motel room, far from the glittering lights of the Strip, where a dead body has been found. BUt as they process the scene, nothing could prepare them for the shock of finding physical evidence belonging to none other than their esteemed colleague, Detective Jim Bras…
Live Free or Die by John Ringo
(book one of Troy Rising), Baen, $26.00, 416pp, hc, 9781439133323. Science Fiction. On-sale date: February 2010.
Contact with friendly aliens led to a gate to other worlds being brought to the solar system. At first trade came through. Then the Horvath came through and annihilated three cities by dropping asteroids on them to demonstrate that they were taking over. Earth’s governments have accepted the fact. But Tyler Vernon hasn’t, and he has bigger plans than just getting rid of the Horvath.
Beginning a new trilogy—Troy Rising—by a best-selling author.
The Tau Ceti Agenda by Travis S. Taylor
(sequel to One Day on Mars), Baen, $7.99, 448pp, tp, 9781439133156. Science fiction.
The riveting edge of your seat sequel to One Day On Mars once again takes us on a blindingly fast pace through events from a futuristic Washington D.C. to the Tau Ceti star system. Just days before the presidential election a CIA operative uncovers a plot to overthrow America that reaches deep into the government. To top it off, the forces planning to revolt have somehow developed a technology that allows them to transport across the gulf between the star systems almost instantaneously.
The CIA operative braves hand-to-hand combat and even torture in order to get a warning of the coming coup to American officials while at the same time the two most powerful battleships in the U.S. Space Navy are dispatched to overtake the enemy teleportation technology. With armored marines, intense space naval battles, fighter plane, and high technology wizardry perhaps the plot to kill the president can be thwarted. But will that be enough to save the land of the free?
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer
Underland Press, $14.95, 336pp, tp, 9780980226010. Fantasy.
Sometimes betrayal is just another word for honesty.
Tasked with solving an impossible double murder, detective John Finch searches for the truth among the rubble of the once-mighty city of Ambergris. Under the rule of the mysterious gray caps, Ambergris is falling into anarchy. The remnants of a rebel force are demoralized and dispersed, their leader, the Lady in Blue, not seen for months. Partials—human traitors transformed by the gray caps—walk the streets brutalizing the city’s inhabitants. Finch’s partner Wyte, stricken with a fungal disease, is literally disintegrating. And strange forces are marshaling themselves against detective Finch even as he pursues his one clue: the elusive spymaster Ethan Bliss. How much time does Finch have before time itself runs out?
In this powerful and poignant novel, the past and the future, the cosmic and the gritty, collide. What will happen if Finch uncovers the truth? What will happen if he doesn’t? And will Ambergris ever be the same?
Torch of Freedom by David Weber & Eric Flint
Baen, $26.00, 608pp, hc, 9781439133057. Science fiction.
As the slavemasters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, Anton Zilwicki and the notorious Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat set off on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth concerning a wave of mysterious assassinations that have been launched against Manticore and Torch. Most people are sure that the Republic of Haven is behind the assassinations, but Zilwicki and Cachat suspect others of being the guilty party.
Queen Berry of Torch was one of the targets of the unknown assassins. The former head of the Ballroom slave liberation organization, Jeremy X—now one of Torch’s top officials, but still considered by many the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxy—calls in some past favors owed to him. In response, a security officer from Beowulf arrives in Torch to take charge of Queen Berry’s security—a task made doubly difficult by the young monarch’s resentment of bodyguards and the security officer’s own growing attachment to her.
Meanwhile, powerful forces in the Solarian League are maneuvering against each other to gain the upper hand in what they all expect to be an explosive crisis that threatens the very existence of the League itself.
Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
Roc, $23.95, 384pp, hc, 9780451462732. Fantasy. On-sale date: 2 February 2010.
From World Fantasy Award winner Jane Yolen and Mythopoeic Award winner Midori Snyder comes a tale of two worlds, two exiles, two lost souls—and the one destiny that binds them all.
Sisters Serena and Meteora are proud members of the high court of the Fairy Queen—until they discover a secret Her Highness would like to keep hidden. Cast out from court and stripped of their powers, they are banished to the coarse and brutish mortal realm of Earth.
Meteora bonds with the troubled young girl who lives in the apartment below her. But when she sees the ornate tattoo on the girl’s neck, Meteora recognizes it as a magic symbol that will surely draw evil to them. Serena, meanwhile, takes in a homeless boy whose mind is plagued by dark visions and nightmarish creatures—creatures that Serena recognizes as being from the world of her birth. The sisters know that these signs point to a force whose power is rising—one that threatens both the fairy and human worlds.
The Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
(contains Cobra, Cobra Strike, and Cobra Bargain), Baen, $12.00, 960pp, tp, 9781439133187. Science fiction.
He was a new kind of soldier, created for a new kind of war.
Soldier…
Outnumbered and on the defensive against the Troft forces, Earth made a desperate decision. It would attack the aliens not from space, but on the ground—with forces the Trofts did not even suspect. Thus were created the Cobras, a guerilla force whose weapons were surgically implanted, invisible to the unsuspecting eye, yet undeniably deadly. But power brings temptation—Jonny Moreau would learn the uses—and abuses—of his special abilities, and what it truly meant to be a Cobra.
Mercenary…
If anyone had told Jonny Moreau the Cobras would one day take orders from the alien Troft, he would have laughed without humor. He’d lost too many friends during the Troft war, though the Cobras triumphed in the end. Now, though, the Troft were trading partners—and they feared a new race, ruthless and tenacious, that threatened human space as well as Troft. Jonny’s son Justin would carry the Moreau name to danger… and learn that it takes more than a Cobra father to make a Cobra son.
Governor…
Corwin Moreau’s niece, Jasmine, faces the greatest challenge. Her only ambition is to become a Cobra—but no woman has ever been accepted to the Academy or ever will be, if her opponents have their way. Until a mission arises that demands her expertise, and requires that she be given the deadly Cobra implants. Because the enemy, too, knows that there are no female Cobras, and Jasmine can infiltrate without being suspected… she thinks…