This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
Sacrifice by Dakota Banks
(Mortal Path, Book Two), Eos, $7.99, 286pp, pb, 9780061687327. Urban Fantasy.
The second book in the series that offers a new twist on supernatural thrillers—Lara Croft meets Elektra—an edge-of-your-seat, action-packed adventure that fans of Vicki Pettersson and James Rollins won’t want to miss.
Maliha Crayne, the Black Ghost, returns! The former immortal assassin is still fighting to save enough human lives to redeem herself and win her freedom from eternal damnation. Aided by steadfast friends and a lover she may or may not be able to trust, she’s finally finding a bit of happiness.
But to stop a deadly terrorist plot Maliha must return to her old ways… and the dark side of her soul is all too powerful, and seductive.
Fast-paced, filled with action, adventure, and sexy romance, the Mortal Path books are a great, fun read.
Elfsorrow by James Barclay
(Legends of the Raven 1), Pyr, $17.00, 430pp, tp, 9781616142483. Fantasy. On-sale date: November 2010.
Another action-packed adventure from the new master of fantasy. The Raven travel to a new continent in search of mages to help the ruined college of Julatsa rebuild and find themselves in the midst of an ancient curse—a curse that has unleashed a plague that threatens to wipe out the elven race. Barclay excels with another tale that pitches The Raven against the clock and unseen foes. Full of desperate fights and secret betrayals, the story also fills in more of Balaia’s history and delves deeper into the ancient enmities between the colleges. Barclay has created a wonderfully appealing group of heroes, and with every book their history grows and the land they live in becomes wider and richer. This is landmark fantasy in the making.
Shadowheart by James Barclay
(Legends of the Raven 2), Pyr, $17.00, 398pp, tp, 9781616142506. Fantasy. On-sale date: December 2010.
The Raven are tested to the point of destruction when a savage war is unleashed across their world and the magical colleges of Balaia tear the land apart in their struggle for supremacy. Can The Raven even survive, let along triumph?
Sparks by Laura Bickle
(an Anya Kalinczyk novel), Pocket/Juno, $7.99, 360pp, pb, 9781439167697. Urban Fantasy.
Without a trace…
Anya Kalinczyk is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern, who holds down a day job as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department—while working 24/7 to exterminate malicious spirits plaguing a city plagued by unemployment and despair. Along with her inseparable salamander familiar, Sparky, Anya has seen, and even survived, all manner of fiery hell—but her newest case sparks suspicions of a bizarre phenomenon that no one but her eccentric team of ghost hunters might believe: spontaneous human combustion.
After fire consumes the home of elderly Jasper Bernard, Anya is stunned to discover his remains—or, more precisely, the lack of them; even the fiercest fires leave some trace of their victims—and she is sure this was no naturally occuring blaze. Soon she’s unearthed a connection to a celebrity psychic who preys on Detroit’s poor, promising miracles for money. But Hope Solomon wants more—she’s collecting spirits, and in a frantic race against time, Anya will face down an evil adversary who threatens her fragile relationship with her lover, her beloved Sparky’s freshly hatched newts, and the wandering souls of the entire city.
The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts: Apparitions, Spirits, Spectral Lights, and Other Hauntings of History and Legend by Raymond Buckland
Weiser, $14.95, 190pp, tp, 9781578634514. New Age/Paranormal.
From battlefield and biblical ghosts to poltergeists and orbs, The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts examines categories and subcategories of ghosts across time and cultures, including commonalities and misconceptions. Stories of encounters, legendary ghosts, and haunted places are all covered in this beautifully illustrated compendium, veritable A-Z of the otherworld.
From the book:
Ectoplasm—The Greek words ekto and plasma, meaning “exteriorized substance” give us the modern word “ectoplasm.” This word was coined by Professor Charles Richet in 1894 and applied to a materialized spirit or ghost, as seen as a Spiritualist seance. When a “physical” (as opposed to a “metnal”) medium goes into trance, he or she may exude a white substance known as ectoplasm. This streams from the body out of a variety of orifices, such as the nose, ears, mouth, navel, nipples, sexual organs, or even just from the pores. Apparently it is light-sensitive, requiring complete darkness to manifest.
The Weiser Field Guide to Ghosts is concise and comprehensive, complete with practical tips on ghost hunting and suggested further reading.
The Foundling’s Tale, Part Three: Factotum by D.M. Cornish
Putnam, $19.99, 704pp, tp, 9780399246401. YA fantasy. On-sale date: November 2010.
Like the real world around us, D.M. Cornish’s Half-Continent surely must have taken thousands of years to shape. Surely these characters evolved from primitive ancestors, built their civilizations from the ground up, conquered their world over the span of eons.
But the people of our hero Rossamünd Bookchild’s world are not the undisputed conquerors. The monsters of the wild, seemingly Mother Nature herself, rise up against them, hemming them in on every side with teeth and claws and violence. It is a struggle with a beginning lost in time, and seemingly without end. Into this often dark and sinister world is thrust our innocent hero, a boy with no parents, a boy whose true origins are about to be revealed, and whose past might hold the key to ending the eternal struggle.
Perhaps.
The Diary of a Drug Fiend by Aleister Crowley
Weiser, $18.95, 384pp, tp, 9781578634941.
Written by Aleister Crowley after years of personal study and experimentation with drugs, The Diary of a Drug Fiend tells the story of young Peter Pendragon and his lover Louise Laleham and their adventures traveling through Europe in a cocaine and heroin haze. The bohemian couples’ binges produce visions and poetic prophecies, but when their supply inevitably runs dry they find themselves faced with the reality of their drug addiction. Through the guidance of King Lamus, a master adept, they use the application of practical Magick to free themselves from addiction.
Released as his first published novel in 1922 and dubbed “a book for burning” by the papers of the time, The Diary of a Drug Fiend reveals the poet, the lover, and the profound adept that was Aleister Crowley.
The Dragon Book edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
Ace, $16.00, 436pp, tp, 9780441019205. Fantasy anthology.
Whether portrayed as fire-breathing reptilian beasts or as noble creatures of power and grace, dragons, have been found in nearly every culture’s mythology…
Now, in The Dragon Book, today’s greatest fantasists reignite the fire with legendary tales that will consume your imagination.
Jonathan Stroud’s “Bob Choi’s Last Job” pits a modern-day dragon slayer against a shape-shifter with an instinctual hunger. A policeman faces a traffic obstruction the academy never trained him for in Peter S. Beagle’s “Oakland Dragon Blues.” The might of America’s military is no match for a man touched by magic in Garth Nix’s “Stop!” Piece together Gregory Maguire’s “Puz_le” to unearth a startling supernatural secret. See the world through the exquisite eyes of the protagonist of “The Dragon’s Tale” by Tamora Pierce.
These stories and fourteen others by the masters of fantasy make up this one-of-a-kind collection that will challenge your perceptions of dragons—and leave you watching the skies…
[Contributors: Cecelia Holland, Naomi Novik, Jonathan Stroud, Kage Baker, Jane Yolen & Adam Stemple, Liz Williams, Peter S. Beagle, Diana Gabaldon & Samuel Sykes, Garth Nix, Sean Williams, Tad Williams, Harry Turtledove, Diana Wynne Jones, Gregory Maguire, Bruce Coville, Tanith Lee, Tamora Pierce, Mary Rosenblum, and Andy Duncan.]
The Independent Film Producer’s Survival Guide: A Business and Legal Sourcebook, Third Edition by Gunnar Erickson, Harris Tulchin, and Mark Halloran
Schirmer Trade, $27.95, 464pp, tp, 9780825637230. Performing Arts/Film & Video/Direction & Production.
Sharpen your survival instincts and learn how to make a successful independent movie.
This indispensable book gives the independent producer vital information about the business and legal aspects of movie production. Detailed insights into the development process, deal making, hiring directors and actors, contracts, securing location rights, acquiring music, digital movie making, distribution, marketing, and finance are clearly explained in everyday language. Useful industry-standard forms are included for drawing up contracts. This is simply the undisputed bible for anyone thinking of making an independent film.
Exploring the Magic World of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Fact Book by Karen Farrington & Lewis Constable
Arcane, $14.95, 192pp, hc, 9780825637469. Nonfiction.
In this little book you’ll find a surprisingly large variety of random thoughts, facts, statistics and secrets about Harry’s magic universe, about the woman who created him, the books, the movies, the actors int he films… In fact about everything Harry Potter. So if you think you know all there is to know about the boy wizard, think again and delve into… Exploring the Magic World of Harry Potter: an Unauthorized Fact Book.
Hell House: The Awakening created and written by Chad Feehan & Ryan Dixon, art by Tsubasa Yozora
Viper Comics, $9.95, 96pp, tp, 9780982711736. Graphic novel.
Every Halloween, hundreds of highly controversial, religiously themed “Hell Houses” open their doors across Middle America. During the first night of a Texas high school’s Hell House, a shocking and mysterious event occurs, leaving behind a small number of survivors. This motley crew is forced to battle their way out of the collapsing structure, while fighting against a terrifying and unspeakable force desperate to consume their very souls.
Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb
Pocket Star, $7.99, 372pp, pb, 9781416589471. Media Tie-In.
This summer, gamers and fantasy fans alike will delight in Ghosts of Ascalon, an original novel based on the award-winning epic fantasy, masssively multiplayer online role-playing game Guild Wars.
250 years ago, Ascalon burned…
Desperate to defend his land from advancing hordes of bestial charr, King Adelbern summoned the all-powerful Foefire to repel the invaders. But magic can be a double-edged sword—the Foefire burned both charr and human alike. While the charr corpses smoldered, the slain Ascalonians rose again, transformed by their king’s rage into ghostly protectors and charged with guarding the realm… forever. The once mighty kingdom became a haunted shadow of its former glory.
Centuries later, the descendants of Ascalon, exiled to the nation of Kryta, are besieged on all sides. To save humankind, Queen Jennah seeks to negotiate a treaty with the hated charr. But one obstacle remains; the charr legions won’t sign the truce until their most prized possession, the Claw of the Khan-Ur, is returned from the ruins of fallen Ascalon.
Now a mismatched band of adventurers, each plagued by ghosts of their own, set forth into a haunted, war-torn land to retrieve the Claw. Without the artifact, there is no hope for peace between human and charr—but the undead king who rules Ascalon will not give it up easily, and not everyone wants peace. Readers will be unable to put down Ghosts of Ascalon, a fantasy masterpiece and this summer’s most thrilling read.
The Law of Nines by Terry Goodkind
Jove, $9.99, 576pp, pb, 9780515147483. Novel.
Terry Goodkind opens an exciting new chapter of his career with the publication of The Law of Nines. The eleven novels in Goodkind’s grand Sword of Truth series have sold 25 million copies worldwide, and are the basis for the popular Legend of the Seeker television series. Now, Goodkind presents his first mainstream, standalone thriller in The Law of Nines. He leaves his series behind, but not the themes and spirit that make him unique among today’s most successful storytellers.
A Goodkind novel is about heroes. In The Law of Nines, one character—Jax, a woman who has been trained to kill in defense of the world and values she holds dear—must draw on her heroism every day just to stay alive. Another—Alex, a struggling artist—must discover his own capacity for heroism if he is to take up Jax’s cause and save her world from unspeakable evil.
Trouble finds them on a quiet street in Goodkind’s native Nebraska, and gets ever closer and bloodier as they race across the country to the explosive final confrontation on a remote Maine mountaintop. Publishers Weekly raves, “It’s a gripping ride… readers will find themselves swept along to the final confrontation.”
The Truth of Valor by Tanya Huff
)a Confederation novel), DAW, $12495, 368pp, hc, 9780756406202. Science fiction.
Former Marine Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is attempting to build a new life with salvage operator Craig Ryder on his ship, the Promise. Turns out civilian life is rougher than she imagined—salvage operators are losing both cargo and lives to pirates. And when they attack the Promise, Craig is taken prisoner and Torin is left for dead. When Torin finds out why the pirates needed Craig, she calls in the Marines to get him back—and to stop the pirates from changing the balance of power in known space.
Warrior Wisewoman 3 edited by Roby James
Norilana, $12.95, 306pp, tp, 9781607620617. Science fiction anthology.
Warrior Wisewoman is intended as a sister volume to Sword and Sorceress, the classic fantasy series conceived and edited by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley (also currently being published by Norilana Books), with the main difference being that the stories involve science fiction instead of fantasy, and are intended for a more mature audience, with themes dealing with serious contemporary issues.
These nineteen contributions from both established authors and new and upcoming writing talent explore the truth of what it means to be female, and illuminate the wisdom and the strength of a woman in a grand universe without limits.
Far-ranging scientific speculation meets action and adventure, grand space opera, thrilling discovery, and intelligent protagonists.… The stories all contain the question of “what if” on some level. And they all have a woman answer it.
[Contributors: Gwendolyn Clare, Joel Richards, Aimee C. Amodio, Bruce Golden, Jennifer R. Povey, Al Onia, Melissa Mead, Swapna Kishore, Susanne Martin, Alfred D. Byrd, Susan Tsui, Gary Kloster, Therese Arkenberg, Paul Abbamondi, Kathy Hurley, William Highsmith, Leslie Brown, John Walters, and Douglas Smith.]
Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
(Book One of The Sarantine Mosaic), Roc, $16.00, 434pp, tp, 9780451463517. Fantasy.
Sarantium is the golden city: holy to the faithful, exalted by the poets, jewel of the world, and heart of an empire.
Caius Crispus, known as Crispin, is a master mosaicist, creating beautiful art with colored stones and glass. Still grieving the loss of his family, he lives only for his craft—until an imperial summons draws him east to the fabled city. Bearing with him a queen’s secret mission and seductive promise, and a talisman from an alchemist, Crispin crosses a land of pagan ritual and mortal danger, confronting legends and dark magic.
Once in Sarantium, with its taverns and gilded sanctuaries, chariot races and palaces, intrigues and violence, Crispin must find his own source of power in order to survive. He finds it, unexpectedly, high on the scaffolding of his own greatest creation.
Amulet, Book Three: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi
Graphix/Scholastic, $10.99, 204pp, tp, 9780545208857. YA Graphic Novel.
In the third installment of the Amulet series, Eisner Award-nominated and critically acclaimed comic artist Kazu Kibuishi delivers an adventurous and thrilling tale about two heroic children determined to save a magical world from destruction.
Emily, Navin, and the crew must journey on an aircraft to Cielis, the lost mythical city thought to be located on an island high above the clouds. Once there, they hope to save Alledia—the land of wildly imaginative and dangerous things—by garnering the help of the powerful Stonekeepers.
With the mysteriouos Leon Redbeard as their guide and the Elf King’s son, Trellis, as their companion, will Emily find Cielis in time? And is Trellis really an ally or an evil accomplice to the Elf King?
Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee
Baen, $14.00, 320pp, tp, 9781439133958. Fantasy. On-sale date: November 2010.
Death’s Master by Tanith Lee
(Tales from the Flat Earth, Book Two), Norilana, $28.95, 456pp, hc, 9781606720693. Fantasy.
Death’s Master is the winner of the August Derleth Award for Fantasy. It is the second book of the stunning arabesque high fantasy series Tales from the Flat Earth, which, in the manner of the One Thousand and One Night portrays an ancient world in mythic grandeur via connected tales. Includes a new introduction by the author.
Long time ago when the Earth was Flat, beautiful indifferent Gods lived in the airy Upperearth realm above, curious passionate demons lived in the exotic Underearth realm below, and mortals were relegated to exist in the middle. Uhlume, Lord of Death, second of the Lords of Darkness, King of Shadow and Pallor, sets in motion an intricate sequence of events that entangle men and gods, and questions the nature of immortality and life itself.
Come within this ancient world of brilliant darkness and beauty, of glittering palaces and wondrous elegant beings, of cruel passions and undying love.
She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror edited by Time Leider
Dybbuk, $12.75, 144pp, tp, 9780976654674. Horror anthology.
Dybbuk Press’ eighth title, She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror is a multi-author horror anthology based on Bible stories. Out of the nine stories, six are based on Tanakh (also known as The Old Testament), one is New Testament, one is from Apocrypha and one is a meditation on the Epic of Gilgamesh. Within that framework, the stories embrace many styles including alternate history, experimental, Lovecraftian terror, midrash and historical romance. This collection contains some of the most exciting voices in dark fantasy, including award winning author Catherynne Valente, Gerri Leen and Lyda Morehouse.
Do you read the Bible for the sex? Did you find that story of Solomon threatening to cut the baby in half really messed up—ina good way? This is the book for you. Mad prophets gather around a dilapidated musician in a seedy night club. A widow slaughters the enemy general. A doomed king speaks to the dead.
[Contributors: Chrisit Krug, Daniel Kaysen, Gerri Leen, Elissa Malcohn, Lyda Morehouse, Romie Stott, D.K. Thompson, Catherynne Valente, and Stephen M. Wilson.]
The Ragged Man by Tom Lloyd
(Book Four of The Twilight Reign), Pyr, $16.00, 548pp, tp, 9781616142063. Fantasy.
Continuing the powerful epic that started with The Stormcaller…
Lord Isak is dead; his armies and entire tribe in disarray. As the Farlan retreat and Kastan Styrax mourns his dead son, it is King Emin who takes the initiative while he still can. The secret, savage war he has devoted his life to nears its terrible conclusion as Ruhen positions himself as answer to the Land’s problems. Before the conquering eye of the Menin turns in his direction Emin must take his chance and strike without mercy.
A showdown is coming and battle-lines are drawn as blood is spilled across the Land. The spectre of the Great War looms but this time the Gods are not marching to war, it will be men who decide the future now. But before victory, before survival, there must first be salvation—even if it must be sought in the darkest place imaginable.
With the tide turning against Emin and his allies the key to their survival may lie in the hands of a dead man.
Path of the Sun by Violette Malan
(a novel of Dhulyn and Parno), DAW, $15.00, 400pp, tp, 9780756406387. Fantasy.
Mercenary partners Dhulyn Wolfshead and Parno Lionsmane think they’re escorting the Princess of Arderon to her wedding with the new Tarkin of Menoin, but the Mercenary Brotherhood has a secret mission for them: find out what happened to the two Brothers who were sent on assignment to Monoin a year ago—and vanished.
Once in Menoin, they discover that the Brothers’ disappearance is linked to a series of killings. And when the Princess of Arderon’s corpse is found mutilated in the same way as the others, Dhulyn and Parno track the killer into the Path of the Sun, an ancient labyrinth from which people sometimes never return.
The Storm Witch by Violette Malan
(a novel of Dhulyn and Parno), DAW, $7.99, 392pp, pb, 9780756406288. Fantasy.
Dhulyn Wolfshead and Parno Lionsmane were members of the Mercenary Guild, veterans of numerous battles and missions, each a master of martial arts. But more than that, Dhulyn and Parno were Partners, a Mercenary bond that could only be broken by one or both of their deaths.
Now Dhulyn and Parno have returned to their Mercenary House to clear themselves of accusations of kidnapping and murder. But before they can resolve these charges, old friends are taken hostage by the Long Ocean Nomads, and they are forced to come to the rescue, agreeing to trade their services for the release of their friends. As they reluctantly set sail, Dhulyn is convinced they are journeying to Parno’s death, which she has foreseen in numerous Visions as occurring in a drowning at sea.
Though Dhulyn will do everything she can avoid to her Visions being realized, in her heart she knows they are sailing to their doom. But even her Visions have not prepared Dhulyn for the trials that await them amidst the Long Ocean Nomads—a people blessed with a unique power of their own—the ability to speak mind to mind. For when Parno discovers that he shares this gift with them, Dhulyn begins to feel more and more isolated. And then the destiny she has dreaded becomes all too real, when—roused by the magic of the Storm Witch, a powerful spirit from ages past who has taken possession of a young princess’ body—the waters of the Long Ocean turn deadly.…
An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
(an October Daye novel), DAW, $7.99, 370pp, pb, 9780756406264. Fantasy.
Changeling knight in the court of the Duke of Shadowed Hills, October “Toby” Daye has survived numerous challenges that would destroy fae and mortal alike.
Now Toby must take on a nightmarish new assignment. Someone is stealing both fae and mortal children—and all signs point to Blind Michael. When the young son of Toby’s closest friends is snatched from their Northern California home nad his sister falls into a coma-like state, the situation becomes way too personal. Toby has no choice but to track the villains down, even when there are only three magical roads by which to reach Blind Michael’s realm—home of the legendary Will Hunt—and no road may be taken more than once. If she cannot escape with all the children before the candle that guides and protects her burns away, Toby herself will fall prey to the Wild Hunt and Blind Michael’s inescapable power.
And it doesn’t bode well for the success of her mission that her own personal Fetch, May Daye—the harbinger of Toby’s own death—has suddenly turned up on her doorstep.…
After the Sundial by Vera Nazarian
Norilana, $9.95, 222pp, tp, 9781607620778. Science fiction collection.
After the Sundial by Vera Nazarian is the author’s first short fiction collection that focuses specifically on science fiction works, and can be viewed as a companion volume to her earlier collection, Salt of the Air which focused on fable, myth, and fantasy.
Bound by the common theme of time and temporal exploration, the ten selections here range widely from traditional speculative fiction to the surreal literary to poetry to bawdy adventure humor to space opera and far future speculation.
Includes an introduction by the author, two previously unpublished works and a full-length critically acclaimed novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass.
[Contents: “What is Time?”; “The Ballad of Universal Jack”; “A Time to Crawl”; “Faces at the End of Time”; “Port Custodial Blues”; “The Ice”; “Mount Dragon”; “Salmon in the Drain Pipe”; “Scent of the Stars”; and “The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass”.]
Ghoul Strike! by Andrew Newbound
Chicken House, $16.99, 320pp, hc, 9780545229388. YA fantasy. On-sale date: October 2010.
She’s not afraid of no ghouls!
Alannah stepped out from the shadows as the ghostly gamekeeper entered the room by floating through a wall. He was dressed in dirty tweeds and carried an old hunting rifle. Half his face was missing…
“Urgh!” gasped Alannah. “You’ve got to be the ugliest ghost I’ve ever seen.”
“Wh-what?” spluttered the ghost. He almost jumped out of his spectral skin when he spotted the girl, and shock bounced him from one wall to the next. It took a few seconds for him to regain his composure. Then he bellowed, “Get out of this house!”
“Oh, do shut up,” Alannah ordered. “Your haunting days are over.”
“Says who?” the ghoul asked scornfully.
“Says these,” Alannah replied, flicking two fingers and firing a couple of astral arrows straight at him.
Stars and Gods by Larry Niven
Tor, $25.99, 368pp, hc, 9780765308641. Science fiction/non-fiction collection.
Bestselling author Larry Niven is a fixture in the science fiction scene. A five-time Hugo Award-winning author and recipient of the Nebula Award, Niven has been praised by the Baltimore Sun as “the premier hard SF writer of the day.” His previous collection N-Space garnered rave reviews. Now, the science fiction great returns with Stars and Gods—an engaging anthology that roams a wide variety of topics, from space stations to conventional etiquette.
In Stars and Gods, readers will not only find choice excerpts from his most recent novels, including Ringworld’s Children and Fleet of Worlds, but also various short stories and collaborations with Steven Barnes, Jerry Pournelle, and Brenda Cooper. Stars and Gods also features nonfiction writing for Space.com, as well as editorials and an interview by Brenda Cooper with the author.
So give yourself a treat, grab a copy of Stars and Gods and pick the brain of one of modern science fiction’s most intriguing thinkers.
[Contents: Excerpts from novels: Ringworld’s Children, Rainbow Mars, Escape from Hell, Burning Tower, Building Harlequin’s Moon, Fleet of Worlds, and Juggler of Worlds; Stories: “Choosing Names”, “Fly-by-Night”, “The Hunting Park”, “After Mecca”, “Cadet Amelia”, “Cat Toy”, “Chicxulub”, “The Gatherers’ Guild”, “The Solipsist at Dinner”, and “Boys and Girls Together”; Nonfiction: “Traveler”, “Rocket Men”, and “Wet Mars”; Collaboration with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes: Beowulf’s Children; Collaboration with Jerry Pournelle: “What Next, Columbus?”; Collaboration with Steven Barnes: Achilles’ Choice; Collaborations with Brenda Cooper: “Choosing Life”, “Free Floaters”, and “Finding Myself”; Draco Tavern Stories: “The Missing Mass” and “Safe Harbor”; Nonfiction: “Hooking the Reader”, “Larry Niven interview with Brenda Cooper in 2000 AD”, “Food Story for the Con Jose Program Book”, and “Inconstant Moon has Passed”.]
The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel
Pyr, $16.00, 312pp, tp, 9781616142452. Fantasy. On-sale date: October 2010.
Welcome to seventeenth century Paris, where intrigue, duels, and spies are rife and Cardinal Richelieu’s men may be prevailed upon to risk life and limb in the name of France at a moment’s notice. And with war on the horizon, the defense of the nation has never been more pressing.
Danger is rising from the south—an insidious plot that could end with a huge dragon-shaped shadow falling over France, a shadow cast by dragons quite unlike the pet dragonets that roam the cities like stray cats, or the tame wyverns men ride like horses, high over the Parisian rooftops. These dragons and descendants are ancient, terrible, and powerful… and their plans contain little room for the lives or freedom of men.
Cardinal Richelieu has nowhere else to turn; Captain La Fargue and his elite group of men, the Cardinal’s Blades, must turn the tide. They must hold the deadly Black Claw cult at bay, root out traitors the crown, rescue prisoners, and fulfill their mission for the Cardinal, for their country, but above all for themselves.
It’s death or victory. And the victory has never been less certain.
Flight of the Renshai by Mickey Zucker Reichert
DAW, $7.99, 692pp, pb, 9780756406271. Fantasy.
Flight of the Renshai continues the Renshai saga begun in The Last of the Renshai and The Renshai Chronicles trilogies. Opening eighteen years after The Children of Wrath, it focuses on the main characters from The Renshai Chronicles, as well as their now-grown children. At the center of the story are the three sons of Kevral Tainharsdatter: Saviar Ra-khirsson, Subikhan Taesson, and Calistin Ra-khirsson.
Bearn and her allies, including the Renshai, are faced with pirates, the vanguard of an army sent from a continent across the sea. Prejudice against the Renshai is growing rapidly, fueled by their ancient enemies in the Northlands. After a questionable battle, King Griff of Bearn is reluctantly forced to banish the Renshai from the Westlands.
Shunned by Westerners and hunted by Northmen, the Renshai will face many trials, while Saviar, Subikhan, and Calistin must each take his own stand in a world where there are no longer any safe havens for their people. Yet not only the Renshai are in dire straits. Without their aid, Bearn may well fall to the “pirate” army which is fast approaching its shores.…
Born to Bite by Lynsay Sands
(an Argeneau novel), Avon, $7.99, 374pp, pb, 9780061474320. Fiction.
Known for her irresistible wit, and sexy, refreshing character, New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands pens another captivating romance with Born to Bite, the newest edition to Sands’ Argeneau series. Readers are introduced to Armand Argeneau, a vampire with a reputation for being a killer in the bedroom (literally)… It’s not that Armand has been unlucky in love per se, he’s just had a string of bad luck with wives staying… well, undead.
Sent to Armand’s farm under the pretext of hiding from a potential revenge plot, Eshe D’Aureus is on the case to discover just how these wives perished. Evidence appears to link Armand’s son Nicholas—who has been locked up at the enforcer house—with murder. Eshe is the only hope for sorting out what really happened and saving Nicholas from execution for a murder he didn’t commit.
But just as Armand realizes the beautiful investigator is his true life mate, someone starts making attempts on Eshe’s life. As Armand joins the investigation it becomes a race to solve the mystery and catch the killer before Eshe, or both of them, end up on the growing list of victims.
Vampyre Sanguinumicon: The Lexicon of the Living Vampire by Father Sebastiaan, Foreword by Konstantinos
Weiser, $24.95, 320pp, tp, 9781578634804.
Since hte dawn of civilization the vampire has danced through the dreams and nightmares of every culture, expressed in folklore, literature, and art. Today, this fascination resonates in pop-culture, through hit television shows, movies and bestselling book. But what does it mean to be a living, modern vampire?
Best known as Strigoii Vii, the Living Vampire is one who has embarked on a serious, life-long spiritual path. Not just “kids in capes,” the members of this magickal community seek to live in glamour and ritural every day. The Vampyre Sanguinomicon provides a profound perspective on Vampyre culture, tradition, movement, and philosophy. Intended to inspire and challenge readers’ views, chapters include: Vampyre Ritural, Vampyre Sensuality, Beginning Vampyrism, and The Vampyre Wedding.
Math for Mystics by Renna Shesso
Weiser, $16.95, 196pp, tp, 9781578633838. New Age.
A large portion of math history comes to us directly from early astrologers who needed to be able to describe and record what they saw in the night sky. Notably, most math-history books refer to them as astronomers, but astronomers and astrologers were one and the same. Everyone needed math: whether you were the king’s court astrologer or a farmer marking the best time for planting, timekeeping and numbers really mattered. Mistake a numerical pattern of petals and you could poison yourself and your loved ones. Lose the rhythm of a sacred dance or the meter of a ritual story and the intricately woven threads that hold life together would be spoiled. Ignore the celestial clock of equinoxes and solstices, and you’d risk being caught short of food for the winter.
Shesso is a former math-phobe who previously viewed the “M” word with fear and loathing, but she gave numbers a second chance. Through her search she discovered their contemporary use as magical tools and as vital components of esoteric heritage. Math for Mystics is for readers, like her, who have viewed math with trepidation, but have an interest in numbers as a practical tool for magical, esoteric or spiritual purposes.
Coronets and Steel by Sherwood Smith
DAW, $24.95, 672pp, hc, 9780756406424. Fantasy.
California girl Kim Murray is unsatisfied with grad school and restless in life. Modern men disappoint her, and she studies ballet and fencing because they remind her of older, more romantic times.
She lives with her parents and her beloved but secretive aristocratic grandmother, who speaks only French and refuses to share stories about the mysterious family she left behind in Europe, inspiring Kim to travel there and find her roots.
Kim soon finds herself swept up in an adventure of fantastic deception and passionate intrigue—and a shocking realization about her own bloodline that leaves her reeling.
The High King of Montival by S.M. Stirling
(a Novel of the Change), Roc, $25.95, 482pp, hc, 9780451463524. Science fiction.
New York Times bestselling author S.M. Stirling’s masterful hand created the alternate Oregon that drew readers into the compelling world of The Change; the trilogy included Dies the Fire, The Protector’s War, and A Meeting at Corvallis. Stirling returned to that absorbing world with The Scourge of God, The Sunrise Lands and The Sword of the Lady with his fan base quickly growing. Readers couldn’t get enough of this thrilling and action-packed post-apocalyptic world!
With the release of The Sword of the Lady, Stirling debuted at #13 on the New York Times bestsellers list. Now, Roc Books is pleased to announce S.M. STirling’s The High King of Montival, the thrilling and highly anticipated conclusin to the Change saga.
In The Sword of the Lady, Rudi Mackenzie journeyed to Nantucket where he found the key to his destiny. Now, he and his companions must make their way back to the Pacific Northwest, to the area that is now known as Montival. They travel across a continent in chaos, fighting where they must and making friends where they can.
Rudi has many enemies, and while his own Sword has powers, it cannot guarantee success. As he approaches Montival, Rudi finds that the armies of the Prophet are gnawing their way westward, determined to prevent him from assuming his place as High King. To achieve victory, Rudi must assemble a coalition of those who had been his enemies a few short months before, and forge them into an army that will rescue Montival and put down the menace of the Church Universal and Triumphant forever.
The Waters Rising by Sheri S. Tepper
(sequel to A Plague of Angels), Eos, $26.99, 500pp, hc, 9780061958878. Fantasy.
Sheri S. Tepper returns with The Waters Rising, a stunning new novel in which a dreadful killing power is resurrected from the past… and only a dying woman, a child and a man who has come to help them can turn the tide on humanity’s extinction. Tepper is the acclaimed author of The Margarets and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, both of which were shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Tepper is one of the few writers to have titles in both the SF and Fantasy Masterworks lists.
Long before the waters began to rise over the surface of the world was the time of the “Big Kill,” when Slaughterers walked the earth unseen, killing, departing, and repeatedly returning to kill again. Since then mountains have risen, deserts have fallen, the last of humankind has scattered, and the rising waters are changing the world.
In the west, the people of Norland live in small kingdoms, surviving as their forests drown, swamps become lakes, and roads disappear. Houses—whole towns—are hitched to teams of oxen and moved upward. But this misery is compounded when the Sea King declares war. No ships may sail on the new, growing oceans, and refugees from sunken islands continue to arrive.
In Norland is Xulai, an orphan from Tingawa, who implores the kind wanderer, Abasio, for his help in fulfilling the last request of the dying Princess Xu-i-lok, wife of Norland’s Duke Justinian. Xulai is Princess Xu-i-lok’s Soul Carrier—and there is one task Xulai must complete before she can bring the Princess’s long-suffering soul home to Tingawan. Dark forces are abroad in the land, and upon the sea: a hideous evil from ages past has been revived. Powers are being used. Curses are being laid, and an ancient killer awakens to fulfill an awful destiny; Xulai and Abasio may be the only ones who can help avert this evil maelstrom.
Note: The Waters Rising is the long-awaited and much-demanded sequel to A Plague of Angels, continuing the story of Abasio, a man who goes hither and yon, helping orphans in a world where renascent mythical beasts and fairy tale archetypes walk the earth and swim the oceans.
Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller by Ben Tripp
Gallery, $15.00, 400pp, tp, 9781439165164. Horror. On-sale date: 26 October 2010.
It’s Fourth of July in Forest Peak, California, a small town on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled Iraq war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her small mountain community, Danny realizes her problems have only just begun—starting with what might very well be the end of the world. She thought she had seen humanity at its worst in Iraq, but nothing could prepare her for the remorseless struggle to survive a world overrun with reanimated dead and men turned monster. Obsessed with finding her sister at all costs, Danny’s epic and dangerous journey across the California desert will challenge her spirit, and bring her to the precipice of sanity itself.
Filled with adventurous human drama—and shocking inhuman horror—Rise Again is a captivating, character driven thriller that marks a vivid and powerful fictional debut by author Ben Tripp.
Atlantis and Other Places: Stories of Alternate History by Harry Turtledove
Roc, $24.95, 448pp, hc, 9780451463641. Science fiction collection. On-sale date: 7 December 2010.
In his extraordinary novels, Harry Turtledove brilliantly re-creates history and constructs new societies—from an Elizabethan England under Spanish rule in Ruled Britannia and a Japanese occupation of Hawaii in Days of Infamy to the discovery and colonizing of an eighth continent in his Atlantis Trilogy. Now the New York Times bestselling author travels through time and across cultures with this collection of imaginative what-if short fiction.
A famous naturalist embarks on a quest for a near-extinct species of bird found only on the rarest of lands in “Audobon in Atlantis.” A young American on a European holiday finds himself storming an enchanted German castle in “The Catcher in the Rhine.” The philosopher Sokrates plays a key role in the Athenian victory over the Spartans in “The Daimon.” In “The Horse of Bronze,” centaurs take a sea voyage to a land where they encounter a strange and frightening tribe of creatures known as man. London’s most famous detective, Athelstan Helms, and his assistant, Dr. James Walton, are in Atlantis investigating a series of murders in “The Scarlet Band.”
And seven more amazing stories of ancient eras, historical figures, mysterious events, and out-of-this-world adventure from the incomparable Harry Turtledove.
[Contents: “Audobon in Atlantis”; “Bedfellows”; “News from the Front”; “The Catcher in the Rhine”; “The Daimon”; “Farmers’ Law”; “Occupation Duty”; “The Horse of Bronze”; “The Genetics Lecture”; “Someone is Stealing the Great Throne Rooms of the Galaxy”; “Uncle Alf”; and “The Scarlet Band”.]
The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh
Chicken House, $16.99, 336pp, hc, 9780545229227. YA fantasy.
Sent into the forest to gather firewood for the medieval monastery at which he is a servant, Will stumbles across a wounded creature no bigger than a cat. It’s a hobgoblin, who confesses a horrible secret: Buried deep in the snow behind the abbey is an angel. But how can an angel die? And what does this angel have to do with the history of Crowfield? When two cloaked strangers show up and start asking questions, Will is drawn into a dangerous world of Old Magic.
Shards of Excalibur, Book 1: Song of the Sword by Edward Willett
Lobster Press, $12.95, 336pp, tp, 9781897550908. Teen fiction. On-sale date: October 2010.
After several years in foster care, Ariane is trying to start a new life with her aunt. But her frightening premonitions keep getting in the way. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Lake Wiscana, and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call.
Ariane learns she descends from the Lady of the Lake, and the stories she thought were legend suddenly become a real life nightmare. Now, she and her unexpected companion, Wally Knight, are charged with finding the scattered shards of Excalibur before Merlin can use them to restore his limitless power.
But how can a troubled teen and her brainy sidekick outwit the ancient, ruthless sorcerer?
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Pantheon, $24.00, 244pp, hc, 9780307379207. Novel.
National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Award winner Charles Yu delivers his debut novel, a razor-sharp, ridiculously funny, and utterly touching story of a son searching for his father… through quantum space-time.
Minor Universe 31 is a vast story-space on the outskirts of fiction, where paradox fluctuates like the stock market, lonely sexbots beckon failed protagonists, and time travel is serious business. Every day, people get into time machines and try to do the one thing they should never do: change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician—part counselor, part gadget repair man—steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. Accompanied by TAMMY, an operating system with low self-esteem, and Ed, a nonexistent but ontologically valid dog, Yu sets out, and back, and beyond, in order to find the one day where he and his father can meet in memory. He learns that the key may be found in a book he got from his future self. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and he’s the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could help him—in fact it may even save his life.
Wildly new and adventurous, Yu’s debut is certain to send shock waves of wonder through literary space-time.