This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
Werewolf Smackdown by Mario Acevedo
Eos, $7.99, 354pp, pb, 9780061567209. Fantasy.
The claws—and the fangs—are coming out!
Felix Gomez, undead P.I., doesn’t have a hellhound in this fight—which is just one reason why he’s not willing to help an alpha werewolf attorney eliminate his shapeshifting rival… permanently. So now there’s a civil war brewing between two vicious lycnathrope factions—and it’s threatening to explode into a blood-bath that’ll engulf all creatures, living and undead.
Adding to the intrigue is the sudden reappearance of an ex-girlfriend and a gang of rogue bloodsuckers determined to take Felix’s head off. So it looks like one vampire detective extraordinaire is going to be fangs deep in trouble when the fur begins to fly.
Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories edited by John Joseph Adams
Night Shade, $15.99, 488pp, tp, 9781597802215. Science fiction anthology.
You are being watched
When the government wields its power against its own people, every citizen becomes an enemy of the state. Will you fight the system, or be ground to dust beneath the boot of tyranny.
In his smash-hit anthologies Wastelands and The Living Dead, acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams showed you what happens when society is utterly wiped away. Now he brings you a glimpse into an equally terrifying future—what happens when civilization invades and dictates every aspect of your life?
From 1984 to The Handmaid’s Tale, from Children of Men to Bioshock, the dystopian imagination has been a vital and gripping cautionary force. Brave New Worlds collects thirty of the best tales of dystopian menace by some of today’s most visionary writers.
[Contributors: Shirley Jackson, S.L. Gilbow, Joseph Paul Haines, Ursula K. Le Guin, M. Rickert, Kate Wilhelm, Geoff Ryman, Charles Coleman Finlay, Neil Gaiman & Bryan Talbot, J.G. Ballard, Carrie Vaughn, Paolo Bacigalupi, James Morrow, Alex Irvine, Ray Bradbury, Cory Doctorow, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Geoff Ryman, Harlan Ellison, Genevieve Valentine, Sarah Langan, Kim Stanley Robinson, Matt Williamson, Philip K. Dick, Heather Lindsley, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Robert Silverberg, Orson Scott Card, Jeremiah Tolbert, Joe Mastroianni, Adam-Troy Castro, Tobias S. Buckell, Vylar Kaftan, and Ross E. Lockhart.]
Written in Time by Jerry & Sharon Ahern
Baen, $7.99, 644pp, pb, 9781439133996. Science fiction.
Travel to the past and carry a big stick.
As a freelance writer, Jack Naile was used to getting an occasional fan letter. But what Jack’s wife, Ellen, found in the mailbox one day would change their family’s lives forever and alter the course of human history.
The letter contained a magazine clipping showing a 1904 street scene in Atlas, Nevada, visible on the far side of the street a store front’s sign reading “Jack Naile—General Merchandise.” The four people in the photo, dressed in the style of the period, are unmistakable—Jack, Ellen, their almost grown son and teenage daughter, somehow drawn back through time to live decades before any of them were ever born. And, it all happened before, and before that, history each time subtly changed. But this time Fate introduces new players to the drama.
A life and death battle begins, with modern military weapons and technology to be auctioned off to the highest bidder in the past, whatever the cost in human lives.
With time transfer bases and tanks, helicopters and automatic weapons, a small army of murderous thugs—and ruthless ambition for world conquest—history hangs in the balance. Their sixguns blazing, Jack’s and Ellen’s only allies are the fabled 7th United States Cavalry and two-fisted, rough riding, Teddy Roosevelt. That ought to be enough.
The Horns of Ruin by Tim Akers
Pyr, $16.00, 270pp, tp, 9781616142464. Fantasy.
Eva Forge is the last paladin of a dead god. Morgan, god of battle and champion of the Fraterdom, was assassinated by his jealous brother, Amon. Over time, the Cult of Morgan has been surpassed by other gods, his blessings ignored in favor of brighter technologies and more mechanical miracles. Eva was the last child dedicated to the Cult of Morgan, forsaken by her parents and forgotten by her family. Now she watches as her new family, her Cult, crumbles all around her.
When a series of kidnappings and murders makes it clear that someone is trying to hasten the death of the Cult of Morgan, Eva must seek out unexpected allies and unwelcome answers in the city of Ash. But will she be able to save the city from a growing conspiracy, one that reaches back to her childhood, even back to the murder of her god?
Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight of Terra by Poul Anderson
(the Technic Civilization saga), Baen, $13.00, 432pp, tp, 9781439134016. Science fiction.
A knight without armor in a savage galaxy
Captain Dominic Flandry has been knighted for his many services to the Terran Empire—an Empire which is old, jaded, and corrupt, as Flandry well knows—but he also knows that the Empire is better than anything that is likely to take its place. And while that “Sir” before his name may be an added attraction to comely ladies (not that he has ever lacked for the pleasant company of the same), he expects that it will also bring him less welcome attention from envious “colleagues” within the empire.
What it is not likely to do is make him more of an object of interest to the alien Merseians, whose plots against the Empire he has repeatedly foiled. They already are as aware as they can be of how much simpler their plans to rule the galaxy would be if their most dangerous adversary were the late Sir Dominic Flandry.
This is the sixth volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization saga.
[Contents: “Enter Hero and Adversary, Accompanied by Alarms and Tumult” by Hank Davis; “The Plague of Masters”; “Hunters of the Sky Cave”; “The Warriors from Nowhere”; “A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows”; and “Appendix: Chronology of Technic Civilization” by Sandra Meisel]
Dragons Deal by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye
Ace, $15.00, 388pp, tp, 9780441019267. Fantasy.
New York Times bestselling author Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye up the ante in the latest tale of dragons in the Big Easy…
As head dragon and owner of a successful gambling operation in New Orleans, Griffen McCandles has a lot on his plate. Especially since the Krewe of Fafnir—a society of dragons—has asked him to be the king of its Mardi Gras parade. Being the king is a huge honor, and despite the extra responsibilities, Griffen can’t resist the krewe’s offer to lead the biggest party of the year.
But not everyone is happy with Griffen’s new leadership status. A group of powerful dragons is conspiring to bankrupt his business, from the inside out. And when a young dragon in Griffen’s employ is murdered, it becomes clear that certain dragons will stop at nothing to dethrone the new king…
Swami Panchadasai’s Clairvoyance & Occult Powers by William Walker Atkinson, edited by Clint Marsh
Weiser, $16.95, 208pp, tp, 9781578635009. Occult. On-sale date: April 2011.
First published in 1916, this metaphysical classic by occultism pioneer William Walker Atkinson (writing under the pseudonym Swami Panchadasi) offers training in a range of telepathic talents. From crystal gazing to clairvoyant reverie, psychic healing to astral travel, transference, and psychometry, these twenty lessons are sure to thrill both student and adept. Written with the common reader in mind, Atkinson supplements intrudction with compelling anecdotes, ranging “from the prosaic—children showing uncanny success at guessing games—to the petrifying—Lovecraftian premonitions glimpsed by possessors of ‘the second sight’ in the Indian jungle.”
The introduction by Clint Marsh, author of The Mentalist’s Handbook, takes us into the strange life of William Walker Atkinson—businessman, seeker, mystic—shedding light on one of the most influential and elusive figures of Victorian occultism.
A powerful book of knowledge, Clairvoyance and Occult Powers will confound and enchant readers today as it did nearly 100 years ago.
Legends of the Raven 3: Demonstorm by James Barclay
Pyr, $17.00, 414pp, tp, 9781616142520. Fantasy. On-sale date: January 2011.
This is the end.…
The dragons have gone home, the elves are safe, The Raven have kept their promises. But fate has not finished with them. As the war between the colleges rages on, an old enemy senses that his chance to revenge a bitter defeat has come. Tessaya, Lord of the Paleon Tribes, has waited patiently for his moment and now, with Balaia in flames, he makes his move and unleashes the Wesmen hordes. In Xetesk, his forces scattered, Dystran, Lord of the Mount, faces certain defeat by the Wesmen unless he unleashes the horrifying power of dimensional magics. And Dystran has not come this far to be beaten at the last by a rabble of ignorant tribesmen. And so the veil between dimensions is torn.… And beyond, a predatory evil stirs. Demons catch the scent of countless souls in Balaia. Can even The Raven prevail when the world is coming to an end?
Legends of the Raven 1: Elfsorrow by James Barclay
Pyr, $17.00, 430pp, tp, 9781616142483. Fantasy.
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.
Legends of the Raven 2: Shadowheart by James Barclay
Pyr, $17.00, 384pp, tp, 9781616142506. Fantasy.
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 alone triumph?
Twilight’s Dawn by Anne Bishop
Roc, $25.95, 448pp, hc, 9780451463784. Fantasy. On-sale date: 1 March 2011.
New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s “darkly fascinating” Black Jewels novels have enthralled readers and critics alike with their mixture of fantasy, intrigue, and romance. Now, in Twilight’s Dawn, Bishop returns to the Blood realm with four all-new captivating novellas.
Winsol Gifts
Daemon, the Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince of Dhemlan, is settling into his first year of married life with his Witch Queen, Jaenelle. But as the thirteen-day celebration of Winsol draws near, Daemon finds himself being pulled in too many directions as he plays host to his formidable family.
Shades of Honor
Still recovering from the ordeal that left her wounded and angry, Surreal returns to Ebon Rih on the orders of Prince Lucivar. And when her former lover Falonar ruthlessly challenges the rule of her family, Surreal may finally succumb to the darkness burning inside her.
Family
When someone lays a vicious trap for Queen Sylvia and her sons, the fallout completely disrupts the lives of the ruling family of Dhemlan. Now they have to uncover the identity of the warlord known only as No Face before he returns to finish what he started.
The High Lord’s Daughter
After losing the two most important people in his life, Daemon has assumed his father, Saetan’s, role as High Lord of Hell and built a wall around his heart. But when he inadvertently forges a new connection, will it be enough to break him free from his loveless life?
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
(a new Miles Vorkosigan novel), Baen, $25.00, 345pp, hc, 9781439133941. Science fiction.
Miles Vorkosigan is back
Kibou-daini is a planet obsessed with cheating death. Barrayaran Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan can hardly disapprove—he’s been cheating death his whole life, on the theory that turnabout is fair play. But when a Kibou-daini cryocorp—an immortal company whose job it is to sehpherd its all-too-mortal frozen patrons into an unknown future—attempts to expand its franchise into the Barrayaran Empire, Emperor Gregor dispatches his top troubleshooter Miles to check it out.
On Kibou-daini, Miles discovers generational conflict over money and resources is heating up, even as refugees displaced in time skew the meaning of generation past repair. Here he finds a young boy with a passion for pets and a dangerous secret, a Snow White trapped in an icy coffin who burns to re-write her own tale, and a mysterious crone who is the very embodiment of the warning Don’t mess with the secretary. Bribery, corruption, conspiracy, kidnapping—something is rotten on Kibou-daini, and it isn’t due to power outages in the Cryocombs. And Miles is in the middle—of trouble!
First Lord’s Fury by Jim Butcher
(Book Six of the Codex Alera), Ace, $9.99, 764pp, pb, 9780441019625. Fantasy.
In the acclaimed Codex Alera novels, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files, Jim Butcher has created a world of epic fantasy in the best way, inspired by Tolkien. Now the people of Alera—who use their unique bonds with the elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal for protection—must face the ultimate conflict…
For Gaius Octavian, life has been one long struggle. Battling ancient foes, forging new alliances, and confronting the corruption within his own land, he became a legendary man of war and leader of men—and the rightful First Lord of Alera.
Now the end of all he fought for is close at hand. The brutal, dreaded vord are on the march, using fear and chaos to turn the Alerans against one another, and forcing those who will not submit to flee to the outer reaches of the Realm.
Perhaps for the final time, Gaius Octavian and his Legions must stand against the enemies of his people. And it will take all of his intelligence, ingenuity, and fury craft to save their world from eternal darkness…
Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock by Vere Chappell (foreword by Mary K. Greer)
Weiser, $21.95, 288pp, tp, 9781578634767. Biography.
“The Sexual outlaw sat alone in her room, considering her options. She had already been arrested in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, DC. Here in New York, she had endured three months in the workhouse on Blackwell’s Island, an ordeal that almost killed her. Now, at forty-five years old, she had been convicted once again. The next morning, she was due to appear in court to face sentencing for her crime…” And so begins Vere Chappell’s Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock.
Persecuted by Anthony Comstock and his Society for the Suppression of Vice, this turn-of-the-century heroine was also a spiritualist who learned many secrets of high magick through her claimed wedlock to an angelic being.
Born in Philadelphia in 1857, Ida Craddock became involved in occultism around the age of thirty. She attended classes at the Theosophical Society and began studying a tremendous amount of material on various occult subjects. She taught correspondence courses to women and newly married couples to educate them on the sacred nature of sex, maintaining that her explicit knowledge came from her nightly experiences with an angel named Soph. In 1902, she was arrested under New York’s anti-obscenity laws and committed suicide to avoid life in an asylum.
Now for the first time, scholar Vere Chappell has compiled the most extensive collection of Craddock’s work including original essays, diary excerpts, and suicide letters—one to her mother and one to the public.
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex by Troy Denning
Del Rey/LucasBooks, $27.00, 380pp, hc, 9780345509208. Science fiction.
In a stunning turn of events, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, joined forces with members of the Sith armada sent to kill them—and turned their combined might against the monstrous being Abeloth. But with Abeloth gone, the sith have since reverted to form, making a treacherous attempt on Luke’s life.
Luke and Ben have no time for retaliation. A new and even more insidious threat is rising. Unless the Skywalkers survive to sound the alarm, the galaxy will suffer as it has never suffered before. But the reinforcements they need remain grounded on Coruscant, where the political battle of wills between the Jedi Council and Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala has reached a boiling point.
Now, in Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex, Luke and Ben must go on the run, taking along the inscrutable—and dangerous—Sith apprentice Vestara Khai. With a host of Sith warriors in hot pursuit, the Skywalkers soon find themselves trapped on the moon Pydyr, caught between their former allies and a mob of angry Fallanassi. A new truce may be their only hope.
Silver Zombie by Carole Nelson Douglas
(a Delilah Street: Paranormal Investigator novel), Pocket/Juno, $7.99, 368pp, pb, 9781439167816. Urban fantasy.
Zombies and Witches and Vamps… Oh, My!
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—at least that’s Delilah Street’s hope. With Sin City’s vampire and werewolf mobs wanting to cash in her chips once and for all, she’s retreating with her partner Ric Montoya and half-wolfhound Quicksilver to her Kansas birthplace. Unfortunately, when it comes to finding trouble, there’s no place like home.… It doesn’t take long before Delilah realizes she’s not in Vegas anymore. Zombie cowboys and spectral cattle drives are kicking up dust, the local weather girls are total witches who forecast perfect storms, and some Hollywood fanatic is recasting zombies as the greatest stars of the silver screen. And speaking of silver, Delilah’s special affinity for the all-purpose monster-repellent leads her posse straight down a silver brick road—and into a not so-fun house of mirrors—putting her face-to-face with her dicey past and a mystery woman named Lilith, who’s a real dead ringer for Delilah. The key word being dead.
The Complete Hammer’s Slammers, Volume 3 by David Drake (introduction by Barry N. Malzberg)
Baen, $12.00, 738pp, tp, 9781439133965. Science fiction.
Nice guys finish last—but who said the Slammers were nice?
The Slammers were flawed and imperfect human beings—but they know their jobs, and they get those jobs done, one way or another. If your nation or your planet is under attack, and you want plaster saints to save the day… well, lots of luck, and it’s been nice knowing you. But if you really want your chestnuts pulled out of the fire, hire Colonel Hammer’s troops. They’ll never win a beauty contest and they sure don’t qualify for “most congenial,” but they’ll win the war—because they’re the best. They’re Hammer’s Slammers.
This volume is the third of a three-volume set presenting for the first time the entire genre-defining Slammers series in a uniform edition, with new introductions by major SF figures and afterwords by David Drake. Volume 3 contains two full-length novels, The Sharp End and Paying the Piper, plus “The Darkness,” a novelette which has not appeared in a previous Slammers book. Also included is an introduction by award-winning author Barry Malzberg.
The Wolf Age by James Enge
Pyr, $17.00, 465pp, tp, 9781616142438. Fantasy.
Wuruyaaria: city of werewolves, whose raiders range over the dying northlands, capturing human beings for slaves or meat. Wuruyaaria: where a lone immortal maker wages a secret war against the Strange Gods of the Coranians. Wuruyaaria: a democracy where some are more equal than others, and a faction of outcast werewolves is determined to change the balance of power in a long, bloody election year.
Their plans are laid; the challenges are known; the risks accepted. But all schemes will shatter in the clash between two threats few had foreseen and none had fully understood: a monster from the north on a mission to poison the world, and a stranger from the south named Morlock Ambrosius.
The Hole in the Wall by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
Milkweed, $16.95, 280pp, hc, 9781571316967. Intermediate fiction.
Eleven-year-old Sebby has found the perfect escape from his crummy house and bickering family: The Hole in the Wall. It’s a pristine, beautiful glen in the midst of a devastated mining area behind Sebby’s home. But it’s not long after he’s found it that his world starts falling apart: His family’s chickens disappear, colors start jumping off the wall and coming to life, and after sneaking a taste of raw cookie dough he finds himself with hthe mother of all stomachaches. When Sebby sets out to solve these mysteries, he and his twin sister Barbie get caught in a wild chase through the tunnels and caverns around The Hole in the Wall—all leading them to the mining activities of one Stanley Odum, the hometown astrophysicist who’s buying up all the land behind Sebby’s home. Exactly what is Mr. Odum mining in his secret facility, and does it have anything to do with the mystery of the lost chickens and Sebby’s stomachache? The answers to these questions go much further than the twins expect.
Chicks Ahoy! edited by Esther Friesnewr
Baen, $12.00, 870pp, tp, 9781439133019. Fantasy anthology.
Three times the Chicks—Three times the Fun
It’s time to take sword-swinging amazons more seriously. Well, maybe not too seriously. After all, the popular Chicks in Chainmail series wasn’t known for stark drama and solemn think-pieces. In fact, they made a lot of people laugh. And now the first three books in the series are combined in one volume.
Chicks in Chainmail: (The look at the lighter side of amazons that started it all.)
Did You Say Chicks?: (Smile when you say that, you wimpy noncombatant.)
Chicks ‘n Chained Males: (Those men just can’t take care of themselves, so send in the amazons!)
It’s all right to have a laugh or two. These rambuntious swordswomen like a good laugh as much as the next amazon. Just don’t make them think you’re laughing at them, instead of with them—if you know what’s good for you…
[Contributors: Esther Friesner, Roger Zelazny, Elizabeth Moon, Susan Shwartz, Harry Turtledove, Holly Lisle, Margaret Ball, David Vierling, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Jody Lynn Nye, eluki bes shahar, Mark Bourne, Janni Lee Simner, Laura Frankos, Nancy Springer, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Josepha Sherman, Jan Stirling, Elisabeth Waters, George Alec Effinger, Elizabeth Moon, Sarah Zettel, Marina Frants & Keith R.A. DeCandido, Christina Bailey & Walter Vance Awsten, Doranna Durgin, Laura Anne Gilman, Barbara Hambly, Steven Piziks, Jan Stirling & S.M. Stirling, K.D. Wentworth, Adam-Troy Castro, Rosemary Edghill, Susan Cooper, Brian D. Akers, Jan Stirling, Kate Daniel, and Andrew Murphy.]
Of Masques and Martyrs by Christopher Golden
Ace, $7.99, 292pp, pb, 9780441005840. Urban fantasy.
They Are Called Shadows
They must drink blood, yet they do not steal life. New shadows are created only by individual choice. Led by Peter Octavian, they even count humans among their ranks. Their only real hunger is for peace.
The minions of Hannibal have a different goal: the enslavement of humanity. They kill for pleasure and for thirst. They indiscriminately create more of their own. And they embrace the title of myth, of terrible legend… vampire.
Shadows and vampires. One and the same. And now, once and for all, their war will be decided…
Mad Skills by Walter Greatshell
Ace, $7.99, 308pp, pb, 9780441020126. Science fiction.
A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste
Unconscious for fourteen months after a debilitating accident, Maddy Grant awakens at the Braintree Institute, where scientists have successfully implanted within her a radical technology designed to correct her brain injury. But Maddy is more than cured. Her intellect has been enhanced to process information faster than a computer—an ability that’s sending her emotions into overdrive.
Which is Why it Needs to be Controlled
To monitor her condition, the institute sends Maddy to the nearby village of Harmony, where she will be free to interact with the community. But Braintree’s scientists are not only observing her behavior; they’re modifying it, reprogramming her personality to make her into someone else.
A killer.
The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny by Simon R. Green
(a Novel of the Nightside), Ace, $7.99, 276pp, pb, 9780441019779. Fantasy.
In the Nightside—that hidden area in the middle of London where time stands still at three A.M. and the sun won’t rise to refute it—nightmares go walking in borrowed flesh, and not everything that looks back at you with human eyes is really human.
I’m John Taylor, a PI with a knack for finding things, helping those the Nightside has chewed up and is about to spit out. All things considered, my life lately had been bright, even in this shadowy place.
So it was only a matter of time before everything hit the fan. Walker—the powerful, ever-present, never-to-be-trusted agent who runs the Nightside on behalf of the Authorities—paid me a visit. He told me he is dying and that he, too, has a job for me. An important job.
His.
A Hard Day’s Knight by Simon R. Green
(a Novel of the Nightside), Ace, $25.95, 294pp, hc, 9780441019700. Fantasy. On-sale date: 4 January 2011.
Welcome to the Nightside. For those foolish enough to seek it out, it’s a literal tourist trap, populated by beings, human and otherwise, who have never seen the sun rise. A place where your dreams can come true—as long as your nightmares don’t get you first.
My name is John Taylor. I’m a PI with a special talent for finding lost things. Which was more than enough for me—until recently, when fate offered me a job that I couldn’t refuse. So now I’m the new Voice of the Authorities, who run the Nightside.
And I’m also the reluctant owner of a very special—and dangerous—weapon: Excalibur, the legendary sword (which isn’t what you think it is, and never was). Excalibur chose me, and no-one knows why. To find out, I’ll have to consult the last defenders of Camelot, a group of knights who dwell in a place that some find more frightening than the Nightside.
London Proper. It’s been years since I’ve been back—and there are good reasons for that…
Love & Rockets edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Kerrie Hughes (introduction by Lois McMaster Bujold)
DAW, $7.99, 307pp, pb, 9780756406509. Science fiction anthology.
Space… the final frontier… or is it? There are many who would say that there is no frontier more forbidding than a romantic relationship between two people. But what if one’s a human and the other’s an alien? What if a starship captain is in love with the artificial personality that guides his spaceship? Just how will we solve these matters of the heart in the far-off future?
Love & Rockets is an original collection of thirteen Space Opera adventures which explore the directions romantic relationships may take when set in such unique environments as spaceships, space stations, or planetary colonies. The relationships may be between humans or alien/human couples or even between humans and AIs. And no matter how far men, women, and extraterrestrials go in the universe, whether love is found on a distant planet or among the stars, just like in real life, a happy ending is never guaranteed.
[Contributors: Brenda Cooper, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Jay Lake, Anita Ensal, Sylvia Kelso & Lillian Stewart Carl, Steven H. Silver, Donald J. Bingle, Shannon Page, Kelly Swails, Dean Wesley Smith, Jody Lynn Nye, Tim Waggoner, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.]
Vampire Empire, Book One: The Greyfriar by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith
Pyr, $16.00, 303pp, tp, 9781616142476. Alternate history/fantasy.
In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Millions of humans were killed outright. Millions more died of disease and famine due to the havoc that followed. Within two years, once-great cities were shrouded by the gray empire of the vampire clans. Human refugees fled south to the tropics because vampires could not tolerate the constant heat there. They brought technology and a feverish drive to reestablish their shattered societies of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama, or the green temples of Malaya. It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming.
Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. She is quick with her wit as well as with a sword or gun. She is eager for an adventure before she settles into a life of duty and political marriage to a man she does not know. But her quest turns black when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. Her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.
The Greyfriar is the first book in a trilogy of hiugh adventure and alternate history. Combining rousing pulp action with steampunk style, the Vampire Empire series brings epic political themes to life within a story of heartbreaking romance, sacrifice, and heroism.
Starbound by Joe Haldeman
(a Marsbound novel), Ace, $7.99, 308pp, pb, 9780441019793. Science fiction.
After the shocking first contact between humans and alien life on Mars, Carmen Dula and her husband board a tiny, long-range craft with five other humans and two Martians. They travel to a distant solar system that is home to the “Others”—an enigmatic, powerful, and possibly immortal race. Once there, they manage to find enough common purpose to forge a delicate truce between human, Martian, and Other.
By the time Carmen and her party are sent back to Earth, fifty years have passed—and the Earthlings have not been idle. They have built a massive flotilla of warships to defend Earth against the Others’ expected aggression. But the Others have more power than any could imagine.
And they will brook no insolence from the upstart human race…
Vicious Grace by M.L.N. Hanover
(book three of The Black Sun’s Daughter), Pocket, $7.99, 368pp, pb, 9781439176290. Urban fantasy.
When you’re staring evil in the eye, don’t forget to watch your back…
For the first time in forever, Jayne Heller’s life is making sense. Even if she routinely risks her life to destroy demonic parasites that prey on mortals, she now has friends, colleagues, a trusted lover, and newfound confidence in the mission she inherited from her wealthy, mysterious uncle. Her next job might just rob her of all of them.
At Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago, something is stirring. Patients are going AWOL and research subjects share the same sinister dreams. Half a century ago, something was buried under Grace in a terrible ritual, and it’s straining to be free. Jayne is primed to take on whatever’s about to be let loose. Yet the greatest danger now may not be the huge, unseen force lurking below, but the evil that has been hiding in plain sight all along—taking her ever closer to losing her body, her mind, and her soul.…
Darkship Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt
Baen, $7.99, 502pp, pb, 9781439133989. Science fiction.
A girl’s best friend is a high powered weapon…
Athena Hera Sinistra has survived reformatories, madhouses and ballet schools. But nothing prepared her for waking up in her father’s space cruiser with a stranger looming over her bed.
Facing mutiny armed only with a torn nightgown and her wits, Athena has no choice but to escape into space—and to confront singlehanded the darkships that have terrorized Earth’s power collectors for centuries.
If she survives, space will never be the same again.
The Shadow of the Sun by Barbara Friend Ish
Mercury Retrograde, $20.95, 502pp, tp, 9781936427017. Fantasy.
A Man Cannot Deny the Gods
Ten years ago, Ellion violated a sacred rule of magic and brought tragedy on his family. Forced to abandon his throne, exiled from the holy Aballo Order of wizards, and severed from his patron goddess, he swore never to work magic again. He retreated into music and a bard’s footloose existence: living in other men’s kingdoms, singing of other men’s victories.
A Man Cannot Escape Destiny
But then the ard-righ, the king of kings, is murdered in an act of insurrection by a rogue wizard who follows the old gods. As the human nations teeter on the verge of chaos and civil war, Ellion tries to slip even farther away to the Tanaan realms, only to discover that they are threatened by the same enemy.
A Man Cannot Hide from the Shadow of the Sun
Now Ellion finds himself the protector of Letitia: a Tanaan princess, daughter of one of the greatest Tanaan heroines, and unwitting key to a great arcane mystery. Pursued by the rogue wizard’s minions, enticed by gods he was taught to forswear, challenged by his former mentor, and tempted by the most enchanting woman he has ever encountered, Ellion must battle his faith, his vows, and the darkness his soul yearns to tap as he races to unravel the secret of the rogue wizard’s power: the Shadow of the Sun.
Wicked City: The Scarlet Clan by Hideyuki Kikuchi
Tor/Seven Seas, $10.99, 224pp, tp, 9780765323323. Horror.
The cult classic anime film Wicked City is based on a series of novels by master horror writer Hideyuki Kikuchi, the Japanese Stephen King. Tor/Seven Seas is pleased to present these novels to the North American audience for the first time, featuring cover art by Christian McGrath.
The Black Guard, whose job it is to protect the boundary between our mortal world and the demonic Dark World, has succeeded in preserving the tenuous peace treaty between the two worlds, averting an all-out war. But there is always danger, and it is up to the mortal Taki and the demoness Makie, two of the best Black Guard agents, to stop it—especially since the danger is to their own unborn child.
In Wicked City: The Scarlet Clan, Taki and Makie’s child is about to be born. Though no one knows what form the child will take, it is already powerful, even in the womb. And it is a sign of hope that the human and demon worlds can coexist… which is something not everyone wants.
Silent for thousands of years, the demon family Shu is finally emerging from the Dark World, intent on killing the child before it can be born. A group that thrives on death and destruction, they will throw everything they can at Taki and Makie, hoping to destroy the child and prevent a centuries old prediction from coming true. Can the Black Guards defend against a demon family that has never been defeated, only locked away?
Like author Hideyuki Kikuchi’s will-known and critically acclaimed Vampire Hunter D novels, Wicked City is an epic tale of supernatural horror and high-octane action.
Alien Tango by Gini Koch
DAW, $7.99, 440pp, pb, 9780756406325. Science fiction.
For Alien Super-Being Exterminator Katherine “Kitty” Katt, anti-alien conspiracies, threats from outer space, and a couple of killer alligators are all in a day’s work. But internal alien schemes and some major “relationship” complications are about to bring new meaning to the phrase “chaos and confusion.”
It’s been five months since Kitty joined Centaurion Division, working with the aliens from Alpha Centauri. She and Jeff Martini have grown closer as a couple and life looks rosy. But when an experimental spacecraft is unexpectedly returned to the Kennedy Space Center, Kitty and the rest of Alpha Team are called on to investigate and are immediately embroiled in life-or-death situations that scream “political conspiracy.”
The team must survive murderous attacks, deal with a mysterious space entity that has seized control of a group of astronauts, and evade a woman who’ll do anything to eliminate the competition when she develops an obsessive crush on Kitty’s old high school boyfriend. And that’s all before the evil masterminds decide Kitty’s extermination is vital.…
Finding the Way and Other Tales of Valdemar edited by Mercedes Lackey
DAW, $7.99, 344pp, pb, 9780756406332. Fantasy anthology.
The Heralds of Valdemar…
…are an ancient order, drawn from all across the land, from all walks of life, and at all ages, these unusual individuals are Gifted with abilities beyond those of normal men and women. They are Mindspeakers, FarSeers, Empaths, ForeSeers, Firestarters, FarSpeakers, and more. Sought and Chosen by mysterious horse-like Companions, they are bonded for life to these telepathic, enigmatic creatures. With their Companions, the Heralds of Valdemar ride circuit throughout the kingdom protecting the peace and, when necessary, defending their land and monarch.
Now, fifteen authors travel with Mercedes Lackey to her magical land of Valdemar, adding their own unique gifts to the Heralds, Bards, Healers, and other heroes of this well-loved fantasy realm.
Journey with Tanya Huff, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Fiona Patton, Judith Tarr, Rosemary Edghill, Larry Dixon, Elisabeth Waters, and others in fifteen original stories, including an all-new novella by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon, to the magical land of Valdemar, where:
A Herald apprehends bandits who have been thieving and killing their way across Valdemar, but in his moment of success, suffers an unexpected loss…
A vandal in Haven giv es that town an unusual gift…
The wife of a foreign assassin develops a special bond with the Queen of Valdemar…A dying Healer and a failed Chosen find a way to heal their wounds and continue on.…
[Contributors: Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon, Rosemary Edghill & Denise McCune, Elizabeth A. Vaughan, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Elisabeth Waters, Kristen Schwengel, Brenda Cooper, Stephanie Shaver, Kate Paulk, Sarah A. Hoyt, Tanya Huff, Fiona Patton, Judith Tarr, Nancy Asire, and Michael Z. Williamson & Gail Sanders.]
The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and thej Rush of Wrestling by Joe “Animal” Laurinaitis with Andrew William Wright
Medallion, $24.95, 304pp, hc, 9781605421421. Biography. On-sale date: March 2011.
The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling is the captivating true story of The Legion of Doom: The Road Warriors, presented by Joe “Animal Laurinaitis. Alongside Mike “Hawk” Hegstrand, Laurinaitis stormed onto the wrestling scene. With a monstrous style and image like no other, the Road Warriors went on to become two of the most influential and celebrated wrestlers the world has ever known.
In his first book ever, Laurinaitis shares his perspective of the dangers of being in the ring, the death of his lifelong friend and tag team partner “Hawk,” and the rush of leaving a legacy in tag team wrestling that is unmatched to this day.
Joe takes readers behind the scenes of their most famous matches, including what it was like…
* to be twenty feet in the air on the scaffold at Starrcade ’86 as it nearly fell apart underneath,
* to legitimately injure J.J. Dillon furing the first War Games at The Great American Bash in 1987,
* and to witness Hawk so inebriated while fighting SummerSlam ’92, it was miraculous he could even walk.
The Road Warriors: Danger, Death, and the Rush of Wrestling is the story wrestling fans have been waiting for.
Carousel Tides by Sharon Lee
Baen, $14.00, 307pp, tp, 9781439133958. Fantasy.
Human Secrets by Linden Lewis
Matador, £7.99, 268pp, tp, 9781848764408. SF/Thriller.
When Guy Hewson, an enthusiastic young professor of Egyptology, unearths a strange relic, he has no idea of the bizarre and terrifying sequence of events that are soon to follow…
Humanity has a secret. A dark secret that has lingered undiscovered for millennia. After an attempt on his life, the professor seeks help from his friends who are drawn into a dangerous scenario of adventure, far removed from their everyday lives. What can this relic and its strange power reveal about the origins of the human race?
As the professor and his team attempt to stay one step ahead of the police and a murderous third party, a reanimated threat to mankind is looming on the horizon. Can a group of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances prevent destruction from the enemy at the gates?
In the Dark of Dreams by Marjorie M. Liu
(a Dirk & Steele novel), Avon, $7.99, 370pp, pb, 9780062020161. Paranormal romance.
Jenny is no stranger to magic—she is a child of covert organizations that specialize in the arcane and mysterious: shape-shifters, magic-makers, psychics, and monsters out of legend. And yet, she is utterly ordinary, one of the few members of her family without any “gift” to speak of. Except for one thing. A secret she has carried from childhood: an encounter with an extraordinary boy, born from the sea. And so begins a lifelong obsession, a love affair with the ocean—and a search for that magical boy she lost so many years before. Until, she finds him and discovers that together they must save the world… or drown with it.
Seer of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier
Ace, $24.95, 418pp, hc, 9780451463555. Fantasy.
Seer of Sevenwaters is Juliet Marillier’s return to the beloved world of Sevenwaters.
In this sweeping romantic fantasy, the chieftains of Sevenwaters are the custodians of a vast and mysterious forest in Erin, one of the last refuges of the Fair Folk of ancient story. Human and Otherworld dwellers have existed there side by side, separated by the thin veil between worlds and sharing a wary trust, until the lady of Sevenwaters finds herself expecting another child.
Thrust into the role of domestic manager during her mother’s risky pregnancy, Clodagh fears the worst, as her mother is well past the safe age to give birth. The marriage of her twin sister and the arrival of two very different young warriors unsettle Clodagh’s orderly life. Drawn to the personable Aidan, she finds herself increasingly intrigued by his friend Cathal, an enigmatic, prickly outsider. When the child is born, an unexpected turn of events plunges the household at Sevenwaters into chaos. Suddenly alienated from the family she loves, Clodagh finds herself on a perilous quest to salvage what is most dear to them. Accompanied by a companion who may prove to be more than he seems, Clodagh undertakes the challenge of her life. As she enters the shadowy Otherworld and confronts the powerful prince who rules there, her courage will be tested almost beyonod endurance. But the reward may be far greater than she ever dreamed…
Bad Things by Michael Marshall
Harper, $7.99, 370pp, pb, 9780061434419. Thriller.
The new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Straw Men and The Intruders is a heart-stopping tale of deception, and our culpability in our own misfortunes.
On a beautiful summer afternoon, four-year-old Scott Henderson walked out onto a jetty over a lake in Black Ridge, Washington. He never came back. His father’s world ended that day, but three years later John Henderson is still alive. Living a life, of sorts. Until one night John receives an e-mail message from a stranger who claims to know what happened to his little boy. Against his better judgment, Henderson returns to Black Ridge, unwittingly unleashing a terrifying sequence of events that threaten to destroy what remains of everything he once held dear.
John learns the hard way that Bad Things don’t happen just to other people—they’re waiting ’round the corner for you, too. And you won’t know when they start to worm their way in through the cracks in your life until it’s far too late.
Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
Gallery, $26.00, 468pp, hc, 9781439150146. Fantasy anthology.
Discover the many realms of the heart with this extraordinary cast of acclaimed authors.
Songs of Love and Death: All Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love is a star-studded anthology featuring New York Times bestselling authors Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, Jim Butcher, Jacqueline Carey, Marjorie M. Liu, Carrie Vaughn, and Robin Hobb, among others. These seventeen great modern authors of fantasy, science fiction, and romance explore the borderlands of their genres with brand new tales of ill-fated love. From zombie-infested woods in a post apocalyptic America to faery-haunted rural fields in eighteenth-century England, from the kingdom of high fantasy to the alien world of a galaxy-spanning empire, these are stories of lovers who must struggle against the forces of magic and fate.
[Contributors: Peter S. Beagle, Jo Beverley, Jim Butcher, Jacqueline Carey, Diana Gabaldon, Neil Gaiman, Yasmine Galenorn, M.L.N. Hanover, Robin Hobb, Cecelia Holland, Tanith Lee, Marjorie M. Liu, Mary Jo Putney, Linnea Sinclair, Melinda Snodgrass, Lisa Tuttle, and Carrie Vaughn.]
King’s Wrath by Fiona McIntosh
(Book Three of The Valisar Trilogy), Eos, $7.99, 516pp, pb, 9780061582707. Fantasy.
The concluding volume in Fiona McIntosh’s thrilling Valisar Trilogy, a saga of heritage, vengeance, and destiny.
The Valisar throne is in play once again. The Barbarian King Loethar, who conquered Penraven by might and then ruled with wisdom, has been set upon by enemies both within and without: his vicious and violent half-brother Stracker has turned against him in civil war; and Leonel, the young prince believed to be the last of the Valisar line, still lives in hiding, waiting for the right moment to lead his group of followers against Loethar.
But the game is about to change again, for it has just been revealed that Loethar is Valisar by blood, half-brother to young Leonel and bound to the notorious highway man Kilt Faris by an awful, deadly enchantment. And the youngest Valisar son, Piven, still lives as well, turning increasingly to dark magic and his burgeoning powers.
As it becomes increasingly unclear who deserves to rule Penraven, unbeknownst to nearly everyone, a young orphan boy and a magicked bird have called home the true inheritor of the Valisar Laegacy… to claim her crown.
The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia A. McKillip
Ace, $24.95, 330pp, hc, 9780441019571. Fantasy.
The Bards of Bone Plain is the new fantasy novel from World Fantasy Award winning author Patricia A. McKillip, in which a young scholar named Phelan Cle uncovers the mysteries of Bone Plain.
When Princess Beatrice of Pweverall Castle unearths a copper disk, green with age, Phelan Cle begins to notice that something strange may be going on. The disk is stamped on one side with runic symbols that look like twigs and on the other with a hooded face whose profile is mysteriously familiar to the princess. Phelan Cle gradually uncovers a legend that is bound to repeat itself. Is Phelan the only one who can see how dangerous it can be?
Empress of Eternity by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Tor, $25.99, 352pp, hc, 9780765326645. Science fiction.
Bestselling author L.E. Modesitt, Jr., has thrilled fans with his internationally acclaimed and extremely popular fantasy and science fiction, taking readers to worlds of stunning imagination. With his latest novel, Empress of Eternity, Modesitt spins together exciting adventure and fascinating political and philosophical ideas.
In the far future, an indestructible and massive canal more than 2,000 miles long spans the mid-continent of Earth. Nothing can mar it, move it, or affect it in any fashion. At its western end, where it meets the sea, is an equally indestructible structure comprising three levels of seemingly empty chambers.
Scientists from three different civilizations, separated in time by hundreds of thousands of years, are investigating the canal. In the most distant of these civilizations, religious rebellion is brewing. A plot is hatched to overthrow the world government of the Vanir, using a weapon that can destroy anything—except the canal. If used at full power, the weapon might literally unravel the universe. The lives and fates of all three civilizations become intertwined as the forces behind the canal react to the threat, and all three teams of scientists find their lives changed beyond belief.
Fans of L.E. Modesitt, Jr., know that his books are filled with adventure and heroism. He brings these elements once again to Empress of Eternity, as well as addressing bigger questions of consciousness and responsibility. Empress of Eternity will certainly satisfy longtime Modesitt readers as well as any science fiction devotee.
The Barsoom Project by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
Tor, $15.99, 350pp, tp, 9780765326683. Science fiction.
Originally published in 1989, The Barsoom Project is the direct sequel to Niven and Barnes’ Locus Award-winning novel Dream Park. The series centers on a futuristic fantasy theme park where adventurers participate in games enhanced with a clever storyline, actors, and the latest Virtual Reality technology. The holographic attractions of the Park will enchant, but when bad things happen, the consequences are very real…
Eviane’s first visit to Dream Park ended in disaster. The special effects had seemed so realistic—and they were. The holograms she was shooting at with live ammunition turned out to be flesh and blood and very, very dead. Now, after a stay in a mental hospital, Eviane has returned to Dream Park to exorcise her haunting memories. But in Dream Park, nothing is what it seems
Blending together hard science fiction with exciting RPG-like fantasy games, The Barsoom Project is cutting-edge SF at its best. Long-time fans and new readers will be eagerly anticipating the reissue of this classic novel, from two of the genre’s most beloved authors.
Eureka: Brain Box Blues by Cris Ramsay
Ace, $7.99, 308pp, pb, 9780441019830. TV Tie-In/Science fiction.
Welcome to Eureka. Population: Brilliant.
Eureka may look like any ordinary small town… but its residents are extraordinary. Founded by Albert Einstein and Harry Truman after World War II, it is home to the greatest minds in science and technology working on the next generation of scientific discovery. But the creations of these eccentric geniuses threaten to destroy the world as often as they save it. Jack Carter is the everyman sheriff who must use his common sense and unique street smarts to keep a lid on Pandora’s box.
Even the brightest of Eureka’s inhabitants can’t read someone else’s mind. Then Global Dynamics develops the Brain Box—a device capable of capturing and storing human thoughts. After a government agent is killed in an “accident,” General Mansfield gives GD the go-ahead to discover what the agent was thinking. But when the Box starts messing with people’s minds, Jack will have to keep his thoughts to himself if he plans on saving the townspeople from going out of their heads.…
Live Free or Die by John Ringo
Baen, $7.99, 594pp, pb, 9781439133972. Science fiction.
Bow down to alien overlords—or be destroyed.
The first contact was friendly. When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the Solar System, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. The first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the Horvath came through and announced their ownership by destroying three cities. Now Earth lies conquered, its puppet government answering to the ruthless Horvath dynasty. It’s going to take an unlikely hero to free the world, someone who’s unwilling to back down to alien or human governments, unwilling to live in slavery and with enough hubris, if not stature, to think he can win.
Fortunately, there’s Tyler Vernon. And he has bigger plans than merely getting us from under the fist of the Horvath. His plans start with the creation of Troy, a thousand trillion ton battlestation designed to secure the Solar System. If he can get it built in time.…
Hungry for You by Lynsay Sands
Avon, $7.99, 374pp, pb, 9780061894575. Fiction.
No one writes vampires better than Lynsay Sands. With her latest Argeneau novel, Hungry for You, Sands continues her tradition of fast-paced, compelling storytelling. Her heroines are strong, her heroes are passionate, and her prose is witty. Settle in for a sexy, scintillating read.
Alex Willan is having a run of bad luck. She’s about to open a new restaurant, but everything seems to be going wrong. The restaurant walls were painted an ugly green, and the carpet that was just delivered is an awful orange. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, her chef quits. Thankfully, her sister, Jo, sends over a world renowned chef, who happens to be visiting from Paris.
Except Cale isn’t a chef. He’s a vampire posing as a chef so he can figure out whether Alex is his life mate. Cale hasn’t even eaten in centuries. In fact, he can’t stand the smell of food. But as soon as he meets Alex, he regains his appetite—for more than just food. Now if only he can convince her that they belong together for all eternity…
The Last Hieroglyph: The collected Fantasies of Clark Ashton Smith, Volume 5 by Clark Ashton Smith (edited by Scott Connors and Ron Hilger)
Night Shade, $39.99, 376pp, hc, 9781597800327. Fantasy collection.
The Last Hieroglyph is the fifth volume of the five volume Collected Fantasies series. Editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger have compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith’s notes and letters, in order to prepare a definitive set of texts.
This series presents Smith’s fiction chronologically, based on composition rather than publication. The editorial decision to present these finely crafted tales chronologically, as opposed to thematically, was made in order to present Smith’s fiction as part of a continuum—Smith’s style evolved as he grew older, and gained access to the commercial markets. The ebb and flow of his prose over the course of his lifetime can be charted via the five volumes of this series.
The Last Hieroglyph includes, in chronological order, all of his stories from “The Dark Age” to “The Dart of Rasafa.” This volume also features an introduction, and extensive notes on each story.
[Contents: “The Dark Age”; “The Death of Malygris”; “The Tomb-Spawn”; “The Witchcraft of Ulua”; “The Coming of the White Worm”; “The Seven Geases”; “The Chain of Aforgomon”; “The Primal City”; “Xeethra”; “The Last Hieroglyph”; “Necormancy in Naat”; “The Treader of the Dust”; “The Black Abbot of Puthuum”; “The Death of Ilalotha”; “Mother of Toads”; “The Garden of Adompha”; “The Great God Awto”; “Strange Shadows”; “The Enchantress of Sylaire”; “Double Cosmos”; “Nemesis of the Unfinished”; “The Master of the Crabs”; “Morthylla”; “Schizoid Creator”; “Monsters in the Night”; “Phoenix”; “The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles”; “Symposium of the Gorgon”; and “The Dart of Rasafa”. Also, seven appendices.]
A Hundred Words for Hate by Thomas E. Sniegoski
(a Remy Chandler novel), Roc, $14.00, 320pp, tp, 9780451463777. Fantasy. On-sale date: 1 March 2011.
Once, he was known as the angel Remiel, but generations ago Boston PI Remy Chandler chose to renounce Heaven and live on Earth, where he found a secure place among us ordinary humans.…
As an angel, Remy possesses powers and skills he puts to good use in his chosen profession—but only if the situation calls for it. And the sudden reappearance of the Garden of Eden is definitely one such situation.
He’s approached by the seemingly benevolent Sons of Adam to find the Key to the Gates of Eden. But there are those who want the Gates to stay shut. For there is something terrible and dangerous buried in the Garden—and they’ll do anything to see that it is not unearthed.
Now, caught between warring factions of immortals, Remy must decide how to proceed: Find the Key, or not? Desperate for help, he turns to a very old acquaintance: a fallen angel who is sometimes a friend, sometimes a foe—and always deadly.
Unusual Suspects: Stories of Mystery and Fantasy edited by Dana Stabenow
Ace, $7.99, 308pp, pb, 9780441019663. Fantasy/Mystery anthology.
Abnormal Cases. Mysterious Mages.
Unusual Suspects invokes a dozen imaginative tales featuring otherworldly investigators trailing uncanny criminals across fantastical realms governed by the laws of magic.
From video game characters seeking civil rights and a cave dragon loan shark pondering an investment to Santa Claus vacationing in New Zealand and a murderous enemy seeking revenge on Sam Spade—plus visits to the Nightside and Sookie Stackhouse’s homewtown—these stories and more will take readers around the world on a magical mystery tour…
[Contributors: Donna Andrews, Michael Armstrong, Mike Doogan, Carole Nelson Douglas, Laura Anne Gilman, Simon R. Green, Charlaine Harris, Laurie R. King, Sharon Shinn, Dana Stabenow, Michael A Stackpole, and John Straley.]
7 Billion Needles, Volume 2 by Nobuaki Tadano
Vertical, $10.95, 188pp, tp, 9781934287958. Manga/Science Fiction.
The Hunted Becomes the Hunter
A 2010 YALSA Great Graphic Novel for Teens Nominee
Hikru Takabe has never been your “average teen.” As a high school girl she shut herself out from the world by turning up the volume of her headphones. Her aloof attitude comes from her adolescence, like her peers, but because of the tragic circumstances she has face since an early age. And from the day a mysterious moralistic cosmic being called “Horizon” possessed her body and mind, Hikaru was no longer able to isolate herself, let alone turn down the volume in her head. Now this teen is not only destined eliminate another cosmic being before it annihilates life on the earth, but she is forced to take on her own past.
In the second of four volumes, Hikaru begins to confront the very past she has intentionally looked away. With her new found friends, Hikaru is determined to visit the island where she used to live with her now deceased father. But the island presents more than just painful memories, filled with an unknown truth, and a dark, sad past, it poses a threat to her very existence. Soon enough a generation’s worth of island memories fill her with despair fueling her next confrontation with the evil “Maelstrom.”
There are no boundaries between the fantasy and the reality. Nobuyuki Tadano’s contemporary sci-fi tale presents the exciting and powerful description of the conflict between aliens and human being with a deep philosophical elements and human emotions.
The Griffith’s War by K.J. Taylor
(The Fallen Moon, Book Three), Ace, $7.99, 448pp, pb, 9780441020102. Fantasy. On-sale date: 22 February 2011.
The Fallen Moon trilogy by K.J. Taylor brings fantasy readers what they are looking for—an amazing story about humans and their intelligent magical companions—but with a twist! Told from the point of view of the anti-hero, this series has readers cheering for the “dark side.” Set in the land of Cymria, K.J. Taylor transports readers to a place where humans and griffins rule side by side.
Following the release of The Dark Griffin in January 2011, The Griffin’s Flight will be published in February 2011 and will conclude with The Griffin’s War. This gives readers the chance to read the series through from beginning to end without having to wait!
In The Griffin’s War, protagonist Arren Cardockson is a despised Northerner whose people were conquered and enslaved centuries ago. With the dark griffin Skandar by his side, Arren wants to free his people but to do so he has made a bargain with the Night God. Gathering his armies, wielding Skandar’s power to move through shadow, Arren seems unstoppable. But his nemesis is journeying to the Island of the Sun, seeking out the one weapon that can kill Arren, the man without a heart…
One Good Soldier by Travis S. Taylor
Baen, $7.99, 456pp, pb, 9781439134030. Science fiction.
One Day on Mars… the Tau Ceti Agenda… and now One Good Soldier
Six years after the events in The Tau Ceti Agenda, this exciting action story unfolds in a single critical day in the history of the United States of the Sol System, the extra-solar colonies, the Separatist Revolutionaries of the Tau Ceti system, and all of mankind.
As another of Earth’s colonies, Ross 128, secedes from the union, the President of the United States, former marine major Alexander Moore, takes swift action to prevent a second American Civil War, this time on an interstellar scale. He sends the flagship of the U.S. Naval fleet through the quantum membrane teleporter based in the Oort Cloud to the seceding colony. But the Tau Ceti Separatists have stationed their own teleporter there and the flagship will be met with heavy resistance from the Separatist Navy.
Only the heroics and sacrifices of one good soldier after another can save the flagship and the Union in an all-out winner-take-all showdown that reaches its final climax with frenzied hand-to-hand combat in the Oval Office itself.
Back to the Moon by Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson
Baen, $25.00, 303pp, hc, 9781439134054. Science fiction.
The second time around—is harder…
Decades after the last footprints were left on the Moon, the US was preparing to return to the Lunar surface in a new class of rockets, when the mission suddenly became much more urgent. It would have to be a rescue mission.
Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, China had sent its own Lunar expedition. A manned expedition. Until a distress call was received, no human outside of China even knew that the mission was manned—or that their ship had crash-landed and couldn’t take off again.
Timie was running out, and if the four Chinese astronauts were to be rescued, the American lunar mission would have to launch immediately, with only a skeleton crew. Once the heroic US astronauts were under way, the army of engineers and scientists back home had the daunting task of deciding what equipment could be left on the Moon to permit the Lunar lander vehicle to lift safely from the Moon with the two US astronauts and four stranded Chinese taikonauts! Could the US mount such a mission successfully—and would thousand of years of instilled honor “allow” the Chinese astronauts to accept a rescue?
Atlantis and Other Places: Stories of Alternate History by Harry Turtledove
Ace, $24.95, 442pp, hc, 9780451463647. Alternate history collection.
In his extraordinary novels, Harry Turtledove brilliantly re-creates history and constructs new societies—from an Elizabethan England under Spanish rule in Ruled Britanniar 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 “Audubon 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: “Audubon 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”.]
Liberating Atlantis by Harry Turtledove
(book three of the Atlantis trilogy), Roc, $7.99, 452pp, pb, 9780451463203. Alternate history.
Frederick Radcliff is a descendant of the family that founded Atlantis’s first settlement, and his grandfather Victor led the army against England to win the nation’s independence. But he is also a black slave, unable to prove his lineage and forced to labor on a cotton plantation in the southern region of the country.
Frederick feels the color of his skin shouldn’t keep him from having the same freedoms his ancestors fought and died to win for themselves. And when fate presents him with the opportunity to throw off his shackles once and for all, he becomes the leader of a revolutionary army of slaves determined to free all of his brethren across Atlantis.
Guardians of the Desert by Leona Wisoker
(book two of Children of the Desert), Mercury Retrograde, $18.95, 406pp, tp, 9781936427024. Fantasy.
Lord Alyea of Peysimun grows into her strength.
Deiq of Stass confronts his greatest weakness.
Lord Eredion of Sessin tries to live with his compromises.
Meanwhile, someone plots a brutal retaliation…
Not long ago, Alyea Peysimun was a shallow young noblewoman maneuvering for personal power. Her first attempt at politics proved far more dangerous than she dreamed possible, and nearly ended her life. Now she is a desert lord, one of the powerful, little-understood southern elite. But power changes everything—including who to call friend and enemy.
Deiq of Stass has long hidden his dual heritage by passing himself off as a mysterious quasi-noble. He has a facility for lying and a strange sense of ethics; but he’ll honor his promise to guide Alyea into her new life. To uphold that commitment, he must navigate more obstacles than even he could imagine—not least those within himself.
Eredion Sessin is the only desert lord who stayed in Bright Bay during King Ninnic’s reign. He endured the worst of the insane king’s excesses and helped to remove Ninnic from the throne; his guilt over the people he couldn’t save is almost as deep as his self-loathing. He has come to hate all the ha’reye represent. And yet something deeper than loyalty binds him to Deiq, who he knows better than to trust.
As the truth of the ancient, mysterious ha’reye begins to emerge and those who oppose their ways marshal new strategies, the repercussions of Scratha’s desperate gambit threaten to destroy a precarious balance that has held since the Split. And this time, there’s no turning back.
Cobra War, Book 1: Cobra Alliance by Timothy Zahn
Baen, $7.99, 394pp, pb, 9781439134047. Science fiction.
A call for help—or bait for a trap?
Earth and its colonies had won the war with the Troft because of the Cobras, a guerilla force whose weapons were surgically implanted, invisible yet deadly. But generations later, not everyone on the Cobra worlds thinks that the Cobras are worth their high cost, and favor cutting their funding.
Then Jin receives a message, sender unknown, delivered by a Troft messenger: Urgent you return at once to Qasama. Crisis situation requires your personal attention.
Jin and her family cannot think of a reason why the hostile Qasaman would want Jin or any other Cobra to return to their planet. But the possibility of danger to the Cobra worlds is too important for Jin to ignore the message. She and her son Merrick, also a Cobra, book passage on a Troft ship to Qasama. But are they really going where their help isneeded—or are they walking into a trap?