This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future: The First 25 Years edited by Kevin J. Anderson
Galaxy, $44.95, 270pp, hc, 9781592128488. Non-fiction.
For twenty-five years, L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest has discovered and nurtured a steady stream of new authors who have changed the face of SF. Chosen by an impressive panel of judges drawn from the biggest names in the genre, taught at a remarkable week-long workshop, and celebrated at world-class venues such as the Kennedy Space Center, the United Nations and the Science Fiction Museum. Contest winners are given the best possible foundation for a long-standing writing career.
Filled with more than a thousand spectacular images, interspersed with over one hundred success stories and testimonials, this book celebrates the first quarter century of Writers of the Future. This is truly the gold standard of SF awards.
Flandry’s Legacy by Poul Anderson
(The Technic Civilization Saga, compiled by Hank Davis), Baen, $13.00, 574p, tp, 9781439134276. Science fiction.
Sir Dominic Flandry is now an Admiral, but takes little joy in his new rank. He sees the rot in the Terran Empire on every hand and knows that the Long Night will inevitably fall upon the galaxy. His consolation is that measures he has taken while doing what he can to postpone the Empire’s final collapse may shorten the coming galactic dark age and hasten the rise of a new interstellar civilization. In the meantime, he’ll enjoy the comforts of a decadent civilization—and he’ll always be ready for one more battle against the Empire’s enemies.
This concluding volume of the Technic Civilization saga, one of the milestones of modern science fiction includes two full-length novels:
* A Stone in Heaven—When the daughter of Flandry’s mentor asks for help, he intervenes, and finds he must thwart a would-be dictator’s plans to seize control of the Empire.
* The Game of Empire—The Merseians, alien enemies of the Empire, have put into motion an insidious plan to bring the Terran Empire down. Flandry’s daughter, Diana, and her feline-like alien friend have discovered the conspiracy, but can they stop it in time?
Plus three novellas and a novelette set in the time of the Long Night and the renaissance of civilization which followed it, concluding one of the grandest adventure sagas in science fiction.
[Contents: “The Wheel Turns” by Hank Davis; A Stone in Heaven; The Game of Empire; “A Tragedy of Errors”; “The Night Face”; “The Sharing of Flesh”; “Starfog”; and “Chronology of Technic Civilization” by Sandra Miesel.]
The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Night Shade, $14.99, 500pp, tp, 9781597802185. Fantasy.
Among inhospitable and unforgiving seas stands Khalakovo, a mountainous archipelago of seven islands, its prominent eyrie stretching a thousand feet into the sky. Serviced by windships bearing goods and dignitaries, Khalakovo’s eyrie stands at the crossroads of world trade. But all is not well in Khalakovo. Conflict has erupted between the ruling Landed, the indigenous Aramahn, and the fanatical Maharraht, a wasting disease has grown rampant over the past decade. Now, Khalakovo is to play host to the Nine Dukes, a meeting which will weigh heavily upon Khalakovo’s future.
When an elemental spirit attacks an incoming windship, murdering the Grand Duke and his retinue, Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, is tasked with finding the child prodigy believed to be behind the summoning. However, Nikandr discovers that the boy is an autistic savant who may hold the key to lifting the blight that has been sweeping the islands. Can the Dukes, thirsty for revenge, be held at bay? Can Khalakovo be saved? The elusive answer drifts upon the Winds of Khalakovo…
Over in Australia: Amazing Animals Down Under by Marianne Berkes, illustrated by Jill Dubin
Dawn, $8.95, 32pp, tp, 9781584691365. Children’s picture book.
Australia has some of the most unusual animals anywhere, and a new picture book introduces them to children with wonderful style. Some are cuddly, like the koala. Some are jumpy, like the wallaby or kangaroo. And some are quite simply crazy, like the platypus—a duck-billed mammal that lays eggs.
Author Marianne Berkes knows how much children enjoy active stories. No child will be left sitting still! Over in Australia: Amazing Animals Down Under will have children hopping like wallabies and zig-zagging like emus! For young children, learning and movement are connected. This new book is patterned after Berkes’ successful Over in the Ocean, Over in the Jungle, and Over in the Arctic.
The book features ten Australian species—but illustrator Jill Dubin “hid” ten additional Australian species throughout the book. Dubin’s cut-paper illustrations add to the fun, and she also offers tips for kids on how to make their own cut-paper art.
Legion by William Peter Blatty
Tor, $14.99, 352pp, tp, 9780765327130. Horror.
Jesus asked the man his name, and he answered, “Legion, for we are many.” —Mark 5:9
After more than 10 years of being out of print, Tor is proud to announce the release of Legion by the master of horror William Peter Blatty. Originally published in 1983, featuring some of the same characters as The Exorcist and was the basis for the movie Exorcist III, Legion is now available to Blatty’s many fans as well as lovers of gripping terror and suspense.
A young boy is found horribly murdered in a mock crufixion leaving a group of people that could be capable of the brutal crime. Is the murderer the elderly woman who was a witness to the killing? A neurologist who can no longer bear the pain life inflicts on its victims? A psychiatrist with a macabre sense of humor and a guilty secret? Or a mysterious mental patient, locked away in silent isolation?
Lieutenant Kinderman follows a bewildering trail that links all these people, confronting a new enigma at every turn even as more murders surface. Why does each victim suffer the same dreadful mutilations? Why are two of the victims priests? Is there a connection between these crimes and another series of murders that took place twelve years ago—and supposedly ended with the death of the killer?
Legion is a novel of breathtaking energy and suspense. But more than this, it is an extraordinary journey into the uncharted depths of the human mind and the most agonizing questions of the human condition.
Dark Jenny by Alex Bledsoe
Tor, $14.99, 352pp, tp, 9780765327430. Fantasy.
Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse mysteries have received glowing praise for their innovative mix of high fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction. In this highly acclaimed third novel, wisecracking sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse finds himself the prime suspect in a shocking political crime—with the fate of an entire kingdom in his hands.
When the unexpected delivery of a coffin is made to Angelina’s Tavern in the dead of winter, Eddie is forced to look back at a bygone chapter in his past—and the premeditated murder of a dream.
Murder, mystery, and magic—just another day on the job for Eddie LaCrosse…
The island kingdom of Grand Braun is an oasis of peace and justice in an imperfect world… until a poisoned apple kills a member of the queen’s personal guard. Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, Eddie becomes the prime suspect and finds himself drafted at sword’s point to solve the mystery.
Trying to clear his name and find the real killer, Eddie becomes embroiled in a nasty political scandal—someone is trying to ruin Queen Jennifer, and they don’t care who they kill along the way. With time running out, Eddie must untangle a web of palace intrigues, buried secrets, and bewitching women—before a once peaceful kingdom erupts into civil war.
Alex Bledsoe has penned another outstanding standalone installment that is sure to please both devotees and newcomers to the series. Fans of the Dresden Files won’t want to miss Dark Jenny.
Elf Love edited by Josie Brown, Rose Mambert, & Bill Racicot
Pink Narcissus, $14.95, 302pp, tp, 9780982991305. Fantasy anthology.
Elves: They’re not just Santa’s helpers anymore.
20 original stories enchant, intrigue, and delight as they explore the theme of “Elf Love” in a variety of genres: fantasy, suspense, romance, noir, humor, and much more.
[Contributors: Ed Cooke, Josie Brown, Duncan Eagleson, Juniper Talbot, Athena Giles, Rose Mambert, David Vernaglia, Otilia Tena, Michelle Markey Butler, Sarah Eaton & Duncan Eagleson, Michael Takeda, Bill Racicot, Rev DiCerto, Joe Mogel, Jon Bishop, James Thibault, and Joanna Fay.]
The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell
Ace, $25.95, 356pp, hc, 9780441020379. Science fiction.
The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught is the first book in a new saga that continues the tale of the legendary Captain John “Black Jack” Geary from Jack Campbell’s bestselling Lost Fleet series that were originally released in paperback.
Campbell began the Lost Fleet series with Dauntless in the summer of 2006 and it has continued to grow in popularity through six books. The most recent, and final title, Victorious was published in April 2010 and debuted at #10 on the New York Times bestseller list. Critics and readers alike have praised the series which has been called “military science fiction at its best.” The books followed the adventures of Captain Geary as he battled against the Syndic Worlds.
In The Lost Fleet, the war with the Syndics is over and Geary has been promoted to Fleet Admiral, but his work is not done. Geary and his newly christened First Fleet have been ordered back into action to investigate the “enigma race” occupying the far side of the known universe and to determine how much of a threat they represent to the Alliance. And while the Syndic Worlds are no longer united, individually they may be more dangerous than ever before. Geary knows that members of the military high command and the government question his loyalty to the Alliance and fear his staging a coup—so he can’t help but wonder if the fleet is being deliberately sent on a suicide mission.
The Scar-Crow Men by Mark Chadbourn
(Swords of Albion, book 2), Pyr, $16.00, 403pp, tp, 9781616142544. Fantasy.
The year is 1593. The London of Elizabeth I is in the terrible grip of the Black Death. As thousands die from the plague and the queen hides behind the walls of her palace, English spies are being murdered across the city. The killer’s next target: Will Swyfte.
For Swyfte—adventurer, rake, scholar, and spy—this is the darkest time he has known. His mentor, the grand old spymaster Sir Francis Walshingham, is dead. The new head of the secret service is more concerned about his own advancement than defending the nation, and a rival faction at the court has established its own network of spies. Plots are everywhere, and no one can be trusted. Meanwhile, England’s greatest enemy, the haunted Unseelie Court, prepares to make its move.
A dark, bloody scheme, years in the making, is about to be realized. The endgame begins on the night of the first performance of Dr. Faustus, the new play by Swyfte’s close friend and fellow spy Christopher Marlowe. A devil is conjured in the middle of the crowded theater, taking the form of Will Swyfte’s long-lost love, Jenny—and it has a horrifying message for him alone. That night Marlowe is murdered, and Swyfte embarks on a personal and brutal crusade for vengeance. Friendless, with enemies on every side and a devil at his back, the spy may find that even his vaunted skills are no match for the supernatural powers arrayed against him.
Exodus: The Ark by Paul Chafe
Baen, $7.99, 698pp, pb, 9781439134313. Science fiction.
The gigantic starship Ark was launched on a voyage of ten thousand years from an Earth on the brink of collapse. Its mission was to carry a portion of the human race to a new home circling another star. But, centuries after its departure, the descendants of the original crew no longer remember that they are on a city-sized spaceship, and know nothing of the Ark‘s mission, nor of the starry universe outside. The Prophetsy, a theocracy based on slavery and terror, has ruled over most of the Ark for longer than anyone now living can remember, and it has just succeeded in conquering the few remaining free regions of the ship. Yet there are chinks in the monolithic tyranny…
Danil has been a slave since he was a young boy, but his spirit has never been broken, and his keen mind sees ways that the theocracy might be overthrown and envisions new weapons that could achieve that victory.
Annaya is the daughter of the Prophet Polldor, undisputed ruler of the Prophetsy. She is far more intelligent and strong-willed than her brother, but only a male heir can become the next Prophet. To her father, she is only a pawn, to be married off to a powerful ally. But she is determined that will not happen, even if she has to somehow overthrow both her father and the Prophetsy itself.
Olen, the Prophet’s son, is anxious to become the next Prophet. He will cooperate in his sister’s plans as long as he thinks they will lead to his assuming the throne and gaining absolute power, but he is a more dangerous ally than Annaya realizes.
These three, each with a different motive, will strive to change the course of history for the Ark. But even if they restore freedom to their artificial world, can they discover the nature of that world, and regain the knowledge necessary for the successful completion of its mission?
Master storyteller Paul Chafe presents Exodus: The Ark, the gripping second book of the Ark trilogy.
Betrayer by C.J. Cherryh
(a Foreigner novel), DAW, $25.95, 432pp, hc, 9780756406547. Science fiction.
In the wake of civil war, Bren Cameron, the brilliant human diplomat allied with Tabini-aiji, dynamic ateviv leader of the Western Association, has left the capital and sought temporary refuge at his country estate, Najida. But Najida has proven to be the opposite of a safe haven. For though the rebel usurper has been killed by Tabini’s forces, and the capital has been purged of his factions, insurgents still persist in other districts, and their center of power, the Marid, lies perilously close to Bren’s western coastal estate.
Now, Bren, along with Ilisidi, Tabini’s powerful grandmother, and Cajeiri, Tabini’s young son and heir, is trapped inside Najida, which has been transformed into an armed fortress and is surrounded by enemies.
But ancient, wily Ilisidi is not inclined to be passive, and in a brazen and shockingly daangerous maneuver, she sends Bren and his bodyguards into enemy territory. He is to travel to the palace of the leader of the Marid, a young lord named Machigi, in a district virtually at war with the Western Aassociation. Bren’s mission is to attempt to negotiate with Machigi—an atevi lord who has never actually seen a human—and somehow persuade him to cease his hostile actions against the West.
Though Bren does gain admittance to Machigi’s home, and even an audience with the young lord, Ilisidi has not given him any explicit directions about this negotiation, and Bren is unsure what he is sanctioned to offer. He knows that Machigi is a young autocrat who rules a fractious, faction-ridden clan, and that his continued hospitality is not guaranteed.
Bren’s genius for negotiation and his extensive knowledge of atevi politics, history, and economics enable him to make a daring trade offer to Machigi—one that seems to interest the young warlord. But Machigi is understandably suspicious of Ilisidi’s motives, and to Bren’s utter shock, evokes an ancient law.
Bren wears the white ribbon that for the last two centuries has identified the single official human-atevi negotiator. But before humans landed, this white ribbon represented a specialized negotiator between atevi adversaries—a mediator who agreed to represent both sides with equal loyalty. These ancient mediators frequently ended up dead.
Can Bren stay alive, and not aliente Ilisidi or Tabini, while also representing the interests of their enemy?
Deceiver by C.J. Cherryh
(a Foreigner novel), DAW, $7.99, 372pp, pb, 9780756406646. Science fiction.
The civil war among the alien atevi is over. Tabini-aiji, dynamic ruler of the Western Association, has reclaimed his former power, and once again resides in the capital. But factions that remain loyal to the opposition are still present, and the danger these rebels pose is far from over.
Bren Cameron, the brilliant human diplomat allied with Tabini, has graciously chosen to visit Najida, his country estate on the west coast. He feels that the political tensions in the capital might ease if he is not present, and after two years in space and his return to a planet still imperiled by revolution, he relishes the peace and tranquility his lovely coastal home affords.
But peace and tranquility are not in the cards for Bren.
Desperate for freedom and adventure, disregarding the obvious danger, Cajeiri, Tabini’s young son, escapes the tightly guarded capital with his bodyguards and arrives to surprise Bren in the country. But he is not the only surprise guest, for Ilisidi, the aiji-dowager, Tabini’s wily and powerful grandmother, has been dispatched to secure her great-grandson’s safety.
However, Najida, formerly a safe haven, is no longer the sanctuary it once was. For a neighbor’s estate—the ancestral home of Lord Geigi, a close associate of Bren’s—has been left without strong leadership. Lord Geigi now resides on and runs the atevi space station, and in his absence, rebel clans have infiltrated his home. When these rebels attack Bren, Cajeiri, and the dowager, they have no choice but to recall Geigi from space.
With Lord Geigi, Ilisidi, Bren, and Cajeiri all under one roof, they pose an irresistible target for the enemy. And Bren’s pastoral retreat, now swarming with bodyguards, becomes a locked-down and armed fortress. These four individuals—three of the most powerful politicians on the planet, and the heir to the aiji—are not without their own resources. But can they overcome their adversaries and end this guerrilla war that is the last vestige of revolution?
A Matter of Time by Glen Cook
Night Shade, $14.99, 240pp, tp, 9781597802796. Science fiction.
May 1975. St. Louis. In a snow-swept street, a cop finds the body of a man who died fifty years ago. It’s still warm.
July 1866, Lidice, Bohemia: A teenage girl calmly watches her parents die as another being takes control of her body.
August 2058, Prague: Three political rebels flee in to the past, taking with them a terrible secret.
As past, present and future collide, one man holds the key to the puzzle. And if he doesn’t fit it together, the world he knows will fall to pieces. It’s just A Matter of Time.
Navigating the Collapse of Time: A Peaceful Path Through the End of Illusions by David Ian Cowan, foreword by Barbara Hand Clow
Weiser, $18.95, 240pp, tp, 9781578634965. New Age. On-sale date: June 2011.
We are in the midst of a 25-year transitional period of planetary shift as our solar system approaches the Galactic Photon Band, a shift that is affecting our perception of time. The Mayans terms this transitional period: the “Time of No Time.”
Economic crisis, climate shift, cataclysmic weather events and accelerated species extinction; the world around us is in a state of rapid, destabilizing flux. One need only open a newspaper, watch the evening news or go online to be inundated with images and information on the latest catastrophe. And somewhere in the background, there is the persistent murmuring of 2012 prophecies. For years there has been speculation about the meaning behind 2012—the end of the Mayan long calendar and a date that recurs in many ancient texts and traditions. Convincing evidence, both interpretational and scientific, exists to support claims of an impending global event. The problem for the interested layperson is how to make sense of it all.
In Navigating the Collapse of Time, David Ian Cowan synthesizes a broad range of perspectives about this time of transition, from the writings of the ancient Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas, to speculative theory, quantum physics, philosophy, and the nature of illusion and reality posed by a range of theorists and academics including Ken Carey, Barbara Hand Clow, William Gammill, Zecharia Sitchin, Carl Calleman, Gary Renard, Ken Wapnick, Brent Haskel, and many others. He also shares his personal journey toward what he terms “being consciously multi-dimensional.”
Children of Scarabaeus by Sara Creasy
Harper Voyager, $7.99, 322pp, pb, 9780061934742. Science Fiction.
The Crib is Everywhere…
Edie Sha’nim believes she and her bodyguard lover, Finn, could find refuge from the tyranny of the Crib empire by fleeing to the Fringe worlds. But Edie’s extraordinary cypherteck ability to manipulate the ecology of evolving planets makes her far too valuable for the empire to lose. Recaptured and forced to cooprerate—or else she will watch Finn die—Edie is shocked to discover the Crib’s new breed of cypherteck: children. She cannot stand by while the oppressors enslave the innocent, nor can she resist the lure of Scarabaeus, the first world she tried to save, when researchers discover what appears to be an evolving intelligence.
But escape—for Edie, for Finn, and for the exploited young—will require the ultimate sacrifice… and a shocking act of rebellion.
Fire World by Chris d’Lacey
(Last Dragon Chronicles, book six), Orchard/Scholastic, $18.99, 576pp, hc, 9780545283687. Ages 8-12 Fantasy. On-sale date: May 2011.
Fire World< the sixth title in Chris d'Lacey's New York Times bestselling Last Dragon Chronicles, is sure to satisfy fantasy lovers of all kinds, even those previously unfamiliar with the series.
In the final moments of Dark Fire< David, Lucy, Tam, Zanna, and the Pennykettle dragons vanish after destroying a trace of dark fire. Now readers enter a brand new world—Co:pern:ica—a world running parallel to that of Scrubbley and Crescent Lanes. Here a 12 year old boy named David and his friend Rosanna spend their days in the librarium, a museum for books, with the curator, Mr. Henry, and the mysterious firebirds that roam the upper levels.
When the two friends accidentally injure one of the firebirds, they find themselves on a remarkable and dangerous adventure. The evil Ix have found a way to Co:pern:ica from their home planet and have turned one of the firebirds to the side of darkness. But the birds have a secret: They know about the existence of dragons. With the help of David and Rosanna, they must reach across the universe to call on the dragons for protection. But will the mighty dragons arrive too late?
Out of the Waters by David Drake
Tor, $25.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765320797. Fantasy. On-sale date: July 2011.
The second novel of The Books of the Elements.
The wealthy Governor Saxa, of the great city of Carce, has generously and lavishly subsidized a theatrical/religious event. During this elaborate staging of Hercules founding a city on the shores of Lusitania, strange and dark magic turns the panoply into a chilling event. The sky darkens and the waves crash in the flooded arena. The sky darkens and the waves crash in the flooded arena. A great creature rises from the sea: a huge, tentacled horror on snake legs. It devastates the city, much to the delight of the crowd.
A few in the audience, although not Saxa, understand that this was not mere stagecraft, but something much darker and more dangerous. If all signs are being read right, this illusion could signify a dreadful intrusion of supernatural powers into the real world. Saxa’s son, Varus, has been the conduit for such an event once before. This new novel in David Drake’s chronicles of Carce, The Books of the Elements, is as powerful and elaborate as that fantastic theatrical event, a major fantasy for this year.
The Crippled God by Steven Erikson
(a tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen), Tor, $19.99, 914pp, tp, 9780765316561. Fantasy.
Whena 40-year-old archeologist and debut author came away from the 1999 Frankfurt Book Fair with a nine-book, $1.2 million deal, he became an overnight publishing sensation. Twelve years later, Steven Erikson has accomplished the rarest feat in epic fantasy in completing the tenth and final volume of his New York Times bestselling “Malazan Book of the Fallen” series: one of the most masterful, original and jaw-dropingly epic stories of any genre in recent memory. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and so too much Erikson’s series conclude with the stunning final volume: The Crippled God.
If Erikson’s penultimate volume, Dust of Dreams, left readers hanging off a cliff, The Crippled God tosses them mercilessly from its edge. Here is the fate of Adjunct Tavore and her Bonehunters, driven to one final challenge against the god themselves; and the Forkrul Assail, who await them. Here is Ganoes Paran, HIgh Fist and Master of the Deck; Quick Ben and Kalam; Sahdowthrone, Cotillion, Anomander Rake, Hood, K’rul, and so many others, all driven to one final convergence… with nothing less than all of creation at stake.
No one writes complex, sophisticated, and dark epic fantasy like Steven Erikson, and his hordes of fans will not want to miss the spactacular ending to the acclaimed The Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
A Magic of Dawn by S.L. Farrell
DAW, $7.99, 560pp, pb, 9780756406462. Fantasy.
In this dramatic conclusion to S.L. Farrell’s highyl acclaimed Nessantico Cycle, both the empire and the capital city of Nessantico have been sadly diminished by the ravages of civil and religious wars, and by the destructive actions of the Tehuantin, a ruthless invading army form the far-distant Hellins.
Fifteen years have passed since the devastating events that nearly brought the empire to an end. Now Allesandra ca’Vorl sits on the Sun Throne of a diminshed Nessantico. Her san Jan is the leader of the Coalition of Firenzcia, and though diplomatic negotiations have long been taking place, there seems little hope that the political schism—or the relationship between mother and son&38212;will ever be healed.
Even the reunited Concenzia Faith may find its future imperiled: on one side by the increasing influence of the secular Numetodo sect, and on the other by a rising charismatic fundamentalist preacher.
As the stalemate bewteen Allesandra and Jan continues, time may be running out for the empire. For an old foe is once again preparing for war. The Tehuantin, having rebuilt their forces, have set sail for Nessantico bent on avenging the losses they suffered long ago. And unless Allesandra and Jan can reach an accord, both Nessantico and the Coalition may pay the price.…
At the Gates of Darkness by Raymond E. Feist
(Book Two of the Demonwar Saga), Harper Voyager, $7.99, 303pp, pb, 9780061468384. Fantasy.
Ten years beyond the Darkwar, the demon hordes are relentless in their quest to subjugate a realm of magic and wonder…
The defeat if the Demon King Maarg hasn’t stemmed the death tide, and an even graver danger now looms. The fearsome demon Dahun and the mad necromancer Belasco have joined forces—a union of black magics that no power on Midkemia may be strong enough to withstand.
The conflict has already claimed the lives of nearly everyone dear to the Black Sorcerer Pug. In uneasy alliance with the Conclave of Shadows, Midkemia’s clandestine protectors, the distraught champion must stand firm against the demonic plague that has overrun worlds. And at the gates of darkness—where shadows hide deeper shadows—Midkemia’s most terrible battle will be joined… as a malevolence beyond anything that came before is unleashed upon the world.
A Kingdom Besieged by Raymond E. Feist
(Book One of the Chaoswar Saga), Harper Voyager, $27.99, 353pp, hc, 9780061468391. Fantasy.
The final battle begins! A Kingdom Besieged, the newest action-adventure fantasy novel from New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist, begins the final Riftwar saga—the culmination of a story comprised of nearly thirty volumes, published over three decades, read and loved by millions around the world.
It was 1982 when Raymond E. Feist began his bestselling career with his first novel, Magician, an enthralling tale about an orphan boy named Pug who travels to a place known as the Kingdom of the Isles to study wizardry under the watchful eye of Master Magician Kulgan. Nearly thirty years and close to as many books later, Feist’s “Riftwar Cycle” is one of the most beloved, iconic, and enduring works of modern fantasy.
A Kingdom Besieged will begin the chronicle of the Chaoswar, the fifth and final Riftwar in the struggle for the soul of Midkemia. (The previous Riftwars were the original Riftwar, the Serpentwar, the Darkwar, and the Demonwar—epic battles between Good and Evil whose ramifications have echoed through genertaions and across world divides.) A Kingdom Besieged will usher in a terrible new threat to the kingdom, one which will bring about a major empire-rending—and will force Pug, now the most powerful magician Midkemia has ever known, to question everything he’s ever held sacred and true—including his beloved son Magnus.
Thirteen Fugues by Jennifer Natalya Fink
Dark Coast, $13.95, 122pp, tp, 9780984428816. On-sale date: 3 May 2011.
Fugue
1. A musical composition in which one or more themes are introduced and then repeated in a complex pattern.
2. A psychological condition characterized by a trance state and the assumption of a new identity, sometimes accompanied by a physical or psychological journey to a previous location.
Tanya Irene Schwartz is a 30 year old Jewish-American woman whose intense caricatures and obsessions ruminate the themes in her life: Jewish law, pop culture, patriotism, world records, human oddities, hygiene, and her erotic relationship with her sister. The well-traveled territory of the relationships between little girls and adult men is visited but from the girl’s perspective. Each scenario is framed with religious and sexual pedagogy, bringin us close-ups of the inseparable bonds between sex and the soul.
Each fugue rhythmically captures Tanya in the passion and confusion that marks every second of our journey from adolescence to adulthood. Thirteen Fugues is funny, dark, innocent, and ruthless writing from a master iconoclast.
1636: The Saxon Uprising by Eric Flint
Baen, $25.00, 432pp, hc, 9781439134252. Science fiction.
The West Virginia town of Grantville, torn from the twentieth century and hurled back into seventeenth century Europe has allied with Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, in the United States of Europe. So, when Gustavus invades Poland, managing to unite all the squabbling Polish factions into repelling the common enemy, the time-lost Americans have to worry about getting dragged into the fight along with the Swedish forces.
But Mike Stearns has another problem. He was Prime Minister of the USE until he lost an election, and now he’s one of Gustavus’s generals; and he has demonstrated that he’s very good at being a general. And he’s about to really need all his military aptitude. Gretchen, who never saw a revolution she didn’t like, has been arrested in Saxony, and is likely to be executed. The revolutionary groups which she has been working with are not about to let that happen, and suddenly there’s rioting in the streets. Saxony’s ruthless General Baner is determined to suppress the uprising by the time-honored “kill them all and let God sort them out” method, which only adds fuel to the fire. So Gustavus orders Mike Stearns to go to Saxony and restore order. But he makes one mistake.
He didn’t tell Mike to take his troops along on the mission. But he didn’t tell him not to, either…
Captives by Barbara Galler-Smith and Josh Langston
Edge, $14.95, 352pp, tp, 9781894063531. Fantasy.
Cast into slavery, two Druids must escape and protect an ancient magic from one who would abuse it.
As the spiritual heart of his clan, seer Druid Mallec is trusted and adored by all around him. Continuing to wonder at his past visions of a dark haired woman, his attentions shift to a series of strange calamities overtaking his people. Mallec struggles to understand why they have lost their gods favor, not realizing the untimely resurrection of the evil Driad Dierdre, and her plans for his ultimate downfall.
Meanwhile, healer Driad Rhonwen, Mallec’s dark haired vision vision, remains in slavery passing from bad master to worse. Repeatedly punished for her resistant nature, but kept alive for her healing skills, Rhonwen survives, remaining unaware of her intertwined fate with Mallec and the betrayal that will soon cast him into chains.
Together Mallec and Rhonwen must find their escape from slavery, seek revenge, and protect an ancient magic from one who would abuse it.
Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel by David Goodberg
Blue World, $22.95, 312pp, hc, 9780982704103. Science Fiction.
In 2051, commercial time travel became a global reality. Opportunities abounded for curious history buffs, futurists, and corrupt entrepreneurs. Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel is a spellbinding collection of 37 tales that explore time travel tourism and its repercussions.
In various settings ranging from Earth to deep space, Selected Shorts presents tales of those brave (or foolish) enough to adventure through the space-time continuum. Explore an era devastated by the Worlds War of 2267, cluttered with time-traveling tourists and swindlers, terrorized by the all-powerful Icelandic Mafia, endangered by ruthless corporations, and threatened by vigilante space aliens.
The future as we know it will never be the same.
Tomorrow Girls, book #1: Behind the Gates by Eva Gray
Scholastic, $6.99, 224pp, tp, 9780545317016. YA science fiction. On-sale date: May 2011.
Behind the Gates is the first book in the thrilling new series Tomorrow Girls, set in a bleak, not-too-distant future that eerily resembles our present. This relevant, edge-of-your-seat adventure explores the consequences of war and environmental devastation on four young girls.
The yeyar is 2020 and America is all but unrecognizable. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and revolutions have changed everything. The world is at war. Disaster and destruction are all thirteen-year-old Louisa has ever known. But now she and her best friend, Maddie, are among the lucky few being sent to bboarding school far from home.
Country Manor School isn’t perfect. The girls’ new roommates are tough to get along with—athletic but snobby Rosie and everything’s-a-conspiracy Evelyn. Even Maddie seems different away from home. The school is hard work—there are no cell phones, no computers, and students are expected to write everything by hand. Still, Louisa loves CMS—the survival skills classes, the fresh air. She doesn’t even miss not having TV, or the internet, or any contact with him. After all, it’s for their safety after all. Or is it?
Louisa, Maddie, Rosie, and Evelyn are about to find out that nothing is safe and they only have each other to rely on if they want to survive.
Those Who Fight Monsters: Tales of Occult Detectives edited by Justin Gustainis
Edge, $14.95, 240pp, tp, 9781894063487. Fantasy/Horror Anthology.
Demons may lurk, werewolves may prowl, vampires may ride the wind. These are things that go “bump in the night”, but we are the ones who “bump back”!
Got Vampires? Ghosts? Monsters? We Can Help! Those Who Fight Monsters—Tales of Occult Detectives, is your one-stop-shop for Urban Fantasy’s finest anthology of the supernatural. 14 sleuths are gathered together for the first time in all-original tales of unusual cases that require services that go far beyond mere deduction!
Meet our detectives, from these fine agencies.
* Danny Hendrickson—from Laura Anne Gilman’s Cosa Nostradamus series.
* Kate Connor—from Julie Kenner’s Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series.
* John Taylor—from Simon R. Green’s Nightside series.
* Jill Kismet—from Lilith Saintcrow’s Jill Kismet series.
Jessi Hardin—from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series.
* Quincey Morris—from Justin Gustainis’ Morris/Chastain Investigations series.
* Marla Mason—from T.A. Pratt’s Marla Mason series.
* Tony Foster—from Tanya Huff’s Smoke an dShadows series.
* Dawn Madison—from Chris Marie Green’s Vampire Babylon series.
* Pete Caldecott—from Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series.
* Tony Giodone—from C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp’s Tales of the Sazi series.
* Jezebel—from Jackie Kessler’s Hell on Earth series.
* Piers Knight—from C.J. Henderson’s Brooklyn Knight series.
* Cassiel—from Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season series.
Department Nineteen by Will Hill
Razorbill, $17.99, 544pp, hc, 9781595144065. Teen Fantasy.
Jamie Carpenter has been summoned.
When Jamie Carpenter’s mother is kidnapped by strange creatures, he finds himself dragged into Department 19, the government’s most secret agency.
Fortunately for Jamie, Department 19 can provide the tools he needs to find his mother, and to kill the vampires who want him dead. But unfortunately for everyone, something much older is stirring, something even Department 19 can’t stand up against…
The Inheritance & Other Stories by Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm
Harper Voyager, $15.99, 400pp, tp, 9780061561641. Fantasy. On-sale date: 3 May 2011.
The Inheritance is a compelling collection of short stories by New York Times bestselling author Robin Hobb, and celebrated writer Megan Lindholm. Those familiar with Robin’s work may be intimate with Megan; and those who have long been acquainted with Megan were delighted to find a similar voice—but vastly different tales—in Robin’s work. Yet, they are one and the same. “When I get a story idea, I immediately know if it belongs to Lindholm or Hobb, and the story is written accordingly,” shares the prolific author, who writes under both pseudonyms.
The Inheritance brings these two voices together into one harmonious volume for the first time. It is so named, in the author’s own words, as “the Lindholm stories are the inheritance that Hobb built upon. The styles and subject matter differ from name to name, but if you check the DNA, you will find the shared genetics and the common fascinations.”
Together for the first time are the diverse imaginings from this master fantasist’s mind—both new and classic works of short fiction written under both names. The collection is comprised of three expansive stories from Robin Hobb (“Robin tends to hog the word processor with her big books,” notes Lindholm), including the title story, The Inheritance, never before available in the US, and a brand new tale, Cat’s Meat. Contributions from Megan Lindholm include the Hugo and Nebula finalist story, A Touch of Lavender< and the Nebula finalist, Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man. Readers will delight in new Lindholm works as well, along with some older stories brought back into print.
[Contents by Megan Lindholm: “A Touch of Lavender”, “Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man”, “Cut”, “The Fifth Squashed Cat”, “Strays”, “Finis”, and “Drum Machine”. Contents by Robin Hobb: “Homecoming”, “The Inheritance”, and “Cat’s Meat”.]
Burton & Swinburne in The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Mark Hodder
Pyr, $16.00, 400pp, tp, 9781616143592. Steampunk.
It is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be…
Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended.
When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection—black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times. His investigation leads to involvement with the media sensation of the age: the Tichborne Claimant, a man who insists that he’s the long lost heir to the cursed Tichborne estate. Monstrous, bloated, and monosyllabic, he’s not the aristocratic Sir Roger Tichborne known to everyone, yet the working classes come out in force to support him. They are soon rioting through the streets of London, as mysterious steam wraiths incite all-out class warfare.
From a haunted mansion to the Bedlam madhouse, from South America to Australia, from seances to a secret labyrinth, Burton struggles with shadowy opponents and his own inner demons, meeting along the way the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Florence Nightingale, and Charles Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle).
Can the king’s agent expose a plot that threatens to rip the British Empire apart, leading to an international conflict the like of which the world has never seen? And what part does the clockwork man have to play? Burton and Swinburne’s second adventure is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and a deepening mystery that pushes forward the three-volume story arc begun in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack.
Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick
(a Tale of the Kin), Roc, $7.99, 418pp, pb, 9780451463906. Fantasy.
Death Around the Corner
Ildrecca is a dangerous city if you don’t know what you’re doing. It takes a canny hand and a wary eye to run these streets and survive. Fortunately, Drothe has both. He has been a member of the Kin for years, rubbing elbows with thieves and murderers from the dirtiest of alleys to the finest of neighborhoods. Working for a crime lord, he finds and takes care of trouble inside his boss’s organization—while smuggling relics on the side.
But when Drother’s boss orders him to track down whoever is leaning on his organization’s people, he stumbles upon a much bigger mystery. There’s a book, a relic any number of deadly people seem to be looking for—a book that just might bring down emperors and shatter the criminal underworld.
A book now inconveniently in Drothe’s hands…
The Demon Left Behind by Marie Jakober
Edge, $14.95, 264pp, tp, 9781894063494. Urban Fantasy.
“I’m a demon. My name is Melusine. My comrades are Bashemath, who is female like myself, and Geminian, who is male. And, just in case you are wondering, we didn’t come from hell—if such a place exists at all…”
As the global crisis develops in the Twenty-first Century, a group of special “demon” researchers are sent from a parallel universe to embody themselves as humans and study the situation. However, in the midst of the operation, Wye Wye, the youngest member of their team is lost.
As she and her comrades do everything demonly possible to find him, Melusine, the team lead, is forced to do the unthinkable—employ the assistance of a “visie” (demon slang for human)—freelance journalist Paige Ballantine.
The human Paige, however, gives demon Melusine a lot more to consider than just the mystery at hand as she becomes intrigued by the benefits of a “visie” life.
Together the team must race the clock to find and bring back young Wye Wye before he can no longer regenerate. In an all-out cross-continent search, the team turns up much more than they bargain for in this urban fantasy mystery adventure.
Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 by Michio Kaku
Doubleday, $28.95, 394pp, hc, 9780385530804. Non-fiction.
Imagine, if you can, the world in the year 2100.
In Physics of the Future, Michio Kaku—the New York Times bestselling author of Physics of the Impossible—gives us a stunning, provocative, and exhilarating vision of the coming century based on interviews with over three hundred of the world’s top scientists who are already inventing the future in their labs. The result is the most authoritative and scientifically accurate description of the revolutionary developments taking place in medicine, computers, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, energy production, and astronautics.
In all likelihood, by 2100 we will control computers via tiny brain sensors and, like magicians, move objects around with the power of our minds. Artificial intelligence will be dispersed throughout the environment, and Internet-enabled contact lenses will allow us to access the world’s information base or conjure up any image we desire in the blink of an eye.
Meanwhile, cars will drive themselves using GPS, and if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, vehicles will effortlessly fly on a cushion of air, coasting on powerful magnetic fields and ushering in the age of magnetism.
Using molecular medicine, scientists will be able to grow almost every organ and cure genetic diseases. Millions of tiny DNA sensors and nanoparticles patrolling our blood cells will silently scan our bodies for the first sign of illness, while rapid advances in genetic research will enable us to slow down or maybe even reverse the aging process, allowing human life spans to increase dramatically.
In space, radically new ships—needle-sized vessels using laser propulsion—could replace the expensive chemical rockets of today and perhaps visit nearby stars. Advances in nanotechnology may lead to the fabled space elevator, which would propel humans hundreds of miles above the earth’s atmosphere at the push of a button.
But these astonishing revelations are only the tip of the iceberg. Kaku discusses emotional robots, antimatter rockets, X-ray vision, and the ability to create new life-forms. He also considers the development of the world economy, and addresses the key questions: Who will be the winners and losers of the future? Who will have jobs, and which nations will prosper?
All the while, Kaku illuminates the rigorous scientific principles, examining the rate at which certain technologies are likely to mature, how far they can advance, and what their ultimate limitations and hazards are. Sythesizing a vast amount of information to construct an exciting look at the years leading up to 2100, Physics of the Future is a thrilling, wondrous ride through the next hundred years of breathtaking scientific revolution.
Tattoo by Kirsten Imani Kasai
Del Rey, $15.00, 400pp, tp, 9780345508829. Fantasy. On-sale date: 26 July 2011.
Her fate is in her flesh.
In an environmentally fragile world where human and animal genes combine, the rarest mutation of all—the Trader—can instantly switch genders. One such Trader—female Sorykah—is battling her male alter, Soryk, for dominance and the right to live a full life.
Sorykah has rescued her infant twins from mad Matuk the Collector. Her children are safe. Her journey, she believes, is over, but Matuk’s death has unleashed darker, more evil forces. Those forces—led by the Collector’s son—cast nets that stretch from the glittering capital of Neubonne to the murky depths below the frozen Sigue, where the ink of octameroons is harvested to make addictive, aphrodisiac tattoos. Bitter enemies trapped within a single skin, Sorykah and Soryk are soon drawn into a sinister web of death and deceit.
Chilling Tales: Evil Did I Dwell; Lewd I Did Live edited by Michael Kelly
Edge, $14.95, 224pp, tp, 9781894063524. Horror/Dark Fantasy Anthology.
18 spine-tingling tales best served chilled…
Edited by the maestro of the macabre, Michael Kelly, Chilling Tales: Evil Did I Dwell; Lewd I Did Live will distress you, delight you, and disturb you with stories that slowly creep under your skin and linger in your mind long after the pages have been read.
[Contributors: Michael Kelly, Robert J. Wiersema, Richard Gavin, Barbara Roden, Leah Bobet, Michael R. Colangelo, Simon Strantzas, Jason S. Ridler, Nancy Kilpatrick, Suzanne Church, David Nickle, Christopher K. Miller, Brett Alexander Savory, Brent Hayward, Sandra Kasturi, Ian Rogers, Gemma Files, Claude Lalumiere, and Tia V. Travis.]
Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler
(Book Two in the Riders of the Apocalypse series), Graphia, $8.99, 228pp, tp, 9780547445281. YA fantasy.
Jackie Morse Kessler doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects. Her first book for young adults, Hunger, features an anorexic teen who becomes Famine, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In Rage, sixteen-year-old Melissa Miller is a self-injurer who is chosen to become War. These two books comprise the first two in Ms. Kessler’s Riders of the Apocalypse series, an inventive trope that places teens who are facing intensely personal battles in an otherworldly setting.
Rage opens at a pivotal moment in Missy’s life. She didn’t mean to cut so deep. But after the party where she was humiliated in front of practically everybody in school, who could blame her for wanting some comfort? Sure, most people don’t find comfort in the touch of a razor blade, but Missy always was… different. As she feels her life ebb away, Death presents Missy with a choice: accept the sword, a symbol of her new office, or die.
Now Missy wields a new kind of blade—a big, brutal sword that can cut down anyone and anything in her path. but it’s with this weapon in her hand that Missy learns something that could help her triumph over her own pain: control.
“If there’s a theme to the Riders of the Apocalypse books, it’s how we choose to destroy ourselves—and how we can choose to save ourselves as well,” Ms. Kessler says in a recent interview. A portion of proceeds for Rage will be donated to To Write Love on Her Arms (www.twloha.com), a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with self-injury, depression, addiction, and suicide. Kessler is also donating a portion of the proceeds from Hunger to The National Eating Disorders Association (www.nationaleatingdisorders.org).
A unique approach to the topic of self-mutilation, Rage is the story of a young woman who discovers her own power and refuses to be defeated by the world.
Element Zero by James Knapp
Roc, $7.99, 370pp, pb, 9780451463920. Fantasy.
Technologically reanimated corpses known as revivors are frontline soldiers engaged in a never-ending war overseas, sparing humanity from combat. But Agent Nico Wachalowski uncovered a conspiracy that went to the very heart of the revivors’ existence—a contingency that allowed Samuel Fawkes, the scientist who created them, to control them from beyond the grave.
Nico believed he’d stopped Fawkes, but Fawkes had stolen the prototype of the latest advancement in revivor technology: a device capable of wiring people for revival through simple injection. Now Fawkes has infected untold thousands, creating an undetectable army that will obey his every command without question—an undead army that just might represent the future of humanity.…
Alien in the Family by Gini Koch
DAW, $7.99, 468pp, pb, 9780756406684. Science Fiction.
Planning any wedding is hard enough, but Katherine “Kitty” Katt and Jeff Martini have a lot more to worry about than seating arrangement, because multiple interstellar invasions, Alpha Team in mortal peril, and inter-alien conspiracies are all on the guest list—and the gifts they’ve brough contain some explosive surprises.
Kitty and Martini should be happily finalizing their wedding plans. Kitty’s biggest worries should be about winning over Martini’s mother, finding the right dress, and lining up her bridesmaids. But protecting the Earth from assorted alien threates seems to keep getting in the way.
The discovery that Martini is actually a member of the Alpha Centaurion Royal Family brings additional bad news—emissaries are on their way to see if Kitty’s royal bride material. And they’re not the only things coming from the Alpha Centauri system. Amazonian assassins, spies, alien beasties, shape-shifters, and representatives from the Planetary Council, combined with a tabloid reporter who’s a little too on the mark, create a deadly situation for Kitty and the rest of Alpha Team. When the assassins strike far too close to home for anyone’s comfort, Kitty realizes it’s going to come down to more than throwing the bouquet—she’s going to have to face an entire planetary consciousness and dethrone a monarch in order to make it to the church on time.…
The Amazon Legion by Tom Kratman
Baen, $24.00, 420pp, hc, 9781439134269. Science Fiction.
On the colony planet of Terra Nova, Carrera has achieved his revenge, destroying those who had destroyed his life by killing his wife and children in a terrorist strike. And, with this help of his second wife, he has thwarted an attempted coup that would have restored the rule of the oligarchy and undone his hard-won victory. But his fight is not over yet…
The problem of the Tauran Union’s control of the Transitway between Terra Nova and Earth remains, as does the problem of the nuclear armed United Earth Peace Fleet, orbiting above the planet. The Taurans will not leave, and the Balboans—a proud people, with much recent success in war—will not tolerate that they should remain.
And yet, with one hundred times the population and three or four hundred times the wealth, the Tauran Union outclasses little Balboa in almost every way, even without the support of Old Earth. Sadly, they have that support. Everything, everyone, will have to be used to finish the job of freeing the country and, if possible, the planet. The children must fight. The old must serve, too. And the women?
This is their story, the story of Balboa’s Tercio Amazona, the Amazon Regiment.
Wolfsangel by M.D. Lachlan
Pyr, $16.00, 362pp, tp, 9781616143572. Fantasy.
The Viking king Authun leads his men on a raid against an Anglo-Saxon village. Men and women are killed indiscriminately, but Authun demands that no child be touched. He is acting on prophecy—a prophecy which tells him that the Saxons have stolen a child from the gods. If Authun, in turn, takes the child and raises him as an heir, the child will lead his people to glory.
But Authun discovers not one child, but twin baby boys. After ensuring that his faithful warriors, witnesses to what has happened, die during the raid, Authun takes the children and their mother home, back to the witches who live on the troll wall. And he places his destiny in their hands.
So begins a stunning multivolume fantasy epic that will take a werewolf from his beginnigs as the heir to a brutal Viking king down through the ages. It is a journey that will see him hunt for his lost love through centuries and lives, and see the endless battle between the wolf, Odin, and Loki, the eternal trickster, spill over into countless bloody conflicts from our history and our lives. This is the myth of the werewolf as it has never been told before and marks the beginning of an extraordinary new fantasy series.
Longeye by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Baen, $7.99, 409pp, pb, 9781439134290. Fantasy.
Hidden from the human-inhabited world by the inimical magical device known as the keleigh, the Vaitura has become a subtle battleground where the once all-powerful Elder Fey strive against each other and the upstart Queen to regain ascendancy. Of all the Elder Fey it is Altimere who is strongest in magical kest and Altimere who is most devious. Pitted against Zaldore and her group seeking to manipulate the convelescing Ranger known as Longeye to foil the Queen and rule the world, Altimere dares to utilize the untested powers of half-human, half-Fey Rebecca Beauvally, recognized by the elemental denizens of the Vaitura as The Gardener.
Now all plans must be rewritten: Becca breaks Altimere’s capricious dominion with the dangerous herbal help of Duainfey, but, weakened by the effort, is held against her will in service to the Queen by Meripen’s mysterious sea-lord cousin, Sian. Becca must escape the Queen’s retainers to regain control of her own fate. With the magics of the Vaitura, and Altimere’s retribution arrayed against her, she escapes with only her horse, a mad forest-living Brethren, and her freed magical servant Nancy at her side. Worse, the recovered legendary hero Longeye, long beloved of the Vaitura’s forest folk and creatures, has re-armed at Sian’s bidding, and knows most of all about Becca that she is both dangerous, and of the same folk who cruelly tortured him and slew his lover before his eyes.
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
Atria, $24.00, 224pp, hc, 9781439192313. Fiction.
A captivating debut novel that is as romantic as it is terrifying…
Newcomer writer Isaac Marion has a new take on the iconic tale of Romeo and Juliet. Sure, Romeo and Juliet is the classic love story, but it’s also a story of doomed love. In his brilliant debut novel, Warm Bodies, Marion takes matters into his own hands and envisions an entirely new ending for two disparate people who triumph through love.
Instead of star-crossed lovers, his protagonists are an existentially tormented zombie shuffling through a destroyed America and a feisty 19-year-old Living girl. And what makes their story so different from Shakespeare’s tragic tome is that they aren’t doomed. In fact, amid the visceral horror of a zombie’s existence and the requisite rending flesh and brains, they find that with hope, love, and courage, they have the power to change their devastated world.
Isaac Marion is an amazing storyteller who writes from his heart, or from his viscera, as the case may be. Warm Bodies stems loosely from his short story “I Am a Zombie Filled with Love” which he transformed into a poignant and darkly clever novel that explores the power of hope and optimism—and the idea that we can correct the errors of our history and actually change things for the future.
Dragon’s Time by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey
(a Dragonriders of Pern novel), Del Rey, $26.00, 352pp, hc, 9780345500892. Science Fiction. On-sale date: 28 June 2011.
For the first time in more than three years, bestselling authors Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey, mother and son, have teamed up again to do what they do best: add a fresh chapter to the most beloved science fiction series of all time, the Dragonriders of Pern.
Even though Lorana cured the plague that was killing the dragons of Pern, sacrificing her queen dragon in the process, the effects of the disease were so devastating that there are no longer enough dragons available to fight the fall of deadly Thread. And as the situation grows more dire, a pregnant Lorana decides that she must take drastic steps in the quest for help.
Meanwhile, back at Telgar Weyr, Weyrwoman Fiona, herself pregnant, and the harper Kindan must somehow keep morale from fading altogether in the face of the steadily mounting losses of dragons and their riders. But time weighs heavily against them—until Lorana finds a way to use time itself in their favor.
It’s a plan fraught with risk, however. For attempting time travel means tampering with the natural laws of the universe, which could drastically alter history—and destiny—forever. Or so it has always been thought. But Lorana discovers that if the laws of time can’t be broken without consequences, it may still be possible to bend them. To ensure the future of Pern, she’s willing to take the fateful chance—even if it demands another, even greater, sacrifice.
Soft Apocalypse by Will McIntosh
Night Shade, $14.99, 256pp, tp, 9781597802765. Science fiction.
What happens when resources become scarce and society starts to crumble? As the competition for resources pulls America’s previously stable society apart, the “New Normal” is a Soft Apocalypse. This is how our world ends; with a whimper instead of a bang.
New social structures and tribal connections spring up across America, as the previous social structures begin to dissolve. Soft Apocalypse follows the journey across the South East of a tribe of formerly middle class Americans as they struggle to find a place for themselves and their children in a new, dangerous world that still carries the ghostly echoes of their previous lives.
City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton
Spectra, $16.00, 448pp, tp, 9780345520883. Fantasy. On-sale date: 28 June 2011.
In the frozen north of a far-flung world lies Villiren, a city plagued by violent gangs and monstrous human/animal hybrids, stalked by a serial killer, and targeted by an otherworldly army. Brynd Lathraea has brought his elite Night Guard to help Villiren build a fighting force against the invaders. But success will mean dealing with the half-vampyre leader of the savage Bloods gang. Meanwhile, reptilian rumel investigator Rumex Jeryd has come seeking refuge from Villjamur’s vindictive emperor—only to find a city riddled with intolerance between species, indifference to a murderer’s reign of terror, and the powerful influence of criminals. As the enemy prepares to strike, and Villiren’s defenders turn on each other, three refugees—deposed empress Jamur Rika, her sister Eir, and the scholar Randur Estevu—approach the city. And with them they bring a last, desperate hope for survival… and a shocking revelation that will change everything.
Until I Return: Dawn of the Shining Darkness by Kenneth E. Nowell
Vero House, $16.95, 420pp, tp, 9780982827901. Fiction/Christian/Suspense.
When prophecies converge with headlines, hooded clerics perform an ancient ritual in a hidden cave… A drifter with no known past is accused of murder in a cloistered convent… An ambitious Latin beauty launches her U.S. presidential campaign… A brilliant technology team schemes to monopolize mankind’s most precious resource… And a Russian oil billionaire plots chaos to control them all. As the world careens into crisis, one mysterious man declares what is and what shall be. Will anyone listen?
Until I Return: Dawn of the Shining Darkness is a spiritual thriller based on today’s headlines and centuries-old prophecies.
View from the Imperium by Jody Lynn Nye
Baen, $7.99, 566pp, pb, 9781439134306. Science fiction.
P.G. Wodehouse meets space opera, as Ensign Thomas Innes Loche Kinago, fresh from the Academy, is given his first command. A crumb from the upper crust, he’s eager to uphold the traditions of his family, and in particular, his mother, a distinguished Admiral of the Imperium. Of course, he’s aware of the importance of always having simply smashing tailored uniforms on hand, and having his camera ready to record memorable moments for his scrapbook.
In the meantime, a charismatic leader has arisen who seems able to control the minds of anyone he meets, and may be on his way to taking over the entire galaxy. Can Kinago’s aristocratic bearing and unbridled snobbery stand up to such a challenge? Fortunately, his constant companion, the unflappable Jeeves, er, Parsons, is on hand to look after the young, impulsive master, and somehow help his charge bumble his way through, perhaps even saving the galaxy in the process.
The Shinig City by Fiona Patton
(Book Three of The Warriors of Estavia), DAW, $15.00, 400pp, tp, 9780756406615. Fantasy.
Anavatan, the City of the Gods, rests on the shore of shining Gol-Beyaz, the Silver Lake. The city, and its outlying villages are surrounded by the God-Wall, a magical barrier that protects all who dwell here from both the nomadic human invaders that attack each year, and the hungry spirits which are drawn to the living energies of the Silver Lake yet can’t break through the spell wall to claim his life force for themselves. It is here in the heart of Gol-Beyaz that, long ago, the Gods were born—the six Immortal Patrons of Anavatan, and of most who dwell within the city.
The three children of prophecy—the seers Spar and Graize, and the warrior Brax—are all grown now and each has come into his full power.
And with the young God Hisar ready to stake his claim to a place in the pantheon of Anavatan, a long-prophesied time of chaos and change is fast approaching. Sworn enemies, Spar and Graize both had a part in Hisar’s creation and his growth. If they can overcome their mutual hatred and distrust, perhaps together they can help the young God to survive the coming battles with both the hungry spirits seeking to devour him and the mortal invasion fleet which is even now sailing for Anavatan.
Brax, the sworn champion of the Goddess Estavia, may be forced to do the unthinkable, and divide his allegiance to the Gods, a course of action which could not only destroy the young warrior himself but which might disastrously shift the balance of power—and lead to the downfall of the Shining City.…
Eureka: Road Less Traveled by Cris Ramsay
Ace, $7.99, 262pp, pb, 9780441019021. 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.
A Global Dynamics researcher has a breakthrough in her attempt to visualize another dimension. And sincce GD’s experiments have a bad tendency to affect the entire town, Sheriff Carter heads over to check it out. What he sees blows him away. The project has revealed a parallel universe, complete with another Eureka—one in which Carter doesn’t exist! but as the two worlds begin to bleed into each other and residents confront their alternate selves, Carter may be the only man who can keep both Eurekas from being destroyed.
City of Ruins by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Pyr, $16.00, 304pp, tp, 9781616143695. Science fiction. On-sale date: May 2011.
Boss, a loner, loved to dive derelict spacecraft adrift in the blackness of space…
But one day, she founded a ship that would change everything—an ancient Dignity Vessel—and aboard the ship, the mysterious and dangerous Stealth Tech. Now, years after discovering that first ship, Boss has put together a large company that finds Dignity Vessels and finds “loose” stealth technology.
Following a hunch, Boss and her team come to investigate the city of Vaycehn, where fourteen archeologists have died exploring the endless caves below the city. Mysterious “death holes” explode into the city itself for no apparent reason, and Boss believes stealth tech is involved. As Boss searches for the answer to the mystery of the death holes, she will uncover the answer to her Dignity Vessel quest as well—and one more thing, something so important that it will change her life—and the universe—forever.
WWW: Wonder by Robert J. Sawyer
Ace, $25.95, 338pp, hc, 9780441019762. Science fiction.
The advent of Webmind—a vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the world wide web—is changing everything. From curing cancer to easing international tensions, Webmind seems a boon to humanity.
But Colonel Peyton Hume, the Pentagon’s top expert on artificial intelligence, is convinced Webmind is a threat. He turns to the hacker underground to help him bring Webmind down. But soon hackers start mysteriously vanishing. Is Webmind killing them before they can mount an attack?
Caitlin Decter—the once-blind sixteen-year-old math genius who discovered Webmind—desperately tries to protect her friend. Can this new world of wonder survive—or will everything, Webmind included, come crashing down?
Con & Conjure by Lisa Shearin
(a Raine Benares novel), Ace, $7.99, 324pp, pb, 9780441020188. Fantasy.
My name is Raine Benares. I’m a seeker who finds lost things and missing people. My relatives, on the other hand, steal things. They’re the most notorious criminal family in the seven kingdoms. Sometimes I wonder if they have the right idea, especially since what I’ve found lately is likely to get me killed. And the Saghred, a soul-stealing stone that has given me unlimited power, is to blame for every last bit of it.
Ever since the Saghred bonded to me, the goblin kind and the elven power brokers have wanted to possess its magic themselves. But to get it, they’ll have to get me, and their pockets are deep enough to make that happen. With the help of my highly qualified family, I’ve rigged the perfect con—one that will financially ruin the elves who are spoiling for war. My family’s run elaborate scams before, but none involving this much money, government officials this highly ranked, or a war this close to starting. In our way is a goblin thief who’s after the Saghred, and my ex-fiance—an elven assassin who may be after me. I broke up with him. Let’s just say it could have gone better.
If either the goblins or the elves get their hands on the Saghred, they have every intention of using it. Which means total annihilation will be inevitable…
Shadowborn by Alison Sinclair
Roc, $15.00, 352pp, tp, 9780451463944. Fantasy. On-sale date: 7 June 2011.
For the Darkborn, the touch of sunlight kills, while darkness is lethal for the Lightborn. For centuries, the two have lived in uneasy peace, sharing the same city but never meeting. Now, with the rise of the Shadowborn, everything is about to change.…
Magic dies with the mage, or so the Darkborn believe. That’s why Lady Telmaine Hearne was condemned to death for sorcery. She narrowly escaped with her life and is now bound with her mageborn allies for the Borders—and the war brewing there. Meanwhile, her husband, Balthasar, has learned of his family connection to the Shadowborn—and he is fighting for survival and sanity as their dark magic turns him against everything he holds dear.
At the same time, a Lightborn prince finds himself stranded in the Borders—on the front lines of the battle between Darkborn and Shadowborn. Fortunately, the assassin Floria White Hand is maneuvering between allies and enemies to bring her prince home safely, even as she suddenly gains an unexpected and precious new charge.
Now the fragile alliance between Lightborn and Darkborn, between mage and nonmage, is endanered. Even as the Darkborn make their plans, on the other side of sunrise, the mage Tammorn is forced to become ambassador to the enemy. And a lifetime fighting the Shadowborn has not prepared Ishmael di Studier for what he will find when he follows the Call from the Shadowlands—and meets the woman behind it.…
Hex by Allen Steele
Ace, $26.95, 352pp, hc, 9780441020362. Science fiction. On-sale date: 7 June 2011.
Two-time Hugo Award winner Allen Steele expands the universe of his Coyote saga with the story of Hex, a habitat the size of an entire solar system that could be a utopia—or nothing but a cosmic mirage…
The Coyote Federation has long been a full-fledged member of the Talus, the “galactic club” of interstellar races. Yet one race, the danui, a reclusive arachnid species considiered the galaxy’s finest engineers, has avoided contact with Coyote.
Until, that is, the danui initiate trade negotiations, offering only information: the coordinates for an unoccupied world suitable for human life.
The Federation eagerly accepts, but the human recon crew is shocked to discover that there is no planet—or any planets. The danui destroyed them to construct a massive sphere orbiting and circling the entire system.
The sphere, composed of billions of hexagons, could house the entire Talus. but when the recon mission goes terribly wrong, the humans realize how little they know about their partners. Why did the danui build such a structure? Worse, what might they be expecting from Coyote in return?
Rule 34 by Charles Stross
Ace, $25.95, 368pp, hc, 9780441020348. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 July 2011.
Internet Meme. Class One. Virulent.
Meet Edinburgh Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, head of the Innovative Crime Investigation Unit, otherwise known as the Rule 34 Squad. It’s responsible for monitoring the Internet, following trends to determine whether people are engaging in harmless fantasies—or illegal activities. Usually their job uncovers those operating on the extreme fringes of the run-of-the-mill porn that still, in 2023, abounds in cyberspace. But occasionally, more disturbing patterns arise…
Three ex-cons have been murdered, in Germany, Italy, and Scotland. The only things they had in common were arrests for spamming—and a taste for unorthodox erotica. As the first officer on the scene of the most recent death, Liz finds herself rapidly sucked into an international investigation that isn’t asking so much who the killer is as what it is—and if she can’t figure that out, a lot more people are going to die as the homicides go viral…
Black Halo by Sam Sykes
(the Aeons’ Gate, Book Two), Pyr, $16.00, 547pp, tp, 9781616143558. Fantasy.
The tome of the undergates has been recovered…
…and the gates of hell remain closed. Lenk and his five companions set sail to bring the accursed relic away from the demonic reach of Ulbecetonth, the Kraken Queen. But after weeks at sea, tensions amidst the adventurers are rising. Their troubles are only beginning when their ship crasahes upon an island made of the bones left behind from a war long dead.
And it appears that bloodthirsty alien warrior women, fanatical beasts from the deep, and heretic-hunting wizards are the least of their concerns. Haunted by their pasts, plagued by their gods, tormented by their own people, and gripped by madness personal and peculiar, their greatest foes may yet be themselves.
The reach of Ulbecetonth is longer than hell can hold.
A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber
Baen, $18.99, 288pp, hc, 9781451637472. Teen science fiction. On-sale date: October 2011.
Stephanie Harrington absolutely hates being confined inside her family’s compound on the pioneer planet of Sphinx, a frontier wilderness world populated by dangerous native animals that could easily tear a human to bits and pieces. Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries—and the biggest discovery of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species.
Treecats are creatures that resemble a cross between a bobcat and a lemur (but with six legs and much more deadly claws). Not only are they fully sentient, they are also telepathic, and able to bond with certain gifted humans such as the genetically-enhanced Stephanie. But Stephanie’s find, and her first-of-its-kind bond with a treecat, brings on a new torrent of danger. An assortment of highly-placed enemies with galactic-sized wealth at stake is determined to make sure that the planet of Sphinx remains entirely in human hands—even if this means the extermination of another thinking species. Stephanie and Lionheart are about to undergo the greatest test two alien species can ever face together: how to survive first contact and win a future with liberty and justice for all!
The first entry in a new teen series and the origin saga for the incredibly-popular, multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling Honor Harrington adult science fiction adventures. Young Stephanie Harrington is none other than the founder of a pioneering family dynasty that is destined to lead the fight for humanity’s freedom in a dangerous galaxy.
Shadow Raiders by Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes
(Dragon Brigade: Volume One), DAW, $24.95, 544pp, hc, 9780756406622. Fantasy. On-sale date: 3 May 2011.
Dragons and Demons
When Lord Captain Stephano de Guichen—formerly of the Dragon Brigade—and his friends who form the Cadre of the Lost are hired by the powerful Countess de Marjolaine, adviser to the King of Rosia, they have no hint of the dangers that lie ahead. Their mission is to find a Royal Armory journeyman who has mysteriously vanished—along with an invention that could revolutionize warfare. The countess fears the invention may fall into the hands of Freya, the enemy realm that has long sought to topple Rosia. Always in need of money, Stephano and his friends undertake what they think is an easy job, only to discover they are being dogged by spies and targeted by assassins.
Meanwhile, Father Jacob Northrop, a priest of the feared Arcanum, and his Knight Protector, Sir Ander Martel, are dispatched to investigate the massacre of a hundred nuns at the Abbey of Saint Agnes.
Stephano and his friends take to the skies in their airship, the Cloud Hopper, still on the trail of the journeyman. Their route takes them near the Abbey of Saint Agnes, where the Cloud Hopper comes under attack by what appear to be demons riding giant bats. Stephano teams with Father Jacob and Sir Ander and a dragon from his old brigade to fight the hellish forces.
After the battle, one question is on everyone’s mind: are these truly demons sent by the Evil One? Is this the Apocalypse?
Schemes and tricks, lies and intrigues culminate in an exciting chase through the skies that comes to a shocking climax, when friends and foes alike are caught up in the unexpected and terrifying conclusion.
I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells
Tor, $11.99, 320pp, tp, 9780765328441. Fantasy.
Fifteen-year-old John Wayne Cleaver does not fit in. His psychiatrist has diagnosed him as “antisocial,” but sometimes he has an inkling that his urges may take a darker turn into violence and murder. It isn’t just because he grew up in a mortuary or even the fact that he helps his mother clean up dead bodies. Serial killers have long captivated John—while the rest of his classmates write essays on George Washington and John Adams, John writes them on Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Radar. Dan Wells introduced this intriguing protagonist in his debut novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer, in which John Cleaver discovered the secret behind a series of murders in his small Midwestern town. John’s story continued in Mr. Monster, when he found himself face to face with an even scarier killer. Now, in I Don’t Want to Kill You, Wells ups the ante with a thriller that is just as gripping and even more intense.
In the past, John Wayne Cleaver has saved his town from murderers even more appalling than the serial killers he obsessively studies, using his own repressed homicidal proclivities to even the odds. John has discovered demons—he’s faced two of the monsters already, barely escaping with his life. But now he’s done running; he’s taking the fight to them. But as he wades through the town’s darkest secrets, searching for any sign of who the demon might be, one thing becomes all too clear: in a game of cat and mouse with a supernatural killer, you are always the mouse.
No one is safe unless John can vanquish two nightmarish adversaries: the unknown demon he must hunt, and the inner demon he can never escape.
In I Am Not a Serial Killer we watched a budding sociopath break every rule he had to save his town from evil. In Mr. Monster we held our breath as he fought madly with himself, struggling to stay in control. Now John Cleaver has mastered his twisted talents and embraced his role as a killer of killers, and I Don’t Want to Kill You brings his story to a thundering climax of suspicion, mayhem, and death. With its unique and original storyline, Dan Wells has crafted another striking book that will appeal to horror and mystery fans alike. Step into the world of a potential serial killer in this fast, suspenseful read, with a creepily appealing protagonist. Apologies in advance for the nightmares.
Cat Angels: The Secret Lives of Cats by Amy White
Cat Angel Press, $24.95, 96pp, hc, 9780982586495. Cats/New Age.
Anyone who has ever loved a cat knows these truths well: all cats are angels; and all cats have secret lives.
When they aren’t truly with us in every sense, cats are out exploring alternate realities in their own, private mystical realm. Whether it’s through the portal of a paper bag or through the depths of a dream-time cat-nap, our Cat Angles use their subtle wings as a passport to “the other side.” Once they are there, all hell breaks loose—and quite a bit of heaven, too.
In Cat Angels: The Secret Lives of Cats, artist Amy White portrays her favorite Cat Angel adventures in vivid detail. Each cat’s story is illustrated in fanciful full-color, accompanied by the perfect quotation.
The secret lives of these Cat Angels are as varied as their personalities—everything from the pristine to the poignant to the preposterous. This book celebrates the entire Cat Angels spectrum and encourages the reader to join in the fun.
Time Loops and Space Twists: How God Created the Universe by Fred Alan Wolf
Hierophant, $23.95, 290pp, hc, 9780987877136. New Age.
In his most imporant book since Taking the Quantum Leap, Fred Alan Wolf, PhD, explains how our understanding of time, space, and matter have changed in just the last few years, and how with these new ideas we can glimpse the “mind of God.”
Fundamental particles are made of light, allowing them to disappear, reappear, move forward and backward through time, twisting in space and creating what we perceive as our everyday reality. Armed with this understanding, the universal command of the Judeo-Christian Deity (as well as those comparable in the Hindu-Vedic cosmology) “Let there be light” takes new and profound meaning. Dr. Wolf illuminates these complex scientific and philosophical concepts in language that accessible and entertaining to the average, educated reader.