This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
White Horse by Alex Adams
Emily Bestler, $19.99, 256pp, hc, 9781451642995. Fiction.
The world has ended. But her journey has just begun.
Thirty-year-old Zoe leads an ordinary life until the end of the world arrives. She is cleaning cages and floors at Pope Pharmaceuticals when the President of the United States announces that human beings are no longer a viable species. When Zoe realizes that everyone she loves is disappearing, she starts running. Scared and alone in a shockingly changed world, she embarks on a remarkable journey of survival and redemption. Along the way, Zoe comes to see that humans are defined not by their genetic code, but rather by their actions and choices. White Horse offers hope for a broken world, where love can lead to the most unexpected places.
Darkling Fields of Arvon by James G. Anderson & Mark Sebanc
(Legacy of the Stone Harp: Book Two), Baen, $7.99, 610pp, pb, 9781451637663. Fantasy.
The talisman that can save the world—is lost
In the wake of the destruction of the Stoneholding, Kalaquinn Wright pursues the mission entrusted to him: find the lost Prince Starigan, then rekindle the Sacred Fire. The task will not be an easy one, for the Talamadh, the golden harp that keeps heaven and earth in sacred harmony, remains in the clutches of the tyrant Ferabek.
As the world sinks into darkness and chaos, Kal and his companions venture into the lowlands of Arvon, a place of looking danger. The young Holdsman is sustained by the loyalty of friends, the resources he begins to discover in himself, and unwavering hope.
But then Kal falls prey to his enemies, and his inner strength faces the ultimate test. He also discovers that the Talamadh, though weak and faltering, still retains a vestige of its ancient potency which once established the Great Harmony. But will it be enough to stem the tide of chaos that floods over the darkling fields of Arvon?
Captain Flandry: Defender of the Terran Empire by Poul Anderson
(The Technic Civilization Saga, compiled by Hank Davis), Baen, $7.99, 592pp, pb, 9781451637670. Science fiction collection.
Not on Flandry’s Watch!
No longer a brash, young ensign, Captain Dominic Flandry has risen in rank, and now appreciates fully that the Terran Empire is old and tired, wanting to be left in peace. But the enemies it has made and the competing empire of Merseia will give it no peace. Too evenly matched for open warfare not to destroy them both, the opponents engage in subtle thrust and counter-thrust, feint and counter-feint, with Flandry in the thick of it.
Through this and his succeeding adventures he will struggle gloriously and snatch victory from the alien jaws of defeat, yet Flandry is a tragic figure: a man who knows too much history, who knows that battle, scheme and even betray as he will, the fall of the Empire is inevitable, and the Long Night is approaching. If that darkness is not to fall in his own lifetime, if the things he cares about are to be saved, he must do what he can. And anyone, human or alien, who gets in his way will most definitely regret it.
This is the fifth volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization saga.
[Contents: “Enter an Adversary, Charismatic and Ruthless” by Hank Davis; “Outpost of Empire”; “The Day of Their Return”; “Tiger by the Tail”; “Honorable Enemies”; “The Game of Glory”; “A Message in Secret”; and “Chronology of Technic Civilization” by Sandra Miesel.]
Archon by Sabrina Benulis
Harper Voyager, $22.99, 385pp, hc, 9780062069405. Fantasy.
There are some things worse than death…
For years, Angela Mathers has been plagued by visions of a supernatural being—an angel with beguiling eyes and magnificent wings who haunts her thoughts and seduces her dreams. Newly freed from a mental institution where she has been locked away for two years, Angela hopes that attending Westwood Academy, the Vatican’s exclusive university, will bring her peace and a semblance of normality.
But Angela isn’t normal. With her stain of dark red hair and alabaster skin, she is a blood head—a freak, a monster, and the possible fulfillment of a terrifying prophecy. Blessed with strange, mystical powers, blood heads hold a special place in the Academy. Among them, one special blood head is more powerful than them all: the Archon, the human reincarnation of the dead angel Raziel. And when the Archon arises as foretold, it will rule the supernatural universe.
Barely in control of her own life, Angela has no ambition to conquer an entire universe, not when she’s suddenly contending with a dangerous enemy who is determined to destroy her and a magnetic novitiate who wants to save her. But the choice might not be her own…
Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, the young blood head must soon face the truth about herself and her world. It is she who holds the key to Heaven and Hell—and both will stop at nothing to possess her.
In Archon, Sabrina Benulis has created a dazzlingly imaginative tale set in a lush, vivid supernatural world filled with gargoyles and candlelight, magic and murder, in which humans, angels, demons, and those in between battle for supremacy—and survival.
The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg
(a novel of the Collegia Magica), Roc, $16.00, 482pp, tp, 9780451464347. Fantasy.
“Thou are fallen, Dante. Born in frost-cold blood; suckled on pain. They repentance was ever a lie.…”
Dante the necromancer is the most reviled man in Sabria, indicted by the king, the Temple, and the Camarilla Magica for crimes against the living and the dead. Yet no judgment could be worse than his enemy’s cruel vengeance that left him blind. Dante salves pain and bitterness by preparing his student, Anne de Vernase, to heal the tear in the Veil between life and death.
When Anne abandons him to return to her family, Dante seeks refuge in a magical puzzle, a desperate soldier’s dream of an imprisoned enchantress and a faceted glass that can fulfill one’s uttermost desires. But the dream is a seductive trap with tendrils that have ensnared his own father, and it threatens to unleash the very cataclysm Dante fears. Aided by the unlikeliest of allies, the blind mage embarks on a journey into madness, ancient magic, and sacred mystery, only to confront the terrifying truth of his own destiny.…
Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card
(the sequel to Shadow of the Giant), Tor, $21.99, 240pp, hc, 9780765332004. Science Fiction.
At the end of Shadow of the Giant, Julian “Bean” Delphiki fled to the stars with three of his children, in pursuit of a cure for the debilitating genetic alteration that all four shared. Now, in Shadows in Flight, the all-new direct sequel to
While the genetic alteration—known as Anton’s Key—bestowed on the four Delphikis hyper-intelligence beyond their years, it also drastically cut short their physical lifespans. At six years old, the triplets—Ender the biologist, Carlotta the engineer, and Cincinnatus the soldier—are already smarter than normal humans four times their age, but lack the emotional maturity to match. Bean, at twenty-two years old and fourteen feet tall, is utterly dependent on the ship’s microgravity in order to survive, and must oversee his children’s actions from the confines of the cargo hold.
As they travel at lightspeed through the known universe, long forgotten by the Earth that they left behind, the Delphikis try everything they can to stop their rapid aging while still keeping their incredible intelligence intact. As the three genius siblings search for a cure, however, their very different personalities frequently come into conflict—at times, with bloody results. All the while, their father watches over them from his place deep within the ship’s bowels and bides his time, secretly anticipating an unprecedented discovery that will allow them to save themselves—and perhaps the whole of humanity—in the days to come.
When Bean and his children come upon a derelict Formic colony ship drifting in space, they must quickly weigh the risks of exploring the alien ship and identifying its potential resources, unsure of what awaits them behind the long-abandoned doors. Aboard it, they will find both death and wonders—the life support that is failing on their own ship, room to grow, and labs in which to explore their own genetic anomaly as well as the mysterious disease that caused the extinction of the Formic ship’s colony.
An essential, welcome expansion of the beloved world of Ender’s Game, Shadows in Flight will enthrall and intrigue fans of science-fiction and space adventure as well as faithful readers of the Ender series.
Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse by William D. Carl
Gallery/Permuted, $15.00, 296pp, tp, 9781451646856. Fiction.
In William D. Carl’s Bestial, an airborne virus mutates the population of Cincinnati into huge, snarling monsters that devour everyone they see, acting upon their most base and bestial desires.
Beneath the dim light of a full moon, madness reigns. As night descends on Cincinnati, the city braces for hell on earth. Planes fall from the sky. Highways are clogged with abandoned cars, and buildings explode and topple. The city burns.
And when daylight comes at last, the same monsters return to human form, many driven insane by atrocities committed against friends and families.
Only four people are immune to the metamorphosis: a smooth-talking thief who lives by the code of the Old West; a bank teller who’s put her past behind her; a wealthy disillusioned housewife; and a desperate teenaged runaway. Together they form an unlikely quartet that must find a way to stop the apocalypse before the next full moon.
Nameless by Kyle Chais
Gallery, $15.00, 344pp, tp, 9781439187258. Fiction.
Nameless is the debut novel of 20-year-old author Kyle Chais. Recently discovered for his incredible writing style and creative mind, Chais’s novel will surely be the first of many more.
They are the Nameless; names are for those with masters and they have none. they live in the Nameless realm, awaiting their inescapable execution.
From the beginning of man, they have witnessed the blackest crimes committed. Witnessed the crops of Earth watered with crying blood spilled by man, woman, and child. But there is something that torments them. It is the simple logic that grips the back of their throats and will not let go. No matter how much they beg, no matter how much they pray, they will be one day be executed by God, but humans will remain forever.
The Nameless and the Human world collide. One nameless meets Aurick Panera, a sleazy drunk about to be murdered by a gang over his debts. One who is condemned for his supposed wickedness feels compassion, possesses the body of Aurick and saves his life.
Soon he discovers the delights for the smell of roses, touch of seashells, and the taste of women. With the belief that any bad situation can be flipped into good, he uses Aurick’s body to live life to the fullest—become a rock star, have a successful psychiatric practice, and pursue superstar journalist Helena Way.
Three years of living the good life, in a twisted turn other nameless take notice of his impossible achievements and begin appearing to Aurick. They give him the opportunity of a lifetime. To take back the eternal life they felt they were cheated out of. they prepare for a war not even their Creator could imagine. Aurick stands at the center of it all. Does he join the ranks to return to former divine glory jeopardizing the lives he has come to love or can he accept execution to protect them? Faced with this impossible choice, does a third option exist?
Galactic Courier by A. Bertram Chandler
(The John Grimes Saga III), Baen, $12.00, 788pp, tp, 9781451637632. Science fiction collection.
Danger: John Grimes at Work
Though starship captain John Grimes is no longer part of the Terran military, his adventures are just beginning. At the galaxy’s rim, where pioneer colonies and parallel dimensions overlap, a starship captain must be prepared for adventure in all possible worlds.
Star Courier—Grimes’ next job has him ferrying attractive postmistress Tamara Haverstock and her cargo of mail. An easy run, until Grimes’ ship encounters the insectoid Shaara. The mail must go through, but does that require that a mail carrier be worshipped as a god?
To Keep the Ship—Financial necessity leads Grimes to take on a dubious job which lands him in mortal danger on a ship infested by tiny woman-like creatures with a ravenous appetite who want to eat him up—literally.
Matilda’s Stepchildren—Transporting a muckraking reporter to the pleasure planet of New Venusburg sounded enticing to Grimes, but the spectator sports of the depraved rich are a life-and-death matter, possibly including (if he’s lucky) Grimes’ life.
Star Loot—In another financial jam, Grimes must lead a fleet of privateers—or, as most of the rim worlds name them, space pirates. Grimes had never anticipated being the terror of the spaceways as part of his job description.
Himmler’s War by Robert Conroy
Baen, $25.00, 368pp, hc, 9781451637618. Alternate history.
The War Changes
Only days after the Normandy invasion, Hitler is killed in a bombing raid, and Heinrich Himmler, brutal head of the SS, assumes control of the Reich. On the Allied side, there is confusion. Should attempts be made to negotiate with the new government or should unconditional surrender still be the only option?
With the specter of a German super-weapon moving closer to completion and the German generals finally allowed to fight the kind of war at which they are masters, the Allies are pushed toward a course of accommodation or even defeat. As casualties mount, will the soldiers of the U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union find the courage and conviction to fight on in the face of such daunting odds? And can Allied leaders put into place a new plan in time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by the revitalized German war machine?
As world leaders argue and even plan betrayal, the soldiers and civilians on both sides confront the horrors and atrocities of a war that has taken a desperate and incredibly deadly turn.
A new and terrible battle for a free world is on.
1635: The Eastern Front by Eric Flint
Baen, $7.99, 516pp, pb, 9781451637649. Science fiction.
A born leader in a brutal time
1635: the Thirty Years War continues to ravage Europe. In the new nation of the United States of Europe, Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, continues to lead, along with the West Virginians who were hurled back in time from the 20th century by a mysterious cosmic accident. The former leader of the time-list Americans, Mike Stearsn, has lost an election and is no longer the Prime Minister of the USE—but Gustavus has made him a general in the USE army. With the ink barely dry on his commission, he’ll be one of the commanders carrying the war to Brandenburg and Saxony.
But there are other conflicts. Unrest and rebellion begins to unfold in the Germanies as the new prime minister attempts to roll back the reforms instituted by Stearns. Gustavus Adolphus’s ambitions in the east threaten to bring Poland and Austria into the war.
Europe is a storehouse of high explosives, and nobody is sure how many fuses are already lit. Can Mike Stearns stop the conflagration or channel its power to his own ends? And if he does—will he get burned?
Between Their Worlds by Barb & J.C. Hendee
(a novel of The Noble Dead), Roc, $26.95, 436pp, hc, 9780451464354. Fantasy.
Wynn Hygeorht receives unexpected visitors at the Guild of Sagecraft. Magiere and Leesil, along with the elven wolf Chap, have come for her, but Wynn can’t afford to leave. She needs access to the texts within the guild’s archives, which may help her decipher the locations of the last two orbs sought by the Ancient Enemy.
There are five orbs in total. Magiere and Leesil have two of them in safekeeping. Chane Andraso, the vampire who loves Wynn, has hidden the Orb of Earth on her orders. To complete her task—and protect the orbs—Wynn must remain sequestered from her friends.
But she’s essentially a prisoner. One of the guild’s superiors is just as eager for Wyn to translate the ancient texts, but she knows the others will not permit her to share that knowledge—knowledge Magiere and Leesil desperately need if they’re going to stop the Ancient Enemy from unleashing war on the land.…
Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson
Tor, $27.99, 496pp, hc, 9780765322739. Science fiction.
In Sisterhood of Dune, New York Times bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson engage readers in an exciting exploration of the origins of the Dune universe’s most compelling figures.
It is eighty-three years after the last of the thinking machines were destroyed in the hard-fought Battle of Corrin, and Emperor Salvador of House Corrino is the ruler of the new Imperium. But though humankind ultimately won its long war with the machines, not all humans are content with what the universe has become in the decades since. The radical Butlerian movement is fervently opposed to all forms of forbidden computer technology, and its leader, Manford Torondo, is more than willing to do whatever he believes necessary in order to permanently eradicate the last vestiges of the defeated machines—even those that could help to advance human knowledge and ability.
Among those ostensibly allied with the anti-thinking-machine movement is Gilbertus Albans, the headmaster of the elite Mentat School. As headmaster, Gilbertus oversees the rigorous instruction of gifted students in becoming the human equivalent of computers, effectively replacing the forbidden machines. In the confines of his office, however, he hides a dangerous secret whose detection would spell his doom. Raquella Berto-Anirul, the first Reverend Mother and the head of the Sisterhood’s school on Rossak, keeps a similarly dangerous secret—one that, if discovered by the Butlerians scattered through the order’s ranks, could mean the end of the Sisterhood and its legacy.
Meanwhile, further political intrigue brews across the many planets of the Corrino Imperium. Josef Venport, the influential directeur of Venport Holdings, determinedly resists the Butlerian anti-technology ideology, and seeks to create more spice-fueled Navigators to guide his expanding sleet of ships. The legendary war-hero Vorian Atreides, having retired to remote Kepler to be with his family, finds his peaceful life there disrupted when a terrible event beyond his control forces him back into the public sphere. It is then that Griffin and Valya Harkonnen pursue their long-desired vengeance on Vorian, blaming him for House Harkonnen’s downfall after the Battle of Corrin.
All of these powerful characters rapidly become embroiled in a great struggle between the opposing forces of Reason and Faith, the consequences of which will indelibly shape the future of humanity—or destroy it.
The first installment in a new trilogy going back to the formation of the Dune Universe, Sisterhood of Dune will captivate and awe fans of science fiction and adventure as well as followers of the Dune novels.
Honor’s Paradox by P.C. Hodgell
(A New Kencyrath Novel), Baen, $15.00, 276pp, tp, 9781451637625. Fantasy.
Graduation by Combat
Jame is one of the last of the Kencyrath, born to battle world-destroying Perimal Darkling and to revive her ancestral heritage. Jame’s youth was spent in the Master’s House under Perimal’s shadow. Now she has discovered her past and her heritage as a Highborn—and, with it, the power to call souls out of their bodies.
First, though, Jame must survive the politics and dangers of monster-haunted Tentir, a school for warriors where she is a student, one among many, most of whom want to see her fail, if not die. At Tentir and in the hills, she must also contend with the eternally compromised Eaten One, one of Rathillien’s four elemental spirits, who desires a mate and is willing to drown the world to get one. Just as graduation approaches, Jame finds herself expected to wed immediately, plus to take on a family. To make matters worse, she is vchallenged to mounted combat, a competition which she must win to graduate. It’s a trial by fire, the ultimate riding of the rathorn, as Jame moves closer to a magnificent destiny she both fears—and knows she must face.
World Divided by Mercedes Lackey, with Cody Martin, Dennis Lee and Veronica Giguere
(Book Two of the Secret World Chronicle), Baen, $25.00, 432pp, hc, 9781451638011. Science fiction. On-sale date: February 2012.
From New York Times best-seller and science fiction and fantasy mistress of adventure Mercedes Lackey together with a team of topnotch collaborators, entry #2 in The Secret World Chronicle, a pulse-pounding saga of superpowers—and the very human men and women who must learn to wield them without losing themselves in the process.
After an Earth-scarring apocalyptic battle, the meta-humans have turned back a massive invasion of super-science powered Nazi war machines—and at least driven whoever is in ultimate control of them to pause and regroup. Now meta-hero organizations Echo and sometime Russian ally CCCP must go on the offense and battle back. Task one: to hunt down the secret puppet masters behind the Nazi robot invasion, the Thule Society. To do so, the heroes of Echo, led by Bulwark and Red Djinni, face the guardians of a hidden trove of Nazi armor. Meanwhile, a sadistic genius super villain arises who is determined to defeat both heroes and Thulians alike—a villain who just may have the wealth and cunning to pull it off.
It’s “go time” once again for the meta-heroes, including fire-bender John Murdock, techno-witch Vicki Nagy, healer Belladona Blue, super-quick Mercurye, chameleon Red Djinni—and for their ghostly ally, The Seraphym. Somehow they must unite in the fight against the evil and slavery that is fast descending upon the entire universe!
Ivy and the Meanstalk by Dawn Lairamore
Holiday House, $16.95, 227pp, hc, 9780823423927. YA fantasy.
Jack’s Beanstalk Reimagined in New Book for Tweens
Princess Ivy and her dragon friend Elridge are back in Ivy and the Meanstalk, Dawn Lairamore’s sequel to her award-winning fractured fairy tale for tweens, Ivy’s Ever After.
After finding her long-lost fairy godmother, escaping a tower imprisonment, and saving her kingdom from a scheming prince, Princess Ivy wants nothing more than to have a little down time. But when the idyllic kingdom of Ardendale is threatened by a giantess, Ivy, Elridge, and their friend Owen set off on a quest to return a magic harp to its rightful owner.
As the title and storyline suggest, Ivy and the Meanstalk draws heavily on Jack and the Beanstalk But as Dawn Lairamore explains, it isn’t because she’s a big fan of the tale. “I used Jack and the Beanstalk for inspiration not because it’s a fairy tale I like, but because it’s one of my least favorite fairy tales,” she says. “I never cared for Jack. He’s lazy and doesn’t help his mother around their farm. When, out of desperation, she sends him to sell their cow, he instead trades it for magic beans. He sneaks and steals. He kills the giant. For someone who is supposed to be a hero, it seems to me that Jack does a lot of terrible things and falls way short of the mark. Meanstalk is my reimagining of Jack and the Beanstalk< one with a decidedly disapproving view of the troublesome Jack—a view that Ivy quickly comes to share."
Deep Sky by Patrick Lee
Harper Voyager, $7.99, 384pp, pb, 9780061958793. Thriller.
Deep Sky, the closing chapter of Patrick Lee’s The Breach trilogy, Lee ventures fully into the speculative fiction/science fiction realm. In this mind-bending conclusion the rules of time and temporal reality are not quite what they seem.
Lee began with The New York Times bestselling breakneck thriller The Breach, published December 2009. This white-knuckle debut introduced readers to Travis Chase; the tough ex-convict/ex-cop trying to regain his life in the Alaskan wilderness. While hiking Travis comes across an impossible scene: a crashed 747 passenger jet filled with bodies, including the First Lady of the United States—and she’s left a cryptic note alluding to “Tangent”.
Now Travis is a member of the covert agency in charge of the Breach and all of its grim wonders. Deep Sky opens with a horrific scene: as President Garner, a supporter of the secret organizastion Tangent, is in the middle of delivering a televised address to the nation he is killed by a rocket-guided missile that obliterates most of the White House. The only clue to the motive behind the attack is a two-word note left by the killers: “See Scalar.” Travis with his two partners Paige Campbell and technology expert Bethany Stewart, follow a deadly, twisting path cross-country—and back through time and malleable memory. Their journey takes them from an attack on Tangent’s headquarters, to a mysterious mine in the mountains of California, and, ultimately, to the thing Travis has feared most since he first learned of the Breach: a brutal decision he alone must make that could cost 20 million humans their lives.
Archvillain #2: The Mad Mask by Barry Lyga
Scholastic, $6.99, 232pp, tp, 9780545196536. Science Fiction (ages 9-11).
Things haven’t been going well for Kyle since Mighty Mike became the new town hero. He’s sure he could fix this disaster if he could just expose Mike’s secret identity as an alien, but to do that, Kyle would have to admit he’s the Azure Avenger—the unintentional town archvillain.
One night the Mad Mask arrives, boasting to the Azure Avenger of an off-the-charts IQ and superior superpowers, and seeking assistance to build Ultitron—the robot of all robots. In exchange the Mad Mask offers to allow the Azure Avenger use of the awesome Ultitron to rid the world of Mighty Mike. Forging alliances isn’t usually Kyle’s style, but it seems he has no choice—besides his real plan is to ind out who the Mad Mask is and how he got his powers. Because the last thing Kyle needs is another mindless archvillain hanging around town.
Eden: A Zombie Novel by Tony Monchinski
Gallery, $15.00, 308pp, tp, 9781451646849. Fiction.
In Tony Monchinski’s Eden, a community of survivors scratch out a terrifying existence inside the walls of humanity’s last sanctuary. Outside, hordes of undead pound relentlessly against the barriers and rattle the gates of Eden.
Overnight, the world transforms into a barren wasteland ravaged by plague and overrun by hordes of flesh-eating zombies. In the aftermath of the gruesome destruction of New York City and its inhabitants, a small band of desperate men and women stand their ground in a fortified compound in what had once been the outer borough of Queens. Those who built the walls of Eden fell prey long ago to the undead… those who remain survive by sheer determination, camaraderie, and human ingenuity, making forays into the outside world through the network of pipes under the city streets.
Harris—the exceptional honest man in this undead world—races against time to solve a murder while fighting to maintain his own humanity. Ultimately, the danger posed by the dead and diseased masses clawing at Eden’s walls pales in comparison to the deceit and treachery Harris faces within.
The Demi-Monde: Winter by Rod Rees
William Morrow, $26.99, 518pp, hc, 9780062070340. Science fiction.
William Morrow is proud to be bringing The Demi-Monde: Winter, the first in a gripping, brilliantly imagined series by author Rod Rees, to American readers. New York Times bestselling author James Rollins calls the “explosively creative” novel “a gripping thriller, cut from a digital cloth The Demi-Monde is the most sophisticated, complex—and unpredictable—computer simulation ever created. The brainchild of the U.S. military, the Demi-Monde was created as a virtual training ground for soldiers preparing for the battlefields of modern urban warfare.
This world of eternal civil war is ruled by “Dupes”—cyber-duplicates of some of history’s cruelest tyrants: Reinhard Heydrich, Shaka Zulu, Ivan the Terrible, Maximilien Robespierre, Aleister Crowley. The walls of virtual reality start crumbling when the Demi-Monde, a self-teaching program, begins to empower the uber-villains that inhabit the districts.
It’s clear something has gone horribly wrong in this dystopian cyber-landscape when the President’s daughter, Norma, is trapped in the Demi-Monde by Dupes of two of history’s most infamous villains. Sent in to rescue her is young jazz singer Ella Thomas—who soon discovers that the shadow world and its thirty million ‘avatars’ are more dangerous than anyone anticipated… and could destroy the Real world as well.
Editor Amanda Bergeron says, “Rees has taken the classic science fiction model and turned it on its head, smashing together dystopia and steampunk in a consuming, utterly entertaining epic tale that will captivate readers in and beyond the sci-fi market.”
The Doctor and the Kid by Mike Resnick
(a Weird West tale), Pyr, $16.00, 323pp, tp, 9781616145378.
The time is 1882. With the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the battle with the thing that used to be Johnny Ringo behind him (see The Buntline Special), the consumptive Doc Holliday makes his way to Deadwood, Colorado, with Kate Elder, where he plans to spend the rest of his brief life, finally moving into the luxurious facility that specializes in his disease.
But one night he gets a little too drunk—hardly a novelty for him—and loses everything he has at the gaming table. He realizes that he needs to replenish his bankroll, and quickly, so that he can live out his days in comfort under medical care. He considers his options and hits upon the one most likely to produce income in a hurry: he’ll use his skill as a shootist and turn bounty hunter.
The biggest reward is for the death of the young, twenty-year-old desperado known as Billy the Kid. It’s clear from the odds the Kid has faced and beaten, his miraculous escape from prison, and his friendship with the Indian tribes of New Mexico that he is Protected by some powerful magic. Doc enlists the aid of both magic (Geronimo) and science (Thomas Edison), and goes out after his quarry. He will hunt the Kid down, and either kill him and claim the reward or die in the process and at least end his own suffering.
But as he is soon to find out, nothing is as easy as it looks.
Sins of the Demon by Diana Rowland
DAW, $7.99, 312pp, pb, 9780756407056. Urban Fantasy.
Louisiana homicide detective Kara Gillian…
is doing her best to cope with everything that’s happened to her over the past year, including what she’s learned about the other members of the FBI task force that she’s on. Meanwhile she’s continuing to hone her skills as a demon summoner. But lately she’s beginning to wonder if there’s a little too much demon in her world. She has a demon for a roommate, the demonic lord Rhyzkahl is still deeply interested in her for reasons she can’t fathom, and now someone in the demon realm is trying to to summon her. And there’s no way that can end well.
Meanwhile, people are dying, and they seem to be linked by one common thread—they’re all people who’ve hurt Kara in the past. Kara is desperate to find the reasons for the deaths to clear her own name, but when she realizes there’s another pattern to the deaths—and that involves the arcane and the demon realm—she knows that both worlds may be at risk unless she finds out who’s behind it all.
She’s in a race against the clock and in a battle for her life that just may take her to hell and back.
Leaves of Flame by Benjamin Tate
DAW, $7.99, 552pp, pb, 9780756407049. Fantasy.
One hundred years have passed
since Colin Harten—transformed to something more than human by the magic of the Lifeblood contained in the Well of Sorrows—used his new powers to broker a peace agreement between the human, dwarren, and Alvritshai races of Wrath Suvane. Since then all three races have greatly expanded their empires. And Colin has continuously sought ways to defeat the dark spirits known as the sukrael—and the Wraiths they have created to act for them in the physical world. Yet Colin has not been able to prevent the dark spirits from reawakening more and more Wells, thus extending their power across the lands.
Having mastered three of the five magics of Wrath Suvane, Colin has gifted each race with a magical Tree to protect them from incursions of the dark forces. He has also realized that unless a certain number of Wells are left open, their magic can never be stabilized, and the land will be torn apart by this uncontrolled force.
But now the enemy has located the one Well that is key to controlling the entire network, and if Colin can’t find a means to stop them from claiming and activating this Well, it could mean the end of all three races.…
Matchbox Girls by Chrysoula Tzavelas
Candlemark & Gleam, $19.95, 326pp, tp, 9781936460205. Fantasy. On-sale date: 21 February 2012.
Web serial novelist Chrysoula Tzavelas (Nightlights) makes her print debut with this gripping contemporary fantasy. When you can barely take care of yourself, how can you keep children safe—especially when those children are at the center of an age-old celestial struggle?
Marley Claviger is just trying to get her life together. Stumbling into an ancient conflict between celestial forces is going to make that a whole lot harder…
When Marley wakes up to a phone call from a pair of terrified children, she doesn’t expect to be pulled into a secret war. She rescues them from an empty house and promises to find their missing uncle. She even manages to feed them dinner. But she barely feels competent to manage her own life, let alone care for small children with strange, ominous powers…
And when a mysterious angelic figure shows up and tries to claim the girls, it all falls apart…
Plagued by visions of disaster, Marley has no idea what she’s gotten herself into, but she knows one thing: magical or not, the kids need her.
House Name by Michelle West
(a Novel of The House War), DAW, $8.99, 728pp, pb, 9780756407032. Fantasy.
The House War is the story of the battle for control of the most powerful of the ruling Houses in the Essalieyan Empire—House Terafin. But it is also the tale of Jewel Markess, formerly an orphan in the slums of the capital city of Averalaan. Now she and her den of street children have been given shelter in House Terafin. The price for them to remain there is that Jewel must prove her value to the House.
Jewel has been assigned the task of finding the entryways to the ancient undercity that lies beneath the streets of the empire’s capital. But even with the aid of the most powerful First Circle Mage of the Order of Knowledge, Jewel’s search seems hopeless. All of the ways into the undercity seem to be magically disappearing before Jewel can lead the mage to them. And if they can’t find a means to reach the undercity, they will not be able to prevent the demon kin from achieving whatever they are planning.
Then the unthinkable happens—a direct attack on House Terafin—and suddenly the stakes are raised to a whole new level.…
Skirmish by Michelle West
(a Novel of The House War), DAW, $25.95, 544pp, hc, 9780756407018. Fantasy.
Skirmish is the fourth novel in the long-awaited House War series. Set in the same rich fantasy universe as Michelle West’s Sacred Hunt duology and her six-volume Sun Sword series, the House War novels recount the events leading to the momentous battle between the demonic minions of the Lord of the Hells and the defenders of the Essalieyan Empire—a realm with a long and bloody history. The empire is ruled by the Twin Kings, sons of the gods. It is also controlled by The Ten, the heads of the most influential Houses in Averalaan, the capital of the Empire.
But The House War focuses not only on the larger war but also, and more importantly, on the campaign to control the most powerful of the ruling Houses in the Essalieyan Empire—House Terafin.
As Skirmish opens, Amarais ATerafin—The Terafin—lies dead, assassinated by a demon at the very moment that Jewel ATerafin returns from the war in the South, appearing as if out of thin air, having traveled by the hidden paths. Jewel is accompanied by her domicis Avandar, known as the Warlord, by Lord Celleriant of the Winter Queen’s court, and she rides on the back of a giant stag—the Winter King. Yet still she cannot arrive in time to save her leader, but only in time for Celleriant to slay the demon assassin.
Jewel returns to a city beset by a mysterious “sleeping sickness” for which there appears to be no cure. Only one healer—a young man who shelters with Jewel’s den—can temporarily wake the sleepers so they may take enough sustenance to survive. And the sickness continues to spread unchecked. As the Empire strives to combat this insidious disease, and stave off demonic attacks, House Terafin begins preparations for the funeral of its Lord. And four members of the House declare themselves as candidates to claim the House Seat, ready to do whatever it takes to wrest control.
Cobra Guardian by Timothy Zahn
(Cobra War, Book 2), Baen, $7.99, 421pp, pb, 9781451637656. Science fiction.
Trapped on an enemy-occupied planet
Jasmine Moreau Broom, descendant of a now-legendary family of Cobra warriors, was on a secret mission to the planet Qasama, a world hostile both to the alien Troft and the human-colonized Cobra worlds. But she had hardly arrived before Troft starships descended in force to seize control of the planet. After escaping on a starship, she hoped to get help from other Cobra worlds. What she had not expected was that Troft forces had invaded the Cobra worlds as well.
Still, matters are not hopeless. The Troft are not a monolithic society, but are divided into tribelike demesnes. One demesne has initiated hostilities, but other demesnes are doubtful of the wisdom of the war, and if the humans can win a decisive battle against the invaders, the Troft might side with them against the belligerent Troft faction.
And the key to such a victory may lie with a political figure on one of the beleagured Cobra worlds. He has a secret that might turn the tide—if Cobra Lorne Broom can manage to smuggle him and his assistant off a planet occupied by the Troft invaders.