This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
The Isis Collar by Cat Adams
Tor, $14.99, 384pp, tp, 9780765328731.
Cat Adams, a pseudonym for the USA Today bestselling writing team of C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp (the authors of the Sazi series), has put Celia Graves through the wringer. Celia—part Siren, part vampire, part human—has faced down demons and stopped them from enslaving the world, fought a Siren Queen to the death, and had her heart broken. And Celia’s adventures are only just beginning.
In The Isis Collar, the fourth book in the Blood Singer series that is also written as a stand-alone novel, follows Celia as she investigates a magical plague. What she discovers sends chills through her soul. Secretly created by a powerful witch and criminally greedy pharmaceutical executive, the disease turns children into zombies…and is mutating into something that may truly be incurable!
Celia Graves was once an ordinary human, but those days are long gone. Now she strives to maintain her sanity and her soul while juggling both vampire abilities and the powers of a Siren.
Warned of a magical “bomb” at a local elementary school, Celia forces an evacuation. Oddly, the explosion seems to have no effect, puzzling both Celia and the FBI. Two weeks later, a strangely persistent bruise on Celia’s leg turns out to be the first sign of a magical zombie plague.
Finding the source of the plague isn’t Celia’s only concern. Her alcoholic mother has broken out of prison on the Sirens’ island; her little sister’s ghost has possessed a young girl; and one of Celia’s boyfriends, a powerful mage, has disappeared.
Filled with adventure, magic, and mayhem, The Isis Collar will gratify dedicated fans of Blood Singer series and appeal to readers of fantasy and romance.
Sir Dominic Flandry: The Last Knight of Terra by Poul Anderson, edited by Hank Davis
(The Technic Civilization Saga), Baen, $7.99, 616pp, pb, 9781451638226. Science fiction collection.
A knight without armor fighting for honor in a savage galaxy
Captain Dominic Flandry has been knighted for his many services to the Terran Empire—an Empire which is old, jaded, and corrupt, as Flandry well knows. But he also knows that the Empire is better than anything that is likely to take its place. And while that “Sir” before his name may be an added attraction to comely ladies (not that he has ever lacked for the pleasant company of the same), he expects that it will also bring him less welcome attention from envious “colleagues” within the empire.
What it is not likely to do is make him more of an object of interest to the alien Merseians, whose plots against the Empire he has repeatedly foiled. They already are as aware as they can be of how much simpler their plans to rule the galaxy would be if their most dangerous adversary were the late Sir Dominic Flandry.
This is the sixth volume in the first complete edition of Poul Anderson’s Technic Civilization saga.
[Contents: “Enter Hero and Adversary, Accompanied by Alarms and Tumult” by Hank Davis; “The Plague of Masters”; “Hunters of the Sky Cave”; “The Warriors from Nowhere”; “A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows”; and “Appendix: ‘Chronology of Technic Civilization'” by Sandra Miesel.]
Bridge of Dreams by Anne Bishop
(an Ephemera novel), Roc, $26.95, 435pp, hc, 9780451463814. Fantasy.
Return to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s Emphemera, a world of strange and magical landscapes connected only by bridges—bridges that may transport you to where you truly belong, rather than where you wish to go.
When wizards threaten Glorianna Belladonna and her work to keep Ephemera balanced, her brother, Lee, sacrifices himself in order to save her—and ends up an Asylum inmate in the city of Vision, far away from all he knows.
At the same time, a darkness is spreading through Vision—a darkness that hides its nature from the Shamans, who tend the city and its people. Danyal, one of the Shamans, oversees the Asylum. A man whose heart is searching for its own dreams, he is intrigued by Lee’s ravings about Bridges and Landscapers and wizards. With the help of Zhahar, a Handler with her own dark secrets, Lee’s body and mind improve, and his words begin to make a terrible kind of sense—giving Danyal and Zhahar a glimpse of a world unlike any they have seen.
As Danyal, Lee, and Zhahar work together to uncover the danger threatening Vision, they will be forced to look both beyond and within themselves to discover who they are… and how dangerous they can be.
The Ruined City by Paula Brandon
Spectra, $15.00, 384pp, tp, 9780553583823. Fantasy.
On February 28, Paula Brandon returns with The Ruined City. Her debut novel, The Traitor’s Daughter, was hailed as “an impressively imaginative epic” by Publishers Weekly. Now in the second installment of her epic and captivating trilogy, magic and mystery wreak havoc with the very fabric of existence.
As The Ruined City opens, reality is wavering. Soon its delicate balance will shift and an ancient force will return to overwhelm the Veiled Isles. Those with the arcane talent are forced into an uneasy alliance in hopes that their combined abilities are enough to avert an eerie catastrophe. Yet it may be too late. The otherworldly change has begun. The streets of the city are rife with chaos, plague, and revolt. And it is here that Jianna Belandor, once a pampered daughter of privilege, returns to face new challenges.
The dead walk the streets. The docile amphibian slaves of humanity have taken up arms. Jianna’s home lies in ruins. Her only happiness resides in her growing attraction to Falaste Rione, a brilliant nomadic physician whose compassion and courage have led him to take dangerous risks. Jianna, stronger and more powerful than she knows, has a role to play in the unfolding destiny of her world. But a wave of madness is sweeping across the land, and time is running out—even for magic.
Overkill by Robert Buettner
Baen, $7.99, 418pp, pb, 9781451638097. Science fiction.
Heroes have no job security
At twenty-three, Jazen Parker has completed his Legion hitch a hero. But in four months, he’ll have a price on his head. Worse, he’s lost his past, and he can’t find his future. Worst of all, he has to search for them on the deadliest planet known to mankind.
Bow Tie: The First Manuscript of the Richards’ Trust by W.J. Cherf
CreateSpace, $22.99, 596pp, tp, 9781456581879.
Not until the evidence was uncovered in the 1870s would we have ever known. Then with the discovery of Tut’s tomb in the 1920s more hints beckoned at hand. As with so many things in life, clues often go unnoticed until science, accident, and intrigue collide.
That collision was initiated with some DNA samples from a group of royal mummies. Meanwhile, an international team noticed, while x-raying the same mummy collection, some unexpected physiological details.
The radiological and chromosomal data proved to be disquieting and when taken together argued for the introduction of a genetic anomaly into the human genome. The source was extraterrestrial.
Bow Tie chronicles how an international scientific effort resolved the situation by using a most unusual means for prosecuting a most unscrupulous task—time travel and murder.
This is the first manuscript published by the Richards’ Trust in accordance with the posthumous wishes of Egyptologist Joseph Willim Richards, Ph.D.
Betrayer by C.J. Cherryh
(a Foreigner novel), DAW, $7.99, 375pp, pb, 9780756407148. Science fiction.
In the wake of civil war, Bren Cameron, the brilliant human diplomat allied with Tabini-aiji, dynamic atevi 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 Tanini’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 dangerous 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 Association. 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 alienate Ilisidi or Tabini, while also representing the interests of their enemy?
Intruder by C.J. Cherryh
(a Foreigner novel), DAW, $25.95, 374pp, hc, 9780756407155. Science fiction.
Civil war on the world of the atevi seems to be over, but diplomatic disputes and political infighting continue unabated. Bren Cameron, brilliant human diplomat allied with the dominant Western Association, has just returned to the capital from his country home on the coast. But his sojourn was anything but restful. Attacked by rebel forces hoping to kill not only him, but also Ilisidi, the grandmother, and Cajieri, the young son, of Tabini-aiji, the powerful head of the Western Association, Bren and his resourceful associates have had a small war of their own to contend with. And this small war has ended with a daring proposition: that their longtime enemy Machigi, having been double-crossed by his allies and approached by Ilisidi with an offer of alliance, will sign a trade agreement with her Eastern district—a situation which has upset both the rebels and the loyal north.
But Bren’s accustomed role as negotiator for Tabini, Ilisidi, and their associates has suddenly changed radically—for Machigi, to Bren’s utter shock, has evoked an ancient law. Bren wears the white ribbon that for the last few 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.
Now back in the capital, Bren finds that things are even more complicated than they previously were. He has now been put in the precarious position of representing both Ilisidi and Machigi to the congress, and is becoming embroiled with both conservative and liberal factions. Meanwhile, Tabini-aiji is enraged to have lost the personal negotiator who has been his associate for decades, and is also jealous of any other party who stands to influence his young son.
But there are even more dangerous things afoot, for Bren’s bodyguard has warned him there is a crisis inside the immensely dangerous Assassins Guild, and that the recent dustup with the Shadow Guild, a rebellious faction within the Assassins, may be only the beginning.
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse by Troy Denning
Del Rey/LucasBooks, $27.00, 496pp, hc, 9780345509222. Science Fiction/Tie In.
There can be no surrender.
There will be no mercy.
It’s not just the future of the galaxy at stake…
It’s the destiny of the Force.
In the stunning finale of the epic Fate of the Jedi series, Jedi and Sith face off—with Coruscant as their battlefield in Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse. For the Sith, it’s the chance to restore their dominance over the galaxy that forgot them for so long. For Abeloth, it’s a giant step in her quest to conquer all life everywhere. For Luke Skywalker, it’s a call to arms to eradicate the Sith and their monstrous new master once and for all.
In a planetwide strike, teams of Jedi Knights take the Sith infiltrators by swift and lethal surprise. But victory against the cunning and savage Abeloth, and the terrifying endgame she has planned, is anything but ccertain. And as Luke, Ben, Han, Leia, Jaina, Jag, and their allies close in, the devastating truth about the dark side incarnate will be exposed—and send shock waves through the Jedi Order, the galaxy, and the Force itself.
Singularity: Star Carrier: Book Three by Ian Douglas
Harper Voyager, $7.99, 390pp, pb, 9780061840272. Science Fiction.
In the vein of the hit television show “Battlestar Galactica” comes the third book in this action-packed, New York Times bestselling, science fiction series in which humankind is in a vast power struggle to bring down an evil empire.
Five centuries in the future, the US Navy, operating within a loose confederation of other Earth and Solar nations in defense of Earth’s Solar System, are engaged in a life or death struggle against a far-flung galactic empire bent on defeating human competition. Admiral James Alexander takes command of Battlegroup America after the Confederation’s bloody defeat at Arcturus.
With the Confederation government in disarray, he seizes the initiative in taking the war deep into enemy territory in order to block the expected invasion of Earth’s solar system with fighter pilots from the fleet carrier Saratoga at his side.
Cream by Dave Dumanis
iUniverse, $11.95, 133pp, tp, 9781450282350. General Fiction.
What if you invented a skincare cream that made people younger? Not just look younger, but feel, think, and act younger, too? What if it became wildly popular?
And what if it worked just a little too well?
A Crown Imperiled by Raymond E. Feist
(Book Two of the Chaoswar Saga), Harper Voyager, $27.99, 470pp, hc, 9780061468414. Fantasy.
War rages in Midkemia once again, and behind the chaos, disquieting evidence points to dark elements at work.
As enemies march across the realm wreaking destruction, its brave and loyal defenders battle to survive—a struggle made more perilous now that Jim Dasher’s trusted intelligence network has been cleverly dismantled. Region by region, Midkemia is being ripped apart, and the loyal spy and his allies find themselves overpowered at every turn.
Signs of the kingdom’s impending doom surround them. King Gregory of the Isles has yet to produce an heir. Roldem and Rillanon have each been plagued by palace coups that threaten to topple their thrones. Lord Hal of Crydee and his great friend Ty Hawkins, champion swordsman of the Masters’ Court, have been entrusted with smuggling Princess Stephane and her lady-in-waiting, the lovely and perplexing Lady Gabriella, out of Roldem to safety. But the rising danger has made finding refuge treacherous.
Nowhere is safe, including Ylith, Midkemia’s strategic bastion, where Hal’s younger brothers Martin and Brendan hold off an onslaught of brutal Keshian Dog Soldiers and a mysterious force from beneath the sea. Yet courage alone is not enough to withstand the continued enemy assault. Without reinforcements, hope of success fades. Martin, Brendan, and their compatriots know that while losing Crydee, the legendary city on the kingdom’s edge, would be devastating, the realm can still be saved. But if Ylith falls, all is lost.
As Jim, Hal, and all their brothers-in-arms fight for their lives, Pug and the Conclave of Shadows embark on a magical quest to hunt down the dark force orchestrating the destruction before Midkemia is annihilated. And time is running out.…
A Kingdom Besieged by Raymond E. Feist
(Book One of the Chaoswar Saga), Harper Voyager, $7.99, 380pp, pb, 9780061468407. Fantasy.
The newest action-adventure fantasy novel from New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist, A Kingdom Besieged begins the fifth and final Riftwar—the Chaoswar—in Feist’s epic Riftwar Cycle.
Years ago, the Empire of Great Kesh failed in its attempt to conquer Krondor after the Serpent War, thanks to the bravery, cunning, and magic of Pug and the Conclave of Shadows. Since then, peace has benefitted both nations, and the kingdom has been free from the threat of another Keshian invasion. Yet now, the dark clouds of war gather again…
From the far western borders to the east, the kingdom is rife with rumors and political instability. Spies have gone missing—some murdered, while others have been turned, their loyalty bought by unseen forces. Factions are rising, powerful legions from the Keshian Confederacy have been mobilized, and an attack on the western kingdoms of Isles and Roldem is all but certain.
As the West begins to mount a defense, Martin conDoin, the middle son of Lord Henry, Duke of Crydee finds himself leading the charge against the invaders—like his legendary ancestor, Prince Arutha, who stood firm against the Tsurani invasion. But Arutha had an army at his command; Martin has few but old men and young boys.
As Kesh’s invading hordes once again descend upon the kingdom, no one is safe, not experienced masters of intrigue Lord James Dasher Jamison and the beguiling and deadly Lady Francieazka; nor brave warriors including the Knight-Adamant, Sandreena, and a new generation of loyal yet untested defenders; nor even Pug himself, the most powerful magician in all of Midekemia. A threat far more terrifying has arisen, an evil whose growing power spells Midkemia’s end. And soon even the Kingdom’s enchanted defender will find himself questioning everything he’s ever loved and believed… including the loyalty and desires of his beloved son, Magnus.
1636: The Kremlin Games by Eric Flint, Gorg Hugg, & Paula Goodlett
Baen, $25.00, 432pp, hc, 9781451637762. Science fiction. On-sale date: June 2012.
#14 in the multiply bestselling Ring of Fire Series. After carving a place for itself among the struggling powers of 17th century Western Europe, the out-of-time modern town of Grantville, West Virginia must fight for its life in a war-torn Europe just emerging from medieval skullduggery.
1636. Grantville has bounced back and established its new mission and identity, but it seems some have been left behind—people like Bernie Zeppi, courageous in the battle, but unable to figure out what to do with himself in a world that’s utterly changed. Then Russian emissary Vladimir Gorchacov arrives in Grantville and hires Bernie to journey to Moscow and bring the future to a Russia mired in slavish serfdom and byzantine imperial plots. Bernie jumps at the chance. He figures it to be an easy gig, complete with high pay and hot-and-cold running women.
But one thing Bernie hasn’t counted on is the chance to find his purpose in Mother Russia, from fighting the needless death of children from typhoid to building the first dirigible in Russian history. And then there’s love. Just as Bernie realizes his feeling for a certain Russian noblewoman may have gone way beyond respect, he finds them both enmeshed in the deadly politics of Kremlin power struggles.
War with Poland is afoot and Russia itself is about to get a revolution from within—three centuries early. Bernie Zeppi, former Grantville auto mechanic, is going to have the chance to prove he’s not the loser he believed himself to be. For now Bernie’s task is to save the woman he loves and the country he has come to call his own from collapse into a new Dark Age.
A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison
(a Rachel Morgan novel), Harper Voyager, $26.99, 438pp, hc, 9780061957895. Fantasy.
The city of Cincinnati is littered with corpses that might once have been human… but they’ve been horribly altered. What is happening is nothing short of an atrocity, and the federal investigation bureaus—both human and Inderland—have absolutely no leads as to who (or what) is behind these soul-sickening crimes.
Enter bounty hunter Rachel Morgan, the woman whose “perfect blood” may have just inspired these ghastly acts of violence.
In A Perfect Blood, the newest novel from bestselling author Kim Harrison, Rachel Morgan is tasked with solving a crime of which many suspect her to be culpable. For the victims aren’t humans—they are all witches, and one thing sets them apart: a rare blood genome. And many believe that only Rachel, a witch-turned-demon, would attempt to turn other witches into beings such as herself. But why would she—why would anyone?—want to harvest demonic blood? And why does no one else seem to realize that she is the perpetrators’ ultimate target?
Bound by the voluntary restraints she’s placed upon her burgeoning demonic powers, Rachel’s approach to discovering those behind these atrocities is very much human—which not only handcuffs her sleuthing, but could place her in mortal danger. For a woman who has battled vampires, witches, werewolves, demons and more… humanity itself may be her toughest challenge yet.
The Star Beast by Robert A. Heinlein
Baen, $13.00, 228pp, tp, 9781451638073. Science fiction.
Love me, love my pet
Lummox has been the pet of the Stuart family for generations. With eight legs, a thick hide and huge (and growing) size, Lummox is nobody’s picture of man’s best friend. Nevertheless, John Stuart XI, descendant of the starman who originally brought Lummox back to Earth, loves him.
But when Lummox eats a neighbor’s car and begins to grow again, the Feds decide enough is enough. John isn’t about to let the authorities take his pet away, and with his best friend Betty, determines to save Lummox even if it takes leaving the life he’s known forever.
Things aren’t going to be that simple, however, because there’s more to Lummox than either John or the authorities realize—and the very survival of the Earth may depend on how the planet treats John’s “pet.”
An all time science fiction coming-of-age classic from seven-time Hugo winner and Dean of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein.
You Will Meet a Stranger Far from Home by Alex Jeffers
Lethe, $15.00, 196pp, tp, 9781590211038. Speculative Fiction. On-sale date: 14 July 2012.
From the author of Safe as Houses and The Abode of Bliss, ten wondrous tales of yesterday, today, and tomorrow—of our familiar world and others.
An American teenager meets Adonis on a sailing cruise off the coast of Turkey. A merchant of the Silk Road encounters a dog—and a brother—from another world. An old lady on a distant planet attempts to help her great-grandson grow up in a world that will soon forget women ever existed. A Massachusetts boy refuses to visit fairyland. Another American teenager on vacation encounters three fallen angels and is transformed.
Alex Jeffers’s first collection of fantastical stories is a treacherous box of delights.
[Contents: “Wheat, Barley, Lettuce, Fennel, Blood for Sorrow, Salt for Joy”, “The Arab’s Prayer”, “Then We Went There”, “Firooz and His Brother”, “Turning”, “Haider and His Dog”, “Jannicke’s Cat”, “Liam and the Wild Fairy”, “Ban’s Dream of the Sea”, “Tattooed Love Boys”.]
The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Roc, $16.00, 337pp, tp, 9780451464163. Fantasy.
Praised as “the poet and bard of the wasted and the lost” by Neil Gaiman, Caitlin R. Kiernan is the award-winning author of many short stories and comic books, and The Drowning Girl is her newest dark fantasy novel.
India Morgan Phelps—Imp to her friends—is schizophrenic. She can no longer trust her own mind, because she is convinced that her memories have somehow betrayed her, forcing her to question her very identity.
Struggling with her perception of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about an encounter with a vicious siren, or a helpless wolf that came to her as a feral girl, or neither of these things but something far, far stranger…
The Games by Ted Kosmatka
Del Rey, $25.00, 362pp, hc, 9780345526618. Science fiction.
Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist Ted Kosmatka’s debut novel, The Games is a riveting tale of what is possible when science and ethics are separated.
Set in the not too distant future in a worldwide society that has grown morally bankrupt, international athletic competition has become secondary in importance to a Cold War-like genetic contest. In it, each respective nation flexes their scientific muscle by engineering the most efficient killing machine from the genes of any animal, with only one rule being that no human DNA is permitted in the design of the entrants.
Silas Williams is the brilliant geneticist in charge of preparing the US entry into the Gladiator competition. Silas lives and breathes genetics; his designs have led the United States to the gold in every previous event. But the other countries are catching up. Now, desperate for an edge in the upcoming Games, Silas’s boss engages an experimental supercomputer to design the genetic code for a gladiator that cannot be beaten.
The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. Not even Silas, with all his genius and experience, can understand the horror he had a hand in making. And no one, he fears, can anticipate the consequences of entrusting the act of creation to a computer’s cold logic.
Now Silas races to understand what the computer has wrought, aided by a beautiful xenobiologist, Vidonia Joao. Yet as the fast-growing gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and—most disquietingly—intelligence, Silas and Vidonia find their scientific curiosity giving way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror.
Kosmatka’s knowledge of genetics brings the science in The Games to life in a way that feels Michael Crichton-esque. Filled with genetically engineered beasts, ruthless government officials, a super computer with a mind of its own, and the threat of world annihilation, this is a wild-romp that all fans of adventure will enjoy.
The Amazon Legion by Tom Kratman
Baen, $7.99, 609pp, pb, 9781451638132. Science fiction.
What happens when you need everyone to fight? Bring on the Amazons.
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. 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 Peaece 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. 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.
After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress
Tachyon, $14.95, 192pp, tp, 9781616960650. Science fiction.
No one knows why the Tesslies attacked Earth, devastated the environment, and nearly destroyed humanity. Why did the aliens decide to imprison twenty-six survivors in a locked habitat on the barren remains of the planet?
In 2035, twenty-one years after humanity’s fall, the survivors are dying off. They have given birth to only six children, all of whom are genetically mutated. The aliens have given the survivors the technology to send one person briefly back in time. They are led into the past by the frustrated yet resolute teenager, Pete, who is the most skilled at operating the Tesslie device, the Grab. The meager goods Pete scavenges—blankets, tools, clothing—help the survivors stay alive, but they have also hatched a desperate plan: to steal children with undamaged genes, preserving the human race.
In 2013, a brilliant consultant to the FBI sees a pattern in the seemingly unsolvable kidnappings. Mathematician Julie Kahn’s predictive algorithms reveal that the world is in imminent danger—and she discovers that she could play a role in its possible salvation. As Julie and Pete try to save the world in their own timelines, a chance encounter between them may be the planet’s only remaining hope.
By skillfully interweaving the fateful events after, before, and during the fall, Nancy Kress has created a groundbreaking eco-thriller: Unraveling both the mystery of the Earth’s devastation and the key to its resurgence, After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall delivers a taut adventure with a topical message and a satisfying twist.
Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack
Gallery, $19.00, 838pp, tp, 9781451657241. Star Trek.
In the omnibus edition of an epic crossover trilogy, Star Trek: Destiny, David Mack unites characters from every corner of the Star Trek universe, and reveals the shocking origins and final fate of the Federation’s most dangerous enemy—the Borg.
Half a decade after the Dominion War and more than a year after the rise and fall of Praetor Shinzon, the galaxy’s greatest scourge, the Borg, returns to wreak havoc upon the Federation—and this time, its goal is nothing less than total annihilation.
Elsewhere, deep in the Gamma Quadrant, an ancient mystery is solved. One of Earth’s first generation of starships, lost for centuries, has been found dead and empty on a desolate planet. But its discovery so far from home has raised disturbing questions, and the answers harken back to a struggle for survival that once tested a captain and her crew to the limits of their humanity.
From that terrifying flashpoint begins an apocalyptic odyssey that will reach across time and space to reveal the past, define the future, and show three captains that some destinies are inescapable. For Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise, defending the future has never been so important, or so personal—and the wrong choice will cost him everything for which he has struggled and suffered. For Captain William Riker of the U.S.S. Titan, that choice has already been made—haunted by the memories of those he was forced to leave behind, he must jeopardize all that he has left in a desperate bid to save the Federation. And for Captain Ezri Dax of the U.S.S. Aventine, whose impetuous youth is balanced by the wisdom of many lifetimes, the choice is a simple one: there is no going back—only forward to whatever future awaits them…
Destiny is a no-holds barred, all-out crossover trilogy of epic proportions, uniting characters from almost every incarnation of Star Trek, including various book-only series.
Destiny is a major storyline that dramatically alters the status quo of the Star Trek universe and shapes the fates of many of its beloved characters, as well as the future direction of the fiction.
[Contents: Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls.]
Beyond Binary edited by Brit Mandelo
Lethe, $20.00, 268pp, tp, 9781590210055. Queer Speculative Fiction. On-sale date: 10 May 2012.
Speculative fiction is the literature of questions, of challenges and imagination, and what better to question then the ways in which gender and sexuality have been rigidly defined, partitioned off, put in little boxes? These seventeen stories explore the ways in which identity can go beyond binary—from space colonies to small college towns, from angels to androids, and from a magical past to other worlds entirely, the authors in this collection have brought to life wonderful tales starring people who proudly define (and redefine) their own genders, sexualities, identities, and so much else in between.
[Contributors: Keyan Bowes, Kelley Eskridge, Tobi Hill-Meyer, Nalo Hopkinson, Claire Humphrey, Sarah Kanning, Keffy R.M. Kehrli, Ellen Kushner, Richard Larson, Terra LeMay, Liu Wen Zhuang, Sandra McDonald, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Delia Sherman, Katherine Sparrow, Sonya Taaffee, and Catherynne M. Valente.]
Thief’s Covenant by Ari Marmell
(a Widdershins adventure), Pyr, $16.95, 273pp, hc, 9781616145477. YA Fantasy.
Once she was Adrienne Satti. An orphan of Davillon, she had somehow escaped destitution and climbed to the ranks of the city’s aristocracy in a rags-to-riches story straight from an ancient fairy tale. Until one horrid night, when a conspiracy of forces—human and other—stole it all away in a flurry of blood and murder.
Today she is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon’s underbelly with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshippers but Widdershins herself. It’s not a great life, certainly nothing compared to the one she once had, but it’s her.
But now, in the midst of Davillon’s political turmoil, an array of hands are once again rising up against her, prepared to tear down all that she’s built. The City Guard wants her in prison. Members of her own Guild want her dead. And something horrid, something dark, something ancient is reaching out for her, a past that refuses to let her go. Widdershins and Olgun are going to find answers, and justice, for what happened to her—but only if those who almost destroyed her in those years gone by don’t finish the job first.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
(an InCryptid novel), DAW, $7.99, 352pp, pb, 9780756407131. Fantasy.
Cryptid, noun: Any creature whose existence has not yet been proven by science. See also “monster.”
Cryptozoologist, noun: Any person who thinks hunting for cryptids is a good idea. See also “idiot.”
Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night… and that’s just the beginning. The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and to protect humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she’d rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance.
Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it were9
London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction by Michael Moorcock, introduction by Iain Sinclair
PM Press, $23.95, 408pp, tp, 9781604864908. Nonfiction.
Voted one of the best writers by the London Times, Michael Moorcock was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and won the Guardian Fiction Prize. He has won almost all the major Science Fiction, Fantasy, and lifetime achievement awards including the “Howie,” the Prix Utopiales, and the Stoker. Best known for his rule-breaking SF and Fantasy, including the classic Elric and Hawkmoon series, he is also the author of several graphic novels.
In London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction, Michael Moorcock personally selects the best of his published, unpublished, and uncensored essays, articles, reviews, and opinions covering a wide range of subjects: books, films, politics, reminiscences of old friends, and attacks on new foes. Drawn from over fifty years of writing, including his most recent work from the pages of the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian along with obscure and now unobtainable sources, the pieces in London Peculiar and Other Nonfiction showcase Moorcock at his acerbic best. They include:
* “London Peculiar,” an impassioned statement of Moorcock’s memories of wartime London and the architectural “improvements” wrought by the rebuilding of the city after World War Two.
* A lengthy review of R. Crumb’s Genesis, previously unavailable in English, leads Moorcock to address nostalgia for the sixties.
* “Michael Moorcock 1939-,” a succinct recounting of Moorcock’s exciting, eventful life. From his childhood, to the heady days of editing New Worlds in the swinging sixties, to his world travels in the following years, and up to the present day as a Texan elder statesman of letters, this essay sums up a lifetime of writing and adventurous living.
These, along with dozens more, make this a collection Moorcock fans won’t want to miss, and the perfect introduction for new readers, who will soon discover why Alan Moore (Watchmen) says: “Moorcock seizes the twenty-first century bull by its horns and wrestles it into submission with a Texan rodeo confidence.”
Fair Coin by E.C. Myers
Pyr, $16.95, 287pp, hc, 9781616146092. YA Fantasy.
Ephraim is horrified when he comes home from school one day to find his mother unconscious at the kitchen table, clutching a bottle of pills. Even more disturbing than her suicide attempt is the reason for it: the dead boy she identified at the hospital that afternoon—a boy who looks exactly like him.
While examining his dead double’s belongings, Ephraim discovers a strange coin that makes his wishes come true each time he flips it. Before long, he’s wished his alcoholic mother into a model parent, and the girl he’s liked since second grade suddenly notices him.
But Ephraim soon realizes that the coin comes with consequences—several wishes go disastrously wrong, his best friend Nathan becomes obsessed with the coin, and the world begins to change in unexpected ways. As Ephraim learns the coin’s secrets and how to control its power, he must find a way to keep it from Nathan and return to the world he remembers.
By the Blood of Heroes by Joseph Nassise
(The Great Undead War: Book I), Harper Voyager, $14.99, 352pp, tp, 9780062048752. Fantasy. On-sale date: May 2012.
With the critical and box office success of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds< the rise in the popularity of Steampunk fiction and fashiono, and the influx of zombie-themed TV shows (Walking Dead), books (World War Z), and movies (Zombieland), By the Blood of Heroes taps into some of today’s coolest alternative trends. International bestseller Joseph Nassise takes readers on a wild ride through a zombie-filled World War I, complete with some of its most celebrated and most notorious figures. The Great War progressed as wars normally do—armies fight, soldiers die, battles are won, ground is lost, and nowhere is an end in sight—until 1917, when the Germans discover T-leiche, or “corpse gas” and everything goes to Hell for the good guys. The Germans employ corpse gas on the fallen, ally and enemy alike, to raise them from the dead and turn them into “shamblers,” mindless, flesh-eating machines under their direct control. The Allied forces can now do no more than hold their ground and pray their scientists, including the legendary Nicola Tesla, find a way to combat this seemingly unbeatable weapon. When Major Jack Freeman, the American Ace, and poster-boy for the American War effort over in France, is downed over enemy lines and taken captive, a man from his past, veteran Captain Michael “Madman” Burke, is the only man brave and foolish enough to accept the mission to recover Freeman. Burke assembles a team of disparate members, from Sergeant Moore, his right-hand man during the war, Clayton Manning, to big game hunter turned soldier eager to conquer this new, dangerous beast, to professor Dan Richards, one of Tesla’s top men and the resident authority on all things supernatural. Using an experimental drilling vehicle to infiltrate enemy territory, the team faces incredible danger as they struggle to reach the prison camp. From ruthless smugglers who betray them to the Germans, to marauding bands of the undead, to the ultimate enemy Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, they find risk and peril at every turn. It is only when they arrive at the prison camp that the true importance of their mission is unveiled. While in captivity, Freeman has discovered the enemy’s deepest secret—how they control the ravenous army of the undead!
The Forerunner Factor by Andre Norton
Baen, $12.00, 402pp, tp, 9781451638080. Science fiction.
Gone but not forgotten
Two Andre Norton Forerunner novels, Forerunner, and Forerunner: The Second Venture collected for the first time in one volume. A heroic young woman seeks her origins as she comes of age on worlds of peril and alien mystery.
Forerunner
On the planet Kuxortal, Simsa was found as an infant in the ancient Forerunner ruins and has always been different. Her skin is iridescent blue-black and she has a telepathic bond with an alien pet, a batlike zorsal. When her mentor dies, she must eke out a poor existence until Thom, a star ranger, arrives from space to lead Simsa on a dangerous search for her origin into those ancient ruins. But the cavernous mazes are far from quiet and dead—and what Simsa discovers there will change her life, and perhaps galactic civilization itself.
Forerunner: The Second Venture
Captured by human criminals intent on discovering the Forerrunner secrets contained within her, Simsa escapes with her pet zorsal, but crash lands on another world touched by ancient Forerunner civilization. Now Simsa must escape death at alien hands while battling the spirit within her that seeks to transform her into something utterly inhuman. But though the ancient Forerunners may have been technologically advanced beyond comprehension, they never reckoned with the courage and gritty determination of one young woman determined to keep her freedom and write her own destiny among the stars.
Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik
(Temeraire book 7), Del Rey, $25.00, 326pp, hc, 9780345522863. Fantasy.
Naomi Novik’s beloved series returns in Crucible of Gold. Captain Will Laurence and his fighting dragon Temeraire are once again taking to the air against the broadsides of Napoleon’s forces and the friendly—and sometimes not-so-friendly—fire of British soldiers and politicians who continue to suspect them of divided loyalties, if not outright treason.
For Laurence and Temeraire, put out to pasture in Australia, it seems their part in the war has come to an end just when they are needed most. But perhaps they are no longer alone in this opinion. Newly allied with the powerful African empire of the Tswana, the French have occupied Spain and brought revolution and bloodshed to Brazil, threatening Britain’s last desperate hope to defeat Napoleon.
And now the government that sidelined them has decided they have the best chance at negotiating a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged the Portuguese royal family in Rio—and thus offer to reinstate Laurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps. Temeraire is delighted by this sudden reversal of fortune, but Laurence is by no means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty to one’s country do not always run on parallel tracks.
Nonetheless, the pair embark for Brazil, only to meet with a string of unmitigated disasters that force them to make an unexpected landing in the hostile territory of the Incan empire, where they face new unanticipated dangers.
Now with the success of the mission balanced on a razor’s edge, and failure looking more likely by the minute, the unexpected arrival of an old enemy will tip the scales toward ruin. Yet even in the midst of disaster, opportunity may lurk—for one bold enough to grasp it.
The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray
DAW, $7.99, 309pp, pb, 9780756407193. Fantasy anthology.
What if the fae were still here, living among us? Perhaps living in secret, doing their best to pass for human. Or perhaps their existence is acknowledged, but they’re still struggling to fit in. How have they survived? Are they outcasts clinging to the edges of society, or do their powers ensure success in the mortal realm? Here are fourteen fabulous tales—ranging from humor to dark fantasy—that explore how the creatures of the fae realm are fitting into the modern world.
From a mortal who offers to do internet marketing for Oberon… to a woman bent on reclaiming her baby from the Queen of the fae… to a dryad grove menaced by urban expansion… to a Selkie in need of a new home and career… these are original looks at how the world of the imagination can survive and perhaps even thrive in the everyday mortal lands.
[Contributors: Seanan McGuire, Susan Jett, Kari Sperring, Juliet E. McKenna, Avery Shade, Kristine Smith, Barbara Ashford, April Steenburgh, Anton Strout, S.C. Butler, Jean Marie Ward, Shannon Page & Jay Lake, Elizabeth Bear, and Jim C. Hines.]
Liminal States by Zack Parsons
Citadel, $14.95, 442pp, tp, 9780806533643. Science fiction. On-sale date: April 2012.
Terry Gilliam’s Brazil meets Kurt Vonnegut in Liminal States, a stand alone science fiction novel that is part of a revolutionary multimedia project. It includes video, music and artwork as well as blogs and personal web pages of the characters from the world of the novel, including links to external sites.
Deep water rises.
Abandon your spire.
It is coming.
It is 1874 and Gideon Long is dying. Wandering the savage desert of the New Mexico Territory, he craves a last drink before he bleeds out. On the brink of madness, he discovers a place best left forgotten and makes an insidious bargain: escape his fate and incur a debt too great for one man. His country will pay the price over the twisting course of more than a century and Gideon will learn there are worse things to bargain with than the devil.
Constellation Games by Leonard Richardson
Candlemark & Gleam, $19.95, 263pp, tp, 97811936460236. Science fiction. On-sale date: 17 April 2012.
First contact isn’t all fun and games.
Ariel Blum is pushing thirty and doesn’t have much to show for it. His computer programming skills are producing nothing but pony-themed video games for little girls. His love life is a slow-motion train wreck, and whenever he tries to make something of his life, he finds himself back on the couch, replaying the games of his youth.
Then the aliens show up.
Out of the sky comes the Constellation: a swam of anarchist anthropologists, exploring our seas, cataloguing our plants, editing our wikis, and eating our Twinkies. No one knows how to respond—except for nerds like Ariel who’ve been reading, role-playing and wargaming first-contact scenarios their entire lives. Ariel sees the aliens’ computers, and he knows that wherever there are computers, there are video games.
Ariel just wants to start a business translating alien games so they can be played on human computers. But a simple cultural exchange turns up ancient secrets, government conspiracies, and unconventional anthropology techniques that threaten humanity as we know it. If Ariel wants his species to have a future, he’s going to have to take the step that nothing on Earth could make him take.
He’ll have to grow up.
Adventures in the Secret Police by David B. Riley
CreateSpace, $9.95, 312pp, tp, 9781470039554.
Mr. North of the Secret Police has been given an impossible task—stop an evil alien who is corrupting his country’s way of life. Even with the vast resources of his agency, the mission proves impossible and deadly. Told from the point of view of the spies and agents—and it’s set on an alien world.
The Devil Draws Two: The Weird West Adventures of Miles O’Malley by David B. Riley
Timescape, $19.95, 413pp, tp, 9781469965581.
In 1880, Ah Puch, an evil Mayan god, is determined to take over the State of California and turn it into his own personal empire. Vagabond barber turned lawman Miles O’Malley is determined to stop him. Along the way, Miles is frequently distracted by run ins with everything from shipwrecked ghosts to sea monsters to little green men in flying saucers. To further complicate his life he is befriended by some very sexy fallen angels who can cause him even more trouble. The west was never this wild!
Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction of the Year edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft & Steve Berman
Lethe, $18.00, 276pp, tp, 9781590213964. Lesbian Speculative Fiction.
Welcome to a new annual anthology created in honor of the late Joanna Russ, American writer, academic, and feminist whose work shone brightly in the male-dominated field of speculative fiction of the latter part of the twentieth century.
Heiresses of Russ offers readers in one volume the best lesbian-themed tales of the fantastical and otherworldly published during the prior year. Editors JoSelle Vanderhooft and Steve Berman read countless books, periodicals, and webzines to collect a range of tales—from new voices as well as award-winning authors—that celebrate the spirit of Russ’s ficiton: stories of sorceresses and spectral women, lost daughters and sisters of myth. The transformative power of the written word becomes magic and tests the boundaries of gender, identity, and a woman’s dreams.
[Contributors: Georgina Bruce, Jewelle Gomez, Michelle Labbe, Esther Garber/Tanith Lee, Steve Berman, Rachel Swirsky, Ellen Kushner, Zen Cho, Csilla Kleinheincz, Catherine Lundoff, Nora Olsen, and N.K. Jemisin.]
A Rising Thunder by David Weber
(a new Honor Harrington novel), Baen, $26.00, 458pp, hc, 9781451638066. Science fiction.
Lightning Rod
Cold War and hot, the Republic of Haven has been the mortal enemy of Honor Harrington’s Star Kingdom since she entered the Academy at Saganami Island. She’s spent her entire life fighting or preparing to fight that enemy, and she’s given that battle her heart, her soul, her blood, and the lives of those dearer to her than brothers and sisters. It’s been a bitter price… and the reason she’s fought as fiercely for peace as she ever did for victory.
She and the Star Empire of Manticore have won that peace, brought that endless war with Haven to a close, but not in the way she expected. And it looks as if she’s ended one war only to face another, even more terrible conflict. A war in which no one even knows who the enemy truly is or where the next blow may land. A war which has already cost her even more than the long, bloody struggle against Haven. Friends, family, the civilians she’s sworn to protect with her own life, blotted away in a surprise attack which left millions dead.
A storm of battle, betrayal, treachery and murder is sweeping over Manticore. The unseen puppet masters have launched the arrogant Solarian League, the largest, wealthiest, most powerful star nation in the history of the galaxy, at the Star Empire’s throat. Honor Harrington, the woman they call “The Salamandar,” stands between a tempest of destruction and everything—and everyone—she loves, with her back to the wawll. But she isn’t alone, and the old enemies at her side are just as determined as she is.
The thunder is rising, rolling towards the Star Empire Honor serves, and the lightning is furnace hot, but her foes should have remembered… a salamandar thrives in the heart of the furnace.
War Maid’s Choice by David Weber
(the first new Bahzell novel in eight years), Baen, $26.00, 608pp, hc, 9781451638356. Fantasy. On-sale date: July 2012.
With over 7 million copies of his books in print and seventeen titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is the science fiction publishing phenomenon of the new millennium. In the hugely popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander lives on—into the galactic future. Books in the Honor Harrington and Honoverse series have appeared on fourteen best seller lists, including those of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. While Weber is best known for his spirited, modern-minded space operas, he is also the creator of the Oath of Swords fantasy series and the Dahak science fiction saga. Weber has also engaged in a steady stream of bestselling collaborations, including his Starfire series with Steve White, which produced the New York Times bestseller The Shiva Option among others. Weber’s collaboration with alternate history master Eric Flint led to the bestselling 1634: The Baltic War, and his planetary adventure novels with military science fiction ace and multiple national bestseller John Ringo includes the blockbusters March to the Stars and We Few. Finally, Weber’s teaming with Linda Evans produced the bestselling Multiverse series. David Weber makes his home in South Carolina with his wife and children.
Uglies: Shay’s Story written by Scott Westerfeld and Devin Grayson, illustrations by Steven Cummings
Del Rey, $10.99, 208pp, tp, 9780345527226. Graphic Novel.
Uglies told Tally Youngblood’s version of life in Uglyville and the budding rebellion against the Specials. Now comes an exciting graphic novel revealing new adventures in the Uglies world—as seen through the eyes of Shay, Tally’s rebellious best friend who’s not afraid to break the rules, no matter the cost.
A few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, Shay eagerly awaits her turn to become a Pretty—a rite-of-passage operation called “the Surge” that transforms ordinary uglies into paragons of beauty. Yet after befriending the Crims, a group of fellow teens who refuse to take anything in society at face value, Shay starts to question the whole concept. And as the Crims explore beyond the monitored orders of Uglyville into the forbidden, ungoverned wild, Shay must choose between the perks of being Pretty and the rewards of being real.