This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
White Horse by Alex Adams
Emily Bestler/Atria, $19.99, 306pp, hc, 9781451642997. Post-apocalyptic fiction.
Before: I took life for granted
After: I’ll do anything it takes to survive
We live in a time of shifting change and intense curiosity. Countries vie against each other to create science and technology with the power to manipulate everything from the weather to human genetics. We believe we’re doing it for the good of mankind. But what happens when something goes wrong? What happens when Pandora’s Box is opened and something is unleashed that transforms the world into something… different?
Debut novelist Alex Adams uses the beguiling myth of Pandora’s Box as a backdrop in her novel, White Horse, a haunting, beautiful tale of survival in a world that has been destroyed by the sins of man. In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and Justin Cronin’s The Passage, White Horse paints a vivid picture of both brutality and enduring hope.
Alex Adams has a distinctive talent for drawing her readers in from the very first page with her captivating narrative and unforgettable characters. A writer who considers herself a work in progress, her prose is clean and simple—at times mesmerizing and at times shocking. Adams is also an innately curious person who is compelled to plumb the depths of some of humanity’s universal themes. In White Horse she ponders the question of whether love can flourish in a dying world and whether it’s possible to retain human kindness during times of extreme hardship. Her answer to both questions is a resounding “yes.”
Once upon a time, thirty-year-old Zoe was a simple woman, with simple dreams. After the tragic death of her husband in a car accident, she struggled to rejoin the world and succeeded. Today, her dream is to finish college. And to do so, she takes on a janitorial job at GeneTech, the brainchild of scientist-turned-businessman George Pope. She spends her days cleaning the labs and feeding the mice, figuring that whatever science and technology the scientists at GeneTech are working on, it’s something that will hopefully make the world a better place. She could not be more wrong.
Now, a mere eighteen months later, Zoe is fleeing for her life and the life of her unborn child. A virus dubbed “White Horse” has been accidentally unleashed on the world, and 90% of the population is dead. Half of those left alive seem to be immune and the rest have changed into something that was once human. Man has played God one too many times, and this time he lost.
Before the world ends, Zoe begins to suspect that she is being used as a test subject in one of Pope’s experiments. A mysterious jar appears in her apartment one day, and she develops a strange fear of it. Certain that if she opens it she’ll let something terrible out, she seeks solace in therapy. Dr. Nick Rose isn’t the dry and removed man she envisioned when she made her first appointment. He’s young, engaging, and truly seems to care about Zoe and her feelings. In spite of themselves, they’re attracted to each other and slowly dance around the beginning of a personal, rather than professional, relationship. Once “White Horse” begins its rampage, however, no one is safe, and Nick becomes convinced he’s infected. Not wanting to pass along the virus to Zoe, he heads to Greece, leaving Zoe behind with no explanation except for a note that she’s afraid to open.
When she discovers she’s pregnant, Zoe is determined to track down Nick and reunite her growing family. It doesn’t matter that he’s across the world and in another country. And so she hops on one of the last transatlantic flights (in exchange for a sample of her seemingly immune blood) to Italy. There, her journey begins as she makes her way toward Greece, and hopefully toward Nick. In her travels, she encounters all types of people. Some are evil and sadistic. Others are kind and helpful. And many are no longer human. Yet Zoe refuses to give up hope for mankind. She only wants to find Nick and raise their child in a safe place. She wants their child to know what society was once like and how people fought to maintain their humanity. She wants her family to find peace in this strange, new world…
Compelling, visceral, beautiful—with a shocking climax that will make readers gasp—White Horse is post-apocalyptic fiction at its best, transcending its genre and marking Alex Adams as a rising star in the literary world.
The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi
Little Brown, $17.99, 448pp, hc, 9780316056243. YA science fiction. On-sale date: May 2012.
Printz Award Winner and National Book Award Finalist Paolo Bacigalupi’s thrilling companion to Ship Breaker.
They call them war maggots: refugees Mahlia and Mouse, who have managed to escape the violence plaguing the war-torn lands of the Drowned Cities. But their fragile safety is threatened when they discover a wounded half-man—a bioengineered war beast named Tool—who is being hunted by a vengeful band of soldiers. When tragedy strikes, Mahlia is faced with an impossible decision: Risk everything to save the boy who once saved her or flee for her own safety.
Paolo Bacigalupi once again captures a brilliantly dark future America that has devolved into an unending civil war driven by demagogues who recruit children to become soulless killing machines. Drawing upon the brutal truths of current events, The Drowned Cities is a powerful story of loyalty, survival, and heart-pounding adventure.
Pure by Julianna Baggott
Grand Central, $25.99, 436pp, hc, 9781455503063. Science fiction.
We know you are here, our brothers and sisters. We will, one day, emerge from the Dome to join you in peace. For now, we watch from afar, benevolently.
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost—how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers… to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as soldiers or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.
Burn a Pure and breathe the ash. Take his guts and make a sash. Twist his hair and make a rope. And use his bones to make Pure soap.
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss—maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.
When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
Deliverance: Mortal Path Book Three by Dakota Banks
Harper Voyager, $7.99, 286pp, pb, 9780062049988. Urban Fantasy.
Kill… or be Damned.
A demon’s assassin for centuries, Maliha Crayne has gone rogue, determined to save a life for every one she’s destroyed in order to free herself from an eternity of enslavement, damnation, and excruciating torment. But as the powers that sustained her in the past fade, she is wary of trusting those closest to her—especially her lover, Jake. And her closest friends are beginning to disappear, one by one. Amid her anger, suspicion, and sorrow, her life is spiraling out of control.
Worse still, a beautiful Renaissance murderess is recruiting Maliha as her new assassin. Maliha is turning into a lethal puppet with an evil Immortal pulling the strings, forced to kill innocents or see her missing friends die horribly. Suddenly trapped in a moral no-man’s-land, Maliha is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t… and time is rapidly running out.
Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear
Tor, $25.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765327543. Fantasy.
In Range of Ghosts, the first book of the eternal Sky trilogy, Hugo Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear creates a richly inventive world of far-reaching desert empires and deadly intrafamily civil war, where tigers have their own gods and brave women knowingly risk death in order to wield powerful magic.
Temur, the rightful heir of the wide-flung empire of his grandfather, the Great Khagan, flees across the bleak landscape of the steppes in an effort to evade his uncle Qori Buqa’s attempts to assassinate him. Civil war rages amongst the heirs to the Khaganate, and where once one hundred moons shone in the Eternal Sky—one moon for every living son and grandson of the Great Khagan—now only a handful remain.
In his flight, Temur enters into a relationship with Edene, a tribeswoman of the nomadic Tsareg clan that adopts him as their own. Not long passes, however, before the renegade sorcerer whom Qori Buqa has sent after Temur kidnaps Edene, prompting Temur to go on a quest to rescue his newfound love.
Along the way, Temur is joined by Samarkar, a newly made wizard and former princess of the Rasan Empire, and Hramina, a tiger-woman whose beliefs are at odds with those of her people. Together, the three companions seek to foil Qori Buqa’s deadly political ambitions and the machinations of his hired sorcerer, all in hopes of restoring balance to the broken Khagan Empire.
A wildly entertaining epic fantasy filled with intrigue, romance and adventure, Range of Ghosts is an enthralling page-turner that will captivate and delight readers.
The Master of Heathcrest Hall by Galen Beckett
Spectra, $16.00, 720pp, tp, 9780553807608. Fantasy.
SFRevu hailed Galen Becket’s last novel, The House on Durrow Street, as “A splendid fantasy that is both magical and very proper.” Now, in The Master of Heathcrest Hall, the dazzling conclusion to Becket’s trilogy, one remarkable woman must unlock the most secret of magicks, as her world of genteel manners teeters on the abyss.
Even as her husband is about to obtain undreamed-of power, Ivy Quent fears for her family’s safety. With war looming and turmoil sweeping the nation of Altania, Ivy finds the long-abandoned manor on the moors a temporary haven. But nowhere is really safe from the treachery that threatens all the Quents have risked to achieve. And an even greater peril is stirring deep within the countryside’s beautiful green estates. As Ivy dares an alliance with a brilliant illusionist and a dangerous lord, she races to master her forbidden talents and unravel the terrible truth at the heart of her land’s unrest—even as an inhuman darkness rises to claim Altania eternally for its own.
A crossing of Gothic romance, Victorian sensibility, and the magic fantasy readers expect, The Master of Heathcrest Hall still retains the feel of historical fiction. The Lockwell sisters began their strange and beautiful journey in The Magicians and Mrs. Quent and in the conclusion Galen Beckett’s critically acclaimed fantasy series, they must face their biggest challenges yet. With the king dead and the country in open revolution, it is up to Ivy, Eldon, and the newly minted Lord Rafferdy to bring order from the chaos and reclaim their world from threats—both internal and external—before it is destroyed forever.
Angels of Vengeance by John Birmingham
(sequel to Without Warning and After America), Del Rey, $26.00, 532pp, hc, 9780345502933. Science fiction.
When an inexplicable wave of energy slammed into North America, millions died. In the rest of the world, wars erupted, borders vanished, and the powerful lost their grip on power. Against this backdrop, with a conflicted US president struggling to make momentous decisions in Seattle and a madman fomenting rebellion in Texas, three women are fighting their own battles—for survival, justice, and revenge.
Special agent Caitlin Monroe moves stealthily through a South American jungle. Her target: a former French official now held prisoner by a ruthless despot. To free the prisoner, Caitlin will kill anyone who gets in her way. And then she will get the truth about how a master terrorist escaped a secret detention center in French Gaudeloupe to strike a fatal blow to New York City.
Sofia Peiraro is a teenage girl who witnessed firsthand the murder and mayhem of Texas under the rule of General “Mad Jack” Blackstone. Sofia might have tried to build a life with her father in the struggling remnants of Kansas City—if a vicious murder hadn’t set her on another course altogether: back to Texas, even to Blackstone himself.
Julianne Balwyn is a British-born aristocrat turned smuggler. Shopping in the most fashionable neighborhood of Darwin, Australia—now a fantastic neo-urban frontier—Jules has a pistol holstered in the small of her lovely back. She is playing the most dangerous game of all: waiting for the person who is hunting her to show his face—so she can kill him first.
Three women in three corners of a world plunged into electrifying chaos. Nation-states struggling for their survival. Immigrants struggling for new lives. John Birmingham’s astounding new novel—the conclusion to the series begun in Without Warning and After America—is an intense adventure that races from the halls of power to the shattered streets to gleaming new cities, as humanity struggles to grasp its better angels—and purge its worst demons.
Kingdom of the Serpent, Book 1: Jack of Ravens by Mark Chadbourn
Pyr, $17.95, 414pp, tp, 9781616146078. Fantasy.
Jack Churchill, archaeologist and dreamer, walks out of the mist and into Celtic Britain more than two thousand years before he was born, with no knowledge of how he got there. All Jack wants is to get home to his own time where the woman he loves waits for him. Finding his way to the timeless mystical Otherworld, the home of the gods, he plans to while away the days, the years, the millennia, until his own era rolls around again… but nothing is ever that simple. A great Evil waits in modern times and will do all in its power to stop Jack’s return. In a universe where time and space are meaningless, its tendrils stretch back through the years… Through Roman times, the Elizabethan age, Victoria’s reign, the Second World War to the Swinging Sixties, the Evil sets its trap to destroy Jack. Mark Chadbourn gives us a high adventure of dazzling sword fights, passionate romance and apocalyptic wars in the days leading up to Ragnarok, the End-Times: a breathtaking, surreal vision of twisting realities where nothing is quite what it seems.
Kingdom of the Serpent, Book 2: The Burning Man by Mark Chadbourn
Pyr, $17.95, 393pp, tp, 9781616146115. Fantasy.
After a long journey across the ages, Jack Churchill has returned to the modern world, only to find it in the grip of a terrible, dark force. The population is unaware, mesmerized by the Mundane Spell that keeps them in thrall. With a small group of trusted allies, Jack sets out to find the two ‘keys’ that can shatter the spell. But the keys are people—one with the power of creation, one the power of destruction—and they are hidden somewhere among the world’s billions. As the search fans out across the globe, ancient powers begin to stir. In the bleak North, in Egypt, in Greece, in all the Great Dominions, the old gods are returning to stake their claim. The odds appear insurmountable, the need desperate… This is a time for heroes.
The Scar by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, translated by Elinor Huntington
Tor, $24.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765329936. Fantasy.
Reaching far beyond sword and sorcery, The Scar is a story of two people torn by disaster, their descent into despair, and their reemergence through love and courage. Sergey and Marina Dyachenko mix dramatic scenes with romance, action and wit, in a style both direct and lyrical. Written with a sure artistic hand, The Scar is the story of a man driven by his own feverish demons to find redemption and the woman who just might save him.
Though Sergey and Marina Dyachenko have been a popular phenomenon in Russia for some time, it is not until this year’s release of the English translation of The Scar that US and UK audiences will experience the magic and personal conflict that has been the obsession of Russian audiences for years.
The husband-wife team is Russia’s equivalent of George R.R. Martin or Phillip K. Dick—they have been awarded best Author of Europe by the European Science Fiction Society and have received eighty literary prizes of excellence—one for almost every one of their books or short stories. The Scar is no exception, having received the “Sword in the Stone” award for best fantasy novel from 1995-1999.
Compared in literary circles to Dostoyevsky, one essayist mused: “Dostoyevsky said that a coin can never simply ‘fall,’ it must fall ‘clinking and bouncing.’ The Dyachenkos have plenty of this talent.”
Egert is as a brash, confident member of the elite guards and an egotistical philanderer. But after he kills an innocent student in a duel, a mysterious man known as “The Wanderer” challenges Egert and slashes his face with his sword, leaving Egert with a scar that comes to symbolize his cowardice. Unable to end his suffering by his own hand, Egert embarks on an odyssey to undo the curse and the horrible damage he has caused, which can only be repaired by a painful journey down a long and harrowing path. Toria, the woman whose fiance Egert killed, hates Egert, and is saddened and numb, but comes to forgive the drastically changed Egert. Plotted with the sureness of Robin Hobb and colored with the haunting and ominous imagination of Michael Moorcock, The Scar tells a story that cannot be forgotten.
This book was translated by Elinor Huntington, who studied Russian Literature at Barnard College and UCLA. She currently lives in Los Angeles.
The Survivors by Sean Eads
Lethe, $15.00, 236pp, tp, 9781590212998. Science fiction. On-sale date: 3 October 2012.
The aliens have landed, and this time they’re not hostile. They’re just rude. Coming in waves of rocket ships, the aliens not only refuse to acknowledge the existence of Earth’s cultures—they refuse to acknowledge the existence of humanity itself. The aliens by means of their bulk block entry into cars, grocery stores, even elevators… without malice or even purpose.
No one knows what it’s like to be ignored by the aliens more than Craig Mencken, an amateur journalist who writes inane copy for a magazine tycoon. A pair of aliens have invaded his home, abused his furniture, and disrupted his life. Who thought first contact could be such a nuisance? But when Mencken’s employer demands the story of the century, a fictional interview with an alien, the sinister truth about the invasion is accidentally revealed. Soon Mencken’s ex-boyfriend is dropping hints about a mysterious cabal that promises to rid the aliens from neighborhoods as exterminators do vermin. Then a narcissistic federal agent wants Mencken to spy on the cabal for the sake of his country. As if life weren’t already hard enough, the dozers—cubic machines capable of demolishing skyscrapers in minutes—start landing across the globe, and it does not seem likely the aliens will ignore mankind for much longer.
Body, Inc. by Alan Dean Foster
Del Rey, $15.00, 290pp, tp, 9780345511997. Science fiction.
New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster has always been on the cutting-edge of science fiction. In Body, Inc., he creates a tomorrow where genetic manipulation has become ubiquitous, and the very meaning of what it is to be human is undergoing drastic transformation.
In a world deeply wounded by centuries of environmental damage, two unlikely souls join forces: Dr. Ingrid Seastrom has stumbled into a mystery involving quantum-entangled nanoscale implants—a mystery that just may kill her. Whispr is a thief and murderer whose radical body modifications have left him so thin he is all but two-dimensional. Whispr has found a silver data-storage thread, a technology that will make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He is also going mad with longing for Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Their quest to learn the secrets of the implant and the thread—which may well be the same secret—has led them to the South African Economic Combine, otherwise known as SAEC. Or, less respectfully, SICK. SiCK, it seems, has the answers.
Unfortunately, SICK has also got Napun Molé, a cold-blooded assassin whose genetic enhancements make him the equivalent of a small army. Molé has already missed one chance to kill Ingrid and Whispr and now he has followed them to South Africa. This time, he is not only going to succeed, he is going to make them suffer.
Siege by Rhiannon Frater
Tor, $14.99, 368pp, tp, 9780765331281. Horror.
The street filled with the hungry undead. Their horrible blood-stained teeth gnashed with hunger. “Katie! Katie!” Jenni sobbed. “Katie, please come!” The undead closed in around Jenni and her family.
Concluding the thrilling story that began with The First Days and Fighting to Survive is the final book in the As the World Dies trilogy, Siege by Rhiannon Frater. The first two books made quite a splash—both books won the Dead Letter Award for Best Novel from Mail Order Zombie, and The First Days was named one of the best zombie books of 2011 by Explorations. Full of compelling characters, twists and turns, and—of course!—the walking dead, this trilogy is a riveting tale that follows two women who are struggling to survive in a world turned upside down.
The zombie illness has wreaked havoc on civilization. While the survivors who have found tenuous safety in the barricaded town of Ashley Oaks, Texas, have successfully defended their fort against both the walking dead and living bandits, they still face several dangerous threats from within. New relationships, families, and dramatic shifts in power help to define the remaining survivors’ community.
In Siege, fresh trouble arises when Ashley Oaks comes to the attention of a former Senator and the military men whom she’s grown accustomed to commanding . Their shopping mall headquarters, packed with dispirited civilians, is surrounded by a growing mob of hungry zombies. The Senator covets Ashley Oaks’ farmlands, its livestock, and its people: all keys to reclaiming her former power. She begins her campaign to take over the town with a bang—by kidnapping two of its citizens.
Naturally, this doesn’t go over well with the people of Ashley Oaks. It doesn’t even go over well with all of the Senator’s own staff. Before long, the zombies have breached the perimeter of the shopping mall, the building is ablaze, and everyone inside is trying desperately to avoid being either burned alive or eaten—and that’s just the beginning.
Packed with mayhem and destruction, yet driven by character and human interaction, and ending on a note of grace and beauty, Siege is the nail-biting, spine-tingling conclusion to an amazing zombie trilogy.
Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors by Molly Harper
Pocket, $7.99, 337pp, pb, 9781451641813. Paranormal romance.
The eagerly anticipated fourth installment in award-winning author Molly Harper’s Jane Jameson series, Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors, has finally arrived to satisfy fans! Just as Jane Jameson’s unlife seems to be stabilizing, fate sinks its fangs firmly into her butt. Despite her near-phobia of wedding planning, her no-frills nighttime nuptials to her sexy boyfriend, Gabriel, are coming along smoothly. That is, until she turns a fatally wounded teenage acquaintance, and the Council pronounces her responsible for the newborn vamp until he can control his thirst.
Jane’s kitchen barely holds enough Faux Type O to satiate the cute teen’s appetite and maintain Gabriel’s jealous streak at a slow simmer. As if keeping her hyperactive childe from sucking the blood out of the entire neighborhood isn’t enough to deal with, the persnickety ghost of Jane’s newly deceased grandma Ruthie has declared war on the fanged residents of River Oaks. Suddenly choosing monogrammed cocktail napkins and a cake she can’t even eat seems downright relaxing in comparison.
Tensions inside the house are growing… and outside, a sinister force is aiming a stake straight for the center of Gabriel’s heart. Most brides just have to worry about choosing the right dress, but Jane fears that, at this rate, she’ll never make it down the aisle for the wedding all nice girls dream of…
Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors will have readers faithfully following along with Jane Jameson to see her next step!
On Fire: A Teen Wolf Novel by Nancy Holder
Gallery, $11.00, 256pp, tp, 9781451674477. Fantasy tie-in. On-sale date: 5 June 2012.
Scott was just a regular guy until one bite changed his life. Now he struggles to understand who he is and what he might become. Is he more wolf than human—or is it the other way around? Whichever it is, it’s not going to be easy. Scott tries to control his urges, but mostly he’s scared that it’s his urges that could end up controlling him.
On Fire is the story of what happens when you to walk the line between what you want and what you can’t help from wanting. Will the bite end up being a gift? Or will it be a curse? And what will it all mean for Scott’s relationship with Allison—the girl he can’t get enough of? Only time will tell if he should embrace his newfound powers, or if he should fear them.
Three A.M. by Steven John
Tor, $24.99, 304pp, hc, 9780765331168. Noir dystopian fiction.
Steven John bursts onto the speculative scene with his compelling debut novel Three A.M.—a unique blend of noir and dystopian fiction that will have readers hooked from the chilling beginning to the shocking conclusion.
It all happened so fast. Then fifteen years of sunless grey…
Fifteen years of mist. So thick, the streets fade off into nothing. So thick, the past is hazy at best. The line between right and wrong has been blurred, especially for Thomas Vale.
Vale was a young marine when the sickness first descended. He followed his orders: herd the healthy into the city and kill the infected. The gates closed; the bridges came down. Then the mist came.
The survivors try to eke out an existence in a world where danger lurks an arm’s length away. Vale—who has created a sort of living as a P.I.—can hardly fathom why he keeps waking up in the morning. To him, it’s a world of pain. No matter how much money and food he hoards, he can barely stand to live another day. But then he meets Rebecca Ayres, and the answers come fast. Too fast.
With compelling characters and nail-biting suspense, Three A.M. is a harrowing look at what happens when one man asks too many questions about the devastated world around him and finds the horror beneath the haze.
The Wall of Night Book Two: The Gathering of the Lost by Helen Lowe
Harper Voyager, $7.99, 652pp, pb, 9780061734052. Fantasy.
Garrisoned by the Nine Houses of the Derai, the towering mountain range called the Wall of Night is all that separates the people of Haarth from the terrible Darkswarm.
Five years have passed since the Wall was breached and the Keep of Winds nearly overrun. Five years since the Heir of Night, Malian, and her friend and ally Kalan went missing in the wild lands of Jaransor.
Now, in Haarth’s diverse southern realms, events are moving. From the wealthy River city of Ij to the isolated Emerian outpost of Normarch, rumors of dark forces and darker magics are growing. As the great Midsummer tournament at Caer Argent approaches, Haarth will have one opportunity to band together against an enemy in which few believe… or be lost forever.
Alien Diplomacy by Gini Koch
DAW, $7.99, 436pp, pb, 9780756407162. Science fiction.
Being newlyweds and new parents is challenging enough. But nothing’s ever easy for Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini, particularly not when they have to switch from being super-being exterminators and Commanders in Centaurion Division to mastering the political landscape as the new heads of American Centaurion’s Diplomatic Corps.
Kitty’s brand of diplomacy and lobbying isn’t quite as smooth as Jeff’s—Washington parties, lobbyists of all stripes, and politicians from all states and countries present challenges a well-stocked iPod and quirky sense of humor aren’t always up to handling. But when a shadowy assassination plot and a new set of anti-alien conspirators are identified, Kitty’s the diplomat for the job—in between “Mommy and Me,” “Diplomacy for Beginners,” and the dreaded “Washington Wife” classes.
As explosions, assassination attempts, and murders pile up, the question shifts from “who’s the target” to “will we all survive to see next week”?
Armed with only their wits, and dressed to kill, it’s up to Kitty and the Diplomatic Corps to stop the bad guys from unleashing mayhem on all the world’s leaders. But will Kitty trust the right people, at the right times, or will going her own way prove deadly—not just to her, but to her daughter, Jamie?
Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought by Edward M. Lerner
FoxAcre, $12.95, 266pp, tp, 9781936771370. Science fiction/non-fiction collection.
Q: What’s Smaller Than an Atom… and Larger Than a Universe?
A: This book.
Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought brings together more than a dozen of Edward M. Lerner’s most engaging short stories to take the reader on a grand tour of Big Ideas: from virtual reality to artificial intelligence to homicidal time-traveling grandchildren to troubled aliens wondering if they are alone. Journey along in these beguiling tales as we start by colonizing near-Earth space—and end up in the farthest reaches of the multiverse. Lerner’s novels and short fiction have intrigued fans around the world—and this collection will show you why.
But truth can be stranger than fiction—and Lerner is not just a writer; he’s a professional computer engineer and physicist. His fact articles have pride of place in this collection, and they pose some Really Big Questions. How can we protect Earth from asteroids? What will commercialized spaceflight be like in the post-shuttle era? What will privacy (or the lack thereof) mean in the Internet age? He lays out the why, where, and (perhaps the) how of faster-than-light travel; and the challenges of communicating with alien species. Expanded and updated with the latest information, and with full references and links to further reading, these essays will take you to and beyond the Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought.
[Contents: “The Big Questions”; “Say What? Ruminations about Language, Communications, and Science Fiction”; “At the Watering Hole”; “RSCP”; “Unplanned-for Flying Object”; “Blessed are the Bleak”; “Chance of Storms”; “A Time for Heroes”; “Beyond This Point Be RFIDs”; “Where Credit Is Due”; “Faster Than a Speeding Photon”; “Grandpa?”; “Great Minds”; “No GUTs, No Glory”; “Inside the Box”; “Rock! Bye-Bye, Baby”; “Lost in Space? Follow the Money”; “Small Business”; “Follow the Nanobrick Road”; “A Matter of Perspective”; “Insignificance”; and Appendix: “Mapping of Themes to Novels and Collections”.]
Darksiders: The Abomination Vault by Ari Marmell
Del Rey, $15.00, 384pp, tp, 9780345534026. Science fiction. On-sale date: 15 May 2012.
Set in the thrilling Darksiders universe—the first game topped the charts in 2010 and the second game on the way—this original game tie-in novel will give fans a deep look into the newest Horseman of the Apocalypse: Death.
Darksiders 2 promises to be a tentpole release for THQ. The new title promises to give fans a thrilling adventure while introducing them to the leader of the Horsemen: Death. In our novel, Death and War, two of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, must collaborate to foil a sinister plot that seeks to ignite a war between the forces of Heaven and Hell, engulfing all other realms in the process. Their quest will take them through many of the legendary lands of the Darksiders universe, expanding upon the lore already established in the first Darksiders game.
A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
Bantam, $8.99, 1040pp, pb, 9780345535429. Fantasy.
In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced.
A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel… and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles.
A Game of Thrones: The Graphic Novel, Volume One by George R.R. Martin, adapted by Daniel Abraham, art by Tommy Patterson
Bantam, $25.00, 240pp, hc, 9780440423218. Fantasy graphic novel.
Winter is coming…
You’ve read the books. You’ve watched the hit series on HBO. Now acclaimed novelist Daniel Abraham and illustrator Tommy Patterson bring George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy masterwork A Game of Thrones to majestic new life in the pages of this full-color graphic novel. Comprised of the initial six issues of the graphic series, this is the first volume in what is sure to be one of the most coveted collaborations of the year.
Winter is coming. Such is the stern motto of House Stark, the northernmost of the fiefdoms that owe allegiance to King Robert Baratheon in far-off King’s Landing. There Eddard Stark of Winterfell rules in Robert’s name. There his family dwells in peace and comfort: his proud wife, Catelyn; his sons Robb, Brandon, and Rickon; his daughters Sansa and Arya; and his bastard son, Jon Snow. Far to the north, behind the towering Wall, lie savage Wildings and worse—unnatural things relegated to myth during the centuries-long summer, but proving all too real and all too deadly in the turning of the season.
Yet a more immediate threat lurks to the south, where John Arryn, the Hand of the King, has died under mysterious circumstances. Now Robert is riding north to Winterfell, bringing his queen, the lovely but cold Cersei, his son, the cruel, vainglorious Prince Joffrey, and the queen’s brothers Jamie and Tyrion of the powerful and wealthy House Lannister—the first a swordsman without equal, the second a dwarf whose stunted stature belies a brilliant mind. All are heading for Winterfell and a fateful encounter that will change the course of kingdoms.
Meanwhile, across the Narrow Sea, Prince Viserys, heir of the fallen House Targaryen, which once ruled all of Westeros, schemes to reclaim the throne with an army of barbarian Dothraki—whose loyalty he will purchase in the only coin left to him: his beautiful yet innocent sister, Daenerys.
The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes, Second Edition by Gina Misiroglu
Visible Ink, $24.95, 480pp, tp, 9781578593750. Reference.
Superhuman strength. Virtual invulnerability. Motivated to defend the world from criminals and madmen. Possessing a secret identity. And they even have fashion sense—they look great in long underwear and cat suits. These are the traits that define the quintessential superhero.
The superhero’s pop-culture and mass media presence has never been greater, and the need to understand their histories—what makes them tick? their strengths? weaknesses? secret identities and arch-enemies?—and their role in society has never been more powerful. The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes by Gina Misiroglu is the comprehensive guide to all those characters whose impossible feats have graced the pages of comic books for the past one hundred years. From the Golden and Silver Ages to the Bronze and Modern Ages, they are all here: The Avengers, Batman and Robin, Captain America, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, The Incredibles, The Green Lantern, Iron Man, Catwoman, Wolverine, Hellboy, Elektra, Spawn, The Punisher, Teen Titans, the Justice League, the Fantastic Four, and hundreds of others.
The Superhero Book is more than just a walk down memory lane. Through detailed stories, descriptions, and explanations it shows why the idea of battling the forces of evil and injustice never go out of style. It relates how popular heroes of yesteryear were reinvented to meet the demands of the new age. The book follows the changes from the World War II era heroes to today’s often darker and brooding anti-heroes, who are paralyzed by angst, self-doubt and disillusionment—a reflection of what we are all going through because of the sudden uncertainty and insecurities of our own times.
Unique in bringing together characters from Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, as well as smaller independent houses, The Superhero Book covers the best-loved and historically significant superheroes across all mediums and guises, from comic book, movie, television, and graphic novels. This informative, fun book boasts more than 150 full-color illustrations, including dozens of classic comic-book covers; it is the ultimate A-to-Z compendium of everyone’s favorite superheroes, anti-heroes and their sidekicks, villains, love interests, superpowers, and modus operandi.
Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art by Christopher Moore
William Morrow, $26.99, 406pp, hc, 9780061779749.
From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore comes Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art, a love story, the portrait of a young artist, the portrait of the young artist’s mysterious girlfriend, a mystery, and a hilarious comedy—all about the color blue.
Set in the Impressionist art world of the Belle Epoch, this tale begins when Vincent Van Gogh is murdered (yes, murdered—not commits suicide) in the wheat fields of Auvers. Meanwhile, back in Paris, his close friends Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and our young protagonist—a struggling artist/baker named Lucien Lessard—try to piece together how their friend Vincent died. For something sinister is going on in the thriving art world of Paris, and other artistic luminaries of the era—including Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Manet, Cezanne, Seurat, Gaugin—are also somehow connected and play pivotal roles in this imaginatively dark and funny tale. Could the diabolical answer lie with The Colorman—a twisted little gnome of a man who is always tempting artists with his lush pigments, most notably a bewitching shade of blue known as Sacre Bleu? And what role does the intoxicatingly beautiful Juliette play? She is the lover and muse of our young hero, Lucien, and she has an uncanny gift for discovering artistic talent… and a secret connection to The Colorman.
And what of the role of the color blue itself, one might ask? Sacre Bleu, or “sacred blue,” named for the color of the cloak of the Virgin Mary, is made from crushed lapis lazuli, a gemstone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue hue. Brought from the Orient by camel and ship, across deserts and over mountains, the finest blue pigment is infused with danger and adventure and, some say, supernatural powers. Interestingly, there is nary of mention of the color blue in all the extant writing of the ancient Greeks and Romans; nor does Roman Catholic liturgy mention the color blue until the 12th century.
All these fascinating historical details about art and the great artists of this period play out through the inimitable wit and satiric genius of Christopher Moore. A mystery, a love story, and an art history lesson all rolled into one—with a bonus of crusty French bread, absinthe, and can-can girls—Sacre Bleu shows once again why Moore is one of the most entertaining novelists writing today.
A Sliver of Shadow by Allison Pang
Pocket, $7.99, 368pp, pb, 9781439198346. Urban Fantasy.
War is hell. And war with hell is no fun either.
Just when her new life as a TouchStone—a mortal bound to help OtherFolk cross between Faery and human worlds—seems to be settling down, Abby Sinclair is left in charge when the Protectorate, Moira, leaves for the Faery Court. And when the Protectorate’s away… let’s just say things spiral out of control when a spell on Abby backfires and the Faery Queen declares the Doors between their worlds officially closed. the results are disastrous for both sides: OtherFolk trapped in the mortal world are beginning to fade, while Faery is on the brink of war with the daemons of Hell. Along with her brooding elven prince Talivar and sexy incubus Brystion, Abby ventures to the CrossRoads in an attempt to override the Queen’s magic. But nothing in this beautiful, dangerous realm will compare to the discoveries she’s making about her past, her destiny, and what she will sacrifice for those she loves.
A Sliver of Shadow will have readers faithfully following along with Abby to see her next step.
The Shining City by Fiona Patton
(Book Three of The Warriors of Estavia), DAW, $7.99, 390pp, pb, 9780756407179. 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 Lakke yet can’t break through the spell wall to claim this life force for themselves. It is here in th eheart 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.
Braax, 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.…
Triggers by Robert J. Sawyer
Ace, $25.95, 342pp, hc, 9781937007164. Science fiction.
On the eve of a secret military operation, an assassin’s bullet strikes President Seth Jerrison. He is rushed to the hospital, where surgeons struggle to save his life.
At the same hospital, Professor Ranjip Singh is experimenting with a device that can erase traumatic memories.
Then a terrorist bomb detonates. In the operating room, the president suffers cardiac arrest. He has a near-death experience, but the memories that flash through Jerrison’s mind are not his own.
It quickly becomes clear that the electromagnetic pulse generated by the bomb amplified and scrambled Professor Singh’s equipment, allowing a random group of people to access one another’s minds.
And now one of those people can retrieve President Jerrison’s memories—including classified information regarding the upcoming military mission, which, if revealed, could cost countless lives. But the task of determining who has switched memories with whom is a daunting one—particularly when some of the people involved have reason to lie…
Point of Knives by Melissa Scott
Lethe, $13.00, 122pp, tp, 9781590213810. Fantasy. On-sale date: 18 July 2012.
A welcome return to the vividly realized city of Astreiant with its intricate magics and deadly politics, Point of Knives takes place in the interval between the widely praised earlier novels Point of Hopes and Point of Dreams. A fantastical mystery and a rousing adventure, Point of Knives also reveals for the first time the beginning of the romance between Adjunct Point Nicolas Rathe and the Leaguer Philip Eslingen.
The events of Midsummer have not been forgotten by the Fall Balance, and Nicolas Rathe can hardly complain that they’ve done any harm to his reputation, or to the reputation of the Points in general. However, newfound fame has meant that he’s more in demand as an investigator, and the increased recognition and workload make it difficult to pursue friendship, or anything more, with the handsome former soldier Philip Eslingen, his comrade in the rescue of the stolen children. Eslingen’s employer Hanselin Caiazzo is still deeply involved in any number of questionably legal ventures. Any association between Rathe, a representative of Astreiant’s queen, and Caiazzo’s bodyguard Eslingen is regarded with suspicion from both sides of the law.
When a father and son rumored to be “summer-sailors,” or pirates, are murdered on the same night and Rathe finds Eslingen standing over the son’s body, Eslingen proves his innocence easily enough, despite loyally refusing to say exactly what errand he’s running for Caiazzo at that untimely hour of the morning. But when the old man’s grandson and the son’s self-proclaimed wife quarrel over the son’s meager belongings, and Caiazzo dispatches Eslingen to represent his interests in the investigation, Rathe begins to wonder if their friendship is going to survive. Or whether he and Eslingen will survive at all.
Vampyre Magick: The Grimoire of the Living Vampire by Father Sebastiaan
Weiser, $19.95, 208pp, tp, 9781578635047.
Since the dawn of civilization, the vampire has danced through the dreams and nightmares of every culture, expressed in folklore, literature, and art. Today, this fascination resonates in pop-culture through hit television shows, movies, and fiction. But what of real vampires, those who have chosen to walk the path of the Strigoi Vii—living beings practicing a profound and surprising spiritual tradition?
In Vampyre Magick, Father Sebastiaan reveals the hidden rituals and spells of the Living Vampires. This companion volume to Sebastiaan’s Vampyre Sanguinomicon, is intended for initiates of the Strigoi Vii, but will appeal to all scholars of the magickal arts.
The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn
(a Shifting circle novel), Ace, $25.95, 324pp, hc, 9781937007171. Fantasy.
For fifteen years, Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But despite loving him with all of her heart and soul, Maria knows that Dante can never give everything of himself back—at least not all of the time.
Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During these times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. He can’t choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt, and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. But Maria, who loves him without hesitation, wouldn’t trade their unusual relationship for anything.
Maria has kept his secret since the beginning, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occurs in local parks while Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she’s been telling about her life have turned into lies she’s telling herself.…
Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith
DAW, $25.95, 696pp, hc, 9780756406776. Fantasy.
The scribes have three rules:
First Rule: do not interfere.
Second Rule: keep The Peace.
Third Rule: tell the truth as we see it.
I can see your ironic faces, those of my judges who know that I began life as a scribe. This, my defense testimony, shall show how I tried not to interfere, that I meant to keep The Peace; and I will reveal the means that enables me to tell the absolute truth.
I will begin with the first important day of my life, just before the House of Daybreak, the spring I turned fourteen.
So begins the story of Emras, trained as a scribe in Colend four hundred years after the era of Inda Algara-Vayir, known as “Elgar the Fox.” Emras is the most industrious and diligent of students, not inclined to frivolity or intemperance of any kind. She wants nothing more than to become royal scribe for the beautiful, popular Princess Lasva, justly famed across the continent for her grace and style. And Emras gets her wish, for she is the top student in her class.
But once Emras is Princess Lasva’s royal scribe, life becomes complicated in ways Emras could never have foreseen. For though Emras adores the princess, who is as intelligent and kind as she is beautiful, her position at the height of Colend’s subtle, complex court as Lasva’s confidant and ally is far more convoluted than Emras had anticipated.
Among the flocks of royal suitors vying for Lasva’s hand in marriage are two men who no one, not even the princess’ sister Queen Hatahra of Colend, has expected. The first is King Jurac of the despised Chwahir, and the second is Prince Ivandred of Marloven Hesea on the far western side of the continent. The Colendi and the Chwahir have long been enemies, and Marlovens are considered barbaric and primitive by the elegant, cultured nobility of Colend.
But when Lasva is abducted, it is Ivandred who comes to her rescue, for his remarkable martial abilities harken back to this world famous forebear—Inda the Fox.
Lasva marries her savior, now Colend’s newest ally, but before they leave for the distant west, Queen Hatahra takes Emras aside and charges her with a secret mission. Emras is to search in her new home for signs of the evil magical influence of Norsunder—a mysterious realm once thought legendary, but now known to be real. The queen has heard dire rumors of the Marloven mages and fears not only for her sister, but for the world.
Emras knows nothing of magic, and the Colendi mages she consults are unwilling to teach her, saying she must go through proper channels and attend the official school. But once in Marloven Hesea, Emras finds a knowledgeable and willing tutor, and while Ivandred is conducting brilliant military campaigns, with Lasva adding style and subtlety to military negotiations, Emras is delving deep into the history and practice of magic. But she does not realize the risks she’s taking and the danger she’s exposing herself to.
So why is she on trial? What is she accused of? Emras was acting on express orders from her queen, so why the need for a long defense? And is Marloven Hesea truly in league with Norsunder?
Shadow’s Master by Jon Sprunk
Pyr, $17.95, 313pp, tp, 9781616146054. Fantasy.
The northern wastes.
A land of death and Shadow where only the strong survive. Yet that is where Caim must go to follow the mystery at the heart of his life. Armed with only his knives and his companions, he plunges into a world of eternal night where the sun is never seen and every hand is turned against him.
Caim has buried his father’s sword and found some measure of peace, but deep in the north an unfathomable power lays waiting. To succeed on this mission, Caim will have to more than just survive. He must face the Shadow’s Master.
With this novel, Jon Sprunk brings his action-packed trilogy to an epic conclusion.
Caine’s Law by Matthew Stover
Del Rey, $16.00, 482pp, tp, 9780345455892. Fantasy.
After time off to write New York Times bestselling Star Wars books, Matthew Stover returns to his roots as an author of well-crafted fantasy. Building on the events of Caine Black Knife, Stover’s Caine’s Law is the fourth book in the series, taking readers back to the place where it all began: Overworld.
From the moment Caine first appeared in the pages of Heroes Die, two things were clear. First, Matthew Stover was one of the most gifted fantasy writers of his generation. And second, that Caine was a hero who was rivaled only by characters such as Conan and Elric. Like them, Caine was something new: a civilized man who embraced savagery, an actor whose life was a lie, a force of destruction so potent that even gods thought twice about crossing him. Now, Stover brings back his greatest creation for his most stunning performance yet.
In Caine’s Law, Caine is washed up and hung out to dry, a crippled husk kept isolated and restrained by the studio that exploited him. Now they have dragged him back for one last deal. But Caine has other plans. Those plans take him back to Overworld, the alternate reality where gods are real and magic is the ultimate weapon. There, in a violent odyssey through time and space, Caine will face the demons of his past, find true love, and just possibly destroy the universe.
Guardian Angels: Black Suns by Jessica Wagenfuehr
Comfort, $15.99, 268pp, tp, 9781936695850. Science fiction.
In this exciting follow-up to Guardian Angels: The Setting Moon, 17-year-old Danielle Kelson has become the first female graduate of the Constellation Police of the Council, on her home star of Tumacan.
As half-elf, half-human, Danielle possesses strengths and powers that can hurt or hinder her on her first real mission: protecting the Royal Family on the distant planet, Cassio. What she doesn’t know is that she has been sent across the galaxy for her own protection—from those on the Council who mean to do her harm.
Along her journey, Danielle finds herself drawn to Cassio’s Prince Nathan. Attempting to keep him safe at all costs, Danielle must battle those who want to assassinate the Royal Family as well as her own inner demons.
The Helix War by Edward Willett
(Marseguro and Terra Insegura in one omnibus edition), DAW, $8.99, 689pp, pb, 9780756407384. Science fiction collection.
Worlds at war—
Marseguro, a water world far distant from Earth, is home to a small colony of unmodified humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created by geneticist Victor Hansen from modified human DNA. For seventy years the Selkies and the unmodified landlings have dwellled together in peace, safe from pursuit by the current fanatical theocratic rulers of Earth.
But everything changes when Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force—with Victor Hansen’s own grandson Richad aboard—is sent to eradicate this abomination.
Though the forces of Earth are equipped with weapons far superior to those of this peaceful, backwater planet, the people of Marseguro are not without resources to fight back. Soon it will be hard to determine who has more to fear—those being attacked or the invaders from Earth.…
Amped by Daniel H. Wilson
Doubleday, $25.95, 288pp, hc, 9780385535151. Science fiction. On-sale date: 5 June 2012.
What is in Owen Gray’s head… and who is trying to kill him for it?
Twenty-nine-year old Owen Gray always believed the miraculous device in his brain had been implanted for purely medical reasons, as a way of controlling the debilitating seizures he suffered in his youth. But when the Supreme Court rules that “amplified” humans like Owen are not protected by the same basic laws as pure humans, his world instantly fractures. As society begins to unravel and a new class war is ignited by fear, Owen’s father, a doctor who originally implanted the “amp,” confides something that will send him on a harrowing journey—his “amp” has the hidden potential to do so much more than he imagined… and he is now in grave danger.
All roads lead to a dusty community in rural Oklahoma, wheere Owen must find the one man who can explain what is really in his head. There he also meets Lyle Crosby, a dangerous and unpredictable leader of the fast-growing “amp” movement, someone whose stunning physical abilities and ruthless ideas show Owen how to harness his own startling gifts—but threaten to draw him into a world from which there may be no moral return.
Amped is a riveting, thoughtful thriller that showcases Daniel H. Wilson’s wide-ranging talents, featuring the technological expertise and creativity of Robopocalypse, and a cutting-edge storytelling mastery reminiscent of Michael Crichton.
Commedia della Morte by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Tor, $29.99, 430pp, hc, 9780765331045. Horror.
The Saint-Germain series is the longest continually running vampire series ever written. Author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro began the series in 1979 with Hotel Transylvania, introducing the world to her hero, the smooth and intelligent vampire Rakoczy Feransci, otherwise known as the Count Saint-Germain. Now, more than two decades and twenty books later, Saint-Germain is still traveling the world, and, according to RT Book Reviews, is “still a compelling hero.”
Saint-Germain has loved many women over his centuries of life, but his one true love will always and forever be Madelaine. In Yarbro’s new Saint-Germain adventure, Commedia Della Morte, Madelaine returns, and we discover that Saint-Germain is just as hopelessly in love with her as he ever was.
Madelaine—now a vampire—has been arrested by France’s Revolutionary Tribunal, and will soon face the guillotine. Sneaking into France in a desperate bid to rescue her, Saint-Germain joins a troupe of actors, and soon takes their leader, the glamorous Photine, as his mistress. Photine’s son, however, does not approve of the relationship, or of Saint-Germain. A revolutionary, he betrays the Count to the Tribunal, and the Count soon finds himself in the same predicament as Madelaine—soon to be parted from his head. Now there’s no one to rescue either vampire from their True Death, unless Saint-Germain can come up with something truly brilliant.
Filled with the rich historical details, subtle romance, and horror that Yarbro is so well known for, Commedia della Morte is another amazing read from the World Horror Convention Grand Master. Yarbro has been named a “Living Legend” by the International Horror Guild, and has been presented with the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award.