This page is updated as books are received throughout the month.
Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch
Del Rey, $7.99, 303pp, pb, 9780345524614. Fantasy.
From Doctor Who writer Ben Aaronovitch comes the much-anticipated third novel in his Peter Grant series
Following the refreshingly original Midnight Riot and Moon Over Soho, Ben Aaronovitch has brought Peter Grant and the gang back for Whispers Under Ground.
It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects… except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world.
At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful… and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well.
Charlotte Markham and the House of Darkling by Michael Boccacino
William Morrow, $14.99, 308pp, tp, 9780062122612. Dark fantasy.
When the nanny of the young Darrow boys is found mysteriously murdered, Charlotte Markham, the recently hired governess, steps in to care for the children.
During an outing in the forest, they find themselves crossing over into The Ending, the place for the Things That Cannot Die, where Lily Darrow, the late mistress of Everton, has been waiting. She invites them into the ominous House of Darkling, a wondrous yet dangerous place filled with enchantment, mystery and strange creatures who appear to be, but are not quite, human.
Everything comes with a price, however, and as Charlotte begins to understand the unspeakable bargain Mrs. Darrow has made for a second chance at motherhood, she uncovers a connection to the sinister occurrences back at Everton and enters into a deadly game with the master of Darkling, one whose outcome will determine not just the fate of the Darrows, but of the world itself.
The Wanderers by Paula Brandon
Spectra, $15.00, 416pp, tp, 9780553583830. Fantasy.
Paula Brandon’s acclaimed fantasy trilogy that began with The Traitor’s Daughter and The Ruined City comes to a triumphant conclusion in The Wanderers, an unforgettable collision of magic, intrigue, and romance.
Time is running out. Falaste Rione is imprisoned, sentenced to death. And even though the magical balance of the Source is slipping and the fabric of reality itself has begun to tear, Jianna Belandor can think only of freeing the man she loves. But to do so, she must join a revolution she once despised—and risk reunion with a husband she has ample reason to fear.
Meanwhile, undead creatures terrorize the land, slaves of the Overmind—a relentless consciousness determined to bring everything that lives under its sway. All that stands in the way is a motley group of arcanists whose combined powers will barely suffice to restore balance to the Source. But when Jianna’s father, the Magnifico Aureste Belandor, murders one of them, the group begins to fracture under the pressures of suspicion and mutual hatred. Now humanity’s hope rests with an unexpected soul: a misanthropic hermit whose next move may turn the tide and save the world.
Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold
Baen, $25.00, 432pp, hc, 9781451638455. Science fiction. On-sale date: November 2012.
Book Fourteen in the best-selling Vorkosigan series.
Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor’s life of a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Ivan, cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, is not far down the hereditary list for the emperorship. Thankfully, new heirs have directed that headache elsewhere, leaving Ivan to enjoy his life on Komarr, far from the Byzantine court politics of his home system. But when an old friend in Barrayaran intelligence asks Ivan to protect an attractive young woman who may be on the hit list of a criminal syndicate, Ivan’s chivalrous nature takes over. It seems danger and adventure have once more found Captain Vorpatril.
Tej Arqua and her half-sister and servant Rish are fleeing the violent overthrow of their clan on free-for-all planet Jackson’s Whole. Now it seems Tej may possess a hidden secret of which even she may not be aware. It’s a secret that could corrupt the heart of a highly regarded Barayarran family and provide the final advantage for the thugs who seek to overthrow Tej’s homeworld.
But none of Tej’s formidable adversaries have counted on Ivan Vorpatril. For behind Ivan’s facade of wry and self-effacing humor lies a true and cunning protector who will never leave a distressed lady in the lurch—up to and including making the ultimate sacrifice to keep her from harm: the treasured and hard-won freedom from his own fate as a scion of Barrayar.
Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
(The First Formic War), Tor, $24.99, 352pp, hc, 9780765329044. Science fiction.
One of the true stars of science fiction and fantasy, Orson Scott Card is renowned for the beloved science fiction classic Ender’s Game, which has touched the lives of millions of people around the world. Last year it was announced to the delight of Ender fans everywhere that Ender’s Game is headed to the big screen, with an expected release date of March 15, 2013. Fans will now be delighted to learn that Card and novelist Aaron Johnston—who collaborated with Card on the contemporary SF thriller Invasive Procedures—are launching the next book in the Ender series universe: Earth Unaware.
Set before Ender Wiggin was born and before Battle School was built, Earth Unaware recounts mankind’s first encounter with the ruthless alien species known as the Formics.
The mining ship El Cavador is as far from Earth as any ship dares to go, deep in the Kuiper Belt, beyond Neptune. Out here, mining ships, and the families that live on them, are few and far between. So when El Cavador’s telescopes pick up a fast-moving object coming in-system, they have no easy way of getting word to Earth.
It doesn’t help that El Cavador’s systems are old and failing. Or that claim-jumping corporate ships are bringing Asteroid Belt tactics to the Kuiper Belt. Worrying about a distant object in space seems like the least of El Cavador’s problems.
They’re wrong. The object is in an alien ship with tech and firepower unlike anything humans have ever seen. Nothing can stop it, and Earth has no idea what’s coming. The first Formic War is about to begin.
An essential, welcome expansion of the beloved world of Ender’s Game, Earth Unaware will enthrall and intrigue fans of science-fiction and space adventure as well as faithful readers of the Ender series.
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Ballantine, $7.99, 912pp, pb, 9780345528179. Fiction.
An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.
Cuttlefish by Dave Freer
Pyr, $16.95, 299pp, hc, 978616146252. YA Fantasy.
The year is 1976, and the British Empire still spans the globe. Coal drives the world, and the smog of it hangs thick over the canals of London.
Clara Calland is on the run. Hunted, along with her scientist mother, by Menshevik spies and Imperial soldiers, they flee Ireland for London. They must escape airships, treachery and capture. Under flooded London’s canals they join the rebels who live in the dank tunnels there.
Tim Barnabas is one of the under people, born to the secret town of drowned London, place of anti-imperialist republicans and Irish rebels, part of the Liberty—the people who would see a return to older values and free elections. Seeing no further than his next meal, Tim has hired on as a submariner on the Cuttlefish, a coal fired submarine that runs smuggled cargoes beneath the steamship patrols, to the fortress America and beyond.
When the ravening Imperial soldiery comes, Clara and her mother are forced to flee aboard the Cuttlefish. Hunted like beasts, the submarine and her crew must undertake a desperate voyage across the world, from the Faeroes to the Caribbean and finally across the Pacific to find safety. But only Clara and Tim Barnabas can steer them past treachery and disaster, to freedom in Westralia. Carried with them—a lost scientific secret that threatens the very heart of Imperial power.
Blood of the Emperor by Tracy Hickman
(The Annals of Darkis: Book Three), DAW, $24.95, 400pp, hc, 9780756407322. Fantasy.
Tracy Hickman is one of the biggest names working in fantasy today. The New York Times bestselling co-author of the Dragonlance, Death Gate and Darksword series with Margaret Weis, fans have been enjoying the games and books he’s created for years. In 2010, Hickman debuted another original fantasy saga—The Annals of Drakis—and began the story with Song of the Dragon and Citadels of the Lost. Now he continues the tale in Blood of the Emperor.
It appears that an ancient prophecy is about to be fulfilled as the human named Drakis—formerly one of the countless warrior-slaves to the elves of the Rhonas Empire—returns from his quest in the North. Flying into the rebel camp with his surviving companions on the backs of the legendary dragons that were once humankind’s most powerful allies, Drakis is hailed as the champion of all the slave races. But it is not a prophecy that drives Drakis in his war against the elves and their emperor. Rather it is his burning desire for revenge against the cruel ruler whom Drakis believes has stolen any chance that he has for finding peace. And this hatred will set Drakis and his robot army on a path that may not only bring down the emperor but Drakis and his entire world as well.
Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines
(Magic Ex Libris: Book One), DAW, $24.95, 336pp, hc, 9780756407391. Fantasy.
The start of an all-new series from the author of Jig the Goblin
Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.
With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a semi-automatic pistol and a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic.
Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch
Scholastic, $17.99, 320pp, hc, 9780545290180. YA Science fiction. On-sale date: October 2012.
In September 2011 Jeff Hirsch burst onto the scene with his bestselling YA novel The Eleventh Plague, a harrowing yet hopeful survival sstory set in a chillingly realistic post-apocalyptic future. Hirsch is back with his second novel, Magisterium—a fantastical, edge-of-your seat adventure, is the story of a complex, captivating world that will leave readers breathless until the very last page.
It’s the year 2120. On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery. Sixteen-year-old Glenn Morgan has lived next to the Rift her entire life and has no idea of what might be on the other side of it. Glenn’s only friend, Kevin, insists the fence holds back a world of monsters and witchcraft, but magic isn’t for Glenn. She has enough problems with reality: Glenn’s mother disappeared when she was six, and soon after, she lost her scientist father to his all-consuming work on his mysterious Project. Glenn buries herself in her studies and dreams about the day she can escape to the cold isolation of a research station on 813, a planet on the far side of the known universe. But when her father’s work leads to his arrest, he gives Glenn a simple metal bracelet that will send Glen and Kevin on the run, with only one place to go. The other side of the Rift will bring truths about what really happened to Glenn’s mother, and will put them at the center of an age-old struggle between two halves of a divided world.
On Fire by Nancy Holder
(a Teen Wolf novel), Gallery, $11.00, 246pp, tp, 9781451674477. Fantasy/TV tie-in.
Based on MTV’s hit television series, Teen Wolf, On Fire takes fans deeper into the lives of their favorite characters from the series and reveals some of the dark secrets that complicate their lives and relationships.
In Beacon Hills, a mountain lion is blamed for a spate of vicious attacks: Scott McCall wishes the cause was that simple. Unfortunately, hiding his werewolf identity, especially from Allison Argent, while fighting his need to shift, is only one problem. Keeping his mysterious, murderous Alpha off his back (literally), avoiding hunters, deciphering strange dreams about flames and impending doom… is really eating into lacrosse practice and hang-out time.
So when Jackson Whittemore doesn’t show for his date with Lydia, Scott hopes that helping Allison track down their buddy will be simpler. Derek—whose hunger for vengeance blinds him to the dangers that lie in wait—and Stiles are also looking, but the worried teens’ search is leading right to the preserve from Scott’s nightmare. They aren’t the only ones int he woods, and their little trip starts looking less like a rescue mission and more like an elaborate trap—one that will force them to make the choice between killing and being killed…
The Broken Ones by Stephen M. Irwin
Doubleday, $26.00, 356pp, hc, 9780385534659. Horror/Crime.
Stephen M. Irwin’s The Broken Ones takes you on a thrilling, provocative ride in a near-future world where no one can be called sane. On a day known as Gray Wednesday, they appeared—silent, hollow-eyed apparitions from whom there is no escape, and no respite. They follow us everywhere—but not one else can see them. They are always watching, deeply personal echoes of those we most loved… and those we most feared. For Detective Oscar Mariani, the secret he cannot face is the strange boy who haunts his every moment. Who is this dead boy, and why has he “chosen” Oscar?
After the initial wave of mass insanity and devastating violence leaves entire countries in chaos, new rules have to emerge. Detective Mariani has the unenviable job of heading a task force—dubbed the Nine-Ten Unit—to investigate the inevitable procession of occult alibis for violent crimes. “My dead husband made me do it” is the newest get-out-of-jail-free card. When Mariani and his partner, Neve de Rossa, discover the grisly remains of a young woman, they feel intense pressure to let the “real” police handle it. But a disturbing mark on the body compels Oscar to take up a seemingly hopeless investigation that will reopen dangerous old rifts in the department, and lead him directly into the heart of a terrifying conspiracy.
Stephen M. Irwin has an uncanny knack for breathing new life into ghosts, and for placing his quirky, unforgettable, and all-too-human characters in creepy peril. Equal parts labyrinthine crime novel and chilling horror, The Broken Ones will more than satisfy fans who have already discovered Irwin’s distinctive vision, and will captivate a whole new host of readers.
Carry the Flame by James Jaros
Harper Voyager, $7.99, 404pp, pb, 9780062016317. Fiction.
Tomorrow’s world is a wasteland, decimated by vengeful nature and disease…
And those who rule the ruins worship a cruel and terrible god.
Having survived the terror of the Alliance and the single-minded fanaticism of its hideous religion, a caravan of survivors moves quickly into the Great American Desert, the wastes of what once was America’s heartland. With her daughters at her side—recently rescued Ananda and her daring older sister, Bliss—Jessie hopes to find sanctuary in the Arctic, now rumored to be temperate. But their enemies are powerful and relentless, and will not rest until they possess the caravan’s most precious treasures: their prepubescent female children, a stolen tanker filled with fuel… and a pair of frightened twins, whom the Army of God calls “demon.”
But the danger in pursuit pales before the horror that lies ahead when Jessie, the marauder-turned-ally Burned Fingers, and the innocents in their care face the savagery, the madness, and the monsters that dwell in the terrifying city of Shade.
An Officer’s Duty by Jean Johnson
Ace, $7.99, 440pp, pb, 9781937007690. Science Fiction.
Jean Johnson—the national bestselling author of the Sons of Destiny novels—returns to the world she introduced in A Soldier’s Duty. After having a terrible vision of the future, Ia must somehow ensure the salvation of her home galaxy long after she’s gone…
Promoted in the field for courage and leadership under fire, Ia is now poised to become an officer in the Space Force Navy—once she undertakes her Academy training. First, however, she travels back home to Sanctuary, a heavyworld colony being torn apart by religious conflict. Ia must prepare her family and followers for the hardships they will endure in order to secure the galaxy’s survival.
Her assignment is to command a Blockade Patrol ship. Her goal, to save as many lives as she can. But at the Academy, she discovers an unexpected challenge: the one man who could disrupt those plans, the man whose future she cannot foresee. And time is running out for Ia, for the galaxy is on the brink of the Second Salik War…
Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane
Del Rey, $7.99, 384pp, pb, 9780345527523. Fantasy.
A Deadly High
Magic-wielding Churchwitch and secret addict Chess Putnam knows better than anyone just how high a price people are willing to pay for a chemical rush. But when someone with money to burn and a penchant for black magic starts tampering with Downside’s drug supply, Chess realizes that the unlucky customers are paying with their souls—and taking the innocent with them, as the magic-infused speed compels them to kill in the most gruesome ways possible.
As if the streets weren’t scary enough, the looming war between the two men in her life explodes, taking even more casualties and putting Chess squarely in the middle. Downside could become a literal ghost town if Chess doesn’t find a way to stop both the war and the dark wave of death-magic, and the only way to do that is to use both her addiction and her power to enter the spell and chase the magic all the way back to its malevolent source. Too bad that doing so will probably kill Chess—if the war doesn’t first destroy the man who’s become her reason for living.
Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology edited by James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel
Tachyon, $15.95, 432pp, tp, 9781616960704. Science Fiction Anthology.
Consider HAL—or his less-sinister cousin Watson, your reigning Jeopardy champion. Superintelligent computers inhabit the edges of our imagination, potentially glorious, deadly, or simply unfathomable. Sometime in the near future, these computers will reach capacities we never imagined, becoming something wholly new. If Vernor Vinge’s groundbreaking manifesto “The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era” is right, computers may not only evolve into intelligent beings, but could then quickly surpass us puny organic lifeforms. And then what happens?
Join a stellar crew of visionary futurists and science-fiction writers for a journey beyond the event horizon. Explore post-Singularity worlds where superintelligence is the norm, flesh is unnecessary, and identity is unaccountably fluid. Where the senses are negotiable, memory is a commodity, and death is far from final. Even the world itself may be an illusion simulated in software.
Whether post-Singularity humanity will find a transcendental “Rapture of the Nerds” or will meet its utter end, no one knows—but when we get there, there will be no going back.
[Contributors: Charles Tross, Vernor Vinge, Ray Kurzweil, Cory Doctorow, Hannu Rajaniemi, Elizabeth Bear, Isaac ASimov, Frederik Pohl, Greg Egan, Justina Robson, Rudy Rucker, Eileen Gunn, Robert Reed, David Levine, J.D. Bernal, Olaf Stapledon, and Benjamin Rosenbaum.]
Love on the Run by Katharine Kerr
(a Nola O’Grady novel), DAW, $7.99, 324pp, pb, 9780756407629. Fantasy.
A Fishy Situation
Nola O’Grady is sick and tired of psychic squid-images following her everywhere, waving their tentacles, and generally making nuisances of themselves. She and her partner, Ari Nathan, have a dangerous job on their hands, hunting down two criminals who have escaped into another level of the multiverse, the San Francisco of Terra Six.
Terrorists have turned parts of that city into a deathtrap—religious fanatics, yes, but from what religion? Nola suspects that the Peacock Angel Chaos cult lies behind the bombings and mass murders. As she gathers evidence, she finds herself face-to-face with part of her own personal past that she’d prefer to bury forever.
And by the way, just who is it that keeps trying to kill her?
King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
(Book Two of The Broken Empire), Ace, $25.95, 450pp, hc, 9781937007478. Fantasy.
In Prince of Thorns, Book One of The Broken Empire, Mark Lawrence brought to life the “morbidly gripping” [Publishers Weekly] story of a boy in search of power and vengeance. Now, in King of Thorns, that boy’s journey into manhood takes him to the dark depths waiting within his soul…
The boy who would be king has gained the throne…
Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath vowed when he was nine to avenge his slaughtered mother and brother—and to punish his father for not doing so. When he was fifteen, he began to fulfill that vow.
Now he is eighteen—and he must hold on by strength of arms to what he took by torture and treachery.
King Jorg is a man haunted: by the ghost of a young boy, by a mysterious copper box, by his desire for the woman who rides with his enemy. Plagued by nightmares of the atrocities he has committed, and of the atrocities committed against him when he was a child, he is filled with rage. And even as his need for revenge continues to consume him, twenty thousand men march toward the gates of his castle.
His enemy is far stronger than he is. Jorg knows that he cannot win in a fair fight. But he has found, in a chamber hidden beneath the castle, ancient and long-lost artifacts. Some might call them magic. Jorg is not certain—all he knows is that the secrets they hold can be put to terrible use in the coming battle…
Shadowlands by Violette Malan
(a novel of The Mirror Lands), DAW, $15.00, 464pp, tp, 9780756407407. Fantasy.
The long-awaited sequel to The Mirror Prince
The war in the Land of the Faerie has finally ended. Prince Cassandra dispatches Stormwolf, formerly a Hound but cured by his prince’s magic and restored to the Rider he once was, to the Shadowlands to call home the People who remain refugees there. But Stormwolf finds the Hounds of the Wild Hunt now prey upon the souls of the humans, draining them of the magic which is the very lifeblood of the People. With the help of Valory Martin, a mortal psychic, Stormwolf must find the magic needed to defeat the Hunt before it’s too late.
Darksiders: The Abomination Vault by Ari Marmell
Del Rey, $15.00, 368pp, tp, 9780345534026. Fantasy.
Ride with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse as they seek to unearth a plot that could plunge all of Creation into chaos!
Ages before the events of Darksiders and Darksiders II, two of the feared Horsemen—Death and War—are tasked with stopping a group of renegades from locating the Abomination Vault: a hoard containing weapons of ultimate power and malice, capable of bringing an end to the uneasy truce between Heaven and Hell… but only by unleashing total destruction.
Created in close collaboration with the Darksiders II team at Vigil and THQ, Darksiders: The Abomination Vault gives an exciting look at the history and world of the Horsemen, shining a new light on the unbreakable bond between War and Death.
Be My Enemy by Ian McDonald
(Everness, Book Two), Pyr, $16.95, 280pp, hc, 9781616146788. Science Fiction. On-sale date: September 2012.
Everett Singh has escaped with the Infundibulum from the clutches of Charlotte Villiers and the Order, but at a terrible price.
His father is missing, banished to one of the billions of parallel universes of the Panoply of All World, and Everett and the crew of the airship Everness have taken a wild, random Heisenberg Jump to a random parallel plane. Everett is smart and resourceful, and, from a frozen earth far beyond the Plenitude, he plans to rescue his family. But the villainous Charlotte Villiers is one step ahead of him.
The action traverses the frozen wastes of iceball earth; to Earth 4 (like ours, except that the alien Thryn Sentiency occupied the moon in 1964); to the dead London of the forbidden plane of Earth 1, where the remnants of humanity battle a terrifying nanotechnology run wild—and Everett faces terrible choices of morality and power. But Everett has the love and support of Sen, Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, and the rest of the crew of Everness—as he learns that the deadliest enemy isn’t the Order or the world-devouring nanotech Nahn—it’s yourself.
Fever Moon by Karen Marie Moning, adapted by David Lawrence, illustrated by Al Rio and Cliff Richards
Del Rey, $25.00, 192pp, hc, 978345525482. Fantasy graphic novel.
Full of otherworldly creatures, action, and magic, Karen Marie Moning’s #1 New York Times bestselling Fever series has long been ripe for translation into full-color graphic novel form. Fever Moon is an original story set within the world of Shadowfever. Written by Moning, adapted by David Lawrence and gorgeously illustrated by Al Rio and Cliff Richards. It will captivate Moning’s fans and delight readers of graphic novels such as Fables and Sandman.
In Shadowfever, MacKayla confronts an eerie, dangerous being that almost steals her voice and mind. Appearing as a tall, gaunt, faceless man nattily dressed in tailcoat and spats, he is called the Fear Dorcha—ageless, evil, and full of rage against humanity. When Mac meets him in Chester’s, she averts destruction only through the intervention of the dreamy-eyed bartender.
In Fever Moon, young sidhe-seer Dani is not so fortunate. Now, for the first time, Moning reveals what happened to Dani during her absence from the events of Shadowfever—and follows Mac and Barrons as they desperately search for an otherworldly killer wreaking havoc on the streets of Dublin.
Sin’s Dark Caress by Tracey O’Hara
(a Dark Brethren novel), Harper Voyager, $7.99, 320pp, pb, 978006783153. Urban Fantasy.
Following the award-winning supernatural debut of Night’s Cold Kiss and the fan favorite Death’s Sweet Embrace comes the highly anticipated continuation of Tracey O’Hara’s acclaimed Dark Brethren series, Sin’s Dark Caress.
Tracey O’Hara returns to her Dark Brethren series as forensic witch Bianca Sin and NYPD detective Lancelot McManus team up to solve a series of gruesome murders plaguing the city.
Someone is murdering teenage girls with dark magic in order to let the fearsome Dark Brethren return to the world, and only Sin and McManus can stop them. But to do so, they must each confront their biggest fears—and each other.
The Diviner by Melanie Rawn
DAW, $7.99, 437pp, pb, 9780756407414. Fantasy.
Bestselling author Melanie Rawn makes her triumphant return to the realm of high fantasy with The Diviner< a multi-generational saga of romance, adventure, revenge, and the development of a new and powerful magic—a magic that will continue through the ages and inspire love, war, and vengeance of its own.
It begins with Azzad al-Ma’aliq, lone survivor of the vicious treachery that destroyed his entire clan. Saved by the mysterious desert healers known as the Shagara, Azzad must look beyond the haven they offer, driven by his burning need for vengeance. Yet what Azzad cannot foresee is the price he and future generations will be forced to pay in their drive for revenge.
For it is not until the time of Azzad’s great-grandson Qamar that this blood feud may finally come to an end. Qamar has both the determination of the al-Ma’aliq and the inborn magic of the Shagara, and it is he who has the ability to fulfill his ancestor’s oath to avenge the genocide of his family. Qamar feels trapped by destiny, until he encounters a beautiful young woman named Solanna Grijalva and a group of renegade Shagara. Living in exile, these Shagara have abandoned desert tradition and developed a daring and unique type of magic.
But will Qamar finally succeed in doing what generations of al-Ma’aliq men have failed to do? Or will he bring into being an even greater threat than the one he is determined to eradicate?
Romeo Spikes by Joanne Reay
Gallery, $25.00, 352pp, hc, 9781451674449. Fiction.
Romeo Spikes is a furiously exciting thriller which draws the reader into a terrifying world where vulnerable human beings are being guided to their deaths.
Homicide detective Alexis Bianco believes she’s seen every way a life can be taken. Then she meets Lola. More weapon than woman, Lola pursues a predator with a method of murder like no other: the Tormenta. If you think you’ve never encountered the Tormenta, think again. You’re friends with one. They walk amongst us—looking like us, brutalizing our subconscious and self-worth. And what we call suicide, Tormenta call a score, their demonic powers allowing them to steal the unspent lifespan of those who harm themselves. The coming of a mighty Tormenta known as Mosca is prophesied. To stop him, Bianco and Lola must crack an ancient code that holds the only answer to the Mosca’s defeat. If this miscreant rises before they can unmask him, mankind will fall. Nobody’s safe. Everyone’s a threat.
Tapping into the real-world fears that so many people face in life today, and giving form to the temptations and desperations that drive many to take their own lives, Romeo Spikes is both an exciting adventure and a serious comment on the fears which plague mankind.
The Grass King’s Concubine by Kari Sperring
DAW, $7.99, 481pp, pb, 9780756407551. Fantasy.
It began with Marcellan, a man bringing human knowledge into worldbelow—where no mortal had been.…
And though Marcellan never meant to cause harm, his theories undermined the immortal Grass King’s magic, the power that gave life and plenty to all the Domains of WorldBelow. That disaster was compounded by a spell of stone and blood cast in WorldAbove by exiled shapeshifter twins, once favorites of the Grass King.…
Generations later, Aude, born to wealth yet driven always by her childhood vision of a strange Shining Place, seeks to understand her family’s past, where their wealth came from, and why they and all who live in the Silver City want for nothing at all.
Jehan, a soldier serving in the Brass City, also questions the inequities between the wealthy and those who work for them. When the two find each other on the troubled streets, their destinies are linked. Together, they flee the cities in search of the origins of Aude’s family.
All they find is a devastated land, and when Aude is snatched away to WorldBelow by the Grass King’s last remaining supporters, the Cadre, Jehan has no choice but to follow, aided and impeded by the twins. While Jehan travels through hostile lands and battles terrifying guardians, Aude must survive as a prisoner of the Vadre who believe that she is the solution to restoring WorldBelow—even at the cost of her own life.…
Some Remarks by Neal Stephenson
William Morrow, $25.99, 326pp, hc, 9780062024435. Nonfiction and fiction collection.
Long known for his exceptional novels—colossal in length and mind-boggling in complexity—#1 New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson is one of the best and most respected author alive today. As such, he is regularly asked to contribute articles, lectures, and essays on a wide variety of topics including, but not limited to, the importance of video games, Sir Isaac Newton and metaphysics in the 18th Century, the future of publishing and the origins of his novels, the emergence of geek chic, and, of course, Star Wars.
Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing is a compilation of Stephenson’s prolific, short writings, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as a new essay (and an extremely short story) written specifically for this collection. Some of these brilliant pieces originally appeared in prestigious periodicals such as Time, Wired, Salon, Slate, World Policy Journal, and The New York Times, and they have finally been collected in one breathtaking volume for both die-hard Stephenson fanatics and new admireres alike.
Amusing and profound, critical and celebratory, yet always entertaining, Some Remarks offers a fascinating look into the mind of this extraordinary writer.
[Contents: “Arsebestos”; “Slashdot Interview”; “Metaphysics in the Royal Society 1715-2010”; “It’s All Geek to Me”; “Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out”; “Gresham College Lecture”; “Spew”; “In the Kingdom of Mao Bell” (selected excerpts); “Under-Constable Proudfoot”; “Mother Earth, Mother Board”; “The Salon Interview”; “Blind Secularism”; “Time Magazine Article about Anathem“; “Everything and More Foreword”; “The Great Simoleon Caper”; “Locked In”; “Innovation Starvation”; and “Why I Am a Bad Correspondent”.]
The War That Came Early: Coup d’Etat by Harry Turtledove
Del Rey, $28.00, 420pp, hc, 9780345524652. Alternate history.
The War That Came Early: Coup d’Etat is the fourth installment in Harry Turtledove’s landmark World War II series, in which the choices of men have changed the course of history. Building on the events of Hitler’s War, West and East, and The Big Switch, this new novel explores the lives of simple soldiers and civilians, as well as great historic leaders, to postulate what might have happened had Chamberlain chosen not to appease Hitler. How would history have changed? How would our world have changed?
It is the winter of 1941. Germany, with England and France on its side, slams deep into Russia, and Stalin’s terrible machine fights for its life. But the agreements of world leaders do not touch the hearts of soldiers, and the war between Germany and Russia is rocked by men with the courage to aim their guns in a new direction.
England is the first to be shaken. Following the suspicious death of Winston Churchill, with his staunch anti-Nazi views, a small cabal begins to imagine the unthinkable in a nation long famous for respecting the rule of law. With civil liberties hanging by a thread, a conspiracy forms against the powers that be. What will this daring plan mean for the European war as a whole?
Meanwhile, in America, a woman who has met Hitler face-to-face urges her countrymen to wake up to his evil. For the time being, the United States is fighting only Japan—and the war is not going as well as Washington would like. Can Roosevelt keep his grip on the country’s imagination?
Coup d’Etat captures how war makes for the strangest of bedfellows. A freethinking Frenchman fights side by side with racist Nazis. A Czech finds himself on the dusty front lines of the Spanish Civil War, gunning for Germany’s Nationalist allies. A German bomber pilot courts a half-Polish, half-Jewish beauty in Bialystock. And the Jews in Germany, though trapped under Hitler’s fist, are as yet protected by his fear of looking bad before the world—and by an outspoken Catholic bishop.
With his spectacular command of character, coincidence, and military and political strategies, Harry Turtledove continues a passionate, unmatched saga of a World War II composed of different enemies, different allies—and hurtling toward a horrific future. For a diabolical new weapon is about to be unleashed, not by the United States, but by Japan, in a tactic that will shock the world.
The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images and Stories from Top Authors & Artists edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer
Harper Voyager, $14.99, 320pp, tp, 9780062116833. Fiction/Fantasy.
An unconventional and spellbinding follow-up to Ann and Jeff Vandermeer’s wildly popular faux medical anthology—The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases (2003)—The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities is not just another run-of-the-mill sequel. Rather, it’s a story-driven revisiting of a fantasy world, and a thrilling cross-genre expedition that has gained a cult following around the globe.
Filled with everything from traditional tales to more eccentric departures, and more than 70 awe-striking original images, this compilation is the ultimate playground where some of the world’s foremost imaginations have let loose. Editors Ann and Jeff Vandemeer showcase their unparalleled knowledge and passion for the fields of steampunk and science fiction, creating a delicate balance in these pages between fiction and graphic artwork. The perfect melding of contributions from genre heavyweights, like Hellboy‘s Mike Mignola, Holly Black and China Mieville with mainstream stars like Lev Grossman, Charles Yu and Helen Oyeyemi—this book crumbles the barrier between genre and mainstream, and is a must-have for every fantasy-lover’s bookshelf.
The death of Dr. Thackery T. Lambshead in 2003 at his house in Wimpering-on-the-Brook, England, revealed an astonishing discovery: the remains of a remarkable cabinet of curiosities, each involving an amazing story of intrigue, adventure and mystery. Many of these artifacts, curios, and wonders related to anecdotes and stories in the doctor’s personal diaries. Others, when shown to the doctor’s friends, elicited more stories.
In keeping with the bold spirit exemplified by Dr. Lambshead and his exploits, The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities weaves all these tales into one volume—combining stories with “archival” images—documents, photos, newspaper clippings, and reproductions of pages from the doctor’s records. This fantastical exercise in imagination stands as an intriguing curiosity all on its own.