Books received for review during the first half of September 2012:

 

[[[Mrs. B’s Guide to Household Witchery: Everyday Magic, Spells, and Recipes]]] by Kris Bradley. Weiser, $16.95, 210pp, tp, 9781578635153.

For domestic goddesses everywhere — add some magic and fun to those mundane household chores with Mrs. B’s Guide to Household Witchery. Whether you’re sweeping the floor, making a meal, or cleaning out that junk drawer, domestic witch Kris Bradley, creator of the popular blog, Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, will show you how to create spells and magic to bring happiness and balance into your home.

Bradley offers ideas and solutions to make the most out of everyday items, activities, and obligations. From the magical use of oils and herbs, to finding a domestic deity to watch over your home, you can change your outlook on life with a pinch of knowledge and a dash of magic!

Mrs. B’s Guide to Household Witchery includes simple rituals, spells, and ways to connect with the spirits deities that watch over your home and family: Magical Recipes: more than 100 recipes and spells. Room by Room: how to create magic while you cook, clean and do the laundry. The Elements for the Domestic Witch: a primer on the 4 elements and how to balance them in your home. The Domestic Witch’s Herbal: magical uses for every herb and food in your pantry, as well as instand magic with prepackaged spice mixes.

[[[Between Two Fires]]] by Christopher Buehlman. Ace, $25.95, 426pp, hc, 9781937007867. Fantasy.

When Christopher Buehlman’s debut novel Those Across the River was published last September, Patricia Briggs called it “terrible and beautiful. As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz. A graceful, horrific read.” Equal parts historical fiction and horror story, Those Across the River generated major buzz — and lots of sleepless nights — with readers. Chosen as one of the Top Ten Horror Novels for Fall 2011 by Publishers Weekly and nominated for a World Fantasy Award, Buehlman’s eerie and evocative tale garnered a solid following of readers and enthusiasts.

Now, Ace Books is thrilled to present Christopher Buehlman’sBetween Two Fires, a sweeping historical fantasy that takes readers on a journey back to the darkest days of the Middle Ages, at the height of the Black Plague’s destruction, when desperate gangs of men wander the depopulated French countryside looting and pillaging.

It is 1348, and Thomas, a disgraced knight, and his band of brigands come across a young girl orphaned by the plague. To protect her honor, Thomas is forced to kill the rest of his men. Desperate and alone, the girl feels safe with Thomas and asks to come along on his journey. But there is something mysterious about this seemingly innocent young girl — she has the ability to talk to angels.

As the two make their way through Normandy to find the source of the pestilence that is devastating their country, the girl tells Thomas that the ravages of the disease are only part of a far more significant catastrophe — the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on Heaven. Thomas finds himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, sinner and saints… will he be able to save his soul?

[[[The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight]]] by Jack Campbell. Ace, $26.95, 390pp, hc, 97819370077822. Science fiction.

Jack Campbell returns to the thrilling world of military science fiction with The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight, the first in the new Lost Fleet spin-off series.

The authority of the Syndicate World’s government is crumbling. Civil war and rebellion are breaking out in many star systems despite the Syndicate government’s brutal attempts to suppress disorder — and Midway is one of those star systems. Leaders must decide whether to stay true to the old order or fight for something new.

CEO Artur Drakon has been betrayed. The Syndic government failed to protect its citizens from both the Alliance and the alien enigmas. With a cadre of reliable soldiers under his command, Drakon launches a battle for control of the Midway star system — assisted by an ally he’s unsure he can trust…

CEO Gwen Iceni was exiled to Midway because she wasn’t ruthless enough in the eyes of her superiors. She’s made them regret their assessment by commandeering some of the warships at Midway and attacking the remaining ships still loyal to the Syndicate empire.

Iceni declares independence for the Midway Star System on behalf of the people while staying in charge as “President.” But while she controls the mobile fleet, she has no choice but to rely on “General” Drakon’s ground forces to keep the peace planet-side.

If their coup is to succeed, Drakon and Iceni must put their differences aside to prevent the population of Midway from rising up in rebellion against them, to defend Midway from the alien threat of the enigma race — and to hunt down saboteurs determined to reestablish Syndic rule.

[[[Monster Hunter: Legion]]] by Larry Correia. Baen, $24.00, 378pp, hc, 9781451637960. Science fiction.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas — permanently

Monster Hunter International might be the premier monster eradication company in the business, but they’ve got competition.

When hunters from around the world gather in Las Vegas for a conference, a creature left over from a World War Two weapons experiment wakes up and goes on a rampage across the desert. A not-so-friendly wager between the rival companies turns into a race to see who can bag the mysterious creature first.

Only there is far more to this particular case than meets the eye, and as Hunters fall prey to their worst nightmares, Owen Zastava Pitt and the staff of Monster Hunter International have to stop an ancient god from turning Sin City into a literal hell on earth.

[[[Andromeda’s Fall]]] by William C. Dietz. Ace, $25.95, 352pp, hc, 9780425256251. Science fiction. On-sale date: 4 December 2012.

The roots of the Legion of the Damned lie deep within the mythology of the future. But now national bestselling author William C. Dietz goes back to the Legion’s early days with the story of one recruit’s rebirth and redemption…

Hundreds of years in the future, much as changed. Advances in medicine, technology, and science abound. Humanity has gone to the stars, found alien life, and established an empire.

But some things never change…

All her life, Lady Catherine Carletto — Cat to those close to her — has lived for nothing but the next party, the next lover, the next expensive toy. Until, in a bloodthirsty power grab, Imperial Princess Ophelia and her cadre of synth assassins murder her brother, the emperor, and go on to purge the galaxy of his friends and allies — including Cat’s family. The Carlettos are known to be staunch supporters of the emperor, and Carletto Industries has been in the forefront of his pet project: developing cybernetic technology for use by the masses.

Now Cat, one of the last surviving Carlettos, is on the run. And, like countless others before her, she finds sanctuary among the most dangerous of society’s misfits.

Welcome to the Legion.

Cat Carletto vanishes, and in her place stands Legion recruit Andromeda McKee, a woman with a mission: bring down Empress Ophelia — or die trying.

[[[The Rapture of the Nerds]]]: A tale of the singularity, posthumanity, and awkward social situations by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross. Tor, $24.99, 352pp, hc, 9780765329103. Science Fiction.

When Huw wakes up in the bathtub of a mutable attic following an epic party, the raging hangover and questionable behavior from the previous evening are the least of his problems, considering the presence of a spindly black biohazard trefoil tattooed on his forehead. That it is a technovirus planted on him on the eve of his first Tech Jury Service is only one of the first of many trials our hero, a technophobic, misanthropic Welshman, will have to endure. This is the fractured future, the first century following the singularity, brought to you by genre greats Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross.

Way back at the beginning of the 21st century, Doctorow and Stross were kicking around ideas for a short collaboration. Stross had an unfinished story beginning with the aforementioned bathtub/trefoil/tech service scenario. Doctorow then tacked on a thousand words and threw it back at him, and so the two continued, exquisite corpse style, until a post-singularity, end-of-the-century tall tale had emerged.

This intellectual ping-pong resulted in the novellas Jury Service (2002) and Appeals Court (2004), published by SciFi.com and the short-lived Argosy magazine, respectively. There had always been a third novella intended, but that idea stewed on the backburner for six more years, threatening to boil off, until Locus Magazine unknowingly prodded the authors to action with an April Fools’ joke. Their April 1, 2010 faux-headline read: Doctorow and Stross to Write Authorized Sequel to Atlas Shrugged.

The joke revived the authors’ collaborative spirit, and finally, The Rapture of the Nerds — which contains, connect and completes the earlier novellas — was birthed. Though it is not in any way, shape or form an authorized sequel to Atlas Shrugged, an uploaded AI ghost of Ayn Rand does make a cameo appearance in this wildly imaginative comic romp through # PosthumanProblems, and some very awkward social situations!

[[[Loose Cannon]]] (the Tom Kelly Novels) by David Drake. Baen, $7.99, 804pp, pb, 9781451637946. Science fiction collection.

In a past that never happened, Tom Kelly stands between the Earth and destruction. Both Tom Kelly technothrillers — together for the first time in mass market.

Tom Kelly is a spy the way a hammer is a tool, an angry man who learned to go well beyond ruthlessness in the jungles where America sent him. He can reach a target that nobody else would dare to attempt… but the cost of doing it Kelly’s way is too high for the US government to accept under any but direst circumstances. Circumstances like these:

Skyripper: A Soviet scientist wants to defect because aliens nobody else believes in are planning to invade Earth. Tom Kelly is in Algiers to arrange his defection. If aliens get in his way, he’ll kill them just as quickly as he would anybody else.

Fortress: America has built a huge orbital weapons platform to defend itself against enemies on Earth, but now there’s evidence of aliens. Tom Kelly has been tasked to learn what they’re doing here, even if that means leaving a trail of blood from Capitol Hill to the eastern borders of Turkey — and on into orbit!

You don’t give Tom Kelly orders: you point him and pull the trigger. Then you’d better stay out of his way. Loose Cannon: nonstop action, exotic locations, and a hero who doesn’t understand when he’s gone too far.

[[[A Guile of Dragons]]] by James Enge. (A Tournament of Shadows, Book One), Pyr, $1795, 279pp, tp, 9781616146283. Fantasy.

Before history began, the dwarves of Thrymhaiam fought against the dragons as the Longest War raged in the deep roads beneath the Northhold. Now the dragons have returned, allied with the dead kings of Cor and backed by the masked gods of Fate and Chaos.

The dwarves are cut off from the Graith of Guardians in the south. Their defenders are taken prisoner or corrupted by dragon spells. The weight of guarding the Northhold now rests on the crooked sholders of a traitor’s son, Morlock syr Theorn (also called Ambrosius).

But his wounded mind has learned a dark secret in the hidden ways under the mountains. Regin and Fafnir were brothers, and the Longest War can never be over…

[[[Blood Winter]]] by Diana Pharaoh Francis. Pocket, $7.99, 388pp, pb, 9781451613865. Urban fantasy. On-sale date: 26 December 2012.

Blood Winter is the fourth in a dark urban fantasy series set inApocalyptic America, focusing on a headstrong woman enslaved to a witch as her finest warrior.

Winter is coming to Montana and Shadowblade warrior Max is expecting trouble. People are hoarding everything. They have begun banding together, many flocking to the congregation of Sterling Savage, a fire and brimstone preacher. A charismatic and ambitious cult leader who claims to be the Hand of God, he’s determined to create a human utopia and destroy all magic, starting with witches.

Unbeknownst to him the “divine” voice he’s been hearing isn’t God, but a demon that feeds on hate, death, and destruction. Savage is the perfect puppet for the demon’s ambitions. Max and her people at Horngate are all that stands in its way, and they are woefully unprepared.

Conducting terrible, bloody ceremonies to boost his own power and that of the demon riding him, Savage starts a war between his congregants and two other powerful gangs in the city, fighting for food, fuel, clothing and territory.

When he manages to capture Max’s niece, brother and several teenagers from Horngate, Max tries to free them but finds that Savage has twisted their minds. they worship him, even her brother, who is a witch and whom Savage intends to burn at the stake. Going undercover in the cult compound, Max swiftly realizes just how seductive Savage is. His charisma is reinforced with magic. His followers adore him and will do anything for him. Anything.

But courage, loyalty and friendship are powerful forces, and Max doesn’t like to lose.

[[[Bad Glass]]] by Richard E. Gropp. Del Rey, $15.00, 416pp, tp, 9780345533937. Fantasy.

Debut author Richard E. Gropp is the winner of the spring 2011 Suvudu Writing Contest, which gave writers the chance to win an edit from then Del Rey Editor-in-Chief Betsy Mitchell. Out of 700 manuscripts, Gropp emerged with a story that was too good to let go. Bad Glass is one of the most hauntingly original dark fantasy debuts in years.

In Bad Glass, the military has evacuated and locked down the city of Spokane, Washington after a series of unexplained phenomena. Even so, disturbing rumors and images seep out onto the Internet, spreading curiosity, skepticism, and panic. For what they show is — should be — impossible: strange creatures that cannot exist, sudden disappearances that violate the laws of physics, human bodies fused with inanimate objects, trapped yet still half alive.

Dean Walker, an aspiring photographer, sneaks into the city hoping to make a name for himself by documenting the unimaginable. Joining up with a group of outcasts led a beautiful young woman named Taylor — a woman as damaged and seductive as the city itself — Dean embarks on a journey into the heart of the mystery. Caught up in a web of interlacing secrets and betrayals, Dean, Taylor, and their friends must make their way through this ever-shifting maze of a city, a city that is actively hunting them down, herding them toward a shocking destiny. In searching for the meaning of Spokane’s transformation, Dean may discover the meaning of his own life… if he doesn’t go insane first.

Blending elements of literary fiction, horror, psychological thriller, and science fiction, Bad Glass transforms the familiar into the unknown. With his debut, Richard E. Gropp has crafted a gripping genre spanning tale with the same intrigue as ABC’s Lost and Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves.

[[[Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns]]] by Dave Gross. Paizom $9.99, 432pp, pb, 9781601254634. Fantasy tie-in.

In the deep forests of Kyonin, elves live among their own kind, far from the prying eyes of other races. Few of impure blood are allowed beyond the nation’s borders, and thus it’s a great honor for the half-elven Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard Radovan to be allowed inside. Yet all is not well in the elven kingdom: demons stir in its depths, and an intricate web of politics seems destined to catch the two travelers in its snares. In the course of tracking down a missing druid, Varian and a team of eccentric elven adventurers will be forced to delve into dark secrets lost for generations — including the mystery of Varian’s own past.

From Dave Gross, author of Prince of Wolves and Master of Devils, comes a fantastical new adventure set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

[[[Dearly, Beloved]]] by Lia Habel. Del Rey, $16.99, 496pp, hc, 9780345523341. Fantasy.

Can the living coexist with the living dead?

That’s the question in Dearly, Beloved that has New Victorian society fiercely divided ever since the mysterious plague known as “The Laz” hit the city of New London and turned thousands into walking corpses. But while some of these zombies are mindless monsters, hungry for human flesh, others can still think, speak, reason, and control their ravenous new appetites. Romance meets walking-dead thriller in the second novel of Lia Habel’s highly addictive series begun with Dearly, Departed.

Just ask Nora Dearly, the young lady of means who was nearly kidnapped by a band of sinister zombies but valiantly rescued by a dashing young man… of the dead variety.

Nora and her savior, the young zombie soldier Bram Griswold, fell hopelessly in love. But others feel only fear and loathing for the reanimated dead. Now, as tensions grow between pro- and anti-zombie factions, battle lines are being drawn in the streets. And though Bram is no longer in the New Victorian army, he and his ex-commando zombie comrades are determined to help keep the peace. That means taking a dangerous stand between The Changed, a radical group of sentient zombies fighting for survival, and The Murder, a masked squad of urban guerrillas hellbent on destroying the living dead. But zombies aren’t the only ones in danger: Their living allies are also in The Murder’s crosshairs, and for one vengeful zealot, Nora Dearly is the number one target.

As paranoia, prejudice, and terrorist attacks threaten to plunge the city into full-scale war, Nora’s scientist father and his team continue their desperate race to unlock the secrets of “The Laz” and find a cure. But their efforts may be doomed when a mysterious zombie appears bearing an entirely new strain o fthe illness — and the nation of New Victoria braces for a new wave of the apocalypse.

[[[Sand Witches in the Hamptons]]] by Celia Jerome. DAW, $7.99, 306pp, pb, 9780756407674. Fantasy.

Sand-Stealers–

Successful graphic novelist Willow Tate is a Visualizer able to draw beings from the Otherworld — home to trolls and elves, night mares and bird-fish, and many another fantastical being — and “draw” them to our world. Somehow they all seem to end up in the weird little town of Paumanok Harbor, nestled in the popular Hamptons region of Long Island.

As if Willow didn’t have enough problems coping with all these Otherworld visitors, now she has a stalker. Her doom-seer father has a secret, and Paumanok Harbor has alien sand-stealers.

Willow has bodyguards but absolutely no idea how they can help her solve any of these problems in time for Halloween, when the local witches hold their annual gathering on the beach — if any beach is left by then. Good thing she has the handsome, loving, local vet Matt to come to her assistance.

[[[Legends of the Dragonrealm: Shade]]] by Richard A. Knaak. Gallery, $16.00, 324pp, tp, 9781451656077. Fantasy.

New York Times bestselling author Richard A. Knaak’s unforgettable Legends of the Dragonrealm series continues with Legends of the Dragonrealm: Shade, a spell binding tale of a powerful sorcerer trapped in a purgatory of his own making.

Survivor of a once-mighty race of sorcerers, the spellcaster known to those of the Dragonrealm simply as Shade struggles to find an end to the curse he brought upon himself millennia ago in his hope to escape death… and worse. Instead of immortality, he was condemned to an endless series of lives alternating between darkness and light, with “death” only resurrecting him over and over. His blurred features and unstable but terrible powers a threat to friend and foe alike, the hooded sorcerer must defy not only those who would manipulate him, but also his very self. Worse, he must do so always aware that even the land itself may have sinister designs upon him…

Countdown: H Hour by Tom Kratman. Baen, $7.99, 616pp, pb, 9781451637939. Military fiction.

Whatever it takes…

Welcome to the Philippines outback. It’s a true garden spot, if you happen to like drug running, bush-bound revolutionary movements, Balkanized tribal warfare, illegal weapons trading, and kidnapping for fun and profit. It’s hostage rescue time once again for Terry Welch’s special operations company. But this is turning out to be one of those missions. Starting with no clue as to the hostage’s whereabouts, topped off by Welch and his crew having to endure a rifle company of hated competitors supposedly sent along as reinforcements.

All part of the territory for Welch. But then an attack on both companies’ home bases leaves families and friends under threat of death and any available support scurrying to defend. Worse, advance team members sent to reconnoiter have been taken hostage as well. No help, no backup, team members in the soup.

Welch knows there’s only one solution: do whatever it takes. This is H Hour. And the fight is on.

[[[Changes]]] by Mercedes Lackey. (Book Three of The Collegium Chronicles), DAW, $7.99, 388pp, pb, 9780756407469. Fantasy.

Mags was a Herald Trainee in the brand new Heraldic Collegium in Haven, Valdemar’s capital city. Though his background of unimaginable poverty and abuse set him apart from most other trainees, nonetheless he had found his own special group of friends. Bear, Lena, and Amily were all students whose situations in life set them apart from more usual trainees, and together the four friends struggled to help one another find the solutions to their individual problems.

But Mags’ friendship with Amily brought him to the attention of her father Nikolas — the King’s Own. The seemingly immortal Companion Rolan had Chosen Nikolas to suit the specific needs of the current monarch, and those needs were for an agent who could collect information surreptitiously — a King’s Own spy. Nikolas recognized the same traits in Mags that Rolan had recognized in him. Both were inconspicuous with an almost uncanny ability to fade into the woodwork. Both could mimic low-class behavior and pidgin speech. Both were unusually expert at observing the situations around them, and at ferreting out hidden motives.

So Mags began training as Nikolas’ partner. They worked in disguise at night in one of the seedier parts of Haven, where Nikolas had set up a false identity as a pawnbroker and fence. Hiding in the shadows behind the desk, pretending to neither hear nor speak, Mags could better “observe” the clients, and even the surrounding neighborhood. And Nikolas could send him out on “errands” to chase down leads.

But this new job was far more dangerous than Mags had ever considered. For there were mysterious agents in the city — agents who sought to bring down the kingdom, and no one knew where they came from or who they worked for. They were smart, talented, and preternaturally fast. And most of all they were willing to do anything — anything — to bring Valdemar to ruin.

Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey. (Book Four of The Collegium Chronicles), DAW, $25.95, 336pp, hc, 9780756407452. Fantasy.

Life at the Heralds’ Collegium in Haven had definitely improved for Mags. He’d even become something of a hero since risking his own life to rescue Amily—daughter of Nikolas, the King’s Own Herald—from Karsite kidnappers.

Things had improved for Mags’ small group of close friends, too. Mags’ friend Bear had become a bit of a hero himself; though still a Trainee, he had performed a difficult and complicated medical procedure on Amily and restored the use of her legs. Now Bear was accepted as a peer by the Healers, and Amily was slowly gaining strength, walking on her own for the first time in her life. Lena, the Bard Trainee, was relieved to be free of the crushing disapproval of her now infamous, exiled father. Bear and Lena were in love, and so were Mags and Amily. Mags had his Companion Dallen, classes, his friends, Amily, and kirball. He was no longer the “foreigner” so many students distrusted. Life was good.

But Mags still didn’t know who his parents had been, and Bear, who had his own demons, was not one to let him forget: “You gotta deal with your past, Mags, you have to. If you don’t, it’ll just keep coming back to haunt you, and one day it’ll do something to you that you can’t get out of.”

Mags began his special training as Nikolas’ undercover partner and future spy for the crown. Disguised, they worked at night in one of the seedier parts of Haven, where Nikolas had set up a false identity as a pawnbroker and fence. Mags posed as his deaf-mute nephew, covertly watching and listening from behind the desk. He was especially good at the trait that had kept him alive in the gem mine—ferreting out hidden motives. Fading into the shadows, as he had done as a child laborer, his extensive knowledge of gems was a multifaceted benefit, for he could identify specific stolen treasures and also separate the real from the fake. And Nikolas could trust him to chase down leads.

Mags had grown extremely strong, agile, and remarkable adept at running across rooftops, slipping down drain pipes, and sneaking unseen along dark alleyways. He knew there were still skilled, determined assassins hunting for him, hired by Karse, Valdemar’s long-standing enemy. It was necessary for Mags to be always on his guard.

Now Mags has graduated to a new role: Nikolas’ partner and information broker. Mags channels his old cunning self from the mines and discovers that he’s quite good at his new job. So good, in fact, that Nikolas decides to let him open the shop alone one hot summer night.

Mags has barely unlocked the shop when everything goes black in a blinding flash of pain.

He wakes with an agonizing headache, bound, blindfolded, in a conveyance of some kind. But worst of all, he’s head-blind. No Mindspeech—he can’t even sense Dallen. And if he can’t sense or hear Dalle, then no one can sense him. And if no one can sense him, no one can come to his rescue.

[[[A Host of Furious Fancies]]] by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill. Baen, $13.00, 708pp, tp, 9781451638004. Fantasy.

Fast and Furious Fancies

Two novels of elvish lore and modern noir brought together for the first time by best-selling Mistresses of Urban Fantasy Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.

Beyond World’s End: Sieur Eric Banyon, Knight and Bard to the court of the Queen of Elfhame Misthold, moves back to the Big Apple to take care of unfinished business. Mostly, he just wants to finish his interrupted education at Juilliard School of Music and settle own to a normal life. However, a normal life doesn’t seem to be in his future when he discovers that unscrupulous researchers have created a drug that unlocks magical powers in humans — too bad that the drug is inevitably fatal. What’s more, something evil from Underhill has its own plans to use the human’s boosted power to dominate World Above. But this is one bard who is going to let no such thing happen.

Spirits White as Lightning: The evil elf lord Aerune, whose love was killed by mortal men, is determined to destroy the human race. Eric’s only hope of stopping Aerune is to trap him inside a magical maze, from which there is no escaping. But for the plan to work, Eric and his friends must cross the land of chaos and survive, then travel undetected through a gate between worlds straight into the heart of Aerune’s realm and trick the elf lord into entering the maze. Stopping Aerune once before was difficult. This time, the quest seems nothing less than impossible.

Imperium by Keith Laumer, edited by Eric Flint. Baen, $7.99, 626pp, pb, 9781451637953. Science fiction.

Drafted into a war across time itself

Brion Bayard had been an American diplomat — until he was abducted on the streets of Stockholm, and thrust into an intrigue that reached beyond Earth, and across countless other parallel Earths, where history has taken every possible turn. One of those Earths is the home of the Imperium, whose agents had grabbed Bayard as part of a desperate scheme to save their world from conquest or even total destruction.

The Imperium was at war with the dictatorial government of another parallel Earth and Bayard could stop the war by killing the ruler of the aggressor Earth and replacing him — because the ruler was a parallel version of Bayard. But when Bayard went on his mission to the alternate Earth, things didn’t turn out to be quite that simple….

And that was only the beginning of Bayard’s adventures as he defended his new homeworld, both from internal enemies and invaders from the other side of time, becoming the staunchest and most resourceful defender of the Imperium!

Three complete novels of sweeping cross-time adventure — including, for the first time in mass market, the original uncut version of Worlds of the Imperium,

[Contents: Preface by Harry Turtledove; Worlds of the Imperium; The Other Side of Time; Assignment in Nowhere; and Afterword by Eric Flint.]

[[[Dragon Ship]]] by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Baen, $22.00, 374pp, hc, 9781451637984. Science fiction.

The Dragon Takes Wing

First Class courier pilot Theo Waitley was already known as a nexus of violence — and then she inherited the precarious captaincy of a mysterious self-aware ship designed to serve a long dead trader. Now she has a trade route to run for Clan Korval while she convinces the near mythic ghost ship Bechimo — and herself — that she wants to commit herself as the human side to their immensely powerful symbiosis.

While her former lover battles a nano-virus that’s eating him alive, she’s challenged to rescue hundreds of stranded pilots and crewmen from an explosive situation in near orbit around a suddenly hostile planet. Lovers, enemies, an ex-roomie, and a jealous spaceship are all in peril as Theo wields power that no one in the universe is sure of, especially her.

[[[Ghost Ship]]] by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. Baen, $7.99, 472pp, pb, 9781451637922. Science fiction.

You haven’t arrived until they send the assassins…

Theo Waitley’s not a kid anymore. She now wears a First Class pilot’s jacket, has a job offer from Korval, carries multiple weapons, and may wear a Tree-and-Dragon pin, if she dares. Everyone she meets thinks she’s dangerous, and most of them approve…

But that’s only part of the problem — her “quiet academic” father has been exposed as a ship-killing Master Pilot with a secret life, and her new-found brother is an expert at hand-to-hand death dealing. She’s the last hope of survival for her mortally wounded problem lover, if only she can make peace with the self-willed ship that’s been stalking her across space. Then, when the assassins teach her that even the most competent pilot needs backup on some ports, the most able copilot she can find is a retired Juntavas sector Boss who knew her father’s oddly undead first wife well.

So, things are getting complicated because she’s her father’s daughter; the enemy knows it, and the assassins mean business.

Oh yeah, and her mother wants to talk to her, too….

[[[The Lovecraft Anthology: Volume II]]] by H.P. Lovecraft, edited by Dan Lockwood. SelfMadeHero, $19.95, 128pp, tp, 9781906838430. Dark fantasy graphic novel collection.

The innovative Lovecraft anthology series continues with a chilling companion to the first volume: The Lovecraft Anthology: Volume II. Beautifully illustrated and adapted with great craft, this graphic collection explores Lovecraft’s favorite themes: forbidden knowledge and insanity. The art is brilliant in its variety, each style perfectly matched to the story, whether it’s about a painter obsessed with ghouls, a submarine stuck in a mysterious city on the ocean floor, or semifluid beings floating in from the deep cosmos. Reader, beware!

[Contents: “Pickman’s Model”; “The Temple”; “From Beyond”; “He”; “The Hound”; “The Nameless City”; “The Picture in the House”; “The Festival”; and “The Statement of Randolph Carter”.]

[[[Ghost Key]]] by Trish J. MacGregor. (The Sequel to Esperanza), Tor, $24.99, 320pp, hc, 9780765326034. Fantasy.

In her debut novel Esperanza, Trish J. MacGregor introduced readers to the chilling, hungry ghosts known as brujos who seek to regain the physical sensation of life through possessing the bodies of living humans. Dominica and her tribe of hungry ghosts were driven from Esperanza, that magical city high in the Andes, but they were not all destroyed. As a last devastating blow against Tess Livingston, Dominica serized Tess’ niece Maddie as a host, and fled to the United States. Now in Ghost Key, Dominica seeks to build another empire.

Kate, a native of the Florida resort island of Cedar Key, knows about everything and everyone on the island. She is the first to realize that the overwhelming amount of fog is a sign that something might be wrong. Her suspicions are confirmed as more people start to behave wildly out of character and the number of unexplained deaths increases. soon, Kate cannot allow herself to trust anyone on the island and she finds herself one of the few remaining residents not under their control.

But Dominica is unable to take over Cedar Key without arousing the suspicion of the U.S. government, who suspect the deaths to be the work of terrorists, or the curiosity of the psychically gifted Federal Agent Sanchez. Nor has she escaped attracting the attention of the shapeshifter Wayra, her oldest lover and most bitter enemy, whose mission is to free Maddie. And all the while, Maddie herself is constantly fighting to regain control of her body and do whatever she can to defeat Domiica and her brujos once and for all.

This is a story filled with tension, suspicion, and uncertainty as a small group of resistors fight a powerful magic determined to erase the borders between life and death.

[[[The Ninth Circle]]] by R.M. Meluch. (A Novel of the U.S.S. Merrimack), DAW, $7.99, 438pp, pb, 9780756407643. Science fiction.

When peace exists between the Terran and Palatine Empires, the troops aboard the U.S.S. Merrimack are always on edge, waiting for the Roman forces to violate the treaties in a sneak attack on some unprotected corner of the galaxy. But as far as anyone can tell all is quiet in the universe.

Admiral John Farragut no longer walks the decks of the space battleship he commanded for so many years, his time now spent on Earth with his wife and child.

Captain Calli Carmel has taken Farragut’s place on the ship they’ve both called home for so long, and she commands the Mack firmly and fairly.

Others, too, are absent from their posts. Lieutenant Glenn Hamilton is on a well-deserved leave, traveling with her husband, Dr. Patrick Hamilton, the ship’s xenolinguist. They’re aboard a League of Earth Nations ship on a scientific expedition to an Earthlike world named Zoe, located at the back of beyond at the edge of the galaxy. Glenn is resigned to a quiet and boring run — a chance for Patrick to do what he does best while Glenn takes a back seat and tries not to upset the researchers, who can’t abide any military presence. But when their vessel is attacked upon arrival, Glenn is forced to seize control, managing to crash-land the ship with no loss of life. Then — thanks in part to Patrick and Glenn — the expedition discovers that life on Zoe is DNA based, an extremely rare occurrence. So when alien invaders are also discovered on the planet, and they begin wreaking havoc on both the humans and native life-forms, it is only natural for Glenn Hamilton to call on the U.S.S. Merrimack for help.

Meanwhile, on the Roman world of Phoenix, the hazing of a new recruit has gone horribly wrong. His untimely death leads the remaining members of his unit into permanent exile. Condemned to the hell of being considered dead to all they hold dear, they steal a cutting edge spaceship and, dubbing themselves the damned of the Ninth Circle, become pirates. Their leader is a man called Nox — formerly known as John Knox Farragut — younger brother to the admiral.

Inevitably, both the Ninth Circle and the Palatine Empire find their way to Zoe. And suddenly all sides are on a collision course to determine the fate of this uniquely valuable planet….

Tears in Rain by Rosa Montero. Amazon Crossing, $14.95, 464pp, tp, 9781612184388. Fiction. On-sale date: 27 November 2012.

Inspired by the movie Blade Runner and lauded by legendary sci-fi/fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin for its “great, vivid warmth,”Tears in Rain is a futuristic thriller set in a dystopian Madrid of 2109, a pivotal moment in the troubled relationsihp between humans and the replicants they’ve created.

When a growing number of replicants die suspiciously before their ten-year expiration dates, detective Bruna Husky answers the call to investigate. Built for grueling jobs and given false memories to help them interact with humans, replicants have long been engaged in a bitter struggle over the rules that govern their existence. Probing this minefield of political and moral intrigue, Bruna — a combat replicant — soon realizes she can no longer tell her allies from her enemies. Yet she must somehow survive the most terrifying fight of her life and stop an insidious plot that could rewrite history itself.

[[[The Cold Commands]]] by Richard K. Morgan. (Book Two of A Land Fit for Heroes), Del Rey, $16.00, 512pp, tp, 9780345493071. Fantasy.

The Cold Commands continues award-winning author Richard K. Morgan’s brilliant epic fantasy series, following fan favorite The Steel Remains.

In this genre-defying fantasy, Morgan brings us Ringil Eskiath, hero to many but friend to few, an aging warrior thrust back into the violent life that he thought he’d left behind. Ringil may be growing more comfortable with his return to the hero’s life, but at the same time the stakes against him are being raised. A major threat is gathering on the horizon, one that Ringil will soon realize he cannot defeat by himself.

The otherworldly Kiriath once used their advanced technology to save the world from the dark magic of the Aldrain, only to depart as mysteriously as they arrived. Now one of the Kiriath’s uncanny machines has fallen from orbit, with a message that humanity once more faces a grave danger: the Ilwrack changeling, a boy raised to manhood in the ghostly realm of the Gray Places. Wrapped in sorcerous slumber on an island that drifts between this world and the Gray Places, the Ilwrack Changeling is stirring. When he wakes, the Aldrain will rally to him and return in force. But with the Kiriath long gone, humankind’s fate now depends on warrior Ringil Eskiath and his few, trusted allies. Undertaking a perilous journey to strike first against the Ilwrack Changeling, each of them seeks to outrun a haunted past and find redemption in the future. But redemption won’t come cheap. Nor, for that matter, will survival.

On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic, Summer 2012 (#89; vol 24, no 2). Edited by Diane L. Walton. Quarterly digest-sized magazine, $6.95, 124pp. www.onspec.ca.

Contributors to this issue: Susan Forest, Shen Braun, Peter Darbyshire, Paul Kenneback, Tyler Keevil, Kevin Shaw, F.J. Bergmann, Diane L. Walton, Mike Perschon, Roberta Laurie, and Cat McDonald.

[[[Mecha Rogue]]] by Brett Patton. Roc, $7.99, 368pp, pb, 9780451464903. Science fiction. On-sale date: 4 December 2012.

When you don’t know which side to trust, go rogue.

Matt Lowell is the hottest new recruit in the Universal Union’s select group of pilots. Their job: control the supremely powerful biomechanical robotic avatars known as Mecha. Now he has been offered an unprecedented opportunity: return to Earth to train a new elite force for a covert mission that’s imperative to ensuring the future of the Union.

When his team and he embark on their mission on a border world that may be a target for the anarchical Corsairs, Matt finds that everything is not as it seems. The world is home to a dark secret that underlies the very foundation of the Union itself, and suddenly Matt doesn’t know which side he and his mighty Mecha should be fighting for — or against.

[[[The Golden Door]]] by Emily Rodda. Scholastic, $16.99, 272pp, hc, 9780545429900. Middle grades fantasy.

This fall, Scholastic presents the first book in a stirring fantasy trilogy from Emily Rodda, the international bestselling author of Dragons of Deltora.

The walled city of Weld is under attack from ferocious flying creatures that raid in the night, bringing death and destruction. The Warden calls for Volunteers to find and destroy the Enemy sending invaders, and the heroes of Weld answer the call one by one, never to return. Rye is officially too young to go, but his brothers are among the lost and he must find them. What terrors await him beyond the Wall?

[[[Borderlands #2: Unconquered]]] by John Shirley. Pocket, $7.99, 374pp, pb, 9781439198483. Media Tie-In.

The Borderlands cannot by conquered!

Everyone already knows that. But the General of an army of Psycho Soldiers takes on this planetary hell headfirst, planning to enslave all of the Borderlands. And that General… is a Goddess. The General Goddess, Gynella, is a cunning maniac who uses the dark science of the vile Dr. Vialle to control a growing army of bandits and malcontents. Only four people stand in Gynella’s way.

Roland. Mordecai. Brick. And… Daphne.

Daphne?! Better known as Kuller the Killer, she was once the galaxy’s most effective assassin for organized crime — until her forced retirement on this abandoned wasteland of a world. Roland is one of the toughest fighters in the Borderlands, and Mordecai is the best shot in four solar systems — all the two really want is to get to the Crystalisks, harvest some Eridium, get rich, and leave the planet for the nearest intergalactic party. But there are nightmarish creatures to deal with: Varkids and Skags and Threshers. Worse, Gynella is still in their way. Brick — a pile of walking muscle who lives to smash his enemies, could be their ally or their enemy… but you’d definitely rather have him on your side. As for Daphne Kuller? Don’t make her mad. Just… don’t.

If you want to hear about the whole thing, take a ride on the bus to Fyrestone with Marcus. Because Marcus has a tale to tell you… an untold story of the Borderlands.

Lust for Life by Jeri Smith-Ready. Pocket, $7.99, 332pp, pb, 9781439163504. Urban fantasy. On-sale date: 27 November 2012.

Lust for Life is the fourth book by Jeri Smith-Ready in her sassy and sexy WVMP urban fantasy series, starring former con artist Ciara and her vampire lover Shane.

Former con artist Ciara Griffin hopes to settle into a normal un-life as a fledgling vampire, with the help of her fiance, grunge DJ/guitarist Shane McAllister. But she has bigger problems than finding a sane blood donor and a new home for that pantry full of mac ‘n’ cheese. Ciara’s best friend mourns her like she’s dead instead of undead, and her own maker clearly wishes she’d never been born (again). Worst of all, the WVMP crew has called a Code Black: hippie vampire DJ Jim has murdered a pair of humans; humans who happen to share Ciara’s last name.

That’s when trouble rolls out the red carpet, straight into Ciara’s life. At Shane’s first concert, Ciara is confronted by her Irish Traveler cousins and the married man whose life she ruined. Her family might hold the secret to her anti-holy blood — or maybe they want to avenge her father’s betrayal by robbing her blind. To redeem her past and pay back her most wounded victim, Ciara plans one final triple-crossing con game — with her own “miracle blood” as the bait. Meanwhile, Jim’s downward spiral makes Ciara an unwilling prize in his delusional but deadly feud with Shane. As Ciara clings to what’s left of her humanity, she’ll need her new vampire strength — and old con artist cunning — now more than ever.

[[[Mars Attacks]]] by the Topps Company; introduction by Len Brown, afterword by Zina Saunders. Abrams ComicArts, $21.95, 224pp, hc, 9781491704093.

Includes a limited-edition set of four rare and unreleased Mars Attacks trading cards!

Mars Attacks is back! To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the highly collectible cards, comes the first ever hardcover collection, Mars Attacks. Originally a series of science-fiction trading cards produced in 1962 by The Topps Company, the controversial cards were thought too graphic by the general public but were loved by the series’ devoted followers and were later used as inspiration for the 1996 Tim Burton movie of the same name. Depicting the gruesome invasion of Earth by Martians, the story unfolds over the course of the fifty-five cards, showing futuristic battle scenes with Martians, and their cruel, often-bizarre methods of attack and torture.

Mars Attacks fans will obsess over the rare and never-before-seen material (sketches, concept art, test materials), as well as a chance to see the full set of hard-to-find, 1994 sequel cards. The book also features an introduction by the series’ co-creator Len Brown, and an afterword by Zina Saunders, daughter of the series’ original artist, Norm Saunders.

[[[A Beautiful Friendship]]] by David Weber. (a Star Kingdom novel), Baen, $9.00, 378pp, tp, 9781451638264. Science fiction.

A friend in need

Stephanie Harrington always expected to be a forest ranger on her homeworld of Meyerdahl… until her parents relocated to the frontier planet of Sphinx in the distant Star Kingdom of Manticore. It should have been the perfect new home — a virgin wilderness full of new species of every sort, just waiting to be discovered. But Sphinx is a far more dangerous place than ultra-civilized Meyerdahl, and Stephanie’s explorations come to a sudden halt when her parents lay down the law: no unsupervised trips into the wild!

Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries, and the biggest one of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species.

The forest-dwelling treecats are small, cute, smart, and have a pronounced taste for celery. And they are also very, very deadly when they or their friends are threatened… as Stephanie discovers when she comes face-to-face with Sphinx’s most lethal predator.

Beginning a New Space Adventure Series Set in the Universe of Honor Harrington