[[[Starship Century: Toward the Grandest Horizon]]] edited by James Benford & Gregory Benford. Microwave Sciences, $28.00, 334pp, tp, 9781939051295. Science fiction/Non-fiction anthology.

As this book was being created, word came that an Earth-sized planet had been discovered circling Alpha Centauri B, one member of the three-star system closest to us. This rocky planet around our nearest neighbor has ignited interest in sending probes there, as a first venture into interstellar space. Whatever the reason, there is a growing interest and effort toward the greatest challenge we can imagine. To begin exploring other stars within a century opens up grand panoramas. Scientific, technical, biological, social, and economic challenges abound. But we can now see how to meet those challenges. Despite all the difficulties, interstellar travel is possible.

A pivotal event took place in October 2011: the 100 Year Starship Symposium. Its goal was first to set a bar high enough and hard enough to seriously challenge the next generations. With help from the finest minds in science and literature, this anthology continues the work of engaging, explaining and inspiring the grand mission of space travel.

Starship Century is a ground-breaking anthology of science and science fiction based on findings and discussions of the 100-Year Starship Symposium.

[Contributors: Stephen Hawking, Freeman Dyson, Martin Rees, Paul Davies, Robert Zubrin, Peter Schwartz, Geoffrey Landis, Ian Crawford, James Benford, John Cramer, Neal Stephenson, Gregory Benford, Stephen Baxter, Allen Steele, Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Nancy Kress, and Richard Lovett.]

 

[[[Dark Talisman]]] by Steven M. Booth. (Book One in The Guardian Chronicles), Azimuth, $16.99, 336pp, tp, 9780615797250. YA Fantasy. On-sale date: 15 October 2013.

She’s been banished from her home without a word of explanation. Assassins are hot on her trail, and she’s fleeing without a plan. On the whole, her future looks pretty grim. Then again, it’s nearly impossible to catch a dark elf. And even tougher to kill one.

Meet Altira. She set out to rob a sultan, and ended up stealing the deadliest gem in the world. This mistake could cost Altria her life — or save her race, and possibly the world as she knows it.

As Altira struggles to triumph over the vast forces arrayed against her, she acquires (mostly against her will) a rich cast of unexpected allies — perceptive dwarves, giant Phoenix birds with mysterious powers, and ephemeral creatures made from nothing but air. Together they must find a way to defeat the army of assassins set against her, overcome the wrath of three nations, and forge allegiances with despised enemies, to reveal the truth to a people kept in darkness for millennia.

The first installment in The Guardian Chronicles, Dark Talisman takes us to the magical land of Salustra, where ageless Guardians are locked in an eternal battle with their mortal enemy: a Dark Lord intent on destroying their world.

 

[[[Box Office Poison]]] by Phillipa Bornikova. Tor, $24.99, 320pp, hc, 9780765326836. Urban fantasy.

What happens when exquisitely beautiful elves start getting all the roles in Hollywood? Human actors sue, that’s what and the Halls of Power have to step in. In Phillipa Bornikova’s Box Office Poison, law, finance, the military, and politics are under the sway of long-lived vampires, werewolves, and the elven Alfar. In a desperate attempt to keep the squabbling inside the Screen Actors Guild from going public, the president of SAG forces the two sides into arbitration.

Enter Linnet Ellery, a human lawyer working for a vampire law firm, to serve as arbitrator. Linnet discovers that there are sinister forces at work in Tinsel Town determined to shatter the fragile peace between elves, vampires, werewolves, and humans. To complicate matters, it seems that something has been coercing famous elven actors into committing sudden and terrible acts of violence that they claim to have no memory of.

During the course of her investigations Linnet realizes that a puzzling secret surrounds her, and that a strange power has been affecting the very course of her life….

A new flavor of urban fantasy, Box Office Poison is a legal thriller plus supernatural action, with a clever and gutsy heroine you will cheer for as she uses the power of the law and her personal sense of justice to save the day.

 

[[[The Ark Lords]]] by Michael Brachman. (Rome’s Revolution, Part 4), $12.99, 236pp, tp, 9780984895373. Science fiction.

In this fast-paced sequel to the novel Rome’s Revolution, Rei, Rome and MINIMCOM, the 35th century starship that was once a computer, find themselves under attack from all quarters.

Why? The Ark Lords were the second-most heinous individuals to ever walk the Earth. The first were those responsible for the death of nine billion people — The Great Dying — back in 2081 AD. Who was behind this horrific act has remained a mystery, until the day Rome accidentally stumbles across the answer to the 1400-year-old secret. Merely possessing this knowledge threatens not only Rome’s family, but every man, woman and child throughout the galaxy. Those protecting the secret will stop at nothing to make sure their endgame is secure.

Rei, Rome and MINIMCOM embark on a desperate race through three star systems to try to prevent The Ark Lords from rising again.

At stake is nothing less than the fate of all of mankind.

 

[[[Rome’s Evolution]]] by Michael Brachman. (Rome’s Revolution, Part 5), $12.99, 252pp, tp, 9780989335638. Science fiction.

Past and future collide in this riveting conclusion to the Rome’s Revolution series.

For the last two years, Rei and Rome have enjoyed a measure of peace in which to raise their son Aason on the little world of Deucado. One day, without warning, that peace is shattered by an intentional explosion, destroying their house and leaving Rei severely injured. Who planted the bomb and why? Their faithful starship MINIMCOM takes them on a dizzying quest for answers ending up at The Hand, the most spectacular geological formation ever seen on the worlds of Man. A confrontation with the would-be assassins reveals the plot to kill Rei and Rome runs far deeper than they ever imagined. The conspiracy stretches all the way to the Earth with Aason caught directly in the cross-hairs.

Time is running out. Can they save their son? Can they save themselves? Action and adventure, along with a stiff dose of hard science, are awaiting you as you experience Rome’s Evolution.

 

[[[Rome’s Revolution]]] by Michael Brachman. $17.99, 504pp, tp, 9780984895335. Science fiction.

Imagine waking up 14 centuries from now, only to discover that everything you know about the universe is wrong and you are nothing but a despised relic from the long-dead past.

Rome’s Revolution chronicles the story of Rei Bierak, a twenty-something male from the very near future. Rei, along with 542 other humans, is frozen and launched in the ark II toward the stars with the hope of establishing a colony on a habitable world in the Tau Ceti system. During Rei’s long trip, modern civilization has collapsed, and society has reformed into a decidedly different model. The 24-chromosome mind-connected humans of the future called the Vuduri are efficient, indifferent, and emotionally deficient. The Vuduri have conquered faster-than-light travel and have established an outpost in the Pi3 Orionis system (also known as Tabit) to study why certain stars are disappearing. Awakening 1388 years in the future, Rei meets Rome, a beautiful half-breed Vuduri woman, who is eventually ostracized for consorting with him.

Together, Rei and Rome must fend off a hostile society, saboteurs, and technology indistinguishable from magic to fight forces from the incomprehensibly large to the infinitesimally small, all intent on destroying mankind. The fate of humanity, perhaps even life itself, hangs in the balance. the Vuduri cannot think outside of the box because they are the box.

Cinematic in scope, Rome’s Revolution offers romance, comedy, heart-pounding thrills, suspense, “legal” time travel, and meticulously researched hard science. It is a love story and a culture clash that celebrates the triumph of the individual over a mass-mind that thinks it is infallible.

 

[[[A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent]]] by Marie Brennan. Tor, $25.99, 334pp, hc, 9780765331960. Fantasy.

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, knows Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.

 

[[[Big Egos]]] by S.G. Browne. Gallery, $16.00, 368pp, tp, 9781476711676. Fiction.

In Big Egos, the year is 2021 and bio-engineering firm Engineering Genetics Organization and Systems (EGOS) has developed the means to the ultimate role-playing game, an injectable DNA-laced cocktail that transforms you into a fictional character or dead celebrity for 6-8 hours.

Any typical EGO party could be described along the lines of, “At the bar, Doc Brown and Doctor Who are discussing time travel over a bottle of scotch while Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor arm wrestle to see which one of them gets to make out with Mad Max. Princess Leia relaxes on a chaise lounge in her slave outfit, sipping a cocktail.” Almost anything is possible.

The latest novel from S.G. Browne — author of the critically acclaimed Lucky Bastard, Breathers, and Fated — Big Egos tells the story of a young man who is struggling with his identity while working as the head of EGOS’s Investigations Department.

As one of the quality controllers for EGOS, he has full access to as many doses as he likes. Regularly attending parties as James Bond, Indiana Jones, Captain Kirk, Jim Morrison, and others, he is the ultimate ego-tripper… until he suddenly begins losing the ability to separate fact from fiction. His every fantasy is the new reality. And the more roles he plays, the less of him remains. Sure, it’s dangerous. Yes, he’s probably losing his mind. Okay, hundreds of others could be at risk. But sometimes who you are isn’t good enough. And the truth is, reality is so overrated…

With his insightful wit, smart humor, and electrifying narrative, S.G. Browne takes readers one a satirical and provocative trip into the not-too-distant future, where, for some, pretending to be someone you’re not is just another day at the office.

 

[[[1636: The Devil’s Opera]]] by Eric Flint and David Carrico. Baen, $25.00, 528pp, hc, 9781451639285. Science fiction. On-sale date: October 2013.

Eric Flint and David Carrico serve up the latest entry in the best-selling alternate history saga of them all, the Ring of Fire!

It is the year 1636. The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, is on the verge of civil war.  His brain injured in the war with Poland, the USE’s emperor Gustavus Adolphus is no longer in command. Enter Swedish chancellor Oxenstierna, a leader of aristocratic reaction against democracy.  His goal:  to assemble the forces of the hidebound ruling class in Berlin and drown the revolution in a bloodbath.

In Magdeburg, the capital of the USE, Mike Stearns’ wife Rebecca Abrabanel is organizing popular resistance to Oxenstierna’s plot. As part of the resistance, the American musician Marla Linder and her company of down-time musical partners are staging an opera that will celebrate the struggle against oppression. Princess Kristina, the heir to the USE’s throne, is now residing in Magdeburg and is giving them her support and encouragement.

But another plot is underway–this one right in the heart of the capital itself, and with murder as its method. The only people standing in the way are a crippled boy and the boxing champion who befriended him, and an unlikely pair of policemen. Can the American detective Byron Chieske and his down-timer partner Gotthilf Hoch thwart the killers before they succeed in their goal?

 

[[[Mage’s Blood]]] by David Hair. (The Moontide Quartet – Book 1), Jo Fletcher/Quercus, $26.95, 704pp, hc, 9781623650148. Fiction. On-sale date: 3 September 2013.

According to its arcane design, the Moontide Bridge lies buried deep below the sea, but every 12 years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed. Its gates open for trade, the Moontide Bridge connects the advanced magical society of the West with the more primitive, but resource-rich lands of the East.

The Magi, the original architects of the mysterious bridge, are hell-bent on ruling the lands of the East, and for the previous two Moontides have led armies across the bridge on crusades of conquest, with limited success. Now, the current rise of the Moontide Bridge is almost here, and the Magi are determined to succeed at all costs. But this time the people of the East are ready for a fight. In what is destined to become an epic showdown between the powerful Magi of the West and the proud tribes of the East, three seemingly ordinary people may just decide the fate of the world.

 

[[[A Cold Season]]] by Alison Littlewood. Jo Fletcher/Quercus, $22.95, 304pp, hc, 9781623650223. Fiction. On-sale date: 24 September 2013.

After the battlefront death of her husband, a soldier, in the sands of the Middle East, a distraught Cass moves to the bucolic, picture-perfect village of Darnshaw with her young son. Since Cass’s website design business can be run from anywhere with an internet connection and Ben could benefit from a change of scenery, a move to the highlands village seems like just the thing.

But the locals aren’t as friendly as she had hoped and the internet connection isn’t as reliable as her business requires. And when Ben begins to display a hostility that is completely unlike his usual gentle nature, Cass begins to despair. Finally, the blizzards thunder through and Darnshaw is marooned in a sea of snow.

When things look their blackest, she finds one sympathetic ear in the person of her son’s substitute teacher. But his attentions can’t put to rest her growing anxiety about her son and her business. And soon she finds herself pitted against dark forces she can barely comprehend. The cold season has begun.

 

[[[Bait]]] by J.K. Messum. Plume, $15.00, 2881pp, tp, 9780142180259. Fiction.

In Bait, debut author J.K. Messum has crafted a rollercoaster of a novel from the very first sentence. Six strangers wake up on a remote island in the Florida Keys with no memory of their arrival. They soon discover their sole commonality: all are heroin addicts from the slums of Miami. And all of them are aching for their next fix. And they are being watched.

As the excruciating pangs of withdrawal become more and more pronounced, the six strangers face their captors across open water. The four shadowy figures on the yacht nearby are dangerous predators who know that their victims’ need never falters — and that the creatures that swim beneath the waves have equally rapacious appetites.

There is a note. No one is coming to your aid. We have ensured this. So begins a dangerous game. The six must make an unimaginable choice — swim to the next island where a cache of the purest heroin awaits; or die trying. “Almost there. Keep your eyes on the prize. Almost there…” As the fight to survive intensifies, the astonishing motivations of the men on board ship emerge, raising the stakes to towering heights. As the novel unfolds, so do the backgrounds of the junkies, each with a sordid past that may reveal the intersection of their misfortune.

Heart pounding and unpredictable, Bait is part Hunger Games, part Trainspotting, and part Jaws. Ideal for fans of Lost and the books of Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk, Bait is a high-octane novel that explores the line between strength and frailty.

 

[[[Blood of Tyrants]]] by Naomi Novik. (Temeraire, book 8), Del Rey, $26.00, 434pp, hc, 9780345522894. Fantasy.

Naomi Novik’s beloved Temeraire series, a brilliant combination of fantasy and history that reimagines the Napoleonic wars as fought with the aid of intelligent dragons, is a twenty-first-century classic. From the first volume, His Majesty’s Dragon, readers have been entranced by the globe-spanning adventures of the resolute Capt. William Laurence and his brave but impulsive dragon, Temeraire. Now, in Blood of Tyrants, the penultimate volume of the series, Novik is at the very height of her powers as she brings her story to its widest, most colorful canvas yet.

Shipwrecked and cast ashore in Japan with no memory of Temeraire or his own experiences as an English aviator, Laurence finds himself tangled in deadly political intrigues that threaten not only his own life but England’s already precarious position in the Far East. Age-old enmities and suspicions have turned the entire region into a powder keg ready to erupt at the slightest spark — a spark that Laurence and Temeraire may unwittingly provide, leaving Britain faced with new enemies just when they most desperately need allies instead.

For to the west, another, wider conflagration looms. Napoleon has turned on his former ally, the emperor Alexander of Russia, and is even now leading the largest army the world has ever seen to add that country to his list of conquests. It is there, outside the gates of Moscow, that a reunited Laurence and Temeraire — along with some unexpected allies and old friends — will face their ultimate challenge… and learn whether or not there are stronger ties than memory.

 

[[[The Human Division]]] by John Scalzi. Tor, $25.99, 431pp, hc, 9780765333513. Science fiction.

Earth is Betrayed.

It’s a violent, competitive universe. And our home planet would have been an easy conquest, if not for the efforts of the Colonial Union — the human spacefaring military organization that has defended our world for generations. But the Colonial Union kept many secrets from humanity, until John Perry revealed them to Earth’s billions.

The CU has fought an endless series of secret wars on (it claims) Earth’s behalf, while manipulating humankind into providing an unlimited supply of recruits who never return from space. And, it turns out, there are alien races that seem inclined toward peace and trade instead of battle. Indeed, Earth has now been invited to join a new alliance of multiple worlds — an alliance against the Colonial Union. For the shaken and uncertain people of Earth, the path ahead is far from clear.

With that choice hanging in the balance, managing the CU’s survival won’t be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning… and a brilliant “B-Team,” centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson — a team ready to deal with the unexpected things the universe throws at you when you’re struggling to preserve the unity of the human race.

 

[[[Treecat Wars]]] by David Weber and Jane Lindskold. (a Star Kingdom novel), Baen, $18.99, 384pp, hc, 9781451639339. YA sf. On-sale date: October 2013.

New York Times and Publishers Weekly Best Selling Young Adult Series.  Book Three by international writing phenomenon David Weber. Two young settlers on a pioneer planet seeks to stop a war and to save the intelligent alien treecats from exploitation by unscrupulous humans.The fires are out, but the trouble’s just beginning for the treecats

On pioneer planet Sphinx, ruined lands and the approach of winter force the now Landless Clan to seek new territory.  They have one big problem—there’s nowhere to go.  Worse, their efforts to find a new home awaken the enmity of the closest treecat clan—a stronger group who’s not giving up a single branch without a fight

Stephanie Harrington, the treecats’ greatest advocate, is off to Manticore for extensive training—and up to her ears in challenges there.  That leaves only Stephanie’s best friends, Jessica and Anders, to save the treecats from themselves.  And now a group of xenoanthropologists is once again after the great secret of the treecats—that they are intelligent, empathic telepaths—and their agenda will lead to nothing less that treecat exploitation.

Finally, Jessica and Anders face problems of their own, including  their growing attraction to one another.  It is an attraction that seems a betrayal of Stephanie Harrington, the best friend either of them have ever had.

 

[[[Under the Empyrean Sky]]] by Chuck Wendig. (The Heartland Trilogy, book 1), Amazon Children’s Publishing, $17.99, 368pp, hc, 9781477817209. YA sf.

Corn is king in the Heartland, and Cael McAvoy has had enough of it. It’s the only crop the Empyrean government allows the people of the Heartland to grow — and the genetically modified strain is so aggressive that it takes everything the Heartlanders have just to control it.

As captain of the Big Sky Scavengers, Cael and his crew sail their rickety ship over the corn day after day, scavenging for valuables. But Cael’s tired of surviving life on the ground while the Empyrean elite drift by above in their extravagant sky flotillas. He’s sick of the mayor’s son besting Cael’s crew in the scavenging game. And he’s worried about losing Gwennie — his first mate and the love of his life — forever when their government-chosen spouses are revealed. But most of all, Cael is angry — angry that their lot in life will never get better and that his father doesn’t seem upset about any of it.

 

[[[Night Pilgrims]]] by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Tor, $29.99, 416pp, hc, 9780765334008. Fantasy.

Blood and faith are on display as the vampire Count Saint-Germain leads a caravan of pilgrims through an Egypt still recovering from the Crusades.

Tor Books is proud to present Night Pilgrims, the 26th volume in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s much-beloved Saint-Germain series. The Saint-Germain books, which can all be read independently, take place in many different parts of the world and many different periods of history. The Count has seen the best and the worst humanity has to offer, from Mongol hordes to Egyptian pharaohs, from the construction of St. Petersburg to the rise of the Nazis. Lush with history and rich in sensuality, the Saint-Germain cycle is the longest-running series about a vampire in modern literature.

In Night Pilgrims, Saint-Germain is living in a monastery in Egypt when he is hired to guide a group of pilgrims to underground churches in southern Egypt. The vampire finds a companion in a lovely widow who later fears that her dalliance with the Count will prevent her from reaching Heaven.

The pilgrims begin to fall prey to the trials of travel in the Holy Lands; some see visions and hear the word of God; others are seduced by desires for riches and power. A visit to the Chapel of the Holy Grail brings many quarrels to a head; Saint-Germain must use all his diplomacy and a good deal of his strength to keep the pilgrims from slaughtering one another.