[[[Discworld and the Disciplines: Critical Approaches to the Terry Pratchett Works]]] edited by Anne Hiebert Alton and William C. Spruiell. McFarland, $40.00, 244pp, tp, 9780786474646. Non-fiction.
This collection of new essays applies a wide range of critical frameworks to the analysis of prolific fantasy author Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books. Essays focus on topics such as Pratchett’s treatment of noise and silence and their political implications; art as an anodyne for racial conflict; humor and cognitive debugging; visual semiotics; linguistic stylistics and readers’ perspectives of word choice; and Derrida and the “monstrous Regiment of Women.” The volume also includes an annotated bibliography of critical sources. The essays provide fresh perspectives on Pratchett’s work, which has stealthily redefined both fantasy and humor for modern audiences.
[Contributors: Roderick McGillis, Anne Hiebert Alton, Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, Caroline Webb, William C. Spruiell, and Gideon Haberkorn.]
[[[The Dark Between the Stars]]] by Kevin J. Anderson. Tor, $26.99, 672pp, hc, 9780765332998. Science fiction.
Tor Books presents, The Dark Between the Stars: The Saga of Shadows by national and international bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson. The Saga of Shadows is an hyper-powered space opera that will satisfy fans of the original Seven Suns series, as well as readers of the Star Wars and Dune novels, and introduces readers to a compounding new series.
The human race has expanded out among the stars, establishing colonies on numerous planets while a group of independent gypsy clans, the Roamers, operate giant floating skymines in the clouds of gas-giants. On the planet Theroc, the capital of the human Confederation, humans lives inside a gigantic world-forest with towering trees and green priests who are able to telepathically link with the forest.
The Ildirans are a grand and ancient race connected by a mental network called thism. As part of the expanding cooperation between the Idiran Empire and the human Confederation, a large expeditionary ship goes off to explore beyond the Spiral Arm. The ship encounters a mysterious and ominous dark nebula in space, a huge black cloud so opaque even starlight cannot penetrate it. The explorers are horrified when the dark nebula begins to grow and expand.
The Dark Between the Stars: The Saga of Shadows leads this dynamic series, brimming with explorative power and masterful craftsmanship and is sure to illuminate even the darkest corners of space and mind.
[[[Jupiter War]]] by Neal Asher. (The Owner: Book Three), Night Shade, $15.99, 356pp, tp, 9781597804936. Science fiction.
From Philip K. Dick Award-nominated writer Neal Asher comes the breathtaking final installment in the Owner trilogy, Jupiter War. For true science fiction fans, it doesn’t get any better than this terrifying vision of a dark, posthuman future.
Meet Saul: half human, half robot, and all he wants is to take his sister the hell out of Mars and back to Argus Station, a satellite off of Earth. But Serene Galahad cannot allow that, for while Saul remains in the solar system he might still be within her destructive grasp.
Alex, a clone with a violent past, watches discontent on the Argus grow between the “chipped”—those with a brain implant enabling them to control robots—and the non-“chipped.” Immortality lies within reach, but as rebellion brews on Argus, Alex must decide where his loyalties lie.
Meanwhile, Galahad’s Scourge ship limps back to Earth, its earlier mission to annihilate Saul a failure. Some members of the decimated crew plan to murder Galahad before she has them killed for their failure, but Clay Ruger plans to negotiate for his life. Events build to a climax as Ruger holds humanity’s greatest asset—seeds to rebuild a dying Earth. This stolen Gene Bank data is offered at a price. But what will Galahad pay for humanity’s future?
[[[The Boost]]] by Stephen Baker. Tor, $24.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765334374. Science fiction.
Tor Books is proud to publish The Boost by Stephen Baker. In the tradition of Cory Doctorow and William Gibson, this thoughtful near-future techno-thriller forecasts an intriguing and dangerous technological advance backlit by the rising influence of China on the global stage.
Imagine a future where 99% of the population is imbedded with networked supercomputers. While the benefits of instantaneous communication and learning are innumerable, the dangers are stark and terrifying—particularly when an upgrade exposes millions of Americans to China’s standard of government surveillance. When one software engineer tries to fight back, he finds himself stripped of his boost and chased into the wild lands where the unenhanced fringe of society lurks…
Having spent ten years as the senior technology writer for BusinessWeek, Baker has a keen eye for technology trends and the effects, both immediate and long-term, our advancements can bring. An exhilarating thriller, The Boost is elevated by its sharp and adept use of technology just beyond our current reach.
[[[Phantoms of the Louvre]]] by Enki Bilal. NBM, $29.99, 144pp, hc, 9781561638413. Graphic novel.
Known here from the early days of Heavy Metal magazine through books from Catalan and then the Humanoids, Enki Bilal is second only to Moebius in reputation as a major European comic artist in the fantasy genre. His beautifully painted Nikopol Trilogy, Exterminator 17 or The Hunting Party set new levels of excellence in art in comics worldwide in the latter part of the last century.
He has trail blazed ever since with dark and weighty, politically charged fantasy elaborately painted in his very distinctive style. In the last few years he has also greatly expanded his spectrum, becoming a movie director adapting his graphic novels and also a sought after painter. His paintings have detched up to a quarter million dollars and he has become the darling of pop art galleries.
With Phantoms of the Louvre, Bilal marries these media. He mixes text with paintings in a very ironic romp through various works of art at the museum, surmising wistfully on who their muses might have been, inventing phantasmagoric stories that led to their creation.
He imagines 22 fates of men, women and children whose lives have been affected by a work of art. 22 portraits for 5000 years of creation. They haunt the halls of the Louvre… they are long dead, often violently… they are a Roman legionary, a muse, a painter, a German officer… Each, one day, met a painter or a sculptor and was their model…
Bilal felt them, wandering the corridors of the Louvre, close to the work that tipped their life: Mona Lisa, the Victory of Samothrace, Christ reclining, an Egyptian mask.
These pieces were the subject of a widely covered and well attended exhibit at the Louvre museum in early 2013.
[[[Rescue Mode]]] by Ben Bova and Les Johnson. Baen, $25.00, 422pp, hc, 9781476736471. Science fiction.
The first humans on Mars may be the last
The first human mission to Mars meets with disaster when a meteoroid strikes the spacecraft. The ship is too far from Earth to simply turn around and return home. The eight-person crew must ride their crippled ship to Mars while they desperately struggle to survive.
On Earth, powerful political forces that oppose human spaceflight try to use the accident as proof that sending humans into space is too dangerous to continue. The future of human space-flight hangs in the balance. And if the astronauts can’t nurse their ship to Mars and back, the voyagers will become either the first Martian colonists—or the first humans to perish on another planet.
[[[Queen of the Dark Things]]]> by C. Robert Cargill. Harper Voyager, $26.99, 432pp, hc, 9780062190451. Fantasy.
Film critic and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill burst onto the literary scene last year with his debut novel, Dreams and Shadows, to “uniformly excellent” reviews (Library Journal). With its sequel, Queen of the Dark, Cargill proves that his fantastic fiction is a force to be reckoned with. With a brilliantly crafted narrative that is part Neil Gaiman, part Guillermo Del Toro, part Lev Grossman, Queen of the Dark Things reveals the fantastic realities behind the everyday.
Six months have passed since the wizard Colby lost his best friend to an army of fairies from the Limestone Kingdom, a realm of mystery and darkness beyond our own. But in vanquishing these creatures and banning them from Austin, Colby sacrificed the anonymity that protected him. Now, word of his deeds has spread, and powerful enemies from the past—including one Colby considered a friend—have resurfaced to exact their revenge.
As darkness gathers around the city, Colby sifts through his memories desperate to find answers that might save him. With time running out, and few of his old allies and enemies willing to help, he is forced to turn for aid to forces even darker than those he once battled.
[[[Strange Country]]] by Deborah Coates. Tor, $26.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765329028. Fantasy.
Strange Country by Deborah Coates is the final book in a haunting supernatural murder mystery trilogy set in the vast rural backroads and byways of the American Midwest, a setting and way of life that is rarely explored in contemporary and urban fantasy.
After facing Death himself and banishing a reaper bent on the destruction of Sheriff’s deputy Boyd Davies, Hallie had hoped things would finally settle down; that she and Boyd would find more time to spend together, that ghosts would stay in cemeteries where they belong. But hopes are so easily dashed.
On a wintry night in mid-December, someone shoots and kills a woman with a high-powered rifle. Not long after, another of West Prairie City’s citizens is killed in exactly the same way, drawing the attention of federal investigators. But the connection between the victims is not easy to uncover…
Meanwhile, Hallie Michaels finds a note pinned to her front porch. “What do you fear most?” it asks, accompanied by a set of map coordinates. Over the next few days she receives an anonymous phone call, an unsigned letter left for her at the local ag supply, and finally a note stuck to her kitchen table with a carving knife, all asking the same question and with the same set of coordinates. The mysteries are piling up, and time is short. Will Hallie be able to get to the bottom of this, before the body count rises again?
[[[The Severed Streets]]] by Paul Cornell. (sequel to London Falling), Tor, $26.99, 416pp, hc, 9780765330284. Fantasy.
Paul Cornell is a British writer best known for his work on the television show Doctor Who, for which he penned three Hugo Award-nominated episodes. Tor is proud to announce the release of Cornell’s suspenseful novel, The Severed Streets, the follow-up to Paul Cornell’s London Falling. Already receiving rave reviews from critics and fans alike this fantastical twist on the classic police procedural, with London undercover cops versus creatures of the night, The Severed Streets is a modern fantasy novel that is dark and wildly imaginative.
Detective Inspector Quill is desperate to find a case to justify his team’s existence within London’s Metropolitan Police, with budget cuts and a police strike on the horizon. Quill thinks he’s struck gold when a cabinet minister is murdered by an assailant who wasn’t seen getting in or out of his limo. A second murder, that of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, presents a crime scene with a message… identical to that left by the original Jack the Ripper.
The new Ripper seems to have changed the MO of the old completely: he’s only killing rich white women. The inquiry into just what this supernatural menace takes Quill and his team into the London occult underworld. They go undercover to a pub with a regular evening that creates to the clientele, and to an auction of objects of power at the Tate Modern.
Wildly entertaining and filled with intrigue and adventure, The Severed Streets will captivate and delight readers.
[[[Warbound]]] by Larry Correia. (Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles), Baen, $7.99, 614pp, pb, 9781476736525. Fantasy.
The Ultimate Predator
Only a handful of people in the world know that mankind’s magic comes from a living creature, a refugee from another universe. The Power showed up here in the 1850s because it was running from something. Now it is 1933, and the Power’s hiding place has been discovered by a killer.
The Power’s nemesis is a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. Earth is next. Jake Sullivan, former private eye, knows the score. The problem is hardly anyone believes him. The world’s most capable active, Faye Vierra, could back him up, but she is hiding from the forces that think she is too dangerous to let live. So Jake has put together a ragtag crew of airship pirates and Crimnoir knights and sets out on a suicide mission to stop the predator before it is too late.
[[[The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Six]]] edited by Ellen Datlow. Night Shade, $15.99, 400pp, tp, 9781597805032. Horror anthology.
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
This statement was true when H.P. Lovecraft first wrote it at the beginning of the twentieth century, and it remains true at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The only thing that has changed is what is unknown.
With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this “light” creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness, as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.
More than any other editor or critic, Ellen Datlow has charted the shadowy abyss of horror fiction. Join her on this journey into the dark parts of the human heart… either for the first time… or once again.
[Contributors: Stephen Bacon, Dale Bailey, Nathan ballingrud, Nina Allan, Lynda E. Rucker, KJ Kabza, Steve Toase, Robert Shearman, Ray Cluley, Jeannine Hall Gailey, Simon Clark, Conrad Williams, Simon Strantzas, Priya Sharma, Steve Rasnic Tem, Kim Newman, Derek Kunsken, Lee Thomas, Jane Jakeman, Tim Casson, Neil Gaiman, Laird Barron, Linda Nagata, and Brian Hodge.]
[[[Glacial Period]]] by Nicolas De Crecy. NBM, $22.99, 80pp, hc, 9781561638550. Graphic novel.
Back in 2006, NBM trail blazed once again bringing to these shores a collaboration between one of the world’s major museums and prominent literary comics publisher Futuropolis. The first graphic novel in the series was Glacial Period by Nicolas De Crecy.
Success was swift and continuous, 6 or 7 books later in this series that was initially supposed to only have 4, Glacial Period has blown through 3 printings, sold over 10,000 copies and then was out of print for a couple years.
Now that the market has evolved to where larger hardcover albums are quite accepted, NBM ComicsLit is able to bring this back out in its original format as seen in France.
This also happened to be the first time the work of a rising star, Nicolas de Crecy, was brought to these shores. Already well reviewed and famous in France for fairly off the wall works as The Celestial Bibendum or Foligato (now out from the Humanoids), De Crecy marries a very classical sketch style with deadpan offbeat humor, a mix that marks him as sui generis. NBM has since embarked on publishing his outrageously original Salvatore series.
Already in France, Glacial Period has proven not just a critical success but also a sound commercial one as well, selling close to 100,000 copies.
The concept exemplifies De Crecy’s dry humor at his best: even with his degree in art, when vieweing the full extent of the Louvre collection in preparation for this assignment, he felt very lost indeed. Most of the works seemed to come out of nowhere. One could only fantastize what they meant. Thus the inspiration for this team of archeologists many years hence, after a long glacial period has extinguished all memory, falling on a buried Louvre. They’ve never seen art before and try to understand what it might all mean. Their interpretations are absurd and hilarious. Many works from the museum are shown and carefully credited at the end of the book, even exactly as to which gallery to find them in.
[[[Suffer the Children]]] by Craig DiLouie. Gallery, $16.00, 344pp, tp, 9781476739632. Fiction.
From acclaimed horror writer Craig DiLouie comes a novel of terror, Suffer the Children, a chilling tale of blood-hungry children who rise from the dead in this innovative spin on apocalyptic vampire fiction.
One day, everywhere around the world, children die. Three days later, they return from the grave asking for one thing—blood.
Suffer the Children presents a terrifying tale, introducing Herod’s Syndrome, a devastating illness that suddenly and swiftly kills all young children across the globe. An international crisis beyond any parent’s worst nightmare.
Then, a miracle beyond imagining: three days later, they return. Shattered mothers and fathers see their sons and daughters happy and whole once more, playing and laughing as before—but only when they feed on blood.
With blood, they stop being dead. they stop rotting. They continue to remain the children they once were… but only for a short time. Too soon, they die again. And need more blood to live.
The average human body holds ten pints of blood. The inevitable question for parents everywhere becomes: How far would you go to bring your child back?
Author Craig DiLouie explores the themes of parenthood and society within a world filled with terror, creating a fresh and original apocalyptic horror story.
[[[1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies]]] by Eric Flint and Charles E. Gannon. Baen, $25.00, 610pp, hc, 9781476736785. Science fiction.
Oil and Revolution
Eddie Cantrell, now married to the king of Denmark’s daughter, has been sent to secure access to the most valuable commodity on that continent—not the gold and silver which the Spanish treasure, but the oil which up-time machines and industry need. To help his task force: the new steam-powered frigates that have just come out of the navy’s shipyards. Even with the frigates, a giant obstacle stands in his way: the Gulf-girdling Spanish presence in the New World. So a diversion is needed.
Cantrell’s plans could be wrecked in a multitude of ways. He faces hostile natives, rambunctious Dutch ship captains, allied colonies on the brrink of starvation, and vicious social infighting that can barely be contained by his capable and passionate new wife. And when the galleons finally come out in force to engage his small flotilla, Eddie will discover that the Spanish aren’t the only enemies who will be coming against him in a fateful Caribbean show-down.
[[[Thorn Jack: A Night and Nothing Novel]]] by Katherine Harbour. HarperCollins, $25.99, 352pp, hc, 978006286727. Fantasy.
Combining the sorcery of The Night Circus with the malefic suspense of The Secret History, Thorn Jack is a spectacular, modern retelling of the ancient Scottish ballad of Tam Lin—a beguiling fusion of love, fantasy, and myth that echoes the imaginative artistry of the works of Neil Gaiman, Cassandra Clare, and Melissa Marr.
In the wake of her older sister’s suicide, Finn Sullivan and her father move to a quaint town in upstate New York. Populated with socialites, hippies, and dramatic artists, every corner of this new placeholds bright possibilities—and dark enigmas, including the devastatingly attractive Jack Fata, scion of one of the town’s most powerful families.
As she begins to settle in, Finn discovers that beneath the pretty, placid surface, the town and its denizens—especially the Fata family—wield an irresistible charm and a dangerous power, a tempting and terrifying blend of good and evil, magic and mystery, that holds dangerous consequences for an innocent and curious girl like Finn.
To free herself and save her beloved Jack, Finn must confront the fearsome Fata family… a battle that will lead to shocking revelations about her sister’s death.
[[[Shattered: The Iron Druid Chronicles]]] by Kevin Hearne. Del Rey, $26.00, 352pp, hc, 9780345548481. Fantasy.
Acclaimed author Kevin Hearne makes his hardcover debut with the new novel in his epic urban fantasy series starring the unforgettable Atticus O’Sullivan.
For nearly two thousand years, only one Druid has walked the Earth—Atticus O’Sullivan, the Iron Druid, whose sharp wit and sharp sword have kept him alive as he’s been pursued by a pantheon of hostile deities. Now he’s got company.
Atticus’s apprentice Granuaile is at last a full Druid herself. What’s more, Atticus has defrosted an archdruid long ago frozen in time, a father figure (of sorts) who now goes by the modern equivalent of his old Irish name: Owen Kennedy. And Owen has some catching up to do.
Atticus takes pleasure in the role reversal, as the student is now the teacher. Between busting Atticus’s chops and trying to fathom a cell phone, Owen must also learn English. For Atticus, the jury’s still out on whether the wily old coot will be an asset in the epic battle with Norse god Loki—or merely a pain in the arse.
But Atticus isn’t the only one with daddy issues. Granuaile faces a great challenge: to exorcise a sorcerer’s spirit that is possessing her father in India. Even with the help of the witch Laksha, Granuaile may be facing a crushing defeat.
As the trio of Druids deals with pestilence-spreading demons, bacon-loving yeti, fierce flying foxes, and frenzied Fae, they’re hoping that this time, three’s a charm. Now, to protect his new life, the former assassin must once again take up his old one…
[[[Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century Volume 2: 1948-1988: The Man Who Learned Better]]] by William H. Patterson. Tor, $34.99, 624pp, hc, 9780765319616. Non-fiction.
Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century Volume 2: 1948-1988: The Man Who Learned Better is the culmination of the only comprehensive account of one of the most important authors to contribute and influence the genre of Science Fiction.
Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is generally considered the greatest American Science Fiction writer of the twentieth century. His most famous and widely influential works include the Future History series (stories and novels collected in The Past Through Tomorrow and continued in later novels), Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress—all published in the years covered by this volume. Scholar William H. Patterson was offered unprecedented access to Heinlein’s archives—including notes, letters, and interviews with family and friends. He spent years dedicated to creating this definitive biography, and it not only shows Heinlein’s inspiration for his important works of science fiction but also the private and political influences that shaped his brilliant mind.
With this biography, Patterson has vividly recreated the life of a fascinating man who was not only shaped by 21st century America but also contributed to its ever-changing culture. Given Heinlein’s desire for privacy in the later decades of his life, the revelations in this biography make for riveting reading.
[[[Motherless Child]]] by Glen Hirshberg. Tor, $24.99, 270, hc, 9780765337450. Horror.
This May, Tor Books is proud to publish Motherless Child by award-winning author Glen Hirshberg. Readers are invited to experience this compelling, heartbreaking thriller.
It’s the thrill of a lifetime when Sophie and Natalie, single mothers living in a trailer park in North Carolina, meet their idol, the mysterious musician known only as “the Whistler.” Morning finds them covered with dried blood, their clothing shredded and their memories hazy. Things soon become horrifyingly clear: the Whistler is a vampire and Natalie and Sophie are his latest victims. The young women leave their babies with Natalie’s mother and hit the road, determined not to give in to their unnatural desires.
Hunger and desire make a powerful couple. So do the Whistler and his Mother, who are searching for Sophie and Natalie with the help of Twitter and the musician’s many fans. The violent, emotionally moving showdown between two who should be victims and two who should be monsters will leave readers gasping in fear and delight.
Originally published by a small press that sold out a limited run before its publication date, Motherless Child is a Southern horror novel that tor Books is thrilled to bring to a wider audience with a brand new chapter exclusive to this edition.
[[[Fool’s Assassin]]] by Robin Hobb. Del Rey, $28.00, 670pp, hc, 9780553392425. Fantasy. On-sale date: 12 August 2014.
Robin Hobb’s acclaimed Farseer series, praised as “an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama” (Kirkus Reviews), marked a watershed moment in modern fantasy—and joined the groundbreaing work of George R.R. Martin in paving the way for major new voices from Brandon Sanderson to Naomi Novik. Now Hobb’s most beloved characters, FitzChivalry Farseer and his uncanny friend the Fool, are back in an astonishing novel that opens a dark and gripping new chapter in the Farseer saga.
FitzChivalry—royal bastard and former king’s assassin—has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock and married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, Fitz now leads the quiet life of a country squire.
Still, he remains haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become. But such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life—until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past… and his future.
Now, to protect his new life, the former assassin must once again take up his old one…
[[[The Sea of Time]]] by P.C. Hodgell. (a new Kencyrath novel), Baen, $15.00, 354pp, tp, 9781476736495. Fantasy.
The wasteland that was a sea
Kothifir the Cruel is a city ruled by an obscenely obese god-king, peopled with colorful, dueling guilds, and guarded by the Southern Host of the Kencyrath. Here Jame arrives, only to find that mysteries abound: Ccaravans plunge deep into the hostile Southern Wastes and return laden with fabulous riches—but from what source? And why do they crumble to dust if not claimed by the god-king’s touch? Meanwhile, Karnids from Urakarn prowl the shadows, preaching the return of their mysterious prophet, who once brought tragedy to the Southern Host.
In order to save the present, Jame must search the past, be it fifteen years ago when her brother Torisen arrived here, unknown and unwanted, or three thousand years ago when the Wastes were a great sea ringed with rich civilizations. Somehow the cities of the plain were destroyed in one catastrophic night. Somehow, Tori survived. Somehow, all is linked to Urakarn and its dire prophet. Jame, a potential Nemesis, must solve these riddles out of the past before those in the present destroy Kothifir, if not the Kencyrath and Rathillien themselves.
[[[Under the Bed, Creeping: Psychoanalyzing the Gothic in Children’s Literature]]] by Michael Howarth. McFarland, $40.00, 196pp, tp, 9780786478439. Nonfiction.
From Puritan tracts and chapbooks to fairy tales and Victorian poems, from zombies and werewolves to ghosts and vampires, the gothic has become an important part of children’s literature. This book explores how Gothicism is crucial in helping children progress through different stages of growth and development. It examines five famous texts—Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, three versions of Little Red Riding Hood, and J.M. Barrie’s play and then novel Peter and Wendy—incorporating renowned psychologist Erik Erikson’s landmark theories on psychosocial stages of development. By linking a particular stage to each of the aforementioned texts, it becomes clearer how anxiety and terror are just as important as happiness and wonder in fostering maturity, achieving a sense of independence and fulfilling one’s self-identity. Gothic elements give shape to children’s fears, which is precisely how children are able to defeat them, and through their interactions with the ghosts and goblins that inhabit fantasy worlds, children come to better understand their own world, as well as their own lives.
[[[Night Shifters]]] by Sarah A. Hoyt. Baen. $14.00, 730pp, tp, 9781476736518. Urban fantasy.
Diners, Dragons and Diabolical Schemes
They live among us, secretly, forever afraid of discovery. Their bodies change at will—or sometimes without their will—into dragons, panthers and even stranger creatures. Through the ages, they’ve formed associations, and some of those are, in human terms, criminal: triads and mobs and enforcers of a private law that ignores the laws of humans. But for Tom, a dragon shifter, Kyrie, a panther shifter, and particularly for their best friend, Rafiel, a lion shifter, crimes against normal humans are still crimes. Finding the culprit while combating the old organizations and without revealing anyone’s hidden identities is tough enough. It is even tougher when you have a diner to run and bills to pay!
Draw One in the Dark and Gentleman Takes a Chance together in one volume.
[[[Noah’s Boy]]] by Sarah A. Hoyt. Baen, $7.99, 392pp, pb, 9781476736549. Urban fantasy.
A Dragon of Mass Destruction
Rafiel Trall, one of Goldport’s finest, walks the fine line between enforcing human law and dodging it to protect other shifters like himself. A lion shifter, he finds comfort in his friendship with Tom Ormson, a dragon shifter, and Kyrie Smith, a panther shifter. They have aided and abetted him for years. But when the Great Sky Dragon is taken down by a dread force, Tom becomes the new Great Sky Dragon.
Nothing prepares Tom or Rafiel or Kyrie for the immense power that devolves upon Tom, nor the complications of Tom’s finding himself the head of a—mostly criminal—dragon syndicate. To make things worse, there’s a ravishing female dragon on the lam, and Rafield falls for her hard, all while trying to keep his friend from becoming a dragon of mass destruction.
[[[Nebula Awards Showcase 2014]]] edited by Kij Johnson. Pyr, $18.00, 301pp, tp, 9781616149017. Science fiction anthology.
The Nebula Awards Showcase volumes have been published annually since 1966, reprinting the winning and nominated stories in the Nebula Awards, voted on by the members of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Wrtiers of America. The editor selected by SFWA’s anthology committee is American fantasy writer Kij Johnson, author of three novels and associate director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas. This year’s volume includes the winners of the Andre Norton, Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, Rhysling, and Dwarf Stars Awards, as well as the Nebula Award winners.
[Contributors: Aliette de Bodard, Andy Duncan, Nancy Kress, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken Liu, E.C. Myers, Cat Rambo, Michael Dirda, Neil Gaiman, Shira Lipkin, Megan Arkenberg, and Marge Simon.]
[[[The Scorched Earth]]] by Drew Karpyshyn. Del Rey, $15.00, 448pp, tp, 9780345549365. Fantasy. On-sale date: 19 August 2014.
New York Times bestselling author Drew Karpyshyn has long thrilled readers with his kinetic, fast-paced storytelling style. Now he returns with The Scorched Earth, the second novel in his acclaimed series about four young people who will either save the world or bring about its destruction.
The Children of Fire—four mortals touched by the power of Chaos—each embody one aspect of a fallen and banished immortal champion: Keegan, the wizard; Scythe, the warrior; Cassandra, the prophet; Vaaler, the king. Grown to adulthood, the Children are in search of the ancient Talismans that can stop the return of Daemron the Slayer, ancient enemy of the Old Gods. But in acquiring Daemron’s Ring, they unleashed a flood of Chaos magic on the land—leaving death, destruction, and a vengeful queen in their wake.
Now, beset on all sides by both mortal and supernatural enemies, they realize that their strength and faith will be tested as never before. And their greatest trial will be finding Daemron’s Sword, the last of the ancient Talismans, before the entire mortal world is engulfed in the war and Chaos that will herald the return of the Slayer.
[[[Yesterday’s Kin]]] by Nancy Kress. Tachyon, $14.95, 192pp, tp, 9781616961756. Science fiction. On-sale date: September 2014.
Aliens and humans must cure a devastating plague—but can either species be trusted?
2013 Nebula Award winner Nancy Kress returns with a taut bio-thriller hearkening back to such science fiction classics as The Andromeda Strain and Childhood’s End.
Aliens have landed in New York. A deadly cloud of spores has already infected and killed the inhabitants of two worlds. Now that plague is heading for Earth and threatens humans and aliens alike. But are the aliens revealing everything they know?
Geneticist Marianne Jenner is immersed in the desperate race to save humanity, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Siblings Elizabeth and Ryan are strident isolationists who agree only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Marianne’s youngest, Noah, is a loner addicted to a drug that temporarily changes his identity. But between the four Jenners, the course of human history will be forever altered.
Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent human extintion—and not everyone is willing to wait.
[[[Rogues]]] edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Bantam, $30.00, 832pp, hc, 9780345537263. Fantasy anthology.
The latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. These original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R.R. Martin himself offers a brand new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire Ice and Fire saga.
Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand in this rogues’ gallery of stories that will plunder your heart—and yet leave you richer for it.
[Contributors: Joe Abercrombie, Gillian Flynn, Matthew Hughes, Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Swanwick, David W. Ball, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Lynch, Bradley Denton, Cherie Priest, Daniel Abraham, Paul Cornell, Steven Saylor, Garth Nix, Walter Jon Williams, Phyllis Eisenstein, Lisa Tuttle, Neil Gaiman, Connie Willis, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R.R. Martin.]
[[[Crown of Renewal]]] by Elizabeth Moon. Del Rey, $26.00, 528pp, hc, 9780345533098. Fantasy.
Acclaimed author Elizabeth Moon spins gripping, richly imagined epic fantasy novels that have earned comparisons to the work of such authors as Robin Hobb and Lois McMaster Bujold. In this volume, Moon’s brilliant masterwork reaches its triumphant conclusion.
The mysterious reappearance of magery throughout the land has been met with suspicion, fear, and violence. In the kingdom of Lyonya, Kieri, the half-elven, half-human king, struggles to balance the competing demands of his heritage while fighting a deadly threat to his rule: evil elves linked in some way to the rebirth of magic.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia, a set of ancient artifacts recovered by the former mercenary Dorrin Verrakai may hold the answer to the riddle of magery’s return. Thus Dorrin embarks on a dangerous quest to return these relics of a bygone age to their all-but-mythical place of origin. What she encounters there will change her in unimaginable ways—and spell doom or salvation for the entire world.
[[[Tolkien and the Modernists: Literary Responses to the Dark New Days of the 20th Century]]] by Theresa Freda Nicolay. McFarland, $40.00, 204pp, tp, 9780786478989. Non-fiction.
The Lord of the Rings rarely makes an appearance in college courses that aim to examine modern British and American literature. Only in recent years have the fantasies of J.R.R. Tolkien and his friend, C.S. Lewis, made their way into college syllabi alongside T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land or F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. This volume aims to situate Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings within the literary period whose sensiblity grew out of the 19th-century rise of secularism and industrialism, which culminated in the cataclysm of world war.
During a pivotal moment in the history of Western culture, both Tolkien and his contemporaries—the literary modernists—engaged with the past in order to make sense of the present world, especially in tihe wake of World War I. While Tolkien and the modernists share many of the same concerns, their responses to the crisis of modernity are often antithetical. While the work of the modernists emphasizes alienation and despair, Tolkien’s work underscores the value of fellowship and hope.
[[[On Spec: The Canadian Magazine of the Fantastic]]]. Issue #96 (Spring 2014), Vol. 26, No. 1. $6.95, 124pp.
Fiction by Tina Callaghan, Brent Knowles, Chris Tarry, Shedrick Pittman-Hassett, Chadwick Ginther, Davyne DeSye, and Dave Cherniak. Non-Fiction by Barb Galler-Smith and Roberta Laurie. Features by Chuck Bazaar and Gary Pierluigi.
[[[The Given]]] by Vicki Pettersson. Harper Voyager, $14.99, 352pp, tp, 9780062066206. Fiction.
Harper Voyager is thrilled to publish the final novel in New York Times bestselling author Vicki Pettersson’s acclaimed Celestial Blues series. Readers have been eagerly awaiting this dramatic conclusion, and The Given delivers on Pettersson’s renowned creative hallmarks: innovative world building and darkly sexy supernatural intrigue.
The Given resumes the thrilling saga of fallen angel/private eye Griffin Shaw, and the spirited, rockabilly reporter Kit Craig as they battle long odds in Sin City. Incredibly imaginative, The Given spotlights Vegas’s Rat Pack glory days, its flinty present-day turmoil, and the immortal realm of the Everlast, where Centurions (mortals turned angels) and Pure angels co-exist on the celestial plane. What results is a perfect mix of classic noir mystery, urban fantasy, and paranormal romance—and just the right amount of crime scene grit and drama to intrigue readers until the very last page.
After learning that his wife survived the attack that killed him fifty years earlier, angel/PI Griffin Shaw is determined to find Evie—no matter the cost. But his obsession has come at a price. Grif has been forced to give up his strong, burgeoning love for reporter Katherine “Kit” Craig—the woman who made life worth living again—while dedicating himself to finding a woman he may no longer know.
Yet when Kit is attacked for a second time, it’s clear that there are forces in both the mortal and heavenly realm determined to protect secrets long buried in the past. In order to survive his second go-round on the Surface, Grif must convince Kit to reunite with him professionally and help uncover decades of deceit from dangerous enemies both old and new. Yet a prophecy also looms, threatening to upend Grif’s every sacrifice, testing his limits as an angel, his dedication to Evie… and his love for Kit. Gritty scenes and heartfelt emotion propel the dramatic finale to the Celestial Blues trilogy, finally giving readers the answer to the one deadly question that they’ve been dying to know: Who killed Griffin Shaw?
[[[The Science of Discworld]]] by Terry Pratchett with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. Anchor, $15.95, 432pp, tp, 9780804168946. Fantasy.
Can Unseen University’s eccentric wizards and orangutan Librarian possibly shed any useful light on hard, rational Earthly science?
In the course of an exciting experiment, the wizards of Discworld have accidentally created a new universe. Within this universe is a planet that they name Roundworld. Roundworld is, of course, Earth, and the universe is our own. As the wizards watch their creation grow, Terry Pratchett and acclaimed science writers Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen use Discworld to examine science from the outside. Interwoven with Pratchett’s original story are entertaining, enlightening chapters which explain key scientific principles such as the Big Bang theory and the evolution of life on earth, as well as great moments in the history of science.
More than just another science book and more than just another Discworld novel, The Science of Discworld is a creative, mind-bending mash-up of fiction and fact, that offers a wizard’s-eye view of our world that will forever change how you look at the universe.
[[[Veil of the Deserters]]] by Jeff Salyards. (Bloodsounder’s Arc, Book Two), Night Shade, $24.99, 450pp, hc, 9781597804905. Fantasy.
For Captain Braylar Killcoin, the fall from “favored shadow agent” of Emperor Cynead to “exiled traitor” is a short one. Fans of Red Country and King of Thorns will be captivated by Jeff Salyards’s second installment in the Bloodsounder’s Arc series, Veil of the Deserters.
Veil of the Deserters picks up as the oppressive Cynead solidifies his power base in the Syldoonian region, demanding loyalty from all operatives. Agent Killcoin and company are recalled to the capital to swear fealty. But a terrible secret may tempt Killcoin to desertion: he’s still sick from the Bloodsounder’s effects.
Killcoin’s sister, Soffjian, holds powerful memory magics that might save his life, but her political allegiances sow discord between the siblings. As Arki and others in the company try to get Soffjian and Killcoin to trust one another, politics in the capital prove to be far more complicated and dangerous than anyone could have predicted. The road that lies ahead is filled with blind twists and unexpected turns; but before it’s over, the true intentions of Cynead and Soffjian will lead to a conflict no one could have foreseen.…
[[[Lock In]]] by John Scalzi. Tor, $24.99, 336pp, hc, 9780765375865. Science fiction. On-sale date: August 2014.
Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky 1 percent—nearly five million souls in the United States alone—the disease causes “lock in”; Victims are fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to any stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenges.
A quarter of a century later, in a world shaped by what’s now known as “Haden’s syndrome,” rookie FBI agent Chris Shane is paired with veteran agent Leslie Vann. The two of them are assigned what appears to be a Haden-related murder at the Watergate Hotel, with a suspect who is an “Integrator”—someone who can let the locked in borrow their bodies for a time. If the Integrator was carrying a Haden client, then naming the suspect for the murder will be that much more complicated.
But “complicated” doesn’t begin to describe the puzzle that ensues. As Shane and Vann begin to unravel the threads of the murder, it becomes clear that the real mystery—and the real crime—is bigger than anyone could have imagined. The world of the locked in is changing, and with change comes opportunity that the ambitious will seize at any cost. The investigation takes Shane and Vann from the halls of corporate power to the virtual spaces of the locked in, and to the very heart of an emerging, surprising new human culture.
[[[Alien Hunter: Underworld]]] by Whitley Strieber. Tor, $25.99, 272pp, hc, 9780765331540. Thriller. On-sale date: 5 August 2014.
The master of the alien adventure, Whitley Strieber, is back in top form with the new thrilling series he began in Alien Hunter. Now comes Alien Hunter: Underworld, the searing sequel from the bestselling author.
Flynn Carroll works for the most secret police unit on the planet, seeking the most brilliant and lethal criminals who have ever walked free: thieves and murderers from another world.
As part of a top secret CIA alien communications project, Flynn’s unit has been tasked with tracking down rogue agents from the planet Aeon. While Aeon claims to be a free planet desiring open communications with humanity, Aeon criminals have committed a series of brutal and bizarre murders on Earth. Flynn has been forbidden to take lethal action against the alien murderers—but as the bodies begin to pile up, something must be done.
Flynn finds himself cut off from his team, struggling to unearth Aeon secrets while protecting Earthling civilians from the deadly creatures. But as Flynn gets closer to the truth, he finds himself facing not only some of the most dangerous and frightening criminals ever seen on Earth, but also questions about his own existence. In order to crack the case, Flynn must come to grips with the greatest mystery he has yet confronted: who—or what—is he?
[[[My Real Children]]] by Jo Walton. Tor. $25.99, 320pp, hc, 9780765332653. Science fiction.
Jo Walton is one of the most critically acclaimed and honored science fiction and fantasy authors today—her skillful books far surpass the genre, and she is writing beautiful and meaningful work that any lover of literature will embrace.
From the thought-provoking alternate history of her Small Change series (a set of mysteries set in a very different World War II-era England, including Farthing, Ha’penny, and Half a Crown), to her World Fantasy Award-winning Tooth ahd Claw, the her semi-autobiographical Among Others, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, Walton has sought to transcend being pigeon-holed as just one type of author.
Walton’s imaginative literary style shines through in her newest novel, My Real Children, an in-house favorite which will have readers glued to the page, captive under the spell Walton weaves.
In My Real Children, Walton introduces us to Patricia Cowan, an elderly woman who struggle to remember not only her past but her daily life. “Confused today,” read the notes clipped to the end of her bed. She forgets things she should know—what year it is, major events in the lives of her children.
But she remembers things that don’t seem possible. She remembers marrying Mark and having four children. And she remembers not marrying Mark and embarking on her career, finding love with the wonderful and supportive Bee instead. She remembers the death of President Kennedy in 1963, but she also remembers Kennedy in 1964, declining to run again after the nuclear exchange that took out Miami and Kiev. Her childhood, her years at Oxford during the Second World War—those were solid things. But after that, what was the real path her life took? And how did that path change the present?
Two lives, two worlds, two versions of modern history; each with their loves and losses, their sorrows and triumphs… Jo Walton’s My Real Children is a beautifully written book that transcends the speculative fiction genre and will appeal to anyone that has pondered how we remember our lives… and how every life matters to the entire world.
[[[Echopraxia]]] by Peter Watts. Tor, $24.99, 352pp, hc, 9780765328021. Science fiction. On-sale date: 26 August 2014.
It’s the even of the twenty-second century: a world where the deadly departed send postcards back from Heaven and evangelicals make scientific breakthroughs by speaking in tongues; where genetically engineered vampires solve problems intractable to baseline humans and soldiers come with zombie switches that shut off self-awareness during combat. And it’s all under surveillance by an alien presence that refuses to show itself.
In Peter Watts’s Echopraxia, Daniel Bruks is a living fossil: a field biologist in a world where biology has turned computational, a cat’s-paw used by terrorists to kill thousands. Taking refuge in the Oregon desert, he’s turned his back on a humanity that shatters into strange new subspecies with every heartbeat.
Now he’s trapped on a ship bound for the center of the solar system. To his left is a grief-stricken soldier, obsessed by whispered messages from a dead son. To his right is a pilot who hasn’t yet found the man she’s sworn to kill on sight. A vampire and its entourage of zombie bodyguards lurk in the shadows behind. And dead ahead, a handful of rapture-stricken monks takes them all to a meeting with something they will only call “The Angels of the Asteroids.”
Their pilgrimage brings Dan Bruks, the fossil man, face-to-face with the biggest evolutionary breakpoint since the origin of thought itself.
[[[A Call to Duty]]] by David Weber and Timothy Zahn. (Book 1 of Manticore Ascendant), Baen, $25.00, 400pp, hc, 9781476736846. Science fiction. On-sale date: October 2014.
New series from New York Times bestselling authors. Book #1 in Manticore Ascendant, a new series set in David Weber’s best-selling Honorverse from multiple New York Times best seller David Weber and #1 New York Times bestseller Timothy Zahn. Adventure in the heroic days and frontier past of Honor Harrington’s Star Kingdom!
Growing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order and discipline in his life… the two things his neglectful mother couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he’d finally found the structure he’d always wanted so desperately.
But life in the RMN isn’t exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of budgetary extinction.
The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or months away, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, a plague-ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere.
But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place.
Travis Long is about to find that out.
[[[The Hydra Protocol]]] by David Wellington. (a Jim Chapel Mission), William Morrow, $25.99, 430pp, hc, 9780062248800. Thriller.
David Wellington returns to the fast-paced Jim Chapel action thrillers with the Hydra Protocol, sequel to his acclaimed Chimera, which Booklist praised as “crisply written and exciting.” Well known in the horror community for his “Monster Island” trilogy, Wellington is fast making a name for himself as a thriller writer, skillfully combining political intrigue with relentless action to create the next great spy series.
Jim Chapel wants only to finish his current mission, go home and propose to his girlfriend. The routine mission—dive over 120 meters in Cuban waters to retrieve a hidden key code from a sunken Russian submarine—changes course quickly when Cuban officials are tipped off. But the beautiful woman who saves him from being discovered is actually a Russian agent, and her intel is shocking.
Hidden during the cold war, a forgotten Russian supercomputer controls hundreds of nuclear missiles, all aimed at the US. Just one failsafe error, and HYDRA destroys the US completely. And there have been glitches in its programming…
Jim and Nadia must travel across Eastern Europe into the steppes of Central Asia, deep into enemy territory, find and infiltrate the secret base deep in enemy territory, and stop HYDRA before it plunges the US into nuclear winter. But not everyone wants the weapon out of commission.
Jim Chapel is out of his depth, out of his element, but not out of the game.
[[[Pirates of the Timestream]]] by Steve White. Baen, $7.99, 340pp, pb, 9781476736778. Science fiction.
Piracy is a thing of the past—and the future
Special operations officer Jason Thaonu of the Temporal Regulatory Authority must once again plunge into Old Earth’s blood-drenched past to combat the plots of the Transhumanist underground.
Jason and his companions travel to the seventeenth century and encounter the real pirates of the Caribbean. To Jason’s horror, he learns that the Teloi aliens who were the grim reality behind the pagan pantheons of antiquity—aliens Jason believed he’d successfully destroyed—are still alive, and aiding the Transhumanists in founding an unspeakable cult.
Jason must somehow thwart the plans of the sinister allies while at the same time preventing reality itself from falling into chaos. And he will find an unexpected ally against the buccaneers: Captain Henry Morgan himself.
[[[The Tower Broken]]] by Mazarkis Williams. (Book Three of the Tower and Knife Trilogy), Night Shade, $26.99, 322pp, hc, 9781597805261. Fantasy.
There is a cancer at the heart of the mighty Cerani Empire: a plague that attacks young and old, rich and poor alike. Geometric patterns spread across the skin, until you die in agony or become a Carrier, doing the bidding of an evil intelligence, the Pattern Master. Emperor Sarmin thought he had defeated the disease; but now a terrible darkness festers nearby, creeping closer to the city of Cerna—and Sarmin is powerless to stop the destruction.
The Cerani Empire—a textured, complex world that evokes the intrigue of ancient Arabia—will reach its explosive breaking point in Williams’s gritty conclusion to the Tower and Knife trilogy, The Tower Broken.
As Cerana fills with refugees fleeing from infected areas of the empire, the Yrkmen armies arrive with conquest in mind, but offer to spare Sarmin’s people if they will convert to the Mogyrk faith. Meanwhile, time is running out for Sarmin: the Mage’s Tower is cracked; the last mage, sent to find a mysterious pattern-worker in the desert, has vanished; and Sarmin believes his kidnapped brother, Daveed, still has a part to play. He must navigate tricky alliances and court politics to protect the weakened Tower, defeat Yrkmir, and heal the pattern’s wounds once and for all—but can he trust those on whom he must depend?