SPOTLIGHT: Books of July 2008

Welcome to the July 2008 edition of Fantasy Book Critic’s monthly SPOTLIGHT which covers everything from fantasy and science fiction to horror, thrillers and more. Previous spotlights can be found HERE. If you thought the last few months had a lot of books, wait until you see July! Jam-packed with highly anticipated sequels, exciting debuts, cool anthologies, graphic novels, young adult titles and much more, July is going to empty out your bank accounts :) (NOTE: Unless stated otherwise, all release dates are for the US):

“Toll the Hounds” by Steven Erikson. UK Release Date: July 1, 2008. In Darujhistan, the saying goes that Love and Death shall arrive together, dancing: For Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, the time has come to right an ancient and terrible wrong while Hood, Lord of Death, stands at the beginning of a conspiracy that will shake the cosmos…. A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental Malazan Book of the Fallen series…
Official Malazan Empire Website
Order “Toll the Hounds” HERE
Read the Prologue HERE
Read Reviews via Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s INTERVIEW with Steven Erikson
NOTE: The US version of “Toll the Hounds” will be released by Tor Books on September 16, 2008 and can be ordered HERE.

“The Ashes of Worlds” by Kevin J. Anderson. Release Date: July 1, 2008. In this culminating seventh volume to The Saga of Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson, myriad storylines are woven together into a spectacular grand finale, including the clash of galactic empires, elemental beings devastating whole planetary systems, the rise of heroes, and enemies making their last stands. Seven years in the making, The Saga of Seven Suns is one of the most colorful and spectacular science fiction epics of the last decade…
Official Kevin J. Anderson Website
Order “The Ashes of Worlds” HERE + HERE (UK-August 4, 2008)
Read An Excerpt HERE

“Saturn’s Children” by Charles Stross. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Sometime in the 23rd century, humanity went extinct, leaving only androids behind. Freya Nakamichi 47 is a femmebot, one of the last of her kind still functioning. With no humans left to pay for the pleasures she provides, she agrees to transport a mysterious package from Mercury to Mars. Unfortunately for Freya, she has just made herself a target for some very powerful humanoids who will stop at nothing to possess the contents of the package…
Official Charles Stross Website
Order “Saturn’s Children” HERE (US) + HERE (UK-July 3, 2008)
Read Reviews via SF Reviews + The Book Swede

“Ink & Steel” by Elizabeth Bear. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Two queens sit on thrones in two different worlds—Elizabeth reigns over England, while her sister sovereign, Mab, rules the Faerie realm. Bound together by magic, their monarchies draw strength from each other, sustaining their regimes. But within the inner circles of royalty, are ambitious men plotting to usurp power. Bear’s latest addition to this epic tells the story of Kit Marley, Elizabeth’s playwright and spy who crafts magical plays that maintain Her Majesty’s rule…
Official Elizabeth Bear Website
Order “Ink & Steel” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE, HERE + HERE
NOTE: “Ink & Steel” is the sequel to “Blood & Iron” and “Whiskey & Water” in Elizabeth Bear’s The Promethean Age series, and part one of a two-part event that will continue in the second installment, “Hell and Earth” (August 5, 2008).

“Multireal” by David Louis Edelman. Release Date: July 1, 2008. David Louis Edelman's debut novel “Infoquake” was hailed as the best science fiction debut of 2006. The story continues with “MultiReal”, the stunning second book in the Jump 225 trilogy which follows Natch's journey from the halls of power in Melbourne to the ruined cities of the diss, while hanging in the balance is the fate of MultiReal—a technology that could end the tyranny of the Council forever, or give the Council the ultimate weapon of oppression…
Official David Louis Edelman Website
Order “MultiReal” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE

Read Reviews via Fantasy Book Critic + Grasping For The Wind

“Laugh Lines” by Ben Bova. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Ben Bova is a six-time winner of the coveted Hugo Award, and many other awards, including the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for 2006 Best Novel of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. In “Laugh Lines”, which includes two full-length novels—The Starcrossed and Cyberbooks—and several shorter works, Ben Bova takes a sardonic look at the humorous possibilities of future technology…
Official Ben Bova Website
Order “Laugh Lines” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE

“Fall With Honor” by E.E. Knight. Release Date: July 1, 2008. In this seventh Vampire Earth novel, it’s been three years since David Valentine’s forced exile from his allies in the war against the Kurians. David has now joined a group of resistance fighters headed for the Appalachian Mountains to establish a Freehold closer to the eastern seaboard. Valentine knows the East Coast will provide a strategic victory over the Kurians, but nothing will prepare Valentine’s fighters for what awaits them at the end of their journey…
Official E.E. Knight Website
Official Vampire Earth Website
Order “Fall With Honor” HERE
Read Reviews via Darque Reviews

“King’s Shield” by Sherwood Smith. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Indevan-Dal “Inda” Algara-Vayir, on the verge of adulthood, is at last coming home. At age eleven he was exiled from his kingdom, before he reported the invasion of his homeland. Pressed into service as the king’s “royal shield arm,” Inda must now defend the kingdom—for his reputation as the captain who defeated the most dangerous pirate fleet in history makes him the only man who stands a chance to defeat his country’s ancient enemy…
Official Sherwood Smith Website
Order “King’s Shield” HERE
NOTE: A sequel to “Inda” and “The Fox”, “King’s Shield” concludes a trilogy which acts as an historical prequel to Sherwood Smith's other Sartorias-deles’ novels.

“Weaver” by Stephen Baxter. Release Date: July 1, 2008 (US Debut). As Hitler marches across Europe, a prophecy from the past is traced to the present, history becomes as uncertain as the future, and the Weaver’s plans may be realized in the twentieth century’s bloodiest conflict… “Weaver” is the fourth and final volume in the Time’s Tapestry (Emperor, Conqueror, Navigator) alternate history epic from national bestselling author Stephen Baxter (Destiny’s Children, A Time’s Odyssey w/Arthur C. Clarke)…
Official Stephen Baxter Website
Order “Weaver” HERE
Read Reviews via SciFiDimensions + Strange Horizons

“The Best of Jim Baen's Universe II” edited by Eric Flint + Mike Resnick. Release Date: July 1, 2008. The online magazine, Jim Baen’s Universe, now in its second successful year, and fans of science fiction and fantasy agree that it’s the place on the internet to find great reading by both top-selling established writers and talented new arrivals. Once again, site editor Eric Flint, creator of the New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series, picks the cream of the crop from stories that have appeared in the magazine…
Official Eric Flint Website
Official Mike Resnick Website
Order “The Best of Jim Baen's Universe II” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE
NOTE: Includes stories from both editors, Kevin J. Anderson, Elizabeth Bear, Nancy Kress, Jack McDevitt, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Garth Nix, Carrie Vaughn and much more…

“Dogs” by Nancy Kress. Release Date: July 1, 2008. An ex-FBI agent has moved to a sleepy Maryland town to escape her tragic past. When the town's beloved dogs begin viciously attacking pet owners, federal CDC agents determine that the dogs are carrying a mutated flu affecting the aggression center of their brains, for which there is no known cure... Combining hard science, biological warfare and the threat of terrorism, “Dogs” chillingly explores the complex relationships between dogs and their owners…
Official Nancy Kress Website
Order “Dogs” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE + HERE
Read Reviews via Technoprobing

“The Summoning” by Kelley Armstrong. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Set in the same universe as Kelley Armstrong’s New York Times bestselling Women of the Otherworld series, but with entirely new characters, “The Summoning” is the first volume in the Darkest Powers YA trilogy which stars fifteen-year-old Chloe Saunders who one day discovers that she can see ghosts. Because of her ability, Chloe soon finds herself locked up in Lyle House, a “special home” for troubled teens. Yet the home isn’t what it seems…
Official Kelley Armstrong Website
Official Darkest Powers Website
Order “The Summoning” HERE + HERE (UK-July 3, 2008)
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, LoveVampires + The Book Muncher

“Tower Hill” by Sarah Pinborough. Release Date: July 1, 2008. In Sarah Pinborough’s (The Hidden, The Reckoning, Breeding Ground, The Taken) latest horror novel, a charismatic new priest has come to Tower Hill. A handsome new professor is teaching at the college. And a nightmare has settled over the town. A girl is found dead and mutilated—by her own hand. Another has slashed her face with scissors. Have the residents of Tower Hill all gone mad? Or has something worse…something unholy…taken over?
Official Sarah Pinborough Website
Order “Tower Hill” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review + The Celebrity Cafe

“Dragon Wytch” by Yasmine Galenorn. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Fourth book in the Sisters of the Moon series—following Witchling, Changeling and Darkling—“Dragon Wytch” finds the sexy and savvy D’Artigo sisters (Delilah, Menolly, and Camille), half-human/half-Fae operatives of the Otherworld Intelligence Agency, in the middle of a demonic war. What’s worse, a new power is rising—a dangerous force from the past—one that intends to restore balance to the worlds...whether the sisters like it or not...
Official Yasmine Galenorn Website
Order “Dragon Wytch” HERE
Read Reviews via Book Reviews by Crystal + Darque Reviews

“Lord of Bones” by Justine Musk. Release Date: July 1, 2008. In Justine Musk’s (The Uninvited) debut novel, “BloodAngel”, artist Jess Shepard and Ramsey Doe, a teenage boy with an angel trapped inside him, stopped a demon from bringing about the apocalypse. But a gate was opened and more demons have come to Earth—inhabiting human bodies, which makes them vulnerable. Now, these demon hybrids are preparing for the arrival of the one who will lead them—the one known as Soulbreaker, the Lord of Bones…
Official Justine Musk Website
Order “Lord of Bones” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“The Explosionist” by Jenny Davidson. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1938, in a time of subversive politics, homegrown terrorism, and rapidly changing alliances, and with a story full of mystery, murder, and mysticism including a terrible prophecy aimed at the protagonist Sophie, Jenny Davidson’s “The Explosionist” is an extraordinarily accomplished debut novel for teens that delivers a glimpse of the world as it might have been—had one moment in history been altered…
Official Jenny Davidson Blog
Order “The Explosionist” HERE
Read Reviews via Someone’s Read It Already + Ticket To Anywhere

“Slanted Jack” by Mark L. Van Name. Release Date: July 1, 2008. The job looks simple enough: Jon agrees to help a con man—a friend from a part of his past he'd rather forget—protect a very special young boy. The deal doesn't stay simple however, as each move Jon & Lobo makes results in greater danger and more enemies, eventually leading to an explosive climax involving a ruthless gang boss, a heavily armed group of religious fanatics, and an interstellar government out to clean up a dangerous frontier world…
Official Mark L. Van Name Website
Order “Slanted Jack” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE
NOTE: “Slanted Jack” is the second book in Mark L. Van Name's Jon and Lobo series, after “One Jump Ahead”.

“Pillage” by Obert Skye. Release Date: July 1, 2008. From the author of the award-winning Leven Thumps series comes, Pillage, the story of fifteen-year-old Beck Phillips who moves in with his wealthy uncle in the secluded village of Kingsplot and discovers some dark family secrets including a buried basement, a forbidden conservatory, and an old book about dragons. Filled with Skye’s signature humor as well as a surprise ending, Pillage will keep readers young and old entertained…
Official Obert Skye Myspace
Order “Pillage” HERE
Read Reviews via SciFiChick

“Cry of Sorrow” by Holly Taylor. Release Date: July 1, 2008. The Coranians have won the war. For Havgan, however, the victory is not complete. Cadair Idris, the hall of the High Kings, remains closed to him. To gain entrance he must locate the Four Treasures—the Stone, the Spear, the Cauldron and the Sword—and bring them to the Guardian of the Doors. Only then can he proclaim himself High King of Kymru. But the Treasures were hidden long ago and to find them he & three others must embark on a dangerous quest…
Official Holly Taylor Website
Order “Cry of Sorrow" HERE
NOTE: “Cry of Sorrow” is the third volume in Holly Taylor’s Dreamer’s Cycle following “Night Bird’s Reign” and “Crimson Fire”.

“The Word of God” by Thomas M. Disch. Release Date: July 1, 2008. Wearying of the world’s religious schisms, doctrinal heresies, and manifold sins, Disch has taken it upon himself to embrace divine authority, unless his enemies from the depths of a dissatisfying hell manage to prevent him. Revealing the hidden conspiracies that link the author with Philip K. Dick, Mel Gibson, Santa, L. Ron Hubbard, and eternity itself, this darkly comedic polemic holds nothing sacred and is as controversial as it is incontrovertible…
Official Thomas M. Disch LiveJournal
Order “The Word of God” HERE
Read Reviews via SciFi Weekly

“Clockwork Phoenix” edited by Mike Allen. Release Date: July 1, 2008. The first volume of this new annual anthology series of fantastic literature explodes on the scene with works that sidestep expectations in beautiful & unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings, startle with the way they cross genre boundaries, and aren't afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques. The delectable offerings found within these pages come from some of today's most distinguished contemporary fantasists and brilliant newcomers…
Official Mike Allen Website
Official Clockwork Phoenix Website
Order “Clockwork Phoenix” HERE
Read Reviews via Bibliophile Stalker
NOTE: Includes stories from Marie Brennan, John Grant, Tanith Lee, Ekaterina Sedia, Cat Sparks, Catherynne M. Valente, John C. Wright, et cetera.

“The Midnight Twins” by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Release Date: July 3, 2008. Meredith & Mallory are mirror twins born on either side of midnight one New Year’s Eve. They have always been inseparable. But after they are nearly killed in a mysterious fire on their 13th birthday, the bond that has always joined them unravels. Soon they discover they have been given a gift: Mallory can see into the past; Meredith into the future. But when they discover that one boy is not what they imagined, their lives are changed forever…
Official Jacquelyn Mitchard Website
Order “The Midnight Twins” HERE
Listen To An Excerpt HERE
Watch A Preview HERE

“Night Shift” by Lilith Saintcrow. UK Release Date: July 3, 2008. Not everyone can take on the nightside. Not everyone tries. But Jill Kismet is not just anyone. She's a Hunter, trained by the best. Except Jill’s mentor is now dead and she’s been taking on the city of Santa Luz on her own. It’s a tough job that only gets worse when Jill is called to investigate the aftermath of a particularly savage cop-killing and discovers not only the stench of hellbreed, but something else—something dangerous and tainted. Welcome to the night shift…
Official Lilith Saintcrow Website
Order “Night Shift” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read Reviews via Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review, LoveVampires + My Favourite Books
NOTE: “Night Shift” is the first book in Lilith Saintcrow’s new Jill Kismet urban fantasy series.

“The Alchemy of Stone” by Ekaterina Sedia. Release Date: July 4, 2008. Mattie, an intelligent automaton skilled in alchemy, finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict between gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. With the old order quickly giving way to the new, Mattie discovers powerful and dangerous secrets that could completely alter the balance of power in the city of Ayona… Ekaterina Sedia’s “The Alchemy of Stone” is an intriguing steampunk novel of romance, political intrigue, and alchemy…
Official Ekaterina Sedia Website
Order “The Alchemy of Stone” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)

“Empire in Black and Gold” by Adrian Tchaikovsky. UK Release Date: July 4, 2008. The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace for decades. But in far-off corners, the Wasp Empire’s hunger for conquest and war has become insatiable. Only the ageing spymaster, Stenwold Maker, can see that the long days of peace are over, and it’s up to him to open the eyes of his people before the Wasp Empire burns away everything in its path. Thus begins the dramatic and gripping new fantasy series, Shadows of the Apt…
Official Adrian Tchaikovsky Website
Order “Empire in Black and Gold” HERE

“The Dog of the North” by Tim Stretton. UK Release Date: July 4, 2008. Following the linked stories of two very different characters: the ‘Dog of the North’ Beauceron, a mercenary captain who commands a fearsome reputation; and Arren, a young man of talent but few prospects, Tim Stretton’s major publisher debut, “The Dog of the North” (The Annals of Mondia), is a spellbinding tale of loyalty and betrayal, homeland and exile, set in a brilliantly imagined world of political intrigue, sorcery, and warfare on an epic scale…
Official Tim Stretton Website
Order “The Dog of the North” HERE
Read Excerpts HERE

“The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection” edited by Gardner Dozois. Release Date: July 8, 2008. In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection, the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world…
Gardner Dozois @ Wikipedia
Order HERE
NOTE: Includes stories from Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Stephen Baxter, Ian McDonald, Alastair Reynolds, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Walter Jon Williams, etc.

“Victory of Eagles” by Naomi Novik. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Naomi Novik’s triumphant debut, “His Majesty’s Dragon”, introduced a dynamic new pair of heroes to the annals of fantasy fiction: the noble fighting dragon Temeraire and his master and commander, Capt. Will Laurence, who serves Britain’s peerless Aerial Corps in the thick of the raging Napoleonic Wars. Now, in “Victory of Eagles”, the fifth and latest novel of this dazzling series, they soar to new heights of breathtaking action and brilliant imagination…
Official Naomi Novik Website
Order “Victory of Eagles” HERE (US) + HERE (UK-August 7, 2008)
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist + SF Reviews.net

“A Darkness Forged in Fire” by Chris Evans. Release Date: July 8, 2008. First book in a stunning new series, A Darkness Forged in Fire introduces an unforgiving world of musket & cannon, bow & arrow, magic, diplomacy, and oaths—each wielding terrible power in an Empire teetering on the brink of war. In this world, Konowa Swift Dragon, former commander of the Empire's elite Iron Elves, has suffered greatly, but with the falling of a Red Star, the time has come for Konowa to redeem himself, even if it means his doom…
Official Iron Elves Website
Official Chris Evans Blog
Order “A Darkness Forged In Fire” HERE + HERE (UK-September 1, 2008)

Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Fantasy Book News & Reviews + Grasping For the Wind

Read Fantasy Book Critic’s INTERVIEW with Chris Evans
NOTE: The audio rights to Chris Evans’ “A Darkness Forged In Fire” have been bought by Tantor Audio and will be released as a thirteen CD set this August.

“The Valley-Westside War” by Harry Turtledove. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Our world owns the secret of travel between parallel continuums and we use it to trade for much-needed resources with other worlds. Preferably without letting them know about any of that parallel-worlds stuff. But there’s one parallel world that’s different. In it, the atomic war broke out in 1967, at the height of the Summer of Love. Now, Crosstime Traffic has been given a different sort of mission: find out what on earth, or on the many earths, went wrong…
Official Harry Turtledove Website
Order “The Valley-Westside War” HERE
NOTE: “The Valley-Westside War” is the sixth volume in Harry Turtledove’s YA Crosstime Traffic series, following “The Gladiator”.

“Jhegaala” by Steven Brust. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Fresh from the collapse of his marriage, and with the criminal Jhereg organization out to eliminate him, Vlad Taltos decides to hide out among his relatives in faraway Burz. At first Burz isn’t such a bad place, but the longer he stays there, the stranger and more mysterious it becomes. Then a terrible thing happens. In its wake, far from Draegara, without his usual organization working for him, Vlad is going to have to do his sleuthing amidst an alien people—his own…
Official Steven Brust Website
Order “Jhegaala” HERE
NOTE: “Jhegaala” is the eleventh volume in Steven Brust’s New York Times bestselling Vlad Taltos series.

“The Grin of the Dark” by Ramsey Campbell. Release Date: July 8, 2008. A former professor offers film critic Simon the chance of a lifetime—to write a book on one of the greatest long-lost comedians of the silent-film era, Tubby Thackeray. Simon is determined to find out the truth behind the jolly fat man’s disappearance from film and the world. Soon though, wherever Simon goes, laughter—and a clown’s threatening grin—follow. Is Simon losing his mind? Or is Tubby waiting for him to open the door back to the world?
Official Ramsey Campbell Website
Order “The Grin of the Dark” HERE + HERE (UK)
Read Reviews via Blogcritics, Horror Reader, SFX

“The Dragon’s Lair” by Elizabeth Haydon. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Barely one day after fulfilling his second mission for King Vandemere as Royal Reporter of the land of Serendair, young Charles Magnus Ven Polypheme—known as Ven—is off on another adventure. This time Ven and his friends must travel across a wondrous land filled with marvels and danger to discover the cause of a dispute between two warring kingdoms—an answer that leads Ven straight into the lair of a very angry dragon…
Official Elizabeth Haydon Website
Order “The Dragon’s Lair” HERE
NOTE: “The Dragon’s Lair” is the third volume in Elizabeth Haydon’s The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme YA series after “The Floating Island” and “The Thief Queen’s Daughter”.

“Poison Ink” by Christopher Golden. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Sammi, TQ, Caryn, Letty, and Katsuko are floaters. They don’t fit in with any of the groups at Covington High School—just each other. One night, to cement their bond, the girls decide to get matching, custom-designed tattoos. But when Sammi backs out at the last minute, everything changes. Sammi is suddenly an outcast and her friends are behaving like total strangers, all because of the tattoos. Is there anything Sammi can do to get her friends back?
Official Christopher Golden Website
Order “Poison Ink” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“The Shadows” by L.A. Banks. Release Date: July 8, 2008. The Dark Realms are taking cover after an angel onslaught from On High. The Anti-Christ has been injured and the fourth Biblical seal has been broken. Yonnie and Val, a strange combination of a daywalker and an angel hybrid, have joined Damali and Carlos’s team. And the two new Council Level vamps, Elizabeth Bathory and Lucrezia Borgia, are still in recovery from their last mission. All this and the Unnamed One is bringing the battle topside…
Official L.A. Banks Website
Official Vampire Huntress Legends Website
Order “The Shadows” HERE
NOTE: “The Shadows” is the eleventh book in L.A. Banks twelve-volume Vampire Huntress Legends series. The final three novels are described as The Armageddon Finale.

“Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse” by Victor Gischler. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Mortimer Tate was a recently divorced insurance salesman when he holed up in a cave on top of a mountain in Tennessee. Nine years later, he emerges into a bizarre landscape filled with hollow reminders of an America that no longer exists. Accompanied by his sidekick Buffalo Bill, the stripper Sheila, and the mountain man Ted, Mortimer journeys to the lost city of Atlanta—and a showdown that might determine the fate of humanity…
Official Victor Gischler Website
Order “Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Newsarama

“Vampyres of Hollywood” by Adrienne Barbeau & Michael Scott. Release Date: July 8, 2008. Film, television and Broadway star Adrienne Barbeau and New York Times bestselling author Michael Scott have teamed up to deliver this sexy, scary, and deliciously clever novel full of Hollywood glamour, behind-the-scenes secrets, and the truly bloodthirsty reality of Tinseltown. So grab some popcorn and some holy water and lose yourself in the high-stakes, back-stabbing world of the Vampyres of Hollywood…
Official Vampyres of Hollywood Website
Official Adrienne Barbeau Website
Official Michael Scott Website
Order “Vampyres of Hollywood” HERE
Listen To An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Dread Central

“The Robe of Skulls” by Vivian French, illustrated by Ross Collins. Release Date: July 8, 2008 (US Debut). The sorceress Lady Lamorna wants a skull-studded gown of deep black velvet, but her treasure chest is empty of gold. That doesn’t stop her, however from kidnapping, blackmailing, and using more than a little magic to get what she needs. Will her plans be foiled by the heroic Gracie Gillypot, two chatty bats, a gallant prince, the wickedest stepsister ever, a troll with a grudge, and some very ancient crones?
Official Ross Collins Website
Order “The Robe of Skulls” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“Through a Glass, Darkly” by Bill Hussey. UK Release Date: July 10, 2008. Jack Trent, the most effective CID officer in the history of the department, is having bad dreams—the murder of a child at the hands of something indescribable. But these are more than dreams. They are visions of the future that Jack has tried for years to suppress. Now in a race against time, Jack attempts to save the child’s life, but can he face the long-dead Dr. Mendicant and the Darkness of Crowman? And can he face the evil living inside himself?
Official Bill Hussey Website
Official Bill Hussey Myspace
Order “Through a Glass, Darkly” HERE
Read Reviews via BookGeeks, Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews + Fatally Yours
Read Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews’ INTERVIEW with Bill Hussey

“The Time Paradox” by Eoin Colfer. Release Date: July 15, 2008. In the sixth volume in Eoin Colfer’s bestselling Artemis Fowl series, Artemis' mother has contracted a deadly disease—and the only cure lies in the brain fluid of African lemurs. Unfortunately, Artemis himself was responsible for making the lemurs extinct five years ago. Now he must enlist the aid of his fairy friends to travel back in time and save the lemur. Not only that, but he must face his deadliest foe yet: his younger self…
Official Eoin Colfer Website
Official Artemis Fowl Website
Order “The Time Paradox” HERE (US) + HERE (UK-August 7, 2008)
Watch “The Time Paradox” Promo Video HERE

“The King’s Daughters” by Nathalie Mallet. Release Date: July 15, 2008. To the frozen kingdom of Sorvinka has Prince Amir gone to ask the king for Princess Eva’s hand in marriage. But Sorvinka has grown dangerous during the Princess’ absence and their welcome is as bitterly cold as the land itself. To withstand the bitter amenities of castle life and the brutal pecking order of Sorvinkan nobility, Prince Amir must somehow discover the truth behind the kidnapping of the king's youngest daughter, Princess Aurora…

Official Nathalie Mallet Website
Order “The King’s Daughters” HERE
NOTE: “The King’s Daughters” is the follow-up to Nathalie Mallet’s “The Princes of the Golden Cage.”

“Flood” by Stephen Baxter. UK Release Date: July 17, 2008. Sea levels begin to rise. The change is far more rapid than anyone predicted. Within two years London is drowned. New York follows. The Pope gives his last address from the Vatican. Mecca disappears beneath the waves. The world is drowning. The biblical flood has returned. And the rate of increase is building all the time. In fifty years, there will be nowhere left to run. “Flood” tells the story of mankind’s final years on earth and the hope offered by a second great ark…
Official Stephen Baxter Website
Order “Flood” HERE
Read Reviews via SFF World + The Wertzone

“The Exchange” by Graham Joyce. Release Date: July 17, 2008. Caz and her best friend have a secret. Late at night, they break into strangers’ homes just for the rush. Then Caz gets caught by Mrs. Tranter, and before she knows it, the old woman has snapped a silver bracelet around her wrist. Caz can’t remove it, no matter what she does; and then it becomes part of her, sinking into her skin like a tattoo. Worst of all, it’s given her an unpredictable kind of ESP—she can see into people’s inner lives, whether she wants to or not…
Official Graham Joyce Website
Order “The Exchange” HERE

“Alive In Necropolis” by Doug Dorst. Release Date: July 17, 2008. With all the playful sensitivity of Haruki Murakami and the haunted atmosphere of Paul Auster, but with a voice all his own, Doug Dorst has crafted an irresistible, compelling debut novel in “Alive In Necropolis” about rookie police officer Michael Mercer who is struggling to find his way in the world, keep the peace, and maintain a grip on reality in the town of Colma, California, the only incorporated city in America where the dead outnumber the living…
Doug Dorst @ Red Room
Order “Alive In Necropolis” HERE

“Sweetheart” by Chelsea Cain. UK Release Date: July 18, 2008. With Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered rave reviews around the world. But the riveting story of Archie and Gretchen was left unfinished, and now in Sweetheart Chelsea Cain picks up the tale again…
Official Chelsea Cain Website
Official Gretchen Lowell Myspace
Order “Sweetheart” HERE

Read Fantasy Book Critic's REVIEW of "HeartSick"
NOTE: The US version of “Sweetheart” will be released on September 2, 2008 and can be ordered HERE.

“Gypsy Blood” by Steve Vernon. Release Date: July 18, 2008. Steve Vernon's very first hardcover novel, “Gypsy Blood”—Book One of the Carnival Cycle—stars Carnival, a Gypsy fortune teller and occult trouble shooter who falls in love with a two-timing vampire and culminates in a climactic Battle Royale between Carnival, the vampire, a mothering she-demon, a social climbing blood god, the collective spirit of the city and a mercenary mariachi band riding into battle in a propane rickshaw!
Official Steve Vernon Website
Order “Gypsy Blood” HERE
Read Reviews via Fear Zone

“The Dangerous Days of Daniel X” by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge. Release Date: July 21, 2008. From the day that his parents were brutally murdered in front of his very eyes, Daniel has used his unique gifts—like being able to manipulate objects & animals with his mind or to recreate himself in any shape he chooses—to hunt down their assassin. Finally, with the help of The List he has located the killer. Now, on his own, he vows to take on his father's mission—and to have vengeance in the process…
Official James Patterson Website
Order “The Dangerous Days of Daniel X” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE.

“By Schism Rent Asunder” by David Weber. Release Date: July 22, 2008. The world has changed. The mercantile kingdom of Charis may have prevailed over the alliance designed to exterminate it, but the powerful men who run the Church aren’t going to take their defeat lying down. As King Cayleb knows, far too much of the kingdom’s recent good fortune is due to the secret manipulations of the being that calls himself Merlin—a being on whose shoulders rests the last chance for humanity’s freedom…

Official David Weber Website
Order “By Schism Rent Asunder” HERE
NOTE: “By Schism Rent Asunder” is the second volume in David Weber’s Safehold series after “Off Armageddon Reef”.

“An Autumn War” by Daniel Abraham. Release Date: July 22, 2008. Daniel Abraham delighted fantasy readers with his brilliantly original and engaging first novel, “A Shadow in Summer”, and in “A Betrayal in Winter”, penned a tragedy as darkly personal and violent as Shakespeare’s “King Lear”. Now in “An Autumn War”, the third volume in The Long Price Quartet, Daniel Abraham has written a spectacular epic fantasy of much wider scope and appeal that will thrill his fans and enthrall legions of new readers…
Official Daniel Abraham Website
Order “An Autumn War” HERE

“The Time Engine” by Sean McMullen. Release Date: July 22, 2008. Inspector Danolarian saw his world’s future and did not approve. The inspector knew about time travel because he had once met his future self. What he didn’t know was that he would be abducted into the future and wind up on the run with a constable who had shape-shifted into a cat. Danolarian would also find himself marooned in the ancient past, where he would have to recover his time engine from five thousand psychopathic horsemen…
Official Sean McMullen Website
Order “The Time Engine” HERE
NOTE: “The Time Engine” is the fourth volume in Sean McMullen’s Moonworlds Saga after “Voyage of the Shadowmoon”, “Glass Dragons”, and “Voidfarer”.

“The Man With the Iron Heart” by Harry Turtledove. Release Date: July 22, 2008. What if V-E Day didn’t end World War II in Europe? What if, instead, the Allies had to face a potent, even fanatical, postwar Nazi resistance? How might today’s clash of troops versus terrorists have played out in 1945? At once a novel of thrilling military suspense, intriguing alternate history, and profound insight into contemporary affairs, “The Man with the Iron Heart” is a tour de force by a storyteller of exceptional imaginative power…
Official Harry Turtledove Website
Order “The Man With the Iron Heart” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“Mage-Guard of Hamor” by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Release Date: July 22, 2008. Acclaimed author L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (The Corean Chronicles) continues his new Saga of Recluce story in “Mage-Guard of Hamor”, the second of two volumes—after “Natural Ordermage”—set mostly on the continent of Hamor, far across the sea from Recluce, where the story first began. This story is of the mage Rahl, his exploration of the Hamor society—a new culture for Modesitt—and how he gains more knowledge, power, and self-control…
Official L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Website
Order “Mage-Guard of Hamor” HERE

“Reading the Wind” by Brenda Cooper. Release Date: July 22, 2008. The colony planet of Fremont was supposed to be a new home for a pure race. So when a group of genetically altered teenagers were abandoned, they were not welcome. Joseph and the others managed to escape, but Chelo was left behind. Believing that the people of Fremont killed the teenagers, Joseph’s homeworld sent a mercenary team to eliminate Fremont’s entire population. Now, the youngsters are trying to save Chelo before it’s too late…
Official Brenda Cooper Website
Order “Reading the Wind” HERE

“The Veil of Gold” by Kim Wilkins. Release Date: July 22, 2008 (US Debut). When Daniel St. Clair goes missing on a research trip, Rosa Kovalenka resolves to find him. In the unknowable, impenetrable Russian forest, Rosa meets an enigmatic wanderer who is full of tales and riddles of times past. Who might hold the key to Rosa and Daniel’s future—or the destruction of the world… “The Veil of Gold” is a startling new fantasy novel from one of Australia’s bestselling talents, the Aurealis Award-winning Kim Wilkins…
Official Kim Wilkins Website
Order “The Veil of Gold” HERE

“The Divine Talisman” by Eldon Thompson. Release Date: July 22, 2008. To protect his people from the demonic Illysp, Torin, king of Alson, made the ultimate sacrifice. Now, as his best friend and his former love seek to salvage the shattered lands beyond their borders, a treacherous assault costs them their most powerful weapon—the fabled Crimson Sword. Hope—if any remains—lies in the efforts of a lone elf, a mad witch, the Dragon God, and a fallen hero charged with unraveling a series of divine riddles…
Official Eldon Thompson Website
Order “The Divine Talisman” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
NOTE: “The Divine Talisman” is the third and final volume in Eldon Thompson’s The Legend of Asahiel after “The Crimson Sword” and “The Obsidian Key”.

“Flight: Volume Five” by Kazu Kibuishi. Release Date: July 22, 2008. “Flight” is an award-winning comics anthology series edited by Kazu Kibuishi (Copper, Amulet, Daisy Kutter), showcasing young and innovative artists and writers. Originally published by Image Comics, the “Flight” series eventually moved to Villard Books, an imprint of Random House, and with each volume has steadily grown in popularity. The fifth volume of “Flight” features twenty-three brand new stories including one by editor Kazu Kibuishi…
Official Kazu Kibuishi Website
Official Flight Blog
Order “Flight: Volume Five” HERE

“Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman” by Marc Tyler Nobleman (Wall Street Journal, Forbes) and illustrated by Ross Macdonald. Release Date: July 22, 2008. Just in time to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the comic book character, Superman, comes this timely picture book biography that tells the inspiring story of how two high school misfits, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, created the world’s most popular superhero and changed the face of comic books forever…
Official Marc Tyler Nobleman Website
Official Ross Macdonald Website
Order “Boys of Steel” HERE

“Method Man” by Method Man, David Atchison + Sanford Greene. Release Date: July 23, 2008. An ancient evil of unfathomable power plots the unspeakable—the destruction of the mortal realm and beyond. Man's only hope lies in Peerless Poe, a hard-luck private eye with a taste for booze and a magnetic attraction to danger. A former member of the clandestine Order of the Sacred Method, Poe isn’t normal. The Order saw to that. Poe is scarred. Poe is transformed. Poe is . . . Method Man…
Official Method Man Book Myspace
Official Method Man Website
Official David Atchison Myspace
Official Sanford Green Website
Order “Method Man” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“Vicious Circle” by Mike Carey. Release Date: July 28, 2008. Felix Castor reluctantly returns to exorcism after a successful case convinces him that he really can do some good with his abilities. But his friend is still possessed; a succubus still has a contract on him; and he's still dirt poor. What he needs is a big job to fill the hole in his bank account. What he gets is a seemingly insignificant 'missing ghost' case that inexorably drags himself and his loved ones into the middle of a horrific plot to raise one of Hell's fiercest demons…
Official Mike Carey Website
Order “Vicious Circle” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Emerald City + Strange Horizons
NOTE: “Vicious Circle” is the second volume in Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series after “The Devil You Know”. The third book, “Dead Men’s Boots”, is currently out in the UK, and the fourth novel, “Thicker Than Water”, is forthcoming.

“Starlady & Fast Friend” by George R. R. Martin. Release Date: July 28, 2008. For many of us, the Ace Double Novels of the '50s and '60s have long been a source both of pleasure and nostalgia. This new double volume from Subterranean Press stands squarely in that distinguished tradition, offering a pair of colorful, fast-paced novelettes from one of the most popular writers currently working in any genre: George R. R. Martin of A Song of Ice and Fire fame. This double volume includes both “Starlady” and “Fast-Friend”…
Official George R. R. Martin Website
Order “Starlady & Fast Friend” HERE

“Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn” by Michael Moorcock. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Gorgeously illustrated by acclaimed artist Michael Kaluta and including a new Introduction by Moorcock, this second collection in the definitive series, features along with Elric, such renowned characters as Erekosë, Rackhir the Red Archer, and Count Renark von Bek. Readers will delight in adventures that include To Rescue Tanelorn…, Master of Chaos, The Singing Citadel, and the novella version of The Eternal Champion…
Michael Moorcock @ Wikipedia
Order “Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn” HERE

“Jimmy the Hand” by Raymond E. Feist and S.M. Stirling. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Available for the first time in the U.S., the third volume in the exceptional Legends of the Riftwar series by New York Times bestselling authors Raymond E. Feist and S.M. Stirling continues the story of Jimmy the Hand, boy thief of Krondor. In this book, Jimmy flees the only home he’s ever known for the supposedly safe haven of Land’s End. But a dangerous unknown presence lurks there and Jimmy soon finds himself in over his head…
Official Raymond E. Feist Website
Official S.M. Stirling Website
Order “Jimmy the Hand” HERE

“Lord Tophet” by Gregory Frost. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Together with her manager and a gifted young musician, Leodora’s performances under the stage name Jax have given her fame & fortune. But Jax’s success may be Leodora’s undoing. Years ago, following a performance by the legendary shadow-puppeteer, Bardsham, the god known as Lord Tophet visited a horrific punishment upon the span of Colemaigne and its citizens. Upon that same cursed span, Leodora is about to perform the most shocking story of all…
Official Gregory Frost Website
Order “Lord Tophet” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s REVIEW of “Shadowbridge”
NOTE: “Lord Tophet” completes the fantasy duology that began in “Shadowbridge”.

“The Magicians & Mrs. Quent” by Galen Beckett. Release Date: July 29, 2008. In this enchanting debut novel, Galen Beckett weaves a dazzling spell of adventure and suspense, evoking a world of high magick, revolutionaries, spies, illusionists, and genteel society—a world where one young woman in Ivy Lockwell discovers that her modest life is far more extraordinary than she ever imagined. And in the act of saving her father, Ivy will determine whether the world faces a new dawn—or an everlasting night…
Official Galen Beckett Website
Order “The Magicians & Mrs. Quent” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“Babylon Babies” by Maurice G. Dantec. Release Date: July 29, 2008. In the hidden “flesh and chip” breeding grounds of the first cyborg communities, Toorop, a Special Forces veteran of Sarajevo, is hired by a shadow organization to escort a young woman, Marie Zorn, from Russia to Canada. But what appears to be a routine job is anything but. A genetically altered pawn in an elaborate plot, Marie is carrying a dark secret that could spell destruction for all humankind—if Thoorop doesn’t track her down before it’s too late…
Official Maurice G. Dantec Website

Maurice G. Dantec @ Wikipedia
Order “Babylon Babies” HERE
NOTE: “Babylon Babies” was adapted into a feature film by Fox. Titled Babylon A.D., the movie stars Vin Diesel (The Chronicles of Riddick, The Fast & the Furious) and Michelle Yeoh (Sunshine, Tomorrow Never Dies) and hits theatres August 29, 2008.

“The Marches King” by Kaoru Kurimoto. Release Date: July 29, 2008. With more than a hundred installments and going strong, Kaoru Kurimoto’s The Guin Saga is Japan's top heroic fantasy series—has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan—and draws comparisons to Lord of the Rings and Robert E. Howard’s Conan. Finally available in paperback for U.S. readers, “The Marches King” is the fifth of a projected five-volume arc comprising the saga's opening “Marches Episode”…
The Guin Saga @ Vertical Inc.
Order “The Marches King” HERE

“Soul of Fire” by Sarah A. Hoyt. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Filled with adventure, intrigue, and romance, this thrilling new fantasy from Sarah A. Hoyt follows Peter Farewell on his daunting quest to recover the Soul of Fire, a magical ruby said to lie at the heart of British-controlled India. The solution to his problem though lies with Sofie Warington, and if Peter can keep her safe from the sinister factions desperate to gain control of both Sofie and her dowry, he will find more than a jewel—he will find his heart’s destiny…
Official Sarah A. Hoyt Website
Order “Soul of Fire” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
NOTE: “Soul of Fire” is the second book in Sarah A. Hoyt’s Magical British Empire series after “Heart of Light”.

”Ghost Walk” by Brian Keene. Release Date: July 29, 2008. There are all kinds of legends about LeHorn’s Hollow. Everything from ghosts to a goat man are said to haunt the woods. So it’s the perfect place for Ken Ripple to set up his latest haunted Halloween attraction. For Ripple knows folks will come from miles around to walk down the spooky trail and get scared witless. But those legends aren’t just talk. Evil really does wait in the woods, and soon the unsuspecting customers will pay their money and get in line, only to die…
Official Brian Keene Website
Order “Ghost Walk” HERE
Read Reviews via Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review + The Horror Review

“Love in the Time of Fridges” by Tim Scott. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Tim Scott’s “Outrageous Fortune” marked the debut of one of the most wildly inventive writers to hit the science fiction scene in years. Now he returns with a hilarious yet poignant novel about ex-cop Huckleberry Lindbergh who stumbles into the heart of a dark conspiracy and does something so unsafe, so monumentally stupid to stop it, it catches the Pentagon’s attention, forcing Huck on the run with only a bunch of feral fridges as his allies…
Order “Love in the Time of Fridges” HERE

“Exceptions to Reality” by Alan Dean Foster. Release Date: July 29, 2008. As is evident in his many thrilling novels, Alan Dean Foster (Pip & Flinx, Humanx Commonwealth, Spellsinger, Star Trek) is a master at creating other worlds in an array of genres. Now he turns his imagination to the short story in these spectacular tales of outer space, cyberspace, ancient gods, modern demons, and mortal horror, including Panhandler, Growth, Basted, The Killing, At Sea, and nine other irresistibly unearthly tales…
Official Alan Dean Foster Website
Order “Exceptions to Reality” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“Path of Revenge” by Russell Kirkpatrick. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Husk, a once-powerful magician, defeated decades ago by the Undying Man, lies in the dungeon of Andratan, planning his revenge. There are three things he needs: the stone, the blood, and a hand of hate. And the three people he has manipulated from afar to bring these things to him are on their way with no way of knowing what lies in store… “Path of Revenge” is the start of a new series set in the same world as the author's Fire of Heaven trilogy…
Official Russell Kirkpatrick Website
Order “Path of Revenge” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read An Extract HERE

“Cry Wolf” by Patricia Briggs. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Beginning an extraordinary new series set in Mercy Thompson’s world—but with rules of its own—Patricia Briggs introduces the Alpha & Omega novels: Anna never knew werewolves existed until the night she became one herself. And for three years she survived at the bottom of the pack. But Anna is that rarest kind of werewolf, an Omega. And one of the most powerful werewolves in the country will recognize her value as a pack member—and as his mate…

Official Patricia Briggs Website
Order “Cry Wolf” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE

“The Devil You Know” by Jenna Black. Release Date: July 29, 2008. The beautiful. The bad. The possessed. Some people worship them. Some people fear them. And some people—like Morgan Kingsley—go up against them toe-to-toe, flesh to flesh, and power against power. An exorcist by trade, Morgan is one of the few humans with an aura stronger than her possessor. But she’s also a woman who has just discovered a shocking truth: everything she once believed about her past, her identity, may have been a lie…
Official Jenna Black Website

Order “The Devil You Know” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Scooper Speaks
NOTE: “The Devil You Know” is the second book in Jenna Black’s Morgan Kingsley series after “The Devil Inside”.

“Nightwalker” by Jocelynn Drake. Release Date: July 29, 2008. For centuries Mira has been a nightwalker—an unstoppable enforcer for a mysterious organization that manipulates earth-shaking events from the darkest shadows. But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed, and may be all that prevents her doom. The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt, or be hunted…
Official Jocelynn Drake Website
Order “Nightwalker” HERE

“Shades of Dark” by Linnea Sinclair. Release Date: July 29, 2008. Can love alone save the day? That’s the question RITA Award-winning author Linnea Sinclair asks in her latest interstellar thriller of romance and adventure. Here, two lovers in Captain Chasidah “Chaz” Bergren, once the pride of the Sixth Fleet, and Gabriel Ross Sullivan, a former monk, mercenary, and telepath, are tested in the crucible of deep space. Can they trust each other with their hearts—and their lives—where there are only shades of dark…
Official Linnea Sinclair Website
Order “Shades of Dark” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
NOTE: “Shades of Dark” is the sequel to the RITA Award-winning “Gabriel’s Ghost”.

“The Accidental Demon Slayer” by Angie Fox. Release Date: July 29, 2008. It's never a good day when an ancient demon shows up on your toilet bowl. For Lizzie Brown, that's just the beginning. Soon her hyperactive terrier starts talking, and her long-lost biker witch Grandma is hurling Smuckers jars filled with magic. Just when she thinks she's seen it all, Lizzie learns she's a demon slayer and all hell is after her. So begins “The Accidental Demon Slayer”, the first book in Angie Fox’s new Demon Slayer series…
Official Angie Fox Blog
Order “The Accidental Demon Slayer” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via Darque Reviews + Scooper Speaks

“The Last Angel” by Natasha Rhodes. Release Date: July 29, 2008. An angel is found murdered on the streets of Sunset Boulevard. To the media, it’s the biggest story ever. To the Hunters, it’s just another case of 'whodunit'. To Kayla Steele, their youngest & newest member, it means a last chance to bring her murdered fiancé back from the dead. For others with a far darker purpose, it is the means to destroy the human race. To prevent Armageddon, the Hunters most join forces with their most hated enemies, the werewolves…
Official Natasha Rhodes Website
Order “The Last Angel” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
NOTE: “The Last Angel” is the second book in Natasha Rhodes’ Kayla Steele series after “Dante’s Girl”.

“After the Downfall” by Harry Turtledove. Release Date: July 31, 2008. Wehrmacht officer Hasso Pemsel, a career soldier on the losing end of the greatest war in history, flees from a sniper's bullet, only to find himself hurled into a mysterious, fantastic world of wizards, dragons, and unicorns. There, he allies himself with the Lenelli and their goddess Velona, offering them his knowledge of warfare and weaponry in their genocidal struggle against a race of diminutive, swarthy barbarians known as Grenye.
Official Harry Turtledove Website
Order “After the Downfall” HERE

“Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy” edited by William Schafer. Release Date: July 31, 2008. “Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy” is an anthology that explores the darker side of fantasy, where the fantastic mixes with the horrific. With all original tales, Subterranean Press and William Schafer aims to illuminate these shadowed corners, to bring into the light the creatures that venture forth from the sea, those that alter our reality to suit their sinister needs, and others who head into territory so bleak it’s best left undescribed…
Official Subterranean Press Website
Order “Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy” HERE

NOTE: Includes stories by Kage Baker, Poppy Z. Brite, Mike Carey, Joe Hill—as a separate chapbook, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Powers, Mike Resnick, Patrick Rothfuss and more.