It’s not even September yet, but already publishers are rolling out their Winter 2009 catalogs. So, since I’m always looking ahead, I decided to put together a little spotlight featuring some of the titles that I’m most anticipating next year. For now, I’m just focusing on books that are being released in early 2009 and that have release dates, covers and summaries available. But since this list is really only the tip of the iceberg, I will be writing up more of these spotlights in the future as further artwork and information becomes available :) Just please note that the majority of titles listed below are US releases and that all release dates are tentative and subject to change. Thanks and enjoy!
“Gears of the City” by Felix Gilman. Release Date: December 30, 2008. In this stunning follow-up to his acclaimed steampunk fantasy debut, “Thunderer” (Reviewed HERE), Felix Gilman's brave hero returns from a thrilling and dangerous quest only to confront another. Set against a magical landscape where time is meaningless, reality precarious, one man must seek a city's truth, and rediscover his own...
In the last days of the once great city of Ararat, Arjun is just another ghost lost in the shadows of The Mountain. To some, The Mountain is a myth; to others, a weapon. Above all, it is a dark presence above the city below. Rescued by two sisters from the mindless Know-Nothings who erode what's left of the city, Arjun volunteers to return their long-lost third sister from a ghost like himself: Brace-Bel, another man out of time.
It will require a perilous trek through ruins to a decadent mansion—one surrounded by traps and devices that could not possibly exist yet. And what awaits Arjun inside is something he could not possibly have imagined. As he struggles to recover the lost girl and piece the fragments of his life back together, Arjun knows he must finally return to the beast to hear the rest of its prophecy…
A spellbinding novel of imagination and intrigue, “Gears of the City” will propel you into an adventure like no other, in a world like no other.
Official Felix Gilman Website
Preorder “Gears of the City” HERE
“Bad Things” by Michael Marshall. UK Release Date: January 5, 2009. The new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of “The Straw Men” and “The Intruders” is a heart-stopping tale of secrets, lies and our culpability in our own misfortunes…
On a beautiful summer's afternoon, four-year-old Scott Henderson walked out onto a jetty over a lake in Black Ridge, Washington. He never came back. John Henderson's world ended that day, but three years later he's still alive. Living a life, of sorts. Getting by. Until one night he receives an email from a stranger who claims to know what happened to his little boy. Against his better judgment, Henderson returns to Black Ridge, unleashing a terrifying sequence of events that threatens to destroy what remains of everything he once held dear.
Bad things don't just happen to other people—they're waiting around the corner for you too. And when they start to make their way in through the cracks in your life, you won't know until it's far too late...
Official Michael Marshall Website
Preorder “Bad Things” HERE
“Bones of the Dragon” by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. Release Date: January 6, 2009. First there was Dragonlance, the RPG-based novels that begat a fantasy empire. Then there was Darksword, their first foray into the genre of Tolkien, Donaldson, and Brooks. Soon there came the Death Gate Cycle, seven books strong, every one of them a bestseller. Now the creative minds behind these bestselling worlds launch their new fantasy quest epic…
Skylan Ivorson is a sea-raider of the Vindras and eventually becomes the Chief of Chiefs of all Vindras clans, an honor he truly feels he deserves as one who has been blessed by Skoval, the god of war. But sometimes a blessing is a curse in disguise. Skoval and the other ancient gods are under siege from a new generation of gods who are challenging them for the powers of creation…and the only way to stop these brash interlopers lies within the mysterious and hidden Five Bones of the Vektan Dragons.
It will be up to the Vindras, the dragongoddess’s champion, to undertake the quest to claim all Five. The fate of the Old Gods and the Vindras’s people rests on their recovery—for this is not only a quest to save the world. It is also a quest for redemption. Filled with heroes and heroines young and old and exotic adventure in a magic-forged world, this is a series that fully illustrates the mastery of world-building and storytelling that has made Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman into the bestselling fantasy co-authors of all time.
Official Margaret Weis Website
Official Tracy Hickman Website
Preorder “Bones of the Dragon” HERE
“Poe” edited by Ellen Datlow. Release Date: January 6, 2009. Compiled by multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow, this collection commemorates the second centenary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth and features eighteen brand new Poe-inspired tales by some of the finest talents in the field, including Kim Newman, Pat Cadigan, Sharyn McCrumb, Lucius Shepard, Laird Barron, Suzy McKee Charnas, Gregory Frost and many others…
Ellen Datlow was the fiction editor of Omni magazine and Omni Online, and edited the ten associated anthologies. She has also edited the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series and numerous original science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies solo, or with Terri Windling. She was editor of the webzine Event Horizon: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, and was the editor of Sci Fiction. Datlow won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor twice, has received two Bram Stoker Awards, eight World Fantasy Awards, three Locus Awards for Best Editor, and has twice led the Science Fiction Chronicle reader's poll.
Official Ellen Datlow Website
Preorder “Poe” HERE
“Mean Streets”. Release Date: January 6, 2009. The best paranormal private investigators have been brought together in a single volume—featuring four all-new original stories of magic, mystery, mayhem and murder—and cases don’t come any harder than this:
New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher delivers a hard-boiled tale in which Harry Dresden’s latest case may be his last…
Nightside dweller John Taylor is hired by a woman to find something she lost—her memory—in a thrilling noir tale from New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green…
National bestselling author Kat Richardson’s Greywalker finds herself in too deep when a “simple job” goes bad and Harper Blaine is enmeshed in a tangle of dark secrets and revenge from beyond the grave…
For centuries, the being that we know as Noah lived among us. Now he is dead, and fallen-angel turned-detective Remy Chandler has been hired to find out who killed him in a whodunit by national bestselling author Thomas E. Sniegoski…
Official Jim Butcher Website
Simon R. Green @ Wikipedia
Official Kat Richardson Website
Official Thomas E. Sniegoski Website
Preorder “Mean Streets” HERE
“The Judging Eye” by R. Scott Bakker. Release Date: January 9, 2009. The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought—collectively the Prince of Nothing Saga—were R. Scott Bakker’s magnificent debut into the upper echelon of epic fantasy. In those three books, Bakker created a world that was at once a triumph of the fantastic and an historical epic as real as any that came before.
Widely praised by reviewers and a growing body of fans, Bakker has already established the reputation as one of the smartest writers in the fantasy genre—a writer in the line stretching from Homer to Peake and Tolkien. Now he returns to the world of The Prince of Nothing with the long-awaited “The Judging Eye”, the first book in the all-new Aspect-Emperor series.
Set twenty years after the end of The Thousandfold Thought, Bakker reintroduces us to a world that is at once familiar but also very different than the one readers thought they knew. Delving even further into his richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery, and fully remolding the fantasy genre to broaden the scope of intricacy and meaning, R. Scott Bakker has once again written a fantasy novel that defies all expectations and rewards the reader with an experience unlike any to be had in the canon of today’s literature…
Official R. Scott Bakker Website
Preorder “The Judging Eye” HERE
“Daemon” by Daniel Suarez. Release Date: January 8, 2009. Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can’t always be said for the people who design them.
Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company’s stock price. But Sobol’s fans aren’t the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyperefficient, interconnected world. With Sobol’s secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it’s up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy—or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control…
Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.
Preorder “Daemon” HERE
“The Steel Remains” by Richard K. Morgan. Release Date: January 20, 2009 (US Debut). Ringil Eskiath, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap, is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the Scaled Folk, he makes a living from telling credulous travelers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade, where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives...
Egar Dragonbane, a Majak steppe-nomad and one-time fighter for the Empire, is now the Skaranak clanmaster. Pining for the past, Egar finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervor. But perhaps there is some truth behind the tribe’s gods, the Sky Dwellers…
“Gears of the City” by Felix Gilman. Release Date: December 30, 2008. In this stunning follow-up to his acclaimed steampunk fantasy debut, “Thunderer” (Reviewed HERE), Felix Gilman's brave hero returns from a thrilling and dangerous quest only to confront another. Set against a magical landscape where time is meaningless, reality precarious, one man must seek a city's truth, and rediscover his own...In the last days of the once great city of Ararat, Arjun is just another ghost lost in the shadows of The Mountain. To some, The Mountain is a myth; to others, a weapon. Above all, it is a dark presence above the city below. Rescued by two sisters from the mindless Know-Nothings who erode what's left of the city, Arjun volunteers to return their long-lost third sister from a ghost like himself: Brace-Bel, another man out of time.
It will require a perilous trek through ruins to a decadent mansion—one surrounded by traps and devices that could not possibly exist yet. And what awaits Arjun inside is something he could not possibly have imagined. As he struggles to recover the lost girl and piece the fragments of his life back together, Arjun knows he must finally return to the beast to hear the rest of its prophecy…
A spellbinding novel of imagination and intrigue, “Gears of the City” will propel you into an adventure like no other, in a world like no other.
Official Felix Gilman Website
Preorder “Gears of the City” HERE
“Bad Things” by Michael Marshall. UK Release Date: January 5, 2009. The new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of “The Straw Men” and “The Intruders” is a heart-stopping tale of secrets, lies and our culpability in our own misfortunes…On a beautiful summer's afternoon, four-year-old Scott Henderson walked out onto a jetty over a lake in Black Ridge, Washington. He never came back. John Henderson's world ended that day, but three years later he's still alive. Living a life, of sorts. Getting by. Until one night he receives an email from a stranger who claims to know what happened to his little boy. Against his better judgment, Henderson returns to Black Ridge, unleashing a terrifying sequence of events that threatens to destroy what remains of everything he once held dear.
Bad things don't just happen to other people—they're waiting around the corner for you too. And when they start to make their way in through the cracks in your life, you won't know until it's far too late...
Official Michael Marshall Website
Preorder “Bad Things” HERE
“Bones of the Dragon” by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. Release Date: January 6, 2009. First there was Dragonlance, the RPG-based novels that begat a fantasy empire. Then there was Darksword, their first foray into the genre of Tolkien, Donaldson, and Brooks. Soon there came the Death Gate Cycle, seven books strong, every one of them a bestseller. Now the creative minds behind these bestselling worlds launch their new fantasy quest epic…Skylan Ivorson is a sea-raider of the Vindras and eventually becomes the Chief of Chiefs of all Vindras clans, an honor he truly feels he deserves as one who has been blessed by Skoval, the god of war. But sometimes a blessing is a curse in disguise. Skoval and the other ancient gods are under siege from a new generation of gods who are challenging them for the powers of creation…and the only way to stop these brash interlopers lies within the mysterious and hidden Five Bones of the Vektan Dragons.
It will be up to the Vindras, the dragongoddess’s champion, to undertake the quest to claim all Five. The fate of the Old Gods and the Vindras’s people rests on their recovery—for this is not only a quest to save the world. It is also a quest for redemption. Filled with heroes and heroines young and old and exotic adventure in a magic-forged world, this is a series that fully illustrates the mastery of world-building and storytelling that has made Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman into the bestselling fantasy co-authors of all time.
Official Margaret Weis Website
Official Tracy Hickman Website
Preorder “Bones of the Dragon” HERE
“Poe” edited by Ellen Datlow. Release Date: January 6, 2009. Compiled by multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow, this collection commemorates the second centenary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth and features eighteen brand new Poe-inspired tales by some of the finest talents in the field, including Kim Newman, Pat Cadigan, Sharyn McCrumb, Lucius Shepard, Laird Barron, Suzy McKee Charnas, Gregory Frost and many others…Ellen Datlow was the fiction editor of Omni magazine and Omni Online, and edited the ten associated anthologies. She has also edited the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series and numerous original science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies solo, or with Terri Windling. She was editor of the webzine Event Horizon: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, and was the editor of Sci Fiction. Datlow won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor twice, has received two Bram Stoker Awards, eight World Fantasy Awards, three Locus Awards for Best Editor, and has twice led the Science Fiction Chronicle reader's poll.
Official Ellen Datlow Website
Preorder “Poe” HERE
“Mean Streets”. Release Date: January 6, 2009. The best paranormal private investigators have been brought together in a single volume—featuring four all-new original stories of magic, mystery, mayhem and murder—and cases don’t come any harder than this:New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher delivers a hard-boiled tale in which Harry Dresden’s latest case may be his last…
Nightside dweller John Taylor is hired by a woman to find something she lost—her memory—in a thrilling noir tale from New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green…
National bestselling author Kat Richardson’s Greywalker finds herself in too deep when a “simple job” goes bad and Harper Blaine is enmeshed in a tangle of dark secrets and revenge from beyond the grave…
For centuries, the being that we know as Noah lived among us. Now he is dead, and fallen-angel turned-detective Remy Chandler has been hired to find out who killed him in a whodunit by national bestselling author Thomas E. Sniegoski…
Official Jim Butcher Website
Simon R. Green @ Wikipedia
Official Kat Richardson Website
Official Thomas E. Sniegoski Website
Preorder “Mean Streets” HERE
“The Judging Eye” by R. Scott Bakker. Release Date: January 9, 2009. The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought—collectively the Prince of Nothing Saga—were R. Scott Bakker’s magnificent debut into the upper echelon of epic fantasy. In those three books, Bakker created a world that was at once a triumph of the fantastic and an historical epic as real as any that came before.Widely praised by reviewers and a growing body of fans, Bakker has already established the reputation as one of the smartest writers in the fantasy genre—a writer in the line stretching from Homer to Peake and Tolkien. Now he returns to the world of The Prince of Nothing with the long-awaited “The Judging Eye”, the first book in the all-new Aspect-Emperor series.
Set twenty years after the end of The Thousandfold Thought, Bakker reintroduces us to a world that is at once familiar but also very different than the one readers thought they knew. Delving even further into his richly imagined universe of myth, violence, and sorcery, and fully remolding the fantasy genre to broaden the scope of intricacy and meaning, R. Scott Bakker has once again written a fantasy novel that defies all expectations and rewards the reader with an experience unlike any to be had in the canon of today’s literature…
Official R. Scott Bakker Website
Preorder “The Judging Eye” HERE
“Daemon” by Daniel Suarez. Release Date: January 8, 2009. Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can’t always be said for the people who design them.Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company’s stock price. But Sobol’s fans aren’t the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyperefficient, interconnected world. With Sobol’s secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it’s up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy—or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control…
Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.
Preorder “Daemon” HERE
“The Steel Remains” by Richard K. Morgan. Release Date: January 20, 2009 (US Debut). Ringil Eskiath, the hero of the bloody slaughter at Gallows Gap, is a legend to all who don't know him and a twisted degenerate to those that do. A veteran of the wars against the Scaled Folk, he makes a living from telling credulous travelers of his exploits. Until one day he is pulled away from his life and into the depths of the Empire's slave trade, where he will discover a secret infinitely more frightening than the trade in lives...Egar Dragonbane, a Majak steppe-nomad and one-time fighter for the Empire, is now the Skaranak clanmaster. Pining for the past, Egar finds himself entangled in a small-town battle between common sense and religious fervor. But perhaps there is some truth behind the tribe’s gods, the Sky Dwellers…
Archeth, an abandoned 207-year-old Kiriath half-breed advisor to Jhiral Khimran II of the Yhelteth Empire, is sent to investigate a demonic incursion against the Empire's borders. What she uncovers is evidence of a terrifying new enemy that makes the Scaled Folk seem like children…
Anti-social, anti-heroic, and decidedly irritated, all three of these veterans of the War against the Scaled Folk are about to be called upon to fight again for a world that owes them everything and has given them nothing…
Official Richard K. Morgan Website
Preorder “The Steel Remains” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “The Steel Remains”
NOTE: “The Steel Remains” was originally published August 7, 2008 via Gollancz.
“Mind Over Ship” by David Marusek. Release Date: January 20, 2009. The year is 2135, and the international program to seed the galaxy with human colonies has stalled as greedy, immoral powerbrokers park their starships in Earth’s orbit and begin to convert them into space condos. Ellen Starke’s head, rescued from the fiery crash that killed her mother, struggles to regrow a new body in time to restore her dead mother’s financial empire. And Pre-Singularity AIs conspire to join the human race just as human clones, such as Mary Skarland and her sisters, want nothing more than to leave it.
Welcome to “Mind Over Ship”, the sequel to David Marusek’s stunning debut novel, “Counting Heads”, which Publishers Weekly called “ferociously smart, simultaneously horrific and funny.”
“David Marusek is one of the best-kept secrets of science fiction, a wild talent with a Gibson-grade imagination and marvelous prose, and a keen sense of human drama that makes it all go.” —Cory Doctorow
Official David Marusek Website
Preorder “Mind Over Ship” HERE
“The Map of Moments” by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon. Release Date: January 27, 2009. Two award-winning masters of dark fantasy team up to explore the hidden heart of one of the world's greatest cities in a poignant tale of loss and redemption set in post-Katrina New Orleans…
With the first Novel of the Hidden Cities, “Mind the Gap”, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon took us into the heart of a haunted London, an Oliver Twist-like underground kingdom of rogues and thieves. But now they outdo themselves with a personal and wrenching story of one of America's most recent tragedies, told through the eyes of a man struggling to redeem his lost love.
Max Corbett, once a professor at Tulane, broke the cardinal rule—he fell in love with his nineteen-year-old student, Gabrielle. When she ended the affair, he ran all the way back to Boston to escape the pain. And then Katrina hit. Now, Max finds himself back in New Orleans, attending the funeral of the girl he loved so fiercely and knew so little. But Max may yet have a chance to undo the past. With the aid of a tourist map and an old gris-gris man, Max is offered a brief portal to the past and the chance to redeem not only himself and Gabrielle, but maybe the heart of a wounded city as well…
Poignant and stunningly beautiful, “The Map of Moments” is a breakout novel by the talented duo of Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon.
Official Hidden Cities Website
Official Christopher Golden Website
Official Tim Lebbon Website
Preorder “The Map of Moments” HERE
“Flight Into Darkness” by Sarah Ash. Release Date: January 27, 2009. Publishers Weekly praises Tracing the Shadows, the first novel in the two-part Alchymist's Legacy, as “a compelling saga.” Booklist's starred review says it “introduces myriad characters and plot lines that Ash skillfully weaves into an enticing tapestry of a world reminiscent of eighteenth-century Europe, full of political machinations and rich with music…This challenging, complex fantasy will appeal to readers of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books.”
Now, here is the latest novel in a fantasy masterpiece of truly epic proportions. In a clash of kingdoms and rebels, of magicians and inquisitors, a bold quest has begun into a realm where dragons dwell and a terrifying power awaits whoever is courageous and cunning enough to seize it…
It was on the Inquisition's pyre that Celestine's father perished like so many other great mages. Now renowned for her gift as a singer, secretly guided by her own aethyric spirit, she is traveling in the company of the devout warrior-priest Jagu to retrieve a relic of great magical power. This is a mission that will lead them to unexpected danger. For in a glittering court rife with pretenders and assassins, a king harbors the outlaw mage whose betrayal left Celestine an orphan . . . and who would now claim her life.
As Celestine struggles to conceal her power from the Inquisition and master it for the magical war to come, a survivor of a past battle begins his own dreadful journey, from near-death to a place even worse than death. As the last crystal mage, Rieuk Mordiern, grievously scarred in body and spirit, may alone be able to keep the Rift from closing and magic from fading forever from the world. But to do so, he must first pass through the Serpent Gate . . . and into the very center of the dark storm of destruction about to break over the world…
Official Sarah Ash Website
Preorder “Flight Into Darkness” HERE
“Escape From Hell” by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Release Date: February 3, 2009. The long-awaited follow-up to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s classic science fiction reimagining of Dante’s Inferno…
Allan Carpenter escaped from hell once but remained haunted by what he saw and endured. He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined. Partnering with legendary poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpenter is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned. But now that he’s returned to this Dantesque inferno, can he ever again leave?
“What a romp! Inferno was a fire-breathing journey into the depths of hell, and now here comes Escape from Hell, the journey out. Sort of. You need to be there. Total reading fun. Roll over, Dante!” —Whitley Strieber, New York Times Bestselling author of “2012: The War For Souls”
“Escape from Hell is an iconoclastic, action-packed fantasy thriller from two of the greatest masters of our age: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. A white-hot plot, as fascinating as it is original, will outrage many and burn even more. A great read. Save this one for the dead of Winter…It’s that hot.” —Douglas Preston, New York Times Bestselling author of “Blasphemy”
Official Larry Niven Website
Official Jerry Pournelle Website
Preorder “Escape From Hell” HERE
NOTE: Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s “Inferno” is being reissued on September 2, 2008.
“Dragonfly Falling” by Adrian Tchaikovsky. UK Release Date: February 6, 2009. Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege.
Over in the imperial capital, the young emperor Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri who claims to know of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates of the dangerous threat that the Wasp Empire represents.
Full of colorful drama and nonstop action involving mass warfare and personal combat, “Dragonfly Falling” brilliantly continues the Shadows of the Apt epic fantasy series that began in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s remarkable debut novel, “Empire in Black and Gold”…
Official Shadows of the Apt Website
Official Adrian Tchaikovsky Blog
Preorder “Dragonfly Falling” HERE
“Drood” by Dan Simmons. Release Date: February 9, 2009. On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens—at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world—hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Just as he did in “The Terror”, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens' life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens' friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), “Drood” explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens' final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, “Drood” is Dan Simmons at his powerful best…
Official Dan Simmons Website
Preorder “Drood” HERE
“Lamentation” by Ken Scholes. Release Date: February 17, 2009. An ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands.
Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city—he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant. Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others’ throats, as alliances are challenged and hidden plots are uncovered…
This remarkable first novel from an award-winning short fiction writer will take readers away to a new world—an Earth so far in the distant future that our time is not even a memory; a world where magick is commonplace and great areas of the planet are impassable wastes. But human nature hasn’t changed through the ages: War and faith and love still move princes and nations.
“This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it’s done. No more ponderous plotting—Scholes barely gives us time to breath. Yet he gives us vivid characters, a world think with detail, and wonders we’ve never seen before. I wish my first novel had been this good. I wish all five volumes of this series were already published so I could read them now.” —Orson Scott Card
“Ken Scholes' Lamentation is an iconic SF story cloaked in fantasy, drawing raw material from classics such as A Canticle for Liebowitz and Earth Abides, but forging something new, with colorful characters, compelling scenes, and unfolding miracles.” —Kevin J. Anderson, Bestselling co-author of “Sandworms of Dune”
Official Ken Scholes Website
Preorder “Lamentation” HERE
“The Magician’s Apprentice” by Trudi Canavan. Release Date: February 23, 2009. Set hundreds of years before the events of The Magicians' Guild, “The Magician’s Apprentice” is the new novel set in the world of Trudi Canavan's Black Magician Trilogy…
In the remote village of Mandryn, Tessia serves as assistant to her father, the village Healer. Her mother would rather she found a husband, but her life is about to take a very unexpected turn. When the advances of a visiting Sachakan mage get violent, Tessia unconsciously taps unknown reserves of magic to defend herself. Lord Dakon, the local magician, takes Tessia under his wing as an apprentice.
Official Richard K. Morgan Website
Preorder “The Steel Remains” HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s Review of “The Steel Remains”
NOTE: “The Steel Remains” was originally published August 7, 2008 via Gollancz.
“Mind Over Ship” by David Marusek. Release Date: January 20, 2009. The year is 2135, and the international program to seed the galaxy with human colonies has stalled as greedy, immoral powerbrokers park their starships in Earth’s orbit and begin to convert them into space condos. Ellen Starke’s head, rescued from the fiery crash that killed her mother, struggles to regrow a new body in time to restore her dead mother’s financial empire. And Pre-Singularity AIs conspire to join the human race just as human clones, such as Mary Skarland and her sisters, want nothing more than to leave it.Welcome to “Mind Over Ship”, the sequel to David Marusek’s stunning debut novel, “Counting Heads”, which Publishers Weekly called “ferociously smart, simultaneously horrific and funny.”
“David Marusek is one of the best-kept secrets of science fiction, a wild talent with a Gibson-grade imagination and marvelous prose, and a keen sense of human drama that makes it all go.” —Cory Doctorow
Official David Marusek Website
Preorder “Mind Over Ship” HERE
“The Map of Moments” by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon. Release Date: January 27, 2009. Two award-winning masters of dark fantasy team up to explore the hidden heart of one of the world's greatest cities in a poignant tale of loss and redemption set in post-Katrina New Orleans…With the first Novel of the Hidden Cities, “Mind the Gap”, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon took us into the heart of a haunted London, an Oliver Twist-like underground kingdom of rogues and thieves. But now they outdo themselves with a personal and wrenching story of one of America's most recent tragedies, told through the eyes of a man struggling to redeem his lost love.
Max Corbett, once a professor at Tulane, broke the cardinal rule—he fell in love with his nineteen-year-old student, Gabrielle. When she ended the affair, he ran all the way back to Boston to escape the pain. And then Katrina hit. Now, Max finds himself back in New Orleans, attending the funeral of the girl he loved so fiercely and knew so little. But Max may yet have a chance to undo the past. With the aid of a tourist map and an old gris-gris man, Max is offered a brief portal to the past and the chance to redeem not only himself and Gabrielle, but maybe the heart of a wounded city as well…
Poignant and stunningly beautiful, “The Map of Moments” is a breakout novel by the talented duo of Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon.
Official Hidden Cities Website
Official Christopher Golden Website
Official Tim Lebbon Website
Preorder “The Map of Moments” HERE
“Flight Into Darkness” by Sarah Ash. Release Date: January 27, 2009. Publishers Weekly praises Tracing the Shadows, the first novel in the two-part Alchymist's Legacy, as “a compelling saga.” Booklist's starred review says it “introduces myriad characters and plot lines that Ash skillfully weaves into an enticing tapestry of a world reminiscent of eighteenth-century Europe, full of political machinations and rich with music…This challenging, complex fantasy will appeal to readers of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series and Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books.”Now, here is the latest novel in a fantasy masterpiece of truly epic proportions. In a clash of kingdoms and rebels, of magicians and inquisitors, a bold quest has begun into a realm where dragons dwell and a terrifying power awaits whoever is courageous and cunning enough to seize it…
It was on the Inquisition's pyre that Celestine's father perished like so many other great mages. Now renowned for her gift as a singer, secretly guided by her own aethyric spirit, she is traveling in the company of the devout warrior-priest Jagu to retrieve a relic of great magical power. This is a mission that will lead them to unexpected danger. For in a glittering court rife with pretenders and assassins, a king harbors the outlaw mage whose betrayal left Celestine an orphan . . . and who would now claim her life.
As Celestine struggles to conceal her power from the Inquisition and master it for the magical war to come, a survivor of a past battle begins his own dreadful journey, from near-death to a place even worse than death. As the last crystal mage, Rieuk Mordiern, grievously scarred in body and spirit, may alone be able to keep the Rift from closing and magic from fading forever from the world. But to do so, he must first pass through the Serpent Gate . . . and into the very center of the dark storm of destruction about to break over the world…
Official Sarah Ash Website
Preorder “Flight Into Darkness” HERE
“Escape From Hell” by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Release Date: February 3, 2009. The long-awaited follow-up to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s classic science fiction reimagining of Dante’s Inferno…Allan Carpenter escaped from hell once but remained haunted by what he saw and endured. He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined. Partnering with legendary poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpenter is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned. But now that he’s returned to this Dantesque inferno, can he ever again leave?
“What a romp! Inferno was a fire-breathing journey into the depths of hell, and now here comes Escape from Hell, the journey out. Sort of. You need to be there. Total reading fun. Roll over, Dante!” —Whitley Strieber, New York Times Bestselling author of “2012: The War For Souls”
“Escape from Hell is an iconoclastic, action-packed fantasy thriller from two of the greatest masters of our age: Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. A white-hot plot, as fascinating as it is original, will outrage many and burn even more. A great read. Save this one for the dead of Winter…It’s that hot.” —Douglas Preston, New York Times Bestselling author of “Blasphemy”
Official Larry Niven Website
Official Jerry Pournelle Website
Preorder “Escape From Hell” HERE
NOTE: Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s “Inferno” is being reissued on September 2, 2008.
“Dragonfly Falling” by Adrian Tchaikovsky. UK Release Date: February 6, 2009. Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege.Over in the imperial capital, the young emperor Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri who claims to know of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates of the dangerous threat that the Wasp Empire represents.
Full of colorful drama and nonstop action involving mass warfare and personal combat, “Dragonfly Falling” brilliantly continues the Shadows of the Apt epic fantasy series that began in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s remarkable debut novel, “Empire in Black and Gold”…
Official Shadows of the Apt Website
Official Adrian Tchaikovsky Blog
Preorder “Dragonfly Falling” HERE
“Drood” by Dan Simmons. Release Date: February 9, 2009. On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens—at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world—hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Just as he did in “The Terror”, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens' life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens' friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), “Drood” explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author's last years and may provide the key to Dickens' final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, “Drood” is Dan Simmons at his powerful best…
Official Dan Simmons Website
Preorder “Drood” HERE
“Lamentation” by Ken Scholes. Release Date: February 17, 2009. An ancient weapon has completely destroyed the city of Windwir. From many miles away, Rudolfo, Lord of the Nine Forest Houses, sees the horrifying column of smoke rising. He knows that war is coming to the Named Lands.Nearer to the Devastation, a young apprentice is the only survivor of the city—he sat waiting for his father outside the walls, and was transformed as he watched everyone he knew die in an instant. Soon all the Kingdoms of the Named Lands will be at each others’ throats, as alliances are challenged and hidden plots are uncovered…
This remarkable first novel from an award-winning short fiction writer will take readers away to a new world—an Earth so far in the distant future that our time is not even a memory; a world where magick is commonplace and great areas of the planet are impassable wastes. But human nature hasn’t changed through the ages: War and faith and love still move princes and nations.
“This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it’s done. No more ponderous plotting—Scholes barely gives us time to breath. Yet he gives us vivid characters, a world think with detail, and wonders we’ve never seen before. I wish my first novel had been this good. I wish all five volumes of this series were already published so I could read them now.” —Orson Scott Card
“Ken Scholes' Lamentation is an iconic SF story cloaked in fantasy, drawing raw material from classics such as A Canticle for Liebowitz and Earth Abides, but forging something new, with colorful characters, compelling scenes, and unfolding miracles.” —Kevin J. Anderson, Bestselling co-author of “Sandworms of Dune”
Official Ken Scholes Website
Preorder “Lamentation” HERE
“The Magician’s Apprentice” by Trudi Canavan. Release Date: February 23, 2009. Set hundreds of years before the events of The Magicians' Guild, “The Magician’s Apprentice” is the new novel set in the world of Trudi Canavan's Black Magician Trilogy…In the remote village of Mandryn, Tessia serves as assistant to her father, the village Healer. Her mother would rather she found a husband, but her life is about to take a very unexpected turn. When the advances of a visiting Sachakan mage get violent, Tessia unconsciously taps unknown reserves of magic to defend herself. Lord Dakon, the local magician, takes Tessia under his wing as an apprentice.
The long hours of study and self-discipline also offer more opportunities than she had ever hoped for and an exciting new world opens up to her. There are fine clothes and servants—and to Tessia's delight—regular trips to the great city of Imardin. But along with the excitement and privilege, Tessia is about to discover that her magical gifts bring with them a great deal of responsibility. For great danger looms on the horizon for Tessia and her world…
Official Trudi Canavan Website
Preorder “The Magician’s Apprentice” HERE
“The Republic of Thieves” by Scott Lynch. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Scott Lynch continues to astound and entertain with his thrillingly inventive, wickedly funny, and suspense-filled adventures featuring con artist extraordinaire Locke Lamora. Now, in his most captivating novel yet, readers reunite with Locke and meet for the first time, Sabetha…
Having pulled off the greatest heist of their career, Locke and his trusted partner in thievery, Jean, have escaped with a tidy fortune. But, poisoned by an enemy from his past, Locke is slowly dying. And no physiker or alchemist can help him. Yet just as the end is near, a mysterious Bondsmagi offers Locke an opportunity that will either save him—or finish him off once and for all. Locke is opposed, but two factors cause his will to crumble: Jean's imploring and the Bondsmagi's mention of a woman from Locke's past—Sabetha. The love of his life. Now they will reunite in yet another clash of wills, and faced with his one and only match in both love and trickery, Locke must choose whether to fight Sabetha, or to woo her. It is a decision on which his life may depend…
Official Scott Lynch Website
Preorder “The Republic of Thieves” HERE
“The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume III” edited by George Mann. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Following the successful format established by The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volumes One and Two, this new anthology brings together an eclectic selection of all-original stories by some of the genre's best-loved and most popular writers including Daniel Abraham, Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod, John Meaney, Alastair Reynolds, Ian Watson and many others…
Official Solaris Books Website
Official George Mann Blog
Preorder HERE
“Cyberabad Days” by Ian McDonald. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Ian McDonald’s “River of Gods”—called a “masterpiece” by Asimov’s Science Fiction and praised by the Washington Post as “a major achievement from a writer who is becoming one of the best SF novelists of our time”—painted a vivid picture of a near future India, 100 years after independence. It revolutionized SF for a new generation by taking a perspective that was not European or American. Nominated for the Hugo Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and winning the BSFA Award, the rich world of the novel has inspired McDonald to revisit its milieu in a series of short stories, all set in the world of “River of Gods”…
“Cyberabad Days” is a triumphant return to the India of 2047, a new, muscular superpower of one and a half billion people in an age of artificial intelligences, climate-change induced drought, water wars, strange new genders, genetically improved children that age at half the rate of baseline humanity, and a population where males outnumber females four to one. India herself has fractured into a dozen states from Kerala to the headwaters of the Ganges in the Himalayas.
“Cyberabad Days” is a collection of eight stories, one Hugo nominee and one Hugo winner among them, as well as a twenty-five thousand word original novella. As with everything Ian McDonald does, it is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year…
Official Ian McDonald Blog
Preorder “Cyberabad Days” HERE
“City Without End” by Kay Kenyon. Release Date: February 24, 2009. In The Entire and the Rose series, Kay Kenyon has created her most vivid and compelling society yet—the universe Entire. Reviewers have called this “a grand world,” “an enormous stage,” and “a bravura concept.”
On this stage unfolds a mighty struggle for dominance between two universes. Titus Quinn has forged an unstable peace with the Tarig lords. The ruinous capability of the nanotech surge weapon he possesses ensures détente. But it is a sham. In what the godwoman Zhiya calls a fit of moral goodness, he's thrown the weapon into the space-folding waters of the Nigh. This clears the way for an enemy he could have never foreseen: the people of the Rose. A small cadre led by Helice Maki is determined to take the Entire for itself and leave the earth in ruins. The transform of earth will begin deep in a western desert and will sweep over the lives of ordinary people, entangling Quinn’s sister-in-law, Caitlin, in a deepening and ultimate conspiracy.
In the Entire, Quinn stalks Helice to the fabled Rim City, encircling the heart of the Entire. Here he at last finds his daughter, now called Sen Ni, in the Chalin style. Outside of earth-based time, she has grown to adulthood. He hardly knows her, and finds her the mistress of a remarkable dream-time insurgency against the Tarig lords and more, a woman risen high in the Entire's meritocracy. Quinn needs his daughter's help against the woman who would destroy the earth. But Sen Ni has her own plans and allies, among them a boy-navitar unlike any other pilot of the River Nigh, a navitar willing and supremely able to break his vows and bend the world.
Quinn casts his fate with the beautiful and resourceful Ji Anzi who went on a journey to other realms and holds the key to Quinn's heart and his overarching mission. But as he approaches the innermost sanctuary of the Tarig, he is alone. Waiting for him are powerful adversaries, including a lady who both hates and loves him, the high prefect of the dragon court, and Quinn's most implacable enemy, a warrior whose chaotic mind will soon be roused from an eternal slumber…
Official Kay Kenyon Website
Preorder “City Without End” HERE
NOTE: “City Without End” is the third book in Kay Kenyon’s The Entire and the Rose after “Bright of the Sky” and “A World Too Near”.
“Black Blood” by John Meaney. Release Date: February 24, 2009 (US Debut). Lieutenant Donal Riordan is no longer the man he was...but to conspirators who threaten the civic order of Tristopolis and the rights of non-human sentients, he is an enemy who needs to be silenced. Even the most powerful of cities can change its character when the circumstances are filled with enough paranoia and fear. And when the conspiracy's international dimensions become clear, Donal must travel to Illurium, not just to Silvex City, the city that stands on vast glass planes, but further, to places unlike Tristopolis, yet just as strange…
Official John Meaney Website
Preorder “Black Blood” HERE
NOTE: “Black Blood” is the sequel to John Meaney’s “Bone Song” and is known as “Dark Blood” in the UK (Released March 2008).
“Blood and Ice” by Robert Masello. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Set shortly after the Crimean War and on an expedition to modern-day Antarctica, this epic novel combines two worlds in the midst of a frozen landscape. For when a modern-day photo-journalist discovers two bodies frozen under the Antarctic ice, he opens up a whole new realm of scientific discovery.
Improbably, these two young lovers—one a nurse in Florence Nightingale's hospital and the other an officer in the infamous Light Brigade—carry a deadly curse in their blood, one that enables them to rise from their frozen tomb and live again…
Robert Masello’s hardcover debut, “Blood and Ice”, is a tour de force, a dazzling tale of suspense, the supernatural, and romance that spans centuries…
Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, television writer, and the author of many previous books, most recently the supernatural thrillers Vigil—which appeared on the USA Today bestseller list—and Bestiary. He has published in the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, People and Parade, and his nonfiction book, Robert's Rules of Writing, is a staple in many college classrooms. His produced television credits include such popular shows as Charmed, Sliders and Early Edition. A longstanding member of the Writers Guild of America, Robert also currently serves as the Visiting Lecturer in Literature at Claremont McKenna College.
Official Robert Masello Website
Preorder “Blood and Ice” HERE
“The Accord” by Keith Brooke. Release Date: February 24, 2009. The Accord—a virtual utopia where the soul lives on after death and your perceptions are bound only by your imagination. This is the setting for a tale of love, murder and revenge that crosses the boundaries between the real world and virtual reality…
When Noah and Priscilla escape into the Accord to flee Priscilla’s murderous husband, he plots to destroy the whole Accord and them with it. In revenge, they arrange to have him assassinated but their success comes at the price of giving him the keys to the virtual kingdom. How can they hope to escape their stalker when he can become anything or anyone he desires, and where does the pursuit of revenge stop for immortals in an eternal world?
Consultant Editor George Mann said of the deal: “I had the pleasure of publishing Keith’s short story, The Accord, in the first Solaris Book of New Science Fiction. When Keith approached us with his idea to expand it into a novel, we were all incredibly enthused. This is a major breakthrough novel from an author I’ve admired for many years.”
The short story that the novel was based on was chosen for Gardner Dozois’ next Year’s Best Science Fiction.
Official Keith Brooke Website
Preorder “The Accord” HERE
“In the Courts of the Sun” by Brian D’Amato. Release Date: March 5, 2009. December 21, 2012. The day time stops…
Jed DeLanda, a descendant of the Maya living in the year 2012, is a math prodigy who spends his time playing Go against his computer and raking in profits from online trading. His secret weapon? A Mayan divination game—once used for predicting corn-harvest cycles, now proving very useful in predicting corn futures—that his mother taught him. But Jed’s life is thrown into chaos when his former mentor, the game theorist Taro, and a mysterious woman named Marena Park, invite him to give his opinion on a newly discovered Mayan codex.
Marena and Taro are looking for a volunteer to travel back to 664 AD to learn more about a “sacrifice game” described in the codex. Jed leaps at the chance, and soon scientists are replicating his brain waves and sending them through a wormhole, straight into the mind of a Mayan king.
Only something goes wrong. Instead of becoming a king, Jed arrives inside a ballplayer named Chacal who is seconds away from throwing himself down the temple steps as a human sacrifice. If Jed can live through the next few minutes, he might just save the world…
Bringing to mind Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Gary Jennings’ Aztec, yet entirely unique, In the Courts of the Sun takes you from the distant past to the near future in a brilliant kaleidoscope of ideas.
Official Brian D’Amato Website
Preorder “In the Courts of the Sun” HERE
“The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction” by Gene Wolfe. Release Date: March 17, 2009. From a literary perspective, this will certainly be the best collection of the year in science fiction and fantasy. Gene Wolfe, of whom the Washington Post said, “Of all SF writers currently active none is held in higher esteem,” has selected the short fiction he considers his finest into one volume.
There are many award winners and many that have been selected for various Year’s Best anthologies among the thirty-one stories, which include: “Petting Zoo,” “The Tree Is My Hat,” “The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories,” “The Hero as Werewolf,” “Seven American Nights,” “The Fifth Head of Cerberus,” “The Detective of Dreams,” and “A Cabin on the Coast.”
Gene Wolfe has produced possibly the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field in the last fifty years, and is certainly among the greatest living writers to emerge from the genres. This is the first retrospective collection of his entire career. It is for the ages…
“If any writer from within genre fiction ever merited the designation Great Author, it is surely Wolfe…[who] reads like Dickens, Proust, Kipling, Chesterton, Borges, and Nabokov rolled into one.” —The Washington Post Book World
Preorder “The Best of Gene Wolfe” HERE
“Imager” by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Release Date: March 17, 2009. “Imager” is the first book in the Imager Portfolio, a whole new fantasy in a whole new magical world from the bestselling creator of the Saga of Recluce…
Although Rhennthyl is the son of a leading wool merchant in L’Excelsis, the capital of Solidar, the most powerful nation on Terahnar, he has spent years becoming a journeyman artist and is skilled and diligent enough to be considered for the status of master artisan—in another two years. Then, in a single moment, his entire life is transformed when his master patron is killed in a flash fire, and Rhenn discovers he is an imager—one of the few in the entire world of Terahnar who can visualize things and make them real.
He must leave his family and join the Collegium of Imagisle. Imagers live separately from the rest of society because of their abilities—they can do accidental magic even while asleep—and because they are both feared and vulnerable. In this new life, Rhenn discovers that all too many of the “truths” he knew were nothing of the sort. Every day brings a new threat to his life. He makes a powerful enemy while righting a wrong, and begins to learn to do magic in secret…
Official L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Website
Preorder “Imager” HERE
“The Unincorporated Man” by Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin. Release Date: March 17, 2009. A novel of social transformation in the tradition of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, “The Unincorporated Man” is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth, and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.
Now the incredible has happened: a billionaire businessman from our time, frozen in secret in the early twenty-first century, is discovered and resurrected, given health and a vigorous younger body. Justin Cord is the only unincorporated man in the world, a true stranger in this strange land. Justin survived because he is tough and smart. He cannot accept only part ownership of himself, even if that places him in conflict with a civilization that extends outside the solar system to the Oort Cloud… People will be arguing about this novel and this world for decades.
“This is a bright, stimulating work that deserves a wide readership.” —Gregory Benford, author of Beyond Human: Living With Robots & Cyborgs
“Reminiscent of Heinlein—a good, old-fashioned, enormously appealing SF yarn. Bravo!” —Robert J. Sawyer, Nebula Award-winning author of “Rollback”
Official Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin Website
Preorder “The Unincorporated Man” HERE
“The Temporal Void” by Peter F. Hamilton. Release Date: March 24, 2009 (US Debut). The Intersolar Commonwealth is in turmoil as the Living Dream’s deadline for launching its Pilgrimage into the Void draws closer. Not only is the Ocisen Empire fleet fast approaching on a mission of genocide, but also an internecine war has broken out between the post-human factions over the destiny of humanity.
Countering the various and increasingly desperate agents and factions is Paula Myo, a ruthlessly single-minded investigator, beset by foes from her distant past and colleagues of dubious allegiance...but she is fast losing a race against time.
At the heart of all this is Edeard the Waterwalker, who once lived a long time ago deep inside the Void. He is the messiah of Living Dream, and visions of his life are shared by, and inspire billions of humans. It is his glorious, captivating story that is the driving force behind Living Dream’s Pilgrimage, a force that is too strong to be thwarted. As Edeard nears his final victory the true nature of the Void is finally revealed…
Official Peter F. Hamilton Website
Preorder “The Temporal Void” HERE
NOTE: “The Temporal Void” is the second volume in Peter F. Hamilton’s Void Trilogy, after “The Dreaming Void”, and will be released in the UK on October 3, 2008 via PanMacmillan.
“The Dark Volume” by Gordon Dahlquist. Release Date: March 24, 2009 (US Debut). With old loyalties tested by new and unlikely alliances, Miss Temple, Doctor Svenson, and Cardinal Chang must call on every reserve of courage to face a new and desperate struggle—after all, the integrity of their very minds is at risk.
From palace intrigue and a city in turmoil to wolf-haunted mountains, underground tunnels and a suspicious hidden factory, they must overcome war and heartache to battle old enemies and a host of new villains, all hoping to seize for themselves the power of the blue glass books. Now one glass book in particular drives them all, its deadly contents the key to controlling the secrets of the blue glass, or destroying it forever…
Preorder “The Dark Volume” HERE
NOTE: “The Dark Volume” is the sequel to Dahlquist’s “The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters” and was released in the UK May 1, 2008 via Viking UK.
“This Is Not A Game” by Walter Jon Williams. Release Date: March 24, 2009. “This Is Not A Game” is a novel built around the coolest phenomenon in the world. That phenomenon is known as the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. It’s big, and it’s getting bigger. It’s immersive and massively interactive, and it’s spreading through the Internet at the speed of light. To the player, the Alternate Reality Game has no boundaries. You can be standing in a parking lot, or a shopping center. A pay phone near you will ring, and on the other end will be someone demanding information. You’d better have the information handy.
ARGs combine video, text adventure, radio plays, audio, animation, improvisational theater, graphics, and story into an immersive experience. Now, one of science fiction’s most acclaimed writers, Walter Jon Williams, brings this extraordinary phenomenon to life in a pulse-pounding thriller. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind…
Official Walter Jon Williams Website
Preorder “This Is Not A Game” HERE
“Blood Groove” by Alex Bledsoe. Release Date: March 31, 2009. When centuries-old vampire, Baron Rudolfo Zginski, was staked in Wales in 1915, the last thing he expected was to reawaken in Memphis, Tennessee, sixty years later. Reborn into a new world of simmering racial tensions, the cunning nosferatu realizes he must adapt quickly if he is to survive.
Zginski possesses all the powers of the undead, including the ability to sexually enslave anyone he chooses. Finding willing new victims is easy, which gives him the strength to track down a nest of teenage vampires in hopes of learning how his kind cope with this bizarre new era. But these young vampires’ limited knowledge of their true nature comes strictly from movies and paperback novels.
Zginski offers to teach the young vampires the truth about their powers and forms an uneasy alliance with the teenagers. They must learn quickly, for there’s a new drug on the street—a drug created to specifically target and destroy vampires. And as Zginski and his allies track the drug to its source, they may unwittingly be stepping into a fifty-year-old trap that could destroy them all…
“I love vampire stories, both reading them and writing, and when one comes along that’s as new and fresh as Blood Groove, well, it’s just plain delicious. One very sweet read.” —Whitley Strieber
“Hot and sticky and tangy as a slab of Memphis ribs. A trippy vamp-noir seventies feed-fest, complete with the requisite sex, drugs, and vintage rock.” —E.E. Knight, Bestselling author of Vampire Earth
Official Alex Bledsoe Website
Preorder “Blood Groove” HERE
“Irons in the Fire” by Juliet E. McKenna. Release Date: March 31, 2009. Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution is an incredible fantasy trilogy that tells of political upheaval born of civil war in the country of Lescar. Carved out of the collapse of the Old Tormalin Empire, the land has long been laid waste by its rival dukes, while bordering nations look on with indifference or exploit its misery. Now a mismatched band of exiles and rebels are agreed that the time has come for change. Can a small group, however determined, put an end to generations of intractable misery? Perhaps… After all, a few stones falling in the right place can set a landslide in motion. But who can predict what the consequences will be, when all the dust has settled?
Full of rich characters and high adventure, this new trilogy marks the next stage in the career of this popular writer. Solaris Publisher Marc Gascoigne said of the deal: “Having long been a fan of Juliet’s wildly imaginative fantasy novels, it’s a genuine delight to sign her new trilogy for Solaris. With our ability to release her work simultaneously into the US and UK markets, we can both satisfy Juliet’s large British fanbase and take her out to a much wider audience.” Irons in the Fire is the first book in the trilogy.
Official Juliet E. McKenna Website
Preorder “Irons in the Fire” HERE
“The Stranger” by Max Frei. Release Date: April 2, 2009. You never know when you’ll luck out. Max lucked out in more ways than one. But as his “reality” gets crazier, can this slacker hold it together?
Max Frei’s novels have been a literary sensation in Russia since their debut in 1996, and have swept the fantasy world over. Presented here in English for the first time, “The Stranger” will strike a chord with readers of all stripes. Part fantasy, part horror, part philosophy, part dark comedy, the writing is united by a sharp wit and a web of clues that will open up the imagination of every reader.
Max Frei was a twenty-something loser—a big sleeper (that is, during the day; at night he can’t sleep a wink), a hardened smoker, and an uncomplicated glutton and loafer. But then he got lucky. He contacts a parallel world in his dreams, where magic is a daily practice. Once a social outcast, he’s now known in his new world as the “unequalled Sir Max.” He’s a member of the Department of Absolute Order, formed by a species of enchanted secret agents; his job is to solve cases more extravagant and unreal than one could imagine—a journey that will take Max down the winding paths of this strange and unhinged universe.
Already a bestseller in Russia and throughout Europe, “The Stranger”—Book One of the Labyrinths of Eho—is a story for fans of Steve Erickson, Susanna Clarke, and Toby Young. This is a fantasy epic for a new century…
Official Max Frei Website
Preorder “The Stranger” HERE
“Keeper of Light & Dust” by Natasha Mostert. Release Date: April 2, 2009. Mia Lockheart has a secret. Her mother was a Keeper, as was her grandmother—women who were warriors, healers, and protectors. As Mia practices her craft among the boxers and martial artists of South London, and begins a romance with her childhood friend, the fighter Nick Duffy, she has no idea that a man who calls himself “Dragonfly” is watching from the shadows.
Adrian Ashton is a brilliant scientist, an expert in the breaking field of biophoton emissions from cells within the human body. He is also a skilled martial artist—and a modern-day vampire. With the aid of the enigmatic Book of Life and Death, written in the thirteenth century by the legendary
Chinese physician Zhang Sanfeng, he preys on other martial artists and drains them of their chi—the vital energy that flows through the body.
Mia finds herself drawn to his dark genius, but when he targets Nick as his next victim, she is forced to choose between the two men. It becomes a fight to the death in which love is both the greatest weakness and the biggest prize…
From the author that brought readers “Season of the Witch” comes “Keeper of Light & Dust”, a highly original supernatural thriller blending magic, science, martial arts, and the greatest desire of all—to live forever…
Official Natasha Mostert Website
Preorder “Keeper of Light & Dust” HERE
“The Wise Man’s Fear” by Patrick Rothfuss. Release Date: April 7, 2009. “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”
An escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe discovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who—or what—is waylaying travelers on the King's road.
All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived. Under her tutelage, Kvothe learns much about true magic and the ways of women.
In “The Wise Man's Fear”, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time…
Official Patrick Rothfuss Website
Preorder “The Wise Man’s Fear” HERE
“Turn Coat” by Jim Butcher. Release Date: April 7, 2009. “Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.” —Entertainment Weekly
The Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council—and there’s only one, final punishment for that crime. He’s on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.
Now, Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less-than-agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head—someone like Harry. “Turn Coat” is the eleventh and newest novel in the New York Times-bestselling Dresden File series…
Official Jim Butcher Website
Preorder “Turn Coat” HERE
“Dancing on the Head of a Pin” by Thomas E. Sniegoski. Release Date: April 7, 2009. Still mourning the loss of his wife, fallen angel Remy Chandler has immersed himself in investigating dangerous supernatural cases. His latest: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged eons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. And if they fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy not only Heaven, but also Earth…
“Dancing on the Head of a Pin” is the second book in the Remy Chandler series following “A Kiss Before the Apocalypse”, which is set in the same universe as the author’s successful YA book series, The Fallen, which was made into an ABC Family mini-series. A new Remy Chandler novella is featured in the urban fantasy anthology Mean Streets (January 2009), along with original stories from bestselling authors Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, and Simon R. Green…
Official Thomas E. Sniegoski Website
Preorder “Dancing on the Head of a Pin” HERE
“Traitors’ Gate” by Kate Elliott. Release Date: May 12, 2009. In “Spirit Gate” and “Shadow Gate”, Kate Elliott took readers to the fascinating world of the Hundred, a land teeming with an array of cultures, gods, and conflicts blighted by the shadow of chaos and destruction. Now, with the same intensity and dramatic sweep that has brought this epic to life, Elliott returns to the exquisitely crafted cities and landscapes of the Hundred, in a thunderous conclusion to the saga…
In the darkness of war and destruction, forces gather to reclaim the peace. Those immortal Guardians who are loyal to justice seek a key to end the devastating reign of one of their own. A hired outlander army fights to halt the advance of the horde that has despoiled vast lands and slaughtered countless people in its murderous wake. The eagle reeves who have long been the only law enforcers of the Hundred struggle to reorganize after a devastating massacre has decimated their numbers. But even as these forces give hope to those who would live in peace, a terrible danger looms: a traitor with Imperial ambitions…
In the unfolding drama of political upheaval and violent change, nothing is certain, as alliances dissolve and power shifts with the unpredictability of a desert sandstorm. A satisfying tale with the vast breadth and tumultuous excitement only such a masterful storyteller as Kate Elliott can summon, “Traitors’ Gate” will leave her many readers begging for more…
Official Kate Elliott Website
Official Trudi Canavan Website
Preorder “The Magician’s Apprentice” HERE
“The Republic of Thieves” by Scott Lynch. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Scott Lynch continues to astound and entertain with his thrillingly inventive, wickedly funny, and suspense-filled adventures featuring con artist extraordinaire Locke Lamora. Now, in his most captivating novel yet, readers reunite with Locke and meet for the first time, Sabetha…Having pulled off the greatest heist of their career, Locke and his trusted partner in thievery, Jean, have escaped with a tidy fortune. But, poisoned by an enemy from his past, Locke is slowly dying. And no physiker or alchemist can help him. Yet just as the end is near, a mysterious Bondsmagi offers Locke an opportunity that will either save him—or finish him off once and for all. Locke is opposed, but two factors cause his will to crumble: Jean's imploring and the Bondsmagi's mention of a woman from Locke's past—Sabetha. The love of his life. Now they will reunite in yet another clash of wills, and faced with his one and only match in both love and trickery, Locke must choose whether to fight Sabetha, or to woo her. It is a decision on which his life may depend…
Official Scott Lynch Website
Preorder “The Republic of Thieves” HERE
“The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction: Volume III” edited by George Mann. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Following the successful format established by The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volumes One and Two, this new anthology brings together an eclectic selection of all-original stories by some of the genre's best-loved and most popular writers including Daniel Abraham, Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod, John Meaney, Alastair Reynolds, Ian Watson and many others…Official Solaris Books Website
Official George Mann Blog
Preorder HERE
“Cyberabad Days” by Ian McDonald. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Ian McDonald’s “River of Gods”—called a “masterpiece” by Asimov’s Science Fiction and praised by the Washington Post as “a major achievement from a writer who is becoming one of the best SF novelists of our time”—painted a vivid picture of a near future India, 100 years after independence. It revolutionized SF for a new generation by taking a perspective that was not European or American. Nominated for the Hugo Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and winning the BSFA Award, the rich world of the novel has inspired McDonald to revisit its milieu in a series of short stories, all set in the world of “River of Gods”…“Cyberabad Days” is a triumphant return to the India of 2047, a new, muscular superpower of one and a half billion people in an age of artificial intelligences, climate-change induced drought, water wars, strange new genders, genetically improved children that age at half the rate of baseline humanity, and a population where males outnumber females four to one. India herself has fractured into a dozen states from Kerala to the headwaters of the Ganges in the Himalayas.
“Cyberabad Days” is a collection of eight stories, one Hugo nominee and one Hugo winner among them, as well as a twenty-five thousand word original novella. As with everything Ian McDonald does, it is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year…
Official Ian McDonald Blog
Preorder “Cyberabad Days” HERE
“City Without End” by Kay Kenyon. Release Date: February 24, 2009. In The Entire and the Rose series, Kay Kenyon has created her most vivid and compelling society yet—the universe Entire. Reviewers have called this “a grand world,” “an enormous stage,” and “a bravura concept.”On this stage unfolds a mighty struggle for dominance between two universes. Titus Quinn has forged an unstable peace with the Tarig lords. The ruinous capability of the nanotech surge weapon he possesses ensures détente. But it is a sham. In what the godwoman Zhiya calls a fit of moral goodness, he's thrown the weapon into the space-folding waters of the Nigh. This clears the way for an enemy he could have never foreseen: the people of the Rose. A small cadre led by Helice Maki is determined to take the Entire for itself and leave the earth in ruins. The transform of earth will begin deep in a western desert and will sweep over the lives of ordinary people, entangling Quinn’s sister-in-law, Caitlin, in a deepening and ultimate conspiracy.
In the Entire, Quinn stalks Helice to the fabled Rim City, encircling the heart of the Entire. Here he at last finds his daughter, now called Sen Ni, in the Chalin style. Outside of earth-based time, she has grown to adulthood. He hardly knows her, and finds her the mistress of a remarkable dream-time insurgency against the Tarig lords and more, a woman risen high in the Entire's meritocracy. Quinn needs his daughter's help against the woman who would destroy the earth. But Sen Ni has her own plans and allies, among them a boy-navitar unlike any other pilot of the River Nigh, a navitar willing and supremely able to break his vows and bend the world.
Quinn casts his fate with the beautiful and resourceful Ji Anzi who went on a journey to other realms and holds the key to Quinn's heart and his overarching mission. But as he approaches the innermost sanctuary of the Tarig, he is alone. Waiting for him are powerful adversaries, including a lady who both hates and loves him, the high prefect of the dragon court, and Quinn's most implacable enemy, a warrior whose chaotic mind will soon be roused from an eternal slumber…
Official Kay Kenyon Website
Preorder “City Without End” HERE
NOTE: “City Without End” is the third book in Kay Kenyon’s The Entire and the Rose after “Bright of the Sky” and “A World Too Near”.
“Black Blood” by John Meaney. Release Date: February 24, 2009 (US Debut). Lieutenant Donal Riordan is no longer the man he was...but to conspirators who threaten the civic order of Tristopolis and the rights of non-human sentients, he is an enemy who needs to be silenced. Even the most powerful of cities can change its character when the circumstances are filled with enough paranoia and fear. And when the conspiracy's international dimensions become clear, Donal must travel to Illurium, not just to Silvex City, the city that stands on vast glass planes, but further, to places unlike Tristopolis, yet just as strange…Official John Meaney Website
Preorder “Black Blood” HERE
NOTE: “Black Blood” is the sequel to John Meaney’s “Bone Song” and is known as “Dark Blood” in the UK (Released March 2008).
“Blood and Ice” by Robert Masello. Release Date: February 24, 2009. Set shortly after the Crimean War and on an expedition to modern-day Antarctica, this epic novel combines two worlds in the midst of a frozen landscape. For when a modern-day photo-journalist discovers two bodies frozen under the Antarctic ice, he opens up a whole new realm of scientific discovery.Improbably, these two young lovers—one a nurse in Florence Nightingale's hospital and the other an officer in the infamous Light Brigade—carry a deadly curse in their blood, one that enables them to rise from their frozen tomb and live again…
Robert Masello’s hardcover debut, “Blood and Ice”, is a tour de force, a dazzling tale of suspense, the supernatural, and romance that spans centuries…
Robert Masello is an award-winning journalist, television writer, and the author of many previous books, most recently the supernatural thrillers Vigil—which appeared on the USA Today bestseller list—and Bestiary. He has published in the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, People and Parade, and his nonfiction book, Robert's Rules of Writing, is a staple in many college classrooms. His produced television credits include such popular shows as Charmed, Sliders and Early Edition. A longstanding member of the Writers Guild of America, Robert also currently serves as the Visiting Lecturer in Literature at Claremont McKenna College.
Official Robert Masello Website
Preorder “Blood and Ice” HERE
“The Accord” by Keith Brooke. Release Date: February 24, 2009. The Accord—a virtual utopia where the soul lives on after death and your perceptions are bound only by your imagination. This is the setting for a tale of love, murder and revenge that crosses the boundaries between the real world and virtual reality…When Noah and Priscilla escape into the Accord to flee Priscilla’s murderous husband, he plots to destroy the whole Accord and them with it. In revenge, they arrange to have him assassinated but their success comes at the price of giving him the keys to the virtual kingdom. How can they hope to escape their stalker when he can become anything or anyone he desires, and where does the pursuit of revenge stop for immortals in an eternal world?
Consultant Editor George Mann said of the deal: “I had the pleasure of publishing Keith’s short story, The Accord, in the first Solaris Book of New Science Fiction. When Keith approached us with his idea to expand it into a novel, we were all incredibly enthused. This is a major breakthrough novel from an author I’ve admired for many years.”
The short story that the novel was based on was chosen for Gardner Dozois’ next Year’s Best Science Fiction.
Official Keith Brooke Website
Preorder “The Accord” HERE
“In the Courts of the Sun” by Brian D’Amato. Release Date: March 5, 2009. December 21, 2012. The day time stops…Jed DeLanda, a descendant of the Maya living in the year 2012, is a math prodigy who spends his time playing Go against his computer and raking in profits from online trading. His secret weapon? A Mayan divination game—once used for predicting corn-harvest cycles, now proving very useful in predicting corn futures—that his mother taught him. But Jed’s life is thrown into chaos when his former mentor, the game theorist Taro, and a mysterious woman named Marena Park, invite him to give his opinion on a newly discovered Mayan codex.
Marena and Taro are looking for a volunteer to travel back to 664 AD to learn more about a “sacrifice game” described in the codex. Jed leaps at the chance, and soon scientists are replicating his brain waves and sending them through a wormhole, straight into the mind of a Mayan king.
Only something goes wrong. Instead of becoming a king, Jed arrives inside a ballplayer named Chacal who is seconds away from throwing himself down the temple steps as a human sacrifice. If Jed can live through the next few minutes, he might just save the world…
Bringing to mind Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Gary Jennings’ Aztec, yet entirely unique, In the Courts of the Sun takes you from the distant past to the near future in a brilliant kaleidoscope of ideas.
Official Brian D’Amato Website
Preorder “In the Courts of the Sun” HERE
“The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction” by Gene Wolfe. Release Date: March 17, 2009. From a literary perspective, this will certainly be the best collection of the year in science fiction and fantasy. Gene Wolfe, of whom the Washington Post said, “Of all SF writers currently active none is held in higher esteem,” has selected the short fiction he considers his finest into one volume.There are many award winners and many that have been selected for various Year’s Best anthologies among the thirty-one stories, which include: “Petting Zoo,” “The Tree Is My Hat,” “The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories,” “The Hero as Werewolf,” “Seven American Nights,” “The Fifth Head of Cerberus,” “The Detective of Dreams,” and “A Cabin on the Coast.”
Gene Wolfe has produced possibly the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field in the last fifty years, and is certainly among the greatest living writers to emerge from the genres. This is the first retrospective collection of his entire career. It is for the ages…
“If any writer from within genre fiction ever merited the designation Great Author, it is surely Wolfe…[who] reads like Dickens, Proust, Kipling, Chesterton, Borges, and Nabokov rolled into one.” —The Washington Post Book World
Preorder “The Best of Gene Wolfe” HERE
“Imager” by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Release Date: March 17, 2009. “Imager” is the first book in the Imager Portfolio, a whole new fantasy in a whole new magical world from the bestselling creator of the Saga of Recluce…Although Rhennthyl is the son of a leading wool merchant in L’Excelsis, the capital of Solidar, the most powerful nation on Terahnar, he has spent years becoming a journeyman artist and is skilled and diligent enough to be considered for the status of master artisan—in another two years. Then, in a single moment, his entire life is transformed when his master patron is killed in a flash fire, and Rhenn discovers he is an imager—one of the few in the entire world of Terahnar who can visualize things and make them real.
He must leave his family and join the Collegium of Imagisle. Imagers live separately from the rest of society because of their abilities—they can do accidental magic even while asleep—and because they are both feared and vulnerable. In this new life, Rhenn discovers that all too many of the “truths” he knew were nothing of the sort. Every day brings a new threat to his life. He makes a powerful enemy while righting a wrong, and begins to learn to do magic in secret…
Official L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Website
Preorder “Imager” HERE
“The Unincorporated Man” by Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin. Release Date: March 17, 2009. A novel of social transformation in the tradition of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, “The Unincorporated Man” is a provocative social/political/economic novel that takes place in the future, after civilization has fallen into complete economic collapse. This reborn civilization is one in which every individual is incorporated at birth, and spends many years trying to attain control over his or her own life by getting a majority of his or her own shares. Life extension has made life very long indeed.Now the incredible has happened: a billionaire businessman from our time, frozen in secret in the early twenty-first century, is discovered and resurrected, given health and a vigorous younger body. Justin Cord is the only unincorporated man in the world, a true stranger in this strange land. Justin survived because he is tough and smart. He cannot accept only part ownership of himself, even if that places him in conflict with a civilization that extends outside the solar system to the Oort Cloud… People will be arguing about this novel and this world for decades.
“This is a bright, stimulating work that deserves a wide readership.” —Gregory Benford, author of Beyond Human: Living With Robots & Cyborgs
“Reminiscent of Heinlein—a good, old-fashioned, enormously appealing SF yarn. Bravo!” —Robert J. Sawyer, Nebula Award-winning author of “Rollback”
Official Dani Kollin & Eytan Kollin Website
Preorder “The Unincorporated Man” HERE
“The Temporal Void” by Peter F. Hamilton. Release Date: March 24, 2009 (US Debut). The Intersolar Commonwealth is in turmoil as the Living Dream’s deadline for launching its Pilgrimage into the Void draws closer. Not only is the Ocisen Empire fleet fast approaching on a mission of genocide, but also an internecine war has broken out between the post-human factions over the destiny of humanity.Countering the various and increasingly desperate agents and factions is Paula Myo, a ruthlessly single-minded investigator, beset by foes from her distant past and colleagues of dubious allegiance...but she is fast losing a race against time.
At the heart of all this is Edeard the Waterwalker, who once lived a long time ago deep inside the Void. He is the messiah of Living Dream, and visions of his life are shared by, and inspire billions of humans. It is his glorious, captivating story that is the driving force behind Living Dream’s Pilgrimage, a force that is too strong to be thwarted. As Edeard nears his final victory the true nature of the Void is finally revealed…
Official Peter F. Hamilton Website
Preorder “The Temporal Void” HERE
NOTE: “The Temporal Void” is the second volume in Peter F. Hamilton’s Void Trilogy, after “The Dreaming Void”, and will be released in the UK on October 3, 2008 via PanMacmillan.
“The Dark Volume” by Gordon Dahlquist. Release Date: March 24, 2009 (US Debut). With old loyalties tested by new and unlikely alliances, Miss Temple, Doctor Svenson, and Cardinal Chang must call on every reserve of courage to face a new and desperate struggle—after all, the integrity of their very minds is at risk.From palace intrigue and a city in turmoil to wolf-haunted mountains, underground tunnels and a suspicious hidden factory, they must overcome war and heartache to battle old enemies and a host of new villains, all hoping to seize for themselves the power of the blue glass books. Now one glass book in particular drives them all, its deadly contents the key to controlling the secrets of the blue glass, or destroying it forever…
Preorder “The Dark Volume” HERE
NOTE: “The Dark Volume” is the sequel to Dahlquist’s “The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters” and was released in the UK May 1, 2008 via Viking UK.
“This Is Not A Game” by Walter Jon Williams. Release Date: March 24, 2009. “This Is Not A Game” is a novel built around the coolest phenomenon in the world. That phenomenon is known as the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. It’s big, and it’s getting bigger. It’s immersive and massively interactive, and it’s spreading through the Internet at the speed of light. To the player, the Alternate Reality Game has no boundaries. You can be standing in a parking lot, or a shopping center. A pay phone near you will ring, and on the other end will be someone demanding information. You’d better have the information handy.ARGs combine video, text adventure, radio plays, audio, animation, improvisational theater, graphics, and story into an immersive experience. Now, one of science fiction’s most acclaimed writers, Walter Jon Williams, brings this extraordinary phenomenon to life in a pulse-pounding thriller. This is not a game. This is a novel that will blow your mind…
Official Walter Jon Williams Website
Preorder “This Is Not A Game” HERE
“Blood Groove” by Alex Bledsoe. Release Date: March 31, 2009. When centuries-old vampire, Baron Rudolfo Zginski, was staked in Wales in 1915, the last thing he expected was to reawaken in Memphis, Tennessee, sixty years later. Reborn into a new world of simmering racial tensions, the cunning nosferatu realizes he must adapt quickly if he is to survive.Zginski possesses all the powers of the undead, including the ability to sexually enslave anyone he chooses. Finding willing new victims is easy, which gives him the strength to track down a nest of teenage vampires in hopes of learning how his kind cope with this bizarre new era. But these young vampires’ limited knowledge of their true nature comes strictly from movies and paperback novels.
Zginski offers to teach the young vampires the truth about their powers and forms an uneasy alliance with the teenagers. They must learn quickly, for there’s a new drug on the street—a drug created to specifically target and destroy vampires. And as Zginski and his allies track the drug to its source, they may unwittingly be stepping into a fifty-year-old trap that could destroy them all…
“I love vampire stories, both reading them and writing, and when one comes along that’s as new and fresh as Blood Groove, well, it’s just plain delicious. One very sweet read.” —Whitley Strieber
“Hot and sticky and tangy as a slab of Memphis ribs. A trippy vamp-noir seventies feed-fest, complete with the requisite sex, drugs, and vintage rock.” —E.E. Knight, Bestselling author of Vampire Earth
Official Alex Bledsoe Website
Preorder “Blood Groove” HERE
“Irons in the Fire” by Juliet E. McKenna. Release Date: March 31, 2009. Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution is an incredible fantasy trilogy that tells of political upheaval born of civil war in the country of Lescar. Carved out of the collapse of the Old Tormalin Empire, the land has long been laid waste by its rival dukes, while bordering nations look on with indifference or exploit its misery. Now a mismatched band of exiles and rebels are agreed that the time has come for change. Can a small group, however determined, put an end to generations of intractable misery? Perhaps… After all, a few stones falling in the right place can set a landslide in motion. But who can predict what the consequences will be, when all the dust has settled?Full of rich characters and high adventure, this new trilogy marks the next stage in the career of this popular writer. Solaris Publisher Marc Gascoigne said of the deal: “Having long been a fan of Juliet’s wildly imaginative fantasy novels, it’s a genuine delight to sign her new trilogy for Solaris. With our ability to release her work simultaneously into the US and UK markets, we can both satisfy Juliet’s large British fanbase and take her out to a much wider audience.” Irons in the Fire is the first book in the trilogy.
Official Juliet E. McKenna Website
Preorder “Irons in the Fire” HERE
“The Stranger” by Max Frei. Release Date: April 2, 2009. You never know when you’ll luck out. Max lucked out in more ways than one. But as his “reality” gets crazier, can this slacker hold it together?Max Frei’s novels have been a literary sensation in Russia since their debut in 1996, and have swept the fantasy world over. Presented here in English for the first time, “The Stranger” will strike a chord with readers of all stripes. Part fantasy, part horror, part philosophy, part dark comedy, the writing is united by a sharp wit and a web of clues that will open up the imagination of every reader.
Max Frei was a twenty-something loser—a big sleeper (that is, during the day; at night he can’t sleep a wink), a hardened smoker, and an uncomplicated glutton and loafer. But then he got lucky. He contacts a parallel world in his dreams, where magic is a daily practice. Once a social outcast, he’s now known in his new world as the “unequalled Sir Max.” He’s a member of the Department of Absolute Order, formed by a species of enchanted secret agents; his job is to solve cases more extravagant and unreal than one could imagine—a journey that will take Max down the winding paths of this strange and unhinged universe.
Already a bestseller in Russia and throughout Europe, “The Stranger”—Book One of the Labyrinths of Eho—is a story for fans of Steve Erickson, Susanna Clarke, and Toby Young. This is a fantasy epic for a new century…
Official Max Frei Website
Preorder “The Stranger” HERE
“Keeper of Light & Dust” by Natasha Mostert. Release Date: April 2, 2009. Mia Lockheart has a secret. Her mother was a Keeper, as was her grandmother—women who were warriors, healers, and protectors. As Mia practices her craft among the boxers and martial artists of South London, and begins a romance with her childhood friend, the fighter Nick Duffy, she has no idea that a man who calls himself “Dragonfly” is watching from the shadows.Adrian Ashton is a brilliant scientist, an expert in the breaking field of biophoton emissions from cells within the human body. He is also a skilled martial artist—and a modern-day vampire. With the aid of the enigmatic Book of Life and Death, written in the thirteenth century by the legendary
Chinese physician Zhang Sanfeng, he preys on other martial artists and drains them of their chi—the vital energy that flows through the body.
Mia finds herself drawn to his dark genius, but when he targets Nick as his next victim, she is forced to choose between the two men. It becomes a fight to the death in which love is both the greatest weakness and the biggest prize…
From the author that brought readers “Season of the Witch” comes “Keeper of Light & Dust”, a highly original supernatural thriller blending magic, science, martial arts, and the greatest desire of all—to live forever…
Official Natasha Mostert Website
Preorder “Keeper of Light & Dust” HERE
“The Wise Man’s Fear” by Patrick Rothfuss. Release Date: April 7, 2009. “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.”An escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe discovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who—or what—is waylaying travelers on the King's road.
All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived. Under her tutelage, Kvothe learns much about true magic and the ways of women.
In “The Wise Man's Fear”, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time…
Official Patrick Rothfuss Website
Preorder “The Wise Man’s Fear” HERE
“Turn Coat” by Jim Butcher. Release Date: April 7, 2009. “Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer starring Philip Marlowe.” —Entertainment WeeklyThe Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council—and there’s only one, final punishment for that crime. He’s on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.
Now, Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less-than-agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head—someone like Harry. “Turn Coat” is the eleventh and newest novel in the New York Times-bestselling Dresden File series…
Official Jim Butcher Website
Preorder “Turn Coat” HERE
“Dancing on the Head of a Pin” by Thomas E. Sniegoski. Release Date: April 7, 2009. Still mourning the loss of his wife, fallen angel Remy Chandler has immersed himself in investigating dangerous supernatural cases. His latest: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged eons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. And if they fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy not only Heaven, but also Earth…“Dancing on the Head of a Pin” is the second book in the Remy Chandler series following “A Kiss Before the Apocalypse”, which is set in the same universe as the author’s successful YA book series, The Fallen, which was made into an ABC Family mini-series. A new Remy Chandler novella is featured in the urban fantasy anthology Mean Streets (January 2009), along with original stories from bestselling authors Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, and Simon R. Green…
Official Thomas E. Sniegoski Website
Preorder “Dancing on the Head of a Pin” HERE
“Traitors’ Gate” by Kate Elliott. Release Date: May 12, 2009. In “Spirit Gate” and “Shadow Gate”, Kate Elliott took readers to the fascinating world of the Hundred, a land teeming with an array of cultures, gods, and conflicts blighted by the shadow of chaos and destruction. Now, with the same intensity and dramatic sweep that has brought this epic to life, Elliott returns to the exquisitely crafted cities and landscapes of the Hundred, in a thunderous conclusion to the saga…In the darkness of war and destruction, forces gather to reclaim the peace. Those immortal Guardians who are loyal to justice seek a key to end the devastating reign of one of their own. A hired outlander army fights to halt the advance of the horde that has despoiled vast lands and slaughtered countless people in its murderous wake. The eagle reeves who have long been the only law enforcers of the Hundred struggle to reorganize after a devastating massacre has decimated their numbers. But even as these forces give hope to those who would live in peace, a terrible danger looms: a traitor with Imperial ambitions…
In the unfolding drama of political upheaval and violent change, nothing is certain, as alliances dissolve and power shifts with the unpredictability of a desert sandstorm. A satisfying tale with the vast breadth and tumultuous excitement only such a masterful storyteller as Kate Elliott can summon, “Traitors’ Gate” will leave her many readers begging for more…
Official Kate Elliott Website
Preorder “Traitor’s Gate” HERE
3:01 AM | 
Posted by
Robert |
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Remember Choose Your Own Adventure? Avon/Eos Invites Consumers to Choose their own Cover!
“The Affinity Bridge” by George Mann. UK Release Date: July 1, 2008. Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by new inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, whilst ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to carry out menial tasks in the offices of lawyers, policemen and journalists. But beneath this shiny veneer of progress lurks a sinister side. For this is also a world where lycanthropy is a rampant disease that plagues the dirty whorehouses of Whitechapel, where poltergeist infestations create havoc in old country seats, where cadavers can rise from the dead and where nobody ever goes near the Natural History Museum…
About George Mann:
George Mann is the Consultant Editor of Solaris Books, the major SF/Fantasy imprint of BL Publishing/Games Workshop. He is the editor of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and The Solaris Book of New Fantasy anthologies and the author of The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (Constable Robinson), The Human Abstract (Telos), The Severed Man (Telos) and The Child of Time (Telos, with David J. Howe). His short stories have appeared or are due to appear in venues such as Black Sails, Apex Digest, Triquorum and an anthology of Doctor Who stories. He regularly attends the major science fiction and fantasy conventions in both the UK and the US.
“An enormous pile of awesome” —Chris Roberson, World Fantasy Award finalist and Sidewise Award Winner
Official George Mann Blog
Order “The Affinity Bridge” HERE (Hardcover) + HERE (Paperback-September 1, 2008)
Read Reviews via SF Signal, Strange Horizons
NOTE: George Mann’s “The Affinity Bridge” was brought to my attention thanks to Liviu C. Suciu, and since I believe it strongly deserves a look, I decided to write up this little showcase. Additionally, included below are some other titles that I overlooked or recently received in the mail. Unfortunately, I end up overlooking a few titles every month, so I’ll probably start posting these showcases periodically…
“The Grift” by Debra Ginsberg. Release Date: August 12, 2008. What happens when a pseudo psychic suddenly gets the real gift?
Marina Marks has been on the grift as a psychic since she was a child, forced into the business by a junkie mother who was always desperate for her next fix—and willing to use her solemn dark-haired daughter to peddle an extra buck. As an adult, Marina has earned a handsome living preying on the dreams and fears of her clients. She doesn’t believe there is such a thing as psychic ability, but she does believe in intuition. Her gift is the ability to gain the trust of her clients and subtly raise her fees as they become more attached to her and her readings.
But when Marina moves her “intuitive counseling” business out of muggy, cloying Florida to the milder environs of southern California, her past follows her. As she takes on new clients—a trophy wife desperate to bear a child, a gay man involved with a closeted psychiatrist, and a philandering businessman who’s smitten with her—a former client resurfaces in an eerie way. Suddenly, Marina is in love for the first time, but it is a romance whose roots lie deep in her past and threaten her efforts to reinvent herself. As Marina’s life gets more and more entangled with those of her clients, she makes a startling discovery: she suddenly has the actual ability to see the future. After predicting a murder exactly as it happens, she becomes the sole suspect. Now she’s the desperate one—desperate to clear her name and to discover the meaning behind her visions…
Praise:
“Memoirist and novelist Ginsberg mixes supernatural and film noir elements in this mystery about a woman whose living as a psychic falls apart when her psychic powers become too real .... Marina is a richly drawn, deeply involving heroine ....” —Kirkus
About George Mann:
George Mann is the Consultant Editor of Solaris Books, the major SF/Fantasy imprint of BL Publishing/Games Workshop. He is the editor of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and The Solaris Book of New Fantasy anthologies and the author of The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (Constable Robinson), The Human Abstract (Telos), The Severed Man (Telos) and The Child of Time (Telos, with David J. Howe). His short stories have appeared or are due to appear in venues such as Black Sails, Apex Digest, Triquorum and an anthology of Doctor Who stories. He regularly attends the major science fiction and fantasy conventions in both the UK and the US.
“An enormous pile of awesome” —Chris Roberson, World Fantasy Award finalist and Sidewise Award Winner
Official George Mann Blog
Order “The Affinity Bridge” HERE (Hardcover) + HERE (Paperback-September 1, 2008)
Read Reviews via SF Signal, Strange Horizons
NOTE: George Mann’s “The Affinity Bridge” was brought to my attention thanks to Liviu C. Suciu, and since I believe it strongly deserves a look, I decided to write up this little showcase. Additionally, included below are some other titles that I overlooked or recently received in the mail. Unfortunately, I end up overlooking a few titles every month, so I’ll probably start posting these showcases periodically…
“The Grift” by Debra Ginsberg. Release Date: August 12, 2008. What happens when a pseudo psychic suddenly gets the real gift?Marina Marks has been on the grift as a psychic since she was a child, forced into the business by a junkie mother who was always desperate for her next fix—and willing to use her solemn dark-haired daughter to peddle an extra buck. As an adult, Marina has earned a handsome living preying on the dreams and fears of her clients. She doesn’t believe there is such a thing as psychic ability, but she does believe in intuition. Her gift is the ability to gain the trust of her clients and subtly raise her fees as they become more attached to her and her readings.
But when Marina moves her “intuitive counseling” business out of muggy, cloying Florida to the milder environs of southern California, her past follows her. As she takes on new clients—a trophy wife desperate to bear a child, a gay man involved with a closeted psychiatrist, and a philandering businessman who’s smitten with her—a former client resurfaces in an eerie way. Suddenly, Marina is in love for the first time, but it is a romance whose roots lie deep in her past and threaten her efforts to reinvent herself. As Marina’s life gets more and more entangled with those of her clients, she makes a startling discovery: she suddenly has the actual ability to see the future. After predicting a murder exactly as it happens, she becomes the sole suspect. Now she’s the desperate one—desperate to clear her name and to discover the meaning behind her visions…Praise:
“Memoirist and novelist Ginsberg mixes supernatural and film noir elements in this mystery about a woman whose living as a psychic falls apart when her psychic powers become too real .... Marina is a richly drawn, deeply involving heroine ....” —Kirkus
“Ginsberg's second novel is an entertaining whodunit and an invigorating tale about a damaged young storefront psychic who learns how to live truthfully….Ginsberg thoroughly exploits her clever premise, and Marina's handling of her troubles–romantic, professional, mystical–ring true through to the redemptive end.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“Ginsberg…has created an interesting cast of characters to explore a world that is embraced by some and viewed by many with deep skepticism. The story flows along, and readers looking for a different twist on the psychological novel will enjoy the trip.” —Library Journal
Official Debra Ginsberg Website
Order “The Grift” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
NOTE: An Australian edition (see inset) of "The Grift" will be released September 1, 2008 via Allen & Unwin Books.
“The Minutes of the Lazarus Club” by Tony Pollard. UK Release Date: August 7, 2008. London, 1857 — the Lazarus Club. Some of the finest, most-unconventional minds in Victorian Britain—including Charles Darwin, Charles Babbage and Isambard Kingdom Brunel—are members of this illustrious brotherhood. Their meetings take place behind closed doors, their discussions are revolutionary and their conclusions sometimes forbidden...
Knowing nothing of this secret society, Dr George Phillips, a young and ambitious surgeon, is intrigued to encounter Brunel over a well-used cadaver in the gory pit of his dissection theatre. It soon becomes apparent that the great engineer has mysterious plans for the good doctor. And so Phillips becomes embroiled in the enigmatic machinations of the Lazarus Club, unaware that in the midst of their unorthodox club, a black conspiracy lurks. Not only is his own life in jeopardy, but as the first mutilated body is washed up on the banks of the Thames, so the very foundations of Victorian society are set to be rocked to their core...
About Tony Pollard:
Dr. Tony Pollard is an internationally renowned archaeologist and Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University. He has carried out pioneering investigations of battlefields in South and North Africa, South America and Europe and as a Forensic Archaeologist has worked with police forces throughout Britain. He has written numerous papers and articles on archaeology and history and is co-editor of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology. He was the co-presenter of two series of BBC2's archaeological documentary series Two Men in a Trench. “The Minutes of the Lazarus Club” is his first novel.
Order “The Minutes of the Lazarus Club” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via The Independent
NOTE: This was another title brought to my attention thanks to Liviu and I personally think it sounds like a fabulous Victorian gothic mystery :) I haven’t been able to find out anything about a US publisher, but I hope it finds a home here stateside.
“Son of Man” by Robert Silverberg. Release Date: June 2008. Originally published in 1971, Robert Silverberg’s classic science fiction novel “Son of Man” is back in print thanks to Pyr Books and is worth the cover price just for the stunning John Picacio cover art. Synopsis below:
IN THE BEGINNING...there was no Brooklyn, no St. Louis, no Shakespeare, no moon, no hunger, no death...
IN THE BEGINNING...there were no real men, no real women, nothing but dispassionately passionate ambisexuals of the lowest and highest order...
IN THE BEGINNING...the heavens, the seas and the Earth belonged to more intelligent species than a man called Clay could ever have dreamed possible in his own time.
But his own time as a man had passed, and now his time as the son of man had come!
Clay is a man from the 20th Century who is somehow caught up in a time-flux and transported into a distant future. The earth and the life on it have changed beyond recognition. Even the human race has evolved into many different forms, now coexisting on the planet. The seemingly omnipotent Skimmers, the tyrannosaur-like Eaters, the sedentary Awaiters, the squid-like Breathers, the Interceders, the Destroyers—all of these are “Sons of Man”. Befriended and besexed by the Skimmers, Clay goes on a journey which takes him around the future earth and into the depths of his own soul. He is human, but what does that mean?
About Robert Silverberg:
Robert Silverberg has been writing science fiction for fifty years. Among his many notable titles are such novels as Dying Inside, Lord Valentine’s Castle, The Book of Skulls, and Nightwings, and he has more than five hundred short stories published as well. He is a five-time winner of both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. In 2004, Robert was awarded the Grand Master Nebula of the Science Fiction Writers of America, science fiction’s highest honor.
Robert Silverberg @ Wikipedia
Order “Son of Man” HERE
Read An Interview with Robert Silverberg HERE
“Just One Bite” by Kimberly Raye. Release Date: July 29, 2008. “Just One Bite” is the fourth Dead-End Dating paranormal romance series after “Dead End Dating”, “Dead and Dateless” and “Your Coffin or Mine?” Synopsis below…
The stakes have never been higher…
Lil Marchette, vampire extraordinaire and owner of Manhattan’s hottest hook-up service, is an expert at matching up the lonely and desperate (and sometimes dead). And thanks to the popular local reality dating show, Manhattan’s Most Wanted, Lil has plenty of fresh blood to add to the mix–including the biggest, baddest vampire in the Big Apple. Vinnie Balducci, Brooklyn representative for the Snipers of Otherworldly Beings, is making Lil an offer she can’t refuse: find him the perfect woman or she’s going to be swimming with the fishes.
But Lil may not be the only one taking the plunge. The three hunky demon Prince brothers are poking around Lil’s office–hot on the trail of a rogue spirit trying to escape the land down under (not Australia) by possessing some poor, clueless human soul. Then Lil makes a startling discovery: The oblivious human vessel is none other than her loyal assistant, Evie. Between saving Evie from eternal damnation and saving herself from Vinnie’s lethal ultimatum, Lil is sure to be in for the most hellish ride of her afterlife.
“Lil is a likable mix of Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw and Dracula–charming, sweet, stylish, with just a hint of fang.” –Parkersburg News and Sentinel
About Kimberly Raye:
Kimberly Raye is the USA Today-bestselling author of more than thirty novels and has been nominated for several Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards, as well as two RITA Awards. Her books have been featured in several major magazines, including Better Homes & Gardens and Glamour, and her novel Sometimes Naughty, Sometimes Nice was a Cosmopolitan magazine book club pick.
Official Kimberly Raye Website
Order “Just One Bite” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
“The Book Stops Here” by Ian Sansom. Release Date: August 12, 2008. Ever since the publication of “The Case of the Missing Books”, first in The Mobile Library series, Irish writer Ian Sansom has garnered critical acclaim and a devoted readership for his “formidable reserves of insight and humor” (New York Times Book Review) and his “emphatically unpretentious…portrayal of the ordinary lives of ordinary folk and [the] gentle humor [that] buoys their humdrum lives” (Newsday). Now Israel Armstrong, one of literature’s most unlikely detectives, returns for more crime solving adventure in Sansom’s “The Book Stops Here”, the hilarious third novel from The Mobile Library series after “Mr. Dixon Disappears”…
Disgruntled, disheveled, fish-out-of-water mobile librarian Israel Armstrong is finally going home to London, rattling along with his irascible companion Ted Carson in their rust bucket book van en route to the Mobile Meet. The annual library convention gives Israel the opportunity to catch up with his family, eat paprika chicken and baklava, and drink good coffee. But they've barely found parking when the unimaginable occurs: their library-on-wheels is stolen!
Who on earth would want to take a thirty-year-old traveling disaster with the words "The Book Stops Here" painted across the back? Israel and Ted are determined to find out. But their search is leading them on a very twisty trail through the countryside in pursuit of a suspicious convoy of New Age travelers. And the hunt is raising numerous troubling questions—such as where exactly is Israel's high-flying girlfriend, Gloria? And is Ted really making a move on Israel's widowed mother?
About Ian Sansom:
Ian Sansom is a former Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and currently the Writer in Residence at the Heaney Centre. He is the author of The Case of the Missing Books, Mr. Dixon Disappears, The Truth About Babies, and The Impartial Recorder. Ian is also a regular contributor to The Guardian and the London Review of Books.
Official Ian Sansom Website
Order “The Book Stops Here” HERE
Official Debra Ginsberg Website
Order “The Grift” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
NOTE: An Australian edition (see inset) of "The Grift" will be released September 1, 2008 via Allen & Unwin Books.
“The Minutes of the Lazarus Club” by Tony Pollard. UK Release Date: August 7, 2008. London, 1857 — the Lazarus Club. Some of the finest, most-unconventional minds in Victorian Britain—including Charles Darwin, Charles Babbage and Isambard Kingdom Brunel—are members of this illustrious brotherhood. Their meetings take place behind closed doors, their discussions are revolutionary and their conclusions sometimes forbidden...Knowing nothing of this secret society, Dr George Phillips, a young and ambitious surgeon, is intrigued to encounter Brunel over a well-used cadaver in the gory pit of his dissection theatre. It soon becomes apparent that the great engineer has mysterious plans for the good doctor. And so Phillips becomes embroiled in the enigmatic machinations of the Lazarus Club, unaware that in the midst of their unorthodox club, a black conspiracy lurks. Not only is his own life in jeopardy, but as the first mutilated body is washed up on the banks of the Thames, so the very foundations of Victorian society are set to be rocked to their core...
About Tony Pollard:
Dr. Tony Pollard is an internationally renowned archaeologist and Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University. He has carried out pioneering investigations of battlefields in South and North Africa, South America and Europe and as a Forensic Archaeologist has worked with police forces throughout Britain. He has written numerous papers and articles on archaeology and history and is co-editor of the Journal of Conflict Archaeology. He was the co-presenter of two series of BBC2's archaeological documentary series Two Men in a Trench. “The Minutes of the Lazarus Club” is his first novel.
Order “The Minutes of the Lazarus Club” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read Reviews via The Independent
NOTE: This was another title brought to my attention thanks to Liviu and I personally think it sounds like a fabulous Victorian gothic mystery :) I haven’t been able to find out anything about a US publisher, but I hope it finds a home here stateside.
“Son of Man” by Robert Silverberg. Release Date: June 2008. Originally published in 1971, Robert Silverberg’s classic science fiction novel “Son of Man” is back in print thanks to Pyr Books and is worth the cover price just for the stunning John Picacio cover art. Synopsis below:IN THE BEGINNING...there was no Brooklyn, no St. Louis, no Shakespeare, no moon, no hunger, no death...
IN THE BEGINNING...there were no real men, no real women, nothing but dispassionately passionate ambisexuals of the lowest and highest order...
IN THE BEGINNING...the heavens, the seas and the Earth belonged to more intelligent species than a man called Clay could ever have dreamed possible in his own time.
But his own time as a man had passed, and now his time as the son of man had come!
Clay is a man from the 20th Century who is somehow caught up in a time-flux and transported into a distant future. The earth and the life on it have changed beyond recognition. Even the human race has evolved into many different forms, now coexisting on the planet. The seemingly omnipotent Skimmers, the tyrannosaur-like Eaters, the sedentary Awaiters, the squid-like Breathers, the Interceders, the Destroyers—all of these are “Sons of Man”. Befriended and besexed by the Skimmers, Clay goes on a journey which takes him around the future earth and into the depths of his own soul. He is human, but what does that mean?
About Robert Silverberg:
Robert Silverberg has been writing science fiction for fifty years. Among his many notable titles are such novels as Dying Inside, Lord Valentine’s Castle, The Book of Skulls, and Nightwings, and he has more than five hundred short stories published as well. He is a five-time winner of both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. In 2004, Robert was awarded the Grand Master Nebula of the Science Fiction Writers of America, science fiction’s highest honor.
Robert Silverberg @ Wikipedia
Order “Son of Man” HERE
Read An Interview with Robert Silverberg HERE
“Just One Bite” by Kimberly Raye. Release Date: July 29, 2008. “Just One Bite” is the fourth Dead-End Dating paranormal romance series after “Dead End Dating”, “Dead and Dateless” and “Your Coffin or Mine?” Synopsis below…The stakes have never been higher…
Lil Marchette, vampire extraordinaire and owner of Manhattan’s hottest hook-up service, is an expert at matching up the lonely and desperate (and sometimes dead). And thanks to the popular local reality dating show, Manhattan’s Most Wanted, Lil has plenty of fresh blood to add to the mix–including the biggest, baddest vampire in the Big Apple. Vinnie Balducci, Brooklyn representative for the Snipers of Otherworldly Beings, is making Lil an offer she can’t refuse: find him the perfect woman or she’s going to be swimming with the fishes.
But Lil may not be the only one taking the plunge. The three hunky demon Prince brothers are poking around Lil’s office–hot on the trail of a rogue spirit trying to escape the land down under (not Australia) by possessing some poor, clueless human soul. Then Lil makes a startling discovery: The oblivious human vessel is none other than her loyal assistant, Evie. Between saving Evie from eternal damnation and saving herself from Vinnie’s lethal ultimatum, Lil is sure to be in for the most hellish ride of her afterlife.
“Lil is a likable mix of Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw and Dracula–charming, sweet, stylish, with just a hint of fang.” –Parkersburg News and Sentinel
About Kimberly Raye:
Kimberly Raye is the USA Today-bestselling author of more than thirty novels and has been nominated for several Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards, as well as two RITA Awards. Her books have been featured in several major magazines, including Better Homes & Gardens and Glamour, and her novel Sometimes Naughty, Sometimes Nice was a Cosmopolitan magazine book club pick.
Official Kimberly Raye Website
Order “Just One Bite” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
“The Book Stops Here” by Ian Sansom. Release Date: August 12, 2008. Ever since the publication of “The Case of the Missing Books”, first in The Mobile Library series, Irish writer Ian Sansom has garnered critical acclaim and a devoted readership for his “formidable reserves of insight and humor” (New York Times Book Review) and his “emphatically unpretentious…portrayal of the ordinary lives of ordinary folk and [the] gentle humor [that] buoys their humdrum lives” (Newsday). Now Israel Armstrong, one of literature’s most unlikely detectives, returns for more crime solving adventure in Sansom’s “The Book Stops Here”, the hilarious third novel from The Mobile Library series after “Mr. Dixon Disappears”…Disgruntled, disheveled, fish-out-of-water mobile librarian Israel Armstrong is finally going home to London, rattling along with his irascible companion Ted Carson in their rust bucket book van en route to the Mobile Meet. The annual library convention gives Israel the opportunity to catch up with his family, eat paprika chicken and baklava, and drink good coffee. But they've barely found parking when the unimaginable occurs: their library-on-wheels is stolen!
Who on earth would want to take a thirty-year-old traveling disaster with the words "The Book Stops Here" painted across the back? Israel and Ted are determined to find out. But their search is leading them on a very twisty trail through the countryside in pursuit of a suspicious convoy of New Age travelers. And the hunt is raising numerous troubling questions—such as where exactly is Israel's high-flying girlfriend, Gloria? And is Ted really making a move on Israel's widowed mother?
About Ian Sansom:
Ian Sansom is a former Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and currently the Writer in Residence at the Heaney Centre. He is the author of The Case of the Missing Books, Mr. Dixon Disappears, The Truth About Babies, and The Impartial Recorder. Ian is also a regular contributor to The Guardian and the London Review of Books.
Official Ian Sansom Website
Order “The Book Stops Here” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Life isn’t easy for a sexwitch. Even your own body betrays you. It’s bad enough that Selene is part slave to Nikolai, the Prime Power of Saint City, but she’s got her brother Danny and she’s got her job at the college. In the postwar wreckage of an uncertain world, it’s pretty much all she’s ever allowed herself to want.
Then Danny ends up murdered, and Selene finds herself a pawn in a dangerous game. Indentured to a bloodsucking Nichtvren and helpless, told to stop trying to uncover the identity of her brother’s killer, Selene has nowhere to turn. If she’s a good girl, Nikolai will leave her a little bit of freedom. He’ll take care of her, and she’ll be safe–if she obeys.
But Selene hasn’t survived this long by being obedient to her cursed powers, or to the men who buy her time. Her brother was all she had, and now she’s ready to borrow, beg, lie, steal or kill–whatever it takes to avenge him.
And if Nikolai gets in the way, Selene will use every tool in her arsenal to make him regret it…
Welcome to “Selene”, a free serialized novel by Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet series) which is set in the world of the Dante Valentine series and expands on the Saint City adventures of Selene and Nikolai. New chapters will be posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please be advised that this novel contains adult material. The serial will be available on Lilith's website HERE. Readers wanting to subscribe to the rss feed can do so HERE.
Then Danny ends up murdered, and Selene finds herself a pawn in a dangerous game. Indentured to a bloodsucking Nichtvren and helpless, told to stop trying to uncover the identity of her brother’s killer, Selene has nowhere to turn. If she’s a good girl, Nikolai will leave her a little bit of freedom. He’ll take care of her, and she’ll be safe–if she obeys.
But Selene hasn’t survived this long by being obedient to her cursed powers, or to the men who buy her time. Her brother was all she had, and now she’s ready to borrow, beg, lie, steal or kill–whatever it takes to avenge him.
And if Nikolai gets in the way, Selene will use every tool in her arsenal to make him regret it…
Welcome to “Selene”, a free serialized novel by Lilith Saintcrow (Jill Kismet series) which is set in the world of the Dante Valentine series and expands on the Saint City adventures of Selene and Nikolai. New chapters will be posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please be advised that this novel contains adult material. The serial will be available on Lilith's website HERE. Readers wanting to subscribe to the rss feed can do so HERE.
This essay originally appeared at The Story's Story:
Patrick Kurp ponders why he doesn't like fantasy, writing that “[It] feels like a cheat, an evasion, a con game for stunted children.” Maybe: but to my mind, it opens other avenues for looking at the world and goes places realism doesn't. Good fantasy develops its own codes and limitations; it is different from and reflects our world. In Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, Chuck Ramkissoon says, “Now, games are important. They test us. They teach us comradeship. They're fun. But cricket, more than any other sport, is, I want to say [...] a lesson in civility.” I wouldn't call fantasy a lesson in civility, but it often imparts, aside from pleasure, lessons in how to lead and organize one's life. When teaching the LSAT, I often use the journey and confrontation plots in fantasy novels as metaphors. And if fantasy is a cheat, so too is metaphor, which takes one or multiple things and stands them in the place of others, as fantasy does.
It also inevitably returns to confront the ideals and problems of the society that produced it, as Northrop Frye argued in The Secular Scriptures. Romance and fantasy are inextricably linked to the societies that produce them, just as fiction more generally is. The power of fiction and fantasy is their ability to be rooted in those societies while simultaneously being able to transcend them to others. I have no experience in ancient Greece or Rome, but The Iliad and The Aeneid still speak to me. I have never set foot in Middle-earth, but it seems more real to me in some ways than South Ossetia, though I would never argue, obviously, that one is real and the other isn't.
Still, the question of real and fake gets raised by this question and never satisfactorily answered, as it hasn't been in literature or philosophy. Patrick writes, “I read to know the world, in particular the human world, even to celebrate it, not to slum in another.” To my mind, we're not slumming it in another world, but sharpening our sense of this one through contrast in a subsidiary world, both part of and separate from ours. Fantasy is where the imagination can run wilder than it can in reality, and it is another configuration of reality in the mind, a separate microworld that breaks off from the main world in the mind of its holder. Think of it as an extension of the multiverse or parallel universe theories, only with fantasy itself as another world that mirrors ours. Those mirrors sometimes distort for effect, and if realism is a standard mirror, fantasy is the one that stretches, contorts, and makes us wonder at what we really think of ourselves. The best fantasy novels have rules of their own, some of which can be bent, and others broken, as they say in The Matrix. See our world in fantasy and fantasy in our world. Umberto Eco writes in Reflections on The Name of the Rose:
“And so the Middle Ages have remained, if not profession, my hobby—and a constant temptation: I see the period everywhere, transparently overlaying my daily concerns, which do not look medieval, though they are.”
As said by Burlingame in The Sot-Weed Factor, “I grew so enchanted by the great Manchegan [Don Quixote] and his faithful squire as to lose all track of time and was rebuked by Captain Salmon for reporting late to the cook.” At its best, fantasy has this effect, almost as drugs or sex are wont to do. I think there's a reason why children and teenagers are often drawn to fantasy, as it offers a relatively safe and accessible outlet for young people who feel powerless and constrained, or feel perceived constraint from parents and society. Another world offers solace and meaning, as it offers others symbolism and power. These sensations go far back in cultural time: some aspect of fantasy or fantastical journeys exist in numerous cultures, as Joseph Campbell argues in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Most of them and us are not Don Quixotes, who asks if we have “[...] read the annals and the histories of the England that treat of the famous exploits of King Arthur [...]” The mistaken belief in fantasy as genuine reality is ridiculous, but the belief that we can see aspects of reality in fantasy is not. The prologue to Don Quixote more lays out the case for fantasy, and, more abstractly, literature itself:
“Let it be your aim that, by reading your story, the melancholy may be moved to laughter and the cheerful man made merrier still; let the simple not be bored, but may the clever admire your originality; let the grave ones not despise you, but let the prudent praise you.”
One could also say, let the adolescent find a way forward and the adult meaning in experience, and let a strong story exist for the literal and subtle metaphors and symbols for the intellectual. Only very good fantasy, like Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, accomplishes these lofty goals, but only very few works of fiction pass the hundred year test and become that strange beast we call literature. Defending fantasy and science fiction as literature might be odd given my lament in Science Fiction, literature, and the haters. But I only wrote that post because both cause pain when they fail to live up to literature's ideals and their own possibility. One of my favorite passages from any book occurs when Tomás and a Martian encounter one another in Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles:
“Let us agree to disagree," said the Martian. “What does it matter who is Past or Future, if we are both alive, for what follows will follow, tomorrow or in ten thousand years. How do you know that those temples are not the temples of your own civilization one hundred centuries from now, tumbled and broken?”
Later, a character says, “If you can't have the reality, a dream is just as good.” A dream isn't, but it's something, and inevitably leads us back toward reality, which leads us back to imagination in an endless circle of blending into different forms and shapes. Fantasy and its cousin, science fiction, along with their forefather, Romance, are tastes not shared by all. Patrick avoids slamming fantasy to the extent he can given his dislike, and he flees that “ideologically rigid sack of theories.” I've tried to give as supple a theory and explanation as I can for the pleasures of fantasy done well, as the genre has long suffered disrespect it shouldn't. One of the best essays on the subject is still Tolkien's “On Fairy-Stories,” which can be found in the collection The Tolkien Reader. This essay derives and applies ideas from Tolkien's work, which is still as complete a defense and analysis of the genre. He defends the secondary worlds in their own terms:
“Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter.”
I don't think it an accident that Paul Graham uses the prison metaphor in his essay about schools, Why Nerds are Unpopular, or that Viktor Frankl survives a literal Nazi prison via imagination, as he describes in Man's Search for Meaning. Fantasy is a form of imaginary creation, like scientific invention or other forms of insight, and the worlds it creates are for any who would journey into them…
About Jake Seliger:
Jake Seliger writes The Story's Story, a book and literature blog, and is a graduate student in English at the University of Arizona. He is also an associate with Seliger + Associates Grant Writing, where he contributes to the blog Grant Writing Confidential.
Patrick Kurp ponders why he doesn't like fantasy, writing that “[It] feels like a cheat, an evasion, a con game for stunted children.” Maybe: but to my mind, it opens other avenues for looking at the world and goes places realism doesn't. Good fantasy develops its own codes and limitations; it is different from and reflects our world. In Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, Chuck Ramkissoon says, “Now, games are important. They test us. They teach us comradeship. They're fun. But cricket, more than any other sport, is, I want to say [...] a lesson in civility.” I wouldn't call fantasy a lesson in civility, but it often imparts, aside from pleasure, lessons in how to lead and organize one's life. When teaching the LSAT, I often use the journey and confrontation plots in fantasy novels as metaphors. And if fantasy is a cheat, so too is metaphor, which takes one or multiple things and stands them in the place of others, as fantasy does.
It also inevitably returns to confront the ideals and problems of the society that produced it, as Northrop Frye argued in The Secular Scriptures. Romance and fantasy are inextricably linked to the societies that produce them, just as fiction more generally is. The power of fiction and fantasy is their ability to be rooted in those societies while simultaneously being able to transcend them to others. I have no experience in ancient Greece or Rome, but The Iliad and The Aeneid still speak to me. I have never set foot in Middle-earth, but it seems more real to me in some ways than South Ossetia, though I would never argue, obviously, that one is real and the other isn't.
Still, the question of real and fake gets raised by this question and never satisfactorily answered, as it hasn't been in literature or philosophy. Patrick writes, “I read to know the world, in particular the human world, even to celebrate it, not to slum in another.” To my mind, we're not slumming it in another world, but sharpening our sense of this one through contrast in a subsidiary world, both part of and separate from ours. Fantasy is where the imagination can run wilder than it can in reality, and it is another configuration of reality in the mind, a separate microworld that breaks off from the main world in the mind of its holder. Think of it as an extension of the multiverse or parallel universe theories, only with fantasy itself as another world that mirrors ours. Those mirrors sometimes distort for effect, and if realism is a standard mirror, fantasy is the one that stretches, contorts, and makes us wonder at what we really think of ourselves. The best fantasy novels have rules of their own, some of which can be bent, and others broken, as they say in The Matrix. See our world in fantasy and fantasy in our world. Umberto Eco writes in Reflections on The Name of the Rose:
“And so the Middle Ages have remained, if not profession, my hobby—and a constant temptation: I see the period everywhere, transparently overlaying my daily concerns, which do not look medieval, though they are.”
As said by Burlingame in The Sot-Weed Factor, “I grew so enchanted by the great Manchegan [Don Quixote] and his faithful squire as to lose all track of time and was rebuked by Captain Salmon for reporting late to the cook.” At its best, fantasy has this effect, almost as drugs or sex are wont to do. I think there's a reason why children and teenagers are often drawn to fantasy, as it offers a relatively safe and accessible outlet for young people who feel powerless and constrained, or feel perceived constraint from parents and society. Another world offers solace and meaning, as it offers others symbolism and power. These sensations go far back in cultural time: some aspect of fantasy or fantastical journeys exist in numerous cultures, as Joseph Campbell argues in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Most of them and us are not Don Quixotes, who asks if we have “[...] read the annals and the histories of the England that treat of the famous exploits of King Arthur [...]” The mistaken belief in fantasy as genuine reality is ridiculous, but the belief that we can see aspects of reality in fantasy is not. The prologue to Don Quixote more lays out the case for fantasy, and, more abstractly, literature itself:
“Let it be your aim that, by reading your story, the melancholy may be moved to laughter and the cheerful man made merrier still; let the simple not be bored, but may the clever admire your originality; let the grave ones not despise you, but let the prudent praise you.”
One could also say, let the adolescent find a way forward and the adult meaning in experience, and let a strong story exist for the literal and subtle metaphors and symbols for the intellectual. Only very good fantasy, like Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, accomplishes these lofty goals, but only very few works of fiction pass the hundred year test and become that strange beast we call literature. Defending fantasy and science fiction as literature might be odd given my lament in Science Fiction, literature, and the haters. But I only wrote that post because both cause pain when they fail to live up to literature's ideals and their own possibility. One of my favorite passages from any book occurs when Tomás and a Martian encounter one another in Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles:
“Let us agree to disagree," said the Martian. “What does it matter who is Past or Future, if we are both alive, for what follows will follow, tomorrow or in ten thousand years. How do you know that those temples are not the temples of your own civilization one hundred centuries from now, tumbled and broken?”
Later, a character says, “If you can't have the reality, a dream is just as good.” A dream isn't, but it's something, and inevitably leads us back toward reality, which leads us back to imagination in an endless circle of blending into different forms and shapes. Fantasy and its cousin, science fiction, along with their forefather, Romance, are tastes not shared by all. Patrick avoids slamming fantasy to the extent he can given his dislike, and he flees that “ideologically rigid sack of theories.” I've tried to give as supple a theory and explanation as I can for the pleasures of fantasy done well, as the genre has long suffered disrespect it shouldn't. One of the best essays on the subject is still Tolkien's “On Fairy-Stories,” which can be found in the collection The Tolkien Reader. This essay derives and applies ideas from Tolkien's work, which is still as complete a defense and analysis of the genre. He defends the secondary worlds in their own terms:
“Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it. In using escape in this way the critics have chosen the wrong word, and, what is more, they are confusing, not always by sincere error, the Escape of the Prisoner with the Flight of the Deserter.”
I don't think it an accident that Paul Graham uses the prison metaphor in his essay about schools, Why Nerds are Unpopular, or that Viktor Frankl survives a literal Nazi prison via imagination, as he describes in Man's Search for Meaning. Fantasy is a form of imaginary creation, like scientific invention or other forms of insight, and the worlds it creates are for any who would journey into them…
About Jake Seliger:
Jake Seliger writes The Story's Story, a book and literature blog, and is a graduate student in English at the University of Arizona. He is also an associate with Seliger + Associates Grant Writing, where he contributes to the blog Grant Writing Confidential.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Dabel Brothers to publish First-Ever Illustrated Calendar based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire with artwork by Michael Komarck!!!
PRESS RELEASE — August 19, 2008: Dabel Brothers Publishing is proud to announce the publication of the first-ever illustrated calendar showcasing the epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George R. R. Martin. A New York Times #1 Bestseller, Martin's fantasy series has garnered popular and critical praise since the first novel, “A Game of Thrones”, saw publication in 1996, and was recently optioned for TV adaptation by HBO.
The incomparable Michael Komarck, an artist who has amazed fans with his faithful, detailed artwork inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, illustrates the twelve images in the calendar. His renderings for the calendar are immaculately executed depictions of some of the most popular characters of the series and bring to vivid life some of the most memorable scenes in the epic that's taken the publishing world by storm.
As the only calendar sanctioned by Martin, Dabel Brothers Publishing's A Song of Ice and Fire 2009 Calendar is unarguably a rare treat, and will be limited to 1,000 copies, which will be distributed to the Direct Market and booksellers. Of these, 500 will feature an exclusive Jon Snow cover, and only 250 of them will be numbered as well as personally signed by George R.R. Martin himself! These exclusives will be sold exclusively from Dabel Brothers Publishing's online storefront. ”I am a long time fan of ASOIAF," says Dabel Brothers Vice President, Les Dabel, “and being able to help bring it to life visually is a dream come true.”
The A Song of Ice and Fire 2009 Calendar will be available in December 2008 and would make a perfect holiday gift :) The Limited Variant cover—limited to 500—is currently available for preorder HERE. The SIGNED + NUMBERED EDITION (Out of 250) is also available for preorder, HERE. Both will begin shipping out in the last week of November and I expect these calendars to sell out fast, so I would put in an order as soon as possible…
About George R.R. Martin:
George R.R. Martin, an award-winning author, sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally ever since. He has written fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and for ten years was a writer/producer in Hollywood working on, The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and other feature films and television projects. In the mid 1990s he returned to prose—his first love—and began work on his epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. He was lauded as “America's Tolkien” by Time magazine following the completion of the previous novel in the series, “A Feast for Crows” (Bantam Spectra, 2005), which went on to become a New York Times #1 bestseller. His next book, “A Dance with Dragons” (Bantam Spectra, 2009), is the long-awaited fifth volume in the series.
About Michael Komarck:
Michael Komarck, a self-taught artist, earned a great deal of attention after moving away from traditional media to digital art. The style and precision he brought to his work led to his finding early work with game publishers such as Fantasy Flight Games and AEG. Since then, he has become increasingly in demand by both game publishers and publishers in the fiction market. His list of clients now include Subterranean Press, Bantam Dell, Tor Books, Wizards of the Coast, Electronic Arts, and many more. He recently had two works nominated for the prestigious Chesley, awarded by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.
About Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC:
Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC, is a comic book studio dedicated to bringing many of the best and most popular novels in the world of fantasy to the comic book medium. Since its inception in 2001 they have produced adaptations of novels by bestselling authors including George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Laurell K. Hamilton, Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Richard A. Knaak, and Robert Silverberg. Currently on the schedule is a remarkable list of high-profile projects including adaptations of major novels by bestselling authors: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, an original story set in the world of Jim Butcher's bestselling series The Dresden Files, a Wild Cards series edited and overseen by George R. R. Martin, and a brand-new Mercy Thompson adventure by Patricia Briggs titled Mercy Thompson: Homecoming.
Recently announced Dabel Brothers projects include Malcom Wong’s Dog Eaters, Jim Dresden’s Dresden Files: Storm Front, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, The Warriors and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters.
The incomparable Michael Komarck, an artist who has amazed fans with his faithful, detailed artwork inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, illustrates the twelve images in the calendar. His renderings for the calendar are immaculately executed depictions of some of the most popular characters of the series and bring to vivid life some of the most memorable scenes in the epic that's taken the publishing world by storm.
As the only calendar sanctioned by Martin, Dabel Brothers Publishing's A Song of Ice and Fire 2009 Calendar is unarguably a rare treat, and will be limited to 1,000 copies, which will be distributed to the Direct Market and booksellers. Of these, 500 will feature an exclusive Jon Snow cover, and only 250 of them will be numbered as well as personally signed by George R.R. Martin himself! These exclusives will be sold exclusively from Dabel Brothers Publishing's online storefront. ”I am a long time fan of ASOIAF," says Dabel Brothers Vice President, Les Dabel, “and being able to help bring it to life visually is a dream come true.”
The A Song of Ice and Fire 2009 Calendar will be available in December 2008 and would make a perfect holiday gift :) The Limited Variant cover—limited to 500—is currently available for preorder HERE. The SIGNED + NUMBERED EDITION (Out of 250) is also available for preorder, HERE. Both will begin shipping out in the last week of November and I expect these calendars to sell out fast, so I would put in an order as soon as possible…About George R.R. Martin:
George R.R. Martin, an award-winning author, sold his first story in 1971 and has been writing professionally ever since. He has written fantasy, horror, and science fiction, and for ten years was a writer/producer in Hollywood working on, The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and other feature films and television projects. In the mid 1990s he returned to prose—his first love—and began work on his epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. He was lauded as “America's Tolkien” by Time magazine following the completion of the previous novel in the series, “A Feast for Crows” (Bantam Spectra, 2005), which went on to become a New York Times #1 bestseller. His next book, “A Dance with Dragons” (Bantam Spectra, 2009), is the long-awaited fifth volume in the series.
About Michael Komarck:
Michael Komarck, a self-taught artist, earned a great deal of attention after moving away from traditional media to digital art. The style and precision he brought to his work led to his finding early work with game publishers such as Fantasy Flight Games and AEG. Since then, he has become increasingly in demand by both game publishers and publishers in the fiction market. His list of clients now include Subterranean Press, Bantam Dell, Tor Books, Wizards of the Coast, Electronic Arts, and many more. He recently had two works nominated for the prestigious Chesley, awarded by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.
About Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC:
Dabel Brothers Publishing, LLC, is a comic book studio dedicated to bringing many of the best and most popular novels in the world of fantasy to the comic book medium. Since its inception in 2001 they have produced adaptations of novels by bestselling authors including George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Laurell K. Hamilton, Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams, Richard A. Knaak, and Robert Silverberg. Currently on the schedule is a remarkable list of high-profile projects including adaptations of major novels by bestselling authors: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, an original story set in the world of Jim Butcher's bestselling series The Dresden Files, a Wild Cards series edited and overseen by George R. R. Martin, and a brand-new Mercy Thompson adventure by Patricia Briggs titled Mercy Thompson: Homecoming.
Recently announced Dabel Brothers projects include Malcom Wong’s Dog Eaters, Jim Dresden’s Dresden Files: Storm Front, Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, The Warriors and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters.
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