A great day for releases but a sad day for fans. Author Leslie Esdaile Banks (a.k.a. L. A. Banks) passed away this morning following her battle with adrenal cancer. Our sympathies go out to her family and friends, as well as her legion of fans. There is a benefit this Saturday to help her family cope with the massive bills from her illness. If you cannot attend the benefit (at
The Liar's Club in Philadelphia), you can donate to her family via paypal using the "donate" button at the bottom of the benefit information page.
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An amazing debut from Mark Lawrence, a new series from Diane Duane, a reissued classic from Jane Yolen, new contemporary fantasy from Katherine Kerr, Rachel Caine & Rob Thurman, some classic SF from A. Bertram Chandler, and some new SF from Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. PLUS, ROC is reissuing the Garrett Files from Glen Cook - one of my favorite series of all time.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence - When he was nine, he watched his mother and brother killed before him. By the time he was thirteen, he was the leader of a band of bloodthirsty thugs. By fifteen, he intends to be king...
It's time for Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath to return to the castle he turned his back on, to take what's rightfully his. Since the day he was hung on the thorns of a briar patch and forced to watch Count Renar's men slaughter his mother and young brother, Jorg has been driven to vent his rage. Life and death are no more than a game to him-and he has nothing left to lose.
But treachery awaits him in his father's castle. Treachery and dark magic. No matter how fierce, can the will of one young man conquer enemies with power beyond his imagining?
Home Improvement: Undead Edition edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner - The editors of the New York Times bestselling Death's Excellent Vacation bring home a new collection...with a never-before- published Sookie Stackhouse story!
There's nothing like home renovation for finding skeletons in the closet or otherwordly portals in the attic. Now, for any homeowner who's ever wondered, "What's that creaking sound?" or fans of "how to" television who'd like a little unreality mixed in with their reality shows, editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner return with an all-new collection of the paranormal perils of Do-It-Yourself.
Sookie Stackhouse resides in these pages, in a never-before-published story by #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris. And New York Times bestselling authors Patricia Briggs, James Grady, Heather Graham, Melissa Marr, and nine other outstanding writers have constructed more frightening and funny fixer-upper tales guaranteed to shake foundations and rattle readers' pipes.
Ghost Ship by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller - Space ships, action, adventure – all tied together with a strong dollop of romance and family saga – make this a compelling series for a wide range of readers, from romance to military SF lovers alike.Theo Waitley is an ace starship pilot – and pure maverick. Her mom is a renown Terran scholar and her birth father is an interstellar aristocrat in hiding. Whatever, thinks Theo. She still feels like a socially-challenged misfit. But after being selected to train with the best-of-the-best at the pilot academy, she figures she can leave behind those gawky, misfit days of teenage angst that made life so complicated before! But for Theo, life is about to get even MORE complicated – and deadlier still. For even though she’s survived the Academy and become one of the best pilots in the galaxy, the past is about to blast her with gale-force winds. Theo can run, but she can’t hide. Her destiny as master pilot and leader of a powerful Liaden clan calls, and there are LOTS of enemies who will try to make sure she’s quite dead before she has the chance to make an answer.
- Take a walk on the “wild side” of urban fantasy. When the werewolf cubs are asleep and the baby vamps are tucked into their coffins, the adults come out to play! Feeling a bit undead and dying to shuffle off your toil and troubles and get it on? You’ve come to the right place! Spend some quality time lolling in the moonlight shadows with a love that only comes out at night. From light-spirited romps to black-hearted noir, from steampunk London to the bleeding edge of the present, tales of love, eros, betrayal and seduction in a beguiling vein. Best-sellers Tanya Huff, Caitlin Kittredge and Toni L.P. Kelner join Dana Cameron, Sarah A. Hoyt, John Lambshead, Diana Rowland and editor Mark L. Van Name create a dazzling cast of vampires, werewolves, witches and zombies, oh my. Oh my.
First Command by A. Bertram Chandler - The second in a three-volume collection of the legendary John Grimes books! Classic Star Trek meets the high seas. If space travel is going to be anything like sailing the oceans, then A. Bertram Chandler has surely caught its absolute essence in his Grimes novels. Here it is, the entire “Captain John Grimes – Far Traveller Courier” saga, collected in one volume. These are the tales of John Grimes’ action-packed merchantman and courier years. After moving on from the Terran Navy, Grimes tries his hand at leading a private life, and finds he likes being his own man. The only problem is, his ship The Far Traveller has a (very stubborn and very feminine) mind of its own -- and a penchant for getting Grimes into the worse sort of interplanetary pickles!
Includes: The Far Traveller (with the classic John Grimes stories that started it all), Star Courier, To Keep the Ship, Matilda’s Stepchildren, Star Loot, The Anarch Lords, The Last Amazon, and The Wild Ones.
Exiled: Clan of the Claw by S.M. Stirling, John Ringo, Harry Turtledove and Jody Lynn Nye - First entry in a new series with three big all new linked novellas from multiple best-sellers Harry Turtledove, John Ringo & Jody Lynn Nye, and S.M. Stirling! After the extinction asteroid DOESN’T strike Earth, the dinosaurs keep evolving – but so do the mammals. We mammals have achieved human-like shapes, but now it’s cold-blooded, magic-using reptiles against the hot-blooded, hot-tempered descendants of cats. In a heroic, bronze-age world similar to 300, the Mrem Clan of the Claw and its sister warbands are expanding their rough-and-tumble territory, but now they face the Lishkash, masters of a cold-blooded empire of slave armies and magic. It’s mammalian courage and adaptation against reptile cunning in a clash of steel and will that will determine which line shall inherit the Earth.
Path of the Sun by Violette Malan - On their search for two missing Mercenary Brothers, Dhulyn Wolfshead and Parno Lionsmane must track a serial killer into the Path of the Sun-an ancient labyrinth from which few people return...
Another Kind of Dead by Kelly Meding - She can heal her own wounds. She can nail a monster to a wall. But there's one danger Evangeline Stone never saw coming.
Been there. Done that. Evy Stone is a former Dreg Bounty Hunter who died and came back to life with some extraordinary powers. Now all but five people in the world think she is dead again, this time for good - immolated in a factory fire set specifically for her. Evy and Wyatt, her partner/lover/friend, can no longer trust their former allies, or even the highest echelons of the Triads - the army of fighters holding back from an unsuspecting public a tide of quarreling, otherworldly creatures - they can trust only each other. Because when the Triads raided a macabre, monster-filled lab of science experiments and hauled away the remnants, they failed to capture their creator: a brilliant, vampire-obsessed scientist with a wealth of powerful, anti-Dreg weaponry to trade for what he desires most of all - Evy Stone: alive and well, and the key to his ultimate experiment in mad science.
Omnitopia Dawn by Diane Duane - Created by Dev Logan, Omnitopia is the most popular and successful massive multiplayer online game ever. But now as Dev is about to roll out a major new expansion to Omnitopia, there are people preparing to play a different game-one that is meant to strike at the heart of Omnitopia and bring the entire system crashing down.
The Diviner by Melanie Rawn - The only survivor of royal treachery that eliminates his entire family, Azzad al-Ma'aliq flees to the desert and dedicates himself to vengeance. With the help of the Shagara, a nomadic tribe of powerful magicians, he begins to take his revenge-but at a terrible cost to himself.
Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman - To the warrior-monks known as the Redeemers, who rule over massive armies of child slaves, "the last four things" represent the culmination of a faithful life. Death. Judgement. Heaven. Hell. The last four things represent eternal bliss-or endless destruction, permanent chaos, and infinite pain.
Perhaps nowhere are the competing ideas of heaven and hell exhibited more clearly than in the dark and tormented soul of Thomas Cale. Betrayed by his beloved but still marked by a child's innocence, possessed of a remarkable aptitude for violence but capable of extreme tenderness, Cale will lead the Redeemers into a battle for nothing less than the fate of the human race. And though his broken heart foretells the bloody trail he will leave in pursuit of a personal peace he can never achieve, a glimmer of hope remains. The question even Cale can't answer: When it comes time to decide the fate of the world, to ensure the extermination of humankind or spare it, what will he choose? To express God's will on the edge of his sword, or to forgive his fellow man-and himself?
Water to Burn by Katherine Kerr - Secret agent Nola O'Grady is back and ready to save San Francisco from all evildoers, alien and otherwise. With the aid of her bodyguard and lover Ari Nathan, Nola's new mission is to track down and apprehend the mysterious "Brother Belial," head of the now-dispersed Chaos cult-and a possible invader from another dimension.
Labyrinth by Kat Richardson - Harper Blaine was your average small-time P. I. until she died-for two minutes. Now she's a Greywalker, walking the line between the living world and the paranormal realm. There are others who know about her new powers-others with powerful tools and evil intentions, and now that the man who "killed" her has been murdered, the police are also paying close attention. That means Harper has to watch her step while searching for the ghost of her "killer"-who could be a valuable clue in the puzzle of Harper's past and her father's death, as well as a key to figuring out who's trying to manipulate her new powers and why. But with her growing powers pulling her into the Grey, Harper might not be able to come back out...
Introducing Garrett, P.I. by Glen Cook - Garrett is a private investigator with a diverse clientele-from damsels in distress to elves, trolls, and sorcerers. Together for the first time are the first three books in the long-running, groundbreaking series:
In
Sweet Silver Blues, Garrett fights vampires and centaurs as he tracks down a woman with a fortune.
In
Bitter Gold Hearts, Garrett is hired by a powerful sorcerer to find her kidnapped son.
In
Cold Copper Tears, Garrett takes a case for a woman so gorgeous it can only spell trouble.
[Editor's Note: One of my all-time favorite series. Glad to see this back in print!]
Basilisk by Rob Thurman - Stefan Korsak and his genetically-altered brother have evaded the Institute for three years. When they learn the new location of the secret lab, they plan to break in and save the remaining children there. But one of the little ones doesn't want to leave. She wants to kill...
Steelhands by Jada Jones and Danielle Bennett - With Havemercy, Shadow Magic, and Dragon Soul, the acclaimed writing team of Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett has fused magic and technology into something that can only be termed “magicpunk.” Their distinctive style, featuring a chorus of quirky first-person narrators and brilliantly sophisticated world-building, has won these young writers the plaudits of fans and critics.
In the Volstov capital of Thremedon, Owen Adamo, the hard-as-nails ex–Chief Sergeant of the Dragon Corps, learns that Volstov’s ruler, the Esar, has been secretly pursuing the possibility of resurrecting magically powered sentient robot dragons—even at the risk of igniting another war. That Adamo will not allow. Though he is not without friends—Royston, a powerful magician, and Balfour, a former corpsman—there is only so much Adamo and his allies can do. Adamo has been put out to pasture, given a professorship at the University. Royston, already exiled once, dares not risk the Esar’s wrath a second time. And Balfour, who lost both hands in the climactic battle of the war, is now a diplomat who spends most of his time trying to master his new hands—metal replacements that operate on the same magical principles as the dragons and have earned him an assortment of nicknames of which “Steelhands” is the least offensive.
Working Stiff by Rachel Caine - Bryn Davis was killed on the job after discovering her bosses were selling a drug designed to resurrect the dead. Now, revived by that same drug, she becomes an undead soldier in a corporate war to take down the very pharmaceutical company responsible for her new condition...
Downpour by Kat Richardson - After being shot in the back and dying-again- Greywalker Harper Blaine's only respite from the chaos is her work. But while conducting a pre-trial investigation in the Olympic Peninsula, she sees a ghostly car accident whose victim insists that he was murdered and that the nearby community of Sunset Lakes is to blame. Harper soon learns that the icy waters of the lake hide a terrible power, and a host of hellish beings under the thrall of a sinister cabal that will use the darkest of arts to achieve their fiendish ends...
Spellwright by Blake Charlton - Nicodemus is a young, gifted wizard with a problem. Magic in his world requires the caster to create spells by writing out the text . . . but he has always been dyslexic, and thus has trouble casting even the simplest of spells. And his misspells could prove dangerous, even deadly, should he make a mistake in an important incantation.
Yet he has always felt that he is destined to be something more than a failed wizard. When a powerful, ancient evil begins a campaign of murder and disruption, Nicodemus starts to have disturbing dreams that lead him to believe that his misspelling could be the result of a curse. But before he can discover the truth about himself, he is attacked by an evil which has already claimed the lives of fellow wizards and has cast suspicion on his mentor. He must flee for his own life if he’s to find the true villain.
But more is at stake than his abilities. For the evil that has awakened is a power so dread and vast that if unleashed it will destroy Nicodemus... and the world.
Antiphon by Ken Scholes - Nothing is as it seems to be.
The ancient past is not dead. The hand of the Wizard Kings still reaches out to challenge the Androfrancine Order, to control the magick and technology that they sought to understand and claim for their own.
Nebios, the boy who watched the destruction of the city of Windwir, now runs the vast deserts of the world, far from his beloved Marsh Queen. He is being hunted by strange women warriors, while his dreams are invaded by warnings from his dead father.
Jin Li Tam, queen of the Ninefold Forest, guards her son as best she can against both murderous threats, and the usurper queen and her evangelists. They bring a message: Jakob is the child of promise of their Gospel, and the Crimson Empress is on her way.
And in hidden places, the remnants of the Androfrancine order formulate their response to the song pouring out of a silver crescent that was found in the wastes.
Empress of Eternity by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - In the far future, an indestructible and massive canal more than 2,000 miles long spans the mid-continent of Earth. Nothing can mar it, move it, or affect it in any fashion. At its western end, where it meets the sea, is an equally indestructible structure comprising three levels of seemingly empty chambers.
Scientists from three different civilizations, separated in time by hundreds of thousands of years, are investigating the canal. In the most distant of these civilizations, religious rebellion is brewing. A plot is hatched to overthrow the world government of the Vanir, using a weapon that can destroy anything-except the canal. If used at full power it might literally unravel the universe and destroy all life forever. The lives and fates of all three civilizations become intertwined as the forces behind the canal react to the threat, and all three teams of scientists find their lives changed beyond belief.
Blood Song by Cat Adams - Bodyguard Celia Graves has definitely accepted her share of weird assignments, both human and supernatural. But her newest job takes the cake. Guarding a Prince from terrorists and religious fundamentalists is hard enough, but it seems like the entire supernatural world is after this guy too. When she is betrayed by those she is employed to help, and everything goes horribly wrong, Celia wakes to find herself transformed.
Neither human nor vampire, Celia has become an Abomination—something that should not exist—and now both human and supernatural alike want her dead. With the help of a few loyal friends—a sexy mage, a powerful werewolf, and a psychic cop—Celia does her best to stay alive. On the run from her enemies, Celia must try to discover who is behind her transformation...before it's too late.
The Palace of Impossible Dreams by Jennifer Fallon - Eternity is a long time to be watching over your shoulder...
The Tide is turning, and the Immortals who have walked the world for eons are once again coming into their powers and stepping from obscure boltholes to take control once more.
The very mortal lady Arkady knows of their plans but holds out little hope of being able to stop them. Branded and sold into slavery, Arkady fears all she knows and loves is lost—her husband, Stellan, was probably dead by now, hanged by the Immortal Jaxyn for his own nefarious purposes; and Declan Hawkes, the King of Glaeba's Spymaster and her childhood friend — perhaps the only other human she knew who might risk everything to save her — doesn't even know she's in danger. She will turn to her new owner for help ... but learning the truth about him may cost them both their lives.
And Stellan? Well, it turns out he isn't dead and Jaxyn's plans hit a snag when he realises that Stellan, the one man who can challenge him for the Glaeban throne, has sought asylum in neighbouring Caelum. Strangely enough, the Empress of the Five Realms (a Tide Lord in hiding no more), and the Tide Lords, Tryan and Elyssa, seem to be on Stellan's side ...
Plots within plots. Magic tinges the very air and the Tide will bring mayhem and madness to both mortal and Immortal alike.
Cowboys & Aliens by Joan D. Vinge - Arizona Territory, 1873. A bedraggled, confused stranger stumbles into town. He has no memories and the only real clue to his past is the shackle that encircles his waist. Distrusted at first, this unwelcome refugee soon becomes the cowboys' only hope in repelling an invasion of ferocious alien monsters.
Warriors 3 edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois - From George R. R. Martin’s Introduction to Warriors:
“People have been telling stories about warriors for as long as they have been telling stories. Since Homer first sang the wrath of Achilles and the ancient Sumerians set down their tales of Gilgamesh, warriors, soldiers, and fighters have fascinated us; they are a part of every culture, every literary tradition, every genre. All Quiet on the Western Front, From Here to Eternity, and The Red Badge of Courage have become part of our literary canon, taught in classrooms all around the country and the world. Our contributors make up an all-star lineup of award-winning and bestselling writers, representing a dozen different publishers and as many genres. We asked each of them for the same thing—a story about a warrior. Some chose to write in the genre they’re best known for. Some decided to try something different. You will find warriors of every shape, size, and color in these pages, warriors from every epoch of human history, from yesterday and today and tomorrow, and from worlds that never were. Some of the stories will make you sad, some will make you laugh, and many will keep you on the edge of your seat.”
The stories in the third mass market volume of this book are:
Introduction: Stories of the Spinner Rack, by George R. R. Martin
The Triumph, by Robin Hobb
Soldierin’, by Joe R. Lansdale
Clean Slate, by Lawrence Block
The Girls from Avenger, by Carrie Vaughn
The Pit, by James Rollins
My Name is Legion, by David Morrell
The Custom of the Army, by Diana Gabaldon
The Watchtower by Lee Carroll - Jewelry designer Garet James is still coming to terms with the astounding revelation in BLACK SWAN RISING that she is the last in a long line of women sworn to protect the world from evil. Now she has received a sign from Will Hughes, the 400-year-old vampire who once helped her defeat the evil threatening to destroy New York City. Hughes, tortured by his own violent history which is vividly reenacted here, has asked her to join him on a quest to rid himself of his curse of vampirism. While looking for Will in Paris, Garet encounters a number of mysterious figures-an ancient botanist metamorphosed into the oldest tree in Paris, a gnome who lives under the Labyrinth at the Jardin des Plantes, a librarian at the Institut Oceanographique, and a dryad in the Luxembourg Gardens.
Each encounter leads Garet closer to finding Will Hughes, but she realizes that she’s not the only one who’s trying to find the way to the magical world called the Summer Country. As Garet struggles to understand her family legacy, each answer she finds only leads to more questions—and to more danger.…
Bury Elminster Deep: The Sage of Shadowdale by Ed Greenwood - Elminster's archenemy, the vampiric Lord Manshoon, thinks he has destroyed Elminster at last. But Elminster survives in the form of magical ash, and with the help of his scion, a fop who is growing into a true nobleman, and his longtime companion Storm, he still has a chance to counter Manshoon's insidious plots.
Blood Ties by Mari Mancusi - Officially back in the arms of her vampire boyfriend Magnus, Sunny finds she still can't forget the gentle mortal Jayden who once saved her life. When darkness threatens to steal his humanity, Sunny must make a choice: stay true to her love, or defy him in a desperate attempt to save Jayden's soul.
Meanwhile, the Blood Coven is gearing up for a showdown with a splinter group of Slayer Inc. It's Vampires vs. Slayers in a showdown that could cost Sunny not only her heart...but also her life.
The Dark Elite by Chloe Neill - The first two novels of the Dark Elite series—
Firespell and
Hexbound.
As the new girl at St. Sophia's boarding school, Lily Parker thinks her classmates are the most monstrous things she'll have to face. In Firespell and Hexbound, she'll find out just how wrong she is, as she falls in with a group of rebel teens defending Chicago from vampires, demons, and the corrupted magic users known as reapers.
Edda by Conor Kostick - Everyone in the virtual universe of Edda is made of pixels-except Penelope. While her body is kept alive in a hospital bed, her avatar runs free, able to go anywhere and do anything, including create deadly weapons for Edda's ruler, her guardian, Lord Scanthax. When Scanthax decides he wants to invade another virtual world, Erik/Cindella from Epic and Ghost from Saga become part of the story-and soon the virtual universes are alive with fighting, alight with bombs, and brought together by three teenagers who want peace and understanding.
Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen - Raised on a mountainside, Jenna learned the arts of the warrior, and from the mountain women the magic of the ancient lore. But the greatest magic of all was her ability to call forth her dark sister from the depths of the mirror of the land of light and shadow.
Skada was the dark one, able to exist only when the moonlight cast a shadow or lamplight flickered in a darkened room.
This is the story of Jenna and Skada.
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Next week: Stay tuned - A New Star Wars novel from Christie Golden and the sequel to Lev Grossman's The Magician are among the books due out next Tuesday. Check our blog for complete details or... subscribe using the buttons in the right column and never miss a book from your favorite author.
