Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-09-12)

A shortened week (Labor Day) didn't stop these books from arriving.

The Complete Morgaine  by C. J. Cherryh (DAW Trade Paperback 09/01/2015) – A big honking omnibus of some of Cherryh’s earliest work, which seems to be a perfect blending of Science Fiction and Fantasy – Science Fantasy. This includes Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth, and Exile's Gate. 

Together for the first time in one volume—all four novels in the dark science fiction epic, the Morgaine Cycle. 

The gates were relics of a lost era, a linked network of portals that the ruthless Qual empire used to span Time and Space. The Science Buereau has come to believe that sometime, somewhere in the unreachable past, someone has done the unthinkable and warped the very fabric of the universe using these gates. Now, it is up to Morgaine, a mysterious woman aided by a single warrior honor-bound to serve her, to travel from world to world sealing the ancient gates whose very existence threatens the integrity of all worlds...

Dragon Coast by Greg van Eekhout (Tor Hardcover 09/15/2015) – Eekhout rounds out his trilogy in 18 months, not a bad pace.

Dragon Coast: the sequel to Greg Van Eekhout'sCalifornia Bones and Pacific Fire, in which Daniel Blackland must pull off the most improbable theft of all.

Daniel's adopted son Sam, made from the magical essence of the tyrannical Hierarch of Southern California whom Daniel overthrew and killed, is lost-consumed by the great Pacific firedrake secretly assembled by Daniel's half-brother, Paul.

But Sam is still alive and aware, in magical form, trapped inside the dragon as it rampages around Los Angeles, periodically torching a neighborhood or two.

Daniel has a plan to rescue Sam. It will involve the rarest of substances, axis mundi , pieces of the bones of the great dragon at the center of the Earth. Daniel will have to go to the kingdom of Northern California, boldly posing as his half-brother, come to claim his place in the competition to be appointed Lord High Osteomancer of the Northern Kingdom. Only when the Northern Hierarch, in her throne room at Golden Gate Park, raises her scepter to confirm Daniel in his position will he have an opportunity to steal the axis mundi-under the gaze of the Hierarch herself.

And that's just the first obstacle.

Does Sam even have a reason for existing, if it isn’t to prevent this firedrake from happening? He’s good at escaping from things. Now he’s escaped from Daniel and the Emmas, and he’s on his way to LA.

This may be the worst idea he’s ever had.

Swords and Scoundrels (The Duelists Trilogy Book One) by Julia Knight (Orbit Trade Paperback 10/06/2015) – A name switch (Julia wrote the Rojan Dizon books under the Francis Knight name) and slight genre switch to Sword & Sorcery. This looks fun.

Two siblings.
Outcasts for life.... together.
What could possibly go wrong?

Vocho and Kacha are champion duelists: a brother and sister known for the finest swordplay in the city of Reyes. Or at least they used to be-until they were thrown out of the Duelist's Guild.

As a last resort, they turn reluctant highwaymen. But when they pick the wrong carriage to rob, their simple plans to win back fame and fortune go south fast.

After barely besting three armed men and a powerful magician, Vocho and Kacha make off with an immense locked chest. But the contents will bring them much more than they've bargained for when they find themselves embroiled in a dangerous plot to return an angry king to power....

Swords and Scoundrels is the first book in The Duelist's Trilogy -- a tale of death, magic, and family loyalty.

Bloodbound (A Pathfinder Tales novel) by F. Wesley Schneider (TorTrade Paperback 11/03/2015) – Schneider co-created the Pathfinder RPG and if the work of his fellow co-creator James L. Sutter is any indication, this one should be fun.

Larsa is a dhampir-half vampire, half human. In the gritty streets and haunted moors of gothic Ustalav, she's an agent for the royal spymaster, keeping peace between the capital's secret vampire population and its huddled human masses. Yet when a noblewoman's entire house is massacred by vampiric invaders, Larsa is drawn into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse that will reveal far more about her own heritage than she ever wanted to know.

From Pathfinder co-creator and noted game designer F. Wesley Schneider comes Bloodbound, a dark fantasy adventure of murder, intrigue, and secrets best left buried, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Role Playing Game.

Catching up with the Classics or 3rd Time is a Charm – C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner

C.J. Cherryh is a writer who needs little introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy readers (although Andrew Liptak did a nice write-up about her at Kirkus). Even if you haven’t read any of her work, her name should be familiar. It is virtually impossible not to see her name in the SF section, she’s written over 50 novels since first publishing in the mid-1970s, has been nominated and received nearly every award the SFF genres have to offer. Yet, it is her 1994 novel Foreigner that launched what has become her single-longest series chronicling one character/set of characters continuously (even if many of the other novels take place in the same milieu).

It is the first book in the series that I’m covering here…

Ain't that purty?

But first, let’s take a step back. Foreigner isn’t my first attempt at reading a novel by C.J. Cherryh. The first Cherryh I read was The Dreaming Tree (a two-in-one edition containing The Tree of Swords and Jewels and Ealdwood). Or rather, I read the first half, about 15 years ago before giving up. I had a similar experience with Downbelow Station (link to SFFWorld Book Club discussion from 2006)  and ditched that book at about the halfway point. But yet…Cherryh’s output was so wide that surely I should try again, right? I was initially drawn to her work, admittedly, when I was browsing through Michael Whelan’s Web site many, many years ago and noticed just how many beautiful covers of her work he’d painted. Whelan's covers didn’t steer me wrong with C.S. Friedman, and he did covers for Stephen King and Tad Williams so I figured I had a good barometer.

Fast forward to a year or two ago….Cherryh’s name continually comes up in the conversations with folks I’ve become friends with on twitter an the online genre community (Stefan Raets, Paul Weimer) and I’m urged even more to give her work another (a yet unheard of third) attempt. So, I add Foreigner to my amazon wish list, received it for Christmas and earlier this week, I finally read it.

…and I enjoyed it. A great deal.

Essentially, Foreigner is a first contact novel…a first contact novel that doesn’t really become a first contact novel until a couple of prologues sets up the situation. Some readers/fans of the books have not looked too fondly on the first third of the novel, but I personally like that contextualization of events.

So, Foreigner is a first contact novel wherein aliens reluctantly visit a life with sentient beings and humans are those reluctant visitor aliens, the atevi are dark/black skinned inhabitants of the world humanity visits, and are several heads taller than humans, between 8 and 10 feet tall. The protagonist and our primary point of view character is Bren Cameron, the human who acts as translator / mediator / ambassador / representative (or the atevi title paidhi) for the atevi and is the lone human among the atevi.

The humans aren’t exactly fully welcome on the Atevi planet. Be that as it may, human technology has been slowly and deliberately introduced into atevi culture to the point that the atevi are close to reaching space travel technology.

The main action of the novel begins when an assassination attempt is made on Bren. It isn’t clear who is trying to kill the lone human, but it endangers the thin lines of stability in atevi culture and their relationship to humanity. This is made an even more challenging situation for Bren because of the subtle differences in atevi and human/English language and communication. He’s got two handlers, the male Banichi and female Jago, both of whom he tries to keep on an even keel without disappointing either of them. Part of his frustration and difficulty is that he is even more isolated, having been sequestered to an ancient castle for his own protection. He is little more than a prisoner under “castle” arrest, and all communication between him and the human populace has been halted; the regular letters he’d been receiving were cut off and the atevi are not permitting him to make any phone calls.

Although Cherryh uses an omniscient third person narrative, it is very limited to the point of view of what Bren sees and experiences so in that sense, it has much in common with the first person narrative. Because of this limiting narrative, we have as much of a clue as the human goings on and what his human friends are trying to communicate as does Bren himself.

In Bren’s situation – cut off from friends and his own damned species – feeling disheartened, frustrated, and confused are natural. Cherryh does a fine job of showing these emotions through Bren’s interactions with the atevi closest to him. What makes his character so strong is that he does not give into despair and hate. Through everything the atevi do to him (which turns out to be logical in hindsight once the big Reveal is, well, revealed), Bren seeks to understand them and seeks their understanding of him and humans.

Cherryh does some great things in this novel, she conveys so much about cultural misunderstandings as representatives of these cultures to try and understand each other. Some of the stronger portions of the novel involved conversations between Bren and Cenedi. My only real complaint is that a full character list would have been helpful.

This series has grown considerably since the publication of Foreigner in 1994 with 15 books in print (at about a book per year) and a 16th due this year (2015). For me, Foreigner serves as my new entry point into Cherryh’s enormous oeuvre and I hope to spend time catching up with her work. I will likely next dive into the four-book Morgaine Cycle,  perhaps The Chanur Saga, maybe The Faded Sun (I am a sucker for an omnibus and DAW does them better than any publisher), the next Foreigner installment, or maybe another Michael Whelan cover which catches my eye.

 

 

Would I have enjoyed the book had I tried it any other time, say closer to the time I read and gave up on Downbelow Station? I don’t know, but I’m leaning towards a “no.” My reading tastes in the genre have evolved and matured in the last decade. I think this is due in large part to my interactions with other  friends / readers, which has allowed me to be more open, willing to try again, and think about what I read differently than I did 5, 10, 15 years ago.

Later edit: I would be remiss if I didn't point out Jo Walton's excellent overview of some of Cherryh's work, including a reread of the Foreigner series, with over at Tor.com.

On a side note, I read the physical/mass market version of this book and as I’ve been wont to do in recent months, I was “reading” an audio-book at the same time. In this case, Andy Weir’s The Martian. There’s an interesting contrast in the two novels, in particular the abandonment both protagonists experience.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-09-05)

You all should know the drill by now...Sunday...books...

Lightless by C.A. Higgins (Del Rey Hardcover 09/25/2015) – This is another impressive looking SF debut, this time from the fine folks at Del Rey Books. It is already racking up a couple of positive reviews. This is the finished/final version of the ARC I received in May.

The deeply moving human drama of Gravity meets the nail-biting suspense of Alien in this riveting science fiction debut. With bold speculation informed by a degree in astrophysics, C. A. Higgins spins an unforgettable “locked spaceship” mystery guaranteed to catapult readers beyond their expectations—and into brilliantly thrilling new territory.

Serving aboard the Ananke, an experimental military spacecraft launched by the ruthless organization that rules Earth and its solar system, computer scientist Althea has established an intense emotional bond—not with any of her crewmates, but with the ship’s electronic systems, which speak more deeply to her analytical mind than human feelings do. But when a pair of fugitive terrorists gain access to the Ananke, Althea must draw upon her heart and soul for the strength to defend her beloved ship.

While one of the saboteurs remains at large somewhere on board, his captured partner—the enigmatic Ivan—may prove to be more dangerous. The perversely fascinating criminal whose silver tongue is his most effective weapon has long evaded the authorities’ most relentless surveillance—and kept the truth about his methods and motives well hidden.

As the ship’s systems begin to malfunction and the claustrophobic atmosphere is increasingly poisoned by distrust and suspicion, it falls to Althea to penetrate the prisoner’s layers of intrigue and deception before all is lost. But when the true nature of Ivan’s mission is exposed, it will change Althea forever—if it doesn’t kill her first.

Dead Lands: Ghostwalkers by Jonathan Maberry (Tor09/22/15) – Maberry is a workhorse, this novel is based on the popular Deadlands RPG.

From New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry, the first in a thrilling series of novels based on Deadlands, a hugely successful role-playing game (RPG) set in the Weird, Weird West.

Welcome to the Deadlands, where steely-eyed gunfighters rub shoulders with mad scientists and dark, unnatural forces. Where the Great Quake of 1868 has shattered California into a labyrinth of sea-flooded caverns . . . and a mysterious substance called "ghost rock" fuels exotic steampunk inventions as well as plenty of bloodshed and flying bullets.

In Ghostwalkers, a gun-for-hire, literally haunted by his bloody past, comes to the struggling town of Paradise Falls, where he becomes embroiled in a deadly conflict between the besieged community and a diabolically brilliant alchemist who is building terrible new weapons of mass destruction . . . and an army of the living dead!

Deadlands is one of the most popular RPGs in history, with over a million Deadlands gaming books sold.

Maplecroft by Cherie Priest (Roc, Trade Paperback 09/02/14) – Priest is another prolific author whose work I have really been intending to dive into and this, the first of the blend of Lovecraftian/Cthulhu history novel seems the place to start. The fine folks at Penguin (Hi Alexis!) were kind enough to pass this along to me since I received book 2 a couple of weeks ago

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.... 

The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny. 

But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness. 

This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

Medusa’s Web by Time PowersHarper Voyager / William Morrow Hardcover 01/19/16) – Powers, to be blunt, is a living legend. This is the first 2016 book for which I’ve been sent an ARC.

From the award-winning author of Hide Me Among the Graves, Last Call, Declare, and Three Days to Never, a phantasmagoric, thrilling, mind-bending tale of speculative fiction in which one man must uncover occult secrets of 1920s Hollywood to save his family.

In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby South-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted “House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills” that is a conduit for the supernatural.

Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars. A collection of hypnotic eight-limbed abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time—to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying. Though their cousins know little about these ancient “spiders” which provoke unpredictable temporal dislocations, Ariel and Claimayne have been using for years—an addiction that has brought Claimayne to the brink of selfish destruction.

As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott discovers that to protect her, he must use the perilous spiders himself. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them. . . or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

Star Wars: Aftermanth by Chuck Wendig (Star Wars Books / Del Rey, Hardcover 09/04/2015) – This is where the Star Wars road to Force Awakens really begins. Yeah, yeah I know we had the Zahn trilogy and those were great. But there some great DC Comics stories after Crisis on Infinite Earths, right? This is the first of a trilogy from Wing Chudnik of Pensultucky.

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The second Death Star has been destroyed, the Emperor killed, and Darth Vader struck down. Devastating blows against the Empire, and major victories for the Rebel Alliance. But the battle for freedom is far from over.

As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.

Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world—war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close the enemy is—or how decisive and dangerous her new mission will be.

Determined to preserve the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a top-secret emergency summit—to consolidate their forces and rally for a counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies—her technical-genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial defector—who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s oppressive reign once and for all.

Friday Round-Up: Dawson @SFSignal and Wexler & Beaulieu @SFFWorld

Friday Round-Up Time, you know what that means….

Last week, my review of Django Wexler’s third Shadow Campaigns novel, The Price of Valor posted to SFFWorld:

The third book in a five book series is the exact middle book of the series and while there are some elements of the novel that give it a feel of treading water (the Winter/Jane relationship seemed a bit drawn out), on the whole, Django Wexler manages to reveal more layers of the plot of the antagonists and more about his characters. Janus has been an enigma for much of the series thus far, a character who immediately commands respect and awe from those who serve him, and frustration to those who either oppose him or find themselves at odds with him (even if Janus doesn’t realize it). His air of always knowing what to do and being several steps ahead of the opposition have given him a well-earned reputation as a master tactician. The person most frustrated by him is Jane, and specifically, what an important fixture he is in Winter’s life. Winter, oh Winter, what a great character you are. She is surrounded by a cabal of well-rounded characters who don’t blend into each other and for their “minor” status in the cast of characters, manage to have their own stand-out voices.

Some closure here, but dammit, the unresolved elements and giant hints of things to come have the next installment in The Shadow Campaigns quite high on my I NEED TO READ WHEN IT PUBLISHES list. With The Price of Valor, Django Wexler continues to prove that he’s got a great story to tell. Great characters painted on a fascinating backdrop with military and political conflict make for an excellent novel, and an excellent installment in a thoroughly entertaining Military/Flintlock Fantasy saga.

Also last week, Friday to be specific, my audio book review of Delilah Dawson’s Hit was posted to SF Signal.

Hit is the first of a series and Delilah Dawson does a fantastic job of introducing Patsy as the protagonist and first person narrator. The young girl is forced into her situation; becoming a bounty hunter for Valor National because if she doesn’t take a gun (and leave the cannoli), they’ll kill her and her mother because of overwhelming debt Mom built up after job losses and cancer treatments. Patsy gets her list, is assigned a painted-over mail truck and plays the role of delivery person in order to get her targets. When Patsy greets the target, she gives them something to sign as “confirmation of delivery” of the “fruit basket” she has. Once the agreement is signed (and never read before it is signed), Patsy offers each target the same choice: pay off the debt, become a bounty hunter, or eat a bullet. 

The natural dystopic comparison is to The Hunger Games, if only because both novels feature a very head-strong, likeable, engaging, young female protagonist. If anything, the America and world revealed in Hit could be seen almost as a precursor to the fractured and realigned national boundaries of Panem. There’s a certain South Park episode that served as partial inspiration to the novel/series/world, but the story takes off from the notion set forth in that episode with Dawson’s wonderful pacing and character development.

Lastly, and most recently, my review of the stunning Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu posted to SFFWorld this week:

We begin in the fighting pits, witnessing 19-year old Çeda (pronounced Chayda) Ahyanesh’ala – known to many as the White Wolf – defeat a champion pit fighter, an opponent much larger and more experienced than her. An opponent of her own choosing. This opening was perfect, we get a sense of Çeda as a strong, deceptively imposing physical presence, a flavor of Sharakhai itself, and as the fight ends, a hint of her character and motivations. I dare say that if you aren’t drawn in by Bealieu’s powerful and magnetic opening, you should check yourself.

There’s also a nice interplay of fantasy flavors here, the more intimate and personal elements closely associated with Sword and Sorcery against the larger scale (worldly) elements associated with Epic Fantasy. Through Çeda’s introduction in a fighting/gladiatorial pit, the feel is initially Sword and Sorcery, something that could very easily be compared to a Robert E. Howard Conan story.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-08-29)

This week's Books in the Mail post is (mostly) brought to you by Tor.

The Sleeping King by Cindy Dees and Bill Flippin (Tor 09/08/2015) – This is a first as far as I know; a novel based on a Live Action Role Playing-Game (LARP) Dragoncrest.

The Sleeping King is the start of a new fantasy series by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Cindy Dees.

Dees has won a Golden Heart Award, two RITAs for Category Suspense and Adventure and has also twice snared RT's Series Romantic Suspense of the Year. She is a great storyteller, and the adventures in her more than fifty novels are often inspired by her own life. Dees is an Air Force vet-the youngest female pilot in Air Force history-and fought in the first Gulf War. She's had amazing adventures, and she's used her experiences to tell some kickass stories.

But as much as she love romances, Cindy's other passion has been fantasy gaming. For almost twenty years she's been involved with Dragon Crest, one of the original live action role-playing games. She's the story content creator on the game, and wanted to do an epic fantasy based on it, with the blessing and input of Dragon Crest founder Bill Flippin.

The Sleeping King is the first in an epic fantasy series, featuring the best of the genre: near immortal imperial overlords, a prophecy of a sleeping elven king who's said to be the savior of the races . . . and two young people who are set on a path to save the day.

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (Tor 09/15/2015) – I’ve been seeing good things about this book for months, from Kameron Hurley in particular.

In Seth Dickinson's highly-anticipated debut The Traitor Baru Cormorant, a young woman from a conquered people tries to transform an empire in this richly imagined geopolitical fantasy.

Baru Cormorant believes any price is worth paying to liberate her people-even her soul.

When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, overwrites her culture, criminalizes her customs, and murders one of her fathers, Baru vows to swallow her hate, join the Empire's civil service, and claw her way high enough to set her people free.

Sent as an Imperial agent to distant Aurdwynn, another conquered country, Baru discovers it's on the brink of rebellion. Drawn by the intriguing duchess Tain Hu into a circle of seditious dukes, Baru may be able to use her position to help. As she pursues a precarious balance between the rebels and a shadowy cabal within the Empire, she orchestrates a do-or-die gambit with freedom as the prize.

But the cost of winning the long game of saving her people may be far greater than Baru imagines.

Planetfall by Emma Newman (Roc Trade Paperback 11/03/2015) – After a successful fantasy trilogy (The Split Worlds Trilogy) with Angry Robot, Emma Newman (proprietor of the entertaining “Tea and Jeopardy” podcast) turns her pen to a science fiction novel. I’ll be reviewing this one for Tor.com.

Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.

More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.

Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…

The Builders by Daniel Polansky (Tor.com (The Imprint) Hardcover 09/01/2015) – Polansky is an author I’ve seen great things about, so this is my first sampling of his work. My buddy Justin is the editor on this one. Despite (rather BECAUSE) of that, I’m looking forward to this one. My review for this will appear on Tor.com.


A missing eye.

A broken wing.

A stolen country.

The last job didn't end well.

Years go by, and scars fade, but memories only fester. For the animals of the Captain's company, survival has meant keeping a low profile, building a new life, and trying to forget the war they lost. But now the Captain's whiskers are twitching at the idea of evening the score.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-08-22)

The weekly batch of arrivals here a casa de ‘O Stuff…

Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke (Saga Press Hardcover 10/27/2015) – Clarke has written some very well received fantasy novels and this is her first novel with more Hard Science Fictional leanings. Looks like it could be fun.

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union meets The Windup Girl when a female PI goes up against a ruthless gangster—just as both humans and robots agitate for independence in an Argentinian colony in Antarctica.

In Argentine Antarctica, Eliana Gomez is the only female PI in Hope City—a domed colony dependent on electricity (and maintenance robots) for heat, light, and survival in the icy deserts of the continent. At the center is an old amusement park—now home only to the androids once programmed to entertain—but Hope City’s days as a tourist destination are long over. Now the City produces atomic power for the mainland while local factions agitate for independence and a local mobster, Ignacio Cabrera, runs a brisk black-market trade in illegally imported food.

Eliana doesn’t care about politics. She doesn’t even care—much—that her boyfriend, Diego, works as muscle for Cabrera. She just wants to save enough money to escape Hope City. But when an aristocrat hires Eliana to protect an explosive personal secret, Eliana finds herself caught up in the political tensions threatening to tear Hope City apart. In the clash of backstabbing politicians, violent freedom fighters, a gangster who will stop at nothing to protect his interests, and a newly sentient robot underclass intent on a very different independence, Eliana finds her job coming into deadly conflict with Diego’s, just as the electricity that keeps Hope City from freezing begins to fail…

From the inner workings of the mob to the story of a revolution to the amazing settings, this story has got it all. Ultimately, however, Our Lady of the Ice questions what it means to be human, what it means to be free, and whether we’re ever able to transcend our pasts and our programming to find true independence.

Dragon Heart by Cecilia Holland (Tor Hardcover 09/01/2015) – Holland is a master storyteller, whoh as written historical fantasy and science fiction. This is her take on a sea dragon story.

Where the Cape of the Winds juts into the endless sea, there is Castle Ocean, and therein dwells the royal family that has ruled it from time immemorial. But there is an Empire growing in the east, and its forces have reached the castle. King Reymarro is dead in battle, and by the new treaty, Queen Marioza must marry one of the Emperor's brothers. She loathes the idea, and has already killed the first brother, but a second arrives, escorted by more soldiers. While Marioza delays, her youngest son, Jeon, goes on a journey in search of his mute twin, Tirza, who needs to be present for the wedding.

As Jeon and Tirza return by sea, their ship is attacked by a shocking and powerful dragon, red as blood and big as the ship. Thrown into the water, Tirza clings to the dragon, and after an underwater journey, finds herself alone with the creature in an inland sea pool. Surprisingly, she is able to talk to the beast, and understand it.

So begins a saga of violence, destruction, and death, of love and monsters, human and otherwise.

In Dragon Heart, Cecelia Holland, America's most distinguished historical novelist steps fully into the realm of fantasy and makes it her own.

Liar’s Island (A Pathfinder Tales novel) by Tim Pratt (Paizo Trade Paperback 08/15/2015) – I’ve got quite a few of Pratt’s novels on Mount Toberead now, he’s one of the authors whose work I really want to catch up with, this is his third Pathfinder novel featuring these characters.

Rodrick is a con man as charming as he is cunning. Hrym is a talking sword of magical ice, with the soul and spells of an ancient dragon. Together, the two travel the world, parting the gullible from their gold and freezing their enemies in their tracks. But when the two get summoned to the mysterious island of Jalmeray by a king with genies and elementals at his command, they'll need all their wits and charm if they're going to escape with the greatest prize of all-their lives. From Hugo Award winner Tim Pratt comes a tale of magic, assassination, monsters, and cheerful larceny, in Pathfinder: Liar's Island, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Chapelwood (The Borden Dispatches #2) by Cherie Priest (Roc 09/01/2015) – Second installment of Priests Lovecraftian Historical fantasy. .

From Cherie Priest, the award-winning author of Maplecroft, comes a new tale of Lizzie Borden’s continuing war against the cosmic horrors threatening humanity…

Birmingham, Alabama is infested with malevolence. Prejudice and hatred have consumed the minds and hearts of its populace. A murderer, unimaginatively named “Harry the Hacker” by the press, has been carving up citizens with a hatchet. And from the church known as Chapelwood, an unholy gospel is being spread by a sect that worships dark gods from beyond the heavens. 

This darkness calls to Lizzie Borden. It is reminiscent of an evil she had dared hoped was extinguished. The parishioners of Chapelwood plan to sacrifice a young woman to summon beings never meant to share reality with humanity. An apocalypse will follow in their wake which will scorch the earth of all life.

Unless she stops it…

Friday Round-Up: Kate Elliott @Tor.com, Chuck Wendig @SFFWorld, & @SFSignal Mind Meld

What? Two weeks in a row with a Friday Round-up? That’s what happens when a person gets a new job and also has three new pieces post in a week. I’ll start with the review that posted the afternoon after I posted last week’s Round-Up.

Kate Elliott’s Court of Fives is her first Young Adult novel, but far from her first novel. It shows, because it is a helluva novel and I want the next book now. Part of my review:

Elliott immediately thrusts the reader into Jes’ head and heart, and the result is a wonderful immersion in both familial love and the tensions at work within these relationships. Jes and her sisters adore their mother, and while they respect their father, they don’t know him nearly as well because he is often away, off leading armies. What makes this such an outstanding novel is Elliott’s experienced hand at revelation and building compelling characters. I was immediately drawn to Jes as a character, caught up in her plight and the story she had to tell. Much of the YA I’ve read is told from the first-person POV, and in adopting that narrative style, Elliott has placed a great deal of weight on Jessamy’s shoulders—we experience the entire story through her consciousness, and in this case, it works extremely well.

Court of Fives is a novel with very wide appeal, which benefits from a young, headstrong, and charismatic protagonist, a mythically-inspired setting that provides a fantastical spin on historical/classical antiquity (think ancient Egypt, Macedonia, and Rome), a strong base of well-rounded supporting characters, and the magnetic force of its dramatic tension, which kept this reader glued to the pages.

This past Tuesday, my review of Chuck Wendig’s gripping, dark near future SF Thriller Zer0es:

Chuck takes a look at a world Twenty Minutes into the Future and a group of hackers who are corralled by NSA Agent Hollis Cooper to do the NSA’s dirty work. They are Chance Dalton, picked up just as he was being beaten up by the football players he exposed as rapists; Aleena Kattan, DeAndre Mitchell, Wade Earthman, an old school hacker, and perhaps one of the most annoying characters I can recall encountering in SFF, Reagan Stolper. The hackers, who dub themselves zer0es, are brought to The Lodge to infiltrate America’s enemies, it is either that or serve time in prison so the choice is pretty easy. As the plot rolls along the zer0es form an odd bond, a second family almost. Working more closely together, something more frightening than they imagined becomes apparent.

…

The novel begins by introducing each character through their apprehension by Agent Cooper; here Chuck did a great job of making each of these characters unique and provided a solid foundation for their participation in the plot/story and later character development. Building on the solid base built for the characters, Wendig does a great job of revealing more depth to the characters, the backstory that led them to come together. He also mixes them up very nicely as they get to know each other and their pasts are revealed to each other (voluntarily or otherwise).

Lastly, my August Mind Meld posted. In it, I asked Paul Weimer, Jana Nyman, Joe Sherry, Lisa Rodgers, Jonah Sutton-Morse, Susan J. Morris, and Jason M. Hough about Author Comebacks, "Some authors publish a few titles and disappear, or move on to other things (comic book writing, tie-in writing, leaving publishing, etc) but you’d like to see more from them. So we asked this week’s panelists the following:"

Q: Who would you like to see make a comeback to writing original SFF fiction? What subgenre(s) or worlds would you hope they would write?

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-08-15)

Time for the weekly rundown of the review copies which arrived the previous week!

Doctor Who: Deep Time by Trevor Baxendale (Broadway Books Trade Paperback 09/08/2015) – The Doctor Who short novels are very popular in the UK, this one features the 12th Doctor.

An original adventure tying in to the ninth season of Doctor Who, the spectacular hit series from BBC Television, featuring the new 12th Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.

"I do hope you’re all ready to be terrified!"

The Phaeron disappeared from the universe over a million years ago. They travelled among the stars using roads made from time and space, but left only relics behind. But what actually happened to the Phaeron? Some believe they were they eradicated by a superior force… Others claim they destroyed themselves.

Or were they in fact the victims of an even more hideous fate?

In the far future, humans discover the location of the last Phaeron road – and the Doctor and Clara join the mission to see where the road leads.

Each member of the research team knows exactly what they’re looking for – but only the Doctor knows exactly what they’ll find.

Because only the Doctor knows the true secret of the Phaeron: a monstrous secret so terrible and powerful that it must be buried in the deepest grave imaginable…

Sorcerer to the Crown (A Sorcerer Royal Novel) by Zen Cho (Ace Hardcover 09/01/2015) – For many, this is one of the more anticipated debut novels of the year.


In this sparkling debut, magic and mayhem clash with the British elite...

The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, one of the most respected organizations throughout all of England, has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty’s lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace, naming an altogether unsuitable gentleman—a freed slave who doesn’t even have a familiar—as their Sorcerer Royal, and allowing England’s once profuse stores of magic to slowly bleed dry. At least they haven’t stooped so low as to allow women to practice what is obviously a man’s profession…

At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers and eminently proficient magician, ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up. But when his adventure brings him in contact with a most unusual comrade, a woman with immense power and an unfathomable gift, he sets on a path which will alter the nature of sorcery in all of Britain—and the world at large…

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard (Roc Hardcover 08/18/2015) – There’s been a lot of pre-publication buzz on this one. de Bodard has written some well-received and award-worthy fiction, but this one, from everything I’ve seen will push her to the next level.


Multi-award winning author Aliette de Bodard, brings her story of the War in Heaven to Paris, igniting the City of Light in a fantasy of divine power and deep conspiracy…

In the late twentieth century, the streets of Paris are lined with haunted ruins, the aftermath of a Great War between arcane powers. The Grand Magasins have been reduced to piles of debris, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine has turned black with ashes and rubble and the remnants of the spells that tore the city apart. But those that survived still retain their irrepressible appetite for novelty and distraction, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over France’s once grand capital.

Once the most powerful and formidable, House Silverspires now lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen angel; an alchemist with a self-destructive addiction; and a resentful young man wielding spells of unknown origin. They may be Silverspires’ salvation—or the architects of its last, irreversible fall. And if Silverspires falls, so may the city itself.

Doctor Who: Royal Blood by Una McCormack (Broadway Books Trade Paperback 09/08/2015) – The Doctor Who short novels are very popular in the UK, this one features the 12th Doctor.

An original adventure tying in to the ninth season of Doctor Who, the spectacular hit series from BBC Television, featuring the new 12th Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.

“The Grail is a story, a myth! It didn’t exist on your world! It can’t exist here!”

The city-state of Varuz is failing. Duke Aurelian is the last of his line, his capital is crumbling, and the armies of his enemy, Duke Conrad, are poised beyond the mountains to invade. Aurelian is preparing to gamble everything on one last battle. So when a holy man, the Doctor, comes to Varuz from beyond the mountains, Aurelian asks for his blessing in the war.

But all is not what it seems in Varuz. The city-guard have lasers for swords, and the halls are lit by electric candlelight. Aurelian’s beloved wife, Guena, and his most trusted knight, Bernhardt, seem to be plotting to overthrow their Duke, and Clara finds herself drawn into their intrigue...

Will the Doctor stop Aurelian from going to war? Will Clara’s involvement in the plot against the Duke be discovered? Why is Conrad’s ambassador so nervous? And who are the ancient and weary knights who arrive in Varuz claiming to be on a quest for the Holy Grail…?

Doctor Who: Big Bang Generation by Gary Russell (Broadway Books Trade Paperback 09/08/2015) – The Doctor Who short novels are very popular in the UK, this one features the 12th Doctor.

An original adventure tying in to the ninth season of Doctor Who, the spectacular hit series from BBC Television, featuring the new 12th Doctor as played by Peter Capaldi.

“I'm an archaeologist, but probably not the one you were expecting.”

Christmas 2015, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Imagine everyone's surprise when a time portal opens up in Sydney Cove. Imagine their shock as a massive pyramid now sits beside the Harbour Bridge, inconveniently blocking Port Jackson and glowing with energy. Imagine their fear as Cyrrus "the mobster" Globb, Professor Horace Jaanson and an alien assassin called Kik arrive to claim the glowing pyramid. Finally imagine everyone's dismay when they are followed by a bunch of con artists out to spring their greatest grift yet.

This gang consists of Legs (the sexy comedian), Dog Boy (providing protection and firepower), Shortie (handling logistics), Da Trowel (in charge of excavation and history) and their leader, Doc (busy making sure the universe isn't destroyed in an explosion that makes the Big Bang look like a damp squib).

And when someone accidentally reawakens The Ancients of the Universe - which, Doc reckons, wasn't the wisest or best-judged of actions – things get a whole lot more complicated…

Updraft by Fran Wilde (Tor 09/01/2015) – This is Wilde’s debut novel and it looks like it will be a lot of fun. Just look at that awesome cover!! This is the hardcover of the ARC I received in May, and as nice as the ARC looked, this one is gorgeous.

Welcome to a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, betrayal and courage.

Kirit Densira cannot wait to pass her wingtest and begin flying as a trader by her mother's side, being in service to her beloved home tower and exploring the skies beyond. When Kirit inadvertently breaks Tower Law, the city's secretive governing body, the Singers, demand that she become one of them instead. In an attempt to save her family from greater censure, Kirit must give up her dreams to throw herself into the dangerous training at the Spire, the tallest, most forbidding tower, deep at the heart of the City.

As she grows in knowledge and power, she starts to uncover the depths of Spire secrets. Kirit begins to doubt her world and its unassailable Laws, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead to a haunting choice, and may well change the city forever-if it isn't destroyed outright.

Friday Round-Up: An Announcement and Hobb & Jemisin Reviews @SFFWorld

In this week’s edition of Friday Round-Up I bring you new reviews of Robin Hobb and N.K. Jemisin. But first, a little announcement.

As some folks already know, I’ve been in a job predicament for a few years. Back in 2011, I was in a job/position I really enjoyed at a company for which I enjoyed working. Things were going well, in 2010 my group (of which I was the manager), far exceeded our goals for the program we had re-launched the previous year and everybody in the group received one-time bonuses for exceeding those goals. Then the company did some reorganization and as a result of “corporate restructuring,” I was squeezed out in February 2011. What helped to slightly soften the blow is that my supervisor (the Vice President of the group), left the company shortly after I was let go because he saw the writing on the wall.

A few months later, a very good friend of mine who works for A very large Telecommunications & Technology company helped me out big time. Some of the groups at the company where he worked were looking to bring in people (as contractors) to help build up a product line. So, for the past four years (which was only supposed to be a temporary stop) I’ve been working there in what is essentially a digital assembly line capacity. To be honest, it was pretty good money, but the job has very, very little in common with my Marketing & Marketing Proposals and Publishing background. That, plus the associated instability of being a contracted employee led me to continue my job search. About a year ago, the company brought me (and a handful of folks who began as contractors the same time I did) more fully into the fold, converting me from contractor to Term Employee (essentially a hybrid between Contractor and Full-Time Employee, but working directly from the company). As I said, all this time, I was still looking for a more stable (i.e. permanent and not contractor) position more closely aligned with my decade and a half of Marketing and/or Publishing experience.

After a slew of interviews over the years (many phone interviews, which led to some face-to-face interviews) with different companies, my search has ended and I will be starting on Monday August 18 doing work much more in line with my past experience (marketing proposals) for a very impressive company with great leader at its helm and a culture (based on the interviews I’ve had, research into the company and coming to realize a friend has a relative at the company) that will help me grow and further my career along a stable path. I’m very excited for this slight career reboot and cannot wait to join the new company on Monday. For more specifics on what that is and the company, I’ll be updating my LinkedIn profile to reflect the new position once I officially begin the new job.

One thing I've learned in my job searching the past few years compared to job searching even 8 to 10 years ago is that EVERYTHING is automated and it is challenging to level up in the process for one job and actually communicate with a human being rather than an automated interface.

Back to the SFF stuff, with my reviews of two highly anticipated Fantasy releases. Last week, I posted my review of the powerful, challenging, and stunning novel from N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season:

The narrative, is initially, very chaotic. Jemisin employs multiple character points of view, one for each chapter, give the feel of a dangerous world were nobody is safe. The novel is post-apocalyptic, but takes place on a secondary world. A world where the planet is extremely unstable, where magicians (Orogenes) with powers based on geology work with technology in the hopes of keeping the world, on a literal, tectonic level, stable.

...

We are introduced to this world through the eyes of Essun, and damn does Jemisin get the emotional ball rolling very quickly. Upon returning home, she realizes her husband has brutally murdered their son. This shocking moment informs Essun’s tale. The other narrators, Damaya and Syenite/Syen, travel a road no less wrought with heartbreak and sorrow and undergo changes of their own over the course of their own narrative journeys, not unlike the geological cataclysms that strike their world. Jemisin marvelously portrayed women whose changes in demeanor, and person, mirror the global changes. Not only does the story come across through these three women’s eyes/voices, each of the three story threads is told in a different narrative voice, third person narrative for Syen and Damaya, while Essun’s story is told through the rare second person present, as if we the reader are Essun. As I said, there’s some chaotic elements in the story and the narrative reflects this chaos. It takes some acclimating, but is an ultimately very rewarding storytelling technique.

This week (Tuesday, the day of the book’s launch), I posted my review of perhaps my most anticipated 2015 Fantasy novel, Robin Hobb’s Fool’s Quest:

Fool’s Quest is the second installment of The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy, which itself is the most recent in a long line of stories set in Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings (three trilogies, a quartet, and now this in-progress trilogy for a total of 15 books up to now). To say Fool’s Quest might be a tough sell for new readers is an understatement. Much of the action is predicated on events that have transpired in previous volumes of this mega-series, and most importantly on the previous installment Fool’s Assassin. But…but…before I launch into my thoughts on this volume, I’ll preface it with this. If readers have any doubt that Robin Hobb is one of the finest writers in the Fantasy genre, then they haven’t read any of her work. From the beginnings of Assassin’s Apprentice in 1995 to this most recent novel, few can balance, character, prose, and story so well. So do yourself a favor, go read Assassin’s Apprentice (the novel that started it all) or Fool’s Assassin, the first novel in this new trilogy which does work well for new readers. (This preamble also provided ample spoiler space because talking at any length about Fool’s Quest is impossible without spoiling events of Fool’s Assassin).
...
The sense of urgency in the novel is extremely heightened, despite the same reserved pace that made Fool’s Assassin such a joy to read and experience. Fool’s sense of urgency to strike back at his tormentors, combined with Fitz’s desperation to find his stolen daughter made for incredible tension. Fitz’s experience; however, makes him realize rushing into their situation will only be a detriment to their success. Robin Hobb balanced their tension with a quiet reserve during many of the court scenes and meetings that Fitz was obliged to experience very well, giving both frustration and hope. Hobb’s magnetic, captivating prose completely wrapped itself around me.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-08-08)

Another significant batch of books, many of which look very appealing.

Shadow of Empire (Far Star Trilogy #1) by Jay Allan (Harper Voyager 11/10/2015) – Allan makes the jump from small press/self-published to one of the Big SF publishers. This launches a Space Opera trilogy to be published over the course of three months. That is proof of a publisher showing confidence in a writer.

The first installment in the Far Star series, a swashbuckling space saga that introduces the daring pirate Blackhawk and the loyal crew of the Wolf’s Claw, from the author of the bestselling Crimson Worlds saga.

Smuggler and mercenary Arkarin Blackhawk and the crew of the ship Wolf’s Claw are freelance adventurers who live on the fringe of human society in the Far Stars. A veteran fighter as deadly with a blade as he is with a gun, Blackhawk is a man haunted by a dark past. Even his cynicism cannot banish the guilt and pain that threaten his sanity.

Sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of his longtime friend Marshal Augustin Lucerne, Blackhawk and his crew find themselves drawn into one deadly fight after another. When the Wolf’s Claw is damaged, they are forced to land on a remote planet subsumed by civil war. Pulled unwittingly into the conflict, they uncover disturbing information about secret imperial involvement that could upset the plans of Lucerne.

For the Marshal is determined to forge a Far Stars Confederation powerful enough to eliminate all imperial influence and threats in the sector. He needs a skilled warrior like Blackhawk on his side, but the mercenary, plagued by dark memories from the past, refuses to join the cause. All too soon, though, he and his crew will have to take a stand.

Nightwise by R.S. Belcher (Tor, Hardcover 08/11/2015) – After a well-received Weird West/Steampunk series, Belcher turns his pen to something a little bit darker.

R.S. Belcher, the acclaimed author of The Six-Gun Tarot and The Shotgun Arcana launches a gritty new urban fantasy series set in today's seedy occult underworld in Nightwise.

In the more shadowy corners of the world, frequented by angels and demons and everything in-between, Laytham Ballard is a legend. It's said he raised the dead at the age of ten, stole the Philosopher's Stone in Vegas back in 1999, and survived the bloodsucking kiss of the Mosquito Queen. Wise in the hidden ways of the night, he's also a cynical bastard who stopped thinking of himself as the good guy a long time ago.

Now a promise to a dying friend has Ballard on the trail of an escaped Serbian war criminal with friends in both high and low places--and a sinister history of blood sacrifices. Ballard is hell-bent on making Dusan Slorzack pay for his numerous atrocities, but Slorzack seems to have literally dropped off the face of the Earth, beyond the reach of his enemies, the Illuminati, and maybe even the Devil himself. To find Slorzack, Ballard must follow a winding, treacherous path that stretches from Wall Street and Washington, D.C. to backwoods hollows and truckstops, while risking what's left of his very soul . . . .

Silver on the Road (The Devil’s West #1) by Laura Ann Gilman (Saga Press Hardcover 10/06/2015) – Gilman is a very prolific writer, slipping between sub genres and genres. This one has a nice weird/horror west flavor to it.

“The right hand gathers and gives, visible to all. But the left hand, Isobel, the manu sinistra? It moves in shadows, unseen, unheard…. Until I deem it time for it to be seen and heard. And when it moves, its work cannot be undone. It is the strength of the Territory, the quick knife in the darkness, the cold eye and the final word.”

She looked up, away from his hands, and was caught by a gaze the burnt gold of the morning sun.

“I have been lacking a left hand for too long, now. Are you strong enough for that, Isobel nee Lacoyo Távora? Is the iron in your spine, the fire in your blood, proof against my forging?”

Back East, they claim the so-called Devil’s West is overrun by magic, magicians, and monsters. But to Isobel, it’s home. She grew up in a saloon, trained to serve drinks and fold laundry, to read those who came to the gambling tables, and report back to her boss on what she saw.

But when she comes of age, she is given a choice….

Now the Territory’s Left Hand, Isobel takes to the road, accompanied by the laconic rider Gabriel, who will teach her about the Territory, its people and its laws. But she needs to learn quickly: The bones of the earth are cracking, and the Hand has work to do…

Zero World by Jason M. Hough (Del Rey Hardcover 08/11/2015) – Hough’s trilogy earned him some very good sales and acclaim and graduated him to Hardcover for this release.

Published in rapid succession, Jason M. Hough’s first three novels, The Darwin Elevator, The Exodus Towers, and The Plague Forge; earned mountains of praise and comparisons to such authors as James S. A. Corey and John Scalzi. Now Hough returns with a riveting near-future spy thriller that combines the adrenaline of a high-octane James Bond adventure with mind-blowing sci-fi speculations worthy of Christopher Nolan’sInception. 

Technologically enhanced superspy Peter Caswell has been dispatched on a top-secret assignment unlike any he’s ever faced. A spaceship that vanished years ago has been found, along with the bodies of its murdered crew—save one. Peter’s mission is to find the missing crew member, who fled through what appears to be a tear in the fabric of space. Beyond this mysterious doorway lies an even more confounding reality: a world that seems to be Earth’s twin. 

Peter discovers that this mirrored world is indeed different from his home, and far more dangerous. Cut off from all support, and with only days to complete his operation, Peter must track his quarry alone on an alien world. But he’s unprepared for what awaits on the planet’s surface, where his skills will be put to the ultimate test—and everything he knows about the universe will be challenged in ways he never could have imagined.

Cold Iron (The Malorum Gates #1) by Stina Leicht (Saga Press Hardcover 07/14/2015) – Leicht’s new series is a huge epic/flintlock fantasy which asks the question, “What would Lord of the Rings look like if Tolkien were American?”

Fraternal twins Nels and Suvi move beyond their royal heritage and into military and magical dominion in this flintlock epic fantasy debut from a two-time Campbell Award finalist.

Prince Nels is the scholarly runt of the ancient Kainen royal family of Eledore, disregarded as flawed by the king and many others. Only Suvi, his fraternal twin sister, supports him. When Nels is ambushed by an Acrasian scouting party, he does the forbidden for a member of the ruling family: He picks up a fallen sword and defends himself.

Disowned and dismissed to the military, Nels establishes himself as a leader as Eledore begins to shatter under the attack of the Acrasians, who the Kainen had previously dismissed as barbarians. But Nels knows differently, and with the aid of Suvi, who has allied with pirates, he mounts a military offensive with sword, canon, and what little magic is left in the world.

The Moreau Quartet: Volume One by S. Andrew Swann (DAW Mass Market Paperback 08/04/2015) – Swann’s been writing in this particular universe for quite some time. These are two of the earliest novels in the sequence - Forests of the Night and Fearful Symmetry. Though published order has these as books 1 and four, Fearful Symmetry is a direct sequel to Forests of the Night.

It’s 2053, and the U.S. has long since genetically engineered life successfully. “Moreaus,” humanoid and animal hybrids, and “frankensteins,” genetically manipulated humans, live as second-class citizens. Nohar Rajasthan is a moreau, a humanoid of tiger stock. Raised by a human after his parents’ death, Nohar ekes out a career as a private eye. Mixing science fiction with detective thrillers, Nohar’s story leaps off the page with all the nonstop excitement and danger of an action blockbuster.

Forests of the Night: When Nohar accepts a commission from a frankenstein to investigate the death of the campaign manager of a local politico, all hell breaks loose. Nohar finds himself targeted by everyone from local cops to federal agents to a drug-running gang to an assassin with a 100% kill rate.

Fearful Symmetries: Nohar retired from the private eye business ten years ago, and just wants to spend his remaining time in the peace and quiet of his wilderness homestead. So when a human lawyer asks him to take on a missing moreau case, he refuses–and soon after is attacked by a paramilitary team. Now Nohar must find the missing moreau and discover why someone wants him dead.

Six Gun Snow-White by Catherynne M. Valente (Saga Press Hardcover 11/09/2015) – Valente seems to write only well-received award worthy stuff. This western reinvention of Snow White looks like it could be a great deal of fun.

A New York Times bestselling author offers a brilliant reinvention of one of the best-known fairy tales of all time with Snow White as a gunslinger in the mythical Wild West.

Forget the dark, enchanted forest. Picture instead a masterfully evoked Old West where you are more likely to find coyotes as the seven dwarves. Insert into this scene a plain-spoken, appealing narrator who relates the history of our heroine’s parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. Although her mother’s life ended as hers began, so begins a remarkable tale: equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, this is an utterly enchanting story…at once familiar and entirely new.

Books in the Mail (W/E 2015-08-01)

Since only two books arrived this week and it's been a while since I did the intro to this weekly post, here goes...

As a reviewer for SFFWorld (as well as SF Signal and Tor.com) and maybe because of this blog, I receive a lot of books for review from various publishers. Since I can't possibly read everything that arrives, I figure the least I can do (like some of my fellow bloggers) is mention the books I receive for review on the blog to at least acknowledge the books even if I don't read them.

Sometimes I get one or two books, other weeks I'll get nearly a dozen books. Some weeks, I’ll receive a finished (i.e. the version people see on bookshelves) copy of a book for which I received an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) weeks or months prior to the actual publication of the book. I’ve been receiving a greater percentage of electronic ARCs this year which is good because death via drowning in a sea of unread books is not how I want to say goodbye to this world.

Sometimes I'll want to read everything that arrives, other weeks, the books immediately go into the "I'll never read this book" pile, while still others go into the nebulous "maybe-I'll-read-it-category." More often than not, it is a mix of books that appeal to me at different levels (i.e. from "this book holds ZERO appeal for me" to "I cannot WAIT to read this book yesterday"). Have a guess in the comments about which book fits my reading labels “I’ll Never Read…” “Zero Appeal” or “cannot wait” "maybe I'll get to it later" and so forth...

Chaos Unleashed (The Chaos Born Trilogy #3) by Drew Karpyshyn (Del Rey/Star Wars Books Hardcover 10/5/2015) – Concluding volume of Karpyshyn’s Epic Fantasy trilogy.

The Demon Cycle meets The Wheel of Time in this action-packed adventure! From New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed videogame writer Drew Karpyshyn comes the third and final novel in an original epic fantasy trilogy for fans of Terry Goodkind, Peter V. Brett, and Brandon Sanderson.

Four unlikely champions, each touched with Chaos magic at birth, are all that can stop the return of Daemron the Slayer, a hero who became a god—and then a demon. Exiled by the Old Gods, Daemron has long plotted his vengeful return. Now that moment is at hand, as the barrier imprisoning him—the Legacy—crumbles.

Armed with mighty Talismans, the four champions—Keegan, a wizard beset with self-doubt; Cassandra, a seer terrified by her own future; Scythe, a peerless warrior whose only weak spot is a broken heart; and Vaaler, a prince without a kingdom—seek the Keystone, a fabled place where, or so it is said, the Legacy can be restored.

But the plots of the Slayer are cunning and deep, and even the most noble heart can be twisted by the tainted magic of Chaos—as Keegan, Cassandra, Scythe, and Vaaler will soon discover.

Chasing the Phoenix (A Darger and Surplus novel) by Michael Swanwick (Tor, Hardcover 08/11/2015) – Swanwick’s sword-and-sorcery meets dying earth duo of Surplus and Darger return!

Chasing the Phoenix: a science fiction masterpiece from a five-time Hugo Award winner Michael Swanwick!

In the distant future, Surplus arrives in China dressed as a Mongolian shaman, leading a yak which carries the corpse of his friend, Darger. The old high-tech world has long since collapsed, and the artificial intelligences that ran it are outlawed and destroyed. Or so it seems.

Darger and Surplus, a human and a genetically engineered dog with human intelligence who walks upright, are a pair of con men and the heroes of a series of prior Swanwick stories. They travel to what was once China and invent a scam to become rich and powerful. Pretending to have limited super-powers, they aid an ambitious local warlord who dreams of conquest and once again reuniting China under one ruler. And, against all odds, it begins to work, but it seems as if there are other forces at work behind the scenes. Chasing the Phoenix is a sharp, slick, witty science fiction adventure that is hugely entertaining from Michael Swanwick, one of the best SF writers alive.