Amph SFF: Books New Releases

I would put that in the word document of books I need to read (and yes, I really have one) but I didn't like Harry Turtledove's other book that I tried.

 

A House in Istria (New Directions Paperbook)
Authors: Richard Swartz , Anna Paterson
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: New Directions
Pages: 224
Binding: tp

A wild and quixotic novel about real estate, marriage, and obsession.

A House in Istria is a crazily comic novel about a man, his long-suffering wife, and his fixation with buying the abandoned house next door. But, in this Croatian region of Istria, the neighbors frown upon the husband as a Westerner who knows nothing about Balkan history or the area's deep blood feuds. "Forget that house," they tell him: "It's not for sale."

A Thousand Deaths
Authors: George Alec Effinger
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Golden Gryphon Press
Pages: 365
Binding: hc

This volume of science fiction thrillers contains a novel and seven short stories centered on the semi-autobiographical character Sandor Courane. The collection?s feature novel, In the Wolves of Memory, paints a world where Earth?s governing body, the Representatives, has relinquished control to an increasingly intelligent and self-aware computer known as TECT. Deemed a social misfit and banished from Earth to Planet D for his inability to fall in line, Sandor finds the new planet?s idyllic environment and fulfilling lifestyle to his liking?at first. Upon discovering that all of the inhabitants of Planet D succumb to an insidious, debilitating disease, Sandor embarks on a race against time to discover the meaning behind Planet D, the motives of TECT, and the mysterious malady. Utilizing a unique approach with the use of flashbacks, this powerful story, with poignant and sardonic tones, is a heartrending display of one man?s pain and absolution.

Adept
Authors: Robert Finn
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Snowbooks
Pages: 428
Binding: tp

It's a strange sort of robbery: On the surface, nothing is missing, and the only damage done is to the criminals. David Braun, star investigator for an exclusive insurance firm, is called on by his client-the sinister owner of the building-to find a priceless object that, to the outside world, was never meant to exist.

In turning to American academic Susan Milton, an expert from the London School of Antiquities, he finds a friend and ally to help him make sense of the situation and unpick the mystery. Together they discover the truth that the crime was intended to conceal. Behind it all, a ruthless thief, who is intent on acquiring a priceless antique-an antique with a bloody history its owners would prefer to keep hidden. Risking their lives, they expose a horrifying secret that's centuries old-but the discovery makes them the target of a ruthless killer the police find impossible to catch. With time running out, David and Susan race to uncover the killer's true objective even as he closes in on them . . .

Alvin Journeyman
Authors: Orson Scott Card
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc.
Pages: 200
Binding: unk

A 1996 Locus Award Winner for Best Fantasy Novel
Alvin is a Maker, the first to be born in a century. Now a grown man and a journeyman smith, Alvin has returned to his family in the town of Vigor Church. He will share in their isolation, work as a blacksmith, and try to teach anyone who wishes to learn the knack of being a Maker. For Alvin has had a vision of the Crystal City he will build, and he knows that he cannot build it alone. But he has left behind in Hatrack River enemies as well as true friends. His ancient foe, the Unmaker, whose cruel whispers and deadly plots have threatened Alvin's life at every turn, has found new hands to do his work of destruction.

Back to the Stone Age
Authors: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Bison Books
Pages: 336
Binding: tp

The fifth installment of Edgar R

 

Ok finally the last bit for this week.

Mythical Journeys, Legendary Quests
Editors: Moyra Caldecott
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Bladud Books
Pages: 196
Binding: tp

One of the most persistent themes in myth and legend from the world's many cultures is that of the story of the journey - the quest. In Mythical Journeys, Legendary Quests, noted writer on the topic, Moyra Caldecott, shows the connection between the sacred, mythic journeys as found in legend and story and the real journey of the individual soul towards enlightenment. This perennial quest for reassurance in the face of human mortality is spread as wide as our existence on the planet and throughout history. Indeed Carl Jung and, more recently, Joseph Campbell have shown us that myth and legend are not just fantasy tales for children. They are powerful expressions, in code, of a deep yearning towards an understanding of human existence. Moyra Caldecott has selected material from many cultures to illustrate this point: from ancient Egypt and Sumeria to aboriginal Australia, pre-Columbian America, Vietnam, India, Africa and Europe. With each legend retold, she provides background on its origin and detailed analysis of its meaning and significance. Illustrated with drawings by Rachel Caldecott-Thornton, this book is a truly informative work which will delight, entertain and fascinate.

Nexus Point
Authors: Paul Black
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Novel Instincts
Pages: 364
Binding: tp

Destiny awaits. Jonathan Kortel is the most powerful telekinetic ever. There are others like him, and they re called the Tels. Able to manipulate gravity, they exist out at the edge of the next century, where the Biolution and its wave of new technology have changed life forever. Blamed for the deaths of the Tel leadership, Jonathan escapes to a life of anonymity. But there s something strange happening in space that threatens all life on earth, and only Jonathan Kortel has the ability to stop it. Here ends the Tels saga, author Paul Black s fascinating near-future series, introduced in his award-winning 2003 novel The Tels. Nexus Point continues where The Tels and Soulware left off, following Jonathan Kortel as he fulfills his prophetic destiny.

No Humans Involved
Authors: Kelley Armstrong
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Tantor Media
Binding: unk
Jaime, who knows a thing or two about showbiz, is on a television shoot in Los Angeles when weird things start to happen. As a woman whose special talent is raising the dead, her threshold for weirdness is pretty high. But for the first time in her life, she knows what humans mean when they talk about being haunted.As she sets out to solve the mystery, she'll need as much Otherworld help as she can get in order to survive.

Operation Brutus
Authors: Stiofan McAtinney
Year: 2007-06-01
Publisher: Exposure Publishing
Pages: 208
Binding: tp
Things come to a head, in a Northern Theatre, when a new Productions Manager is appointed by the unliked Operations Manager. It's up to the stage crew, helped by the electricians and a computer geek, to set things to rights - assisted, of course, by the odd ghost or two.

Riders of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures, Volume Three (The Complete Cossack Adventures)
Authors: Harold Lamb
Year: 2007-06-01
Pages: 548
Binding: tp

A master of driving pace, exotic setting, and complex plotting, Harold Lamb was one of Robert E. Howard's favorite writers. Here at last is every pulse-pounding, action-packed story of Lamb's greatest hero, Khlit the Cossack, the ?wolf of the steppes.? Journey with the unsung grandfather of sword and sorcery in search of ancient tombs, gleaming treasure, and thrilling landscapes. Match wits with deadly swordsmen, scheming priests, and

 

Not anything this week, I think.

 

Year's Best Fantasy 7 looks good

 

I'm not really one for compilations.

 

Actually Nat, those were still some of last weeks book. Here's the list for this week.

52
Authors: Greg Cox
Year: 2007-07-03
Publisher: Ace Trade
Pages: 320
The epic follow-up to Infinite Crisis-starring the superheroes of the DC Comics universe.
Earth's greatest protectors-Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman-have vanished. The cities of Metropolis and Gotham are overrun with criminal activity both on the streets and behind the closed doors of powerful corporations as villains take advantage of the absence of superheroes.

In their place stand the veteran and rookie heroes they inspired. From popular media personality Booster Gold and the enigmatic Question to the mysterious vigilante Batwoman and the secretive Supernova, these heroes are the only ones who can turn the tide against a vast conspiracy of evil determined to take control of the planet.

This is the story of one year without the world's greatest superheroes. Twelve months. 365 days. 52 weeks.

Chris Bunch's The Gangster Conspiracy: A Star Risk, Ltd., Novel (Star Risk)
Authors: Steve Perry , Dal Perry
Year: 2007-07-03
Publisher: Roc
Pages: 352
The Star Risk, Ltd. team has a standing objective: "We'll do anything for money." And when they're hired by a political top gun to clear his assassinated father's name, wealth beyond their wildest dreams is finally within their grasp...if they can stay alive long enough to forge the check.

Come Closer
Authors: Sara Gran
Year: 2007-07-03
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 224
Binding: pb
Strange things are happening to Amanda, but there must be a logical explanation. God help her-there is.

Conqueror: Time's Tapestry Book Two
Authors: Stephen Baxter
Year: 2007-07-03
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Pages: 320
Binding: hc
The second novel in a thrilling alternate-history series-from national bestselling author Stephen Baxter.
Three centuries have passed since Rome fell, as The Prophecy foretold. Now The Prophecy's scroll is in the hands of a young girl, the last surviving member of the family who received The Prophecy. She lives in tranquility, disguisd as a boy among the monks on the isle of Lindisfarne-until the Vikings come, deliberately destroying the final copies of the scroll. But it remains in her memory, and when William of Normandy, who history will call the Conqueror, rises to power, once more the fate of the land rests on actions inspired by those age-old words.

But as time passes, memory of The Prophecy dims--and the veiled girl struggles to understand her heritage before all knowledge of the future will be lost to the past.

Dead Man's Song
Authors: Jonathan Maberry
Year: 2007-07-03
Publisher: Pinnacle
Pages: 480
Binding: pb
From the powerful imagination of a new horror master comes a bone-chilling tale set in a small town where good and evil are joined in a terrifying, deadly battle...
Evil Endures
Once an idyllic Pennsylvania village, Pine Deep awoke one morning to find itself bathed in a massive bloodletting. Twice in thirty years the townsfolk have endured the savage hungers of a murderous madman...but if the residents think the death of serial killer Karl Ruger put an end to the carnage, they're dead wrong.

The Nightmare Never Ends
Bodies mutilated beyond description, innocents driven to acts of vicious madness. A monstrous evil is preying on the living--and the dead--and turning the quiet little town into hell on earth. Their only hope is to find the source. But the secrets that lurk in the heart of Pine Deep are twisted into its very roots. This time the townspeople aren't just fighting for their lives, but for their very souls...

Demons Are Forever: Confessions of

 

52 sounds like a good one, and Dead Man's Song sounds really scary...

 

Axis
Authors: Robert Charles Wilson
Year: 2007-07-10
Publisher: TOR Books
Pages: 384
Binding: hc
Wildly praised by readers and critics alike, Robert Charles Wilson?s Spin won science fiction?s highest honor, the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Now, in Spin?s direct sequel, Wilson takes us to the "world next door"--the planet engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, and connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian Ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world--and, predictably, fiercely exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.

Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years earlier. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometimes-drifter. They come together when an infall of cometary dust seeds the planet with tiny remnant Hypothetical machines. Soon, this seemingly hospitable world will become very alien indeed--as the nature of time is once again twisted, by entities unknown.

Dragons Of The Highlord Skies: The Lost Chronicles Volume Two
Authors: Margaret Weis , Tracy Hickman
Year: 2007-07-10
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Pages: 384
Binding: hc

The story starts in the Tower of High Sorcery in Palanthus, which is under assault by the forces of the Kingpriest. The wizards, knowing they must surrender, remove as many valuable artifacts as they can. An elven wizard named Feal-Thas takes a dragon orb to the distant land of Ice Wall. That orb is sought by the Dragon Highlord Ariakas, who assigns the task of its recovery to Kitiara Uth-Matar, half-sister of the sickly mage Raistin and his good-natured twin Caramon. Kitiara, who is rising up the ranks of the dark forces, must undertake the journey to the Ice Castle of Feal-Thas, where she will have a dramatic confrontation with Laurana, a leader of the forces of good.

God Of Thunder
Authors: Alex Archer
Year: 2007-07-10
Publisher: Gold Eagle
Pages: 352
Binding: pb
Archaeologist Annja Creed narrowly escapes an attack by unknown fi gures when she tries to collect a package near her loft. She later learns that the sender?an old colleague named Fellini?has been brutally murdered.

Fellini had been researching the Hammer of Thor, the Norse god of thunder, and had linked it to a Viking warrior and a twelfth-century Latvian village. A coded message in Fellini's package leads Annja on a wild chase along the canals of Venice to Latvia for more clues to an ancient treasure. Rumored to be hidden deep in the forests of Latvia for nine hundred years, this fabled prize is also sought by a ruthless corps of mercenaries. And they will do anything to fi nd it. Including killing Annja Creed.

Road of the Patriarch: The Sellswords, Book III
Authors: R. A. Salvatore
Year: 2007-07-10
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Pages: 384
Binding: pb
Explore the mind of an assassin in R.A. Salvatore's exciting conclusion to The Sellswords Trilogy!

The drow mercenary Jarlaxle and his companion, the human assassin Artemis Entreri, have begun to make a home for themselves in the rugged Bloodstone Lands. But not everyone is ready to trust a man who's spent his life killing for coin, much less a member of a race of subterranean elves known for their fanatical devotion to a demon goddess. If they want to make it out of the Bloodstone Lands alive, they'll have to learn to trust their enemies, and be suspicious of their friends.

Shriek: An Afterword
Authors: Jeff VanderMeer
Year: 2007-07-10
Publisher: TOR Books
Pages: 352
Binding: tp
An epic yet personal look at several decades of life, love

 

I'll give it a description then

 

Exposure: A Novel
Authors: Kurt Wenzel
Year: 2007-07-18
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages: 272
Binding: hc
Los Angeles, a few years from now. Technology has changed the rules of the movie business with old, long-dead stars
brought digitally back to life. Billboards cover every available surface of the city, beaming out a constant flood
of commercials starring the likes of John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, and--the great exception, the last "real" movie
star--Colt Reston.
But something is going wrong: A group of anti-tech rebels are attacking the billboards, inspired by a mysterious
manifesto known as "The Black Book." A burnt out screenwriter addicted to the latest hot drug finds his world
wobbling. Colt takes ill with an unexplained disease-- perhaps literally dying of overexposure. A guru who might
know why has vanished. And then Montgomery Clift suddenly walks off his virtual set and goes AWOL....
A blistering mash-up of William Gibson, The Ring, and chuck Palahniuk, EXPOSURE is a great step forward for
Kurt Wenzel. Convulsive and thrilling, EXPOSURE is a devastating tour de force by one of the best novelists
working today.

Lankhmar Book 2: Swords Against Death
Authors: Fritz Leiber
Year: 2007-07-18
Publisher: Dark Horse
Pages: 288
Binding: tp

In the second installment of this rousing series, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser journey from the ancient city of Lankhmar, searching for a little adventure and debauchery to ease their broken hearts. When a stranger challenges them to find and fight Death on the Bleak Shore, they battle demonic birds, living mountains, and evil monks on the way to their heroic fate. Fritz Leiber?s witty prose, lively plots, and superb characterizations stand the test of time.

White (Walker Large Print Books)
Authors: Ted Dekker
Year: 2007-07-18
Publisher: Walker Large Print
Pages: 586
Binding: tp
"Never break The Circle."

In this final installment of Ted Dekker's groundbreaking Circle trilogy, Thomas Hunter has only days to survive two separate realms of danger, deceit, and destruction. The fate of both worlds hinges on his unique ability to shift realities through his dreams.

Now leading a small ragtag group known as The Circle, Thomas finds himself facing new enemies, never-ending challenges, and the forbidden love of a most unlikely woman.

Enter the Great pursuit, where Thomas and a small band of followers must decide quickly who they can trust--both with their own lives and the fate of millions. Dreams and reality quickly bleed into each other as time runs out. And neither the terror of Black nor the treachery of Red can prepare Thomas for the forces aligned against The Circle in White.

Da-da-de-da-da Code
Authors: Robert Rankin
Year: 2007-07-19
Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 352
Binding: hc
It is the sequel to The Toyminator. Aliens, flying saucers from hell, the Multiverse, the Illuminati: every wacky, way-out conspiracy theory you've ever heard: they're all here, wrapped into a plot that will leave Dan Brown fans breathless


Navigator
Authors: Stephen Baxter
Year: 2007-07-19
Publisher: Victor Gollancz - an imprint of Orion Books
Pages: 336
Binding: hc
No Description. (I tried the wiki trick too!)

Slaves of the Shinar
Authors: Justin Allen
Year: 2007-07-19
Publisher: Overlook Hardcover
Pages: 432
Binding: hc
The storied land of Shinar can be both brutal and forgiving. For two men making their way under its harsh sun, it is a land of fate, blood, and strife. Uruk is a nomadic thief from the jungles of sub-Saharan Africa braving the hard walk across the desert.

 

Beyond the Highland Mist looks good. And of course, Deathly Hallows

 

I'm getting a head start because the end of the month and beginning of the next month tends to be busy. Check out the list, some big name authors are releasing new books this next week.

Of Fire and Night
Authors: Kevin J. Anderson
Year: 2007-07-28
Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced

The extermination of Earth is at hand. With his increasingly irrational leadership Basil Wenceslas, chairman of the Hansa, has driven humanity into a corner. His punitive treatment of the Hansa colonies and the Roamers as well as his refusal to aid an embattled Theroc have made enemies for the people of Earth. Enemies that the Hansa cannot afford. Not when Wenceslas is struggling against revolt by soldier compies, who decimate the military by stealing ships and slaughtering soldiers; and betrayal by the Ildirans, led by Jora?h the Mage-Imperator, who is secretly scheming with the hydrogues to annihilate Earth.

Now disparate factions of humanity must plan for their own salvation. Worldtrees allied with humans on Theroc have rallied hulking, thorny tree battleships. Roamers work with powerful water entities, the wentals, to seed planets everywhere with a growing force to challenge the hydrogues.

But when the final battle with the hydrogues is joined, who will aid the people of Earth?

Birthstones
Authors: Phyllis Gotlieb
Year: 2007-07-30
Publisher: Robert J Sawyer Books
Pages: 272
Binding: tp

On a dark and moonless planet, mutations have left women as little more than wombs, while men can teleport but have limited control over the ability. When aliens come to plunder this world's resources, the already harsh environment degrades exponentially. Will the Galactic Federation find this world in time to help the natives restore their women and save their civilization?

A visionary novel in the tradition of Ursula K. LeGuin and James Tiptree, Jr., by a leading feminist author.

Brimstone Turnpike
Authors: Kealan Patrick Burke
Year: 2007-07-30
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Pubns
Binding: hc
The five novellas in this slapdash mosaic anthology are loosely interconnected by the presence of Johnny Divine, a hoodoo man who materializes magically in each story to present lost travelers who accidentally stray onto the unmapped Brimstone Turnpike with knickknacks that alter their lives supernaturally. In Thomas F. Monteleone's "The Prime Time of Spenser Golding," a pair of eyeglasses given to an egotistical television newscaster allows him to see the "truth" behind his stories?whereupon he become a self-righteous blowhard of a reporter. In Michael Oliveri's "Warning Signs," a magic pendant bestowed on a woman in a troubled marriage warns her of menace from a predictable suspect. In the other stories, Divine's gifts stir up weird scientific experiments and skeletons in family closets. Burke (Taverns of the Dead) appears not to have specified to contributors whether Divine should be depicted as an agent of good or evil, with the result that his character flip-flops confusingly from story to story. His role in some of the tales is so superficial that readers may wonder if the stories wouldn't have worked better without his appearance.

Haunted House: And Other Presidential Horrors
Authors: Edward Lee
Year: 2007-07-30
Publisher: Overlook Connection Pr
Binding: hc
HAUNTED HOUSE is a collection of original and rare short fiction by Edward Lee. These stories feature one connecting theme: they all take place in The White House! And a HAUNTED HOUSE it is! With ex-presidents, um, dead ex-presidents making many appearances in various forms. Supernatural elements take place that may explain why some of the "Executive" decisions are made. And what about that White House lawn? Who, or what, lives their in the twilight hours? All this and more is offered up in Edward Lee's visions of th

 

I've always liked Meg Cabot, so I'll get Jinx, and I'm about a fourth of the way into The Lies of Locke Lamora so I'm sure I'll get the sequel. Mistborn also looks good.

 

Settling Accounts In at the Death (Settling Accounts)
Authors: Harry Turtledove
Year: 2007-07-31
Publisher: del Rey
Pages: 720
Binding: hc

Franklin Roosevelt is the assistant secretary of defense. Thomas Dewey is running for president with a blunt-speaking Missourian named Harry Truman at his side. Britain holds onto its desperate alliance with the USA?s worst enemy, while a holocaust unfolds in Texas. In Harry Turtledove?s compelling, disturbing, and extraordinarily vivid reshaping of American history, a war of secession has triggered a generation of madness. The tipping point has come at last.

The third war in sixty years, this one yet unnamed: a grinding, horrifying series of hostilities and atrocities between two nations sharing the same continent and both calling themselves Americans. At the dawn of 1944, the United States has beaten back a daredevil blitzkrieg from the Confederate States?and a terrible new genie is out of history?s bottle: a bomb that may destroy on a scale never imagined before. In Europe, the new weapon has shattered a stalemate between Germany, England, and Russia. When the trigger is pulled in America, nothing will be the same again.

With visionary brilliance, Harry Turtledove brings to a climactic conclusion his monumental, acclaimed drama of a nation?s tragedy and the men and women who play their roles?with valor, fear, and folly?on history?s greatest stage.

Sorcerer's Moon
Authors: Julian May
Year: 2007-07-31
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 560
Binding: pb
The conclusion of the Boreal Moon Tale.

The Boreal Moon Trilogy concludes as Orion, the heir to the kingdom, prepares to fulfill his destiny before the magical realm is torn apart by war.

Sun of Suns
Authors: Karl Schroeder
Year: 2007-07-31
Publisher: Tor Science Fiction
Pages: 320
Binding: pb

It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and aimlessly floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and ?towns? that are in the shape of enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for gravity.

Young, fit, bitter, and friendless, Hayden Griffin is a very dangerous man. He?s come to the city of Rush in the nation of Slipstream with one thing in mind: to take murderous revenge for the deaths of his parents six years ago. His target is Admiral Chaison Fanning, head of the fleet of Slipstream, which conquered Hayden?s nation of Aerie years ago. And the fact that Hayden?s spent his adolescence living with pirates doesn?t bode well for Fanning?s chances.

The Best of Robert E. Howard Volume 1: Crimson Shadows
Authors: Robert E. Howard
Year: 2007-07-31
Publisher: del Rey
Pages: 400
Binding: tp
Robert E. Howard is one of the most famous and influential pulp authors of the twentieth century. Though largely known as the man who invented the sword-and-sorcery genre?and for his iconic hero Conan the Cimmerian?Howard also wrote horror tales, desert adventures, detective yarns, epic poetry, and more. This spectacular volume, gorgeously illustrated by Jim and Ruth Keegan, includes some of his best and most popular works.

Inside, readers will discover (or rediscover) such gems as ?The Shadow Kingdom,? featuring Kull of Atlantis and considered by many to be the first sword-and-sorcery story; ?The Fightin?est Pair,? part of one of Howard?s most successful series, chronicling the travails of Steve Costigan, a merchant seaman with fists of steel and a head of wood; ?The Grey God Passes,? a haunting tale about the passing of an age, told against the backdrop of Irish history and legend; ?Worms of the Earth,? a brooding narrative featuring Bran Mak Morn, about

 

I might tr The Virtu; I read a short story of Sarah Monette's and absolutely adored it.

And The Fox is a sequel to a book I've got upstairs, so if I like Inda I might get it.

 

All Together Dead
Authors: Charlaine Harris
Year: 2007-08-01
Publisher: Wheeler Publishing
Pages: 470
Binding: hc
Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life-the shapeshifter Quinn-but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit.
The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans. And there are some vamps who would like to finish what nature started. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she'll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

As Fate Decrees
Authors: Denyse Bridger
Year: 2007-08-01
Publisher: EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing
Pages: 272
Binding: tp
Ares would permit no one to change what the Fates had set in motion. In an ancient world, the Fates decree that a Champion will soon be brought forth: a being both mortal and eternal, destined to become as legendary as the Gods to whom she will be forever enslaved. Of the twelve who rule on Mount Olympus, it is Ares, God of War, son of Zeus and Hera, who recognizes both the truth of the divination, and the one who has been chosen. On the eve of the new millennium, the Champion of Olympus is called forth by disciples of the Ancient Order of Zeus, and Amarantha finds that she must once again defend history and myth with her very life.

Bertram of Butter Cross
Authors: Jeffrey E. Barlough
Year: 2007-08-01
Publisher: Gresham & Doyle
Pages: 270
Binding: tp
Bertram of Butter Cross, the fourth volume in author Jeffrey E. Barlough's acclaimed "Western Lights" series of fantasy-mysteries, is a magical tale of yearning and loss and the tyranny of years. And like the other Western Lights books in the genre that Barlough has made all his own, it is a tale chock-full of mystery. What, for example, is the hideous, snake-necked monstrosity that has been roaming Marley Wood? Who are the phantom riders seen plunging through the wood by moonlight? And above all, who is the strange small boy found living in the ruined hunting-lodge deep inside the forest? Return now to the Ice Age world of the "sundering," and join Jemma Hathaway and her brother Richard, Ada Henslowe, Sir Hector MacHector and their friends in deepest Fenshire as they struggle to solve the insolvable: the mystery of Marley Wood!

Cast In Secret
Authors: Michelle Sagara
Year: 2007-08-01
Publisher: Luna
Pages: 528
Binding: tp
Still avoiding magic whenever possible, Corporal Kaylin Neya relished investigating a regular theft once again. Until she found out the mysterious box was taken from Elani Street, where the mages and charlatans mingled, and it was sometimes hard to tell the difference between the two. But she was hoping this might be a mundane case?

?when in a back room Kaylin saw a lost-looking girl in a reflective pool?who called out Kaylin's name.

Shaken, Kaylin tried to stay focused on the case at hand. But since the stolen item was ancient, without a keyhole, and held tremendous darkness inside, Kaylin knew unknown forces were again playing with her destiny?and her life?.

Checkmate
Authors: Annmarie McKenna
Year: 2007-08-01
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Pages: 228
Binding: tp
What's an alpha shape-shifting wolf to do when the woman pre-destined to be his mate no longer trusts men? After returning home from an eight-month security job, Eli Graham is ready to claim his best friend's little sister as his mate. He'd put it off for years, thinking he was doing the right thing by waiting. Instead of the stubborn, inde

 

The one about the unicorn girl is the latest in a series I'm trying to get through, so hopefully eventually.

Checkmate -- Annmarie McKenna

Ithaka ? Adele Geras

The Eunuch?s Heir ? Elaine Issak

are the others I really like. And thanks for a hot-guy-on-cover alert

 

Next week's update is going to come on Wednesday, as I'll be gone this weekend.

The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense
Authors: Joyce Carol Oates
Year: 2007-08-06
Publisher: Harcourt
Pages: 240
Binding: hc
In "The Man Who Fought Roland LaStarza" a woman?s world is upended when she learns the brutal truth about a family friend?s death?and what her father is capable of. Meanwhile, a businessman desperate to find his missing two-year-old grandson in "Suicide Watch" must determine whether the horrifying tale his junky son tells him about the boy?s whereabouts is a confession or a sick test. In "Valentine, July Heat Wave" a man prepares a gruesome surprise for the wife determined to leave him. And the children of a BTK-style serial killer struggle to decode the patterns behind their father?s seemingly random bad acts, as well as their own, in "Bad Habits."

In these and other stories, Joyce Carol Oates explores with bloodcurdling insight the ties that bind?or worse. The Museum of Dr. Moses is another chilling masterpiece from "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation).


Black Wolf: Sembia: Gateway to the Realms, Book IV (Forgotten Realms)
Authors: Dave Gross
Year: 2007-08-07
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Pages: 320
Binding: pb

Talbot Uskevren, the second son of one of Selgaunt's most powerful families, fights a deadly battle within himself. Like most men of his station, Talbot spends his days honing his sword fighting skills, and unlike others, practicing the art of acting. Now, Talbot will put both of these talents to the test when a rival House comes looking for blood. The only way for Talbot to survive against the Black Brotherhood is to let the inner wolf loose, and the only way for him to live in Selgaunt's society is to keep the wolf chained.

Black Wolf continues the story of the Uskevrens' second son, introduced in the story "Thirty Days" from The Halls of Stormweather. An exciting tale of werewolves in the Forgotten Realms, this is the fouth book in the Sembia series.

Devil May Cry (A Dark-Hunter Novel, Book 11)
Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Year: 2007-08-07
Publisher: St. Martin?s Press
Pages: 320
Binding: hc
Sin, a Sumerian fertility god turned Vegas casino owner, and Kat, the zealous servant of bossy Greek goddess Artemis, knock boots and kick butt in Kenyon's juicy 11th Dark-Hunter paranormal love-fest (after 2006's Dark Side of the Moon). Sin's been on the warpath for thousands of years, since Artemis stole his godhood. Sin's also upset about the disappearance of his twin brother, Zakar, and the imminent invasion of the vampiric Sumerian gallu, who plan to liberate the Dimme superdemons and destroy all humanity. Kat agrees to kill Sin before he kills Artemis, but instead the two fall in madcap love while trying to prevent Armageddon. It's just another day's work for the immortals, who act a lot like ordinary quarrelsome people with way cool superpowers. Though readers may need a scorecard to keep up with the cast, this series puts a contemporary spin on classical mythology that an increasing number of fans have found irresistible.

Dudleytown: Evil Confidential Student Diary/Journal: The User's Guide To Spiritual Warfare
Authors: Bodie Ingelvie
Year: 2007-08-07
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pages: 208
Binding: tp

There is a need among youth leaders today for resources to help expose the truth about evil. Youth workers are unequipped to answer student's raw questions about evil. Many are discouraged and overwhelmed by not having a foundation of truth from God's word to face evil. Lacking the proper training, they become ineffective in reaching a generation for Christ.

Dudleytow

 

Wow, seven good-looking ones this week.

Return to Me ? Julia Thompson

Lucinda, Darkly: The Demon Princess Chronicles ? Sunny

Sex and the Physic Witch ? Annette Blair

The Mirador ? Sarah Monette

The Mirror Prince ? Violette Malan

The Trouble With Humans ? Christopher Anvil

You Had Me At Halo ? Amanda Ashby




I don't know about the Lloyd Alexander one, though I love his Perdain Chronicles. I also might get the Stephanie Meyer one (I read the two others) but the second wasn't that good, and I know people who can just tell me what happens.

 

Updated for next week early! I'll be away on vacation and have to log on to check the EUC elections stuff, so if you respond I might be able to reply.

In a Glass Darkly
Authors: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Year: 2007-08-10
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
Pages: 288

Might not actually be coming out, Amazon isn't letting you preorder it and there isn't a description.


Judgment, The (Feather and Bone: the Crow Chronicles)
Authors: Clem Martini
Year: 2007-08-10
ISBN-10: 1-55337-757-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-55337-757-3
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Price: $7.95
Pages: 304
Binding: pb
In the third and final novel in Clem Martini's trilogy, Feather and Bone: The Crow Chronicles, Kyp and the remains of the flock emerge tattered but alive from their fiery ordeal in the human colony. Pursued by the vengeful Kuper and his fanatical Collection, they flee south, outnumbered and exhausted. Flying through a strange land, where food is scarce and unknown enemies lurk, Kyp and the flock search for an elusive haven. This is a time of terrors and dark omens, when crows hunt down fellow crows. The life or death of the deeply divided flock depends on Kyp's decisions. Does he have the wisdom to decide well and grow from popular hero to mature Chooser? The world of crows is turned upside down in the epic battle that follows his Choice.

Blood and Chocolate
Authors: Annette Curtis Klause
Year: 2007-08-14
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pages: 288
Binding: pb
Type: NOVEL
Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?

Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.

Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really--human or beast? Which tastes sweeter--blood or chocolate?

Corydon and the Island of Monsters
Authors: Tobias Druitt
Year: 2007-08-14
Publisher: Yearling
Pages: 304
Binding: pb
A young shepherd, Corydon, is driven out of his village because of his unusual appearance and then captured and put on display as a monster. Alongside him in the traveling freak show are Medusa, the Minotaur, the Sphinx, and other classical beasts. When Corydon helps these monsters to escape their cages, they scatter to seek peace and solitude away from prying eyes. But then an army of ?heroes? arrives hoping to win glory by killing the monsters, and Corydon must unite these unloved and unlikely allies to fight for their survival and for their island home.

Guardian of the Veil: A Three-Dimensional Tale
Authors: Gregory Spencer
Year: 2007-08-14
Publisher: Howard Books
Pages: 400
Binding: tp
What if the fabric of our world were stretching or tearing...or getting thinner...and we could step through that veil into another world?

It's been a month since the Misfits -- four friends who like to commiserate -- were catapulted out of their adventures in the land of Welken and back into an ordinary summer in the small town of Skinner, Oregon.

Mysterious reminders of those exciting days begin popping up everywhere. A mountain lion. A sailboat. A children's story. Could Lizbeth, Bennu, Len, and Ang

 

There are a lot of "maybes" this week, including the one by Peter S. Beagle (though that's a maybe becaues I didn't like another book he wrote).

 

Sky Horizon
Authors: David Brin , Scott Hampton
Year: 2007-08-20
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Pages: 120
Binding: hc
"Some of the Math Club nerds have got a real live alien! They're hiding it in a basement rec room." High School junior Mark Bamford didn't believe the silly rumor. For one thing, California homes don't have basements. Besides. A stranded alien? Such a cliche. A movie rip-off. Couldn't the math geeks think up a better hoax? Only... was it a hoax? What about all those black vans from the super-secret Cirrocco Corp cruising all over town, as if searching for something? Time to do some investigating of his own. Only, who could he turn to for help? The skateboarding "X" crowd? The varsity climbing team? When it it came right down to it, should he turn to the least likely ally of them all? Sky Horizon explores a possibility that has always fascinated, since the days of Homer -- that of strangers from beyond -- and gives it new shape under the deft hand of one of science fiction's modern masters.

The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein
Authors: Dorothy Hoobler , Thomas Hoobler
Year: 2007-08-20
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Pages: 400
Binding: tp
One murky night in 1816, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, famed English poet, challenged his friends to a contest--to write a ghost story. The assembled group
included the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley; his lover (and future wife) Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; Mary's stepsister Claire Claremont; and Byron's physician, John William Polidori. The famous result was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a work that has retained its hold on the popular imagination for almost two centuries. Less well-known was the curious Polidori's contribution: the first vampire novel. And the evening begat a curse, too: Within a few years of Frankenstein's publication, nearly all of those involved met untimely deaths. Drawing upon letters, rarely tapped archives, and their own magisterial rereading of Frankenstein itself, Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler have crafted a rip-roaring tale of obsession and creation.

The Space Boy
Authors: Orson Scott Card , Lance Card
Year: 2007-08-20
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Pages: 120
Binding: hc
Is it space that children dream of, or merely visiting other worlds? Todd had always set his heart on being an astronaut, but when he meets an alien and travels to another world, he doesn't use a spaceship, he just hangs out in his own back yard. In Space Boy, Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game, takes readers into a strange and wonderful future, where people from another world regularly visit Earth - usually without being noticed. And when humans travel to their world, they find themselves dangerously weak and powerless. Until Todd finds a way to set both worlds to rights. By turns funny and painful, Space Boy is Card at his best, exploring human nature for the entertainment of readers young and old.

Jumper: Griffin's Story
Authors: Steven Gould
Year: 2007-08-21
Publisher: TOR Books
Pages: 352
Binding: hc
Griffin has a secret. It?s a secret that he?s sworn to his parents to keep, and never tell. Griffin is a Jumper: a person who can teleport to any place he has ever been. The first time was when he was five, and his parents crossed an ocean to protect the secret. The most important time was when he was nine. That was the day that the men came to his house and murdered his parents. Griffin knows that the men were looking for him, and he must never let them find him.

Griffin grows up with only two goals: to survive, and to kill the people who want him dead. And a Jumper bent on revenge is not going to let anything stand in his way.

Jumper, based on Steven Gould's earlier novel of the same name, w

 

I just picked up Red Seas Under Red Skies, after reading Lies of Locke Lamora. Great series thus far.

 

Here's the first installment. Prolly have to do this in three. The rest will be up later tonight.

A Taste of Magic
Authors: Andre Norton , Jean Rabe
Year: 2007-08-28
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Pages: 304
Binding: pb
"The Green Ones favored me this day."

Thus begins A Taste of Magic, the latest magical world creation by Andre Norton.

Wisteria is magically attuned to the world around her. Her senses relish the tastes of magic that the wonders of nature offer. But the peacefulness of her backwoods existence is shattered when her village is attacked by the raiding force of the bellicose Lord Purvis, who leaves only this twenty-something magic wielder and an adolescent lass as the inadvertent survivors.

Wisteria has pledged herself to a mission. Now she and her young ward must brave the wilds beyond their home in pursuit of the ravager who destroyed everyone near and dear to their hearts.

The woman with the Taste of Magic now has a taste for vengeance, and the blood oath she has pledged must be satisfied with the life of Lord Purvis.


Bloodsong
Authors: Melvin Burgess
Year: 2007-08-28
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 384
Binding: pb
PART II

Fifteen-year-old Sigurd, son of King Sigmund, is the last surviving member

of the Volson clan. His father's kingdom -- the former city of London --

is gone. And his father's knife, a gift from Odin himself, has been

shattered to dust.

Now, Odin's eye is upon him. Armed with a powerful sword forged from the

remnants of his father's knife, Sigurd will face death, fire, and torment.

He must travel through Hel and back...to unite his country once again.

Burdens of Empire
Authors: C. J. Ryan
Year: 2007-08-28
Publisher: Spectra
Pages: 368
Binding: pb
It?s the 33rd century, a time of unparalleled peace and prosperity, but on a far-flung planet, humanity?s reign may be about to end?. Alien terrorism, sectarian violence, armed insurgency?it was a police action on a backwater planet that many on Earth believed was a tragic mistake. Now the kidnapping of a human VIP has raised the political stakes to the breaking point. Enter the gorgeous and sexy Gloria VanDeen?ex-wife of the Emperor, media darling, and humanity?s favorite heroine. She?s been sent on a secret mission to extract the hostage and avoid a PR nightmare. But the situation on Denastri is a lot worse than reported Earthside.

With violence escalating daily, and with an indigenous population whose customs and religion are a mystery, Gloria finds herself on the toughest assignment of her career. Now she?s faced with an enemy that may be even more dangerous than the assassins and fanatics of the alien insurgency: an army of freelance killers run by an Earth-based corporation motivated by pure greed.

C.J.'s Fate
Authors: Kay Hooper
Year: 2007-08-28
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 224
Binding: pb
Before such New York Times bestselling thrillers as Blood Dreams and Sleeping with Fear, Kay Hooper made her mark with novels uniquely blending romance and suspense. In this new edition of C.J.?s Fate, Hooper delivers a funny, sexy, heartfelt story about breaking free, taking chances?and finding the last thing you?re looking for.

Librarian C. J. Adams thinks marriage is a fine tradition?for somebody else. The love of her life is history, and in her experience, few men compare with the daring heroes who shaped civilization. Well-traveled, well-educated, and content to stay single, C.J. is convinced she isn?t missing anything. But her close friends disagree. When they resolve to find her soul mate during a trip to Aspen, C.J. stays a step ahead of them by enlisting a gorgeous stranger to pose as her lover. But the man proves to be far more charismatic?and convincing?than she expected, and