New Releases
After the Downfall by Harry Turtledove
Night Shade Books. (ISBN-13: 978-1597801317) Paperback. Length: 256pp
Alternate historian Turtledove (The Man with the Iron Heart) opens this fantasy with Hasso Pemsel, a tough Wehrmacht captain, cornered in a Berlin museum as the Russians close in. Pemsel falls into another world, where he promptly rescues beautiful blonde half-goddess Velona from three swarthy men. Velona seduces him and explains that the blond Lenelli invaders rule over the dark native Grenye, keeping them subjugated with magic. Experienced from fighting on the Russian front, Hasso brings modern military ideas to the Lenelli before they invade the Grenye stronghold of Bucovin, but when the Grenye capture him, conversations with intelligent, lovely high priestess Drepteaza start to erode his assumptions about both races. Pemsel’s slow enlightenment breaks no new ground, but his story will appeal to fans of Turtledove’s straightforward style and military know-how.
Breakaway by Joel Shepherd
Pyr. (ISBN-13: 978-1591027423) Paperback. Length: 425pp
Cassandra Kresnov is a highly advanced hunter-killer android. She has escaped the League and fled to Callay, a member of the Federation. Because of her fighting skills she was able to save the president’s life and is now a trusted member of the security forces. However, not all Tanushans are happy to have her on their turf and Cassandra has to tread carefully. As Callay moves towards a vote on whether to break away from the Federation, confusion reigns and terrorist groups plot their own agendas. Cassandra becomes involved with two young troubleshooters for the secret service and finds out more than she ever wanted to know about the Tanushan underground and those on the fringes.
Darkest Hour by Mark Chadbourn
Pyr. (ISBN-13: 978-1591027409) Paperback. Length: 465pp
The eternal conflict between the Light and Dark once again blackens the skies and blights the land. On one side stand the Tuatha de Danaan, golden-skinned and beautiful, filled with all the might of angels. On the other are the Fomorii, monstrous devils hell-bent on destroying all human existence. And in the middle are the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, determined to use the strange power that binds them to the land in a last, desperate attempt to save the human race. Church, Ruth, Ryan, Laura and Shavi have joined forces with Tom, a hero from the mists of time, to wage a guerrilla war against the iron rule of the gods. But they didn’t count on things going from bad to worse …this is the stunning continuation of a powerful fantasy saga by one of Britain’s most acclaimed young writers.
Death’s Head Maximum Offense by David Gunn
Del Rey. (ISBN-13: 978-0345508690) Paperback. Length: 416pp
Sven Tveskoeg–antisocial, antihero, anti-you-name-it–is a one-man killing spree whose best friend is an intelligent handgun with a bad attitude and whose worst enemy is, well, just about everybody else. These qualities have earned Sven a lieutenant’s commission in the Death’s Head, the elite corps of assassins and enforcers whose purpose in life is to serve OctoV, a tyrant who is part machine, part boy, part god, and all evil. Sven’s new assignment? Lead his ragtag band of Death’s Head rejects to the artificial world of Hekati to find a missing citizen of the United Free, a vast empire that turns out to be a vicious den of backstabbing and betrayal where nothing and no one can be trusted. Looks like Sven is on a suicide mission. So what else is new?
The Demon Redcoat by C. C. Finlay
Del Rey. (ISBN-13: 978-0345503923) Paperback. Length: 400pp
The War of Independence appears to have no end in sight. Discouraged by the bloodshed and suffering their magic can do nothing to prevent, Proctor and his wife, Deborah, dream of starting a family. But when Deborah gives birth, a powerful demon called Balfri, summoned by the secret society of European witches known as the Covenant, tries to possess the child. Though the attack in unsuccessful, it makes Proctor and Deborah realize that there can be no safety for them, or for anyone, until the Covenant is destroyed.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra by Max Allan Collins
Del Rey. (ISBN-13: 978-0345516091) Paperback. Length: 272pp
While convoying new high-tech weaponry in Central Asia, Captain Duke Hauser and his right-hand man, Ripcord Weems, along with their NATO Special Forces Unit, are ambushed by heavily armed super-soldiers called Vipers. Just as it becomes clear that Duke’s squad is seriously outgunned, and after one of the Vipers attempts to make off with the cache of coveted arms, out of nowhere comes a secret band of soldiers to help the good guys: Team G.I. JOE. General Hawk, head of the elite military ops, enlists Duke and Ripcord to join JOE stalwarts Heavy Duty, Breaker, Scarlett, and Snake Eyes in retrieving the weapons and keeping a well-financed foe from controlling cutting-edge nano-mite technology that destroys everything in its path.
Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson
Tor Books. (ISBN-13: 978-0765319715) Hardcover. Length: 416pp
In the reign of President Deklan Comstock, a reborn United States is struggling back to prosperity. Over a century after the Efflorescence of Oil, after the Fall of the Cities, after the Plague of Infertility, after the False Tribulation, after the days of the Pious Presidents, the sixty stars and thirteen stripes wave from the plains of Athabaska to the national capital in New York City. In Colorado Springs, the Dominion sees to the nation’s spiritual needs. In Labrador, the Army wages war on the Dutch. America, unified, is rising once again.
Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland
Bantam. (ISBN-13: 978-0553592351) Paperback. Length: 384pp
Cop and conjurer of demons, she’s a woman in danger of losing control—to a power that could kill…. Why me? Why now? That’s what Beaulac, Louisiana, detective Kara Gillian was asking herself when an angelic creature named Rhyzkahl unexpectedly appeared during a routine summoning. Kara was hoping to use her occult skills to catch a serial killer, but never had she conjured anything like this unearthly beautiful and unspeakably powerful being whose very touch set off exquisite new dimensions of pleasure. But can she enlist his aid in helping her stop a killer who’s already claimed the lives—and souls—of thirteen people? And should she? The Symbol Man is a nightmare that the city thought had ended three years ago. Now he’s back for an encore and leaving every indication on the flesh of his victims that he, too, is well versed in demonic lore.
Star Wars: Omen by Christie Golden
LucasBooks. (ISBN-13: 978-0345509123) Hardcover. Length: 272pp
The Jedi Order is in crisis. The late Jacen Solo’s shocking transformation into murderous Sith Lord Darth Caedus has cast a damning pall over those who wield the Force for good: Two Jedi Knights have succumbed to an inexplicable and dangerous psychosis, criminal charges have driven Luke Skywalker into self-imposed exile, and power-hungry Chief of State Natasi Daala is exploiting anti-Jedi sentiment to undermine the Order’s influence within the Galactic Alliance. Forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is on a desperate mission to uncover the truth behind Jacen’s fall to the dark side–and to learn what’s turning peaceful Jedi into raving lunatics.
Sucker for Love by Kimberly Raye
Ballantine Books. (ISBN-13: 978-0345503664) Paperback. Length: 336pp
Divalicious darling of the undead Lil Marchette is this close to finding her own happily-ever-after with hunky live-in bounty hunter Ty Bonner. Unfortunately, reality is biting back in a big way. Lil’s got mounting bills to pay and clients to keep happily hooked up courtesy of Dead End Dating, the ultimate meet-and-greet for New York’s fanged, furry, and fabulous. But leave it to a drop-dead gorgeous eight-hundred-year-old warlock with a big-girl fetish to take the biggest chomp out of Lil’s happiness by kidnapping Esther Crutch, one of Lil’s plus-size clients, now stamped as Grade-A Ritual Meat.
Year’s Best Science Fiction: 26th Annual
St. Martin’s Griffin. (ISBN-13: 978-0312363352) Paperback. Length: 704pp
Like a giant sequoia towering over a copse of maple trees, Hugo-winner Dozois’s annual shelf-bending collection of the year’s best SF continues to overshadow all other anthologies. Highlights include Greg Egan’s Riding the Crocodile about two immortals who yearn to do something grand and audacious before they consciously end their lives; Cory Doctorow’s I, Row-Boat which chronicles a theological dispute between an artificially intelligent boat and a sentient coral reef; and Alastair Reynolds’s Signal to Noise an unexpectedly intimate story about a scientist’s attempt to contact his recently deceased wife across quantum realities. This yearly anthology is required reading for every serious SF fan.
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