The Great Geek Manual

New Releases

This is slated to be an amazing month of releases for genre fans, and it’s starting out with a bang as the eleventh book of The Dresden Files, Turn Coat, hits shelves. I’ve been waiting for this book since about forty-eight hours after the release of the last installment in the series, Small Favor. It’s a great series that just keeps getting better.

Also on the menu this week are the urban fantasy novels Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre and the latest Remy Chandle novel, Dancing on the Head of a Pin by Thomas E. Sniegoski. I’ll be reading all three, and you expect to see reviews posted here shortly, though I may attempt to pace myself with this installment in the Dresden series.

The following books will be released this week:

Ballistic Babes by John Zakour
DAW. (ISBN-13: 978-0756405458) Paperback. Length: 544pp
Double your pleasure, double the laughs with this omnibus edition featuring Zachary Nixon Johnson, the last freelance P.I. on Earth. It’s 2057, and Zach is partnered with an experimental A.I. named HARV . In what is both an homage to and a parody of the great heyday of pulp fiction, they solve cases involving androids, future tech wizards, and of course, the occasional nuclear-powered, genocidal fembot.

Blade Runners, Deer Hunters, & Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies Michael Deeley
Pegasus. (ISBN-13: 978-1605980386) Hardcover. Length: 288pp
One man links The Deer Hunter, Blade Runner, The Italian Job, Don’t Look Now, The Wicker Man and The Man Who Fell To Earth. Producer Michael Deeley, an urbane Englishman in Hollywood, had to fight wars to get these movies made, from defending the legendary sex scene of Don’t Look Now from a disapproving Warren Beatty to seizing control of Convoy from a cocaine- ridden Sam Peckinpah. This is a no-holds-barred look at the true stories behind some of the greatest cult movies ever made.

Blue Diablo: A Corine Solomon Novel by Ann Aguirre
Roc. (ISBN-13: 978-0451462640) Paperback. Length: 336pp
Corine Solomon is a handler—when she touches an object she instantly knows its history and its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing—which is why people never stop trying to find her. Like her ex-boyfriend Chance, who needs Corine’s gift to find someone dear to them both. But the search proves dangerous as it leads them into a strange world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies—and black magic…

Contact with Chaos by Michael Z. Williamson
Baen. (ISBN-13: 978-1416591542) Hardcover. Length: 336pp
When an exploration ship from Freehold discovered a planet with intelligent lifeforms—the first which humans had ever encountered—it should have been the most important event in history. And it might be—for all the wrong reasons.

Corambis by Sarah Monette
Ace Hardcover. (ISBN-13: 978-0441015962) Hardcover. Length: 432pp
Exiled from Mélusine for the crime of heresy, the once powerful Cabaline wizard Felix Harrowgate and his half-brother Mildmay, former cat-burglar and assassin, journey to Corambis to face judgment from a ruling body of wizards. Corambis, however, is a land plagued by civil strife. Kay Brightmore, the Margrave of Rothmarlin, is part of an insurrection to restore the monarchy in the southern half of the country. In desperation, Kay and his rebels seek out the engine of Summerdown, an ancient magical device rumored to have terrible powers. Once the engine is awakened, only a powerful wizard can stop its awesome potential for destruction. Felix and Mildmay arrive just in time for their greatest challenge—and ultimate destiny…

Dancing on the Head of a Pin: A Remy Chandler Novel Thomas E. Sniegoski
Roc Trade. (ISBN-13: 978-0451462510) Paperback. Length: 304pp
Still mourning the loss of his wife, fallen angel Remy Chandler has immersed himself in investigating dangerous supernatural cases. His latest: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged eons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. And if they fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy not only Heaven but also Earth.

Downshadow: Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep by Erik Scott de Bie
Wizards of the Coast. (ISBN-13: 978-0786951284) Paperback. Length: 320pp
Watchman by day, vigilante by night, Shadowbane’s world is turned upside down when he runs across a powerful wizard–in the form of a confused, hunted girl who finds herself at the heart of a fell plot. When his friends start dying and the girl is kidnapped, Shadowbane must choose between the darkness and the light in his heart: to avenge the deaths of his friends, or to let the villain live to face–and possibly escape–justice.

Dragons Luck by Robert Asprin
Ace Trade. (ISBN-13: 978-0441016808) Paperback. Length: 384pp
Griffen McCandles is adjusting well to running his gambling operation in the French Quarter of New Orleans and to his newfound status as head dragon. Other dragons are getting a whiff of his reputation, though, and they’re not happy about it. Which is why there’s suddenly a hit out on him. And, just in time for Halloween, the ghost of a voodoo queen wants Griffen to moderate a supernatural conclave. And though the strange goings-on will barely be noticed in a city used to drunken conventioneers and wild revelers, it’s Griffen’s chance to spread his wings—or crash and burn.

Longeye by Sharon Lee
Baen. (ISBN-13: 978-1416591535) Hardcover. Length: 320pp
Hidden from the human-inhabited world by the inimical magical device known as the keleigh, the Vaitura has become a subtle battleground where the once all-powerful Elder Fey strive against each other and the upstart Queen to regain ascendancy. Of all the Elder Fey it is Altimere who is strongest in magical kest and Altimere who is most devious. Pitted against Zaldore and her group seeking to manipulate the convelescing Ranger known as Longeye to foil the Queen and rule the world, Altimere dares to utilize the untested powers of half-human, half-Fey Rebecca Beauvally, recognized by the elemental denizens of the Vaitura as The Gardener.

Night World No. 3: Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight L.J. Smith
Simon Pulse. (ISBN-13: 978-1416974529) Paperback. Length: 752pp
Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters — they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws. The apocalypse is drawing near. But four Wild Powers can save the world from the impending doom. Circle Daybreak, an underground organization with both Night World and human members, is searching for the four who can stop the darkness. A vampire hunter — who is half vampire — stalks her own kind to protect humans in Huntress.

Other Earths by Nick Gevers
DAW. (ISBN-13: 978-0756405465) Paperback. Length: 320pp
What if Lincoln never became president, and the Civil War never took place? What if Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologically advanced empire? What if magic was real and a half-faerie queen ruled England? What if an author discovered a book written by an alternate version of himself?

The Threat from the Sea by Mel Odom
Wizards of the Coast. (ISBN-13: 978-0786950553) Paperback. Length: 768pp
The sahuagin have brought back an ancient evil to wage war against the surface dwellers. From the murky depths of the Shining Sea rises a prehistoric menace who commands a rising tide of invasion to crash over the shores of Faerun. Iakhovas has plotted for long bitter years to regain the powers that were torn from him by an angry goddess. Oblivious to the growing danger of the undersea civilizations, the surface world is about to awaken to a new horrifying threat from the sea.

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
Roc Hardcover. (ISBN: 978-0451462565) Paperback. Length: 432pp
Book 11 of The Dresden Files. Harry, a warden of the magic-governing White Council, finds himself in an unusual position when Morgan, his fellow warden and frequent antagonist, asks for his help. One of the White Council’s leaders has been murdered, and Morgan was found at the scene of the crime holding the murder weapon. If he has been framed, then another senior wizard is behind the killing and may be trying to destroy the council entirely. Aided by werewolf and vampire allies, Dresden investigates with his trademark sardonic noir flair. Despite the sprawling plot, both fans and newcomers will get into the fast-paced action.

WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer
Ace Hardcover. (ISBN-13: 978-0441016792) Hardcover. Length: 368pp
Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math—and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin’s brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something—some other—lurking in the background. And it’s getting more and more intelligent with each passing day…