The Great Geek Manual

It’s a bit of a slow week for genre fans. The highlight of the week is actually one short story packaged up into a short anthology, Ray Bradbury’s Marionettes, Inc.

Along with the new short, this anthology includes four other Bradbury stories about substitute people, including the famous novella I Sing the Body Electric, in addition to a rare, previously unpublished screen treatment.

Don’t worry. Next week, things pick up next week with the release of the next Sookie Stackhouse book and yet another post-mordem Tolkein book.

New Releases

The Grand Conjunction: Astropolis by Sean Williams
Ace. (ISBN-13: 978-0441017133) Paperback. Length: 336pp
Six hundred thousand years after Imre Bergamasc’s abdication, the Host rules the supposedly peaceful galaxy. But revolution is fomenting—and Imre’s unexpected return may be all it takes to light the final fuse. Release: April 28

Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward
NAL Hardcover. (ISBN-13: 978-0451225856) Hardcover. Length: 544pp
The seventh book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Rehvenge has always kept his distance from the Brotherhood—even though his sister is married to a member, for he harbors a deadly secret that could make him a huge liability in their war against the lessers. As plots within and outside of the Brotherhood threaten to reveal the truth about Rehvenge, he turns to the only source of light in his darkening world, Ehlena, a vampire untouched by the corruption that has its hold on him—and the only thing standing between him and eternal destruction. Release: April 28 Read the rest of this entry » » »

Book: Turn Coat
ISBN-13: 978-0451462565

Author: Jim Butcher
Series: The Dresden Files
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Release: April 7, 2009
Length: 432 pages (Hardcover)

Verdict

This is easily the best book I’ve read since the last Dresden Files novel, Small Favor, and the thought of having to wait another full year for the next one is absolutely excruciating. As always, Butcher delivers wildly careening action, meme-worthy humor, and poignant melancholy in perfect measure, unmatched by any franchise short of Dr. Who.

Returning readers will find themselves richly rewarded for their loyalty across the last ten installments in the series as Butcher begins to unveil some of the deep backstory of his plot while finally moving the long-developed, seldom-seen shadow conspiracy that’s been lurking in the distance since the beginning of the series to the fore. New readers are likely to find themselves lost on the finer points of the tale, but blissfully so, as Butcher rarely allows his readers time for such trivialities as wondering why a skull can talk or how a dog be so utterly put-upon.

If you aren’t already reading this series, run, don’t walk to the nearest bookstore. But reader beware! These novels are HIGHLY ADDICTIVE.

Synopsis

Official: Harry Dresden, PI and practitioner of magic, has done his best to keep his nose clean where the White Council of Wizards is concerned. Even so, his past misdeeds haven’t looked good to the council’s Wardens – and they take their responsibility to enforce the Laws of Magic very seriously. But this has placed him in a bit of a predicament. Morgan, formerly his chief persecutor among the Wardens, has been wrongly accused of treason. There’s only one punishment for that crime so he’s n the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.

Dresden faces a daunting task. He must clear the less-than-agreeable Morgan’s name while simultaneously hiding him from the Wardens and the supernatural bounty hunters sent to find him, discover the identity of the true turncoat and, of course, avoid accusations of treachery of his own. A single mistake may mean that heads – quite literally – will roll.

And one of them might be his.
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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. Read the rest of this entry » » »

New Releases

The following books will be released this week:

Deadly Desire by Keri Arthur
Bantam. (ISBN: 978-0553591156) Paperback. Length: 368pp
Book 7 of the Riley Jensen, Guardian series. It’s no ordinary sorceress who can raise the dead to do her killing. But that’s exactly what Riley expects to find at the end of a trail of female corpses used—and discarded—in a bizarre ritual of evil. With pressure mounting to catch one fiend, another series of brutal slayings shocks the vampire world of her lover, Quinn. So the last thing Riley needs is the heat of the upcoming full moon bringing her werewolf hormones to a boil—or the reappearance of a sexy bounty hunter, the rogue wolf Kye Murphy.

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull
Shadow Mountain. (ISBN: 978-1606410424) Hardcover. Length: 528pp
Two hidden artifacts have been found. Three more remain unrecovered. More preserves face destruction as the Society of the Evening Star relentlessly pursues new talismans. Reading in Patton s Journal of Secrets, Kendra learns the location of the key to a vault housing one of the artifacts. In order to retrieve it, the Knights of the Dawn must enter a death trap a dragon sanctuary called Wyrmroost

Outcast by Aaron Allston
Del Rey. (ISBN: 978-0345509062) Hardcover. 336pp
Book one of the Fate of the Jedi. After a violent civil war and the devastation wrought by the now-fallen Darth Caedus, the Galactic Alliance is in crisis–and in need. From all corners, politicians, power brokers, and military leaders converge on Coruscant for a crucial summit to restore order, negotiate differences, and determine the future of their unified worlds. But even more critical, and far more uncertain, is the future of the Jedi.

Stargazer by Claudia Gray
HarperTeen. (ISBN: 978-0061284403) Hardcover. Length: 336pp
An Evernight novel. Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them. But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school. Although they may be separated, Bianca and Lucas will not give each other up. She will risk anything for the chance to see him again, even if it means coming face-to-face with the vampire hunters of Black Cross—or deceiving the powerful vampires of Evernight. Bianca’s secrets will force her to live a life of lies.

The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton
Del Rey. (ISBN: 978-0345496553) Hardcover. Length: 736pp
Second book of the Void Trilogy. The epic narrative chronicling humankind’s potentially self-destructive search for existential and spiritual fulfillment inside an ever-expanding black hole at the galactic core. As the millions of followers of the Living Dream plan a mass pilgrimage into the Void, others plot to stop their exodus, which they believe will only increase the Void’s expansion and hasten the end of the galaxy. To complicate matters, the alien Ocisen Empire has allied with an old nemesis of humanity, the Primes, and their combined military might stands poised as a tremendous threat.

This Is Not a Game: A Novel by Walter Jon Williams
Orbit. (ISBN: 978-0316003155) Hardcover. Length: 384pp
Once upon a time, there were four of them. And though each was good at a number of things, all of them were very good at games… But when one of them is gunned down in a parking lot, the survivors become players in a very different kind of game. Caught between the dangerous worlds of the Russian Mafia and international finance, Dagmar must draw on all her resources — not least millions of online gamers– to track down the killer. In this near-future thriller, Walter Jon Williams weaves a pulse-pounding tale of intrigue, murder, and games where you don’t get an extra life.

Book: Daemon
ISBN-13: 978-0441016747

Author: Daniel Suarez
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Genre: Cyber Punk/Techno Thriller
Release: January 8, 2009
Length: 448 (Hardcover)

Verdict

I was completely blown away by what I’m assuming is destined to be the next cyberpunk classic. Anyone who fashions themselves a computer geek or hardcore gamer will love this book.

This fast-paced techno-thriller features the car chases and gadgets of a Bond novel, the suspense-building puzzles of a Dan Brown novel, the science of a Michael Crichton novel, the plot-centric pacing and broad cast of characters of a Tom Clancy novel, and the foresight of a Neal Stephenson novel. It’s that good.

Synopsis

When legendary computer game designer Matthew Sobol dies after a prolonged struggle with cancer, his death triggers a wide-reaching and swift-moving chain of events that spans the globe, all coordinated by a massively distributed software network. The incidents begin with the apparently accidental death of a game programmer and escalate into a mass of terrorist cells that hold the world’s leading businesses hostage. Now, a former mafia hacker turned IT freelancer, a SWAT team leader, and an NSA agent may be the only people capable of preventing Sobol’s daemon from ushering in a new world order.
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New Releases

The following books will be released this week:

The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction by Gene Wolfe
Tor Books. (ISBN: 978-0765321350) Hardcover. Length: 480pp
In these 31 self-selected stories, Wolfe mixes pulp adventure, ghost stories and noir with self-reference, meta-fiction, unreliable narrators and puns. His protagonists faces threats both modern (political correctness in “Petting Zoo,” corporate capitalism in “Hour of Trust”) and eternal (sexual temptation in “Bed and Breakfast”) and learn to trust fantasy over fact (”The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories,” “And When They Appear”). The result is a highly flattering career retrospective of a postmodern fabulist disguised as a mild-mannered SF writer. March 17

Imager: The First Book of the Imager Portfolio by L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Tor Books. (ISBN: 978-0765320346) Hardcover. Length: 432pp
Apprentice portraitist Rhennthyl finds out the hard way that he has the magical ability called Imaging: an explosion kills his master right after Rhenn wishes for just such an event. Rhenn’s ability, which allows him to form objects from thin air and slay with a glance, appears to be quite strong, and he begins training as a covert operative. Just when he starts to relax into his new career, an unknown assassin tries to kill him. March 17

The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint
Tor Books. (ISBN: 978-0765317568) Hardcover. Length: 272pp
Altagracia – her friends call her Grace – works at Sanchez Motorworks, customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling. Now Grace has to find the line in her own life. A few blocks around the Alverson Arms is all her world — from the little grocery store where she buys beans, tamales, and cigarettes (“cigarettes can kill you,” they tell her, but she smokes them anyway) to the record shop, to the library where Henry, a black man confined to a wheelchair, researches the mystery of life in death – but she’s got unfinished business keeping her close to home. March 17

One Second After by William R. Forstchen
Forge Books. (ISBN: 978-0765317582) Hardcover. Length: 352pp
one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages…A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies. March 17

Player’s Handbook 2: A 4th Edition D&D Core Rulebook
Wizards of the Coast. (ISBN: 978-0786950164) Hardcover. Length: 224pp
New classes, races, and other options for your D&D game. This book builds on the array of classes and races presented in the first Player’s Handbook, adding both old favorites and new, never-before-seen options to the game. March 17

New Releases

The following books will be released this week:

The Better to Hold You by Alisa Sheckley
Del Rey. (ISBN: 978-0345505873) Paperback. Length: 336pp
Manhattan veterinarian Abra Barrow has more sense about animals than she has about men. So when her adored journalist husband returns from a research trip to Romania and starts pacing their apartment like a caged wolf, Abra agrees to move with him to a rural mansion upstate in order to save her marriage. But Abra soon discovers that nothing in the bucolic town of Northside is what it seems. The local tavern serves a dangerous, predatory underworld. As the moon waxes full, Abra must choose between trusting the man she married, taking a chance on a seductive stranger, or following her own animal instincts. February 24

City without End by Kay Kenyon
Pyr. (ISBN: 978-1591026983) Hardcover. Length: 433pp
Book 3 of the Entire and the Rose. On this stage unfolds a mighty struggle for dominance between two universes. Titus Quinn has forged an unstable peace with the Tarig lords. The ruinous capability of the nanotech surge weapon he possesses ensures d‚tente. But it is a sham. In what the godwoman Zhiya calls “a fit of moral goodness,” he’s thrown the weapon into the space-folding waters of the Nigh. This clears the way for an enemy he could have never foreseen: the people of the Rose. A small cadre led by Helice Maki is determined to take the Entire for itself and leave the earth in ruins. The transform of earth will begin deep in a western desert and will sweep over the lives of ordinary people, entangling Quinn’s sister-in-law Caitlin in a deepening and ultimate conspiracy. February 24
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Last Week’s Best-Selling Genre Books

1. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
2. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4. Coraline (Movie Tie-in Edition) by Neil Gaiman
5. Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
6. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
7. Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong
8. Daemon by Daniel Suarez

New Releases

The following books will be released this week:

Escape From Hell by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Tor Books. (ISBN: 9780765316325) Hardcover. Length: 336pp
The long-awaited follow-up to Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s classic science-fiction reimagining of Dante’s Inferno. February 17

Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
Tor Books. (ISBN: 978-0756405380) Hardcover. Length: 320pp
The aliens appeared one day, built a base on the moon, and put an ad on the internet: “We are an alien race you may call the Atoners. Ten thousand years ago we wronged humanity profoundly. We cannot undo what has been done, but we wish humanity to understand it. Therefore we request twenty-one volunteers to visit seven planets to Witness for us. We will convey each volunteer there and back in complete safety. Volunteers must speak English. Send requests for electronic applications to witness@Atoners.com.”February 17