We have previews for a number of books with a re-visit and some new re-releases from Tor.
A note on previews: They are publisher’s blurbs and links on books sent to us for review. No opinions are given, just information about books. I do the work so you don’t have to!
Listed in this post we have:
- Trio of Sorcery ~ Mercedes Lackey
- Dream Park ~ by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
- The Barsoom Project ~ by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
- Virga: Cities of the Air (books #1 and #2) ~ by Karl Schroeder
- Pirate Sun (Virga #3) ~ by Karl Schroeder
- The Sunless Countries (Virga #4) ~ by Karl Schroeder
Trio of Sorcery ~ Mercedes Lackey
These are character revisits, meaning short stories/novellas including characters created by Mercedes Lackey in the 1980’s. This edition contains three urban fantasies with three resourceful heroines, each with different takes on the modern world and on magic, both modern and ancient.
Arcanum 101: Diana Tregarde is a practicing witch, romance novelist, Guardian of the Earth and studying at Harvard. She is approached by Joe O’Brian, a young cop who has already seen more than one unusual thing during his budding career. There is a distraught mother of a kidnap victim is taking advice from a “psychic” which is interfering in his police investigation.
Drums: Jennifer Talldeer, is a shaman, private investigator, and member of the Osage tribe. Most of Jennie’s work is regular PI stuff, but Nathan Begay brings her a problem she’s never seen before. His girlfriend, Caroline, has attracted the attention of an angry Osage ghost. Thwarted in love while alive, the ghost has chosen Caroline to be his bride in death.
Ghost in the Machine: Ellen McBridge is a computer programmer extraordinaire and techno-shaman. When programmers and players of a new MMORPG find that the game’s “boss,” a wendigo, is “killing” everyone - even the programmers’ characters with their god-like powers Ellen, a brilliant debugger, discovers that the massive computing power of the game’s servers have created a breach between the supernatural world and our own and this wendigo isn’t a bit of code, it’s the real thing and it’s on the brink of breaking out of the computers and into the real world.
Bio: Mercedes Lackey is a bestselling author of many other fantasy novels in a wide variety of genres from high fantasy to urban fantasy and back again. For more about Mercedes Lackey and her books visit her web site.
Amazon purchasing links US|UK|Canada.
Dream Park ~ by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes (May 2010)
About: First published in 1981 and just republished in May by Tor, it is about a group of pretend adventurers who suit up for a campaign called "The South Seas Treasure Game." As in the early Role Playing Games, there are Dungeon Masters, warriors, magicians, and thieves. The difference at Dream Park, a futuristic fantasy theme park full of holographic attractions and the latest in VR technology, they play in an artificial enclosure that has been enhanced with special effects, holograms, actors, and a clever storyline. The players get as close as possible to truly living their adventure.
All's fun and games until a Park security guard is murdered, a valuable research property is stolen, and all evidence points to someone inside the game. The park's head of security, Alex Griffin, joins the game to find the killer, but finds new meaning in the games he helps keep alive.
And Just Released! - The Barsoom Project ~ by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes (November 23, 2010)
About: Just released, it is a reissue of the visionary 1989 SF classic and a direct sequel to Dream Park, which has been hailed as one of the most influential SF novels of all time.
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (November 23, 2010)
Bio: Larry Niven is the multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series, along with many other science fiction masterpieces. He lives in Chatsworth, California.
Bio: Steven Barnes’ published collaboration, "The Locusts," was nominated for the 1980 Hugo Award. His Outer Limits episode "A Stitch In Time" was nominated for a Cable Ace Award and won an Emmy for Amanda Plummer. He lives in Covina, California.
Virga: Cities of the Air (books #1 and #2) ~ by Karl Schroeder
Re-released in July 2010, it contains the first two novels of the series: Sun of Suns and Queen of Candesce.
About: A hard science fiction space opera, it is set in the distant future. The medieval like world is set in space with elements of steam punk; the world is known as Virga. It is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and “towns” —enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for centripetal gravity.
Amazon purchasing links US|UK|Canada.
Pirate Sun (Virga #3) ~ by Karl Schroeder, re-released in paper back November 2010 it was first published in 2008
About: Chaison Fanning, the admiral of a fleet of warships introduced in the first book, has been captured and imprisoned by his enemies, but is now rescued and set free. He must flee to his home city to confront the ruler who betrayed him. Perhaps while there he will also regain his lovely, powerful, and subversive wife, Venera. He has not seen her since she fled, careening off into the air of Virga, with the key to the artificial sun, Candesce, at the center of Virga.
The Sunless Countries (Virga #4) ~ by Karl Schroeder, hard bound version first published in August 2009
About: In an ocean of weightless air where sunlight has never been seen, only the running lights of the city of Sere glitter in the dark. One woman, Leal Hieronyma Maspeth, history tutor and dreamer, lives and dreams of love among the gaslit streets and cafés. And somewhere in the abyss of wind and twisted cloud through which Sere eternally falls, a great voice has begun speaking.
As its cold words reach even to the city walls—and as outlying towns and travelers’ ships start to mysteriously disappear—only Leal has the courage to try to understand the message thundering from the distance. Even the city’s most famous and exotic visitor, the sun lighter and hero named Hayden Griffin, refuses to turn aside from his commission to build a new sun for a foreign nation. He will not become the hero that Leal knows the city needs; so in the end, it is up to her to listen, and ultimately reply, to the worldwasp.
The fifth novel in the series is slated for release in 2012 and will be its first publication.
Bio: Karl Schroeder lives in Toronto, Ontario. He is an Aurora Award winning pioneer of hard Science Fiction and explores topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality and interstellar travel, all colored with a deeply philosophical streak. For more information on the author and his books visit Karl Schroeder’s website, blog, and twitter.
We have some exciting new re-releases here just in time for Christmas for those who love speculative fiction from established authors, all with exciting covers.
Have a great black Friday ~ happy shopping!
2 comments:
Haven't read this one, but Robin McKinley is a fantastic writer! Enjoyed your review, and have added this one to my wishlist!
Hi Alexia -
I have not read anything by Robin McKinley (she is on my list) or Mercedes Lackey... have you read and by the later?
I love the cover.
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