Incoming Books: May 2, 2014

It’s our Incoming Books feature for May 2, 2014.

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family take shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it.

The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return.

But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark...and discover the truth about their world.

Already remarkably acclaimed in the United Kingdom, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature: part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty and rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

ARC Edition | Random House | April 1, 2014 | Pages: 448

The Revolutions by Felix Gilman

Following his spectacularly reviewed Half-Made World duology, Felix Gilman pens a sweeping stand-alone tale of Victorian science fiction, arcane exploration, and planetary romance.

In 1893, young journalist Arthur Shaw is at work in the British Museum Reading Room when the Great Storm hits London, wreaking unprecedented damage. In its aftermath, Arthur’s newspaper closes, owing him money, and all his debts come due at once. His fiancé Josephine takes a job as a stenographer for some of the fashionable spiritualist and occult societies of fin de siècle London society. At one of her meetings, Arthur is given a job lead for what seems to be accounting work, but at a salary many times what any clerk could expect. The work is long and peculiar, as the workers spend all day performing unnerving calculations that make them hallucinate or even go mad, but the money is compelling.
Things are beginning to look up when the perils of dabbling in the esoteric suddenly come to a head: A war breaks out between competing magical societies. Josephine joins one of them for a hazardous occult exploration—an experiment which threatens to leave her stranded at the outer limits of consciousness, among the celestial spheres.

Arthur won’t give up his great love so easily, and hunts for a way to save her, as Josephine fights for survival...somewhere in the vicinity of Mars.

Tor Books | April 2014 | Hardcover | 416 pages

Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson

A hundred years ago, the Minotaurs saved Caeli-Amur from conquest. Now, three very different people may hold the keys to the city's survival.

Once, it is said, gods used magic to create reality, with powers that defied explanation. But the magic—or science, if one believes those who try to master the dangers of thaumaturgy—now seems more like a dream. Industrial workers for House Technis, farmers for House Arbor, and fisher folk of House Marin eke out a living and hope for a better future. But the philosopher-assassin Kata plots a betrayal that will cost the lives of godlike Minotaurs; the ambitious bureaucrat Boris Autec rises through the ranks as his private life turns to ashes; and the idealistic seditionist Maximilian hatches a mad plot to unlock the vaunted secrets of the Great Library of Caeli-Enas, drowned in the fabled city at the bottom of the sea, its strangeness visible from the skies above.

In a novel of startling originality and riveting suspense, these three people, reflecting all the hopes and dreams of the ancient city, risk everything for a future that they can create only by throwing off the shackles of tradition and superstition, as their destinies collide at ground zero of a conflagration that will transform the world . . . or destroy it.

Unwrapped Sky is a stunningly original debut by Rjurik Davidson, a young master of the New Weird.

Tor Books | April 2014 | Hardcover | 432 pages

Thornlost (Glass Thorns vol 3 of 5) by Melanie Rawn

Melanie Rawn returns to her rich high fantasy world in Thornlost, the sequel to Touchstone and Elsewhens.

Cayden is part Elf, part Fae, part human Wizard—and all rebel. His aristocratic mother would have him follow his father to the Royal Court, to make a high-society living off the scraps of kings. But Cade lives and breathes for the theater, and he’s good, very good. He’s a tregetour—a wizard who is both playwright and magicwielder. It is Cade’s power that creates the magic, but a tregetour is useless without a glisker—an elf who can spin out the magic onto the stage, to enchant the audience. And Cade’s glisker, Mieka, is something special too. So is their fettler, Rafe, who controls the magic and keeps them and the audience safe. And their masker, Jeska, who speaks all the lines, is every young girl’s dream.

They are reaching for the highest reaches of society and power, but not the way Cade’s mother thinks they should. They’ll change their world, or die trying.

Tor Books | 4/29/2014 | Hardcover | 384 pages

Mentats of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

In Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Mentats of Dune, the thinking machines have been defeated but the struggle for humanity’s future continues.

Gilbertus Albans has founded the Mentat School, a place where humans can learn the efficient techniques of thinking machines. But Gilbertus walks an uneasy line between his own convictions and compromises in order to survive the Butlerian fanatics, led by the madman Manford Torondo and his Swordmaster Anari Idaho. Mother Superior Raquella attempts to rebuild her Sisterhood School on Wallach IX, with her most talented and ambitious student, Valya Harkonnen, who also has another goal—to exact revenge on Vorian Atreides, the legendary hero of the Jihad, whom she blames for her family’s downfall.
Meanwhile, Josef Venport conducts his own war against the Butlerians. VenHold Spacing Fleet controls nearly all commerce thanks to the superior mutated Navigators that Venport has created, and he places a ruthless embargo on any planet that accepts Manford Torondo’s anti-technology pledge, hoping to starve them into submission. But fanatics rarely surrender easily . . .

The Mentats, the Navigators, and the Sisterhood all strive to improve the human race, but each group knows that as Butlerian fanaticism grows stronger, the battle will be to choose the path of humanity’s future—whether to embrace civilization, or to plunge into an endless dark age.

Tor Books | March 2014 | Hardcover | 448 pages

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler

Lord Scott Oken, a prince of Albion, and Professor-Prince Mikel Mabruke live in a world where the sun never set on the Egyptian Empire. In the year 1877 of Our Lord Julius Caesar, Pharaoh Djoser-George governs a sprawling realm that spans Europe, Africa, and much of Asia. When the European terrorist Otto von Bismarck touches off an international conspiracy, Scott and Mik are charged with exposing the plot against the Empire.

Their adventure takes them from the sands of Memphis to a lush New World, home of the Incan Tawantinsuyu, a rival empire across the glittering Atlantic Ocean. Encompassing Quetzal airships, operas, blood sacrifice and high diplomacy, Ramona Wheeler's Three Princes is a richly imagined, cinematic vision of a modern Egyptian Empire.

Tor Books | February 2014 | Hardcover | 352 pages

Pillar to the Sky by William R. Forstchen

From William Forstchen, the New York Times bestselling author of One Second After, comes Pillar to the Sky, a towering epic to rank with Douglas Preston’s Blasphemy and Michael Crichton’s Prey...

Pandemic drought, skyrocketing oil prices, dwindling energy supplies and wars of water scarcity threaten the planet. Only four people can prevent global chaos.

Gary Morgan—a brilliant, renegade scientist is pilloried by the scientific community for his belief in a space elevator: a pillar to the sky, which he believes will make space flight fast, simple and affordable.

Eva Morgan—a brilliant and beautiful scientist of Ukranian  descent, she has had a lifelong obsession to build a pillar to the sky, a vertiginous tower which would mine the power of the sun and supply humanity with cheap, limitless energy forever.

Erich Rothenberg—the ancient but revered rocket-scientist who labored with von Braun to create the first rockets and continued on to build those of today.  A legend, he has mentored Gary and Eva for two decades, nurturing and encouraging their transcendent vision.

Franklin Smith—the eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire who will champion their cause, wage war with Congress and government bureaucracy and most important, finance their herculean undertaking.

The Goddard Space Flight Center—the novel’s pre-eminent hero, it’s enormous army of scientists, engineers and astronauts will design, machine, and build the space elevator. They will fight endless battles and overcome countless obstacles every step of the way.
This journey to the stars will not be easy—a tumultuous struggle filled with violence and heroism, love and death, spellbinding beauty and heartbreaking betrayal.  The stakes could not be higher.  Humanity's salvation will hang in the balance.

Tor Books | February 2014 | Hardcover | 400 pages

Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Although Rhennthyl is the son of a leading wool merchant, he has spent years becoming a journeyman painter.  With his skill and diligence, Rhenn stands to be considered for the status of master artisan. Then, his entire life is transformed when his master patron is killed in a flash fire, and Rhenn discovers he is an imager—one of the few in the entire world who can visualize things and make them real.

He must leave his family and join the Collegium of Imagisle.  Imagers live separately from the rest of society because of their abilities (they can do accidental magic even while asleep), and because they are both feared and vulnerable. In this new life, Rhenn discovers that all too many of the “truths” he knew were nothing of the sort. Every day brings a new threat to his life.

Tor Fantasy | February 2010 | Mass Market Paperbound |  512 page

Kitty in the Underworld by Carrie Vaughn

As Denver adjusts to a new master vampire, Kitty gets word of an intruder in the Denver werewolf pack’s territory, and she investigates the challenge to her authority. She follows the scent of the lycanthrope through the mountains where she is lured into a trap, tranquilized, and captured. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a defunct silver mine: the perfect cage for a werewolf. Her captors are a mysterious cult seeking to induct Kitty into their ranks in a ritual they hope will put an end to Dux Bellorum. Though skeptical of their power, even Kitty finds herself struggling to resist joining their cause. Whatever she decides, they expect Kitty to join them in their plot . . . willingly or otherwise.

 

Tor Books | July 2013 | Mass Market Paperbound |  320 pages

Steadfast (The Lost Fleet #10) by Jack Campbell

New York Times bestselling author Jack Campbell’s action-packed Lost Fleet series has propelled readers from deep space to the very edge of their seats. Now Admiral John “Black Jack” Geary embarks on a thrilling new adventure to defend the Alliance and safeguard the future.

Geary and the crew of the Dauntless have managed to safely escort important alien representatives to Earth. But before they can make tracks for home, two of Geary’s key lieutenants vanish. The search for his missing men leads Geary on a far-flung chase, ultimately ending at the one spot in space from which all humans have been banned: the moon Europa. Any ship that lands there must stay or be destroyed—leaving Geary to face the most profound moral dilemma of his life.

To make matters worse, strains on the Alliance are growing as the Syndics continue to meddle. Geary is ordered to take a small force to the border of Syndic space. But what he finds there is a danger much greater than anyone expected: a mysterious threat that could finally force the Alliance to its knees.

As Geary spearheads a desperate battle to protect the Alliance against a shrewd and powerful enemy, he’s left with just one question: Who are they?

The Lost Fleet (Book 10) | Hardcover | 400 pages | Ace Hardcover | May 6, 2014

Dreadnaught (The Lost Fleet #7) by Jack Campbell 

The Alliance woke Captain John “Black Jack” Geary from cryogenic sleep to take command of the fleet in the century-long conflict against the Syndicate Worlds. Now, Admiral Geary’s victory has earned him the adoration of the people—and the enmity of politicians convinced that a living hero can be a very inconvenient thing…

The war may be over, but Geary and his newly christened First Fleet have been ordered back into action to investigate the aliens occupying the far side of Syndic space and determine how much of a threat they represent to the Alliance. And while the Syndic Worlds are no longer united, individually they may be more dangerous than ever before.
Geary knows that members of the military high command and the government question his loyalty to the Alliance and fear him staging a coup—so he can’t help but wonder if the fleet is being deliberately sent on a suicide mission…

The Lost Fleet (Book 7) | Mass Market Paperback | 384 pages | Ace; Reprint edition |April 24, 2012

Boys of Blur by N. D. Wilson

Fans of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee and Louis Sachar's Holes will enjoy this story about a boy and the ancient secrets that hide deep in the heart of the Florida everglades near a place called Muck City.

When Charlie moves from Palm Beach to the small town of Taper, Florida, he discovers a different world. Pinned between the everglades and the swampy banks of Lake Okeechobee, the small town produces sugar cane . . . and the fastest runners in the country. Kids chase muck rabbits in the fields while the cane is being burned and harvested. Dodging flames and blades and breathing smoke, they run down the rabbits for three dollars a skin. And when they can do that, running a football is easy.

But there are things in the swamp, roaming the cane at night, that cannot be explained, and they seem connected to sprawling mounds older than the swamps. Together with his step-second cousin Herman "Cotton" Mack, the fastest boy on the muck, Charlie hunts secrets in the glades and on the muck flats where the cane grows secrets as old as the soft earth, secrets that haunted, tripped, and trapped the original native tribes, ensnared conquistadors, and buried runaway slaves. Secrets only the muck knows.

ARC Edition | Random House Childrens | April 08, 2014 |  Pages: 208

Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

Alex Lomax is the one and only private eye working the mean streets of New Klondike, the Martian frontier town that sprang up forty years ago after Simon Weingarten and Denny O’Reilly discovered fossils on the Red Planet. Back on Earth, where anything can be synthesized, the remains of alien life are the most valuable of all collectibles, so shiploads of desperate treasure hunters stampeded to Mars in the Great Martian Fossil Rush.
Trying to make an honest buck in a dishonest world, Lomax tracks down killers and kidnappers among the failed prospectors, corrupt cops, and a growing population of transfers—lucky stiffs who, after striking paleontological gold, upload their minds into immortal android bodies. But when he uncovers clues to solving the decades- old murders of Weingarten and O’Reilly, along with a journal that may lead to their legendary mother lode of Martian fossils, God only knows what he’ll dig up...

Mass Market Paperback | 352 pages | 25 Mar 2014 | Ace

The Forever Knight by John Marco

Lukien is the Bronze Knight, beloved by his kingdom and renowned in battle throughout his world. After betraying his king and losing his beloved, he wishes only for death, but rather than die, Lukien is given a chance for redemption: to be the protector of the Inhumans—those fragile mortals who live deep in the desert, far from the prying eyes of their world. These remarkable individuals have been granted magical powers in exchange for the hardships and handicaps life has handed them. And Lukien, now immortal himself, must be their champion. But how can one man, even an immortal warrior, protect hundreds from a world of potential enemies?

Mass Market Paperback | 368 pages | 01 Apr 2014 | DAW

Robot Uprisings edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams

Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives. With contributions from a mix of bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming writers, and including a rare story by “the father of artificial intelligence,” Dr. John McCarthy, Robot Uprisings meticulously describes the exhilarating and terrifying near-future in which humans can only survive by being cleverer than the rebellious machines they have created.

ARC Edition | Random House | April 08, 2014 | Pages: 496

The Night Inside by Nancy Baker

The Night Inside is about dependable grad student Ardeth Alexander who finds herself trapped in a nightmare as the unwilling blood source for a captive vampire. When she discovers that her fellow prisoner is not the worst monster she faces, she realizes that the only way to survive is to make an irrevocable choice.

Ebook | 286 pages |  ChiZine  | April 15, 2014 

 

 

Dead Americans and Other Stories by Ben Peek

A collection of the critically acclaimed surreal short fiction of Ben Peek. Welcome to the dark, weird worlds imagined by one of the finest writers of short fiction in English:

A world where bands are named after the murderer of a dead president, where the work of Octavia E. Butler is turned into an apocalypse meta-narrative, and John Wayne visits a Wal-Mart. A world where a dreaming Mark Twain has visions of Sydney, where a crime that begins in a mosque, and answers are given to a questionnaire you never read. Where a dying sun shines over a broken, bitter landscape, and men and women tattoo their life onto their skin for an absent god.

Ebook | 225 pages | March 18, 2014 | Chizine Publications

The Moon King by Neil Williamson

All is not well in Glassholm. Life under the moon has always been so predictable: day follows night, wax phases to wane and, after the despair of every Darkday, a person’s mood soars to euphoria at Full. So it has been for five hundred years, ever since the Lunane captured the moon and tethered it to the city.

Now, all that has changed. Amidst rumours of unsettling dreams and strange whispering children, society is disintegrating into unrest and violence. The very sea has turned against Glassholm and the island’s luck monkeys have gone wild, distributing new fates to all and sundry. Turmoil is coming.

Three people find themselves at the eye of the storm: a former policeman investigating a series of macabre murders, an outsider artist embroiled in the murky intrigues of revolution, and a renegade engineer tasked with fixing the ancient machine at the city’s heart. Each must fulfil their role or see Glassholm shaken apart, while all are subject to the machinations of their inscrutable and eternal monarch, The Moon King.

Ebook | 352 pages | NewCon Press | April 13, 2014

The Medici Boy by John L’Heuruex

The worlds of art, politics and passion collide in John L’Heureux’s masterful new novel, The Medici Boy. With rich composition, L’Heureux ingeniously transports the reader to Donatello’s Renaissance Italy—directly into his bottega, (workshop), as witnessed through the eyes of Luca Mattei, a devoted assistant.

While creating his famous bronze of David and Goliath, Donatello’s passion for his enormously beautiful model and part time rent boy, Agnolo, ignites a dangerous jealousy that ultimately leads to Agnolo’s brutal murder. Luca, the complex and conflicted assistant, will sacrifice all to save the life of Donatello, even if it means the life of the master sculptor’s friend and great patron of art, Cosimo de’ Medici. John L’Heureux’s long-awaited novel delivers both a monumental and intimate narrative of the creative genius, Donatello, at the height of his powers. With incisive detail, L’Heureux beautifully renders the master sculptor’s forbidden homosexual passions, and the artistry that enthralled the powerful and highly competitive Medici and Albizzi families. The finished work is a sumptuously detailed historical novel that entertains while it delves deeply into both the sacred and the profane within one of the Italian Renaissance’s most consequential cities, fifteenth century Florence.

Ebook, | 336 pages | April 2014 | Astor + Blue Editions LLC (first published March 12th 2012)

Painting Juliana by Martha Louise Hunter

A young girl's terrifying nightmare, five mysterious paintings, and a red, flaming firebird all carry the same message: stand still, look up and let the funnel cloud suck you up inside. It's the last thing Juliana Birdsong wants to hear. Now a woman who's losing everything, she's still running from the dream, and it's catching up fast. When her Alzheimer’s stricken father's canvases magically come to life exposing secrets, heartbreak and yearnings that parallel her own, Juliana discovers that some memories can be a blessing to forget. Shamed and degraded, betrayals at every turn, Juliana has no choice but to call on the person who's never helped her before. Steering the chrome handlebars of a vintage motorcycle down the long, tapering highway, she must face her defining moment. It's the only way she'll gain the strength and courage to begin painting Juliana.

Goldminds Publishing | 394 pages | Ebook | April 24, 2014

Parallel to Paradise by Laura Newman

In the Author's Own Words: My story lines tend to be hard, perhaps controversial. I like a reaction. Parallel to Paradise is not about shock value. The stories are about everyday people who are impacted by events outside of their control or as a result of their own actions I am not dealing with big subjects. I am dealing with the small struggles we face in our very human lives. To me, Parallel to Paradise is about beauty. Even a crumbling building covered in graffiti has beauty... ......even an addict has beauty.

Ebook | 166 pages | LeRue Press | First edition (2013)

 

Vegan for Fun by Attilla Hildmann

Attila Hildmann is the star of vegan cuisine and the most well-known vegan cook in Europe. The aspiring physicist and fitness fan has demonstrated to millions of people on numerous TV shows that cooking without animal products is not only healthy, but most importantly, also really delicious.

His cookbooks have consistently been Number 1 on the bestseller lists in Germany, which is the second largest book market in the world. They have sparked a megatrend that led to many of the products that are called for in the book being sold out for weeks. Attila is even able to easily conjure up hearty flavors like those you are familiar with from meat. And his recipes are often incredibly simple.

Many of the recipes work well as snacks or for the office, and they'll add healthy variety to your diet. After trying recipes like vegan burgers, spaghetti carbonara, cashew ice cream, pralines, and tasty smoothies, people with a normal diet will soon become fans of healthy foods that don't contain cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics, flavor enhancers, or other additives. With his non-dogmatic views, Attila Hildmann represents a new generation of people who want to eat healthy foods that are free of factory farming and products manipulated by the food industry.

He believes that everyone who eats vegan one or two days a week or has one vegan meal a day will experience significant health benefits and a greater quality of life.The best example of the healthy benefits of a vegan diet is Attila Hildmann himself. He went from being a significantly overweight young man, who as he today says lacked motivation, to a model athlete full of energy within just a few years.

Hardcover | 192 pages | March 1, 2014 | Becker Joest Volk Verlag (first published August 17th 2011)

Vegan for Fit by Attila Hildmann

In the last two years, Attila Hildmann has revolutionized the German-language cooking and diet market, which is the second largest in the world after the U.S. He is now one of the most popular talk show guests. His own transformation from a “lazy chubby guy to a model athlete in top physical form” (Hildman speaking about himself) has led people to follow his example --after all, it was his father's early diet-related death that motivated him to take action.

Attila Hildmann's recipes are inspiring huge numbers of people who always wanted to do something for their health, but were never able to follow through.The first 100 test subjects lost over 970 pounds with Attila Hildmann's 30-Day Challenge. For the first time in their lives, these volunteers ate a diet for 30 days free of chemical additives, animal products, and starchy foods high in calories. Instead, they ate lots of natural, healthy products and delicious superfoods as part of Attila Hildmann's nutrition plan, and they began an exercise program of their own choosing.

During the Challenge, the test subjects learned how to lose weight while feeling full and enjoying delicious foods such as pumpkin fries, noodles made from zucchini, and dairy-free ice cream. You can read what many of the Challengers say about their experience and see before and after photos in the accompanying insert. There are now thousands of people who have successfully completed their own Challenge. With Vegan for Fit, everyone has the possibility to achieve a total reset of their body and spirit in 30 days and to profit from the unique advantages that this type of diet offers. Vegan for Fit is one of the diets today that is richest in vital substances.

Attila Hildmann, an aspiring physicist and nutrition specialist, has created a plan based on modern scientific findings which all agree that a balanced, plant-based diet is the best way to effectively protect yourself against heart attacks, cancer, strokes, and other diet-related diseases.

Hardcover | 264 pages | March 1, 2014 | Becker Joest Volk Verlag (first published September 1st 2012)