Eye on New Releases for August 30, 2016

 (B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"You have three minutes to save your life . . . THREE MINUTES You wake up alone in a horrible land. A horn sounds. The Call has begun. TWO MINUTES The Sidhe are close. They're the most beautiful and terrible people you've ever seen. And they've seen you. ONE MINUTE Nessa will be Called soon. No one thinks she has any chance to survive. But she's determined to prove them wrong. TIME'S UP Could you survive the Call?"

 (B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"After a series of missions—some successful, others less so, and most nearly getting everyone killed—the Guardians of the Galaxy are at a breaking point when they crash-land on a strange planet. With no way to repair their ship, the frustrated Guardians go their separate ways, quickly discovering that the planet's inhabitants have never progressed past a medieval stage of development. Quill finds himself a favored member of a powerful duke's court (as well as a favorite of the duke's daughter), and life seems just fine under the circumstances . . . until the duchy comes under attack. When Quill reckons that their foe may be what's keeping the planet's civilization from advancing, he realizes that defeating it—with the Guardians' help—may be their only hope for getting off of that world. . . If he can find his friends in time."

 (Debut novel)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"Welcome to the Five Isles, where war has come in the name of the invading army of Sør Sevier, a merciless host driven by the prophetic fervor of the Angel Prince, Aeros, toward the last unconquered kingdom of Gul Kana. Yet Gault, one of the elite Knights Archaic of Sør Sevier, is growing disillusioned by the crusade he is at the vanguard of just as it embarks on his Lord Aeros’ greatest triumph.

While the eldest son of the fallen king of Gul Kana now reigns in ever increasing paranoid isolationism, his two sisters seek their own paths. Jondralyn, the older sister, renowned for her beauty, only desires to prove her worth as a warrior, while Tala, the younger sister, has uncovered a secret that may not only destroy her family but the entire kingdom. Then there's Hawkwood, the assassin sent to kill Jondralyn who has instead fallen in love with her and trains her in his deadly art. All are led further into dangerous conspiracies within the court.

And hidden at the edge of Gul Kana is Nail, the orphan taken by the enigmatic Shawcroft to the remote whaling village of Gallows Haven, a young man who may hold the link to the salvation of the entire Five Isles."

(Wild Cards anthology #23)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"After the concluding events of Lowball, Officer Francis Black of Fort Freak, vigilante joker Marcus "The Infamous Black Tongue" Morgan, and ace thief Mollie "Tesseract" Steunenberg get stuck in Talas, Kazakhstan. There, the coldblooded Baba Yaga forces jokers into an illegal fighting ring, but her hidden agenda is much darker: her fighters' deaths serve to placate a vicious monster from another dimension. When the last line of defense against this world weakens, all hell breaks loose, literally....
The Committee in New York sends a team of aces to investigate. One by one, each falls victim to evil forces--including the dark impulses within themselves. Only the perseverance of the most unlikely of heroes has a chance of saving the world before utter chaos erupts on Earth."

Eye on New Releases for August 23, 2016

(Third and final book of the Spellwright Trilogy)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"Leandra Weal has a bad habit of getting herself in dangerous situations. 

 

While hunting neodemons in her role as Warden of Ixos, Leandra obtains a prophetic spell that provides a glimpse one day into her future. She discovers that she is doomed to murder someone she loves, soon, but not who. That’s a pretty big problem for a woman who has a shark god for a lover, a hostile empress for an aunt, a rogue misspelling wizard for a father, and a mother who--especially when arguing with her daughter--can be a real dragon.

Leandra’s quest to unravel the mystery of the murder-she-will-commit becomes more urgent when her chronic disease flares up and the Ixonian Archipelago is plagued by natural disasters, demon worshiping cults, and fierce political infighting. Everywhere she turns, Leandra finds herself amid intrigue and conflict. It seems her bad habit for getting into dangerous situations is turning into a full blown addiction.

As chaos spreads across Ixos, Leandra and her troubled family must race to uncover the shocking truth about a prophesied demonic invasion, human language, and their own identities--if they don't kill each other first."

 

 

Eye on New Releases for August 16, 2016

 (Book two of The Broken Earth)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"This is the way the world ends, for the last time. 

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. 

Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever.

Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power - and her choices will break the world."

 (Tor.com novella)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"Professor Vellitt Boe teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women’s College. When one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world, Vellitt must retrieve her.

'Kij Johnson's haunting novella The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe is both a commentary on a classic H.P. Lovecraft tale and a profound reflection on a woman's life. Vellitt's quest to find a former student who may be the only person who can save her community takes her through a world governed by a seemingly arbitrary dream logic in which she occasionally glimpses an underlying but mysterious order, a world ruled by capricious gods and populated by the creatures of dreams and nightmares. Those familiar with Lovecraft's work will travel through a fantasy landscape infused with Lovecraftian images viewed from another perspective, but even readers unfamiliar with his work will be enthralled by Vellitt's quest. A remarkable accomplishment that repays rereading.' —Pamela Sargent"

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"Ginger Stuyvesant, an American heiress living in London during World War I, is engaged to Captain Benjamin Hartshorne, an intelligence officer. Ginger is a medium for the Spirit Corps, a special Spiritualist force.

Each soldier heading for the front is conditioned to report to the mediums of the Spirit Corps when they die so the Corps can pass instant information about troop movements to military intelligence.

Ginger and her fellow mediums contribute a great deal to the war efforts, so long as they pass the information through appropriate channels. While Ben is away at the front, Ginger discovers the presence of a traitor. Without the presence of her fiance to validate her findings, the top brass thinks she's just imagining things. Even worse, it is clear that the Spirit Corps is now being directly targeted by the German war effort. Left to her own devices, Ginger has to find out how the Germans are targeting the Spirit Corps and stop them. This is a difficult and dangerous task for a woman of that era, but this time both the spirit and the flesh are willing…"

Eye on New Releases for August 9, 2016

 (Anthology)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Table of Contents:

• “The Citadel of Weeping Pearls” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov’s Oct/Nov 2015)
• “The Bone Swans of Amandale” by C.S.E. Cooney (Bone Swans, Mythic Delirium Books)
• "Binti" by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti, Tor.com)
• “The Last Witness” by K. J. Parker (The Last Witness, Tor.com)
• “Johnny Rev” by Rachel Pollack (F&SF Jul/Aug 2015)
• “Inhuman Garbage,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s March 2015)
• “Gypsy,” by Carter Scholz (F&SF Nov/Dec 2015)
• “The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn,” by Usman Malik (The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn, Tor.com)
• “What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear” by Bao Shu, translated by Ken Liu (F&SF Mar/Apr 2015)

 (Book three of The Tale of Shikanoko)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"Shikanoko, at what should be a warrior’s hour of greatest triumph, turns his back on those around him, in mourning for a secret love . . .

The Spider Tribe, spurned by their guardian, explore the extent of their powers and ruthless ambitions. . .

Hina, who alone knows the whereabouts of the true emperor, has to forge a new identity of her own. No one must ever know that she is Kiyoyori’s daughter . . .

As the traditional powers navigate weakness and disarray, old spirits and new figures enter the epic battle for the Lotus Throne . . ."

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"For fans of legendary pulp author H. P. Lovecraft, there is nothing bigger than the annual Providence-based convention the Summer Tentacular. Horror writer Colleen Danzig doesn’t know what to expect when she arrives, but is unsettled to find that among the hobnobbing between scholars and literary critics are a group of real freaks: book collectors looking for volumes bound in human skin, and true believers claiming the power to summon the Elder God Cthulhu, one of their idol’s most horrific fictional creations, before the weekend is out.

Colleen’s trip spirals into a nightmare when her roommate for the weekend, an obnoxious novelist known as Panossian, turns up dead, his face neatly removed. What’s more unsettling is that, in the aftermath of the murder, there is little concern among the convention goers. The Summer Tentacular continues uninterrupted, except by a few bumbling police.

Everyone at the convention is a possible suspect, but only Colleen seems to show any interest in solving the murder. So she delves deep into the darkness, where occult truths have been lurking since the beginning of time. A darkness where Panossian is waiting, spending a lot of time thinking about Colleen, narrating a new Lovecraftian tale that could very well spell her doom."

 (Novella)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseille, American engineer—and occult disciple—Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including Surrealist theorist André Breton. In the strange games of the dissident diplomats, exiled revolutionaries, and avant-garde artists, Parsons finds and channels hope. But what he unwittingly unleashes is the power of dreams and nightmares, changing the war and the world forever.

1950. A lone Surrealist fighter, Thibaut, walks a new, hallucinogenic Paris, where Nazis and the Resistance are trapped in unending conflict, and the streets are stalked by living images and texts—and by the forces of Hell. To escape the city, he must join forces with Sam, an American photographer intent on recording the ruins, and make common cause with a powerful, enigmatic figure of chance and rebellion: the exquisite corpse.

But Sam is being hunted. And new secrets will emerge that will test all their loyalties—to each other, to Paris old and new, and to reality itself."
 

(Collection)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Table of Contents:

"Steadfast Castle"
"The Man in Grey"
"The Dala Horse"
"The Woman Who Shook the World-Tree"
"Of Finest Scarlet Was Her Gown"
"3 A.M. in the Mesozoic Bar"
"Passage of Earth"
"From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled . . ."
"For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again"
"Libertarian Russia"
"The Scarecrow’s Boy"
"The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin"
"Goblin Lake"
"Pushkin the American"
"An Empty House with Many Doors"
"Tawny Petticoats"
"The House of Dreams"

Eye on New Releases for August 2, 2016

(Novella)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"In this emotionally gripping, genre-defying novella from Sarah Pinborough, a woman sits at her father's bedside, watching the clock tick away the last hours of his life. Her brothers and sisters--she is the middle child of five--have all turned up over the past week to pay their last respects. Each is traumatized in his or her own way, and the bonds that unite them to each other are fragile--as fragile perhaps as the old man's health.

With her siblings all gone, back to their self-obsessed lives, she is now alone with the faltering wreck of her father's cancer-ridden body. It is always at times like this when it--the dark and nameless, the impossible, presence that lingers along the fringes of the dark fields beyond the house--comes calling.

As the clock ticks away in the darkness, she can only wait for it to find her, a reunion she both dreads and aches for..."

 

(Tor.com novella)

(B&N, Nook, Amazon, Kindle)

Synopsis:

"The Church of Armes of the Light has battled the forces of Darkness for as long as anyone can remember. The great prophecy has foretold that a band of misfits, led by a high priestess will defeat the Dark Lord Darvezian, armed with their wits, the blessing of the Light and an artifact stolen from the merciless Spider Queen.

Their journey will be long, hard and fraught with danger. Allies will become enemies; enemies will become allies. And the Dark Lord will be waiting, always waiting…"