THE MIST by Stephen King
© Audio Renaissance
Beware THE MIST
By: Pat FerraraDate: Monday, October 01, 2007
It seems only fitting to talk about Stephen King in the first Book Buzz column of October. Turned 60 last month, the American horror guru has written over 50 bestselling novels and won countless literary awards. His patented brand of disturbing, psychological warfare is once again poised to attack the silver screen with THE MIST debuting in theatres later this Fall.
Welcome to the Buzz Maniac readers. For the few of you who read this column on a weekly basis, you know the drill: new books, genre-related, single out your selections now before they hit the shelves tomorrow.
Marketed as 24 on Mars, Travis Taylor kicks off his new Tau Ceti Agenda series through publisher Baen Books this week. One Day on Mars, the hardcover series opener, provides a “nonstop futuristic thrill-ride, all in one day.” This tempo may work well in the stimuli-saturated realm of visual media, but I think Taylor is in for an up-hill battle of pacing conundrums if his entire SF series is tracked this way.
Eric Flint and S.M. Stirling take the top honors in the alternate-history subgenre this schedule with their respective debuts of 1634: The Bavarian Crisis and The Sky People. The ninth volume in the Ring of Fire series, 1634 is co-authored by Flint and Virginia DeMarce to offer the next chapter in the Thirty Years War, where 20th Century American know-how has conflagrated an already turbulent 17th Century European landscape. If you prefer your historical fiction with a sci-fi slant (however unscientific that slant may be) Stirling’s paperback The Sky People may just be the thing for you.
Anne Bishop rounds out her Black Jewels Trilogy with the Roc paperback release Queen of the Darkness and William C. Dietz, author of 2004’s For Those Who Fell, continues his Legion of the Damned military SF saga with the seventh installment When All Seems Lost out on hardback.
Also of note Terry Pratchett divulges the secrets of his own Discworld series with The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld companion book and Steven Harper takes up the reigns of Ronald D. Moore’s BSG universe with Battlestar Galactica: Unity.
It’s officially October and you know what that means: masked tomfoolery, diabetes-inducing sugar binges, and scarwee moowees. Originally penned in a 1980 anthology, Stephen King’s The Mist is primed to take center stage in the upcoming weeks with an invigorating re-release by Simon & Schuster Audio and the film adaptation hitting screens November 21st.
Simon & Schuster have pulled out all the stops to bring this movie tie-in edition of King’s novella to the audiobook forefront with full-cast dramatization and film-quality sound effect tracks. If that wasn’t enough to set the mood to “creep-the-hell-out” they’ve also recorded the whole thing in ‘Kunstkopf’ fashion (a fancy way of reproducing sounds as you would hear them in a real, three-dimensional area).
Documenting the trials of a group of townspeople caught in a grocery store during a supernatural phenomena, THE MIST movie adaptation is being helmed by the more-than-capable Frank Darabont, who is no stranger to visualizing Stephen King tales (yes, THE GREEN MILE and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION are both based off of King novellas). As the director Darabont himself has stated of MIST, “The story is less about the monsters outside than about the monsters inside, the people you’re stuck with, your friends and neighbors breaking under the strain.”
If you haven’t seen the trailer already, definitely check it out.
New in Hardcover:
When All Seems Lost, William C. Dietz (Ace Hardcover)
The national bestselling author of For More Than Glory and For Those Who Fell presents a thrilling new novel of The Legion of the Damned - dispatched on a mission that will determine humanity's future in a galaxy full of unpredictable enemies... As interstellar war rages, the President of the Confederacy is captured by the Ramanthian enemy. But the aliens don't realize the prize they have taken, since, at the suggestion of young diplomat Christine Vanderveen, all the captives have agreed to hide his identity. Then the prisoners are taken to a brutal slave labor camp-and Vanderveen is concerned that there may be some among them tempted to reveal the ruse. Determined to protect the President, she must face down opposition, both alien and human, all the while hoping for rescue. And rescue is on the way-an unauthorized effort, organized by General Bill Booly, manned by a team of volunteers with nothing to lose-and headed by Captain Antonio Santana, Vanderveen's former lover, who must try to set aside his personal feelings for the sake of the mission...
Postsingular, Rudy Rucker (Tor Books)
It all begins next year in California. A maladjusted computer industry billionaire and a somewhat crazy US President initiate a radical transformation of the world through sentient nanotechnology; sort of the equivalent of biological artificial intelligence. At first they succeed, but their plans are reversed by Chu, an autistic boy. The next time it isn't so easy to stop them. Most of the story takes place in a world after a heretofore unimaginable transformation, where all the things look the same but all the people are different (they're able to read each others' minds, for starters). Travel to and from other nearby worlds in the quantum universe is possible, so now our world is visited by giant humanoids from another quantum universe, and some of them mean to tidy up the mess we've made. Or maybe just run things.
The Postmodern Fairytale, Kevin Paul Smith (Palgrave Macmillan)
Why is SHREK one of the greatest selling DVDs of all time? Why do shampoo advertisements base themselves on Sleeping Beauty? Why is it that in this age where there are stories surrounding us in every media imaginable, that the same simple stories keep being told? This study attempts to explain why fairy tales keep popping up in the most unexpected places and why the best storytellers begin their tales with 'once upon a time'.
One Day on Mars, Travis Taylor (Baen Books)
It's 24 on Mars: a nonstop futuristic thrill-ride, all in one day, through the critical events which were the breaking point for the underclass of Martian citizens and precipitated a revolution to break the Martian colonists free from the formidable Sol System government. The formerly red planet-now in danger of again becoming red, blood red-would never be the same, nor would the human race. It was one day that changed the course of history for the Solar System, raging from hand-to-hand combat to piloted armored mecha suits clashing to an enormous space battle, with dedicated heroes on both sides of the conflict wondering if they were doing the right thing-and if they would live to see another day. And wondering, as well, if the spark of this new war, that would eventually reach across whole star systems, would bring them peace One Day on Mars. The opener to the new Tau Ceti Agenda series.
The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld, Terry Pratchett (Doubleday UK)
The perfect book for die-hard Pratchett fans and newcomers alike, a collection of the wittiest, pithiest and wisest quotations from the Discworld universe, organized into categories including the principal Discworld characters (Granny Weatherwax, Lord Vetinari), places (Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork, the City Watch) or even the occasionally concept (magic).
Halting State, Charles Stross (Ace Hardcover)
In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates, a dot-com startup company that's just been floated on the London stock exchange. The suspects are a band of marauding orcs, with a dragon in tow for fire support, and the bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four. For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But she soon realizes that the virtual world may have a devastating effect in the real one-and that someone is about to launch an attack upon both...
Ha’Penny, Jo Walton (Tor Books)
In 1949, eight years after the “Peace with Honor” was negotiated between Great Britain and Nazi Germany by the Farthing Set, England has completed its slide into fascist dicatorship. Then a bomb explodes in a London suburb. The brilliant but politically compromised Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard is assigned the case. What he finds leads him to a conspiracy of peers and communists, of staunch King-and-Country patriots and hardened IRA gunmen, to murder Britain’s Prime Minister and his new ally, Adolf Hitler. Against a background of increasing domestic espionage and the suppression of Jews and homosexuals, an ad-hoc band of idealists and conservatives blackmail the one person they need to complete their plot, an actress who lives for her art and holds the key to the Fuhrer’s death. From the ha’penny seats in the theatre to the ha’pennies that cover dead men’s eyes, the conspiracy and the investigation swirl around one another, spinning beyond anyone’s control. In this brilliant companion to Farthing, Welsh-born World Fantasy Award winner Jo Walton continues her alternate history of an England that could have been, with a novel that is both an homage of the classic detective novels of the thirties and forties, and an allegory of the world we live in today.
1634: The Bavarian Crisis, Eric Flint & Virginia DeMarce (Baen Books)
The Thirty Years War continues to ravage 17th century Europe, but a new force is gathering power and influence: the Confederated Principalities of Europe, an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, and the West Virginians from the 20th century led by Mike Stearns who were hurled centuries into the past by a mysterious cosmic accident. The CPE has the know-how of 20th century technology, but needs iron and steel to make the machines. The iron mines of the upper Palatinate were rendered inoperable by wartime damage, and American know-how is needed on the spot to pump them out and get the metal flowing again-a mission that will prove more complicated than anyone expects. In the maelstrom that is Europe, even a 20th century copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica can precipitate a crisis, when readers learn of the 1640 Portuguese revolt, a crisis that will involve Naples as well. Another factor: Albanian exiles in Naples, inspired by the Americans, are plotting to recover lost Albanian turf, which will precipitate yet another crisis in the Balkans. This troubled century was full of revolutions and plans for more revolutions before the Americans arrived, and gave every would-be revolutionary an example of a revolution that succeeded. Europe is a pot coming to a boil, and Mike Stearns will have his hands full seeing that it doesn't boil over on to Grantville and the CPE. The ninth volume of the Ring of Fire series.
Once Upon a Spring Morn, Dennis L. McKiernan (Roc)
The gallant knight Roél rides into the Springwood and finds his true heart's desire in Céleste, princess of that domain. But before their love can blossom, Roél must rescue his sister from a dreadful lord who steals the souls of those he bears away. Céleste joins her champion on a desperate odyssey across shadow-lit borders to save Roél's soul-reft sister before the dark of the moon.
New in Paperback:
Battlestar Galactica: Unity, Steven Harper (Tor Books)
A prophecy is fulfilled when Peter Attis is rescued from the Cylons in order to save humanity with “the plague of the tongue.” Or so it seems… hile harvesting algae for conversion into food, the beleaguered human/refugee fleet is discovered by a small group of Cylon raiders. A brief battle ends with the destruction of a Cylon heavy raider. A colonial issue escape pod found floating among the debris reveals two survivors inside: Singer Peter Attis . . . and his captor, a Cylon Number Eight. oon after Peter’s liberation, people begin babbling incoherently and dropping into comas. Unwittingly, Peter has been spreading a highly contagious, nerve-deteriorating Cylon biological weapon -- and he just performed for half the fleet. As Dr. Gaius Baltar begins work on a cure, word starts to spread that a fanatical sect believes that Peter is the religious leader who will save humanity and that this virus is their path to salvation. They are willing to do anything to keep Baltar’s vaccine from being distributed. While the fleet is in chaos, a larger Cylon force appears. A weakened humankind, now threatened on two fronts, may be unable to defend itself…
Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2007, Ed. by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, & Gavin Grant (St. Martin’s Press)
For twenty years this award-winning compilation has been the nonpareil benchmark against which all other annual fantasy and horror collections are judged. Directed first by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and for the past four years by Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, it consistently presents the strangest, the funniest, the darkest, the sharpest, the most original—in short, the best fantasy and horror. The current collection, marking a score of years, offers more than forty stories and poems from almost as many sources. Summations of the field by the editors are complemented by articles by Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint and Jeff VanderMeer highlighting the best of the fantastic in, respectively, media, music and comics as well as honorable mentions—notable works that didn’t quite make the cut but are nonetheless worthy of attention. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: 20th Annual Collection is a cornucopia of fantastic delights, an unparalleled resource and indispensable reference that captures the unique excitement and beauty of the fantastic in all its gloriously diverse forms, from the lightest fantasy to the darkest horror.
Star Flight, Andre Norton (Baen Books)
Two complete novels of courageous men and women whose only hope was escape in an untested starship to other worlds of bright promise-and unknown dangers: The Stars are Ours: Dard Nordis is a hunted man. His brother was murdered for covert activities as a scientist in a world which scientists and engineers are blamed for the global war that smashed civilization, and the global dictatorship of Pax has ordered their execution. Now he is on the run, trying to find the secret stronghold of his brother's friends and colleagues-a hidden place where the few remaining scientists are desperately building a spaceship to escape to the stars. Star Born: Centuries after the desperate flight from Earth, Pax has been overthrown and humanity again reaches for the stars. Rof Kurbi's spaceship reaches the planet Astra, not knowing that the planet already has a colony established centuries ago by the fugitive humans from Earth… that the apparently friendly natives of the planet are actually malevolent invaders from elsewhere, who are plotting to eliminate all humans from Astra, both the recent arrivals and the star born colonists.
Stork Naked, Piers Anthony (Tor Books)
Surprise Golem has just lost her brand-new baby. The Stork assigned to deliver her eagerly awaited Bundle of Joy has inexplicably refused to surrender it, flying off instead through a hole in the fabric of reality. Now, to track down her offspring, Surprise must lead an ill-assorted assemblage of confederates on a desperate quest through dozens of different Xanths. But sinister, unseen forces are determined to stop her. And in order to find her child, Surprise may have to lose her heart. Startling, stimulating, stirring, and surprising, Stork Naked is a rollicking and revealing new fantasy adventure lusciously laced with dozens of dangers and delights, lovingly fashioned with all of Piers Anthony’s celebrated storytelling skills. The 30th installment in the Magic of Xanth series.
Not Flesh Nor Feathers, Cherie Priest (St. Martin’s Press)
Down by the river, the first to go missing were not much lamented. Disappearances of homeless men foraging through trash or nuisance skater kids who rolled their boards along the planked piers at night were not noteworthy enough to delay the city’s development projects. But deep beneath the riverbank, the evidence of a terrible crime has been covered up twice. When a TVA dam falters and the river swells, panic rises downtown. As the Tennessee creeps over its banks, it dredges up death from its own polluted bed. Twenty-nine victims of a long-ago slaughter walk when the water rises, patrolling the banks and dragging the living down to a muddy grave. No one remembers how they died and no one knows what they want. Some secrets are never washed away. Instead they are patient, biding their time. They wait for the water to lift them so they can prowl for the justice that was denied them ninety years ago. But in ninety years a city’s shape changes, and where justice can no longer be found, vengeance may have to suffice. The city of Chattanooga is about to learn a terrible truth about the things a river can and cannot hide…. And reluctant medium Eden Moore may be the only one who can dissuade the twenty- nine bodies from adding hundreds of its citizens to their ghastly ranks. Not Flesh Nor Feathers is a stand-alone sequel to Four and Twenty Blackbirds and Wings to the Kingdom. A novel in the Eden Moore series.
The Sky People, S.M. Stirling (Tor Books)
Marc Vitrac was born in Louisiana in the early 1960’s, about the time the first interplanetary probes delivered the news that Mars and Venus were teeming with life—even human life. At that point, the “Space Race” became the central preoccupation of the great powers of the world.
Now, in 1988, Marc has been assigned to Jamestown, the US-Commonwealth base on Venus, near the great Venusian city of Kartahown. Set in a countryside swarming with sabertooths and dinosaurs, Jamestown is home to a small band of American and allied scientist-adventurers.
But there are flies in this ointment – and not only the Venusian dragonflies, with their yard-wide wings. The biologists studying Venus’s life are puzzled by the way it not only resembles that on Earth, but is virtually identical to it. The EastBloc has its own base at Cosmograd, in the highlands to the south, and relations are frosty. And attractive young geologist Cynthia Whitlock seems impervious to Marc’s Cajun charm. Meanwhile, at the western end of the continent, Teesa of the Cloud Mountain People leads her tribe in a conflict with the Neanderthal-like beastmen who have seized her folk’s sacred caves. Then an EastBloc shuttle crashes nearby, and the beastmen acquire new knowledge… and AK47’s. Jamestown sends its long-range blimp to rescue the downed EastBloc cosmonauts, little suspecting that the answer to the jungle planet’s mysteries may lie there, among tribal conflicts and traces of a power that made Earth’s vaunted science seem as primitive as the tribesfolk’s blowguns. As if that weren’t enough, there’s an enemy agent on board the airship… Extravagant and effervescent, The Sky People is alternate-history SF adventure at its best.
Now, in 1988, Marc has been assigned to Jamestown, the US-Commonwealth base on Venus, near the great Venusian city of Kartahown. Set in a countryside swarming with sabertooths and dinosaurs, Jamestown is home to a small band of American and allied scientist-adventurers.
But there are flies in this ointment – and not only the Venusian dragonflies, with their yard-wide wings. The biologists studying Venus’s life are puzzled by the way it not only resembles that on Earth, but is virtually identical to it. The EastBloc has its own base at Cosmograd, in the highlands to the south, and relations are frosty. And attractive young geologist Cynthia Whitlock seems impervious to Marc’s Cajun charm. Meanwhile, at the western end of the continent, Teesa of the Cloud Mountain People leads her tribe in a conflict with the Neanderthal-like beastmen who have seized her folk’s sacred caves. Then an EastBloc shuttle crashes nearby, and the beastmen acquire new knowledge… and AK47’s. Jamestown sends its long-range blimp to rescue the downed EastBloc cosmonauts, little suspecting that the answer to the jungle planet’s mysteries may lie there, among tribal conflicts and traces of a power that made Earth’s vaunted science seem as primitive as the tribesfolk’s blowguns. As if that weren’t enough, there’s an enemy agent on board the airship… Extravagant and effervescent, The Sky People is alternate-history SF adventure at its best.
The Race for God, Brian Herbert (Cosmos Publishing)
God, it turns out, lives on the planet Tananius-Ofo in the distant galaxy 722C12009. And now, after countless millennia, He's invited us to come visit Him. Not everybody, mind you. Just an odd assortment of heathens, heretics, pantheists, perverts and true believers of every sect and creed - all crammed into a single white spaceship piloted by a slightly crazed bio-computer. Each pilgrim is determined to be the first to reach God and learn His secrets... if they don't all kill each other on the way there.
The Ivory and the Horn, Charles de Lint (St. Martin’s Press)
Among Charles de Lint’s most beloved creations is the northern city of Newford, a place touched by deep magic—and the setting for novels like The Onion Girl and story collections like Dreams Underfoot. Now, with the Orb publication of The Ivory and the Horn, all four of the Newford story collections are returned to print. Here, on the streets of Newford, is the magic that hovers at the edge of everyday life.
Spirit Gate, Kate Elliott (Tor Books)
World Fantasy and Nebula Award finalist Kate Elliott breaks new ground in a brilliantly original new fantasy set in a unique world of fabled cities, mysterious gods, and terrible dangers. From the first page readers will be swept up in the story of Mai and Captain Anji, as they become unwitting players in a conflict that began many years earlier, and which will shake the foundations of their land. For hundreds of years the Guardians have ruled the world of the Hundred, but these powerful gods no longer exert their will on the world. Only the reeves, who patrol on enormous eagles, still represent the Guardians' power. And the reeves are losing their authority; for there is a dark shadow across the land that not even the reeves can stop. A group of fanatics has risen to devour villages, towns, and cities in their drive to annihilate all who oppose them. No one knows who leads them; they seem inhumanly cruel and powerful. Mai and Anji, riding with a company of dedicated warriors and a single reeve who may hold a key to stopping the deadly advance of the devouring horde, must try, or the world will be lost to the carnage. But a young woman sworn to the Goddess may prove more important than them all… if they are not too late. A haunting tale of people swept up by the chaos of war, this is superlative fantasy adventure, rich in texture, filled with color and excitement, masterfully crafted by a brilliantly gifted storyteller. The first novel in the new Crossroads series.
Mechwarrior Dark Age: Fire at Will, Blaine Lee Pardoe (Roc)
The action-packed saga continues... For too long, the people of the Lyran Commonwealth have only reacted to attacks by their enemies. Now, Archon Melissa Steiner launches an intricate gambit that will secure the safety of her subjects-and secure her own power against those who wish to take it...
Aerie, Mercedes Lackey (DAW)
In the fourth and final novel of Mercedes Lackey's Dragon Jousters series, Kiron, the man who had once been a dragon-boy called Vetch, has united the dragon riders and managed to rid their world of both war and magical domination. But are the evil Magi really gone for good? As Kiron tries to build a new civilization at the site of an abandoned cliff dweller's city, called Aerie, conflicts arise, and he soon realizes there is a vast conspiracy at work, which includes individuals who have infiltrated every walk of life… even his own family. Once the heads of the Magi, these conspirators are determined to regain their sinister control.
Eternity, Greg Bear (Tor Books)
Multiple Nebula and Hugo Award-winner Greg Bear returns to the Earth of his acclaimed novel Eon—a world devastated by nuclear war. The crew of the asteroid-starship Thistledown has thwarted an attack by the Jarts by severing their link to the Way, an endless corridor that spans universes. The asteroid settled into orbit around Earth and the tunnel snaked away, forming a contained universe of its own. Forty years later, on Gaia, Rhita Vaskayza recklessly pursues her legacy, seeking an Earth once again threatened by forces from within and without. For physicist Konrad Korzenowski, murdered for creating The Way, and resurrected, is compelled by a faction determined to see it opened once more. And humankind will discover just how entirely they have underestimated their ancient adversaries.
The Highwaymen, R.A. Salvatore (Tor Books)
New York Times–bestselling author R. A. Salvatore takes his readers back to his signature world of Corona, introducing a fascinating new hero. It is God’s year 54, many years before the Demon Wars, in the land of Corona. The roads are unsafe to travel; goblins and bloodthirsty Powries search out human prey. Two religions struggle fiercely for control. Bran Dynard, a monk of the fledgling religion of Abelle, returns from his mission in a far-off land with a book of mystical knowledge and a beautiful and mysterious new wife. But he soon realizes that the world he left behind has changed, and his dream of spreading the wisdom he learned to his fellow monks is crushed. Forced to hide his wife and his precious book, Bran must decide whom he can trust and where he should now place his faith. Twenty years later, the situation has grown darker and more desperate. Only the Highwayman travels freely, his sword casting aside both Powries and soldiers. The people need a savior, but is the Highwayman on a mission of mercy… or vengeance?
The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Vol. 1, Irene Radford (DAW)
The first three novels in Irene Radford's highly popular Dragon Nimbus universe. Set in a world where dragons and magic are closely linked, the kingdom of Coronnan faces a terrible crisis. For someone is waging a deadly campaign to seize the crown of Coronnan.
The Solitudes, John Crowley (Overlook TP)
Reengaging the ideas of alternate lives, worlds, and worldviews that pulsed through his remarkable Little, Big, John Crowley's Ægypt series is a landmark in contemporary fiction. The series helped earn Crowley the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature, and Harold Bloom installed the first two books in the series in his 1993 Western canon. Now, following the Spring 2007 hardcover release of the final book in the series (Endless Things), Overlook is bringing the entire tetralogy back into print--and, for the first time, presenting it as a real series.
In The Solitudes, the opening of the series, we are introduced to Pierce Moffett, an unorthodox historian and an expert in ancient astrology, myths, and superstition. The land that Moffett studies is not the real, geographical Egypt but Ægypt, a country of the imagination. When Moffett discovers the historical novels of local writer Fellowes Kraft, his course is charted. Kraft's books interweave stories of Italian heretic Giordano Bruno, young Will Shakespeare, and Elizabethan occultist John Dee--stories that begin to mingle with the narrative of Moffett's real and dream life in 1970s America. As Moffett's journey in and out of his comfortable reality continues, what becomes clear is revelatory: there is more than one history of the world. This is the dazzling first novel in a series that will certainly take its place amongst the great books of our time. Completely revised by the author to further the power of the series as a whole, this is a perfect chance to rediscover one of our truly great writers, and one of our truly magical stories.
Crash Deluxe, Marriane de Pierres (Roc)
After inheriting a less-than-glorious empire within the Tert, Parrish Plessis-coup leader, bodyguard, and overall dangerous vixen-has her hands full, and her head even fuller. She's still under a blood debt to the Cabal Coomera. She's trying to take care of the growing population of stray social castoffs who have come to her for protection. And the nasty high-tech parasite her treacherous ex-lover hit her with is about to turn her into something much less than human... Book three of the Parrish Plessis series.
Queen of the Darkness, Anne Bishop (Roc Trade)
Jaenelle Angelline now reigns as Queen-protector of the Shadow Realm. No longer will the corrupt Blood slaughter her people and defile her lands. But where one chapter ends, a final, unseen battle remains to be written, and Jaenelle must unleash the terrible power that is Witch to destroy her enemies once and for all. Even so, she cannot stand alone. Somewhere, long lost in madness, is Daemon, her promised Consort. Only his unyielding love can complete her Court and secure her reign. Yet, even together, their strength may not be enough to hold back the most malevolent of forces. The final novel in the Black Jewels Trilogy.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World of Harry Potter, Tere Stouffer (Alpha Books)
For fans of all ages… Here is an entertaining and easily referenced presentation of insider information to the world that J.K. Rowling has created in her spellbinding series of novels. The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to the World of Harry Potter explores all aspects of the wizarding world and explains factually in terms of their relationship to historical, literary, religious, scientific, or mythological roots. Includes an-depth information on the facts behind all seven books in the Harry Potter series, covers all the relevant influences for the Harry Potter series, from religion and mythology to science and literature, and can be read from cover to cover or used as a quick-reference guide.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World of Narnia, James Bell & Cheryl Dunlop (Alpha Books)
Everything you want to know aboutNarnia… This fun-to-read reference guide goes through each book in Lewis’s bestselling fantasy series, examining characters and events for literary and religious comparison. Includes: explanations of how Lewis’s life experiences influenced the Chronicles; examples of Lewis’s rich use of symbolism and allegory; a breakdown of characters and events; well-researched parallels between the world of Narnia and Christianity, and more.
Angel, Alton L. Gansky (Realms Books)
An earthquake shakes Southern California and sets the stage for the appearance of Aster, a stranger from a world far from our own. Miracles happen around him, spectacular promises are made, and wisdom flows forth from his lips. Aster says he has come to complete our knowledge, to explain our beginnings, and to correct our spiritual errors. He speaks of one greater than he who will soon return to the earth he seeded long ago. And the world is ready to receive him: politicians seek his advice, religious leaders wish to call him friend, scientists want to study him, and philosophers wish to debate him. But not everything is what it seems in Aster’s world. Priscilla Simms, an investigatory journalist, is the only one with doubts. This messenger seems too good to be believed. With the courage of conviction and faith, she sets out to find the truth. It’s a search that may cost her reputation, and maybe even her life.
Guilty Pleasures, Laurell K. Hamilton (Jove Books)
Introducing Anita Blake, vampire hunter extraordinaire. Most people don't even bat an eye at vampires since they've been given equal rights by the Supreme Court. But Anita knows better--she's seen their victims… A serial killer is murdering vampires, however, and now the most powerful vampire in town wants Anita to find the killer.
Reiffen’s Choice, S.C. Butler (Tor Books)
Not until he came out of the trees did Reiffen realize this wasn’t a pasture like the ones back home. Halfway up the slope a circle of tall white stones rose ominously from the lush green of the grass, like the tips of some great and terrible claw buried deep beneath the meadow...Reiffen, only twelve years old, is the true heir to the thrones of both Wayland and Banking. He and his friends Avender and Ferris live in a magical world of talking animals, dwarves, and shape-shifting bears but…he lives with the shame of knowing that no one will ever let him rule these kingdoms, that their crowns will bring him nothing but betrayal and sorrow…and that he is powerless. Reiffen will have only a short life of child’s innocence, a brief respite from the trial of impossible adult responsibility, the trial of attempting to finish a task he can never complete.As he stepped between the slabs, he forced himself to look at the circle…The stones were tall and white and unlike any rock he had ever seen before…There were thirteen of them altogether, spaced irregularly around the circle. None had fallen, but only one or two stood straight. Mostly they leaned this way and that, left and right, forward and backward. Despite himself, he shuddered… And then he was shown the nations of his world from the peak of a fortress drear and tempted with fame and fortune and his rightful place on the throne of great kingdoms—his kingdoms. He need only surrender his humanity; kill his loves and he would have his childhood fantasy. He would be granted great Black knowledge, more furious than anything he had ever imagined. He could desire justice…but would have to kill everything he loved to get it. His prayers would be answered…if only he would sacrifice everything he held dear. The earth inside the ring was blackened. Here and there the ground itself had heaved and crumbled, as if whatever had seared the grass had not been content with the burning, but had needed to rip up everything by the roots as well in some places, before trampling it all back underfoot. It was a dead, evil place. Even the smell was different, as if the very moisture of the air had been boiled away, leaving only dry dust in its place. Reiffen’s Choice is the first book in a trilogy about innocence and struggle that can only be compared to Eragon and Eldest, The Once and Future King and Raymond E. Feist’s Magician. It will be an experience you will never forget. Of the Stoneways Trilogy.
Betrayed: A House of Night Novel, PC & Kristin Cast (St. Martin’s Griffin)
Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night. She’s come to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, Zoey finally feels like she belongs--like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend…or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey’s old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.
Fate Fantastic, Ed. by Martin H. Greenberg & Daniel M. Hoyt (DAW)
16 Original stories about fate . Do we all have destinies we can't avoid? Or is each of us able to determine our own future by our actions? Are there key moments in time that offer unique opportunities to change fate? These are just a few of the questions explored in sixteen original tales that follow the paths of fates to distant worlds, dimensions, and times. From a being trained to be something he was not...to a street vendor selling Fate dogs...to the "true" story of King Arthur...to a gambler who turns to the Kabbalah to find a sure bet...to a man whose girlfriend is one of the three Fates...to the tale of one woman's appointment with Death...here are tales of darkness and danger, and stories with a humorous twist-gripping visions of the role fate can play in anyone's life.
New in Audiobook:
The Mist, Stephen King (Simon & Schuster Audio: Mti-edition)
Suspended in a haze of terror, humanity makes its last stand against unholy destruction!
Stephen King's sinister imagination and the miracle of 3-D sound transport you to a hot, lazy day in a sleepy all-American town -- where a sudden, violent storm leaves behind a mysterious mist that traps you in the supermarket with dozens of others, cut off from your families and the world.
The Mist is alive, seething with unearthly sounds and movements. The Mist has you in its grip, and this masterpiece of 3-D sound engineering surrounds you with horror so real that you'll be grabbing your own arm for reassurance. To one side -- and whipping around your chair, a slither of tentacles. Swooping down upon you, a rush of grotesque, prehistoric wings. In the impenetrable mist, hearing is seeing -- and believing. And what you're about to hear, you'll never forget.
Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert (Audio Renaissance Unabridged)
The bestselling science fiction series of all time continues! This second installment explores new developments on the desert planet Arrakis, with its intricate social order and its strange threatening environment. Dune Messiah picks up the story of the man known as Maud’dib, heir to a power unimaginable, bringing to fruition an ambition of unparalleled scale: the centuries-old scheme to create a superbeing who reigns not in the heavens but among men. But the question is: Do all paths of glory lead to the grave? Narrated by Scott Brick, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, and Katherine Kellgren.
Did you happen to pick up RA Salvatore's Orc King yet? It came out last week, I believe... You read any of the Wizards of the Coast series?
I'll probaby pick it up later this week.
I see a new Ender's novel is coming out later this month though I can't say I've liked the direction Scott Card has taken the character since the first book (which was great).
Jarrod Sarafin