"The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch.
© Bantam Books
Bright Future for Locke Lamora
By: Pat FerraraDate: Monday, June 25, 2007
While readers across the country quickly devoured Scott Lynch’s fantasy debut The Lies of Locke Lamora last year, they’ve got a lot more to chew on from the 29-year-old Wisconsin writer in the months ahead.
Hello all you Maniac readers and welcome to the end-of-June edition of The Buzz. This week’s release schedule is pretty strong with a variety of genre releases including staple paperback fare set in the Star Wars, Star Trek: TNG, and Battlestar Galactica series.
Cecilia Dart-Thorton continues her coming-of-age weather master saga on paperback with Weatherwitch, the third novel of the Crowthistle Chronicles (following 2005’s The Iron Tree and 2006’s Well of Tears).
A month behind the UK and Canadian release, Steven Erikson’s wildly popular Malazan Book of the Fallen series comes stateside with the hardback debut of the 7th volume, Reaper’s Gale. The sequel to both books 5 and 6 of the series, Midnight Tides and The Bonehunters, this title may be hard to find due to asinine publishers not giving this saga the importance it deserves.
Harry Turtledove’s acute and imaginative vision is focused on a divided America during World War II in The Grapple, the third volume of his compelling Settling Accounts series. Grapple picks up where Drive to the East (2005) left off with the USA and Confederate States of America locked in battle while both sides race toward the destructive power of the atom. If this doesn’t sate your appetite for alternative historical fiction check out Turtledove’s 4th Crosstime Traffic novel The Disunited States of America, his Bridge of the Seperator on paperback, or Noami Novik’s bestseller His Majesty’s Dragon on Audio CD.
Last but not least Scott Lynch’s fantasy hit The Lies of Locke Lamora comes to you in paperback format through Bantam Books. The tale of an orphan cutthroat and his band of confidence thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards, Locke Lamora paints a refreshingly dubious look at the criminal underbelly of an island city. Released with widespread critic acclaim last June, Lynch’s first novel (of a planned seven volume set) gained even more steam when Warner Brothers picked it up a scant twenty days after its debut. With the second novel of the series, Red Seas Under Red Skies, coming out next month and the Hageman brothers signed on to write the screenplay, it seems like everything’s coming up Milhouse for Scott Lynch.
New in Hardcover:
Reaper’s Gale, Steven Erikson (Bantam Press)
Reaper's Gale picks up the story after the events of Midnight Tides and also directly resolves plot elements from The Bonehunters. The book returns to the continent of Lether, where the Tiste Edur have completed their conquest of the Kingdom of Lether and the unkillable Rhulad Sengar has been installed as Emperor of both the Letherii and the Tiste Edur. Tehol Beddict's manipulation of the Letherii economy continues whilst a grand conspiracy between nations beyond the new Empire's borders gathers pace. Meanwhile, from the sea comes word of a huge flotilla of ships from a remote empire on the far side of the world, who have come in search of the homeland of the Edur fleets scattered across the globe. The Malazan 14th Army has come to pay its respects to the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths...
The Art of Warhammer, Marc Gascoigne & Nick Kyme (Games Workshop)
The Art of Warhammer is a collection of some of the finest pieces of fantasy artwork produced by Games Workshop. It is a dark age… The armies of Chaos gather in the north, hordes of orcs make war from the south and the dead stir in unquiet graves. The fledging realms of man stands ready against these threats, waging an eternal war alongside their allies, the dwarfs of the mountains and high elves from across the sea. It is against this grim and evocative backdrop that the world of Warhammer is set, and from which the artists draw their inspiration, further enriching this land with every brush stroke. This full-color book is packed with some of the very best pieces of fantasy art produced throughout Games Workshop's long and illustrious history. Focusing on the grim world of Warhammer, this landmark collection is a must for all fans of Games Workshop and fantasy art.
Starfist: Firestorm, David Sherman & Dan Cregg (Random House)
Combat vets David Sherman and Dan Cragg know firsthand the courage, sacrifice, and hell of war–and their experiences have made the popular Starfist novels thrill rides of the highest order. Now the explosive action continues on the remote planet Ravenette, where the Marines of the Confederation’s 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) find themselves up against a full-fledged rebellion–and a lethally loose cannon of a commanding officer. Desperate to thwart unrelenting aliens and their quest to obliterate humankind, The Confederation has beefed up its defenses. But to the citizens on the outer edges of Human Space around Ravenette–unaware that a deadly enemy even exists–the government’s move seems oppressive, and ten planets have responded with a war of secession. In touch-and-go battles with the seceding planets, the 34th FIST has emerged battered but unbowed, refusing to give up… even while under the command of a fanatical general. The enemy determined to strike, a new mission must be carried out, though the troops will likely return in body bags. Should Ensign Charlie Bass and his Marines somehow survive the nightmarishly difficult amphibious landing, they can expect to be outmanned, outgunned, and out-armored in a fierce duel against fresh soldiers. But like any Marine worth his salt, Bass knows there’s only one way to go when facing impossible odds: on the offense with all guns firing. There’s no other choice–because if life was easy, there’d be no need to send in the Marines.
KOP, Warren Hammond (Tor Books)
Juno is a dirty cop with a difficult past and an uncertain future. When his family and thousands of others emigrated to the colony world of Lagarto, they were promised a bright future on a planet with a booming economy. But before the colonists arrived, everything changed. An opportunistic Earth-based company developed a way to produce a cheaper version of Lagarto’s main export, thus effectively paupering the planet and all its inhabitants. Growing up on post-boom Lagarto, Juno is but one of the many who live in despair. Once he was a young cop in the police department of the capital city of Koba. That was before he started taking bribes from Koba’s powerful organized crime syndicate. Yet despite his past sins, some small part of him has not given up hope. So he risks his life, his marriage and his job to expose a cabal that would enslave the planet for its own profit. But he's got more pressing problems, when he's confronted with a dead man, a short-list of leads, and the obligatory question: who done it? Set up for a fall, partnered with a beautiful young woman whose main job is to betray him, and caught in a squeeze between the police chief and the crooked mayor, Juno is a compelling, sympathetic hero on a world that has no heroes. An exciting science fiction adventure and a dark, gritty noir thriller told in taut, powerful prose, this is a remarkable debut novel.
Brothers of the Snake, Dan Abnett (Games Workshop)
In the grim darkness of the far future, the Space Marines stand supreme as the defenders of humanity. Brothers of the Snake follows the exploits of the Iron Snakes Space Marines, as they battle the enemies of man in all their foul variety. A Warhammer 40k novel.
New in Paperback:
Weatherwitch, Cecilia Dart-Thorton (Tor Books)
Astarial is a beautiful young woman, the darling of the Weathermaster clan. Yet there is an air of sadness that surrounds this beauty, for Astarial lost her mother to an evil enchantment and her father soon after when grief engulfed him and he set off on a quest to find a way to free his love. While she has want for naught Astarial keenly feels the loss of her parents. Keener still, Astarial feels the loss of mortal life, for while she loves her father’s people dearly she knows she is not one of them. Her mother was descended from the dreaded sorcerer of Strang, and in Astarial’s blood lies a mighty power waiting for her to use for good or ill. In his travels her father was rendered near-immortal and this dubious gift was passed to Astarial. Now near adulthood, Astarial is at a crossroads. She can stay in the safety of all she has known, hide from the world and choose to use her powers in small ways to do small good. Or she can embark on a quest to fully realize the power that surges in her blood and perhaps undo the evil that her ancestors wreaked. Her decision will reshape the world. The third installment of the Crowthistle Chronicles.
Star Wars: Darth Bane Path of Destruction, Drew Karpyshyn (Random House)
On the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel, a cortosis miner, vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi champions. There, Dessel’s brutality, cunning, and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, a far greater destiny awaits him. As an acolyte in the Sith academy, studying the secrets and skills of the dark side, Dessel embraces his new identity: Bane. But the true test is yet to come. In order to gain acceptance into the Brotherhood of Darkness, he must defy the most sacred traditions and reject all he has been taught. It is a trial by fire in which he must surrender fully to the dark side–and forge from the ashes a new era of absolute power. A Novel of the Old Republic.
Titus Groan, Mervyn Peake (Penguin Group USA)
An undisputed classic of epic fantasy, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels represent one of the most brilliantly sustained flights of Gothic imagination. For the first time in years, Titus Groan, the first book in this timeless series, is available in an individual paperback volume, complete with striking new packaging. As the novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born. He stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined by a complex ritual whose origins are lost in history and the castle is peopled by dark characters in half-lit corridors. Dreamlike and macabre, Peake's extraordinary novel is one of the most astonishing and fantastic works in modern English fiction.
The Grapple, Harry Turtledove (Random House)
In this retelling of World War II, Harry Turtledove has created a saga that is thrilling, troubling, and utterly compelling. It is 1943, the third summer of the new war between the Confederate States of America and the United States, a war that will turn on the deeds of ordinary soldiers, extraordinary heroes, and a colorful cast of spies, politicians, rebels, and everyday citizens. The CSA president, Jake Featherstone, has greatly miscalculated the North's resilience. In Ohio, where Confederate victory was once almost certain, Featherstone's army is crumbling and reinforcements of uninspired Mexican troops cannot stanch a Northern assault on the heartland. The tide of war is changing, and victory seems within the grasp of the USA. Still, new fighting flares from Denver to Los Angeles. Indeed as the air, ground, and water burn with molten fury, new and demonic tools of killing are unleashed, and secret wars are unfolding. The U.S. government in Philadelphia has proof that the tyrannical Featherstone is murdering African Americans by the tens of thousands in a Texas gulag called Determination. And the leaders of both sides know full well that the world's next great power will not be the one with the biggest army but the nation that wins the race against nature and science - and smashes open the power of the atom. The third novel in the Settling Accounts series.
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch (Bantam Books)
In this stunning debut, author Scott Lynch delivers the wonderfully thrilling tale of an audacious criminal and his band of confidence tricksters. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part Robin Hood, one part Ocean’s Eleven, and entirely enthralling… An orphan’s life is harsh–and often short–in the island city of Camorr, built on the ruins of a mysterious alien race. But born with a quick wit and a gift for thieving, Locke Lamora has dodged both death and slavery, only to fall into the hands of an eyeless priest known as Chains–a man who is neither blind nor a priest. A con artist of extraordinary talent, Chains passes his skills on to his carefully selected “family” of orphans–a group known as the Gentlemen Bastards. Under his tutelage, Locke grows to lead the Bastards, delightedly pulling off one outrageous confidence game after another. Soon he is infamous as the Thorn of Camorr, and no wealthy noble is safe from his sting. Passing themselves off as petty thieves, the brilliant Locke and his tightly knit band of light-fingered brothers have fooled even the criminal underworld’s most feared ruler, Capa Barsavi. But there is someone in the shadows more powerful–and more ambitious–than Locke has yet imagined. Known as the Gray King, he is slowly killing Capa Barsavi’s most trusted men–and using Locke as a pawn in his plot to take control of Camorr’s underworld. With a bloody coup under way threatening to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the Gray King at his own brutal game–or die trying.
Star Trek TNG: The Buried Age, Christopher L. Bennett (Star Trek Books)
Jean-Luc Picard. His name has gone down in legend as the captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer and two starships Enterprise. But the nine years of his life leading up to the inaugural mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise to Farpoint Station have remained a mystery—until now, as Picard's lost era is finally unearthed. Following the loss of the Stargazer and the brutal court-martial that resulted, Picard no longer sees a future for himself in Starfleet. Turning to his other love, archaeology, he embarks on a quest to rediscover a buried age of ancient galactic history...and awakens a living survivor of that era: a striking, mysterious woman frozen in time since before the rise of Earth's dinosaurs. But this powerful immortal has a secret of cataclysmic proportions, and her plans will take Picard—aided along the way by a brilliant but naive android, an insightful Betazoid, and an enigmatic El-Aurian—to the heights of passion, the depths of betrayal, and the farthest reaches of explored space.
The Greener Shore, Morgan Llywelyn (Random House)
At last, the sequel to Morgan Llywelyn's phenomenal epic Druids. The Greener Shore unfurls the story of a brave and mystical people who learned to manipulate the forces of nature - in order to control magic. As druids in Celtic Gaul, they had been the harmonious soul of their tribe, the Carnutes. But when Julius Caesar and his army invaded and conquered their homeland, the great druid Ainvar and his clan fled for their lives, taking with them the ancient knowledge. Guided by a strange destiny, they found themselves drawn to a green island at the very rim of the world: Hibernia, home of the Gael. Here they would depend for survival on an embittered man who had lost his faith - and a remarkable woman who would find hers. Burning with hatred of the Romans, Ainvar can no longer command his magic. But his mantle falls on unexpected shoulders. In a beautiful, war-torn land of numerous kingdoms and belligerent tribes, Ainvar and his beloved wife, Briga, struggle toward an uncertain future. Their companions include the volatile Onuava, widow of their fallen chieftain; Lakutu, Ainvar's dark and mysterious second wife; Ainvar's son, Dara, who seems more drawn to poetry than to combat; and the "Red Wolf," the young warrior who is as close as kin and is determined to find Ainvar's missing daughter. Other forces are at work in Hibernia as well - the spirits that haunt the island, forces older than even the magic of the druids. Through them Ainvar seeks his redemption... as Briga seeks her rendezvous with history.
Fugitives of Chaos, John C. Wright (Tor Books)
John C. Wright established himself at the forefront of contemporary fantasy with Orphans of Chaos, which launched a new epic adventure. Wright’s new fantasy, continuing in Fugitives of Chaos, is about five orphans raised in a strict British boarding school who begin to discover that they may not be human beings. The students at the school do not age, while the world around them does. The orphans have been kidnapped from their true parents, robbed of their powers, and raised in ignorance by super-beings: pagan gods, fairy-queens, Cyclopes, sea-monsters, witches, or things even stranger. Amelia is apparently a fourth-dimensional being; Victor is a synthetic man who can control the molecular arrangement of matter around him; Vanity can find secret passageways through solid walls; Colin is psychic; Quentin is a warlock. Each power comes from a different paradigm or view of the inexplicable universe, and they should not be able to co-exist under the same laws of nature. They must learn to control their strange abilities in order to escape their captors. Something very important must be at stake in their imprisonment.
The Forsaken, L.A. Banks (St. Martin’s Press)
Dark fantasies. Dangerous seduction. Demon lovers. This time, the fight against evil means giving up everything… The Chairman of the Vampire Council is dead. Lilith, the consort of the Unnamed One, and the Unnamed One himself are out for revenge against Vampire Huntress Damali Richards and her lover, Carlos Rivera. A ruthless and carefully planned strategy has been developed—one that is powerful enough to destroy them both while the fate of the world hangs in the balance… Now there is only one entity who can best Damali, send Carlos packing, and put the Guardian team at mortal risk. This powerful being was once banished into a forsaken land and possesses everything that would bring a Neteru to his or her knees. Now it’s not only Damali’s soul that she risks losing—but her heart…
Firebird, Rodrigo Garcia Y Robertson (Tor Books)
In the fantastic land of Markovy east of Europe, in the Iron Wood filled with werewolves and other unpleasant creatures, in the house of the dreaded Bone Witch, lives a young orphan girl named Aria. Her life is changed forever when a foreign knight, Sir Roye de Roye, enters the forest pursued by enemies, carrying with him the most precious aritfact of the kingdom, the egg of the Firebird. Aria saves him and falls in love with him, and it becomes her mission in life to restore the egg to the firebird's nest. And so she and her knight set out on a wonderful quest, filled with spectacle, romance, and hairs-breadth escapes, to save the land and find a life together.
The Disunited States of America, Harry Turtledove (Tor Books)
Time travel doesn't work. You can't go backward or forward; you're stuck at "now". What you can do is travel sideways, to the same "now" in another timeline where history turned out differently. So far, only our home timeline has figured out how to do that. We use Crosstime Traffic to conduct discreet trading operations in less advanced timelines, selling goods just a little bit better than the locals can make. It's profitable, but families who work as Time Traders have to be careful to fit in, lest the locals become suspicious. Justin's family are Time Traders. The summer before he's due to start college, he goes with them to a different Virginia, in a timeline where the American states never became a single country, and American history has consisted of a series of small wars. Despite his unease, he accompanies Randolph Brooks, another Time Trader, on a visit to the tiny upland town of Elizabeth, Virginia. He'll only be away from his parents for a few days. Beckie Royer thanks her stars that she's from California, the most prosperous and advanced country in North America. But just now she's in Virginia with her grandmother, who wants to revisit the tiny mountain town where she grew up. The only interesting thing there is a boy named Justin--and he'll be gone soon. Then war between Virginia and Ohio breaks out anew. Ohio sets a tailored virus loose on Virginia. Virginia swiftly imposes a quarantine, trapping Becky and Justin and Randolph Brooks in Elizabeth. Even Crosstime Traffic can't help. All the three of them can do is watch as plague and violence take over the town. It's nothing new in history, not in this timeline or any other. It's part of the human condition. And just now,this part of the human condition sucks. The fourth installment of the Crosstime Traffic series.
Hunters of Dune, Brian Herbert & Kevin Andersen (Tor Books)
Based directly on Frank Herbert’s final outline, which lay hidden in a safe-deposit box for a decade, Hunters of Dune will finally answer the urgent questions Dune fans have been debating for two decades. At the end of Frank Herbert’s final novel, Chapterhouse: Dune, a ship carrying a crew of refugees escapes into the uncharted galaxy, fleeing from a terrifying, mysterious Enemy. Hunters of Dune is the exotic odyssey of the crew as it is forced to elude the diabolical traps set by the ferocious, unknown Enemy. To strengthen their forces, the fugitives have used genetic technology to revive key figures from Dune’s past—including Paul Muad’Dib and Lady Jessica—so their special talents will challenge those thrown at them. Failure is unthinkable—not only is their survival at stake, but they hold the fate of the entire human race in their hands.
Bitterwood, James Maxey (BL Publishing)
Bitterwood has spent the past twenty years hunting down dragons, one at a time. But he is getting old and the hate that he has carried in his heart since a group of dragon-soldiers killed his family is beginning to fade. When he kills the royal prince dragon, the king decides the only retribution is genocide of the human race. Bitterwood is forced to enter the Free City, the grand trap designed to eradicate mankind, with thousands of others. Can he lead from within, or can a select few dragons unite to stop the king's madness from becoming reality. Full of rich characters and drama, this is an amazingly astute vision of our own culture by way of a feudal kingdom where dragons rule, and humans are used as workers or pets.
Battlestar Galactica: Sagittarius Is Bleeding, Peter David (Tor Books)
President Laura Roslin bears a heavy burden. Since becoming the president of the twelve human colonies when the Cylons brutally attacked and destroyed all but a small remnant of humanity's billions, she has been the voice of civil authority, counterbalancing the military leadership of Commander Adama of the Battlestar Galactica. President Roslin has been a source of inspiration to the tens of thousands who survive on Galactica and the other colonial ships. They look to her for honesty, integrity, and courage. For fairness and an evenhanded rule. And most importantly, for the prophecy she has shared with them. Earth, the fabled home of the lost colony, can be found. She has seen this in a vision which has the power of truth. Recently, though, her dreams have been darker, of a galaxy overrun by Cylons… Is she having visions of an inevitable future? Or are these terrible dreams caused by powerful medication she's been taking? More dangerously, the Midguardians, radicals who believe that the end of humanity is coming soon, have learned of Roslin's dreams and taken them as a sign. Now, the Midguardians prepare to act. President Roslin faces the most important decision of her life, Should she tell Commander Adama about the Midguardians, and risk being imprisoned again as a traitor, or dare she keep her secret, and possibly endanger the future of the entire fleet…
Bridge of the Seperator, Harry Turtledove (Baen Books)
Rhavas was a good, holy, and pious man-and the cousin of the Avtokrator. He would probably have become ecumenical patriarch of the Empire in the capital, Videssos the city… if his world had not suddenly and tragically fallen apart when the Empire of Videssos erupted into civil war and the Khamorth barbarians swarm over the borders. As the home he loved was brutally sacked, Rhavas had to flee for his life, then make his way through lands swarming with fierce nomads and with soldiers loyal both to his cousin and to the rebel. He may never see Videssos the city again, let alone preside in its High Temple. He has always followed Phos, the god of light and goodness, Videssos' god, and despised evil rival Skotos. Those who fall off the Bridge of the Separator during judgment in the afterlife tumble down to Skotes' ice forevermore. But when evil seems to have swallowed the whole world, what is a cleric who reverences logic as well as goodness supposed to believe? It's a harder question than Rhavas wishes it were… particularly when he discovers that his wishes-or curses-now can kill. Has evil Skotos chosen Rhavas as his agent? And can Rhavas resist the temptation to strike anyone down who gets in his way? Set in the Videssos Cycle series.
Glasshouse, Charles Stross (Penguin Group USA)
When Robin wakes up in a clinic with most of his memories missing, it doesn't take him long to discover that someone's trying to kill him. It's the twenty-seventh century, when interstellar travel is by teleport gate and conflicts are fought by network worms that censor refugees' personalities-including Robin's earlier self. On the run from unknown enemies, he volunteers to participate in a unique experimental polity, the Glasshouse, constructed to simulate a pre-accelerated culture. Participants are assigned anonymized identities: it looks like the ideal hiding place for a post human on the run. But in this escape-proof environment, Robin will undergo an even more radical change, placing him at the mercy of the experimenters-and at the mercy of his own unbalanced psyche.
Masks of the Outcasts, Andre Norton (Baen Books)
The planet Korar was a glittering jewel of a world, home to the galaxy's wealthiest people, but the jewel had a flaw: the huge slum called the Dipple, where the misfits, the penniless, the hopeless eked out a wretched existence-a fate which two young men hoped to escape. Troy Horan leaped at the chance to work in a shop in an upscale neighborhood, offering exotic creatures from other worlds to the wealthy. He thought his luck had changed-until his employer was murdered, and Troy had to hide in the mysterious ruins left by a vanished alien race; ruins which explorers had entered, and vanished… Nik Kolherne had a face so hideously scarred that he wore a mask to cover it. Then he was recruited by a mysterious figure who offered Nik a new face-if, in return Nik would make a young heir think he was someone else. Now he was the only hope of the young heir's survival-if they could survive on a planet veiled in eternal night and swarming with deadly predators…
The Dance of Time, Eric Flint & David Drake (Baen Books)
The Malwa and their evil have been driven back to their Indian heartland, but there they coil to strike again. Ruled by a monster from the future which is part computer and part demon, they prepare a fresh attack whose success will leave them rulers of the world-and the monster that guides the Malwa will rule the whole future! Belisarius, the greatest general of his age, has arrayed the forces of Mankind against the Malwa evil. On his breast is the jewel sent to his support from a future of hope and freedom, willing to guide him but never to direct his actions. Behind him are allies from across Europe, Asia and Africa--mutually distrustful but aware that neither they nor Mankind have any hope if the Malwa prevail. Belisarius faces armies and assassins, ruthless brutality and inhuman cruelty. There is no hope for Mankind if he fails… so he must not fail! The sixth installment of the Belisarius series.
New in Audiobook:
His Majesty’s Dragon, Naomi Novik (RH Audio Abridged)
Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies… not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future–and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire. Narrated by David Thorn.
