"The Children of Hurin" Deluxe Edition
© Houghton Mifflin Co.
Deluxe Húrin
By: Pat FerraraDate: Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Amidst the flurry of studio inquiries which have flooded the Tolkien estate since The Children of Húrin hit the shelves last month, Houghton Mifflin is rolling out the stops to release a deluxe hardcover edition of the novel complete with brand new jacket and color illustrations by Alan Lee. Whether or not the estate will cash in on the movie rights for this new prequel saga to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, we can all agree that a proper film version (with the biggest Middle Earth baddie of them all, Morgoth) would put any Inheritance movie adaptation to shame.
Good day to all you Maniac readers and welcome to yet another edition of the Weekly Book Buzz. From Niles and Dobson’s latest WWII alternate-history thriller to Lawrence-Watt Evans’ sophomore installment of the Annals of the Chosen series, Tor Books has swamped this Tuesday’s release schedule with over a half dozen solid hardcover releases.
Following Celtika (2003) and The Iron Grail (2004), Robert Holdstock continues his wild spin on Arthurian legend with The Broken Kings, the third volume in The Merlin Codex series. Juliet Marillier also unveils the third novel in her own Bridei Chronicles series with the hardback release of The Well of Shades.
On paperback award-winning SF author Philip Jose Farmer returns today with a re-release of his 1960s science fiction porn epic (wait what?) Image of the Beast: An Exorcism. Although I’ve never heard of this work before, Farmer’s twisted tale of sex, gender, and bestiality may be worth checking out for mind-bending shock value alone. Enjoy!
New in Hardcover:
The Children of Húrin: Deluxe Edition, J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin Co.)
Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. Turin is born into a Middle-earth crushed by the recent victory of the Dark Lord, Morgoth, and his monstrous army. The greatest warriors among Elves and Men have perished and Turin’s father, Hurin, has been captured. For his defiance, Hurin’s entire family is cursed by Morgoth to be brought down into darkness and despair. But, like his father, Turin refuses to be cowed by Morgoth and as he grows so does the legend of the deadly hero. In a land overrun with marauding Orcs, Turin gathers to him a band of outlaws and gradually they begin to turn the tide in the war for supremacy of Middle-earth. Then Morgoth unleashes his greatest weapon: Glaurung, Mightiest of Dragons, and he proves an unstoppable foe. As the Dragon carves a fiery swathe through Middle-earth there remains only one man who can slay him, but to do that he will first have to confront his destiny… Having drawn the distinctive maps for the original The Lord of the Rings more than 50 years ago, Christopher Tolkien has also created a detailed new map for this book. In addition, it will include a jacket and color paintings by Alan Lee, illustrator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Centenary Edition and Academy Award-winning designer of the film trilogy.
The Well of Shades, Juliet Marillier (Tor Books)
Juliet Marillier continues the epic fantasy begun withThe Dark Mirror, whichInterzone called: "A fascinating evocation of life in Pictish England and an emotional roller coaster of a story." King Bridei is a man with a mission. His wish to unite his kingdom seems almost within his grasp but there are forces working to undo his dream. He sends Faolan, his most trusted advisor (who is also a master assassin and spymaster) out into the world to ferret out the truth of who is friend and who is foe. Along the way Faolan will uncover many truths. Some may hold the key to Bridei's future. But more important, they may unlock the secrets that Faolan has held deep within his soul for decades. And offer him the chance of redemption. The third novel of the Bridei Chronicles series.
MacArthur’s War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan, Douglas Niles & Michael Dobson (Tor Books)
Just as Fox on the Rhine and Fox at the Front showed readers an alternate Europe in which Hitler had been killed, thereby radically changing the course of World War II, Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson bring us the Battle of Midway with a very different outcome. The Allies are wildly out maneuvered and sent home in disgrace. Back in the States things are looking rather grim as the ultra-secret Manhattan Project runs into snafus that greatly delay the final production of the atomic bomb. President Roosevelt’s approval ratings drop dramatically. Congress is desperate and the country cries out for a hero. That hero might just be Douglas MacArthur, who vowed that he would return to his beloved Phillipines. He plans to do so with the backing of the entire US Armed Forces. MacArthur’s plan of action is simple: bring the war back to the Japanese, island by bloody island, until standing on the shores of Japan, he can proclaim victory. And possibly gain the leadership of the United States as well.
The Broken Kings, Robert Holdstock (Tor Books)
Argo, the ancient ship, has returned and hides beneath Urtha's fortress in Alba. Jason and the Argonauts are aboard her, enchanted into sleep. Niiv is still Merlin's lover, still seeking magic and mysteries, still a delight and torment to him. Something is wrong in Alba. An unknown force is affecting the land. The omens are frightening. The feckless Sons of Llew arrive, having stolen their uncle's chariot and horses once again. They bring news of hostels, gateways between the worlds of the living and the dead. An enormous gathering of the Shades, of the dead and the unborn, are being drawn to them. Meanwhile, Kymon and Munda, Urtha's son and daughter, are coming of age. Kymon is angry, boastful, ready to fight the Shades of Heroes, and violently annoyed by his father's diplomacy. Munda, on the other hand, is possessed of the Sight and welcomes the new, strange force in the land. She breaks taboo to visit one of the hostels. She comes back speaking of the Killer of Kings, the son of Jason. And as Merlin walks in and out of time, clinging to his magic and the remains of his youth, the forces set in motion will determine the fate of kings and kingdoms alike. Book three of The Merlin Codex series.
The Silver Sword, David Zindell (Tor Books)
David Zindell crafted a glorious fantasy inThe Lightstone, an epic tale of good versus evil... and how far a man will go to save his world without destroying all he loves. On the island continent of Ea it is a dark time of chaos and war. Morjin, the evil Lord of Lies, seeks to enslave the entire world. Land after land falls under his evil power. The one thing that has the potential to destroy him is an object that has been lost for ages: the Lightstone. The call to seek this stone was sent out by one of the few major rulers still free of Morjin's grip to all those who oppose the dreaded sorcerer. One who answered this call was Valashu Elahad, the seventh and youngest Valeri prince of the royal house of Mesh. Val and his stalwart companions have braved many dangers and fought many battles in their search for this elusive totem. It looks as if their quest may be at an end and a great victory shimmers on the horizon. But not all images are real. Is the Lightstone within Val's grasp or has he embarked upon a road too horrible to conceive?
The Ninth Talisman, Lawrence-Watt Evans (Tor Books)
All of the world is kept in a delicate balance under the supervision of the Wizard Lord. It is his duty to govern lightly and protect his domain…but if he should stray from the way of the just, then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen are the Leader, the Seer, the Swordsman, the Beauty, the Thief, the Scholar, the Archer, and the Speaker. These are magically infused mortal individuals who for the term of their service have only one function—to remove an errant Wizard Lord. The Chosen fulfilled this role when they removed the previous Wizard Lord and exposed treachery from within their own ranks. Since their last adventure, the world has returned to apparent peace and prosperity. The new Wizard Lord rules benevolently... but with an eye towards modernization through technology, instead of magic. Do such plans jeopardize the delicate balance of power? Is a Wizard Lord who is able to rule without magic a threat to the Chosen? The second installment in the Annals of the Chosen series.
Mother of Lies, Dave Duncan (Tor Books)
The past fifteen years have not been kind to Celebre, the greatest city on the Florengian face of a dodecahedral world. Its walls have been breached and its Doge humiliated by the evil Bloodlord Stralg; all four of its heirs kidnapped and taken over the Edge to Vigaelia; its Dogaressa forcibly impregnated by Stralg and—when her husband’s health begins to fail—left to rule over a city teeming with Stralg’s troops. And if you think Stralg is bad, wait until you meet his sister Saltaja, a fanatic who sees no human cost as too great to keep the Hrag dynasty in power and her goddess—evil Xaran, the Mother of Lies—appeased. But there are a few great hopes for the future of the city: the Mutineer, Marno Cavotti, who will not stand to see his hometown destroyed and is massing a powerful liberation movement mere inches beyond Stralg’s grasp. And the four heirs of Celebre—each with god-given expertise in their respective fields of artistry, combat, wisdom, or death—are wending their way back over the Edge to their birthplace. Of course, even as Marno and the Celebre children are working towards the common goal of defeating the Hrags, they’re all painfully aware that once that hurdle is crossed only one of them can wind up on the throne. Continuing the storyline set out in Children of Chaos, Mother of Lies is a fierce, kinetic romp that will keep readers guessing until the last blow is dealt. Book two of the Dodec series.
In War Times, Kathleen Ann Goonan (Tor Books)
Sam Dance is a young enlisted soldier in 1941 when his older brother Keenan is killed at Pearl Harbor. Afterwards, Sam promises that he will do anything he can to stop the war. During his training, Sam begins to show that he has a knack for science and engineering, and he is plucked from the daily grunt work of twenty-mile marches by his superiors to study subjects like code breaking, electronics, and physics in particular, a science that is growing more important to the war effort. While studying, Sam is seduced by a mysterious female physicist that is teaching one of his courses, and given her plans for a device that will end the war, perhaps even end the human predilection for war forever. But the device does something less, and more, than that. After his training, Sam is sent throughout Europe to solve both theoretical and practical problems for the Allies. He spends his free time playing jazz, and trying to construct the strange device. It's only much later that he discovers that it worked, but in a way that he could have never imagined.
New in Paperback:
Image of the Beast: An Exorcism, Philip José Farmer (Creation Oneiros Publishing)
Award-winning author Philip José Farmer’s 1960s Science Fiction porn epic. This mind-blowing classic conjures a universe of unrelenting sexual degradation and horror. Private dick Herald Childe is sent a snuff movie of his partner being hideously murdered. His pursuit of the killers leads him into a waking nightmare of sexual brutality and supernatural bestiality, as he becomes entangled with sex-starved she-ghosts, libidinous snake-women, a filthy human sow, and a she-creature who gives birth to an ectoplasmic simulacrum of Satanic child-killer Gilles de Rais. Illustrated by Jim Burns with a foreword by Theodore Sturgeon.
9Tail Fox, Jon Courtenay Grimwood (Night Shade Books)
Sergeant Bobby Zha of the SFPD is desperate to find out who murdered him. But he also needs the answers to some other questions. Like, why is he in another man's body? Why is someone trying to kill him, again... And why is he being haunted by a nine-tailed Celestial fox? From the shell-shattered ruins of Stalingrad in 1942 to the present-day politics of San Francisco's Chinatown, 9Tail Fox is evocative of place and crystal-clear in its depiction of character.
Wandering Lark, Laura J. Underwood (Meisha Merlin Publishing)
Alaric Braidwine is a young man with a big problem. As one of the Demon-Bound, he is now a wanted man. As it is, he has been forced to flee, leaving his friends to the machinations of the High Mage Turlough Greenfyn who is threatening to execute Fenelon Greenfyn if Gareth Greenfyn does not help find Alaric and bring him to justice. Ronan Tey - whose soul share's Alaric's body - is determined to whisk Alaric out of Ard-Taebh and into the mysterious land of Garrowye to seek the aid of an Elder to remove the demon's mark and break Alaric's bond with the demon Vagner. As if he didn't have enough troubles, Alaric is befriended by the mercenary Talena who has her own agenda, taken prisoner by the Temple of the Triad who are determined to root all heresy and magic from the land, and dragged into the wilds of Taneslaw to seek the White One, the mystical dragon worshiped a goddess by the heretics. But who is friend and who is foe is getting harder for Alaric to determine. He had better find out soon, or he could wind up losing his soul and his life, and quite possibly bring about the death of all magic in the world. The second novel in the Demond Bound series, Wandering Lark follows 2006’s Dragon’s Tongue.
God Stalk, P.C. Hodgell (Meisha Merlin Publishing)
In the first book of the Kencyrath, Jame, a young woman missing her memories, struggles out of the haunted wastes into Tai-tastigon, the old, corrupt, rich and god-infested city between the mountains and the lost lands of the Kencyrath. Jame's struggle to regain her strength, her memories, and the resources to travel to join her people, the Kencyrath, drag her into several relationships, earning affection, respect, bitter hatred and, as always, haunting memories of friends and enemies dead in her wake.
The Demon and the City, Liz Williams (Night Shade Books)
The second Detective Inspector Chen novel (after Snake Agent) returns us to Singapore Three. A mysterious murder sends Chen and his demonic partner Zhu Irzh on the trail of a conspiracy between hell and one of the heavenly hosts.
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, Ed. by Rich Horton (Prime Books)
The best stories of the year: here is a collection of the best fantasy prose written in 2006, by some of the genre's greatest authors, and selected by Rich Horton, a contributing reviewer to many of the field's most respected magazines.
Zima Blue and Other Stories, Alastair Reynolds (Night Shade Books)
Short story collection by the critically acclaimed author of Revelation Space and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days. Introduction by Paul J. McAuley.
Lost Bullet, Malcolm Rose (Houghton Mifflin Co.)
In the rotting slums of London, Luke and Malc are called to investigate the shocking murder of an attractive young doctor. The investigation eventually leads Luke to a bizarre cult called the World Church of Eternal Vision whose members believe that the entire medical profession is interfering with creation. More doctors are murdered, and the pressure mounts on Luke and Malc to find the perpetrators before it's too late. A novel set in the Traces series.
Dead Sea, Tim Curran (Elder Signs Press)
Journey into a place unknown to humanity. A space between spaces where sea monsters, ghost ships, and the undead dwell. When the crew of a lost freighter find themselves trapped in this gruesome dimension, it is up to them to locate the U.S.S. Lancet and convince a nearly insane physicist to help them return home.
Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, Ed. by Rich Horton (Prime Books)
The best stories of the year: here is a collection of the best science fiction prose written in 2006, by some of the genre's greatest authors, and selected by Rich Horton, a contributing reviewer to many of the field's most respected magazines.
That’s it for this edition of the Weekly Book Buzz. Be sure to check back next Tuesday for all the latest news on current sci fi, fantasy, and horror book releases. Questions or comments? Hit me up at PFerrara.mania@gmail.com.
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