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Proven Guilty of The Dresden Files
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The Dresden Files Returns to its Roots

Sara Douglass’ The Wayfarer Redemption series chugs ahead with another volume, Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files gets another action-packed installment, and science fiction anthologies run amok in this week’s Book Buzz. 

Happy Tuesday everyone! If you’re like me (and the rest of most of North America) you’re probably getting slammed with some fierce winter weather. My condolences to all and good luck with the frigid temperatures. But don’t go outside if you don’t have to: if you’ve got some comp time at work I suggest you use it, break out the hard liquor and coffee, grab a blanket and snuggle up inside the ranch with a good book. Let’s see what this week has to offer… 

Author David B. Coe and Tor Books brings the fourth book in The Winds of the Forelands series, Shapers of Darkness, onto paperback today just in time to catch up in the saga before the fifth and final volume, Weavers of War, hits the shelves later this month.  

Sara Douglass releases Crusader, the sixth book in The Wayfarer Redemption series, on paperback today through Tor Books as well while C.J. Cherryh, author of the Foreigner series, releases the eighth book, Pretender, on paperback and the brand-spankin’ new installment, Deliverer, on hardback both through Penguin Group USA. 

SF fans get a huge dose of some quality anthologies this week with a handful of paperback debuts. Anyone interested in some bite-sized, grade-A science fiction should check out Fast Forward 1, The Best of the Best Volume 2, and The Long Twilight: and Other Short Stories. 

Last but not least The Dresden Files author, Jim Butcher, is at it again stirring up some crime drama mayhem laced with good old-fashioned fantasy and sci fi. Recently airing as a SCI FI original show late this past January, The Dresden Files are coming on strong with a new twist on detective television and so far great fan feedback. Harry Dresden continues his escapades this week with the eighth installment of the series, Proven Guilty, on paperback through Penguin Group USA. Can’t get enough of Dresden Files between the books and the new TV show? You’re going to have to hold out until this April when the ninth volume in the series, White Night, is due out on hardback. 
 

Other books to check out: Children of Chaos, The Well of Stars, The Silver Lake, & In High Places 
 
 

New in Hardcover: 
 

Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay (Penguin Group USA) 

Saint-Saveur Cathedral of Aix-en-Provence is an ancient structure of many secrets-a perfect monument to fill the lens of a celebrated photographer, and a perfect place for the photographer's son, Ned Marriner, to lose himself while his father works. But the cathedral isn't the empty edifice it appears to be. Its history is very much alive in the present day-and it's calling out to Ned. Author of The Last Light of the Sun (2004), Kay deviates from his more traditional historical fantasies to connect the bloody past of France to Ned Marriner’s present in this new thriller. 
 

The Star, David Skibbins (St. Martin’s Press) 

After two recent encounters with crime, Warren Ritter is determined to live the quiet life, but fate isn’t paying any attention. His daughter, Fran, with whom he has only recently become acquainted, is in serious need of his help. She has separated from her husband, Orrin, who has taken their five-month-old son and refuses to give him back. If she challenges him, he will lie about her suitability as a mother. He’s a police officer and she is afraid he can get away with it. Things become even more complicated when Orrin is found dead and Fran becomes the prime suspect. Now it’s going to take Warren’s full store of resources to clear his daughter’s name. David Skibbins’s two previous novels have received high praise, both for his unusual and likable sleuth, the “hippie of a certain age” Warren, and the vivid Berkeley setting. With this third installment of the Tarot Card Mysteries, Skibbins gives readers another thrilling adventure embellished with the mysteries of the tarot. 
 

By Slanderous Tongues, Mercedes Lackey & Roberta Gellis (Baen Books) 

Great Harry is dead, and England is ruled by a dour Protector for 10-year-old Edward VI—a Protector intent on keeping total control over the young king and no friend to Lady Elizabeth because of her brother’s fondness for her. In the great lens and the dark pool that hold Visions for the FarSeers of the Bright Court and the Dark, the images change and waver. A pale, thin girl sometimes wears a crown and sometimes has no head; King Edward and his Court grow misty as he changes from boy to stripling. But the fires of Mary’s reign still burn bright as they swallow writhing men, women, and children, and if she ever reigns the red-haired queen brings a burgeoning of art and joy. Elimination of that last possibility for England is Vidal Dhu’s prime purpose, but he has been forbidden by King Oberon to attack Elizabeth. Though he may not attack her directly, still he hatches schemes within schemes. And if his plan to involve the young princess in a scandal that would render her unfit to rule in the opinion of the Proctor and his Council, he has more twisted plans to eliminate Elizabeth once and for all. The third novel in The Scepter’d Isle series. 
 

Echoes of an Alien Sky, James P. Hogan (Baen Books) 

Eighteen years have passed since the first manned mission to Earth arrived from Venus. With the first colonists already establishing themselves across the bright, sunny world of clear blue skies and wonderlands of towering mountains and ice deserts, Kyal Reen arrives to join the Venusian scientific and archeological teams that are working to reconstruct the story of the mysterious and enigmatic extinct Terran race that once flourished there. Studies of Terran geology, scientific works, and ancient records show that Earth's early peoples witnessed terrifying cataclysmic cosmic events in skies very different from those seen today. In his travels among the Terran ruins, Kyal meets a biologist called Lorili, who is attempting to explain certain baffling similarities between some Terran and Venusian life forms that are irreconcilable with the established fact that Venus is a far younger planet than Earth. Formerly aligned with the ‘Progressive’ activists back on Venus, Lorili admires the qualities of tenacity and determination written through Terran history. She constructs a theory of Venusians being descended from Terran ancestors. However, even allowing for the greatly exaggerated time scales that Terran science assigned to the processes of biological and planetary evolution, further research shows that there could have been no overlap. The Terrans were extinct long before life emerged on Venus. But there is a different, unexpected answer to the riddle. Lorili and Kyal will have to fight for their theory and their lives. 
 

Deliverer, C.J. Cherryh (Penguin Group USA) 

From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey. The ninth book in the epic series and the third book in the third Foreigner trilogy, Deliverer is a worthy contribution to Cherryh's magnum opus that is destined to be a classic. 
 

New in Paperback: 
 

The Wicked: A Vampire Huntress Legend, L.A. Banks (St. Martin’s Press) 

Damali and Carlos have finally tied the knot, but there is no happily ever after. There are bigger problems on the horizon. Eve’s son, Cain, has escaped his banishment in order to assume his father’s throne and is now the new Chairman of the Vampire Council. He is amassing a new army, which includes resurrecting one of the Neterus’ old foes: the deadly Fallon Nuit. But Carlos isn’t about to let that happen. The coming battle will be the battle to kick off Armageddon. A novel in the Vampire Huntress Legend series. 
 

Under Cover of Darkness, Ed. by Julie E. Czerneda & Jana Paniccia (Penguin Group USA) 

Fourteen original short stories of secret agents and organizations that have left their mark on time and space… From the true role of the Freemasons to Chronographers who steal pieces of time to an assassin hired by a group that reweaves the threads of history, here are fourteen imaginative tales of time and space and realms beyond our own—all watched over, preserved, or changed by those who work covertly under cover of darkness. Anthology includes stories by such conspiracy gurus as Janny Wurts, Doranna Durgin, and Larry Niven. 
 

Fast Forward 1: Future Fiction from the Cutting Edge, Ed. by Lou Anders (Prometheus Books) 

Science Fiction is the genre that looks at the implications of technology on society, which in this age of exponential technological growth makes it the most relevant branch of literature going on. This is only the start, and the close of the 21st century will look absolutely nothing like its inception. It has been said that science fiction is an ongoing dialogue about the future, and the front line of that dialogue is the short story. The field has a long history of producing famous anthologies to showcase its distinguished short fiction, but it has been several years since there has been a prestigious all-original science fiction anthology series. Fast Forward is offered in the tradition of Damon Knight's prestigious and influential anthology series, Orbit, and Frederik Pohl's landmark Star SF. Fast Forward marks the start of a new hard science fiction anthology series, dedicated to presenting the vanguard of the genre and charting the undiscovered country that is the future.  
 

The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood, Susan Witting Albert (Penguin Group USA) 

Miss Potter's new hometown of Holly How is having its share of troubles, and three children, favorites of Beatrix, are counting on the help of the fairies of Cuckoo Brow Wood. Now, with her signature tact, Beatrix must work with her friends-human and animal-to set things right. Book three in The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series. 
 

The Silver Lake, Fiona Patton (Penguin Group USA) 

In Anavatan, the city of the Silver Lake, the gods manifest on a regular basis. But if you are among the unpledged, it is hard to survive, especially during the three-night-long chaos known as Havo's Dance. When Havo's storms sweep through Anavatan, anyone who is unaffiliated had best find a safe place to hide or they risk madness or death. But this year, three young street orphans have been chosen for special attention by Incasa, the god of prophecy. When that God's dice roll during the height of Havo's Dance, these three boy-thieves and con artists-will discover their destinies. One will be bound by a life-or-death pledge that will see him marked as the future Champion of the War God, another forced to walk a perilous road as he seeks to master his talent as a seer, and the last will be cast forth from the city and claimed by the hungry spirits seeking a way into Anavatan and the precious power contained in the Silver Lake. Book one of the Warriors of Estavia series. 
 

Shapers of Darkness, David B. Coe (Tor Books) 

The Forelands are at war. The magic-wielding Qirsi and their Eandi masters have mobilized their forces. The Eandi have had to look beyond past differences to make alliances for the sake of the future, praying it isn't too late for them to change the outcome of the war. Tavis, an Eandi prince who was framed for murdering the princess to whom he was pledged, and endured torture before winning his freedom, has at last avenged her death. Still, the murder and its aftermath have brought war to the Forelands just as the Qirsi conspirators who bought his love's blood had intended. Now Tavis and Grinsa, a Qirsi shaper with more powers than he reveals, who saved Tavis when nobody else would believe his innocence, venture across the Forelands, risking death to help save the land they love… A powerful Qirsi weaver has brought this terrible war to the land, bending the minds of those he controls and of his enemies in an effort to forge alliances and mobilize forces to destroy the Eandi. His powerful magical ability estranges lovers, betrays leaders, and wreaks murder and death throughout the land. But even with his powerfully malign intelligence, he underestimates the mettle of his opponents. In a psychological duel with Grinsa, the Weaver's formidable powers are sorely tested. Grinsa withstands the Weaver's most powerful attacks at nearly the expense of his own life, and in the process discovers the Weaver's identity. Will Grinsa's challenge to the Weaver spell the end of the Weaver's reign of doom? Or has Grinsa's discovery come too late to help the Eandi cause? The answers lie in the growing war that may sunder the Forelands forever. Book four in The Winds of the Forelands series. 
 

The Well of Stars, Robert Reed (Doherty Publishing) 

In The Well of Stars, Hugo award-nominated author Robert Reed has written a stunning sequel to his acclaimed novel Marrow (2000). The Great Ship, so vast that it contains within its depths a planet that lay undiscovered for generations, has cruised through the universe for untold billions of years. After a disastrous exploration of the planet, Marrow, the Ship's captains face an increasingly restive population aboard their mammoth vessel. And now, compounding the captains' troubles, the Ship is heading on an irreversible course straight for the Ink Well, a dark, opaque nebula. Washen and Pamir, the captains who saved Marrow from utter destruction, send Mere, whose uncanny ability to adapt to and understand other cultures makes her the only one for the job, to investigate the nebula before they plunge blindly in. While Mere is away, Pamir discovers in the Ink Well the presence of a god-like entity with powers so potentially destructive that it might destroy the ship and its millions. Faced with an entity that might prevent the Ship from ever leaving the Ink Well, the Ship's only hope now rests in the ingenuity of the vast crew… and with Mere, who has not contacted them since she left the Ship... With the excitement of epic science fiction adventure set against a universe full of wonders, the odyssey of the Ship and its captains will capture the hearts of science fiction readers. 
 

Shadows in the Starlight, Elaine Cunningham (Tor Books) 

A ten year veteran of the Providence Rhode Island vice squad Gwen "GiGi" Gellman began her life as a foundling and is used to being on her own. So when she finds herself unemployed and on the outs after a standard bust goes bad resulting in a bloodbath, she welcomes the occasion to break from routine. She scrapes together enough capital to start her own PI business specializing in "family problems." But, in doing so she never guessed that she would uncover her own mysterious and mystical past. When GiGi becomes involved in the case of a missing wife and child, she initially dismisses the matter as good sense on the wife's part—she knows the husband to be less than stellar in his role. But, as her investigation progresses GiGi discovers a pattern of lies and deceptions, some of which expose hidden ties to her own mystifying existence. Otherworldly powers try to intercede, and soon GiGi finds not only her own life threatened, but those of her friends and family as well. A Changeling Detective novel. 
 

Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher (Penguin Group USA) 

A ten year veteran of the Providence Rhode Island vice squad Gwen "GiGi" Gellman began her life as a foundling and is used to being on her own. So when she finds herself unemployed and on the outs after a standard bust goes bad resulting in a bloodbath, she welcomes the occasion to break from routine. She scrapes together enough capital to start her own PI business specializing in "family problems." But, in doing so she never guessed that she would uncover her own mysterious and mystical past. When GiGi becomes involved in the case of a missing wife and child, she initially dismisses the matter as good sense on the wife's part--she knows the husband to be less than stellar in his role. But, as her investigation progresses GiGi discovers a pattern of lies and deceptions, some of which expose hidden ties to her own mystifying existence. Otherworldly powers try to intercede, and soon GiGi finds not only her own life threatened, but those of her friends and family as well. The eighth novel in The Dresden Files series. 
 

A Pound of Flesh, Susan Wright (Penguin Group USA) 

An exciting new erotic fantasy adventure from the author of To Serve and Submit (2006). Between dominance and subservience lies a power no amount of pain or pleasure can extinguish: Freedom. Marja was once Lexander's pleasure slave-until the master found himself enslaved by her love. Together, they have vowed to free all slaves by destroying pleasure houses throughout the world. But this undertaking requires Marja to disguise herself as a slave once more and infiltrate one training house after another to sow the seeds of revolution-and risk losing the man she loves in the process. Lord knows there’s not enough erotic fantasy out there. 
 

Lurulu, Jack Vance (Tor Books) 

Rejoin the adventures of Myron Tany, rebellious scion of a wealthy family, as he tours the Galaxy on a very questionable interstellar freighter, in a crew of actors, musicians, thieves and other ne'er-do-wells. 
 

Night Rising, Chris Marie Green (Penguin Group USA) 

In this first book of an all-new trilogy, life proves stranger than the movies when a Hollywood underground coven of vampires comes to light-and gets targeted by the tough-as-nails daughter of a sexy screen siren. Stuntwoman Dawn Madison hasn't been on the best of terms with her father since her movie star mother died. Still, he is her dad, and when he vanishes while investigating the bizarre sighting-caught on film-of a supposedly long-dead child star, she comes home to Tinseltown to join the search for him. Working with his odd colleagues, she discovers an erotic and bloody underground society made up of creatures she thought existed only on the screen. Book one in the Vampire Babylon series. 
 

King’s Blood, Judith Tarr (Penguin Group USA) 

Red William, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, has inherited the throne and a kingdom free of Saxon Christian influence. But his decision to leave magic out of his rule causes the land to wither and die. Now the fate of Britain lies in the hands of Edith, princess of Scotland, and Henry, the youngest son of the Conqueror. Both are highly gifted in magic, but only the blood of a king will cleanse the land from the evil and pestilence that infects it. Sequel to Rite of Conquest (2004), King’s Blood rounds out the second installment of the William the Conqueror series. 
 

In High Places, Harry Turtledove (Tor Books) 

In the 21st-century Kingdom of Versailles, the roads are terrible and Paris is a dirty little town. Serfdom and slavery are both common, and no one thinks that's wrong. Why should they? Most people spend their lives doing backbreaking farm work anyway. But teenaged Khadija, daughter of a prosperous family of Moorish business travelers, is unfazed. That's because Khadija is really Annette Klein from 21st-century California, and her whole family are secret agents of Crosstime Traffic, trading for commodities to send back to our own timeline. Now it's time for Annette and her family to go home for the start of another school year, so they join a pack train bound for their home base in Marseilles, where the crosstime portal is hidden. Then bandits attack while they're crossing the Pyrenees. Annette/Khadija is separated from her parents and knocked out, and wakes up to find herself a captive in a caravan of slaves being taken to the markets in the south. She's in a tight spot. Then the really scary thing happens: her purchasers take her, along with other newly purchased slaves, to an unofficial crosstime portal…leaving open the question of whether Crosstime Traffic will ever be able to recover her! Book three in the Crosstime Traffic series. 
 

The Golden Hills of Westria, Diana L. Paxson (Tor Books) 

A new story and a new generation grows as Diana Paxson returns to Westria, her classic fantasy realm, in the first new novel in that land in more than a decade. Prince Phoenix has always been a bit restless, never quite measuring up to the expectations of his father King Julian. Sombra, Phoenix's childhood friend, believes in him, but she has her own duties as a student of the College of the Wise. Their relationship surpasses friendship, but their responsibilities take precedence over their feelings. Then Phoenix is abducted in a raid and sold to slavers. Eduring pain and humiliation, Phoenix must find a way to survive, even if that means losing his sense of self, and becoming a danger to the people that he loves. While King Julian searches for his lost son, a growing army of fanatics led by the charismatic Mother Mahalial is conquering land after land, and its final destination is the golden land of Westria. The only person that can sense Phoenix's plight is Sombra, and her attempt to rescue him may decide the fate of the kingdom. 
 

The Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels, Ed. by Gardner Dozois (St. Martin’s Press) 

For more than twenty years The Year's Best Science Fiction has been recognized as the best collection of short science fiction writing in the universe and an essential resource for every science fiction fan. In 2005 the original Best of the Best collected the finest short stories from that series and became a benchmark in the SF field. Now, for the first time ever, Hugo Award-winning editor Gardner Dozios sifts through hundreds of stories and dozens of authors who have gone on to become some of the most esteemed practitioners of the form, to bring readers the ultimate anthology of short science fiction novels from his legendary series. Included are such notable short novels as: "Sailing to Byzantium" by Robert Silverberg: In the fiftieth century, people of Earth are able to create entire cities on a whim, including those of mythology and legend. When twentieth-century traveler Charles Philip accidentally lands in this aberrant time period, he is simultaneously obsessed with discovering more about this alluring world and getting back home. But in a world made entirely of man's creation, things are not always as they seem on the surface. "Forgiveness Day" by Ursula K. Le Guin: Le Guin returns to her Hainish-settled interstellar community, the Edumen, to tell the tale of two star-crossed lovers who are literally worlds apart in this story of politics, violence, religion, and cultural disparity. "Turquoise Days" by Alastair Reynolds: On a sea-world planet covered with idyllic tropical oceans, peace seems pervasive. But beneath the placid water lurks an ominous force that has the potential to destroy all tranquility. Contributors include: Greg Egan; Joe Haldeman; James Patrick Kelly; Nancy Kress; Ursula K. Le Guin; Ian R. MacLeod; Ian McDonald; Maureen F. McHugh; Frederick Pohl; Alastair Reynolds; Robert Silverberg; Michael Swanwick; Walter Jon Williams. With work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best, Volume 2 stands as the ultimate anthology of short science fiction novels ever published in the world. 
 

The Fair Folk, Ed. by Marvin Kaye (Penguin Group USA) 

Six stories from some of the most famous names in fantasy-all with one common threat—"the fair folk." From blithe fairies to sinister fey, some are fair, some are foul, but all are fantastic. In "The Kelpie," by Patricia A. McKillip, a carefree circle of bohemian artists is confronted by a being more powerful than any muse. Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder weave a tale of two sisters long-exiled from their magical realm who must survive in ours, in "Except the Queen." In Tanith Lee's "UOUS," a young woman with a rotten family is granted three wishes by a handsome elf, and learns that nothing good comes free of charge. A hapless slob finds his world turned upside down when an eager brownie moves in and proceeds to clean house, in Megan Lindholm's "Grace Notes." Kim Newman introduces an intrepid government investigator whose latest case pits him against a sinister brood of fairy folk known as "The Gypsies in the Wood." And the serenity of the Elves is tested in a wry fable of a long-suffering magical apprentice who can't catch a break, in Craig Shaw Gardner's "The Embarrassment of Elves.” 
 

Crusader, Sara Douglass (Tor Books) 

For countless millennia the Star Dance and the TimeKeeper Demons have battled their way across the universe, destroying innumerable planets, laying waste to civilizations across the cosmos. Choosing the land of Tencendor as their last battleground, the demons break through the Star Gate. The Gate destroyed, all magic in the world is gone and the three races of Tencendor are plunged into a vortex of chaos, madness, and death. Caelum SunSoar, son of the near-immortal Starman Axis and beloved ruler of all the land's peoples, is dead. Leaderless, those not killed outright or driven mad flee to the one place left to them, Sanctuary, a magical place created ages past to shield all who are good from the wrath of the demons. There is for some one hope left: DragonStar, Axis's other son. Many believe he is the true StarSon, the only being that can save their world. Others are just as convinced that he is in league with the demons and will be their doom. Only DragonStar knows the truth and as he and his companions go forth to do battle he prays that he may convince all that his motives are pure. What he does not know is that there is a traitor who plans to hand Sanctuary over to the Demons. A betrayer whose actions could force DragonStar to make a sacrifice so bloody and horrific that it could mean the destruction of everything that he holds dear in this life or the next. And if he fails, could doom Tecendor to an eternal hell. Book six of The Wayfarer Redemption series. 
 

Pretender, C.J. Cherryh (Penguin Group USA) 

The epic tale of the human survivors of a lost spacecraft, marooned on a planet inhabited by a hostile alien race, follows the civilization's rise from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. Eighth in the Foreigner series. 
 

The Long Twilight: and Other Stories, Keith Laumer (Baen Books) 

A huge volume of edge-of-the-seat science fiction adventure, including: The Long Twilight: Grayle and Falconer met in relentless combat with no quarter in prehistoric ages past, their endless battle now remembered only as dark myths and legends. Now their long battle is nearing its climax, and the final battleground is an uncontrolled experimental power plant that threatens the Earth itself! Night of Delusions: A detective is hired by men claiming to be government agents and given an assignment that may lead to his being hailed as the savior of the nation, or executed for treason. His mysterious clients also give him devices to use in the assignment, devices which seem to be far beyond anything human technology is capable of. And as he doggedly pursues the case, he finds that the very fabric of reality seems to be changing around him, even to the point that he himself seems never to have existed! Plus three short novels of equally stunning concepts and breathtaking action. Edited by Eric Flint. 
 

Children of Chaos, Dave Duncan (Tor Books) 

On a dodecahedral world in thrall to the tyrannical, war-obsessed Hrag dynasty, no one could stop the Bloodlord from sending troops over the Edge to Florengia, invading its major cities, and offering them a choice between strict colonial rule and immediate and total destruction. When the doge of Celebre was faced with this ultimatum, he gave his children up as hostages so that the rest of Celebre might live. Thus the four young Florengians were taken from their homes and scattered across the Vigaelian face. Fifteen years later, and you'd never guess that they're siblings. Fable was adopted by a wealthy landowner and spoiled rotten; Orlando desperately yearns to overcome his Florengian blood and fight for the Vigaelian army; Benard is a flighty but talented artist; and Wisdom has it that Dantio, the eldest, died fighting his captors. But when Celebre suddenly takes on crucial political significance, one of the siblings must return home to serve as Celebre's puppet ruler, and the others must be eliminated so that there are no rival claimants to the throne. It's going to be tough enough finding one another, let alone deciding whether enough kinship remains after fifteen years apart that the siblings will care to help each other out of their respective predicaments. If they're feeling particularly altruistic, the Celebres might even take on the bonus round: trying to save Dodec from the culture of death and war imposed on it by its evil warlords. 
 

Dragon Rising: A Battletech Novel, Ilsa J.J. Bick (Penguin Group USA) 

Jade Falcon Galaxy Commander Malvina Hazen and her warriors on the planet Skye receive a visit from a Hell's Horses ship, whose commander issues a Trial of Possession for the wartime doctrine he claims Malvina stole from his Clan. Although she bests her opponent in single BattleTech combat, Malvina's actions may herald the beginnings of a civil war that could unmake the Clan-and the galaxy. The 24^th novel in the Mechwarrior: Dark Ages series.