"I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson.
© Blackstone Audio Unabridged
I Am Legend
By: Pat FerraraDate: Monday, September 03, 2007
As the Fall season rapidly approaches, one of fiction’s most popular manifestations of the Other is lurking from the shadows and sizing up your jugular in a slew of new horror, fantasy, and even science fiction literature.
Hello Maniac readers and welcome to the first Buzz of September. Roc, DAW, and Ace books are debuting their end-of-third quarter fiction this week with some don’t miss’s by such genre greats as S.M. Stirling and Douglas Clegg.
Stirling continues the saga begun in 2004’s Dies the Fire with two more installments articulating the events of a post-apocalyptic, atechnological United States. The third volume, A Meeting at Corvallis, is out on paperback while the newest tome, The Sunrise Lands, makes its hardcover debut through Roc publishing.
Vampires, in all their grisly and varied form, dominate the genre release schedule with a smattering of series installments, anthologies, and timeless greats.
After last week’s paperback release of The Lady of Serpents, Douglas Clegg concludes the popular Vampyricon series with The Queen of Wolves on hardback. Editor/authors Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner have put together a star-studded collection of vampire tales that oscillate from light-hearted to macabre in Many Bloody Returns, also on hardcover.
Michael Schiefelbein, author of Vampire Vow and Vampire Thrall, concludes his trilogy with Vampire Transgression on paperback, but the biggest ‘pire-related release this week is the audiobook debut of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.
Originally penned in 1954, I Am Legend explores the psychological isolation of a plague-resistant man in a near-future world inhabited by vampires. Arguably considered one of the best horror novels ever written, Matheson’s work spun the vampire subgenre on its head, influenced countless other horror authors such as Stephen King, and inspired two big-screen film adaptations (THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, 1961 & THE OMEGA MAN, 1971). Now his streamlined, no-nonsense look at the human condition is available on CD in an unabridged edition from Blackstone Audio.
Though this program has been floating around Hollywood for years (Ridley Scott was supposed to direct an adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the early ‘90s, yea thank god that didn’t happen!) Matheson’s masterpiece has finally found a home with Warner Bros. A big budget, combined with great source material and the industry’s most bank-able star, and you’ve got yourself one must-see this Christmas.
New in Hardcover:
The Sunrise Lands, S.M. Stirling (Roc Hardcover)
A generation has passed since The Change that rendered technology inoperable around the world, and western Oregon has finally achieved a degree of peace. But a new threat has risen in Paradise Valley, Wyoming. A man known as The Prophet presides over the Church Universal and Triumphant, teaching his followers to continue God's work by destroying the remnants of technological civilization they encounter… and those who dare use them. Rudi Mackenzie, son and heir of the mystic Juniper, must journey with seven friends across a continent in chaos to the Sunrise Lands to solve the riddle of what destroyed a civilization. And as the friends journey farther into the interior, enemies may be within their own band as well as outside it... The fourth installment of the Dies the Fire series.
The Queen of Wolves, Douglas Clegg (Ace Hardcover)
After rescuing Pythia, the creature who turned him into a vampire, Aleric follows her back to the land of the Saracens. There, they must raise an army, for Aleric's lost love, Enora, has become the Queen of the Wastelands. Aided by her minions and her legions of wolves, she has begun the quest to call the Dark Madonna from beyond the Veil into the world of man. To stop the end of all, Aleric must become what he was destined to be, the Messiah of the Damned, and lead the undead in a final battle against the Mother of Darkness. The third and final novel in the Vampyricon series.
The Moon in the Mirror, P.R. Frost (DAW Hardcover)
Theresa Noncoiré was a successful fantasy writer. But Tess had another career as well, trained by the Sisterhood of the Celestial Blade Warriors to fight demonic incursions into our world. Teamed with a mischievous imp called Scrap, she's returned home after saving the world, only to discover that demonic trouble has followed her right to her own doorstep... A Tess Noncoiré Adventure.
Vorpal Blade, John Ringo & Travis Taylor (Baen Books)
The sequel to Into the Looking Glass. William Weaver, PhD. and SEAL Chief Adams are back and Bill got himself a ship! The former SSBN Nebraska has been converted, using mostly garage mechanics and baling wire, into a warp ship ready to go "out there." But as everyone knows, the people who really are going to bear the brunt are the poor Security guys, Force Recon Marines who are kept in the dark and fed manure all day. That is until they land on an alien planet, get partially wiped out and then load back up again. Ranging in topics from the best gun to kill armored space monsters to particle physics to cosmology to health and beauty tips, Vorpal Bladeis a return to the "good old days" of SF when the science problems were intractable and the beasts were ugly. The monkeys are out in the space lanes and ready to rock. As soon as they get another roll of duct tape. Book two of the Looking Glass series.
Reap the Wild Wind, Julie E. Czerneda (DAW)
In the first book of the Stratification series, set in an earlier time in Czerneda's Trade Pact Universe, the Clan has not yet learned how to manipulate the M'hir to travel between worlds. Instead, they are a people divided into small tribes, scattered over a fraction of their world, and prevented from advancing by two other powerful races who control both technology and terrain. Aliens begin exploring the Clan's home planet, upsetting the delicate balance between the three intelligent races. It is a time, too, when one young woman is on the verge of mastering the forbidden power of the M'hir, a power that could prove to be the salvation or ruin of her entire species...
Many Bloody Returns, Ed. by Charlaine Harris & Toni L.P. Kelner (Ace Hardcover)
Never-before-published vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and many others. Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous, these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again. In New York Times-bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Dracula Night," Sookie Stackhouse is the only human at the annual commemoration of Dracula's birth. But this year, the Prince of Darkness actually shows up-and finds Sookie to be a tasty-looking present. New York Times-bestselling author Jim Butcher's crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in "It's My Birthday Too," only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don't share their brotherly love. In "Twilight," Cassandra DuCharme, who appeared in New York Times-bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's Dime Store Magic, knows she has to kill to live as a vampire another year, but finds herself disturbingly disinterested in the hunt. Plus ten more bloody good birthday stories that take the cake.
The Betrayed, Lisa T. Bergren (Berkley Hardcover)
A religious thriller. An epic historical. An award-winning author with one million books in print. Second in the breathtaking trilogy. The first book in Lisa T. Bergren's Gifted trilogy, The Begotten, was hailed by Library Journal as "a full-bodied, absorbing tale that combines authentic historical detail with a universally appealing and gripping story that will have readers cheering." Now the breathtaking quest of the spiritually empowered Gifted ones, prophesized in a long-lost illuminated letter from the apostle Paul, continues as the healer, the priest, and the knight gather together to fight a battle in a profound new war. For the enemies of the Gifted are gathering, led by an evil lord who will do anything to destroy their unwavering faith.
Laika, Nick Abadzis (First Second)
Laika was the abandoned puppy destined to become Earth's first space traveler. This is her journey. Nick Abadzis masterfully blends fiction and fact in the intertwined stories of three compelling lives. Along with Laika, there is Korolev, once a political prisoner, now a driven engineer at the top of the Soviet space program, and Yelena, the lab technician responsible for Laika's health and life. This intense triangle is rendered with the pitch-perfect emotionality of classics like Because of Winn Dixie, Shiloh, and Old Yeller. Abadzis gives life to a pivotal moment in modern history, casting light on the hidden moments of deep humanity behind history. Laika's story will speak straight to your heart.
A Desert Called Peace, Tom Kratman (Baen Books)
Five hundred years from now, humankind has found a link to a remarkably Earth-like planet and settled there, dividing – as humans will – into dozens of nation-states. The Federated States of Columbia has consolidated power and risen against the oppression of Earth's corrupt Caliphate. But when Salafi madmen bent on a new jihad kill FSC Captain Patrick Hennessey's family in a cowardly attack, they create an enemy that will show even less mercy than they do. A legendary warrior is born: Carrera, the scourge of Salafism. He will forge an army from the decrepit remains of a military in a failing state. He will find those who killed his family. He will destroy them utterly. And he will try like hell to not becoming exactly like the enemy he is fighting. Only when he is finished will there be peace: the peace of an empty wind as it blows across a desert strewn with the bones of Carrera's enemies.
New in Paperback:
Vampire Transgression, Michael Schiefelbein (St. Martin’s Griffin Press)
In the tradition of Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite - a compelling novel of blood, lust, and bloodlust Michael Schiefelbein's two previous novels, Vampire Vow and Vampire Thrall, have garnered him a wide following. Now, with Vampire Transgression, he brings the story begun in Vampire Vow to a shuddering conclusion.
Set the Seas on Fire, Chris Roberson (Solaris Books)
1808. While Europe burns and the Napoleonic Wars set the world aflame, the HMS Fortitude patrols the sea lanes of the South Pacific, harrying enemies of the British Crown. The Fortitude's captain sets his sights on a Spanish galleon weighted down with a fortune in gold and spices, but Lieutenant Hieronymus Bonaventure thinks the prize not worth the risk. The ship is smashed by storms and driven far into unknown seas, the galleon and her treasure lost in the tempest. Bonaventure and the rest of the Fortitude's crew find themselves aground on an island in uncharted waters. Beneath the island's beauty lurks a darker secret: an ancient evil buried at the living heart of a volcano.
Auralia’s Colors, Jeffrey Overstreet (WaterBrook Press)
Two thieves find an abandoned child in the woods, lying in a footprint made by an unknown creature. Cloaked in mystery, the girl calling herself Auralia grows up in a community of convicted criminals who have been exiled from House Abascar–an oppressed kingdom threatened by encroaching Beastmen and persecuted by its own king. Auralia develops an unsettling–and forbidden–talent for transforming simple things into manifestations of color that enchant and amaze all who behold them. Her talents open doors–from the gates of the kingdom to the cages of Abascar’s dungeons. This sets the stage for chaos as she divides the king from his son, and sets in motion events that could transform–or ruin the four great Houses of the Expanse. Marked by an elegant and introspective style of adventure storytelling, Auralia’s Colors combines classic fantasy with a suspenseful plot, adrenaline-rush action, and unpredictable characters. The result is an enchanting fairy tale for ambitious imaginations of all ages–and the start of a stunning new fantasy series that’s sure to win countless fans. Book one of the Auralia Thread series.
The Quarters Novels: Vol. 1, Tanya Huff (DAW Books)
The first two novels from the highly popular Quarters fantasy series, Sing the Four Quarters and Fifth Quarter, are now in one fantastic omnibus edition. From the princess who renounces her royal blood to become a bard able to sing elemental magic, to the twin assassins Bannon and Vree caught up in a magical trap they may not survive, these unforgettable characters make both novels a thrilling adventure and the most intriguing kind of fantasy.
A Meeting at Corvallis, S.M. Stirling (Roc)
In the tenth year of The Change, the survivors in western Oregon have learned how to live in a world without technology, but there are those who would exploit the new world order. On one side stands Michael Havel's Bearkillers and their allies, Clan MacKenzie under the leadership of Juniper MacKenzie. On the other is the Lord Protector, Norman Arminger, the Warlord of Portland, whose neo-feudal empire rules over much of the Pacific Northwest. The tensions between factions have been building for some time, and the only reason they haven't met on the battlefield is because Arminger's daughter has fallen into Clan MacKenzie's hands. But a plan to retrieve her threatens to plunge the entire region into open warfare. The third Dies the Fire novel.
Hounding the Moon, P.R. Frost (DAW)
Tess Noncoiré is a bestselling fantasy writer. She's also become a demon fighter trained in martial arts by the Sisterhood of the Celestial Blade Warriors and partnered with a mischievous imp named Scrap. Together they must find a young Native American girl who has disappeared-before she falls victim to a ferocious hound. As the hunt grows more desperate, the forces of darkness close in on them. Will an old Native American myth prove the key to salvation or to the end of life on Earth? A Tess Noncoiré Adventure.
Heroes in Training, Martin H. Greenberg & Jim C. Hines (DAW)
Ordinary people, extraordinary heroes. This all-new fantasy anthology features thirteen original stories about ordinary or inexperienced people learning to become extraordinary heroes. From the shape shifter Esen-alit-Quar who is forced unexpectedly into her first solo mission to the young man sworn to defeat a pack of lycanthropes, these heroes in training are thrown into exciting adventures that demand nothing short of all that is in them.
Guards of Haven, Simon R. Green (Roc)
He's Hawk. She's Fisher. They're cops, patrolling the mean streets of the ancient city misnamed Haven, a sinister place where demons, thieves, sorcerers, and murderers own the night and anything can be bought… except justice. The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher novel.
When the People Fell, Cordwainer Smith (Baen Books)
A sweeping saga of the centuries to come, from the new dark age that followed a global war, to the new civilization that arose from the ashes to colonize the stars. At first, the colonists use ships with gigantic sails, cruising on the waves of starlight, their captains having to become something part human and part machine; then later moving by planoforming ships which travel faster than light, but must defend themselves against the malevolent, mind-devouring creatures lurking in the dark between the stars. Then came the reign of the all-powerful Lords of the Instrumentality, who ruled Earth and its colony worlds with ruthless benevolence, suffocating the human spirit for millennia-until the time of the Rediscovery of Man, when the strange, lost concept of freedom was reborn… An extraordinary vision of a future unique in science fiction, praised by readers, critics, and major writers in the field.
Green Mansions, W.H. Hudson (Overlook TP)
A failed revolutionary attempt drives the European Abel to seek refuge in the virgin forests of southwestern Venezuela. There, in the "green mansion" of the title, Abel encounters the wood-nymph Rima, the last survivor of a mysterious aboriginal race. The bird-girl's ethereal presence captivates him completely, but the love that flowers between them is soon blighted by cruelty and sorrow. A master of natural history writing, W. H. Hudson forms an important link between nineteenth-century Romanticism and the twentieth-century ecological movement. First published in 1904 and still a best-seller after its reissue a dozen years later, the book owes much of its popularity to the mystic, near-religious feeling that pervades the story and to the beauty of Rima's halting, poetic expressions. Exploring a love somewhere between reality and imagination, Green Mansions offers its readers a poignant meditation on the loss of wilderness, the dream of a return to nature, and the bitter reality of the encounter between savage and civilized man.
Recovery Man, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Roc)
Retrieval Artist Miles Flint has uncovered a long-held secret to his past linked to the Aleyd Corporation-and a kidnapping by the mysterious Recovery Man, in a case that threatens the entire Earth Alliance legal system... The sixth Retrieval Artist novel.
The Baby Merchant, Kit Reed (Tor Books)
The baby business is booming. Billions of dollars are spent each year on strollers, cribs, and clothing, not to mention assisted reproduction and adoption. With fertility rates dropping precipitously in the US and babies becoming ever more valuable as a combination of status symbol and perfect accessory, there's clearly a developing market for someone like Tom Starbird. Tom is The Baby Merchant, though he’d never think of himself in such terms. In his mind, Tom creates perfect families by matching famous couples with prime, but neglected, newborns. Tom’s a master of surveillance and secret “pickups”. His small staff is extremely well-paid, especially the doctor who implants the government-required tracking chip into each infant’s developing skull. Sasha Egan is a talented artist feeling trapped by an accidental pregnancy. Determined to place her child with a loving family, Sasha is jolted by the arrival, at her chosen home for unwed mothers, of the unborn baby’s father. Behind Gary's insincere protestations of love, Sasha detects the hand of her powerful, wealthy grandmother. Nearly nine months pregnant, Sasha disappears, going to ground at a seedy motel. Jake Zorn is a crusading TV journalist who has broken some of the biggest scandals of the day. His life is perfect, except that he and his rainmaker attorney wife, Maury, cannot have children. They’ve tried everything; repeated miscarriages drove Maury to a terrible act that makes adoption agencies turn them away. Tom Starbird is Jake's last chance, but it’s too late; Tom wants out of the baby business. Jake Zorn knows more than a few hard truths about Tom Starbird, and he’s not afraid to expose them to the nation. Desperate to find a baby for the Zorns, Tom Starbird settles on Sasha Egan as the perfect supplier. Soon Sasha’s baby will be born. And many lives will be forever altered.
New in Audiobook:
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson (Blackstone Audio Unabridged)
Robert Neville may well be the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone.
An incurable plague has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him. By day, he is a hunter, stalking the infected monstrosities through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn…
An incurable plague has mutated every other man, woman, and child into bloodthirsty, nocturnal creatures who are determined to destroy him. By day, he is a hunter, stalking the infected monstrosities through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn…
