The Making of the Potterverse
© Ecw Press
The “Potterverse” Defined
By: Pat FerarraDate: Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Jim Butcher propels the Dresden Files, Janine Cross’s dark fantasy series reaches its conclusion, and entertainment journalist Edward Gross takes a stab at chronicling the development of all things Harry Potter in a very weighted edition of this week’s Buzz.
Good day to all of you Maniac readers out there and welcome to the Weekly Book Buzz. Amidst a heavy release schedule predominated by Tor Books and Penguin Group USA we’ve got a little something for everyone. Take this week’s offering of genre novels piecemeal though because the booklist caps out at a full three dozen.
Obsidian Chronicles author Lawrence Watt-Evans returns to the fantasy genre with the paperback The Wizard Lord, an intriguing checks-and-balances tale of magical hierarchy that opens his new Annals of the Chosen series.
Jim Butcher’s ninth Dresden Files novel, White Night, follows up the 2006 hardcover release of Proven Guilty while Stoney Compton debuts his very first book, the alternate history / military SF Russian Amerika, on hardback.
Funny name notwithstanding, Terry McGarry culminates the ambitious Illumination trilogy (Illumination 2001 & The Binder’s Road 2003) with the paperback release of Triad through Tor Books today.
Janine Cross, known for the provocatively dark fantasy series Dragon Temple Saga, is making waves again with the second and third novels of the trilogy, Shadowed by Wings and Forged by Fire, released on paperback through Penguin Group USA. Steeped with graphic and somewhat disturbing themes, Cross’s series has been described by Publishers Weekly as “X-rated Tolkien set in the Middle East.”
Last but not least Edward Gross, the author of such non-fiction books as Captains’ Logs: The Complete Trek Voyages, Planet of the Apes Revisited, and Rocky: The Ultimate Guide, takes the reins of the most comprehensive look into the Harry Potter universe created by J.K. Rowling. Cataloguing the developmental process of the now world-renowned franchise, Gross breaks down the month-by-month creative stages of Rowling’s masterpiece epic and gets in-depth and personal with the cast and crew of the various film adaptations. Can’t wait for July 13th!
Other books to check out: Voidfarer, The Fortress of Glass, In the Company of Ogres, Ghosts of Onyx (Halo), Context & The Armies of Memory
New in Hardcover:
White Night of the Dresden Files © Penguin Group USA
Someone is targeting the city's magic practitioners, the members of the supernatural underclass who don't possess enough power to become full-fledged wizards. Many have vanished. Others appear to be victims of suicide. But the murderer has left a calling card at one of the crime scenes—a message for Harry Dresden, referencing the book of Exodus and the killing of witches. Harry sets out to find the killer before he can strike again, but his investigation turns up evidence pointing to the one suspect he cannot possibly believe guilty: his half brother, Thomas. Determined to bring the real murderer to justice and clear his brother's name, Harry attracts the attention of the White Court of vampires, becoming embroiled in a power struggle that renders him outnumbered, outclassed, and dangerously susceptible to temptation. Harry knows that if he screws this one up, a lot of people will die—and one of them will be his brother. Book nine in the Dresden Files series.
Yellow Eyes, John Ringo & Tom Kratman (Baen Books)
The Posleen are coming and the models all say the same thing: Without the Panama Canal, the US is doomed to starvation and defeat. Despite being overstretched preparing to defend the US, the military sends everything it has left: A handful of advanced Armored Combat Suits, rejuvenated veterans from the many decades that Panama was a virtual colony and three antiquated warships. Other than that, the Panamanians are on their own. Replete with detailed imagery of the landscape, characters and politics that have made the jungle-infested peninsula a Shangri-La for so many over the years, Yellow Eyes is a hard-hitting look at facing a swarming alien horde with not much more than wits and guts. Fortunately, the Panamanians, and the many veterans that think of it as a second home, have plenty of both.
The Camel Bookmobile, Masha Hamilton (HarperCollins Publishers)
When Fiona Sweeney tells her family she wants to do something that matters, they do not expect her to go to Africa to help start a traveling library. But that is where Fiona chooses to make her mark: in the arid bush of northeastern Kenya, among tiny, far-flung communities, nearly unknown and lacking roads and schools, where people live daily with drought, hunger, and disease. In The Camel Bookmobile, Fi travels to settlements where people have never held a book in their hands. Her goal is to help bring Dr. Seuss, Homer, Tom Sawyer, and Hemingway to a largely illiterate and semi-nomadic populace. However, because the donated books are limited in number and the settlements are many, the library initiates a tough fine: if anyone fails to return a book, the bookmobile will stop coming. Though her motives are good, Fi doesn't understand the people she seeks to help. Encumbered by her Western values, she finds herself in the midst of several struggles within the community of Mididima. There the bookmobile's presence sparks a feud between those who favor modernization and those who fear the loss of the traditional way of life in the African bush. The feud heightens when one young man—"Scar Boy"—doesn't return his books. As promised, the library stops all visits, but Fi goes to the settlement alone, determined to recover what has been lost. Evocative, seamless, and haunting, The Camel Bookmobile is a powerful saga that challenges our fears of the unknown. It is a story that captures the riddles and calamities that often occur when two cultures collide. It follows an American librarian who travels to Africa to give meaning to her life,and ultimately loses a piece of her heart. In the end, this compelling novel shows how one life can change many, in spite of dangerous and seemingly immutable obstacles.
Rollback, Robert J. Sawyer (Tor Books)
Dr. Sarah Halifax decoded the first-ever radio transmission received from aliens. Thirty-eight years later, a second message is received and Sarah, now 87, may hold the key to deciphering this one, too… if she lives long enough. A wealthy industrialist offers to pay for Sarah to have a rollback—a hugely expensive experimental rejuvenation procedure. She accepts on condition that Don, her husband of sixty years, gets a rollback, too. The process works for Don, making him physically twenty-five again. But in a tragic twist, the rollback fails for Sarah, leaving her in her eighties. While Don tries to deal with his newfound youth and the suddenly vast age gap between him and his wife, Sarah struggles to do again what she'd done once before: figure out what a signal from the stars contains. Exploring morals and ethics on both human and cosmic scales, Rollback is the big new SF novel for 2007 by Hugo and Nebula Award-winner Robert J. Sawyer.
Russian Amerika © Baen Books
Alaska, 1989. In a world where Alaska is still a Russian possession, charter captain Grigorivich Plesnett has a stained past, as a major in the Czar’s Troika Guard he was cashiered for disobeying a direct order. Now, ten years later, Grig charters out to a cossack and discovers his past has not only caught up with him but is about to violently change his future, and the future of all nine of the nations of North America as well. Spanning Alaska from the Southeastern Inside Passage to the frozen Yukon, this is an epic tale of one man’s journey of redemption and courage to face old challenges and help birth a new nation.
Spindrift, Allen Steele (Penguin Group USA)
From the two-time Hugo Award-winning author of the Coyote Trilogy. June 1, 2288: Europe's first starship, the EASS Galileo, launches on its maiden voyage to investigate an unidentified object, code-named Spindrift, which is traveling outside our solar system. An object that may be alien in origin. The Galileo disappears soon after... February 1, 2344: The Galileo's shuttle returns to Earth carrying three surviving expedition members, who still appear to be the same age they were when they departed. They report that they have, indeed, made contact with an extraterrestrial race, and become enmeshed in a conflict that brought them face to face with the most apocalyptic force in the galaxy. It is up to Director General John Shillinglaw to piece together the puzzle created by these events… for the survivors tell their stories from their own conflicting perspectives. And the truth is more difficult to glean than it appears.
New in Paperback:
The Wizard Lord of the Annals of the Chosen Series © Tor Books
The Wizard Lord's duty is to keep the world in its delicate balance. He must govern lightly to protect his domain from power-hungry interlopers, such as certain wizards who previously fought to rule the world…But if the Wizard Lord himself strays from the way of the just, then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen ones are the Leader, the Seer, the Swordsman, the Beauty, the Thief, the Scholar, the Archer, and the Speaker. Each are magically-infused mortal individuals who, for the term of their service, have only one function—to be available to remove an errant Wizard Lord, whether by persuasion or by stronger means. Breaker, a young man of ambition, has taken the mantle of Swordsman from its former bearer who wished to retire. Never did he realize that he would be called to duty so quickly, or that the balance of power in his world would be so precarious. He had a duty to perform. A world to save. So why does he still have doubts…not just about himself, but about the entire balance of power? The first novel in the Annals of the Chosen series.
What’s a Ghoul to Do?, Victoria Laurie (Penguin Group USA)
M.J., her partner Gilley, and their client, the wealthy, de-lish Dr. Steven Sable, are at his family's lodge, where his grandfather allegedly jumped to his death from the roof… although Sable says it was foul play. But the patriarch's isn't the only ghost around. The place is lousy with souls, all with something to get off their ghoulish chests. Now M.J. will have to quell the clamor and listen for a voice with the answers... A Ghost Hunter Mystery novel.
Voidfarer, Sean McMullen (Tor Books)
At first Wayfarer Inspector Danolarian thought the huge oval thing that had fallen from the sky was a dragon's egg. When it opened, however, he knew that it was much, much worse. His world was being invaded by pitiless sorcerers from Lupan, who could sweep whole armies aside, and even defeat the invulnerable glass dragons. Surrender or flight were the only options ... but not for Inspector Danolarian, his Wayfarer Constables, and his sweetheart, the sorceress Lavenci. Although Danolarian is no sorcerer, he's no ordinary Wayfarer either. Faced with civilization crumbling around him, and organized resistance shattered by the invincible magic of the Lupanians, he chances upon an unlikely ally and begins to fight back. It won't be easy, for he has to rally the demoralized sorcerers of Alberin, organize its terrified citizens, stay one step ahead of his own past, and, most importantly, survive a dinner party with Lavenci's mother. The third novel in the Tale of the Moonworlds Saga.
Triad, Terry McGarry (Tor Books)
The magic-steeped realm of Eiden Myr has come under attack from the outerlands. A new power has arisen that may be the key to winning the war of the coast. Is it the light of salvation—or of delusion? To vanquish darkcraft, mages destroyed a warding that protected the realm for fifteen hundred years. Now the last ragged defenders battle horrors out of nightmare. Their blades are no match for the monstrous onslaught. The shield will fall. It will take more than the golden light of mages, the copper shine of touches, and the silver glow of visants to stave off annihilation. More than delving the mystery of the bonefolk. More than the forging of an impossible blade. It will take a harrowing passage into realms beyond death, beyond human sight—a quest for the source of light itself. A great triad will rise, more wondrous and terrible than any before conceived, and the world will be transformed past all imagining. The final novel in the Illumination Trilogy.
Shadowed by Wings, Janine Cross (Penguin Group USA)
The Dragon Temple denies the role of dragonmaster to women, but Zarq is convinced that the doctrine allowing it has been deliberately hidden or lost to the obscurity of history. She begins a desperate search through the Temple's archives, while enduring the rigorous athletic training required of her apprenticeship. Her fellow apprentices are worryingly competitive, and her overlord, Waikar Re Kratt, has taken an unnerving interest in her. Yet Zarq's difficulties among her peers pale in comparison to her craving for the hallucinogenic dragon venom and her desire to understand the dragons themselves, both of which make her a vessel to receive the ancestral memories of the great beasts. Now eager for the knowledge only Zarq can uncover, the Temple has her imprisoned and subjected to starvation and torture, all to make her reveal the dragons' deepest secrets. The second installment of the Dragon Temple Saga.
The Secret History of Vampires © Penguin Group USA
Garlic cloves and wooden stakes are no match for centuries of the undead's mischief and seduction. Here are thirteen original and imaginative stories that reveal the vampiric truths behind certain historical happenings.
Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus, Mark Shelley (Millipede Press)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is the world's most notorious and widely read Gothic novel. It has also been heralded as both the first modern horror novel and the first science fiction novel. More important than either is the novel's mythical status in society. The rich subtext of Frankenstein and the vast number of readings it can inspire have contributed to the novel's continued success after nearly two hundred years. This edition of Frankenstein uses Mary Shelley's definitive 1831 text and incorporates several critical essays on Frankenstein, discussing its rich symbolism and place in world literature. There is also a valuable bibliography, Mary Shelley's original introduction to the 1831 edition, Percy Shelley's original preface, and more. This is the definitive edition of Frankenstein, perfect for the trade and indispensable for scholarly use. This is first in the affordably priced Millipede Press Gothic Novels series. Introduction by Patrick McGrath.
River of the World, Chaz Brenchley (Penguin Group USA)
The city of Maras-Sund has stood for more than 20 years: two lands joined together by a magical bridge the Marasai used to conquer the Sundain. But the man known as Issel has magic of his own, an ability to manipulate water, which he will use to free his people. He finds an ally in Jendre, the daughter of a general in Maras's army, and a woman with her own vendetta against the regime. Her sister is held captive, along with others whose life essences power the magical bridge between her land and Sund. Her plan: to help Issel enter the palace and break the spell.
Portable Childhoods, Ellen Klages (Tachyon Publications)
Emerging from a unique and powerful voice, this innovative collection offers a tantalizing glimpse of what lies hidden just beyond the ordinary, skirting the border between childhood and adulthood. Mysticism, heroism, cruelty, and compassion thread through these multifaceted tales—which range from the origins of the Manhattan Project to a culinary object-lesson, from 1950s corruption to a slight glitch in Creation. Collected here for the first time and including an excerpt from her breakout first novel The Green Glass Sea, these stories are timeless and delightful, chilling and beautiful. Introduction by Neil Gaiman.
Karavans, Jennifer Roberson (Penguin Group USA)
The Karavans universe offers a huge cast of characters including humans, demons, gods and demi-gods, wizards, warlocks, diviners, sorcerers—and Things Unknown. In the aftermath of a bitter, brutal war waged by a neighboring warlord, refugees are seeking a new home in another province. Safety lies in numbers, and these refugees join various karavans to travel from one province to another, hoping to avoid enemy patrols. But also threatening their safety is something wholly unattached to the whims of humans: the land known as Alisanos, a sentient hell-on-earth that changes locale at will. Home to a magic wholly poisonous to humans and to creatures out of nightmares, Alisanos wreaks havoc on entire villages or single individuals by literally swallowing them up. Few humans ever find their way out again… those who do, altered by the magic of Alisanos, are no longer what they were in mind or body.
In the Company of Ogres, A. Lee Martinez (Tor Books)
An uproarious new novel in the tradition of Robert Asprin and Terry Pratchett! For someone who's immortal, Never Dead Ned manages to die with alarming frequency—he just has the annoying habit of rising from the grave. But this soldier might be better dead than face his latest assignment. Ogre Company is the legion's dumping ground—a motley, undisciplined group of monsters whose leaders tend to die under somewhat questionable circumstances. That's where Ned's rather unique talents come in. As Ogre Company's newly appointed commander, Ned finds himself in charge of such fine examples of military prowess as a moonstruck Amazon, a very big (and very polite) two-headed ogre, a seductively scaly siren, a blind oracle who can hear (and smell) the future, a suicidal goblin daredevil pilot, a walking tree with a chip on its shoulder, and a suspiciously goblinesque orc. Ned has only six months to whip the Ogre Company into shape or face an even more hideous assignment, but that's not the worst of his problems. Because now that Ned has found out why he keeps returning from dead, he has to do everything he can to stay alive…
Hunters: Heart and Soul, Shiloh Walker (Penguin Group USA)
Double the paranormal erotic romance-two all-new stories from a fan favorite. From Shiloh Walker's hot Hunter series come two new stories... “In the shades of night, when the evil are free to seduce the weak and indulge their desires, there are still those who will fight to the death for the innocent. They are The Hunters. They are at the heart of a sensuous and strange new world...“ Two men. Two women. Paranormal warriors and eternal lovers who keep the undead in line by destroying those who have gone rogue. They serve as Judge, Jury, and Executioner. They are as merciless as their prey. And they are its soul. But in this strange enclave of midnight retribution, some discover a hunger they'd never imagined, a love that crosses unnatural boundaries, and a blood reckoning with a damnable past that could save the Hunters or destroy them.
The Fortress of Glass, David Drake (Tor Books)
The Fortress of Glass is the first in the Crown of the Isles trilogy, which will conclude the epic Lord of the Isles series. A true trilogy, the action extends over the whole three-book arc. The Fortress of Glass begins the story of how the new kingdom of the Isles is finally brought into being by the group of heroes and heroines who have been central to all the books in the series. The group includes Prince Garric, heir to the throne of the Isles, his consort Liane, his sister Sharina, her herculean sweetheart Cashel, his sister Ilna, with her adopted child Merota and piratical Chalcus. On giant triremes filled with soldiers and diplomats, they journey to the small kingdoms of the Isles to confirm the succession of Garric and to subdue, if necessary, any local rulers too fond of their own kingship to pledge fealty to Garric. All this is being done in a time when the powers of magic in the Isles have flooded to a thousand-year peak, and even local magicians can perform powerful spells normally beyond their control. Fantastic forces from all angles try to keep them apart and unable to continue the reunification of the Isles. So separately and together, they must fight their way back to the same time and place to combat the mysterious and supernatural menace of The Green Woman in her Fortress of Glass.
Forged by Fire of the Dragon Temple Saga © Penguin Group USA
In the explosive climax of the Dragon Temple Saga, Zarq Darquel has secured a dragon estate for herself, in violation of every law which forbids women to own property. She had not seen herself as a revolutionary, but her enemies have given her no choice in her fight for freedom. Abandoning the estate where she thought she would be safe, Zarq journeys deep into the jungle in search of an ancient dragon secret that would give her the power to overthrow both Kratt and the corrupt Dragon Temple. She has taken with her some of the female dragons from her own estate, and in the jungle she will once again risk the dragons' highly addictive, hallucinogenic venom… renewing a craving that is becoming an obsession.
Daughter of Independence, Simon Brown (Penguin Group USA)
From the author of The Keys of Power trilogy comes the epic conclusion of The Chronicles of Kydan. A final confrontation between old and new, between tyrannical magic and freedom, and between an empire and a growing nation-state that will determine the fate of millions, and not least the brave band of colonists who set out from Hamilay to settle Kydan with courage and hope in their hearts.
Claimed by Shadow, Karen Chance (Penguin Group USA)
Clairvoyant Cassie Plamer has inherited new magical powers, including the ability to travel through time. But it's a whole lot of responsibility she'd rather not have. Now she's the most popular girl in town, as an assortment of vamps, fey, and mages try to convince, force, or seduce her, and her magic, over to their side. But one particular master vampire didn't ask what Cassie wanted before putting a claim on her. He had a spell cast that binds her to him, and now she doesn't know if what she feels for him is real or imagined...
The Making of the Potterverse, Edward Gross (Ecw Press)
Over the past decade, the magic of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has spread across the globe, touching the imaginations of hundreds of millions of people of all ages. From the 1997 U.K. publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone through the summer 2007 theatrical release of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, the saga has been an amazing one in print, on screen, and in real life. The Making of the Potterverse: A Month-by-Month Look at Harry’s First 10 Years is the complete chronicle of Harry’s history, from the moment that Rowling conceived the character on a train ride, to the Pottermania that has followed the publication of each novel and release of each film adaptation. Broken down month-by-month and year-by-year, this one-of-a-kind book covers all of the major and minor news events centering on the world of Harry Potter, interweaving quotes from the films’ cast and crew members — among them, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint; directors Chris Columbus (THE SORCERER’S STONE, THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS), Alfonso Cuaron (THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN), and Mike Newell (THE GOBLET OF FIRE); producer David Heyman and behind-the-scenes personnel who bring the magic to life.
Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light, Michelle Sagara West (Benbella Books)
Erin of Elliath returns in this conclusion to the epic saga begun in the first three books in the Sundered series. Erin, formerly Lady Sara and now the legendary Lady of Mercy to the slaves of the Dark Empire, has just helped Renar, the rightful heir to the throne of Marantine, reclaim his kingship from an usurper. With the power of the Bright Heart waning under growing shadows of the Dark Heart, Erin and her friends must once again journey back into the Dark Empire, where High Priests battle for supremacy and the First of the Sundered, Lord Stefanos, awaits the return of his Lady Sara. In this final volume, the old ways of the Light Heart and the Dark Heart will be changed forever.
Rainbows End, Vernor Vinge (Tor Books)
Robert Gu is a recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a cure developed during the years of his near-fatal decline, he discovers that the world has changed and so has his place in it. He was a world-renowned poet. Now he is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he's starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts . Living with his son's family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum, layers of reality built on digital views seen by a single person or millions, depending on your choice. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access—through nodes designed into smart clothes—and to see the digital context—through smart contact lenses. With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High, learning with other older people what is second nature to Miri and other teens at school, he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination. In a world where every computer chip has Homeland Securitybuilt-in, this conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert's son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot. As Robert becomes more deeply involved in conspiracy, he is shocked to learn of a radical change planned for the UCSD Geisel Library; all the books there, and worldwide, would cease to physically exist. He and his fellow re-trainees feel compelled to join protests against the change. With forces around the world converging on San Diego, both the conspiracy and the protest climax in a spectacular moment as unique and satisfying as it is unexpected. This is science fiction at its very best, by a master storyteller at his peak.
Masters of War, Michael A. Stackpole (Penguin Group USA)
The Latest action-packed adventure… As Clan Wolf launches a daring campaign of reprisal against The Republic, three warriors will find their destinies intertwined on the field of battle, and in the fight for their futures. Alaric is a legend among the Wolves. But his lust for victory may mean his undoing-unless he learns to see beyond himself. Anastasia is a former Wolf Clan warrior, now leading a band of mercs against her ex-comrades. Now she must prove not only her ability, but her complete separation from the Wolves-in combat. Verena is the new commander of a ragtag merc force. Her desire for greatness will uncover her own superior abilities, and draw her into a final confrontation in which mercy is unheard of-and only death awaits the unworthy. A novel set in the Mechwarrior: Dark Age series.
Ghosts of Onyx (Halo), Eric Nylund (Tor Books)
Continuing the saga of the award-winning Xbox™ game! The Spartan-II program has gone public. Tales of super-soldiers fending off thousands of Covenant attacks have become the stuff of legend. But just how many Spartans are left? While the Master Chief defends a besieged Earth, and the myriad factions of the Covenant continue their crusade to eliminate humanity, an ultra secret cell of the Office of Naval Intelligence known as “Section Three” devises a plan to buy the UNSC vital time. They’re going to need hundreds of willing soldiers though… and one more Spartan to get the job done. The planet Onyx is virtually abandoned and the perfect place to set this new plan in motion. But when the Master Chief destroys Halo, something is triggered deep within Onyx: Ancient Forerunner technology stirs, and fleets of UNSC and Covenant race to claim it to change the course of the Human-Covenant War. But this reawakened an ancient force that may have plans of its own…
Event, David Lynn Golemon (St. Martin’s Press)
In the summer of 1947, an unidentified object crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. There were no survivors. Now it's happened again, but this time two creatures have emerged from the wreckage alive… One is a small being that is kind and benevolent, brimming with intense emotion and intelligence. The other, however, is an animal of remarkable strength and power. It has been brought clandestinely to our world with one sole purpose: the total extinction of all life on Earth. It is called the Destroyer of Worlds. Only the Event Group, the most secret agency in the history of the U.S. government, is prepared to wage battle against such a creature. The Event Group is a dedicated collection of the nation's most brilliant men and women of science, philosophy and the military. Their difficult task: solving the mysteries of the past and uncovering the hidden truths behind the myths and legends propagated throughout world history. In doing so they protect America from past mistakes—and ensure that history's errors will never be repeated. An act of war that started in New Mexico decades ago, and was covered up by another far darker organization, has been discovered by the Group at the same time as the new and seemingly identical incident threatens to wipe out the Earth's population. In the desert wastelands of the American Southwest, a battle is about to commence as the two creatures set out to fulfill their own destinies among the human race. Led by the valiant Major Jack Collins, the Event Group wages total war in the heat-soaked sands of the desert landscape. Using the benevolent creature as an ally and resource, they combine forces with the powerful might of the U.S. military and prepare themselves for an epic battle against the most dangerous threat against human existence that history has ever seen.
Everfree, Nick Sagan (Penguin Group USA)
In Everfree, Nick Sagan completes the "roller-coaster ride of fusion fiction"(Neil Gaiman) that began with Idlewild and continued in Edenborn. In 2003, Nick Sagan exploded onto the scene with Idlewild, a highly original debut that inspired Stephen Baxter to say, "Sagan has a ferocious imagination." Edenborn returned to Sagan's hyperimaginative world in a stylish, thrilling work hailed by critics and embraced by readers. With Everfree, Sagan concludes the trilogy that is destined to become a classic. As Everfree opens, a small group of humans have survived the apocalyptic epidemic called Black Ep, a disease that ravaged the world and left them alone on Earth. Their conflicting ideas about how to propagate the species, however, are a source of terrible strife. Worst of all, they have barely fended off a new strain of the illness that has made a deadly return. Now, they have bioengineered a new synthetic organ that strengthens the human immune system exponentially. Finally, they have devised the key to their survival. And yet, the organ serves a purpose no human could possibly have imagined, for it will also enable them to communicate with an extraterrestrial species that has appeared on Earth. The disease was a riddle sent by the aliens, and by creating the organ needed to survive it, humanity has answered their call.
Hellstrom’s Hive, Frank Herbert (Tor Books)
In Hellstroms Hive, winner of the 1978 Prix Apollo, Frank Herbert’s vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology has never been more evident. America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the world: insects. When the Agency discovered that Dr. Hellstrom’s Project 40 was a cover for a secret laboratory, a special team of agents was immediately dispatched to discover its true purpose and its weaknesses. What they discovered was a nightmare more horrific and hideous than even their paranoid government minds could devise.
Context, John Meaney (Prometheus Books)
Nulapeiron: a world isolated for twelve centuries. Its billions of inhabitants occupy subterranean strata, ruled by a logosophically trained aristocracy of Lords and Ladies whose power base is upheld by Oracles. But revolution has touched all of its many cultures - failing in its intent, yet changing everything. Now Lord Tom Corcorigan - the commoner-turned-noble who renounced his power, the poet, logosopher, and holder of the key to understanding the myriad wonders of mu-space, the legendary one-armed warrior, former revolutionary and would-be peacemaker - lies fatally wounded. His survival is dependant on his meeting with a mysterious Seer whose spacetime-warping talents transcend the merely Oracular. It is a confrontation that will result in bitter tragedy and loss. Can the woman he loves be truly dead, or can quantum mysteries lie beyond the grave? Turning his back on a society sliding once more into anarchy and chaos, a disillusioned and despairing Tom wanders this strange, stratified world in search of meaning, love and his own salvation. But it seems Nulapeiron is threatened by a vast, insidious and terrifying enemy whose origins may lie beyond their world, beyond their understanding. And now is the time for legends to be reborn... Sequel to the acclaimed Paradox and the second book in the Nulapeiron Sequence, Context is a thrilling, daring and complex novel that confirms John Meaney as one of British science fiction's most original and exciting practitioners.
Breakfast in the Ruins, Barry N. Malzberg (Baen Books)
Barry N. Malzberg reflects back over four decades of writing science fiction, giving an insider’s view of the field during that time which few can match, both for its authority and for the sharp and witty way he describes the highs and lows of one science fiction writer’s career. He also writes vivid profiles of writers and editors, ranging from the titans who transformed the field, such as John W. Campbell, to once-popular writers who are now all but forgotten, such as Hugo Award-winner Mark Clifton. “If there is any particular cachet to my perspective,” he writes, “it comes because my career is, perhaps more than some, metaphoric.” The original, shorter version of the book was widely praised, as by the San Francisco Chronicle: “Contains literary criticism ranging over the whole history of the field… this is a mordant, brilliant book,” and by The Washington Post Book World: “Malzberg makes persuasively clear that the best of science fiction should be valued as literature and nothing else.” Breakfast in the Ruins is an indispensable book for every science fiction reader.
The Armies of Memory, John Barnes (Tom Doherty LLC Publishing)
Giraut Leones, special agent for the human Thousand Cultures' shadowy Office of Special Plans, is turning fifty—and someone is trying to kill him. Giraut's had a long career; the number of entities that might want him dead is effectively limitless. But recently Giraut was approached by the Lost Legion, an Occitan underground linked to an alliance of illegally human-settled worlds beyond the frontier. Also, it turns out that the Lost Legion colony has a "psypyx" —a consciousness-recording—of Shan, onetime boss of the Office of Special Plans. If they have that, they have literally thousands of devastating secrets. Now, returning to his native Nou Occitan, Giraut will encounter violence and treachery from human and artificial consciousnesses alike. As bigotry and mob violence erupt throughout the rapidly destabilizing interstellar situation, Giraut will be called on the make the ultimate sacrifice, for the sake of civilization itself… Book four in the Giraut series.
New in Audiobook:
Ascent, Jed Mercurio (Tantor Media, Unabridged)
Can one act define a man? Or his country? Ascent is the spellbinding thriller by critically acclaimed British novelist Jed Mercurio. Inspired by the secrets still surrounding the USSR's race against the United States to put a man on the moon, Mercurio asks the chilling question, What if the Americans weren't first? Ascent takes us on the perilous journey of its singular hero, the brave and determined Yefgenii Yeremin. Yefgenii rises from the privation of a Stalingrad orphanage in 1946 to the heights of the cosmonaut corps. During the Korean War he joins an elite Soviet squadron conducting a secret air war against the famous aces of the U.S. Air Force. Dubbed Ivan the Terrible, he amasses more jet kills than any fighter pilot in history, but his feats must remain unknown to his countrymen, his victories un-celebrated. After the war, his achievements are scrubbed from the records and he is exiled to a base above the Arctic Circle, where he flies patrols on the edge of American airspace. There he learns that Yuri Gagarin has become the first man in space, the greatest of all heroes. And then, as America's Apollo astronauts prepare to reach the Moon, he is given a new name and sent into cosmonaut training. Throughout his career, he has craved a place in history, in the climactic clash between the two great powers. At last his country calls him. And somewhere between the Earth and the Moon, Ivan the Terrible finds his mission to create history, to exceedhis own life. With one of the most fascinating heroes in recent fiction, Ascent builds a terrifying scenario within the shadowy history of the space race. Haunting, tragic, boldly inventive, Ascent is a tour de force of imagination. Narrated by Todd McLaren.
Okay that wraps up this week’s edition of the Buzz. Be sure to check back next week 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.
