Good Omens
© Harper Torch Publishing

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Punktown and Good Omens are Back to Mix Things UP

A slew of paperback releases this Tuesday offers everything from cheeky science fiction to dark, genre-crossing fantasy and dragon-riding mayhem (told by both man and mythical beast perspective). 

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s powerhouse collaboration Good Omens is back in a brand-spankin’ new edition. First published in 1990, the morosely humorous tale of the impending apocalypse now comes with an introduction by the authors, comments by each other about the other, and introspective hints into the nuances of their cooperative project.  

Chris Bunch concludes his Dragonmaster Trilogy with The Last Battle and newcomer Mark Sehestedt debuts his first novel with Frostfell, set in the Forgotten Realms: The Wizards universe. Five-time Hugo Awar-winner Mike Resnick continues the story he begun in his very first military sci-fi novel, Starship: Mutiny (2005), with Starship: Pirate out on paperback. 

Showcased over the years in many “Best of” horror and fantasy anthologies, Jeffrey Thomas returns with a re-release of his classic sci-fi / fantasy / horror collection Punktown. Originally published in 2000, Punktown spins a series of separate tales that all revolve around a future megalopolis by the same name. If you’re looking for a different, cross-genre spin on the sci-fi concept or you’re just a plain old fan of Thomas, check out this re-release with double the stories. 

Other books to check out: Cursor’s Fury, Cosmic Cocktails, & Plague of the Dead 
 

New in Hardcover: 
 

Cursor's Fury of the Codex Alera Series

© Penguin Group USA

The power-hungry High Lord of Kalare has launched a rebellion against the aging First Lord, Gaius Sextus, who with the loyal forces of Alera must fight beside the unlikeliest of allies: the equally contentious High Lord of Aquitaine. Meanwhile, young Tavi of Calderon joins a newly formed legion under an assumed name even as the ruthless Kalare unites with the Canim, bestial enemies of the realm whose vast numbers spell certain doom for Alera. When treachery from within destroys the army's command structure, Tavi finds himself leading an inexperienced, poorly equipped legion… the only force standing between the Canim horde and the war-torn realm. If you’re interested in this the third book of the Codex Alera series, you’ll want to check out the second installment, Academ’s Fury, released on paperback last week.  
 

Childe Morgan, Katherine Kurtz (Penguin Group USA) 

Alaric Morgan has been pledged to the king's service, for his Dernyi blood makes him ideal to safeguard the Haldane kings and ensure that Prince Brion shall have protection of his hereditary magic. But the Deryni are feared by the populace of Gwynedd and are viewed with deep suspicion by the Church. And the Camberian Council, which secretly oversees the activities of Deryni, scorns Alaric for his half-breed ancestry. Alaric has the king's protection, and a future mapped out for him that in time should ensure his survival as well as that of the king's heir. But Alaric is only four years old… and first he must survive to reach manhood.  
 

New in Paperback: 
 

Confederation of Valor, Tonya Huff (Penguin Group USA) 

Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr's goal is to keep both her superior officers and her troops alive as they face deadly missions throughout the galaxy. She more than proves her mettle when a diplomatic assignment and a scientific expedition both turn dangerous. 
 

Punktown

© Wildside Press

In the city they call Punktown, on a planet where a hundred sentient species collide, you can become a creator of colonies. You can become a piece of performance art. You might even become a library of sorrows… Released to wide acclaim in its original incarnation, Jeffrey Thomas' Punktown is presented here in a special edition with twice as many stories, twice as many nightmares and wonders, and a foreword by Michael Marshall Smith. This slim synopsis doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of this collection’s depth and originality. Possessing a knack for writing genre-bending stories, Jeffrey Thomas throws together insightful tales that reflect elements of fantasy, cyberpunk, and horror to yield a poetic insight on the human condition. If you’re looking for something fresh and unique check this guy out. 
 

Interstellar Patrol II: The Federation of Humanity, Christopher Anvil (Baen Books) 

Vaughan Roberts and his two companions had been trapped on a crime-ridden, chaotic planet until they bamboozled the population with a gigantic hoax - which brought them to the attention of the Interstellar Patrol, who were looking for a few good con men capable of ingenious improvisation and adept at playing dirty tricks on the bad guys. The new recruits acquitted themselves admirably, so they naturally were given more tough nuts to crack, including: flummoxing an alien empire which has taken a number of human prisoners to gather information prior to an invasion; stopping a plan by not-so-good Samaritans who are pretending to cure a planetary plague - which they introduced to the planet - with a "miracle" drug which creates an addiction to the same drug; and making sure that the rightful heir to a planet's throne escapes from captivity and overthrows the usurper. This time there's a complication: Roberts may be falling for the heir's beautiful sister. And much more, including such lethal alien wildlife as banjo birds with rapier-like beaks, alien caterpillars with flaming dragonlike exhalations, and a cast of thousands of biting, stinging, bloodsucking insects from a host of colony worlds who think humans are the tastiest things they've ever come across. Book two of the hokey-sounding Federation of Man series. 
 

People of the Book, Ed. by Wildside Press 

From Sholom Aleichem to Avram Davidson, Isaac Bashevis Singer to Tony Kushner, the Jewish literary tradition has always been one rich in the supernatural and the fantastic. In these pages, gathered from the best short fiction of 2005, twelve authors prove that their heritage is alive and well - in the spaces between stars that an alphabet can bridge, folklore come to life and histories become stories, and all the places where old worlds and new collide and change. These are the people of the book. Open, read; the universe is made of words. 
 

Cosmic Cocktails

© Penguin Group USA

It's happy hour on the far side of the galaxy, where every drink is out of this world. Get inebriated with fifteen all-new stories set in some of the wildest taverns, saloons, and bars across the universe. From a liquid life-form that has to be drunk to get drunk to a Terran agent on the trail of alien collaborators to a time-traveling assassin out to kill more than time in a bar-these tales are guaranteed to lift your spirits. Ahh booze and sci-fi, I love it. 
 

One Good Knight, Mercedes Lackey (Harlequin Press) 

Another story sparkling with wit and humor from New York Times bestselling author Mercedes Lackey. Traditionally, marauding dragons are soothed only by a virgin sacrifice. And so practical-minded Princess Andromeda, with the encouragement of her mother's court, reluctantly volunteers to do her duty, asking only for a sword to defend herself. Well, her offer is accepted, but the weapon isn't forthcoming, and so Andromeda faces the dragon alone. Until a Champion arrives to save her… sort of. Sir George doesn't quite defeat the dragon, but as Andromeda finishes rescuing herself she discovers that beneath the Good Knight's well-meaning though inexperienced heroics lies a further tale… Still, Andromeda can't leave her seacoast country in further jeopardy from the dragon's return, and so she and George join to search for the dragon's lair. But even in the Five Hundred Kingdoms bucking with Tradition isn't easy. It takes the strongest of wills, more than a hint of stubbornness, quick thinking and a refusal to give up, no matter what happens along the way. Somehow, though, none of this was taught in princess school… Book two of the A Tale of Five Hundred Kingdoms series, One Good Knight follows 2004’s Fairy Godmother with in-depth characters, a unique atmosphere, and the light-hearted, humorous writing style Lackey has become known for. 
 

Land of Mist and Snow, Debra Doyle & James MacDonald (Eos Books) 

Called to duty at last, Lieutenant John Nevis faces his assignment with trepidation. Boarding the USS Nicodemus-a sloop of war built in a single night at the top of the world-Nevis wonders uneasily at its strange aura of power, its cannon balls of virgin brass… and its uncanny ability to glide swiftly through the waters without steam or sail. As great armies clash all around them, the mission of Lieutenant Nevis and the Nicodemus crew is shrouded in an impenetrable gray mist of magic and malevolence. For a fearsome adversary awaits on roiling waves, an awesomely powerful vessel fueled by cruelty and terror; a demon raider driven by an insatiable lust… for blood. A rousing alternate history set in a divided 1863 North America, the Union and Confederacy vie for naval dominance with ships powered by captured elementals. 
 

Starship: Pirate, Mike Resnick (Prometheus Books) 

The date is 1967 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, created by the human race but not yet dominated by it, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. After his latest exploit saved millions of lives but embarrassed his superiors, Captain Wilson Cole, a man with a reputation for exceeding orders but getting results, found himself the victim of the media feeding frenzy, a political scapegoat despite years of dedicated military service. Faced with a court martial, he was rescued by the loyal crew of his ship, the Theodore Roosevelt. Now branded mutineers, the crew of the Teddy R. has quit the Republic, never to return. Seeking to find a new life for themselves, Wilson Cole and comrades remake the Teddy R. as a pirate ship and set sail for the lawless Inner Frontier. Here, powerful warlords, cut-throat pirates, and struggling colonies compete for survival in a game where you rarely get a second chance to learn the rules. But military discipline is poor preparation for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole’s principles naturally limit his targets. Seeking an education on the nature of piracy, Cole hunts more knowledgeable players. Enter the beautiful but deadly Valkyrie, Val for short, and the enigmatic alien fence known as David Copperfield. But hanging over everything is the fearsome alien pirate—the Hammerhead Shark. Will the galaxy ever be the same? David Copperfield, that bastard’s still around three thousand years from now? 
 

Good Omens

© Harper Torch Publishing

There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655 before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon—each of whom has lived among Earth's mortals for many millennia and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle—are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he's a really nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him… A dark yet hilariously funny twist on the apocalypse, Gaiman and Pratchett’s collaboration is not to be missed. 
 

The Eye of Argon, Jim Theis (Wildside Press) 

This is not a hoax. Jim Theis was a real person, who wrote The Eye of Argon in all seriousness as a teenager, and published it in a fanzine, Osfan in 1970. But the story did not pass into the oblivion that awaits most amateur fiction. Instead, a miracle happened, and transcribed and photocopied texts began to circulate in science fiction circles, gaining a wide and incredulous audience among both professionals and fans. It became the ultimate samizdat, an underground classic, and for more than thirty years it has been the subject of midnight readings at conventions, as thousands have come to appreciate the negative genius of this amazing Ed Wood of prose. 
 

Wall of Mirrors, Jay Caselberg (Penguin Group USA) 

Linked to an advanced alien culture through his dreams, Jack has fallen into the hands of Outreach Industries-whose agents will stop at nothing to tap into that link. But if Jack can't decipher what the aliens have been communicating to him, the entire human race may be in jeopardy. 
 

Divine By Choice, P.C. Cast (Luna Books) 

After being mistaken for a goddess in the mythic world of Partholon, high school English teacher Shannon Parker settled in. She adores her sexy centaur husband, is getting used to her connection to the powerful goddess Epona and thoroughly enjoys the pampering from both! All is looking very right in her world…until she is wrenched from Partholon and sent back to Oklahoma. As she struggles to return to the world and the husband she loves, Shannon discovers she is not alone. A great evil has followed her. Now more than just Shannon's future is at stake, and she needs to somehow tap into our world's dormant magic. Her only ally is her husband's mirror image in Oklahoma--a man who loves her too much. Shannon must figure out a way to vanquish the ancient evil and not lose her life, her soul or her heart. Along the way she discovers that being divine by mistake is a lot easier than being divine by choice… Follows September 2006’s Divine By Mistake. 
 

Elixir, Richard Michaels Stefanik (BookSurge Publishing) 

Elixir is "The Princess Bride” meets “Return of the King.” A sword and sorcerer fantasy set in the time of Elizabethan England, where a group of witches, alchemists and magicians pursue the "elixir of life:” a potion that can transform a person into whatever they dream to become. 
 

The Frost-Haired Vixen, John Zakour (Penguin Group USA) 

In the year 2060, Zach Johnson, the world's only freelance private investigator, tackles his strangest case yet, solving the murders of two elves at the North Pole. Santana Clausa, the micro-mini skirt clad bombshell and frost-haired mutant who runs the Pole hires Zach to stop the killer or killers before they strike again, destroying the Holiday for billions. If the media gets whiff of the murders at the "happiest, safest place on Earth," mass panic is sure to ensue-and that's never a good thing. With the happiness of billions at stake, Zach and HARV (his A.I. companion wired directly to his brain-yes it was as painful as it sounds) will match wits, muscle, and technology against a bevy of superhuman females, a mutant elf with an attitude, killer robots, and even a couple of nerds with an agenda. The hilarious futuristic follow-up to The Plutonium Blonde, The Doomsday Brunette, and The Radioactive Redhead.  
 

Star of the Morning, Lynn Kurland (Penguin Group USA) 

From the USA Today bestselling author comes the first in a magical romantic fantasy trilogy. Darkness covers the north since the black mage has begun his assault on the kingdom of Neroche. Legend has it that only the two magical swords held by Neroche's king can defeat the mage. Now the fate of the Nine Kingdoms rests in the hands of a woman destined to wield one of those blades... In this land of dragons and mages, warrior maids and magical swords, nothing is as it seems. And Morgan will find that the magic in her blood brings her troubles she cannot face with a sword… and a love more powerful than she has ever imagined. The thirteenth novel in Lynn Kurland’s RITA Award-winning career, Star of the Morning kicks off the Nine Kingdoms series. 
 

Mechwarrior Dark Age: Surrender Your Dreams, Blaine Lee Pardoe (Penguin Group USA) 

The Fidelis fight on... They are the Fidelis, a brotherhood of warriors whose devotion to honor and courage on the battlefield is unmatched. Their existence known only to a former exarch, they are a fighting force to be reckoned with-a force three knights must consider as they undertake missions that could save the Republic...or cripple it.  
 

Outfoxing Fear: Folktales from Around the World, Ed. by Kathleen Ragan (W.W. Norton Co.) 

A multicultural collection of hopeful, utopian folktales for all ages that tackle our most elemental human scourge: fear. Humans of all eras and cultures have lived with fear: of becoming jaguar prey, of being besieged by Vikings, or of nuclear holocaust. For millennia, huddled around campfires and in cottages, we have created folktales to help us transform this fear into action, into solutions, into hope. Inspired by the residual fear and need for stories of resilience following September 11th, Kathleen Ragan, editor of the anthology Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters, has scoured the globe and collected these 64 tales that respond to fear in its wide variety of incarnations. From the old Japanese woman who tricks the tengu monster to the bluebird that uses the Chinook wind to teach her mother compassion, Outfoxing Fear is a collection of positive, even utopian, folktales arranged thematically around topics such as the nature of fear and courage, the importance of laughter, and the need for hope. 16 illustrations, a map, and an introduction by Jack Zipes round out this collection. 
 

The Last Battle of the Dragonmasters Trilogy

© Penguin Group USA

The Great War has ended, but there's no peace for battle-hardened Hal Kailas. In his bleak, ravaged homeland, even his marriage to Lady Khiri no longer brings solace. And Hal's worst fears are coming to pass as the dragonmasters, and the magnificent beasts they once flew, are cast off like relics of a misbegotten age. Old enemies have savagely returned. With his loyal comrades, Hal must turn back this terrible scourge that threatens man and beast alike in one last, ultimate battle… whose outcome is far from certain. The final installment of the Dragonmaster Trilogy, The Last Battle follows 2005’s Storm of Wings and 2006’s Knighthood of the Dragon. 
 

Frostfell of the Forgotten Realms - The Wizards Series

© Wizards of the Coast Publishing

Daughter of House Hiloar, War Wizard of Cormyr, Renegade. Only fools find themselves at Winterkeep after the first snowfall. The cold alone can kill if you live long enough, and dangers far worse haunt the ruined keep in winter. But slavers stole her son. She would sacrifice everything to get him back. But in the uncaring, frozen north, will it be enough? 
 

Dragon Avenger, E.E. Knight (Penguin Group USA) 

Flung to freedom as their mother battles a group of slave-trading dwarves, young Wistala and her gray, scaleless brother, Auron, find themselves alone in the Upper World. When Auron sacrifices himself so that she may live, Wistala must overcome her grief and fear to find others of her kind… and bring her wrath to bear on those who would destroy them. Second in the Age of Fire behind Dragon Champion (2005), award-winning author E.E. Knight returns with a gritty, coming-of-age tale in Dragon Avenger. 
 

Against Gravity

© Trafalgar Square Publishing

Live long enough, and this could be your future...  It is the late 21st century, and it is a very different world. Meet Kendrick Gallmon, survivor of The Maze, a secret research facility where thousands of political prisoners became unwilling guinea pigs in experiments to create the perfect soldier. Kendrick Gallmon is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, even though he knows his nervous system, which is riddled with unstable nanotech augmentations, is slowly killing him. Then one day, his heart stops beating, forever. A ghost urges him to return to the source of all his nightmares—a long-abandoned military complex filled with the entirely real voices of the dead...  
 

Project MARS: A Technical Tale, Wernher von Braun (Collector’s Guide Publishing) 

This never-before-printed science fiction novel by the original "rocket man," Wernher von Braun, combines technical fact with a human story line in the way that only a true dreamer can realize. Encompassing the entire story of the journey, this novel moves from the original decision for a Mars mission, through the mission planning, the building of the mighty space ships, the journey, the amazing discoveries made on Mars, and the return home. The author's attention to the actions and feelings of the characters—both those who went and those who stayed behind—makes this an adventure of human proportions, rather than merely another fanciful tale. This exclusive von Braun treasure comes complete with an appendix of his original technical drawings, made in the late 1940s, on which the story's plot is based. Dr. Wernher von Braun was instrumental in developing Germany’s V-2 rocket during World War II. After the war, he emigrated to the United States and became a driving force behind America's space-launch vehicles. America's first satellite and the Apollo spacecraft that landed on the Moon were launched by rockets designed by von Braun. Mars is awesome. Those interested in technically-oriented guides to Mars voyages should check out this book or Dr. Robert Zubrin’s Mars Direct. 
 

Plague of the Dead, Z.A. Recht (Permuted Press) 

The end begins with a viral outbreak unlike anything mankind has ever encountered before. The infected are subject to delirium, fever, a dramatic increase in violent behavior, and a one-hundred percent mortality rate. Death. But it doesn't end there. The victims return from death to walk the earth. When a massive military operation fails to contain the plague of the living dead it escalates into a global pandemic. In one fell swoop, the necessities of life become much more basic. Gone are petty everyday concerns. Gone are the amenities of civilized life. Yet a single law of nature remains: Live, or die. Kill, or be killed. On one side of the world, a battle-hardened General surveys the remnants of his command: a young medic, a veteran photographer, a brash Private, and dozens of refugees, all are his responsibility-all thousands of miles from home. Back in the United States, an Army Colonel discovers the darker side of Morningstar virus and begins to collaborate with a well-known journalist to leak the information to the public... The Morningstar Strain series has begun. Awesome; this book sounds like a cross between Romero style and Danny Boyle’s beautifully visualized 28 Days Later. Horror fans snatch this up. Edited by Travis Adkins with an introduction by Bowie Ibarra.  
 

That’ll do it for this week y’all. Check back next Tuesday for all the latest buzz on new sci fi, horror, and fantasy book releases. Questions or comments? Hit me up at PFerrara.mania@gmail.com.