Inside Straight, a Wild Card Novel by George R.R Martin(2008).
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The Side Project

In an author’s world the side project is the inventive diversion from the norm, the natural extension of those delectable creative juices, and the next thing on the horizon of the mind’s eye. In some cases this is an entirely new adventure or maybe the non-sequential ruminations on a series, or all of the above. But whether you love the side project for its new material and illuminating backstory or hate it for taking so much damn time away from other works, almost every author’s got at least one.

Hello Maniac readers and welcome to the Buzz. Being a bit of a writer myself, I’ve always been interested in keeping tabs on what my favorite authors are doing in the now. With almost feverish intensity Tolkien spent his days after Lord of the Rings working on small snippets of the Middle Earth mythos, and these numerous addendums and appendices have already helped shape Peter Jackson’s screen trilogy in crucial ways. With New Line’s confirmation of two pending “Hobbit” films in the works we’ll probably get to see even more of those Tolkien nuances that were never published with the original series.

While being consumed with the latter novels of Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan started investing energy into a set of prequel novellas in the vein of A New Spring and, tragically, was already working on an entirely new series before his untimely death.

Faced with similar writing block issues on A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin started stacking on the side projects with the release of unrelated fiction and the screen translation of ASoIaF for HBO. Now unfortunately we have no new info on the upcoming HBO miniseries, but Martin’s other side projects have come to fruition this month. Hunter’s Run, the SF collaboration with fellow authors Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham, was released earlier in January and the first hardback reboot of the shared fiction Wild Cards series, Inside Straight, is debuting today. Hopefully these sci-fi jaunts will settle fans’ appetites for more Martin, because they sure as hell didn’t help him come any closer to finishing A Dance with Dragons.

Alan Campbell, the up-and-coming fantasy writer and former game designer for the Grand Theft Auto franchise, is already dabbling in some prequel work for his very promising Deepgate Codex series. Kicked off by 2006’s largely overlooked Scar Night, the Deepgate Codex was one of the grittiest and most refreshing fantasy debuts of the past few years, and this week Campbell treats us to some more of the Deepgate lore with Lye Street, a prequel novella, out tomorrow on hardback. Despite how cool these side projects can be, lets all hope those authors already engaged in a series can settle back into a good pace, ‘cuz no one likes a series in mid-stride.

New in Hardcover:

Lye Street, Alan Campbell (Subterranean Press)

Alan Campbell has graced us with a 26,000 word novella, a prequel to his stunning fantasy debut, Scar Night, the first novel of the Deepgate Codex. Lye Street ends just where the novel picks up! The Greene family is cursed. Every fifty years Deepgate’s scarred angel, Carnival, returns to murder another descendant. Now, five hundred years after the first victim’s death, Sal Greene is facing his own doom. His time has almost run out. In a desperate attempt to break the chain of violence and save his family, he summons a demon to the chained city: a warrior he hopes is powerful enough to stand against the angel. Yet the creature which arrives in Deepgate is not quite the legendary mercenary Sal Greene was expecting. Signed limited edition illustrated by Dave McKean.

The Wannoshay Cycle, Michael Jasper (Five Star)

Due out from Five Star Books in January 2008, The Wannoshay Cycle takes place in a world where terrorism has spread to America in the form of repeated bombings and violent attacks. Adding to the chaos and paranoia, three dozen alien ships crash-land in the middle of a blizzard, landing in the Midwest of America and Canada. Almost miraculously, in spite of the paranoia of the people who encounter them, the aliens known as the Wannoshay begin to integrate slowly into human society. The transition is interrupted, however, when a series of mysterious explosions occur, and the "Wantas" are blamed. The aliens are placed into internment camps, "for their protection and our own," according to human leaders. An unlikely group of humans, led by a Catholic priest, converge around the alien Mother Ship in Iowa City, where the Wannoshay are inexplicably dying. The humans soon discover the "true history" of the aliens, a secret that explains their epidemic sickness and forces the humans to make painful choices about how to help these immigrants to our world, choices that will take them away from the lives they once knew.

Inside Straight, Ed. by George R.R. Martin (Tor Books)

In 1946, an alien virus that rewrites human DNA was accidentally unleashed in the skies over New York City. It killed ninety percent of those it infected. Nine percent of those who survived mutated into tragically deformed creatures. And one percent gained superpowers. The Wild Cards shared-universe series, created and edited since 1987 by New York Times #1 bestseller George R. R. Martin along with Melinda Snodgrass, is the tale of the history of the world since then-and of the heroes among that one percent. Originally begun in 1986, long before George R. R. Martin became a household name among fantasy readers ("The American Tolkien" --Time magazine), the Wild Cards series earned a reputation among connoisseurs for its smart reimagining of the superhero idea. Now, with Inside Straight, the Wild Cards continuity jumps forward to a new generation of major characters, entirely accessible to Martin's hundreds of thousands of new readers, with all-original stories by Martin himself, along with Daniel Abraham, Michael Cassutt, and Stephen Leigh, among others. A Wild Cards Novel.

Flatland: Movie Edition, Edwin A. Abbott, etc. (Princeton University Press)

Edwin Abbott's beloved mathematical adventure novel Flatland (1884) is being introduced to a whole new generation of readers and viewers through Flatland: The Movie, a dramatic computer-animated adaptation starring Martin Sheen, Kristen Bell, Michael York, Tony Hale, and Joe Estevez. This book is the companion to the movie--and the ultimate edition of the classic book on which it is based. A beautiful, large-format volume, Flatland: The Movie Edition includes: the full text of the original novel; the screenplay of the movie; essays on the making of the movie by the writers and filmmakers--producer Seth Caplan, director Jeffrey Travis, and director and animator Dano Johnson; color illustrations; and a new introduction by Thomas Banchoff, a Brown University mathematician and Flatland authority who served as an advisor to the filmmakers. By describing the challenges the filmmakers faced in updating a Victorian mathematical allegory for a new generation and transforming it into a compelling animated story, Flatland: The Movie Edition makes watching the movie and reading Abbott's book even more illuminating and enjoyable. You'll never think about the multiple dimensions of space in the same way again.

Doctor Grordbort's Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory, Greg Broadmore (Dark Horse)

By jingo, by crikey, and by all that's good in this world, he's done it! Dr. Grordbort has released his directory of scientific splendor. A catalogue of wondrous contraptions and wave weapons of unprecedented power, this book makes available a myriad of destructive and beneficial devices to any intergalactic explorer: Rayguns, Metal Men, Ironclads, and Rocketships are all presented. Also included is a sequential pictographic essay (also known as a "comic") on the exploits of world-famous naturalist and adventurer Lord Cockswain. See him uncover the natural mysteries of Venus with several big guns!

Warhammer 40k Roleplay: Dark Heresy, Black Industries (Black Industires)

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy will be the first in a brand new trilogy of long-awaited Warhammer 40,000 roleplay games. Full of mystery, investigation and corruption, this book is an ideal introduction to the dark and gothic universe of the 41st Millennium, and marks the launch of a new gaming system that players have been anticipating for over 20 years!

New in Paperback:

Roman Dusk, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Tor Books)

In the unsettled time when Imperial Rome totters on the brink of collapse, the vampire Ragoczy Germainus Sanct’ Franciscus—the Count Saint-Germain—finds himself targeted by a corrupt Roman official and accused of bribery, tax evasion, and treason. The storm that hovers over the vampire grows darker when he is accused of corrupting Ignatia, a young virgin. Her brother, a zealous covert to the new religion of Christianity, threatens to purify Saint-Germain with fire. And fire can destroy even the undead. A novel of the Count Saint-Germaine series.

Guin Saga: Warrior in the Wilderness, Kaoru Kurimoto (Vertical Books)

The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the smae vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise "The Marches Episode" arc. Each paperback edition will feature artwork taken from the original Japanese editions. (see art above). Guin is a mighty warrior, who cannot remember his past. His only clue is a leopard mask mystically attached to his head. Joined by the royal twins of Parros, Remus and Rinda; Suni, the simian-girl; and Istavan, the mercenary; our hero must cross the treacherous River Kes and journey into the badlands of Nospherus, where unthinkable dangers lurk. In hot pursuit is a Mongauli army of 15,000, led by the beautiful and dangerous General Amnelis. Illustrated by Naoyuki Kato.

Stargate SG-1: The Barque of Heaven, Suzanne Wood (Fandemonium Books)

The Stargate SG-1 team find themselves transported to a world where they must solve a series of riddles and avoid deadly traps in order to travel home. Pursued by Goa'uld and Jaffa, it is a race against death to the finish line.

Magellania, Jules Verne (Welcome Rain Publishing)

This first English translation ever shows this book to be a unique, forceful novel that widens the scope of Verne's literary legacy and distinguishes itself in Verne's somber, philosophical questioning of society, religion, nature and man as he neared the end of his life.

The Company: Gods and Pawns, Kage Baker (Tor Books)

These eight stories, reprinted for the first time in this collection, delve further into the history and exploits of the Company.  The book opens with the novella, "To the Land Beyond the Sunset," starring Lewis and Mendoza, and involving a strange tribe in Bolivia whose members claim to be gods. "Standing in His Light" features Van Drouten's role in the career of the artist Jan Vermeer. Other stories include "Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst," which opens up intriguing questions about The Company, and the original novelette, "Hellfire at Twilight," which concludes the volume and tells of Lewis infiltrating the famous Hellfire Club in eighteenth century England. Gods and Pawns is a compelling read for every Baker fan, and essential for Company addicts.

Star Wars KotOR: Days of Fear, Nights of Anger, John Jackson Miller, etc. (Dark Horse)

Nearly 4,000 years before the Death Star, fugitive Padawan Zayne Carrick's quest to clear his name runs afoul of forces beyond his control-forces he and his friends have helped to unleash! Con-artist Gryph sees the Mandalorian Wars as a chance to make a quick credit, but Zayne sees a terrible tragedy on the horizon - one where only an act of self-sacrifice can save the ungrateful Republic! But the real key to the future of the galaxy may lie with none other than Zayne's fellow fugitives, the genius Camper and the beautiful Jarael, who have just fallen prey to the forces they've spent a lifetime running from!

Warhammer 40k Roleplay: Dark Heresy Character Record, Black Industries (Black Industires)

Created for use with Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Dark Heresy, this deluxe character sheet is a must for all players to ensure their achievements do not go unrecorded. With 24 pages of luxury parchment, and all the official seals, no one will want to go without one of their very own!

Tomorrow at the Fair, Bob Madison (Dinoship, Inc.)

John Kenner, 12 years old and in love with science fiction, dreams of the future as seen in science ficiton comics. When the 1939 World's Fair promises to create the World of Tomorrow, he and his grandfather run away from home and travel to New York, only to learn that anarchists plan to blow up the Trylon and Perisphere!

The Solarians, Norman Spinrad (Dinoship, Inc.)

For 300 years the Solarians had isolated themselves from the galaxy with the promise to reappear one day to bring victory. With the human race at stake in a war with machine-like beings, can Jay Palmer accept them and their dangerous plan to surrender Earth?

Phobos Rising, L.A. Graf (Phobos Impact)

The Matrix meets Tremors on Mars as colonists from Earth accidentally awaken a long-dead Martian civilization with deadly results. A Living Mars Novel.

Journeys into the Future: Tomorrow’s World in Science Fiction Cinema, Danny Peary (Dinoship, Inc.)

An all-star lineup of renowned science fiction writers, film makers, and film critics from around the world explore the future according to science fiction cinema.

The Day of the Burning, Barry Malzberg (Dinoship, Inc.)

The Earth is blissfully unaware that the fate of the entire human race lay in the shaking hands of George Mercer, an insignificant and slightly neurotic employee of New York's Department of Welfare. He has only 12 hours to prove to the Galactic Overlords that Earth is worthy!

The Best of Ray Bradbury: The Graphic Novel, Ray Bradbury (IBooks Graphic Novel)

Over a period of four years, from l992-1996, the world's best comic book artists adapted SF Grand Master Ray Bradbury's best stories in a series of different graphic novel formats. Now, for the first time, the best of these stories by the illustrators comics fans crave are collected in a single affordable volume. Each story is accompanied by an introduction by Bradbury.

Asimov’s Chimera, Mark W. Tiedemann (IBooks, Inc.)

Coren Lanra is the head of security for DyNan Manual Industries. A former Special Service agent, he's never cared for bureaucracy, piracy, or deception. Lanra's troubles begin when Nyom Looms, daughter of DyNan president Rega Looms, is murdered during an ill-fated mission to smuggle illegal immigrants from Earth to the colony Nova Levis. The question is, why? The only clue might be contained within the positronic brain of a robot that had accompanied the victim, but it has been deactivated, and Lanra is denied access to its memories. With the help of roboticist Derec Avery and Auroran ambassador Ariel Burgess, Lanra searches for the identity of a killer, before more lives are lost. A novel of the New Isaac Asimov’s Robot Mystery series.

Asimov’s Aurora, Mark W. Tiedemann (IBooks, Inc.)

The Third Law of Robotics states that a robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. After the diplomatic failures of the Spacer mission on Earth, Ambassador Ariel Burgess and roboticist Derec Avery are recalled to their home planet, Aurora. Their situation only worsens when they arrive, as they become suspects in another murder--one that could only have been committed by a non-human. On a world with a 20-to-1 robot-to-human population, is it possible a robot could have violated the Three Laws governing its behavior--and if so, why? Or is something far more sinister at work? A novel of the New Isaac Asimov’s Robot Mystery series.

Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime, Vol. II, Paul Preuss (IBooks, Inc.)

When a team of scientists is trapped in the gaseous inferno of Venus, Sparta must risk her life to save them, unaware that her actions will help recover a mysterious artifact: irrefutable evidence of life on another planet. As the secrets of the artifact are revealed, Sparta uncovers a mystery which may lead her to the truth of her own destiny.

New in Audiobook:

Kiss of the Highlander, Karen Marie Moning (Brilliance Audio Unabridged)

A laird trapped between centuries. Enchanted by a powerful spell, Highland laird Drustan MacKeltar slumbered for nearly five centuries hidden deep in a cave, until an unlikely savior awakened him. The enticing lass who dressed and spoke like no woman he'd ever known was from his distant future, where crumbled ruins were all that remained of his vanished world. Drustan knew he had to return to his own century if he was to save his people from a terrible fate. And he needed the bewitching woman by his side... A woman changed forever in his arms. Gwen Cassidy had come to Scotland to shake up her humdrum life and, just maybe, meet a man. How could she have known that a tumble down a Highland ravine would send her plunging into an underground cavern - to land atop the most devastatingly seductive man she'd ever seen? Or that once he'd kissed her, he wouldn't let her go? Bound to Drustan by a passion stronger than time, Gwen is swept back to sixteenth-century Scotland, where a treacherous enemy plots against them...and where a warrior with the power to change history will defy time itself for the woman he loves... Narrated by Phil Gigante.

Okay Maniacs that’ll do it for this week’s Buzz. Check back next Monday for all the latest info on current sci fi, fantasy, and horror book releases. Questions or comments? Hit me up at Pferrara.mania@gmail.com.