Stirling, Turtledove, Clegg, & New Brits Hit the Scene

By: Pat Ferrara
Date: Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Harry Turtledove smacks the shelves again with another alternate history thriller, S.M. Stirling propels his Dies the Fire sequence, and Douglas Clegg returns from last week's paperback debut of Priest of Blood with a continuation of the Vampyricon series in this week's book buzz of sci fi, fantasy, and horror fiction.

Tor Books unloads a handful of new hardback goodies from a series opener by S.C. Butler with Reiffen's Choice to continuing installments of The Finest Trilogy and the Crosstime Traffic series with the respective releases of The Finest Challenge by Jean Rabe and The Disunited States of America by that old history-bending rascal Turtledove.

Not to be outdone Baen Books also drops a slew of new titles including the hardcover releases of Some Golden Harbor by David Drake to extend the sci fi RCN Series, Alpha by Catherine Asaro to follow up her 2004 release of Sunrise Alley, and the complete Stardance Trilogy in a new one-volume tome.

Pyr Books, a SF & Fantasy subdivision of Prometheus Books, brings two new talented authors from across the pond with the debuts of John Meaney's To Hold Infinity on hardback and Justina Robinson's mind-expanding, medical SF masterpiece Mappa Mundi on paperback. Throw in a humorous anthology of not-so-ordinary fantasy and science fiction stories and boom; you've got this week's buzz. Enjoy.



New in Hardcover:

Reiffen's Choice, S.C. Butler, Tor Books

Reiffen, only twelve years old, is the true heir to the thrones of both Wayland and Banking. He and his friends Avender and Ferris live in a magical world of talking animals, dwarves, and shape-shifting bears but...he lives with the shame of knowing that no one will ever let him rule these kingdoms, that their crowns will bring him nothing but betrayal and sorrow...and that he is powerless. Reiffen will have only a short life of child's innocence, a brief respite from the trial of impossible adult responsibility, the trial of attempting to finish a task he can never complete. And then he is shown the nations of his world from the peak of a fortress drear and tempted with fame and fortune and his rightful place on the throne of great kingdoms: his kingdoms. He need only surrender his humanity; kill his loves and he would have his childhood fantasy. He would be granted great Black knowledge, more furious than anything he had ever imagined. He could desire justice...but would have to kill everything he loved to get it. Reiffen's Choice is the first book in the Stoneways Trilogy, a series about innocence and struggle that can only be compared to The Once and Future King and Raymond E. Feist's Magician.

A Meeting at Corvallis, S.M. Stirling, Penguin Group USA

The national bestselling saga of alternate history continues from the author of Dies the Fire (2004) and The Protector's War (2005). 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. Sound interesting? Check out a brief summary for The Protector's War and get a better idea of what the Dies the Fire series is all about under the 'New in Paperback' section.

The Lady of Serpents, Douglas Clegg, Ace Hardcover Books

Hailed as the prophesied messiah of the vampyre, Aleric seemed destined for glory...until, like many of his brethren, he was captured by the sorceress Enora. Imprisoned, he is now forced to fight in the arena for her amusement. To end Enora's reign of terror, Aleric must escape and find the alchemist behind her power, though that may mean unleashing Pythia, the Lady of Serpents and Aleric's old enemy: the seductress who ended his mortal life. For she alone may hold the key to the survival not only of the vampyres, but also all of humankind. Book Two of the Vampyricon Series, The Lady of Serpents continues the riveting saga started with Priest of Blood that was just released on paperback last week.

Hounding the Moon, P.R. Frost, DAW Hardcover Books

Introducing Tess Noncoiré: bestselling fantasy writer turned martial arts demon hunter. Tess Noncoiré was a successful fantasy writer when her life took an unexpected turn. After falling ill with a strange and potentially deadly virus, she found herself being cared for at the hidden retreat of the Sisterhood of the Celestial Blade Warriors. The Sisters saved Tess's life...and then began training her in the martial arts they used to fight off the demons looking to invade this world. With a new sidekick named Scrap, it is now up to Tess to fend off a ferocious hound who's on the loose, attacking Navaho children. But there are two mysterious men also on the hound's trail, one of whom seems convinced Tess is a Celestial Blade Warrior and the other who seems to have romantic designs on her. Now Tess and Scrap must piece together the truth about this hound before the forces of darkness begin closing in on them and destroying the world. First in the A Tess Noncoiré Adventure series, Hounding the Moon kicks off an original contemporary fantasy series by newcomer P.R. Frost. I've never heard of a fantasy series with a fantasy-writer protagonist, we'll see if Frost has the depth to pull it off in this uber-competitive market.

The Finest Challenge, Jean Rabe, Tor Books

They were the Finest Creations: mystically forged creatures of perfection sent by the creators to aid the Fallen (mankind) during their mortal existence. Though they resemble ordinary horses they are highly intelligent, capable of communicating telepathically, and completely moral. They are assigned to bond with individuals of great potential and to protect them from harm while guiding them along a path of virtue. Kalantha has successfully rescued her brother from the shadow of the evil bishop's bellicose influence, but now finds herself cut off from both him and her Finest protector, Gallant Stallion. All three must race against the clock to curtail the unnecessary war that the Bishop's minions have engineered. And, still lurking in the shadows and prowling the night skies is the avian menace whose dreams of a carrion-strewn countryside can still come through if their equine nemesis is neutralized. Following The Finest Choice that was just released on paperback last week, Jean Rabe continues the Finest Trilogy with this moral, horse-loving second installment.

The Disunited States of America, Harry Turtledove, Tor Books

Time travel doesn't work. You can't go backward or forward; you're stuck at "now." What you can do is travel sideways, to the same "now" in another timeline where history turned out differently. So far, only our home timeline has figured out how to do that. We use Crosstime Traffic to conduct discreet trading operations in less advanced timelines, selling goods just a little bit better than the locals can make. It's profitable, but families who work as Time Traders have to be careful to fit in, lest the locals become suspicious. Justin's family are Time Traders. The summer before he's due to start college, he goes with them to a different Virginia, in a timeline where the American states never became a single country, and American history has consisted of a series of small wars. Despite his unease, he accompanies Randolph Brooks, another Time Trader, on a visit to the tiny upland town of Elizabeth, Virginia. He'll only be away from his parents for a few days. Beckie Royer thanks her stars that she's from California, the most prosperous and advanced country in North America. But just now she's in Virginia with her grandmother, who wants to revisit the tiny mountain town where she grew up. Yet war between Virginia and Ohio breaks out anew. Ohio sets a tailored virus loose on Virginia. Virginia swiftly imposes a quarantine, trapping Becky and Justin and Randolph Brooks in Elizabeth. Even Crosstime Traffic can't help. All the three of them can do is watch as plague and violence take over the town. It's nothing new in history, not in this timeline or any other. Book 4 in the Crosstime Traffic series, Harry Turtledove spins another engrossing, time-distorted thriller that has made his name infamous in the literary world.

Some Golden Harbor, David Drake, Baen Books

Read Chapter One courtesy of David Drake and Baen Publishing Enterprises

The tyrannical Alliance continues its war against the Republic of Cinnabar and Daniel Leary, newly promoted to Commander, and his crew have a new mission: Stop Dunbar's World from falling to an invasion by the planet Pellegrino. Nataniel Arruns, son of the dictator of Pellegrino, has landed with a large contingent, intending to set himself up as the ruling warlord, with the planet's population becoming serfs of the Pellegrinian overlords...and Dunbar's world has no more than their local police force to oppose him. Leary again commands the corvette Princess Cecile, but on this mission her missile tubes are empty. Only one man is in a position to aid Leary, but the rich and powerful would rather see him fail than succeed in stopping the invasion. Leary must somehow overcome a large entrenched force on an island defended by powerful plasma cannon and backed up by a heavily armed warship in orbit, all while commanding only a small and virtually unarmed spacecraft. But Leary again has the help of Signals Officer Adele Mundy, who can make computer networks do the seemingly impossible. Leary, Mundy and the crew of the Princess Cecile have gone up against impossible odds before . . . and their opponents in those victorious missions are still wondering just what hit them. Volume 5 in the RCN Series, Some Golden Harbor delivers another action-packed tale of space adventure and militaristic world domination.

To Hold Infinity, John Meaney, Prometheus Books

Devastated by her husband's death, Earth-based biologist Yoshiko Sunadomari journeys to the paradise world of Fulgar to see her estranged son in the hope of bridging the gulf between them. But Tetsuo is in trouble. His expertise in mu-space technology and family links with the mysterious Pilots have ensured his survival, so far. Now he's in way over his head, unwittingly caught up in a conspiracy of illegal tech-trafficking and corruption, and in the sinister machinations of one of Fulgar's ruling elite: the charismatic Luculentus, Rafael Garcia de la Vega. When his home is attacked, Tetsuo flees to the planet's unterraformed wastes, home to society's outcasts and eco-terrorists. So Yoshiko arrives on Fulgar to discover Tetsuo gone...and wanted for murder. Ill at ease in this strange, stratified new world seething with social and political unrest but desperate to find her son and clear his name, she embarks on a course of action that will bring her face to face with the awesome, malevolent mind of Rafael. First published in Britain in 1998, To Hold Infinity is holding it's own with average critic reviews of 3.5 stars.

The Stardance Trilogy, Spider & Jeanne Robinson, Baen Books

For the first time ever Baen Books releases a one volume tome of The Stardance Trilogy. Stardance (1977): Shara Drummond was a gifted dancer and a brilliant choreographer, but could not pursue her dream of dancing on Earth, so she went to space, creating a new art form in three dimensions. And when the aliens arrived, there was only one way to prove that the human race deserved not just to survive, but to reach the stars. Starseed (1992): Years later, another dancer of genius faced the end of her career when her body failed her, and Rain McLeod followed Shara into space. If she joined with a symbiotic life-form that would let her live without artificial protection in the vacuum of space, she would take a quantum leap in human evolution. Starmind (1995): Rand Porter has been offered the job of a lifetime as a shaper of visual effects and music for the world's most famous zero-gravity dance company in High Orbit. But his beloved novelist wife Rhea Paixao has her roots sunk deep in her beloved Cape Cod on Earth. As the pair wrestle with their private dilemma, bizarre things, some say small miracles, are beginning to occur everywhere on Earth and throughout the entire Solar System. The human race and its evolutionary successors, the space-dwelling Stardancers, find themselves approaching the terrifying cusp of their shared destiny: an appointment made for them a million years ago, a make-or-break point beyond which nothing, anywhere, can ever be the same again. If you're crazy about the convenience of having this trilogy in one volume go for it, otherwise pick up these titles for no more than $1.25 each through Amazon's independent sellers.

Alpha, Catherine Asaro, Baen Books

Read
">Chapter One courtesy of Catherine Asaro and Baen Publishing Enterprises

Charon was the most ruthless, and brilliant, criminal of the twenty-first century, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. He is dead now and General Thomas Wharington believes his team of experts has deleted all the electronic copies the megalomaniacal inventor created of himself. However, one major problem remains: Alpha, the only android survivor of Charon's cybernetic empire. Outwardly indistinguishable from a human woman, Alpha has superhuman strength and speed, and perhaps even more deadly capabilities still unknown. Thomas's superiors want her dismantled and studied, but to Thomas it feels like murder. He stalls for time, a move that could prove disastrous. Alpha escapes from an escape-proof compound, kidnaps Thomas, and takes him to one of Charon's hidden installations. Charon might be dead, but Alpha continues to carry out her late master's orders and she refuses to elaborate on what those orders entail. Her behavior is becoming more human...or so it seems. Is she developing emotions and a conscience, or is she just learning to counterfeit them as a means of carrying out her enigmatic orders? Follow-up to 2004's Sunrise Alley, Asaro returns with another robo-centric tale that, although during action sequences may seem a little clunky, is still smooth enough to please fans of the first.


New in Paperback:

Mappa Mundi, Justina Robinson, Prometheus Books

The map of everything you know, everything you are, everything you ever will be...just got rewritten. In the near future, when medical nanotechnology has made it possible to map a model of the living human brain, radical psychologist Natalie Armstrong sees her work suddenly become crucial to a cutting-edge military project for creating comprehensive mind-control. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Jude Westhorpe, FBI specialist, is tracking a cold war defector long involved in everything from gene sequencing to mind-mapping. But his investigation has begun to affect matters of national security, throwing Jude and Natalie together as partners in trouble. This fascinating novel explores the nature of humanity in the near future, when the power and potential of developing technologies demand that we adapt ourselves to their existence...whatever the price. An intriguing medical science fiction mystery, Mappa Mundi explores the nature of identity, both inherited and engineered, through the eyes of one of Britain's most acclaimed new talents.

Fantasy Gone Wrong, Ed. By Martin H. Greenberg & Brittany A. Koren, DAW Books

Sixteen Hilarious tales of the paths that shouldn't have been taken. Everyone knows that heroes should triumph, dragons should be slain, and maidens should be rescued. But what if things don't go according to plan? Here are fun-filled tales of magic gone awry, from an author whose unicorn protagonist takes control of the story, to a person who can hear food talking, to a confusing case of murder in fairy-tale land-with many strange events and surprising consequences in between. From contemporary topics such as psychoanalysis and online video gaming to criminology and management techniques, these ironic stories bend the genre towards the satirical. Fiona Patton, Brian Stableford, Josepha Sherman, and Star Trek guru Alan Dean Foster are just a few of the authors gracing the pages of this anthology.

The Protector's War, S.M. Stirling, Penguin Group USA

Ten years after "The Change," a point in the late 20th Century when all modern technology was rendered inoperable throughout the world, two brave leaders built two thriving communities in Oregon's Willamette Valley. But now the armies of the totalitarian Protectorate are preparing to wage war over the priceless farmland. Stirling returns to quasi-medievalism in the modern world with the continuation of the saga started in 2004 with Dies the Fire. Although a little light on the action compared to its predecessor, The Protector's War is an adequate bridge in the apocalyptic, agrarian-future-run-amok Dies the Fire series.

Mission to Minerva, James P. Hogan, Baen Books

Earth is adapting to a future of amicable coexistence with the advanced aliens from Thurien, descended from ancestors who once inhabited Minerva, a vanished planet of the Solar System. The plans of the distantly related humans on the rogue world Jevlen to eliminate their ancient Terran rivals and take over the Thurien system of worlds have been thwarted, but the mystery remains of how it was possible for the fleeing Jevlenese leaders to have been flung back across space and time to reappear at Minerva before the time of its destruction. Victor Hunt and a group of his colleagues travel to Thurien to conduct a joint investigation with the alien scientists into the strange physics of interconnectedness between the countless alternate universes that constitute ultimate reality. When their discoveries lead first to bizarre communication with bewildered counterparts in other universes, and thence to the possibility of physical travel, the notion is conceived of sending a mission back to the former world of Minerva with the startling objective of creating a new family of realities in which its destruction is avoided. But Imares Broghuilio, the deposed Jevlenese leader, along with several thousand dedicated followers with five heavily armed starships, are already there with a score to settle. The fifth volume of the Giants Series, which started in 1978 with Inherit the Stars, Mission to Minerva continues Hogan's nearly three decade-long epic with this hard SF thriller.

Disappearing Act, Margaret Ball, Baen Books

Read Chapter One courtesy of Margaret Ball and Baen Publishing Enterprises

Maris's work with the local underworld on the huge space station was anything but honest, but life was much more pleasant than it had been before the gang's leader had picked her up from the slums. Then her boss grabbed a visitor to the station who was asking too many questions, only to find out that she was a very important diplomat. Then his prisoner apparently committed suicide by jumping through an airlock into hard vacuum. Since Maris and the missing diplomat had a strong facial resemblance, he decided to let Maris's corpse be found with the diplomat's IDs to avoid a search in his territory. Instead, Maris used the IDs to escape to the planet the Diplomat was about to investigate...and found herself in a hornet's nest of corrupt officials conspiring with a local tyrant in a mysterious scheme. Surrounded by people who wanted her eliminated, the only person she could trust was Gabrel, a young officer who set off on a cross-planet trek with her to get evidence that would expose the web of corruption. Maris was strongly attracted to Gabrel and the feeling seemed to be mutual. Of course, he thought she was a high-ranking government agent; but she was only a petty criminal on the run and her deception could not be maintained much longer...Long-time collaborator with Anne McCaffrey on the Acorna Series, Margaret Ball flies solo in this familiar adventure set in a far-off future. Don't expect any mind-expanding, speculative SF tech here but if you're looking for a good story with a happy ending this may be your next book of choice.

That's it for this week. Check back next Tuesday for your weekly buzz of sci fi, fantasy, and horror fiction. Questions or comments? Hit me up at PFerrara.cinescape@gmail.com