Weekly Book Buzz

0 Comments | Add a Comment

Send to a Friend Print

Torchwood - Another Life
© BBC Books

UK’s TORCHWOOD blazes into bookshelves

By: Karl Schneider
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Devil’s Due Publishing releases a boxed set of R.A. Salvatore’s most beloved fantasy tales, individual SF and fantasy ‘best of’ anthologies get the 2006 treatment under Wildside Press, and BBC Books releases their first literary spin-offs of the hit UK show TORCHWOOD in this week’s Book Buzz.

Happy Tuesday everybody! As true January weather is starting to set in across the country it’s time to find a good book, settle in by the fireplace, and keep your television consumption to sub-gluttonous levels.

The last book by British author Anna Kavan (also known as Helen Ferguson), Ice, is re-released on paperback today after nearly 40 years since the author’s death. Having garnered the Brian Aldiss Science Fiction Book of the Year Award in 1967, Ice is set in a post-apocalyptic world where nuclear fallout has caused massive glaciers to overrun most of the Earth’s surface. Don’t confuse this novel’s premise with your run-of-the-mill natural disaster blockbusters though, Kavan’s last has all the intelligent, dreamlike and heroin-induced themes of addiction and alienation that’s made her famous.

Rich Horton takes a stab at fantasy and SF ‘best of’ anthologies with two paperback releases featuring such authors as Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolf, and Joe Haldeman. Also coming out today is a new hardcover, collectible boxed set for R.A. Salvatore’s first three books of The Legend of Drizzt series, Homeland, Exile, and Sojourn, complete with new binding and cover art through Devil’s Due Publishing.

The DOCTOR WHO inspired science fiction / crime thriller, TORCHWOOD, gets a trio of hardback literary tie-ins this week from BBC Books. First airing late last October in the UK, TORCHWOOD was created by Russell T. Davis and features characters played by John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Naoko Mori, Burn Gorman and Gareth David-Lloyd. Authors Peter Anghelides, Andrew Lane, and Dan Abnett penned the new TV show spin-offs and are sure to give a generous boost to the series’ already high fandom.

The Legend of Drizzt Boxed Set

New in Hardcover:

The Legend of Drizzt Boxed Set, R.A.. Salvatore (Devil’s Due Publishing)

At long last! A collected box set edition of Homeland, Exile and Sojourn featuring one of the most popular characters in fantasy fiction! Travel back to strange and exotic Menzoberranzan, the vast city of the Drow and homeland to Icewind Dale hero Drizzt Do'Urden. The young prince of a royal house, Drizzt grows to maturity in the vile world of his dark kin. Possessing honor beyond the scope of his unprincipled society, young Drizzt faces an inevitable dilemma. Can he live in a world that rejects integrity?

Blue Devil Island, Stephen Mark Rainey (Thompson Gale Publishers)

Blue Devil Island

AUTUMN, 1943: The beginning of the American offensive against the Japanese in the South Pacific. Just west of the Solomon Islands lies a remote, desert island called Conquest, where the U.S. Navy stations a new fighting squadron, led by Lieutenant Commander Drew McLachlan, an ace pilot and veteran of the Battle of Coral Sea. With his group of air warriors, who call themselves the Blue Devils, McLachlan soars into frequent combat with the Japanese, inflicting serious casualties upon the enemy. However, on the squadron's island home, signs appear that it may not be entirely alone, for in nearby volcanic caves, McLachlan finds evidence of past habitation by unknown natives -- natives that resemble no known living race, and that may yet exist in the mysterious subterranean catacombs. As the tension on the island mounts, McLachlan is forced to fight on two fronts: against their known enemy, the Japanese, and an unknown, predatory force that leaves mutilated victims as the only evidence of its presence. As the Solomons campaign enters into its final skirmishes, the Japanese at last turn their attention to Conquest Island. In the final conflict, the Blue Devils find themselves the target of an overwhelming assault by the desperate Imperial Japanese forces—and McLachlan must face the reality that the key to his men’s survival lies deep in the dark and deadly caves of Conquest Island itself.

Torchwood: Slow Decay, Andrew Lane (BBC Books)

'The twenty-first century is when it all changes, and you've got to be ready.' Separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the United Nations: Torchwood sets its own rules. A team of investigators using alien technology to solve crime - both alien and human. This new British sci-fi crime thriller, created by Russell T Davies, sees them delve into the unknown. A group of people fighting the impossible. The series stars Captain Jack Harkness last seen in "Doctor Who". This novel is a brand new Torchwood story. A friend of Gwen's has recently done an impressive bit of slimming, thanks to a new Cardiff weight-loss clinic with a incredibly simple system, and now Rhys wants to give it a try. Elsewhere in the city, an ordinary woman with superhuman strength and a rapacious appetite attacks a group of teenagers. Eight women have disappeared over the past few days, and the police fear they may have a serial killer on their hands, but as the body count rises and the hungers grow, the Torchwood team realise there may be something much more dangerous than a serial killer at work.

Torchwood: Another Life, Peter Anghelides (BBC Books)

A storm is brewing – the water levels of the Bristol Channel are inexplicably rising, and Cardiff Bay is under threat from the worst flooding in years. In the midst of the climate chaos, Torchwood is called to investigate a series of gruesome murders – vagrants found dead around Cardiff with their heads partially eaten. When Owen goes missing following a session on a virtual reality game, Jack, Gwen and the team must discover what's really going on before the water claims them all. And they must face the terror that lies at the bottom of the bay – waiting, feeding, controlling...

Torchwood: Border Princes, Dan Abnett (BBC Books)

Something is here that shouldn’t be here. Something is watching. In Cardiff’s secret heart, the members of the Torchwood team struggle to define and locate the intruder, and contain it before anyone gets hurt. But this time, they are out of their depth. How do you unlock a secret that can’t be broken? How do you assess the facts when the facts change to cover all traces? How do you cope if people are already hurt and no one realizes it? What do you do if you’re one of them? The Border Princes are watching, and they play for keeps...

New in Paperback:

Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition, Ed. by Rich Horton (Wildside Press)

The best stories of the year: here is a collection of the best science fiction prose written in 2006, by some of the genre's greatest authors, and selected by Rich Horton, a contributing reviewer to many of the field's most respected magazines. Features work from Peter S. Beagle, Neil Gaiman, and Gene Wolf.

Imaro 2: The Quest for Cush, Charles Saunders (Night Shade Books)

It begins with the reunion of Imaro and his kidnapped lover Tanisha, who has been taken to the ruined City of Madness. With the help of their new found friend Pomphis, a Pygmay from the eastern forests of Nyumbani, they learn of the sorcerous forces that may have been behind the dark wizard that destroyed Imaro's youth. The trio goes to Mavindi, the port capital of the Eastern Coastal kingdom of Azania, in search of the legendary Kingdom of Cush, where Imaro hopes to find answers to the questions that have plagued his life. Who is he? Who was his father, and why was he seemingly cursed, and hounded from birth by forces beyond his control.

The Tomorrow Log, Sharon Lee & Steven Miller (Meisha Merlin Publishing)

Meanwhile, on another side of the universe... Freelance thief Gem ser'Edreth makes the calculated mistake of turning down a commission from the local crime boss. Gem's hidden past proves an unexpected liability as his plans to leave the planet go catastrophically awry. Suddenly embroiled in interplanetary politics and a potential interstellar war, in possession of a Trident, a mysterious, ancient object of power and an unwanted cousin, Gem discovers that the Trident may hold the key to his salvation… or his undoing. Originally published in 2003, The Tomorrow Log was the #1 selling SF paperback for its first month of release.

Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition, Ed. by Rich Horton (Wildside Press)

Bronze: A Tale of Terror, Kit Reed (Night Shade Books)

The new novel from the author of Thinner Than Thou (2004), Bronze is a brooding tale of love, art and dark ambition. When Jude Atkins hops a plane to be with a handsome artist she met online, she has no idea what horrors await her on the Carolina coast. Peter Benedict says he's a painter, but all the Benedicts are sculptors. His powerful mother, Ava, rules the family, and she has a secret. Peter loves Jude, but this is not the first time he's been in love. What happened to Dana, the first woman he brought home to Wayward Plantation? Why is his father so troubled, and what made his father's generation flee to the other side of the world? This gifted, troubled family has a secret Jude will learn only when it's almost too late. The old house hides a terrible legacy that ties the Benedicts to Wayward, where beautiful, dangerous Ava rules and Thorne, her hulking henchman, lurks. Now Ava is calling them all back...

Ice, Anna Kavan (Peter Owen Ltd.)

In this haunting and surreal novel, two men search for a reclusive girl against a background of nuclear war, resulting in total destruction by walls of ice that overrun the world. Along with the narrator the reader is swept into a hallucinatory quest through the encroaching ice. Foreword by Christopher J. Priest.

Stealing Immortality, N.D. Ploome (BookSurge Publishing)

A secret cadre of scientists during WWII have discovered an artificial method to preserve Hitler's mind. With his immortality assured, he waits for the right opportunity to re-emerge, or has he done so already? This fictional and fast-paced story parallels and details true events that transpired from World War II to the present day. A hidden history is revealed, a history that would rather remain forgotten by many today. The story focuses upon a man and a woman and their quest to find the hidden Hitlers. They are confronted by historically true events but with consequences never imagined. An unholy drive for their own possible immortality, along with untold riches, betrays their earlier ethics, and they will accept any means to an end, an end resulting in immortality. From Germany to Israel to Cuba they are confronted by past and present powerful men with the identical pursuit. The story hurdles through many twists and turns and just as it seems the mystery will be solved, a new possibility springs forth. This thriller combines fascinating history with technological advances that may one day be possible, but with unimaginable consequences. Perfect for the sleuth, a mystery full of surprises that will most likely go unsolved until that final page is turned, however clues to the outcome have been left throughout if the reader is crafty enough to discover them. N. D. Ploome's Stealing Immortality is a gripping mystery that mixes historical fact with thrilling science-fiction, as it chronicles the preservation of Hitler's mind and its transference into the modern day.

That’ll do it for this week’s edition of the Weekly Book Buzz. Be sure to check back next Tuesday for all the latest on new sci fi, horror, and fantasy book releases. Questions or comments? Hit me up at PFerrara.mania@gmail.com.