Books out today…
An Import of Intrigue (Maradaine Constabulary #2) by Marshall Ryan Maresca. Fantasy, DAW
The neighborhood of the Little East is a collision of cultures, languages, and traditions, hidden away in the city of Maradaine. A set of streets to be avoided or ignored. When a foreign dignitary is murdered, solving the crime falls to the most unpopular inspectors in the Maradaine Constabulary: exposed fraud Satrine Rainey, and Uncircled mage Minox Welling. With a murder scene deliberately constructed to point blame toward the rival groups resident in this exotic section of Maradaine, Rainey is forced to confront her former life, while Welling’s ignorance of his own power threatens to consume him. And the conflicts erupting in the Little East will spark a citywide war unless the Constabulary solves the case quickly.
Den of Wolves (Blackthorn & Grim #3) by Juliet Marillier. Fantasy, Roc
Healer Blackthorn knows all too well the rules of her bond to the fey: seek no vengeance, help any who ask, do only good. But after the recent ordeal she and her companion, Grim, have suffered, she knows she cannot let go of her quest to bring justice to the man who ruined her life. Despite her personal struggles, Blackthorn agrees to help the princess of Dalriada in taking care of a troubled young girl who has recently been brought to court, while Grim is sent to the girl’s home at Wolf Glen to aid her wealthy father with a strange task—repairing a broken-down house deep in the woods. It doesn’t take Grim long to realize that everything in Wolf Glen is not as it seems—the place is full of perilous secrets and deadly lies… Back at Winterfalls, the evil touch of Blackthorn’s sworn enemy reopens old wounds and fuels her long-simmering passion for justice. With danger on two fronts, Blackthorn and Grim are faced with a heartbreaking choice—to stand once again by each other’s side or to fight their battles alone…
How to Save the World (Superheroes Anonymous #3) by Lexie Dunne. Urban Fantasy, Harper Voyager Impulse
Gail Godwin—once so famous for being kidnapped by supervillains, the media still calls her Hostage Girl—is done with superheroes and their shadowy schemes. She’s got a cute boyfriend, a great roommate, and she’s even returned to her old job. For the first time in years, life is exactly what she wants it to be. But when a figure from her past resurfaces, he brings with him a plague that changes the game for every superhero and villain out there. Now Gail must team up with both friend and foe to help save the world she thought she had left behind. It won’t be easy, but for Gail, nothing ever is.
Illicit (Luna Lake #2) by Cathy Clamp. Urban Fantasy, Tor Books
When a border dispute between two bear clans destabilizes shapeshifter relations throughout Europe and threatens to reveal their existence to humans, the Sazi High Council orders both sides to the negotiation table. The peace talks take place in Luna Lake, the American community where all shifter species—wolf, cat, bird, bear, and more—live in harmony. Diplomats, their families, and security personnel stream into town, among them Dalvin Adway, a Wolven agent. Dalvin is startled to find Rachel Washington in Luna Lake. The last time he saw her, they were children in Detroit. Then she was kidnapped and, he thought, murdered. But Rachel became an owl-shifter as a result of the attack and has avoided family and old friends ever since, knowing they would not understand her . She’s stunned to see Dalvin and learn that he, too, is an owl-shifter. Their wary friendship is on the brink of becoming something more when conspiracy and betrayal cause the peace talks to break down. The fight between the bear clans will be settled through a form of traditional challenge—a risky tactic that might lead to full-blown war. Rachel is determined to prevent that, even if it means taking up the challenge herself!
Shadow of Victory (Honor Harrington #19) by David Weber. Space Opera, Baen Books
Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as planned. The Mesan Alignment has a plan—one it’s been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race—its way. Until recently, things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history. To help push things along, the Alignment launched a devastating sneak attack which destroyed the Royal Manticoran Navy’s industrial infrastructure. And in order to undercut Manticore’s galaxy-wide reputation as a star nation of its word, it launched Operation Janus—a false-flag covert operation to encourage rebellions it knows will fail by promising Manticoran support. The twin purposes are to harden Solarian determination to destroy the Star Empire once and for all, and to devastate the Star Empire’s reputation with the rest of the galaxy. But even the best laid plans can have unintended consequences, and one of those consequences in this case may just be a new dawn of freedom for oppressed star nations everywhere.
Shadowed Souls by Jim Butcher & Kerrie Hughes, editors. Urban Fantasy Anthology, Roc
In this dark and gritty collection—featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman—nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line. In #Jim Butcher’s “Cold Case,” Molly Carpenter—Harry Dresden’s apprentice-turned-Winter Lady—must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers that even if you’re a good girl, sometimes you have to be bad. Seanan McGuire’s “Sleepover” finds half-succubus Elsie Harrington kidnapped by a group of desperate teenage boys. Not for anything weird. They just need her to rescue a little girl from the boogeyman. No biggie. In Kevin J. Anderson’s “Eye of Newt,” zombie P.I. Dan Shamble’s latest client is a panicky lizard missing an eye who thinks someone wants him dead. But the truth is that someone only wants him for a very special dinner. And Rob Thurman’s infernally heroic Caliban Leandros takes a trip down memory lane as he deals wih some overdue—and nightmarish—vengeance involving some quite nasty “Impossible Monsters.”
Unquiet Land (Elemental Blessings #4) by Sharon Shinn. Romantic Fantasy, Ace
Leah Frothen has returned home to rebuild the life she’s avoided for years. But she can scarcely catch her breath before she is summoned to meet with the regent, Darien Serlast, the man who made her a spy. Leah is reluctant to take on a new assignment, but Darien has dangled the perfect lure to draw her in. Leah finds she enjoys the challenges of opening a shop catering to foreign visitors, especially since it affords her the opportunity to get to know Mally, the child she abandoned five years ago. Leah is simultaneously thrilled, terrified, hopeful, moved, and almost undone as she slowly attempts to become part of her daughter’s life. But when the regent asks her to spy on ambassadors from a visiting nation, she develops a dangerous friendship with a foreign woman and finds herself falling in love with a man from her past. Soon Leah learns that everyone—her regent, her lover, and even her daughter—have secrets that could save the nation, but might very well break her heart.
Willful Child: Wrath of Betty (Willful Child #2) by Steven Erikson. Science Fiction Humor, Tor Books
These are the voyages of the starship A.S.F. Willful Child. Its ongoing mission: to seek out strange new worlds on which to plant the Terran flag, to subjugate and if necessary obliterate new life-forms, to boldly blow the… And so we join the not-terribly-bright but exceedingly cock-sure Captain Hadrian Sawback and his motley crew on board the starship Willful Child. The New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Malazan Book of the Fallen series has taken his lifelong passion for Star Trek and transformed it into a smart, inventive, and hugely entertaining spoof on the whole mankind-exploring-space-for-the-good-of-all-species-but-trashing-stuff-with-a-lot-of-high-tech-gadgets-along-the-way, overblown adventure. The result is a science fiction novel that deftly parodies the genre while also paying fond homage to it.
OTHER RELEASES
- A Million Worlds With You (Firebird #3) by Claudia Gray. YA SF, HarperTeen
- Archangel’s Heart (Guild Hunter #9) by Nalini Singh. Paranormal Romance, Berkley
- The Burning Isle by Will Panzo. Fantasy, Ace
- The Burning Light by Bradley P. Beaulieu & Rob Ziegler. Science Fiction, Tor.com Publishing
- Congress of Secrets by Stephanie Burgis. Historical Urban Fantasy, Pyr
- Curse on the Land (Soulwood #2) by Faith Hunter. Urban Fantasy, Roc
- The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid. YA SF, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Dominion (Burned Man #2) by Peter McLean. Dark Fantasy, Angry Robot
- Hellfighters (Devil’s Engine #2) by Alexander Gordon Smith. YA Fantasy, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers
- Invisible Planets by Ken Liu, editor & translator. Science Fiction Anthology, Tor Books
- The Lost Child of Lychford (Witches of Lychford #2) by Paul Cornell. Dark Fantasy, Tor.com Publishing
- Of the Abyss (Mancer #1) by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. Fantasy, Harper Voyager Impulse
- Once a Gypsy (Irish Traveller #1) by Danica Winter. Urban Fantasy, Diversion Books
- The Operative (San Angeles #2)by Gerald Brandt. Dystopian SF, DAW
- The Revealed (Lakewood #2) by Sarah Kleck. Romantic Arthurian Fantasy, AmazonCrossing
- Seriously Shifted (Seriously Wicked #2) by Tina Connolly. YA Urban Fantasy, Tor Teen
Happy reading! Until next week in geek…