|
|
Fantasy and Science Fiction August 2017 |
|
|
|
| The Waking Land by Callie BatesEpic Fantasy. Royal hostage Lady Elanna Valtai grew up in the court of King Antoine Eyrlai, who took her to ensure her rebellious father's compliance. When the king suddenly dies, his successor accuses Elanna of murder. Now Elanna has nowhere to go to but the homeland she's spent her life trying to forget and no one to turn to except the family she's been raised to hate. Elanna's transformation from sheltered girl to courageous leader should appeal to fans of Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling. This series opener's Celtic-inspired world and romantic story may also please readers who enjoyed Juliet Marillier's Bridei Chronicles. |
|
| The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora GossHistorical Fantasy. After her parents' deaths, Mary Jekyll makes a discovery that leads her (with the help of Sherlock Holmes) to a young woman named Diana Hyde. Soon, Mary and Diana are working with Beatrice Rappacini, Catherine Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein to infiltrate the mysterious Société des Alchimistes. Fans of the television show Penny Dreadful or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novels should enjoy this metafictional Victorian gothic adventure. |
|
|
|
The Return
by Joseph Helmreich
During a live television broadcast on the night of a lunar eclipse, renowned astrophysicist Andrew Leland is suddenly lifted into the sky by a giant spacecraft and taken away for all to see. Six years later, he turns up, wandering in a South American desert, denying ever having been abducted and disappearing from the public eye.
Meanwhile, he inspires legions of cultish devotees, including a young physics graduate student named Shawn Ferris who is obsessed with finding out what really happened to him. When Shawn finally tracks Leland down, he discovers that he’s been on the run for years, continuously hunted by a secret organization that has pursued him across multiple continents, determined to force him into revealing what he knows. Shawn soon joins Leland on the run. Though Leland is at first reluctant to reveal anything, Shawn will soon learn the truth about his abduction, the real reason for his return, and will find himself caught up in a global conspiracy that puts more than just one planet in danger.
|
|
|
|
Gork, the Teenage Dragon
by Gabe Hudson
Gork isn’t like the other dragons at WarWings Military Academy. He has a gigantic heart, two-inch horns, and an occasional problem with fainting. His nickname is Weak Sauce and his Will to Power ranking is Snacklicious—the lowest in his class. But he is determined not to let any of this hold him back as he embarks on the most important mission of his life: tonight, on the eve of his high school graduation, he must ask a female dragon to be his queen. If she says yes, they'll go off to conquer a foreign planet together. If she says no, Gork becomes a slave. Vying with Jocks, Nerds, Mutants, and Multi-Dimensioners to find his mate, Gork encounters an unforgettable cast of friends and foes, including Dr. Terrible, the mad scientist; Fribby, a robot dragon obsessed with death; and Metheldra, a healer specializing in acupuncture with swords. But finally it is Gork's biggest perceived weakness, his huge heart, that will guide him through his epic quest and help him reach his ultimate destination: planet Earth.
|
|
| Carnivalesque by Neil JordanContemporary Fantasy. One boy enters, a different boy leaves. After a visit to a carnival leaves 14-year-old Dublin resident Andy Rackard trapped in a funhouse mirror, he takes the name Dany and, with the help of aerialist Mona, gradually adjusts to his new life. Meanwhile, his reflection navigates the outside world. This atmospheric modern-day changeling tale may appeal to readers who enjoyed Keith Donoghue's The Stolen Child. |
|
|
|
The Last Iota
by Robert Kroese
The year is 2039, and Los Angeles is poised between order and chaos. After the Collapse of 2028, a vast section of LA was disowned by the civil authorities and became a de facto third world country within the borders of the city. Navigating the boundaries between DZ and LA proper is a tricky task, and there’s no one better suited than eccentric private investigator Erasmus Keane. So when movie mogul Selah Fiore decides she needs to get her hands on a rare coin lost somewhere in the city, she knows Keane is the man for the job. But while the erratic Keane and his more sensible partner Blake Fowler struggle to unravel the mystery of the elusive coins, Blake’s girlfriend Gwen goes missing and Selah Fiore turns up murdered. Both of these crimes seem to be linked to the coins—and to an untraceable virtual currency called iotas, used by drug dealers and terrorist networks. Framed for Selah’s murder and desperate to find Gwen, Keane and Fowler must outwit DZ warlords, outmaneuver a reclusive billionaire, and stay a step ahead of the police while they gradually uncover the truth about iotas.
|
|
|
|
Enigma Tales
by Una McCormack
Elim Garak has ascended to Castellan of the Cardassian Union...but despite his soaring popularity, the imminent publication of a report exposing his people's war crimes during the occupation on Bajor looks likely to set the military against him. Into this tense situation come Dr. Katherine Pulaski—visiting Cardassia Prime to accept an award on behalf of the team that solved the Andorian genetic crisis—and Dr. Peter Alden, formerly of Starfleet Intelligence. The two soon find themselves at odds with Garak and embroiled in the politics of the prestigious University of the Union, where a new head is about to be appointed. Among the front-runners is one of Cardassia’s most respected public figures: Professor Natima Lang. But the discovery of a hidden archive from the last years before the Dominion War could destroy Lang’s reputation. As Pulaski and Alden become drawn into a deadly game to exonerate Lang, their confrontation escalates with Castellan Garak—a conflicted leader treading a fine line between the bright hopes for Cardassia’s future and the dark secrets still buried in its past.
|
|
|
|
The Bedlam Stacks
by Natasha Pulley
In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg. On the sprawling, crumbling grounds of the old house, something is wrong; a statue moves, his grandfather's pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness. When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition to fetch quinine--essential for the treatment of malaria--from deep within Peru, he knows it's a terrible idea. Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who's made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon where a salt line on the ground separates town from forest. Anyone who crosses is killed by something that watches from the trees, but somewhere beyond the salt are the quinine woods, and the way around is blocked. Surrounded by local stories of lost time, cursed woods, and living rock, Merrick must separate truth from fairytale and find out what befell the last expeditions; why the villagers are forbidden to go into the forest; and what is happening to Raphael, the young priest who seems to have known Merrick's grandfather, who visited Peru many decades before.
|
|
|
|
After On : A Novel of Silicon Valley
by Rob Reid
Meet Phluttr—a diabolically addictive new social network and a villainess, heroine, enemy, and/or bestie to millions. Phluttr has ingested every fact and message ever sent to, from, and about her innumerable users. Her capabilities astound her makers—and they don’t even know the tenth of it. But what’s the purpose of this stunning creation? Is it a front for something even darker and more powerful than the NSA? A bid to create a trillion-dollar market by becoming “The UberX of Sex”? Or a reckless experiment that could spawn the digital equivalent of a middle-school mean girl with enough charisma, dirt, and cunning to bend the entire planet to her will? Phluttr has it in her to become the greatest gossip, flirt, or matchmaker in history. Or she could cure cancer, bring back Seinfeld, then start a nuclear war. Whatever she does, it’s not up to us. But a motley band of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and engineers might be able to influence her.
|
|
| The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole GallandContemporary Fantasy. Magic is real and, until 1851, was practiced openly. Then it disappeared. To find out why, the shadowy government entity known as the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.), recruits Harvard-trained linguist Melisande Stokes to translate ancient documents in search of clues. This collaboration between SF writer Neal Stephenson and historical fiction writer Nicole Galland may appeal to fans of Jody Taylor's Chronicles of St. Mary's series. |
|
|
|
The Clockwork Dynasty
by Daniel H. Wilson
Present day: When a young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll, she is thrown into a hidden world that lurks just under the surface of our own. With her career and her life at stake, June Stefanov will ally with a remarkable traveler who exposes her to a reality she never imagined, as they embark on an around-the-world adventure and discover breathtaking secrets of the past. Russia, 1725: In the depths of the Kremlin, the tsar’s loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings. Peter and Elena are a brother and sister fallen out of time, possessed with uncanny power, and destined to serve great empires. Struggling to blend into pre-Victorian society, they are pulled into a legendary war that has raged for centuries.
|
|
|
|
Uncle Brucker the Rat Killer
by Leslie Peter Wulff
Sixteen-year-old Walt thinks he’s left his problems behind him when he runs away from a broken home to live with his eccentric uncle. The simple, semi-rural, semi-anti-social lifestyle seems at first to be exactly what Walt wants, but he soon learns his new life isn’t just about ditching school and drinking beer with his friends.
Uncle Brucker is a Rat Killer; a tireless rat tracker, an expert in rat lore, a speaker of the rat language, and a decorated veteran of two bloody uprisings. His uncle begins to train Walt in the ways of rat killing, and explains to his nephew the ancient and bloody history of men and rats. Before the rise of men, he says, rats ruled the earth. They’ve been hiding in another dimension ever since they were kicked out by humanity, planning to retake the planet. In the middle of Walt’s training, Uncle Brucker is called away by mysterious men from the government. When he fails to return from his mission, Walt discovers a portal to the rat dimension and realizes he must travel alone to Rat Land to save his uncle.
|
|
| Speak to the Devil by Dave DuncanHistorical Fantasy. In the land of Jorgary, human Speakers use magic to communicate with and seek the aid of otherworldly Voices. The Magnus family is known for producing Speakers, which is why the king summons Anton Magnus to the palace, promising rich rewards if he can use his talents to capture an enemy stronghold. Anton does not actually possess Speaker powers, but that doesn't stop him from accepting the offer. If you enjoyed the historical setting of the author's Venice Trilogy and the derring-do of his King's Blades books, don't miss this 1st installment of the Brothers Magnus series, which is set in an alternate 15th-century Europe. |
|
| Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha LeeMilitary SF. To restore her tarnished reputation, Captain Kel Cheris embarks on a mission to retake the Fortress of Scattered Needles. Step one: graft her consciousness to that of a brilliant and long-dead general with an unsavory reputation. Set in a vast interstellar empire based on higher mathematics and featuring an intriguing post-human cast, this 1st book in the Machineries of Empire series may appeal to fans of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy. |
|
| The Fortress in Orion by Michael D. ResnickMilitary SF. In need of a victory in its intergalactic war with the Traanskei Coalition, the human-led Democracy comes up with an audacious plan to infiltrate the enemy's stronghold and replace their commander with a clone. Democracy taps maverick Colonel Nathan Pretorius, who assembles a crew that includes a cyborg, an empath, a tech wizard, and a shapeshifting alien. Everything goes according to plan, until it doesn't. This fast-paced space caper is the 1st book in the Dead Enders series. |
|
| Clash of Eagles by Alan SmaleAlternate History. In 1218 CE, Roman Praetor Gaius Marcellinus leads the 33rd legion in an invasion of North America. Crossing the Atlantic (in Norse longships) poses no challenge, but taking the great city of Cahokia proves difficult, as his infantry is no match for his opponents' sophisticated light aircraft. This action-packed alternative history novel is the 1st book of the Hesperian trilogy, followed by Eagle in Exile and Eagle and Empire. |
|
|
|
|
|