New Hardcovers: Apr 29-May 6, 2013
This Week: TV | Film | Hardcovers | Paperbacks |
This week in new hardcovers: A British agent tries to save an alternate-timeline Earth from the creatures that destroyed our world thanks to unholy Nazi experiments; an army of synthetic humans is sent against a savage alien enemy, awakening their creator to our own capacity for atrocity; Dorothy finds herself once again on the road to Oz; a wandering merchant's son is waylaid by the ghost of a girl he knew; plus collections from Lucius Shepard and John Varley.
by Ian Tregillis
Milkweed, Book 3. "12 May 1940. Westminster, London, England: the early days of World War II. Again. Raybould Marsh, one of "our" Britain's best spies, has travelled to another Earth in a desperate attempt to save at least one timeline from the Cthulhu-like monsters who have been observing our species from space and have already destroyed Marsh's timeline. In order to accomplish this, he must remove all traces of the supermen that were created by the Nazi war machine and caused the specters from outer space to notice our planet in the first place. His biggest challenge is the mad seer Gretel, one of the most powerful of the Nazi creations, who has sent a version of herself to this timeline to thwart Marsh. Why would she stand in his way? Because she has seen that in all the timelines she dies and she is determined to stop that from happening, even if it means destroying most of humanity in the process. And Marsh is the only man who can stop her." Tor Books, 384 pages, Apr 30.More »
by Lucius Shepard
"'Ditch Witch,' set in rural Oregon, concerns a young man on the run in a stolen car, a hitchhiker who may or may not have witch-like powers, and the bizarre inhabitants of the seemingly innocuous Elfland Motel. 'The Flock' is a tale of high school football and small town malaise set against an impossible intrusion from the natural world. A washed-up actor and a Malaysian 'woman of power' stand at the center of 'Vacancy,' the account of a man forced to confront the very real demons of his past. 'Dog-eared Paperback of My Life' follows a writer (Thomas Cradle) on his erotically charged journey down the Mekong River, a journey enveloped in a maze of multiple, interpenetrating realities. 'Halloween Town' tells the story of a small, extremely strange town and one of its denizens, Clyde Ormoloo, a man who sees too deeply into the 'terrible incoherence' of human affairs. The final story, 'Rose Street Attractors,' takes us into 19th century London and the heart of the steampunk era in the richly atmospheric tale of a most unusual haunting. Rounding out this generous volume is an Introduction in which Shepard offers a startlingly frank assessment of his own troubled adolescence, identifying the 'alternate versions' of himself that appear in these pages and illuminating those points at which fiction and 'near-autobiography' converge." Subterranean, 368 pages, Apr 30.More »
by John Varley
"This collection by John Varley contains eleven provocative, utterly distinctive stories and novellas. None of them are currently available in any other book. Some have been unavailable in any form for twenty-five years or more. The bulk of these stories comprise what the author calls a 'Grand Tour of the Solar System,' moving from one thoroughly imagined setting to another with deceptive ease. 'The Funhouse Effect' is a tale of mystery, intrigue, and illusion that takes place on a mechanized comet moving toward the sun s corona. 'Retrograde Summer' is an account of gender reversals and family secrets set against the radically unstable backdrop of Mercury. 'Bagatelle' pits a recurring Varley character--Police Chief Anna-Louise Bach--against a living bomb that threatens to devastate Luna's Dresden City. Other stories range from Venus ('In the Bowl') to an underground 'disneyland' on Pluto ('Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe') to the unexplored reaches of deep space ('The Black Hole Passes'). The collection ends with two very different offerings that are nonetheless vintage Varley. 'The Unprocessed Word' is a whimsical reflection on one writer s relationship with a ubiquitous, constantly evolving technology, while 'The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)' is a brief, absolutely chilling meditation on the consequences of nuclear proliferation." Subterranean, 344 pages, Apr 30.More »
by Sofia Samatar
"Jevik the pepper merchant's son dreams of far Olondria. Raised by his tutors on the written dreams of the distant city, when he gets the opportunity to travel there, his life is thrown off track when he is haunted by the ghost of a girl whom he must face down before he can go free." Small Beer Press, 300 pages, Apr 30.More »
by John Layman, Chris Warner (Editor), Sam Kieth
"On a distant, frozen world, artificial persons are manufactured in discreet seclusion. With formidable new security synthetics coming online, how better to test their mettle than against a hive of deadly xenomorphs? But as socialization specialist Jean DuPaul sees her ever-more-human android charges sent to their destruction, she learns that the most savage species in the universe is man. From writer John Layman, creator of the award-winning Chew, and acclaimed artist Sam Kieth comes Aliens: Inhuman Condition, a hardcover graphic novella from the pages of Dark Horse Presents that shines a dark, disturbing light on the Aliens universe." Dark Horse, 48 pages, Apr 30.More »
by Eric Shanower, Skottie Young (Illustrator)
"When dusty Kansas roads suddenly turn into magic highways, it's a safe bet that one of them is the road to Oz. This time Dorothy's companions are strange--an old homeless guy with a magic magnet, and a mentally-challenged child named Button-Bright, transformed magically by the king of the talking foxes! Who will get an invitation to the most lavish celebration ever known, the birthday party of Ozma of Oz? And how will Dorothy and the Shaggy Man get through the Deadly Desert? Johnny Dooit may have an idea. COLLECTING: Road To Oz 1-6" Marvel, 136 pages, Apr 30.More »
by Valerie Sayers
"1941 is a year of drama and spectacle for Americans. Joe DiMaggio's record-breaking hitting streak enlivens the summer, and winter begins with the shock and horror of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The news from Europe is bleak, especially for the Jewish population. Joltin' Joe, possessing a sweet swing and range in center, also has another gift: he can see the future. And he sees dark times ahead." Northwestern University Press, 312 pages, Apr 30.More »
This week in new hardcovers: A British agent tries to save an alternate-timeline Earth from the creatures that destroyed our world thanks to unholy Nazi experiments; an army of synthetic humans is sent against a savage alien enemy, awakening their creator to our own capacity for atrocity; Dorothy finds herself once again on the road to Oz; a wandering merchant's son is waylaid by the ghost of a girl he knew; plus collections from Lucius Shepard and John Varley.
Necessary Evil
by Ian Tregillis
Milkweed, Book 3. "12 May 1940. Westminster, London, England: the early days of World War II. Again. Raybould Marsh, one of "our" Britain's best spies, has travelled to another Earth in a desperate attempt to save at least one timeline from the Cthulhu-like monsters who have been observing our species from space and have already destroyed Marsh's timeline. In order to accomplish this, he must remove all traces of the supermen that were created by the Nazi war machine and caused the specters from outer space to notice our planet in the first place. His biggest challenge is the mad seer Gretel, one of the most powerful of the Nazi creations, who has sent a version of herself to this timeline to thwart Marsh. Why would she stand in his way? Because she has seen that in all the timelines she dies and she is determined to stop that from happening, even if it means destroying most of humanity in the process. And Marsh is the only man who can stop her." Tor Books, 384 pages, Apr 30.More »
Five Autobiographies and a Fiction
by Lucius Shepard
"'Ditch Witch,' set in rural Oregon, concerns a young man on the run in a stolen car, a hitchhiker who may or may not have witch-like powers, and the bizarre inhabitants of the seemingly innocuous Elfland Motel. 'The Flock' is a tale of high school football and small town malaise set against an impossible intrusion from the natural world. A washed-up actor and a Malaysian 'woman of power' stand at the center of 'Vacancy,' the account of a man forced to confront the very real demons of his past. 'Dog-eared Paperback of My Life' follows a writer (Thomas Cradle) on his erotically charged journey down the Mekong River, a journey enveloped in a maze of multiple, interpenetrating realities. 'Halloween Town' tells the story of a small, extremely strange town and one of its denizens, Clyde Ormoloo, a man who sees too deeply into the 'terrible incoherence' of human affairs. The final story, 'Rose Street Attractors,' takes us into 19th century London and the heart of the steampunk era in the richly atmospheric tale of a most unusual haunting. Rounding out this generous volume is an Introduction in which Shepard offers a startlingly frank assessment of his own troubled adolescence, identifying the 'alternate versions' of himself that appear in these pages and illuminating those points at which fiction and 'near-autobiography' converge." Subterranean, 368 pages, Apr 30.More »
Good-bye Robinson Crusoe and Other Stories
by John Varley
"This collection by John Varley contains eleven provocative, utterly distinctive stories and novellas. None of them are currently available in any other book. Some have been unavailable in any form for twenty-five years or more. The bulk of these stories comprise what the author calls a 'Grand Tour of the Solar System,' moving from one thoroughly imagined setting to another with deceptive ease. 'The Funhouse Effect' is a tale of mystery, intrigue, and illusion that takes place on a mechanized comet moving toward the sun s corona. 'Retrograde Summer' is an account of gender reversals and family secrets set against the radically unstable backdrop of Mercury. 'Bagatelle' pits a recurring Varley character--Police Chief Anna-Louise Bach--against a living bomb that threatens to devastate Luna's Dresden City. Other stories range from Venus ('In the Bowl') to an underground 'disneyland' on Pluto ('Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe') to the unexplored reaches of deep space ('The Black Hole Passes'). The collection ends with two very different offerings that are nonetheless vintage Varley. 'The Unprocessed Word' is a whimsical reflection on one writer s relationship with a ubiquitous, constantly evolving technology, while 'The Manhattan Phone Book (Abridged)' is a brief, absolutely chilling meditation on the consequences of nuclear proliferation." Subterranean, 344 pages, Apr 30.More »
A Stranger in Olondria
by Sofia Samatar
"Jevik the pepper merchant's son dreams of far Olondria. Raised by his tutors on the written dreams of the distant city, when he gets the opportunity to travel there, his life is thrown off track when he is haunted by the ghost of a girl whom he must face down before he can go free." Small Beer Press, 300 pages, Apr 30.More »
Aliens: Inhuman Condition
by John Layman, Chris Warner (Editor), Sam Kieth
"On a distant, frozen world, artificial persons are manufactured in discreet seclusion. With formidable new security synthetics coming online, how better to test their mettle than against a hive of deadly xenomorphs? But as socialization specialist Jean DuPaul sees her ever-more-human android charges sent to their destruction, she learns that the most savage species in the universe is man. From writer John Layman, creator of the award-winning Chew, and acclaimed artist Sam Kieth comes Aliens: Inhuman Condition, a hardcover graphic novella from the pages of Dark Horse Presents that shines a dark, disturbing light on the Aliens universe." Dark Horse, 48 pages, Apr 30.More »
Road to Oz
by Eric Shanower, Skottie Young (Illustrator)
"When dusty Kansas roads suddenly turn into magic highways, it's a safe bet that one of them is the road to Oz. This time Dorothy's companions are strange--an old homeless guy with a magic magnet, and a mentally-challenged child named Button-Bright, transformed magically by the king of the talking foxes! Who will get an invitation to the most lavish celebration ever known, the birthday party of Ozma of Oz? And how will Dorothy and the Shaggy Man get through the Deadly Desert? Johnny Dooit may have an idea. COLLECTING: Road To Oz 1-6" Marvel, 136 pages, Apr 30.More »
The Powers
by Valerie Sayers
"1941 is a year of drama and spectacle for Americans. Joe DiMaggio's record-breaking hitting streak enlivens the summer, and winter begins with the shock and horror of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The news from Europe is bleak, especially for the Jewish population. Joltin' Joe, possessing a sweet swing and range in center, also has another gift: he can see the future. And he sees dark times ahead." Northwestern University Press, 312 pages, Apr 30.More »
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