The Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company: Glen Cook: Books

ISBN: 0765320665
ISBN-13: 9780765320667

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Orphan’s Journey (ARC)
Author: Robert Buettner

Book Description: In the years since the last Slug War, Jason’s command style hasn’t made him any friends in the Army.Now, in an effort to keep him out of trouble, the Army has sent Jason to the vast, Earth-orbiting resort called New Moon.At the core of this enormous space station is a starship, a relic from the last war. When a test run of the ship goes wrong, Jason, along with a handful of others, will be torn from orbit and thrust into space.Now, stranded on an alien planet, Jason realizes that not only are his friends are looking to him for rescue, but an entire planet sees him as their only hope.

The Host (ARC)
Author: Stephenie Meyer

Book Description: The author of the Twilight series of # 1 bestsellers delivers her brilliant first novel for adults: a gripping story of love and betrayal in a future with the fate of humanity at stake. Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she’s never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time.

Marseguro (mass market paperback)
Author: Edward Willett

Book Description: A BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL ON A DISTANT WATER WORLD | After a worldwide disaster strikes Earth, the planet is taken over by a fanatical religious theocracy. Scientist Victor Hansen flees with a staff of non-genetically modified humans and young members of his newly created race, the Selkies, to Marseguro, a distant water world. But their peace and freedom is threatened when a traitor calls forth a strike force from Earth, and Victor’s own grandson, Richard, is with them. What Richard Hansen discovers may alter not only his own destiny but that of Marseguro and Earth as well.

Mystery Date (mass market paperback)
Editor: Denise Little

Book Description: Flirt with the unknown in 17 unusual tales of blind dates | When people embark on blind dates, they never quite know what they will find-and the dates in these mostly modern- day urban tales go far beyond the usual expectations. Here, these 17 romantic hopefuls encounter surprise first dates with the likes of Zeus and William Shakespeare; Medusa wreaks havoc upon Internet predators; a woman is cursed to see the truth about her dates after drinking a little wine; and more. | All of these very different dates begin with the hope that romance will result. Some will find a happily ever after, while for others there will be no "ever after" at all…

Pebble in the Sky (hardcover)
Author: Isaac Asimov

Book Description: One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in Chicago, 1949. The next he’s a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire. Earth, as he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it’s the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil–so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of sixty. Joseph Schwartz is sixty-two. This is young Isaac Asimov’s first novel, full of wonders and ideas, the book that launched the novels of the Galactic Empire, culminating in the Foundation series. This is Golden Age SF at its finest.

Poison Sleep (ARC)
Author: T.A. Pratt

Book Description: The bad girl of the magical underworld is back and badder than ever | Someone wants Marla Mason dead. Usually that’s not news. As chief sorcerer of Felport, someone always wants her dead. But this time she’s the target of a renegade assassin who specializes in killing his victims over days, months, or even years. Not to mention a mysterious knife-wielding killer in black who pops up in the most unexpected places. To make matters worse, an inmate has broken out of the Blackwing Institute for criminally insane sorcerers—a troubled psychic who can literally reweave the fabric of reality to match her own traumatic past. | With her wisecracking partner Rondeau reluctantly in tow, Marla teams up with a “love-talker” whose dangerous erotic spells not even she can resist. Together they’re searching the rapidly transforming streets of Felport for a woman who’s become the Typhoid Mary of nightmares, infecting everything—and everyone—she touches with a chaos worse than death itself.

The Lost Ones (ARC)
Author: Christopher Golden

Book Description: Bestselling author Christopher Golden brings his epic, innovative trilogy, the Veil, to an astonishing conclusion as the mythic realm of heroes and monsters becomes the site of humanity’s last—and greatest—showdown. | In the world of the legendary, every myth and folktale is real. That is what Oliver Bascombe learned on the other side of the Veil, where humanity’s legends have hidden away for centuries. But even legends have legends, and Oliver has learned of a prophecy that many believe he and his sister, Collette, have come to the Two Kingdoms to fulfill. Before they can discover the truth, the Bascombe siblings must help to stop an apocalyptic war that threatens to destroy the Two Kingdoms, unravel a conspiracy, and prevent a powerful sorcerer from severing the world of humans from the realm of the legendary forever. | But first Oliver will have to plot an escape from an impregnable palace dungeon where he and his allies have been imprisoned . . . for regicide. | As old heroes and friends ally themselves for one last battle, even older enemies stand arrayed against them. Is humanity ready to face its legends head-on? For Oliver Bascombe, the price may be dearer than even he could ever imagine.

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Season of the Witch (trade paperback)
Author: Natasha Mostert

Book Description: Gabriel Blackstone is an unscrupulous hacker and unrepentant "remote viewer" who can’t resist his ex-lover’s request to look into her stepson’s disappearance. His investigation leads him to a rambling Victorian home that bewitches him-as do its beautiful, enigmatic owners, the Monk sisters. The pair are solar witches, obsessed with alchemy and the Art of Memory, a practice invented by the ancient Greeks. | With his uneasy suspicion that one of the sisters is a killer, Gabriel sets out to determine which. But the more entangled in the case he becomes, the more deeply he is drawn into the sisters’ entrancing world-losing hold of reality even as he falls into mortal danger…

Null-A Continuum (ARC)
Author: John C. Wright

Book Description: Grandmaster A. E. van Vogt was one of the giants of the Golden Age of classic SF, the 1940s. Of his masterpieces, The World of Null-A is perhaps most influential. It was the first major trade SF hardcover ever, in 1949, and has been in print ever since. The careers of Philip K. Dick, Keith Laumer, Alfred Bester, Charles Harness, and Philip Jose Farmer were created or influenced by The World of Null-A. It is required reading for anyone who wishes to know the canon of SF classics.And so John C. Wright was inspired to write a sequel to the two novels of Null-A (the second was The Players of Null-A). To do this, he trained himself to write in the pulp style and manner of van Vogt. So return again to the Null-A future, in which the man with two brains, Gilbert Gosseyn, now discovers his third brain and travels through heretofore unimaginable distances in space and in time to fend off the death of the Universe and the extermination of human life as humanity reaches the peak of evolution millions of years in the future.

Darkside (hardcover)
Author: Tom Becker

Book Description: Jonathan Starling’s home has been attacked, his dad is in an asylum, he’s running for his life, and there’s nowhere to hide. Jonathan has stumbled upon London’s greatest secret: Darkside. Incredibly dangerous and unimaginably exciting, Darkside is the creepiest place Jonathan has ever seen. It’s a world of nightmares and secrets, where fear and evil rule, and Jonathan has to find a way out…. | Since Tom Becker learned to hold a pen, he wanted to become a writer. In fact, when he was five years old, he wrote in a notebook that it was his dream was to be an author. Tom studied History at Oxford University and was inspired by the otherworldly atmosphere of this academic institution. He used to spend long days studying and reading in the University library, but now he spends long days writing.

Runemarks (hardcover)
Author: Joanne Harris

Book Description: Seven o’clock on a Monday morning, five hundred years after the end of the world, and goblins had been at the cellar again. . . . Not that anyone would admit it was goblins. In Maddy Smith’s world, order rules. Chaos, old gods, fairies, goblins, magic, glamours–all of these were supposedly vanquished centuries ago. But Maddy knows that a small bit of magic has survived. The “ruinmark” she was born with on her palm proves it–and makes the other villagers fearful that she is a witch (though helpful in dealing with the goblins-in-the-cellar problem). But the mysterious traveler One-Eye sees Maddy’s mark not as a defect, but as a destiny. And Maddy will need every scrap of forbidden magic One-Eye can teach her if she is to survive that destiny.

Empress (ARC)
Author: Karen Miller

Book Description: In a family torn apart by poverty and violence, Hekat is no more than an unwanted mouth to feed, worth only a few coins from a passing slave trader. But Hekat was not born to be a slave. For her, a different path has been chosen. It is a path that will take her from stinking back alleys to the house of her God, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak.This is the story of Hekat, precious and beautiful.

The Journal of Curious Letters (ARC)
Author: James Dashner

Book Description: What if every time you made a choice that had a significant consequence, a new, alternate reality was created–the life that would’ve been had you made the other choice? What if those new realities were in danger? What if it fell to you to save all the realities? Atticus Higginbottom, a.k.a. Tick, is an average thirteen-year-old boy until the day a strange letter arrives in his mailbox. Postmarked from Alaska and cryptically signed with the initials "M.G.," the letter informs Tick that dangerous–perhaps even deadly–events have been set in motion that could result in the destruction of reality itself. M.G. promises to send Tick twelve riddles that will reveal on a certain day, at a certain time, at a certain place, something extraordinary will happen. Will Tick have the courage to follow the twelve clues M.G. sends to him? Will he be able to solve the riddles in time? Will Tick discover the life he was meant to live? The first volume of an outstanding new children’s fantasy series, The Journal of Curious Letters is filled with adventure, humor, riddles, and, oh, yes–danger… As M.G. warns Tick, Very frightening things are coming your way. Will you join Tick and his friends on an amazing journey through the Realities? What will your choice be?

Blood Ties (ARC)
Author: Pamela Freeman

Book Description: A thousand years ago, the Eleven Domains were invaded and the original inhabitants forced on the road as Travelers, belonging nowhere, welcomed by no-one. Now the Domains are governed with an iron fist by the Warlords, but there are wilder elements to the landscape which cannot be controlled and which may prove their undoing. Some are spirits of place, of water and air and fire and earth. Some are greater than these. And some are human.Bramble: a village girl, whom no-one living can tame … forced to flee from her home for a crime she did not commit. Ash: apprentice to a safeguarder, forced to kill for an employer he cannot escape. Saker: an enchanter, who will not rest until the land is returned to his people. As their three stories unfold, along with the stories of those whose lives they touch, it becomes clear that they are bound together in ways that not even a stonecaster could foresee – bound by their past, their future, and their blood.

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Elak of Atlantis (trade paperback)
Author: Henry Kuttner

Book Description: Explore the origins of Sword & Sorcery with Henry Kuttner’s Elak of Atlantis! Published in Weird Tales to satisfy fans of Conan the Barbarian in the wake of Robert E. Howard’s death, the four long stories depict a brutal world of flashing swords and primal magic, touched by a hint of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos. Never collected in a mass market edition since their publication in the late 1930s, these exciting tales helped to establish a genre and are a critical part of any fantasy library. Included as a bonus are Kuttner’s two Prince Raynor stories from 1939’s Strange Tales. With seminal, thrilling adventure tales from one of the most important writers in science-fiction and fantasy, Elak of Atlantis is not to be missed!

The Secret Of Sinharat (trade paperback)
Author: Leigh Brackett

Book Description: Enter Eric John Stark, adventurer, rebel, wildman. Raised on the sun-soaked, savage world of Mercury, Stark lives among the people of the civilized solar system, but his veneer of calm masks a warrior’s spirit. In the murderous Martian Drylands the greatest criminals in the galaxy hatch a conspiracy of red revolution. Stark’s involvement leads to the forgotten ruins of the Martian Low Canals, an unlikely romance and a secret so potent it could shake the Red Planet to its core.

Madhouse (mass market paperback)
Author: Rob Thurman

Book Description: Half-human Cal Leandros and his brother, Niko, aren’t exactly prospering with their preternatural detective agency. Who could have guessed that business would dry up in New York City, where vampires, Trolls, and other creepy crawlies are all over the place? | But now there’s a new arrival in the Big Apple. A malevolent evil with ancient powers, dead set on making history with an orgy of  blood and murder, is picking off humans like sheep. And for Cal and Niko, this is one paycheck they’re going to have to earn…if they live long enough to collect it.

Bloodheir (ARC)
Author: Brian Ruckley

Book Description
The world has fallen from its former state. The war between the clans of the Black Road and the True Bloods has spread. For Orisian, thane of the ruined Lannis Blood, there is no time to grieve the loss of his family, brutally slain by the invading armies. The Black Road must be stopped. However, as more blood is spilled on the battlefields, so each side in the conflict becomes more riven by internal dissent and disunity. Amidst the mounting chaos, Aeglyss the na’kyrim uses his new-found powers to twist everything and everyone around him to serve his own mad desires.Meanwhile, the long-dormant Anain are stirring – and when the most potent race the world has ever known returns, the bloodletting may never stop.

The Edge of Reason (ARC)
Author: Melinda Snodgrass

Book Description: Since the dawn of consciousness, a secret war has been fought between the forces of magic and religious fanaticism, and the cause of reason, understanding, and technology. On one side are the Old Ones, malign entities that feed on the suffering of mankind. On the other are the Lumina, an ancient order dedicated the liberation of the human spirit. | Officer Richard Oort of the Albuquerque Police Department is caught in the middle of this primal battle when he rescues a mysterious teenage girl from a trio of inhuman hunters. Recruited by the Lumina to serve as their latest paladin, Richard ends up fighting beside a handful of unlikely allies, including an adolescent sorceress, an enigmatic philanthropist, a sexy coroner, and a homeless god with multiple personalities. | The Old Ones and their mortal pawns are determined to destroy Richard–or subvert him to their cause. And they have all powers of magic and organized religion at their disposal. As the gates between the universes shred apart, it may be up to Richard to save humanity from the endless horror of a new Dark Age. | Provocative as The Golden Compass or the Illuminatus! trilogy, The Edge of Reason dramatizes the fundamental conflict behind the hot-button issues of today…and the future of the human race.

The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy (ARC)
Author: Ellen Datlow

This collection of sixteen all-new stories could count as a virtual "best of the year" anthology. Here you will find slyly twisted alternate histories, fractured fairy tales, topical science fiction, and edgy urban fantasy. [TOC]

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A Curse Dark as Gold (ARC)
Author: Elizabeth C. Bunce

The gold thread shimmers in the fading light. It promises Charlotte Miller a way out of debt, a chance to save her family’s beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, livelihood for her townsfolk, security against her sinuous and grasping uncle. It might even promise what she didn’t know she needed: lasting hope and true love. | But at what cost? To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past–secrets and bonds ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte’s mill, her family, her friends, her love…What do those matter to a powerful stranger who can spin straw into gold? | In her brilliant debut, Elizabeth Bunce weaves a spellbinding fairy tale, spun with mystery and show through with romance.

Shadowbridge (Trade Paperback)
Author: Gregory Frost

Sprung from a timeless dream, Shadowbridge is a world of linked spans arching high above glittering seas. It is a world of parading ghosts, inscrutable gods, and dangerous magic. Most of all, it is a world of stories. | No one knows those stories better than Leodora, a young shadow-puppeteer who travels Shadowbridge collecting the intertwining tales and myths of each place she passes through, then retells them in performances whose genius has begun to attract fame…and less welcome attention. | For Leodora is fleeing a violent past, as are her two companions: her manager Soter, and elderly drunkard who also served Leodora’s father, the legendary puppeteer Bardsham; and Diverus, her musical accompanist, a young man who has been blessed and perhaps cursed, by the touch of a nameless god. | Now, as the strands of a destiny she did not choose begin to tighten around her, Leodora is about to cross the most perilous bridge of all–the one leading from the past to the future.

Navigator (Hardcover)
Author: Stephen Baxter

As William the Conqueror’s men attempt to stamp out the flames of rebellion, a prophecy is uttered. A bedraggled woman in a ruined chapel speaks of civilizations in conflict, armed by the engines of God… | And that prophecy proves to be true as the fearsome war between Christianity and Islam leaves its mark across the land. In Spain, a rogue priest dreams of the final defeat of Islam, for he has found a rent in the tapestry of time, a point where agents from the future used diabolical weapons of destruction to change history. Centuries later, in 1492, as men of vision weary of the strife and are drawn to the unknown West, one such explorer seeks the funding for his voyage-while a mysterious Weaver plots to unravel the strands of time and stop him.

The Unnatural Inquirer (Hardcover)
Author: Simon R. Green

Welcome to the Nightside, that secret square mile located in the dark heart of London where the sun never rises and people can fraternize with every myth and monster imaginable. | John Taylor is a P.I. with the special ability to locate anyone or anything. The Unnatural Inquirer, the Nightside’s most notorious gossip rag, has offered him a million pounds to find a DVD purportedto contain an actual recording of the afterlife. John doesn’t know if it’s true, but someone-or something-thinks so, and will stop at nothing to possess the disc.

Elom (ARC)
Author: William H. Drinkard

Fire from the Goddess and the meat and furs of the mammoth are all that the People need to live. It is a harsh life but a good one and it is one that all cherish. | Young Geerna knows that the time has come for her to become a woman and take up the tasks to keep her people safe. She waits in the Awakening Place, fearful and hopeful as her ordeals come to an end. Then, on the eve of her Womanhood, a shining light descends upon her and her world is torn asunder. | And she embarks on a journey that none of her people could ever envision…
Eons have passed. Cycle upon cycle the Way of the People have remain unchanged: women are artists, men are hunters. Geerna’s Law is the covenant by which humans live in harmony and peace.  |  But all is about to change. A call has come for The People to choose their champions, and a summons to meet the mysterious creatures who selected Geerna so long ago. | All is unknown. As the brave souls who are chosen venture forth, they will come to discover just how much that pact that Geerna made so long ago has cost them. | And they will have to confront the choices that might help them to finally know true freedom.

Small Favor (ARC)
Author: Jim Butcher

The new novel in the New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series. | No one’s tried to kill Harry Dresden for almost an entire year, and his life finally seems to be calming down. For once, the future looks fairly bright. But the past casts one hell of a long shadow. | An old bargain has placed Harry in debt to Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, the Queen of Air and Darkness-and she’s calling in her marker. It’s a small favor he can’t refuse…one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally, and one that will strain his skills-and loyalties-to their very limits. | It figures. Everything was going too well to last…

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Genius Squad
Author: Catherine Jinks

Book Description: Now that the Axis Institute for World Domination has been blown up; the founder, Dr. Phineas Darkkon has died; and Prosper English (who enrolled Cadel in the first place) is in jail for myriad offenses, Cadel Piggott has round-the-clock surveillance so he’ll be safe until he testifies against Prosper English. But nobody seems to want Cadel. Not Fiona, his social worker; not Saul Greeniaus, the detective assigned to protect him. | When he is approached by the head of Genius Squad–a group formed to investigate GenoME, one of Darkkon’s pet projects–Cadel is dubious Genius Squad can offer him a real home and all the technology his heart desires. But why can’t he bring himself to tell Saul what the group is really up to? And how can Genius Squad protect Cadel once Prosper English breaks out of jail?

Birmingham, 35 Miles
Author: James Braziel

Book Description: In this haunting and poignant debut novel, James Braziel tells an unforgettable story of love, family, and survival across a world that has already begun to die.… | When the ozone layer opened and the sun relentlessly scorched the land, there was nothing left but to hope. Mathew Harrison had always heard of a better life as close as Birmingham, only thirty-five miles away—zones of blue sky, wet grass, and clean breathable air. But to him it’s a myth, a place guarded by soldiers, off limits to all but the lucky few. Meanwhile Mat works alongside his father, mining only the red clay that the once fertile Alabama soil can offer. | Now, with the killing deserts on the move again and the woman he loves on a Greyhound heading north, Mat has a travel visa and every reason to leave. But his roots in this lifeless soil inexplicably hold him firmly to the past. Torn between hope and resignation, with time running out, Mat must make a fateful choice between a new life and the one that isn’t ready to let him go.

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Streams of Babel
Author: Carol Plum-Ucci

Book Description: In a New Jersey suburb, two women die of brain aneurysms within twenty-four hours–events that cause the government to suspect that a terrorist cell has unleashed a deadly biochemical agent. With each glass of water they drink, the people of Trinity Falls are poisoning themselves. | A world away in Pakistan, a sixteen-year-old computer genius working as a virtual spy for the United States sees an influx of chatter from extremists about a substance they call Red Vinegar that will lead to many deaths in Colony One. Can he warn the victims before it’s too late? | A Printz Honor Award winner and two-time Edgar Allan Poe Award finalist, Carol Plum-Ucci explores disturbing new terrain in this riveting novel that examines the heroes and victims involved in a terrifying act of bioterrorism.

the dead and the gone
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Book Description: Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event–an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex’s parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle. | With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.

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Steward of Song
Author: Adam Stemple

Book Description: In Singer of Souls, young Douglas fled his American life of drugs and petty crime, arriving in Scotland to be taken in by his stern-but-fair grandmother. Unfortunately, his career as a busker was interrupted by the fey folk who invisibly share Edinburgh’s streets. | Now Douglas, usurper, sits on the throne of Faery–holding the Queen and the land hostage with his all-powerful magic and his unflinchingly loyal lieutenant: Martes. Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, a strange infant is left on the doorstep of an ex-marine who may have the second sight.

Starship: Mercenary
Author: Mike Resnick

Book Description: The date is 1968 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, created by the human race but not yet dominated by it, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. Captain Wilson Cole, a man with a reputation for exceeding orders but getting results, found himself the victim of a media feeding frenzy, a political scapegoat despite years of dedicated military service. Faced with a court martial, he was rescued by the loyal crew of his ship, the Theodore Roosevelt. Branded mutineers, the Teddy R. has quit the Republic, never to return. | Seeking to find a new life, Wilson Cole first remade the Teddy R. as a pirate ship plying the spaceways of the lawless Inner Frontier. But military discipline and honor were a poor match for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole’s principles naturally limited his targets. Seeking a better way of life, the Teddy R. becomes a mercenary ship, hiring out to the highest bidder. Whether it’s evacuating a hospital before war can reach it, freeing a client from an alien prison, or stopping a criminal cartel from extorting money from a terrified planet, the crew of the Teddy R. proves equal to the task. Along the way they form a partnership with the once human Platinum Duke, team up with a former enemy, and make the unique Singapore Station their headquarters. | But the life of a mercenary is not always predictable, and eventually circumstance pits Cole and the Teddy R. against his right-hand woman, the former Pirate Queen known as the Valkyrie. Soon the fragile trust that has grown between these two legends is put to the test as they find themselves on opposite sides of a job.

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Inferno
Editor: Ellen Datlow

Book Description: As stated in her introduction to Inferno, Ellen Datlow asked her favorite authors for stories that would ‘provide the reader with a frisson of shock, or a moment of dread so powerful it might cause the reader outright physical discomfort; or a sensation of fear so palpable that the reader feels compelled to turn on the bright lights and play music or seek the company of others to dispel the fear.’Mission accomplished. Datlow has produced a collection filled with some of the most powerful voices in the field: Pat Cadigan, Terry Dowling, Jeffrey Ford, Christopher Fowler, Glen Hirshberg, K. W. Jeter, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lucius Shepard, to name a few. Each author approaches fear in a different way, but all of the stories’ characters toil within their own hell. An aptly titled anthology, Inferno will scare the pants off readers and further secure Ellen Datlow’s standing as a preeminent editor of modern horror.

Shadow Gate
Author: Kate Elliott

Book Description: The captivating, bestselling Spirit Gate swept readers into the turbulent world of the Hundred, where the peace and order of life under the protection of the immortal Guardians has given way to chaos and violence. In the face of a vast horde of marauders led by a rogue Guardian, the bravery and resourcefullness of a lone eagle-reeve and others who risk their lives for the common good have prevented death and destruction from overwhelming the Hundred. | Now in Shadow Gate, the enthralling sequel, the source of corruption of the Guardians is still a mystery to the mortals who fight to withstand the forces that have turned against them. And when three new Guardians emerge, a struggle begins among the immortals, with nothing less at stake than the future of the land and its gods. | With all the color, excitement, and narrative power that have made Kate Elliott an enormously popular writer, Shadow Gate weaves a powerful spell of action, romance, and magic that will entrance legions of fans.

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Child of a Dead God
Authors: Barb Hendee & J.C. Hendee

Book Description: For years, Magiere and Leesil have sought a long-forgotten artifact, even though its purpose has been shrouded in mystery. All Magiere knows is that she must keep the orb from falling into the hands of a murdering Noble Dead, her half-brother Welstiel. And now, dreams of a castle locked in ice lead her south, on a journey that has become nothing less than an obsession. | Accompanying Magiere and Leesil are the sage Wynn, their canine protector Chap, and two elven assassins-turned-guardians who must fight their distrust of this sister of the dead. For forces more powerful than they are rallying around Magiere, arming her for the conflict to come. Because finding the orb may be just the beginning of the challenges that await her…

Breath and Bone
Author: Carol Berg

Book Description: As the land of Navronne sinks deeper into civil war and perilous winter, everyone wants to get their hands on the rebellious sorcerer Valen-a murderous priestess, a prince who steals dead men’s eyes, and even the Danae guardians, whose magic nurtures the earth and whose attention could prove the most costly of all. | Addicted to an enchantment that turns pain into pleasure-and bound by oaths he refuses to abandon-Valen risks body and soul to rescue one child, seek justice for another, and bring the dying land its rightful king. Yet no one is who they seem, and Valen’s search for healing grace leads him from Harrower dungeons to alien shores. Only at the heart of the world does he discover the glorious, terrible price of the land’s redemption-and his own.

The Vacant Throne
Author: Joshua Palmatier

Book Description: Ruled by the Mistress of the Skewed Throne, the city of Amenkor has just survived a devastating invasion, paying a terrible price both in the loss of lives and destruction in the city itself. Yet perhaps the most crucial loss is the throne of Amenkor-the true seat of power in every sense-now totally drained of the magic, knowledge, life force, and memories of previous rulers. The city’s only hope lies with its sometime ally, the city of Venitte, home to the throne that is twin in power to Amenkor’s, the two created at the same time by a magic that no one can now duplicate.

The Escapement
Author: K. J. Parker

Book Description: The engineer Ziani Vaatzes engineered a war to be reunited with his family. The deaths were regrettable, but he had no choice. Duke Valens dragged his people into the war to save the life of one woman – a woman whose husband he then killed. He regrets the evil he’s done, but he, equally, had no choice. Secretary Psellus never wanted to rule the Republic, or fight a desperate siege for its survival. As a man of considerable intelligence, he knows that he has a role to play – and little choice but to accept it. The machine has been built. All that remains is to set it in motion.

Amulet
Author: Kazu Kibuishi

Book Description: After the tragic death of their father, Emily and Navin move with their mother to the home of her deceased great-grandfather, but the strange house proves to be dangerous. Before long, a sinister creature lures the kids’ mom through a door in the basement. Em and Navin, desperate not to lose her, follow her into an underground world inhabited by demons, robots, and talking animals. | Eventually, they enlist the help of a small mechanical rabbit named Miskit. Together with Miskit, they face the most terrifying monster of all, and Em finally has the chance to save someone she loves.

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