We’ve had quite a few books come in to the studio, and I haven’t given an update for awhile. So, here goes.
Big thanks to the kind folks at Orbit for keeping us up-to-date with their catalog.
Empress kicks off a new series by Karen Miller, author of The Innocent Mage. Empress chronicles the story of Hekat, who “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 of the house of her god, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak.”
Andrzej Sapkowski is one of Poland’s bestselling authors, with sales trumping those of Stephen King and Michael Crichton. The Last Wish is a paperback original and features the same world as the anticipated video game, The Witcher, from E3. “Geralt de Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded killer. His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.” Coming in May.
Blood Ties kicks off Pamela Freeman’s new Casting’s trilogy and will hit stores this April. “Set in a world where ghosts walk among the living, one of the most original, enchanting, and beautifully written fantasy epics of recent years.” The cover of this one is very Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I don’t know if that was intentional, but that is what it reminds me of.
Robert Buettner continues his military SF series with Orphan’s Journey, due out this April. I just started reading Orphange. It is fast paced and to the point, the perfect style for a military thrill ride. “Jason Wander is on the firing line again – but this time not as a soldier. He’s about to discover that command itself can be an even greater challenge.” Look for Robert to be on the podcast soon.
Our last book from Orbit is Bloodheir, by Brian Ruckley, book two in the Godless World trilogy that began with Winterbirth. Entertainment Weekly calls it “Heroic fantasy splashed with 300-style gore.” From the press release: “Ruckley has created a uniquely harsh and realistic fantasy landscape, with a cast of unforgettable characters and a complex and convincing society on the brink of war.”
Pyr also continues to keep us in the loop. Before They are Hanged is the next book from Joe Abercrombie, author of The Blade Itself. “Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.” Another author recently told me that Joe Abercrombie is brilliant, and that these books are must-reads. Enough said. Read these books!
Starship: Mercenary is book three in Mike Resnick’s Starship Series. “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.” Mike Resnick has been nominated for thirty Hugo Awards. Pyr has been publishing some fine work from him, and these books are worth your time.
“Two years after the unhatching of Callayan President Neilands’s plot to make the capital city of Tanusha the centre of the Federation, Callay is under siege. So begins the third installment of this gripping trilogy from an exciting new sci-fi author.” Lou uses the term sci-fi? I thought he was partial to SF. Anyway, Killswitch by Joel Shepherd is the concluding volume in the Cassandra Kresnov trilogy. These books are high on my “really want to read these” list, and that excitement is due in part to the incredible cover art. The promise of adventure, fun, and intrigue is always a strong selling point for me.
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The last book to share today is Infected, Scott Sigler’s first novel though Crown Publishing. James Rollins praises the book saying, “Part Stephen King, part Chuck Palahniuk, Infected blends science fiction and horror into a pulpy masterpiece of action, terror, and suspense.” Most of you know that Scott is a pioneer in podcast fiction. The success of this novel, and the novels of J.C. Hutchins, will very likely set the standard for podcast novelists, either verifying or nullifying podcasting as a viable business model for the next few years.
I see some unifying themes in the books listed here. All seem to be about war, either implicitly or indirectly, except for Infected. The SF books have a strong military focus, and the fantasy books all promise unique reading experiences, as if they are trying to separate themselves from Tolkienian roots while simultaneously reaching to that very audience. Interesting trends that I will continue to monitor.
For a quick blog about my weekend with Kay Kenyon and Timothy Zahn, please visit my personal blog, Decoding the Future.
the witcher’s author is the tolkien of poland himself apparently…im interested to read that translation.
military is pretty much the standard subgenre for sci-fi these days. it also seems a better way to reveal your ideology without having to answer a lot of questions.
people have don the tolkien scenarios as much as they can, some have made popular careers out of little more then changing the names around. So now we see authors that want to push the idea of fantasy worlds in other directions then tolkien did. One thing i think is worth noting is that many newer fantasy writers dont create races of creature much anymore. the human mythology pillage is over and now they talk about ‘cultures’ were races used to be. Sanderson’s first book, scott lynch, the blade itself…and so on. These are writers that influenced by things like anime and video game scripting and instant information access.
plus many of the people writing fantasy today are under the ‘paranormal’ modern title(charles de lint, neil gaimen, the many modern-day vampire writers, etc etc)
R.A. Salvatore talks a lot about the influence of video games on books. I don’t game myself, so I would never notice the style of Sanderson, Lynch, and the rest as related to that media. Very interesting.
Good stuff.
I’m pretty positive that Scott Lynch wrote The Lies of Locke Lamora off of a p&p rpg that he created and was dming. (Just a rumor I heard from a good source–please don’t hurt me if I’m wrong. Well, don’t leave any _permanent_ marks, anyways). I would _so_ love to play in that world!