New Scifi & Fantasy Releases: Week of Nov. 28

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Black Wings
Christina Henry
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: November 30

As an Agent of Death, Madeline Black is responsible for escorting the souls of the dearly departed to the afterlife. It's a 24/7 job with a lousy benefits package.
Maddy's position may come with magical powers and an impressive wingspan, but it doesn't pay the bills. And then there are her infuriating boss, tenant woes, and a cranky, popcorn-loving gargoyle to contend with.
Things start looking up, though, when tall, dark, and handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in Maddy's building. It's probably just a coincidence that as soon as he moves in demons appear on the front lawn. But when an unholy monster is unleashed upon the streets of Chicago, Maddy discovers powers she never knew she possessed. Powers linked to a family legacy of tarnished halos.
Powers that place her directly between the light of Heaven and the fires of Hell...


Bone Gods (Black London, Bk 3)
Caitlin Kittredge
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Release Date: November 30

Witch hunts are on the rise and supernatural turf wars are reaching a boiling point. Then, just when it seems life couldn’t get any worse for Pete, Jack reappears—but he’s no longer the man she’s always known. Hell has changed him forever. And he’s brought back with him a whole world of trouble…
A cabal of necromancers are using ancient, unspeakable magic to turn the tide of war in their favor. Then, as the city is about to sink into chaos, Pete receives a chilling directive: To end the war, you must kill the crow-mage. Beset from all sides, Pete finds herself turning to an unholy source for help…even if doing so could destroy Black London—and life as she knew it—once and for all.


Counterfeit Magic (women of the Otherworld)
Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Subterranean
Release Date: November 30

Return to the world of Kelley Armstrong's best-selling novels Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic for a long original novella.

The first rule of a supernatural fight club? Don't kill your opponent.

When the fighters come with lethal spells, werewolf strength and half-demon powers, that can be a lot tougher than it sounds. It's hard to attract talent if they know they might not leave the ring alive. So when fighters at a California club start dying -- it's bad for business.

Witch detectives Paige Winterbourne and Savannah Levine take the case. Going undercover in the power-heavy arena of the fight club is a welcome change of pace for Paige, relegated to the role of The Wife as her husband struggles to find his place in his family's Cabal--the corporate Mafia of the supernatural world.

As Paige is drawn deeper into new and dangerous corners of her world, she quickly discovers the greatest threat isn't the killer in her sights. It's something much, much closer to home. And this is one fight she can't afford to lose.


Devoured by Darkness (Guardians of Eternity, Bk 7)
Alexandra Ivy
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Release Date: November 30

They are the Guardians of Eternity, strong, skilled, seductive vampires chosen to protect—and to destroy. And they will risk anything to fulfill their duty, and satisfy their desires...

Tane is a Charon, sworn to hunt and kill rogue vampires. His new assignment seems like a waste of his talents—until he catches up with the jinn he's been sent to capture. Half human, half demon, Laylah has a vulnerable streak that strikes right through to Tane's cold heart. He should be furious when she uses her powers to bind them together, preventing him from dragging her before the Commission. Instead he welcomes any reason to stay close enough to touch, to taste, to seduce...

Laylah doesn't know why she was chosen to protect a child who may be the catalyst in a war between good and evil. But the mysteries of her past pale compared to the dangers approaching. Tane is devastatingly strong, breathtakingly sensual. And Laylah will have to trust in every ounce of that strength, because her enemies are drawing near, eager to destroy them both...


Eternal Flame
Cynthia Eden
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Release Date: November 30

Cynthia Eden invites you into the world of the Others—supernatural creatures who are sexy, powerful, and more than human in every way...

No one that deadly should look that good. Hybrid demon Zane Wynter specializes in tracking the most lethal criminals, whether human or Other. But Jana Carter is nothing like his previous targets. She's an Ignitor, able to conjure and control fire. She's also sexy beyond belief—and used to playing dirty...

Jana knows she's being set up. She even knows who's responsible: Project Perseus, a secretive group that plans to rid the world of paranormals by any means necessary. From Louisiana's sultry swamps to its desolate cemeteries, Jana and Zane must race to destroy the mastermind behind Perseus before their world goes up in flames—and with it, a desire that burns too hot to resist...

Feathered Serpent 2012
Junius Podrug
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: Forge
Release Date: November 30

December 21, 2012: The fabled Feathered Serpent begins his relentless ascent out of the bowels of the earth, escaping thousands of years of torturous confinement. Controversial astrobiologist and archaeologist Caden Montez—who believes Teotihuacan is the best site on earth to find alien life forms, such as the Serpent—is on his trail. While exploring this so-called “City of the Gods”—a place so eerie it terrified even the most ferocious Aztecs—she discovers that the Serpent has broken free.

Ancient Mayan priests prophesied that when the God-King returned, he would open the gates to the End Time. Together with an ancient 1000-year-old Mayan warrior—who has crossed the Gulf of Time to save humanity from extinction—the outrageous and beautiful Caden must stop him. Scientists, political leaders, and journalists who have long ridiculed Caden’s theories have no one else to turn to. The Mayans’ Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse is on the move, and humanity’s survival hangs in the balance.


Hungry for You
Lynsay Sands
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: November 30

This vampire has been alone for far too long ...
As one of the most ancient in the Argeneau clan, Cale Valens has given up on finding a life mate. His friends and family, however, have not. In fact, they believe they've finally found his perfect match. Getting them together, however, requires one little white lie ...

Alexandra Willan is in a panic. Her restaurant is due to open in two weeks, but her chef just walked out. Then a highly recommended replacement arrives, an impossibly handsome culinary genius who sends electric tingles racing through her body ...

Except he can't cook. In fact, Cale hasn't eaten real food in two thousand years. Yet he's determined to prove to Alex his prowess in the kitchen ...and elsewhere. Because never has he hungered so for any mortal woman. And not just for a taste of her, but for the whole delicious feast!


In the Dark of Dreams
Marjorie M. Liu
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: November 30

She could never forget the boy with the ice blue eyes ...
She was only twelve when she saw the silver boy on the beach, but Jenny has never stopped dreaming about him. Now she is grown, a marine biologist charting her own course in the family business—a corporation that covertly crosses the boundaries of science into realms of the unknown ...and the incredible.
And now he has found her again, her boy grown into a man: Perrin, powerful and masculine, and so much more than human, leaving Jenny weak with desire and aching for his touch.
But with their reunion comes danger. For Perrin and Jenny—and all living creatures—their only hope for preventing the unthinkable lies in a mysterious empire far beneath the sea ...and in the power of their dreams.


Law of the Broken Earth
Rachel Neumeier
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: November 30

In Feierabiand, in the wide green Delta, far from the burning heat of the griffin's desert, Mienthe's peaceful life has been shaken. Tan - clever, cynical, and an experienced spy - has brought a deadly secret out of the neighboring country of Linularinum.

Now, as three countries and two species rush toward destruction, Mienthe fears that even her powerful cousin Bertaud may be neither able nor even willing to find a safe path between the secret Linularinum would kill to preserve and the desperate ferocity of the griffins. But can Mienthe?

And, in the end, will Tan help her . . . or do everything in his power to stand in her way?


Matched
Ally Condie
Genre: YA Dystopia
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date: November 30

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.


Of Masques and Martyrs
Christopher Golden
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: November 30

Vampires in love and war? Of Masques and Martyrs, is Christopher Golden's hot new dark-fantasy thriller about vampires and their adversaries. Third in the Shadow Saga, which Golden began with Of Saints and Shadows, this new entry into the dark world of the night creatures is his best! Golden may just be one of the most prolific authors around; comics, novels, novelizations, nonfiction -- is there a nothing the guy can't do? Still, first and foremost, he's an imaginative and prodigious talent who never lets genre boundaries hold him back, and is new novel, Of Masques and Martyrs, is no exception. Horror novelist Douglas Clegg interviewed Golden about his new book, his future novels, and why vampires are so hot.



Silver Zombie (Delilah Street Series, Bk 4)
Carole Nelson Douglas
Genre:
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: November 30

Zombies and Witches and Vamps . . . Oh, My!
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—at least that’s Delilah Street’s hope. With Sin City’s vampire and werewolf mobs wanting to cash in her chips once and for all, she’s retreating with her partner Ric Montoya and half-wolfhound Quicksilver to her Kansas birthplace. Unfortunately, when it comes to finding trouble, there’s no place like home. . . .
It doesn’t take long before Delilah realizes she’s not in Vegas anymore. Zombie cowboys and spectral cattle drives are kicking up dust, the local weather girls are total witches who forecast perfect storms, and some Hollywood fanatic is recasting zombies as the greatest stars of the silver screen. And speaking of silver, Delilah’s special affinity for the all-purpose monster-repellent leads her posse straight down a silver brick road—and into a notso- fun house of mirrors—putting her face-to-face with her dicey past and a mystery woman named Lilith, who’s a real dead ringer for Delilah. The key word being dead.


Speculative Horizons
Patrick St-Denis
Genre: Anthology
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Release Date: November 30

Speculative fiction is wide in scope and styles, and Speculative Horizons showcases the talent and storytelling skills of five of the genre's most imaginative voices:

In C. S. Friedman's 'Soul Mate,' it's love at first sight for Josie at the arts and crafts festival when she meets the handsome Stephan Mayeaux. It all sounds too good to be true until her newfound boyfriend starts to act strangely and unexplained occurrences begin to take place around her.

In Tobias S. Buckell's 'The Eve of the Fall of Habesh,' contragnartii Jazim must carry out one final assignment before the armies of the Sea People lay waste to the city he loves.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr. returns to the universe of his bestselling Recluce saga in 'The Stranger.' A young herder's existence will be forever changed by the unexpected arrival of the black-clad man recounting tales of angels living on the summit of the Roof of the World.

In 'Flint,' Brian Ruckley introduces us to a young and inexperienced shaman who must venture into the spirit world to discover the source of the sickness which afflicts his tribe before they are all wiped out.

Talk to any cop working for Homicide, Narcotics, or Vice, and they'll tell you that they get the worst cases imaginable. But in Hal Duncan's 'The Death of a Love,' you realize that they have nothing on Erocide.


The Bone Palace
Amanda Downum
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: November 30

Death is no stranger in the city of Erisín-- but some deaths attract more attention than others.

When a prostitute dies carrying a royal signet, Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and agent of the Crown, is called to investigate. Her search leads to desecrated tombs below the palace, and the lightless vaults of the vampiric vrykoloi deep beneath the city. But worse things than vampires are plotting in Erisín...

As a sorcerous plague sweeps the city and demons stalk the streets, Isyllt must decide who she's prepared to betray, before the city built on bones falls into blood and fire.


The Spirit Eater (Legend of Eli Monpress Series, Bk 3)
Rachel Aaron
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: November 30

With the pressure on after his success in Gaol, Eli Monpress, professional thief and degenerate, decides it's time to lie low for a bit. Taking up residence in a tiny seaside village, Eli and his companions seize the chance for some fun and relaxation.
Nico, however, is finding it a bit hard. Plagued by a demon's voice in her head and feeling powerless, she only sees herself as a burden. Everyone's holiday comes to an untimely close, though, when Pele arrives to beg Eli's help for finding her missing father.
But there are larger plans afoot than even Eli can see, and the real danger, and the solution, may lie with one of his own and her forgotten past.
If only Nico could remember whose side she's on.


Vampires Not Invited
Cheyenne McCray
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: November 30

Vampire attacks are on the rise in the city that never sleeps. So why is half-human, half-Drow private eye Nyx tracking down Sprites? Sure, these “young bloods” are causing mischief all over town—like painting the Statue of Liberty’s toenails neon pink. But it’s not until Nyx finds herself at the Pit, Manhattan's hottest nightclub for paranorms, that she understands what she’s really up against…

Seems Master Vampire Volod has a plan—and the Sprites are in on it. By targeting the weaknesses of every paranorm in the city, from Elves to Shifters to Zombies, Volod and his fang gang aim to rule the night once and for all. Over Nyx’s dead body. She loves a good challenge—and she will seduce danger at every turn to throw Volod off course. It’s time for Nyx to enter the beating heart of this dark conspiracy…before driving a stake through it.


Vicious Grace
M.L.N Hanover
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: November 30

When you’re staring evil in the eye, don’t forget to watch your back . . .
For the first time in forever, Jayné Heller’s life is making sense. Even if she routinely risks her life to destroy demonic parasites that prey on mortals, she now has friends, colleagues, a trusted lover, and newfound confidence in the mission she inherited from her wealthy, mysterious uncle. Her next job might just rob her of all of them. At Grace Memorial Hospital in Chicago, something is stirring. Patients are going AWOL and research subjects share the same sinister dreams. Half a century ago, something was buried under Grace in a terrible ritual, and it’s straining to be free. Jayné is primed to take on whatever’s about to be let loose. Yet the greatest danger now may not be the huge, unseen force lurking below, but the evil that has been hiding in plain sight all along—taking her ever closer to losing her body, her mind, and her soul. . . .


The Exorsistah: X Returns
Claudia Mair Burney
Genre: YA Paranormal
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: November 30

SHE'S GOT THE LORD ON HER SIDE AND AN ANGEL BEHIND HER. DON'T CROSS X.
Now that Emme Vaughn is finally eighteen, she's ready to strut her devil-whooping diva boots into Saint Dymphna's Psychiatric Hospital and spring her mama out. Only problem is a lady named Jane Doe beat her to it...two years ago. Jane is as mysterious as her name, but she holds the key to saving Emme's mama and revealing exactly how Emme got into this evil-fighting business — if Emme can find her. To complicate matters, hottie Francis wants her to be his girlfriend, but Emme's not about to come between her man and God's plan. No, the Exorsistah is on a mission that even a scary three-headed demon can't stop (and the Lord knows it is trying). With a lot of prayer, a couple of archangels, and the help of some new soul-friends, X is armed for battle against a malicious force that will do anything to destroy her. But when she needs His Word the most, will she know where to find it?


Jane and the Raven King
Stephen Chambers
Genre: Children Fantasy
Publisher: Sourcebooks,
Release Date: December 1

The Spiderwick Chronicles meets Alice in Wonderland
Jane is the only one who notices all the strange things happening: like a squirrel packing a suitcase, a blind man who can drive, and that adults, including her parents, appear to be hypnotized by technology.
When Jane is attacked by a man with raven black wings, she escapes with her younger brother to a magical land at the center of the world called Hotland. With the help of a cat-person called Gaius and a dragon named Finn, Jane learns that she is the only one who can defeat an evil King bent on destroying civilization.
Praise for Hope's End:
"Once you begin reading, you don't care if it was written by a sophomore or a senior citizen: you just keep reading." -Chicago Tribune
"Chambers's debut seethes with ideas." -Kirkus


Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings
Helene Boudreau
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Release Date: December 1

First zit. First crush. First...mermaid's tail?
Fourteen-year-old Jade feels like a freak-of-nature when she finally gets her first period while trying on an XL tankini at the mall. It gets worse when she runs into handsome Luke Martin in the feminine products aisle while her dad Googles 'menstruation' on his BlackBerry. But "freak-of-nature" takes on a whole new meaning when raging hormones bring on another metamorphosis-complete with scales and a tail. When Jade learns she's inherited her mermaid tendencies from her late mother, it raises the question: if Mom was a mermaid, how did she drown?


The Wolven
Deborah Leblanc
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: December 1

Someone—or something—is systematically murdering the members of Danyon Stone's werewolf pack. As Alpha, he knows that finding and punishing the murderous entity is his responsibility, and he's not about to rest until he sees justice done. But to stop the slayings he has to accept help from the most unlikely source—a wickedly sensual mortal woman.
Mystic-shop owner Shauna MacDonald has a special interest in the recent string of otherworldly deaths. As the Keeper of the werewolves, it's her duty to guard and protect the packs. Working by Danyon's side to stop an unknown killer—and trying to deny the potency of their illicit attraction—poses a threat to her heart unlike any she's ever known, ;and if she becomes the killer's next target, it could be the death of her….


Wolf Fever
Terry Spear
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: December 1

She may be his destiny, but she's not his first choice...
Hospital nurse and newly turned red werewolf Carol Woods is being pressured by her pack leader to find a mate, but he's the only guy in the pack who remotely attracts her.
Why is he playing so hard to get?
The fate of the pack rests on his shoulders...
Gray pack leader Ryan McKinley doesn't want anything to do with Carol unless she's willing to embrace her wolf nature-no matter how beautiful she is.
But when a virus infects the local lupus garou pack, Ryan realizes just how wrong he's been not to seize the moment with the woman he's come to love. And now, it may be too late...



The Casting Trilogy
Pamela Freeman
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: December 2

A thousand years ago, the Eleven Domains were invaded and the original inhabitants were driven onto 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 in the landscape that cannot be controlled and that may prove the Warlords' 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 her home for a crime she did not commit.

Ash: A safeguarder's apprentice who must 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 have foreseen - by their past, their future, and their blood.