tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13653045422309318172024-03-13T09:20:05.650-04:00SFF ChatA place to chat about science fiction and fantasy booksSimchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.comBlogger671125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-63662482094636360402012-12-16T17:40:00.001-05:002012-12-16T17:40:27.758-05:00So long, and thanks for all the fish*<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Well guys, I think it's finally time for me to admit that this blog has come to its end. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I've been putting it off as long as I could, in the hope of my life getting back on track enough that I'd have the time again to blog and write reviews, but unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So instead of just disappearing and letting you wonder what happened to me (which I hope that at least a few of you might) I decided to come back for one final goodbye post. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's been a great four years and I've really loved getting to meet and connect with so many wonderful book lovers through the blogging community. And even though I won't be blogging here anymore I hope that I'll still run into you over at Goodreads and Twitter, and if you have a blog I'll stop by when I have a chance to see what you're up to and what you've been reading. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And perhaps once things slow down I'll get to join the blogosphere again, though probably heading in a different direction. I admit that I have a yen to start a personal blog, though I'll more likely go with my second choice, blogging about memoirs and non-fiction books (which could use some love).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So, goodbye and thanks for being so awesome.</span><br />
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* Sorry about the misleading title, as there is actually no mention of fish in this post, but I just couldn't resist. <br />
<br />Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-67295566459247258052012-11-19T10:04:00.001-05:002012-11-19T10:12:18.459-05:00Epic: Legends of Fantasy edited by John Joseph Adams<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Techyon Publications offered to send me a copy of<i> Epic: Legends of Fantasy</i> for review, I jumped at the opportunity. I don't read anthologies very often but I do love a good epic fantasy, and since this collection included stories by many of my favorite authors, I was pretty sure there would be some good stuff here. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I didn't realize, though, was that none of the stories in the collection were original. They were either published in earlier anthologies (one from as early as 1961) or were excerpts from the authors' novels. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I probably should have expected this since all of the authors included in the book are pretty big, but - as I said- I don't often read anthologies and hadn't really given the issue too much thought. So I was pretty disappointed when I reached the much-anticipated Patrick Rothfuss story only to discover that it was an excerpt from <i>The Wise Man's Fear.</i> Similarly, Brandon Sanderson's story, which I had also been really looking forward to, turned out to be an excerpt from <i>The Way of Kings.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckily the rest of the stories in the book were new to me and my disappointment with the Sanderson and Rothruss stories was quickly forgotten as I got caught up in reading the other stories, which were all quite good. I actually can't think of a single story in the collection that I didn't enjoy, although I did struggle a bit with George R.R. Martin's “The Mystery Knight” (a reprint from his 2012 collection, <i>Warriors</i>, and more of a novella than a short story) which had so many characters that I had a hard time keeping their names straight. I also skipped “While the Gods Laughed” by Michael Moorcock since it involved characters from his Elric of Melinbone series, which I haven't yet read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The authors in the collection include: Robin Hobb, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tad Williams, Aliette de Bodard, Paolo Bacigalupi, Orson Scott Card, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sandersonm Michael Moorcock, Melanie Rawn, Kate Elliott, Mark Robinette Kowal, N.K. Jemisin, Carrie Vaughn, Juliet Marilliers, George R.R. Martin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Epic fantasy is not easily defined but <i>Epic: Legends of Fantasy</i> does a good job at offering a nice variety of stories that give you a taste of almost everything the subgenre has to offer. I say almost because the stories here were a lot more sophisticated than the kind of epic fantasy I remember reading as a kid, and which I still think of as "real" epic fantasy; stories of orphans on a journey to save the world from evil with the assistance of a motley collection of travelers. You know, the kind of books that Terry Brooks and David Eddings are known for. It would have been nice to have one such story in here, to represent the classic epic fantasies, but I'm not really complaining since I thought that the stories here were pretty fantastic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I particularly appreciated the fact that the stories were all long enough that I really felt that I got to know each world its characters, which made the stories satisfying despite their brevity. While some of the stories wrapped up nicely in the end others had me rushing to contact the author to find out if they were continued somewhere else (in the case of Kate Elliott's “Riding the Shore of the River of Death” the answer, unfortunately, was no). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At over 600 pages, <i>Epic: Legends of Fantasy </i>will definitely get you your money' worth and the seventeen stories inside will help satisfy your epic fantasy cravings, or possibly leave you wanting more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While I think that this is a great book for long-time fans and newbies alike, if you are someone who is very familiar with these authors' works I would suggest that you check to make sure that you haven't already read some of the stories offered here so that you won't be disappointed at paying for stories that you already read. Perhaps it won't make a difference to you and you'll just enjoy having the stories in a single collection, but I thought it's worth mentioning.</span><br />
<br />Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-83988339933534808772012-11-12T20:03:00.002-05:002012-11-12T20:15:33.586-05:00Fantastic Ebook Deal: Spooky Reads at Unbeatable Prices<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In my last post I mentioned that I haven't had much success at finding indie books that I enjoy, even though I do want to give indie authors a chance. So I really appreciate what <a href="http://storybundle.com/" target="_blank">StoryBundle</a> is doing by offering readers a chance to sample books by indie authors- books that they themselves have enjoyed- at unbeatable prices. Seriously, you can't find a better deal than getting to set your own price for a bunch of books. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So thanks to StoryBundle I can buy ebooks that I might not be sure of, at a low price, and if I don't enjoy them I don't feel any pressure to read them, as I do when I accept books for review. It's a win-win. And if you pay a certain amount for a bundle, a couple of bonus books are thrown in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This month, StoryBundle is offering a special spooky mix, in honor of Halloween:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Riverwatch</i> by Joseph Nassise</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Nominated for both the International Horror Guild Award and the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A forgotten chamber secreted beneath a river. An ancient evil that lies slumbering in the dark. A guardian determined to fulfill his duty to his last, dying breath.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As something dark and deadly takes to the skies over Harrington Falls, Jake Caruso and his friends, Sam Travers and Katelynn Riley, find themselves drawn into a primeval conflict set in motion centuries before.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When fresh blood is spilled and the death toll mounts, these three friends will find themselves faced with a terror beyond imagination, one that will require every vestige of their strength, faith, and determination to confront.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Taking on the Dead</i> by Annie Walls
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Life for Kansas was perfect until the day the world changed.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">She has been hiding out for four years in solitude. It's the only way to survive. The only way not to draw the living dead. Helping a small group of people, she learns the new world might not be what she assumes. Venturing out of her refuge and comfort zone, she meets Rudy, who helps her find a greater purpose. She realizes that the world has moved on without her. Only it's not what she expects. Her knowledge of the living dead grows and only makes her more curious as humanity continues to hang on by a thread. While on her search for answers she finds comfort in new friendships and love, but her past seems as if it will haunt her forever.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Kansas takes it upon herself to help other survivors, which would be easy if the famished were the only obstacles.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In a trilogy plot thick with twists and turns, this adult dark fantasy is emotional as much as it is horrifyingly gripping.</span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://storybundle.com/system/book_covers/20/profile/A_Latent_Dark_Cover.jpg?1350275386" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://storybundle.com/system/book_covers/20/profile/A_Latent_Dark_Cover.jpg?1350275386" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>A Latent Dark</i> by Martin Kee</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Skyla has lived secretly within the city walls of Bollingbrook for eleven years, playing among the airship factories and trainyards. As one of the Gutter District’s nameless destitute, it has gone undiscovered that she has a unique talent: when Skyla looks at a person’s shadow she sees through it and into another world. She can see people’s fears, desires, their past sins--all as swimming, living creatures.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Her mother has never told her the real reasons why they must remain hidden, never explained the true dangers that exist outside the city walls. But when her mother’s past catches up with them both, Skyla finds she must flee out of the city and into a world still recovering from a second Dark Age, a world of adults with secrets only she can see.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For a stranger has recently moved into Bollingbrook, a man some call the Pope of the South, a witch hunter to some and a hero to others. When more children begin to disappear, suspicions are raised and an unlikely search party is formed to find Skyla in the hopes that they aren’t already too late. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://storybundle.com/system/book_covers/21/profile/The_Drought_Cover.jpg?1350275711" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://storybundle.com/system/book_covers/21/profile/The_Drought_Cover.jpg?1350275711" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Drought by Patricia Fulton
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Welcome to Junction, Texas</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Population: 626 and steadily declining
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Odd things have been happening around town. Hugh McManus went out to one of his grazing pastures and shot the better part of a fine herd before shooting himself. Luke Casteel crawled into a drainage pipe and never came back. A herd of wild javelina attacked and killed Rod Sawyer. And the thing is, the dying isn't nearly done.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jared Riley knows there's something sinister about the heat. It's got people acting crazy and it's got him hearing things. A voice keeps whispering, "It's gonna get mighty hot. Yes sir we like our meatloaf and taters well done, served up pipin' hot." Convinced the heat is tracking them, picking them off one by one, he sets off to find help. Trouble is, the people who have the answers are more dangerous than the heat.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Driven by strong characters and a twisting plot, The DROUGHT delves into the supernatural world where ghosts roam the landscape and a voodoo curse floats on the wind.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Blaze of Glory</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">by Weston Ochse</span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For fans of Stephen King, David Gerrold, and Richard Matheson, picture this: the world is being eaten by monsters and there’s nothing you can do about it.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This novel also contains an essay called and The True Adventures of a Monster Screenplay in B-Movie Wonderland, which tells the tale of how the screenplay based on this novel was almost sold to Wesley Snipes, with many of the industry’s top horror movie stars attached to the film.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://storybundle.com/system/book_covers/25/profile/Vicarious_Cover.jpg?1350324095" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://storybundle.com/system/book_covers/25/profile/Vicarious_Cover.jpg?1350324095" width="131" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Vicarious by Jon F. Merz </span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When disgraced ex-FBI agent-turned-Boston-cop Steve Curran finds a corpse with no practical explanation for its death, the nightmares start again. Convinced the serial killer that caused his expulsion from the Bureau is once again haunting him, Curran soon learns his theories are all wrong. When the sister of the latest victim, Lauren Fields, uncovers an old journal detailing the hunt for a creature known only as the Soul Eater, she and Curran must confront the very real prospect that the killer is not of this world at all – and that his motives have little to do with killing, but all to do with something far, far worse.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And if you pay $9 you get the following two books thrown in:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Coming of Age: 3</i> Novellas by Douglas Clegg</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Resurrection, Inc</i>. by Kevin J. Anderson</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Each book bundle is only available for a limited amount of time so if these sound like books you would enjoy head over to <a href="http://storybundle.com/" target="_blank">StoryBundle</a> to buy them before the offer expires. Unfortunately I'm not sure when that is. </span></span>
</span></span></span></span></span></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-12482469374197380992012-11-07T16:23:00.002-05:002012-11-07T16:25:06.841-05:00In the End by Alexandra Rowland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Fallen Angel Lucien never expected the world to end. Inconveniently
enough, it did. He and Lalael, an angel of the Higher Realm, are
abandoned to make their way in what's left of the world.<br /><br />It has
changed, however. Uncountable humans have died or vanished, and leftover
groups are determined to survive however they can, fighting off new
dangers and killing anything they do not understand.<br /><br />But demons
were not the only thing released into the world at the End: A strange
new power fills the world, and no one knows what this might bring.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I’ve been getting a lot of review requests lately for self-published books, most of which I (somewhat guiltily) decline because my experiences with indie books haven't been that great. It’s just that the few that I have read I didn’t particularly enjoy but I felt like I had to struggle through them anyway because I had committed to writing a review. And then there’s the awkwardness of dealing directly with the author of the book that I’m criticizing, rather than through the comforting barrier of agents and publishers. So all-in-all, it’s a situation I rather avoid.<br /><br />But I do realize that there must be some gems out there, which is why I occasionally accept an indie book for review, when it sounds interesting enough, or when the author manages to get my attention. In the case of <i>In the End</i> it was a bit of both (yes, a nice, personalized email can do wonders) that got me to accept Alexandra Rowland’s review request. <br /><br /><i>In the End</i> got off to a great start by introducing a variety of colorful characters that quickly engaged my interest. The story then proceeds with the kind of humour and wit that fans of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett would recognize and enjoy.<br /><br />Now this is probably what impressed me most about the book, the way that Ms. Rowland so successfully manages to transfer humour onto the page and into her character’s personalities and dialogue. Usually when I read a fantasy book that’s meant to be funny the humour feels forced, or the author focuses so much on the humour that character development is sacrificed. So I was really impressed that the humour in In the End felt genuine and the characters were so skilfully brought to life in just a few sentences. Well...for the most part.<br /><br />Unfortunately I hit a snag about half-way through the book. The story, which had seemed to have been heading purposefully in a particular direction suddenly began meandering in a new direction, after which it never really got back on track. Instead of exploring the effect of the apocalypse on those left behind, including some of those colourful characters that we had met at the beginning of the story ( and who I had really been hoping to get back to) we get treated to a montage of Lucien and Lalael learning to overcome their differences on their path to best-friendship. I could practically hear the music playing in the background during these scenes. And then all the events that follow seem to occur for the sole purpose of challenging and strengthening this friendship, while ignoring everything else that was going on, such as the end of the world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />We get told that food is running out and people are attacking each other but this is all just background noise, except for those events that help drive forward the Lucien and Lalael friendship theme. And then new characters are introduced who don’t add anything to the story but only serve to make it messier. Considering what a great job Ms. Rowland did with characterization in the beginning of the story I was surprised and disappointed at how flat and uninteresting the later characters are. <br /><br /><i>In the End</i> has a lot going for it </span>but it still has a way to go before it's reader-ready. It definitely needs some cutting, tightening and ironing out. An injection of some good apocalyptic world building and characterization would also help, along with more of that humour that I had so much enjoyed at the start of the story. And while I really liked the unique friendship portrayed in the book, between <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lucien and Lalael, it can't be the only thing that the story is about, after we are promised so much more in the first few pages. </span><br />
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After a couple more drafts this could be a book that I would really enjoy but, as it is, it was became a real struggle to get through, after the first 100 pages or so.<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-70084514197737882402012-10-30T18:13:00.002-04:002012-10-30T18:18:07.010-04:00A Cruel Trick in a Public Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5UiuikFTTZU/UJBNqD7GgdI/AAAAAAAABAM/RmnP0tV6X6w/s1600/photo(8).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
So I was wandering around the Jerusalem municipality buildings the other day, looking for a comfortable spot to read for a bit, when I came across what looked like a park full of pillows. A park full of large, squishy pillows and couch-sized cushions. In short, it looked like a book-reader's heaven...<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Q2kK-jz5fc/UJBK4eXRfQI/AAAAAAAAA_8/AW3uS3C6EUI/s1600/pillow+park.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9Q2kK-jz5fc/UJBK4eXRfQI/AAAAAAAAA_8/AW3uS3C6EUI/s400/pillow+park.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsvqUZFsU8U/UJBM95kuNRI/AAAAAAAABAE/8ls2TlDYe9w/s1600/cushion.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsvqUZFsU8U/UJBM95kuNRI/AAAAAAAABAE/8ls2TlDYe9w/s400/cushion.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Until I noticed the sign...<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5UiuikFTTZU/UJBNqD7GgdI/AAAAAAAABAM/RmnP0tV6X6w/s1600/photo%288%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5UiuikFTTZU/UJBNqD7GgdI/AAAAAAAABAM/RmnP0tV6X6w/s320/photo%288%29.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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I bet you can imagine my disappointment.<br />
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Seriously, what kind of sick mind thinks that cement cushions are a good idea? Just imagine all the dashed hopes and chipped teeth (Luckily I didn't jump, so my teeth were safe, but little kids can't read warning signs)<br />
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Needless to say, I did not do any reading in this park full of deception and trickery.<br />
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<i>P.S. How do you like my artistically modified images? I finally figured out how to use my image editor.</i><br />
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<i>P.P.S. What do you mean where have I been, I was here all along. And I'm sticking to that story.</i>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-22320428192331879752012-09-30T07:36:00.001-04:002012-09-30T07:36:43.952-04:00New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: Week of Sep 30 - Oct 6<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Fantasy</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Redoubt</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mercedes Lackey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: DAW</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mags, a young Herald trainee in Haven, the capital city of Valdemar, has
very rare talents. Recognising this, the King's Own Herald trains Mags
as a spy, tasking him with uncovering the secrets of a mysterious new
enemy who has taken an interest in Mags himself. Why is an even deeper
mystery. The answers can only be found in the depths of Mags' past, if
he survives long enough to find them.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b><br />Stone of Tymora</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">R.A. Salvatore </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Wizards of the Coast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15604450128077256796">Meet Maimun—an orphan
who couldn’t imagine how unfortunate it would be to discover a stone
that makes him forever lucky. Fleeing a powerful demon named Asbeel,
Maimun stows away aboard the ship <i>Sea Sprite</i>, where he
encounters a cast of characters well-known to Salvatore fans: Captain
Deudermont, Drizzt Do’Urden, Wulfgar, Catti-brie, and the dwarf Bruenor.
Drizzt becomes a mentor to Maimun and aboard Deudermont’s ship, they
sail the treacherous seas of the Forgotten Realms. Hunted by a demon,
haunted by a mysterious spellcaster, and chased by a pirate, Maimun,
with Drizzt’s help, must unravel the secrets of the Stone of Tymora
before his luck runs out! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Ironskin</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Tina Connolly</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Woman Who Died A Lot (Thursday Next, Bk 7)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jasper Fforde</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Viking</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13845956399180124364">The Bookworld’s leading
enforcement officer, Thursday Next, has been forced into a
semiretirement following an assassination attempt, returning home to
Swindon and her family to recuperate.<br /><br />But Thursday’s children
have problems that demand she become a mother of invention: Friday’s
career struggles in the Chronoguard, where he is relegated to a
might-have-been; Tuesday’s trouble perfecting the Anti-Smote shield,
needed in time to thwart an angry Deity’s promise to wipe Swindon off
the face of the earth; and the issue of Thursday’s third child, Jenny,
who doesn’t exist except as a confusing and disturbing memory.<br /><br />With
Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with
synthetic Thursdays, and a call from the Bookworld to hunt down
Pagerunners who have jumped into the Realworld, Thursday’s convalescence
is going to be anything but restful as the week ahead promises to be
one of the Next family’s oddest.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Between Two Fires</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Christopher Buehlman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher:</b> Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8304682346506088889">The year is 1348.
Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead
Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving
picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a
larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a
second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the
lines of conflict.<br /><br /> Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes
she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to
her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to
shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells
Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has
devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight
the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.<br /><br /> As hell
unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed,
Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons,
saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle
for nothing less than the soul of man.</span></span> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Science Fiction</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>1635: The Papal Stakes</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Eric Flint & Charles E. Gannon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Baen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15566059699012780790">#15 in the multiple
bestselling Ring of Fire Series. It’s springtime in the Eternal City,
1635. But it’s no Roman holiday for uptimer Frank Stone and his pregnant
downtime wife, Giovanna. They’re in the clutches of would-be Pope
Cardinal Borgia, with the real Pope–Urban VII –on the run with the
renegade embassy of uptime Ambassador Sharon Nichols and her
swashbuckling downtime husband, Ruy Sanchez de Casador y Ortiz. Up to
their necks in papal assassins, power politics, murder, and mayhem, the
uptimers and their spouses need help and they need it quickly.<br /><br />Special
rescue teams–including Harry Lefferts and his infamous Wrecking
Crew–converge on Rome to extract Frank and Gia. And an uptime airplane
is on its way to spirit the Pope to safety before Borja’s assassins can
find him. It seems that everything is going to work out just fine in
sunny Italy.<br /><br />Until, that is, everything goes wrong. Now, whether
they are prisoners in Rome or renegades protecting a pope on the run,
it’s up to the rough and ready can-do attitude of Grantville natives to
once again escape the clutches of aristocratic skullduggery and ring in
freedom for a war-torn land.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337100795l/13539178.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337100795l/13539178.jpg" width="132" /></a><i><b> </b></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Merge / Disciple: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to </b><b>Oblivion</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Walter Mosley</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Merge:</b></i> Releigh Redman loved Nicci Charbon until she left him
heartbroken. Then he hit the lotto for $26 million, quit his minimum
wage job and set his sights on one goal: reading the entire collection
of lectures in the Popular Educator Library, the only thing his father
left behind after he died. As Raleigh is trudging through the eighth
volume, he notices something in his apartment that at first seems
ordinary but quickly reveals itself to be from a world very different
from our own. This entity shows Raleigh joy beyond the comforts of $26
million dollars...and merges our world with those that live beyond.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><i>Disciple:</i></b> Hogarth "Trent" Tryman is a forty-two year old man working a
dead-end data entry job. Though he lives alone and has no real friends
besides his mother, he's grown quite content in his quiet life, burning
away time with television, the internet, and video games. That all
changes the night he receives a bizarre instant message on his computer
from a man who calls himself Bron. At first he thinks it's a joke, but
in just a matter of days Hogarth Tryman goes from a data entry clerk to
the head of a corporation. His fate is now in very powerful hands as he
realizes he has become a pawn in a much larger game with unimaginable
stakes - a battle that threatens the prime life force on Earth. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jack Campbell</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer5467943277659460776">TARNISHED KNIGHT follows
the events in the Midway Star System during the same period as
DREADNAUGHT and INVINCIBLE. For the first time, the story of the Lost
Fleet universe is told through the eyes of citizens of the Syndicate
Worlds as they deal with defeat in the war, threats from all sides, and
the crumbling of the Syndicate empire.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Second Ship</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Richard Phillips</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: 47North</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3331461926572166636">For sixty years, the
National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, has been investigating
the powerful technologies of a damaged alien ship, an effort dubbed the
"Rho Project." Now, the American government is ready to share the Rho
Project discoveries with the world. But as the world scrambles to adopt
the alien technologies, three high schoolers make another shocking
discovery: hidden inside a cave in the New Mexico wilderness lies
another alien ship. As the friends explore the second ship, they begin
to unravel a decades-long secret involving an extraterrestrial war,
government cover-ups, and secret experimentation using alien technology
on humans. A battle has begun, and the secrets of the second ship may be
the key to humanity's last chance for survival.</span></span></blockquote>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Pablo Hidalgo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: LucasBooks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3965179023967501082">THE DEFINITIVE WORD ON <i>STAR WARS</i> FICTION<br /> <br /> The legendary motion picture <i>Star Wars</i>
has spawned two big-screen sequels and three prequels—and decades of
bestselling fiction. From the original movie tie-in novel through the
monumental Fate of the Jedi series, legions of devoted readers have
helped expand science fiction’s most celebrated film saga into a
page-turning print sensation. Now, for the first time, a comprehensive
overview of these sweeping <i>Star Wars</i> adventures is presented in one beautifully illustrated volume.<br /><i> </i><br /><i>Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion</i> spans the entire galaxy of published <i>Star Wars</i>
fiction—movie novelizations, original stand alone and series novels,
short stories, eBook novellas, young adult titles, and comics—and
features:<br /> <br /> • a concise synopsis of each story, including key characters and planets<br />
• exclusive behind-the-scenes facts and anecdotes about authors, plot
and character development, continuity notes, and significance in the <i>Star Wars</i> Expanded Universe<br /> • details on which novels are linked to <i>Star Wars</i> comic books from Dark Horse and Marvel<br /> • a chronological listing of titles, spanning the 25,000-year history of the <i>Star Wars</i> universe and placing each story in its proper context<br /> • more than one hundred full-color original paintings throughout by some of fans’ favorite artists<br /> <br />
Whether skimming through fateful eras from the Old Republic to the New
Jedi Order; delving deep into the ancient history of the Lost Tribe of
the Sith or the tumultuous Clone Wars; crossing paths—and
lightsabers—with Dark Lords such as Plagueis or Bane, Sidious or Vader;
helming the <i>Millennium Falcon</i> with Han Solo; or mastering the
Force with Luke Skywalker, this one-of-a-kind, one-stop reference is a
must for fans looking to maximize their knowledge of the sprawling <i>Star Wars</i> Expanded Universe</span></span> <br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Urban Fantasy</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Dark Currents</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jacqueline Carey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Roc</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15493857528944561643">The Midwestern resort
town of Pemkowet boasts a diverse population: eccentric locals, wealthy
summer people, and tourists by the busload; not to mention fairies,
sprites, vampires, naiads, ogres and a whole host of eldritch folk,
presided over by Hel, a reclusive Norse goddess.</span><br /><span id="freeText15493857528944561643"></span><br /><span id="freeText15493857528944561643"> To Daisy
Johanssen, fathered by an incubus and raised by a single mother, it’s
home. And as Hel’s enforcer and the designated liaison to the Pemkowet
Police Department, it’s up to her to ensure relations between the
mundane and eldritch communities run smoothly.</span><br /><span id="freeText15493857528944561643"></span><br /><span id="freeText15493857528944561643"> But when a young
man from a nearby college drowns—and signs point to eldritch
involvement—the town’s booming paranormal tourism trade is at stake.
Teamed up with her childhood crush, Officer Cody Fairfax, a sexy
werewolf on the down-low, Daisy must solve the crime—and keep a tight
rein on the darker side of her nature. For if she’s ever tempted to
invoke her demonic birthright, it could accidentally unleash nothing
less than Armageddon. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Daughter of the Sword</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Steve Bein</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Roc</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3053518295420876249">Mariko Oshiro is not
your average Tokyo cop. As the only female detective in the city’s most
elite police unit, she has to fight for every ounce of respect,
especially from her new boss. While she wants to track down a rumored
cocaine shipment, he gives her the least promising case possible. But
the case—the attempted theft of an old samurai sword—proves more
dangerous than anyone on the force could have imagined. <br /><br /> The
owner of the sword, Professor Yasuo Yamada, says it was crafted by the
legendary Master Inazuma, a sword smith whose blades are rumored to have
magical qualities. The man trying to steal it already owns another
Inazuma—one whose deadly power eventually comes to control all who wield
it. Or so says Yamada, and though he has studied swords and
swordsmanship all his life, Mariko isn’t convinced.<br /><br /> But Mariko’s
skepticism hardly matters. Her investigation has put her on a collision
course with a curse centuries old and as bloodthirsty as ever. She is
only the latest in a long line of warriors and soldiers to confront this
power, and even the sword she learns to wield could turn against her.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3053518295420876249"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Three Parts Dead</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Max Gladstone</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13762370273282602503">A god has died, and
it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic
firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before
His city falls apart.<br /><br />Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire
god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam
generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four
million citizens will riot.<br /><br />Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before
chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the
dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.<br /><br />When
Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a
case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers
their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Death's Rival (</b></i><span id="freeText10738764620982378204"><i><b>Jane Yellowrock, Bki 5)</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Faith Hunter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Roc</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10738764620982378204">Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker you don’t want to cross—especially if you’re one of the undead…<br /><br />For
a vampire killer like Jane, having Leo Pellisier as a boss took some
getting used to. But now, someone is out to take his place as Master
Vampire of the city of New Orleans, and is not afraid to go through Jane
to do it. After an attack that’s tantamount to …a war declaration, Leo
knows his rival is both powerful and vicious, but Leo’s not about to
run scared. After all, he has Jane.<br /><br />But then, a plague strikes,
one that takes down vampires and makes their masters easy prey. Now, to
uncover the identity of the vamp who wants Leo’s territory, and to find
the cause of the vamp-plague, Jane will have to go to extremes…and maybe
even to war.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Sand Witches in the Hamptons (Willow Tate, Bk 5)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Celia Jerome</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: DAW</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText12850077392737092411">Successful graphic
novelist Willow Tate is a Visualizer, able to draw beings from the
Otherworld—home to trolls and elves, night mares and bird fish, and many
other fantastical beings—and “draw” them into our world. Somehow they
all seem to end up in the weird little town of Paumanok Harbor, nestled
in the popular Hamptons region of Long I sland.<br /><br />As if Willow
didn’t have enough problems coping with all these Otherworld visitors,
now she has a stalker, her doom-seer father has a secret, and Paumanok
Harbor has Otherworld sand-stealers. Willow has bodyguards but
absolutely no idea how to solve any of these problems in time for
Halloween, when the local witches hold their annual gathering on the
beach—if any beach is left by then. Good thing she has the handsome,
loving, local vet Matt to come to her assistance.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Mortal Ties (World of Lupi, Bk 9)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Eileen Wilks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Berkley</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText5395737062962162477">FBI agent Lily Yu is
living at Nokolai Clanhome with her fiancé, lupi Rule Turner, when an
intruder penetrates their territory, stealing the prototpye of a magical
device the clan hopes will be worth a fortune--if a few bugs can be
worked out . . <br /><br />But the protoytpe can be dangerously erratic,
discharging a bizarre form of mind magic—and it looks like the thief
wants it for that very side effect. Worse, whoever stole the device
didn’t learn about it by accident. There’s a Nokolai traitor in their
midst. Lily and Rule have to find the traitor, the thief, and the
prototype. One job proves easy when the thief calls <i>them--</i>and his identity rocks Rule’s world.<br /><br />As
they race to recover their missing property, they find Robert Friar’s
sticky footprints all over the place. Robert Friar--killer, madman, and
acolyte of the Old One the lupi are at war with--an Old One whose power
is almost as vast as her ambition to rock the <i>entire</i> world . . .</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Fury's Kiss</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Karen Chance</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Signet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText2740287030087262185">Dory is used to fighting
hard and nasty. So when she wakes up in a strange scientific lab with a
strange man standing over her, her first instinct is to take his head
off. Luckily, the man is actually the master vampire Louis-Cesare, so
he’s not an easy kill.<br /><br /> It turns out that Dory had been working
with a Vampire Senate task force on the smuggling of magical items and
weaponry out of Faerie when she was captured and brought to the lab. But
when Louis-Cesare rescues her, she has no memory of what happened to
her.<br /><br /> To find out what was done to her—and who is behind it—Dory
will have to face off with fallen angels, the maddest of mad scientists,
and a new breed of vampires that are far worse than undead…</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Werewolf In Denver (Wild About You, Bk 4)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Vicki Lewis Thompson </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Signet</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15114585247180901293"><b>Love at first woof.</b> When
Denver-based Were blogger and founder of Honoring of Werewolf Legacy
(HOWL) Kate Stillman agrees to take on political “bad boy” Duncan
MacDowell in a public debate about werewolf segregation, she’s confident
she'll sail through the challenge without letting down her guard. And
what can go wrong while hanging out with the sexy Scottish founder of
Werewolves Optimizing Our Future (WOOF) long enough to convince him his
views on interspecies mating are mistaken? Plenty, when Kate discovers
that she’s actually wildly attracted to her opponent—who by all accounts
prefers dating human women! But what hope can there be when this
irresistible werewolf-with-a-cause believes their future depends on Kate
losing the argument?</span> </span><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Horror</u></span></h2>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330576586l/12924261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330576586l/12924261.jpg" width="130" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">David Wong</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Thomas Dunne Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText17970256806168089615">Fan favorite David Wong takes readers to a whole new level with this blistering sequel to the cult sensation <i>John Dies at the End,</i> soon to be a movie starring Paul Giamatti<br /><br /><br />Originally released as an online serial where it received more than 70,000 downloads, <i>John Dies at the End</i>
has been described as a "Horrortacular", an epic of "spectacular"
horror that combines the laugh out loud humor of the best R-rated
comedy, with the darkest terror of H.P. Lovecraft. The book went on to
sell an additional 60,000 copies in all formats.<br /><br />As the sequel
opens, we find our heroes, David and John, again embroiled in a series
of horrifying yet mind-bogglingly ridiculous events caused primarily by
their own gross incompetence. The guys find that books and movies about
zombies may have triggered a zombie apocalypse, despite a complete lack
of zombies in the world. As they race against the clock to protect
humanity from its own paranoia, they must ask themselves, who are the
real monsters? Actually, that would be the shape-shifting horrors
secretly taking over the world behind the scenes that, in the end, make
John and Dave kind of wish it had been zombies after all.<br /><br />Hilarious, terrifying, engaging and wrenching, <i>This Book Is Full of Spiders,</i>
the next thrilling installment, takes us for a wild ride with two
slackers from the midwest who really have better things to do with their
time than prevent the apocalypse. </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Little Star</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">John Ajvide Lindqvist</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Thomas Dunne Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText7300331444615069190">A man finds a baby in
the woods, left for dead. He brings the baby home, and he and his wife
raise the girl in their basement. When a shocking and catastrophic
incident occurs, the couple’s son Jerry whisks the girl away to
Stockholm to start a new life. There, he enters her in a nationwide
singing competition. Another young girl who’s never fit in sees the
performance on TV, and a spark is struck that will ignite the most
terrifying duo in modern fiction.<br /><br /><i>Little Star</i> is an unforgettable portrait of adolescence, a modern-day <i>Carrie </i>for
the age of internet bullies, offensive reality television, and
overnight You Tube sensations. Chilling, unnerving, and petrifying, <i>Little Star </i>is Lindqvist’s most disturbing book to date</span> </span><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Young Adult</u></span></h2>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337400827l/13539171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337400827l/13539171.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Pirate Cinema</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cory Doctorow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6263979965907229323">Trent McCauley is
sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his
computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from
the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up,
this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three
times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off
for a year, with no appeal.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6263979965907229323">Trent's too clever for that too
happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and
shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly he learns the ways
of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a
demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill
that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making
felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6263979965907229323">Things look
bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But
the powers-that-be haven’t entirely reckoned with the power of a
gripping movie to change people’s minds….</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Catherynne M. Valente</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher:</b> Feiwel & Friends</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText18160514339414369173">September returns to
Fairyland to reunite with A-Through-L, Saturday, and Gleam, and to
confront her shadow-self, who has become the queen of Fairyland-Below,
the upside-down world beneath the Fairyland of the first novel, filled
with creatures of water and shadow, tales of ancient Fairyland before
the human world was born, and not a few hungry buffins, blind birds of
ice and moonlight. The yearly revels of Fairyland-Below climax in a
mysterious rite September must avert or else lose her shadow forever.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Fire Season</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">David Weber & Jane Lindskold</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Baen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9088073883505776168">Fire weather... That’s
what the treecats call those rare seasons when the slightest spark can
set aflame the the vast green reaches they call home.</span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168"></span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168">Teenager
Stephanie Harrington rapidly learns just how deadly those fires can be.
Guided by her treecat companion, Lionheart, Stephanie and her good
friend Karl Zivonik venture into the heart of a raging inferno to rescue
twin treecats put at risk by human carelessness. Only the trio’s
absolute trust for each other stands between them and disaster.</span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168"></span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168">But
Sphinx isn’t the only thing ripe for burning. Stephanie has fallen hard
for new arrival to Sphinx, Anders Whittaker. When Anders vanishes
without a trace, Stephanie is at the forefront of the search. Then a
lightning strike sets the CopperwallMountains aflame and as a
provisional ranger she is ordered to her post.</span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168"></span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168">Will Stephanie choose to honor the claims of her planet or those of her heart? </span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168"></span><br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168">A Novel in the New Space Adventure Series Set in the Universe of Honor Harrington—<i>Sequel to the Hal Clement Award-Winning Novel</i></span>.<br /><span id="freeText9088073883505776168"></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>London Eye</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Tim Lebbon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Pyr</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14269570243990092078">Two years after London
is struck by a devastating terrorist attack, it is cut off from the
world, protected by a military force known as Choppers. the rest of
Britain believes that the city is now a toxic, uninhabited wasteland.<br /><br />But
Jack and his friends — some of whom lost family on what has become
known as Doomsday — know that the reality is very different. at great
risk, they have been gathering evidence about what is really happening
in London — and it is incredible. Because the handful of London’s
survivors are changing. Developing strange, fantastic powers. Evolving.<br /><br />Upon
discovering that his mother is still alive inside london, Jack, his
sister, and their three friends sneak into a city in ruins. Vast swathes
have been bombed flat. Choppers cruise the streets, looking for
survivors to experiment upon. the toxic city is filled with wonders and
dangers that will challenge Jack and his friends... and perhaps kill
them. But Jack knows that the truth must be revealed to the outside
world or every survivor will die.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Quantum Coin</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">E.C. Myers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Pyr</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText18381329212593560517">Ephraim thought his
universe-hopping days were over. He's done wishing for magic solutions
to his problems; his quantum coin has been powerless for almost a year,
and he's settled into a normal life with his girlfriend, Jena. But then
an old friend crashes their senior prom: Jena's identical twin from a
parallel world, Zoe.<br /><br />Zoe's timing couldn't be worse. It turns out
that Ephraim's problems have just begun, and they're much more
complicated than his love life: The multiverse is at stake—and it might
just be Ephraim's fault.<br /><br />Ephraim, Jena, and Zoe embark on a
mission across multiple worlds to learn what's going wrong and how to
stop it. They will have to draw on every resource available and trust in
alternate versions of themselves and their friends, before it's too
late for all of them.<br /><br />If Ephraim and his companions can put their
many differences aside and learn to work together, they might have a
chance to save the multiverse. But ultimately, the solution may depend
on how much they're willing to sacrifice for the sake of humanity...and
each other.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Assassin's Curse</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Cassandra Rose Clarke</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4560677311007306027">Ananna of the Tanarau
abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate
clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command
to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire
consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after
her.<br /><br />And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her,
things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse —
with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become
uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their
lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and
an assassin can be.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Son (The Giver, Bk 4)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Lois Lowry</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText7589244031954781757">They called her Water
Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came
from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had
become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age
fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But
what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even
alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now
Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making
an unimaginable sacrifice. Son thrusts readers once again into the
chilling world of the Newbery Medal winning book, <i>The Giver</i>, as well as <i>Gathering Blue</i> and <i>Messenger</i> where
a new hero emerges. In this thrilling series finale, the startling and
long-awaited conclusion to Lois Lowry’s epic tale culminates in a final
clash between good and evil.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Poltergeeks</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sean Cummings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14830093805721759764">15-year-old Julie
Richardson is about to learn that being the daughter of a witch isn't
all it's cracked up to be. When she and her best friend, Marcus, witness
an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it's pretty
obvious to Julie there's a supernatural connection. <br /><br />In fact,
there's a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist
activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on
Julie's high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night.
Now it's a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie
won't just lose her mother's soul, she'll lose her mother's life.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Whispers At Moonrise (Shadow Falls, Bk 4)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">C.C. Hunter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: St. Martin’s Griffin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10792457282146345535">Even at a camp for
supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she
see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she
exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets
of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to
accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf. With his
pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to
Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the
impossible.</span><br /><span id="freeText10792457282146345535"></span><br /><span id="freeText10792457282146345535"> As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts
getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante.
Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway. Now Kylie must race to
save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while
trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away
forever. In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing
Kylie knows for sure. Change is inevitable and all things must come to
an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.</span><br /><span id="freeText10792457282146345535"></span><br /><span id="freeText10792457282146345535">The breathtaking
fourth installment of the New York Times bestselling Shadow Falls series
from author C. C. Hunter...Whispers at Moonrise.</span><br /><span id="freeText10792457282146345535"></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Promised (Birthmarked, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Caragh M. O'Brien</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Roaring Brook Press</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText266474872539297523">After defying the
ruthless Enclave, surviving the wasteland, and upending the rigid
matriarchy of Sylum, Gaia Stone now faces her biggest challenge ever.
She must lead the people of Sylum back to the Enclave and persuade the
Protectorat to grant them refuge from the wasteland. In Gaia's absence,
the Enclave has grown more cruel, more desperate to experiment on
mothers from outside the wall, and now the stakes of cooperating or
rebelling have never been higher. Is Gaia ready, as a leader, to
sacrifice what--or whom--she loves most?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Death and the Girl Next Door</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Darynda Jones</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: St. Martin’s Griffin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>October 2</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14251844770991021056">Ten years ago,
Lorelei's parents disappeared without a trace. Raised by her
grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is
finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming
home. For Lorelei, life goes on.<br /><br />High school is not quite as
painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can
be. Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins
to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it, standing outside
her house in the dark, night after night. Things get even more
complicated when a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to
school. Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei
seems to be the reason for their animosity. What does Jared know about
her parents? Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei? And
what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real? Thrilling,
sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones's first foray into the world
of teens will leave readers eager for the next instalment.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Summer and Bird</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Katherine Catmull</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Dutton Juvenile</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3695238857694145335"><i>An enchanting—and twisted—tale of two sisters’ quest to find their parents</i><br /><br />When
their parents disappear in the middle of the night, young sisters
Summer and Bird set off on a quest to find them. A cryptic picture
message from their mother leads them to a familiar gate in the woods,
but comfortable sights quickly give way to a new world entirely—Down—one
inhabited by talking birds and the evil Puppeteer queen. Summer and
Bird are quickly separated, and their divided hearts lead them each in a
very different direction in the quest to find their parents, vanquish
the Puppeteer, lead the birds back to their Green Home, and discover the
identity of the true bird queen.<br /><br />With breathtaking language and
deliciously inventive details, Katherine Catmull has created a world
unlike any other, skillfully blurring the lines between magic and
reality and bringing to life a completely authentic cast of characters
and creatures.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Breathe</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Sarah Crossan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Greenwillow Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: October 2</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4013115861093863903">Inhale. Exhale. <br /> Breathe. <br /> Breathe. <br /> Breathe . . .<br /> The world is dead. <br /> The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.<br /><br />Alina<br />
has been stealing for a long time. She's a little jittery, but not
terrified. All she knows is that she's never been caught before. If
she's careful, it'll be easy. If she's careful.<br /><br />Quinn<br /> should
be worried about Alina and a bit afraid for himself, too, but even
though this is dangerous, it's also the most interesting thing to happen
to him in ages. It isn't every day that the girl of your dreams asks
you to rescue her.<br /><br />Bea<br /> wants to tell him that none of this is
fair; they'd planned a trip together, the two of them, and she'd hoped
he'd discover her out here, not another girl.<br /><br />And as they walk
into the Outlands with two days' worth of oxygen in their tanks,
everything they believe will be shattered. Will they be able to make it
back? Will they want to?</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Obsidian Mirror</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Catherine Fisher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Hodder Children's Books
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 4</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1733512309075324024">Jake's father disappears
while working on mysterious experiments with the obsessive, reclusive
Oberon Venn. Jake is convinced Venn has murdered him. But the truth he
finds at the snow-bound Wintercombe Abbey is far stranger ... The
experiments concerned a black mirror, which is a portal to both the past
and the future. Venn is not alone in wanting to use its powers.
Strangers begin gathering in and around Venn's estate: Sarah - a
runaway, who appears out of nowhere and is clearly not what she says,
Maskelyne - who claims the mirror was stolen from him in some past
century. There are others, a product of the mirror's power to twist
time. And a tribe of elemental beings surround this isolated estate,
fey, cold, untrustworthy, and filled with hate for humans. But of them
all, Jake is hell-bent on using the mirror to get to the truth. Whatever
the cost, he must learn what really happened to his father.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><i>Magisterium</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jeff Hirsch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Scholastic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>October 1</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText942452544974388749">On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery.</span><br /><span id="freeText942452544974388749"></span><br /><span id="freeText942452544974388749">Sixteen-year-old
Glenn Morgan has lived next to the Rift her entire life and has no idea
of what might be on the other side of it. Glenn's only friend, Kevin,
insists the fence holds back a world of monsters and witchcraft, but
magic isn't for Glenn. She has enough problems with reality: Glenn's
mother disappeared when she was six, and soon after, she lost her
scientist father to his all-consuming work on the mysterious Project.
Glenn buries herself in her studies and dreams about the day she can
escape. But when her father's work leads to his arrest, he gives Glenn a
simple metal bracelet that will send Glenn and Kevin on the run---with
only one place to go.</span><br /><span id="freeText942452544974388749"></span></span></blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Story Collections</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Wonders of the Invisible World</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Patricia A. McKillip</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tachyon Publications</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: October 1</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1279976030639344669">Stylistically rooted in
fairy tale and mythology, imperceptible landscapes are explored in these
opulent stories from a beloved fantasy icon. There are princesses
dancing with dead suitors, a knight in love with an official of exotic
lineage, and fortune’s fool stealing into the present instead of the
future. In one mesmerizing tale, a time-traveling angel is forbidden to
intervene in Cotton Mather’s religious ravings, while another narrative
finds a wizard seduced in his youth by the Faerie Queen and returning
the treasure that is rightfully hers. Bewitching, bittersweet, and
deeply intoxicating, this collection draws elements from the fables of
history and re-creates them in startlingly magical ways.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Night & Demons</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">David Drake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Baen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> October 2</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9382738554168753180">A collection of
horrific, weird, and fantastic tales by a master storyteller and creator
of best-selling military science fiction. Here are weird stories set in
the present, along with alternative histories filled with gritty
realism and exacting detail as well as an assortment of horrors and
monsters. Most of all, here are the tough heroes who throughout time
master their own fears and face the very real terrors that haunt
existence. Sometimes these heroes win a partial victory. Sometimes
it’s enough to go down fighting.</span><br /><span id="freeText9382738554168753180"></span><br /><span id="freeText9382738554168753180">Before Drake was a best-selling
author of military science fiction, he was a prolific writer of horror
and fantasy short fiction. “Denkirch,” Drake’s first sale, is here, and
well as many stories set in the worlds of his fantasy novels (<i>Ranks of Bronze, Lord of the Isles,</i> and others).</span><br /><span id="freeText9382738554168753180"></span><br /><span id="freeText9382738554168753180">More than just a collection of stories, <i>Night & Demons</i>
features extensive story notes that chronicle the development of one of
science fiction's most popular writers, and provide detailed snapshots
of the larger-than-life editors, publishers, and writers with whom Drake
has worked throughout his career.</span><br /><span id="freeText9382738554168753180"></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-36451003272683904002012-09-27T19:54:00.003-04:002012-09-27T19:54:32.420-04:00My Foray into Thriller & Suspense <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I've never been one to browse in the Thriller or Suspense section of a bookstore but recently I've found myself drawn to several books within these genres due to particularly compelling reviews. In each case, after hearing a description of the book's plot I just had to find out how each one ended, which required me to read the complete book for myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">One thing I discovered is that I don't think I'm going to ever become a regular thriller or suspense reader because they all seem to have endings that leave me frustrated and unsatisfied. It's as if the author knows the kind of ending the reader wishes for and goes out of their way to head in the opposite direction. Not that I'm opposed to surprise endings but, because I usually enjoy them, but the ones in these books just really frustrated me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">OK, this review is starting to get side tracked before I've even begun, so let's head back on course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Gone Girl</i> by Gillian Flynn</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Amy Dunne goes missing on the day of her fifth wedding anniversary and her husband, Nick, is the number one suspect. Amy's diary paints the picture of a loving wife in a troubled marriage but Nick's narration doesn't quite match up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's hard to know who the reader should believe, Nick or Amy, which is part of what's so compelling about this book. Even though we are inside of Nick's head we still don't know everything that he's thinking. He's hiding something from us, but is it murder? But don't we have to believe Amy if we are reading her personal diary?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Halfway through the book a revelation is made that turns the story on its head and forces us to reevaluate everything that we've read so far. Until the very end I had no idea what to expect, and even then I was still surprised. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have to say that pf all three books, I disliked the ending of this one the most. Actually, I think I would go so far as to say that I hated it. It just seemed so wrong. In the course of reading the book I came up with at least several acceptable scenarios that I hoped to find on the last page, none of which came to pass. But what did happen just bothered me so much that if I had a paper edition of this book I would have been strongly tempted to shred those last few pages. Maybe even rewrite the ending myself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Alright now, moving on.... </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1325641431l/12617758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1325641431l/12617758.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>The Expats</i> by Chris Pavone</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A story about a housewife undercover spy? Sign me up! While I usually like my spy stories to be of the non-fiction variety I couldn't resist picking up a copy of this one as soon as I read a review of it. It sounded like a fun, suspense mystery that I would enjoy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Kate Moore has been living a double-life that even her husband isn't aware of. She's done a good job of hiding the fact that after dropping off the kids at school each day she goes off to do super-secret, sometimes dangerous, spy stuff. But keeping so many secrets gets exhausting after a while, so when her husband announces that they are moving to Luxembourg, Kate isn't too disappointed to say goodbye to her life as a spy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Learning how to be a housewife in a foreign country offers up a new set of challenges full of laundry, cooking and playdates. Slowly Kate begins adjusting, and even starts making new friends with some of the other expat wives. But a spy's instincts are hard to turn off so when some of these new friends begin acting suspiciously Kate can't help wondering if there is something strange going on that she should be aware of, and if it might have to do with a secret from her past that she's done her best to erase.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Even Kate's husband isn't immune from her suspicions, and now with all this extra time on her hands Kate's wondering what exactly it is that her husband does all day. Suddenly this housewife has a lot of suspicious activity to investigate and the answers she discovers are not at all what she had expected to find. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's actually been a while since I read this book so I can't quite remember all of my impressions of it, so I will only be able to offer those few that really stayed with me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Overall I had enjoyed the story, but there were several things about it that frustrated me. First, there was the matter of Kate's husband. I wanted to be convinced that he was worth the love and dedication that Kate felt towards him, as well as the sacrifice of leaving a job that she loved, but this never comes across because his character was so undeveloped.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Second, the story jumps around quite a bit to different time periods, some from before the move, some from after (which is when most of the story takes place) and some from Kate's spy missions. Sometimes these transitions were not made very smoothly and I was confused as to when some events were taking place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And finally, I remember being somewhat let down by events towards the end, but I can't quite remember why. I don't think I disliked the ending but not everything came together in a way that really made sense to me. The book was a lot more lighthearted than I had expected it to be, which I was happy with, but if you go in to it anticipating a thriller then you might be disappointed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329612158l/11367726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329612158l/11367726.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Defending Jacob</i> by William Landay</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Of all the three books, <i>Defending Jacob</i> was the one that required me to step the furthest out of my reading comfort zone, because not only is this a mystery and a thriller but it also involves lawyers and legal stuff. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But, once again, a review pulled me into a book I would never have otherwise picked up, forcing me to read it just so I could discover how the story ends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Although my only intention was to find out if Jacob was guilty or not I soon realized that this wasn't actually what the story was about. This wasn't a mystery which would, after a series of clever clues, provide me with the answer that I so badly wanted. Instead, Defending Jacob turned out to be an exploration of the parent- child relationship, questioning how well it is that parents really know their children and how far into the deep end will a parent go for their child.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When a small New England town is shaken by the murder of a fourteen-year old boy, Assistant D.A, Andy Barber, takes on the case himself, determined to hunt down the killer. But slowly the evidence begins to point to a single suspect, Andy's own son, Jacob. Soon Andy is taken off the case and is forced, instead, to stand on the other side of the courtroom, defending his son. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I imagine that any parent reading this book is certain to put themselves in Andy's place and wonder what they would do in a similar situation. As we get to know Jacob through the eyes of his friends and classmates we wonder how it is that his parents could have overlooked so many of his strange behaviors. We would certainly notice if our own kids did such strange things, wouldn't we?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Eventually even Laurie, Jacob's mother, begins to voice her own doubts about Jacob, and Andy finds himself having to defend his son to his own wife as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As seems to be common with these type of books, there is no nicely wrapped up conclusion, providing us with a simple yes or no answer to the burning question. But I wasn't necessarily dissatisfied with the way the book ended because I did feel like I got an answer, it was just the story itself that didn't play out in the manner I had expected to, which wasn't neccessary a bad thing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So, in conclusion, I had an interesting time stepping over the genre line for a bit but it's with some relief that I'm going to retreat back to my fantasy books now. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think that one of the reasons that I enjoy reading fantasy so much is that I know that at the end of the adventure I'll be rewarded with a victorious hero (or heroine) and a satisfyingly vanquished villain. Each author has their own way of getting there but that predictability of the genre is partially what makes it so enjoyable for me. All these inconclusive endings and loose threads just make me very uneasy and somewhat on edge. Yeah...that's enough of that for me for now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-50060296961679796022012-09-23T15:13:00.000-04:002012-09-23T15:13:51.720-04:00New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: September 23 - 29If you're a Harry Potter fan than you've
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">probably been looking forward to this week ever since you first heard about J.K Rowlings' intentions to write a new book. And from the book's <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13497818-the-casual-vacancy" target="_blank">Goodreads page</a> it looks like that her fans are expecting to love it even though this story is not at all similar <i>(and seriously guys, why are you rating a book that you haven't even read?! The book has a 4.41 rating and not a single review, which completely defies the purpose of a book review site. But I'll leave this rant for another time). </i> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Personally, I'm not running to the bookstore to buy <i>The Casual Vacancy</i> until I see what others have to say about it first, despite how much I loved Harry Potter. It just doesn't sound like my kind of book. <i>(Unfortunately Rowlings has also been tarnished for me, somewhat, after I read about the poor way <a href="http://gilibarhillel.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/hpwb/" target="_blank">her books' translators are treated</a>.)</i></span><br />
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Though I can't say there is really much else here that has me particularly excited this week, so I guess I'll be sticking to what I already have on my bookshelves.<br />
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Hope you have a great reading week!<br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Fantasy</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344619000l/13367167.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344619000l/13367167.jpg" width="121" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Crown Thief (Tales of Easie Damasco #2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">David Tallerman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8723926504665263739">Meet Easie Damasco: Thief, swindler and lately, reluctant hero.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText8723926504665263739">But
whatever good intentions Damasco may have are about to be tested to
their limits, as the most valuable - and dangerous - object in the land
comes within his light-fingered grasp. Add in some suicidally stubborn
giants, an old enemy with dreams of empire and the deadliest killers in
two kingdoms on his heels, and Damasco's chances of staying honest - or
even just surviving - are getting slimmer by the hour.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340792561l/15011147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340792561l/15011147.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount #2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Daniel A. Rabuzzi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: ChiZine Publications</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1762868681027553341">London 1817. Maggie
Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and
strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world's
most powerful and sophisticated machine—to free the lost land of Yount
from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm. Sally, of the merchant house
McDoon, who displayed her own powers in challenging the Wurm and finding
Yount in The Choir Boats, must choose either to help Maggie or to
hinder her. Together—or not—Maggie and Sally drive to conclusion the
story started in The Choir Boats—a story of blood-soaked song, family
secrets, sins new and old in search of expiation, forbidden love, high
policy and acts of state, financial ruin, betrayals intimate and grand,
sorcery from the origins of time, and battle in the streets of London
and on the arcane seas of Yount.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Science Fiction</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311105989l/12074927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311105989l/12074927.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Fractal Prince</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Hannu Rajaniemi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Gollancz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 27 </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16973497727570367373">“The good thing is, no one will ever die again. The bad thing is, everyone will want to.”<br />A
physicist receives a mysterious paper. The ideas in it are far, far
ahead of current thinking and quite, quite terrifying. In a city of
“fast ones,” shadow players, and jinni, two sisters contemplate a
revolution.<br />And on the edges of reality a thief, helped by a sardonic
ship, is trying to break into a Schrödinger box for his patron. In the
box is his freedom. Or not.<br /><br />Jean de Flambeur is back. And he’s running out of time.<br /><br />In
Hannu Rajaniemi’s sparkling follow-up to the critically acclaimed
international sensation The Quantum Thief, he returns to his
awe-inspiring vision of the universe…and we discover what the future
held for Earth</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Great North Road</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Peter F. Hamilton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 27 (UK)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText17163097048650362610">A century from now,
thanks to a technology allowing instantaneous travel across light-years,
humanity has solved its energy shortages, cleaned up the environment,
and created far-flung colony worlds. The keys to this empire belong to
the powerful North family—composed of successive generations of clones.
Yet these clones are not identical. For one thing, genetic errors have
crept in with each generation. For another, the original three clone
“brothers” have gone their separate ways, and the branches of the family
are now friendly rivals more than allies.<br /> <br /> Or maybe not so
friendly. At least that’s what the murder of a North clone in the
English city of Newcastle suggests to Detective Sidney Hurst. Sid is a
solid investigator who’d like nothing better than to hand off this hot
potato of a case. The way he figures it, whether he solves the crime or
not, he’ll make enough enemies to ruin his career.<br /> <br /> Yet Sid’s
case is about to take an unexpected turn: because the circumstances of
the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to a killing that took place
years ago on the planet St. Libra, where a North clone and his entire
household were slaughtered in cold blood. The convicted slayer, Angela
Tramelo, has always claimed her innocence. And now it seems she may have
been right. Because only the St. Libra killer could have committed the
Newcastle crime.<br /> <br /> Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.<br /> <br />
Now Sid must navigate through a Byzantine minefield of competing
interests within the police department and the world’s political and
economic elite . . . all the while hunting down a brutal killer poised
to strike again. And on St. Libra, Angela, newly released from prison,
joins a mission to hunt down the elusive alien, only to learn that the
line between hunter and hunted is a thin one.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Helix Wars (Helix, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Eric Brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Solaris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3581231285956444567"><b>The Helix</b>:
a vast spiral of ten thousand worlds turning around its sun. Aeons ago,
the enigmatic Builders constructed the Helix as a refuge for alien
races on the verge of extinction. Two hundred years ago, humankind came
to the Helix aboard a great colony ship, and the Builders conferred on
them the mantle of peacekeepers. For that long, peace has reigned on the
Helix. But when shuttle pilot <b>Jeff Ellis</b> crash-lands
on the world of Phandra, he interrupts a barbarous invasion from the
neighbouring Sporelli - who scheme to track down and exterminate Ellis
before he can return to New Earth and inform the peacekeepers.<br /><br /><i>Helix Wars</i>, sequel to the best-selling <i>Helix</i>, is a fast-paced adventure novel about the ultimate threat to the Helix itself.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Janus</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">John Park</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: ChiZine Publications</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4009928487921113370">In the near future, Jon
Grebbel arrives on the colony world of Janus, and finds himself
mysteriously without memory of his life on Earth. It seems that the long
journey has caused severe memory loss in many of Janus’s colonists.
While Grebbel wants to start his new life, he also wants his memory
back, and starts treatments to restore his past. But they only leave him
angry and disturbed and he begins to doubt the glimpses of the past the
treatments reveal.<br /><br />Grebbel meets Elinda, an earlier arrival,
whose lover, Barbara, vanished and then was found lying in the woods,
apparently brain-damaged. Elinda has also lost her memories of Earth,
but unlike him she has abandoned the effort to recover them. Now their
meeting brings each of them a glimpse of an experience they shared back
on Earth.<br /><br />Investigating Barbara’s fate and their own, the two
find their love and their search for justice turning toward bitter
self-discovery and revenge, even as they begin to uncover the darkness
at the heart of their worl.</span></span> <br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Urban Fantasy</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Alchemystic</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Anton Strout</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4052493626293065915"><b>AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY… </b><br />Alexandra
Belarus is a struggling artist living in New York City, even though her
family is rich in real estate, including a towering Gothic Gramercy
Park building built by her great-great-grandfather. But the truth of her
bloodline is revealed when she is attacked on the street and saved by
an inhumanly powerful winged figure. A figure who knows the Belarus
name…<br /><br />Lexi’s great-great-grandfather was a Spellmason—an artisan
who could work magic on stone. But in his day, dark forces conspired
against him and his, so he left a spell of protection on his family. Now
that Lexi is in danger, the spell has awoken her ancestor’s most
trusted and fearsome creation: a gargoyle named Stanis.<br /><br />Lexi and
Stanis are equally surprised to find themselves bound to each other. But
as they learn to work together, they realize that only united can they
save the city they both love…</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Dark Light of Day</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jill Archer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10608704609951718634">Armageddon is over. The
demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship
patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws
keep the demons from warring among themselves, and the world from
slipping back into chaos.<br /><br /> Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the
river Lethe, the daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of
Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret: She was born with waning magic,
the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and
maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is
unheard of, and some would consider her an abomination.<br /><br /> Noon is
summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must
decide whether to declare her powers there…or to attempt to continue
hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she
meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is
harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at
stake than just her life.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Blood Riders</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Michael P. Spradlin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harper Voyager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer8661129079597952462">Civil War veteran Jonas
R. Hollister is recruited by the U.S. government to hunt down and
destroy an ancient tribe of vampires that is terrorizing the frontier
territories of the Wild West in this action-packed new novel from New
York Times bestselling author Michael P. Spradlin</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Personal Demon (Law of the Blood, Bk 6)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Susan Sizemore</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText18350591899559513822">Vampire Enforcer
Christopher Bell is in Chicago to investigate rumors of a revolution,
but when he comes across vampire hunter Ivy Bailey being followed
through dark streets, what he finds is a ghost from his past. Over a
century ago, Christopher fought the vicious London serial killer Jack
the Ripper—and won. But now, the Ripper’s tainted soul is back—on the
hunt once more.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307838508l/10353283.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1307838508l/10353283.jpg" width="130" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Redlaw </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">James Lovegrove</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Solaris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10409507598043450950">They live among us,
abhorred, marginalised, despised. They are vampires, known politely as
Sunless. The job of policing their community falls to the men and women
of the Sunless Housing and Disclosure Executive - SHADE. Captain John
Redlaw is London's most feared and respected SHADE officer. But when the
vampires start rioting in their ghettoes, and angry humans respond with
violence of their own, even Redlaw may not be able to keep the peace.
Especially when political forces are aligning to introduce a radical
answer to the Sunless problem, one that will resolve the situation once
and for all..</span> </span></blockquote>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1346267826l/13531771.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1346267826l/13531771.jpg" width="131" /></a><i><b>The Wrong Goodbye (The Collector, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Chris F. Holm</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer7720153341492449890">Meet Sam Thornton, Collector of Souls.<br /><br />Because
of his efforts to avert the Apocalypse, Sam Thornton has been given a
second chance – provided he can stick to the straight-and-narrow.<br /><br />Which
sounds all well and good, but when the soul Sam’s sent to collect goes
missing, Sam finds himself off the straight-and-narrow pretty quick.</span> </span><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Young Adult</u></span></h2>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344713161l/13367319.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344713161l/13367319.jpg" width="133" /></a> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Alchemy (Mercian Trilogy #2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">K.J. Wignall </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Egmontusa </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the thirteenth century, William, heir to the Earl of Mercia, was attacked and turned into a vampire. For 750 years, Will has spent his life in the shadows. Until he met Eloise.
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Together, Will and Eloise must destroy an ancient evil that has led them to Marland Abbey, where Will’s ancestors lived and Eloise attends school. Here they uncover the truth about the four vampire kings, Will's past, and an uncertain future.
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But the mysterious sorcerer, Wyndham, is still hunting Will and using Eloise as bait. To protect the girl he loves, Will goes in search of answers—but does that mean walking right into the enemy's trap?
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333628241l/11300302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333628241l/11300302.jpg" width="135" /></a><i><b>Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Gena Showalter </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harlequin Teen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Her father was right. The monsters are real….
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'd tell my sister no.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'd tell them I love them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wish... Yeah, I wish. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331920974l/9943228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331920974l/9943228.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Blessed (The Blessed #1)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Tonya Hurley</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon & Schuster </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">From the author of the New York Times bestselling ghostgirl series, the start to a captivating and haunting teen trilogy about three girls who become entangled with an enigmatic boy—a boy who believes he is a saint.What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them?
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1321200053l/11479938.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1321200053l/11479938.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Boyfriend From Hell (Falling Angels, Bk 1)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jamie Quaid</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Pocket</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText920607177351641034">Fifteen year-old Megan
Barnett and her single mom, Suze, have a special relationship—they are
friends, close friends, who do almost everything together. <br /><br />“But
come on, guys, she’s my mother… Can I really tell her that while we’re
snuggled up on the sofa watching Spider Man Three, I’m secretly
undressing James Franco with my eyes? Of course not…” <br /><br />The
special bond takes a turn for the worse when Suze decides to start
dating again. She hasn’t had a man in her life since Megan’s father left
ten years ago. <br /><br />Enter two mysterious young men, Megan’s new
classmate, sinfully attractive bad boy, Guy Matson, and the dangerously
handsome art dealer, Armando. Before long Megan and Suze both wind up in
steamy relationships. <br /><br />But neither of the handsome pair is quite
what he seems. In fact, one of them is Satan, with his sights set on a
new bride. Megan has precious little time to figure out how to stop him.
If she doesn’t, either Megan or Suze are quite literally going to HELL</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Covet (The Clann #2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Melissa Darnell </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: HarlequinTeen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dangerous to be together. Painful to be apart.Savannah Colbert knows she broke up with Tristan Coleman for the right reasons. Most of all, to keep from killing him with her new vampire abilities. But try telling her heart. Now, lost in a sea of hostile Clann faces, Sav tries to come to terms with what she's becoming and what that means for her future. And that someone is doing their best to bully her into making a terrible mistake.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Tristan can't believe Sav won't even talk to him. If being apart is her decision, fine. Just don't expect him to honor it. But even as he prepares to fight for the girl he loves, forces beyond their control take them both in directions neither could have foreseen or prepared for.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A reckoning is coming and not everyone will survive
</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Dodger</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Terry Pratchett</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: HarperCollins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy
lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain
attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be
caught again? Of course not, because he's . . . Dodger. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living
from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He's not
about to let anything happen to the unknown girl—not even if her fate
impacts some of the most powerful people in England. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> From
Dodger's encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with
the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician
Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking
account of adventure and mystery. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Flock (Stork, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Wendy Delsol</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Candlewick Press</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b> September 25</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText18428753978428282667">After surviving her
(shall we say) intense adventure in Iceland, Katla is psyched to be back
for a blissfully uneventful senior year of homecoming and fashion
explorations. But her hopes of dodging unfinished business are dashed by
the arrival of two Icelandic exchange students: Marik, an oddly
alluring merman-in-disguise, and Jinky, a tough gypsy girl. It seems
Katla not only enraged the Snow Queen by rescuing her boyfriend, Jack,
she also was tricked into promising her frail baby sister to the water
queen — and Marik has come to collect. What’s worse, Katla doesn’t dare
confide in anyone lest she endanger them, so even her soul mate, Jack,
is growing suspicious. And now Katla’s stork dreams, her guide for
matching babies with mothers, have become strange and menacing as well.
Hold on for a thrilling finale as the heroine of Stork and Frost calls
on her wits (and her wit) to protect those she loves and face a final
mythic disaster.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Paladin Prophecy</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mark Frost</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9531701585972074216">Will West is careful to
live life under the radar. At his parents' insistence, he's made sure to
get mediocre grades and to stay in the middle of the pack on his
cross-country team. Then Will slips up, accidentally scoring off the
charts on a nationwide exam.<br /><br />Now Will is being courted by an
exclusive prep school . . . and is being followed by men driving black
sedans. When Will suddenly loses his parents, he must flee to the
school. There he begins to explore all that he's capable of--physical
and mental feats that should be impossible--and learns that his
abilities are connected to a struggle between titanic forces that has
lasted for millennia.<br /><br />Co-creator of the groundbreaking television series <i>Twin Peaks,</i>
Mark Frost brings his unique vision to this sophisticated adventure,
which combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and the supernatural.</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Assault</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Brian Falkner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText5162706605408256428">The first in a high octane sci-fi adventure series by best-selling and award-winning author, Brian Falkner.<br /><br />It
is 2030, and the world is at war with an alien race. The Bzadians. The
battleground: Earth. Recon Team Angel, made up of teenagers from around
the world, has been training for years. They have learned Bzadian
languages. Learned how to operate their weapons. How to work, eat, and
think like them. Now it is time to act. Recon Team Angel must slip
behind enemy lines, work their way into the top-secret alien facility
under Uluru, and uncover the truth. But what they discover will shock
not just them, but all of humanity.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Turning</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Francine Prose</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: HarperTeen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1471756889651818492">Jack is babysitting for
the summer on an isolated island with no Wi-Fi, no cell service, and no
one else around but a housekeeper and two very peculiar children. He
immediately senses something sinister-and it's not just the creepy black
house he's living in. Soon he is feeling terribly isolated and alone,
but then he discovers there are others. The problem is, he's the only
who can see them. As secrets are revealed and darker truths surface,
Jack desperately struggles to maintain a grip on reality. He knows what
he sees, and he isn't crazy…Or is he?<br /><br />Where does reality end and
insanity begin? The Turn of the Screw reinvented for modern-day teens,
by National Book Award finalist Francine Prose.</span> </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Yesterday</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">C. K. Kelly Martin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1085410080024954836">THEN: The formation of
the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of
unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are
things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and
part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that
world starts to crumble.<br /><br />NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just
moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in
at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother
blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that
explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy? When Freya
lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure
that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As
Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of
them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be
numbered. Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from
powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from
discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her
visions, and the time and place they really came from.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>A Fractured Light (A Beautiful Dark, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jocelyn Davies</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: HarperTeen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText18181210539036585764">When she wakes up in
unfamiliar surroundings, Skye knows something terrible has happened to
her. It's not until she hears Asher, the dark, rebellious angel she fell
in love with, that the memories come flooding back. She tries to put
the past behind her, but she knows she'll be forever haunted by the
ruthless betrayal that almost took her life.<br /><br />Skye returns home,
but with the knowledge of who she really is, nothing can ever be the
same. As she tests the limits of her newfound powers, Skye discovers
that she's capable of far more than anyone could have imagined. Both the
Order and the Rebellion want her for their side as war between the
factions looms. She can't forget the terrifying truth she now knows
about the Order, but something holds her back from embracing the
Rebellion.</span> </span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jeanne DuPrau & Dallas Middaugh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House Books For Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16285068345075291396">In the spring 2003,
kids, parents, teachers, librarians—whole communities—discovered and
fell in love with Jeanne DuPrau's story about a doomed city, and the two
children who found a way out. Nearly 10 years later, that story, <i>The City of Ember,</i>
is a bona fide classic, with over 1.7 million copies sold. Now
experience Jeanne DuPrau's vision anew as artist Niklas Asker faithfully
brings to life the glare of the lamps, the dinginess of the streets,
and the brilliance of the first sunrise.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Darkwater</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Catherine Fisher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Dial</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9964837579663246884">What would you sell your soul for?<br /><br />Sixteen-year-old
Sarah Trevelyan would give anything to regain the power and wealth her
family has lost, so she makes a bargain with Azrael, Lord of Darkwater
Hall. He gives her one hundred years and the means to accomplish her
objective--in exchange for her soul. Fast-forward a hundred years to
Tom, a fifteen-year-old boy who dreams of attending Darkwater Hall
School but doesn't believe he has the talent. Until he meets a professor
named Azrael, who offers him a bargain. Will Sarah be able to stop Tom
from making the same mistake she did a century ago?<br /><br />This is smart
fantasy mixed with elements of horror from master storyteller Catherine
Fisher. She says, "Darkwater Hall is an image of the power and
knowledge we all desire. But what will we pay for them, and are they
worth the price?"</span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>In A Glass Grimmly (A Tale Dark and Grimm, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Adam Gidwitz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Dutton Juvenile</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3676090880774940734">More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic<br /><br />Take caution ahead—<br />Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.<br /><br />Lest you enter with dread.<br />Follow
Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may
not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.<br /><br />Step lively, dear reader . . .<br />Happily ever after isn’t cutting it anymore.<br /><br />In
this companion novel to Adam Gidwitz’s widely acclaimed, award-winning
debut, A Tale Dark & Grimm, Jack and Jill explore a new set of tales
from the Brothers Grimm and others, including Jack and the Beanstalk
and The Frog Prince.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Story Collections</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348336678l/11559721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348336678l/11559721.jpg" width="135" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Freaks in a Box: The Myths of Media</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">edited by Paul Di Filippo</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher:</b> NonStop Press</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16682193858158181607">Exploring the theory
that media is the real opium of the masses, this collection of timely
and provocative speculative fiction brings together some of the most
talented contemporary fantasy, horror, and science fiction writers.
Stories by J. G. Ballard, Lisa Tuttle, Robert Silverberg, and William
Gibson, among others, combine noir city elements with thought-provoking
scenarios that look at the future of television, radio, and the
internet. With a focus on the possible horrors stemming from
entertainment devices found in every home, this chilling anthology is a
unique survey of the theme of the evolution or devolution of media.</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Baba Yaga's Daughter and Other Stories of the Old Races</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">C.E. Murphy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Subterranean Press</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 30</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText17078281883889166131">Ancient rivals, best of
friends, best of enemies: dragonlord Janx and master vampire Eliseo
Daisani are the threads upon which a tapestry of lives and loves are
woven across the centuries. From the coldest Russian nights to the heat
of Chicago's greatest fire, nothing brings the immortal adversaries
together--or tears them apart--like a woman. — And there is always a
woman.<br /><br />Vanessa Grey has been at Daisani's side for decades, but
the secrets borne by a witch may be her undoing. Baba Yaga's daughter
has plots that are decades in the hatching, but they may only succeed if
Margrit Knight, named 'the Negotiator' by Daisani and Janx themselves,
will work with her. And there are others: the greatest vampire hunter
mankind has ever known, and a woman for whom the Old Races are a wonder
to walk away from.</span> </span></blockquote>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u>Horror</u></span></h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344619095l/13367165.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344619095l/13367165.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Bad Glass</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Richard E. Gropp</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Del Rey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 25</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText12010719905831901670">Something has happened
in Spokane. The military has evacuated the city and locked it down. Even
so, disturbing rumors and images seep out, finding their way onto the
Internet, spreading curiosity, skepticism, and panic. For what they show
is—or should be—impossible: strange creatures that cannot exist, sudden
disappearances that violate the laws of physics, human bodies fused
with inanimate objects, trapped yet still half alive. . . .<br /><br />Dean
Walker, an aspiring photographer, sneaks into the quarantined city in
search of fame. What he finds will change him in unimaginable ways.
Hooking up with a group of outcasts led by a beautiful young woman named
Taylor, Dean embarks on a journey into the heart of a mystery whose
philosophical implications are as terrifying as its physical
manifestations. Even as he falls in love with Taylor—a woman as damaged
and seductive as the city itself—his already tenuous hold on reality
starts to come loose. Or perhaps it is Spokane’s grip on the world that
is coming undone.<br /><br />Now, caught up in a web of interlacing secrets
and betrayals, Dean, Taylor, and their friends must make their way
through this ever-shifting maze of a city, a city that is actively
hunting them down, herding them toward a shocking destiny.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><b>Your House Is On Fire, Your Children All Gone</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Stefan Kiesbye</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>:Penguin</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 25</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1875124663707796191"><b>Shirley Jackson meets <i>The X-Files</i> in this riveting novel of supernatural horror</b></span><br /><span id="freeText1875124663707796191"></span><br /><span id="freeText1875124663707796191">The
village of Hemmersmoor is a place untouched by time and shrouded in
superstition: There is the grand manor house whose occupants despise the
villagers, the small pub whose regulars talk of revenants, the old mill
no one dares to mention. This is where four young friends come of
age—in an atmosphere thick with fear and suspicion. Their innocent games
soon bring them face-toface with the village's darkest secrets in this
eerily dispassionate, astonishingly assured novel, evocative of Stephen
King's classic short story "Children of the Corn" and infused with the
spirit of the Brothers Grimm.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText12010719905831901670"> </span> </span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-2900621190078589142012-09-21T02:57:00.000-04:002012-09-21T02:57:30.014-04:00John Scalzi in Buttercream Frosting<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I'm really glad that Twitter has started sending me emails with highlights from the week because otherwise I might have missed out on this...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And here's the video explaining how exactly John Scalzi came to be covered in buttercream frosting by a group of roller derby woman on Neil Gaiman's lawn (man, this makes my life seems so dull)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And speaking of John Scalzi, today I received <i>Old Man's War </i>in the mail, which I ordered right after finishing <i>Redshirts</i>. It was such an enjoyable book that I'm eager to try out more of his stuff. So I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend (unfortunately neither Neil Gaiman nor buttercream frosting will be involved).</span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-91762320136485383202012-09-19T16:50:00.001-04:002012-09-19T16:50:51.694-04:00Back to Books Giveaway Winner<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b>Congratulations to the winner of the Back to Books Giveaway.....</b></h2>
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<b>Lisa Hackney!</b></h2>
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Lisa will be receiving a copy of The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle.<br />
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And a big thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway.<br />
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Since I still have a bunch of books left to clear out I hope to have another giveaway soon, so stick around.</div>
Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-86913099917486712572012-09-16T10:59:00.000-04:002012-09-16T10:59:35.430-04:00Shanah Tovah- Happy New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/771544/thumbs/o-VINTAGE-ROSH-HASHANAH-CARD-570.jpg?6" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/771544/thumbs/o-VINTAGE-ROSH-HASHANAH-CARD-570.jpg?6" width="200" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wishing all of you a happy, healthy and sweet new year. (even if you're not Jewish ;) )</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Apparently this image, of a bored looking angel, is from a vintage Rosh Hashanah card. It seemed appropriate for the blog somehow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And here's a Rosha Hashana video that never fails to crack me up, of Jewish yeshiva boys break dancing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Enjoy and have a good one!</span></div>
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Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-53115608305513675742012-09-15T17:14:00.001-04:002012-09-15T17:19:13.681-04:00 The Future We Left Behind (Point 4 #2) by Mike A. Lancaster <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3366925428694945678">Thousands of years in
the future the divide between humanity and technology has become nearly
unrecognizable. Each thought, each action is logged, coded, backed up.
Data is as easily exchanged through the fiber-optic-like cables that
extend from fingertips as it might be through ordinary conversation.
It's a brave new world: A world that the Straker Tapes say is a result
of many human "upgrades." But no one is sure whether the Straker Tapes
are a work of fiction or an eerie peek into an unimaginable past. <br /><br />Nearly
sixteen-year-old Peter Vincent has been raised to believe that
everything that the backward Strakerites cling to is insane--an utter
waste of time and potential. Since his father is David Vincent, genius
inventor of the artificial bees that saved the world's crops and
prevented massive famine, how could Peter believe anything else?<br /><br />But
when Peter meets Alpha, a Strakerite his own age, suddenly the theories
about society-upgrades don't sound quite so crazy, especially when she
shows him evidence that another upgrade is imminent. And worse, there
may be a conspiracy by the leaders of the establishment to cover it up. A
conspiracy spearheaded by Peter's own father.<br /><br />Gripping and full
of unexpected twists, The Future We Left Behind takes the unsettling
questions raised in Human.4, and flips them entirely. What if we knew
that the very way we live was about to be changed in an instant, and we
could stop it? And what if everything we are sure we know is entirely
wrong?</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> <b><span style="color: red;"><i>Warning: While I did my best to not give away any spoilers, you might want to avoid reading this book if you haven't read Human.4 (which was a good book, so really should read it).</i></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Imagine that you are a kid living at home (unless you <i>are</i> a kid living at home, in which case just go with it) and your parents tell you to get in the car because they have somewhere special to take you. The last time your parents sprang a surprise trip on you, you ended up at the amusement park so you're really excited. You get in the car and your father (let's assume he's at the wheel) starts driving.<br /><br />He drives and drives and you notice that you have passed-by the turnoff to the amusement park, so apparently that's not where you're headed. You have your face pressed eagerly to the car window watching as the movie theatre, the ice cream parlour and the arcade all flash by as well. Then you notice the envelopes peeking out of your father's pocket and you get the sneaking suspicion that you've been tricked into a trip to the post office. Even after you recognize the route, which confirms your suspicion, you still can't let go of the hope that maybe your father will suddenly turn off the road and bring you somewhere fun and exciting after all, but no- it's the post office that he is headed to, just as you feared. There, he mails his letters, after which he gets back in the car and drives you home, where you sulkily skip dinner in protest and go to bed.<br /><br />That's pretty much what reading <i>The Future We Left Behind</i> was like for me.<br /><br /><i>Human 0.4</i> was one of my favorite YA reads of last year. I had no idea what to expect when I went in to the book and was delightfully surprised at what I encountered there. So I had some pretty big expectations for <i>The Future We Left Behind</i>, which, as you have probably guessed, were not met.<br /><br />Unfortunately the author seemed to assume that what worked for book 1 would work for book 2, even with all of the surprises having already been sprung. But this was not the case. What I liked about Human .4 was that I had no idea what was going on and was completely bowled over when all was revealed but replaying all of that in a future timeline, just with different, and more informed protagonists, didn't excite me.<br /><br />As I continued reading I kept hoping that perhaps the story would focus on some of the interesting details that I had glimpsed as we sped by. For example, at one point Peter realizes that there are people living among them from previous versions of humankind who no one can see, except when photographed. Now I had expected this revelation to turn into something, and I'd been really excited about that. Who exactly are these people? How do they live? How long have they been around? Can Peter find a way to communicate with them? But- no. The story did not follow that tantalizing trail and instead kept stubbornly plowing forward.<br /><br />I still didn't give up hope that the ending would make up for the rest of the book by throwing in something truly unexpected, but the only thing that surprised me was how disappointing it all turned out to be.<br /><br />Even the big struggle between Peter and his father fell completely flat. They get into a violent altercation about something that really didn't matter in the least, considering how the story ended. I didn't even see any reason for Peter's beliefs or actions to have been the right ones, as opposed to his “evil” father's, though I assume that was the idea.<br /><br />And that was another thing that irritated me. The kids in the book are all clever, smart and sensitive while the adults are all evil, bumbling idiots with no compunctions about mowing down children (including their own) who get in the way of their nefarious plans. It was like watching an episode of one of those teen shows on the Disney Channel. It was all just too over the top to be believable in any way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />The book ended in the way that I expected it to, based on what took place so far, and left me with no interest in continuing on to book 3. </span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-54988410215184956762012-09-13T17:22:00.001-04:002012-09-13T17:22:44.463-04:00My own BBAW post in honor of one particular blogger<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So today is the fourth day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week and unfortunately I just haven't had the time to participate as much as I wanted to. Next week is the Jewish New Years (aka Rosh Hashana) and I've been busy shopping and cooking like crazy (Jewish holidays involve a lot of eating) as well as working, which hasn't left much time for anything else. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">But since this is Blogger Appreciation Week I want to take the opportunity to appreciate one particular blogger (though there are a whole bunch of you that are pretty darn awesome!) who decided, over the weekend, to close up shop and go off the grid. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Misfits Salon has been one of my favorite blogs, from my early days of blogging and Stephanie, one of my favorite bloggers. Stephanie's intelligent and insightful reviews led me to discover many wonderful new books and her delicious sounding book recipes had me craving foods that I had never even heard of before. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I also enjoyed putting together my first (and only) <a href="http://shatteringtheglasslipper.blogspot.co.il/" target="_blank">writing contest</a> with Stephanie. It was definitely an interesting experience. And Stephanie and I actually spoke on the phone together, which is as personal as I've ever gotten with another blogger (especially since I hate talking on the phone), so that was pretty cool.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I don't know why Stephanie decided to delete her blog and all of her accounts but I just hope that it's because something wonderful happened that will require all of her time and concentration (perhaps a book-loving foreign prince swept her away or she was needed for a secret CIA mission) but she will definitely be missed in the book blogging community. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Goodbye Stephanie and good luck!</span><br />
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Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-8290018246783227462012-09-11T13:48:00.001-04:002012-09-11T13:52:51.185-04:00BBAW Day 2: Interview with Darren of Bart’s Bookshelf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday was the start of <a href="http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com/2012/09/bbaw-2012-day-2-shining-a-light-on-you/" target="_blank">Book Blogger Appreciation Week</a>, of which my favorite part is the blogger interviews. I really enjoy getting the opportunity to learn more about my fellow bloggers and discover new blogs that I'd never visited before. I also enjoy being interviewed because, as you know, I love talking about myself ;) </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So this year, my interview partner is Darren from <a href="http://www.bartsbookshelf.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bart's Bookshelf</a>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Hi Darren, welcome to SFF Chat!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Can you start off by telling me about your blog and the kind of books that you review?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Bart’s Bookshelf, developed out of my original but then just about defunct, personal blog. After a few years of really not reading as much as I would have liked, I decided it was time to do something about it and force myself to get back in to the habit of reading, and I was going to do this by setting myself some targets and reviewing what I read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My reading is fairly eclectic, but is probably skewed to the fantasy side of things, and about 2/3 of the books I read could be classified as YA.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>How long have you been blogging for?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">January 20th next year will be the fifth ‘birthday’ of that Bart’s Bookshelf!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Wow, that's almost a decade in the book blogging world. That's pretty impressive!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>So you must have seen a lot of changes take place in the book blogging community over the years.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Grown. Oh has it grown!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UmUQ5cWEUdA/UE93SymvI0I/AAAAAAAAA_M/phTN_kvNLH8/s1600/knife.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UmUQ5cWEUdA/UE93SymvI0I/AAAAAAAAA_M/phTN_kvNLH8/s200/knife.jpeg" width="128" /></a><b>What has been your favourite blogging moment?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">#TKONLG on Twitter AKA <i>The Knife of Never Letting Go</i> (by Patrick Ness) there was a group of us that started reading Patrick Ness’ trilogy over a period of a few months. Being convinced by, and then watching each everybody's enthusiasm for the book (and series) as they fell in love with it was pretty amazing. and knowing exactly then they hit a certain event in the book, by their tweets. ;)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>What are some of the challenges of being a book blogger?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Remembering that it is meant to be fun. People often get caught up in posting/reading/reviewing schedules. Then struggling under the pressure to maintain it. I know conventional wisdom is that you should keep to a routine, once a week, twice a week of 12 times a week, it doesn’t matter, but keep to it. That’s probably important if you are running the blog as a business, but for most, book-blogging is a hobby, so if you need to take a break then do so, and definitely don’t feel guilty about it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>That is a sentiment that I very much agree with! </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>So what upcoming release would you recommend that we look out for?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jA0sT0lnwQ/UE93yvApsPI/AAAAAAAAA_U/bTbNv7f0wPc/s1600/doom.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4jA0sT0lnwQ/UE93yvApsPI/AAAAAAAAA_U/bTbNv7f0wPc/s200/doom.jpeg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>The Book of Doom</i> by Barry Hutchison. Barry writes books for the younger-end of the YA market, but that doesn’t mean all ages can’t enjoy his books. <i>The Book of the Doom</i> is the second book in his Afterworlds series of standalone books.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The first book in the series, <i>The 13th Horseman,</i> was released earlier this year and was packed with wonderful humour and likeable characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>If you could step into any book which book would you choose and why?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh, I’m going to be pretty boring and say Harry Potter (post Voldy of course!) A lot of my favourite worlds in recent years, aren’t necessarily conducive to safe and easy life ;) So, I think a nice house and a quiet life in Hogsmeade, could be just the thing!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>What do you think is more important in a book, a good beginning or a good ending?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A good beginning. If it doesn’t catch your attention early on, you’re less likely to still be there to be disappointed by a poor ending.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>What has been the most surprising book that you've read during your time as a book blogger?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">That’s a somewhat difficult question as a lot of the books I’ve really liked, while I’ve been blogging, have been because of other blogger’s reviews, so to be truly surprised doesn’t happen very often. But, even though I’d read a glowing review if it, by Chris (of Stuff Dreams are Made on) <i>Green Angel</i> by Alice Hoffman surprised me by just how much I enjoyed it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here’s how I ended my review:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>An incredible little book that’ll drop you in the midst to the deepest pain, and draw you right back out again, filling you with hope. Definitely one that’ll stay with you long after you’ve finished it.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Hm, well I'm definitely intrigued now. I'll have to add <i>Green Angel </i>to my TBR list.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Has being a book blogger affected how and what you read?</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Oh my, yes. One of the reasons I started blogging about books was to get myself back into the reading habit, and that has most definitely happened. :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I have certainly read more YA books in recent years that I would have without book blogging, and many, many new authors!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>And now for the question that I can never resist asking any reader... what's your favourite book quote?</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Going to cheat and pick two! ;) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Great choices! I firmly believe that you can never go wrong with a H<i>itchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</i> quote. And I just started <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i>, so I'll have to look out for this passage.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Thanks Darren for joining us today. It's been great getting to know you!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">You can check out Darren's blog, Bart's Bookshelf, <a href="http://www.bartsbookshelf.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>. And while you are there you can <a href="http://www.bartsbookshelf.co.uk/2012/09/11/bbaw-day-2-interview-swaps/" target="_blank">read the interview</a> that Darren did with me. </span><b><br /></b><br />
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Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-41838675566543993902012-09-09T13:29:00.001-04:002012-09-09T13:29:58.877-04:00New Scifi & Fantasy Releases: Week of September 9-15<h2>
<u><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fantasy
</span></u></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brent Weeks</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Orbit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8987923899534319981">Gavin Guile is dying.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8987923899534319981">He’d
thought he had five years left—now he has less than one. With fifty
thousand refugees, a bastard son, and an ex-fiancée who may have learned
his darkest secret, Gavin has problems on every side. All magic in the
world is running wild and threatens to destroy the Seven Satrapies.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8987923899534319981">Worst
of all, the old gods are being reborn, and their army of color wights
is unstoppable. The only salvation may be the brother whose freedom and
life Gavin stole sixteen years ago.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br br="br" /></span>
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<h2>
<u><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Young Adult
</span></u></h2>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Brides of Rollrock Island</span></span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Margo Lanagan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Knopf Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8752040692470463302">On remote Rollrock Island, men go to sea to make their livings--and to catch their wives. <br />The
witch Misskaella knows the way of drawing a girl from the heart of a
seal, of luring the beauty out of the beast. And for a price a man may
buy himself a lovely sea-wife. He may have and hold and keep her. And he
will tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into
those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as
she. He will be equally ensnared. And the witch will have her true
payment. <br />Margo Lanagan weaves an extraordinary tale of desire,
despair, and transformation. With devastatingly beautiful prose, she
reveals characters capable of unspeakable cruelty, but also unspoken
love.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8752040692470463302"> </span> </span><br />
<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hanging by a Thread</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sophie Littlefield </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: </span>Delacorte Books for Young Readers
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 11</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText11734420506375094964">Summer is the best part
of the year in Winston, California, and the Fourth of July is the
highlight of the season. But the perfect town Clare remembers has
changed, and everyone is praying that this summer will be different from
the last two—that this year's Fourth of July festival won't see one of
their own vanish without a trace, leaving no leads and no suspects. The
media are in a frenzy predicting a third disappearance, but the town
depends on tourist dollars, so the residents of Winston are trying
desperately to pretend nothing's wrong.<br /><br />And they're not the only ones hiding something.<br /><br />Clare,
a seamstress who redesigns vintage clothing, has been blessed—or
perhaps cursed—with a gift: she can see people's pasts when she touches
their clothes. When she stumbles across a denim jacket that once
belonged to Amanda Stavros, last year's Fourth of July victim, Clare
sees her perfect town begin to come apart at the seams.<br /><br />In a town where appearance means everything, how deep beneath the surface will Clare dig to uncover a murderer?</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br br="br" /></span>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hidden (Firelight #3)</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sophie Jordan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: HarperCollins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16196330514881038180">Jacinda was supposed to
bond with Cassian, the "prince" of their pride. But she resisted long
before she fell in love with Will—a human and, worse, a hunter. When she
ran away with Will, it ended in disaster, with Cassian's sister, Miram,
captured. Weighed down by guilt, Jacinda knows she must rescue her to
set things right. Yet to do so she will have to venture deep into the
heart of enemy territory.<br /><br />The only way Jacinda can reach Miram is
by posing as a prisoner herself, though once she assumes that disguise,
things quickly spiral out of her control. As she learns more about her
captors, she realizes that even if Will and Cassian can carry out their
part of the plan, there's no guarantee they'll all make it out alive.
But what Jacinda never could have foreseen is that escaping would be
only the beginning....<br /><br />Loyalties are tested and sacrifices made in the explosive conclusion to Sophie Jordan's Firelight trilogy.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16196330514881038180"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<i><b><br br="br" /></b></i>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Island of Doom (The Hunchback Assignment, Bk 4)</b></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Arthur Slade</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Wendy Lamb Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16229221363029897386">After previous
assignments in London, the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, and the
Australian rain forest, this final adventure in the Hunchback
Assignments series finds our hero, shape-shifting, masked spy Modo, on
his most personal quest. Along with fellow spy Octavia Milkweed, they
search for Modo's biological parents. But when the Clockwork Guild find
Modo's parents first, Octavia and Modo chase them across Europe and
North America to the Island of Doom. Joined by memorable characters from
the first three books--some lovable, and some who are terrifying and
evil--Modo and Octavia dash towards a thrilling conclusion.</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16229221363029897386"> </span> </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jossie Griffin is Not a Vampire</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Heather Swain </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Speak</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 13</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText17745149049653487279">A hilarious take on the paranormal trend--<em>Twilight</em> meets <em>The Breakfast Club</em>!<br /><br />When
former good girl turned rebel Josie Griffin gets busted for what was in
her mind perfectly acceptable revenge on her cheating dog of a
boyfriend, she lands herself in anger management therapy. It could be
worse: it could be juvvie, or she could be a zombie cheerleader like the
rest of her former friends. But there's something strange about
therapy--these are not normal kids. There's the wannabe ladies man with a
weird accent, Johann; the blindingly gorgeous Helios; Avis with his
wild dreads; and Tarren, the sprite of a girl with a wicked temper. And
all of them keep talking about "powers." Josie knows that has to be
impossible, but strange things start happening, and nothing weird ever
happens in Indiana. After all, there're no such things as vampires,
werewolves, Greek gods, or fairies . . . right?</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nerve</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jeanne Ryan</span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Dial</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 13</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span id="freeText8337290249433227912">A high-stakes online game of dares turns deadly<br /><br />When Vee is picked to be a player in NERVE, an anonymous game of dares broadcast live online, she discovers that the game <em>knows</em>
her. They tempt her with prizes taken from her ThisIsMe page and team
her up with the perfect boy, sizzling-hot Ian. At first it's
exhilarating--Vee and Ian's fans cheer them on to riskier dares with
higher stakes. But the game takes a twisted turn when they're directed
to a secret location with five other players for the Grand Prize round.
Suddenly they're playing all or nothing, with their lives on the line.
Just how far will Vee go before she loses NERVE?<br /><br />Debut author Jeanne Ryan delivers an un-putdownable suspense thriller.</span><br />
<span id="freeText8337290249433227912"> </span>
</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Shadowfell</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Juliet Marillier</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Knopf Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13098373235181955862">Sixteen-year-old Neryn
is alone in the land of Alban, where the oppressive king has ordered
anyone with magical strengths captured and brought before him. Eager to
hide her own canny skill—a uniquely powerful ability to communicate with
the fairy-like Good Folk—Neryn sets out for the legendary Shadowfell, a
home and training ground for a secret rebel group determined to
overthrow the evil King Keldec.<br /><br />During her dangerous journey, she
receives aid from the Good Folk, who tell her she must pass a series of
tests in order to recognize her full potential. She also finds help
from a handsome young man, Flint, who rescues her from certain death—but
whose motives in doing so remain unclear. Neryn struggles to trust her
only allies. They both hint that she alone may be the key to Alban’s
release from Keldec’s rule.<br /><br />Homeless, unsure of who to trust, and
trapped in an empire determined to crush her, Neryn must make it to
Shadowfell not only to save herself, but to save Alban.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13098373235181955862"> </span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br br="br" /></span>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Unspoken</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sarah Rees Brennan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 11 </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But all that changes when the Lynburns return.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him? </span></blockquote>
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<i><b>Vessel</b></i><br />
Sarah Beth Durst<br />
<b>Publisher</b>: Margaret K. McElderry
<br />
<b>Release Date:</b> September 11<br />
<br />
<span id="freeText8556301975912265669"><strong>In a desert
world of sandstorms and sand-wolves, a teen girl must defy the gods to
save her tribe in this mystical, atmospheric tale from the author of <em>Drink, Slay, Love</em>.</strong>Liyana
has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. The goddess
will inhabit Liyana’s body and use magic to bring rain to the desert.
But Liyana’s goddess never comes. Abandoned by her angry tribe, Liyana
expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in
search of her.<br /> </span><br />
<span id="freeText8556301975912265669">Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a
trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing,
and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. For
the desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But
the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is
willing to believe the trickster god’s tale.<br /> </span><br />
<span id="freeText8556301975912265669">The closer she
grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her
goddess. But she has no choice: She must die for her tribe to live.
Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate—or a human girl can
muster some magic of her own.</span><br />
<br />
<h2>
<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Urban Fantasy </span></i></h2>
<br />
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Full Blooded</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amanda Carlson</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Orbit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>September 11 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer8691607940458712835">It's not easy being a
girl. It's even harder when you're the only girl in a family of
werewolves. But it's next to impossible when your very existence spells
out the doom of your race... Meet Jessica McClain -- she just became
part of the pack.<br /><br />In the vein of Kelley Armstrong and Patricia Briggs, a new urban fantasy that rewrites the werewolf myth...</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Anthology </u></span></h2>
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<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334399588l/13591003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334399588l/13591003.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tesseracts Sixteen: Parnassus Unbound</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mark Leslie</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Edge</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>September 15</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer10185572058226062830">This anthology features
speculative fiction short stories with art, music, literature and
culture themes. It is the latest volume of the long-running Tesseracts
series and features stories for a new generation of readers. This
anthology joins a 26-year legacy which features the writing and editing
of more than 250 of Canada's best-known authors.</span> </span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-56121809836100133162012-09-08T15:31:00.000-04:002012-09-08T15:31:54.099-04:00Google Celebrates Star TrekSpeaking of Star Trek, (re:<a href="http://blog.42scifi-fantasy.com/2012/09/redshirts-by-john-scalzi.html" target="_blank">Redshirts review</a>) Google celebrates the show's 48th anniversary with a fun animated Google doodle.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXshhRQm5X0/UEucZrjoMZI/AAAAAAAAA-w/qWBJmtiP1l0/s1600/google2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CXshhRQm5X0/UEucZrjoMZI/AAAAAAAAA-w/qWBJmtiP1l0/s320/google2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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When <a href="http://www.startrek.com/article/celebrating-46-years-with-a-google-doodle" target="_blank">interviewed</a> about the doodle, Ryan Germick, a Google designer and Star Trek fan, responded,
"one thing I will say: no red shirts were harmed in the making of this doodle. Well, maybe harmed a little, but it could’ve been worse!"<br />
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Well, here's one scared looking Redshirt, about to be beamed up:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ubVmtMilc-8/UEuby_aqFfI/AAAAAAAAA-g/M88MvZC-bAk/s1600/Googledoodle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ubVmtMilc-8/UEuby_aqFfI/AAAAAAAAA-g/M88MvZC-bAk/s320/Googledoodle.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you miss the doodle today you can still find it at the <a href="http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2012/All%20doodles" target="_blank">Google Doodle archive</a>.Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-19608653875038259762012-09-06T16:46:00.003-04:002012-10-21T06:52:51.944-04:00 Redshirts by John Scalzi <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327924060l/13055592.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327924060l/13055592.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you're a Star Trek fan then you probably won't be able to resist Scalzi's recent novel, <i>Redshirts</i>, which pays homage to the popular scifi show by telling the story of the sacrificial men in red.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's possible that there are other Star Trek references in the book as well but I wouldn't know since I've never actually watched the show. I only know about the Redshirts because I read about them somewhere right before I started the book, and then I Googled for more information in case it was crucial for my understanding of the story.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In any case, knowing what a Redshirt is before I started wasn't essential, though it did at least make me feel like I was in on the joke. And in case you're as clueless as me, I'll let you in on it as well.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Redshirts are the low-ranking crew members in Star Trek (who I assume wear red shirts) who die early on in the show while accompanying the main characters on landing parties. They provide some heightened drama while keeping the main characters safe from harm. And now you probably have some idea of what Scalzi's newest novel, <i>Redshirts</i>, is about.
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<ul><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory.
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<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces, (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.
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<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expendedon avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.
</span></i></ul>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Redshirts</i> is one of those books that the less you know it the more you'll enjoy it, so I'm going to make this review short to avoid giving too much away.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I will say that <i>Redshirts </i>was a lot of fun to read and it's a book that can be enjoyed equally by scifi and non-scifi readers. I'm sure there must have been jokes and references that went over my head because I've never watches Star Trek, or other similar shows (something called </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer283181969"><span id="freeTextContainer16235466634277828504"><i>Galaxy Quest?)</i></span></span>, but the writing itself was humorous enough that I didn't feel like I missed out on anything. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have to admit that the character development was rather weak and while the characters were compelling enough to make me care about them they weren't as fleshed out as I might have like them to be. There isn't any real romance or deep friendships, though you definitely get the sense that the characters care about each other. While these issues would normally detract from my enjoyment of a book, in this case it didn't really bother me, probably because the unfolding events engaged most of my attention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'd recommend <i>Redshirts</i> to anyone looking for a quick and entertaining read. But do yourself a favor and avoid reading any reviews of it (other than this one, of course) because many of them reveal the story's main surprise, ruining your chance of discovering if for yourself, which is the best part.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As my first Scalzi book, <i>Redshirts</i> was a real winner. I'm now very eager to try out more of his books, and have already gone ahead and ordered a copy of <i>Old Mans' War </i>to read next.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">P.S. There is a liberal amount of swearing in this book, which you should be aware of it that's something that will really bother you.</span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-75425947673915405012012-09-04T19:45:00.000-04:002012-09-05T19:46:35.773-04:00In a Fix by Linda Grimes <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344128844l/11996192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344128844l/11996192.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Snagging a marriage proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason, Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more difficult than originally anticipated.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Going from romance to rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup. Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is, annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her client’s intended.
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Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I've pretty much given up on urban fantasy but every so often I'll dip my toes back in just to see if the genre has improved since I last tried it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I came across <i>In a Fix </i>I thought it might be worth a shot since it sounded different than any of the other urban fantasies that I've read and it was about time to test the waters again. Actually, it was probably the vikings that did it. I mean, who could resist the promise of modern-day vikings? (Not me, apparently) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I will say that I enjoyed <i>In a Fix</i> a lot more than I had expected to. It was entertaining and fun, and at times a </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer387177366"><span id="freeText13574748536324455068">bit ridiculous. I particularly liked the story's </span></span>unusual take on shape shifting. The main characters had the unique ability to take on another person's physical form (and voice) by borrowing some of their aura. As we soon discover, when Queen Elizabeth makes a mysterious appearance in the Bahamas, this trick doesn't even require the permission of a body's owner, which leads to all kinds of interesting possibilities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While Ciel's brother, his friend Mark and their family friend, Billy, use their adaptor skills to go on covert missions for the CIA, Ciel put it to use in her businesses, getting people out of tricky situations by taking their place. When we first meet Ciel she is actually in the middle of one such job. Posing as her beautiful socialite client, Ciel is supposed to extract a marriage proposal from her client's boyfriend. Everything is going well until the boyfriend gets kidnapped and Mark and Billy show up uninvited to do some damage control.
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not one to stand aside, Ciel insists on seeing her job through to the end but that only lands her in the middle of a dangerous viking conspiracy which may cost her life.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While I enjoyed the story for the most part there was just one thing that bothered me, and that was Ciel herself.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At first I felt sympathetic for Ciel, whose privacy was constantly being breached by the overprotective men in her life. I could understand her annoyance at having set out on her own only to have every move of hers tracked by her brother and his friends, even to the point where they would interfere with her work. But my sympathy for Ciel quickly turned into irritation when it became apparent that there is a reason these guys are always keeping tabs on her. The woman is completely incompetent. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Over and over again Ciel would unwittingly stumble into a dangerous situation from which she would need to be saved just so that she could prove how valuable to the mission she was. About half way through the book I starting feeling bad for Mark and Billy, who had to keep saving Ciel because she refuses to stay out of dangerous situations that she doesn't know how to handle.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I therefore had a bit of a hard time buying the fact that in these circumstances Ciel would develop a romantic relationship with a man (or two) who should have wanted to strangle her for being an irresponsible idiot (which is what I would have done if I were them). I couldn't understand how the woman possibly ran a businesses that required some subtlety and stealth.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But despite my irritation with Ciel she did kind of grow on me and I enjoyed the rest of the story, vikings and all (just wait 'til you get to the bottom of <i>that</i> plot!). Though if I were Mark and Billy I would stay far away from Ciel the next time I had a dangerous mission to go on because that woman is trouble.</span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-36712896753614603912012-09-03T15:22:00.001-04:002012-09-03T15:22:09.497-04:00New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: Week of September 2- 8It looks like there are lots of great books being released this week though the one that I'm particularly curious about is <i>Riveted</i> by <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Meljean Brook. I had loved <i>The Iron Duke</i> but couldn't get through the sequel. I'm now wondering if it's worth giving book three a try. If you've read it let me know what you thought.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And I see that <i>In a Fix</i>, by </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Linda Grimes, is out this week, which reminds me that I've got to post my review of it. I actually rather enjoyed this book, even though it had some of the typical UF annoyances. So make sure to stop by in a couple of days to check out the review.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And let me know if there is anything in particular here that I should try out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have a great reading week!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Science Fiction</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328393247l/13244685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328393247l/13244685.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Dragon Ship (Liaden Universe #15) </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sharon Lee & Steve Miller</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Baen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 4</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">First Class courier pilot Theo Waitley was
already known as a nexus of violence – and then she inherited the
precarious captaincy of a mysterious self-aware ship designed to serve a
long dead trader. Now she has a trade route to run for Clan Korval
while she convinces the near mythic ghost ship <i>Bechimo</i> – and
herself – that she wants to commit herself as the human side to their
immensely powerful symbiosis. While her former lover battles a
nano-virus that's eating him alive, she's challenged to rescue hundreds
of stranded pilots and crewmen from an explosive situation in near orbit
around a suddenly hostile planet. Lovers, enemies, an ex-roomie, and a
jealous spaceship are all in peril as Theo wields power that no one in
the universe is sure of, especially her.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1341000590l/13543039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1341000590l/13543039.jpg" width="123" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Clean</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alex Hughes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>:Roc</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 4</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText503565272048002504"><b>A RUTHLESS KILLER—</b><b>OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND</b> I
used to work for the Telepath’s Guild before they kicked me out for a
drug habit that wasn’t entirely my fault. Now I work for the cops,
helping Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino put killers behind
bars. My ability to get inside the twisted minds of suspects makes me
the best interrogator in the department. But the normals keep me on a
short leash. When the Tech Wars ripped the world apart, the Guild
stepped up to save it. But they had to get scary to do it—real
scary. Now the cops don’t trust the telepaths, the Guild doesn’t trust
me, a serial killer is stalking the city—and I’m aching for a fix. But I
need to solve this case. Fast. I’ve just had a vision of the future:
I’m the next to die.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335124441l/13538762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335124441l/13538762.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Rapture of the Nerds</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cory Doctorow & Charles Stross</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Tor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 4</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10061433047352984584">Welcome to the fractured future, at the dusk of the twenty-first century.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10061433047352984584">Earth
has a population of roughly a billion hominids. For the most part, they
are happy with their lot, living in a preserve at the bottom of a
gravity well. Those who are unhappy have emigrated, joining one or
another of the swarming densethinker clades that fog the inner solar
system with a dust of molecular machinery so thick that it obscures the
sun.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10061433047352984584">The splintery metaconsciousness of the solar-system has
largely sworn off its pre-post-human cousins dirtside, but its minds
sometimes wander…and when that happens, it casually spams Earth's
networks with plans for cataclysmically disruptive technologies that
emulsify whole industries, cultures, and spiritual systems. A sane
species would ignore these get-evolved-quick schemes, but there's always
someone who'll take a bite from the forbidden apple.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10061433047352984584">So until
the overminds bore of stirring Earth's anthill, there's Tech Jury
Service: random humans, selected arbitrarily, charged with assessing
dozens of new inventions and ruling on whether to let them loose. Young
Huw, a technophobic, misanthropic Welshman, has been selected for the
latest jury, a task he does his best to perform despite an itchy
technovirus, the apathy of the proletariat, and a couple of truly awful
moments on bathroom floors.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Be My Enemy</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ian McDonald</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Pyr</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: September 4</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText991677975425267272">Everett Singh has escaped
with the Infundibulum from the clutches of Charlotte Villiers and the
Order, but at a terrible price. His father is missing, banished to one
of the billions of parallel universes of the Panoply of All World, and
Everett and the crew of the airship Everness have taken a wild, random
Heisenberg Jump to a random parallel plane. Everett is smart and
resourceful and from a frozen earth far beyond the Plenitude plans to
rescue his family. But the villainous Charlotte Villiers is one step
ahead of him.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345756315l/13542400.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345756315l/13542400.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Slow Apocalypse</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">John Varley</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> September 4</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13088861194396575382">Despite wars with Iraq
and Afghanistan, as well as 9/11, the United States’ dependence on
foreign oil has kept the nation tied to the Middle East. A scientist has
developed a cure for America’s addiction—a slow-acting virus that feeds
on petroleum, turning it solid. But he didn’t consider that his
contagion of an Iraqi oil field could spread to infect the fuel supply
of the entire world… In Los Angeles, screenwriter Dave Marshall heard
this scenario from a retired US marine and government insider who acted
as a consultant on Dave’s last film. It sounded as implausible as many
of his scripts, but the reality is much more frightening than anything
he could have envisioned. An ordinary guy armed with extraordinary
information, Dave hopes his survivor’s instinct will kick in so he can
protect his wife and daughter from the coming apocalypse that will alter
the future of Earth—and humanity…</span> <span id="freeText991677975425267272"> </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><u>Fantasy</u></span></span></h2>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></b></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337657558l/13592828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337657558l/13592828.jpg" width="143" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Clockwork Angels</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><class tr_bq="tr_bq">
Kevin J. Anderson & Neil Peart of Rush. <br />
<b>Publisher</b>: ECW Press<br />
<b>Release Date: </b>September 1<br />
<br />
<span id="freeText13801128100923736296">A remarkable
collaboration that is unprecedented in its scope and realization, this
exquisitely wrought novel represents an artistic project between the
bestselling science fiction author Kevin J. Anderson and the
multiplatinum rock band Rush. The newest album by Rush, <i>Clockwork Angels</i>,
sets forth a story in Neil Peart’s lyrics that has been expanded by him
and Anderson into this epic novel. In a young man’s quest to follow his
dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos.
He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy
with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid
Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. The
mind-bending story is complemented with rich paintings by the five-time
Juno Award winner for Best Album Design, Hugh Syme.</span>
<br />
<br />
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</class></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340627858l/13543199.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340627858l/13543199.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Lord of Mountains</b></i><br />
S.M. Stirling<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Roc<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText6454236371363817063">Rudi Mackenize, now
Artos the First, High King of Montival, and his allies have won several
key battles against the Church Universal and Triumphant. But still the
war rages on, taking countless lives, ravaging the land once known as
the United States of America. Artos and his Queen, Mathilda, must unite
the realms into a single kingdom to ensure a lasting peace. </span><br /><br /><span id="freeText6454236371363817063"> If
the leaders of the Changed world are to accept Artos as their ruler, he
will need to undertake a quest to the Lake at the Heart of the
Mountains, and take part in a crowning ceremony—a ceremony binding him
to his people, his ancestors, and his land.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText6454236371363817063"> Then, once he has
secured his place and allegiances, Artos can go forward, and lead his
forces to the heart of the enemy’s territory…</span> </span></blockquote>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327941018l/13076433.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327941018l/13076433.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Wild Road</b></i><br />
Jennifer Roberson<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: DAW<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText3707196481861416543">...it is sentient, and
predatory. Home to demons and worse, its mercurial boundaries can
suddenly shift miles in any direction to encompass previously safe human
lands - and those taken by the deepwood are forever changed.<br /><br />
Audrun, a human woman trapped within the forest, is reunited with her
four children, only to learn that each has been marked by the deepwood’s
wild magic. And her newly born fifth child, captured by a winged demon,
is still missing. Audrun has sworn to find the infant, but can a mere
human possibly hope to outwit the monstrous inhabitants of
Alisanos...and the nightmarish deepwood itself?</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333579359l/13155269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333579359l/13155269.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Elminster Enraged: The Sage of Shadowdale</b></i><br />
Ed Greenwood<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Wizards of the Coast<br /><b>Release Date</b>: September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText12831815591640091781">Commanded by the
vestige of Mystra to work together, Manshoon and Elminster engage
instead in a ferocious battle that sends the Sage plummeting into the
Underdark as a cloud of ashes. Elminster soon inhabits the body of a
fallen dark elf, so that he can begin carrying out Mystra's orders to
rally Cormyr's Wizards of War, seek blueflame items to mend immense
rifts throughout the realms that are releasing deadly monsters, and
prevent the ancient Primordials from rising and unleashing their rage.
But his sworn archenemy, Manshoon, has plans as well: to conquer Cormyr
and be the new Emperor, and hunt down the Sage's clones. The battles are
fierce, the stakes have never been higher, and the fate of Cormyr is on
the line. Meanwhile, War Wizards are being mysteriously assassinated . .
.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343623086l/13497118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343623086l/13497118.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Spirit Well (Bright Empires, Bk 3)</b></i><br />
Stephen R. Lawhead<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Thomas Nelson<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeTextContainer10243825423133185354">Kit Livingstone is on a
quest for the ultimate treasure---a tattooed map to an alternate
universe! When he witnesses Arthur Flinders-Petrie carry his dead wife
into a pool of light---and emerge with her alive---Kit wonders if The
Spirit Well is the secret of the map. And if it is, can Arthur's
ruthless great-grandson be far behind?</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324222682l/11992045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324222682l/11992045.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Skybound Sea</b></i><br />
Sam Sykes<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Pyr<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText15442948889306920726">She comes. </span><br /><br /><span id="freeText15442948889306920726">The
skies bleed. The Earth groans. The sea howls. The world is rent asunder
as the Kraken Queen claws her way from hell. And the only ones standing
in her way are a young man with a piece of steel and a voice in his head
his many companions, and their many, many problems. As Lenk journeys to
the Island of Jaga, the tomb of Ulbecetonth, he is hunted. By enemies,
by the woman he loves, by the demon he has to kill, by an army of any
number of bloodthirsty purple berserkers, savage lizardmen, vicious
monsters, and colossal demons. In the lands where sky and sea have
forgotten they were ever separate, Lenk and his companions' destinies
await at the tip of a sword and the mouth of hell.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343648904l/13417066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343648904l/13417066.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
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<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Kingmakers (Vampire Empire, Bk 3)</b></i><br />
Clay & Susan Griffith<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Pyr<br /><b>Release Date</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText11297316769501327312">Empress Adele has
launched a grand crusade against the vampire clans of the north. Prince
Gareth, the vampire lord of Scotland, serves the Equatorian cause,
fighting in the bloody trenches of France in his guise as the dashing
Greyfriar. But the human armies are pinned down, battered by harsh
weather and merciless attacks from vampire packs.<br /><br />To even the
odds, Adele unleashes the power of her geomancy, a fearsome weapon
capable of slaughtering vampires in vast numbers. However, the power she
expends threatens her own life even as she questions the morality of
such a weapon.<br /><br />As the war turns ever bloodier and Adele is
threatened by betrayal, Gareth faces a terrible choice. Their only hope
is a desperate strike against the lord of the vampire clans—Gareth’s
brother, Cesare. It is a gamble that could win the war or signal the
final days of the Greyfriar.<br /><br />The Vampire Empire trilogy rushes to a heart-wrenching conclusion of honor and love, hatred and vengeance, sacrifice and loss.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText11297316769501327312"> </span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344389941l/13076419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344389941l/13076419.jpg" width="128" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>A Host of Furious Fancies</b></i><br />
Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Baen<br /><b>Release Date</b>: September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText9893601884931832816"><i>Beyond World's End</i>:<i> </i>Sieur
Eric Banyon, Knight and Bard to the court of the Queen of Elfhame
Misthold, moves back to the Big Apple to take care of unfinished
business. Mostly, he just wants to settle down to a normal life.
However, he quickly discovers his Manhattan apartment has unique
features, including a living gargoyle named Greystone and four Guardians
who have sworn to protect New York from evil. And soon Eric discovers
that unscrupulous researchers have created a drug that unlocks magical
powers in humans—a drug that is 100 percent fatal over time. And now
something evil from Underhill has other plans and seeks to use the
temporary human powers to dominate World Above.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText9893601884931832816"> <i>Spirits White as Lightning</i>:<i> </i>Eric
Banyon has more to worry about than passing his courses at Julliard.
The evil elf lord Aerune, whose love was killed by mortal men, is
determined to destroy the human race. Eric's only hope of stopping
Aerune is to trap him inside a magical maze, from which there is no
escaping. Stopping Aerune once before was difficult. This time, the
quest seems nothing less than impossible.</span><br /> <span id="freeText11297316769501327312"> </span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i><b>At the Edge of Waking</b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
Holly Phillips<br /><b>Publisher: </b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Prime Books<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeTextContainer7283618383651554736">A collection of short
stories that won the 2006 Sunburst Award and received nominations for
the World Fantasy and Crawford Awards.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><br /></span>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Young Adult </u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327450757l/10815267.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327450757l/10815267.jpg" width="130" /></a></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Undead</b></i><br />
Kirsty McKay<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: The Chicken House<br /><b>Release Date</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: September 1<br /><br /><span id="freeText6306543736306878441">Out of sight, out of
their minds: It's a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool
when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby. <br />The
day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside
restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is,
except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue
Smitty. <br />Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and
Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other
kids stumbling back. <br />But they've changed. And not in a good way.
Straight up, they're zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round
and round freakin' fast, because that's the only thing keeping Bobby and
Smitty from becoming their classmates' next meal. It's kill or be
killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most
definitely gonna be late. </span></span>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Carnival of Souls</b></i><br />
Melissa Marr<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: HarperCollins<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText17797841874217904313">In a city of daimons,
rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at
the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and
pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival
hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the
ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face
bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to
the death is the only way to try to live.<br /><br />All Mallory knows of
The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a
life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full
of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets
for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows
it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so
she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little
knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There
are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the
decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337180754l/9685579.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337180754l/9685579.jpg" width="134" /></a></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Book of the Night (Labyrinth, Bk 3)</b></i><br />
Pearl North<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Tor Teen<br /><b>Release Date: </b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText8325074202256053919">The world of the
Libyrinth has experienced a series of wrenching changes. After the
Libyrarians and their longtime foes the Singers discovered their common
heritage, a young healer named Po found the Lion’s Bloom, an ancient and
enormously powerful artifact capable of rewriting reality. <br /><br />Behind
the mysteries of their shrouded past has always been the legendary Book
of the Night. Sought for generations, both feared and revered, it is
the key to this world of wonders. When vain, grasping Queen Thela steals
the Lion’s Bloom and imperils the very reality of the world, only the
Book can heal what she has rent asunder. An epic journey through strange
lands, a perilous encounter in a clockwork city, and the revelation of
the truth beyond reality will lead those who find the Book to a moment
when their world will either be saved...or cease to exist</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> .</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343084394l/10193062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343084394l/10193062.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Outpost (Razorland, Bk 2)</b></i><br />
Ann Aguirre <br /><b>Release Date</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: September 4<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Feiwel & Friends
<br /><br /><span id="freeText5626787341832055974">Deuce’s whole world has
changed. Down below, she was considered an adult. Now, topside in a town
called Salvation, she’s a brat in need of training in the eyes of the
townsfolk. She doesn’t fit in with the other girls: Deuce only knows how
to fight.<br /><br />To make matters worse, her Hunter partner, Fade, keeps
Deuce at a distance. Her feelings for Fade haven’t changed, but he
seems not to want her around anymore. Confused and lonely, she starts
looking for a way out.<br /><br />Deuce signs up to serve in the summer
patrols—those who make sure the planters can work the fields without
danger. It should be routine, but things have been changing on the
surface, just as they did below ground. The Freaks have grown smarter.
They’re watching. Waiting. Planning. The monsters don’t intend to let
Salvation survive, and it may take a girl like Deuce to turn back the
tide.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336153473l/11985913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336153473l/11985913.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Fathomless</b></i><br />
Jackson Pearce<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText9464460974589102362">Celia Reynolds is the
youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power.
Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia
can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia
meets Lo.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText9464460974589102362">Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a
human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an
ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster
she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self,
fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark
immortality.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText9464460974589102362">When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and
into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the
waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves
competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though.
According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back
her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his
soul</span> .</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Origin</b></i><br />
Jessica Khoury<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Razorbill<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText7686530207539351424">Pia has grown up in a
secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised
by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new
immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia
discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile
home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.<br /><br />Free
in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together,
they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s
origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives
forever.<br /><br /><i>Origin</i> is a beautifully told, shocking new way
to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost. This
is a supremely compelling debut novel that blends the awakening romance
of <i>Matched</i> with the mystery and jungle conspiracy of <i>Lost</i></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333047310l/13447878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333047310l/13447878.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Blackwood</b></i><br />
Gwenda Bond<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot<br /><b>Release Date</b>: September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText4372428640036383179">On Roanoke Island, the
legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony
hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story
people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114
people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of
bringing them back.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText4372428640036383179">Miranda, a misfit girl from the island’s most
infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the
voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead
alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony.
The one thing they can’t dodge is each other.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText4372428640036383179"><i>Blackwood</i> is a dark, witty coming of age story that combines America’s oldest mystery with a thoroughly contemporary romance.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336232807l/13420494.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336232807l/13420494.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Shift</b></i><br />
Kim Curran<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Angry Robot<br /><b>Release Date</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText1230349034678761479">When your average,
16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious
Aubrey Jones, he learns he's not so average after all. He's a 'Shifter'.
And that means he has the power to undo any decision he's ever made. At
first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world
starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his
power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting
is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a
thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.</span></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333397090l/12329486.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333397090l/12329486.jpg" width="135" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Broken Lands</b></i><br />
Kate Milford<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Clarion Books<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText9805017982243557207"><i>A crossroads can be a place of great power.</i> So begins this deliciously spine-tingling prequel to Kate Milford’s <i>The Boneshaker,</i>
set in the colorful world of nineteenth-century Coney Island and New
York City. Few crossroads compare to the one being formed by the
Brooklyn Bridge and the East River, and as the bridge’s construction
progresses, forces of unimaginable evil seek to bend that power to their
advantage. Only two orphans with unusual skills stand in their way. Can
the teenagers Sam, a card sharp, and Jin, a fireworks expert, stop them
before it’s too late? Here is a richly textured, slow-burning thriller
about friendship, courage, and the age-old fight between good and evil</span>.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331412799l/13370523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331412799l/13370523.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Immortal Lycanthropes</b></i><br />
Hal Johnson<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Clarion Books<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText4345288959530184386">“A shameful fact about
humanity is that some people can be so ugly that no one will be friends
with them. It is shameful that humans can be so cruel, and it is
shameful that humans can be so ugly.”<br /><br />So begins the incredible
story of Myron Horowitz, a disfigured thirteen-year-old just trying to
fit in at his Pennsylvania school. When a fight with a bully leaves him
unconscious and naked in the wreckage of the cafeteria, Myron discovers
that he is an immortal lycanthrope—a were-mammal who can transform from
human to animal. He also discovers that there are others like him, and
many of them want Myron dead. “People will turn into animals,” says the
razor-witted narrator of this tour-de-force, “and here come ancient
secrets and rivers of blood.”</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Sweet Shadows (Medusa Girls, Bk 2)</b></i><br />
Tera Lynn Childs<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><b>Publisher:</b> Katherine Tegen Books<br /><br /><span id="freeText5665985899267922757"><b>Three teenage descendants of Medusa, now united, must claim their heritage to fight the monsters escaped from the abyss.</b></span><br /><br /><span id="freeText5665985899267922757"><b>Gretchen</b>
may have known she was a descendant of Medusa long before her
sisters--after all, she's spent her life fighting the monsters that
escape the abyss--but that doesn't mean it will be easy to teach the
other girls the ropes.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText5665985899267922757"><b>Greer</b> has pressing social
commitments on her plate and precious little time to train in her
newfound powers. But that wretched second sight won't leave her alone,
and her fabled heritage seems to be creeping into her fashionable life.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText5665985899267922757"><b>Grace</b>
has worries closer to home--like why her brother, Thane, has
disappeared. He's hiding something. Could it possibly be related to the
secret heritage the triplets share?</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1339298321l/12861406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1339298321l/12861406.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Caught (The Missing, Bk 5)</b></i><br />
Margaret Peterson Haddix<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers<br /><b>Release Date: </b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText7528633790168416482"><b>Jonah and Katherine come face to face with Albert Einstein in the fifth book of the <i>New York Times </i>bestselling The Missing series.</b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span id="freeText7528633790168416482">Jonah
and Katherine are accustomed to traveling through time, but when learn
they next have to return Albert Einstein’s daughter to history, they
think it’s a joke—they’ve only heard of his sons. But it turns out that
Albert Einstein really did have a daughter, Lieserl, whose 1902 birth
and subsequent disappearance was shrouded in mystery. Lieserl was
presumed to have died of scarlet fever as an infant. But when Jonah and
Katherine return to the early 1900s to fix history, one of Lieserl’s
parents seems to understand entirely too much about time travel and what
Jonah and Katherine are doing. It’s not Lieserl’s father, either—it’s
her mother, Mileva. And Mileva has no intention of letting her daughter
disappear.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345888183l/13406329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345888183l/13406329.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Island of Silence (Unwanteds, Bk 2)</b></i><br />
Lisa McMann<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Aladdin<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText9241210803841380986">The battle is over. The
magical barrier between the dreary land of Quill and the fantastical
world of Artimé is gone. Now residents of both places are free to
mingle, but tensions are high. The artistic warriors of Artimé struggle
to forgive those in Quill who condemned them to death, while the
Quillens attempt to recover from the shock of Artime’s existence, the
loss of their leader, and the total collapse of their safe, orderly
world.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText9241210803841380986">14-year-old Alex Stowe has recovered from his physical
wounds since his death-defying role in Artime’s victory, but his
confidence is shattered. He battles self-doubt after Artimé’s beloved
mage, Mr. Today, makes a stunning request, which is further complicated
by the mysterious arrival of two silent, orange-eyed teenagers.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText9241210803841380986">Meanwhile
in Quill, Aaron is devastated by his fall from grace and seething with
anger toward his twin brother Alex. Spurred by rage, Aaron recruits a
team of Restorers and devises a masterful plan of revenge that will
return him to power…if no one gets in his way.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText9241210803841380986">Bestselling author
Lisa McMann delivers another trademark page-turner in this second book
of The Unwanteds series, as Alex and Aaron's parallel stories ultimately
come together for a shocking climax that will leave readers desperate
for more.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Blink Once</b></i><br />
Cylin Busby<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Flux<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631">West is a high school
senior who has everything going for him until an accident leaves him
paralyzed. Strapped down in his hospital bed, slipping in and out of
consciousness, West is terrified and alone. Until he meets Olivia.<br /><br />She's
the girl next door—sort of. A patient in the room next to his, only
Olivia can tell what West is thinking, and only Olivia seems to know
that the terrible dreams he's been having are not just a result of his
medication. Yet as West comes to rely on Olivia—to love her,
even—certain questions pull at him: Why has Olivia been in the hospital
for so long? And what does it mean that she is at the center of his
nightmares? But the biggest question of all comes when West begins to
recover and learns that the mysterious girl he's fallen in love with has
a secret he could never have seen coming.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335461483l/12971662.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335461483l/12971662.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b><span id="freeText986843395167853631"> </span></b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b><span id="freeText986843395167853631">Monstrous Beauty</span></b></i><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631">Elizabeth Fama</span><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><b>Publisher</b>: </span>Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
<br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><b>Release Date:</b> September 4</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176">Fierce, seductive
mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she
abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is
unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.</span></span><br /><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176">Almost
one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a
mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably
drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women
in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse?
With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history.
The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at
the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her
from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long
ago.</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336793960l/10194637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336793960l/10194637.jpg" width="128" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176">Silver (Bandia, Bk 1)</span></span></b></i><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176">Talia Vance </span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176"><b>Publisher</b>: Flux</span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176"><b>Release Date:</b> September 8</span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
<span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176"> </span></span><br /><br /><span id="freeText986843395167853631"><span id="freeText10025125589155850176"><span id="freeText1632387879326498081">"As I step into the room, a silver flash blurs my vision. Before I can take a breath, the world falls away."<br /><br />Brianna
has always felt invisible. People stare right past her, including the
one boy she can't resist, Blake Williams. But everything changes at a
house party where Brianna's charm bracelet slips off and time stands
still. In that one frozen, silver moment, Blake not only sees her, he
recognizes something deep inside her she's been hiding even from
herself.<br /><br />Discovering she is descended from Danu, the legendary
Bandia of Celtic myth, Brianna finds herself questioning the truth of
who she is. And when she accidentally binds her soul to Blake, their
mutual attraction becomes undeniable.<br /><br />But Blake has his own secret, one that could prove deadly for them both.<br /><br />Bound
together by forbidden magic, Brianna and Blake find themselves at the
heart of an ancient feud that threatens to destroy their lives and their
love.</span> </span> </span></span>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Urban Fantasy</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334181976l/13543159.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334181976l/13543159.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>An Apple for the Creature</b></i><br />
edited by Charlaine Harris & Toni L. P. Kelner<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Ace<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593"><b>Includes a never-before-published Sookie Stackhouse story!</b>What
could be scarier than the first day of school? How about a crash course
in the paranormal from Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner, editors
of <i>Home Improvement: Undead Edition</i>? Your worst school
nightmares—taking that math test you never studied for, finding yourself
naked in school assembly, not knowing which door to enter—will pale in
comparison to these thirteen original stories that take academic anxiety
to whole new realms.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593"> In #1 <i>New York Times </i>bestselling
author Charlaine Harris’s story, "Playing Possum," Sookie Stackhouse
brings enough birthday cupcakes for her nephew's entire class but finds
she's one short when the angry ex-boyfriend of the school secretary
shows up.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593"> When her guardian, Kate Daniels, sends her undercover
to a school for exceptional children, teenaged Julie learns an all-new
definition of "exceptional," in <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Ilona Andrews's "Magic Tests."</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593"> For those who like fangs with their forensics, <i>New York Times </i>bestselling
author Nancy Holder offers "VSI," in which FBI agent Claire is tested
as never before in a school for Vampire Scene Investigation.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593"> And in <i>New York Times</i>
bestselling author Thomas Sniegoski's "The Bad Hour," Remy Chandler and
his dog Marlowe find evil unleashed in an obedience school.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593">
You'll need more than an apple to stave off the creatures in these and
nine other stories. Remember your first lesson: resistance is fruitless!</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17650137041626996593">
Includes stories by: ILONA ANDREWS, AMBER BENSON, RHYS BOWEN, MIKE
CAREY, CHARLAINE HARRIS, DONALD HARSTAD, STEVE HOCKENSMITH, NANCY
HOLDER, FAITH HUNTER, TONI L.P. KELNER, MARJORIE LIU, JONATHAN MABERRY,
THOMAS SNIEGOSKI</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340238037l/13542846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1340238037l/13542846.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Dirty Streets of Heaven</b></i><br />
Tad Williams<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: DAW<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText6763540526097969115">Bobby Dollar is an
angel—a real one. He knows a lot about sin, and not just in his
professional capacity as an advocate for souls caught between Heaven and
Hell. Bobby’s wrestling with a few deadly sins of his own—pride, anger,
even lust.<br /><br /> But his problems aren’t all his fault. Bobby can’t
entirely trust his heavenly superiors, and he’s not too sure about any
of his fellow earthbound angels either, especially the new kid that
Heaven has dropped into their midst, a trainee angel who asks too many
questions. And he sure as hell doesn’t trust the achingly gorgeous
Countess of Cold Hands, a mysterious she-demon who seems to be the only
one willing to tell him the truth.<br /><br /> When the souls of the
recently departed start disappearing, catching both Heaven and Hell by
surprise, things get bad very quickly for Bobby D. <i>End-of-the-world</i> bad. <i>Beast of Revelations</i>
bad. Caught between the angry forces of Hell, the dangerous strategies
of his own side, and a monstrous undead avenger that wants to rip his
head off and suck out his soul, Bobby’s going to need all the friends he
can get—in Heaven, on Earth, or anywhere else he can find them.<br /><br /> You’ve never met an angel like Bobby Dollar. And you’ve never read anything like The Dirty Streets of Heaven.<br /><br /> Brace yourself—the afterlife is weirder than you ever believed.</span></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Monster Hunter Legion (Monster Hunter International, Bk 4)</b></i><br />
Larry Correia<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Baen<br /><b>Release Date</b>: September 4<br /><br /><br />
Monster Hunter International might be the premier monster eradication company in the business, but they’ve got competition. <br />
When
hunters from around the world gather in Las Vegas for a conference, a
creature left over from a World War Two weapons experiment wakes up and
goes on a rampage across the desert. A not-so-friendly wager between the
rival companies turns into a race to see who can bag the mysterious
creature first.<br />
Only there is far more to this particular case
than meets the eye, and as Hunters fall prey to their worst nightmares,
Owen Zastava Pitt and the staff of Monster Hunter International have to
stop an ancient god from turning Sin City into a literal hell on earth. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333382143l/10184345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333382143l/10184345.jpg" width="123" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Ashes of Honor (October Daye, Bk 6)</b></i><br />
Seanan McGuire<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: DAW<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText184774058796297514">It’s been almost a year
since October “Toby” Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered
personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day’s sleep.
She’s tried to focus on her responsibilities—training Quentin, upholding
her position as Sylvester’s knight, and paying the bills—but she can’t
help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her
increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest
supporters.<br /><br />To make matters worse, Toby’s just been asked to
find another missing child…only this time it’s the changeling daughter
of her fellow knight, Etienne, who didn’t even know he was a father
until the girl went missing. Her name is Chelsea. She’s a teleporter,
like her father. She’s also the kind of changeling the old stories warn
about, the ones with all the strength and none of the control. She’s
opening doors that were never meant to be opened, releasing dangers that
were sealed away centuries before—and there’s a good chance she could
destroy Faerie if she isn’t stopped.<br /><br />Now Toby must find Chelsea
before time runs out, racing against an unknown deadline and through
unknown worlds as she and her allies try to avert disaster. But danger
is also stirring in the Court of Cats, and Tybalt may need Toby’s help
with the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.<br /><br />Toby thought the last year was bad. She has no idea.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Dead Mann Running</b></i><br />
Stefan Petrucha<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Roc<br /><b>Release Date</b>: September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText10540123896012464814">Just because a bullet has your name on it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t duck…</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText10540123896012464814">Either
I’m stubborn or it’s rigor mortis, but being dead didn’t stop me from
being a detective. But it’s tough out there for a zombie. These days the
life-challenged have to register and take monthly tests to prove our
emotional stability. See, if we get too low, we go feral. And I’ve been
feeling down lately myself.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText10540123896012464814">So when a severed arm – yeah, just
the arm – leaves a mysterious briefcase in my office, my assistant Misty
thinks figuring out where it came from will keep me on track. But this
job goes deeper and darker than I imagined.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText10540123896012464814">Turns out the people after the briefcase know more about my past life than I can remember, and even more about what I’ve become.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344315290l/9736493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344315290l/9736493.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>This Case Is Gonna Kill Me</b></i><br />
Phillipa Bornikova<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Tor<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText7104695871036959608">What happens when <i>The Firm</i>
meets Anita Blake? You get the Halls of Power—our modern world, but
twisted. Law, finance, the military, and politics are under the sway of
long-lived vampires, werewolves, and the elven Alfar. Humans make the
best of rule by “the Spooks,” and contend among themselves to affiliate
with the powers-that-be, in order to avoid becoming their prey. Very
loyal humans are rewarded with power over other women and men. Very
lucky humans are selected to join the vampires, werewolves, and
elves—or, on occasion, to live at the Seelie Court.<br /><br />Linnet
Ellery is the offspring of an affluent Connecticut family dating back
to Colonial times. Fresh out of law school, she’s beginning her career
in a powerful New York “white fang” law firm. She has high hopes of
eventually making partner.<br /><br />But strange things keep
happening to her. In a workplace where some humans will eventually
achieve immense power and centuries of extra lifespan, office politics
can be vicious beyond belief. After some initial missteps, she finds
herself sidelined and assigned to unpromising cases. Then, for no reason
she can see, she becomes the target of repeated, apparently random
violent attacks, escaping injury each time through increasingly
improbable circumstances. However, there’s apparently more to Linnet
Ellery than a little old-money human privilege. More than even she
knows. And as she comes to understand this, she’s going to shake up the
system like you wouldn’t believe….</span></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344128844l/11996192.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344128844l/11996192.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>In A Fix</b></i><br />
Linda Grimes<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Tor<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText5511855827407395099">Snagging a marriage
proposal for her client while on an all-expenses-paid vacation should be
a simple job for Ciel Halligan, aura adaptor extraordinaire. A kind of
human chameleon, she’s able to take on her clients’ appearances and slip
seamlessly into their lives, solving any sticky problems they don’t
want to deal with themselves. No fuss, no muss. Big paycheck.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText5511855827407395099">This
particular assignment is pretty enjoyable... that is, until Ciel’s
island resort bungalow is blown to smithereens and her client’s
about-to-be-fiancé is snatched by modern-day Vikings. For some reason,
Ciel begins to suspect that getting the ring is going to be a tad more
difficult than originally anticipated.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText5511855827407395099">Going from romance to
rescue requires some serious gear-shifting, as well as a little backup.
Her best friend, Billy, and Mark, the CIA agent she’s been crushing on
for years—both skilled adaptors—step in to help, but their priority is,
annoyingly, keeping her safe. Before long, Ciel is dedicating more
energy to escaping their watchful eyes than she is to saving her
client’s intended.</span><br /><br /><span id="freeText5511855827407395099">Suddenly, facing down a horde of Vikings feels like the least of her problems.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331916388l/13511496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331916388l/13511496.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Blood Forever (Blood Coven, Bk 8)</b></i><br />
Mari Mancusi<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Berkley<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText8892285769147475298">After making a deal with the devil, Rayne and Sunny have been given<br />the chance to go back in time—preventing that fateful night when Sunny<br />was bitten by Magnus from ever happening. But Sunny finds she doesn’t<br />want to live without Magnus by her side and Rayne secretly wishes that<br />vampire Jareth was back in her arms.<br />To reclaim their lives, Sunny and Rayne team up to figure out a way to<br />change history for the better. But if the twins can’t get the boys on their<br />side, history may spiral out of control—destroying not only the Blood<br />Coven, but quite possibly the entire human race...</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <br /><br /><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1339192894l/13542392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1339192894l/13542392.jpg" width="123" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<i><b> </b></i></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Supernatural Born Killers (Pepper Marting, Bk 9)</b></i><br />
Casey Daniels<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Berkley<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText17967876970300466594"><i>Former cemetery
tour guide and reluctant medium Pepper Martin is thrilled when she gets
her job back—with a promotion. But her new position is turning out to be
more than she can handle, especially with the dead clamoring for her
attention…</i> </span><br /><br /><span id="freeText17967876970300466594">As Garden View Cemetery’s new community relations
manager, Pepper is feeling overwhelmed with planning the annual party to
attract new sponsors. Luckily, some of the cemetery’s permanent
residents have volunteered to give Pepper a ghostly hand, and she’s not
about to turn away the help. But when a murdered ghost starts leaving
puddles everywhere, Pepper quickly finds her newly acquired free time
occupied. The dead man is her ex-boyfriend Quinn’s former partner Jack
Haggarty—and he isn’t going away until Pepper figures out the real
reason behind his murder. And while Quinn recently had a brush with the
afterlife, he still isn’t ready to accept Pepper’s abilities—or offer
his skills as a detective. Now, Pepper has to convince Quinn she’s the
real deal and investigate Jack’s death—before someone else meets their
end in a watery grave...</span> </span></blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Steampunk</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331346129l/13409405.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331346129l/13409405.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Riveted</b></i><br />
Meljean Brook<br /><b>Publisher:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Berkley<br /><b>Release Date: </b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText9222812583385123835">A century after a
devastating volcanic eruption forced Iceland’s inhabitants to abandon
its shores, the island has become enshrouded in legend. Fishermen tell
tales of giant trolls guarding the land and of seductive witches who
steal men’s hearts. But the truth behind the legends is mechanical, not
magic—and the mystery of the island a matter of life and death for a
community of women who once spilled noble blood to secure their freedom.<br /><br />Five
years ago, Annika unwittingly endangered that secret, but her sister
Källa took the blame and was exiled. Now Annika serves on the airship <i>Phatéon</i>,
flying from port to port in search of her sister and longing to return
home . . . but that home is threatened when expedition leader David
Kentewess comes aboard.<br /><br />Determined to solve the mystery of his
own origin, David will stop at nothing to expose Annika’s secrets. But
when disaster strikes, leaving David and Annika stranded on a glacier
and pursued by a madman, their very survival depends on keeping the heat
rising between them—and generating lots of steam . .</span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345345270l/13049688.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345345270l/13049688.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Map of the Sky</b></i><br />
Felix J. Palma<br /><b>Publisher</b>: Atria<br /><b>Release Date:</b> September 4<br /><br /><span id="freeText14119905814357269525"><b>The <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Map of Time</i> returns with a mesmerizing novel casting H.G. Wells in a leading role, as the extraterrestrial invasion featured in <i>The War of the Worlds</i> is turned into a bizarre reality.</b> </span><br /><br /><span id="freeText14119905814357269525">A love story serves as backdrop for <i>The Map of the Sky </i>when
New York socialite Emma Harlow agrees to marry millionaire Montgomery
Gilmore, but only if he accepts her audacious challenge: to reproduce
the extraterrestrial invasion featured in Wells’s <i>War of the Worlds</i>.
What follows are three brilliantly interconnected plots to create a
breathtaking tale of time travel and mystery, replete with cameos by a
young Edgar Allan Poe, and Captain Shackleton and Charles Winslow from <i>The Map of Time</i>.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Dark Unwinding</b></i><br />
Sharon Cameron<br /><b>Publisher</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Scholastic Press
<br /><b>Release Date:</b></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> September 1<br /><br />
A spine-tingling tale of steampunk and spies, intrigue and heart-racing romance!
</span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
When Katharine Tulman's inheritance is called into question by the rumor that her eccentric uncle is squandering away the family fortune, she is sent to his estate to have him committed to an asylum. But instead of a lunatic, Katharine discovers a genius inventor with his own set of rules, who employs a village of nine hundred people rescued from the workhouses of London.<br /><br />
Katharine is now torn between protecting her own inheritance and preserving the peculiar community she grows to care for deeply. And her choices are made even more complicated by a handsome apprentice, a secretive student, and fears for her own sanity.</span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br />
As the mysteries of the estate begin to unravel, it is clear that not only is her uncle's world at stake, but also the state of England as Katharine knows it. With twists and turns at every corner, this heart-racing adventure will captivate readers with its intrigue, thrills, and romance.</span>
Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-53292084228568858642012-08-31T09:09:00.001-04:002012-08-31T09:16:10.336-04:00Back to the Books Giveaway Hop<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I recently realized that it's been ages since I last did a giveaway here so when I saw Kathy promoting her Back to the Books Hop I decided to participate. This gives me an opportunity to celebrate the start of the new school year (and hopefully the return of some of semblance of order to my life with my kids back in school) and all of my wonderful readers, because you guys are awesome. Especially those of you who have stuck around since the beginning, even though I haven't been as active here as I used to be (<i>on the plus side, this largely has to do with the fact that I have a new job! Unfortunately the downside is that I don't have time for anything fun anymore</i>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And if you are new to SFF Chat, welcome and sorry for the long monologue. I hope you'll take a look around and come back soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">OK..so now to the giveaway details..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee448/toobusyreading/books333-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee448/toobusyreading/books333-1.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here are the books on offer:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hlk9CuACh08/UEC1aRJctWI/AAAAAAAAA-M/N_X8UkcK2WM/s1600/book+hop+giveaway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hlk9CuACh08/UEC1aRJctWI/AAAAAAAAA-M/N_X8UkcK2WM/s400/book+hop+giveaway.jpg" width="460" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>Glamour in Glass</i> by Mary Robinette Kowal</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>The Alchemist of Souls</i> by Anne Lyle</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>The Thorn and the Blossom</i> by Theodora Godd</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>Magic Slays</i> by Ilona Andrews</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>The River King's Road</i> by Liane Merciel (or its sequel, <i>Heavens's Needle</i>)</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>Ship Breaker</i> by Paolo Bacigalupi</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i>Bitter Seeds</i> by Ian Tregillia</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Details:</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There will be one winner, chosen using a number generator, and they can select one book from the list above.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The giveaway runs from September 1st - 7th</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You must be a follower of SFF Chat to be entered.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The giveaway is open internationally</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Extra entries:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+1 If you had been following my blog before today</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+1 Like my<a href="https://www.facebook.com/42Bookstore" target="_blank"> Facebook Page</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To enter leave a comment below with your name, email, additional entries and the title of the book you would be interested in receiving (though if you do win you are welcome to change your mind).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And after you enter make sure to check out the other blogs participating in the Back to Books Giveaway.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks for stopping by! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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</span><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=155170" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script -->Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com70tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-81083338318913979862012-08-26T18:23:00.000-04:002012-08-26T18:23:26.963-04:00New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: Week of Aug 26So in case any of you noticed that there was no list last week (and I admit that I hope someone did) I apologize and blame it on my kids. But tomorrow they are all back in school (yay!!) so hopefull I'll be able to get into a regular blogging schedule again.<br />
<br />
It looks like there are some pretty good books here this week. One that I already had on my radar is <i>Everyday</i> by <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">David Levithan, which sounds like it could be pretty good. There is also a new </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText5842786587919742161">Sirantha Jax book in </span></span>Ann Aguirre's scifi series, which I have been enjoying.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are several other new books here by authors whose books I intend to read someday, but haven't yet gotten around to, such as </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rowena Cory Daniells and <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Philippa Ballantine.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One book here that I've already read, and enjoyed, is <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Defiance</i> by C.J. Redwine, and you can read my review of it <a href="http://blog.42scifi-fantasy.com/2012/07/defiance-by-cj-redwine.html">here.</a></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So are there any books here that you are looking forward to reading? </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Science Fiction</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8OcIv3mWEf0/UDqHXo5lpUI/AAAAAAAAA9k/OKjNleY0GOg/s1600/ian-douglas-bloodstar.jpg%3fw=450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8OcIv3mWEf0/UDqHXo5lpUI/AAAAAAAAA9k/OKjNleY0GOg/s200/ian-douglas-bloodstar.jpg%3fw=450.jpg" width="123" /></a></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Bloodstar</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ian Douglas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harper Voyager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the 23rd Century, war is still hell . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Navy
Corpsman Elliot Carlyle joined up to save lives and see the universe.
Now he and Bravo Company's Black Wizards of the interstellar Fleet
Marine Force are en route to Bloodworld—a hellish, volatile rock
colonized by the fanatical Salvationists who desired an inhospitable
world where they could suffer for humanity's sins. Their penance could
prove fatal—for the Qesh, a strange alien race detected but still
mysterious for six decades, have made violent first contact.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Suddenly
countless lives depend upon Bravo Company—perhaps even the fate of
homeworld Earth itself—as the Marines prepare to confront a vast force
of powerful, inscrutable enemies. And one dedicated medic, singled out
by an extraordinary act of valor, will find himself with an astounding
opportunity to alter the universe forever . . .</span></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345073754l/13274143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1345073754l/13274143.jpg" width="111" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Blades of Winter</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">G. T. Almasi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Del Rey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28 </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13232498025696810502">Nineteen-year-old Alix
Nico, a self-described “million-dollar murder machine,” is a rising star
in ExOps, a covert-action agency that aggressively shields the United
States from its three great enemies: the Soviet Union, Greater Germany,
and the Nationalist Republic of China. Rather than risk another all-out
war, the four superpowers have poured their resources into creating
superspies known as Levels.<br /><br />Alix is one of the hottest young
American Levels. That’s no surprise: Her dad was America’s top Level
before he was captured and killed eight years ago. But when an impulsive
decision explodes—literally—in her face, Alix uncovers a conspiracy
that pushes her to her limits and could upset the global balance of
power forever.</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334372113l/13543136.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1334372113l/13543136.jpg" width="123" /></a></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Endgame</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ann Aguirre</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date: </b>August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText5842786587919742161">Sirantha Jax has the
J-gene, which permits her to “jump” faster-than-light ships through
grimspace. She loves nothing more than that rush, but the star roads
have to wait…<br /><br /> Her final mission takes her to La’heng, a planet
subjugated during first contact. Since then, the La’hengrin homeworld
has been occupied by foreign conquerors.<br /><br /> All that’s about to change.<br /><br />
Now, as part of a grassroots resistance, Jax means to liberate the
La’hengrin. But political intrigue and guerrilla warfare are new to her,
and this will be the most dangerous game she’s ever played—spies and
conspiracies, a war of weapons and hearts, and not everyone is
guaranteed to make it out alive...</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13232498025696810502"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Fantasy</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344318802l/15793154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344318802l/15793154.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Blood's Pride</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Evie Manieri</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Jo Fletcher Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 30 (UK) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText7510743703927152598">A generation has passed
since the Norlanders' great ships bore down on Shadar, and the Dead Ones
slashed and burned the city into submission, enslaving the Shadari
people. Now the Norlander governor is dying and, as his three alienated
children struggle against the crushing isolation of their lives, the
Shadari rebels spot their opening and summon the Mongrel, a mysterious
mercenary warrior who has never yet lost a battle. But her terms are
unsettling: she will name her price only after the Norlanders have been
defeated. A single question is left for the Shadari: is there any price
too high for freedom?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText7510743703927152598"> </span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344368988l/13530972.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344368988l/13530972.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Corpse-Rat King</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lee Battersby</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14921269728093304077">Marius don Hellespont
and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When
they stumble upon the corpse of the King of Scorby and Gerd is killed,
Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers and is
transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead.<br /><br />Just like the living
citizens, the dead need a King — after all, the King is God’s
representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are.<br /><br />And
so it comes to pass that Marius is banished to the surface with one
message: if he wants to recover his life he must find the dead a King.
Which he fully intends to do.<br /><br />Just as soon as he stops running away</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><i><b><br /></b></i></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Dusk Watchman (Twilight Reign, Bk 5</b></i>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tom Lloyd</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Gollancz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 30 (UK) </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4988361366219713207">The final reckoning has come. The future of the Land will be decided now, written in the blood of men. <br /><br />After
his pyrrhic victory at Moorview, King Emin learns the truth about the
child Ruhen. Powerless to act, he must mourn his friends and watch his
enemy promise a new age of peace to the beleaguered peoples of the Land.
While the remaining Menin troops seek revenge, daemons freely walk the
Land, and Ruhen’s power grows, a glimmer of hope remains. <br /><br />One
final, desperate chance for victory remains and failure has become
unimaginable. The fanatical rulers of Vanach hide a secret at the heart
of their nation; a weapon so terrible only a dead man could wield it and
only a madman would try, but without it Narkang will be obliterated.
The past year has taken a grave toll and Ruhen’s millennia-old plans are
about to bear terrible fruit. There can be only one outcome if he
continues unchecked: total dominion over the Gods themselves.</span> </span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Sanctuary (The Outcast Chronicles, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rowena Cory Daniells</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Solaris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10123438309897557853">The mystic Wyrds have
been banished by King Charald, whose descent into madness grows ever
steeper. Exiled and forced to set sail on the first day of winter,
Imoshen’s people are packed onto seven crowded ships. Tensions flare
under the pressure and the all-fathers and all-mothers are put to the
test controlling their hardened warriors. Ronnynand his sister Aravelle
have been separated, just as they feared, and look to an uncertain
future. Sorne is betrayed and captured on the seas. Tobazim faces a
confrontation with the bloodthirsty All-father Kyredeon and his
notorious assassin, Graelen. And, while Imoshen has promised the
T’Enatuath a home with the Sagoras, the enigmatic scholars have not yet
replied to her plea for sanctuary. This is the thrilling climax to The
Outcast Chronicles.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Wrayth (Book of the Order, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Philippa Ballantine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14862429848613110514">Although she is one of
the most powerful Deacons in the Order, Sorcha Faris is still unable to
move or speak after her last battle. Even her partner, Merrick Chambers,
cannot reach her through their shared Bond. Yet there are those who
still fear Sorcha and the mystery of her hidden past. <br /><br />
Meanwhile, Merrick has been asked to investigate a new member of the
Emperor’s Court. But when Sorcha is abducted by men seeking Raed Rossin,
the shapeshifting rival to the throne, Merrick must choose where his
loyalties lie.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14862429848613110514"> </span></span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Zeuglodon</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">James P. Blaylock</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Subterranean Press</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 31</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A skeletal hand clutching an iron key lies hidden within a mermaid's
wooden sarcophagus; a hand-drawn map is stolen from beneath the
floorboards an old museum; an eccentric sleeping inventor dreams of a
passage to the center of the hollow earth, and by dreaming of the
passage, brings it into being....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pursued by kidnappers thinking
of riches and murder, Katherine Perkins and her two cousins, junior
members of The Guild of St. George, must descend into the depths of the
hollow earth in order to return the Sleeper to his ancestral home on the
shores of Lake Windermere. But to awaken him might mean the end of his
dream, the closing of the Windermere Passage, and the three intrepid
explorers marooned in a savage land forgotten by time itself....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Zeuglodon,
set in the world envisioned in James Blaylock's The Digging Leviathan,
is a landscape of color, mystery, and adventure, in which reality and
fantasy are shifting currents, and nothing is quite what it seems to be.</span></blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Urban Fantasy</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Bullettime</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nick Mamatas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: ChiZine Publications</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10839342320782128638">David Holbrook is a
scrawny kid, the victim of bullies, and the neglected son of insane
parents. David Holbrook is the Kallis Episkipos, a vicious murderer
turned imprisoned leader of a death cult dedicated to Eris, the Hellenic
goddess of discord. David Holbrook never killed anyone, and lives a
lonely and luckless existence with his aging mother in a tumbledown New
Jersey town. Caught between finger and trigger, David is given three
chances to decide his fate as he is compelled to live and relive all his
potential existences, guided only by the dark wisdom found in a bottle
of cough syrup. From the author of the instant cult classic Move Under
Ground comes a fantasy of blood, lust, destiny, school shootings, and
the chance to change your future.</span></span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Chosen (Dark Breed, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sable Grace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Avon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16932327806464516738">The ranks of tough,
beautiful, and sexy heroines who battle supernatural evil have grown
since the early days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer--and none are tougher
than author Sable Grace's half Vampyre-half Lychen warrior Kyana.
Paranormal romance fans who regularly devour the bestselling novels of
Jeaniene Frost, Pamela Palmer, and Sherrilyn Kenyon will be mesmerized
by Chosen, Grace's third breathtaking Dark Breeds adventure. This time
her unstoppable avenger takes on her new role as Goddess of the Hunt,
joining with Ryker--the new Zeus and Kyana's one true love--to save the
world from vampires, demons, shapeshifters, and all manner of
supernatural creatures of the night, in a battle that could carry them
to the fiery depths of Hades itself.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText16932327806464516738"> </span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Seven Wonders</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Adam Christopher</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer13481837067333731675">Tony Prosdocimi lives
in the bustling Metropolis of San Ventura — a city gripped in fear, a
city under siege by the hooded supervillain, The Cowl.<br /><br />When Tony
develops super-powers and acts to take down The Cowl, however, he finds
that the local superhero team Seven Wonders aren’t as grateful as he
assumed they’d be…</span></span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Devil Said Bang (Sandman slim, Bk 4)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Richard Kadrey</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harper Voyager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4824284364324826905">Getting out of hell is just the beginning<br /><br />What
do you do after you've escaped Hell, gone back, uncovered the true
nature of God, and then managed to become the new Lucifer?<br /><br />Well,
if you're James Stark, you have to figure out how to run Hell while also
trying to get back out of it . . . again. Plus there's the small matter
of surviving. Because everyone in Heaven, Hell, and in between wants to
be the fastest gun in the universe, and the best way to do so is to
take down Lucifer, a.k.a. James Stark.<br /><br />And it's not like being in
L.A. is any better--a serial-killer ghost is running wild and Stark's
angelic alter ego is hiding among the lost days of time with a secret
cabal who can rewrite reality. Starting to care for people and life
again is a real bitch for a stone-cold killer.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Ghost of a Dream (Ghostfinders, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Simon R. Green</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText11845302431650165059">The Ghost Finders are
investigating the long-abandoned Haybarn Theater, which is being
renovated. Work has been thrown off-schedule by the some peculiar
activities. And after the potentially world-altering recent events of
their previous assignment, the team thinks that a haunted theater
(aren’t they all?) will be a walk in the park. Until they encounter the
Phantom of the Haybarn — an ancient evil whose ability to alter reality
itself will test the skills, science, and blind luck of the Ghost
Finders to the limit.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText11845302431650165059"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Mockingbird (Miriam Black, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chuck Wendig</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Angry Robot</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText605057307450673294">Miriam is trying. Really, she is.<br /><br />But
this whole "settling down thing" that Louis has going for her just
isn't working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her
home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a
check-out girl. And her relationship with Louis--who's on the road half
the time in his truck--is subject to the piss and vinegar Miriam brings
to everything she does.<br /><br />It just isn't going well. Still, she's
keeping her psychic ability--to see when and how someone is going to die
just by touching them--in check. But even that feels wrong somehow.
Like she's keeping a tornado stoppered up in a tiny bottle.<br /><br />Then comes one bad day that turns it all on her ear.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Taken (Alex Verus, Bk 3)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Benedict Jacka</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer6408899919474233884">Mage apprentices have
been vanishing without a trace—and someone on the council might be
involved. Alex Verus has no evidence, no witnesses, and no suspects. All
he knows is that someone is keeping tabs on him. And after assassins
target his own apprentice’s classmate, Alex sees that he doesn’t know
the half of it—and that he could be the next to disappear...</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Soul Trade (Black London, Bk 5)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Caitlin Kittredge</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: St. Martin's Paperbacks
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8238649294220085773">Normally, Pete Caldecott
stays far away from magical secret societies. But ever since her
partner and boyfriend Jack Winter stopped a primordial demon from
ripping into our world, every ghost, demon, and mage in London has been
wide awake—and hungry. And the magical society in question needs their
help putting things right.<br /><br /><b>SOUL TRADE</b><br /><br />It
all begins with an invitation. Five pale figures surround Pete in the
cemetery to “cordially” invite her to a gathering of the Prometheus
Club. Pete’s never heard of them, but Jack has—and he’s not thrilled
about it. Especially the part that says, “<i>Attend or die</i>.” The
Prometheans wouldn’t come to London unless something big’s about to go
down. So Pete and Jack decide to play it safe and make nice with the
club—even if that means facing down an army of demons in the process.
But now that they’ve joined the group, they’re about to discover that
membership comes at a cost…and has apocalyptic consequences.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Haunted (Anna Strong, Bk 8)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jeanne C. Stein</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Ace</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10394333933394593104"><i>Anna
Strong—kick-ass bounty hunter and vampire—has made some enemies in her
time. But it’s not just her old foes she should be worried about… </i><br /><br />
Anna’s shape-shifting friend Culebra finally opens up to her about his
life before he owned Beso de la Muerte, a bar catering to supernatural
clientele. As if summoned by the conversation, Culebra’s past stumbles
into his bar in the form of an old buddy cashing in a favor.<br /><br />
Soon Anna, Culebra and her ex, DEA agent Max, find themselves deep in
Mexico, dealing with drug cartel infighting, old vendettas and missing
girls. Mexico just may prove to be Anna’s best match yet…</span></span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Lady of the Shades</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Darren Shan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Orion</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 30 (UK)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1631454891045109714">Ed, an American author
on the hunt for a story for his next book, arrives in London looking for
inspiration. A stranger in a strange city, he's haunted by a deadly
secret that refuses to stay buried, and no matter how hard he tries he
cannot escape the manifest sins of his past. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1631454891045109714">What Ed wants is
answers, what he finds is something he definitely didn't bargain for:
the beautiful and untouchable Andeanna Menderes. Andeanna is a woman who
is dangerously bound to one of London's most notorious crime lords, and
if they are caught together it could mean death for them both. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1631454891045109714">Ensnared
in an illicit affair that can only be conducted in the shadows, Ed's
world is turned upside down as a series of shattering revelations blurs
the line between what's real and what's not...</span></span></blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Young Adult</u></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Blood Keeper</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tessa Gratton</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13549424931349120940">A stunning blend of romance, horror and magic.<br /><br />For
Mab Prowd, the practice of blood magic is as natural as breathing. It's
all she's ever known. Growing up on an isolated farm with other
practitioners may have kept her from making friends her own age, but it
has also given her a sense of purpose - she's protective of the magic,
and is able to practice it proudly and happily out in the open with only
the crows as her companions. But one morning while Mab is attempting a
particularly tricky spell, she encounters Will, a local boy who is
trying to exorcise a few personal demons of his own. He experiences
Mab's magic in a way his mind cannot comprehend and is all too happy to
end their chance meeting. But soon, secrets that were kept from Mab by
earlier generations of blood magicians are revealed, and she and Will
are drawn back together, united against a dangerous force looking to
break free from the earth and reclaim its own dark power.</span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Defiance</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C.J. Redwine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Balzer + Bray
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15640885881216155277">Within the walls of
Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city’s brutal leader, Rachel Adams
has a secret. While other girls sew dresses, host dinner parties, and
obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the
wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to
return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander
assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father’s apprentice, Logan—the same
boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same boy who
handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but fierce belief
in her father’s survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself.
But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what
awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.<br /><br />At nineteen, Logan
McEntire is many things. Orphan. Outcast. Inventor. As apprentice to
the city’s top courier, Logan is focused on learning his trade so he can
escape the tyranny of Baalboden. But his plan never included being
responsible for his mentor’s impulsive daughter. Logan is determined to
protect her, but when his escape plan goes wrong and Rachel pays the
price, he realizes he has more at stake than disappointing Jared.<br /><br />As
Rachel and Logan battle their way through the Wasteland, stalked by a
monster that can’t be killed and an army of assassins out for blood,
they discover romance, heartbreak, and a truth that will incite a war
decades in the making.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15640885881216155277"><span id="freeText4128969613030243507"></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Dragons of Winter</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">James A. Owen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1418654461349757450">The Caretakers are at
war. The Archipelago of Dreams has fallen to the Echthroi, and the link
to the Summer Country has been lost. The Keep of Time must be rebuilt,
and the secret lies somewhere in Deep Time at the beginnings of the
World, when the Summer Country and the Archipelago were one and the
same. Fortunately, there is still hope: the Grail child, Rose Dyson, and
the new Cartographer Edmund McGee have learned how to map time, and
through a precarious balance of travel to the past and the future, they
have a chance of repairing the present.<br /><br /> Rife with allusions
to history’s great literary figures and personalities, from Gilgamesh
and Medea to Edgar Allan Poe and H.G. Wells, this absorbing adventure,
the sixth in the Imaginarium Geographica series, leads its heroes to a
land where all secrets may be found: Known at the beginning of time as
the City of Jade, history came to call it Atlantis. And it is there that
the Architect of the Keep may have trained the young angel who built
the city—an angel named <i>Samaranth</i>.</span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Embers & Echos (Wildfire, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Karsten Knight</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon & Schuster</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1164017390815103284">Ashline Wilde may have
needed school to learn that she is actually a reincarnated goddess, but
she’s ready to move beyond books. She leaves her California boarding
school behind and makes for Miami, where she meets a new group of
deities and desperately seeks her sister Rose, the goddess of war. But
she’s also looking for love—because even though her romance with Cole
had to be snuffed, Ash is a volcano goddess—and she doesn’t get burned.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15640885881216155277"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Enshadowed (Nevermore, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kelly Creagh</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Atheneum
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3249129841429332577">Varen Nethers is trapped
in a perilous dream world -- a treacherous and desolate realm where the
terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel Lanley,
plagued by strange visions and haunted by the nightmares of Varen's
creation, is the only one who can save him.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3249129841429332577"><br />Isobel knows that her
only hope lies within a Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning
hours of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the
"Poe Toaster" will make his annual homage at the legendary poet's grave.<br />Only
the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds. But even
greater dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils
of white, is </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3249129841429332577">watching, challenging her for Varen's affections. When
Isobel finally finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy
who once captivated her, but a dark force, powerful and malevolent.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText3249129841429332577"> </span> </span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Erasing Time</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">C.J. Hill</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Katherine Tegen Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558">In this high-action and
romantic futuristic adventure, there is no escape from the future for
two contemporary girls pulled out of their own time.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558">When twins
Sheridan and Taylor wake up 400 years in the future, they find a changed
world: domed cities, no animals, and a language that’s so different, it
barely sounds like English. And the worst news: They can’t go back
home.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558">The twenty-fifth-century government transported the girls
to their city hoping to find a famous scientist to help perfect a
devastating new weapon. The moblike Dakine fights against the
government, and somehow Taylor and Sheridan find themselves in the
middle. The only way to elude them all is to trust Echo, a guy with
secrets of his own. The trio must put their faith in the unknown to make
a harrowing escape into the wilds beyond the city.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText14386165288460617558">Full of
adrenaline-injected chases and heartbreaking confessions, Erasing Time
explores the strength of the bonds between twins, the risks and rewards
of trust, and the hard road to finding the courage to fight for what you
believe in.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Every day</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">David Levithan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Knopf Books for Young Readers
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10901774880065397051">Every morning, A wakes
in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never
any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace
with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too
attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.<br />It’s all fine until
the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s
girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been
living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to
be with—day in, day out, day after day.<br /><br />With his new novel, David
Levithan has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a
captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to
comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and
Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined
to change every day.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Infinity Ring: A Mutiny In Time</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">James Dashner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Scholastic</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Scholastic's next multi-platform mega-event begins here!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">History is broken, and three kids must travel back in time to set it right!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When
best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time
travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept
up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by
the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids
learn that history has gone disastrously off course.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now it's up
to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in
time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents
while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named
Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny! </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Iron Legends</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Julia Kagawa</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harlequin Teen
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText17703584502528787873"><i>Enter the world of
the internationally bestselling Iron Fey series. Dangerous faeries.
Heartbreaking romance. Thrilling action and limitless adventure. The
world of the fey has never been so powerful. This collection includes
three novellas set in the world of the Iron Fey plus the Guide to the
Iron Fey with exclusive information about Julie Kagawa's unforgettable
world of Faery.</i><i>Winter's Passage</i><br /><br />Never make a
promise to a faery. They always come to collect. Now Meghan Chase must
fulfill her promise to Prince Ash of the Winter Court and embark upon a
dangerous journey into the heart of enemy territory—while being pursued
by a relentless new foe and guarding her own foolish heart.<br /><br /><i>Summer's Crossing</i><br /><br />What
can turn enemies into reluctant allies? A call from the Exile Queen,
Leanansidhe, ties legendary prankster Puck to his archenemy, Prince Ash,
on a journey that may end in betrayal and will set them both on an
irreversible path.<br /><br /><i>Iron's Prophecy</i><br /><br />Before she
ever knew what she might become, Iron Queen Meghan Chase was warned by
the oracle that her firstborn child would bring nothing but grief. And
even as Meghan and Ash celebrate their long-awaited union, the prophecy
stirs. </span></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Lost Girl</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sangu Mandanna</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Balzer + Bray</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748">Eva’s life is not her
own. She is a creation, an abomination—an echo. Made by the Weavers as a
copy of someone else, she is expected to replace a girl named Amarra,
her “other”, if she ever died. Eva studies what Amarra does, what she
eats, what it’s like to kiss her boyfriend, Ray. So when Amarra is
killed in a car crash, Eva should be ready.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748">But fifteen years of studying never prepared her for this.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748">Now
she must abandon everything she’s ever known—the guardians who raised
her, the boy she’s forbidden to love—to move to India and convince the
world that Amarra is still alive.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748">What Eva finds is a
grief-stricken family; parents unsure how to handle this echo they
thought they wanted; and Ray, who knew every detail, every contour of
Amarra. And when Eva is unexpectedly dealt a fatal blow that will change
her existence forever, she is forced to choose: Stay and live out her
years as a copy or leave and risk it all for the freedom to be an
original. To be Eva.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6787458664656461748">From debut novelist Sangu Mandanna comes the
dazzling story of a girl who was always told what she had to be—until
she found the strength to decide for herself.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Reaper (Lightbringer, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">K.D. Mcentire</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Pyr</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 24</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeTextContainer10012795358389477486">After the death of her
mother, Wendy learns that she is part of a powerful and ancient family
of Reapers. She has only a matter of days to unravel the mysteries her
mother left behind and to convince her wary family to accept her as one
of their own.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText17703584502528787873"> </span> </span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Spark</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brigid Kemmerer</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: K-Teen</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1674026196314706239">Sometimes he can even control it. And sometimes he can’t. Like the fire that killed his parents.<br /><br />Gabriel
has always had his brothers to rely on, especially his twin, Nick. But
when an arsonist starts wreaking havoc on their town, all the signs
point to Gabriel. Only he’s not doing it.<br /><br />More than Gabriel’s
pride is at stake -- this could cost him his family, maybe his life. And
no one seems to hear him. Except a shy sophomore named Layne, a
brainiac who dresses in turtlenecks and jeans and keeps him totally off
balance. Layne understands family problems, and she understands secrets.
She has a few of her own.<br /><br />Gabriel can’t let her guess about his
brothers, about his abilities, about the danger that’s right at his
heels. But there are some risks he can’t help taking.</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1674026196314706239"><span id="freeText4128969613030243507"></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Starling</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lesley Livingston</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: HarperCollins</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText10380834278746403684">Mason Starling is a
champion fencer for Gosforth Academy, but she’s never had to fight for
her life. Until now. When a ferocious storm rips through Manhattan and
unleashes terrifying creatures onto Gosforth’s campus, Mason barely
escapes alive. Without help from the mysterious stranger who appeared in
the midst of the storm, she might not have made it at all. But now, in
the aftermath, Mason’s life begins to spin dramatically, mystically out
of control, and the only one who seems able to help her is the stranger
who can remember nothing but his name: Fennrys Wolf.<br /><br />As Mason and
Fenn uncover more about Fenn’s past and the strange events that
surround them, they realize that Mason’s family — and its dark
allegiance to the ancient Norse gods — is at the center of everything. A
predetermined fate seems to be closing in on Mason, but is it possible
to change one’s destiny?<br /><br />Readers who fell in love with Lesley
Livingston’s Wondrous Strange trilogy and those who love Cassandra
Clare’s Mortal Instruments series will be captivated by the sweeping
romance and pulse-pounding action of Starling.</span></span><br />
<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>UnWholly (Unwind, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Neal Shusterman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4128969613030243507">It’s finally here. The
long-awaited sequel to the bestselling Unwind, which Publishers Weekly
called a “gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller.”<br />Thanks
to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack
Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding
society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed
tissues for transplant might be convenient, but its morality has finally
been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business,
and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to
see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners
and the impoverished.<br /><br />Cam is a product of unwinding; made
entirely out of the parts of other unwinds, he is a teen who does not
technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles with a
search for identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a
soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam’s fate
to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev,
he’ll have to question humanity itself.<br /><br />Rife with action and
suspense, this riveting companion to the perennially popular Unwind
challenges assumptions about where life begins and ends—and what it
means to live.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1418654461349757450"> </span> </span></blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Horror</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Beyond Here Lies Nothing</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Gary McMahon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Solaris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText2878466357553134093">Ben arrives in the Concrete Grove to research a book about the Northumbrian Poltergeist,
an infamous paranormal incident from the early 1970s. A set of twins
were haunted by a spirit they nicknamed Captain Clickety, and the media
of the time were split between derision and hysteria. As Ben teases out
the supressed details of the story, he finds himself drawn to an
emotionally damaged woman whose young daughter went missing years ago
during a period of similar child abductions.<br /><br />Then the scarecrows
appear, their heads plastered with photographs of the missing and the
dead. House pets are found slaughtered, their bodies built into bloody
totems. Hummingbirds flock to certain areas of the estate, as if
awaiting the arrival of something…<br /><br />A door has been opened and a presence is about to step through. The Hummingbird Twins,
beset by strange visions, might know the secret, but they aren’t
talking. It is up to Ben to put the ghosts to rest and unravel fact from
fiction. He is about to discover that the story he seeks is in fact his
own story, and only he can plot the ending.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Paranormal Romance</u></span></h2>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Demoness of Waking Dreams</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stephanie Chong</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Mira Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13161108675630407400">Even ANGELS can be
tough... Ex-cop Brendan Clarkson is an angel with an edge. His tough
exterior is the perfect camouflage for his job-hunting down the most
dangerous criminals on earth. Brendan's a self-reliant and demanding
lone wolf, constantly on the brink of clashing with his superiors at the
Company of Angels.<br /><br />Brendan is the perfect angel to track and
capture demoness Luciana Rossetti. Luciana's cool, green-eyed beauty
masks her true nature: inside, she's a dangerous and malevolent killer.
Yet, she sees what most people don't-that beneath the layers of
Brendan's rugged shell beats the heart of a passionate lover.<br /><br />They
are perfectly matched. Yin and yang. Angel and demon. Man and woman.
But only one of them can win the battle of wills, of strength and of
desire</span>.</span></blockquote>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Born to Bite</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hannah Howell, Erica Ridley & Diana Crosby</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Kensington
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13271097973216260280">Darkly handsome and dangerously sexy, these voracious vampires are out for blood—and bound for eternal love…<br /><br />Dark Secret by Hannah Howell<br /><br />Alone
in the world, Murdina Dunbar sets out in search of the only family she
has left—and finds an ally in the mysterious Sir Gillanders Baldwin.
Something about her sexy protector stirs her blood. Soon, not even the
whispers that he’s a dangerous demon can keep her from his bed….<br /><br />Never Been Bitten by Erica Ridley<br /><br />Rumored
to be a vampire, the rakish Mr. Macane is ravishing all the ladies of
the ton! Yet, Miss Elspeth Ramsay cannot bring herself to tremble in his
presence. But once Ellie feels the touch of his teeth at her throat,
she finds herself biting him back! Surely this sudden bloodlust can only
mean danger for her family—and her heart….<br /><br />Highland Vampire by Diana Cosby<br /><br />As
King of the Highland Coven, vampire Aedan MacGregor knows that falling
for the fey Rowan Campbell could destroy her. But one taste of her
healing blood and he craves her like no other. Dare claim her as his
own, knowing he might lose her forever?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13271097973216260280"> </span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Fear the Darkness</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alexandra Ivy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Zebra</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 27</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText2911644074444389360"><i>The Guardians of
Eternity are embroiled in an epic battle for survival. They are as
dangerous as they are sensual—and their lustful appetites are
legendary...</i><br /><br /><b>Her Visions Lead Her To Danger</b><br /><br />Beautiful
Cassandra is a Were, a prophet both vulnerable and defiant, blessed
with visions that portend the fate of the world. A rare and delicate
creature, Cassie must be protected at all costs. Enter Caine, a powerful
cur turned pureblooded Were whose recent tangles with a demon lord have
left him in serious need of redemption. Caine is duty-bound to keep
Cassie out of danger—and that means resisting his potent urge to seduce
her.<br /><br /><b>And Only He Can Save Her</b><br /><br />As Cassie's
mysterious visions lead them in and out of danger, Caine believes he
has found his true mate, the woman with whom he is bound for all
eternity. Cassie is both charmed and frightened by Caine's magnetism,
and unsure if he—or her feelings for him—can be trusted. But Cassie
can't afford to doubt Cain now. A deadly enemy bent on destruction is
closer than they realize—and only they can keep chaos from ruling the
world</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Anthology</u></span></h2>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Foretold: 14 Tales of Prophecy & Prediction</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">edited by Carrie Ryan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Delacorte Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15552086392882439198">Richelle Mead, Lisa
McMann, Michael Grant, Meg Cabot, Laini Taylor, and nine more of the
hottest YA authors to hit the shelves explore the concepts of prophecy
and prediction in this story collection edited by <i>NYT</i> bestselling author of <i>The Forest of Hands and Teeth</i>, Carrie Ryan.<br /><br />Have
you ever been tempted to look into the future? To challenge
predictions? To question fate? It's human nature to wonder about life's
twists and turns. But is the future already written—or do you have the
power to alter it?<br /><br />From fantastical prophecies to predictions of how the future will transpire, <i>Foretold</i>
is a collection of stories about our universal fascination with life's
unknowns and of what is yet to come as interpreted by 14 of young adult
fiction's brightest stars.<br /><br />This collection includes works from:<br />Malinda Lo (Ash)<br />Lisa McMann (Wake)<br />Kami Garcia (Beautiful Creatures)<br />Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures)<br />Laini Taylor (The Daughter of Smoke and Bone)<br />Michael Grant (Gone)<br />Saundra Mitchell (The Vespertine)<br />Richelle Mead (the Vampire Academy)<br />Matt de la Pena (I Will Save You)<br />Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries)<br />Heather Brewer (The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod)<br />Diana Peterfreund (Rampant)<br />Simone Elkeles (Perfect Chemistry)<br />Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText15552086392882439198"> </span> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">edited by Jonathan Strahan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Random House Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 28</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4034932434350205053">Neil Gaiman, Holly
Black, Diana Peterfreund, Margo Lanagan, Peter S. Beagle, and Garth Nix
are just a few of the authors who have toiled over their cauldrons and
conjured up bewitching new creations inspired by and celebrating the
might and mystery of the witch. Assembled by one of the most
well-regarded anthologists in the science fiction/fantasy world, this
rich, intelligent collection will enchant readers of all ages.</span></span></blockquote>
Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-62822503869652326432012-08-15T21:26:00.000-04:002012-08-15T21:30:45.912-04:00The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335967954l/13533650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1335967954l/13533650.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to an allying pirate clan: she wants to captain her own boat, not serve as second-in-command to her handsome yet clueless fiance. But her escape has dire consequences when she learns the scorned clan has sent an assassin after her.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And when the assassin, Naji, finally catches up with her, things get even worse. Ananna inadvertently triggers a nasty curse — with a life-altering result. Now Ananna and Naji are forced to become uneasy allies as they work together to break the curse and return their lives back to normal. Or at least as normal as the lives of a pirate and an assassin can be.
</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>The Assassin's Curse</i> has all the makings of a really fantastic fantasy adventure. There are pirates and assassins, a spunky heroine, a tortured but handsome young man, a curse and a bit of romance. All the pieces were there but unfortunately they didn't come together in the right way and so the story ended up falling flat.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My main problem with </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Assassin's Curse</span> is that the characters don't behave like they should, or at least, as I would expect them to based on their roles in the story. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ananna has been raised as a pirate and has lived her life among ruthless, law-breaking murderers and thieves and yet when she gets attacked by an assassin she responds by saving his life because “it seemed like the right thing to do.” When she discovers that her actions have triggered a curse that binds the assassin to her Ananna responds with concern for the man who had been hired to kill her, and sets out to help him break the curse. This did not make sense to me at all. I didn't understand why Ananna was so solicitous of Naji's health and well-being and why she so easily gave herself into his care. I was also irritated by her constant apologies to him each time he showed signs of irritation. While I didn't need </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ananna to behave like a hardened criminal I think she comes across as too sensitive to be believable. We aren't given any reason to think she's different than a typical pirate kid and I would have expected her to behave a bit more like one.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then there was Naji, a member of a fearsome group of deadly assassins. It's said that when one of them has been hired to kill you, you are as good as dead. And yet, this supposedly terrifying assassin spends most of the book weak and incapacitated- which didn't impress me very much. While I like my stories to have strong female characters I also like to read about strong male characters, heroes who are able to save the day if needed, even if the female doesn't actually need them. So I was pretty disappointed by Naji who has his legs kicked out from under him pretty early on in the story. And there really wasn't much else about him that won me over. Naji keeps to himself for the most part and his expressions are limited to the quirking of his eyebrow and the occasional suggestion of a smile. I really didn't see what there was about him that attracted Ananna. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In addition to my issues with the characters I also felt that the story really should have provided more explanations on several crucial points. For example, why exactly was Ananna being forced to marry a guy from another pirate clan and why was </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ananna's refusal taken so badly that a</span>n expensive assassin was hired to kill her? It seemed like a rather excessive reaction to me, unless there was some secret pirate code involved that we weren't told about.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There was also very little explanation given about the curse itself. Sometimes we are told that Naji gets a headache when Ananna leaves his side, other times he is in severe pain. Or Naji feels pain when he perceives that Ananna is danger. But it was all kind of murky and I was surprised that Naji and Ananna don't make any effort to find out more about how the curse operates.
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The story still might have been saved if I felt like it was actually going somewhere but after the initial excitement the momentum fades and the story kind of just seemed to be going in circles, especially towards the end. The end was a particular bummer because nothing really happens and the story just fades out. I would have even preferred a cliff-hanger to the uneventful ending that we do get.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But I feel that I should mention that even though </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Assassin's Curse</span> was not to my taste there are apparently a lot of reviewers on Goodreads who really loved it. I was interested to note that one of them compares it to <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6580510-brightly-woven" target="_blank">Brightly Woven</a></i>, which was a comparison I had frequently made myself while reading the book. I thought the writing style and characters of the two books were very similar. But I wasn't impressed with that book either (the other reviewer was). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So there you go. If you liked <i>Brightly
Woven </i>you'll probably like <i>The Assassin's Curse </i>as well. Or, if you are
like me, you won't particularly like either one that much.</span></span></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-50118554394337810522012-08-12T20:01:00.000-04:002012-08-12T20:01:50.442-04:00New Scifi & Fantasy releases: August 11- 17<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Science Fiction</u> </span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vj6wbEM4qns/UCa0tE653lI/AAAAAAAAA9I/gtLgtOCnESc/s1600/iron-winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vj6wbEM4qns/UCa0tE653lI/AAAAAAAAA9I/gtLgtOCnESc/s200/iron-winter.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Iron Winter</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stephen Baxter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Gollancz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 16</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="productDescriptionWrapper">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is 1315. And darkness is falling . . . </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Many
generations ago the Wall was first built to hold back the sea.
Northland, a country of fertile plains and ancient forests rescued from
the ocean, has become a thriving civilisation based on trade,
technology and tradition, centred on the ancient home of the first
builders, Etxelur. The whole of Europe, spanned by the Northlanders'
steam caravan lines, has been changed in ways that could never have
been predicted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But nothing can last forever, not
even the Wall. The weather is changing, growing colder, and in the wake
of the long winters come famine, destruction and terror. And as whole
nations are forced out of their lands and head for warmer climes, it
seems that even Northland may not be able to endure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But there is one man, an elderly scholar, who believes he can calculate
why the world is cooling, and perhaps even salvage some scraps of the
great civilisation of Etxelur. As he embarks on his grand quest across
the world, as nations struggle for survival and the fires of war burn
in the gloom, only one thing is certain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Ice is coming.</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Fantasy</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344556521l/14580791.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344556521l/14580791.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Bullettime</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nick Mamatas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: ChiZine Publications</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText18359970330710246291">David Holbrook is a
scrawny kid, the victim of bullies, and the neglected son of insane
parents. David Holbrook is the Kallis Episkipos, a vicious murderer
turned imprisoned leader of a death cult dedicated to Eris, the Hellenic
goddess of discord. David Holbrook never killed anyone, and lives a
lonely and luckless existence with his aging mother in a tumbledown New
Jersey town. Caught between finger and trigger, David is given three
chances to decide his fate as he is compelled to live and relive all his
potential existences, guided only by the dark wisdom found in a bottle
of cough syrup. From the author of the instant cult classic Move Under
Ground comes a fantasy of blood, lust, destiny, school shootings, and
the chance to change your future.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337561168l/12970162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1337561168l/12970162.jpg" width="130" /></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Traitor Queen</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Trudi Canavan</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Orbit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4373071454792541829">Discover the magic of Trudi Canavan with her brand new novel in the Traitor Spy trilogy...<br /><br />Events
are building to a climax in Sachaka as Lorkin returns from his exile
with the Traitor rebels. The Traitor Queen has given Lorkin the huge
task of brokering an alliance between his people and the Traitors.
Lorkin has also had to become a feared black magician in order to
harness the power of an entirely new kind of gemstone magic. This
knowledge could transform the Guild of Magicians - or make Lorkin an
outcast forever.<br /><br />The Traitor Spy trilogy, which began with <i>The Ambassador's Mission </i>and <i>The Rogue</i>, is the new series set in the world of the international bestselling Black Magician trilogy.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4373071454792541829"> </span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338656134l/9629573.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1338656134l/9629573.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Black Mausoleum (The Memory of Flame, Bk 4)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stephen Deas</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Gollancz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 16</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two years have passed since the events of the Order of the Scales.
Across the realms, dragons are still hatching. Hatching, and hatching
free. Skorl is an Ember, a soldier trained from birth to fight dragons.
He is a living weapon, one-shot only, saturated with enough
dragon-poison to bring down a monster all on his own. Misanthrope,
violent and a drunk, to fulfil his purpose and slay a dragon, means to
be eaten. Now Skorl has a choice: he can hang for his crimes, or he can
go with the last of the Adamantine Men, fighting against an enemy he was
born to face.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rat is an Outsider. He's on the run and he's stumbled
onto something that's going to make him rich beyond all his dreams. It's
just a shame that the end of the world has started without him. Kataros
is an alchemist, one of the order responsible for keeping the dragons
in check. One of the order that has just failed, and disastrously so.
Two men, one woman. One chance to save the world from a storm of dragons
... </span><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Urban fantasy</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343936685l/15783066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343936685l/15783066.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Yesterday’s Hero</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jonathan Wood</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Night Shade Books</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 14 </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another day. Another zombie T-Rex to put down. All part of the routine
for Arthur Wallace and MI37—the government department devoted to
defending Britain from threats magical, supernatural, extraterrestrial,
and generally odd. Except a zombie T-Rex is only the first of the
problems about to trample, slavering and roaring, through Arthur's life.
Before he can say, “but didn't I save the world yesterday?” a new
co-director at MI37 is threatening his job, middle-aged Russian cyborg
wizards are threatening his life, and his coworkers are threatening his
sanity.<br /><br />As Arthur struggles to unravel a plot to re-enact the
Chernobyl disaster in England's capital, he must not only battle foreign
occult science but also struggle to keep the trust of his team. Events
spiral out of control, friendships fray, and loyalties are tested to
their breaking point. </span></blockquote>
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Young Adult
</u></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330636153l/13089710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1330636153l/13089710.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Kill Order</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">James Dashner</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Delacorte Books for Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText250711305236665238">The prequel to the New York Times bestselling Maze Runner series.<br /><br />Before
WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered
the Maze, sun flares hit the earth and mankind fell to disease.<br /><br />Mark
and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving
the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of
rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there’s
something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it’s mutating, and all
evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.<br /><br />Mark
and Trina are convinced there’s a way to save those left living from
descending into madness. And they’re determined to find it—if they can
stay alive. Because in this new, devastated world, every life has a
price. And to some, you’re worth more dead than alive.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText250711305236665238"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344400168l/12987853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344400168l/12987853.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Forsaken (The Fallen 4)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thomas E. Sniegoski</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon Pulse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6003645496066948910">The war between Heaven
and Hell rages on. The devil has possessed Lucifer’s body and is intent
on unleashing unfathomable chaos in the world. But no matter the cost,
Aaron and the other Nephilim are determined to protect humanity.<br /><br />
As the casualties mount around them, Aaron and his beloved Vilma’s
loyalty and faith will be tested. And in this next installment of the
The Fallen series, they’re out to prove that what doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger...</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6003645496066948910"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1332381911l/12512738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1332381911l/12512738.jpg" width="125" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Michael Vey: Rise of the Elgen</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Richard Paul Evans</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon Pulse</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 14</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9094334550072804165">Michael must save his
mother—and protect his powers—in the electric sequel to the #1 New York
Times bestselling Michael Vey, from Richard Paul Evans.<br />Michael was
born with special electrical powers—and he’s not the only one. His
friend Taylor has them too, and so do other kids around the world. With
Michael’s friend Ostin, a tecno-genius, they form the Electroclan, an
alliance meant to protect them from a powerful group, the growing Order
of Elgen, who are out to destroy them. The leader of the Elgen, Dr.
Hatch, has kidnapped Michael’s mother, and time is running out.<br /><br />
After narrowly escaping an Elgen trap, Ostin’s discovery of bizarre
“rat fires” in South America leads the gang to the jungles of Peru,
where the Electroclan meets new, powerful foes and faces their greatest
challenge yet as Michael learns the extent of the Elgen’s rise in
power—and the truth of their plan to “restructure” the world.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9094334550072804165"> </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344391555l/12988074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344391555l/12988074.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Unnaturalists</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tiffany Trent</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText1597732777275226341">Vespa Nyx wants nothing
more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures
in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become
a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family
has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his
family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be
bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.<br /><br />As the danger
grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception
and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327991652l/11797478.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327991652l/11797478.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>The Rising</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Will Hill</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Razorbill</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 16</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6997281787508180016">James Bond meets Dracula
in this epic saga of one boy and a ton of weapons versus the world's
oldest evil--vampires as you've never seen them before!<br /><br />
Sixteen-year-old Jamie Carpenter's life was violently upended when he
was brought into Department 19, a classified government agency of
vampire hunters that was formed to deal with a little problem . . .
known as Dracula.<br /><br /> But being the new recruit at the Department
isn't all weapons training and covert missions. Jamie's own mother has
been turned into a vampire--and now Jamie will stop at nothing to wreak
revenge on her captors. Even if that means facing down Dracula himself.<br /><br /><i>The Rising</i>
is a fast, furious, can't-turn-away thrill ride that will suck readers
in just like a video game. This riveting second book in the Department
Nineteen series is packed with cutting-edge gadgets, international
locales, and daredevil action that tumbles ferociously across the
page--perfect for fans of Darren Shan and Anthony Horowitz.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6997281787508180016"> </span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Earth Girl</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Janet Edwards</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Harper Voyager</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date</b>: August 16 (UK) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText8310470640581044591">2788. Only the
handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds,
18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an
immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at
birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t
travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all
the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape
girl who won’t give in.<br /><br />Jarra invents a fake background for
herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of
norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an
ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s
role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of
class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in
love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow,
she has to keep the deception going.<br /><br />A freak solar storm strikes
the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety –
no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra.
The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to
escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And
one is on collision course with their shelter.</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Onyx (Lux, Bk 2)</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jennifer L. Armentrout</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Entangled Teen
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14 </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText9727295146670086988">Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…<br /><br />Thanks
to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is
more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off,
even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got
bigger problems.<br /><br />Something worse than the Arum has come to town…<br /><br />The
Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can
do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new
boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to
me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away
from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling
for Daemon. Hard.<br /><br />But then everything changes…<br /><br />I’ve seen
someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I
know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What
happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want
from them—from me?<br /><br />No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Touched</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cyn Balog</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Delacorte Press
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14 </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13694911697882712311">Nick Cross always
listens to the voice in his head. Because if he doesn't? Things can go
really, really wrong. Like the day he decided to go off script and saved
a girl from being run over . . . and let another one drown. Trying to
change the future doesn't work.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13694911697882712311">But this summer at the Jersey
Shore, something's about to happen that Nick never could have predicted.
He meets a girl named Taryn and finds out about the Book of Touch. Now
the path that he thought he was on begins to shift . . . and there's no
way to stop things from happening. Or is there? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText13694911697882712311">In a life where
there are no surprises, nothing has prepared Nick for what he's about to
discover--or the choice he will be forced to make. . . </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><b>Spookygirl</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jill Baguchinsky</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: Dutton Juvenile</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 16</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText5555431658243732385">Winner of the Breakthrough Novel Award Contest--Jill Baguchinsky's quirky, creepy debut<br /><br />Violet
doesn't remember much about her late mother, but she is certain of one
thing: she too can see ghosts and communicate with the dead. But when
Violet discovers paranormal activity in the girls' locker room, she
finds herself ill-equipped for handling the school's ghostly echoes.
Through Violet's own investigation and with the help of some unlikely
allies, Violet discovers there is a lot she doesn't know about her
special skill--and more still that can stand in the way of its power.
With sharp wit and determination, Violet sets out to uncover the truth
behind her school's haunting, to finish the investigation that led to
her mother's sudden death, and to learn why the only ghost she has ever
wanted to see is the one that has eluded her forever.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Collection</u></span></h2>
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<i><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Crackpot Palace</span></b></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jeffrey Ford</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Publisher</b>: William Morrow</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Release Date:</b> August 14</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="freeText6094159899759297790">From the unparalleled
imagination of award-winning author Jeffrey Ford come twenty short
stories (one, "The Wish Head," written expressly for this collection)
that boldly redefine the world. "Crackpot Palace" is a sumptuous feast
of the unexpected--an unforgettable journey that will carry readers to
amazing places, though at times the locales may seem strangely familiar,
almost like home. Whether he's tracking ghostly events on the border of
New Jersey's mysterious Pine Barrens or following a well-equipped
automaton general into battle, giving a welcome infusion of new blood to
the hoary vampire trope or exposing the truth about what "really" went
down on Dr. Moreau's Island of Lost Souls, Jeffrey Ford has opened a
door into a dark and fantastic realm where dream and memory become one</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-72973603778509329112012-08-09T20:22:00.001-04:002012-08-09T20:22:43.211-04:00Fantasy Vs. Urban and Patrick Rothufss's new show<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I just finished watching the first episode of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52khu_YJAmo" target="_blank">The Storyboard</a>, Patrick Rothfuss's new Youtube program on the Geek and Sundry channel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The topic for the show was "Urban Fantasy: Threat or Menace?" which I thought was an interesting choice since Rothfuss doesn't actually write urban fantasy books. But he did have on the show Jim Butcher (who was not at all like how I imagined him) Emma Bull and Diana Rowland, to discuss the topic with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I enjoyed listening to the four authors talk with each other about different topics related to urban fantasy, such as what's involved in the world building and how it's different than writing a regular fantasy. I've never gotten to attend a fantasy convention before but I imagine that this what the discussion panels there are like. They even answer questions from viewers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One topic that they discussed, which I thought was particularly interesting, was the different expectations that readers have of urban fantasy vs. regular fantasy when it comes to sex.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pat says that he got a lot of slack for the fact that there is some sex in his newest book (which he finds puzzling because he feels that people should be more disturbed by all the violence) while Jim Butcher says his readers complain that there isn't enough sex in his books. Emma Bull also chimes in about getting unhappy letters from readers when they don't feel that one of her books is steamy enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have to say that I actually really like it that most fantasy books are pretty tame when it comes to romance and romantic relationships. And readeres that want more have the option of turning to Urban fantasy and Paranormal Romance (two genres that I don't read that often because I don't particularly enjoy all the sex and the way they portray relationships)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I admit, though, that it does seem kind of strange that it's seen as distasteful for fantasy books to have too much adult content but at the same time no one has a problem with the increase in violence and swearing. I have to agree with Patrick on this one, that it does seem odd.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />What do you think?</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Enjoy the video!</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/52khu_YJAmo" width="480"></iframe></span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1365304542230931817.post-36501634792356296302012-08-08T20:05:00.000-04:002012-08-08T20:07:01.388-04:00The Magician King (The Magicians, Bk 2) by Lev Grossman<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Usually, if I don't enjoy a book there is very little chance that I'm going to bother reading the sequel. But I had a whole weekend ahead of me with nothing to read so when my neighbour offered me his copy of <i>The Magician King</i> I took it out of desperation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's not that I hated the <i>The Magicians</i>, the first book in Lev Grossman's The Magicians series, but I can't say that I really enjoyed it. It was just too grim and gritty for my taste, and I didn't really like any of the characters (except maybe Alice). I had heard, though, that the sequel was better than its predecessor, and my few interactions with Lev have shown him to be a really nice guy, so I really did want to like his books. So when the <i>The Magician King</i> came out I decided, that while I wasn't going to go out of my way to get a hold of if I somehow did come across it I might give it a chance. And that chance had come.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Even with the book in my possession it took me a while to get motivated enough to crack it open, but once I did it couldn't be pried out of my hands (I know because one of my kids tried). Yes, it turned out to be really good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quentin, Julia, Janet and Elliot are enjoying their lives of royal splendor as the kings and queens of Fillory. As it turns out there really isn't much for the royal leaders of Fillory to do so most of their time is spent luxuriating in their individual castles, indulging in good food and wine and waving from the balcony each day to their adoring people.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This seems like a good enough life to Quentin, especially after everything that he has been through so far, but when a seemingly innocuous outing ends in a death Quentin suddenly realizes that he longs for something more. He wants an adventure; chance to prove that he id capable of accomplishing greatness- of being a hero.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So Quentin sets off on an adventure, accompanied by Julia, a young mapmaker the kingdom's best swordfighter and a ship with it's crew. But the adventure that Quentin goes looking for is not the one that he finds, though it turns out that the world does need a hero and he might get the chance to becomes one.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was happy to find that the whiny, self-indulgent teenage magicians from the last book had matured and become a lot less annoying. We really don't see much of Janet (though do we really want to?) thought Elliott seems to have grown into his role as high king. But it's Quentin and Julia who are really at the center of the story.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I really only remembered Julia vaguely from <i>The Magicians</i>, as the girl who Quentin had a crush on but who then went kind of bonkers after finding out about magic and Brakebills. Now, as a Queen of Fillorys, Julia is still not quite on the same plane as everyone else, and her strange behaviour is starting to worry Quentin.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With some vague hope of perhaps developing a romance with his past crush Quentin invited her along on his adventure, but instead he discovers just how far-gone Julia really is as the two are dragged away to a place that they had hoped to never go.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Magician King is narrated by both Julia and Quentin. From Julia we find out about the events that led her to discover magic, abandon her family and former life and eventually end up as queen of Fillory. It's a sad story and one which I had been curious about, so I was glad to finally get the full details of it here.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quentin, though, is the one narrating the current story and I'm glad to say that I found him to be a lot more likable than his younger self. Perhaps due to the tragedies that he experienced, or maybe from his years being a king, Quentin had developed a maturity and self-awareness that he didn't have before, as well a more compassionate nature. He wasn't perfect but he was good hero material and I was looking forward to seeing where this adventure with him would take me.
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had mentioned that I didn't enjoy <i>The Magicians</i> because it was too grim, but I don't want you to think that <i>The Magician King</i> is all sunshine and roses, because it's not. It's somber at times and has several heartbreakingly sad moments but the mood isn't pervasively depressing as in The Magicians. Perhaps the characters themselves were just lighter, more hopeful and less angsty, but it made a big difference to me in the way I responded to the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And the end. Oh, what can I say about the end? Nothing really, without giving too much away. But there is no doubt that I am going to be first in line at the bookstore when book 3 comes out.</span>Simchahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14730042073954228379noreply@blogger.com6