A Cruel Trick in a Public Park

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...

Until I noticed the sign...

I bet you can imagine my disappointment.



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)

Needless to say, I did not do any reading in this park full of deception and trickery.



P.S. How do you like my artistically modified images? I finally figured out how to use my image editor.

P.P.S. What do you mean where have I been, I was here all along. And I'm sticking to that story.

New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: Week of Sep 30 - Oct 6

Fantasy

 

Redoubt
Mercedes Lackey
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: October 2 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.

Stone of Tymora
R.A. Salvatore
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: October 2


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 Sea Sprite, 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! 

Ironskin
Tina Connolly
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: October 2

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

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.
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.
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.

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.

The Woman Who Died A Lot (Thursday Next, Bk 7)
Jasper Fforde
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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.
 

Between Two Fires
Christopher Buehlman
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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.

Science Fiction

1635: The Papal Stakes
Eric Flint & Charles E. Gannon
Publisher: Baen
Release Date: October 2

#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.

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.

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.
 

 

Merge / Disciple: Two Short Novels from Crosstown to Oblivion
Walter Mosley
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: October 2

Merge: 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.

Disciple: 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.

The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight
Jack Campbell
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: October 2

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.
 

The Second Ship
Richard Phillips
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: October 2

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.

Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion
Pablo Hidalgo
Publisher: LucasBooks
Release Date: October 2

THE DEFINITIVE WORD ON STAR WARS FICTION

The legendary motion picture Star Wars 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 Star Wars adventures is presented in one beautifully illustrated volume.
 
Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion spans the entire galaxy of published Star Wars fiction—movie novelizations, original stand alone and series novels, short stories, eBook novellas, young adult titles, and comics—and features:

• a concise synopsis of each story, including key characters and planets
• exclusive behind-the-scenes facts and anecdotes about authors, plot and character development, continuity notes, and significance in the Star Wars Expanded Universe
• details on which novels are linked to Star Wars comic books from Dark Horse and Marvel
• a chronological listing of titles, spanning the 25,000-year history of the Star Wars universe and placing each story in its proper context
• more than one hundred full-color original paintings throughout by some of fans’ favorite  artists

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 Millennium Falcon 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 Star Wars Expanded Universe

Urban Fantasy

Dark Currents
Jacqueline Carey
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: October 2
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.

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.

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.  

Daughter of the Sword
Steve Bein
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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.
 

Three Parts Dead
Max Gladstone
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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.

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.

Death's Rival (Jane Yellowrock, Bki 5)
Faith Hunter
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: October 2

Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker you don’t want to cross—especially if you’re one of the undead…

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.

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.

Sand Witches in the Hamptons (Willow Tate, Bk 5)
Celia Jerome
Publisher: DAW
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

Mortal Ties (World of Lupi, Bk 9)
Eileen Wilks
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: October 2

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 . .

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 them--and his identity rocks Rule’s world.

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 entire world . . .

Fury's Kiss
Karen Chance
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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…

Werewolf In Denver (Wild About You, Bk 4)
Vicki Lewis Thompson   
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: October 2

Love at first woof. 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?

Horror

This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It
David Wong
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: October 2

Fan favorite David Wong takes readers to a whole new level with this blistering sequel to the cult sensation John Dies at the End, soon to be a movie starring Paul Giamatti


Originally released as an online serial where it received more than 70,000 downloads, John Dies at the End 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.

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.

Hilarious, terrifying, engaging and wrenching, This Book Is Full of Spiders, 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.   

Little Star
John Ajvide Lindqvist
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: October 2

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.

Little Star is an unforgettable portrait of adolescence, a modern-day Carrie for the age of internet bullies, offensive reality television, and overnight You Tube sensations. Chilling, unnerving, and petrifying, Little Star is Lindqvist’s most disturbing book to date

Young Adult

Pirate Cinema
Cory Doctorow
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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….

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There
Catherynne M. Valente
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: October 2

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.

Fire Season
David Weber & Jane Lindskold
Publisher: Baen
Release Date: October 2
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.

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.

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.

Will Stephanie choose to honor the claims of her planet or those of her heart?             

A Novel in the New Space Adventure Series Set in the Universe of Honor Harrington—Sequel to the Hal Clement Award-Winning Novel.

London Eye
Tim Lebbon
Publisher: Pyr
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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.

Quantum Coin
E.C. Myers
Publisher: Pyr
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Assassin's Curse
Cassandra Rose Clarke
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

Son (The Giver, Bk 4)
Lois Lowry
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Release Date: October 2

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, The Giver,　as well as Gathering Blue　and　Messenger　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.

Poltergeeks
Sean Cummings
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

Whispers At Moonrise (Shadow Falls, Bk 4)
C.C. Hunter
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: October 2
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.

 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.

The breathtaking fourth installment of the New York Times bestselling Shadow Falls series from author C. C. Hunter...Whispers at Moonrise.

Promised (Birthmarked, Bk 3)
Caragh M. O'Brien
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Release Date: October 2

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?

Death and the Girl Next Door
Darynda Jones
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: October 2

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.

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.

Summer and Bird
Katherine Catmull
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: October 2

An enchanting—and twisted—tale of two sisters’ quest to find their parents

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.

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.

Breathe
Sarah Crossan
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Release Date: October 2

Inhale. Exhale.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Breathe . . .
The world is dead.
The survivors live under the protection of Breathe, the corporation that found a way to manufacture oxygen-rich air.

Alina
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.

Quinn
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.

Bea
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.

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?

The Obsidian Mirror
Catherine Fisher
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
Release Date: October 4

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.

Magisterium
Jeff Hirsch
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: October 1
On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery.

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.

Story Collections

Wonders of the Invisible World
Patricia A. McKillip
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Release Date: October 1

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.

Night & Demons
David Drake
Publisher: Baen
Release Date: October 2
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.

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 (Ranks of Bronze, Lord of the Isles, and others).

More than just a collection of stories, Night & Demons 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.

My Foray into Thriller & Suspense

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.

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.

OK, this review is starting to get side tracked before I've even begun, so let's head back on course.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

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.

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?

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. 

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.


Alright now, moving on....

The Expats by Chris Pavone

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.


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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Of all the three books, Defending Jacob 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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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. 
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.

New SciFi & Fantasy Releases: September 23 - 29

If you're a Harry Potter fan than you've 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 Goodreads page it looks like that her fans are expecting to love it even though this story is not at all similar (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).  

Personally, I'm not running to the bookstore to buy The Casual Vacancy 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. (Unfortunately Rowlings has also been tarnished for me, somewhat, after I read about the poor way her books' translators are treated.)

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.

Hope you have a great reading week!

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Fantasy

Crown Thief (Tales of Easie Damasco #2)
David Tallerman
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: September 25

Meet Easie Damasco: Thief, swindler and lately, reluctant hero.

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.

The Indigo Pheasant (Longing for Yount #2)
Daniel A. Rabuzzi
Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Release Date: September 25

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.

Science Fiction

The Fractal Prince
Hannu Rajaniemi
Publisher: Gollancz
Release Date: September 27

“The good thing is, no one will ever die again. The bad thing is, everyone will want to.”
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.
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.

Jean de Flambeur is back. And he’s running out of time.

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

Great North Road
Peter F. Hamilton
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: September 27 (UK)

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.

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.

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.

Problem is, Angela also claims that the murderer was an alien monster.

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.
 

Helix Wars (Helix, Bk 2)
Eric Brown
Publisher: Solaris
Release Date: September 25

The Helix: 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 Jeff Ellis 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.

Helix Wars, sequel to the best-selling Helix, is a fast-paced adventure novel about the ultimate threat to the Helix itself.

Janus
John Park
Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Release Date: September 25

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.

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.

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.

Urban Fantasy

Alchemystic
Anton Strout
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 25

AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY…
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…

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.

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…

Dark Light of Day
Jill Archer
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 25

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.

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.

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.

Blood Riders
Michael P. Spradlin
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: September 25

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

Personal Demon (Law of the Blood, Bk 6)
Susan Sizemore
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: September 25

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.

Redlaw
James Lovegrove
Publisher: Solaris
Release Date: September 25

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..

The Wrong Goodbye (The Collector, Bk 2)
Chris F. Holm
Publisher: Angry Robot
Release Date: September 25

Meet Sam Thornton, Collector of Souls.

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.

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.

Young Adult

 

Alchemy (Mercian Trilogy #2)
K.J. Wignall
Publisher: Egmontusa
Release Date: September 25

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.

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.

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?

Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1)
Gena Showalter
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: September 25

She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.

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.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

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….

I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I'd tell my sister no.
I'd never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I'd zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I'd hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I'd tell them I love them.
I wish... Yeah, I wish. 

The Blessed (The Blessed #1)
Tonya Hurley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: September 25

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?

Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief. 

Boyfriend From Hell (Falling Angels, Bk 1)
Jamie Quaid
Publisher: Pocket
Release Date: September 25

Fifteen year-old Megan Barnett and her single mom, Suze, have a special relationship—they are friends, close friends, who do almost everything together.

“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…”

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.

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.

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 

Covet (The Clann #2)
Melissa Darnell
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Release Date: September 25

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.

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.

A reckoning is coming… and not everyone will survive

Dodger
Terry Pratchett
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: September 25

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.
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.
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.

Flock (Stork, Bk 3)
Wendy Delsol
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date:  September 25

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.

The Paladin Prophecy
Mark Frost
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

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.

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.

Co-creator of the groundbreaking television series Twin Peaks, Mark Frost brings his unique vision to this sophisticated adventure, which combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and the supernatural.

The Assault
Brian Falkner
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

The first in a high octane sci-fi adventure series by best-selling and award-winning author, Brian Falkner.

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.

The Turning
Francine Prose
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 25

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?

Where does reality end and insanity begin? The Turn of the Screw reinvented for modern-day teens, by National Book Award finalist Francine Prose.

Yesterday
C. K. Kelly Martin
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

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.

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.

A Fractured Light (A Beautiful Dark, Bk 2)
Jocelyn Davies
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 25

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.

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. 

The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel
Jeanne DuPrau & Dallas Middaugh
Publisher: Random House Books For Young Readers
Release Date: September 25

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, The City of Ember, 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.

Darkwater
Catherine Fisher
Publisher: Dial
Release Date: September 27

What would you sell your soul for?

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?

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?"

In A Glass Grimmly (A Tale Dark and Grimm, Bk 2)
Adam Gidwitz
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: September 27

More Grimm tales await in the harrowing, hilarious companion to a beloved new classic

Take caution ahead—
Oversize plant life, eerie amphibious royalty, and fear-inducing creatures abound.

Lest you enter with dread.
Follow Jack and Jill as they enter startling new landscapes that may (or may not) be scary, bloody, terrifying, and altogether true.

Step lively, dear reader . . .
Happily ever after isn’t cutting it anymore.

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.

Story Collections

Freaks in a Box: The Myths of Media
edited by Paul Di Filippo
Publisher: NonStop Press
Release Date: September 27

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.

Baba Yaga's Daughter and Other Stories of the Old Races
C.E. Murphy
Publisher: Subterranean Press
Release Date: September 30

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.

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.

Horror

Bad Glass
Richard E. Gropp
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: September 25

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. . . .

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.

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.

Your House Is On Fire, Your Children All Gone
Stefan Kiesbye
Publisher:Penguin
Release Date: September 25

Shirley Jackson meets The X-Files in this riveting novel of supernatural horror

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.