BookBanter’s Top Ten New Releases for Tuesday, November 29

It’s a new week and a new round of new releases.  I guess the week after Thanksgiving is a little slow or something, as I was stretched pretty thin this week in looking for new releases in the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror, especially in hardcover.  So we have some regular fiction books again, as well as mystery/thrillers, and a number of them new in paperback.

So here’s the top ten new releases for Tuesday, November 29th.

	The Scottish Prisoner by Diana GabaldonA new release from Gabaldon’s bestselling Lord Johnseries.  It’s 1760, in London, and Jamie Fraser isn’t doing so well, but then he could be doing a lot worse.  As he deals with haunting dreams of his lost wife, an old friend, Tobias Quinn, shows up in his life.  Quinn has a plan to search for a lost relic, but Jamie isn’t having any of it, and then Lord John Grey shows up with some damning documents, just to make his life more complicated.To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	The Lost Gate by Orson Scott CardThe first in Orson Scott Card’s Mithermages trilogy, The Lost Gateis now available in paperback.  Card introduces readers to Danny, a boy who has always known he is a member of an important and power family who all have talents for creating things like fairies, ghosts and golems.  But Danny worries he will end up being the odd one odd, useless and talentless. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	The Final Judgment by Richard North Patterson In this gripping new mystery from Richard North Patterson – now available in paperback – a man is found dead, his girlfriend at the scene of the crime, but pleads she is innocent, even though the murder weapon bears her fingerprints and she’s dripping with blood.  Her aunt, an attorney, is summoned back to New England to help defend her. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Pale Demon by Kim Harrison In the ninth book of the Hollows series – now available in paperback – Rachel Morgan has but three days to get to the annual witches’ conference and prove her innocence in the allegation of using black magic.  There’s also an ancient demon looking to devour her soul. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Deep Black: Death Wave by Stephen Coonts From bestselling author Stephen Coonts comes Deep Black: Death Wave– now out in paperback – where a very dangerous shipment of twelve nuclear warheads has vanished in Asia, stolen by a new alliance of deadly terrorists.  It will take a secret group within the NSA – Deep Black – led by Marine sniper Charlie Dean to see if they can get that nuclear arsenal back before the terrorists trigger the devastating tsunami they’re planning.To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson The intrepid duo of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are back with the first book in the Hell Holetrilogy, now in paperback.  The planet of Hellhole is the last place anyone wants to be, ravaged by destructive storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and devastating volcanic eruptions.  Only the most unwanted end up in this place.  What no one knows is that this seemingly doomed planet holds a deep secret of an ancient alien civilization and an important record of their past. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Queen of America by Luis Alberto Urrea Teresita Urrea, known as the “Saint of Cabora,” flees with her father from the horrible Tomochic rebellion to the calmer state of Arizona.  As she is pursued by assassin and besieged by pilgrims, she travels turn-of-the-century industrial America, visiting San Francisco, St. Louis and New York. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Blood of Aenarion by William King A new Warhammer novel of the Tyrion & Teclistrilogy, available in hardcover, follows the story of the most renowned elves in history: the Aenarion.  This first book focuses on Tyrion through his first wife and the story of the immortal Daemon prince, N’kari. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Brain Boy Archives by Herb CastleFrom the Dark Horse archives comes the Brain Boy Archives, featuring the story of Matt Price, who was affected in a freak accident with an electrical tower while in the womb.  Since then he’s had special mental powers like telepathy and levitation, and even mind control.  The government recruited him right out of high school and now he battles evil and danger, protecting the American people. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.
	Honor Among Thieves by David Chandler The final book in the Ancient Blades trilogy is now available in paperback, where the kingdom of Skrae is under attack from invading barbarian hordes.  But a host of unusual and interesting characters appear to show these hordes something else. To purchase a copy from Amazon and help support BookBanter, click HERE.

For last week’s top ten new releases for Tuesday, November 22nd, CLICK HERE.

“Brave New Worlds” edited by John Joseph Adams (Nightshade Books, 2011)

1984 came and went without Big Brother rearing his ugly head in quite the way he did in the book; though one could say things got a little hairy during George W. Bush’s eight years of the Patriot Act and Home land Security, and yet in today’s world can you really say that you are completely free to do as you please without feeling like anybody’s watching you?  Perhaps you see this world in a different light: do you use a disposable phone, screen your calls, use “incognito mode” in all your online browsing, and feel like various agencies within the government are watching you constantly, whether it’s where you’re shopping, what you’re eating, or perhaps what books you’re checking out of the library.  If this is the case, you’re going to want to own a copy of Brave New Worlds, and if it’s not, well, you should read it too, because it’s a really fantastic collection of stories of a dystopian future where freedom is a whispered, secret word, not to be uttered aloud to anyone.

John Joseph Adams, bestselling editor of such great anthologies as Wastelands and The Living Dead does a fantastic job of collecting stories of dystopian worlds, covering just about the entire history of the science fiction genre.  Brave New Worlds starts off with “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson – a story many of us became familiar with in high school and college, but can now be read for sheer enjoyment; to Ursula LeGuin’s unforgettable “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” – a story of a paradise where every day is a joy for its citizens, except for one child locked away in a cell in constant suffering.  Many big name authors make the cut, with the likes of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, and Orson Scott Card; as well as some more recent bestselling names of the genre, like Paolo Bacigalupi, Cory Doctorow and Carrie Vaughan.

Some of these dystopian stories are similar, some are completely unique and surprising; all playing on the concept of having our necessary freedoms stripped away from us, leaving us hollow shells; the question is whether we choose to go along blindly and submit, or fight.  Perhaps you’re wondering if there’s a story about a future where young people donate their organs to old people, or looking forward the original short story of Philip K. Dick’s “The Minority Report”; either way,  Brave New Worlds will be an absolute delight for anyone who enjoys a story about a doomed future.

CLICK HERE to purchase your copy from Bookshop Santa Cruz and help support BookBanter.

Originally written on March 6, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.

“Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse” Edited by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books, 2008)

In this riveting collection edited by John Joseph Adams, it is everything post-apocalyptic. We know one day the world is going to kick it, and here’s what some writers think might happen.  Wastelands runs the gamut from a rapture story; to how we might survive in a dead world (even if we’re disfigured mutants); to stories that may not be about the end of the world, but at times certainly seem like it.  Featuring a wide variety of renowned authors like Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, George R. R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Jonathan Lethem, and Octavia E. Butler; it is a sobering collection that delves into humanity as a species, as it fights for survival.

In the opening story from Stephen King, “The End of the Whole Mess,” when the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket fast, a unique spring is discovered in Texas which somehow makes people nicer and less violent towards each other.  Concentrating and harnessing this water, it is emptied as rain around the world, and for a little while there is world peace.  Then the cases begin and a terrifying realization is made about this water that was supposed to save humanity and has instead damned it.

In George R. R. Martin’s “Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels,” some of our distant race return to Earth to see if there’s anyone still around and are shocked to discover a devolved, primitive form of humanity living beneath the ground like animals.  What they don’t know is that these people possess special abilities never before seen.  Jonathan Lethem reveals a world of virtual reality and shows its advantages and disadvantages.  Tobias Buckwell, in “Waiting for the Zephyr,” reveals a reformed world of simple ways and wind power and the hope of one girl to travel across the planet on the great Zephyr.  “Artie’s Angles” by Catherine Wells examines the circumstances if space travelers returned to Earth to discover the Rapture had happened and they were the only ones left behind.

In the best story of the collection, “When Sysadmins Ruled the World” from Cory Doctorow, it is a world much like ours that on this doomed day suffers a terrible sickness unleashed by terrorists around the world and there are not many left.  But the Sysadmins, secured safely in their airtight computer buildings, struggle to keep the Internet alive and communicate with each other through Newsgroups, and elect their own form of government via the web.

Like The Living Dead, Wastelands is another fascinating collection revealing the variety of imagination and writing skill that many of our greatest authors possess today, as well as delving into the dark recesses of humanity and uncovering some horrifying truths.  Whatever you’re looking for in a story about the end of the world and if we make it through, you will find something you like in this collection.

If you liked this review and are interested in purchasing this book, click here.

Originally written on December 4th 2008 ©Alex C. Telander.