Review: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

Jan 082015
 

Cover for Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop. A white woman with black hair streaked with red looks at the reader, wearing a jean jacket and with bright yellow light shining behind her.Library Journal: This is a strong example of a midseries-building book, showing the heightening of stress without a major change in the status quo. Bishop (Murder of Crows; Daughter of the Blood) marvelously invents a rich world that is a faint echo of our own but ruled by wild inhuman creatures tied to nature and pushed to violence by the greed of humans who refuse to understand that they are not in charge. The delicate character of Meg is a fulcrum, a special human whom the Others protect, and her damaged but determined will is the key to this terrific series.

As tensions escalate between the terra indigene known as the Others and the humans who live among them, Simon Wolfgard and the Lakeside Courtyard search for a compromise that will allow peaceful coexistence. But a group called Humans First and Last are stirring up hostility toward the Others, and blood prophet Meg Corbyn is crucial to uncovering their plans before it is too late.

Review: The Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen

Jan 072015
 

Cover for The Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen. A sinister photo of stacked, large metal cargo crates. One is open and empty.Kirkus: From start to finish, a fast-moving and satisfying thriller starring a likable if unlikely duo.In northern Minnesota, an off-duty deputy sheriff asks one too many questions of the driver of an 18-wheeler. A terrified girl bursts out of the back of the truck, and within minutes, the deputy lies dead. State cop Kirk Stevens and FBI agent Carla Windermere investigate the strange killing and soon discover the frightened girl, who speaks only Romanian. Through a translator, the agents learn that many more girls are imprisoned in that truck; a criminal ring plans to sell them as sex slaves. Just how big is this horrific operation, the agents want to know. And how can they find that truck before those girls disappear forever? Chapters both crisp and short show everyone’s viewpoint and keep the reader’s rapt attention. Continue reading »

Gideon by Alex Gordon

Jan 062015
 

Cover for Gideon by Alex Gordon. The background is a grey, bleak landscape with a leafless tree in silhouette, smoke in the foreground forming a vaguely humanoid shape.Preston & Child meets Kim Harrison in this edge-of-your-seat debut thriller—a superb blend of mystery, urban fantasy, horror, romance, and the supernatural.

When Lauren’s father dies, she makes a shocking discovery. The man she knew as John Reardon was once a completely different person, with a different name. Now, she’s determined to find out who he really was, even though her only clues are an old photograph, some letters, and the name of a town—Gideon.

But someone—or something—doesn’t want her to discover the truth. A strange man is stalking her, appearing everywhere she turns, and those who try to help her end up dead. Neither a shadowy enemy nor her own fear are going to prevent her from solving the mystery of her father—and unlocking the secrets of her own life.

Making her way to Gideon, Lauren finds herself more confused than ever. Nothing in this small Midwestern town is what it seems, including time itself. Residents start going missing, and Lauren is threatened by almost every townsperson she encounters. Two hundred years ago, a witch was burned at the stake, but in Gideon, the past feels all too chillingly present.

Carousel Seas by Sharon Lee

Jan 062015
 

cover for Carousel Seas by Sharon Lee, book 3 of Archers Beach. A white woman with flowing brown hair and a flowing white gown holds up her hands in defense, two knee-high goblins looking agape in the same direction is she is.Welcome to Archers Beach in the Changing Land, the last and least of the Six Worlds, where magic works, sometimes, and the Guardian husbands the vitality of the land and everyone on it—earth spirit and plain human alike.

Kate Archer, Guardian and carousel-keeper, has been busy making some changes of her own, notably beginning a romantic relationship with Borgan, the Guardian of the Gulf of Maine, Kate’s opposite number, and, some would say, her natural mate.

Oh, and she’s been instrumental in releasing the prisoners that had been bound into the carousel animals—which she’s inclined to think is a good thing…

Until a former sea goddess sets up housekeeping in the Gulf of Maine, challenging Borgan’s authority; endangering Kate and everything she holds precious.

…because the goddess has fallen in love in Borgan; and she’ll stop at nothing to possess him.

Archers Beach is about to suffer a sea-change—and the question is whether Kate can survive it.

December Translation Deals

Dec 312014
 

earthJapanese rights to Mike Shepherd’s KRIS LONGKNIFE: INTREPID, the 6th book in the series, to Hayakawa Publishing, Inc., by Kohei Hattori at the English Agency in association with Jennifer Jackson.

Russian rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS, to AST, by Alexander Korzhenevski Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Simplified Chinese rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS plus Books 2 & 3 of the series, to Chongqing, in a three-book deal, in a nice deal, by Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Polish rights to Brent Weeks’s THE BROKEN EYE, Book 3 in the Lightbrigher series, to Mag Jacek Rodek, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Complex Chinese rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS plus Books 2 & 3 of the series, to Crown, in a three-book deal, at auction, by Gray Tan at The Grayhawk Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier, on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Italian rights to Nnedi Okorafor’s WHO FEARS DEATH, to Gargoyle, by Stefania Fietta at Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier.

Japanese rights to Jo Walton’s MY REAL CHILDREN, to Tokyo Sogensha, by Kohei Hattori at The English Agency, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Cameron McClure.

Hebrew rights to Mur Lafferty’s THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY, to Graff, by Dalia Ever-Hadani of The Book Publishers Association of Israel, in association with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Jen Udden.

Brazilian rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s CITY OF STAIRS, to DarkSide Books, by Cristina Purchio and Flavia Sala at International Editors’, in assoctiation with Katie Shea Boutillier on behalf of Cameron McClure.

December Subsidiary Rights Deals

Dec 312014
 

a pair of black ear budsAbridged and dramatic audio rights to Robert McCammon’s novella THE LAST TRAIN FROM PERDITION, a sequel to his novella I TRAVEL BY NIGHT, about Civil War veteran and half-vampire gunslinger Trevor Lawson, to Anji Cornette at Graphic Audio by Cameron McClure.

Audio rights to David Feintuch’s Seafort Saga series, to Steve Feldberg at Audible, in a seven-book deal, by Katie Shea Boutillier.

Audio rights to Jo Ann Ferguson’s Shadow of the Bastille trilogy (A Daughter’s Destiny, A Brother’s Honor, and A Sister’s Quest) and five additional historical novels, to Steve Feldberg at Audible, in an eight-book deal, by Jennifer Jackson.

Starred Review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Dec 222014
 

bear-karenmemoryRT Book Reviews: 4.5 stars, Top Pick! Karen Memory is a book that gets going right away and never stops. Surreally captivating, Bear’s latest melds the genres of steampunk, fantasy, adventure and dime-store western together perfectly, thanks mostly to the charming voice of the protagonist. Karen’s rough edges and obviously wicked intelligence are highlighted by nuanced details that establish her already likable voice as even more relatable; her charming (self-taught) misuse of phrases and terminology, and reflexive bravery and morality are just a few examples in this fantastic read.

Sun Sentinel Best of 2014

Dec 222014
 

Kill Fee by Owen LaukkanenCongratulations to Owen Laukkanen on Kill Fee being named one of the Sun Sentinel’s Best Mystery Books of 2014!

The billionaire picked a heck of a way to die. On a beautiful Saturday in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, state investigator Kirk Stevens and FBI special agent Carla Windermere, witness the assassination of one of the state’s wealthiest men. The shooter is a young man, utterly unremarkable…except for the dead look in his eyes.

And it’s only the beginning. The events of that sunny springtime day will lead Stevens and Windermere across the country, down countless blind alleys, and finally to a very flourishing twenty-first century enterprise: a high-tech murder-for-hire social media website. But just who has the dead-eyed shooter targeted next…and who’s choosing his victims?

Starred Review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

Dec 192014
 

bear-karenmemoryLibrary Journal: Verdict: Bear (Steles of the Sky; Blood and Iron) pumps fresh energy into the steampunk genre with a light touch on the gadgetry and a vivid sense of place. Karen has a voice that is folksy but true, and the entire cast of heroic women doing the best they can in an age that was not kind to their gender is a delight. Ably assisted by a U.S. Marshal and his Comanche posseman, Karen and the ladies kick ass.

The Gold Rush town of Rapid City is just about what you would expect in a frontier community catering to the mining trade: rough, violent, and full of prostitutes. Karen is a “soiled dove” working at Madame Damnable’s establishment, where she and her sisters in trade serve a more respectable crowd than the poor girls who work the cribs at the waterfront. When one of those young women escapes and runs to Madame’s for help, she brings the wrath of the crib owner, Peter Bantle, on the house. Bantle, in addition to bring a vicious bully seems to have a device that can control people’s minds.

Tor.com Reviewers’ Choice 2014

Dec 192014
 

Cover for City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. A grey, hooded figure looms in a cloudy sky. Below him is a city at night, full of skyscrapers and lighted windows.Congratulations to Robert Jackson Bennett on City of Stairs being included on Tor.com’s Reviewers’ Choice: The Best Books of 2014!

“The other book is City of Stairs (SFF World review), which marks three years in a row for Robert Jackson Bennett to appear on my best of the year list. Set in the imagined city of Bulikov, the novel is the first Bennett has penned which does not take place in a version of our world (although the parallels and echoes are there), but rather a fully realized secondary world. Few writers’ have been able to make me think deeply about their work while also entertaining me as has Bennett. I loved the world-building in this novel and the characters, especially Shara and Sigurd. City of Stairs was an immensely enjoyable and powerful novel that will stay with me for a very long while.”

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