Publishers Weekly: Stories of the Raksura, Vol. 2: Wells (The Serpent Sea) fleshes out her Books of the Raksura series in this strong short story collection. As readers follow a shape-shifting Raksura called Moon through a series of encounters, plenty of vivid descriptions help newcomers get up to speed. Moon is always at the center of any conflict, whether it’s learning the secrets of a long-buried city (“The Dead City”) or defending his adoptive Raksura community of Indigo Cloud from a foe that can’t be seen (in the longest and best entry, “The Dark Earth Below”). The Raksura world features innovative and alien creatures; Wells thinks far outside the humanoid fantasy box. The line between animal and person is drawn extremely thin, and the power structure among the races resembles nature more than it resembles any human civilization. With a strong sense of adventure, horror, and mystery, this is an enjoyable read for fantasy fans seeking a new series to sample.
Apr 202015
April 20, 2015
Publishers Weekly: Kowal’s tense conclusion to her highly praised Glamourist Histories magical Regency series (following Valour and Vanity) sees happily married Sir David and Lady Jane Vincent caught up in the intrigues of Sir David’s manipulative family. When they receive a letter indicating that Sir David’s father and eldest brother have died, the Vincents are askedto retrieve a new will from the family estates on Antigua. While en route, they discover Jane is pregnant and so must conclude their business quickly if she is to deliver in England. All is not as advertised when they arrive, and in addition to contending with the oppressive heat and trying to halt the vicious and inhumane management of the family slaves by the odious and presumptuous Mr. Pridmore, the Vincents find themselves once again maneuvering against the machinations of relatives. 
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s next two novels in the popular Liaden series, to Toni Weisskopf at Baen Books by Jennifer Jackson.
Publishers Weekly: Downum (the Necromancer Chronicles) grounds this tale of friendship and love in a community of artists and magic users. When a ritual goes terribly wrong and leaves Vancouver artist Blake Enderly in a coma, his best friend, Liz Drake, and her stereotypically English boyfriend, Alex, travel to Vancouver to find out what happened to him. To save his life, Liz must navigate deadly magical peril in the waking world and undertake a quest in an equally dangerous dream world that leads her to Robert Chambers’s Carcosa and its ruler, the Yellow King. Downum’s narrative is packed to excess with artists and hangers-on, a dangerous drug with connections to the dream world, bloodthirsty maenads, and gun-toting cleanup artists specializing in supernatural mishaps. Readers eager for diverse characters will delight in the casually displayed variety of sexual and romantic orientations, including Liz’s comfortable asexuality. 
Publishers Weekly: 
Polish rights to Jim Butcher’s STORM FRONT and the next five books in the New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series resold to Mag Jacek Rodek via Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi in association with Jennifer Jackson.
Jim Butcher’s Skin Game, the latest in the Dresden Files, spent its second week on the New York Times Best Sellers list!
Cherie Priest’s BRIMSTONE, in which a shellshocked WW1 survivor may be receiving via the ashes of burned buildings love letters from his dead wife and seeks the help of a friendly medium in a historic spiritualist community as inspired by a real place and a real set of bizarre (otherworldly?) incidents, to Anne Sowards at Penguin Random House by Jennifer Jackson.
Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop debuts at #16 on the New York Times Best Sellers Hardcover list, #20 on the NYT ebook list, and #40 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books List!