The Best of Kage Baker by Kage Baker
Kage Baker’s death in 2010 silenced one of the most distinctive, consistently engaging voices in contemporary fiction. A late starter, Baker published her first short stories in 1997, at the age of forty-five. From then until the end of her life, she wrote prolifically and well, leaving an astonishing body of work behind.
The Best of Kage Baker is a treasure trove that gathers together twenty stories and novellas, eleven of which have never been collected anywhere. The volume is bookended by a pair of tales from her best known and best loved creation: The Company, with its vivid cast of time traveling immortals. In “Noble Mold,” Mendoza the botanist and Joseph, the ancient “facilitator,” find themselves in 19th century California, where a straightforward acquisition grows unexpectedly complex, requiring, in the end, a carefully engineered “miracle.” In “The Carpet Beds of Sutro Park,” an autistic Company operative named Ezra encounters a lost soul named Kristy Ann, and finds a way to give her back the world that she has lost. publisher
The Inheritance and Other Stories by Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm
Megan Lindholm (Wizard of the Pigeons) writes tightly constructed SF and fantasy with a distinctly contemporary feel. Robin Hobb (Assassin’s Quest) writes sprawling, multi-volume fantasies set in imaginary realms. These two writers, apparently so different, are, of course, the same person, each reflecting an aspect of a single multifaceted imagination.
Inheritance gathers the best of Hobb and Lindholm’s shorter fiction into one irreplaceable volume containing ten stories and novellas (seven by Lindholm, three by Hobb), together with a revealing introduction and extensive, highly readable story notes. The Lindholm section leads off with the Hugo and Nebula-nominated novella “A Touch of Lavender,” a powerful account of love, music, poverty, and addiction set against an extended encounter between human and alien societies. Other memorable entries include “Cut,” a reflection on the complex consequences of freedom, and the newly published “Drum Machine,” an equally absorbing meditation on the chaotic nature of the creative impulse. Two of Robin Hobb’s contributions revisit the world of her popular Live Traders series. “Homecoming” enlarges the earlier history of those novels through the journal entries of Lady Carillion Carrock, while “The Inheritance” concerns a disenfranchised young woman who comes to understand the true nature of her grandmother’s legacy. And in “Cat’s Meat,” a long and wonderful story written expressly for this collection, an embattled single mother reclaims her life with the help of a gifted—and utterly ruthless—cat. publisher
A Path to Coldness of Heart by Glen Cook
Far away in Kavelin, Bragia’s queen and what remains of his army seek to find and free their king, hampered by the loss or desertion of their best and brightest warriors. Kavelina’s spymaster, Michael Trebilcock, is missing in action, as is loyal soldier Aral Dantice. Meanwhile, Dane, Duke of Greyfells, seeks to seize the rule of Kavelin and place the kingdom in his pocket, beginning a new line of succession through Bragia’s queen, Dane’s cousin Inger. And in the highest peaks of the Dragona’s Teeth, in the ancient castle Fangdred, the sorcerer called Varthlokkur uses his arts to spy on the world at large, observing the puppet strings that control kings and empires alike, waiting… For the time of the wrath of kings is almost at hand, and vengeance lies along a path to coldness of heart.
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Faith by John Love
Moby Dick meets Duel in John Love’s debut novel of Space Opera and Military Science Fiction! Faith is the name humanity has given to the unknown, seemingly invincible alien ship that has begun to harass the newly emergent Commonwealth. 300 years earlier, the same ship destroyed the Sakhran Empire, allowing the Commonwealth to expand its sphere of influence. But now Faith has returned! The ship is as devastating as before, and its attacks leave some Commonwealth solar systems in chaos. Eventually it reaches Sakhra, now an important Commonwealth possession, and it seems like history is about to repeat itself. But this time, something is waiting: an Outsider, one of the Commonwealth’s ultimate warships. Slender silver ships, full of functionality and crewed by people of unusual abilities, often sociopaths or psychopaths, Outsiders were conceived in back alleys, built and launched in secret, and commissioned without ceremony. One system away from earth, the Outsider ship Charles Manson makes a stand. Commander Foord waits with his crew of miscreants and sociopath, hoping to accomplish what no other human has been able to do — to destroy Faith! publisher
Bite Me by Lori Strongin
This summer at Hedgehill University: take one totally screwed werewolf, a vegetarian vampire, and the psycho who wants to kill them both. Surfer-boy werewolf Talbot Osbourne is under pressure to get a summer job, find an apartment, and make up for the classes he failed last semester. The fur will fly when Talbot is forced to partner with Julian St. George on a class publisher
Allen’s Pact by Kevin Bridges
Allen and Marcus are traveling a quiet and empty Earth, burning away the remnants of human civilization. There is tension between them when it becomes clear that Allen is keeping a dark secret. Marcus is determined to learn the truth, but will he survive the revelation? publisher
Psychotic Poetry by German Alcala
A collection of 41 poems from the horror novel “Swing: A Psychopathy”. These poems tell the stories of love, tragedy, crime, and death. This compilation takes you through an array of swinging emotions. publisher
Reminiscence by Jake Murphy
As the sun sets and night creeps into the grounds, an old gentleman prepares for dinner. that evening he will receive a visit from an old acquaintance, who’s visit will change both their lives forever. a gripping story of love, nostalgia, ambition and betrayal, reminiscence is the latest story of the ‘forgotten tales’ saga by jake murphy. publisher
The Uninvited Guests A Novel By Sadie Jones
A grand old manor house deep in the English countryside will open its doors to reveal the story of an unexpectedly dramatic day in the life of one eccentric, rather dysfunctional, and entirely unforgettable family. Set in the early years of the twentieth century, award-winning author Sadie Jones’s The Uninvited Guests is, in the words of Jacqueline Winspear, the New York Times bestselling author of the Maisie Dobbs mysteries A Lesson in Secrets and Elegy for Eddie, “a sinister tragi-comedy of errors, in which the dark underbelly of human nature is revealed in true Shakespearean fashion.” publisher
Dirt A Novel By David Vann
David Vann is the author of Legend of a Suicide, which has been translated into sixteen languages, won ten prizes, and been on forty Best Books of the Year lists worldwide. He’s also the author of the bestselling memoir A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea and Last Day on Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter, winner of the AWP Nonfiction Award. A current Guggenheim Fellow and former Stegner Fellow and NEA Fellow, he has taught at Stanford and Cornell, and is now a professor at the University of San Francisco. publisher
A Girl and Her Pig Recipes and Stories By April Bloomfield
April Bloomfield, the critically acclaimed chef behind the smash hit New York restaurants The Spotted Pig, The Breslin, and the John Dory, offers incomparable recipes and fascinating stories in this one-of-a-kind cookbook and memoir that celebrates all things pork and more. A Girl and Her Pig is a carnivore’s delight, a gift from one of the food industry’s hottest chefs—in the upper echelon alongside Mario Batali, David Chang, and the legendary Fergus Henderson—featuring beautiful illustrations and photographs, and refreshingly unpretentious, remarkably scrumptious recipes for everything from re-imagined British pub favorites such as Beef and Bayley Hazen Pie to Whole Suckling Pig. publisher
Sacre Bleu A Comedy d’Art By Christopher Moore
Absolutely nothing is sacred to Christopher Moore. The phenomenally popular, New York Times bestselling satirist whom the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls, “Stephen King with a whoopee cushion and a double-espresso imagination” has already lampooned Shakespeare, San Francisco vampires, marine biologists, Death…even Jesus Christ and Santa Claus! Now, in his latest masterpiece, Sacré Bleu, the immortal Moore takes on the Great French Masters. A magnificent “Comedy d’Art” from the author of Lamb, Fool, and Bite Me, Moore’s Sacré Bleu is part mystery, part history (sort of), part love story, and wholly hilarious as it follows a young baker-painter as he joins the dapper Henri Toulouse-Lautrec on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed “suicide” of Vincent van Gogh. publisher
The Shoemaker’s Wife A Novel By Adriana Trigiani
The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza’s family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future. publisher
Waiting for Sunrise A Novel By William Boyd
Vienna, 1913. Lysander Rief, a young English actor in town seeking psychotherapy for a troubling ailment of a sexual nature, becomes caught up in a feverish affair with a beautiful, enigmatic woman. When she goes to the police to press charges of rape, however, he is stunned, and his few months of passion come to an abrupt end. Only a carefully plotted escape—with the help of two mysterious British diplomats—saves him from trial. publisher
Pakistan on the Brink The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan by Ahmed Rashid
What are the possibilities-and hazards-facing America as it withdraws from Afghanistan and as it reviews its long engagement in Pakistan? Where is the Taliban now in both these countries? What does the immediate future hold and what are America’s choices as President Obama considers our complicated history and faces reelection? publisher
Dark Eyes by William Richter
Now the sixteen-year-old is beautiful and hardened, and she’s just stumbled across the possibility of discovering who she really is. She’ll stop at nothing to find her birth mother before Klesko – her darkeyed father – finds her. Because Klesko will stop at nothing to reclaim the fortune Wally’s mother stole from him long ago. Even if that means murdering his own blood. But Wally’s had her own killer training, and she’s hungry for justice. publisher
The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George
Jesse cuts her own hair with a Swiss Army knife. She wears big green fisherman’s boots. She’s the founding (and only) member of NOLAW, the National Organization to Liberate All Weirdos. Emily wears sweaters with faux pearl buttons. She’s vice president of the student council. She has a boyfriend. publisher
The One The Life and Music of James Brown by RJ Smith
Playing 350 shows a year at his peak, with more than forty Billboard hits, James Brown was a dazzling showman who transformed American music. His life offstage was just as vibrant, but until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made. publisher
Red and Blue and Broke All Over Restoring America’s Free Economy by Charles Goyette
Bestselling libertarian pundit Charles Goyette’s new book makes a timely and eloquent argument for why a free economy produces wealth. The growth of federal power and its costly warfare and welfare spending have become the engine of America’s runaway debt and are strangling our prosperity. We spend an incredible $1.2 trillion a year on state security, leading us toward inevitable bankruptcy, while transfer payments and social spending are equally unsustainable demographic time bombs. publisher
Helsinki White by James Thompson
wo days after their daughter is born, Kari Vaara drops a bombshell on his American wife, Kate: He has a brain tumor . . . and he’s been handpicked to run a rogue black-ops unit, using crime to fight crime. After recovering from surgery, he gets to work. The black-ops unit is small, and reports directly to Finland’s national chief of police. They have secrecy, autonomy, and the cash to buy all the high-tech gear. Soon the unit is cleaning house, robbing Helsinki’s mobsters blind of their cash, dope, and illegal firearms. But Kari’s team is too good, and their actions have unintended consequences. . publisher
