Science Fiction and Fantasy, July 7, 2012

Saturday, July 7, 2012

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The Tempering of Men
by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

In Iskryne, the war against the Trollish invasion has been won, and the lands of men are safe again... at least for a while. Isolfr and his sister, the Konigenwolf Viradechtis, have established their own wolfhaell. Viradechtis has taken two mates, and so the human pack has two war leaders. And in the way of the pack, they must come to terms with each other, must become brothers instead of rivals - for Viradechtis will not be gainsaid. She may even be prescient. A new danger comes to Iskryne. An army of men approaches, an army that wishes to conquer and rule. The giant trellwolves and their human brothers have never hunted men before. They will need to learn if they are to defend their homes.

Year's Best SF 17
edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer

Once again, the finest short-form science fiction offerings of the year have been collected in a single volume. Includes tales from such authors as Elizabeth Bear, Gregory Benford, Nancy Kress, James Morrow, and Michael Swanwick.

Worldsoul
by Liz Williams

What if being a librarian was the most dangerous job in the world? Worldsoul, a great city that forms a nexus point between Earth and the many dimensions known as the Liminality, is a place where old stories gather, where forgotten legends come to fade and die - or to flourish and rise again. Until recently, Worldsoul has been governed by the Skein, but they have gone missing and no one knows why. The city is also being attacked with lethal flower-bombs from an unknown enemy. Mercy Fane and her fellow Librarians are doing their best to maintain the Library, but...things...keep breaking out of ancient texts and legends are escaping into the city. Mercy must pursue one such dangerous creature. She turns to Shadow, an alchemist, for aid, but Shadow - inadvertently possessed by an ifrit - has a perilous quest of her own to undertake.

The Unincorporated Future
by Dani and Eytan Kollin

Sandra O'Toole is the president of the Outer Alliance, which stretches from the asteroid belt to the Oort Cloud beyond Pluto. Resurrected following the death of Justin Cord, the unincorporated man, O'Toole has become a powerful political figure and a Machiavellian leader determined to win the Civil War against the inner planets at almost any cost. And the war has been going badly, in part because of the great General Trang, a fit opponent for the brilliant J. D. Black. Choices have to be made to abandon some of the moral principles upon which the revolution was founded. It is a time of great heroism and great betrayal, madness, sacrifice, and shocking military conflict.

The Sword & Sorcery Anthology
edited by David Hartwell and Jacob Weisman

Terrifying barbarians, cunning mages, and daring heroes run rampant through these exceptional examples of the exciting sword and sorcery genre. In "Tower of the Elephant," Conan takes up jewel thievery but proves to be far better with his sword. "The Flame Bringers" finds antihero Elric infiltrating a band of bloodthirsty mercenaries and outwitting a powerful sorcerer. "Become a Warrior" is the unexpected tale of a child who loses all she holds dear, only to gain unforeseen power and unlikely revenge. Further entries come from early legends such as Jack Vance and Catherine Louise Moore, the next wave of talents including Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock, and modern trendsetters like George R.R. Martin, Karl Edward Wagner, and David Drake. This essential, fast-paced anthology is a chronological gathering of influential, inventive, and entertaining fantasy--sure to appeal to action-oriented fans.

Orb Sceptre Throne
by Ian Esslemont

The discovery of a sealed vault triggers discord throughout Darujhistan, where a merchant tries to drive out Malazans, a thief gambles with the fate of the city, and a Malazan veteran seeks his fortune in Moon's Spawn fragments.

Spellcrossed
by Barbara Ashford

When the love of her life returns to the land of the Fae, Maggie must not only recover from that loss, but take over the Crossroads Theatre. And while she believes all the enchantment is gone, Maggie's about to discover that true magic is hard to banish.

The Straits of Galahesh
by Bradley Beaulieu

West of the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya lies the Empire of Yrstanla, the Motherland. The Empire has lived at peace with Anuskaya for generations, but with political turmoil brewing and the wasting disease still rampant, opportunists from the mainland have begun to set their sights on the Grand Duchy, seeking to expand their empire. Five years have passed since Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, was tasked with finding Nasim, the child prodigy behind a deadly summoning that led to a grand clash between the armies of man and elder elemental spirits. Today, that boy has grown into a young man driven to understand his past - and the darkness from which Nikandr awakened him.

Other Worlds than These: Stories of Parallel Worlds
by John Joseph Adams

What if you could not only travel any location in the world, but to any possible world? We can all imagine such "other worlds"-be they worlds just slightly different than our own or worlds full of magic and wonder-but it is only in fiction that we can travel to them. From The Wizard of Oz to The Dark Tower, from Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass to C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, there is a rich tradition of this kind of fiction, but never before have the best parallel world stories and portal fantasies been collected in a single volume-until now.

Libriomancer
by Jim Hines

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped. With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic.

A Guile of Dragons
by James Enge

It's dwarves vs dragons in this origin story for Enge's signature character, Morlock Ambrosius! The weight of guarding the Northhold now rests on the crooked shoulders of a traitor's son, Morlock syr Theorn (also called Ambrosius).