Fresh Meat: June 7-13th Speculative Fiction Releases

Posted June 9, 2015 by Carmel in Fresh Meat / 5 Comments

Urban Fantasy:

Dead Ice
Dead Ice
(Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #24)
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Anita Blake has the highest kill count of any vampire executioner in the country. She’s a U.S. Marshal who can raise zombies with the best of them. But ever since she and master vampire Jean-Claude went public with their engagement, all she is to anyone and everyone is Jean-Claude’s fiancée.




It’s wreaking havoc with her reputation as a hard ass—to some extent. Luckily, in professional circles, she’s still the go-to expert for zombie issues. And right now, the FBI is having one hell of a zombie issue.




Someone is producing zombie porn. Anita has seen her share of freaky undead fetishes, so this shouldn’t bother her. But the women being victimized aren’t just mindless, rotting corpses. Their souls are trapped behind their eyes, signaling voodoo of the blackest kind.




It’s the sort of case that can leave a mark on a person. And Anita’s own soul may not survive unscathed . . .[/learn_more]



Paranormal Romance:

Brand of the Pack (Silver Wolf Clan #3)
by Tera Shanley
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The last of her kind…




As the last of the Silver Wolves, and the only female with the ability to produce werewolf offspring, Morgan Carter is a wanted woman. Male suitors from all packs vie for her, and threaten the safety of her young niece, Lana. But there is only one man Morgan wants…




The last of his control…




Greyson Crawford has been through hell and back for Morgan. And he’d do it again. But until she learns to trust him, and lets him claim her as his own, he can’t fully protect her. When a force more powerful than either have known threatens to tear them apart, can Greyson convince Morgan to accept him as her mate once and for all, before it’s too late?[/learn_more]


Amber Smoke (The Escaped #1)
by Kristin Cast
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]There is a world that runs parallel to our own, a world in which the souls of the damned are caged, where they are looked over by the Furies, and where they spend eternity in torment, mirroring the devastation and mayhem they created when alive.




Someone has opened the cage.




The worst of terrors has crossed the barrier that separates our world from theirs, and the Furies send a great, albeit untested warrior—their only son, Alek—to try to bring those souls back. He is young and handsome, headstrong and impulsive, and he won’t be able to do it alone.




Eva has grown up, beautiful and beloved, but surrounded by secrets. First, she will be hunted in an ancient feud that will threaten her life. Then, she will become the hunter.




With the police closing in and two worlds on the verge of crumbling around them, Alek and Eva must find each other, discover the limits of their powers, and work together to save everything they hold dear, including one another. Blending elements of mythology with the dazzling storytelling that her fans have devoured through the House of Night series, Kristin Cast weaves a spellbinding and passionate tale that starts a thrilling new series with an explosive charge.[/learn_more]


Soul Scorched Part 1 (Dark Kings #6)
by Donna Grant
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Born on the Isle of Skye, Darcy is a beautiful woman of many gifts. Fortune-telling is her forte, and she remains the only Druid who could unlock the secrets-and desires-of a Dragon King. His name is Warrick. And now that Darcy’s seen into his dragon heart, nothing will ever be the same…[/learn_more]


Michel/Striker (Bayou Heat #15-16)
by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Books 15&16 of the USA Today Bestselling series![/learn_more]


Ravaged (Eternal Guardians #7.5)
by Elisabeth Naughton
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Ari–Once an Eternal Guardian, now he’s nothing but a rogue mercenary with one singular focus: revenge. His guardian brothers all think he’s dead, but he is very much alive in the human realm, chipping away at Zeus’s Sirens every chance he can, reveling in his brutality and anonymity. Until, that is, he abducts the wrong female and his identity is finally exposed. It will take more than the Eternal Guardians, more even than the gods to rein Ari in after everything he’s done. It may just take the courage of one woman willing to stand up to a warrior who’s become a savage.[/learn_more]



Science Fiction / Fantasy:

The Iron Assassin
by Ed Greenwood
Science Fiction / Steampunk
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Hot pulp fiction: a steampunk Frankenstein is a weapon of death in an alternate 19th-century England




On an Earth that is not our own, Victoria never ascended the throne; the House of Hanover held England only briefly before being supplanted by the House of Harminster. It is a time of gaslamps and regularly scheduled airship flights, of trams and steam-driven clockwork with countless smoke-belching stacks. London, the capitol of the Empire of the Lion, is a filthy, crowded, fast-growing city where a series of shocking murders threatens the throne itself.




Energetic young inventor Jack Straker believes he has created a weapon to defend the Crown: a reanimated, clockwork-enhanced corpse he can control. He introduces “the Iron Assassin” to the highly placed Lords who will decide if Straker’s invention becomes a weapon of the Lion—or something to be destroyed.




It quickly becomes apparent that the Iron Assassin is more self-willed than Straker intended, and that the zombie’s past life is far more sinister than Straker thought. Has he created a runaway monster? Or the best guardian the Lion could ever hope for?[/learn_more]


The Clockwork Crown
(Clockwork Dagger Duology #2)
by Beth Cato
Science Fiction / Steampunk
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Narrowly surviving assassination and capture, Octavia Leander, a powerful magical healer, is on the run with handsome Alonzo Garrett, the Clockwork Dagger who forfeited his career with the Queen’s secret society of spies and killers—and possibly his life—to save her. Now, they are on a dangerous quest to find safety and answers: Why is Octavia so powerful? Why does she seem to be undergoing a transformation unlike any witnessed for hundreds of years?




The truth may rest with the source of her mysterious healing power—the Lady’s Tree. But the tree lies somewhere in a rough, inhospitable territory known as the Waste. Eons ago, this land was made barren and uninhabitable by an evil spell, until a few hardy souls dared to return over the last century. For years, the Waste has waged a bloody battle against the royal court to win its independence—and they need Octavia’s powers to succeed.




Joined by unlikely allies, including a menagerie of gremlin companions, she must evade killers and Clockwork Daggers on a dangerous journey through a world on the brink of deadly civil war.
[/learn_more]


The Mechanical Theater
(Chroniker City #2)
by Brooke Johnson
Science Fiction / Steampunk
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Petra Wade’s older brother, Solomon, has always dreamed of being an actor. Instead, he works grueling shifts in the clockwork city’s boiler rooms to help support his large adopted family. When Le Theatre Mecanique holds an open call for their upcoming performance, he decides to audition. However, the only role he is suitable to fill is that of the theater’s custodian.




Leaving the well-paying boiler job behind him, Solomon immerses himself in the theater–watching rehearsals, studying the performances, and working with an emerging young actress to improve his skills. But back at home, his family feels the sting of their reduced income when his younger sister Emily develops pneumonia and the only treatment is too expensive.




Solomon will be forced to make a difficult choice: fulfill his dreams of stardom, or help save his younger sister. [/learn_more]


On the Accidental Wings of Dragons
(The Dragons of Eternity #1)
by Julie Wetzel
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]When Michael Duncan is sent to investigate the disappearance of several dragon subjects, he finds himself in a bind. Locked in a dungeon, his only hope lies wrapped in a bundle of cloth tossed at his feet. One kiss and his life is changed forever. Hunted by his own people for crimes he didn’t commit, Michael has to learn a whole new life at the hands of a beautiful woman. Can she help him clear his name, or will just being in her presence get him sentenced to death?




Carissa Markel doesn’t know who this man chained to the wall is, but he’s her only chance for escape. She has power, but, born without a voice, she lacks the means to wield it. One choice, made in desperation, sends them running for their lives. Does she have the strength to help him clear his name? And what will her brother, the King of Dragons, do if he finds out what she’s done? The real questions is… can she keep her hands off him long enough to find out?[/learn_more]


The Invasion of the Tearling
(The Queen of the Tearling #2)
by Erika Johansen
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In this riveting sequel to the national bestseller The Queen of the Tearling, the evil kingdom of Mortmesne invades the Tearling, with dire consequences for Kelsea and her realm.




With each passing day, Kelsea Glynn is growing into her new responsibilities as Queen of the Tearling. By stopping the shipments of slaves to the neighboring kingdom of Mortmesne, she crossed the Red Queen, a brutal ruler whose power derives from dark magic, who is sending her fearsome army into the Tearling to take what is hers. And nothing can stop the invasion.




But as the Mort army draws ever closer, Kelsea develops a mysterious connection to a time before the Crossing, and she finds herself relying on a strange and possibly dangerous ally: a woman named Lily, fighting for her life in a world where being female can feel like a crime. The fate of the Tearling —and that of Kelsea’s own soul—may rest with Lily and her story, but Kelsea may not have enough time to find out.




In this dazzling sequel, Erika Johansen brings back favorite characters, including the Mace and the Red Queen, and introduces unforgettable new players, adding exciting layers to her multidimensional tale of magic, mystery, and a fierce young heroine. [/learn_more]


The Darkling Child
(The Defenders of Shannara #2)
by Terry Brooks
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks comes a thrilling stand-alone novel in his legendary Shannara series—the perfect place for new readers to begin.




After taking up his enchanted sword against the dark sorcerer Arcannen, Paxon Leah has become the sworn protector of the Druid order. Now a critical hour is at hand, as a beloved High Druid nears the end of her reign and prepares to pass from the mortal world to the one beyond. There is little time for Paxon to mourn his friend and benefactor before duty summons him. For in a distant corner of the Four Lands, the magic of the wishsong has been detected. Paxon must accompany a Druid emissary to find its source—and ensure the formidable power is not wielded by the wrong hands.




But danger is already afoot in the village of Portlow. Gentle traveling minstrel Reyn Frosch possesses the uncanny gift, and curse, of the wishsong. And now his coveted abilities have captured the malevolent interest of none other than Arcannen—whose quest for power is exceeded only by his thirst for vengeance. The lone survivor of a brutal assault on a notorious pirate city, the sorcerer is determined to retaliate against the Federation’s elite military guard—and use the devastating power of the wishsong as his ultimate weapon.[/learn_more]


Darwin’s Watch (Science of Discworld #3)
by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]When Charles Darwin writes the wrong book and reverses the progress of science, Unseen University’s wizards must once again save Roundworld (Earth, that is) from an apocalyptic end.




Ever since a wizardly experiment inadvertently brought about the creation of Roundworld, the wizard scholars of Unseen University have done their best to put things on the right course. In Darwin’s Watch they may face their greatest challenge yet: A man called Darwin has written a bestselling book called The Theology of the Species, and his theory of scientific design has been witlessly embraced by Victorian society. As a result, scientific progress has slowed to a crawl, and the wizards must find a way to change history back to the way it should have been.




DARWIN’S WATCH EXPLORES THE REVERBERATIONS of major scientific advances on our planet and our culture, the dangers of obscurantism, and the theory of evolution as you have never seen it before. This brilliant addition to Pratchett’s beloved Discworld series illustrates with great wit and wisdom how the laws of our universe truly are stranger than fiction.[/learn_more]


Slow Bullets
by Alastair Reynolds
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From the author of the Revelation Space series comes an interstellar adventure of war, identity, betrayal, and the preservation of civilization itself.




A vast conflict, one that has encompassed hundreds of worlds and solar systems, appears to be finally at an end. A conscripted soldier is beginning to consider her life after the war and the family she has left behind. But for Scur—and for humanity—peace is not to be.




On the brink of the ceasefire, Scur is captured by a renegade war criminal, and left for dead in the ruins of a bunker. She revives aboard a prisoner transport vessel. Something has gone terribly wrong with the ship.




Passengers—combatants from both sides of the war—are waking up from hibernation far too soon. Their memories, embedded in bullets, are the only links to a world which is no longer recognizable. And Scur will be reacquainted with her old enemy, but with much higher stakes than just her own life. [/learn_more]



Young Adult:

The Stars Never Rise
by Rachel Vincent
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From RACHEL VINCENT, New York Times bestselling author, comes the first book in a new series about a girl who must join forces with rogue exorcists to save her sister and, ultimately, humanity.




Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she’s too busy trying to actually survive. Her town’s population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.




When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she’ll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie’s sin has put her in serious trouble.




To keep them both alive, Nina will need to put her trust in Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?




Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can’t survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.[/learn_more]


To Hold the Bridge
by Garth Nix
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]An entertaining short-story collection from bestselling fantasy author Garth Nix, including an Old Kingdom novella, a short story set in the same world as Shade’s Children, and another story set in the world of A Confusion of Princes.




Garth Nix is renowned for his legendary fantasy works, but To Hold the Bridge showcases his versatility as the collection offers nineteen short stories from every genre of literature including science fiction, paranormal, realistic fiction, mystery, and adventure. Whether writing about vampires, detectives, ancient spirits, or odd jobs, Garth Nix’s ability to pull his readers into new worlds is extraordinary.[/learn_more]


The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly
by Stephanie Oakes
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Kevinian cult has taken everything from seventeen-year-old Minnow: twelve years of her life, her family, her ability to trust. And when she rebelled, they took away her hands, too.




Now their Prophet has been murdered and their camp set aflame, and it’s clear that Minnow knows something—but she’s not talking. As she languishes in juvenile detention, she struggles to un-learn everything she has been taught to believe, adjusting to a life behind bars and recounting the events that led up to her incarceration. But when an FBI detective approaches her about making a deal, Minnow sees she can have the freedom she always dreamed of—if she’s willing to part with the terrible secrets of her past.




This debut novel is a hard-hitting and hopeful story about the dangers of blind faith—and the power of having faith in oneself.[/learn_more]


Crash (The Game #3)
by Eve Silver
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]As her dad and best friend lie dying in the hospital, Miki is almost certain the Committee is trying to sabotage her life. The Game is glitching. The missions are more frequent, the alien Drau more deadly, and whatever has been tracking her thoughts more intrusive. The only thing holding Miki together is her boyfriend, Jackson, but somehow telling him how much she needs—and loves—him feels like the most terrifying challenge of all.




Can Miki and Jackson make it through the final mission alive and win the Game before the walls between their alien-fighting nightmares and the real world come crashing down? Or will the world and everyone Miki loves disappear forever?




Crash is the fiercely satisfying conclusion to a trilogy Pittacus Lore, New York Times bestselling author of the I Am Number Four series, raves is packed with “thrilling action and addictive romance—a mind-bending rush of a read!”[/learn_more]


Mindwalker (Mindwalker #1)
by A.J. Steiger
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]At seventeen, Lain Fisher has already aced the Institute’s elite training program for Mindwalkers, therapists who use a direct neural link to erase a patient’s traumatic memories. A prodigy and the daughter of a renowned scientist—whose unexplained death left her alone in the world—Lain is driven by the need to save others.




When Steven, a troubled classmate, asks her to wipe a horrific childhood experience from his mind, Lain’s superiors warn her to stay away. Steven’s scars are too deep, they say; the risk too great. Yet the more time Lain spends with him, the more she begins to question everything about her society. As she defies the warnings and explores Steven’s memories, it becomes clear that he’s connected to something much bigger . . . something the Institute doesn’t want the world to discover.




Lain never expected to be a rule breaker. She certainly didn’t plan on falling in love with a boy she’s been forbidden to help. But then, she never expected to stumble into a conspiracy that could ignite a revolution.[/learn_more]


Endgame: The Complete Training Diaries
by James Frey
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]All three thrilling volumes of Endgame: The Training Diaries, the prequel novellas to the New York Times bestselling Endgame series, together in one paperback bind-up!




Before they were Players . . . Before the Calling . . . They trained to be selected as the one to save their ancient bloodline—and win Endgame.




Follow the Twelve through sacrifices and betrayals, broken hearts and broken bones, as they shed their normal lives and transform into the Players they were meant to be.




They must train, learn, prepare.


To Play, survive, and solve.


To kill or be killed.


Endgame is real.


Endgame is coming.


And only one can win.[/learn_more]


The Dragon Lantern
(The League of Seven #2)
by Alan Gratz
Middle Grade
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Dragon Lantern is the second action-packed, steampunk adventure in the League of Seven series by the acclaimed author of Samurai Shortstop, Alan Gratz.




Archie Dent is convinced that he and his friends Hachi and Fergus are the first three members of a new League of Seven: a group of heroes who come together to fight the Mangleborn whenever the monsters arise to destroy humanity. His belief is put to the test when they are forced to undertake separate missions. Archie and his faithful Tik-Tok servant Mr. Rivets pursue a shapeshifting girl who has stolen the Dragon Lantern, an ancient artifact with mysterious powers. And Hachi and Fergus travel to New Orleans to find Madame Blavatsky, the only person who knows the circumstances surrounding the death of Hachi’s father.




In the course of their adventures the three heroes meet potential candidates to join their League. At the same time, they learn deep-rooted secrets that could destroy the League forever….[/learn_more]



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Carmel Signature

Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!

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