Fresh Meat: Nov 1 to 7 — 47 Speculative Fiction Releases

Posted November 3, 2015 by Carmel in Fresh Meat / 0 Comments

Urban Fantasy:

Pirateship Down
Pirateship Down
Stories from the World of the Sentinels of New Orleans
by Suzanne Johnson
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From award-winning author Suzanne Johnson comes the first story collection set in the Sentinels of New Orleans world, including the all-new novella, Pirateship Down.




French pirate Jean Lafitte is tall, cobalt-eyed, broad-shouldered and immortal. What’s not to love? But New Orleans’ most esteemed member of the historical undead is headed for trouble: He’s determined to reclaim Le Diligent, his gold-laden schooner lost at sea in 1814 and recently found at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico near Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.




The U.S. Coast Guard might beg to differ.




New Orleans’ wizard sentinel DJ Jaco and her merman friend Rene Delachaise can either lock Lafitte up or save him from himself, joining him on a road trip to Cajun country. Terrebonne Parish—not to mention its jail—might never be the same after the events of the all-new novella Pirateship Down.




Wizards and Cajun mermen, sexy shifters and undead French pirates. Welcome to the world of the Sentinels of New Orleans in this first collection of new and revised stories, along with a little Louisiana lagniappe.[/learn_more]


Reap the Wind (Cassandra Palmer #7)
by Karen Chance
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]You’d think that being Chief Seer for the supernatural world would come with a few perks. But as Cassie Palmer has learned, being Pythia doesn’t mean you don’t have to do things the hard way. That’s why she finds herself on a rescue mission skipping through time—even though she doesn’t entirely understand her dimension-bending new power.




Rescuing her friend John Pritkin should have been an in and out kind of deal, but with the near-immortal mage’s soul lost in time, Cassie has to hunt for it through the ages—with Pritkin’s demon dad in tow. He’s the only one who can reverse Pritkin’s curse, but with the guardians of the time-line dead set on stopping anyone from mucking about, Cassie will have to figure out how to get her friend back without ruffling too many feathers—or causing a world-ending paradox or two… [/learn_more]


Kill Baxter (Apocalypse Now Now #2)
by Charlie Human
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The world has been massively unappreciative of sixteen-year-old Baxter Zevcenko. His bloodline may be a combination of ancient Boer mystic and giant shape-shifting crow, and he may have won an inter-dimensional battle and saved the world, but does anyone care? Frankly, no.




Instead he’s packed off to Hexpoort, a magical training school that’s part reformatory, part military school. It’s just like Hogwarts – except with sex, drugs, and much better internet access. The problem is that Baxter sucks at magic. He’s also desperately attempting to control his new ability to dreamwalk, all the while being singled out by the school’s resident bully, who just so happens to be the Chosen One.




But when Hexpoort comes under attack, Baxter needs to forget all that and step into action. The only way to do this is to join forces with his favourite recovering alcoholic of a supernatural bounty hunter, Ronin, to try to save the world from the apocalypse. Again.[/learn_more]


Lost Souls (Reviver Trilogy #2)
by Seth Patrick
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The second in the genre-bending trilogy delivers chilling twists as a forensic detective revives the dead to exhume a world changing conspiracy.




After the life-altering events of Reviver, Jonah Miller, the world’s most powerful forensic revivalist, is caught between standing up for what he knows is right, and protecting the job he loves.




But the tide is turning. Those who campaign against revival have redoubled their efforts. Better funded, their polemic is working. Public opinion, usually supportive of the revivers, is becoming uneasy.




Then a bizarrely mutilated body is found. The cause of death baffles police, but Jonah suspects that there are other forces at work, forces just as destructive as those he has already faced.




When research efforts begin again to explore the source of revival, old faces reappear and Jonah’s world starts to unravel. As the research closes in on dangerous truths, Jonah and his friends find there’s nowhere left to go; no-one left to trust.




And in the darkness, something is coming.[/learn_more]


Mind Magic (World of the Lupi #12)
by Eileen Wilks
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]FBI agent Lily Yu’s mind is a dangerous place to be in the latest Novel of the Lupi…




Thanks to the mindspeech lessons she’s receiving from the black dragon, Lily is temporarily benched from Unit Twelve—until her brain acclimates and the risk of total burnout passes. At least she has her new husband, lupi Rule Turner, to keep her occupied.




But when her mentor calls in a favor and sends Lily to a murder scene, she’s suddenly back on active status—despite the hallucinations she can’t keep at bay. With one touch, Lily knows the man was killed by magic, but her senses don’t warn her how far the conspiracy goes…




A shadowy force within the government wants to take Unit Twelve down, and they don’t mind killing to achieve their goal. With none of her usual resources, Lily is up against impossible odds–because with her mind in disarray, she can’t trust anything she sees. [/learn_more]


Shivaree
by J.D. Horn
Horror
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]As the Korean War ends, practical and well-mannered army nurse Corinne Ford returns stateside to live in the Mississippi town of Conroy with her new fiancé, Private First Class Elijah Dunne. She wonders if their love is strong enough to overshadow their differences, but upon her arrival to Elijah’s backwoods stomping grounds, she understands that culture shock is the least of her worries.




After four good ol’ boys are attacked in the night while seeking to terrorize a local black family, decades of buried secrets begin to rise. From Conroy’s most powerful citizen—known as “the Judge”—to the man Corinne intends to marry, no one is innocent. Yet the deepest secret of all involves the beautiful, cruel, and dead Miss Ruby. The former belle of Conroy, and Elijah’s lost love, is neither forgotten nor truly gone. But her death is only the beginning of a slow vengeance that won’t stop until its hunger is satisfied.[/learn_more]


Dead Ringers
by Christopher Golden
Horror
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]With a deep history that threads back to the days of Alistair Crowley and an ancient house, the spirits of some long dead magicians live on by possessing the lives of others in the present day.




When Tess Devlin runs into her ex-husband Nick on a Boston sidewalk, she’s furious at him for pretending he doesn’t know her. She calls his cell to have it out with him, only to discover that he’s in New Hampshire with his current girlfriend. But if Nick’s in New Hampshire…who did she encounter on the street?




Frank Lindbergh’s dreams have fallen apart. He wanted to get out of the grim neighborhood where he’d grown up and out of the shadow of his alcoholic father. Now both his parents are dead and he’s back in his childhood home, drinking too much himself. As he sets in motion his plans for the future, he’s assaulted by an intruder in his living room…an intruder who could be his twin.




In an elegant hotel, Tess will find mystery and terror in her own reflection. Outside a famed mansion on Beacon Hill, people are infected with a diabolical malice…while on the streets, an eyeless man, dressed in rags, searches for a woman who wears Tess’s face. [/learn_more]


The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
by Stephen King
Horror
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]A master storyteller at his best—the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story.




Since his first collection, Nightshift, published thirty-five years ago, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection he assembles, for the first time, recent stories that have never been published in a book. He introduces each with a passage about its origins or his motivations for writing it.




There are thrilling connections between stories; themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past. “Afterlife” is about a man who died of colon cancer and keeps reliving the same life, repeating his mistakes over and over again. Several stories feature characters at the end of life, revisiting their crimes and misdemeanors. Other stories address what happens when someone discovers that he has supernatural powers—the columnist who kills people by writing their obituaries in “Obits;” the old judge in “The Dune” who, as a boy, canoed to a deserted island and saw names written in the sand, the names of people who then died in freak accidents. In “Morality,” King looks at how a marriage and two lives fall apart after the wife and husband enter into what seems, at first, a devil’s pact they can win.




Magnificent, eerie, utterly compelling, these stories comprise one of King’s finest gifts to his constant reader—“I made them especially for you,” says King. “Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth.”[/learn_more]



Science Fiction / Fantasy:

This Gulf of Time and Stars
(Reunification #1)
by Julie E. Czerneda
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]…I’d lived on a starship long enough to value the small sounds the Fox made: the whoosh of air through vents, the bone-deep growl of lift engines, and the reassuring almost-whine that meant not only gravity, but that we were moving through subspace under power. Sound meant we were safe and all was well.




Silence meant the opposite…




First in a new science fiction trilogy, set in the same universe as the Clan Chronicles, by the Prix Aurora Award-winning Julie E. Czerneda. [/learn_more]


Going Dark (The Red #3)
by Linda Nagata
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In the third book in The Red Trilogy, former Army Lt. James Shelley becomes a black ops sniper working for the Red—a suspected rogue artificial intelligence that is ripped from today’s headlines.




James Shelley has left his lover, Delphi, and his companion-in-arms, Jayne Vasquez, with a fortune acquired from a fallen oligarch. They believe him to be dead, and he doesn’t try to set the record straight. His long-running question has been answered: There are other soldiers like him who have served the purposes of the Red—and he has accepted his place among them. As a soldier of the Red he pursues covert missions designed to nudge history away from existential threats—but that doesn’t mean the world is growing more orderly. It’s only in the froth of a “managed chaos” that human potential can grow and thrive. Shelley’s missions eventually take him into orbit—and into conflict with those he loves—Delphi and Jaynie—who are determined to escape the influence of the Red.[/learn_more]


Shadow of Empire (Far Star Trilogy #1)
by Jay Allan
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The first installment in the Far Star series, a swashbuckling space saga that introduces the daring pirate Blackhawk and the loyal crew of the Wolf’s Claw, from the author of the bestselling Crimson Worlds saga




Smuggler and mercenary Arkarin Blackhawk and the crew of the ship Wolf’s Claw are freelance adventurers who live on the fringe of human society in the Far Stars. A veteran fighter as deadly with a blade as he is with a gun, Blackhawk is a man haunted by a dark past. Even his cynicism cannot banish the guilt and pain that threaten his sanity.




Sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of his longtime friend Marshal Augustin Lucerne, Blackhawk and his crew find themselves drawn into one deadly fight after another. When the Wolf’s Claw is damaged, they are forced to land on an remote planet subsumed by civil war. Pulled unwittingly into the conflict, they uncover disturbing information about secret imperial involvement that could upset the plans of Lucerne.




For the Marshal is determined to forge a Far Stars Confederation powerful enough to eliminate all imperial influence and threats in the sector. He needs a skilled warrior like Blackhawk on his side, but the mercenary, plagued by dark memories from the past, refuses to join the cause. All too soon, though, he and his crew will have to take a stand.[/learn_more]


Solar Express
by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]You can’t militarize space. This one rule has led to decades of peaceful development of space programs worldwide. However, increasing resource scarcity and a changing climate on Earth’s surface is causing some interested parties to militarize, namely India, the North American Union, and the Sinese Federation.




The discovery of a strange artifact by Dr. Alayna Wong precipitates a crisis. What appears to be a hitherto undiscovered comet is soon revealed to be an alien structure on a cometary trajectory toward the sun. Now there is a race between countries to see who can study and control the artifact dubbed the “Solar Express” before it perhaps destroys itself.




Leading the way for the North American Union is Alayna’s friend, Captain Christopher Tavoian, one of the first shuttle pilots to be trained for combat in space. But, as the alien craft gets closer to its destination, it begins to alter the surface of the sun in strange new ways, ways that could lead Alayna to revolutionary discoveries—provided Chris can prevent war from breaking out as he navigates among the escalating tensions between nations.[/learn_more]


The Geomancer
(Vampire Empire: A Gareth and Adele Novel)
by Clay Griffith, Susan Griffith
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The uneasy stalemate between vampires and humans is over. Adele and Gareth are bringing order to a free Britain, but bloody murders in London raise the specter that Adele’s geomancy is failing and the vampires might return. A new power could tilt the balance back to the vampire clans. A deranged human called the Witchfinder has surfaced on the Continent, serving new vampire lords. This geomancer has found a way to make vampires immune to geomancy and intends to give his masters the ability to kill humans on a massive scale.




The apocalyptic event in Edinburgh weakened Adele’s geomantic abilities. If the Witchfinder can use geomancy against humanity, she may not have the power to stop him. If she can’t, there is nowhere beyond his reach and no one he cannot kill.




From a Britain struggling to rebuild to the vampire capital of Paris, from the heart of the Equatorian Empire to a vampire monastery in far-away Tibet, old friends and past enemies return. Unexpected allies and terrible new villains arise. Adele and Gareth fight side-by-side as always, but they can never be the same if they hope to survive.[/learn_more]


Planetfall
by Emma Newman
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]From the award-nominated author Emma Newman, comes a novel of how one secret withheld to protect humanity’s future might be its undoing…




Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.




More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony’s 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.




Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.




The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…[/learn_more]


Inherit the Stars
by Tony Peak
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]An epic debut set on the edges of space, where one botched job could mean death—or so much worse…




Wanderlust runs in Kivita Vondir’s blood. She dreamed of salvaging like her father when she was young, and now it’s her addiction, getting her through pit stops filled with cheap alcohol and cheaper companionship and distracting her from her broken heart.




Her latest contract to hunt down a fabled gemstone is exactly the kind of adventure she craves. But this job is more than meets the eye. For one thing, her duplicitous employer has hired rebel Sar Redryll—Kivita’s former lover—to stop her at any cost. For another, Kivita’s recovery of the relic unleashes in her powerful new abilities. Abilities that everyone in the Cetturo Arm—human, alien, and in-between—desperately wishes to control…




As she avoids a massive galactic manhunt, Kivita teams up with two unlikely allies: Sar and his enigmatic new partner. Only, as the gem’s mysteries are revealed and danger draws near, Kivita begins to wonder if her ex has truly changed, or if he’s just waiting for the right moment to betray her once again…[/learn_more]


Green Earth
by Kim Stanley Robinson
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The landmark trilogy of cutting-edge science, international politics, and the real-life ramifications of climate change—updated and abridged into a single novel




More than a decade ago, bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson began a groundbreaking series of near-future eco-thrillers—Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, and Sixty Days and Counting—that grew increasingly urgent and vital as global warming continued unchecked. Now, condensed into one volume and updated with the latest research, this sweeping trilogy gains new life as Green Earth, a chillingly realistic novel that plunges readers into great floods, a modern Ice Age, and the political fight for all our lives.




The Arctic ice pack averaged thirty feet thick in midwinter when it was first measured in the 1950s. By the end of the century it was down to fifteen. One August the ice broke. The next year the breakup started in July. The third year it began in May. That was last year.




It’s a muggy summer in Washington, D.C., as Senate environmental staffer Charlie Quibler and his scientist wife, Anna, work to call attention to the growing crisis of global warming. But as they fight to align the extraordinary march of modern technology with the awesome forces of nature, fate puts an unusual twist on their efforts—one that will pit science against politics in the heart of the coming storm.[/learn_more]


The Serpent (Gameshouse #1)
by Claire North
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In 17th Century Venice exists a mysterious establishment known only as the Gameshouse.




There, fortunes are made and fortunes are broken over games of chess, backgammon and every other game under the sun.




But those whom fortune favours may be invited to compete in the higher league . . . a league where the games played are of politics and empires, of economics and kings. It is a league where Capture the Castle involves real castles, where hide and seek takes place on a scale as big as the British Isles.




Not everyone proves worthy of competing in the higher league. But one woman, who is about to play, may just exceed everyone’s expectations.




Though she must always remember: the higher the stakes, the more deadly the rules . . . [/learn_more]


The Thief (Gameshouse #2)
by Claire North
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Gameshouse is an unusual institution.




Many know it as the place where fortunes can be made and lost though games of chess, backgammon – every game under the sun.




But a select few, who are picked to compete in the higher league, know that some games are played for higher stakes – those of politics and empires, of economics and kings . . .




In 1930s Bangkok, one higher league player has just been challenged to a game of hide and seek. The board is all of Thailand – and the seeker may use any means possible to hunt down his quarry – be it police, government, strangers or even spies . . .[/learn_more]


The Master (Gameshouse #3)
by Claire North
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Gameshouse is an unusual institution.




Many know it as the place where fortunes can be made and lost though games of chess, backgammon – every game under the sun.




But a select few, who are picked to compete in the higher league, know that some games are played for higher stakes – those of politics and empires, of economics and kings . . .




And now, the ultimate player is about to step forward. [/learn_more]


The Girl with Ghost Eyes
by M.H. Boroson
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]It’s the end of the nineteenth century in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and ghost hunters from the Maoshan traditions of Daoism keep malevolent spiritual forces at bay. Li-lin, the daughter of a renowned Daoshi exorcist, is a young widow burdened with yin eyes—the unique ability to see the spirit world. Her spiritual visions and the death of her husband bring shame to Li-lin and her father—and shame is not something this immigrant family can afford.




When a sorcerer cripples her father, terrible plans are set in motion, and only Li-lin can stop them. To aid her are her martial arts and a peachwood sword, her burning paper talismans, and a wisecracking spirit in the form of a human eyeball tucked away in her pocket. Navigating the dangerous alleys and backrooms of a male-dominated Chinatown, Li-lin must confront evil spirits, gangsters, and soulstealers before the sorcerer’s ritual summons an ancient evil that could burn Chinatown to the ground.




With a rich and inventive historical setting, nonstop martial arts action, authentic Chinese magic, and bizarre monsters from Asian folklore, The Girl with Ghost Eyes is also the poignant story of a young immigrant searching to find her place beside the long shadow of a demanding father and the stigma of widowhood. In a Chinatown caught between tradition and modernity, one woman may be the key to holding everything together.[/learn_more]


City of Wonders(Seven Forges #3)
by James A. Moore
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Old Canhoon, the City of Wonders, is having a population explosion as refugees from Tyrne and Roathes alike try to escape the Sa’ba Taalor. All along the border between the Blasted Lands and the Fellein Empire armies clash and the most powerful empire in the world is pushed back toward the old Capital. From the far east the Pilgrim gathers an army of the faithful, heading for Old Canhoon.




In Old Canhoon itself the imperial family struggles against enemies old and new as the spies of their enemies begin removing threats to the gods of the Seven Forges and prepare the way for the invading armies of the Seven Kings. In the distant Taalor valley Andover Lashk continues his quest and must make a final decision, while at the Mounds, something inhuman is awakened and set free.




War is Here. Blood will flow and bodies will burn.[/learn_more]


Black Wolves
(The Black Wolves Trilogy #1)
by Kate Elliott
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]For readers of Brent Weeks and fans of Netflix’s Marco Polo comes a rich and inspired fantasy tale of warriors and nobles who must take the most desperate gamble of all: awaken allies more destructive than the hated king they hope to overthrow. Kate Elliott’s new trilogy is an unmissable treat for epic fantasy lovers everywhere.




An exiled captain returns to help the son of the king who died under his protection in this rich and multi-layered first book in an action-packed new series.




Twenty two years have passed since Kellas, once Captain of the legendary Black Wolves, lost his King and with him his honor. With the King murdered and the Black Wolves disbanded, Kellas lives as an exile far from the palace he once guarded with his life.




Until Marshal Dannarah, sister to the dead King, comes to him with a plea-rejoin the palace guard and save her nephew, King Jehosh, before he meets his father’s fate. [/learn_more]


Mystic (Mystic #1)
by Jason Denzel
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The start of an enchanting new epic fantasy series from the founder of Dragonmount




I called to the Myst, and it sent us you.




For hundreds of years, high-born nobles have competed for the chance to learn of the Myst.




Powerful, revered, and often reclusive, Mystics have the unique ability to summon and manipulate the Myst: the underlying energy that lives at the heart of the universe. Once in a very great while, they take an apprentice, always from the most privileged sects of society.




Such has always been the tradition—until a new High Mystic takes her seat and chooses Pomella AnDone, a restless, low-born teenager, as a candidate.




Commoners have never been welcomed among the select few given the opportunity to rise beyond even the highest nobility. So when Pomella chooses to accept the summons and journey to Kelt Apar, she knows that she will have more to contend with than the competition for the apprenticeship.




Breaking both law and tradition, Pomella undergoes three trials against the other candidates to prove her worthiness. As the trials unfold, Pomella navigates a deadly world of intolerance and betrayal, unaware that ruthless conspirators intend to make her suffer for having the audacity to seek to unravel the secrets of the Myst. [/learn_more]


Jeweled Fire (Elemental Blessings #3)
by Sharon Shinn
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The national bestselling author of Troubled Waters and Royal Airs returns to her Elemental Blessings series with the story of a young princess who will need more than blessings to survive in a kingdom where everyone will do whatever it takes to claim the throne…




As one of the four princesses of Welce, Corene always thought she might one day become queen. Only circumstances changed, leaving fiery Corene with nothing to show for a life spent playing the game of court intrigue—until a chance arises to become the ruler of a nearby country.




After stowing away on a ship bound for Malinqua with her loyal bodyguard, Foley, Corene must try to win the throne by making a play to marry one of the empress’s three nephews. But Corene is not the only foreign princess in search of a crown.




Unaccustomed to being anyone’s friend, Corene is surprised to find companionship among her fellow competitors. But behind Malinqua’s beautiful facade lie many secrets.




The visiting princesses are more hostages than guests. And as the deadly nature of the court is revealed, Corene must rely on both her new allies and Foley’s unwavering protection—for the game she has entered is far more perilous than she ever imagined…[/learn_more]


Air and Darkness
by David Drake
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Magic, epic battles, love, and adventure in a classical setting




This intriguing and fantastic adventure is both an independent novel and the gripping conclusion of the Books of the Elements, a four-volume set of fantasies set in Carce, an analog of ancient Rome. Here the stakes are raised from the previous novels in an ultimate conflict between the forces of logic and reason and the forces of magic and the supernatural. During the extraordinary time in which this story is set, the supernatural is dominant. The story is an immensely complex journey of adventure through real and magical places.




Corylus, a soldier, emerges as one of the most compelling heroic figures in contemporary fantasy. Battling magicians, spirits, gods, and forces from supernatural realities, Corylus and his companions from the family of the nobleman Saxa—especially Saxa’s impressive wife Hedia, and his friend (and Saxa’s son) Varus—must face constant deadly and soul-destroying dangers, climaxing in a final battle not between good and evil but in defense of logic and reality. [/learn_more]


The Wheel of Time Companion
by Robert Jordan, Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, Maria Simons
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. Over the course of fifteen books and millions of words, the world that Jordan created grew in depth and complexity. However, only a fraction of what Jordan imagined ended up on the page, the rest going into his personal files.




Now The Wheel of Time Companion sheds light on some of the most intriguing aspects of the world, including biographies and motivations of many characters that never made it into the books, but helped bring Jordan’s world to life.




Included in the volume in an A-to-Z format are:




An entry for each named character


An inclusive dictionary of the Old Tongue


New maps of the Last Battle


New portraits of many characters


Histories and customs of the nations of the world


The strength level of many channelers


Descriptions of the flora and fauna unique to the world


And much more!




The Wheel of Time Companion will be required reading for The Wheel of Time’s millions of fans. [/learn_more]


Tower of Thorns (Blackthorn & Grim #2)
by Juliet Marillier
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Award-winning author Juliet Marillier’s “lavishly detailed”* Blackthorn & Grim series continues as a mysterious creature holds an enchanted and imperiled ancient Ireland in thrall.




Disillusioned healer Blackthorn and her companion, Grim, have settled in Dalriada to wait out the seven years of Blackthorn’s bond to her fey mentor, hoping to avoid any dire challenges. But trouble has a way of seeking out Blackthorn and Grim.




Lady Geiléis, a noblewoman from the northern border, has asked for the prince of Dalriada’s help in expelling a howling creature from an old tower on her land—one surrounded by an impenetrable hedge of thorns. Casting a blight over the entire district, and impossible to drive out by ordinary means, it threatens both the safety and the sanity of all who live nearby. With no ready solutions to offer, the prince consults Blackthorn and Grim.




As Blackthorn and Grim begin to put the pieces of this puzzle together, it’s apparent that a powerful adversary is working behind the scenes. Their quest is about to become a life and death struggle—a conflict in which even the closest of friends can find themselves on opposite sides.[/learn_more]



Paranormal Romance:

Stars of Fortune
(The Guardians Trilogy #1)
by Nora Roberts
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]To celebrate the rise of their new queen, three goddesses of the moon created three stars, one of fire, one of ice, one of water. But then they fell from the sky, putting the fate of all worlds in danger. And now three women and three men join forces to pick up the pieces…




Sasha Riggs is a reclusive artist, haunted by dreams and nightmares that she turns into extraordinary paintings. Her visions lead her to the Greek island of Corfu, where five others have been lured to seek the fire star. Sasha recognizes them, because she has drawn them: a magician, an archaeologist, a wanderer, a fighter, a loner. All on a quest. All with secrets.




Sasha is the one who holds them together—the seer. And in the magician, Bran Killian, she sees a man of immense power and compassion. As Sasha struggles with her rare ability, Bran is there to support her, challenge her, and believe in her.




But Sasha and Bran are just two of the six. And they all must all work together as a team to find the fire star in a cradle of land beneath the sea. Over their every attempt at trust, unity, and love, a dark threat looms. And it seeks to corrupt everything that stands in its way of possessing the stars…[/learn_more]


Born of Betrayal
(The League: Nemesis Rising #10)
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Years ago, family loyalty caused Fain Hauk to give up everything he loved: His military career. His planet. His fiancée. Even his name.




Now decades later, everything has changed. He’s built a new life out of the ashes of his old, and he’s vowed to never let anything threaten his loved ones again.




But when old enemies align themselves with new ones, he’s caught in the middle of a brutal war. And when fate throws his former fiancée back into his world and she has her own agenda that includes taking his head for what he did to her years ago, more than just his life is at stake. The fate of the Ichidian universe and that of his brothers-in-arms hangs in the balance. Winner take all.




It’s killed or be killed, and never has the battle been more fierce…




Or more fun.[/learn_more]


Passion Ignites (Dark Kings #7)
by Donna Grant
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]He consumed her with that kiss, leaving no question that whatever was happening between them was meant to be—that it had always been meant to be…




HE LOVES FOR ETERNITY




Thorn is the bad boy of the Dragon Kings, a gorgeous, reckless warrior whose passions run wild and fury knows no bounds. When he sees the brave, beautiful Lexi being lured into the Dark Fae’s trap, he has no choice but to rescue her from a fate worse than death. But by saving this tempting mortal, he exposes himself to his fiercest enemy—and darkest desires. As the war between Dragons and Fae heats up, so does the passion between Lexi and Thorn. And when love is a battlefield, the heart takes no prisoners…




SHE LIVES FOR VENGEANCE




Lexi is on a mission of justice. Every day, she searches for the monster who murdered her friend. Every night, she hides in the shadows and plots her revenge. But the man she seeks is more dangerous than she ever imagined. He is one of the Dark Fae who preys on human life, who uses his unearthly power to seduce the innocent, and who is setting a trap just for her. Nothing can save Lexi from a creature like this—except the one man who’s been watching her every move… [/learn_more]


Heart Legacy (Celta’s Heartmates #14)
by Robin D. Owens
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The award-winning author returns to her “wonderfully imaginative”* world of Heart Fire and Heart Fortune for an all-new Celta novel about a young woman’s destiny, and the one man whose love could be her downfall.




After the death of GrandLord Yew years ago, the Yews withdrew to their self-sustaining estate and disappeared from Celtan society. The current head of the household is believed to be eighteen-year-old Loridana. To find out, Draeg Blackthorn has been sent to the estate to spy, undercover as a stableman for the stridebeasts—beautiful creatures that hold a place in Lori’s heart no member of her family ever could.




Bullied by her family, Lori has decided to abandon her bloodline and live on her own with her true family—her animals. When Draeg discovers she’s rejecting her heritage, he’s appalled. He’s come to love the land as much as the woman, even spinning small fantasies of marrying Lori and becoming Lord and Lady of the manor. Draeg wants her to stay and fight her elders. For Lori, it’s an alternative that could render her absolutely powerless to pursue her own destiny, and drive her further away from her perfect dreams and the man she loves, Draeg. [/learn_more]


Fangs for the Memories
(Half-Moon Hollow #4.5)
by Molly Harper
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]“Molly Harper writes characters you can’t help but fall in love with” (RT Book Reviews), but how did Andrea and Dick Cheney fall in love? Join Half-Moon Hollow’s favorite couple for a trip down memory lane—to a time when Mr. Wainwright was newly dead, Jane Jameson was a newbie vampire, and a budding paranormal romance was not yet uncorked…




Half-Moon Hollow’s supernatural social event of the season—Zeb’s Titanic-themed werewolf wedding—is coming up, and Dick Cheney (not that Dick Cheney!) needs a date. But Andrea’s had enough of clever, handsome, and rakish to last a lifetime, and Dick Cheney is certainly not the sort of man you bring home to mom (not that Andrea’s deadist parents are speaking to her ever since she dropped out of college and became a blood surrogate.) Shameless, relentless, roguish, with a Stetson-worthy swagger, a naughty sparkle in his eyes, and a constant smirk—oh, and fangs—no, Dick is the last person (er…vampire) Andrea wants to date.




But the infuriatingly irresistible man who lives quietly on the edge of a criminal underworld knows exactly what he wants, and once he surprises Andrea with a thrilling hot and dirty kiss behind the paranormal bookshop, she knows what she wants too: Dick. All it takes to ignite their unconventional courtship is a near-undeath experience that confronts Dick with a choice between turning Andrea, losing her forever, or tapping into his countless shady resources in this hilarious and heartwarming enovella that revisits the early days of Molly Harper’s Nice Girls series—one that “makes me laugh and laugh” (USA TODAY) [/learn_more]


Taming the Shifter
by Lisa Childs
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Can Passion Override the Werewolf’s Need for Vengeance?




When Detective Kate Wever shoots a man in the chest, she expects him to die…and to stay dead. But it seems that Warrick James is not like other men. What he is, though, is a mystery that can only lead her deeper into danger. As she learns about Warrick’s all-consuming quest to stop whatever monster killed his father—a monster he’d apprehended and lost when Kate shot him—Kate realizes that things in the underworld of Zantrax City are not as they seem. A reality that is even more crystal clear when she looks into Warrick’s glowing topaz eyes and sees a man whom she instinctively knows is no mere mortal and a passion that will change her life forever. [/learn_more]


Billionaire Wolf
by Karen Whiddon
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Has the Billionaire Shifter Met His Match?




Ryan Howard is a billionaire playboy and powerful shifter who, some say, is driven by carnal desire. Unable—or unwilling—to settle down, he stalks the nightclubs of Galveston in search of meaningless conquests. But after one unforgettable weekend aboard his yacht with the vibrantly sexy and irresistible Maria Miranda, Ryan finds himself in an unfamiliar position. For Maria is the one who just walks away. And Ryan is facing a barrage of feelings new to him.




As one of the last of a dying race of Drakkor dragons, Maria’s sole duty is to get with child—even if it means surrendering her body to a sexy stranger, then moving on. She isn’t ready for a man like Ryan. But when she’s kidnapped by a merciless Drakkor, Maria must face her greatest fear to claim a future. [/learn_more]


Viking Warrior Rising (Viking Warriors #1)
by Asa Maria Bradley
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Immortal Vikings are among us.




Leif Skarsganger and his elite band of immortal warriors have been charged to protect humanity from the evil Norse god Loki.




Under attack from Loki’s minions, Leif is shocked to encounter a dark-haired beauty who fights like a warrior herself. Wounded and feverish, the Viking kisses her, inadvertently triggering an ancient Norse bond. But when Naya Brisbane breaks away and disappears before the bond is completed, Leif’s warrior spirit goes berserk. If Leif doesn’t find her fast, he’s going to lose himself to permanent battle fury.




But Naya doesn’t want to be found…and he’ll do anything to find her. Because they’re both running out of time. [/learn_more]



Young Adult:

The Conjurer’s Riddle
(The Inventor’s Secret #2)
by Andrea Cremer
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Revolution is beginning–and Charlotte may be on the wrong side.




In this sequel to The Inventor’s Secret, Charlotte and her companions escape the British Empire, but they haven’t left danger behind. In fact, if they go against the revolutionaries, they face even greater peril.




Charlotte leads her group of exiles west, plunging into a wild world of shady merchants and surly rivermen on the way to New Orleans. But as Charlotte learns more about the revolution she has championed, she wonders if she’s on the right side after all. Charlotte and her friends get to know the mystical New Orleans bayou and deep into the shadowy tunnels below the city–the den of criminals, assassins and pirates–Charlotte must decide if the revolution’s goals justify their means, or if some things, like the lives of her friends, are too sacred to sacrifice.

This alternate-history adventure series asks the questions: What would have happened if America had lost the Revolutionary War? And what would people be willing to do to finally taste freedom? [/learn_more]


Hotel Ruby
by Suzanne Young
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Stay Tonight. Stay Forever.




When Audrey Casella arrives for an unplanned stay at the grand Hotel Ruby, she’s grateful for the detour. Just months after their mother’s death, Audrey and her brother, Daniel, are on their way to live with their grandmother, dumped on the doorstep of a DNA-matched stranger because their father is drowning in his grief.




Audrey and her family only plan to stay the night, but life in the Ruby can be intoxicating, extending their stay as it provides endless distractions—including handsome guest Elias Lange, who sends Audrey’s pulse racing. However, the hotel proves to be as strange as it is beautiful. Nightly fancy affairs in the ballroom are invitation only, and Audrey seems to be the one guest who doesn’t have an invite. Instead, she joins the hotel staff on the rooftop, catching whispers about the hotel’s dark past.




The more Audrey learns about the new people she’s met, the more her curiosity grows. She’s torn in different directions—the pull of her past with its overwhelming loss, the promise of a future that holds little joy, and an in-between life in a place that is so much more than it seems…




Welcome to the Ruby.[/learn_more]


Manners & Mutiny (Finishing School #4)
by Gail Carriger
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]If one must flirt…flirt with danger.




Lessons in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine’s floating dirigible have become tedious without Sophronia’s sweet sootie Soap nearby. She would much rather be using her skills to thwart the dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about their wicked intentions are ignored, and now she’s not sure whom to trust. What does the brusque werewolf dewan know? On whose side is the ever-stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? Only one thing is certain: a large-scale plot is under way, and when it comes to fruition, Sophronia must be ready to save her friends, her school, and all of London from disaster–in decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.




What will become of our proper young heroine when she puts her years of training to the test? Find out in this highly anticipated and thrilling conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Finishing School series![/learn_more]


Ten Thousand Skies Above You
(Firebird #2)
by Claudia Gray
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Ever since she used the Firebird, her parents’ invention, to cross into alternate dimensions, Marguerite has caught the attention of enemies who will do anything to force her into helping them dominate the multiverse—even hurting the people she loves. She resists until her boyfriend, Paul, is attacked and his consciousness scattered across multiple dimensions.




Marguerite has no choice but to search for each splinter of Paul’s soul. The hunt sends her racing through a war-torn San Francisco, the criminal underworld of New York City, and a glittering Paris where another Marguerite hides a shocking secret. Each world brings Marguerite one step closer to rescuing Paul. But with each trial she faces, she begins to question the destiny she thought they shared.




The second book in the Firebird trilogy, Ten Thousand Skies Above You features Claudia Gray’s lush, romantic language and smart, exciting action, and will have readers clamoring for the next book. [/learn_more]


Until We Meet Again
by Renee Collins
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]They exist in two different centuries, but their love defies time




Cassandra craves drama and adventure, so the last thing she wants is to spend her summer marooned with her mother and stepfather in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. But when a dreamy stranger shows up on their private beach claiming it’s his own—and that the year is 1925—she is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.




As she searches for answers in the present, Cassandra discovers a truth that puts their growing love—and Lawrence’s life—into jeopardy. Desperate to save him, Cassandra must find a way to change history…or risk losing Lawrence forever. [/learn_more]


Need
by Joelle Charbonneau
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]”No one gets something for nothing. We all should know better.”




Teenagers at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious crimes. The body count rises. In this chilling YA thriller, the author of the best-selling Testing trilogy examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature.[/learn_more]
The Revolution of Ivy (The Book of Ivy #2)
by Amy Engel
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty–forced marriages and murder plots–for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall’s borders.




But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy’s life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she’s fought for.[/learn_more]


All In (The Naturals #3)
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Three casinos. Three bodies. Three days.




After a string of brutal murders in Las Vegas, Cassie Hobbes and the Naturals are called in to investigate. But even with the team’s unique profiling talents, these murders seem baffling: unlike many serial killers, this one uses different methods every time. All of the victims were killed in public, yet the killer does not show up on any tape. And each victim has a string of numbers tattooed on their wrist. Hidden in the numbers is a code—and the closer the Naturals come to unraveling the mystery, the more perilous the case becomes.




Meanwhile, Cassie is dealing with an equally dangerous and much more painful mystery. For the first time in years, there’s been a break in her mother’s case. As personal issues and tensions between the team mount, Cassie and the Naturals will be faced with impossible odds—and impossible choices.[/learn_more]


Fearless (Avena #3)
by Marianne Curley
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Ebony and Nathaneal were in love before they were even born.… Torn apart and kept in different worlds, will they finally reunite in this exquisite conclusion to Hidden and Broken?




Ebony was kept hidden on Earth for sixteen years, unaware that she was an angel. Unaware that her true soulmate, Nathaneal, was searching for her. Now ready to claim her rightful place with him, in a cruel twist of fate Ebony is captured and imprisoned in a version of hell.




Knowing that Nathaneal will come for her, Ebony is determined to fight against the evil that holds her prisoner. As long as she has Nathaneal’s love, Ebony has nothing to fear. Can Nathaneal break through the gates of hell? Will these long-lost lovers finally reunite and fulfil their destiny?[/learn_more]


Half Truths (The Half Bad Trilogy)
by Sally Green
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Half Truths follows Gabriel’s story from the time he arrives Switzerland, seeking help in recovering his magical powers from the conniving Black Witch Mercury, and goes up until the moment when he first meets Nathan and their paths become forever intertwined.[/learn_more]


Forget Tomorrow
(Forget Tomorrow #1)
by Pintip Dunn
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your future self.




It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision―a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.




Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.




In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo―a hellish prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes.




But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all—Callie, herself.[/learn_more]


My Diary from the Edge of the World
by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Middle Grade
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Told in diary form by an irresistible heroine, this playful and perceptive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the May Bird trilogy sparkles with science, myth, magic, and the strange beauty of the everyday marvels we sometimes forget to notice.




Spirited, restless Gracie Lockwood has lived in Cliffden, Maine, her whole life. She’s a typical girl in an atypical world: one where sasquatches helped to win the Civil War, where dragons glide over Route 1 on their way south for the winter (sometimes burning down a T.J. Maxx or an Applebee’s along the way), where giants hide in caves near LA and mermaids hunt along the beaches, and where Dark Clouds come for people when they die.




To Gracie it’s all pretty ho-hum…until a Cloud comes looking for her little brother Sam, turning her small-town life upside down. Determined to protect Sam against all odds, her parents pack the family into a used Winnebago and set out on an epic search for a safe place that most people say doesn’t exist: The Extraordinary World. It’s rumored to lie at the ends of the earth, and no one has ever made it there and lived to tell the tale. To reach it, the Lockwoods will have to learn to believe in each other—and to trust that the world holds more possibilities than they’ve ever imagined.[/learn_more]



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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