Bronze Gods by AA Aguirre (Ann Aguirre)
If you have been reading dead wood awhile you know my love for Steampunk, cogs gears and magic so this one seems pretty much right up that foggy Victorian alley even if that alley may be in the America's or on some second world. From the description I get a bit of and X-files vibe with the with the man and woman agent paring with respectively an uncanny sixth sense and no nonsense logic. I'll leave the rest tot this here description...
Danger stalks the city of steam and shadows.
Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko work all hours in the Criminal Investigation Division, keeping citizens safe. He’s a charming rogue with an uncanny sixth sense; she’s all logic—and the first female inspector. Between his instincts and her brains, they collar more criminals than any other partnership in the CID.
Then they’re assigned a potentially volatile case where one misstep could end their careers. At first, the search for a missing heiress seems straightforward, but when the girl is found murdered—her body charred to cinders—Mikani and Ritsuko’s modus operandi will be challenged as never before. Before long, it’s clear the bogeyman has stepped out of nightmares to stalk gaslit streets, and it’s up to them to hunt him down. There’s a madman on the loose, weaving blood and magic in an intricate, lethal ritual that could mean the end of everything…
Read an exerpt here on her blog.
Wicked as She Wants by Delilah S Dawson
Though I liked the sound of Wicked as they Come I overlooked it at my peril since once I did check out Delilah's novella The Mysterious Madame Morpho I scrambled around to find a copy of the novel. Her particular take on vampires, steampunk, carnies, magic and tropes from UF paranormal romance and the aforementioned -punk is a truly delicious treat. The novella, which you should really go check out if you like any of the above genres, is told through the eyes of a woman on the run and is an excellent introduction to her setting and players. The promise of this novel takes an altered history look at the death/assassination of the Romanov's through the lens of vampirism. Here is the quote from goodreads about the this second Blud novel.
The second book in the darkly tempting Blud series, featuring a vampire princess who embarks upon a dangerous journey to claim what is rightfully hers.
When Blud princess Ahnastasia wakes up, drained and starving in a suitcase, she’s not sure which calls to her more: the sound of music or the scent of blood. The source of both sensations is a handsome and mysterious man named Casper Sterling. Once the most celebrated musician in London, Sangland, he’s fallen on hard times. Now, much to Ahna’s frustration, the debauched and reckless human is her only ticket back home to the snow-rimmed and magical land of Freesia.
Together with Casper’s prickly charge, a scrappy orphan named Keen, they seek passage to Ahna’s homeland, where a power-hungry sorceress named Ravenna holds the royal family in thrall. Traveling from the back alleys of London to the sparkling minarets of Muscovy, Ahna discovers that Freesia holds new perils and dangerous foes. Back in her country, she is forced to choose between the heart she never knew she had and the land that she was born to rule. But with Casper’s help, Ahna may find a way to have it all
Here is a link to Delilah's blog where you can read an exerpt.....
In addition cover gives a little balance to the standard cheesecake urban fantasy coming later in today's dispatch.
Hot Blooded by Amanda Carlson
Amanda Carlson's first novel Full Blooded is one of the UF novels I'd wanted to read and did not get a chance to before it came out. At the moment (for the next few days) it is for sale electronically for 2.99. Reading some bits and pieces about the novel its seems recognizable with the usual unnatural suspects like vampires and werewolves and our heroine is the only female werewolf. You can check here for a little preview chapter via the Orbit website.
Here. Is the blurb that is up on goodreads... I do like the sound of the story... Seems a bit Buffy like...
It hasn't been the best week for Jessica McClain.
Her mate has been kidnapped by a Goddess hell-bent on revenge --- but Jessica is playing for keeps.
Because she's the only female werewolf in town...it comes with its own set of rules...and powers.
Aided by two vamps, two loyal Pack members, and one very reluctant human, Jessica must rescue her man while coming to terms with what being a wolf really means.
All in a day's work for a girl.
The second novel in the Jessica McClain series is a full on action adventure featuring one angry Goddess and plenty of monsters, demons, and a few newly risen beasties...(less)
Graveyard Child by MLN Hanover (Daniel Abraham)
Ok I did kind of out Daniel here but everything of his I've tried has been pretty brilliant wether it was his unique epic fantasy Seasons quartet, his more conventional epic fantasy that starter with the Dragons Path or his co authored space opera that began with Leviathan Wakes. This is book five in the series Black Suns Daughter series and I have to be honest here to say I have yet to start it but still very much want it. My faith that its worth to be here come from how much I've loved his other fiction and trust him as a writer. Here is the blurb from the publisher...
After years on her own, Jayné Heller is going home to find some answers. How did the powerful spirit calling itself the Black Sun get into her body? Who was her uncle Eric, and what was the grand plan that he devoted his life to? Who did her mother have an affair with, and why? What happened to her on her sixteenth birthday? And the tattoo—seriously—what was that about?
Jayné arrives amid preparations for her older brother’s shotgun wedding, but she’s not the only unexpected guest. The Invisible College has come to town to stop the ceremony. And the more she learns, the more she uncovers a darkness that runs deeper than generations and stronger than blood. A missing bride and wizards bent on vengeance may be the least of her problems.
Because in the shadows of Jayné’s childhood home, a greater threat awaits that didn’t die with her uncle. It calls itself the Graveyard Child.
Here is a link to the publishers site where you can read several of the book previews and here is the authors site for you to see these books and maybe take a look see around for the rest of his work.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
NOS4A2 is one novel on this weeks wanted list I can say I have read and this is definitely one to own. I will be hitting this up with a review on the day of release but I will say this here this here that Joe continues to send chills down my spine with his fiction wether its his comic Locke and Key, his short fiction or a 600+ page doorstop like this. I could compare this to a certain King novel but I will not since that is just my gut reaction to this one. There are some videos and book trailers kicking around for this one and you can go see one of those here. The characters in this book wether they are incidental or major ones all get their hooks into you one way or another. Of all the books I have read lately this one has me with the first lines and has not let go since.
Vic, Maggie, Lou and Wayne really worked their way into my heart and I'm worried as to where these roads will take them. Joe hints at much more to the world in the novel too and I have real hopes for more.
Here is the text from goodreads for you to read...
Charlie Manx burned a man to death in his black 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith, but that’s not the worst of it. Rumor has it that he kidnapped dozens of children, taking them to a place he calls “Christmasland.” The only child ever to escape was a very lucky girl named Victoria McQueen.
Vic has a gift – she can ride her bike through the Shorter Way bridge and she’ll come out the other side wherever she needs to be, even if it’s hundreds of miles away. Vic doesn’t tell anyone about her ability; no one would understand.
When Charlie Manx finally dies after years in prison, his body disappears...after the autopsy. The police and media think someone stole it, but Vic knows the truth: Charlie Manx is on the road again...and he has her kid. And this time, Vic McQueen’s going after him...(less)
Here is a link to Joe's blog and I suggest following him on twitter or Tumblr too since he's actually pretty active and fully worth following. I also love his Locke and Key series which is just as crazy imagined and geek culture connected....
Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis
Here I am doing it again spotlighting a later book in a running series but this on hits on my love of alternate history and "superheroes" and magic. Its also a series that the writers on my favorite SF fan podcast have Squeed about (the SFSqueecast); Paul Cornell I believe brought it up but I could be mistaken. This series starter with Bitter Seeds which was set in world war 2 the second jumps to the 1960's and the Cold War between the Brits and the USSR and this the third in the Milkweed series goes back to the early days of WW2 so they all seem to stand kind of on their own.
You can go the the Macmillan website to check out the books and read excerpts frm each (in the UK and Downunder they are published by Orbit). Here is the blurb about the book from Macmillan.
12 May 1940. Westminster, London, England: the early days of World War II.
Again.
Raybould Marsh, one of “our” Britain’s best spies, has travelled to another Earth in a desperate attempt to save at least one timeline from the Cthulhu-like monsters who have been observing our species from space and have already destroyed Marsh’s timeline. In order to accomplish this, he must remove all traces of the supermen that were created by the Nazi war machine and caused the specters from outer space to notice our planet in the first place.
His biggest challenge is the mad seer Gretel, one of the most powerful of the Nazi creations, who has sent a version of herself to this timeline to thwart Marsh. Why would she stand in his way? Because she has seen that in all the timelines she dies and she is determined to stop that from happening, even if it means destroying most of humanity in the process. And Marsh is the only man who can stop her.
Necessary Evil is the stunning conclusion to Ian Tregillis’s Milkweed series.
Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
No I know very little about this, its author but I know Angry Robot Books chooses books that are usually to my tastes much like Pyr, Solaris and Abaddon. I'll leave you with the blurb from their website about it and you can see what you think....
When out-of-shape IT technician Roen Tan woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it.
He wasn’t.
He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions – the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix – the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries. Both sides are searching for a way off-planet, and the Genjix will sacrifice the entire human race, if that’s what it takes.
Meanwhile, Roen is having to train to be the ultimate secret agent. Like that’s going to end up well…
That's all for the Dispatch till next month - looks like one hell of an expensive week to me....
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