The Barrow by Mark Smylie
I was a big fan of his comic Artesia which started just before the year 2000 written and illustrated by Mark Smylie and was conceived as a pagan Joan of Arc story in a second world setting. I read several of the stories in the series but lost track of it a while back and I'm so exited to be reminded of it and see that Mark has written a novel in the series. Here is a link to Mark's website where you can read about the history of the world, the other stories in the setting and see some of the painted art from the comic series. I'll leave you with the solicitation from PYR books and say its topping my list for the month... (Seems that this may not be out till the 20th... Update two... Checked with our distributor at work and its out as of the 4 th.... Yeah)
Action, horror, politics, and sensuality combine in this DEBUT EPIC FANTASY novel for fans of George R. R. Martin and Michael J. Sullivan, set in the world of the Eisner-nominated Artesia comic books.
To find the Sword, unearth the Barrow. To unearth the Barrow, follow the Map.
When a small crew of scoundrels, would-be heroes, deviants, and ruffians discover a map that they believe will lead them to a fabled sword buried in the barrow of a long-dead wizard, they think they've struck it rich. But their hopes are dashed when the map turns out to be cursed and then is destroyed in a magical ritual. The loss of the map leaves them dreaming of what might have been, until they rediscover the map in a most unusual and unexpected place.
Stjepan Black-Heart, suspected murderer and renegade royal cartographer; Erim, a young woman masquerading as a man; Gilgwyr, brothel owner extraordinaire; Leigh, an exiled magus under an ignominious cloud; Godewyn Red-Hand, mercenary and troublemaker; Arduin Orwain, scion of a noble family brought low by scandal; and Arduin's sister Annwyn, the beautiful cause of that scandal: together they form a cross-section of the Middle Kingdoms of the Known World, brought together by accident and dark design, on a quest that will either get them all in the history books, or get them all killed.
Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
This is the second volume of the second world memoir fantasy series that started last year at this time with A Natural History of Dragons and explores the topics of gender roles, racial prejudice and assumptions about the nature of things. Written in a very personal voice the narrative may not be for everyone but the readers who enjoyed it loved it almost without reservation. In my mind it fits into the same fictional niche as another favorite of mine as Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamorist Histories.
Here is a link to the publishers website and the long synopsis that they provide....
The thrilling adventure of Lady Trent continues in Marie Brennan's The Tropic of Serpents . . .
Attentive readers of Lady Trent’s earlier memoir, A Natural History of Dragons,are already familiar with how a bookish and determined young woman named Isabella first set out on the historic course that would one day lead her to becoming the world’s premier dragon naturalist. Now, in this remarkably candid second volume, Lady Trent looks back at the next stage of her illustrious (and occasionally scandalous) career.
Three years after her fateful journeys through the forbidding mountains of Vystrana, Mrs. Camherst defies family and convention to embark on an expedition to the war-torn continent of Eriga, home of such exotic draconian species as the grass-dwelling snakes of the savannah, arboreal tree snakes, and, most elusive of all, the legendary swamp-wyrms of the tropics.
The expedition is not an easy one. Accompanied by both an old associate and a runaway heiress, Isabella must brave oppressive heat, merciless fevers, palace intrigues, gossip, and other hazards in order to satisfy her boundless fascination with all things draconian, even if it means venturing deep into the forbidden jungle known as the Green Hell . . . where her courage, resourcefulness, and scientific curiosity will be tested as never before.
Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
Well, Brandon Sanderson is a pretty big name in epic fantasy and probably needs little signal boost but the world building and narrative voices in his Stormlight Archive series is far too good to let pass by without pointing an arrow towards this. These books are frankly doorstops in their size but are worth all the time and effort that went into writing them and the time investment you'll put into reading them. Tor.com has been posting preview chapters and I think they got well through chapter seven and have posted one audio file too boot in anticipation for this book. Here is a link to the prologue and the first several chapters... And here is a link to the synopsis... Its quite long befitting the length of the novel .... I'd post it but it would make the rest of this kind hard to see on my home page....
Ghost Train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty
This is another sequel to a book I enjoyed and reviewed last year; this time around it is Mur Lafferty's the follow up to The Shambling Guide to New York. The series is a completely different tale on the urban fantasy mold. Mur looks at a supernaturally infused world much like the one outside your door from the more pedestrian angle of the travel guide writer and populates her story with such wonderfully broken characters that I could not help but love it. Wry whimsical and darkly funny its a great break from the grim and gritty that fills the shelves.
Here is the synopsis for this volume that started as a short store several years back and a link the publishers site....
COULD YOU FIND A MUSEUM FOR A MONSTER?
OR A JAZZ BAR FOR A JABBERWOCK?
Zoe Norris writes travel guides for the undead. And she's good at it too -- her new-found ability to talk to cities seems to help. After the success of The Sbambling Guide to New York City, Zoe and her team are sent to New Orleans to write the sequel.
Work isn't all that brings Zoe to the Big Easy. The only person who can save her boyfriend from zombism is rumored to live in the city's swamps, but Zoe's out of her element in the wilderness. With her supernatural colleagues waiting to see her fail, and rumors of a new threat hunting city talkers, can Zoe stay alive long enough to finish her next book?
Half-off Ragnarock by Seanan McGuire
Anyone who as been reading the Dispatch will know that Ms. McGuire is one of the many writers that I have a reader crush on and will promote without even having read the first books in a series as I'm doing with this one. In this series she has a epic fantasy sized cast of characters to writer stories from the perspective of and has several eras she can tell stories in, which you can check out through her website here. Tor.com has an excerpt to hook you in that you can get to here and well as ever a synopsis to try to get you onboard....
When Alex Price agreed to go to Ohio to oversee a basilisk breeding program and assist in the recovery of his psychic cousin, he didn’t expect people to start dropping dead. But bodies are cropping up at the zoo where he works, and his girlfriend—Shelby Tanner, an Australian zoologist with a fondness for big cats—is starting to get suspicious.
Worse yet, the bodies have all been turned partially to stone...
Alex tries to balance life, work, and the strong desire not to become a piece of garden statuary. Old friends and new are on the scene, and danger lurks around every corner...
Alex tries to balance life, work, and the strong desire not to become a piece of garden statuary. Old friends and new are on the scene, and danger lurks around every corner...
Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop
With this follow up to last years Written in Blood Anne Bishop continues her dark modern fantasy tale; known mainly for her fantasy Black Jewels series Anne proves she can write in any era. This is a modern struggle between he people of our would and those of the Other and is a draw for me because I kind of missed out on the whole Black Jewels series originally. Here is a link to her website and again as ever a synopsis.... And a hint that Tor.com is running a sweepstakes for this one so go quick and enter....
After winning the trust of the terra indigene residing in the Lakeside
Courtyard, Meg Corbyn has had trouble figuring out what it means to live
among them. As a human, Meg should be barely tolerated prey, but her
abilities as a cassandra sangue make her something more.
The appearance of two addictive drugs has sparked violence between the
humans and the Others, resulting in the murders of both species in
nearby cities. So when Meg has a dream about blood and black feathers in
the snow, Simon Wolfgard—Lakeside's shape-shifting leader—wonders
whether their blood prophet dreamed of a past attack or of a future
threat.
As the urge to speak prophecies strikes Meg more frequently, trouble
finds its way inside the Courtyard. Now the Others and the handful of
humans residing there must work together to stop the man bent on
reclaiming their blood prophet—and stop the danger that threatens to
destroy them all.
Check in later this week for the last fill in for the February releases.....
And to fill in the last week of February which had several works of note...
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment