Mar 31
2009

new stories from Elizabeth Bear

As reported on Publishers Marketplace:

Elizabeth Bear’s BONE AND JEWEL CREATURES and an untitled story set in the New Amsterdam series, to Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press, by Jennifer Jackson of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

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Earlier New Amsterdam books:

New Amsterdam (May 2007, trade reprint: May 2008)
Seven for a Secret (March 2009)

Mar 24
2009

Publishers Weekly on C.E. Murphy’s Pretender’s Crown

The Pretender’s Crown (The Inheritors’ Cycle, Book 2)

In Murphy’s crisply written sequel to 2008’s alternate history The Queen’s Bastard, aliens known as the Heseth, the people of the sun, have visited Earth in what would be our 16th century, but the supernatural elements are limited to the occasional use of magical abilities. The plot is more focused on the struggle for power in Echon (Europe), which features familiar rivalries between Aulun (England), Gallin (France) and the Prussian Confederation. As political tensions heat up, Belinda, the witchfire-wielding assassin and illegitimate daughter of Aulun’s Queen Lorraine, faces relationship problems with Javier de Castille, prince of Essandia (Spain) and Gallin, and with her overbearing mother. Murphy tends toward long discussions of war, succession and various attempts by the Heseth to influence human development, mostly balanced by clever intrigue and raw, explicit sex scenes. –Publishers Weekly

Mar 16
2009

Publishers Weekly on Jim Butcher’s Turn Coat

Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11)

The search for a traitor in the highest circles of power forms the main plot thread of Butcher’s 11th hard-boiled fantasy novel featuring Chicago’s wizard detective Harry Dresden (last seen in 2008’s Small Favor). Harry, a warden of the magic-governing White Council, finds himself in an unusual position when Morgan, his fellow warden and frequent antagonist, asks for his help. One of the White Council’s leaders has been murdered, and Morgan was found at the scene of the crime holding the murder weapon. If he has been framed, then another senior wizard is behind the killing and may be trying to destroy the council entirely. Aided by werewolf and vampire allies, Dresden investigates with his trademark sardonic noir flair. Despite the sprawling plot, both fans and newcomers will get into the fast-paced action. –Publishers Weekly

Mar 2
2009

Booklist on Jim Butcher’s Turn Coat

Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11)

Butcher’s series star, wizard detective Harry Dresden, has been facing ever more varied and dangerous trials. Once just Chicago’s only wizard PI, Harry is now a warden of the White Council of Wizards—that is, one of the enforcers of its rules—and it seems as though every time he gets a better grasp on his magical strength, his enemies worsen. When the “parole officer” of Harry’s youth, Morgan, grievously injured and pursued by the wardens, comes to Harry for help, it’s the opening salvo of serious confrontation with the council. Morgan stands accused of killing senior council member LaFortier. The murder was certainly an inside job, and time is short to find the real killer before Morgan is summarily executed. Simultaneously, something unbelievably horrible and by all accounts far too powerful to take on alone is stalking Dresden. Searching for the killer, Harry’s caught up in a plot leading to the White Court vampires and the very halls of the White Council. Meanwhile, his dog’s daily duty is keeping Harry’s apprentice and Morgan from one another’s throats. Fortunately, Harry’s sense of humor lightens the tone of even the most serious confrontation, so though Butcher has turned up the tension here, this is an intense, satisfying, and action-packed addition to the Dresden Files. –Booklist

Feb 17
2009

Booklist on Elizabeth Bear’s Seven for a Secret

Seven for a Secret

Bear returns to the team of the wampyr Sebastian and Abigail Irene Garrett, decades after the stories of New Amsterdam (2007). Abigail Irene is now in her eighties, not particularly mellowed with age. Sebastian, remembering his history in London, is protecting young lovers from the Schupo (i.e., police; England has been under the not-very-popular iron fist of the Prussians for some time), in the process finding a mystery begging solution. The smell of wolf—of two girls, yes, but also a wolf—and magic somehow relating to sevens sets Sebastian and Abigail Irene to finding out what terrible thaumaturgical experiments the Prussians are into now. Seven echoes, quite often, the events in Paris (i.e., in New Amsterdam), and Sebastian is prone to fits of soul-searching. He has a very small court and is old enough to have a lot of memories to work with. Bear again handles the combination of PI caper and vampire yarn with her usual unconventionality. Sebastian is a fascinating character, and the mysteries he becomes embroiled in are magnificent examples of alternate history. –Booklist

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