Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

The Shadow Queen (Black Jewels, Book 7)

Bishop’s capable seventh Black Jewels fantasy soap opera installment (after 2008’s Tangled Webs) surges with spellcraft and engaging romance. The former queen of Bhak is now just plain Lady Cassidy from Dharo, since her entire court resigned to go serve prettier, better-connected Lady Kermilla. Warlord Prince Theran Grayhaven seeks a partner to help him restore his family’s land after a violent uprising. With the help of the High Prince of Hell, he finds Cassidy, whose friends encourage her to accept his proposal and return to being a queen. All seems well until the pair run into compatibility problems, and Cassidy meets a mysterious gardener who calls to her heart. Bishop’s epic has a complex history and will best be appreciated by readers familiar with earlier books. –Publishers Weekly

Finalists for the 2008 Philip K. Dick Awards have been announced:

Emissaries from the Dead, Adam-Troy Castro (Eos)
Endgame, Kristine Smith (Eos)
Fast Forward 2, Lou Anders, ed. (Pyr)
Judge, Karen Traviss (Eos)
Terminal Mind, David Walton (Meadowhawk Press)
Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait, K.A. Bedford (EDGE)

The winner and any special citations will be announced April 10, 2009 at Norwescon 32 in Seattle. For more: http://www.philipkdickaward.org/.

This is fantasy as it should be. Scholes’ subtle and complex plotting are the breadwinners here, but his world building and political scheming bring home the bacon as well. This reader has never read a freshman novel this good.

Summary:
The city of Windwir, the capital of the Androfrancines and the home of the greatest library in all the kingdoms, is entirely laid to waste by an ancient and awful weapon. As the remaining kingdoms of the Named Lands mourn the loss of the people of Windwir and thousands of years of knowledge, the Androfrancines must try to rebuild their order as far-reaching political machinations come into play.

Romantic Times, 4 1/2 Stars

Buy Lamentation (The Psalms of Isaak)

Hugo-winner Bear’s sequel to 2007’s New Amsterdam will please fans of the earlier book, a series of alternate history novellas. Lady Abigail Irene Garrett and wampyr Don Sebastien de Ulloa resurface in a 1938 London that has been under German rule for over a decade. With the British king in exile in the Americas and the German Chancellor gathering a force of werewolves, the amateur detective duo plan to use magic to defeat the occupation. While other writers might have used the concept for a lengthy novel, Bear’s decision to keep the story short lets her easily maintain suspense, and her superior prose will engage the interest of both new readers and fans of Abby and Sebastien’s earlier exploits.

Buy Seven for a Secret (Subterranean Press)

For All the Windwracked Stars (Tor, November)

Ragnarok has come and gone, and with it, the destruction of the world–except for the failed Valkyrie Muire and her valraven, Kasimir, the winged steed of the Valkyrie. Out of their survival arises a new world, in which magic and technology combine to create something new yet achingly familiar. Two thousand years pass, and the world is again dying, with one city remaining, ruled by the Technomancer. Muire dwells in the last city, awaiting her doom, for she has caught sight of Mingan the Wolf, on the hunt for the first time since the Last Battle. Bear’s (A Companion to Wolves with Sarah Monette) ability to create breathtaking variations on ancient themes and make them new and brilliant is, perhaps, unparalleled in the genre. Her lyrical style and heroically flawed characters make this a priority purchase for most libraries. Highly recommended.–Library Journal starred review