Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

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

Patricia Rosemoor’s Christmas Delivery, part of the Jenkins Cove miniseries (with Christmas Spirit by Rebecca York and Christmas Awakening by Ann Voss Peterson).

Thirteen years ago, teenagers Simon Shea and Lexie Thornton were set to elope, but Simon died after a night of lovemaking in the woods. Or did he? Suddenly, Simon is standing in front of Lexie, a changed man, insisting she needs protection and that he’s here to face down the people that wronged him. Should she believe him, or have the years damaged the sweet boy she loved? And how can she explain to her daughter that the father she never knew is alive? Patricia Rosemoor’s excellent plot, throttled-up action and touch of the supernatural make Christmas Delivery (4) an excellent read. — Romantic Times, 4 Stars!

In his first story collection, sf newcomer Scholes displays a rare gift for inventive storytelling that already invites comparisons with the genre’s leading practitioners. His crisply minimalist prose paradoxically gives rise to an abundance of cleverly original ideas and is often permeated by black humor. At a nursing home for retired superheroes, the caped residents harass the nursing staff and reminisce about the old days. The intelligent chimpanzees trained to work on a moon-based mining colony make a sudden evolutionary leap and begin killing off their human hosts. Meriwether Lewis crosses paths with D. B. Cooper after the lost hijacker from the 1970s becomes stranded 200 years in the past. In the volume’s standout tale, “Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk,” Scholes’ homage to A. A. Milne recounts the fate of the lone survivor of a colonization effort on a hostile planet: an intelligently programmed toy bear. Scholes’ lucidly written afterword sheds light on the genesis for all those crazy ideas and provides a fitting warm-up for what will doubtless become an illustrious career. –Booklist

Buy Long Walks, Last Flights & Other Strange Journeys.