Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

The Dead City and the Dark Earth Below: Stories of the Raksura, Vol. 2 by Martha Wells

“Wells (The Serpent Sea) fleshes out her Books of the Raksura series in this strong short story collection. As readers follow a shape-shifting Raksura called Moon through a series of encounters, plenty of vivid descriptions help newcomers get up to speed. Moon is always at the center of any conflict, whether it’s learning the secrets of a long-buried city (“The Dead City”) or defending his adoptive Raksura community of Indigo Cloud from a foe that can’t be seen (in the longest and best entry, “The Dark Earth Below”). The Raksura world features innovative and alien creatures; Wells thinks far outside the humanoid fantasy box. The line between animal and person is drawn extremely thin, and the power structure among the races resembles nature more than it resembles any human civilization. With a strong sense of adventure, horror, and mystery, this is an enjoyable read for fantasy fans seeking a new series to sample” — Publishers Weekly

Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal

“Kowal’s tense conclusion to her highly praised Glamourist Histories magical Regency series (following Valour and Vanity) sees happily married Sir David and Lady Jane Vincent caught up in the intrigues of Sir David’s manipulative family. When they receive a letter indicating that Sir David’s father and eldest brother have died, the Vincents are asked to retrieve a new will from the family estates on Antigua. While en route, they discover Jane is pregnant and so must conclude their business quickly if she is to deliver in England. All is not as advertised when they arrive, and in addition to contending with the oppressive heat and trying to halt the vicious and inhumane management of the family slaves by the odious and presumptuous Mr. Pridmore, the Vincents find themselves once again maneuvering against the machinations of relatives. This is a twisty, emotionally loaded conclusion to a delightful series.” — Publishers Weekly

Jacaranda by Cherie Priest

“Something monstrous is lurking the halls of the Jacaranda Hotel. Guests check in but don’t check out, and whoever is committing these horrific murders is only growing more brazen. As a major hurricane approaches, a motley assortment of guests hunker down inside the Jacaranda, hoping to outlast both the storm and the murders. Can the curious team of a nun, a gun-toting priest, and a Texas Ranger save their fellow guests from threats both inside and out?

While other novels in Priest’s Clockwork Century series have dabbled in supernatural elements, Jacaranda is the first to go full bore and embrace the supernatural. It leaves behind much of the steampunk and pseudoscientific trappings that characterize the series, offering a cursed hotel and perils less tangible than sap-poisoned rotters and Civil War profiteers.

But a supernatural mystery doesn’t work unless we care about who might die, so Priest enlists Horatio Korman (from Dreadnought and Ganymede) and teams him with two engaging new protagonists who have been touched by the supernatural in the past, nun Eileen Callahan and former priest Juan Miguel Quintero Rios.

A welcome new wrinkle in an established series, Jacaranda shows there’s plenty of life left in the Clockwork Century universe. (4 of 5 stars)” — San Francisco Book Review

Dreams of Shreds and Tatters by Amanda Downum

“Downum (the Necromancer Chronicles) grounds this tale of friendship and love in a community of artists and magic users. When a ritual goes terribly wrong and leaves Vancouver artist Blake Enderly in a coma, his best friend, Liz Drake, and her stereotypically English boyfriend, Alex, travel to Vancouver to find out what happened to him. To save his life, Liz must navigate deadly magical peril in the waking world and undertake a quest in an equally dangerous dream world that leads her to Robert Chambers’s Carcosa and its ruler, the Yellow King. Downum’s narrative is packed to excess with artists and hangers-on, a dangerous drug with connections to the dream world, bloodthirsty maenads, and gun-toting cleanup artists specializing in supernatural mishaps. Readers eager for diverse characters will delight in the casually displayed variety of sexual and romantic orientations, including Liz’s comfortable asexuality. The vividly evoked bohemian, magical Vancouver and the haunting dream lands are largely secondary to the bonds of love, romantic and otherwise, among the novel’s likable, intensely beleaguered core characters.” — Publishers Weekly

I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest

“Back in fifth grade, best friends May and Libby created Princess X, a katana-wielding heroine who wears Converse sneakers with her ball gown. Ever since Libby and her mother died in a freak accident, May’s life has been as gray as her Seattle home ­until the 16-year-old spots a Princess X sticker in a store window, leading her to a Princess X webcomic that suggests that Libby might still be alive. With the help of Trick, a hacker-for-hire, May follows the trail that Princess X’s near-mythic narrative leaves for her, which incorporates Seattle landmarks like the Fremont Troll and characters like the dangerous Needle Man and the mysterious, helpful Jackdaw. Illustrations from the Princess X comic­ skillfully rendered by Ciesemier and printed in purple­ add greatly to this techno-thriller’s tension. Fresh and contemporary, this hybrid novel/comic packs a lot of plot in a relatively short book, but its strongest suit may be Priest’s keen understanding of the chasmic gap between the way teens and adults engage in the landscape of the Internet.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review