Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

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.

Scholes’s mesmerizing debut novel, the first installment of the five-volume Psalms of Isaak saga, launches him into the stratosphere of contemporary epic fantasy. Fueled by an impressively serpentine story line that explores deep philosophical issues of knowledge and power, the novel begins with a literal bang: Windwir, “the world’s greatest city” and home of 200,000 people as well as the famed Androfrancine Order and its enormous library, is completely destroyed by a mysterious weapon unleashed by an unknown foe. Left oddly untouched are the Androfrancines’ mechoservitors, one of whom, Isaak, may be the only one who knows what happened and why. Readers will be intrigued by the subtle, adept world building and ensemble cast of brilliantly complex characters, but it’s Scholes’s pure storytelling prowess that makes this tale of devastation and retribution so unforgettable. — Publishers Weekly, starred review

Pre-order Lamentation (The Psalms of Isaak).