Two guys with no lives and a multitude of books between them. Bringing you the finest reviews of books, whether they be new, old or out of print. Genres in which reviews will be offered: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror and anything that catches their fancy.
Title: Darkness on the Edge of Town Author: Brian Keene Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Pages: 264 ISBN: 9780843960914
One morning the residents of Walden, Virginia, woke up to find that the rest of the world was gone. Just... gone. Surrounding their town was a wall of inky darkness, casting Walden into permanent night. Nothing can get in, no light, no people, not even electricity or radio or TV signals. And no one can get out. No one who dared to penetrate the mysterious barrier has ever been seen again. Only their screams were heard. But for some of the residents-turned-prisoners of Walden, even the fear of that unseen death can't keep them from trying to escape this living purgatory.
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
Soulless is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Soulless is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.
Title: Red Claw
Author: Philip Palmer
Publisher: Orbit
Pages: 452
ISBN: 97803160189937
Philip Palmer turns science fiction on its head in this breathtaking thrill ride through alien jungles filled with terrifying monsters and killer robots. Space marines and science heroes! Gryphons and Godzillas! It's all here in this gripping tale of man versus nature.
Author: Troy Denning Publisher: Del Rey/ Lucas Books Pages: 352 ISBN: 9780345509185
Following a trail of clues across the galaxy, Luke Skywalker continues his quest to find the reasons behind Jacen Solo’s dark downfall and to win redemption for the Jedi Order. Sojourning among the mysterious Aing-Tii monks has left Luke and his son Ben with no real answers, only the suspicion that the revelations they seek lie in the forbidden reaches of the distant Maw Cluster. There, hidden from the galaxy in a labyrinth of black holes, dwell the Mind Walkers: those whose power to transcend their bodies and be one with the Force is as seductive and intoxicating as it is potentially fatal. But it may be Luke’s only path to the truth.
Meanwhile, on Coruscant, the war of wills between Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala and the Jedi Order is escalating. Outraged over the carbonite freezing of young Jedi Knights Valin and Jysella Horn after their inexplicable mental breakdowns, the Jedi are determined to defy Daala’s martial tactics, override Council Master Kenth Hamner’s wavering leadership, and deal on their own terms with the epidemic of madness preying on their ranks. As Han and Leia Solo, along with their daughter Jaina, join the fight to protect more stricken Knights from arrest, Jedi healers race to find a cure for the rapidly spreading affliction. But none of them realize the blaster barrel is already swinging in their direction–and Chief Daala is about to pull the trigger.
Nor do Luke and Ben, deep in the Maw Cluster and pushing their Force abilities beyond known limits, realize how close they are–to the Sith strike squad bent on exterminating the Skywalkers, to a nexus of dark-side energy unprecedented in its power and its hunger, and to an explosive confrontation between opposing wielders of the Force from which only one Master–good or evil–can emerge alive.
James Enge's fiction has appeared in Black Gate, Flashing Swords, and everydayfiction.com. He is an instructor of classical languages at a Midwestern university. He is the author of two new major works from Pyr Publishing: Blood of Ambrose and This Crooked Way.
Blood of Ambrose
Behind the king's life stands the menacing Protector, and beyond him lies the Protector's Shadow...
Centuries after the death of Uthar the Great, the throne of the Ontilian Empire lies vacant. The late emperor's brother-in-law and murderer, Lord Urdhven, appoints himself Protector to his nephew, young King Lathmar VII and sets out to kill anyone who stands between himself and mastery of the empire, including (if he can manage it) the king himself and his ancient but still formidable ancestress, Ambrosia Viviana.
When Ambrosia is accused of witchcraft and put to trial by combat, she is forced to play her trump card and call on her brother, Morlock Ambrosius—stateless person, master of all magical makers, deadly swordsman, and hopeless drunk.
As ministers of the king, they carry on the battle, magical and mundane, against the Protector and his shadowy patron. But all their struggles will be wasted unless the young king finds the strength to rule in his own right and his own name.
This Crooked Way
Travelling alone in the depths of winter, Morlock Ambrosius (bitterly dry drunk, master of all magical makers, wandering swordsman, and son of Merlin Ambrosius and Nimue Viviana) is attacked by an unknown enemy.
To unmask his enemy and end the attacks he must travel a long crooked way through the world: past the soul-eating Boneless One, past a subtle and treacherous master of golems, past the dragon-taming Khroi, past the predatory cities of Sarkunden and Aflraun, past the demons and dark gnomes of the northern woods.
Soon he will find that his enemy wears a familiar face, and that the duel he has stumbled into will threaten more lives than his own, leaving nations shattered in its chaotic wake.
And at the end of his long road waits the death of a legend.
Dave Freer is an about to be Australian author (he's emigrating from South Africa) with a family and menagerie (indistinguishable in many ways) and the normal personal zone of chaos that follows him because it loves him and needs to show it cares. He is the author or co-author (with Mercedes Lackey and Eric Flint) of 10 novels, (with the 11th, DRAGON'S RING, due out in October). He also falls off cliffs (he's a rock climber) and nearly drowns himself (dives for spiny lobster) with monotonous regularity, which proves that really his books are written by his Old English Sheepdog, because no-one who is that repetitively dumb could write or even spell. Mind you, the spelling is suspect... Once upon a time he was an Ichthyologist, and he claims the strain of spelling that right unhinged his mind.
You can find out more about him, his move, his beasts and website and blogs at http://savethedragons.nu/ - his story-tellers bowl website to help raise money to move the menagerie!
Dragon's Ring
Tasmarin is a place of dragons, a plane cut off from all other worlds, where dragons can be dragons and humans can be dinner. It's a place of islands, forests, mountains and wild oceans, filled with magical denizens. Fionn -- the black dragon -- calmly tells anyone who will listen that he's going to destroy the place. Of course he's a joker, a troublemaker and a dragon of no fixed abode. No one ever believes him. He's dead serious. Others strive to refresh the magics that built the place. To do so they need the combined magics of all the intelligent species, to renew the ancient mage, and dragons systematically eliminated those centuries ago. Their augury has revealed that there is one, and they seek her desperately. Unfortunately, she's fallen in with Fionn, who really doesn't want them to succeed. He has his own reasons and dark designs. The part he hadn't worked out is that she will affect his plans too. Chaos, roguery, heroism theft, love, kidnapping, magic and war follow. And more chaos.
And once again, because Baen Publishing is just so damn cool, they're offering the first nine chapters for your reading pleasure, for free. Dragon's Ring
And finally, for those of you who choose not to listen to the full interview, here's how The Sci-Fi Guys plan on helping Dave out: For each new member we receive on the site, we'll donate a dollar to Save The Dragons. . Each new member then, is added to a hat. When we get word from Dave that Save The Dragons is going to the printer, we'll draw names of the people who have joined the website, for a free chance to win a signed, personalized copy of the book in hardcover. If we reach 100 new members before the end of September, we'll donate another 25 dollars, and another chance for folks to win another signed copy of the book.
So, please join the site, and send us your names and e-mail adresses and we'll throw your names in the hat! E-mail us at: scifiguysbookreview@gmail.com
Larry Correia is hopelessly addicted to two things: guns and B-horror movies. He lists his occupations: gun dealer, firearms instructor, accountant, and writer, and was until recently part owner of a company specializing in firearms and movie props. He shoots competitively and is a certified concealed weapons instructor. Larry resides in Utah with his very patient wife and family. He has also designed a special patch for the agents of Monster Hunter International, Inc. As he puts it, "If you don't look good while you're killing stuff, then you're not really a monster hunter."
Monster Hunter International
Troubled by vampires or werewolves?
MHI will solve your problems through superior firepower!
Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer.
It turns out that Monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.
Business is good...
Welcome to Monster Hunter International.
Baen, being the awesome publishing company that they are, is currently offering the first seven chapters of M.H.I. to read, for free. Monster Hunter International
Title: The Strain Author(s) Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan Publisher: Harper Collins Pages: 401 ISBN: 9780061558238
A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All Window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.
In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing...
So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampire virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city -- a city that includes his wife and son -- before it is too late.
Title: Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen Author: Christie Golden Publisher: Del Rey/ Lucas Books Pages: 236 ISBN: 9780345509123
The Jedi Order is in crisis. The late Jacen Solo's shocking transformation into murderous Sith Lord Caedus has cast a damning pall over those who wield the Force for good: Two Jedi Knights have succumbed to an inexplicable and dangerous psychosis, criminal charges have driven Luke Skywalker into self-imposed exile, and power-hungry Chief of State NatasiDaala is exploiting anti-Jedi sentiment to undermine the Order's influence within the Galactic Alliance.
Forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is on a desperate mission to uncover the truth behind Jacen's fall to the dark side -- and to learn what's turning peaceful Jedi into raving lunatics. But finding answers will mean venturing into the mind-bending space of the Kathol Rift and bargaining with an alien species as likely to destroy outsiders as deal with them. Still, there is no other choice and no time to lose, as the catastrophic events on Coruscant continue to escalate. Stricken by the same violent dementia that infected her brother, Valin, Jedi Knight Jysella Horn faces an equally grim fate after her capture by NatasiDaala's police. And when Han and Leia Solo narrowly foil another deranged Jedi bent on deadly destruction, even acting Jedi Grand Master KenthHamner appears willing to bow to Daala's iron will - at the expense of the Jedi Order.
But an even greater threat is looming. Millennia in the past, a Sithstarship crashed on an unknown low-tech planet, leaving the survivors stranded. Over the generations, their numbers have grown, the ways of the dark side have been nurtured, and the time is fast approaching when this lost tribe of Sith will once more take the stars and reclaim their legendary destiny as rulers of the galaxy. Only one thing stands in their way, a name whispered to them through the Force: Skywalker.
After figuring out all the finite details of starting our own podcast, we have finally figured out how to post an actual podcast on the site. So, without any further ado, here it is. Enjoy!
Title: Darkness on the Edge of Town
