The Tall Poppies—a few days ago, they were just another Aussie band watching their fame ebb faster than a nitrous high. Then Stuart, the drummer, is gunned down by Australian drug lords, and the band is suddenly news in Australia, America, and even on CNN. Rachel, a chatty twenty-seven-year-old New Yorker, is the band's housemate. She digs Colin, the bassist, who has commitment issues. After witnessing the murder, she flees to the safety of family in NYC, where she bumps into Stuart, the "corpse," ordering tuna salad on rye at Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop. This is a story about sex, rock 'n' roll, the pressures of hipness, making it big, and reconciling family ties. And Colin and Rachel's own unlikely story of true love is the best unexpected salami of them all. "Full of fresh characters and crazy coincidences."—Library Journal; "An engagingly breezy first novel . . . has commendable energy and marches along smartly to its own arrhythmic, offbeat beat."—Kirkus... Views: 61
When engineer Leo Graf arrives at a free fall station circling a mining planet to teach welding, he’s in for his first shock: the genetically engineered inhabitants have an extra set of arms in place of legs. A second shock comes when the company that owns these four-armed “quaddies” decides to abandon them, and Leo must use all his ingenuity to respond to this new crisis. Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and a Hugo finalist."Bujold is one of the best writers of SF adventures to come along in years."- Locuson Lois McMaster Bujold:“Bujold continues to prove what marvels genius can create out of basic space operatics.”- Library Journal“Bujold is not just a master of plot, she is a master of emotion.”- SF Site“A superb craftsman and stylist, Ms. Bujold is well on her way to becoming one of the great voices of speculative fiction.” - Rave Reviews"Boy, can she write!"- Anne McCaffrey“Bujold has a gift, nearly unique in science fiction, for the comedy of manners.” - Chicago Sun Times“Superb far-future saga.”- Publishers Weekly on the 'Vorkosigan' seriesBujold's "work remains among the most enjoyable and rewarding in contemporary SF."- Publishers Weekly"Bujold is also head and shoulders above the ruck of current fantasists as well as science-fictionists."- Booklistauthor bio:Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children. She began writing with the aim of professional publication in 1982. She wrote three novels in three years; in October of 1985, all three sold to Baen Books, launching her career. Bujold went on to write many other books for Baen, mostly featuring her popular character Miles Naismith Vorkosigan, his family, friends, and enemies. Her books have been translated into twenty-one languages. Her fantasy from Eos includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife series.From the AuthorAuthor's Note:The Vorkosigan Saga Reading Order Debate: The Chef RecommendsMany pixels have been expended debating the 'best' order in which to read what have come to be known as the Vorkosigan Books, the Vorkosiverse, the Miles books, and other names, since I neglected to supply the series with a label myself. The debate now wrestles with some fourteen or so volumes and counting, and mainly revolves around publication order versus internal-chronological order. I favor internal chronological, with a few caveats.I have always resisted numbering my volumes; partly because, in the early days, I thought the books were distinct enough; latterly because if I ever decided to drop in a prequel somewhere (which in fact I did most lately with Captain Vorpatril's Alliance) it would upwhack the numbering system. Nevertheless, the books and stories do have a chronological order, if not a strict one.It was always my intention to write each book as a stand-alone so that the reader could theoretically jump in anywhere, yes, with that book that's in your hand right now, don't put it back on the shelf! While still somewhat true, as the series developed it acquired a number of sub-arcs, closely related tales that were richer for each other. I will list the sub-arcs, and then the books, and then the caveats.Shards of Honor and Barrayar. The first two books in the series proper, they detail the adventures of Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony and Aral Vorkosigan of Barrayar. Shards was my very first novel ever; Barrayar was actually my eighth, but continues the tale the next day after the end of Shards. For readers who want to be sure of beginning at the beginning, or who are very spoiler-sensitive, start with these two.The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game (with, perhaps, the novella "The Mountains of Mourning" tucked in between.) The Warrior's Apprentice introduces the character who became the series' linchpin, Miles Vorkosigan; the first book tells how he created a space mercenary fleet by accident; the second how he fixed his mistakes from the first round. Space opera and military-esque adventure (and a number of other things one can best discover for oneself), The Warrior's Apprentice makes another good place to jump into the series for readers who prefer a young male protagonist.After that: Brothers in Arms should be read before Mirror Dance, and both, ideally, before Memory.Komarr makes another good alternate entry point for the series, picking up Miles's second career at its start. It should be read before A Civil Campaign.Borders of Infinity, a collection of three of the five currently extant novellas, makes a good Miles Vorkosigan early-adventure sampler platter, I always thought, for readers who don't want to commit themselves to length. (But it may make more sense if read after The Warrior's Apprentice.) Take care not to confuse the collection-as-a-whole with its title story, "The Borders of Infinity".Falling Free takes place 200 years earlier in the timeline and does not share settings or characters with the main body of the series. Most readers recommend picking up this story later. It should likely be read before Diplomatic Immunity, however, which revisits the "quaddies", a bioengineered race of free fall dwellers, in Miles's time.The novels in the internal-chronological list below appear in italics; the novellas (officially defined as a story between 17,500 words and 40,000 words, though mine usually run 20k - 30k words) in quote marks.Falling FreeShards of HonorBarrayarThe Warrior's Apprentice"The Mountains of Mourning""Weatherman"The Vor GameCetagandaEthan of AthosBorders of Infinity"Labyrinth""The Borders of Infinity" Brothers in ArmsMirror DanceMemoryKomarrA Civil Campaign"Winterfair Gifts"Diplomatic ImmunityCaptain Vorpatril's AllianceCryoBurnCaveats:The novella "Weatherman" is an out-take from the beginning of the novel The Vor Game. If you already have The Vor Game, you likely don't need this.The original 'novel' Borders of Infinity was a fix-up collection containing the three novellas "The Mountains of Mourning", "Labyrinth", and "The Borders of Infinity", together with a frame story to tie the pieces together. Again, beware duplication. The frame story does not stand alone, and mainly is of interest to completists.The Fantasy NovelsMy fantasy novels are a bit easier to order. Easiest of all is The Spirit Ring, which is a stand-alone, or aquel, as some wag once dubbed books that for some obscure reason failed to spawn a subsequent series. Next easiest are the four volumes of The Sharing Knife--in order, Beguilement, Legacy, Passage, and Horizon--which I broke down and actually numbered, as this was one continuous tale divided into non-wrist-breaking chunks.What have come to be called the Chalion books, after the setting of its first two volumes, were also written, like the Vorkosigan books, to be stand-alones as part of a larger whole, and can in theory be read in any order. (The third book actually takes place a few hundred years prior to the more closely connected first two.) Some readers think the world-building is easier to assimilate when the books are read in publication order, and the second volume certainly contains spoilers for the first (but not the third.) In any case, the publication order is:The Curse of ChalionPaladin of SoulsThe Hallowed HuntThe short story collection Proto Zoa was an e-book experiment; it contains five very early tales--three (1980s) contemporary fantasy, two science fiction--all previously published but not in this handy format. The novelette "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" may be of interest to Vorkosigan completists, as it is the first story in which that proto-universe began, mentioning Beta Colony but before Barrayar was even thought of.My latest original e-edition is Sidelines: Talks and Essays, which is just what it says on the tin--a collection of three decades of my nonfiction writings, including convention speeches, essays, travelogues, introductions, and some less formal pieces. I hope it will prove an interesting companion piece to my fiction. Happy reading!-- Lois McMaster Bujold. Views: 61
ONLY MERCILESS LOVE TAMES THE DARKEST HEARTS...The name's Evan Cole, and I deserve to burn for what I've done.The girl with the rocking body I saved yesterday believes I'm some kinda hero. You'd think she'd recognize evil after staring it in the face all her life, but with me, Cassie's completely blind.She doesn't know this house is a prison. She doesn't know the cartel's got my son. She doesn't know I'm a selfish, desperate, pissed off imposter, and I'll do anything to get my boy home.Dealing in flesh is nothing new. Remorse is a word I never learned. Turning her into a new toy for the savage blackmailing me should be a cakewalk.Except it isn't.There's a deeper, crazier part of me that starts to blaze whenever I see her. I just can't shake these insane fantasies about hauling Cassie to bed and working out the pain, the rage, the insatiable lust, claiming her as mine and nobody else's...No! I need to forget all that and get on with this sideshow. I can't go soft. If I do, the whole damn world's gonna crash down and bury everything I've ever cared about. Views: 61
Fortune's Blight by Evie Manieri continues the conflict begun in Blood's Pride. Victory for the Shadari rebels has come at a terrible price. Hardship, superstition, and petty feuds poison King Daryan's young reign, and entire families are vanishing without a trace. Help is nowhere to be found, for their Nomas allies have troubles of their own and the Mongrel, plagued by the sins of her violent past, has disappeared.While Daryan struggles to maintain the peace, Eofar and Rho are racing to their northern homeland to plead—or fight—for the Shadar's independence. But Norland has changed, and they soon find themselves embroiled in the court politics of an empire about to implode. Meanwhile, the Mongrel's path carries her deep into Norland's frozen wastes to redeem a promise—one that forces her into the heart of the growing conflict.As the foundations of the two far-flung countries begin to crack, an enigmatic figure watches from a... Views: 61
A dreamy and adrenaline-fueled new novel from a two-time Granta Best Young NovelistLurid & Cute is a kind of machine for the reader's corruption. It opens with all the things we've come to expect of Adam Thirlwell—"the playfulness of language, the way the mandarin wit, line by line, consorts with grisly or louche material," as Jeffrey Eugenides has said—when the narrator wakes confused in a seedy hotel room. He has had the good education, and also the good job. Together with his wife and dog, he lives at home with his parents. But then the lurid overtakes him—a chain of events that feels to those inside it narcotic and neurotic, like one long and terrible descent: complete with lies, deceit, and chicanery, and including, in escalating order, one orgy, one brothel, and a series of firearms disputes. Lurid & Cute balances the complexity of an interior world—our hero's apparently innocent... Views: 61
It's July 1939 and even though Poland is trapped between Adolph Hitler and Uncle Joe Stalin, everyone hopes war can be avoided. On the island of Jersey, eighteen-year-old Jack Renouf is forbidden from associating with his own Uncle Fred because of his dangerous Communist views and salacious liaison with his Spanish mistress. Caught in his own velvet trap between outrageous Caroline and secretive Rachel, Jack doesn't pay too much attention to international affairs especially during this glorious summer when, despite the darkening horizon, everyone is in holiday mood. In his final days at school, Jack is focussed on breaking the one-minute barrier for the 100 yards freestyle so that he can get into the British swimming team for the 1940 Helsinki Olympics. Desperate for those last few seconds, he listens to Miko, an enigmatic Jewish refugee who works as a waiter in a local hotel but claims to have trained the Romanian water polo team for the Berlin Olympics. He persuades Jack to... Views: 61
-a Future Night Stalkers romance story- Brody Jones flies Lifter Rescue—diving down into the hazards of Low Earth Orbit. There he saves who he can of Earth's last refugees. Captain Karina Rostov of the Future Night Stalkers can't understand Brody's career choice—neither his commitment to Lifter Rescue nor his refusal to fly with her. When a rescue flight forces them both to confront their pasts, each must finally face their own Heart's Refuge. Views: 61
Raul Mackenzie-Mendoza is the mixed-blood son of a Scot-American father and a Mexican mother. He is an adventurer who speaks two languages and can back up anything he says in either one with his sixgun. He is hired by a desperate Arizona rancher to rescue his niece from the Mexican bandit El Demonio. At first it seems a routine job of finding the bandido then ransoming the beautiful captive. But El Demonio has sold the young woman to traffickers of human beings. Now bringing her back will become a hunt-and-escape adventure challenging Raul's courageous determination and his gunfighting skills. Views: 61
Jack and Annie are ready for their next fantasy adventure in the bestselling middle-grade series--the Magic Tree House! It's icicle city . . . when the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie to the frozen Arctic. Luckily, a seal hunter on a dogsled lends them warm clothes. Unluckily, they get stuck on cracking ice. Will the giant polar bear save them? Or will Jack and Annie become frozen dinners? Visit the Magic Tree House website! MagicTreeHouse.comFrom the Trade Paperback edition. Views: 61
From Booklist Wyman Ford, the former CIA agent turned freelance investigator introduced in Blasphemy (2008), returns. This time the U.S. government sends him on a seemingly straightforward mission to locate a secret Cambodian mine, the source of some unusual gemstones. But Ford’s assignment quickly gets a lot more complicated, and soon he’s immersed in a mystery involving conspiracy, murder, and a strange object buried in a moon of Mars, an object that might be about to unleash something unimaginable upon Earth. Blasphemy felt almost claustrophobic at times (much of its action took place on a single set), but here the author opens up the stage, with plot threads unspooling in various countries and involving various supporting characters, who seem, at first, to have no connection to one another. Where Blasphemy tread on some controversial ground (the nature-of-God question), this book is a more traditional thriller, substituting adventure for philosophical exploration. Is it a better book or a worse one? Different readers may answer the question in different ways, but one thing’s for sure: once Preston kicks the story into high gear, they won’t put the book down until it’s finished. Views: 61
