2013 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees Announced

Posted on 2014-01-16 at 15:08 by Sam

Via Locus Online, the 2013 Philip K. Dick Award Nominees have been announced [with DRM-free audiobook editions linked where available]:

• A Calculated Life, Anne Charnock (47North) -- Brilliance Audio, narrated by Susan Duerden [MP3-CD]
• The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, Cassandra Rose Clarke (Angry Robot) -- Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, narrated by Kate Rudd [MP3-CD | CD | Downpour ]
• Self-Reference Engine, Toh EnJoe, translated by Terry Gallagher (Haikasoru) -- [no audio]
• Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit) -- Recorded Books, narrated by Celeste Ciulla [Downpour] (physical editions not yet published)
• Life on the Preservation, Jack Skillingstead (Solaris) -- [no audio]
• Solaris Rising 2: The New Solaris Books of Science Fiction, Ian Whates, ed. (Solaris) -- [no audio]
• Countdown City, Ben H. Winters (Quirk Books) -- Brilliance Audio, narrated by Peter Berkrot [MP3-CD | CD | Downpour]

“The awards are presented annually to a distinguished work of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. The winner and any special citations will be announced April 18, 2014 at Norwescon 37 in SeaTac WA. For more, see www.philipkdickaward.org.”

The books on this list that I’ve had the chance to listen to (Countdown City and Ancillary Justice) are both in my top picks of 2013. And! Rumor has it that A Calculated Life is soon to be Whispersync for Voice enabled as well. Congratulations to the nominees!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged a calculated life, ancillary justice, ann leckie, anne charnock, ben h. winters, cassandra rose clarke, countdown city, ian whates, jack skillingstead, kate rudd, peter berkrot, philip k dick award, solaris rising, susan duerden, toh enjoe

Release Week: Shovel Ready, The Emperor's Blades, Alex Bledsoe's Eddie LaCrosse, Shawn Speakman's The Dark Thorn, Gateways, and Clive Barker's The Books of Blood

Posted on 2014-01-15 at 20:23 by Sam

JANUARY 8-14, 2014: This week the name of the game is "fantasy", though near-future noir (Shovel Ready), the latest Peter Clines (Ex-Purgatory, read by Jay Snyder), classic sf from Asimov (read by Scott Brick) and Vonda McIntyre (read by Gayle Hendrix), and most singularly the Frederik Pohl tribute anthology Gateways (read by the voice of Pohl's Gateway, Oliver Wyman) do make for a more diverse range of offerings. But the lion's share of my picks this week? There are swords, there are blades, there are knights, and there is blood. Even into the "also out this week" listings: there are cold mages (Kate Elliott's Cold Fire), there are thieves, there are more swords (David Dalglish's Dawn of Swords), and there is even a kaiju sighting. (Whether you want to shelve that last into fantasy or sf is, of course, be up to you.) And, as last week, there's another highly-anticipated Africa-set fiction novel, Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe. This week's picks are also voiced by some of the best narrators in the business, so you're in for a treat whichever way you turn. Unless of course you were hoping for one of the "seen but not heard" books (JM McDermott's Maze, Kathe Koja's The Mercury Waltz, or Rachel Cantor's A Highly Unlikely Scenario) or are on the US side of the digital regional divide and were hoping for The Girl with All the Gifts which is now out in audio in the UK. Sadly there's not even a physical audiobook edition to import, so the long wait for the June US release begins. Ticktock!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

This book wasn't even on my radar until Tuesday morning, but the more I read about Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh and the more I enjoy Arthur Morey's gravelly narration, the more I'm taken in by this tightly-wound (under 7 hours) crime novel, out from Random House Audio concurrent with the print/ebook release from Crown. "The futuristic hard-boiled noir that Lauren Beukes calls 'sharp as a paper-cut' about a garbage man turned kill-for-hire. Spademan used to be a garbage man. That was before the dirty bomb hit Times Square, before his wife was killed, and before the city became a blown-out shell of its former self. Now he’s a hitman. In a near-future New York City split between those who are wealthy enough to “tap in” to a sophisticated virtual reality, and those who are left to fend for themselves in the ravaged streets, Spademan chose the streets. His new job is not that different from his old one: Waste disposal is waste disposal.  He doesn’t ask questions; he works quickly; and he’s handy with a box cutter. But when his latest client hires him to kill the daughter of a powerful evangelist, his unadorned life is upended: His mark has a shocking secret and his client has a sordid agenda far beyond a simple kill. Spademan must navigate between these two worlds—the wasteland reality and the slick fantasy—to finish his job, clear his conscience, and make sure he’s not the one who winds up in the ground."

The Emperor’s Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne) by Brian Staveley, read by the always fantastic Simon Vance for Brilliance Audio concurrent with the print/ebook release from Tor. There have been excerpts going up on Tor.com for several months now as well as a free 7-chapter ebook preview for this debut novel, first in a new epic fantasy series, which “follows siblings Valyn, Kaden, and Adare, who are in different parts of the world when they learn about the assassination of their father, the Emperor. All of them are in danger of being the next targets, and all of them are caught in the maelstrom of conspiracy, intrigue, treachery, and magic that sweeps through Staveley’s auspicious debut novel.”

Posted in Release Week | Tagged alex bledsoe, books of blood, clive barker, eddie lacrosse, gateways, oliver wyman, shawn speakman, shovel ready, simon vance, stefan rudnicki, the emperor's blades

Whispersync Daily Deal: The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Posted on 2014-01-12 at 01:22 by Sam

Staurday January 11, 2014: Sorry this one’s a little late again; I’ve been busy at illogiCon this weekend and couldn’t find the time for even one of these little posts. Anyway: The Maze Runner: Maze Runner, Book 1 By James Dashner is on sale for $1.99 as one of today’s Kindle Daily Deals, and offers a $3.95 Whispersync for Voice upgrade to the Audible edition, Narrated By Mark Deakins for Listening Library. The book begins Dashner’s Maze Runner series:

“When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade - a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift. Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up - the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers. Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.”

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged james dashner, the maze runner

Release Week: Chang-rae Lee's On Such a Full Sea, Joe Haldeman's Work Done for Hire, a collection by Ben Marcus, and more

Posted on 2014-01-09 at 18:29 by Sam

JANUARY 1-7, 2014: 2014 gets off to a cracking start with a literary dystopia from Pulitzer Prize finalist Chang-rae Lee, a new standalone novel from Joe Haldeman, a collection by Ben Marcus (Leaving the Sea), and! Jane Yellowrock is back in the latest installment of Faith Hunter's series. In the "also out" listings: Alma Katsu's The Taker trilogy concludes, we get the entirety of R.A. Salvatore's Paths of Darkness trilogy in his Legend of Drizzt oeuvre, and plenty more including a pair of new audiobooks of Robert Heinlein classics, the latest historical fictions from Bernard Cornwell and Harry Sidebottom, the conclusion of Ian McDonald's Everness trilogy, a new novel by Sue Monk Kidd, and a pair of powerful Africa-set fictions. And! While I have a lot more to do to get a true 2014 preview ready, two fantastic-looking books added to the future releases section: Helen Oyeyemi's Boy, Snow, Bird and Alexandra Duncan's Salvage. It's not all great news, however, as Lisa Shearin's The Grendel Affair, Carrie Vaughn's Dreams of the Golden Age, and Snorri Kristjansson's Swords of Good Men head a new list, the most missing audiobooks of 2014, there's still no pre-order listings (for listeners) for Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation read by Carolyn McCormick, and a very anticipated release I had on this week's schedule for some reason or other, The Girl with All the Gifts, is apparently a June release, not a January one. My bad. Still, plenty to pick from to get your 2014 off to a good start. Enjoy!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee, Read by B. D. Wong for Penguin Audio, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Riverhead. Lee is a Pulitzer finalist turning his diverse attention to dystopian literature; Wong is the award-winning actor and "mirth specialist" I've enjoyed in many roles, of course Law & Order but also Jurassic Park, his voicing of Shang in Mulan, all the way back to noticing him in a recent re-watch as "Boy on Street" in Karate Kid, Part 2. This will be my first full-length narration from him, though I'm looking forward to getting to his "Ralph the Mouse" narrations in the near future with my kids. Here, one of the most anticipated "Genre in the Mainstream" titles of 2014 gets the year in books started in a big way: "In a future, long-declining America, society is strictly stratified by class. Long-abandoned urban neighborhoods have been repurposed as high-walled, self-contained labor colonies. And the members of the labor class— descendants of those brought over en masse many years earlier from environmentally ruined provincial China—find purpose and identity in their work to provide pristine produce and fish to the small, elite, satellite charter villages that ring the labor settlement. In this world lives Fan, a female fish-tank diver, who leaves her home in the B-Mor settlement (once known as Baltimore), when the man she loves mysteriously disappears. Fan’s journey to find him takes her out of the safety of B-Mor, through the anarchic Open Counties, where crime is rampant with scant governmental oversight, and to a faraway charter village, in a quest that will soon become legend to those she left behind."

Work Done for Hire by Joe Haldeman, read by Chris Sorensen for Recorded Books, concurrent with the print/ebook release from Ace. I had the fantastic experience of hearing Haldeman read from this novel in manuscript two years ago, and here it is finally out. "Wounded in combat and honorably discharged nine years ago, Jack Daley still suffers nightmares from when he served his country as a sniper, racking up sixteen confirmed kills. Now a struggling author, Jack accepts an offer to write a near-future novel about a serial killer, based on a Hollywood script outline. It’s an opportunity to build his writing career, and a future with his girlfriend, Kit Majors.But Jack’s other talent is also in demand. A package arrives on his doorstep containing a sniper rifle, complete with silencer and ammunition -- and the first installment of a $100,000 payment to kill a 'bad man.' The twisted offer is genuine. The people behind it are dangerous. They prove that they have Jack under surveillance. He can’t run. He can’t hide. And if he doesn’t take the job, Kit will be in the crosshairs instead." Via BoingBoing you can find additional links, including to an excerpt on Tor.com. Now, a word. I'm "in" for this book with or without any particular speculative element; but for those who do require a hook of this kind, this is a near future setting with a few technological details which are not yet practical, or at least not yet practiced.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged bd wong, ben marcus, chang-rae lee, chris sorensen, joe haldeman, work done for hire

Re-Pressed: Bob’s Audiobook Report: January Week 1

Posted on 2014-01-08 at 02:23 by Sam

Over on The Guilded Earlobe, my go-to audiobook reviewer Bob Reiss lays out his plans for a little more irregular, a little more personal and rambly updates. I’m down with that. The first of those is Bob’s Audiobook Report: January Week 1 in which I also see something I’m very, very much looking forward to: “I have selected and have been working on my Top 20 Audiobooks of 2013 post.” Oh yeah. OH YEAH. Bring it.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged the guilded earlobe

Whispersync Daily Deal: Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach

Posted on 2014-01-05 at 14:45 by Sam

As I’m working off and on to finish up my “regrets” list of audiobooks I missed this year, Sunday, January 5th brings Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach onto the Kindle Daily Deal list at $1.99. There’s a $1.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition, narrated by Emily Durante, making it far too tempting a Whispersync Daily Deal to pass up. The book starts a new series for Bach, a new pseudonym for fantasy author Rachel Aaron (The Legend of Eli Monpress), the Paradox Series, with books 2 and 3 coming in rapid succession in early 2014: Honor’s Knight (Feb 25, 2014) and Heaven’s Queen (Apr 22, 2014). “Devi Morris isn’t your average mercenary. She has plans. Big ones. And a ton of ambition. It’s a combination that’s going to get her killed one day - but not just yet. That is, until she gets a job on a tiny trade ship with a nasty reputation for surprises. The Glorious Fool isn’t misnamed; it likes to get into trouble, so much so that one year of security work under its captain is equal to five years everywhere else. With odds like that, Devi knows she’s found the perfect way to get the jump on the next part of her plan.”

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged emily durante, fortune's pawn, rachel bach

Whispersync Daily Deals: Ramez Naam's Nexus and Crux, and Stephen Kiernan's The Curiosity

Posted on 2014-01-05 at 00:49 by Sam

Sorry once again for the late notice, busy day. Saturday January 4 brings a pair of Ramez Naam novels and Stephen Kiernan’s The Curiosity (among others) to the Kindle Daily Deal list, and each offers a Whispersync upgrade to the audible edition.

Nexus, Narrated By Luke Daniels, and Crux, Narrated By Mikael Naramore, are the first two books in Ramez Naam’s “Nexus” post-human sf series. “In the near future, the nano-drug Nexus can link mind to mind. There are some who want to improve it. There are some who want to eradicate it. And there are others who just want to exploit it. When a young scientist is caught improving Nexus, he’s thrust over his head into a world of danger and international espionage, with far more at stake than anyone realizes.” Each are available for $1.99 Kindle and $0.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible editions.

The Curiosity: A Novel By Stephen Kiernan, Narrated By Kate Udall, Erik Bergmann, and George Guidall is a literary fiction take on the “man frozen in ice for centuries, then thawed and revived” theme. “Dr. Kate Philo makes a breathtaking discovery in the Arctic: the body of a man buried deep in the ice. Heedless of the potential consequences, Kate’s boss orders that the frozen man be reanimated. As the man begins to regain his memories, the team learns that he was - is - a judge, Jeremiah Rice. Thrown together by fate, Kate and Jeremiah grow closer. But the clock is ticking and Jeremiah’s new life is slipping away. Kate must decide how far she is willing to go to protect the man she has come to love.” Available for $1.99 Kindle and offering a $4.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition.

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged ramez naam, stephen kiernan

Whispersync Daily Deal: Christian Cantrell's Kingmaker, Chris Roberson's Further, Dana Cameron's Seven Kinds of Hell, John le Carre's The Constant Gardener, and more

Posted on 2014-01-03 at 19:59 by Sam

Well, the first Friday of 2014 does not disappoint in terms of Kindle Daily Deal titles with Whispersync for Voice upgrades. SF, urban fantasy, a John le Carre novel of international intrigue, historical fiction, a moving novel about mental disability, and more.

Seven Kinds of Hell: Fangborn, Book 1 By Dana Cameron, Narrated By Kate Rudd, is on sale for $1.99 Kindle and $0.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition. “Archaeologist Zoe Miller has been running from a haunting secret her whole life. But when her cousin is abducted by a vicious Russian kidnapper, Zoe is left with only one option: to reveal herself. Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She’s a werewolf and a daughter of the “Fangborn,” a secretive race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles embroiled in an ancient war against evil.”

Kingmaker By Christian Cantrell, Narrated By Will Damron, is on sale for $2 in its Kindle edition this month, with a $1.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition. “I build levers to move objects that appear to be immovable. Alexei Drovosek represents the next evolution of human: no heart, immunity to cancer, and the uncanny ability to survive in conditions that would kill normal men. As an orphan growing up in post-Soviet Russia, Alexei was taken in by the state and trained as its most vicious and effective killer. But eventually the Russian Federal Security Service’s best-trained assassin did the most dangerous thing of all: he turned on his handlers, went rogue, and disappeared. In the bleak, high-tech near future, Alexei has resurfaced in a secret compound on the outskirts of Los Angeles, a city where autonomous-drive vehicles race along the highways and independent city-states operate with materialistic impunity. In the center of it all is the soaring headquarters of Pearl Knight Industries, an international mega-corporation that keeps war machines and cultural capitalism running in every country and on every continent on the planet. As a principal proponent of the 31st Amendment to the United States constitution, which legalized the transfer of suffrage from citizens to corporations, Pearl Knight has power that is truly above the law.”

Further: Beyond the Threshold By Chris Roberson, Narrated By Jeff Crawford, is on sale for $1.99 in Kindle, with a $1.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition. “The 34th century: Humankind is spread across 3,000 light years in myriad worlds and habitats known as the Human Entelechy. Linked by a network of wormholes with Earth at its center, it is the world Captain RJ Stone awakens to after a twelve-thousand-year cryogenic suspension. Stone soon finds himself commanding the maiden voyage of the first spacecraft to break the light speed barrier: the FTL Further. In search of extraterrestrial intelligence, the landing party explores a distant pulsar only to be taken prisoner by the bloodthirsty Iron Mass.”

47 Ronin By John Allyn, Narrated By David Shih, is not Joan D. Vinge’s novelisation of the new Keanu Reeves movie, but instead the now-classic historical fiction retelling of the original Japanese legend. It is on sale for $2.99 Kindle, with a $3.95 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition. “For those looking for the real story behind the fictionalized movie account of the 47 Ronin story, this is the definitive, fascinating account of this unforgettable tale of a band of samurai who defied the Emperor to avenge the disgrace and death of their master, and faced certain death as a result. It led to one of the bloodiest episodes in Japanese history, and in the process, created a new set of heroes in Japan. In 1701, young Lord Asano is goaded into attacking a corrupt official at the Japanese Court. Although the wound Asano inflicts is minimal, the Emperor’s punishment is harsh: Lord Asano is ordered to commit seppuku, or ritual suicide. His lands are confiscated and his family is dishonored and exiled. His samurai retainers now become ronin, or masterless, and are dispersed. These ronin are not trusted by their enemies and live under the watchful eyes of spies for months. They appear to adapt to their new circumstances by becoming tradesmen and teachers. But the ronin only seem to accept their fate. They are in fact making careful plans for revenge, biding their time until the moment to strike is right! Their deeds became Japan’s most celebrated example of bravery, cunning, and loyalty in an age when samurai were heroes, and honor was worth dying for. John Allyn’s masterful retelling of 47 Ronin has long been considered the definitive version of these dramatic historical events.”

The Constant Gardener By John le Carre, Narrated By Michael Jayston, is the spy novel grand master le Carre’s 18th novel, available for $1.99 Kindle and offering a $3.95 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition. “Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely calibrated, John le Carré’s new novel opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya’s Lake Turkana, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa’s much older husband, Justin, a career diplomat at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive.”

The Story of Beautiful Girl By Rachel Simon, Narrated By Kate Reading, is Simon’s 2011 novel of mental disability, institutions, and family, available for $1.99 Kindle and with a $3.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition. “It is 1968. Lynnie, a young white woman with a developmental disability, and Homan, an African American deaf man, are locked away in an institution: the School for the Incurable and Feebleminded, and have been left to languish, forgotten. Deeply in love, they escape, and find refuge in the farmhouse of Martha, a retired schoolteacher and widow. But the couple is not alone - Lynnie has just given birth to a baby girl. When the authorities catch up to them that same night, Homan escapes into the darkness, and Lynnie is caught.”

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged chris roberson, christian cantrell, dana cameron, john allyn, john le Carre, kate reading, kate rudd, Narrated By Jeff Crawford, rachel simon

Release Week(s): Catherine M. Wilson's When Women Were Warriors, Samit Basu's Turbulence, Kathleen Tierney's Blood Oranges, Ian McDonald's Planesrunner, and Richard Bowes' Dust Devil on a Quiet Street

Posted on 2014-01-01 at 17:13 by Sam

DECEMBER 18-31, 2013: The last two weeks of 2013 bring two adult novels off the "most missing" list including the Kickstarter-funded and Janis Ian-narrated book one of Catherine M. Wilson's When Women Were Warriors, and two fantastic YA novels as well as works from Mazarkis Williams, Matthew Hughes, Greg Egan, Andy Remic, Martha Wells, Manly Wade Wellman, James Marshall, Steve Perry, Anderson Prunty, and Poul Anderson, among others, and another great audiobook for early teens, Moonkind by Sarah Prineas, which concludes her Winterling trilogy, and Jen McConnel's The Secret of Isobel Key. Among a pretty long list of Dec 31 releases, some good-looking books in the "seen but not heard" listings include Lisa Shearin's The Grendel Affair, Chuck Wendig's The Cormorant, and J David Osborne's collection Our Blood in Its Blind Circuit. Happy New Year!

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

I was a very proud supporter of the Kickstarter to fund an audiobook edition for book one Catherine M. Wilson's When Women Were Warriors, and here it is as The Warrior's Path is now available from publisher Dog Ear Audio via Payloadz.com. "'All the women of my family had gone to war...Now my turn had come...So it is the custome that a free woman leave her mother's house to bind herself and those of her blood to a neighboring clan, either by the sword or by the cradle.' So begins the story of young Tamras, as she embarks on her journey to become a warrior's apprentice. This epic story is not about battles and armor, but rather about relationships, coming of age and wisdom, and deep insights into the human experience." In his review for The Historical Novel Society, Steve Donague writes: "Wilson's...remarkable trilogy set in Bronze Age Britain, opens with spirited young Tamras being sent to the household of the Lady Merin to learn comportment, the ways of court--and the arts of physical combat. The strong, supply prose on display in [this book], the intelligence of the plotting, and the skillfully-varied pacing make this a standout [book]--highly recommended." For me it will be a chance to start 2014 by splitting the epoch difference between two of my favorite audiobooks of 2013, the ice age Shaman and 7th century Hild.

Originally published in India in 2010 and then published to wider audiences in 2012 and now in audio ahead of the release of book two in early 2014 is Turbulence: Turbulence, Book 1 By Samit Basu, Narrated By Ramom Takarim for Audible Ltd. "Aman Sen is smart, young, ambitious and going nowhere. He thinks this is because he doesn’t have the right connections but then he gets off a plane from London to Delhi and discovers that he has turned into a communications demigod. Indeed, everyone on Aman’s flight now has extraordinary abilities corresponding to their innermost desires. Vir, an Air Force pilot, can now fly. Uzma, an aspiring Bollywood actress, now possesses infinite charisma. And then there's Jai, an indestructible one-man army with a good old-fashioned goal: to rule the world!" Narrator Tikaram is an accomplished British stage and screen actor of Indo-Fijian and Malaysian descent, with television appearances on BBC's EastEnders and as as Prendahl in Game of Thrones; I've been looking forward to this book for a good while and based on the sample it's been superbly cast, narrated, and produced.

Blood Oranges: A Siobhan Quinn Novel By Kathleen Tierney, Narrated By Amber Benson for Audible Inc. is one of the most intriguing YA titles in a while. Tierney is Caitlin R. Kiernan’s pseudonym for her new YA series; the book was published in print/ebook earlier in 2013. "My name's Quinn. If you buy into my reputation, I'm the most notorious demon hunter in New England. But rumors of my badassery have been slightly exaggerated. Instead of having kung-fu skills and a closet full of medieval weapons, I'm an ex-junkie with a talent for being in the wrong place at the right time. Or the right place at the wrong time. Or…whatever. Wanted for crimes against inhumanity I (mostly) didn't commit, I was nearly a midnight snack for a werewolf until I was "saved" by a vampire calling itself the Bride of Quiet. Already cursed by a werewolf bite, the vamp took a pint out of me too. So now…now, well, you wouldn't think it could get worse, but you'd be dead wrong." It's also a pretty good Whispersync for Voice deal, at a $3.99 upgrade from the Kindle edition.

Speaking of intriguing YA titles, a 2011 Pyr Teen title I've been hoping would come to audio for a while is here as well: Planesrunner By Ian McDonald (author of adult novels Brasyl, The Dervish House, and River of Gods, among others) begins his Everness series, with Be My Enemy now out as well, both ahead of the conclusion, Empress of the Sun, which releases tomorrow, all narrated by Tom Lawrence. "There is not one you. There are many yous. There is not one world. There are many worlds. Ours is one among billions of parallel earths. When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer. Suddenly, this teenager has become the owner of the most valuable object in the multiverse-the Infundibulum-the map of all the parallel earths, and there are dark forces in the Ten Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it."

Dust Devil on a Quiet Street by Richard Bowes was published by Lethe Press in July, and here just sneaks its way out of the "most missing audio of 2013" list by dint of a Tom Kane-narrated audiobook. "Dust Devil on a Quiet Street chronicles the remarkable life of Boston-born, New York City-reared author Richard Bowes's childhood and adolescent brushes with dramatic spirits and hustlers, large and small, paved the way for his adult encounters with the remarkable, the numinous, the supernatural. Deftly orchestrated, this ''memoir'' is part impassioned homage to Manhattan decades before and up to its recent wound on September 11th, which creates a hole in the city and allows the ghosts of the dead to return and part tell-all of the uncanny secrets behind life as a university librarian and a group of Greenwich Village writers."

Here I have to admit to the creation of revisionist history, as my first pass at this week's release week coverage overlooked this book; it was shelved as "Fiction" and purported to be a fictional memoir at first glance, but I should have paid closer attention. That was remedied by Jason Sanford's post (in February 2014) listing his Nebula Award nominations.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged ian mcdonald, janis ian, ramom takarim, samit basu, turbulence, when women were warriors

Whispersync Daily Deal: Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Posted on 2014-01-01 at 13:14 by Sam

Happy New Year! January 1 brings a $1.99 Kindle Daily Deal for the first novel for teens from the best-selling author of Mistborn and co-author of the concluding novels of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, Brandon Sanderson, starting a new superhero series The Reckoners: Steelheart. For $3.99 more, add to the Audible edition narrated by Macleod Andrews (Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim, Steven Gould’s Jumper).

”Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills. Nobody fights the Epics…nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David’s father.”

Posted in Whispersync Deals | Tagged brandon sanderson, macleod andrews, steelheart, the reckoners