The Orbital Drop, Whispersync for Voice, and SFSignal's impressive ebook deals list

Posted on 2013-07-10 at 02:42 by Sam

I’ve posted fairly frequently about Whispersync for Voice deals, and one sure source for finding new ones is following Orbit Books’ The Orbital Drop ebook deals, which each month “drops” the price on one or more ebooks in Orbit’s catalog — this month the titles include T.C. McCarthy’s Germline and Mira Grant’s Feed. Another pretty good source is watching for sequels or new follow-on books in a series, and checking to see if maybe the publisher has dropped the price on book one to try to tempt people to jump in and start the series — one such deal currently ongoing is on Alex Bledsoe’s The Hum and the Shiver, as Bledsoe’s Wisp of a Thing was just published.

Well, apparently I have barely scratched the surface, because SFSignal has found 175 SF/F/H Kindle ebook deals which, while not too many of them have audiobooks, and of these not all of them are “Whispersync for Voice” enabled, and of these not all of them offer additional price breaks, adds several more titles to check out. On my skim-through, some really excellent picks:

Germline: The Subterrene War, Book 1 by T.C. McCarthy, read by Donald Corren — add the audiobook for $2.99 after buying the $2.99 ebook

Feed: The Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 1 by Mira Grant, read by Paula Christensen and Jesse Bernstein — add the audiobook for $5.49 after buying the $2.99 ebook

The Hum and the Shiver: The Tufa Novels, Book 1 by Alex Bledsoe, read by Stefan Rudnicki and Emily Janice Card — add the audiobook for $3.99

Dragon Haven: Rain Wilds Chronicles, Volume 2 by Robin Hobb, read by Anne Flosnik — add the audiobook for $2.99

The Garden of Stones: Echoes of the Empire, Book 1 by Mark T. Barnes, read by Nick Podehl — add for $1.99

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley, read by Sarah Coomes — add for $1.99

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, read by Jefferson Mays — add for $3.99

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente — add for $2.99

Legion by Brandon Sanderson, read by Oliver Wyman — add for $1.99

UPDATE JULY 10: Another title to add due to a temporary Kindle price drop is The Iron Wyrm Affair: Bannon and Clare, Book 1 by Lilith Saintcrow, read by Moira Quirk. Buy the Kindle ebook for $1.99 and add the Audible audiobook for $3.99.

UPDATE JULY 15: I’m not sure if I missed this one earlier or if it just had not yet had time to “sync” up yet, but the just-released The Flames of Shadam Khoreh: The Lays of Anuskaya, Book 3 By Bradley P. Beaulieu, Narrated By Ray Chase has a regular price of $30.57. But! Through the magic of “Whispersync for Voice” if you get the Kindle book, available from Amazon.com for $6.99, you can add the Audible audiobook for $1.99.

UPDATE JULY 19: Open Road Media has discounted quite a few of their ebooks for most of July, and here’s one which leads to an impressive Whispersync for Voice deal: buy the Kindle edition of Robert McCammon’s Swan Song for $3.05 and you can add the Audible audiobook for $3.95.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brandon sanderson, germline, legion, oliver wyman, whispersync

Release Week: Hannu Rajaniemi's The Fractal Prince, Django Wexler's The Thousand Names, Anthony Ryan's Blood Song, Melissa Marr's The Arrivals, Matt Haig's The Humans, and Stephen Graham Jones' Zombie Bake-Off

Posted on 2013-07-09 at 03:32 by Sam

Posted in Release Week | Tagged anthony ryan, django wexler, hannu rajaniemi, scott brick, stephen graham jones

Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Posted on 2013-07-03 at 04:57 by Dave

A Neil Gaiman audiobook is an Event. Gaiman has a mythical reputation as a fantasist, and with that reputation comes a lot of baggage. There’s been a lot of talk about what Gaiman’s been up to the last few years. An American God television show (which dictates sequels to his acclaimed, award winning novel). A sequel to Odd and the Frost Giant. A prequel to his groundbreaking Sandman comic. Another Neverwhere. (Okay, maybe I’m the only one holding out hope for that one, but I so am!) But I have to admit, there was a part of me that was a little bit worried about Gaiman returning to all of his old playgrounds. I wanted to see something fresh, something different.

So I was delighted that The Ocean at the End of the Lane feels like none of Gaiman’s previous novels, and is satisfyingly original, and is the high point of my audiobook listening this year. It’s easily the most personal of his novels, tightly focused, and brief - like childhood remembered by an adult. It’s a story of memories as tangible as the sea - we know they happened, we even swam in it, but the waves continue to roll, and the landscape is seemingly ever changing. It’s memories as mythology, and it’d be cynical not to fall under it’s haunting spell.

It’s also a meditation on mortality, as told by a nameless narrator who has returned to England for his father’s funeral. Because of that, it’s impossible not to divorce our image of the narrator as Neil himself, giving this book a fantastical yet autobiographical sense - even moreso as an audiobook - which is part of the point. Readers and fans familiar with Gaiman via Twitter and his blog may remember reading about similar familiar events referenced in this book, although their memories will be distinctly different from what occurs in the story. As one character says:

"That's the trouble with living things. Don't last very long. Kittens on day, old cats next. And then just memories. And the memories fade and blend and smudge together."

In spinning this story, Gaiman has woven himself into a new mythology all his own. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a reminder to adults of the wonders and mysteries of childhood, and encourages us to find those same pleasures as adults. It reminds us that just because we’re grown up, doesn’t mean it’s over, and we may still witness wondrous and mysterious things.

Posted in reviews, Uncategorized

Dave Reviews: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan, read by Christian Rodska

Posted on 2013-06-26 at 19:40 by Dave

Promise of Blood, Book 1 in the Powder Mage Trilogy By Brian McClellan, Read by Christian Rodska Length: 17 hours

What is it you want from Epic Fantasy these days? To get a sense of what life was like in some fantastical medieval time period? Maybe just the opposite - escapism? A sense of adventure and wonder? If it's a cool system of magic, Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood has you covered. It kicks off a new fantasy trilogy featuring Powder Mages - magicians who consume or ingest gunpowder that makes them the flintlock equivalent of Wanted's assassins - they can make bullets go a farther distance than they should, see targets beyond a mere mortal's vision, cause gunpowder to explode with a thought, and even change a bullet's direction.

For a general and warlord, Tamis felt a bit uneven - he made some choices in the second half of the book that didn't seem to jive with his character. Taniel's addiction felt like a missed opportunity - a magician addicted to gunpowder should be a huge metaphor, but there's little done with it. Adamat was the only viewpoint character I found satisfying, even if his investigation went a bit easy at the end.

But my biggest frustration was the novel's portrayal of women.

Posted in reviews | Tagged brian mcclellan, christian rodska, hachette audio

Release Week: Niven and Harrington's The Goliath Stone, Christopher Priest's The Adjacent, Madeline Ashby's iD, Paul S. Kemp's A Discourse in Steel, Calvino's Invisible Cities, and Ballard's The Drowned World

Posted on 2013-06-26 at 15:00 by Sam

JUNE 19-25, 2013: June goes out with quite a bang -- limiting the picks to even the four pairs below still leaves titles of interest in the "also out this week" listings, such as a literary historical fantasy from Andrew Sean Greer and Jeff Noon's follow-on to Vurt; it's also another big week for self-published releases with David D. Levine, M.R. Mathias and Hugh Howey all publishing well-produced audiobooks of their works.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

I'll start the pairings with two top-flight concurrent new releases from giants in the field, starting with The Goliath Stone by Larry Niven and Matthew Joseph Harrington, read by Jeff Woodman for Audible Frontiers, concurrent with the print and ebook from Tor Books. “Twenty-five years ago, the Briareus mission took nanomachinery out to divert an Earth-crossing asteroid and bring it back to be mined, only to drop out of contact as soon as it reached its target. The project was shut down and the technology was forcibly suppressed. Now, a much, much larger asteroid is on a collision course with Earth—and the Briareus nanites may be responsible.” Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review: “As nanites make the protagonists younger, healthier, and sexier, they engage in fast, funny, and gloriously self-referential repartee, with repeated homage paid to classic science-fiction writers and their work. The hard science can be dense, but it never gets in way of the breezy mood that gives this delightful romp its wings.”

And while there is not yet a US print or ebook release in sight, out concurrent with the UK release from Gollanz is a US-available audiobook edition from Audible Ltd for The Adjacent by Christopher Priest. Locus Online describes the book as: "SF/slipstream novel concerning a terrorist attack in near-future London, a World War I era meeting between a stage magician and a science fiction writer, a woman pilot who escapes the Nazis in 1943, and a present day scientist who creates an ‘adjacency’." And links to a five star review by Jonathan Wright at SFX which calls the book "One of the best novels of the year."

Next up, a pair of "book 2" entries from Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio. First up, iD: Machine Dynasty, Book 2 by Madeline Ashby, narrated by Luke Daniels. I learned a bit late of this follow-on to last summer's well-received vN: The First Machine Dynasty. Here: "Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine – a self-replicating humanoid robot. But Amy is a robot unlike any other - her failsafe has broken, meaning she is no longer sworn to protect humans. She and her equally synthetic partner Javier are holed up in their own robot paradise. But the world that wanted so much to get hold of Amy - to imprison her, melt her down, or use her as a weapon - will not stay away much longer. Javier must run, to Mecha, the robot kingdom, in search of salvation…or death."

A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp, read by Nick Podehl for Angry Robot on Brilliance Audio, is a sequel to last summer's The Hammer and the Blade. "Egil and Nix have retired, as they always said they would. No, really - they have! No more sword - and hammer - play for them! But when two recent acquaintances come calling for help, our hapless heroes find themselves up against the might of the entire Thieves Guild. And when kidnapping the leader of the most powerful guild in the land seems like the best course of action, you know you’re in over your head...."

Two more next books in a series, beginning with another of the "blockbuster" releases this week, Hunted: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 6 by Kevin Hearne, narrated by Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio. It's the latest in Hearne's best-selling series about a 2,000-year-old Druid, Atticus O’Sullivan, and his run-ins with the gods and goddesses of various pantheons. Here: "he’s being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt - Artemis and Diana - for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is...run like hell."

Much less a blockbuster but also a follow-on to check out is Steel Blues by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham, narrated by John Lee for Crossroad Press. Lee reprises his role (and American accents!) as narrator on Lost Things, which introduced the Order of the Air with a high-stakes trans-Atlantic airship crossing, deftly combining occult fantasy with hints of Steampunk art deco era adventure. Here: "When the Gilchrist Aviation team tries to win the money to keep the business going by placing first in a coast-to-coast air race, things get complicated! A stolen necklace, a runaway Russian countess, and a century-old curse seem like trouble enough, but then there's New Orleans, and the unsolved murders of the New Orleans Axeman. But what if the murderer is one of them?" This title also is one of the better "Whispersync for Voice" price quirks of the week: "Listen to Steel Blues, then pick up right where you left off with the Kindle book, available from Amazon.com for $4.99. Get this Audiobook for the reduced price of $3.49, when you buy the Kindle edition first."

Last up are a pair of older works now available in audio, starting with Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, narrated by John Lee for Tantor Audio. Invisible Cities is the Italian author Calvino's 1972 novel, first published in English in 1974: "In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo - Tartar emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts the emperor with tales of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. Soon it becomes clear that each of these fantastic places is really the same place."

Lastly, Audible Inc. published new audiobooks of several of J.G. Ballard's novels, led for me by The Drowned World, narrated by Julian Elfer, also including Hello America (narrated by David Ledoux), The Unlimited Dream Company (narrated by Dylan Lynch), Rushing to Paradise (narrated by Eva Kaminsky), High-Rise (narrated by Eric-Yves Garcia), and The Day of Creation (narrated by Fleet Cooper). The Drowned World is Ballard's 1962 novel which (publisher copy) "not only gained him widespread critical acclaim but also established his reputation as one of the finest writers of a generation. The Drowned World imagines a terrifying world in which global warming has melted the ice caps and primordial jungles have overrun a tropical London."

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged christopher priest, italo calvino, jg ballard, john lee, kevin hearne, larry niven, luke daniels, madeline ashby, melissa scott, paul s. kemp

Guest Post on BookLifeNow: Want to Read More? Think About Audiobooks

Posted on 2013-06-25 at 16:19 by Sam

I’m very happy to have contributed a guest post on the topic of audiobooks to BookLifeNow, the website “expansion kit” to Jeff VanderMeer’s book Booklife. Entitled “Want to Read More? Think About Audiobooks” it’s addressed to writers who know they need to be reading more to help feed their creative feedback loop, but can’t make time to sit down and read. I hope you enjoy!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged booklifenow

Links to some recent Laura Miller audiobook reviews on Salon.com's "The Listener"

Posted on 2013-06-25 at 15:17 by Sam

I haven't been keeping up as well with Salon.com's "The Listener", a weekly audiobook review blog, and apparently I have been missing some good ones. Here are a few from Laura Miller that are definitely worth checking out:

“River of Stars”: Picture “Game of Thrones” in China

Guy Gavriel Kay's exquisite Asian-inspired epic fantasy offers a fresh twist on intrigue and adventure

“The Golem and the Jinni”: Magic in the New World

A master narrator reads a tale of two creatures from folklore making new lives in turn-of-the-century Manhattan

“We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves”: Growing up primate

Karen Joy Fowler's funny, powerful novel of human-animal relations finds its ideal audiobook narrator

Posted in Uncategorized

Release Week: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Lexicon, Wisp of a Thing, Before the Fall, The Indigo Pheasant, Dark Eden, and Ken Scholes' Requiem

Posted on 2013-06-19 at 15:45 by Sam

JUNE 12-18, 2013: Well, there's no question on the most-anticipated title this week, Neil Gaiman's first novel for adults since 2005: The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel. But there's also a cerebral thriller from Max Barry, one of last year's most missing audiobooks in Chris Beckett's Dark Eden, a trio of second books in a series, and a full-cast narrated book 4 in Ken Scholes' "Psalms of Isaak" series, Requiem. Enjoy! And, not to worry, if (as it is for me) Gaiman's book is the one to most catch your eye, it's under 6 hours long -- and if (as I did) you already listened to the opening of the new book when it was available as part of Shoggoth's Old Peculiar: A Free Short Story by Neil Gaiman, Plus a Preview of The Ocean at the End of the Lane, you'll have even more time available to maybe sneak in a second book this week... In "Seen But Not Heard" headlines this week, that's easily led by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's The Long War ( sequel to The Long Earth) -- though fear not, it is set for a mid-July audiobook release -- followed by another anticipated debut, Sea Change by S.M. Wheeler.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel by Neil Gaiman, narrated by the author for Harper Audio.  Do I need to say too much more? Probably not. Gaiman's wife, Amanda Palmer, writes about the personal journey of the book. Joe Hill talked to Gaiman, ostensibly about the book, but it ended up talking about how to make the perfect lemon pancakes. Gaiman has talked about the new book, he's been interviewed about the book on NPR, there's a video of him reading from the book at the HarperCollins site; it's available as a DRM-free download at Downpour, as a CD set through your local bookstore, and of course other places where audiobooks and books are sold. (It also happens to be, in that "CD set through my local bookstore" format, my Father's Day gift, which makes me so very happy on several axis.) What's it about? Officially: "Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. He is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl named Lettie Hempstock. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet sitting by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean), the unremembered past comes flooding back. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touch paper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what." Some choice review quotes hint at the layers here: (Publishers Weekly) “Gaiman has crafted a fresh story of magic, humanity, loyalty, and memories ‘waiting at the edges of things,’ where lost innocence can still be restored as long as someone is willing to bear the cost.” and (Kirkus Reviews) “Poignant and heartbreaking, eloquent and frightening, impeccably rendered, it’s a fable that reminds us how our lives are shaped by childhood experiences, what we gain from them and the price we pay.” I can't wait to see where this goes; and check back soon for Dave's review as well.

Lexicon by Max Barry, narrated By Heather Corrigan and Zach Appelman for Dreamscape Media (CD release) and Penguin Audio (digital release). The latest from Barry (Machine Man, Jennifer Government) reviewed as (Kirkus) “An up-all-night thriller for freaks and geeks who want to see their wizards all grown up in the real world and armed to the teeth in a bloody story.” and coming with glowing blurbs from both Lev (“About as close you can get to the perfect cerebral thriller: searingly smart, ridiculously funny, and fast as hell. Lexicon reads like Elmore Leonard high out of his mind on Snow Crash.”) and Austin Grossman (“I don’t know how you could craft a better weekend read than this novel of international intrigue and weaponized Chomskian linguistics. It’s the perfect mix of philosophical play and shotgun-inflected chase scenes. Like someone let Grant Morrison loose on the Bourne identity franchise.”)

Wisp of a Thing: A Novel of the Tufa, Book 2 By Alex Bledsoe, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki for Blackstone Audio -- book two after 2011's The Hum and the Shiver, which was well-narrated by Rudnicki and Emily Janice Card. Bledsoe's contemporary fantasy world of the Appalachian "Tufa" music/magic was quite an enjoyable listen in 2011, and pretty much anything voiced by Rudnicki is well worth checking out. The first of three "book 2" of note for me this week.

The second "book 2" is Before the Fall by Francis Knight, with narrator Paul Thornley reprising his role from Fade to Black for Hachette Audio. This is Knight's epic fantasy Rojan Dizon series, continuing from the dirty, stratified, magically polluted (and well-narrated) world-building and mystery chasing of book 1, which came out earlier this year. "Rojan Dizon just wants to keep his head down. But his worst nightmare is around the corner. With the destruction of their power source, his city is in crisis: riots are breaking out, mages are being murdered, and the city is divided. But Rojan’s hunt for the killers will make him responsible for all-out anarchy. Either that, or an all-out war. And there’s nothing Rojan hates more than being responsible."

The last "book 2" on my list this week is The Indigo Pheasant: Longing for Yount, Book 2 by Daniel A. Rabuzzi, narrated by Kieron Elliot for Audible Inc. "London 1817. Maggie Collins, born into slavery in Maryland, whose mathematical genius and strength of mind can match those of a goddess, must build the world's most powerful and sophisticated machine - to free the lost land of Yount from the fallen angel Strix Tender Wurm. Sally, of the merchant house McDoon, who displayed her own powers in challenging the Wurm and finding Yount in The Choir Boats, must choose either to help Maggie or to hinder her. Together - or not - Maggie and Sally drive to conclusion the story started in The Choir Boats - a story of blood - soaked song, family secrets, sins new and old in search of expiation, forbidden love, high policy and acts of state, financial ruin, betrayals intimate and grand, sorcery from the origins of time, and battle in the streets of London and on the arcane seas of Yount."

Lastly, a book highly-recommended to me last year, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and nominated for the British Science Fiction Award, and now in audio: Dark Eden by Chris Beckett, narrated by Oliver Hembrough and Jessica Martin for Audible Ltd. "A marooned outpost of humanity struggles to survive on a startlingly alien world. John Redlantern, one of the 532 degenerating descendants of two marooned space explorers, will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family, and change history. He will be the first to abandon hope, the first to abandon the old ways, the first to kill another, the first to venture into the Dark, and the first to discover the truth about Eden...."

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged alex bledsoe, chris beckett, daniel rabuzzi, dark eden, francis knight, ken scholes, lexicon, max barry, neil gaiman, the ocean at the end of the lane

Briefly, On Octavia E. Butler's Kindred and Parable of the Sower

Posted on 2013-06-16 at 20:50 by Sam

As I have been finishing Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred over the past day and a half or so, of the many thoughts swirling around in my head was this: that no author I’ve read had such a command of both the history of where America has come from (Kindred) and a prescience for the future of where America seems to be going (Parable of the Sower) than Butler.

And what perhaps boggles the mind further about this is that Kindred was published in 1979, and Parable of the Sower was published in 1993, and yet both still feel immediate and fresh, as if they were written just yesterday for the issues and projections of today.

Both audiobooks are wonderful. On Kindred, which sends a black woman back and forth in time to the Antebellum South, narrator Kim Staunton brings out both the modern (well, well, 1970s) California of Dana Franklin and the early 1800s Maryland of Rufus Weylin with equal aplomb. On Parable of the Sower, which envisions a near-future dystopia of crumbling economies, Lynne Thigpen ably navigates the brutality and desperation of Lauren Olamina’s survival and journey in search of a safe haven.

Taking a bit deeper look at the two books, another thing becomes clear rather quickly: the narrative choices live in symbiosis with the story, creating powerful works of fiction. With Kindred, by bringing a modern narrator back in time, Butler creates both distance and relevance, as well as allowing an immediate and direct interrogation of the events by a contemporary, experiencing them. In Parable of the Sower, the interspersing of the narrative with excerpts from the philosophical and religious text which Olamina would go on to create gives the story that much more power and importance.

Like most people, I have many “reading holes” — large gaps whether in categories or by author or by time, in my reading (or periods of non-reading) choices over the years. I’m very glad to have been able to find some of Butler’s works in audio, and look forward to getting to more of them over the coming years.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged octavia butler

Release Week: Will McIntosh's Love Minus Eighty, Jon Steele's Angel City, Elizabeth Moon's Limits of Power, and Jason Sheehan's A Private Little War

Posted on 2013-06-12 at 15:38 by Sam

JUNE 5-11, 2013: After an absolutely over-packed release week last week, there's a bit of a calm before more big releases next week -- Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Max Barry's Lexicon for starters). Still, several audiobooks really catch my eye and ear this week, ranging from the latest standalone novel from Will McIntosh, to a follow-on to war journalist Jon Steele's The Watchers, to the latest novel in Elizabeth Moon's Paksennarion series, to a debut sf novel from food editor Jason Sheehan.

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh, narrated by Kevin T. Collins, Eileen Stevens, and Ali Ahn for Hachette Audio concurrent with the print/ebook release from Orbit. "In the future, love is complicated and death is not necessarily the end. Love Minus Eighty follows several interconnected people in a disquieting vision of romantic life in the century to come.There's Rob, who accidentally kills a jogger, then sacrifices all to visit her in a cryogenic dating facility, seeking forgiveness but instead falling in love. Veronika, a shy dating coach, finds herself coaching the very woman who is stealing the man she loves. And Mira, a gay woman accidentally placed in a heterosexual dating center near its inception, desperately seeks a way to reunite with her frozen partner as the years pass. In this daring and big-hearted novel based on the Hugo-winning short story, the lovelorn navigate a word in which technology has reached the outer limits of morality and romance."

Angel City: The Angelus Trilogy by Jon Steele, narrated by Jonathan Davis for Penguin Audio. "Jon Steele's electrifying new novel brings together his unforgettable characters from The Watchers in an action-packed romp that easily stands alone, even as it reveals more of the earthly - and cosmic - mysteries of the Angelus trilogy."

Limits of Power: Paladin's Legacy, Book 4 by Elizabeth Moon, narrated by Angela Dawe for Brilliance Audio. This is a new book in Moon's Paksennarion: Paladin's Legacy series: "The unthinkable has occurred in the kingdom of Lyonya. The queen of the Elves - known as the Lady - is dead, murdered by former elves twisted by dark powers. Now the Lady’s half-elven grandson must heal the mistrust between elf and human before their enemies strike again. Yet as he struggles to make ready for an attack, an even greater threat looms across the Eight Kingdoms."

A Private Little War by Jason Sheehan, barrated by Luke Daniels for Brilliance Audio. "The pilots of Flyboy, Inc., landed on the alien planet of Iaxo with a mission: In one year, quash an insurrection; exploit the ancient enmities of an indigenous, tribal society; and kill the hell out of one group of natives to facilitate negotiations with the surviving group — all over 110 million acres of mixed terrain. At first, the double-hush, back-burner project went well. With a ten-century technological lead on the locals, the logistical support of a powerful private military company, and aid from other outfits on the ground, it was supposed to be an easy-in, easy-out mission that would make the pilots of Flyboy, Inc., very, very rich. But the natives of Iaxo had another plan — and what was once a strategic slam-dunk has become a quagmire, leaving the pilots of Flyboy, Inc., on an embattled distant planet, waiting for support and a ride home that may never come… This dark debut novel tells the tale of a secret war — and the struggle to stay sane in a world that makes no sense. A Catch-22 for a new generation, A Private Little War is sure to become a science fiction classic."

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK:

Posted in Release Week | Tagged elizabeth-moon, jason sheehan, jon steele, will mcintosh