Spotlight on October Books

This month we are featuring 42 books. There are more than twice as many new sff and related releases this month in traditional publishing not to speak of the countless indies from Amazon and Smashwords but we are limiting ourselves to books that will be reviewed here or are similar with such. For the full schedule of October 2011 titles known to us, you can consult the Upcoming Releases page.

The release dates are US unless marked otherwise, though for books released in the UK and US in the same month but on different dates we use the earliest date without comment and they are first edition unless noted differently. The dates are on a best known basis so they are not guaranteed; same about the edition information. Since information sometimes is out of date even in the Amazon links we use for listings, books get delayed or sometimes even released earlier, we would truly appreciate if you would send us an email about any listing with incorrect information.

Sometimes a cover image is not available at the time of the post and also sometimes covers change unexpectedly so while we generally use the Amazon one when available and cross check with Google Images, the ultimate bookstore cover may be different.

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“Of Limited Loyalty” by Michael A. Stackpole. Release Date: October 2011. Published by Night Shade Books. (AH).

“A Web of Air (Fever Crumb)” by Philip Reeve. Release Date: October 1, 2011. Published by Scholastic. (YA / US Debut).

“Icefall” by Matthew J. Kirby. Release Date: October 1, 2011. Published by Scholastic. (MG).

“Daughter of Smoke & Bone” by Laini Taylor. Release Date: October 1, 2011. Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. (YA).

“Changes” by Mercedes Lackey. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by DAW. (FAN).

“Reap the East Wind” by Glen Cook. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Night Shade Books. (FAN).

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“Infidel” by Kameron Hurley. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Night Shade Books. (SF).

“Necropolis” by Michael Dempsey. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Night Shade Books. (SF).

“The Traitor's Daughter” by Paula Brandon. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Spectra. (FAN).

“Carnelians” by Catherine Asaro. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Baen. (SF).

“Frail” by Joan Frances Turner. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Ace. (HF).

“Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth” by Christopher Golden. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Del Rey. (Tie-In).

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“Down These Strange Streets” edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Ace. (ANTHO).

“A Beautiful Friendship” by David Weber. Release Date: October 4, 2011. Published by Baen. (YA).

“Black Light” by Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan. Release Date: October 5, 2011. Published by Mulholland Books. (MISC).

“Manhattan In Reverse” by Peter F. Hamilton. Release Date: October 7, 2011. Published by Pan Macmillan. (SF / Collection).

“Heirs of the Blade” by Adrian Tchaikovsky. UK Release Date: October 7, 2011. Published by Tor UK. (FAN).

“The Children of the Sky” by Vernor Vinge. Release Date: October 11, 2011. Published by Tor. (SF).

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“The Cold Commands” by Richard K. Morgan. Release Date: October 11, 2011. Published by Del Rey. (FAN).

“The Dark at the End” by F. Paul Wilson. Release Date: October 11, 2011. Published by Tor. (MISC).

“Harbor” by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Release Date: October 11, 2011. Published by Thomas Dunne. (HF).

“Fox & Phoenix” by Beth Bernobich. Release Date: October 13, 2011. Published by Viking. (YA).

“Ashes of a Black Frost” by Chris Evans. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Gallery. (FAN).

“Covenant” by Dean Crawford. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Touchstone. (MISC).

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“Aloha From Hell” by Richard Kadrey. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Harper Voyager. (UF).

“Damned” by Chuck Palahniuk. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Doubleday. (MISC).

“The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth” by Sarah Monette. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Prime Books. (Reprint).

“The Scorpio Races” by Maggie Stiefvater. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Scholastic. (YA).

“The Infernals” by John Connolly. Release Date: October 18, 2011. Published by Atria. (YA / US Debut).

“The Iron Jackal” by Chris Wooding. UK Release Date: October 20, 2011. Published by Gollancz. (SF).

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“The Warlock's Shadow” by Stephen Deas. UK Release Date: October 20, 2011. Published by Gollancz. (YA).

“1Q84” by Haruki Murakami. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by Knopf. (MISC / US Debut).

“Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction” edited by Ian Whates. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by Solaris. (SF / ANTHO).

“Master of the House of Darts” by Aliette de Bodard. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by Angry Robot. (FAN).

“Kultus” by Richard Ford. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by Solaris. (Steampunk).

“The Night Eternal” by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by William Morrow. (HF).

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“Dead of Night” by Jonathan Maberry. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by St. Martin’s Griffin. (HF).
“Flesh & Blood” by Kristen Painter. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by Orbit. (UF).

“Whispers Under Ground” by Ben Aaronovitch. Release Date: October 25, 2011. Published by Del Rey. (UF).

“The Kingdom of Gods” by N.K. Jemison. Release Date: October 27, 2011. Published by Orbit. (FAN).

“Hell & Gone” by Duane Swierczynski. Release Date: October 31, 2011. Published by Mulholland Books. (MISC).

“The Curse of Four” by Caitlin Kittredge. Release Date: October 31, 2011. Published by Subterranean Press. (Novella).

GIVEAWAY: Win a SIGNED COPY of Lev AC Rosen’s “All Men of Genius”!!!

Official Lev AC Rosen Website

Order “All Men of Genius” HERE

Read Excerpts HERE + HERE

Read FBC's Review of “All Men of Genius”

Read Lev AC Rosen’s Guest Post HERE

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, two of the most beloved works by literary masters, All Men of Genius takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father’s policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won’t be easy, not with her friend Jack’s constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke’s young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet’s alter ego, “Ashton.” Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet’s pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest (who has a secret past of his own), speaks to her. She soon realizes that it’s not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it’s surviving that long...

In support of the September 27, 2011 North American publication of Lev AC Rosen’s debut novel, “All Men of Genius”, Fantasy Book Critic is giving away ONE SIGNED COPY of “All Men of Genius” courtesy of Tor!!!

Giveaway has ended. Thank you for entering and Good Luck!

GIVEAWAY RULES:

1) Open to US Residents Only

2) Only One Entry Per Household (Multiple Entries Will Be Disqualified)

3) Must Enter Valid Email Address, Mailing Address + Name

4) No Purchase Necessary

5) Giveaway Has Ended

6) Winners Will Be Randomly Selected and Notified By Email

7) Personal Information Will Only Be Used In Mailing Out the Prizes To the Winners

Winners of the Night Shade Books Giveaway!!!

Congratulations to Doug Sturtevant (Arizona) and Jeff Raymond (Massachusetts) who were both randomly selected to win a SET of The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu, Courtney Schafer’s The Whitefire Crossing, Stina Leicht’s Of Blood & Honey, and Miserere: An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock, with each book SIGNED by its respective author!!! Each winner will also receive some other goodies including bookmarks and T-Shirts courtesy of Night Shade Books! For more information about these books and authors, please visit the following links:

Official Bradley P. Beaulieu Website
Official Courtney Schafer Website

Official Stina Leicht Website
Official Teresa Frohock Website

Read FBC’s Review of “Miserere: An Autumn Tale”

Read FBC’s Review of “Of Blood & Honey”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Whitefire Crossing”

Read FBC’s Review of “The Winds of Khalakovo”

Read FBC’s Interview with Bradley P. Beaulieu, Courtney Schafer, Stina Leicht & Teresa Frohock

GUEST POST: Abusing History by Lev AC Rosen

I have a hardcore BDSM-type relationship with history. I abuse it horribly, then I do some research, it abuses me, I abuse it back . . . and we both love it. At least I do. And history has never protested or used our safeword (nuclear) so I’m guessing she loves it to.

Seriously, here are some bits of history I totally abused while writing All Men of Genius:

1) Ada Byron died in 1852, 31 years before my book starts. She most likely died of ovarian cancer, but no one really knew what was happening at the time, so I prolonged her life by giving her a hysterectomy—we won’t even talk about how I’ve abused science—and then, to top it off, I killed her husband off before he actually died. Why? Well, Ada is just a fascinating character to start with—a mathematical genius, imprisoned in her youth by a crazy mother. But most importantly she was a woman working in the scientific world and doing so successfully. She was respected by her peers. So when I wrote the book I decided that having her there as this icon of ‘yes it could happen, but it so rarely does’ in regards to women in science would work in my favor. Plus, as I said, I just adore her. I tried to use her sparingly, since she’s something of an overused figure in steampunk. I’m not sure I succeeded in that. She’s just so awesome. She gambled and smoked and tried to run off with her tutor when she was a teenager. I’m not saying these are positive qualities — but they are interesting ones.

2) Matthias Forney, the American train engineer was a real person, a brilliant engineer. However, I couldn’t find a single photo or painting of him, so I completely made up his physical appearance. Awful, I know. However, I can share this, for those of you who have read the book; I did not make up Annie. And here’s a bonus happy ending. Awwwwww.

3) JC Adams, Violet and Ashton’s father, was a real person as well, and really was one of the people at the conference in DC who decided where GMT should start. That said, all I had was his name. I made only minimal efforts to find out anything about him because I had a character in mind already. I found nothing, so I went ahead exactly as I had planned. In fact, I chose Mr. Adams because out of all the British attendees of the conference, he was the one I could find out the least about. And I liked his surname.

And those are just the people. Of course there’s plenty of other actual history I abused—I invented a college and put it smack in the middle of the city over another college. I created several noble families which never existed and gave them roles to play in history, as well as reputations and land and all that. And as I said, best not to talk about the science—airships, talking rabbits—all of it is the sort of mad science that Victorian writers were theorizing about, but it never actually happened.

So when does history get her turn to abuse me back? When the research happens. Opening a book is like a smack in the face. You see, the truth is, I don’t like stretching history too much. I like using what’s already there — but that said, I do have plans and plots thought out. For example, I didn’t know Ada’s husband lived until 1893 (like a decade after the novel starts) — why would I? I didn’t care about him, I was focused on her. But suddenly, I needed a reason for why Ada was always alone, never mentioned her husband, and in fact was referred to as a widow in the book. Luckily, though history abuses, it also inspires: Her husband was also a scientist, so it wasn’t too difficult to have one of his inventions kill him off—especially as he worked with steam-presses. Gruesome, but effective.

This is the abuse-inspire cycle I often have with history—it presents problems, but offers unique solutions as well. And I love the solutions I come up with. Before I did research on Ada’s husband I was just going to kill him in an airship crash. How dull is that?

I wasn’t a big history buff in high school or college. I loved Victorian literature, and I got history through period novels—but opening an actual history book? They’re so boring, right? I have no idea when this changed. But somewhere, my research went from ‘oh, I have to read that now’ to ‘oh, I get to read that now!’ I think maybe it’s because I have a more interactive relationship with the history now. I see little pieces like a Persian shah who died of gout, or how in Bali people with dreadlocks are considered healers, and it inspires something (for future books, I’m afraid, not this one — but in the series). I see a problem in what I’m writing? I go research. Usually, I stumble upon another problem while researching, but I usually find a fix, too.

So I abuse history, she abuses me back and yet I manage to reach greater heights of inspiration. Everybody wins. I hope.

ABOUT ALL MEN OF GENIUS:

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, two of the most beloved works by literary masters, All Men of Genius takes place in an alternate Steampunk Victorian London, where science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father’s policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won’t be easy, not with her friend Jack’s constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke’s young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet’s alter ego, “Ashton.” Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, and the way Violet’s pulse quickens whenever the young duke, Ernest (who has a secret past of his own), speaks to her. She soon realizes that it’s not just keeping her secret until the end of the year faire she has to worry about: it’s surviving that long...

ABOUT LEV AC ROSEN:

Lev AC Rosen attended Oberlin College in Ohio, majoring in Creative Writing & English, and received his MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. His short story “Painting” was the inaugural piece for Esopus Magazine’s ‘New Voices’ section. His work has also been featured on various blogs including Tor.com. All Men of Genius is his first novel. For more information, please visit the links below:

Official Lev AC Rosen Website

Order “All Men of Genius” HERE

Read Excerpts HERE + HERE

Read FBC's Review of "All Men of Genius"

"All Men of Genius" by Lev Rosen (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Lev Rosen Website
Read the First Two Chapters HERE
Order "All Men of Genius" HERE

INTRODUCTION: With the super enticing blurb below, "All Men of Genius" is a novel I have planned to read as soon as I could obtain a copy:

"Inspired by Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, All Men of Genius takes place in a Victorian London familiar but fantastical, where mad science makes the impossible possible.

Violet Adams wants to attend Illyria College, a widely renowned school for the most brilliant up-and-coming scientific minds, founded by the late Duke Illyria, the greatest scientist of the Victorian Age. The school is run by his son, Ernest, who has held to his father's policy that the small, exclusive college remain male-only. Violet sees her opportunity when her father departs for America. She disguises herself as her twin brother, Ashton, and gains entry.

But keeping the secret of her sex won't be easy, not with her friend Jack's constant habit of pulling pranks, and especially not when the duke's young ward, Cecily, starts to develop feelings for Violet's alter ego, "Ashton." Not to mention blackmail, mysterious killer automata, the way Violet's pulse quickens whenever Ernest speaks to her, and a deadly legacy left by Ernest's father. She soon realizes that it's not just keeping her secret until the end of the year she has to worry about: it's surviving that long."

In contrast to the trashy crop of contemporary mashups of UF with classics that both degrade the original works and pander to the lowest common denominator, I am quite excited when an original work that reinterprets classic works in a sff-nal context appears and while last year's Shades of Milk and Honey was a bit lighter than I expected and The Dream of Perpetual Motion did not connect with me, All Men of Genius hit all the right notes and I will explain why next.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: All Men of Genius succeeds because it hits the right balance in both style and content, while it charms you from the first page in accepting the over-the-top happenings that could easily transform the novel into pure farce. If you are familiar with Twelfth Night in any of its various incarnations across the centuries, you will see its clear and acknowledged influence in both naming and relationships, though of course the author adds his own modern touches.

On the other hand the world building is pure madcap steampunk with automatons, crazy inventions that somehow work and all around outrageous inventiveness. As I kept turning the pages, I was wondering what seemingly insane contraption that somehow the magical prose of the author manages to sell to us, will come up next.

And of course the characters have personalities to match - outside of the main ones, Violet, Ernest, Cecily, Ashton and Jack and several of their friends who are more or less what we expect, though they also sport last names like Cheek and Pale - most of the rest are pure mannerism with names to match like Bunburry, Bracknel, Prism and Curio, while the main villain has the sinister sounding name of Volio. And it works so well that you cannot stop but be extremely entertained every moment of this wonderful tale.

The dialog has also its share of one liners that made me crack up laughing, though there is a lot of "serious stuff" especially about the stereotyping of gender roles, but also about poverty, progress and diversity. While on first glance, there is a whiff of "children of privilege" in our characters, the novel quickly throws that on its ear with some extremely well done scenes as for example when Violet "accidentally" happens upon Ashton in bed with their family's handsome coachman Anthony in retaliation for Ashton hiding her acceptance letter to the Institute - letter that of course comes to Ashton as Violet has "to become" her twin to be admitted. And so it goes with the mixing of classes...

It goes without saying that All Men of Genius (A++) flows superbly on the page and you are compelled to turn the pages, while the ending is in the spirit of Shakespeare and offers a complete package though I would enjoy a return to this universe; maybe the hinted possibilities of space travel and an expedition to the Moon?

Highly, highly recommended and an utterly fun and charming book that I am pretty sure I will revisit on occasion in the future.