In the book world some books make it in time to be bought for Christmas and some come out so close to the wire that they are still considered to be new in the new year.
There are three recent books by Daily Kos authors that I would like to mention before moving on to books that have just arrived or are on the way in the new year.
1. Kelly McCullough has started a new series with Broken Blade, the first in a series out now, and Bared Blade due to follow on June 26th.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Overview
Once a fabled Blade of Namara, Aral Kingslayer fought for justice and his goddess alongside his familiar, a living shadow called Triss. Now with their goddess murdered and her temple destroyed, they are among the last of their kind. Surviving on the fringes of society, Aral becomes a drunken, broken, and wanted man, working whatever shadowy deal comes his way. Until a mysterious woman hires him to deliver a secret message-one that can either redeem him or doom him.
I have read so much fantasy that I know how hard it is to come up with something new in the genre. This is why I am delighted to say that Kelly has done it. What I liked best about the first book was the relationship between Aral and the shadow Triss. We and Aral learn something new and dangerous about Triss as we read.
Overviews never really do justice to the book in explaining whether a protagonist will be likeable or not. Kelly lets us inside Aral’s head for most of the story and we share his past while watching his actions in the story to learn the answer to the question Aral wants to know, “Who am I, now?” If justice is dead and his blades given up, where does Aral belong? Will he survive the hunters who wish him dead and have found an ingenious way to do harm? Can he avenge the innocent? Is the job he is asked to do the one he should be doing? Can old friends who oppose him be trusted ever?
And most important of all, can he become the man he once was? Kelly makes me care enough about Aral to wish for that as I wait for the next story.
I also want to recommend Kelly’s previous series. I loved it.
What I said about this first series:
The hero of the stories is so good at programming that his many times great aunt wishes him to do a job for her. That she is a Fate is only one part of the problem because what she wants is so terrible, he must refuse.
Refusing a Fate is not good. One should also not believe that Zeus is just a wino who loves to party. It can be tough to know that Pluto is waiting impatiently to get his hands on you. And the Furies? I leave it to your imagination. When I read the books, I spent my time either laughing or cowering under the couch.
WebMage
Cybermancy
Codespell
MythOS
SpellCrash
2. Lee Nichols who is the wife of a Daily Kos friend wrote a Young Adult series that I enjoyed and the third one in the trilogy has just come out. The series is called Haunting Emma and the three books are:
Deception
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Betrayal
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
Surrender
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
A young woman, having been deserted by her family, is carried off to New England where she learns horrifying things about her powers. Why didn’t anyone tell her? Is she with the right group as she fights back against horrors?
When should she use her powers?
Will she be able to save the people she loves and must she drain the power of the man she believes she cannot live without?
3. Tulum is the new book by David Seth Michaels.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...
In the beginning of the book is the quotation by Carlos Fuentes:
A writer should never know the whole story. He imagines one part and asks the reader to finish it. A book should never close. The reader should continue it.
With that quotation in mind we begin a journey with the narrator and protagonist who the people of Tulum call “the Don” and who calls himself a lizard. He loves to sit under a tree in his yard, but he is not just sleeping the day away:
Page 3
Mostly, I’m alone with my dreams and my thoughts, and mostly, I’m content. I like being by myself. Mostly, I amuse myself with thinking. Wondering. And with my imagination. And with stories I find.
There is a rich delta, a river delta where the river of dreams nourishes the ocean of stories. That’s where I like to set up my chair. I cast slowly, and watch what my net brings in. Sometimes the catch is some distant memories, seemingly insignificant recollections from decades ago in distant places. Sometimes it is just an old boot, disquieting, disappointing. And sometimes a story in the net sparkles and glows, filling me with admiration and delight, moving me to feel my heart thumping in my chest, reminding me to find a notebook with some unused paper in it…
Page 4
The stories come from the ocean, and some seem to come from the clouds. Of course, the sea carries stories here. They float and drift, sometimes sticking to each other. If you look carefully, you can see them in the turquoise water. They look like round bubbles, small, shiny spheres. Some stories also seem to come from the clouds. I don’t know where they originally come from, but there they are in the clouds. The wind carries them to the Yucatan. You cannot see these with the naked eye. At first you can feel them lying on your skin. The sun is ever so slightly blocked. As if a thin cloud were standing in front of it. The stories fall from above. At first they feel like the other sea breezes, damp, sweet smelling, but when you pay attention, you find the story lying on your arm or forehead. These are the most delicate, airy, gossamer, beautiful stories. Once in a very great while you might even discover one of them hiding on your face. You think you are wiping away the mist, or the sweat from your brow, or even tears. But when you open your hand, you can see it. It’s a little, bright story. It’s on your hand, shining there, opening for you, pulsing…
And so I was sucked into the life style of Tulum and into the lives of Don Obdulio, the curandero; El Kid, the apprentice of the curandero; Mari Estrella who wants to help endangered turtles; and Ramirez, a mysterious bad guy who tempts our narrator to leave his comfort zone and go to Cuba.
Reading the book is like going on vacation and sinking into a new world that is magical.
I reviewed David’s previous book here:
The Dream Antilles
http://www.dailykos.com/...
New books, or about to be released stories, or books coming out in paperback for 2012
I have not read these, but I have heard about some of them or about the authors or they looked interesting.
January
I have ordered this one.
The Confession (Inspector Ian Rutledge Series #14)) by Charles Todd
I ordered this one, too, because it has been such a long time since I read his series on the Civil War.
This Hallowed Ground: A History of the Civil War by Bruce Catton
Gift of Magic (1/3/2012) by Lynn Kurland, part of a fantasy series
The series so far:
The Nine Kingdoms series:
Star of the Morning
The Mage’s Daughter
Princess of the Sword
A Tapestry of Spells
Spellweaver
In paperback
Bossypants by Tina Fey. It is on my wishlist.
Jan. 16th
Death of Kings (Saxon Tales #6) by Bernard Cornwell
January 24th
Taken by Robert Crais
February
City of Dragons: Volume Three of the Rain Wilds Chronicles (2/7/2012) by Robin Hobb
Restless in the Grave (Kate Shugak Series #19) (2/14/2012) by Dana Stabenow
The House I Loved (2/14/2012) by Tatiana de Rosnay
Echoes of Betrayal: Paladin's Legacy (2/21/2012) by Elizabeth Moon
I read this in hardback and it was one of the best books I read last year…now in paperback:
1861: The Civil War Awakening (2/21/2012) by Adam Goodheart
Death of a Kingfisher (Hamish Macbeth Series #28) (2/22/2012) by M. C. Beaton
Bleed for Me (2/27/2012) by Michael Robotham
Rick Steves' Prague & the Czech Republic (2/28/2012) by Rick Steves
March
Intruder: Foreigner #13 (3/6/2012) by C. J. Cherryh
Temeraire!
Crucible of Gold (3/6/2012) by Naomi Novik
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier (3/13/2012) by Ree Drummond
A Tale of Time City (3/15/2012) by Diana Wynne Jones (children’s fantasy)
Titanic Tragedy: A New Look at the Lost Liner (3/19/2012) by John Maxtone-Graham
Stay Close (3/20/2012) by Harlan Coben
Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son (3/20/2012) by Anne Lamott
Range of Motion (3/20/2012) by Elizabeth Berg
Elegy for Eddie (A Maisie Dobbs Novel) (3/27/2012) by Jacqueline Winspear
April
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series #13) (4/3/2012) by Alexander McCall Smith
The Beginner's Goodbye (4/3/2012) by Anne Tyler
Come Home (4/10/2012) by Lisa Scottoline
May
The Scottish Prisoner (Lord John Grey Series) (5/29/2012) by Diana Gabaldon
June
An Unmarked Grave: A Bess Crawford Mystery (6/5/2012) by Charles Todd
What new books have you been waiting for?
What recent books do you recommend?
Diaries of the week
Write On! When Mr. Adjective is not our friend.
by SensibleShoes
http://www.dailykos.com/...
NOTE: plf515 has book talk on Wednesday mornings early.