Shout-Out: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.

Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.

Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she's ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.

Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A Imprints of Angry Robot Books to be Discontinued

I just read some sad news on the Strange Chemistry blog.  That YA imprint and Exhibit A, the mystery imprint, of Angry Robot Books are going to be discontinued.

Our YA imprint Strange Chemistry and our crime/mystery imprint Exhibit A have – due mainly to market saturation – unfortunately been unable to carve out their own niches with as much success.

We have therefore made the difficult decision to discontinue Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A, effective immediately, and no further titles will be published from these two imprints.

In happier news the same report mentioned that the SF/Fantasy imprint will be going from publishing 2 books a month to publishing 3.

ETA:  Kameron Hurley points out on her blog that Angry Robot's parent company, Osprey is up for sale, so maybe the move to publish 3 books a month is a way to clear up current contracts...

ETA2: News is hard to come by but my previous ETA may be incorrect.  The main information is behind a paywall so I'm not sure if it's Osprey selling itself (and thereby Angry Robot as well) or if Osprey is trying to sell the Angry Robot imprint.  I've heard rumours that support both theories. Anyone out there know and willing to share the answer?

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Directed by: Gary Ross, 2012

IMDB listing

Official Website

Pros: fantastic acting, faithful to the book, great costumes, both touching and brutal

Cons: too much unnecessary shaky cam

For Parents: no swearing, no sex, lots of violence in the last 3rd of the film (though there's little blood and most of the deaths occur offstage, you do see a few of the tributes kill each other)

The Hunger Games is a faithful adaptation of Suzanne Collins' popular dystopian YA novel of the same name.  Katniss Everdeen is chosen as one of two District 12 tributes to fight to the death in the 74th Hunger Games, a televised sport spectacular used to punish the 12 Districts for rising against the Capitol years before.  

Katniss has hunting skills and is desperate to return to her beloved little sister, but there are 23 other tributes, some of whom have trained for the games all their lives.  And her people skills, important to garnering support and help during the games, are vastly underdeveloped.

I was a little worried by Woody Harrelson's casting as Haymitch (I still see him as the 'boy next door' from Cheers, and had trouble picturing him as a drunk), but thought he - and the other actors - did an amazing job.  Jennifer Lawrence, who played Katniss, was especially good, showing apathy, fear, determination and finally the desire to game the system and give the audience what they wanted in hopes of surviving to the end.  Indeed, though brutal at times, the film managed to also portray the tragedies associated with the games (watching the reactions of kids forced to kill other kids and sorrow over certain deaths) without overdoing it.

The special effects were good - contrasting the poverty of District 12 with the opulence and technology of the Capitol.  And the costumes, especially the flaming outfits, were spectacular.

I appreciated the few minor additions to the story - scenes not from Katniss's POV, and therefore not in the book - that helped flesh out the world a bit more.

My only real complaint was with the amount of shaky cam/hand held camera usage at the beginning of the film.  There were times when the effect was used to show scenes from Katniss's POV, which were well done.  But there was also a lot of unnecessarily blurry shots of Katniss running and people milling around.  Thankfully, as the action increased towards the end of the film this became less and less noticeable.

If you haven't read the books you'll have no problem following the story.  Everything you need to know is explained, though people who have read the book will get more out of the scenery/costumes, etc..

***** Spoiler Area *****

I was disappointed that the scene where Rue's district sends a parachute to Katniss was cut, but appreciated the scene they replaced it with.  

I also thought the scene with the berries at the end was cut short.  In the book the pair have the berries in their mouths before the games are called off.  I didn't believe the Capitol would accept anything less than the pair having the berries in their mouths, considering the stakes involved for those running the Games.

The game masters also have more specialized control of the arena in the movie.  For example, they specify what tree will fall when expanding the forest fire and send fire blasts at Katniss.  My husband pointed out that this would invalidate the betting that went on as to which tribute would win.  If the people running the games can target and kill specific players, then what's the point of betting that a particular player can outsmart/kill the others?

Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Coming in June 2011

As usual, this list has been compiles via the Indigo website, with the exception of the Carina ebook listings*.  In some instances, the publisher websites had conflicting dates, in which case I went with the publisher's information.  Dates are subject to change and though I try my best to be inclusive, I'm sure books have been missed.  If you notice a mistake or an omission, please leave a comment and I'll fix it ASAP.  

*With regards to ebooks, it's impossible to know what's coming out (because there's so much and no firm database for them, especially when listing books a month in advance), so for now I'm just including Carina Press.  In addition to now having a 'coming soon' page, their ebooks have all been professionally edited and have a traditional publisher (Harlequin) backing them.  In time I may try to add more ebooks, but for now this category is experimental.

Hardcover:

Naamah's Blessing – Jacqueline Carey

The Plain Man – Steve Englehart

Doctor Who: Hunter's Moon – Paul Finch

The Stranger's Woes – Max Frei

Doctor Who: Dead of Winter – James Goss

For Heaven's Eyes Only – Simon Green

The Noble Pirates – R. R. Jean

Unnatural Issue – Mercedes Lackey

Wild Cards: Fort Freak – George Martin, Ed.

Dragon's Time – Anne & Todd McCaffrey

Doctor Who: Way Through the Woods – Una McCormack

Jim and the Flims – Rudy Rucker

The Pack – Jason Starr

Hex – Allen Steele

Exiles: Clan of the Claw – S.M. Stirling, Harry Turtledove, John Ringo & Jody Lynn Nye

Doctor Who: The Dalek Handbook – Steve Tribe

The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities – Anne & Jeff Vandermeer, Ed.

Star Wars: Heirs to the Empire (20th Anniversary Edition) – Timothy Zahn

Trade Paperback:

Waking the Witch – Kelley Armstrong

Moondance At Stonewylde – Kit Berry

Book of Dragon – Steven Brust

A Princess of Mars – Edgar Rice Burroughs 

Chicks Kick Butt – Rachel Caine & Kerrie Hughes, Ed.

Leviathan Wakes – James Corey

Raising Stony Mayhall – Daryl Gregory

Farnham's Freehold – Robert Heinlein

Sword of Fire and Sea – Erin Hoffman

ParaSpheres 2: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction – Ken Keegan, Ed. 

Happily Ever After – John Kilma, Ed.

Warhammer: Dwarfs – Nick Kyme

Pinion – Jay Lake

Hell's Belles – Paul Magrs

The Osiris Ritual – George Mann

Nina in Utopia – Miranda Miller

The Magic of Recluse – L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Who Fears Death – Nnedi Okorafor

The Deadliest Bite – Jennifer Rardin

The Traitor's Gate – Sarah Silverwood

Shadowborn – Alison Sinclair

Shadow's Lure – Jon Sprunk

Afterblight Chronicles: America – Simon Spurrier

Alien Invasion – Travis Taylor & Bob Boan

On the Third Day – Rhys Thomas

The Banshee's Walk – Frank Tuttle

Warhammer 40K: Battle of the Fang – Chris Wraight

Mass Market Paperback:

The Map of All Things – Kevin Anderson

Hexed – Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James and Jeanne Stein

Spectyr – Philippa Ballantine

Kindling the Moon – Jenn Bennett

Forgotten Realms: The Spectral Blaze – Richard Lee Byers

Lure of the Wicked – Karina Cooper

Countdown – Greg Cox

Dark Sun: Under the Crimson Sun – Keith DeCandido

1635: The Tangled Web – Virginia DeMarce

Feast – Merrie Destefano

What Distant Deeps – David Drake

Burn the Night – Jocelynn Drake

The Sorceress of Karres – Eric Flint & Dave Freer

The January Dancer – Michael Flynn

Zadayi Red – Caleb Fox

The Shadow Men – Christopher Golden

Deadline – Mira Grant

Deep in the Woods – Chris Green

From Hell With Love – Simon Green

Forgotten Realms: Elmisnter Must Die – Ed Greenwood

Hexed – Kevin Hearne

Memories of Envy – Barb Hendee

Warhammer: Sigvald – Darius Hinks

Migration – James Hogan

Transformers: Exodus – Alex Irvine

Saltation – Sharon Lee & Steve Miller

Esperanza – Trish MacGregor

Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified – David Mack

Green-eyed Envy – Kasey Mackenzie

Dragongirl – Todd McCaffrey

Imager's Intrigue – L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Degrees of Freedom – Simon Morden

Deadly Dreams – Andre Norton

Tongues of Serpents – Naomi Novik

Black Heart Loa – Adrian Phoenix

Hot & Steamy: Tales of Steampunk Romance – Jean Rabe & Martin Greenberg, Ed.

Thistle Down – Irene Radford

The Golden Key – Melanie Rawn

The Bear – R. A. Salvatore

Warhammer 40K: Atlas Infernal – Rob Sanders

Lightborn – Alison Sinclair

Children No More – Mark L. Van Name

Untold Adventures: A Dungeons & Dragons Anthology – Various

Kitty's Big Trouble – Carrie Vaughn

Dark War – Tim Waggoner

Mistification – Kaaron Warren

Carina ebooks:

Quarter Square – David Bridger

The Naked Truth – Lilly Cain

Goddess With a Blade – Lauren Dane

Soul Survivor – Misty Evans

The Devil's Garden – Jane Kindred

Last Car to Anwnn Station – Michael merriam

Kat's Tale – Bettie Sharpe

Young Adult:

Fairy Bad Day – Amanda Ashby

The Nine Lives of Chloe King – Liz Braswell

The Demon's Surrender – Sarah Rees Brennan

For the Win – Cory Doctorow

The Lost Heiress – Catherine Fisher

By Rocket to the Moon – Otto Willi Gail

Hereafter – Tara Hudson

Possession – Elana Johnson

Passion – Lauren Kate

Shadowmagic: Price Of Hazel and Oak – John Lenahan

Mrs Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children – Ransom Riggs

Dead Rules – Randy Russell

Spellbound – Cara Lynn Shultz

The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya – Nagaru Tanigawa

Eternity – Heather Terrell

Ashes, Ashes – Jo Treggiari

The Vampire Stalker – Allison Van Diepen