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Editor’s Note:
Here we are at issue four of a much anticipated (by staff) newsletter devoted to science fiction and fantasy. The newsletter is designed to give you advanced warning as to when your favourite authors’ next books will be out as well as introduce you to new authors and classics you may have overlooked.
The newsletter is still growing and adapting, so if there is something you would like to see added or changed, please talk to one of the fiction staff members or make a comment on this site.
Jessica Strider
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HogfatherBy: Terry Pratchett
A jolly fat man in red and a log white beard flies through the air in a wonderful sleigh drawn by magical… pigs?
Welcome to the Discworld. It’s Hogswatch and the Hogfather is preparing to visit all the boys and girls.
Except this year his grin is a lot more fixed.
The Hogfather is missing and it’s up to everybody’s favourite anthropomorphic manifestation, Death, to take up the beard and save Hogswatch. Meanwhile, his granddaughter, Susan, has some questions. Who would want to hurt the lovable minor deity? How are tooth fairies involved? And since when has there been a God of Hangovers anyway?
It’s another brilliant foray into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. Be careful what you believe in. It might just be real.
Rose Day
If you like the Discworld, try one of these:
Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul - Douglas Adams
Job - Robert Heinlein
Phule’s Company - Robert Asprin
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Ill WindBy: Rachel Caine
Today’s weather calls for lightning, hurricanes, and…dark storm clouds that follow you unerringly as you travel?
Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden, able to control water and wind with just one thought. And for the foreseeable future, Joanne is going to need every ounce of her power as she and her purple mustang Delilah try to outrun the Warden Council who are looking to question her about the death of their comrade. She says self-defence; they say murder. Now all Joanne can do is try to find the one person who can help her, but there’s one problem: how can she find him when he’s also on the run from the Warden Council?
Shouldn’t be too hard.
What can I say about Rachel Caine’s Ill Wind? It is a book that will attract people who love cars, the weather channel, and a good read.
Mel
Other great reads are: Moon Called - Patricia Briggs
Doppelganger - Marie Brennan
Urban Shaman - C. E. Murphy
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Night WatchBy: Sergei Lukyanenko
First in a series by a Russian author, Night Watch deals with ‘Others’, those with special abilities, who affect humans by following either the Light or the Dark. Centuries ago the two sides formed a treaty, now patrolled by the Night Watch (Light) and the Day Watch (Dark).
Anton, a young night watch agent, is on his first field mission, assigned to stop a rogue vampire. On the way, he tries to help a woman under a deadly curse, irrevocably altering both of their destinies.
The book is riddled with philosophic monologues designed to be thought provoking rather than preachy.
Concluding with a revelation that makes you re-evaluate several characters’ actions, Night Watch leaves you reaching for book two of the series.
Jessica Strider
Suggested Reading: Dhampir - Barb & J. C. Hendee
Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkein
Son of Avonar - Carol Berg
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DMZ: On the GroundBy: Brian Wood & Riccardo Burchielli
DMZ: On the Ground pulls together the first five issues of a superb meditation of war and the American psyche. Set in the near future, the United States has been divided by the seccessionist impulses of a number of middle-American states. New York has become a battleground, with the residents of Manhattan Island stuck in the middle, as a glorified demilitarized zone.
The graphic novel follows the experiences of Matty Roth, an inexperienced photojournalism intern who finds himself stuck alone in the DMZ without much more than some recording equipment and his journalistic credentials.
On the Ground does an excellent job of introducing the fascinating world that Wood and Burchielli have created, as well as the many colourful characters that inhabit it. This volume is guaranteed to leave you eagerly anticipating the next instalment.
Gord
Want war? How about: Homeland - Paul William Roberts
Pride of Baghdad - Brian K. Vaughan
Ghost - John Ringo
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Robotech the Macross Saga: Battlecry & DoomsdayBy: Jack McKinney
Written in the late 80s, the Robotech Macross Saga is a non-stop, action packed series about the Earth and its wars - a civil war, and a war with the Zentraedi, an alien species that suddenly attacks Earth in 1999. Putting aside their own squabbles, the people of Earth must unite or be destroyed, leading to the development of the Robotech Defense Force. Using the aliens’ own technology, the soldiers of the RDF must fight back with planes that transform into giant robots, and a super dimensional fortress that can “fold-jump” to the other side of the solar system.
Robotech is a thrilling story, with characters that are so real you’ll experience their heartache as well as their happiness. An excellent mix of science fiction and military lore.
Kat
Take a look at these: Halo Ghosts of Onyx - Eric Nyland
Neon Genesis Evangelion - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Gundam Seed - Masatsugu Iwase
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Coming in January:
Hardcover:
Gods as Pawns - Kage Baker
Scar Night - Alan Campbell
Voices from the Street - Philip K. Dick
Rebel Fey - Barb & J.C. Hendee
Maelstrom - Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
March into Darkness - Robert Newcomb
Off Armageddon Reef - David Weber
Exodus - Steve White & Shirley Meier
Star Wars: Allegiance - Timothy Zahn
Trade Paperback:
Day Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
Hero & the Crown - Robin McKinley
Counting Heads - David Merusek
Diamond Isle - Stan Nicholls
Perfect Dark: Second Front - Greg Rucko
Silver Bough - Lisa Tuttle
Oath of Swords - David Weber
Mass Market:
Federation of Humanity - Christopher Anvil
Full Moon Rising - Keri Arthur
Garden of Iden - Kage Baker
Capacity - Tony Ballantyne
Faerie Wars - Herbie Brennan
Voice of the Gods - Trudi Canavan
Ghost Rider - Greg Cox
Star Marines - Ian Douglas
Bridgehead - David Drake
Crown of Stars - Kate Elliott
Threshold - Caitlin R. Kiernan
Shadows of Destiny - Rachel Lee
Moonstruck - Edward M. Lerner
Sons of Fenris - Lee Lightner
Wolf Hunting - Jane Lindskold
Planar Chaos - Scott McGough & Timothy Sanders
Engaging the Enemy - Elizabeth Moon
Wolf Star - R. M. Mulch
The Measure & the Truth - Douglas Niles
Three Hands for Scorpio - Andre Norton
Time Twisters - Jean Rabe & Martin H. Greenberg
Demands of Honor - Kevin Ryan
Earthseed - Pamela Sargent
Old Man’s War - John Scalzi
Sins of the Father - Mitchell Scanlon
Pillar of Flame - Ree Soesbee
Quantum Connection - Travis S. Taylor
Jinian Footseer - Sheri Tepper
Plague of Memory - S. L. Viehl
Old Soldiers - David Weber
Star Wars: Outbound Flight - Timothy Zahn
