Archive for contemporary fantasy
Hot New Releases: Best Urban Fantasy Books for June 2008
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s the list of upcoming urban fantasy books with a release date of June 2008!
Easy one-click links are included to make it easy to check prices from either Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.
I continue to be amazed at how urban fantasy is gaining in popularity. This is evident by the number of new books that are slated to be released in June. I’ve listed the first few and will continue adding to the list over the next few days.
See also:
| June 1, 2008 |  |
All Souls’ Night (Blood Ties, Book 4) (Bk. 4) by Jennifer Armintrout”Something was seriously wrong. In the past few weeks, since we had fled Grand Rapids and come to Max’s Chicago penthouse, Nathan’s entire focus had been my recovery. I’d gone mute and practically catatonic after Cyrus, once my sire, then my fledgling, had died. After I’d wake from one of my many nightmares—daymares, I supposed, since we vampires are third-shifters on account of that pesky sun thing—Nathan would hold me and try to reassure me that it had all been a dream, that he wouldn’t let anything harm me. Now, though, I felt his irritation and acute distraction through the blood tie, the telepathic and empathic connection that coursed between a fledgling vampire and their sire, and I knew something wasn’t right.” Check Availability: |
| June 1, 2008 |  |
The Mall of Cthulhu by Seamus Cooper”A decade ago, college student Laura Harker was saved from a fate worse than death at the hands (and fangs) of a centuries-old vampire priestess and her Satanic minions. Her rescuer, an awkward, geeky folklore student named Teddy, single-handedly slew the undead occupants of the Omega Alpha sorority house, spurred into heroic action by fate itself, inexorably intertwining his and Laura’s destinies. After navigating her way through law school, Laura is now a junior FBI agent assigned to the Bureau’s Boston office.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
Walk on the Wild Side (The Others, Book 5) by Christine Warren”In national bestseller Christine Warren’s Others novels, vampires, witches, werewolves, and more have come out of the supernatural closet. Now, the world as we know it will never be the same… Kitty Sugarman is a lot tougher than her name implies. Still, she’s content with how her small- town life keeps her removed from all the changes happening in the world—like the Unveiling of the Others. That is, until a near-tragedy strikes and Kitty discovers she has abilities . . .thanks to a father she never knew was alive. He also happens to be a were-lion and leader of one of the most powerful Prides out West.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
Spectre (Zoe Martinique, Book 2) by Phaedra Wheldon (Zoe Martinique Book 2)”Zoë Martinique has the extraordinary ability to travel outside her body at will. When she is drawn into an investigation of a series of bizarre murders, in which the victims are missing body parts, Zoë hopes to help her boyfriend, Atlanta homicide detective Daniel Frasier, stop the killer— one she’s sure is from the darkest levels of the astral plane—without letting him find out about her special abilities.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
Nightkeepers (Final Prophecy, Book 1) by Jessica Andersen “As a Miami narcotics detective, Leah Daniels never knows how her day will turn out. But she certainly never expected to be strapped to a stone altar, the human sacrifice in an ancient Mayan ritual meant to coax up a demon from the underworld. Or that she’d be saved by a handsome warrior-priest king who claims to recognize her from his visions… Jaguar Strike wishes he hadn’t made the mistake of reuniting his fellow warrior priests, or broken the law by saving their chosen human sacrifice. Now, he has no choice but to join forces with Leah and invoke dangerous magic in a death-defying race against the end of time.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
The Man with the Golden Torc (Secret Histories, Book 1) by Simon R. Green“All those things you hear about as a kid? The boogeyman under the bed? The creature in the closet? They’re for real, people. Eddie Drood knows they’re for real. His family has kept humanity safe from the things that go bump in the night. For ages, they’ve held back the nightmares, locked the doors, barred the gates, and put righteous boot to monster arse on a nightly basis. But now Eddie’s in trouble. One of his own has convinced the rest of the family that Eddie’s become a menace, and that humanity needs to be protected from him. So he’s on the run, using every trick in the book, magical and otherwise, hoping he lives long enough to prove his innocence. And he knows how dangerous the Droods can be-because he’s one of them.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar”British author Millar offers fiercely funny (and often inebriated) Scottish fairies, a poignant love story as well as insights into the gravity of Crohn’s disease, cultural conflicts and the plight of the homeless in this fey urban fantasy. Due to the machinations of the obnoxious Tala, Cornwall’s fairy king, only a few humans can see the 18-inch-tall fairies who alight in Manhattan: Magenta, a homeless woman who thinks she’s the ancient Greek general Xenophon; Dinnie, an overweight slacker; and Kerry, a poor artist/musician who hopes her Ancient Celtic Flower Alphabet will win a local arts prize. Fairies Heather MacKintosh and Morag MacPherson scheme to put Dinnie and Kerry together, rescue fairy artifacts and prove that in love or war, music is essential.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
Daemons are Forever (Secret Histories, Book 2) by Simon R. Green”Second in the trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Man with the Golden Torc. Eddie Drood’s clan has been watching mankind’s back for ages. And now he’s in charge of the whole kit and caboodle. But it’s not going to be an easy gig… During World War II, the Droods made a pact with some nasty buggers from another dimension known as the Loathly Ones, which they needed to fight the Nazis. But once the war was over, the Loathly Ones decided that they liked this world too much to leave. Now it’s up to Eddie to make things very uncomfortable for them—or watch everything humanity holds dear go up in smoke.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
The Cursed (Vampire Huntress Legends) by L. A. Banks”Lilith and her husband, the vampire “Unnamed One”, are caught unawares while awaiting the birth of their angel-hybrid heir. Installed as Vampire Council chairwoman, Lilith calls on vampires, witches and warlocks (including Machiavelli, Jezebel, Genghis Khan and Medusa) to combat the forces of the Covenant, the Guardians, the Neterus and both Neteru Councils. She attacks her enemies Damali and Carlos Rivera where it hurts the most: their libidos. Soon the battle involves a Valkyrie, the Ark of the Covenant and bootleg music downloads. This end of days scenario is a wild amalgam of Christianity, vampire lore, world myth, functional morality, street philosophy and hot sex.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
Blood Colony: A Novel by Tananarive Due”There’s a new drug on the street: Glow. Said to heal almost any illness, it is distributed by an Underground Railroad of drug peddlers. But what gives Glow its power? Its main ingredient is blood — the blood of immortals. A small but powerful colony of immortals is distributing the blood, slowly wiping out the AIDS epidemic and other diseases around the world. Meet Fana Wolde, seventeen years old, the only immortal born with the Living Blood. She can read minds, and her injuries heal immediately. When her best friend, a mortal, is imprisoned by Fana’s family, Fana helps her escape — and together they run away from Fana’s protected home in Washington State to join the Underground Railroad. But Fana has more than her parents to worry about: Glow peddlers are being murdered by a violent, hundred-year-old sect with ties to the Vatican. Now, when Fana is most vulnerable, she is being hunted to fulfill an ancient blood prophecy that could lead to countless deaths.” Check Availability: |
| June 3, 2008 |  |
Blood and Iron: A Novel of the Promethean Age (Book 1) by Elizabeth Bear”Ancient grudges and ruthless schemes are simply business as usual to the Faerie court in Bear’s complex and involving contemporary fantasy. Seeker, formerly Elaine Andraste, is a changeling bound to the Mebd, the queen of the Daoine Sidhe, to find other changelings and bring them to the Faerie court. There, like legendary Tam Lin, and Seeker’s own son, Ian, they entertain the queen until she tires of them. Now the queen needs Seeker to find and win the heart of the new Merlin, latest incarnation of a being who, in the hands of the Prometheans, could be used to destroy the Fae. Pragmatic college professor Carel Bierce, the first female Merlin, is not easily swayed by Fae or Promethean advances. Long-forgotten rivalries and unsuspected blood ties arise to tug at Seeker’s loyalties, even as the queen promises to free Ian when she succeeds.” Check Availability: |
Blood Drive by Jeanne C. Stein
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This is the 2nd book in the Anna Strong series by Jeanne C. Stein. The 3rd book The Watcher is also reviewed at this site. In this installment Anna, a newly-turned vampire, is having a hard time accepting what she’s become. Although she was made a vampire by force and was lucky to have survived the attack she has doubts about her ability to adapt to her new life. As such it’s becoming increasingly difficult for her to keep her vampire life separate from her human one. And from those that she loves.
The Story
The book begins when Anna and her family receive a strange visit from her deceased brother’s former girlfriend. It seems that her brother has fathered a child. The mother approaches the family to seek assistance in finding the child, Trish. You see, Trish has run away and her mother is frantic that she’s involved in the murder of one of her teenage friends. Since Anna is a bounty hunter and since her parents are anxious to meet their heretofore unknown grandchild, she decides to take the case and look for Trish.
As Anna investigates Trish’s disappearance she meets one of the girl’s high school teachers, a hunky shape shifter who assists her in the search. Their efforts are frequently thwarted by 2 FBI agents also looking for Trish and a goth wannabe vampire-loving fanatic that has become obsessed with Anna. On top of that, it appears as if Trish’s mother hasn’t been totally honest with Anna about her motives for wanting to find her runaway daughter.
Anna’s reluctance to accept her vampire nature puts her at risk in the supernatural world. As the story progresses she learns there are others out there willing to help her adjust to her new life. Anna’s personal journey provides a nice subplot to the action in the book.
I had a hard time putting this book down at times. Jeanne C. Stein did a great job pacing the storyline. And although the book includes vampires, clairvoyants (known as “sensitives”), and shape shifters, the book doesn’t get bogged down in describing the mythologies surrounding these creatures as seen in some contemporary fantasy books. I don’t need to be told that vampires like to drink blood and that were beings change shape based on the phases of the moon. Some fantasy writers don’t get that but Jeanne C. Stein clearly does and didn’t let the story get off track with such distractions. This was a great read that maintained my interest level to the very end. Scoop up Blood Drive, The Anna Strong Chronicles, Book 2; for 6 or 7 bucks it’s cheaper than a movie ticket.
