The Book of the Living Dead
Edited by John Richard Stephens
Berkley, Oct 5 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780425237069

This is a fascinating collection of a who’s who of literature that writes a short horror thriller. Some of the contributors are expected to appear in an anthology dedicated to the living dead; defined by Editor John Richard Stephens to include zombies, vampires, mummies, other unclassified reanimated corpses, and a couple even beyond that miscellaneous categorization. Readers will expect Mart Shelley (abbreviated “Frankenstein”), Edgar Allan Poe (“The Facts of M. Valdemar’s Case”), H.P. Lovecraft (“Herbert West: Reanaimator”) and Washington Irving (“The Adventures of the German Student”). Fans will also recognize some of the titles like “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs and “The Ghoul” by Sir Hugh Clifford. These are all super entries. However, the fun in the tale is discovering works by famous writers whose genre is as far from horror as the sun is from Pluto. These include Guy de Maupassant (“The Hand”) Mark Twain (“A Curious Dream”), Sir Walter Scott (“The hero of the Tomb”) and Jack London (“A Thousand Deaths”). All twenty-seven contributions are terrific as life after death proves chillingly dark and deadly to the delight of readers.

Harriet Klausner

More Stories from the Twilight Zone
Carol Serling
Tor, Jul 2010, $17.99
ISBN: 9780765325822

The second Twilight Zone anthology edited by Carol Serling contains nineteen strong entries that will remind readers of the TV series with final twists and intriguing paradoxical morality dramas. None of the entries are bad, but a few are excellent. This author especially enjoyed the historical lessons of “Curve” by Loren Estleman, “Reversal of Fortune” by Robert J. Serling and “The Mystery of History” by Lee Lawless. Also super are David Gerrold’s twisted take on employment in the Twilight Zone “Sales of a Deathman” and Nancy Holder’s romantic spin in “By the Book”. Fans of the series will fully appreciate the compilation fittingly ended with “An Odyssey, Or Whatever You Call It, Concerning Baseball” by Rod Serling as next stop is Yankee Stadium, a dimension as vast in centerfield as space but with a short leftfield porch that makes it timeless.

Harriet Klausner

Tome of the Undergates
Sam Sykes
PYR, Sep 1 2010, $17.00
ISBN 9781616142421

They are a band loathed and feared by everyone else. They take only jobs that no one else even considers as that is the only work they can get. These mercenaries are not a band of brothers (and sisters) in arms as they detest one another. Their leader by default is Lenk the swordsman whose prime job is to prevent Denaos the thug, Asper the priestess, Dreadaelon the wizard, Gariath the dragonman, and Kataria the shict from killing each other especially when they are on the job.

Their current assignment is to protect a Priest while searching for the stolen by an oceanic malevolence Tome of the Undergates as they sail on the Riptide. Cragsmen of the vessel Linkmaster attack their vessel, but the six defeat the pirates though thy are incredibly outnumbered. However that is a forerunner as soon the sextet will learn what their greed means as they are caught in the crosshairs of a war in which the hell beneath the sea wants to dominate the world.

This is an entertaining seafaring fantasy filled with plenty of adventures. The story line is loaded with action as the six fight adversaries including each other. The back stories of each are well written and interesting though their tales slow down the pace of the oceanic fantasy and in spite of their diversity reads somewhat interchangeable. Still fans will enjoy the opening Tome of the Undergates.

Harriet Klausner

Troubled Waters
Sharon Shinn
Ace, Oct 5 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9780441019236

While grieving the death of her father Navarr of the flame, Zoe Ardelay receives a surprising visit from the capital Chialto where she and her late father once fled to rusticate in safety. King Vernon sent Darien Serlast to bring back Zoe as the fifth bride of the monarch in order for a numerically balanced court. The Five Families fight through their respective queen to propel their offspring as the heir. Zoe met the ruler before her father fell out of favor and learns from Darien that his family possesses all that hers once did.

However, before entering the castle, Zoe slips away to the nearby river where she is stunned to realize she is the “Coru Prime” of another family Lalindar of the water. Ergo she is no longer the next bride of Vernon. Zoe explores her new power and investigates palace secrets while facing danger from envious enemies, many of whom remain shadowy unknown adversaries who reject an upstart new dynamo. She and Darien also are attracted to one another, but both know many will use their desire as a weapon to destroy both of them. Zoe’s biggest lesson at court is trust no one as everyone seems manipulative with a personal agenda to move up the ladder without regard for others.

Troubled Waters is a great opening political fantasy that is filled with a strong cast, wonderful refreshing laws of magic and court intrigue. From the moment Darien arrives for Zoe, the story line never takes a respite as this is a fast-paced thriller. Sharon Shinn affirms what her fans already knew from the Twelve Houses saga that the author is one of the best fantasists; with her new series loaded with action yet introducing the key characters and significantly the mathematics of magic.

Harriet Klausner

Harvest Moon
Mercedes Lackey, Michelle Sagara, Cameron Haley
Luna, Oct 1 2010, $17.95
ISBN: 9780373803224

“A Tangled Web” by Mercedes Lackey. At. Mt Olympus, Thanatos kidnaps Brunnhilde in the opening ploy of a scheme to enable his master Hades to capture Persephone. Ever since he met her (see The Sleeping Beauty) Leopold is not one to sit idly by when Brunnhilde is in danger.

“Cast in Moonlight” by Michelle Sagara. In Elantra, teenage Kaylin Neya joins the hawks as she works her first case.

“Retribution” by Cameron Haley. Enforcer Domino Riley killed her rival for the position she now holds in accordance with Mob Rules, but an otherworldly hit man is coming after her also in accordance with Mob Rules.

These are three fine fantasies that fans of the respective authors especially will enjoy as Mercedes Lackey provides a Five Hundred Kingdom’s entry; Michelle Sagara contributes an Elantra saga; and Cameron Haley an Underworld tale.

Harriet Klausner

The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
Tor, Aug 31 2010, $27.99
ISBN: 9780765326355

The storms of Roshar are legendary for their fierceness as natural selection has led to flora and fauna adapting to the intensity. Failure to do so means extinction. Humans understand the basic premise for survival of the fittest as they have built great cities only in places where shelter from the torrents can be found. Centuries ago the Knights Radiant laid down their arms having disestablished their units. Now four thousand five hundred plus years since they dispersed, they have become myths while their shardblade weapons and shardplate armor have become the most valuable commodity on Roshar.

Shallan the scholar has uncovered an inconvenient truth as she serves as an apprentice to the sister of the King. Unlike his aristocratic peers, visionary warrior Dalinar Kholin, the current king’s uncle looks to the past to forge an honorable just future. Finally acrimonious Kaladin went from aristocratic surgeon to slave to save the life of his brother, but it cost him his honor and caring of others.

The opening act of the Stormlight Machine an epic fantasy which a monster sized book in which Brandon Sanderson establishes his world in minute detail (some might say overly detailed) and the flaws of his three prime players. The story line contains several subplots with Shallan, Kholin and Kaladin serving as the main three in the intertwining saga. Especially intriguing, besides the encyclopedic fascinating depth of Roshar, is the gripping sagas of Kaladin and Shallan; while the arc of Kholin feels forced as if a fantasy element was needed to spice up the saga. Still this is a fascinating grand beginning to what looks like an epic worthy of the late Robert Jordan.

Harriet Klausner

Sins Of The Soul
Eve Silver
Harlequin HQN, Aug 31 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780373774838

Underworld enforcer and soul reaper Alastor Krayl seeks the Butcher; the assassin who he believes was involved in the death of his brother Lokan. When he finds the Butcher, Alastor is stunned as the killer is dead. Apparently a shocked Naphre Kurata, the Butcher’s apprentice, killed him when he tried to murder her.

Naphre buries her former mentor, but Alastor claims his soul as he needs it to free his sibling’s soul. However, Alastor is taken aback when he learns the soul of his late enemy belongs to someone else. As Alastor and Naphre find themselves falling in love, a definitely forbidden feeling for both of these non-humans, neither know what to do next about their desires, his brother or the third party soul collector.

The latest dark Otherkin soul reaping romantic fantasy is a great entry in what looks like will be a top series (see Sins of the Heart). The story line is extremely complex with a great late spin, but also incredibly entertaining. Fans will be hooked from the onset as Krayl walks the Territory of Sutehl with revenge as his companion only to be stunned by what he sees. The escapades have just begun for him, her and their hearts. Eve Silver strikes gold with this terrific Underworld thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Healer’s Choice
Jory Strong
Berkley, Sep 7 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780425236536

Rebekka spends a lot time healing patrons and employees of the shapeshifter brothels a place where she was born and loosely raised. Her unique skill is to save a shapeshifter caught trapped between their two forms. However, by doing this, the victim must choose one shape because the cure includes no more shapeshifting between the beast and the human forms.

Aryck the Jaguar were enforcer learns of Rebekka’s healing skills. To prevent a tragedy of five cubs dying from a man-made plague, he searches for her to bring her back to Were held territory to help the ailing youngsters. It is a place where humans and half-breeds are not allowed. Attracted to each other, Rebekka agrees to help, but both soon realize the plague is the first step in a larger genocide plan.

This is a Strong post-apocalyptic urban fantasy as a race war seems imminent in a world torn apart by de facto violence. As in Ghostland, the story line is action-packed but it is the profound look at the purebreds and mixed breeds that make this a powerful tale. Star-crossed lovers, Rebekka knows she is an expendable pawn in a world gone mad in which long dead ancestors punish their descendents for crossing taboo lines as the healer is doing yet she knows she has no choice.

Harriet Klausner

Antiphon
Ken Scholes
Tor, Sep 14 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780765321299

When the arrogant Androfrancine Order monks ruled the Named Lands with an iron fist, they ignored the people’s well-being to focus on the technolgy and magic of the ancient Wizard Kings. Thus their neglect and fall leaves chaos throughoutout The Named Lands as groups that once believed in te now dead Y’Zirite religion rises with its bloody violence.

When Nebious was a child, he witnessed the horror that haunts him as an desert chieftain; he watched the genocde of Windwir. He misses his Marsh Queen spouse while suffering from feral nightmares and is aware that women warriors seek to kill him. His mother the Ninefold Forest Queen Jin Li Tam tries to keep him safe, but so many want him dead. Nebious learns from his mother that her religious advisors believe that Jakop, the baby son of the Gypsy King Rudolfo, is the “Child of Promise”; if affirmed the infant has followers who want him as the high king and adversaries who want him dead. At the same time hidden in the shadows is the most dangerous threat to the Named Lands while eerily music spreads from the wastes across the lands leaving the Androfrancine monks and Rudolfo wondering what this denotes.

The third volume of the Psalms of Isaak (see Lamentation and Canticle) continues the excellent moxing of science fiction and epic fantasy with a powerful mystery adding excitement (a venn diagram in which the three genres’ respective circles mostly overlap). The fast-paced story line contains a myriad of subplots yet also is filled with action that cohesively moves forward the overarching theme. With all the adventures that takes place, fully developed players representing different aspects of the Named Lands’ various societies, especially the key leads, make for a terrific thriller that showcases Ken Sholes’s talent. This series is a winner.

Harriet Klausner

Chosen
Jeanne C. Stein
Ace, Aug 31 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780441019175

Her first year since the change is coming and Anna Strong has adjusted to becoming a vampire though she does not like it. Instead, Anna tries to cling to whatever humanity is left even as her vampiric needs are starting to supersede all else. She fears the legend that she is the Chosen One as she just wants to go back to being a human bounty hunter.

Anna and her boyfriend Lance travel to Palm Springs. There a dangerous adversary attacks her. She survives and assumes her archenemy Warren Williams assaulted her. However, she will soon learn there are even deadlier foes under the sun as Lance’s creator Julian Underwood believes Anna is the Chosen One and hence has plans to use her for his own benefit.

Chosen, the latest Strong urban fantasy (see Retribution and Legacy) is an action packed thriller from the onset and never takes a breather as Jeanne C. Stein puts her heroine through a harrowing gauntlet. Anna takes some nasty shots emotionally and physically as she begins to comprehend how treacherous being the Chosen One can be when you’re even unsure of your friends. This is a great entry in a strong series.

Harriet Klausner