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New Releases: 8/29/17

Happy New Release Day! Here’s what went on sale today.

opens in a new windowAn Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors by Curtis Craddock

Image Place holder  of - 30 Born without the sorcery that is her birthright but with a perspicacious intellect, Isabelle believes her marriage will stave off disastrous conflict and bring her opportunity and influence. But the last two women betrothed to this prince were murdered, and a sorcerer-assassin is bent on making Isabelle the third. Aided and defended by her loyal musketeer, Jean-Claude, Isabelle plunges into a great maze of prophecy, intrigue, and betrayal, where everyone wears masks of glamour and lies. Step by dangerous step, she unravels the lies of her enemies and discovers a truth more perilous than any deception.

 

opens in a new windowBan This Book by Alan Gratz

opens in a new windowImage Placeholder of - 88 It all started the day Amy Anne Ollinger tried to check out her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, from the school library. That’s when Mrs. Jones, the librarian, told her the bad news: her favorite book was banned! All because a classmate’s mom thought the book wasn’t appropriate for kids to read.

Amy Anne decides to fight back by starting a secret banned books library out of her locker. Soon, she finds herself on the front line of an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read.

opens in a new windowJudgment at Appomattox by Ralph Peters

Poster Placeholder of - 73 A great war nears its end. Robert E. Lee makes a desperate, dramatic gamble. It fails. Ulysses S. Grant moves. Veteran armies clash around Petersburg, Virginia, as Grant seeks to surround Lee and Lee makes a skillful withdrawal in the night. Richmond falls.

Each day brings new combat and more casualties, as Lee’s exhausted, hungry troops race to preserve the Confederacy. But Grant does not intend to let Lee escape…

opens in a new windowPlaying to the Gods by Melanie Rawn

Placeholder of  -95 The boys are at the top of their theatrical game. Their only real competition for the hearts and gold of the public are the Shadowshapers. Nevertheless, the past years of financial struggle, since their manager proved to have been embezzling, have taken a toll on the group’s creativity.

A shocking event brings all that to an end and brings Touchstone back together to create a play that will rattle the ceilings and shatter all the glass in palaces and theaters alike. An ancient conflict will come to a violent conclusion on stage, and all the gods will be watching.

opens in a new windowVicarious by Paula Stokes

opens in a new windowPlace holder  of - 57 Winter Kim and her sister, Rose, have always been inseparable. Together the two of them survived growing up in a Korean orphanage and being trafficked into the United States. But they’ve escaped the past and started over in a new place where no one knows who they used to be.

NEW FROM TOR.COM:

opens in a new windowA Song for Quiet by Cassandra Khaw

Deacon James is a rambling bluesman straight from Georgia, a black man with troubles that he can’t escape, and music that won’t let him go. On a train to Arkham, he meets trouble — visions of nightmares, gaping mouths and grasping tendrils, and a madman who calls himself John Persons. According to the stranger, Deacon is carrying a seed in his head, a thing that will destroy the world if he lets it hatch.

NEW IN PAPERBACK:

The Memoirs of Wild Bill Hickok and Shadow on the Sun by Richard Matheson

Navigators of Dune by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

Say No More by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Stranded by Bracken MacLeod

Sun Born by Kathleen O’Neal Gear & W. Michael Gear

NEW IN MANGA:

opens in a new windowA Certain Scientific Accelerator Vol. 6 Story by Kazuma Kamachi; Art by Yamaji Arata

opens in a new windowAbsolute Duo Vol. 1 Story by Takumi Hiiragiboshi; Art by Shinichirou Nariie

opens in a new windowAkashic Records of the Bastard Magical Instructor Vol. 1 Story by Tarou Hitsuji; art by Aosa Tsunemi

opens in a new windowDon’t Meddle With My Daughter Vol. 1 Story and art by Nozomu Tamaki

opens in a new windowMonster Musume Vol. 12 Story and art by OKAYADO

opens in a new windowPandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn Vol. 8 Story by Masamune Shirow; Art by Rikudou Koushi

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“Why did you choose to return to high fantasy?”

opens in a new windowPoster Placeholder of - 86 Welcome back to opens in a new windowFantasy Firsts. Our program continues with a guest post from fantasy master Melanie Rawn about how fantasy is the genre she just can’t quit. The next book in the Glass Thorns series,  opens in a new windowPlaying to the Godswill be available on August 29th.

By Melanie Rawn

Who says I had a choice?

Touchstone knocked me upside the head. This is the second time this has happened to me. The first was Dragon Prince, and I remember it quite clearly.

Memorial Day weekend, 1985. I’d been reading The Kingdom: Arabia and the House of Sa’ud, and my fancy was caught by a description of a group of princes going out hawking, with the flowing robes and the hawks on their arms…riding in Jeeps. I liked everything about this image (except for the Jeeps!) so I began playing with it, just to see if it would take me anywhere. Three days later I had the first four chapters of Dragon Prince.

This happened again with Touchstone. May 9, 2009, nine o’clock in the morning (this time I made a note of it). I’d gotten to sleep at about 3 or so, and woke up with this thing in my head. Didn’t even change out of my nightgown. Went into my office, fired up the computer, and I could scarcely type fast enough. The next time I was even marginally aware of my surroundings, it was well past noon.

Neither instance, of course, was entirely the gobsmacking it sounds. Things accumulate in your head; you’re squirreling away ideas and information whether you know it consciously or not. Eventually it reaches critical mass and demands your absolute undivided attention.

The Exiles series and the Spellbinder books were different; they developed over many months, and I was aware of the process. Golden Key was unique in my experience in that Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliott, and I created a whole world and a lengthy plotline during a weekend at Jennifer’s house. We wanted to have everything we needed (or at least most of it) before we started writing our individual sections of the book.

But with Touchstone, as with Dragon Prince, the thing was just simply there. Plenty of details to be worked out, of course: the look of the characters and the places, a map, the names (always a problem, but getting worse these days—why is it that every new pharmaceutical on the market sounds like a planet or a city or a character in a fantasy or SF novel? I mean, wouldn’t “Ambien” make a great name for a province?), and all that sort of thing. Still, the characters and overarching concepts were there, and, in my agent’s term, I went into “berserker mode.”

The thing that startled me most was that none of these people are in positions of power within their society. They’re working-class gits, teenaged boys with a chip on each shoulder and more stashed in their pockets. Cade, the certified tormented artist; Jeska, the instinctive actor and enthusiastic ladies’ man; Rafe, the solid and reliable strength behind them all; and Mieka, the key to their success and gleeful purveyor of lunacy. I’ve never written people like them before, and I’m having an indecent amount of fun.

So it’s not that I chose to do something new in the high fantasy genre. It was just suddenly there in my head. And now that it’s in your hands, I hope you have as good a time reading it as I’m having writing it.

Order Your Copy

opens in a new windowPlace holder  of amazon- 1 opens in a new windowImage Place holder  of bn- 37 opens in a new windowPlace holder  of booksamillion- 79 opens in a new windowibooks2 13 opens in a new windowindiebound opens in a new windowpowells

Follow Melanie Rawn on  opens in a new windowFacebook or visit her website.

(This is a rerun of a post that originally ran on March 5, 2012.)

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Fantasy Firsts Sweepstakes

Welcome back to  opens in a new windowFantasy Firsts. Today we’re offering the chance to win these fantastic titles on Goodreads! For details on how to enter, please click on the cover image of the book you are interested in.

opens in a new windowDancer’s Lament by Ian C. Esslemont

opens in a new windowPlace holder  of - 57 Esslemont’s all-new prequel trilogy takes readers deeper into the politics and intrigue of the New York Times bestselling Malazan Empire. Dancer’s Lament focuses on the genesis of the empire, and features Dancer, the skilled assassin, who, alongside the mage Kellanved, would found the Malazan empire.

opens in a new windowTouchstone by Melanie Rawn

opens in a new windowPlaceholder of  -4 Although Touchstone can stand alone, it is the first book of a brilliant, utterly engaging new fantasy series, Glass Thorns, from Melanie Rawn, the author of the bestselling Dragon Prince series.

Cayden Silversun is part Elven, part Fae, part human Wizard—and all rebel. His aristocratic mother would have him follow his father to the Royal Court, to make a high society living off the scraps of kings. But Cade lives and breathes for the theater, and he’s good—very, very good. With his company, he’ll enter the highest reaches of society and power as an honored artist—or die trying.

opens in a new windowTruthwitch by Susan Dennard

opens in a new windowTruthwitch by Susan DennardOn a continent ruled by three empires, everyone is born with a “witchery,” a magical skill that sets them apart from others. Now, as the Twenty Year Truce in a centuries long war is about to end, the balance of power-and the failing health of all magic-will fall on the shoulders of a mythical pair called the Cahr Awen.

opens in a new windowThe Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

opens in a new windowThe Way of Kings by Brandon SandersonIn The Way of Kings, #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson introduces readers to the fascinating world of Roshar, a world of stone and storms.

It has been centuries since the fall of the Knights Radiant, but their mystical swords and armor remain, transforming ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for them. Wars are fought for them and won by them.

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Sneak Peek: Window Wall by Melanie Rawn

Window Wall by Melanie Rawn

Read an excerpt of  opens in a new windowWindow Wall, the fourth volume of the Glass Thorns series by Melanie Rawn, publishing April 14.

CHAPTER 1

Mieka Windthistle arrived at the kitchen door of Number Eight, Redpebble Square, with a frown on his face. It was not an expression that suited him. Yet with the exception of the hours he spent onstage, these days it seemed all his face could do was frown.

He conjured up a smile for Mistress Mirdley and for Derien Silversun, but the frown returned when the Trollwife, busily slicing carrot bread, told him why a huge basket was being filled with baked goods.

Read More »

Tor Books Announces Programming for Phoenix Comic-Con 2014

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Once again Tor (Booth# 646) continues our wildly popular *in-booth signings and giveaways, offering you a chance to meet your favorite authors up close and personal and pick up free books.

Friday, June 6th

Saturday, June 7th

  • 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Creating Your Fantasy World
    Peter Orullian
  • 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm Microsoft XBox Panel
    Peter Orullian

Sunday, June 8th

Make sure to follow @Torbooks on Twitter for up to date information and last minute events!

All Tor Booth signings are on a first come first serve basis and while supplies lasts. Limit one book per person.

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The Magic of Theater

Thornlost by Melanie Rawn

Written by Melanie Rawn

Given that the subject of my novels (the Glass Thorns series) is a theater troup who use their magical abilities to enhance their performances, I am often asked the question: “How would your own favorite play work with the magic system you created for your Glass Thorns series?”

Answer: Well, here’s the thing. My favorites are pretty much anything by Shakespeare and Euripedes, Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, Lion in Winter, Long Day’s Journey into Night, and so on, none of which would benefit at all by the inclusion of the kind of magic that shows up in Glass Thorns. Those playwrights didn’t have any of the flash-dazzle I’ve given my theater troupe; they worked with what they had. Words.

Modern films of Shakespeare’s plays take great delight in showing massive battles (Agincourt, Bosworth Field) that the limitations of Elizabethan theater made impossible, but is it really necessary to see all the blood and gore and guts and horses and swords and armor and banners? One imagines that Shakespeare would have had huge fun with all that, but that fact that he didn’t have the option doesn’t seem to have bothered him much. To me, it’s rather like colorizing B&W movies: sure, it’d be interesting to see Bogie and Bergman in color, but would it really make Casablanca a better film?

Cole Porter, in his last musical for the stage, Silk Stockings, pokes fun at the technological advances of the ’50s, assuring us that nobody would come to see Ava Gardner as Lady Godiva bare-naked on a horse unless she was filmed in:

  • Glorious Technicolor,
  • Breathtaking Cinemascope or
  • Cinerama, Vista Vision, Superscope, or Todd-A-O
  • And Stereophonic sound!

If you’ve got toys, you play with them. You write with your toys in mind. This has, in our era of CGI, led to some really spectacular special effects in movies that are, shall we say, a trifle challenged when it comes to plot. Special effects can be delightful, but if you don’t have them to play with, you have to write words that engage the audience as completely as glorious explosions and breath-taking monsters and, heaven help us, sharknados.

(And stereophonic sound.)

Which is not to say such movies aren’t great fun. I’m a total pushover for space operas and let’s-blow-up-Los-Angeles movies, volcanoes and dinosaurs on the rampage. Toys are fun.

The plays my guys perform are actually quite short by our standards—less like a five-hour Hamlet, more like an hour-long Tommy. Their magical toys are sounds, sights, tastes, sensations, scents, and emotions, the intensity of which would become a serious strain on performers and audiences alike after an hour or so.

But what if you don’t have any toys? That’s something that I have my theater group think about, and it bothers them. What if they did a play without the sound effects or the physical sensations or the scenery or the emotions that are conjured by them with magic? They find the idea both intriguing and nerve-shredding. What they’ll eventually work around to is that it’s the words that matter in the end—which is scarcely a startling conclusion to find in a book by somebody who uses words.

When you get right down to the nitty-gritty, as they used to say in my long-ago childhood, as writers we can’t offer you Glorious Technicolor, Breath-taking Cinemascope, and so on and so forth. What we offer you in our books is writing. We use words to tell stories and delineate characters and posit ideas, and the words are all we have. The only thing we can do is write them, and hope that you enjoy them.

Even without Stereophonic sound.

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