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NOVEMBER 2009
Dearest Readers,
Do you remember your first foray into science fiction and fantasy? For me it was Star Wars. I'm talking about that good-old original trilogy, the classics, the pop culture icons that together are George Lucas's magnum opus.
It was fall, and if I remember correctly, it was the magical year 1989. On a dark November afternoon an almost-five-year-old sporting a rat-tail haircut sat with his mom and dad on a small couch in an even darker living room. Flipping through the channels and deciding that nothing good was on TV, Dad suggested we watch the Star Wars VHS we had recently bought. Mom was probably a little nervous that the movie would be too violent for the impressionable youngster, but I'm sure Dad said something to the effect of, "But it's Star Wars!" Mom's concerns assuaged, the VHS* was popped in the machine.
I remember my parents reading aloud the text scrolling down the screen, and I was simply blown away by the giant ship that rolled by. "Can it get any better than that?" I thought to myself. The answer, of course, was "Yes."
Mere minutes later a towering figure stepped through a recently blasted door and filled the screen with his dark presence. Darth Vader happened.
Hulking, menacing, and cool as all get-out, Vader is everything an antagonist should be. He is dark, but not one-dimensionally so. He is calculating, but imperfect. He is evil, without question, but there are shades of good there as well. Maybe he's not just the perfect villain, but the perfect character as well.
As we wind down the year I have a few things on my to-do list that need to be crossed off. First, I am going to sit down with a copy of the New York Times Bestselling Death Troopers and scare myself stupid. Then I will catch up on Naomi Novik's Temeraire series with the brilliant new omnibus edition. Lastly, I will sit down and watch Star Wars at least once with my folks to remind myself that a love of science fiction and fantasy and a love of reading is, for me at least, a family thing.
Happy Reading!
Mike Braff—Del Rey Books
mbraff@randomhouse.com
*For those young guns in the audience, a VHS tape is to a DVD just as a cassette tape is to a CD. What do you mean you don't know what a cassette tape is?!
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An Award-Winning Month for Del Rey!
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We are so busy these days. We're constantly celebrating the release of the best new genre fiction, working on generating even more content, and (especially lately) picking up a slew of awards and nominations! It is with great pride that Del Rey announces the below awards and nominations and extends special congratulations to all of our authors and editors!
Publishers Weekly—Best Books of 2009
Out of the 50,000 books submitted to Publishers Weekly for review this year, the magazine selected 100 as Best Books of 2009. Del Rey has three of those 100!
World Fantasy Awards 2009
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DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tolkien's Triumphant Return
Del Rey will publish the mass market edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin, the #1 New York Times hardcover bestseller, in June 2010! Begun in 1918, The Children of Húrin was one of three "Great Tales" J.R.R. Tolkien worked on throughout his life, though he never realized his ambition to see it published. Christopher Tolkien, the author's son, edited the complete work from his father's many drafts, and it represents the culmination of a tireless thirty-year endeavor to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's vast body of unpublished work to a wide audience.
An Adventure Begins in The Infernal City: An Elder Scrolls Novel
The Elder Scrolls video game series is nothing less than legendary in the gaming world. But the Elder Scrolls is not just another blockbuster video game. This high-fantasy saga has won the deep devotion of its fans because of its expansive, rich, and immersive world. In its incredible depth and richness, it recalls such engrossing sagas as The Lord of the Rings. This is a game that simply cries out for the in-depth exploration only a novel can offer. And now the extraordinary fantasy novelist Greg Keyes (The Born Queen) serves as your guide in The Infernal City: An Elder Scrolls Novel, an all-new epic adventure set in the world of the Elder Scrolls. This novel is a follow up to the recent game Elder Scrolls: Oblivion—but even fans who are new to the Elder Scrolls can join in on this gorgeously written high-fantasy tale. In the shadow of Umbriel, a floating city, the dead are beginning to rise again... and only a trio of unlikely adventurers—a prince, a spy, and a young girl—can solve the city's dark mystery.
Mercy Thompson: Homecoming A Bestseller
Patricia Briggs' graphic novel—Mercy Thompson: Homecoming—continues to conquer new fans. It has just hit its eighth week on the New York Times graphic novel bestseller list.
Congratulations, Patricia!
To read an interview with Patricia Briggs and see some of the gorgeous interior art, click here.
What's new, Suvudu?
Werewolves, vampires, androids, zombies... and those are just our bloggers! Make sure to check out Suvudu in November for posts by our authors, coverage of the latest books, movies, interviews, and goings-on in the Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Comics world.
If you haven't checked out Suvudu yet, here's what you've missed in just the past month:
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New from Naomi Novik
If you have a friend who's a dragon fan—and who doesn't—here's an idea for a holiday gift. We've just collected the first three novels in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series into a gorgeous hardcover omnibus that contains an additional treat: a luscious Bing cherry, as it were, enrobed in rich dark chocolate: in other words, an original story, never before in print, set in the Temeraire universe!
"In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River" chronicles the first meeting between Lien, the Celestial dragon who plays a pivotal part in Throne of Jade, and Napoleon Bonaparte, to whom Lien offers her considerable intellect in the Emperor's campaign against the British after Laurence and Temeraire foil her prince's attempt to gain the Chinese throne.
Order this exciting omnibus here!
Read a short excerpt here.
*New for November*
For a limited time, Suvudu.com is offering free downloads of some of Del Rey's most popular titles! See below for this month's selections!
A Kiss of Shadows
By Laurell K. Hamilton
Meredith Gentry, Princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, living as a P.I. specializing in supernatural crime. But now the Queen's assassin has been dispatched to fetch her back—whether she likes it or not.
Buy a physical copy of this book.
See other books in this series.
Other available free ebook formats:
Kindle
Sony Reader
BN.com
Visit the Suvudu Library to download.
The Best of Robert E. Howard, Volume 1
Written by Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard is one of the most famous and influential pulp authors of the twentieth century. Though largely known as the man who invented the sword-and-sorcery genre—and for his iconic hero Conan the Cimmerian—Howard also wrote horror tales, desert adventures, detective yarns, epic poetry, and more. This spectacular volume celebrates some of his best and most popular works.
Buy a physical copy of this book.
See other books in this series.
Other available free ebook formats:
Kindle
Sony Reader
BN.com
Visit the Suvudu Library to download.
Trading in Danger
By Elizabeth Moon
Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father's only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down... until Ky is called on to face deadly combat, dangerous mercenaries, and violent mutiny.
Buy a physical copy of this book.
See other books in this series.
Other available free ebook formats:
Kindle
Sony Reader
BN.com
Visit the Suvudu Library to download. |
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WHAT'S NEW IN STORES: November 2009
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IN HIS MAJESTY'S SERVICE
by Naomi Novik
Hardcover
Together in one volume, here are the first three novels in Naomi Novik's New York Times bestselling Temeraire series, combining the gripping history of the Napoleonic era, the thrill of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books, and the excitement of Patrick O'Brian's seafaring adventures. In His Majesty's Service also includes an exclusive original Temeraire short story.
Capt. Will Laurence is serving with honor in the British Navy when his ship captures a French frigate harboring a most unusual cargo—an incalculably valuable dragon egg. When the egg hatches, Laurence unexpectedly becomes the master of the young dragon Temeraire and finds himself on an extraordinary journey that will shatter his orderly, respectable life and alter the course of his nation's history.
Thrust into England's Aerial Corps, Laurence and Temeraire undergo rigorous training while staving off French forces intent on breaching British soil. But the pair has more than France to contend with when China learns that an imperial dragon intended for Napoleon—Temeraire himself—has fallen into British hands. The emperor summons the new pilot and his dragon to the Far East, a long voyage fraught with peril and intrigue. From England's shores to China's palaces, from the Silk Road's outer limits to the embattled borders of Prussia and Poland, Laurence and Temeraire must defend their partnership and their country from powerful adversaries around the globe. But can they succeed against the massed forces of Bonaparte's implacable army?
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
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DRAGONHEART
by Todd McCaffrey
Mass Market
The specter of sickness looms over the Weyrs of Pern, felling fire-lizards and threatening their dragon cousins, Pern's sole defense against the deadly phenomenon that is Thread. Fiona, the young rider of queen dragon Talenth, is about to assume the duties of a Weyrwoman when word spreads that dragons have begun succumbing to the new contagion. As more dragons sicken and die, Weyrleader B'Nik and queen rider Lorana comb Fort Weyr's archives in a desperate search for clues from the past that may hold the solution to the plague. But could the past itself prove the pathway to salvation for Pern's imperiled dragons? Guided by a mysterious ally from a wholly unexpected place, and trusting in the dragon gift for transcending time, Fiona will join a risky expedition with far-reaching consequences for both Pern's future and her personal destiny.
READ AN EXCERPT
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CANDLE IN THE STORM
by Morgan Howell
Mass Market
The malign shadow of the Devourer has darkened the land, extinguishing life and hope. The followers of the benevolent goddess Karm are hunted mercilessly and cut down by an army of bewitched slayers led by Lord Bahl, the Devourer's flesh-and-blood incarnation. Only two people stand in the way of an apocalyptic bloodbath that will literally bring hell to earth: a man and a woman linked by a love as strong as it is unlikely—Honus, a grim-faced warrior dedicated to Karm, and Yim, a beautiful former slave with the divine power to stop Lord Bahl.
But that power will prove a terrible curse as Yim is called upon to make a costly sacrifice—a sacrifice that will not only put her love for Honus to the test but call into question her very faith. As the evil storm descends, can the flame of hope endure?
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STAR WARS 501st
by Karen Traviss
Mass Market
The Clone Wars are over, but for those with reason to run from the new galactic Empire, the battle to survive has only just begun...
The Jedi have been decimated in the Great Purge, and the Republic has fallen. Now the former Republic Commandos—the galaxy's finest special forces troops, cloned from Jango Fett—find themselves on opposing sides and in very different armor. Some have deserted and fled to Mandalore with the mercenaries, renegade clone troopers, and rogue Jedi who make up Kal Skirata's ragtag resistance to Imperial occupation. Others—including men from Delta and Omega squads—now serve as Imperial Commandos, a black ops unit within Vader's own 501st Legion, tasked to hunt down fugitive Jedi and clone deserters. For Darman, grieving for his Jedi wife and separated from his son, it's an agonizing test of loyalty. But he's not the only one who'll be forced to test the ties of brotherhood. On Mandalore, clone deserters and the planet's own natives, who have no love for the Jedi, will have their most cherished beliefs challenged. In the savage new galactic order, old feuds may have to be set aside to unite against a far bigger threat, and nobody can take old loyalties for granted.
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IN GREAT WATERS
by Kit Whitfield
Trade paperback
During a time of great upheaval, the citizens of Venice make a pact that will change the world. The landsmen of the city broker a treaty with a water-dwelling tribe of deepsmen, cementing the alliance through marriage. The mingling of the two races produces a fresh, peerless strain of royal blood. To protect their shores, other nations make their own partnerships with this new breed—and then, jealous of their power, ban any further unions between the two peoples. Dalliance with a deepswoman becomes punishable by death. Any "bastard" child must be destroyed.
This is an Earth where the legends of the deep are true—where the people of the ocean are as real and as dangerous as the people of the land. This is the world of intrigue and betrayal that Kit Whitfield brings to life in an unforgettable alternate history: the tale of Anne, the youngest princess of a faltering England, struggling to survive in a troubled court, and Henry, a bastard abandoned on the shore to face his bewildering destiny, finding himself a pawn in a game he does not understand.
Yet even a pawn may checkmate a king.
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THE TALISMAN: ROAD OF TRIALS #1
by Stephen King and Peter Straub (Horror)
Trade Paperback
Get thee to a comic shop, Stephen King/Peter Straub fans, horror and dark fantasy devotees, and comics lovers! On November 18, 2009, issue #1 of The Talisman, an adaptation of the classic Stephen King/Peter Straub novel—and Del Rey's first-ever honest-to-goodness comic book hits comics stores everywhere! Find your friendly neighborhood comic book store using the Comics Shop Locator.
And don't forget to pick up the incredible and highly collectible Variant by Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade fame.
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