TABLE OF CONTENTS



APRIL 2008

Dear Readers,

I nearly could not find my quill and ink to write to you, what with the piles of writs and other scolls filling my scriptorium. Alas, it seems even dashing young paladins such as I must pay our taxes this month. Though my lawyer has pored over the Domesday Book for any available loopholes and advised me in all particulars, I am nevertheless required to send a tithe, and so I have spent the last several weeks gathering the necessaries. To wit:

Three sacks of galleons from my Spanish holdings; a pair of silver goblets, a gem-encrusted longbow, and a gilded dagger from my castle in Aquitaine; a silk dress from the collection given to me by a Levantine prince on the occasion of his rescue from a terrible ogre; the ruby claws of a chimera, one of six I defeated in the northern mountains last winter; a purse-ful of dragon scales, plucked from its belly as it slept on my castle grounds (the poor thing was quite tired and had no other means of payment); the head of the notorious brigand, murderer, and most foul puppy-kicker Jack Uglynose; and a pig.

As you can see, dear readers, it's an exhausting and disheartening process, which is why I'm pleased to lose myself in quite a few good books this month. Gregory Keyes' The Born Queen completes his series The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone with intense, dark strokes, and science fiction master Peter F. Hamilton delivers a vast stellar epic in The Dreaming Void. Douglas A. Anderson has pulled together a new collection of influential early fantasy stories, Tales Before Narnia, of works that inspired C. S. Lewis. Nina Harper's Succubus in the City is a romp through the devilish world of society succubi (I had to look that one up in my bestiary—they're beautiful sex demons, apparently). And close to my own heart, we have a couple of books about the exploits and making of a hero who apparently goes heavily armored, one "Iron Man," whose cuirass I confess I covet.

I must wrap up hurriedly, as I hear urgent oinking coming from the filing cabinet, but as always,

Read well and be merry,

Sir Kaitlin
kheller@randomhouse.com



 

NEWS

DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

AUTHORS ON TOUR

TROY DENNING, author of Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Invincible, will be touring at the locations below to sign his new novel, the triumphant conclusion to the Legacy of the Force nine-book series!

ROSEVILLE, MN
Tuesday, 5/13 @ 7:00pm
Barnes & Noble
2100 North Snelling Ave

OAK BROOK, IL
Wednesday, 5/14 @ 7:30pm
Borders Books & Music
1500 16th Street, Suite D

CARMEL, IN
Thursday, 5/15 @ 7:00pm
Barnes & Noble
14709 US Hwy 31 North

PHILADELPHIA, PA
Saturday, 5/17 @ 1:00pm
Free Library of Philadelphia
1901 Vine St.

HUNTINGTON, NY
Sunday, May 18 @ 2:00pm
Book Revue
313 New York Avenue

HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO
Thursday, May 29 @ 7:30pm
Tattered Cover
9315 Dorchester Street

SEATTLE, WA
Friday, May 30 @ 7:00pm
University Bookstore
4326 University Way NE

FOLSOM, CA
Sunday, June 1 @ 2:00pm
Borders Books & Music
2765 E. Bidwell St.

ORLANDO, FL
Saturday, June 7, time to be announced
Disney Hollywood Studios

AUTHOR PANELS AT NEW YORK COMIC CON

The following Del Rey/Villard authors will appear on these panels at New York ComicCon, which will run April 18-20, 2008, in the Jacob Javits Center, New York City. For much, much more information, see the NYCC website at http://www.nycomiccon.com.

Women in Fantasy and SF
Friday 4/18, 5-6 PM, Panel Room 3 (1E15)
• Naomi Novik, Empire of Ivory

Del Rey Manga
Saturday 4/19, 12-1 PM, Panel Room 2 (1E03)

Science Fiction Roundtable
Saturday 4/19, 3-4 PM, Panel Room 3 (1E16)
• Peter David, Tigerheart
• Peter F. Hamilton, The Dreaming Void

Terry Brooks Talks Shannara
Saturday 4/19, 1-2 PM, Panel Room 3 (1E07)

Terry Brooks Autograph Signing
With Robert Napton
Saturday 4/19, 4:30-6:30 PM, Autograph Room
• Ticketed signing: Tickets are free and available at the NYCC Variant Stage.

New York City Through Its Authors
Saturday 4/19, 2-3 PM, Panel Room 3 (1E08)
• Nina Harper, Succubus in the City
• Alissa Torres, American Widow

Flight panel
Sunday 4/20, 11 AM-12 PM, Room (1E08)
• Kazu Kibuishi, Amy Kim Ganter, Jake Parker, and Phil Craven

The following NYCC signings will be held at the Del Rey booth, #1920. Some may move to the Midtown Comics booth instead, but fans can always check at our booth first for details:

Saturday 4/19:
• Peter David, 11:00am-noon, signing free advance copies of Tigerheart
• Naomi Novik, 12:30pm-1:30pm, signing free advance copies of Victory of Eagles
• Peter F. Hamilton, 1:30pm-2:30pm, signing The Dreaming Void (on sale for $27)
• Nina Harper, 3:30pm-4:30pm, signing free copies of Succubus in the City

Sunday 4/20:
• Kazu Kibuishi, 2:00pm-3:00pm, signing Flight Explorer (on sale for $10)

If you can't make Terry Brooks' Saturday signing, catch him at the Midtown Comics booth Friday from 5:30pm-6:30pm.

DARK WRAITH CONTEST WINNERS
Andrew Ive, William T. Fee, Patrick Lafferty, Harry Staruk, Diane Pollock, Stephanie Wright, Robert McCammant, Ellen Bean, Mike Philpot and Gregory Simeroth

THE QUEEN'S BASTARD ADVANCE COPY CONTEST

A beautiful young assassin who must hide her identity as a queen's illegitimate daughter is the heroine of The Queen's Bastard, the first of two books for Del Rey by C.E. Murphy (author of Urban Shaman, Heart of Stone and many more paranormal fantasy/romance novels). Fluent in languages and cold-blooded enough to take lives when she must, Belinda Primrose is able to take on any persona that will allow her to infiltrate the inner circles of her mother's enemies. But her spying takes a very different twist when she discovers her birthright has gifted her with magical powers her mother never knew—powers that enable her to attract the love of handsome young Prince Javier, whose throne her mother both fears and desires, and to make Belinda wonder—for the first time—whether she wants to seize power of her own.

To enter the drawing for an early copy of The Queen's Bastard, please send your name and address in the body of an email with the subject heading QUEEN'S BASTARD by Friday, April 18th, 2008 to delrey@randomhouse.com. Winners, chosen at random, will be notified by email.

AND DON'T FORGET! What we ask in return from the lucky winners of these early copies is that you please send us your comments on the book, good or bad, in an email. In sending your comments on the book, please tell us if you do not want us to publish them in a future DRIN.

OUR LATEST BESTSELLER!

Del Rey is proud to announce that Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Revelation hit the New York Times paperback bestseller list at #1 and has stayed on the list for three weeks! Don't miss its sequel, Invincible, the final book in the Legacy of the Force series, coming May 2008 from Del Rey!

MICHAEL MOORCOCK TO BE SFWA GRAND MASTER

British author Michael Moorcock, perhaps most famous for crafting the adventures of Elric of Melnibone—which Del Rey is reissuing in beautiful new fully illustrated omnibus editions—will be honored as the newest Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America at the Nebula Awards in April. Previous Grand Masters have included Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey, and Robert Heinlein.

Official SFWA announcement

AUTHOR ARTHUR C. CLARKE DIES AT 90

World-renowned author Arthur C. Clarke died recently at his home in Sri Lanka. Clarke is famous not only for his brilliant literary work, but for his uncanny predictions of future technologies, seemingly boundless imagination, and tenacious optimism about mankind's potential both on this planet and in the stars. As Del Rey editor Chris Schluep, who was on vacation in Brazil when notified of Clarke's death, was recently quoted as saying on GalleyCat, "I can't help but think that without his ground-breaking work on satellite technology, it wouldn't even be possible to have heard the news and provide such an immediate reaction."


• Times of London obituary
• New York Times essay
• Omnivoracious tribute

AWARDS AND HONORS

At Norwescon 31, in SeaTac, Washington, the winners for the 2007 Philip K. Dick Award Winner were announced, and a special citation was given to Del Rey author Minister Faust for his novel From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain. The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually with the support of the Philip K. Dick Trust for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States.

Richard K. Morgan is now among the six authors shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2008, the UK's main prize for science fiction literature, for his book Thirteen (UK title Black Man).

Thirteen has also earned Morgan a nomination for the Gumshoe Awards, given by review site Mystery Ink each year to recognize the best achievements in the world of crime fiction, in the category of Best Thriller. The winners will be announced on April 21, 2008.

CRITICS' PICKS

Lane Robins' dark fantasy Maledicte has been selected for the 2007 Locus Recommended Reading List in the category of First Novel.

JUST FOR FUN

Del Rey has published the classic dark fantasies of H.P. Lovecraft for many years. Now Lovecraft fans and internet humorists alike may be interested to know that horror, humor, and the web have a new and truly monstrous offspring: LolThulhu. (Ya, R'lyeh.)

  IN DEPTH WITH

with Peter K. Hamilton


An interview with The Dreaming Void author Peter F. Hamilton

Question: Over the past few years, there has a been a resurgence in space opera, led by writers like you, Iain M. Banks, Stephen Baxter, Greg Egan, and others. Just last month, for example, an eagerly anticipated anthology, The New Space Opera, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, was released here in the States—containing, fittingly, a story by you. What distinguishes the “new” space opera from the old?

Peter Hamilton: If you classify “old” space opera as pre-1960s, then there was quite a large gap before people started writing it again. So the sheer development of technology in that time allowed for a degree of not so much realism to creep in but more theoretically acceptable concepts of a far-future civilization. By the nineties we could start to project developments in computing and wormhole theory and cultural trends with a lot more confidence. The futures we wound up writing about aren’t predictions, but because they are more firmly rooted in today, they make that kind of tomorrow more acceptable again.

Q: Why has space opera found fresh favor with critics and readers?

PH: I think because people realize that you can have fun with it and at the same time blend in more serious issues. The ability to explore ideas is limitless. That makes for an exciting genre.

Q: Do you see any significant differences between the way American and British writers approach space operas?

PH: Not really. If you do a blind reading the way they do blind tasting for wines, when you’re don’t know the nationality of an author, I bet most people wouldn’t be able to tell. Having said that, people who live here in the midlands around me would probably have a good guess purely because of the number of local names I sneak in.

Read More . . .




Author Nina Harper on her new book Succubus in the City


Writing Succubus in the City was like eating an entire box of Godiva truffles late at night wrapped up in my favorite old bathrobe. Which is to say, it was entirely too much fun to admit to in public, but amazingly addictive. I got to do everything I wanted to do, whether it was "believable" or not, and I didn't have to apologize for fantasies about food, shoes, or really cute surfer dudes in Aruba.

Lily is the woman I would love to be. She's beautiful and smart and funny and she doesn't have to diet or work out to keep her sizefour figure. She has a successful career and is rich enough to buy whatever she likes, which I have to admit is pure wishful thinking. Along with that, she's magically powerful, a feminist succubus who delivers creeps and jerks to Hell. The kind of creeps and jerks every woman wishes she could get rid of--the ones who leer and make you feel creepy in the subway or the egos with legs who think that of course you're all crazy for them because they're so wonderful (when they are so very not).

But she still wants love, and for all her advantages she has to struggle like any normal woman to make a romantic relationship work. In fact, relationships are harder for her than for most of us—being a succubus means that she only gets to see most guys once. Since she picks up the worst men to deliver to Hell, she never gets a chance with a decent man. And how many great guys are going to want to date a succubus?

While boyfriends hurt her and make her life hard, her friends are always there to support her. More than anything else, her friendships are at the heart of Lily's story. And those friendships are the emotional centerpiece of the book for me—probably my deepest motivation for writing it. Because while it's fun to have fantasies about eating whatever I'd want and buying all the shoes I could possibly imagine and having every man who sees me desire me, the reality is that the friendships between women shore us up to face the next crisis and share the next joy.

While most of Lily's life is pure wish fulfillment, her relationships with her friends are real and they matter. I never would have gotten here without my girlfriends, and Lily wouldn't have either.




NEW RELEASES

THE DREAMING VOID
by Peter F. Hamilton (Science Fiction)
Hardcover

A research base stands on the far edge of the known universe: Centurion Station, built atop ruins 2 million years old and gazing out upon the vast darkness known as the Void. Long ago, the Void swallowed uncounted stars, planets, and civilizations. The darkness has been quiet for thousands of years. But now there are signs that it may stir again...

Read an excerpt
THE BORN QUEEN
by Greg Keyes (Fantasy)
Hardcover

The Briar King is dead, and the world itself follows him to ruin. Anne Dare at last sits on the throne of Crotheny, but for how long? The Church has declared a holy war against her, giving the king of Hansa the pretext he needs to unleash his vast might on the young queen and her unready army. But Hansa is the least of Anne's worries. The Hellrune, war seer of Hansa, strikes at her through vision and prophecy. The Kept, last of the elder Skasloi lords, weaves his own dark webs, and Anne's own mounting strength compels her toward madness. And there are many—some with power matching or even exceeding Anne's own—who are willing to kill in order to seize control. For whoever sits upon the throne will have the ultimate command to bring about the world's salvation—or its apocalypse.

Read an excerpt
IRON MAN
by Peter David (Tie-in Novelization)
Mass Market

Millionaire industrialist Tony Stark's genius for designing and building high-tech, ultradestructive weapons for America's armed forces has inspired critics to dub him the modern-day Leonardo da Vinci—as well as "merchant of death," a moniker he embraces with cool arrogance. But when he's ambushed and kidnapped in the middle of a war zone, Stark comes face-to-face with his own mortality... and his true destiny. Now, thanks to him, enemy forces are about to meet their maker. And the world of warfare is about to meet its future—a weapon of mass destruction that walks and talks. When man and machine unite, it can only mean one thing: It's time to stand ready or stand back—but don't stand in the way, or else risk the mighty metallic fury of Iron Man!

Read an excerpt
SUCCUBUS IN THE CITY
by Nina Harper (Urban Fantasy)
Mass Market

Working for Satan is a hot gig. The Devil really does wear Prada, and Lily can sport all the dazzling fashion she desires, eat all the fabulous food she craves, and can hang for all eternity with her three demon girlfriends. But serving up bad boys to the fiery pits of hell is just getting... lonely. She wants a guy who will stick around. Enter Nathan, a devilishly handsome, laid-back P.I. who wants to ask Lily a few questions about a missing man. But someone—or something—wants Lily and her friends dead, and Nathan seems to know more than he'll admit to. Can a sweet-talking mortal and a girl from Hell find true love?

Read an excerpt
STARSTRIKE: OPERATION ORION
by Kevin Dockery and Douglas Niles (Science Fiction)
Mass Market

On the heels of a bloody first contact comes Earth's most important diplomatic mission: a summit with the three alien empires vying for control of the galaxy. Assurance that Earth's first extraterrestrial ambassadors aboard the spaceship Pangaea will be safe means little to Lieutenant Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and his team of new-breed Navy SEALS (Sea, Land, Air, and Space), and even the brass know the score in deep space. While Jackson and his team respond to a distress call during the voyage, the Pangaea and all its diplomatic passengers goes missing, forcing the SEALS follow the trail to a hostile ice moon on the edge of the galaxy, a harsh environ crawling with crack commandoes and oversized yetis.

Read an excerpt
POWER PLAY
by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (Fantasy)
Trade paperback

Petaybee was growing up. Day by day, the sentient planet, like any child, was learning to recognize and understand the meaning of outside stimuli, to respond to those stimuli, to communicate its own needs and desires... even to use human speech. Yanaba Maddock had appointed herself defender of her adopted planet, and she had even succeeded in proving its sentience to all the nonbelievers. But despite all her efforts, few outsiders truly cared for the feelings and intelligence of what they perceived to be a giant hunk of rock, or a mere oddity to be gawked at. Then Yana was kidnapped. The price of her freedom: the planet itself.

But the only one who could speak for Petaybee was Petaybee—and no one knew what a living planet could do once it found its voice...

Read an excerpt

DARK WRAITH OF SHANNARA
by Terry Brooks (Graphic Novel)
Trade paperback

THE FIRST-EVER GRAPHIC NOVEL SET IN THE WORLD OF SHANNARA!
Possessing an awesome power he is only beginning to understand, young Jair Ohmsford must summon the devastating yet darkly seductive magic of the wishsong on a fateful mission to save his friends . . . and protect the future from the forces of evil.

Read an excerpt (pdf)

TALES BEFORE NARNIA
edited by Douglas A. Anderson (Fantasy)
Trade paperback

In his acclaimed collection Tales Before Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson illuminated the sources, inspirations, and influences that fired J.R.R. Tolkien's genius. Now Anderson turns his attention to Tolkien's colleague and friend C. S. Lewis, whose influence on modern fantasy, through his beloved Narnia books, is second only to Tolkien's own. Here are twenty of the tributaries that fed Lewis's unique talent, including works by Charles Dickens, Kenneth Grahame, G. K. Chesterton, and George MacDonald, of whom Lewis would write, "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master."


Read an excerpt

IRON MAN: BENEATH THE ARMOR
by Andy Mangels (Movie Tie-In)
Trade paperback

Steel yourself for an inside look at the original heavy metal hero! In the age of high-tech warfare, he's the ultimate smart weapon: man and machine combined for maximum impact. He's Iron Man, AKA millionaire industrialist and visionary genius turned superhero Tony Stark—and he's rocketing onto the big screen in the most eagerly anticipated new action movie of the year. Now find out all there is to know about this classic character in the only reference that puts the pedal to the metal!


Read an excerpt


  Click here for new MANGA RELEASES





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