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JUNE 2009
Dear Readers,
This will be my final letter, I fear. My loyal squire will be taking over these missives for me from now on (though I'll be around to keep a weather eye on him).
I do not know whether I shall return intact from the quest on which I embark on the morrow. It seems that RavenSpine, Usurper King of Hrxytnia, has set his evil minions to attack the borderlands; his aerial scouts, the DarkOwls, were caught peeking into barracks and snatching baked goods from windowsills not far from my castle. Of course I saddled up my destrier at once, waving off the tearful farewells of my loyal squire, and set out for the battleground, where intelligence has it that nearly two dozen of RavenSpine's finest evil ground troops await me. I send this letter by courier from the last bookshop on the road to the borderlands, where I have purchased a night-torch to help me read through the long, dark hours of riding to battle.
I could have no greater comfort on my journey than the latest effort of that master wordsmith China Miéville, The City & The City. Longtime fans (like myself) will be delighted to see his characteristic sense of wonder turned to a page-turning mystery story; new readers will love his take on the police procedural genre. Possibly this is my favorite of his books yet.
In the meantime, readers, think well of me as I travel the long road to battle, where I shall pit my sword and shield against four-and-twenty BlackBirds. Should I survive, perhaps I will found a scriptorium of my own somewhere, to live out my days amongst the rustling of turning pages. For now,
Read well and be merry, for tomorrow there's pie,
Sir K
kheller@randomhouse.com
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CHINA MIÉVILLE INTERVIEW
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CHINA MIÉVILLE INTERVIEW
With his first new adult novel in five years, the extraordinarily busy China Miéville took a few moments to sit down with Del Rey's own David Moench to answer some questions about this highly anticipated title.
David Moench, Del Rey: Cities are a central theme in many of your novels. What is it about “the city” that fascinates you?
China Miéville: I'm almost certainly the worst person to answer this — I think writers are generally not the best people to understand their own predilections. But yes, pretty much all my books feature cities to some larger degree or other. I've lived in big cities all my life, particularly London, which is imprinted through me as if I was a stick of rock. (I don't know if that reference works in the US?) I like the palimpsest of cities, the mix of architectural ages, aesthetics, social groups. I like the fact that everything is distinct and mixed up and makes a totality which isn't reducible to the sum of its parts. I suspect I'm becoming a cliché, though: maybe I'll have to write a book set in a desert to spice things up a bit.
DM: Do you have any favorite cities (real or imaginary)? And have those cities had any influence on your writing?
CM: Oh plenty. The division between the real and imaginary cities is not hard and fast, either: I love the real London, the real Cairo, the real Havana, but I also passionately love those cities as they are filtered through fiction and art. The represented London, for example, in the works of De Quincey, Iain Sinclair, Dickens, Gaiman, Machen, et many al, is at least as important to me as the real one, in terms of influence. New York, Providence, Prague (all in real and imagined forms). When it comes to entirely imagined cities, Viriconium, Imrryr, Philip Reeve's Traction Cities, Celephais, the cities in Mary Gentles' Rats and Gargoyles, and Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. The real Harare didn't particularly capture my imagination, but as filtered through Dambudzo Marechera's work, it did.
DM: What inspired you to depart from previous works and write your first police procedural?
CM: Various factors. I wanted to write a present for my Mum, who was a huge fan of crime novels: though she really liked my books, none of them were precisely her sort of thing, so I wanted to write something that was both exactly my sort of thing and exactly her sort of thing. I've been interested in the field a while — a large number of writers I respect enormously are huge crime readers, particularly I think because of the rigour you have to have over structure and narrative, so I wanted to take part in that. It's interesting to try to write books that are outside your immediate purview. There's also the fact that urban police procedurals involve a lot of dgging around in the undergrowth and the specificities of their settings, which appealed because I was very into by the setting I'd come up with, and thought a crime novel would be a good way to foreground it without subordinating plot.
DM: Did your writing in this new genre require any special research on technique?
CM: I was very concerned that, as I have no track record in this area, I shouldn't seem to be crashing in clodhoppingly, breaking the china and generally being disrespectful (as one sometimes sees from 'mainstream' authors jumping into the genres I'm associated with). What that meant was that before I started, I steeped myself in crime. I'd always read it on and off — usually when something was recommended by my Mum — but I went on a binge, revisiting old favourites and trying some new, going for the most feted writers as well as trying some more underground names. I relied a lot on the recommendations of trusted friends. I also went for a lot of stories with non-British or American settings, as my own setting is rather different. So I tried very hard to write something absolutely respectful of the field, in terms of its structure, narrative rigour, and attempting to be part of it, investigating various different traditions of crime novel. (Police procedurals, conspiracy thrillers, whodunnits.) If I've done my job right, there's no cheating — although I would say that one of the things I most like in some crime novels are the moments of gap, when something marvellous — not supernatural, necessarily — intrudes, when there's an ellipsis that you as a reader can't enter and you're left with a sense of exciting estrangement. I find that tradition in particular in European crime novels. I stress that I don't mean logical *cheating* — so much as a slightly oneiric momentum. A lot of eastern European novels have that sense that you're walking in a landscape as much slightly dreamy/psychic as real. And in the English tradition, I'd say that some of Holmes's leaps of logic while not in any way formally fantastic achieve their effect by a sort of cognitive estrangement — they are formally realistic without being realistic at all. That's not a criticism — it's praise.
The other thing that was important to me was about voice. Because pace is very important in a crime novel, I wanted to experiment with a rather different voice than in my other books. They've tended towards very baroque prose — this is more pared down, attempting fidelity to a different set of traditions. There's no 'better' here — I still passionately love lush prose, when it's done well. But it's good for you as a writer, I think — and I hope for readers too — to try different things, to experiment and change.
DM: The cities in The City & The City are imaginary, but you positioned them in Eastern Europe. Why select this location?
CM: Are they in Eastern Europe? Are you sure? They *might* be. At least roughly. There are various clues as to their *approximate* locations but the stress is very much on the word 'approximate' there. The cities of the title are two very different cities, both in different ways tilting towards distinct (if, inevitably, overlapping) psychogeographic traditions. Their locations are ways of mediating those traditions, and the cities places within them. This I realise is an evasive answer. What I will say is that Eastern European writing was, for various reasons, extremely important to this book — Bruno Schulz, Kafka — and that flavour I hope comes through. (Hazy lines, though: so was Mitteleuropean writing — Alfred Kubin — though. And, in a mediated way, French. Also American — Chandler. This is not to disavow the Eastern European, which was particularly key.)
The City and the City Book Trailer
A word from The City and the City editor, Chris Schleup:
China Miéville has written his first adult novel in five years, which has a lot of people waiting in anticipation. It's called THE CITY AND THE CITY, and it's not set in the imagined world of Bas Lag like Perdido Street Station, The Scar, or Iron Council. In fact, it's set in our own world—only there's a twist. I'm not going to tell you what that twist is, but you can watch the following video to see what China is willing to disclose about the book.
WATCH THE EXCLUSIVE BOOK TRAILER HERE!
China on Tour!
We are extremely pleased to announce that China Miéville will be traveling coast-to-coast on a speaking tour to discuss his fantastic new book, The City and the City. See below for the locations, dates, and times and be sure not to miss the tour when it comes to your town!
New York, NY — Tuesday, May 26, 2009 — 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble #2675 — 33 East 17th Street
Cambridge, MA — Wednesday, June 3, 2009 — 7:00 PM
American Repertory Theatre — 2 Arrow Street
Seattle, WA — Thursday, June 4, 2009 — 6:30 PM
Third Place Books — 17171 Bothell Way NE, Ste. A101
Portland, OR — Sunday, June 7, 2009 — 2:00 PM
Powell's Books — 2720 NW 29th Ave.
Berkeley, CA — Monday, June 8, 2009 — 7:30 PM
Moe's Books — 2476 Telegraph Ave.
San Diego, CA — Tuesday, June 9, 2009 — 7:00 PM
Mysterious Galaxy — 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
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DEL REY NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jim Butcher: The Dresden Files: Storm Front: Vol. 1
Coming June 2 is the new hardcover graphic novel Jim Butcher: The Dresden Files: Storm Front: Vol. 1—The Gathering Storm not only collecting the first four issues of the Dabel Bros. comic book series of the same name, but also features Jim Butcher's prequel chapter “Restoration of Faith.” No fan of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden adventures should be without this book. Look for it anywhere books or comics are sold.
Jim Butcher: The Dresden Files: Storm Front: Vol. 1—The Gathering Storm is also available in a special variant cover edition only through comics stores. To find a comic store near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com.
And for the most serious fan, this new graphic novel is available in an exclusive limited edition through the Random House Signed Editions Program. This edition is a first printing of the first edition of the book, signed by Jim Butcher, and comes with a letter authenticating the purchase. Highly limited, this edition is sure to be a prized part of any fan's library. Order your copy here.
Fate of the Jedi: Omen
The aftermath of Jacen Solo's corruption and downfall continues to leave its mark on the Galaxy in Fate of the Jedi: Omen by Christie Golden. Follow Luke Skywalker, who exiled himself from the Jedi order, as he continues to search the galaxy for an explanation for Solo's road to ruin, uncovering a sinister Sith plot in the process. Find a preview to this follow-up to the wildly popular Fate of the Jedi: Outcast here at the official Star Wars site.
DEL REY AT THE 2009 SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
As the months get warmer we can't help but get more and more excited for the annual extravaganza of all things awesome: San Diego Comic-Con. This year we are happy to announce that a number of our fantastic authors will be making appearances in sunny SoCal this July 24th-27th. The always wonderful Terry Brooks will be there to discuss all things Shannara, as well as Star Wars gurus Aaron Allston, Christie Golden, and Troy Denning, along with Harry Connolly, author of the forthcoming Child of Fire, rounding out the solid lineup. See next month's DRIN for an extended list of Del Rey attendees and complete list of panels! In the meantime, you can check in with the official San Diego Comic-Con website for more information.
Readers PraiseTHE RED WOLF CONSPIRACY!
Winners of the giveaway contest in April share their thoughts on Robert V. S. Redick's fantasy debut:
“The first moment I opened this book I could smell the salty sea spray and feel the snap of the heavy canvas sails in the wind. I could hear the creak of ageless magical timber and twisted hemp and the sound of a thousand activities as sailors scurried the deck of the Chathrand as it plied The Quiet Sea. Not since Raymond Feist's “The King's Buccaneer” or C. S. Forester's “Hornblower” books have I had such fun on the high seas
This is an historical seafaring romp with a magical/fantastical twist entwined with political intrigue which kept me turning pages at a furious rate.”
—William R. III, Kenosha, WI
“Redick has woven together a complicated narrative with characters, plots, and intrigue coming from all directions. In some sense it's a fascinating world with a mad mix of unexpected elements.”
—Michael R., Tempe, AZ
And here are pictures from the May 1 reading of The Red Wolf Conspiracy in Amherst—complete with musicians! Photos courtesy of Kiran Asher.

Robert Redick getting set up at Amherst Books.

Diego Zamaolla-Chion and Daniel Zamaolla, in a surprise performance after the reading.
See more at Robert's blog.
ACQUISITIONS AND AWARDS
Nights of Villjamur
Del Rey is pleased to announce that we have acquired acclaimed new British author Mark C. Newton's Nights of Villjamur and a forthcoming sequel for publication. Newton has been lauded as an exciting new author in speculative fiction:
“Liquid prose with noir stylings evoke a brooding city in all its glory and despair, filled with believable characters and dozens of small innovations that make the world that bit more intriguing.”
—Speculative Horizons on Nights of Villjamur
DEL REY MANGA TITLE WINS GLYPH COMICS AWARD!
I am pleased to report that Del Rey Manga's ME AND THE DEVIL BLUES: The Unreal Life of Robert Johnson, Vol. 1 by Akira Hiramoto (translated & adapted by David Ury) has won the 2009 Glyph Comics Award in the category of Best Reprint Publication. The Glyph Comics Awards recognize the best in comics made by, for, and about people of color. While not exclusive to black creators, the Glyph Comics Awards strives to honor those who have made the greatest contributions to the comics medium in terms of both critical and commercial impact, with the ultimate goals of encouraging more diverse and high quality work across the board and of inspiring new creators to add their voices to the field. The 2009 Glyph Comics Awards, recognizing work from the previous year, were awarded on May 15, 2009 in Philadelphia during the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (ECBACC).
For more information, please visit ECBACC—Glyph winners or PCS—Glyph winners.
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Analogy Overkill: I love you—you make me sick.
Kirsten Imani Kasai
Writing a novel is like vomiting. Long before the event, you sense that something profound is about to happen. The story curdles within you until you are forced to expel it, in great splashing gouts, upon the page. It gushes out, astonishing you with its power. It's noxious, mesmerizing, horrifying and fascinating. You feel revulsion and relief (“I'm brilliant! I suck!”). You don't remember eating carrots. Why is it always pink? Why must you always repeat the same errors, time and again? You know better. You should remember what happened last time. The soreness, the sickness and gruesome aftermath. It's a disaster, but then a pattern emerges from your effluvia—you can detach and objectify, see it for what it is. There is some twisted beauty in the whole event. Even if you are traumatized, it's finally over. You can think again. You are wonderfully empty and clean inside, if only for the moment.
Now, just as you'd grab a bucket and sponge, your finger hovers over the delete key, and you begin to clean up the mess.
When I upchucked Ice Song there was simply too much to be contained within the covers of a single book. Spillover was poured in a second novel Tattoo, and so it continues.
I'm in the midst of a protracted viral infection. Sorykah's story will continue to infect me until it's been purged or jumps parasitically, via print and e-reader vectors, to a multitude of new hosts. Once transferred, you too will share my delusions and dream of forests teeming with monsters and mutants, black oceans choked with ice, hear the cry of a lost and wounded Wood Beast and feel a mother's urgency to reclaim what has been stolen.

**New for June**
Star Wars: Lost Tribe of The Sith: Precipice
Written by John Jackson Miller
Don't miss Star Wars: Lost Tribe of The Sith: Precipice a FREE original e-book short story, the first in a series that tell the untold story of the Fate of the Jedi's forgotten Sith castaways, their battle to survive, and their quest to re-conquer the galaxy! Precipice includes an exclusive excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen (Del Rey Hardcover, available June 23rd) and offers a unique look into the backstory of events that will begin to unfold in Omen.
Visit the Suvudu Library to download.
Magic Kindgom for Sale—Sold!
Written by Terry Brooks
After Ben Holiday purchased Landover, he discovered the magic kingdom had some problems. The Barons refused to recognize a king and the peasants were without hope. To make matters worse, Ben learned that he had to duel to the death with the Iron Mask, the terrible lord of the demons—a duel which no human could hope to win
Visit the Suvudu Library to download.

For Love of Mother—Not
Written by Alan Dean Foster
He was just a freckle-faced, redheaded kid with green eyes and a strangely compelling stare when Mother Mastiff first saw him on the auctioneer's block. One hundred credits and he was hers.
For years the old woman was his only family. She loved him, fed him, taught him everything she knew—even let him keep the deadly flying snake he called Pip.
Then Mother Mastiff mysteriously disappeared and Flinx took Pip to tail her kidnappers. Across the forests and swamps of the winged world called Moth, their only weapons were Pip's venom
and Flinx's unusual Tale.
Visit the Suvudu Library to download. |
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WHAT’S NEW IN STORES: JUNE 2009
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THE CITY AND THE CITY
by China Miéville (Fantasy)
Hardcover
New York Times bestselling author China Miéville delivers his most accomplished novel yet, an existential thriller set in a city unlike any other—real or imagined.
When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined.
Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own. This is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a shift in perception, a seeing of the unseen. His destination is Beszel's equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the rich and vibrant city of Ul Qoma. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, and struggling with his own transition, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of rabid nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them and those they care about more than their lives.
What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities.
Casting shades of Kafka and Philip K. Dick, Raymond Chandler and 1984, The City & the City is a murder mystery taken to dazzling metaphysical and artistic heights.
READ AN EXCERPT
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THE DRESDEN FILES: STORM FRONT: VOL. 1: THE GATHERING STORM by Jim Butcher, Illustrated by Adrian Syaf (Graphic Novel)
Hardcover
A graphic novel based on the bestselling Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher!
The Chicago Police Department has turned to Harry Dresden to investigate a horrifying double murder committed with black magic. Never one to turn down a paycheck, Dresden also takes on another case—to find a missing husband who has quite likely been dabbling in sorcery. As Dresden tries to solve the seemingly unrelated cases, he is confronted with all the Windy City can blow at him, from the mob to mages and all creatures in between.
READ AN EXCERPT

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STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: OMEN
by Christie Golden (Science fiction)
Hardcover
Forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is on a desperate mission to uncover the truth behind Jacen's fall to the dark side—and to learn what's turning peaceful Jedi into raving lunatics. But finding answers will mean venturing into the mind-bending space of the Kathol Rift and bargaining with an alien species as likely to destroy outsiders as deal with them.
But an even greater threat is looming. Millennia in the past, a Sith starship crashed on an unknown low-tech planet, leaving the survivors stranded. Over the generations, their numbers have grown, the ways of the dark side have been nurtured, and the time is fast approaching when this lost tribe of Sith will once more take to the stars to reclaim their legendary destiny as rulers of the galaxy. Only one thing stands in their way, a name whispered to them through the Force: Skywalker.

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STAR WARS: ORDER 66
by Karen Traviss (Science Fiction)
Mass market
Some instincts are too powerful to deny.
The Clone Wars rage to their bloody climax. Treachery reigns. Treason takes courage. Commandos, Jedi, and the entire Galactic Republic must face the end of life as they know it
and the dreaded dawn of a new empire.
Even as the Clone Wars are about to reach an explosive climax, no one knows whether victory will favor the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) or the Separatists. But no matter who wins, the stakes are highest for elite Special Ops clones like the Republic Commandos in Omega and Delta squads—and the notorious renegade Advance Recon Commando troopers known as Null ARCs. And now even the deadliest weapon may not be powerful enough to defeat the real menace: the apocalyptic horror to be unleashed when Palpatine utters the chilling words The time has come. Execute Order 66. Translation: The Jedi have tried to stage a coup, and all must be shot on sight.
With their faith in the Republic and their loyalty to their Jedi allies put to the ultimate test, how will the men of Omega and Delta squads react to the most infamous command in galactic history?

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MOONBURN
by Alisa Sheckley (Urban Fantasy)
Mass Market
Some instincts are too powerful to deny.
In the past year, veterinarian Abra Barrow has gone through some major changes: She's left Manhattan for the deceptively quiet small town of Northside, ditched her cheating husband, and discovered that he has infected her with the rare werewolf virus. Now Abra is finally beginning to feel as if she has her life under control—except when the moon is full.
But then, all of a sudden, Abra starts losing her temper—and her inhibitions—even when the sun is shining. Her new man, shape-shifting wildlife expert Red Mallin, seems to know more about her condition than he's letting on, but he's a little preoccupied with strange creatures that have been crossing the dimensional border.
With her hormones in overdrive, Abra finds herself releasing the beast in all the men around her. As life in Northside becomes increasingly more peculiar—and more perilous—she must decide whom she can trust
when she's not even sure she can trust herself.
Read an excerpt

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TRAITOR TO THE CROWN: A SPELL FOR THE REVOLTION
by C.C. Finlay(Science Fiction)
Mass Market
After making early gains on the battlefields, General Washington's struggling young armies are being relentlessly pressed back by British troops and Hessian mercenaries. Among the enemy's ranks is a mysterious force from the Covenant, a secret society of evil witches that for centuries has been pulling the strings of European history: a Hessian necromancer who drinks the power of other witches like a vampire and whose allies include devils and ghosts. Now this man seeks to sap the fighting spirit of Washington's troops by means of a pernicious curse, chaining the souls of the dead to the spirits of the living.
Against him stand Proctor Brown and Deborah Walcott, two young patriots who lead a ragtag band of witches as much in danger from their own side as from the enemy. Proctor and Deborah must find a way to break the Hessian's curse before the newborn revolution is smothered in its cradle—and the Covenant extends its dark dominion to the shores of America, extinguishing forever the already sputtering torch of liberty.
Read an excerpt

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VICTORY OF EAGLES by Naomi Novik (Fantasy)
Mass Market
For Britain, conditions are grim: Napoleon's resurgent forces have breached the Channel and successfully invaded English soil. Napoleon's prime objective is the occupation of London. Unfortunately, the dragon Temeraire has been removed from military service—and his captain, Will Laurence, has been condemned to death for treason. Separated by their own government and threatened at every turn by Napoleon's forces, Laurence and Temeraire must struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war. If only they can be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain's scattered resistance forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before—for king and country, and for their own liberty.
Read an excerpt

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TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
by Alan Dean Foster (Official Tie-In)
Mass Market
“THE FALLEN SHALL RISE AGAIN
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This cryptic warning is ignored by the national security adviser who feels the ruthless Decepticon threat is no more. The allies are victorious, the enemy has been defeated, and the world is safe. Small attacks around the world have been contained, and the remaining pieces of the coveted Allspark are locked in an electromagnetic vault on one of the most secure Naval bases in the world. But nothing is at it seems, and there is a shift in the shadows. Things can change in an instant—and fragile peace will become all-out war.
Read an excerpt

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G.I. JOE: ABOVE & BEYOND
by Max Allan Collins (Official Tie-In)
Mass market
IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE, THERE ARE MANY HEROES.
Part of an elite covert military team, Lieutenant Duke Hauser and his buddy Ripcord Weems are dispatched to the small oil-rich South American country of San Sebastiao to help quell a revolution. The multinational peacekeeping force known as G.I. JOE has secretly sent special ops to support Duke's unit. Their other mission: Find out who's playing both sides of the conflict by supplying each with the same advanced lethal weaponry. But it turns out the devious culprit has raised the stakes—promising to deliver an army of super soldiers in the near future. If Duke's squad and the G.I. JOE team can't stop the revolution, halt the proliferation of weapons, and eliminate the threat of laboratory-produced warriors, a dark plot toward world domination will soon be launched.
Read an excerpt

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ICE SONG
by Kirsten Imani Kasai (Fantasy)
Trade paperback
There are secrets beneath her skin.
Sorykah Minuit is a scholar, an engineer, and the sole woman aboard an ice-drilling submarine in the frozen land of the Sigue. What no one knows is that she is also a Trader: one who can switch genders suddenly, a rare corporeal deviance universally met with fascination and superstition and all too often punished by harassment or death.
Sorykah's infant twins, Leander and Ayeda, have inherited their mother's Trader genes. When a wealthy, reclusive madman known as the Collector abducts the babies to use in his dreadful experiments, Sorykah and her male alter-ego, Soryk, must cross icy wastes and a primeval forest to get them back. Complicating the dangerous journey is the fact that Sorykah and Soryk do not share memories: Each disorienting transformation is like awakening with a jolt from a deep and dreamless sleep.
The world through which the alternating lives of Sorykah and Soryk travel is both familiar and surreal. Environmental degradation and genetic mutation run amok; humans have been distorted into animals and animal bodies cloak a wild humanity. But it is also a world of unexpected beauty and wonder, where kindness and love endure amid the ruins. Alluring, intense, and gorgeously rendered, Ice Song is a remarkable debut by a fiercely original new writer.
Read an excerpt

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