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The cold month is here. I've been clanking into the scriptorium covered in minuscule icicles, brushing frost off my stylus and inkbottle. Carolus Magnus dubbed it simply Wintarmanoth—the month of winter. An apt appellation, to be sure, but as the wind howls and the snowdrifts deepen, I find myself drawn to more obscure nomenclatures: the Saxon name Wulfmonath, or wolf-month; the Czech Leden, or ice-time; and most evocative of all, the Finnish tammikuu, meaning month of oak, or originally, month of winter's heart.

But I see I am betraying my Norse origins. To take my mind off the cold, I'll be curling up with not a few good reads this month, including a new Star Wars adventure, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor; the New Orleans-set thriller The Vampire Agent; and a jewelbox of a short story collection by acclaimed novelist David Marusek. It's also a good month for heroes (and antiheroes): I'm looking forward to The Steel Remains, a high fantasy with Richard K. Morgan's distinctive bite, and most especially to Wings of Hell, the new addition to the Starfist series, whose heroes are an example to knights everywhere.

And now, it's back to the out-of-doors for me. Even the most dashing knight needs milk in the fridge. If only they made ice-scrapers for plate armor.

Read well and be merry,

Sir Kaitlin
kheller@randomhouse.com

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE WRITERS
A Conversation with Patricia Rosemoor and Marc Paoletti



We won't lie. Writing a book is hard work. But it can be a lot easier when you write with a partner, especially a partner who shares your vision, writes with a similar sensibility and tone, and is willing to listen. Such was the case with us. We both wanted The Last Vampire and The Vampire Agent to be different from any other vampire book out there, but we also wanted to stay true to our fang-toothed friends and the urban fantasy genre as a whole. It was a fine line to tread, but we relied on each other to get the job done. Does that mean we didn't have our conflicts? Of course not. Even though we shared a vision, we disagreed on aspects of the execution—and that's where the listening came in. Whenever one of us had a problem with plot, character, theme, or whatever else, the other stopped and took the concern to heart. Our rule: If something didn't work for one of us, we'd work together to change it, no matter what. Period. In fact, we'd email a chapter back and forth—many times if necessary?\until we both gave it a thumbs up. This mutual respect allowed us to solve problems quickly and in a way that improved each story. It didn't hurt that we had great editors on the projects, too, of course. Writing The Last Vampire and The Vampire Agent was a fun and satisfying experience, and we hope that readers will share our enthusiasm from first page to last.

Powerful remnants of the vanquished Empire, hungry for retaliation, are still at large, committing acts of piracy, terrorism, and wholesale slaughter against the worlds of the fledgling New Republic. The most deadly of these, a ruthless legion of black-armored Stormtroopers, do the brutal bidding of the newly risen warlord Shadowspawn. Striking from a strategically advantageous base on the planet Mindor, they are waging a campaign of plunder and destruction, demolishing order and security across the galaxy—and breeding fears of an Imperial resurgence. Another reign of darkness beneath the boot-heel of Sith despotism is something General Luke Skywalker cannot, and will not, risk.

Mobilizing the ace fighters of Rogue Squadron—along with the trusty Chewbacca, See-Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo-Luke, Han, and Leia set out to take the battle to the enemy and neutralize the threat before it's too late. But their imminent attack on Mindor will be playing directly into the hands of their cunning new adversary. Lord Shadowspawn is no freshly anointed Sith Chieftain but in fact a vicious former Imperial Intelligence officer—and Prophet of the Dark Side. The Emperor's death has paved the way for Shadowspawn's return from exile in the Outer Rim, and mastery of ancient Sith knowledge and modern technology has given him the capability to mount the ultimate power play for galaxy wide dominion. Dark prophecy has foretold that only one obstacle stands in his way, and he is ready-even eager-for the confrontation.

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Planet Haulover has been invaded by Skinks. Until now the aliens’ existence has been kept confidential. But Force Recon’s shocking report leaves the Confederation no choice but to mount a military campaign and reveal to the public its biggest secret: the threat of fierce alien predators bent on human destruction. What’s no secret is that the four army divisions and two Marine FISTs sent to Haulover aren’t nearly enough to defeat the well-entrenched aliens, who have a tunnel system second to none. Back home, the Confederation’s president is being denounced as a warmonger bent on exterminating “harmless” aliens. And if she loses the upcoming elections, the Confederation will have a lot more Skinks than those on Haulover to worry about.

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A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs the footsteps of Ringil Eskiath–Gil, for short–a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose world-weary cynicism is surpassed only by the quickness of his temper and the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but that doesn’t stop his mother from enlisting his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery. Grumbling all the way, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one luckless young woman. Grim sorceries that have not been seen for centuries are awakening in the land. Now Gil and two old comrades–Egar, a fierce warrior from the savage Majak tribes, and Archeth, a half-Kiriath fighter still mourning her departed brethren–are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.

The rebel cause is losing ground under the twin blows of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon’s assassination and the death of Mara Jade Skywalker. At the same time, having gained the support of the Imperial Remnant and its ruthlessly efficient forces, the Galactic Alliance, with the extraordinary power and dark brilliance of newly ascendant Sith Lord Darth Caedus at its helm, may be unstoppable. Tormented and torn between the call of duty and the thirst for vengeance, Luke has searched the Force and beheld an unspeakable vision of the galaxy enslaved under tyranny more monstrous than even Palpatine’s. Now it seems that the last, best hope lies in mobilizing the scattered Jedi for one decisive search-and-destroy mission. The objective: eliminate Darth Caedus. There is only one who is bound by destiny to stand against him in what will surely be a duel to the death, only one with an outside chance of bringing down the dark lord who was once Jacen Solo. Failure is not an option. The furious final moments between power and peace are here, and whoever confronts Darth Caedus will decide the outcome–and the fate of those left standing.

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The long-awaited moment is here, as Robert Newcomb brings his epic trilogy, The Destinies of Blood and Stone, to a triumphant close. Old questions will receive unexpected answers. Ancient prophecies will come to pass. New wonders and horrors will be revealed. And the lives of Prince Tristan and his sister, Shailiha—the Chosen Ones who alone can unite the sundered powers of the beneficent Vigors and the evil Vagaries—will change forever.

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On the sultry streets of New Orleans, Captain Scott Boulder and Leah Maguire are about to begin a deadly mission. The traumatized, genetically altered subjects of a Department of Defense experiment gone wrong have escaped, among them Rachel Ackart, a beautiful, seductive, and powerful woman–who is now under the dangerous influence of Andre Espinoza de Madrid, a vampire of incomparable evil and power. While Predator drones circle above New Orleans, and the sound of Black Hawk helicopters rends the air, Scott and Leah must fight their growing attraction to each other as they pursue their quarry amid the haunted and the damned. But Rachel is one step ahead of them. Andre’s vampire agent will soon unleash the greatest terror of all.

Not since William Gibson and Bruce Sterling galvanized science fiction in the 1980s has the emergence of a new writer been heralded with such acclaim as that attending David Marusek, whose brilliant first novel, Counting Heads, appeared to rave reviews in 2005. But Marusek did not come out of nowhere. Aficionados of the genre had already taken note of his groundbreaking short fiction: masterfully written, profoundly thought-out examinations of futures so real they seemed virtually inevitable. Now, in this collection of ten short stories, Marusek’s fierce imagination and dazzling extrapolative gifts are on full display. Five of the stories, including the Sturgeon Award-winning “The Wedding Album,” a shattering look at the unintended human consequences of advanced technology, are set in the same future as Counting Heads. All ten showcase Marusek’s talent for literate, provocative science fiction of the very highest order.

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