Spontaneous ∂erivation

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On her 16th birthday, Anita discovers that she’s the long lost daughter of King Oberon, that her boyfriend is the servant of an evil Faerie lord, and that the Queen has vanished. Shakespearean plays are involved.¹

The first book in a series, followed up by The Lost Queen and Seventh Daughter, all now on the Kindle.

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Another YA book, this time a new volume in the much revered Chrestomanci series/world, which predated Harry Potter by several years. (And I very much loved Witch Week when I was younger.)

Most of the rest of the Chrestomanci series is now also present on the Kindle:

Charmed Life
The Lives of Christopher Chant
Witch Week
The Magicians of Caprona
Mixed Magics (short stories)

Conrad’s Fate is not yet on the Kindle, but it’s one of the more recent books.

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One of our not-YA books for this column.

From the writers who brought you the far-reaching fantasy-science-fiction epic The Death Gate Cycle comes a new epic fantasy series.

The new series also has a Facebook page compiling various links and news postings all in one spot.

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The Galahad is on a mission to recolonize a distant world after Earth is devastated by deadly particles from a passing comet. Its crew: 16 years old and under, due to the population imbalance left after the deadly comet. And while under way, a saboteur appears to be attempting to overthrow the mission and/or kill everybody, thus ending the human race.

Reminds me of a Heinlein YA book. This is also one of the first “Tor Teen” books I’ve seen in the Kindle store, which is excellent.

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Bathory Academy, a New York school for elite vampire girls from established upper-class vampire families, brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “bad girls.”

“What vampires aren’t upper-class?” you may wonder. Well, there’s the New Blood, such as Cally Monture from the bad side of town, and she’s not going to receive such a happy reception from the bad girlz of Bathory.

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Kimi and Hana are fine young ladies of Japan. Not about to become warriors or samurai.

That all changes when their family is brutally torn apart and trampled by betrayal, and Kimi and Hana are determined to seek revenge, a la Hua Mulan.

The second book, Chasing the Secret, is also available for the Kindle.

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(Not YA.)

Magic runs in the streets of Boston, and Evie knows how to tap into that magic, find things, even find people. She’s let this power rest (being psychic or just as good as in fiction is almost never a prospect for sanity or happiness), until a lover from her past returns to stalk her.

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(Not YA.)

Instead of vampires, now it’s the sons and daughters of the Greek gods of dreams and nightmares, the Oneroi, warriors who battle demons to keep the sleeping lives of humans and immortals alike safe. The Dream-Hunters.

The previous books in this series are also available on the Kindle, including:

1. The Dream-Hunter
2. Upon the Midnight Clear
3. Dream Chaser

You probably know Kenyon from her long-running Dark-Hunter series, one of best-selling series in the paranormal romance genre, of which the Dream-Hunter world is a subset. All of Dark-Hunter is now in the Kindle store.

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Not YA.

Also the cover watches you sleep all alone in the night.

Remember the psychic-is-never-happy rule? Yes. Also, there’s romance. Much romance. Much government conspiracy. Also, much romance.

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

Buy: 14.87

Tack another book fresh off the presses (both paper and electronic) onto the Ender’s Game series. Speaking of which, there’s not much in the Kindle store there as of this writing. Here are all of Card’s books in the Kindle store.

Dragonheart: Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern by Todd J. McCaffrey

Buy: 15.48

A continuation of the long-lived Dragonriders of Pern series by her son—and his first solo novel based on his mother’s world. I believe that most of the Pern series is currently in the Kindle store.

Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur

Buy: 5.59

Modern thriller/paranormal romance with dragons and mad scientists.

Heart and Soul by Sarah A. Hoyt

Buy: 5.59

The final volume in an alternate history trilogy focused on the early Victorian-era travels of British adventurer Nigel Oldhall, sort of an Alan Quatermain who keeps running into magical jems, supernatural foes, and mad foreign ministers everywhere he goes in the world.

The other two books in this series, Soul of Fire and Heart of Light, are also available on the Kindle.

The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner

Buy: 9.99

Your fortune says: It is not a good day when your future selves start sending you cryptic messages encoded in binary.

Star Trek: Destiny: Mere Mortals by David Mack

Buy: 5.59

Borg, Jean-luc Picard, Erzi Dax, William Riker, the U.S.S. Titan, and god-like beings who can mess with space and time and, unlike the Q, have absolutely no sense of humor whatsoever.

Fern Verdant and the Silver Rose by Diana Leszczynski

Buy: 9.99

Fern discovers that she can talk to plants. This is very important, because her botanist mother has been spirited away by malevolent forces, and only Fern has the key to finding her.

Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion by Mark Cotta Vaz

Buy: 9.99

I’m not quite sure how well a complete illustrated movie companion guide will go over on the color-limited/contrast-specific Kindle. Nevertheless, this is in the Kindle store—although in this case, I strongly suggest you get the print edition instead.

The Demonata #7: Death’s Shadow by Darren Shan

Buy: 9.99

A horror series for young adults, and I mean serious horror gore here, with every single demonic and/or evil creature you can imagine involved. Yes, and zombies. An 8th book is on the way, and the entire Demonata series is available for the Kindle.

One Silent Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Buy: 6.99

Stryker wants to kill us all. Yes, with his army of demons and vampires. But then his ex-wife of several centuries shows up, and there is, shall we say, a throw-down. Kind of the almost exact opposite of a paranormal romance.

Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman by Christopher Golden, Hank Wagner, And Stephen R. Bissette

Buy: 17.79

The ultimate guide to Neil Gaiman’s fiction, with exclusive interviews and rare glimpses at beginnings and unpublished work, in its dead tree incarnation this thing is huge. Consider it the DVD extras to all of Neil Gaiman’s work ’til now.

Just After Sunset by Stephen King

Buy: 9.99

You know you’ve made it when your name and a moderately ominous title alone sells like hotcakes. All jokes aside, this is a different turn than usual for King, since this is a collection of recent short stories rather than a single novel.

Orphan’s Alliance by Robert Buettner

Buy: 6.39

Military science fiction, the most recent in the Orphan series, all of which are present on the Kindle, including: Orphanage, Orphan’s Destiny, and Orphan’s Journey.

The Reawakened by Jeri Smith-Ready

Buy: 9.99

This is not your typical Harlequin book. In the last of a trilogy, Rhia, bestowed with the gift of Crow, and her people must fight for their freedom and their land in an epic fantasy with its own mythology. The other two books in this trilogy, Eyes of Crow and Voice of Crow, are both available for the Kindle.

Death Cry by James Axler

Buy: 5.04

Really not your typical Harlequin novel: in a post-apocalyptic world, aliens control the world, and the Russians have managed to hide a doomsday weapon. The problem is, having the earth destroyed under your feet is still worse than fighting against tyrannical alien overlords. It’s up to Kane and his team of Cerebus Intelligence rogues to save the world. Again. More of the Outlanders series here.

Swordsman’s Legacy by Alex Archer

Buy: 5.04

Picture in your mind: Indiana Jones. But female. And with way better adventures, in action and intelligence, and characters than Tomb Raider—because believe me, Lara Croft ain’t no Indiana Jones even if you factor out the plus/minus of stacks/gear.

Plus Annja Creed has the mystical sword of Joan of Arc.

There’s an entire series of this.

Dark Isle by D.A. Nelson

Buy: 9.99

A young adult novel in the Roald Dahl crossed with Narnia model, involving 10-year-old Morag who escapes her less-than-loving foster parents to rescue a magical world from an evil warlock.

If you’re somewhat shocked to hear that her companions are a magical talking rat and a dodo bird, you’re probably a Neil Gaiman fan like me and remember the allusions to Barbie’s dreamscapes, but this isn’t like them (there’s a dragon instead of a giant dog, for one, and I don’t think all the rats in his family are all named Aldiss).

The Darkest Touch by Jaci Burton

Buy: 5.59

Paranormal romance/thriller, with an archaelogist holding a forbidden black diamond on the run from a demon hunter. Things escalate into a demon warfare, and the the party really gets going. She does not, unfortunately, hold the sword of Joan of Arc.

Bird by Rita Murphy

Buy: 9.99

I’ll finish with something that came up earlier, but I missed due to not having Delacorte on my list of publishers to watch. Bird is a surreal fantasy, beginning with an orphaned Miranda brought by the wind to the doorstep of the cold, dark manor of a widow, who gives her iron boots to ground her but little else.

Secrets, about the manor and her former life, begin to unwind when Miranda meets a mysterious boy named Farley.