Spontaneous ∂erivation

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Charles de Lint is in my “’nuff said” category. A supernatural love story that crosses the realm of the living and the dead, and oh heck, it’s Charles de Lint.¹

A few more of his works have been making it into the Kindle store.

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31 stories from one of the masters of SF/F! Gene Wolfe is also in my “’nuff said” bin. Problem though: the table of contents is not marked as such, so it doesn’t show up in the Kindle menu; and also no chapter navigation. Sigh.

The stories include: “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories”² , “The Toy Theater”, “The Fifth Head of Cerberus”³, “Beech Hill”, “The Recording”, “Hour of Trust”, “The Death of Dr. Island”, “La Befana”, “Forlesen”, “Westwind”, “The Hero as Werwolf”, “The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton”, “Straw”, “The Eyeflash Miracles”, “Seven American Nights”, “The Detective of Dreams”, “Kevin Malone”, “The God and His Man”, “On the Train”, “From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton”, “Death of the Island Doctor”⁴, “Redbeard”, “The Boy Who Hooked the Sun”, “Parkroads—a Review”, “Game in the Pope’s Head”, “And When They Appear”, “Bed and Breakfast”, “Petting Zoo”, “The Tree is My Hat”, “Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?”, “A Cabin on the Coast”.

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A pathologist accidentally reanimates the corpose of Baron Rudolfo Vladimir Zginski, and is killed for her trouble. He’s not just a vampire, he’s also a racist vampire. In Memphis.

He has adventures.

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Publisher’s Weekly says: “Bova’s cautionary medical thriller, the uncut version of his 1996 novel Brothers, explores the political, social and religious ramifications of what could be humankind’s greatest medical breakthrough—organ regeneration.”

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The sequel to An Unexpected Apprentice (not yet available for Kindle), Tildi Summerbee begins to understand how powerful the Great Book she now possesses is, and also how badly some people want it.

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The final book in the YA high fantasy Stoneways Trilogy, which began with Reiffen’s Choice and Queen Ferris (both available in the Kindle store as well).

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Intergalactic space drama done by the master of intergalactic space drama, and the second book of the very loosely connected Galactic Empires series. The Stars, Like Dust is also available on the Kindle, while Pebble in the Sky is not.

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“Mortal peril is a total turn-on.”

I declare Buffyversification here.

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Forced into a demon-killing job by the bureaucracy of Heaven, Evangeline must survive in her new world. And her lovers are Cain and Abel, because obviously there is not enough drama in her life already.

The first book in the new urban fantasy Marked series.

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The sequel to Postsingular (not yet available for the Kindle), it’s Rudy Rucker so it’s goofy SF with a whirlwind of ideas, which is a nice change of pace from the usual Wasteland of the Future scenario. Even Publisher’s Weekly calls it “giddy”, but in a good way.

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The blurb on the back says: “What lies beneath the millions of orbiting nanotech satellites that shroud the world called Haze? Major Keir Roget’s mission is to make planetfall in secret, find out, and report back to his superiors in the Federation, the Chinese-dominated government that rules Earth and the colonized planets.”

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Cory Doctorow (!) wrote an Amazon review and, among other things, says, “The early jacket copy for Julian Comstock reads, in part, ‘If Jules Verne had read Karl Marx, then sat down to write The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he still wouldn’t have matched the invention and exuberance of Robert Charles Wilson’s Julian Comstock.’ Damn right.”

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The third book in the Zoe Martinique series. Zoe can walk the dimensional planes, which is very useful, except that she’s lost it—and her mother’s soul is trapped on the Abysmal plane.

The first two books, Wraith and Spectre, are also available for the Kindle.

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The second and most recent book in the Hunter Kiss series featuring Maxine Kiss, whose living demonic tattoos give her the power to fight the demonic army that would take humankind.

The prequel novella to the series, Hunter Kiss, and the first book, Iron Hunt, are also available in the Kindle store.

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The third book in the Hidden Worlds trilogy, where machine A.I.s destroyed the Earth, leaving humanity as refugees scattered across multiple worlds.

The first book, Hidden Worlds, and the second, The Cold Minds, are also available in the Kindle store.

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The sequel to Gordath Wood, continuing the adventures of Lynn Romano and Kate Mossland after they were pulled from the real world into that of a medieval fantasy land in turmoil. Horses are so involved.

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A story of intrigue spread across the galactic level, in the world of “Thousandth Night” (a novella available in One Million, A.D., not yet available for the Kindle).

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From the writer of The Mists of Avalon comes a retelling of the fall of Troy through the eyes of unfortunate Kassandra, daughter of King Priam, and whose prophecies no one, unfortunately, believes.

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Another volume in the awesome Dresden Files series, all of which are available in the Kindle store.

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In an alternate Portland, OR, Allison Beckstrom is a Hound—someone who tracks illegal magic back to their casters. You can imagine how the casters feel about that.

This is the second book in the series; the first, Magic to the Bone, is also available in the Kindle store.

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Seattle investigator Harper Blaine becomes a walker of the grey between reality and the supernatural world, and sees an interesting change in her usual clientele.

This is the first book in the Greywalker series, finally available on the Kindle. The second (Poltergeist) isn’t, but the third (Underground) is, and the fourth (Vanished) is available for pre-order.

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From the writer whose debut novel was the excellent and unexpected Whitechapel Gods, comes another, entirely different story—this time Te, a paranormal investigator in training, is the only one who can stop her father’s murderer from releasing the monsters imprisoned across the town of St. Ives.

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Paleontology. The Great Old Ones. Their paths cross here.

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Part of the Noble Dead series, which has gradually been migrating to the Kindle.

The current status:

Series 1:

1. Dhampir, available July 7th
2. Thief of Lives, available July 7th
3. Sister of the Dead, not yet available
4. Traitor to the Blood, available now
5. Rebel Fay, available now
6. Child of a Dead God, available now

Series 2:

1. In Shadow and Shadow, available now
2. Through Stone and Sea, not yet available

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The first in a trilogy, revolving around the intrigue between two factions in a cursed city: the Darkborn, blind and who can’t survive in the light, and the Lightborn, who can’t survive without light.

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The third book involving paranormal secret agent Eddie Drood, in case you’re tired of the paranormal P.I’s. The other two books in the Secret Mysteries series, The Man with the Golden Torc and Daemons are Forever, are also available for the Kindle.

Green is also famous for his Nightside series, almost all of which are also in the Kindle store.

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The third book in the Crosspointe series, which can be summed up as: everyone is at war now, and it’s all your fault, Ryland.

The first two books, The Cipher and The Black Ship, are also available on the Kindle.

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The second book in the Landover series.

The first book in the series, Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold! is currently available for free in the Kindle store.

The third book, Wizard at Large, is also available for the Kindle.

If you’re a fan of the Many Things of Shannara multi-series, you can find just about all of them in the Kindle store.

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The tragic history of the very short-lived Starshield series is here, and of the two only ever released, this is the second one.

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The most recent book in the science fiction series centered around the Well World. Its previous successor, The Sea is Full of Stars, is also available on the Kindle. The older books, however, are not.

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The first book in the Web Warriors series, a reprint from the early aughts. Think Netrunner.

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One of the classic Heinlein juveniles, gradually trekking their way into the Kindle store.

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An omnibus consisting of four novellas from the supernatural private investigator genre¹, it’s a wonderful introduction to each of their worlds if you’re looking to expand beyond $favorite_author.

For fans of the Harry Dresden series, starring the only wizard P.I. in Chicago, there’s The Warrior. It’s especially necessary to read for those of us who were worried as hell after Michael got shot up on the helicopter ladder.

For fans of John Taylor, who hails from the city of London, is The Difference a Day Makes, which begins with a case about a man who wasn’t there, but the meat of the story is undoubtedly about the disappearance of a day from a woman’s personal timeline.

Harper Blaine is a Seattle P.I. who suddenly gained the ability to move through “the Grey”: the supernatural world, a parallel that exists and overlays reality. At the moment she’s given up on a normal life and investigating the paranormal oddness that is The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog.

And we have a new man in the field: supernatural P.I. Remy Chandler—otherwise known as Remiel, an angel who hasn’t so much fallen as taken to Earth to attempt to find himself². His series is brand new—beginning with A Kiss Before the Apocalypse—and here we see him grieving in its aftermath (although what, exactly, was the aftermath, and what it was after, isn’t spoiled in this story). Fortunately… or something… trouble rolls his way in Noah’s Orphans.

If you’ve run out of all the books in your current urban fantasy P.I. series, isn’t it nice to know that you can find at least three more from one book?

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Second in the Age of Unreason series, the first book, Newton’s Canon, is not yet available on the Kindle. I’ve always wanted to read this series (and yes, the cover art is a big part of the draw), and it’s very much in the science-fiction-as-fantasy 18th century vein, when Newton discovers Philospher’s Mercury instead of gravity.

Is it steampunk? I don’t know. I always thought that had more to do with engines.

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Your favorite agent from the semi-Dilbertian operation known as The Laundry is back—riffing off of spy movies and the disasters of necromancy when a millionaire tries to dredge up the Jennifer Morgue, a device to speak to the dead.

You can read the first two novellas featuring Bob Howard in The Atrocity Archives, as well as reading the free short story Down on the Farm from Tor.com (which comes in Mobipocket downloadable format, perfect for the Kindle).

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In the not-that-sleepy town of Nightside, a new sheriff has shown up in town—the Walking Man, a seemingly magic- and science-proof specter that stalks the streets and dispatches the evil and the indulgent side by side. It’s up to Private Investigator John Taylor to stop the invulnerable menace.

You can read other books in the Nightside series on the Kindle. The full list:

1. Something from the Nightside
2. Agents of Light and Darkness
3. Nightingale’s Lament
4. Hex and the City
5. Paths Not Taken
6. Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth
7. Hell to Pay
8. The Unnatural Inquirer
9. Daemons Are Forever
10. Just Another Judgement Day

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Death by literature—or rather, death from literature. Secret texts from a forgotten time in the land’s history have resurfaced, and someone obviously doesn’t want that, since enterprising scholars are being killed—perhaps by the Noble Dead, the vampires who supposedly wrote the texts.

The first book in a new story arc of the Saga of the Noble Dead, the last two books in the previous cycle are also available on the Kindle: Rebel Fey and Child of a Dead God.

The series has its own site at www.nobledead.com.

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Featured on John Scalzi’s The Big Idea this week, this fairy-tale retelling scores a team of three princesses of yore—Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White—and tells the story of what happened after their supposedly happily-forever-afters. As it turns out, not all princes are gold of heart, and not all stepsisters are dead….

If you loved Fables, you’ll love this book.

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Brand new tales about artificial intelligence and robots:

• “Tempest 43″ by Stephen Baxter
• “The Highway Code” by Brian Stableford
• “Savlage Rights” by Eric Brown
• “The Kamikaze Code” by James Lovegove
• “Adam Robots” by Adam Roberts
• “Seeds” by Tony Ballantyne
• “Lost Places of the Earth” by Steven Utley
• “The Chinese Room” by Marly Youmans
• “Three Princesses” by Robert Reed
• “The New Cyberiad” by Paul Di Filippo
• “That Laugh” by Patrick O’Leary
• “Alles in Ordnung” by Garry Kilworth
• “Sweats” by Keith Brooke
• “Some Fast Thinking Needed” by Ian Watson
• “Dragon King of the Eastern Sea” by Chris Roberson

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Also released alongside The Stepsister Scheme is Hines’ take on Tolkien—from the humorous side of the so-called faceless minions and a hobgoblin named Jig Dragonslayer who would rather not adventure….

The first two books in this series, Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero, are not yet available on the Kindle.

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Immortal vampire art crook falls in love with female federal agent, and there are people out to get them. It’s another vampire romance in the loose Darkyn series with another star-crossed couple.

Also available on the Kindle: Twilight Fall, Evermore, and the eSpecial Master of Shadows.

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In the best of paranormal romance vampire intrigue stories, the death of one vampire lord doesn’t lead to peace, but to a terrible power struggle between three undead clans. The CIA wants to stabilize the situation, and send in agent Jaz and vampire Vayl to undo an assassination plot. In the middle of warring and not terribly rational cold-blooded clans. Yep. Your job doesn’t suck this much, does it?

The latest in the Jaz Parks series, all of which are on the Kindle:

1. Once Bitten, Twice Shy
2. Another One Bites the Dust
3. Biting the Bullet
4. Bitten to Death
5. One More Bite

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Better known for his award-winning alternate history sagas, Harry Turtledove also wrote fantasy—in this case, a tale where a farmer boy is orphaned and must survive in the city. Krispos manages to do so, becoming the chamberlain to the empreror—and drawing the imperial family ire. Which is probably worse than trying not to get knifed in the city streets.

You can also just buy the entire trilogy as one book, The Tale of Krispos, for only $7.96 on the Kindle.

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Edgar Allan Poe’s work is in the public domain and available for free on Feedbooks and elsewhere, but they don’t come with essays and commentary from some of the greatest modern writers, including Stephen King, Lawrence Block, Sue Grafton, and more.

Sixteen of the best Poe stories are here, but it’s the celebration that’s the icing on this collection, including:

• “What Poe Hath Wroth” by Michael Connelly
• “On Edgar Allan Poe” by T. Jefferson Parker
• “Under the Covers with Fortunato and Montresor” by Jan Burke
• “The Curse of Amontillado” by Lawrence Block
• “Pluto’s Heritage” by P. J. Parrish
• “Identity Crisis” by Lisa Scottoline
• “In a Strange City: Baltimore and the Poe Toaster” by Laura Lippman
• “Once Upon a Midnight Dreary” by Michael Connelly
• “The Thief” by Laurie R. King
• “Poe and Me at the Movies” by Tess Gerritsen
• “The Genius of ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’” by Stephen King
• “The First Time” by Steve Hamilton
• “The Pit, the Pendulum, and Perfection” by Edward D. Hoch
• “The Pit and the Pendulum at the Palace” by Peter Robinson
• “Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, and Me” by S. J. Rozan
• “The Quick and the Undead” by Nelson DeMille
• “Imagining Edgar Allan Poe” by Sara Paretsky
• “Rantin’ and Ravin’” by Joseph Wambaugh
• “A Little Thought on Poe” by Thomas H. Cook
• “Poe in G Minor” by Jeffery Deaver
• “How I Became an Edgar Allan Poe Convert” by Sue Grafton

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No, indeed we can’t, thinks the female snake who regrets not being a rattlesnake when she’s picked up by a human. How can you resist something that begins:

Call Me Crusher

I had shed a skin the day of my capture. As always, the sloughing left me famished, so I curled up under a shady patch of creosote and eagerly awaited the first rodent to cross my path. Gopher was at the top of my list, though I was so hungry that I’d gladly have settled for even a nasty, gristly little shrew.

A rodent did not cross my path first that morning, however. A lower life form did: a human.

A cute viewpoint from the other side of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

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Quite a large number of fantasy books draw a connection between magic and music¹; here, we have a magician-musician in San Francisco who’s quit the magic rap. He still has his magical dog, Louie (who’s actually an Ifrit, but just dog-shaped). And he still gets into trouble with magic, especially when his former colleagues in former circles start turning up dead.

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An anthology of new supernatural mystery short stories, from the likes of Charlaine Harris (Southern Vampire Mysteries, featuring Sookie Stackhouse), Carole Nelson Douglas (Midnight Louie, Delilah Street series), Simon R. Green (Nightside series), and more (Laurie R. King, Michael A. Stackpole, Sharon Shinn, Mike Doogan, Donna Andrews, Michael Armstrong, John Straley, Laure Anne Gilman, Dana Stabenow).

This anthology is a follow-up to Powers of Detection.

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What if Atlantis was real, the British Empire had colonized it, and now Atlantis wants its freedom?

The alternate history sequel to Opening Atlantis, also available on the Kindle.

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The beginning of a brand new military science-fiction series, starring Major Ariane Kerdos. Fifteen years ago, she obliterated a solar system, and has been in hiding since then. Unfortunately, someone’s found out.

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The fourth in a series that takes Ye Olde Medieval Fantasy, and turns it 180 degrees—from the viewpoints of dragons.

The rest of the books in this series are also available:

• Book 1: Dragon Champion
• Book 2: Dragon Avenger
• Book 3: Dragon Outcast

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In a science-fiction future, the World Council hires the last freelance P.I., Zach Johnson, to find a femme fatale who holds a deadly secret weapon. Zach and HARV (an A.I. companion wired into his brain)’s humorous SF pulp mystery adventures started with The Plutonium Blonde in 2001. Not all are yet available on the Kindle, save for The Blue-Haired Bombshell, the predecessor to Flaxen Femme-Fatale.

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The final book in the Night Angel trilogy, where our intrepid Kylar is out to save a city by destroying a goddess. Books 1 and 2, the Way of Shadows and Shadow’s Edge, are also available on the Kindle.

Brent discusses the series on Orbit Books’ blog.

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A discussion of The Chronicles of Narnia from the perspective of childhood and from that of an agnostic adulthood. Comparison, contrast, religion, all that.

All of Narnia is now on the Kindle, by the way:

• The Magician’s Nephew
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Horse and His Boy
• Prince Caspian
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle