This Month in Paperback Science Fiction: January 2008

Just a word: this is far from every new paperback expected in the stores this month. I browse for titles I would like to buy; thus you will not find (many) vampire novels or manga epics here. Amazon.com has the full list.

First Week

Defender, the ninth in C.J. Cherryh's epic Foreigner series, is released Jan. 2nd, according to Amazon.com. I haven't seen it in the bookstores, however, and it may not actually be available until February.

Bren Cameron's travels among the atevi and in a context redolent of a feudal Japan equipped with futuristic technology continue from Pretender (2006). His mission combines diplomacy, intelligence, trade, anthropology, and safeguarding Cajeiri, a vitally important, eight-year-old heir shrewd beyond his years, as Bren and his atevi friend Jago have already learned. Now it's some kidnappers' turn to learn how hard it is to make the kid do anything he doesn't want to do. That transforms the book into an absorbing combination of anthropological sf and "The Ransom of Red Chief." Faithful Foreigner saga followers, in particular, will have a ball. —Roland Green, Booklist

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber is also listed as released Jan. 2nd, but this one is out in the bookstores. My spouse is the household consumer of Weber's non-Harrington novels, so it was eagerly sanpped up.

Weber's latest opus is a complex tale of action and intrigue set early in the 25th century, hundreds of years after the near total annihilation of humanity by the Gbaba, an alien race hell-bent on eradicating humans from the universe. After decades of war and facing certain defeat, the last remnants of the human race escape and settle on a distant planet, appropriately named Safehold. To ensure they remain undetected by their enemies, the leaders of the survivors ban technology, and genetically adjust the populace to remain in a perpetual pre-industrial state. However, 800 years later, an android of the old world awakens, charged with the task of guiding humanity back onto the path of science, technology and, eventually, the stars. —Publishers Weekly

Second Week

Mercedes Lackey's Firebird, out in paperback by Jan. 8th, is a reworking of a Russian fairytale, which seems to partake equally of the "Dancing Princesses" and the legend of the firebird.

Ilya Ivanovitch is the middle son of a self-proclaimed "tsar", whose luck takes a fateful turn the day he sees the legendary firebird, a beautiful magical hawk with a woman's face and feathers made of flame. The old stories say that once you've seen the firebird, you can never forget her, and you will never be satisfied with a common life. Ilya realizes the truth of this when he begins to have strange dreams and then discovers he can understand animal speech. Driven by curiosity, surviving by his wits (and through the help of a few friends made along the way), he begins a journey that will bring him face to face with the mysterious creatures of Russian folklore. Lackey's first standalone novel since Sacred Ground (1994) is a charming coming-of-age tale filled with earthy wit and magic. (Publisher's release notes)

Debatable Space, out in stores Jan. 7th, is from the pen of Phillip Palmer. Palmer, who has written for film, TV, and theater, plans a sequel "set in the same universe" as this novel.

Flanagan (who is, for want of a better word, a pirate) has a plan. It seems relatively simple: kidnap Lena, the Cheo's daughter, demand a vast ransom for her safe return, sit back and wait.

Only the Cheo, despotic ruler of the known universe, isn't playing ball. Flanagan and his crew have seen this before, of course, but since they've learned a few tricks from the bad old days and since they know something about Lena that should make the plan foolproof, the Cheo's defiance is a major setback. It is a situation that calls for extreme measures.

Luckily, Flanagan has considerable experience in this area... (Publisher's release notes)

Third Week

Shadowbridge, by Gregory Frost (out on Jan. 15th), is the first novel in a planned two-book adventure. It is presented as the stories told by Leonora, a young shadow-puppeteer who...

...travels Shadowbridge collecting the intertwining tales and myths of each place she passes through, then retells them in performances whose genius has begun to attract fame... and less welcome attention.

For Leodora is fleeing a violent past, as are her two companions: her manager, Soter, an elderly drunkard who also served Ledora’s father, the legendary puppeteer Bardsham; and Diverus, her musical accompanist, a young man who has been blessed, and perhaps cursed, by the touch of a nameless god.

Now, as the strands of a destiny she did not choose begin to tighten around her, Leodora is about to cross the most perilous bridge of all–the one leading from the past to the future. (Publisher's release notes)

Fourth Week

Kage Baker's Gods & Pawns comes out Jan. 22nd. Baker's Company time-travel series began with 1998's highly regarded In the Garden of Iden, in which the botanist Mendoza, an immortal female cyborg employed by the rapacious Company, fell in love with a mortal while on a mission in 16th-century England.

These eight stories, reprinted for the first time in this collection, delve further into the history and exploits of the Company. The book opens with the novella, "To the Land Beyond the Sunset," starring Lewis and Mendoza, and involving a strange tribe in Bolivia whose members claim to be gods. "Standing in His Light" features Van Drouten's role in the career of the artist Jan Vermeer. Other stories include "Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst," which opens up intriguing questions about The Company, and the original novelette, "Hellfire at Twilight," which concludes the volume and tells of Lewis infiltrating the famous Hellfire Club in eighteenth century England. Gods and Pawns is a compelling read for every Baker fan, and essential for Company addicts. (Publisher's release notes)

Asimov's Aurora: The New Isaac Asimov Robot Mystery, follows Mark W. Tiedemann's Mirage and Chimera to the bookstores on stores Jan. 22nd.

After the diplomatic failures of the Spacer mission on Earth, Ambassador Ariel Burgess and roboticist Derec Avery are recalled to their home planet, Aurora. Their situation only worsens when they arrive, as they become suspects in another murder--one that could only have been committed by a non-human. On a world with a 20-to-1 robot-to-human population, is it possible a robot could have violated the Three Laws governing its behavior--and if so, why? Or is something far more sinister at work? (Publisher's release notes)

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