New Releases 8/26/14

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Hardcovers

Faces of the Dead by Suzanne Weyn

When Marie-Therese, daughter of Marie Antoinette, slips into the streets of Paris at the height of the French Revolution, she finds a world much darker than what she's ever known.

When Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France learns of the powerful rebellion sweeping her country, the sheltered princess is determined to see the revolution for herself. Switching places with a chambermaid, the princess sneaks out of the safety of the royal palace and into the heart of a city in strife.

Soon the princess is brushing shoulders with revolutionaries and activists. One boy in particular, Henri, befriends her and has her questioning the only life she's known. When the princess returns to the palace one night to find an angry mob storming its walls, she's forced into hiding in Paris. Henri brings her to the workshop of one Mademoiselle Grosholtz, whose wax figures seem to bring the famous back from the dead, and who looks at Marie-Thérèse as if she can see all of her secrets. There, the princess quickly discovers there's much more to the outside world - and to the mysterious woman's wax figures - than meets the eye.

The Star Wars: Based on the Original Rough Draft Screenplay by George Lucas by J. W. Rinzler

Before Star Wars, there was The Star Wars! This is the softcover collection of the official adaptation of George Lucas' rough-draft screenplay for what would become Star Wars, the film that changed motion pictures and the world. You'll see familiar characters and places - but not all is the same in this long-ago and faraway galaxy. Still, strap yourself in for high adventure and lazersword duels, Iedi Knights Princess Leia Han Solo and a battle to.

Paperbacks

The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire by Rod Duncan

Elizabeth Barnabus lives a double life – as herself and as her brother, the private detective. She is trying to solve the mystery of a disappearing aristocrat and a hoard of arcane machines. In her way stand the rogues, freaks and self-proclaimed alchemists of a travelling circus.

But when she comes up against an agent of the all-powerful Patent Office, her life and the course of history will begin to change. And not necessarily for the better…

Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson

From Robert Charles Wilson, the author of the Hugo-winning Spin, comes Burning Paradise, a new tale of humans coming to grips with a universe of implacable strangeness.

Cassie Klyne, nineteen years old, lives in the United States in the year 2015—but it’s not our United States, and it’s not our 2015.

Cassie’s world has been at peace since the Great Armistice of 1918. There was no World War II, no Great Depression. Poverty is declining, prosperity is increasing everywhere; social instability is rare. But Cassie knows the world isn’t what it seems. Her parents were part of a group who gradually discovered the awful truth: that for decades—back to the dawn of radio communications—human progress has been interfered with, made more peaceful and benign, by an extraterrestrial entity. That by interfering with our communications, this entity has tweaked history in massive and subtle ways. That humanity is, for purposes unknown, being farmed.

Cassie’s parents were killed for this knowledge, along with most of the other members of their group. Since then, the survivors have scattered and gone into hiding. Cassie and her younger brother Thomas now live with her aunt Nerissa, who shares these dangerous secrets. Others live nearby. For eight years they have attempted to lead unexceptional lives in order to escape detection. The tactic has worked.

Until now. Because the killers are back. And they’re not human.

Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Helsing by Patrick Shand

Liesel Van Helsing's life of hunting down vampires is shaken up when a mysterious package shows up at her door. Inside it is an old journal written by her father, the famed vampire hunter, Abraham Van Helsing. Desperate to find out who sent her the book, Liesel discovers a clue which leads her on a voyage to Europe. What she doesn't know is that her journey is being manipulated by her father's greatest nemesis. This 152 page trade paperback collects together Zenescope's hit comic book series, Grimm Fairy Tales Helsing issues 1 through 4.

The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories edited by Michael Simms

From the editor of The Dead Witness and Dracula’s Guest, Michael Sims, expert on all things Victorian, presents a collection of stories about humanity’s oldest supernatural obsession: ghosts. The Phantom Coach, gathers memorable ghost tales from the Victorian era by a surprising, often-legendary cast, from Charles Dickens and Edith Wharton to Henry James, Thomas Hardy, and Arthur Conan Doyle. With a skillful introduction to the genre and notes on each story, The Phantom Coach is a spectacular collection of ghostly Victorian thrills.

To fans, authors and publishers...

Is your story going to be published in time for the next New Releases? Contact us at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.  We are looking for works of alternate history, counterfactual history, steampunk, historical fantasy, time travel or anything that warps history beyond our understanding.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.