New Releases 7/7/15

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Hardcovers

1636: The Cardinal Virtues by Eric Flint and Walter H Hunt

Book #19 in the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire series. After carving a free state for itself in war-torn 17th century Europe, citizens of the modern town of Grantville, West Virginia must contend with France's infamous Cardinal Richilieu, who is determined to keep his grip on power no matter what history says.

France, 1636 . . . It has been twenty years since King Louis took Aña Maria Mauricia, daughter of Spain's King Philip III, as his wife, and their union has not yet produced an heir. Under the guidance of his chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, a plan is developed to remedy that situation. Once she is with child, Queen Anne goes into seclusion to guard her health and protect her from those who would prefer that the child is never born—France’s foreign enemies as well as schemers such as Monsieur Gaston d’Orleans, the King’s younger brother and heir. When the Crown’s opponents make their move, factions inside and outside France must choose sides and help determine the future and fate of the Kingdom.

DMZ Deluxe Edition Book Four by Brian Wood and Ricardo Burchielli

New York City... otherwise known as the no man’s land in this second American civil war.  Cut off from his support system and family, rookie journalist Matty Roth remains the lone voice for those left behind in the world’s most dangerous war zone.

Instead embracing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to document the city under siege with a classic journalist’s objectivity, Matty Roth has allowed himself to blur the lines to the point of no return, to fall in with politicians and opportunists, warlords and mercenaries. Having helped secure an election and fund an army, he commits perhaps the worst offense to date: trafficking in WMD on behalf of the newly elected Delgado regime.

Brian Wood and artist Riccardo Burchielli’s DMZ, one of Vertigo Comics’ longest-running series, continues its blistering look at politically motivated war in what Popmatters states “reads like a journalistic document,” and actress/writer Felicia Day says is “amazing and has poignant analogies to our current political climate. Thought provoking and engrossing.” Joined by guest artists Cliff Chiang, David Lapham, Danijel Zezelj, Andrea Mutti, and Nathan Fox, DMZ: THE DELUXE EDITION BOOK FOUR collects issues #45-59 in the penultimate chapter of this critically acclaimed series.

Time Salvager by Wesley Chu

Time Salvager: a fast-paced time travel adventure from Wesley Chu, the award-winning author of The Lives of Tao.

Convicted criminal James Griffin-Mars is no one's hero. In his time, Earth is a toxic, abandoned world and humans have fled into the outer solar system to survive, eking out a fragile, doomed existence among the other planets and their moons. Those responsible for delaying humanity's demise believe time travel holds the key, and they have identified James, troubled though he is, as one of a select and expendable few ideally suited for the most dangerous job in history.

James is a chronman, undertaking missions into Earth's past to recover resources and treasure without altering the timeline. The laws governing use of time travel are absolute; break any one of them and, one way or another, your life is over. Most chronmen never reach old age; the stress of each jump through time, compounded by the risk to themselves and to the future, means that many chronmen rapidly reach their breaking point, and James Griffin-Mars is nearing his.

On a final mission that is to secure his retirement, James meets Elise Kim, an intriguing scientist from a previous century, who is fated to die during the destruction of an oceanic rig. Against his training and his common sense, and in violation of the chronmen's highest law, James brings Elise back to the future with him, saving her life, but turning them both into fugitives. Remaining free means losing themselves in the wild and poisonous wastes of Earth, somehow finding allies, and perhaps discovering what hope may yet remain for humanity's home world.

William Shakespeare's The Clone Army Attacketh: Star Wars Part the Second by Ian Doescher

In time so long ago begins our play,
In clash-strewn galaxy far, far away.

To Shmi or not to Shmi? Torn between duty to the Jedi, attraction to Padmé, and concern for his beloved mother, yeoman Jedi Anakin Skywalker struggles to be master of his fate. The path he chooses will determine not just his own destiny, but that of the entire Republic. And thereby hangs a tale.

Alack the day! A noble lady in danger. A knight and squire in battle. And a forbidden love that’s written in the stars. Once again, the quill of William Shakespeare meets the galaxy of George Lucas in an insightful reimagining that sets the Star Wars saga on the Elizabethan stage. The characters are familiar, but the masterful meter, insightful soliloquies, and period illustrations will convince you that the Bard himself penned this epic adventure.

Paperbacks

Cold Copper: The Age of Steam by Devon Monk

In steam age America, men, monsters, machines, and magic battle to claim the same scrap of earth and sky. In this madness, one man struggles to keep his mission intact....

Bounty hunter and lycanthrope Cedar Hunt, accompanied by witch Mae Lindson and the capricious Madder brothers, is on the hunt for the Holder, an uncanny device capable of deadly destruction—until a glacial storm stops his crew in its tracks, forcing them to take refuge in Des Moines, Iowa, a town ruled by the iron fist of mayor Killian Vosbrough and plagued by the steely Strange.

Cedar soon learns that Vosbrough is mining cold copper for the cataclysmic generators he’s manufacturing deep below Des Moines, bringing his search for the Holder to a screeching halt. Now Cedar and his crew must chip through ice, snow, and bone-chilling bewitchment to expose Vosbrough’s dangerous scheme—before he rules the land and sky…

The Floating City by Craig Cormick

In a land riven with plague, inside the infamous Walled City, two families vie for control: the Medicis with their genius inventor Leonardo; the Lorraines with Galileo, the most brilliant alchemist of his generation.

And when two star-crossed lovers, one from either house, threaten the status quo, a third, shadowy power – one that forever seems a step ahead of all of the familial warring – plots and schemes, and bides its time, ready for the moment to attack...

Assassination; ancient, impossible machines; torture and infamy – just another typical day in paradise.

Iron and Blood by Gail Z. Martin and Larry Martin

New Pittsburgh in 1898, a crucible of invention and intrigue, the hub of American industry at the height of its steam-driven power. Born from the ashes of devastating fire, flood and earthquake, New Pittsburgh is ruled by the shadow government of The Oligarchy. In the abandoned mine tunnels beneath the city, supernatural creatures hide from the light, emerging to feed in the smoky city known as 'hell with the lid off.' Jake Desmet and Rick Brand, heirs to the Brand & Desmet Import Company, travel the world to secure treasures and unusual items for the collections of wealthy patrons, accompanied by Jake's cousin, Veronique 'Nicki' LeClercq . Smuggling a small package as a favor for a Polish witch should have been easy. But when hired killers come after Jake and a Ripper-style killer leaves the city awash in blood, Jake, Rick and Nicki realize that dark magic, vampire power struggles and industrial sabotage are just a prelude to a bigger plot that threatens New Pittsburgh and the world. Stopping that plot will require every ounce of Jake's courage, every bit of Rick's cunning, every scintilla of Nicki's bravura and all the steampowered innovation imaginable.

No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor

Jodi Taylor's best-selling series The Chronicles of St Mary is back with a bang...St Mary's has been rebuilt and it's business as usual for the History department. But first, there's the little matter of a seventeenth-century ghost that only Mr Markham can see. Not to mention the minor inconvenience of being trapped in the Great Fire of London...and an unfortunately-timed comfort break at Thermopylae leaving the fate of the western world hanging in the balance. Re-join Max's madcap journey through time in Jodi Taylor's fifth inter-dimensional instalment No Time Like the Past.

RUSH's Clockwork Angels: The Graphic Novel by Neil Peart, Kevin J. Anderson and Nick Robles

The graphic novel adaptation of the unprecedented concept album and novel from the multi-platinum, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame music legends RUSH and NY Times Bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson!

Owen Hardy, like all the people of Albion, has lived his whole life under the rule of The Watchmaker. His entire life has been planned down to the exact second. But what happens when a young boy decides that things should not always goes as planned? Rush’s CLOCKWORK ANGELS is a testament to the band’s creative versatility—it has been successful as a concept album, novel, and international tour. Now, Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart and New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson are bringing the story of CLOCKWORK ANGELS to comics, where newcomer artist Nick Robles will bring the journey of Owen Hardy to visual life! Die-hard Rush fans have longed for Peart’s narrative songwriting to be adapted into comic book form for decades, but fans of steampunk fantasy will enjoy journeying into the world of Albion thanks to Anderson’s skilled storytelling. Collects the complete story originally published in CLOCKWORK ANGELS #1-#6.

E-Books

Sailing Time's Ocean by Terence M. Green

A glitch in time sends a twenty-first-century man to a hellish nineteenth-century prison in this masterful work of humanist science fiction

Fletcher Christian IV, a descendant of the original Bounty mutineer living in the year 2072, is lost in time. His participation in mystic time-travel rituals has wreaked havoc on the space-time continuum, sending a nineteenth-century prisoner forward to Pitcairn Island in 1972 while depositing Christian in his place. As Bran Michael Dalton—the Irish convict he replaced—contends with an incomprehensible future, Christian finds himself trapped in a hellhole of disease, abuse, and unimaginable brutality. All thoughts of repairing a rift in history must be pushed aside for the greater challenge of survival at any cost.

World Fantasy Award nominee Terence M. Green has been compared to Ray Bradbury and other acclaimed literary masters who gave science fiction a distinctly humanist bent. Sailing Time’s Ocean showcases Green’s remarkable storytelling skills in an amalgam of imagination, intelligence, wonder, humanity, and heart.

To readers, 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.