Showing posts with label A Clockwork Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A Clockwork Heart. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

New Releases 2/25/14

If you are planning to buy any of these books, please click on the links to Amazon below and support The Update!

Hardcovers

Influx 
by Daniel Suarez

What if our civilization is more advanced than we know?

The New York Times bestselling author of Daemon--"the cyberthriller against which all others will be measured" -Publishers Weekly) --imagines a world in which decades of technological advances have been suppressed in an effort to prevent disruptive change.

Are smart phones really humanity's most significant innovation since the moon landings? Or can something else explain why the bold visions of the 20th century--fusion power, genetic enhancements, artificial intelligence, cures for common disease, extended human life, and a host of other world-changing advances--have remained beyond our grasp? Why has the high-tech future that seemed imminent in the 1960's failed to arrive?

Perhaps it did arrive...but only for a select few.

Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they've been working toward for years: a device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics--the crowning achievement of a career. Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. The Nobel. Instead, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring. This Bureau of Technology Control uses the advanced technologies they have harvested over the decades to fulfill their mission.

They are living in our future.

Presented with the opportunity to join the BTC and improve his own technology in secret, Grady balks, and is instead thrown into a nightmarish high-tech prison built to hold rebellious geniuses like himself. With so many great intellects confined together, can Grady and his fellow prisoners conceive of a way to usher humanity out of its artificial dark age?

And when they do, is it possible to defeat an enemy that wields a technological advantage half a century in the making?

Paperbacks

A Clockwork Heart: Book Two in The Chronicles of Light and Shadow
by Liesel Schwarz

FOR BETTER OR CURSE. That might as well have been the wedding vow of Elle Chance and her new husband, the ex-Warlock Hugh Marsh in the second book of this edgy new series that transforms elements of urban fantasy, historical adventure, and paranormal romance into storytelling magic.

As Elle devotes herself to her duties as the Oracle—who alone has the power to keep the dark designs of Shadow at bay—Marsh finds himself missing the excitement of his former life as a Warlock. So when Commissioner Willoughby of the London Metropolitan police seeks his help in solving a magical mystery, Marsh is only too happy to oblige. But in doing so, Marsh loses his heart . . . literally.

In place of the flesh-and-blood organ is a clockwork device—a device that makes Marsh a kind of zombie. Nor is he the only one. A plague of clockwork zombies is afflicting London, sowing panic and whispers of revolution. Now Elle must join forces with her husband’s old friend, the Nightwalker Loisa Beladodia, to track down Marsh’s heart and restore it to his chest before time runs out.

The Clockwork Wolf (Disenchanted & Co.) 
by Lynn Viehl

As the proprietor of Disenchanted & Co. in a steampunk version of America, Charmian “Kit” Kittredge makes her living solving magical crimes. But when a snobbish lady begs for help, saving her reputation might very well cost Kit her life.

Doing a favor for deathmage Lucien Dredmore, Kit agrees to interview a newly widowed lady as a potential client. Upon meeting, however, she learns that the woman in question is none other than Lady Eugenia Bestly, president of the Rumsen Ladies Decency Society— someone who once led a vicious campaign to ruin Kit’s life. Ironically Lady Bestly now lives in fear herself, for the press is about to unmask her husband as the savage “Wolfman” who died while terrorizing the city.

As monstrous rampages continue to occur, Kit soon determines there is more than one Wolfman, and that they may themselves be victims of evil players. While avoiding both mechanized assassins and attempts by Dredmore and Chief Inspector Tom Doyle to take her under their protection, Kit follows a tangled path that leads from a prestigious gentlemen’s club fronting a hellish secret to a vengeful native tribe and dangerous, ancient magics.

E-books

Blood and Ashes: A Foreworld SideQuest (The Foreworld Saga) 
by Scott James Magner

SideQuests are stand-alone stories or novellas that chronicle the heroes, villains, and adventures in The Foreworld Saga across numerous eras and ages. They can be read in any order with or without prior knowledge of The Foreworld Saga.

As Mt. Vesuvius rumbles ominously, Pompeiian Councilor Valerius needs assistance in performing rituals to protect the city from the wrath of the fire-god, Vulcan. But his agenda is far from benevolent, as he cares less about quieting the volcano than taming it and taking the power for himself.

Now it’s up to Horatius, a former legionnaire and gladiator, to prevent Valerius’s sinister rites from coming to fruition. But with Vesuvius looming over the city—and the dead rising to defend the corrupt councilor—the warrior might have fled a troubled past only to have entered a doomed future…

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.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. 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.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

New Releases 8/13/13

Hardcovers

A Clockwork Heart by Liesel Schwarz

Description from Amazon.

FOR BETTER OR CURSE. That might as well have been the wedding vow of Elle Chance and her new husband, the ex-Warlock Hugh Marsh in the second book of this edgy new series that transforms elements of urban fantasy, historical adventure, and paranormal romance into storytelling magic.

As Elle devotes herself to her duties as the Oracle—who alone has the power to keep the dark designs of Shadow at bay—Marsh finds himself missing the excitement of his former life as a Warlock. So when Commissioner Willoughby of the London Metropolitan police seeks his help in solving a magical mystery, Marsh is only too happy to oblige. But in doing so, Marsh loses his heart . . . literally.

In place of the flesh-and-blood organ is a clockwork device—a device that makes Marsh a kind of zombie. Nor is he the only one. A plague of clockwork zombies is afflicting London, sowing panic and whispers of revolution. Now Elle must join forces with her husband’s old friend, the Nightwalker Loisa Beladodia, to track down Marsh’s heart and restore it to his chest before time runs out.

Paperbacks

A Nomad of the Time Streams - The Steel Tsar by Michael Moorcock

Description from Amazon.

THE FINAL NOVEL IN SF GRANDMASTER MICHAEL MOORCOCK'S EPIC STEAMPUNK TRILOGY - BACK IN PRINT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 10 YEARS!

Bastable encounters an alternate 1941 where the Great War never happened and Great Britain and Germany became allies in a world intimidated by Japanese imperialism. In this world's Russian Empire, Bastable joins the Russian Imperial Airship Navy and is subsequently imprisoned by the rebel Dugashvii, the 'Steel Tsar', also known as Joseph Stalin.

E-books

Cayos in the Stream by Harry Turtledove

Description from Amazon.

You're the greatest writer of the age, gone to ground and subsiding into drink. You always said you wanted to catch some of those Nazi bastards in the waters around your beloved Cuba. What happens when you actually get your wish?

Picking Up Plans In Palma by Matthew Quinn

Description from Amazon.

A slightly different Dutch War of Independence led to the establishment of a colony on the Cape of Good Hope in 1576. As the United States of America spread across North America the exiles who became the Afrikaners established their own empire in the Indian Ocean.

Fast forward to 1998. The Afrikaner Confederation and the United States, champions of hierarchical conservatism and egalitarian democracy respectively, have faced each other in a Cold War whose battlefields extend all the way the Moon. Treason in the Office of Strategic Services has left Connor Kelly, disgraced by his affair with an Afrikaner émigré, as the one man who can penetrate the Afrikaner Confederation. The prize? The plans for the Afrikaners’ powerful new battle-station.

But to bring back these vital plans Kelly must survive police, angry fathers, sadistic secret agents, and a brutal run for the shark-infested Indian Ocean...

Fans of “Coil Gun” (DIGITAL SCIENCE FICTION #3: PRESSURE SUITE) will appreciate this second foray into the world of the Afrikaner Confederation.

Audiobook

Hearts of Iron: A Foreworld SideQuest by Scott James Magner

Description by Amazon.

When The Italian Job meets the Knights of the Round Table, the ultimate medieval heist caper is born.

It is the summer of AD 1035, and three sons of Tancred de Hauteville are in ambivalent service to Guimar, Prince of Salerno. The three men, who have been trained by their father in the art of war since childhood, spend the sweltering afternoons practicing swordplay, trading barbs, and thinking of how many men they would need to take the prince's poorly fortified castle for themselves.

But when a mysterious agent asks the prince for the brothers' services in obtaining a gilded chest, eldest brother William recognizes an opportunity to strengthen the Hauteville legacy. When he assembles a crew of skilled mercenaries, loyalties are tested and truths revealed. Among the group, there is a traitor, a spy, and the carrier of a long-held secret. The trust William places in each of his men will decide the future for himself and his family.

A bold new SideQuest in the Foreworld Saga, Hearts of Iron shows a different side of the Middle Ages, but with all the deft-sword play, historical accuracy, and political intrigue you would expect from the series that brought you The Mongoliad trilogy.

Computer Games

Europa Universalis IV by Paradox Interactive

Description from Amazon.

Fulfill your quest for global domination

Paradox Development Studio is back with the fourth installment of the game that defined the Grand Strategy Genre. Europa Universalis IV gives you control of a nation to guide through the years in order to create a dominant global empire. Rule your nation through the centuries, with unparalleled freedom, depth and historical accuracy.

True exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy will be brought to life in this epic title rife with rich strategic and tactical depth.

Main Features:
  • Make your own decisions: Nation building is flexible. Decide your own form of government, the structure of your society, trade politics and more. The possibilities are endless
  • Use your Monarch Power: Experience the new system of monarch power where your choices are influenced by the caliber of the man you have at the top. Do you have a warrior King? Then it is time to make war
  • Experience history come to life: The great people and personalities of the past are on hand to support you. Thousands of historical events guide you, creating a unique atmosphere depending on the country you play
  • The world is now your playground: Players can enjoy over 300 years of gameplay with a lush topographic map in full 3D. Lead any one of more than 250 countries that originally existed during the game’s extensive time span
  • Experience the all new trade system: The trade system adds a new dimension to the great trade empires of the period. Seize control of key ports to expand your trade, support it with your powerful fleet and the wealth of the world will flow to you
  • Bring out your diplomatic skills: Deeper diplomatic gameplay with coalitions, threats, fleet basing rights and detailed support for rebels. Featuring a new unilateral opinion system that, for example, allows a country to dislike you while you remain neutral towards them
  • Engage in Multiplayer: Battle against your friends or try the co-operative multiplayer mode that allows several players to work together to control a single nation with up to 32 players. Featuring hotjoin, improved chat, new matchmaking servers and support for a standalone servers
  • Create your own history & customize your game: Europa Universalis IV gives you the chance to customize and mod practically anything your heart may desire
To fans, authors and publishers...

Is you 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.

* * *

Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new story "The Enchanted Bean" can be found in Once Upon a Clockwork Tale from Echelon Press. 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.