Black Gate

Here in the U.S., Gillian Philip is known primarily for her Carnegie Medal–nominated contemporary novel, Crossing the Line, and the YA dystopian title, Bad Faith. In the UK however, she’s also known for her popular YA fantasy series, Rebel Angels, which the Sunday Times of London called “The best fantasy of 2010.”

Filled with twisted court intrigue — and even more twisted monsters from the realm of faery — Firebrand seems like exactly the kind of fast-paced adventure Black Gate readers are interested in.

Now Tor has brought the first volume, Firebrand, into print on this side of the pond, in a handsome hardcover edition with a new cover by Steve Stone.

At the end of the sixteenth century, religious upheaval brings fear, superstition, and doubt to the lives of mortals. Yet unbeknownst to them, another world lies just beyond the Veil: the realm of the Sithe, a fierce and beautiful people for whom a full-mortal life is but the blink of an eye. The Veil protects and hides their world… but it is fraying at the edges, and not all think it should be repaired.

Discarded by his mother and ignored by his father, sixteen-year-old Seth MacGregor has grown up half wild in his father’s fortress, with only his idolized older brother, Conal, for family. When Conal quarrels with the Sithe queen and is forced into exile in the full-mortal world, Seth volunteers to go with him.

But life beyond the Veil is even more dangerous than they expected, and Seth and Conal soon find themselves embroiled in a witch-hunt—in which they are the quarry. Trapped between the queen’s machinations at home and the superstitious violence of the otherworld, Seth must act before both of them are fed to the witch-hunters’ fires…

The second and third volumes, Bloodstone and Wolfsbane, are already in print in the UK. Interestingly, while all three books are marketed as YA there, Tor has mainstreamed them here in the US. It’s an interesting switch, and I’m curious to see how the market reacts.

Firebrand was published by Tor Books on February 19. It is 365 pages, priced at $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital edition.

I was reviewing science fiction magazines for SF Site when I first encountered Carrie Vaughn. It was in the Fall 1999 issue of Patrick Swenson’s Talebones, one of the best of the small-press magazines, that I read her story “The Girl With the Pre-Raphaelite Hair,” which I noted in my review “delivers a wallop… A tightly-written tale with a powerful ending.”

Not bad for her first science fiction story. Carrie published more than 50 over the next decade, carving out a name for herself. But it was her debut novel, Kitty and the Midnight Hour (2005), that truly catapulted her to stardom. Featuring late-night DJ (and secret werewolf) Kitty Norville — who hosts a Denver talk show about Werewolves, Vampires, and other supernatural creatures — the book was an instant success. The fourth in the series, Kitty and the Silver Bullet (2008), hit The New York Times Best Seller list, and she’s repeated that impressive feat with at least four subsequent volumes.

This industry is hard on new writers, and over the last ten years I’ve seen it defeat more than a few talented authors. So it’s a genuine pleasure to watch someone climb to the very top of the field, from her first short story to the tenth volume of her bestselling series, on nothing more than hard work and talent. If you haven’t tried Carrie Vaughn yet, her latest effort, Kitty Steals the Show, makes a good jumping-on point:

Kitty has been tapped as the keynote speaker for the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies, taking place in London. The conference brings together scientists, activists, protestors, and supernatural beings from all over the world — and Kitty, Ben, and Cormac are right in the middle of it.

Master vampires from dozens of cities have also gathered in London for a conference of their own. With the help of the Master of London, Kitty gets more of a glimpse into the Long Game — a power struggle among vampires that has been going on for centuries — than she ever has before. In her search for answers, Kitty has the help of some old allies, and meets some new ones, such as Caleb, the alpha werewolf of the British Isles. The conference has also attracted some old enemies, who’ve set their sights on her and her friends.

All the world’s a stage, and Kitty’s just stepped into the spotlight.

Kitty Steals the Show was published on July 31 by Tor Books. It is 342 pages, priced at $7.99 for both the digital version and the mass market paperback.

The fall is a big time for fantasy releases. We see a lot of press releases and advance proofs in the build-up to the holiday season, and everyone here has their favorites. I’m usually a fan of serial fiction — Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser tales, Jame Enge’s Morlock the Maker, Howard Andrew Jones’s Dabir and Asim novels — and I’m always on the lookout for the next breakout fantasy series.

But this year the book that most grabbed my attention was a first novel by Max Gladstone. I first saw the cover hanging on the wall at a Tor party at Wiscon in May, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting it ever since. Set in a decaying city on the verge of destruction, Three Parts Dead offers a high-stakes tale of dead gods, necromancers, and dark dealings in a richly-imagined urban landscape.

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.

When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts — and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.

Three Parts Dead was published by Tor Books on October 2. It is 333 pages, and sells for $24.99 in hardcover and $11.99 for the digital version.