Anticipated Books of 2013

Here is a list of upcoming books and their anticipated release dates. I am so looking forward to read these.

Mar (TBD) - The Grimoire of the Lamb ( The Iron Druid Chronicles 0.4) by Kevin Hearne

(This book will only be released in E-Book format.)

"It’s set four years before the events of HOUNDED so there’s no Granuaile, but we get plenty of Atticus and Oberon as they get lured to Egypt by a priest of the crocodile god, Sobek!"

-Kevin Hearne, December 6th 2012.

05 Mar - The Last Threshold (Neverwinter Saga Book 4) by R.A. Salvatore

In the final book of the #4 New York Times best-selling Neverwinter Saga, Drizzt Do’Urden navigates a winding path littered with secrets and lies. Tangled up in his companion Dahlia’s dark secrets, the ties that once held her close to Drizzt threaten to tear as her bonds to his former foe, Artemis Entreri, continue to grow. Meanwhile, in the caverns of Gauntlgrym, the drow Tiago Baenre enlists the help of Bregan D’aerthe in his quest to destroy Drizzt. While making promises they may not keep, the agents of the elite drow mercenary group hide plans of their own. Determined to stand for what’s right in the Realms once again, Drizzt forges a new road north—toward Icewind Dale. Will his new companions follow? Can he fight the darkness alone? Either way, he knows now where he’s headed—back to the only place that’s ever felt like home.

May (TBD) - Unfettered edited by Shawn Speakman

You define life or it defines you.

In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both.

Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hogdkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story Shawn could sell toward alleviating those bills—and suggested Shawn ask the same of his other friends.

Unfettered is the result, an anthology built to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

Every story in this volume is new and, like the title suggests, the writers were free to write whatever they wished. Authors contributing are:

-The Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks (a Shannara tale)
-Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks (a precursor to the Word/Void trilogy)
-How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss (a Four Corners tale)
-River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (a Wheel of Time tale)
-The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
-Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey (a precursor to the Kushiel series)
-Dogs by Daniel Abraham
-Mudboy by Peter V. Brett (a Demon Cycle tale)
-Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick
-The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian (a Vault of Heaven tale)
-Untitled by Geno & R.A. Salvatore
-Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood (a Summer Dragon tale)
-Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
-The Lasting Doubts of Joaquin Lopez by Blake Charlton
-The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (an Iron Druid tale)
-Select Mode by Mark Lawrence (a Broken Empire tale)
-All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
-Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth (a Struck epilogue tale)
-Unbowed by Eldon Thompson (a Legend of Asahiel tale)
-Untitled by Naomi Novik (a Temeraire tale)
-The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (a Riyria Chronicles tale)
-The Duel by Lev Grossman (a Magicians tale)
-The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman (an Annwn Cycle tale)

and artist Todd Lockwood, who donated artwork as well as a story.

With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises.

After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?

14 May - The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

The Rithmatist is an epic fantasy set in an alternate version of our world—a world in which life in the American Isles is threatened by the attacks of mysterious creatures known as Wild Chalklings. Chalklings are two-dimensional drawings that can be infused with life by Rithmatists and it is the job of the Rithmatists to keep the Wild Chalkings at bay.

The Rithmatist is about a 14-year-old kid named Joel who wants desperately to be a Rithmatist. But he wasn’t Chosen, so he doesn’t have the ability to bring chalklings or Rithmatic lines to life. All he can do is watch as The Rithmatist students at Armedius Academy learn the mystical art that he would give anything to practice. Then Rithmatist students start disappearing, kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving only trails of blood. Joel’s professor asks him to help investigate—putting Joel and his friend Melody on the trail of a discovery that could change Rithmatics—and their world—forever….

25 Jun - Hunted (The Iron Druid Chronicles Book 6) by Kevin Hearne

For a two-thousand-year-old Druid, Atticus O’Sullivan is a pretty fast runner. Good thing, because he’s being chased by not one but two goddesses of the hunt—Artemis and Diana—for messing with one of their own. Dodging their slings and arrows, Atticus, Granuaile, and his wolfhound Oberon are making a mad dash across modern-day Europe to seek help from a friend of the Tuatha Dé Danann. His usual magical option of shifting planes is blocked, so instead of playing hide-and-seek, the game plan is . . . run like hell.

Crashing the pantheon marathon is the Norse god Loki. Killing Atticus is the only loose end he needs to tie up before unleashing Ragnarok—AKA the Apocalypse. Atticus and Granuaile have to outfox the Olympians and contain the god of mischief if they want to go on living—and still have a world to live in.

18 Jun - The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaimon

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark, from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman.

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.

His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang.

23 Jul - Carniepunk by Rachel Caine

A star-studded urban fantasy anthology featuring bestselling authors Rachel Caine, Rob Thurman, Seanan McGuire, Jennifer Estep, and Kevin Hearne, whose stories explore the creepy, mysterious, and, yes, sometimes magical world of traveling carnivals.

The traveling carnival is a leftover of a bygone era, a curiosity lurking on the outskirts of town. It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?

And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.

Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed,Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.

24 Sep - Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart—the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning—and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.