"Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean"

New from Doubleday: Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: How a Generation of Swashbuckling Jews Carved Out an Empire in the New World in Their Quest for Treasure, Religious Freedom--and Revenge by Edward Kritzler.

About the book, from the publisher:

At the end of the fifteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to flee the country. The most adventurous among them took to the high seas as freewheeling outlaws. In ships bearing names such as the Prophet Samuel, Queen Esther, and Shield of Abraham, they attacked and plundered the Spanish fleet while forming alliances with other European powers to ensure the safety of Jews living in hiding.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean is the entertaining saga of a hidden chapter in Jewish history and of the cruelty, terror, and greed that flourished during the Age of Discovery. Readers will meet such daring figures as “the Great Jewish Pirate” Sinan, Barbarossa’s second-in-command; the pirate rabbi Samuel Palache, who founded Holland's Jewish community; Abraham Cohen Henriques, an arms dealer who used his cunning and economic muscle to find safe havens for other Jews; and his pirate brother Moses, who is credited with the capture of the Spanish silver fleet in 1628--the largest heist in pirate history.

Filled with high-sea adventures—including encounters with Captain Morgan and other legendary pirates—and detailed portraits of cities stacked high with plunder, such as Port Royal, Jamaica, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean captures a gritty and glorious era of history from an unusual and eye-opening perspective.

Visit Edward Kritzler's website.

"Living with the Dead"

New from Spectra Books: Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong.

About the book, from the publisher:

They’re smart, sexy, and supernatural. They’re the men and women of the Otherworld—a realm of witches, ghosts, and werewolves who live unseen among us. Only now a reckless killer has torn down the wall, trapping one very human woman in the supernatural cross fire.

Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles after her young husband’s sudden death, trying to put some distance between herself and her memories. Though she’s still grieving, the challenges of her new life as the PR consultant to Portia Kane—the world’s most famous celebutante wannabe—can sometimes be amusing, even distracting. But when her client is gunned down in the back room of a nightclub, Robyn is suddenly on the run as the prime suspect in the murder. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems like only Hope Adams, Robyn’s best friend, and Hope’s somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl are on Robyn’s side. Hope Adams follows the kinds of stories whose headlines scream from supermarket checkout lines. But the difference is that Hope’s stories are even weirder—and they’re all true. Though determined to help Robyn, Hope knows it’s only a matter of time before her friend is caught. But it’s not the police Hope is worried about. For Robyn has gotten herself in the middle of a turf war between two powerful Otherworld cabals who’ll spill any amount of blood—human and inhuman—to protect what they consider theirs for all eternity. And the only way Hope can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she’s safer knowing nothing about.

Visit Kelley Armstrong's website.

"Rebels Wit Attitude"

New from Soft Skull Press: Rebels Wit Attitude by Iain Ellis.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Rebels Wit Attitude, music writer and professor Iain Ellis throws a spotlight on the history of humor as a weapon of anti-establishment rebellion, paying tribute to the great rebel humorists in American rock history and investigating comedy and laughter as the catalyst and main expressive force in these artists’ work. The performers who are the subject of Ellis's study are not merely funny people - they are those whose art exudes defiance and resistance, whether aimed at social structures and mores, political systems, aesthetic practices, or the music industry itself. Subversive rock humor has emerged as a formidable force of modern art, building a reputation for rock music as a rebellious—sometimes dangerous—form of expression that can dismay the adult mainstream as it empowers the youth culture. In this study of rock's impact on youth through the decades, Ellis proves that the most subversive rock humorists serve as the conscience of our culture. They chastise pretensions, satirize hypocrisy, and pour scorn on power, corruption, and lies.

Discussing the work of iconic figures as diverse as Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, the Ramones, the Talking Heads, the Beastie Boys, Missy Elliott, and Madonna, Ellis examines the nature of the rock humorist, asking why and in what ways each performer uses humor as a weapon of resistance to various status quos. The commentary on these artists' work is the basis for a deeper discussion of the historical foundations and other socio-cultural contexts of humorous art, and Ellis delves into the larger issues of politics, nationality, ethics, geography, generation, art, social class, race, gender and sexuality that surround his subject. Thus Rebels Wit Attitude is at once an entertaining look at some of the greatest rebels in American rock culture and an absorbing historical and cultural study of humor and rebellion. The chapters, divided by decade, include introductory sections outlining each decade's defining forces and contextual features.

While lyrics constitute Ellis's primary field of analysis, his exploration goes well beyond that, moving into a discussion and interpretation of image, performance, product, and musical content. A guitar solo, hair style, or dance move, in context, may be just as subversive and humorous as a satirical song lyric.

Rock music has been the principle outlet of youth rebellion for over half a century, and though these rock rebels have been idolized and written about extensively, their humor - which has invariably been the bullet in the gun of subversive performers - has never been at the center of discussions. In Rebels Wit Attitude, Iain Ellis celebrates and scrutinizes the humor, asks what it consists of, how it manifests itself, what it targets, and what effect it has had on generations of fans.

"Mythtym"

New from Picturebox: Mythtym by Trinie Dalton.

About the book, from the publisher:

Trinie Dalton has long made popular zines on variety of subjects. She brings together artists, musicians, critics, novelists and cartoonists in one gorgeous stew. MYTHTYM compiles the best work from her previous zines on Werewolves, mythical beings, and the natural world. But best of all, this volume includes an entirely new, 100-page body of work on the theme of mirrors. This new section will investigate the mirror as a symbolic object in horror stories. The metaphorical mirror within the scope of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. The metaphysical implications of mirroring, especially in the ancient world of alchemy. Reflective surfaces. Disco. The mirror’s role in psychedelic, symmetrical art. The first mirrors to emerge in primitive cultures, and the roles they played in early mythologies. Mirrors as scrying tools. It can branch out from there, into light, rainbows, death, vampirism, magic. Not restricted legally to mirrors by any means. In fact if it were all about mirrors that would be too many mirrors.

Contributors include: Aurel Schmidt Folkert De Jong Takeshi Murata Jim Drain Andrew Leland Aura Rosenberg Sue De Beer Leif Goldberg Matt Greene Francine Spiegel Derek McCormack Jesse Bransford Shamim Momin Amy Gerstler assume vivid astro focus David Altmejd Sammy Harkham Rachel Kushner Marnie Weber Bjorn Copeland Paper Rad

About her zines, Trinie Dalton has said: “I don’t want my books to be cliquish, but at the same time I don’t see them as communal free-for-alls. Of course, many people I invite to participate are my friends, and are friends with each other, but I deliberately include not only established artists and writers but also young people who are relatively unknown in their field. The idea of introducing and contextualizing artists by hanging their art on the same wall is a fundamental one in the art world. To me, my zines are literary/art/music history anthologies, following the group-show or salon style. They’re like parties on paper, and I want to be an exquisite host.”

"Taj Mahal"

New from Harvard University Press: Taj Mahal by Giles Tillotson.

About the book, from the publisher:

An enduring monument of haunting beauty, the Taj Mahal seems a symbol of stability itself. The familiar view of the glowing marble mausoleum from the gateway entrance offers the very picture of permanence. And yet this extraordinary edifice presents a shifting image to observers across time and cultures. The meaning of the Taj Mahal, the perceptions and responses it prompts, ideas about the building and the history that shape them: these form the subject of Giles Tillotson’s book. More than a richly illustrated history—though it is that as well—this book is an eloquent meditation on the place of the Taj Mahal in the cultural imagination of India and the wider world.

Since its completion in 1648, the mausoleum commissioned by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, has come to symbolize many things: the undying love of a man for his wife, the perfection of Mughal architecture, the ideal synthesis of various strands of subcontinental aesthetics, even an icon of modern India itself. Exploring different perspectives brought to the magnificent structure—by a Mughal court poet, an English Romantic traveler, a colonial administrator, an architectural historian, or a contemporary Bollywood filmmaker—this book is an incomparable guide through the varied and changing ideas inspired by the Taj Mahal, from its construction to our day. In Tillotson’s expert hands, the story of a seventeenth-century structure in the city of Agra reveals itself as a story about our own place and time.

"My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge"

New from Ecco: My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge by Paul Guest.

About the book, from the publisher:

My Index of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge is a fierce and original collection—its generosity of voice and emotional range announce the arrival of a major new poet.

At the age of twelve, Paul Guest suffered a bicycle accident that left him paralyzed for life. But out of sudden disaster evolved a fierce poetic sensibility—one that blossomed into a refuge for all the grief, fury, and wonder at life forever altered. Although its legacy lies in tragedy, the voice of these brilliant poems cuts a broad swath of emotions: whether he is lamenting the potentiality of physical experience or imagining the electric temptations of sexuality, Guest offers us a worldview that is unshakable in its humanity.

Visit Paul Guest's website.

"Tsar"

New from Atria Books: Ted Bell's Tsar.

About the book, from the publisher:

There dwells, somewhere in Russia, a man so powerful no one even knows his name. His existence is only speculated upon, only whispered about in American corridors of power and CIA strategy meetings. Though he is all but invisible, he is pulling strings -- and pulling them hard. For suddenly, Russia is a far, far more ominous threat than even the most hardened cold warriors ever thought possible.

The Russians have their finger on the switch to the European economy and an eye on the American jugular. And, most importantly, they want to be made whole again. Should America interfere with Russia's plans to "reintegrate" her rogue states, well then, America will pay in blood.

In Ted Bell's latest pulse-pounding and action-packed tour de force, Alex Hawke must face a global nightmare of epic proportions. As this political crisis plays out, Russia gains a new leader. Not just a president, but a new tsar, a signal to the world that the old, imperial Russia is back and plans to have her day. And in America, a mysterious killer, known only as Happy the Baker, brutally murders an innocent family and literally flattens the small Midwestern town they once called home. Just a taste, according to the new tsar, of what will happen if America does not back down. Onto this stage must step Alex Hawke, espionage agent extraordinaire and the only man, both Americans and the Brits agree, who can stop the absolute madness borne and bred inside the modern police state of Vladimir Putin's 'New Russia'.

Visit Ted Bell's website.

"Do Cats Hear with Their Feet?"

New from Collins: Do Cats Hear with Their Feet?: Where Cats Come From, What We Know About Them, and What They Think About Us by Jake Page.

About the book, from the publisher:

Do Cats Hear with Their Feet? traces the evolution of cats from the time they first adapted their feline form about 20 million years ago. Exploring every aspect of a cat's life—from predation, to play, to communication—Jake Page shows us what a cat's daily life is really like. He gives us a cat's-eye view of a bird hunt in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and explains why cats will hunt even when they are full, and why no self-respecting cat would eat vegetables. In sections that will be of interest to every cat owner, Jake Page demonstrates why territory is all-important to cats, investigates cat ESP, and shows that cats have, in fact, never been fully domesticated; they've just graciously decided to reside with us. Beautifully illustrated, this engaging book is full of surprising facts. Did you know: Black cats do better in the crowded conditions of cities than any other color? Cats are as allergic to humans as humans are to cats? Cats have survived falls from heights of over seven stories?

Do Cats Hear with Their Feet? will show readers exactly why cats are such amazing creatures, and why humans have been crazy about them for centuries.

"Eating the Sun"

New from Harper: Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet by Oliver Morton.

About the book, from the publisher:

A story of a world in crisis and the importance of plants, the history of the earth, and the feuds and fantasies of warring scientists—this is not your fourth-grade science class's take on photosynthesis.

From acclaimed science journalist Oliver Morton comes this fascinating, lively, profound look at photosynthesis, nature's greatest miracle. Wherever there is greenery, photosynthesis isworking to make oxygen, release energy, and create living matter from the raw material of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Without photosynthesis, there would be an empty world, an empty sky, and a sun that does nothing more than warm the rocks and reflect off the sea. With photosynthesis, we have a living world with three billion years of sunlight-fed history to relish.

Eating the Sun is a bottom-up account of our planet, a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the largest things­­—the oceans, the rainforests, and the fossil fuel economy. From the physics, chemistry, and cellular biology that make photosynthesis possible, to the quirky and competitive scientists who first discovered the beautifully honed mechanisms of photosynthesis, to the modern energy crisis we face today, Oliver Morton offers a complete biography of the earth through the lens of this mundane and most important of processes.

More than this, Eating the Sun is a call to arms. Only by understanding photosynthesis and the flows of energy it causes can we hope to understand the depth and subtlety of the current crisis in the planet's climate. What's more, nature's greatest energy technology may yet inspire the breakthroughs we need to flourish without such climatic chaos in the century to come.

Entertaining, thought-provoking, and deeply illuminating, Eating the Sun reveals that photosynthesis is not only the key to humanity's history; it is also vital to confronting and understanding contemporary realities like climate change and the global food shortage. This book will give you a new and perhaps troubling way of seeing the world, but it also explains how we can change our situation—for the better or the worse.

"Follow the Roar"

New from Harper: Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season by Bob Smiley.

About the book, from the publisher:

With his career at a standstill and his golf game a shadow of its former mediocrity, TV writer and ESPN.com contributor Bob Smiley decided the time had come to turn to the one person who might be able to help: Tiger Woods. So, in January of 2008, Smiley set out to follow the game's greatest player from the gallery for every hole of an entire season and to absorb all that he could.

Smiley traveled from the seaside cliffs of San Diego to the deserts of Dubai, through the hallowed gates of Augusta National, and on to arguably the greatest U.S. Open of all time back at Torrey Pines, where, in a legendary duel with charismatic journeyman Rocco Mediate, Woods won his fourteenth major—on one leg.

Smiley chronicles every dramatic and often hysterical moment of his journey with Tiger, including his off-course run-ins with Arabian sandstorms, ex-con ticket scalpers, and the motley assortment of strangers who became friends along the way.

Told from the perspective of a true golf fan, Follow the Roar is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure through the most spectacular and inspiring season in Tiger Woods's celebrated career. In addition to the thrill of witnessing all 604 holes Woods played in '08, Smiley found in Tiger both inspiration and the gutsy embodiment of what it really means to be an athlete—and a man.

Browse inside Follow the Roar.

Visit Bob Smiley's Fore Right blog.

"Dead Reign"

New from Bantam Books: Dead Reign by T.A. Pratt.

About the book, from the publisher:

Death has come calling, and one woman has what he wants most of all...

As chief sorcerer of Felport, Marla Mason thought she’d faced every kind of evil the magical world had to offer. But she’s never faced a killer like this. He’s dark, glib, handsome as the devil—and exactly who he says he is. Death—in the flesh. He’s arrived in Felport with a posse composed of a half-insane necromancer and the reanimated corpse of John Wilkes Booth, and he isn’t leaving until he gets what he came for. Only Marla is crazy enough to tell Death to go back to Hell.

With the Founders’ Ball just around the bend, drawing together the brightest, meanest, and most dangerous of Felport’s magical elite, the last thing Marla needs is all-out war with the King of the Underworld, but that’s exactly what she’s got. As the battle lines are drawn, she can count on her hedonistic, body-hopping partner Rondeau…but how many of her old allies will stand by her side when facing the ultimate adversary? To save her city, Marla will have to find a way to cheat Death…literally.

Visit T.A. Pratt's website and blog.

"Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong"

New from Bloomsbury USA: Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong: Reopening the Case of the Hound of the Baskervilles by Pierre Bayard.

About the book, from the publisher:

A playfully brilliant re-creation of one of the most-loved detective stories of all time; the companion book no Holmes fan should be without.

Eliminate the impossible, Holmes said, and whatever is left must be the solution. But as Pierre Bayard finds in this dazzling reinvestigation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, sometimes the master missed his mark. Using the last thoughts of the murder victim as his key, Bayard unravels the case, leading the reader to the astonishing conclusion that Holmes — and, in fact, Arthur Conan Doyle — got things all wrong: The killer is not at all who they said it was.

Part intellectual entertainment, part love letter to crime novels, and part crime novel in itself, Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong turns one of our most beloved stories delightfully on its head. Examining the many facets of the case and illuminating the bizarre interstices between Doyle’s fiction and the real world, Bayard demonstrates a whole new way of reading mysteries: a kind of “detective criticism” that allows readers to outsmart not only the criminals in the stories we love, but also the heroes — and sometimes even the writers.

"Defending Angels"

New from Berkley Prime Crime: Defending Angels by Mary Stanton.

About the book, from the publisher:

With a long list of ethereal clients who need her help, Savannah lawyer Brianna Winston Beaufort's career choice is beginning to haunt her...

An already dead businessman needs Bree's help to find his murderer and prove his innocence against the charge of greed, which comes from the mightiest hand of the law, the Celestial Court. And the verdict in this case could put Bree's life on the line—as well as her client's afterlife.

Visit Mary Stanton's website and blog.

"Dating da Vinci"

New from Sourcebooks Casablanca: Malena Lott's Dating da Vinci.

About the book, from the author's website:

I wrote the story of Ramona Elise Griffen (Mona Lisa) because so many women can relate to a time in your life when you need a renaissance - an awakening. For Ramona, 36, a widowed mother of two, she’s been living life as a Griever for two years, since the unexpected death of her husband to a heart attack two years prior. She’s put her life on hold, but is ready, slowly, to find who she is now and what she should do next. As an English teacher to immigrants, she meets Leondardo da Vinci, a striking twenty-five year old Italian who shares a lot of characteristics with the real da Vinci. She gives him a place to stay in her husband’s garage studio, while he shows her so much more. The story is one of soul mates and second chances and finding joy after tragedy. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Visit Malena Lott's website and blog.

"Dream City"

New from MacAdam Cage: Dream City by Brendan Short.

About the book, from the publisher:

Set in Depression-era Chicago, an exhilarating debut about a young boy’s obsession with comic book heroes, and his lifelong attempt to both recapture and escape his childhood.

Six-year-old Michael Halligan longs to be a hero. Submerging himself in the world of Big Little Books, he imagines himself as “Mike Steele,” righter of wrongs, friend to Dick Tracy, Buck Rogers, and The Lone Ranger. But reality pops him on the jaw when his mother dies unexpectedly in the winter of 1934. Michael is left in the custody of his gangster father, Paddy, where he tragically loses his faith in the power of good over evil.

So begins Michael’s obsessive quest through the city and suburbs of Chicago to recapture the purity and comfort that defined his boyhood. As he attempts to track down a copy of every Big Little Book in existence, Michael begins—perhaps unintentionally—to also search out unconditional love, security, and stability in an arbitrary and unkind world.

A dazzling tale featuring a colorful cast of heroes, villains, and damsels in distress—both real and make-believe—Dream City poses the most dangerous of questions: What happens when we finally discover what we’ve spent our entire lives searching for?

Visit Brendan Short's website.

"The Spanish Game"

New from St. Martin's Press: The Spanish Game by Charles Cumming.

About the book, from the publisher:

Six years ago, Alec Milius was released by MI6 after a disasterous operation. His world shattered, Milius has been living in Madrid, attempting to put his former life as a spy behind him, and quitely rebuild his life. But all his plans come crashing down when the head of a separatist movement goes missing, and Milius is lured back into the world of espionage, the brutal world of lies and desperation. This time, though, Milius is forced to work alone - with no back-up, no support, and no one to save him should something go wrong.

And in an operation like this, something is certain to go wrong. Horribly wrong.

Read an excerpt from The Spanish Game.

My Book, The Movie: The Spanish Game.

Learn more about the author and his work at Charles Cumming's website.

"Through Black Spruce"

New from Viking and Viking Canada: Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden.

About the book, from the publisher:

From internationally acclaimed author Joseph Boyden comes an astonishingly powerful novel of contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city. When beautiful Suzanne Bird disappears, her sister Annie, a loner and hunter, is compelled to search for her, leaving behind their uncle Will, a man haunted by loss.While Annie travels from Toronto to New York, from modelling studios to A-list parties,Will encounters dire troubles at home. Both eventually come to painful discoveries about the inescapable ties of family. Through Black Spruce is an utterly unforgettable consideration of how we discover who we really are.

Through Black Spruce is the winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious award for literary excellence. The prize jury, comprised of award winning author and previous Giller Prize recipient Margaret Atwood, Liberal MP Bob Rae and internationally celebrated author, journalist and professor Colm Toibin, said “Joseph Boyden shows us unforgettable characters and a northern landscape in a way we have never seen them before.”

Read reviews of Through Black Spruce.

"This One Is Mine"

New from Little, Brown: This One Is Mine by Maria Semple.

About the book, from the publisher:

Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life--except that she's deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she's risking everything for the chance to find herself again. Also in the picture are David's hilariously high-strung sister, Sally, on the prowl for a successful husband, and Jeremy, the ESPN sportscaster savant who falls into her trap. For all their recklessness, Violet and Sally will discover that David and Jeremy have a few surprises of their own. This One Is Mine is a compassionate and wickedly funny satire about our need for more--and the often disastrous choices we make in the name of happiness.

Visit Maria Semple's website.

"Evangelical Disenchantment"

New from Yale University Press: Evangelical Disenchantment: Nine Portraits of Faith and Doubt by David Hempton.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this engaging and at times heartbreaking book, David Hempton looks at evangelicalism through the lens of well-known individuals who once embraced the evangelical tradition, but later repudiated it. The author recounts the faith journeys of nine creative artists, social reformers, and public intellectuals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including such diverse figures as George Eliot, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Vincent van Gogh, and James Baldwin. Within their highly individual stories, Hempton finds not only clues to the development of these particular creative men and women but also myriad insights into the strengths and weaknesses of one of the fastest growing religious traditions in the modern world.

Allowing his subjects to express themselves in their own voices—through letters, essays, speeches, novels, apologias, paintings—Hempton seeks to understand the factors at work in the shaping of their religious beliefs, and how their negotiations of faith informed their public and private lives. The nine were great public communicators, but in private often felt deep uncertainties. Hempton’s moving portraits highlight common themes among the experiences of these disillusioned evangelicals while also revealing fresh insights into the evangelical movement and its relations to the wider culture.

Featuring portraits of:

· George Eliot
· Frances W. Newman
· Theodore Dwight Weld
· Sarah Grimké
· Elizabeth Cady Stanton
· Frances Willard
· Vincent van Gogh
· Edmund Gosse
· James Baldwin

Read an excerpt from Evangelical Disenchantment.

"Wreck of the Carl D."

New from Bloomsbury USA: Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea by Michael Schumacher.

About the book, from the publisher:

By the author of Mighty Fitz, the dramatic account of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the wreck.

At approximately 5:30 P.M. on November 18, 1958, the Carl D. Bradley, a 623-foot limestone carrier caught in one of the most violent storms in Lake Michigan history, snapped in two and sank within minutes. Four of the thirty-five man crew escaped to a small raft, where they hung on in total darkness, braving massive waves and frigid temperatures. As the storm raged on, a search-and-rescue mission hunted for survivors, while the frantic citizens of nearby Rogers City, the tiny Michigan hometown to twenty-six members of the Bradley crew, anxiously awaited word of their loved ones’ fates.

In Wreck of the Carl D., Michael Schumacher reconstructs, in dramatic detail, the tragic accident, the perilous search-and-rescue mission, and the chilling aftermath for the small town so intimately affected by the tragedy. A fitting tribute to a powerful ship, the men who died aboard it, and the town that still mourns its loss, Schumacher's compelling follow up to Mighty Fitz is a wonderful addition to the literature of the Great Lakes and maritime history.

"Teaser"

New from St. Martin's Minotaur: Teaser by Jan Brogan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Hallie Ahern, a Providence, Rhode Island, reporter and recovering gambling addict, is trawling online chat rooms in search of a story for her newspaper’s Web site when an anonymous source sends her a short video clip, a teaser. Featuring two girls striking provocative poses, the clip promises more to come. As Hallie follows up on the lead, staking out tech shops and high school hangouts in search of the girls in the clip, she discovers that men are buying the girls webcams and lavishing them with gifts to make sure they use them. But those gifts are only a taste of the perils to come.

The paper’s new owners love the idea of an exposé that warns parents of the dangers of the Internet, but when girls start dying, and when Hallie’s boyfriend—a prosecutor with the Attorney General’s office—ends up on another side of the story altogether, the situation goes from dark to lethal.

As Hallie is caught between her responsibilities as a reporter and as a concerned citizen, her investigation leads her deep into a far-reaching conspiracy in Teaser, Jan Brogan’s latest gripping mystery.

Visit Jan Brogan's website and blog.

"To Siberia"

New from Graywolf Press: To Siberia by Per Petterson.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this exquisite novel, Per Petterson explores a life that is outwardly barren but sharply etched, charged with meaning. Readers and critics will find here the crystalline prose and depth of feeling they adored in Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses, a literary sensation of 2007.

A brother and sister are forced ever more closely together after the suicide of their grandfather. Their parents’ neglect leaves them wandering the streets of their small Danish village. “Sistermine” dreams of escaping to Siberia, for “skies that were cold and clear, where it was easy to breathe and easy to see for long distances.” But Siberia seems increasingly distant as she helplessly watches her brother become increasingly involved in resisting the Nazis.

Read Ray Taras' review of Per Petterson's Out Stealing Horses.

"Thirteen Orphans"

New from Tor Books: Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold.

About the book, from the publisher:

As evocative and moving as Charles de Lint’s Newford books, with the youthful protagonists and exciting action of Mercedes Lackey’s fantasies, Thirteen Orphans makes our world today as excitingly strange and unfamiliar as any fantasy realm ... and grants readers a glimpse of a fantasy world founded by ancient Chinese lore and magic.

As far as college freshman Brenda Morris knows, there is only one Earth and magic exists only in fairy tales.

Brenda is wrong.

A father-daughter weekend turns into a nightmare when Brenda’s father is magically attacked before her eyes. Brenda soon learns that her ancestors once lived in world of smoke and shadows, of magic and secrets.

When that world’s Emperor was overthrown, the Thirteen Orphans fled to our earth and hid their magic system in the game of mah-jong. Each Orphan represents an animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Brenda’s father is the Rat. And her polished, former child-star aunt, Pearl—that eminent lady is the Tiger.

Only a handful of Orphans remain to stand against their enemies. The Tiger, the Rooster, the Dog, the Rabbit ... and Brenda Morris. Not quite the Rat, but not quite human either.

Visit Jane Lindskold's website.

"Shot Girl"

New from NAL/Obsidian: Shot Girl by Karen E. Olson.

About the book, from the publisher:

New Haven police reporter Annie Seymour has a talent for running into trouble. So it should come as no surprise when her co-worker's bachelorette party at a local club quickly turns into a crime scene. What is surprising is that the dead club manager in the parking lot happens to be Annie's ex-husband—and the bullet shells around his body match the gun she has in her car...

Visit Karen E. Olson's website and blog.

My Book, The Movie: The "Annie Seymour" mysteries.

The Page 69 Test: Dead of the Day.

"The Delivery Room"

New from Counterpoint: The Delivery Room by Sylvia Brownrigg.

About the book, from the publisher:

In 1998, Serbian therapist Mira Braverman listens to her troubled patients in the safe haven of her London office. As the novel unfolds and she faces her own struggles, Mira discovers that she is not as distant from her patients’ pain as she might once have been. The Delivery Room is a compelling examination of the incomplete understandings between therapist and patient, and a meditation on the meaning of wars fought from a distance.

Read an excerpt from The Delivery Room.

Visit Sylvia Brownrigg's website.

"Fifty-To-One"

New from Hard Case Crime: Fifty-To-One by Charles Ardai.

About the book, from the publisher:

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF HARD CASE CRIME!

Okay, not really. But what if, instead of having been founded 50 books ago, Hard Case Crime had been founded 50 years ago, by a rascal out to make a quick buck off the popularity of pulp fiction? Such a fellow might make a few enemies—especially after publishing a supposed non-fiction account of a heist at a Mob-run nightclub, actually penned by an 18-year-old showgirl. With both the cops and the crooks after them, our heroes are about to learn that reading and writing pulp novels is a lot more fun than living them...

* First publication ever!
* By the Edgar award-winning author of SONGS OF INNOCENCE and LITTLE GIRL LOST (written as "Richard Aleas")
* Told in 50 chapters, each chapter named after one of the first 50 books in the series
* Featuring a full-color insert section containing images of the first 50 Hard Case Crime covers!
* Publishers Weekly on FIFTY-TO-ONE: "High-speed action and nonstop thrills highlight the 50th novel from Hard Case Crime...Ardai sets an impressive standard for the new wave of pulp crime fiction...Breathless action and entertaining characters make this a page-turner from start to finish."

Read an excerpt from Fifty-To-One.

"Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain"

New from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain by Kirsten Menger-Anderson.

About the book, from the publisher:

In 1664 Dr. Olaf van Schuler flees the Old World and arrives in New Amsterdam with his lunatic mother, two bags of medical implements, and a carefully guarded book of his own medicines. He is the first in what will become a long line of peculiar physicians. Plagued by madness and guided by an intense desire to cure human affliction, each generation of this unusual family is driven by the science of its day: spontaneous combustion, phrenology, animal magnetism, electrical shock treatment, psychosurgery, genetic research. As they make their way in the world, New York City, too, evolves—from the dark and rough days of the seventeenth century to the towering, frenetic metropolis of today.

Like Patrick Süskind's classic novel Perfume, Kirsten Menger-Anderson's debut is a literary cabinet of curiosities—fascinating and unsettling, rich and utterly singular.

Visit Kirsten Menger-Anderson's website.

"The Frailty of Flesh"

New from Dorchester Publishing: The Frailty of Flesh by Sandra Ruttan.

About the book, from the publisher:

The police got the call: A four-year-old boy had been found beaten to death in the park. But almost as soon as Hart and Tain arrived at the scene, the case took a strange turn. They found the victim’s brother hiding in the woods nearby. He said he saw the whole thing and claims his older sister is the killer. And she’s missing…. When the boy’s father is notified that his son is dead, his first response is to hire a high-powered attorney, who seems determined to create every legal roadblock he can for Hart and Tain. So now the search is on for the missing girl. But the clock is ticking, and the case is about to get even stranger.

Visit Sandra Ruttan's website and blog.

"The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For"

New from Houghton Mifflin: The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the author of Fun Home -- the lives, loves, and politics of cult fav characters Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and others

For twenty-five years Bechdel’s path-breaking Dykes to Watch Out For strip has been collected in award-winning volumes (with a quarter of a million copies in print), syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers, and translated into many languages. Now, at last, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For gathers a “rich, funny, deep and impossible to put down” (Publishers Weekly) selection from all eleven Dykes volumes. Here too are sixty of the newest strips, never before published in book form.

Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it “half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel”) of the lives, loves, and politics of a cast of characters, most of them lesbian, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis. Her brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends -- academics, social workers, bookstore clerks -- fall in and out of love, negotiate friendships, raise children, switch careers, and cope with aging parents.

Bechdel fuses high and low culture -- from foreign policy to domestic routine, hot sex to postmodern theory -- in a serial graphic narrative “suitable for humanists of all persuasions.”

Visit Alison Bechdel's website.

"Raising Steaks"

New from Harcourt: Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef by Betty Fussell.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Raising Steaks, Betty Fussell saddles up for a spirited ride across America on the trail of our most iconic food.

When we bite into its charred crust and pink interior, Fussell finds that we bite into contradictions that have branded our national identity from the start. We taste the colliding fantasies of British pastoralists and Spanish ranchers that erupted in land wars between a wet-weather East and a desert West. We savor the ideas of wilderness and progress that clashed when we replaced buffalo with cattle, and then cowboys with industrial machines. We take in the contradictions of rugged individualism and the corporate technology that we use to breed, feed, slaughter, package, and distribute the animals we turn into meat. And we participate—as do the cattlemen and chefs, feedlot operators and rodeo stars, boot makers and scientists Fussell talks with—in the mythology that inspires cowboys to become technocrats and presidents to play cowboy.

Raising Steaks is a celebration of, and an elegy for, a uniquely American Dream.

"Autophobia"

New from the University of Chicago Press: Brian Ladd's Autophobia: Love and Hate in the Automotive Age.

About the book, from the publisher:

Cars are the scourge of civilization, responsible for everything from suburban sprawl and urban decay to environmental devastation and rampant climate change—not to mention our slavish dependence on foreign oil from dubious sources abroad. Add the astonishing price in human lives that we pay for our automobility—some thirty million people were killed in car accidents during the twentieth century—plus the countless number of hours we waste in gridlock traffic commuting to work, running errands, picking up our kids, and searching for parking, and one can’t help but ask: Haven’t we had enough already? After a century behind the wheel, could we be reaching the end of the automotive age?

From the Model T to the SUV, Autophobia reveals that our vexed relationship with the automobile is nothing new—in fact, debates over whether cars are forces of good or evil in our world have raged for over a century now, ever since the automobile was invented. According to Brian Ladd, this love and hate relationship we share with our cars is the defining quality of the automotive age. And everyone has an opinion about them, from the industry shills, oil barons, and radical libertarians who offer cars blithe paeans and deny their ill effects, to the technophobes, treehuggers, and killjoys who curse cars, ignoring the very real freedoms and benefits they provide us. Focusing in particular on our world’s cities, and spanning settings as varied as belle epoque Paris, Nazi Germany, postwar London, Los Angeles, New York, and the smoggy Shanghai of today, Ladd explores this love and hate relationship throughout, acknowledging adherents and detractors of the automobile alike.

Eisenhower, Hitler, Jan and Dean, J. G. Ballard, Ralph Nader, OPEC, and, of course, cars, all come into play in this wide-ranging but remarkably wry and pithy book. A dazzling display of erudition, Autophobia is cultural commentary at its most compelling, history at its most searching—and a surprising page-turner.

Listen to an interview with the author.

"Sunborn"

New from Tor Books: Sunborn by Jeffrey A. Carver.

About the book, from the publisher:

With a plot inspired by chaos theory, fully realized characters, and plenty of twists and turns, this exciting hard SF adventure will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

John Bandicut and several aliens and artificial intelligences have been thrown together by a force greater than themselves to prevent cataclysmic disasters on an interstellar scale. Now, before they can take a break after a world-saving mission, they are pulled into a waystation that is being threatened by highly destructive gravity waves.

The waves are part of a much larger problem. Something is causing stars to become unstable and go prematurely nova--they're being murdered. When the waystation is destroyed by the gravity waves, Bandicut and his crew barely escape on a jury-rigged ship. Their destination is a star nursery in the Orion Nebula, where sentient stars are being driven to destruction by an artificial intelligence bent on remaking the cosmos in its own image.

Visit Jeffrey A. Carver's website and blog. Get a free PDF of Sunborn and the books in the Chaos Chronicles that precede it at http://www.starrigger.net/Downloads.htm.

"The Wyrmling Horde"

New from Tor Books: The Wyrmling Horde by David Farland.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Saga of the Runelords is written in the finest tradition of Tolkien and other works that rise above the fantasy genre to special and individual heights.

Now the epic story continues: at the end of Worldbinder, Fallion Orden, son of Gaborn, was imprisoned on a strange and fantastic world that he created by combining two alternate realities. It's a world brimming with dark magic, ruled by a creature of unrelenting evil who is gathering monstrous armies from a dozen planets in a bid to conquer the universe. Only Fallion has the power to mend the worlds, but at the heart of a city that is a vast prison, he lies in shackles. The forces of evil are growing and will soon rage across the heavens. Now, Fallion's allies must risk everything in an attempt to free him from the wyrmling horde.

Visit David Farland's website.

"Istanbul Noir"

New from Akashic Books: Istanbul Noir edited by Mustafa Ziyalan & Amy Spangler.

About the book, from the publisher:

Brand-new stories by: Muge Iplikci, Behcet Celik, Ismail Guzelsoy, Lydia Lunch, Hikmet Hukumenoglu, Riza Kirac, Sadik Yemni, Baris Mustecaplioglu, Yasemin Aydinoglu, Feryal Tilmac, Mehmet Bilal, Inan Cetin, Mustafa Ziyalan, Jessica Lutz, Tarkan Barlas, Algan Sezginturedi, and others.

Surrounded by two seas, split by the Bosphorus Strait, and pierced by the Golden Horn, Istanbul stretches between Europe and Asia. A city at once ancient and modern, it is the quintessentially postcard-perfect metropolis. But don't let the alluring vistas fool you: For beneath its veneer as the meeting place of cultures, religions, and ethnicities, lies a heart of darkness, seething with suppressed desire, boiling with frustration, and burning with a fervor for vengeance. If there is a city with its own unique brew of noir, Istanbul is it.

From the pitch-black and the ephemeral to the realistic and the surreal, from the open-hearted and the fanatic to the malicious and sadistic, from the butcher out for meat to the lamb who wants to live, these stories rip away the enchanting facade to reveal the shadowy side of Istanbul's soul.

Comprised of entirely new stories by some of Turkey's most exciting authors--some still up-and-coming, others well-established and critically acclaimed in their homeland, as well as by a couple of "outsiders" temporarily held hostage in the city's vice--Istanbul Noir introduces a whole new breed of talent. As you succumb to the wiles of the city's storytellers, however, be warned--their narrators are notoriously unreliable, and their readers, even more so.

"A Woman Worth Ten Coppers"

New from Del Ray: A Woman Worth Ten Coppers by Morgan Howell.

About the book, from the publisher:

Seer, healer, goddess, slave–she is all these things and more.

Yim is a young woman suddenly cast into slavery, a gifted seer with a shocking secret–and a great destiny. Honus is a Sarf, a warrior dedicated to the service of the compassionate goddess Karm. A Sarf’s sole purpose is to serve a holy person called a Bearer. But Honus’s Bearer has been killed by the minions of an evil god known only as the Devourer. Masterless and needing someone to bear his pack, Honus purchases Yim for the price of ten coppers–and their fates are forever entwined.

Visit Morgan Howell's website.

"An Innocent Client"

New from Penguin/Onyx: Scott Pratt's An Innocent Client.

About the book, from the publisher:

This is the kind of crime the tabloids love... This is the kind of case most lawyers dream of... This is the kind of trial that destroys more lives than it saves... This is the kind of “terrific debut novel”( Sheldon Siegel, New York Times BestSelling Author of Judgment Day) that reinvents the legal thriller.

A preacher is stabbed to death in a Tennessee motel. The suspect is a waitress at a strip club. Defense attorney Joe Dillard’s too burnt out to defend anyone he knows in his heart is guilty. Then he meets the vulnerable Angel—the accused, incriminated by circumstantial evidence. Dillard’s sure she’s not capable of killing anyone. What Dillard doesn’t count on are the others drawn into the storm of the stunning crime—from the vindictive detective to the victim’s avenging son to Dillard’s own deeply troubled sister—all of whom will help to erase the line between guilt and innocence, and between an unthinkable lie and the unbelievable truth.

Visit Scott Pratt's website.

"Murder with All the Trimmings"

New from Obsidian Mysteries: Murder with All the Trimmings by Elaine Viets.

About the book, from the publisher:

A humbug of a Shopping mystery... From The Anthony and Agatha Award-Winning Author of Accessory to Murder

Includes insider shopping tips!

Mystery shopper Josie Marcus doesn't get the appeal of the year-round Christmas shop. But when three such holiday houses pop up within two blocks, she's assigned to rate them anonymously.

Easy enough, Josie thinks, until she realizes that shoppers at one store are finding a strange—even deadly—secret ingredient in their holiday cake. And Josie must get to the bottom of it all before someone else becomes a Christmas spirit.

Visit Elaine Viets' website.

"Spider Season"

New from St. Martin's Minotaur: Spider Season by John Morgan Wilson.

About the book, from the publisher:

Benjamin Justice was once one of the most prominent and respected journalists in Los Angeles, even the country. But when it was discovered that he'd invented the sources for his Pulitzer Prize winning series of articles, he lost everything - his job, his reputation, his friends. Now, many years later, Justice has finally published a memoir revealing the truth behind the events that cost him so much and made him permanently radioactive in the journalism community. And this book may be his last chance to turn things around, to make a living writing as he'd always wanted.

But his memoir brings out more than the truth - it brings out long-forgotten , long hidden ghosts from his past. And Justice finds himself, and everyone/everything he holds dear under attack.

Visit John Morgan Wilson's website.

"Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House"

New from Tin House Books: Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House, edited by Brenda Shaughnessy and CJ Evans.

About the book, from the publisher:

Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House celebrates Tin House magazine's commitment to publishing innovative contemporary poetry by both established and emerging poets.

Tin House has established itself as one of the most exciting, eclectic, and popular literary magazines in America. The Village Voice declared that Tin House "may very well represent the future of literary magazines."

This collection features work by Rae Armantrout, Frank Bidart, Billy Collins, Bei Dao, Olena Kalytiak Davis, Mark Doty, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Nick Flynn, Matthea Harvey, Terrance Hayes, Seamus Heaney, Lucia Perillo, D.A. Powell, Bin Ramke, Charles Simic, Wislawa Szymborska, C.K. Williams, and others.

Read an excerpt from Satellite Convulsions: Poems from Tin House.

"Hold My Hand"

New from Soho Constable: Serena Mackesy's Hold My Hand.

About the book, from the author's website:

Bridget Sweeny and her daughter, Yasmin, need to get out of London, fast. They’re drowning in debt and living in hell – and Kieran, Yasmin’s violent father, won’t take no for an answer, even if it’s the courts that are saying it. So when Bridget is offered a cash-in-hand job caretaking Rospetroc House, a granite-built Elizabethan mansion on the edge of Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor, it seems like the answer to their prayers. They can disappear. Their problems, if not over, can at least go on hold.

But Rospetroc has a reputation in the village and a history of high staff turnover. The house’s former owners didn't die happily. Her predecessor has left without even finishing her meal. Strange things start happening, and Yasmin develops an imaginary friend. And Kieran, back in London, is still not taking no for an answer. Slowly, as events in the house escalate, Bridget begins to suspect that they are not alone after all...

Hold My Hand is a supernatural thriller on two timelines. It tells the intertwined stories of Bridget, Yasmin and Lily, an unwanted child from the Portsmouth docks, evacuated to escape the Luftwaffe into the unwelcoming arms of the dysfunctional Blakemore family. Lily’s and Yasmin’s situations are tied together over the decades — but who is Lily: avenging angel or angry demon?

Visit Serena Mackesy's website.

"Baring Arms"

New from St. Martin's Minotaur: Baring Arms by Jo-Ann Power.

About the book, from the publisher:

All politics is loco! Especially for Texas Congresswoman Carly Wagner.

Lately, she’s been polishing her profile. Two months ago, she walked into her office in the Rayburn Building and found that a powerful man had been murdered in her chair. With the help of a young, yummy and lethal bodyguard who called himself Mr. Jones, she uncovered the killer. Now she’s getting back to work. For a smart, savvy lady who’s a former Miss Texas and a barrel-racing queen, this should be a snap. After all, she has friends in high places.

But she’s also got more than one big problem.

Her twelve-year-old daughter has gone goth. Her ex-husband doesn’t care. Her meddling mother does.

So when Carly’s daughter Jordan stumbles over the body of a neighbor strangled in his home, Carly decides to discover who did him in. But the tantalizing and infuriating Mr. Jones once more appears at her garden gate and declares he has other ideas: He warns Carly to mind her own business—and leave all the sleuthing to him.

But what’s a feisty woman to do when her child is threatened—and her career is, too? No self-respecting gal can just sit on her hands and let a mere man do all the work! Besides, Jones might be able to charm the hide off a heffer, but when it comes to lassoing varmints inside the Beltway and out, Carly knows best how to get her man. Jones has to lead, follow or get out of her way. Doesn’t he?

Baring Arms is the second in a delicious new series featuring the crime-solving duo of Congresswoman Carly Wagner and the delectable Mr. Jones.

Visit Jo-Ann Power's website.

"The Secret Life of Words"

New from Farrar, Straus and Giroux: The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English by Henry Hitchings.

About the book, from the publisher:

Words are essential to our everyday lives. An average person spends his or her day enveloped in conversations, e-mails, phone calls, text messages, directions, headlines, and more. But how often do we stop to think about the origins of the words we use? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, Dutch, or Portuguese? Try admiral, landscape, and marmalade, just for starters.

The Secret Life of Words is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English language and vocabulary, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change, and remind us of our past. Henry Hitchings delves into the insatiable, ever-changing English language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages—many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as a living archive of our human experience. He uncovers the secrets behind everyday words and explores the surprising origins of our most commonplace expressions. The Secret Life of Words is a rich, lively celebration of the language and vocabulary that we too often take for granted.

"A Deadly Silver Sea"

New from St. Martin's Minotaur: A Deadly Silver Sea by Bob Morris.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Royal Star, the most exclusive cruise ship in the world, has just set sail from Miami on its inaugural voyage. For the hundred or so notable and well-heeled passengers, including Zack Chasteen, and his wife, Barbara, the itinerary is a secret and the week ahead promises to be an ultra-indulgent tropical sojourn.

But just an hour out of port, gunmen take over the Royal Star, killing most of the officers and sequestering passengers throughout the ship. Not only is Zack separated from Barbara, he has another worry —Barbara is eight months pregnant with their first child and could go into labor at any moment. As Zack and his fellow captives struggle to get an upper hand, the ship’s hijackers offer few clues to their motives. Maybe it’s a simple kidnap/extortion plot. Or maybe the hijackers are bent on more devious ends – using the Royal Star as a giant torpedo to blow up another cruise ship. Either way, Zack must figure out a way to stop them--while keeping himself and his wife alive.

Visit Bob Morris' blog.

"Dark Rain"

New from Eos Books: Dark Rain by Tony Richards.

About the book, from the publisher:

Raine's Landing, Massachusetts, can't be located on any map. On the surface it appears an ordinary New England small town, but anyone who stumbles in wants to leave immediately . . . and once gone, they forget they were ever there. Real magic pervades this village of shadows, practiced by powerful adepts descended from the original Salem witches. But a curse has made it impossible for any resident to step beyond the town line. Those born here must die here as well.

Ross Devries and Cassandra Mallory saw their worlds destroyed by magic run amok, and dedicated their lives to keeping supernatural catastrophe at bay. But now a being more terrible than anything they've ever encountered has just crossed over the border—a powerful entity no known magic can defeat; a fierce, ancient god who feeds on terror . . . and blood. A new nightmare is descending upon Raine's Landing—and for Ross, Cass, and the entire trapped population there can be no escape . . . not even in death.

Visit Tony Richards's website.