"Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories"

New from Tor Books: Viewpoints Critical: Selected Stories by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

About the book, from the publisher:

This is the first story collection ever from the bestselling fantasy and science fiction writer L. E. Modesitt, Jr. He began publishing as a short story writer in the SF magazines in the 1970s, mostly in Analog. Some of the earliest stories are kernels for his early SF novels, others display the wide range of his talents and interests, from satire to military adventure.

This collection includes selections of stories from his entire career, as well as three new stories that have never been published before: “Black Ordermage,” set in the world of Modesitt’s bestselling Recluce series; “Beyond the Obvious Wind,” set in his Corean Chronicles universe; and “Always Outside the Lines,” which is related to the Ghosts of Columbia books.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr. is the bestselling author of over forty novels encompassing two science fiction series and three fantasy series, as well as several other novels in the science fiction genre.

Learn more about the author and his many books at L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s website and his blog.

My Book, The Movie: L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s Flash.

"The White Tiger"

New from Free Press: The White Tiger by by Aravind Adiga.

About the book, from the publisher:

Introducing a major literary talent, The White Tiger offers a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen.

Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life -- having nothing but his own wits to help him along.

Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love -- Rape -- Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.

Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem -- but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.

Sold in sixteen countries around the world, The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation -- and a startling, provocative debut.

Read an excerpt from The White Tiger.

"South by South Bronx"

New from Akashic Books: South by South Bronx by Abraham Rodriguez, Jr.

About the book, from the publisher:

When Puerto Rican ladies' man Alex awakes one morning to find a mysterious woman in his bed, he assumes he's suffered another embarrassing blackout. He soon learns, however, that Ava is no one-night stand--in fact, he's never met her before. As her story begins to unfold, and her reason for appearing in his bed emerges, it is not just Alex's life that she risks, nor her own, but the entire character of the South Bronx ...��

Visit Abraham Rodriguez, Jr.'s MySpace page.

"Pelham Fell Here"

Coming soon from Mundania Press: Pelham Fell Here by Ed Lynskey.

About the book, from the publisher:

Ex-MP and part-time gunsmith Frank Johnson finds his cousin Josh Chapman killed by a twelve-gauge shotgun. Enraged, Frank wants some answers, and fast. Was Josh involved in an arms smuggling scheme?

The mystery grows when a pair of murderous deputy sheriffs ambush Frank. Killing them in self-defense, Frank must take it on the lam while he continues his investigation.

Eventually he discovers a group of Neo-Nazis, holed up at a remote castle, who may be behind his cousin's murder. Luckily, a couple of bounty hunter pals throw in with Frank to even up the odds.

"The Conversion"

New from St. Martin's Press: The Conversion by Joseph Olshan.

About the book, from the publisher:

Russell Todaro, a young American translator, moves to Paris to take stock of his life and goals only to further lose himself in the surprising twists fate has in store for him. One night, two men waving guns and knives break and enter their Paris hotel room, terrorizing Russell and his much older companion, a famous American poet named Edward Cannon. The intruders, not finding what they seemingly expected, leave without further incident but the baffling, traumatic events overwhelm Cannon who dies in his sleep later that night. Now Russell is left to ponder the meaning of the attack, what to do with the poet’s unfinished, problematic memoir and, perhaps most importantly, how to reconstruct and move forward with his own life.

Hearing of the disturbing circumstances of Cannon’s death, an Italian writer, Marina Vezzoli, invites Russell to recuperate at her villa in Tuscany. But what at first seems like a generous invitation slowly reveals itself to be a calculated offer. As Russell’s stay in Italy lengthens, he begins to realize that the people in his life are using or manipulating him, most of all the poet’s New York publishers who, against the dying man’s wishes, are trying to acquire his unfinished manuscript. Looming over everything is the long and fascinating legacy of Villa Guidi, where during Word War II a Jewish family hid in the subterranean floors, later undergoing a conversion to Catholicism. In an echo of this dramatic history, Russell is forced to undergo a conversion of his own in order to find redemption and meaning in his life.

Visit Joseph Olshan's website.

"Bound"

New from William Morrow: Sally Gunning's Bound.

About the book, from the publisher:

Alice Cole spent her first seven years living in two smoky, crowded rooms in London with her family. But a new home and a better life waited in the colonies, or so her father promised—a bright dream that turned to ashes when her brothers and mother took ill and died during the arduous voyage. Arriving in New England unable to meet the added expenses incurred by their misfortunes at sea, her father bound Alice into servitude to pay his debts.

By the age of fifteen, Alice can barely remember the time when she was not a servant to John Morton and his daughter, Nabby. Though work fills her days, life with the Mortons is pleasant; Mr. Morton calls Alice his "sweet, good girl," and Nabby, only three years older, is her friend, companion, and now newly married, her mistress.

But Nabby's marriage is not happy, and soon Alice is caught up in its storm; seeing nothing ahead but her own destruction, she defies her new master and the law and runs away to Boston. There she meets a sympathetic widow named Lyddie Berry and her lawyer companion, Eben Freeman. Frightened and alone, Alice impulsively stows away on their ship to Satucket on Cape Cod, where the Widow Berry offers Alice a bed and a job making cloth in support of the new boycott of British wool and linen.

At Widow Berry's, Alice believes her old secret is safe, until it becomes threatened by a new one. As the days pass, the political and the personal stakes rise and intertwine, ultimately setting off a chain of events that will force Alice to question all she thought she knew. Bound by law, society, and her own heart, Alice soon discovers that freedom—as well as gratitude, friendship, trust, and love—has a price far higher than any she ever imagined.

Library Journal hailed Sally Gunning's previous novel, The Widow's War, as "historical fiction at its best." With Bound, this wonderfully talented writer returns to pre-Revolutionary New England and evokes a long-ago time filled with uncertainty, hardship, and promise.

Visit Sally Gunning's website.

"The Empty Kingdom"

New from Viking Children's Books: The Empty Kingdom by Elizabeth Wein.

About the book, from the publisher:

In The Lion Hunter, Telemakos—the half-British, half-Aksumite grandson of King Arthur—was sent for his safety to stay with one of Aksum’s former enemies. When Abreha, ruler of Himyar, allegedly the boy’s protector, catches him in the midst of what appears to be treachery, he sentences him to a fate seemingly worse than death. Not only is Telemakos forbidden to see his beloved younger sister, Athena, but he is also commanded to reproduce the maps that Abreha plans to use in order to invade Aksumite territory. Countries away from his family, lacking any way to tell them what has happened, Telemakos must bring all of his subtle talents to bear in order to regain his freedom. The Empty Kingdom is a stunning conclusion to the Mark of Solomon duology—a triumph of historic suspense.

Visit Elizabeth Wein's website.

"The Orpheus Deception"

New from Putnam: The Orpheus Deception by David Stone.

About the book, from the publisher:

CIA cleaner Micah Dalton returns for another go-round of international espionage, government cover-ups, and high-intensity pursuit that has cemented this series in the best of spy fiction.

The Orpheus Deception opens with a breathtaking assassination attempt on the rainy streets of Venice that sets CIA agent Micah Dalton on a collision course with a vengeful Serbian warlord. Picking up where The Echelon Vendetta left off-with Dalton on the run from the CIA-this "Venetian incident" with the Serbian attackers ultimately leads to a tangled web of conspiracies. Dalton tries to uncover the links between an act of brutal piracy in the South China Sea, a missing CIA agent, and the real nature of an elusive hospital ship known only as The Orpheus. As he seeks to unlock the shattering secret that binds such deceptions together, Dalton is once again ensnared in an international chase that takes him from Venice to Bangkok to Washington, D.C., and finally to a violent confrontation with Serbian terrorists in the Port of Chicago.

Visit David Stone's website.

"Empress"

New from Orbit: Karen Miller's Empress.

About the book, from the author's website:

I am Hekat, precious and beautiful. I am the god’s slave, I live for its purpose. The god is in me, I am in the god’s eye.

In a family torn apart by poverty and violence, Hekat is no more than an unwanted mouth to feed, worth only a few coins from a passing slave trader.

But Hekat was not born to be a slave. For her, a different path has been chosen.

It is a path that will take her from stinking back alleys to the house of her God, from blood-drenched battlefields to the glittering palaces of Mijak.

This is the story of Hekat, precious and beautiful.

Visit Karen Miller's website.

"X Saves the World"

New from Viking: X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking by Jeff Gordinier.

About the book, from the publisher:

A shrewd and hilarious call to arms for the generation that fell between the cracks

Jammed in between the garish showboating of the baby boomers and the tabloid-trash stunts of the millennials, the discerning generation that gave us Yahoo! and Nirvana has been quietly and inexorably changing the face of American culture. The men and women who came of age in the era of Lollapalooza have been underrepresented for too long in pop sociology, but reporter and essayist Jeff Gordinier argues that it’s time for the slackers to rise up and take charge. Taking off from his controversial Details essay “Has Generation X Already Peaked?” Gordinier takes the reader along on an enthralling, eye-opening journey—from the expatriate garrets of Prague to the amped-up offices of dot-com San Francisco, from the muddy fields of Woodstock ’94 to the celebrity-obsessed media machine of Us Weekly—in his quest to find the essence of X. Along the way he shows how Gen X innovations in art, comedy, technology, activism, and (gasp!) business have come to define the way we live now. A proud, accomplished, and unrepentant X-er, Jeff Gordinier writes with insight and biting wit about the generation that time forgot—and makes a convincing case for Gen X as maybe, secretly, the “greatest generation” of all. Like Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and The Tipping Point, X Saves the World flips conventional wisdom on its head and expertly captures the spirit of a strange and crucial era in American society.

Visit Jeff Gordinier's website.