Sep 11 2011

ACE/ROC 2011 Fall Preview and Giveaway from Anne Sowards

By Jane • Contests/Giveaways • • Tags: ,

Update:  Our winners are as follows:

 

1) Lauren
2) md
3) sarah mayberry
4) Sara M
5) Jikie
6) Mary Beth
7) Brandy
8) Marty
9) Jacqueline Cook
10) Ann
11) shelley
12) margaret whelehan
13) Patrice
14) JenM
15) SarahM
16) Pamk
17) RachaelM
18) Tae
19) Seema
20) Teresa Warner
21) Julia Broadbooks
22) Heather F.
23) lisabookworm
24) Frannie
25) Rhianna
26) kim57
27) Van P.
28) Teri C
29) Pria
30) Jade

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Welcome to Ace and Roc’s exciting fall books preview and giveaway. It’s almost autumn, and when it starts getting colder, I, for one, love to curl up with a good book. We’ve got some great debuts and new titles from favorite authors to talk about (and give away) to keep you entertained no matter the weather.

Thanks again to Dear Author for giving me this opportunity to let you know about some of our terrific upcoming titles. As always, there are too many good books for me to mention all of them, so you can visit our site (http://us.penguingroup.com/scififantasy) or our Facebook page to see what other books we’re publishing (http://www.facebook.com/acerocbooks).

September 2011

shadow kin by m j scottSHADOW KIN by M. J. Scott

This is a debut I absolutely loved when I read the manuscript for the editor who was considering it, and I hope you’ll give it a shot! It’s set in a wonderfully realized fantasy city with a 19th century feel to it, and the main character is an assassin bound to a vampire lord. It combines elements of traditional fantasy, urban fantasy, steampunk, and romance in an evocative world to make a powerful, unique, and thrilling story.

Imagine a city divided. On one side, the Night World ruled by the Blood Lords and the Beast Kind. On the other, the elusive Fae and the humans protected by their steadfast mages. A city held together by nothing more than a treaty—and even then, just barely…

I was born of a Fae mother, but I had no place among her kind. They called me soulless. An abomination. Perhaps they’re right.… I am a wraith, a shadow who slips between worlds. I was given into the service of the Blood Lord Lucius, who raised me to be his most feared assassin. Still, I’m nothing more than a slave to my master and to the need that only he can fulfill.…

Then Lucius orders me to kill Simon DuCaine, a powerful sunmage. In the blaze of Simon’s magic, my own disappears. Instead of seeking revenge, he shows me mercy. He wants to free me. But that’s one thing my master and his kind will never allow.

And even if I thought I could trust Simon, stepping from the shadows into the light isn’t as simple as it sounds.…

 

christine cody

BloodlandsBLOODLANDS and BLOOD RULES by Christine Cody

Because I completely failed to organize an Ace / Roc giveaway for our summer titles (mea culpa), you may have missed the launch of Christine Cody’s new Bloodlands series in August. We are publishing the books back-to-back, so I’m making up for my oversight by highlighting the series and giving away the first two books.

This is another new series that’s so fresh and different it’s a little hard to classify. Christine’s editor describes it as a post-apocalyptic western—with vampires.

The New Badlands—a desolate area in the West forged by the terrible events that altered the entire country, where a few frightened citizens retreated underground to shelter from the brutal weather…and from a society gone deadly dangerous.

Then the vampire arrived—and they started calling it the Bloodlands.

Not because Gabriel, the so-called monster running from his true self, was searching for his lover’s murderer. Nor because Mariah, the woman who reluctantly took him in, was willing to do anything to survive in the changed world.

No, the Badlands officially became the Bloodlands the moment a gun-for-hire who’d decided to slay every monster left in the country came after Gabriel.…

 

October 2011

SINS OF THE ANGELS by Linda Poitevin
SINS OF THE ANGELS by Linda Poitevin

This is the first in an exciting new urban fantasy series featuring a detective with a secret lineage, an undercover hunter, and a Fallen Angel out to destroy the world.

Homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis answers to no one. Especially not to the new partner assigned to her in the middle of a gruesome serial-killer case—a partner who is obstructive, irritatingly magnetic, and arrogant as hell.

Aramael is a Power—a hunter of the Fallen Angels. A millennium ago, he sentenced his own brother to eternal exile for crimes against humanity. Now his brother is back and wreaking murderous havoc in the mortal realm. To find him, Aramael must play second to a human police office who wants nothing to do with him and whose very bloodline threatens both his mission and his soul.

Now, faced with a Fallen Angel hell-bent on triggering the apocalypse, Alex and Aramael have no choice but to join forces, because only together can they stop the end of days.

 

DEAD MANN WALKING by Stefan PetruchaDEAD MANN WALKING by Stefan Petrucha

I have three words for you: zombie private detective. DEAD MANN WALKING kicks off a new series with a twist. Full disclosure—there is not a lot in the way of romance in this book. But if you like straight up fantasy noir mystery, this could be right up your alley.

The name is, or maybe I should say was, Hessius Mann. I’m dead. After I was executed for my wife’s murder, suppressed evidence came to light and the verdict was overturned. Lucky me, I was brought back to life, thanks to the miracles of modern science. Not that anyone believes I’m innocent. Hell, even I don’t, seeing as how I can’t remember.

Livebloods would rather we zombies be unseen and unheard as well as undead, but now that I’ve joined the ranks of Fort Hammer’s pulse-challenged, I try to make a “living” as a private investigator. Not that I get hired often. So when a lawyer brings me a missing person case and offers a whole lot of cash, I’m not inclined to say no. But after a few zombies turn up cut to pieces, I start thinking someone’s giving me the run-around—and it’s not like I’m in any condition to make a quick getaway…

 

ANGELS OF DARKNESS by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon ShinnANGELS OF DARKNESS by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn

This is a collection of four urban fantasy and paranormal romance novellas with an angel theme from an absolute all-star lineup of writers!

 

Angel’s Wolf by Nalini Singh

In the spellbinding universe of the Guild Hunter, a vampire becomes obsessed with the seductive angel who rules the Louisiana territory. But in her court, all is not what it appears to be.

 

Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews

A woman is kidnapped into a world divided by a superhuman civil war. As the captive of an irresistibly dangerous male, she has two choices: submit and become a pawn, or take hold of her own destiny.

 

Ascension by Meljean Brook

When vampires disappear from a community he’s protecting, a world-weary Guardian doesn’t know what evil he’s hunting, but he’d rather hunt alone than accept help from his ex-lover and fellow Guardian, Radha. But Radha refues to leave him, because she’s determined not just to help him save the community…but to save him.

 

Nocturne by Sharon Shinn

Accepting a position in a secluded and whispered-about mansion, a woman soon discovers the source of its mystery: the blind, tormented angel who lives there, and whose secrets could now destroy them both.

 

November 2011

 

THE SHADOW READER by Sandy WilliamsTHE SHADOW READER by Sandy Williams

THE SHADOW READER is the first book my wonderful assistant Kat Sherbo has edited, and it’s really terrific. It’s urban fantasy, but about the fae, and with as strong a focus on the fae realm as the human. The heroine’s voice drew me in right away. All her life she’s been used by the fae for the special ability she has, and when the book opens she’s taking a college final for the umpteenth time—only to be interrupted by the fae, who need her for something. Again.

 

Some humans can see the fae. McKinzie Lewis can track them, reading the shadows they leave behind. But some shadows lead to danger. Others lead to lies.

A Houston college student trying to finish her degree, McKenzie has been working for the fae king for years, tracking vicious rebels who would claim the Realm. Her job isn’t her only secret. For just as long, she’s been in love with Kyol, the king’s sword-master—and relationships between humans and fae are forbidden.

But any hope for a normal life is shattered when she’s captured by Aren, the fierce and uncompromising rebel leader. He teaches her the forbidden fae language and tells her dark truths about the Court, all to persuade her to turn against the king. Time is running out, and as the fight starts to claim human lives, McKenzie has to decide once and for all whom to trust—and where she ultimately stands in the face of a cataclysmic civil war.

 

LAST BREATH by Rachel CaineLAST BREATH by Rachel Caine

This is not technically a Roc book, but I write this, so.… LAST BREATH is the next in Rachel’s Morganville Vampires YA series. Personally, I think the series hits a new high with this book. It’s so powerful and emotionally wrenching that I cried. (Not to say that I’m a heartless wench or anything, but it takes a lot for a book to make me cry.) Never fear—things will turn out in the end.

 

Morganville, Texas, is a small college town that’s had its share of problems, thanks to a sometimes volatile mix of human and vampire residents. But there is a new threat in town, and he’s turning the vampires from predators into prey.…

With her boss preoccupied researching the Founder Houses in Morganville, student Claire Danvers is left to her own devices when she learns that three vampires have vanished without a trace.

She soon discovers that the last person seen with one of the missing vampires is someone who has just moved to town—a mysterious individual named Magnus. After an uneasy encounter with Morganville’s newest resident, Claire is certain Magnus isn’t merely human. But is Magnus a vampire—or something else entirely?

One thing is clear: Magnus is to blame for the disappearances. And if vampires are turning into victims, what chance does a human like Claire have?

 

December 2011

 

THE DOOMSDAY VAULT by Steven HarperTHE DOOMSDAY VAULT by Steven Harper

Another new series! The first of the Clockwork Empire novels is a highly entertaining romp through a steampunk world of gears and gadgets.

 

In a Britannia of clockwork automatons and airships, Alice Michaels’s prospects are looking grim.

The Honorable Alice B. Michaels is in a life-or-death struggle for survival—socially speaking, that is. At age twenty-one, her unladylike interest in automatons, and the unfortunate death of most of her family from the clockwork plague, have sealed her fate as a less than desirable marriage prospect. But a series of strange occurrences is about to lead Alice in a direction quite beyond the pale.

High above the earth on the American airship USS Juniper, Gavin Ennock lives for the wind and the sky and his fiddle. After privateers attack the Juniper, he is stranded on the dank, dirty, merciless streets of London. When Alice’s estranged aunt leaves her a peculiar inheritance, she encounters Gavin under most unusual—even shocking—circumstances.

Then Alice’s inheritance attracts the attention of the Third Ward, a clandestine organization that seizes the inventions of mad geniuses the plague leaves behind—all for the good of the Empire. But even the Third Ward has secrets. And when Alice and Gavin discover them, a choice must be made between the world and the Empire, no matter the risk to all they hold dear.

 

FATE’S EDGE by Ilona AndrewsFATE’S EDGE by Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews is endlessly inventive and always surprising, and I have to say I just love the Edge series, set in a world with Wal-Mart on one side and sorcerers on the other. Each book follows a new couple, although you’ll see appearances from favorites (like Jack and George) in FATE’S EDGE.

 

The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale—and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…

Born into a family of con men, Audrey Callahan left behind her life in the Edge for an unmagical existence in the Broken. Audrey is determined to stay on the straight and narrow, but when her brother gets into hot water, she takes on one last heist and finds herself matching wits with a jack-of-all-trades.

Kaldar Mar is a gambler, a lawyer, a thief, and a spy with some unusual talents that guarantee him lucrative work. His latest assignment has him tracking down a stolen item, and Kaldar doesn’t expect much of a challenge—until Audrey turns up to give him a run for his money.

But when the missing object falls into the hands of a lethal criminal, Kaldar realizes that in order to finish the job and survive, he’s going to need Audrey’s help…

 

Here’s what we’re giving away:

 

  • Shadow Kin by M. J. Scott (three finished copies)
  • Bloodlands and Blood Rules by Christine Cody (three sets of finished copies)
  • Aftermath by Ann Aguirre (two finished copies)
  • Sins of the Angels by Linda Poitevin (two advance reading copies)
  • Dead Mann Walking by Stefan Petrucha (two advance reading copies)
  • Angels of Darkness by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Sharon Shinn (three advance reading copies)
  • The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams (three advance reading copies)
  • Last Breath by Rachel Caine (three advance reading copies)
  • Magic on the Line by Devon Monk (three advance reading copies)
  • Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews (three advance reading copies)
  • The Doomsday Vault by Steven Harper (three advance reading copies)

Anne Sowards is an executive editor at Penguin Group (USA) Inc., where she primarily acquires and edits fantasy and science fiction for the Ace and Roc imprints. Some of the great authors she works with include Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Anne Bishop, Ilona Andrews, Karen Chance, Jack Campbell, and Rob Thurman. When she’s not reading, she listens to Chinese rap and spends way too much time playing video games. Follow her at http://twitter.com/AnneSowards.

TO ENTER:  Leave a comment about your favorite thing to do in the fall.  Contest will end on Friday, September 9, noon CST.

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