New Hardcovers: Jul 23-30, 2012

by Kelley Armstrong
Women of the Otherworld (final installment). "A war is brewing—the first battle has been waged and Savannah Levine is left standing, albeit battered and bruised. She has rescued her half brother from supernatural medical testing, but he’s fighting to stay alive. The Supernatural Liberation Movement took him hostage, and they have a maniacal plan to expose the supernatural world to the unknowing. Savannah has called upon her inner energy to summon spells with frightening strength, a strength she never knew she had, as she fights to keep her world from shattering. But it’s more than a matter of supernaturals against one another—both heaven and hell have entered the war; hellhounds, genetically modified werewolves, and all forces of good and evil have joined the fray." Dutton Adult, 464 pages, Jul 24.

by Elspeth Cooper
Wild Hunt Trilogy 2. "Gair's battle has only just begun, and yet his heart has already been lost. As he struggles with a crippling grief, still outwardly functional but inwardly torn into pieces, he sleepwalks into a situation that's greater and more deadly than he or Alderan ever anticipated. A storm of unrest is spreading across the land and they are going to be caught up in it - at a moment when Gair's hold on his magic, his greatest defence and most valuable tool, is starting to slip ...He is not alone in noticing the growing unrest and sensing something darker looming behind it. Beyond the mountains, in the bitterly cold north, Teia has seen the signs as well. After hundreds of years of peace her people are talking of a risky invasion to reclaim their ancestral lands ...her Speaker claims the gods are on their side, but Teia fears another, hidden hand of stirring her people up. Whatever the truth, all she can see in her future is blood, battle and death. If she could only see a way to avert that fate. But how can men be convinced to fight, when they have no idea they are part of a war ...?" Gollancz, 360 pages, Jul 26.

by J. G. Ballard, Martin Amis (Introduction)
"Appearing in hardcover in America for the first time, this neglected Ballardian masterpiece promises to be a touchstone for environmentalists the world over. First published in 1962, J.G. Ballard’s mesmerizing and ferociously imaginative novel not only gained him widespread critical acclaim but also established his reputation as one of the finest writers of a generation. The Drowned World imagines a terrifying world in which global warming has melted the ice caps and primordial jungles have overrun a tropical London. Set during the year 2145, this novel follows biologist Dr. Robert Kearns and his team of scientists as they confront a cityscape in which nature is on the rampage and giant lizards, dragonflies, and insects fiercely compete for domination." Liveright, 208 pages, Jul 23.

by Jason Henderson
Final installment. "There is a famous painting in Madrid that holds the key to an apocalypse only Alex Van Helsing can stop. Within months of discovering he's next in a long line of vampire hunters, Alex Van Helsing has already defeated two powerful vampire leaders. Not bad for a fourteen-year-old. But when a newly risen vampire queen threatens the fate of the world, Alex faces his deadliest challenge yet. Teaming up with a motorcycle-riding witch, Alex jets between Switzerland, the UK, and Spain in a frantic race to prevent the queen from unleashing a curse that will plunge the world into darkness. With the clock ticking, Alex barely has time to breathe, let alone see his friends, and he's beginning to wonder if being a vampire hunter is worth all its sacrifices." HarperTeen, 320 pages, Jul 24.

by Charles Yu
Stories. "A big-box store employee is confronted by a zombie during the graveyard shift, a problem that pales in comparison to his inability to ask a coworker out on a date . . . A fighter leads his band of virtual warriors, thieves, and wizards across a deadly computer-generated landscape, but does he have what it takes to be a hero? . . . A company outsources grief for profit, its slogan: “Don’t feel like having a bad day? Let someone else have it for you.” Drawing from both pop culture and science, Charles Yu is a brilliant observer of contemporary society, and in Sorry Please Thank You he fills his stories with equal parts laugh-out-loud humor and piercing insight into the human condition. He has already garnered comparisons to such masters as Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams, and in this new collection we have resounding proof that he has arrived (via a wormhole in space-time) as a major new voice in American fiction." Pantheon, 240 pages, Jul 24.

by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston, Giancarlo Caracuzzo (Illustrator)
Ender's Game - Formic Wars. "The all-new prequel to Orson Scott Card's science-fiction classic Ender's Game returns! With 44 million people killed by the toxic gas that the alien Formics unleashed in China, the only hope of a counter-agent lies with Mazer Rackham and the Mobile Operations Police safely retrieving a sample. Meanwhile, young asteroid miner Victor Delgado has snuck aboard the Formic mother ship in hopes of taking it down alone ... and boy is he is for a big disappointment. COLLECTING: FORMIC WARS: SILENT STRIKE 1-5." Marvel, 128 pages, Jul 25.