by V.L. Hoyt (2010)
Elaine "The Mink" LaCroix had just cat-burglared into a temple in Japan and reaches for the Eye of Buddha - a blazing green emerald as big as a man's fist - when she slumps to the ground. A white bony hand strips the glowing silver ring from her finger. Half a world away, Merlin opens his eyes and whispers, "It is not to be, little Mink," then drifts to the sleep of the enchanted. The year is 2009, and the only ones standing between light and darkness are four unlikely teenagers and an Oxford professor. The defeat of the Dark Powers depends on their locating the legendary wizard, Merlin, and finishing a quest begun by their Camelot forefathers... all over the course of a one-week Spring Break. First up is Lucas Moreno, a video-gaming, football-playing, hanging-with-his-homies, 15-year-old in San Antonio. Those who join him are 14-year-old Des Moboto from Morocco, 15-year-old Maya Hosokawa from Japan, and 15-year-old Ryan Casey from Ireland. They share only two things: the inheritance of medieval rings forged by Merlin, and the murders of their fathers. The rings set the Crusaders on a path where they must battle not only ninjas, dragons, fierce temple dogs and other fantastical creatures, but also their own emotions, to save the world and each other. It could be right of one of Lucas's video games. Only this one's for real.
Marion Zimmer Bradley
From the author of the acclaimed "The Mists of Avalon" comes the first in a series of omnibus volumes of her bestselling Darkover series. Included in this volume are the two most powerful and important novels in this groundbreaking saga.
Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes
"Margaret Weis, the bestselling author of many epic adventure fantasies, is at her best in The Seventh Sigil. Five hundred years ago, a clan of rebels was banished to the bottom of the world; ever since, these Bottom Dwellers have sought revenge, and now they are waging all-out war on the rest of humanity, those who live Above. Their deadly "contramagic" beams destroy buildings and attack naval airships, and their magical drumming brings terrible storms and disrupts the magic of the people and dragons Above. The attack of their full contramagic power will create a magical armageddon. In an effort to prevent further death, the reunited Dragon Brigade will take the fight to the Bottom. But strength of arms alone will not be enough to conquer their foe. As the Bottom Dwellers' blood magic eats away at the world, those Above realize their only possible defense lies in the heretical secrets of contramagic. Loyal priests must decide whether to protect the Church, or risk its destruction in pursuit of the truth. Only the Dragon Brigade can keep the world from plunging into an endless dark age. Their epic battle will test the mettle of those thrown into the breach, and determine the fate of this magical world"--
R. S. Belcher
"R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets. 1870. A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has come through many nightmarish trials, but now an army of thirty-two outlaws, lunatics, serial killers, and cannibals are converging on the town, drawn by a grisly relic that dates back to the Donner Party...and the dawn of humanity. Sheriff Jon Highfather and his deputies already have their hands full dealing with train robbers, a mysterious series of brutal murders, and the usual outbreaks of weirdness. But with thirty-two of the most vicious killers on Earth riding into Golgotha in just a few day's time, the town and its people will be tested as never before--and some of them will never be the same. The Shotgun Arcana is even more spectacularly ambitious and imaginative than The Six-Gun Tarot, and confirms R. S. Belcher's status as a rising star"--
Holly Phillips
From acclaimed author Holly Phillips comes a major work of visionary fantasy in the vein of Jeff Vandermeer and China Mieville. As richly detailed as it is evocative, the vivid prose of this ambitious novel illuminates a lushly imagined world poised on the brink of revolution.Lanterns and flickering bulbs light the shadowy world of the rasnan, the island at the edge of a world-spanning ocean that harbors, in its ivory towers and mossy temples, the descendants of men and women who long ago fled a world ruined by magical and technological excess. But not all the island's inhabitants are resigned to exile. A mysterious brotherhood seeks to pry open doors that lead back to their damaged, dangerous homeland. Others risk the even greater danger of flight, seeking new lands and new freedoms in the vast, uncharted sea.Amid a web of conspiracy and betrayal, three people threaten to shatter this fragile world. Scheming Lord Ghar, faithful to lost gods and forbidden lore, plays an intricate power game; Lady Vashmarna, an iron-willed ruler, conceals a guilty secret behind her noble facade; and Moth, a poor, irreverent novice, holds perhaps the darkest power of all: a mysterious link to a shadowy force that may prove to be humanity's final hope--or its ultimate doom.From the Trade Paperback edition.