LCPL Sci Fi, Horror, & Fantasy

Best horror from 2010

lcplreaders — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:38:44 +0000

The Readers Advisor online blog suggests these gems from last year.

Under the Radar: Best Horror of 2010

Laird Barron – Occultation
Robert Jackson Bennett – Mr. Shivers
Justin Cronin – The Passage
Ellen Datlow, ed. – Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (short stories)
Stephen M. Irwin – The Dead Path
Stephen King – Full Dark, No Stars
Jeff Lindsay – Dexter Is Delicious
John Ajvide Lindqvist – Handling the Undead
Dan Wells – Mr. Monster
Dave Zeltserman – The Caretaker of Lorne Field

New Science Fiction and Fantasy Added

lcplreaders — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:57:09 +0000

Fifteen new science fiction and fantasy titles are being added to the library’s collection this week, including Book Two of the Cobra War series by Timothy Zahn, an adventurous tale by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and an alternative history by Catherynne M. Valente that’s getting 5-star reviews from readers. Take a look! Receive a weekly email list of all the new items added to the library’s collection by subscribing to Wowbrary. It’s a free and easy way to quickly see what’s new at your library.

Gibson wraps up a trilogy

lcplreaders — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 22:16:58 +0000

Though Zero History stands on its own, readers may find it more rewarding if they remember Pattern Recognition and Spook Country by William Gibson. In the latest novel, Gibson uses consumerism, the military-industrial complex, addiction and more to explore today’s global culture. Touted as the funniest and lightest of Gibson’s books so far.

It’s a mad, mad world

lcplreaders — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 03:07:55 +0000

Connie Willis’s latest, Blackout, sends a team of historians from the year 2060 back to World War II to see how average people in London survived Hitler’s Blitz. While they have to be concerned about the proper attire and interpersonal relationships, at least they don’t have to worry about changing history. Sophisticated 21st-century technology prevents it … or so they think.

Dark, Indeed

lcplreaders — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:57:08 +0000

Best-selling writer Peter Straub has been praised for his ability to blend horror with literary fiction. Critics gave mixed reviews of his latest novel, A Dark Matter, with some raving about Straub’s mastery of the horror genre and others complaining they were bored! As usual, what do the critics know?

Straub’s main character, Lee Hartwell, has a bad case of writer’s block. He switches to nonfiction, writing about a deadly incident from his youth that he hasn’t talked about in years. As he goes back to discover what really happened on that strange night, he finds that the answers are far from simple.

2010 Locus Award Winners for SF and Fantasy

lcplreaders — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:13:47 +0000

The winners of the 2010 Locus Award include:

Best SF Novel: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Best Fantasy Novel: The City & the City by China Miéville

Best First Novel: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

See all the winners at Locus Magazine.

A New Vamp in Town

lcplreaders — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:59:12 +0000

Finally! Someone is putting vampires to good use.

In Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth, Cade is sworn to protect the President, but he’s no ordinary civil servant– he’s a vampire! Partnered with Barrows, an ambitious young White House staffer, their first assignment uncovers a government conspiracy and a plot to attack the United States with a gruesome new biological weapon.

Windup Girl wins the Nebula

lcplreaders — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:24:48 +0000

Paolo Bacigalupi has won the Nebula award for best novel (given by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) for his debut book The Windup Girl. The story that captured the prize deals with bio-terrorism used as a tool for corporate profits.

Latest by Briggs tops the list

lcplreaders — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:52:34 +0000

Celebrating her first appearance at #1 on the hardcover NYT best seller list this week is Patricia Briggs, for Silver Borne, the fifth book in her Mercy Thompson series, about a shapeshifter and auto mechanic in Washington State. You can read the author’s thoughts on her new novel at http://www.patriciabriggs.com/books/silverBorne.shtml

Previous titles in the series are:

#1 Moon Called
#2 Blood Bound
#3 Iron Kissed
#4 Bone Crossed

Move over, vampires. Here come the angels.

lcplreaders — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:08:35 +0000

Angels may be pushing vampires and zombies out of the fantasy publishing limelight with these new releases:

Fallen by Lauren Kate
Suspected in the death of her boyfriend, seventeen-year-old Luce is sent to a Savannah, Georgia, reform school where she meets two intriguing boys and learns the truth about the strange shadows that have always haunted her.

Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Having entered a convent at a young age, Sister Evangeline discovers a letter from famous philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller that reveals an ancient conflict between an angel society Evangeline is destined to join and the human descendants of the Nephilim.

Meridian by Amber Kizer
On her sixteenth birthday, Meridian Sozu is whisked off to her great-aunt’s home in Revelation, Colorado, where she learns that she is a Fenestra, the half-human, half-angel link between the living and the dead, and must learn to help human souls to the afterlife before the dark forces reach them.

Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith
When Miranda’s guardian angel Zachary recklessly saves her from falling into an open grave and dying, the result is that she turns into a vampire and he is left to try to reinstate his reputation by finally doing the right thing..