Lucienne Diver's Blog: Lucienne Diver's Drivel, page 7

New Releases!

Happy Holidays, everyone! The office is officially closed between now and New Years, but I’ve got some finishing up to do, so I’m in today and excited to post about this week’s new releases: THE DREAMBLOOD DUOLOGY by award-winning author N.K. Jemisin and the official movie novelization for ASSASSIN’S CREED by Christie Golden! More info below.

[image error] THE DREAMBLOOD DUOLOGY by N.K. Jemisin (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound)

The Dreamblood Duology includes the novels The Killing Moon (nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards) and The Shadowed Sun.

“One of the most celebrated new voices in epic fantasy.” — Salon.com

The city burned beneath the Dreaming Moon. In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers — the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt. But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh’s great temple, Ehiru — the most famous of the city’s Gatherers — must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering dreamers in the goddess’ name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh’s alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill — or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

[image error] ASSASSIN’S CREED: The Official Movie Novelization by Christie Golden (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound)

The official movie novelization of the “Assassin’s Creed” motion picture starring Michael Fassbender.

We work in the dark to serve the light. We are assassins.

Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.

TRIBULATIONS Cover Reveal!

Faith Hunter is bringing out two new anthologies of Rogue Mage stories: TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS, later to be combined into an omnibus edition for print called TRIUMPHANT.  Last month I revealed the cover for the first, and today I’m pleased to reveal the cover for the second, TRIBULATIONS, which includes a story written by me!

[image error]

17 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix

The Rogue Mage story began with the post-apocalyptic novels BLOODRING, SERAPHS, and HOST, when epic battles between Thorn St. Croix and the forces of Darkness were fought. TRIBULATIONS (Rogue Mage Anthology Vol. II) takes place during and after the series timeline. These stories and vignettes, set in Faith Hunter’s Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing Darkness and an uncertain future.

The relationships between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans grow deeper, and the battles with dragons and their creatures grow more dangerous. TRIBULATIONS features new short stories from five authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game.

TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS will soon be followed by TRIUMPHANT—the paperback omnibus (both Anthology Volumes I and II in a bound format).

TRIBULATIONS Authors: Faith Hunter, Jean Rabe, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, Lucienne Diver.

Super-huge Release Week!

This is a super-mega-huge release week, so even though I’m away (don’t hate me because I’m off on a cruise in the Bahamas) I didn’t want to miss wishing Alli Sinclair, Shannon Curtis, Beth Cornelison, Genevieve Cogman or Keith R.A. DeCandido big happy book birthdays!  Happy reading, all!

[image error] UNDER THE SPANISH STARS by Alli Sinclair (US release from Kensington’s Lyrical Press, AUS/NZ edition from MIRA Australia already out)

Amid the vivid beauty of Granada, a woman entrusted with unraveling a family secret will discover the truth about her heritage–and the alluring promise of love…

When her beloved grandmother falls ill, Charlotte Kavanagh will do whatever she asks of her–even if it means traveling to a country that broke her abuela’s heart. Can an unsigned painting of a flamenco dancer unlock the secrets of her grandmother’s youth in Spain? To find the answers she needs, Charlotte must convince the charismatic and gifted musician, Mateo Vives to introduce her to a secluded gypsy clan.

The enigmatic Mateo speaks the true language of flamenco, a culture Charlotte must learn to appreciate if she wants to understand her grandmother’s past–and the flamenco legend that has moved souls to beauty, and bodies to the heights of passion. As Mateo leads her into the captivating world of the music and the dance, Charlotte embraces her own long-denied creative gift and the possibility of a future rich with joy…”

[image error]WARRIOR UNTAMED by Shannon Curtis (Harlequin Nocturne)

A witch’s spell…a warrior’s curse 

If not for her protective wards, witch Melissa Carter would be dead at the hands of her enemy, shadow breed Hunter Galen. Now he’s her prisoner. Though she tortures the powerful warrior with spells, he torments her with dark fantasies, inciting a forbidden lust too strong to deny.

Hunter must escape to complete his mission—destroy his father, who vowed revenge on him and his beautiful captor. But a warrior mates for life and now Hunter must protect Melissa—his mortal enemy and unlikely love. Doing so means descending into the underground world of the Darkken, a place so evil they might not come out alive…

[image error] COLTON CHRISTMAS PROTECTOR by Beth Cornelison (Harlequin Romantic Suspense)

The Coltons of Texas saga reaches its thrilling climax with a tale of Christmas justice!

Ex-cop Reid Colton is working double-time to help beautiful widow Penelope Barrington Clark. While investigating her dad, his family lawyer, the two are also trying to uncover who murdered Pen’s husband…all while keeping their relationship professional! But when a bullet and their forbidden attraction change everything, it’s Reid to the rescue, determined to guard Pen and her son with his life.

The last thing Penelope wants is to fall for a sexy Colton who’s not looking for forever. Yet as Christmas approaches and their investigation heats up, the three start to feel like a family. And the best present of all? Solving the Colton clan’s biggest mystery!

[image error] THE BURNING PAGE by Genevieve Cogman (UK release from Macmillan UK, US release by Roc will be January 10th)

The third title in Genevieve Cogman’s clever and exciting The Invisible Library series, The Burning Page is an action-packed literary adventure!

When it’s your job to save the day – where do you start?

Librarian spy Irene has standards to maintain, especially while on probation. And absconding from a mission via a besieged building doesn’t look good. But when her escape route home goes up in flames, what’s a spy to do? However, it seems Gates back to the Library are malfunctioning across dozens of worlds. Worse still, her nemesis Alberich is responsible -and he plans to annihilate the Library itself.

Irene and assistant Kai are posted to St Petersburg, to help combat this threat. Here Alberich emerges, as Irene tries to save her friend Vale and foil assassination attempts. Then one incredibly dangerous opportunity to save the Library emerges. Saving herself would be a bonus . . .

Irene’s adventures feature stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies – think Doctor Who but with librarian spies!

[image error] SUPER CITY COPS: AVENGING AMETHYST by Keith R.A. DeCandido (Bastei Entertainment)

The great metropolis of Super City is the home of dozens of costumed heroes — the Terrific Trio, the Bruiser, the Superior Six, the Cowboy, and many more — who do battle against the super-villains who terrorize the citizenry.

These aren’t their stories …

When the heroes are done punching out the villains, it’s left to the stalwart men and women of the Super City Police Department to restrain them, arrest them, and hope that this time there’s enough evidence to actually convict them.

Just another day on the job for the Super City Cops.

BOOK 1

Amethyst, one of the most renowned and mysterious costumed heroes of Super City, is found dead on a rooftop. Detectives Kristin Milewski and Jorge Alvarado of the Super City Police Department are assigned to the case-but every answer they turn up with regards to who Amethyst is and how and why he died just gives them more questions.

Complicating the investigation are the rest of the superheroic community, who are looking for revenge for their fallen comrade-plus there are reports of a new Amethyst! Same powers, same costume, but a much nastier attitude …

Awards, Best of Lists and Travel, oh my!

Closing the week out on a high note, I want to send out a great, big, virtual high five to my new award-winners and those who are burning up the best of lists, so here we go!

Congratulations to:

[image error] Alli Sinclair for winning Best Established Author and Best Cover for her novel UNDER THE SPANISH STARS (AUS/NZ edition)  in the 2016 AusRom Today Readers’ Choice Awards!

[image error] Genevieve Cogman for all the great attention for THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY:

Barnes & Nobles’ list of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Amazon’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Library Journal’s Best Books of 2016: Science Fiction & Fantasy

German edition (Die Unsichtbare Bibliothek) won Silver in the Der Leiserpreis Awards

[image error] N.K. Jemisin for THE OBELISK GATE appearing on:

Barnes & Nobles’ list of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Amazon’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Kirkus’s Best Fiction of 2016

[image error] N.K. Jemisin for THE FIFTH SEASON hitting:

The Guardian’s Best Books of 2016 Science Fiction and Fantasy

I know you’ve all heard me crow already about her Hugo-Award win!

In completely unrelated news, there are two weeks left to enter YA Books Central’s giveaway of my new release FAULTLINES! (Though it wouldn’t break my heart if you want to grab your copy now rather than wait and hope. Either way, I won’t judge!)

I’ll try to set my blog to post my happy book birthdays for next week (there are a ton of them!) while I’m away, but otherwise, all will be quiet on the bloggish front while I take a much-needed few days off to snorkel and cruise with my husband.

APHRODITE

Aphrodite must have the best public relations firm EVAR on retainer. She gets all the credit as the goddess of love, but really, Aphrodite is Our Lady of Lust, the Goddess of Grab-ass, Queen of Coitus, Mistress of… (My daughter has asked me to stop now, I’m embarrassing her!)

As you might guess, Aphrodite is pretty much the antithesis to Athena. In fact, Make Love, Not War might easily have been her slogan…if she wasn’t responsible for one of the most infamous in history—the Trojan War. Oh, you thought Helen was responsible for that one? With the face that launched a thousand ships? Well, then, you don’t know the whole story. It all started with a wedding, and the one goddess who wasn’t invited—Eris, the goddess of discord. She lobbed a glistening golden apple into the assemblage marked “To the Fairest”. Surprise, surprise, goddesses have egos, and Hera, Athena and Aphrodite all thought it must be meant for them. They appealed to Zeus for a decision, but he wasn’t dumb enough to make it himself, and instead designated a mortal, Paris, as the judge.

Each goddess tried to stack the deck in her favor, starting the longstanding tradition of bribing judges. Hera offered power; Athena wisdom and Aphrodite offered Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, nevermind that she was already married to someone else! So, Paris stole her away…from a Spartan king, no less (foolish, foolish man)…and set off the Trojan War. The king, by the way, was the famous Menelaus; Helen’s sister and brother-in-law were Clytemnestra and Agamemnon of Mycenae. Talk about people not to piss off! Plus, unsurprisingly, Athena took the Greek side in battle. And while Ares (one of Aphrodite’s lovers) sided with Troy, it didn’t go so well for their team.

Modern day, Aphrodite is still causing trouble, mostly in people’s marriages!

Aliases: Venus, Ishtar, Inanna

SIRENS

The number of Sirens varies depending on which source you go to for your mythology…maybe because the Sirens left so few alive who could bear witness! These lovely ladies used their haunting voices to lure sailors ever closer to the jagged coastline which would wreck their boats and send them to their deaths.

Why? Well, that’s a good question. Word has it that the Sirens started off as the nereids who were Persephone’s companions when she was kidnapped. Upset at their failure to protect her, Demeter gave them wings and sent them off in search of their friend. When they didn’t return with Persephone, Demeter cursed them to sing death.

Many a man lost his mind and his life to their siren songs, though Odysseus, warned by his lover Circe, stopped up the ears of his crew with wax when they passed by the lethal ladies. But the Sirens sang of secrets Odysseus wanted to hear, so he ordered himself lashed to the mast so that he wouldn’t leap to his doom while he listened to their songs. He thrashed and begged and did his very best to escape with his crew pulling the lashings ever tighter to hold him in place until they were out of earshot.

There’s no record of what Odysseus heard or whether it was worth his torment, but the Sirens, devastated by his escape, apparently threw themselves into rocks against which they’d dashed so many hopes.

THANATOS

 God of the sun, music, frivolity…forget that! Thanatos is the living personification of death. If goths had a god, it might be this guy. (Unless, maybe, it’s Morpheus, god of dreams and nightmares.) But come on— I mean, dark robe, sacrificial sword…score!

One of the sons of Hades, he’s generally associated with the underworld. Also generally in company with his brother Hypnos.

Thanatos is know to speak softly and carry a big-honkin’ sword!

 

Aliases: Mors

JANUS

You may have called someone two-faced once or twice in your life, but I bet you didn’t mean it literally! Janus is, literally, a two-faced god. He’s the god of beginnings and endings, doorways and transitions. He’s said to be able to see the past and the future. Yeah, they don’t let him play the tables in Vegas.

Given his godly attributes, doorways, particularly ceremonial arches were dedicated to him, and there were lucky and unlucky ways to walk through. The doors of his shrines were said to be open in times of war, presumably to provide sanctuary, and closed in times of peace.

A bit of a recluse. Rumored to be an eccentric as well with quite a collection of esoteric memorabilia, including, it’s said, doomsday machines.

POSEIDON

One of the big three (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, the brothers among whom the world’s domains were divided). Poseidon got the oceans, the seas, and everything in them.

Oh yeah, he carries a big ole stick, which may or may not be compensating for something else pokey he’s constitutionally incapable of keeping in his pants…or fishtail, depending on the representation. Only the trident is three-pronged, and word has it his dinghy is a little more…traditional.

In Rick Riordan’s excellent Percy Jackson series, Poseidon was the boy’s father. You can see a whole list of his purported conquests and progeny at the end of his Wiki entry. Yeah, it was ages ago, but good gossip never grows old.

Poseidon is often given the epithet Earth-Shaker, because when he goes into one of his rages, he can cause the earth to quake, the seas to surge, ships to wreck…. He’s the god who caused such trouble for Odysseus and his men on their way back from the Trojan War (as revenge for blinding his son, the cyclops Polyphemus, who would otherwise have eaten them). Sailors often made offerings and worshiped Poseidon to get on his good side and smooth their way.

He could be creative as well as destructive. Word is, he created horses as a way to impress Demeter. Also, that she hid out as one of them trying (and failing) to escape his attentions. He also made many other animals along the way trying for just the right one to turn her head.

His battle with Athena over the patronage of Athens is the stuff of myth and led to so many things, like the sad downfall of my ancestress, Medusa.

Aliases: Neptune, Possibly Yamm, but…

HYPNOS

Hypnos is the son of some pretty heavy hitters—the primordial goddess Nyx (Night) and god Erebus (Darkness). He himself is the god of sleep. Perchance to dream? Nah, that’s the realm of his son Morpheus. But the two are often confused or even combined, because Hypnos is also associated with hypnosis or hallucinations. The opiate poppy was his flower, and he’s also often pictured with a branch dripping water from the River Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness that runs through the underworld.

He wasn’t a major player in most of the stories in Greek mythology, but more of a henchman—putting to sleep the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece so that Jason could make off with it, putting Zeus to sleep so that he couldn’t hinder Hera from helping her chosen side in the Trojan War and as a reward winning for himself the youngest of the Graces, Pasithea, as his wife.   I’m still stunned that people gave away brides like door prizes back in the day, sometimes even regifting them (like Helen to Paris after she was already married to Menelaus!)

Roman equivalents: Somnus or Sopor