Local author release day: Guardian of Night by Tony Daniel

Another week has passed, and, lo, there is another local author book newly released to the world. Today, it's Guardian of Night by Tony Daniel:

Here's the book description:

A NEW HOPE FOR CIVILIZATION—A LAST STAND FOR EARTH 

For alien Commander Arid Ricimer there was no going home. His species was winning the war with Earth, but the civilization he had fought for was gone, destroyed from within by ideologues and bureaucrats. So he does the only thing that makes sense to a person of integrity—he attempts to defect to Earth with his officers and an entire spaceship, a vessel that mounts a superweapon of almost unimaginable power. 

Hot on his heels is his former fleet, a force that has already devastated Earth once, and is poised to wipe humanity from existence forever, ready to do almost anything to deny Earth a chance. 

To the defenders of Earth he is an enigma—and potentially a Trojan horse. Yet after years of battling back from the brink of destruction, the U.S. space navy has the war-tested heroes to rise to the challenge Ricimer represents—and the danger that follows him—if only those in charge will listen. 

The players are in motion and the greatest confrontation this sector of the galaxy has ever witnessed is at hand. Now all depends on the courage of an honorable alien warrior and the intelligence and daring of his human allies.

The book is also available in e-book directly from publisher Baen in a variety of formats, as well as in audiobook, narrated by Victor Bevine (the same voice behind David Drake's Lt. Leary series) for Audible Frontiers:

Holy slush progress, Batman!

Thanks to the efforts of new associate fiction editors, a.k.a. "slushreaders", JM McDermott and Brenda Kalt, under "senior associate fiction editor" Sarah Rogers who has been pushing the boulder up the hill by herself for a good while now, there's been an amazing uptick in reading submissions. And now, even better: I finally figured out how to easily get all of the submissions slowly languishing in my old submissions inbox moved to their shared story reading inbox -- meaning, hopefully, these 100+ day old stories will actually get read very soon.

Local and regional (and Bull Spec alumni!) author release day wrapup, January 31, 2012

January 31, 2012 was a good day for fans of local and regional fantasy, as Hillsborough's James Maxey and Charlotte's Gail Z. Martin join Bull Spec #4 alum David Tallerman with new books.

First, Maxey's Greatshadow, which is out from Solaris Books and begins a new series:

"Greatshadow is the primal dragon of fire, an elemental evil whose malign intelligence spies upon mankind through every candle flame, waiting to devour any careless victim he can claim. The Church of the Book has assembled a team of twelve battle-hardened adventurers to slay the dragon once and for all. But tensions run high between the leaders of the team who view the mission as a holy duty and the super-powered mercenaries who add power to their ranks, who view the mission primarily as a chance to claim Greatshadow's vast treasure trove. If the warriors fail to slay the beast, will they doom mankind to death by fire?" Note: also available on Nook and Kindle. Bonus: an interview at McNally Robinson. Event: Maxey is reading on Friday Feb 10th at Quail Ridge Books.

Second, Martin's The Dread, which continues her second Winter Kingdoms series as book 2 of her Fallen Kings cycle from Orbit Books, after the four books of the Chronicles of the Necromancer from Solaris Books:

"Still reeling from plague and civil war, the Winter Kingdoms face an invasion force from across the Northern Sea led my a dark spirit mage in the name of ancient, vanquished gods. Summoner-King Martris Drayke and an untested generation of new rulers must stand against an unholy alliance of shadowy invaders. To prevail, Tris must win the uncertain support of the Dread, spirit-beings that stand guard within the sacred barrows over an even more fearsome threat imprisoned within. In the balance lies not only the freedom of the Winter Kingdoms, but Tris’s life and the soul of his young son, whose untested magic might be the biggest spoil of war.  The Dread is Book Two of The Fallen Kings Cycle, and it picks up the adventures of Tris, Jonmarc and the Winter Kingdoms gang immediately after the events in The Sworn." Note: also available in audiobook from Tantor Audio (Audible link), and on Nook and Kindle. Event: Martin has several readings coming up in the regional area.


Lastly, Tallerman's debut novel Giant Thief, out from Angry Robot:

"Meet Easie Damasco, rogue, thieving swine and total charmer. Even the wicked can't rest when a vicious warlord and the force of enslaved giants he commands invade their homeland.  Damasco might get away in one piece, but he's going to need help. Big time." Note: also available on Nook and Kindle, and coming on May 1 in audiobook from Brilliance Audio. Bonus: an interview at The Qwillery.


TIP: The book title links given go to Goodreads, where you can use the IndieBound search button to find the book in a local independent bookstore.