2011 local and regional author holiday book buying guide.

As the nights get colder and you look for a book to curl up with, or for a gift for the readers (or those darned fools who should be reading!) in your life, there are hundreds and hundreds of choices. Well, here, I'll narrow this down to local and regional authors in (primarily, I promise!) science fiction and fantasy, presented along a few categories. Enjoy! (And if this isn't quite enough, there's always last year's list...)

(A brief aside for a local book-buying hint: I've largely given Goodreads links for the books here. Use the "online stores" dropdown to select IndieBound, and then use IndieBound's buttons to find it in a local store by zip code or city. And one more thing: there are a lot of Kindle and other e-books that I didn't list -- Wake Forest author Michael Jasper and Hertford, NC author David Niall Wilson, among others, I am so looking at you -- this list is really meant to be a "stuff I can pick up or at least order in a local bookstore by a local author, wrap up, and give to someone" list, with exceptions for a couple of digital-only audiobooks.)

YOUNG READERS:

• Hillsborough: John Claude Bemis's The White City (Random House Books for Young Readers, August) concludes his The Clockwork Dark trilogy, which began with 2009's The Nine Pound Hammer and continued with 2010's The Wolf Tree. Audiobooks (both boxed CD sets and giftable Audible.com downloads) for all 3 books are also available. Additionally, a paperback edition of The Wolf Tree came out this year
• Durham: Stephen Messer's The Death of Yorik Mortwell (Random House Books for Young Readers, September) is his second standalone book for young readers after last year's Windblowne. This one is a quirky ghost story, illustrated by Gris Grimly. Additionally, a paperback edition of Windblowne came out this year
• Charlotte: A. J. Hartley's Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact (Razorbill, October) introduces 11-year-old Darwen Arkwright, a boy who has just moved from England to Atlanta. R.L. Stine calls it "Fantastic, surprising fun!" and it received a positive review from the NY Journal of Books

FANTASY:

• Pittsboro: David Drake's Out of the Waters (Tor, July) is the second novel in his Books of the Elements tetralogy, which began with last year's The Legions of Fire which was released in mass market paperback earlier this year
• Raleigh: Clay and Susan Griffith's The Rift Walker (Pyr, September) is the second novel in their Vampire Empire trilogy, which began with last year's The Greyfriar
• Chapel Hill: Natania Barron's Pilgrim of the Sky (Candlemark & Gleam, December) is her debut novel, which Cherie Priest calls "... a lush, dreamy fable - both vintage gothic, and modern mystery ... lovingly laced with magic and darkness from start to finish." Pre-orders are being handled through a Kickstarter campaign as well as via B&N -- though I'm sure other local bookstores can figure out how to get the book to you
• Durham: Mur Lafferty's 5-book Afterlife series (Heaven, Hell, Earth, Wasteland, and War), originally released as podcasted audiobooks, were published in beautiful matching hardcover editions
• Raleigh: Lewis Shiner's 1994 World Fantasy Award-winning novel Glimpses was released in digital audio format at Audible.com
• Kelly Gay's The Hour of Dust and Ashes (Pocket Books, August) is book 3 in her Charlie Madigan urban fantasy series
• Lisa Shearin's Con & Conjure (Ace, February/March) is book 5 in her Raine Benares urban fantasy series
• Greensboro: Orson Scott Card's The Lost Gate (Tor, January) begins a new series called The Mither Mages -- also available in digital audio from Blackstone Audio
• Charlotte: Gail Z. Martin's The Sworn (Orbit, January/February) begins her second series, The Fallen Kings Cycle, in the same world as her previous, picking up after the events of her Chronicles of the Necromancer -- also available in CD, MP3-CD, and digital audio from Tantor Media
• NC: Teresa Frohock's Miserere: An Autumn Tale (Night Shade Books, July) is her debut fantasy novel, and begins a trilogy
• Georgia: J.M. McDermott's Never Knew Another (Night Shade Books, January) began his Dogsland Trilogy; additionally, a new paperback edition of his first novel Last Dragon was published by Apex early this year
• ex-NC: Tim Pratt's Briarpatch (ChiZine Publications, September)
• ex-NC: Tim Akers's Dead of Veridon (Solaris Books, May)

SCIENCE FICTION:

• Chapel Hill: Rebecca Rowe's Circle Tide (EDGE, August) is a "loose prequel" to her previous novel Forbidden Cargo
• Pittsboro: David Drake's Into the Hinterlands (Wake Forest-based Baen Books, September, co-written with John Lambshead) begins a new space opera series plotted against the life of George Washington.
• Pittsboro: David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series came to digital audio at Audible.com in April, narrated superbly by Stefan Rudnicki: At Any Price & Rolling Hot, The Sharp End, Counting the Cost & The Warrior, and Paying the Piper
• Raleigh: Mark L. Van Name's 2010 novel Children No More was released in mass market paperback by Wake Forest-based Baen Books
• High Point: Robin Parrish's Corridor (December) will be released in paperback and e-book by StoneHouse Ink -- a little more information here
• South Carolina: T.C. McCarthy's Germline (Orbit, July) was released as an original mass market paperback, and is also available in audio from Blackstone Audio

FICTION:

• Durham: David Halperin's Journal of a UFO Investigator (Viking, February) is not "properly" science fiction, but it was a novel I very much enjoyed and which freely borrows and uses science fictional techniques and elements -- also available in audio from Blackstone Audio
• Raleigh: Lewis Shiner's Dark Tangos (Subterranean Press, August) is a taut thriller set against Argentinian tangos and intrigue and last I saw, both The Regulator and Quail Ridge Books (which each hosted book signings) had signed copies in stock. Additionally,with new paperback editions of Say Goodbye and Slam this year, all of Shiner's previous novels are back in print in a "definitive edition" 6-book series. Some of these, including his first novel Frontera and later books Glimpses and Deserted Cities of the Heart, are speculative fiction novels, for those whose tastes are a little more exclusive, and the last of the six, Black & White, follows the construction of the Durham Freeway

COLLECTIONS:

• Hillsborough: James Maxey's There Is No Wheel (NC-based Spolight Publishing)
• Greensboro: Edmund Schubert's The Trouble with Eating Clouds (NC-based Spolight Publishing)
• ex-Raleigh: Jason Erik Lundberg's Red Dot Irreal

ANTHOLOGIES:

• Raleigh: Mark L. Van Name's The Wild Side (Wake Forest-based Baen Books) is an anthology of original urban fantasy stories "with an erotic edge", including a story from local writer Gina Massel-Castater
• Raleigh: John Kessel's Kafkaesque: Stories Inspired by Franz Kafka (Tachyon Publications, co-edited by James Patrick Kelly) -- there's a great chance to pick up a personalized/signed copy at a December 7th event at Quail Ridge Books
• Pittsboro: David Drake's story "Than Curse the Darkness" was reprinted in The Book of Cthulhu (Night Shade Books, September)
• Durham: Mur Lafferty's story "1963: The Argument Against Louis Pasteur" is in the Ann and Jeff VanderMeer-edited anthology The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (HarperVoyager, July), along with microfiction from Winston-Salem's Nadine Wilson and art from Greeville's Scott Eagle
• Durham: Richard Dansky is one of the contributors to Night-Mantled: The Best of Wily Writers, Volume 1
• Raleigh: Kij Johnson's story "Story Kit" is in the Jonathan Strahan-edited original science fiction and fantasy anthology Eclipse 4 (Night Shade Books, May, which also includes ex-local Andy Duncan's "Slow as a Bullet"); her 2010 story "Names For Water" appears in the Strahan-edited The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 (Night Shade Books, March, which also includes Raleigh author John Kessel's 2010 story "Iteration"); and her 2009 story "Spar" appears in the Kevin J. Anderson-edited anthology Nebula Awards Showcase 2011 (Tor Books, May)
• Raleigh: Eric Gregory's story "The Harrowers" is in the John Joseph Adams-edited anthology Lightspeed: Year One (Prime, November 15)
• Raleigh: Lewis Shiner's 1988 story "Love in Vain" appears in the Joe R. Lansdale-edited anthology Crucified Dreams (Tachyon Publications, February); and his story "The Long, Dark Night of Fortunato" is in the 1987 George R.R. Martin-edited anthology Wild Cards I, which was just released in audiobook format by Brilliance Audio, accompanying an updated 2010 print edition from Tor Books
• Durham: Richard Dansky's story "The Man Who Built Haunted Houses" is in Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror (Flames Rising Press, October)
• Greenville: Ada Milenkovic Brown's story "Nadirah Sends Her Love" is in Crossed Genres Quarterly #1 (January, edited by Natania Barron and Jaym Gates) and she has another story in the forthcoming anthology River: The Anthology (Dark Quest Books)

NON-FICTION:

• How to Write Magical Words: A Writer's Companion includes essays from regional authors Edmund Schubert, A.J. Hartley, Stuart Jaffe, and Mistey Massey
• 1,000 Steampunk Creations: Neo-Victorian Fashion, Gear, and Art includes a contribution from local jeweler and writer J.L. Hilton
• Hillsborough: Global Climate Change by Orrin H. Pilkey and Keith C. Pilkey, Duke University Press.

GRAPHIC NOVELS and COMICS:

• Firetower Studios released a trade paperback collecting the first several issues of the ongoing The Order of Dagonet by Jeremy Whitley (story) and Jason Strutz (art)
• Tommy Lee Edwards's TURF (Image Comics, story by Jonathan Ross) was released in hardcover, collecting the entire miniseires -- also available in a special limited edition alternate binding at Ultimate Comics
• Angi Shearstone's BloodDreams is "Vampire Punk" praised by Warren Ellis -- check it out online or in local comic stores
• Jeremy Whitley's Princeless is a subversive take on the archetypal "fair princess waiting in a dragon-guarded tower for rescue from a handsome prince" story -- from Action Labs, with issue #2 just released
• Greensboro: Orson Scott Card and Emily Janice Card's Laddertop, Volume 1 (Tor Books, September, art by Honoel A. Ibardolaza) -- also available in a digital audio adaptation narrated by Stefan Rudnicki

ROLE PLAYING GAMES:

• Bully Pulpit Games released the Fiasco Companion supplement to their GM-less storytelling game Fiasco -- the game is praised by Wil Wheaton as: “Fiasco was one of the greatest storytelling RPGs I’ve ever played. I highly recommend it.”

OTHER:

• Oh, I don't know, how about: a subscription to Bull Spec makes a great gift -- you can even do something creative like start with issue 5, to have issues 5-7 on hand for the holidays and issue 8 coming in February... Or just stuff a stocking with issue #7, available to pre-order now, or a brand-new subscription to last the whole year, starting with the imminently forthcoming issue #7...