Monday, November 1, 2010

Tuesday Tomorrow

Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin
Published by: Harper
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A hilarious and touching new installment of Armistead Maupin's beloved Tales of the City series

Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, a gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.

Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her checkered past comes back to haunt her in a way she could never have imagined. After the intimate first-person narrative of Maupin's last novel, Michael Tolliver Lives, Mary Ann in Autumn marks the author's return to the multicharacter plotlines and darkly comic themes of his earlier work. Among those caught in Mary Ann's orbit are her estranged daughter, Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael's transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson; and the indefatigable Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann's former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane. More than three decades in the making, Armistead Maupin's legendary Tales of the City series rolls into a new age, still sassy, irreverent, and curious, and still exploring the boundaries of the human experience with insight, compassion, and mordant wit."

A new Tales of the City Novel! I've been waiting all year for this, so sorry if I'm gone for a few days, MUST READ NOW!

Virals by Kathy Riechs
Published by: Razorbill
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot-if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.

Fortunately, they are now more than friends- they're a pack. They are Virals."

A YA book that's a spin off of Bones! Count me doubly sold.

The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemison
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The gods have broken free after centuries of slavery, and the world holds its breath, fearing their vengeance. The saga of mortals and immortals continues in THE BROKEN KINGDOMS. In the city of Shadow, beneath the World Tree, alleyways shimmer with magic and godlings live hidden among mortalkind. Oree Shoth, a blind artist, takes in a homeless man who glows like a living sun to her strange sight. This act of kindness engulfs Oree in a nightmarish conspiracy. Someone, somehow, is murdering godlings, leaving their desecrated bodies all over the city. Oree's peculiar guest is at the heart of it, his presence putting her in mortal danger — but is it him the killers want, or Oree? And is the earthly power of the Arameri king their ultimate goal, or have they set their sights on the Lord of Night himself?"

The first book in N.K. Jemison's Inheritance trilogy was all the rage this year at WisCon. She was also a really great speaker and nice at the signing, making it another must buy for me! Though naming it the Inheritance Trilogy, when there's already one out there... not the wisest idea Orbit!

Pegasus by Robin McKinley
Published by: Putnam
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pagasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication.

But its different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations.

New York Times bestselling Robin McKinley weaves an unforgettable tale of unbreakable friendship, mythical creatures and courtly drama destined to become a classic."

I'm so a child of the 80s when I see a book about a Pegasus and must own it! Serendipity Classics, you taught me well!

Wolfsbane by Patricia Briggs
Published by: Ace
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Shapeshifting mercenary Aralorn leads a dangerous existence. Now she must return home for her noble father, the Lyon of Lambshold, has passed away. But when Aralorn and her companion Wolf arrive, they find he's not dead, but ensorcelled by the ae'Magi, using him as a conduit to destroy Aralorn and Wolf. She must overcome this mysterious mist or fall to the blackest of magic. "

Yeah new Briggs book! Yeah!

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2010
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
 To Buy
The official patter:
"Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as family. But as they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface. Family secrets ensnare them both, as Tolliver learns his father is out of jail and Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister Cameron so many years before. And what she finds will change her world forever."

I just love this series, and even if this is the end, it was a damn satisfying ending.

3 comments:

I have never read a Armistead Maupin but know about his series. This book sounds good! I am taking stock of my life now that I am 46. I am also contemplation a move to San Francisco as I grew up in the area. This book may be just what I need.

Maupin's Tales of the City series is wonderful, and despite being set in the 70s and 80s, there's a timelessness about it. Plus, if you grew up in the area, you'll prolly get a lot out of the locals that I probably missed. I will warn that the most recent, before Mary Ann in Autumn, Michael Tolliver Lives was far different than the rest of the series and more sexually explicit.

I so want to read Pegasus now. I, too, loved the Stephen Cosgrove Serendipities...although i MAY still cry at the end of Morgan and Me when it becomes clear that she is not a princess with a unicorn which just sucks.

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