New Signed UK arrivals

These new UK arrivals are all signed. To order your copy either click the link of the title, call or email The Poisoned Pen.


Trick of the Dark by Val McDermid

'Death is a hollow drum whose beat has measured out my adult life.' So writes Jay Macallan Stewart in her latest volume of memoirs. But nobody has ever asked whether that has been by accident or design. Nobody, that is, until Jay turns her sights on newly-wed and freshly-widowed Magda Newsam. For Magda's mother Corinna is an Oxford don who knows enough of Jay's history to be very afraid indeed. Determined to protect her daughter, Corinna turns to clinical psychologist Charlie Flint. But it's not the best time for Charlie. Her career is in ruins. Pilloried by the press, under investigation by her peers, she's barred from the profiling work she loves. What Corinna's asking may be her last chance at redemption. But as Charlie digs into the past and its trail of bodies she starts to realise the price of truth may be more than she wants to pay.


Tigerlily’s Orchids by Ruth Rendell

From the incomparable, award-winning Ruth Rendell — "the grand dame of British crime fiction" (The Gazette) —comes her latest psychological thriller.

When Stuart Font decides to throw a house-warming party in his new flat he invites everyone in his building. The party will be one everyone remembers. But not for the right reasons....

Living opposite, in reclusive isolation, is a young, beautiful Asian woman, christened Tigerlily by Stuart. As though from some strange urban fairytale, she emerges to exert a terrible spell on the occupants of Lichfield House.


Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld

A spellbinding literary thriller about terror, war, greed, and the darkest secrets of the human soul, by the author of the million-copy bestseller,The Interpretation of Murder.

September 16, 1920. Under a clear blue September sky, a quarter ton of explosives is detonated in a deadly attack on Wall Street. Fear comes to the streets of New York.

Witnessing the blast are war veteran Stratham Younger, his friend James Littlemore of the New York Police Department, and beautiful French radiochemist Colette Rousseau. A series of inexplicable attacks on Colette, a secret buried in her past, and a mysterious trail of evidence lead Younger, Littlemore, and Rousseau on a thrilling international and psychological journey - from Paris to Prague, from the Vienna home of Dr Sigmund Freud to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, and ultimately to the hidden depths of our most savage instincts. As the seemingly disjointed pieces of Younger and Littlemore-s investigations come together, the two uncover the shocking truth about the bombing - a truth that threatens to shake their world to its foundations.


Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré

Starred Review. Those readers who have found post–cold war le Carré too cerebral will have much to cheer about with this Russian mafia spy thriller. While on holiday in Antigua, former Oxford tutor Perry Makepiece and his lawyer girlfriend, Gail Perkins, meet Dmitri "Dima" Vladimirovich Krasnov, an avuncular Russian businessman who challenges Perry to a tennis match. Even though Perry wins, Dima takes a shine to the couple, and soon they're visiting with his extended family. At Dima's request, Perry conveys a message to MI6 in England that Dima wishes to defect, and on arriving home, Perry and Gail receive a summons from MI6 to a debriefing. Not only is Dima a Russian oligarch, he's also one of the world's biggest money launderers. Le Carré ratchets up the tension step-by-step until the sad, inevitable end. His most accessible work in years, this novel shows once again why his name is the one to which all others in the field are compared. 


Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

1786, Jerusalem College Cambridge. The ghost of Sylvia Whichcote is rumoured to be haunting Jerusalem since disturbed fellow-commoner, Frank Oldershaw, claims to have seen the dead woman prowling the grounds. Desperate to salvage her son’s reputation, Lady Anne Oldershaw employs John Holdsworth, author of The Anatomy of Ghosts – a stinging account of why ghosts are mere delusion – to investigate. But his arrival in Cambridge disrupts an uneasy status quo as he glimpses a world of privilege and abuse, where the sinister Holy Ghost Club governs life at Jerusalem more effectively than the Master, Dr Carbury, ever could. And when Holdsworth finds himself haunted – not only by the ghost of his dead wife, Maria, but also Elinor, the very-much-alive Master’s wife – his fate is sealed. He must find Sylvia’s murderer or the hauntings will continue. And not one of them will leave the claustrophobic confines of Jerusalem unchanged.


The Lost Kings by Bruno Hare

London, 1893. Mild-mannered watchmaker Cyril King harbours a secret wish to be an explorer. When he acquires a mysterious timepiece from a notorious criminal, Cyril gets his heart's desire, the clues he finds propelling him halfway around the world on the trail of a fabulous treasure. On the borders of India and Afghanistan, Cyril meets a real-life adventurer who seems to be everything he aspires to. But high in the Karakoram mountains there are lessons to be learned, as nothing is quite what Cyril expects: neither the treasure, nor his companion, nor the life of discovery and excitement which he imagined -- and certainly not the deadly peril into which he stumbles with all the insouciance of the innocent abroad. Meanwhile, intercut with Cyril's account of his 1893 adventures are the letters of famous explorer Sir Paul Linley-Small, written to Cyril from various points of the compass fifteen years later, as Small pursues a rare, perhaps mythical, creature. And as Small's tale grows ever more fantastic, the way in which the two narratives link with one another reflects on the nature of truth and the lives which we envisage for ourselves.


Dictator by Tom Cain

Africa has had more than its share of dictators, but Henderson Gushungo may be the worst. Millions starve and opponents are flung in jail, while Gushungo and his cronies get rich on the country's rich natural resources. A powerful consortium of political and business interests offer Samuel Carver the job of enforcing regime change. Can the taking of one life save millions of others? And can Carver trust the men who hired him? As the action hurtles from the plains of southern Africa to the teeming streets of Hong Kong, and an old enemy rises from the grave to haunt him once more, Carver becomes both the hunter and the hunted in a deadly game where the survival of a nation is at stake.


Sacred Treason by James Forrester

A brilliant and enthralling debut historical thriller in the vein of C J Sansom.

London, 1563. England is a troubled nation. Catholic plots against the young Queen Elizabeth spring up all over the country. The herald William Harley - known to everyone as Clarenceux - receives a book from his friend and fellow Catholic, Henry Machyn. But Machyn is in fear of his life... What secret can the book hold? And then Clarenceux is visited by the State in the form of Francis Walsingham and his ruthless enforcers, who will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. If Clarenceux and his family are to survive the terror of the state, he must solve the clues contained in the book to unlock its dangerous secrets before it's too late. And when he does, he realises that it's not only his life and the lives of those most dear to him that are at stake...


Red Station by Adrian Magson

First in the brand-new Harry Tate thriller series - Having been made the scapegoat for a botched drugs intercept operation, MI5 officer Harry Tate is dispatched to '-Red Station', a remote outpost in the Balkans, ostensibly to avoid press scrutiny, but where in effect the security services send '-problem' agents they'd like to be rid of. But the outpost is thrust into the international spotlight when troops begin massing in the area; and, as the situation becomes increasingly dangerous, Tate discovers the real, truly shocking, purpose behind '-Red Station' - and decides to fight back . . .

New Arrivals

Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan

An exuberant return to the four unforgettable heroines of Waiting to Exhale--the novel that changed African American fiction forever.

Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale was more than just a bestselling novel-its publication was a watershed moment in literary history. McMillan's sassy and vibrant story about four African American women struggling to find love and their place in the world touched a cultural nerve, inspired a blockbuster film, and generated a devoted audience.

Now, McMillan revisits Savannah, Gloria, Bernadine, and Robin fifteen years later. Each is at her own midlife crossroads: Savannah has awakened to the fact that she's made too many concessions in her marriage, and decides to face life single again-at fifty-one. Bernadine has watched her megadivorce settlement dwindle, been swindled by her husband number two, and conned herself into thinking that a few pills will help distract her from her pain. Robin has an all-American case of shopaholism, while the big dream of her life-to wear a wedding dress- has gone unrealized. And for years, Gloria has taken happiness and security for granted. But being at the wrong place at the wrong time can change everything. All four are learning to heal past hurts and to reclaim their joy and their dreams; but they return to us full of spirit, sass, and faith in one another. They've exhaled: now they are learning to breathe.

Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer

In this seventh adventure in the blockbuster series, an army of fairy space probes havereturned to Earth reprogrammed to destroy Atlantis - and only Artemis Fowl can stopthem. As he races to save the subaquatic city, the young mastermind must also combat anonslaught of obsessive-compulsive and delusional disorders, both byproducts of prodigiousintellect and immense stress at an early age.

In his signature pairing of suspense and comedy, Eoin Colfer has woven another masterpiecesure to delight fans of the series and draw in a host of new followers.

Finders Keepers by Craig Childs

Childs (The Animal Dialogues) intermingles personal experiences as a desert ecologist and adventurer with a journalistic look at scientists, collectors, museum officials, and pot hunters to explore what should happen to ancient artifacts. Questioning whether artifacts should be left in place, Childs argues that although surface surveys and electronic imaging permit study of buried objects without digging, that reliance on technology risks the loss of the "physical connection to the memory of ancient people." Yet he mourns the loss of context that comes from removing, say, the Temple of Dendur from its natural environment. On the other hand, he scrutinizes the "stewardship" of past archeologists who removed sacred objects when "o one thought indigenous cultures would survive to start demanding their things back," returns now required by U.S. law. Childs is critical of museum facilities inadequate to protect items that archeologists removed from their sites precisely to preserve them from destruction. He is also unhappy with the legal sale of relics to collectors, which he believes led to "more digging and smuggling." His own "collection" consists of finds he has left in place across the Southwest. But, he says, artifacts that cannot safely be left in place should go to museums. This is an engaging and thought-provoking look at one of the art and artifacts' world's most heated debates.

New UK Arrivals

Heartstone by Cj Sansom ($43.00)

Summer, 1545. England is at war. Henry VIII's invasion of France has gone badly wrong, and a massive French fleet is preparing to sail across the Channel. As the English fleet gathers at Portsmouth, the country raises the largest militia army it has ever seen. The King has debased the currency to pay for the war, and England is in the grip of soaring inflation and economic crisis. Meanwhile Matthew Shardlake is given an intriguing legal case by an old servant of Queen Catherine Parr. Asked to investigate claims of 'monstrous wrongs' committed against a young ward of the court, which have already involved one mysterious death, Shardlake and his assistant Barak journey to Portsmouth. Once arrived, Shardlake and Barak find themselves in a city preparing to become a war zone; and Shardlake takes the opportunity to also investigate the mysterious past of Ellen Fettipace, a young woman incarcerated in the Bedlam. The emerging mysteries around the young ward, and the events that destroyed Ellen's family nineteen years before, involve Shardlake in reunions both with an old friend and an old enemy close to the throne. Events will converge on board one of the King's great warships, primed for battle in Portsmouth harbour: the Mary Rose...

A Capital Crime by Laura Wilson ($45.00)

It is winter, 1949. London is cold and grey, and pock-marked everywhere with the scars of war. When John Davies confesses to killing his wife and baby daughter in their Notting Hill digs, it promises to be a depressingly straightforward case for DI Ted Stratton of West End Central. But then Davies recants and blames a fellow tenant, Norman Backhouse, for the crimes. Though some of the evidence appears to be ambiguous, Stratton sees no reason to believe him.

The case against Davies proceeds: he is convicted, still protesting his innocence to the end. A few months later discoveries are made at Davies's old home. Backhouse has vanished, but his flat and garden are full of the corpses of women who have been gassed, raped and strangled. Has Stratton caused an innocent man to hang? Worse still, he's afraid that someone he loves may be the next victim.

Bad Boy by Peter Robinson ($34.00)

Banks is on holiday, headed for Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. His daughter, Tracy, home in Leeds and angry with her father, is headed for some very deep trouble. Robinson's nineteenth Inspector Banks novel is a stunner.

Handguns are illegal in the U.K., and whenever one is reported, the police swing into high gear. But things go very wrong when the police swoop down on a home in Eastvale to seize a reported handgun. In the confusion, Patrick Doyle, a former neighbour of Banks, is shot. Doyle's daughter, Erin, is to blame for the gun being in the house, and while she's in police custody, her housemate in Leeds, Tracy Banks, decides to let Erin's boyfriend know that the police have been around their place. Bad decision. When Banks returns home from holiday, Tracy is missing. And that's not the worst of it.

Robinson's latest Inspector Banks novel is a powerful story of how the volatile emotions of love and resentment can turn deadly when fear comes creeping in.

The Long Glasgow Kiss by Craig Russell ($45.00)

Glasgow in the 1950s - not somewhere you'd choose to be unless you were born to it. Yet Lennox, a private investigator, finds it oddly congenial. Lennox is a man balanced between the law and those who break it - a dangerous place where only the toughest and most ruthless survive. Glasgow bookie and greyhound breeder, Jimmy 'Small Change' MacFarlane, runs one of the biggest operations at Glasgow's dog-racing track. When MacFarlane is bludgeoned to death with a bronze statue of Danny Boy, his best racer, Lennox has a solid gold alibi - he had spent the night with MacFarlane's daughter. Lennox is quickly drawn into hunting MacFarlane's killer, where he soon discovers that 'Small Change' was into a lot more than dog racing. Worse, crime boss Willie Sneddon, one of Glasgow's notorious Three Kings, is clearly involved and he's not a man Lennox wants to cross. But somewhere out there in the shadows lurks a really big player, an elusive villain who makes the Three Kings look like minnows. Lennox is the only man who can track him down.

Charity Dog Wash - October 9th - Rethinc Advertising

OCTOBER 9, 2010 

9am - 1pm

Our neighbor in this building, Rethinc Advertising, is holding a charity dog wash in the parking lot behind the store. It's perfect timing as the weather should be sumptuous and we will all be in a doggy mood, what having just met Rita Mae Brown (Sept 25. 2pm at The Pen) and Spencer Quinn (Oct. 2, 2pm at The Pen).

The more the merrier! Please come and join us and Rethinc for this great event! All proceeds are to go to Arizona Rescue.

Update on Hilliker Curse

The signed 27.00 editions have arrived.

“From the fantastic writer who brought us unforgettable books like L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia, comes this extraordinary in-depth work about his own life. As always, Ellroy is extremely explicit, writing every word of this memoir with an in-your-face passion, elegance, and anger that will literally stop readers in their tracks . . . Bravo!”
—Bookpleasures.com

To order your copy of the Hilliker Curse click here.

The Hilliker Curse--James Ellroy

We have limited edition signed copies of The Hilliker Curse ($150). We will also be getting signed copies for (27.00 dollars)

The year was 1958. Jean Hilliker had divorced her fast-buck hustler husband and resurrected her maiden name. Her son, James, was ten years old. He hated and lusted after his mother and “summoned her dead.” She was murdered three months later.

The Hilliker Curse is a predator’s confession, a treatise on guilt and on the power of malediction, and above all, a cri de cœur. James Ellroy unsparingly describes his shattered childhood, his delinquent teens, his writing life, his love affairs and marriages, his nervous breakdown, and the beginning of a relationship with an extraordinary woman who may just be the long-sought Her.

A layered narrative of time and place, emotion and insight, sexuality and spiritual quest, The Hilliker Curse is a brilliant, soul-baring revelation of self. It is unlike any memoir you have ever read.

To read a Ellroy's interview on the book follow this link.

For the limited edition signed copy. Click here

For the 27.00 dollar signed edition. Click here

Or email sales@poisonedpen.com

Indie Next Pick, NYT Bestseller, Rave Reviews for...

VERMILION DRIFT 

by William Kent Krueger (Atria, 9781439153840). 

"William Kent Krueger's mystery series featuring Cork O'Connor just keeps getting better with each installment. In the latest, Cork is asked to investigate a disappearance and what he uncovers leads to cold cases on the Ojibwe reservation as well as forgotten things from Cork's own past. Wonderful characters, twists and turns, and enough action to keep you going."

—Sue Richardson, Maine Coast Book Shop, Inc., Damariscotta, Maine

A Note From Kent!

And I Say to Myself, It’s A Wonderful World

I’d like to share with you the good news: Vermilion Drift just hit the New York Times bestseller list.  It’s the first of my novels to reach that milepost. For any author, figuring out how to get your work into the hands of readers is, after writing the book, the most difficult challenge you’ll face.  I’ve tried over the dozen years since I first broke into this business to understand what easy route there might be.  The answer is that there is none.  Like all good things, recognition comes with effort and patient consistency and an unadulterated love of the journey itself.  Fame and fortune are, for the most part, beyond our control.  The only control we have is to write the best books we can and do everything possible to make readers aware of them.  Sometimes our publishers help in this effort; more often they do not.

I’ve been fortunate.  I have an editor whom I love and a publisher who is in my corner.  Atria Books has helped underwrite my promotional tours. They’ve done store co-op and, recently, begun to mount special campaigns.  But even all this is no guarantee of an author’s success.  I have a friend in this business who believes that it’s like a cosmic crap game and sometimes your number comes up and when it does, it’s just sheer luck.  Maybe so.  And if so, I can’t help thinking that with Vermilion Drift, I’ve finally rolled a seven.

 I hope you read the book.  I hope you like it.  And I would love to hear from you. 

—Kent

Since I've been at The Pen, Kent has come to see us three times and we are very happy to see him getting the attention he well deserves. Please come down and see him on the 23 of this month, 7pm, or order a copy of Vermilion Drift, http://www.poisonedpen.com/products/hfiction/9781439153840

New Janet Evanovich Arrival

Wicked Appetite

Number one bestselling author Janet Evanovich has created a brand-new heroine in Elizabeth Tucker: Marblehead resident, bakery worker, unlucky in love.and descendant of witches. Life has had a pleasant predictability to it for Lizzy. That is until a tall, black-haired, dark eyed man shows up in a black sports car, touches her hand and leaves a burn mark. His name is Gerwulf Grimoire, also known as Wulf. And he wants what Lizzy has: knowledge. Almost simultaneously comes another man, a different man, but this one just as dangerous in his own way. His name is Diesel. And he wants several things Lizzy has, only one of them being knowledge. Unbeknownst to Lizzy, she has the ability to find "empowered objects." Turns out, a collection of stones that represent the seven deadly sins have made their way to Marblehead. Nothing bad can happen if the stones are all separated. But if they are grouped together, they have the power to unleash hell on earth. Wulf wants them. Diesel wants to stop him. And Lizzy is the key to all of it. Can Lizzy stay one step ahead of two men who both want her.both body and soul? Can she juggle her job at Dazzle's bakery and still get the muffins out in time every morning? Can she stop the end of the world from occuring? For Elizabeth Tucker, cupcakes, 4 a.m. alarm clock settings, and Armageddon are all in a day's work.

Play the game here

http://www.evanovich.com/funstuff/WickedAppetite

Jeff Lindsay--signs September 13 at 7PM

To order your copy click here.

America’s most-read, most-watched, and most beloved serial killer—Dexter Morgan—is back. After selling more thanone million copies and inspiring the wildly popular #1 Showtime series and top-rated crime drama on pay-cable television, New York Times bestselling author Jeff Lindsay returns with his most hilarious, macabre, and purely entertaining novel yet.

Dexter Morgan has always lived a happy homicidal life. He keeps his dark urges in check by adhering to one stead fast rule . . . he only kills very bad people.But now Dexter is experiencing some major life changes—don’t we all?—and they’re mostly wrapped up in the eight-pound curiosity that is his newborn daughter. Family bliss is cut short, however, when Dexter is summoned to investigate the disappearance of a seventeen-year-old girl who has been running with a bizarre group of goths who fancy themselves to be vampires. As Dexter gets closer to the truth of what happened to the missing girl, he realizes they are not really vampires so much as cannibals. And, most disturbing . . . these people have decided they would really like to eat Dexter.

Jeff Lindsay’s bestselling, dark, ironic, and oftentimes laugh-out-loud hilarious novels about the lovable serial killer with no soul (but a redeeming desire to kill only people who deserve it) have gained a legion of fans and assumed a place in our culture.

Watch live streaming video from poisonedpenauthorevent at livestream.com

New Signed Science Fiction

Stephen R Donaldson
The Runes of The Earth

Six fantasy novels featuring Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever appeared between 1977 and 1983, but Donaldson shows that his epic series still has the power to surprise in this richly imagined start of a final quartet. Covenant died at the end of White Gold Wielder (1983), and at this novel's outset so does his lover, Linden Avery, in a violent confrontation with Joan and Roger Covenant as they kidnap her son, Jeremiah. Linden awakens once again in the Land, where she finds Lord Foul scheming to escape the Arch of Time with the help of Joan and Roger while using Jeremiah as a pawn. The 10 years since Linden
's last visit have been centuries by Land time, and in that interval Anele, with whom she teams, has lost the Staff of Law, plunging the world into chaos. Linden's only hope for saving the Land and reclaiming Jeremiah is to gather a crew from the Land's numerous races and surf a caesure, or time rift, to retrieve the Staff. Nevertheless, she can't shake her fear that all this has been plotted by Foul as part of his malignant design. Donaldson's saga has transformed tremendously since initial volumes offered startlingly original antiheroic fantasy resonating with echoes of both Tolkien and Philip K. Dick, but the engaging humanity of his characters still compels attention. A new generation of readers may find this episode's midstream plunge into the saga bracing, while fans of Covenant's past chronicles will welcome a return to the Land. 



Fatal Revenant

The Runes of the Earth returns readers to the Land-and opens with the reunion of Linden Avery and Thomas Covenant!
Linden Avery, who loved Thomas Covenant and watched him die, has returned to the Land in search of her kidnapped son, Jeremiah. As Fatal Revenant begins, Linden watches from the battlements of Revelstone when the impossible happens-riding ahead of the hordes attacking Revelstone are Jeremiah and Covenant himself, apparently very much alive.
Here in the Land, Jeremiah is healed of the mental condition that had kept him mute and unresponsive for so many years. He is full of life, and devoted to Covenant. But Covenant is strangely changed. Sarcastic and bragging, he no longer seems like the man whom Linden adored. And yet he says he has a plan: he will take her and Jeremiah to a place where they can find a pure source of Earthpower and, after he has achieved his own purposes, Linden will be free to use that great power to go home, to take Jeremiah home, or to do anything else she sees fit. Even though she distrusts the seemingly different man he has now become, how can she make any choice except to follow him?
Their journey will cover unimaginable distances through the Land-even through time itself-and will test Linden's courage again and again. In the end, fulfilling her destiny will call for a terrible leap of faith: Can she give up everything she thought had been restored to her, for the sake of the Land?


Terry Brooks
Bearers of The Black Staff

For more than three decades, New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks has ruled the epic fantasy realm with his legendary Shannara series. With each new novel the mythos has deepened, ever more fascinating characters have arisen, and increasingly breathtaking vistas of magical adventure have emerged. Now the evolution of one of imaginative fiction’s most beloved worlds continues in the first book of the new series Legends of Shannara: Bearers of the Black Staff.
Five hundred years have passed since the devastating demon-led war that tore apart the United States, leaving nothing but scorched and poisoned ruins, and nearly exterminating humankind. Those who escaped the carnage and blight were led to sanctuary by the boy savior known as the Hawk—the gypsy morph. In an idyllic valley, its borders warded by powerful magic against the horrors beyond, humans, elves, and mutants alike found a place they believed would be their home forever.
But after five centuries, the unimaginable has come to pass: The cocoon of protective magic surrounding the valley has vanished. When Sider Ament, the only surviving descendant of the Knights of the Word, detects unknown predators stalking the valley, he fears the worst. And when Panterra Qu and Prue Liss, expert Trackers from the human village of Glensk Wood, find two of their own gruesomely killed, there can be no doubt: The once safe haven of generations has been laid bare and made vulnerable to whatever still lurks in the wasteland of the outside world.
Together, Ament, the two young Trackers, and a daring Elf princess race to spread word of the encroaching danger—and spearhead plans to defend their ancestral home. But suspicion and hostility among their countrymen threaten to doom their efforts from within—while beyond the breached borders, a ruthless Troll army masses for invasion. And in the thick of it all, the last wielder of the black staff and its awesome magic must find a successor to carry on the fight against the cresting new wave of evil.


Dani and Eytan Kollin
The Unincorporated War

The Kollin brothers introduced their future world, and central character Justin Cord, in The Unincorporated Man. Justin created a revolution in that book, and is now exiled from Earth to the outer planets, where he is an heroic figure.

The corporate society which is headquartered on Earth and rules Venus, Mars, and the Orbital colonies, wants to destroy Justin and reclaim hegemony over the rebellious outer planets. The first interplanetary civil war begins as the military fleet of Earth attacks. Filled with battles, betrayals, and triumphs, The Unincorporated War is a full-scale space opera that catapults the focus of the earlier novel up and out into the solar system. Justin remains both a logical and passionate fighter for the principles that motivate him, and remains the most dangerous man alive.


George R. R. Martin
Busted Flush

In 1946, an alien virus that rewrites human DNA was accidentally unleashed in the skies over New York City. It killed ninety percent of those it infected. Nine percent survived to mutate into tragically deformed creatures. And one percent gained superpowers. The Wild Cards shared-universe series, created and edited since 1987 by New York Times #1 bestseller George R. R. Martin ("The American Tolkien" --Time magazine) along with Melinda Snodgrass, is the tale of the history of the world since then—and of the heroes among the one percent.

Now a new generation of heroes has taken its place on the world stage, its members crucial players in international events. At the United Nations, veteran ace John Fortune has assembled a team of young aces known as the Committee, to assist at trouble spots around the world–including a genocidal war in the Niger Delta, an invasion of zombies in

hurricane ravaged New Orleans, and a freak nuclear explosion in a small Texas town.

New Review from a Guest Blogger

“The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise”

Julia Stuart

Every now and then the dedicated reader is rewarded with a story that is whimsical, touching and hilarious.  Such is the case with “The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise” by Julia Stuart.  The cover art is compelling in its distinctive style and the casual observer is drawn to it as displayed on the counter at PP.

Balthazar and Hebe Jones live in the Tower of London with their 181 year old tortoise, Mrs. Cook.  Balthazar is a Beefeater, retired from a lifetime of service to the Queen. Balthazar and Hebe had a son, Milo; Balthazar now collects rain in perfume bottles.  Hebe works in London’s Underground Lost Property Office attempting to reunite lost items with their owners.  All manner of trifles are left behind on the London train system and it is Hebe’s job to locate the heir-apparent.

The Queen has been receiving exotic animals from dignitaries all over the world and has decided to move the menagerie to the Tower of London.  Balthazar becomes overseer to the creatures.  The caged characters bring their own brand of hilarity to the story, with complications abounding. 

Additional cast bring their own special charm to this entertaining tale.  The Reverend Septimus Drew is the Tower chaplain who writes erotic fiction on the side. Valerie Jennings is Hebe’s eccentric colleague who “falls for someone of limited height” and the Ravenmaster who is, well, in charge of the ravens, carries a dark secret which guides his erratic behavior. 

The fortress is full of intrigue and the characters in this quirky tale will live on long after the last page is regretfully turned.  “The Tower, The Zoo and the Tortoise” is an affecting, endearing and memorable story with characters I hope to meet again in my literary travels. By far one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. 

-Diane McCarthy 

For those interested, we have both editions (US and UK) available at the store, though there is a significantly lower quantity of the UK (2) and the price of it is significantly higher $75. The American edition is $25.