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Curse the Dawn
Karen Chance
Synopsis: “Karen Chance takes her place along with Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson, and J.D. Robb.”—SF Revu

View our feature on Karen Chance’s Curse the Dawn.

Cassandra Palmer may be the all-powerful Pythia now, but that doesn’t mean people have stopped trying to kill her. Most of the supernatural power players don’t want the independent minded Cassie as chief clairvoyant—and they’ll stop at nothing to see her six feet under.

The Vampire Senate does support Cassie in her position, but their protection comes with a price: an alliance with the sexy master vampire Mircea, who has claimed Cassie as his own.

But even the vampires will have trouble keeping Cassie alive now that the self-styled god Apollo, the source of the Pythia’s power, has it in for her in a big way. To save her life—and the world—Cassie’s going to have to face down her creator…

Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Dragons Luck
Robert Asprin
Synopsis: The New York Times bestselling author scales new heights in his series of Big Easy-dwelling dragons...

Griffen McCandles is adjusting well to running his gambling operation in the French Quarter of New Orleans and to his newfound status as head dragon. Other dragons are getting a whiff of his reputation, though, and they're not happy about it. Which is why there's suddenly a hit out on him.

And, just in time for Halloween, the ghost of a voodoo queen wants Griffen to moderate a supernatural conclave. And though the strange goings-on will barely be noticed in a city used to drunken conventioneers and wild revelers, it's Griffen's chance to spread his wings-or crash and burn.
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Dancing on the Head of a Pin
Thomas E. Sniegoski
Synopsis: Remy Chandler ?is a character I can?t wait to see again.?( Christopher Golden, bestselling author of The Lost Ones)

Still mourning the loss of his wife, fallen angel Remy Chandler has immersed himself in investigating dangerous supernatural cases. His latest: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged eons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. And if they fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy not only Heaven but also Earth.
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Corambis
Sarah Monette
Synopsis: The spellbinding conclusion to the brilliant fantasy series by the author of The Mirador and Mélusine.

Exiled from Mélusine for the crime of heresy, the once powerful Cabaline wizard Felix Harrowgate and his half-brother Mildmay, former cat-burglar and assassin, journey to Corambis to face judgment from a ruling body of wizards. Corambis, however, is a land plagued by civil strife. Kay Brightmore, the Margrave of Rothmarlin, is part of an insurrection to restore the monarchy in the southern half of the country. In desperation, Kay and his rebels seek out the engine of Summerdown, an ancient magical device rumored to have terrible powers. Once the engine is awakened, only a powerful wizard can stop its awesome potential for destruction. Felix and Mildmay arrive just in time for their greatest challenge-and ultimate destiny...
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Unassigned
Nebula Awards Showcase 2009
Synopsis: Michael Chabon, Michael Moorcock, Karen Joy Fowler, and more: ?The pulse of modern science fiction.?(New York Times Book Review)

This annual tradition from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America collects the best of the year?s stories, as well as essays and commentary on the current state of the genre and predictions of future science fiction and fantasy films, art, and more.

This year?s award-winning authors include Michael Chabon, Karen Joy Fowler, Ted Chiang, and Nancy Kress, plus 2008 Grand Master Michael Moorcock.
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Anthology
Other Earths
Nick Gevers, Jay Lake
Synopsis: Eleven original stories about the different paths our world might've taken...

Alternate history explores the many possible directions our world could follow if certain key events didn't occur at all or were changed in some crucial way. Is our Earth the only Earth, our reality the only one that exists? Or are there many parallel worlds and societies, some very similar to ours, some barely recognizable?

What if...
Lincoln had never become president, and the Civil War had never taken place?
Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologically advanced empire?
Magic was real and a half-faery queen ruled England?
Hitler and Germany won the war because America never got involved?
Many of the world's religions were totally commercialized, their temples run like casinos, religions deisgned purely for profit?
An author discovered a book written by an alternate version of himself?   These are just some of the possible pathways that you can take to explore the Other Earths that may be waiting just one event away...
This anthology includes stories by:
Robert Charles Wilson — Jeff Vandermeer — Stephen Baxter
Theodora Goss — Lizz Williams — Gene Wolfe
Greg Van Eekhout — Alastair Reynolds — Paul Park
Lucius Shepard — Benjamin Rosenbaum
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Anthology
Blue Diablo
Ann Aguirre
Synopsis: Read Ann Aguirre's posts on the Penguin Blog

“Gritty, steamy and altogether wonderful urban fantasy.”—New York Times Bestselling Author Patricia Briggs

View our feature on Ann Aguirre’s Blue Diablo.

"Right now, I’m a redhead. I’ve been blonde and brunette as the situation requires, though an unscheduled color change usually means relocating in the middle of the night. So far, I’m doing well here. Nobody knows what I’m running from. And I’d like to keep it that way…"

Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border and wound up in Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover, and her “gift”. Corine, a handler, can touch something and know its history—and sometimes, its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing—and that’s why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance…

Chance, whose uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep, needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas, and the only hope of finding her is through Corine’s gift. But their search may prove dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies—and black magic…

Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Shadowplay
Tad Williams
Synopsis: A year ago, the March Kingdoms were at peace, and the Eddon family held the throne. Now the family has been shattered. King Olin Eddon is a prisoner in a faraway land, and Olin's heir Kendrick is dead--slain by treachery and dark, bloody magic.

With their father and brother taken from them, the royal twins Barrick and Briony have done their best to hold the kingdom together, but now Barrick has been captured in a failed war against the immortal Twilight People and Briony has been forced to flee.

Behind the Shadowline, Prince Barrick is lost and spellbound in the land of the fairies, while Princess Briony finds both allies and deadly enemies in unexpected places far from the land of her birth.

During their desperate journeys the twins discover that even a land's rulers may know little of its true history, and that both families and nations can hide dark and terrible secrets.

But even if Barrick and Briony survive learning the astonishing truths at the heart of their own family and of Southmarch itself, they must still find a way to do the impossible: they must reclaim their kingdom and rescue their home and people from a multitude of powerful enemies--from traitors, tyrants, a god-king, and even the angry gods themselves.
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Generation Dead
Daniel Waters
Synopsis: Phoebe Kendall is just your typical Goth girl with a crush.  He’s strong and silent…and dead.  

All over the country, a strange phenomenon is occurring.  Some teenagers who die aren't staying dead.  But when they come back to life, they are no longer the same. Feared and misunderstood, they are doing their best to blend into a society that doesn’t want them.  
            The administration at Oakvale High attempts to be more welcoming of the “differently biotic."  But the students don’t want to take classes or eat in the cafeteria next to someone who isn’t breathing.  And there are no laws that exist to protect the “living impaired” from the people who want them to disappear—for good. 
            When Phoebe falls for Tommy Williams, the leader of the dead kids, no one can believe it; not her best friend, Margi, and especially not her neighbor, Adam, the star of the football team.  Adam has feelings for Phoebe that run much deeper than just friendship; he would do anything for her.  But what if protecting Tommy is the one thing that would make her happy? 
Publication Date: 04/07/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Cashay
Margaret McMullan
Synopsis: In her fourteen years living in a Chicago housing project, Cashay has never ridden in a taxi cab, seen the city lit up at night, or set foot in a museum. She’s not pretty, or graceful, or bubbly like her little sister, Sashay. She gets her family by on a couple of dollars and food stamps every week.

No, Cashay has never felt much like a treasure. “Your name doesn’t signify who you are,” Cashay tells her sister.

But that was before Sashay was killed. Before her mother started using again. Before her mentor, Allison, showed Cashay a bigger piece of the world, and encouraged her to finally, finally step into it.

A name may not signify who you are, but in this poignant coming of age story by acclaimed writer Margaret McMullan, readers will find that indeed, Cashay is an exception to her own rule.
Publication Date: 04/06/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Synopsis:

It’s the end of junior year, and summer is about to begin. The Summer of Passion, to be exact, when Jory Michaels plans to explore all the possibilities of the future—and, with any luck, score a boyfriend in the process. But Jory has a problem. A big problem. A curvy, honking, bumpy, problem in the form of her Super Schnozz, the one thing standing between Jory and happiness. And now, with the Summer of Passion stretched before her like an open road, she's determined for Super Schnozz to disappear. Jory takes a job delivering wedding cakes to save up for a nose job at the end of the summer; she even keeps a book filled with magazine cutouts of perfect noses to show the doctor. But nothing is ever easy for accident-prone Jory—and before she knows it, her Summer of Passion falls apart faster than the delivery van she crashes. In this hilarious and heartbreaking novel, Sydney Salter delivers a story about broadening your horizons, accepting yourself, and finding love right under your nose.

Publication Date: 04/06/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fiction
Looking For J J
Anne Cassidy
Synopsis: Three children walked away from the cottages on the edge of town toward Berwick Waters. Later that day, only two of them came back. . . . Alice Tully knows exactly what happened that spring day six years ago, though it's still hard for her to believe it. She'll never be able to forget, even though she's trying to lead a normal life--she has a job, friends, and a boyfriend whom she adores. But Alice's past is dangerous, and violent, and sad . . . and it's about to rip her new life apart. Includes a reader's guide.
Publication Date: 04/06/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
If I Stay
Gayle Forman
Synopsis: In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck...

A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make—and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

Publication Date: 04/02/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Hottie
Jonathan Bernstein
Synopsis: After being struck by lightning and then developing the power to set fire with the point of her finger, pretty and popular Alison Cole's life drastically changes, especially when she is shunned by old friends, ends up with a geek as her crime-fighting sidekick, and finds out the only boy she likes is pursuing a career in fire fighting. Original.
Publication Date: 04/02/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy
Willow
Julia Hoban
Synopsis: Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year- old Willow?s parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when one boy ?one sensitive, soulful boy?discovers Willow?s secret, it sparks an intense relationship that turns the ?safe? world Willow has created for herself upside down.

Told in an extraordinary fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl?s struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy?s refusal to give up on her.

Publication Date: 04/02/09
Age Level: Mature Young Adult
Genre: Fiction
Look Both Ways
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Synopsis: In the second book of the Midnight Twins trilogy, Meredith and Mallory Brynn are finally coming to terms with their special gifts: Meredith to see into the past, Mallory to see into the future. But they never expect that their powers will reveal danger so close to home.

Mallory must help her best friend, Eden, find the strength to defy her destiny as a shape-shifter, before Eden gets hurt?or hurts somebody else. And Merry has her own friends to worry about when her visions reveal trouble brewing on the cheerleading squad in the form of Kim Jellico.

Both Mallory and Meredith must join together to rescue their friends before it?s too late.

Publication Date: 04/02/09
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Fantasy

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