New Releases
Finn, Kratman, and more
Since we ended the year on new release posts, one general and one for urban fantasy, I figured we should start the year (or end the hiatus) with another New Release package.
Wyverns Never Die
Honeymoon from Hell #3
By Declan Finn
Releasing February 5th
The original Love at First Bite series has been reviewed on Upstream (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4).
The follow-up series, Honeymoon from Hell had the first two books showcased in the previous new release notice.
Now we have book three.
THE SEQUEL TO THE DRAGON AWARD NOMINATED "LOVE AT FIRST BITE" CONTINUES!
Marco and Amanda have been hounded from Chicago to San Francisco by all the forces of Hell. Surely, Wyvern Con science fiction and fantasy convention in Atlanta would be safe? Who would dare attack a convention the size of a small city?Everyone.
Before the newlyweds even arrive, they are nearly killed by Chinese assassins. The local vampire nest has turned on them. Cyber-zombies have been unleashed on the streets.
Somebody has been playing a game with Marco and Amanda. But this is one honeymoon couple that like to play chess. And now, it's time for their gambit to commence.
Will this be reviewed by Upstream? Maybe.
Pogue one
From Raconteur Press (Edited by Spearman Burke)
Released January 8
At least we have a good reason for now having this in the New Releases last time … I didn’t know it was coming.
The purpose of this anthology is not to denigrate pogues. On the contrary, we felt their representation in fiction (military SF or otherwise) a bit lacking. What about the kid with the thirty-pound brain locked away in the vault, like in Gene Rowley's tale of a lance corporal in the Cyber Corps? The medical ninjas who're willing to move heaven and earth to save one more life feature prominently in K. Anders's story. Chris DiNote shows us there are worse things lurking within the depths of the military machine than mere pogues. In "The Troll," Jim Curtis reminds us that the hardest working folks in the military just may be the apes whose job is to keep aircraft in the sky. Wrapping up our ensemble of storytelling is Liska McCabe, who reminds us that no matter the MOS, we all endure check-out in the end.
Will this be reviewed by Upstream? Possible. It has been handed to a reviewer who usually does not like anthologies, and he can be a jerk about them. (Me. The jerk is me.)
1919: The Romanov Rising
By Kratman, Ezell, Watson
Apparently, this book came out in December. We missed it. Oops.
You may remember book one, The Romanov Rescue, reviewed on Upstream at least once, if not twice. A German general has realized that they made a terrible mistake in unleashing Lenin and the horrors of communism upon the peoples of Russia, and assembled a collection of Russian POVs to go into the nescient Soviet Union, rescue the Tsar and the Romanov family, as a prelude to strangling the communist nation in its crib.
After that rescue, the mission continues.
A battle must be fought against a seemingly overwhelming force of Bolsheviks, just to hold on to their tiny Tobolsk, in Siberia. Yekaterinburg, rich in precious metals must be taken to fund the war, with only a dozen men available to take it. The beautiful nun and imperial aunt, Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, and her companions must be rescued from a vile fate. Also, the lines must be laid out for the various fractious anti-Bolshevik forces to unite under the Imperial Crown. Finally, the two possible successors, Maria Alexandovna and her sister, Anastasia, must be whisked to safety in the United States and the United Kingdom, where one of them will learn love not just of a man, but of his people, his country, and their way of life.
Clever spying, desperate battles, subtle diplomacy, terrorism, counter-terrorism, propaganda, and romance: the campaign to defeat the Bolsheviks and rescue Holy Russia from a dark and terrible fate continues.
Yes. This will be reviewed by Upstream. Declan Finn is covering it, probably also Graham Bradley.
Halfway through Pogue One now. That book has some standout writers and it resonates. I was the junior man as an E-2, E-3 & E-4 Radarman (what they now call an Operations Specialist) on my first ship, a Dealey Class Destroyer Escort. It fell to me to be the primary coffee maker, forward head cleaner (2 showers, 3 crappers and 3 urinals, 4 sinks), and the sweeper, swabber, waxer and buffer of the white linoleum Officer's passageway outside the Wardroom every day inport before quarters. Our CIC gang all promoted together until one fell out at E-5 and I got relieved. I know "Pogue", my own version of it. Don't know how I missed Romanov Rescue in 2022. Bought it and 1919: Romanov Rising today. Kratman is always a worthy read. White linoleum is always a bad idea.