THE LAW OF NINES, Terry Goodkind, Putnam. Turning twenty-seven may be terrifying for some, but for Alex, a struggling artist living in the Midwestern United States, it is cataclysmic. Inheriting a huge expanse of land should have made him a rich and happy man; but something about this birthday, his name, and the beautiful woman whose life he just saved, has suddenly made him—and everyone he loves—into a target. A target for extreme and uncompromising violence...In Alex, Terry Goodkind brings to life a modern hero in a whole new kind of high-octane thriller.
THE DOOMSDAY KEY, James Rollins, Willam Morrow. The finest achievement yet by the perennial top-five New York Times bestselling author of unique adventure-thrillers loaded with science, history, new ideas, the imaginative, the inexplicable, and the amazing. The Sigma Force, an elite, secret government agency, must discover the truth about the Doomsday Key, a strange substance brought to England long ago by ancient Egyptians that holds the key to the survival of mankind.
AN ECHO IN THE BONE, Diana Gabaldon, Delacorte. In this new installment of the fabulous bestselling "Outlander" series, all the turmoil of late 18th Century America comes crashing down on the lives of the time-traveling nurse, Claire, and her husband, the Scottish laird and outlaw, Jamie.
IN THE HAND OF DANTE, Nick Tosches, Little, Brown. A great literary achievement by a master at the top of his form. A novel about Dante and his quest for enlightenment, and about a writer named Nick Tosches and his quest for financial and personal freedom, and how the lives of the two men intersect in the fractured aftermath of September 11th.
THE DRUID KING, Norman Spinrad, Knopf. An historical novel of vast scope about the rivalry between Julius Caesar and the Gallic war chief Vercingetorix. A dramatic look at how the titanic forces of history can sometimes come down to the clashes of highly motivated individuals. The duel to the death of these two men and their armies decided the future of Europe for the next 2,000 years.
IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES, Harry Turtledove, Penguin/NAL. Set in a present day in which Nazi Germany rules the world, a handful of surviving Jewish families continue to practice their religion in secret. A haunting story of the geopolitical world that might have been, and an inspiring story of human beings who will not stop being what they are.
WOLFSKIN, Juliet Marillier, Tor. A beautiful and haunting novel of the medieval North and one of the best depictions of Viking culture ever written. Wolfksins were elite Viking warriors of unsurpassed military skill and ruthlessness, but this novel shows their capacity for deep feeling and the pursuit of justice.
NAKED BRUNCH, Sparkle Hayter, Crown. A tragicomic urban fantasy about werewolves in today’s Manhattan trying to live ordinary lives by treating their “illness” with medication and therapy – but all hell breaks loose when they are unable to deny their inner natures.
THE PRIESTESS OF AVALON, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Viking. The most recent novel in the series begun by THE MISTS OF AVALON, the classic saga of the women at the heart of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable.
THE SACRED LAND, H. N. Turteltaub, Forge Books. Sailing, and adventure in the Mediterranean in the years after the death of Alexander the Great. A masterly evocation of a colorful period in history, mixing impressive scholarship with entertaining storytelling.
SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS, Marian Keyes, Morrow. Number one internationally bestselling author Marian Keyes works her magic once again in this charming tale of three modern women and their search for happiness.
THE GATES OF SLEEP, Mercedes Lackey, DAW. Lackey is one of the world’s most popular authors with some 20 million copies in print. Here she sets the story of Sleeping Beauty in Edwardian England.
CONQUISTADOR, S. M. Stirling, Penguin/Roc. What if Alexander the Great had lived to a ripe old age? This stirring adventure story examines that question from the perspective of 2,000 years later in an alternate California that might have been.
GOD’S DEMON, Wayne Barlowe, Tor. The legendary artist’s first novel, based on his famous series of paintings published as “Barlowe’s Inferno” about a revolt in Hell.
THE VINTAGE PROGRAM OF PHILIP K. DICK REISSUES. In the years after Dick’s death I conceived the vision of republishing his works in upscale trade paperback editions which would reach out beyond the science fiction audience to one that would embrace him as one of the great American novelists. Vintage Books agreed to share this vision and publish Dick’s entire body of work; this program has been unfolding over many years and will finally be complete in 2006.
