What Makes This Book So Great

Author: Jo Walton
Publisher: Corsair
ISBN: 1472111621
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
Jo Walton is an award-winning author of, inveterate reader of, and chronic re-reader of science fiction and fantasy books. What Makes This Book So Great? is a selection of the best of her musings about her prodigious reading habit. Jo Walton's many subjects range from acknowledged classics, to guilty pleasures, to forgotten oddities and gems. Among them, the Zones of Thought novels of Vernor Vinge; the question of what genre readers mean by 'mainstream'; the under-appreciated SF adventures of C. J. Cherryh; the field's many approaches to time travel; the masterful science fiction of Samuel R. Delany; Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children; the early Hainish novels of Ursula K. Le Guin; and a Robert A. Heinlein novel you have most certainly never read. Over 130 essays in all, What Makes This Book So Great is an immensely engaging collection of provocative, opinionated thoughts about past and present-day fantasy and science fiction, from one of our best writers.

The Baron of Magister Valley

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1250311462
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
From the vaults of Dragaeran history and the mind of master fantasist Steven Brust--a tale of betrayal and vengeance that is not at all a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo Reader, you will undoubtedly have had the misfortune of consuming the rotten fruit of fallacies that we—Paarfi of Roundwood (esteemed historian of House of Hawk and exquisite artisan of truths)—“borrow” our factual recount of Dragaeran history from some obscure fellow who goes by the name Al Dumas or some silly nomenclature of that nature. The salacious claims that The Baron of Magister Valley bears any resemblance to a certain nearly fictional narrative about an infamous count are unfounded (we do not dabble in tall tales. The occasional moderately stretched? Yes. But never tall). Our tale is that of a nobleman who is betrayed by those he trusted, and subsequently imprisoned. After centuries of confinement, he contrives to escape and prepares to avenge himself against his betrayers. A mirror image of The Count of Monte Cristo, vitrolic naysayers still grouse? Well, that is nearly and utterly false. Also by Paarfi of Roundwood: The Khaavren Romances 1. The Phoenix Guards 2. Five Hundred Years After 3. The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha I) 4. The Lorde of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha II) 5. Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha III) At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Dzur

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429993510
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Book Description
In which Vlad Taltos confronts the Left Hand of the Jhereg...and discovers the game has more players than he thought Vlad Taltos, short-statured, short-lived human in an Empire of tall, long-lived Dragaerans, has always had to keep his wits about him. Long ago, he made a place for himself as a captain of the Jhereg, the noble house that runs the rackets in the great imperial city of Adrilankha. But love, revolution, betrayal, and revenge ensued, and for years now Vlad has been a man on the run, struggling to stay a step ahead of the Jhereg who would kill him without hesitation. Now Vlad's back in Adrilankha. The rackets he used to run are now under the control of the mysterious "Left Hand of the Jhereg"—a secretive cabal of women who report to no man. His ex-wife needs his help. His old enemies aren't sure whether they want to kill him, or talk to him and then kill him. A goddess may be playing tricks with his memory. And the Great Weapon he's carrying seems to have plans of its own... Picking up directly where Issola left off, Dzur gives us Vlad Taltos at his best—swashbuckling storytelling with a wry and gritty edge. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The War Below

Author: Ernest Scheyder
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1668011808
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Book Description
Tough choices loom if the world wants to go green. The United States and other countries must decide where and how to procure the materials that make our renewable energy economy possible. To build electric vehicles, solar panels, cell phones, and millions of other devices means the world must dig more mines to extract lithium, copper, cobalt, rare earths, and nickel. But mines are deeply unpopular, even as they have a role to play in fighting climate change. These tensions have sparked a worldwide reckoning over the sourcing of these critical minerals, and no one understands the complexities of these issues better than Ernest Scheyder, whose exclusive access has allowed him to report from the front lines on the key players in this global battle to power our future.

Issola

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780812589177
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
Vlad Taltos, a sometime assassin currently on the run from his former associates, is tracked down in his jungle hideout by a most improbable party: Lady Teldra, who has come to enlist Vlad's help.

The Phoenix Guards

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765319654
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description
Together with three loyal friends, Khaavren of the House of Tiassa joins the Emperor's guards in search of adventure and fortune, only to find himself involved in treacherous Imperial politics, as he and his faithful band become the sole hope of the Empire.

Lyorn

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1466889713
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Book Description
All The World's A Happy Stage. Until the knives come out... Lyorn is the next adventure in Steven Brust’s bestselling Vlad Taltos series Another Opening...Another Cataclysm? Vlad Taltos is on the run. Again. This time from one of the most powerful forces in his world, the Left Hand, who are intent on ending his very lucrative career. Permanently. He finds a hidey-hole in a theatre where the players are putting on a show that was banned centuries ago...and is trying to be shut down by the House that once literally killed to keep it from being played. Vlad will take on a number of roles to save his own skin. And the skins of those he loves. And along the way, he might find a part that was tailor-made for him. One that he might not want...but was always his destiny. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Sethra Lavode

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1429922133
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 347

Book Description
Sethra Lavode is the sequel to The Paths of the Dead and The Lord of Castle Black, and the culmination of the bestselling epic begun with The Phoenix Guards. The oldest person in the Dragaeran Empire. A military genius and master of sorcery whose story stretches back to before the dawn of history. Now, after a long absence, the undead Sethra Lavode, the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain, has reentered the Empire's affairs. And the affairs of Khaavren and Pel, Tazendra and Aerich, and all their descendants, colleagues, and friends. For since Adron's Disaster, when Dragaera City was turned instantly into a sea of amorphia, the Empire has been in ruins. Trade has declined, brigands rule the roads, plagues sweep through the population. Now an ambitious Dragonlord means to rebuild the Empire in his own name. But unknown to him, the true heir, the Phoenix Zerika, has already retrieved the Imperial Orb from the Paths of the Dead. Sethra Lavode means to see Zerika on the throne. To do so will entail a climactic battle of sorcery and arms, told with all the swashbuckling flair for which Steven Brust is known. The Khaavren Romances, set in the world of Vlad Taltos's Dragaera: 1. The Phoenix Guards 2. Five Hundred Years After 3. The Paths of the Dead (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 1) 4. The Lord of Castle Black (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 2) 5. Sethra Lavode (The Viscount of Adrilankha, Vol. 3) The Baron of Magister Valley [standalone] At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Book of Dragon

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Tor Books
ISBN: 1466876255
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 396

Book Description
The first seven of Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos fantasy novels have long been in print from Ace Books in a set of three trade paperback omnibuses. Now Tor, publisher of the series from book eight on, continues the series of omnibuses with The Book of Dragon, which includes Dragon and Issola. In Dragon, Vlad finds himself in the last place any self-respecting assassin wants to be: the army. Worse, he's in the middle of an apocalyptic battle between two sorcerous armies, and everyone expects him to perform a role that they won't explain. Vlad may kill people for a living, but this is ridiculous. All he's got to rely on are his wits...and a smart-mouthed winged lizard. In Issola, Vlad's aristocratic friends Morrolan and Aliera have disappeared, and according to the eldritch (but affable) Sethra Lavode, they may be in the hands of the Jenoine—the mysterious beings who made the world of the Dragaera Empire and its surroundings, and who may have come from somewhere else. Oh, well, what's life without the occasional cosmic battle with beings who control time and space? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Brokedown Palace

Author: Steven Brust
Publisher: Orb Books
ISBN: 1466820500
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Book Description
Back in print after a decade, Brokedown Palace is a stand-alone fantasy in the world of Steven Brust's bestselling Vlad Taltos novels. Once upon a time...far to the East of the Dragaeran Empire, four brothers ruled in Fenario: King Laszlo, a good man—though perhaps a little mad; Prince Andor, a clever man—though perhaps a little shallow; Prince Vilmos, a strong man—though perhaps a little stupid; and Prince Miklos, the youngest brother, perhaps a little—no, a lot-stubborn. Once upon a time there were four brothers—and a goddess, a wizard, an enigmatic talking stallion, a very hungry dragon—and a crumbling, broken-down palace with hungry jhereg circling overhead. And then... At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.