The Totems of Abydos has been fermenting in John Norman’s imagination for many years, and at last he felt it was ripe to release to fans who had heard about it and yearned to read it. They now have their chance.

In a far future, two anthropologists, gross, powerful, dissolute Emilio Rodriguez, and aspiring, young, naive Allan Brenner, who, unbeknownst to himself, carries ancient genes, of a sort no longer welcome on Home World, have been assigned to conduct a study on Abydos, a deeply forested, wilderness planet of little note, whose only evidence of civilization is a single enclave, small, rough, dingy Company Station, a fueling station occasionally utilized by star freighters.

Within the forest, some days from Company Station, are the Pons, a group of small, simian-seeming organisms which seems near the crossroads between animal and rational creature, between nature and culture. They would seem to constitute an ideal object of study with respect to the origins of, and foundations of, civilization. How came it about, so to speak, that something once emerged from the lair, or cave, that was different, radically so? What lies at the beginning?

The results of the study have already been politically prescribed on Home World, that the Pons are to shed light on humanity, that it is, in its original and unspoiled nature, polite, sweet, kind, deferent, diffident, social, noncompetitive, and innocent.

Both Rodriguez and Brenner have a trait in common, however, which may explain why they have been sent, exiled in a sense, to such an out-of-the-way locale. Both seek the truth.

They enter the forest.

Dave Duncan’s extraordinary new novel Against the Light, just released by47North, Amazon’s science fiction imprint, has soared to the Number One ranking in Science Fiction on the Kindle bestseller list. Amazon is cross-promoting Duncan’s other books, most of which are published by E-Reads.

In Against the Light the Hierarchy, high priests of the religious order the Light, has installed King Ethan as the monarchical figurehead, ruling both the magical kingdom of Albi and its predominant religion. Scattered throughout the land, worshipers in the old ways of the Earth Mother are persecuted as heretics. And when young missionary student Rollo Woodbridge returns home to Albi, he is immediately arrested for heresy and treason, setting off a chain of events that plunges the land into utter chaos.

The Hierarchy has more treacherous motives, however, and when Rollo is rescued from jail, his family’s home is destroyed—but Rollo and his siblings are left alive. While Rollo tries diplomacy to end the religious and political conflict, his brother and sister swear vengeance. With the hours to deliverance counting down and their lives hanging in the balance, they must decide whether to stay and fight or leave Albi forever in the suspenseful, action-packed Against the Light.

If you like Against the Light as much as we think you are going to, you’ll find lots more Dave Duncan fiction on his author page on the E-Reads website.

47North, Amazon’s science fiction imprint, has just released Dave Duncan’s extraordinary new novel Against the Light in paperback, audio and e-book, with a promotional giveaway of the e-book for Prime members.

In Against the Light  the Hierarchy, high priests of the religious order the Light, has installed King Ethan as the monarchical figurehead, ruling both the magical kingdom of Albi and its predominant religion. Scattered throughout the land, worshippers in the old ways of the Earth Mother are persecuted as heretics. And when young missionary student Rollo Woodbridge returns home to Albi, he is immediately arrested for heresy and treason, setting off a chain of events that plunges the land into utter chaos.

The Hierarchy has more treacherous motives, however, and when Rollo is rescued from jail, his family’s home is destroyed—but Rollo and his siblings are left alive. While Rollo tries diplomacy to end the religious and political conflict, his brother and sister swear vengeance. With the hours to deliverance counting down and their lives hanging in the balance, they must decide whether to stay and fight or leave Albi forever in the suspenseful, action-packed Against the Light.

If you like Against the Light as much as we think you are going to, you’ll find lots more Dave Duncan fiction on his author page on the E-Reads website.

Dan Simmons

John Kwok, a leading Amazon reviewer and blogger, has chosen Dan Simmons as one of “the best living American writers of science fiction.”

“Dan Simmons is a prolific award-winning writer of both excellent mainstream and science fiction and fantasy fiction. His ‘Hyperion Cantos’ (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion) raised the stakes with regards to writing literary space opera science fiction, drawing from sources as diverse as the poetry of John Keats and cyberpunk. A more recent literary space opera is his superb take on the Homeric epics, Iliad and Odyssey, set on a distant future Earth and Mars; Ilium and Olympos. One of my favorite novels of his is a most engrossing fictional account of the writer Ernest Hemingway indulging in spying on Nazis in Cuba during the early years of World War II, The Crook Factory [Mulholland Books reissue coming soon]. Dan Simmons’ latest novel is the near future dystopian thriller Flashback.”

E-Reads carries two masterpieces by Simmons, Phases of Gravity and Song of Kali.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about fans it’s that they are what you might call completists. That is, they’re not completely happy until they possess every single one of their favorite author’s works.

If you’re a John Norman completist you will be thrilled to know that E-reads has finished publication of every book-length work produced by John Norman over the length of his distinguished career. If there’s a gap in your library, you can now fill it by visiting John Norman’s author page and clicking on the missing books.

Having made this declaration we now have to qualify it by reminding you that John Norman has not retired. Not even close. He continues to produce magnificent new fantasies. I happen to be looking at two of them.

One is The Totems of Abydos, decades in the making. We’ll be releasing it in the spring of 2012. The other is Conspirators of Gor, volume 31 of the Gorean Saga. You’ll be hearing more about them as we come up to their publication date. We know you won’t forget. You are, after all, a John Norman Completist.

In Pock’s World, a thrilling story of adventure and suspense by master storyteller Dave Duncan, five flawed individuals must decide the fate of an entire world.

On the outskirts of the Ayne Sector sits Pock’s World. Years ago, humankind settled the planet. Now, it might or might not have been infested by humanoid aliens, hidden amongst the populace, waiting to interbreed and use humans as incubators for their parasitic spawn.

Five people are chosen to travel to the quarantined Pock’s World to find out whether it should be sterilized of all life–a ruthless priest, a scandal-seeking reporter, an ambitious politician, a bureaucrat, and a questionable billionaire. Each has his or her own agenda as to what they wish to find on that distant planet. Instead, they discover the unexpected–a web of deceit, love, politics, and religion. With very little time left, there don’t seem to be any simple answers in the complicated universe of Pock’s World.

“Entertaining, fast-moving and thoughtful SF, with engaging characters.” – S. M. Stirling

You can purchase the e-book of Pock’s World here, or click here to buy the printed version published by Edge.

Anything can happen under a Christmas Moon. Even a miracle that the Three Kings would have appreciated.

Pregnant, unwed and down on her luck, history teacher Emma Carlyle is facing the worst Christmas of her life. Needing some research for her master’s thesis on legendary Wyoming lawman J.D. McNulty, she makes a Christmas Eve drive to South Pass City, where J.D. was buried. But…

Heading home, she loses her way in a storm. After her car vanishes, she ends up in 1870, half-frozen and in labor, on the doorstep of a remote mountain cabin. When J.D. himself opens the door with a pistol in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other…well, let’s just say that sparks start flying. These two lost souls are clearly meant for each other. But there’s one problem. Emma has studied everything about J.D.–and she knows he has only a few weeks to live.

Maybe, until then Emma didn’t believe in miracles. But this is the time of the Christmas Moon , and, as we said, anything can happen.

Author Elizabeth Lane has penned a sensual time travel romance with an inspiring message that will send chills down your spine. Christmas Moon is an E-Reads original, never before published. For other Elizabeth Lane novels visit her author page.
RC

Air Force lieutenant Rick Walsh has just gotten off a twelve-hour flight from Guam at the Tucson Airport. All he wants right now is too see his girlfriend Maia and maybe have a short rest before reassignment. What Lieutenant Walsh finds instead is a month-old infant and a mystery that spans two universes.

Maia has disappeared, leaving behind her newborn, Gus, a baby with Walsh’s eyes. It seems that a disturbing number of Tucson residents have gone missing as well and the authorities don’t have a clue. As Walsh races to track down Maia and her possible kidnappers, a conspiracy unfolds as the search leads him deep into the desert and then on to someplace…else. What awaits Walsh in this other land proves sinister and dangerous, and it seems to have its eye on our world.

In Dragon Season , author Michael Cassutt weaves classic suspense and modern fantasy into a wild ride that readers won’t soon forget.

Dave Duncan fans clamoring for restoration of the middle volume of his King’s Blades trilogy will get their wish.  E-Reads has just reissued Lord of the Fire Lands 

We asked Duncan to tell us about the writing of this book, and we got far more than we bargained for when he revealed an amazing secret to us. You can read it here.

To bring you up to date, Raider and Wasp have spent five years at Ironhall studying to become Blades, expert swordsmen whose talents stand unmatched. Magic both enhances the Blades’ fighting skills and binds them in lifelong duty. But, when Raider and Wasp are selected to protect the king of Chivial himself, they refuse, an act unprecedented in the living history of the Blades.

Now on the run for their “treasonous” act, the two gifted swordsmen must escape to the Fire Lands, where pirates, monsters, and mixed allegiances wait around every corner. As old hatreds and still-fresh tragedies come to light, these young swashbucklers must confront both harsh truths from the past and a present swarming with their would-be brothers at arms seeking vengeance and intending punishment.

Dave Duncan’s Lord of the Fire Lands serves as a splendid bridge between The Gilded Chain and Sky of Swords. Engaging and complex, it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel or in combination with the rest of the trilogy. Either way, readers are in for a smart, thrilling adventure that cuts as sharp as the edge of a knife.

“Sophisticated structure and themes…will satisfy both fantasy fans looking for high adventure and those more interested in rich characterizations.” – Publisher’s Weekly.

We asked Dave Duncan to write something for us about Lord of the Fire Lands, the middle novel in his King’s Blades trilogy. When he did he revealed a secret that many readers may find incomprehensible but every professional writer will recognize.

**********************

When asked how I write, I always stress the importance of knowing the ending of a book before writing the beginning. There are exceptions, though, and Lord of the Fire Lands was certainly one of them.

In its first version, it ended with the treaty negotiations, a scene that is still there. I was working well ahead of my submission deadline back then, so I put the MS aside to marinate while I worked on something else. When I came back to it to apply a final polish, I decided that the ending was too abrupt. So I wrote some more. That didn’t work. I tried again, with the same result. And again.

At that point Radgar, who is probably the most complex character ever to emerge from my word processor, completely took over. I have had characters awaken to a life of their own and try to upstage everyone else—Katanji in “The Seventh Sword” series, for example—but none quite as vividly as Radgar did then. He dictated the ending you will now find.

“You can’t do that!” I protested. “It’s barbaric. Moreover, you are completely ruining the final book.”

“The third book is your problem,” he replied, “and I certainly am a barbarian. This is my story, and this is how it must end.”

I argued as much as I dared, but Radgar was both armed and exceedingly dangerous, as you will see. Eventually he convinced me that this was indeed how he would act. The proof was that I did not need to change anything that had happened earlier, so “his” ending was correct for his story. I didn’t approve, but I had to let it stand. I took the dog for a long walk and worked out how I could salvage the rest of the trilogy. When the hardcover came out, I received so many protests from readers that we added a warning in the mass market edition, to the effect that you could read any book in the series, but not two, or you would have to read all three.
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E-Reads’ release of Firelands plugs a hole in the first series, “Tales of the King’s Blades”. The first book, The Gilded Chain, and the third, Sky of Swords, have never been out of print.*

The second series, “Chronicles of the King’s Blades” is also available in its entirety; these three books follow the Blades’ adventures after the reign of King Ambrose: Paragon Lost, Impossible Odds, and The Jaguar Knights.**

I also wrote a trilogy of YA novellas, “The King’s Daggers”, which E-Reads has re-issued as a single novel, The Monster War. That fills a story gap in the first series. So now you have all seven to look forward to.

PS: The Blades have been translated into at least seven other languages. Take a look at the cover of the French edition of The Gilded Chain and you will see how they struck a chord in the land of d’Artagnan.

Dave Duncan

November 23, 2011

* The Gilded Chain and Sky of Swords are available as HarperCollins e-books.

** Also available as HarperCollins e-books