The Week in Review

Welcome to the week in review! Every Friday, we comb through the links and images we found and shared this week, and pull the very best for this post. Consider it concentrated genre goodness from all around the web.

• Author Brian Staveley reveals how he felt on first seeing the cover to his upcoming novel, The Emperor’s Blades, by artist Richard Anderson. We can’t wait to read it!

• Microsoft and Steven Spielberg have teamed up to create a live-action Halo TV show.

• Have you seen the new Man of Steel trailer? The movie’s looking better and better!

• Astronaut Sally Ride has been posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We think it’s well-deserved – and about time!

• More TV news this week: there’s a new animated Star Wars series coming! We miss Clone Wars, but we’re excited for this new one as well.

• Matt Smith and David Tennant are teaming up for the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special, and they sat down to do an adorable interview together.

 
And, just to make Friday that much sweeter, here’s a list of sweepstakes and sales we have going on!

• The Ultimate Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes (Ends 5/31)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads First Reads: Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/29)
• eBook Sale: The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/7)
• Goodreads First Reads: Thieves’ Quarry by D. B. Jackson (Ends 6/12)
• eBook Sale: Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/14)
• eBook Sale: Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/21)
• Goodreads First Reads: Drift by Jon McGoran (Ends 6/21)

Starred Review: Mirror Image by Ice-T and Jorge Hinojosa

“There’s a procedural vibe here and the story reads long with its excessive details of Crush’s setup, but Ice-T’s slang rings true. Electronic surveillance gear rivaling James Bond films plays a big role as Crush’s crew scams the cops while planning the robbery. A rousing action scene provides a satisfying finale.”

Ice-T and Jorge Hinojosa’s Mirror Image gets a starred review in Library Journal!

Here’s the full review, from the April issue:

 Ice-T, star of television’s Law and Order: SVU, ponies up the next episode of the street life of Marcus “Crush” Casey following 2011’s Kings of Vice. After serving a 20-year bid in the joint and still reeling from his son’s murder, Crush finds himself in a gangster midlife crisis when his woman Carla demands stability in their lives. But he channels his inner gangster by godfathering New York City’s gangs and exposing police corruption. Backed by his right-hand dude Champa and an uneasy alliance with rival Armenian gangster Alek Perosian who may be his mirror image, Crush aims to pull off one more major heist of priceless cars. Crush hasn’t lived this long by making rash decisions, but love and loyalty may cloud his vision. VERDICT There’s a procedural vibe here and the story reads long with its excessive details of Crush’s setup, but Ice-T’s slang rings true. Electronic surveillance gear rivaling James Bond films plays a big role as Crush’s crew scams the cops while planning the robbery. A rousing action scene provides a satisfying finale, but hardened street lit readers may be frustrated with this “clean” novel short on sex and violence.

Mirror Image published in May.

Book Trailer: The Planet Thieves by Dan Krokos

 
The Planet Thieves is the first thrilling installment of a new middle-grade series by Dan Krokos.

Two weeks ago, thirteen-year-old Mason Stark and seventeen of his fellow cadets from the Academy for Earth Space Command boarded the SS Egypt. The trip was supposed to be a short routine voyage to log their required spacetime for summer quarter.

But routine goes out the airlock when they’re attacked by the Tremist, an alien race who have been at war with humanity for the last sixty years.

With the captain and crew dead, injured, or taken prisoner, Mason and the cadets are all that’s left to warn the ESC. And soon they find out exactly why the Tremist chose this ship to attack: the Egypt is carrying a weapon that could change the war forever.

Now Mason will have to lead the cadets in a daring assault to take back the ship, rescue the survivors, and recover the weapon. Before there isn’t a war left to fight.

The Planet Thieves, by Dan Krokos, is available now!

Goodreads First Reads: Drift by Jon McGoran

About Drift: When Philadelphia narcotics detective Doyle Carrick loses his mother and step-father within weeks of each other, he gains a twenty-day suspension for unprofessional behavior and instructions to lay low at the unfamiliar house he’s inherited in rural Pennsylvania.

Feeling restless and out of place, Doyle is surprised to find himself falling for his new neighbor, Nola Watkins, who’s under pressure to sell her organic farm to a large and mysterious development company. He’s more surprised to see high-powered drug dealers driving the small-town roads—dealers his bosses don’t want to hear about.

But when the drug bust Doyle’s been pushing for goes bad and the threats against Nola turn violent, Doyle begins to discover that what’s growing in the farmland around Philadelphia is much deadlier than anything he could have imagined . . .

Quick, clever, and terrifying, Jon McGoran’s Drift is a commercial thriller in the tradition of Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island.

Enter for a chance to win here!

(Ends June 19)

Also, don’t forget to check out our other sweepstakes!

New Releases: 5/21/2013

AND The Sacred Blacksmith Vol. 1 story by Isao Miura; art by Kotaro Yamada

See upcoming releases.

The Week in Review

Welcome to the week in review! Every Friday, we comb through the links and images we found and shared this week, and pull the very best for this post. Consider it concentrated genre goodness from all around the web.

 

• Astronaut Chris Hadfield made a strong showing to be crowned King of Space before he returned to Earth earlier this week. Case in point? Check him out singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” in space.

• Book Expo America is at the end of the month, and we’ll be there! Here’s our schedule of panels and author signings – come say hi!

• Tor.com is starting a reread of Glen Cook’s Black Company series! To get the ball rolling, the first ebook, The Black Company, is on sale for $2.99.

• There’s a new, longer trailer for the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show! We’re really excited about this one. You?

• Congratulations to the nominees for the John W. Campbell Award! Especially to the Tor authors nominated: David Brin, Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross, and Hannu Rajaniemi.

• Ta’veren Tees is currently donating 10% of the proceeds for its new Challenge Coin to the Wounded Warrior Project, in honor of Robert Jordan’s military service. A beautiful item that benefits a great cause. Thanks, Ta’veren Tees!

 
And, just to make Friday that much sweeter, here’s a list of sweepstakes and sales we have going on!

• The Ultimate Urban Fantasy Sweepstakes (Ends 5/31)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/22)
• Goodreads First Reads: Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads First Reads: Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Ends 5/29)
• Goodreads Giveaway: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Ends 5/29)
• eBook Sale: The Hum and the Shiver, by Alex Bledsoe, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/7)
• Goodreads First Reads: Thieves’ Quarry by D. B. Jackson (Ends 6/12)
• eBook Sale: Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/14)
• eBook Sale: Building Harlequin’s Moon, by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper, is on sale for $2.99 (Ends 6/21)

Find Tor Books at BEA!

Book Expo America 2013 takes place in New York City from May 29th to June 1st and we’ll be there! Take a look below to see which Tor authors, editors, and more will be appearing. Meet Brandon Sanderson, Ellen Datlow, Kendare Blake, and more!

Tor Books will also be present in the Macmillan section at booth 1557 for the entirety of the conference. Stop by and say hello!

 

Wednesday May 29th

• Book Blogger Conference Editor Insight Panel with Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Senior Editor at Tor Books (Location TBD). 10:10am-11am.
• Children’s Librarians Dinner w/Kendare Blake (Anna Dressed in Blood, Antigoddess). 7pm-9pm at the Princeton Club of NY, 15 W. 43rd Street.

Thursday May 30th

   Author Signings at Meeting Room MR 3211 (Tor Table #17)

• Kendare Blake (Anna Dressed in Blood, Antigoddess) 9:30 am-10:30am
• Dan Krokos (Planet Thieves) 11:30am-12:30pm
• Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings, The Rithmatist) 2pm-3pm (Note: This event is ticketed.)

Friday May 31th

   Horror Writers of America Signing at Table #24

• Ellen Datlow (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells, Tor.com) 2:30pm-3:30pm

   Signings at Booth 1557

• Brandon Sanderson (The Way of Kings, The Rithmatist) 3:00-4:30pm

   Author Signings at Meeting Room MR 3211 (Tor Table #17)

• V.E. Schwab (Viscious) 2pm-3pm
• Edward Lazellari (The Lost Prince) 3pm-4pm