Inaugurada la colección de novelas cortas de Tor.com

Tor.com ha comenzado ya la publicación de su colección de novelas cortas de ciencia ficción y fantasía, que irán viendo la luz semanalmente y están disponibles tanto en formato digital como en versión impresa. La semana pasada salió a la venta el primer título, The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, de Kai Ashante Wilson, y ayer se publicó Wiches of Lychford, de Paul Cornell. Podéis ver sus sinopsis y portadas bajo estas líneas.

The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, Kai Ashante Wilson

Critically acclaimed author Kai Ashante Wilson makes his commercial debut with this striking, wondrous tale of gods and mortals, magic and steel, and life and death that will reshape how you look at sword and sorcery.

Since leaving his homeland, the earthbound demigod Demane has been labeled a sorcerer. With his ancestors' artifacts in hand, the Sorcerer follows the Captain, a beautiful man with song for a voice and hair that drinks the sunlight. 

The two of them are the descendants of the gods who abandoned the Earth for Heaven, and they will need all the gifts those divine ancestors left to them to keep their caravan brothers alive. 

The one safe road between the northern oasis and southern kingdom is stalked by a necromantic terror. Demane may have to master his wild powers and trade humanity for godhood if he is to keep his brothers and his beloved captain alive.

Witches of Lychford, Paul Cornell

Traveler, Cleric, Witch. 

The villagers in the sleepy hamlet of Lychford are divided. A supermarket wants to build a major branch on their border. Some welcome the employment opportunities, while some object to the modernization of the local environment. 

Judith Mawson (local crank) knows the truth -- that Lychford lies on the boundary between two worlds, and that the destruction of the border will open wide the gateways to malevolent beings beyond imagination. 

But if she is to have her voice heard, she's going to need the assistance of some unlikely allies...

Ebook gratuito: A Discovery of Witches, de Deborah Harkness

En estos momentos se puede descargar gratuitamente en varias tiendas online (Amazon ES, Kobo, iBooks) el ebook A Discovery of Witches, de Deborah Harkness. Ésta es su sinopsis:

Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the stunning first volume of the No.1 internationally bestsellling ALL SOULS trilogy.

A world of witches, daemons and vampires. A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future. Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it.

When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels...

Vídeo: Presentación de Cybersiones en la Semana Negra 2015

Para terminar con la serie de vídeos de la Semana Negra 2015, os ofrezco hoy la grabación de la presentación que más ilusión me hacía: Cybersiones, de Santiago García Albás. Participan el autor y su editor, Rodolfo Martínez.

¡Que lo disfrutéis!

Novedad: If Then, de Matthew de Abutia

Esta semana se ha puesto a la venta If Then, la novela de debut de Matthew de Abutia.

Ésta es la sinopsis de la novela:

In the near future, after the collapse of society as we know it, one English town survives under the protection of the computer algorithms of the Process, which governs every aspect of their lives. The Process gives and it takes. It allocates jobs and resources, giving each person exactly what it has calculated they will need. But it also decides who stays under its protection, and who must be banished to the wilderness beyond. Human life has become totally algorithm-driven, and James, the town bailiff, is charged with making sure the Process’s suggestions are implemented. 

But now the Process is making soldiers. It is readying for war — the First World War. Mysteriously, the Process is slowly recreating events that took place over a hundred years ago, and is recruiting the town’s men to fight in an artificial reconstruction of the Dardanelles campaign. James, too, must go fight. And he will discover that the Process has become vastly more sophisticated and terrifying than anyone had believed possible.

Novedad: The Dragon Engine, de Andy Remic

Hoy se pone a la venta The Dragon Engine, primera novela de una nueva serie de fantasía de Andy Remic. 

Ésta es la sinopsis de la novela:

Five noble war heroes of Vagandrak get drunk one night and sign a contract - to journey to the Karamakkos in search of the Five Havens where, it is written, there lies untold, abandoned wealth and, more importantly, the three Dragon Heads, legendary jewels claimed to give unspeakable power and everlasting life to those who wield them. 

But the Dragon Heads aren't what the adventurers think they are, and the world has not encountered their like in generations! Think Smaug was fierce? You ain't seen nothing!

Novedad: In the Shadow of the Towers, antología de Douglas Lain

Night Shade Books ha puesto a la venta In the Shadow of the Towers, una antología editada por Douglas Lain. 

Estos son sus contenidos y sinopsis:

The debris and dust. The terrorized crowds stampeding away from the towers. The fire and death of the second impact. For many, these images have come to encompass the horror and grief of 9/11. But are these scenes really that unfamiliar? Disaster films, alien invasions, and monster movies have been at the center of popular entertainment for decades. How thin is the line in the sand between Independence Day or Godzilla and the television footage from the attacks on that day? 

The challenge for any science fiction, fantasy, or horror writer after 9/11 is moving forward without trivializing tragedy or being overwhelmed by it. It is difficult to write about September 11th in a serious and meaningful way, and even harder to do so using the idiom of the fantastic. It requires coming to terms with a world that had become a twisted and surreal parody of itself, a mirror linking fiction and reality. 

In the Shadow of the Towers collects a variety of short science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories that deal with the destruction of 9/11, that ask what is needed to rebuild, that strive to turn our fears into something stronger, and that seek out the core humanity that allows us to continue on, even in the face of overwhelming grief. Each author, in his or her own way, contemplates the same question: 

How can we continue dreaming in the shadow of the towers? 

Section One: The Dead 

1. “There’s a Hole in the City”, Richard Bowes
2. “My Eyes Your, Your Ears”, Ray Vukcevich
3. “Beyond the Flags”, Kris Saknussemm
4. “Beautiful Stuff”, Susan Palwick

Section Two: Reaction and Repetition 

5. “Excerpt from Zenith Angle”, Bruce Sterling
6. “Our Lady of Toledo Transmission”, Rob McCleary
7. “The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill”, Kelly Robson
8. “Retribution”, Tim Marquitz
9. “Until Forgiveness Comes”, K. Tempest Bradford
10. “Pipeline”, Brian Aldiss

Section Three: The New Normal 

11. “Excerpt from Little Brother”, Cory Doctorow
12. “Unexpected Outcomes”, Tim Pratt
13. “Out of My Sight, Out of My Mind”, David Friedman
14. “Closing Time”, Jack Ketchum

Section Four: Civilization? 

15. “The Last Apollo Mission”, Douglas Lain
16. “Giliad”, Gregory Feeley
17. “Apologue”, James Morrow

Ebook gratis: Qualify, de Vera Nazarian

En estos momentos se puede descargar gratuitamente en varias tiendas online (Amazon ES, Kobo, iBooks) el ebook Qualify de Vera Nazarian. Ésta es su sinopsis:

You have two options. You die, or you Qualify. 

The year is 2047. An extinction-level asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and the descendants of ancient Atlantis have returned from the stars in their silver ships to offer humanity help. 

But there's a catch. 

They can only take a tiny percent of the Earth's population back to the colony planet Atlantis. And in order to be chosen, you must be a teen, you must be bright, talented, and athletic, and you must Qualify. 

Sixteen-year-old Gwenevere Lark is determined not only to Qualify but to rescue her entire family. 

Because there's a loophole. 

If you are good enough to Qualify, you are eligible to compete in the brutal games of the Atlantis Grail, which grants all winners the laurels, high tech luxuries, and full privileges of Atlantis Citizenship. And if you are in the Top Ten, then all your wildest wishes are granted... Such as curing your mother's cancer. 

There is only one problem. 

Gwen Lark is known as a klutz and a nerd. While she's a hotshot in classics, history, science, and languages, the closest she's come to sports is a backyard pool and a skateboard. 

This time she is in over her head, and in for a fight of her life, against impossible odds and world-class competition--including Logan Sangre, the most amazing guy in her school, the one she's been crushing on, and who doesn't seem to know she exists. 

Because every other teen on Earth has the same idea. 

You Qualify or you die.