April Debut Showcases

The Stranger (US - Canada - UK)
By Max Frei (Website *In Russian* - Twitter)
Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (April 2, 2009)
Hardcover: 544 pages
Excerpt
Reviews: Fantasy Book Critic

Publisher's Blurb:
Max Frei was a twenty-something loser—a big sleeper (that is, during the day; at night he can’t sleep a wink), a hardened smoker, and an uncomplicated glutton and loafer. But then he got lucky. He contacts a parallel world in his dreams, where magic is a daily practice. Once a social outcast, he’s now known in his new world as the “unequaled Sir Max.” He’s a member of the Department of Absolute Order, formed by a species of enchanted secret agents; his job is to solve cases more extravagant and unreal than one could imagine—a journey that will take Max down the winding paths of this strange and unhinged universe.

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Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter in US and Canada – Knife in UK, Aus and NZ
(US - Canada - UK)
By R.J. Anderson (Website - Blog - Twitter - Facebook - Myspace - Goodreads)
Publisher: HarperCollins (April 28, 2009)
Hardcover: 336 pages
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Excerpt
Reviews: Laura's Review Bookshelf, OCD, vampires, and rants, oh my!, Tez Says.
Publisher's Blurb:
Forget everything you think you know about faeries. . . .

Creatures full of magic and whimsy?

Not in the Oakenwyld. Not anymore.

Deep inside the great Oak lies a dying faery realm, bursting with secrets instead of magic. Long ago the faeries mysteriously lost their magic. Robbed of their powers, they have become selfish and dull-witted. Now their numbers are dwindling and their very survival is at stake.

Only one young faery—Knife—is determined to find out where her people's magic has gone and try to get it back. Unlike her sisters, Knife is fierce and independent. She's not afraid of anything—not the vicious crows, the strict Faery Queen, or the fascinating humans living nearby. But when Knife disobeys the Faery Queen and befriends a human named Paul, her quest becomes more dangerous than she realizes. Can Knife trust Paul to help, or has she brought the faeries even closer to the brink of destruction?

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Night’s Rose (US - Canada - UK)
by Annaliese Evans (Anna J. Evans) - (Website 1 - Website 2 - Blog)
Publisher: Tor Paranormal Romance (March 31, 2009)
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Excerpt
Reviews: Bitten By Books, All About Romance
Publisher's Blurb:
Beauty was not awakened by a kiss.

For nearly one hundred years, Rosemarie Edenberg has worked tirelessly to wipe the dreaded ogre tribe from the earth. Now the tribe has gathered in London to work a spell that will destroy the scourge of their kind, the woman they call the Briar Rose.

Two magnetic men will unite to aid Rose--her mysterious Fey advisor, Ambrose, and the vampire, Lord Shenley, an Earl of scandalous reputation and even more scandalous appetites. One will save her, one will betray her, and both will challenge her to face the past that haunts her.

Once upon a time, she was ensnared in the mists of enchantment, cursed to sleep one hundred years. But this beauty wasn’t awakened with a kiss, and has never known happily ever after.

With the help of her handsome allies, Rose may yet find it.

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The Unincorporated Man (US - Canada - UK)
by Dani & Eytan Kollin (Website - Blog)
Publisher: Tor Books; 1 edition (March 31, 2009)
Hardcover: 480 pages
Excerpt
Reviews: I09 - St John's Sun Times - SFRevu

Author's Blurb:
A brilliant industrialist named Justin Cord awakes from a 300-year cryonic suspension into a world that has accepted an extreme form of market capitalism. It's a world in which humans themselves have become incorporated and most people no longer own a majority of themselves.

Justin Cord is now the last free man in the human race - owned by no one and owning no one.

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The Dragon's Eye (US - Canada - UK)
by Kaza Kingsley (Website - Blog - Forum - Twitter - Facebook - Myspace)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (April 7, 2009)
Trade Paperback: 368 pages
Reading level: Young Adult 10 and up
Excerpt
Reviews: Wands and Worlds - Fanatic Space

Publisher's Blurb:
Life is not easy for twelve-year-old Erec Rex. His single mother can barely support her six adopted kids. And they've moved into an apartment so tiny that Erec sleeps with the washing machine. Worse, there is a strange force within Erec that is making him do odd things. His urge to obey these thoughts grows -- until it becomes impossible to resist them.

Then one morning, Erec's mother is missing. The force inside Erec commands him to find her, leading him on an adventure that will change him forever. When he arrives in Alypium, a hidden world where old knowledge of magic is kept, Erec learns that his mother and the entire kingdom are in peril. And he might be the only one who can save them.

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The Red Wolf Conspiracy (Amazon USA - UK - Canada)

by Robert V.S. Redick (blog)
Publisher: Del Rey
Hardcover - $26
Excerpt

Review at the Old Bat's Belfry.

Publisher's Blurb:

Scant years after a terrible war that shook empires, a six-hundred-year-old ship sets sail for enemy lands in an attempt to forge an enduring peace between the world’s two greatest monarchies. A vast city afloat, the ancient vessel bears a royal bride-to-be; a stowaway tribe of foothigh warriors; an honest young tarboy with a heritage of treason; a rat with a magical secret; and a dark conspiracy centered around the Red Wolf, a legendary and dangerous artifact.

When the conspiracy is uncovered, the voyage takes a turn into perilous waters, and the sword-wielding young bride and her quick-witted tarboy companion must face deadly assassins, treacherous mermaids, and monstrous slavers to uncover secrets at the highest levels of power—secrets that will send heroes and traitors alike careening towards a mysterious destination that could destroy both empires at a stroke.

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Sins and Shadows (Amazon USA - UK - Canada)
by Lyn Benedict (no website found; victim of nasty domain squatter; don't visit)
UPDATE: Also known as Lane Robins (safe to visit)
Publisher: Ace
Special Feature
Paperback - 7.99

Review at Darque Reviews.

Publisher's Blurb:
Sylvie Lightner is no ordinary P.I. She specializes in cases involving the unusual, in a world where magic is real—and where death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you.

But when an employee is murdered in front of her, Sylvie has had enough. After years of confounding the dark forces of the Magicus Mundi, she’s closing up shop—until a man claiming to be the God of Justice wants Sylvie to find his lost lover.

And he won’t take no for an answer.

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~ Special Announcement ~

This is the last time I'm going to handle Debut Showcases this way. I'm going back to individual showcases, but I'm going to rely heavily on either information that you send me through this form or information that typically accompanies review copies. If I don't receive information one of those two ways, I probably won't showcase it. I prefer for you to notify me using this form rather than just blindly sending me review copies. Because one CAN get too many free books! ;)

Therefore, you will see me pushing my little notification form a lot more. Like this.

Ok, I'll stop now.

A huge THANK YOU goes to Mulluane for helping me with all these showcases, and for putting up with my wishy-washy-ness month after month after month.