Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth is only a couple of months away now

And I can't wait! I only wish I was able to visit Oxford to see the actual exhibit.

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth
Ed. Catherine McIlwane
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Release Date: July 15, 2018
978-1851244850

The amazon.com product description:

The range of J. R. R. Tolkien’s talents is remarkable. Not only was he an accomplished linguist and philologist, as well as a scholar of Anglo-Saxon and medieval literature and Norse folklore, but also a skillful illustrator and storyteller. Drawing on these talents, he created a universe which is for many readers as real as the physical world they inhabit daily.

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth explores the huge creative endeavor behind Tolkien’s enduring popularity. Lavishly illustrated with three hundred images of his manuscripts, drawings, maps, and letters, the book traces the creative process behind his most famous literary works—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion—and reproduces personal photographs and private papers, many of which have never been seen before in print.

Six essays introduce the reader to the person of J. R. R. Tolkien and to main themes in his life and work, including the influence of northern languages and legends on the creation of his own legendarium; his concept of “Faërie” as an enchanted literary realm; the central importance of his invented languages in his fantasy writing; his visual imagination and its emergence in his artwork; and the encouragement he derived from his close friend C. S. Lewis and their literary group the Inklings.

The book brings together the largest collection of original Tolkien material ever assembled in a single volume. Drawing on the extensive archives of the Tolkien collections at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, which stretch to more than five hundred boxes, and Marquette University, Milwaukee, as well as private collections, this hugely ambitious and exquisitely produced book draws together the worlds of J. R. R. Tolkien – scholarly, literary, creative, and domestic—offering a rich and detailed understanding and appreciation of this extraordinary author.

This landmark publication, produced on the occasion of a major exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford in 2018 and at the Morgan Library in New York in 2019, is set to become a standard work in the literature on J. R. R. Tolkien. 

Over 400 pages of essays and Tolkien material from the Bodleian Library, Marquette University and private collections! I'm almost drooling just thinking about it! Of course, some of it may have been reproduced in other volumes (I'm thinking of the Letters from Father Christmas for example). I just wish I could see somewhere a list of who the essay-writers are. I can definitely think of some well-recognized Tolkien scholars who I'd love to read more from: Verlyn Flieger, Dimitra Fimi, Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull, John Garth, etc...

With the sentence in the description "...his concept of “Faërie” as an enchanted literary realm; the central importance of his invented languages in his fantasy writing; his visual imagination and its emergence in his artwork..." I wouldn't be surprised to see one or two of the above named scholars having contributed. I know that two of the more recent Hammond and Scull books were on Tolkien's artwork in the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Dimitra Fimi has written on Tolkien and language, and Flieger has written a fair bit on Tolkien and Faerie in the past. However, those are just my guesses. I guess I'll just have to wait until I order and receive a copy of Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth to see who's contributed.

Another New Tolkien Book!

November is going to be a good month for Tolkien fans (Based on Canadian release dates. It looks as though the USA ones are earlier.)! First of all, there's the new Facsimile first edition of The Hobbit - released for the 80th anniversary that I mentioned back in September, and today I found out about this one. Not to forget about the Beren and Luthien book which is coming out in 2017 - and for which I currently cannot find a non-e-book listing!

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun
J.R.R. Tolkien
Ed. Verlyn Flieger
HarperCollins
Release Date: November 3, 2016
978-0008202132

The amazon.com product description:

Unavailable for more than 70 years, this early but important work is published for the first time with Tolkien's 'Corrigan' poems and other supporting material, including a prefatory note by Christopher Tolkien. Set 'In Britain's land beyond the seas' during the Age of Chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (the 'Aotrou' and 'Itroun' of the title) and the tragedy that befalls them when Aotrou seeks to remedy their situation with the aid of a magic potion obtained from a corrigan, or malevolent fairy. When the potion succeeds and Itroun bears twins, the corrigan returns seeking her fee, and Aotrou is forced to choose between betraying his marriage and losing his life.

Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with the two shorter 'Corrigan' poems that lead up to it and which are also included, was the outcome of a comparatively short but intense period in Tolkien's life when he was deeply engaged with Celtic, and particularly Breton, myth and legend. Originally written in 1930 and long out of print, this early but seminal work is an important addition to the non-Middle-earth portion of his canon and should be set alongside Tolkien's other retellings of myth and legend, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, The Fall of Arthur and The Story of Kullervo. Like these works, it belongs to a small but important corpus of his ventures into 'real-world' mythologies, each of which in its own way would be a formative influence on his own legendarium.

Verlyn Flieger has a reputation as one of the great Tolkien scholars, having written several highly recommended books on the subject as well as more recently editing a number of new editions of Tolkien's books. This is sure to be an interesting one that I'm looking forward to reading.

New and Upcoming Releases

There are always new and interesting books coming out. These are a few of the ones that have caught my eye that have either just been released, or are going to be coming out over the next couple of months:

We start with:

Tempest: All New Tales Of Valdemar
Ed. Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Release Date: December 6, 2016
978-0756409036

The amazon.com product description:

Twenty-four authors ride with Mercedes Lackey to her magical land of Valdemar, adding their own unique voices to the Heralds, Bards, Healers, and other heroes of this beloved fantasy realm.

The Heralds of Valdemar are the kingdom’s ancient order of protectors. They are drawn from all across the land, from all walks of life, and at all ages—and all are Gifted with abilities beyond those of normal men and women. They are Mindspeakers, FarSeers, Empaths, ForeSeers, Firestarters, FarSpeakers, and more. These inborn talents—combined with training as emissaries, spies, judges, diplomats, scouts, counselors, warriors, and more—make them indispensable to their monarch and realm. Sought and Chosen by mysterious horse-like Companions, they are bonded for life to these telepathic, enigmatic creatures. The Heralds of Valdemar and their Companions ride circuit throughout the kingdom, protecting the peace and, when necessary, defending their land and monarch.

Now, twenty-three authors ride with Mercedes Lackey to her magical land of Valdemar, adding their own unique voices to the Heralds, Bards, Healers, and other heroes of this beloved fantasy realm.

Join Elizabeth Vaughan, Fiona Patton, Jennifer Brozek, Brenda Cooper, Rosemary Edghill, and others in twenty-two original stories, including a brand-new novella by Mercedes Lackey, to Valdemar, where:

A Herald must crack an ancient code in a historic tapestry in order to arbitrate a dispute over land and lineage…

A Healer’s daughter flees the noble family that has trapped and enslaved her mother, and must seek help to free her mother…

A young woman who hides her clairvoyant powers from her town’s Karsite priests ForeSees a threat, and must risk revealing her Gift to save her community…

A Herald finds his assistant has been abducted by a man upon whom he had levied a heavy fine, and must foil the kidnapper’s plans to save his charge…

Mercedes Lackey's anthologies have become an annual tradition over the past several years. Most of them have been Valdemar-themed, but there have also been a couple set in the Elemental Masters world too. As always, the stories vary, but often they carry over characters from previous anthologies as well. I know I'm looking forward to seeing who and what show up in this one. Makes a great Christmas gift for any Valdemar or Mercedes Lackey fans too.

99: Stories Of The Game
Wayne Gretzky
G.P. Putnam & Sons
Release Date: October 18, 2016
978-0399575471

The amazon.com product description:

One of the greatest sports figures of all time salutes his heroes and takes us inside the game as few others can.
From minor-hockey phenomenon to Hall of Fame sensation, Wayne Gretzky rewrote the record books, his accomplishments becoming the stuff of legend. Dubbed “The Great One,” he is considered by many to be the greatest hockey player who ever lived. No one has seen more of the game than he has—but he has never discussed in depth just what it was he saw.

For the first time, Gretzky discusses candidly what the game looks like to him and introduces us to the people who inspired and motivated him: mentors, teammates, rivals, the famous and the lesser known. Weaving together lives and moments from an extraordinary career, he reflects on the players who inflamed his imagination when he was a kid, the way he himself figured in the dreams of so many who came after; takes us onto the ice and into the dressing rooms to meet the friends who stood by him and the rivals who spurred him to greater heights; shows us some of the famous moments in hockey history through the eyes of someone who regularly made that history.

Warm, direct, and revelatory, it is a book that gives us number 99, the man and the player, like never before.

Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games: Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey's Greatest Record
Mike Brophy and Todd Denault
McClelland & Stewart
Release Date: October 18, 2016
978-0771017551

The amazon.com product description:

In only his 3rd NHL season, Wayne Gretzky set the unbeatable NHL record - scoring 50 goals in just 39 games. A book for the devoted Gretzky fans, and books like 99 by Al Strachan.

Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games, Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey's Greatest Record sets out to chronicle that unforgettable streak of 39 games in the fall of 1981, when a 20-year-old wunderkind from the town of Brantford, Ontario, captured the imagination of not just the hockey world but the world at large and emerged as both the game's biggest star and it's most recognizable face.

Published on the 35th anniversary of this remarkable feat, the story of this unforgettable season is chronicled by renowned hockey authors Mike Brophy and Todd Denault. Based on new interviews with Wayne Gretzky and with those who surrounded him during his magical run at hockey's greatest record, Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games, Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey's Greatest Record will detail on a game-by-game basis Gretzky's stellar run towards hockey immortality, through extensive research and the reminiscences of those who were there, including teammates, and players from opposing teams.

 Both of these books will probably be on any hockey fan's Christmas list.

And here's one for the Star Trek fan:

The Star Trek Encyclopedia, Revised and Expanded Edition: A Reference Guide to the Future
Michael Okuda
Harper Design
October 18, 2016
978-0062371324

The amazon.com product description:

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the classic show, a fully authorized revision of the popular reference companion: a two-volume encyclopedia featuring a completely new design, stunning new full-color photographs and illustrations, and 300 pages of new entries, packaged in a specially designed and shrink-wrapped deluxe slipcase.
When it debuted in 1966, the Star Trek series quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, inspiring six spin-off series and thirteen films—including Star Trek Beyond, opening July 22, 2016—as well as books, comics, games, toys, and more. One of the largest franchises of all time, Star Trek’s overall box office revenue totals more than $1.93 billion to date.
Since it’s initial publication twenty-five years ago, The Star Trek Encyclopedia has been the go-to source for everything related to the franchise’s canon. Packed with highly detailed information, including brief episode and film synopses, no other book has come close to offering the same wealth of insight into the Star Trek universe. Now, The Star Trek Encyclopedia has been thoroughly revised and redesigned for a new generation of fans. This updated and expanded edition includes 300 more pages, information, photographs and illustrations, and offers exhaustively researched and detailed entries on the characters, ships, and events from the last fifteen years of Star Trek television shows and films, including Star Trek: Voyager seasons 4-7, Star Trek: Enterprise seasons 1-4, and Star Trek Nemesis. It also features material detailing the recent big-screen films Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Packaged in a stunning deluxe slipcase, this two-volume set is a must-have for every Star Trek fan’s library.

I know at least one person who will be drooling over this book!

For the Outlander fans:

The Making of Outlander: The Series: The Official Guide to Seasons One & Two
Tara Bennett and Diana Gabaldon
Delacorte Press
Release Date: October 18, 2016
978-1101884164

The amazon.com product description:

Get an exclusive look behind the scenes of the first two seasons of Outlander with this official, fully illustrated companion to the hit Starz television series based on the bestselling novels.

It was only a matter of time before Diana Gabaldon’s bestselling Outlander saga made the leap from book to hit TV series, and the millions of readers captivated by the epic romance of Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser have eagerly followed.

Now the must-watch drama has inspired this must-have guide, which reveals that it takes a village (or perhaps a Scottish isle) to bring the breathtaking world of Outlander to life in front of our eyes. Spanning the first two seasons of the Starz network sensation, The Making of Outlander leads readers behind the scenes and straight into the action as cast members, writers, producers, musicians, costume designers, set decorators, technicians, and more share the many adventures and challenges they face to make this sweeping saga come alive on the screen.

In exclusive interviews, the show’s stars, including Caitriona Balfe (Claire), Sam Heughan (Jamie), and Tobias Menzies (Frank Randall/Black Jack Randall), discuss the daunting task of embodying some of fiction’s most beloved characters—and satisfying the high expectations of devoted Outlander readers. Executive producer and showrunner Ronald D. Moore looks at the inner workings of the writers’ room, shares his crew’s travels to the authentic overseas locations, and chronicles the brainstorming, building, breakneck pacing, and boundless energy that make everything from the show’s architecture to its outfits period-perfect. In addition, the book examines all the Outlander episodes through exclusive interviews with their writers and directors, providing fascinating facts into the making of each hour.

Best of all, The Making of Outlander offers a veritable feast of lavish photographs—including an array of images spotlighting the stars in all their characters’ grandeur and up-close personal portraits. Featuring an introduction by Diana Gabaldon herself, this magnificent insider’s look at the world of the Outlander TV series is the companion all fans will want by their side.

Definitely a book for the fans of the TV series. I know I'm going to see if I can get a look through a copy of this book in the near future!

To go along with the Outlander material, I've also discovered that they are releasing an Outlander season two soundtrack:

Outlander: Season Two (Original Television Soundtrack)
Bear McCreary
Release Date: October 28, 2016

I'm really looking forward to this one! They had some of the best music in season two. My copy of the season one soundtrack is one that I play frequently, so I'm eager for this. It opens with the french version of the Skye Boat Song, and goes from there, including the music from the episode "Prestonpans". Unfortunately, there aren't samples for most of the tracks yet, so I'm having trouble remembering which tracks specifically were favorites. Looking forward to hearing them all again though!

Calling all audio-book fans!! Until November 2nd, the price is right on this one:

The Dispatcher
John Scalzi
Audible
Release Date: October 4, 2016

The amazon.com product description:

Zachary Quinto - best known for his role as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer, Sylar, in Heroes - brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this audio-exclusive novella from master storyteller John Scalzi.
One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.
Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher - a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge a supposed wrong.
It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late...before not even a Dispatcher can save him.
The Dispatcher is free until November 2, 2016. 

John Scalzi has written some very good science fiction - the first book that come to mind are his Old Man's War series, which I've enjoyed a few times now - especially the first two books, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. This one sounds interesting too, especially at the current price.

Shadow of Victory (Honor Harrington)
David Weber
Baen Books
Release Date: November 1, 2016
978-1476781822

The amazon.com product description:

The Mesan Alignment is revealed, and, for Honor Harrington and the Manticoran Star Kingdom, this means war!

Unintended Consequences

Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as planned.

The Mesan Alignment has a plan—one it’s been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race—its way.

Until recently, things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history. To help push things along, the Alignment launched a devastating sneak attack which destroyed the Royal Manticoran Navy’s industrial infrastructure.

And in order to undercut Manticore’s galaxy-wide reputation as a star nation of its word, it launched Operation Janus—a false-flag covert operation to encourage rebellions it knows will fail by promising Manticoran support. The twin purposes are to harden Solarian determination to destroy the Star Empire once and for all, and to devastate the Star Empire’s reputation with the rest of the galaxy.

But even the best laid plans can have unintended consequences, and one of those consequences in this case may just be a new dawn of freedom for oppressed star nations everywhere.

I really need to go back and play catch-up with this series. I hate to admit it, but I've rather lost track of the events and plot threads, including the various spin-off series. However, I still go back and re-read some of the earlier books in the series. Now I just need to really settle in and do a systematic re-read to get caught up on events. 

New Tolkien Book

The Hobbit Facsimile First Edition
J.R.R. Tolkien
HarperCollins
Release Date: September 22, 2016
978-0007440832

The amazon.com blurb:

This sumptuous gift set includes a replica of the very rare first edition of The Hobbit, the only edition where one can now read the original version of the story before Tolkien re-edited it to become the one enjoyed by readers since 1951. The Hobbit was published on 21 September 1937, with a print run of 1,500 copies. With a beautiful cover design, nearly a dozen black & white illustrations and two black & red maps by the author himself, the book proved to be popular and was reprinted shortly afterwards. History was already being made. The scarcity of the first edition has resulted in copies commanding huge prices, way beyond the reach of most Tolkien fans. In addition, subsequent changes to the text - particularly those to chapter 5, when Tolkien decided in 1947 to revise the text to bring it better into accord with events as they were developing in its 'sequel', The Lord of the Rings - mean that the opportunity to read the book in its original form and format has become quite difficult. This special printing reprints the first edition, so that readers of all ages - not just 'children between the ages of 5 and 9', as Rayner Unwin famously declared in his report on the original submission - can finally enjoy Tolkien's story as it originally appeared.

I first saw rumors of this book back in 2010/2011 for the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit. However, it seems that nothing came of it back then - it was certainly never available for order. I'm glad to see it available now for the 80th anniversary. I've loved the previous facsimile edition of one of Tolkien's books - Mr. Bliss.

All I know is that I really want to get a copy of this one. Most of the information on the differing editions and rewrites of The Hobbit is already available, most notably through the Annotated Hobbit - another very spectacular book, which I am sad to admit, I have not actually read all the way through.

Maybe I'm also simply a sucker for slipcased books, especially when it comes to Tolkien. I know I'm something of a collector of Tolkien's books - see the somewhat scary list and photos posts for proof if you wish, but I've also fallen quite behind when it comes to actually reading the books. Not that that's going to stop me from continuing to add to my collection.

Two New Books on Indexing

There are two new book on indexing coming out in June.

The first is:
Ten Characteristics of Quality Indexes: Confessions of an Award Winning Indexer
Margie Towery
978-1573875264

Release Date: June 14th, 2016

The amazon.com product description:

The name "Margie Towery" is synonymous with index quality, and in this guide the master indexer distills more than two decades of experience for the benefit of her fellow indexers. Towery defines and explores the characteristics of quality indexes: audiences and accessibility, metatopics and index structure, accuracy, comprehensiveness, conciseness, consistency, clarity, reflexivity, readability, and common sense.

Writing in an engaging and accessible style, she shares her own struggles in indexing and offers strategies for overcoming challenges such as bias and language, indexing blocks, and working with authors. Her digressions into research on reading and decision-making provide a wider context for thinking about quality, while her suggestions and checklist for evaluating indexes round out this essential volume for professional indexers at every skill level.

This is a book I really want to add to my library. As a professional indexer, albeit a newer one, I find that each time I read a book on indexing, I learn something new - a different way of looking at such finicky debates such as using undifferentiated locators or not, or workflow tricks to speed up the process.

The second book is another one that I really want to add to my library:
Indexing Tactics & Tidbits: An A-Z Guide
Janet Perlman
978-1573875257
 
Release Date: June 2016

The Amazon.com product description:

In this highly-recommended reference for indexing professionals, master indexer Janet Perlman presents a treasure trove of practical, in-depth explanations and advice. The author pays homage to the Hans Wellisch classic, Indexing from A to Z, while bringing her own in-depth, conversational style and a multitude of fresh topics to the table.

Indexing Tactics & Tidbits provides answers and insights on such vital subjects as audience analysis, clients and contracts, computers and software, ethics and standards, index depth and length, index structure, periodical indexing, professional resources, quality and usability, work methods and strategies, and much more.

New and experienced indexers alike will appreciate this significant effort to address "everything you always wanted to know about indexing but were afraid to ask" by one of the preeminent indexers of our time.

This should be an interesting read. I have and have read the Hans Wellisch book, Indexing From A To Z, and although it's older, it's still a very useful reference as I noted in my review. Just looking at the list in the amazon.com blurb makes me want to go out and order this right away.

I should note one bit of confusion. The publisher's website says that the release date for this is in June. According to Amazon.com, the book is already available for order, and has been since the end of March. I also note that some indexers have commented about having already received their copies, so it might be shipping out already.

Upcoming Release: Deeds of Honor by Elizabeth Moon

Deeds of Honor: Paksenarrion World Chronicles
Elizabeth Moon
Jabberwocky Literary Agency Ltd.
Release Date: December 22, 2015
B00QVLWNG6

The amazon.com product description:

Elizabeth Moon, the New York Times bestselling author of the celebrated Deed of Paksenarrion and Paladin's Legacy epic fantasy series, presents Deeds of Honor, a brand new collection of short stories set in the world of Paksenarrion.

With two exclusive, never-before-published stories featuring characters from the Paladin's Legacy series, Deeds of Honor gathers together lore and legends from Paksenarrion’s world, along with tales from the Paladin’s Legacy era, all revised and updated for this special compilation.

Rich with the vivid and immersive storytelling for which Elizabeth Moon is known, the eight short stories in Deeds of Honor—collected here for the first time, with all-new author notes—are certain to please any fan of the Paksenarrion saga.

Deeds of Honor: Tales of Paksenarrion’s World
“Point of Honor” – “Falk's Oath” – “Cross Purposes” – “Torre's Ride” – “A Parrion of Cooking” – “Vardan's Tale” – “Those Who Walk in Darkness” – “The Last Lesson”

Elizabeth Moon is releasing a collection of short stories set in the world of The Deed of Paksenarrion. Most of them I haven't heard of, but Those Who Walk In Darkness is a story that I almost consider to be a chapter in The Deeds of Paksenarrion. It tells the story of the boy who was tortured along with Paks by the Liartians. The entirety of Those Who Walk In Darkness has been published on her website, but I've read it before in another of Elizabeth Moon's short story collections, Phases.

None of the other story titles are at all familiar to me, but I'm definitely looking forward to reading this short story collection, even though it's only available as an e-book.

New Edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

I just found out that there's a new edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil that was released today. It's not just a re-print, but apparently also includes some new material:

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
J.R.R. Tolkien
HarperCollins
Release Date: Oct 9, 2014
978-0007557271

The amazon.com product description:

This revised and expanded edition of Tolkien's own Hobbit-inspired poetry includes previously unpublished poems and notes, and is beautifully illustrated by Narnia artist Pauline Baynes. 'Here is something that no devotee of the Hobbit epic can afford to miss, while awaiting a further instalment of the history of these fascinating people - a selection [of verses] offered as an 'interim report' to those interested in Hobbit-lore, and to any others who may find amusement in this mixed bag of old confections.' One of the most intriguing characters in The Lord of the Rings, the amusing and enigmatic Tom Bombadil, also appears in verses said to have been written by Hobbits and preserved in the 'Red Book' with stories of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins and their friends. The Adventures of Tom Bombadil collects these and other poems, mainly concerned with legends and jests of the Shire at the end of the Third Age. This special edition has been expanded to include earlier versions of some of Tolkien's poems, a fragment of a prose story with Tom Bombadil, and comprehensive notes by acclaimed Tolkien scholars Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond.

One thing I know with this book: Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull have a very, very good reputation in Tolkien scholarship circles. I know I've eagerly collected quite a number of the books they've either written or edited on various Tolkien-related subjects.

Based on that alone, I'm going to be hunting this book down, even though I've already got at least one edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil already. Not that duplicate copies are at all unusual in my collection.

Upcoming Books

Here's another selection of upcoming books that have caught my eye. One or two of them I've already pre-ordered too on the recommendation of one of my friends.

Closer To Home: Book One of The Herald Spy
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Release Date: October 7, 2014
978-0756408992

The amazon.com product description:

Mags was once an enslaved orphan living a harsh life in the mines, until the King's Own Herald discovered his talent and trained him as a spy. Now a Herald in his own right, at the newly established Heralds' Collegium, Mags has found a supportive family, including his Companion Dallen.

Although normally a Herald in his first year of Whites would be sent off on circuit, Mags is needed close to home for his abilities as a spy and his powerful Mindspeech gift. There is a secret, treacherous plot within the royal court to destroy the Heralds. The situation becomes dire after the life of Mags' mentor, King's Own Nikolas, is imperiled. His daughter Amily is chosen as the new King's Own, a complicated and dangerous job that is made more so by this perilous time. Can Mags and Amily save the court, the Heralds, and the Collegium itself?

Mercedes Lackey has started a new series about Mags, the main character in the Collegium Chronicles books. Based on the blurb, I'm looking forward to reading Closer to Home when it comes out. I do want to know how this situation that she's setting up is going to work out, and I really enjoyed reading the previous Mags books.

No True Way: All New Tales of Valdemar
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Release Date: December 2, 2014
978-0756407698

The amazon.com product description:

In March 1987, Mercedes Lackey, a young author from Oklahoma, published her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. No one could have envisioned that this modest book about a magical land called Valdemar would be the beginning of a fantasy masterwork series that would span decades and include more than two dozen titles.

Now the voices of other authors add their own special touches to the ancient land where Heralds “Chosen” from all walks of life by magical horse-like Companions patrol their ancient kingdom, dispensing justice, facing adversaries, and protecting their monarch and country from whatever threatens. Trained rigorously by the Herald’s Collegium, these special protectors each have extraordinary Gifts: Mindspeaking, FarSeeing, FarSpeaking, Empathy, Firestarting and ForeSeeing, and are bonded for life with their mysterious Companions. Travel with these astouding adventurerers in sixteen original stories.

After two years where the annual anthology was from the world of the Elemental Masters, it's going to be nice to return to the world of Valdemar. I've been enjoying these anthologies since the first one came out years ago.

One oddity though, it's currently only available to pre-order in the kindle format. I sincerely hope there's going to be a paper-book release as well. I'll be quite disappointed if these books go to e-only.

The Amazons: Lives And Legends Of Warrior Women Across The Ancient World
Adrienne Mayor
Princeton University Press
Release Date: September 22, 2014
978-0691147208

The amazon.com product description:

Amazons--fierce warrior women dwelling on the fringes of the known world--were the mythic archenemies of the ancient Greeks. Heracles and Achilles displayed their valor in duels with Amazon queens, and the Athenians reveled in their victory over a powerful Amazon army. In historical times, Cyrus of Persia, Alexander the Great, and the Roman general Pompey tangled with Amazons.

But just who were these bold barbarian archers on horseback who gloried in fighting, hunting, and sexual freedom? Were Amazons real? In this deeply researched, wide-ranging, and lavishly illustrated book, National Book Award finalist Adrienne Mayor presents the Amazons as they have never been seen before. This is the first comprehensive account of warrior women in myth and history across the ancient world, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Great Wall of China.

Mayor tells how amazing new archaeological discoveries of battle-scarred female skeletons buried with their weapons prove that women warriors were not merely figments of the Greek imagination. Combining classical myth and art, nomad traditions, and scientific archaeology, she reveals intimate, surprising details and original insights about the lives and legends of the women known as Amazons. Provocatively arguing that a timeless search for a balance between the sexes explains the allure of the Amazons, Mayor reminds us that there were as many Amazon love stories as there were war stories. The Greeks were not the only people enchanted by Amazons--Mayor shows that warlike women of nomadic cultures inspired exciting tales in ancient Egypt, Persia, India, Central Asia, and China.

Driven by a detective's curiosity, Mayor unearths long-buried evidence and sifts fact from fiction to show how flesh-and-blood women of the Eurasian steppes were mythologized as Amazons, the equals of men. The result is likely to become a classic.

This is the book that I've pre-ordered on the strength of a friend's recommendation. It looks absolutely fascinating, and I know that Adrienne Mayor is an excellent writer, having read and reviewed one of her previous books, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs.

Upcoming Books - Through October

There are a lot of good looking books in the works over the next few months, beginning with one I featured on it's own:

Beowulf
J.R.R. Tolkien
Release Date: May 22, 2014
978-0544442788

The amazon.com product description:

The translation of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien was an early work, very distinctive in its mode, completed in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition is twofold, for there exists an illuminating commentary on the text of the poem by the translator himself, in the written form of a series of lectures given at Oxford in the 1930s; and from these lectures a substantial selection has been made, to form also a commentary on the translation in this book.

From his creative attention to detail in these lectures there arises a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if he entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beached their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to the rising anger of Beowulf at the taunting of Unferth, or looking up in amazement at Grendel’s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.

But the commentary in this book includes also much from those lectures in which, while always anchored in the text, he expressed his wider perceptions. He looks closely at the dragon that would slay Beowulf "snuffling in baffled rage and injured greed when he discovers the theft of the cup"; but he rebuts the notion that this is "a mere treasure story", "just another dragon tale". He turns to the lines that tell of the burying of the golden things long ago, and observes that it is "the feeling for the treasure itself, this sad history" that raises it to another level. "The whole thing is sombre, tragic, sinister, curiously real. The ‘treasure’ is not just some lucky wealth that will enable the finder to have a good time, or marry the princess. It is laden with history, leading back into the dark heathen ages beyond the memory of song, but not beyond the reach of imagination."

Sellic spell, a "marvellous tale", is a story written by Tolkien suggesting what might have been the form and style of an Old English folk-tale of Beowulf, in which there was no association with the "historical legends" of the Northern kingdoms.

On to the usual suspects of authors I keep an eye out for when it comes to new books:

Blood Red
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Release Date: June 3, 2014
978-0756408978

The amazon.com product description:

Rosamund is an Earth Master in the Schwarzwald, the ancient Black Forest of Germany. Since the age of ten, she has lived with her teacher, the Hunt Master and Earth Magician of the Schwarzwald Foresters, a man she calls “Papa.” Her adoptive Papa rescued her after her original Earth Master teacher, an old woman who lived alone in a small cottage in the forest, was brutally murdered by werewolves. Rosa herself barely escaped, and this terrifying incident molded the course of her future.

For like her fellow Earth Masters of the Schwarzwald Lodge, Rosa is not a healer. Instead, her talents lead her on the more violent path of protection and defense— “cleansing” the Earth and protecting its gentle fae creatures from those evil beings who seek to do them harm.

And so Rosa becomes the first woman Hunt Master and the scourge of evil creatures, with a deadly specialty in werewolves and all shape­shifters.

While visiting with a Fire Master—a friend of her mentor from the Schwarzwald Lodge— Rosa meets a pair of Elemental Magicians from Hungary who have come looking for help. They suspect that there is a dark power responsible for a string of murders happening in the remote countryside of Transylvania, but they have no proof. Rosa agrees to help them, but there is a catch: one of the two men asking for aid is a hereditary werewolf.

Rosa has been taught that there are three kinds of werewolves. There are those, like the one that had murdered her teacher, who transform themselves by use of dark magic, and also those who have been infected by the bite of these magical werewolves—these poor victims have no control over their transforma­tive powers. Yet, there is a third kind: those who have been born with the ability to trans­form at will. Some insist that certain of these hereditary werewolves are benign. But Rosa has never encountered a benign werewolf!

Can she trust this Hungarian werewolf? Or is the Hunter destined to become the Hunted?

I think that Mercedes Lackey has finally gotten around to a version of Little Red Riding Hood in her retellings of fairy-tales.

Closer To Home: Book One of Herald Spy
Mercedes Lackey
DAW Books
Release Date: October 7, 2014
978-0756408992

The amazon.com product description:

 Mags was once an enslaved orphan living a harsh life in the mines, until the King's Own Herald discovered his talent and trained him as a spy. Now a Herald in his own right, at the newly established Heralds' Collegium, Mags has found a supportive family, including his Companion Dallen.

Although normally a Herald in his first year of Whites would be sent off on circuit, Mags is needed close to home for his abilities as a spy and his powerful Mindspeech gift. There is a secret, treacherous plot within the royal court to destroy the Heralds. The situation becomes dire after the life of Mags' mentor, King's Own Nikolas, is imperiled. His daughter Amily is chosen as the new King's Own, a complicated and dangerous job that is made more so by this perilous time. Can Mags and Amily save the court, the Heralds, and the Collegium itself?

The House of Four Winds
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Tor Books
Release Date: August 5, 2014
978-0765335654

The amazon.com product description:

Mercedes Lackey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Valdemar series and romantic fantasies like Beauty and the Werewolf and The Fairy Godmother. JAMES MALLORY and Lackey have collaborated on six novels. Now. these New York Times and USA Today bestselling collaborators bring romance to the fore with The House of Four Winds.

The rulers of tiny, impoverished Swansgaard have twelve daughters and one son. While the prince’s future is assured, his twelve sisters must find their own fortunes.

Disguising herself as Clarence, a sailor, Princess Clarice intends to work her way to the New World. When the crew rebels, Clarice/Clarence, an expert with rapier and dagger, sides with the handsome navigator, Dominick, and kills the cruel captain.

Dominick leads the now-outlawed crew in search of treasure in the secret pirate haven known as The House of Four Winds. They encounter the sorceress Shamal, who claims Dominick for her own—but Clarice has fallen hard for Dominick and won’t give him up without a fight.

Full of swashbuckling adventure, buoyant magic, and irrepressible charm, The House of the Four Winds is a lighthearted fantasy romp by a pair of bestselling writers. 

This is one I'm definitely looking forward to, with less than a month to go:

Crown of Renewal (Legend of Paksenarrion)
Elizabeth Moon
Del Rey
Release Date: May 27, 2014
978-0345533098

The amazon.com product description:

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Moon spins gripping, richly imagined epic fantasy novels that have earned comparisons to the work of such authors as Robin Hobb and Lois McMaster Bujold. In this volume, Moon’s brilliant masterwork reaches its triumphant conclusion.

The mysterious reappearance of magery throughout the land has been met with suspicion, fear, and violence. In the kingdom of Lyonya, Kieri, the half-elven, half-human king, struggles to balance the competing demands of his heritage while fighting a deadly threat to his rule: evil elves linked in some way to the rebirth of magic.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring kingdom of Tsaia, a set of ancient artifacts recovered by the former mercenary Dorrin Verrakai may hold the answer to the riddle of magery’s return. Thus Dorrin embarks on a dangerous quest to return these relics of a bygone age to their all-but-mythical place of origin. What she encounters there will change her in unimaginable ways—and spell doom or salvation for the entire world.

There's also this one:

Shattered Shields (BAEN)
Ed. Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Baen Books
Release Date: November 4, 2014
978-1476737010

The amazon.com product description:

Swords and Shields. Faith and Magic.

Grab yours and get ready, for the enemy is on the move.

High fantasy and mighty conflicts go hand-in-hand. In great wars, armies rise to fight evil hordes and heroes struggle to push beyond their imperfections and save the day. These stories include more than just epic landscapes and characters...but also epic battles.

Imagine a doctor struggling to identify the spy who has infiltrated his company's ranks and poisoned his colleagues or a boy suspected of murder by a king yet protected by a princess as he helps her father against his own people. Imagine a butcher discovering that he's called to lead an uprising, or a First Born knowing that she must betray her own in order to save humanity.

The possibilities are endless, but at the heart they have this in common: soldiers--ordinary and otherwise-struggling against extraordinary odds to survive the day. They must withstand dark magic, dodge enemy blades, and defy the odds to survive SHATTERED SHIELDS.

Table of Contents:
Ashes and Starlight (Runelords) by David Farland
The Fixed Stars (October Daye) by Seanan McGuire
The Keeper of Names by Larry Correia
The Smaller We Are by John Helfers
Invictus by Annie Bellet
Rising Above by Sarah A. Hoyt
A Cup of Wisdom by Joseph Zieja
Words of Power by Wendy N. Wagner
Lightweaver in Shadow by Gray Rinehart
Hoofsore and Weary by Cat Rambo
Vengeance (Frost) by Robin Wayne Bailey
Deadfall by Nancy Fulda
Yael of the Strings by John R. Fultz
The Gleaners by Dave Gross
Bonded Men by James L. Sutter
Bone Candy (Black Company) by Glen Cook
First Blood (Paksenarrion) by Elizabeth Moon

There's a lot of names there that I recognize...
This is another one I'm looking forward to, though I'm likely to wait for the paperback to match the rest of the series. However, there's a lot of new material there. The only one I recognize is the story Alpha And Omega, published in On The Prowl.

Shifting Shadows: Stories From The World Of Mercy Thompson
Patricia Briggs
Ace
Release Date: September 2, 2014
978-0425265000

The amazon.com product description:

Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…

A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends…

Includes the new stories…
“Silver”
“Roses in Winter”
“Redemption”
“Hollow”

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”

Laurell K. Hamilton is still going strong with her series about Merry Gentry:

A Shiver of Light
Laurell K. Hamilton
Berkley Hardcover
Release Date: June 3, 2014
978-0425255667

The amazon.com product description:

I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. Legal name Meredith Gentry, because “Princess” looks so pretentious on a driver’s license. I was the first faerie princess born on American soil, but I wouldn’t be the only one for much longer...

Merry Gentry, ex–private detective, now full-time princess, knew she was descended from fertility goddesses, but when she learned she was about to have triplets, she began to understand what that might mean. Infertility has plagued the high ranks of faerie for centuries. Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own.

Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his. And though Merry knows she was already pregnant when he took her, she can’t prove it.

To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage.

I've definitely fallen behind on this series!
The next book is a bit of a change of pace from fantasy and paranormal romance:

China Dolls: A Novel
Lisa See
Random House
Release Date: June 3, 2014
978-0812992892

The amazon.com product description:

The New York Times bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, and Shanghai Girls has garnered international acclaim for her great skill at rendering the intricate relationships of women and the complex meeting of history and fate. Now comes Lisa See’s highly anticipated new novel, China Dolls.

It’s 1938 in San Francisco: a world’s fair is preparing to open on Treasure Island, a war is brewing overseas, and the city is alive with possibilities. Grace, Helen, and Ruby, three young women from very different backgrounds, meet by chance at the exclusive and glamorous Forbidden City nightclub. Grace Lee, an American-born Chinese girl, has fled the Midwest with nothing but heartache, talent, and a pair of dancing shoes. Helen Fong lives with her extended family in Chinatown, where her traditional parents insist that she guard her reputation like a piece of jade. The stunning Ruby Tom challenges the boundaries of convention at every turn with her defiant attitude and no-holds-barred ambition.

The girls become fast friends, relying on one another through unexpected challenges and shifting fortunes. When their dark secrets are exposed and the invisible thread of fate binds them even tighter, they find the strength and resilience to reach for their dreams. But after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, paranoia and suspicion threaten to destroy their lives, and a shocking act of betrayal changes everything.

I think this is going to be a book that's perfect for people who liked Shanghai Girls and Dreams of Joy. My favorite Lisa See novel to date though, is Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

Upcoming Tolkien Title - Beowulf

This is a book that I've heard rumors of for over a decade now: J.R.R. Tolkien's translation of Beowulf.

Beowulf
J.R.R. Tolkien
Release Date: May 22, 2014
978-0544442788

The amazon.com product description:

The translation of Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien was an early work, very distinctive in its mode, completed in 1926: he returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication. This edition is twofold, for there exists an illuminating commentary on the text of the poem by the translator himself, in the written form of a series of lectures given at Oxford in the 1930s; and from these lectures a substantial selection has been made, to form also a commentary on the translation in this book.

From his creative attention to detail in these lectures there arises a sense of the immediacy and clarity of his vision. It is as if he entered into the imagined past: standing beside Beowulf and his men shaking out their mail-shirts as they beached their ship on the coast of Denmark, listening to the rising anger of Beowulf at the taunting of Unferth, or looking up in amazement at Grendel’s terrible hand set under the roof of Heorot.

But the commentary in this book includes also much from those lectures in which, while always anchored in the text, he expressed his wider perceptions. He looks closely at the dragon that would slay Beowulf "snuffling in baffled rage and injured greed when he discovers the theft of the cup"; but he rebuts the notion that this is "a mere treasure story", "just another dragon tale". He turns to the lines that tell of the burying of the golden things long ago, and observes that it is "the feeling for the treasure itself, this sad history" that raises it to another level. "The whole thing is sombre, tragic, sinister, curiously real. The ‘treasure’ is not just some lucky wealth that will enable the finder to have a good time, or marry the princess. It is laden with history, leading back into the dark heathen ages beyond the memory of song, but not beyond the reach of imagination."

Sellic spell, a "marvellous tale", is a story written by Tolkien suggesting what might have been the form and style of an Old English folk-tale of Beowulf, in which there was no association with the "historical legends" of the Northern kingdoms.

I own and have read other translations of Beowulf, including the Chickering edition, but even so, I've been looking forward to this one for a while. J.R.R. Tolkien was a known expert on the subject and I'd really like to find out what he had to say.

Definitely, I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this one. May 22 can't come soon enough for me.

New Tom Shippey/Tolkien Book Next Year

I just found out about this one through Sacnoth's Scriptorium, the blog of John Rateliff, the author of The History of The Hobbit. There's not a lot of detail yet, and almost none of it (other than the cover and release date) is on Amazon.com.
The book is:

Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey
Mcfarland and Company
Release Date: May 15, 2014
978-0786474387

According to the blog entry, the essays are all by Tolkien fans. To date, the only essay I have any information about is the one by John Rateliff, and his essay is titled: Inside Literature: Tolkien's Exploration of Medieval Genres.

Shippey was a noted Tolkienist himself, with the books The Road To Middle-Earth: How Tolkien Created A New Mythology and J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of the Century.

As always, another book to look forward to.

October New Release Books

It looks like October is going to be a good month for new releases. I know there's one here I've been waiting for in particular.

Bastion
Mercedes Lackey
Daw Books
Release Date: October 1, 2013
978-0756409449

The amazon.com product description:

Mags returns to the Collegium, but there are mixed feelings--his included--about him actually remaining there. No one doubts that he is and should be a Herald, but he is afraid that his mere presence is going to incite more danger right in the heart of Valdemar. The heads of the Collegia are afraid that coming back to his known haunt is going to give him less protection than if he went into hiding. Everyone decides that going elsewhere is the solution for now. So since he is going elsewhere--why not return to the place he was found in the first place and look for clues? And those who are closest to him, and might provide secondary targets, are going along. With Herald Jadrek, Herald Kylan (the Weaponsmaster's chosen successor), and his friends Bear, Lena, and Amily, they head for the Bastion, the hidden spot in the hills that had once been the headquarters of a powerful band of raiders that had held him and his parents prisoner. But what they find is not what anyone expected.

I know I want to find out what happens in this, the fifth volume of the Collegium Chronicles. This is the book I've been waiting for since last year and the previous release.

Possession
J.R. Ward
NAL Hardcover
Release Date: October 1, 2013
978-0451240194

The amazon.com product description:

#1 New York Times bestselling author J.R. Ward explores what really happens when good and evil toy with humanity in her new novel of the Fallen Angels, as the salvation of a doomed soul depends once again on a crossroads...

When Cait Douglass resolves to get over her broken heart, throw off her inhibitions, and start really living, she’s unprepared for the two sensual men who cross her path.  Torn between them, she doesn’t know which to choose--or what kind of dire consequences could follow.

Jim Heron, fallen angel and reluctant savior, is ahead in the war, but he puts everything at risk when he seeks to make a deal with the devil--literally.  As yet another soul is unwittingly caught in the battle between him and the demon Devina, his fixation on an innocent trapped in Hell threatens to sidetrack him from his sacred duty...   

Can good still prevail if true love makes a savior weak?  And will a woman’s future be the key, or the curse, for all of humanity?  Only time, and hearts, will tell.

Definitely for fans of paranormal romance.

Treecat Wars
David Weber and Jane Lindskold
Baen Books
Release Date: October 1, 2013
978-1451639339

The amazon.com product description:

New York Times and Publishers Weekly Best Selling Young Adult Series.  Book Three by international writing phenomenon David Weber. Two young settlers on a pioneer planet seeks to stop a war and to save the intelligent alien treecats from exploitation by unscrupulous humans.

The fires are out, but the trouble’s just beginning for the treecats

On pioneer planet Sphinx, ruined lands and the approach of winter force the now Landless Clan to seek new territory.  They have one big problem—there’s nowhere to go.  Worse, their efforts to find a new home awaken the enmity of the closest treecat clan—a stronger group who’s not giving up a single branch without a fight

Stephanie Harrington, the treecats’ greatest advocate, is off to Manticore for extensive training—and up to her ears in challenges there.  That leaves only Stephanie’s best friends, Jessica and Anders, to save the treecats from themselves.  And now a group of xenoanthropologists is once again after the great secret of the treecats—that they are intelligent, empathic telepaths—and their agenda will lead to nothing less that treecat exploitation.

Finally, Jessica and Anders face problems of their own, including  their growing attraction to one another.  It is an attraction that seems a betrayal of Stephanie Harrington, the best friend either of them have ever had.

I know I enjoyed A Beautiful Friendship, the first book in this teen-oriented spin-off on the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, but I've fallen behind on the series since then. Definitely a series I need to catch up on though.

Allegiant
Veronica Roth
Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: October 22, 2013
978-0062024060

The amazon.com product description:

What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?
The explosive conclusion to Veronica Roth's #1 New York Times bestselling Divergent trilogy reveals the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent. 

I read and enjoyed Divergent, but never got around to Insurgent. Maybe it's time for a re-read with Allegiant coming out next month.

Upcoming Tolkien Book - Fall of Arthur

There's a new Tolkien book coming out at the end of this month:

The Fall of Arthur
J.R.R. Tolkien
Ed. Christopher Tolkien
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: May 23, 2013
978-0544115897

The amazon.com product description:

The Fall of Arthur, the only venture by J.R.R. Tolkien into the legends of Arthur King of Britain, may well be regarded as his finest and most skillful achievement in the use of the Old English alliterative metre, in which he brought to his transforming perceptions of the old narratives a pervasive sense of the grave and fateful nature of all that is told: of Arthur’s expedition overseas into distant heathen lands, of Guinevere’s flight from Camelot, of the great sea-battle on Arthur’s return to Britain, in the portrait of the traitor Mordred, in the tormented doubts of Lancelot in his French castle.

Unhappily, The Fall of Arthur was one of several long narrative poems that he abandoned in that period. In this case he evidently began it in the earlier nineteen-thirties, and it was sufficiently advanced for him to send it to a very perceptive friend who read it with great enthusiasm at the end of 1934 and urgently pressed him ‘You simply must finish it!’ But in vain: he abandoned it, at some date unknown, though there is some evidence that it may have been in 1937, the year of the publication of The Hobbit and the first stirrings of The Lord of the Rings. Years later, in a letter of 1955, he said that ‘he hoped to finish a long poem on The Fall of Arthur’; but that day never came.

Associated with the text of the poem, however, are many manuscript pages: a great quantity of drafting and experimentation in verse, in which the strange evolution of the poem’s structure is revealed, together with narrative synopses and very significant if tantalising notes. In these latter can be discerned clear if mysterious associations of the Arthurian conclusion with The Silmarillion, and the bitter ending of the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, which was never written.

I'm definitely looking forward to buying and reading this one when it comes out for several reasons:

1. It's Tolkien, and for me that's enough of a reason right there.
2. Adding to my Tolkien collection.
3. King Arthur is one of those topics that has intrigued me ever since I read Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon years ago.

I know that Christopher Tolkien will do as good a job with this one as he has with everything else of his father's that he's edited. I'm hoping for an experience similar to that of reading Sigurd and Gudrun - which taught me more about poetry, rhythm and meter than did any of my English classes at university.

Upcoming Science Fiction New Releases

My last new releases post was meant to hold all of this as well as the books it had, but it was getting too long to manage, so I split it into two.

This time, it's all of the science fiction books I'm waiting for the release dates on, starting with a whole load of David Weber's novels.

Midst Toil and Tribulation
David Weber
Release Date: Septemner 18, 2012

The amazon.com product description:

After centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of the Church of God Awaiting—egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athawes. Now, in the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the populous Republic of Siddermark is sliding into chaos. Vicar Clytahn of the Church of God at harvest time. King Cayleb of Charis, his queen Sharleyan, and Merlin Arthawes will have their hands full trying to stave off wholesale starvation in Siddermark while at the same time shipping in enough land combat units to fend off the "volunteers" from the Church's Temple Lands. And while Vicar Clyntahn is hailed in the Church for his boldness and audacity, there are those who remember how dependent Church power is on money from Siddermark...and who wonder what will happen if Siddermark starves.

Bursting with vivid invention and the sweep of lived history, Midst Toil and Tribulation will build its series' audience to a new level.
I need to go back and give this series a re-read. I've honestly fallen behind on the events in the Safehold world.

House Of Steel: The Honorverse Companion
David Weber
Release Date: May 7, 2013

The Indigo/Chapters product description:

An all-new David Weber Honorverse short novel, I Will Build a House of Steel, chronicling the early days of the Manticoran Star Kingdom and the reign of King Roger. Have you ever finished the latest Honor Harrington novel from David Weber and wished you could linger in Weber's Honorverse just a bit longer?  Now you can with this treasure trove of tech, specs, and insights on David Weber's mega best-selling Honor Harrington series.  Orbital characteristic of key planets, regimental order of the Royal Navy, backstory on the history and drama of the Star Kingdom's birth and early days-you'll find it all here, thoughtfully arranged by the Bureau 9 Weber research group, and overseen by David Weber himself.

This one looks interesting.

Shadow of Freedom
David Weber
Release Date: March 5, 2013

The amazon.com product description:

#18 in the multiply-bestselling Honor Harrington series.

Wrong number? There are two sides to any quarrel . . . unless there are more.
Michelle Henke, Queen Elizabeth of Manticore's first cousin, Honor Harrington's best friend, and the commanding officer of Manticore's Tenth Fleet, is just a bit surprised when a messenger arrives from the Mobius System to inform her that the Mobius Liberation Front is prepared to rise in rebellion against the hated regime President Svein Lombroso. She can understand why anyone would want to rebel against someone like Lombroso, but why tell her about it? After all, she has problems of her own, like the minor matter of a life-or-death war against the Solarian League.
Michelle has just handed the "invincible" Solarian League Navy the most humiliating, one-sided defeat in its entire almost thousand-year history in defense of the people of the Star Empire's Talbott Quadrant. But the League is the most powerful star nation in the history of humanity. Its navy is going to be back – and this time with thousands of superdreadnoughts.
Yet she also knows scores of other star systems — some independent, some controlled by puppet regimes, and some simply conquered outright by the Solarian Office of Frontier Security — lie in the League's grip along its frontier with the Talbott Quadrant. As combat spreads from the initial confrontation, the entire frontier has begun to seethe with unrest, and Michelle sympathizes with the oppressed populations wanting only to be free of their hated masters.
And that puts her in something of a quandary when the messenger from Mobius arrives, because someone's obviously gotten a wrong number. According to him, the Mobians’ uprising has been carefully planned to coordinate with a powerful outside ally: the Star Empire of Manticore. Only Manticore — and Mike Henke — have never even heard of the Mobius Liberation Front.
It's a set-up . . . and Michelle knows who's behind it. The shadowy Mesan Alignment has launched a bold move to destroy Manticore's reputation as the champion of freedom. And when the RMN doesn't arrive, when the MLF is brutally and bloodily crushed, no independent star system will ever trust Manticore again.
Mike Henke knows she has no orders from her government to assist any rebellions or liberation movements, that she has only so many ships, which can be in only so many places at a time . . . and that she can't possibly justify diverting any of her limited, outnumbered strength to missions of liberation the Star Empire never signed on for.
She knows that . . . and she doesn't care.
No one is going to send thousands of patriots to their deaths, trusting in Manticoran help that will never come.
Not on Mike Henke's watch.

The way I'm reading through A Rising Thunder at the moment, I can't wait for this one to come out.

Fire Season
David Weber and Jane Lindskold
Release Date: October 2, 2012

The amazon.com product description:

LOYALTIES TESTED BY FIRE

Fire weather... That’s what the treecats call those rare seasons when the slightest spark can set aflame the the vast green reaches they call home.

Teenager Stephanie Harrington rapidly learns just how deadly those fires can be. Guided by her treecat companion, Lionheart, Stephanie and her good friend Karl Zivonik venture into the heart of a raging inferno to rescue twin treecats put at risk by human carelessness. Only the trio’s absolute trust for each other stands between them and disaster.
But Sphinx isn’t the only thing ripe for burning. Stephanie has fallen hard for new arrival to Sphinx, Anders Whittaker. When Anders vanishes without a trace, Stephanie is at the forefront of the search. Then a lightning strike sets the Copperwall Mountains aflame and as a provisional ranger she is ordered to her post.
Will Stephanie choose to honor the claims of her planet or those of her heart? 

I loved the first book in this series, A Beautiful Friendship, so I'm definitely looking forward to this one, teen book or no.