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Customer Picks
July/August 2008 Picks
Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb
"For one fateful weekend, the annual science fiction and fantasy convention, Rubicon, has all but taken over a usually ordinary hotel. Now the halls are alive with Trekkies, tech nerds, and fantasy gamers in their Viking finery; *all of them eager to hail their hero, bestselling fantasy author Appin Dungannon: a diminutive despot whose towering ego more than compensates for his 5' 1" height . . . and whose gleeful disdain for his fawning fans is legendary.
Hurling insults and furniture with equal abandon, the terrible, tiny author proceeds to alienate ersatz aliens and make-believe warriors at warp speed. But somewhere between the costume contest and the exhibition Dungeons & Dragons game, Dungannon gets done in. While die-hard fans of Dungannon's seemingly endless sword-and-sorcery series wonder how they'll go on and hucksters wonder how much they can get for the dead man's autograph, a hapless cop wonders, Who would want to kill Appin Dungannon? But the real question, as the harried convention organizers know, is Who wouldn't?"
Recommended by Katharine Herndon
$15.00
Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Previously published in three parts, this complete edition tells the story of Miles, a Vor leader on the planet Barrayar who foils a plot against his father, solves a murder, and thwarts an interstellar invasion as his alter-ego, Admiral Naismith. Being a Vor lord on the war-torn planet Barrayar wasn't easy. Being an officer in Barrayar's military wasn't easy. And being the leader of a force of spaceborne mercenaries while maintaining a secret identity wasn't easy--in fact it should have been impossible, to say nothing of being a capital offense on Barrayar. Not that impossibility or great danger ever noticeably slowed down young Miles Vorkosigan. Washed out of the Barrayaran Military Academy for his fragile bones, Mile's natural (if unorthodox) leadership qualities quickly led to his off-handedly acquiring a fleet of nineteen ships and three thousand troops, all unswervingly loyal to him--or at least to his alter ego, Admiral Naismith. And then things really got interesting. . . ."
Recommended by Jim Toth
$7.99
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
"When the children of his village were struck with a mysterious illness, Number Ten Ox found master Li Kao. Together they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure, and together they discover adventure and legend, and the power of belief...."
Recommended by Jennifer Hancock
$7.50
Them Bones by Carolyn Haines
"Meet Sarah Booth Delaney... an unconventional southern belle whose knack for uncovering the truth is about to make her the hottest detective in Zinnia, Mississippi...if it doesn't make her the deadest.
No self-respecting lady would allow herself to end up in Sarah Booth's situation. Unwed, unemployed, and over thirty, she's flat broke and about to lose the family plantation. Not to mention being haunted by the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, who never misses an opportunity to remind her of her sorry state -- or to suggest a plan of action, like ransoming her friend's prize pooch to raise some cash.
But soon Sarah Booth's walk on the criminal side leads her deeper into unladylike territory, and she's hired to solve a murder. Did gorgeous, landed Hamilton Garrett V really kill his mother twenty years ago? And if so, what is Sarah Booth doing falling for this possible murderer? When she asks one too many questions and a new corpse turns up, she is suddenly a suspect herself...and Sarah Booth finds that digging up the bones of the past could leave her rolling over in her grave."
Recommended by Frances Boynton
$6.99
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