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Staff Picks for January

Author of the Month: Tamar Myers

Annie's Staff Picks

The Return of the King Visual Companion by Jude Fisher

"From the New York Times best-selling author of The Two Towers Visual Companion comes a lavishly illustrated keepsake guide to The Return of the King. As Frodo, Sam, and Gollum slowly make their way into the depths of the Dark Lord's realm of Mordor in their desperate quest to destroy the One Ring, the scattered members of the fellowship, now scarred and battered from the Battle of Helm's Deep, must journey to the Gondorian stronghold of Minas Tirith for a last stand against the might of Sauron and his evil minions."

$18.95 prior to 25%
new hardcover discount

The Dragon Quartet #1: The Book of Earth by Marjorie B. Kellogg

"In the beginning, four dragons--Earth, Water, Fire, and Air--were raised up to create the world. But long before World's End something has begun to go horribly wrong, and Erde, only daughter of a powerful lord, is the one person who seems able to sense it. With her mother and grandmother dead, and no one left to protect her from the madness being spred by a priest ready to sacrifice anything and anyone to his cause. Erde flees her father's castle, In her flight, she stumbles across the dragon caleed Earth. Drawn together by their mutual peril and need. Erde and Earth have no choice but to join forces on a quest to find Earth's mage, the one human who, perhaps, can set the World back on its proper course."

$6.99

Outremer #1: The Devil in the Dust by Chaz Brenchley

"From the British Fantasy Society Award-winning author comes this first book in the powerful new six-part series about Outremer--a harsh and barren kingdom born of blood and at war with the world around."

$6.50

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol 1 by Diana Wynne Jones

"In the multiple parallel universes of the Twelve Related Worlds, only an enchanter with nine lives is powerful enough to control the rampant misuse of magic--and to hold the title Chrestomanci...
The Chants are a family strong in magic, but neither Christopher Chant nor Cat Chant can work even the simplest of spells. Who could have dreamed that both Christopher and Cat were born with nine lives--or that they could lose them so quickly?"

$6.99

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol 2 by Diana Wynne Jones

"There is a world in which the peaceful city-state of Caprona is threatened by the malevolent machinations of a mysterious enchanter...and another in which magic is outlawed and witches are still burned at the stake.
In two worlds the practice of magic has gone dangerously awry, there is only one solution -- call upon the Chrestomanci."

$6.99

Lelia's Staff Picks

The Bookstore Mouse by Peggy Christian

"He lives in a bookstore behind a large WALL OF WORDS.
He eats DELICIOUS WORDS from recipes.
He throws SHARP WORDS and POINTED REMARKS at his enemy.
And one day he slips through the words into a story that is the greatest adventure of his life.
He is THE BOOKSTORE MOUSE.
A clever and wise fable, this tale is for every book lover, every story lover, and every lover of words."

$16.00 hardcover
$5.95 paperback

Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer

"Hominids examines two unique species of people. We are one of those species; the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they became the dominant intelligence. The Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to our own, but with radically different history, society and philosophy.

Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist, accidentally pierces the barrier between worlds and is transferred to our universe. Almost immediately recognized as a Neanderthal, but only much later as a scientist, he is quarantined and studied, alone and bewildered, a stranger in a strange land. But Ponter is also befriended--by a doctor and a physicist who share his questing intelligence, and especially by Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan, a woman with whom he develops a special rapport.

Ponter's partner, Adikor Huld, finds himself with a messy lab, a missing body, suspicious people all around and an explosive murder trial. How can he possibly prove his innocence when he has no idea what actually happened to Ponter?"

$7.99

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

"In downtown Manhattan, a gruesome discovery has just been made -- an underground charnel house containing the bones of dozens of murder victims. Research reveals that a serial killer was at work in New York's notorious Five Points neighborhood in the 1880s, bent on prolonging his lifespan by any means. When a newspaper story on the old murders appears to ignite a new series of horrifyingly similar killings, panic overtakes New York City. Now, FBI agent Pendergast, journalist Bill Smithback, and archaeologist Nora Kelly join forces to protect themselves from a vicious killer...before they become the next victims."

$7.99

High Rhymes and Misdemeanors by Diana Killian

"Can a love of dead poets save her from following in their footsteps?
While visiting her favorite poets' old haunts in England's Lake District, Grace Hollister, an American schoolteacher and literary scholar, stumbles upon the body of Peter Fox face down in a stream. Thankfully, the dashing local antiques dealer is not dead -- but after saving his life Grace soon finds herself pursued by two menacing thugs who are after the gewgaws Peter is hiding. Problem is, Peter doesn't have any gewgaws. He doesn't even know what gewgaws are. But he and Grace soon discover they've got something to do with Lord Byronand someone's willing to kill for them.
As Peter's dark past is gradually revealed, his knowledge of vice coupled with Grace's love of verse lead them straight into the heart of a caper of the highest order -- one that might lead to a spectacular literary discovery and poetic justice for all."

$5.99

Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman

"On a July afternoon two little girls, banished from a birthday party, take a wrong turn onto an unfamiliar Baltimore street -- and encounter an abandoned stroller with a baby inside it. Dutiful Alice Manning and unpredictable Ronnie Fuller only want to be helpful, to be good. People like children who are good, Alice thinks. But whatever the girls' real intentions, things go horribly awry and three families are destroyed.

Seven years later Alice and Ronnie are heading home again -- only separately this time, their fragile bond long shattered, their secrets still closely kept. Advised to avoid each other, they enter a world where they essentially have no past. In exchange, they are promised a fresh start, the chance to mold their own future.

That promise is broken when a child disappears, under disturbingly similar circumstances. And the adults in Alice's and Ronnie's lives -- the parents, the lawyers, the police -- realize that they must now confront the shattering truths they couldn't face seven years earlier. Or another mother will lose her child.

Homicide detective Nancy Porter was a rookie cop when she solved the original case with a bit of freakish luck -- and almost derailed her own career. Adept at finding the small things that can make or break a homicide case, now she must master the larger picture in order to understand where guilt truly lies. For no one is innocent in this world. Not even the children."

$24.95 prior to 25%
new hardcover discount

Andrew's Staff Picks

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

"Chuck Palahniuk, the bestselling author of 'Fight Club', 'Choke', and 'Lullaby' continues his twenty-first-century reinvention of the horror novel in this scary and profound look at our quest for some sort of immortality.

'Diary' takes the form of a "coma diary" kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he's remodeled and scrawling vile messages all over the walls--an old habit of builders but dramatically overdone in Peter's case. Angry homeowners are suing left and right, and Misty's dreams of artistic greatness are in ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. But can her newly discovered talent be part of a larger, darker plan? Of course it can ..."

$24.95

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

"Roland Deschain and his "ka-tet" are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Readers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie Dean and his wife, Susannah; Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world; and Oy, the Billy-Bumbler.

In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world.

As Father Callahan tells the "ka-tet" the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the "Calla-folken" both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough."

$35.00 prior to 25%
new hardcover discount

Slippage by Harlan Ellison

"With this, his best-selling and most critically acclaimed collection ever, Ellison celebrates four decades of brilliant, outrageous writing. The award-winning novella "Mefisto in Onyx" is the centerpiece of an irreverent and wildly imaginative book that the San Diego Union-Tribune called "electrifying...Ellison is back, as unsettling as ever."

$13.00

No Sanctuary by Richard Laymon

"Rick would do anything for his girlfriend, Bert. He'd even spend his vacation in the wilderness with her, hiking the trails around Fern Lake, even though it's the last place on Earth he wants to be. But Rick would follow Bert to hell and back-which is just what he's about to do.

Gillian is on vacation too, but her pastimes are decidedly weirder than Rick and Bert's. She likes to break into people's homes and live there while they're away. Too bad for her she picked the home of a serial killer-- particularly nasty one who likes to take his victims out to the wilds of Fern Lake so he can have his fun without being interrupted. Rick and Bert have no idea how wild the wilderness can be. But they're about to find out."

$6.99

The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

"When an underground charnel house is discovered in Manhattan, it contains the remains of dozens of victims of a crazed serial killer from the 1880s. Now, as FBI agent Pendergrast investigates the old crimes, a new series of horrifyingly similar killings begins."

$7.99