New Releases by Sheri S. Tepper

An Albuquerque bookseller is caught up in an intergalactic drama when aliens choose her as messenger of their wisdom in this feminist sci-fi novel. The bizarre events that have been occurring across the United States—unexplained "oddities" tracked by Air Defense, mysterious disappearances, shocking deaths—seem to have no bearing on Benita Alvarez-Shipton''s life. That is, until the soft-spoken thirty-six-year-old bookstore manager is approached by a pair of aliens asking her to transmit their message of peace to the powers in Washington. An abused Albuquerque wife with low self-esteem, Benita has been chosen to act as the sole liaison between the human race and the Pistach, who have offered their human hosts a spectacular opportunity for knowledge and enrichment. But ultimately Benita will be called upon to do much more than deliver messages—and may, in fact, be responsible for saving the Earth. Because the Pistach are not the only space-faring species currently making their presence known on her unsuspecting planet. And the others are not so benevolent.

In her 35th novel, science fiction master Sheri S. Tepper boldly weaves together the storylines of eleven of her previous works—from King’s Blood Four (1983) to The Waters Rising (2010). In Fish Tails, two of Sheri S. Tepper’s beloved characters—Abasio and Xulai (A Plague of Angels and The Waters Rising)—and their children travel from village to village scattered across the sparsely populated land of Tingawa. They are searching for others who might be interested in adopting their sea-dwelling lifestyle. Along their journey they encounter strange visitors from the far-off world of Lom, characters from Tepper’s nine-book True Game series of novels—Mavin Manyshaped, Jinian Star-eye, and Silkhands the Healer—all of whom have been gathered up by an interfering, time-traveling, rule-breaking do-gooder to do one last good deed on earth before its metamorphosis is complete. For the waters are rising and will soon engulf the entire planet, transforming it utterly and irrevocably.

Harper Voyager USA, part of the global science fiction and fantasy imprint of HarperCollins, presents Voyager, a free ebook sampler with excerpts from 15 new or upcoming releases, as well as an introduction from New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey. You''ll find: An Introduction from Richard Kadrey Excerpts from Thorn Jack by Katherine Harbour The Stolen by Bishop O''Connell The God Hunter by Tim Lees Soda Pop Soldier by Nick Cole The Getaway God by Richard Kadrey Once Upon a Rhyme by Jack Heckel Demon by Erik Williams The Witch With No Name by Kim Harrison Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato Superheroes Anonymous by Lexie Dunne Asylum Tales Part I: Demon''s Fury by Jocelynn Drake Fish Tails by Sherri Tepper Black Dog by Caitlin Kittredge Metrophage by Richard Kadrey On Her Majesty''s Behalf by Joseph Nassise

"I''ll need your help. Come night and the Oracle again, I''m going to try the final couplet." "Jinian," Murzy breathed while Dodie looked white-eyed at me. "Dangerous." "And fatal not to," I said, still smiling at them all... I wove by forest and meadow, branch and leaf. I wove by stream and pool, by river and fall. I wove by cloud and air, by thunder and sunset glow. I wove by depths of the earth, rock and gem, glittering ores and crystals blooming in the dark, old bone and new. Beside me the others wove as well... "And all within sound of my voice or reach of the wind," I cried, thrusting my voice like a Sending, like a magic spear, driving it upward. "And all within sound of my voice or lick of the wave, or all within sound of my voice or stretch of the soil, or all within sound of my voice where green grows and leaf springs up. Named or unnamed, silent or speaking. Let this message be brought, By the Eye of the Star, Where Old Gods Are!"

Atop a twisting, canyon-climbing road, a witch lurks in a fortress built strong to keep out dragons and ogres. In another part of the countryside, a young orphan is maturing into a beautiful woman in the enchanted village that is her home. Somewhere nearby, a young man is seeking adventure after running away from his family''s small farm. Suddenly a strange and terrible prophecy sets off a chain of events that will bring these three together in the heroic, romantic, and thrilling tale of an age-old battle.

Bright the sun burning, Night will come turning, Mothwings go spinning, End and beginning, Eye of the star, Where Old Gods are. Players, take your places! The Land itself calls Game!

Mahlia Ettison thought she had left terror behind. But the quiet community she thinks of as sanctuary hides an ancient evil - voodoo magic that steals lives and souls from the most innocent: children. The bones rise from their mud-clogged grave, bringing visions of horror and death: Mahlia''s children are to be the next sacrifice. And all her witchcraft may not be enough to save them.

He wears the guise of a Necromancer: the black cloak, the broad-rimmed hat, the gauze mask painted with a death''s head. But raising the dead is the least of his Talents. He is a wild card that threatens the True Game itself. Demon, Doyen, Dragon and Tragamor, Sorcerer, Seer, Armiger and King - take your places. Let the Game begin.

A dreadful, awesome killing power is resurrected from the past . . . Powers are invoked and curses are being laid . . . Great waters are rising and changing the world . . . Long ago was the “Big Kill,” horrible, apocalyptic events that destroyed nearly every living thing on earth. Since then the last of humankind has scattered into widespread small kingdoms separated by superstition, war, and fear. And now, while facing a natural catastrophe that threatens to drown a world, an ancient evil resurfaces and may prevent any chance of survival. With the future of humankind at stake, a small band of disparate characu00adters—a lonely child, a loyal servant, a mysterious wanderer, and a most unusual horse—sets out on a journey fraught with peril and wonder . . . a sacred mission that leaves no room for failure. . . . Deeply original in scope and vision, The Waters Rising is a daring and remarkable work of speculative fiction—a tour de force from one of the most revered writers of our time.

A good and proper aristocrat on the isolated, seemingly backward planet of Haven, Genevieve has been carefully instructed in the Covenants -- the ancient, inflexible laws governing the women of her class. She knows what is expected of her: marriage in her mid-twenties to a groom of her father''s choosing, childbirth at age thirty. And then soon afterwards -- as has been the lot of so many noblewomen before her -- perhaps death. But there is another Genevieve within who longs to heed the call of the sea -- though she has never once seen the vast waters that cover most of her homeworld''s surface. For an unheard voice is crying out to her across the centuries, drawing her ever-closer to a terrible truth hidden beneath a smoke screen of rules, tradition, and propriety. And it is Genevieve who must fulfill a forgotten destiny -- something inborn passed for untold generations from daughter to daughter -- or she and the entire civilization of Haven will be swept away on a cosmic wave of oblivion.

A wave of fundamentalism is sweeping across the globe as the millennium approaches, and a power-hungry presidential candidate sees his ticket to success in making an example out of a teenage girl who abandoned her infant in a Dumpster. Taking the girl''s case is Carolyn Crespin, a former attorney, who left her job for a quiet family life. Now she must call upon five friends from college, who took a vow to always stand together. But their success might depend on the assistance of Sophy, the enigmatic sixth friend, whom they all believed dead.

With the critically acclaimed novels The Gate To Women''s Country, Raising The Stones, and the Hugo-nominated Grass, Sheri Tepper has established herself as one of the major science fiction writers of out Time. In Beauty, she broadens her territory even further, with a novel that evokes all the richness of fairy tale and fable. Drawing on the wellspring of tales such as "Sleeping Beauty," Beauty is a moving novel of love and loss, hope and despair, magic and nature. Set against a backdrop both enchanted and frightening, the story begins with a wicked aunt''s curse that will afflict a young woman named Beauty on her sixteenth birthday. Though Beauty is able to sidestep tragedy, she soon finds herself embarked on an adventure of vast consequences. For it becomes clear that the enchanted places of this fantastic world--a place not unlike our own--are in danger and must be saved before it is too late.

On the planet of Elsewhere, the Council had always enforced the governing of each province in the manner the people had chosen, so long as each respected its neighbors'' local customs--and so long as the people remained within their homelands. Generations later, inhabitants have begun to question this tradition. The Council has received mysterious messages and reports of strange manifestations across the planet. Now, Enforcer Fringe Owldark has been sent with a small crew of seven, each possessing an unusual talent, to investigate their worst fear--the arrival of the Hobbs Land gods. Free will and the reality of God are just too of the timeless issues this courageous band of humans must confront as they strive to decide if complete tolerance and leaving others alone is evil. . .and what they should do if it is. Vividly imagined and exquisitely rendered, Sideshow is Sheri S. Tepper''s most controversial novel yet.

“One of the most satisfying science fiction novels I have read in years.”—The New York Times Book Review Here is a novel as original as the breathtaking, unspoiled world for which it is named, a place where all appears to be in idyllic balance. Generations ago, humans fled to the cosmic anomaly known as Grass. Over time, they evolved a new and intricate society. But before humanity arrived, another species had already claimed Grass for its own. It, too, had developed a culture. . . . Now, a deadly plague is spreading across the stars. No world save Grass has been left untouched. Marjorie Westriding Yrarier has been sent from Earth to discover the secret of the planet’s immunity. Amid the alien social structure and strange life-forms of Grass, Lady Westriding unravels the planet’s mysteries to find a truth so shattering it could mean the end of life itself.

“Lively, thought-provoking . . . the plot is ingenious, packing a wallop of a surprise . . . Tepper knows how to write a well-made, on-moving story with strong characters. . . . She takes the mental risks that are the lifeblood of science fiction and all imaginative narrative.”—Ursula K. LeGuin, Los Angeles Times Since the flames died three hundred years ago, human civilization has evolved into a dual society: Women’s Country, where walled towns enclose what’s left of past civilization, nurtured by women and a few nonviolent men; and the adjacent garrisons where warrior men live—the lost brothers, sons, and lovers of those in Women’s Country. Two societies. Two competing dreams. Two ways of life, kept apart by walls stronger than stone. And yet there is a gate between them. . . . “Tepper not only keeps us reading . . . she provokes a new look at the old issues.”—The Washington Post “Tepper’s cast of both ordinary and extraordinary people play out a powerful drama whose significance goes beyond sex to deal with the toughest problem of all, the challenge of surmounting humanity’s most dangerous flaws so we can survive—despite ourselves.”—Locus

“Tepper takes the traditional icons of fantasy, restores their resonance, and makes them her own.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune A century ago, a mysterious force wiped out human life on all surrounding worlds, leaving the planet Dinadh untouched. Now the unknown force is back—and this time humanity’s only hope lies with a woman who’d give anything not to get involved. Lutha Tallstaff’s mission is to locate the famed adventurer Leelson Famber, who has disappeared, taking with him what may be the only clue to the nature of the deadly threat. But Lutha cannot know that finding Famber will be the easy part of her journey. Through terrain alive with savage winged wraiths and fountains of fire, she will fight her way to the holiest place on the planet. And only then will she discover the shocking truth about the coldly inhuman force that threatens the future of mankind.

The "magic" that once was America died horribly along with most of the Earth''s inhabitants when an asteroid crashed into the planet sometime during the twenty-first century. Hundreds of years have passed, and all that remains of the time before are fragmented memories distorted by superstition -- as a tragically reduced populace suffers greatly under the tyranny of a repressive ruling order. But destiny has chosen Dismé Latimer to lead a wasted world out of the darkness ... with a book. Written by a courageous scientist ancestor, it is a sacred, unsettling tome rife with disturbing ideas and revelations ... and an impossible hope that compels a gentle, troubled young woman to abandon her abusive home in search of truth and her true self. But common "wisdom" and lore warn of grave dangers out in the world. Evil is there, a malevolence beyond imagining. And in the depths of the Earth, a gargantuan beast asleep for centuries has begun to stir ...

A female cop confronts near-future visitors in this “beautifully realized” feminist sci-fi novel “full of delightful surprises and sparkling wit” (Kirkus Reviews). Police officer Dora Henry is investigating the bizarre murders of three geneticists. Meanwhile, strange things are happening everywhere she turns. Weeds are becoming trees; trees are becoming forests. Overnight, a city is being transformed into a wild and verdant place. And, strangest of all, Dora can somehow communicate with the rampaging flora. A potential civilization-ending catastrophe is in the making. The nearer Dora gets to a murderer—and to the truth—the more seemingly disparate events begin to entwine. And the answers she seeks today to the salvation of humankind may lie in a far distant future. . .one which is suddenly much closer than anyone imagines. An exhilarating and enchanting novel that deftly combines fantastic invention with insight and a social conscience, from one of the most lyrical and important voices in contemporary speculative fiction “This out-and-out charmer is unquestionably Tepper’s best work so far.” —Kirkus Reviews

The only human child living on the Martian satellite Phobos, invents a series of alter-egos that end up taking on a life of their own.

From the acclaimed author of "The Visitor"--"one of SF''s most distinctive voices" ("Locus")--comes this enthralling tale of adventure, discovery, evolution, and what it means to be human.

Come to the world of the River. Come to a world distant in time and space, a world where the pace of life is counted by tides of the great River, but where, as in the river itself, there are swift dark currents flowing under a placid surface. Meet Pamra Don--a young woman scarred by her mother''s death, lured to a preist-hood where the truth must be hidden from the faithful. And meet Thrasne, a young boatman who trades from town to town, free from the iron control of the towers of the Awakeners, and the priests of the world of the River--free, that is, as long as he never speaks his mind. These two, by design and accident both, are about to discover many truths. And on the Northshore of the River, the truth can kill you.

Years ago, humans came to the world of Newholme, and now, the Great Questioner, official arbiter of the Council of Worlds, has come to investigate rumors of a terrible secret that lies buried deep within Newholme. It will fall to Mouche, a beautiful youth of uncommon cleverness and spirit, to save his imperiled home and surrender to the mysterious ecstatic revelry that results when the six moons join.

Grass, has helped redefine speculative fiction. Award winner, national bestseller, and one of the genre''s most respected and acclaimed talents, she has transcended the boundaries of science fiction and fantasy with her widespread success. Available for the first time in one volume, this is the long out-of-print trilogy that launched her remarkable career: King''s Blood Four, Necromancer Nine, and Wizard''s Eleven. In the lands of the True Game, your lifelong identity emerges as you play-Prince or Sorcerer, Demon or Doyen. Raising the dead is the least of the Necromancer''s Talents-he is a wild card who threatens the True Game itself. A giant stalks the mountains. Shadowpeople gather by the light of the moon. Bonedancers raise up armies of the dead. And the Wizard''s Eleven sleep trapped in their dreams. Players, take your places. The final Game begins now...

Caught between the cultures of two different planetary worlds, Sam Girat searches restlessly for his purpose in life.

In this major novel, alien contact and an alliance could bring about the end of a tyrannical dynasty. "Magnificent . . . a tremendously exciting and inventive novel".--Anne McCaffrey.

From the author of Marianne, the Magus, and the Manticore comes a brand-new fantasy. The students of Schooltown spend years learning the rules before they go out into the Game--as sorcerers, princes, dragons, and pawns. "It moves with all the precision of a chess game with fate!"--Roger Zelazny.

When recklessly headstrong Mavin Manyshaped learns to control her Talent for changing into any shape, she begins to fulfill her destiny as the most notorious shape-shifter in all the lands of the True Game