Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Body, Inc.
by Alan Dean Foster

Promo copy:

New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster has always been on the cutting-edge of science fiction. In Body, Inc., he creates a tomorrow where genetic manipulation has become ubiquitous, and the very meaning of what it is to be human is undergoing drastic transformation.

In a world deeply wounded by centuries of environmental damage, two unlikely souls join forces: Dr. Ingrid Seastrom has stumbled into a mystery involving quantum-entangled nanoscale implants—a mystery that just may kill her. Whispr is a thief and murderer whose radical body modifications have left him so thin he is all but two-dimensional. Whispr has found a silver data-storage thread, a technology that will make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He is also going mad with longing for Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Their quest to learn the secrets of the implant and the thread—which may well be the same secret—has led them to the South African Economic Combine, otherwise known as SAEC. Or, less respectfully, SICK. SICK, it seems, has the answers.

Unfortunately, SICK has also got Napun Molé, a cold-blooded assassin whose genetic enhancements make him the equivalent of a small army. Molé has already missed one chance to kill Ingrid and Whispr and now he has followed them to South Africa. This time, he is not only going to succeed, he is going to make them suffer.

RevSF contributing editor Alan J. Porter interviewed Foster about The Human Blend, the first volume of The Tipping Point Series.

Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse
by Troy Denning

Promo copy:

There can be no surrender.
There will be no mercy.
It’s not just the future of the galaxy at stake—
It’s the destiny of the Force.

In the stunning finale of the epic Fate of the Jedi series, Jedi and Sith face off—with Coruscant as their battlefield. For the Sith, it’s the chance to restore their dominance over the galaxy that forgot them for so long. For Abeloth, it’s a giant step in her quest to conquer all life everywhere. For Luke Skywalker, it’s a call to arms to eradicate the Sith and their monstrous new master once and for all.

In a planetwide strike, teams of Jedi Knights take the Sith infiltrators by swift and lethal surprise. But victory against the cunning and savage Abeloth, and the terrifying endgame she has planned, is anything but certain. And as Luke, Ben, Han, Leia, Jaina, Jag, and their allies close in, the devastating truth about the dark side incarnate will be exposed—and send shock waves through the Jedi Order, the galaxy, and the Force itself.

Angels of Vengeance
by John Birmingham

Promo copy:

When an inexplicable wave of energy slammed into North America, millions died. In the rest of the world, wars erupted, borders vanished, and the powerful lost their grip on power. Against this backdrop, with a conflicted U.S. president struggling to make momentous decisions in Seattle and a madman fomenting rebellion in Texas, three women are fighting their own battles—for survival, justice, and revenge.

Special agent Caitlin Monroe moves stealthily through a South American jungle. Her target: a former French official now held prisoner by a ruthless despot. To free the prisoner, Caitlin will kill anyone who gets in her way. And then she will get the truth about how a master terrorist escaped a secret detention center in French Guadeloupe to strike a fatal blow in New York City.

Sofia Peiraro is a teenage girl who witnessed firsthand the murder and mayhem of Texas under the rule of General Mad Jack Blackstone. Sofia might have tried to build a life with her father in the struggling remnants of Kansas City—if a vicious murder hadn’t set her on another course altogether: back to Texas, even to Blackstone himself.

Julianne Balwyn is a British-born aristocrat turned smuggler. Shopping in the most fashionable neighborhood of Darwin, Australia—now a fantastic neo-urban frontier—Jules has a pistol holstered in the small of her lovely back. She is playing the most dangerous game of all: waiting for the person who is hunting her to show his face—so she can kill him first.

Three women in three corners of a world plunged into electrifying chaos. Nation-states struggling for their survival. Immigrants struggling for new lives. John Birmingham’s astounding new novel—the conclusion to the series begun in Without Warning and After America—is an intense adventure that races from the halls of power to shattered streets to gleaming new cities, as humanity struggles to grasp its better angels—and purge its worst demons.

…at least for a day.

Tomorrow Austinites don gorilla suits to run a 5K through the streets of downtown, followed by the usual parties and media events.

The Gorilla Run benefits endangered mountain gorillas.

Another crazy, outdoorsy Austin benefit for a worthy cause.

Way back on October 26, 2007, I reported the sale of a copy of the ultra rare Zeppelin Stories #3 (June 1929) for an astounding $3,183.33. The Holy Grail of ape collectibles, the issue features a magnificent cover that showcased Gil Brewer’s "Gorilla of the Gas Bags." The story itself has never been reprinted.

Another copy has surfaced. Beginning February 25, Adventure House is auctioning off the entire collection of legendary pulp collector/historian Frank Robinson, save for one prominent item. The lusted after Zeppelin Stories #3 shall be auction individually by the esteemed Heritage Auctions, February 22-23.

Anyone have an extra $4-5 grand to pick one up for me? I’ll be your best friend.

For the new "Nexus Graphica" column, I reviewed five graphic novels (well technically one comic book and four graphic novels.

Check out the column to see what I thought about the books.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual
Text by Ryder Windham
Art by Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas

Promo copy:

The Millennium Falcon is a legendary spaceship, made famous by its adventures under the command of smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, who made numerous special modifications to transform the beat-up Corellian light freighter into one of the fastest ships in the galaxy.

This Haynes Manual traces the model history of the Corellian Engineering Corporation’s YT series of spaceships and the development of the YT-1300 model line before focusing on the Millennium Falcon, itself a modified YT-1300. Onboard systems, controls, and their operation are described in detail and supported by a host of photographs, line art, floor plans, exploded diagrams, and stunning computer-generated artwork, all newly created by acknowledged Falcon experts Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas. Text is by Ryder Windham, author of more than fifty Star Wars books.

Covering operational history, piloting, propulsion, weapons, engineering systems, sensors, and crew facilities, this is the most thorough technical guide to the Millennium Falcon available.

This Haynes Manual is fully authorized and approved by Lucasfilm.

Perhaps I can finally get that Millennium Falcon out the garage. It’d certainly make Brandy happy.

Mass Effect: Deception
by William C. Dietz

Promo copy:

An all-new adventure inspired by the award-winning videogame from BioWare!

The universe is under siege. Every fifty thousand years, a race of sentient machines invades our galaxy to harvest all organic life-forms. They are the Reapers.

Two people who know the truth are desperately searching for a way to stop the cycle: Navy admiral David Anderson and his partner, Kahlee Sanders. They have uncovered grisly evidence proving that the Reaper threat is real. But in so doing they have exposed the machinations of Cerberus, a secretive paramilitary organization, and its mysterious leader, the Illusive Man—putting David and Kahlee in mortal danger, for Cerberus will stop at nothing to protect its secrets.

But along the way, they find an unlikely ally in Gillian Grayson, a young woman with extraordinary powers. Once the subject of horrifying scientific experiments, Gillian is now free—and beginning to master her deadly abilities. But after learning that Cerberus was responsible for the death of her father, Gillian swears vengeance against the group and the Illusive Man—threatening to unravel everything Kahlee and David are fighting for.

Embassytown
by China Miéville
Cover by David G. Stevenson

Promo copy:

In the far future, humans have colonized a distant planet, home to the enigmatic Ariekei, sentient beings famed for a language unique in the universe, one that only a few altered human ambassadors can speak. Avice Benner Cho, a human colonist, has returned to Embassytown after years of deep-space adventure. She cannot speak the Ariekei tongue, but she is an indelible part of it, having long ago been made a figure of speech, a living simile in their language. When distant political machinations deliver a new ambassador to Arieka, the fragile equilibrium between humans and aliens is violently upset. Catastrophe looms, and Avice is torn between competing loyalties: to a husband she no longer loves, to a system she no longer trusts, and to her place in a language she cannot speak—but which speaks through her, whether she likes it or not.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

The Flame Alphabet
by Ben Marcus

Promo copy:

In The Flame Alphabet, the most maniacally gifted writer of our generation delivers a work of heartbreak and horror, a novel about how far we will go, and the sorrows we will endure, in order to protect our families.

A terrible epidemic has struck the country and the sound of children’s speech has become lethal. Radio transmissions from strange sources indicate that people are going into hiding. All Sam and Claire need to do is look around the neighborhood: In the park, parents wither beneath the powerful screams of their children. At night, suburban side streets become routes of shameful escape for fathers trying to get outside the radius of affliction.

With Claire nearing collapse, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther, who laughs at her parents’ sickness, unaware that in just a few years she, too, will be susceptible to the language toxicity. But Sam and Claire find it isn’t so easy to leave the daughter they still love, even as they waste away from her malevolent speech. On the eve of their departure, Claire mysteriously disappears, and Sam, determined to find a cure for this new toxic language, presses on alone into a world beyond recognition.

The Flame Alphabet invites the question: What is left of civilization when we lose the ability to communicate with those we love? Both morally engaged and wickedly entertaining, a gripping page-turner as strange as it is moving, this intellectual horror story ensures Ben Marcus’s position in the first rank of American novelists.

A short haunting film based on The Flame Alphabet.

Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom
Edited by John Joseph Adams
Cover by Mark Zug

Promo copy:

Celebrate 100 years of John Carter of Mars with this all-new collection of original stories and art!Readers of all ages have read and loved Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series since the first book, A Princess of Mars, was published in 1912. Now, in time for the 100th anniversary of that seminal work, comes an anthology of original stories featuring John Carter of Mars in brand-new adventures. Collected by veteran anthology editor John Joseph Adams, this anthology features stories from titans of literature such as Peter S. Beagle and Garth Nix and original art from Mark Zug, Charles Vess, and many more—plus an introduction by Tamora Pierce and a glossary of Mars by Richard A. Lupoff. Illustrations are by prominent artists Meinert Hansen, Charles Vess, John Picacio, and more.

Here’s the full table of contents from editor John Joseph Adams site:

Foreword by Tamora Pierce
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
The Metal Men of Mars by Joe R. Lansdale
—Illustrated by Gregory Manchess
Three Deaths by David Barr Kirtley
—Illustrated by Charles Vess
The Ape-Man of Mars by Peter S. Beagle
—Illustrated by Jeremy Bastian
A Tinker of Warhoon by Tobias S. Buckell
—Illustrated by Chrissie Zullo
Vengeance of Mars by Robin Wasserman
—Illustrated by Misako Rocks!
Woola’s Song by Theodora Goss
—Illustrated by Joe Sutphin
The River Gods of Mars by Austin Grossman
—Illustrated by Meinert Hansen
The Bronze Man of Mars by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
—Illustrated by Tom Daly
A Game of Mars by Genevieve Valentine
—Illustrated by Molly Crabapple
Sidekick of Mars by Garth Nix
—Illustrated by Mike Cavallaro
The Ghost That Haunts the Superstition Mountains by Chris Claremont
—Illustrated by John Picacio
The Jasoom Project by S. M. Stirling
—Illustrated by Jeff Carlisle
Coming of Age in Barsoom by Catherynne M. Valente
—Illustrated by Michael Wm. Kaluta
The Death Song of Dwar Guntha by Jonathan Maberry
—Illustrated by Daren Bader
Appendix: A Barsoomian Gazetteer, or, Who’s Who and What’s What on Mars by Richard A. Lupoff

Wrong Side of Dead
by Kelly Meding
Cover by Cliff Nielson

Promo copy:

Monster hunter Evangeline Stone woke up on the wrong side of dead this morning—and now there’s hell to pay.

Barely recovered from her extended torture at the hands of mad scientist Walter Thackery, Evy can use a break. What she gets instead is a war, as the battered Triads that keep Dreg City safe find themselves under attack by half-Blood vampires who have somehow retained their reason, making them twice as lethal. Worse, the Halfies are joined by a breed of were-creature long believed extinct—back and more dangerous than ever. Meanwhile, Evy’s attempts at reconciliation with the man she loves take a hit after Wyatt is viciously assaulted—an attack traced to Thackery, who has not given up his quest to exterminate all vampires . . . even if he has to destroy Dreg City to do it. With Wyatt’s time running out, another threat emerges from the shadows and a staggering betrayal shatters the fragile alliance between the Triads, vampires, and shapeshifters, turning Evy’s world upside down forever.

Annotated Sandman Vol. 1
Written by Neil Gaiman
Art by Sam Keith, Mike Dringenberg, Kelley Jones, Charles Vess, Mike Zulli, Colleen Doran and others
Annotations by Leslie S. Klinger
Cover by Dave McKean

Promo copy:

Edited by and with an introduction and notes by Leslie S. Klinger, the expert researcher and editor behind the Edgar®-winning New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and the critically acclaimed New Annotated Dracula, THE ANNOTATED SANDMAN is a panel-by-panel journey through every issue of THE SANDMAN. Beginning with issues #1-#20, this volume provides commentary, historical and contemporary references, hidden meanings and more, presented side-by-side with the series’ art and text. Using scripts and hours of conversation with Gaiman, Klinger reveals fascinating details of THE SANDMAN’s hundreds of unforgettable characters and its place in literary history.

The first of an incredible four volume series, the ANNOTATED SANDMAN Vol. 1 is a must-have for every Sandman fan!

The legendary and influential creator of Conan, Solomon Kane, and Kull, Robert E. Howard brings his unique bombastic stylings to The Apes of Wrath.

He joins a stellar lineup that includes Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Karen Joy Fowler, Philip Jose Farmer, Joe R. Lansdale, Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Pat Murphy, Leigh Kennedy, James P. Blaylock, Clark Ashton Smith, Aesop, Hugh B. Cave, Jess Nevins, Scott Cupp, Mark Finn, and Rupert Wyatt.

Gregory Manchess, cover to Solomon Kane: Red Shadows #4

A survey of ape literature, The Apes of Wrath features 17 classic simian tales, along with four original essays on various aspects of apes in pop culture.

The fun comes your way in March 2013 from Tachyon Publications.

Legendary sf/fantasy writer Philip Jose Farmer, recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and three Hugos, joins the stellar lineup of The Apes of Wrath.

Other contributors include Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Karen Joy Fowler, Joe R. Lansdale, Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Pat Murphy, Leigh Kennedy, James P. Blaylock, Clark Ashton Smith, Aesop, Hugh B. Cave, Jess Nevins, Scott Cupp, Mark Finn, and Rupert Wyatt.

A survey of ape literature, The Apes of Wrath will reprint 15-20 simian stories, along with four original essays on various aspects of apes in pop culture.

The fun comes your way in March 2013 from Tachyon Publications.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt will provide the foreword to The Apes of Wrath.

He joins a stellar lineup that includes Edgar Allan Poe, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Franz Kafka, Gustave Flaubert, Karen Joy Fowler, Joe R. Lansdale, Howard Waldrop, Steven Utley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Pat Murphy, Leigh Kennedy, James P. Blaylock, Clark Ashton Smith, Aesop, Hugh B. Cave, Jess Nevins, Scott Cupp, and Mark Finn.

A survey of ape literature, The Apes of Wrath will reprint 15-20 simian stories, along with four original essays on various aspects of apes in pop culture.

The fun comes your way in March 2013 from Tachyon Publications.

Let’s take a quick look to see what’s arrived at the Geek Compound.

Unterzakhn
by Leela Corman

Promo copy:

A mesmerizing, heartbreaking graphic novel of immigrant life on New York’s Lower East Side at the turn of the twentieth century, as seen through the eyes of twin sisters whose lives take radically and tragically different paths.

For six-year-old Esther and Fanya, the teeming streets of New York’s Lower East Side circa 1910 are both a fascinating playground and a place where life’s lessons are learned quickly and often cruelly. In drawings that capture both the tumult and the telling details of that street life, Unterzakhn (Yiddish for "Underthings") tells the story of these sisters: as wide-eyed little girls absorbing the sights and sounds of a neighborhood of struggling immigrants; as teenagers taking their own tentative steps into the wider world (Esther working for a woman who runs both a burlesque theater and a whorehouse, Fanya for an obstetrician who also performs illegal abortions); and, finally, as adults battling for their own piece of the "golden land," where the difference between just barely surviving and triumphantly succeeding involves, for each of them, painful decisions that will have unavoidably tragic repercussions.

Jack of Ravens (Kingdom of the Serpent, Book 1)
by Mark Chadbourn
Cover by John Picacio

Promo copy:

Short-listed for the British Fantasy Award

Jack Churchill, archaeologist and dreamer, walks out of the mist and into Celtic Britain more than two thousand years before he was born, with no knowledge of how he got there. All Jack wants is to get home to his own time where the woman he loves waits for him. Finding his way to the timeless mystical Otherworld, the home of the gods, he plans to while away the days, the years, the millennia, until his own era rolls around again . . . but nothing is ever that simple.

A great Evil waits in modern times and will do all in its power to stop Jack’s return. In a universe where time and space are meaningless, its tendrils stretch back through the years . . . Through Roman times, the Elizabethan age, Victoria’s reign, the Second World War to the Swinging Sixties, the Evil sets its traps to destroy Jack.

Mark Chadbourn gives us a high adventure of dazzling sword fights, passionate romance and apocalyptic wars in the days leading up to Ragnarok, the End-Times: a breathtaking, surreal vision of twisting realities where nothing is quite what it seems.

Texas Killing Fields

Promo copy:

Inspired by true events, this tense and haunting thriller follows Detective Souder (Sam Worthington), a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they track a sadistic serial killer dumping his victims’ mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call ”The Killing Fields.”

Though the swampland crime scenes are outside their jurisdiction, Detective Heigh is unable to turn his back on solving the gruesome murders. Despite his partner’s warnings, he sets out to investigate the crimes. Before long, the killer changes the game and begins hunting the detectives, teasing them with possible clues at the crime scenes while always remaining one step ahead. When familiar local girl Anne (Chloë Grace Moretz) goes missing, the detectives find themselves racing against time to catch the killer and save the young girl’s life.

Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, Produced by Michael Mann and Michael Jaffe, Texas Killing Fields also stars Jessica Chastain (Tree of Life, The Help), Jason Clarke (Public Enemies, FOX’s ”Chicago Code”) and Stephen Graham (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, HBO’s ”Boardwalk Empire”). Executive Produced by Bill Block, Paul Hanson and Ethan Smith, with music by Dickon Hinchliffe.

Fair Coin
by E.C. Myers
Cover by Sam Weber

Promo copy:

Ephraim is horrified when he comes home from school one day to find his mother unconscious at the kitchen table, clutching a bottle of pills. Even more disturbing than her suicide attempt is the reason for it: the dead boy she identified at the hospital that afternoon—a boy who looks exactly like him.

While examining his dead double’s belongings, Ephraim discovers a strange coin that makes his wishes come true each time he flips it. Before long, he’s wished his alcoholic mother into a model parent, and the girl he’s liked since second grade suddenly notices him.

But Ephraim soon realizes that the coin comes with consequences—several wishes go disastrously wrong, his best friend Nathan becomes obsessed with the coin, and the world begins to change in unexpected ways.

As Ephraim learns the coin’s secrets and how to control its power, he must find a way to keep it from Nathan and return to the world he remembers.