{"id":3575,"date":"2012-01-15T16:15:03","date_gmt":"2012-01-15T16:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2012\/01\/15\/books-received-1152012-2\/"},"modified":"2012-01-15T16:15:03","modified_gmt":"2012-01-15T16:15:03","slug":"books-received-1152012-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2012\/01\/15\/books-received-1152012-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Books received 1\/15\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s take a quick look to see what\u2019s arrived at the Geek Compound. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Flame Alphabet<\/span><\/a>
\nby Ben Marcus<\/span><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n

In The Flame Alphabet<\/span>, 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.<\/p>\n

A terrible epidemic has struck the country and the sound of children\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

With Claire nearing collapse, it seems their only means of survival is to flee from their daughter, Esther, who laughs at her parents\u2019 sickness, unaware that in just a few years she, too, will be susceptible to the language toxicity. But Sam and Claire find it isn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n

The Flame Alphabet<\/span> 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\u2019s position in the first rank of American novelists.<\/p>\n

A short haunting film<\/a> based on The Flame Alphabet<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom<\/span><\/a>
\nEdited by John Joseph Adams
\nCover by Mark Zug<\/span><\/p>\n

Promo copy:<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019 Barsoom series since the first book, A Princess of Mars<\/span>, 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\u2014plus 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.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full table of contents<\/a> from editor John Joseph Adams site:<\/span><\/p>\n