Sunday, May 24, 2009

New from Fantastic Books



Warren Lapine, on his livejournal blog, yesterday announced the publication of two books by James Gunn, a collection - "Human Voices" and the novel, "This Fortress World".

Here is the rundown from the Barnes and Noble web site, from the links in Warren's blog:

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In Human Voices you will find stories covering the past three decades of James Gunn's career: imaginative, entertaining speculations revealing insight-and foresight-into human nature now and in the future, which are the unmistakable hallmarks of his best fiction.

James Gunn's work is always polished, ironic, and deeply concerned about humankind. Long before I knew him, his stories and novels were a pleasure to read, and this has never changed. -George Zebrowski, Award Winning author of Macrolife and Brute Orbits

These are consistently and admirably intelligent, austerely but effectively written stories . . . . - Roland Green, Booklist

SFWA Grand Master James Gunn's This Fortress World takes place in the far future of our galaxy, when countless civilizations have risen and fallen, leaving only their marvelous scientific achievements as legacy to those worlds which have now fallen into a new Dark Age. On the planet Brancusi, William Dane, an acolyte monk in the all-powerful Church, comes into possession of a crystal pebble dropped in the offering plate, a stolen treasure believed to hold untold secrets of mankind's past. There are powerful men who will stop at nothing, including murder, to recover this ancient artifact, and Dane must flee for his life to protect the knowledge the crystal holds.

Once in the outside world to which he is a stranger, and no longer in the comforting isolation of the Cathedral where he has spent his entire life, Dane faces not only internal challenges to his deepest held beliefs, but those external and involving the long-term destiny of mankind-if only he can survive. Deceived, imprisoned, tortured, and now a murderer himself, Dane must not only break down the walls that have kept him alone in the world, but those imposed upon the people through an oppressive centralized government, a government putting its own desires above those of its people.

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