New Releases by Steven ERIKSON

''Fantasy cliches are dodged or given new twists; the narrative teems with clever invention . . . the writing is excellent'' SFX ___ In Darujhistan, the saying goes that Love and Death shall arrive together, dancing... It is summer and the heat is oppressive, yet the discomfiture of the small rotund man in the faded red waistcoat is not entirely due to the sun. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city''s streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways but it seems the hunters have become the hunted. Strangers have arrived, and while the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of hounds. All is palpably not well. And in Black Coral too something is afoot. Memories of ancient crimes surface, clamouring for revenge and Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, has come to right an ancient and terrible wrong. And so it would seem that Love and Death are indeed about to make their entrance... This is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, storytelling at its most exciting. ___ What readers are saying: ***** ''Epic action and breathless tension'' ***** ''Dark and compelling . . . it was really hard to put down'' ***** ''Innovative, unexpected . . . filled with laugh out loud humour, but also terribly poignant''

While the city of Darujhistan becomes increasingly subject to assassins, tyrants, and the oppressive summer weather, Anomander Raks, Son of Darkness, plots a deadly revenge from the distant city of Black Coral.

A truly epic fantasy series that has confirmed its author as one of the most original and exciting genre storytellers in years. Erikson’s ‘Malazan Book of the Fallen’ has been recognised the world-over by writers, critics and fans alike — in a recent review of The Bonehunters, the sixth chapter in this remarkable tale, the UK’s Interzone magazine hailed it ‘a masterpiece’ and ‘the benchmark for all future works in the field’, while the hugely influential genre website, Ottawa-based SF Site, declared ‘this series has clearly established itself as the most significant work of epic fantasy since Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant’. Now comes Reaper’s Gale — the seventh Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen — and neither Erikson nor the excitement are showing any sign of letting up. Mauled and now cut adrift by the Malazan Empire, Tavore and her now infamous 14th army have landed on the coast of a strange, unknown continent and find themselves facing an even more dangerous enemy: the Tiste Edur, a nightmarish empire pledged to serve the Crippled God… A brutal, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, this is fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most thrilling.

A brutal, harrowing chapter of the Malazan Book of the Fallen from best selling author Steven Erikson All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor. Meanwhile, the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against their own people. The Errant, once a farseeing god, is suddenly blind to the future. Conspiracies seethe throughout the palace, as the empire - driven by the corrupt and self-interested - edges ever-closer to all-out war with the neighboring kingdoms. The great Edur fleet--its warriors selected from countless numbers of people--draws closer. Amongst the warriors are Karsa Orlong and Icarium Lifestealer--each destined to cross blades with the emperor himself. That yet more blood is to be spilled is inevitable... Against this backdrop, a band of fugitives seek a way out of the empire, but one of them, Fear Sengar, must find the soul of Scabandari Bloodeye. It is his hope that the soul might help halt the Tiste Edur, and so save his brother, the emperor. Yet, traveling with them is Scabandari''s most ancient foe: Silchas Ruin, brother of Anomander Rake. And his motives are anything but certain - for the wounds he carries on his back, made by the blades of Scabandari, are still fresh. Fate decrees that there is to be a reckoning, for such bloodshed cannot go unanswered--and it will be a reckoning on an unimaginable scale. This is a brutal, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic; this is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, storytelling at its most thrilling. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Seven Cities Rebellion is over, Sha''ik is dead, but a last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y''Ghatan under the fanatical command of Leoman of the Flails. The prospect of laying siege to this ancient fortress makes the battle-weary Malaz 14th Army uneasy - for it was here that the Empire''s greatest champion Dassem Ultor was slain and a tide of Malazan blood spilled... But agents of a far greater conflict have made their opening moves. The Crippled God has been granted a place in the pantheon, a schism threatens, sides must be chosen but whatever each god decides, the rules have changed - and the first blood spilled will be in the mortal world: a world in which a host of characters, familiar and new, search for a fate that they might fashion by their own will. If only the gods would leave them alone. But gods are disinclined to be kind. There shall be war, war in the heavens. And the prize? Nothing less than existence itself...

In Northern Genabackis, a tribal raiding party descends into the southern flat lands intent on wreaking havoc. But for Karsa Orlong it marks the beginning of what will prove an extraordinary destiny.

Marking the return of many characters from Gardens of the Moon and introducing a host of remarkable new players, Memories of Ice is both a momentous new chapter in Steven Erikson''s magnificent epic fantasy and a triumph of storytelling. The ravaged continent of Genabackis has given birth to a terrifying new empire: the Pannion Domin. Like a tide of corrupted blood, it seethes across the land, devouring all. In its path stands an uneasy alliance: Onearm''s army and Whiskeyjack''s Bridgeburners alongside their enemies of old--the forces of the Warlord Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii mages, and the Rhivi people of the plains. But ancient undead clans are also gathering; the T''lan Imass have risen. For it would seem something altogether darker and more malign threatens this world. Rumors abound that the Crippled God is now unchained and intent on a terrible revenge. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The second novel in the awe-inspiring Malazan Book of the Fallen series. "Gripping, fast-moving, delightfully dark, with a masterful and unapologetic brutality reminiscent of George R. R. Martin." -- Elizabeth Haydon In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha''ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising known as the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in size and savagery, this maelstrom of fanaticism and bloodlust will embroil the Malazan Empire in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known, shaping destinies and giving birth to legends . . . Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by dark, uncontrollable magic, Deadhouse Gates is a novel of war, intrigue and betrayal confirms Steven Eirkson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality--a new master of epic fantasy. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Follows the perils of the citizens of the warring Malazan Empire.

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, "Gardens of the Moon" is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

The desert has overtaken Los Angeles and buried its freeways, and a strange darkness has flooded Europe and set its streets on fire-and a young woman''s face, a misbegotten childhood in a Parisian brothel, and the fragment of a lost movie masterpiece are the only clues in a man''s search for his past.