“Cast your nets, wanderers! Try me with your questions, and let the contest begin.”

—Blaine the Mono, to Roland and the Ka-Tet, at the end of The Waste Lands

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

When we last left our ka-tet, Eddie was dreaming again as they approach some mysterious building in the distance along I-70 in a 1980s Captain Trips version of Kansas.

[Read this week’s post.]

“Cast your nets, wanderers! Try me with your questions, and let the contest begin.”

—Blaine the Mono, to Roland and the Ka-Tet, at the end of The Waste Lands

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

When we last left our ka-tet, they were finishing up with Blaine and heading in search of the Beam.

[Read this week’s post.]

The “Fab-Abs” club loves its way toward summer with 18 new paranormal romance titles for May, including the kickoff of new series by Anya Bast, Donna Grant, and Pamela Palmer, and sophomore titles from Zoe Archer, Joey Hill, and Shona Husk. Then there’s the three-dozenth (really!) title in Harlequin’s Rogue Angel series by the “House” name of Alex Archer.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about May paranormal romance releases]

Twenty-two new urban fantasy titles make their way onto the shelves in May, leading with Deadlocked, what might be the penultimate volume in Charlaine Harris’s popular Sookie Stackhouse series (aka Southern Vampires). Other popular series add to their tallies in May—the Morganville Vampires releases its twelfth title, for example—while a couple of series come to a close. Jeri Smith-Ready’s Shine concludes her Shade Trilogy, while Last Rite brings Lisa Desrochers’ Personal Demons series to conclusion.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about May releases in urban fantasy]

With fifteen titles this month, how many could possibly be steampunk? Well, that would be about six, plus a couple of cozy mysteries with a hint of paranormal, some very cool anthologies that cross genre lines, a new zombie horror tale from Joseph Nassise, and a new release from the ever-difficult-to-categorize China Miéville.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about May “genre-benders”]

Fifteen new releases is a virtual tsunami when it comes to science fiction these days, including some scientifically scintillating anthologies and an examination of the science behind the film “Avatar" by author Stephen Baxter.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about May releases in science fiction]

April showers bring May… fantasies, or something like that. Fantasy fans can look forward to 14 new titles in May, including the fourth book of the Malazan Empire series from Ian C. Esslemont, the second The Dagger and the Coin title from Daniel Abraham, Lynn Flewelling’s sixth Nightrunner book, and a new story from N.K. Jemisin. The attempted world domination by Young Adult fantasy titles continues as well, claiming almost half of the new releases.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about May releases in fantasy.]

“Cast your nets, wanderers! Try me with your questions, and let the contest begin.”

—Blaine the Mono, to Roland and the Ka-Tet, at the end of The Waste Lands

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

When we last left our fivesome (including Oy), four of them were awaiting their fates with dying hope of being saved from joining Blaine’s suicide run. He’d easily answered their riddles except for the ones in Jake’s book. But Eddie Dean’s been lost in thought…

[Read this week’s post.]

“Cast your nets, wanderers! Try me with your questions, and let the contest begin.”

— Blaine the Mono, to Roland and the Ka-Tet, at the end of The Waste Lands

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

Today, we begin volume four in the Dark Tower series, Wizard and Glass. It was published in 1997, six years after The Waste Lands, and begins where book three ended, with an agreement between Roland and Blaine the Mono: If Roland or one of his companions can stump Blaine with a riddle, the suicidal train-brain will allow them to live; if they do not, they’ll go down with as one.

[Read this week’s post]

Should science fiction and fantasy explore real events? Should speculative fiction address tragedies recent enough to still be part of the world’s collective consciousness? Should certain subjects be sacrosanct or relegated only to “serious” (i.e., literary) fiction or to historians?

[Read more]

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water.

—From T.S. Eliot’s “The Wastelands”

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

We last left our old multi-named friend the Ageless Stranger, aka Richard Fannin, rousing Tick-Tock Man, aka Andrew Quick, to kill Roland and the ka-tet, who are “meddling with things they have no business meddling with.”

[Read this week’s post.]

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water.

—From T.S. Eliot’s “The Wastelands”

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

We last left Roland bursting into the Tick-Tock Man’s hidey hole like a gunslinger as Jake and Oy do battle in Underground Lud. Eddie and Susannah are in the Cradle, trying to figure out Blaine the Mono’s riddle.

[Read this week’s post.]

With twenty-eight new urban fantasy titles hitting the shelves in April, it would be shameless for me to pimp my own release, wouldn’t it? Of course it would *coughs, Royal Street, coughs*. Especially with some popular series getting new titles this month, including from authors J.N. Duncan (Jackie Rutledge), Ann Aguirre (Corine Solomon), Holly Black (Curse Workers), Devon Monk (Allie Beckstrom), C.C. Hunter (Shadow Falls), Kimberly Derting (Body Finder), Lyn Benedict (Shadows Inquiries), and Kevin Hearne (Iron Druid Chronicles).

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about April urban fantasy releases]

Springtime turns to love... and vampires. Lynsay Sands’ Argeneau Vampire series retains its fanghold on the genre, with its sixteenth book coming out this month. There are additions to other popular series as well, from Jessica Andersen (Nightkeepers), Gerry Bartlett (Glory St. Clair), Kate Douglas (Demonslayers), Elisabeth Naughton (Eternal Guardians), Kristina Douglas (Warrior), Caris Roane (The World of Ascension), and Christine Warren (Others). 

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

a [Read about April paranormal romance releases.]

How adventurous are you feeling this month? There’s a little of everything in this catch-all category. Want to see how things play out for the Three Musketeers as vampires? How about teaming up with Henri Toulouse-Lautrec to solve a mystery involving the suicidal Vincent Van Gogh? Or team up with a teenager who gets mixed up with Jack the Ripper? Too out there? Settle down with a cup of tea and Mary Robinette Kowal’s Glamour in Glass, the followup to her Jane Austen-style fantasy Shades of Milk and Honey, or ponder the fate of humankind (or lack thereof) with the third in Rhiannon Frater’s As the World Dies series.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about April genre-benders]

After a slow winter, science fiction rallies a bit in April with eleven releases, including Triggers, a new sci-fi thriller from Robert Sawyer; a seriously handicapped hero in Brian Evenson’s Immobility, and new series additions from David Drake (Lt. Leary), Gini Koch (Katherine “Kitty” Katt), and Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger).

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about April releases in science fiction.]

Fantasy fans can look forward to 16 new titles in April, including new series titles by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Tales of Goldstone Wood), Dave Freer (Dragon’s Ring), Matthew Stover (Overworld), Jaclyn Dolomore (Magic Under), Joseph Delaney (Last Apprentice), Amanda Hocking (Trylle), Erin Hoffman (Chaos Knight), and Alexey Pehov (Chronicles of Siala). But, really, Dark Tower fans, there’s one we’re really salivating for, right? April 24, The Wind in the Keyhole, Dark Tower 4.5, by Stephen King. We’re so there.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

[Read about April releases in fantasy.]

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water.

—From T.S. Eliot’s “The Wastelands”

Welcome to A Read of the Dark Tower series. Join me each week as I, Constant Reader, tackle the magnum opus of Stephen King’s career for the first time. If you want to discuss in general terms or talk about these first sections, join me by commenting here.

[Read this week’s post + an announcement]