From Publishers WeeklyCareful plotting and realistically messy detail help lift Dietz's sixth military SF novel (after 2003's For More Than Glory) about the Legion of the Damned, an army of biobod humans, aliens and brain boxes installed in mechanical bodies, which defends the Confederacy of Sentient Beings against any threat. The present enemy, the insectoid Ramanthians, needs more planets to accommodate their queen's billions of eggs. When the Confederacy learns that a Ramanthian research outpost has developed a communications device that could win the war, an expedition sets out to capture the new technology. In particular, a young first lieutenant must lead his troops through the perils of jungle, desert and ambush by psychotic renegades. Meanwhile, a young woman diplomat discovers that one of the Confederacy's alien races is secretly aiding the Ramanthians. Characters attempt to gather information, make political alliances and maneuver skillfully, but often their efforts degenerate into groping, murderous frenzy. Dietz expertly jumps from one theater of combat to another, one side to another, to show the opponents planning but then improvising as plans go awry. Even if the novel's action sometimes is as manipulative as a WWF Smackdown, it still gives a genuine adrenaline rush. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistDietz's new Legion of the Damned novel lands the Confederacy on the chill planet Algeron. The natives' welcome is also chill, for they fear that the alien Ramanthians will pursue the legion across the stars and devastate their home. Meanwhile, legion general Booly gets an intelligence windfall: in a Ramanthian fortress lies the key to instantaneous interstellar communication. The military advantages of this are too obvious to require comment, so the legion puts together a special ops mission to steal the secret or at least keep the enemy from getting it. Leading the mission is hardy, larger-than-life series perennial Lieutenant Santana, whose adventures, and also those of the humans and aliens he leads, constitute the usual fast-paced adventure we have come to expect in this series and from Dietz. Recommended for military sf collections, in particular. Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Belfast. January 2005.Acting Detective Sergeant John O'Neill stands over the body of a dead teenager. The corpse was discovered on the building site of a luxury development overlooking the River Lagan. Kneecapped then killed, the body bears the hallmarks of a punishment beating. But this is the new Northern Ireland - the Celtic Tiger purrs, the Troubles are over, the paramilitaries are gone. So who is the boy? Why was he killed?O'Neill quickly realises that no one cares who the kid is - his colleagues, the politicians, the press - making this case one of the toughest yet. And he needs to crack this one, his first job as Principle Investigator, or he risks ending up back in uniform. Disliked by the Chief Inspector and with his current rank yet to be ratified, O'Neill is in a precarious position.With acute insight, Matt McGuire's cracking debut exposes the hidden underbelly of the new Northern Ireland, a world of drug dealing, financial corruption and vigilante justice.

Lucy Moon is the kind of girl who loudly supports animal rights—during hunting season. She wearsa woven hat made of hemp in support of third-world workers. Lucy Moon is the kind of girlwho spots injustice and isn’t afraid to fight it. So when classmates land a trip to the police station for sledding on Wiggins Hill and the local paper refuses to report it, Lucy takes up the battle. Ms. Wiggins, the town’s wealthiest resident, and owner of Wiggins Hill, becomes Lucy’s most formidable adversary. Soon, Lucy is embroiled in a battle for justice that leaves her wondering whether the struggle is worth it, and whether one person can really make a difference.

Issue #81 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies online magazine, featuring Pt. I of a novella by Michael Anthony Ashley and a story by Stephen Case.

For once, seventeen year old Theo Essex thought he could put aside his worries and just enjoy himself. A summer weekend at the shore. An evening with his friends. A beautiful girl in his arms. That was before the event. Now Theo finds himself stranded in a strange new world, surrounded by death and the sea, and trapped between rival forces determined to take control of survivors like him. Facing overwhelming odds, Theo must search for the strength to escape Atlantic Island. The critically acclaimed title from author Fredric Shernoff has garnered national attention by bringing sci-fi, action, adventure and romance to the popular locale of a Jersey Shore that is both sentimentally similar and eerily different from our own. Atlantic Island is the first book of a planned trilogy.

In Search of Spice is an epic historical fantasy romance, set in a world very similar to our own 12th century Europe. 

Captain Larroche is the veteran master of the good ship Queen Rose, named after the beloved late Queen, the first carrack to be built in Harrhein. For Harrhein is trapped, unable to trade due to pirates cutting off the only trade route. In every other direction is endless ocean. Captain Larroche is charged with finding a new trade route, to the fabled land of Hind, and he proposes to sail over the edge of the world to find it. No wonder he has trouble finding crew.

The young people he assembles, strengthened by a squad of frontier veteran Royal Pathfinders, are more than a match for known enemies. How will they handle people of another colour, with strange habits, peculiar food, treacherous officials, different languages and customs that defy belief?

Climb aboard for a swashbuckling cruise into new lands and people, with strange animals and different ways of looking at the world. The pages ring with cultures clashing.