Review_FICTION
60 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ APRIL 6, 2020
Review_FICTION
between the dramatic Henry and taciturn
Tobias shines. Tesh’s second outing is
elegant, evocative, and irresistible. Agent:
Kurestin Armada, Root Literary. (June)The Best of Jules de Grandin
Seabury Quinn. Night Shade, $24.99 (560p).
ISBN 978-1-949102-26-0
This pulpy collection comprises 20
short supernatural detective tales from
the prolific Quinn (1889–1969), all
originally published in Weird Tales maga-
zine between 1926 and 1945 and featuring
Jules de Grandin, a French “occult
detective” who resembles both Holmes
and Poirot. Throughout these action-
packed but dated adventures, De
Grandin and his Watsonian sidekick,
Dr. Samuel Trowbridge of Harrisonville,
N.J., confront a wide range of monstrous
creatures, ancient superstitions, and
then little-understood science. “Restless
Souls” pits them against vampires, “The
Jest of Warburg Tantavel” features visi-
tations from the dead, and “Isle of
Missing Ships” sees the pair contend
with cannibals, while “The Devil’s
Rosary” hinges on atomic theory. With
unquestioning support from Trowbridge,
de Grandin invariably defeats evil mon-
sters and rescues scantily clad beauties,
presaging the paranormal romance
novels and supernatural soap operas of
today. Pulp devotees will take a histor-
ical interest in this collection, but for-
mulaic plots and abundant clichés will
make it an easy pass for most readers.
(June)The Oppenheimer Alternative
Robert J. Sawyer. Caezik, $16.99 trade paper
(374p) ISBN 978-1-64710-013-1
This dense alternate history from
Hugo and Nebula Award–winner
Sawyer (Quantum Night) probes into the
ambitions and shortcomings of physicist
J. Robert Oppenheimer. As the reluctant
director of the Manhattan Project at Los
Alamos, N.Mex., Oppenheimer believes
he has “sold his soul to the atom bomb”
and laments the mass killings in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Meanwhile,
Hungarian physicist Edward Teller’s
work on a nuclear fusion bomb leads
him to discover that the sun has an
unstable core and will extinguish all life
on Earth by 2028. Now Oppenheimeris a bit too on the nose, but elsewhere
gender dynamics are handled more grace-
fully, as in “Of Finest Scarlet Was Her
Gown” by Michael Swanwick, in which
15-year-old Su-yin follows her father into
hell, where she must endure a series of
horrible dates in order to save him from
eternal damnation, and in Nancy Kress’s
brilliant “Unto the Daughters,” a pow-
erful reimagining of the story of Adam
and Eve. Though horror fiends may be
disappointed to find little blood-curdling
terror, there are very few duds among
these wide-ranging tales. Readers are in
for a devilish treat. (June)★ Drowned Country
Emily Tesh. Tor.com, $14.99 trade paper
(160p) ISBN 978-1-250-75660-2
Tesh returns to the Victorian-inspired
world of Silver in the Woods with this
gorgeous, finespun fantasy. Henry Silver,
lord of
Greenhollow
Hall, neglects
the magical
Hallow Wood
he oversees,
allowing the
trees to con-
sume his home
while he pines
for Tobias
Finch, the
former steward of the woods. Tobias left
Henry two years before to join Henry’s
mother, Adela, a “practical folklorist”
(monster hunter), on her travels. Adela’s
arrival at Greenhollow puts an end to
Henry’s wallowing as she recruits him
to help her and Tobias rescue Maud
Lindhurst from a vampire. As it hap-
pens, spunky Maud has already handily
dispatched the vampire herself and plans
to use his supernatural lair to travel to
Fairyland. When Henry and Tobias
attempt to stop her, all three topple into
an eerie underwater portion of the
Hallow Wood. Tesh intersperses their
search for an exit with emotional flash-
backs to the dissolution of Tobias and
Henry’s relationship. As the trio explores
the “half-forgiving land in a dim and wild
wood” and stumble on Fairyland, the tale
swerves into taut horror. The creepy
supernatural elements are pitch perfect,
and the tender, frustrated romanceexplores the nature of belief in this dense,
thoughtful work. Corvyn is an immensely
powerful air spirit: sometimes man,
sometimes raven, always wry. In the
millennia since the Third Fall of human-
kind destroyed the Earth, Corvyn has
tried and failed to stop multiple subse-
quent Falls from Grace on the planet
called Heaven, which is home to the gods
and personified philosophies of every
human religion. When a mysterious
power etches the image of a trident into
the sanctums of numerous holy sites on
Heaven, as well as into the wall of
Corvyn’s own study, he sets out on an
enthralling expedition to discover who’s
responsible, and how—or if—he can
stop them from triggering yet another
Fall. Through Corvyn’s investigation,
Modesitt displays his formidable talent
for worldbuilding, incorporating a multi-
tude of belief systems into the fabric of
Heaven’s society. The heavy doses of
philosophy make this cross-genre novel a
slow but enriching reading experience;
fans of thought-provoking speculative
fiction will be hooked. (July)Devil’s Ways
Edited by Anna Kashina and J.M. Sidorova.
Dragonwell, $16.95 trade paper (278p)
ISBN 978-1-940076-49-2
The Devil goes globe-trotting in this
eclectic anthology that explores the
many guises of the Dark Lord across
cultures and ages. Persephone D’Shaun’s
shocking “Nzembe” is a twisted tale of
zombie-like creatures set in the plains of
Africa with an
ending some
readers will
find hard to
stomach. An
unnamed girl
tries to steal
back her heart
from her
winged lover in
R.S.A. Garcia’s
lyrical “Fire in
His Eyes, Blood on His Teeth,” which
draws from Caribbean folklore and the
legend of Nanny of the Maroons.
Feminist themes carry through many of
the tales. Imogen Howson’s “Frayed
Tapestry,” which follows an amnesiac
woman and her manipulative husband,