ARCs and targets

I receive Advance Review Copies (ARCs) fairly regularly now, although not to the degree that many others do. In the past week, I have received 9 different books, 6 of them in ARC form. It is interesting to read the publicity releases/press kits and seeing some of the apparent target audiences.

For example, I received two books from Orbit US on Saturday. The first was an ARC for the upcoming first volume in the Godspeaker trilogy by Karen Miller, Empress. Epic/secondary-world fantasy based on the summation I read. The other book is also an opener to a trilogy, called Blood Ties, and it is by Pamela Freeman. This is a debut novel and the cover blurb contains references to elves and realms and thus too would be generally categorized as being Epic/secondary-world fantasy.

From Del Rey, I also received two books, one on Friday, the other also on Saturday. The first was the finished hardcover edition of Elizabeth Moon's Victory Conditions, which closes out a SF series. The other is an ARC for an original anthology, edited by Ellen Datlow, called The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy and it contains quite the mixture of authors. Its apparent target are those readers who like a mixture of urban fantasy and not-so-hard SF.

I received four books today from the new imprint of Wizards of the Coast, Discoveries. The first one I noticed, is J.M. McDermott's Last Dragon. While those reading the WotC name might think these books will be D&D-style adventures, from what I understand reading the blurb and a few other reviews (Jeff VanderMeer's in particular stands out to me), this is a more "literary" (I put that in quotations only to denote that's what some would call it, but it's not a preferred label of mine) fantasy. I shall be reading/reviewing this one shortly. The other titles are intriguing as well. Richard Dansky's Firefly Rain (already out in stores) is called a "Southern Gothic" in the press release. Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tam's The Man on the Ceiling is a revision of a Bram Stoker-winning novella and it carries Harlan Ellison's seal of approval on its cover. And Rob Rogers' debut novel Devil's Cape is described as being a mixture of crime, psychological, and supernatural thrillers. These books seem to be more oriented to those who read a variety of genre styles.

And finally, I received from the Putnam Penguin Group's New American Library imprint a copy of Natasha Mostert's Season of the Witch. From the description, it would probably be labelled as an urban fantasy/paranormal romance novel.

These variations are not surprising to me. Those who've read my reviews here know that I cover quite a bit in each of these fields and that I'm favorable to reading anything that isn't "standard fare." I just found it interesting that I received such a variety in such a short period of time and I thought some of the readers here might be curious to know which ARCs I plan on reading/reviewing next.