When I first started at Diesel, Adrienne, the then-manger, told me I should read Altered Carbon,a hard-boiled science fiction novel with a nail-tough anti-hero. Since then, I've been a big fan, (for the most part at least, as I wasn't too happy with Market Forces). With The Steel Remains, Morgan is back in top form and exploring new ground. The narrative braids the stories of three war-heroes who survived a war wherein humanity barely survived; all are known and have reputations, but they're all a little older and a little...worn. Ringil: a prince who is called back to his home city to rescue a niece from slavery; Archidi: a counselor to an emperor and last of her race; Egar: an exiled leader of a nomadic people and a knowing pawn of terrible forces. Each carries his or her own burden - Ringil is reviled for his taste for men, Egar has been betrayed by his own family, and Archidi must defend a people that fear her. Now, a race lost to myth have returned to take back a world they consider their own, and, yes, only these three can stop them. Despite that rather trite narrative impetus, fae-like creatures, preternatural swords, gods-come-to earth, and many other tropes, Morgan manages to surprise, creating a grittily realistic world that pushes the fantasy genre way past its usual limits. The Steel Remains looks to be the first of a trilogy, and I can't wait for the other two! -- Trevor Calvert

The genius of Elizabeth Strout is in eliciting from the reader such deep feelings of empathy for a character who more often than not thinks, says and does so many things that make you cringe with embarrassment. Olive Kitteridge's world view is often narrow and cranky and unintentionally funny; she's that 8th grade math teacher you were probably terrified by. And yet, her fine-tuned sensitivity to a former student's anguish is hauntingly beautiful and spot on. An ensemble of small town characters enrich these linked short stories, set in a tiny town in coastal Maine. I'm not as big a fan of Anne Tyler as I am of the less prolific Strout, but Tyler's readers will especially love this book. -- Margaret Simpson

Shaun Tan's brilliant wordless picture book The Arrival introduced to a wider audience an illustrator already well known to collectors of fine illustration. In his new collection of stories ("for children of all ages") he proves he is a master storyteller as well. The impulse to locate him by evoking others (Neil Gaiman, Peter Sis, Chris Van Allsburg, even Bruegel) is really a disservice because Tan is both unique and their equal (well, maybe not Bruegel). Pushing the boundaries of even graphic novels, this innovative collection is for older readers (10 and up) and their adults to savor together. -- Margaret Simpson