James S.A. Corey to launch 'The Mercy of Gods' at Bookworks

AT BOOKWORKS

Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — writing under the pen name of James S.A. Corey — will launch “The Mercy of Gods,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at Bookworks.

Their new science fiction book is the start of what its publisher calls “a monumental new space opera.” The novel is the first volume in a planned trilogy.

James S.A. Corey to launch 'The Mercy of Gods' at Bookworks

Abraham and Franck are widely known for writing the nine-part “The Expanse.” It was made into a TV series that is now available on Prime Video, Abraham said.

“Having the reach of television definitely got people’s attention in a way the books have not,” Abraham said in a phone interview.

Franck, a former Albuquerque resident, now lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Born and raised in Albuquerque, Abraham still lives here.

“Albuquerque has always had an amazing writing community that’s been a real boon for me,” he said.

Abraham began writing in high school when he was in a mentorship program with veteran sci-fi author Fred Saberhagen. Later on, Abraham was a teaching assistant to Suzy McKee Charnas in a summer class in the University of New Mexico honors program.

“She let me participate in some of the class exercises. She was the person who was the foundation for my career,” Abraham said.

Charnas, who died last year, was an Albuquerque author and short story writer primarily of sci-fi and fantasy.

Abraham is also known as the author of “Long Price Quartet” and “The Dagger and the Coin” series, and the “The Kithamar Trilogy.” With Franck, he wrote the Star Wars novel “Honor Among Thieves.” With George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, Abraham co-wrote the sci-fi novel “Hunter’s Run.” Abraham also adapted several of Martin’s novels into comic books and graphic novels.

Asked why he and Franck are launching “The Mercy of Gods” at Bookworks, Abraham replied, “Because I live here and because Bookworks is my hometown joint.”

Bookworks is located at 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW.

AT TREASURE HOUSE BOOKS & GIFTS

Ranae Wischmann will read from and sign copies of “The Golden Cup” from 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Treasure House Books & Gifts.

In the novel, a young man named Pablo Augustine spies a golden cup in the dirt outside a church. It sets him on a course of adventure and discovery he never thought possible. Until that discovery, his life in the Spanish colonial town of Tomé was uneventful. Wischmann is the co-author of the novel.

Treasure House is located at 2012 South Plaza St. NW, Old Town.

IN PLACITAS

Santa Fe’s Hampton Sides will discuss and sign his latest history “The Wide Wide Sea” at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Placitas Community Library, 453 New Mexico Highway 165. The book is subtitled “Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook.”

Author Peter Heller praised “The Wide Wide Sea” as “an adventure so strange and epic it rivals the greatest tales of myth. Sides turns this riveting narrative into a cautionary tale about the heedless cruelty of colonialism and the collateral damage that can result from even the best-intentioned first contact.”

Among Sides’ other histories are “Blood and Thunder,” and “Ghost Soldiers,” which won the PEN USA Award for nonfiction.

— Compiled by David Steinberg/ For the Journal