Terry Pratchett's first book, The Carpet People, was published in 1971 and is now a collector's item. To celebrate its 50th anniversary comes a special paperback edition (Corgi, $14.99), with illustrations by Mark Beech and a 1991 author's note from Pratchett, who died in 2017.
The Carpet People was written when Pratchett was 17, published when he was 23 and partially rewritten when he was 43, when Pratchett thought, "Hang on. I wrote that in the days when I thought fantasy was all battles and kings. Now I'm inclined to think that the real concerns of fantasy ought to be about not having battles, and doing without kings."
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Set in a nano world of tiny people, with their own societies and mythologies, living in the fibres of a carpet facing the threat of the evil Fray, The Carpet People amply demonstrates early evidence of Pratchett's trademark imagination and humour.
The Councillor (DAW, $39.99 ), a debut novel by Melbourne based author E.J. Beaton, spins off her ANU PhD on Machiavellian politics in Shakespearean drama and fantasy literature.
Political intrigue is the key as Beaton follows orphan commoner, Lysande Prior who, as Councillor, has to choose the next ruler after her closest friend, Queen Sarelin, is murdered.
This is a world where women are rulers and warriors but ambition in politics is not restricted by gender. Bisexual Lysande struggles with her identity, her magical drug addiction and her own ambition in regard to the Crown. Beaton's characterisation of Lysande, allied to a complex plotline, makes The Councillor an impressive fantasy debut.
Another impressive debut novel comes in Patricia Marques' The Colour of Death (Hodder, $32.99). Marques' Angolan/Portuguese background is put to good use with the setting of the novel in Lisbon.
Marques mixes a strong crime fiction procedural with a fantasy element where a small number of "gifted" people have telepathic or telekinetic powers.
Inspector Isabel Reis, who has telepathic skills, which she has to control through an illegal drug, is put in charge of solving the murder of a leading gifted researcher.
She is only too aware of the mistrust of the gifted, especially by the right -wing political party with whom she and her new partner Voronov, a non-gifted detective, have to liaise. As more murders occur, so do the stakes rise for Isabel both politically and personally.
Peter Brett returns to the world of his bestselling Demon Cycle series in The Desert Prince (Harper Voyager, $32.99), which is set 15 years after mankind defeated the demonic "corelings".
The two main characters are Olive, the intersex Princess of Hollow and Darin Bales, the Son of the Deliverer, both, as children of heroes, have to live up to the expectations of greatness when danger again threatens. They will need to define their place in the world in order to save it. New readers would benefit from knowledge of previous books in the series to fully appreciate the plotline. Brett's numerous fan base will have no such problems.
Catriona Silvey's debut novel Meet Me in Another Life (HarperCollins,$ 29.99), projected to be filmed with Gal Gadot, follows, through multiple timelines, the two main characters, Thora and Santiago, who initially meet at Cologne University.
The couple become locked in a sort of temporal Groundhog Day as they reappear, without any previous memories, in different professions and relationships. Sometimes they are lovers, sometimes married and sometimes estranged. Silvey provides an intriguing and heartbreaking exploration of life and how we choose to live it.
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Natasha Pulley's The Kingdoms (Bloomsbury, $32 99) begins in late Victorian Britain which has been ruled by France since Napoleon won. Joe Tournier, the main character, is a slave who arrives in Londres with memory loss, before reuniting with his wife and daughter.
A mysterious postcard leads him to a portal that takes him back in time to the Napoleonic wars, with an opportunity to change history.
Pulley cleverly recreates historical settings, as Joe has to choose between a life in the past, his previous life and one that might be totally different to both. Pulley evokes the power of memory and love in a novel that both challenges and intrigues the reader.
More alternate history comes in The Five Star Republic: City of the Sun Book One (IFGW Publishing, $29.99), the first in a trilogy from Melbourne authors Janeen Webb and Andrew Enstice. It spins off the 1854 Eureka Stockade rebellion, into a new independence movement for Victoria, one in which the Californian Rangers Revolver Brigade will play an important part.
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Webb has said, "this is a nineteenth-century Australian history you wish we'd had", with solar power innovations powering Victoria's independence. Webb and Enstice cleverly weave real historical characters, such as Disraeli, Redmond Barry and Lola Montez, into a narrative that will appeal to both history and fantasy fans.
