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Reviews in this month's Locus Magazine


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New SF, fantasy, and horror books seen in February

* Baker, Kage The Graveyard Game
(Harcourt 0-15-100449-8, $24, 298pp, hc, February 2001, jacket design Kelly Nelson)
SF novel, fourth in the series about the 'Company', in which time-traveling immortal cyborgs are sent back to our time as preservationists; follows In the Garden of Iden, Sky Coyote, and Mendoza in Hollywood. Amazon has a review by Therese Littleton, and a reader review that calls it a "Harry Potter series for grown-ups". (Fri 2 Feb 2001)

* Blaylock, James P. Thirteen Phantasms and Other Stories
(Edgewood Press 0-9701306-0-0, $25, 256pp, hc, November 2000, jacket art Greg Spalenka, jacket design Cholfin, Bryan)
Collection of 16 stories, two in collaboration with Tim Powers; including "Thirteen Phantasms" and "Paper Dragons", both winners of the World Fantasy Award; with a new introduction. The book wasn't actually seen by Locus until 2001, or it would have been on the 2000 Recommended Reading List. Reviewed by Jonathan Strahan in the November 2000 Locus. (Sat 10 Feb 2001)

* Broderick, Damien The Spike: How Our Lives Are Being Transformed by Rapidly Advancing Technologies
(Tor 0-312-87781-1, $24.95, 380pp, hc, February 2001, jacket art Photonica, jacket design Howard Grossman/12E Design)
Speculative nonfiction, rewritten and updated from the 1997 Australian edition. The "spike" is Broderick's name for what Vernor Vinge calls the "technological Singularity", the point where technogical change goes asymptotic. With Notes, Suggested Reading, Suggested Internet Sites, and an index. (Fri 16 Feb 2001)

* Carroll, Jonathan The Wooden Sea
(Tor 0-312-87823-0, $23.95, 302pp, hc, February 2001, jacket art Rafal Olbinski)
Contemporary fantasy novel, loosely related to Carroll's previous novel, The Marriage of Sticks. Amazon has a review by Roz Kaveny from Amazon UK. Reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in the February 2001 Locus. (Sat 10 Feb 2001)

+ Clarke, Arthur C. The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
(Tor 0-312-87821-4, $29.95, 10+966pp, hc, February 2001, jacket design Drive Communications, New York)
First US edition (UK: Gollancz January 2001). Massive compilation of Clarke's short fiction, from "How We Went to Mars" (previously uncollected; from 1938) to "Improving the Neighbourhood" (from Nature, 1999). There's a new Foreword by Clarke dated June 2000, and new story notes to some of the stories. Reviewed by Jonathan Strahan in the December 2000 Locus. (Fri 2 Feb 2001)

* Dalkey, Kara Genpei
(Tor 0-312-89071-0, $25.95, 445pp, hc, January 2001, jacket design Howard Grossman/12E Design)
Fantasy novel set in 12th century Japan. (Wed 7 Feb 2001)

* Douglas, L. Warren The Sacred Pool
(Baen 0-671-31956-6, $24, 402pp, hc, January 2001, jacket art Larry Elmore)
Fantasy novel on Celtic themes, with notes and a bibliography. Amazon has a book description. (Wed 7 Feb 2001)

+ Douglass, Sara The Wayfarer Redemption: BattleAxe
(Tor 0-312-87717-X, $24.95, 444pp, hc, March 2001, jacket art Royo)
First US edition (Australia 1995). Fantasy epic, first of a trilogy. This Tor edition has really tiny print. (Tue 13 Feb 2001)

* Flynn, Michael Falling Stars
(Tor 0-312-87443-X, $25.95, hc, February 2001, jacket art Julie Bell)
SF novel, fourth book in a near-future series following Firestar (1996), Rogue Star (1998), and Lodestar (2000), about space enterprises protecting Earth from asteroids and missiles targeted by aliens. Reviewed by Russell Letson in the March 2001 Locus, who calls it "old-fashioned, sentimental, and moving". (Fri 23 Feb 2001)

* Gerrold, David Worlds of Wonder: How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy
(Writer's Digest Books 1-58297-007-6, $14.99, 246pp, tpb, February 2001, jacket design Wendy Dunning)
Nonfiction guide to writing, with many short chapters on familiar topics including definitions of SF and fantasy, story, characters, aliens, structure, tense, etc., as well as such topics as first and last lines, sex and love scenes (with examples from Gerrold's novels), Theodore Sturgeon's concept of 'metric prose', and van Vogt's concept of introducing new ideas every 800 words. With an index. (Tue 27 Feb 2001)

* Kurtz, Katherine St. Patrick's Gargoyle
(Ace 0-441-00725-2, $21.95, 233pp, hc, February 2001, jacket art Jon Sullivan, jacket design Pyrographx)
Fantasy novel about gargoyles, set in Dublin. Reviewed by Carolyn Cushman in the February 2001 Locus, and Amazon has the PW review. (Tue 13 Feb 2001)

* Michalson, Karen Enemy Glory
(Tor 0-312-89061-3, $24.95, 382pp, hc, January 2001, jacket art Todd Lockwood, jacket design Carol Russo Design)
Fantasy novel, first in a "very promising series", according to Carolyn Cushman's review in the February 2001 Locus. Another Tor hardcover with very tiny type. (Wed 7 Feb 2001)

Nolan, William F., & William Schafer, eds California Sorcery
(Ace 0-441-00808-9, $5.99, 274pp, pb, February 2001, jacket design Jonathan Barkat)
Reprint (Cemetery Dance Books August 1999). First mass-market edition of an anthology of stories by a group of Southern California writers who associated and worked together in the 50s and 60s, including Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Charles Beaumont, Harlan Ellison, William F. Nolan, George Clayton Johnson. Reviewed by Ed Bryant in the April 2000 Locus. (Sat 10 Feb 2001)

* O'Leary, Patrick Other Voices, Other Doors
(Fairwood Press 0-9668184-3-1, $17.99, 200pp, tpb, November 2000, jacket art Rick Lieder)
Collection of stories (8), meditations (9), and poems (28), by the author of well-received novels Door Number Three and The Gift; with a foreword by Gene Wolfe. Though the book nominally appeared last November, Locus didn't see a copy in time to consider it for its 2000 Recommended Reading list. Amazon quotes the cover description and blurbs, and part of Faren Miller's review from the January 2001 Locus. (Thu 22 Feb 2001)

* Robinson, Spider By Any Other Name
(Baen 0-671-31974-4, $6.99, 429pp, pb, February 2001, jacket art Richard Martin)
Collection of stories, consisting of those not already collected in the author's previous collection User Friendly. Includes Hugo-winning "Melancholy Elephants", "Antinomy", and the title story. (Tue 13 Feb 2001)

* Sheffield, Charles The Spheres of Heaven
(Baen 0-671-31969-8, $24, 440pp, hc, February 2001, jacket art Bob Eggleton)
SF novel about a 'Bermuda Triangle' in space where starships disappear. Reviewed by Russell Letson in the February Locus. (Wed 7 Feb 2001)

Silverberg, Robert, ed Science Fiction 101: Where to Start
(ibooks 0-7434-1294-x, $14, 16+544pp, tpb, March 2001)
Reprint (Warner Books October 1987). Reprint anthology, first published as Robert Silverberg's Worlds of Wonder, of classic stories by Knight, Bester, Moore, Kuttner, Sheckley, Blish, Cordwainer Smith, Aldiss, Vance, Dick, Kornbluth, Shaw, and Pohl, each with an accompanying essay by the editor exploring the writing craft and the mechanics of good storytelling. This edition has a new, two-page introduction by Greg Bear. (Tue 27 Feb 2001)

* Stableford, Brian The Cassandra Complex
(Tor 0-312-87773-0, $23.95, 319pp, hc, March 2001, jacket art Alan Pollack, jacket design The Chopping Block)
SF novel, latest in the author's "Emortal" future history that included last year's The Fountains of Youth; based on a 1989 Interzone story "The Magic Bullet". A review by Jonathan Strahan will be published in the April 2001 issue of Locus. (Thu 22 Feb 2001)

* Williams, Sean, & Shane Dix Evergence: A Dark Imbalance
(Ace 0-441-00811-9, $6.99, 388pp, pb, March 2001, jacket art Bob Warner)
SF novel with fantasy elements, third in the "New Space Opera" (according to Locus reviewer Russell Letson) "Evergence" trilogy following The Prodigal Sun and The Dying Light. (Tue 27 Feb 2001)

* Wolfe, Gene Return to the Whorl
(Tor 0-312-87314-x, $25.95, 412pp, hc, February 2001, jacket art Jim Burns)
SF novel, conclusion to "The Book of the Short Sun" trilogy, following On Blue's Waters and In Green's Jungles; the trilogy is a follow-up to earlier Wolfe sequences "The Book of the New Sun" and "The Book of the Long Sun". Amazon has admiring reader reviews. Reviewed by Faren Miller in the February 2001 Locus. (Fri 2 Feb 2001)

This page lists selected new science fiction, fantasy, and horror books seen published this month, mostly via bookstores sightings (though all books received for review -- not including advance reading copies -- will be listed). For a comprehensive listing of new books published each month, see Locus Magazine. Its Books Received listings are accumulated as the online Locus Index.

Key: * = first edition, + = first US edition. Date with publisher info is official publication month; date in parentheses at paragraph end is date seen or received.

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