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Arthur, Keri :
Full Moon Rising
(Bantam 0-553-80458-8, $15, 291pp, hardcover, February 2006)
Fantasy romance novel, first in a series, about a werewolf/vampire hybrid and her brother who work for Melbourne's Directorate of Other Races, an organization that protects humans from the various supernatural races.
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Bantam's site has this description -- "a sexy, sensuous tale of intrigue and suspense set in a world where legends walk and the shady paths of the underworld are far more sinister than anyone envisioned." -- and an excerpt. Bantam's Spectra Pulse newsletter currently has an essay by the author.
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The author's website has descriptions of her earlier novels; she also has a blog.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "While Arthur (Beneath a Rising Moon) occasionally loses control of her plot as she sets the stage for later books, and some romance readers may be put off by the lack of monogamy, fans of Anita Blake and Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse vampire series will be rewarded."
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Banks, L. A. :
The Damned
(St. Martin's Griffin 0-312-33624-1, $14.95, 479pp, trade paperback, February 2006, cover illustration Vince Natale)
Vampire novel, sixth in the "Vampire Huntress Legend" series following last year's The Forbidden.
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The series' website has background, excerpts, and web exclusives.
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Amazon has the PW review -- "the complex sixth installment of Banks's scorchingly hot-blooded vampire series" has a "stunning climax" -- and several 5-star reader reviews.
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Buckell, Tobias S. :
Crystal Rain
(Tor 0-765-31227-1, $24.95, 351pp, hardcover, February 2006, jacket art Todd Lockwood)
SF novel, the author's first novel, set on lost colony planet settled by Caribbean refugees.
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The author, who grew up in Grenada and now lives in Ohio, has this website/blog and this book site with news, reviews, excerpts of the first 21 chapters of the book, etc.
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Amazon has the PW review, which calls the book an "at times overly violent but enjoyable SF debut" and concludes "For a first-timer, Buckell handles his interlocking narratives well and his characters retain their humanity (even the slightly alien ones). Unusual for the genre, the many victims of torture and death are evenly divided between males and females."
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Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the February issue of Locus Magazine, calling the book "an auspicious debut which, like the work of [Nalo] Hopkinson and an increasing number of other younger writers, reminds us that not all of tomorrow's worlds belong to fratboys and geeks".
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Cunningham, Elaine :
Shadows in the Starlight
(Tor 0-765-30971-8, $23.95, 286pp, hardcover, February 2006)
Urban fantasy detective novel, follow-up to Shadows in the Darkness (2004), about a former vice squad cop Gwen Gellman, who's started her own PI business. In this book Gwen explores her elf heritage, investigates her mentor's death, and uncovers corruption in the police force.
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The author's website has this description of the book and an excerpt.
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Amazon has the PW review: "With its winning rainbow coalition of characters, this fantasy-crime hybrid is almost too much of a good thing for readers who haven't read the first volume and still await the third."
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Carolyn Cushman reviews the book in the February issue of Locus Magazine.
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Decker, Sherry :
Hook House and Other Horrors
(Silver Lake Publishing 1-933511-09-5, $12.95, 165pp, trade paperback, January 2006, cover art Barbara Duryea)
Collection of 11 horror stories, one apparently original to this book, the others first published in Cemetery Dance, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Black Gate, Space & Time, and other magazines from 1997 through 2005.
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The publisher's site has this page about the book, with a contents listing and an excerpt from the title story, plus an author profile.
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Denning, Troy :
Star Wars: Dark Nest
(SFBC 0-7394-6330-6, $14.99, 916pp, hardcover, January 2006, jacket art Cliff Nielsen)
Omnibus of three Star Wars novels: The Joiner King (first published August 2005 as a Del Rey mass market paperback), The Unseen Queen (ditto, October 2005), and The Swarm War (ditto, January 2006).
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The book includes a print version of the Star Wars Novels timeline, and a Dramatis personae.
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This edition is exclusive to the Science Fiction Book Club, whose website has this description of the contents.
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Flint, Eric, & David Drake :
The Dance of Time
(Baen 1-4165-0931-3, $26, 468pp, hardcover, February 2006, cover painting Alan Pollack)
Alternate history novel, final book in the "Belisarius" sequence that began with An Oblique Approach in 1998, about the famous Roman general in 6th century India battling an empire led by a computer demon from the future.
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Baen's site has this description and numerous excerpts.
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Uchronia has this page about the series with summaries of the earlier books.
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Golden, Christopher :
The Myth Hunters
(Bantam 0-553-38326-4, $12, 350pp, trade paperback, February 2006)
Dark fantasy novel, first in a series, in which Jack Frost engages an about-to-be-wed lawyer in his battle against a 'Myth Hunter', and the lawyer's sister investigates his disappearance.
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Bantam's site has this description and an excerpt.
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Amazon has the PW and Booklist reviews; PW concludes "Fast pacing, superior characterization and sound folklore yield a winner."
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Langrish, Katherine :
Troll Mill
(Eos 0-06-058307-X, $15.99, 276pp, hardcover, February 2006, jacket art Mark Fredrickson)
First US edition (UK: HarperCollins, June 2005)
Young adult fantasy novel, sequel to Troll Fell (2004), set in Viking Scandinavia.
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The publisher's site has this description -- "Fifteen-year-old Peer Ulfsson is haunted by his past. Forced to live with his evil uncles under the eerie shadows of Troll Fell, he nearly fell prey to their plan to sell children to the trolls..." -- and an excerpt.
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Website trollfell.com has a flash introduction, downloads, a game, and PDF excerpts from both books.
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Roberts, Adam :
The History of Science Fiction
(Palgrave 0-333-97022-5, $95, 17+368pp, hardcover, February 2006)
Nonfiction history of SF, tracing the origins of the genre from the ancient Greek fantastic voyages, through its re-emergence following the Protestant Reformation, and chronologically up to the early 21st century. Chapters focus on particular centuries as well as on Verne and Wells, the Pulps, Golden Age SF, the New Wave, cinema and TV, and multimedia SF of the late 20th century.
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The book includes a preface, a chronology of key titles, notes, further reading, and an index.
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The publisher's site has this description, with a table of contents listing.
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Roberts comments about the book's release on his news page (scroll down).
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Amazon UK indicates the book was released there last November.
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Turner, Megan Whalen :
The King of Attolia
(HarperCollins/Greenwillow 0-06-083577-X, $16.99, 387pp, hardcover, February 2006, jacket art Vince Natale)
Young adult fantasy novel, third in a series following The Thief (1996) and The Queen of Attolia (2000), in which the thief Eugenides marries and queen and becomes king.
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This page about the author has quotes from reviews and notes by the author about this and her earlier books.
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Amazon has the Booklist review, which concludes "Staunch fans of Turner's roguish hero, particularly those who enjoyed the middle-grade-friendly Thief several years ago and whose reading capabilities have ripened, will reap the greatest rewards here."
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Carolyn Cushman's review in the February Locus notes that "It's a bit predictable, Eugenides pretending to be a helpless fop to get others off guard; readers of previous books won't fall for it, but it's great fun watching it all play out."
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