* Barlowe, Wayne : God's Demon
(Tor 978-0-7653-0985-3, $24.95, 352pp, hardcover, October 2007, cover art Wayne Barlowe)

Fantasy novel set in Hell, about the demons banished there following Lucifer's War, and one of them, Lord Sargatanas, who attempts to overthrow Beelzebub in an attempt to regain closeness to God.
• Tor's website has this description, while book site God's Demon.com has excerpts, reviews, background on the author, and a gallery of images.
• This is the author's first novel, though he's done illustrated novels such as Barlowe's Inferno (1998) and Expedition (1991).
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which notes the novel's inspiration of Paradise Lost, and concludes "Barlowe's interpretation is not for the squeamish, with its horrifically explicit descriptions of demonic behavior, but it's a compelling view of Hell and of a demon who seeks redemption."

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+ Courtenay Grimwood, Jon : End of the World Blues
(Bantam Spectra 978-0-553-58996-2, $12, 348pp, trade paperback, October 2007, cover art Ben Perini) First US edition (UK: Orion/Gollancz, August 2006)

SF novel, a thriller about Kit, a British former Gulf War soldier running a biker bar in Tokyo, and a teenage girl who kills a mugger to save Kit's life.
• Bantam's site has this description with an excerpt.
• The UK first edition won this year's British Science Fiction Association Award for best novel.
• SF Site posted this review by Paul Kincaid, who concluded that "in the final analysis, End of the World Blues is Grimwood's best novel by far."
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book "reads as if Kurt Vonnegut were writing manga for the producers of Doctor Who." The review concludes that the author "stabilizes the story with uniformly compelling characterizations and vivid settings. Genre fans may find the book difficult to label, but readers with flexible expectations will find it easy to enjoy."

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* Dietz, William C. : When All Seems Lost
(Ace 978-0-441-01524-5, $24.95, 342pp, hardcover, October 2007, jacket illustration Bruce Jensen)

Military SF novel, seventh in the "Legion of the Damned" series following For Those Who Fell (2004). This book concerns a rescue mission to save the president and CEO of the Confederacy of Sentient Beings and his entourage, who've been captured by a race of insectoid aliens.
• The author's site has a complete list of his books, including the title of the next in this series, When Duty Calls.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book "continues the unapologetically brutal military SF saga with a pedal-to-the-metal plot jam-packed with intrigue, deep space adventure and futuristic combat."

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* Donaldson, Stephen R. : Fatal Revenant
(Putnam 978-0-399-15446-1, $27.95, 14+670pp, hardcover, October 2007, jacket art John Jude Palencar)

Fantasy novel, second book in the "Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" following The Runes of Earth (2004).
• The publisher's site has this description; the author's website has links to several PDF excerpts.
• Amazon has several 5-star reader reviews, and reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. PW concludes "Difficult but worthwhile, this complicated and emotional continuation of the Thomas Covenant saga is exactly what Donaldson's fans have been hoping for."

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* Jones, J. V. : A Sword from Red Ice
(Tor 978-0-7653-0634-0, $27.95, 623pp, hardcover, October 2007, jacket art Jean Pierre Targete)

Fantasy novel, third in the Sword of Shadows series following A Cavern of Black Ice (1999) and A Fortress of Grey Ice (2002).
• Tor's site has this description (which calls it Volume 3 of 5) and an excerpt.

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+ Miller, Karen : The Awakened Mage
(Orbit 9780316067812, $6.99, 712pp, mass market paperback, October 2007)

Fantasy novel, second book in the "Kingmaker, Kingbreaker" duology, following The Innocent Mage published last month, about a fisherman's son who finds a job in the royal palace.
• The author's website has links to a description (the book's original title was Innocence Lost) and an extract.

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* Monette, Sarah, & Elizabeth Bear : A Companion to Wolves
(Tor 978-0-7653-1816-9, $24.95, 302pp, hardcover, October 2007, jacket illustration Cliff Nielsen)

Fantasy novel set in a land where warriors telepathically bond with wolfcarls to protect their land from trolls.
• Tor's site has this description.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its August 20th issue, which says the authors "subvert the telepathic animal companion subgenre so thoroughly that it may never be the same." The review concludes "The meticulously crafted setting and powerful, often moving rendition of characters and relationships -- human and nonhuman alike -- result in a brutal and beautiful novel about the meaning of honor. Never blushing as they consider the ultimate sociological, sexual and moral underpinnings of a 'what-if' often treated as coy wish-fulfillment fantasy, the authors have boldly created a fascinating world that begs further exploration."
• Faren Miller reviews the book in the October issue of Locus Magazine: "A Companion to Wolves provides a vivid and remarkably believable experience of the Nordic fantasy world - another insider's view, with none of the formal distancing of epic prose."

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* Niven, Larry, & Edward M. Lerner : Fleet of Worlds
(Tor 978-0-7653-1825-1, $24.95, 299pp, hardcover, September 2007, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)

SF novel set in Niven's "Known Space" universe, concerning relations between humans and Puppeteers some 200 years before the discovery of the Ringworld.
• Tor's website has this description along with links to two podcast interviews with Niven.
• Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt. Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Fans of hard SF will be well rewarded."
• Russell Letson reviews the book in the October issue of Locus Magazine, concluding "Niven & Lerner have produced a novel that can stand on its own as well as in its role as part of the Known Space franchise. Newbies should enjoy the ride, and long-time fans will have the additional fun of finding behind-the-scenes views of earlier stories..."

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* Russ, Joanna : The Country You Have Never Seen
(UK: Liverpool University Press 978-0-85323-869-0, $35, 305pp, trade paperback, June 2007)

Nonfiction collection of reviews, essays, and letters. Most of the reviews were first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from the late 1960s to 1980. The book includes an index of books and authors reviewed.
• The publisher's description is also on the Amazon page. A hardcover edition is also available.
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine, placing Russ amaong the ranks of other writer/critics of SF -- Damon Knight, James Blish, Algis Budrys -- and says the reviews "are very nearly a revelation and sometimes are astonishingly prescient", also noting "Russ writes about the field with the sort of fierce, uncompromising energy that we would not see again until John Clute hit stride."

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* Sarrantonio, Al : Halloweenland
(Leisure 9780843959277, $7.99, 309pp, mass market paperback, October 2007)

Horror novel, latest in a sequence of Halloween-oriented books following Horrorween (2006), Hallows Eve (2004) and Orangefield (2002). This book is about a bizarre carnival that arrives in the town of Orangefield.
• The publisher's site has this description with a first chapter excerpt.

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* Stross, Charles : The Merchants' War
(Tor 978-0-7653-1671-4, $24.95, 336pp, hardcover, October 2007, jacket art Paul Youll)

Fantasy novel, fourth in The Merchant Princes series following The Family Trade (2004), The Hidden Family (2005), and The Clan Corporate (2006), about a Boston biotech journalist who learns she is heiress in a family who trades across parallel universes.
• Tor's website has this description (which calls it Volume 4 of 6).
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "For sheer inventiveness and energy, this cliffhanger-riddled serial remains difficult to top."
• Russel Letson and Nick Gevers both reviewed the book in the September issue of Locus Magazine. Letson said the book "is every bit as much fun as the earlier books, and maybe just a little tougher", while Gevers said "Stross succeeds here too in making a provocatively humorous project out of historical, political, and technological rumination."

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* Taylor, Travis S. : One Day on Mars
(Baen 9781416555056, $23, 290pp, hardcover, October 2007, cover art Kurt Miller)

Hard SF/military SF novel about colonists on Mars who use cutting edge particle physics to rebel against the Sol System government.
• Baen's site has this description with links to several chapters.
• Author "Doc" Travis' website has this description -- "24 on Mars: a nonstop futuristic thrill-ride, all in one day..." -- and a description of the next book in the series, The Tau Ceti Agenda.

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* Wellington, David : Monster Planet
(Thunder's Mouth Press 978-1-56025-867-4, $14.99, 302pp, trade paperback, August 2007)

Horror novel, third in a trilogy that began with Monster Island and Monster Nation (both 2006), about a global epidemic that has turned most people into zombies.
• The author's website has the complete text of the book at Monster Planet.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "Half horror, half fantasy and totally preposterous", and concludes "Fans will relish the monster mash finale, in which a Welsh sorcerer, a horde of animated mummies and a decomposing zombie army engage in a pyrotechnic firefight complete with heavy artillery."

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* Wilson, F. Paul : Bloodline
(Forge 978-0-7653-1706-3, $25.95, 384pp, hardcover, October 2007)

Fantasy/thriller novel, 11th in the "Repairman Jack" series about a vigilante hero who deals in the paranormal. In this volume Jack's investigation of a criminal involved in DNA research leads to additional clues about his own identity.
• The series has its own website, www.repairmanjack.com, with a page for the author's Secret History of the World.
• The Tor/Forge website has this description (which notes this as volume 11 of 12) with an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Like its predecessors, this novel shows why Jack's saga has become the most entertaining and dependable modern horror-thriller series."

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