Banks, Iain M. : The State of the Art
(Night Shade Books 1597800740, $14.95, 188pp, trade paperback, April 2007)
(First edition: UK: Orbit, March 1991)

Collection of 8 stories from early in Banks' career, plus essay "A Few Notes on the Culture" first published on rec.arts.sf.written in 1994.
• This is a trade paperback reprint of the first US edition of the book, published in 2004; Night Shade's site has this description with the table of contents.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "For all their wrenching images and sadistic twists, Banks's unsettling tales bestow a grim gift, the ability to see ourselves as others might see us."

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Brenchley, Chaz : Bridge of Dreams
(Ace 0-441-01408-9, $7.99, 443pp, mass market paperback, April 2007)
(First edition: Ace, May 2006)

Fantasy novel, first in a series, set in a city conquered via a magical bridge created from the dreams of children. The second book, River of the World, just appeared in hardcover from Ace.
• The publisher's site has this description, and the series has its own website, Selling Water by the River, with an author introduction and extract.

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Douglass, Sara : Druid's Sword
(Tor 0-765-34445-9, $7.99, 690pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)

Fantasy novel, fourth and final book in the "Troy Game" sequence following Hades' Daughter (2003), God's Concubine (2004), and Darkwitch Rising (2005). This volume is set during the London Blitz.
• The author's website has this page describing the series and this page about this particular book, plus an extract, and a history of the Troy Game.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.

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Garton, Ray : Night Life
(Leisure 0843956755, $7.99, 338pp, mass market paperback, April 2007)
(First edition: Subterranean, October 2005)

Horror novel, sequel to Garton's popular Live Girls (1987), about a 42nd Street nightclub run by vampires.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "tired sequel", but several reader reviews are enthusiastic.

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Harrison, M. John : Light
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58733-1, $6.99, 418pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: UK: Gollancz, September 2002)

SF novel, alternating narrative strands between 1999 and 2400, concerning objects found on a barren asteroid in a mysterious region of the galaxy called the Kefahuchi Tract.
• The novel was published in the UK in 2002, and subsequently was nominated for the British SF Association Award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, placed #6 on the 2003 Locus Poll for best SF novel, and won the 2003 James Tiptree Jr. Award.
• This edition is a mass-market paperback reprint of the first US edition in trade paperback from Bantam Spectra in 2004.
• Gary K. Wolfe's review in Locus Magazine called it "one of the most rewarding and challenging novels of the year"; while David Langford's review on the Amazon UK page concluded "Harrison demands your full attention and rewards it richly."

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King, Stephen : Everything's Eventual
(Pocket 1416549854, $14, 583pp, trade paperback, April 2007)
(First edition: Simon & Schuster/Scribner, March 2002)

Collection of 14 stories, including the novelette "1408". This is a movie-tie edition to the film 1408, starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, opening June 22nd in the US. (The film's website is http://1408-themovie.com/.)
• Other stories include "Riding the Bullet", first published as an e-book, and O. Henry Prize winner "The Man in the Black Suit".
• There's also a mass market edition with the same cover.
• King's website has this entry for the book, with the original cover flap copy: "... '1408,' the audio story in print for the first time, is about a successful writer whose specialty is 'Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards' or 'Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses,' and though Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel doesn't kill him, he won't be writing about ghosts anymore."
• The publisher's website has this excerpt -- the complete text of novelette "Lunch at the Gotham Caf‚".

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Lackey, Mercedes, & James Mallory : When Darkness Falls
(Tor 0-765-34143-3, $7.99, 602pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: Tor, July 2006)

Fantasy novel, final volume in the "Obsidian Mountain" trilogy following The Outstretched Shadow (2003) and To Light a Candle (2004).
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "[H]igh fantasy fans should appreciate the intelligent storytelling with an unmistakable flavor of Andre Norton at her best."

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Lebbon, Tim : The Everlasting
(Leisure Horror 0843954299, $6.99, 325pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)

Horror novel about a man haunted by the "Chord of Souls" in connection with his grandfather's suicide 30 years before.
• The author's site has synopsis. There was an earlier hardcover edition in March from Necessary Evil Press.
• Amazon has a review from Harriet Klausner, who calls it "an intellectual horror novel that makes the audience question their own beliefs."

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Manzarek, Ray : Snake Moon
(Night Shade Books 1-597800-69-4, $13.95, 202pp, hardcover, March 2007, cover art Mike Mignola)

Civil War ghost story about members of a family in 1863 Tennessee who are lured away from their rustic paradise by a mysterious stranger.
• The novel is based on an unproduced screenplay by Rick Valentine and Ray Manzarek. This trade paperback edition is a reprint of Night Shade's April 2006 hardcover.
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Manzarek's site has this page about the book, with comments about how it came to be written.

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Reynolds, Alastair : Zima Blue and Other Stories
(Night Shade Books 1597800791, $14.95, 280pp, trade paperback, May 2007, cover art Chris Mayernik)
(First edition: Night Shade Books, September 2006)

Collection of 10 stories first published from 1996 to 2005, including three stories frequently cited among the top stories of 2005: "Beyond the Aquila Rift", "Understanding Space and Time", and "Zima Blue". Introduction by Paul McAuley.
• The publisher's order page has a description and complete list of contents.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Reynolds may not always convince that intelligence leads to moral behavior, but his fertile imagination can resurrect Elton John on Mars in "Understanding Space and Time" or make prophets of the human condition out of pool-cleaning robots in the title story."

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Russo, Richard Paul : The Rosetta Codex
(Ace 0441013899, $7.99, 375pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: Ace, December 2005)

SF novel about a shipwrecked boy who grows up on a hostile planet and discovers a strange artifact that leads him on a quest to discover the truth about an ancient alien civilization.
• The publisher's site has a brief description.
• Faren Miller's review in Locus Magazine called Russo "a moralist, humanist, and increasingly gifted tale-spinner" and concluded "The Rosetta Codex tackles the moral and philosophical issues raised by immortality -- supernatural or Singular-- without surrendering, as so many have, to its glamour".

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Scalzi, John : The Ghost Brigades
(Tor 0-765-35406-3, $7.99, 347pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: Tor, March 2006)

SF novel, sequel to Scalzi's popular first novel Old Man's War, this time concerning special forces soldiers created from the DNA of the dead.
• Scalzi's books page has the cover blurb description and excerpts from numerous reviews, as well as a comment from the author: "Somewhat darker than Old Man's War, but it was fun for me to delve into the lives of the Ghost Brigades after only sketching them in the first book..."
• Tor's site has a description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which concludes "Scalzi pays gleeful homage to Ender's Game, The Forever War and Starship Troopers, sometimes at the expense of originality. All he needs to make the jump from good to great is to trust in his own ideas."

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Scott, Martin : Thraxas and the Sorcerers
(Baen 1416521240, $6.99, 279pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: UK: Orbit, November 2001)

Humorous fantasy detective novel, fifth in the series about a portly private eye in the mystical city of Turai. In this book Thraxas is hired to investigate the theft of previous dragon scales.
• The first in the series, Thraxas, won the 2000 World Fantasy Award. There are eight books in the series so far, as listed at Thraxas.
• Baen's site for this book has the jacket blurb with links to several chapter excerpts.

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Strauss, Victoria : The Awakened City
(Eos 0-06-124283-7, $14.95, 449pp, trade paperback, May 2007, cover by Mark Harrison)
(First edition: Eos, March 2006)

Fantasy novel, sequel to The Burning Land (2004), about conflict between two theocratic societies. In this book two sorcerers struggle for the role of 'Next Messenger'.
• The author has this page about the book with a description, excerpts from reviews, links to several excerpts, and background information, maps, a glossary, etc.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which said "Through the two protagonists' opposing viewpoints, the author dramatically explores issues of religious oppression and transformation" but advises that "readers would do best to start with The Burning Land".

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Varley, John : Red Lightning
(Ace 0-441-01488-7, $7.99, 355pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: Ace, April 2006)

SF novel, sequel to Red Thunder (2003), in which suburban misfits from Daytona, Florida built a spaceship to Mars. This book concerns the son of two of the Mars adventurers, after an object strikes the Atlantic and wipes most of the US east coast.
• The publisher's site has this brief description.
• Russell Letson's review in Locus Magazine said "once again the dominant impression is of an updated Heinlein 'juvenile' (as we used to call Young Adult books)", and that the book's darkness "will probably make Varley's versions of the 'juvenile' age more gracefully than any but the toughest of the Old Man's."

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Williams, Liz : The Demon and the City
(Night Shade Books 1597800473, $14.95, 265pp, trade paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: Night Shade Books, August 2006)

SF/paranormal thriller, second in the "Inspector Chen" series following The Snake Agent (2005) about a Singapore detective in charge of supernatural and mystical investigations. In this book Chen's assistant investigates the murder of a young heiress.
• The third book in the series, Precious Dragon, will be out in July.
• The publisher's page for the book has a description.
• Faren Miller's review last year in Locus Magazine, concluded "When genre fiction gets down to the nitty-gritty of atrocity and disaster, the specter of 9/11 will rise in the reader's mind whether or not the author intends it. The Demon and the City has too much wit, color and variety to be strictly a grim meditation on history, but I'm glad Williams acknowledged our own ghosts along the way."

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Zindell, David : The Lightstone
(Tor 0-765-34993-0, $7.99, 436pp, mass market paperback, May 2007)
(First edition: UK: HarperCollins/Voyager, August 2001)

Fantasy novel, first volume in the "Ea" series, substantially revised from the original edition published in the UK in 2001. The revised second half of that original volume has just been published in hardcover by Tor as The Silver Sword.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews; the former said that the author "stirs together the grail legend, a dash of Blake and a sprinkling of Tolkien with other bits of lore in this classic fantasy quest, a revised version of an earlier novel and the first entry in a new series...."

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