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Adams, John Joseph, ed. :
Seeds of Change
(Prime Books 978-0-8095-7310-3, $19.95, 239pp, hardcover, August 2008, cover illustration Beboy, cover design Stephen H. Segal)
Anthology of nine original stories about political and social change.
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Authors are Ted Kosmatka, Jay Lake, K.D. Wentworth, Blake Charlton, Ken MacLeod, Jeremiah Tolbert, Mark Budz, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, and Tobias S. Buckell.
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Book site http://www.seedsanthology.com/ has links to three complete stories and excerpts of the others, plus bonus features and a video book trailer.
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Amazon has posts by the editor, and the Publishers Weekly review: "Despite weak spots, this anthology accurately reflects many of today's most pressing political and social issues, and will give readers plenty to think about and argue over."
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Bear, Greg :
City at the End of Time
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-44839-2, $27, 15+476pp, hardcover, August 2008, jacket illustration Craig Howell)
Far future SF epic about a city named Kalpa, the last refuge of humanity, and three people from modern-day Seattle who dream of that future and who possess ancient artifacts called sum-runners.
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This is the first US edition; the UK edition appeared last month. Del Rey's site has this description with an excerpt.
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Book site http://www.cityattheendoftime.com/ has links to a slideshow about Seattle, to fatelines, to blog Dreams of the City at the End of Time, to merchandise (t-shirts, mugs), and to author appearances.
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Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its June 23rd issue, calling the book Bear's "triumphant return to large-scale SF", and concluding "Something of an homage to William Hope Hodgson's classic The Night Land, this complex, difficult and beautifully written tale will appeal to sophisticated readers who prefer thorny conundrums to fast-paced action."
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Gary K. Wolfe reviewed it in the June issue of Locus Magazine, calling it "wildly ambitious" and "his first foray into large-scale cosmological SF in years". He concludes, "Readers who've been waiting for more than a decade for Bear to return to the visionary epics of the Eon or Forge of God series had better hold on to their hats."
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Bentley, C. F. :
Harmony
(DAW 978-0-7564-0485-7, $24.95, 389pp, hardcover, August 2008, jacket painting Larry Rostant)
SF/fantasy novel about the planet Harmony, sole source of a valuable metal, which is caught in a conflict between the human Confederate Star System and the alien Marillon Empire.
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The publisher's site has this description.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "...Historian Bentley's blend of mysticism, space opera and social commentary is too scattered and self-conscious to rise above its familiar themes."
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Bova, Ben :
Mars Life
(Tor 978-0-7653-1787-2, $24.95, 432pp, hardcover, August 2008, jacket art John Harris)
SF novel, sequel to Mars (1992) and Return to Mars (1999), in which an anthropologist's discovery of evidence of Martian life triggers opposition to further exploration from the conservative New Morality movement on Earth.
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Tor's website has this description and an excerpt, plus some Mars Life banners.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Bova deftly captures the excitement of scientific discovery and planetary exploration. This compelling story, balancing action and plausible political intrigue, will easily be enjoyed by both fans and newcomers."
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Caine, Rachel :
Gale Force
(Roc 978-0-451-46223-7, $7.99, 309pp, mass market paperback, August 2008)
Fantasy novel, seventh in the "Weather Wardens" series about people who can control the weather, following Ill Wind (2003), Heat Stroke (2004), Chill Factor (2005), Windfall (2005), Firestorm (2006), and Thin Air (2007).
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In this book heroine Joanne Baldwin's marriage plans are interrupted by an earthquake in Florida.
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The author's website has a sample chapter.
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Carolyn Cushman reviews it in the August issue of Locus Magazine: "...Joanne finds herself caught up once more in nonstop action (including more than one destroyed wedding dress), with an ending that leaves things looking pretty grim."
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Clarke, Arthur C., & Frederik Pohl :
The Last Theorem
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-47021-8, $27, 299pp, hardcover, August 2008, jacket illustration David Stevenson)
Near-future SF novel about a student in Sri Lanka who, while isolated by cruise ship hijackers, deduces a simple proof to Fermat's famous 'last theorem', while aliens called Grand Galactics descend upon Earth with the intent to destroy a potentially dangerous species.
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The novel was planned by Clarke for many years, and finally finished by Pohl when Clarke's failing health prevented him from completing it.
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Del Rey's site has this description (but not an excerpt).
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Wikipedia has this entry about the book.
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Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which says the book is "a can't-put-down adventure that focuses on [the authors'] mutual strengths: high adventure, fun characters and hard science..."
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Cooper, Brenda :
Reading the Wind
(Tor 978-0-7653-1598-4, $25.95, 446pp, hardcover, July 2008, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)
SF novel, second book in a trilogy following the author's first solo novel The Silver Ship and the Sea (2007), set on a planet where war has been fought between "original" and genetically engineered humans.
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Tor's website has this description.
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The author's website has background and commentary about the books.
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Amazon's 'search inside' feature includes an excerpt.
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Haldeman, Joe :
Marsbound
(Ace 978-0-441-01595-5, $24.95, 296pp, hardcover, August 2008, jacket illustration Fred Gambino)
SF novel, possibly first of a trilogy, about a teenaged girl whose family is among the first settlers on Mars, where she discovers aliens inhabiting underground caverns.
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The publisher's site has this brief description.
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Amazon has its 'search inside' feature, with an excerpt, and the Publishers Weekly review: "Recalling Robert A. Heinlein's Red Planet and Podkayne of Mars, Haldeman updates the Martian setting while keeping faith in his characters' ability to respond to unexpected challenges."
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Russell Letson reviewed the book in the March issue of Locus Magazine, noting the book's origins in novella "The Mars Girl" and its sequel; "I could feel gears shifting as I read the novel's three sections. 'Leavetaking' and 'First Contact' are strongly traditional YA material in the Heinlein vein: feisty-young-woman narrator, smartass younger brother, grownups of varying degrees of agreeability and nastiness, the frontier/outpost/space-travel experience, and so on. But the narrator ages as the story progresses, so that by part three, 'Second Contact,' we have left behind the world of strictly young-adult concerns for more cosmic matters..."
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Kenyon, Sherrilyn :
Acheron
(St. Martin's 978-0312362157, $24.95, 8+728pp, hardcover, August 2008, jacket illustration Von Glitschka)
Supernatural romance novel, 12th volume in the bestselling "Dark-Hunters" series, following last year's Devil May Cry. This book concerns the eponymous Dark-Hunter leader.
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The publisher's site has this description, with an excerpt and a quiz.
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Amazon has reader reviews -- 101 out of 161 of them (as of this posting) 5-star ratings.
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Meyer, Stephenie :
Breaking Dawn
(Little Brown Young Readers 978-0316067928, $22.99, 756pp, hardcover, August 2008)
Young adult vampire novel, highly-anticipated fourth book in the series following Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, released to Harry Potter proportions on August 2nd.
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The author's website has this page about the book, with a link to an excerpt exclusively hosted by Entertainment Weekly.
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Amazon has a video from the author, and the Publishers Weekly review: "Flaws and all, however, Meyer's first three novels touched on something powerful in their weird refraction of our culture's paradoxical messages about sex and sexuality. The conclusion is much thinner, despite its interminable length..."
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Amazon has posted nearly 2400 reader reviews, ranging from (as of this posting) 979 5-star reviews to 586 1-star reviews.
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Elizabeth Hand's review for Washington Post rips it: "This ick factor goes through the roof in Breaking Dawn, which is, frankly, dreadful. ... Reader, I hurled."
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Sedia, Ekaterina :
The Alchemy of Stone
(Prime Books 978-0-8095-7284-7, $12.95, 301pp, trade paperback, July 2008, cover art David Defigueredo, cover design Stephen H. Segal)
Steampunk SF novel about an intelligent automaton in a city ravaged by conflict between gargoyles, mechanics, and alchemists.
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Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its June 30th issue: "Sedia's exquisitely bleak vision deliberately skewers familiar ideas from know-it-all computers to talking statues desperate for souls, leaving readers to reach their own conclusions about the proper balance of tradition and progress and what it means to be alive."
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Faren Miller reviews the book in the August issue of Locus Magazine.
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