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NEWS : Monitor Listing



New Books 2nd week September
Jeanne DuPrau
David Farland
Brian Greene
Patricia A. McKillip
Joel Reeves
Neal Stephenson
Ysabeau S. Wilce

New Books 1st week September
Michael Brooks
Julie E. Czerneda
Daryl Gregory
Russell Kirkpatrick
Caitlin Kittredge
Lee & Miller
Marco & Greenberg
A. Lee Martinez
Natasha Rhodes
Jeanne C. Stein
S.M. Stirling

Monitor Listings Archive

2008 Books Directories



KEY

This page lists selected newly published SFFH books seen by Locus Online (independently from the listings compiled by Locus Magazine).

Review copies received will be listed (though reprints and reissues are on other pages), but not galleys or advance reading copies. Selections, some based only on bookstore sightings, are at the discretion of Locus Online.

* = 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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New SF/F/H books : 3rd week September 2008
posted 24 September 2008

+ Abercrombie, Joe : Last Argument of Kings
(Pyr 978-1-59102-690-7, $15, 639pp, trade paperback, September 2008)

Fantasy novel, third in the "First Law" trilogy following The Blade Itself (2007) and Before They Are Hanged (2008), concerning savage battles between Union soldiers and invading Northmen.
• Pyr's website has a description with quotes from reviews.
• Abercrombie's website has a description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which called it a "violent, sardonic and brilliant conclusion" to the trilogy; the review concludes "Abercrombie is a fresh new talent, presenting a dark view of life with wit and zest, and readers will mourn the end of this vivid story arc."

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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+ Erikson, Steven : Toll the Hounds
(Tor 978-0-7653-1654-7, $17.95, 829pp, trade paperback, September 2008, cover art Todd Lockwood) First US edition (UK: Bantam UK, July 2008)

Fantasy novel, eighth book of the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series following Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters, and Reaper's Gale, concerning the Malazan empire and its numerous enemies.
• Tor's website has this description with an excerpt.
• A hardcover edition is also available. The first edition was published earlier this year in the UK.
• The series' website, www.malazanempire.com, has background on the author and the books. Wikipedia has this detailed entry about Malazan Book of the Fallen.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's review, which offers cautionary praise: "This is a praiseworthy entry in the massive series encompassing multitudes of characters, complex plot lines and grotesque violence, but it's not lightweight in tone or in heft, and new readers will be entirely at sea."

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Frankel, Valerie Estelle : Henry Potty and the Deathly Paper Shortage
(WingSpan Press 978-1-59594-241-8, $12.95, 169pp, trade paperback, July 2008, cover art Anica Moss)

"Unauthorized" parody of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter young adult fantasy series. It follows the earlier Frankel title Henry Potty and the Pet Rock.
• The series website describes this as "Book 7 in the Henry Potty Series" with a link to explain why there were no books 2 through 6; there's also a PDF excerpt.
• Amazon has reader reviews.

(Fri 19 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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+ Hamilton, Peter F. : Misspent Youth
(Ballantine Del Rey 978-0-345-46164-3, $26, 403pp, hardcover, September 2008) First US edition (UK: Macmillan, November 2002)

SF novel, first published in the UK in 2002, about -- in contrast to the author's usual far future space epics -- a near-future European rejuvenation effort that transforms a 78-year-old patient into a 20-year-old, with attendant hormones.
• Del Rey's site has this description with quotes from reviews.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, and mixed reader reviews.

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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+ Harkaway, Nick : The Gone-Away World
(Knopf 978-0-307-26886-0, $25.95, 498pp, hardcover, September 2008) First US edition (UK: William Heinemann, June 2008)

SF novel, a first novel by the son of John le Carré, set in the aftermath of the Go Away War, in which Gonzo Lubitsch and his friends react to a fire along the Jorgmund Pipe that shields the Livable Zone from the chaos outside.
• Knopf's website has this description, with blurbs from Scott Smith, Kevin Brockmeier, Russell Hoban, and others, plus quotes from UK reviews, and an excerpt.
• The author has this blog and book site Gone Away World.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "simultaneously a cautionary tale about the absurdity of war; a sardonic science fiction romp through Armageddon; a conspiracy-fueled mystery replete with ninjas, mimes and cannibal dogs; and a horrifying glimpse of a Lovecraftian near-future."
• John Clute reviewed the book for SciFi Weekly; "It is hard to imagine a book this loud, and it is hard to imagine a narrator capable of imagining a book this loud..."

(Sun 21 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Herbert, Brian, & Kevin J. Anderson : Paul of Dune
(Tor 978-0-7653-1294-5, $27.95, 512pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket art Stephen Youll)

SF novel, the ninth collaboration by Brian Herbert, son of original Dune author Frank Herbert, and Kevin J. Anderson.
• This novel concerns what happened with Paul Muad'Dib in the interval between Dune and its sequel Dune Messiah.
• Tor's site has this description with a video interview and an excerpt.
• The official Dune website has a blog, tour schedule, and background on the earlier novels.
The novel is also available as an audiobook (see image at right), read by Scott Brick.

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Lackey, Mercedes, & James Mallory : The Phoenix Endangered
(Tor 978-0-7653-1594-6, $27.95, 416pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket art Todd Lockwood)

Fantasy novel, second in "The Enduring Flame" trilogy following The Phoenix Unchained (2007), and sequel to the authors' earlier "Obsidian Trilogy", set 1000 years later as both magic and darkness are being reintroduced into the world.
• Tor's website has this description and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "Adding thinly veiled racial subtext to the customary coming-of-age world-saving story, this epic will mostly appeal to those who like their fantasy by the numbers."

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Larbalestier, Justine : How to Ditch Your Fairy
(Bloomsbury USA 978-1-59990-301-9, $16.99, 307pp, hardcover, September 2008)

Young adult fantasy novel set in a world in which everyone has a personal invisible fairy, concerning 14-year-old Charlie, who's plagued by a Parking Fairy she'd just as soon be rid of.
• Bloomsbury's site has this description.
• The author's site has this post about the book, with background on how it came to be written, and links to a glossary, an excerpt, and to extras -- deleted chapters.
• Carolyn Cushman reviewed the book in the July issue of Locus Magazine: "Charlie is sports-mad, seemingly not too bright, and rather superficial -- the antithesis of your usual fantasy protagonist -- but she's also hardworking, and once committed stays the course, making her surprisingly likeable, even if anyone who drives knows just how totally wrongheaded she's being."

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Niven, Larry, & Edward M. Lerner : Juggler of Worlds
(Tor 978-0-7653-1826-8, $24.95, 349pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)

SF novel in Niven's Known Space universe, like Fleet of Worlds (2007) a prequel to his Hugo and Nebula award winning Ringworld, set 200 years before, concerning Earth agent Sigmund Ausfaller and Puppeteer representative Nessus.
• Tor's website has this description.
• Amazon's 'look inside' feature includes the first page excerpt.
• Amazon also has several posts by co-author Lerner, whose blog has links to Wikipedia's Known Space entry and the The Incompleat Known Space Concordance.

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Paolini, Christopher : Brisingr
(Knopf 978-0-375-82672-6, $27.5, 19+763pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket illustration John Jude Palencar)

YA fantasy novel, third volume in the "Inheritance" trilogy following Eragon (2003) and Eldest (2005), concerning a young man's quest to save his land from a wicked emperor. One more book in the cycle is planned.
• The book includes a synopsis of the first two books, an appendix "on the origin of names", and a pronunciation guide and glossary.
• The publisher's site has this description with a video message from the author.
• Series site http://www.alagaesia.com/ does not yet have an excerpt, but does have pics from the book's New York City release party.
• Amazon has 37 rather mixed reader reviews.

(Sun 21 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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* Wolfe, Gene : An Evil Guest
(Tor 978-0-7653-2133-6, $25.95, 304pp, hardcover, September 2008, jacket art Scott Fischer)

Supernatural horror novel set 100 years in the future, about "an actress who becomes the lover of both a mysterious sorcerer and private detective, and an even more mysterious and powerful rich man, who has been to the human colony on an alien planet and learned strange things there...", according to the description on Tor's website.
• Tor's page for the book also says that "Wolfe turns to the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft and the weird science tale of supernatural horror" and has blurbs by Neil Gaiman and Michael Shea.
• Amazon's "look inside" function includes an opening excerpt.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's "signature review" by Caitlin Kiernan, who calls it a "deliriously anachronistic novel, which, though seemingly set near or at the end of the 21st century, feels more like a wild confabulation of the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s, with a bit of the '80s sprinkled here and there, and just a dash of the first decade of our new millennium." Kiernan concludes, "As befits such an homage to the pulp tradition, the novel's style is terse, minimalist, at times reading like a screenplay (or a stage musical's book), advancing primarily through dialogue. It succeeds by tumbling from unexpected world to unexpected world, from one grand absurdity to another, from one choreographed dance scene to the next, without ever missing a beat."
Locus reviews editor Jonathan Strahan posted this reaction when he read an advance copy back in May: "simply the most enjoyable Gene Wolfe novel I've ever read."

(Wed 17 Sep 2008) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense • (Directory Entry)

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