Dick, Philip K. : The Zap Gun
(Mariner 978-0547572710, $13.95, 240pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 15 May 2012

(First edition: Pyramid, January 1967)

Satiric SF novel in which a fictitious Cold War is maintained by way of a series of phony doomsday weapons, until alien invaders force both sides to cooperate to make a real weapon.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• This is one of three more new editions of this author’s novels, earlier published by Vintage, from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Mariner imprint, following fourteen titles released last Fall, in January, and in April.
• Two others released this month are Eye in the Sky and The Man Who Japed.

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* Hartwell, David G., & Jacob Weisman, eds. : The Sword & Sorcery Anthology
(Tachyon Publications 978-1-61696-069-8, $15.95, 480pp, trade paperback, June 2012, cover art Jean-Sébastien Rossbach)
• Nominal Publication Date: Fri 1 Jun 2012

Anthology 19 sword and sorcery fantasy stories, by authors including Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, David Drake, Glen Cook, Gene Wolfe, George R.R. Martin, and Michael Swanwick.
• David Drake provides an introduction.
• Tachyon’s site has this description with the table of contents.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.
• Publishers Weekly gives this a starred review: “This is an unbeatable selection from classic to modern, and each story brings its A game.”

(Thu 17 May 2012)
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Jordan, Robert : The Eye of the World
(Tor 978-0-7653-3433-6, $15.99, 750pp, trade paperback, May 2012, cover art David Grove)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 May 2012
• Wheel of Time #1

(First edition: Tor, February 1990)

New edition of the first volume of Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” fantasy series, which is being completed following the author’s death by Brandon Sanderson. The final volume of the series, as completed by Sanderson, is A Memory of Light, due for publication on January 8, 2013.
• Tor’s site has this description.
• Amazon has 1877 reader review. Amazon’s “Look Inside” function provides a preview.

(Wed 25 Apr 2012)
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* Sheckley, Robert, edited by Alex Abramovich & Jonathan Lethem : Store of the Worlds: The Stories of Robert Sheckley
(New York Review Books Classics 978-1-59017-494-4, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 May 2012

Collection of 26 stories, most published from 1953 to 1959, including “Seventh Victim”, “Shape”, “Warm”, “Pilgrimage to Earth”, and “Specialist”, with later stories including “Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?” and “Is That What People Do”.
• The publisher’s site has this description.
• The Publishers Weekly review notes that Sheckley “was known for a dark satirical style that keeps some of the more dated material in this retrospective collection fresh.”
• Washington Post recently ran a review by Michael Dirda, who quotes an opening from one story that “brilliantly exemplifies Sheckley’s understated, dryly humorous voice, while also providing a writing-class lesson in how to surprise and hook a reader.”
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the April issue of Locus Magazine, noting that Sheckley’s short fiction “which from the beginning seemed to subvert some of the most cherished tropes of SF, can resonate with contemporary readers in a way comparable to Dick and Vonnegut.”

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Silverberg, Robert : Lord Valentine’s Castle
(Roc 978-0-451-46461-3, $16, 480pp, trade paperback, May 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 1 May 2012
• Majipoor Cycle #1

(First edition: Harper & Row, April 1980)

SF/fantasy novel, first of what became a series, set on an enormous planet populated by many races where an amnesiac named Valentine searches for what he has lost.
• The publisher’s site has this description with an excerpt.
• Amazon’s “Look Inside” function also provides an excerpt.
• The book was a Hugo Award finalist and won the Locus Award in 1981 as best fantasy novel.

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* Vonnegut, Kurt, edited by Sidney Offit : Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1950-1962
(Library of America 978-1598531503, $35, 864pp, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Thu 26 Apr 2012

Omnibus/collection of three novels — Player Piano (1952), The Sirens of Titan, and Mother Night — and six stories, including “Report on the Barnhouse Effect” and “Harrison Bergeron”.
• This is the second Library of America volume of Vonnegut’s works, following Kurt Vonnegut: Novels & Stories 1963-1973 published last June.
• The publisher’s site has this description with the table of contents.

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* Wagner, Karl Edward, edited by Stephen Jones : The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 1: Where the Summer Ends
(Centipede 978-1-933618-97-5, hardcover, April 2012)
• Nominal Publication Date: Tue 8 May 2012

First of a two volume career retrospective collection of 35 stories; the second volume is Walk on the Wild Side.
• The publisher’s site has this description for volume 1, and this for volume two.
• Publishers Weekly has this review: “This first of two retrospective volumes collects his nine longest—and best—tales, several of them modern horror classics. … J.K. Potter’s surreal photographic art, distributed throughout the book, is the perfect complement to Wagner’s unsettling weird tales.”
• Stefan Dziemianowicz’s review in the May issue of Locus Magazine is posted here: “Where the Summer Ends collects nine long stories, most of which not only represent Wagner’s best work but also some of the most distinguished horror fiction written in the last quarter of the twentieth century.”

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