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Latest Recommended Books

Cumulative '97 Recommended SF novels | Fantasy/Horror novels | First Novels | Collections | Anthologies | Nonfiction & art books | Reprints

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Latest Recommended Short Fiction

Cumulative '97 Recommended Novellas | Novelettes | Short Stories

Entertainment, Algis Budrys (NESFA Press 9/97, $12.00, tp) Ten early SF stories from Budrys as a hot new writer of the 1950s, issued in honor of his GoH appearance at this year's Worldcon.

Slippage, Harlan Ellison (Ziesing 7/97, $75.00, ltd. edition hc; Houghton Mifflin 9/97, $22.00, hc) Collection of 22 previously uncollected stories, several essays, and a teleplay, including most of his recent work. As with any Ellison collection, there are introductions, comments, illustrations, and other sometimes fascinating paraphernalia.

The Forest of Time and Other Stories, Michael Flynn (Tor 4/97, $23.95, hc) Collection of 10 SF stories all from Analog, including two award nominees, by one of that magazine's leading writers.

From the End of the Twentieth Century, John M. Ford (NESFA 7/97, $21.00, hc) Collection of stories (one original), poetry, and three new essays by an award-winning writer. Reading John Ford, according to Neil Gaiman's introduction, is "like dipping into a kaleidescope, or receiving mailings from far-flung departments of the Tower of Babel." Yes.

Think Like a Dinosaur, and Other Stories, James Patrick Kelly (Golden Gryphon 7/97, $22.95, hc) Collection of 14 stories, including the 1995 Hugo-winning title work, and classics "Rat" and "Mr. Boy", by an author who effortlessly blends genre and mainstream strengths.

His Share of Glory: The Complete Short Science Fiction of C. M. Kornbluth (NESFA 3/97, $27.00, hc) Known to some largely as a collaborator with Frederik Pohl, Kornbluth was a masterful SF writer; this volume gathers all his solo work, including classics "The Marching Morons" and "The Little Black Bag"; introduced by Pohl.

Voyages by Starlight, Ian R. MacLeod (Arkham House 6/97, $21.95, hc) Collection of 10 SF and fantasy stories by a notable new author, each distinctive, and mostly about people trapped by their obsessions. Foreword by Michael Swanwick.

Fabulous Harbors, Michael Moorcock (Avon 2/97, $24.00, hc) The ridiculous meets the sublime in this splendid Moorcock collection, where world-weary idealists meet outright rogues, and antic adventure mixes with elegant angst.

A Geography of Unknown Lands, Michael Swanwick (Tigereyes Press 9/97, $12.00 tp) (Also hardcover.) Short-fiction collection (five stories and a vignette) by one of the best writers in the field.

Going Home Again, Howard Waldrop (Eidolon 3/97, A$19.95, tp) A welcome new collection of nine tales by the inimitable Waldrop, including one original, with foreword by Lucius Shepard, introduction by the author, and a closing bibliography subtitled "or after 27 years they gave you a cold potato...".

Reprinted Collections

The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury (Avon 2/97, $15.00, hc) Classic collection of linked tales exploring human hopes and dreams, and alien enigmas on the Red Planet, with a new introduction by the author. Some of the stories have been "updated and revised," their dates pushed back 31 years. This edition also drops "Way in the Middle of the Air", but adds "The Wilderness" from the 1973 Doubleday edition.

The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories, Gene Wolfe (Orb 8/97, $14.95, tp) This 1980 collection shows that the Wolfe writing SF and fantasy stories in the '70s was as brilliant, witty, and unpredictable as today's master.