The Witches of Eileanan, Kate Forsyth (Roc 7/98) Celtic fantasy, prophecy, intrigue, a lost prince, and a young woman learning an outlawed magic. A strong first novel.

Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson (Warner Aspect 7/98) Caribbean magic transported to an apocalyptic near-future Canada brings fresh flavor to this impressive and energetic first novel.

Silk, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Penguin/Roc 6/98, $6.50, pb) Alternately ultra-realistic and somewhat hallucinatory horror novel of struggling rock musicians caught in the web of a strange, disturbed woman. A first novel by a writer getting plenty of attention from Those Who Know (horror division).

Dawn Song, Michael Marano (Tor 6/98, $24.95, hc) Two rulers of Hell hold a turf war in Boston during the Gulf War, while a gay man deals with a Succubus. A theologically complex first novel of horror, passion, faith, and redemption.

The Iron Bridge, David Morse (Harcourt Brace 7/98) A woman goes back in time to prevent construction of the world's first iron bridge, thus derailing the Industrial Revolution and saving the ecologically precarious future – but she finds the past more complex than she ever expected. In best SF style, this thought-provoking first novel illuminates the present while looking at the future and the past.