I Was a Teenage Fairy, Francesca Lia Block (HarperCollins 9/98) A child model named Barbie needs the help of a tiny, angry fairy named Mab to become more than just another plastic doll in front of the camera. Block infuses more fantasy than usual into another of her distinctively trendy tales of young-adult glamour and angst in L.A.

Collected Fictions, Jorge Luis Borges (Viking 9/98) Seminal fiction by the Latin-American writer often regarded as the father of magical realism, collected here in a new translation by Andrew Hurley.

Tea from an Empty Cup, Pat Cadigan (Tor 9/98) Sharp-edged cyber-SF with virtual post-apocalyptic environments gives a dark edge to this near-future thriller about a woman and a cop investigating deaths in Artificial Reality.

Sirens and Other Demon Lovers, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (HarperPrism 9/98) Original tales of erotic dark fantasy fill this anthology, written by an impressive group of authors including Storm Constantine, Edward Bryant, Michael Swanwick, and Neil Gaiman.

The Avram Davidson Treasury, Robert Silverberg & Grania Davis, eds. (Tor 9/98) A generous 37 pieces of quirky, witty, and classic short fiction are lovingly presented in this tribute collection, with noted authors sharing their memories of Davidson and his works.

Lost Pages, Paul Di Filippo (Four Walls Eight Windows 9/98) Alternate history mixes with some of the great literary figures of the 20th century (Kafka a costumed crime fighter, Anne Frank a child star in Hollywood, Heinlein a US president!) in this absurd, thought-provoking, and frequently hilarious collection.

Spectrum 5: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Cathy Fenner & Arnie Fenner, eds. (Underwood 8/98) Gorgeous, provocative, and sometimes startling works fill this latest annual art book, still the best overview available of recent SF and fantasy art from within and outside the genre, from books, magazines, comics, and even advertising.

Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta, Arnie Fenner & Cathy Fenner, eds. (Underwood 8/98) The first trade edition of this beautifully reproduced exploration of Frazetta's career, from comics to Conan, and various ads and movie posters in between.

Good Faeries/Bad Faeries, Brian Froud (Simon & Schuster 9/98) The chronicler of faery returns with a new double-format art book depicting modern day faeries, helpful and otherwise, such as the Bad Hair Day Faery. Froud's distinctive art ranges between the wondrously ethereal and the terminally cute, complemented nicely by insightful, often tongue-in-cheek text.

Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction, Nicola Griffith & Stephen Pagel, eds. (Overlook 9/98) This second anthology in the groundbreaking gender-bending series brings together 21 all-original SF stories featuring gays and lesbians as the Alien Other.

Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones (Greenwillow 9/98) The conventions of fantasy get a fond and often hilarious tweaking in this tale of a fantasy world devastated by frequent invasions by tourists, and the efforts of an inept wizard and his kin to stop them.

Stinger, Nancy Kress (Forge 9/98) Kress deftly transfers her favorite SF themes of biotechnology and a sense of otherness to this contemporary thriller (featuring FBI agent Robert Cavanaugh from Oaths and Miracles) of a deadly disease that threatens to spark a race war.

Faces Under Water, Tanith Lee (Overlook 9/98) An alternate Venice and the gaudy mysteries and masks of Carnival provide a rich backdrop for this dark fantasy, first of ''The Secret Books of Venus''.

Legends, Robert Silverberg, ed. (Tor 9/98) Eleven of the biggest names in fantasy, including Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, and Robert Jordan, contribute novellas set in their most popular worlds – a must for fans of fantasy series.

Eternal Lovecraft: The Persistence of HPL in Popular Culture, Jim Turner, ed. (Golden Gryphon 9/98) This anthology gathers together a wide range of Lovecraft-inspired stories by some of the genre's most noted authors, including Harlan Ellison, Gene Wolfe, and Stephen King.

The Golden Globe, John Varley (Ace 9/98) An itinerant actor with a price on his head travels with a motley troupe doing Shakespeare on the outer limits of the solar system in this companion/sequel to Steel Beach. A much-anticipated work by one of SF's true virtuosos.

Echoes of Honor, David Weber (Baen 9/98) In this prison-break adventure, frustrated fans of the ''Honor Harrington'' military SF series can finally find out what happens after last volume's cliffhanger ending that left Honor stranded on an enemy prison planet.