+ Baxter, Stephen Manifold: Space
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-43077-8, $24, 452pp, hc, February 2001)
First US edition (UK: HarperCollins/Voyager August 2000). High-concept SF novel, follow-up to Manifold: Time, about astronaut Reid Malenfant, contact with alien intelligence, and a voyage to Alpha Centauri. Amazon has a review by Kathie Huddleston. Reviewed by Jonathan Strahan in the November 2000 Locus Magazine, and by Gary K. Wolfe in the January 2001 issue. (Fri 27 Apr 2001)
* Bisson, Terry The Pickup Artist
(Tor 0-312-87403-0, $22.95, 240pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art David Gallo)
Comic novel about a future in which artists are 'deleted' in order to make room for newer artists. Reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in the April 2001 Locus, who compares it to Bradbury, not Fahrenheit 451 so much as "The Exiles", a story from The Illustrated Man… (Fri 30 Mar 2001)
* Daniel, Tony Metaplanetary
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-06-105142-x, $26, 10+437pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Gregory Bridges, jacket design Amy Halperin)
SF novel "of interplanetary war"; portions have appeared in Asimov's ("Grist"). Amazon quotes PW's starred review: "a cross between Bruce Sterling and Doc Smith that teems with vivid characters and surprising action" … "should reach readers hungry for challenging, sophisticated science fiction"; and the Booklist review. Reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in the April 2001 issue of Locus (Thu 12 Apr 2001)
* Dann, Jack, & Gardner Dozois, eds Space Soldiers
(Ace 0-441-00824-0, $5.99, 280pp, pb, April 2001, jacket art Lee MacLeod)
Latest in long-running series of theme reprint anthologies, this one containing 9 stories, 6 of them from the past decade, including Stephen Baxter's "On the Orion Line" from 2000, and others by McAuley, Barton, Purdom, Reed, and Reynolds; plus older stories by Fritz Leiber, Fred Saberhagen (a Berserker story), and Joe Haldeman. (Fri 6 Apr 2001)
* Due, Tananarive The Living Blood
(Pocket 0-671-04083-9, $25.95, 515pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Tom Hallman, jacket design Rod Hernandez)
Supernatural thriller, sequel to the author's My Soul to Keep (1997) about a secret clan of 1000-year-old Ethiopian immortals; "stunning"; "improved upon the original" says the PW review quoted on Amazon. (Tue 3 Apr 2001)
* Feintuch, David Children of Hope
(Ace 0-441-00804-6, $23.95, 503pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Michael Herring, jacket design Pyrographx)
Military SF novel, 7th in the author's ongoing Seafort Saga. Amazon quotes the PW review. (Tue 3 Apr 2001)
Gorey, Edward, ed The Haunted Looking Glass
(New York Review Books 0-940322-68-4, $12.95, 254pp, tpb, February 2001, jacket art Edward Gorey)
Reprint anthology, first published in 1959, of ghost stories, chosen and illustrated (a title page for each story) by Gorey. Stories are by Algernon Blackwood, W.F. Harvey, Charles Dickens, L.P. Hartley, R.H. Malden, Robert Louis Stevenson, E. Nesbit, Bram Stoker, Tom Hood, W.W. Jacobs, Wilkie Collins, and M.R. James. (Sat 31 Mar 2001)
* Griffith, Nicola, & Stephen Pagel, eds Bending the Landscape: Horror
(Overlook Press 1-58567-116-9, $28.95, 332pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art J.K. Potter, jacket design Yellowstone Ltd.)
Original anthology of 18 stories of "gay and lesbian writing", third in the series following volumes devoted to fantasy and SF. Amazon quotes PW and Booklist reviews. Authors include L. Timmel Duchamp, Ellen Klages, Barbara Hambly, Mark W. Tiedemann, Keith Hartman, Leslie What, Brian A. Hopkins & James Van Pelt. (Mon 16 Apr 2001)
* Le Guin, Ursula K. Tales from Earthsea
(Harcourt 0-15-100561-3, $24, 15+296pp, hc, May 2001, jacket design Kelly Nelson)
Collection of five stories set in the author's classic fantasy setting of A Wizard of Earthsea and its three sequels; three stories are original to this book; the reprints are "Darkrose and Diamond" and "Dragonfly". There's a foreword, and a lengthy "Description of Earthsea" for the uninitiated. Amazon has a review by Cynthia Ward, who describes one of the original stories, "The Finder", as having "the strength and insight of a novel". Reviewed by both Gary K. Wolfe and Faren Miller in the May 2001 issue of Locus Magazine. (And there's a new Earthsea novel, The Other Wind, coming this Fall.) (Fri 13 Apr 2001)
* MacKay, Scott The Meek
(Penguin/Roc 0-451-45823-0, $5.99, 328pp, pb, April 2001, jacket design Ray Lundgren)
SF novel, the author's second, about a genetically altered race battling for possession of the asteroid Ceres. Reviewed by Dawn Castner in the April 2001 issue of Locus. (Fri 13 Apr 2001)
+ McCaffrey, Anne The Skies of Pern
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-43468-4, $25, 434pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Les Edwards, jacket design David Stevenson)
First US edition (UK: Transworld/Bantam, February 2001). Latest in McCaffrey's enduring Pern series about human colonists and fire-breathing alien 'dragons' on the planet Pern; this installment addresses problems caused by the solutions to problems of earlier books, according to the Amazon review. (Tue 3 Apr 2001)
* McDonald, Ian Ares Express
(UK: Simon & Schuster/Earthlight 0-684-86151-8, £16.99, 332pp, hc, May 2001, jacket art Paul Youll)
Picaresque SF novel set on the terraformed Mars of the author's earlier novel Desolation Road, combining magic realism, the classic Mars of Ray Bradbury, and the more recent versions of Mars from Kim Stanley Robinson and Greg Bear. Amazon UK has a review by David Langford: "Breathless excitement, artfully concluded. Great fun." (Mon 30 Apr 2001)
Moorcock, Michael The Dreamthief's Daughter
(Warner Books 0-446-52618-5, $24.95, 343pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Robert Gould, jacket design Don Puckey)
Reprint (Simon & Schuster/Earthlight February 2001). Fantasy novel, latest in the author's long-running Eternal Champion series. Amazon has a review by Roz Kaveny: "This is fast-moving phantasmagorical stuff with ambiguously virtuous heroes and baddies whose villainy and charm is total"; and the Booklist review. Reviewed by Faren Miller in the February issue of Locus Magazine. (Thu 12 Apr 2001)
* Piper, H. Beam The Complete Paratime
(Ace 0-441-00801-1, $15, 424pp, tpb, March 2001, jacket art Dave Dorman)
Omnibus of novels and stories in the 'Paratime' or 'Kalvan' series, about time travel and parallel worlds. Introduction by John F. Carr. The Amazon page has some detailed and well-informed reader reviews. (Fri 13 Apr 2001)
* Ringo, John Gust Front
(Baen 0-671-31976-0, $24, 597pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Dru Blair, jacket design Carol Russo Design)
Military SF novel, sequel to A Hymn Before Battle (2000), about an alien war that has come to Earth. Amazon as the PW review ("Fans of Hollywood-style blood-and-guts sci-fi … will enjoy this sequel") and reader reviews. (Tue 3 Apr 2001)
Roberts, Keith Pavane
(Del Rey Impact 0-345-44091-9, $12, 277pp, tpb, March 2001)
Reprint (Doubleday 1968). New edition of classic, beautifully-written alternate history novel (actually a 'fixup' novel of six interconnected stories) set in a technologically backward 20th century England ruled by the Catholic Church. Amazon has a review by Cynthia Ward and reprints the PW review. (Tue 3 Apr 2001)
* Schmitz, James H. The Hub: Dangerous Territory
(Baen 0-671-31984-1, $6.99, 473pp, pb, April 2001, jacket art Bob Eggleton)
Fourth volume in "The Complete Federation of the Hub", including classic short stories "Grandpa" and "Balanced Ecology". There's an afterword by Eric Flint, and a chart by Guy Gordon plotting "recurring characters in the Hub series". (Thu 12 Apr 2001)
* Shermer, Michael The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense
(Oxford University Press 0-19-514326-4, $25, 360pp, hc, May 2001, jacket art Rene Magritte, jacket design David Stevenson)
Associational nonfiction subtitled "Where Sense Meets Nonsense", covering topics from Theories of Everything and cloning, Freud and Darwin, Mozart and Piltdown Man. Amazon quotes the dust flap copy. Among quotes on the back cover is one from Gregory Benford. (Fri 20 Apr 2001)
* Silverberg, Robert, ed Nebula Awards Showcase 2001
(Harcourt 0-15-100581-8, $28, 15+252pp, hc, April 2001, jacket design Kelly Nelson)
Anthology of stories and essays celebrating SFWA's Nebula Awards given in 2000 for works published in 1998 and 1999. Reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in the May 2001 issue of Locus Magazine, who calls three of the stories -- Ted Chiang's winning novella "Story of Your Life", David Marusek's "The Wedding Album", and Michael Swanwick's "Radiant Doors" -- "masterpieces … [that] deserve to be in print as often as possible". There are also winning stories by Mary Turzillo and Leslie What; an essay by Harry Harrison on Grand Master Brian Aldiss, and a reprinted Aldiss story, "Judas Danced"; an essay by Barry Malzberg on Author Emeritus Daniel Keyes, and an excerpt from Keyes's recent book about his classic "Flowers for Algernon"; Rhysling poetry winners by Bruce Boston and Laurel Winter; and an essay on SF in 1999 by Gary K. Wolfe himself. Amazon has reader reviews. (Mon 16 Apr 2001)
Swanwick, Michael Gravity's Angels
(Frog Ltd. 1-58394-029-4, $16.95, 350pp, tpb, March 2001, jacket art Michael Dashow, jacket design Michael Dashow)
Reprint (Arkham House 1991). New edition of Swanwick's first short story collection, with 13 stories, including Swanwick's two near-simultaneous debut novelettes from 1980, "The Feast of St. Janis" and "Ginungagap" (both Nebula nominees), and Sturgeon Award-winner "The Edge of the World" (1989). (Tue 3 Apr 2001)
* Van Lustbader, Eric The Ring of Five Dragons
(Tor 0-312-87235-6, $27.95, 576pp, hc, May 2001, jacket art Keith Parkinson, jacket design Carol Russo Design)
Fantasy novel, Volume One of The Pearl. Amazon has a review by Kathie Huddleston. (Sat 21 Apr 2001)
+ Williams, Tad Otherland: Sea of Silver Light
(DAW 0-88677-977-4, $24.95, 38+922pp, hc, April 2001, jacket art Michael Whelan, jacket design G-Force Design)
First US edition (UK: Little Brown/Orbit March 2001). Fourth volume in Williams's fantasy series; this one got a starred review in PW (April 9): a "stunning finale to the gigantic Otherland tetralogy … a brilliant fusion of quest fantasy and technological SF"; and a good review on Amazon by Roz Kaveny. Reviewed by Carolyn Cushman in the May 2001 issue of Locus Magazine, who says the series "concludes triumphantly". (Fri 13 Apr 2001)
