* Bear, Greg The Collected Stories of Greg Bear
(Tor 0-765-30160-1, $29.95, 653pp, hc, September 2002)
Collection of 25 stories, virtually all of the short fiction to date by one of the major hard SF writers of the past quarter-century. Contents include Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning novelette "Blood Music" (later expanded into a novel), Nebula winning novella "Hardfought", Hugo/Nebula/Seiun winning short story "Tangents", and Seiun winning novella "Heads", about a cache of cryogenically frozen human heads at a lunar colony dominated by a pseudo-religious cult with an obvious real-life SF-based counterpart, as Gary K. Wolfe points out in his long, analytical review in the October issue of Locus. Several of the stories are fantasies (despite Bear's hard SF reputation). Bear provides introductions, and publication/editorial credits, to each story. He has an extensive website though there doesn't seem to be anything about this book there yet. The Amazon page has a description, and a review by ubiquitous reviewer Harriet Klausner (she likes it, of course). (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Carroll, Jonathan White Apples
(Tor 0-765-30388-4, $24.95, 304pp, hc, October 2002, jacket art Gregory Manchess)
Fantasy novel, typically surreal and metaphysical, by the author of The Land of Laughs, Outside the Dog Museum, and many other novels, most recently The Wooden Sea; this one is about a man who has died and been brought back to life. It's garnered diverse reactions, from comparisons to Dostoyevsky and Calvino (on the dust jacket) to one-star reviews by Amazon readers. There's a special website devoted to this book, http://www.whiteapples.com/, with an excerpt, journal, message board, and book tour details. Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the September issue of Locus, Faren Miller in the October issue. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Colbert, David The Magical Worlds of The Lord of the Rings
(Berkley 0-4251-8771-3, $13, 197pp, tpb, October 2002, cover art Jean Pierre Targete)
Nonfiction guide to The Lord of the Rings, geared toward fans of the movies, by the author of UK-bestselling The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter (2001); subtitled "The Amazing Myths, Legends, and Facts Behind the Masterpiece". Targeted at YA readers, every chapter is titled with a question, e.g. "Why do Hobbits live in holes?". (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Hambly, Barbara Sisters of the Raven
(Warner Aspect 0-446-67704-3, $13.95, 465pp, tpb, August 2002)
Fantasy novel, unrelated to any of the author's previous books, set in a world where men have traditionally wielded magical powers, and where a drought has caused women to attain such powers. The author's website has a description, while the publisher's site has this excerpt. A short review by Cynthia Ward on the Amazon page calls it "complex, powerful"; Amazon also has the PW review. Faren Miller reviews the book in the September Locus. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Hetley, James A. The Summer Country
(Ace 0-441-00972-7, $14, 361pp, tpb, October 2002, cover art Lori Earley, cover design Rita Frangie)
Fantasy novel, a first novel, about a woman in a small Maine town who learns of her connection to the Celtic 'Old Ones' from the land of Mordred and Merlin. The author is an architect, retired Karate instructor, and Vietnam vet; his webpage cites praise for the book from Charles de Lint and others, and includes this excerpt. Faren Miller's review in the October Locus says the book, "compared to standard pseudo-Celtic fare", "kicks butt". (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Hoyt, Sarah A. All Night Awake
(Ace 0-441-00973-5, $22.95, 311pp, hc, October 2002, cover design Erika Fusari)
Fantasy novel, sequel to Ill Met by Moonlight (2001), about William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and the fairie world that inspires them. The author's website has these excerpts. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* King, Stephen From a Buick 8
(Simon & Schuster/Scribner 0-7432-1137-5, $28, 356pp, hc, September 2002, jacket illustration Mark Stutzman, jacket design John Fulbrook III)
Supernatural novel about a vintage Buick Roadmaster that may be a portal to another dimension. Widely reviewed, mostly quite favorably, some reviews suggesting a new maturity in King's writing. Bill Sheehan in the August Locus said the book "strikes me as one of King's best, most tightly focused novels since The Green Mile." The Amazon page has a review by Benjamin Reese, plus reviews from PW, Booklist, etc. The publisher's website has this excerpt, with a cute mouse trail. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Lackey, Mercedes Exile's Honor
(DAW 0-7564-0085-6, $24.95, 433pp, hc, October 2002, jacket painting Jody A. Lee, jacket design G-Force Design)
Fantasy novel, a stand-alone work in the Valdemar sequence. The author's homepage has several excerpts--see links along the left side of the page. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Randle, Kevin D. Operation Roswell
(Tor 0-312-86710-7, $25.95, 432pp, hc, September 2002, jacket art Bruce Jensen)
SF novel based on the putative 1947 UFO that crashed near Roswell, New Mexico, by an author who's apparently made a career of the topic--author of The Roswell Encyclopedia and various books about government cover-ups. The PW review on the Amazon page cites "its by-the-numbers plot and stock characters", but ubiquitous reviewer Harriet Klausner gives it four stars. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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* Saberhagen, Fred A Coldness in the Blood
(Tor 0-765-30045-1, $25.95, 383pp, hc, October 2002, jacket art Vince Natale)
Vampire novel, latest in the author's "Dracula" series that began with The Dracula Tape in 1975 and most recently included A Sharpness in the Neck (1996). The author's website has an excerpt. The Amazon page has the description from the inside book flap. The cover blurb "The Bram Stoker Award-winning saga continues…" does not seem appropriate; perhaps it confuses the award with the author of the original Dracula. (Fri 20 Sep 2002)
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* Sabin, E. Rose A School for Sorcery
(Tor 0-765-30289-6, $17.95, 318pp, hc, September 2002, jacket art Vince Natale)
YA fantasy novel about a girl admitted to the "Lesley Simonton School for the Magically Gifted". Some reviewers on Amazon admire it for the gender alternative to the Harry Potter books, though the PW review remarks that they "outclass this one by a substantial margin". Carolyn Cushman's review in the September Locus says the book is "enjoyable in spots" but "seriously flawed". The author has a webpage here, which notes that the book won the Andre Norton Gryphon Award for the best unpublished manuscript by a new female fantasy writer, and offers an excerpt, in the form of a Word document, linked from this page. (Fri 20 Sep 2002)
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* Thomsen, Brian M., ed The American Fantasy Tradition
(Tor 0-765-30152-0, $27.95, 604pp, hc, September 2002, jacket art csaimages.com, jacket design Howard Grossman/12E Design)
Anthology of 43 stories exploring what kinds of fantasy are distinctly American, with stories by Lovecraft, Lafferty, Le Guin, King, Kuttner, Bradbury, Ellison, and many others divided into three sections, “Folk, Tall, and Weird Tales”, “Fantastic Americana”, and “Lands of Enchantment and Everyday Life”. Thomsen provides an introduction, "An approach to an American fantasy tradition", brief notes to each story, and a bibliography. There's also a poem at the front about the World Trade Center attacks, "this changed everything" by Gerald Bair. A review by Gary K. Wolfe will appear in the November issue of Locus. (Tue 24 Sep 2002)
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Last week: 11 - 19 Sept.
Previously: 1 - 10 Sept.
