Notable new SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen, 24 - 30 January 2003

+ Baxter, Stephen Evolution
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-45782-X, $25.95, 578pp, hc, February 2003, jacket illustration Ashley Wood, jacket design David Stevenson)
First US edition (UK: Orion/Gollancz November 2002). Epic historical SF novel covering 65 million years of human evolution--"a James Michener" novel in the author's own words. It's a stand-alone, not part of any of the author's series, though (according to Baxter's interview in the April 2002 Locus) it will be followed by a set of three novels, under the title "Homo Superior", exploring alternate futures of human evolution. Reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in the November 2002 Locus, and it's on Locus's 2002 Recommended Reading list in the February '03 issue. The Amazon page has several reviews, including one by Therese Littleton, and here's a December review from The Guardian. (Tue 28 Jan 2003)
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* Buckner, M.M. Hyperthought
(Ace 0-441-01023-7, $5.99, 177pp, pb, February 2003, cover art Craig White, cover design Rita Frangie)
SF novel, a slender paperback original, set in 2125 in a world run by huge corporations called Coms. It has a blurb on the front cover from Allen Steele: "a smart, fast-paced SF thriller, and one of the best debut novels I've read in a long time". The author has a webpage about the book here, with links to three brief excerpts. (Tue 28 Jan 2003)
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* Drake, David, & S.M. Stirling Warlord
(Baen 0-7434-3587-7, $24, 567pp, hc, February 2003, cover illustration David Mattingly, cover design Carol Russo Design)
Military SF novel about a strategic genius on the planet Bellevue battling both barbarians and corrupt bureaucrats. Baen's site has this blurb and several excerpts. (Tue 28 Jan 2003)
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* Foster, Alan Dean Drowning World
(Ballantine Del Rey 0-345-45035-3, $23.95, 296pp, hc, February 2003, jacket illustration Mark Harrison, jacket design David Stevenson)
SF novel in Foster's Humanx Commonwealth series featuring a world of torrential rain and various colorful aliens. The Amazon page reproduces reviews from PW and Booklist. (Tue 28 Jan 2003)
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+ MacLeod, Ken Engine City
(Tor 0-765-30502-X, $24.95, 304pp, hc, January 2003, jacket art Stephan Martiniere)
First US edition (UK: Time Warner UK/Orbit November 2002). SF novel, third in the author's "Engines of Light" sequence that began with Cosmonaut Keep and Dark Light (published 2000 and 2001 respectively in the UK, 2001 and 2002 in the US, with the first book a Hugo nominee and the second still eligible to be this year). It's set in a region of interstellar space where advanced aliens have transplanted various human, and other sentient, species from Earth, and the events of the novel exhibit MacLeod's usual interest in political concerns. Russell Letson reviews it in the February '03 Locus, remarking "it’s a wild ride all the way, and MacLeod’s inventiveness, verbal playfulness, and bloody-minded irony never flag for a moment", and it's on the 2002 Recommended Reading List of SF novels. Amazon has the PW review. (Tue 28 Jan 2003)
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* Stirling, S.M. Conquistador
(Penguin/Roc 0-451-45908-3, $23.95, 440pp, hc, February 2003, jacket art Jonathan Barkat, jacket design Ray Lundgren)
Alternate history novel, set in 1946 and 2009, in a North America that Europeans never discovered. Notable is the tasteful, non-genre book design, which suggests something more ambitious or literary than the military SF Stirling is known for, perhaps a try at a breakout book. Reviewed in the January 2003 Locus Magazine by Alyx Dellamonica, who calls it "a novel of complex landscapes, both moral and geographical". PW's review, on the Amazon page, calls it "mesmerizing". (Tue 28 Jan 2003)
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* Sweet, Caitlin A Telling of Stars
(Canada: Penguin Canada 0-14-100740-0, C$24, 326pp, tpb, February 2003, cover illustration Martin Springett, cover design Cathy MacLean)
Fantasy novel, a first novel, about an 18-year-old girl whose family is murdered by Sea Raiders and who sets out on a epic quest for vengeance. In the tradition, according to the flap copy, of Ursula K. Le Guin and Patricia McKillip. The author is at work on a prequel. The title and cover links here are to the Amazon Canada page, where you can order it, though the page contains no editorial or reader reviews. (Sat 25 Jan 2003)
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* Zahn, Timothy Dragon and Thief
(Tor 0-765-30124-5, $24.95, 254pp, hc, February 2003, cover art Jon Foster)
SF novel (not fantasy, as far as we can tell), first in the "Dragonback" series, concerning a man who has a symbiotic dragon on his back. The Amazon page has a description. (Mon 27 Jan 2003)
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