Notable new SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen, 31 January - 6 February

* Baxter, Stephen Riding the Rock
(UK: PS Publishing 1-902-880-59-5, £8, 61pp, tpb, September 2002, cover art David A. Hardy)
SF novella set in the future history of the author's "Xeelee" sequence, with an introduction by Gregory Benford. Reviewed by Nick Gevers in the December '02 Locus, who called it "magnificent, one of the author's finest and most thought-provoking works to date." The publisher's site has this description. (Sat 1 Feb 2003)
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* Garcia y Robertson, R. Lady Robyn
(Forge 0-312-86995-9, $24.95, 399pp, hc, February 2003, jacket art Peter Fiore)
Timeslip romance novel, second volume in a projected trilogy, following Knight Errant (2001). The Amazon page has the Publishers Weekly review, and it is reviewed by Nick Gevers in the February '03 Locus, who says "It's exciting to see R. Garcia y Robertson elevating the timeslip romance to unforeseen heights, echoing Poul Anderson in the latter's fine fantastic-historical mode." (Thu 6 Feb 2003)
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* Gibson, William Pattern Recognition
(Putnam 0-399-14986-4, $25.95, 356pp, hc, February 2003, cover design Archie Ferguson)
Novel by the author of Neuromancer, not precisely SF, since it's set in the present. See Field Inspections for links to numerous reviews, including this front cover review in The New York Times Book Review a couple weeks ago. Gibson's new website has this description and excerpt, as well as Gibson's almost daily blog. Amazon has a review by Jeremy Pugh, calling it "a masterful snapshot of modern consumer culture and hipster esoterica", as well as reviews from trade journals PW and Booklist. Reviews by Russell Letson and Jonathan Strahan will appear in the March '03 Locus Magazine. (Mon 3 Feb 2003)
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+ Kearney, Paul Ships from the West
(Ace 0-441-00929-8, $6.99, 308pp, pb, January 2003, cover art Steve Crisp, cover design Rita Frangie)
First US edition (UK: Orion/Gollancz December 2002). Fantasy novel, fifth and final volume in the "Monarchies of God" sequence that began in 1995 with Hawkwood's Voyage. The author's bibliography links this extract. (Tue 4 Feb 2003)
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* Miéville, China The Tain
(UK: PS Publishing 1-902-880-63-3, £8, 89pp, tpb, December 2002, cover art Edward Miller)
Fantasy novella "in which our world has been invaded by powers from the other side of the mirror - powers that have extremely good reason to hate our guts" in the description of Michael Swanwick in his year-end summary in the February '03 Locus. Introduction by M. John Harrison. The publisher's site has this description. (Sat 1 Feb 2003)
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* Moorcock, Michael The Skrayling Tree
(Warner Aspect 0-446-53104-9, $24.95, 330pp, hc, February 2003, jacket illustration Robert Gould, jacket design Don Puckey)
Fantasy novel, subtitled "The Albino in America", sequel to The Dreamthief's Daughter (2001) (and perhaps second in a trilogy), latest in Moorcock's career-spanning Elric series. This one takes Elric, his daughter Oona, and her husband Ulrich on separate journeys to a pre-Columbian New World. Reviewed by Faren Miller in the February '03 Locus, while the PW review appears on Amazon. The publisher's site has this excerpt. An interview with Moorcock will appear next month in Locus Magazine (March '03); in that interview, Moorcock discusses how this book resulted from his decision to write an Elric book with mythic sense of America to it, and the literary model he used to do so. (Sat 1 Feb 2003)
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* Quinlan, Nigel, & Dermot Ryan This Way Up
(Ireland: Aeon 0-9534784-1-6, 84+91pp, tpb, 2002, cover art Arron Roebuck)
Two collections, published dos-style (like the old Ace Doubles), by authors who've published mostly in the Irish SF magazine Albedo One. Quinlan's collection includes 6 stories, 2 of them original to this volume; Ryan's has 4 stories, 3 from Albedo One and 1 from another source. (The same cover illustration appears on both sides.) There's a description, quotes, and ordering information on this page, as well as a link to a review at The Alien Online. (Mon 3 Feb 2003)

* Ryman, Geoff V.A.O.
(UK: PS Publishing 1-902-880-48-x, £8, 67pp, tpb, September 2002, cover art Edward Miller)
Sf near-future novella, reviewed by Nick Gevers here at Locus Online (scroll to bottom); also reviewed by Jonathan Strahan in the September '02 Locus. Introduction by Gwyneth Jones. The publisher's site has this description. (Sat 1 Feb 2003)
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* Sawyer, Robert J. Humans
(Tor 0-312-87691-2, $24.95, 384pp, hc, February 2003, jacket art Donato)
SF novel, volume two in the "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy following Hominids (2002), concerning contact between our Earth and an alternate Earth where Neanderthals flourished instead of humans. Sawyer's website has this page about the book with links to an excerpt, jacket text, review excerpts, etc. An interview with Sawyer appears in the current, February '03 Locus Magazine, excerpted here, including comments about the trilogy. (Thu 6 Feb 2003)
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* Silver, Steven H., & Martin H. Greenberg Magical Beginnings
(DAW 0-7564-0121-6, $6.99, 343pp, pb, February 2003, cover art James Gurney)
Anthology of 16 fantasy stories, each the first published story by its author, follow-up to last month's Wondrous Beginnings, and to be followed next month by horror-themed Horrible Beginnings. Each story has a new introduction by its author. Authors include Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey, Ursula K. Le Guin, Peter S. Beagle, Tanya Huff, and others; Silver's website has this page about the book, with a complete story listing. (Thu 6 Feb 2003)
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The light was hard. It seemed to flatten the walls of London, to push down onto the pavement with real weight. It was oppressive: it scoured colours of depth.

On the concrete river-walls of the south bank, a man was lying with his right hand over his face, squinting up through his fingers at the bleached sky. Watching the business of clouds. He had been there for some time, unmoving, supine on the wall top. It had rained for hours, intermittently, throughout the night. The city was still wet. The man was lying in rainwater. It had soaked through his clothes.

He listened, but heard nothing of interest.