Notable new SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen, August-September

Collection of 29 poems, including collaborations with Ian Watson and others, and including 4 Rhysling Award nominees. The author's homepage is http://www.wwco.com/~mla/. Book is available from DNA Publications for $6.50 (including s/h), PO Box 2988, Radford VA 24143-2988.
(Thu 11 Sep 2003)

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Collection of 20 essays and stories, published in a limited edition of 1500 copies. Amazon has the Booklist review by Regina Schroeder. Brin's official homepage includes a sample, the story Aficionado originally from Popular Science in 1998. The publisher's site has this page about the book, with a complete Table of Contents. Nick Gevers reviewed the book in the May 2003 issue of Locus Magazine.
(Thu 28 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Collection of 9 stories, 1 previously unpublished, set in the Budayeen, the walled city setting of novel When Gravity Fails (1987) and its two sequels. Includes "Schrödinger's Kitten" (1988), winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and a couple other awards. Forward and story introductions are by Barbara Hambly. The Amazon page has the starred review from Publishers Weekly. The publisher's page has the dust jacket description, and links to reviews including Nick Gevers' review just published in the September Locus Magazine. Also online, from SF Weekly, is John Clute's review.
(Thu 28 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Children's picture book, written by Gaiman and illustrated by McKean, about a girl afraid that there are wolves in the walls of the house where she lives. The book has been on children's bestseller lists for several weeks. Amazon has a review by Karin Snelson. The publisher's site has this page with an excerpt (an image) and interview. HarperCollins also sponsors http://www.mousecircus.com/ with content about this book and Coraline. Gary K. Wolfe reviews it in the upcoming October 2003 issue of Locus Magazine.
(Thu 28 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Novel, subtitled "The Greatest Empire that Never Was", the first translated into English by an Argentinian writer of 17 novels. A portion of this book appeared as a story in Patrick Nielsen Hayden's anthology Starlight 2 and is available as an excerpt on the publisher's website, which has quotes from English and Spanish-language reviews. Reviewed by Faren Miller in the July Locus Magazine, and by Nick Gevers in the September issue.
(Fri 29 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Art book retrospective of the Chesley Awards for SF and fantasy art, presented since 1985, with selections from 1985 through 2002. Over 300 illustrations include samples of each year's winning works, plus several pages of works by the year's winner for Artistic Achievement. There are also biographical sketches of the artists, a list of nominations and winners, an index of artworks, a foreword by Ron Miller, and an introduction by Elizabeth Humphrey, current president of ASFA.
(Thu 28 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon

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Artbook presented as an issue of a fictitious magazine annual a thousand years hence, complete with ads. Pieces are gathered from Kofoed's long running feature in Heavy Metal magazine. Karen Haber's review will appear in the October 2003 issue of Locus Magazine, and currently there's this review at Infinity Plus. The author/artist's homepage has a page about the book, also via http://www.galacticgeographic.com/, with a page of links to excerpts and an order form for prints.
(Thu 28 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Anthology of 12 original stories by Montreal writers including Yves Meynard, Glenn Grant, and Mark Shainblum. Author notes follow each story. The editor's website has this page about the book, with the complete table of contents and a list of events associated with the book's release.
(Sun 31 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon

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Anthology of 21 original stories by Canadian writers, including Derryl Murphy and Melissa Yuan-Innes, plus an introduction by Cory Doctorow and an afterword by John Rose. Contributor notes conclude the book. The editor's website has this page about the book, with table of contents and events.
(Sat 30 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon

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Nonfiction, subtitled "The fate of physical presence in the digital age, on and off planet", concerning the needs for physical interaction in the age of cyberspace. It's a follow-up for earlier books The Soft Edge (1997) and Digital McLuhan (1999). Levinson's website has a link to an excerpt and interview on this ABC news page.
(Thu 4 Sep 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Fantasy novel, first of a series ("Inheritance, Book One"), by a now 19-year-old author from Montana. The book was self-published last year and subsequently sold and issued by Knopf, in which edition it has placed on both the New York Times and BookSense children's bestseller lists. The website cited on the back flap, www.alagaesia.com, leads to http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/eragon/, with pages about the author, the series, etc., and an excerpt.
(Fri 12 Sep 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Anthology of graphic stories, third in the series, all beginning with the subtitle phrase (a parody of the canonical bad-writing phrase "it was a dark and stormy night", as institutionalized here). This volume has contributions from Neil Gaiman & Gahan Wilson, Lemony Snicket & Richard Sala, and others. Amazon has a review by Karin Snelson. There's even a website for the series, http://www.little-lit.com/, with this page about volume 3.
(Tue 2 Sep 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Chapbook edition of a short story first published in the 1997 anthology The Horn of Elfland (Roc, edited by Kusher, Sherman, & Keller). To order, send $15 to Grey Walker, Green Man Review, 1115 N Hancock Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903. The publisher's site has this page about the book.
(Fri 22 Aug 2003)

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Anthology of 14 alternate history stories first published in F&SF, i.e. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Only 3 stories -- by C.M. Kornbluth ("Two Dooms"), Poul Anderson ("Delenda Est", from his Guardians of Time series), and Alfred Bester (the classic "The Men Who Murdered Mohammed") -- are older than 15 years or so, but perhaps this reflects the relatively popularity of the theme in the past 15 years. Other stories are by Maureen F. McHugh (Hugo-winner "The Lincoln Train"), Harry Turtledove, Jan Lars Jensen, Bradley Denton, Paul Di Filippo, and others. The publisher's site has this page about the book. Reviewed by Alyx Dellamonica in the September issue of Locus Magazine.
(Mon 25 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Alternate history novella, published as a slim little chapbook with no ISBN, which means you can't buy it from Amazon. Instead, see the publisher's page. For a review, see Jonathan Strahan's recent reviews -- scroll down to 7 May 2003.
(Thu 28 Aug 2003)

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SF novel in which the Western Galactic Empire treats fundamentalist-run America as a terrorist nation; a satire by the author of nonfiction The Case for Mars and others. Blurbs from Gregory Benford and Wil McCarthy. The press release indicates this as a November publication, but it's available for sale now from Amazon. The publisher's site, http://www.polarisbooks.net/, includes this [pdf] excerpt.
(Sat 23 Aug 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world. A tall Shade lifted his head and sniffed the air. He looked human except for his crimson hair and maroon eyes.

The whole thing began, I am told, with the sound of falling books in the Peoples' Department of Culture.