November-December 2003

Humorous sf adventure novel about what happens when an alien spaceship lands in medieval England. The Amazon has a description, and reader reviews, which echo David Pringle's summary in his Ultimate Guide to SF: "fondly-remembered" light reading even though it perhaps "has not worn particularly well".
(Fri 5 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Associational, non SF novel (one of the author's very few) about radar in World War II, based on the author's Royal Air Force experience.
(Fri 5 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Original collection of 12 stories, first published in various SF magazines in the '50s and '60s, on the theme of "what happens when powerful aliens meet puny humans, with results ranging from chilling to utterly hilarious", according to the description on Baen's website, which has editor Hank Davis' introduction, and excerpts.
(Fri 19 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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SF novel, third in the "Pip and Flinx" series about an empath and his mini-dragon companion set in the intergalactic Commonwealth. This edition is packaged in Del Rey's Imagine series, for readers 12 and up. The latest volume in the series, Flinx's Folly, was published in hardcover last month.
(Thu 20 Nov 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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SF novel of interstellar war, first in the "Star Wolf" series. Gerrold's website has a page of selected chapters. The publisher's site has this page with description and blurbs. A new book in the series, Blood and Fire (which had its origins as a Star Trek Next Generation script), is due in January; the author has this page of excerpts.
(Fri 5 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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YA novel in the Heinleinian mode, about a teenager who discovers, on his uncle's Texas farm, a gateway to an unspoiled, uninhabited parallel world. This book won the 'Hal Clement Award' for best young adult novel in the 1997 Golden Duck Awards.
(Thu 18 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Fantasy novel about a man's experience in the afterlife. It was made into a Robin Williams film five years ago. A review on the Amazon page by Stanley Wiater calls it "A classic novel of love after death", while reviews from readers who saw the movie before reading the book seem to have liked the movie better. Tor still has this page about the author and the book.
(Thu 18 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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SF novel of first contact on an "abandoned" planet. Amazon has reviews from PW and Library Journal. Hugo Award nominee in 1997.
(Fri 3 Oct 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Omnibus of two early Norton novels set aboard cargo ship Solar Queen: Sargasso of Space, first published in 1955, and Plague Ship, first published in 1956. A second omnibus of two further novels in the series is forthcoming. The Amazon page reproduces the description from the jacket flaps, and blurbs from the back jacket.
(Tue 9 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Sf novel concerning political battles among humans and aliens on the planet Koryphon. Originally serialized as "The Domains of Koryphon" in Amazing Stories. Not part of any of Vance's many series, though some identify it as a "Gaean Reach" novel along with Maske: Thaery, which ibooks was to have issued in November (though Locus Online has not seen a copy).
(Fri 5 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Near-future SF novel about the invention of spherical stasis fields called "bobbles". A 1985 Hugo Award nominee for best novel. Sequel: Marooned in Realtime (1986).
(Fri 5 Dec 2003) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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The lanky, very young man in the ill-fitting Trader's tunic tried to stretch the cramp out of his long legs. You'd think, Dane Thorson considered the point with a certain amount of irritation, the men who designed these under-surface transcontinental cars would take into mind that there would be tall passengers—not just midgets—using them. Not for the first time he wished that he could have used air transport. But he had only to finger the money belt, too flat about his middle, to remember who and what he was—a recruit new to the Service, without a ship or backer.

As the captain looked up, the hooded desk lamp threw his face into ridges of darkness and craggy highlights. A port stood open to alien summer night.

"Well?" he said.

"I've got it translated, sir," answered the sociotechnician. "Had to extrapolate backward from modern languages, which is what took me so long. In the course of the work, though, I've learned enough so I can talk to these ... creatures."