Dale Bailey, The Resurrection Man's Legacy and Other Stories
(Golden Gryphon Press Nov 2003)
Bailey’s remarkable talent for literary fantasy is showcased in this first collection, with 11 diverse and poignant stories. Bailey provides insightful comments on the writing of each.
Stephen Baxter, Coalescent
(Ballantine Del Rey Dec 2003)
The "Destiny’s Children" trilogy starts compellingly in this first volume as it follows a family from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present, with hints tying it to Baxter’s Xeelee universe. Powerful historical detail and a human scale help make this Baxter’s "most unified and fully realized novel as a novel in years." [Gary K. Wolfe]
John Berkey & Jane Frank, The Art of John Berkey
(Paper Tiger Oct 2003)
Dramatic spaceships are what he’s best known for in the SF field, but Berkey’s work encompasses much more, as demonstrated in this powerful collection of works that includes historical paintings, contemporary work, landscapes, surreal personal works, and (of course) spaceships.
Mark Budz, Clade
(Bantam Spectra Dec 2003)
An outsider pursues the American Dream and finds politicorp corruption in this gritty near-future thriller set in a world where everything is genetically engineered. A thought-provoking and promising first novel.
Avram Davidson, edited by Grania Davis & Henry Wessells, ¡Limekiller!
(Old Earth Books Oct 2003)
Davidson’s eclectic wit and superb storytelling are displayed in this standout collection of six stories featuring the adventures of Jack Limekiller in a tiny South American country where times and cultures mix. "A major book by a writer at the height of his powers that should have been published during his lifetime, but wasn’t." [Jonathan Strahan]
Cornelia Funke, Inkheart
(Chicken House Oct 2003)
A bookbinder discovers he has the ability to bring literary characters to life, and ends up on the run from a particularly vicious villain. A thrilling young-adult fantasy with interesting ideas about books and fiction.
Glen Hirshberg, The Two Sams
(Carroll & Graf Oct 2003)
This ghost-story collection has "five of the best novellas I’ve seen together...touched by the supernatural yet rooted in human nature, as convincing as they are disturbing." [Faren C. Miller]
Sarah A. Hoyt, Any Man So Daring
(Ace Nov 2003)
William Shakespeare returns in the third novel in the fantasy trilogy begun in Ill Met by Moonlight. Seeking his missing son, Shakespeare ends up in Faerie, caught up in a decidedly different version of The Tempest full of Shakespearean references and witty prose.
Stephen Jones, ed., The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Fourteen
(Carroll & Graf Nov 2003)
The annual "year’s best" horror anthology returns with 20 stories, an overview of the year 2002 in horror by Jones, and a necrology by Jones and Kim Newman.
Katherine Kurtz, In the King's Service
(Ace Nov 2003)
A new trilogy in the popular "Deryni" fantasy series begins, set in the years before "The Chronicles of the Deryni", during the reign of King Donal (grandfather of Kelson).
Tanith Lee, Venus Preserved
(Overlook Press Nov 2003)
The "Secret Books of Venus" series set in an alternate Venice moves into the far future with this extravagantly fantastical fourth and final volume.
Jack McDevitt, Omega
(Ace Nov 2003)
Priscilla Hutchins returns for the grand finale of the cosmic-mystery sequence begun in The Engines of God, as humans scramble to find a way to help a newly discovered alien culture threatened by an omega cloud.
Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
(MacAdam/Cage Sep 2003)
This first novel from an obscure publisher has been making waves with its tale of a relationship between a woman and a "chrono-impaired" man who uncontrollably travels through time, meeting her and himself at various ages. A sophisticated and strange love story that makes innovative use of an old SF trope.
Michael Marshall Smith, More Tomorrow & Other Stories
(Earthling Publications Oct 2003)
This collection gathers 30 of Smith’s best stories, four new, from a brilliant storyteller hailed as one of the best and most distinctive voices in British horror.
Theodore Sturgeon, edited by Paul Williams, And Now the News...: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume IX
(North Atlantic Books May 2003)
This latest collection of fiction covers 1956-57, when Sturgeon wrote some of his best work. Paul Williams provides his usual informative story notes, including the revelation that two of the stories were actually written with the help of Robert A. Heinlein.
Jo Walton, Tooth and Claw
(Tor Nov 2003)
Take a Victorian novel in the style of Trollope about a family arguing over a will and religion - then cast it with dragons, in a draconic world full of appropriate manners, customs, and snobbery. A dragon fantasy that truly stands out from all others.
