Notable new SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen : April

Humorous SF novel, fifth in the series of military SF parodies that began with Phule's Company (1990).
• See Alt.Fan.Asprin FAQ Page for everything to know about Asprin.
• Amazon has reader reviews.
(Thu 1 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Fantasy novel, third in "The Sword of Change" trilogy following Devlin's Luck (2002, winner of the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Memorial Award for best first novel of the year) and Devlin's Honor (2003).
• The author's website has several pages of background on the series, including this excerpt of the new book.
• Reviewed in the April issue of Locus by Carolyn Cushman, who says the book "bring[s] a solid conclusion to this entertaining trilogy."
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Omnibus of four novellas, all first published separately by PS Publishing in the UK in 2002: China Miéville's The Tain (2003 Locus Award winner as best novella), Paul Di Filippo's A Year in the Linear City (Hugo, World Fantay, Sturgeon, and Locus nominee), Michael Moorcock's Firing the Cathedral (British Fantasy Award nominee), and Geoff Ryman's VAO (Locus Award runner-up).
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Online reviews include SF Site's review by Steven H Silver.
(Tue 13 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Dark fantasy novel set partly in "Buda", part of Hungary's "twin city" Budapest.
• The author's website has this description, with a link to a PDF excerpt.
• Reviewed in the March '04 Locus by Faren Miller, who concludes "The least clumsiness on the author's part could upset the delicate balance between realism and dark fantasy and send disbelief crashing to the ground, but Cutter has the skills to bring it off without seeming to break a sweat. Bravo!"
(Tue 13 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Near-future SF novel about a black messiah, drawing on, according to the Publishers Weekly review reproduced on the Amazon page, "Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's four "Michael books," the Bible and thinkers ranging from Jacques Barzun to Paramhansa Yogananda."
• Baen's site has this description, with links to lots of excerpts.
• The author considers this his "biggest book" so far, as discussed on his website, which includes this excerpt.
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Fantasy novel, Book Two of "Conclave of Shadows" following Talon of the Silver Hawk (just out in paperback).
• The author's website, www.raymondfeistbooks.com, has a page about the setting, Midkemia, with a map, plus this description of the book with an excerpt.
• The Amazon page has a Booklist review by Roland Green, and reader reviews.
(Thu 1 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Collection of 10 stories and 13 poems by the versatile SF and fantasy writer.
• Contents include World Fantasy Award winner "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station'' (1998 winner for best short fiction), also winner of a Rhysling Award; Nebula and Sturgeon nominee "Erase/Record/Play"; Locus Award runner-up "Heat of Fusion"; and 9/11 poem "110 Stories", original to this volume in print but widely circulated on the Internet. (For example, here and here.)
• Reviewed by Faren Miller in the March issue of Locus Magazine.
• Amazon has the book description. The front cover blurb, "John M. Ford is the best writer in America, bar none" is by... Robert Jordan.
(Sat 10 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Humorous SF/mystery novel, third in the series following Anonymous Rex (1999) and Casual Rex (2001), in which disguised dinosaurs have survived into the modern world.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• www.casualrex.com leads to Eric Garcia, which has descriptions, excerpts, and deleted scenes from the earlier books. Garcia is also author of Matchstick Men, made into a recent film by Ridley Scott.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review: "sure to appeal to anyone with a fine sense of the absurd who appreciates good writing".
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Fantasy novel, latest in the Drenai series and follow-up to White Wolf (2002), recently out in paperback.
• There are numerous David Gemmell fan sites with varieties of background information: Info and News Page, Gemmell Mania, and DavidGemmell.com.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and readers.
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Anthology of 14 original SF stories about space stations, by authors including Timothy Zahn, Robert J. Sawyer, Pamela Sargent, Jack Williamson, and Gregory Benford.
• Amazon has the Booklist review by Regina Schroeder, and reader reviews.
(Tue 6 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Military SF/fantasy novel in which mankind travels among the stars via Two-Space, an anti-technology realm where wooden sailing ships reach worlds inhabited by alien dwarves and elves.
• Baen's site has this description ("...The ancient Sylvan race is enchanted by the human culture, embracing Tolkien as prophecy and taking "classic" human science fiction as a guide."), with links to excerpts.
• Amazon has reader reviews.
(Thu 1 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Military SF legal thriller featuring lawyer-in-space Paul Sinclair; follow-up to A Just Determination.
• Amazon has the Booklist review by Roland Green: "First-rate military sf".
• Hemry's webpage has background on his earlier books and his military career.
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Near-future SF thriller concerning a race between the US and China to build a quantum computer.
• Amazon has its own review by Cynthia Ward, who compares this to secret history novels by Dan Brown and Neal Stephenson. Amazon also reproduces reviews from PW and Booklist.
• The author's website, www.howardvhendrix.com, has this description of the book.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• Reviewed in the April '04 Locus Magazine by Faren Miller.
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Supernatural fantasy novel, first of a spinoff trilogy to the author's series about vampire Henry Fitzroy, concerning a murder on the set of a TV vampire detective show.
• Amazon has the PW review, which calls it "light on substance and heavy with fang-in-cheek fun".
• Reviewed by Carolyn Cushman in the March '04 issue of Locus; "a fun dark-fantasy adventure".
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Fantasy novel, third in "The Pearl" series following The Ring of the Five Dragons (2001) and The Veil of a Thousand Tears (2002).
• The author's website ericvanlustbader.com (=www.ericvanlustbaderbooks.com), has this description and excerpt.
• Bibliographic note: the author's middle name is Van, and his last name is Lustbader. File under Lustbader, Eric Van (not Van Lustbader, Eric).
• The author's website is hosting a contest, through May 13th, with various prizes; see site for details.
• The UK first edition was published as The Cage of Nine Banestones; Voyager's website has this description.
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Fantasy novel, second in the "Moonworlds" saga following Voyage of the Shadowmoon (2002).
• It's a "swashbuckling" novel with a "quirky cast and fascinating world [that] provides plenty of entertainment while making such genre staples as dragons, vampires, and feudalism captivatingly new and unpredictable", according to Locus Magazine's New & Notable Books list for May 2004.
• The author's website has this description of the series.
• Enthusiastically reviewed by Nick Gevers in the March '04 issue of Locus Magazine: "a boisterous entertainment, quite as spectacular as its memorable predecessor..."
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Fantasy novel in the author's Recluce series, 12th in the series, the first since Scion of Cyador (2001).
• Modesitt's website has this description, as well as a Recluce map and chronology.
• Amazon has the PW review: "This marks a welcome new chapter in the Recluce saga, with the ending all but promising a sequel."
(Thu 8 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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SF novel set in a bioengineered Earth of 3003, in which genetically unmodified 'freak' teen Frek Huggins is enlisted by aliens to save the world. The book includes a 12-page glossary.
• Locus Magazine's New & Notable list for May says that "Warped echoes of Tolkien and metaphysical riddles enliven this wild SF satire in Rucker's inimitable style."
• Rucker's website has this page about the novel, with a summary, blurbs, a three-part outline, and a Monomyth Design Note, not to mention Rucker's Full Notes for Frek and the Elixir, a 145 page (!) PDF file.
• Reviewed by Faren Miller in the March issue of Locus Magazine.
(Sat 10 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Fantasy novel about a man with multiple personalities, published in 2003 and belatedly noted because it just won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.
• It's just been reprinted in trade paperback. The Amazon pages have the reviews from PW and Booklist.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• The author's webpage, http://home.att.net/~storytellers (aka www.bymattruff.com), has this description, with links to excerpts, deleted scenes, reviews, and a list of the music the author listened to while writing the book.
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SF detective novel, third in the "Retrieval Artist" novels (based on a Hugo-nominated 2000 novella), following The Disappeared (2002, co-winner of the 2003 Endeavour Award) and Extremes (2003).
• The author's official website is www.kristinekathrynrusch.com.
• Reviewed by Faren Miller in the April '04 issue of Locus Magazine.
(Tue 13 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Anthology of 13 original alternate-history stories. Authors include Paul Di Filippo, James Morrow, Ian Watson, Barry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini, and George Alec Effinger.
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Historical science novel, second in "The Baroque Cycle" following Quicksilver (2003) and to be followed later this year by The System of the World.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it "vast, splendid and absorbing", and the starred Booklist review by David Pitt.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• The author's website is www.nealstephenson.com, and he has this Wikipedia entry.
• Locus Magazine reviews are by Gary K. Wolfe in the March issue, and Russell Letson in the upcoming May issue.
(Tue 13 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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Alternate history fantasy novel, sixth and final volume in the "World at War" series.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist.
• Turtledove has this Wikipedia entry.
(Thu 8 Apr 2004) • Purchase this book from Amazon | BookSense

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He was not merely awakened, but detonated out of an uncommonly long and repetitive dream. He could not remember any of the details of the dream now that it was over. But he had the idea that it had entailed much rowing and scraping, and little else; so he did not object to being roused. Even if he had been of a mind to object, he'd have had the good sense to hold his tongue, and keep his annoyance well-hid beneath a simpering merry-Vagabond façade. Because what was doing the waking, today, was the most tremendous damned noise he'd ever heard — it was some godlike Force not to be yelled at or complained to, at least not right away.

"Your room is a mess," said Lora Huggins, standing in her son's doorway. "A dog den. You're not going anywhere until it's straightened up. Poor Snaffle doesn't know where to begin." Indeed, Snaffle had stopped short at her side.