New SF, Fantasy, and Horror books seen : March 2005 Week 1

Nonfiction reference, subtitled 'A Critical Guide to Science Fiction", consisting mainly of annotated listings of over 2000 fiction and nonfiction books, along with revised and expanded discussions of the critical history of SF, online resources, author studies, media SF, art and illustration, teaching SF, library collections, and other themes.
• Major contributors include Brian Stableford, Paul A. Carter, Michael M. Levy, Gary K. Wolfe, William Contento, Joe Sanders, and Hal W. Hall.
• There are indexes by author, title, and theme, as well as listings of best books, awards, organizations, etc.
• This is one of SF's major reference works; the first edition appeared in 1976, the previous 4th edition in 1995. Barron indicates this 5th edition is the last one he will edit.
• The 'online resources' chapter provides Barron's admittedly "harsh judgments on the online world", along with listings of 12 individual sites, including Locus Online, the Internet SF Database, SF Weekly, Uchronia, SF Site, and others.
• The publisher's site has this description.

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SF novel, fourth in the sequence of novels paralleling Card's Hugo and Nebula award winning Ender's Game (1985) and its sequels -- following Ender's Shadow (1999), Shadow of the Hegemon (2001), and Shadow Puppets (2002).
• Tor has this page about the book, with a description and history, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its Feb. 21st issue: "Card's latest installment in his Shadow subseries (Ender's Shadow, etc.), which parallels the overarching series that began with Ender's Game (1985), does a superlative job of dramatically portraying the maturing process of child into adult."

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Anthology of reprinted stories and original essays, commemorating the Nebula Awards presented in 2004 for works appearing in 2003 and 2002. (The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards posts the 2004 Nebula finalists and winners.)
• Stories in this volume include winning short story "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler and winning novelette "The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford, and excerpts from winning novella "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman and novel The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.
• Nominated stories included are by Richard Bowes, James Van Pelt, Carol Emshwiller, Molly Gloss, Cory Doctorow, Eleanor Arnason, Adam-Troy Castro, and Harlan Ellison.
• There are two essays by Barry N. Malzberg, one about Grand Master winner Robert Silverberg (whose canonical short story "Sundance" is included) and the other "Tripping with the Alchemist", a memoir about his work with the Scott Meredith literary agency; an essay by Lucius Shepard on "Film: The Year in Review"; plus a symposium on "Movement in Science Fiction and Fantasy" with contributions by Bruce Sterling, China Miéville, Paul McAuley, Ellen Kushner, and Jeff VanderMeer. VanderMeer discusses his essay, "The Romantic Underground: An Exploration of a Non-Existent and Self-Denying Non-Movement", in his blog.
• Also included: Rhysling Awards winners, for SF/F poetry, by Ruth Berman, Charles Saplak & Mike Allen, and Sonya Taaffe.
• George Zebrowski provides an essay on author emeritus winner Charles L. Harness, preceding Harness' short story "Quarks at Appomattox" (1983).
• Gary K. Wolfe reviews the book in the February 2005 issue of Locus Magazine, commenting that this book, "more than any recent Nebula volume, actually conveys a sense of the vitality and excitement that have characterized the field's internal dialogues and debates over the last few years" and concluding that this is "one of the most entertaining Nebula volumes in years."
• Amazon has the Booklist review by Carl Hays.

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Anthology of 11 original SF stories. Authors include Robert Sheckley, Bruce Holland Rogers, Esther M. Friesner, and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough.
• DAW's website has this listing.

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Near-future SF novel, first in the 'Arabesk' trilogy, set in an alternate world in which the Ottoman Empire dominates the Middle East.
• This is the first US edition of this book, originally published in 2001 in the UK by Earthlight, and subsequently a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke, British Science Fiction Association, and Campbell Memorial awards.
• The author's website has this page about the book, with this pasha-movie link. Bantam's site has this description, plus an author Q&A, and an excerpt.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review of the book, which calls it a "clever first book of a trilogy that blends alternative SF and hard-boiled mystery".
• The UK edition was reviewed by Gary K. Wolfe in the October 2001 issue of Locus Magazine, and by Faren Miller in the June 2001 issue.

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Fantasy novel, 2nd in the series of adventures involving the Horstmann family, following Closer to My Home (2003), set in the Northern California town of Driftwood.
• The publisher's site has this description of the book, describing it as "a novel of courage and hope in the face of tough odds at sea".

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SF novel, first in the 'Nulapeiron Sequence', set on an underground world where a young boy pursues revenge against the Oracles, who can see the future.
• This is the first US edition of the book. The third book in the series, Resolution was just published in Britain -- here's Locus Online's description. This book was a finalist for the 2001 British SF Association awards.
• Pyr's website has this description, and a link to a PDF excerpt.
• The Amazon UK page for the first edition has a review by David Langford: "the roller-coaster plot is full of unexpected twists, revelations, biotechnological oddities, changes of course and unlikely alliances. Crackling tension continues to the very end. Nice one."
• SF Weekly just posted this review by Paul Di Filippo: grade A.

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SF novel, Morgan's third following two books (Altered Carbon and Broken Angels) involving antihero Takeshi Kovacs; this one is independent of those two (while his just-published Woken Furies is the third about Takeshi Kovacs). This book concerns corporate violence in the mid-21st century, according to David Langford's review for Amazon UK.
• Amazon has the Publishers Weekly review, which calls it a "brutal, provocative" novel: "Taking his theme from such well-known critics of Western capitalism as Noam Chomsky, Susan George and Michael Moore (all listed as sources), the author presents a bleak near-future that includes continuing job loss through NAFTA, the undermining of national economies like that of China and the creation of a permanent underclass."
• Gary K. Wolfe reviewed the book in the March '04 issue of Locus Magazine, noting that in this book Morgan "has chosen to pull back from the more intriguing SF inventions of his first two novels, without diminishing the snazzy hardboiled violence that has nearly become his trademark."
• Paul Witcover's SF Weekly review gave it a B+.

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Nonfiction, associational biography of a rocket scientist, John Whiteside Parsons, who died in an explosion in 1952 at the age of 37, and was subsequently discovered to be a practioner in the occult... It's mostly set in Los Angeles of the 1930s, and has references to Amazing Stories, Anthony Boucher, Ray Bradbury, Aleister Crowley, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, LASFS, and science fiction.
• Includes 8 pages of black and white photos, Source Notes, and an Index.
• Harcourt's site has this synopsis.

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Alternate history novel about ancient Rome, follow-up to Hannibal's Children (2002), in which Rome falls to Carthage.
• The publisher's site has this very brief description.
• Uchronia has this page for the series.
• Amazon has reader reviews.

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Fantasy novel, first in a new series, about a king investigating rumors of revolt against mystics born with supernatural powers.
• The publisher's site has this brief description.
• Amazon has the PW review, calling the book "tailor-made for the growing audience of fantasy fans who like a good juicy romance."

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Fantasy novel about a private investigator whose searches for missing persons lead to encounters with Faerie legends.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred Publishers Weekly review, from its Jan. 17th issue, which calls it a "superlative dark fantasy": "Tuttle has total command of setting, style and her folklore sources. The ambiguous ending holds out hope for both Ian and the reader. In a field overflowing with sequels, it's refreshing to find a fantasy that truly merits one."
• Reviewed by Damien Broderick in the January issue of Locus, and by Faren Miller in the February issue. Broderick concludes "Tuttle is brave in attempting something very difficult to carry off, perhaps opening pathways to a renewal of urban fantasy superior to rote medieval trilogies. Give the book a try."

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YA fantasy novel, second in a trilogy about teenagers in a small town in Oklahoma who have access to an extra hour in each day.
• The publisher's site has this description and an excerpt.
• The first volume, Midnighters, Book One: The Secret Hour, is just out in paperback.

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The strangest memory of my childhood concerns my father's disappearance.

This is what I remember:

It was late September. I was nine years old, and my sister Heather was seven and a half. Although summer was officially over and we'd been back at school for weeks, the weather continued warm and sunny, fall only the faintest suggestion in the turning of the leaves, and nothing to hint at the long Midwestern winter yet to come. Everybody knew this fine spell couldn't last, and so on Saturday morning my mother announced we were going to go for a picnic in the country.

Like scarlet/amber fireflies hanging in the tunnel's darkness, the floating tricons read:

His desperate hooves are flying, flying—
Hunt the moon which now lies dying
Where all about, and all around
Falls barren, grey and broken ground.

Tom froze.

Han Tzu waited until the armored car was completely out of sight before he ventured out into the bicycle-and-pedestrian-packed street. Crowds could make you invisible, but only if you were moving in the same direction, and that's the thing Han Tzu had never really been able to do, not since he came home to China from Battle School.