+ Alexander, Alma : Changer of Days
(HarperCollins/Eos 0-06-076575-5, $6.99, 339pp, mass market paperback, June 2005, cover art uncredited) First US edition (Australia: HarperCollins Voyager, 2002)

Fantasy novel, second of two parts, about an exiled child-queen who develops the power of Sight.
• It was originally published under the author's real name, Alma Hromic, in New Zealand as Changer of Days, Volume Two. The first part was published by Eos last month as The Hidden Queen.
• The publisher's site has this description, and an excerpt.
• The author's website has information on her other books, including the covers of the earlier editions of these books.

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+ Armstrong, Kelley : Haunted
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-58708-0, $6.99, 495pp, mass market paperback, June 2005, cover illustration Franco Accornero) First US edition (UK: Orbit, May 2005)

Supernatural fantasy novel, fourth in the "Women of the Otherworld" series following Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, and Industrial Magic. In this volume witch Eve Levine, dead three years now, pursues an evil spirit who's escaped from Hell.
• Bantam's site has this description, and an excerpt.
• The author's website has this page about the book, with a description and links to excerpts. The site also has a journal, discussion board, and online fiction.
• The Amazon page has the Publishers Weekly review: "those who appreciate heroines with a good measure of spunk, sass and strong-arm savvy will find this a fun if fitful read."

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* Cook, Glen : The Tyranny of the Night
(Tor 0-765-30684-0, $25.95, 427pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket art Raymond Swanland)

Fantasy novel, first book in the Instrumentalities of the Night, concerning political and religious turmoil in a world surrounded by walls of ice. When a young warrior defeats one of the supposedly immortal demons that haunt the edge of the world, he is sent on a dangerous spy mission.
• Barnes & Noble's page for this book has the publisher's description, a review by Paul Goat Allen ("Cook in top form"), and the Library Journal review: "This series opener, with its emphasis on religion and politics, is both timely and timeless and belongs in most fantasy collections."
• Amazon has reader reviews.
• Strange Horizons ran this interview with Cook in January.

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* Cunningham, Michael : Specimen Days
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux 0-374-29962-5, $25, 308pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket design Susan Mitchell)

Literary novel with SF and fantasy elements (by the author of The Hours), set in New York City in the early 20th century, early 21st century, and mid-22nd century, in three novellas sharing parallel themes and characters, informed by the spirit of poet Walt Whitman.
• The publisher's site has the book flap description, while the official author's site has excerpts from reviews. WYNC's website provides an excerpt.
• Amazon has the starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly (May 9th issue) and Booklist; the former concludes "With its narrative leaps and self-conscious flights into the transcendent, Cunningham's fourth novel sometimes seems ready to collapse under the weight of its lavishness and ambition -- but thrillingly, it never does. This is daring, memorable fiction."

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+ Forsyth, Kate : The Tower of Ravens
(Penguin/Roc 0-451-46032-4, $7.99, 439pp, mass market paperback, June 2005, cover art Keith Birdsong) First US edition (Australia: Random House, June 2004)

Fantasy novel, first book in the "Rhiannon's Ride" trilogy, set in the same world as her previous Witches of Eileanan saga. It concerns a faerie half-breed who escapes her clan by capturing and riding a winged horse.
• The author's site has this description .
• Barnes & Noble's page for this book has a review by Paul Allen Goat: "Featuring a compelling female protagonist, this richly imagined escapade -- which has a heavy romantic undercurrent -- should appeal to fantasy and romance fans alike."

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* Giller, Marc D. : Hammerjack
(Bantam Spectra 0-553-38331-0, $12, 355pp, trade paperback, June 2005, cover design Jamie S. Warren Youll)

SF novel in the cyberpunk mode, the author's first novel, about a former hammerjack (hacker) caught up in a battle between the world government and an antitech cult to control a biological supercomputer.
• Bantam's site has this description, author background, and excerpt.
• The author's website, www.hammerjack.net has information about this and other works, including an archive of unproduced Star Trek teleplays.
• Amazon has reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist; the former begins "Though deeply derivative of William Gibson's cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, Giller's action-packed debut has cinematic crackle and a crisp pace despite its dense exposition." while the latter concludes "A winning blend of crime novel motifs and computer technology makes it must reading for fans of cyberpunk and detective fiction alike."

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* Gingrich, Newt, & William R. Forstchen : Never Call Retreat
(St. Martin's/Thomas Dunne 0-312-34298-5, $25.95, 11+496pp, hardcover, June 2005, cover art Don Troiani)

Alternate history novel, subtitled "Lee and Grant: The Final Victory", third in the trilogy following Gettysburg (2003) and Grant Comes East (2004, just out in paperback).
• The publisher's site has this description.
• Amazon has the Booklist by Brad Hooper: "As was true of its predecessors, this is a swiftly paced and authentically grounded novel; this installment covers the end of the terrible North-South strife..."

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* Huff, Tanya : Smoke and Mirrors
(DAW 0-7564-0262-X, $24.95, 374pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket painting John Jude Palencar)

Supernatural fantasy novel, second in a trilogy following last year's Smoke and Shadows, about Tony Foster , a wizard-trainee working as a production assistant for a popular TV show about a vampire detective. In this book Tony contends with filming a location shoot in a house that's actually haunted.
• Amazon has the PW review: "Huff delights in simultaneously bringing out the worst and best of her characters, and she's really found her stride here."
• Carolyn Cushman's review in the June '05 issue of Locus Magazine concludes "It's a wild romp, full of dark humor, a delightfully twisted version of the usual haunted house story."

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* McKillip, Patricia A. : Od Magic
(Ace 0-441-01248-5, $22.95, 315pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket illustration Kinuko Y. Craft, jacket design Judith Murello)

Fantasy novel about the ancient wizard Od, the school of magic she founded in the city of Numis, and her attempt centuries later to challenge control of the school by the city's leaders.
• Amazon has the reviews from PW and Booklist; the latter concludes "With lyrical prose, well-limned characterizations, vibrant action, a sense of the wonder of magic, and a generous dollop of romance, this is a story that will bind readers in its spell."
• A Google search turns up this page of fantasy reviews by author Crispin Sartwell, on which he says (scroll down) "By a substantial margin, Patricia McKillip is the best living writer of fantasy, and she is one of the best living writers in the English language."

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* Mitchell, Syne : End in Fire
(Penguin/Roc 0-451-46033-2, $6.99, 328pp, mass market paperback, June 2005, cover art uncredited)

SF novel about American and Chinese space station crews who witness nuclear war breaking out on Earth.
• The author's site has this description and the first chapter.
• Amazon has a brief desciption and reader reviews, including a comment from the author.

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* Moorcock, Michael : The White Wolf's Son
(Warner Aspect 0-446-57702-2, $24.95, 339pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket illustration Robert Gold)

Fantasy novel subtitled "The Albino in the Middle March", the latest and last of the author's career-spanning Elric series, in which various incarnations of Moorcock's Eternal Champion come together to save young Oonagh von Bek from kidnappers who seek to recreate the Multiverse according to their own rules.
• The publisher's site has this description and excerpt.
• Amazon has Publishers Weekly's starred review, from its May 23rd issue: "Informative philosophizing by various characters adds to, rather than impedes, the complex and entertaining plot. In lesser hands such intrusions as Una Persson's spiel on Elric's Dream of a Thousand Years probably wouldn't work, but from the ever original, vastly influential Moorcock (The Dreamthief's Daughter), they only enhance a triumph of mature talent and imagination."

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* Niles, Douglas : War of the Worlds : New Millennium
(Tor 0-765-31142-9, $24.95, 332pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket art Julie Bell)

SF novel, a contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds.
• The publisher's description concludes "Filled with techno-thriller like detail War of the Worlds: New Millennium merges Clancy with Clarke for a truly page turning science fiction thriller."
• Amazon has reader reviews.

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+ Reynolds, Alastair : Century Rain
(Ace 0-441-01290-6, $24.95, 506pp, hardcover, June 2005, jacket design Richard Carr) First US edition (UK: Gollancz, November 2004)

SF novel about a future archaeologist sent to explore an alternate 20th-century Earth. It's a standalone novel, not related to any of Reynolds' previous books.
• Ace's parent publisher's site has this brief description.
• The Agony Column has this exclusive excerpt.
• Locus' interview with Reynolds, in its August 2003 issue, is excerpted here.
• The book was shortlisted for this year's British SF Association Award.
• Locus Magazine published reviews by Nick Gevers (in January) and Russell Letson (in March); Gevers concluded "Century Rain is an exciting, thought-provoking novel, an audacious synthesis of genre forms. ... Alastair Reynolds is now in his novelistic prime."

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